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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostochnaya_Niva | Vostochnaya Niva | Vostochnaya Niva (Russian: Восточная Нива) is a rural locality (a selo) in Amaransky Selsoviet of Romnensky District, Amur Oblast, Russia. The population was 6 as of 2018. There are 2 streets.
== Geography ==
Vostochnaya Niva is located on the left bank of the Amaranka River, 39 km southeast of Romny (the district's administrative centre) by road. Amaranka is the nearest rural locality. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_Man | Method Man | Clifford Smith Jr. (born March 2, 1971), known professionally as Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is a member of the East Coast hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan, and is half of the hip-hop duo Method Man & Redman. His debut solo album, Tical (1994), peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" (featuring Mary J. Blige), which won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards. The song also peaked within the top five of the Billboard Hot 100; he and Blige later starred in Power Book II: Ghost, a spin-off of Power.
Method Man has appeared in films such as 187 (1997), Belly (1998), How High (2001), Garden State (2004), The Wackness (2008), Venom (2005), Red Tails (2012), Keanu (2016), The Cobbler (2014), and Bad Shabbos (2024). He and Redman co-starred on the short-lived Fox television sitcom Method & Red. He has also had recurring roles in three HBO series, as Tug Daniels in Oz, Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff in The Wire, and Rodney in The Deuce. Method Man also appeared in the TBS comedy series The Last O.G..
His stage name is a tribute to the 1979 martial arts film Method Man.
== Early life ==
Born on March 2, 1971 in Hempstead, Long Island, Smith divided his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's home in the Park Hill section of Clifton, Staten Island, locally known as Killa Hill. Growing up in Hempstead, Smith began playing lacrosse at a young age and continues to be a passionate supporter of the sport. He attended New Dorp High School, where he became friends with Remedy. He has two sisters.
== Music career ==
=== 1992–1996: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Tical ===
As Wu-Tang Clan ascended to hip-hop stardom, Method Man was always one of the most visible members of the collective. He was one of only two members (along with GZA) to get a solo song on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) ("Method Man") and the first to release a solo album under the Clan's unusual contract which allowed its members to release albums under any record label. Method Man chose to sign with rap label Def Jam Recordings, although Elektra Records A&R man Dante Ross initially wanted to sign him around the same time Ross signed fellow group member Ol' Dirty Bastard. Method Man's solo debut, Tical (1994), was critically acclaimed and well received, entering the American charts at #4 and eventually selling in excess of one million copies. That album featured the hit single "All I Need", later remixed featuring Mary J. Blige, which won a Grammy ("I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By"). During this time Method Man also became close friends with fellow New York City-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G., and was the only guest rapper featured on his debut album Ready to Die, on the song "The What". He was also featured on Spice 1's album AmeriKKKa's Nightmare on the track "Hard 2 Kill". In 1995, he was also featured on "Got the Flava" off Showbiz and A.G.'s album Goodfellas. He also appeared on the Batman Forever soundtrack: his track, The Riddler, produced by RZA included a video with clips from the film. In 1996, Method Man appeared on Tupac Shakur's album All Eyez on Me, on the song "Got My Mind Made Up" alongside his rhyme partner Redman, Tha Dogg Pound and Inspectah Deck, whose verse did not make the released album version, although his nickname "Rebel INS" can be heard as the song fades. He was also featured on Redman's 1996 album Muddy Waters on the track "Do What Ya Feel".
=== 1997–1998: Wu-Tang Forever and Tical 2000: Judgement Day ===
On June 3, 1997, the Wu-Tang Clan released their Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double CD Wu-Tang Forever, the long-awaited follow up to 36 Chambers. The album has sold over 6 million copies to date worldwide.
In 1996, the movie Space Jam was released. Method Man, alongside LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, B-Real and Coolio released a song from the Space Jam Soundtrack called, "Hit 'Em High". Method Man would go on to feature on LL Cool J's, "4 ,3, 2, 1" the following year.
His second solo album was Tical 2000: Judgement Day, released in 1998, which was heavily influenced by the apocalypse theories surrounding the forthcoming end of the millennium, and featured myriad guest appearances from his fellow Wu-Tang MCs. Other guest appearances include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, D'Angelo, Chris Rock, Mobb Deep, Redman, and brief cameos from Russell Simmons, Bishop Don "Magic" Juan, Janet Jackson, and Donald Trump. Fueled by the party track "Judgment Day" and the D'Angelo collaboration "Break Ups 2 Make Ups", the album sold better than his debut, earning Platinum certifications in both the U.S. and Canada. Reviews for the album were mixed and its long runtime and abundance of intermittent comedy skits were widely criticized. Producers on this album included True Master, 4th Disciple and the RZA.
In 1997, the Scottish rock band Texas, found some success with their single, "Say What You Want". In 1998, the band collaborated with Method Man and RZA on a remix of the song titled "Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day)", with RZA producing. It was later included in the Greatest Hits album released by Texas.
=== 1999–2001: Blackout! (with Redman) and WWF Aggression ===
Method Man was part of the very successful Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman, Ja Rule, and DMX. During this tour, Method Man & Redman recorded Blackout!, a light-hearted, bass-heavy, profanity-laced, party record with an EPMD-evoking emphasis on funky beats and the mischievous wit and cool flows and good rhythm of the two MCs. The album reached platinum status quickly, both in the U.S. and Canada, fueled by "Da Rockwilder", "Cereal Killa", "1, 2, 1, 2", "Tear It Off" and "Y.O.U." This album also featured three previously released tracks on which the two collaborated.
Their success would lead the duo on to star in movies and TV shows, become product spokespersons and household names, but also associated them with marijuana use in the media. The most immediate results of their success were their co-starring roles in the major motion picture film How High, their endorsement deal for Right Guard, Redman's starring role in Seed of Chucky and a short-lived sitcom on Fox Television entitled Method & Red.
In 1999, Method Man featured on Limp Bizkit's song "N 2 Gether Now" from their album Significant Other.
In 2000, Method Man performed Know Your Role which was included on the album titled, WWF Aggression. The song is focused on the popularity of professional wrestler at the time Dwayne Johnson whose wrestling name was 'The Rock' and the main line in the song is The Rock's most famous caption "Do you smell what The Rock is cookin'?".
=== 2001–2004: The W, Iron Flag, and Tical 0: The Prequel ===
The Wu-Tang Clan released The W on November 21, 2000, and Iron Flag on December 18, 2001. The W received both critical and commercial success for the group, while Iron Flag did receive some but not to the same extent as its predecessor. The efforts earned two more platinum plaques for the Wu-Tang Clan.
In 2003, Method Man criticized Oli "Power" Grant and Mitchell "Divine" Diggs, the managers of the Wu-Tang Clan business. "Number 1 on my shit list right now is Divine from Wu-Tang management. He took something major from me that he had no intention of giving back."
Aside from the financial issues, Method Man was unhappy with the decision to bring Wu-Tang into the fashion world for a brief period of time with Wu-Wear, despite the brand being a major money-maker for the group. "When Wu-Wear started making shoes and sneakers and pants, it was shoddy material. I never rocked that shit."
In 2004, Method Man released his third solo album Tical 0: The Prequel, which featured the hit party single "What's Happenin'" with Busta Rhymes and included guest appearances of pop-rap stars like Missy Elliott and P. Diddy. The album sold well and was certified gold record by the RIAA but did not see the platinum success of his previous solo releases.
P. Diddy was one of the executive producers for the album, although Meth later voiced his displeasure with the final product. "On the third LP, it was suggested (by Def Jam) to bring in Harve Pierre and P. Diddy. Who am I to argue? Puff knows how to sell some records. But that wasn't the direction to go in, and I know that."
=== 2006–2007: 4:21... The Day After ===
Method Man's fourth album, entitled 4:21: The Day After was released in August 2006 with a star lineup of producers featuring Havoc, Erick Sermon, Scott Storch, Allah Mathematics, Mr. Porter, and fellow Wu-Tang Clan member, RZA. This time around, a more focused Method Man went back to his hip-hop roots and both hip-hop fans and the media took notice. He did an interview on the ItsHipHop.Tv. Despite this being one of Meth's strongest solo efforts to date, the album failed to do well commercially due to it having no single or video, which Method Man has held discontent towards his own label for. However, he toured strongly all over the world to promote the album, and appeared onstage with fellow Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck, as well as New York up and comers Saigon, and Gat Murdah. Meth cited various reasons for the problems between him and his label, Def Jam. While he puts most of the blame on personal agendas in the Def Jam offices, Meth did take some blame, himself, for giving in to his record label.
In early May 2007, Method Man's camp leaked the street single "New York New York" which became a popular track on the internet.
=== 2007–2010: Blackout! 2 ===
On March 27, 2007, Redman confirmed on BET's Rap City: Tha Bassment that a sequel to How High was then being written .
In an April 10, 2007, Onion A.V. Club interview, Redman hinted that there would be a second collaborative album with Method Man, with work beginning in midsummer or early September.
In early 2008, a remake of the Smooth da Hustler and Trigger tha Gambler classic Broken Language was released to the internet by the duo entitled Broken Language 2008, fueling rumors of an upcoming Blackout! sequel. This rumor was further fueled by the duo while performing in Gainesville, Florida, at the University of Florida. Blackout! 2 was scheduled for a December 9, 2008, release but was pushed back to the second quarter of 2009, with a new release date of May 19, 2009. Bun B confirmed that he guested on Blackout! 2. In April 2009, a single was released entitled "City Lights", produced by Nasty Kutt. Erick Sermon, Rockwilder and Pete Rock also confirmed their presence on Blackout! 2.
The duo finished their Still High tour with Termanology, The Alchemist, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples.
=== 2011–present: The Meth Lab and Crystal Meth ===
Crystal Meth was to be Method Man's fifth and final studio album. The album has no confirmed release date. The Crystal Meth album was first announced before Method Man began working on his and Redman's second album together, Blackout! 2, at which time it was tentatively titled The Crystal Method. In the liner notes of that album, it was given a scheduled release date of 2009. The album, however, was further postponed until it was later mentioned in an MTV interview that it would be released in early 2010. At a concert on December 23, 2010, Method Man told the crowd to look for his album in March 2011. However, the album was postponed again.
In an April 2011 interview with The Come Up Show, following a performance in Canada, Method Man replied to a question regarding his "weed-loving" image: "When you get older and you've got kids and your kids are going to school and you know [their] teachers...and they see how active you are and concerned [you are] with your kids' education or well being, it's hard to sit there and be taken seriously if people are always talking about he's always high...which is totally not the case", he said. "When I first came out, I was young, we were doing our thing, we smoked a lot...and we didn't care if the world knew. Now, I have to use more discretion because of my kids. This is not for me; everything I do is for them now, so I use a bit more discretion and I don't put weed as a forefront any more."
On October 5, 2011, a new single from Method Man, entitled "World Gone Sour (The Lost Kids)", was released on iTunes. In July 2012, he confirmed that the album would come out in 2013 & would be produced by RZA, although he has also stated that RZA would not produce the whole album, but instead be one of a few producers which would also include Erick Sermon, Rockwilder, and some then-younger producers such as Diggilo. He also expressed a desire to work with Odd Future frontman Tyler, the Creator. Throughout 2013, Method Man worked on material for Crystal Meth and on the Wu-Tang Clan's sixth studio album, A Better Tomorrow. He also toured with Redman throughout the year. On January 1, 2014, Method Man announced that a mixtape titled The Meth Lab would be released in March 2014 and that Crystal Meth would be released in August 2014 on Tommy Boy Entertainment. However, Method Man released The Meth Lab as a mixtape album through Tommy Boy on August 21, 2015. In 2019 Method Man featured on the record 'Winnebago' with South London rapper Blue Meth. The music video was directed by Nick Donnelly.
== Acting career ==
In the late 1990s, Method Man began a career in acting. He has had recurring roles in critically acclaimed television shows such as HBO's Oz as Tug Daniels, HBO's The Wire as Prop Joe's nephew Cheese, The Twilight Zone, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in which Method Man portrays Drops, a wealthy Las Vegas party promoter who clashes with the CSI team (specifically investigator Nick Stokes) in their investigations involving Drops' clubs or entourage, in the episodes "Poppin' Tags" (2006), "Big Shots" (2007), and "Drops Out" (2008).
Method Man and Redman hosted a pilot on MTV called Stung. Additionally, Method Man has made numerous appearances as himself on TV shows such as Mind of Mencia and Chappelle's Show.
His first prominent role came in with the film Belly (1998), along with fellow rappers Nas and DMX. Method Man has since added many credits to his name, including roles in the films Garden State, One Eight Seven, and many others, with starring roles in feature films such as How High and Soul Plane. Method Man had a cameo in the horror movie Venom (2005), where he played a deputy who is killed shortly into the movie. On March 27, 2007, Redman confirmed on BET's show Rap City that the sequel to How High was being written; the script for How High 2 is being written by Dustin Lee Abraham of CSI, who also wrote the first movie. Method Man also appeared in the 2008 movies The Wackness (2008) and Meet the Spartans (2008).
Method Man starred in the Law & Order SVU episode "Snitch" as the main antagonist. The episode was first broadcast December 4, 2007.
Method Man appeared in the Def Jam series of video games. In Fight for NY he voiced Blaze, one of the main characters. In Icon, he voiced Gooch, a major character in the storyline. In Underground, he voiced Meth, one of the major characters.
He made a guest appearance in the music video for "If I Ain't Got You" (2003) by Alicia Keys, where he played the role of her boyfriend. He also appeared in Beanie Sigel's music video "Feel It in the Air", where Method Man played an undercover cop leading an operation against Sigel.
Method Man played the main antagonist, an arsonist wealthy executive, in an episode of the FOX TV show The Good Guys.
Method Man appears as Valentine, a hip-hop business mogul, in the episode Bad Blood in season 2 of Burn Notice.
Method Man had a cameo appearance in the film Cop Land (1997), as a violent criminal who, while fleeing, throws Peter Berg's character off of a New York rooftop. Method Man has also appeared in the TV drama Wonderland, as a patient in a mental hospital.
Method Man has a small role in the film The Sitter (2011), starring Jonah Hill. He also played crewman "Sticks" in the George Lucas movie Red Tails (2012), about the Tuskegee Airmen.
Method Man played the leads in the films The Mortician (2011) and #Lucky Number (2015).
In 2014, he voiced Phantasm, the primary antagonist on the FX animated comedy Chozen.
In 2016, he played himself in Difficult People, Luke Cage, and Paterson. Also that year, he portrayed "Cheddar" in the film Keanu.
In 2017, he became the host of the TBS series Drop the Mic, based on the popular recurring segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Method Man played a recurring character in the HBO show The Deuce.
In 2019, Method Man voiced Ben Urich in the scripted podcast Marvels. He also appeared in Shaft as Freddie P, an acquaintance of John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson).
In 2020, Method Man appeared as a recurring character in the Netflix original series Teenage Bounty Hunters as Terrance Coin, Bowser's rival bounty hunter.
He also starred in the 2020 film Concrete Cowboy, an adaptation of the book Ghetto Cowboy.
In 2020, Method Man also starred as Father Jackson in Netflix film Vampires vs. the Bronx.
In 2021, he made appearances as Samuel Christian in Season 2 of the MGM+ series, Godfather of Harlem.
He starred in the 50 Cent-produced series Power Book II: Ghost as Davis MacLean, Tasha's Lawyer.
In 2024, he had a prominent role in the ensemble film Bad Shabbos.
== Other ventures ==
Method Man appeared in the documentary entitled The Show (1995). There is a scene in which Method Man, on a train in Japan, gets into an argument with U-God and Ghostface Killah, over camera time, radio interviews, and clothing mishaps.
In 2006, Method Man appeared on the MTV reality game show Yo Momma, in the pilot episode.
Method Man was the first of the Wu-Tang Clan to produce a series of eponymous graphic novels for Hachette Book Group USA's imprint Grand Central Publishing (to be followed by GZA and Ghostface Killah).
In 2017, he became the co-host (with Hailey Baldwin) of a celebrity battle rap show Drop the Mic
In February 2021, Method Man began hosting Marvel/Method, a podcast series for Marvel Entertainment and Sirius XM. The podcast features interviews with celebrity guests discussing Marvel comics, music, and culture. The theme music, appearing in every episode, was mixed by female music producer composer Masaniai Muhammad Ali.
In 2022, Method Man produced and hosted "The Wire At 20" 20th anniversary podcast for HBO.
In 2025, Method Man competed on season thirteen of The Masked Singer as "Stud Muffin" which resembles an anthropomorphic figure with the head and torso of different muffins. As he was eliminated on "Boy Band Night", Method Man did an encore of his song "Da Rockwilder" with Nick Cannon singing Redman's parts.
== Personal life ==
Dating since 1992, Smith married Tamika in 2001.
The couple has three children.
Method Man is a comic book fan and has a collection of around 30,000 comics, including Hulk #181, which features the first full appearance of Wolverine.
In 2004, Method Man starred in Method & Red. However, after only a short time on the air, the show was put on hiatus and never returned. Method Man later spoke to the press about Fox's influence on the show's style, saying that "there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side", and criticizing the network's decision to add a laugh track. Before the show premiered, he was telling fans not to bother watching it. He told the Los Angeles Times: "This is frustrating for me. I'm trying to keep this show ghetto, and there's a way for it to be both ghetto and intelligent. But it's not going that way."
In 2006, Method Man had a personal and publicized conflict with TV talk show host Wendy Williams on The Breakdown, an Internet show on Onloq.com. Williams talked on air about Method Man's wife's having cancer, which was something he wanted to keep private and her own family members had not yet known about. He said that people who lived next door to him did not know, but Williams had dug it up and made it public over the radio. Because of this leaked information, Method Man and his wife had many problems. Williams also reported rumors that Method Man had been having an affair with his wife's doctor. Method Man first heard of this while in recording sessions in Los Angeles.
On May 17, 2007, Method Man was arrested in New York City for marijuana possession. His SUV was pulled over near the Battery Tunnel toll booths for having an expired inspection sticker. An unidentified source said, "It was like something out of Cheech & Chong. He rolls down the window and the smoke would choke a horse." The arresting officer noticed two blunts and a plastic bag containing marijuana in plain view. Upon further inspection more marijuana was found under the driver's seat. Method Man was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, criminal possession of marijuana, DWI, and driving an uninspected motor vehicle. He reached a plea agreement to perform community service including rapping to children about the dangers of drugs.
On October 5, 2009, Method Man was arrested at his home in Staten Island for income tax violations. He was accused of failing to file income tax returns for the state of New York between 2004 and 2007, and owed nearly $33,000 in taxes. On June 28, 2010, Method Man pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and paid a $106,000 fine.
== Discography ==
== Filmography == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_World_Series | 2016 World Series | The 2016 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2016 season. The 112th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Chicago Cubs and the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians, the first meeting of those franchises in postseason history. The series was played between October 25 and November 2 (although Game 7 ended slightly after 12:00 am local time on November 3). The Indians had home-field advantage because the AL had won the 2016 All-Star Game. This was the final World Series to have home-field advantage determined by the All-Star Game results; since 2017, home-field advantage has been awarded to the team with the better record.
The Cubs defeated the Indians 4–3 to capture their first World Series championship since 1908, and their first while playing at Wrigley Field. The deciding seventh game, won by Chicago 8–7 in ten innings, was the fifth World Series Game 7 to go into extra innings, and the first since 1997 (which, coincidentally, the Indians also lost). It was also the first Game 7 to have a rain delay, which occurred as the 10th inning was about to start. The Cubs became the sixth team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win a best-of-seven World Series.
The Cubs, playing in their 11th World Series overall and their first since 1945, won their third championship and first since 1908, ending the longest championship drought in North American professional sports history. It was the Indians' sixth appearance in the World Series and their first since 1997, with their last Series win having come in 1948. Cleveland manager Terry Francona, who had previously won World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007, fell short in his bid to become the third manager to win his first three trips to the Fall Classic, after Casey Stengel and Joe Torre.
The 2016 World Series was highly anticipated; the two teams entered their matchup as the two franchises with the longest World Series title droughts, a combined 176 seasons without a championship. At the series' conclusion, numerous outlets listed Game 7 as an instant classic, and the entire Series as one of the greatest of all time.
This remains the most recent championship in the four major American sports leagues won by a Chicago-based team.
== Background ==
=== Chicago Cubs ===
The Cubs made their 11th appearance in the World Series; their only previous two championships were in 1907 and 1908. They lost their eight other appearances, in 1906, 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945. The Cubs' 107 season World Series victory drought was the longest league title drought in the history of the major American professional sports leagues. It was also regarded to be the most famous championship drought in American sports history. Sports folklore attributed this due to the "Curse of the Billy Goat", which was one of the most famous purported curses in baseball.
The Cubs qualified for the postseason by winning the National League Central, ending the regular season with the best record in all of MLB (103–58) for the first time since 1945; they also posted their highest winning percentage since 1935, and won their most games since 1910. The division title was their sixth since division play began in 1969, and their first since 2008. The Cubs entered the postseason as the #1 seed in the National League, and they defeated the 5th-seeded San Francisco Giants 3–1 of the NL Division Series before clinching their first NL pennant since 1945 with a 4–2 series win over the 3rd-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.
For Cubs manager Joe Maddon, it was his second appearance in the World Series as manager – in 2008, he managed the Tampa Bay Rays, who lost 4–1 to the Philadelphia Phillies. This made him the eighth person to manage pennant winning teams in both leagues. It was also Maddon's third World Series appearance overall – in 2002, he was bench coach for the Anaheim Angels.
=== Cleveland Indians ===
The Indians made their sixth appearance in the World Series. They won two championships in 1920 and 1948. They lost their three most recent appearances in the Fall Classic in 1954, 1995, and 1997. Their 67-season (at the time) World Series victory drought was the second-longest ongoing drought at the time, behind only the Cubs.
The Indians qualified for the postseason by winning the American League Central, their eighth division title and their first since 2007. The Indians were the #2 seed in the American League, and they defeated the 3rd-seeded Boston Red Sox 3–0 in the AL Division Series before clinching the pennant with a 4–1 victory over the 4th-seeded Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Championship Series.
For Indians manager Terry Francona, it was his third appearance in the World Series. He won his previous two appearances – 2004 and 2007 – as manager of the Boston Red Sox, in sweeps of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies.
This was the third postseason meeting between Francona and Maddon. Maddon's Rays defeated Francona's Red Sox in the 2008 American League Championship Series, while Maddon's Rays defeated Francona's Indians in the 2013 American League Wild Card Game.
== Summary ==
Chicago (NL) won the series, 4–3.
== Matchups ==
=== Game 1 ===
Former Indians and Cubs player Kenny Lofton threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1 while Rachel Platten sang the national anthem. Corey Kluber started for the Indians, and Jon Lester started for the Cubs. Kyle Schwarber, who had missed nearly all of the 2016 season after tearing ligaments in his left leg in the season's third game, was added to the Cubs' World Series roster and started as their designated hitter. Schwarber struck out twice, but also doubled and drew a walk. The double made Schwarber the first non-pitcher to get his first hit of the season in the World Series.
Kluber made World Series history by striking out eight hitters in the first three innings. Roberto Pérez became the first ever ninth-place hitter with two homers in a World Series game, the first Indians player to hit two homers in a Series game, and the first Puerto Rican-born player to hit two homers in a World Series game. In the first, the Indians loaded the bases off Lester on a single and two walks before José Ramírez's single drove in a run, then Lester hit Brandon Guyer with a pitch to force in another. Perez's home run in the fourth made it 3–0 Indians. In the eighth, Justin Grimm walked Guyer with two outs and allowed a single to Lonnie Chisenhall, then Hector Rondon allowed Perez's second home run of the night. Andrew Miller and Cody Allen finished the victory for the Indians despite Miller having to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, and the Indians took Game 1 of the series 6–0. Francona's World Series winning streak reached nine with this victory.
Leading off the first inning, Dexter Fowler became the first African-American to play for the Cubs in a World Series.
=== Game 2 ===
Former Indians player Carlos Baerga threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 while LoCash performed the national anthem. The start time for the game was moved up an hour, because of the possibility of heavy rain in the forecast. Looking to tie the series at one game apiece, the Cubs sent Jake Arrieta to the mound against the Indians' Trevor Bauer who was still healing a lacerated pinkie resulting from an accident with a drone. The Cubs also featured six players under age 25 in the starting lineup, a postseason record. The Cubs started things off early as Kris Bryant singled in the first inning and Anthony Rizzo doubled to score Bryant and give the Cubs an early 1–0 lead. Arrieta started well too, retiring the first two batters before walking back-to-back batters in the bottom of the first. However, Arrieta got a flyout to end the inning. The Cubs struck again in the third following a two-out walk by Rizzo and a single by Ben Zobrist. A single by Kyle Schwarber scored Rizzo from second and pushed the Cubs' lead to 2–0. Bauer was forced from the game in the fourth, and the Cubs struck again in the fifth. Rizzo walked again off Zach McAllister, and Zobrist tripled to plate Rizzo. Another run-scoring single by Schwarber off Bryan Shaw and a bases-loaded walk by Addison Russell pushed the lead to 5–0.
Arrieta continued to pitch well, walking three batters but holding the Indians without a hit into the sixth inning. In the sixth, a double by Jason Kipnis ended the no-hitter, moved to third on a groundout and scored the lone Indians run of the game on a wild pitch by Arrieta. Arrieta allowed another single and was lifted for reliever Mike Montgomery. Both teams threatened in the seventh but could not score and, following a single by Mike Napoli in the bottom of the eighth, Aroldis Chapman entered to finish the game for the Cubs. The win marked the Cubs' first World Series game victory since 1945 and tied up the series at one game all. The game marked Indians manager Terry Francona's first loss in ten World Series games.
=== Game 3 ===
For Game 3, former Cubs player Billy Williams threw the ceremonial first pitch before the start of the game, Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump sang the national anthem, and Bill Murray sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch, to mark the Cubs' first World Series night game at home. Chicago pitcher Kyle Hendricks started against Cleveland pitcher Josh Tomlin.
The game's only run came off a Coco Crisp single that scored Michael Martínez from third in the seventh inning. Josh Tomlin, Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw, and Cody Allen combined to shut out the Cubs. Allen earned his sixth postseason save as Javier Báez struck out swinging to end the game, leaving the tying and winning runs in scoring position. It was the fourth time in which the Cubs had lost in a shutout during the 2016 postseason.
=== Game 4 ===
For Game 4, former Cubs pitchers Greg Maddux and Ferguson Jenkins threw the ceremonial first pitches before the start of the game while Cubs anthem singer John Vincent sang the national anthem, and actor Vince Vaughn sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch.
The Cubs struck first when Dexter Fowler doubled to lead off the first and scored on Anthony Rizzo's one-out single, but Kluber held them to that one run through six innings before Francona turned it over to the bullpen. In the second, Carlos Santana's leadoff home run off Lackey tied the game; then, with two on, Kluber's RBI single put the Indians up 2–1. Kris Bryant committed two errors in that inning. Next inning, Jason Kipnis hit a leadoff double and scored on Francisco Lindor's single. In the sixth, Lonnie Chisenhall's sacrifice fly with two on off Mike Montgomery made it 4–1 Indians. Next inning, Justin Grimm allowed a leadoff double and one-out hit-by-pitch before being relieved by Travis Wood, who gave up a three-run home run to Kipnis put to the Indians ahead 7–1. The Cubs got one run back in the eighth, on a Dexter Fowler home run off Andrew Miller, which was the first run he gave up in the post-season. With the victory, the Indians were just one win away from their 1st World Series championship since 1948.
=== Game 5 ===
For Game 5, former Cubs star and Hall of Fame member Ryne Sandberg threw the ceremonial first pitch before the start of the game, former Cubs public address announcer and former Chicago Blackhawks anthem singer Wayne Messmer performed the national anthem, and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder (a Chicago native and die hard Cubs fan) sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch. José Ramírez hit a home run for Cleveland in the second inning off Jon Lester, but the Cubs, facing elimination, scored three runs in the fourth inning off Trevor Bauer. Kris Bryant led off the inning with a home run. After Bryant's home run, Anthony Rizzo doubled and Ben Zobrist singled. Addison Russell's RBI single put the Cubs up 2–1. After Jason Heyward struck out, Javier Baez's bunt single moved Zobrist to third before David Ross's sacrifice fly made it 3–1 Cubs. The Indians cut their deficit to 3–2 off Lester in the sixth on Francisco Lindor's RBI single that scored Rajai Davis from second base. With the tying run on second base in the seventh inning, Maddon brought in Aroldis Chapman, who threw 2+2⁄3 scoreless innings, earning his first save of the series and fourth overall in the postseason. The win was the first World Series game victory for the Cubs at Wrigley Field since 1945.
=== Game 6 ===
The last living member of Cleveland's 1948 World Series championship team, Eddie Robinson, attended Game 6 at Progressive Field. Former Indians pitcher Dennis Martínez threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game while country singer Hunter Hayes sang the national anthem.
The Cubs scored three runs in the first inning, all with two outs, on a Kris Bryant home run and a two-run double by Addison Russell after two singles off Josh Tomlin. In the third inning, the Cubs loaded the bases on a walk and two singles off Tomlin, who was relieved by Dan Otero. Following the pitching change, Russell hit the 19th grand slam in World Series history to extend the Cubs lead to 7–0. Russell's grand slam was the first in a World Series game since Paul Konerko of the crosstown Chicago White Sox in 2005, as well as the first by a visiting player since Lonnie Smith in 1992. In the bottom of the fourth, Mike Napoli drove in Jason Kipnis, who doubled to lead off, with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 7–1. In the bottom of the fifth, Kipnis drove a ball over the left field wall for a home run to make it a 7–2 game. In the top of the ninth with a runner on and two outs, Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run to right to make it 9–2. In the bottom of the inning, Aroldis Chapman allowed a leadoff walk to Brandon Guyer and was relieved by Pedro Strop, who threw a wild pitch to move Guyer to second and Roberto Perez's RBI single made it 9–3 Cubs with Perez thrown out at second for the second out. After Carlos Santana walked, Travis Wood relieved Strop and got Jason Kipnis to pop out to short to end the game and force a Game 7.
Russell's six RBIs tied a World Series single-game record. Arrieta became the first NL starting pitcher to notch two road wins in a single World Series since Bob Gibson in 1967.
=== Game 7 ===
Game 7 of the series would go down as a classic, with some calling it the greatest Game 7 in World Series history, comparing it to 1924, 1960, 1991, 1997, and 2001 for its drama and tension. Former Indians player Jim Thome threw the ceremonial first pitch before the game while members of the Cleveland Orchestra string section performed the national anthem. The pitching matchup was between MLB earned run average (ERA) champion Kyle Hendricks, who had started Game 3 for the Cubs, and Corey Kluber, who had won games 1 and 4 and was pitching on three days' rest. Kluber came into the game 4–1 in the postseason with a 0.89 ERA.
Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run for Chicago off Kluber, becoming the first player ever to hit a lead-off home run in a World Series Game 7. The Indians tied the game in the bottom of the third inning when Coco Crisp doubled, advanced to third on a Roberto Pérez sacrifice bunt, and scored on an RBI single by Carlos Santana. Jason Kipnis then reached when his ground ball was mishandled at second by Javier Báez to put two men on, but Hendricks retired Mike Napoli on a lineout to third. The Cubs scored two runs in the fourth inning. Kris Bryant singled and Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch to put men on first and second. Kluber got Ben Zobrist to ground into a fielder's choice with Rizzo out at second for one out, but then allowed a sacrifice fly from Addison Russell (Bryant ran aggressively to tag up from third on the short fly ball and slide under the tag at home) and a double by Willson Contreras to score Zobrist. To start the fifth inning, Baez hit a home run to center making it 4–1 on the first pitch he saw to knock Kluber out of the game. ALCS MVP Andrew Miller came on in relief and gave up a walk to Bryant and RBI single to Anthony Rizzo to push the lead to 5–1 (Bryant's aggressiveness again instrumental as he was attempting to steal second on the hit, allowing him to score all the way from first). In the bottom of the fifth inning, Hendricks retired the first two batters. A two-out walk to Santana, which included a pitch that was called a ball and appeared to be a strike, persuaded Joe Maddon to relieve both his starter and the catcher. This move, along with others throughout the series, would be highly criticized afterward, as it appeared to some that Hendricks was pulled out too soon.
Jon Lester, who had started Games 1 and 5, came on in relief for the first time since the 2007 ALCS, coincidentally also against the Indians. David Ross (who usually caught for Lester and was playing in his final game) committed a throwing error on a Jason Kipnis ground ball, which allowed Santana to reach third and Kipnis to second. A wild pitch that ricocheted off Ross's helmet allowed both Santana and Kipnis to score, narrowing the Cubs' lead to 5–3. To atone for his blunders, the 39-year-old Ross hit a home run to center, in his last official at-bat of his career, in the top of the sixth to make it a 6–3 game, becoming the oldest player to hit a home run in a World Series Game 7. Miller was pulled with one out in the seventh and was replaced with Indians closer Cody Allen.
Lester retired the first two batters in the eighth inning, but was pulled after a José Ramírez single that Russell did not field cleanly at short. Maddon opted to use Aroldis Chapman, who had thrown 42 pitches in Game 5 and had also pitched in Game 6, despite the fact that the Cubs had already built a large lead. Brandon Guyer promptly hit a run-scoring double off Chapman, making the score 6–4. The next batter was Indians center fielder Rajai Davis, who had hit 55 career home runs in 11 seasons entering this game, and who was hitting .132 in the postseason up to that point. Davis hit a dramatic 2-run home run off Chapman, just barely clearing the left field wall and the left field foul pole, scoring Guyer and tying the game, making the score 6–6. Prior to Miguel Rojas's 9th inning game-tying home run in 2025's Game 7, Davis's home run was the latest-occurring game-tying home run in World Series Game 7 history. Many fans and Chapman himself believe he blew the lead due to his unnecessary use in Game 6.
The Cubs squandered a scoring chance in the top of the 9th with Allen still on the mound. Ross led off with a walk and Jason Heyward grounded into a fielder's choice to take pinch runner Chris Coghlan off the bases. Bryan Shaw relieved Allen, and during Javier Baez's at bat, Heyward stole second and advanced to third when Gomes's throw got away from Kipnis and went into the outfield for an error. At this point, Cleveland's Terry Francona made a defensive substitution: Coco Crisp was replaced by inserting Michael Martinez in right and moving Guyer to left. This decision would eventually backfire for the Indians. Shaw retired Baez on a failed squeeze bunt with two strikes—another decision by Maddon which drew criticism—and fouled it off for the second out. Dexter Fowler would eventually ground out on a spectacular game-saving play by shortstop Francisco Lindor to end the top of the ninth. To the shock of many observers, Aroldis Chapman was asked by Maddon to return to the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Despite his exhaustion, he promptly retired the Indians in order, facing Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, and Francisco Lindor.
With the game tied 6–6 after nine innings, a sudden cloudburst resulted in a 17-minute rain delay. During the delay, Cubs right fielder Heyward called his teammates into a weight room behind Chicago's dugout and told them, "We're the best team in baseball ... for a reason... Stick together and we're going to win this game." After the game, many of Heyward's teammates credited him with renewing their spirits.
When play resumed in the top of the tenth, Kyle Schwarber promptly led off with a single off Indians pitcher Shaw, who was not relieved during the rain delay. Maddon replaced Schwarber with pinch-runner Albert Almora. Kris Bryant then hit a deep fly ball to center, and Almora tagged up and advanced to second base in what was called the "savviest baserunning play of the season." After an intentional walk to Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist stepped up to the plate. Zobrist had been 0-for-4 in the game, but he delivered a clutch RBI double into the left field corner, scoring Almora and breaking the tie, making the score 7–6. Zobrist later said, "I was just battling, grinding up there. Fortunately, that last one he left over the plate and up to where I could just slap it down the line, and that was all I was trying to do."
After another intentional walk to Addison Russell to re-load the bases, Miguel Montero, who had replaced Ross at catcher and was hitting just .091 in the postseason, delivered another clutch single into left, scoring Rizzo and making the score 8–6. Trevor Bauer, the losing pitcher of Games 2 and 5, relieved Shaw and got out of the bases-loaded jam by striking out Heyward and retiring Baez on a flyout to escape further damage.
Carl Edwards Jr. was called on to finish off the Indians in the bottom of the tenth, but after retiring the first two hitters (Mike Napoli and José Ramírez), he walked Brandon Guyer, who took second base on defensive indifference. Rajai Davis, following up on his eighth-inning heroics, lined a single to center, making it a one-run game, and the score 8–7. Maddon then called on midseason trade acquisition Mike Montgomery, who had zero career saves. Montgomery retired Michael Martinez (the replacement for Crisp who had scored the game-winning run in Game 3 but had struck out in his only two at-bats of the Series and a career .194 batting average) with an infield grounder fielded by Bryant, who threw to Rizzo. This ended the game and the World Series, with the Cubs winning the series and ending their 108-year World Series championship drought. Zobrist was awarded the World Series MVP award after hitting .357 in the series and delivering the go-ahead hit. This was the first Game 7 won by the Cubs in franchise history, having previously lost in their last two seventh game appearances, in the 1945 World Series and the NLCS in 2003.
==== After Game 7 ====
Rizzo called the rain delay "the most important thing to happen to the Chicago Cubs in the past 100 years. I don't think there's any way we win the game without it." Cubs president Theo Epstein said that when he heard about the meeting called by Heyward, "Right then I thought, 'We're winning this game.'"
The Cubs became the first team to come back from a 3–1 deficit to win the Series since the 1985 Kansas City Royals. They were also the first since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates to do so while winning Games 6 and 7 on the road, and the second team since the 1979 Pirates to win Game 7 as the visiting team, with the 2014 San Francisco Giants also having achieved that feat in Kansas City. With the Game 7 victory, Joe Maddon is 3–0 in postseason series against Terry Francona, having also won the 2008 ALCS and the 2013 Wild Card Game against him. Game 7 was the 60th extra inning game in World Series history, and the fifth time a Game 7 went into extra innings (no World Series would go to extra innings in Game 7 until 2025). This was the first extra inning Game 7 to be won by the visiting team, as the home team won the previous four times in 1912, 1924, 1991, and 1997.
With the Cubs winning, the Indians became the owners of MLB's longest active championship drought, which stood at 68 years, and currently stands at 76 years. Their last title came in 1948; however, earlier in 2016, the Cleveland sports curse had already been broken, with the Cleveland Cavaliers having won the city's first championship since 1964 by defeating the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals also with a 3–1 series deficit comeback.
Game 7 of the 2016 World Series was nominated for the Best Game award at the 2017 ESPY Awards, but that honor went to Super Bowl LI instead.
This marked the last World Series in which the visiting team's championship presentation took place in the clubhouse instead of the playing field. Following the 2017 World Series, every World Series presentation would take place on the field, regardless of whether or not the home or road team won the championship.
=== Composite line score ===
2016 World Series (4–3): Chicago Cubs (NL) beat Cleveland Indians (AL).
== Broadcasting ==
=== Television ===
Fox televised the series in the United States, under contract with Major League Baseball giving it exclusive rights to the World Series through 2021. Joe Buck was the network's play-by-play announcer, with John Smoltz as color commentator and Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci as field reporters. Fox Deportes also aired the Series and provided a Spanish-language simulcast over-the-air via Fox's SAP audio, with Carlos Álvarez and Duaner Sánchez announcing.
Sportsnet in English and RDS in French televised the series in Canada. Sportsnet used the MLB International feed produced by the MLB Network; Matt Vasgersian was MLB International's play-by-play announcer with the Toronto Blue Jays' play-by-play announcer Buck Martinez as their color analyst and MLB Network correspondent Lauren Shehadi and analyst Mark DeRosa as field reporters. Alain Usereau and former Montreal Expos player Marc Griffin handled the French-language telecast for RDS. BT Sport televised the series live in the United Kingdom and Ireland. WAPA-TV transmitted the series to Puerto Rico, with Rafael Bracero at the helm of the station's sports commentary of the series.
==== Ratings ====
Initial reports often utilize "fast national" ratings, which are subject to revision. Game 7 had over 40 million viewers, the largest audience for a baseball game since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, while the series as a whole was the first to average double-digit ratings nationally since 2009.
=== Radio ===
ESPN Radio's national network covered the World Series through affiliated stations, with Dan Shulman providing the play-by-play and Aaron Boone serving as color analyst. Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer appeared as a guest analyst for select innings of Games 1 and 2.
Locally, the teams' flagship stations broadcast the series with their regular announcers. In Cleveland, WTAM (1100) and WMMS (100.7) carried the Indians' play-by-play with Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus, while in Chicago, WSCR (670) carried the Cubs' play-by-play with Pat Hughes, Ron Coomer, and Len Kasper. The affiliate stations of the teams' regional radio networks were contractually obligated to carry the national ESPN Radio feed; even so, since both WSCR and WTAM are clear-channel stations, most of the eastern and midwestern United States was able to hear the local broadcasts.
== Celebration ==
Following the team's win in Game 7, Cubs fans congregated outside of Wrigley Field and the surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood to celebrate the championship. On November 4, the team's victory parade began at Wrigley Field and headed down Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue at downtown for a noon rally at Grant Park. Country singer Brett Eldredge sang a cover of "Go, Cubs, Go" during the rally. The city of Chicago estimated that over five million people attended the World Series parade and rally celebration, making it one of the largest gatherings in history, and according to some sources, the largest gathering in the history of the United States. After the season, the Cubs chose to make two traditional White House visits during then-President (and White Sox fan) Barack Obama's final week in office on January 16, 2017, and during President Donald Trump's tenure on June 28, 2017.
== Prior pop culture portrayals of drought-breaking Cubs World Series victories ==
In the decades prior to the 2016 World Series, the prospect of the Cubs eventually breaking their World Series victory drought appeared in pop culture.
=== Back to the Future portrayal of a 2015 victory ===
In the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, the Chicago Cubs are depicted as the 2015 World Series champions, defeating a fictional American League team from Miami, whose mascot is an alligator, in a sweep. A newspaper shown during the film states that the sweep took five games, implying that the World Series had become a best-of-nine series at some point prior to 2015. The team now known as the Miami Marlins was not formed until four years later, with a billfish as a mascot. Screenwriter Bob Gale, who co-wrote the script of Back to the Future Part II, originally intended it as a joke, saying "Being a baseball fan, I thought, 'OK, let's come up with one of the most unlikely scenarios we can think of", referencing both the Cubs' long championship drought and the fact that Florida did not have a baseball team in 1989. He also explained that the October 21 prediction was based on the postseason structure at the time of the writing of the film, and thus could have been accurate had MLB not added the Division Series in 1994 and Wild Card Game in 2012.
The film's prediction of the Cubs winning the World Series proved to be incorrect by one year, although it did pick the correct date on which the Cubs' 2015 season ended, when they lost to the New York Mets in a four-game sweep of the NLCS. The official Back to the Future Twitter account acknowledged this following the Cubs' win in 2016 by tweeting "Way to go Cubbies" and posting a still image from the film stating the same, and a follow-up tweet that said the 1994 players' strike, in which that year's World Series was canceled, caused a "disruption in the space-time continuum". Following the Cubs win, Michael J. Fox, star of the movie, reacted to the Cubs' win by tweeting "Only off by a year, not bad" and a congratulatory message to the Cubs organization.
=== Parks and Recreation portrayal of a 2016 victory ===
The episode "Ron and Jammy" in the seventh season of the sitcom Parks and Recreation (broadcast in early 2015) portrays the Cubs as having won the 2016 World Series, with a line in that episode mentioning such a victory. Michael Schur (co-creator of the show) took credit for this line. After the World Series, he recalled the prediction as having been informed by observations that promising talent in the Cubs' Minor League Baseball farm system put the team in a position to be competitive in 2016 despite having had a poor 2014 season. In an interview following the World Series, Schur remarked, It’s not like I was only person who thought the Cubs were going to be good. [In 2014], every baseball writer in America knew the Cubs were going to be good [in 2016]. I can’t emphasize enough how little credit I feel like I should take for that prediction.
== Aftermath ==
This was the last World Series to have home-field advantage determined by the league winner of the All-Star Game. Since 2017, home-field advantage has been determined by best regular-season record.
This is the most recent World Series not to feature a team from Texas or California.
In February 2024, MLB Network aired a special live commentary of Game 7 with managers Joe Maddon and Terry Francona, and with Bob Costas and Tom Verducci moderating. Later that year, Amazon Prime spotlighted the 2016 World Series in their documentary series 'Game 7'.
=== Cubs ===
While the 2015–2020 Cubs had the greatest sustained run of success since the dead-ball era, the Cubs only reached one World Series during those six seasons. The 2017 Cubs returned to the NLCS, but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games. In 2018, the Cubs finished tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the division, but lost the tie-breaker game and were relegated to the 2018 NL Wild Card Game against the Colorado Rockies, which the Cubs also lost. They failed to qualify in the postseason in 2019 and were upset by the Miami Marlins in 2020. The Cubs appeared set to return to the postseason in 2023, but they lost five of their last six games and lost the last wild card spot to the Marlins by one game, despite having their first winning record since 2020. They did not return to the postseason until the 2025 season.
In addition, the Cubs' 2016 championship core slowly moved on over the course of the next few years:
Dexter Fowler signed with the rival St. Louis Cardinals during the 2016–17 off-season.
In the same off-season, Aroldis Chapman returned to the New York Yankees by signing the largest contract ever for a relief pitcher.
At the 2016 Winter Meetings, Jorge Soler and Travis Wood were traded to the Kansas City Royals for All-Star closer Wade Davis, effectively replacing Chapman. Mike Montgomery, the man who recorded the last out of the World Series, was also traded to Kansas City in 2019.
Game 7 was also the last game for fan favorite David Ross, who retired. After the 2019 season, Ross replaced Joe Maddon as Cubs manager after Maddon mutually parted ways with the club after five seasons in Chicago.
Miguel Montero was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during the 2017 season, due to the emergence of Willson Contreras and a dispute about playing time.
The 2017 season turned out to be John Lackey's last season, as he retired. In the 2017–18 offseason, Jake Arrieta signed a free-agent contact with the Philadelphia Phillies, though Arrieta would later return to the team in 2021.
After a serious abuse allegation made by his ex-wife, Addison Russell's career came to an abrupt end after he was non-tendered by the Cubs following the 2019 season. Additionally, World Series MVP Ben Zobrist retired after 2019 after his own marital problems as well.
Theo Epstein announced that he would step down from his role with the Cubs as President of Baseball Operations, effective November 20, 2020. He was replaced in his position by general manager Jed Hoyer and the Cubs hired Carter Hawkins as their new general manager. A few weeks later, the Cubs non-tendered Kyle Schwarber in a controversial move to cut cost. Later in the off-season, Schwarber and Jon Lester signed one-year free agent contracts with the Washington Nationals. The move to cut Schwarber proved to be ill-advised, as he became one of the premier power hitters of the decade.
By the 2021 trade deadline, the Cubs had fully committed to a re-build, as established players such as Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez were traded away for young players and prospects. Rizzo would be traded to the Yankees, Bryant went to the Giants, and Baez went to the Mets. Many fans and media drew a comparison with the 2016 Cubs to the 1986 New York Mets, as both teams had a young core when they won a World Series, both had staged thrilling comebacks to win their respective World Series in seven games, and both seemed to have further potential that ended up not materializing. Following the departure of Kyle Hendricks after the 2024 season, no players remained from the Cubs' 2016 World Series team.
=== Indians ===
2016 was also the high point for the Indians. The 2017 Indians won 22 straight games—the second-longest winning streak in major-league history—on their way to a 102–60 record and AL Central title. During their 22-game win streak, they were nicknamed "WIndians" by fans and media. However, their near record winning streak did not translate into postseason success, as they lost to the New York Yankees in five games in the ALDS after taking a 2–0 series lead. The Indians won their division again in 2018, but were swept by the Houston Astros in the ALDS.
During the 2020–21 off-season, the Indians traded star shortstop Francisco Lindor, along with longtime rotation stalwart Carlos Carrasco, to the New York Mets. The final player from Cleveland's 2016 roster to remain with the team had been José Ramírez.
This was the team's final World Series appearance with the Indians nickname, as they changed their nickname to Guardians in 2022.
After the loss, the Indians became the team with the longest World Series title drought as well as the second longest championship drought in North American sports, which stood at 68 years, and is now 76 years. The only team of the four major North American leagues to have a longer championship drought are the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals, who won their last championship in 1947, as the Chicago Cardinals, a year before Cleveland's last World Series title.
== In popular culture ==
The final game of the World Series is a plot point in the fourth episode of the second season of the sitcom Not Dead Yet (aired in 2024). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Demme | Jonathan Demme | Robert Jonathan Demme ( DEM-ee; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. His career of directing, producing, and screenwriting spanned more than 30 years and 70 feature films, documentaries, and television productions. In addition to being an Academy Award and a Directors Guild of America Award winner, he received nominations for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Independent Spirit Awards.
Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film Caged Heat, before becoming known for his casually humanist films such as Melvin and Howard (1980), Swing Shift (1984), Something Wild (1986), and Married to the Mob (1988). His 1991 psychological horror film The Silence of the Lambs, based on the novel of the same title, won five Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Picture.
His subsequent films earned similar acclaim, notably the HIV/AIDS-themed drama Philadelphia (1993), the supernatural Gothic horror Beloved (1998), the conspiracy thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), and the independent drama Rachel Getting Married (2008). Demme also directed numerous concert films such as Stop Making Sense (1984), Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006), and Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016), and worked on several television series as both a producer and director. Stop Making Sense, The Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia have been inducted into the National Film Registry
== Early life ==
Demme was born on February 22, 1944, in Baldwin, New York, the son of Dorothy Louise (née Rogers) and Robert Eugene Demme, a public relations executive. He was raised in Rockville Centre, New York and Miami, where he graduated from Southwest Miami High School before attending the University of Florida.
== Career ==
=== Early films ===
Demme broke into feature film working for exploitation film producer Roger Corman early in his career, co-writing and producing Angels Hard as They Come (1971), a motorcycle movie very loosely based on Rashomon, and The Hot Box (1972). He then moved on to directing three films for Corman's studio New World Pictures: Caged Heat (1974), Crazy Mama (1975), and Fighting Mad (1976). After Fighting Mad, Demme directed the comedy film Handle with Care (originally titled Citizens Band, 1977) for Paramount Pictures. The film was well received by critics, but received little promotion, and performed poorly at the box office. He also directed a 1978 episode of Columbo.
Demme's next film, Melvin and Howard (1980), did not get a wide release, but received a groundswell of critical acclaim and film award recognition, including Academy Award nominations, winning two of its three nominations (Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Mary Steenburgen, and Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay – Bo Goldman). This acclaim led to the signing of Demme to direct the Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell star vehicle Swing Shift (1984). Intended as a prestige picture for Warner Bros. as well as a major commercial vehicle for Demme, it instead became a troubled production due to the conflicting visions of Demme and star Hawn. Demme ended up renouncing the finished product, and when the film was released in May 1984, it was generally panned by critics and neglected by moviegoers. After Swing Shift, Demme stepped back from Hollywood to make the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense (also 1984) which won the National Society of Film Critics Award for best documentary; the eclectic screwball action-romantic comedy Something Wild (1986); a film-version of the stage production Swimming to Cambodia (1987), by monologist Spalding Gray; and the New York Mafia-by-way-of Downtown comedy Married to the Mob (1988).
Demme formed his production company, Clinica Estetico, with producers Edward Saxon and Peter Saraf in 1987. They were based out of New York City for fifteen years.
=== Later films ===
Demme won the Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs (1991)—one of only three films to win all the major categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress). Inspired by his friend Juan Suárez Botas's illness with AIDS and fueled by his own moral convictions, Demme then used his influence to make Philadelphia (1993), one of the first major films to address the AIDS crisis and which garnered star Tom Hanks his first Best Actor Oscar. He also co-directed (with his nephew Ted) the music video for Bruce Springsteen's Best Song Oscar-winning "Streets of Philadelphia" from the film's soundtrack. Jonathan used several of the same actors for both movies.
Subsequently, his films included an adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved (1998), and remakes of two films from the 1960s: The Truth About Charlie (2002), based on Charade, that starred Mark Wahlberg in the Cary Grant role; and The Manchurian Candidate (2004), with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep. Demme's documentary film Man from Plains (2007), a documentary about former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's promotional tour publicizing his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival.
His art-house hit Rachel Getting Married (2008) was compared by many critics to Demme's films of the late 1970s and 1980s. It was included in many 2008 "best of" lists, and received numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress by lead Anne Hathaway. In 2010, Demme made his first foray into theater, directing Family Week, a play by Beth Henley. The play was produced by MCC Theater and co-starred Rosemarie DeWitt and Kathleen Chalfant.
At one time, Demme was signed on to direct, produce, and write an adaptation of Stephen King's sci-fi novel 11/22/63, but later left the project due to disagreements with King on what should be included in the script.
He returned to the concert documentary format with Justin Timberlake + the Tennessee Kids (2016), which he described as a "performance film, but also a portrait of an artist at a certain moment in the arc of his career", and his last project was a history of rock & roll for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame compiled from footage from Hall of Fame induction ceremonies set to debut in summer 2017.
Demme directed music videos for artists such as Suburban Lawns, New Order, KRS-One's H.E.A.L. project and Bruce Springsteen. He also produced a compilation of Haitian music called Konbit: Burning Rhythms of Haiti that was released in 1989. (Lou Reed selected Konbit... as one of his 'picks of 1989').
Demme was on the board of directors at Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York. In addition to his role on the board, he curated and hosted a monthly series called Rarely Seen Cinema.
== Style ==
Throughout 1986–2004, Demme was known for his dramatic close-ups in films. This style of close-ups involves the character looking directly into the camera during crucial moments. According to Demme, this was done to put the viewer into the character's shoes. Beginning with Rachel Getting Married (2008), Demme adopted a documentary style of filmmaking.
He was known for his use of recurring supporting players, including Charles Napier, Harry Northup, Tracey Walter, Ann Dowd, LisaGay Hamilton, Kimberly Elise, Paul Lazar, Ron Vawter, Dean Stockwell, Obba Babatundé, Ted Levine, Paul Le Mat, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Robards, Scott Glenn, and his former producer Roger Corman, as well as casting musicians and bands in roles. These included Sister Carol, Chris Isaak, Tunde Adebimpe, the Feelies, Charles Aznavour, Steve Scales, the Flirtations, Manno Charlemagne, Bernie Worrell, David Johansen, Beau Sia, Q Lazzarus, Robyn Hitchcock, and Rick Springfield. In addition to Corman, Demme cast a number of other fellow directors in cameos, including John Sayles, Agnès Varda, George A. Romero, Sidney Lumet, and John Waters. Many of these performers received opening credits billing in films they appeared in, despite sometimes having only one or two lines.
Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson has paid homage to Demme in his films and has cited him as a major influence in his work. In an interview, Anderson jokingly stated that the three filmmakers who inspired him the most are "Jonathan Demme, Jonathan Demme and Jonathan Demme." Other directors such as Alexander Payne and Wes Anderson have been known to be inspired by his close-ups in their own work.
== Political activism ==
Demme was involved in various political projects. In 1981, he directed a series of commercials for the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way. The spots, titled "Eggs", "Music", and "Sports", were produced by Norman Lear and featured Muhammad Ali, Carol Burnett, and Goldie Hawn celebrating Freedom of Expression. In 1985, he directed a video for Artists United Against Apartheid. The short, featured various international musicians including Afrika Bambaataa, Rubén Blades, Jimmy Cliff, Herbie Hancock, Little Steven, Run–D.M.C., and Bruce Springsteen, calling for a boycott of the South African luxury resort Sun City during Apartheid. His documentary Haiti Dreams of Democracy (1988) captured Haiti's era of democratic rebuilding after dictatorship, while his documentary The Agronomist (2008) profiled Haitian journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique. Demme spent six years on the documentary I'm Carolyn Parker (2011), which highlighted rebuilding efforts in New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina.
== Personal life ==
Demme was married twice. His first marriage to Evelyn Purcell ended in divorce. In 1987, he married artist Joanne Howard, with whom he had three children. He was the uncle of film director Ted Demme, who died in 2002. Demme's cousin was the Rev. Robert Wilkinson Castle Jr., an Episcopal priest who appeared in some of Demme's films.
Demme was a member of the steering committee of the Friends of the Apollo Theater, Oberlin, Ohio, along with Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman. In 2013, he returned to Oberlin as part of an alumni reunion during the class of 2013 graduation ceremony and received the award for Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts.
In 2009, Demme signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges, which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects."
Demme was an avid collector and devotee of Haitian art, in particular of Hector Hyppolite - so much so that he called it "an addiction". In 2014, he held an auction in Philadelphia selling thousands from his collection, much of which was donated to a cultural center in Port-au-Prince.
== Death ==
Demme died at his home in Manhattan on April 26, 2017, from complications from esophageal cancer and heart disease; he was 73.
"I am heart-broken to lose a friend, a mentor, a guy so singular and dynamic you'd have to design a hurricane to contain him. Jonathan was as quirky as his comedies and as deep as his dramas. He was pure energy, the unstoppable cheerleader for anyone creative. Just as passionate about music as he was about art, he was and will always be a champion of the soul. JD, most beloved, something wild, brother of love, director of the lambs. Love that guy. Love him so much."
Director Brady Corbet dedicated his 2018 film Vox Lux to Demme's memory, as did Luca Guadagnino with his 2018 film Suspiria and Paul Thomas Anderson with his 2017 film Phantom Thread starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Demme is thanked in the credits of Spike Lee's 2020 concert film American Utopia starring David Byrne. The album A Beginner's Mind by musicians Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine is dedicated to Demme, with one of its songs, "Cimmerian Shade", mentioning him and referencing The Silence of the Lambs within its lyrics.
== Filmography ==
== Awards and nominations ==
Directed Academy Award Performances |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_England_Magazine | The New England Magazine | The New England Magazine was a monthly literary magazine published in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1884 to 1917. It was known as The Bay State Monthly from 1884 to 1886.
The magazine was published by J. N. McClinctock and Company.
The magazine has no connection to the 1830s publication The New-England Magazine. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinne_Bailey_Rae_discography | Corinne Bailey Rae discography | English singer and songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae has released four studio albums, one live album, four extended plays, 13 singles (including five as a featured artist), one promotional single and 13 music videos.
Rae released her eponymous debut album in February 2006. It debuted atop the UK Albums Chart, while reaching the top five in Ireland and the United States, and the top 10 in Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland. Corinne Bailey Rae was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over four million copies worldwide. The album spawned four singles, including "Put Your Records On", which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.
Rae's second studio album, The Sea, was released in January 2010, reaching number five on the UK Albums Chart, number seven on the US Billboard 200 and number 13 on the Canadian Albums Chart. It was later certified gold by the BPI. The album was promoted by three singles: "I'd Do It All Again", "Paris Nights/New York Mornings" and "Closer". In May 2016, Rae released her third studio album, The Heart Speaks in Whispers, which peaked at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart.
== Albums ==
=== Studio albums ===
=== Live albums ===
== Extended plays ==
== Singles ==
=== As lead artist ===
=== As featured artist ===
=== Promotional singles ===
== Other charted songs ==
== Guest appearances ==
== Music videos == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Keyes | Marian Keyes | Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish author and radio presenter who is best known for her popular fiction.
Keyes became known for her novels Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Anybody Out There, and This Charming Man, that cover themes including alcoholism, depression, addiction, cancer, bereavement, and domestic violence through a humorous lens. More than 35 million copies of her novels have been sold, and her works have been translated into 33 languages.
== Early life and education ==
Marian Keyes was born in Ireland, one of five siblings, and raised in Cork. There was a history of alcoholism in her family, and her struggles with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism reportedly began at an early age.
She graduated from University College Dublin with a law degree, and after completing her studies, she took an administrative job before moving to London in 1986. During this period, she became an alcoholic and was affected by clinical depression, culminating in a suicide attempt and subsequent rehabilitation in 1995 at the Rutland Centre in Dublin. She later said that she was distracted from her suicide attempt by an episode of Come Dine With Me; husband and assistant Tony defused the drama by saying, "let's see how you feel when we've finished watching it". She has noted this interaction as the beginning of her recovery from depression.
== Career ==
Keyes began writing short stories while suffering from alcoholism. After her treatment at the Rutland Centre, she returned to her job in London and submitted her short stories to Poolbeg Press. The publisher encouraged her to submit a full-length novel, and Keyes began work on her first book, Watermelon. The novel was published the same year. Since 1995, she has published many novels and works of non-fiction.
Keyes has written frankly about her clinical depression, which left her unable to sleep, read, write, or talk. After a long hiatus due to severe depression, a food title, Saved by Cake, was published in February 2012. Keyes' depressive period lasted about four years. During this time, she also wrote The Mystery of Mercy Close, a novel in which the heroine experiences similar battles with depression and suicide attempts as those Keyes herself experienced.
In 2019, the National Library of Ireland announced that the Keyes digital archive for her novel The Mystery of Mercy Close would be acquired by the library as a pilot project for collecting "born-digital" archives.
== Style ==
Although many of her novels are known as comedies, they revolve around dark themes, often drawn from Keyes's own experiences, including domestic violence, drug abuse, mental illness, divorce and alcoholism. Keyes considers herself a feminist, and has chosen to reflect feminist issues in many of her books.
Keyes' stories usually revolve around a strong female character who overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve lasting happiness. Regarding her decision to use an optimistic tone and hopeful ending, Keyes has said: "I'm very bleak, really melancholic. But I've always used humour as a survival mechanism. I write for me and I need to feel hopeful about the human condition. So no way I'm going to write a downbeat ending. And it isn't entirely ludicrous to suggest that sometimes things might work out for the best."
Critics recognise Keyes's writing as tackling difficult subjects in a relatable fashion. As told to The Irish Times by another Irish author: "It’s a rare gift....The only other writer I can think of who writes so hilariously and movingly about serious subjects was the late, great Sue Townsend."
== Views ==
During her appearance on Desert Island Discs in March 2017, Keyes told the host that "[by] conditioning women to think that what they find empowering or valuable is worth less than what men consider to be worthwhile, women are prevented from reaching for parity and the gender gap in power and money between men and women is kept in the favour of men".
In an interview with The Irish Times in 2017, Keyes announced that she suspected "gender bias" to be at play when it comes to the recognition of women writers. She said that, despite her perceived success and acclaim, male writers with less commercial success were held in higher regard. "Do you remember in the early noughties when a lot of Irish women writers like Cathy Kelly, Sheila O'Flanagan, Cecelia Ahern were selling all over the world? I don’t feel that was celebrated enough." She went on to "wonder" that "if a group of young Irish men around the same age had been selling in huge numbers", before concluding: "I really think it would not have passed unremarked." Similarly, Keyes has rejected the term "chick lit." During a Q&A in 2014 with Canada's Chatelaine magazine, when asked how she feels about the term, Keyes claimed that "it's meant to be belittling. It's as if it's saying, 'Oh you silly girls, with your pinkness and shoes, how will you ever run the world?' But as I’ve matured (haha) I’ve realised that I'm very proud of what I write about and I know that the books I write bring happiness and comfort to people". At an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2020, Keyes rejected the term chick lit as dismissive and sexist, as men writing similar fiction are not described as "dick lit".
== Awards ==
Keyes has received a number of awards. In 2009, her novel, This Charming Man, was awarded Irish Popular Fiction Book by Irish Book Awards. She received two additional awards from Irish Book Awards: Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year for the novel, Making It Up As I Go Along, in 2016, and Author of the Year in 2021.
== Personal life ==
As of 2022 Keyes was living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony Baines, whom she first met on his 30th birthday after returning to Ireland from Hampstead in 1997.
In March 2017, Keyes was a guest castaway for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her favourite track was "You Have Been Loved" by George Michael. She revealed that she had battled constant suicidal urges at the height of her mental illness. During her appearance on the show, Keyes also told host Kirsty Young that in spite of all her efforts to treat her depression, including cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, mindfulness, hospitalisation and diets, what finally healed her was time: "It was an illness and it ran its course." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dapsone | Dapsone | Dapsone, also known as 4,4'-sulfonyldianiline (SDA) or diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DDS), is an antibiotic commonly used in combination with rifampicin and clofazimine for the treatment of leprosy. It is a second-line medication for the treatment and prevention of pneumocystis pneumonia and for the prevention of toxoplasmosis in those who have poor immune function. Additionally, it has been used for acne, dermatitis herpetiformis, and various other skin conditions. Dapsone is available both topically and by mouth.
Severe side effects may include a decrease in blood cells, red blood cell breakdown especially in those with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G-6-PD), or hypersensitivity. Common side effects include nausea and loss of appetite. Other side effects include liver inflammation, methemoglobinemia, and a number of types of skin rashes. While the safety of use during pregnancy is not entirely clear some physicians recommend that it be continued in those with leprosy. It is of the sulfone class.
Dapsone was first studied as an antibiotic in 1937. Its use for leprosy began in 1945. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. The form, which is taken by mouth, is available as a generic drug and not very expensive.
== Medical uses ==
=== Infections ===
Dapsone is commonly used in combination with rifampicin and clofazimine for the treatment of leprosy. It is also used to both treat and prevent pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). It is also used for toxoplasmosis in people unable to tolerate trimethoprim with sulfamethoxazole.
Dapsone by mouth was one of the first medications used to treat moderate to severe acne vulgaris, and is still occasionally prescribed for the treatment of severe cases. A topical form of dapsone is also effective with potentially less side effects.
It is unclear if the combination with pyrimethamine is useful in the prevention of malaria.
=== Autoimmune disease ===
Cutaneous lupus erythematosus. Dapsone is effective and safe in persons with moderate, severe, or refractory cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. Dapsone is effective and safe for adjunctive glucocorticoid-sparing treatment of persons with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and is preferred over danazol or interferon alpha in those people with antinuclear antibodies.
Chronic spontaneous urticaria. Dapsone is effective and safe for treatment of second-line therapy for people with chronic spontaneous urticaria in those for whom antihistamines and other first-line agents have failed.
Relapsing polychondritis. There are no clinical trials but there are many case reports that dapsone is effective at doses of 25 mg/day to 200 mg/day for treatment of relapsing polychondritis.
=== Other ===
Dermatitis herpetiformis in combination with a gluten-free diet.
Dapsone may be used to treat brown recluse spider bites that become necrotic.
Dapsone is the recommended treatment for erythema elevatum diutinum, as a review found that using oral dapsone alone was effective in 80% of early cases of the disease. However, dapsone can potentially cause severe side effects, meaning that sometimes steroids or other antibiotics should be used instead, although these alternative treatments are much less effective.
An August 2015 review notes that dapsone is reported to be effective against generalized granuloma annulare.
Dapsone has been used as a monomer in the design of dye adsorbent polymers.
== Contraindications and precautions ==
People with porphyria, anemia, cardiac disease, lung disease, HIV infection, G6PD deficiency, and liver impairment are at higher risks of adverse effects when using dapsone.
== Adverse effects ==
Hypersensitivity reactions occur in 1.4% of persons treated with dapsone, and can be fatal in medical settings with low resources. It is a form of severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) in which a SCARs disorder, primarily the DRESS syndrome or a DRESS syndrome-like reaction occurs.
=== Blood ===
Hemolysis is the most prominent side-effect, occurring in about 20 % of patients treated with dapsone, although it is dose-related. It may lead to hemolytic anemia and methemoglobinemia. The side-effect is more common and severe in those with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, leading to the dapsone-containing antimalarial combination Lapdap being withdrawn from clinical use. A case of hemolysis in a neonate from dapsone in breast milk has been reported. Agranulocytosis occurs rarely when dapsone is used alone but more frequently in combination regimens for malaria prophylaxis. Abnormalities in white blood cell formation, including aplastic anemia, are rare, yet are the cause of the majority of deaths attributable to dapsone therapy.
Methemoglobinemia occurs in about 15 % of patients treated with long-term dapsone at standard doses (100 mg/day). Only special multi-wavelength oximeters (CO-oximeters) can detect methemoglobinemia directly. When there is a "saturation gap" between a low ordinary pulse oximeter reading and a high arterial blood gas analysis result, methemoglobinemia may be suspected.
=== Liver ===
Toxic hepatitis and cholestatic jaundice have been reported by the manufacturer. These toxic reactions may also occur as part of the dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome (a form of SCARs-see above) or dapsone syndrome (see below). Dapsone is metabolized by the Cytochrome P450 system, specifically isozymes CYP2D6, CYP2B6, CYP3A4, and CYP2C19. Dapsone metabolites produced by the cytochrome P450 2C19 isozyme are associated with the methemoglobinemia side effect of the drug.
=== Skin ===
When used topically, dapsone can cause mild skin irritation, redness, dry skin, burning, and itching. When used together with benzoyl peroxide products, temporary yellow or orange skin discolorations can occur.
=== Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome ===
Hypersensitivity reactions occur in some patients. This reaction may be more frequent in patients receiving multiple-drug therapy.
The reaction always involves a rash, may also include fever, jaundice, and eosinophilia, and is likely to be one manifestation of the SCARs reaction viz., the DRESS syndrome (see above). In general, these symptoms will occur within the first six weeks of therapy or not at all, and may be ameliorated by corticosteroid therapy.
=== Other adverse effects ===
Other adverse effects include nausea, headache, and rash (which are common), and insomnia, psychosis, and peripheral neuropathy. Effects on the lung occur rarely and may be serious, though are generally reversible.
== Mechanism of action ==
As an antibacterial, dapsone inhibits bacterial synthesis of dihydrofolic acid, via competition with para-aminobenzoate for the active site of dihydropteroate synthase, thereby inhibiting nucleic acid synthesis. Though structurally distinct from dapsone, the sulfonamide group of antibacterial drugs also work in this way.
As an anti-inflammatory, dapsone inhibits the myeloperoxidase-H2O2-halide-mediated cytotoxic system in polymorphonucleocytes. As part of the respiratory burst that neutrophils use to kill bacteria, myeloperoxidase converts hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into hypochlorous acid (HOCl). HOCl is the most potent oxidant generated by neutrophils, and can cause significant tissue damage during inflammation. Dapsone arrests myeloperoxidase in an inactive intermediate form, reversibly inhibiting the enzyme. This prevents accumulation of hypochlorous acid, and reduces tissue damage during inflammation. Myeloperoxidase inhibition has also been suggested as a neuron-sparing mechanism for reducing inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
Dapsone's anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects are thought to be its mechanism of action in treating dermatitis herpetiformis.
Dapsone is an odorless white to creamy-white crystalline powder with a slightly bitter taste.
== History ==
=== Discovery ===
In the early 20th century, the German chemist Paul Ehrlich was developing theories of selective toxicity based largely on the ability of certain dyes to kill microbes. Gerhard Domagk, who would later win a Nobel Prize for his efforts, made a major breakthrough in 1932 with the discovery of the antibacterial prontosil red (sulfonamidochrysoidine). Further investigation into the involved chemicals opened the way to sulfa drug and sulfone therapy, first with the discovery of sulfanilamide, the active agent of prontosil, by Daniel Bovet and his team at Pasteur Institute (1935), then with that of dapsone independently by Ernest Fourneau in France and Gladwin Buttle in the United Kingdom.
=== Proposed use in antimalarial drugs ===
The spread of drug-resistant malaria in Africa has encouraged the development of new, low-cost antimalarial drugs. Plasmodium falciparum, one of the Plasmodium species that causes malaria, has developed resistance both to chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, two of the most common treatments for malaria. Artemisinin, another antimalarial drug, had been developed in the 1980s but was too expensive for large-scale use. This led GlaxoSmithKline to develop Lapdap, a combination drug consisting of chlorproguanil and dapsone. Lapdap was licensed in the United Kingdom starting in October 2003.
One advantage of Lapdap was that chlorproguanil and dapsone are both low-cost drugs. Another was that by virtue of being a combination drug, it was less likely to cause drug resistance. However, because dapsone causes hemolytic anemia in patients with G6PD deficiency, and because G6PD deficiency affects 10-25% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, it was discovered that Lapdap is not safe for use in Africa. It was available in many African countries for four years before GlaxoSmithKline took it off the market in February 2008.
=== Dapsone gel ===
Dapsone had been reported in a few cases to effectively treat acne, but the risk of hemolytic anemia kept it from being widely used for this purpose. For many years scientists attempted to develop a topical formulation of dapsone that would be as effective against acne as oral dapsone, but without the hemolysis side effect. This was difficult to accomplish because dapsone is highly insoluble in aqueous solvents. In the early 2000s QLT USA developed Aczone, a 5% dapsone gel that was shown to be effective against acne without causing clinically significant declines in hemoglobin levels, even in subjects with G6PD deficiency. In February 2016, the FDA approved a 7.5% dapsone gel. This higher strength has the advantage of a once-daily application, versus twice-daily application of the 5% formulation.
== Other uses ==
4,4-Diaminodiphenyl sulfone also finds uses as a curing agent for materials like epoxy resins and imine-based vitrimers, applications include in printed circuit boards, adhesives and coatings. Its use in epoxy systems typically give a resin with a high glass-transition temperature. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_Kanchenjunga_expedition | 1905 Kanchenjunga expedition | The 1905 Kanchenjunga expedition was a Himalayan mountaineering expedition aimed to climb to the summit of the third-highest mountain in the world, Kangchenjunga, which would ultimately only be achieved in 1955.
The expedition was an idea of the Swiss doctor and photographer Jules Jacot-Guillarmod. In April 1905 he proposed his plans to the British occultist Aleister Crowley, with whom he had participated in Oscar Eckenstein's K2 expedition in 1902. Crowley agreed to join the expedition because as the climbing leader he would have the opportunity to break the altitude record. The record at the time was held by either William Woodman Graham, Emil Boss and Ulrich Kaufmann on Kabru (7,315 m), a widely contested, but possibly accurate claim, or Matthias Zurbriggen on Aconcagua (6,962 m).
Jacot-Guillarmod recruited two of his countrymen, Alexis Pache and Charles-Adolphe Reymond, while Crowley recruited his hotelkeeper in Darjeeling, the young Italian Alcesti C. Rigo de Righi, as transport officer. On July 31 the five left with three Kashmiri servants (who had been in the K2 expedition as well), and about 230 local porters. Armed with Douglas Freshfield's map of the range and Vittorio Sella's pictures, created during a circumnavigation of the massif in 1899, Crowley planned to climb the southwest face of Kanchenjunga over the Yalung Glacier. When Camp IV was made above this glacier, the team had fallen apart: Jacot-Guillarmod especially was shocked by Crowley's arrogant behavior and brutal treatment of the (barefooted) porters. Camp V was still made around 6,200 m, and on September 1, Crowley, Pache, Reymond and a group of porters made it to about 6,500 m before a small avalanche forced a nervous retreat. In his autobiography, Crowley claimed they reached about 25,000 feet or 7,620 m and claimed to have held the altitude record until the 1922 British Mount Everest expedition reached 8,320 m.
The next day Jacot-Guillarmod and De Righi attempted to depose Crowley from expedition leadership. The argument could not be settled, and Jacot-Guillarmod, De Righi, and Pache decided to retreat from Camp V to Camp III. At 5 pm they left with four porters on a single rope, but a fall precipitated an avalanche that killed three porters as well as Alexis Pache. People in Camp V heard "frantic cries" and Reymond immediately descended to help, but Crowley stayed in his tent. That evening he wrote a letter to a Darjeeling newspaper stating that he had advised against the descent and that "a mountain 'accident' of this sort is one of the things for which I have no sympathy whatever". The next day Crowley passed the site of the accident without pausing nor speaking to the survivors and left on his own to Darjeeling, where he took the expedition funds, which mostly had been paid by Jacot-Guillarmod. The latter would get at least some of his money back after threatening to make public some of Crowley's pornographic poetry.
The 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition was the first to succeed in reaching the summit, starting off on the same route as pioneered in 1905. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger | In-N-Out Burger | In-N-Out Burgers, doing business as In-N-Out Burger, is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and to a lesser extent the West Coast and Southwest. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006). The chain is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has expanded outside Southern California into the rest of California, as well as into Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, and Tennessee, and is planning expansion into New Mexico. The current owner is Lynsi Snyder, the Snyders' only grandchild.
As the chain has expanded, it has opened several distribution centers in addition to its original Baldwin Park location. The new facilities, located in Lathrop, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Draper, Utah; Dallas, Texas; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, will provide for potential future expansion into other parts of the country.
In-N-Out Burger has chosen not to franchise its operations or go public; one reason is the prospect of food quality or customer consistency being compromised by excessively rapid business growth. The In-N-Out restaurant chain has developed a highly loyal customer base, and has been rated as one of the top fast food restaurants in several customer satisfaction surveys.
== History ==
=== First generation ===
In-N-Out Burger's first location was opened in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by the Snyders at the southwest corner of what is now the intersection of Interstate 10 and Francisquito Avenue. The restaurant was the first drive-thru hamburger stand in California, allowing drivers to place orders via a two-way speaker system. This was a new and unique idea, since in post-World War II California, carhops were used to take orders and serve food.
In 1951, a second In-N-Out was opened in Covina, California, west of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Arrow Highway. The company remained a relatively small Southern California chain until the 1970s. The Snyders managed their first restaurants closely to ensure quality was maintained. The chain had 18 restaurants when Harry Snyder died in 1976, at the age of 63.
=== Second generation ===
In 1976, 24-year-old Rich Snyder became the company president after his father's death. Along with his brother Guy, Rich had begun working in his father's In-N-Outs at an early age. Over the next 20 years, the chain experienced a period of rapid growth under Rich's leadership, expanding to 93 restaurants. In June 1988, In-N-Out opened its 50th location, in Thousand Palms, California.
The first location outside of the Los Angeles metropolitan area opened in San Diego County in 1990, the 57th location in the chain. In 1992, In-N-Out opened its first non-Southern California restaurant, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its first Northern California location opened the following year in Modesto. Expansion then spread to Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, while additional Las Vegas-area restaurants were added. After opening the 93rd In-N-Out store in Fresno, California, on December 15, 1993, Rich Snyder and four other passengers died in a plane crash on approach to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
Upon Rich Snyder's death, Guy Snyder assumed the presidency in January 1994 and continued the company's aggressive expansion until he died from an overdose of painkillers in 1999. Under his leadership, In-N-Out's 100th location was opened in Gilroy, California on November 10, 1994. He was president for nearly six years, expanding In-N-Out from 93 to 140 locations. His mother Esther subsequently took over the presidency.
=== 21st century ===
With Esther Snyder's death in 2006 at the age of 86, the presidency passed to Mark Taylor, former vice president of operations. Taylor became the company's fifth president and first non-family member to hold the position, although he did have ties to the family. The company's current heiress is Lynsi Snyder, daughter of Guy and only grandchild of Esther and Harry Snyder. Snyder, who was 23 years old and known as Lynsi Martinez at her grandmother's death, owns the company through a trust. She gained control of 50% of the company in 2012 when she turned 30, and nearly full control at 35 in May 2017.
After participating in various roles in the company, Snyder assumed the presidency in 2010, becoming the company's sixth president. However, most major decisions are made by a seven-member executive team. Snyder does not intend to franchise nor sell and plans to pass on ownership of the company to her children.
In 2018, In-N-Out donated $25,000 to the California Republican Party. In 2021, it donated $40,000. In-N-Out COO Mark Taylor and his wife, Traci, have donated to Donald Trump's presidential campaigns. On January 24, 2024, In-N-Out announced the closure of its only store in Oakland, California, due to safety concerns related to crime, marking the first time in its 75-year history that the company has shut down a location.
=== Expansion ===
The company opened locations in Arizona in 2000 and added new restaurants in Reno, Sparks, and Carson City, Nevada, in late 2004. In-N-Out became a huge success in these new locations. In late December 2005, In-N-Out's 200th location was opened in Temecula, California. In 2007, it opened its first restaurant in Tucson, Arizona. The store opening broke company records for the most burgers sold in one day and the most sold in one week.
In 2008, In-N-Out expanded into a fourth state by opening a location in Washington, Utah, a suburb of St. George. By late 2009, the chain expanded into northern Utah with three new locations situated in Draper, American Fork, and Orem. More locations opened in the spring of 2010 in West Valley City, West Jordan, Centerville, and Riverton. In 2013, In-N-Out opened a distribution center in Las Vegas to serve mountain area restaurants.
In May 2010, In-N-Out announced plans to open new spots into Texas, specifically within the Dallas–Fort Worth area with the first In-N-Out opening in Frisco and Allen on May 11, 2011. The chain opened its first location in Austin in December 2013. There are 18 restaurant locations in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and four in the Austin area. These new locations in Texas required the company to build a new patty production facility and distribution center in the state, according to company vice president Carl Van Fleet. In March 2014, the company confirmed its first location in San Antonio. The fall of 2014 saw the restaurant open its 22nd Texas location in Killeen. On November 20, 2014, In-N-Out opened its first location in San Antonio followed by its first location in Waco in November 2015. In January 2017, In-N-Out announced plans to expand into Houston with multiple sites planned in the area, the first being in Stafford.
In January 2015, In-N-Out opened its 300th restaurant, which was located in Anaheim, California. At the time of the opening, the company had generated $558 million in annual sales and employed nearly 18,000 in California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Arizona. The company opened its first location in Oregon on September 9, 2015 (the same day as Harry Snyder's birthday) in Medford. It is supplied from the Lathrop, California, distribution center completed in 2006. President Lynsi Snyder stated during the opening that they will continue to open new spots. A second Oregon location was under construction in Grants Pass during September 2017. On August 21, 2018, In-N-Out announced plans to open a location in the Willamette Valley in Keizer. This was the company's northernmost location.
On November 30, 2017, the company announced plans to build a production facility and distribution center in Colorado Springs, ahead of an expansion into Colorado, which is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The first Colorado locations opened in Colorado Springs and Aurora on November 20, 2020. In-N-Out received approval for a new distribution center to open in Chino, California, in 2020, taking some of the load off the long-standing Baldwin Park distribution center. The center opened later that year.
On November 24, 2020, In-N-Out signaled that it was in the early stages of opening a store in Idaho. The first store in the state opened in Meridian in December 2023. In-N-Out later expressed interest in opening additional stores in Boise and Nampa, as well as a second location in Meridian. The company pursued various locations around Portland, Oregon, which were rejected or stalled due to development issues; a location in Ridgefield, Washington, the first in Washington state, was announced in 2024. The location in Ridgefield, Washington opened on August 20, 2025, becoming the first in the state.
On January 10, 2023, Tennessee governor Bill Lee and In-N-Out president Lynsi Snyder announced that a new hub would be built in Franklin, Tennessee, to supply restaurants in the Southeast, beginning in the Nashville area. It is the company's first eastern hub and involved a $125.5 million investment. The first Nashville locations opened in December 2025. In-N-Out is planning to expand to New Mexico by 2027, with locations in Albuquerque. After expanding to New Mexico, In-N-Out will have a presence in every state in the Southwest.
== Products ==
The In-N-Out menu consists of three burger varieties: hamburger, cheeseburger, and "Double-Double" (two hamburger patties and two slices of cheese). French fries and fountain drinks are available, as well as three flavors of milkshakes. The hamburgers come with lettuce, tomato, with or without onions (the customer is asked upon ordering, and may have them fresh or grilled), and a sauce, which is called "spread" (a Thousand Island dressing variant).
There are additional named items not on the menu, but available at every In-N-Out. These variations reside on the chain's "secret menu", though the menu is accessible on the company's website. These variations include 3×3 (which has three patties and three slices of cheese), 4×4 (four patties and four slices of cheese), Neapolitan shakes, grilled cheese sandwich (consists of the same ingredients as the burgers except the meat, plus two slices of melted cheese), Protein Style (wrap with lettuce; consists of the same ingredients as the burgers except buns), and Animal Style (cooked in a thin layer of mustard, adding condiments including pickles, grilled onions, and extra spread). Animal Style fries come with two slices of melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions on top. Whole or sliced chili peppers are also available by request. Both Protein and Animal Style are house specialties that the company has trademarked because of their association with the chain.
Until 2005, In-N-Out accommodated burger orders of any size by adding patties and slices of cheese at an additional cost. A particularly famous incident involving a 100×100 (100 patties, 100 slices of cheese) occurred in 2004. Once word got out of the massive sandwich, In-N-Out management disallowed anything larger than a 4×4. One can also order what is called a "Flying Dutchman" which consists of two meat patties and two slices of cheese by itself (no bun, condiments, or vegetables).
In January 2018, In-N-Out added hot chocolate with marshmallows, the first addition to the menu in fifteen years. However, it is not the first time it has appeared on the menu; it was previously served at the restaurants in its early years during the 1950s. The cocoa powder is provided by the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.
== Store design and layout ==
The signature colors for In-N-Out are white, red, and yellow. The white is used for the buildings' exterior walls and the employees' basic uniform. Red is used for the buildings' roofs and the employees' aprons and hats. Yellow is used for the decorative band on the roof and iconic arrow in the logo. However, variations in the color scheme do occur.
The first In-N-Outs had a common design, placing the kitchen "stand" between two lanes of cars. The "front" lane is nearest the street and the "back" lane away from the street. This location design is known as a double drive-thru. A metal awning provides shade for several tables for customers desiring to park and eat, but there is no indoor dining. A walk-up window faces the parking area. These restaurants store food and supplies in a separate building, and it is not uncommon for a driver to be asked to wait a moment while employees carry supplies to the kitchen across the rear lane.
This design is a popular image on In-N-Out ads and artwork, which often shows classic cars such as 1965 Mustangs and 1968 Firebirds visiting the original restaurants. The original Covina restaurant, located on Arrow Highway west of Grand Avenue, was forced to close in the early 1990s due to re-engineering and development of the area. A modern design, drive-up/dining room restaurant was built a few hundred feet away. The replacement building was considerably larger, occupying nearly half the area of the original building's lot.
Newer In-N-Out restaurants are based on standardized templates or blueprints, which are selected based on available space and expected traffic levels. While the external appearance of its buildings may vary to meet local zoning and architectural requirements, the interior floor plan and decor in most recently constructed In-N-Out restaurants are identical. However, some restaurants are designed to stand out, such as the restaurants at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco and Westwood, Los Angeles designed by architect Stephen Kanner.A typical contemporary location has an interior layout that includes a customer service counter with registers in front of a kitchen and food preparation area. There are separate storage areas for paper goods (napkins, bags, etc.) and "dry" food goods (potatoes, buns, etc.), as well as a walk-in refrigerator for perishable goods (lettuce, cheese, spread, etc.), and a dedicated meat refrigerator for burger patties. The customer area includes an indoor dining room with a combination of booths, tables, and bar-style seating. Outside seating is usually available as well, with tables and benches. Most newer restaurants contain a one-lane drive-through.
Additional design elements are common among contemporary In-N-Out locations. Matching In-N-Out's California-inspired palm tree theme, palm trees are sometimes planted to form an "X" in front of the restaurants. This is an allusion to founder Harry Snyder's favorite movie, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which the characters look for a hidden treasure and find it under "the big W" made by four palm trees, with the middle two forming an "X".
== Advertising ==
Like other fast-food chains, In-N-Out uses roadside billboards that direct customers to the nearest location. Billboard ads display an image of the trademarked Double-Double burger. The chain uses short radio commercials, often limited to the song "In-N-Out, In-N-Out. That's what a hamburger's all about." Television commercials, which are less common, feature the hamburger's visual appeal. In-N-Out seldom uses celebrities in ads, although John Cleese and John Goodman have voiced radio spots. In the past, the Snyders also sponsored Christmas music programming with voice-overs expressing the meaning of the holiday.
In addition to commercials, In-N-Out benefits from enthusiastic fans who talk to each other. For many years, it has given customers free bumper stickers, which simply say "In-N-Out Burger" but are commonly modified to say "In-N-Out urge". The company helps devoted customers advertise its brand by selling souvenir clothing with the In-N-Out logo. Celebrity fans and free endorsements in mass media also promote the business. When Heisman Trophy winner and Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith raved about In-N-Out cheeseburgers during a press conference before the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, a senior executive said: "It does not get much better than that for us. We're kind of a small company, and we do not have any celebrity endorsers. But I think we just got the best one we could have." Huell Howser was allowed, in what is believed to be a first, to film with his television cameras inside a store for a California's Gold Special. The show also included a behind-the-scenes tour of the In-N-Out Headquarters. Gift items are sold at an In-N-Out "Company Store" near the chain's birthplace in Baldwin Park, California. A replica of the first store from 1948 was unveiled near the original site in 2014.
== Culture ==
=== Popularity ===
The restaurant has achieved popularity which has led to celebration by some when brought to new locations, and the opening of a new restaurant often becomes an event. When one opened in Scottsdale, Arizona, there was a four-hour wait for food, and news helicopters whirled above the parking lot. When the first location in the state of Colorado opened in Aurora in 2020 wait times exceeded fourteen hours and local police had to assist with traffic control.
The chain's image has also made it popular in some unusual ways. For example, In-N-Out is still considered acceptable in some areas with strong opposition to corporate food restaurants, such as McDonald's. Commercial leaders in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf district said they opposed every other fast-food chain except In-N-Out because they wanted to maintain the flavor of family-owned, decades-old businesses in the area, with one saying locals would ordinarily "be up in arms about a fast-food operation coming to Fisherman's Wharf," but "this is different." California native and Colorado Rockies player Jason Giambi would often visit In-N-Out Burger when on the West Coast with his former team, the New York Yankees. He said he tried to open an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in New York but was unsuccessful.The chain also has fans in a number of renowned chefs including Gordon Ramsay, Thomas Keller, Julia Child, Anthony Bourdain, Ina Garten, and Mario Batali. Famous London chef and restaurateur Ramsay ate In-N-Out for the first time when taping Hell's Kitchen in Los Angeles, and it soon became one of his favorite spots for take-out. Ramsay was quoted, saying about the experience: "In-N-Out burgers were extraordinary. I was so bad, I sat in the restaurant, had my double cheeseburger then minutes later I drove back round and got the same thing again to take away." Thomas Keller, a fan of In-N-Out, celebrated with In-N-Out burgers at the anniversary party of his restaurant, The French Laundry. Keller also plans on opening his own burger restaurant inspired by his Los Angeles experience of In-N-Out. Julia Child, one of the first celebrities to champion the chain, admitted to knowing every location of the restaurant between Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Child also had the burgers delivered to her during a hospital stay. Anthony Bourdain reportedly said that In-N-Out was his favorite fast food meal, later naming the restaurant as "the best restaurant in Los Angeles". Ina Garten at an interview at Today show said "I have to say, I don't eat fast food at all, with one exception. When we're in California doing book tours, we always have to go to In-N-Out Burger. It's so good and I know it was Julia Child's favorite too, so it's okay."
In-N-Out was one of the few restaurant chains mentioned positively in the book Fast Food Nation. The book commended the chain for using natural and fresh ingredients and for looking after the interests of employees regarding pay and benefits. An In-N-Out food truck catered Vanity Fair's 2012 Academy Awards after party.
=== Art ===
Jack Schmidt was the first person commissioned to paint the original In-N-Out located in Baldwin Park, California for In-N-Out Burger Inc. His paintings were later reproduced on advertisements, shirts, and other consumer products. The 2022 shirt design was created by Palm Springs, California artist Danny Heller.
=== Bible verses ===
In-N-Out prints Bible citations in small print on areas of packaging (such as "John 3:16", "Proverbs 3:5", "Proverbs 24:16", "Nahum 1:7", "Luke 6:35" and "Revelation 3:20"). They are primarily found on the bottom underside of drink cups and the wrappers that hold their burgers together. This practice began in the 1980s during Rich Snyder's presidency, a reflection of the evangelical Christian beliefs held by the Snyder family.
== Legal and policy issues ==
=== Rich Boyd lawsuit (2006) ===
In 2006, a lawsuit exposed a possible family disagreement over the chain's corporate leadership. Richard Boyd, one of In-N-Out's vice presidents and co-trustee of two-thirds of the company stock, accused Lynsi Snyder (then known as Lynsi Martinez) and allied corporate executives of trying to force out Esther Snyder and attempting to fire Boyd unreasonably. Pre-empting the suit, Martinez, Snyder, and Taylor appeared in a December video message to employees, telling them not to believe everything they hear. The company then responded with a lawsuit of its own, alleging Boyd had construction work done on his personal property and charged it to the company, as well as favoring contractors with uncompetitive bids. Boyd was then suspended from his role as co-trustee and Northern Trust Bank of California took his place (as co-trustee) until a hearing set for May 10, 2006. However, in April, the judge dismissed two of In-N-Out's claims against Boyd. A trial date of October 17, 2006, was set but never occurred, and a settlement was reached out of court. Ultimately, Boyd was permanently removed from his role as an employee and co-trustee.
=== Chadder's infringement lawsuit (2007) ===
In June 2007, the company filed a lawsuit against an American Fork, Utah, restaurant named Chadder's for trademark infringement, claiming that the "look and feel" of the restaurant too closely resembled that of In-N-Out, and that the restaurant violated trademarked menu items, such as "Animal Style", "Protein Style", and the "Double-Double".
The company learned about this from Utah customers contacting the customer service department asking if In-N-Out opened a location in Utah under a different name or if they had any affiliation with the restaurant in any way. Several customers stated they ordered trademarked items such as Animal and Protein styles. Utah District Court Judge Ted Stewart issued a temporary restraining order against the look-alike. Chadder's opened another location near the Salt Lake City area and one in Provo.
In 2009, In-N-Out opened a restaurant in American Fork less than a mile from the Chadder's restaurant. Per their website, Chadder's started selling a "Stubby Double" instead of "Double Double".
The Chadder's restaurants in Utah have gone out of business since In-N-Out restaurants have opened in Utah.
=== Mexico ===
In 2023, a knock-off of In-N-Out appeared on Instagram displaying images of its restaurant, named In-I-Nout, in Culiacan, Mexico. Besides the name, the restaurant's logo, design, menu, and food presentation closely resembled that of the U.S. original. Threatened with legal action, the Mexican imitator changed its name to Sofi's Burger.
=== Australia ===
In-N-Out Burger has also had other similarly named imitators in Australia that confuse consumers into thinking that the businesses is associated with the Californian-based chain. The company would take the imitators to court for trademark infringement and has opened one-day pop-ups in Sydney in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2022; Brisbane in 2020; Melbourne in 2014 and 2018; and Perth in 2018 and 2022 to preserve their trademark rights. Customers may wait for several hours before the doors open, but the food would run out very quickly, sometimes in less than hour after opening. Although In-N-Out may not have plans to open a permanent location outside its current operating region, the business strategy of having one-day pop-ups is to maintain a business presence in the country under Australian trademark law without opening a permanent restaurant.
In-N-Out successfully defended their trademarks and intellectual property rights in Australia in 2020 against Hashtag Burgers Pty Ltd, formerly doing business as "Funk N Burgers" and "Down-N-Out Burger". In 2021, In-N-Out filed a lawsuit against Queensland-based Rich Asians Pty Ltd doing business as "In & Out Aussie Burgers".
=== Global ===
In-N-Out has operated one-day popups to protect their intellectual property in countries around the world, such as in Auckland in 2020; London in 2016 and in 2018; Toronto in 2014 and 2021; Singapore in 2012 and 2019; Tokyo in 2012; Shanghai in 2017; Bangkok in 2018; Hong Kong in 2015; Taipei in 2016; Vancouver in 2019; Buenos Aires in 2016; Seoul in 2019; Berlin in 2022; Dublin in 2021; Dubai in 2021; Petaling Jaya in 2018; Cape Town in 2016; and Vienna in 2017.
=== DoorDash lawsuit (2015) ===
On November 6, 2015, In-N-Out filed a lawsuit against food delivery startup DoorDash, claiming trademark infringement. Two months later, the lawsuit was settled out of court in a confidential settlement. DoorDash no longer delivers food from In-N-Out Burger.
=== Political donations (2018) ===
In 2018, In-N-Out faced calls for boycott after donating $25,000 to the California GOP ahead of the November elections, as well as $30,000 in August 2017 and another $30,000 in May 2016.
=== Opposition to COVID-19 vaccine requirements (2021) ===
In October 2021, the In-N-Out location in San Francisco was ordered closed by the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), for failure to enforce the public health order requiring that all dine-in patrons of restaurants present proof that they are fully vaccinated for COVID-19. The location had posted signage warning of the mandate, but the SFDPH received complaints that it was not actually enforced. The company's chief legal officer Arnie Wensinger stated that the company "fiercely disagree[s] with any government dictate that forces a private company to discriminate against customers who choose to patronize their business". The location was allowed to re-open for takeout service only until it demonstrates "an adequate process and procedure for complying with the health order". Later that month, after an In-N-Out location in Contra Costa County was similarly ordered closed by public health for not complying with its vaccine mandate, all In-N-Out locations in the region closed their dining rooms and began operating with takeout service only. The locations attracted anti-mandate demonstrations in support of the company.
=== Opposition to use of face masks by employees (2023) ===
In July 2023, the company announced that employees in Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Colorado would not be allowed to wear protective face masks at work, unless they could prove a valid medical exemption. The stated reason was to "emphasize the importance of customer service and the ability to show our associates' smiles and other facial features", according to a company memo. The company's communications department sent a statement from chief operating officer Denny Warnick to SFGATE: "We believe that wearing a mask literally adds a barrier to communication — much of which is nonverbal — and promotes a more distant and disconnected environment."
== Charity ==
=== In-N-Out Burgers Foundation ===
In-N-Out Burgers Foundation (known from March 13–April 14 1995 as The In-N-Out Foundation) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on March 13, 1995, and classified as a "Human Services: Fund Raising & Fund Distribution" organization under the NTEE system. Based in Irvine, California, the foundation "supports organizations that provide residential treatment, emergency shelter, foster care, and early intervention for children in need". Its grant-making activities are restricted to eligible nonprofit groups that are located or provide services in areas where In-N-Out has a presence. Consequently, grant proposals are only accepted from applicants in a limited number of counties in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Texas. In 2010, the most recent year for which financial reporting is publicly available (and before the opening of the company's Texas locations), the foundation contributed $1,545,250 to 231 grantees in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah. Grant-making is funded through donor contributions and In-N-Out-sponsored fundraisers; typical grants are between $2,000 and $20,000.
=== Slave 2 Nothing ===
In-N-Out Burger founded the Slave 2 Nothing Foundation in 2016 to "improve the lives of individuals and families affected by substance abuse and/or human trafficking".
== Original restaurant ==
The first In-N-Out restaurant that opened in 1948 was demolished when Interstate 10 (then US 60/US 70/US 99, the Ramona Freeway, now the San Bernardino Freeway) was built from downtown Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley. The freeway runs over the original location. A new restaurant was completed in 1954 near the original Baldwin Park, California, location. It was closed in November 2004 and demolished on April 16, 2011, despite discussions about using it as an In-N-Out museum chronicling the origins and history of the company. In-N-Out built a replacement restaurant on the other side of the freeway next to the original In-N-Out University (opened in 1984). A new In-N-Out University was built on the property. The university building houses the training department, which was moved from Irvine, California. In addition, the company restaurant was moved from In-N-Out's Baldwin Park headquarters to the new lot, which holds the restaurant and university, less than a thousand feet away. In 2014, a replica of the first In-N-Out was built in Baldwin Park.
== Awards and honors ==
In-N-Out Burger was ranked number 28 among America's Best Employers 2019 by Forbes. According to a survey by Glassdoor in 2014, In-N-Out Burger ranked No. 8 on its annual list of the 50 best places to work in the U.S. and the U.K. The company reached No. 6 in Glassdoor's 2024 Top 100 Ranking. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Farm_murders | White House Farm murders | The White House Farm murders took place near the village of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England, during the night of 6–7 August 1985. Nevill and June Bamber were shot and killed inside their farmhouse at White House Farm along with their adopted daughter, Sheila Caffell, and Sheila's six-year-old twin sons, Daniel and Nicholas Caffell. The only surviving member of the immediate family was the adopted son, Jeremy Bamber, then aged 24, who said he had been at home a few miles away when the shooting took place.
Police initially believed that Sheila, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had fired the shots before turning the gun on herself, but weeks after the murders, Jeremy's ex-girlfriend told police that he had implicated himself. The prosecution argued that, motivated by a large inheritance, Jeremy had shot the family with his father's semi-automatic rifle, then placed the gun in Sheila's hands to make the deaths look like a murder–suicide. A silencer, the prosecution said, was on the rifle and would have made it too long, they argued, for Sheila's fingers to reach the trigger to shoot herself. Jeremy was convicted of five counts of murder in October 1986 by a 10–2 majority verdict, sentenced to a minimum of twenty-five years, and informed in 1994 that he would never be released. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in 2002.
Jeremy protested his innocence throughout, although his extended family remained convinced of his guilt. Between 2004 and 2012, his lawyers submitted several unsuccessful applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, arguing that the silencer might not have been used during the killings, that the crime scene might have been damaged then reconstructed, that crime scene photographs were taken weeks after the murders, and that the time of Sheila's death had been miscalculated.
A key issue was whether Jeremy had received a call from his father on the night of the murder to tell him Sheila had "gone berserk" with a gun. Jeremy said that he did, that he alerted police and that Sheila fired the final shot while he and the officers were standing outside the house. It became a central plank of the prosecution's case that the father had made no such call and that the only reason Jeremy would have lied about it – indeed, the only way he could have known about the shootings when he alerted the police – was that he was the killer himself.
== Bamber family ==
=== June and Nevill Bamber ===
Ralph Nevill Bamber (known as 'Nevill', born 8 June 1924) was a farmer, former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and magistrate at the local Witham magistrates' court. He and his wife, June (née Speakman, born 3 June 1924), had married in 1949 and moved into the Georgian White House Farm on Pages Lane, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, set among 300 acres (120 ha) of tenant farmland that had belonged to June's father. The Court of Appeal described Nevill as "a well-built man, 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) tall and in good physical health." This became significant because Jeremy's defence later suggested that Sheila, a slim woman aged 28, had been able to beat and subdue her father, something the prosecution contested.
Unable to have biological children, the Bambers adopted Sheila and Jeremy as infants; the children were not related to each other. June suffered from depression and had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the 1950s, including in 1958 after Sheila's adoption, where she was given electroshock therapy at least six times. In 1982 she was treated by Hugh Ferguson, a psychiatrist who later saw Sheila.
The Bambers were financially secure, owning property that included the farmhouse, a flat in London, 300 acres (120 ha) of land, and a caravan site. The couple gave the children a good home and private education, but June was intensely religious and tried to force her children and grandchildren to adopt the same ideas. She had a poor relationship with Sheila, who felt June disapproved of her, and June's relationship with Jeremy was so troubled that he had apparently stopped speaking to her. Sheila's ex-husband was concerned about the effect June was having on his sons; she made them kneel and pray with her, which upset him and the boys.
=== Daniel and Nicholas Caffell ===
Daniel and Nicholas Caffell were born on 22 June 1979 to Sheila and Colin Caffell, who had married in 1977 and would divorce in 1982. Colin was an art student when he met Sheila. After the divorce, both he and Sheila were involved in the children's upbringing although the boys were briefly in foster care in 1982–83 because of Sheila's health problems. For several months before the murders, they had been living with Colin in his home in Kilburn, North London, not far from Sheila's residence in Maida Vale.
A week-long visit to White House Farm had been arranged for August 1985 at the Bambers' request; the plan was for the twins to visit their grandparents with Sheila before the boys went on holiday in Norway with their father. Daniel and Nicholas were reluctant to stay at the farm. June made them pray, which they disliked, and, in the car on the way there, they asked Colin to speak to her about it. Also, Daniel had become vegetarian and was worried about being forced to eat meat. When their father dropped them off at the house on 4 August, it would be the last time he would ever see them. The boys are buried together in Highgate Cemetery. Sheila was cremated, and the urn with her ashes was placed in their coffin.
=== Sheila Caffell ===
==== Background ====
Sheila Jean "Bambi" Caffell (born 18 July 1957) was born to the 18-year-old daughter of Eric Jay, a senior chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury. At his insistence, the baby was placed for adoption. Her mother gave Sheila up to the Church of England Children's Society two weeks after the birth, and the Bambers adopted her in October 1957. The chaplain had known Nevill in the RAF and selected the Bambers from a list of prospective adopters.
After school Sheila attended secretarial college in Swiss Cottage, London. In 1974, when she was aged 17, she discovered she was pregnant by Colin Caffell. The Bambers arranged an abortion. Her relationship with her mother deteriorated significantly that summer after June found Sheila and Colin sunbathing naked in a field. June reportedly started calling Sheila the "devil's child."
Sheila continued with her secretarial course, then trained as a hairdresser, and briefly worked as a model with the Lucie Clayton Charm Academy, including two months' work in Tokyo. After she became pregnant again, she married Colin at Chelmsford Register Office in May 1977, but miscarried in the sixth month. The Bambers bought the couple a garden flat in Carlingford Road, Hampstead, to help Sheila recuperate. Sheila suffered another miscarriage, then on 22 June 1979, after four months of bed rest in hospital, she gave birth to Daniel and Nicholas. Colin, apparently having begun an affair just before the birth, left Sheila for five months. Sheila became increasingly upset; on one occasion, when Colin left her 21st birthday party with another woman, she required hospital treatment after breaking a window with her fist. The couple divorced in May 1982.
After the divorce, Nevill bought Sheila a flat in Morshead Mansions, Maida Vale, and Colin helped raise the children from his home in nearby Kilburn. Sheila decided to trace her birth mother, then living in Canada. They met at Heathrow Airport in 1982 for a brief reunion, but a relationship did not develop. At around this time Sheila became friendly with a group of young women who nicknamed her "Bambi", and who later told reporters that she often complained about her poor relationship with her adoptive mother. The group partook in drugs, particularly cocaine, and fraternisations with older men. As her brief modelling career had ended after the birth of the boys, Sheila lived on welfare and took low-paying jobs, including as a waitress for one week at School Dinners, a London restaurant in which dinner was served by young women in school uniform, stockings and suspenders. There were also cleaning jobs and one episode of nude photography that she later regretted.
==== Health ====
Sheila's mental health continued to decline, with episodes of banging her head against walls. In 1983, her family doctor referred her to Hugh Ferguson, the psychiatrist who had treated June. Ferguson said Sheila was in an agitated state, paranoid and psychotic. She was admitted to St Andrew's Hospital, a private psychiatric facility, where Ferguson diagnosed a schizoaffective disorder. After Sheila was discharged in September 1983, he continued seeing her as an out-patient and concluded that his first diagnosis had been mistaken. Ferguson now believed that she had schizophrenia and began treating her with trifluoperazine, an antipsychotic drug.
Ferguson wrote that Sheila believed the devil had given her the power to project evil onto others, and that she could make her sons have sex and cause violence with her. She called them the "devil's children", the phrase June had used of Sheila, and said she believed she was capable of murdering them or of getting them to kill others. She spoke about suicide, although the court heard that Ferguson did not regard her as a suicide risk.
Sheila was readmitted to St Andrew's in March 1985, five months before the murders, after a psychotic episode in which she believed herself to be in direct communication with God and that certain people, including her boyfriend, were trying to hurt or kill her. She was discharged four weeks later, and as an out-patient received a monthly injection of haloperidol, an antipsychotic drug that has a sedative effect. From that point, the twins lived all or most of the time with Colin in Kilburn. According to Jeremy, the family discussed placing the boys in daytime foster care over dinner on the night of the murders, with little response from Sheila.
Despite Sheila's erratic mental state, Ferguson told the court that the kind of violence necessary to commit the murders was not consistent with his view of her. In particular, he said he did not believe she would have killed her father or children, because her difficult relationship was confined to her mother. Colin said the same: that, despite her tendency to throw things and sometimes hit him, she had never harmed the children. June's sister, Pamela Boutflour, testified that Sheila was not a violent person and that she had never known her to use a gun; June's niece, Ann Eaton, told the court that Sheila did not know how to use one. Jeremy disputed this, telling police on the night of the shooting, as they stood outside the house, that he and Sheila had gone target shooting together. He acknowledged later that he had not seen her fire a gun as an adult.
=== Jeremy Bamber ===
Jeremy Nevill Bamber was born on 13 January 1961 to a student midwife who, after an affair with a married British Army sergeant, gave her baby to the Church of England Children's Society when he was six weeks old. His biological parents later married and had other children; his father became a senior staff member in Buckingham Palace. The Bambers adopted Jeremy when he was six months old. They sent him to St Nicholas Primary, then along with Sheila to Maldon Court prep school. This was followed when he was aged 9, in September 1970, by Gresham's School, a boarding school in Holt, Norfolk, where he joined the cadet force. Jeremy was apparently unhappy at Gresham's because of bullying and other factors.
After leaving Gresham's with no qualifications, Jeremy attended sixth form college, and in 1978 achieved seven O-levels. Nevill paid for him to visit Australia, where he took a scuba-diving course, before travelling to New Zealand. Former friends alleged that Jeremy had broken into a jeweller's shop while in New Zealand and had stolen an expensive watch. He had also boasted, they said, of being involved in smuggling heroin. Jeremy returned to England in 1982 to work on his adoptive parents' farm for £170 a week, and set up home in a cottage Nevill owned at 9 Head Street, Goldhanger. The cottage lay 3–3.5 miles (5.6 km) from White House Farm, a five-minute drive by car and at least fifteen minutes by bicycle. Nevill also gave Jeremy a car to use, and eight percent of a family company, Osea Road Camp Sites Ltd, which ran the Bambers' caravan site.
To his supporters, who over the years have included Members of Parliament and journalists, Jeremy is a victim of one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice. The Guardian took up his case in the early 1990s; one or more Guardian journalists began corresponding with him in 2006, and two interviewed him in 2011. Describing Jeremy as "clever and strategic", they wrote that there was something about him that made the public unsympathetic toward him. He was "handsome in a rather cruel, caddish way—he seemed to exude arrogance and indifference. ... Like Meursault in the Camus novel L'Étranger, he did not seem to display the appropriate emotions." He is reported to have passed a polygraph test in 2007.
Jeremy's detractors include his extended family and his father's former secretary, Barbara Wilson. She told reporters that Jeremy used to provoke his parents, riding in circles around his mother on a bicycle, wearing make-up to upset his father and once hiding a bag of live rats in Wilson's car. Whenever Jeremy visited the farm there were arguments, she claimed. Tension had apparently increased in the weeks before the murders; Wilson said Nevill had remarked to her about foreseeing a "shooting accident." Jeremy's ex-girlfriend, Julie Mugford, alleged that he had talked about killing his family. A farm worker testified that Jeremy had once said of Sheila: "I'm not going to share my money with my sister." The court heard that, in March that year, while discussing security at the family's caravan site, he had told his uncle: "I could kill anybody. I could even [or 'easily'] kill my parents." Jeremy denied having said this.
=== Extended family, inheritance ===
The financial ties and inheritance issues within the immediate and extended family provided a motive and added a layer of complexity to the case. The Bambers' company, N. and J. Bamber Ltd, was worth £400,000 in 1985 (c. £1,061,016 in 2021). In their wills, June left £230,000 (c. £608,000) and Nevill £380,000 (c. £1,004,000). During the trial, the court heard that the Bambers had left their estate to both Jeremy and Sheila, to be divided equally. In addition, Nevill's will had said that, to inherit, Jeremy had to be working on the farm at the time of his father's death. The court also heard, from Mugford's mother, that he had been saying June wanted to change her will to bypass him and Sheila and leave her estate to Sheila's twins instead.
The parents' estate included land and buildings occupied by Jeremy's cousins, who were made aware, after the murders, that he intended to sell them. It was one of those cousins who found the silencer in the gun cupboard, with the flecks of blood and paint that proved pivotal to the prosecution. Because of Jeremy's conviction, the estate passed instead to the cousins. One moved into White House Farm, while that cousin and several others acquired full ownership of the caravan site and other buildings. This conflict of interest became a bone of contention, as did the apparent failure of the police to search and secure the crime scene. Jeremy argues that the family set him up, a claim that one of the group dismissed in 2010 as "an absolute load of piffle."
Jeremy has launched two legal actions while in prison, claiming a share of the estate, which the cousins said was part of an attempt to harass and vilify them. In 2003, he began a High Court action to recover £1.2 million from the estate of his maternal grandmother, arguing that he should have inherited her home at Carbonnells Farm, Wix, which went instead to June's sister—the grandmother had cut Jeremy out of her will when he was arrested—and that he was owed seventeen years' rent from his cousins who lived there. In 2004, he went to the High Court again to claim a £326,000 share of the profit from the caravan site. The court ruled against him in both cases.
== Jeremy's visit to the farm ==
=== Atmosphere in the house ===
On Sunday, 4 August 1985, three days before the murders, Sheila and the boys arrived at White House Farm to spend the week with Nevill and June. The housekeeper saw Sheila that day and noticed nothing unusual. Two farm workers saw her the following day with her children and said she seemed happy. One of the crime scene photographs showed that someone had carved "I hate this place" into the cupboard doors of the bedroom in which the twins were sleeping.
Jeremy visited the farm on the evening of Tuesday, 6 August. He told the court that during his visit his parents suggested to Sheila that the boys be placed in daytime foster care with a local family; he said Sheila did not seem bothered by the suggestion and had simply said she would rather stay in London. The boys had been in foster care before, although in London rather than near White House Farm, and it had not appeared to cause a problem for Sheila. Ferguson told the Court of Appeal in 2002 that any suggestion that the children be removed from her care would have provoked a strong reaction from Sheila, but that she might have welcomed daytime help.
A farmworker heard Jeremy leave around 9:30 pm. Barbara Wilson, the farm's secretary, telephoned Nevill at around that time and was left with the impression that she had interrupted an argument. She said Nevill was short with her and seemed to hang up in irritation, something he had never done before; he was by all accounts an even-tempered man. June's sister, Pamela Boutflour, telephoned around 10 pm. She spoke to Sheila, who she said was quiet, then to June, who seemed normal.
=== Murder weapon ===
Jeremy told the court that, hours before the murders on 6 August, he had loaded the rifle, thinking he heard rabbits outside, but had not used it. He left the rifle on the kitchen table, with a full magazine and a box of ammunition, before leaving the house. It did not at that point have the silencer or telescopic sight attached, he claimed. Both had been on the rifle in late July, according to a nephew, but Jeremy said his father must have removed them. The prosecution disputed this, maintaining that the silencer was on the rifle when the family was murdered.
Nevill kept several guns at the farm. He was reportedly careful with them, cleaning them after use and securing them. He had bought the gun, a .22 Anschütz model 525 semi-automatic rifle, on 30 November 1984, along with a Parker Hale silencer, telescopic sight and 500 rounds of ammunition. It used cartridges, which were loaded into a magazine that held ten rounds. Twenty-five shots were fired during the killing, so if the rifle was fully loaded to begin with, it would have been reloaded at least twice. The court heard that the magazine became harder to load with each cartridge; loading the tenth was described as "exceptionally hard".
The rifle had normally been used to shoot rabbits with the silencer and telescopic sight attached. The court heard that the sight had to be removed with a screwdriver, but it was usually left in place because it was time-consuming to realign it. Nevill's nephew visited the farmhouse on the weekend of 26–28 July 1985 and told the court that he had seen the rifle, in the gun cupboard in the ground-floor office, with the sight and silencer attached. He had taken the gun out and used it for target shooting.
== Police logs, 7 August 1985 ==
=== Telephones in the farmhouse ===
There were three telephones at White House Farm on the night of the shooting, all on the same landline. There was usually a cream rotary phone in the main bedroom on Nevill's bedside table; a beige Statesman phone in the kitchen; and a blue Sceptre 100 phone in the office on the first floor. (There was a fourth phone too, an Envoy cordless phone in the kitchen, but it had been picked up for repair on 5 August.) The rotary phone had at some point been moved out of the main bedroom and into the kitchen, where the police found it with its receiver off the hook. They found the Statesman phone still in the kitchen but hidden in a pile of magazines.
=== Jeremy's call to police ===
Jeremy telephoned Chelmsford police station (and not the 999 emergency number) from his home in the early hours of 7 August to raise the alarm. He told them he had received a telephone call from his father—from the landline at White House Farm to the landline at Bamber's home—to say that Sheila had "gone berserk" with a gun. Jeremy said the line went dead in the middle of the call.
The prosecution argued that Jeremy had received no such call, and that his claim to have done so was part of his setting the scene to blame Sheila. Nevill was "severely bloodied" at that point, according to the Court of Appeal, but the telephone had "no visible blood" on it when police examined the scene, although it was acknowledged that no swabs had been taken. It was Jeremy, the prosecution said, who had left the kitchen telephone off the hook after calling his home from White House Farm to establish that part of his alibi.
After Jeremy telephoned the police, a British Telecom operator checked the White House Farm line—at 3:56 am according to the police log, and at 4:30 am according to the Court of Appeal—and found that the line was open. The operator could hear a dog barking. British Telecom did not at the time keep records of local calls. According to experts who testified at the trial, if Nevill had telephoned Jeremy without replacing the receiver, the line between them would have remained open for one or two minutes. During this time, Jeremy would not have been able to use his telephone.
Explaining why he had called a local police station and not 999, Jeremy told police on the night that he had not thought it would make a difference to how soon they would arrive. He said he had spent time looking up the number, and even though his father had asked him to come quickly, he had first telephoned his girlfriend, Julie Mugford, in London, then had driven slowly to the farmhouse. Jeremy acknowledged that he could have called one of the farm workers but had not considered it. In his early witness statements, Jeremy said he had telephoned the police immediately after receiving his father's call, then telephoned Mugford. During later police interviews, he said he had called Mugford first. Jeremy said he was confused about the sequence of events.
=== Logs ===
==== Event log ====
In 2010, Jeremy's lawyers highlighted two police logs in support of his application to have his case referred back to the Court of Appeal. The question was whether these logs support the prosecution position that there was one call that night to the police, from Jeremy alone, or the defence position that there were two calls, one from Nevill followed by a second from Jeremy.
One log shows that Jeremy rang the local police station and spoke to police constable Michael West in the information room. As a result, West began an "event log". This states that Jeremy's call came in at 3:36 am on 7 August 1985. Jeremy maintains that he telephoned ten minutes after his father phoned him. But at trial it was accepted that West had misread a digital clock and that the call had probably come in just before 3:26 am, because that was when West asked a civilian dispatcher, Malcolm Bonnett, to send a car to the scene. The car, Charlie Alpha 5, was dispatched at 3:35 am. The event log noted a call from:
Mr. Bamber, 9 Head Street, Goldhanger ... [Bamber's home address]. Father phoned (age 62). "Please come over. Your sister has gone crazy + has the gun." Phone went dead. Father Mr. Bamber H/A White House Farm ... Sister Sheila Bamber age 27. Has history of mental illness. ... Despatched CA5 [Charlie Alpha 5] to scene ... Informant requested to attend scene."
The Court of Appeal noted that Jeremy said he had "tried to ring his father back at White House Farm but he could not get a reply". During the trial, the court heard that Jeremy said his father had not hung up after speaking and that he could hear noise in the background. At some point PC West spoke to Jeremy again on the telephone; Jeremy apparently complained about the time the police were taking, saying: "When my father rang he sounded terrified." He was told to go to the farm and wait for the police.
==== Radio log ====
Michael Bonnett, a civilian dispatcher in Chelmsford police station's information room, began a "radio log" which kept track of messages about the situation. The radio log discusses a telephone call made at 3:26 am on 7 August. According to the prosecution, this is the call known to have been made by Jeremy, the same call entered in the event log. According to the defence, the radio log is not simply a duplicate log of Jeremy's call but a log of a separate call to the police by Nevill.
The radio log is headed, "Daughter gone berserk": "Mr Bamber, White House Farm, Tolleshunt d’Arcy—daughter Sheila Bamber, aged 26 years, has got hold of one of my guns." It adds: "Message passed to CD by the son of Mr Bamber after phone went dead." It goes on to say: "Mr Bamber has a collection of shotguns and .410s", and it includes White House Farm's telephone number. The final entry says: "0356 GPO [the telephone operator] have checked phone line to farmhouse and confirm phone left off hook." The radio log shows that a patrol car, Charlie Alpha 7 (CA7)—not Charlie Alpha 5, as mentioned in the event log—was sent to the scene at 3:35 am.
== Scene at White House Farm ==
=== Events outside ===
After the telephone calls, Jeremy drove to the farmhouse, as did three officers from Witham police station who later testified that he had been driving much more slowly than them; they passed him on Pages Lane and arrived at the farmhouse one or two minutes before him. Jeremy's cousin, Ann Eaton, testified that he was normally a fast driver. The group waited outside the house for a tactical firearms unit to arrive, which turned up at 5 am and decided to wait until daylight before trying to enter. Police determined that all the doors and windows to the house were shut except for the window in the main bedroom on the first floor. Using a loudhailer, they spent two hours trying to communicate with Sheila. The only sound they reported from the house was a dog barking.
While waiting outside, the police questioned Jeremy, who they said seemed calm. According to the Court of Appeal, Jeremy told them about the phone call from his father and that it had sounded as though someone had cut off the call. He also said he did not get along with his sister. When asked whether she might have "gone berserk with a gun", the police said he replied: "I don't really know. She is a nutter. She's been having treatment." When asked why Nevill would have called Jeremy and not the police, he replied that his father was the sort of person who might want to keep things within the family. Jeremy claimed to have called Chelmsford police station, rather than 999, because he did not think it would affect the police's response time. Over the next few hours, he talked about cars in general with one of the officers, saying that the Osea Road caravan site "would be able to stand him a Porsche" soon.
Jeremy told the police that Sheila was familiar with guns and that they had gone target shooting together. He said he had been at the farmhouse himself a few hours earlier, and that he had loaded the rifle because he thought he had heard rabbits outside. Jeremy had left the rifle on the kitchen table fully loaded, with a box of ammunition nearby. A doctor who was called to the house testified the deaths could have occurred at any time during the night. He said Jeremy appeared to be in a state of shock: he broke down, cried and seemed to vomit. The doctor said Jeremy told him about the discussion the family had had about possibly placing Sheila's sons in foster care.
=== Scene inside ===
==== Apparent struggle ====
The police entered the farmhouse at 7:54 am, using a sledgehammer to break the back door. The door had been locked from the inside, with the key still in the lock. They found five bodies with multiple gunshot wounds, Nevill downstairs in the kitchen and the rest upstairs. Twenty-five shots had been fired, mostly at close range. In what order the family was killed is not known. A telephone was lying on one of the kitchen surfaces with its receiver off the hook, next to empty .22 cartridge cases. The police said chairs and stools were overturned, and there was broken crockery, a broken sugar basin, a broken ceiling light, and what looked like blood on the floor.
==== Nevill ====
Nevill was found in the kitchen, dressed in pyjamas, lying over an overturned chair next to the fireplace, amid a scene suggestive of a struggle. He had been shot eight times, six times to the head and face, fired when the rifle was a few inches from his skin. The remaining shots to his body had occurred from at least two feet away. Based on where the empty cartridge cases were found—three in the kitchen and one on the stairs—the police concluded that he had been shot four times upstairs, but had managed to get downstairs where a struggle took place, and during which he was hit several times with the rifle and shot again, this time fatally.
There were two wounds to Nevill's right side, and two to the top of his head which would probably have resulted in unconsciousness. The left side of his lip was wounded, his jaw was fractured, and his teeth, neck and larynx were damaged. The pathologist said he "would not have been able to engage in purposeful talk", according to the Court of Appeal. There were gunshot wounds to his left shoulder and left elbow. The court heard that he had "black eyes and a broken nose, linear bruising to the cheeks, lacerations to the head, linear type bruising to the right forearm, bruising to the left wrist and forearm and three circular burn type marks to the back. The linear marks were consistent with Mr Bamber having been struck with a long blunt object, possibly a gun." One of the pillars of the prosecution case was that Sheila would not have been strong enough to inflict this beating on Nevill, who was 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and by all accounts in good health.
==== June ====
June's body and clothing were heavily bloodstained; she was found in her nightdress with bare feet. The police believe she had been sitting up during part of the attack, based on the pattern of blood on her clothing. She was found lying on the floor by the door of the master bedroom. June had been shot seven times. One shot to her forehead, between her eyes, was fired from under one foot (30 cm) away. That and another shot to the right side of her head would both have caused her death quickly, the court heard. There were also shots to the right side of her lower neck and to her right forearm, and two injuries on the right side of her chest and right knee.
==== Daniel and Nicholas ====
The boys were found in their beds in their own room (formerly Sheila's room). They appeared to have been shot while in bed. The court heard that Daniel had been shot five times in the back of the head, four times with the gun held within one foot (30 cm) of his head, and once from over two feet (60 cm) away. Nicholas had been shot three times, all contact or close-proximity shots.
==== Sheila ====
Sheila was found on the floor of the master bedroom with her mother. She was in her nightdress, her feet were bare, and she had two bullet wounds under her chin, one of them on her throat. The pathologist, Peter Vanezis, said that the lower of the injuries had occurred from three inches (76 mm) away and that the higher one was a contact injury. The higher of the two would have killed her immediately. The lower injury would have killed her too, he said, but not necessarily straight away. Vanezis testified that it would be possible for a person with such an injury to stand up and walk around, but the lack of blood on her nightdress suggested to him that she had not done this. He believed that the lower of her injuries had happened first because it had caused bleeding inside the neck; the court heard that if the immediately fatal wound had happened first, the bleeding would not have occurred to the same extent. The pattern of bloodstains on her nightdress suggested she had been sitting up when she received both injuries, Vanezis said.
Blood and urine samples indicated that Sheila had taken haloperidol and, several days earlier, had used cannabis. There were no marks on her body suggestive of a struggle. The firearms officer who first saw her said her feet and hands were clean, her fingernails manicured and not broken, and her fingertips free of blood, dirt or powder. There was no trace of lead dust. The rifle magazine would have been loaded at least twice during the killings; this would usually leave lubricant and material from the bullets on the hands. A scenes-of-crimes officer, Detective Constable Hammersley, said there were bloodstains on the back of her right hand but that otherwise her hands were clean.
There was no blood on Sheila's feet or other debris, such as the sugar that was on the downstairs floor. Low traces of lead were found on her hands and forehead at post-mortem, but the levels were consistent with the everyday handling of things around the house. A forensic scientist, Brian Elliott, testified that if Sheila had loaded eighteen cartridges into a magazine he would expect to see more lead on her hands. The blood on her nightdress was consistent with her own, and no trace of firearm-discharge residue was on it. Given that Sheila was wearing just a nightdress, it was hard to see how she could have carried the cartridges. The rifle, without the silencer or sights attached, was lying on her body pointing up at her neck. June's Bible lay on the floor to the right of Sheila. It was normally kept in a bedside cupboard. June's fingerprints were on it, as were others that could not be identified, including one made by a child.
== Police investigation ==
=== Murder-suicide theory, crime scene ===
The police and media were initially convinced by the murder-suicide theory. Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Jones, deputy head of CID, was so sure Sheila had killed her family that he ordered Jeremy's cousins out of his office when they asked him to consider whether Jeremy had set the whole thing up. The Daily Express reported on 8 August 1985, the day after the murders:
A farming family affectionately dubbed "The Archers" was slaughtered in a bloodbath yesterday. Brandishing a gun taken from her father's collection, deranged divorcee Sheila Bamber, 28, first shot her twin six-year-old sons. She gunned down her father as he tried to phone for help. Then she murdered her mother before turning the automatic .22 rifle on herself.
The result of this certainty was that the investigation was poorly conducted. The murder scene was not secured or searched thoroughly, and evidence was not recorded or preserved. Within a couple of days, the police had burned the bloodstained bedding and carpets, apparently to spare Jeremy's feelings. The scenes-of-crime officer moved the murder weapon without wearing gloves, and it was not examined for fingerprints until weeks later. Three days after the killings, Bamber and the extended family were given back the keys to the house.
Police did not find the silencer in the cupboard. One of Jeremy's cousins found it on 10 August, with what appeared to be flecks of red paint and blood, and took it to another of the cousin's homes; it took the police a further three days to collect it. A few days after that, the cousins found a scratch on the red mantelpiece that the prosecution said was caused by the silencer during a struggle for the gun; that accounted for the fleck of red paint. The Bible found near Sheila was not examined at all. Journalist David Connett writes that a hacksaw blade that might have been used to gain entry to the house lay in the garden for months. Officers did not take contemporaneous notes; those who had dealt with Jeremy wrote down their statements weeks later. The bodies were released days after the murders, and three of them (Nevill, June and Sheila) were cremated. Jeremy's clothes were not examined until one month later. Ten years later, all blood samples were destroyed.
After Jeremy was convicted, the trial judge, Mr Justice Maurice Drake, expressed concern about the "less than thorough investigation", while The Times wrote about "blunders, omissions and ineptitude". Home Secretary Douglas Hurd requested a report on the investigation from Essex Chief Constable Robert Bunyard and in March 1989 issued a statement in the House of Commons: "It is clear that errors were made in the early stages of the police investigation contrary to existing force practice."
=== Funeral, Bamber's behaviour ===
The inquest into the murders was opened on 14 August 1985. The police gave evidence that the killings constituted a murder–suicide, and the bodies were released. Nevill, June and Sheila were cremated; the boys were buried. Jeremy's behaviour before and after the funeral increased suspicion among his family that he had been involved; they alleged that he sobbed during the funeral service for his parents and sister, and at one point seemed to buckle and had to be supported by Mugford, but that he was smiling and joking later at the wake.
Shortly after the funerals, Jeremy travelled to Amsterdam with Mugford and a friend, where he bought a large quantity of cannabis; the travel agent who sold the tickets said the group had been in high spirits. Jeremy also began selling his family's belongings; Mugford's mother was offered June's car and an ad was placed in a local newspaper asking £900 for Nevill's. Just after his first arrest and release in September, Jeremy tried to sell twenty nude photographs of Sheila for £20,000 to The Sun and went on another overseas trip with a friend, this time to Saint-Tropez.
=== Fingerprints on rifle ===
A print from Sheila's right ring finger was found on the right side of the butt of the rifle, pointing downwards. A print from Jeremy's right forefinger was on the rear end of the barrel, above the stock and pointing across the gun. He said he had used the gun to shoot rabbits. There were three other prints that could not be identified.
=== Silencer ===
The silencer was not on the gun when the bodies were discovered. It was found by one of Jeremy's cousins, three days after the murders, in the ground-floor office gun cupboard. Whether it was on the gun during the murders became a pivotal issue. The prosecution maintained that the silencer had indeed been on the gun, and that this meant Sheila could not have shot herself. Forensic tests indicated that her arms were not long enough to turn the gun on herself with the silencer attached. If she had shot the others with the silencer, then realized the gun was too long for her to shoot herself, the silencer would have been found next to her body; she had no reason to return it to the gun cupboard before going back upstairs to shoot herself. If Sheila was not the killer, it meant Jeremy had lied about the telephone call from his father saying Sheila had "gone berserk" with the gun.
The police searched the gun cupboard on the day of the murders but found nothing. Three days later, on 10 August, Bamber's extended family visited the farm with Basil Cock, the estate's executor. During that visit, one of the cousins, David Boutflour, found the silencer and rifle sights in the gun cupboard. The court heard that this was witnessed by Boutflour's father and sister, as well as by Basil Cock and the farm secretary.
Instead of alerting the police, the family took the silencer to Boutflour's sister's home. Boutflour said it felt sticky. They found red paint and blood on the silencer, and its surface had been damaged. When the police collected the silencer on 12 August, five days after the murders, an officer reportedly noticed an inch-long grey hair attached to it, but this had disappeared by the time the silencer arrived at the Forensic Science Service (FSS) at Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. A scientist at the FSS, John Hayward, found blood on the inside and outside surface of the silencer, the latter not enough to permit analysis. The blood inside was found to be the same blood group as Sheila's, although it could have been a mixture of Nevill's and June's. A firearms expert, Malcolm Fletcher, said the blood was backspatter caused by a close-contact shooting.
=== Scratch marks on mantelpiece ===
Jeremy's cousins returned to the farmhouse to search for the source of the red paint on the silencer. In the kitchen, they found marks in the red paint on the underside of the mantelpiece above an AGA cooker. A sample taken by a scenes-of-crime officer was found to contain the same fifteen layers of paint and varnish that were in the paint flake found on the silencer. Casts of the marks on the mantelpiece were deemed consistent with the silencer having come into contact with the mantel several times.
=== Julie Mugford's statements ===
==== Background ====
On 7 September 1985, a month after the murders, Mugford changed her statement to police, now alleging that Jeremy had been planning to kill his family. As a result of her second statement, he was arrested the following day.
Jeremy and Mugford had started dating in 1983, when she was aged 19 and studying for a degree in education at Goldsmiths College in London. She had taken a holiday job in Sloppy Joe's, a pizzeria in Colchester, where Jeremy had a bar job in the evenings. During police interviews, Mugford admitted to a brief background of dishonesty: in 1985, she had been cautioned for using a friend's chequebook after it had been reported stolen to obtain goods worth around £700; she said that she and the friend had repaid the money to the bank. Mugford also acknowledged having helped Jeremy, in March 1985, to steal just under £1,000 from the office of the Osea Road caravan site his family owned. She said that he had staged a break-in to make it appear that strangers were responsible.
==== Statements to police ====
Mugford was initially supportive of Jeremy. Photographs of his parents' and Sheila's funeral show him weeping and hanging onto her arm. During an interview with the police on the day after the murders, she said that Jeremy had telephoned her at home in the early hours of 7 August, between 3:00 and 3:30 am, and said, "There's something wrong at home," and sounded worried. She said she had been tired and had not asked what was wrong.
Mugford's position changed the following month after she'd had a series of rows with Jeremy. He seemed to want to end the relationship, and they had argued about his involvement in the murders. Mugford told Jeremy he was a psychopath and at one point tried to smother him with a pillow. During one argument on 4 September, another woman telephoned Jeremy in Mugford's presence. As it became clear to Mugford that he had been seeing the woman, she smashed a mirror and slapped him; he then twisted her arm up her back. Three days later, she went to the police and changed her statement.
In the second statement, Mugford alleged that between July and October 1984, Jeremy had said he wished he could "get rid of them all". He had talked disparagingly about his "old" father and "mad" mother, she claimed, who were trying to "run his life". Jeremy was also alleged to have said that his sister had nothing to live for and that the twins were disturbed. That the Bambers were paying for Sheila's expensive flat in Maida Vale annoyed him, she said.
In discussions she said she had dismissed as "idle talk", Jeremy had talked about sedating his parents with sleeping pills, shooting them, then setting fire to the farmhouse. He reportedly said Sheila would make a good scapegoat. Mugford alleged he had discussed cycling along the back roads to the house, entering through the kitchen window because the catch was broken, and leaving it via a different window that latched when it was shut from the outside. A telephone call would be made from White House Farm to his home in Goldhanger "because the last phone call made would be recorded". Jeremy claimed to have killed rats with his bare hands to test whether he was able to kill but he said it had taught him that he would not be able to kill his family, although he allegedly continued to talk about doing so.
==== "Tonight or never" allegation ====
Mugford said she had spent the weekend before the murders with Jeremy in his cottage in Goldhanger, where he had dyed his hair black. She had seen his mother's bicycle there, she said; the prosecution later alleged that he had used this bicycle to cycle between his cottage and White House Farm on the night of the murders to avoid being seen in his car on the road. Mugford told police that Jeremy had telephoned her at 9:50 pm on 6 August to say he had been thinking about the crime all day, was "pissed off", and that it was "tonight or never". A few hours later, at 3:00–3:30 am on 7 August, Mugford said he phoned her again to say: "Everything is going well. Something is wrong at the farm. I haven't had any sleep all night ... bye honey and I love you lots." Her flatmates' evidence suggested that call had come through closer to 3:00 am. Jeremy called later in the morning to tell Mugford that Sheila had gone mad and that a police car was coming to pick her up. When she arrived with the police at Jeremy's cottage, she said he had pulled her to one side and said: "I should have been an actor."
Later on the evening of 7 August, Mugford asked Jeremy whether he had done it. He said no, but that a friend of his had, whom he named; the man was a plumber the family had used in the past. Jeremy allegedly said he had told this friend how he could enter and leave the farmhouse undetected, and that one of his instructions had been for the friend to telephone him from one of the phones in the farmhouse that had a memory redial facility, so that if the police checked it he would have an alibi. Everything had gone as planned, he said, except that Nevill had put up a fight, and the friend had become angry and shot him seven times. The friend had allegedly told Sheila to lie down and shoot herself last, Jeremy said. The friend then placed the Bible on her chest so she appeared to have killed herself in a religious frenzy. The children were shot in their sleep, he said. Mugford said Jeremy claimed to have paid the friend £2,000.
==== Letter about Mugford ====
A letter dated 26 September 1985 from the assistant director of public prosecutions who prepared the case against Jeremy suggests that Mugford not be prosecuted for the burglary, the cheque fraud, and a further offence of selling cannabis. Mugford subsequently testified against Jeremy during his trial in October 1986. The judge told the jury that they could convict Jeremy on Mugford's testimony alone. Immediately after the verdict was announced, Mugford sold her story to the News of the World for £25,000 (equivalent to £71,000 in 2,023).
=== Bamber's arrest ===
As a result of Mugford's statement, Jeremy was arrested on 8 September 1985, as was the friend Mugford said he had implicated, although the latter had a solid alibi and was released. Jeremy told police Mugford was lying because he had jilted her. He said he loved his parents and sister, and denied that they had kept him short of money; he claimed the only reason he had broken into the caravan site with Mugford was to prove that security was poor. He further claimed he had occasionally gained entry to the farmhouse through a downstairs window and had used a knife to move the catches from the outside. He also claimed he had seen his parents' wills, and that they had left the estate to be shared between him and Sheila. As for the rifle, Jeremy told police the gun was used mostly with the silencer off because it would otherwise not fit in its case.
Charged on 9 September with breaking into the Osea Bay caravan site on 25 March 1985 and stealing £980, Jeremy was released on bail on 13 September, after which he went on holiday to Saint-Tropez with a friend. Shortly before this, he tried to sell his life story and nude photographs of Sheila to The Sun newspaper for £20,000. Before leaving England, Jeremy said that he returned to the farmhouse, gaining entry by the downstairs bathroom window. He claimed he did this because he had left his keys in London and needed papers from the house for the trip to France; he entered through the window rather than borrow keys from the farm's housekeeper who lived nearby. When he returned to England on 29 September, Jeremy was arrested at Dover and charged with the murders.
== Trial, October 1986 ==
=== Prosecution case ===
Jeremy's trial, which lasted eighteen days, opened on 3 October 1986 before Mr Justice Drake and a jury of seven men and five women at Chelmsford Crown Court. The prosecution was led by Anthony Arlidge QC, and the defence by Geoffrey Rivlin QC, supported by Ed Lawson QC. The Times wrote that Jeremy cut an arrogant figure in the witness box. At one point, when prosecutors accused him of lying, he replied: "That is what you have got to establish."
The prosecution case was that Jeremy, motivated by hatred and greed, had left White House Farm around 10 pm on 6 August 1985, after dining with his family, to drive to his home in Goldhanger. Later, perhaps in the early hours of the morning of 7 August, he had returned to the farm on his mother's bicycle – which he had borrowed a few days earlier – cycling along a route that avoided the main roads and approaching the farmhouse from the back. He had entered the house through a downstairs bathroom window, taken the rifle with the silencer attached, and gone upstairs. He had shot June in her bed; she had managed to walk a few steps before collapsing and dying. He had shot Nevill in the bedroom too, but Nevill was able to get downstairs where he and Jeremy fought in the kitchen before Jeremy shot him four times, twice in his temple and twice in the top of his head. He had shot Sheila in the main bedroom, next to her mother, and had shot the children in their beds as they slept.
Jeremy had then arranged the scene to make it appear that Sheila was the killer, the prosecution argued. He discovered that she could not have reached the trigger with the silencer attached, so he removed it and returned it to the gun cupboard, then placed a Bible next to her body to introduce a religious theme. After removing the kitchen phone from its hook, he left the house via a kitchen window, perhaps after showering, and banged the window from the outside so that the catch dropped back into position. He had then cycled back to Goldhanger on his mother's bicycle. Shortly after 3 am, he had telephoned Mugford, then the police at 3:26 am to say he had just received a frantic call from his father. To create a delay before the bodies were discovered, he had not called 999, had driven slowly to the farmhouse, and had told police that his sister was familiar with guns so that they would be reluctant to enter.
The prosecution further argued that Jeremy had not received a telephone call from his father, that Nevill was too badly injured after the first shots to have spoken to anyone, that there was no blood on the kitchen phone that had been left off the hook, and that Nevill would have called the police before calling Jeremy. They also argued that, had Jeremy really received such a call, he would have dialled 999, alerted the farm workers, then made his way quickly to White House Farm himself.
The silencer played a central role in the prosecution's case. It was deemed to have been on the rifle when it was fired because of the blood found inside it. The prosecution said the blood had come from Sheila's head when the silencer was pointed at her. Had she discovered that she could not shoot herself with the silencer attached, the court heard, it would have been found next to her body; she had no reason to return it to the gun cupboard. That she had carried out the killings was further discounted because, it was argued, she had not recently expressed suicidal thoughts; the expert evidence was that she would not have harmed her children or father; she had no interest in or knowledge of guns; she lacked the strength to overcome her father; and there was no evidence on her clothes or body that she had moved around the crime scene or been involved in a struggle. In particular, her long fingernails had remained intact.
=== Defence case ===
The defence maintained that the witnesses who said Jeremy disliked his family were lying or had misinterpreted his words. Mugford had lied about his confession, they said, because he had betrayed her. No one had seen Jeremy cycle to and from the farm. There were no marks on him on the night in question that suggested he had been in a fight. No blood-stained clothing of his was recovered. He had not driven to the farm as quickly as he could have after his father telephoned because he was afraid, they said. There was no probative value in the finding of a hacksaw in the garden, because Jeremy had entered the house via the windows many times, before the killings and since.
The defence argued that Sheila was the killer and that she did know how to handle guns, having been raised on a farm and had attended shoots when she was younger. She had a very serious mental illness, had told a psychiatrist she felt capable of killing her children, and the loaded rifle and cartridges had been left on the kitchen table by Jeremy. There had been a recent family argument about placing her children in foster care. A former boyfriend of Sheila's gave a written statement to the court that she had had some kind of breakdown in March 1985, in his presence, when she began beating the wall with her fists because the telephone line had gone dead during a call; she had said the phone was bugged and talked about God and the devil, and how the latter loved her. This former boyfriend said he had feared for the safety of people around Sheila, who had a "deep and intense dislike" of June, her adoptive mother. The defence argued that people who have carried out so-called "altruistic" killings have been known to engage in ritualistic behaviour before killing themselves, and that Sheila might have placed the silencer in the cupboard, changed her clothes and washed herself, which would explain why there was little lead on her hands, or why sugar from the floor was not found on her feet. There was also a possibility that the blood in the silencer was not hers, but was a mixture of Nevill's and June's.
=== Summing up, verdict ===
The judge told the jury that there were three crucial points, in no particular order. Did they believe Mugford or Jeremy? Were they sure that Sheila was not the killer who then committed suicide? He said this question involved another: was the second, fatal, shot fired at Sheila with the silencer on? If yes, she could not have fired it. Finally, did Nevill call Jeremy in the middle of the night? If there was no such call, it undermined the entirety of Jeremy's story; the only reason he would have had to invent the phone call was that he was responsible for the murders.
On 28 October, after deliberating for more than nine hours, the jury found Jeremy guilty by a majority of 10–2 (the minimum required for conviction). Sentencing him to five life terms, with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of twenty-five years, the judge told Jeremy: "Your conduct in planning and carrying out the killing of five members of your family was evil, almost beyond belief." In December 1994, Home Secretary Michael Howard told Jeremy that he would remain in prison for the rest of his life, following a decision in 1988 by the Home Secretary of the day, Douglas Hurd.
== Appeals ==
=== Leave to appeal refused, 1989 and 1994 ===
Jeremy first sought leave to appeal in November 1986, arguing that the judge had misdirected the jury. The application was heard and refused by Mr Justice Caulfield in April 1988. During a full hearing in March 1989 before three Appeal Court judges—Lord Lane, the Lord Chief Justice; Mr Justice Roch; and Mr Justice Henry—Jeremy's lawyer, Geoffrey Rivlin QC, argued that the trial judge's summing up had been biased against his client, that his language had been too forceful, and that he had undermined the defence by advancing his own theory. Rivlin also argued that the defence had not pressed Mugford about her dealings with the media but should have, because as soon as the trial was over her story began to appear in newspapers. On 20 March 1989 the judges refused Jeremy leave to appeal, ruling that there was nothing unsafe or unsatisfactory about the verdicts.
Because the trial judge had criticized the police investigation, Essex Police held an internal inquiry. Jeremy alleged this report confirmed that evidence had been withheld by the police so he made a formal complaint, which was investigated in 1991 by the City of London Police. This investigation uncovered more material, which Jeremy used to petition the Home Secretary in September 1993 for a referral back to the Court of Appeal, refused in July 1994. During this process, the Home Office declined to give Jeremy the expert evidence it had obtained, so he applied for judicial review of their decision in November 1994, which resulted in the Home Office handing over the evidence. In 1996 a police officer destroyed many of the trial exhibits, saying later he had not been aware that the case was ongoing. Jeremy's defence team referred to the destruction of blood samples as a "disgrace".
=== Court of Appeal, 2002 ===
==== Criminal Cases Review Commission referral ====
In 1997 the Home Office passed Jeremy's case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which had just been established to review alleged miscarriages of justice. In March 2001 the CCRC referred the case to the Court of Appeal because of the discovery of DNA inside the silencer; this was found as a result of a test not available in 1986 and constituted fresh evidence. Jeremy's conviction rested in part on evidence that Sheila's blood had been found inside the silencer, suggesting that it had been on the gun when she died; but her arms were not long enough to point the gun back at herself and pull the trigger with the silencer attached. The appeal was heard from 17 October to 1 November 2002, at the Royal Courts of Justice, by Lord Justice Kay, Mr Justice Wright and Mr Justice Henriques, who published their decision on 12 December 2002. The prosecution was represented by Victor Temple QC and Jeremy by Michael Turner QC. In a 522-paragraph judgment, the judges concluded that there was no conduct on the part of investigators that threatened the integrity of the trial, and that the more they examined the case, the more they thought the jury had been right.
==== Grounds ====
Jeremy initially brought sixteen issues to the attention of the court. Two (grounds 14 and 15) related to the silencer and DNA testing; the rest were about failure to disclose evidence or the fabrication of evidence. The defence withdrew ground 11 ("the proposed purchase of a Porsche by the appellant") before the hearing.
==== New silencer evidence ====
Although all the grounds (except 11) were reviewed by the court, the CCRC referred the case to the Court of Appeal on the basis of ground 15, the discovery of DNA on the silencer, the result of a test not available in 1986. The silencer evidence during the trial had come from John Hayward, a biologist in private practice, formerly of the FSS. He had found a "considerable amount of blood" inside the silencer; he had stated that it was human blood and that the blood group was consistent with it having come from Sheila. He said there was a "remote possibility" that it was a mixture of blood from Nevill and June.
Mark Webster, an expert instructed by Jeremy's defence team, argued that Hayward's tests had been inadequate and that there was a real possibility, not a remote one, that the blood had come from Nevill and June. This was a critical point, because the prosecution case rested on the silencer having been on the gun when Sheila was shot, something she could not have done herself because of the length of her arms. If she was shot with the silencer on the gun, it meant that someone else had shot her. If her blood was inside the silencer, it supported the prosecution's position that she had been shot by another party, but if the blood inside the silencer belonged to someone else, that part of the prosecution case collapsed.
The defence argued that new tests comparing DNA in the silencer to a sample from Sheila's biological mother suggested that the "major component" of the DNA in the silencer had not come from Sheila. A DNA sample from June's sister suggested that the major component had come from June, the defence argued. The court concluded that June's DNA was in the silencer, that Sheila's DNA may have been in the silencer, and that there was evidence of DNA from at least one male. The judges' conclusion was that the results were complex, incomplete, and also meaningless because they did not establish how June's DNA came to be in the silencer years after the trial, did not establish that Sheila's was not in it, and did not lead to a conclusion that Jeremy's conviction was unsafe.
=== Against whole-life tariff ===
In 2008, Jeremy lost a High Court appeal before Mr Justice Tugendhat against his whole-life tariff. This was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2009. Jeremy and three other British whole-life prisoners appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, but the appeal was rejected in 2012. Jeremy and two of the prisoners (one of them the serial killer Peter Moore) appealed that decision, and in 2013, the European Court's Grand Chamber ruled that keeping the prisoners in jail with no prospect of release or review may not have been compatible with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.
== Campaign ==
=== Background ===
A campaign, known from November 2015 as JB Campaign Ltd, gathered pace over the years to secure Jeremy's release. The civil-liberties group Justice for All took up his case in 1993 to prepare for his appeal that year, and The Guardian ran a long investigative piece by Jim Shelley in November 1993 that included a telephone interview with Jeremy from HM Prison Long Lartin, Worcestershire; Jeremy said he still could not understand why he had been convicted. From March 2001, several websites were set up to discuss the evidence, and in 2002, Jeremy used one of the sites to offer a £1 million reward for evidence that would overturn his conviction. Campaign events included a supporter reading a letter from Jeremy to his parents at their graveside, and a "Bamber bake-off" featuring his mother's favourite recipes.
Jeremy's case was taken up by MPs George Galloway (Respect) and Andrew Hunter (DUP) and journalists Bob Woffinden and Eric Allison of The Guardian. Allison became one of the campaign's patrons. Woffinden argued between 2007 and 2011 that Sheila had shot her family, then watched as police gathered outside before shooting herself. He changed his mind in 2011 and said he believed Jeremy was guilty. In 2015, the human-rights campaigner Peter Tatchell appealed to the Chief Constable of Essex Police to disclose all evidence related to the case.
=== Campaign's arguments ===
==== Location of Sheila's body, time of death ====
The defence disputed the location of Sheila's body. The police said they had found her upstairs with her mother. According to early police logs, one officer reported seeing through a window what he thought was the body of a woman near the kitchen door, but he later radioed that it was a man. A retired police officer who worked on the case said in 2011 that the first police logs were simply mistaken in reporting that a woman's body had been found downstairs. Jeremy's lawyers argued that images of Sheila taken by a police photographer at around 9 am on 7 August 1985 showed that her blood was still wet. According to the defence team, had she been killed before 3:30 am, as the prosecution said, the blood would have congealed by 9 am. They argued that she was alive when Jeremy was standing outside the house with the police, shot herself in the kitchen just as the police entered, then ran up one of the staircases to the bedroom, where she shot herself again, this time fatally.
==== Alleged crime-scene damage ====
The defence argued that the first officers to enter the farmhouse had inadvertently disturbed the crime scene, then reconstructed it. Crime-scene photographs not made available to the original defence show Sheila's right arm and hand in slightly different positions in relation to the gun, which is lying across her body. The gun itself also appears to have moved. Former Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gradwell of Lancashire Constabulary, shown the photographs by The Guardian, said in 2011: "The evidence shows, or portrays, Essex police having damaged the scene, and then having staged it again to make it look like it was originally. And if that has happened, and that hasn't been disclosed, that is really, really serious."
==== Arguments about the silencer ====
The contention that the gun had a silencer on it during the murders was central to the prosecution's case; Jeremy and his lawyers have sought since 1987 to discredit the silencer evidence. With the silencer fitted, the gun was too long for Sheila to have turned it on herself. According to the prosecution, paint on the silencer could be matched to fresh scratch marks on the kitchen mantelpiece, assumed to have been made during a fight for the gun. That the silencer was found in the gun cupboard was important to the prosecution, because Sheila had no reason to return it to the cupboard before killing herself. But that it was found by one of the cousins who inherited part of the estate—days after the police had searched the house—blighted the prosecution's case, although it was accepted by a majority of the jury.
Lee writes that the silencer evidence became confused because of the way the exhibit was named. It was first called "SBJ/1", because it was handed over by Detective Sergeant Stan Jones (SBJ). When it was learned that David Boutflour had found it, the silencer was renamed exhibit "DB/1". But because there was a Detective Constable David Bird, it was renamed again to "DRB/1". The name changes led to confusion in later documents, giving the impression that more than one silencer had been found. In 2011, Lee writes, Jeremy's blog announced: "We can now prove 100% that there were two sound moderators obtained by police at different times." The CCRC responded that year that the claims were "not supported by the material that exists". Again in 2013 Jeremy's blog said: "I can now prove with 100% certainty that Essex police seized one Parker Hale (MM1 type) suppressor from the house on 7 August 1985" (the day of the murder, rather than the day the cousin found it). According to The Times in 2013, he aimed to show that the police had taken four silencers from his family members, including the one in the cupboard, and that evidence and paperwork from them—and from an additional laboratory silencer—had been mixed up.
In or around 2012, Jeremy's lawyers commissioned gun experts from the US and UK to examine photographs of the bodies and the silencer evidence. They argued that injuries on the bodies were consistent with the silencer not having been used, and that its absence would explain burn marks on Nevill's body. The court had heard that "three circular burn type marks" had been found on Nevill's back. In November 1985 a police report submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions had argued that the burn marks were made with the hot end of the gun or with a poker from the AGA cooker.
==== Arguments about scratch marks ====
The defence commissioned a report from Peter Sutherst, a British forensic photographic expert, who was asked in 2008 to examine negatives of the kitchen taken on the day of the murders and later. In his report, dated 17 January 2010, Sutherst argued that the scratch marks in the red paintwork on the kitchen mantelpiece had been created after the crime-scene photographs had been taken. The prosecution alleged that the marks had been made during the struggle in the kitchen between Bamber and his father, as the silencer, attached to the rifle, had scratched against the mantelpiece. The prosecution said that paint chips identical to the paint on the mantelpiece had been found on or inside the silencer. Sutherst said the scratch marks appeared in photographs taken on 10 September 1985, 34 days after the murders, but were not visible in the original crime-scene photographs. He also said he had failed to find in the photographs any chipped paint on the carpet below the mantelpiece, where it might have been expected to fall had the mantelpiece been scratched during a struggle. Sutherst was asked by the CCRC to examine a red spot on the carpet visible in photographs underneath the scratches on the mantelpiece. He said the red spot matched a piece of nail varnish missing from one of Sheila's toes. Sutherst concluded that the scratch marks on the mantel had been created after the day of the murders.
==== Arguments about police logs ====
Police telephone logs had been entered as evidence during the trial, but had not been noticed by Jeremy's lawyers. Jeremy's new defence team based their new CCRC submissions in part on these logs, particularly on the radio log that, they say, shows Nevill called police that night to say his daughter had "gone berserk" with one of his guns. A separate log of a police radio message shows there was an attempt to speak to someone inside the farmhouse that night, as police waited outside to enter, but there was no response. Police say the officers simply made a mistake.
==== Arguments about Mugford letter ====
Jeremy's lawyers argued that the 26 September 1985 letter to Mugford from John Walker, assistant director of public prosecutions, raised the possibility that she had been persuaded to testify in the hope that charges against her would not be pursued. In the letter, Walker had suggested to the Chief Constable of Essex Police, "with considerable hesitation", that Mugford not be prosecuted for drug offences, burglary and cheque fraud, offences to which she had confessed during her police interviews regarding Bamber. The defence team also highlighted that, as soon as the verdict was announced, Mugford sold her story to the News of the World for £25,000 (equivalent to £71,463 in 2023).
== Criminal Cases Review Commission, 2004–2012 ==
In 2004, Jeremy's defence team, which included Giovanni di Stefano, applied unsuccessfully to have the CCRC refer the case back to the Court of Appeal. His lawyers made a fresh submission to the CCRC in 2009. The CCRC provisionally rejected Jeremy's 2009 submission in February 2011 in an 89-page document. It invited his lawyers to respond within three months, extended the deadline to allow them to study all 406 crime-scene photographs, and, in September 2011, granted them an indefinite period in which to pursue an additional line of inquiry.
The CCRC finally rejected the application in April 2012 in a 109-page report, which said the submission had not identified any new evidence or legal argument that would raise the real possibility of the Court of Appeal overturning the conviction. In November 2012, the High Court turned down Bamber's application for a judicial review of that decision. The next year, di Stefano was sentenced in the UK to 14 years in prison for having fraudulently presented himself as a lawyer. As of December 2013, Jeremy's defence team was said to be preparing a fresh submission.
On 10 March 2021, a new application was lodged with the CCRC for a referral to the Court of Appeal. The submissions contained new evidence not previously considered by the Courts and based on 350,000 documents released to Bamber and his legal team in 2011 after the expiry of a Public Interest Immunity order. Initially, eight issues, each containing multiple grounds of appeal, were lodged, with another two added before the end of the year. In October 2022 it was reported that Bamber's legal team, led by his Solicitor Advocate, had sent the CCRC ten new items of evidence, which they claimed cast doubt on the prosecution's contention that the silencer was used in the murders.
In May 2023, the Independent Office for Police Conduct ruled that Essex Police breached its statutory duty by not referring 29 serious complaints to the IOPC about how senior officers handled the case.
It was reported in November 2024 that Bamber's conviction was among 1,200 being reviewed by the CCRC in the aftermath of the Andrew Malkinson scandal.
In July 2025, the CCRC announced that they had reviewed four of Bamber's ten grounds for appeal and had decided they should not be referred to the court of appeal. The other six grounds remained under review.
== In popular media ==
The case became the subject of a television drama series, White House Farm, starring Freddie Fox as Bamber and Cressida Bonas as Sheila, broadcast in January 2020 on ITV in the UK and HBO Max in the United States. In 2021, documentary maker Louis Theroux produced a four-part series for Sky Crime on the murders, titled The Bambers: Murder At The Farm. Theroux told the Radio Times that the series had to be extended from an initial three-episode format due to the complexities of the case, and told Sky News that "both scenarios have anomalies".
Podcasts about the murders have been produced by The New Yorker and by HBOMax and iHeart Podcasts. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawon_Dunston | Shawon Dunston | Shawon Donnell Dunston (born March 21, 1963) is an American former professional baseball player. A shortstop, Dunston played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1985 through 2002. On January 13, 2023, he was selected as a member of the 2023 class of the Chicago Cubs Hall of Fame.
Dunston was the first overall pick in the 1982 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs, and played for the Cubs (1985–95, 1997), San Francisco Giants (1996, 1998, 2001–02), Pittsburgh Pirates (1997), Cleveland Indians (1998), St. Louis Cardinals (1999, 2000) and New York Mets (1999). Dunston was named an All-Star in 1988 and 1990.
== Early life ==
Dunston was born in the East New York section of Brooklyn, New York City, on March 21, 1963. As a youth, he lived in the Linden Apartments, a public housing facility, with his father, Jack, mother, Brenda, and younger sister, Kindra. Jack worked as a cab driver and delivered furniture, while Brenda worked in a women's clothing store.
Dunston attended the nearby Thomas Jefferson High School. He played for the school's baseball team as an infielder. In his senior season at Thomas Jefferson, Dunston had a .790 batting average, 10 home runs, and stole 37 bases without being caught stealing in 26 games.
== Playing career ==
As a shortstop, Dunston was considered one of the best prospects available in the 1982 Major League Baseball draft. The Chicago Cubs selected Dunston with the first overall selection of the draft out of Thomas Jefferson High School. He was the first player from the New York area to be chosen with the first overall pick in the draft. Opting to represent himself, Dunston signed a one-year contract with the Cubs for $100,000, and was assigned to the Cubs' Rookie-level minor league baseball affiliate in the Gulf Coast League.
Dunston competed with Larry Bowa for the role as the starting shortstop for the Cubs in spring training in 1985. Dunston initially won the job over Bowa. He made his debut in the major leagues on April 9. However, Dunston struggled offensively and defensively, batting .194 and committing nine errors in 23 games. As a result, he was sent back to the minor leagues, with Bowa regaining the starting role. After playing well for the Iowa Cubs, the Cubs recalled Dunston in August, and released Bowa.
In 1988 and 1990 he joined double-play partner Ryne Sandberg as an All-Star and was a key contributor to the Cubs' NL East division title in 1989, hitting .278 with 20 doubles, 6 triples, 9 home runs, 60 runs batted in and 19 stolen bases. Due to become a free agent after the 1991 season, Dunston instead signed a four-year, $12 million contract to remain with the Cubs without testing the open market. However, he injured his back that offseason, and required surgery to repair a herniated disk in May 1992. The Cubs opted not to protect Dunston from being eligible to be selected in the 1992 Major League Baseball expansion draft, but neither the Colorado Rockies nor the Florida Marlins selected him.
After the 1995 season, he was granted free agency. The Cubs wanted to move Dunston to third base, but he preferred to remain at shortstop. As a result, he signed with the San Francisco Giants for the 1996 season, receiving a one-year contract worth $1.5 million. He signed with the Cubs for the 1997 season, receiving $2 million.
On August 31, 1997, the Cubs traded Dunston to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost two shortstops, Kevin Elster and Kevin Polcovich, to injuries. He hit two home runs in his first game with the Pirates, and three in his first three games. He became a free agent after the season, and signed a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians for $400,000. On July 23, 1998, the Indians traded Dunston, José Mesa, and Alvin Morman to the Giants for Jacob Cruz and Steve Reed. Dunston was batting .237 at the time of the trade. With the Giants, Dunston batted .176 in 51 at-bats. Dunston became a free agent after the season and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals on a one-year contract worth $500,000.
On July 31, 1999, the Cardinals traded Dunston to the New York Mets for Craig Paquette. He replaced rookie Melvin Mora on the Mets roster. Dunston became a free agent after the season and signed with the Cardinals for the 2000 season. He signed with the Giants that next offseason, playing with them in 2001 and 2002. He reached the 2002 World Series, his first, as a member of the Giants. He hit a home run off Kevin Appier of the Anaheim Angels in game six to give his team a two run lead in what could have been a championship-clinching game for the Giants, but the Angels came back to win the game and eventually the series.
Dunston was a career .269 hitter with 150 home runs and 668 RBI in 1814 games. He seldom walked, so in spite of his batting average, his on-base percentage was the second-worst among players with at least 4500 plate appearances during their careers. At the end of his career, he was used mainly as a fourth outfielder and a role player off the bench.
He wore jersey #12 while with the Chicago Cubs.
== Playing style ==
Bill James noted that Dunston was an "eternal rookie, a player who continued until the end of his career to make rookie mistakes." Dunston was known, especially early in his career, for his unusually strong throwing arm at the shortstop position.
He won the 1996 Willie Mac Award for his spirit and leadership.
== Post-playing career ==
Dunston became eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008; 75% of the vote was necessary for induction, and 5% was necessary to stay on the ballot. He received 0.2% of the vote, thus being dropped off the Baseball Writers' Association of America's ballot.
During his career, Dunston resided in Fremont, California.
== Personal ==
Dunston has a son, Shawon Jr., who has played minor league baseball. One of Dunston's three daughters, Jasmine Dunston, became the White Sox Director of Minor League Operations in 2022. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hefner#Early_life_and_education | Hugh Hefner#Early life and education | Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher and businessman. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the Playboy brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmates shared his wild partying life, fueling media interest.
== Early life and education ==
Hefner was born on April 9, 1926, in Chicago, the first child of accountant Glenn Lucius Hefner (1896–1976) and his wife Grace Caroline (Swanson) Hefner (1895–1997) who worked as a teacher. His parents were from Nebraska. He had a younger brother named Keith (1929–2016). His mother was of Swedish ancestry, and his father was German and English.
Hefner was a descendant of Plymouth governor William Bradford through his father's line. He described his family as "conservative, Midwestern, Methodist.” His mother had wanted him to become a missionary.
Hefner attended Sayre Elementary School and Steinmetz High School, then served from 1944 to 1946 as a United States Army writer for a military newspaper. He graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1949 with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a double minor in creative writing and art, having earned his degree in two and a half years. In the spring of 1950, he took a semester of graduate courses in sociology at Northwestern University, but he dropped out soon after.
== Career ==
In January 1952, Hefner left his job as a copywriter for Esquire after he was denied a $5 raise. In 1953, he took out a mortgage loan of $600 and raised $8,000 from 45 investors (including $1,000 from his mother—"not because she believed in the venture," he told E! in 2006, "but because she believed in her son") to launch Playboy, which was initially going to be called Stag Party. The first issue was published in December 1953 and featured Marilyn Monroe from a 1949 nude calendar shoot she did under a pseudonym. That first issue sold more than 50,000 copies, but Monroe was not paid by Playboy or Hefner for the photos. (Hefner never met Monroe, but he bought the crypt next to hers at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in 1992 for $75,000.)
Esquire magazine rejected Charles Beaumont's science fiction story "The Crooked Man" in 1955, so Hefner agreed to publish it in Playboy. The story highlighted straight men being persecuted in a world where homosexuality was the norm. The magazine received angry letters, so Hefner responded, "If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society then the reverse was wrong, too." In 1961, Hefner watched Dick Gregory perform at the Herman Roberts Show Bar in Chicago, and he hired Gregory to work at the Chicago Playboy Club. Gregory attributed the launch of his career to that night.
Hefner promoted a bon vivant lifestyle in his magazine and in the television shows that he hosted, Playboy's Penthouse (1959–1960) and Playboy After Dark (1969–1970). He was also the chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises, the publishing group which operates the magazine.
On June 4, 1963, Hefner was arrested for promoting obscene literature after he published an issue of Playboy featuring nude shots of Jayne Mansfield in bed with a man present. The case went to trial and resulted in a hung jury.
In the 1960s, Hefner created "private key" clubs that were racially diverse. During the civil rights movement in 1966, Hefner sent Alex Haley to interview American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell, much to Rockwell's shock because Haley was black. Rockwell agreed to meet with Haley only after gaining assurance that he was not Jewish, although Rockwell kept a handgun on the table throughout the interview. In Roots: The Next Generations (1979), the interview was recreated with James Earl Jones as Haley and Marlon Brando as Rockwell. Haley had also interviewed Malcolm X in 1963 and Martin Luther King Jr. in 1966 for the newly established 1962 "playboy interview".
In 1970, Hefner stated that "militant feminists" are "unalterably opposed to the romantic boy-girl society that Playboy promotes" and ordered an article in his magazine against them.
In his later years, Hefner's star dimmed, but he remained a well-known personality, often appearing in cameo roles. In the 1993 The Simpsons episode "Krusty Gets Kancelled", Hefner voiced himself. In 1999, Hefner financed the Clara Bow documentary Discovering the It Girl. "Nobody has what Clara had," he said. "She defined an era and made her mark on the nation". Hefner guest-starred as himself in the 2000 Sex and the City episode "Sex and Another City". In 2005, he guest-starred on the HBO shows Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. He guest-starred as himself in a 2006 episode of Seth Green's Robot Chicken on the late-night programming block Adult Swim. In the 2007 Family Guy episode "Airport '07", he voiced himself. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television and made several movie appearances as himself. In 2009, he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance as himself in Miss March. On his official Twitter account, he joked about this nomination: "Maybe I didn't understand the character."
Brigitte Berman's documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel was released on July 30, 2010. He had previously granted full access to documentary filmmaker and television producer Kevin Burns for the A&E Biography special Hugh Hefner: American Playboy in 1996. Hefner and Burns later collaborated on numerous other television projects, most notably on The Girls Next Door, a reality series that ran for six seasons (2005–2009) and 90 episodes. Hefner also made a voice-only appearance as himself in the 2011 film Hop.
In 2012, Hefner announced that his youngest son Cooper would succeed him as the public face of Playboy.
== Personal life ==
Hefner was known to friends and family simply as "Hef". He married Northwestern University student Mildred ("Millie") Williams (1926–2025) in 1949. They had a daughter named Christie (born 1952) and a son, David (born 1955). Before the wedding, Mildred confessed that she had an affair while he was away in the army. He called the admission "the most devastating moment of my life." A 2006 E! True Hollywood Story profile of Hefner revealed that Mildred allowed him to have sex with other women, out of guilt for her own infidelity and in the hope that it would preserve their marriage. The couple divorced in 1959.
Hefner remade himself as a bon vivant and man about town, a lifestyle that he promoted in his magazine and television shows. He is often known for wearing a robe as his signature look. He admitted to being "'involved' with maybe eleven out of twelve months' worth of Playmates" during some years. Donna Michelle, Marilyn Cole, Lillian Müller, Shannon Tweed, Barbi Benton, Karen Christy, Sondra Theodore, and Carrie Leigh were a few of his many lovers; Leigh filed a $35 million palimony suit against him. In 1971, he acknowledged that he experimented in bisexuality. Also in 1971, he established a second residence in Los Angeles with the acquisition of Playboy Mansion West, and moved there permanently from Chicago in 1975.
On March 7, 1985, Hefner had a minor stroke at age 58, whereupon he re-evaluated his lifestyle, making several changes. He toned down the wild, all-night parties, and his daughter Christie took over the operation of Playboy's commercial operations in 1988. The following year, he married Playmate of the Year Kimberley Conrad; they were 36 years apart in age. The couple had sons Marston Glenn (b. 1990) and Cooper (b. 1991). The E! True Hollywood Story profile noted that the Playboy Mansion had been transformed into a family-friendly homestead. He and Conrad separated in 1998, after which she moved into the house next door to the mansion. Hefner filed for divorce from Conrad in 2009 after an 11-year separation, citing irreconcilable differences. He stated that he only remained nominally married to her for the sake of their children, and their youngest child had just turned 18. The divorce was finalized in 2010.
Hefner became known for moving an ever-changing coterie of young women into the Playboy Mansion, including twins Mandy and Sandy Bentley. He dated as many as seven women concurrently. He also dated Brande Roderick, Izabella St. James, Tina Marie Jordan, Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt, and Kendra Wilkinson. Madison, Wilkinson, and Marquardt appeared on The Girls Next Door depicting their lives at the Playboy Mansion. In October 2008, all three of them decided to leave the mansion.
In January 2009, Hefner began a relationship with Crystal Harris; she joined the Shannon Twins after his previous "number one girlfriend" Holly Madison had ended their seven-year relationship. On December 24, 2010, he became engaged to Harris, but she broke off their engagement on June 14, 2011, five days before their planned wedding. The July issue of Playboy reached store shelves and customers' homes within days of the wedding date; it featured Harris on the cover, and in a photo spread as well. The headline on the cover read "Introducing America's Princess, Mrs. Crystal Hefner". Hefner and Harris subsequently reconciled and married on December 31, 2012.
Hefner was very distantly related to the 41st and 43rd presidents of the United States, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively. Hefner's brother Keith died at age 87 on April 8, 2016, one day before Hefner's 90th birthday.
== Playboy Mansion ==
In January 2016, the Playboy Mansion was put on the market for $200 million, on condition that Hugh Hefner would continue to work and live in the mansion. Later that year it was sold to Daren Metropoulos, a principal at private equity firm Metropoulos & Company, for $100 million. Metropoulos planned to reconnect the Playboy Mansion property with a neighboring estate that he purchased in 2009, combining the two for a 7.3-acre (3-hectare) compound as his own private residence.
In May 2017, Eugena Washington was the last Playmate of the Year to be announced by Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion.
== Politics and philanthropy ==
In 1964, Hefner established the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation to "facilitate individual rights in our democratic society". The foundation funded Marty Goddard's prototype of the rape kit as part of its efforts to support women's empowerment. Additionally, the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award was created by Christie Hefner "to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans."
Hefner debated The Playboy Philosophy with William F. Buckley Jr., on Firing Line in Episode 26, recorded on September 12, 1966.
Hefner donated and raised money for the Democratic Party. In 2011, he referred to himself as an independent due to dissatisfaction with both the Democratic and Republican parties. Nonetheless, in 2012, he supported Barack Obama's reelection campaign.
In 1978, Hefner helped organize fund-raising efforts that led to the restoration of the Hollywood Sign. He hosted a gala fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion and contributed $27,000 (or 1/9 of the total restoration costs) by purchasing the letter Y in a ceremonial auction.
Hefner stated in a 2000 interview with Playboy, "It's perfectly clear to me that religion is a myth. It's something we have invented to explain the inexplicable." Lee Strobel, a Christian author who interviewed Hefner regarding his theological positions, later described Hefner as having a "very minimalistic, deistic view of God."
Hefner donated $100,000 to the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts to create a course called "Censorship in Cinema", and $2 million to endow a chair for the study of American film. In 2007, the university's audiovisual archive at the Norris Theater received a donation from Hefner and was renamed to the Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive in his honor.
Both through his charitable foundation and individually, Hefner also contributed to charities and other organizations outside the sphere of politics and publishing, throwing fundraiser events for Much Love Animal Rescue as well as Generation Rescue, an anti-vaccinationist campaign organization supported by Jenny McCarthy.
On April 26, 2010, Hefner donated the last $900,000 sought by a conservation group for a land purchase needed to stop the development of the vista of the Hollywood Sign. Sylvilagus palustris hefneri, an endangered subspecies of marsh rabbit, is named after him in honor of financial support that he provided.
On November 18, 2010, Children of the Night founder and president Lois Lee presented Hefner with the organization's first-ever Founder's Hero of the Heart Award in appreciation for his unwavering dedication, commitment and generosity.
The Barbi Twins, who are among a notable cohort of celebrity Playmates, including Pamela Anderson and Hefner's third wife Crystal Harris, praised the publishing icon for providing centerfold models and extended members of the Playboy family with a platform for activism and advocacy on behalf of animal populations in need.
Hefner supported legalizing same-sex marriage, calling it "a fight for all our rights. Without it, we will turn back the sexual revolution and return to an earlier, puritanical time."
== Death ==
Hefner died at the Playboy Mansion on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. The immediate cause of death was cardiac arrest and respiratory failure, with Hefner going into sepsis brought on by an E. coli infection.
He is interred at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, in the crypt beside Marilyn Monroe, for which he paid $75,000 in 1992. "Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to pass up," Hefner had told the Los Angeles Times in 2009.
== Criticism ==
Suzanne Moore wrote in The Guardian that Hefner threatened to file a lawsuit against her for calling him a "pimp". Defending her position, Moore argued that "he was a man who bought and sold women to other men". She further stated that "part of Hefner's business acumen was to make the selling of female flesh respectable and hip, to make soft porn acceptable." Julie Bindel argued in The Independent that Hefner "caused immeasurable damage by turning porn—and therefore the buying and selling of women's bodies—into a legitimate business."
Robin Abcarian wrote in the Los Angeles Times, quoting Wendy Hamilton, that Hefner "probably did more to mainstream the exploitation of women's bodies than any other figure in American history," adding that he "managed to convince many women that taking off their clothes for men's pleasure was not just empowering, but a worthy goal in itself." She further stated that Hefner "embodied the aesthetic notion that images of women—and women themselves—exist to please men."
Hefner's former girlfriend Holly Madison said that he "would encourage competition—and body image issues—between his multiple live-in girlfriends. His legacy is full of evidence of the exploitation of women for professional gain." Ed Stetzer wrote in Christianity Today that Hefner would have the residence systematically cleaned whenever Christie Hefner visited in order "to keep the realities from his own daughter". Stetzer further lamented the consequences of Hefner's role as a "general" of the "sexual revolution":
It's hard to fathom that anyone would have known what this would have turned into. Parents growing up today are fighting to keep their children pure. Spouses are fighting to keep their marriages intact. And many enslaved and trapped in the adult entertainment industry have been figuratively and literally stripped not only of their clothes, but their very value as people made in the image of God. If this does not concern us, what will?
A 12-part television documentary series, Secrets of Playboy, debuted on A&E January 24, 2022, in which Hefner's former male and female employees and partners made claims of systematic sexual misconduct and manipulation, recreational and manipulative drug use, peer pressure, sextortion, blackmail, rape, forced and violent anal sex, sexual assault without consent and/or while victims were in a state of drug-induced stupor or unconsciousness, spying, videotaping without consent, and illegal sex with minors by Hefner and his celebrity friends and guests at the Playboy Mansion and other locations. The PLBY group, now publicly owned, distanced itself from Hefner in a statement released shortly before the first episode was broadcast, saying, "Today's Playboy is not Hugh Hefner's Playboy. We trust and validate these women and their stories and we strongly support those individuals who have come forward to share their experiences."
In January 2024, Hefner's widow Crystal, who previously brushed away criticism, wrote a memoir where she alleged she experienced a hostile environment while at the Playboy Mansion, even claiming that she was "imprisoned" while there.
== Depictions ==
The Amazon original series American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story was released in April 2017. It stars Matt Whelan in the title role, along with Emmett Skilton and Chelsie Preston Crayford. The ten episodes are a combination of interviews, archival footage (including moments found in Hefner's vast personal collection), and cinematic re-enactments that cover the launch of the magazine as well as the next six decades of Hefner's personal life and career. The series was filmed in Auckland.
In October 2017, Playboy Enterprises announced that a Hugh Hefner biopic directed by Brett Ratner with the screenplay by Jeff Nathanson was greenlit with Jared Leto rumored to play Hefner. In November 2017, it was indefinitely put on hold following sexual harassment allegations against Ratner, and Leto's representatives stated that reports of him being attached to the film at any point were false.
== Filmography ==
== Books ==
Hefner, Hugh Marston (1963). The Playboy Philosophy. HMH Publishing Company. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather_Part_II | The Godfather Part II | The Godfather Part II is a 1974 American epic gangster film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, loosely based on the 1969 novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. It is both a sequel and a prequel to the 1972 film The Godfather, presenting parallel dramas: one picks up the 1958 story of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the new Don of the Corleone family, protecting the family business in the aftermath of an attempt on his life; the other covers the journey of his father, Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), from his Sicilian childhood to the founding of his family enterprise in New York City. The ensemble cast also features Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Morgana King, John Cazale, Marianna Hill and Lee Strasberg.
Following the first film's success, Paramount Pictures began developing a follow-up, with many of the cast and crew returning. Coppola, who was given more creative control, had wanted to make both a sequel and a prequel to The Godfather that would tell the story of Vito's rise and Michael's fall. Principal photography began in October 1973 and wrapped up in June 1974. The Godfather Part II premiered in New York City on December 12, 1974, and was released in the United States on December 20, 1974. It grossed $48 million in the United States and Canada and up to $93 million worldwide on a $13 million budget. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and became the first sequel to win Best Picture. Its six Oscar wins also included Best Director for Coppola, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coppola and Puzo. Pacino won Best Actor at the BAFTAs and was nominated at the Oscars.
The Godfather Part II is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, as well as a rare example of a sequel that rivals its predecessor. Like its predecessor, Part II remains a highly influential film, especially in the gangster genre. In 1997, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 32nd-greatest film in American film history and it retained this position 10 years later. It was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Pauline Kael wrote: "The Godfather was the greatest gangster picture ever made, and had metaphorical overtones that took it far beyond the gangster genre. In Part II, the wider themes are no longer merely implied. The second film shows the consequences of the actions in the first; it’s all one movie, in two great big pieces, and it comes together in your head while you watch."
The Godfather Part III, the final installment in the trilogy, was released in 1990.
== Plot ==
=== Vito ===
In 1901, nine-year-old Vito Andolini escapes from Corleone, Sicily, in the Kingdom of Italy to New York City after mafia chieftain Don Ciccio kills the rest of his family. An immigration officer registers him as Vito Corleone. By 1917 Vito is married in Little Italy and has an infant son, Sonny. Black Hand extortionist Don Fanucci preys on the neighborhood, costing Vito his grocery store job. He begins stealing for a living with his neighbor Peter Clemenza and has two more children: Fredo and Michael.
Vito, Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio sell stolen dresses door-to-door. Fanucci demands payoffs of $200 from Vito and his partners. Vito doubts Fanucci's muscle and decides to offer less. He meets Fanucci and offers $100, which Fanucci grudgingly accepts. Emboldened, Vito tracks Fanucci back to his apartment and kills him. Vito's reputation spreads, and neighbors ask him to defend them from other predatory figures.
In 1922, Vito and his family travel to Sicily to start an olive oil importing business. He and business partner Don Tommasino visit an elderly Don Ciccio. He obtains Ciccio's blessing for their business, then reveals his identity and slices Ciccio's stomach, killing him and avenging the Andolini family.
=== Michael ===
In 1958, Don Michael Corleone has several meetings at his Lake Tahoe compound during the First Communion of his son Anthony. Johnny Ola, representing Jewish Mob boss Hyman Roth, promises support in taking over a Las Vegas casino. Corleone capo Frank Pentangeli asks for help defending Bronx territory from Roth affiliates, the Rosato brothers. Michael refuses, frustrating Pentangeli. Senator Pat Geary demands a bribe to secure the casino license and insults Michael's Italian heritage. That night, Michael narrowly escapes an assassination attempt. Suspecting a traitor in the family, he puts consigliere Tom Hagen in charge and leaves the compound.
Michael separately tells Pentangeli and Roth that he suspects the other of planning the hit, and arranges a peace meeting between Pentangeli and the Rosatos. At the meeting the brothers attempt to strangle Pentangeli. A police officer drops in, forcing the brothers to flee. Hagen blackmails Geary into cooperating with the Corleones by having him framed for the death of a prostitute.
Roth invites Michael to Havana to invest in his activities under the Batista government. Michael expresses reservations, given the growing Cuban Revolution. Later Roth becomes angry when Michael asks who ordered the Rosatos to kill Pentangeli, reminding Michael he did not question his order to kill his friend, Moe Greene. Michael and Ola attend a New Year's Eve party where Fredo pretends not to know Ola but later slips. Michael realizes that Fredo is the traitor and orders both Roth and Ola killed. He sends an assassin to the hospital where Roth resides to suffocate him with a pillow but he fails and is killed by Roth's guard. Batista resigns and flees amid rebel advances, and Michael, Fredo and Roth separately escape Cuba. Back home, Hagen tells Michael that his wife Kay miscarried.
Roth uses his connections to arrange a senate committee on organized crime to investigate the Corleone family. Pentangeli agrees to testify against Michael and is placed under witness protection. On returning to Nevada, Fredo tells Michael that he did not realize Roth was planning an assassination, then lashes out over being excluded from the family business. Michael disowns Fredo but orders that he should not be harmed while their mother Carmela is alive. Michael attends the committee hearing with Hagen and Pentangeli's brother Vincenzo. Pentangeli, upon seeing Vincenzo, retracts his testimony, and the hearing dissolves in an uproar. Kay tells Michael that she actually had an abortion and intends to leave him and take their children. Michael strikes her in rage and banishes her.
A year later, Carmela passes away. At her funeral, Fredo hugs a reluctant Michael and befriends Anthony over fishing. Roth returns to the United States after being refused entry to Israel. Corleone capo Rocco Lampone assassinates him at the airport and is shot dead trying to escape. Hagen visits Pentangeli at the army barracks where he is held and remarks that conspirators against a Roman emperor could commit suicide to save their families. Pentangeli is later found dead in his bathtub, having slit his wrists. Corleone enforcer Al Neri takes Fredo fishing on the lake and shoots him as Michael watches from the compound.
Sitting alone by the lake, Michael recalls Vito's 50th birthday party on December 7, 1941. While the family waits for Vito, Michael announces that he has dropped out of college and joined the Marines, angering Sonny and surprising Hagen. Only Fredo supports his decision. When Vito is heard arriving, Michael sits alone at the table while the others welcome him in surprise.
== Cast ==
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Mario Puzo started writing a script for a sequel in December 1971, before The Godfather was even released; its initial title was The Death of Michael Corleone. Francis Ford Coppola's idea for the sequel would be to "juxtapose the ascension of the family under Vito Corleone with the decline of the family under his son Michael ... I had always wanted to write a screenplay that told the story of a father and a son at the same age. They were both in their thirties, and I would integrate the two stories ... In order not to merely make Godfather I over again, I gave Godfather II this double structure by extending the story in both the past and in the present". Coppola met with Martin Scorsese about directing the film, but Paramount Pictures refused. Coppola also, in his director's commentary on The Godfather Part II, mentioned that the scenes depicting the Senate committee interrogation of Michael Corleone and Frank Pentangeli are based on the Joseph Valachi federal hearings and that Pentangeli is a Valachi-like figure.
Production, however, nearly ended before it began when Al Pacino's lawyers told Coppola that he had grave misgivings with the quality of Puzo's script and was not coming. Coppola spent an entire night rewriting it before giving it to Pacino for his review. Pacino approved it, and the production went forward.
The film's original budget was $6 million but costs increased to over $11 million, with Variety's review claiming it was over $15 million.
=== Casting ===
Several actors from the first film did not return for the sequel. Marlon Brando initially agreed to return for the birthday flashback sequence, but the actor, feeling mistreated by the board at Paramount, failed to show up for the single day's shooting. Coppola then rewrote the scene that same day. Richard S. Castellano, who portrayed Peter Clemenza in the first film, also declined to return, as he and the producers could not reach an agreement on his demands that he be allowed to write the character's dialogue in the film, though this claim was disputed by Castellano's widow in a 1991 letter to People magazine. The part in the plot originally intended for the latter-day Clemenza was then filled by the character of Frank Pentangeli, played by Michael V. Gazzo.
Coppola offered James Cagney the role of Hyman Roth, but he refused as he had retired from acting. James Caan agreed to reprise the role of Sonny in the birthday flashback sequence, demanding he be paid the same amount he received for the entire previous film for the single scene in Part II, which he received. Among the actors depicting Senators in the hearing committee are film producer/director Roger Corman, writer/producer William Bowers, producer Phil Feldman, and actor Peter Donat.
=== Filming ===
The Godfather Part II was shot between October 1, 1973, and June 19, 1974. The scenes that took place in Cuba were shot in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Charles Bluhdorn, whose Gulf+Western conglomerate owned Paramount, felt strongly about developing the Dominican Republic as a movie-making site. Forza d'Agrò was the Sicilian town featured in the film.
Unlike with the first film, Coppola was given near-complete control over production. In his commentary, he said this resulted in a shoot that ran very smoothly despite multiple locations and two narratives running parallel within one film. Coppola discusses his decision to make this the first major American motion picture to use "Part II" in its title in the director's commentary on the DVD edition of the film released in 2002. Paramount was initially opposed because they believed the audience would not be interested in an addition to a story they had already seen. But the director prevailed, and the film's success began the common practice of numbered sequels. Only three weeks before the release, film critics and journalists pronounced Part II a disaster. The crosscutting between Vito and Michael's parallel stories was judged too frequent, not allowing enough time to leave a lasting impression on the audience. Coppola and the editors returned to the cutting room to change the film's narrative structure, but could not complete the work in time, leaving the final scenes poorly timed at the opening. It was the last major American motion picture to have release prints made with Technicolor's dye imbibition process until the late 1990s.
=== Music ===
The score is by Nino Rota with additions by Carmine Coppola. It won the 1974 Academy Award for Best Original Score.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
The Godfather Part II premiered in New York City on December 12, 1974, and was released in the United States on December 20, 1974.
=== Home media ===
Coppola created The Godfather Saga expressly for American television in a 1975 release that combined The Godfather and The Godfather Part II with unused footage from those two films in a chronological order that toned down the violent, sexual, and profane material for its NBC debut on November 18, 1977. In 1981, Paramount released the Godfather Epic VHS box set, which also told the story of the first two films in chronological order, again with additional scenes, but not redacted for broadcast sensibilities. Coppola returned to the film again in 1992 when he updated that release with footage from The Godfather Part III and more unreleased material. This home viewing release, under the title The Godfather Trilogy 1901–1980, had a total run time of 583 minutes (9 hours, 43 minutes), not including the set's bonus documentary by Jeff Werner on the making of the films, "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside".
The Godfather DVD Collection was released on October 9, 2001, in a package that contained all three films—each with a commentary track by Coppola—and a bonus disc that featured a 73-minute documentary from 1991 entitled The Godfather Family: A Look Inside and other miscellany about the film: the additional scenes originally contained in The Godfather Saga; Francis Coppola's Notebook (a look inside a notebook the director kept with him at all times during the production of the film); rehearsal footage; a promotional featurette from 1971; and video segments on Gordon Willis's cinematography, Nino Rota's and Carmine Coppola's music, the director, the locations and Mario Puzo's screenplays. The DVD also held a Corleone family tree, a "Godfather" timeline, and footage of the Academy Award acceptance speeches. The restoration was confirmed by Francis Ford Coppola during a question-and-answer session for The Godfather Part III, when he said that he had just seen the new transfer and it was "terrific".
==== Restoration ====
After a careful restoration by Robert A. Harris of Film Preserve, the first two Godfather films were released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 23, 2008, under the title The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration. The Blu-ray Disc box set (four discs) includes high-definition extra features on the restoration and film. They are included on Disc 5 of the DVD box set (five discs).
Other extras are ported over from Paramount's 2001 DVD release. There are slight differences between the repurposed extras on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc sets, with the HD box having more content.
Paramount Pictures restored and remastered The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (a re-edited cut of the third film) for a limited theatrical run and home media release on Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Godfather. The disc editions were released on March 22, 2022.
==== Video game ====
A video game based on the film was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in April 2009 by Electronic Arts. It received mixed or average reviews and sold poorly, leading Electronic Arts to cancel plans for a game based on The Godfather Part III.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Although The Godfather Part II did not surpass the original film commercially, it grossed $47.5 million in the United States and Canada. and was Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing film of 1974, and the seventh-highest-grossing picture in the United States. According to its international distributor, the film had grossed $45.3 million internationally by 1994, for a worldwide total of $93 million.
=== Critical response ===
Pauline Kael in The New Yorker was an early champion of the film, writing that it was visually "far more complexly beautiful than the first, just as it's thematically richer, more shadowed, more full." She writes: "Twice I almost cried out at the acts of violence that De Niro's Vito committed. I didn't look away from the images, as I sometimes do in routine action pictures. I wanted to see the worst; there is a powerful need to see it. You need these moments as you need the terrible climaxes in a Tolstoy novel. A great novelist does not spare our feelings (as the historical romancer does); he intensifies them, and so does Coppola." However, while the film's cinematography and acting were immediately acclaimed, many criticized it as overly slow-paced and convoluted. Vincent Canby of The New York Times viewed the film unfavorably, describing it as "stitched together from leftover parts. It talks. It moves in fits and starts, but it has no mind of its own ... The plot defies any rational synopsis." Variety noted that Canby had been downbeat on the original too and claimed that he was in a minority of one and reported that the film had drawn mostly strongly admiring reviews. In A.D. Murphy's review in Variety he described it as a "masterful sequel" and "outstanding in all respects".
William Pechter of Commentary, while admiring the movie, regretted what he saw as its archness and self-importance, calling it an "overly deliberate and self-conscious attempt to make a film that's unmistakably a serious work of art," and professing to "know of no one except movie critics who likes Part II as much as part one." Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic cited what he called "gaps and distentions" in the story.
Roger Ebert awarded three out of four and wrote that the flashbacks "give Coppola the greatest difficulty in maintaining his pace and narrative force. The story of Michael, told chronologically and without the other material, would have had really substantial impact, but Coppola prevents our complete involvement by breaking the tension." Though praising Pacino's performance and lauding Coppola as "a master of mood, atmosphere, and period", Ebert considered the chronological shifts of its narrative "a structural weakness from which the film never recovers". Gene Siskel gave the film three-and-a-half out of four, writing that it was at times "as beautiful, as harrowing, and as exciting as the original. In fact, The Godfather, Part II may be the second best gangster movie ever made. But it's not the same. Sequels can never be the same. It's like being forced to go to a funeral the second time—the tears just don't flow as easily."
=== Critical re-assessment ===
The film quickly became the subject of a critical re-evaluation. Whether considered separately or with its predecessor as one work, The Godfather Part II is now widely regarded as one of the greatest films in world cinema. Many critics compare it favorably with the original – although it is rarely ranked higher on lists of "greatest" films. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 96% approval rating based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 9.7/10. The consensus reads, "Drawing on strong performances by Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola's continuation of Mario Puzo's Mafia saga set new standards for sequels that have yet to be matched or broken." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Michael Sragow's conclusion in his 2002 essay, selected for the National Film Registry website, is that "[a]lthough The Godfather and The Godfather Part II depict an American family's moral defeat, as a mammoth, pioneering work of art it remains a national creative triumph." In his 2014 review of the film, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote "Francis Coppola's breathtakingly ambitious prequel-sequel to his first Godfather movie is as gripping as ever. It is even better than the first film, and has the greatest single final scene in Hollywood history, a real coup de cinéma."
The Godfather Part II was featured on Sight & Sound's Director's list of the ten greatest films of all time in 1992 (ranked at No. 9) and 2002 (where it was ranked at No. 2. The critics ranked it at No. 4) On the 2012 list by the same magazine the film was ranked at No. 31 by critics and at No. 30 by directors. In 2006, Writers Guild of America ranked the film's screenplay (Written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola) the 10th greatest ever. It ranked No. 7 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the "100 Greatest Movies of All Time", and #1 on TV Guide's 1999 list of the "50 Greatest Movies of All Time on TV and Video". The Village Voice ranked The Godfather Part II at No. 31 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. In January 2002, the film (along with The Godfather) made the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics. In 2017, it ranked No. 12 on Empire magazine's reader's poll of The 100 Greatest Movies. In an earlier poll held by the same magazine in 2008, it was voted 19th on the list of 'The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'. In 2015, it was tenth in the BBC's list of the 100 greatest American films.
Many believe Pacino's performance in The Godfather Part II is his finest acting work. It is now regarded as one of the greatest performances in film history. In 2006, Premiere issued its list of "The 100 Greatest Performances of all Time", putting Pacino's performance at #20. Later in 2009, Total Film issued "The 150 Greatest Performances of All Time", ranking Pacino's performance fourth place.
Ebert added the film to his Great Movies canon, noting he "would not change a word" of his original review but praising the work as "grippingly written, directed with confidence and artistry, photographed by Gordon Willis ... in rich, warm tones." He praises the score: "More than ever, I am convinced it is instrumental to the power and emotional effect of the films. I cannot imagine them without their Nino Rota scores. Against all our objective reason, they instruct us how to feel about the films. Now listen very carefully to the first notes as the big car drives into Miami. You will hear an evocative echo of Bernard Hermann’s score for Citizen Kane, another film about a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it."
== Accolades ==
This film is the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II remain the only original/sequel combination both to win Best Picture. Along with The Lord of the Rings, The Godfather Trilogy shares the distinction that all of its installments were nominated for Best Picture; additionally, The Godfather Part II and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are so far the only sequels to win Best Picture. Al Pacino became the third actor to be Oscar-nominated twice for playing the same character.
=== American Film Institute recognition ===
1998: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #32
2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
Michael Corleone – #11 Villain
2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." – #58
"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart." – Nominated
"Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel." – Nominated
2007: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #32
2008: AFI's 10 Top 10 – #3 Gangster Film and Nominated Epic Film |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Blues | Genghis Blues | Genghis Blues is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Russian Republic of Tuva to pursue his interest in Tuvan throat singing.
== Accolades ==
It won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for a Documentary. It was also nominated for an Academy Award in 2000 in the Best Documentary Feature category.
== Synopsis ==
The documentary captures the story of blind blues musician Paul Pena. After a brush with fame and success in the 1970s, Pena's fortunes faded as he dealt with career and health problems.
While listening to shortwave radio, Pena heard a broadcast of Tuvan throat singing, the art of manipulating overtones while singing to make higher frequencies more distinguishable, essentially making it possible to sing two notes at once. Pena, over the course of several years, taught himself to throat sing to a very impressive degree. He eventually attended a concert of throat singing and, after the concert, impressed one of the throat singers, Kongar-ol Ondar, who invited him to visit Tuva, a republic of the Russian Federation and a formerly independent country from 1921 to 1944, under the name of the People's Republic of Tannu Tuva, and the home of throat singing, to sing in the triennial throat singing festival held there.
The entire journey, as well as the extraordinary mix of cultures and music, is captured in the documentary.
== Production ==
The Belic brothers shot the film with two Hi8 camcorders and edited it themselves. They were allowed to edit the film during nighttime at a professional editing facility. It took them three and a half years to finish the film after they shot it. All this time they lived on $500 a month in an apartment above an auto repair shop. Christopher Nolan, a longtime friend of the brothers, is credited for his "editorial assistance." |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_walking | Dog walking | Dog walking is the act of a person walking with a dog, typically from the dog's residence and then returning. Leashes are commonly used for this. Both owners and pets receive many benefits, including exercise and companionship.
== Description ==
Dogs are restrained by a collar around their neck or a harness, or by simply following their guardian with familiarity and verbal control. Commonly, the dog is walked by the guardian or another family member, but there are also professional dog walkers.
Dog owners can also go hiking with their dogs. Many trails mandate that the dogs are on leash, in view of the dogs' safety and the safety of other hikers.
== Health benefits ==
A study by Michigan State University showed that people who walk their dogs are 34% more likely to meet expected goals of exercise, with a recommended level of 150 minutes of activity such as dog walking per week. Matthew Reeves, the co-author of the study said, "There is no magic bullet in getting people to reach those benchmarks but walking a dog has a measurable impact."
Research conducted by the University of Western Australia has suggested that a higher rate of dog walking within a community tends to cause more interpersonal relationships within that community. The research suggested that people in the community would acknowledge and greet other people in the street, and exchange favors with neighbors, which could possibly encourage more exercise in the community, by giving pets and owners a chance at a healthier lifestyle.
== Professional dog walkers ==
Professional dog walkers, both individuals and businesses, are paid by dog owners to walk their dogs for them. Some dog walkers will take many dogs for a walk at once, while others will only take a single dog. The length of a walk might vary by breed or owner's request, ranging from short walks intended to last no longer than the time it takes for the dog to relieve itself of waste, to longer walks with a specific amount of time set by the owner.
"The length of walks should take into account the dog's age and health status. Long walks (over 1 hour) should not be undertaken by dogs under 12 months of age for smaller breeds, up to 18 months for large breeds, to protect their bones and joints while they are still growing." Also growing in popularity is "dog running". Dog runners are professionals who run with dogs, rather than walking with them. In some jurisdictions, dog walking businesses must be licensed and have employees trained in animal first aid. Professional dog walking services can be obtained locally or through online referral services. Obtaining a position as a professional dog walker has become more demanding, with applicants having to go through extensive training. However, whether or not licensing or training is required, all dog walkers who walk other people's dogs must be aware of best practices such as using a fixed-length leash and weather considerations.
In the United States, the first professional dog walker is believed to have been Jim Buck, who in 1960 launched his dog walking service in New York City.
=== Regulations ===
In the United Kingdom, some jurisdictions may require dog walkers to obtain business or advertising licenses. Other regulations require dog walkers to ensure dogs are under control in public spaces, dog feces are cleaned up, and the dogs are not prohibited breeds.
In the United States, local jurisdictions may have laws regulating professional dog walking, For example, in San Francisco, dog walkers must be licensed with the city, are limited to 8 dogs on leashes no longer than 2.4 m (8 ft), have liability insurance and licenses for each dog, have available drinking water and a first aid kit, and carry a cell phone.
== Contested dog walks ==
Much research outlines the benefits of dog walking for the dog and human alike, promoting mental and physical well-being and sociability. However, dogs that display aggression undermine these benefits, “extracting a considerable social and emotional toll for people”. Wild animals have been documented adjusting their distribution and activity to avoid areas frequented by dogs,
which may place additional stress on wild populations in key habitats or seasons.
== Legal ==
Dog walking has been banned by the Iranian government since June 2025 in most of its cities. |
https://w.wiki/ASFv | https://w.wiki/ASFv | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_World_Series | 1995 World Series | The 1995 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1995 season. The 91st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Atlanta Braves and the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians. It was the first World Series after the previous year's Series was canceled due to a players' strike. The Braves won in six games to capture their third World Series championship in franchise history (along with 1914 in Boston and 1957 in Milwaukee), making them the first team to win in three different cities. This was also Cleveland's first Series appearance in 41 years.
The Series was also remarkable in that five of the six games were won by one run, including the clinching sixth game, a 1–0 combined one-hitter by Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers.
This was the first time since the LCS changed to a best-of-seven format that a winner of a LCS via a sweep has gone on to win the World Series. Over the next 30 years, It has since been repeated in 2019 by the Washington Nationals, in 2022 by the Houston Astros, and in 2025 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
This World Series, despite being in an odd-numbered year, opened in the NL home because of the omission of the 1994 World Series. Until 2003, the World Series would begin in the AL home in even-numbered years.
== Background ==
=== Atlanta Braves ===
After losing the World Series in 1991 to the Minnesota Twins and in 1992 to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Atlanta Braves were making their third attempt in four years (not counting the 1994 strike) to capture Atlanta's first title.
The Braves overcame some early inconsistency to win their division by 21 games. In the playoffs, which featured a new first round, the Braves overwhelmed the third-year Colorado Rockies, then swept the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS (spoiling an all-Ohio World Series in the process; notably, prior to their World Series appearance in 1948, the Indians had spoiled an all-Boston World Series by beating the Red Sox in a one-game playoff). The team relied on clutch hitting and its powerful pitching rotation, which was made up of perennial Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery.
As the NL champion, they opened this World Series at home because there was no 1994 World Series.
=== Cleveland Indians ===
After decades of futility, the city of Cleveland finally had a winner in town. The Indians dominated the American League in 1995, winning 100 of their 144 games (their 100–44 record yielded a very high 0.694 winning percentage, which was, at the time, the highest regular season winning percentage in Major League Baseball since 1954, and is, as of 2015, the 12th highest regular season winning percentage in Major League Baseball history since 1900). Furthermore, in just 144 games, they won the AL Central by 30 games, and they performed the difficult feat of leading their league in both team batting average (0.291) and ERA (3.81). Thanks to their hitting and bullpen, this Indians team became known around the league for their ability to come back from many deficits, often in dramatic fashion; of their 100 regular season victories, 48 were come-back victories, 27 came in their last at-bat, eight came by way of "walk off" home runs, and 13 were extra-inning victories (they were 13–0 in extra-inning games). After this dominance of the AL in the regular season, the Indians, in the playoffs, swept the Boston Red Sox in the opening round, then held off Ken Griffey Jr. and the red hot Seattle Mariners in the ALCS, before heading into the Series against the Braves.
The 1995 Cleveland Indians featured a very impressive batting line-up; one that hit for high average, good power, and had good speed. In addition to leading the AL in batting average (0.291), the Indians in 1995 also led the American League in runs scored (840; 5.83 runs per game), home runs (207), and stolen bases (132). Led by speedsters Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel, along with Carlos Baerga at the top of the order, the Indians offense was powered in the middle of the order by Albert Belle, Eddie Murray, Manny Ramírez, and Jim Thome; at the bottom of the line-up could be found Paul Sorrento (or Herbert Perry) and Sandy Alomar Jr. (or Tony Peña). Thus, this Indians line-up had six everyday players who finished the season with a batting average of at least 0.300; and, with Herbert Perry and Tony Peña frequently filling in for Paul Sorrento and Sandy Alomar Jr., respectively, it was not uncommon for the Tribe to field a line-up with as many as eight players who finished the season with a batting average of at least 0.300. In terms of power, though the '95 season was shortened, nevertheless, the Indians' line-up still featured two players with at least 30 HR, five players with at least 20 HR, and seven with at least 10 HR. While this line-up was filled with star players (four, in fact, were named to the 1995 AL All-Star team, namely, Lofton, Baerga, Belle, and Ramirez), Albert Belle stood out among all of them in 1995. Powered by a very strong second half of the season, Belle, the Indians' clean-up hitter in 1995, finished 1995 with a 0.317 batting average, 126 RBI, and 50 home runs. Further to be noted is the fact that, in hitting 50 HR and 52 doubles in 1995, Belle became the first Major League player to hit at least 50 home runs and at least 50 doubles in the same season (an accomplishment which, again, is even more remarkable considering that he did this in a shortened, 144-game season).
The Indians also led the 1995 AL in ERA (3.81). While their starting pitching—led by veterans Dennis Martínez and Orel Hershiser—was respectable, it was their bullpen which gave real strength to their pitching staff. Key members of their bullpen staff included veteran right-hander Eric Plunk (6–2, 2.67 ERA), veteran left-hander Paul Assenmacher (6–2, 2.82), the young right-handed set-up man, Julián Tavárez (10–1, 2.44 ERA), and right-handed closer, José Mesa (3–0, 1.12 ERA, 46 SV). Mesa, in his first year as closer, posted a league-leading 46 saves in 1995, and set a then-Major League record of 38 consecutive saves without a blown save. Two of the members of the 1995 Indians' pitching staff—Dennis Martínez (the team's ace) and José Mesa—were named to the 1995 AL All-Star team.
== Series build-up ==
It might be noted that this was the first time that a team from Cleveland and one from Atlanta faced each other in the World Series, there were years, prior to the Braves being in Atlanta, in which the Braves faced a Cleveland team for baseball's crown. In 1948, the Boston Braves faced the Cleveland Indians (with the Indians winning that Series in six games). Even before that, in 1892, the Boston Beaneaters, a forerunner of the Braves, were also National League Champions in 1892, and faced the Cleveland Spiders for the championship. The Beaneaters beat the Spiders that year to win that baseball championship.
The 1995 World Series was also noted for large-scale protests by Native American activists in response to the controversy surrounding both clubs' usage of Native American-themed nicknames, logos and mascots, as well as the use of the tomahawk chop by Braves fans.
== Broadcasting ==
NBC was originally scheduled to televise the entire World Series; however, due to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, which had been slated for ABC (who last televised a World Series in 1989), coverage ended up being split between NBC and ABC. Game 5 would be the last Major League Baseball game to be telecast by ABC for 25 years. Had the World Series lasted all seven games, the last game would have been televised by ABC. ABC was scheduled to televise up to four wild card games in the 2020 MLB Postseason.
This was the only World Series to be produced under The Baseball Network umbrella (a revenue sharing joint venture between Major League Baseball, ABC and NBC). In July 1995, NBC and ABC announced that they would be pulling out of what was supposed to be a six-year-long venture. NBC would next cover the 1997 (NBC's first entirely since 1988) and 1999 World Series over the course of a five-year-long contract, in which Fox would cover the World Series in even numbered years (1996, 1998 and 2000).
Game 5 would be the last Major League game Al Michaels called as a full-time baseball announcer. After that, Michaels would work NFL games full-time for three networks: ABC, NBC, and Amazon Prime. Michaels did call baseball again in a 2011 regular season game between the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants on MLB Network, partnering with his erstwhile NBC counterpart Bob Costas.
Also during the World Series in 1995, NBC's Hannah Storm not only became the first woman to serve as solo pre-game host of a World Series (CBS' Andrea Joyce co-hosted with Pat O'Brien in 1993) but also became the first woman to preside over a World Series Trophy presentation. Storm was infamously the recipient of a profane outburst from Albert Belle in his team's dugout. Later, Belle was unrepentant: "The Indians wanted me to issue a statement of regret when the fine was announced, but I told them to take it out. I apologize for nothing." John Saunders served as pre-game host for ABC's coverage. Serving as field reporters for the series were Lesley Visser (ABC) and Jim Gray (NBC).
The six games averaged a national Nielsen rating of 19.5 and a share of 33. Through 2016, this remains the highest-rated World Series of the post-strike era.
On the radio side, CBS was the national broadcaster with Vin Scully and Jeff Torborg on the call. Locally, WKNR aired the series in Cleveland with Herb Score and Tom Hamilton announcing, while WSB broadcast the series in Atlanta with Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, and Joe Simpson announcing.
=== International ===
== Summary ==
NL Atlanta Braves (4) vs. AL Cleveland Indians (2)
== Matchups ==
=== Game 1 ===
Braves ace Greg Maddux pitched a two-hit complete game victory in his first World Series appearance (and just the 15th two-hitter in World Series history).
The Indians scored in the first inning when Kenny Lofton reached on an error, stole second and third, and scored on an RBI groundout by Carlos Baerga. In the bottom of the second, Fred McGriff launched a tape measure home run on his first ever World Series pitch off Indians starter Orel Hershiser to even the score at 1–1. Both starters settled down until the seventh, when Hershiser and the Indians' bullpen walked the first three Braves to open the inning. The Braves would take a 3–1 lead after Luis Polonia hit into a run-scoring force play and Rafael Belliard bunted a perfect suicide squeeze. Lofton scored the Indians another run in the ninth to cut the Braves lead to a single run, (both Indians runs resulted from errors and were thus, unearned) but Baerga lifted a pop fly that third baseman Chipper Jones grabbed near the visiting dugout to end the game.
=== Game 2 ===
Braves No. 2 starter Tom Glavine got the win in Game 2, aided by a big sixth-inning home run by catcher Javy López, who also picked Manny Ramirez off first base at a crucial moment in the eighth inning to erase a potential game-tying baserunner. The Indians had taken an early 2–0 lead on an Eddie Murray two-run home run after Albert Belle got on base, but the Braves evened the score in the third with a sacrifice fly by Chipper Jones and an RBI single by David Justice. Lopez launched his home run in the sixth inning from Indians starter Dennis Martínez. The Braves' bullpen held off the Indians in the later innings despite allowing a run in the seventh, and Mark Wohlers earned the save, giving the Braves a 2–0 series lead.
=== Game 3 ===
With the World Series moving to smaller, raucous Jacobs Field in Cleveland, the Indians got their first win. The Indians offense got back on track off Atlanta starter John Smoltz. With the Indians already down 1–0 in the bottom of the first, Kenny Lofton singled to center and scored on Omar Vizquel's triple into the right field corner. Omar then scored the go-ahead run when Carlos Baerga grounded out. In the third, the Indians were back at it again when Lofton opened the inning by ripping a double into the right-center field gap. Omar then got a bunt single and Baerga singled to left to drive in Lofton. Albert Belle then rolled a grounder up the middle to score Vizquel to make it 4–1. This was Smoltz's only early exit and only poor start in eight career World Series appearances. The Braves got a boost, however, when reliever Brad Clontz induced a double play groundout by Manny Ramírez to escape further damage. Home runs by Fred McGriff and Ryan Klesko brought the Braves closer at 4–3. The Indians added a run in the seventh on another RBI hit by Baerga scoring Lofton (who would reach base in all six of his plate appearances). With a 5–3 lead going into the eighth, trouble brewed for the Indians when Charles Nagy and the bullpen gave up the lead. Marquis Grissom led off with a double off the wall. Polonia singled through the right side to drive in Grissom, sending Nagy to the showers. Chipper Jones walked, McGriff hit a deep fly moving the runners up a base, and David Justice reached when Baerga booted his groundball, subsequently allowing Polonia to score the tying run. The inning was capped off by Mike Devereaux's RBI single giving the Braves a 6–5 lead. The Braves couldn't hold on to their slim lead either as Sandy Alomar Jr. laced a game-tying double inside the line at first in the bottom of the eighth. The two closers, Mark Wohlers and José Mesa then matched zeros for the next two innings. In the 11th, the Braves went to Alejandro Peña. Baerga immediately smashed a double and after an intentional walk to Belle, veteran Eddie Murray singled to center, scoring pinch runner Álvaro Espinoza and cutting the Braves' World Series lead in half.
A record 18 pitchers were used between the Braves and Indians in Games 2 and 3.
=== Game 4 ===
Braves manager Bobby Cox controversially decided to start left-handed pitcher Steve Avery in the critical Game 4 instead of coming back with Greg Maddux. Despite Avery's uncharacteristically poor regular season showing (7-13, 4.67 ERA), Cox felt he deserved a chance after having won the NLCS clincher against the Cincinnati Reds throwing six shutout innings. Young Braves outfielder Ryan Klesko hit a sixth-inning home run to give the Braves the lead. This would be the last time a player would hit home runs in back-to-back World Series games until 2016. Avery again delivered six effective innings, only giving up a sixth-inning home run to Indians slugger Albert Belle. A controversial play happened when Eddie Murray hit a pitch over third base; left-field umpire Jim McKean called it foul while third-base umpire Harry Wendelstedt looked at Jim McKean to make the call. Murray eventually walked and reached second on a balk by Avery, but Herbert Perry struck out to end the inning. The Braves promptly broke the tie with a three-run seventh, with David Justice batting in two of the runs with a single. An RBI double by Javy López gave the Braves an insurance run, making it 5–1. Reliever Pedro Borbón Jr. saved the 5–2 win after Mark Wohlers ran into trouble, and the Braves were one victory away from a title.
=== Game 5 ===
It seemed the perfect situation for the Braves with Greg Maddux pitching Game 5 with a chance to clinch the title, but Albert Belle slugged a two-run homer in the first inning, and the Braves lineup was held in check by Indians veteran Orel Hershiser who went eight innings, only surrendering two runs. Luis Polonia hit a solo home run into the fourth and the Braves actually tied the game at 2–2 with a run-scoring infield single by Marquis Grissom in the fifth, but the Indians got two more runs from Maddux making it 4–2. Jim Thome hit an insurance home run in the eighth, which proved necessary as Ryan Klesko homered in his third consecutive game, reducing the gap to 5–4. Klesko became the first person to homer in three consecutive World Series road games, by belting homers in Games 3, 4, and 5. The win sent the World Series back to Atlanta.
As previously mentioned, this game was the most recent baseball game that ABC televised until the 2020 postseason.
=== Game 6 ===
Controversy struck on the morning of Game 6 when Atlanta newspapers printed stories that right fielder David Justice had ripped the city's fans for not matching their motivation of past seasons. Justice, who had been struggling in the postseason, was vilified before the game, but when his sixth-inning home run off a 1–1 pitch by Jim Poole broke a scoreless tie, he became a hero. Tom Glavine pitched eight innings of one-hit ball (and five innings of no hit ball) and allowed just three walks (two to Albert Belle, who was caught stealing second in the second inning to keep a runner from advancing into scoring position) to help earn him the World Series MVP. Only one Indian advanced into scoring position in the entire game when Kenny Lofton stole second, but no one could get him in. Indians starter Dennis Martínez lasted just 42⁄3 innings due to allowing four hits and five walks, but no Braves scored. After Justice's home run, the Braves managed just one hit. The lone hit for the Indians was a bloop-single by catcher Tony Peña in the sixth, breaking up Glavine's bid to become the first pitcher since Don Larsen in 1956 to throw a no-hitter in the World Series. Closer Mark Wohlers pitched the ninth inning, preserving the 1–0 shutout and the Braves' coveted title when Carlos Baerga's fly ball landed in center fielder Marquis Grissom's glove, giving the Braves their first title in Atlanta and their first since 1957 when they were still in Milwaukee. Carlos Baerga was responsible for making the last out in three of the four Indians losses; Games 1, 2 and 6. To date, this is the last 1–0 World Series game won by the home team. Moments after the final out was recorded, a fan in the stands was shown holding a placard that simply said "...Finally!" due to the Atlanta Braves finally winning the World Series on their third try.
Game 6 was partially marred by controversy, due to an unusually wide strike zone umpire Joe Brinkman gave Glavine, which resulted in complaints from the Indians’ players.
In 1995, the Cleveland Indians batted .291 as a team, led the league in runs scored, hits, and stolen bases, and had eight .300 hitters in their starting lineup. However, the Tribe was held to a .179 batting average in the World Series.
Then-Executive Committee Chairman Bud Selig presided over the Commissioner's Trophy presentation for the first time. In the previous two World Series (1992 and 1993), American League president Dr. Bobby Brown presided over the trophy presentation. Selig would become Commissioner of Baseball in 1998.
== Composite line score ==
1995 World Series (4–2): Atlanta Braves (N.L.) over Cleveland Indians (A.L.)
== Aftermath ==
The 1995 Braves were in the midst of a streak of 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 through 2005 (excluding the 1994 season, which ended early due to a players strike), however this was the only World Series the Braves would win. Atlanta returned to the Series the following year, but lost to the New York Yankees in six games. The Braves of this era made one more trip to the Series in 1999, but lost to the Yankees in a four-game sweep. This was Atlanta's first championship in any of the four major professional sports, and the last for the city and for the Braves until 2021.
The Indians would go on to win the AL Central five of the following six years and return to the World Series in 1997, where they lost to the Florida Marlins in seven games. The core of the 1990s Indians teams would break up in the early 2000s. Albert Belle signed with the Chicago White Sox in free agency in the winter of 1996, while Kenny Lofton was traded to the Braves before the start of the 1997 season (he returned in 1998 to play three years with the team only to leave and return again for his final season in 2007); after the turn of the century, Manny Ramirez joined the Boston Red Sox in 2001 and Jim Thome joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 2003.
== Quotes ==
Left center field, Grissom on the run. The team of the 90s has its world championship. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_runs_batted_in_leaders | List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders | This is a list of Major League Baseball players who have compiled 1,000 runs batted in (RBIs). RBIs are usually accumulated when a batter in baseball enables a runner on base (including himself, in the case of a home run) to score as a result of making contact at-bat (except in certain situations, such as when an error is made on the play or during a double play). A batter is also credited with an RBI if he reaches first base with the bases loaded via a base on balls (walk), being hit by a pitch, or interference.
MLB's official list does not include RBIs accumulated before 1920 when runs batted in became an official statistic. The list on this page is compiled from Baseball-Reference, which credits RBIs from 1907 to 1919 as recorded by baseball writer and historian Ernest Lanigan. One difference between the lists is that Babe Ruth is ranked third by Baseball Reference, but seventh by MLB, which does not count Ruth's 224 RBI compiled before 1920.
As through the end of the 2025 season., Freddie Freeman is the active leader in career RBIs and tied for 102nd overall with 1,322.
== Key ==
== List ==
Stats updated through the end of the 2025 season.
Through the end of 2025 season, these active players have at least 850 RBI.
José Ramírez (949) 0
Eugenio Suárez (949) 0
Marcell Ozuna (948) 0
Nick Castellanos (920) 0
Mookie Betts (913) 0
Jose Altuve (889) 0
Francisco Lindor (856) 0
Christian Yelich (851) 0 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systema_Naturae | Systema Naturae | Systema Naturae (originally in Latin written Systema Naturæ with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers, Gaspard and Johann, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout his book. The first edition was published in 1735. The full title of the 10th edition (1758), which was the most important one, was Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, which appeared in English in 1806 with the title: "A General System of Nature, Through the Three Grand Kingdoms of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, Systematically Divided Into their Several Classes, Orders, Genera, Species, and Varieties, with their Habitations, Manners, Economy, Structure and Peculiarities".
The tenth edition of this book (1758), published in Stockholm, is considered the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In 1766–1768 Linnaeus published the much enhanced 12th edition, the last under his authorship. Another again enhanced work in the same style titled "Systema Naturae" was published by Johann Friedrich Gmelin between 1788 and 1793. Since at least the early 20th century, zoologists have commonly recognized this as the last edition belonging to this series.
== Overview ==
Linnaeus (later known as "Carl von Linné", after his ennoblement in 1761) published the first edition of Systema Naturae in 1735, during his stay in the Netherlands. As was customary for the scientific literature of its day, the book was published in Latin. In it, he outlined his ideas for the hierarchical classification of the natural world, dividing it into the animal kingdom (regnum animale), the plant kingdom (regnum vegetabile), and the "mineral kingdom" (regnum lapideum).
Linnaeus's Systema Naturae lists only about 10,000 species of organisms, of which about 6,000 are plants and 4,236 are animals. According to the historian of botany William T. Stearn, "Even in 1753, he believed that the number of species of plants in the whole world would hardly reach 10,000; in his whole career, he named about 7,700 species of flowering plants."
Linnaeus developed his classification of the plant kingdom in an attempt to describe and understand the natural world as a reflection of the logic of God's creation. His sexual system, where species with the same number of stamens were treated in the same group, was convenient, but in his view artificial. Linnaeus believed in God's creation and that no deeper relationships were to be expressed. The classification of animals was more natural than for plants. For instance, humans were for the first time placed together with other primates, as Anthropomorpha. They were also divided into four varieties, as distinguished by skin color and corresponding with the four known continents and temperaments. The tenth edition expanded on these varieties with behavioral and cultural traits that the Linnean Society acknowledges as having cemented colonial stereotypes and provided one of the foundations for scientific racism.
As a result of the popularity of the work, and the number of new specimens sent to him from around the world, Linnaeus kept publishing new and ever-expanding editions of his work. It grew from 11 very large pages in the first edition (1735) to 2,400 pages in the 12th edition (1766–1768). Also, as the work progressed, he made changes; in the first edition, whales were classified as fishes, following the work of Linnaeus' friend and "father of ichthyology" Peter Artedi; in the 10th edition, published in 1758, whales were moved into the mammal class. In this same edition, he introduced two-part names (see binomen) for animal species, which he had done for plant species (see binary name) in the 1753 publication of Species Plantarum. The system eventually developed into modern Linnaean taxonomy, a hierarchically organized biological classification.
After Linnaeus' health declined in the early 1770s, publication of editions of Systema Naturae went in two directions. Another Swedish scientist, Johan Andreas Murray, issued the Regnum Vegetabile section separately in 1774 as the Systema Vegetabilium, rather confusingly labelled the 13th edition. Meanwhile, a 13th edition of the entire Systema appeared in parts between 1788 and 1793. It was as the Systema Vegetabilium that Linnaeus' work became widely known in England following translation from the Latin by the Lichfield Botanical Society, as A System of Vegetables (1783–1785).
== Taxonomy ==
In his Imperium Naturæ, Linnaeus established three kingdoms, namely Regnum Animale, Regnum Vegetabile, and Regnum Lapideum. This approach, the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms, survives until today in the popular mind, notably in the form of parlour games: "Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?" The classification was based on five levels: kingdom, class, order, genus, and species. While species and genus were seen as God-given (or "natural"), the three higher levels were seen by Linnaeus as constructs. The concept behind the set ranks being applied to all groups was to make a system that was easy to remember and navigate, a task in which most say he succeeded.
Linnaeus's work had a huge impact on science; it was indispensable as a foundation for biological nomenclature, now regulated by the Nomenclature Codes. Two of his works, the first edition of the Species Plantarum (1753) for plants and the 10th edition of the Systema Naturæ (1758), are accepted to be among the starting points of nomenclature. Most of his names for species and genera were published at very early dates and thus take priority over those of other, later authors. Zoology has one exception, which is a monograph on Swedish spiders, Svenska Spindlar, published by Carl Clerck in 1757, so the names established there take priority over the Linnean names. His exceptional importance to science was less in the value of his taxonomy, but more in his deployment of skillful young students abroad to collect specimens. At the close of the 18th century, his system had effectively become the standard for biological classification.
=== Animals ===
Only in the animal kingdom is the higher taxonomy of Linnaeus still more or less recognizable and some of these names are still in use, but usually not quite for the same groups as used by Linnaeus. He divided the Animal Kingdom into six classes; in the tenth edition (1758), these were:
Mammalia comprised the mammals. In the first edition, whales and the West Indian manatee were classified among the fishes.
Aves comprised the birds. Linnaeus was the first to remove bats from the birds and classify them under mammals.
Amphibia comprised amphibians, reptiles, and assorted fishes that are not of Osteichthyes.
Pisces comprised the bony fishes. These included the spiny-finned fishes (Perciformes) as a separate order.
Insecta comprised all arthropods. Crustaceans, arachnids and myriapods were included as the order "Aptera".
Vermes comprised the remaining invertebrates, roughly divided into "worms", molluscs, and hard-shelled organisms such as echinoderms.
==== Humans ====
Linnaeus was one of the first scientists to classify humans as primates (originally Anthropomorpha for "manlike"), eliciting some controversy for placing people among animals, thus not ruling over nature. He distinguished humans (Homo sapiens) from Homo troglodytes, a species of human-like creatures with exaggerated or non-human characteristics, despite finding limited evidence. He divided Homo sapiens into four varieties, corresponding with the four known continents and four temperaments (some editions also classify Ferus wild children and Monstrosus monstrous to accommodate adaptations to extreme environments). The first edition included Europæus albescens (whitish Europeans), Americanus rubescens (reddish Americans), Asiaticus fuscus (tawny Asians), and Africanus nigriculus (blackish Africans). The 10th edition solidified these descriptions by removing the "ish" qualifiers (e.g. albus "white" instead of albescens "whitish") and revising the characterization of Asiaticus from fuscus (tawny) to luridus (pale yellow). It also incorporates behavioral and cultural traits that the Linnean Society recognizes as having cemented colonial stereotypes and provided one of the foundations for scientific racism.
=== Plants ===
The orders and classes of plants, according to his Systema Sexuale, were never intended to represent natural groups (as opposed to his ordines naturales in his Philosophia Botanica), but only for use in identification. They were used in that sense well into the 19th century.
The Linnaean classes for plants, in the Sexual System, were:
=== Minerals ===
Linnaeus's taxonomy of minerals has long since fallen out of use. In the 10th edition, 1758, of the Systema Naturæ, the Linnaean classes were:
Classis 1. Petræ (rocks)
Classis 2. Mineræ (minerals and ores)
Classis 3. Fossilia (fossils and aggregates)
== Editions ==
Gmelin's 13th (decima tertia) edition of Systema Naturae (1788–1793) should be carefully distinguished from the more limited Systema Vegetabilium first prepared and published by Johan Andreas Murray in 1774 (but labelled as "thirteenth edition").
The dates of publication for Gmelin's edition were the following:
Part 1: pp. [1–12], 1–500 (25 July 1788)
Part 2: pp. 501–1032 (20 April 1789)
Part 3: pp. 1033–1516 (20 November 1789)
Part 4: pp. 1517–2224 (21 May 1790)
Part 5: pp. 2225–3020 (6 December 1790)
Part 6: pp. 3021–3910 (14 May 1791)
Part 7: pp. 3911–4120 (2 July 1792) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresa_May | Theresa May | Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidenhead from 1997 to 2024, and has been a member of the House of Lords since August 2024. May was the second female British prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher, and the first woman to have held two of the Great Offices of State. May is a one-nation conservative.
May grew up in Oxfordshire and attended St Hugh's College, Oxford. After graduating in 1977, she worked at the Bank of England and the Association for Payment Clearing Services. She also served as a councillor on Merton London Borough Council. After two unsuccessful attempts to be elected to the House of Commons, she was elected MP for Maidenhead at the 1997 general election. From 1999 to 2010, May held several roles in shadow cabinets and was Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2003. Following the formation of the coalition government after the 2010 general election, May was appointed home secretary and minister for women and equalities, giving up the latter role in 2012. Reappointed after the Conservatives won the 2015 general election, she became the longest-serving home secretary in more than 60 years. During her tenure as home secretary, she pursued reform of the Police Federation, implemented a harder line on drugs policy and further restricted immigration. She oversaw the introduction of elected police and crime commissioners, the deportation of Abu Qatada and the creation of the College of Policing and the National Crime Agency. Although she supported the Remain campaign, May supported Brexit following the outcome of the 2016 referendum. She was elected and appointed prime minister unopposed, succeeding David Cameron.
As prime minister, May began the process of withdrawing the UK from the EU, triggering Article 50 in March 2017. In April, she announced a snap general election, with the aim of strengthening her hand in Brexit negotiations and highlighting her "strong and stable" leadership. This resulted in a hung parliament with the number of Conservative seats reduced to 317 from 330, despite the highest vote share since 1983 and the largest increase in electoral support enjoyed by a governing party since 1832. The loss of an overall majority prompted her to enter a confidence-and-supply arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Following the 2017 election, May's premiership continued to be dominated by Brexit, in particular by her government's negotiations with the EU, adhering to the Chequers plan, which led to a draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. Other events that occurred during May's premiership included terrorist attacks in Westminster, the Manchester Arena and London Bridge, and the Grenfell Tower fire and Windrush scandal. Her government announced the NHS Long Term Plan and was responsible for negotiating and approving the near-entirety of the UK's terms of exit from the EU. May was also a prominent figure in leading the international condemnation and response to Russia over the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March 2018. May survived two votes of no confidence in December 2018 and in January 2019, but after versions of her draft withdrawal agreement were rejected by Parliament three times and her party's poor performance in the 2019 European Parliament election, she left office in July and was succeeded by Boris Johnson, her former foreign secretary.
May remained in the House of Commons as a backbencher until she stood down at the 2024 general election. She was elevated to the House of Lords later that year as Baroness May of Maidenhead. In historical rankings of prime ministers, academics and journalists have ranked May in the bottom fourth quartile.
== Early life and education ==
Theresa May was born on 1 October 1956 in Eastbourne, Sussex. She is the only child of Zaidee Mary (née Barnes; 1928–1982) and Hubert Brasier (1917–1981). Her father was a Church of England clergyman (and an Anglo-Catholic) who was chaplain of an Eastbourne hospital. He later became vicar of Enstone with Heythrop and finally of St Mary's at Wheatley, to the east of Oxford. May's mother was a supporter of the Conservative Party. Her father died in 1981, from injuries sustained in a car accident, and her mother of multiple sclerosis the following year. May later stated she was "sorry they [her parents] never saw me elected as a Member of Parliament".
May initially attended Heythrop Primary School, a state school in Heythrop, followed by St. Juliana's Convent School for Girls, a Roman Catholic independent school in Begbroke, which closed in 1984.
At the age of 13, May won a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School, a state school in Wheatley. During her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was reorganised, and the school became the new Wheatley Park Comprehensive School. May attended the University of Oxford, read geography at St Hugh's College, and graduated with a second class BA degree in 1977. She was taught political geography at St Hugh's by John Patten, Baron Patten, a future Conservative Secretary of State for Education under John Major. At St Hugh's, May's contemporaries included the barrister Alicia Collinson, wife of May's future deputy Damian Green; businesswoman Louise Patten; and Emma Hood, wife of former Oxford University Vice-Chancellor John Hood.
May worked at a bakery on Saturdays to earn pocket money and was a "tall, fashion-conscious young woman who from an early age spoke of her ambition to be the first woman prime minister," according to those who knew her. A university friend, Pat Frankland, said, "I cannot remember a time when she did not have political ambitions."
== Early career ==
Between 1977 and 1983, May worked at the Bank of England. From 1985 to 1997, she was a financial consultant at the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS). She served as Head of the European Affairs Unit from 1989 to 1996 and Senior Adviser on International Affairs from 1996 to 1997 in the organisation.
May served as a councillor for Durnsford ward on the Borough Council of the London Borough of Merton from 1986 to 1994, where she was Chairman of Education (1988–1990) and Deputy Group Leader and Housing Spokesman (1992–1994).
In the 1992 general election May was the Conservative Party candidate for the safe Labour seat of North West Durham, placing second to incumbent MP Hilary Armstrong, with future Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron placing third. May then stood at the 1994 Barking by-election, which was prompted by the death of Labour MP Jo Richardson. The seat had been continuously held by Labour since it was created in 1945, and Labour candidate Margaret Hodge was expected to win easily, which she did. May placed a distant third.
=== Election ===
Around 18 months ahead of the 1997 general election, May was selected as the Conservative candidate for Maidenhead, a new seat which was created from parts of the safe seats of Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham. She was elected comfortably with 25,344 votes (49.8%), almost double the total of second-placed Andrew Terence Ketteringham of the Liberal Democrats, who took 13,363 votes (26.3%). Despite this, her party suffered their worst defeat in over 150 years.
=== Early parliamentary career ===
Having entered Parliament, May became a member of William Hague's front-bench Opposition team, as Shadow Spokesman for Schools, Disabled People and Women (1998–1999). She became the first of the 1997 MPs to enter the Shadow Cabinet when in 1999 she was appointed Shadow Education and Employment Secretary. After the 2001 election the new Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith kept her in the Shadow Cabinet, moving her to the Transport portfolio.
May was appointed the first female Chairman of the Conservative Party in July 2002. During her speech at the 2002 Conservative Party Conference, she explained why, in her view, her party must change: "You know what people call us? The Nasty Party. In recent years a number of politicians have behaved disgracefully and then compounded their offences by trying to evade responsibility. We all know who they are. Let's face it, some of them have stood on this platform." She accused some unnamed colleagues of trying to "make political capital out of demonising minorities", and charged others with indulging themselves "in petty feuding or sniping instead of getting behind a leader who is doing an enormous amount to change a party which has suffered two landslide defeats". She admitted that constituency selection committees seemed to prefer candidates they would "be happy to have a drink with on a Sunday morning", continuing to say, "At the last general election 38 new Tory MPs were elected. Of that total, only one was a woman and none was from an ethnic minority. Is that fair? Is one half of the population entitled to only one place out of 38?"
In 2003, after Michael Howard's election as Conservative Party and Opposition Leader in November that year, May was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and the Environment.
In June 2004, she was moved to become Shadow Secretary of State for the Family. Following the 2005 general election she was also made Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. After David Cameron's election as Conservative Party and Opposition Leader, he appointed May as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons in December 2005 and as Shadow Minister for Women and Equality in July 2007. In January 2009, May was made Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
On 6 May 2010, May was re-elected MP for Maidenhead with an increased majority of 16,769 – 60% of the vote. This followed an earlier failed attempt by the Liberal Democrats to unseat her in 2005, as one of that party's leading "decapitation-strategy" targets.
== Home Secretary ==
Following the formation of the coalition government after the 2010 general election on 12 May 2010, May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities by Prime Minister David Cameron as part of his first Cabinet. She became the fourth woman to hold one of the British Great Offices of State, after Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister), Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary) and Jacqui Smith (Home Secretary). As Home Secretary, May was also a member of the National Security Council. She was the longest-serving Home Secretary for over 60 years, since James Chuter Ede who served over six years and two months from August 1945 to October 1951. May's appointment as Home Secretary was somewhat unexpected, with Chris Grayling having served as shadow Home Secretary in opposition.
May's debut as Home Secretary involved overturning several of the previous Labour government's measures on data collection and surveillance in England and Wales. By way of a government bill which became the Identity Documents Act 2010, she brought about the abolition of the Labour government's National Identity Card and database scheme and reformed the regulations on the retention of DNA samples for suspects and controls on the use of CCTV cameras. In May 2010, May announced the adjournment of the deportation to the United States of alleged computer hacker Gary McKinnon. She also suspended the registration scheme for carers of children and vulnerable people, with May saying that the measures were "draconian. You were assumed to be guilty until you were proven innocent, and told you were able to work with children." On 4 August 2010, it was reported that May was scrapping the former Labour government's proposed "go orders" scheme to protect women from domestic violence by banning abusers from the victim's home.
In June 2010, May faced her first major national security incident as Home Secretary with the Cumbria shootings. She delivered her first major speech in the House of Commons as Home Secretary in a statement on this incident, later visiting the victims with the Prime Minister. Also in June 2010, May banned the Indian Muslim preacher Zakir Naik from entering the United Kingdom.
According to The Daily Telegraph, a Home Office official who disagreed with this decision was suspended. In late June 2010, May announced plans for a temporary cap on UK visas for non-EU migrants. The move raised concerns about the impact on the British economy.
In August 2013, May supported the detention of David Miranda, partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, under the Terrorism Act 2000, saying that critics of the Metropolitan Police action needed to "think about what they are condoning". Lib Dem peer and former Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald accused May of an "ugly and unhelpful" attempt to implicate those who were concerned about the police action of "condoning terrorism". The High Court subsequently acknowledged there were "indirect implications for press freedom" but ruled the detention legal. A 2016 ruling by the Court of Appeal found that the provision of the Terrorism Act used for Miranda's detention was "incompatible with the European convention on human rights", but that the detention itself was lawful.
May also championed legislation popularly dubbed the Snooper's Charter, requiring internet and mobile service providers to keep records of internet usage, voice calls, messages and email for up to a year in case police requested access to the records while investigating a crime. The Liberal Democrats had blocked the first attempt, but after the Conservative Party obtained a majority in the 2015 general election May announced a new Draft Investigatory Powers Bill similar to the Draft Communications Data Bill, although with more limited powers and additional oversight.
=== Police and crime ===
Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) conference in June 2010, May announced radical cuts to the Home Office budget, likely to lead to a reduction in police numbers. In July 2010, May presented the House of Commons with proposals for a fundamental review of the previous Labour government's security and counter-terrorism legislation, including "stop and search" powers, and her intention to review the 28-day limit on detaining terrorist suspects without charge.
In July 2010, May announced a package of reforms to policing in England and Wales in the House of Commons. The previous Labour Government's central crime agency, Soca (Serious Organised Crime Agency), was to be replaced by a new National Crime Agency. In common with the Conservative Party 2010 general election manifesto's flagship proposal for a "Big Society" based on voluntary action, May also proposed increasing the role of civilian "reservists" for crime control. The reforms were rejected by the Opposition Labour Party.
Following the actions of some members of Black Bloc in vandalising allegedly tax-avoiding shops and businesses on the day of the March 2011 TUC march, the Home Secretary unveiled reforms curbing the right to protest, including giving police extra powers to remove masked individuals and to police social networking sites to prevent illegal protest without police consent or notification.
In 2012, despite inquiries by both Scotland Yard and the Independent Police Complaints Commission ruling that there was no new evidence to warrant further investigation, after discussions with Doreen Lawrence, May commissioned Mark Ellison to review Scotland Yard's investigations into alleged police corruption. The report was presented to Parliament by May on 6 March 2014. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said the report, which has prompted an inquiry into undercover policing, was "devastating".
In July 2013, May welcomed the fact that crime had fallen by more than 10% under the coalition government, while still being able to make savings. She said that this was partly due to the government removing red tape and scrapping targets to allow the police to concentrate on crime-fighting.
In 2014, May delivered a speech to the Police Federation, in which she criticised aspects of the culture of the police force. In the speech, she said:
When you remember the list of recent revelations about police misconduct, it is not enough to mouth platitudes about "a few bad apples". The problem might lie with a minority of officers, but it is still a significant problem and a problem that needs to be addressed ... according to one survey carried out recently, only 42% of black people from a Caribbean background trust the police. That is simply not sustainable ... I will soon publish proposals to strengthen the protections available to whistleblowers in the police. I am creating a new criminal offence of police corruption. And I am determined that the use of stop and search must come down, become more targeted and lead to more arrests.
On 9 December 2010, in the wake of violent student demonstrations in central London against increases to higher-education tuition fees, May praised the actions of the police in controlling the demonstrations but was described by The Daily Telegraph as "under growing political pressure" due to her handling of the protests.
In December 2010, May declared that deployment of water cannon by police forces in mainland Britain was an operational decision which had been "resisted until now by senior police officers." She rejected their use following the widespread rioting in summer 2011 and said: "the way we police in Britain is not through use of water cannon. The way we police in Britain is through consent of communities." May said: "I condemn utterly the violence in Tottenham... Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order."
In the aftermath of the riots May urged the identification of as many as possible of the young criminals involved. She said: "when I was in Manchester last week, the issue was raised to me about the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of crimes of this sort. The Crown Prosecution Service is to order prosecutors to apply for anonymity to be lifted in any youth case they think is in the public interest. The law currently protects the identity of any suspect under the age of 18, even if they are convicted, but it also allows for an application to have such restrictions lifted, if deemed appropriate." May added that "what I've asked for is that CPS guidance should go to prosecutors to say that where possible, they should be asking for the anonymity of juveniles who are found guilty of criminal activity to be lifted".
==== Anti-social behaviour ====
In July 2010, May proposed to review the previous Labour Government's anti-social behaviour legislation signalling the abolition of the "Anti-Social Behaviour Order" (ASBO). She identified the policy's high level of failure with almost half of ASBOs breached between 2000 and 2008, leading to "fast-track" criminal convictions. May proposed a less punitive, community-based approach to tackling social disorder. May suggested that anti-social behaviour policy "must be turned on its head", reversing the ASBO's role as the flagship crime control policy legislation under Labour. Former Labour Home Secretaries David Blunkett (who introduced ASBOs) and Alan Johnson expressed their disapproval of the proposals.
==== Drug policy ====
In July 2013, May decided to ban the stimulant khat, against the advice of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). The council reached the conclusion that there was "insufficient evidence" it caused health problems. Explaining the change in the classification May said: "The decision to bring khat under control is finely balanced and takes into account the expert scientific advice and these broader concerns", and pointed out that the product had already been banned in the majority of other EU member states, as well as most of the G8 countries including Canada and the US. A report on khat use by the ACMD published in January 2013 had noted the product had been associated with "acute psychotic episodes", "chronic liver disease" and family breakdown. However, it concluded that there is no risk of harm for most users, and recommended that khat remain uncontrolled due to lack of evidence for these associations.
Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker accused May of suppressing proposals to treat rather than prosecute minor drug offenders from a report into drug policy commissioned by the Home Office. The Home Office denied that its officials had considered this as part of their strategy. Baker cited difficulties in working with May as the reason for his resignation from the Home Office in the run-up to the 2015 general election.
=== Immigration ===
In 2010, May promised to bring the level of net migration down to less than 100,000. The Independent reported in February 2015, "The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced a net flow of 298,000 migrants to the UK in the 12 months to September 2014—up from 210,000 in the previous year." In total, 624,000 people migrated to the UK in the year ending September 2014 and 327,000 left in the same period. Statistics showed "significant increases in migration among both non-EU citizens—up 49,000 to 292,000—and EU citizens, which rose by 43,000 to 251,000."
In May 2012 she told The Daily Telegraph of her intention "to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration".
May rejected the European Union's proposal of compulsory refugee quotas. She said that it was important to help people living in war-zone regions and refugee camps but "not the ones who are strong and rich enough to come to Europe". In May 2016, The Daily Telegraph reported that she had tried to save £4m by rejecting an intelligence project to use aircraft surveillance to detect illegal immigrant boats.
==== Family migration ====
In June 2012, May announced that new restrictions would be introduced to reduce the number of non-European Economic Area family migrants. The changes were mostly intended to apply to new applicants after 9 July 2012.
The newly introduced rules came into effect on 9 July 2012 allowing only those British citizens earning more than £18,600 to bring their spouses or their children to live with them in the UK. This figure would rise significantly in cases where visa applications are also made for children. They also increased the current two-year probationary period for partners to 5 years. The rules also prevent any adult and elderly dependents from settling in the UK unless they can demonstrate that, as a result of age, illness or disability, they require a level of long-term personal care that can only be provided by a relative in the UK.
The House of Lords was concerned about the immigration issue and therefore addressed the PM in Parliament as to whether she had examined the impact on communities and families on modest incomes, but it received no direct response. The human rights group Liberty concluded that the new rules showed scant regard to the impact they would have on genuine families. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration conducted an evidence based inquiry into the impact of the rules and concluded in their report that the rules were causing very young children to be separated from their parents and could exile British citizens from the UK.
==== Deportation decisions ====
At the Conservative Party Conference in October 2011, while arguing that the Human Rights Act needed to be amended, May gave the example of a foreign national who the Courts ruled was allowed to remain in the UK, "because—and I am not making this up—he had a pet cat". In response, the Royal Courts of Justice issued a statement, denying that this was the reason for the tribunal's decision in that case, and stating that the real reason was that he was in a genuine relationship with a British partner, and owning a pet cat was simply one of many pieces of evidence given to show that the relationship was "genuine". The Home Office had failed to apply its own rules for dealing with unmarried partners of people settled in the UK. Amnesty International said May's comments only fuelled "myths and misconceptions" about the Human Rights Act and Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke subsequently called May's comments "laughable and childlike."
In June 2012, May was found in contempt of court by Judge Barry Cotter, and stood accused of "totally unacceptable and regrettable behaviour", being said to have shown complete disregard for a legal agreement to free an Algerian from a UK Immigration Detention Centre. As she eventually allowed the prisoner to be freed, May avoided further sanctions including fines or imprisonment.
May responded to a Supreme Court decision in November 2013 to overturn her predecessor Jacqui Smith's revocation of Iraqi-born terror suspect Al Jedda's British citizenship by ordering it to be revoked for a second time, making him the first person to be stripped twice of British citizenship.
May was accused by Lord Roberts of Llandudno of being willing to allow someone to die "to score a political point" over the deportation of mentally ill Nigerian man Isa Muazu. According to Muazu's solicitor, May had arranged for the asylum seeker, who was said to be "near death" after a 100-day hunger strike, to be deported by a chartered private jet. To strengthen the Home Office's tough stance, an "end of life" plan was reportedly offered to Muazu, who was one of a number of hunger strikers at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre.
==== Abu Qatada deportation ====
In July 2013, Abu Qatada, a radical cleric arrested in 2002, was deported to Jordan after a decade-long battle that had cost the nation £1.7 million in legal fees, and several prior Home Secretaries had not resolved. The deportation was the result of a treaty negotiated by May in April 2013, under which Jordan agreed to give Qatada a fair trial, by not using evidence that may have been obtained against him through torture.
May pointed to Qatada's deportation as a triumph, guaranteeing in September 2013 that "he will not be returning to the UK", and declaring in her 2016 leadership campaign announcement that she was told that she "couldn't deport Abu Qatada" but that she "flew to Jordan and negotiated the treaty that got him out of Britain for good". The Qatada deportation also shaped May's views on the European Convention on Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights, saying that they had "moved the goalposts" and had a "crazy interpretation of our human rights laws", as a result, May has since campaigned against the institutions, saying that British withdrawal from them should be considered.
==== "Go Home" advertisements ====
In August 2013, the Home Office engaged in an advertising campaign directed at illegal immigrants. The advertisements, in the form of mobile advertising hoardings on the back of lorries, told illegal immigrants to "go home or face arrest", with an image of a person in handcuffs, and were deployed in six London boroughs with substantial ethnic minority populations. They were widely criticised as creating a hostile atmosphere for members of ethnic minority groups. The shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, described their language as being reminiscent of that used by the National Front in the 1970s. An adjudication by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said that "the claim [that 106 arrests were made last week] was misleading and had not been substantiated" was followed by the advertisements being withdrawn after being banned by the ASA.
==== Passport backlog ====
In mid 2014, the Passport Office faced a backlog in developing processing passport applications, with around 30,000 applications hit by delays. David Cameron suggested this had come about due to the Passport Office's receiving an "above normal" 300,000-rise in applications. It was revealed, however, that May had been warned the year before, in July 2013, that a surge of 350,000 extra applications could occur owing to the closure of processing overseas under Chancellor Osborne's programme of cuts. Around £674,000 was paid to staff who helped clear the backlog.
==== Windrush scandal ====
In April 2018, May's hostile environment policy became the focus of British politics in what came to be known as the Windrush scandal, in which members of the Windrush generation of Afro-Caribbean Britons were threatened with deportation by the Home Office and in at least 83 cases, illegally deported from the UK. The policy also affected the lives of many thousands of people who were in the United Kingdom legally by causing them to be sacked from employment, preventing access to health care, illegally demanding money, exiling them and preventing their return to the UK, and leaving them destitute. The scandal led to the resignation of May's successor Amber Rudd as Home Secretary, and her replacement by Sajid Javid. Responding to questions in Parliament on the Windrush scandal on 25 April, May maintained that the hostile environment policy would remain government policy.
=== Birmingham schools row ===
In June 2014, an inflamed public argument arose between Home Office and Education Ministers about responsibility for alleged extremism in Birmingham schools. Prime Minister David Cameron intervened to resolve the row, insisting that May sack her Special Advisor Fiona Cunningham (now Hill) for releasing on May's website a confidential letter to May's colleagues, and that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, apologise to the Home Office's head of Security and Counter-Terrorism, Charles Farr, for uncomplimentary briefings of him appearing on the front page of The Times.
=== Minister for Women and Equalities ===
May held the office of Minister for Women and Equalities in parallel to her office of Home Secretary from 2010 to September 2012, when this role was taken over by Maria Miller.
May's appointment as Minister for Women and Equalities was controversial, and was met with criticism by many in the LGBT community due to May's record of consistently opposing LGBT rights from 1997 to 2004: she voted against equalising the age of consent in 1998, she spoke in favour of Section 28 in 2001, and she spoke against greater adoption rights for homosexuals in 2002. May later stated, during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time in 2010, that she had "changed her mind" on gay adoption. Writing for PinkNews in June 2010, May detailed proposals for improving LGBT rights including measures to tackle homophobia in sport, advocating British society's need for "cultural change".
In July 2010, May stated she would be supporting the previous Labour Government's Anti-Discrimination Laws enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 despite having previously opposed it. The Equality Act came into effect in England, Wales and Scotland on 1 October 2010. She did however announce that a clause she dubbed "Harman's Law" which would have required public bodies to consider how they can reduce socio-economic inequalities when making decisions about spending and services would be scrapped on the grounds that it was "unworkable".
=== Leadership bid ===
In June 2016, May announced her candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party to succeed David Cameron, who resigned following the outcome of the European Union membership referendum in which 52 per cent of voters voted in favour of leaving the EU. May emphasised the need for unity within the party regardless of positions on leaving the EU, saying she could bring "strong leadership" and a "positive vision" for the country's future. Despite having backed a vote to remain in the EU, she insisted that there would be no second referendum, saying: "The campaign was fought... and the public gave their verdict. There must be no attempts to remain inside the EU, no attempts to rejoin it through the back door... Brexit means Brexit". An opinion poll that day found 47 per cent of people choosing May as their preferred candidate to be prime minister.
May's supporters included a number of Cabinet ministers, such as Amber Rudd, Chris Grayling, Justine Greening, Jeremy Hunt, Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin. She received the most votes in the first round of voting on 5 July, receiving support from 165 MPs, with rivals Andrea Leadsom receiving 66 votes and Michael Gove 48. The two candidates with the fewest votes, Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb, immediately announced their support for May. May came in first place in the second ballot on 7 July with an overwhelming majority of 199 MPs, compared with 84 for Leadsom and 46 for Gove, who was eliminated. Afterwards, May stated that she was delighted with her support among MPs, and she progressed to a vote of the Conservative Party membership against Leadsom.
In July, Leadsom announced her withdrawal from the leadership contest hours after May had made her first official campaign speech, saying her lack of support amongst Conservative MPs compared to May would be too great a hindrance to becoming a credible prime minister. As the sole remaining candidate, May was formally declared Leader of the Conservative Party that evening.
== Premiership (2016–2019) ==
=== Appointment ===
On 13 July 2016, two days after becoming Leader of the Conservative Party, May was appointed prime minister by Queen Elizabeth II, becoming the second female British prime minister after Margaret Thatcher. Addressing the world's media outside 10 Downing Street, May said that she was "honoured and humbled" to become prime minister. On becoming prime minister, May became the first woman to have held two of the Great Offices of State.
Responding to some calls for an early general election, "sources close to Mrs May" said there was no need for such an election. In a speech after her appointment, May emphasised the term "Unionist" in the name of the Conservative Party, reminding all of "the precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland." By 15 July, May had travelled to Edinburgh to meet with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to reinforce the bond between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. "I'm coming here to show my commitment to preserving this special union that has endured for centuries," she explained.
=== Cabinet changes ===
May's first Cabinet appointment was described by Reuters as "one of the most sweeping government reshuffles for decades", and called "a brutal cull" by The Daily Telegraph. Nine of Cameron's ministers, including several prominent members, were sacked or resigned from their posts. The early appointments were interpreted both as an effort to reunite the Conservative Party in the wake of the UK's vote to leave the EU and as "a shift to the right," according to The Guardian. ITV's Political Editor Robert Peston commented: "Her rhetoric is more left-wing than Cameron's was, her cabinet is more right-wing than his was." Although May had supported remaining in the EU, she appointed several of the most prominent advocates of Brexit to key Cabinet positions responsible for negotiating the United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, including Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary, David Davis as Brexit Secretary, and Liam Fox as International Trade Secretary, the latter two being new positions. Other key appointees included Amber Rudd as Home Secretary and Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
=== First term (2016–2017) ===
The First May ministry delayed the final approval for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in July 2016, a project which May had objected to when she was Home Secretary. Her political adviser Nick Timothy wrote an article in 2015 to oppose China's involvement in sensitive sectors. He said that the government was "selling our national security to China" without rational concerns and "the Government seems intent on ignoring the evidence and presumably the advice of the security and intelligence agencies".
In July 2016, when George Kerevan asked her whether she would be prepared to authorise the killing of a hundred thousand innocent persons by a nuclear strike; during the "Trident debate" inside the House of Commons, May said "Yes. And I have to say to the honourable gentleman: the whole point of a deterrent is that our enemies need to know that we would be prepared to use it. Unlike some suggestions that we could have a nuclear deterrent but not actually be willing to use it, which come from the Labour Party frontbench."
On 20 July, May attended her first Prime Minister's Questions since taking office, then afterwards made her first overseas trip as prime minister, visiting Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During the visit, May said that she would not trigger Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon—the process for withdrawing from the European Union—before 2017, suggesting it would take time for the UK to negotiate a "sensible and orderly departure" from the EU. However, although Merkel said it was right for the UK to "take a moment" before beginning the process, she urged May to provide more clarity on a timetable for negotiations. Shortly before travelling to Berlin, May had also announced that in the wake of the referendum, Britain would relinquish the presidency of the Council of the European Union, which passes between member states every six months on a rotation basis, and that the UK had been scheduled to hold in the second half of 2017.
May supported the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and defended selling arms to Saudi Arabia, which is accused of committing war crimes in Yemen, insisting that Britain's close relationship with Saudi Arabia was "helping keep people on the streets of Britain safe".
On 21 January 2017, following the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President, the White House announced that May would meet the President on 27 January, making her the first foreign leader to meet Trump since he took office on 20 January. In a joint press conference, May indicated an interest in increased trade between the United States and the United Kingdom. She also affirmed a desire to maintain an American involvement in NATO. May was criticised by members of major parties, including her own, for refusing to condemn Trump's Executive Order 13769, as well as for inviting Trump to a state visit with Queen Elizabeth II.
In January 2017, when it came to light that a Trident test had malfunctioned in June 2016, May refused to confirm whether she knew about the incident when she addressed parliament.
May's Chancellor, Philip Hammond, continued government policies of freezing benefits in his 2017 budget.
=== 2017 general election ===
In May announced that she would call a parliamentary vote to hold an early general election on 8 June, saying that it was the "only way to guarantee certainty and security for years ahead". May had previously ruled out an early election on five occasions over nine months. The election was the first snap election held under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 after MPs gave May the two-thirds super-majority required.
Unveiling the Conservative manifesto in Halifax on 18 May, May promised a "mainstream government that would deliver for mainstream Britain". It proposed to balance the budget by 2025, raise spending on the NHS by £8bn per annum and on schools by £4bn per annum by 2022, remove the ban on new grammar schools, means-test the winter fuel allowance, replace the state pension "triple lock" with a "double lock" and require executive pay to be approved by a vote of shareholders. It also contained May's previously announced flagship energy reform of a cap on gas and electricity bills for households on standard variable tariffs. It dropped the 2015 pledge to not raise income tax or national insurance contributions but maintained a commitment to freeze VAT. New sovereign wealth funds for infrastructure, rules to prevent foreign takeovers of "critical national infrastructure" and institutes of technology were also proposed. The manifesto was noted for its intervention in industry, lack of tax cuts and increased spending commitments on public services. On Brexit it committed to leaving the single market and customs union while seeking a "deep and special partnership" and promised a vote in parliament on the final agreement.
The manifesto also proposed reforms to social care in England that would raise the threshold for free care from £23,250 to £100,000 while including property in the means test and permitting deferred payment after death. After attracting substantial media attention, four days after the manifesto launch May stated that the proposed social care reforms would now include an "absolute limit" on costs in contrast to the rejection of a cap in the manifesto. She criticised the "fake" portrayal of the policy in recent days by Labour and other critics who had termed it a "dementia tax". Evening Standard editor George Osborne called the policy change a "U-turn". The Financial Times contrasted her "Strong and Stable" leadership slogan with her own record of nine rapid U-turns claiming she was "making a habit of retreating from policies."
The general election in June resulted in a hung parliament, prompting her to broker a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), involving £1 billion of additional public funding for Northern Ireland.
=== Second term (2017–2019) ===
Less than two weeks after the 2017 State Opening of Parliament, May ordered a full public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal. For this she was widely praised as successive governments going back to the 1980s had refused such an inquiry, some though speculated that May had simply been forced to announce the inquiry after a group legal action and news of fresh evidence were brought by Jason Evans. Additionally, Andy Burnham had threatened to take evidence to the police if an inquiry were not announced. With over 1,000 core participants, the Infected Blood Inquiry is the biggest public inquiry ever held in the UK.
==== Myanmar ====
May is the first British prime minister to visit Buenos Aires after the Falklands War. In November 2017, May said the actions of Myanmar Army and police against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar "looks like ethnic cleansing". According to May, "it is something for which the Burmese authorities – and especially the military – must take full responsibility." From the 2017 general election to December 2017, May suffered no defeats in whipped votes in the House of Commons. On 13 December 2017, May lost a vote on the EU Withdrawal Bill by 309 votes to 305, due to 11 Conservatives voting against the government, including Stephen Hammond who was then vice-chairman of the Conservative Party.
==== Russia ====
May accused Russia of "threatening the international order", "seeking to weaponise information" and "deploying its state-run media organisations to plant fake stories". She further suggested the country had been meddling in the 2017 German federal election in contradiction of German government officials and security experts, who had dismissed the possibility.
May's government accused Russia for orchestrating the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The UK's official assessment of this incident was supported by 28 other countries, who expelled an unprecedented total of 153 Russian diplomats. May said in the House of Commons on 12 March:
It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. This is part of a group of nerve agents known as 'Novichok'. Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down; our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so; Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations; the Government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Mr Speaker, there are therefore only two plausible explanations for what happened in Salisbury on 4 March. Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.
==== China ====
May promised to confront China on human rights but was praised in Communist Party-controlled media for "sidestepping" human rights in China during her first official visit to the country. The Global Times said: "For the Prime Minister, the losses outweigh the gains if she appeases the British media at the cost of the visit's friendly atmosphere."
==== Assassination plot ====
In 2017, Islamic State terrorist Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman was foiled in a plot to assassinate May at Downing Street.
==== Turkey ====
In May 2018, during a three-day state visit to the UK by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, May declared that Britain is a "true friend" of Turkey, but she added that "It is important that in defence of democracy, which has been facing extraordinary pressures from the failed coup, instability across the border from Syria and from Kurdish terrorism, Turkey does not lose sight of the values it is seeking to defend."
==== Contempt of Parliament ====
On 4 December 2018, on a motion passed by MPs by 311 to 293 votes, the May Government was found in contempt of Parliament; the first government to be found in contempt in history. The vote was triggered by the government failing to lay before Parliament any legal advice on the proposed withdrawal agreement on the terms of the UK's departure from the European Union, after a humble address for a return was unanimously agreed to by the House of Commons on 13 November 2018. The government then agreed to publish the full legal advice for Brexit that was given to the Prime Minister by the Attorney General during negotiations with the European Union.
==== Vote of confidence (Conservative Party) ====
In December 2018, May faced a vote of confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party over opposition to her negotiated Brexit deal, after the number of Conservative MPs exceeded the 48 no-confidence letter threshold that the 1922 Committee Chairman, Sir Graham Brady required for the vote of confidence to be held. May won the vote with 200 Conservative MPs voting for her, compared to 117 voting against. As part of her speech to the Parliamentary Conservative Party before the confidence vote was opened, it was reported that May conceded that she would step down as prime minister after delivering Brexit and would not lead the Conservative Party into the next General Election in exchange for Conservative MPs voting to have confidence in her leadership so that she would be able to keep the party, Parliament and the UK stable during the final stages of Brexit. May later confirmed this to BBC News Political editor, Laura Kuenssberg after meeting EU leaders, including Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.
==== Vote of no confidence (House of Commons) ====
On 17 December 2018 in the House of Commons, the Leader of the Opposition and Labour Party Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, tabled a motion of no confidence in May's premiership, citing May's refusal to set the date for the meaningful vote on her Brexit deal before Christmas, and instead pushing it back to mid-January. The following day the government refused to allow time for the motion to be debated. John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, confirmed that they were under no obligation to do so. Following the defeat of May's Brexit deal on 15 January 2019, Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government, to be voted on by parliament the following evening. The motion was defeated by 325 votes to 306; a majority of 19.
==== Brexit deal defeats ====
In January 2019, May's government was defeated in the House of Commons by a margin of 230 votes (202 in favour and 432 opposed) in a vote on her deal to leave the European Union ("first meaningful vote"). It was the largest majority against a United Kingdom government in history.
In March, May was again defeated in the Commons by 149 votes (242 in favour and 391 against) on her latest deal after she secured last-minute concessions from the EU ("second meaningful vote"). May was then again defeated by 58 votes in the Commons (286 in favour and 344 against) on the withdrawal deal but not the political declaration ("third meaningful vote").
==== Resignation ====
I will shortly leave the job that it has been the honour of my life to hold – the second female Prime Minister but certainly not the last. I do so with no ill-will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love.
On 27 March 2019 at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, May confirmed that she would "not lead the UK in the next stage of Brexit negotiations", meaning she was expected to resign after the third meaningful vote, if it had passed successfully. However, no date was stated, and her reported wording was ambiguous and thus carried no binding force. On 29 March, the third meaningful vote was defeated, and while May did not state anything in regards to standing down, Corbyn stated that if May could not find an alternative to her deal "she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future but now."
On 22 April it was announced that the leaders of 70 Conservative Associations had signed a petition calling for a vote of no confidence. Under party rules an Extraordinary General Meeting must be convened if one is demanded by 65 associations. The non-binding vote, to be determined by 800 of the party's senior officials, would have been the first time such an instance had occurred. On 24 April, the party's 1922 Committee ruled out changing the leadership challenge rules, but its chair, Graham Brady, asked for clarity on when May would step down from office.
On 24 May she confirmed that she would resign as Conservative Party leader on 7 June, stating, "it is now clear to me that it is in the best interests of the country for a new prime minister to lead that effort." She continued to serve as prime minister until she tendered her resignation to the Queen on 24 July. This coincided with the arrival of Boris Johnson as prime minister, who was elected by the Conservative Party membership. By constitutional convention May did not step down until she assured the Queen that Johnson would be able to command the confidence of the House of Commons.
On 24 July 2019, May ended her continuous service at the frontbench since 1998 when she had been appointed Shadow Spokesman for Schools, Disabled People and Women. Mick Davis, who was the Chairman of the British Conservative Party when it selected her as leader, exited that post along with May.
=== Ministerial resignations ===
May's premiership had 51 resignations with 33 relating to Brexit. These included 12 departures from the Cabinet. The pace and number of resignations have been described as 'unprecedented' by the Institute for Government, with resignations impacting the functioning of the government. In less than three years, May received more resignations than Thatcher (11 years) or Blair (10 years). The Chief Whip Julian Smith described May's Cabinet as exhibiting the 'worst cabinet ill-discipline in history'.
=== Public opinion ===
May had a high approval rating during her first week as prime minister. The results of an Ipsos MORI survey released in July 2016 indicated that 55% of those surveyed believed that May was a suitable PM while only 23% believed that the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn would make a good prime minister.
A ComRes poll taken in September 2016 after her election suggested May was seen as substantially more "in touch with ordinary British people" than her predecessor David Cameron and a majority of voters saw her as "the right person to unite the country".
At the beginning of 2017, nearly six months after becoming prime minister, a ComRes found May was the most popular UK politician with a net rating of +9 which was described as the longest honeymoon period enjoyed by any sitting Conservative prime minister since the end of the Second World War.
The Conservative Party had a 21-point lead over Labour in a poll released the day before May announced a snap election but this lead narrowed substantially. In mid-June, following the election, a YouGov poll showed that May's popularity had dropped to a rating of −34. In April 2018, May had a higher approval rating than Corbyn for the first time since the general election, leading him by −13 to −23.
Plans to reform social care came to dominate the Conservative election campaign during the 2017 snap election, with some arguing it ultimately cost May her majority. May's promised green paper on the future of adult social care was plagued by frequent delays, ultimately never materialising during her premiership. A December 2019 poll by learning disabilities charity Hft found that 59% of social care providers in England believed that the situation in social care worsened under May's premiership, compared to just 3% who said it was slightly better.
== Political positions ==
May has identified herself with the one-nation conservative position within her party.
Since coming into prominence as a front-bench politician, May's public image has divided media opinion, especially from some in the traditionalist right-wing press. Commenting on May's debut as Home Secretary, Anne Perkins of The Guardian observed that "she'll be nobody's stooge", while Cristina Odone of The Daily Telegraph predicted her to be "the rising star" of the Coalition Government. Allegra Stratton, then with The Guardian, praised May as showing managerial acumen.
Describing her as a liberal Conservative, the Financial Times characterised May as a "non-ideological politician with a ruthless streak who gets on with the job", in doing so comparing her to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Conversely, in The Independent, Rebecca Glover of the Policy Innovation Research Unit contrasted May to Boris Johnson, claiming that she was "staunchly more conservative, more anti-immigration, and more isolationist" than he was.
During her leadership campaign, May said that "We need an economy that works for everyone", pledging to crack down on executive pay by making shareholders' votes binding rather than advisory and to put workers onto company boards (although she later claimed that the last pledge was not to be mandatory), policies that The Guardian describes as going further than the Labour Party's 2015 general election manifesto.
After she became prime minister, May's first speech espoused the left, with a promise to combat the "burning injustice" in British society and to create a union "between all of our citizens" and promising to be an advocate for the "ordinary working-class family" and not for the affluent in the UK. "The government I lead will be driven not by the interests of the privileged few but by yours. We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives ... When we take the big calls, we'll think not of the powerful, but you. When we pass new laws we'll listen not to the mighty, but to you. When it comes to taxes we'll prioritise not the wealthy but you."
May has described herself as a personal supporter of fox hunting with hounds, saying that foxes' numbers had to be controlled and that hunting them with dogs was the most humane way to do it. The Conservative manifesto for the 2017 election included a pledge to hold a parliamentary vote to repeal the Hunting Act 2004, which prohibits a range of hunting activities.
After the Conservatives' manifesto for the 2017 election was released, some people, including Fraser Nelson of The Spectator, called her a "red Tory", saying that she had moved her party to the left in politics. Politico called her policies "Mayism", saying that Mayism was "a working-class conservatism openly critical of the "cult of individualism" and globalization".
May praised the former prime minister Winston Churchill and has a portrait of Churchill on the wall of her study. May's spokesman said: "The prime minister has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasion and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century."
May welcomed the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying that "no one is above the law." Assange had fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 after being accused of sexual assault in Sweden. He is also wanted by the US for "conspiracy to commit computer intrusion" relating to the Wikileaks release of classified material in 2010, including footage of US soldiers killing civilians in Iraq.
=== Foreign policy ===
In 2003, May voted to approve the invasion of Iraq and in 2013 voted in favour of British military intervention in the Syrian civil war.
The May Ministry delayed the final approval for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in July 2016, a project which May had objected to when she was Home Secretary. Her political adviser Nick Timothy wrote an article in 2015 to oppose People's Republic of China's involvement in sensitive sectors. He said that the government was "selling our national security to China" without rational concerns and "the Government seems intent on ignoring the evidence and presumably the advice of the security and intelligence agencies."
Politicians and human rights activists urged Theresa May's government to vote against Saudi Arabian retention of the membership of the UN Human Rights Council. Amnesty International's UK Foreign Policy Programme Director Polly Truscott said: "Rather than turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia's continuing bully tactics, the UK should publicly hold the Saudi authorities to account for its appalling human rights record and the ongoing war crimes in Yemen and should stop selling weapons to Saudi as a matter of urgency." May defended selling arms to Saudi Arabia stating that close ties with the country "keep people on the streets of Britain safe".
=== Economic policy ===
Prior to her premiership, May outlined plans to backtrack on the longstanding government plan to achieve a surplus by 2020, following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. With uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond has suggested that the government's Autumn Statement may be used to "reset" economic policy.
In 2015, while May was Home Secretary, an 18% funding cut in the police force had taken place with the loss of around 20,000 police officers. Before the Manchester Arena bombing and after the Paris attacks, she was warned by a Manchester senior police officer that the cuts in the force and community policing risked terror attacks in the city due to the lack of resources to undertake proper intelligence and anti-terrorist measures.
In May and Hammond's 2017 budget, continued government policies were confirmed regarding freezing benefits.
May's government published a Green Paper in November 2016 which considered forcing companies to reveal the difference between what their CEOs are paid and what their ordinary workers are paid. On 1 January 2019 new regulations came into force for UK listed companies with over 250 employees to annually disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median, lower quartile, and upper quartile pay of their UK employees.
=== Workers' representatives ===
Before her premiership began, May said that she planned to have workers represented on company boards, saying "If I'm prime minister ... we're going to have not just consumers represented on company boards, but workers as well." May aimed to put workers' and consumers' representatives on boards to make them more accountable. Nils Pratley, a journalist at The Guardian, wrote in July "Fundamental principles of Britain's boardroom governance are being rethought. It is a very welcome development. In the more enlightened quarters of the UK corporate world, they can see that boardroom pay has eroded trust in business." Workers' representatives, it appeared, would have made UK companies more like those in Germany and France. May was accused of backtracking in November 2016 when she said that firms would not be forced to adopt the proposal, saying "there are a number of ways in which that can be achieved".
=== Environmental policy ===
Following the impact of Blue Planet II in 2017, the May administration outlined plans to approve further green policy. A particular focus has been on plastic and its impact on the environment. Her government's "25 Year Environment Plan" was published in January 2018: targets were set for achievement of a number of environmental benefits with dates ranging from 2025 to 2060. In March 2018, May announced plans for a plastic deposit scheme modelled on a similar policy in Norway to boost recycling.
=== EU and Brexit ===
May publicly stated her support for the UK remaining in the EU during the 2016 referendum campaign, but did not campaign extensively in the referendum and criticised aspects of the EU in a speech. It was speculated by political journalists that May had sought to minimise her involvement in the debate to strengthen her position as a future candidate for the Conservative party leadership. Some in David Cameron's ministry likened May to a "submarine" on the issue of Brexit due to her perceived indifference towards the referendum and the EU.
In a leaked recording prior to the Brexit referendum, May stated:
I think the economic arguments are clear. I think being part of a 500-million trading bloc is significant for us. I think, as I was saying to you a little earlier, that one of the issues is that a lot of people will invest here in the UK because it is the UK in Europe. If we were not in Europe, I think there would be firms and companies who would be looking to say, do they need to develop a mainland Europe presence rather than a UK presence? So I think there are definite benefits for us in economic terms.
May also said Britain was more secure as part of the EU due to the European arrest warrant and Europe-wide information sharing among other factors. She said, "There are definitely things we can do as members of the European Union that I think keep us more safe".
May's public reticence during the referendum campaign resulted in tensions with David Cameron and his pro-EU team. Following the referendum and her election as party leader, May signalled that she would support full withdrawal from the EU and prioritise immigration controls over remaining within the single market, leading some to contrast this with her earlier remarks on the earlier economic arguments. She later went on to say before the 2017 United Kingdom general election that she would be willing to leave the EU without a deal, saying that "no deal is better than a bad deal. We have to be prepared to walk out". The Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, said it was "disappointing that Theresa May lacked the political courage to warn the public as she did a bunch of bankers in private about the devastating economic effects of Brexit. More disappointing is that now she is supposedly in charge, she is blithely ignoring her own warnings and is prepared to inflict an act of monumental self-harm on the UK economy by pulling Britain out of the single market." Phil Wilson for the Open Britain group said, "It's good to know that privately Theresa May thinks what many of us have been saying publicly for a long time, leaving the single market would be bad for businesses and for our economy. Now she is prime minister, Theresa May is in an unrivalled position to act on her previous concerns, starting by putting membership of the single market at the heart of her government's negotiating position."
On 22 September 2017, May officially made public the details of her Brexit proposal during a speech in Florence, urging the European Union to maintain a transitional period of two years after Brexit during which trade terms remain unaltered. During this period, the UK would also continue to honour its budget commitments of about €10 billion per annum, and accept immigration from Europe. Her speech was criticised by leading Eurosceptic Nigel Farage. The European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier welcomed May's proposal as "constructive," but said it also "must be translated into negotiating positions to make meaningful progress."
May did not initially wish to give MPs a vote on withdrawal from the European Union. Nicky Morgan stated "in 2016 MPs aren't asking for a veto but they do want a say and we hope the Prime Minister will remember her earlier words". Anna Soubry and Nick Clegg also called for more parliamentary involvement. In November 2016, the High Court ruled in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union that parliament must vote on the decision to leave the EU but May appealed to the Supreme Court. Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister has joined the case as did representatives from Wales and Northern Ireland. Sturgeon felt that the Scottish Parliament should also consent to the UK triggering of Article 50. She said she was not seeking to prevent England and Wales leaving but wanted to preserve Scotland's place in the EU. In the end the Supreme Court required a vote in the UK parliament.
May was accused of not having a plan if Brexit talks broke down. There were fears that if talks failed Britain could be left trading under WTO rules which it was feared by some analysts would seriously damage jobs and livelihoods in Britain and Europe. May's ministers repeatedly promised to walk away from a bad final deal but, it was argued by some commentators, had no plans for how to manage without a deal. Ivan Rogers described May's Brexit strategy as "an accident waiting to happen". He said completing Brexit was "guaranteed" to take a decade and alleged May's hopes of a trade deal made to order meant that instability in the next few months was "quite likely".
In late October 2018, the National Audit Office claimed that it was already too late to prepare the necessary Irish border security checks in the event of a No-deal scenario—a weakness that could be exploited by criminals.
On 5 February 2019, May gave a speech to business leaders in Belfast to address Brexit stating the United Kingdom's relationship with Ireland was closer than the 26 other members of the EU. She affirmed the government's "absolute" commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and stated that Britain would seek to have no hard border in Northern Ireland.
It was reported in 2020 that former MI6 operative Christopher Steele accused May, while Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, of ignoring claims that Russia may have secretly funded Brexit. Steele accuses May's government of selling British interests short by not taking matters further: "In this case, political considerations seemed to outweigh national security interests. If so, in my view, HMG made a serious mistake in balancing matters of strategic importance to our country."
In July 2020 the Intelligence and Security Committee report on Russia was released. It stated that the British government and intelligence agencies failed to conduct any assessment of Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 Brexit referendum. It stated the government "had not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes". Stewart Hosie, SNP member said "The report reveals that no one in government knew if Russia interfered in or sought to influence the referendum because they did not want to know". However, the report stated no firm conclusion could be ascertained on whether the Kremlin had or had not successfully interfered in the referendum.
=== Feminism ===
In 2005, May co-founded the mentoring and pressure group Women2Win. This group and May's personal efforts have been credited with increasing the number of Conservative women MPs and with supporting them. In government she lobbied for improvements to maternity leave, and as Home Secretary she acted on FGM and introduced a law on coercive control. However, she has been criticised for the financial cuts made by her government, which have been claimed to have had the greatest impact on poor and vulnerable women.
=== Same-sex relationships ===
In 1998, May voted against lowering the age of consent for homosexual acts. May was also a supporter of Section 28, calling a failed repeal in 2000 to be "a victory for commonsense". She was absent for the vote when it was successfully repealed in 2003. She also voted against the Adoption and Children Act 2002 that allowed same-sex couples to adopt.
Beginning in 2012, however, May expressed support for the introduction of same-sex marriage by recording a video for the Out4Marriage campaign, in which she stated "I believe if two people care for each other, if they love each other, if they want to commit to each other... then they should be able to get married and marriage should be for everyone". In May 2013, May voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which legalised same-sex marriage in England and Wales. In 2017, May apologised for her past votes while taking credit for helping advance LGBT rights within her party.
== Post-premiership (2019–present) ==
After leaving 10 Downing Street, May took her place on the backbenches, remaining an MP to "devote her full time" to her constituency of Maidenhead, Berkshire. In the 2019 general election she was re-elected as the constituency's MP.
In May 2020, May criticised Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. She abstained in the vote on the second lockdown in Parliament.
On 13 July 2021, May was one of 24 Conservative MPs who voted against their party, defying the whip for the first time in 24 years, over the government's proposal to cut its foreign aid budget. She criticised the government, saying in an address to Parliament, "We made a promise to the poorest people in the world. The Government have broken that promise."
Amid the Partygate scandal, May was critical of Boris Johnson after the publication of the summary of the Sue Gray report, stating "either my right honourable friend had not read the rules or didn't understand what they meant and others around him, or they didn't think the rules applied to Number 10. Which was it?"
On 16 March 2022, after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia banned May from visiting the country.
In September 2023, the House of Commons official portrait of May by artist Saied Dai was unveiled. In a radio interview with Nick Robinson she said that her Brexit deal would have been better and that she regretted saying "nothing has changed". Also in that month, May's book titled The Abuse of Power - Confronting Injustice in Public Life was published. In October 2023, May appeared as the guest star in 2 episodes of The Rest Is Politics: Leading, hosted by Alastair Campbell, and a former minister in her government, Rory Stewart.
In March 2023, May was reselected as the Conservative candidate for Maidenhead at the 2024 general election, however in March 2024, May announced that she would not seek re-election as an MP at the general election, joining a record number of Conservative MPs standing down at the election. May said she is spending much of her time on causes "close to my heart": "These causes have been taking an increasing amount of my time. Because of this, after much careful thought and consideration, I have realised that, looking ahead, I would no longer be able to do my job as an MP in the way I believe is right and my constituents deserve." Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called May a "relentless campaigner" who had been "fiercely loyal" to Maidenhead, and added that she "defines what it means to be a public servant". Her predecessor David Cameron called her "a brilliant public servant" who could "hold her head high", and said she had done much to "modernise the Conservative Party and promote women in public life". Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer thanked May for her service, saying that she had "served this House and her constituents with a real sense of duty" and added that her "unwavering commitment to ending modern slavery is commended by all of us." She was succeeded as MP for Maidenhead by Liberal Democrat Joshua Reynolds, the first liberal MP to be elected to represent this constituency in over 100 years.
May had been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg following his retirement. In June 2021, British Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace expressed support for a potential May candidacy, saying "she would be an excellent candidate."
In autumn 2024, May was named the inaugural Blue Senior Fellow at the Blue Center for Global Strategic Assessment, housed in the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale University. She served in this role at the university during spring 2025. In September 2025, May was appointed president of Chatham House, the international affairs think tank.
=== Peerage ===
May was nominated for a life peerage in Rishi Sunak's 2024 Dissolution Honours. She was created Baroness May of Maidenhead, of Sonning in the Royal County of Berkshire, on 21 August 2024 and introduced to the House of Lords on 12 September 2024.
== Personal life ==
May has been married to Sir Philip May, an investment relationship manager, since 6 September 1980. It has been reported that former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto introduced the two during their time at Oxford. May credits future Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull for encouraging Philip to propose to her. May has expressed regret that she and her husband did not have children. The Mays are passionate walkers, and they regularly spend their holidays hiking in the Swiss Alps. May is also a cricket fan, stating that Sir Geoffrey Boycott was one of her sporting heroes. She also enjoys cooking, and has said that she owns 100 cookery books. Philip has said that she "is a very good cook".
May and her husband reside in the Thames village of Sonning which is within her former constituency. She is the first cousin once removed of the Labour MP Alistair Strathern.
May is a member of the Church of England and regularly worships at church (usually at St Andrew's, Sonning) on Sundays. The daughter of an Anglican priest, Hubert Brasier, May has said that her Christian faith "is part of me. It is part of who I am and therefore how I approach things". She was raised in the Anglo-Catholic or High Church tradition of Anglicanism, of which her Mirfield-trained father was a proponent.
May is known for a love of fashion, and in particular of distinctive shoes; she wore leopard-print shoes at her 'Nasty Party' speech in 2002, as well as her final Cabinet meeting as Home Secretary in 2016. On Desert Island Discs in 2014, she chose a subscription to Vogue as her luxury item. However, she has been critical of the media focusing on her fashion instead of her achievements as a politician.
May was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 1 in November 2012. She is treated with daily insulin injections.
== Honours and arms ==
=== Commonwealth honours ===
=== Foreign honours ===
=== Scholastic ===
University degrees
Chancellor, visitor, governor, and fellowships
=== Honorary degrees ===
=== Freedom of the City ===
30 August 2018: Abuja, Nigeria.
=== Memberships and Fellowships ===
=== Awards ===
Prior to and since her appointment to Government, May has actively supported a variety of campaigns on policy issues in her constituency and at national level. She has spoken at the Fawcett Society promoting the cross-party issue of gender equality. She is the Patron of Reading University Conservative Association, in Berkshire (the county of her Maidenhead constituency). Her activism has earned her a number of awards.
She was nominated as one of the Society's Inspiring Women of 2006. In February 2013, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour described her as Britain's second-most powerful woman after Queen Elizabeth II; May was Home Secretary at the time, and the most senior woman in that government.
In 2001 she was made a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors.
In September 2017, she was listed by Forbes as the second most powerful woman in the world, behind Angela Merkel.
=== Arms === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes | Guy Fawkes | Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educated in York; his father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic.
Fawkes converted to Catholicism and left for mainland Europe, where he fought for Catholic Spain in the Eighty Years' War against Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. He travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England without success. He later met Thomas Wintour, with whom he returned to England. Wintour introduced him to Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords; Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder that they stockpiled there. The authorities were prompted by an anonymous letter to search Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and they found Fawkes guarding the explosives. He was questioned and tortured over the next few days and confessed to wanting to blow up the House of Lords.
Fawkes was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. However, at his execution on 31 January, he died when his neck was broken as he was hanged, with some sources claiming that he deliberately jumped to make this happen; he thus avoided the agony of his sentence. He became synonymous with the Gunpowder Plot, the failure of which has been commemorated in the UK as Guy Fawkes Night since 5 November 1605, when his effigy is traditionally burned on a bonfire, commonly accompanied by fireworks.
== Early life ==
=== Childhood ===
Guy Fawkes was born in 1570 in Stonegate, York. He was the second of four children born to Edward Fawkes, a proctor and an advocate of the consistory court at York, and his wife, Edith. Guy's parents were regular communicants of the Church of England, as were his paternal grandparents; his grandmother, born Ellen Harrington, was the daughter of a prominent merchant, who served as Lord Mayor of York in 1536. Guy's mother's family were recusant Catholics, and his cousin, Richard Cowling, became a Jesuit priest. Guy was an uncommon name in England, but may have been popular in York on account of a local notable, Sir Guy Fairfax of Steeton.
The date of Fawkes's birth is unknown, but he was baptised in the church of St Michael le Belfrey, York on 16 April. As the customary gap between birth and baptism was three days, he was probably born about 13 April. In 1568, Edith had given birth to a daughter named Anne, but the child died aged about seven weeks, in November that year. She bore two more children after Guy: Anne (b. 1572), and Elizabeth (b. 1575). Both were married, in 1599 and 1594, respectively.
In 1579, when Guy was eight years old, his father died. His mother remarried several years later, to the Catholic Dionis Baynbrigge (or Denis Bainbridge) of Scotton, Harrogate. Fawkes may have become a Catholic through the Baynbrigge family's recusant tendencies, and also the Catholic branches of the Pulleyn and Percy families of Scotton, but also from his time at St. Peter's School in York. A governor of the school had spent about 20 years in prison for recusancy, and its headmaster, John Pulleyn, came from a family of noted Yorkshire recusants, the Pulleyns of Blubberhouses. In her 1915 work The Pulleynes of Yorkshire, author Catharine Pullein suggested that Fawkes's Catholic education came from his Harrington relatives, who were known for harbouring priests, one of whom later accompanied Fawkes to Flanders in 1592–93. Fawkes's fellow students included John Wright and his brother Christopher (both later involved with Fawkes in the Gunpowder Plot) and Oswald Tesimond, Edward Oldcorne and Robert Middleton, who became priests (the latter executed in 1601).
After leaving school Fawkes entered the service of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. The Viscount took a dislike to Fawkes and after a short time dismissed him; he was subsequently employed by Anthony-Maria Browne, 2nd Viscount Montagu, who succeeded his grandfather at the age of 18. At least one source claims that Fawkes married and had a son, but no known contemporary accounts confirm this.
=== Military career ===
In October 1591 Fawkes sold the estate in Clifton in York that he had inherited from his father. He travelled to the continent to fight in the Eighty Years' War for Catholic Spain against the new Dutch Republic and, from 1595 until the Peace of Vervins in 1598, France. Although England was not by then engaged in land operations against Spain, the two countries were still at war, and the attempted invasion of England, led by the Spanish Armada in 1588, was only five years in the past. He joined Sir William Stanley, an English Catholic and veteran commander in his mid-forties who had raised an army in Ireland to fight in Leicester's expedition to the Netherlands. Stanley had been held in high regard by Elizabeth I, but following his surrender of Deventer to the Spanish in 1587 he, and most of his troops, had switched sides to serve Spain. Fawkes became an alférez or junior officer, fought well at the siege of Calais in 1596, and by 1603 had been recommended for a captaincy. That year, he travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England. He used the occasion to adopt the Italian version of his name, Guido, and in his memorandum described James I (who became king of England that year) as "a heretic", who intended "to have all of the Papist sect driven out of England". He denounced Scotland, and the king's favourites among the Scottish nobles, writing "it will not be possible to reconcile these two nations, as they are, for very long". Although he was received politely, the court of Philip III was unwilling to offer him any support.
== Gunpowder Plot ==
In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth. Fawkes was described by the Jesuit priest and former school friend Oswald Tesimond as "pleasant of approach and cheerful of manner, opposed to quarrels and strife ... loyal to his friends". Tesimond also claimed Fawkes was "a man highly skilled in matters of war", and that it was this mixture of piety and professionalism that endeared him to his fellow conspirators. The author Antonia Fraser describes Fawkes as "a tall, powerfully built man, with thick reddish-brown hair, a flowing moustache in the tradition of the time, and a bushy reddish-brown beard", and that he was "a man of action ... capable of intelligent argument as well as physical endurance, somewhat to the surprise of his enemies."
The first meeting of the five central conspirators took place on Sunday 20 May 1604, at an inn called the Duck and Drake, in the fashionable Strand district of London. Catesby had already proposed at an earlier meeting with Thomas Wintour and John Wright to kill the king and his government by blowing up "the Parliament House with gunpowder". Wintour, who at first objected to the plan, was convinced by Catesby to travel to the continent to seek help. Wintour met with the Constable of Castile, the exiled Welsh spy Hugh Owen, and Sir William Stanley, who said that Catesby would receive no support from Spain. Owen did, however, introduce Wintour to Fawkes, who had by then been away from England for many years, and thus was largely unknown in the country. Wintour and Fawkes were contemporaries; each was militant, and had first-hand experience of the unwillingness of the Spaniards to help. Wintour told Fawkes of their plan to "doe some whatt in Ingland if the pece with Spaine healped us nott", and thus in April 1604 the two men returned to England. Wintour's news did not surprise Catesby; despite positive noises from the Spanish authorities, he feared that "the deeds would nott answere".
One of the conspirators, Thomas Percy, was appointed a Gentleman Pensioner in June 1604, gaining access to a house in London that belonged to John Whynniard, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe. Fawkes was installed as a caretaker and began using the pseudonym John Johnson, servant to Percy. The contemporaneous account of the prosecution (taken from Thomas Wintour's confession) claimed that the conspirators attempted to dig a tunnel from beneath Whynniard's house to Parliament, although this story may have been a government fabrication; no evidence for the existence of a tunnel was presented by the prosecution, and no trace of one has ever been found; Fawkes himself did not admit the existence of such a scheme until his fifth interrogation, but even then he could not locate the tunnel. If the story is true, however, by December 1604 the conspirators were busy tunnelling from their rented house to the House of Lords. They ceased their efforts when, during tunnelling, they heard a noise from above. Fawkes was sent out to investigate, and returned with the news that the tenant's widow was clearing out a nearby undercroft, directly beneath the House of Lords.
The plotters purchased the lease to the room, which also belonged to John Whynniard. Unused and filthy, it was considered an ideal hiding place for the gunpowder the plotters planned to store. According to Fawkes, twenty barrels of gunpowder were brought in at first, followed by sixteen more on 20 July. On 28 July, however, the ever-present threat of the plague delayed the opening of Parliament until Tuesday, 5 November.
=== Overseas ===
In an attempt to gain foreign support, in May 1605 Fawkes travelled overseas and informed Hugh Owen of the plotters' plan. At some point during this trip his name made its way into the files of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who employed a network of spies across Europe. One of these spies, Captain William Turner, may have been responsible. Although the information he provided to Salisbury usually amounted to no more than a vague pattern of invasion reports, and included nothing which regarded the Gunpowder Plot, on 21 April he told how Fawkes was to be brought by Tesimond to England. Fawkes was a well-known Flemish mercenary, and would be introduced to "Mr Catesby" and "honourable friends of the nobility and others who would have arms and horses in readiness". Turner's report did not, however, mention Fawkes's pseudonym in England, John Johnson, and did not reach Cecil until late in November, well after the plot had been discovered.
It is uncertain when Fawkes returned to England, but he was back in London by late August 1605, when he and Wintour discovered that the gunpowder stored in the undercroft had decayed. More gunpowder was brought into the room, along with firewood to conceal it. Fawkes's final role in the plot was settled during a series of meetings in October. He was to light the fuse and then escape across the Thames. Simultaneously, a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Acts of regicide were frowned upon, and Fawkes would therefore head to the continent, where he would explain to the Catholic powers his holy duty to kill the king and his retinue.
=== Discovery ===
A few of the conspirators were concerned about fellow Catholics who would be present at Parliament during the opening. On the evening of 26 October, Lord Monteagle received an anonymous letter warning him to stay away, and to "retyre youre self into yowre contee whence yow maye expect the event in safti for ... they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament". Despite quickly becoming aware of the letter—informed by one of Monteagle's servants—the conspirators resolved to continue with their plans, as it appeared that it "was clearly thought to be a hoax". Fawkes checked the undercroft on 30 October, and reported that nothing had been disturbed. Monteagle's suspicions had been aroused, however, and the letter was shown to King James. The king ordered Sir Thomas Knyvet to conduct a search of the cellars underneath Parliament, which he did in the early hours of 5 November. Fawkes had taken up his station late on the previous night, armed with a slow match and a watch given to him by Percy "becaus he should knowe howe the time went away". He was found leaving the cellar, shortly after midnight, and arrested. Inside, the barrels of gunpowder were discovered hidden under piles of firewood and coal.
=== Torture ===
Fawkes gave his name as John Johnson and was first interrogated by members of the king's Privy chamber, where he remained defiant. When asked by one of the lords what he was doing in possession of so much gunpowder, Fawkes answered that his intention was "to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains." He identified himself as a 36-year-old Catholic from Netherdale in Yorkshire, and gave his father's name as Thomas and his mother's as Edith Jackson. Wounds on his body noted by his questioners he explained as the effects of pleurisy. Fawkes admitted his intention to blow up the House of Lords, and expressed regret at his failure to do so. His steadfast manner impressed King James, who described Fawkes as possessing "a Roman resolution".
James's respect did not, however, prevent him from ordering on 6 November that "John Johnson" be tortured, to reveal the names of his co-conspirators. He directed that the torture be light at first, referring to the use of manacles, but more severe if necessary, authorising the use of the rack: "the gentler Tortures are to be first used unto him et sic per gradus ad ima tenditur [and so by degrees proceeding to the worst]". Fawkes was transferred to the Tower of London. The king composed a list of questions to be put to "Johnson", such as "as to what he is, For I can never yet hear of any man that knows him", "When and where he learned to speak French?", and "If he was a Papist, who brought him up in it?" The room in which Fawkes was interrogated subsequently became known as the Guy Fawkes Room.
Sir William Waad, Lieutenant of the Tower, supervised the torture and obtained Fawkes's confession. He searched his prisoner, and found a letter addressed to Guy Fawkes. To Waad's surprise, "Johnson" remained silent, revealing nothing about the plot or its authors. On the night of 6 November he spoke with Waad, who reported to Salisbury "He [Johnson] told us that since he undertook this action he did every day pray to God he might perform that which might be for the advancement of the Catholic Faith and saving his own soul". According to Waad, Fawkes managed to rest through the night, despite his being warned that he would be interrogated until "I had gotton the inwards secret of his thoughts and all his complices". His composure was broken at some point during the following day.
The observer Sir Edward Hoby remarked "Since Johnson's being in the Tower, he beginneth to speak English". Fawkes revealed his true identity on 7 November, and told his interrogators that there were five people involved in the plot to kill the king. He began to reveal their names on 8 November, and told how they intended to place Princess Elizabeth on the throne. His third confession, on 9 November, implicated Francis Tresham. Following the Ridolfi plot of 1571, prisoners were made to dictate their confessions, before copying and signing them, if they still could. Although it is uncertain if he was tortured on the rack, Fawkes's scrawled signature suggests the suffering he endured at the hands of his interrogators.
== Trial and execution ==
The trial of eight of the plotters began on Monday 27 January 1606. Fawkes shared the barge from the Tower to Westminster Hall with seven of his co-conspirators. They were kept in the Star Chamber before being taken to Westminster Hall, where they were displayed on a purpose-built scaffold. The king and his close family, watching in secret, were among the spectators as the Lords Commissioners read out the list of charges. Fawkes was identified as Guido Fawkes, "otherwise called Guido Johnson". He pleaded not guilty, despite his apparent acceptance of guilt from the moment he was captured.
The jury found all the defendants guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice Sir John Popham pronounced them guilty of high treason. The Attorney General Sir Edward Coke told the court that each of the condemned would be drawn backwards to his death, by a horse, his head near the ground. They were to be "put to death halfway between heaven and earth as unworthy of both". Their genitals would be cut off and burnt before their eyes, and their bowels and hearts removed. They would then be decapitated, and the dismembered parts of their bodies displayed so that they might become "prey for the fowls of the air". Fawkes's and Tresham's testimony regarding the Spanish treason was read aloud, as well as confessions related specifically to the Gunpowder Plot. The last piece of evidence offered was a conversation between Fawkes and Wintour, who had been kept in adjacent cells. The two men apparently thought they had been speaking in private, but their conversation was intercepted by a government spy. When the prisoners were allowed to speak, Fawkes explained his not guilty plea as ignorance of certain aspects of the indictment.
On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and three others—Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood and Robert Keyes—were dragged from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy. His fellow plotters were then hanged and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the king and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies" (Catholic practices). Weakened by torture and aided by the hangman, Fawkes began to climb the ladder to the noose, but either through jumping to his death or climbing too high so the rope was incorrectly set, he managed to avoid the agony of the latter part of his execution by breaking his neck. His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered and, as was the custom, his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.
== Legacy ==
On 5 November 1605, Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the king's escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, provided that "this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder". An act of Parliament, the Observance of 5th November Act 1605 (3 Jas. 1. c. 1), designated each 5 November as a day of thanksgiving for "the joyful day of deliverance", and remained in force until 1859. Fawkes was one of 13 conspirators, but he is the individual most associated with the plot.
In Britain, 5 November has variously been called Guy Fawkes Night, Guy Fawkes Day, Plot Night, and Bonfire Night (which can be traced directly back to the original celebration of 5 November 1605). Bonfires were accompanied by fireworks from the 1650s onwards, and it became the custom after 1673 to burn an effigy (usually of the pope) when heir presumptive James, Duke of York, converted to Catholicism. Effigies of other notable figures have found their way onto the bonfires, such as Paul Kruger, Margaret Thatcher, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Vladimir Putin. The "guy" is normally created by children from old clothes, newspapers, and a mask. During the 19th century, "guy" came to mean an oddly dressed person, while in many places it has lost any pejorative connotation and instead refers to any male person and the plural form can refer to people of any gender (as in "you guys").
James Sharpe, professor of history at the University of York, has described how Guy Fawkes came to be toasted as "the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions". William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance Guy Fawkes; or, The Gunpowder Treason portrays Fawkes in a generally sympathetic light and his novel transformed Fawkes in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character". Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and penny dreadfuls such as The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes; or, The Conspirators of Old London, published around 1905. According to the historian Lewis Call, Fawkes is now "a major icon in modern political culture", whose face has become "a potentially powerful instrument for the articulation of postmodern anarchism" in the late 20th century. Fawkes is regarded by some as a martyr, political rebel or freedom-fighter, especially amongst a minority of Catholics in the United Kingdom. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Whom_the_Bell_Tolls#Pulitzer_Prize_snub | For Whom the Bell Tolls#Pulitzer Prize snub | For Whom the Bell Tolls is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer attached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a demolitions expert, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during the Segovia Offensive.
It was published just after the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), whose general lines were well known at the time. It assumes the reader knows that the war was between the government of the Second Spanish Republic, which many foreigners went to Spain to help and which was supported by the Communist Soviet Union, and the Nationalist faction, which was supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. In 1940, the year the book was published, the United States had not yet entered World War II, which began on September 1, 1939, with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland.
The novel is regarded as one of Hemingway's best works, along with The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Old Man and the Sea.
== Plot summary ==
Robert Jordan is an American, formerly a professor of Spanish language at the University of Montana. He had lived in prewar Spain, and fights as an irregular soldier for the Republic against Francisco Franco's fascist forces. An experienced demolition expert, he is ordered by a Soviet general to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a bridge with the aid of a band of local anti-fascist guerrillas to prevent enemy troops from responding to an upcoming offensive. On his mission, Jordan meets the rebel Anselmo, the "old man", who brings him to a hidden guerrilla camp in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains between Madrid and Segovia. Anselmo initially acts as an intermediary between Jordan and the other guerrilla fighters. They include Agustín, Primitivo, Fernando, brothers Andrés and Eladio, and Rafael, often referred to pejoratively as "the gypsy".
In the camp, Jordan encounters María, a young Spanish woman whose life has been shattered by her parents' execution and her rape at the hands of the Falangists (part of the fascist coalition) at the outbreak of the war. His strong sense of duty clashes with both the unwillingness of the guerrilla leader Pablo to commit to an operation that would endanger himself and his band and Jordan's own new-found lust for life, which arises from his love for María. Pablo's wife, the strong-willed Pilar, with the support of the other guerrillas, displaces Pablo as the group leader and pledges the allegiance of the guerrillas to Jordan's mission.
When another band of anti-fascist guerrillas, led by El Sordo, is surrounded and killed during a raid they conducted in support of Jordan's mission, Pablo steals the dynamite detonators and exploder, hoping to prevent the demolition and to avoid fascist reprisals. Although he disposes of the detonators and exploder by throwing them down a gorge into the river, Pablo regrets abandoning his comrades and returns to assist in the operation.
The enemy, apprised of the coming offensive, has prepared to ambush it in force and it seems unlikely that the blown bridge will do much to prevent a rout. However, Jordan understands that he must still demolish the bridge unless he receives explicit orders to the contrary. Lacking the detonation equipment stolen by Pablo, Jordan devises an alternative method: exploding the dynamite by using hand grenades with wires attached so that their pins can be pulled from a distance. The improvised plan is considerably more dangerous as the guerrillas must be nearer to the explosion. While Pilar, Pablo, and other guerrillas attack the posts at the two ends of the bridge, Jordan and Anselmo plant and detonate the dynamite, costing Anselmo his life when he is hit by a piece of shrapnel. While escaping, Jordan is maimed when a tank shoots his horse out from under him. Knowing that his wound is so severe that it is highly unlikely that he will survive and that he would slow the others down, he bids farewell to María and ensures her escape to safety with the surviving guerrillas. He refuses Agustín's offer to shoot him and lies waiting in agony, hoping to kill an enemy officer and delay the pursuit of his comrades before he dies. The narrative ends with Jordan waiting for the perfect opportunity to launch his ambush, if he does not go unconscious (or die) first.
== Characters ==
Robert Jordan – American university instructor of the Spanish language and a specialist in demolitions and explosives.
Anselmo – Elderly guide to Robert Jordan.
Golz – Soviet officer who ordered the bridge's demolition.
Pablo – Leader of a group of anti-fascist guerrillas.
Rafael – Well-intentioned yet incompetent and lazy guerrilla, and a gypsy.
María – Robert Jordan's young lover.
Pilar – Pablo's wife. An aged but strong woman, she is the de facto leader of the guerrilla band.
Karkov – Soviet agent and journalist in Madrid, and a friend of Jordan's.
Agustín – Foul-mouthed, middle-aged guerrilla.
El Sordo – Leader of a fellow band of guerrillas.
Fernando – Middle-aged guerrilla.
Andrés and Eladio – Brothers and members of Pablo's band.
Primitivo – Old guerrilla in Pablo's band.
Joaquín – Enthusiastic teenaged communist, a member of Sordo's band.
== Background ==
Ernest Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1939 from three locations: Havana, Cuba; Key West, Florida; and Sun Valley, Idaho. In Cuba, he lived in the Hotel Ambos Mundos, where he worked on the manuscript. The novel was finished in July 1940 at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel in New York City and published in October. The story is based on Hemingway's experiences during the Spanish Civil War as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Alliance and features an American who fights alongside Spanish guerillas for the Republicans. The novel graphically describes the brutality of the war and is told primarily through the thoughts and experiences of the protagonist, Robert Jordan.
The characters in the novel include those who are purely fictional, those based on real people but fictionalized, and those who were actual figures in the war. Set in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range between Madrid and Segovia, the action takes place during four days and three nights. For Whom the Bell Tolls became a Book of the Month Club choice, sold half a million copies within months, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and became a literary triumph for Hemingway. Published on October 21, 1940, the first edition print run was 75,000 copies priced at $2.75.
The book's title is taken from the metaphysical poet John Donne's series of meditations and prayers on health, pain, and sickness (written while Donne was convalescing from a nearly fatal illness) published in 1624 as Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, specifically Meditation XVII. Hemingway quotes part of the meditation (using Donne's original spelling) in the book's epigraph. Donne refers to the practice of funeral tolling, universal in his time.
No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
Due to the popularity of Hemingway's book, this text became known to many people who never read any other of Donne's works.
== Imagery ==
The novel contains imagery of soil and earth. The imagery appears rather famously at the start of chapter 13. Jordan and María have sex in a meadow in the forest. He feels "the earth move out and away from under them." Then afterwards he asks María, "Did thee feel the earth move?" to which she responds affirmatively. Variants of this phrase have become a cultural cliché, often used humorously. The Oxford English Dictionary contains the phrase 'the earth moves' and describes it as 'used to refer to the experience of having an orgasm', 'first attested in For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway'.
== References to contemporary events ==
The novel takes place in late May 1937, during the second year of the Spanish Civil War. References made to Valladolid, Segovia, El Escorial, and Madrid suggest the novel takes place within the build-up to the Republican attempt to relieve the siege of Madrid.
The earlier battle of Guadalajara and the general chaos and disorder (and, more generally, the doomed cause of Republican Spain) serve as a backdrop to the novel: Robert Jordan notes, for instance, that he follows the Communists because of their superior discipline, an allusion to the split and infighting between anarchist and communist factions on the Republican side.
The famous and pivotal scene described in Chapter 10, in which Pilar describes the execution of various fascist figures in her village, is drawn from events that took place in Ronda in 1936. Although Hemingway later claimed (in a 1954 letter to Bernard Berenson) to have completely fabricated the scene, he in fact drew upon the events at Ronda, embellishing the event by imagining an execution line leading up to the cliff face.
A number of actual figures that played a role in the Spanish Civil War are also referred to in the book, including these:
Vicente Rojo Lluch, the Chief of the General Staff of the Spanish Republican Army, in Chapter 1.
Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, a Nationalist military leader under Franco noted for his radio broadcasts, in Chapter 8.
Alejandro Lerroux and Indalecio Prieto, Spanish Republican leaders prior to and the latter during the Spanish Civil War, in Chapter 13.
Enrique Líster, communist leader who played important roles during the defense of Madrid, in Chapter 15.
Andreu Nin, one of the founders of the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), the party mocked by Karkov in Chapter 18.
Juan Modesto, a Republican army officer described as "most trusted...by the Russians," in Chapter 18.
Valentín González, a Spanish Republican commander also known as El Campesino, "the Peasant," in Chapter 18.
Manfred Stern as "Kleber," Máté Zalka as "Lucasz," Hans Beimler, and János Gálicz as "Gall" in Chapter 18.
Mikhail Koltsov, Soviet journalist who was the basis for the character Karkov.
General José Miaja, in charge of the defense of Madrid in October 1936, in Chapter 35
Dolores Ibárruri, better known as La Pasionaria, extensively discussed by the group of El Sordo for allegedly sending her son to the Soviet Union during the war, in Chapter 32.
Francisco Largo Caballero, trade unionist and prime minister of the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War, in Chapter 35.
Carlos Asensio Cabanillas, Spanish military leader of the Nationalist Army who led an advance during the Siege of Madrid, in Chapter 35.
Robert Hale Merriman, leader of the American Volunteers in the International Brigades, and his wife Marion, were well known to Hemingway and served possibly as a model for Hemingway's own hero.
André Marty, a leading French Communist and political officer in the International Brigades, makes a brief but significant appearance in Chapter 42. Hemingway depicts Marty as a vicious intriguer whose paranoia interferes with Republican objectives in the war.
Karol Świerczewski, a Polish general who served in the Spanish Civil War as leader of several International Brigades under the name "Walter," was the basis for the character General Golz.
Francisco Franco, commander of the rebel army who will become the ruling dictator after the war.
== Critical reception and impact ==
On November 5, 2019, BBC News listed For Whom the Bell Tolls on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.
=== Censorship ===
In 1940, For Whom the Bell Tolls was declared non-mailable by the U.S. Post Office.
In 1973, the book was banned in Turkey because the book included "propaganda unfavorable to the state." On February 21 of that year, eleven Turkish book publishers and eight booksellers "went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing, and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month's and six months’ imprisonment and the confiscation of their books."
=== Language ===
Since its publication, the prose style and dialogue in Hemingway's novel have been the source of negative critical reaction. For example, Edmund Wilson, in a tepid review, noted the encumbrance of "a strange atmosphere of literary medievalism" in the relationship between Robert Jordan and Maria.
Additionally, much of the dialogue in the novel is an implied direct translation from Spanish, producing an often strained English equivalent. For example, Hemingway uses the construction "what passes that", which is an implied translation of the Spanish construction qué pasa que. This translation extends to the use of linguistic "false friends", such as "rare" (from raro) instead of "strange" and "syndicate" (from sindicato) instead of "trade union".
=== Pulitzer Prize snub ===
In 1941, the Pulitzer Prize committee for letters unanimously recommended For Whom the Bell Tolls be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for that year. The Pulitzer Board agreed. However, Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University and ex officio head of the Pulitzer board at that time, found the novel offensive and persuaded the board to reverse its determination; no Pulitzer was given for the category of novel that year.
=== In Spain ===
In 1944, the book was first published in Spanish by an Argentinian publishing house, Editorial Claridad, with many subsequent editions produced either in Argentina or in Mexico. In Spain, it was initially viewed very suspiciously by the Francoist censorship office; in 1942–43 the Spanish diplomatic corps went to great lengths in trying to influence the final edit of the Hollywood film based on the novel, which was not permitted to be shown in Spanish cinemas. Since 1953, when The Old Man and the Sea was published in Madrid, most of Hemingway's stories and novels had been published in Spain. However, this was not the case with For Whom the Bell Tolls, although the novel was at times discussed in the press. Prohibition of the book's publishing was rescinded only in late 1968. By the end of the year Por quién doblan las campanas had been published by Editorial Planeta.
== Legacy ==
=== Adaptations ===
A film adaptation titled For Whom the Bell Tolls was released in 1943.
In 1959, a television adaptation For Whom the Bell Tolls was broadcast in two parts on CBS's Playhouse 90.
In 1965, the BBC produced another television adaptation For Whom the Bell Tolls as a four-part serial and a miniseries in American English.
In 1978, the Takarazuka Revue adapted the novel as a musical drama (誰がために鐘は鳴る: Ta ga Tame ni Kane wa Naru), produced by Star Troupe. Cosmos Troupe revived the show in 2011.
In October 2014, the novel was dramatized in a two-part series on BBC Radio 4.
=== Documentary ===
The 2012 film Hemingway and Gellhorn depicts Hemingway's time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War when he was completing work on For Whom the Bell Tolls, and his relationship with the American novelist, travel writer and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, whom he credited with having inspired him to write the novel, and to whom he dedicated it. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batrachotoxin | Batrachotoxin | Batrachotoxin (BTX) is an extremely potent cardiotoxic and neurotoxic steroidal alkaloid found in certain species of beetles, birds, and frogs. The name is from the Greek word βάτραχος, bátrachos, 'frog'. Structurally-related chemical compounds are often referred to collectively as batrachotoxins. In certain frogs, this alkaloid is present mostly on the skin. Such frogs are among those used for poisoning darts. Batrachotoxin binds to and irreversibly opens the sodium channels of nerve cells and prevents them from closing, resulting in paralysis and death. No antidote is known.
== History ==
Batrachotoxin was discovered by Fritz Märki and Bernhard Witkop, at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.A. Märki and Witkop separated the potent toxic alkaloids fraction from Phyllobates bicolor and determined its chemical properties in 1963. They isolated four major toxic steroidal alkaloids including batrachotoxin, homobatrachotoxin (isobatrachotoxin), pseudobatrachotoxin, and batrachotoxinin A. Due to the difficulty of handling such a potent toxin and the minuscule amount that could be collected, a comprehensive structure determination involved several difficulties. However, Takashi Tokuyama, who joined the investigation later, converted one of the congener compounds, batrachotoxinin A, to a crystalline derivative and its unique steroidal structure was solved with x-ray diffraction techniques (1968). When the mass spectrum and NMR spectrum of batrachotoxin and the batrachotoxinin A derivatives were compared, it was realized that the two shared the same steroidal structure and that batrachotoxin was batrachotoxinin A with a single extra pyrrole moiety attached. In fact, batrachotoxin was able to be partially hydrolyzed using sodium hydroxide into a material with identical TLC and color reactions as batrachotoxinin A. The structure of batrachotoxin was established in 1969 through chemical recombination of both fragments. Batrachotoxinin A was synthesized by Michio Kurosu, Lawrence R. Marcin, Timothy J. Grinsteiner, and Yoshito Kishi in 1998.
== Toxicity ==
According to experiments with rodents, batrachotoxin is one of the most potent alkaloids known: its intravenous LD50 in mice is 2–3 μg/kg. Meanwhile, its derivative, batrachotoxinin A, has a much lower toxicity with an LD50 of 1000 μg/kg.
The toxin is released through colourless or milky secretions from glands located on the back and behind the ears of frogs from the genus Phyllobates. When one of these frogs is agitated, feels threatened or is in pain, the toxin is reflexively released through several canals.
Batrachotoxin activity is temperature-dependent, with a maximum activity at 37 °C (99 °F). Its activity is also more rapid at an alkaline pH, which suggests that the unprotonated form may be more active.
=== Neurotoxicity ===
As a neurotoxin, it affects the nervous system. Neurological function depends on depolarization of nerve and muscle fibres due to increased sodium ion permeability of the excitable cell membrane. Lipid-soluble toxins such as batrachotoxin act directly on sodium ion channels involved in action potential generation and by modifying both their ion selectivity and voltage sensitivity. Batrachotoxin irreversibly binds to the Na+ channels which causes a conformational change in the channels that forces the sodium channels to remain open. Batrachotoxin not only keeps voltage-gated sodium channels open but also reduces single-channel conductance. In other words, the toxin binds to the sodium channel and keeps the membrane permeable to sodium ions in an "all or none" manner.
This has a direct effect on the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Batrachotoxin in the PNS produces increased permeability (selective and irreversible) of the resting cell membrane to sodium ions, without changing potassium or calcium concentration. This influx of sodium depolarizes the formerly polarized cell membrane. Batrachotoxin also alters the ion selectivity of the ion channel by increasing the permeability of the channel toward larger cations. Voltage-sensitive sodium channels become persistently active at the resting membrane potential. Batrachotoxin kills by permanently blocking nerve signal transmission to the muscles.
Batrachotoxin binds to and irreversibly opens the sodium channels of nerve cells and prevents them from closing. The neuron can no longer send signals and this results in paralysis. Furthermore, the massive influx of sodium ions produces osmotic alterations in nerves and muscles, which causes structural changes. It has been suggested that there may also be an effect on the central nervous system, although it is not currently known what such an effect may be.
=== Cardiotoxicity ===
Although generally classified as a neurotoxin, batrachotoxin has marked effects on heart muscles and its effects are mediated through sodium channel activation. Heart conduction is impaired resulting in arrhythmias, extrasystoles, ventricular fibrillation and other changes which lead to asystole and cardiac arrest. Batrachotoxin induces a massive release of acetylcholine in nerves and muscles and destruction of synaptic vesicles, as well. Batrachotoxin R is more toxic than related batrachotoxin A.
== Treatment ==
Currently, no effective antidote exists for the treatment of batrachotoxin poisoning. Veratridine, aconitine and grayanotoxin—like batrachotoxin—are lipid-soluble poisons which similarly alter the ion selectivity of the sodium channels, suggesting a common site of action. Due to these similarities, treatment for batrachotoxin poisoning might best be modeled after, or based on, treatments for one of these poisons. Treatment may also be modeled after that for digitalis, which produces somewhat similar cardiotoxic effects.
While it is not an antidote, the membrane depolarization can be prevented or reversed by either tetrodotoxin (from puffer fish), which is a noncompetitive inhibitor, or saxitoxin. These both have effects antagonistic to those of batrachotoxin on sodium flux. Certain anesthetics may act as receptor antagonists to the action of this alkaloid poison, while other local anesthetics block its action altogether by acting as competitive antagonists.
== Sources ==
Batrachotoxin has been found in four Papuan beetle species, all in the genus Choresine in the family Melyridae; C. pulchra, C. semiopaca, C. rugiceps and C. sp. A.
Several species of bird endemic to New Guinea have the toxin in their skin and on their feathers: the blue-capped ifrit (Ifrita kowaldi), little shrikethrush (aka rufous shrike-thrush, Colluricincla megarhyncha), and the following pitohui species: the hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous, the most toxic of the birds), crested pitohui (Ornorectes cristatus), black pitohui (Melanorectes nigrescens), rusty pitohui (Pseudorectes ferrugineus), and the variable pitohui, which is now split into three species: the northern variable pitohui (Pitohui kirhocephalus), Raja Ampat pitohui (P. cerviniventris), and southern variable pitohui (P. uropygialis).
While the purpose for toxicity in these birds is not certain, the presence of batrachotoxins in these species is an example of convergent evolution. It is believed that these birds gain the toxin from batrachotoxin-containing insects that they eat and then secrete it through the skin.
Batrachotoxin has also been found in all described species of the poison dart frog genus Phyllobates from Nicaragua to Colombia, including the golden poison frog (Phyllobates terribilis), black-legged poison frog (P. bicolor), lovely poison frog (P. lugubris), Golfodulcean poison frog (P. vittatus), and Kokoe poison frog (P. aurotaenia). The Kokoe poison frog used to include P. sp. aff. aurotaenia, now recognized as distinct. All six of these frog species are in the poison dart frog family.
The frogs do not produce batrachotoxin themselves. Just as in the birds, it is believed that these frogs gain the toxin from batrachotoxin-containing insects that they eat, and then secrete it through the skin. Beetles in the genus Choresine are not found in Colombia, but it is thought that the frogs might get the toxin from beetles in other genera within the same family (Melyridae), several of which are found in Colombia.
Frogs raised in captivity do not produce batrachotoxin, and thus may be handled without risk. However, this limits the amount of batrachotoxin available for research as 10,000 frogs yielded only 180 mg of batrachotoxin. As these frogs are endangered, their harvest is unethical. Biosynthetic studies are also challenged by the slow rate of synthesis of batrachotoxin.
The native habitat of poison dart frogs is the warm regions of Central and South America.
== Use ==
The most common use of this toxin is by the Noanamá Chocó and Emberá Chocó of the Embera-Wounaan of western Colombia for poisoning blowgun darts for use in hunting.
Poison darts are prepared by the Chocó by first impaling a frog on a piece of wood. By some accounts, the frog is then held over or roasted alive over a fire until it cries in pain. Bubbles of poison form as the frog's skin begins to blister. The dart tips are prepared by touching them to the toxin, or the toxin can be caught in a container and allowed to ferment. Poison darts made from either fresh or fermented batrachotoxin are enough to drop monkeys and birds in their tracks. Nerve paralysis is almost instantaneous. Other accounts say that a stick siurukida ("bamboo tooth") is put through the mouth of the frog and passed out through one of its hind legs. This causes the frog to perspire profusely on its back, which becomes covered with a white froth. The darts are dipped or rolled in the froth, preserving their lethal power for up to a year. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury_North_(UK_Parliament_constituency) | Bury North (UK Parliament constituency) | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto_Shippuden_the_Movie:_The_Lost_Tower | Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Lost Tower | Naruto Shippuden the Movie: The Lost Tower (Japanese: 劇場版 NARUTO（ナルト） 疾風伝 ザ・ロストタワー, Hepburn: Gekijō-ban Naruto Shippūden Za Rosuto Tawā) is a 2010 Japanese animated action-adventure fantasy film based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime series. It was released on July 31, 2010. Along with the film, a comical short feature named Naruto, the Genie, and the Three Wishes!! (劇場版NARUTO-ナルト-そよ風伝 ナルトと魔神と3つのお願いだってばよ！！, Gekijōban Naruto Soyokazeden: Naruto to mashin to mitsu no onegai dattebayo!!) was also shown. The theme song "if" is performed by Kana Nishino. The film was released in North America on September 17, 2013 by Viz Media. The movie is set after the episode 143 of the Naruto: Shippuden anime series.
== Plot ==
Assigned a mission to capture a missing-nin named Mukade, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Yamato and Sai wield chakra-knives. At the one thousand-year-old desert city ruins of Loran, they confront Mukade attempting to dominate the Ninja World with the power of the Ryūmyaku (the Ley Line in English), an ancient chakra flowing deep underground. He breaks the seal created by Minato Namikaze to unleash the Ryūmyaku's power creating a light that engulfs Naruto and Yamato, while Sai and Sakura ride on an ink bird to get clear.
Naruto and Yamato are sent twenty years into the past. When Naruto awakens from this time slip, he meets the queen of Loran, Sāra. It is later revealed that Mukade traveled to the past six years before Naruto and changed his name to Anrokuzan, the minister of Loran who had killed Sāra's mother Sēramu. Naruto agrees to protect Sāra, after Anrokuzan declares about the kidnapped citizens and creates to summon the "Puppet Ninja Forces". Minato, Shibi Aburame, Chōza Akimichi, and Kakashi Hatake, on their own mission to stop Anrokuzan, appear to support the heroes.
While they rescue Sara's people and Naruto holds Minato's kunai, Sāra recalls her memory about Sēramu's lullaby. Anrokuzan uses the parts of the tower to become a giant defensive puppet, but Minato and Naruto use their regenerative chakra enough to create the legendary Super Rasengan. After Sāra disables the Ryūmyaku, Minato exposes Anrokuzan's weak spot which Naruto then destroys, but Anrokuzan throws himself into the Ryūmyaku to make it destroy them all. As Yamato and Kakashi rescue Naruto and Sāra, Minato uses the kunai to completely seal the Ryūmyaku. Just as the heroes vanish from the past, Minato erases all of their memories to keep history unchanged.
With Mukade/Anrokuzan gone, Sakura and Sai reunite with Naruto and Yamato in the present. As they are about to leave the ruins, they run into Queen Sāra's daughter, who kept the old chakra blade that belonged to Naruto. She informs that it was given to her mother by a "Hero in a Dream". Naruto recognizes his blade, reaches out to his back where he usually kept it, and finds it not there, leaving him dumbfounded. However, Sakura pinches his ear and accuses him for having a dream.
== Cast ==
== Home media ==
The film was released on DVD on April 27, 2011. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London_Police | City of London Police | The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle and Inner Temples. As of 2014, it is also the national lead police force for fraud, having responsibility for the Report Fraud service operated by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.
The force is a separate organisation from the much larger Metropolitan Police, which is responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region. As the historic core of London, the City has an administrative history distinct from that of the rest of the metropolis, of which its separate police force is one manifestation.
As of 2021, the force had a workforce of 1,355 including 861 full-time police officers and 494 support staff. The force is also supported by much smaller numbers of special constables, police community support officers, and designated officers. The headquarters is temporarily located at the Guildhall (which also housed it from 1832 to 1840) and there is an additional station at Bishopsgate, with former stations including Moor Lane (destroyed in the Blitz on 29 December 1940), Cloak Lane (closed 1965), and Wood Street (closed 2020).
The City of London Police is the smallest territorial police force in England and Wales, both in terms of geographic area and head-count. The current commissioner (equivalent to the chief constable in non-London forces), is Peter O'Doherty, who was appointed in a temporary capacity in October 2023, and is set to become permanent commissioner in 2024, subject to royal assent.
== History ==
=== To 1850 ===
Traditionally the responsibility for policing in the city had been divided between day and night City Watch, primarily under the two sheriffs. Their responsibilities were shared with the aldermen's officers – the ward beadles – who are now purely ceremonial. It was these officers' responsibility for ensuring that the Night Watch was maintained. Policing during the day eventually came under the City Patrol, which evolved into the City Day Police, which was modelled on the Metropolitan Police. The London City Police was officially formed in 1832, before becoming the City of London Police with the passing of the City of London Police Act 1839, which gave statutory approval to the force as an independent police body and headed off attempts made to merge it with the Metropolitan Police. It moved its headquarters from the corporation's Guildhall to 26 Old Jewry in 1840.
=== 1850–1989 ===
The first death of an officer of the force in the line of duty occurred in 1857, followed by 31 more to date, including three killed in the 1910 Houndsditch murders. The force was involved in the investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders.
Teams of the City of London Police have participated in the Olympic games three times in the tug of war tournament. At the 1908 Summer Olympics they won the gold medal, beating a Liverpool City Police team in the final. In 1912 a joint City-Metropolitan Police team was beaten in the final by a Stockholm Police team. At the 1920 Summer Olympics a solely City of London Police British team regained its title, beating the Netherlands. This was the last time tug of war was an Olympic sport, which means the City of London Police is still the reigning Olympic champion.
The force has had special constables since at least 1911, when 1,648 were called for duty during docks strikes. There was one day in 1918, when the only warranted officer within the city of London was a special constable. Several regular officers of the force were killed in Nazi German air raids over London in 1941 and 1942.
=== 1990–2001 ===
The early 1990s saw the IRA carry out a number of high-profile attacks in the city as part of the Troubles, such as the 1992 Baltic Exchange bombing and the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing, resulting in huge economic and infrastructural damage. As a result, the Traffic and Environmental Zone, better known as the "ring of steel", was officially established in 1993 by Owen Kelly, the then City of London Police commissioner. Commander Hugh Moore suffered a fatal heart failure in 1993 following a violent arrest.
Some aspects of the ring of steel were 'stepped down' in the late 1990s following the cessation of IRA hostilities, but stepped up again after the September 11 attacks. The force's headquarters relocated to Wood Street in 2001.
=== 2001–present ===
The City of London Special Constabulary were awarded the Ferrers Trophy in 2006 for the efforts of their officers after the 7 July 2005 London bombings. The award is given annually to police volunteers, for exceptional dedication and innovation. It was the first time in the award's history that an entire special constabulary received the trophy. In 2010 the same trophy was awarded to Special Constable Patrick Rarden of the Honourable Artillery Company Detachment (part of the City of London Special Constabulary) for using his banking skills and experience to help train colleagues and provide invaluable assistance to solve fraud cases. 2002 saw the most recent City officer to die in the line of duty.
In 2014, the force was chosen to be the lead force for fraud, overseen by the National Crime Agency, to operate the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and cybercrime reporting centre. This includes the 'Report Fraud' (formerly 'Action Fraud') service for gathering and analysing reports of fraud and financially motivated cyber crime reported by the public.
In 2015, the City of London Police mounted unit also escorted the exhumed remains of King Richard III through the city of Leicester from St Nicholas Church to Leicester Cathedral, en route to their reburial.
== List of commissioners ==
Daniel Whittle Harvey (1839–1863)
Colonel Sir James Fraser (1863–1890)
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Smith (1890–1902)
Captain Sir William Nott-Bower (1902–1925)
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Turnbull (1925–1950)
Colonel Sir Arthur Young (1950–1971)
James Page (1971–1977)
Peter Marshall (1977–1985)
Owen Kelly (1985–1994)
William Taylor (1994–1998)
Perry Nove (1998–2002)
James Hart (2002–2006)
Mike Bowron (2006–2011)
Adrian Leppard (2011–2015)
Ian Dyson (2016–2022)
Angela McLaren (2022–2023)
Peter O'Doherty (2023–present)
== Organisation ==
The City Police is organised into five directorates:
Economic Crime Directorate
Crime Directorate
Uniformed Policing Directorate
Information and Intelligence Directorate
Business Support Directorate
Because of the City's role as a world financial centre, the City of London Police has developed a great deal of expertise in dealing with economic crime. In 2014, it was made the national lead police force for fraud.
The Economic Crime Directorate includes:
Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU)
Insurance Fraud Department (IFED)
National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) and Report Fraud (formerly 'Action Fraud')
Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU)
Economic Crime Academy (ECA) responsible for delivering counter fraud and economic crime training both nationally and internationally
The Directorate also had an Overseas Anti-Corruption Unit (OACU). This unit (along with the Metropolitan Police's Proceeds of Corruption Unit) was transferred to the National Crime Agency in 2015 and renamed the International Corruption Unit (ICU).
=== Leadership structure ===
Chief officer team:
Commissioner – Peter O'Doherty
Deputy Commissioner Local – Paul Betts
Deputy Commissioner National – Nik Adams
Commander – Umer Khan
Temporary Commander – Andrew Gould
Service Delivery Director – Chris Bell
Chief Operating Officer – Alix Newbold
Joint Chief Finance Officer – Alistair "Ally" Cook
== Uniform ==
Whereas the majority of British police forces have white metal cap badges and buttons, those of the City Police are brass. The force also have red and white chequered sleeve and cap bands (red and white being the colours of the City of London), which in most other British police forces are black and white. In formal uniform, female officers wear a red and white cravat.
Their helmet (worn by male constables and sergeants) has altered little since its introduction in 1865 and has a crest instead of the white metal boss worn on the Metropolitan Police helmet. The "helmet plate" or badge is the City of London coat of arms; this is unusual for a police force in England and Wales in that it does not include St Edward's Crown, neither does it have the Brunswick Star, which is used on most other police helmets in England and Wales.
On state and ceremonial occasions, the commissioner and assistant commissioners wear a special court dress uniform with a gold aiguillette and a cocked hat adorned with white swan's feathers; other than on these occasions, they wear standard uniform.
== Equipment and vehicles ==
City of London police officers carry warrant cards. Like most other police forces in Great Britain, City of London police officers are not routinely armed, but some officers have received firearms training and are authorised firearms officers. City of London police equipment includes PAVA irritant spray, batons, and handcuffs. Many officers are also equipped with the Taser electroshock weapon; according to the police force's reported figures, Tasers have been deployed (including drawing or "red-dotting") about seven times per month. In the September 2018 to September 2020 period, the City of London Police recorded 11 incidents of police officers firing Tasers on suspects.
The City of London Police maintains a fleet of police vehicles, including SUVs, compact cars, motorcycle, and vans, as well as one horsebox. All of the force's response vehicles, including armed response vehicles (ARVs) carry a defibrillator and first aid supplies, for use in the event of an emergency.
== Mounted unit ==
The City of London Police maintains a mounted police unit. In addition to regular duties, the horses of the mounted unit have been used to trample wildflower seeds at the Barbican Wildlife Garden at the request of the community wildlife gardeners. The horses' ceremonial duties include participation in Trooping the Colour and the Lord Mayor's Show.
== Ranks ==
The ranks from constable to chief superintendent are the same as all other British police forces. The three senior ranks are similar to those used by the Metropolitan Police.
=== Insignia ===
Constables and sergeants display collar numbers on their rank badges (in the range 1 to 150 for sergeants and 151 to 999 for constables). Officers between the ranks of inspector and chief superintendent (who do not have collar numbers) display their warrant numbers instead.
The City of London police also has a special constabulary with seven ranks of officers. As with regular officers, constables and sergeants display collar numbers on their rank badges (in the range 1001 to 1099 for sergeants and 1101 to 1299 for constables) and the ranks of inspector and chief inspector display their warrant numbers, in all cases followed by the letters "SC".
As well as a PCSO rank
=== Workforce ===
The following is the current released workforce data. The "chief officer" category includes the commissioner, assistant commissioner and commanders, and the "special constable" category includes all special constable ranks.
== Special Constabulary ==
As of December 2023, it consists of 47 volunteer officers, led by a special chief inspector, assisted by two special inspectors, six special sergeants and 38 special constables. The majority undertake duties during evenings and nights in support of the regular force in dealing with issues arising from the busy night-time economy of the city. However, other officers perform more specialist roles in the force's other directorates including supporting the National Lead Force (NLF) in the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) with a number of officers joining the national Cyber Volunteering initiative.
In 2023, the City of London Police undertook a major restructure of the COLP Special Constabulary, with the ranks of special commander and special superintendent being abolished and the chief officer now being special chief inspector who reports to the chief superintendent for local policing who in turn answers to the commander for ops and Security.
Many officers have specialist training and perform duties as response drivers, "Level 2" public order officers and cycle officers. As in all forces, special constables are expected to commit to a minimum of 200 hours' duty each year, and in return receive out-of-pocket expenses and free travel on the Transport for London network. They receive no pay.
Uniform and equipment is identical to that of regular (full-time) police officers. Officers of the Honourable Artillery Company Detachment of Special Constabulary CLSC (originally part of the Metropolitan Special Constabulary but moved to the City force on reorganisation) wear the title "HAC" when in formal uniform. Special Constables have four-digit collar numbers beginning 11 or 12, and Special Sergeants have four-digit collar numbers beginning 10.
=== Chief Officers of City of London Special Constabulary ===
Colonel Vickers Dunfee (1911–1914)
Colonel JW Benningfield (1914–1918)
Colonel Vickers Dunfee (1918–1927)
Colonel RT Blackham (1927–1928)
WG Lovell (1928–1933)
GT Foxon (1933–1944)
W Penman (1944–1952)
Colonel A Woods (1952–1966)
HE Wright (1966–1974)
Major SC Holmes (1975–1982)
F AD Ralfe (1983–1988)
J Hurcombe-Blight (1988–1999)
B Willis (1999–2004)
Ian Miller (2004–2016)
James Phipson (2016–2023)
Philip Nastri (2023–present)
== Other corporation policing bodies ==
The City of London Corporation, the local authority for the city, also operates further limited policing bodies. These bodies are not part of the City of London Police:
City of London market constabularies;
Hampstead Heath Constabulary; and
Epping Forest Keepers. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Northern_Pikes | The Northern Pikes | The Northern Pikes are a Canadian rock band formed in Saskatoon in 1984. The original members are Jay Semko, Bryan Potvin, Merl Bryck and Glen Hollingshead, who left the band in 1985 and was replaced by Jay Semko in June 1986. Rob Esch left after the second independent EP, Scene In North America. The Northern Pikes were successful in Canada, attaining one Platinum and four Gold albums in their native country. The band was active until 1993 and regrouped in 1999.
In 2012, The Northern Pikes were inducted into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
== History ==
The Northern Pikes released two independent EPs before being signed to Virgin Records in 1986, The Northern Pikes (1984) and Scene in North America (1985). They also recorded a song for Saskatchewan After Dark, a 1985 compilation of Saskatchewan-based artists sponsored by the provincial government. Their first album for Virgin, Big Blue Sky, included the Semko-penned "Teenland", the band's first significant hit. The follow-up album Secrets of the Alibi contained three Canadian hits, "Wait for Me", "Let's Pretend", and "Hopes Go Astray".
Their 1990 album Snow in June became their biggest seller in Canada and the US. That album's lead single, "She Ain't Pretty" was the band's biggest hit, and was written by Potvin. An innovative music video for that song received heavy play on MuchMusic and was nominated for a Juno Award in 1991. Overall, the band has been nominated for five Juno Awards, but have yet to record a win.
In early 1992, the band released the single "Everyone's a Hero" for the Canadian Special Olympics. Later that year, the band released their next album, Neptune. The album's biggest hit, "Believe", was written by Potvin. After touring to support the album, they announced their retirement as a group in July 1993.
In 1999, Virgin Records asked the band members for their input on a "greatest hits" package. The band decided to do a short promotional tour following the release of Hits and Assorted Secrets 1984-1993, but found themselves enjoying the more relaxed independence of making their own schedule that they continued touring. They have since released three independent albums, including Truest Inspiration (2001) and It's a Good Life (2003), as well as the aptly titled Live (2000).
In 2005, the band struck up a musical collaboration with Les Stroud. Throughout 2005 and 2006 they performed together live several times. A six-song EP born from this collaboration entitled Long Walk Home was released in the spring of 2007, and was credited to "Les Stroud & The Pikes".
In 2006, Merl Bryck made the decision to curtail his touring schedule, and left the Northern Pikes. Long-time sideman Ross Nykiforuk joined the band on keyboards as the fourth member onstage from 2006 to 2011. Since then, Semko, Potvin, and Schmid have continued touring under the Northern Pikes banner as, in their own words, a "power trio". In 2017, Grapes of Wrath guitarist Kevin Kane joined them for their 30th Anniversary of "Big Blue Sky" Tour, becoming a full-time member of the band in 2018 for the recording of Forest of Love. The 10-track record is the band's first in 16 years and also features original members Semko, Schmid, and Potvin. BlueFrog Studios hosted the band for two official pre-release concerts on June 6, 2019, which were viewed via Facebook Live and YouTube Live. The band released Forest of Love, on June 7, 2019.The band began working on a new album in early 2020, which Jay Semko described as a "tribute to Snow in June'", but postponed finishing it due to travel restrictions and difficulty getting together in studio due to the Covid pandemic.
In 2019, Semko recorded a new version of the band's 1987 single "The Things I Do for Money", in collaboration with cellists Theodor and Maximilian Aoki, for the soundtrack to Warren P. Sonoda's feature film Things I Do for Money.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
1987 – Big Blue Sky
1988 – Secrets of the Alibi
1990 – Snow in June
1992 – Neptune
2001 – Truest Inspiration
2003 – It's a Good Life
2019 – Forest of Love
2023 - Time to Time
=== Independently-released EPs ===
1984 – The Northern Pikes
1985 – Scene in North America
=== Collaborative EP ===
2007 – Les Stroud & the Pikes: Long Walk Home
=== Live albums ===
1993 – Gig
2000 – Live
=== Compilations ===
1999 – Hits and Assorted Secrets 1984-1993
2007 – Platinum
=== Appearances ===
1985 – Saskatchewan After Dark (track "Working in My Head")
=== Singles === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant | Ulysses S. Grant | Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. He previously led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 as commanding general.
Grant was born in Ohio and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1843. He served with distinction in the Mexican–American War, but returned to civilian life impoverished in 1854. In 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, Grant joined the Union Army. He rose to prominence after securing victories in the western theater in 1862. In 1863, he led the Vicksburg campaign that gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River and dealt a major strategic blow to the Confederacy. President Abraham Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general and command of all Union armies after his victory at Chattanooga. Grant fought Robert E. Lee through the Overland Campaign, which ended when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson promoted Grant to General of the Army. Grant broke with Johnson over Reconstruction policies. A war hero, drawn in by his sense of duty, Grant was unanimously nominated by the Republican Party and elected president in 1868.
As president, Grant stabilized the post-war economy, supported Reconstruction and the Fifteenth Amendment, and prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan. An effective civil rights executive, Grant signed a bill to create the United States Department of Justice and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans. In 1871, he created the first Civil Service Commission. Grant was re-elected in the 1872 presidential election, but was inundated by executive scandals during his second term. His response to the Panic of 1873 was ineffective in halting the Long Depression, which contributed to the Democrats winning the House majority in 1874. Grant's Native American policy was to assimilate Indians into Anglo-American culture. In his foreign policy, the Alabama Claims against Britain were peacefully resolved, but the Senate rejected his proposal to annex Santo Domingo. During the disputed 1876 presidential election, he facilitated the approval by Congress of a compromise.
Leaving office in 1877, Grant undertook a world tour, becoming the first president to circumnavigate the world. In 1880, he was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican nomination for a third term. In 1885, impoverished and dying of throat cancer, Grant wrote his memoirs, which were posthumously published and became a major critical and financial success. At his death, he was the most popular American and was memorialized as a symbol of national unity. Due to the pseudohistorical and negationist mythology of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy spread by Confederate sympathizers around the turn of the 20th century, historical assessments and rankings of Grant's presidency suffered considerably before they began recovering in the 21st century.
== Early life and education ==
Grant's father, Jesse Root Grant, was a Whig Party supporter and a fervent abolitionist. He and Hannah Simpson were married on June 24, 1821, and their first child, Hiram Ulysses Grant, was born on April 27, 1822. To honor his father-in-law, Jesse named the boy "Hiram Ulysses", though he always referred to him as "Ulysses". In 1823, the family moved to Georgetown, Ohio, where five siblings were born: Simpson, Clara, Orvil, Jennie, and Mary. At the age of five, Ulysses started at a subscription school and later attended two private schools. In the winter of 1836–1837, Grant was a student at Maysville Seminary, and in the autumn of 1838, he attended John Rankin's academy.
In his youth, Grant developed an unusual ability to ride and manage horses; his father gave him work driving supply wagons and transporting people. Unlike his siblings, Grant was not required to attend church by his Methodist parents. For the rest of his life, he prayed privately and never officially joined any denomination. To others, including his own son, Grant appeared to be agnostic. Grant was largely apolitical before the war but wrote, "If I had ever had any political sympathies they would have been with the Whigs. I was raised in that school."
== Early military career and personal life ==
=== West Point and first assignment ===
At Jesse Grant's request, Representative Thomas L. Hamer nominated Ulysses to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in spring 1839. Grant was accepted on July 1. Unfamiliar with Grant, Hamer altered his name, so Grant was enlisted under the name "U. S. Grant". Since the initials "U.S." also stood for "Uncle Sam", he became known among army colleagues as "Sam."
Initially, Grant was indifferent to military life, but within a year he reexamined his desire to leave the academy and later wrote that "on the whole I like this place very much". He earned a reputation as the "most proficient" horseman. Seeking relief from military routine, he studied under Romantic artist Robert Walter Weir, producing nine surviving artworks. He spent more time reading books from the library than his academic texts. On Sundays, cadets were required to march to services at the academy's church, which Grant disliked. Quiet by nature, he established a few intimate friends among fellow cadets, including Frederick Tracy Dent and James Longstreet. He was inspired both by the Commandant, Captain Charles Ferguson Smith, and by General Winfield Scott, who visited the academy to review the cadets. Grant later wrote of the military life, "there is much to dislike, but more to like."
Grant graduated on June 30, 1843, ranked 21st out of 39 in his class and was promoted the next day to brevet second lieutenant. He planned to resign his commission after his four-year term. He would later write that among the happiest days of his life were the day he left the presidency and the day he left the academy. Despite his excellent horsemanship, he was not assigned to the cavalry, but to the 4th Infantry Regiment. Grant's first assignment was the Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis, Missouri. Commanded by Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, this was the nation's largest military base in the West. Grant was happy with his commander but looked forward to the end of his military service and a possible teaching career.
=== Marriage and family ===
In 1844, Grant accompanied Frederick Dent to Missouri and met his family, including Dent's sister Julia. The two soon became engaged. On August 22, 1848, they were married at Julia's home in St. Louis. Grant's abolitionist father disapproved of the Dents' owning slaves, and neither of Grant's parents attended the wedding. Grant was flanked by three fellow West Point graduates in their blue uniforms, including Longstreet, Julia's cousin.
The couple had four children: Frederick, Ulysses Jr. ("Buck"), Ellen ("Nellie"), and Jesse II. After the wedding, Grant obtained a two-month extension to his leave and returned to St. Louis, where he decided that, with a wife to support, he would remain in the army.
=== Mexican–American War ===
Grant's unit was stationed in Louisiana as part of the Army of Occupation under Major General Zachary Taylor. In September 1846, President James K. Polk ordered Taylor to march 150 miles (240 km) south to the Rio Grande. Marching to Fort Texas, to prevent a Mexican siege, Grant experienced combat for the first time on May 8, 1846, at the Battle of Palo Alto. Grant served as regimental quartermaster, but yearned for a combat role; when finally allowed, he led a charge at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. He demonstrated his equestrian ability at the Battle of Monterrey by volunteering to carry a dispatch past snipers; he hung off the side of his horse, keeping the animal between him and the enemy. Polk, wary of Taylor's growing popularity, divided his forces, sending some troops (including Grant's unit) to form a new army under Major General Winfield Scott.
Traveling by sea, Scott's army landed at Veracruz and advanced toward Mexico City. They met the Mexican forces at the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. For his bravery at Molino del Rey, Grant was brevetted first lieutenant on September 30. At San Cosmé, Grant directed his men to drag a disassembled mountain howitzer into a church steeple, then reassembled it and bombarded nearby Mexican troops. His bravery and initiative earned him his brevet promotion to captain. On September 14, 1847, Scott's army marched into the city; Mexico ceded the vast territory, including California, to the U.S. on February 2, 1848.
During the war, Grant established a commendable record as a daring and competent soldier and began to consider a career in the army. He studied the tactics and strategies of Scott and Taylor and emerged as a seasoned officer, writing in his memoirs that this is how he learned much about military leadership. In retrospect, although he respected Scott, he identified his own leadership style with Taylor's. Grant later believed the Mexican war was morally unjust and that the territorial gains were designed to expand slavery. He opined that the Civil War was divine punishment for U.S. aggression against Mexico.
Historians have pointed to the importance of Grant's experience as an assistant quartermaster during the war. Although he was initially averse to the position, it prepared Grant in understanding military supply routes, transportation systems, and logistics, particularly with regard to "provisioning a large, mobile army operating in hostile territory", according to biographer Ronald White. Grant came to recognize how wars could be won or lost by factors beyond the battlefield.
=== Post-war assignments and resignation ===
Grant's first post-war assignments took him and Julia to Detroit on November 17, 1848. He was soon transferred to Madison Barracks, a desolate outpost in upstate New York in need of supplies and repair. After four months, Grant was sent back to his quartermaster job in Detroit. When the discovery of gold in California brought prospectors and settlers to the territory, Grant and the 4th infantry were ordered to reinforce the small garrison there. Grant was charged with bringing the soldiers and a few hundred civilians from New York City to Panama, overland to the Pacific and then north to California. Julia, eight months pregnant with Ulysses Jr., did not accompany him.
While Grant was in Panama, a cholera epidemic killed many soldiers and civilians. Grant organized a field hospital in Panama City, and moved the worst cases to a hospital barge offshore. When orderlies protested having to attend to the sick, Grant did much of the nursing himself, earning high praise from observers. In August, Grant arrived in San Francisco. His next assignment sent him north to Vancouver Barracks in the Oregon Territory.
Grant tried several business ventures but failed, and in one instance his business partner absconded with $800 of Grant's investment, equivalent to $24,000 in 2024. After he witnessed white agents cheating local Indians of their supplies, and their devastation from smallpox and measles spread by white settlers, he developed empathy for their plight.
Promoted to captain on August 5, 1853, Grant was assigned to command Company F, 4th Infantry, at the newly constructed Fort Humboldt in California. Grant arrived at Fort Humboldt on January 5, 1854, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Buchanan. Separated from his family, Grant began to drink. Colonel Buchanan reprimanded Grant for one drinking episode and told Grant to "resign or reform." Grant told Buchanan he would "resign if I don't reform." On Sunday, Grant was found influenced by alcohol, but not incapacitated, at his company's paytable. Keeping his pledge to Buchanan, Grant resigned, effective July 31, 1854. Buchanan endorsed Grant's resignation but did not submit any report that verified the incident. Grant did not face court-martial, and the War Department said: "Nothing stands against his good name." Grant said years later, "the vice of intemperance (drunkenness) had not a little to do with my decision to resign." With no means of support, Grant returned to St. Louis and reunited with his family.
== Civilian struggles, slavery, and politics ==
In 1854, at age 32, Grant entered civilian life, without any money-making vocation to support his growing family. It was the beginning of seven years of financial struggles and instability. Grant's father offered him a place in the Galena, Illinois, branch of the family's leather business, but demanded Julia and the children stay in Missouri, with the Dents, or with the Grants in Kentucky. Grant and Julia declined. For the next four years, Grant farmed with the help of Julia's slave, Dan, on his brother-in-law's property, Wish-ton-wish, near St. Louis. The farm was not successful and to earn a living he sold firewood on St. Louis street corners.
In 1856, the Grants moved to land on Julia's father's farm, and built a home called "Hardscrabble" on Grant's Farm; Julia described it as an "unattractive cabin". Grant's family had little money, clothes, and furniture, but always had enough food. During the Panic of 1857, which devastated Grant as it did many farmers, Grant pawned his gold watch to buy Christmas gifts. In 1858, Grant rented out Hardscrabble and moved his family to Julia's father's 850-acre plantation. That fall, after having malaria, Grant gave up farming. Fearing that electing a Republican president would lead to a civil war, he voted for Democrat James Buchanan in 1856. He had the same fear in 1860 and preferred Douglas, the Democrat. However he did not vote in 1860 because he lacked the resident requirement in Galena.
In 1858, Grant acquired a slave from his father-in-law, a thirty-five-year-old man named William Jones. Although Grant was not an abolitionist at the time, he disliked slavery and could not bring himself to force an enslaved man to work. In March 1859, Grant freed Jones by a manumission deed, potentially worth at least $1,000 (equivalent to $36,000 in 2025).
Grant moved to St. Louis, taking on a partnership with Julia's cousin Harry Boggs working in the real estate business as a bill collector, again without success and at Julia's prompting ended the partnership. In August, Grant applied for a position as county engineer. He had thirty-five recommendations, but Grant was passed over by the Free Soil and Republican county commissioners because he was believed to share his father-in-law's Democratic sentiments.
In April 1860, Grant and his family moved north to Galena, accepting a position in his father's leather goods business, "Grant & Perkins", run by his younger brothers Simpson and Orvil. In a few months, Grant paid off his debts. The family attended the local Methodist church and he soon established himself as a reputable citizen.
== Civil War ==
On April 12, 1861, the American Civil War began when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. The news came as a shock in Galena, and Grant shared his neighbors' concern about the war. On April 15, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. The next day, Grant attended a mass meeting to assess the crisis and encourage recruitment, and a speech by his father's attorney, John Aaron Rawlins, stirred Grant's patriotism. In an April 21 letter to his father, Grant wrote out his views on the upcoming conflict: "We have a government and laws and a flag, and they must all be sustained. There are but two parties now, Traitors and Patriots."
=== Early commands ===
On April 18, Grant chaired a second recruitment meeting, but turned down a captain's position as commander of the newly formed militia company, hoping his experience would aid him to obtain a more senior rank. His early efforts to be recommissioned were rejected by Major General George B. McClellan and Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. On April 29, supported by Congressman Elihu B. Washburne of Illinois, Grant was appointed military aide to Governor Richard Yates and mustered ten regiments into the Illinois militia. On June 14, again aided by Washburne, Grant was appointed colonel and put in charge of the 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment; he appointed John A. Rawlins as his aide-de-camp and brought order and discipline to the regiment. Soon after, Grant and the 21st Regiment were transferred to Missouri to dislodge Confederate forces.
On August 5, with Washburne's aid, Grant was appointed brigadier general of volunteers. Major General John C. Frémont, Union commander of the West, passed over senior generals and appointed Grant commander of the District of Southeastern Missouri. On September 2, Grant arrived at Cairo, Illinois, assumed command by replacing Colonel Richard J. Oglesby, and set up his headquarters to plan a campaign down the Mississippi, and up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.
After the Confederates moved into western Kentucky, taking Columbus, with designs on southern Illinois, Grant notified Frémont and, without waiting for his reply, advanced on Paducah, Kentucky, taking it without a fight on September 6. Having understood the importance to Lincoln of Kentucky's neutrality, Grant assured its citizens, "I have come among you not as your enemy, but as your friend." On November 1, Frémont ordered Grant to "make demonstrations" against the Confederates on both sides of the Mississippi, but prohibited him from attacking.
=== Belmont (1861), Forts Henry and Donelson (1862) ===
On November 2, 1861, Lincoln removed Frémont from command, freeing Grant to attack Confederate soldiers encamped in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. On November 5, Grant, along with Brigadier General John A. McClernand, landed 2,500 men at Hunter's Point, and on November 7 engaged the Confederates at the Battle of Belmont. The Union army took the camp, but the reinforced Confederates under Brigadier Generals Frank Cheatham and Gideon J. Pillow forced a chaotic Union retreat. Grant had wanted to destroy Confederate strongholds at Belmont, Missouri, and Columbus, Kentucky, but was not given enough troops and was only able to disrupt their positions. Grant's troops escaped back to Cairo under fire from the fortified stronghold at Columbus. Although Grant and his army retreated, the battle gave his volunteers much-needed confidence and experience.
Columbus blocked Union access to the lower Mississippi. Grant and lieutenant colonel James B. McPherson planned to bypass Columbus and move against Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. They would then march east to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, with the aid of gunboats, opening both rivers and allowing the Union access further south. Grant presented his plan to Henry Halleck, his new commander in the newly created Department of Missouri. Halleck rebuffed Grant, believing he needed twice the number of troops. However, after consulting McClellan, he finally agreed on the condition that the attack would be in close cooperation with Navy flag officer Andrew H. Foote. Foote's gunboats bombarded Fort Henry, leading to its surrender on February 6, 1862, before Grant's infantry even arrived.
Grant ordered an immediate assault on Fort Donelson, which dominated the Cumberland River. Unaware of the garrison's strength, Grant, McClernand, and Smith positioned their divisions around the fort. The next day McClernand and Smith independently launched probing attacks on apparent weak spots but were forced to retreat. On February 14, Foote's gunboats began bombarding the fort, only to be repulsed by its heavy guns. The next day, Pillow attacked and routed McClernand's division. Union reinforcements arrived, giving Grant a total force of over 40,000 men. Grant was with Foote four miles away when the Confederates attacked. Hearing the battle, Grant rode back and rallied his troop commanders, riding over seven miles of freezing roads and trenches, exchanging reports. When Grant blocked the Nashville Road, the Confederates retreated back into Fort Donelson. On February 16, Foote resumed his bombardment, signaling a general attack. Confederate generals John B. Floyd and Pillow fled, leaving the fort in command of Simon Bolivar Buckner, who submitted to Grant's demand for "unconditional and immediate surrender".
Grant had won the first major victory for the Union, capturing Floyd's entire army of more than 12,000. Halleck was angry that Grant had acted without his authorization and complained to McClellan, accusing Grant of "neglect and inefficiency". On March 3, Halleck sent a telegram to Washington complaining that he had no communication with Grant for a week. Three days later, Halleck claimed "word has just reached me that ... Grant has resumed his bad habits (of drinking)." Lincoln, regardless, promoted Grant to major general of volunteers and the Northern press treated Grant as a hero. Playing off his initials, they took to calling him "Unconditional Surrender Grant".
=== Shiloh (1862) and aftermath ===
Reinstated by Halleck at the urging of Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Grant rejoined his army with orders to advance with the Army of the Tennessee into Tennessee. His main army was located at Pittsburg Landing, while 40,000 Confederate troops converged at Corinth, Mississippi. Grant wanted to attack the Confederates at Corinth, but Halleck ordered him not to attack until Major General Don Carlos Buell arrived with his division of 25,000. Grant prepared for an attack on the Confederate army of roughly equal strength. Instead of preparing defensive fortifications, they spent most of their time drilling the largely inexperienced troops while Sherman dismissed reports of nearby Confederates.
On the morning of April 6, 1862, Grant's troops were taken by surprise when the Confederates, led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and P. G. T. Beauregard, struck first "like an Alpine avalanche" near Shiloh church, attacking five divisions of Grant's army and forcing a confused retreat toward the Tennessee River. Johnston was killed and command fell upon Beauregard. One Union line held the Confederate attack off for several hours, giving Grant time to assemble artillery and 20,000 troops near Pittsburg Landing. The Confederates finally broke and captured a Union division, but Grant's newly assembled line held the landing, while the exhausted Confederates, lacking reinforcements, halted their advance.
Bolstered by 18,000 troops from the divisions of Major Generals Buell and Lew Wallace, Grant counterattacked at dawn the next day and regained the field, forcing the disorganized and demoralized rebels to retreat to Corinth. Halleck ordered Grant not to advance more than one day's march from Pittsburg Landing, stopping the pursuit. Although Grant had won the battle, the situation was little changed. Grant, now realizing that the South was determined to fight, would later write, "Then, indeed, I gave up all idea of saving the Union except by complete conquest."
Shiloh was the costliest battle in American history to that point and the staggering 23,746 casualties stunned the nation. Briefly hailed a hero for routing the Confederates, Grant was soon mired in controversy. The Northern press castigated Grant for shockingly high casualties, and accused him of drunkenness during the battle, contrary to the accounts of those with him at the time. Discouraged, Grant considered resigning but Sherman convinced him to stay. Lincoln dismissed Grant's critics, saying "I can't spare this man; he fights." Grant's costly victory at Shiloh ended any chance for the Confederates to prevail in the Mississippi valley or regain its strategic advantage in the West.
Halleck arrived from St. Louis on April 11, took command, and assembled a combined army of about 120,000 men. On April 29, he relieved Grant of field command and replaced him with Major General George Henry Thomas. Halleck slowly marched his army to take Corinth, entrenching each night. Meanwhile, Beauregard pretended to be reinforcing, sent "deserters" to the Union Army with that story, and moved his army out during the night, to Halleck's surprise when he finally arrived at Corinth on May 30.
Halleck divided his combined army and reinstated Grant as field commander on July 11. Later that year, on September 19, Grant's army defeated Confederates at the Battle of Iuka, then successfully defended Corinth, inflicting heavy casualties. On October 25, Grant assumed command of the District of the Tennessee. In November, after Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, Grant ordered units under his command to incorporate former slaves into the Union Army, giving them clothes, shelter, and wages for their services.
=== Vicksburg campaign (1862–1863) ===
The Union capture of Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, was considered vital as it would split the Confederacy in two. Lincoln appointed McClernand for the job, rather than Grant or Sherman. Halleck, who retained power over troop displacement, ordered McClernand to Memphis, and placed him and his troops under Grant's authority.
On November 13, 1862, Grant captured Holly Springs and advanced to Corinth. His plan was to attack Vicksburg overland, while Sherman would attack Vicksburg from Chickasaw Bayou. However, Confederate cavalry raids on December 11 and 20 broke Union communications and recaptured Holly Springs, preventing Grant and Sherman from converging on Vicksburg. The most significant of these raids was led by Confederate General Earl Van Dorn, whose successful surprise attack at Holly Springs on December 20, 1862, destroyed Grant’s supply base and forced him to abandon his overland advance on Vicksburg. McClernand reached Sherman's army, assumed command, and independently of Grant led a campaign that captured Confederate Fort Hindman. After the sack of Holly Springs, Grant considered and sometimes adopted the strategy of foraging the land, rather than exposing long Union supply lines to enemy attack.
Fugitive African-American slaves poured into Grant's district, whom he sent north to Cairo to be domestic servants in Chicago. However, Lincoln ended this when Illinois political leaders complained. On his own initiative, Grant set up a pragmatic program and hired Presbyterian chaplain John Eaton to administer contraband camps. Freed slaves picked cotton that was shipped north to aid the Union war effort. Lincoln approved and Grant's program was successful. Grant also worked freed black labor on a canal to bypass Vicksburg, incorporating the laborers into the Union Army and Navy.
Grant's war responsibilities included combating illegal Northern cotton trade and civilian obstruction. He had received numerous complaints about Jewish speculators in his district. The majority, however, of those involved in illegal trading were not Jewish. To help combat this, Grant required two permits, one from the Treasury and one from the Union Army, to purchase cotton. On December 17, 1862, Grant issued a controversial General Order No. 11, expelling "Jews, as a class", from his military district. After complaints, Lincoln rescinded the order on January 3, 1863. Grant finally ended the order on January 17. He later described issuing the order as one of his biggest regrets.
On January 29, 1863, Grant assumed overall command. To bypass Vicksburg's guns, Grant slowly advanced his Union army south through water-logged terrain. The plan of attacking Vicksburg from downriver was risky because, east of the river, his army would be distanced from most of its supply lines, and would have to rely on foraging. On April 16, Grant ordered Admiral David Dixon Porter's gunboats south under fire from the Vicksburg batteries to meet up with troops who had marched south down the west side of the river. Grant ordered diversionary battles, confusing Pemberton and allowing Grant's army to move east across the Mississippi. Grant's army captured Jackson. Advancing west, he defeated Pemberton's army at the Battle of Champion Hill on May 16, forcing their retreat into Vicksburg.
After Grant's men assaulted the entrenchments twice, suffering severe losses, they settled in for a siege which lasted seven weeks. During quiet periods of the campaign, Grant would drink on occasion. The personal rivalry between McClernand and Grant continued until Grant removed him from command when he contravened Grant by publishing an order without permission. Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg to Grant on July 4, 1863.
Vicksburg's fall gave Union forces control of the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy. By that time, Grant's political sympathies fully coincided with the Radical Republicans' aggressive prosecution of the war and emancipation of the slaves. The success at Vicksburg was a morale boost for the Union war effort. When Stanton suggested Grant be brought east to run the Army of the Potomac, Grant demurred, writing that he knew the geography and resources of the West better and he did not want to upset the chain of command in the East.
=== Chattanooga (1863) and promotion ===
On October 16, 1863, Lincoln promoted Grant to major general in the regular army and assigned him command of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi, which comprised the Armies of the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. After the Battle of Chickamauga, the Army of the Cumberland retreated into Chattanooga, where they were partially besieged. Grant arrived in Chattanooga, where plans to resupply and break the partial siege had already been set. Forces commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker, which had been sent from the Army of the Potomac, approached from the west and linked up with other units moving east from inside the city, capturing Brown's Ferry and opening a supply line to the railroad at Bridgeport.
Grant planned to have Sherman's Army of the Tennessee, assisted by the Army of the Cumberland, assault the northern end of Missionary Ridge and roll down it on the enemy's right flank. On November 23, Major General George Henry Thomas surprised the enemy in open daylight, advancing the Union lines and taking Orchard Knob, between Chattanooga and the ridge. The next day, Sherman failed to get atop Missionary Ridge, which was key to Grant's plan of battle. Hooker's forces took Lookout Mountain in unexpected success. On the 25th, Grant ordered Thomas to advance to the rifle-pits at the base of Missionary Ridge after Sherman's army failed to take Missionary Ridge from the northeast. Four divisions of the Army of the Cumberland, with the center two led by Major General Philip Sheridan and Brigadier General Thomas J. Wood, chased the Confederates out of the rifle-pits at the base and, against orders, continued the charge up the 45-degree slope and captured the Confederate entrenchments along the crest, forcing a hurried retreat. The decisive battle gave the Union control of Tennessee and opened Georgia, the Confederate heartland, to Union invasion.
On March 2, 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, giving him command of all Union Armies. Grant's new rank had previously been held only by George Washington. Grant arrived in Washington on March 8 and was formally commissioned by Lincoln the next day at a Cabinet meeting. Grant developed a good working relationship with Lincoln, who allowed Grant to devise his own strategy.
Grant established his headquarters with General George Meade's Army of the Potomac in Culpeper, Virginia, and met weekly with Lincoln and Stanton in Washington. After protest from Halleck, Grant scrapped a risky invasion of North Carolina and planned five coordinated Union offensives to prevent Confederate armies from shifting troops along interior lines. Grant and Meade would make a direct frontal attack on Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, while Sherman—now in command of all western armies—would destroy Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee and take Atlanta. Major General Benjamin Butler would advance on Lee from the southeast, up the James River, while Major General Nathaniel Banks would capture Mobile. Major General Franz Sigel was to capture granaries and rail lines in the fertile Shenandoah Valley. Grant now commanded 533,000 battle-ready troops spread out over an eighteen-mile front.
=== Overland Campaign (1864) ===
The Overland Campaign was a series of brutal battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864. Sigel's and Butler's efforts failed, and Grant was left alone to fight Lee. On May 4, Grant led the army from his headquarters towards Germanna Ford. They crossed the Rapidan unopposed. On May 5, the Union army attacked Lee in the battle of the Wilderness, a three-day battle with estimated casualties of 17,666 Union and 11,125 Confederate.
Rather than retreat, Grant flanked Lee's army to the southeast and attempted to wedge his forces between Lee and Richmond at Spotsylvania Court House. Lee's army got to Spotsylvania first and a costly battle ensued, lasting thirteen days, with heavy casualties. On May 12, Grant attempted to break through Lee's Muleshoe salient guarded by Confederate artillery, resulting in one of the bloodiest assaults of the Civil War, known as the Bloody Angle. Unable to break Lee's lines, Grant again flanked the rebels to the southeast, meeting at North Anna, where a battle lasted three days.
==== Cold Harbor ====
The then-recent bloody Wilderness campaign had severely diminished Confederate morale; Grant believed breaking through Lee's lines at its weakest point, Cold Harbor, a vital road hub that linked to Richmond, would mean a quick end to the war. Grant already had two corps in position at Cold Harbor with Hancock's corps on the way.
Lee's lines were extended north and east of Richmond and Petersburg for approximately ten miles, but at several points there were no fortifications built yet, including Cold Harbor. On June 1 and 2 both Grant and Lee were waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Hancock's men had marched all night and arrived too exhausted for an immediate attack that morning. Grant postponed the attack until 5 p.m., and then again until 4:30 a.m. on June 3. However, Grant and Meade did not give specific orders for the attack, leaving it up to the corps commanders to coordinate. Grant had not yet learned that overnight Lee had hastily constructed entrenchments to thwart any breach attempt at Cold Harbor. Grant was anxious to make his move before the rest of Lee's army arrived. On the morning of June 3, with a force of more than 100,000 men, against Lee's 59,000, Grant attacked, not realizing that Lee's army was now well entrenched, much of it obscured by trees and bushes. Grant's army suffered 12,000–14,000 casualties, while Lee's army suffered 3,000–5,000 casualties, but Lee was less able to replace them.
The unprecedented number of casualties heightened anti-war sentiment in the North. After the battle, Grant wanted to appeal to Lee under the white flag for each side to gather up their wounded, most of them Union soldiers, but Lee insisted that a total truce be enacted and while they were deliberating all but a few of the wounded died in the field. Without giving an apology for the disastrous defeat in his official military report, Grant confided in his staff after the battle and years later wrote in his memoirs that he "regretted that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever made."
=== Siege of Petersburg (1864–1865) ===
Undetected by Lee, Grant moved his army south of the James River, freed Butler from the Bermuda Hundred, and advanced toward Petersburg, Virginia's central railroad hub, resulting in a nine-month siege. Northern resentment grew. Sheridan was assigned command of the Union Army of the Shenandoah and Grant directed him to "follow the enemy to their death" in the Shenandoah Valley. After Grant's abortive attempt to capture Petersburg, Lincoln supported Grant in his decision to continue.
Grant had to commit troops to check Confederate General Jubal Early's raids in the Shenandoah Valley, which were getting dangerously close to Washington. By late July, at Petersburg, Grant reluctantly approved a plan to blow up part of the enemy trenches from a tunnel filled with gunpowder. The massive explosion instantly killed an entire Confederate regiment. The poorly led Union troops under Major General Ambrose Burnside and Brigadier General James H. Ledlie, rather than encircling the crater, rushed into it. Recovering from the surprise, Confederates, led by Major General William Mahone, surrounded the crater and easily picked off Union troops. The Union's 3,500 casualties outnumbered the Confederates' three-to-one. The battle marked the first time that Union black troops, who endured a large proportion of the casualties, engaged in any major battle in the east. Grant admitted that the tactic had been a "stupendous failure".
Grant would later meet with Lincoln and testify at a court of inquiry against Generals Burnside and Ledlie for their incompetence. In his memoirs, he blamed them for that disastrous Union defeat. Rather than fight Lee in a full-frontal attack as he had done at Cold Harbor, Grant continued to force Lee to extend his defenses south and west of Petersburg, better allowing him to capture essential railroad links.
Union forces soon captured Mobile Bay and Atlanta and now controlled the Shenandoah Valley, ensuring Lincoln's reelection in November. Sherman convinced Grant and Lincoln to allow his army to march on Savannah. Sherman cut a 60-mile (97 km) path of destruction unopposed, reached the Atlantic Ocean, and captured Savannah on December 22. On December 16, after much prodding by Grant, the Union Army under Thomas smashed John Bell Hood's Confederates at Nashville. These campaigns left Lee's forces at Petersburg as the only significant obstacle remaining to Union victory.
By March 1865, Lee was trapped and his strength severely weakened. He was running out of reserves to replace the high battlefield casualties and remaining Confederate troops, no longer having confidence in their commander and under the duress of trench warfare, deserted by the thousands. On March 25, in a desperate effort, Lee sacrificed his remaining troops (4,000 Confederate casualties) at Fort Stedman, a Union victory and the last Petersburg line battle.
=== Surrender of Lee and Union victory (1865) ===
On April 2, Grant ordered a general assault on Lee's forces; Lee abandoned Petersburg and Richmond, which Grant captured. A desperate Lee and part of his army attempted to link up with the remnants of Joseph E. Johnston's army. Sheridan's cavalry stopped the two armies from converging, cutting them off from their supply trains. Grant sent his aide Orville Babcock to carry his last dispatch to Lee demanding his surrender. Grant immediately rode west, bypassing Lee's army, to join Sheridan who had captured Appomattox Station, blocking Lee's escape route. On his way, Grant received a letter from Lee stating Lee would surrender his army.
On April 9, Grant and Lee met at Appomattox Court House. Although Grant felt depressed at the fall of "a foe who had fought so long and valiantly," he believed the Southern cause was "one of the worst for which a people ever fought." Grant wrote out the terms of surrender: "each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by U.S. authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside." Lee immediately accepted Grant's terms and signed the surrender document, without any diplomatic recognition of the Confederacy. Lee asked that his former Confederate troops keep their horses, which Grant generously allowed. Grant ordered his troops to stop all celebration, saying the "war is over; the rebels are our countrymen again." Johnston's Tennessee army surrendered on April 26, 1865, Richard Taylor's Alabama army on May 4, and Kirby Smith's Texas army on May 26, ending the war.
=== Lincoln's assassination ===
On April 14, 1865, Grant attended a cabinet meeting in Washington. Lincoln invited him and his wife Julia to Ford's Theatre but they declined, because they planned to travel to their home in Burlington. In a conspiracy that also targeted top cabinet members in one last effort to topple the Union, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at the theater and died the next morning. Many, including Grant himself, thought that Grant had been a target in the plot. During the subsequent trial, the government tried to prove that Grant had been stalked by Booth's conspirator Michael O'Laughlen. Stanton notified Grant of the president's death and summoned him to Washington. Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as president on April 15. Grant was determined to work with Johnson, and he privately expressed "every reason to hope" in the new president's ability to run the government "in its old channel".
== Commanding generalship (1865–1869) ==
At the war's end, Grant remained commander of the army, with duties that included dealing with Emperor Maximilian and French troops in Mexico, enforcement of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, and supervision of Indian wars on the western Plains. After the Grand Review of the Armies, Lee and his generals were indicted for treason in Virginia. Johnson demanded they be put on trial, but Grant insisted that they should not be tried, citing his Appomattox amnesty. Charges against Lee were dropped. Grant secured a house for his family in Georgetown Heights in 1865 but instructed Elihu Washburne that for political purposes his legal residence remained in Galena, Illinois. On July 25, 1866, Congress promoted Grant to the newly created rank of General of the Army of the United States.
=== Tour of the South ===
President Johnson's Reconstruction policy included a speedy return of the former Confederates to Congress, reinstating white people to office in the South, and relegating black people to second-class citizenship. On November 27, 1865, Grant was sent by Johnson on a fact-finding mission to the South, to counter a pending less favorable report by Senator Carl Schurz which reported that white people in the South harbored resentment of the North, and that black people suffered from violence and fraud. Grant recommended continuation of the Freedmen's Bureau, which Johnson opposed, but advised against using black troops.
Grant believed the people of the South were not ready for self-rule and required federal government protection. Concerned that the war led to diminished respect for civil authorities, he continued using the Army to maintain order. Grant's report on the South, which he later recanted, sympathized with Johnson's Reconstruction policies. Although Grant desired former Confederates be returned to Congress, he advocated eventual black citizenship. On December 19, the day after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment was announced in the Senate, Johnson's response used Grant's report, read aloud to the Senate, to undermine Schurz's final report and Radical opposition to Johnson's policies.
=== Break from Johnson ===
Grant was initially optimistic about Johnson. Despite differing styles, the two got along cordially and Grant attended cabinet meetings concerning Reconstruction. By February 1866, the relationship began to break down. Johnson opposed Grant's closure of the Richmond Examiner for disloyal editorials and his enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, passed over Johnson's veto. Needing Grant's popularity, Johnson took Grant on his "Swing Around the Circle" tour, a failed attempt to gain national support for lenient policies toward the South. Grant privately called Johnson's speeches a "national disgrace" and he left the tour early. On March 2, 1867, overriding Johnson's veto, Congress passed the first of three Reconstruction Acts, using military officers to enforce the policy. Protecting Grant, Congress passed the Command of the Army Act, preventing his removal or relocation, and forcing Johnson to pass orders through Grant.
In August 1867, bypassing the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson discharged Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate approval and appointed Grant ad interim Secretary of War. Stanton was the only remaining cabinet member friendly to the Radicals. Although Grant initially recommended against dismissing Stanton, he accepted the position, not wanting the Army to fall under a conservative appointee who would impede Reconstruction, and managed an uneasy partnership with Johnson.
In December 1867, Congress voted to keep Stanton, who was reinstated by a Senate Committee on January 10, 1868. Grant told Johnson he was going to resign the office to avoid fines and imprisonment. Johnson, who believed the law would be overturned, said he would assume Grant's legal responsibility, and reminded Grant that he had promised to delay his resignation until a suitable replacement was found. The following Monday, not willing to wait for the law to be overturned, Grant surrendered the office to Stanton, causing confusion with Johnson. With the backing of his cabinet, Johnson accused Grant of lying and "duplicity" at a stormy cabinet meeting, while a shocked and disappointed Grant felt it was Johnson who was lying. The publication of angry messages between Grant and Johnson led to a complete break between them. The controversy led to Johnson's impeachment and trial in the Senate; he was acquitted by one vote. Grant's popularity rose among the Radical Republicans and his nomination for the presidency appeared certain.
=== Election of 1868 ===
At the 1868 Republican National Convention, the delegates unanimously nominated Grant for president on the first ballot and Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax for vice president on the fifth. Although Grant had preferred to remain in the army, he accepted the Republican nomination, believing that he was the only one who could unify the nation. The Republicans advocated "equal civil and political rights to all" and African American enfranchisement. The Democrats, having abandoned Johnson, nominated former governor Horatio Seymour of New York for president and Francis Preston Blair Jr. of Missouri for vice president. The Democrats opposed suffrage for African Americans and advocated the immediate restoration of former Confederate states to the Union and amnesty from "all past political offenses".
Grant played no overt role during the campaign and was joined by Sherman and Sheridan in a tour of the West that summer. However, the Republicans adopted his words "Let us have peace" as their campaign slogan. Grant's 1862 General Order No. 11 became an issue during the presidential campaign; he sought to distance himself from the order, saying "I have no prejudice against sect or race, but want each individual to be judged by his own merit." The Democrats and their Klan supporters focused mainly on ending Reconstruction, intimidating black people and Republicans, and returning control of the South to the white Democrats and the planter class, alienating War Democrats in the North. Grant won the popular vote and an Electoral College landslide of 214 votes to Seymour's 80. Seymour received a majority of white voters, but Grant was aided by 500,000 votes cast by black people, winning him 52.7 percent of the popular vote. He lost Louisiana and Georgia, primarily due to Ku Klux Klan violence against African-American voters. At the age of 46, Grant was the youngest president yet elected.
== Presidency (1869–1877) ==
On March 4, 1869, Grant was sworn in as president by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase. In his inaugural address, Grant urged the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment; many African Americans attended his inauguration. He urged that bonds issued during the Civil War should be paid in gold, called for "proper treatment" of Native Americans and encouraged their "civilization and ultimate citizenship".
Grant's cabinet appointments sparked both criticism and approval. He appointed Elihu B. Washburne Secretary of State and John A. Rawlins Secretary of War. Washburne resigned, and Grant appointed him Minister to France. Grant then appointed former New York Senator Hamilton Fish Secretary of State. Rawlins died in office, and Grant appointed William W. Belknap Secretary of War. Grant appointed New York businessman Alexander T. Stewart Secretary of the Treasury, but Stewart was found legally ineligible by a 1789 law. Grant then appointed Massachusetts Representative George S. Boutwell Secretary of the Treasury. Philadelphia businessman Adolph E. Borie was appointed Secretary of the Navy, but found the job stressful and resigned. Grant then appointed New Jersey's attorney general, George M. Robeson, Secretary of the Navy. Former Ohio Governor Jacob D. Cox (Interior), former Maryland Senator John Creswell (Postmaster-General), and Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar (Attorney General) rounded out the cabinet.
Grant nominated Sherman to succeed him as general-in-chief and gave him control over war bureau chiefs. When Rawlins took over the War Department he complained that Sherman was given too much authority. Grant reluctantly revoked his order, upsetting Sherman and damaging their friendship. James Longstreet, a former Confederate general, was nominated for Surveyor of Customs of New Orleans; this was met with amazement, and seen as a genuine effort to unite the North and South. In March 1872, Grant signed legislation that established Yellowstone National Park, the first national park. Grant was sympathetic to women's rights, including suffrage, saying he wanted "equal rights to all citizens".
To make up for his infamous General Order No. 11, Grant appointed more than fifty Jewish people to federal office, including consuls, district attorneys, and deputy postmasters. He appointed Edward S. Salomon territorial governor of Washington, the first time an American Jewish man occupied a governor's seat. In November 1869, reports surfaced of Alexander II of Russia penalizing 2,000 Jewish families for smuggling by expelling them to the interior of the country. In response, Grant publicly supported the Jewish American B'nai B'rith petition against Alexander. In 1875, Grant proposed a constitutional amendment that limited religious indoctrination in public schools. Schools would be for all children "irrespective of sex, color, birthplace, or religions". Grant's views were incorporated into the Blaine Amendment, but it was defeated by the Senate.
In October 1871, under the Morrill Act, using federal marshals, Grant prosecuted hundreds of Utah Territory Mormon polygamists. Grant called polygamy a "crime against decency and morality". In 1874, Grant signed into law the Poland Act, which made Mormon polygamists subject to trial in District Courts and limited Mormons on juries.
Beginning in March 1873, under the Comstock Act, Grant prosecuted pornographers, in addition to abortionists. To administer the prosecutions, Grant put in charge a vigorous anti-vice activist and reformer, Anthony Comstock. Comstock headed a federal commission and was empowered to destroy obscene material and hand out arrest warrants to offenders.
In September 1875, amidst pervading anti-Catholic sentiment within the Republican Party after its political losses in 1874, Grant gave a speech in Iowa before a reunion of veterans from the Army of the Tennessee in which he opposed appropriations for "the support of any sectarian school"; the word "sectarian" was understood to mean Catholic. Within the same speech, he surmised that the Protestant-Catholic divide will be the source of potential national conflicts after the Civil War: "I predict the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other." The speech later became Grant's most reproduced speech from his presidency.
=== Reconstruction ===
Grant was considered an effective civil rights president, concerned about the plight of African Americans. On March 18, 1869, he signed into law equal rights for black people, to serve on juries and hold office, in Washington D.C., and in 1870 he signed the Naturalization Act that gave foreign black people citizenship. During his first term, Reconstruction took precedence. Republicans controlled most Southern states, propped up by Republican-controlled Congress, northern money, and southern military occupation. Grant advocated the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment that said states could not disenfranchise African Americans. Within a year, the three remaining states—Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas—adopted the new amendment—and were admitted to Congress. Grant put military pressure on Georgia to reinstate its black legislators and adopt the amendment. Georgia complied, and on February 24, 1871, its senators were seated in Congress. With all former Confederate states represented, the Union was completely restored under Grant. Under Grant, for the first time in history, Black-American men served in the United States Congress, all from the Southern states.
In 1870, to enforce Reconstruction, Congress and Grant created the Justice Department that allowed the Attorney General and the new Solicitor General to prosecute the Klan. Congress and Grant passed three Enforcement Acts, designed to protect black people and Reconstruction governments. Using the Enforcement Acts, Grant crushed the Klan. By October, Grant suspended habeas corpus in part of South Carolina and sent federal troops to help marshals, who initiated prosecutions. Grant's Attorney General, Amos T. Akerman, who replaced Hoar, was zealous to destroy the Klan. Akerman and South Carolina's U.S. marshal arrested over 470 Klan members, while hundreds of Klansmen fled the state. By 1872, the Klan's power had collapsed and African Americans voted in record numbers in the South. Attorney General George H. Williams, Akerman's replacement, suspended prosecutions of the Klan in 1873, but prior to the election of 1874, changed course and prosecuted the Klan.
During Grant's second term, the North retreated from Reconstruction, while southern conservatives called "Redeemers" formed armed groups, the Red Shirts and the White League, who openly used violence, intimidation, voter fraud, and racist appeals to overturn Republican rule. Northern apathy toward black people, the depressed economy and Grant's scandals made it politically difficult for the administration to maintain support for Reconstruction. Power shifted when the House was taken over by Democrats in the 1874 election. Grant ended the Brooks–Baxter War, bringing Reconstruction in Arkansas to a peaceful conclusion. He sent troops to New Orleans in the wake of the Colfax massacre and disputes over the election of Governor William Pitt Kellogg.
By 1875, Redeemer Democrats had taken control of all but three Southern states. As violence against black Southerners escalated, Grant's Attorney General Edwards Pierrepont told Republican Governor Adelbert Ames of Mississippi that the people were "tired of the autumnal outbreaks in the South", and declined to intervene directly. Grant later regretted not issuing a proclamation to help Ames, having been told Republicans in Ohio would bolt the party if he did. Grant told Congress in January 1875 he could not "see with indifference Union men or Republicans ostracized, persecuted, and murdered." Congress refused to strengthen the laws against violence but instead passed the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1875 to guarantee black people access to public facilities. However, there was little enforcement and the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional in 1883. In 1876, Grant dispatched troops to South Carolina to keep Republican Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain in office. After Grant left office, the Compromise of 1877 meant Republicans obtained the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes in return for ending enforcement of racial equality for black people and removing federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.
=== Financial affairs ===
Soon after taking office, Grant took conservative steps to return the economy to pre-war monetary standards. During the War, Congress had authorized the Treasury to issue banknotes that, unlike the rest of the currency, were not backed by gold or silver. These "greenbacks" were necessary to pay the war debts, but caused inflation and forced gold-backed money out of circulation. On March 18, 1869, Grant signed the Public Credit Act of 1869, which guaranteed bondholders would be repaid in "coin or its equivalent". The act committed the government to the full return of the gold standard within ten years. This followed a policy of "hard currency, economy and gradual reduction of the national debt." Grant's own ideas about the economy were simple, and he relied on the advice of businessmen.
==== Gold corner conspiracy ====
In April 1869, railroad tycoons Jay Gould and Jim Fisk conspired to corner the gold market in New York. They controlled the Erie Railroad, and a high gold price would allow foreign agriculture buyers to purchase exported crops, shipped east over the Erie's routes. Boutwell's policy of selling gold from the Treasury biweekly, however, kept gold artificially low. Unable to corrupt Boutwell, the schemers built a relationship with Grant's brother-in-law, Abel Corbin, and gained access to Grant. Gould bribed Assistant Treasurer Daniel Butterfield to gain inside information into the Treasury.
In July, Grant reduced the sale of Treasury gold to $2,000,000 per month. Fisk told Grant his gold selling policy would destroy the nation. By September, Grant, who was naive regarding finance, was convinced a low gold price would help farmers, and the sale of gold for September was not decreased. On September 23, when the gold price reached 143+1⁄8, Boutwell rushed to the White House and talked with Grant. On September 24, known as Black Friday, Grant ordered Boutwell to sell, whereupon Boutwell wired Butterfield to sell $4,000,000 in gold. The bull market at Gould's Gold Room collapsed, the price plummeted from 160 to 133+1⁄3, a bear market panic ensued, Gould and Fisk fled, and economic damages lasted months. By January 1870, the economy resumed its post-war recovery.
=== Foreign affairs ===
Grant had limited foreign policy experience, so relied heavily on his talented Secretary of State Hamilton Fish. Grant and Fish had cordial friendship. Besides Grant, the main players in foreign affairs were Fish and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Charles Sumner. Sumner, who hated Grant, led the opposition to Grant's plan to annex Santo Domingo, despite fully supporting annexation of Alaska.
Grant had an expansionist impulse to protect American interests abroad and was a strong advocate of the Monroe Doctrine. For instance, when Tomás Frías became President of Bolivia in 1872, Grant stressed the importance of maintaining good relations between the U.S. and Bolivia. Grant acted as international arbitror in the Bolama Question between Portugal and the United Kingdom, ruling in favor of Portugal.
==== Treaty of Washington (1871) ====
The most pressing diplomatic problem in 1869 was the settlement of the Alabama Claims, depredations caused to Union merchant ships by the Confederate warship CSS Alabama, built in a British shipyard in violation of neutrality rules. Fish played the central role in formulating and implementing the Treaty of Washington and the Geneva arbitration (1872). Senator Charles Sumner led the demand for reparations, with talk of British Columbia as payment. Sumner, among other politicians, argued that British complicity in arms delivery to the Confederacy via blockade runners prolonged the war. Fish and Treasurer George Boutwell convinced Grant that peaceful relations with Britain were essential, and the two nations agreed to negotiate.
To avoid jeopardizing negotiations, Grant refrained from recognizing Cuban rebels who were fighting for independence from Spain, which would have been inconsistent with American objections to the British granting belligerent status to Confederates. A commission in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, but not fault. The Senate, including Grant critics Sumner and Carl Schurz, approved the Treaty of Washington, which settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries. The Alabama Claims settlement was Grant's most successful foreign policy achievement, securing peace with Great Britain. The settlement ($15,500,000) of the Alabama claims resolved troubled Anglo-American issues and turned Britain into America's strongest ally.
==== Korean expedition (1871) ====
In 1871, a U.S. expedition was sent to Korea to open up trade with a country which had a policy that excluded trading with foreign powers, and to learn the fate of U.S. merchant ship SS General Sherman, which had disappeared up the Taedong River in 1866. Grant dispatched a land and naval force consisting of five warships and over 1,200 men, under Admiral John Rodgers, to support a diplomatic delegation, led by U.S. ambassador to China, Frederick Low, sent to negotiate trade and political relations.
On June 1, the American ships entered the Ganghwa Straits on the Han River and, as foreign ships were barred from entering the river, onshore Korean garrisons fired upon the ships, but little damage was done. When Rodgers demanded an apology and to begin treaty negotiations, the Korean government refused. On June 10, Rodgers destroyed several Korean forts, culminating in the Battle of Ganghwa, at which 250 Koreans were killed with a loss of 3 Americans. The expedition failed to open up trade and merely strengthened Korea's isolationist policy.
==== Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) ====
In 1869, Grant initiated his plan to annex the Dominican Republic, then called Santo Domingo. Grant believed acquisition would increase the United States' natural resources, strengthen U.S. naval protection to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, safeguard against British obstruction of U.S. shipping, protect a future oceanic canal and stop slavery in Cuba and Brazil, while black people in the United States would have a safe haven from "the crime of Klu Kluxism".
Joseph W. Fabens, an American speculator who represented Buenaventura Báez, the president of the Dominican Republic, met with Secretary Fish and proposed annexation. On July 17, Grant sent a military aide Orville E. Babcock to evaluate the islands' resources, local conditions, and Báez's terms for annexation, but gave him no diplomatic authority. When Babcock returned to Washington with unauthorized annexation treaties, Grant pressured his cabinet to accept them. Grant ordered Fish to draw up formal treaties, sent to Báez by Babcock's return to the island nation. The Dominican Republic would be annexed for $1.5 million and Samaná Bay would be lease-purchased for $2 million. Generals D.B. Sackett and Rufus Ingalls accompanied Babcock. On November 29, President Báez signed the treaties. On December 21, the treaties were placed before Grant and his cabinet.
Grant's plan, however, was obstructed by Senator Charles Sumner. On December 31, Grant met with Sumner at Sumner's home to gain his support for annexation. Grant left confident that Sumner approved, but what Sumner actually said was disputed by various witnesses. Without appealing to the American public, Grant submitted the treaties on January 10, 1870, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sumner, for ratification, but Sumner shelved the bills. Prompted by Grant to stop stalling the treaties, Sumner's committee took action but rejected the bills by a 5-to-2 vote. Sumner opposed annexation largely on anti-imperialist grounds, fearing the United States was "engaged in forcing upon a weak people the sacrifice of their country." Sumner sent the treaties for a full Senate vote, while Grant personally lobbied other senators. Despite Grant's efforts, the Senate defeated the treaties.
Grant was outraged, and on July 1, 1870, he sacked his appointed Minister to Great Britain, John Lothrop Motley, Sumner's friend and ally. In January 1871, Grant signed a joint resolution to send a commission to investigate annexation. He chose three neutral parties, with Frederick Douglass to be secretary of the commission, that gave Grant the moral high ground from Sumner. Although the commission approved its findings, the Senate remained opposed, forcing Grant to abandon further efforts. Seeking retribution, in March 1871, Grant maneuvered to have Sumner deposed from his powerful Senate chairmanship. The stinging controversy over Santo Domingo overshadowed Grant's foreign diplomacy. Critics complained of Grant's reliance on military personnel to implement his policies.
==== Cuba and Virginius Affair ====
American policy under Grant was to remain neutral during the Ten Years' War (1868–78) in Cuba against Spanish rule. On the recommendation of Fish and Sumner, Grant refused to recognize the rebels, in effect endorsing Spanish colonial rule, while calling for the abolition of slavery in Cuba. This was done to protect American commerce and to keep peace with Spain.
This fragile policy was broken in October 1873, when a Spanish cruiser captured a merchant ship, Virginius, flying the U.S. flag, carrying supplies and men to aid the insurrection. Treating them as pirates, Spanish authorities executed 53 prisoners without trial, including eight Americans. American Captain Joseph Frye and his crew were executed and their bodies mutilated. Enraged Americans called for war with Spain. Grant ordered U.S. Navy Squadron warships to converge on Cuba. On November 27, Fish reached a diplomatic resolution in which Spain's president, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, expressed his regret, surrendered the Virginius and the surviving captives. Spain paid $80,000 to the families of the executed Americans.
==== Free trade with Hawaii ====
In the face of strong opposition from Democrats, Grant and Fish secured a free trade treaty in 1875 with Hawaii, incorporating its sugar industry into the U.S. economic sphere. To secure the agreement, King Kalākaua made a 91-day state visit, the first reigning monarch to set foot in the United States. Despite opposition from Southern Democrats, who wanted to protect American rice and sugar producers, and Democrats, who believed the treaty to be an island annexation attempt and referred to the Hawaiians as an "inferior" race, a bill implementing the treaty passed Congress.
The treaty gave free access to the U.S. market for sugar and other products grown in Hawaii from September 1876. The U.S. gained lands in the area known as Puʻu Loa for what would become known as the Pearl Harbor naval base. The treaty led to large investment by Americans in sugar plantations in Hawaii.
=== Federal Indian policy ===
When Grant took office in 1869, the nation's more than 250,000 Native Americans were governed by 370 treaties. Grant's faith influenced his "peace" policy, believing that the "Creator" did not place races of men on earth for the "stronger" to destroy the "weaker". Grant was mostly an assimilationist, wanting Native Americans to adopt European customs, practices, and language, and accept democratic government, leading to eventual citizenship. At Grant's 1869 Inauguration, Grant said "I will favor any course towards them which tends to their civilization, Christianization and ultimate citizenship." Grant appointed Ely S. Parker, an assimilated Seneca and member of his wartime staff, as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to serve in this position, surprising many.
In April 1869, Grant signed legislation establishing an unpaid Board of Indian Commissioners to reduce corruption and oversee the implementation of his "Peace" policy, aimed to replace entrepreneurs serving as Native American agents with missionaries and to protect Native Americans on reservations and educate them in farming.
In 1870, a setback in Grant's policy occurred over the Marias Massacre, causing public outrage. In 1871, Grant ended the sovereign tribal treaty system; by law individual Native Americans were deemed wards of the federal government. Grant's policy was undermined by Parker's resignation in 1871, denominational infighting among religious agents, and entrenched economic interests. Nonetheless, Indian wars declined overall during Grant's first term, and on October 1, 1872, Major General Oliver Otis Howard negotiated peace with the Apache leader Cochise. On December 28, 1872, another setback took place when General George Crook and the 5th Cavalry massacred about 75 Yavapai Apache Indians at Skeleton Cave, Arizona.
On April 11, 1873, Major General Edward Canby was killed in North California by Modoc leader Kintpuash. Grant ordered restraint. The army captured Kintpuash and his followers, who were convicted of Canby's murder and hanged on October 3, while the remaining Modoc were relocated to the Indian Territory. The beginning of the Indian Wars has been dated to this event.
In 1874, the army defeated the Comanche at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, forcing them to settle at the Fort Sill reservation in 1875. Grant pocket-vetoed a bill in 1874 protecting bison and instead supported Interior Secretary Columbus Delano, who correctly believed killing bison would force Plains Indians to abandon their nomadic lifestyle. In April 1875, another setback occurred: the U.S. Army massacred 27 Cheyenne Indians in Kansas.
With the lure of gold discovered in the Black Hills and the westward force of Manifest Destiny, white settlers trespassed on Sioux protected lands. Red Cloud reluctantly entered negotiations on May 26, 1875, but other Sioux chiefs readied for war. Grant told the Sioux leaders to make "arrangements to allow white persons to go into the Black Hills" and that their children would attend schools, speak English, and prepare "for the life of white men."
On November 3, 1875, under advice from Sheridan, Grant agreed not to enforce excluding miners from the Black Hills, forcing Native Americans onto the Sioux reservation. Sheridan told Grant that the U.S. Army was undermanned and the territory involved was vast, requiring many soldiers.
During the Great Sioux War that started after Sitting Bull refused to relocate to agency land, warriors led by Crazy Horse massacred George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Angry white settlers demanded retribution. Grant castigated Custer in the press, saying "I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary." In September and October 1876, Grant persuaded the tribes to relinquish the Black Hills. Congress ratified the agreement three days before Grant left office in 1877.
In spite of Grant's peace efforts, over 200 battles were fought with Native Americans during his presidency. Grant's peace policy survived Custer's death, even after Grant left office in 1877; Indian policy remained under the Interior Department rather than the War Department. The policy was considered humanitarian for its time but later criticized for disregarding tribal cultures.
=== Election of 1872 and second term ===
The Liberal Republicans—reformers, men who supported low tariffs, and those who opposed Grant's prosecution of the Klan—broke from Grant and the Republican Party. The Liberals disliked Grant's alliance with Senators Simon Cameron and Roscoe Conkling, considered to be spoilsmen politicians.
In 1872, the Liberals nominated Horace Greeley, a New York Tribune editor and enemy of Grant, for president, and Missouri governor B. Gratz Brown, for vice president. The Liberals denounced Grantism, corruption, and inefficiency, and demanded withdrawal of federal troops from the South, literacy tests for black voters, and amnesty for Confederates. The Democrats adopted the Greeley-Brown ticket and the Liberals' party platform. Greeley pushed the themes that the Grant administration was failed and corrupt.
The Republicans nominated Grant for reelection, with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts as the vice presidential nominee. The Republicans shrewdly borrowed from the Liberal platform, including "extended amnesty, lowered tariffs, and embraced civil service reform." Grant lowered customs duties, gave amnesty to Confederates, and implemented a civil service merit system, neutralizing the opposition. To placate the burgeoning suffragist movement, the Republican platform said women's rights would be treated with "respectful consideration." Concerning Southern policy, Greeley advocated that local government control be given to white people, while Grant advocated federal protection of black people. Grant was supported by Frederick Douglass, prominent abolitionists, and Indian reformers.
Grant won reelection easily thanks to federal prosecution of the Klan, a strong economy, debt reduction, and lowered tariffs and taxes. He received 56% of the vote and an Electoral College landslide (286 to 66). Most African Americans in the South voted for Grant, while Democratic opposition remained mostly peaceful. Grant lost in six former slave states that wanted an end to Reconstruction. He proclaimed the victory as a personal vindication, but felt betrayed by the Liberals.
Grant was sworn in by Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. In his second inaugural address, he focused on what he considered the chief issues: freedom and fairness for all Americans and the benefits of citizenship for freed slaves. Grant concluded his address: "My efforts in the future will be directed towards the restoration of good feelings between the different sections of our common community". Wilson died in office on November 22, 1875. With Wilson's loss, Grant relied on Fish's guidance more than ever.
=== Panic of 1873 and loss of House ===
Grant signed the Coinage Act of 1873, effectively ending the legal basis for bimetallism. The Coinage Act discontinued the standard silver dollar and established the gold dollar as the monetary standard; because the gold supply did not increase as quickly as the population, the result was deflation. Silverites, who wanted more money in circulation to raise the prices farmers received, denounced the move as the "Crime of 1873", claiming deflation made debts more burdensome for farmers.
Economic turmoil renewed during Grant's second term. In September 1873, Jay Cooke & Company, a New York brokerage house, collapsed after it failed to sell all the bonds issued by Northern Pacific Railway. Other banks and brokerages that owned railroad stocks and bonds were ruined. Grant, who knew little about finance, traveled to New York to consult leading businessmen on how to resolve the crisis, which became known as the Panic of 1873. Grant believed that, as with the collapse of the Gold Ring in 1869, the panic was merely an economic fluctuation. He instructed the Treasury to buy $10 million in government bonds, which curbed the panic, but the Long Depression, swept the nation. Eighty-nine of the nation's 364 railroads went bankrupt.
In 1874, hoping inflation would stimulate the economy, Congress passed the Ferry Bill. Many farmers and workingmen favored the bill, which would have added $64 million in greenbacks to circulation, but some Eastern bankers opposed it because it would have weakened the dollar. Belknap, Williams, and Delano told Grant a veto would hurt Republicans in the November elections. Grant believed the bill would destroy the credit of the nation and vetoed it despite their objections. Grant's veto placed him in the Republican conservative faction and began the party's commitment to a gold-backed dollar. Grant later pressured Congress for a bill to strengthen the dollar by gradually reducing the greenbacks in circulation. When the Democrats gained a majority in the House after the 1874 elections, the lame-duck Republican Congress did so before the Democrats took office. On January 14, 1875, Grant signed the Specie Payment Resumption Act, which required reduction of greenbacks allowed to circulate and declared that they would be redeemed for gold beginning on January 1, 1879.
=== Reforms and scandals ===
The post-Civil War economy brought on massive industrial wealth and government expansion. Speculation, lifestyle extravagance, and corruption in federal offices were rampant. All of Grant's executive departments were investigated by Congress. Grant by nature was honest, trusting, gullible, and loyal to his friends. His responses to malfeasance were mixed: at times appointing cabinet reformers, at others defending culprits.
Grant in his first term appointed Secretary of the Interior Jacob D. Cox, who implemented civil service reform, including firing unqualified clerks. On October 3, 1870, Cox resigned after a dispute with Grant over handling of a mining claim. Authorized by Congress on March 3, 1871, Grant created and appointed the first Civil Service Commission. Grant's Commission created rules for competitive exams for appointments, ending mandatory political assessments and classifying positions into grades.
In November 1871, Grant's appointed New York Collector, Thomas Murphy, resigned. Grant replaced him with Chester A. Arthur, who implemented Boutwell's reforms. A Senate committee investigated the New York Customs House in 1872. Previous Grant-appointed collectors Murphy and Moses H. Grinnell charged lucrative fees for warehouse space, without the legal requirement of listing the goods. This led to Grant firing warehouse owner George K. Leet, for pocketing the exorbitant freight fees. Boutwell's reforms included stricter record-keeping and that goods be stored on company docks. Grant ordered prosecutions by Attorney General George H. Williams and Secretary of the Treasury Boutwell of persons accepting and paying bribes.
On March 3, 1873, Grant signed into law an appropriation act that increased pay for federal employees, Congress (retroactive), the judiciary, and the president. Grant's annual salary doubled to $50,000. Critics derided Congress's two-year retroactive $4,000 payment for each Congressman, and the law was partially repealed. Grant kept his much-needed pay raise, while his reputation remained intact.
In 1872, Grant signed into law an act that ended private moiety (tax collection) contracts, but an attached rider allowed three more contracts. Boutwell's assistant secretary William A. Richardson hired John B. Sanborn to go after "individuals and cooperations" who allegedly evaded taxes. Sanborn aggressively collected $213,000, while splitting $156,000 to others, including Richardson, and the Republican Party campaign committee. During an 1874 Congressional investigation, Richardson denied involvement, but Sanborn said he met with Richardson over the contracts. Congress severely condemned Richardson's permissive manner. Grant appointed Richardson judge of the Court of Claims, and replaced him with reformer Benjamin Bristow. In June, Grant and Congress abolished the moiety system.
Bristow tightened up the Treasury's investigation force, implemented civil service reform, and fired hundreds of corrupt appointees. Bristow discovered Treasury receipts were low, and launched an investigation that uncovered the notorious Whiskey Ring, that involved collusion between distillers and Treasury officials to evade millions in taxes. In mid-April, Bristow informed Grant of the ring. On May 10, Bristow struck hard and broke the ring. Federal marshals raided 32 installations nationwide, leading to 110 convictions and $3,150,000 in fines.
Grant appointed David Dyer, under Bristow's recommendation, federal attorney to prosecute the Ring in St. Louis, who indicted Grant's friend General John McDonald, supervisor of Internal Revenue. Grant endorsed Bristow's investigation, writing on a letter "Let no guilty man escape..." Bristow's investigation discovered Babcock received kickback payments, and that Babcock had secretly forewarned McDonald, the ring's mastermind, of the investigation. On November 22, the jury convicted McDonald. On December 9, Babcock was indicted; Grant refused to believe in Babcock's guilt and was ready to testify in Babcock's favor, but Fish warned that doing so would put Grant in the embarrassing position of testifying against a case prosecuted by his own administration. Instead, on February 12, 1876, Grant gave a deposition in Babcock's defense, expressing that his confidence in his secretary was "unshaken". Grant's testimony silenced all but his strongest critics.
The St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock, and Grant allowed him to remain at the White House. However, after Babcock was indicted in a frame-up of a Washington reformer, called the Safe Burglary Conspiracy, Grant dismissed him. Babcock kept his position of Superintendent of Public Buildings in Washington.
The Interior Department under Secretary Columbus Delano, whom Grant appointed to replace Cox, was rife with fraud and corruption. The exception was Delano's effective oversight of Yellowstone. Grant reluctantly forced Delano's resignation. Surveyor General Silas Reed had set up corrupt contracts that benefited Delano's son, John Delano. Grant's Secretary of the Interior Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano in 1875, implemented reforms, fired corrupt agents and ended profiteering. When Grant was informed by Postmaster General Marshall Jewell of a potential Congressional investigation into an extortion scandal involving Attorney General George H. Williams's wife, Grant fired Williams and appointed reformer Edwards Pierrepont. Grant's new cabinet appointments temporarily appeased reformers.
After the Democrats took control of the House in 1875, more corruption in federal departments was exposed. Among the most damaging scandal involved Secretary of War William W. Belknap, who took quarterly kickbacks from the Fort Sill tradership; he resigned in February 1876. Belknap was impeached by the House but was acquitted by the Senate. Grant's brother Orvil set up "silent partnerships" and received kickbacks from four trading posts. Congress discovered that Secretary of the Navy Robeson had been bribed by a naval contractor, but no articles of impeachment were drawn up. In his December 5, 1876, Annual Message, Grant apologized to the nation: "Failures have been errors of judgement, not of intent."
=== Election of 1876 ===
The abandonment of Reconstruction played a central role during the 1876 election. Mounting investigations into corruption by the House, controlled by the Democrats, discredited Grant's presidency. Grant did not run for a third term, while the Republicans chose Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a reformer, at their convention. The Democrats nominated Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Voting irregularities in three Southern states caused the election to remain undecided for several months.
Grant told Congress to settle the matter through legislation and assured both sides that he would not use the army to force a result, except to curb violence. On January 29, 1877, he signed legislation forming an Electoral Commission, which ruled Hayes elected president; to forestall Democratic protests, Republicans agreed to the Compromise of 1877, in which the last troops were withdrawn from Southern capitals. With Reconstruction dead, 80 years of Jim Crow segregation was launched. Grant's "calm visage" throughout the election crisis appeased the nation.
== Post-presidency (1877–1885) ==
After leaving the White House, Grant said he "was never so happy in my life". The Grants left Washington for New York, to attend the birth of their daughter Nellie's child. Calling themselves "waifs", the Grants toured Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Galena, without a clear idea of where they would live.
=== World tour and diplomacy ===
Using $25,000 (equivalent to $756,000 in 2025) from liquidating an investment in a Nevada-based mining company, the Grants set out on a world tour for approximately two and a half years. On May 16, Grant and his wife left for England aboard the SS Indiana. During the tour, the Grants made stops in Europe, Africa, India, the Middle East and the Far East, meeting with dignitaries such as Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander II, Pope Leo XIII, Otto von Bismarck, Li Hongzhang, and Emperor Meiji.
As a courtesy to Grant by the Hayes administration, his touring party received federal transportation on three U.S. Navy ships: a five-month tour of the Mediterranean on the USS Vandalia, travel from Hong Kong to China on the USS Ashuelot, and from China to Japan on the USS Richmond. The Hayes administration encouraged Grant to assume a public unofficial diplomatic role and strengthen American interests abroad during the tour. Homesick, the Grants left Japan on the SS City of Tokio and landed in San Francisco on September 20, 1879, greeted by cheering crowds. Grant's tour demonstrated to Europe and Asia that the United States was an emerging world power.
=== Third term attempt ===
Politically conservative, Grant was supported by the Stalwarts who, led by Grant's old political ally Roscoe Conkling, saw Grant's renewed popularity as an opportunity, and sought to nominate him for the presidency in 1880. Opponents called it a violation of the unofficial two-term rule in use since George Washington. Grant said nothing publicly but wanted the job and encouraged his men. Washburne urged him to run; Grant demurred. Even so, Conkling and John A. Logan began to organize delegates in Grant's favor. When the convention convened in Chicago in June, more delegates were pledged to Grant than to any other candidate, but he was still short of a majority vote.
At the convention, Conkling nominated Grant with an eloquent speech, the most famous line being "When asked which state he hails from, our sole reply shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple tree." With 378 votes needed for the nomination, the first ballot had Grant at 304, Blaine at 284, Sherman at 93, and the rest to minor candidates. After thirty-six ballots, Blaine's delegates combined with those of other candidates to nominate a compromise candidate: James A. Garfield. A procedural motion made the vote unanimous for Garfield. Grant gave speeches for Garfield but declined to criticize the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock, a general who had served under him. Garfield won the election. Grant gave Garfield his public support and pushed him to include Stalwarts in his administration. On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by an assassin and died on September 19. On learning of Garfield's death from a reporter, Grant wept.
=== Business failures ===
In the 19th century, there were no federal presidential pensions, and the Grants' personal income was $6,000 a year. Grant's world tour had been costly, and he had depleted most of his savings. Wealthy friends bought him a house on New York City's Upper East Side, and to make an income, Grant, Jay Gould, and former Mexican Finance Secretary Matías Romero chartered the Mexican Southern Railroad, with plans to build a railroad from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Grant urged President Chester A. Arthur to negotiate a free trade treaty with Mexico. Arthur and the Mexican government agreed, but the United States Senate rejected the treaty in 1883. The railroad was similarly unsuccessful, falling into bankruptcy the following year.
At the same time, Grant's son Buck had opened a Wall Street brokerage house with Ferdinand Ward. A conniving man who swindled numerous wealthy men, Ward was at the time regarded as a rising star on Wall Street. The firm, Grant & Ward, was initially successful. In 1883, Grant joined the firm and invested $100,000 (~$2.85 million in 2024) of his own money. Ward paid investors abnormally high interest by pledging the company's securities on multiple loans in a process called rehypothecation (now regarded as a Ponzi scheme). Ward, in collusion with banker James D. Fish and kept secret from bank examiners, retrieved the firm's securities from the company's bank vault. When the trades went bad, multiple loans came due, all backed by the same collateral.
Historians agree that the elder Grant was likely unaware of Ward's intentions, but it is unclear how much Buck Grant knew. In May 1884, enough investments went bad to convince Ward that the firm would soon be bankrupt. Ward, who assumed Grant was "a child in business matters", told him of the impending failure, but assured Grant that this was a temporary shortfall. Grant approached businessman William Henry Vanderbilt, who gave him a personal loan of $150,000. Grant invested the money in the firm, but it was not enough to save it. The fall of Grant & Ward set off the Panic of 1884.
Vanderbilt offered to forgive Grant's debt entirely, but Grant refused. Impoverished but compelled by personal honor, he repaid what he could with his Civil War mementos and the sale or transfer of all other assets. Vanderbilt took the title to Grant's home, although he allowed the Grants to continue to reside there, and pledged to donate the souvenirs to the federal government and insisted the debt had been paid in full. Grant was distraught over Ward's deception and asked privately how he could ever "trust any human being again." In March 1885, he testified against both Ward and Fish. After the collapse of Grant & Ward, there was an outpouring of sympathy for Grant.
=== Memoirs, military pension, illness and death ===
Grant attended a service for Civil War veterans in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on August 4, 1884, receiving a standing ovation from the ten thousand attendees; it would be his last public appearance. In the summer of 1884, Grant complained of a sore throat but put off seeing a doctor until late October, when he learned it was cancer, possibly caused by his frequent cigar smoking. Grant chose not to reveal the seriousness of his condition to his wife, who soon found out from Grant's doctor. In March 1885, The New York Times announced that Grant was dying of cancer, causing nationwide public concern. Knowing of Grant and Julia's financial difficulties, Congress restored him to the rank of General of the Army with full retirement pay—Grant's assumption of the presidency had required that he resign his commission and forfeit his (and his widow's) pension.
Grant was nearly penniless and worried about leaving his wife money to live on. He approached The Century Magazine and wrote a number of articles on his Civil War campaigns for $500 (equivalent to $18,000 in 2025) each. The articles were well received by critics, and the editor, Robert Underwood Johnson, suggested that Grant write a memoir, as Sherman and others had done. The magazine offered him a book contract with a 10% royalty. However, Grant's friend Mark Twain, one of the few who understood Grant's precarious financial condition, offered him an unheard-of 70% royalty. To provide for his family, Grant worked intensely on his memoirs in New York City. His former staff member Adam Badeau assisted with the research, while his son Frederick located documents and did much of the fact-checking. Because of the summer heat and humidity, his doctors recommended that he move upstate to a cottage at the top of Mount McGregor, offered by a family friend.
On July 18, 1885, Grant finished his memoir, which includes the events of his life to the end of the Civil War. The Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant was a critical and commercial success. Julia Grant eventually received about $450,000 in royalties (equivalent to $16,100,000 in 2025). The memoir has been highly regarded by the public, military historians, and literary critics. Grant portrayed himself as an honorable Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty. He candidly depicted his battles against both the Confederates and internal army foes.
Grant died in the Mount McGregor cottage on July 23, 1885. Sheridan, then Commanding General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all military posts, and President Grover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. After private services, the honor guard placed Grant's body on a funeral train, which traveled to West Point and New York City. A quarter of a million people viewed it in the two days before the funeral. Tens of thousands of men, many of them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), marched with Grant's casket drawn by two dozen black stallions to Riverside Park in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. His pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and Sheridan, Confederate generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, Admiral David Dixon Porter, and Senator John A. Logan, the head of the GAR. Following the casket in the seven-mile-long (11 km) procession were President Cleveland, two former living presidents Hayes and Arthur, all of the president's cabinet, and justices of the Supreme Court.
Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million. Ceremonies were held in other major cities around the country, while Grant was eulogized in the press. Grant's body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb, and then on April 17, 1897, in the General Grant National Memorial, known as "Grant's Tomb", the largest mausoleum in North America.
== Historical reputation ==
Grant was hailed across the North as the general who "saved the Union", and overall, his military reputation has held up well. Achieving great national fame for his victories at Vicksburg and the surrender at Appomattox, Grant was the most successful general, Union or Confederate, in the American Civil War. He was criticized by the South for using excessive force, and his drinking was often exaggerated by the press and stereotyped by rivals and critics. Historians also debate how effective Grant was at halting corruption. The scandals during his administration stigmatized his political reputation. Despite his administration's scandals, Grant was still respected by most of the nation at the time of his death, as can be indicated by the praise from Democratic president Cleveland and even some former Confederate generals, two of whom had served as his pallbearers.
However, Grant's reputation would decline soon after his death. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Grant's reputation was damaged by the "Lost Cause" movement and the Dunning School. Grant's reputation particularly fell in the late 1910s and early 1920s because the U.S. deaths in World War I brought back memories of Union deaths in Virginia in 1864, and the scandals of the Warren Harding administration brought back memories of the Grant administration's scandals. Views of Grant reached new lows as he was seen as an unsuccessful president and an unskilled, if lucky, general. In the 1950s, some historians reassessed Grant's military career, shifting the analysis of Grant as the victor by brute force to that of a skillful modern strategist and commander. Historian William S. McFeely's biography, Grant (1981), won the Pulitzer Prize, and brought renewed scholarly interest in Grant. McFeely believed Grant was an "ordinary American" trying to "make his mark" during the 19th century. In the 21st century, Grant's reputation improved markedly among historians after the publication of Grant (2001), by historian Jean Edward Smith. Opinions of Grant's presidency demonstrate a better appreciation of Grant's personal integrity, Reconstruction efforts, and peace policy towards Indians, even when they fell short. H. W. Brands's The Man Who Saved the Union (2012), Ronald C. White's American Ulysses (2016), and Ron Chernow's Grant (2017) continued the elevation of Grant's reputation. White said that Grant "demonstrated a distinctive sense of humility, moral courage, and determination", and as president he "stood up for African Americans, especially fighting against voter suppression perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan". White believed that Grant was "an exceptional person and leader". Historian Robert Farley writes that the "Cult of Lee" and the Dunning School's resentment of Grant for his defeat of Lee and his strong enforcement of Reconstruction resulted in Grant's shoddy treatment by historians.
In a 2021 C-SPAN survey ranking presidents from worst to best, Grant was ranked 20 out of 44 presidents, up from his previous ranking of 33 in 2017. This was due to the rehabilitation of his image and legacy in more recent years, with Grant now receiving "more credit for Reconstruction and his diplomacy than condemnation for his alleged corruption."
== Dates of rank == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethytheria | Tethytheria | Tethytheria is a clade of paenungulate mammals that includes the sirenians, proboscideans,
and the extinct order Embrithopoda.
Though there is strong anatomical and molecular support for the monophyly of Tethytheria, the interrelationships between the included taxa remain disputed. The tethytheres are united by several characters, including anteriorly facing orbits and more or less bilophodont cheek teeth (double transverse ridges on the crowns of the teeth). Proboscidea and Sirenia are linked together based on auditory characters in their petrosal bones, but this link may be a homoplasy. Desmostylians, traditionally considered tethytheres, have been tentatively assigned to Perissodactyla, along with the Early Eocene family Anthracobunidae, which was considered a sister group to Tethytheria.
== Systematics ==
Cladogram modified from Rose 2006 and Cooper et al. 2014.
== Classification ==
Classification modified from Rose 2006.
Clade Tethytheria
order †Embrithopoda
†Phenacolophidae
†Arsinoitheriidae
order Sirenia
†Prorastomidae
†Protosirenidae (Dugongidae?)
Dugongidae
Trichechidae
order Proboscidea
†Phosphatheriidae (Numidotheriidae?)
†Numidotheriidae
†Moeritheriidae
†Barytheriidae
†Deinotheriidae
†Palaeomastodontidae
†Phiomiidae
†Hemimastodontidae
†Mammutidae
†Gomphotheriidae
Elephantidae |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Montpellier | Lords of Montpellier | The Lordship of Montpellier was a feudal jurisdiction in Languedoc with its centre in the city of Montpellier, that existed between 986 and 1344.
== Formation ==
Ricuin II, the bishop of Mauguio gave these lands in fief to a knight named Guiu I. He was succeeded by his son William I (985–1025) who received more lands around the city and died without descendants. The inheritance fell to his nephew William II, son of Trudgarda (William's sister) and Bernard.
Much younger than its neighbours in the region such as Nîmes, Narbonne, Béziers or Carcassonne, most of which were created in Roman times, the Lordship of Montpellier was only created in the 11th century. Situated between Spain and Italy, close to the Via Domitia and the port of Lattes, the city quickly experienced significant economic and cultural development, attracting gilders, goldsmiths, drapers and money changers. It thus became a centre of trade between northern Europe, Spain and the Mediterranean basin.
== List of lords of Montpellier ==
=== House of Montpellier ===
William I of Montpellier 26 November 986–1019
William II of Montpellier 1019–1025, his nephew
William III of Montpellier 1025–1058, his son
William IV of Montpellier 1058–1068, his son
William V of Montpellier 1090–1121, his son
William VI of Montpellier 1121–1149, his son
William VII of Montpellier 1149–c. 1172, his son
William VIII of Montpellier c. 1172–1202, his son
William IX of Montpellier 1202–1204, his son
Maria of Montpellier 1204–1213, his sister, married to:
Peter II of Aragon, King of Aragon, Count of Roussillon and Cerdagne
=== House of Aragon ===
James I of Aragon 1213–1276, their son
James II of Majorca 1276–1311, his second surviving son
Sancho of Majorca 1311–1324, his son
James III of Majorca 1324–1344, his nephew
=== French royal domain ===
In 1344 James III sold the Lordship of Montpellier to King Philip VI of France: Montpellier became a possession of the crown of France. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Powers | Richard Powers | Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel The Echo Maker won the 2006 National Book Award for Fiction. He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship. As of 2024, Powers has published fourteen novels and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Overstory.
== Life and work ==
=== Early life ===
One of five children, Powers was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Richard Franklin Powers and his wife Donna Powers (née Belik). His family later moved a few miles west to Lincolnwood, where his father was a local school principal. When Powers was 11, they moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where his father had accepted a position at International School Bangkok. Powers attended this through his freshman year, ending in 1972. During that time outside the U.S., he developed skills in vocal music and proficiency in cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. He also became an avid reader, enjoying nonfiction primarily and classics such as the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The family returned to the U.S. when Powers was 16. Following graduation in 1975 from DeKalb High School in DeKalb, Illinois, he enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC) with a major in physics, which he switched to English literature during his first semester. He earned a BA in 1978 and an MA in Literature in 1980.
=== Professorships and awards ===
In 2010 and 2013, Powers was a Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University, during which time he partly assisted in the lab of biochemist Aaron Straight.
Powers was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1989. He received a Lannan Literary Award in 1999.
Powers was appointed the Swanlund Professor of English at UIUC in 1996.
On August 22, 2013, Stanford University announced that Powers had been named the Phil and Penny Knight Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English.
As of 2018, he has retired and is now Professor Emeritus of English at UIUC.
=== Novels ===
Powers learned computer programming at Illinois as a user of PLATO and moved to Boston to work as a programmer. One Saturday in 1980, Powers saw the 1914 photograph "Young Farmers" by August Sander at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was so inspired that he quit his job two days later to write a novel about the people in the photograph.
Powers worked for two years on his debut novel, Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, which was published by William Morrow in 1985. It comprises three alternating threads: a novella featuring the three young men in the photo during World War I, a technology magazine editor who is obsessed with the photo, and the author's critical and historical musings about the mechanics of photography and the life of Henry Ford. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. It also received a Special Citation from the PEN/Hemingway Awards.
Powers moved to the Netherlands, where he wrote Prisoner's Dilemma about The Walt Disney Company and nuclear warfare.
He followed with The Gold Bug Variations about genetics, music, and computer science. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
In 1993, Powers wrote Operation Wandering Soul about, among other things, a genetic condition that causes accelerated aging, and an agonized young surgical trainee. It was a finalist for the National Book Award.
In 1995, Powers published the Pygmalion story Galatea 2.2 about an artificial intelligence experiment gone awry. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.
In 1998, Powers wrote Gain about a 150-year-old chemical company and a woman who lives near one of its plants and succumbs to ovarian cancer. It won the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction in 1999.
His Plowing the Dark (2000) tells of a Seattle research team building a groundbreaking virtual reality while an American teacher is held hostage in Beirut. It received Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Powers wrote The Time of Our Singing in 2003. It is about the musician children of an interracial couple who met at Marian Anderson's famed 1939 concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps.
Powers's ninth novel, The Echo Maker (2006), is about a Nebraska man who suffers head trauma in a truck accident and believes his caregiver sister is an impostor. It won a National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Powers's tenth novel, Generosity: An Enhancement (2009) has writing professor Russell Stone encountering his former student, Thassa, an Algerian woman whose constant happiness is exploited by journalists and scientists.
In 2014, Powers wrote Orfeo, about Peter Els, a retired music composition instructor and avant-garde composer who is mistaken for a bio-terrorist after being discovered with a makeshift genetics lab in his house.
The Overstory, published in April 2018, is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. It won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the $75,000 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and was runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.
Bewilderment, published in September 2021, was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It is described as "an astrobiologist thinks of a creative way to help his rare and troubled son in Richard Powers’ deeply moving and brilliantly original novel."
Playground (2024), the 14th novel by Powers, was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema | Thelema | Thelema () is a Western esoteric and occult social and spiritual philosophy and a new religious movement founded in the early 1900s by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), an English writer, mystic, occultist, and ceremonial magician. Central to Thelema is the concept of discovering and following one's True Will, a divine and individual purpose that transcends ordinary desires. Crowley's system begins with The Book of the Law, a text he maintained was dictated to him by a non-corporeal entity named Aiwass. This work outlines key principles, including the axioms "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "love is the law, love under will", emphasizing personal freedom and the pursuit of one's true path.
The Thelemic cosmology features deities inspired by ancient Egyptian religion. The highest deity is Nuit, the night sky symbolized as a naked woman covered in stars, representing the ultimate source of possibilities. Hadit, the infinitely small point, symbolizes manifestation and motion. Ra-Hoor-Khuit, who is believed to be a form of Horus, represents the Sun and active energies of Thelemic magick. Crowley believed that discovering and following one's True Will is the path to self-realization and personal fulfillment, often referred to as the Great Work. The Creed of the Gnostic Mass also professes a belief in Chaos, Babalon, and Baphomet.
Magick is a central practice in Thelema, involving various physical, mental, and spiritual exercises aimed at uncovering one's True Will and enacting change in alignment with it. Practices such as rituals, yoga, and meditation are used to explore consciousness and achieve self-mastery. The Gnostic Mass, a central ritual in Thelema, mirrors traditional religious services but conveys Thelemic principles. Thelemites also observe specific holy days, such as the Equinoxes and the Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law, commemorating the writing of Thelema's foundational text.
Post-Crowley figures like Jack Parsons, Kenneth Grant, James Lees, and Nema Andahadna have further developed Thelema, introducing new ideas, practices, and interpretations. Parsons conducted the Babalon Working to invoke the goddess Babalon, while Grant synthesized various traditions into his Typhonian Order. Lees created the English Qaballa, and Nema Andahadna developed Maat Magick.
== Historical precedents ==
The word θέλημα (thelēma) is rare in Classical Greek, where it "signifies the appetitive will: desire, sometimes even sexual", but it is frequent in the Septuagint. Early Christian writings occasionally use the word to refer to the human will, and even the will of the Devil, but it usually refers to the will of God. In his 5th-century sermon, Catholic philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo gave a similar instruction: "Love, and what you will, do." (Dilige et quod vis fac).
In the Renaissance, a character named "Thelemia" represents will or desire in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili of the Dominican friar and writer Francesco Colonna. The protagonist Poliphilo has two allegorical guides, Logistica (reason) and Thelemia (will or desire). When forced to choose, he chooses fulfillment of his sexual will over logic. Colonna's work was a great influence on the Franciscan friar and writer François Rabelais, who in the 16th century used Thélème, the French form of the word, as the name of a fictional abbey in his novels, Gargantua and Pantagruel. The only rule of this Abbey was "fay çe que vouldras" ("Fais ce que tu veux", or, "Do what you will").
In the mid-18th century, Sir Francis Dashwood inscribed the adage on a doorway of his abbey at Medmenham, where it served as the motto of the Hellfire Club. Rabelais's Abbey of Thelema has been referred to by later writers Sir Walter Besant and James Rice, in their novel The Monks of Thelema (1878), and C. R. Ashbee in his utopian romance The Building of Thelema (1910).
=== Definitions ===
==== In Classical Greek ====
In Classical Greek there are two words for will: thelema (θέλημα) and boule (βουλή).
Boule means 'determination', 'purpose', 'intention', 'counsel', or 'project'
Thelema means 'divine will', 'inclination', 'desire', or 'pleasure'
The verb thelo appears very early (Homer, early Attic inscriptions) and has the meanings of "ready", "decide" and "desire" (Homer, 3, 272, also in the sexual sense).
==== In the New Testament ====
In the original Greek version of the New Testament the word thelema is used 62 or 64 times, twice in the plural (thelemata). Here, God's will is always and exclusively designated by the word thelema (θέλημα, mostly in the singular), as the theologian Federico Tolli points out by means of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament of 1938 ("Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven").
=== François Rabelais and the Abbey of Thélème ===
François Rabelais was a Franciscan and later a Benedictine monk of the 16th century. Eventually he left the monastery to study medicine, and moved to the French city of Lyon in 1532. There he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, a connected series of books. They tell the story of two giants—a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures—written in an amusing, extravagant, and satirical vein.
Most critics today agree that Rabelais wrote from a Christian humanist perspective. The Crowley biographer Lawrence Sutin notes this when contrasting the French author's beliefs with the Thelema of Aleister Crowley. In the previously mentioned story of Thélème, which critics analyze as referring in part to the suffering of loyal Christian reformists or "evangelicals" within the French Church, the reference to the Greek word θέλημα "declares that the will of God rules in this abbey". Sutin writes that Rabelais was no precursor of Thelema, with his beliefs containing elements of Stoicism and Christian kindness.
In his first book (ch. 52–57), Rabelais writes of this Abbey of Thélème, built by the giant Gargantua. It is a classical utopia presented in order to critique and assess the state of the society of Rabelais's day, as opposed to a modern utopian text that seeks to create the scenario in practice. It is a utopia where people's desires are more fulfilled. Satirical, it also epitomises the ideals considered in Rabelais's fiction. The inhabitants of the abbey were governed only by their own free will and pleasure, the only rule being "Do What Thou Wilt". Rabelais believed that men who are free, well born and bred have honour, which intrinsically leads to virtuous actions. When constrained, their noble natures turn instead to remove their servitude, because men desire what they are denied.
Some modern Thelemites consider Crowley's work to build upon Rabelais's summary of the instinctively honourable nature of the Thelemite. Rabelais has been variously credited with the creation of the philosophy of Thelema, as one of the earliest people to refer to it. The current National Grand Master General of the U.S. Ordo Templi Orientis Grand Lodge has opined that:
Saint Rabelais never intended his satirical, fictional device to serve as a practical blueprint for a real human society ... Our Thelema is that of The Book of the Law and the writings of Aleister Crowley.
Aleister Crowley wrote in The Antecedents of Thelema (1926), an incomplete work not published in his day, that Rabelais not only set forth the law of Thelema in a way similar to how Crowley understood it, but predicted and described in code Crowley's life and the holy text that he received, The Book of the Law. Crowley said the work he had received was deeper, showing in more detail the technique people should practice, and revealing scientific mysteries. He said that Rabelais confines himself to portraying an ideal, rather than addressing questions of political economy and similar subjects, which must be solved in order to realize the Law.
Rabelais is included among the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.
=== Francis Dashwood and the Hellfire Club ===
Sir Francis Dashwood adopted some of the ideas of Rabelais and invoked the same rule in French, when he founded a group called the Monks of Medmenham (better known as the Hellfire Club). An abbey was established at Medmenham, in a property which incorporated the ruins of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1201. The group was known as the Franciscans, not after Saint Francis of Assisi, but after its founder, Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer. John Wilkes, George Dodington and other politicians were members. There is little direct evidence of what Dashwood's Hellfire Club practiced or believed. The one direct testimonial comes from John Wilkes, a member who never got into the chapter-room of the inner circle.
Sir Nathaniel Wraxall in his Historical Memoires (1815) accused the Monks of performing Satanic rituals, but these reports have been dismissed as hearsay. Daniel Willens argued that the group likely practiced Freemasonry, but also suggests Dashwood may have held secret Roman Catholic sacraments. He asks if Wilkes would have recognized a genuine Catholic Mass, even if he saw it himself and even if the underground version followed its public model precisely.
Crowley’s system was built on his time in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (he joined in 1899), on Rosicrucian currents and on early Theosophical ideas from Helena Blavatsky and others.
== Beliefs ==
=== The Book of the Law ===
Aleister Crowley's system of Thelema begins with The Book of the Law, which bears the official name Liber AL vel Legis. It was written in Cairo, Egypt, during his honeymoon with his new wife Rose Crowley (née Kelly). A small book, Liber AL vel Legis, contains just three chapters, each of which Crowley said he had written in exactly one hour—beginning at noon on April 8, April 9, and April 10, 1904, respectively. Crowley also maintained that the book was dictated to him by a non-corporeal entity named Aiwass, whom he later identified as his Holy Guardian Angel. Crowley stated that "no forger could have prepared so complex a set of numerical and literal puzzles" and that study of the text would dispel all doubts about the method of how the book was obtained.
Besides the reference to Rabelais made in the book, an analysis by Dave Evans found similarities to The Beloved of Hathor and Shrine of the Golden Hawk, a play by Florence Farr. Evans says this may have resulted from the fact that "both Farr and Crowley were thoroughly steeped in Golden Dawn imagery and teachings", and that Crowley probably knew the same materials that inspired some of Farr's motifs. Sutin also found similarities between Thelema and the work of W. B. Yeats, attributing this to "shared insight" and perhaps to the older man's knowledge of Crowley's work.
Crowley wrote several commentaries on The Book of the Law, the last of which he wrote in 1925. The latter commentary, dubbed "The Comment", warns against discussing the book's contents, states that all "questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings", and is signed by Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i.
Other core Thelemic works include The Vision and the Voice (1911) and the serial journal The Equinox (1919–23).
=== Axioms ===
Three statements from The Book of the Law distill the practice and ethics of Thelema. Of these statements, one in particular, known as the "Law of Thelema", forms the central doctrine of Thelema. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law". The first statement is then supplemented by a second, follow-up statement: "Love is the law, love under will." These two statements are generally believed to be better understood in light of a third statement: "Every man and every woman is a star."
These three statements have specific meanings:
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law": Adherents of Thelema should seek out and follow their true path, known as their True Will.
"Every man and every woman is a star": This refers to the body of light, which Plato described as being composed of the same substance as the stars. It implies that individuals doing their Wills are like stars in the universe—occupying a time and position in space, yet distinctly individual and having an independent nature largely without undue conflict with other stars.
"Love is the law, love under will": The nature of the Law of Thelema is love, which Crowley wrote should be understood in the same sense as the Greek word agape. Both agape and thelema sum to 93 in Hermetic Qabalah. The phrase "love under will" is often abbreviated as "93/93", suggesting that "love under will" represents something akin to unity.
=== Cosmology ===
Thelema places its principal gods and goddesses—three altogether—from Ancient Egyptian religion as the speakers presented in Liber AL vel Legis.
The highest deity in the theology of Thelema is the goddess Nuit (also spelled Nuith). She is envisioned as the night sky arching over the Earth, represented as a nude woman and typically depicted with stars covering her body. Nuit is conceived as the "Great Mother" and the ultimate source of all things, the collection of all possibilities, "Infinite Space, and the Infinite Stars thereof", and the circumference of an infinite circle or sphere. Nuit is derived from the Egyptian sky goddess Nut and is referred to poetically as "Our Lady of the Stars" and, in The Book of the Law, as "Queen of Space" and "Queen of Heaven".
The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit, conceived as the infinitely small point, and the complement and consort of Nuit. Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time. He is also described in Liber AL vel Legis as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."
Hadit has sometimes been said to represent a "point-event" and all individual point-events within the body of Nuit. Hadit is said, in The Book of the Law, to be "perfect, being Not." Additionally, it is written of Nuit in Liber AL vel Legis that "men speak not of Thee [Nuit] as One but as None."
The third deity of Thelemic theology is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of the ancient Egyptian deity Horus. He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand. He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.
Other deities within the pantheon of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates), the god of silence and inner strength and the twin of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, as well as Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure known as the Virgin Whore, and Therion, the beast upon which Babalon rides who represents the wild animal within humankind and the force of nature.
=== True Will ===
According to Crowley, every individual has a True Will, which is to be distinguished from the ordinary wants and desires of the ego. True Will is essentially one's "calling" or "purpose" in life. "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" for Crowley refers not to hedonism, fulfilling everyday desires, but to acting in response to that calling. According to Lon Milo DuQuette, a Thelemite is anyone who bases their actions on striving to discover and accomplish their true will, when a person does their True Will, it is like an orbit, their niche in the universal order, and the universe assists them:
But the Magician knows that the pure Will of every man and every woman is already in perfect harmony with the divine Will; in fact, they are one and the same.
For the individual to follow their True Will, the everyday self's socially instilled inhibitions may have to be overcome via deconditioning. Crowley believed that to discover the True Will, one had to free the desires of the subconscious mind from the control of the conscious mind, especially the restrictions placed on sexual expression, which he associated with the power of divine creation. He identified the True Will of each individual with the Holy Guardian Angel, a daimon unique to each individual. The spiritual quest to find what you are meant to do and do it is also known in Thelema as the Great Work.
=== Ethics ===
Liber AL vel Legis makes some standards of individual conduct clear. The primary of these is "Do what thou wilt", which is presented as the sum of the law and a right. Some interpreters of Thelema believe that this right includes an obligation to allow others to do their own wills without interference, but Liber AL vel Legis makes no clear statement on the matter. Crowley himself wrote that there was no need to detail the ethics of Thelema for everything springs from "Do what thou Wilt". Crowley wrote several additional documents presenting his personal beliefs regarding individual conduct in light of the Law of Thelema, some of which indeed address the topic interference with the will of others: Liber OZ, Duty, and Liber II.
Liber OZ enumerates some of the individual's rights implied by the overarching right, "Do what thou wilt". For every individual, these include the right to "live by one's own law"; "live in the way that one wills to do"; "work, play, and rest as one will"; "die when and how one will"; "eat and drink what one will"; "live where one will"; "move about the earth as one will"; "think, speak, write, draw, paint, carve, etch, mould, build, and dress as one will"; "love when, where and with whom one will"; and "kill those who would thwart these rights".
Duty is described as "A note on the chief rules of practical conduct to be observed by those who accept the Law of Thelema." It is not a numbered "Liber" as the other documents Crowley intended for A∴A∴; instead, it is listed as a document explicitly intended for Ordo Templi Orientis. There are four sections:
A. Your Duty to Self: Describes the self as the center of the universe, with a call to learn about one's inner nature. Admonishes the reader to develop every faculty in a balanced way, establish one's autonomy, and devote oneself to the service of one's own True Will.
B. Your Duty to Others: An admonishment to eliminate the illusion of separateness between oneself and all others, to fight when necessary, to avoid interfering with the Wills of others, to enlighten others when needed, and to worship the divine nature of all other beings.
C. Your Duty to Mankind: States that the Law of Thelema should be the sole basis of conduct and that the laws of the land should aim to secure the greatest liberty for all individuals. Crime is described as being a violation of one's True Will.
D. Your Duty to All Other Beings and Things: States that the Law of Thelema should be applied to all problems and used to decide every ethical question. It violates the Law of Thelema to use any animal or object for a purpose for which it is unfit or to ruin things that are useless for their purpose. Man can use natural resources, but this should not be done wantonly, or the breach of the law will be avenged.
In Liber II: The Message of the Master Therion, the Law of Thelema is summarized briefly as "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else." Crowley describes the pursuit of True Will as not merely detaching from possible results but also involving tireless energy. It is Nirvana but in a dynamic rather than static form. The True Will is described as the individual's orbit, and if one seeks to do anything else, one will encounter obstacles, as doing anything other than the Will is a hindrance to it.
== Practice ==
The core of Thelemic thought is "Do what thou wilt". However, beyond this, there exists a wide range of interpretation of Thelema. Modern Thelema is a syncretic philosophy and religion, and many Thelemites try to avoid strongly dogmatic thinking. Crowley emphasized that each individual should follow their own inherent "True Will", rather than blindly following his teachings, saying he did not wish to found a flock of sheep. Thus, contemporary Thelemites may practice more than one religion, including Wicca, Gnosticism, Satanism, Setianism and Luciferianism. Many adherents of Thelema recognize correlations between Thelemic and other systems of spiritual thought; most borrow freely from the methods and practices of other traditions, including alchemy, astrology, qabalah, tantra, tarot divination and yoga. For example, Nu and Had are thought to correspond with the Tao and Teh of Taoism, Shakti and Shiva of the Hindu Tantras, Shunyata and Bodhicitta of Buddhism, Ain Soph and Kether in the Hermetic Qabalah.
=== Magick ===
Thelemic magick is a system of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises which practitioners believe are of benefit. Crowley defined magick as "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will", and spelled it with a 'k' to distinguish it from stage magic. He recommended magick as a means for discovering the True Will. Generally, magical practices in Thelema are designed to assist in finding and manifesting the True Will, although some include celebratory aspects as well. Crowley believed that after discovering the True Will, the magician must also remove any elements of himself that stand in the way of its success.
Crowley was a prolific writer, integrating Eastern practices with Western magical practices from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. He recommended a number of these practices to his followers, including: basic yoga (asana and pranayama); rituals of his own devising or based on those of the Golden Dawn, such as the lesser ritual of the pentagram, for banishing and invocation; Liber Samekh, a ritual for the invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; eucharistic rituals such as the Gnostic Mass and The Mass of the Phoenix; and Liber Resh, consisting of four daily adorations to the sun. He also discussed sex magick and sexual gnosis in various forms involving masturbation and sexual intercourse between heterosexual and homosexual partners; practices which are among his suggestions for those in the higher degrees of Ordo Templi Orientis.
One goal in the study of Thelema within the magical Order of the A∴A∴ is for the magician to obtain the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel: conscious communication with their own personal daimon, thus gaining knowledge of their True Will. The chief task for one who has achieved this goes by the name of "crossing the abyss"; completely relinquishing the ego. If the aspirant is unprepared, he will cling to the ego instead, becoming a Black Brother. According to Crowley, the Black Brother slowly disintegrates, while preying on others for his own self-aggrandisement.
Crowley taught skeptical examination of all results obtained through meditation or magick, at least for the student. He tied this to the necessity of keeping a magical record or diary, that attempts to list all conditions of the event. Remarking on the similarity of statements made by spiritually advanced people of their experiences, he said that fifty years from his time they would have a scientific name based on "an understanding of the phenomenon" to replace such terms as "spiritual" or "supernatural". Crowley stated that his work and that of his followers used "the method of science; the aim of religion", and that the genuine powers of the magician could in some way be objectively tested. This idea has been taken on by later practitioners of Thelema. They may consider that they are testing hypotheses with each magical experiment. The difficulty lies in the broadness of their definition of success, in which they may see as evidence of success things which a non-magician would not define as such, leading to confirmation bias. Crowley believed he could demonstrate, by his own example, the effectiveness of magick in producing certain subjective experiences that do not ordinarily result from taking hashish, enjoying oneself in Paris, or walking through the Sahara desert. It is not strictly necessary to practice ritual techniques to be a Thelemite, as due to the focus of Thelemic magick on the True Will, Crowley stated "every intentional act is a magickal act."
=== Gnostic Mass ===
Crowley wrote 'The Gnostic Mass' — technically called Liber XV or "Book 15" — in 1913 while travelling in Moscow, Russia. The structure is similar to the Mass of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church, communicating the principles of Thelema. It is the central rite of Ordo Templi Orientis and its ecclesiastical arm, Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.
=== Holidays ===
The Book of the Law gives several holy days to be observed by Thelemites. There are no established or dogmatic ways to celebrate these days, so as a result Thelemites will often take to their own devices or celebrate in groups, especially within Ordo Templi Orientis. These holy days are usually observed on the following dates:
March 20. The Feast of the Supreme Ritual, which celebrates the Invocation of Horus, the ritual performed by Crowley on this date in 1904 that inaugurated the New Aeon.
March 20/March 21. The Equinox of the Gods, which is commonly referred to as the Thelemic New Year (although some celebrate the New Year on April 8). Although the equinox and the Invocation of Horus often fall on the same day, they are often treated as two different events. This date is the Autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
April 8 through April 10. The Feast of the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law. These three days are commemorative of the three days in the year 1904 during which Aleister Crowley wrote The Book of the Law. One chapter was written each day, the first being written on April 8, the second on April 9, and the third on April 10. Although there is no official way of celebrating any Thelemic holiday, this particular feast day is usually celebrated by reading the corresponding chapter on each of the three days, usually at noon.
June 20/June 21. The Summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
August 12. The Feast of the Prophet and His Bride. This holiday commemorates the marriage of Aleister Crowley and his first wife Rose Edith Crowley. Rose was a key figure in the writing of The Book of the Law.
September 22/September 23. The Autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and the Vernal Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere.
December 21/December 22. The Winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Feast for Life, celebrated at the birth of a Thelemite and on birthdays.
The Feast for Fire/The Feast for Water. These feast days are usually taken as being when a child hits puberty and steps unto the path of adulthood. The Feast for Fire is celebrated for a male, and the Feast for Water for a female.
The Feast for Death, celebrated on the death of a Thelemite and on the anniversary of their death. Crowley's Death is celebrated on December 1.
=== Greetings ===
The number 93 is of great significance in Thelema. The central philosophy of Thelema is in two phrases from Liber AL: "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" and "love is the law, love under will". Crowley urged their use in everyday communications, and himself used them to greet people. Today, rather than using the full phrases, Thelemites often use numerological abbreviations to shorten these greeting in informal contexts, a practice Crowley also applied in his informal written correspondences. The two primary terms in these statements are 'will' and 'love', respectively. Using the Greek technique of isopsephy, which applies a numerical value to each letter, the letters of words thelema ('will') and agape ('love') each sum to 93:
Thelema: Θελημα = 9 + 5 + 30 + 8 + 40 + 1 = 93
Agapé: Αγαπη = 1 + 3 + 1 + 80 + 8 = 93
In this way, the first phrase is abbreviated to "93" while the second is abbreviated to "93 93/93", with the division "93/93" symbolizing love "under" will.
== Post-Crowley developments ==
Aleister Crowley was highly prolific and wrote on the subject of Thelema for over 35 years, and many of his books remain in print. During his time, there were several others who wrote on the subject, including U.S. O.T.O. Grand Master Charles Stansfeld Jones, whose works on Qabalah are still in print, and Major-General J. F. C. Fuller. Subsequent to Crowley, a number of figures have made significant contributions to Thelema. Each has their own following within the broader Thelemic community.
=== Major orders ===
The Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) adopted The Book of the Law as its central scripture in the 1920s.
The A∴A∴—co-founded by Crowley and George Cecil Jones in 1906—was established to teach the graded system of attainment spelled out in The Equinox.
=== Jack Parsons ===
John Whiteside Parsons (1914–1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Parsons converted to Thelema, and together with his first wife, Helen Northrup, joined the Agape Lodge, the Californian branch of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), in 1941. At Crowley's bidding, Parsons replaced Wilfred Talbot Smith as its leader in 1942 and ran the Lodge from his mansion on Orange Grove Boulevard.
Parsons identified four obstacles that prevented humans from achieving and performing their True Will, all of which he connected with fear: the fear of incompetence, the fear of the opinion of others, the fear of hurting others, and the fear of insecurity. He insisted that these must be overcome, writing that "The Will must be freed of its fetters. The ruthless examination and destruction of taboos, complexes, frustrations, dislikes, fears and disgusts hostile to the Will is essential to progress."
The project was based on the ideas of Crowley, and his description of a similar project in his 1917 novel Moonchild. The rituals performed drew largely upon rituals and sex magic described by Crowley. Crowley was in correspondence with Parsons during the course of the Babalon Working, and warned Parsons of his potential overreactions to the magic he was performing, while simultaneously deriding Parsons' work to others.
A brief text entitled Liber 49, self-referenced within the text as The Book of Babalon, was written by Jack Parsons as a transmission from the goddess or force called 'Babalon' received by him during the Babalon Working. Parsons wrote that Liber 49 constituted a fourth chapter of Crowley's Liber AL Vel Legis (The Book of the Law), the holy text of Thelema.
=== Kenneth Grant ===
Kenneth Grant (1924–2011) was an English ceremonial magician and advocate of the Thelemic religion. A poet, novelist, and writer, he founded his own Thelemic organisation, the Typhonian Ordo Templi Orientis—later renamed the Typhonian Order—with his wife Steffi Grant.
Grant drew eclectically on a range of sources in devising his teachings. Although based in Thelema, Grant's Typhonian tradition has been described as "a bricolage of occultism, Neo-Vedanta, Hindu tantra, Western sexual magic, Surrealism, ufology and Lovecraftian gnosis". Grant promoted what he termed the Typhonian or Draconian tradition of magic, and wrote that Thelema was only a recent manifestation of this wider tradition. In his books, he portrayed the Typhonian tradition as the world's oldest spiritual tradition, writing that it had ancient roots in Africa. The religious studies scholar Gordan Djurdjevic noted that Grant's historical claims regarding Typhonian history were "at best highly speculative" and lacked any supporting evidence; however he also suggested that Grant may never have intended these claims to be taken literally.
Grant wrote that Indian spiritual traditions like Tantra and Yoga correlate to Western esoteric traditions and that both stem from a core ancient source and have parallels in the perennial philosophy promoted by the Traditionalist School of esotericists. He believed that by mastering magic, one masters this illusory universe, gaining personal liberation and recognising that only the Self really exists. Doing so, according to Grant, leads to the discovery of one's True Will, the central focus of Thelema. Grant further wrote that the realm of the Self was known as 'the Mauve Zone', and that it could be reached while in a state of deep sleep, where it has the symbolic appearance of a swamp. He also believed that the reality of consciousness, which he deemed the only true reality, was formless and thus presented as a void, although he also taught that it was symbolised by the Hindu goddess Kali and the Thelemic goddess Nuit.
Grant's views on sex magic drew heavily on the importance of sexual dimorphism among humans and the subsequent differentiation of gender roles. Grant taught that the true secret of sex magic were bodily secretions, the most important of which was a woman's menstrual blood. In this he differed from Crowley, who viewed semen as the most important genital secretion. Grant referred to female sexual secretions as kalas, a term adopted from Sanskrit. He thought that because women have kalas, they have oracular and visionary powers. The magical uses of female genital secretions are a recurring theme in Grant's writings.
=== James Lees ===
James Lees (August 22, 1939 - 2015) was an English ceremonial magician known for creating the system he called English Qaballa. In November 1976, Lees explained how he had discovered the "order & value of the English Alphabet." Following this, Lees founded the order O∴A∴A∴ in order to assist others in the pursuit of their own spiritual paths. The first public report of the system known as English Qaballa (EQ) was published in 1979 by Ray Sherwin in an editorial in the final issue of his journal, The New Equinox. Lees subsequently assumed the role of publisher of The New Equinox and, starting in 1981, published additional material about the EQ system over the course of five issues of the journal, extending into 1982.
The "order & value" proposed by James Lees lays the letters out on the grid superimposed on the page of manuscript of Liber AL on which this verse (Ch. III, v. 47) appears (sheet 16 of Chapter III). Also appearing on this page are a diagonal line and a circled cross. The Book of the Law states that the book should only be printed with Crowley's hand-written version included, suggesting that there are mysteries in the "chance shape of the letters and their position to one another" of Crowley's handwriting. Whichever top-left to bottom-right diagonal is read the magical order of the letters is obtained.
Little, if any, further material on English Qaballa was published until the appearance of Jake Stratton-Kent's book, The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187, in 2011. This was followed in 2016 by The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer by Cath Thompson. An account of the creation, exploration, and continuing research and development of the system up to 2010, by James Lees and members of his group in England, is detailed in her 2018 book, All This and a Book.
=== Nema Andahadna ===
Nema Andahadna (1939–2018) practiced and wrote about magick (magical working, as defined by Aleister Crowley) for over thirty years. In 1974, she said she had channelled a short book called Liber Pennae Praenumbra.
From her experience with Thelemic magick, she developed her own system of magic called "Maat Magick" which has the aim of transforming the human race. In 1979, she co-founded the Horus-Maat Lodge. The Lodge and her ideas have been featured in the writings of Kenneth Grant.
Her writings have appeared in many publications, including the Cincinnati Journal of Ceremonial Magick, Aeon, and Starfire. According to Donald Michael Kraig:
Nema has been one of the most influential occultists of the last quarter century although most occultists have never read her works. What Nema has done is influence those who have been writers and teachers. They, in turn, influenced the rest of us. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Switzerland | Flag of Switzerland | The national flag of Switzerland displays a white Greek cross in the center of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross or the federal cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6. The size of the cross in relation to the field was set in 2017 as 5:8. Alongside the flag of Vatican City, the Swiss flag is one of only two square national flags in the world.
The white cross has been used as the field sign (attached to the clothing of combatants and to the cantonal war flags in the form of strips of linen) of the Old Swiss Confederacy since its formation in the late 13th or early 14th century. Its symbolism was described by the Swiss Federal Council in 1889 as representing "at the same the Christian cross symbol and the field sign of the Old Confederacy". As a national ensign, it was first used during the Napoleonic Wars by general Niklaus Franz von Bachmann, and as regimental flag of all cantonal troops from 1841. The federal coat of arms (eidgenössisches Wappen) was defined in 1815 for the Restored Confederacy as the white-on-red Swiss cross in a heraldic shield. The current design was used together with a cross composed of five squares until 1889, when its dimensions were officially set.
The civil and state ensign of Switzerland, used by Swiss ships, boats and non-governmental bodies, is rectangular in shape and has the more common proportions of 2:3, Swiss law also specifies 2:3 proportions for flags displayed on Swiss registered aircraft. The emblem of the Red Cross is the Swiss flag with switched colours.
== Design ==
According to the 2017 flag law (SR 232.21), "the Swiss flag shows a Swiss cross on a square background". Special provisions are made for the naval ensign and for civil aircraft identification. The Swiss cross is defined as
"a white, upright, free-standing cross depicted against a red background, whose arms, which are all of equal size, are one-sixth longer than they are wide."
Swiss Standard German consistently uses Fahne (cognate with vane) rather than the term Flagge used for national flags in Germany. The name of the flag of the Swiss Confederation is a nominal compound, Schweizerfahne.
The flag is emblazoned in English as, "Gules, a cross coupée argent."
=== Proportions ===
While the proportions of the cross have been fixed since 1889, the size of the cross relative to the flag (the width of the margin separating the cross couped from the edge of the flag) had not been officially fixed prior to 2017.
The annex to the flag law provides an image specifying that the margin is to be of the same width as the cross arms, so that the total height of the cross is fixed at 20:32 = 5:8 of the height of the flag (in other words, the width of the margin is 6:32 = 3:16). This ratio is also given as a "vexillological recommendation" in the flag regulation used by the Swiss Armed Forces. Flags with a cross of larger relative widths than the prescribed 20:32 = 62.5% remain in wide use; common ratios include 20:26 ≈ 76.9%
and 20:28 ≈ 71.4%.
For the ensign, the ratio of the size of the cross to the height is likewise 5:8, so that the ratio of cross to flag width is 5:12.
=== Colors ===
The shade of red used in the flag was not defined by law prior to 2017. Since then, the colour of the flag is defined as pure red, with the colour values as follows:
== History ==
=== Middle Ages ===
The ultimate origin of the white cross is attributed by three competing legends: to the Theban Legion, to the Reichssturmfahne (Imperial War Banner) attested from the 12th century, and to the Arma Christi that were especially venerated in the three forest cantons, and which they were allegedly allowed to display on the formerly uniformly red battle flag from 1289 by King Rudolph I of Habsburg at the occasion of a campaign to Besançon.
Use of a white cross as a mark of identification of the combined troops of the Old Swiss Confederacy is first attested in the Battle of Laupen (1339), where it was sewn on combatants' clothing as two stripes of textile, contrasting with the red Saint George's Cross of Habsburg Austria, and with the Saint Andrew's Cross used by Burgundy and Maximilian I.
The first flag used as a field sign representing the confederacy rather than the individual cantons may have been used in the Battle of Arbedo in 1422 (notably without the participation of the Canton of Schwyz). This was a triangular red flag with an elongated white cross.
The white cross was thus in origin a field mark attached to combatants for identification, and later also to cantonal flags.
The Lucerne chronicle of 1513, in battle scenes of the Burgundy Wars of the 1470s shows cantonal flags with an added white cross.
In this context, the solid-red war flag of Schwyz with the addition of the white cross appears much like the later flag of Switzerland.
Other depictions in the illustrated chronicles show a flag of Schwyz with an asymmetrical white cross, drawn in greater detail.
The symbol of the confederation as it developed during 1450-1520 was thus the white cross itself, not necessarily in a red field, but attached to existing flags, so that it appeared before a red background in those cantonal flags that contained red, notably the solid-red flag of Schwyz.
=== Early modern ===
The first explicit mention of a separate flag representing the Confederacy dates to 1540, in the context of an auxiliary force sent by the Swiss to aid their associate, the city of Rottweil, in a feud against the lords of Landenberg.
The Tagsatzung decided that the Swiss auxiliaries sent to Rottweil should receive "a red flag with a white upright cross".
The first mention of the term Confederate Cross (Eidgenossen Crütz) dates to 1533.
Because of the Swiss pledge of neutrality, there was no military conflict in which the Swiss confederate troops participated after 1540. Consequently, the confederate field sign fell out of use.
At the same time, the former field sign develops into a representation of the Confederacy during this time, without achieving the full status as official heraldic emblem.
The cross is shown as a symbol of the Swiss Confederacy on the Patenmedallie cast by Jacob Stampfer and given by the Confederacy as a baptismal gift to Princess Claude of France in 1547.
The cross appears on similar medals and on throughout the early modern period, but most symbolic depictions of the Confederacy in the 17th century do without the federal cross.
Beginning in the later 16th century, forces of the individual cantons adopted a type of flag which was based on a white cross design. These flags usually showed a white cross drawn to the edge of the field in front of a background striped in the respective cantonal colours. From this type, the flammé military flag develops in the 17th century, which also came to be used by Swiss mercenary regiments by the end of the 17th century.
The flammé design remained popular for military flags of the 18th and 19th centuries. A flammé flag was introduced as ordonnance for the Bernese troops in 1703.
=== Napoleonic period and Restored Confederacy ===
After the French invasion of Swiss territory in 1798 and the subsequent collapse of the Confederation, the authorities of the newly proclaimed Helvetic Republic confiscated all earlier flags, replacing them with a green-red-yellow tricolour.
General Niklaus Franz von Bachmann used the white cross in a red field his campaigns of 1800 and 1815.
The term Schweizer-Fahne (later spelling Schweizerfahne) is in use for the flag from this time,
recorded in a poem on the Battle of Näfels by one J. Hottinger published in 1808.
The Tagsatzung (Swiss Diet) re-introduced the white cross in the red field for the seal of the Confederacy in 1814.
The commission for drafting a federal constitution on 16 May 1814 recommended the adoption of a seal of the Confederacy based on the "field sign of the old Swiss".
On 4 July 1815, the Diet accepted the design of the commission, adopted as the provisional seal
described as "in the center, the federal red shield with the white cross as common federal heraldic emblem, surrounded by a simple circular Gothic ornament, on the outside of which the inscription 'Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft' with the year number MDCCCXV, and in an outer circle all XXII cantonal coat of arms in circular fields, according to their federal order of precedence; around all, a simple wreath".
This decision remained in force after the formation of the federal state in 1848, as was recognized by the Federal Council in 1889.
As opposed to the definition of an official seal or coat of arms, it was not, at the time, usual to specify a "national flag".
However, the white cross in a red field had seen frequent use on flags flown by private organizations during the Regeneration period (1830s), especially shooting, singing and gymnastics associations which at the time were a pool for progressive or "radical" agitation.
The canton of Aargau introduced the flag for its troops in 1833.
General Guillaume-Henri Dufour proposed use of the flag for all federal forces in 1839.
The Tagsatzung on 2 September 1839 passed a resolution prescribing the use of a unified flag design for all cantonal infantry regiments. In a first circular sent to the cantonal authorities, the flag was described as a red flag with a cross touching the edges, but in 1841, the Tagsatzung opted for a proposal by Carl Stauffer, which was announced to the cantons on 11 October 1841. The 1841 flag shows a bold cross suspended in the center of the square field. The proportions of the cross arm are 1:1, i.e. the cross is composed of five squares. The absolute width of the flag is given as 4.5 feet (105 cm), that of the cross as 3 feet (90 cm),
for a ratio of cross to flag width of 2:3 ≈ 66.7% (as opposed to the modern 5:8 = 62.5%).
The specifications include the flag pole and the ribbon with the cantonal colours attached to the pole (the example depicted is the flag of the Zürich battalion). The flag itself is described as of good silk cloth, four feet five inches squared, scarlet, in the center a white cross, arms measuring one foot by three feet.
=== Modern Switzerland ===
The Swiss constitution of 1848 did not name a national flag, but it prescribes the federal flag for all federal troops.
The last flammé flags still used by Landwehr units were replaced by the modern design in 1865.
In November 1889, the Federal Council published a "communication regarding the federal coat of arms", detailing the history of the use of the Swiss cross since the 15th century.
Seals produced from 1815 onward, and cantonal coins minted from 1826 showed the arms of the cross in the 7:6 length to width ratio. Later in the 19th century, there was a trend of depicting the cross as composed of five equal squares.
The two competing designs were controversially discussed in the late 19th century, especially after the introduction of the
new design for the five franks coin, which showed the Swiss coat of arms in a Baroque-style heraldic shield.
The Federal Council in 1889 introduced the 7:6 ratio as official. The associated communication explains that
"our heraldic cross is not a mathematical figure, but at the same the Christian cross symbol and the field sign of the Old Confederacy". The 1889 law explicitly avoids specification of the shape of the shield, which was to be left to the "tastes of the current time and practical necessity".
The proposed legislation defining the Swiss federal coat of arms was passed on 12 December 1889 (SR 111).
The rectangular variant of the flag is used as a naval ensign only, officially introduced with a federal law passed 23 September 1953.
The current flag law of the Swiss Confederacy is the Wappenschutzgesetz (WSchG, SR 232.21) of 2013 (in force since 2017).
This law replaced the flag law of 1931 (last revised in 2008).
The 2013 law for the first time defines both the Swiss flag and the Swiss coat of arms based on an image, declared as authoritative in the text.
== Use in Switzerland ==
=== Private use ===
The flag is flown around the year from private and commercial buildings as a display of patriotism, particularly in rural areas and often together with the cantonal and municipal flag. On Swiss National Day, 1 August, the streets and buildings are traditionally festooned in celebration with Swiss flags and banners.
Prominent display of the Swiss flag on clothing and apparel has become more frequent with the "Swissness" fashion trend in the first decade of the 21st century, while such use of the flag had previously been largely limited to conservative and right-wing circles. The flag and coat of arms are also often used (frequently in contravention of federal law, see below) as design elements on merchandise, particularly on high-quality goods or on merchandise aimed at tourists; for example, the emblem of Victorinox, manufacturer of Swiss Army knives and the sole purveyor of these knives to the Swiss army, is based on the Swiss coat of arms.
=== Official use ===
The display of the flag on federal, cantonal and municipal public buildings follows no uniform pattern or regulation. Many public buildings are equipped with flag posts (most often one each for the federal, cantonal and municipal flag), but the flag(s) may only be flown during part of the year or only on National Day. In Bern, the flag is flown on the cupola of the Federal Palace while the Federal Assembly is in session.
=== Legal protection ===
Destruction, removal or desecration of a Swiss, cantonal or municipal flag or coat of arms that has been installed by a public authority is punishable by a monetary penalty or imprisonment of up to three years according to the federal penal code.
The commercial use of the Swiss cross, Swiss flag or Swiss coat of arms was technically prohibited by the 1931 Federal Act for the protection of public coats of arms and other public insignia, but that prohibition was not enforced. Increasing commercial use of the Swiss coat of arms prompted a number of federal regulations, dubbed "Swissness regulation" (Swissness-Verordnung), in force since 2017. The "Coat of Arms Protection Act" of 2017 (Wappenschutzgesetz, Loi sur la protection des armoiries, SR 232.21) now prohibits the commercial use of the Swiss coat of arms (defined as "a Swiss cross in a triangular shield"). Use of the Swiss flag is generally permitted with the provision that such use "is neither misleading nor contrary to public policy, morality or applicable law". Provisions are made for a "right to continued use" for trademarks registered before 2010.
== Influence ==
The Red Cross symbol used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, a red cross on white background, was the original protection symbol declared at the first Geneva Convention, the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field of 1864. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross the design was based on the Swiss flag by reversing of the colours of that flag, in order to honour Switzerland, where the first Geneva Convention was held, and its inventor and co-founder, the Swiss Henry Dunant.
The modern banner of the Pontifical Swiss Guard was designed in 1912–14 by commander Jules Repond. The design has a Swiss cross design based on the 18th-century regimental flags of the Swiss Guards, with the papal coat of arms of the reigning pope in the upper hoist and the Della Rovere coat of arms of Julius II in the lower fly, and a vignette with the commander's coat of arms in the centre. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon | Nuclear weapon | A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter.
Nuclear weapons have had yields between 10 tons (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). Yields in the low kilotons can devastate cities. A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as 600 pounds (270 kg) can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatons of TNT (5.0 PJ). Apart from the blast, effects of nuclear weapons include extreme heat and ionizing radiation, firestorms, radioactive nuclear fallout, an electromagnetic pulse, and a radar blackout.
The first nuclear weapons were developed by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada during World War II in the Manhattan Project. Production requires a large scientific and industrial complex, primarily for the production of fissile material, either from nuclear reactors with reprocessing plants or from uranium enrichment facilities. Nuclear weapons have been used twice in war, in the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people. Nuclear deterrence, including mutually assured destruction, aims to prevent nuclear warfare via the threat of unacceptable damage and the danger of escalation to nuclear holocaust. A nuclear arms race for weapons and their delivery systems was a defining component of the Cold War.
Strategic nuclear weapons are targeted against civilian, industrial, and military infrastructure, while tactical nuclear weapons are intended for battlefield use. Strategic weapons led to the development of dedicated intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missile, and nuclear strategic bombers, collectively known as the nuclear triad. Tactical weapons options have included shorter-range ground-, air-, and sea-launched missiles, nuclear artillery, atomic demolition munitions, nuclear torpedoes, and nuclear depth charges, but they have become less salient since the end of the Cold War.
As of 2025, there are nine countries on the list of states with nuclear weapons, and six more agree to nuclear sharing. Roughly 40 countries have defense policies linked to nuclear armament, through NATO membership or agreements with other nuclear powers. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, and their control is a focus of international security through measures to prevent nuclear proliferation, arms control, or nuclear disarmament. The total from all stockpiles peaked at over 64,000 weapons in 1986, and is around 9,600 today. Key international agreements and organizations include the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and nuclear-weapon-free zones.
== Testing and deployment ==
Nuclear weapons have only twice been used in warfare, both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II. On August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) detonated a uranium gun-type fission bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over the Japanese city of Hiroshima; three days later, on August 9, the USAAF detonated a plutonium implosion-type fission bomb nicknamed "Fat Man" over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. These bombings caused injuries that resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel. The ethics of these bombings and their role in Japan's surrender are to this day, still subjects of debate.
Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons have been detonated over 2,000 times for testing and demonstration. Only a few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and acknowledge possessing them—are (chronologically by date of first test) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Israel is believed to possess nuclear weapons, though, in a policy of deliberate ambiguity, it does not acknowledge having them. Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Belarus are nuclear weapons sharing states. South Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons.
On the October 30, 2025, US President Donald Trump called for renewed nuclear weapons testing in order to keep pace with other nuclear armed states such as Russia and China, but did not make clear whether he referred to nuclear explosive testing or testing of delivery systems for nuclear warheads.
== Types ==
There are two basic types of nuclear weapons: those that derive the majority of their energy from nuclear fission reactions alone, and those that use fission reactions to begin nuclear fusion reactions that produce a large amount of the total energy output.
=== Fission weapons ===
All existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as atomic bombs or atom bombs (abbreviated as A-bombs). This has long been noted as something of a misnomer, as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom, just as it does with fusion weapons.
In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material (enriched uranium or plutonium) is forced into supercriticality—allowing an exponential growth of nuclear chain reactions—either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another (the "gun" method) or by compression of a sub-critical sphere or cylinder of fissile material using chemically fueled explosive lenses. The latter approach, the "implosion" method, is more sophisticated and more efficient (smaller, less massive, and requiring less of the expensive fissile fuel) than the former.
A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons (500 kilotons) of TNT (4.2 to 2.1×106 GJ).
All fission reactions generate fission products, the remains of the split atomic nuclei. Many fission products are either highly radioactive (but short-lived) or moderately radioactive (but long-lived), and as such, they are a serious form of radioactive contamination. Fission products are the principal radioactive component of nuclear fallout. Another source of radioactivity is the burst of free neutrons produced by the weapon. When they collide with other nuclei in the surrounding material, the neutrons transmute those nuclei into other isotopes, altering their stability and making them radioactive.
The most commonly used fissile materials for nuclear weapons applications have been uranium-235 and plutonium-239. Less commonly used has been uranium-233. Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium may be usable for nuclear explosives as well, but it is not clear that this has ever been implemented, and their plausible use in nuclear weapons is a matter of dispute.
=== Fusion weapons ===
The other basic type of nuclear weapon produces a large proportion of its energy in nuclear fusion reactions. Such fusion weapons are generally referred to as thermonuclear weapons or more colloquially as hydrogen bombs (abbreviated as H-bombs), as they rely on fusion reactions between isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium). All such weapons derive a significant portion of their energy from fission reactions used to "trigger" fusion reactions, and fusion reactions can themselves trigger additional fission reactions.
Only six countries—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, France, and India—have conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. Whether India has detonated a "true" multi-staged thermonuclear weapon is controversial. North Korea claims to have tested a fusion weapon as of January 2016, though this claim is disputed. Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more difficult to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it results in an explosion hundreds of times stronger than that of a fission bomb of similar weight.
Thermonuclear bombs work by using the energy of a fission bomb to compress and heat fusion fuel. In the Teller-Ulam design, which accounts for all multi-megaton yield hydrogen bombs, this is accomplished by placing a fission bomb and fusion fuel (tritium, deuterium, or lithium deuteride) in proximity within a special, radiation-reflecting container. When the fission bomb is detonated, gamma rays and X-rays emitted first compress the fusion fuel, then heat it to thermonuclear temperatures. The ensuing fusion reaction creates enormous numbers of high-speed neutrons, which can then induce fission in materials not normally prone to it, such as depleted uranium. Each of these components is known as a "stage", with the fission bomb as the "primary" and the fusion capsule as the "secondary". In large, megaton-range hydrogen bombs, about half of the yield comes from the final fissioning of depleted uranium.
Virtually all thermonuclear weapons deployed today use this "two-stage" design, but it is possible to add additional fusion stages—each stage igniting a larger amount of fusion fuel in the next stage. This technique can be used to construct thermonuclear weapons of arbitrarily large yield. This is in contrast to fission bombs, which are limited in their explosive power due to criticality danger (premature nuclear chain reaction caused by too-large amounts of pre-assembled fissile fuel). The largest nuclear weapon ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba of the USSR, which released an energy equivalent of over 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), was a three-stage weapon. Most thermonuclear weapons are considerably smaller than this, due to practical constraints from missile warhead space and weight requirements. In the early 1950s the Livermore Laboratory in the United States had plans for the testing of two massive bombs, Gnomon and Sundial, 1 gigaton of TNT and 10 gigatons of TNT respectively.
Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less to the creation of nuclear fallout than fission reactions, but because all thermonuclear weapons contain at least one fission stage, and many high-yield thermonuclear devices have a final fission stage, thermonuclear weapons can generate at least as much nuclear fallout as fission-only weapons. Furthermore, high yield thermonuclear explosions (most dangerously ground bursts) have the force to lift radioactive debris upwards past the tropopause into the stratosphere, where the calm non-turbulent winds permit the debris to travel great distances from the burst, eventually settling and unpredictably contaminating areas far removed from the target of the explosion.
=== Other types ===
There are other types of nuclear weapons as well. For example, a boosted fission weapon is a fission bomb that increases its explosive yield through a small number of fusion reactions, but it is not a fusion bomb. In the boosted bomb, the neutrons produced by the fusion reactions serve primarily to increase the efficiency of the fission bomb. There are two types of boosted fission bomb: internally boosted, in which a deuterium-tritium mixture is injected into the bomb core, and externally boosted, in which concentric shells of lithium-deuteride and depleted uranium are layered on the outside of the fission bomb core. The external method of boosting enabled the USSR to field the first partially thermonuclear weapons, but it is now obsolete because it demands a spherical bomb geometry, which was adequate during the 1950s arms race when bomber aircraft were the only available delivery vehicles.
The detonation of any nuclear weapon is accompanied by a blast of neutron radiation. Surrounding a nuclear weapon with suitable materials (such as cobalt or gold) creates a weapon known as a salted bomb. This device can produce exceptionally large quantities of long-lived radioactive contamination. It has been conjectured that such a device could serve as a "doomsday weapon" because such a large quantity of radioactivities with half-lives of decades, lifted into the stratosphere where winds would distribute it around the globe, would make all life on the planet extinct.
In connection with the Strategic Defense Initiative, research into the nuclear pumped laser was conducted under the DOD program Project Excalibur but this did not result in a working weapon. The concept involves the tapping of the energy of an exploding nuclear bomb to power a single-shot laser that is directed at a distant target.
During the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test in 1962, an unexpected effect was produced which is called a nuclear electromagnetic pulse. This is an intense flash of electromagnetic energy produced by a rain of high-energy electrons which in turn are produced by a nuclear bomb's gamma rays. This flash of energy can permanently destroy or disrupt electronic equipment if insufficiently shielded. It has been proposed to use this effect to disable an enemy's military and civilian infrastructure as an adjunct to other nuclear or conventional military operations. By itself it could as well be useful to terrorists for crippling a nation's economic electronics-based infrastructure. Because the effect is most effectively produced by high altitude nuclear detonations (by military weapons delivered by air, though ground bursts also produce EMP effects over a localized area), it can produce damage to electronics over a wide, even continental, geographical area.
Research has been done into the possibility of pure fusion bombs: nuclear weapons that consist of fusion reactions without requiring a fission bomb to initiate them. Such a device might provide a simpler path to thermonuclear weapons than one that required the development of fission weapons first, and pure fusion weapons would create significantly less nuclear fallout than other thermonuclear weapons because they would not disperse fission products. In 1998, the United States Department of Energy divulged that the United States had, "...made a substantial investment" in the past to develop pure fusion weapons, but that, "The U.S. does not have and is not developing a pure fusion weapon", and that, "No credible design for a pure fusion weapon resulted from the DOE investment".
Nuclear isomers provide a possible pathway to fissionless fusion bombs. These are naturally occurring isotopes (178m2Hf being a prominent example) which exist in an elevated energy state. Mechanisms to release this energy as bursts of gamma radiation (as in the hafnium controversy) have been proposed as possible triggers for conventional thermonuclear reactions.
Antimatter, which consists of particles resembling ordinary matter particles in most of their properties but having opposite electric charge, has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities, and there is no evidence that it is feasible beyond the military domain. However, the US Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War, and began considering its possible use in weapons, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself. A fourth generation nuclear weapon design is related to, and relies upon, the same principle as antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion.
Most variation in nuclear weapon design is for the purpose of achieving different yields for different situations, and in manipulating design elements to attempt to minimize weapon size, radiation hardness or requirements for special materials, especially fissile fuel or tritium.
==== Tactical nuclear weapons ====
Some nuclear weapons are designed for special purposes; most of these are for non-strategic (decisively war-winning) purposes and are referred to as tactical nuclear weapons.
The neutron bomb purportedly conceived by Sam Cohen is a thermonuclear weapon that yields a relatively small explosion but a relatively large amount of neutron radiation. Such a weapon could, according to tacticians, be used to cause massive biological casualties while leaving inanimate infrastructure mostly intact and creating minimal fallout. Because high energy neutrons are capable of penetrating dense matter, such as tank armor, neutron warheads were procured in the 1980s (though not deployed in Europe) for use as tactical payloads for US Army artillery shells (200 mm W79 and 155 mm W82) and short range missile forces. Soviet authorities announced similar intentions for neutron warhead deployment in Europe; indeed, they claimed to have originally invented the neutron bomb, but their deployment on USSR tactical nuclear forces is unverifiable.
A type of nuclear explosive most suitable for use by ground special forces was the Special Atomic Demolition Munition, or SADM, sometimes popularly known as a suitcase nuke. This is a nuclear bomb that is man-portable, or at least truck-portable, and though of a relatively small yield (one or two kilotons) is sufficient to destroy important tactical targets such as bridges, dams, tunnels, important military or commercial installations, etc. either behind enemy lines or pre-emptively on friendly territory soon to be overtaken by invading enemy forces. These weapons require plutonium fuel and are particularly "dirty". They also demand especially stringent security precautions in their storage and deployment.
Small "tactical" nuclear weapons were deployed for use as antiaircraft weapons. Examples include the USAF AIR-2 Genie, the AIM-26 Falcon and US Army Nike Hercules. Missile interceptors such as the Sprint and the Spartan also used small nuclear warheads (optimized to produce neutron or X-ray flux) but were for use against enemy strategic warheads.
Other small, or tactical, nuclear weapons were deployed by naval forces for use primarily as antisubmarine weapons. These included nuclear depth bombs or nuclear armed torpedoes. Nuclear mines for use on land or at sea are also possibilities.
== Weapons delivery ==
The system used to deliver a nuclear weapon to its target is an important factor affecting both nuclear weapon design and nuclear strategy. The design, development, and maintenance of delivery systems are among the most expensive parts of a nuclear weapons program; they account, for example, for 57% of the financial resources spent by the United States on nuclear weapons projects since 1940.
=== Gravity bomb ===
The simplest method for delivering a nuclear weapon is a gravity bomb dropped from aircraft; this was the method used by the United States against Japan in 1945. This method places few restrictions on the size of the weapon. It does, however, limit attack range, response time to an impending attack, and the number of weapons that a country can field at the same time. With miniaturization, nuclear bombs can be delivered by both strategic bombers and tactical fighter-bombers. This method is the primary means of nuclear weapons delivery; the majority of US nuclear warheads, for example, are free-fall gravity bombs, namely the B61, which is being improved upon to this day.
=== Missile ===
Preferable from a strategic point of view is a nuclear weapon mounted on a missile, which can use a ballistic trajectory to deliver the warhead over the horizon. Although even short-range missiles allow for a faster and less vulnerable attack, the development of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has given some nations the ability to plausibly deliver missiles anywhere on the globe with a high likelihood of success.
More advanced systems, such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), can launch multiple warheads at different targets from one missile, reducing the chance of a successful missile defense. Today, missiles are most common among systems designed for delivery of nuclear weapons. Making a warhead small enough to fit onto a missile, though, can be difficult.
=== Others ===
Tactical weapons have involved the most variety of delivery types, including not only gravity bombs and missiles but also artillery shells, land mines, and nuclear depth charges and torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare. An atomic mortar has been tested by the United States. Small, two-man portable tactical weapons (somewhat misleadingly referred to as suitcase bombs), such as the Special Atomic Demolition Munition, have been developed, although the difficulty of combining sufficient yield with portability limits their military utility.
== Nuclear strategy ==
Nuclear warfare strategy is a set of policies that deal with preventing or fighting a nuclear war. The policy of trying to prevent an attack by a nuclear weapon from another country by threatening nuclear retaliation is known as the strategy of nuclear deterrence. The goal in deterrence is to always maintain a second strike capability (the ability of a country to respond to a nuclear attack with one of its own) and potentially to strive for first strike status (the ability to destroy an enemy's nuclear forces before they could retaliate). During the Cold War, policy and military theorists considered the sorts of policies that might prevent a nuclear attack, and they developed game theory models that could lead to stable deterrence conditions.
Different forms of nuclear weapons delivery (see above) allow for different types of nuclear strategies. The goals of any strategy are generally to make it difficult for an enemy to launch a pre-emptive strike against the weapon system and difficult to defend against the delivery of the weapon during a potential conflict. This can mean keeping weapon locations hidden, such as deploying them on submarines or land mobile transporter erector launchers whose locations are difficult to track, or it can mean protecting weapons by burying them in hardened missile silo bunkers. Other components of nuclear strategies included using missile defenses to destroy the missiles before they land or implementing civil defense measures using early-warning systems to evacuate citizens to safe areas before an attack.
Weapons designed to threaten large populations or to deter attacks are known as strategic weapons. Nuclear weapons for use on a battlefield in military situations are called tactical weapons.
Critics of nuclear war strategy often suggest that a nuclear war between two nations would result in mutual annihilation. From this point of view, the significance of nuclear weapons is to deter war because any nuclear war would escalate out of mutual distrust and fear, resulting in mutually assured destruction. This threat of national, if not global, destruction has been a strong motivation for anti-nuclear weapons activism.
Critics from the peace movement and within the military establishment have questioned the usefulness of such weapons in the current military climate. According to an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 1996, the use of (or threat of use of) such weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, but the court did not reach an opinion as to whether or not the threat or use would be lawful in specific extreme circumstances such as if the survival of the state were at stake.
Another deterrence position is that nuclear proliferation can be desirable. In this case, it is argued that, unlike conventional weapons, nuclear weapons deter all-out war between states, and they succeeded in doing this during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gen. Pierre Marie Gallois of France, an adviser to Charles de Gaulle, argued in books like The Balance of Terror: Strategy for the Nuclear Age (1961) that mere possession of a nuclear arsenal was enough to ensure deterrence, and thus concluded that the spread of nuclear weapons could increase international stability. Some prominent neo-realist scholars, such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer, have argued, along the lines of Gallois, that some forms of nuclear proliferation would decrease the likelihood of total war, especially in troubled regions of the world where there exists a single nuclear-weapon state. Aside from the public opinion that opposes proliferation in any form, there are two schools of thought on the matter: those, like Mearsheimer, who favored selective proliferation, and Waltz, who was somewhat more non-interventionist. Interest in proliferation and the stability-instability paradox that it generates continues to this day, with ongoing debate about indigenous Japanese and South Korean nuclear deterrent against North Korea.
The threat of potentially suicidal terrorists possessing nuclear weapons (a form of nuclear terrorism) complicates the decision process. The prospect of mutually assured destruction might not deter an enemy who expects to die in the confrontation. Further, if the initial act is from a stateless terrorist instead of a sovereign nation, there might not be a nation or specific target to retaliate against. It has been argued, especially after the September 11, 2001, attacks, that this complication calls for a new nuclear strategy, one that is distinct from that which gave relative stability during the Cold War. Since 1996, the United States has had a policy of allowing the targeting of its nuclear weapons at terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction.
Robert Gallucci argues that although traditional deterrence is not an effective approach toward terrorist groups bent on causing a nuclear catastrophe, Gallucci believes that "the United States should instead consider a policy of expanded deterrence, which focuses not solely on the would-be nuclear terrorists but on those states that may deliberately transfer or inadvertently leak nuclear weapons and materials to them. By threatening retaliation against those states, the United States may be able to deter that which it cannot physically prevent."
Graham Allison makes a similar case, arguing that the key to expanded deterrence is coming up with ways of tracing nuclear material to the country that forged the fissile material. "After a nuclear bomb detonates, nuclear forensics cops would collect debris samples and send them to a laboratory for radiological analysis. By identifying unique attributes of the fissile material, including its impurities and contaminants, one could trace the path back to its origin." The process is analogous to identifying a criminal by fingerprints. "The goal would be twofold: first, to deter leaders of nuclear states from selling weapons to terrorists by holding them accountable for any use of their weapons; second, to give leaders every incentive to tightly secure their nuclear weapons and materials."
According to the Pentagon's June 2019 "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" of the Joint Chiefs of Staffs website Publication, "Integration of nuclear weapons employment with conventional and special operations forces is essential to the success of any mission or operation."
== Governance, control, and law ==
Because they are weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation and possible use of nuclear weapons are important issues in international relations and diplomacy. In most countries, the use of nuclear force can only be authorized by the head of government or head of state. Despite controls and regulations governing nuclear weapons, there is an inherent danger of "accidents, mistakes, false alarms, blackmail, theft, and sabotage".
In the late 1940s, lack of mutual trust prevented the United States and the Soviet Union from making progress on arms control agreements. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955, by Bertrand Russell in the midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included eleven pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, including Albert Einstein, who signed it just days before his death on April 18, 1955. A few days after the release, philanthropist Cyrus S. Eaton offered to sponsor a conference—called for in the manifesto—in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Eaton's birthplace. This conference was to be the first of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, held in July 1957.
By the 1960s, steps were taken to limit both the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries and the environmental effects of nuclear testing. The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) restricted all nuclear testing to underground nuclear testing, to prevent contamination from nuclear fallout, whereas the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968) attempted to place restrictions on the types of activities signatories could participate in, with the goal of allowing the transference of non-military nuclear technology to member countries without fear of proliferation.
In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established under the mandate of the United Nations to encourage development of peaceful applications of nuclear technology, provide international safeguards against its misuse, and facilitate the application of safety measures in its use. In 1996, many nations signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibits all testing of nuclear weapons. A testing ban imposes a significant hindrance to nuclear arms development by any complying country. The Treaty requires the ratification by 44 specific states before it can go into force; as of 2012, the ratification of eight of these states is still required.
Additional treaties and agreements have governed nuclear weapons stockpiles between the countries with the two largest stockpiles, the United States and the Soviet Union, and later between the United States and Russia. These include treaties such as SALT II (never ratified), START I (expired), INF, START II (never in effect), SORT, and New START, as well as non-binding agreements such as SALT I and the Presidential Nuclear Initiatives of 1991. Even when they did not enter into force, these agreements helped limit and later reduce the numbers and types of nuclear weapons between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia.
Nuclear weapons have also been opposed by agreements between countries. Many nations have been declared Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones, areas where nuclear weapons production and deployment are prohibited, through the use of treaties. The Treaty of Tlatelolco (1967) prohibited any production or deployment of nuclear weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Treaty of Pelindaba (1964) prohibits nuclear weapons in many African countries. As recently as 2006 a Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone was established among the former Soviet republics of Central Asia prohibiting nuclear weapons.
In 1996, the International Court of Justice, the highest court of the United Nations, issued an Advisory Opinion concerned with the "Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons". The court ruled that the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons would violate various articles of international law, including the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions, the UN Charter, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Given the unique, destructive characteristics of nuclear weapons, the International Committee of the Red Cross calls on States to ensure that these weapons are never used, irrespective of whether they consider them lawful or not.
Additionally, there have been other, specific actions meant to discourage countries from developing nuclear arms. In the wake of the tests by India and Pakistan in 1998, economic sanctions were (temporarily) levied against both countries, though neither were signatories with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. One of the stated casus belli for the initiation of the 2003 Iraq War was an accusation by the United States that Iraq was actively pursuing nuclear arms (though this was soon discovered not to be the case as the program had been discontinued). In 1981, Israel had bombed a nuclear reactor being constructed in Osirak, Iraq, in what it called an attempt to halt Iraq's previous nuclear arms ambitions; in 2007, Israel bombed another reactor being constructed in Syria.
In 2013, Mark Diesendorf said that governments of France, India, North Korea, Pakistan, UK, and South Africa have used nuclear power or research reactors to assist nuclear weapons development or to contribute to their supplies of nuclear explosives from military reactors. In 2017, 122 countries mainly in the Global South voted in favor of adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which eventually entered into force in 2021.
The Doomsday Clock measures the likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe and is published annually by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Doomsday Clock is set a certain time from midnight, midnight being the time of global catastrophe. The two years with the highest likelihood had previously been 1953, when the Clock was set to two minutes until midnight after the US and the Soviet Union began testing hydrogen bombs, and 2018, following the failure of world leaders to address tensions relating to nuclear weapons and climate change issues. In 2023, following the escalation of nuclear threats during the Russo-Ukrainian war, the doomsday clock was set to 90 seconds, the highest likelihood of global catastrophe since the existence of the Doomsday Clock. Given the lack of progress towards peace in Ukraine, the Doomsday Clock was moved to 89 Seconds to midnight in 2025.
As of 2024, Russia has intensified nuclear threats in Ukraine and is reportedly planning to place nuclear weapons in orbit, breaching the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. China is significantly expanding its nuclear arsenal, with projections of over 1,000 warheads by 2030 and up to 1,500 by 2035. North Korea is progressing in intercontinental ballistic missile tests and has a mutual-defense treaty with Russia, exchanging artillery for possible missile technology. Iran is currently viewed as a nuclear "threshold" state.
=== Disarmament ===
Nuclear disarmament refers to both the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons and to the end state of a nuclear-free world, in which nuclear weapons are eliminated.
Beginning with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty and continuing through the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, there have been many treaties to limit or reduce nuclear weapons testing and stockpiles. The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has as one of its explicit conditions that all signatories must "pursue negotiations in good faith" towards the long-term goal of "complete disarmament". The nuclear-weapon states have largely treated that aspect of the agreement as "decorative" and without force.
Only one country—South Africa—has ever fully renounced nuclear weapons they had independently developed. The former Soviet republics of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine returned Soviet nuclear arms stationed in their countries to Russia after the collapse of the USSR.
Proponents of nuclear disarmament say that it would lessen the probability of nuclear war, especially accidentally. Critics of nuclear disarmament say that it would undermine the present nuclear peace and deterrence and would lead to increased global instability. Various American elder statesmen, who were in office during the Cold War period, have been advocating the elimination of nuclear weapons. These officials include Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, Sam Nunn, and William Perry. In January 2010, Lawrence M. Krauss stated that "no issue carries more importance to the long-term health and security of humanity than the effort to reduce, and perhaps one day, rid the world of nuclear weapons".
In January 1986, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev publicly proposed a three-stage program for abolishing the world's nuclear weapons by the end of the 20th century. In the years after the end of the Cold War, there have been numerous campaigns to urge the abolition of nuclear weapons, such as that organized by the Global Zero movement, and the goal of a "world without nuclear weapons" was advocated by United States President Barack Obama in an April 2009 speech in Prague. A CNN poll from April 2010 indicated that the American public was nearly evenly split on the issue.
Some analysts have argued that nuclear weapons have made the world relatively safer, with peace through deterrence and through the stability–instability paradox, including in south Asia. Kenneth Waltz has argued that nuclear weapons have helped keep an uneasy peace, and further nuclear weapon proliferation might even help avoid the large scale conventional wars that were so common before their invention at the end of World War II. But former Secretary Henry Kissinger said in 2010 that there is a new danger, which cannot be addressed by deterrence: "The classical notion of deterrence was that there was some consequences before which aggressors and evildoers would recoil. In a world of suicide bombers, that calculation doesn't operate in any comparable way". George Shultz has said, "If you think of the people who are doing suicide attacks, and people like that get a nuclear weapon, they are almost by definition not deterrable".
As of early 2019, more than 90% of world's 13,865 nuclear weapons were owned by Russia and the United States.
=== United Nations ===
The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat established in January 1998 as part of the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to reform the UN as presented in his report to the General Assembly in July 1997.
Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially land mines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts.
=== Political effects ===
Comparative studies have shown that nuclear weapons programs produce systems of secrecy, reduction in democratic practices, and concentration of power in the executive branch. These have had different specific expressions in different countries, ranging from systems with some ostensible transparency and accountability, to systems where there is essentially no public participation in nuclear decision-making, even in some democracies.
Different nuclear-armed states, over time, developed different approaches to the question of nuclear weapons use decisions are made, and by whom they can be made. This is referred to as "launch authority." As many of these procedures are treated as deeply secret, the exact details are often debated. A general historical trend, however, is that new nuclear states have often taken many years to formalize their procedures for authorizing nuclear weapons use, and that there are often an early reliance on military control of the weapons, with differing degrees of centralized civilian control. At times, states have relied to greater or lesser extents on automation, computerization, and increasingly complex command, control, and communications systems to facilitate the use of nuclear weapons and the detection of potential use against them.
== Controversy ==
=== Ethics ===
Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The role of the two atomic bombings of the country in Japan's surrender and the US's ethical justification for them has been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades. The question of whether nations should have nuclear weapons, or test them, has been continually and nearly universally controversial.
=== Notable nuclear weapons accidents ===
The production and deployment of nuclear weapons has involved many accidents that resulted in either some radiation casualties, or the near-miss possibility of the unauthorized and unintended detonation of a nuclear weapon. These include:
August 21, 1945: While conducting experiments on a plutonium-gallium core at Los Alamos National Laboratory, physicist Harry Daghlian received a lethal dose of radiation when an error caused it to enter prompt criticality. He died 25 days later, on September 15, 1945, from radiation poisoning.
May 21, 1946: While conducting further experiments on the same core at Los Alamos National Laboratory, physicist Louis Slotin accidentally caused the core to become briefly supercritical. He received a lethal dose of gamma and neutron radiation, and died nine days later on May 30, 1946. After the death of Daghlian and Slotin, the mass became known as the "demon core". It was ultimately used to construct a bomb for use on the Nevada Test Range.
February 13, 1950: a Convair B-36B crashed in northern British Columbia after jettisoning a Mark IV atomic bomb. This was the first such nuclear weapon loss in history. The accident was designated a "Broken Arrow"—an accident involving a nuclear weapon, but which does not present a risk of war. Experts believe that up to 50 nuclear weapons were lost during the Cold War.
May 22, 1957: a 42,000-pound (19,000 kg) Mark-17 hydrogen bomb accidentally fell from a bomber near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The detonation of the device's conventional explosives destroyed it on impact and formed a crater 25 feet (7.6 m) in diameter on land owned by the University of New Mexico. According to a researcher at the Natural Resources Defense Council, it was one of the most powerful bombs made to date.
June 7, 1960: the 1960 Fort Dix IM-99 accident destroyed a Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc nuclear missile and shelter and contaminated the BOMARC Missile Accident Site in New Jersey.
January 24, 1961: the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina. A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process. One of the weapons went through every one of its stages of its firing sequence, save one safety switch.
1965 Philippine Sea A-4 crash, where a Skyhawk attack aircraft with a nuclear weapon fell into the sea. The pilot, the aircraft, and the B43 nuclear bomb were never recovered. It was not until 1989 that the Pentagon revealed the loss of the one-megaton bomb.
January 17, 1966: the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash occurred when a B-52G bomber of the USAF collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard. Of the four Mk28 type hydrogen bombs the B-52G carried, three were found on land near Almería, Spain. The non-nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a 2-square-kilometer (490-acre) (0.78 square mile) area by radioactive plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a 21⁄2-month-long search.
January 21, 1968: the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash involved a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber. The aircraft was carrying four hydrogen bombs when a cabin fire forced the crew to abandon the aircraft. Six crew members ejected safely, but one who did not have an ejection seat was killed while trying to bail out. The bomber crashed onto sea ice in Greenland, causing the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse, which resulted in widespread radioactive contamination. One of the bombs remains lost.
September 18–19, 1980: the Damascus Accident occurred in Damascus, Arkansas, where a Titan Missile equipped with a nuclear warhead exploded. The accident was caused by a maintenance man who dropped a socket from a socket wrench down an 80-foot (24 m) shaft, puncturing a fuel tank on the rocket. Leaking fuel resulted in a hypergolic fuel explosion, jettisoning the W-53 warhead beyond the launch site.
Governmental nuclear agencies frequently point to their procedures and technical safeguards as what has prevented accidental nuclear explosions. But it has also been argued by historians, political scientists, and historical participants that in many instances, the avoidance of an unintended nuclear explosions was due less to correct implementation of controls, but instead can be attributed to disobedience, technical failures, or other factors beyond strict human control. Reliance on non-controlled factors is sometimes referred to as "luck": "'Lucky' nuclear close calls can be defined as instances in which unwanted nuclear explosions were avoided either 'independently' of control practices, 'despite' control practices, or ‘because of the failure of’ control practices." General George Lee Butler, commander of the US Strategic Air Command (1991–1992), argued in 1999 that "...we escaped the Cold War without a nuclear holocaust by some combination of skill, luck, and divine intervention, and I suspect the latter in greatest proportion." Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State during the Cuban Missile Crisis, concluded similarly in 1969 that it was ultimately "plain dumb luck" that resolved that crisis peacefully.
=== Nuclear testing and fallout ===
Over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were conducted at various sites around the world from 1945 to 1980. Radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing was first drawn to public attention in 1954 when the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test at the Pacific Proving Grounds contaminated the crew and catch of the Japanese fishing boat Lucky Dragon. One of the fishermen died in Japan seven months later, and the fear of contaminated tuna led to a temporary boycotting of the popular staple in Japan. The incident caused widespread concern around the world, especially regarding the effects of nuclear fallout and atmospheric nuclear testing, and "provided a decisive impetus for the emergence of the anti-nuclear weapons movement in many countries".
As public awareness and concern mounted over the possible health hazards associated with exposure to the nuclear fallout, various studies were done to assess the extent of the hazard. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/ National Cancer Institute study claims that fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests would lead to perhaps 11,000 excess deaths among people alive during atmospheric testing in the United States from all forms of cancer, including leukemia, from 1951 to well into the 21st century.
As of March 2009, the US is the only nation that compensates nuclear test victims. Since the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990, more than $1.38 billion in compensation has been approved. The money is going to people who took part in the tests, notably at the Nevada Test Site, and to others exposed to the radiation.
In addition, leakage of byproducts of nuclear weapon production into groundwater has been an ongoing issue, particularly at the Hanford site.
== Effects of nuclear explosions ==
=== Effects of nuclear explosions on human health ===
Some scientists estimate that a nuclear war with 100 Hiroshima-size nuclear explosions on cities could cost the lives of tens of millions of people from long-term climatic effects alone. The climatology hypothesis is that if each city firestorms, a great deal of soot could be thrown up into the atmosphere which could blanket the earth, cutting out sunlight for years on end, causing the disruption of food chains, in what is termed a nuclear winter.
People near the Hiroshima explosion and who managed to survive the explosion subsequently suffered a variety of horrible medical effects. Some of these effects are still present to this day:
Initial stage – the first 1–9 weeks, in which are the greatest number of deaths, with 90% due to thermal injury or blast effects and 10% due to super-lethal radiation exposure.
Intermediate stage – from 10 to 12 weeks. The deaths in this period are from ionizing radiation in the median lethal range – LD50
Late period – lasting from 13 to 20 weeks. This period has some improvement in survivors' condition.
Delayed period – from 20-plus weeks. Characterized by numerous complications, mostly related to healing of thermal and mechanical injuries, and if the individual was exposed to a few hundred to a thousand millisieverts of radiation, it is coupled with infertility, sub-fertility and blood disorders. Furthermore, ionizing radiation above a dose of around 50–100-millisievert exposure has been shown to statistically begin increasing one's chance of dying of cancer sometime in their lifetime over the normal unexposed rate of ~25%, in the long term, a heightened rate of cancer, proportional to the dose received, would begin to be observed after ~5-plus years, with lesser problems such as eye cataracts and other more minor effects in other organs and tissue also being observed over the long term.
Fallout exposure—depending on if further afield individuals shelter in place or evacuate perpendicular to the direction of the wind, and therefore avoid contact with the fallout plume, and stay there for the days and weeks after the nuclear explosion, their exposure to fallout, and therefore their total dose, will vary. With those who do shelter in place, and or evacuate, experiencing a total dose that would be negligible in comparison to someone who just went about their life as normal.
Staying indoors until after the most hazardous fallout isotope, I-131 decays away to 0.1% of its initial quantity after ten half-lifes—which is represented by 80 days in I-131s case, would make the difference between likely contracting Thyroid cancer or escaping completely from this substance depending on the actions of the individual.
=== Effects of nuclear war ===
Nuclear war could yield unprecedented human death tolls and habitat destruction. Detonating large numbers of nuclear weapons would have an immediate, short term and long-term effects on the climate, potentially causing cold weather known as a "nuclear winter". In 1982, Brian Martin estimated that a US–Soviet nuclear exchange might kill 400–450 million directly, mostly in the United States, Europe and Russia, and maybe several hundred million more through follow-up consequences in those same areas. Many scholars have posited that a global thermonuclear war with Cold War-era stockpiles, or even with the current smaller stockpiles, may lead to the extinction of the human race. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War believe that nuclear war could indirectly contribute to human extinction via secondary effects, including environmental consequences, societal breakdown, and economic collapse. It has been estimated that a relatively small-scale nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan involving 100 Hiroshima yield (15 kilotons) weapons, could cause a nuclear winter and kill more than a billion people.
According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature Food in August 2022, a full-scale nuclear war between the US and Russia would directly kill 360 million people and more than 5 billion people would die from starvation. More than 2 billion people could die from a smaller-scale nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
=== Public opposition ===
Peace movements emerged in Japan and in 1954 they converged to form a unified "Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs." Japanese opposition to nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific Ocean was widespread, and "an estimated 35 million signatures were collected on petitions calling for bans on nuclear weapons".
In the United Kingdom, the Aldermaston Marches organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) took place at Easter 1958, when, according to the CND, several thousand people marched for four days from Trafalgar Square, London, to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment close to Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, to demonstrate their opposition to nuclear weapons. The Aldermaston marches continued into the late 1960s when tens of thousands of people took part in the four-day marches.
In 1959, a letter in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was the start of a successful campaign to stop the Atomic Energy Commission dumping radioactive waste in the sea 19 kilometers from Boston. In 1962, Linus Pauling won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to stop the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, and the "Ban the Bomb" movement spread.
In 1963, many countries ratified the Partial Test Ban Treaty prohibiting atmospheric nuclear testing. Radioactive fallout became less of an issue and the anti-nuclear weapons movement went into decline for some years. A resurgence of interest occurred amid European and American fears of nuclear war in the 1980s.
== Costs and technology spin-offs ==
According to an audit by the Brookings Institution, between 1940 and 1996, the US spent $11.9 trillion in present-day terms on nuclear weapons programs, 57% of which was spent on building nuclear weapons delivery systems. Six-point-three percent of the total amount, $749 billion in present-day terms, was spent on environmental remediation and nuclear waste management—for example, cleaning up the Hanford site—and 7% of the total $820 billion was spent on making nuclear weapons themselves.
== Non-weapons uses ==
Peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) are nuclear explosions conducted for non-military purposes, such as activities related to economic development including the creation of canals. During the 1960s and 1970s, both the United States and the Soviet Union conducted a number of PNEs. The United States created plans for several uses of PNEs, including Operation Plowshare. Six of the explosions by the Soviet Union are considered to have been of an applied nature, not just tests.
The United States and the Soviet Union later halted their programs. Definitions and limits are covered in the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty of 1976. The stalled Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996 would prohibit all nuclear explosions, regardless of whether they are for peaceful purposes or not.
== History of development == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Good_Woman_(novel) | A Good Woman (novel) | A Good Woman is a novel by Danielle Steel, published by Delacorte Press in October 2008.
== Plot summary ==
Annabelle Worthington was born into a life of privilege in the glamorous New York society set up on Fifth Avenue and in Newport, Rhode Island. In April 1912, everything changed when the Titanic sank, changing her world forever. Annabelle then pours herself into volunteer work, nursing the poor, igniting a passion for medicine that would shape the course of her life.
More grief is around the corner with her first love and marriage to Josiah Millbank, a family friend. Betrayed by a scandal undeserved, Annabelle flees New York for war-ravaged France, to lose herself in a world of helping others in the First World War field hospital run by women. After the war, Annabelle becomes a Parisian doctor and a mother, living happily until a coincidental meeting reminds her of her former life, to which she returns stronger and braver than before, a new woman to fight against the overwhelming odds thrown against her in life. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception | Inception | Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced it with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious. The ensemble cast includes Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Dileep Rao, and Michael Caine.
After the completion of Insomnia in 2002, Nolan presented to Warner Bros. a written 80-page treatment for a horror film envisioning "dream stealers," based on lucid dreaming. Deciding he needed more experience before tackling a production of this magnitude and complexity, Nolan shelved the project and instead worked on 2005's Batman Begins, 2006's The Prestige, and 2008's The Dark Knight. The treatment was revised over six months and was purchased by Warner Bros. in February 2009. Inception was filmed in six countries, beginning in Tokyo on June 19 and ending in Canada on November 22. Its official budget was $160 million, split between Warner Bros. and Legendary. Nolan's reputation and success with The Dark Knight helped secure the film's US$100 million in advertising expenditure.
Inception's premiere was held in London on July 8, 2010; it was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters beginning on July 16, 2010. Inception grossed $839 million worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010. Considered one of the best films of the 2010s, Inception, among its numerous accolades, won four Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects) and was nominated for four more (Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score) at the 83rd Academy Awards. In 2025, the Library of Congress selected Inception for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
== Plot ==
Dom Cobb and Arthur are "extractors" who perform corporate espionage using experimental dream-sharing technology to infiltrate their targets' subconscious and extract information. Their latest target, Saito, is impressed with Cobb's ability to layer multiple dreams within each other. He offers to hire Cobb for the ostensibly impossible job of implanting an idea into a person's subconscious; performing "inception" on Robert Fischer, the son of Saito's competitor Maurice Fischer, with the idea to dissolve his father's company. In return, Saito promises to clear Cobb's criminal status, allowing him to return home to his children.
Cobb accepts the offer and assembles his team: a forger named Eames, a chemist named Yusuf, and a college student named Ariadne. Ariadne is tasked with designing the dream's architecture, something Cobb himself cannot do for fear of being sabotaged by his mind's projection of his late wife, Mal. Maurice Fischer dies, and the team sedates Robert Fischer into a three-layer shared dream on an airplane to America bought by Saito. Time on each layer runs slower than the layer above, with one member staying behind on each to perform a music-synchronized "kick" (using the French song "Non, je ne regrette rien") to awaken dreamers on all three levels simultaneously.
The team abducts Robert in a city on the first level, but unknown to any team member, his subconscious projections, trained to anticipate such a scenario, attack them. After Saito is wounded, Cobb reveals that while dying in the dream would usually awaken dreamers, Yusuf's sedatives will instead send them into "Limbo": a world of infinite subconscious. Eames impersonates Robert's godfather, Peter Browning, to introduce the idea of an alternate will to dissolve the company.
Cobb explains to Ariadne that he and Mal entered Limbo while experimenting with dream-sharing, experiencing fifty years in one night due to the time dilation with reality. After waking up, Mal still believed she was dreaming. Attempting to "wake up," she committed suicide and framed Cobb for her murder to force him to do the same. Cobb fled the U.S., leaving his children behind.
Yusuf drives the team around the first level as they are sedated into the second level, a hotel dreamed by Arthur. Cobb persuades Robert that Browning has kidnapped him to stop the dissolution and that Cobb is a defensive projection, leading Robert to another third level deeper as part of a ruse to enter Robert's subconscious.
In the third level, the team infiltrates an alpine fortress with a projection of Maurice inside, where the inception itself can be performed. However, Yusuf performs his kick too soon by driving off a bridge, forcing Arthur and Eames to improvise a new set of kicks synchronized with them hitting the water by rigging an elevator and the fortress, respectively, with explosives. Mal then appears and kills Robert before he can be subjected to the inception; he and Saito are subsequently lost in Limbo, forcing Cobb and Ariadne to rescue them in time for Robert's inception and Eames's kick. Cobb reveals that during their time in Limbo, Mal refused to return to reality; Cobb had to convince her it was only a dream, accidentally incepting in her the belief that the real world was still a dream. Cobb makes peace with his part in Mal's death. Ariadne kills Mal's projection and wakes Robert up with a kick.
Revived into the third level, Robert discovers the planted idea: his dying father telling him to create something for himself. While Cobb searches for Saito in Limbo, the others ride the synced kicks back to reality. Cobb finds an aged Saito and reminds him of their agreement. The dreamers all awaken on the plane, and Saito makes a phone call. Arriving in Los Angeles, Cobb passes the immigration checkpoint, and his father-in-law accompanies him to his home. Cobb uses Mal's "totem" – a top that spins indefinitely in a dream – to test if he is indeed in the real world, but he chooses not to observe the result and instead joins his children.
== Cast ==
Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their dreams. DiCaprio was the first actor to be cast in the film. Brad Pitt and Will Smith were the first two choices and were offered the role, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Smith turned it down because he didn't understand it. Cobb's role is compared to "the haunted widower in a Gothic romance".
Ken Watanabe as Saito, a Japanese businessman who employs Cobb for the team's mission. Nolan wrote the role with Watanabe in mind, as he wanted to work with him again after Batman Begins. Inception is Watanabe's first work in a contemporary setting where his primary language is English. Watanabe tried to emphasize a different characteristic of Saito in every dream level: "First chapter in my castle, I pick up some hidden feelings of the cycle. It's magical, powerful and then the first dream. And back to the second chapter, in the old hotel, I pick up [being] sharp and more calm and smart and it's a little bit [of a] different process to make up the character of any movie".
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, Cobb's partner who manages and researches the missions. Gordon-Levitt compared Arthur to the producer of Cobb's art, "the one saying, 'Okay, you have your vision; now I'm going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing'". The actor did all but one of his stunt scenes and said the preparation "was a challenge and it would have to be for it to look real". James Franco was in talks with Christopher Nolan to play Arthur, but was ultimately unavailable due to scheduling conflicts.
Marion Cotillard as Mal, Cobb's deceased wife. She is a manifestation of Cobb's guilt about the real cause of Mal's suicide. He is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale," and DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance, saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".
Elliot Page as Ariadne, a graduate student of architecture who is recruited to construct the various dreamscapes, which are described as mazes. The name Ariadne alludes to a princess of Greek myth, daughter of King Minos, who aided the hero Theseus by giving him a sword and a ball of string to help him navigate the labyrinth which was the prison of the Minotaur. Nolan said that Page was chosen for being a "perfect combination of freshness and savvy and maturity" not common in people that age. Page said their character acts as a proxy to the audience, as "she's just learning about these ideas and, in essence, assists the audience in learning about dream sharing".
Tom Hardy as Eames, a sharp-tongued associate of Cobb. He is referred to as a fence but his specialty is forgery, more accurately identity theft. Eames uses his ability to impersonate others inside the dream world in order to manipulate Fischer. Hardy described his character as "an old, Graham Greene-type diplomat; sort of faded, shabby, grandeur—the old Shakespeare lovey mixed with somebody from Her Majesty's Special Forces", who wears "campy, old money" costumes.
Cillian Murphy as Robert Fischer, the heir to a business empire and the team's target. Murphy said Fischer was portrayed as "a petulant child who's in need of a lot of attention from his father, he has everything he could ever want materially, but he's deeply lacking emotionally". The actor also researched the sons of Rupert Murdoch, "to add to that the idea of living in the shadow of someone so immensely powerful".
Tom Berenger as Peter Browning, Robert Fischer's godfather and fellow executive at the Fischers' company. Berenger said Browning acts as a "surrogate father" to Fischer, who calls the character "Uncle Peter", and emphasized that "Browning has been with [Robert] his whole life and has probably spent more quality time with him than his own father".
Michael Caine as Stephen Miles, Cobb's mentor and father-in-law, and Ariadne's college professor who recommends her to the team.
Dileep Rao as Yusuf. Rao describes Yusuf as "an avant-garde pharmacologist, who is a resource for people, like Cobb, who want to do this work unsupervised, unregistered and unapproved of by anyone". Co-producer Jordan Goldberg said the role of the chemist was "particularly tough because you don't want him to seem like some kind of drug dealer", and that Rao was cast for being "funny, interesting and obviously smart".
Lukas Haas as Nash, an architect in Cobb's employment who betrays the team and is later replaced by Ariadne.
Talulah Riley as a woman, credited as "Blonde", whom Eames disguises himself as in a dream. Riley liked the role, despite it being minimal: "I get to wear a nice dress, pick up men in bars, and shove them in elevators. It was good to do something adultish. Usually I play 15-year-old English schoolgirls."
Pete Postlethwaite as Maurice Fischer, Robert Fischer's father and the dying founder of a business empire.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Initially, Christopher Nolan wrote an 80-page treatment about dream-stealers. Nolan had originally envisioned Inception as a horror film, but eventually wrote it as a heist film even though he found that "traditionally [they] are very deliberately superficial in emotional terms." Upon revisiting his script, he decided that basing it in that genre did not work because the story "relies so heavily on the idea of the interior state, the idea of dream and memory. I realized I needed to raise the emotional stakes."
Nolan worked on the script for nine to ten years. When he first started thinking about making the film, Nolan was influenced by "that era of movies where you had The Matrix (1999), you had Dark City (1998), you had The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and, to a certain extent, you had Memento (2000), too. They were based in the principles that the world around you might not be real."
Nolan first pitched the film to Warner Bros. in 2001, but decided that he needed more experience making large-scale films and embarked on Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008). He soon realized that a film like Inception needed a large budget because "as soon as you're talking about dreams, the potential of the human mind is infinite. And so the scale of the film has to feel infinite. It has to feel like you could go anywhere by the end of the film. And it has to work on a massive scale." After making The Dark Knight, Nolan decided to make Inception and spent six months completing the script. Nolan said that the key to completing the script was wondering what would happen if several people shared the same dream. "Once you remove the privacy, you've created an infinite number of alternative universes in which people can meaningfully interact, with validity, with weight, with dramatic consequences."
Nolan had been trying to work with Leonardo DiCaprio for years and met him several times, but was unable to recruit him for any of his films until Inception. DiCaprio finally agreed because he was "intrigued by this concept—this dream-heist notion and how this character's going to unlock his dreamworld and ultimately affect his real life." He read the script and found it to be "very well written, comprehensive but you really had to have Chris in person, to try to articulate some of the things that have been swirling around his head for the last eight years." DiCaprio and Nolan spent months talking about the screenplay. Nolan took a long time re-writing the script in order "to make sure that the emotional journey of his [DiCaprio's] character was the driving force of the movie." On February 11, 2009, it was announced that Warner Bros. purchased Inception, a spec script written by Nolan.
=== Locations and sets ===
Principal photography began in Tokyo on June 19, 2009, with the scene in which Saito first hires Cobb during a helicopter flight over the city.
The production moved to the United Kingdom and shot in a converted airship hangar in Cardington, Bedfordshire, north of London. There, the hotel bar set which tilted 30 degrees was built. A hotel corridor was also constructed by Guy Hendrix Dyas, the production designer, Chris Corbould, the special effects supervisor, and Wally Pfister, the director of photography; it rotated a full 360 degrees to create the effect of alternate directions of gravity for scenes set during the second level of dreaming, where dream-sector physics become chaotic. The idea was inspired by a technique used in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Nolan said, "I was interested in taking those ideas, techniques, and philosophies and applying them to an action scenario". The filmmakers originally planned to make the hallway only 40 feet (12 m) long, but as the action sequence became more elaborate, the hallway's length was increased to 100 ft (30 m). The corridor was suspended along eight large concentric rings that were spaced equidistantly outside its walls and powered by two massive electric motors.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays Arthur, spent several weeks learning to fight in a corridor that spun like "a giant hamster wheel". Nolan said of the device, "It was like some incredible torture device; we thrashed Joseph for weeks, but in the end we looked at the footage, and it looks unlike anything any of us has seen before. The rhythm of it is unique, and when you watch it, even if you know how it was done, it confuses your perceptions. It's unsettling in a wonderful way". Gordon-Levitt remembered, "it was six-day weeks of just, like, coming home at night battered ... The light fixtures on the ceiling are coming around on the floor, and you have to choose the right time to cross through them, and if you don't, you're going to fall." On July 15, 2009, filming took place at University College London for the sequences occurring inside a Paris college of architecture in the story, including the library, Flaxman Gallery and Gustave Tuck Theatre.
Filming moved to France, where they shot Cobb entering the college of architecture (the place used for the entrance was the Musée Galliera) and the pivotal scenes between Ariadne and Cobb, in a bistro (a fictional one set up at the corner of Rue César Franck and Rue Bouchut), and lastly on the Bir-Hakeim bridge. For the explosion that takes place during the bistro scene, local authorities would not allow the use of real explosives. High-pressure nitrogen was used to create the effect of a series of explosions. Pfister used six high-speed cameras to capture the sequence from different angles and make sure that they got the shot. The visual effects department enhanced the sequence, adding more destruction and flying debris. For the "Paris folding" sequence and when Ariadne "creates" the bridges, green screen and CGI were used on location.
Tangier, Morocco, doubled as Mombasa, where Cobb hires Eames and Yusuf. A foot chase was shot in the streets and alleyways of the historic medina quarter. To capture this sequence, Pfister employed a mix of hand-held camera and steadicam work. Tangier was also used as the setting for filming an important riot scene during the initial foray into Saito's mind.
Filming moved to the Los Angeles area, where some sets were built on a Warner Bros. sound stage, including the interior rooms of Saito's Japanese castle (the exterior was done on a small set built in Malibu Beach). The dining room was inspired by the historic Nijō Castle, built around 1603. These sets were inspired by a mix of Japanese architecture and Western influences.
The production staged a multi-vehicle car chase on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, which involved a freight train crashing down the middle of a street. To do this, the filmmakers configured a train engine on the chassis of a tractor trailer. The replica was made from fiberglass molds taken from authentic train parts and matched in terms of color and design. Also, the car chase was supposed to be set in the midst of a downpour, but the L.A. weather stayed typically sunny. The filmmakers set up elaborate effects (e.g., rooftop water cannons) to give the audience the impression that the weather was overcast and soggy. L.A. was also the site of the climactic scene where a Ford Econoline van runs off the Schuyler Heim Bridge in slow motion. This sequence was filmed on and off for months, with the van being shot out of a cannon, according to actor Dileep Rao. Capturing the actors suspended within the van in slow motion took a whole day to film.
Once the van landed in the water, the challenge for the actors was to avoid panic. "And when they ask you to act, it's a bit of an ask," explained Cillian Murphy. The actors had to be underwater for four to five minutes while drawing air from scuba tanks; underwater buddy breathing is shown in this sequence.
The final phase of principal photography took place in Alberta in late November 2009. The location manager discovered a temporarily closed ski resort, Fortress Mountain. An elaborate set was assembled near the top station of the Canadian chairlift, taking three months to build. The production had to wait for a huge snowstorm, which eventually arrived. The ski-chase sequence was inspired by Nolan's favorite James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969): "What I liked about it that we've tried to emulate in this film is there's a tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism and tragedy and emotion."
=== Cinematography ===
The film was shot primarily in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film, with key sequences filmed on 65 mm, and aerial sequences in VistaVision. Nolan did not shoot any footage with IMAX cameras as he had with The Dark Knight. "We didn't feel that we were going to be able to shoot in IMAX because of the size of the cameras because this film, given that it deals with a potentially surreal area, the nature of dreams and so forth, I wanted it to be as realistic as possible. Not be bound by the scale of those IMAX cameras, even though I love the format dearly". In addition Nolan and Pfister tested using Showscan and Super Dimension 70 as potential large-format, high-frame-rate camera systems to use for the film, but ultimately decided against either format.
Sequences in slow motion were filmed on a Photo-Sonics 35 mm camera at speeds of up to 1,000 frames per second. Wally Pfister tested shooting some of these sequences using a high speed digital camera, but found the format to be too unreliable due to technical glitches. "Out of six times that we shot on the digital format, we only had one usable piece and it didn't end up in the film. Out of the six times we shot with the Photo-Sonics camera and 35 mm running through it, every single shot was in the movie."
Nolan also chose not to shoot any of the film in 3D as he prefers shooting on film using prime lenses, which is not possible with 3D cameras. Nolan has also criticized the dim image that 3D projection produces, and disputes that traditional film does not allow realistic depth perception, saying "I think it's a misnomer to call it 3D versus 2D. The whole point of cinematic imagery is it's three dimensional... You know 95% of our depth cues come from occlusion, resolution, color and so forth, so the idea of calling a 2D movie a '2D movie' is a little misleading." Nolan did test converting Inception into 3D in post-production but decided that, while it was possible, he lacked the time to complete the conversion to a standard he was happy with. In February 2011 Jonathan Liebesman suggested that Warner Bros. were attempting a 3D conversion for Blu-ray release.
Wally Pfister gave each location and dream level a distinctive look to aid the audience's recognition of the narrative's location during the heavily crosscut portion of the film: the mountain fortress appears sterile and cool, the hotel hallways have warm hues, and the scenes in the van are more neutral.
Nolan has said that the film "deals with levels of reality, and perceptions of reality which is something I'm very interested in. It's an action film set in a contemporary world, but with a slight science-fiction bent to it", while also describing it as "very much an ensemble film structured somewhat as a heist movie. It's an action adventure that spans the globe".
=== Visual effects ===
For dream sequences in Inception, Nolan used little CGI, preferring practical effects whenever possible. Nolan said, "It's always very important to me to do as much as possible in-camera, and then, if necessary, computer graphics are very useful to build on or enhance what you have achieved physically." To this end, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin built miniatures of the mountain fortress set and then blew it up for the film. For the fight scene that takes place in zero gravity, he used CGI-based effects to "subtly bend elements like physics, space and time."
The most challenging effect was the "Limbo" city level at the end of the film, because it continually developed during production. Franklin had artists build concepts while Nolan expressed his ideal vision: "Something glacial, with clear modernist architecture, but with chunks of it breaking off into the sea like icebergs". Franklin and his team ended up with "something that looked like an iceberg version of Gotham City with water running through it." They created a basic model of a glacier and then designers created a program that added elements like roads, intersections and ravines until they had a complex, yet organic-looking, cityscape. For the Paris-folding sequence, Franklin had artists producing concept sketches and then they created rough computer animations to give them an idea of what the sequence looked like while in motion. Later during principal photography, Nolan was able to direct DiCaprio and Page based on this rough computer animation that Franklin had created. Inception had nearly 500 visual effects shots (in comparison, Batman Begins had approximately 620), which is relatively few in comparison to contemporary effects-heavy films, which can have as many as 2,000 visual effects shots.
== Music ==
The score for Inception was composed and arranged by Hans Zimmer, who described his work as "a very electronic, dense score", filled with "nostalgia and sadness" to match Cobb's feelings throughout the film. The music was written simultaneously to filming, and features a guitar sound reminiscent of Ennio Morricone, played by Johnny Marr, former guitarist of the Smiths.
Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I Regret Nothing") appears throughout the film, used to accurately time the dreams, and Zimmer reworked pieces of the song into cues of the score.
A soundtrack album was released on July 11, 2010, by Reprise Records. The majority of the score was also included in high resolution 5.1 surround sound on the second disc of the two-disc Blu-ray release. Hans Zimmer's music was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Score category in 2011, losing to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of The Social Network.
== Themes ==
=== Reality and dreams ===
In Inception, Nolan wanted to explore "the idea of people sharing a dream space... That gives you the ability to access somebody's unconscious mind. What would that be used and abused for?" The majority of the film's plot takes place in these interconnected dream worlds. This structure creates a framework where actions in the real or dream worlds ripple across others. The dream is always in a state of production, and shifts across the levels as the characters navigate it. By contrast, the world of The Matrix (1999) is an authoritarian, computer-controlled one, alluding to theories of social control developed by thinkers Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. However, according to one interpretation Nolan's world has more in common with the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.
David Denby in The New Yorker compared Nolan's cinematic treatment of dreams to Luis Buñuel's in Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). He criticized Nolan's "literal-minded" action level sequencing compared to Buñuel, who "silently pushed us into reveries and left us alone to enjoy our wonderment, but Nolan is working on so many levels of representation at once that he has to lay in pages of dialogue just to explain what's going on." The latter captures "the peculiar malign intensity of actual dreams."
Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher at Harvard University, said that Nolan did not get every detail accurate regarding dreams, but their illogical, rambling, disjointed plots would not make for a great thriller anyway. However, "he did get many aspects right," she said, citing the scene in which a sleeping Cobb is shoved into a full bath, and in the dream world water gushes into the windows of the building, waking him up. "That's very much how real stimuli get incorporated, and you very often wake up right after that intrusion."
Nolan himself said, "I tried to work that idea of manipulation and management of a conscious dream being a skill that these people have. Really the script is based on those common, very basic experiences and concepts, and where can those take you? And the only outlandish idea that the film presents, really, is the existence of a technology that allows you to enter and share the same dream as someone else."
=== Dreams and cinema ===
Others have argued that the film is itself a metaphor for filmmaking, and that the filmgoing experience itself, images flashing before one's eyes in a darkened room, is akin to a dream. Writing in Wired, Jonah Lehrer supported this interpretation and presented neurological evidence that brain activity is strikingly similar during film-watching and sleeping. In both, the visual cortex is highly active and the prefrontal cortex, which deals with logic, deliberate analysis, and self-awareness, is quiet.
Paul argued that the experience of going to a picturehouse is itself an exercise in shared dreaming, particularly when viewing Inception: the film's sharp cutting between scenes forces the viewer to create larger narrative arcs to stitch the pieces together. This demand of production parallel to consumption of the images, on the part of the audience is analogous to dreaming itself. As in the film's story, in a cinema one enters into the space of another's dream, in this case Nolan's, as with any work of art, one's reading of it is ultimately influenced by one's own subjective desires and subconscious. At Bir-Hakeim bridge in Paris, Ariadne creates an illusion of infinity by adding facing mirrors underneath its struts, Stephanie Dreyfus in la Croix asked "Is this not a strong, beautiful metaphor for the cinema and its power of illusion?"
== Cinematic technique ==
=== Genre ===
Nolan combined elements from several different film genres into the film, notably science fiction, heist film, and film noir.
Marion Cotillard plays "Mal" Cobb, Dom Cobb's projection of his guilt over his deceased wife's suicide. As the film's main antagonist, she is a frequent, malevolent presence in his dreams. Dom is unable to control these projections of her, challenging his abilities as an extractor. Nolan described Mal as "the essence of the femme fatale", the key noir reference in the film. As a "classic femme fatale" her relationship with Cobb is in his mind, a manifestation of Cobb's own neurosis and fear of how little he knows about the woman he loves. DiCaprio praised Cotillard's performance saying that "she can be strong and vulnerable and hopeful and heartbreaking all in the same moment, which was perfect for all the contradictions of her character".
Nolan began with the structure of a heist movie, since exposition is an essential element of that genre, though adapted it to have a greater emotional narrative suited to the world of dreams and subconscious. As Denby described this device: "the outer shell of the story is an elaborate caper". Kristin Thompson argued that exposition was a major formal device in the film. While a traditional heist movie has a heavy dose of exposition at the beginning as the team assembles and the leader explains the plan, in Inception this becomes nearly continuous as the group progresses through the various levels of dreaming. Three quarters of the film, until the van begins to fall from the bridge, are devoted to explaining its plot. In this way, exposition takes precedence over characterization. The characters' relationships are created by their respective skills and roles. Ariadne, like her ancient namesake, creates the maze and guides the others through it, but also helps Cobb navigate his own subconscious, and as the sole student of dream sharing, helps the audience understand the concept of the plot.
Nolan drew inspiration from the works of Jorge Luis Borges, including "The Secret Miracle" and "The Circular Ruins", and from the films Blade Runner (1982) and The Matrix (1999). While Nolan has not confirmed this, it has also been suggested by many observers that the movie draws heavy inspiration from the 2006 animated film Paprika.
=== Ending ===
The film cuts to the closing credits from a shot of the top apparently starting to show an ever so faint wobble, inviting speculation about whether the final sequence was reality or another dream. Nolan confirmed that the ambiguity was deliberate, saying, "I've been asked the question more times than I've ever been asked any other question about any other film I've made... What's funny to me is that people really do expect me to answer it." The film's script concludes with "Behind him, on the table, the spinning top is STILL SPINNING. And we—FADE OUT". Nolan said, "I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me—it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me... The real point of the scene—and this is what I tell people—is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing."
Caine interpreted the ending as meaning that Cobb is in the real world, quoting Nolan as telling him "'Well, when you're in the scene, it's reality.' So get that — if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream". While reiterating that he was uncomfortable with definitively explaining the scene, Nolan in 2023 credited Emma Thomas as providing "the correct answer, which is Leo's character ... doesn't care at that point". Mark Fisher argued that "a century of cultural theory" cautions against accepting the author's interpretation as anything more than a supplementary text, and this all the more so given the theme of the instability of any one master position in Nolan's films. Therein the manipulator is often the one who ends up manipulated, and Cobb's "not caring" about whether or not his world is real may be the price of his happiness and release.
== Release ==
=== Marketing ===
Warner Bros. spent US$100 million marketing the film. Although Inception was not part of an existing franchise, Sue Kroll, president of Warner's worldwide marketing, said the company believed it could gain awareness due to the strength of "Christopher Nolan as a brand". Kroll declared that "We don't have the brand equity that usually drives a big summer opening, but we have a great cast and a fresh idea from a filmmaker with a track record of making incredible movies. If you can't make those elements work, it's a sad day." The studio also tried to maintain a campaign of secrecy—as reported by the Senior VP of Interactive Marketing, Michael Tritter, "You have this movie which is going to have a pretty big built in fanbase... but you also have a movie that you are trying to keep very secret. Chris [Nolan] really likes people to see his movies in a theater and not see it all beforehand so everything that you do to market that—at least early on—is with an eye to feeding the interest to fans."
A viral marketing campaign was employed for the film. After the revelation of the first teaser trailer, in August 2009, the film's official website featured only an animation of Cobb's spinning top. In December, the top toppled over and the website opened the online game Mind Crime, which upon completion revealed Inception's poster. The rest of the campaign unrolled after WonderCon in April 2010, where Warner gave away promotional T-shirts featuring the PASIV briefcase used to create the dream space, and had a QR code linking to an online manual of the device. Mind Crime also received a stage 2 with more resources, including a hidden trailer for the movie. More pieces of viral marketing began to surface before Inception's release, such as a manual filled with bizarre images and text sent to Wired magazine, and the online publication of posters, ads, phone applications, and strange websites all related to the film. Warner also released an online prequel comic, Inception: The Cobol Job.
The official trailer released on May 10, 2010, through Mind Game was extremely well received. It featured an original piece of music, "Mind Heist", by recording artist Zack Hemsey, rather than music from the score. The trailer quickly went viral with numerous mashups copying its style, both by amateurs on sites like YouTube and by professionals on sites such as CollegeHumor. On June 7, 2010, a behind-the-scenes featurette on the film was released in HD on Yahoo! Movies.
Inception and its film trailers are widely credited for launching the trend throughout the 2010s in which blockbuster movie trailers repeatedly hit audiences with so-called "braam" sounds: "bassy, brassy, thunderous notes—like a foghorn on steroids—meant to impart a sense of apocalyptic momentousness". However, different composers worked on the teaser trailer, first trailer, second trailer, and film score, meaning that identifying the composer(s) responsible for that trend is a complicated task.
=== Home media ===
Inception was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 3, 2010, in France, and the week after in the United Kingdom and United States (December 7, 2010). The film was released on VHS in South Korea, making it one of the last major studio films released for the format. Warner Bros. also made available in the United States a limited Blu-ray edition packaged in a metal replica of the PASIV briefcase, which included extras such as a metal replica of the spinning top totem. With a production run of less than 2,000, it sold out in one weekend. Inception was released on 4K Blu-ray and digital copy along with other Christopher Nolan films on December 19, 2017. As of 2018, the home video releases have sold over 9 million units and grossed over $160 million.
=== Putative video game ===
In a November 2010 interview, Nolan expressed his intention to develop a video game set in the Inception world, working with a team of collaborators. He described it as "a longer-term proposition", referring to the medium of video games as "something I've wanted to explore".
=== 10th anniversary re-release ===
Inception was re-released in theaters for its tenth anniversary, starting on August 12, 2020, in international markets and on August 21 in the U.S. The re-release was originally announced by Warner Bros. in June 2020 and scheduled for July 17, 2020, taking the original release date for Nolan's upcoming film Tenet after its delay to July 31 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on movie theaters. After Tenet was delayed again to August 12, the re-release was shifted to July 31, before setting on the August release date following a third delay.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Inception was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters on July 16, 2010. The film had its world premiere at Leicester Square in London on July 8, 2010. In the United States and Canada, Inception was released theatrically in 3,792 conventional theaters and 195 IMAX theaters. The film grossed US$21.8 million during its opening day on July 16, 2010, with midnight screenings in 1,500 locations. Overall the film made US$62.7 million and debuted at No.1 on its opening weekend. Inception's opening weekend gross made it the second-highest-grossing debut for a science fiction film that was not a sequel, remake or adaptation, behind Avatar's US$77 million opening-weekend gross in 2009. The film held the top spot of the box office rankings in its second and third weekends, with drops of just 32% (US$42.7 million) and 36% (US$27.5 million), respectively, before dropping to second place in its fourth week, behind The Other Guys.
Inception initially grossed US$292 million in the United States and Canada, US$56 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta and US$479 million in other countries for a total of US$828 million worldwide. Its five highest-grossing markets after the US and Canada (US$292 million) were China (US$68 million), the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta (US$56 million), France and the Maghreb region (US$43 million), Japan (US$40 million) and South Korea (US$38 million). It was the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2010 in North America, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Its subsequent re-releases increased its gross to US$839 million. Inception is the fourth most lucrative production in Christopher Nolan's career—behind The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer—and the second most for Leonardo DiCaprio—behind Titanic.
=== Critical response ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, Inception holds an approval rating of 87% based on 363 reviews, with an average rating of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually." Metacritic, another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called Inception a "wildly ingenious chess game," and concluded "the result is a knockout." Justin Chang of Variety praised the film as "a conceptual tour de force" and wrote, "applying a vivid sense of procedural detail to a fiendishly intricate yarn set in the labyrinth of the unconscious mind, the writer-director has devised a heist thriller for surrealists, a Jungian's Rififi, that challenges viewers to sift through multiple layers of (un)reality." Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the film as perfect, deeming it "a singular accomplishment from a filmmaker who has only gotten better with each film." Relevant's David Roark called it Nolan's "greatest accomplishment", saying, "Visually, intellectually and emotionally, Inception is a masterpiece."
In its August 2010 issue, Empire gave the film a full five stars and wrote, "it feels like Stanley Kubrick adapting the work of the great sci-fi author William Gibson [...] Nolan delivers another true original: welcome to an undiscovered country." Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film a B+ grade and wrote, "It's a rolling explosion of images as hypnotizing and sharply angled as any in a drawing by M. C. Escher or a state-of-the-biz video game; the backwards splicing of Nolan's own Memento looks rudimentary by comparison." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a full four stars and said that Inception "is all about process, about fighting our way through enveloping sheets of reality and dream, reality within dreams, dreams without reality. It's a breathtaking juggling act." Richard Roeper, also of the Sun-Times, gave Inception an "A+" score and called it "one of the best movies of the [21st] century." BBC Radio 5 Live's Mark Kermode named Inception as the best film of 2010, stating that "Inception is proof that people are not stupid, that cinema is not trash, and that it is possible for blockbusters and art to be the same thing."
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "I found myself wishing Inception were weirder, further out [...] the film is Nolan's labyrinth all the way, and it's gratifying to experience a summer movie with large visual ambitions and with nothing more or less on its mind than (as Shakespeare said) a dream that hath no bottom." Time's Richard Corliss wrote that the film's "noble intent is to implant one man's vision in the mind of a vast audience [...] The idea of movie going as communal dreaming is a century old. With Inception, viewers have a chance to see that notion get a state-of-the-art update." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times felt that Nolan was able to blend "the best of traditional and modern film making. If you're searching for smart and nervy popular entertainment, this is what it looks like." USA Today's Claudia Puig gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and felt that Nolan "regards his viewers as possibly smarter than they are—or at least as capable of rising to his inventive level. That's a tall order. But it's refreshing to find a director who makes us stretch, even occasionally struggle, to keep up."
Not all reviewers gave the film positive reviews. New York magazine's David Edelstein said in his review that he had "no idea what so many people are raving about. It's as if someone went into their heads while they were sleeping and planted the idea that Inception is a visionary masterpiece and—hold on ... Whoa! I think I get it. The movie is a metaphor for the power of delusional hype—a metaphor for itself." The New York Observer's Rex Reed said the film's development was "pretty much what we've come to expect from summer movies in general and Christopher Nolan movies in particular ... [it] doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment to me." A. O. Scott of The New York Times commented "there is a lot to see in Inception, there is nothing that counts as genuine vision. Mr. Nolan's idea of the mind is too literal, too logical, and too rule-bound to allow the full measure of madness." The New Yorker's David Denby considered the film to be "not nearly as much fun as Nolan imagined it to be", concluding that "Inception is a stunning-looking film that gets lost in fabulous intricacies, a movie devoted to its own workings and to little else."
While some critics have tended to view the film as perfectly straightforward, and even criticize its overarching themes as "the stuff of torpid platitudes", online discussion has been much more positive. Heated debate has centered on the ambiguity of the ending, with many critics like Devin Faraci making the case that the film is self-referential and tongue-in-cheek, both a film about film-making and a dream about dreams. Other critics read Inception as Christian allegory and focus on the film's use of religious and water symbolism. Yet other critics, such as Kristin Thompson, see less value in the ambiguous ending of the film and more in its structure and novel method of storytelling, highlighting Inception as a new form of narrative that revels in "continuous exposition".
Several critics and scholars have noted the film has many striking similarities to the 2006 anime film Paprika by Satoshi Kon (and Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1993 novel of the same name), including plot similarities, similar scenes, and similar characters, arguing that Inception was influenced by Paprika. Several sources have also noted plot similarities between the film and the 2002 Uncle Scrooge comic The Dream of a Lifetime by Don Rosa. The influence of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris on Inception was noted as well.
=== Year-end and all-time lists ===
Inception appeared on over 273 critics' lists of the top ten films of 2010, being picked as number-one on at least 55 of those lists. It was the second-most-mentioned film in both the top ten lists and number-one rankings, only behind The Social Network along with Toy Story 3, True Grit, The King's Speech, and Black Swan as the most critically acclaimed films of 2010. Author Stephen King placed Inception at No. 3 in his list of top 10 best films of the year. Film maker Denis Villeneuve cited it as among his favorite films of all time. In 2025, the film ranked number 55 on The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 24 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list.
Critics and publications who ranked the film first for that year included Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times (tied with The Social Network and Toy Story 3), Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club, Empire magazine, and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter.
=== Top ten lists ===
Inception was listed on many critics' lists of top ten movies for 2010.
In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their ninth-favorite film of all time. Producer Roger Corman cited Inception as an example of "great imagination and originality". In 2012, Inception was ranked the 35th-best-edited film of all time by the Motion Picture Editors Guild. In the same year, Total Film named it the most rewatchable movie of all time. In 2014, Empire ranked Inception the tenth-greatest film ever made on their list of "The 301 Greatest Movies Of All Time" as voted by the magazine's readers, while Rolling Stone magazine named it the second-best science fiction film since the turn of the century. Inception was ranked 84th on Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films, a list compiled by The Hollywood Reporter in 2014, surveying "Studio chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty". In 2016, Inception was voted the 51st-best film of the 21st Century by BBC, as picked by 177 film critics from around the world. The film was included in the Visual Effects Society's list of "The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time". In 2019, Total Film named Inception the best film of the 2010s. Many critics and media outlets included Inception in their rankings of the best films of the 2010s. The film was included in Forbes magazine's list of Top 150 Greatest Films of 21st Century.
In April 2014, The Daily Telegraph placed the title on its top ten list of the most overrated films. Telegraph's Tim Robey stated, "It's a criminal failing of the movie that it purports to be about people's dreams being invaded, but demonstrates no instinct at all for what a dream has ever felt like, and no flair for making us feel like we're in one, at any point." The film won an informal poll by the Los Angeles Times as the most overrated movie of 2010. In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) ranked its screenplay 37th in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far).
In 2025, Inception was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
== Accolades ==
The film won many awards in technical categories, such as Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects, and the British Academy Film Awards for Best Production Design, Best Special Visual Effects and Best Sound. In most of its artistic nominations, such as Film, Director, and Screenplay at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes, the film was defeated by The Social Network or The King's Speech. However, the film did win the two highest honors for a science fiction or fantasy film: the 2011 Bradbury Award for best dramatic production and the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form).
== In popular culture ==
Numerous pop and hip hop songs reference the film, including Common's "Blue Sky", N.E.R.D.'s "Hypnotize U", XV's "The Kick", Black Eyed Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough", Lil Wayne's "6 Foot 7 Foot", Jennifer Lopez's "On the Floor", and B.o.B's "Strange Clouds", while T.I. had Inception-based artwork on two of his mix-tapes. An instrumental track by Joe Budden is titled "Inception". The animated series South Park parodies the film in the show's tenth episode of its fourteenth season, titled "Insheeption". The film was also an influence for Ariana Grande's video for "No Tears Left to Cry". "Lawnmower Dog", the second episode of the animated comedy show Rick and Morty, parodied the film. In an episode of The Simpsons, named "How I Wet Your Mother", the plot spoofs Inception with various scenes parodying moments from the film. The showrunners of the television series The Flash said its season 4 finale was inspired by Inception. In February 2020, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift released a lyric video for her single "The Man", which featured visuals bearing resemblance to the film. The song also mentions DiCaprio in its lyrics.
The film's title has been colloquialized as the word inception and the splinter suffix -ception, which refer to layering, nesting, or recursion, in reference to the movie's key element of a "dream within a dream". The normal meaning of inception is 'beginning', and the title refers to causing the inception of an idea within someone's mind. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Atlas_Tamazight | Central Atlas Tamazight | Central Atlas Tamazight or Atlasic (native name: ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ Tamazight [tæmæˈzɪxt, θæmæˈzɪxθ]; Arabic: أمازيغية أطلس الأوسط) is a Berber language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken by around 2.7 million speakers or 7.4% of the population of Morocco.
Central Atlas Tamazight is one of the most-spoken Berber languages, along with Tachelhit, Kabyle, Riffian, Shawiya and Tuareg. In Morocco, it comes second as the most-spoken after Tachelhit. All five languages may be referred to as "Tamazight", but Central Atlas speakers are the only ones who use the term exclusively. As is typical of Afroasiatic languages, Tamazight has a series of "emphatic consonants" (realized as pharyngealized), uvulars, pharyngeals and lacks the phoneme /p/. Tamazight has a phonemic three-vowel system but also has numerous words without vowels.
Central Atlas Tamazight (unlike neighbouring Tashelhit) had no known significant writing tradition until the 20th century. It is now officially written in the Tifinagh script for instruction in Moroccan schools, while descriptive linguistic literature commonly uses the Latin alphabet, and the Arabic alphabet has also been used.
The standard word order is verb–subject–object but sometimes subject–verb–object. Words inflect for gender, number and state, using prefixes, suffixes and circumfixes. Verbs are heavily inflected, being marked for tense, aspect, mode, voice, person of the subject and polarity, sometimes undergoing ablaut. Pervasive borrowing from Arabic extends to all major word classes, including verbs; borrowed verbs, however, are conjugated according to native patterns, including ablaut.
== Classification ==
Central Atlas Tamazight is one of the four most-spoken Berber languages, together with Kabyle, Tachelhit, and Riffian, and it comes second as the most-spoken Berber language after Tachelhit in Morocco. Differentiating these dialects is complicated by the fact that speakers of other languages may also refer to their language as 'Tamazight'. The differences between all three groups are largely phonological and lexical, rather than syntactic. Tamazight itself has a relatively large degree of internal diversity, including whether spirantization occurs.
Central Atlas Tamazight speakers refer to themselves as Amazigh (pl. Imazighen), an endonymic ethnonym whose etymology is uncertain, but may translate as "free people". The term Tamazight, the feminine form of Amazigh, refers to the language. Both words are also used self-referentially by other Berber groups, although Central Atlas Tamazight speakers use them regularly and exclusively.
In older studies, Central Atlas Tamazight is sometimes referred to as "Braber" / "Beraber", a dialectical Arabic term, or its Tamazight equivalent "Taberbrit". This is related to the Standard Arabic and English term "Berber", used to refer to all Berber dialects/languages, though eschewed by many Berbers because its etymology is pejorative.
Tamazight belongs to the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic language family; Afroasiatic subsumes a number of languages in North Africa and Southwest Asia including the Semitic languages, the Egyptian language, and the Chadic and Cushitic languages. Along with most other Berber languages, Tamazight has retained a number of widespread Afroasiatic features, including a two-gender system, verb–subject–object (VSO) typology, emphatic consonants (realized in Tamazight as pharyngealized), a templatic morphology, and a causative morpheme /s/ (the latter also found in other macrofamilies, such as the Niger–Congo languages). Within Berber, Central Atlas Tamazight belongs, along with neighbouring Tashelhiyt, to the Atlas branch of the Northern Berber subgroup.
Tamazight is in the middle of a dialect continuum between Riff to its north-east and Shilha to its south-west. The basic lexicon of Tamazight differs markedly from Shilha, and its verbal system is more similar to Riff or Kabyle. Moreover, Tamazight has a greater amount of internal diversity than Shilha.
Tamazight's dialects are divided into three distinct subgroups and geographic regions: those spoken in the Middle Atlas mountains; those spoken in the High Atlas mountains; and those spoken in Jbel Saghro and its foothills. Although the characteristic spirantization of /b/ > [β]; /t/ > [θ] or [h]; /d/ > [ð]; /k/ > [ç] or [ʃ]; and /ɡ/ > [ʝ], [ʃ] or [j] is apparent in Berber languages in central and northern Morocco and Algeria, as in many Middle Atlas dialects, it is more rare in High Atlas Tamazight speakers, and is absent in Tamazight speakers from the foothills of Jbel Saghro. Southern dialects (e.g. Ayt Atta) may also be differentiated syntactically: while other dialects predicate with the auxiliary /d/ (e.g. /d argaz/ "it's a man"), Southern dialects use the typically (High Atlas, Souss-Basin rural country, Jbel Atlas Saghro) auxiliary verb /g/ (e.g. /iga argaz/ "it's a man"). The differences between each of the three groups are primarily phonological.
Groups speaking Tamazight include: Ait Ayache, Ait Morghi, Ait Alaham, Ait Youb, Marmoucha, Ait Youssi, Beni Mguild, Zayane, Zemmour, Ait Rbaa, Ait Seri, Guerouane, Ait Segougou, Ait Yafelman, Ait Sikhmane, Ayt Ndhir (Beni Mtir).
There is some ambiguity as to the eastern boundary of Central Atlas Tamazight. The dialect of the Ait Seghrouchen and Ait Ouarain tribes are commonly classed as Central Atlas Tamazight, and Ait Seghrouchen is reported to be mutually intelligible with the neighbouring Tamazight dialect of Ait Ayache. Genetically, however, they belong to the Zenati subgroup of Northern Berber, rather than to the Atlas subgroup to which the rest of Central Atlas Tamazight belongs, and are therefore excluded by some sources from Central Atlas Tamazight. The Ethnologue lists another group of Zenati dialects, South Oran Berber (ksours sud-oranais), as a dialect of Central Atlas Tamazight, but these are even less similar, and are treated by Berber specialists as a separate dialect group.
== History ==
The Berbers have lived in North Africa between western Egypt and the Atlantic Ocean since before recorded history began in the region about 33 centuries ago. By the 5th century BC, the city of Carthage, founded by Phoenicians, had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa; in the wake of the Punic Wars, Rome replaced it as regional hegemon. The Central Atlas region itself remained independent throughout the classical period, but occasional loanwords into Central Atlas Tamazight, such as ayugu, "plough ox", from Latin iugum, "team of oxen" and aẓalim "onion" < Punic bṣal-im, bear witness to their ancestors' contact with these conquerors.
Arabs conquered the area of modern-day Morocco and Algeria around the 7th century, prompting waves of Arab migration and Berber adoption of Islam. Particularly following the arrival of the Banu Hilal in modern-day Tunisia in the 11th century, more and more of North Africa became Arabic-speaking over the centuries. However, along with other high mountainous regions of North Africa, the Middle Atlas continued to speak Berber.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the Central Atlas, along with the rest of Morocco, successively fell within the domain of the Moorish Almoravid, Almohad, and Marinid dynasties. Since the 17th century the region has acknowledged the rule of the Alaouite Dynasty, the current Moroccan royal family. However, effective control of the region was limited; until the 20th century much of the Central Atlas was in a condition of siba, recognising the spiritual legitimacy of royal authority but rejecting its political claims. The expansion of the Ait Atta starting from the 16th century brought Tamazight back into the already Arabised Tafilalt region and put other regional tribes on the defensive, leading to the formation of the Ait Yafelman alliance.
The 1912 Treaty of Fez made most of Morocco a French-Spanish protectorate (under French and Spanish military occupation), leaving the Alaouite monarchy but establishing a French military presence in the Atlas region and installing a French commissioner-general. However, the Berber tribes of the Middle Atlas, as in other areas, put up stiff military resistance to French rule, lasting until 1933 in the case of the Ait Atta.
After Morocco's independence in 1956, a strong emphasis was laid on the country's Arab identity, and a national Arabic language educational system was instituted, in which Berber languages, including Middle Atlas Tamazight, had no place. However, in 1994 the government responded to Berber demands for recognition by decreeing that Berber should be taught and establishing television broadcasts in three Berber languages, including Central Atlas Tamazight. For the promotion of Tamazight and other Berber languages and cultures, the government created the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) in 2001.
== Geographic distribution ==
Central Atlas Tamazight is mostly spoken in the entire Middle Atlas and its outcroppings, reaching east to Taza and west to the region near Rabat. It is also spoken in the central and eastern High Atlas mountains in Morocco. It is thus spoken across areas with widely varying ecological conditions — from the mountainous and forested regions of the Middle Atlas mountains to the oases of the northwestern Sahara (Tafilalt). Berber in Morocco is spread into three areas: Riff in the north, Central Atlas in the center, and Shilha in the south/southwest. Central Atlas is mutually intelligible with the dialects Riff and Shilha; but Shilha- and Riff-speakers cannot understand each other, although transitional varieties exist between these dialects, creating a smooth transition.
Figures for the number of speakers of Berber languages are generally a matter of estimates rather than linguistic censuses. At least a third of Moroccans seem to speak Berber languages,. Tamazight is estimated to be spoken by about 40~49% of Morocco's Berber-speakers, while Shilha commands 32~40% and Riff 20~25%.
== Status ==
Tamazight, along with other Berber languages of Morocco, has a low sociolinguistic status, used mainly in the home, and rarely in official or formal contexts. Media broadcasts and music are available in it, and there is a policy of teaching it in schools, although it is not always applied.
Of the Central Atlas Tamazight speakers, 40–45% are monolingual, while the others use Arabic as a second language. Monolingual speakers consist mostly of older generations and children. Women are more likely to be monolingual than men, since they typically stay in the village while the men go to work in the cities. Since Tamazight is the language of the home, girls grow up speaking Berber languages and pass them on to their children — this gender stratification helps to preserve the language. Bilingual Berber speakers have learned Moroccan Arabic via schooling, migration, media, or through the government. Most rural Berber children are monolingual. They struggle to succeed in schools where the teachers do not speak Berber, and require them to learn both Arabic and French.
Rural Morocco, including the Central Atlas area, suffers from poverty. Tamazight along with its relative Shilha are undergoing "contraction" as rural families, motivated by economic necessity, move to cities and stop speaking Tamazight, leading many intellectuals to fear Berber language shift or regression. However, Tamazight speakers are reported to immigrate less than many other Berber groups. Moreover, Tamazight has a large enough body of native speakers not to be considered under risk of endangerment, although Tamazight speakers reportedly have a lower birth rate than the country of Morocco as a whole.
=== Official status ===
As of the Moroccan constitutional referendum, 2011, the Berber languages are official in Morocco alongside Arabic. In 1994, King Hassan II declared that a national Berber dialect would acquire a formal status; television broadcasts are summarized in Tamazight, as well as Shilha and Rif, three times a day; and educational materials for schools are being developed. On October 17, 2001 King Mohammed VI sealed the decree (Dahir 1–01–299) creating and organizing the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM). IRCAM's board is composed of Amazigh experts, artists, and activists, all of whom are appointed by the king. The institute, located in Rabat, has played an important role in the establishment of the Tifinagh script in Morocco. There are multiple political parties and cultural associations in Morocco that advocate for the advancement of Berber, calling for it to be recognized as an official language, used more extensively in the mass media, and taught more in schools.
A legal issue affecting Tamazight speakers is restrictions on naming - Moroccan law stipulates that first names must have a "Moroccan character", and uncommon names, including some Berber ones used in the Central Atlas, are often rejected by the civil registry.
== Orthography ==
Until the 20th century Tamazight, like many other Berber languages but in contrast with neighbouring Tashelhiyt, was basically unwritten (although sporadic cases, using Arabic script, are attested.) It was preserved through oral use in rural areas, isolated from urban hubs. Scholars from the Middle Atlas, as elsewhere in North Africa, usually wrote in the more prestigious Arabic language, rather than their vernacular.
At present three writing systems exist for Berber languages, including Tamazight: Neo-Tifinagh, the Latin alphabet and the Arabic script. To some extent, the choice of writing system is a political one, with various subgroups expressing preference based on ideology and politics. The orthography used for government services including schooling is Neo-Tifinagh, rendered official by a Dahir of King Mohammed VI based on the recommendation of IRCAM. However, various Latin transcriptions have been used in a number of linguistic works describing Central Atlas Tamazight, notably the dictionary of Taïfi (1991).
== Phonology ==
=== Consonants ===
Central Atlas Tamazight has a contrastive set of "flat" consonants, manifested in two ways:
For front segments, pharyngealization: /tˤ dˤ sˤ zˤ lˤ nˤ rˤ/)
For back segments, labialization: /xʷ ɣʷ qʷ χʷ ʁʷ/)
Note that pharyngealization may spread to a syllable or even a whole word. Historically Proto-Berber only had two pharyngealized phonemes (/dˤ, zˤ/), but modern Berber languages have borrowed others from Arabic and developed new ones through sound shifts. In addition, Tamazight has uvular and pharyngeal consonants, as well as a lack of /p/ in its plosive inventory, unusual globally but characteristic of the region.
All segments may be geminated except for the pharyngeals /ʕ ħ/. In Ayt Ndhir, which is a dialect of Tamazight with spirantization, the consonants that can be spirantized appear in their stop forms when geminated, and additionally the geminate correspondents of /ʁ, dˤ, ʃ, ʒ, w, j/ are usually /qː, tˤː, t͡ʃː, d͡ʒː, ɣʷː, ɣː/ respectively. However some native Berber words have /ʁː/ (not /qː/) where other dialects have singleton /ʁ/, and similarly for /ʃː, ʒː/. In addition, in Arabic loans singleton non-spirantized [b, t, tˤ, d, k, ɡ, q] occur (though [b t d] and to an extent [tˤ] often alternate with their spirantized versions in loans), giving this alternation marginal phonemic status.
Phonetic notes:
/k ɡ/ are fricatives [x ɣ] in the Ayt Ayache dialect
/χʷ/ and /ʁʷ/ rare—native speakers can freely substitute /χ ʁ/
For a small number of speakers, /b/ is sometimes lenited to [β].
/t/ is aspirated.
=== Vowels ===
Tamazight has a typical phonemic three-vowel system:
These phonemes have numerous allophones, conditioned by the following environments:
(# denotes word boundary, C̊ denotes C[−flat −/χ/ −/ʁ/], Ç denotes C[+flat], G denotes {Ç, /χ/, /ʁ/})
Phonetic schwa
There is a predictable non-phonemic vowel inserted into consonant clusters, realized as [ɪ̈] before front consonants (e.g. /b t d .../) and [ə] before back consonants (e.g. /k χ .../). It is voiced before voiced consonants and voiceless before voiceless consonants, or alternatively it can be realized as a voiced or unvoiced consonant release. It also may be realized as the syllabicity of a nasal, lateral, or /r/.
The occurrence of schwa epenthesis is governed morphophonemically. These are some of the rules governing the occurrence of [ə]:
(# denotes word boundary, R denotes /l r m n/, H denotes /h ħ ʕ w j/, ℞ denotes R or H, and B denotes not R or H.)
Examples:
/tbrˤːmnt/ > [tbərːəmənt] ('you (fp) turned')
/datːħadˤar/ > [datːəħadˤar] ('she is present')
/ʕadˤːrˤ/ > [ʕadˤːərˤ] ('to meet')
However note that word-initial initial /j, w/ are realized as /i, u/ before consonants. In word-medial or -final position [əj], [əʝ], and [əw] are realized as [ij], [ij], and [uw] respectively, and may become [i] and [u] in rapid speech.
Tamazight in fact has numerous words without phonemic vowels, and those consisting entirely of voiceless consonants will not phonetically contain voiced vowels.
[ə] is written as ⟨ⴻ⟩ in neo-Tifinagh and as ⟨e⟩ in the Berber Latin alphabet. French publications tended to include [ə] in their transcriptions of Berber forms despite their predictability, perhaps due to the French vowel system. This can cause problems because alternations such as /iʁ(ə)rs/ 'he slaughtered' – /uriʁris/ 'he did not slaughter' would then have to be morphologically conditioned.
=== Stress ===
Word stress is non-contrastive and predictable, and falls on the last vowel in a word (including schwa).
Examples:
/sal/ > [ˈsal] ('to ask')
/dajtːħadˤarˤ/ > [dajtːəħaˈdˤarˤ] ('he is present')
/fsːr/ > [fəsːˈər] ('to explain')
/tfsːrnt/ > [təfəsːəˈrənt] ('you (fp) explained')
== Grammar ==
Central Atlas Tamazight grammar has many features typical of Afro-Asiatic languages, including extensive apophony in both the derivational and inflectional morphology, gender, possessive suffixes, VSO typology, the causative morpheme /s/, and the use of the status constructus.
=== Morphology ===
Tamazight nouns are inflected for gender, number, and state. Singular masculine nouns usually have the prefix /a-/, and singular feminines the circumfix /t...t. Plurals may either involve a regular change ("sound plurals"), internal vowel change ("broken plurals"), or a combination of the two. Masculine plurals usually take the prefix /i-/, feminines /ti-/, and sound plurals also take the suffix /-n/ in the masculine and /-in/} in the feminine, but many other plural patterns are found.
Examples:
/axam/ → /ixamn/ 'big tent(s)' (m)
/amaziɣ/ → /imaziɣn/ 'Berber(s)' (m)
/adaʃu/ → /iduʃa/ 'sandal(s)' (m)
/asrdun/ → /isrdan/ 'mule(s)' (m)
/taxamt/ → /tixamin/ 'tent(s)' (f)
/tafunast/ → /tifunasin/ 'cow(s)' (f)
/taɡrtilt/ → /tiɡrtal/ 'mat(s)' (f)
/tamazirt/ → /timizar/ 'property(ies)' (f)
Nouns may be put into the construct state (contrasting with free state) to indicate possession or when the subject of a verb follows the verb. This is also used for nouns after numerals and some prepositions, as well as the conjunction /d-/ ('and'). The construct state is formed as follows: in masculines, initial /a/ becomes /u, wː, wa/, initial /i/ becomes /i, j, ji/, and initial /u/ becomes /wu/. In feminines, initial /ta/ usually becomes /t/, initial /ti/ usually becomes /t/, and initial /tu/ remains unchanged.
Examples (in Ayt Ayache):
/babuxam/ ( ← /axam/) 'head of the house'
/ijːs ntslit/ ( ← /tislit/) 'the horse of the bride'
Central Atlas Tamazight's personal pronouns distinguish three persons and two genders. Pronouns appear in three forms: an independent form used in the subject position, a possessive suffix (and a derived independent possessive pronoun), and an object form affixed to the controlling verb.
Demonstrative pronouns distinguish between proximate and remote. When they occur independently, they inflect for number. They may also be suffixed to nouns: /tabardaja/ 'this pack-saddle'.
Central Atlas Tamazight verbs are heavily inflected and are marked for tense, aspect, mode, voice, person, and polarity. Tamazight verbs have at their core a stem, modified by prefixes, suffixes, moveable affixes, circumfixes, and ablaut. The prefixes indicate voice, tense, aspect, and polarity, while the suffixes indicate mood (normal, horatory, or imperative). Subject markers are circumfixed to the verb, and object marking and satellite framing are accomplished via either prefixing or suffixing depending on environment Some verb forms are accompanied by ablaut, and sometimes metathesis.
Pronominal complement markers cliticize to the verb, with the indirect object preceding the direct object:/iznz-as-t/ "he sold it to him".
Attributive adjectives occur after the noun they modify and are inflected for number and gender. Adjectives may also occur alone in which case they become an NP. Practically all adjectives also have a verbal form used for predicative purposes, which behaves just like a normal verb.
/argaz amʕdur/ 'the foolish man' (lit. 'man foolish')
/tamtˤut tamʕdur/ 'the foolish woman'
/irgzen imʕdar/ 'the foolish men'
/tajtʃin timʕdar/ 'the foolish women'
/i-mmuʕdr urgaz/ 'the man is foolish' (lit. '3ps–foolish man')
/argaz i-mmuʕdr-n/ 'the foolish man' [using a non-finite verb]
Prepositions include /xf/ ('on'), /qbl/ ('before'), /ɣr/ ('to'), and the proclitics /n/ ('of') and /d/ ('with, and'). They may take pronominal suffixes. Some prepositions require the following noun to be in the construct state, but others do not.
=== Syntax ===
Word order is usually VSO (with the subject in construct state) but is sometimes SVO (with the subject in free state), e.g. (/ifːɣ umaziɣ/ vs. /amaziɣ ifːɣ/ 'the Berber went out'). Tamazight also exhibits pro-drop behavior.
Tamazight may use a null copula, but the word /ɡ/ 'to be, to do' may function as a copula in Ayt Ayache, especially in structures preceded by /aj/ 'who, which, what'.
wh- questions are always clefts, and multiple wh-questions do not occur. Consequently, Tamazight's clefting, relativisation, and wh-interrogation contribute to anti-agreement effects, similar to Shilha, and causes deletion of the verbal person marker in certain situations.
== Vocabulary ==
As a result of relatively intense language contact, Central Atlas Tamazight has a large stratum of Arabic loans. Many borrowed words in Berber also have native synonyms (/lbab/ or /tiflut/ 'door'), with the latter being used more in rural areas. The contact was unequal, as Moroccan Arabic has not borrowed as much from Berber languages, but Berber has contributed to the very reduced vowel systems of Moroccan and Algerian Arabic.
Arabic loans span a wide range of lexical clasees. Many nouns begin with /l-/, from the Arabic definite prefix, and some Arabic feminines may acquire the native Berber feminine ending /-t/, e.g. /lʕafit/ for /lʕafia/ 'fire'. Many Arabic loans have been integrated into the Tamazight verb lexicon. They adhere fully to inflectional patterns of native stems, and may even undergo ablaut. Even function words are borrowed: /blli/ or /billa/ 'that', /waxxa/ 'although', /ɣir/ 'just', etc.
The first few (1–3 in Ayt Ayache and Ayt Ndhir) cardinal numerals have native Berber and borrowed Arabic forms. All higher cardinals are borrowed from Arabic, consistent with the linguistic universals that the numbers 1–3 are much more likely to be retained, and that a borrowed number generally implies that numbers greater than it are also borrowed. The retention of one is also motivated by the fact that Berber languages nearly universally use unity as a determiner.
Central Atlas Tamazight uses a bipartite negative construction (e.g. /uriffiɣ ʃa/ 'he did not go out'), which was apparently modelled after proximate |Arabic varieties, in a common development known as Jespersen's Cycle. It is present in multiple Berber varieties and is argued to have originated in neighbouring Arabic varieties and to have been adopted by contact.
== Examples == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_Remains_the_Same_(album) | The Song Remains the Same (album) | The Song Remains the Same is the live soundtrack album of the concert film of the same name by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The soundtrack was recorded 27–29 July 1973 and released on 22 October 1976 on Swan Song Records.
== Overview ==
The recording of the album and the film took place during three nights of concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden, during the band's 1973 North American tour. All songs were recorded by Eddie Kramer using the Wally Heider Mobile Studio truck, and later mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York and Trident Studios in London.
The sleeve design depicts a dilapidated movie house on Old Street film studios in London, where the group rehearsed for their 1973 tour.
Until the album and the film were remastered and re-released in 2007, they featured slightly different track lists:
The soundtrack album included "Celebration Day", which did not appear in the film. The album did not include several songs featured in the film, including "Black Dog", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Heartbreaker", the instrumental "Bron-Yr-Aur" (which appeared on Physical Graffiti), and a hurdy-gurdy piece called "Autumn Lake".
In addition, some of the recordings featured on the album were of different performances from those in the film.
Some tracks recorded at Madison Square Garden were omitted from both the film and the soundtrack album: "Over the Hills and Far Away", "Misty Mountain Hop", "The Ocean", and "Thank You".
== 2007 reissue ==
The surviving band members oversaw the remixing and remastering of the original release, and The Song Remains the Same soundtrack album was reissued on CD on 20 November 2007. This coincided with the re-issue of the film, released on HD-DVD, Blu-ray and DVD. The new version of the soundtrack included six songs that were not on the original album release: "Black Dog", "Over the Hills and Far Away", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Since I've Been Loving You", "The Ocean" and "Heartbreaker", plus new liner notes by Cameron Crowe.
With the 2007 re-release of both the album and film, the songs were synchronised so that the full set-list from the concerts was available on both, with each song mixed the same way. Kevin Shirley, who worked on How The West Was Won, was involved in the mixing.
Due to legal complications, the band decided not to change the video portion of the original movie for the re-release. Instead, Shirley created an entirely new mix of the three 1973 Madison Square Garden concerts so that the audio portion of the film would better match the on-screen visuals. The audio on the new CD release was nearly identical to the soundtrack of the new DVD release. One difference was that the songs included on the CDs that were not featured in the original movie were included as bonus tracks on the DVD.
The audio mixes also differed from those found on the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD. The most obvious example is that "Black Dog" was two minutes longer on the 2003 DVD than on the 2007 releases, two of the four verses being cut from the song.
On 29 July 2008, a four-LP edition of the 2007 re-issue, on 180 gram audiophile vinyl, was released. It was presented in a deluxe archival two-piece box with foil-stamping. It includes a 12-page oversized full-colour booklet with dozens of previously unpublished stills from the film, as well as four individual jackets with new and unique artwork. A special white vinyl edition was also printed in very limited numbers. Just 200 were produced, with only 100 being made available to the public from Led Zeppelin's official website.
== 2018 reissue ==
On 7 September 2018, a newly remastered edition of The Song Remains the Same was issued in multiple formats, including a multi-disc, super deluxe boxed set, Blu-ray audio with a hi-resolution stereo and new 5.1 surround mix, 180-gram vinyl, CD, streaming and downloads, including 24-bit/96k hi-res audio files for the first time. This is based on the 2007 version of the soundtrack album and concludes the campaign of reissues of their live albums and deluxe editions of their studio albums that started in 2014.
== Critical reception ==
Upon its initial release in 1976, the album received some mixed reviews, with a number of critics considering it to be over-produced and lumbering. Indeed, the band's members themselves have since expressed a lack of fondness for the recording. Page has admitted that the end product was not the best representation of Led Zeppelin as a live band.
In contrast, the 2007 reissued version received generally much more positive reviews. In a review published in Mojo magazine in December 2007 James McNair gave the album four out of five stars, as did David Cavanagh in Uncut magazine, who wrote:
The sound is vastly improved, as is the playing of the musicians (due to digital re-editing of the three MSG concerts, presumably). Not so much remastered as reconstructed, the 15 tracks (six previously unreleased) showboat, strut and snarl.
== Track listing ==
=== Original release ===
=== 2007 reissue ===
Track 3 features "Bring It On Home" intro
Notes
(*) Not on original soundtrack release
(#) Shorter than the original soundtrack release
(+) Longer than the original soundtrack release
== Personnel ==
Led Zeppelin
Robert Plant – vocals
Jimmy Page – guitars, Theremin
John Paul Jones – bass guitar, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron
John Bonham – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
Barry Diament – mastering (original Compact Disc release)
Peter Grant – executive producer
Eddie Kramer – engineering, mixing
Bob Ludwig – remastering (2007 edition)
Jimmy Page – production
Kevin Shirley – remixing (2007 edition)
Packaging
Cameron Crowe – liner notes
George Hardie – record sleeve
Hipgnosis – record sleeve
== Charts ==
== Certifications == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey | New Jersey | New Jersey is a state located in both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the heavily urbanized Northeast megalopolis, it is bordered to the northwest, north, and northeast by New York State; on its east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on its west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on its southwest by Delaware Bay and Delaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state in land area. According to a 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, it is the 11th-most populous state, with over 9.5 million residents, its highest estimated count ever. The state capital is Trenton, and the state's most populous city is Newark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemed urban by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the most densely populated U.S. state.
New Jersey was first inhabited by Paleo-Indians as early as 13,000 BC. The Lenape were the dominant Indigenous group when Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, and they were subdivided into dialectal groups such as the Munsee, in the north, and the Unami and the Unalachtigo, elsewhere. Dutch and Swedish colonists founded the first European settlements in the state, with the British later seizing control of the region and establishing the Province of New Jersey, named after the Channel Island of Jersey. The colony's fertile lands and relative religious tolerance drew a large and diverse population. New Jersey was among the Thirteen Colonies that supported the American Revolution, hosting several pivotal battles and military commands in the American Revolutionary War earning the title, "Crossroads of the American Revolution." New Jersey remained in the Union during the American Civil War and provided troops, resources, and military leaders in support of the Union Army. After the war, the state emerged as a major manufacturing center and a leading destination for immigrants, helping drive the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. New Jersey was the site of many industrial, technological, and commercial innovations. Many prominent Americans associated with New Jersey have proven influential nationally and globally, including in academia, social advocacy, business, entertainment, government, military, non-profit leadership, and other fields.
New Jersey's central location in the Northeast megalopolis helped fuel its rapid growth and suburbanization in the second half of the 20th century. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the state's economy has become highly diversified, with major sectors, including New Jersey's role as the world's largest pharmaceutical industry hub— as well as biotechnology, information technology, finance, digital media, filmmaking, and tourism, and it has become an Atlantic seaboard epicenter for logistics and distribution. New Jersey is a major destination for immigrants and is home to one of the world's most multicultural populations. Since the onset of the 21st century, re-urbanization is taking place,in New Jersey, particularly near. New Jersey Transit rail hubs. New Jersey is the fastest-growing state in the U.S. Northeast and one of the fastest-growing in the United States overall, attributed to its resilient economy and aggressive homebuilding policies.
New Jersey is one of the most developed states in the U.S. New Jersey had a median household income of $99,781 as of 2023, the second-highest of any U.S. state behind Massachusetts. Almost one-tenth of all households in the state, or over 323,000, are millionaires, the highest representation of millionaires among all states and the highest density per square mile. Despite not being a U.S. border state, one-quarter of New Jersey's population is foreign born, the second-highest proportion after California. The state ranks near the top on both the American Human Development Index and the standard Human Development Index. New Jersey is also ranked as one of the most expensive states for residents to live in.
According to climatology research by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century, which has been attributed to significant warming of the North Atlantic Ocean.
== History ==
=== Prehistoric era ===
The pressure of collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains. Around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic along with rivers, meadows, swamps, and gorges.
Since the 6th millennium BC, Native American people have inhabited New Jersey, beginning with the Lenape tribe. Scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that represents present-day New Jersey. The Lenape were several autonomous groups that practiced maize agriculture in order to supplement their hunting and gathering in the region surrounding the Delaware River, the lower Hudson River, and western Long Island Sound. The Lenape were divided into matrilineal clans that were based upon common female ancestors. Clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign: Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf. They first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Dutch and later European settlers was through fur trade.
=== Colonial era ===
The Dutch were the first Europeans to lay claim to geographic territory in New Jersey. The Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of the modern Mid-Atlantic states. Although the European principle of land ownership was not recognized by the Lenape, Dutch West India Company policy required its colonists to purchase land that they settled. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw, who established a patroonship called Pavonia in 1630 along North River, that eventually became Bergen, the first permanent settlement, local civil government and municipality in the state. Peter Minuit's purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden, that lasted until the Dutch conquered it in 1655. Then the entire region became a territory of England on June 24, 1664, after an English fleet under command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is now New York Harbor and took control of Fort Amsterdam, annexing the entire province.
During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and gave sanctuary to the King. In the Royal Square in St Helier, Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II), the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony). James then granted land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River (the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton. The area was named the Province of New Jersey.
Since its inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic and religious diversity. New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants. While the majority of residents lived in towns with individual landholdings of 100 acres (40 ha), a few rich proprietors owned vast estates. English Quakers and Anglicans owned large landholdings. Unlike Plymouth Colony, Jamestown and other colonies, New Jersey was populated by a secondary wave of immigrants who came from other colonies instead of those who migrated directly from Europe. New Jersey remained agrarian and rural throughout the colonial era, and commercial farming developed sporadically. Some townships, such as Burlington on the Delaware River and Perth Amboy, emerged as important ports for shipping to New York City and Philadelphia. The colony's fertile lands and tolerant religious policy drew more settlers, and New Jersey's population had increased to 120,000 by 1775.
Settlement for the first ten years of English rule took place along the Hackensack River and Arthur Kill. Settlers came primarily from New York and New England. On March 18, 1673, Berkeley sold his half of the colony to Quakers in England, who settled the Delaware Valley region as a Quaker colony, with William Penn acting as trustee for the lands for a time. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces, East and West Jersey, for 28 years between 1674 and 1702, which were part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689.
In 1702, the two provinces were reunited under a royal governor rather than a proprietary one. Edward Hyde, titled Lord Cornbury, became the first governor of the royal colony. Britain believed that he was an ineffective and corrupt ruler, taking bribes and speculating on land. In 1708, he was recalled to England. New Jersey was then ruled by the governors of New York, but this infuriated the settlers of New Jersey, who accused these governors of favoritism to New York. Judge Lewis Morris led the case for a separate governor, and was appointed governor by King George II in 1738.
=== Revolutionary War era ===
New Jersey was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. The New Jersey Constitution of 1776 was passed July 2, 1776, just two days before the Second Continental Congress declared American Independence from Great Britain. It was an act of the Provincial Congress, which made itself into the State Legislature. To reassure neutrals, it provided that the legislature would disband if New Jersey reached reconciliation with Great Britain. Among the 56 Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence, five were New Jersey representatives: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, and Abraham Clark.
During the American Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times with several pivotal battles taking place in the state. In total, there were 296 engagements that occurred within New Jersey, more clashes than occurred in any other of the 13 colonies during the war. Because of this, New Jersey today is sometimes referred to as "The Crossroads of the American Revolution". The winter quarters of the Continental Army were established in New Jersey twice by General George Washington in Morristown, which has been called "The Military Capital of the American Revolution."
On the night of December 25–26, 1776, the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River. After the crossing, they surprised and defeated the Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton. Slightly more than a week after victory at Trenton, Continental Army forces gained an important victory by stopping General Cornwallis's charges at the Second Battle of Trenton. By evading Cornwallis's army, the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack on Princeton and successfully defeated the British forces there on January 3, 1777. Emanuel Leutze's painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware became an icon of the Revolution.
Continental Army forces under Washington's command met British forces under General Henry Clinton at the Battle of Monmouth in an indecisive engagement in June 1778. Washington's forces attempted to take the British column by surprise. When the British army attempted to flank the Americans, the Continental Army retreated in disorder. Their ranks were later reorganized and withstood British charges.
In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University, making Princeton the nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war.
On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution, which was overwhelmingly popular in New Jersey since it prevented New York and Pennsylvania from charging tariffs on goods imported from Europe. On November 20, 1789, New Jersey became the first in the newly formed Union to ratify the Bill of Rights.
The 1776 New Jersey State Constitution gave the vote to all inhabitants who had a certain level of wealth. This included women and Black people, but not married women because they were not legally permitted to own property separately from their husbands. Both sides, in several elections, claimed that the other side had had unqualified women vote and mocked them for use of petticoat electors, whether entitled to vote or not; on the other hand, both parties passed Voting Rights Acts. In 1807, legislature passed a bill interpreting the constitution to mean universal white male suffrage, excluding paupers; the constitution was itself an act of the legislature and not enshrined as the modern constitution.
=== 19th century ===
On February 15, 1804, New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish new slavery and enacted legislation that slowly phased out existing slavery. This led to a gradual decrease of the slave population. By the American Civil War's end, about a dozen African Americans in New Jersey were still held in bondage. New Jersey voters eventually ratified the constitutional amendments banning slavery and granting rights to the United States' black population.
Industrialization accelerated in the present-day North Jersey region of the state following completion of the Morris Canal in 1831. The canal allowed for anthracite coal to be transported from eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to North Jersey's growing industries in Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City.
In 1844, the second state constitution was ratified and brought into effect. Counties thereby became districts for the state senate, and some realignment of boundaries (including the creation of Mercer County) immediately followed. This provision was retained in the 1947 Constitution, but was overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1962, by the decision Baker v. Carr. While the Governorship was stronger than under the 1776 constitution, the constitution of 1844 created many offices that were not responsible to him, or to the people, and it gave him a three-year term, but he could not succeed himself.
New Jersey was one of the few Union states (the others being Delaware and Kentucky) to select a candidate other than Abraham Lincoln twice in national elections, and sided with Stephen A. Douglas (1860) and George B. McClellan (1864) during their campaigns. McClellan, a native Philadelphian, had New Jersey ties and formally resided in New Jersey at the time; he later became Governor of New Jersey (1878–81). (In New Jersey, the factions of the Democratic party managed an effective coalition in 1860.) During the American Civil War, the state was led first by Republican governor Charles Smith Olden, then by Democrat Joel Parker. During the course of the war, between 65,000 and 80,000 soldiers from the state enlisted in the Union army; unlike many states, including some Northern ones, no battle was fought there.
In the Industrial Revolution, cities like Paterson grew and prospered. Previously, the economy had been largely agrarian, which was problematically subject to crop failures and poor soil. This caused a shift to a more industrialized economy, one based on manufactured commodities such as textiles and silk. Inventor Thomas Edison also became an important figure of the Industrial Revolution, having been granted 1,093 patents, many of which for inventions he developed while working in New Jersey. Edison's facilities, first at Menlo Park and then in West Orange, are considered perhaps the first research centers in the United States. Christie Street in Menlo Park was the first thoroughfare in the world to have electric lighting. Transportation was greatly improved as locomotion and steamboats were introduced to New Jersey.
Iron mining was also a leading industry during the middle to late 19th century. Bog iron pits in the New Jersey Pine Barrens were among the first sources of iron for the new nation. Mines such as Mt. Hope, Mine Hill, and the Rockaway Valley Mines created a thriving industry. Mining generated the impetus for new towns and was one of the driving forces behind the need for the Morris Canal. Zinc mines were also a major industry, especially the Sterling Hill Mine.
=== 20th century ===
New Jersey prospered through the Roaring Twenties. The first Miss America Pageant was held in 1921 in Atlantic City; the Holland Tunnel connecting Jersey City to Manhattan opened in 1927; and the first drive-in movie was shown in 1933 in Camden. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the state offered begging licenses to unemployed residents, the zeppelin airship Hindenburg crashed in flames over Lakehurst, and the SS Morro Castle beached itself near Asbury Park after going up in flames while at sea.
Through both World Wars, New Jersey was a center for war production, especially naval construction. The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company yards in Kearny and Newark and the New York Shipbuilding Corporation yard in Camden produced aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. New Jersey manufactured 6.8 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking fifth among the 48 states. In addition, Fort Dix (1917) (originally called "Camp Dix"), Camp Merritt (1917), and Camp Kilmer (1941) were all constructed to house and train American soldiers through both World Wars. New Jersey also became a principal location for defense in the Cold War. Fourteen Nike missile stations were constructed for the defense of the New York City and Philadelphia areas. PT-109, a motor torpedo boat commanded by Lt. (j.g.) John F. Kennedy in World War II, was built at the Elco Boatworks in Bayonne. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) was briefly docked at the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne in the 1950s before she was sent to Kearney to be scrapped. In 1962, the world's first nuclear-powered cargo ship, the NS Savannah, was launched at Camden.
In 1951, the New Jersey Turnpike opened, facilitating efficient travel by car and truck between North Jersey and the New York metropolitan area, and South Jersey and the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Subsequently, in 1957, the Garden State Parkway was completed, serving as a diagonal counterpart to the Turnpike, and opening up highway travel along New Jersey's coastal flank between Bergen County in the northeast and the Cape May County peninsula at the southeastern tip of New Jersey; in doing so, the Jersey Shore became readily accessible to millions of residents in the New York metropolitan area. In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile to McGuire Air Force Base. On June 7, 1960, an explosion in a CIM-10 Bomarc missile fuel tank caused an accident and subsequent plutonium contamination.
In the 1960s, race riots erupted in many of the industrial cities of North Jersey. The first race riots in New Jersey occurred in Jersey City on August 2, 1964. Several others ensued in 1967, in Newark and Plainfield. Other riots followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, just as in the rest of the country. A riot occurred in Camden in 1971. As a result of an order from the New Jersey Supreme Court to fund schools equitably, the New Jersey legislature passed an income tax bill in 1976. Prior to this bill, the state had no income tax.
=== 21st century ===
In the early part of the 2000s, two light rail systems were opened: the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) in Hudson County and the River Line between Camden and Trenton. The intent of these projects was to encourage transit-oriented development in North Jersey and South Jersey, respectively. The HBLR was credited with a revitalization of Hudson County and Jersey City. Urban revitalization has continued in North Jersey in the 21st century. In 2014, Jersey City's Census-estimated population was 262,146, with the largest population increase of any municipality in New Jersey since 2010, representing an increase of 5.9% from the 2010 U.S. census, when the city's population was enumerated at 247,597. In 2017, Jersey City's tax base grew by US$136 million, giving Jersey City the largest municipal tax base in New Jersey. Between 2000 and 2010 Newark experienced its first population increase since the 1950s, and by 2020 had rebounded to 311,549.
== Geography ==
New Jersey is at the center of the Northeast megalopolis, the most populated American urban agglomeration. It is bordered on the north and northeast by New York (parts of which are across the Hudson River, Upper New York Bay, the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, and the Arthur Kill); on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the southwest by Delaware across Delaware Bay; and on the west by Pennsylvania across the Delaware River.
New Jersey is broadly divided into the North, Central, and South Jersey geographic regions, although some residents do not consider Central Jersey a region in its own right. Across the regions are five distinct areas divided by natural geography and population concentration. Northeastern New Jersey, often referred to as the Gateway Region, lies closest to Manhattan in New York City, and up to a million residents commute daily into the city for work, many via public transportation. The Jersey Shore, along the Atlantic Coast in Central and South Jersey, has its own unique natural, residential, and cultural characteristics owing to its location by the ocean. South Jersey represents the southernmost geographical region of the northeastern United States. The Philadelphia metropolitan area includes the southwestern counties of the state, which reside within the Delaware Valley surrounding Philadelphia.
Despite the state's heavily urban character and a long history of industrialization, forests cover roughly 45 percent of New Jersey's land area, or approximately 2.1 million acres (8,500 km2), ranking 31st among the 50 U.S. states and six territories. Northwestern New Jersey, often referred to as the Skylands Region, is more wooded, rural, and mountainous. The chief tree of the northern forests is the oak. The New Jersey Pine Barrens is situated in the southern interior of New Jersey and covered extensively by mixed pine and oak forest; its population density is lower than most of the state.
High Point in Montague Township, Sussex County is the state's highest elevation at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. The state's highest prominence is Kitty Ann Mountain in Morris County, rising 892 feet (272 m). The Palisades are a line of steep cliffs on the west side of the Hudson River in Bergen and Hudson Counties. Major New Jersey rivers include the Hudson, Delaware, Raritan, Passaic, Hackensack, Rahway, Musconetcong, Mullica, Rancocas, Manasquan, Maurice, and Toms rivers. Due to New Jersey's peninsular geography, both sunrise and sunset are visible over water from different points on the Jersey Shore.
=== Prominent geographic features ===
Delaware Water Gap
Great Bay
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
Highlands
Hudson Palisades
Jersey Shore
On the shore, New Jersey hosts the highest concentration of oceanside boardwalks in the world.
Meadowlands
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Ramapo Mountains
Watchung Mountains
=== Climate ===
The state consists of two climate zones; most of the state has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa), while the northwest has a humid continental climate (Dfa). New Jersey receives between 2,400 and 2,800 hours of sunshine annually.
Summers are typically hot and humid, with statewide average high temperatures of 82–87 °F (28–31 °C) and lows of 60–69 °F (16–21 °C); however, temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average 25 days each summer, exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) in some years. Winters are usually cold, with average high temperatures of 34–43 °F (1–6 °C) and lows of 16 to 28 °F (−9 to −2 °C) for most of the state, but temperatures can, for brief periods, fall below 10 °F (−12 °C) and sometimes rise above 50 °F (10 °C). Northwestern parts of the state have significantly colder winters with sub-0 °F (−18 °C) being an almost annual occurrence. Spring and autumn may feature wide temperature variations, with lower humidity than summer. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone classification ranges from 6 in the northwest of the state, to 7B near Cape May. All-time temperature extremes recorded in New Jersey include 110 °F (43 °C) on July 10, 1936, in Runyon, Middlesex County and −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 5, 1904, in River Vale, Bergen County.
Average annual precipitation ranges from 43 to 51 inches (1,100 to 1,300 mm), spread uniformly throughout the year. Average snowfall per winter season ranges from 10–15 inches (25–38 cm) in the south and near the seacoast, 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) in the northeast and central part of the state, to about 40–50 inches (1.0–1.3 m) in the northwestern highlands, but this often varies considerably from year to year. Precipitation falls on an average of 120 days a year, with 25 to 30 thunderstorms, most of which occur during the summer.
During winter and early spring, New Jersey can experience nor'easters, which are capable of causing blizzards or flooding throughout the northeastern United States. Hurricanes and tropical storms, tornadoes, and earthquakes are rare; the state was impacted by a hurricane in 1903, Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which made landfall in the state with top winds of 90 mph (145 km/h).
==== Climate change ====
Climate change is affecting New Jersey faster than much of the rest of the United States. Climatologists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have concluded that New Jersey has been the fastest-warming state by average air temperature over a 100-year period beginning in the early 20th century.
=== Administrative divisions ===
The United States Census Bureau divides New Jersey's 21 counties into seven metropolitan statistical areas, with 20 counties included in either the New York City or Philadelphia Combined Statistical Area. Warren County is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area based in eastern Pennsylvania.
==== Counties ====
The 21 counties in New Jersey, ranked by population in the 2020 United States census, are:
Bergen County: 955,732
Essex County: 863,728
Middlesex County: 863,162
Hudson County: 724,854
Monmouth County: 643,615
Ocean County: 637,229
Union County: 575,345
Passaic County: 524,118
Camden County: 523,485
Morris County: 509,285
Burlington County: 461,860
Mercer County: 387,340
Somerset County: 345,361
Gloucester County: 302,294
Atlantic County: 274,534
Cumberland County: 154,152
Sussex County: 144,221
Hunterdon County: 128,947
Warren County: 109,632
Cape May County: 95,263
Salem County: 64,837
==== Municipalities ====
For its overall population and nation-leading population density, New Jersey is primarily suburban and has a relative paucity of classically large cities. This paradox is most pronounced in Bergen County, the state's most populous county, whose 955,732 residents at the 2020 census inhabited 70 municipalities, of which the most populous is Hackensack, with 46,030 residents. Many urban areas extend far beyond the limits of a single large city, as New Jersey municipalities tend to be geographically small; three of the four largest cities in New Jersey by population have under 20 square miles (52 km2) of land area, and eight of the top ten, including all the top five, have a land area under 30 square miles (78 km2). As of the 2010 United States census, only four municipalities had over 100,000 residents (although Edison and Woodbridge Township came very close); this number increased to seven by the 2020 census.
== Demographics ==
=== Population ===
Residents of New Jersey are most commonly referred to as New Jerseyans or, less commonly, as New Jerseyites. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the state had a population of 9,288,994, a 5.7% increase since the 2010 U.S. census, which counted 8,791,894 residents. The state ranked eleventh in the country by total population and first in population density, with 1,185 residents per square mile (458 per km2). Historically, New Jersey has experienced one of the fastest growth rates in the country, with its population increasing by double digits almost every decade until 1980; growth has since slowed but remained relatively robust until recently. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated there were 6,262 fewer residents than in 2020, a decline of 0.3% from 2020, related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, the Census Bureau reported that the state population rebounded by 2.3% or 211,837 residents from April 2020. New Jersey lead the Northeast with a 1.3% growth rate or 121,209 residents from 2023 placing it among the top ten states nationwide for population growth.
New Jersey is the only state where every county is deemed urban as defined by the Census Bureau. Most residents live in the counties surrounding New York City, the nation's largest city, Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest city, or along the eastern Jersey Shore; the extreme southern and northwestern counties are relatively less dense overall. Since the 2000 census, the United States Census Bureau calculated that New Jersey's center of population was located in East Brunswick. The state is located in the middle of the Northeast megalopolis, which has more than 50 million residents.
As of 2023, New Jersey had a median household income of $99,781, the second-highest of any U.S. state behind Massachusetts. Conversely, New Jersey's poverty rate of 9.4% was slightly lower than the national average of 11.4%, and the sixth lowest of the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. This is attributed to several factors, including the state's proximity to the major economic centers of New York City and Philadelphia, its hosting the highest number of millionaires both per capita and per square mile in the U.S., and the fact that it has the most scientists and engineers per square mile in the world.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 8,752 homeless people in New Jersey. The top countries of origin for New Jersey's immigrants in 2018 were India, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, and the Philippines.
=== Race and ethnicity ===
New Jersey is one of the most ethnically diverse states in the United States: as of 2022, over one-fifth (21.5%) of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% are Black, and one-tenth are Asian. One in four New Jerseyans were born abroad and more than one million (12.1%) are not fully fluent in English. As of the 2024 census estimate, the White non-Hispanic population of the state was less than 50%, making it a majority-minority state. Compared to the U.S. as a whole, the state is more racially and ethnically diverse and has a higher proportion of immigrants.
==== 2024 American Community Survey one-year estimates ====
New Jersey is home to roughly half a million undocumented immigrants, comprising an estimated 6.2% of the population, which in 2018 was the fifth-highest percentage of any U.S. state. The municipalities of Camden, Jersey City, and Newark are considered sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.
For further information on various ethnoracial groups and neighborhoods prominently featured within New Jersey, see the following articles:
History of the Jews in New Jersey
Hispanics and Latinos in New Jersey
Indians in the New York City metropolitan region
Chinese in the New York City metropolitan region
List of U.S. cities with significant Korean American populations
Filipinos in the New York City metropolitan region
Filipinos in New Jersey
Russians in the New York City metropolitan region
Bergen County
Jersey City
India Square in Jersey City, home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere
Ironbound, a Portuguese and Brazilian enclave in Newark
Five Corners, a Filipino enclave in Jersey City
Havana on the Hudson, a Cuban enclave in Hudson County
Koreatown, Fort Lee, a Korean enclave in southeast Bergen County
Koreatown, Palisades Park, also a Korean enclave in southeast Bergen County
Little Bangladesh, a Bangladeshi enclave in Paterson
Little India (Edison/Iselin), the largest and most diverse South Asian hub in the United States
Little Istanbul, also known as Little Ramallah, a Middle Eastern enclave in Paterson
Little Lima, a Peruvian enclave in Paterson
New Jersey is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse states in the United States. As of 2024, a quarter of New Jerseyans (25%) were foreign born, the second most after California, compared to the national average of 14.8%. As of 2011, 56.4% of New Jersey's children under the age of one belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups, meaning that they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white. The 2019 Vintage Year Census estimated that the state's ethnic makeup was as follows: 71.9% White alone, 15.1% Black or African American alone, 10.0% Asian alone, 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, and 2.3% Two or more races. Hispanic or Latino accounted for 20.9%, while White alone (non-Hispanic or Latino) accounted for 54.6% of the population. Many of the municipalities in Bergen County, New Jersey, the state's largest county, have a sizeable minority population of Hispanics and Asians. There are also three state-recognized tribes, and in 2020, 51,186 identified as being Native American alone, while 96,691 did in combination with one or more other races.
New Jersey hosts some of the nation's largest communities of religious and ethnic minorities in proportional or absolute terms. It has the second-largest Jewish population by percentage (after New York); the largest Hindu and Muslim populations by percentage; the largest population of Peruvians in the U.S.; the largest population of Cubans outside Florida; the third-highest Asian population by percentage; and the second-highest Italian population, according to the 2000 census. African Americans, Hispanics (Puerto Ricans and Dominicans), West Indians, Arabs, and Brazilian and Portuguese Americans are also high in number. New Jersey also has the fourth-largest Filipino population, and fourth-largest Chinese population, per the 2010 U.S. Census.
New Jersey has the-third highest Indian population of any state by absolute numbers and the highest by percentage, with India Square in Jersey City, Hudson County hosting the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere. A study by the Pew Research Center found that in 2013, New Jersey was the only U.S. state in which immigrants born in India constituted the largest foreign-born nationality, representing roughly 10% of all foreign-born residents in the state. Central New Jersey, particularly Edison and surrounding Middlesex County, has the highest concentration of Indians, at nearly 20% in 2020; Little India is the largest and most diverse South Asian cultural hub in the United States. The area includes a sprawling Chinatown and Koreatown running along New Jersey Route 27. Monroe Township in Middlesex County has experienced a particularly rapid growth rate in its Indian American population with an estimated 5,943 (13.6%) as of 2017, which was 23 times the 256 (0.9%) counted at the 2000 Census; Diwali is celebrated by the township as a Hindu holiday. In Middlesex County, election ballots are printed in English, Spanish, Gujarati, Hindi, and Punjabi. Robbinsville, in neighboring Mercer County, hosts the world's largest Hindu temple outside Asia. Carteret's Punjabi Sikh community, variously estimated at upwards of 3,000, is the largest concentration of Sikhs in the state. Bergen County is home to America's largest Malayali community.
New Jersey also has the third-largest Korean population, with Bergen County home to the highest Korean concentration per capita of any U.S. county (6.9% in 2011). It is a growing hub and home to all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population, led by Palisades Park (벼랑 공원), the municipality with the highest density of ethnic Koreans in the Western Hemisphere. Displaying ubiquitous Hangul (한글) signage and known as the Korean village, Palisades Park uniquely comprises a Korean majority (52% in 2010) of its population, with both the highest Korean-American density and percentage of any municipality in the United States.
==== Birth data ====
=== Languages ===
As of 2010, 71.31% (5,830,812) of New Jersey residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 14.59% (1,193,261) spoke Spanish, 1.23% (100,217) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.06% (86,849) Italian, 1.06% (86,486) Portuguese, 0.96% (78,627) Tagalog, and Korean was spoken as a main language by 0.89% (73,057) of the population over the age of five. In total, 28.69% (2,345,644) of New Jersey's population age 5 and older spoke a mother language other than English.
A diverse collection of languages has since evolved amongst the state's population, given that New Jersey has become cosmopolitan and is home to ethnic enclaves of non-English-speaking communities:
=== Sexual orientation and gender identity ===
New Jersey is widely regarded as an LGBTQ+ friendly state and is now home to more gay villages per square mile than any other U.S. state. Same-sex marriage in New Jersey has been legally recognized since October 21, 2013, the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating New Jersey's restriction of marriage to persons of different sexes at the time. In September 2013, Mary C. Jacobson, Assignment Judge of the Mercer Vicinage of the Superior Court, ruled that as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor, the Constitution of New Jersey requires the state to recognize same-sex marriages.
Numerous gayborhoods have emerged in New Jersey, most prominently in Jersey City, Asbury Park, Maplewood, Montclair, and Lambertville. Trenton, the state capital of New Jersey, elected Reed Gusciora, its first openly gay mayor, in 2018, and Jennifer Williams, New Jersey's first openly transgender city councilmember, in 2022. In June 2018, Maplewood, Essex County unveiled permanent rainbow-colored crosswalks to celebrate LGBTQ pride. Rahway, Union County, also unveiled its own rainbow-colored crosswalks in June 2019. In January 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation mandating LGBTQ+ inclusive educational curriculum in schools. In February 2019, New Jersey began allowing a neutral or non-binary gender choice on birth certificates.
=== Religion ===
By number of adherents, the largest religious traditions in New Jersey, according to the 2010 Association of Religion Data Archives, were the Roman Catholic Church with 3,235,290; Islam with 160,666; and the United Methodist Church with 138,052. The world's largest Hindu temple outside Asia is in Robbinsville, Mercer County. In September 2021, the State of New Jersey aligned with the World Hindu Council to declare October Hindu Heritage Month. In January 2018, Gurbir Grewal became the first Sikh American to serve as state attorney general in the United States. In January 2019, Sadaf Jaffer of Montgomery became the first female Muslim American mayor, first female South Asian mayor, and first female Pakistani-American mayor in the U.S. Large numbers of Orthodox Jews are now migrating to New Jersey from New York, due to the latter's higher cost of living. The world's largest gathering of rabbis outside of Israel occurred in Edison on December 1, 2024.
== Education ==
As of the 2020–2021 school year, there were 686 operating districts in the state. Of these, 599 were traditional public school districts and 87 were charter school districts. The NJDOE reported a total district enrollment of 1,362,400 students, the lowest total enrollment since the early 2000s, though these figures do not consider homeschooled students or those attending out-of-state schools. New Jersey public schools emphasize STEM subjects, and New Jersey is home to more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere else in the world.
=== Educational standards ===
New Jersey is known for the high quality of its education. In 2024, New Jersey spent the second-most per public school student among all states, behind New York, amounting to $26,600 spent per pupil. In 2018, over 50% of the expenditure was allocated to student instruction.
New Jersey is home to several prestigious private universities, including Princeton University in Princeton in Mercer County, one of the world's most prominent research universities, which was ranked first for the tenth consecutive year among all national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2025 and has ranked first in comparable lists published by Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, and public universities such as Rutgers University, headquartered in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, the state's flagship institution of higher education.
In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Education Week also ranked New Jersey public schools the best of all U.S. states.
In 2016, nine New Jersey-based high schools were ranked among the top 25 in the nation, more than any other state, in "America's Top High Schools 2016", published by Newsweek.
In November 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law legislation eliminating testing for prospective teachers in reading, writing, and math, replacing it with an alternative certification process.
== Economy ==
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Jersey's gross state product in the third quarter of 2022 was $753 billion.
=== Affluence ===
New Jersey's per capita gross state product routinely ranks among the highest in the nation. In 2020, New Jersey had more millionaires both per capita and per square mile, representing roughly 9.76% of all New Jersey household, than any state in the nation.
The state is ranked second in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes exceeding the national average with 76.4%. Three of New Jersey's counties are among the 20 highest income U.S. counties in the nation as of 2023.
As of May 2025, the state's unemployment rate was 4.8%.
=== Fiscal policy ===
New Jersey has seven tax brackets that determine state income tax rates, which range from 1.4% (for income below $20,000) to 10.75% (for income above $1,000,000).
The standard sales tax rate as of January 1, 2018, is 6.625%, applicable to all retail sales unless specifically exempt by law. This rate, which is comparably lower than that of New York City, often attracts numerous shoppers from New York City, often to suburban Paramus, New Jersey, which has five malls, one of which (the Garden State Plaza) has over 2 million square feet (200,000 m2) of retail space. Tax exemptions include most food items for at-home preparation, medications, most clothing, footwear and disposable paper products for use in the home. There are 27 Urban Enterprise Zone statewide, including sections of Paterson, Elizabeth, and Jersey City. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment within the zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half the rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants.
New Jersey has the highest cumulative tax rate of all 50 states with residents paying a total of $68 billion in state and local taxes annually with a per capita burden of $7,816 at a rate of 12.9% of income. All real property located in the state is subject to property tax unless specifically exempted by statute. New Jersey does not assess an intangible personal property tax or an estate tax, but it does impose an inheritance tax (which is levied only on heirs who are not direct descendants). In 2023, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a new tax-relief program known as StayNJ that will provide for an annual property-tax cut of 50% for those aged 65 and over with incomes below $500,000; the cut will go into effect in January 2026 and be capped at $6,500, but with this cap rising as indexed to the increase in New Jersey's overall property taxes.
=== Federal taxation disparity ===
New Jersey consistently ranks as having one of the highest proportional levels of disparity of any state in the U.S., based upon what it receives from the federal government relative to what it pays. In 2015, WalletHub ranked New Jersey the state that was least dependent on federal government aid overall and the state with the fourth-lowest return on taxpayer investment from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar. In 2023, New Jersey sent approximately $183 billion to Washington, D.C. in taxes but only received approximately $113 billion in federal investment resulting in each state resident sending the federal government approximately $7,500 more than they get back. In 2025, WalletHub again ranked New Jersey as the least dependent on federal government aid overall with now the second-lowest return on taxpayer spending from the federal government, at 48 cents per dollar.
New Jersey has one of the highest tax burdens of any state the nation. Factors for this include the large federal tax liability, which is not adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living and Medicaid funding formulas.
=== Industries ===
New Jersey's economy is multifaceted, featuring high levels of both productivity and retail consumption; the Garden State's economy comprises the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, information technology, the financial industry, tourism, filmmaking, telecommunications, gambling, food processing, electrical equipment manufacturing, printing, and publishing. New Jersey's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products. New Jersey ranks second among states in blueberry production, third in cranberries and spinach, and fourth in bell peppers, peaches, and head lettuce. The state harvests the fourth-largest number of acres planted with asparagus. South Jersey has become an East Coast epicenter for logistics and warehouse construction. In 2025, 99.7% of businesses in New Jersey were small businesses, employing 48.8% of the state's workforce.
==== Scientific economy ====
New Jersey has a strong scientific economy and is home to major pharmaceutical and telecommunications firms, drawing on the state's large and well-educated labor pool, including one of the highest concentrations of engineers and other scientists in the world. There is also a robust service economy in retail sales, education, and real estate, serving residents who work in New York City or Philadelphia. Thomas Edison invented the first electric light bulb at his home in Menlo Park, Edison in 1879. New Jersey is also a key participant in the renewable wind industry. New Jersey has more scientists and engineers per square mile than anywhere in the world, and is a global leader in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, life sciences, and technology.
==== Corporate and retail ====
New Jersey hosts numerous business headquarters, including twenty-four Fortune 500 companies. Paramus in Bergen County has become the top retail ZIP code (07652) in the United States, with the municipality generating over US$6 billion in annual retail sales. Several New Jersey counties, including Somerset (7), Morris (10), Hunterdon (13), Bergen (21), and Monmouth (42), have been ranked among the highest-income counties in the United States.
==== Shipping, manufacturing, and logistics ====
Shipping is a key industry in New Jersey because of the state's strategic geographic location, the Port of New York and New Jersey being the busiest seaport on the U.S. East Coast. The Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal was the world's first container port and today is one of the world's largest and busiest. New Jersey's location at the center of the Eastern North American population belt has made the state a prime hub for the logistics, warehousing, and supply chain management industries. The manufacturing economy in New Jersey had declined for several decades in the post-Industrial Revolution era but has since resumed growth.
==== Tourism ====
New Jersey's location at the center of the Northeast megalopolis and its extensive transportation system have put over one-third of all United States residents and many Canadian residents within overnight distance by land. This accessibility to consumer revenue has enabled seaside resorts such as Atlantic City and the remainder of the Jersey Shore, as well as the state's other natural and cultural attractions, to contribute significantly to the record 111 million tourist visits to New Jersey in 2018, providing US$44.7 billion in tourism revenue, directly supporting 333,860 jobs, sustaining more than 531,000 jobs overall including peripheral impacts, and generating US$5 billion in state and local tax revenue.
==== Gambling ====
In 1976, a referendum by Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City, where the first legalized casino opened in 1978. At that time, Las Vegas was the only other casino resort in the country. Today, several casinos lie along the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world, at 5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) in length. Atlantic City experienced a dramatic contraction in its stature as a gambling destination after 2010, including the closure of multiple casinos since 2014, spurred by competition from the advent of legalized gambling in other northeastern U.S. states.
On February 26, 2013, Governor Chris Christie signed online gambling into law. Sports betting has become a growing source of gambling revenue in New Jersey, with sportsbooks bringing in almost $12 billion in bets, making over $1 billion in revenue in 2023. Since being legalized across the nation by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 14, 2018, New Jersey led all states in sports betting handle until New York passed them. In September 2022, the lifetime revenue from online casinos operating in New Jersey for the nine years since the industry's launch had surpassed $5 billion.
==== Media ====
===== Television and film production =====
New Jersey is a growing center for filmmaking and television production, with media companies, enticed by its proximity to Manhattan, in conjunction with tax incentives, collectively spending billions of dollars to develop large new studio facilities and sound stage complexes. Motion picture technology was developed by Thomas Edison, with much of his early work done at his West Orange laboratory. Edison's Black Maria was the first motion picture studio. America's first motion picture industry started in 1907 in Fort Lee and the first studio was constructed there in 1909. DuMont Laboratories in Passaic developed early sets and made the first broadcast to the private home.
A number of television shows and films have been filmed in New Jersey. Since 1978, the state has maintained a Motion Picture and Television Commission to encourage filming in-state. New Jersey has long offered tax credits to television producers. Governor Chris Christie suspended the credits in 2010, but the New Jersey State Legislature in 2011 approved the restoration and expansion of the tax credit program. Under bills passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, the program offers 20 percent tax credits (22% in urban enterprise zones) to television and film productions that shoot in the state and meet set standards for hiring and local spending. When Governor Phil Murphy took office, he instated the New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program in 2018 and expanded it in 2020. The benefits include a 30% tax credit on film projects and a 40% subsidy for studio developments.
===== Newspapers =====
===== Radio stations =====
===== Television stations =====
New Jersey has several PBS member stations: WNET (13) in Newark, WNJN (50) in Montclair, WNJB (58) in New Brunswick, WNJS (23) in Camden and WNJT (52) in Trenton.
There are no standard commercial network affiliates in the state. WMGM-TV (Wildwood) lost its affiliation with NBC in 2014. Viewers in northern New Jersey receive New York City market stations over cable or over the air; southern New Jersey viewers receive Philadelphia market stations over cable or over the air.
WMGM now affiliates with the True Crime Network. WJLP (Middletown) affiliates with the retro network MeTV. There are Telemundo affiliates in Fort Lee, Linden and Mount Laurel, and Univision affiliates in Paterson and Vineland.
==== Finance as Wall Street West ====
Jersey City's Hudson River waterfront, from Exchange Place to Newport, is known as Wall Street West and has over 13 million square feet of Class A office space. One third of the private sector jobs in the city are in the financial services sector: more than 60% are in the securities industry, 20% are in banking and 8% in insurance. Jersey City is home to the headquarters of Verisk Analytics and Lord Abbett, a privately held money management firm. Companies such as Computershare, ADP, IPC Systems, and Fidelity Investments also conduct operations in the city. In 2014, Forbes magazine moved its headquarters to the district, having been awarded a $27 million tax grant in exchange for bringing 350 jobs to the city over a ten-year period. By the early 2020s, the construction of residential skyscrapers Downtown made median rental rates in Jersey City amongst the highest of any city in the United States.
==== Natural resources and energy ====
Limited mining activity of zinc, iron, and manganese still takes place in the area in and around the Franklin Furnace in Sussex County.
Although New Jersey is home to many energy-intensive industries, its energy consumption is only 2.7% of the U.S. total, and its carbon dioxide emissions are 0.8% of the U.S. total. New Jersey's electricity comes primarily from natural gas and nuclear power. New Jersey is seventh in the nation in solar power installations, enabled by one of the country's most favorable net metering policies and renewable portfolio standard. The state has more than 140,000 solar installations.
== Environment ==
Due to past industrial activity, New Jersey has more Superfund toxic waste sites than any other state in the union despite its small geographic size. By 2024, only 35 of New Jersey's Superfund sites (out of about 150 that have been on the EPA's list since the Superfund law was passed in 1980) have been cleaned up.
In late 2023, a concern became public about PFAs (so-called "forever chemicals") existing in the state's water supplies.
== Transportation ==
New Jersey's population density and location at the geographic center of the Northeast Megalopolis have rendered it a vital transportation for hub for both passengers and industry.
=== Roadways ===
The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the most prominent and heavily trafficked roadways in the United States. This toll road, which overlaps with Interstate 95 for much of its length, carries traffic between Delaware and New York, and up and down the East Coast in general. Commonly referred to as simply "the Turnpike", it is known for its numerous rest areas named after prominent New Jerseyans.
The Garden State Parkway, or simply "the Parkway", carries relatively more in-state traffic than interstate traffic and runs from New Jersey's northern border to its southernmost tip at Cape May. It is the main route that connects the New York metropolitan area to the Jersey Shore. With a total of fifteen travel and six shoulder lanes, the Driscoll Bridge on the Parkway, spanning the Raritan River in Middlesex County, is the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes as well as one of the busiest.
New Jersey is connected to New York City via various key bridges and tunnels. The double-decked George Washington Bridge carries the heaviest load of motor vehicle traffic of any bridge in the world, at 102 million vehicles per year, across fourteen lanes. It connects Fort Lee, New Jersey to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, and carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 across the Hudson River. The Lincoln Tunnel connects to Midtown Manhattan carrying New Jersey Route 495, and the Holland Tunnel connects to Lower Manhattan carrying Interstate 78. New Jersey is also connected to Staten Island by three bridges—from north to south, the Bayonne Bridge, the Goethals Bridge, and the Outerbridge Crossing.
New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three of its neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes in and out of the state. Bridge tolls are collected only from traffic exiting the state, with the exception of the private Dingman's Ferry Bridge over the Delaware River, which charges a toll in both directions.
It is unlawful for a customer to serve themselves gasoline in New Jersey. It became the last remaining U.S. state where all gas stations are required to sell full-service gasoline to customers at all times in 2016, after Oregon's introduction of restricted self-service gasoline availability took effect.
=== Airports ===
Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, it is one of the three main airports serving the New York metropolitan area, along with John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, which are both in Queens, New York. United Airlines is the airport's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal (Terminal C) there, which it uses as one of its primary hubs. FedEx Express operates a large cargo terminal at EWR as well. The adjacent Newark Airport railroad station provides access to Amtrak and NJ Transit trains along the Northeast Corridor Line.
Two smaller commercial airports, Atlantic City International Airport and rapidly growing Trenton-Mercer Airport, also operate in other parts of the state. Teterboro Airport in Bergen County and Millville Municipal Airport in Cumberland County are general aviation airports popular with private and corporate aircraft due to their proximity to New York City and the Jersey Shore, respectively.
=== Rail and bus ===
NJ Transit operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. A state-run corporation, it began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey in 1979. In the early 1980s, it acquired Conrail's commuter train operations that connected suburban towns to New York City. NJ Transit has 12 rail lines that run through different parts of the state and 165 stations statewide. Most of the lines end at either New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan or Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, although some lines provide service to both terminal stations. The Atlantic City Line provides service between Atlantic City and Philadelphia.
NJ Transit also operates three light rail systems in the state. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail connects Bayonne to North Bergen, through Hoboken and Jersey City. The Newark Light Rail is partially underground, and connects downtown Newark with other parts of the city and its suburbs, Belleville and Bloomfield. The River Line connects Trenton and Camden.
The PATH is a rapid transit system consisting of four lines operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It links Hoboken, Jersey City, Harrison, and Newark with New York City. The PATCO Speedline is a rapid transit system that links Camden County to Philadelphia. Both the PATCO and the PATH are two of only five rapid transit systems in the United States to operate 24 hours a day.
Amtrak operates numerous long-distance passenger trains in New Jersey, both to and from neighboring states and around the country. In addition to the Newark Airport connection, other major Amtrak railway stations include Trenton Transit Center, Metropark, and the historic Newark Penn Station.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, has two commuter rail lines that operate into New Jersey. The Trenton Line terminates at the Trenton Transit Center, and the West Trenton Line terminates at the West Trenton Rail Station in Ewing.
AirTrain Newark is a monorail connecting the Amtrak/NJ Transit station on the Northeast Corridor to the airport's terminals and parking lots.
Some private bus carriers still remain in New Jersey. Most of these carriers operate with state funding to offset losses and state owned buses are provided to these carriers, of which Coach USA companies make up the bulk. Other carriers include private charter and tour bus operators that take gamblers from other parts of New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, and Delaware to the casino resorts of Atlantic City.
=== Ferries ===
New York Waterway has ferry terminals at Belford, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, and Edgewater, with service to different parts of Manhattan. Liberty Water Taxi in Jersey City has ferries from Paulus Hook and Liberty State Park to Battery Park City in Manhattan. Statue Cruises offers service from Liberty State Park to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, including Ellis Island. SeaStreak offers services from the Raritan Bayshore to Manhattan, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.
The Delaware River and Bay Authority operates the Cape May–Lewes Ferry on Delaware Bay, carrying both passengers and vehicles between New Jersey and Delaware as part of US 9. The agency also operates the Forts Ferry Crossing for passengers across the Delaware River. The Delaware River Port Authority operates the RiverLink Ferry between the Camden waterfront and Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.
== Culture ==
=== General ===
New Jersey has continued to play a prominent role as a U.S. cultural nexus. The state has its own cuisines, religious communities, museums, and halls of fame.
New Jersey is the birthplace of many modern inventions, including FM radio, the motion picture camera, the lithium battery, the light bulb, transistors, and the electric train. Other New Jersey creations include: the drive-in movie, the cultivated blueberry, cranberry sauce, the boardwalk, the zipper, the phonograph, saltwater taffy, the dirigible, the seedless watermelon, the first use of a submarine in warfare, and the ice cream cone.
Diners are iconic to New Jersey. The state is home to many diner manufacturers and has over 600 diners, more than any other place in the world.
New Jersey is the only state to have never had a state song; as of 2021, it is one of only two states (the other being Maryland) that are currently without a state song. "I'm From New Jersey" is incorrectly listed on many websites as being the New Jersey state song, but it was not even a contender when the New Jersey Arts Council submitted state song suggestions to the New Jersey Legislature in 1996.
New Jersey is frequently the target of jokes in American culture, especially from New York City-based television shows, such as Saturday Night Live. Academic Michael Aaron Rockland attributes this to New Yorkers' view that New Jersey is the beginning of Middle America. The New Jersey Turnpike, which runs between two major East Coast cities, New York City and Philadelphia, is also cited as a reason, as people who traverse through the state may only see its industrial zones. Reality television shows like Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives of New Jersey have reinforced stereotypical views of New Jersey culture, but Rockland cited The Sopranos and the music of Bruce Springsteen as exporting a more positive image.
The "New" in "New Jersey" is often omitted in casual conversation.
=== Cuisine ===
New Jersey is known for several foods developed within the region, including Taylor Ham (also known as pork roll), sloppy joe sandwiches, tomato pies, salt water taffy, and Texas wieners. Just as New York City's cuisine has an influence on North Jersey, Philadelphia's cuisine influences South Jersey.
New Jersey's third-largest industry is food and agriculture just behind pharmaceuticals and tourism. New Jersey is one of the top 10 producers of blueberries, cranberries, peaches, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, apples, spinach, squash, and asparagus in the United States. Many restaurants in the state offer locally grown ingredients because of this.
Campbell's Soup Company has been headquartered in Camden since 1869. Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, operates a corporate headquarters in Jersey City. Mars Wrigley Confectionery's US headquarters has been based in Hackettstown and Newark since 2007.
Several states with substantial Italian American populations take credit for the development of submarine sandwiches, including New Jersey.
=== Music ===
New Jersey has long been an important origin for both rock and rap music. Prominent musicians from or with significant connections to New Jersey include:
Singer Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken. He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared in neighborhood theater amateur shows before he became an Academy Award-winning actor.
Singer Whitney Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey. Houston began singing at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark as a child and became a background vocalist while in high school. She then became the best-selling New Jersey musician ever, having sold over 220 million records worldwide.
Bruce Springsteen, who has sung of New Jersey life on most of his albums, is from Freehold. Some of his songs that represent New Jersey life are "Born to Run", "Spirit in the Night", "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", "Thunder Road", "Atlantic City", and "Jungleland".
Irvington's Queen Latifah was one of the first female rappers to succeed in music, film, and television.
Southside Johnny, eponymous leader of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes was raised in Ocean Grove. He is considered the "Grandfather of the New Jersey Sound" and is cited by Jersey-born Jon Bon Jovi as his reason for singing.
Jon Bon Jovi, from Sayreville, reached fame in the 1980s with hard rock outfit Bon Jovi. The band has also written many songs about life in New Jersey, including "Livin' On A Prayer", and named one of their albums after the state.
Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Sarah Vaughan was born and raised in Newark. After singing in her church's choir as a child, she was sneaking into Newark nightclubs to sing and play piano by the time she was a teenager.
In 1964, the Isley Brothers founded the record label T-Neck Records, named after Teaneck, their home at the time.
The Broadway musical Jersey Boys is based on the lives of the members of the Four Seasons, three of whose members were born in New Jersey (Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, and Nick Massi) while a fourth, Bob Gaudio, was born in the Bronx but raised in Bergenfield.
== Sports ==
New Jersey currently has six teams from major professional sports leagues playing in the state with only one team identifying themselves as solely being from New Jersey. The remaining five teams identify themselves as being from the New York metropolitan area with the National Women's Soccer League team having a team name that represents both New Jersey and New York. The National Hockey League and National Basketball Association teams representing Philadelphia have their training facilities in South Jersey.
=== Professional sports ===
The National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils, based in Newark at the Prudential Center, is the only major league sports franchise to bear the state's name. Founded in 1974 in Kansas City, Missouri, as the Kansas City Scouts, the team played in Denver, Colorado, as the Colorado Rockies from 1976 until the spring of 1982 when naval architect, businessman, and Jersey City native John J. McMullen purchased, renamed, and moved the franchise to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford's Meadowlands Sports Complex. While the team was poor to mediocre in Kansas City, Denver, and its first years in New Jersey, qualifying for the playoffs once in the 13 seasons from 1974 to 1987, the Devils ultimately established themselves in late 1980s and early 1990s during the tenure of Hall of Fame president and general manager Lou Lamoriello. As of 2023, the Devils have appeared in 23 postseasons in 40 seasons in New Jersey, reaching five Stanley Cup Finals (most recently in 2012) and winning it in 1995, 2000, and 2003. The organization is the youngest of the nine "Big Four" major league teams based in New York metropolitan area, ultimately establishing its core following throughout the northern and central portions of the state and carving a place in a media market once dominated by the New York Rangers and Islanders which has the distinction of being the only metropolitan area in the country with three major league professional sports teams participating in the same sport.
In 2018, the Philadelphia Flyers renovated and expanded their training facility, the Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone, in Voorhees Township in the southern portion of the state.
In 2024, the New York Sirens of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) made the Prudential Center their home rink and moved their practice facility to the Richard J. Codey Arena in West Orange, the former Devil's practice facility from 1986 to 2007.
The New York metropolitan area's two National Football League teams, the New York Giants and the New York Jets, play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford's Meadowlands Sports Complex. Built for about $1.6 billion, the venue is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built. On February 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium hosted Super Bowl XLVIII.
The New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer play in Sports Illustrated Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium in Harrison across the Passaic River from downtown Newark. On July 27, 2011, Red Bull Arena hosted the 2011 MLS All-Star Game. Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), founded in 2008 as Sky Blue FC, moved it's home field from Yurcak Field at Rutgers University to Sports Illustrated Stadium in 2020.
New Jersey hosted matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup at Giants Stadium and will be one of 16 cities to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, at MetLife Stadium, which will also host the tournament final.
From 1977 to 2012, New Jersey had a National Basketball Association team, the New Jersey Nets. WNBA's New York Liberty played in New Jersey from 2011 to 2013 while their primary home arena, Madison Square Garden was undergoing renovations. In 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA opened their new headquarters and training facility, the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex, in Camden.
The Meadowlands Sports Complex is home to the Meadowlands Racetrack, the major harness racing track in the state. Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport is a popular spot for thoroughbred racing in New Jersey and the northeast. It hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2007, and its turf course was renovated in preparation.
=== Major league sports ===
=== Minor league sports ===
=== College sports ===
==== Major schools ====
New Jerseyans' collegiate allegiances are predominantly split among the three major NCAA Division I programs in the state: the Rutgers University (New Jersey's flagship state university) Scarlet Knights, members of the Big Ten Conference; the Seton Hall University (the state's largest Catholic university) Pirates, members of the Big East Conference; and the Princeton University (the state's Ivy League university) Tigers.
The intense rivalry between Rutgers and Princeton athletics began with the first intercollegiate football game in 1869. The schools have not met on the football field since 1980, but they continue to play each other annually in all other sports offered by the two universities.
Rutgers, which fields 24 teams in various sports, is nationally known for its football program, with a 6–4 all-time bowl record; and its women's basketball programs, which appeared in a National Final in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Rutgers expanded their football home, Rutgers Stadium, now called SHI Stadium, on the Busch Campus. The basketball teams play at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Livingston Campus. Both venues and campuses are in Piscataway, across the Raritan River from New Brunswick. The university also fields men's basketball and baseball programs. Rutgers' fans live mostly in the western parts of the state and Middlesex County; its alumni base is the largest in the state.
Rutgers' satellite campuses in Camden and Newark each field their own athletic programs—the Rutgers–Camden Scarlet Raptors and the Rutgers–Newark Scarlet Raiders—which both compete in NCAA Division III.
Seton Hall fields no football team, but its men's basketball team is one of the Big East's storied programs. No New Jersey team has won more games in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, and it is the state's only men's basketball program to reach a modern National Final. The Pirates play their home games at Prudential Center in downtown Newark, about 4 miles (6 km) from the university's South Orange campus. Their fans hail largely from the predominantly Roman Catholic areas of the northern part of the state and the Jersey Shore. The annual inter-conference rivalry game between Seton Hall and Rutgers, whose venue alternates between Newark and Piscataway, the Garden State Hardwood Classic, is planned through 2026.
==== Other schools ====
The state's other Division I schools include the Monmouth University Hawks (West Long Branch), the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Highlanders (Newark), the Rider University Broncs (Lawrenceville), and the Saint Peter's University Peacocks (Jersey City).
Fairleigh Dickinson University competes in both Division I and Division III. It has two campuses, each with its own sports teams. The teams at the Metropolitan Campus are known as the FDU Knights, and compete in the Northeast Conference and NCAA Division I. The college at Florham (FDU-Florham) teams are known as the FDU-Florham Devils and compete in the Middle Atlantic Conferences' Freedom Conference and NCAA Division III.
Among the various Division III schools in the state, the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks have fielded the longest continuously running collegiate men's lacrosse program in the country. 2009 marked the 125th season.
=== High school ===
New Jersey high schools are divided into divisions under the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).'
== Stadiums and arenas ==
=== Other notable sports venues ===
Old Bridge Township Raceway Park
Trenton Speedway
Atlantic City Race Course
Freehold Raceway
Garden State Park Racetrack
Monmouth Park Racetrack
Meadowlands Sports Complex
Meadowlands Arena
Meadowlands Racetrack
Meadowlands Grand Prix
== Government and politics ==
=== Executive ===
The position of Governor of New Jersey is one of the most powerful in the nation. The governor is elected on a ticket with their lieutenant governor as the only statewide elected executive officials in the state; the governor appoints the entire executive cabinet and judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts. Mikie Sherrill (D) is the governor. The governor's mansion is Drumthwacket, located in Princeton, Mercer County.
Before 2010, New Jersey was one of the few states without a lieutenant governor. Republican Kim Guadagno was elected the first lieutenant governor of New Jersey on the Republican ticket with Governor Chris Christie and took office on January 19, 2010. The position was created as the result of a Constitutional amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution passed by the voters in 2005. Previously a gubernatorial vacancy would be filled by the president of the New Jersey State Senate as acting governor, thus directing half of the legislative and all of the executive process. The current lieutenant governor is Dale Caldwell (D).
=== Legislative ===
The current version of the New Jersey State Constitution was adopted in 1947. It provides for a bicameral New Jersey Legislature, consisting of an upper house Senate of 40 members and a lower house General Assembly of 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one state senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; state senators are elected in years ending in 1, 3, and 7 and thus serve either four- or two-year terms.
New Jersey is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd-numbered years (the others are Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Virginia). New Jersey holds elections for these offices every four years, in the year following each federal Presidential election year.
=== Judicial ===
The New Jersey Supreme Court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70.
Most of the day-to-day work in the New Jersey courts is carried out in the Municipal Court, where simple traffic tickets, minor criminal offenses, and small civil matters are heard.
More serious criminal and civil cases are handled by the Superior Court for each county. All Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of a majority of the membership of the state senate. Each judge serves an initial seven-year term and can be reappointed to serve until age 70. New Jersey's judiciary is unusual in that it still has separate courts of law and equity, like its neighbor Delaware but unlike most other U.S. states. The New Jersey Superior Court is divided into Law and Chancery Divisions at the trial level; the Law Division hears both criminal cases and civil lawsuits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is damages, while the Chancery Division hears family cases, civil suits where the plaintiff's primary remedy is equitable relief, and probate trials.
The Superior Court also has an Appellate Division, which functions as the state's intermediate appellate court. Superior Court judges are assigned to the Appellate Division by the Chief Justice.
There is also a Tax Court, which is a court of limited jurisdiction. Tax Court judges hear appeals of tax decisions made by County Boards of Taxation. They also hear appeals on decisions made by the director of the Division of Taxation on such matters as state income, sales and business taxes, and homestead rebates. Appeals from Tax Court decisions are heard in the Appellate Division of Superior Court. Tax Court judges are appointed by the governor for initial terms of seven years, and upon reappointment are granted tenure until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. There are 12 Tax Court judgeships.
=== Counties ===
New Jersey is divided into 21 counties; 13 date from the colonial era. New Jersey was completely divided into counties by 1692; the present counties were created by dividing the existing ones; most recently Union County in 1857. New Jersey was formerly the only state in the nation where elected county officials were called freeholders. Elected county officials are now called county commissioners as of bill S855 signed by Governor Murphy on August 8, 2020. The county commissioners govern each county as part of its own Board of Chosen County Commissioners The number of county commissioners in each county is determined by referendum, and must consist of three, five, seven or nine members.
Depending on the county, the executive and legislative functions may be performed by the Board of County Commissioners or split into separate branches of government. In 16 counties, the County Commissioners perform both legislative and executive functions on a commission basis, with each commissioner assigned responsibility for a department or group of departments. In the other five counties (Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Mercer), there is a directly elected County Executive who performs the executive functions while the commissioners retain a legislative and oversight role. In counties without an Executive, a County Administrator (or County Manager) may be hired to perform day-to-day administration of county functions.
=== Municipalities ===
New Jersey currently has 564 municipalities; the most recent dissolution of a municipality was when Pine Valley merged into Pine Hill on January 1, 2022. Unlike other states, all New Jersey land is part of a municipality. In 2008, Governor Jon Corzine proposed cutting state aid to all towns under 10,000 people, to encourage mergers to reduce administrative costs. In May 2009, the Local Unit Alignment Reorganization and Consolidation Commission began a study of about 40 small communities in South Jersey to decide which ones might be good candidates for consolidation.
==== Forms of municipal government ====
Starting in the 20th century, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government was implemented. This began with the Walsh Act, enacted in 1911 by the New Jersey Legislature, which provided for a three- or five-member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the 1923 Municipal Manager Law, which offered a non-partisan council, provided for a weak mayor elected by and from the members of the council, and introduced a Council-manager government structure with an appointed manager responsible for the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs.
The Faulkner Act, originally enacted in 1950 and substantially amended in 1981, offers four basic plans: Mayor-Council, Council-Manager, Small Municipality, and Mayor-Council-Administrator. The act provides many choices for communities with a preference for a strong executive and professional management of municipal affairs and offers great flexibility in allowing municipalities to select the characteristics of its government: the number of seats on the council; seats selected at-large, by wards, or through a combination of both; staggered or concurrent terms of office; and a mayor chosen by the council or elected directly by voters. Most large municipalities and a majority of New Jersey's residents are governed by municipalities with Faulkner Act charters. Municipalities can also formulate their own unique form of government and operate under a Special Charter with the approval of the New Jersey Legislature.
While municipalities retain their names derived from types of government, they may have changed to one of the modern forms of government, or further in the past to one of the other traditional forms, leading to municipalities with formal names quite baffling to the general public. For example, though there are four municipalities that are officially of the village type, none use the village form of government. Loch Arbour and Ridgefield Park (now with a Walsh Act form), Ridgewood (now with a Faulkner Act Council-Manager charter) and South Orange (now operates under a Special Charter) all migrated to other non-village forms.
=== Politics ===
==== Social attitudes and issues ====
Socially, New Jersey is considered one of the more liberal states in the nation. Polls indicate that 60% of the population are self-described as pro-choice, although a majority are opposed to late trimester and intact dilation and extraction and public funding of abortion. As of 2022, all aspects of reproductive choice (including abortion) are protected by law.
In a 2009 Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll, a plurality supported same-sex marriage 49% to 43% opposed. On October 18, 2013, the New Jersey Supreme Court rendered a provisional, unanimous (7–0) order authorizing same-sex marriage in the state, pending a legal appeal by Governor Chris Christie, who then withdrew this appeal hours after the inaugural same-sex marriages took place on October 21, 2013.
New Jersey also has some of the most stringent gun control laws in the U.S. These include bans on assault firearms, hollow-nose bullets and slingshots. No gun offense in New Jersey is graded less than a felony. BB guns and black-powder guns are all treated as modern firearms. New Jersey does not recognize out-of-state gun licenses and aggressively enforces its own gun laws.
In 2020, the state's voting population passed a public question that amended the state constitution to legalize marijuana and erase past legal convictions for possession. The measure passed by a two-thirds vote. At the time the measure was enacted, about a dozen other U.S. states had also legalized the sale and possession of marijuana. As of 2024, local governments and municipalities are still in the process of regulating marijuana-related businesses within their jurisdictions.
==== Elections ====
New Jersey is a Democratic stronghold. New Jersey Democrats have majority control of both houses of the New Jersey Legislature (Senate, 24–16, and Assembly, 46–34), 9–3 split of the state's twelve seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and both U.S. Senate seats. There have been recent Republican governors, however: Christine Todd Whitman won election in 1993 and 1997 and Chris Christie in 2009 and 2013.
In federal elections, the state leans heavily towards the Democratic Party, having last voted for a Republican for president in 1988. New Jersey was a crucial swing state in the elections of 1960, 1968, and 1992. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey was Clifford P. Case in 1979. Newark Mayor Cory Booker was elected in October 2013 to join Robert Menendez to make New Jersey the first state with concurrently serving black and Latino U.S. senators.
The state's Democratic strongholds include Camden County, Essex County (the state's most Democratic county—it includes Newark, the state's largest city), Hudson County (the second-strongest Democratic county, including Jersey City, the state's second-largest city); Mercer County (especially around Trenton and Princeton), Middlesex County, and Union County (including Elizabeth, the state's fourth-largest city). Other suburban counties, especially Bergen County and Burlington County, had the majority of votes go to the Democratic Party.
The northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have support along the coast in Ocean County and Cape May County as well as in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially in Hunterdon County, Sussex County, and Warren County.
To be eligible to vote in a U.S. election, all New Jerseyans are required to start their residency in the state 30 days prior to an election and register 21 days prior to election day.
==== Capital punishment ====
On December 17, 2007, Governor Jon Corzine signed into law a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in New Jersey. New Jersey was the first state to pass such legislation since Iowa and West Virginia eliminated executions in 1965. Corzine also signed a bill that would downgrade the Death Row prisoners' sentences from "Death" to "Life in Prison with No Parole".
== Points of interest ==
=== Boardwalks ===
Many communities along the Jersey Shore have a boardwalk with various attractions, entertainment, shopping, dining, arcades, water parks, and amusement parks. The Atlantic City Boardwalk, opened in 1870, as the world's first boardwalk. At 5+1⁄2 miles (8.9 km) long, it is also the world's longest and busiest boardwalk.
=== Museums ===
=== National Park Service areas ===
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Crossroads of the American Revolution
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Gateway National Recreation Area
Great Egg Harbor National Scenic and Recreational River
Morristown National Historical Park
New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve
Patterson Great Falls National Historical Park
Statue of Liberty National Monument (with Ellis Island)
Thomas Edison National Historical Park
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
=== Entertainment and concert venues ===
Visitors and residents take advantage of and contribute to performances at the numerous music, theater, and dance companies and venues located throughout the state, including:
=== Theme parks === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Stre%C5%BCy%C5%84ska | Anna Streżyńska | Anna Maria Streżyńska (née Bajorek) (born 11 May 1967 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician. She was the Polish Minister of Digital Affairs between 16 November 2015 and 9 January 2018. Prior to becoming a government member, she was a senior adviser in the Ministry.
Streżyńska worked as a civil servant in telecoms and competition policy for much of her career. In 2017, she refused Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Higher Education Jarosław Gowin’s offer to join a newly formed “Christian Democratic” party titled “Porozumienie.”
On 9 January 2018 Streżyńska was recalled from the office of the Minister of Digital Affairs. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_East_Timor | Demographics of East Timor | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_and_Time | Being and Time | Being and Time (German: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 magnum opus of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. Being and Time had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other fields. Though controversial, its stature in intellectual history has been compared with works by Immanuel Kant and G. W. F. Hegel. The book attempts to revive ontology through an analysis of Dasein, or "being-in-the-world." It is also noted for an array of neologisms and complex language, as well as an extended treatment of "authenticity" as a means to grasp and confront the unique and finite possibilities of the individual.
== Background ==
Richard Wolin notes that the work "implicitly adopted the critique of mass society" epitomized earlier by Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. "Elitist complaints about the 'dictatorship of public opinion' were common currency to the German mandarins of the twenties," according to Jürgen Habermas (1989). Wolin writes that Being and Time is "suffused by a sensibility derived from secularized Protestantism" and its stress on original sin. The human condition is portrayed as "essentially a curse." Wolin cites the work's extended emphasis on "emotionally laden concepts" like guilt, conscience, angst and death.
The book is likened to a secularized version of Martin Luther's project, which aimed to turn Christian theology back to an earlier and more "original" phase. Taking this view, John D. Caputo notes that Heidegger made a systematic study of Luther in the 1920s after training for 10 years as a Catholic theologian. Similarly, Hubert Dreyfus likens Division II of the volume to a secularized version of Kierkegaard's Christianity. Almost all central concepts of Being and Time are derived from Augustine, Luther, and Kierkegaard, according to Christian Lotz.
The critic George Steiner argues that Being and Time is a product of the crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I. In this respect Steiner compared it to Ernst Bloch's The Spirit of Utopia (1918), Oswald Spengler's The Decline of the West (1918), Franz Rosenzweig's The Star of Redemption (1921), Karl Barth's The Epistle to the Romans (1922), and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (1925).
In terms of structure, Being and Time consists of the lengthy two-part introduction, followed by Division One, the "Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein," and Division Two, "Dasein and Temporality." Heidegger originally planned to write a separate, second volume, but quickly abandoned the project. The unwritten "second half" was to include a critique of Western philosophy.
== Summary ==
=== Dasein ===
Being and Time explicitly rejects Descartes' notion of the human being as a subjective spectator of objects, according to Marcella Horrigan-Kelly (et al.). The book instead holds that both subject and object are inseparable. In presenting the subject, "being" as inseparable from the objective "world," Heidegger introduced the term "Dasein" (literally being there), intended to embody a "living being" through their activity of "being there" and "being in the world" (Horrigan-Kelly). Understood as a unitary phenomenon rather than a contingent, additive combination, being-in-the-world is an essential characteristic of Dasein, according to Michael Wheeler (2011).
Heidegger's account of Dasein passes through an analysis of angst, "the Nothing" and mortality, and of the structure of "care" as such. He then defines "authenticity," as a means to grasp and confront the finite possibilities of Dasein. Moreover, Dasein is "the being that will give access to the question of the meaning of Being," according to Heidegger.
=== Being ===
The work claims that ordinary and even mundane "being-in-the-world" provides "access to the meaning, or 'sense of being' [Sinn des Seins]." This access via Dasein is also that "in terms of which something becomes intelligible as something." This meaning would then elucidate ordinary "prescientific" understanding, which precedes abstract ways of knowing, such as logic or theory.
Heidegger's concept of Being is metaphorical, according to Richard Rorty, who agrees with Heidegger that there is no "hidden power" called Being. Heidegger emphasizes that no particular understanding of Being (nor of Dasein) is to be valued over another, according to an account of Rorty's analysis by Edward Grippe. This supposed "non-linguistic, pre-cognitive access" to the meaning of Being did not underscore any particular, preferred narrative.
Thomas Sheehan and Mark Wrathall each separately assert that commentators' emphasis on the term "Being" is misplaced, and that Heidegger's central focus was never on "Being" as such. Wrathall wrote (2011) that Heidegger's elaborate concept of "unconcealment" was his central, life-long focus, while Sheehan (2015) proposed that the philosopher's prime focus was on that which "brings about being as a givenness of entities."
Being and Time actually offers "no sense of how we might answer the question of being as such," writes Simon Critchley in a nine-part blog commentary on the work for The Guardian (2009). The book instead provides "an answer to the question of what it means to be human" (Critchley). Nonetheless, Heidegger does present the concept: "'Being' is not something like a being but is rather "what determines beings as beings."
=== Time ===
Heidegger believes that time finds its meaning in death, according to Michael Kelley. That is, time is understood only from a finite or mortal vantage. Dasein's fundamental characteristic and mode of "being-in-the-world" is temporal: Having been "thrown" into a world implies a "pastness" in its being. "The present is the nodal moment which makes past and future intelligible," writes Lilian Alweiss. Dasein occupies itself with the present tasks required by goals it has projected on the future.
Dasein as an intertwined subject/object cannot be separated from its objective "historicality," a concept Heidegger credits in the text to Wilhelm Dilthey. Dasein is "stretched along" temporally between birth and death, and thrown into its world; into its future possibilities which Dasein is charged with assuming. Dasein's access to this world and these possibilities is always via a history and a tradition—or "world historicality".
== Methodologies ==
=== Phenomenology ===
Heidegger's mentor Edmund Husserl developed a method of analysis called "phenomenological reduction" or "bracketing," that emphasized primordial experience as its key element. Husserl used this method to define the structures of consciousness and show how they are directed at both real and ideal objects within the world.
Being and Time employs this method but purportedly modifies Husserl's subjectivist tendencies. Whereas Husserl conceived humans as constituted by consciousness, Heidegger countered that consciousness is peripheral to Dasein, which cannot be reduced to consciousness. Consciousness is thus an "effect" rather than a determinant of existence. By shifting the priority from consciousness (psychology) to existence (ontology), Heidegger altered the subsequent direction of phenomenology.
But Being and Time misrepresented its phenomenology as a departure from methods established earlier by Husserl, according to Daniel O. Dahlstrom. In this vein, Robert J. Dostal asserts that "if we do not see how much it is the case that Husserlian phenomenology provides the framework for Heidegger's approach," then it's impossible to exactly understand Being and Time.
On publication in 1927, Being and Time bore a dedication to Husserl, who beginning a decade earlier, championed Heidegger's work, and helped him secure the retiring Husserl's chair in Philosophy at the University of Freiburg in 1928. Because Husserl was Jewish, in 1941 Heidegger, then a member of the Nazi Party, agreed to remove the dedication from Being and Time (restored in 1953 edition).
=== Hermeneutics ===
Being and Time employed the "hermeneutic circle" as a method of analysis or structure for ideas. According to Susann M. Laverty (2003), Heidegger's circle moves from the parts of experience to the whole of experience and back and forth again and again to increase the depth of engagement and understanding. Laverty writes (Kvale 1996), "This spiraling through a hermeneutic circle ends when one has reached a place of sensible meaning, free of inner contradictions, for the moment."
The hermeneutic circle and certain theories concerning history in Being and Time are acknowledged within the text to rely on the writings of Wilhelm Dilthey. The technique was later employed in the writings of Jürgen Habermas, per "Influence and reception" below.
=== Destructuring ===
In Being and Time Heidegger briefly refutes the philosophy of René Descartes (in an exercise he called "destructuring"), but the second volume, intended as a Destruktion of Western philosophy, was never written. Heidegger sought to explain how theoretical knowledge came to be seen, incorrectly in his view, as fundamental to being. This explanation takes the form of a destructuring (Destruktion) of the philosophical tradition, an interpretative strategy that reveals the fundamental experience of being hidden within the theoretical attitude of the metaphysics of presence.
In later works, while becoming less systematic and more obscure than in Being and Time, Heidegger turns to the exegesis of historical texts, especially those of Presocratic philosophers, but also of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Plato, Nietzsche, and Hölderlin, among others.
== Influence and reception ==
Upon its publication, reviewers credited Heidegger with "brilliance" and "genius". The book was later seen as the "most influential version of existential philosophy."
Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialism (of 1943) has been described as merely "a version of Being and Time". The work also influenced other philosophers of Sartre's generation, and exerted a notable influence on French philosophy.
Heidegger's work influenced the output of the Frankfurt School including Jürgen Habermas's hermeneutics and Herbert Marcuse's early and abortive attempt to develop "Heideggerian Marxism." Theodor Adorno, in his 1964 book The Jargon of Authenticity, was critical of Heidegger's popularity in post-war Western Europe. Adorno accused Heidegger of evading ethical judgment by disingenuously presenting "authenticity" as a value-free, technical term – rather than a positive doctrine of the good life.
Heidegger influenced psychoanalysis through Jacques Lacan as well as Medard Boss and others. Paul Celan, in his essays on poetic theory, incorporated some of Heidegger's ideas. Being and Time also separately influenced Alain Badiou's work Being and Event (1988), and also separately the enactivist approach to cognition theory.
Bertrand Russell was dismissive of Being and Time ("One cannot help suspecting that language is here running riot"), and the analytic philosopher A. J. Ayer outright called Heidegger a charlatan. But the American philosopher Richard Rorty ranked Heidegger among the important philosophers of the twentieth century, including John Dewey and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
The conservative British writer Roger Scruton (2002) called Being and Time a "description of a private spiritual journey" rather than genuine philosophy. But Stephen Houlgate (1999) compares Heidegger's achievements in Being and Time to those of Kant and Hegel. Simon Critchley (2009) writes that it is impossible to understand developments in continental philosophy after Heidegger without understanding Being and Time.
== Related work ==
Being and Time is the major achievement of Heidegger's early career, but he produced other important works during this period:
The publication in 1992 of the early lecture course, Platon: Sophistes (Plato's Sophist, 1924), made clear the way in which Heidegger's reading of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics was crucial to the formulation of the thought expressed in Being and Time.
The lecture course, Prolegomena zur Geschichte des Zeitbegriffs (History of the Concept of Time: Prolegomena, 1925), was something like an early version of Being and Time.
The lecture courses immediately following the publication of Being and Time, such as Die Grundprobleme der Phänomenologie (The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, 1927), and Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik (Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics, 1929), elaborated some elements of the destruction of metaphysics which Heidegger intended to pursue in the unwritten second part of Being and Time.
Although Heidegger did not complete the project outlined in Being and Time, later works explicitly addressed the themes and concepts of Being and Time. Most important among the works which do so are the following:
Heidegger's inaugural lecture upon his return to Freiburg, "Was ist Metaphysik?" (What Is Metaphysics?, 1929), was an important and influential clarification of what Heidegger meant by being, non-being, and nothingness.
Einführung in die Metaphysik (An Introduction to Metaphysics), a lecture course delivered in 1935, is identified by Heidegger, in his preface to the seventh German edition of Being and Time, as relevant to the concerns which the second half of the book would have addressed.
Beiträge zur Philosophie (Vom Ereignis) (Contributions to Philosophy [From Enowning], composed 1936–38, published 1989), a sustained attempt at reckoning with the legacy of Being and Time.
Zeit und Sein (Time and Being), a lecture delivered at the University of Freiburg on January 31, 1962. This was Heidegger's most direct confrontation with Being and Time. It was followed by a seminar on the lecture, which took place at Todtnauberg on September 11–13, 1962, a summary of which was written by Alfred Guzzoni. Both the lecture and the summary of the seminar are included in Zur Sache des Denkens (1969; translated as On Time and Being, New York: Harper & Row, 1972). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11 | Apollo 11 | Apollo 11 (July 16–24 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon, and the fifth crewed mission of NASA's Apollo program. The mission was crewed by Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, all of whom were on their second and final spaceflight.
Launched atop a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on July 16 at 13:32 UTC, the Apollo spacecraft consisted of three parts: the command module (CM), which housed the three astronauts and was the only part to return to Earth; the service module (SM), which provided propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water to the command module; and the Lunar Module (LM), which had two stages—a descent stage with a large engine and fuel tanks for landing on the Moon, and a lighter ascent stage containing a cabin for two astronauts and a small engine to return them to lunar orbit. After a three-day transit, Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the surface aboard the LM Eagle, landing in the Sea of Tranquility on July 20 at 20:17 UTC while Collins remained in lunar orbit aboard the CM Columbia. Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon approximately six hours after landing, followed by Aldrin nineteen minutes later. Together they spent around two and a half hours walking on the surface, planting an American flag, speaking by telephone with President Richard Nixon, deploying scientific instruments, and collecting 21.5 kg (47.5 lb) of lunar material. After more than 21 hours on the surface, they rejoined Collins in lunar orbit, and the crew returned safely to Earth on July 24, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Apollo 11 was the culmination of the Space Race, a geopolitical competition between the United States and the Soviet Union rooted in Cold War rivalry. It fulfilled a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy in May 1961, who had challenged the United States to land a man on the Moon and return him safely before the end of the decade. The programme overcame a severe setback with the fatal Apollo 1 launchpad fire in January 1967 and drew on technologies developed through the preceding Mercury and Gemini programmes. The Soviet Union, despite early leads in spaceflight, was unable to match the Saturn V rocket, and its uncrewed lunar probe Luna 15 crashed on the Moon on July 21, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were still on the lunar surface.
Armstrong's moonwalk was broadcast live to an estimated 600 million viewers, roughly one-fifth of the world's population, making it among the most-watched television events in history. Stepping onto the lunar surface, Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." lunar samples returned by the mission led to the identification of three previously unrecognized minerals, and scientific instruments deployed on the surface continued returning data for years afterwards. The crew were honoured with ticker-tape parades, a world goodwill tour, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The command module Columbia is preserved at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., while the descent stage of Eagle remains on the lunar surface.
== Background ==
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States was engaged in the Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry with the Soviet Union. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, surprising the world and fueling fears about Soviet technological and military capabilities. Its success demonstrated that the USSR could potentially deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, challenging American claims of military, economic, and technological superiority. This incident sparked the Sputnik crisis and ignited the Space Race, as both superpowers sought to demonstrate superiority in spaceflight. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded to the challenge posed by Sputnik by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and initiating Project Mercury, which aimed to place a man into Earth orbit. The Soviets took the lead on April 12, 1961, when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space and the first to orbit the Earth. Nearly a month later, on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space; his 15-minute flight was suborbital, not a full orbit.
Because the Soviet Union had launch vehicles with higher lift capacity, President John F. Kennedy, Eisenhower's successor, chose a challenge that exceeded the capabilities of the existing generation of rockets, so that both countries would be starting from an equal position. A crewed mission to the Moon would serve this purpose.
On May 25, 1961, Kennedy addressed the United States Congress on "Urgent National Needs" and declared:
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade [1960s] is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations—explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
On September 12, 1962, Kennedy delivered another speech before a crowd of about 40,000 people in the Rice University football stadium in Houston, Texas. A widely quoted refrain from the middle portion of the speech reads as follows:
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?
We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon ... We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.
In spite of that, the proposed program faced widespread opposition and was dubbed a "moondoggle" by Norbert Wiener, a mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The effort to land a man on the Moon already had a name: Project Apollo. When Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev, the Premier of the Soviet Union in June 1961, he proposed making the Moon landing a joint project, but Khrushchev declined the offer. Kennedy again proposed a joint expedition to the Moon in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 1963. The idea of a joint Moon mission was ultimately abandoned after Kennedy's death.
An early and crucial decision was choosing lunar orbit rendezvous over both direct ascent and Earth orbit rendezvous. A space rendezvous is an orbital maneuver in which two spacecraft navigate through space and meet up. In July 1962, NASA head James Webb announced that lunar orbit rendezvous would be used and that the Apollo spacecraft would have three major parts: a command module (CM) with a cabin for the three astronauts, and the only part that returned to Earth; a service module (SM), which supported the command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen, and water; and a lunar module (LM) that had two stages—a descent stage for landing on the Moon, and an ascent stage to place the astronauts back into lunar orbit. This design meant the spacecraft could be launched by a single Saturn V rocket that was then under development.
Technologies and techniques required for Apollo were developed by Project Gemini. The Apollo project was enabled by NASA's adoption of new advances in semiconductor device, including metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) and silicon integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).
Project Apollo was abruptly halted by the Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967, in which astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee died, and the subsequent investigation. In October 1968, Apollo 7 evaluated the command module in Earth orbit, and in December Apollo 8 tested it in lunar orbit. In March 1969, Apollo 9 put the lunar module through its paces in Earth orbit, and in May Apollo 10 conducted a "dress rehearsal" in lunar orbit. By July 1969, all was in readiness for Apollo 11 to take the final step onto the Moon.
The Soviet Union appeared to be winning the Space Race, but its early lead was overtaken by the US Gemini program and Soviet failure to develop the N1 launcher, which would have been comparable to the Saturn V. Seeing these failures, the Soviets then attempted to beat the US to return lunar material to the Earth by means of uncrewed probes. On July 13, three days before Apollo 11's launch, the Soviet Union launched Luna 15, which reached lunar orbit before Apollo 11. During descent, a malfunction caused Luna 15 to crash in Mare Crisium about two hours before Armstrong and Aldrin took off from the Moon's surface to return to earth. The Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories radio telescope in England recorded transmissions from Luna 15 during its descent, and these were released in July 2009 for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11.
== Personnel ==
=== Prime crew ===
The initial crew assignment of Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Buzz Aldrin on the backup crew for Apollo 9 was officially announced on November 20, 1967. Lovell and Aldrin had previously flown together as the crew of Gemini 12. Due to design and manufacturing delays in the LM, Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 swapped prime and backup crews, and Armstrong's crew became the backup for Apollo 8. Based on the normal crew rotation scheme, Armstrong was then expected to command Apollo 11.
There would be one change. Michael Collins, the CMP on the Apollo 8 crew, began experiencing trouble with his legs. Doctors diagnosed a bony growth between his fifth and sixth vertebrae, requiring surgery. Lovell took his place on the Apollo 8 crew, and when Collins recovered he joined Armstrong's crew as CMP. In the meantime, Fred Haise filled in as backup LMP, and Aldrin as backup CMP for Apollo 8. Apollo 11 was the second American mission where all the crew members had prior spaceflight experience, the first being Apollo 10. The next was STS-26 in 1988.
Deke Slayton gave Armstrong the option to replace Aldrin with Lovell, since some thought Aldrin was difficult to work with. Armstrong had no issues working with Aldrin but thought it over for a day before declining. He thought Lovell deserved to command his own mission (eventually Apollo 13).
The Apollo 11 prime crew had none of the close cheerful camaraderie characterized by that of Apollo 12. Instead, they forged an amiable working relationship. Armstrong in particular was notoriously aloof, but Collins, who considered himself a loner, confessed to rebuffing Aldrin's attempts to create a more personal relationship. Aldrin and Collins described the crew as "amiable strangers". Armstrong did not agree with the assessment, and said "all the crews I was on worked very well together."
=== Backup crew ===
The backup crew consisted of Lovell as Commander, William Anders as CMP, and Haise as LMP. Anders had flown with Lovell on Apollo 8. In early 1969, Anders accepted a job with the National Aeronautics and Space Council effective August 1969, and announced he would retire as an astronaut at that time. Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup CMP in case Apollo 11 was delayed past its intended July launch date, at which point Anders would be unavailable.
Under the normal Apollo crew rotation, Lovell, Mattingly, and Haise would have been assigned to Apollo 14. However, because Alan Shepard had only recently returned to flight status and needed additional training, NASA reassigned his crew to Apollo 14 and moved Lovell's crew up to fly Apollo 13 instead. Shortly before launch, Mattingly was replaced by Jack Swigert due to concerns over possible measles exposure.
=== Support crew ===
During Projects Mercury and Gemini, each mission had a prime and a backup crew. For Apollo, NASA added a third group, the support crew. Their job was to maintain the flight plan, checklists, and mission rules, and to keep the prime and backup crews updated on any changes. They also developed procedures—especially for emergencies, so that by the time the prime and backup crews entered the simulators, they could focus on practicing and mastering them. The support crew for Apollo 11 was Mattingly, Ronald Evans, and Bill Pogue.
=== Capsule communicators ===
The capsule communicator (CAPCOM) was an astronaut stationed at the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, and was typically the only person permitted to communicate directly with the flight crew. This practice ensured that messages came from someone best able to understand the situation in the spacecraft and to relay guidance from flight controllers as clearly as possible. For Apollo 11, the CAPCOMs were backup and support crew members Anders, Evans, Haise, Lovell, and Mattingly, along with Charles Duke, Owen Garriott, Don L. Lind, Bruce McCandless II, and Harrison Schmitt.
=== Flight directors ===
The flight directors for this mission were:
=== Other key personnel ===
Other key personnel who played important roles in the Apollo 11 mission include the following.
== Preparations ==
=== Insignia ===
The Apollo 11 mission emblem was designed by Collins, who wanted a symbol for "peaceful lunar landing by the United States". At Lovell's suggestion, he chose the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, as the symbol. Tom Wilson, a simulator instructor, suggested an olive branch in its beak to represent their peaceful mission. Collins added a lunar background with the Earth in the distance. The sunlight in the image was coming from the wrong direction; the shadow should have been in the lower part of the Earth instead of the left. Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins decided the Eagle and the Moon would be in their natural colors, and decided on a blue and gold border. Armstrong was concerned that "eleven" would not be understood by non-English speakers, so they went with "Apollo 11", and they decided not to put their names on the patch, so it would "be representative of everyone who had worked toward a lunar landing".
An illustrator at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) did the artwork, which was then sent off to NASA officials for approval. The design was rejected. Bob Gilruth, the director of the MSC felt the talons of the eagle looked "too warlike". After some discussion, the olive branch was moved to the talons. When the Eisenhower dollar coin was released in 1971, the patch design provided the eagle for its reverse side. The design was also used for the smaller Susan B. Anthony dollar unveiled in 1979.
=== Call signs ===
After the crew of Apollo 10 named their spacecraft Charlie Brown and Snoopy, assistant manager for public affairs Julian Scheer wrote to George Low, the Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at the MSC, to suggest the Apollo 11 crew be less flippant in naming their craft. The name Snowcone was used for the CM and Haystack was used for the LM in both internal and external communications during early mission planning.
The LM was named Eagle after the motif which was featured prominently on the mission insignia. At Scheer's suggestion, the CM was named Columbia after Columbiad, the giant cannon that launched a spacecraft (also from Florida) in Jules Verne's 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon. It also referred to Columbia, a historical name of the United States. In Collins' 1976 book, he said Columbia was in reference to Christopher Columbus.
=== Mementos ===
The astronauts had personal preference kits (PPKs), small bags containing personal items of significance they wanted to take with them on the mission. Five 0.5-pound (0.23 kg) PPKs were carried on Apollo 11: three (one for each astronaut) were stowed on Columbia before launch, and two on Eagle.
Neil Armstrong's LM PPK contained a piece of wood from the Wright brothers' 1903 Wright Flyer's left propeller and a piece of fabric from its wing, along with a diamond-studded astronaut pin originally given to Slayton by the widows of the Apollo 1 crew. This pin had been intended to be flown on that mission and given to Slayton afterwards, but following the disastrous launch pad fire and subsequent funerals, the widows gave the pin to Slayton. Armstrong took it with him on Apollo 11.
=== Site selection ===
NASA's Apollo Site Selection Board announced five potential landing sites on February 8, 1968. These were the result of two years' worth of studies based on high-resolution photography of the lunar surface by the five uncrewed probes of the Lunar Orbiter program and information about surface conditions provided by the Surveyor program. The best Earth-bound telescopes could not resolve features with the resolution Project Apollo required. The landing site had to be close to the lunar equator to minimize the amount of propellant required, clear of obstacles to minimize maneuvering, and flat to simplify the task of the landing radar. Scientific value was not a consideration.
Areas that appeared promising on photographs taken on Earth were often found to be totally unacceptable. The original requirement that the site be free of craters had to be relaxed, as no such site was found. Five sites were considered: Sites 1 and 2 were in the Sea of Tranquility (Mare Tranquillitatis); Site 3 was in the Central Bay (Sinus Medii); and Sites 4 and 5 were in the Ocean of Storms (Oceanus Procellarum).
The final site selection was based on seven criteria:
The site needed to be smooth, with relatively few craters;
with approach paths free of large hills, tall cliffs or deep craters that might confuse the landing radar and cause it to issue incorrect readings;
reachable with a minimum amount of propellant;
allowing for delays in the launch countdown;
providing the Apollo spacecraft with a free-return trajectory, one that would allow it to coast around the Moon and safely return to Earth without requiring any engine firings should a problem arise on the way to the Moon;
with good visibility during the landing approach, meaning the Sun would be between 7 and 20 degrees behind the LM; and
a general slope of less than two degrees in the landing area.
The requirement for the Sun angle was particularly restrictive, limiting the launch date to one day per month. A landing just after dawn was chosen to limit the temperature extremes the astronauts would experience. The Apollo Site Selection Board selected Site 2, with Sites 3 and 5 as backups in the event of the launch being delayed. In May 1969, Apollo 10's lunar module flew to within 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) of Site 2, and reported it was acceptable.
=== First-step decision ===
During the first press conference after the Apollo 11 crew was announced, the first question was, "Which one of you gentlemen will be the first man to step onto the lunar surface?" Slayton told the reporter it had not been decided, and Armstrong added that it was "not based on individual desire".
One of the first versions of the egress checklist had the lunar module pilot exit the spacecraft before the commander, which matched what had been done on Gemini missions, where the commander had never performed the spacewalk. Reporters wrote in early 1969 that Aldrin would be the first man to walk on the Moon, and Associate Administrator George Mueller told reporters he would be first as well. Aldrin heard that Armstrong would be the first because Armstrong was a civilian, which made Aldrin livid. Aldrin attempted to persuade other Lunar Module pilots he should be first, but they responded cynically about what they perceived as a lobbying campaign. Attempting to stem interdepartmental conflict, Slayton told Aldrin that Armstrong would be first since he was the commander. The decision was announced in a press conference on April 14, 1969.
For decades, Aldrin believed the final decision was largely driven by the Lunar Module's hatch location. Because the astronauts had their spacesuits on and the spacecraft was so small, maneuvering to exit the spacecraft was difficult. The crew tried a simulation in which Aldrin left the spacecraft first, but he damaged the simulator while attempting to egress. While this was enough for mission planners to make their decision, Aldrin and Armstrong were left in the dark on the decision until late spring. Slayton told Armstrong the plan was to have him leave the spacecraft first, if he agreed. Armstrong said, "Yes, that's the way to do it."
The media accused Armstrong of exercising his commander's prerogative to exit the spacecraft first. Chris Kraft revealed in his 2001 autobiography that a meeting occurred between Gilruth, Slayton, Low, and himself to make sure Aldrin would not be the first to walk on the Moon. They argued that the first person to walk on the Moon should be like Charles Lindbergh, a calm and quiet person. They made the decision to change the flight plan so the commander was the first to egress from the spacecraft.
=== Pre-launch ===
The ascent stage of LM-5 Eagle arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on January 8, 1969, followed by the descent stage four days later, and CSM-107 Columbia on January 23. There were several differences between Eagle and Apollo 10's LM-4 Snoopy; Eagle had a VHF radio antenna to facilitate communication with the astronauts during their EVA on the lunar surface; a lighter ascent engine; more thermal protection on the landing gear; and a package of scientific experiments known as the Early Apollo Scientific Experiments Package (EASEP). The only change in the configuration of the command module was the removal of some insulation from the forward hatch. The CSM was mated on January 29, and moved from the Operations and Checkout Building to the Vehicle Assembly Building on April 14.
The S-IVB third stage of Saturn V AS-506 had arrived on January 18, followed by the S-II second stage on February 6, S-IC first stage on February 20, and the Saturn V Instrument Unit on February 27. At 12:30 on May 20, the 5,443-tonne (5,357-long-ton; 6,000-short-ton) assembly departed the Vehicle Assembly Building atop the crawler-transporter, bound for Launch Pad 39A, part of Launch Complex 39, while Apollo 10 was still on its way to the Moon. A countdown test commenced on June 26, and concluded on July 2. The launch complex was floodlit on the night of July 15, when the crawler-transporter carried the mobile service structure back to its parking area. In the early hours of the morning, the fuel tanks of the S-II and S-IVB stages were filled with liquid hydrogen. Fueling was completed by three hours before launch. Launch operations were partly automated, with 43 programs written in the ATOLL programming language.
Slayton roused the crew shortly after 04:00, and they showered, shaved, and had the traditional pre-flight breakfast of steak and eggs with Slayton and the backup crew. They then donned their space suits and began breathing pure oxygen. At 06:30, they headed out to Launch Complex 39. Haise entered Columbia about three hours and ten minutes before launch time. Along with a technician, he helped Armstrong into the left-hand couch at 06:54. Five minutes later, Collins joined him, taking up his position on the right-hand couch. Finally, Aldrin entered, taking the center couch. Haise left around two hours and ten minutes before launch. The closeout crew sealed the hatch, and the cabin was purged and pressurized. The closeout crew then left the launch complex about an hour before launch time. The countdown became automated at three minutes and twenty seconds before launch time. Over 450 personnel were at the consoles in the firing room.
== Mission ==
=== Launch and flight to lunar orbit ===
An estimated one million spectators watched the launch of Apollo 11 from the highways and beaches in the vicinity of the launch site. Dignitaries included the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General William Westmoreland, four cabinet members, 19 state governors, 40 mayors, 60 ambassadors and 200 congressmen. Vice President Spiro Agnew viewed the launch with former president Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson. Around 3,500 media representatives were present. About two-thirds were from the United States; the rest came from 55 other countries. The launch was televised live in 33 countries, with an estimated 25 million viewers in the United States alone. Millions more around the world listened to radio broadcasts. President Richard Nixon viewed the launch from his office in the White House with his NASA liaison officer, Apollo astronaut Frank Borman. Lodging near Cape Canaveral was reported as being booked months ahead in advance for the launch by a Florida newspaper.
Saturn V AS-506 launched Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, at 13:32:00 UTC (9:32:00 EDT). At 13.2 seconds into the flight, the launch vehicle began to roll into its flight azimuth of 72.058°. Full shutdown of the first-stage engines occurred about 2 minutes and 42 seconds into the mission, followed by separation of the S-IC and ignition of the S-II engines. The second stage engines then cut off and separated at about 9 minutes and 8 seconds, allowing the first ignition of the S-IVB engine a few seconds later.
Apollo 11 entered a near-circular Earth orbit at an altitude of 100.4 nautical miles (185.9 km) by 98.9 nautical miles (183.2 km), twelve minutes into its flight. After one and a half orbits, a second ignition of the S-IVB engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory toward the Moon with the trans-lunar injection (TLI) burn at 16:22:13 UTC. About 30 minutes later, with Collins in the left seat and at the controls, the transposition, docking, and extraction maneuver was performed. This involved separating Columbia from the spent S-IVB stage, turning around, and docking with Eagle still attached to the stage. After the LM was extracted, the combined spacecraft headed for the Moon, while the rocket stage flew on a trajectory past the Moon. This was done to avoid the third stage colliding with the spacecraft, the Earth, or the Moon. A slingshot effect from passing around the Moon threw it into an orbit around the Sun.
On July 19 at 17:21:50 UTC, Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its service propulsion engine to enter lunar orbit. In the thirty orbits that followed, the crew saw passing views of their landing site in the southern Sea of Tranquility about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the crater Sabine D. The site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5 landers and the Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft, and because it was unlikely to present major landing or EVA challenges. It lay about 25 kilometers (16 mi) southeast of the Surveyor 5 landing site, and 68 kilometers (42 mi) southwest of Ranger 8's crash site.
=== Lunar descent ===
At 12:52:00 UTC on July 20, Aldrin and Armstrong entered Eagle, and began the final preparations for lunar descent. At 17:44:00 Eagle separated from Columbia. Collins, alone aboard Columbia, inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged, and that the landing gear was correctly deployed. Armstrong exclaimed: "The Eagle has wings!"
As the descent began, Armstrong and Aldrin found themselves passing landmarks on the surface two or three seconds early, and reported that they were "long"; they would land miles west of their target point. Eagle was traveling too fast. The problem could have been mascons—concentrations of high mass in a region or regions of the Moon's crust that contains a gravitational anomaly, potentially altering Eagle's trajectory. Flight Director Gene Kranz speculated that it could have resulted from extra air pressure in the docking tunnel, or a result of Eagle's pirouette maneuver.
Five minutes into the descent burn, and 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the surface of the Moon, the LM guidance computer (LGC) distracted the crew with the first of several unexpected 1201 and 1202 program alarms. Inside Mission Control Center, computer engineer Jack Garman told Guidance Officer Steve Bales it was safe to continue the descent, and this was relayed to the crew. The program alarms indicated "executive overflows", meaning the guidance computer could not complete all its tasks in real-time and had to postpone some of them. Margaret Hamilton, the Director of Apollo Flight Computer Programming at the MIT Charles Stark Draper Laboratory later recalled:
To blame the computer for the Apollo 11 problems is like blaming the person who spots a fire and calls the fire department. Actually, the computer was programmed to do more than recognize error conditions. A complete set of recovery programs was incorporated into the software. The software's action, in this case, was to eliminate lower priority tasks and re-establish the more important ones. The computer, rather than almost forcing an abort, prevented an abort. If the computer hadn't recognized this problem and taken recovery action, I doubt if Apollo 11 would have been the successful Moon landing it was.
During the mission, the cause was diagnosed as the rendezvous radar switch being in the wrong position, causing the computer to process data from both the rendezvous and landing radars at the same time. Software engineer Don Eyles concluded in a 2005 Guidance and Control Conference paper that the problem was due to a hardware design bug previously seen during testing of the first uncrewed LM in Apollo 5. Having the rendezvous radar on (so it was warmed up in case of an emergency landing abort) should have been irrelevant to the computer, but an electrical phasing mismatch between two parts of the rendezvous radar system could cause the stationary antenna to appear to the computer as dithering back and forth between two positions, depending upon how the hardware randomly powered up. The extra spurious cycle stealing, as the rendezvous radar updated an involuntary counter, caused the computer alarms.
=== Landing ===
When Armstrong again looked outside, he saw that the computer's landing system was targeting a boulder-strewn area just north and east of a 300-foot-diameter (91 m) crater (later determined to be West crater), so he took semi-automatic control. Armstrong considered landing short of the boulder field so they could collect geological samples from it, but could not since their horizontal velocity was too high. Throughout the descent, Aldrin called out navigation data to Armstrong, who was busy piloting Eagle. Now 107 feet (33 m) above the surface, Armstrong knew their propellant supply was dwindling and was determined to land at the first possible landing site.
Armstrong found a clear patch of ground and maneuvered the spacecraft towards it. As he got closer, now 250 feet (76 m) above the surface, he discovered his new landing site had a crater in it. He cleared the crater and found another patch of level ground. They were now 100 feet (30 m) from the surface, with only 90 seconds of propellant remaining. Lunar dust kicked up by the LM's engine began to impair his ability to determine the spacecraft's motion. Some large rocks jutted out of the dust cloud, and Armstrong focused on them during his descent so he could determine the spacecraft's speed.
A light informed Aldrin that at least one of the 67-inch (170 cm) probes hanging from Eagle's footpads had touched the surface a few moments before the landing and he said: "Contact light!" Armstrong was supposed to immediately shut the engine down, as the engineers suspected the pressure caused by the engine's own exhaust reflecting off the lunar surface could make it explode, but he forgot. Three seconds later, Eagle landed and Armstrong shut the engine down. Aldrin immediately said "Okay, engine stop. ACA—out of detent." Armstrong acknowledged: "Out of detent. Auto." Aldrin continued: "Mode control—both auto. Descent engine command override off. Engine arm—off. 413 is in."
ACA was the Attitude Control Assembly—the LM's control stick. Output went to the LGC to command the reaction control system (RCS) jets to fire. "Out of Detent" meant the stick had moved away from its centered position; it was spring-centered like the turn indicator in a car. Address 413 of the Abort Guidance System (AGS) contained the variable that indicated the LM had landed.
Eagle landed at 20:17:40 UTC on Sunday July 20 with 216 pounds (98 kg) of usable fuel remaining. Information available to the crew and mission controllers during the landing showed the LM had enough fuel for another 25 seconds of powered flight before an abort without touchdown would have become unsafe, but post-mission analysis showed that the real figure was probably closer to 50 seconds. Apollo 11 landed with less fuel than most subsequent missions, and the astronauts encountered a premature low fuel warning. This was later found to be the result of the propellant sloshing more than expected, uncovering a fuel sensor. On subsequent missions, extra anti-slosh baffles were added to the tanks to prevent this.
Armstrong acknowledged Aldrin's completion of the post-landing checklist with "Engine arm is off", before responding to the CAPCOM, Charles Duke, with the words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Armstrong's unrehearsed change of call sign from "Eagle" to "Tranquility Base" emphasized to listeners that landing was complete and successful. Duke expressed the relief at Mission Control: "Roger, Twan—Tranquility, we copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot."
Two and a half hours after landing, before preparations began for the EVA, Aldrin radioed to Earth:
This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.
He then took communion privately. At this time NASA was still fighting a lawsuit brought by atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (who had objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Book of Genesis) demanding that their astronauts refrain from broadcasting religious activities while in space. For this reason, Aldrin chose to refrain from directly mentioning taking communion on the Moon. Aldrin was an elder at the Webster Presbyterian Church, and his communion kit was prepared by the pastor of the church, Dean Woodruff. Webster Presbyterian possesses the chalice used on the Moon and commemorates the event each year on the Sunday closest to July 20. The schedule for the mission called for the astronauts to follow the landing with a five-hour sleep period, but they chose to begin preparations for the EVA early, thinking they would be unable to sleep.
=== Lunar surface operations ===
Preparations for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the Moon began at 23:43 UTC. These took longer than expected; three and a half hours instead of two. During training on Earth, everything required had been neatly laid out in advance, but on the Moon the cabin contained a large number of other items as well, such as checklists, food packets, and tools. Six hours and thirty-nine minutes after landing, Armstrong and Aldrin were ready to go outside, and Eagle was depressurized.
Eagle's hatch was opened at 02:39:33. Armstrong initially had some difficulties squeezing through the hatch with his portable life support system (PLSS). Some of the highest heart rates recorded from Apollo astronauts occurred during LM egress and ingress. At 02:51 Armstrong began his descent to the lunar surface. The remote-control unit on his chest kept him from seeing his feet. Climbing down the nine-rung ladder, Armstrong pulled a D-ring to deploy the modular equipment stowage assembly (MESA) folded against Eagle's side and activate the TV camera.
Apollo 11 used slow-scan television (TV) incompatible with broadcast TV, so it was displayed on a special monitor and a conventional TV camera viewed this monitor (thus, a broadcast of a broadcast), significantly reducing the quality of the picture. The signal was received at Goldstone in the United States, but with better fidelity by Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station near Canberra in Australia. Minutes later the feed was switched to the more sensitive Parkes radio telescope in Australia. Despite some technical and weather difficulties, black and white images of the first lunar EVA were received and broadcast to at least 600 million people on Earth. Copies of this video in broadcast format were saved and are widely available, but recordings of the original slow scan source transmission from the lunar surface were likely destroyed during routine magnetic tape re-use at NASA.
After describing the surface dust as "very fine-grained" and "almost like a powder", at 02:56:15, six and a half hours after landing, Armstrong stepped off Eagle's landing pad and declared: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
Armstrong intended to say "That's one small step for a man", but the word "a" is not audible in the transmission, and thus was not initially reported by most observers of the live broadcast. When later asked about his quote, Armstrong said he believed he said "for a man", and subsequent printed versions of the quote included the "a" in square brackets. One explanation for the absence may be that his accent caused him to slur the words "for a" together; another is the intermittent nature of the audio and video links to Earth, partly because of storms near Parkes Observatory. A more recent digital analysis of the tape claims to reveal the "a" may have been spoken but obscured by static. Other analysis points to the claims of static and slurring as "face-saving fabrication", and that Armstrong himself later admitted to misspeaking the line.
About seven minutes after stepping onto the Moon's surface, Armstrong collected a contingency soil sample using a sample bag on a stick. He then folded the bag and tucked it into a pocket on his right thigh. This was to guarantee there would be some lunar soil brought back in case an emergency required the astronauts to abandon the EVA and return to the LM. Twelve minutes after the sample was collected, he removed the TV camera from the MESA and made a panoramic sweep, then mounted it on a tripod. The TV camera cable remained partly coiled and presented a tripping hazard throughout the EVA. Still photography was accomplished with a Hasselblad camera that could be operated hand-held or mounted on Armstrong's Apollo space suit. Aldrin joined Armstrong on the surface. He described the view with the simple phrase: "Magnificent desolation."
Armstrong said moving in the lunar gravity, one-sixth of Earth's, was "even perhaps easier than the simulations ... It's absolutely no trouble to walk around." Aldrin joined him on the surface and tested methods for moving around, including two-footed kangaroo hops. The PLSS backpack created a tendency to tip backward, but neither astronaut had serious problems maintaining balance. Loping became the preferred method of movement. The astronauts reported that they needed to plan their movements six or seven steps ahead. The fine soil was quite slippery. Aldrin remarked that moving from sunlight into Eagle's shadow produced no temperature change inside the suit, but the helmet was warmer in sunlight, so he felt cooler in shadow. The MESA failed to provide a stable work platform and was in shadow, slowing work somewhat. As they worked, the moonwalkers kicked up gray dust, which soiled the outer part of their suits.
The astronauts planted the Lunar Flag Assembly containing a flag of the United States on the lunar surface, in clear view of the TV camera. Aldrin remembered, "Of all the jobs I had to do on the Moon the one I wanted to go the smoothest was the flag raising." But the astronauts struggled with the telescoping rod and could only insert the pole about 2 inches (5 cm) into the hard lunar surface. Aldrin was afraid it might topple in front of TV viewers, but gave "a crisp West Point salute". Before Aldrin could take a photo of Armstrong with the flag, President Richard Nixon spoke to them through a telephone-radio transmission, which Nixon called "the most historic phone call ever made from the White House." Nixon originally had a long speech prepared to read during the phone call, but Frank Borman, who was at the White House as a NASA liaison during Apollo 11, convinced Nixon to keep his words brief.
Nixon: Hello, Neil and Buzz. I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House. And this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made from the White House. I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you have done. For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives. And for people all over the world, I am sure that they too join with Americans in recognizing what an immense feat this is. Because of what you have done, the heavens have become a part of man's world. And as you talk to us from the Sea of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one: one in their pride in what you have done, and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth.
Armstrong: Thank you, Mr. President. It's a great honor and privilege for us to be here, representing not only the United States, but men of peace of all nations, and with interest and a curiosity, and men with a vision for the future. It's an honor for us to be able to participate here today.
Nixon: Thank you very much, and I look forward, all of us look forward, to seeing you on the Hornet on Thursday.
They deployed the EASEP, which included a Passive Seismic Experiment Package used to measure moonquakes and a retroreflector array used for the lunar laser ranging experiment. Then Armstrong walked 196 feet (60 m) from the LM to take photographs at the rim of Little West Crater while Aldrin collected two core samples. He used the geologist's hammer to pound in the tubes—the only time the hammer was used on Apollo 11—but was unable to penetrate more than 6 inches (15 cm) deep. The astronauts then collected rock samples using scoops and tongs on extension handles. Many of the surface activities took longer than expected, so they had to stop documenting sample collection halfway through the allotted 34 minutes. Aldrin shoveled 6 kilograms (13 lb) of soil into the box of rocks to pack them in tightly. Two types of rocks were found in the geological samples: basalt and breccia. Three new minerals were discovered in the rock samples collected by the astronauts: armalcolite, tranquillityite, and pyroxferroite. Armalcolite was named after Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. All have subsequently been found on Earth.
While on the surface, Armstrong uncovered a plaque mounted on the LM ladder, bearing two drawings of Earth (of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres), an inscription, and signatures of the astronauts and President Nixon. The inscription read:
Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A. D. We came in peace for all mankind.
At the behest of the Nixon administration to add a reference to God, NASA included the vague date as a reason to include A.D., which stands for Anno Domini ("in the year of our Lord").
Mission Control used a coded phrase to warn Armstrong his metabolic rates were high, and that he should slow down. He was moving rapidly from task to task as time ran out. As metabolic rates remained generally lower than expected for both astronauts throughout the walk, Mission Control granted the astronauts a 15-minute extension. In a 2010 interview, Armstrong explained that NASA limited the first moonwalk's time and distance because there was no empirical proof of how much cooling water the astronauts' PLSS backpacks would consume to handle their body heat generation while working on the Moon.
=== Lunar ascent ===
Aldrin entered Eagle first. With some difficulty the astronauts lifted film and two sample boxes containing 21.55 kilograms (47.5 lb) of lunar surface material to the LM hatch using a flat cable pulley device called the Lunar Equipment Conveyor (LEC). This proved to be an inefficient tool, and later missions preferred to carry equipment and samples up to the LM by hand. Armstrong reminded Aldrin of a bag of memorial items in his sleeve pocket, and Aldrin tossed the bag down. Armstrong then jumped onto the ladder's third rung, and climbed into the LM. After transferring to LM life support, the explorers lightened the ascent stage for the return to lunar orbit by tossing out their PLSS backpacks, lunar overshoes, an empty Hasselblad camera, and other equipment. The hatch was closed again at 05:11:13. They then pressurized the LM and settled down to sleep.
Presidential speech writer William Safire had prepared an In Event of Moon Disaster announcement for Nixon to read in the event the Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the Moon. The remarks were in a memo from Safire to Nixon's White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, in which Safire suggested a protocol the administration might follow in reaction to such a disaster. According to the plan, Mission Control would "close down communications" with the LM, and a clergyman would "commend their souls to the deepest of the deep" in a public ritual likened to burial at sea. The last line of the prepared text contained an allusion to Rupert Brooke's World War I poem "The Soldier". The script for the speech does not make reference to Collins; as he remained onboard Columbia in orbit around the Moon, it was expected that he would be able to return the module to Earth in the event of a mission failure.
While moving inside the cabin, Aldrin accidentally damaged the circuit breaker that would arm the main engine for liftoff from the Moon. There was a concern this would prevent firing the engine, stranding them on the Moon. The nonconductive tip of a Duro felt-tip pen was sufficient to activate the switch.
After more than 21+1⁄2 hours on the lunar surface, in addition to the scientific instruments, the astronauts left behind: an Apollo 1 mission patch in memory of astronauts Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom, and Edward White, who died when their command module caught fire during a test in January 1967; two memorial medals of Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin, who died in 1967 and 1968 respectively; a memorial bag containing a gold replica of an olive branch as a traditional symbol of peace; and a silicon message disk carrying the goodwill statements by presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon along with messages from leaders of 73 countries around the world. The disk also carries a listing of the leadership of the US Congress, a listing of members of the four committees of the House and Senate responsible for the NASA legislation, and the names of NASA's past and then-current top management.
After about seven hours of rest, the crew was awakened by Houston to prepare for the return flight.
At that time, unknown to them, some hundred kilometers away from them the Soviet probe Luna 15 was about to descend and impact. Despite having been known to be orbiting the Moon at the same time, through a ground-breaking precautious goodwill exchange of data, the mission control of Luna 15 unexpectedly hastened its robotic sample-return mission, initiating descent, in an attempt to return before Apollo 11. Just two hours before Apollo 11's launch Luna 15 crashed at 15:50 UTC, with British astronomers monitoring Luna 15 and recording the situation one commented: "I say, this has really been drama of the highest order", bringing the Space Race to a culmination.
Roughly two hours later, at 17:54:00 UTC, the Apollo 11 crew on the surface safely lifted off in Eagle's ascent stage to rejoin Collins aboard Columbia in lunar orbit. Film taken from the LM ascent stage upon liftoff from the Moon reveals the American flag, planted some 25 feet (8 m) from the descent stage, whipping violently in the exhaust of the ascent stage engine. Aldrin looked up in time to witness the flag topple: "The ascent stage of the LM separated ... I was concentrating on the computers, and Neil was studying the attitude indicator, but I looked up long enough to see the flag fall over." Subsequent Apollo missions planted their flags farther from the LM.
=== Columbia in lunar orbit ===
During his day flying solo around the Moon, Collins never felt lonely. Although it has been said "not since Adam has any human known such solitude", Collins felt very much a part of the mission. In his autobiography he wrote: "this venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two". In the 48 minutes of each orbit when he was out of radio contact with the Earth while Columbia passed round the far side of the Moon, the feeling he reported was not fear or loneliness, but rather "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation".
One of Collins' first tasks was to identify the Lunar Module on the ground. To give Collins an idea where to look, Mission Control radioed that they believed the Lunar Module landed about 4 miles (6.4 km) off target. Each time he passed over the suspected lunar landing site, he tried in vain to find the module. On his first orbits on the back side of the Moon, Collins performed maintenance activities such as dumping excess water produced by the fuel cells and preparing the cabin for Armstrong and Aldrin to return.
Just before he reached the dark side on the third orbit, Mission Control informed Collins there was a problem with the temperature of the coolant. If it became too cold, parts of Columbia might freeze. Mission Control advised him to assume manual control and implement Environmental Control System Malfunction Procedure 17. Instead, Collins flicked the switch on the system from automatic to manual and back to automatic again, and carried on with normal housekeeping chores, while keeping an eye on the temperature. When Columbia came back around to the near side of the Moon again, he was able to report that the problem had been resolved. For the next couple of orbits, he described his time on the back side of the Moon as "relaxing". After Aldrin and Armstrong completed their EVA, Collins slept so he could be rested for the rendezvous. While the flight plan called for Eagle to meet up with Columbia, Collins was prepared for a contingency in which he would fly Columbia down to meet Eagle.
=== Return ===
Eagle rendezvoused with Columbia at 21:24 UTC on July 21, and the two docked at 21:35. Eagle's ascent stage was jettisoned into lunar orbit at 23:41. Just before the Apollo 12 flight, it was noted that Eagle was still likely to be orbiting the Moon. Later NASA reports mentioned that Eagle's orbit had decayed, resulting in it impacting in an "uncertain location" on the lunar surface. In 2021, however, some calculations show that the lander may still be in orbit.
On July 23, the last night before splashdown, the three astronauts made a television broadcast in which Collins commented: "All this is possible only through the blood, sweat, and tears of a number of people ... All you see is the three of us, but beneath the surface are thousands and thousands of others, and to all of those, I would like to say, 'Thank you very much'." Aldrin added: "This has been far more than three men on a mission to the Moon; more, still, than the efforts of a government and industry team; more, even, than the efforts of one nation. We feel that this stands as a symbol of the insatiable curiosity of all mankind to explore the unknown ..."
Armstrong concluded:
The responsibility for this flight lies first with history and with the giants of science who have preceded this effort; next with the American people, who have, through their will, indicated their desire; next with four administrations and their Congresses, for implementing that will; and then, with the agency and industry teams that built our spacecraft, the Saturn, the Columbia, the Eagle, and the little EMU, the spacesuit and backpack that was our small spacecraft out on the lunar surface. We would like to give special thanks to all those Americans who built the spacecraft; who did the construction, design, the tests, and put their hearts and all their abilities into those craft. To those people tonight, we give a special thank you, and to all the other people that are listening and watching tonight, God bless you. Good night from Apollo 11.
On the return to Earth, a bearing at the Guam tracking station failed, potentially preventing communication on the last segment of the Earth return. A regular repair was not possible in the available time but the station director, Charles Force, had his ten-year-old son Greg use his small hands to reach into the housing and pack it with grease. Greg was later thanked by Armstrong.
=== Splashdown and quarantine ===
The aircraft carrier USS Hornet, under the command of Captain Carl J. Seiberlich, was selected as the primary recovery ship (PRS) for Apollo 11 on June 5, replacing her sister ship, the LPH USS Princeton, which had recovered Apollo 10 on May 26. Hornet was then at her home port of Long Beach, California. On reaching Pearl Harbor on July 5, Hornet embarked the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King helicopters of HS-4, a unit which specialized in recovery of Apollo spacecraft, specialized divers of UDT Detachment Apollo, a 35-man NASA recovery team, and about 120 media representatives. To make room, most of Hornet's air wing was left behind in Long Beach. Special recovery equipment was also loaded, including a boilerplate command module used for training.
On July 12, with Apollo 11 still on the launch pad, Hornet departed Pearl Harbor for the recovery area in the central Pacific, in the vicinity of 10°36′N 172°24′E. A presidential party consisting of Nixon, Borman, Secretary of State William P. Rogers and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger flew to Johnston Atoll on Air Force One, then to the command ship USS Arlington in Marine One. After a night on board, they would fly to Hornet in Marine One for a few hours of ceremonies. On arrival aboard Hornet, the party was greeted by the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command (CINCPAC), Admiral John S. McCain Jr., and NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine, who flew to Hornet from Pago Pago in one of Hornet's carrier onboard delivery aircraft.
Weather satellites were not yet common, but US Air Force Captain Hank Brandli had access to top-secret spy satellite images. He realized that a storm front was headed for the Apollo recovery area. Poor visibility which could make locating the capsule difficult, and strong upper-level winds which "would have ripped their parachutes to shreds" according to Brandli, posed a serious threat to the safety of the mission. Brandli alerted Navy Captain Willard S. Houston Jr., the commander of the Fleet Weather Center at Pearl Harbor, who had the required security clearance. On their recommendation, Rear Admiral Donald C. Davis, commander of Manned Spaceflight Recovery Forces, Pacific, advised NASA to change the recovery area, each man risking his career. A new location was selected 215 nautical miles (398 km) northeast.
This altered the flight plan. A different sequence of computer programs was used, one never before attempted. In a conventional entry, trajectory event P64 was followed by P67. For a skip-out re-entry, P65 and P66 were employed to handle the exit and entry parts of the skip. In this case, because they were extending the re-entry but not actually skipping out, P66 was not invoked and instead, P65 led directly to P67. The crew were also warned they would not be in a full-lift (heads-down) attitude when they entered P67. The first program's acceleration subjected the astronauts to 6.5 standard gravities (64 m/s2); the second, to 6.0 standard gravities (59 m/s2).
Before dawn on July 24, Hornet launched four Sea King helicopters and three Grumman E-1 Tracers. Two of the E-1s were designated as "air boss" while the third acted as a communications relay aircraft. Two of the Sea Kings carried divers and recovery equipment. The third carried photographic equipment, and the fourth carried the decontamination swimmer and the flight surgeon. At 16:44 UTC (05:44 local time) Columbia's drogue parachutes were deployed. This was observed by the helicopters. Seven minutes later Columbia struck the water forcefully 2,660 km (1,440 nmi) east of Wake Island, 380 km (210 nmi) south of Johnston Atoll, and 24 km (13 nmi) from Hornet, at 13°19′N 169°9′W. 82 °F (28 °C) with 6 feet (1.8 m) seas and winds at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) from the east were reported under broken clouds at 1,500 feet (460 m) with visibility of 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) at the recovery site. Reconnaissance aircraft flying to the original splashdown location reported the conditions Brandli and Houston had predicted.
During splashdown, Columbia landed upside down but was righted within ten minutes by flotation bags activated by the astronauts. A diver from the Navy helicopter hovering above attached a sea anchor to prevent it from drifting. More divers attached flotation collars to stabilize the module and positioned rafts for astronaut extraction.
The divers then passed biological isolation garments (BIGs) to the astronauts, and assisted them into the life raft. The possibility of bringing back pathogens from the lunar surface was considered remote, but NASA took precautions at the recovery site. The astronauts were rubbed down with a sodium hypochlorite solution and Columbia wiped with povidone-iodine to remove any lunar dust that might be present. The astronauts were winched on board the recovery helicopter. BIGs were worn until they reached isolation facilities on board Hornet. The raft containing decontamination materials was intentionally sunk.
After touchdown on Hornet at 17:53 UTC, the helicopter was lowered by the elevator into the hangar bay, where the astronauts walked the 30 feet (9.1 m) to the mobile quarantine facility (MQF), where they would begin the Earth-based portion of their 21 days of quarantine. This practice would continue for two more Apollo missions, Apollo 12 and Apollo 14, before the Moon was proven to be barren of life, and the quarantine process dropped. Nixon welcomed the astronauts back to Earth. He told them: "[A]s a result of what you've done, the world has never been closer together before."
After Nixon departed, Hornet was brought alongside the 5-short-ton (4.5 t) Columbia, which was lifted aboard by the ship's crane, placed on a dolly and moved next to the MQF. It was then attached to the MQF with a flexible tunnel, allowing the lunar samples, film, data tapes and other items to be removed. Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor, where the MQF was loaded onto a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter and airlifted to the Manned Spacecraft Center. The astronauts arrived at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory at 10:00 UTC on July 28. Columbia was taken to Ford Island for deactivation, and its pyrotechnics made safe. It was then taken to Hickham Air Force Base, from whence it was flown to Houston in a Douglas C-133 Cargomaster, reaching the Lunar Receiving Laboratory on July 30.
In accordance with the Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law, a set of regulations promulgated by NASA on July 16 to codify its quarantine protocol, the astronauts continued in quarantine. After three weeks in confinement (first in the Apollo spacecraft, then in their trailer on Hornet, and finally in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory), the astronauts were given a clean bill of health. On August 10, 1969, the Interagency Committee on Back Contamination met in Atlanta and lifted the quarantine on the astronauts, on those who had joined them in quarantine (NASA physician William Carpentier and MQF project engineer John Hirasaki), and on Columbia itself. Loose equipment from the spacecraft remained in isolation until the lunar samples were released for study.
== Celebrations ==
Following their return to Earth, the Apollo 11 crew received widespread international acclaim. On August 13, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were honored with ticker-tape parades in New York City and Chicago, with an estimated six million people lining the streets. That evening, a state dinner was held in Los Angeles at the Century Plaza Hotel to commemorate the historic achievement. The event was attended by members of Congress, 44 state governors, Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger and his predecessor Earl Warren, as well as ambassadors from 83 nations. President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew awarded each astronaut the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
On September 16, the astronauts addressed a joint session of Congress, where they presented two American flags—one to the House of Representatives and one to the Senate—that had traveled to the lunar surface aboard Eagle.
One of the mission flags carried aboard the flight—the Flag of American Samoa—was later displayed at the Jean P. Haydon Museum in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, recognizing the territory's support role as a recovery staging area.
The celebrations continued with a 38-day world goodwill tour titled "Giant Leap", which began on September 29 and concluded on November 5, 1969. The astronauts visited 22 countries and met with numerous heads of state, prime ministers, royalty, and civic leaders. The tour, intended to thank the international community for their support of the space program, began in Mexico City and ended in Tokyo. Notable stops included Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Rome, Belgrade, Tehran, Mumbai, Bangkok, Sydney, Guam, and Honolulu. Crowds in the tens or hundreds of thousands gathered to greet the astronauts in each city.
Numerous countries and organizations honored the Moon landing by issuing special commemorative items. These included postage stamps, coins, medals, plaques, and magazine features. TIME, National Geographic, LIFE, and dozens of international publications featured the astronauts on their covers. Many of these commemoratives are now held in public and private collections, and some were placed aboard later Apollo missions in symbolic tribute.
Additionally, the success of Apollo 11 contributed to a brief spike in interest in science and technology education, often referred to as the “Apollo effect,” influencing a generation of engineers and scientists.
== Legacy ==
=== Cultural significance ===
Humans walking on the Moon and returning safely to Earth accomplished Kennedy's goal set eight years earlier. In Mission Control during the Apollo 11 landing, Kennedy's speech flashed on the screen, followed by the words "TASK ACCOMPLISHED, July 1969". The success of Apollo 11 demonstrated the United States' technological superiority; and with the success of Apollo 11, America had won the Space Race.
New phrases permeated into the English language. "If they can send a man to the Moon, why can't they ...?" became a common saying following Apollo 11. Armstrong's words on the lunar surface also spun off various parodies.
While most people celebrated the accomplishment, disenfranchised Americans saw it as a symbol of the divide in America, evidenced by protesters led by Ralph Abernathy outside of Kennedy Space Center the day before Apollo 11 launched. NASA Administrator Thomas Paine met with Abernathy at the occasion, both hoping that the space program can spur progress also in other regards, such as poverty in the US. Paine was then asked, and agreed, to host protesters as spectators at the launch, and Abernathy, awestruck by the spectacle, prayed for the astronauts. Jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron wrote a poem called "Whitey on the Moon" (1970) expressing his view that the mission was emblematic of racial inequality in the United States. The poem starts with:
Twenty percent of the world's population watched humans walk on the Moon for the first time. While Apollo 11 sparked the interest of the world, the follow-on Apollo missions did not hold the interest of the nation. One possible explanation was the shift in complexity. Landing someone on the Moon was an easy goal to understand; lunar geology was too abstract for the average person. Another is that Kennedy's goal of landing humans on the Moon had already been accomplished. A well-defined objective helped Project Apollo accomplish its goal, but after it was completed it was hard to justify continuing the lunar missions.
While most Americans were proud of their nation's achievements in space exploration, only once during the late 1960s did the Gallup Poll indicate that a majority of Americans favored "doing more" in space as opposed to "doing less". By 1973, 59 percent of those polled favored cutting spending on space exploration. The Space Race had been won, and Cold War tensions were easing as the US and Soviet Union entered the era of détente. This was also a time when inflation was rising, which put pressure on the government to reduce spending. The space program was saved due to the perception that it was one of the few government programs that had achieved something great. Drastic cuts, warned Caspar Weinberger, the deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, might send a signal that "our best years are behind us".
After the Apollo 11 mission, officials from the Soviet Union said landing humans on the Moon was dangerous and unnecessary. At the time the Soviet Union was attempting to retrieve lunar samples robotically. The Soviets publicly denied there was a race to the Moon, and indicated they were not making an attempt. Mstislav Keldysh said in July 1969, "We are concentrating wholly on the creation of large satellite systems." It was revealed in 1989 that the Soviets had tried to send people to the Moon, but were unable due to technological difficulties. The public's reaction in the Soviet Union was mixed. The Soviet government limited the release of information about the lunar landing, which affected the reaction. A portion of the populace did not give it any attention, and another portion was angered by it.
=== Spacecraft ===
The command module Columbia went on a tour of the United States, visiting 49 state capitals, the District of Columbia, and Anchorage, Alaska. In 1971, it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, and was displayed at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC. It was in the central Milestones of Flight exhibition hall in front of the Jefferson Drive entrance, sharing the main hall with other pioneering flight vehicles such as the Wright Flyer, Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1, North American X-15 and Friendship 7.
Columbia was moved in 2017 to the NASM Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to be readied for a four-city tour titled Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission. This included Space Center Houston from October 14, 2017, to March 18, 2018, the Saint Louis Science Center from April 14 to September 3, 2018, the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh from September 29, 2018, to February 18, 2019, and its last location at Museum of Flight in Seattle from March 16 to September 2, 2019. Continued renovations at the Smithsonian allowed time for an additional stop for the capsule, and it was moved to the Cincinnati Museum Center. The ribbon cutting ceremony was on September 29, 2019.
For 40 years Armstrong's and Aldrin's space suits were displayed in the museum's Apollo to the Moon exhibit, until it permanently closed on December 3, 2018, to be replaced by a new gallery which was scheduled to open in 2022. A special display of Armstrong's suit was unveiled for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 in July 2019. The quarantine trailer, the flotation collar and the flotation bags are in the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia, where they are on display along with a test lunar module.
The descent stage of the LM Eagle remains on the Moon. In 2009, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) imaged the various Apollo landing sites on the surface of the Moon, for the first time with sufficient resolution to see the descent stages of the lunar modules, scientific instruments, and foot trails made by the astronauts.
The remains of the ascent stage are assumed to lie at an unknown location on the lunar surface. The ascent stage, Eagle, was not tracked after it was jettisoned. The lunar gravity field is sufficiently non-uniform to make low Moon orbits unstable after a short time, leading the orbiting object to impact the surface. However, using a program developed by NASA, and high-resolution lunar gravity data, a paper was published, in 2021, indicating that Eagle might still be in orbit as late as 2020. Using the orbital elements published by NASA, a Monte Carlo method was used to generate parameter sets that bracket the uncertainties in these elements. All simulations, of the orbit, predicted that Eagle would never impact the lunar surface.
In March 2012 a team of specialists financed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos located the F-1 engines from the S-IC stage that launched Apollo 11 into space. They were found on the Atlantic seabed using advanced sonar scanning. His team brought parts of two of the five engines to the surface. In July 2013, a conservator discovered a serial number under the rust on one of the engines raised from the Atlantic, which NASA confirmed was from Apollo 11. The S-IVB third stage which performed Apollo 11's trans-lunar injection remains in a solar orbit near to that of Earth.
=== Moon rocks ===
The main repository for the Apollo Moon rocks is the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. For safekeeping, there is also a smaller collection stored at White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Most of the rocks are stored in nitrogen to keep them free of moisture. They are handled only indirectly, using special tools. Over 100 research laboratories worldwide conduct studies of the samples; approximately 500 samples are prepared and sent to investigators every year.
In November 1969, Nixon asked NASA to make up about 250 presentation Apollo 11 lunar sample displays for 135 nations, the fifty states of the United States and its possessions, and the United Nations. Each display included Moon dust from Apollo 11 and flags, including one of the Soviet Union, taken along by Apollo 11. The rice-sized particles were four small pieces of Moon soil weighing about 50 mg and were enveloped in a clear acrylic button about as big as a United States half-dollar coin. This acrylic button magnified the grains of lunar dust. Nixon gave the Apollo 11 lunar sample displays as goodwill gifts in 1970.
=== Experiment results ===
The Passive Seismic Experiment ran until the command uplink failed on August 25, 1969. The downlink failed on December 14, 1969. As of 2018, the Lunar Laser Ranging experiment remains operational.
=== Moonwalk camera ===
The Hasselblad camera used during the moonwalk was thought to be lost or left on the Moon's surface.
=== Lunar Module Eagle memorabilia ===
In 2015, after Armstrong died in 2012, his widow contacted the National Air and Space Museum to inform them she had found a white cloth bag in one of Armstrong's closets. The bag contained various items, which should have been left behind in the Lunar Module Eagle, including the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera that had been used to capture images of the first Moon landing. The camera is currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
=== Anniversary events ===
==== 40th anniversary ====
On July 15, 2009, Life.com released a photo gallery of previously unpublished photos of the astronauts taken by Life photographer Ralph Morse prior to the Apollo 11 launch. From July 16 to 24, 2009, NASA streamed the original mission audio on its website in real time 40 years to the minute after the events occurred. It is in the process of restoring the video footage and has released a preview of key moments. In July 2010, air-to-ground voice recordings and film footage shot in Mission Control during the Apollo 11 powered descent and landing was re-synchronized and released for the first time. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum set up an Adobe Flash website that rebroadcasts the transmissions of Apollo 11 from launch to landing on the Moon.
On July 20, 2009, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins met with President Barack Obama at the White House. "We expect that there is, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrong, Collins, and Aldrin", Obama said. "We want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey." On August 7, 2009, an act of Congress awarded the three astronauts a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award in the United States. The bill was sponsored by Florida Senator Bill Nelson and Florida Representative Alan Grayson.
A group of British scientists interviewed as part of the anniversary events reflected on the significance of the Moon landing:
It was carried out in a technically brilliant way with risks taken ... that would be inconceivable in the risk-averse world of today ... The Apollo programme is arguably the greatest technical achievement of mankind to date ... nothing since Apollo has come close [to] the excitement that was generated by those astronauts—Armstrong, Aldrin and the 10 others who followed them.
==== 50th anniversary ====
On June 10, 2015, Congressman Bill Posey introduced resolution H.R. 2726 to the 114th session of the United States House of Representatives directing the United States Mint to design and sell commemorative coins in gold, silver and clad for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. On January 24, 2019, the Mint released the Apollo 11 Fiftieth Anniversary commemorative coins to the public on its website.
A documentary film, Apollo 11, with restored footage of the 1969 event, premiered in IMAX on March 1, 2019, and broadly in theaters on March 8.
The Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum and NASA sponsored the "Apollo 50 Festival" on the National Mall in Washington DC. The three-day (July 18 to 20, 2019) outdoor festival featured hands-on exhibits and activities, live performances, and speakers such as Adam Savage and NASA scientists.
As part of the festival, a projection of the 363-foot (111 m) tall Saturn V rocket was displayed on the east face of the 555-foot (169 m) tall Washington Monument from July 16 through the 20th from 9:30 pm until 11:30 pm (EDT). The program also included a 17-minute show that combined full-motion video projected on the Washington Monument to recreate the assembly and launch of the Saturn V rocket. The projection was joined by a 40-foot (12 m) wide recreation of the Kennedy Space Center countdown clock and two large video screens showing archival footage to recreate the time leading up to the moon landing. There were three shows per night on July 19–20, with the last show on Saturday, delayed slightly so the portion where Armstrong first set foot on the Moon would happen exactly 50 years to the second after the actual event.
On July 19, 2019, the Google Doodle paid tribute to the Apollo 11 Moon landing, complete with a link to an animated YouTube video with voiceover by astronaut Michael Collins.
Aldrin, Collins, and Armstrong's sons were hosted by President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
== Films and documentaries ==
Footprints on the Moon, a 1969 documentary film by Bill Gibson and Barry Coe
Moonwalk One, a 1971 documentary film by Theo Kamecke
Apollo 11: As It Happened, a 1994 six-hour documentary on ABC News' coverage of the event
First Man, 2018 film by Damien Chazelle based on the 2005 James R. Hansen book First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.
Apollo 11, a 2019 documentary film by Todd Douglas Miller with restored footage of the 1969 event
Chasing the Moon, a July 2019 PBS three-night six-hour documentary, directed by Robert Stone, examined the events leading up to the mission. An accompanying book of the same name was also released.
8 Days: To the Moon and Back, a PBS and BBC Studios 2019 documentary film by Anthony Philipson re-enacting major portions of the mission using mission audio recordings, new studio footage, NASA and news archives, and computer-generated imagery. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) | GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game) | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age | Queens of the Stone Age | Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. Homme has been the only constant member throughout multiple line-up changes; since 2013, the line-up has consisted of Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion).
Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band Kyuss, the band originated from the spread of the Palm Desert music scene. Its self-titled debut album (1998) was recorded with Homme singing and playing all instruments except drums, which were provided by former Kyuss member Alfredo Hernández. Bassist Nick Oliveri joined the band for its accompanying tour and soon became co-lead vocalist, as well as Dave Catching on keyboards, guitar and lap steel alongside Homme. The band's second studio album, Rated R (2000), featured Mark Lanegan as a guest vocalist and was the band's major label debut with Interscope Records. It was critically and commercially successful, and featured the breakout single "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret". The band's third studio album, Songs for the Deaf (2002), featured Dave Grohl on drums alongside contributions from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider.
After Oliveri's and Lanegan's respective departures in 2004 and 2005, Homme once again became the band's sole lead vocalist; Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo collaborated with him on Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) and Era Vulgaris (2007). After several years of inactivity, the band signed to independent label Matador Records in 2013 and released a loose trilogy of albums over the next decade: ...Like Clockwork (2013), Villains (2017), and In Times New Roman... (2023). The trilogy brought further acclaim and commercial success, with ...Like Clockwork becoming the band's first album to top the Billboard 200 chart.
The band has been nominated for 9 Grammy Awards: four for Best Hard Rock Performance, three for Best Rock Album, and one each for Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. The band also has a large pool of contributors and collaborators and is known for incorporating elements of blues, electronica, and krautrock into its riff-oriented and rhythmic hard rock, coupled with Homme's distinct falsetto vocals and unorthodox guitar scales.
== History ==
=== Formation and debut album (1996–1999) ===
After the breakup of his previous band Kyuss in 1995, Josh Homme moved to Seattle, where he briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist. He later formed a new band called Gamma Ray, which released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP (1996), featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as "If Only"). The EP featured Van Conner of Screaming Trees, and drummer Victor Indrizzo.
Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided."
The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on Roadrunner Records' compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners. It featured guitarist Dave Catching as well as the bassist Milo Beenhakker and drummer Eva Nahon of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver, owing to connections Homme made while living in Amsterdam for a few months following Kyuss' breakup. The band's first live appearance was at Seattle's OK Hotel on November 20, 1997, with Matt Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass, John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. They later returned to OK Hotel 3 months after the first show with a lineup that featured Van Conner of Screaming Trees, and Jason Albertini of Duster.
Homme returned to Palm Desert, California, where he released Queens of the Stone Age's self-titled debut album in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernández on drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments.
Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Catching, a former Kyuss guitar tech, joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernández had left the group to play in other bands.
=== Rated R (2000–2001) ===
Released in 2000, Rated R featured myriad musicians familiar with Homme and Oliveri's work and "crew" of sorts: former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan, drummers Nick Lucero and Gene Trautmann, guitarists Dave Catching, Brendon McNichol, and Chris Goss contributed, and even Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, recording next door, stepped in for a guest spot on "Feel Good Hit of the Summer."
The album garnered positive reviews and received a lot more attention than their debut, despite the fact that the lyrics to "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" were deemed by mega-retailer Walmart to promote drug use, almost causing the record to get pulled from store shelves. The success of the record also earned the band notable opening slots with The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Hole, and a place at Ozzfest 2000. It was during this time that Homme stated:
There's a robotic element to our albums, like the repetition of riffs. We also wanted to do a record that had a lot of dynamic range. We wanted to set it up in this band so we could play anything. We don't want to get roped in by our own music. If anyone has a good song (regardless of style) we should be able to play it.
During the 2001 Rock in Rio show, bassist Nick Oliveri was arrested after performing on stage naked, with only his bass guitar covering his genitals. Oliveri apologized to officials, saying that he did not know it was a crime in Brazil.
Following his work on Rated R, Lanegan joined the band as a full-time member, a position he held until early 2005. Towards the end of the Rated R tour, the band's performance at the 2001 Rock am Ring festival in Germany was, according to Homme, "the worst show we've ever played and it was in front of 40,000 people." The band decided to tattoo themselves with the starting time of the performance, "Freitag 4:15." As Oliveri explained:
Me, Mark [Lanegan], Josh [Homme] and Hutch, our soundman, have the same tattoo, it's from Rock am Ring festival. The time we had to play was 4:15 in the afternoon and it was just a terrible show. It sucked, it was horrible. That's why I tattooed it on my ribs, where it would hurt, so I'd never forget.
=== Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001–2004) ===
Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, joined in late 2001 to record drums for the band's third album, Songs for the Deaf. It was released in August 2002 and again featured Lanegan. The final track on the album, "Mosquito Song", featured former A Perfect Circle member Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano along with Dean Ween on guitar. Another former A Perfect Circle member, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, joined the touring line-up following the album's release.
This record was supposed to sound bizarre—like lightning in a bottle. We also were extremely fucked up. It even sounds that way to me, like a crazy person. The radio interludes are supposed to be like the drive from L.A. to Joshua Tree, a drive that makes you feel like you're letting go—more David Lynch with every mile.
Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). Furthermore, the latter track was featured in the popular video game Fortnite as a song in Fortnite Festival. The song "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire" was featured in the video games, Tony Hawk's Underground and IndyCar Series. It was also used as the theme song in Naughty Dog's "Jak X: Combat Racing" in 2005 along with "Song for the Dead". The song was also used in the films xXx, Project X and Skincare.
The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork.
=== Lullabies to Paralyze (2004–2006) ===
In late 2004, Homme, along with Eleven multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes and remaining band members Van Leeuwen and Castillo recorded the Queens' fourth studio album, Lullabies to Paralyze, a title taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from their previous album. The album featured guests including ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. Despite Lanegan reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, he recorded vocals on new tracks (notably the solo vocalist on the opening track "This Lullaby") and appeared on the supporting tour as scheduling and his health permitted.
Lullabies to Paralyze was leaked onto the internet in February 2005 and was aired by Triple J radio in Australia on March 3, 2005, as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. It was then officially released on Tuesday, March 22, 2005, in the US, debuting in the number 5 slot on the Billboard Music Chart, the greatest debut of any Queens record until ...Like Clockwork debuted at number 1 in June 2013.
On May 14, 2005, the group was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, hosted by Will Ferrell. One of Ferrell's popular Saturday Night Live characters, fictional Blue Öyster Cult cowbellist Gene Frenkle, made a re-appearance on the show, playing with the Queens on their first song of the night, "Little Sister." Frenkle played the song's wood block part using a cowbell along with the band.
On November 22, 2005, Queens of the Stone Age released a live album/DVD set, Over the Years and Through the Woods, featuring a live concert filmed in London, England, and bonus features that included rare videos of songs from 1998 to 2005. In 2005, the group supported Nine Inch Nails on their North American tour of With Teeth along with Autolux (for the first half of the tour) and Death from Above 1979 (for the second). NIN's guitarist Aaron North appeared as an onstage guest with the Queens for the songs "Born to Hula," "Regular John," "Avon," "Monsters in the Parasol" and "Long, Slow Goodbye" at the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on December 19 and 20, 2005.
Another onstage guest for the December 20 performance was Homme's former Kyuss bandmate John Garcia, the first time that Homme and Garcia had played together since 1997. As a special encore they performed three Kyuss songs: "Thumb," "Hurricane" and "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Homme stated that the band's lowest point was during the Lullabies era, but that the record "took the lead jacket off" the band following the firing of Oliveri in 2004.
=== Era Vulgaris and death of Shneider (2007–2008) ===
On Valentine's Day 2007, the band's official website announced the new album would be titled Era Vulgaris, and would be released in June. Later in February, teaser videos surfaced showing Homme, Castillo, Van Leeuwen and Johannes in studio. Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Death from Above 1979 bassist Jesse F. Keeler had been expected to play bass on the studio recording of the album, but not to tour; however, due to schedule conflicts, he stated he would not be appearing on the album.
Era Vulgaris was completed in early April 2007 and released June 12, 2007, in the US. The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Homme has described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker." When asked about the vocals on the record, specifically the different style of singing that Homme used, he replied:
I wanted to try some shit that was downright embarrassing at first. This record is a grower, not about what isn't there, but what is.
Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires on Fire, Jubilee, and Mini Mansions) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Dead Weather) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider, respectively. In July 2007, Van Leeuwen stated the band had written new material "still in its infancy", which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. Following a subsequent interview with Homme, The Globe and Mail reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the Era Vulgaris sessions." It was later reported that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at that time.
The band began a North American Tour in 2007, which they named the "Duluth Tour" because they were going to many small towns and cities they had never played before, such as Duluth, Minnesota. The tour was extended to other areas, such as the United Kingdom, where the band played more shows than on any of their previous UK tours. The band toured in Australia in late March to early April 2008, on the V festival tour, including a string of side shows. Throughout the beginning of May 2008, the band completed the Canadian leg of its touring.
In November 2007, Queens of the Stone Age performed a semi-acoustic set in an underground salt mine in Germany, performing a selection of hits, rarities, covers and an unreleased song named "Cathedral City." A DVD of the concert was planned but aside from a trailer promoting the DVD and a number of photographs, no footage of the concert has been released.
On July 2, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age's former keyboardist Natasha Shneider died of lung cancer at the age of 52. The news broke with a message posted on the MySpace page of the band Sweethead, of which Natasha's close friend and former bandmate Troy Van Leeuwen is a member. The band's homepage was updated with a memorial message by Homme replacing the normal front page. The band performed a concert in celebration of Natasha Shneider's life at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on August 16, 2008. They were joined on stage by Shneider's husband Alain Johannes, Tenacious D, Matt Cameron, Brody Dalle, Jesse Hughes, Chris Goss, and PJ Harvey, playing a variety of QOTSA and non-QOTSA songs, including covers of songs from bands such as Cream and The Doors. Tenacious D and Harvey also performed acoustic sets at the show. Proceeds from the concert went to defray the costs associated with Shneider's treatment.
On August 22 and 23, 2008, Queens of the Stone Age performed the last shows of their Era Vulgaris tour at the Reading and Leeds Festivals in the UK, and Josh Homme announced in an interview with the BBC and during the show that he would be returning to the studio to work on the next album.
=== Homme's health issues, debut re-release and promotional tour (2009–2011) ===
During 2009 and 2010, band members worked on side projects during the down time. Troy Van Leeuwen started up a new band, Sweethead. Joey Castillo played for Eagles of Death Metal on their Heart On tour. Bassist Michael Shuman continued his work as drummer and vocalist with Mini Mansions, while Dean Fertita became the guitarist/keyboardist for Jack White's newest group, The Dead Weather. Josh Homme formed supergroup Them Crooked Vultures with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. After Them Crooked Vultures finished touring in June, the band toured and released a two-CD deluxe edition of Rated R on August 3, 2010. This edition featured the original CD along with six B-sides and live recordings from the band's Reading performance in 2000.
In 2010, Homme suffered from complications during a botched knee surgery, during which his heart stopped for a short time due to asphyxiation; doctors had to use a defibrillator to revive him. Following this, he was bedridden for four months and plunged into a deep depression, during which he considered giving up his music career altogether. He elaborated on this experience further in an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, explaining that he had contracted a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection that his immune system could not fight due to stress. Homme has since said that the experience contributed greatly to the writing and recording of ...Like Clockwork.
After Homme recovered, Queens of the Stone Age released a remastered version of their self-titled debut album in early 2011, and performed the album in its entirety in a promotional tour. The band performed on Conan on April 14, and later played at the Australian music festival Soundwave. Throughout the summer of 2011, the band appeared at various European festivals, including the Glastonbury Festival, in Somerset, UK. They also played at Pearl Jam's 20th Anniversary Festival at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin on September 3 and 4, 2011, which would be their last with drummer Joey Castillo.
=== Matador Records trilogy (2011–2024) ===
==== ...Like Clockwork (2011–2014) ====
Plans to record a follow-up to Era Vulgaris had been mentioned since 2008, but recording would not begin until August 2012. In March 2011, Homme stated, "Doing the rehearsals for the first record is really defining the new one. It's been turning the new record into something else. What we were doing was bluesy, and now it's turned into this trancey, broken thing. The robots are coming home!" According to Homme, the album would be finished by the end of 2012. He explained to BBC Radio 1, "We're going to take our one last break that we would get for a month, come back and do Glastonbury, then immediately jump in the studio. Our record will be done by the end of the year. We have enough songs."
In November 2011, Alain Johannes stated in regard to his studio work with the band: "We had a late night with Queens of the Stone Age again. [...] Just putting in days, super top secret, but it's going to be amazing. I'm really excited about it. [...] Once we start the process, it goes to completion. So I can't say exactly when, but it's a really good start."
On August 20, 2012, the band stated via a Facebook status update that they were "recording" their new album.
In September 2012, it was revealed that Homme and producer Dave Sardy co-wrote and recorded a song entitled "Nobody To Love," which is featured during the end credits of the film End of Watch.
In November 2012, Homme informed BBC's Zane Lowe that Joey Castillo had left the band and that drums on the new album would be performed by Dave Grohl, who also performed on Songs for the Deaf. Homme also confirmed with Lowe that the album would be released prior to their performance at the Download Festival in June 2013. In addition to Grohl, other former members contributing to the album include former bassists Nick Oliveri and Johannes, and vocalist Mark Lanegan.
A number of collaborations from different musicians were announced for ...Like Clockwork, including Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears, Brody Dalle, and Elton John.
In early 2013, Homme and fellow Queens contributors including Alain Johannes and Chris Goss recorded for the soundtrack of Dave Grohl's Sound City: Real to Reel. Goss, Johannes and Homme were on three tracks each. Homme's notably included a collaboration with Grohl and Trent Reznor called Mantra, and he was also featured in the film in an interview segment. Goss and Johannes were both featured members in the Sound City Players, playing Masters of Reality, Eleven, and Desert Sessions songs, as well as their penned tunes from the soundtrack. Former Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder also contributed to the soundtrack.
In March 2013, Queens of the Stone Age announced that the new album, entitled ...Like Clockwork, would be released in June 2013 on Matador Records. A press release, issued by Matador at 9:00am EST on March 26, 2013, revealed further details of the album, including further guest appearances: Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and UNKLE's James Lavelle. In addition to Grohl's contribution, the record also features performances by former drummer Castillo, as well as tracks by new drummer Jon Theodore (ex-The Mars Volta, One Day as a Lion). Queens of the Stone Age premiered a new song, "My God Is The Sun", at Lollapalooza Brasil on March 30, 2013, a performance in which Theodore made his live debut. The studio version of the song premiered on Lowe's BBC Radio 1 program on April 8, 2013.
...Like Clockwork was released on June 3, 2013, on Matador Records in the UK and on June 4 in the United States. Self-produced by the band, it is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to feature full contributions from bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist and guitarist Dean Fertita. The album debuted in the number one position in the US and is the first QOTSA album to achieve this ranking.
Following a performance by QOTSA at the Jay Z-owned Made In America Festival in the summer of 2013, Homme made comments about the rap star during a radio interview with CBC Radio 2's Strombo Show. Homme explained that his band was frisked by the event's security team prior to the performance and referred to Jay Z's personal interaction with the band as a marketing stunt. Homme stated:
He has his security frisking the bands on the way in. I just told them if you open up my bag I'm not playing so I guess it's up to you whether we are playing or not ... The idea they frisked all my guys, means you're in some different place, no-one has ever done that [to me] ... He also gave us some champagne and wanted us to take a photo with it. And I thought, "That's not a gift, that is a marketing tool." So I destroyed it. Because I thought it was rude overall. And you shouldn't frisk my guys, you should fuck off.
The ...Like Clockwork tour culminated with a Halloween party at The Forum in Los Angeles, featuring guests such as The Kills, JD McPherson and Nick Oliveri's band Uncontrollable. Oliveri joined Queens of the Stone Age during the encore set, including songs such as "Auto Pilot" and "Quick and to the Pointless", which had not been performed in a decade.
==== Villains (2014–2018) ====
The band performed with Trent Reznor, Lindsey Buckingham and Dave Grohl at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The band went on a joint headline tour of Australia with Nine Inch Nails in 2014.
In January 2014, Homme told Rolling Stone magazine the band would start recording a new album when they finished their tour for ...Like Clockwork. In June 2014, Homme performed a solo acoustic show at James Lavelle's Meltdown festival, featuring guest performances from Troy Van Leeuwen and Mark Lanegan. During this gig, Homme played a new song called "Villains of Circumstance," which was performed again at another acoustic set in 2016. The band indicated in February 2015, when it was announced they are to play Rock in Rio 2015 in Rio de Janeiro in September, that they were about to record a new album. Despite this, in March 2016, Michael Shuman revealed that the band were on a break.
During this period, the members of the band worked on various other projects. Josh Homme and Dean Fertita contributed to Iggy Pop's 2016 album Post Pop Depression and subsequent tour, while Troy van Leeuwen joined the rock supergroup Gone Is Gone with plans to release an EP and a studio album. In May 2016, Van Leeuwen announced plans to record Queens of the Stone Age's seventh studio album "sometime this year."
In January 2017, Troy Sanders from Mastodon and Gone Is Gone said Queens of the Stone Age will release a new album later in the year. Following this, the band posted several photos on social media featuring their studio and announced that they would be performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in July, their first performance in Japan since 2003. The band updated their social media accounts with a new logo and the words "Coming Twentyfive" on April 6, 2017, and announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand to begin in July.
On June 14, 2017, Queens of the Stone Age announced their new album Villains, released on August 25, 2017. The teaser trailer took the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch along with an appearance of the album's producer Mark Ronson, and featured a snippet of the song "Feet Don't Fail Me." The first single, "The Way You Used to Do," was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. The second advance single from the album, "The Evil Has Landed," was released August 10, 2017.
On October 24, 2017, as part of the Villains tour, the band headlined Madison Square Garden for the first time, having opened for Nine Inch Nails there in 2005, and for Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2003. Homme said he was "stoked". Three sets of free tickets to this show were hidden at three stations along the Q line of the New York City Subway.
On December 9, 2017, while on stage during the KROQ Acoustic Christmas concert in Inglewood, California, Homme kicked a photographer's camera into her face, resulting in injuries for which she later received medical treatment. Homme, who was under the influence of alcohol at the time, later apologized through a video on the band's Instagram page, saying, "I hope you're okay, and I'm truly sorry. And I understand you have to do whatever you have to do. I just want you to know that I'm sorry. Goodnight, godspeed."
==== In Times New Roman... (2019–2024) ====
In an interview with eonmusic in June 2019, Billy Gibbons announced that he had contributed to a new Queens of the Stone Age album that was set to be further announced by Homme. Gibbons also confirmed that Dave Grohl was involved in the recording sessions. Grohl denied the rumors, however, saying that he and Homme had only spent time together "riding motorcycles and eating waffles."
In early May 2023, rumors began to surface of the album when a product listing appeared on the band's website titled In Times New Roman..., including an album cover and tracklist. The listing was initially removed. On May 11, the album's first single "Emotion Sickness" was released, along with an official announcement of the album. On May 31, the album's second single "Carnavoyeur" was released. On June 14, the third and final single "Paper Machete" was released, immediately followed by the release of the album on June 16. Neither Gibbons nor Grohl ended up appearing on the album; however, it did feature guest vocals from Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and strings from The Section Quartet.
In early June, Queens of the Stone Age announced an extensive North American tour called "The End Is Nero Tour", immediately followed by a full European leg with dates until late November 2023. This was followed a 2024 tour that included Australia, New Zealand and North America, and Europe. On July 9, the band cancelled several European shows that month so Homme could have emergency surgery, and they cancelled more later that month. Jack White filled in their slot for some festivals. On August 23, the remainder of the band's 2024 shows were cancelled or postponed to 2025 due to Homme needing "essential medical care for the remainder of the year".
=== Alive in the Catacombs (2024–present) ===
On May 13, 2025, the band announced a concert film entitled Alive in the Catacombs for digital release on June 5. The live performance was recorded in July 2024 in the Paris Catacombs, and features a three-piece string section joining the band performing stripped-down acoustic renditions of their songs. This performance marks them as the first band to gain the city's permission to play within the catacombs. The band also announced a brief tour of historic North American theaters for The Catacombs Tour featuring new arrangements of songs in the style of the live album.
After the release of In Times New Roman..., Homme was interviewed, saying he thought there was "too much time in between [Villains] and this one" and that he was going to "roll up [his] sleeves and jump right into this." At the end of Alive in the Catacombs, Homme can be heard singing an unreleased song, listed as "Insignificant Other" in the credits. At the debut performance of the Catacombs Tour, they performed a new unreleased song "Easy Street".
The band is scheduled to extend the Catacombs Tour with Libby Grace as support in the spring of 2026. In the summer they will tour with System of a Down and Acid Bath in Europe, and with Foo Fighters and Mannequin Pussy in North America.
== Musical style ==
Throughout its career, the band has been described as alternative rock, stoner rock, alternative metal, and hard rock. Homme has called the band's self-titled debut album driving music, angular and recorded dry; its songs feature solid, repetitive riffs. Rolling Stone magazine also noted a "connection between American meat-and-potatoes macho rock of the early 1970s, like Blue Cheer and Grand Funk Railroad, and the precision-timing drones in German rock of the same period." The band's next album, Rated R, has a wider variety of instruments, several recording guests, and lead vocals shared by Homme, Oliveri and Lanegan. Homme has said, "Our first record announced our sound. This one added that we're different and weird." The band continued to experiment on its third album, Songs for the Deaf, which also featured a lineup of three lead vocalists, many guest appearances, and wide range of instrumentation, including horn and string sections. Homme has called Lullabies to Paralyze a "dark" album, which includes imagery inspired by The Brothers Grimm folk and fairy tales. In 2005, Homme said, "Where the poetry seems to be is when you start in the dark and reach for the light—that's what makes it not depressing to me". The album changed gears from the band's previous distinct "driving" sound, in large part due to Oliveri's departure. The band almost exclusively used semi-hollow body guitars on the record. With Era Vulgaris the band continued to develop its signature sound with more dance-oriented elements and electronic influences, while Homme became the only lead vocalist and used more distinct vocal melodies.
Homme has on numerous occasions described the band's music as "rock versions of electronic music", saying he takes inspiration from the repetitive nature of electronic trance music along with various forms of dance music, hip hop, trip hop and Krautrock. He called this heavy rock style mixed with the structure of electronic music "robot rock" in an interview with KUNO-TV at the 2001 Roskilde Festival.
Homme has described aspects of his distinctive guitar playing style. He demonstrated the "Josh Homme scale", which he said was the result of years playing and altering the blues scale. The scale has the intervals 1, ♭3, 3, ♭5, 5, 6, ♭7. His scale is the half whole scale with the second degree (♭2) omitted. In the same interview, Homme referenced some earlier influences on his playing, citing both polka guitar styles and the techniques of Jimi Hendrix.
== Members ==
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
Rated R (2000)
Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
Era Vulgaris (2007)
...Like Clockwork (2013)
Villains (2017)
In Times New Roman... (2023)
== Tours ==
Queens of the Stone Age Tour (1998–1999)
Rated R Tour (2000–2001)
Songs for the Deaf Tour (2002–2004)
Lullabies to Paralyze Tour (2005–2006)
Era Vulgaris Tour (2007–2008)
Queens of the Stone Age Re-Release Tour (2011)
...Like Clockwork Tour (2013–14)
Villains World Tour (2017–2018)
The End Is Nero Tour (2023–2025)
The Catacombs Tour (2025)
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Tower | Willis Tower | The Willis Tower, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-story, 1,451-foot (442.3 m) skyscraper in the Loop of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), it opened in 1973 as the world's tallest building, a title that it held for nearly 25 years. It is the third-tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, as well as the 26th-tallest in the world. Each year, more than 1.7 million people visit the Skydeck, the highest observation deck in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. Due to its height and location, the tower is visible from a great distance. The building has appeared in numerous films and television shows set in Chicago.
The building occupies a site bound by Franklin Street, Jackson Boulevard, Wacker Drive, and Adams Street. Graham and Khan designed the building as nine square "tubes", clustered in a 3×3 matrix; seven of the tubes set back at upper floors. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building's owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110. The facade is made of anodized aluminum and black glass. The base of the building contains a retail complex known as the Catalog. The lower half of the tower was originally occupied by retail company Sears, which had its headquarters there until 1994, while the upper stories were rented out.
The structure was known as the Sears Tower from its construction until the naming rights were included in a 2009 lease with the Willis Group. Local area residents still refer to the building by its old name.
As of April 2019, the building's largest tenant is United Airlines, occupying 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2) of space across 16 floors. Other major tenants include ArentFox Schiff, Seyfarth Shaw, Morgan Stanley, and the building's namesake, Willis Towers Watson.
== History ==
=== Planning ===
==== Site selection ====
Sears, Roebuck & Co. had occupied an office complex on Chicago's west side since 1906. The existing offices were inadequate by 1966, prompting Sears executives to begin searching for a new site. By 1969, Sears was the largest retailer in the world, with about 350,000 employees. Sears executives quickly determined that a new headquarters complex in the suburbs was infeasible, since it would require relocating about 7,000 employees. Instead, Sears executives decided to consolidate the thousands of employees in offices distributed throughout the Chicago area into one building on the western edge of Chicago's Loop.
Sears asked its outside counsel, Arnstein, Gluck, Weitzenfeld & Minow (now known as Saul Ewing LLP) to suggest a location. The firm consulted with local and federal authorities and the applicable law, then offered Sears two options. The first option was the Goose Island area northwest of the Loop, but Sears's vice president of real estate, Matthew J. Stacom, rejected this proposal. The other was a two-block area in the Loop, bounded by Franklin Street on the east, Jackson Boulevard on the south, Wacker Drive on the west, and Adams Street on the north. Though the site was more centrally located, it was also relatively small, with about 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2). Bernard Feinberg, Albert I. Rubenstein, and Philip Teinowitz had assembled that site over the previous five years, but they had failed to acquire a neighboring 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) lot from bus company Greyhound Lines.
Feinberg, Rubenstein, and Teinowitz then bought options for three adjacent lots. Under the terms of each option, unless the three men were able to acquire at least one of the lots within 90 days, all three options would be forfeited. Ultimately, Sears acquired the Loop site in 1970. Sears then obtained permits to close down one block of Quincy Street, which bisected the site from east to west. Attorneys from the Arnstein firm, headed by Andrew Adsit, began buying the properties parcel by parcel. Sears purchased 15 buildings from 100 owners and paid the government of Chicago $2.7 million (equivalent to $22.4 million in 2025) for the block of Quincy Street that was to be closed down.
==== Design process ====
Sears executives estimated that their new building would need about 4.2 million square feet (390,000 m2), split into 70 stories with 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) each or 60 stories with 70,000 square feet (6,500 m2) each. Sears commissioned architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) to design the tower. SOM was also the lead structural engineer, and Jaros, Baum & Bolles provided MEP engineering.
Sears planned to move its merchandise group into the building initially, renting out the remaining space to other tenants until needed. Sears executives were accustomed to large floor areas of at least 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2), but SOM architects raised concerns that the large floors would be unattractive to smaller tenants. A subsequent proposal called for two buildings connected by a footbridge, which would respectively contain 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) and 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) on each floor, but this was also infeasible.
Some floors were designed with smaller footprints to attract prospective lessees, so the building's height was increased to meet Sears's floor-area requirements. Architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, both of whom were partners with SOM, proposed a tower with 55,000-square-foot (5,100 m2) floors in the lower part of the building, as well as a series of setbacks with gradually tapering floor plates, giving the tower its distinctive look. During the design process, one of the architects reportedly pulled out nine cigars and staggered them vertically until the pair both agreed to the arrangement. This allowed Sears to occupy the large lower stories, while providing more conventional office space that could be rented out on the upper stories. The firm of Saphier, Lerner, Schindler was responsible for determining Sears's space requirements and designing furniture for the company. It conducted a year-long study to determine how 16 of the company's departments should be laid out within the building.
As Sears continued to offer optimistic growth projections, the height of the proposed tower also increased. Under Chicago's relatively lax zoning laws, the site could theoretically accommodate a 300-story building with 13.5 million square feet (1,250,000 m2). In practice, most potential tenants did not want excessively high offices. Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted the height of structures in the area to protect air traffic. FAA officials publicly denied that they had imposed a height limit; however, the area's minimum safe altitude would need to be raised by 1,000 feet (300 m) if the building was just 1 foot (0.30 m) taller. Plans for the tower were announced on July 27, 1970. The 1,450-foot-tall (440 m) building would contain 109 stories as measured from Wacker Drive and 110 stories as measured from Franklin Street. This would make Sears's new tower the tallest in the world, as measured by roof height, although New York City's under-construction World Trade Center Twin Towers would have a taller antenna. Although the Sears Tower would contain 4.4 million square feet (410,000 m2) of space, only about 3.7 million square feet (340,000 m2) would be used as offices.
=== Construction ===
==== Early construction ====
Work on the building's foundation commenced in August 1970. Contractors excavated the lot to a depth of 50 feet (15 m), and they removed 180,000 cubic feet (5,100 m3) of dirt from the site. By that November, Spencer, White & Prentis Inc. was excavating a trench around the site, measuring 60 feet (18 m) deep and 20 by 216 feet (6.1 by 65.8 m) across. The contractors then built a slurry wall within the trench, made of concrete and reinforced steel. Workers used steel bracing to prevent the slurry wall from collapsing inward, then used caissons to drill 201 holes into the ground. They also rerouted a sewer that had run underneath Quincy Street, which was to be closed permanently as part of the tower's construction.
The Diesel Construction Company was hired as the Sears Tower's general contractor. Sears, Roebuck & Co. chairman Gordon M. Metcalf installed the building's first steel beam at a ceremony on June 7, 1971. The project employed 2,000 workers. To accelerate the building's construction, a concrete plant was built in the building's basement, allowing workers to pour one-third of a concrete floor every day. Contractors built two temporary kitchens on the site for workers, and telephone and loudspeaker systems were installed on every floor to allow workers to communicate. In addition, contractors installed temporary generators that could supply up to 14,000 kilowatts (19,000 hp) simultaneously; during the winter, most of this electricity was used to heat the exposed steel beams on the lowest five floors.
==== Broadcast-signal controversy ====
By late 1971, Chicagoland residents and broadcasters had raised concerns that the new Sears Tower would disrupt television broadcasts. According to one estimate, the building would obstruct television signals for 15 percent of Chicagoans and cause "double images" for another 20 percent, primarily affecting communities to the northwest and southeast. The same year, officials of the village of Skokie, northwest of Chicago, threatened to request an injunction to prevent further construction. In response to these concerns, Sears started researching methods to reduce the tower's effect on broadcast signals. Variety magazine stated that the Sears Tower did not interfere with broadcasts on its own, since several shorter towers in the Loop also interfered with broadcast signals. Nonetheless, the Illinois Citizens' Committee for Broadcasting filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in February 1972.
The first lawsuit against the building was filed by the state attorney in neighboring Lake County on March 17, 1972. A second suit was filed on March 28 in Cook County Circuit Court by the villages of Skokie, Northbrook, and Deerfield, Illinois. Sears filed motions to dismiss the Lake and Cook County lawsuits, which both sought to cap the building at 67 stories. Sears studied the possibility of erecting antennas atop its tower in April 1972, and the tower's construction continued, even as decisions on both lawsuits were delayed. At the end of the month, the company applied for permission to increase the building's height limit by 350 feet (110 m) and install a new antenna, although eight of Chicago's ten television stations criticized the plan. On May 17, 1972, Judge LaVerne Dickson, Chief of the Lake County Circuit Court, dismissed the suit, saying, "I find nothing that gives television viewers the right to reception without interference." By then, the building had reached the 58th story. The Lake County attorney appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court. In his decision on June 12, Judge Charles R. Barrett contended the plaintiffs did not have a right to undistorted television reception.
Meanwhile, the FCC declined to act on the height dispute on the grounds it did not have jurisdiction. The FAA approved the antennas atop the tower in June 1972, and the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the previous rulings by Lake and Cook County circuit courts at the end of the month. Work was temporarily paused that July due to a labor strike. The next month, Sears formally announced plans for broadcast antennas on the tower's roof, and the company offered to spend $5 million (equivalent to $38.5 million in 2025) to help relocate broadcast stations to the Sears Tower. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the FCC's decision in September, and the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the Seventh Circuit's decision that November.
==== Topping-out and completion ====
In November 1972, the Sears Tower became Chicago's tallest building, surpassing the Standard Oil Building, which had held the record for one month. At the time, the Sears project employed 1,600 workers in three shifts; one worker had been killed during the project so far. The building's final completion had been delayed significantly due to labor strikes and bad weather. The concrete work had reached the 77th floor, while the steel superstructure had reached the 84th floor; the remainder of the steelwork would be difficult to construct because of high winds at higher altitudes. Local television stations WTTW and WLS-TV were planning to install temporary broadcast antennas atop the tower when the steel frame was completed. The tower's superstructure had reached the 100th floor in February 1973, at which point it was taller than the Empire State Building in New York City.
The building was topped out on May 3, 1973. The day before the event, the Chicago Tribune's editorial board wrote: "Move aside, New York. After tomorrow, when schoolchildren dream of big buildings, they'll no longer think of you and the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center." The frame was still not technically complete, as three to four stories remained to be built. One week after the ceremony, four workers died after an elevator shaft caught fire. A fifth worker died after falling from the tower in an unrelated incident four days later. Work was halted again that June due to a labor strike, and Sears began moving furniture into the building that month. The construction cost was about US$150 million, (equivalent to $1.09 billion in 2025). Despite the size of the project, Sears executives said the building could not accommodate Sears' annual shareholder meetings, and the company continued to rent space in other structures.
=== 20th century ===
==== Opening and early years ====
The first Sears employees began moving into the tower during the weekend of September 9, 1973. Flashing beacons on the building's roof, the first to be installed at any building in Chicago, were activated the same month. Upon the tower's opening, broadcasters at the John Hancock Center, Chicago's second-tallest building, had to decide whether to relocate to the Sears Tower. Two television stations decided to relocate. Six other stations remained at the John Hancock Center, citing a study which showed that relocating to the Sears Tower would provide only minimal benefits. Documents released in late 1973 indicated that the Sears Tower would cause much more interference than either Sears or the television stations had disclosed. WLS-TV moved to the Sears Tower in February 1974, followed by WTTW the next month.
By March 1974, three-fourths of the space in the building was occupied; Sears had leased the upper stories to tenants such as Goldman Sachs, Northwest Industries, and Schiff Hardin. A mobile sculpture by Alexander Calder was dedicated in the lobby in October 1974. Sears' optimistic growth projections were not realized; instead, in late 1974, the company fired 500 workers, about seven percent of the 7,000 Sears employees that worked in the tower. Competition beyond its traditional rivals such as Montgomery Ward arose from emerging retail giants including Kmart, Kohl's, and Walmart. As a result of a surplus of office space that emerged in the 1980s, the tower did not draw as many tenants as projected and so stood half-vacant for a decade.
==== Renovation and relocation ====
In February 1984, Sears announced that it would renovate the building to attract visitors to the lower floors. At the time, 6,500 Sears employees occupied more than half of the building, taking up the lowest 48 stories. The remainder of the tower was occupied by 5,500 employees from about 70 companies. As part of the project, the main entrance was covered with a four-story glass dome, and the first four stories were converted into a shopping atrium. In addition, a visitor center for the building's Skydeck was constructed. The renovations, designed by SOM, were completed in mid-1985. Paul Gapp of the Chicago Tribune wrote that SOM had "scaled the new entrance skillfully, in keeping with the main building's height" and that the new atrium "relieves the formerly cramped feeling from just inside the Franklin entrance".
Sears announced in 1988 that it would sell the tower and relocate its merchandising division from the lower half of the building. The company wanted to earn at least $1 billion from the sale of the Sears Tower, so it offered multiple concessions to potential buyers, including a guarantee that Sears would continue to pay rent on the lower half of the building until tenants were found for these stories. Four large firms were negotiating to buy the tower by July 1989. The company had difficulties finding a buyer, in part because the lower stories were too large for many potential tenants. Sears nearly sold the tower to Canadian company Olympia & York, but the deal was canceled in September 1989 because the two firms could not agree on who would pay the property taxes. In November 1989, Sears decided to instead refinance the building. The next year, Sears took out a mortgage loan on the tower for $850 million from MetLife and AEW Capital Management, with MetLife as the holder of the mortgage note; the loan would mature in 2005.
In 1990, the law firm of Keck, Mahin & Cate decided to move into a development that would become 77 West Wacker Drive, rebuffing Sears' attempts to entice the firm to stay. Just two years later, Sears began moving its own offices out of the building to a new campus in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, which was completed in 1995. As the maturation of the mortgage approached, Sears renegotiated the loan in 1994. The negotiations resulted in an agreement where Sears would no longer be liable for the $850 million loan, although it would only nominally own the building, while AEW and MetLife effectively had total control. As part of the 1994 agreement, AEW and MetLife would be able to take official ownership of the building in 2003. In 1997, Toronto-based TrizecHahn, at the time the lessee of the CN Tower, acquired AEW's holdings in the building for $110 million, assuming $4 million in liabilities and a $734 million mortgage.
=== 21st century ===
Trizec had projected that the Sears Tower would quickly reach a value of $1 billion. These projections were not met, with the tower facing the same vacancy and other problems it saw under Sears, although Trizec made somewhat successful efforts to attract new tenants. Following the September 11 attacks, two of the largest tenants, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, immediately announced plans for vacating 300,000 ft2 of space. In 2003, Trizec sold its holdings of the tower to MetLife for $9 million.
==== Syndicate ownership ====
In March 2004, MetLife announced that it would sell the building to a group of investors, including Joseph Chetrit, Joseph Moinian, Lloyd Goldman, Joseph Cayre, and Jeffrey Feil of New York, as well as American Landmark Properties of Skokie, Illinois. The quoted price was $840 million, with $825 million held in a mortgage. Two years later, in February 2007, the Sears Tower's owners obtained a $780 million loan from UBS. At the time, UBS valued the tower at $1.2 billion.
Since 2007, the owners had considered plans for the construction of a hotel on the north side of Jackson Boulevard, between Wacker Drive and Franklin Street, close to the entrance of the observation deck, above the tower's underground parking garage. According to the tower's owners, the second building was considered in the original design. The plan was eventually cancelled as city zoning did not permit construction of such a tall building in that location. In February 2009, the owners announced they were considering a plan to paint the structure silver, an idea that was later abandoned. It was hoped that a new, silver, paint-job would "rebrand" the building and highlight its advances in energy efficiency for an estimated cost of $50 million.
Although Sears' naming rights expired in 2003, the building continued to be called the Sears Tower for several years, despite multiple changes in ownership. In March 2009, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building and obtained the naming rights. On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed the Willis Tower. By 2011, the building's owners were considering selling a partial ownership stake, or even the entire building, to an investor. The next year, United Airlines announced it would move its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive to the Willis Tower.
==== Blackstone ownership ====
By March 2015, the Willis Tower was being marketed at a price of $1.5 billion. The same month, the Blackstone Group purchased the tower for a reported $1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a property in the U.S. outside of New York City. Blackstone announced a $500 million renovation in January 2017, which would include the construction of the Catalog, a six-story commercial complex, replacing a plaza on Jackson Boulevard and the entrance on Wacker Drive. Architectural firm Gensler designed the renovation. A rooftop terrace was built atop the Catalog, and the building's HVAC systems were overhauled. Most of the building's elevators, excluding those that served the Skydeck, were also renovated for the first time in the tower's history. The new elevators would be faster than the original elevators and would use 35 percent less energy. The building's owners installed artwork by Olafur Eliasson, Jacob Hashimoto, and other artists.
To fund these improvements, in February 2017, Blackstone obtained a $1 billion loan from a group of banks including Goldman Sachs. The new loan replaced $750 million of CMBS debt that was maturing. The following year, because of the increasing costs of the renovation, Blackstone received a new $1.3 billion loan from Deutsche Bank and Barclays. The Wacker Drive "Lunchbox" entrance was demolished in early 2018 to make way for the Catalog. A steel globe next to the entrance, manufactured by the Poblocki Sign Company and installed in 2010, was relocated to Elmhurst, Illinois. A 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) private club on the 66th and 67th stories opened in June 2018. The club included a restaurant named Craftsman and a lounge named Frame, both of which exclusively served the tower's tenants, as well as a public restaurant known as the East Room. That September, Urbanspace announced that it would operate a food hall on the lower stories.
In 2020, insurance company Aon had proposed acquiring Willis Towers Watson (which had succeeded the Willis Group as the building's owner), prompting speculation that the building could be renamed again. The planned merger was canceled in 2021 following an antitrust lawsuit from the United States Department of Justice. The building's renovation was completed in May 2022. At the time, although the Willis Tower was nearly 85 percent leased, the number of tenants and visitors entering the building had decreased significantly since 2019, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago. In April 2023, The New York Times reported that Blackstone had written down the value of its investment in the tower by $119 million.
=== Incidents ===
In June 2006, seven men were arrested by the FBI and charged with plotting to destroy the tower. Deputy FBI Director John Pistole described their plot as "more aspirational than operational". The case went to court in October 2007. After three trials, five of the suspects were convicted and two acquitted. The alleged leader of the group, Narseal Batiste, was sentenced to 13+1⁄2 years in prison. In response to the perceived threat of an attack, the building's largest tenant at this time, Ernst & Young, moved to North Wacker Drive in early 2009.
In May 2020, heavy rains caused three of the basement levels to flood, knocking out power to the building. This also resulted in many TV and radio stations going off the air.
== Architecture ==
The Willis Tower was designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Graham and Khan designed the building as nine square "tubes", clustered in a 3×3 matrix forming a square base with 225-foot (69 m) sides. The building's rentable area is 3,810,000 ft2 (354,000 m2). The structure was intended to accommodate 16,500 employees.
=== Form and facade ===
Each of the "tubes" is a column-free module measuring 75 by 75 feet (23 by 23 m), which set back at different stories. There are setbacks at the 50th, 66th, and 90th floors. The lowest 50 stories contain nine tubes and cover 52,000 square feet (4,800 m2) each. The northwest and southeast tubes terminate at the 50th floor. The 51st through 66th floors each span 41,420 square feet (3,848 m2), above which the northeast and southwest tubes end. From the 67th to 90th floors, each story is shaped like a cross, covering 30,170 square feet (2,803 m2). The north, east, and south tubes end at the 90th floor; the remaining west and center tubes reach 108 floors, with an area of 12,283 square feet (1,141.1 m2) on each of the top stories.
The Sears Tower was the first building to use this innovative design. It was both structurally efficient and economic: at 1,450 feet, it provided more space and rose higher than the Empire State Building and cost much less per unit area. The system would prove highly influential in skyscraper construction and has been used in most supertall buildings since, including the world's current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. In February 1982, two television antennas were added to the structure, increasing its total height to 1,707 feet (520.3 m). The western antenna was later extended, bringing the overall height to 1,729 feet (527.0 m) on June 5, 2000, to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV.
The perimeter of the Willis Tower contains columns that are spaced 15 feet (4.6 m) apart on their centers. The facade is made of anodized aluminum and black glass. Alcoa manufactured 4 million pounds (1.8 kt) of aluminum sheeting for the building's facade. Black bands appear on the tower around the 29th–32nd, 64th–65th, 88th–89th, and 104th–108th floors. These elements are louvers to ventilate the building's environmental support systems and obscure its belted trusses. The rest of the facade is made of 16,000 rectangular windows. all of which measure 5 by 8 feet (1.5 by 2.4 m) and are tinted with bronze.
Outside the building, there was originally a 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) plaza made of pink granite. In the late 2010s, a three-level wing was built along the western and southern sides of the tower replacing the plaza. The roof garden above the annex spans 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2). The annex contains a facade of black steel and aluminum, similar to in the original building. The Jackson Boulevard facade of the annex contains an artwork by Olafur Eliasson, entitled Atmospheric wave wall. The work, measuring 30 by 60 feet (9.1 by 18.3 m) across, comprises almost 2,000 blue-and-green steel tiles, which are decorated with hexagonal motifs. The wall is backlit at night.
=== Structural and mechanical features ===
The interior includes 74,000 short tons (66,000 long tons; 67,000 t) of steel, 4 million pounds (1.8 kt) of aluminum, and 101 acres (4,400,000 ft2; 410,000 m2) of concrete flooring. The building contains diagonal columns only on the two stories immediately below each of the setbacks, thus reducing shear stress. The interior of the building could not contain diagonal beams, since these would have obstructed the connections between each of the "tubes". Therefore, the columns and the horizontal beams on each story are connected by rigid joints. The superstructure was designed to withstand wind gusts of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h), which on average would occur once every hundred years. According to the Chicago Tribune, the top of the building would be able to bend by as much as 7 inches (180 mm), returning to its normal position within 7.2 seconds.
The Willis Tower's basement extends 50 feet (15 m) deep, resting on a 5-foot-thick (1.5 m) concrete slab. The ground directly beneath the building was largely made of clay; the underlying layer of limestone was as much as 100 feet (30 m) beneath ground level. As a result, the foundation was excavated using 201 caissons, of which 114 reached the underlying limestone. The caissons created holes that measured up to 10 feet (3.0 m) across. Some holes at the northwestern and northeastern corners of the site filled up with groundwater and had to be drained. Workers next placed steel tubes into the holes, then poured concrete around the tubes.
During the Sears Tower's construction, SOM and Chicago government officials considered adding "smoke free and fire free" areas to the building, as well as a complete sprinkler system serving all floors. Neither of these features had previously been used in a structure in Chicago. Even though regulations did not require a fire sprinkler system, the building was equipped with one from the beginning. There are around 40,000 sprinkler heads in the building, installed at a cost of $4 million. When it was completed, the Sears Tower was heated electrically, unlike older structures that used gas heating. It included 145,000 light fixtures and a cooling system capable of 17,000 tons of refrigeration. Furthermore, the tower contained fire-suppression and communications systems for emergency use, which were powered by diesel generators. If there was a fire in one section of the building, the building's smoke-detection system would close off the fresh-air intake openings in that section, discharging smoke outdoors.
Fifteen above-ground stories, as well as three of the basement levels, contain mechanical equipment. Above the Skydeck on the 103rd floor is a seven-story mechanical penthouse.
==== Elevators and escalators ====
The Sears Tower was planned with 103 elevators, including 14 double-deck elevators. The office stories are served by 97 elevator cabs; due to the presence of the double-deck elevators, these occupy 83 shafts. As designed, one bank of single-deck elevators connected the lobby to the lowest 28 stories. Banks of double-deck elevators traveled to "sky lobbies" at the 33rd/34th and 66th/67th floors, where passengers could transfer to local elevators. The 34th through 103rd stories were served by local elevators that operated from the sky lobbies. Two elevators also ran directly from the lobby to the Skydeck on the 103rd floor. As of 2018, the elevators carried 5.8 million passengers per year.
Six of the elevators are used for freight. One of the freight elevators served all stories, traveling to a height of 1,440 feet (440 m). During a fire or another emergency, this elevator would be reserved for the Chicago Fire Department. Other elevators would be controlled from the 33rd floor. During a fire, elevators would be dispatched to the affected floors to assist with evacuation.
The building also had 16 escalators, including a set of double-height escalators that traveled from the main lobby to the lower mezzanine. Another set of escalators connects the 33rd and 34th stories.
=== Interior ===
==== Base ====
When the building was completed, the main entrance was on Wacker Drive to the west. There was a plaza on the south side of the building, sloping upward toward Franklin Street to the east. The Franklin Street side of the building was 6 feet (1.8 m) lower than the Wacker Drive entrance, so the entrances on Franklin Street were actually below the plaza, leading to the building's lower mezzanine. Below ground level are three basement levels with a total area of 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2). The basements included a 1,200-seat cafeteria, commercial space, service areas, and a loading dock for 17 trucks. The basement also contained a 150-spot parking garage.
As of 2022, the building's base covers 463,000 square feet (43,000 m2) and contains two lobbies for tenants. The building's tenants primarily enter from Wacker Drive and Franklin Street. Shoppers, restaurant patrons, and visitors to the Skydeck observation deck use the southern entrance on Jackson Boulevard. The Wacker Drive lobby contains In the Heart of this Infinite Particle of Galactic Dust, a 2019 artwork by Jacob Hashimoto. It consists of over 7,000 rice-paper and resin disks that are hung from the ceiling. To honor Khan's contributions to skyscraper engineering design, the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois also commissioned a sculpture of him for the lobby of the Willis Tower.
The commercial complex at the building's lowest stories is known as the Catalog, a reference to Sears' mail-order catalogs. The six-story complex includes numerous restaurants. It extends into three of the building's basement levels, as well as the three-story annex to the south and west of the tower. The roof of the annex includes a curved skylight with 240 glass panes, and the northern section of the annex's roof is supported by black columns that resemble those in the original tower. The Catalog also contains decorative details, such as handrails and staircase landings, which are inspired by elements of Chicago's "built environment". The third story of the Catalog contains a 30,000-square-foot coworking space operated by Convene.
=== Skydeck ===
The Willis Tower observation deck, called the Skydeck, opened on June 22, 1974. Located on the 103rd floor, 1,353 feet (412.4 m) above ground level, it is the highest observation deck in the United States and one of Chicago's most famous tourist attractions. Tourists can experience how the building sways in wind and see far over the plains of Illinois and across Lake Michigan to Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin in clear conditions. Elevators reach the top in about 60 seconds, allowing occupants to feel the change in pressure as they ascend. Some 1.7 million tourists visit annually as of 2018. There is also an event venue on the 99th floor.
In April 2000, the Skydeck received a $4 million renovation, featuring multimedia exhibits with interactive effects and murals. Kiosks were scattered around the Skydeck, offering information in six languages. Dellmont Leisure Design, the primary firm involved in the renovation of the Top of the World observation deck at the World Trade Center, created the design.
In January 2009, a major renovation of the Skydeck began, including the installation of retractable glass balconies which extend approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) from the facade of the 103rd floor, overlooking South Wacker Drive. The all-glass boxes, informally dubbed "The Ledge", allow visitors to see the street below. The boxes, which can accommodate 5 short tons (4.5 metric tons), opened to the public on July 2, 2009. On May 29, 2014, the laminated glass flooring of one of the boxes cracked while visitors were inside, but there were no injuries. The flooring of the same box cracked again on June 12, 2019. In May 2022 a fifth glass ledge opened on the west facade overlooking South Wacker Drive.
== Height ==
When completed, the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building but not the world's tallest structure. Toronto's CN Tower was about 350 feet (106.7 m) taller, although the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) does not consider the CN Tower to be a building, since it does not have floors from the ground up. The Willis Tower remains the third tallest building in the Americas and in the Western Hemisphere (after One World Trade Center and Central Park Tower in New York City). With a pinnacle height of 1,729 feet (527.0 m), it is the third-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. It is the 16th-tallest freestanding structure in the world by pinnacle height.
When the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was completed in 1998, it claimed to be the tallest building in the world, measuring 1,482.6 feet (451.9 m) tall including decorative spires. Chicagoans objected to this claim on the basis that the Sears Tower's top floor was higher than that of either of the Petronas Towers. In the ensuing controversy, four categories of "tallest building" were created. Of these, Petronas was the tallest in the category of height to the top of architectural elements, meaning spires but not antennas. Taipei 101 in Taiwan claimed the record in three of the four categories in 2004, surpassing the Petronas Twin Towers in spire height and the Sears Tower in roof height and highest occupied floor. People suggested that Sears add cosmetics atop its tower to surpass Taipei 101, but this did not materialize. On August 12, 2007, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai was reported by its developers to have surpassed the tower in all height categories. Upon completion, One World Trade Center in New York City surpassed the Willis Tower through its structural and pinnacle heights, but not by roof, observation deck elevation, or highest occupied floor.
Until 2000, the tower did not hold the record for being the tallest building by pinnacle height. From 1969 to 1978, this record was held by John Hancock Center, whose antenna reached a height of 1,500 feet (457.2 m), 49 feet (14.9 m) taller than the Sears Tower's original height. One World Trade Center became taller by pinnacle height with the addition of a 359-foot (109.4-meter) antenna, bringing its total height to 1,728 feet (526.7 m). In 1982, two antennas were installed which brought its total height to 1,707 feet (520.3 m), making it taller than the John Hancock Center but not One World Trade Center. However, the extension of the tower's western antenna in June 2000 to 1,729 feet (527.0 m) allowed it to just barely claim the title of tallest building by pinnacle height.
The lowest level of the Willis Tower is 43 feet (13 m) below the elevation of Franklin Street.
=== Climbing ===
On May 25, 1981, Dan Goodwin, wearing a homemade Spider-Man suit while using suction cups, camming devices, and sky hooks, and despite several attempts by the Chicago Fire Department to stop him, made the first successful outside ascent of the tower. Goodwin was arrested at the top after the seven-hour climb and was later charged with trespassing. Goodwin stated that the reason he made the climb was to call attention to shortcomings in high-rise rescue and firefighting techniques. After a lengthy interrogation by Chicago's District Attorney and Fire Commissioner, Goodwin was officially released from jail.
In August 1999, French urban climber Alain Robert, using only his bare hands and bare feet, scaled the building's exterior glass and steel wall all the way to the top. A thick fog settled in near the end of his climb, making the last 20 stories of the building's glass and steel exterior slippery.
Since 2009, the tower has hosted SkyRise Chicago, a race to the top of the tower's 103-story staircase, as a charity event benefiting Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
== Naming rights ==
Sears sold the tower in 1994 and vacated it by 1995, but retained naming rights through 2003. The new owners were rebuffed in renaming deals with CDW Corp in 2005 and the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2008. British insurance broker Willis Group Holdings leased more than 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2) of space on three floors in 2009. A Willis spokesman said the naming rights were obtained as part of the negotiations at no cost to Willis and the building was renamed the Willis Tower on July 16, 2009. The naming rights are valid for 15 years.
The Chicago Tribune joked that the building's new name reminded them of the oft-repeated "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?" catchphrase from the American television sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and considered the name-change ill-advised in "a city with a deep appreciation of tradition and a healthy ego, where some Chicagoans still mourn the switch from Marshall Field's to Macy's". This feeling was confirmed in a July 16, 2009, CNN article in which some Chicago-area residents expressed reluctance to accept the Willis Tower name, and in an article that appeared in the October 2010 issue of Chicago magazine that ranked the building among Chicago's 40 most important, the author pointedly refused to acknowledge the name change and referred to the building as the "Sears Tower". Time magazine called the name change one of the top 10 worst corporate name changes and pointed to negative press coverage by local news outlets and online petitions from angry residents. The naming rights issue continued into 2013, when Eric Zorn noted in the Chicago Tribune that "We're stubborn about such things. This month marked four years since the former Sears Tower was re-christened Willis Tower, and the new name has yet to stick."
== Floor plans ==
== Broadcasting ==
Many broadcast station transmitters are located at the top of the Willis Tower. Each list is ranked by height from the top down. Stations at the same height on the same mast indicate the use of a diplexer into the same shared antenna. Due to its extreme height, FM stations (all class B) are very limited in power output.
NOAA Weather Radio station KWO39 transmits off the tower at 162.550 MHz. Programmed by the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Chicago, it is equipped with Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), which sets off a siren on specially programmed weather radios to alert of an impending hazard.
== Cultural depictions ==
The building has appeared in numerous films and television shows set in Chicago such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off, where Ferris and company visit the observation deck. Late Night with Conan O'Brien introduced a character called The Sears Tower Dressed In Sears Clothing when the show visited Chicago in 2006. The building is also featured in History Channel's Life After People, in which it and other human-made landmarks suffer from neglect without humans around, collapsing two hundred years after people are gone.
In the 2008 film The Dark Knight, it is part of Gotham City. In the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it is featured in a number of scenes. In the 2013 film Man of Steel, the tower is the location of the offices of the Daily Planet.
== Position in Chicago's skyline == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_Arrow,_Oklahoma | Broken Arrow, Oklahoma | Broken Arrow () is a city in Tulsa and Wagoner counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest suburb of Tulsa. According to the 2020 census, Broken Arrow has a population of 113,540 residents and is the 4th most populous city in the state. The city is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 1,023,988 residents.
The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad sold lots for the town site in 1902 and company secretary William S. Fears named it Broken Arrow. The city was named for a community settled by Creek Native Americans who had been forced to relocate from Alabama to Oklahoma along the Trail of Tears.
Although Broken Arrow was originally an agricultural community, its current economy is diverse. The city has the third-largest concentration of manufacturers in the state.
== History ==
The city's name comes from an old Creek community in Alabama. Members of that community were expelled from Alabama by the United States government, along the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. The Creek founded a new community in the Indian Territory and named it after their old settlement in Alabama. The town's name in the Muscogee language was Rekackv (pronounced [ɬiˌkaːtʃkə]), meaning "broken arrow". The new Creek settlement was located several miles south of present-day downtown Broken Arrow.
The community of Elam, located in present-day Broken Arrow near 145th East Avenue and 111th Street, began around 1901. It consisted of a cluster of stores, a cotton gin, and a few homes.
In 1902 the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad planned a railroad through the area and was granted town site privileges along the route. They sold three of the as-yet-unnamed sites to the Arkansas Valley Town Site Company. William S. Fears, secretary of that company, was allowed to choose and name one of the locations. He selected a site about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Tulsa and about five miles north of the thlee-Kawtch-kuh settlement and named the new townsite Broken Arrow, after the Indian community. The MKT railroad, which was completed in 1903, ran through the middle of the city. It still exists today and is now owned by Union Pacific which currently uses it for freight.
For the first decades of Broken Arrow's history, the town's economy was based mainly on agriculture. The coal industry also played an important role, with several strip coal mines located near the city in the early 20th century. The city's newspaper, the Broken Arrow Ledger, started within a couple of years of the city's founding. Broken Arrow's first school was built in 1904. The city did not grow much during the first half of the 1900s. During this time Broken Arrow's main commercial center was along Main Street. Most of the city's churches were also located on or near Main Street as well. A 1907 government census listed Broken Arrow's population at 1,383.
The Haskell State School of Agriculture opened in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Opera House on November 15, 1909. The school closed in 1917 for lack of funding, and the building was then used as Broken Arrow High School. The building was razed in 1987. Only a marker remains at 808 East College Street in Broken Arrow. The front of cornerstone reads, "Haskell State School / Of Agriculture / J. H. Esslinger Supt. / W. A. Etherton Archt. / Bucy & Walker Contr." The side of cornerstone reads "Laid by the Masonic Fraternity / May 25, A. D. 1910, A. L. 5810. / George Huddell G. M. / Erected by The State Board of Agriculture / J. P. Conners Pres. / B. C. Pittuck Dean.". The school is commemorated on the National Register of Historic Places.
In the 1960s, Broken Arrow began to grow from a small town into a suburban city. The Broken Arrow Expressway (Oklahoma State Highway 51) was constructed in the mid-1960s and connected the city with downtown Tulsa, fueling growth in Broken Arrow. The population swelled from a little above 11,000 in 1970 to more than 50,000 in 1990, and then more than 74,000 by the year 2000. During this time, the city was more of a bedroom community. In recent years, city leaders have pushed for more economic development to help keep more citizens of Broken Arrow working, shopping, and relaxing in town rather than going to other cities.
=== Broken Arrow killings ===
The Broken Arrow killings took place on July 22, 2015, when five members of the Bever family were murdered in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, United States. The attackers were identified as 18-year-old Robert Bever and 16-year-old Michael Bever.
== Geography ==
Broken Arrow is located in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma. The city is part of the state's Green Country region known for its green vegetation, hills and lakes. Green Country is the most topographically diverse portion of the state with seven of Oklahoma's 11 eco-regions.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 45.6 square miles (118 km2), of which 45.0 sq mi (117 km2) is land and 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2), or 1.34%, is water.
=== Climate ===
Broken Arrow has the typical eastern and central Oklahoma humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) with uncomfortably hot summers and highly variable winters that can range from mild to very cold depending on whether the air mass comes from warmed air over the Rocky Mountains or very cold polar anticyclones from Canada.
== Demographics ==
=== Racial and ethnic composition ===
=== 2020 census ===
As of the 2020 census, Broken Arrow had a population of 113,540. The median age was 37.6 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.0% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.1 males age 18 and over.
98.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.6% lived in rural areas.
There were 42,699 households in Broken Arrow, of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 55.4% were married-couple households, 14.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 44,860 housing units, of which 4.8% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.1% were owner-occupied and 27.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 6.8%.
=== 2010 census ===
According to the 2010 census, there were 98,850 people, 36,141 households, and 27,614 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200 inhabitants per square mile (850/km2). There were 38,013 housing units at an average density of 602.0 per square mile (232.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 79.3% White, 4.3% African American, 5.2% Native American, 3.6% Asian (1.0% Vietnamese, 0.7% Indian, 0.4% Chinese, 0.3% Korean, 0.3% Hmong, 0.2% Pakistani, 0.2% Filipino, 0.1% Japanese), 0.05% Pacific Islander, 2.2% from other races, and 5.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino were 6.5% (4.4% Mexican, 0.4% Puerto Rican, 0.3% Spanish, 0.1% Venezuelan, 0.1% Colombian).
There were 36,141 households, out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.4% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.6% were non-families. Of all households, 19.2% were made up of individuals, and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the city, the population dispersal was 30.8% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $65,385 and the median income for a family was $74,355. The per capita income for the city was $29,141. About 7.2% of the population were below the poverty line. Of the city's population over the age of 25, 30.3% hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
== Business and industry ==
Broken Arrow is home to a wide range of businesses and industries. In fact, the city is ranked third in its concentration of manufacturers in the state.
Some of the city's more notable employers include:
FlightSafety International
FedEx Ground
Blue Bell Creameries
Windstream Communications
Located in Broken Arrow since 1985, FlightSafety International (FSI) designs and builds aviation crew training devices called Flight Simulators at its Simulation Systems Division. With currently over 675 employees located there, of which about half are engineers, FSI is the largest private employer in the city.
A number of new commercial developments are being built throughout the city, most notably along Oklahoma State Highway 51, which runs through the city. A Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World opened in 2005 as the anchor to a development that includes hotels, restaurants, shopping, and eventually offices. A new full-service hospital and medical office building were constructed nearby in 2010 as an anchor to another large commercial development that will include retail space and two hotels. Oklahoma's first Dick's Sporting Goods opened in late 2011.
In 2007 the city created the Broken Arrow Economic Development Corporation to help oversee economic development.
In late 2007, the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce began "Advance Broken Arrow", an economic development campaign aimed at expanding and diversifying the city's economic base.
In October 2023, plans were announced for a new 12,500-seat amphitheater to be built in town by 2025. The Sunset Amphitheater is projected to host a minimum of 45 concert events annually.
=== Downtown redevelopment ===
In 2005, the city adopted a downtown revitalization master plan to help revive the city's historic downtown area. Some of the plans include a new 3-story museum to house the historical society and genealogical society, a farmer's market and plaza, a new performing arts center, updates and expansions to area parks, the conversion of the historic Central Middle School on Main Street into a professional development center, infrastructure, and landscape improvements, and incentives to encourage denser infill, redevelopment, and reuse of the area's historic structures. Numerous buildings and homes have since been renovated, many new shops and offices have moved to downtown, and new townhomes are being built. The new historical museum, farmers market, and performing arts center opened in 2008.
The city also sets strict new design standards in place that all new developments in the downtown area must adhere to. These standards were created to prevent "suburban" development in favor of denser, "urban" development, and to ensure that new structures complement and fit in with the historic buildings downtown. In October 2012 Downtown Broken Arrow's main street corridor was named the Rose District.
== Government ==
Broken Arrow uses the council–manager model of municipal government. The city's primary authority resides in the city council which approves ordinances, resolutions, amendments, and contracts. The city council consists of five members with one member elected from each of the four city wards, and the fifth member as an at-large member. Each council member serves for a two-year term and is eligible to serve for four years. Out of the council members, a mayor and vice-mayor are chosen every two years. The day-to-day operations of the city are run by the city manager, who reports directly to the city council.
At the federal level, Broken Arrow lies within Oklahoma's 1st congressional district, represented by Kevin Hern. In the State Senate, Broken Arrow includes parts of Districts 33 and 36, represented by Christi Gillespie and John Haste, respectively. In the State House, Broken Arrow includes all or part of districts 12, 16, 75, 76, 80 and 98.
== Parks and recreation ==
Included among Broken Arrow parks are:
The Ray Harral Nature Center & Park, a 40-acre facility which includes nature trails, picnic shelters and a nature center
Nienhuis Park, which has the Nienhuis Aquatic Facility, the Nienhuis Skate Park and a Community Center
Indian Springs Sports Complex, a 234-acre facility including multiple sports fields
Rose West Dog Park
Tennis/Pickleball courts in various sites inc. Aspen Creek Park, Central Park, Country Aire Park, Morrow Park, Nienhuis Park, Timberbrook Park, Vandever Park, & Wolf Creek Park.
== Education ==
Broken Arrow is served by Broken Arrow Public Schools, Union Public Schools, and Bixby Public Schools.
Within Tulsa County, most of the city is served by BAPS while the northwestern area of town is served by Union Public Schools, with a far southwest area in Bixby Public Schools. Areas of the city which extend into Wagoner County are zoned to BAPS.
=== Colleges and universities ===
Higher education in Broken Arrow is provided by Northeastern State University (Broken Arrow campus). The campus opened in 2001 and has an upperclassmen and graduate student enrollment of approximately 3,000.
Broken Arrow is also served by Tulsa Technology Center Broken Arrow Campus. Established in 1983, it has an enrollment of about 3,500 full- and part-time secondary and adult students.
Broken Arrow is also home to Rhema Bible Training Center, established in 1974 by Kenneth E. Hagin; located on 110 acres (45 ha), it has graduated over 40,000 alumni and has seven ministry concentrations. RBTC is currently led by Hagin's son, Kenneth W. Hagin.
=== Libraries ===
The city's two libraries, Broken Arrow Library and South Broken Arrow Library, are part of the Tulsa City-County Library System.
== Infrastructure ==
Major highways in Broken Arrow include State Highway 51 (Broken Arrow Expressway). It passes through the north side of the city and leads to downtown Tulsa to the northwest. Heading east on the Broken Arrow Expressway leads to the Muskogee Turnpike, which connects the city to Muskogee. Partial beltway Creek Turnpike circles around the south of the city and connects the Turner Turnpike to the west terminus of the Will Rogers Turnpike.
Public transportation for Broken Arrow is provided by Tulsa Transit. It has one route that connects the city to Tulsa. Bus services run Monday through Friday.
== Media ==
=== Newspapers ===
Broken Arrow had one newspaper, the Broken Arrow Ledger. The paper was published every Wednesday. It was owned by BH Media Group. The Tulsa World, northeast Oklahoma's major daily newspaper, also features Broken Arrow news regularly. The Ledger was closed by the Tulsa World’s owners in 2017.
=== Television ===
Cox Cable channel 24 is the Broken Arrow government-access television (GATV) cable TV municipal information channel. It displays, among other things, information about the city government, upcoming events, and general information about the city. The channel also features local weather reports.
=== Internet ===
Broken Arrow has a website that provides information on the city, its government, local amenities, safety, local news, and economic development. The city's chamber of commerce also has a website, which contains information about the chamber and economic development in the city.
== Notable people ==
David Alexander, former NFL player and former head coach of Broken Arrow High School football team
Brady Bacon, racing driver
Alvin Bailey, offensive lineman for the Seattle Seahawks
Ralph Blane, composer
Jim Baumer, former Major League infielder and general manager for Milwaukee Brewers
Archie Bradley, pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, drafted 7th overall in 2011 MLB first-year player draft
Jim Brewer, former Major League pitcher with Los Angeles Dodgers
P.C. Cast, author and novelist best known for the House of Night series
Kristin Chenoweth, singer, actress and graduate of Broken Arrow High School. Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center's (PAC) theater and stage are named after Chenoweth.
Ernest Childers, Medal of Honor recipient in World War II
Marguerite Churchill, actress, died in Broken Arrow
Levi Coleman, soccer player and coach
DeDe Dorsey, Las Vegas Locomotives running back, former NFL player with Cincinnati Bengals and Indianapolis Colts
Phil Farrand, author known for Nitpicker's Guides
Kenneth E. Hagin, evangelist and founder of Rhema Bible Training College
Holley Hollan, racing driver
Steve Logan, running backs coach for Tampa Bay Buccaneers
JD McPherson, singer-songwriter and guitarist
George O'Brien, actor
Charles Ogle, racing driver
Brad Penny, Major League Baseball pitcher
Jamie Pinkerton, Head Women's Softball Coach at Iowa State University, graduate of Broken Arrow High School.
Donald Roulet, Presbyterian minister and civil rights activist
Warren Spahn, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and longtime Broken Arrow resident
Will Thomas, historical mystery writer, winner of 2005 and 2015 Oklahoma Book Award for fiction
Andy Wilkins, first baseman for Milwaukee Brewers
Kathryn Zaremba, stage actress |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Naseby | Battle of Naseby | The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist army under Charles I and Prince Rupert. The defeat ended any real hope of Royalist victory, although Charles did not finally surrender until May 1646.
The 1645 campaign began in April when the newly formed New Model Army marched west to relieve Taunton, before being ordered back to lay siege to Oxford, the Royalist wartime capital. On 31 May, the Royalists stormed Leicester and Fairfax was instructed to abandon the siege and engage them. Although heavily outnumbered, Charles decided to stand and fight and after several hours of combat, his force was effectively destroyed. The Royalists suffered over 1,000 casualties, with over 4,500 of their infantry captured and paraded through the streets of London; they would never again field an army of comparable quality.
They also lost all their artillery and stores, along with Charles' personal baggage and private papers, which revealed his attempts to bring the Irish Catholic Confederation and foreign mercenaries into the war. These were published in a pamphlet titled The King's Cabinet Opened, whose appearance was a great boost to the cause of Parliament.
== Background ==
In July 1644, a Roundhead (Parliamentarian) force under Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell secured control of Northern England by victory at Marston Moor. However, this was offset first by defeat at Lostwithiel in September, and then by a lack of decisiveness at the Second Battle of Newbury in October. The two commanders involved, Essex and Manchester, were accused by many in Parliament of lacking commitment, a group that included moderates like William Waller as well as radicals like Cromwell.
In December, Henry Vane the Younger introduced the Self-denying Ordinance, requiring any military officers to resign from Parliament. As members of the House of Lords, Manchester and Essex were automatically removed since, unlike Members of Parliament, they could not resign their titles, although they could be re-appointed, 'if Parliament approved.' It also led to the creation of the New Model Army, a centralised, professional force. Moderates Fairfax and Philip Skippon were appointed Commander-in-Chief and head of the infantry, respectively; Cromwell remained an MP but was given command of the cavalry on a 'temporary' three-month commission, constantly renewed.
At the outset of 1645, the Royalist high command was divided on strategy. Prince Rupert of the Rhine, recently appointed senior commander, wanted to link up with his brother Prince Maurice at Chester and retake the north, a key source of recruits and supplies. A faction headed by Lord Digby considered the New Model a threat to their capital at Oxford, while a third group preferred to consolidate control of the West Country. On 30 April, Fairfax marched west to relieve the Parliamentarian stronghold of Taunton; Lord Goring was despatched with 3,000 cavalry to support the Siege of Taunton, while the main Royalist field army of 8,600 men under Charles I and Prince Rupert moved north.
Concerned by this threat, Parliament's Committee of Both Kingdoms ordered Fairfax to change his plans and besiege Oxford. Although he made little progress, by the end of May the town was running short of provisions and to relieve the pressure, the Royalists stormed the Parliamentarian-held town of Leicester on 31 May, allegedly killing over 700 soldiers and civilians. Alarmed by this, Parliament instructed Fairfax to abandon the siege and on 5 June he marched north to engage the Royalist army. Unlike Prince Rupert who had been beaten by Fairfax and Cromwell the previous summer, Digby and Charles dismissed the fighting capabilities of the New Model. Despite being seriously outnumbered, they were eager for battle; messages were sent ordering Goring to rejoin them, but he refused to leave the West Country.
On 12 June, the Royalists were alerted to the presence of the New Model when Parliamentarian patrols clashed with their outposts near Daventry. The next day, Fairfax was reinforced by Cromwell's cavalry and troops from the Eastern Association under Edward Rossiter, bringing his numbers up to 14,000. Although Prince Rupert favoured withdrawing, Digby convinced Charles that retreat would be bad for morale and they decided to stand and fight.
== Battle ==
The morning of 14 June was foggy, preventing the opposing armies from sighting each other across the battlefield. The Royalists occupied a strong position on a ridge between the villages of Little Oxendon and East Farndon about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Market Harborough. The Royalist scoutmaster, Sir Francis Ruce, was sent out to find the Parliamentarian army and rode south for 2 or 3 miles (3.2 or 4.8 km) but saw no sign of it, perhaps through negligence. Rupert himself moved forward and saw some Parliamentarian cavalry, apparently retiring. He was determined to secure the commanding Naseby ridge and ordered the Royalist army to advance.
Fairfax initially considered occupying the northern slopes of Naseby ridge. Cromwell believed that this position was too strong, and that the Royalists would refuse battle rather than attack it. He is said to have sent a message to Fairfax, saying, "I beseech you, withdraw to yonder hill, which may provoke the enemy to charge us". Fairfax agreed, and moved his army back slightly.
The Royalists did not see Fairfax's position until they reached the village of Clipston, just over a mile north of Naseby ridge. It was clearly impossible for the Royalists to withdraw to their original position without being attacked by the Parliamentarian cavalry while on the line of march and therefore at a disadvantage. Rupert deployed the army to its right, where the ground appeared to be more favourable for his own cavalry and prepared for battle.
=== Deployments ===
==== Royalists ====
The Royalists occupied a front of about a mile and a half, between the Clipston-Naseby track on the left and the Sulby Hedges on the right. Their right wing consisted of between 2,000 and 3,000 cavalry under Prince Rupert and his brother Prince Maurice. The centre was commanded by Lord Astley and organised as three infantry brigades or tertias under Sir George Lisle, Henry Bard and Astley's son, Sir Bernard Astley, with a regiment of horse under Colonel Howard in support. On the left under Sir Marmaduke Langdale were 1,500 "Northern Horse", the remnants of cavalry regiments which had escaped from Marston Moor. Charles commanded a small reserve, consisting of his own and Rupert's regiments of foot (800 in total) and his lifeguard of horse.
==== Parliamentarians ====
Fairfax had drawn up his army on the ridge a mile north of Naseby, although some of it was behind the crest on the reverse slope. Ireton's wing of five and a half regiments of cavalry was on the left. The infantry under Sergeant-Major General Sir Philip Skippon was in the centre with five regiments on the front line and three in support. A forlorn hope of 300 musketeers was deployed to the front, with a reserve provided by two companies of Colonel Edward Harley's regiment, commanded by its Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Pride. A Parliamentarian engraving of the battle shows 11 pieces of artillery, in the intervals between the infantry regiments. They played little part in the battle; their first salvoes went high, and the Royalist and Parliamentarian infantry were subsequently too closely engaged for the guns to be used. Cromwell's wing, with six and a half regiments of cavalry, was on the right.
The Parliamentarian army occupied a front about 2 miles (3.2 km) long. They outflanked the Royalist left, but their own left flank rested, like the Royalists' right flank, on the Sulby Hedges. At the last minute, as the Royalists began to advance, Cromwell sent a regiment of dragoons under Colonel John Okey into the Sulby Hedges, where they could fire into the flank of Rupert's cavalry. The number of dragoons has generally been reported as their official strength of 1,000 but an analysis of pay warrants shows it was no more than 676 in total.
=== Action ===
The Royalist centre attacked first, with Rupert keeping his own wing of cavalry in hand so that the horse and foot could hit the enemy simultaneously. Skippon's infantry moved forward over the crest of the ridge to meet the Royalist foot. There was time for only one volley of musketry before both sides were fighting hand-to-hand, the veteran Royalist infantry using their swords and the butt ends of their muskets. Sir Edward Walker, Charles's secretary of war, stated "The Foot on either side hardly saw each other until they were within Carabine Shot, and so made only one Volley; our falling in with Sword and butt end of the Musquet did notable Execution, so much as I saw their Colours fall and their Foot in great Disorder." [sic] Skippon was wounded by a bullet which splintered his armour and struck him under the ribs, although he stayed on the field to prevent panic from spreading. Even so, the Parliamentarians were hard-pressed and forced back.
On the Parliamentarian left, the opposing wings of horse paused briefly to dress ranks before charging into each other. Henry Ireton's own regiment repulsed their Royalist opposite numbers, but Ireton then led at least part of them to the aid of the beleaguered Parliamentarian infantry. His troopers were driven off by Royalist pikemen, and Ireton himself was unhorsed, wounded in the leg and face and taken prisoner. At the same time, the second line of Royalist cavalry broke most of the Parliamentarian horsemen. Some of Ireton's regiments, on the far left, were saved from destruction by the fire from Okey's dragoons, but the others broke and fled, some of them not stopping until they reached Northampton, 15 miles (24 km) away. The entire Royalist right wing had been committed to defeating Ireton, and none were left in reserve. Rupert either neglected or was unable to rally the cavalier horsemen, who galloped off the battlefield in pursuit of the fleeing Parliamentarians.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentarian right wing of horse under Cromwell and the Royalist Northern Horse faced each other, neither willing to charge to the aid of their infantry while the other could threaten their flank. Eventually, after half an hour, the Royalist cavalry began to charge and Cromwell's troops moved to meet them. Langdale's men were not only outflanked and outnumbered two to one, but forced to charge up a slope broken up by bushes and a rabbit warren. After a brief contest, they were routed. Unlike Rupert, Cromwell had roughly half of his wing uncommitted, as only the front line of Cromwell's wing had taken part in the defeat of Langdale. He sent only four divisions (roughly two regiments) after Langdale, and turned his reserves against the left flank and rear of the Royalist centre. At about the same time, Okey's dragoons mounted their horses and charged from the Sulby Hedges against the right wing of the Royalist infantry, as did some of Ireton's regiments which had partly rallied.
Some of the trapped Royalist infantry began to throw down their arms and call for quarter; others tried to conduct a fighting retreat. One regiment, apparently Rupert's "Bluecoats", stood their ground and repulsed all attacks. One eyewitness said "The Blue regiment of the Kings stood to it very stoutly, and stirred not, like a wall of brasse...". [sic] Eventually, Fairfax led his own regiment of foot and horse against them, breaking their resistance, with Fairfax reportedly capturing their standard himself. Archaeological evidence, chiefly recovered musket balls, suggests this episode took place in the vicinity of Long Hold Spinney, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) behind the original Royalist positions.
At some stage, the King attempted to lead his lifeguard of horse to the rescue of his centre or in a counter-attack against Cromwell's troopers, but was prevented from doing so by a Scottish nobleman, the Earl of Carnwath, who seized his bridle and said, "Would you go upon your death, Sire?" Seeing the King swerve away from the enemy, his lifeguard also retreated in disorder for several hundred yards. Meanwhile, Rupert's cavalry had reached Naseby and the Parliamentarian baggage, whose escort refused to surrender and drove them off. Although Rupert rallied his men and returned to the battlefield, it was now too late to save the remnants of their infantry, and he could not induce his cavalry to make another charge. Fairfax halted and reorganised his lines, and when he resumed his advance, the Royalist cavalry withdrew to Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
Fairfax's forces pursued survivors fleeing north towards Leicester. Archaeological evidence suggests fugitives and Royalist baggage guards tried to rally on the slopes of Castle Yard (also known as Wadborough Hill), a wooded hill with the ruins of a motte and bailey castle, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) behind the original battle line. Many Royalists were slaughtered when they mistakenly followed what they thought was the main road to Leicester into the churchyard in the village of Marston Trussell, and were unable to escape their pursuers. In the aftermath of the battle, Parliamentarian troops reportedly killed at least 100 female camp followers and mutilated many others. This was supposedly done in the belief they were Irish, though the women were probably Welsh whose language was mistaken for Irish.
== Aftermath ==
Fairfax recovered Leicester on 18 June. He immediately led his army southwest to relieve Taunton and capture the Royalist-held West Country. The Royalist forces surrendered at Truro in Cornwall, while leading Royalist commanders, including Lord Hopton, the Prince of Wales, Sir Edward Hyde, and Lord Capell, fled to Jersey from Falmouth.
The main Royalist military force had been shattered at Naseby. The King had lost his veteran infantry (including 500 officers), all his artillery, and many arms. He lacked the resources to create an army of such quality again, and after Naseby, it simply remained for the Parliamentarian armies to wipe out the last pockets of Royalist resistance. Charles hoped to rebuild his army with new recruits from Wales and the border counties and headed in that direction. He also had expectations that reinforcements might arrive from Ireland. The Committee of Both Kingdoms responded on 28 June by ordering Leven's Scottish Covenanters to move to strike at the Royalist stronghold of Hereford. The ensuing Siege of Hereford by Covenanter forces ended in failure, but in December of the same year, Hereford was seized by John Birch in a surprise attack.
The Parliamentarians had also captured the King's personal baggage, with correspondence which showed he intended to seek support from the Irish Catholic Confederation through the Cessation Treaty, and Catholic nations in Europe. By publishing this correspondence, entitled The King's Cabinet Opened, Parliament gained much support in favour of fighting the war to a finish. Within a year, the first civil war ended in a Parliamentarian military victory. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephenie_Meyer | Stephenie Meyer | Stephenie Meyer ( ; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series Twilight, which has sold over 160 million copies, with translations in 37 different languages. She was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in the United States, having sold over 29 million books in 2008 and 26.5 million in 2009.
An avid young reader, Meyer attended Brigham Young University, marrying at the age of 21 before graduating with a degree in English literature in 1997. Having no prior experience as an author, she conceived the idea for the Twilight series in a dream. Influenced by the work of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare, she wrote Twilight soon thereafter. After many rejections, Little, Brown and Company offered her a $750,000 three-book deal which led to a four-book series, two spin-off novels, a novella, and a series of commercially successful film adaptations. Aside from young adult novels, Meyer has ventured into adult novels with The Host (2008) and The Chemist (2016). She has worked in film production and co-founded production company Fickle Fish Films, producing both parts of Breaking Dawn, the Twilight film series' finale, and two other novel adaptations.
Meyer's membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shaped her novels. Themes consistent with Meyer's religion, including agency, mortality, temptation, and eternal life, are prominent in her work. Critics have called Meyer's writing style overly simplistic, but her stories have also received praise, and she has acquired a fan following.
Meyer was included on Time magazine's list of the top 100 most influential people in 2008 and Forbes's list of the top 100 most powerful celebrities in 2009, with her annual earnings exceeding $50 million.
== Early and personal life ==
Stephenie Morgan was born on December 24, 1973, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, the second of six children born to financial officer Stephen Morgan and homemaker Candy Morgan. She was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale. In 1992, Meyer won a National Merit Scholarship, which helped fund her undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature in 1997. Although she began and finished her degree at BYU, Meyer took classes at Arizona State University in fall 1996 and spring 1997.
She met her future husband, Christian "Pancho" Meyer, in Arizona when they were both children. The couple married in 1994 and have three sons, born 1997, 2001, and 2003. Christian retired from his job as an auditor to take care of their children full time.
Before writing her first novel, Twilight, Meyer considered going to law school because she felt that she had no chance of becoming a writer. Meyer later noted that the birth of her oldest son, Gabe, in 1997 changed her mind: "Once I had Gabe, I just wanted to be his mom." Before becoming an author, Meyer's only professional work was as a receptionist at a property company.
== The Twilight series ==
=== The Twilight novels ===
According to Meyer, the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003, about a human girl and a vampire who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the draft of what became chapter 13 of the book. She wrote from chapter 13 to the end of the novel and then backfilled the first 12 chapters, in secret, without an ideal audience in mind or the intention to publish the novel. Meyer researched the Quileute Native Americans to include their legends and traditions in the novel, though some Quileute tribe members found her use of their legends offensive. Meyer joined the American Night Writers Association (ANWA) for aspiring Latter-day Saint female writers. She completed the novel in three months. Her sister's response to the book was enthusiastic, and she persuaded Meyer to send the manuscript to literary agencies.
Of the 15 letters she wrote, five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House. Eight publishers competed for the rights to publish Twilight in a 2003 auction. By November, Meyer had signed a $750,000 three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company. Twilight was published in 2005 with a print run of 75,000 copies. Bimonthly book signings and events at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, early in her writing career helped cultivate her fanbase. Twilight reached No. 5 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Chapter Books within a month of its release, and later rose to #1. The novel was named the Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Editor's Choice. Despite its success, Twilight was one of the most challenged books of 2009 according to the American Library Association for being sexually explicit, age-inappropriate, and for religious views; some schools and libraries were asked to remove the books from their shelves.
Upon publishing Twilight, Meyer had already outlined a story for a sequel. However, her publisher insisted that she follow Twilight with two sequels following Bella and Edward in college. Consequently, Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). The original story she pitched for the sequel would later be published in Breaking Dawn. Meanwhile, Meyer wrote a short story, "Hell on Earth", about demons at prom night, which was published in April 2007 in Prom Nights from Hell, a collection of stories about bad prom nights with supernatural effects. Meyer's fans urged her to expand "Hell on Earth" into a full novel, but Meyer was occupied finishing Eclipse.
In its first week after publication, New Moon reached No. 5 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the No. 1 position, where it remained for the next 11 weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list. In May 2007, Meyer held two promotional prom events at an Arizona State University gymnasium to celebrate the special edition release of New Moon and the release of Eclipse. For the event, Meyer wore a blood-red evening gown and signed over 1,000 books. Meyer's red dress was later auctioned for $5,500 at a fundraiser for a book seller's battle with breast cancer called Project Book Babe.
After the release of Eclipse, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. The fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies. Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day. The novel won Meyer a British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year, despite competition from J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard. In 2009, Meyer faced plagiarism accusations for Breaking Dawn. Author of The Nocturne, Jordan Scott, claimed the circumstances around Bella's supernatural pregnancy and subsequent transformation into a vampire were similar to the storyline of her novel and indicated that Meyer plagiarized the plot of The Nocturne. Meyer dismissed the accusation, claiming she had not heard of the writer nor the novel. Scott failed to produce a copy of the novel to support her accusation; The Nocturne is not available on Amazon and is listed as "temporarily sold out" on her website.
The series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide in 37 languages. In 2008, the four Twilight books were in the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list. Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and the first author to have books in all four of the top-selling spots. The Twilight novels held the top four spots on USA Today's year-end list again in 2009. The success of the Twilight series has been attributed to the Internet, which allowed Meyer to directly reach out to her fans, leading the series to be called "the first social networking bestseller". According to scholar Lykke Guanio-Uluru, the Twilight series "popularized and helped redefine, the paranormal romance subgenre".
=== Twilight saga films ===
In 2004, Paramount's MTV Films and Maverick Films optioned Twilight before the book was published in order to maximize its potential profits. The written script deviated greatly from the novel. However, the film was put into turnaround. In 2006, Erik Feig, president of Summit Entertainment, attempted to make a deal with Meyer by assuring her that the film would be true to the novel and that "no vampire character [would] be depicted with canine or incisor teeth longer or more pronounced than may be found in human beings". In 2007, the rights were sold to Summit Entertainment. Catherine Hardwicke was chosen to direct the film, and Melissa Rosenberg wrote the new script. Kristen Stewart was cast first as Bella Swan, and Robert Pattinson was cast as Edward Cullen after an audition with Stewart and Pattinson revealed they had good chemistry. Taylor Lautner was cast in the role of Jacob Black. Released on November 21, 2008, the film received favorable reviews; Roger Ebert called the film, "lush and beautiful" and Peter Bradshaw said it was, "wildly enjoyable". The film was a box-office success and became the fourth-highest-grossing November opening weekend release up to that time. Meyer makes a brief cameo appearance in a diner scene. The same year, Meyer began her work in film with a Jack's Mannequin music video "The Resolution", which she co-directed with Noble Jones.
Following the success of Twilight, Summit greenlit a film adaptation of the sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Each novel adaptation was headed by a different director. Chris Weitz directed New Moon, which was released on November 20, 2009. On opening night, New Moon broke the record for the highest single-day domestic gross on opening day, which had previously been set by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Despite its commercial success, the film received poor reviews; Roger Ebert criticized the slow pace of the film, and Tim Robey of The Telegraph similarly said, "the movie gives us all the requisite looks of tortured longing, and not a lot else". Directed by David Slade, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, an adaptation of the third book in the series, was released on June 30, 2010. An article from The Guardian reported that it was the best film of the series according to critical consensus for being more "cinematic" and striking a better balance between romance and the supernatural. However, an article from The Telegraph rebutted The Guardian's claim, arguing that Twilight remained the best film in the series due to the "entirely straight-faced contrast between the forces of eternal darkness and the rigors of high school". Having already obtained the rights to Breaking Dawn, Summit approved a two-part adaptation.
In 2011, Meyer started her own production company, Fickle Fish Films, with producer Meghan Hibbett. Meyer spent much of 2011 producing both parts of Breaking Dawn, as well as the film adaptation of Shannon Hale's novel Austenland. Breaking Dawn: Part 1 was released on November 18, 2011, and the second part was released on November 16, 2012. Part one of the film received mixed reviews. Part two of the film received more positive reviews with Roger Ebert calling the ending "sensational". Critics also praised the acting, particularly that of Stewart.
The Twilight Saga was successful in the box office. With a combined budget of $373 million, the five-film series earned $3.341 billion worldwide. Despite the commercial success, the films were extensively criticized. Breaking Dawn: Part II won seven Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzie awards) including Worst Picture, Worst Sequel, and Worst Screen Couple (for Taylor Lautner and Mackenzie Foy). The series spawned two parody films: Vampires Suck and Breaking Wind, which were critical failures.
In 2009, Stephenie Meyer was included in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities, entering at No. 26. Her annual earnings exceeded $50 million. The same year, Meyer was ranked No. 5 on Forbes' list of "Hollywood's Top-Earning Women", the only author on the list, and it was noted that the "Twilight series of young-adult vampire books have taken the publishing and film worlds by storm". In 2010, Forbes ranked her as the No. 59 most powerful celebrity with annual earnings of $40 million.
=== Subsequent Twilight publications ===
In August 2009, USA Today revealed that Meyer broke J. K. Rowling's record on their bestseller list; the four Twilight books had spent 52 straight weeks in the top 10. In all, the books have spent more than 235 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that Breaking Dawn would be the final novel to be told from Bella Swan's perspective. In 2015, she published a new book in honor of the 10th anniversary of the best-selling franchise titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, with the genders of the original protagonists switched.
On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Meyer had written a 200-page novella entitled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. The book was released on June 5, 2010, by Atom and was available for free between June 7 and July 5 on the official website. Following the release of The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, Stephenie Meyer donated $1.5 million to the American Red Cross Relief Fund to aid victims of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Those who took advantage of the free e-book were also encouraged to make donations to the Red Cross.
Midnight Sun was to be a companion novel to the Twilight series. The novel was intended to be a retelling of the events of the novel Twilight, but from the perspective of Edward Cullen. Meyer had hoped to have Midnight Sun published shortly after the release of Breaking Dawn, but after an online leak of a rough draft of its first 12 chapters, Meyer chose to delay the project indefinitely. Upset by the release of a draft she called "messy and flawed", Meyer decided to pursue books unrelated to Twilight. She made the unedited and unfinished manuscript of a lengthy character development exercise of Midnight Sun available on her website.
The release of Midnight Sun was tentatively re-planned after re-visiting the Twilight series with Life and Death, a gender-swapped retelling of the novel in 2015. However, the release of Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian in 2015 halted and soured Meyer's plans to release the Midnight Sun because Grey was also told from the male perspective. Meyer stated in a New York Comic-Con panel that it was "a literal flip the table moment", admitting that "Midnight Sun is kind of cursed". This led to the novel being on indefinite hold. According to an article from The Guardian in 2018, Midnight Sun was "no longer in the pipeline". However, in May 2020, it was announced that Midnight Sun would be released on August 4, 2020. Following its release, it sold over one million copies, was number two on Amazon's "most sold" list, and was number one on USA Today's bestseller list one week after its release date.
Meyer has mentioned having several other book ideas on file, including a ghost story titled Summer House, a novel involving time travel, as well as another about mermaids.
== Adult fiction publications ==
=== The Host ===
In May 2008, Meyer's adult sci-fi novel The Host was released by the adult division of Little, Brown and Company. It follows the story of Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, a young woman and an invading alien "soul", who are forced to work as one. The Host debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list and remained on the list for 26 weeks. Despite having expressed intention to write a trilogy, with the second and third books being called The Soul and The Seeker, respectively, Meyer has not published any follow-up novels to The Host as of 2024.
In April 2009, Meyer took part in Project Book Babe, a benefit designed to help pay her friend Faith Hochhalter's medical bills after Hochhalter was diagnosed with breast cancer. Meyer donated many advance reader copies and original manuscripts for auction.
The Host was adapted into a film with Andrew Niccol directing, and Saoirse Ronan starring as Melanie Stryder, Max Irons as Jared Howe and Jake Abel as Ian O'Shea. The film was released on March 29, 2013, to generally negative reviews. It received poor critical reviews and was a box office flop compared to the Twilight film series.
=== The Chemist and television productions ===
In late 2015, it was announced that Meyer was producing a TV series based on Daniel O'Malley's book, The Rook. Despite having purchased the rights for the novel with her production company, she left the project shortly after filming due to creative differences.
In July 2016, Little, Brown and Company announced that Meyer has written an adult action thriller titled The Chemist, about "an ex-agent on the run from her former employers". The book was released on November 8, 2016. In 2018, it was announced that Meyer's production company Fickle Fish would be working with Tomorrow Studios to produce a television series based on The Chemist.
== Reception ==
The reception of Meyer and her novels has been mixed. Entertainment Weekly has stated that Meyer is "the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice", while The Guardian described her as an "imaginative storyteller, a prolific author and a newly powerful figure in the publishing market". Wayne Janes of the Toronto Sun agreed, saying "Meyer's success points up another trend—the virtual domination of the best-seller lists the last few years by what would normally be classified as young adult fiction", and noted, "In the absence of a new Harry Potter adventure, teens, fantasy enthusiasts and women (sales are mostly to women) who swoon at the idea of a virginal James Dean-ish vampire made Meyer the go-to gal for chaste love." Tymon Smith of The Times has described her as the "superstar of young adult fiction".
Meyer was named one of MSN Lifestyle's "Most Influential Women of 2008", where she was described as a "literary luminary". She was also ranked No. 49 on Time magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People in 2008", and was included in their list of "People Who Mattered", with author Lev Grossman noting, "Maybe Americans aren't ready for a Mormon presidential nominee yet. But they're more than ready to anoint a Mormon as the best-selling novelist of the year."
She was ranked No. 82 on Vanity Fair's list of the "Top 100 Information Age Powers" of 2009. Meyer was featured in an issue of the biographical comic Female Force, a Bluewater Productions title that celebrates influential women in society and pop culture. Meyer was the second bestselling author of the decade, according to a list published by Amazon, beaten by J. K. Rowling.
Despite Meyer's success, her novels have been highly criticized. The New York Times called the premise of Twilight "attractive and compelling"; however, the review continues, "the book suffers at times from overearnest, amateurish writing", indicating that Meyer's relied too much on "telling" rather than "showing" and that there were excessive references to Edward's attractiveness and Bella's swooning. An article from The Guardian criticized Bella's character, calling her "a clumsy, selfish nincompoop with the charisma of a boiled potato" and criticized Edward's portrayal as the "perfect little gentleman" who constantly counters Bella's sexual advances. NPR criticized the novel for being a repetitive "jackhammer" masked behind ornate language. Furthermore, they found the story uninteresting and the main character unlikeable. Entertainment Weekly stated that the narrative of Breaking Dawn was at times so chaotic and outrageous that Meyer shifted the point of view to Jacob Black, which only toned down the mayhem of the plot for so long.
Novelist Orson Scott Card, who is a Mormon like Meyer, said, "[Stephenie Meyer] writes with luminous clarity, never standing between the reader and the dream they share. She's the real thing." In an interview with Newsweek, author Jodi Picoult said, "Stephenie Meyer has gotten people hooked on books, and that's good for all of us." Comparing Meyer to J. K. Rowling, Stephen King stated: "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good." King went on to assert that Meyer's books appealed to readers because "[she's] opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books". American religious history scholar Jana Riess had mixed reactions to Meyer's novels. At times, she found the Mormon theology that influences Meyer's works to be beautiful and complex. However, she describes Meyer as a gifted storyteller, not a gifted writer, noting numerous technical flaws in her novels. Furthermore, Riess criticized the "retrogressive gender stereotypes" in Meyer's work.
The Quileute do have a tradition that their ancestors transformed from wolves to people, but most of the descriptions of the Quileute in the novel are inaccurate. The Quileute tribe described her use of their traditions in the books and films and subsequent merchandising as cultural theft.
=== Fan following ===
Meyer has gained a following among young adult readers of the Twilight novels, which are set in the small town of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Forks has thus received attention from fans and celebrates "Stephenie Meyer Day" on September 13, the date of character Bella Swan's birthday. Meyer's fans cosplay her book characters, write fan fiction related to the stories, and attend book signings. Extreme fans are known as "Twihards".
Inspired by Meyer's Twilight series, a genre of geek rock called "Twi-rock", similar in purpose to wizard rock inspired by J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, has emerged. Examples of these Twilight-themed bands include the Bella Cullen Project, Twilight Music Girls, Be Safe Bella, Bella Rocks, and the Mitch Hansen Band. The Mitch Hansen Band wrote the song "By You" in hopes that it would be included on the New Moon film soundtrack. An unofficial Twilight themed fan convention called TwiCon was organized in Dallas, Texas, in summer 2009, which included "Twi-rock" band performances, a Volturi Ball, panels, workshops, and vendors.
Originally an online novelized "fan-fiction" of the Twilight series, the novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James loosely explores the relationship between the main characters had they not remained celibate before marriage. Though the publisher claims the novel is "original and no longer based on Twilight", James did not receive copyright authorization to write the novel and some have argued that Fifty Shades of Grey may be a copyright infringement. Though Meyer has stated that the novel is "too smutty" and does not interest her, she has not filed a copyright claim.
== Style and influences ==
=== Style ===
Since the release of Twilight, Meyer has been described as writing with "all plot and no style" and including "very little characterization", with her writing characterized as "fairly" poor. Meyer's prose can be seen as not necessarily consistent in style or voice; for example, her short story "Hell on Earth" is driven more by dialogue alone, in contrast with the ornate descriptions found in the Twilight series. Meyer relies on detailed expository descriptions and active voice in her novels; she often opens her sentences with the most important information. While a stylistic focus of most novels is character development, Meyer has stated that she intentionally avoided describing her characters in detail, which she believes allows the reader to more easily "step into [their] shoes". In some works such as New Moon, in which Bella is largely on her own, Meyer offers "deeper insight into Bella's psyche" through the chapter titles, rather than the prose itself.
Meyer's work is typically classified as melodrama. In Twilight, Meyer makes allusions to canonical texts such as the Book of Genesis, Wuthering Heights, Macbeth, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Meyer has said that the individual style of each of her novels came from various genres of music she listened to while writing. A corpus stylistics analysis of the Twilight saga revealed that much of Meyer's description and characterization revolved around the physical attributes of the characters as shown through eyes, face, and expression. Some of Meyer's most frequent descriptions related to eye color and expression, the juxtaposition of warmth and cold, and the words "black" and "dark". The study authors concluded that the predictability and superficiality of Meyer's descriptions indicate that Meyer's writing style is unexceptional, and the success of her novels was related more to clever marketing.
=== Influences ===
Stephenie Meyer has named Mormonism as her greatest influence. However, according to actor Robert Pattinson, Meyer did not intend to include Mormon references in the novels and films. Yet professor of film and religion Angela Aleiss noted numerous clear influences of Mormonism in the Twilight series. Meyer has said, "Unconsciously, I put a lot of my basic beliefs into the story. Free agency is a big theme." Meyer cited BYU professor Steven Walker as having influenced her work. She explained that he revealed a new way for her to see and study literature, which impacts her writing.
Meyer has cited many novels as inspiration for the Twilight series, including Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and its sequels. Each book in the series was also inspired specifically by a different literary classic: Twilight by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice; New Moon by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Eclipse by Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights; and Breaking Dawn by Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Although Meyer claims to have based Twilight on Pride and Prejudice, film studies scholar Anne Morey claims that the novel bears resemblance to Jane Eyre. The choice to name Edward came from the works of Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen, and her novels are influenced by both medieval courtly love and 19th-century etiquette. Although Meyer has claimed that she did not read vampire literature and thus could not be influenced by it, scholars Anne Klaus and Stefanie Krüger argue that Meyer's characters bear similarities to "traditional vampire figures" and that Edward resembles both gothic villains and Byronic heroes. Meyer has indicated that despite the supernatural and vampire themes in her novels, she was influenced far more by Austen and Shakespeare than by Anne Rice or Stephen King. Meyer has described Austen, Shakespeare, and Orson Scott Card as her favorite authors.
Meyer has cited music as a prominent influence of her writing, and she posts playlists of songs which specifically inspired her books on her website. Bands included most often in her playlists are Muse, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, and Linkin Park. Meyer cites Muse as a particular inspiration because she uses the different emotions portrayed in their songs as influences for various genres of scenes.
== Recurring themes ==
=== Agency ===
According to professor of American religious history Jana Riess, a prominent theme in Meyer's novels is agency. In The Host, the Seeker believes that she is saving the human race by perfecting and controlling, similar to the Latter-day Saint belief that Satan's plan for human salvation was to "save" all souls by removing their agency and ability to sin. The Seeker plays a Satan-like role in the novel, as Meyer attempts to convey the message that the maintenance of agency is crucial. Additionally, Meyer's novels contain the themes of opposition. In The Host, Wanda learns that despite the lows and evils of humanity, beauty and pleasure could not be found on her previous planets because darkness did not exist. Wanda learns in the novel that it is only in facing darkness and sorrow that light and joy could be experienced, echoing a quotation from the Book of Mormon, "It must needs be that there is an opposition in all things". However, "imprinting" in her Twilight series, the involuntary formation of a mate relationship, undermines Meyer's prolific theme of free agency. According to literature and women's studies scholar Natalie Wilson, the juxtaposition between Bella's agency to choose her mate and Jacob, a Native American male's, inability to choose has racial and cultural implications.
=== Mortality and temptation ===
Another theme is overcoming the circumstances and temptations of mortality referred to in the Book of Mormon as overcoming the "natural man", which is exemplified by Meyer's character Edward. As a vampire, Edward's purpose is to be carnal, killing and feeding on human blood. As led by Carlisle, Edward chooses to give up this life and transcend his circumstances by becoming a "vegetarian", choosing to feed only on animals. He chooses to uphold these values despite the daily temptation, which only augments when he meets Bella; he finds her blood nearly irresistible. Edward undergoes a transformation in which Bella's trust in Edward allows him to trust his own ability to overcome temptation and keep Bella safe. Self-control is a prominent theme in the Twilight series, the word appears 125 times throughout the novels, as the main characters struggle to control their emotions, attraction, thirst, or jealousy.
=== Immortality and eternal life ===
Apparent in Meyer's Twilight series is the theme of the distinction between immortality and eternal life. In Meyer's novels, vampires are immortal and have superhuman gifts and abilities; however, the Cullen family longs for things they cannot have. Their circumstances prevent them from forming meaningful relationships with humans or other vampires, isolating them within their small clan. Furthermore, the couples in the Cullen family are unable to procreate, which causes severe bitterness in Rosalie who envies Bella's ability to be pregnant. According to Riess, the distinction between eternal life and immortality is represented by Bella, who in Breaking Dawn, has achieved eternal life rather than immortality because she achieved the Mormon tenets of eternal life: immortality and a perfected body, eternal parenthood, and an eternal marriage. Riess indicates that Bella receives immortality in an act of self-sacrifice rather than self-service, as she dies for the birth of her child. Bella is subsequently resurrected in a perfected vampire body. In Mormonism, resurrection occurs in the context of relationships, exemplified by Bella who enjoys her resurrected body in the company of her husband, child, and the rest of the Cullen family. The titles of the novels serve to reinforce this idea. At the beginning of the series, Bella discusses leaving Phoenix and heading to Forks where she says, "[goodbye] to the sun". The titles of the first three novels, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, serve as natural phenomenon in which the sun is darkened. However, the final novel is titled Breaking Dawn, which symbolizes the beginning of a new day and Bella's transformation into a vampire and subsequent transcendence of her old life.
== Views ==
=== Religion ===
Meyer is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and does not drink alcohol or coffee, smoke, or watch R-rated movies. Similarly, there is no drinking and smoking in the novels (with the exception of her 2008 The Host, which contains drinking). Despite pressure to include a major sex scene, Meyer was adamant against including graphic sex in her series. According to Lev Grossman of Time, some of the series' appeal is due to its lack of sex and its eroticizing of abstinence. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Meyer acknowledges that her faith has influenced her work. In particular, she says that her characters "tend to think more about where they came from and where they are going, than might be typical." Meyer says that she does not consciously intend her novels to be influenced by her religion or to promote the virtues of sexual abstinence and spiritual purity, but admits that her writing is shaped by her values, saying, "I don't think my books are going to be really graphic or dark, because of who I am. There's always going to be a lot of light in my stories."
Growing up, Meyer's life and family revolved around the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were involved in their community, and a young Meyer met her future husband at church. She studiously read the Book of Mormon, citing the book as having "the most significant impact on [her] life". However, Meyer dislikes when media constantly mentions her religion, saying that the press does not emphasize the religions of other authors.
Meyer is cited as having played a part in bringing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more into the mainstream by books The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith by Matthew Bowman and LDS in the USA: Mormonism and the Making of American Culture by Lee Trepanier and Lynita K. Newswander.
=== Feminism ===
According to an article from The Guardian, Meyer considers herself a feminist. Meyer has stated that, "the world is a better place when women are in charge". Additionally, she was happy with the commercial successes of Catherine Hardwicke, the director of Twilight, and enjoyed working with a nearly all-female production for Austenland. Meyer has explained that her definition of feminism is the ability for a woman to choose, and the definition of anti-feminism is removing the choice, whether it fits gender stereotypes or not, from the woman entirely. She continued that some modern feminists contradict their message of equality for women by limiting or shaming certain women's choices. Furthermore, she stated that women who choose to stay home or have children are particularly criticized and that limitations on what women can do are anti-feminist in nature.
Meyer has been criticized by some feminists who consider Meyer an antifeminist writer. Some claim that the series romanticizes a physically abusive relationship, criticizing things like Bella's entire life revolving around Edward; never being in control of her own life; being absolutely dependent on Edward's ability to protect her life, her virginity, and her humanity; and the physical injuries Bella suffers from finally consummating her relationship with Edward. Meyer has dismissed such criticisms, saying both that the books center around Bella's choice and that her damsel in distress persona is due only to her humanity. Women's studies scholar Donna Ashcraft argues that Meyer is not a feminist, by definition, because her novels encourage traditional gender roles. However, although Ashcraft qualifies Meyer as traditional or non-feminist, she says that Meyer is not antifeminist.
After being asked in an interview with The Guardian whether she is anti-abortion, Meyer refused to directly answer the question, insisting that she does not like to talk about politics and that she abhors when celebrities use their popularity to influence voters.
== In popular culture ==
In the 2010 vampire horror film Lost Boys: The Thirst, South African actress Tanit Phoenix played Gwen Lieber, a fictional character and a so-called copy of Stephenie Meyer, who was a writer of not-so-good romantic vampire novels. The character was later killed by Peter, the Alpha vampire (played by Felix Mosse).
== Awards == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bana_Kingdom | Bana Kingdom | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara_Tindall | Zara Tindall | Zara Anne Elizabeth Tindall (née Phillips; born 15 May 1981) is a British equestrian, Olympian, and member of the British royal family. She is the daughter of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips, and the eldest niece of King Charles III. At birth she was sixth in the line of succession to the British throne during the reign of her maternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and as of 2026 is 22nd.
Tindall won the individual eventing world title at Aachen in 2006 and was later named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She married former rugby union player Mike Tindall in 2011, and the couple have three children. The following year she carried the Olympic flame at Cheltenham Racecourse on her horse Toytown, and went on to win a team silver medal in eventing at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, presented to her by her mother.
== Early life and education ==
Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips was born at 8:15 pm on 15 May 1981 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. She was baptised on 27 July in the private chapel at Windsor Castle. Her first name was suggested by her uncle, Charles, the then Prince of Wales. Her godparents are her maternal uncle, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor; the Countess of Lichfield; Helen, Lady Stewart, the wife of Sir Jackie Stewart; Andrew Parker Bowles; and Hugh Thomas. She has an elder brother, Peter, and two younger half-sisters, Felicity Wade (née Tonkin), from her father's affair with Heather Tonkin; and Stephanie Phillips, from his second marriage to Sandy Pflueger.
Phillips attended Beaudesert Park School in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and Port Regis School in Shaftesbury, Dorset, before following other members of the royal family in attending Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland. During her school years, she excelled in a range of sports and represented her schools in hockey, athletics, and gymnastics. She later studied at the University of Exeter and qualified as a physiotherapist.
== Equestrianism ==
After leaving university, Phillips began to pursue an equestrian career, following in the footsteps of her parents. In June 2003, she announced that she had secured a sponsorship agreement with Cantor Index, a spread-betting company, to support the costs of her competitive career. Later that year, she finished as runner-up at the Burghley Horse Trials in her first four-star event. Phillips missed the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens after her horse was injured during training.
Riding Toytown, Phillips won individual and team gold medals at the 2005 European Eventing Championship at Blenheim. She went on to win individual gold and team silver at the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, becoming Eventing World Champion until 2010. Following her success in Germany, she was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, an award previously won by her mother in 1971. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours for services to equestrianism. At the 2007 European Eventing Championships in Italy, she won team gold but did not defend her individual title in the show‑jumping phase.
The British Olympic Association selected Phillips and Toytown for the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong; however, Toytown sustained an injury during training and she withdrew from the team. On 25 October 2008, Phillips fell from her horse, Tsunami II, at the 15th fence of a cross‑country event in Pau, France, breaking her right collarbone. Tsunami II broke her neck after tipping over a hedge and was put down. In July 2010, Musto launched a range of equestrian clothing designed by Phillips, named ZP176 after her team number when she first represented Great Britain.
Phillips competed at the 2012 London Olympic Games on High Kingdom, winning a silver medal in the team event. She finished second at the 2013 Luhmühlen Horse Trials on High Kingdom, and at the 2014 World Equestrian Games she was part of the British team that won team silver. She stopped using her maiden name in March 2016 and competed as Zara Tindall for the first time during her unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. In 2017, Tindall finished third at the Kentucky Three-Day Event on High Kingdom, who retired from competition in 2018. In January 2020, she became a non‑executive director of Cheltenham Racecourse. In August 2020, she was selected for her first appearance on the British team at the FEI Nations Cup in Le Pin au Haras, France. In October 2021, she competed at the Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill, finishing 11th on Class Affair. In May 2022, she won the advanced class at the Chatsworth Horse Trials, again riding Class Affair.
== Charity work ==
Tindall frequently supports and attends events for a range of charitable causes, particularly those connected with spinal injuries, equestrianism, and children's welfare. In 2005, she auctioned an evening gown worn at the London premiere of the film Seabiscuit to raise funds for tsunami relief. She later undertook a visit to New Zealand in her role as patron of The Catwalk Trust. From 1998 to 2005, she served as president of Club 16–24, an organisation that encourages young people to take an interest in horse racing. She is associated with Inspire, a Salisbury‑based medical research charity that supports people with spinal cord injuries, and is patron of Lucy Air Ambulance for Children, the UK's first dedicated air transfer service for critically ill infants and children.
Tindall has appeared at events for The Caudwell Charitable Trust, which supports children with special needs, disabilities, and serious illnesses. In 2006, she took part in a charity day for Cantor Index, 658 of whose employees were killed in the September 11 attacks. The following year, she became patron of the Mark Davies Injured Riders Fund. For Sport Relief 2008, she posed for a portrait by the artist Jack Vettriano. In 2009, she attended a celebrity poker tournament in Monaco in aid of Darfur, Sudan, and in October 2010 she attended a similar event in London in aid of Cancer Research UK, of which she is patron. In 2011, she auctioned another evening gown in aid of the Christchurch earthquake appeal, raising £22,000. In 2013, she visited Stroud Maternity Ward to mark its 60th anniversary, and in 2014 she lent her support to the #bringbackourgirls campaign. In April 2020, Tindall participated in the Equestrian Relief initiative to help provide additional personal protective equipment for National Health Service workers.
== Other activities ==
In June 2015, Tindall launched an equestrian-themed jewellery collection, named "Zara Phillips Collection", in collaboration with Australian designer John Calleija.
On 17 September 2022, during the period of official mourning for Queen Elizabeth II, Tindall joined her brother and six cousins to mount a 15-minute vigil around the coffin of the Queen, as it lay in state at Westminster Hall. On 19 September, with her husband Mike and daughter Mia, she joined other family members at the state funeral.
== Personal life ==
Phillips met rugby union player Mike Tindall, who was then playing for the England national team, during the squad's Rugby World Cup-winning campaign in Australia in 2003. The couple became engaged in 2010. As required at the time by the Royal Marriages Act 1772, the Queen gave her consent to the marriage at a meeting of the Privy Council on 10 May 2011. A celebration was held on the royal yacht Britannia prior to the wedding.
They married on 30 July 2011 at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 400 guests in attendance. Her off-the-rack ivory silk dress, designed by Stewart Parvin, featured "a chevron-pleated bodice, a dropped waist, and a 'cathedral-length' train". The Meander Tiara was lent to her to secure the veil. A reception followed at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
The Tindalls lived in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, before moving to Aston Farm, a seven-bedroom property adjoining the Princess Royal's Gatcombe Park estate. Their first child, Mia Grace, was born on 17 January 2014 at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and was 16th, later 23rd in the line of succession. A second daughter, Lena Elizabeth, was born on 18 June 2018 at Stroud Maternity Hospital and was 19th, later 24th, in the line of succession. Their son, Lucas Philip, was born on 21 March 2021 at the family home on the Gatcombe Park estate and was 22nd, later 25th, in the line of succession. Tindall is a godmother to Prince George of Wales, the son of her cousin William, Prince of Wales.
In December 2000, before her marriage, Phillips was involved in a serious car crash near Bourton-on-the-Water, escaping injury after overturning her Land Rover. In January 2020, she received a six‑month driving ban after accumulating 12 points on her licence, and was fined victim surcharge of £151".
== Arms ==
== Honours ==
30 December 2006: Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafer_Johnson | Rafer Johnson | Rafer Lewis Johnson (August 18, 1934 – December 2, 2020) was an American decathlete and film and television actor. He was the 1960 Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon, having won silver in 1956. He had previously won a gold at the 1955 Pan American Games. Johnson was the U.S. team's flag bearer at the 1960 Olympics and lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
In 1968, Johnson, football player Rosey Grier, and journalist George Plimpton tackled Sirhan Sirhan moments after he had fatally shot Robert F. Kennedy.
After he retired from athletics, Johnson turned to acting, sportscasting, and public service and was instrumental in creating the California Special Olympics. His acting career included appearances in The Sins of Rachel Cade (1961), the Elvis Presley film Wild in the Country (1961), Pirates of Tortuga (1961), None but the Brave (1965), two Tarzan films with Mike Henry, The Last Grenade (1970), Soul Soldier (1970), Roots: The Next Generations (1979), the James Bond film Licence to Kill (1989), and Think Big (1990).
== Biography ==
Johnson was born in Hillsboro, Texas on August 18, 1934. His family moved to Kingsburg, California, when he was aged nine. For a while, they were the only black family in the town. A versatile athlete, he played on Kingsburg High School's soccer, baseball and basketball teams. He was also elected class president in both junior high and high school. The summer between his sophomore and junior years in high school (age 16), his coach Murl Dodson drove Johnson 24 miles (40 km) to Tulare and watched Bob Mathias compete in the 1952 U.S. Olympic decathlon trials. Johnson told his coach, "I could have beaten most of those guys." Dodson and Johnson drove back a month later to watch Mathias's victory parade. Weeks later, Johnson competed in a high school invitational decathlon and won the event. He also won the 1953 and 1954 California state high school decathlon meets.
In 1954, as a freshman at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), his progress in the event was impressive; he broke the world record in his fourth competition. He pledged Pi Lambda Phi fraternity, America's first non-sectarian fraternity, and was class president at UCLA. In 1955, in Mexico City, he won the title at the Pan American Games.
Johnson qualified for both the decathlon and the long jump events for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. However, he was hampered by an injury and forfeited his place in the long jump. Despite this handicap, he managed win silver in the decathlon behind compatriot Milt Campbell. It would turn out to be his last defeat in the event.
Due to injury, Johnson missed the 1957 and 1959 seasons (the latter due to a car accident), but he broke the world record in 1958 and again in 1960. The crown to his career came at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. His most serious rival was Yang Chuan-Kwang (C. K. Yang) of Taiwan. Yang also studied at UCLA; the two trained together under UCLA track coach Elvin C. "Ducky" Drake and had become friends. In the decathlon, the lead swung back and forth between them. Finally, after nine events, Johnson led Yang by a small margin, but Yang was known to be better in the final event, the 1500 m. According to The Telegraph (UK), "legend has it" that Drake gave coaching to both men, with him advising Johnson to stay close to Yang and be ready for "a hellish sprint" at the end, and advising Yang to put as much distance between himself and Johnson before the final sprint as possible.
Johnson ran his personal best at 4:49.7 and finished just 1.2 sec slower than Yang, winning the gold by 58 points with an Olympic record total of 8,392 points. Both athletes were exhausted and drained and came to a stop a few paces past the finish line leaning against each other for support. With this victory, Johnson ended his athletic career.
At UCLA, Johnson also played basketball under legendary coach John Wooden and was a starter for the Bruins on their 1958–59 team. Wooden considered Johnson a great defensive player, but sometimes regretted holding back his teams early in his coaching career, remarking, "imagine Rafer Johnson on the [fast] break."
Johnson was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 28th round (333rd overall) of the 1959 NFL draft as a running back. Johnson was also selected as a guard by the Los Angeles Jets as one of their two territorial selections in the inaugural 1961 ABL draft alongside Gary Phillips. However, he would never play for either Los Angeles based team or in either professional sports league.
While training for the 1960 Olympics, his friend Kirk Douglas told him about a part in Spartacus that Douglas thought might make him a star: the Ethiopian gladiator Draba, who refuses to kill Spartacus (played by Douglas) after defeating him in a duel. Johnson read for and got the role, but was forced to turn it down because the Amateur Athletic Union told him it would make him a professional and therefore ineligible for the Olympics under the rules of the time. The role eventually went to another UCLA great, Woody Strode. In 1960, Johnson began acting in motion pictures and working as a sportscaster. He made several film appearances, mostly in the 1960s. Johnson worked full-time as a sportscaster in the early 1970s. He was a weekend sports anchor on the local NBC affiliate in Los Angeles, KNBC, but seemed uncomfortable in that position and eventually moved on to other things.
Johnson worked on the presidential election campaign of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and on June 5, 1968, with the help of Rosey Grier and George Plimpton, he apprehended Sirhan Sirhan immediately after Sirhan had assassinated Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. Kennedy died the following day at Good Samaritan Hospital. Johnson discussed the experience in his autobiography, The Best That I Can Be (published in 1999 by Galilee Trade Publishing and co-authored with Philip Goldberg).
Johnson served on the organizing committee for the first Special Olympics competition in Chicago in 1968, hosted by Special Olympics founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the next year he led the founding of the California Special Olympics. Johnson, along with a small group of volunteers, founded California Special Olympics in 1969 by conducting a competition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for 900 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Following the first California Games in 1969, Johnson became one of the original members of the board of directors. The board worked together to raise funds and offer a modest program of swimming and track and field. In 1983, Rafer ran for President of the Board to increase Board participation, reorganize the staff to most effectively use each person's talents, and expand fundraising efforts. He was elected president and served in the capacity until 1992, when he was named chairman of the Board of Governors.
=== Family ===
Johnson married Elizabeth Thorsen in 1971. They had two children and four grandchildren.
Johnson's brother Jimmy was a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and his daughter Jennifer competed in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney following her collegiate career at UCLA. His son Joshua Johnson followed his father into track and field and had a podium finish in the javelin throw at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Johnson participated in the Art of the Olympians program.
=== Death ===
Rafer Johnson died after suffering a stroke on December 2, 2020, in Sherman Oaks, California. He was 86.
== Achievements ==
Johnson was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year in 1958 and won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States in 1960, breaking that award's color barrier. In 1962, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. He was chosen to ignite the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first Black athlete in Olympic history to do so. In 1994, he was elected into the first class of the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.
In 1998, Johnson was named one of ESPN's 100 Greatest North American Athletes of the 20th Century. In 2006, the NCAA named him one of the 100 Most Influential Student Athletes of the past 100 years. On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Johnson would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009, in Sacramento, California. Johnson was a member of The Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C. National Intercollegiate All-American Football Players Honor Roll.
Rafer Johnson Junior High School in Kingsburg, California is named in his honor, as are Rafer Johnson Community Day School and Rafer Johnson Children's Center, both in Bakersfield, California. The latter school, which has classes for special education students from the ages of birth-5, also puts on an annual Rafer Johnson Day. Every year Johnson himself spoke at the event and cheered on hundreds of students with special needs as they participated in a variety of track and field events.
In 2010, Johnson received the Fernando Award for Civic Accomplishment from the Fernando Foundation and in 2011, he was inducted into the Bakersfield City School District Hall of Fame. Additionally, Rafer acted as the athletic advisor to Dan Guerrero, Director of Athletics at UCLA. He was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2016.
In November 2014, Johnson received the Athletes in Excellence Award from The Foundation for Global Sports Development, in recognition of his community service efforts and work with youth.
In 2005, Johnson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) degree from Whittier College.
== Filmography ==
=== Actor ===
The Sins of Rachel Cade (1960) – Kosongo
Sergeant Rutledge (1960) - uncredited
Wild in the Country (1961) – Davis
Pirates of Tortuga (1961) – John Gammel
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1963) (Season 2 Episode 8: "The Cadaver") - Ed Blair
None but the Brave (1965) – Private Johnson
Daniel Boone (1965) (Season 2 Episode 4: "My Name Is Rawls") – Rawls
Tarzan and the Great River (1967) – Barcuma, Afro-Brazilian leader of the Jaguar Cult
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968) – Nagambi, villain who hinders Tarzan's search for the Jungle Boy
The Last Grenade (1970) – Joe Jackson
Soul Soldier (1970) – Private Armstrong
The Games (1970) – Commentator
Mission Impossible (1971) – Jack Tully
Roots: The Next Generations (1979)
Licence to Kill (1989) – Mullens
Think Big (1990) – Johnson
Source:
=== Production roles ===
Billie (1965, technical advisor)
The Black Six (1973, associate producer) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift# | Taylor Swift# | Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. An influential figure in popular culture, she is known for her autobiographical songwriting and artistic reinventions. Swift is the highest-grossing live music artist, the wealthiest female musician, and one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Swift signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 and debuted as a country singer with the albums Taylor Swift (2006) and Fearless (2008). The singles "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Love Story", and "You Belong with Me" found crossover success on country and pop radio formats. Speak Now (2010) expanded her country pop sound with rock influences, while Red (2012) explored electronic influences. Swift recalibrated her artistic identity from country to pop with the synth-pop album 1989 (2014), while ensuing media scrutiny inspired hip-hop–imbued Reputation (2017). Through the 2010s, she accumulated the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", and "Look What You Made Me Do".
Shifting to Republic Records in 2018, Swift released the eclectic pop album Lover (2019) and re-recorded four of her first six albums due to a dispute with Big Machine. She explored indie folk on the 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, synth-pop on Midnights (2022) and The Tortured Poets Department (2024), and soft rock on The Life of a Showgirl (2025). The singles "Cardigan", "Willow", "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)", "Anti-Hero", "Cruel Summer", "Is It Over Now?", "Fortnight", "The Fate of Ophelia", and "Opalite" topped the Hot 100. Her Eras Tour (2023–2024) and its associated film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (2023), are the highest-grossing concert tour and concert film of all time.
Swift is the only artist to have been named the IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year six times. A record eight of her albums have each sold over a million copies first-week in the US. Publications such as Rolling Stone and Billboard have ranked Swift among the greatest artists of all time. She is the first individual from the arts to be named Time Person of the Year (2023) and the youngest female inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2026). Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards—including a record four Album of the Year wins—and a Primetime Emmy Award. Swift is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards. A subject of extensive media coverage, she has a global fanbase called Swifties.
== Life and career ==
=== Early life ===
Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania. She is named after the singer-songwriter James Taylor; her parents chose a unisex name, hoping it would help her succeed in business. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), worked as a mutual fund marketing executive. Swift's younger brother, Austin, is an actor. The siblings are of Scottish, English, and German descent, with distant Irish and Italian ancestry; they are paternal great-great-grandchildren of Charles Carmine Antonio Baldi, a prominent Philadelphia businessman. Their maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer whose singing in church became one of Swift's earliest memories of music.
During childhood, Swift spent her holiday seasons on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, and summers at her family's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, where she occasionally performed acoustic songs at a local coffee shop. Raised Christian, she attended preschool and kindergarten at a Montessori school run by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis before transferring to the Wyndcroft School in Pottstown. When her family moved to Wyomissing, she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At age nine, she aspired to a career in musical theater, performing at local festivals and in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions, and traveling regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she changed her goal and became determined to pursue a country music career in Nashville, Tennessee.
At the age of 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to visit record labels and submit demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. She was rejected by all the labels, which led her to focus on songwriting. She started learning the guitar at the age of 12 with the help of a computer repairman and local musician who assisted Swift in writing an original song. In 2003, she and her parents started working with the talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and was given an artist development deal from RCA Records at 13. To help Swift break into the country music scene, her father transferred to Merrill Lynch's Nashville office when she was 14 years old, and the family relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended Hendersonville High School for two years before transferring to Aaron Academy, which offered homeschooling.
=== 2004–2008: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift ===
Swift signed with Sony/ATV Tree Music Publishing in 2004; at 14, she became the youngest person in that publishing company's history. In Nashville, she worked with experienced Music Row songwriters, including Liz Rose. Rose and Swift would write songs every Tuesday afternoon after school. After one year on the development deal, she left RCA Records, which decided to keep her in development until she turned 18. Swift made this decision because she wanted to release the songs immediately to ensure that they still resonated with her teenage experiences.
Swift organized a showcase concert at the Bluebird Cafe on November 3, 2004; among the attendees was Scott Borchetta, a music executive who was planning to establish an independent record label, Big Machine Records. She signed a recording contract with Big Machine two weeks after the concert, on the condition that her albums would be written by herself; her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company. The contract was finalized by July 2005, when Swift ended the working relationship with Dymtrow. She spent four months near the end of 2005 recording her debut album, Taylor Swift, with the producer Nathan Chapman.
Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw", was released in June 2006. She and her mother spent mid-2006 sending promotional copies of the song to country radio stations across the US. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. On the US Billboard 200 chart, the album peaked at number five and spent 157 weeks on the chart—the longest chart run by an album in the 2000s. With Taylor Swift, she became the first female country music artist to write or co-write every track on a platinum-certified debut album. The album was promoted by a six-month radio tour and by Swift opening for other country artists, including Rascal Flatts in 2006, and George Strait, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in 2007. She opened for Rascal Flatts again in 2008, when she dated the singer Joe Jonas.
Taylor Swift was supported by four more singles in 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn", and "Should've Said No". "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reached number one on the Hot Country Songs chart; with the former single, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one country single. "Teardrops on My Guitar" was Swift's breakthrough single on mainstream radio and charts, reaching the top 10 of the Pop Songs, Adult Pop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts. Her next releases were the Christmas extended play (EP) The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007, and the Walmart-exclusive EP Beautiful Eyes in July 2008. Swift became the youngest person to be awarded with the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007.
=== 2008–2010: Fearless ===
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008, in North America, and in March 2009 in other markets. Fearless spent eleven weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming her first chart topper and the longest-running number-one female country album; it was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US. The album's lead single, "Love Story", became the first country song to top the Pop Songs chart, and its third single, "You Belong with Me", was the first country song to top Billboard's all-genre Radio Songs chart; both reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaked atop the Hot Country Songs chart. Three other singles—"White Horse", "Fifteen", "Fearless"—all reached the top 10 of Hot Country Songs. In 2009, Swift opened for Keith Urban's tour and embarked on her first headlining tour, the Fearless Tour.
Fearless became the most-awarded country album of all time. It won the three highest awards for a country album: Album of the Year by both the Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards in 2009, and Best Country Album by the Grammy Awards in 2010. At the Grammys, it also won Album of the Year, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Also in 2009, Swift was named Artist of the Year by both the American Music Awards and Billboard, and Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association Awards, becoming the youngest person to win the honor. "You Belong with Me" won Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by the rapper Kanye West, an incident that became the subject of controversy and widespread media coverage.
Swift collaborated with other musicians in 2009. She featured on "Half of My Heart" by John Mayer, with whom she was romantically linked later that year. She wrote "Best Days of Your Life" for Kellie Pickler, co-wrote and featured on Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One, and wrote and recorded "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier" for the soundtrack of Hannah Montana: The Movie, in which she had a cameo appearance. She had her acting debut in the 2010 rom-com Valentine's Day and wrote "Today Was a Fairytale" for its soundtrack. "Today Was a Fairytale" reached number one on the Canadian Hot 100. While shooting Valentine's Day in October 2009, Swift dated co-star Taylor Lautner. On television, she made her debut as a rebellious teenager in a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode and hosted and performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live; she was the first host to write their own opening monologue.
=== 2010–2014: Speak Now and Red ===
Swift wrote her third album, Speak Now, entirely by herself. Released on October 25, 2010, Speak Now expands on the country pop sound of Fearless and incorporates strong rock music influences. Speak Now debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with over one million first-week copies sold, registering the highest single-week tally for a female country artist. Five of its singles—"Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours"—charted in the top three of Hot Country Songs; "Sparks Fly" and "Ours" reached number one. "Mine" peaked at number three and was the highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift embarked on the Speak Now World Tour from February 2011 to March 2012. In 2011, Swift was honored as Woman of the Year by Billboard, Entertainer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association Awards, and Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She again won Entertainment of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012. At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. After the release of Speak Now, Swift dated the actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
On October 22, 2012, Swift released her fourth album, Red, which featured collaborations with Chapman and new producers including Max Martin, Shellback, Dan Wilson, Jeff Bhasker, Dann Huff, and Butch Walker. Conceived as a record that expanded beyond Swift's country pop releases, Red incorporates eclectic styles of pop and rock, such as Britrock, dubstep, and dance-pop, leading to a critical debate over Swift's status as a country musician. The album opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, becoming the fastest-selling country album in US history. It was Swift's first number-one album in the UK. During the promotion of Red, Swift was romantically involved with the political heir Conor Kennedy, and subsequently the singer Harry Styles.
The two most successful singles from Red, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble", peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100. Both songs also reached the top five on the UK singles chart, and the former was Swift's first chart topper in the US. Two other singles, "Begin Again" and "Red", peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100; while two others, "Everything Has Changed" and "22", reached the top 10 on the UK singles chart. The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and became the highest-grossing country tour with revenue of $150.2 million upon completion. Swift was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2013.
Swift wrote and recorded two songs for the soundtrack album to the 2012 dystopian film The Hunger Games: "Eyes Open" and "Safe & Sound". The latter, which was co-written with the Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media in 2013. She wrote and recorded "Sweeter than Fiction" for the soundtrack to the 2013 biographical film One Chance, and featured as a guest vocalist on B.o.B's 2012 single "Both of Us" and Tim McGraw's 2013 single "Highway Don't Care". Her acting roles included a voice acting role in the 2012 animated film The Lorax, a cameo in a 2013 episode of the sitcom New Girl, and a supporting role in the 2014 dystopian film The Giver.
=== 2014–2018: 1989 and Reputation ===
Swift relocated from Nashville to New York City in March 2014 and transformed her image from country to pop with her fifth album, 1989. She produced 1989 with Martin, Shellback, Chapman, and new collaborators Jack Antonoff, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. Rooted in 1980s synth-pop, 1989 incorporates upbeat dance and electronic arrangements of synthesizers, drum machines, and processed vocals. Released on October 27, 2014, the album spent eleven weeks at number one and one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. It has sold 14 million copies worldwide, becoming Swift's best-selling album.
Three of 1989's singles—"Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood"—reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100; the first two made Swift the first woman to replace herself at the top spot. Two other singles—"Style" and "Wildest Dreams"—peaked at numbers six and five, making 1989 the first album by Swift to have five consecutive top 10 singles on the Hot 100. The 1989 World Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2015 with $250 million in revenue. She was named Billboard's Woman of the Year and received the inaugural Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards in 2014, and "Bad Blood" won Video of the Year and Best Collaboration at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards in 2016, 1989 made Swift the first woman to win Album of the Year twice; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album, and "Bad Blood" won Best Music Video.
During the promotion of 1989, Swift publicly opposed free music streaming services. She published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in July 2014 to stress the importance of albums as a creative medium for artists, and, in November, removed her discography from ad-supported, free streaming platforms such as Spotify. Big Machine kept her music only on paid, subscription-required platforms. In a June 2015 open letter, Swift criticized Apple Music for not offering royalties to artists during its free three-month trial period and threatened to withdraw her music from the platform, prompting Apple Inc. to announce that it would pay artists during the free trial period. Big Machine returned Swift's catalog to Spotify and other free streaming platforms in June 2017.
Swift dated the DJ Calvin Harris from March 2015 to June 2016. They co-wrote the EDM single "This Is What You Came For", which featured vocals from Rihanna; Swift was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. "Better Man", the 2016 single which Swift wrote for the country vocal group Little Big Town, won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. She recorded "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with Zayn Malik for the soundtrack to the 2017 film Fifty Shades Darker; the song became the highest-charting single from the Fifty Shades franchise on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two.
In April 2016, Kanye West released the single "Famous", in which he references Swift in the line, "I made that bitch famous." Swift criticized West and said she never consented to the lyric, but West claimed that he had received her approval, and his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, released video clips of Swift and West discussing the song amicably over the phone. Although the clips were proven to be purposefully edited, the controversy made Swift a subject of an online "cancel" movement, in which her critics denounced her as a fake and calculating "snake". In late 2016, after briefly dating the actor Tom Hiddleston, Swift began a six-year relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn and went on hiatus.
In August 2017, Swift countersued and won a case against David Mueller, a former radio jockey for KYGO-FM, who sued her for damages from loss of employment. Four years earlier, she informed Mueller's employer that he had sexually assaulted her by groping her at an event. Public controversies influenced Swift's sixth album, Reputation, which explores themes of fame, drama, and finding love amidst the tumultuous affairs. A primarily electropop album, its maximalist production experiments with urban styles of hip-hop and R&B. Released on November 10, 2017, Reputation opened atop the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million US sales and also reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the UK.
Reputation's lead single, "Look What You Made Me Do", topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the highest sales and streaming week of 2017, and was Swift's first UK number-one single. The singles "...Ready for It?", "End Game", and "Delicate" were released to pop radio and all peaked in the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. In 2018, Swift featured on Sugarland's "Babe", surpassed Whitney Houston as the most-awarded female musician at the American Music Awards, and embarked on the Reputation Stadium Tour, which grossed $345.7 million worldwide.
=== 2018–2021: Lover, Folklore, and Evermore ===
In November 2018, Swift signed a record deal with Universal Music Group, which promoted her albums under Republic Records' imprint. The contract included a provision allowing Swift to maintain ownership of her master recordings. In addition, if Universal sold any part of its stake in Spotify, it agreed to distribute a non-recoupable portion of the proceeds to its artists.
Swift's first album with Republic Records and seventh overall, Lover, was released on August 23, 2019. She produced the album with Antonoff, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, and Joel Little. Lover peaked atop the charts of such countries as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, the UK, and the US, and was the global best-selling album by a solo artist of 2019. Three of its singles—"Me!", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover"—were released in 2019 and peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "The Man" was released in 2020 and charted highly, and "Cruel Summer" became a resurgent success in 2023, reaching number one.
In 2019, Swift was honored as Artist of the Decade by the American Music Awards and Woman of the Decade by Billboard, and became the first female artist to win Video of the Year for a self-directed video with "You Need to Calm Down" at the MTV Video Music Awards. During the promotion of Lover, Swift became embroiled in a public dispute with the talent manager Scooter Braun after he purchased Big Machine Records, including the masters of her albums under the label. Swift said that Big Machine would allow her to acquire the masters only if she exchanged one new album for each older one under a new contract, which she refused to sign. In November 2020, Swift began re-recording her back catalog, which would enable her to control the licensing of her songs for commercial use.
In February 2020, Swift signed a global publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group after her 16-year contract with Sony/ATV expired. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Swift surprise-released two "sister albums" that she recorded and produced with Antonoff and Aaron Dessner: Folklore on July 24, and Evermore on December 11. Joe Alwyn co-wrote and co-produced several songs under the pseudonym William Bowery. Both albums incorporate muted, atmospheric indie folk and indie rock sounds with orchestrations; each was supported by three singles catering to US pop, country, and triple A radio formats. The singles were "Cardigan", "Betty", and "Exile" from Folklore, and "Willow", "No Body, No Crime", and "Coney Island" from Evermore. Folklore and "Cardigan" made Swift the first artist to debut a number-one album and a number-one song in the same week in the US; she achieved the feat again with Evermore and "Willow".
Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2020 and Album of the Year for Folklore at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, becoming the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year three times. She played Bombalurina in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats (2019), for which she co-wrote and recorded the original song "Beautiful Ghosts". The documentary Miss Americana, which chronicled parts of Swift's life and career, premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.
=== 2021–2023: Re-recordings and Midnights ===
Swift released two re-recorded albums in 2021: Fearless (Taylor's Version) in April and Red (Taylor's Version) in November. Both peaked atop the Billboard 200, and the former was the first re-recorded album to do so. The latter helped Swift surpass Shania Twain as the female musician with the most weeks at number one on the Top Country Albums chart. The song "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version) became the longest song in history to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Swift's tenth album, Midnights, was released on October 21, 2022. The album features a minimalist electropop and synth-pop sound, with elements of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica. Midnights was Swift's fifth album to open atop the Billboard 200 chart with US first-week sales of one million. Its tracks, led by the single "Anti-Hero", made her the first artist to occupy the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week. The album peaked atop the charts of at least 14 other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden. Two other singles, "Lavender Haze" and "Karma", both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2023, Swift released two re-recorded albums: Speak Now (Taylor's Version) in July and 1989 (Taylor's Version) in October. The former made Swift the woman with the most number-one albums (12) in the history of the Billboard 200, surpassing Barbra Streisand, and the latter was her sixth album to sell one million US first-week copies. The single "Is It Over Now?" from 1989 (Taylor's Version) peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift featured on Big Red Machine's "Renegade" and "Birch" (2021), Haim's "Gasoline" (2021), Ed Sheeran's "The Joker and the Queen" (2022), and the National's "The Alcott" (2023). She wrote and recorded "Carolina" for the soundtrack of the 2022 mystery film Where the Crawdads Sing, and had a supporting role in the 2022 period comedy film Amsterdam.
In 2022, Swift won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Video of the Year for All Too Well: The Short Film, her self-directed short film that accompanies "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" at the MTV Video Music Awards; All Too Well also won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video. The following year, she again won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year with "Anti-Hero", became the first musician to rank at number one on Billboard's year-end top artists list in three different decades (2009, 2015 and 2023), and had five out of the 10 best-selling albums of the year in the US, a record since Luminate began tracking US music sales in 1991. At the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024, Midnights made Swift the first artist to win Album of the Year four times; it also won Best Pop Vocal Album.
=== 2023–present: The Eras Tour, The Tortured Poets Department, and The Life of a Showgirl ===
In March 2023, Swift embarked on the Eras Tour, which she conceived as a tribute to her entire discography. The tour spanned five continents through December 2024. It exerted a global cultural, economic, and political impact and culminated in an unprecedented height of popularity for Swift, resulting in a phenomenon that the media dubbed "Swiftmania". The Eras Tour became the first tour to gross $1 billion in revenue and the highest-grossing tour in history, with $2 billion in total revenue. Its 2023 concert film grossed $250 million to become the highest-grossing of its kind, and its 2024 photobook sold nearly a million copies in its first week in the US, followed by a 2025 documentary miniseries on Disney+. The events that happened during the tour inspired Swift's eleventh and twelfth albums, The Tortured Poets Department (2024) and The Life of a Showgirl (2025).
After splitting from Alwyn in April 2023, Swift dated the musician Matty Healy in May–June. During the run of the Eras Tour, there were controversies surrounding Ticketmaster's monopoly that led to political scrutiny in the US, venue mismanagement that led to a death in Brazil, and Singapore's exclusivity deal that led to political tension in Southeast Asia. In January 2024, AI-generated pornographic images portraying Swift were posted to Twitter and spread to other social media platforms, spurring criticism and demands for legal reform. In July 2024, three children were killed in a stabbing attack at a Swift-themed workshop in Southport, England, leading to civil unrest in the UK. The following month, the Vienna concerts were canceled following the arrest of suspects who planned a terrorist attack.
The Tortured Poets Department was released on April 19, 2024. The same day, it was expanded as a double album, subtitled The Anthology. It became the first album to accumulate one billion streams on Spotify within one week and topped charts of various countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK. In the US, it debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 2.6 million first-week units and stayed at number one for seventeen weeks, becoming Swift's longest-running chart-topping album. The album was the global best-seller of 2024, with 5.6 million pure copies sold. Its songs made her the first artist to monopolize the top fourteen positions of the Billboard Hot 100 the same week; the lead single, "Fortnight", peaked atop the chart, while the second single, "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart", peaked at number three. On May 30, 2025, Swift finalized the purchase of the masters to her first six original albums from Shamrock Holdings, which had acquired them from Braun in 2020.
Swift began dating the football player Travis Kelce in August 2023, with the media dubbing them a "supercouple". They became engaged in August 2025. She introduced The Life of a Showgirl on his podcast New Heights that month. It was released on October 3, 2025, accompanied by the promotional film Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, which topped the US box office and grossed over $50 million worldwide. The Life of a Showgirl debuted atop the Billboard 200 with four million first-week units—3.4 million of which were pure sales—breaking the records for the biggest debut or sales week for any album in the US. It was the best-selling album globally in 2025. The album's tracks occupied the top twelve spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with the lead single, "The Fate of Ophelia", at number one; it later became her first song to top the chart for ten cumulative weeks. "Opalite", the album's second single, also peaked at number one on the Hot 100.
== Artistry ==
=== Musical styles ===
With continuous musical reinventions, Swift was described as a musical "chameleon" by publications such as Time and the BBC. Her discography spans styles of country, pop, and folk, incorporating subgenres like country pop, pop rock, synth-pop, country rock, electropop, and indie rock, with elements of rock, rap, electronica, alternative, indie pop, and R&B. She self-identified as a country musician with her first four albums, from Taylor Swift to Red. Her influences were female country artists of the 1990s, such as Shania Twain, Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, and the Dixie Chicks, as well as Keith Urban's country-crossover sound with elements of rock, pop, and blues. The albums feature a country pop sound defined by instruments such as the six-string banjo, mandolin, and fiddle, a slight twang in Swift's vocals, and pop-rock melodies; Speak Now draws on rock styles of the 1970s and 1980s, such as pop rock, pop-punk, and arena rock. Some critics argued that country was an indicator of Swift's songwriting rather than her musical style, and accused her of causing mainstream country to stray from its roots.
Following the critical debate around Red's eclectic sounds, Swift chose 1980s synth-pop as a defining sound for her recalibrated artistry and image, inspired by the music of Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna. 1989, the first album in this direction, incorporates electronic arrangements consisting of dense synthesizers and drum machines. Swift expanded on the electronic production on her next albums. Reputation consists of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM influences; maximalist arrangements of heavy bass and manipulated vocals; and an emphasis on rhythm. Lover incorporates eclectic sounds from country, pop-punk, and folk rock. Midnights and The Tortured Poets Department both have a minimalist synth-pop sound characterized by analog synthesizers, sustained bass notes, and simple drum machine patterns; and The Life of a Showgirl incorporates pop and soft rock. When Swift embraced a pop identity, rockist critics regarded it as an erosion of her country songwriting authenticity, while others considered it necessary for her artistic evolution and defended her as a pioneer of poptimism.
Her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore, described by some critics as "alternative", explore indie folk and rock styles. They incorporate a subtle, stripped-back soundscape with orchestrations, muted synthesizers, and drum pads. Evermore experiments with varied song structures, asymmetric time signatures, and diverse instruments. Critics deemed the indie styles a mature representation of Swift's singer-songwriter status and credited her with popularizing "alternative" music, although there was disagreement over this description.
=== Voice ===
Swift possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range, but she mostly sings in her alto range. Her pitch, dialect, and accent have undergone many changes throughout her career. Reviews of her early country albums criticized her vocals as weak and strained compared to those of other female country singers. Defenders of Swift appreciated that she refrained from correcting her pitch with Auto-Tune and that she prioritized intimacy and emotion to communicate the messages of her songs with her audience, a style that critics have described as conversational. According to the critic Ann Powers, this singing style is demonstrated through Swift's attention to detail, which conveys an exact feeling—"the subtle adjustment of words and phrases to suggest moods like doubt, hope, and intimacy".
On Red and 1989, Swift's vocals are processed with electronic effects, such as synthesizer tweaking, looping, and multitracking, to accompany the pop production. Her voice on Reputation and Midnights incorporates hip-hop and R&B influences, resulting in a near-rap delivery that emphasizes rhythm and cadence over melody. She uses her lower register vocals extensively in Folklore and both her lower and upper registers in Evermore; the musicologist Alyssa Barca described her timbre in the upper register as "breathy and bright" and the lower register as "full and dark".
The reception of Swift's vocals has been more positive since the release of Folklore. The critic Amanda Petrusich commented in 2023 that her singing had become richer, with greater clarity and a stronger tone, even in live performances. Rolling Stone ranked her 102nd on their 2023 list "200 Greatest Singers of All Time"; the magazine argued that her breathy timbre allows for a broad range of delivery and commented: "A decade ago, including her on this list would have been a controversial move, but recent releases like Folklore, Evermore, and Midnights officially settled the argument." For Powers, Swift's versatile vocals are a result of her evolving artistry, combining "subtle interpolations of hip-hop's cadences and country crooners' relaxed timbre".
=== Songwriting ===
Swift's fascination with songwriting began in her childhood; she credited her mother with igniting her early interest by helping her prepare for class presentations, and would make up lyrics to Disney soundtrack songs once she had run out of words while singing them. In her early career, her influences were the country musicians Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton, and the 1990s female singer-songwriters Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, and Alanis Morissette. In later interviews, she listed Joni Mitchell and Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy as additional influences, and Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Kris Kristofferson as career role models for their consistent and evolving songwriting.
Swift considers herself a songwriter first and foremost. She divides her lyrics into three types: "quill lyrics", songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics", based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics", which are lively and frivolous. Using songwriting to cope with personal experiences, her songs are largely autobiographical and feature narratives that mostly revolve around love and romantic relationships. She would start writing by identifying an emotion she wanted to convey, and the story and melody would follow. Where Taylor Swift and Fearless are rooted in adolescent feelings and detail an optimistic romance inspired by fairy tales, Speak Now reflects her young adulthood, offering newfound wisdom on real-life heartbreak. Red explores the tumult of an intense breakup, and 1989 reflects on failed relationships with a wistful perspective; both albums incorporate lyrics that hint at sex, reflecting her personal growth. Swift described Lover as a "love letter to love", inspired by her realization of "love that was very real".
As her career progressed, Swift wrote about self-perception and confrontation with her critics, influenced by fame, sexism, and scrutiny of her personal life by the press. This was first exhibited in Speak Now, which set the precedent for the frantic media speculation on the subjects of Swift's songs, specifically concerning her dating history; Swift considers this practice sexist. Reputation both tackles the public controversies that tarnished her wholesome image and addresses a blossoming romance with intimacy and vulnerability; its extensive references to sex and alcohol set it apart from the youthful innocence that had informed Swift's past albums. The nocturnal ruminations addressed in Midnights encompass regrets and fantasies, informed by Swift's self-awareness of her fame. The Tortured Poets Department was conceived amidst her heightened fame in 2023, brought on by the Eras Tour and an intensely publicized love life. It explores heartbreak and other themes to extremes: erotic desires, forbidden love, and escaping from the public spotlight.
On Folklore and Evermore, Swift was inspired by escapism and romanticism to explore fictional narratives, deviating from the autobiographical songwriting that had characterized her artistry. She imposed her emotions onto imagined characters and story arcs, inspired by authors and poets of romantic and modernist literature like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson; the last of whom was a distant cousin of Swift. The characters on Folklore and Evermore construct their narratives from fragments of memory, symbolizing the nature of folktales and oral traditions that endure over time.
Swift considers her songwriting "confessional", and academics have linked her style to confessional poetry, noting that her songs reference personal events and express her internal feelings to her audience. Critical reception of her songwriting has been largely positive, and her melodic compositions have been highlighted for optimizing the verse-chorus form with memorable bridges. Several scholars have credited her with taking the confessional singer-songwriter tradition to new heights, and journalists have variedly described her as a "poet laureate"—of puberty, of romance, and of her generation. Some critics have dismissed her "confessional" style as material for tabloid gossip. Objection to the perceived poetic value of her songs, mostly from rockist critics, views her as a pop star using literary subtexts as a commercial ploy, with metaphors that are at times imprecise or self-indulgent.
Scholars have attributed criticisms of Swift's songwriting to sexism. The musicologist Travis Stimeling argued that whereas Swift's autobiographical authenticity conforms to country and rock standards, her detractors, mostly male, view her lyrical depictions of a young woman's experiences as trivial and unworthy of serious merit. According to the English-language academic Ryan Hibbett, this gendered criticism bars Swift from receiving full artistic credentials, as does Bob Dylan, whose reliance on romantic themes and occasional literary imprecisions are not as harshly criticized. In the view of the literary critic Stephanie Burt, although Swift's writing is not poetry in its traditional sense, it is proficient at "placing inventive, evocative language into pop melodies designed to be sung".
=== Performances and stage ===
Swift's concerts are equipped with elaborate settings, incorporating elements from Broadway theatre and high tech. She does not rely on elaborate choreography and instead emphasizes connecting emotionally with her audience through storytelling and vocal delivery. Since 2007, she has toured with the same live band. She plays four instruments live: guitar (including electric, acoustic six-string, and twelve-string), six-string banjo, piano, and ukulele.
Critics have praised her stage presence, stamina, and ability to bring forth an intimate atmosphere for her audience, even in stadium settings. Sasha Frere-Jones, in a 2008 article for The New Yorker, hailed her as a "preternaturally skilled" entertainer who exerted professionalism with a vibrant energy. In Time's 2023 Person of the Year piece, Sam Lansky wrote: "Swift is many things onstage—vulnerable and triumphant, playful and sad—but the intimacy of her songcraft is front and center."
=== Videos and filmmaking ===
Swift emphasizes visuals as a key creative component of her music. She established her production company, Taylor Swift Productions, in 2008. Her directorial debut was the music video for "Mine", co-directed with Roman White, in 2010; and she developed the concept and treatment for "Mean" in 2011. For the music videos of the 1989 and Reputation singles, she collaborated extensively with the director Joseph Kahn on eight videos; among them, she produced "Bad Blood", which won Best Music Video at the Grammy Awards in 2016. She worked with American Express for the "Blank Space" music video (which Kahn directed) and served as executive producer for the interactive app AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Interactive Program in 2015.
As of February 2026, Swift has directed 15 of her music videos. Her first solo directorial role was for "The Man", which made her the first female artist to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction. All Too Well: The Short Film marked her filmmaking debut, and it made her the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Music Video as a solo director. In June 2023, Swift was invited to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She has cited Joseph Kahn, Chloé Zhao, Greta Gerwig, Nora Ephron, Guillermo del Toro, John Cassavetes, and Noah Baumbach as filmmaking influences.
== Achievements ==
Swift has won 14 Grammy Awards (including four Album of the Year wins—the most by an artist), and is the first person to be nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year seven times. She has also won 12 Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, 2 Brit Awards, and an Emmy Award. She is the most-awarded artist of the American Music Awards (40 wins), the Billboard Music Awards (49), and the MTV Video Music Awards (30, tied with Beyoncé). Swift is the first woman and second artist overall (after Garth Brooks) to be honored with the Pinnacle Award by the Country Music Association Awards, in 2013, and the first woman to receive the Global Icon Award by the Brit Awards, in 2021.
At the 64th BMI Pop Awards in 2016, Swift became the first female songwriter to be honored with an award named after its recipient, the Taylor Swift Award. She is the youngest person to be featured on Rolling Stone's 2015 list "The 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time", received the Songwriter Icon Award from the National Music Publishers' Association in 2021, and was named the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade by the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2022. In 2026, Swift became the youngest woman to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry honored her as the Global Recording Artist of the Year six times (2014, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025), more than any other artist. She is the most-streamed artist on Spotify as of February 2024, and the highest-grossing touring act of all time, with cumulative revenue at $3.12 billion as of December 2024. Her chart records include the most number-one albums in the UK and Ireland for a female artist in the 21st century; the first artist to occupy the top five of the Australian albums chart, doing so twice, and the top 10 positions on the Australian singles chart; the most entries, most simultaneous entries, and most number-one entries for a soloist on the Billboard Global 200; and the first artist to spend one hundred weeks atop the Billboard Artist 100.
In the US, Swift has sold 116.7 million album units, including 54 million pure sales, as of May 2025. She is the solo artist with the most weeks at number one on the Billboard 200; the female artist with the most number-one albums on the Billboard 200 (fifteen) and most number-one debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 (eight); the artist with the most number-one songs on Pop Airplay (fifteen) and Adult Pop Airplay (fifteen, tied with Maroon 5); the first living artist to chart five albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200; the first woman to have both an album (Fearless) and a song ("Shake It Off") receive Diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); and the first and only woman to have 100 million album units certified by the RIAA. Billboard ranked her at number eight on its list "Greatest of All Time Artists" (2019), number two on "Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century" (2024), and number one on "Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century" and "Top Artists of the 21st Century" (both 2025).
Swift has appeared in power listings. In 2024, she became the first solo artist, and second overall (after Beyoncé and Jay-Z), to top Billboard's annual Power 100 ranking of the top music industry executives. Time included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010, 2015, and 2019. She was one of the "Silence Breakers" that the magazine spotlighted as Person of the Year in 2017 for speaking up about sexual assault. In 2023, she became the first person to be recognized as Time's Person of the Year for "achievement in the arts" and the first woman to appear on a Person of the Year cover more than once. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University and served as its commencement speaker on May 18, 2022.
== Public image ==
Swift is an enduring figure of 21st-century popular culture. Her career trajectory from a country singer-songwriter to a pop star in the 2000s and 2010s was the subject of extensive commentary. Deemed "America's Sweetheart" in her early career, she was described in the press as a "media darling" with a girl-next-door's polite demeanor and open-hearted conversations. Swift displayed a feminine image but refrained from the "aggressively sexualized feminist pop" of her contemporaries, leading publications to comment that her sex appeal was modest, subtle, and sophisticated. The adolescent themes of Swift's music contributed to her status as a teen idol, although several feminist authors took issue with her songs about romantic relationships as narrow-minded and detrimental to girls and women, who made up the majority of her fanbase known as Swifties.
Upon recalibrating her artistry to pop music, Swift has identified as a feminist and achieved a pop icon status. In 2013, the author Jody Rosen labelled Swift the "Queen of Pop", citing her popularity that defied traditional boundaries between "genres, eras, demographics, paradigms, trends". Her feminist public image garnered varied reactions from the public, including praise for her success in a male-dominated music industry as an inspiration for girls and women, and criticism that dismissed her feminist adoption as superficial and self-interested.
The 2016 dispute with Kanye West bolstered the narrative among Swift's detractors that she was a calculating and manipulative woman despite her sweetheart image, and deepened their feud that has resonated in their respective careers. Her artistic reinventions in the 2020s turned her into an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Buoyed by her enduring pop stardom, she has been recognized as a rare phenomenon that combines the pop star and singer-songwriter archetypes with unprecedented success. Swift is a known triskaidekaphile, known for using the number 13 in her various works.
== Legacy ==
Swift is one of the few artists who have consistently sold millions of albums throughout two decades despite the industry decline in record sales after the album era ended. In this regard, academics and journalists have described her as "the last pop superstar" and "the last great rock star" of the 21st century. Her commercial strategies to bolster sales of albums and concert tickets have earned her a reputation as a savvy businesswoman. The economist Alan Krueger described Swift as an "economic genius". Strategies such as enhanced material for physical album variants and easter egg usage in her works became indicative of music marketing trends.
Swift's success in country music has been credited with popularizing the genre beyond the US and introducing it to adolescent women, a previously ignored demographic. The critic Kelefa Sanneh dubbed Swift the biggest country star since Garth Brooks, "and maybe since before him, too". Her guitar performances resulted in increasing sales of guitars to women, which the media dubbed the "Taylor Swift factor". Her transition from country to pop has been credited as the catalyst for poptimism, and her songwriting and musical transitions have been credited with influencing a new generation of artists. According to Billboard, Swift is one of the few artists who can achieve chart success, critical acclaim, and fan support at the same time, and she has the ability to popularize any sound in mainstream music.
Swift's enduring popularity, particularly among female audiences, contributed to her status as a representation of millennials, or, more broadly, of her generation's zeitgeist. Her fandom of Swifties has been described by journalists and academics as one of the most loyal and dedicated. In the view of Time's Cady Lang, she maintained her superstardom through her "savvy manipulation of both the industry and [her] personal brand". According to the popular-culture scholars Mary Fogarty and Gina Arnold, Swift is arguably the singular artist "whose story encapsulates many of the urgent conflicts in early twenty-first-century American culture". In a 2024 article for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli wrote that her lasting popularity provoked debates comparing her not only to contemporaries like Drake or Beyoncé, but also to veteran artists like the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Elton John, or Madonna.
Swift's advocacy for artists' rights and re-recording projects have contributed to industry-wide discourses and reforms. Her artistry and career maneuvers have been the subject of various university courses in literary, cultural, and sociopolitical contexts. According to the popular culture scholars Sarai Brinker, Kate Galloway, and Elizabeth Scala, Swift's legacy has been both embraced and critiqued by different affiliations—feminist and queer communities, far-right groups, and religious organizations, and studied by experts in various fields—musicology, literature, sociology, media theory, linguistics, and culture studies.
== Wealth and endorsements ==
Through her management company, TAS Rights Management, LLC, Swift has filed over 300 trademark applications in the US and holds more than 400 registrations worldwide, as of August 2025. Her filings include her name "Taylor Swift", her fanbase name "Swifties", album cover art and titles, tour names, lyrics, slogans, and her cats' names. Swift was listed by Forbes as the world's highest-paid musician in 2016 and 2019, the highest-paid female musician of the 2010s decade, and the highest-paid female musician in 2021, 2022, and 2025.
By October 2023, as reported by both Forbes and Bloomberg L.P., Swift had become a billionaire. She was recognized as the first billionaire "primarily based on her songs and performances", with the majority of her fortune coming from royalties and touring. As of March 2026, her estimated net worth by Forbes stands at $2 billion, making her the richest female musician in the world. The net worth of her music catalog is estimated at $900 million. Her real estate portfolio, estimated by Forbes at $110 million as of 2025, consists of residential properties in Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles (Samuel Goldwyn Estate), and Rhode Island (High Watch).
Swift's use of private jets has drawn scrutiny for its carbon emissions. In 2023, a spokesperson for Swift stated that she had purchased more than double the required carbon credits to offset all tour travel and personal flights. In December 2023, Swift's lawyers sent a cease and desist letter to the American programmer Jack Sweeney for tracking her private jet, alleging stalking and safety risks. Media outlets have reported that the information posted by Sweeney is a synthesis of publicly available data. In February 2024, it was reported that Swift had sold one of her two private jets.
Swift's album rollouts typically consist of multimedia promotional activities that encompass corporate tie-ins and product endorsements. Target is a long-standing business partner with Swift, offering exclusive physical albums and merchandise. In 2008–2011, her albums and tours were promoted with self-designed dolls with Jakks Pacific, fragrances with Elizabeth Arden, clothes with L.E.I., and holiday cards with American Greetings. Her partnership deals included makeup products for CoverGirl and Cyber-shot cameras for Sony Electronics. In 2012–2015, she had tie-ins with Starbucks, Keds, Subway, Diet Coke, Walgreens, Walmart, and Papa John's.
In 2014, New York City named Swift its official tourism ambassador. She had an exclusive streaming deal with Apple Music in 2015, signed a multi-year deal with AT&T in 2016, and partnered with United Parcel Service to distribute her albums in 2017. In 2019, Swift signed a multi-year deal with Capital One and launched a clothing line with Stella McCartney. She became the first global ambassador for Record Store Day in 2022.
== Social activism ==
Swift avoided discussing politics in her early career. In a 2012 interview with Time, she said that she kept herself as educated as possible but did not want to influence others with her political opinions. Due to her apolitical stance, she was appropriated by the alt-right movement in the US, which sparked controversy. She did express support for President Barack Obama in 2008: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive."
Since 2018, Swift has been public about her political views and has abandoned her once-apolitical stance. She publicly endorsed two Democratic politicians for the 2018 US midterm election, which resulted in headlines about how she finally dissociated herself from the alt-right and conservatives. In interviews, she attributed her political reluctance in the past to the 2003 Dixie Chicks controversy, which left a lasting impact on country musicians at large and female country musicians in particular. She has openly criticized President Donald Trump. In 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections, which resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote within one day of her post, and endorsed the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 US presidential election. For the 2024 election, she once again endorsed the Democratic ticket of Harris and Tim Walz.
A pro-choice feminist, Swift is a founding signatory of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment, and she criticized the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022. A supporter of LGBTQ rights, she has donated to the LGBT organizations Tennessee Equality Project and GLAAD. In 2019, she called for the passing of the Equality Act and performed during WorldPride NYC 2019 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay rights monument. Swift has spoken up against white supremacy, racism, and police brutality in the US. She has supported the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the US, donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday.
Swift's political engagements have been met with mixed reception: they have provoked further public discussion of political issues and empowered Swifties, but critics have questioned whether her political alignments were strategic in her career. While some publications have argued that Swift's stardom had a significant impact on political involvement in the US, others have viewed her influence as sizable but overstated. According to the popular culture scholar Simone Driessen, her political impact extended beyond the US to Australia and Europe.
== Philanthropy ==
Swift ranked first on DoSomething's 2015 "Gone Good" list, having received the Star of Compassion from the Tennessee Disaster Services and the Big Help Award from the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action". Especially early in her career, Swift donated to various relief funds following natural disasters. In 2009, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. The same year, she performed at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, which raised money for those impacted by bushfires and flooding. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the US, raising more than $750,000. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, she donated $500,000. In 2009, Swift sang at the BBC's Children in Need concert and raised £13,000 for the cause. In 2016, she donated $1 million to Louisiana flood relief efforts and $100,000 to the Dolly Parton Fire Fund. Swift donated to food banks after Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in 2017. Swift donated $1 million to Tennessee tornado relief in 2020 and again in 2023, as well as $5 million to relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton in 2024.
Swift has also donated to cancer research. As the recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, she participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing the charity single "Ronan", which she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. She has also donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research and $50,000 to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She has made donations to her fans several times to help cover their medical or academic expenses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift donated to the World Health Organization and Feeding America and supported independent record stores. Swift performed "Soon You'll Get Better" on the One World: Together At Home television special, a benefit concert curated by Lady Gaga for Global Citizen to raise funds for the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
She is a supporter of the arts. A benefactor of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Swift has donated $75,000 to Hendersonville High School to help refurbish the school auditorium, $4 million to build a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, and $100,000 to the Nashville Symphony. In 2012, Swift partnered with Chegg for Good to donate $10,000 to the music departments of six US colleges.
She has also provided one-off donations. In 2007, she partnered with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police to launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has donated items to several charities for auction, including the UNICEF Tap Project and MusiCares. Swift has also encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day. Also a promoter of children's literacy, she has donated money and books to schools around the country. In 2018 and 2021, Swift donated to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. Swift donated to fellow singer-songwriter Kesha to help with her legal battles against Dr. Luke and to actress Mariska Hargitay's Joyful Heart Foundation.
During the Eras Tour, Swift donated to food banks in Florida, Arizona, and Las Vegas; she also employed local businesses throughout the tour and gave $197 million in bonus payments to her entire crew. In February 2024, she donated $100,000 to the family of a woman who died in a shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade. In December 2024, a week before Christmas, Swift donated $250,000 to Operation Breakthrough. The funds were directed to workforce development, childcare, and early learning programs. She made donations to the American Heart Association, Feeding America, MusiCares, and the Academy of Country Music's Lifting Lives program in December 2025.
== Discography ==
== Filmography ==
== Tours ==
Fearless Tour (2009–2010)
Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)
The Red Tour (2013–2014)
The 1989 World Tour (2015)
Reputation Stadium Tour (2018)
The Eras Tour (2023–2024) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Leith | Damien Leith | Damien Leo Leith (born 18 January 1976, in Dublin) is an Irish-Australian singer–songwriter. He was the winner of the Network Ten music contest Australian Idol in 2006. Since winning the title, Leith has released nine studio albums, four of which peaked in the top two of the ARIA Charts, including two number ones. He has been awarded seven platinum and one gold certification for albums and singles by ARIA, which equates to sales of just over half a million.
== Early life ==
As a teenager Leith formed a family band, "Leaf", with his sister Áine and brothers Paul and Darren. Leaf recorded in New York City and then again later under the new name "Releaf", which made an appearance in the Irish Top 100. After moving to Sydney, he played in a number of high-profile venues, as front-man for a band known as Revelate. His first Australian performance was at The Basement in Sydney's Circular Quay.
Before auditioning for Australian Idol, Leith worked in Sydney as a chemist with Pharmalab utilising the Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Chemistry he obtained from University College, Dublin and postgraduate experience within the Metallosupramolecular Research Group in the Chemistry Department of Trinity College, Dublin.
== Australian Idol 2006 ==
Only following determined coaxing by friends, Leith auditioned for the 4th series of Network Ten's Australian Idol along with some 25,000 other contestants. He was selected by the judges as one of the final 24 contestants, and was the first person voted into the competition's top 12 as the result of a nationwide viewer vote. He was praised by the show's judges for his falsetto technique, which he used regularly in performances. For the first time, Australian Idol 2006 permitted contestants to perform with instruments, and Leith accompanied himself on guitar for his renditions of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Alex Lloyd's "Never Meant to Fail" and Ben Harper's "Waiting on an Angel", and on piano for his rendition of Split Enz's "Message to My Girl". Leith also played piano for the non-competition round "Up Close and Personal" night, when he performed his original song "Sky".
Despite adverse comments from judges Mark Holden and Kyle Sandilands in relation to Leith's appearance and a performance of Kool and the Gang's "Celebration" on the "Disco" theme night, which drew ridicule from Holden, the judges' assessments of Leith's performances were usually positive with Holden labelling him a 'darkhorse' early in the competition. His renditions of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game", Roy Orbison's "Crying", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" each earned Leith a "Touchdown" from Mark Holden, Holden's ultimate accolade for an excellent performance.
Leith holds the record (with Australian Idol 2004 winner Casey Donovan) for being awarded the most touchdowns, at four apiece. Sandilands also stated that the family of Roy Orbison had contacted the Australian Idol producers requesting a copy of Leith's performance of "Crying". Although he was one of the most popular interviewees on Idol's behind-the-scenes show Idol Backstage, he was not expected by betting agencies to win the competition with Dean Geyer punted as the favourite to win throughout.
Leith is one of only few contestants to never land in the bottom 2 or bottom 3 throughout their series. During a live broadcast from the Sydney Opera House, Leith was announced the winner, over runner-up Jessica Mauboy. At age 30 at the time, Leith became the second oldest winner of any Idol series in the world. Controversy among viewers was created as Leith was not an Australian citizen at the time of winning the Australian Idol.
=== Australian Idol performances ===
== Post-Idol career ==
=== 2006: The Winner's Journey ===
Leith signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and his debut single, "Night of My Life", was released as a paid digital download from Bigpond Music soon after the conclusion of the grand finale, with an official CD release on 28 November, which included an original composition written and produced by Leith titled "Come to Me".
The single was certified "Gold" (35,000 copies sold) within 72 hours of its release. On 3 December 2006, the single debuted at number 1 and stayed in that position for 4 weeks, being accredited Platinum (70,000 copies shipped) in its first week of release. It was the fastest-selling debut single released during 2006, and also the most added song to radio. The video for "Night of My Life" debuted on national television on Saturday 9 December 2006. Set in the urban streets of Chippendale, New South Wales, the video was produced by Cutting Edge Productions.
Although with an official release date of 9 December, on 6 December 2006, Leith's CD/DVD pack entitled The Winner's Journey with all his Idol performances and two original tracks began appearing in non-ARIA accredited stores. The release debuted at number 3 with Platinum accreditation (70,000 copies shipped) on the ARIA Album Charts released on Sunday, 10 December 2006, and rose to number 1 on the following week, with 89,000 units sold and certified platinum four times (280,000 copies shipped). It sold a 2006 record of 101,206 units in the pre-Christmas week and continued to stay in the same position of number 1 for the next four weeks.
In late December 2006, Leith signed with Sony BMG Ireland and, on 18 January 2007, "Night of My Life" entered the Top 10 singles chart in Ireland. The next week it rose up two spots to the position of number 8. Leith performed in a nationally televised concert, Australia Day Live, on the eve of Australia Day in 2007, in the nation's capital, Canberra. He performed two songs, Peter Allen's "Tenterfield Saddler" with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and "Night of My Life".
In late February 2007, Leith embarked on a two-week, 14 show tour of major Australian East Coast cities. Labelled The Winner's Journey Tour, the concerts featured many of the songs performed by Leith during Australian Idol, as well as showcasing new original songs destined for his forthcoming studio album, including the folk/acoustic piece "Song for Jarvis", dedicated to his son, and "Beautiful", a band piece written by Leith during his trip to Ireland after winning Australian Idol. Supporting Leith on the tour was Sydney singer-songwriter and friend Mark Wilkinson.
On 22 February 2007, Leith was presented with two ARIA No. 1 Chart Awards for his first single "Night of My Life" and first album The Winner's Journey. These awards are presented to Australian artists whose singles and albums reach no. 1 on the ARIA national single and album charts over the thirteen months from December 2005 to December 2006.
In March 2007, Leith again performed "Night of My Life" and was nominated for "Spankin' New Artist" and "Best Male Artist" awards at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards 2007.
On 9 July 2007, Leith was nominated for a 2007 Helpmann Award in the category of Best Performance in an Australian Contemporary Concert (other nominees are David Campbell, Kylie Minogue and Olivia Newton-John). The annual Helpmann Awards recognise distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in the many disciplines of Australia's vibrant live performance sectors, including musical theatre, contemporary music, comedy, opera, classical music, dance and physical theatre. The Helpmann Awards, named in honour of Sir Robert Helpmann and to commemorate his memory and achievements, are similar to the Tony Awards on Broadway and the Olivier Awards in London. In early November 2007, Leith performed "22 Steps" on the TV soap opera Neighbours.
=== 2007–2008: Where We Land ===
Leith's second single "22 Steps" was released to Australian radio on 22 June 2007 and then was in stores on 21 July, which debut and peaked at number 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The studio album Where We Land followed and was released on 18 August 2007. It debuted at number one on 27 August in the ARIA Albums Chart. This is his second number one album within seven months. Damien is also the first Australian Idol winner to score two consecutive number 1 albums. Leith had an appearance on Rove on 26 August 2007 and he performed live during the semi-finals of Australian Idol 2007 on 30 August. The second single from the album is "All I Want Is You", which he performed on 8 October verdict show on Australian Idol 2007.
Leith embarked on a national Where We Land tour around Australia, performing his own material from the album, which began in November. The original schedule of the tour only included venues located along the east coast, but it was announced on 28 September that the tour will be extended to include Adelaide and Perth.
During February 2007, Leith signed a book deal with Australian publishers, HarperCollins. His first novel, written three years before entering Australian Idol, has been described by Leith as a psychological thriller set in Nepal. The novel, One More Time, was released on 1 October 2007.
In October 2007, Leith was nominated for three Australian ARIA Music Awards including; Best Breakthrough Single and Highest Selling Single for "Night of My Life", which he was unsuccessful in. He was also nominated for Highest Selling Album for The Winner's Journey, which he won.
In February 2008, Damien began hosting Network Ten's television series Saving Kids. It was filmed at Sydney Children's Hospital, allowing viewers to see medical miracles unfolding in the stories of children being treated for serious illnesses and horrific injuries. His song "Not Just for the Weekend" from his debut studio album served as the theme song and was released as a promotional single to promote the show.
=== 2008: Catch the Wind ===
On 26 April 2008, less than a year after the release of his first studio album, Where We Land, Leith released his second album, Catch the Wind: Songs of a Generation. The album contained his own interpretations of classic folk songs.
The album debut in the ARIA Albums Chart at number 3 on 4 May and rose to its peak at number 2 the next week held off the top spot by André Rieu and Mirusia's Waltzing Matilda. It was certified Gold in its third week. Leith performed a series of live shows across Australia for his Catch the Wind tour which began in May and ran until late July. The tour was up-close and personal set in small venues with only two other band members.
=== 2009: Remember June ===
Leith's third studio album, Remember June, was released in Australia on 9 October. It debuted at number 25 and spent two weeks in the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, and 3 weeks in the ARIA Top 20 Australian Artist Albums Chart. The first single from the album, "To Get to You", went to radio on 14 September, and was released 25 September. The second single "Forgive Forget" was released in April 2010. It reached No. 65 on the ARIA Singles Chart, No. 1 on the ARIA Physical Singles Chart, and No. 13 on the Australian Artists Single Chart.
He has also released his second novel which has a father and son relationship plot, and was released by HarperCollins. The book is also called Remember June. His first novel, "One More Time" was published in 2007.
=== 2011: Roy ===
In an interview with Australian magazine New Idea, Damien mentioned he had recorded his fourth studio album in the United States. It was released on 15 April 2011. It is an album of Roy Orbison covers, entitled Roy, and was released to coincide with what would have been Orbison's 75th birthday. This album was produced by Barbara Orbison, Roy's widow, who died on 6 December 2011, aged 61. The album peaked at number 2, and spent 25 non-consecutive weeks on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart and gained platinum certification.
=== 2012–2014: Now & Then and Chapter Seven ===
On Friday, 20 April 2012, Damien's fifth studio album Now & Then was released. It debuted at number 14 and peaked at number 12 on the ARIA Charts, and spent four weeks in the top 50. Two singles, "Beautiful" and "Run", were released. Neither single impacted on the ARIA Charts. "Beautiful" was featured in an Estee Lauder TV commercial airing on various networks in the United States in late 2012.
On 1 November 2013, Damien's released a new album called Chapter Seven. It was preceded by single "Without a Fight", which was released on 13 September. Chapter Seven spent one week in the ARIA Top 100, peaking at number 57. Its three singles, "Without a Fight", "Halfway Heart" and "You and I" did not chart.
In May 2014, Leith released a new single titled "One and Only Mum".
In August 2014, Leith released a triple A-sided single of "Last Goodbye"/"Fields of Gold"/"Girl Back on Blue Bayou" via Leithal Enterprises with Joe Melson.
In November 2014, Leith released a Christmas extended play titled It's Christmas Time. It featured the traditional Christmas carols "Silent Night", "Jingle Bells", "It's Christmas Time", "Auld Lang Syne" and "Deck the Halls".
=== 2015-2017: Songs from Ireland ===
In February 2015, Leith announced his eighth album titled Songs from Ireland. The release reunites him with Sony Music Australia as he covers classic Irish songs including "Molly Malone", "Galway Girl" and "Wild Colonial Boy" and was released in March.
In 2016, Leith will travel Australia with the "Winner’s Journey: 10th Anniversary Tour". Leith said; "It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since I first stepped onto the 'Australian Idol stage'. One thing is for certain, I wouldn’t be doing what I am today without all the amazing support from fans over the years. From my albums, to my books and concerts, you've been there all the way and I can't thank you all enough."
In January 2017, Leith won his first Golden Guitar award at the Country Music Awards of Australia winning Song of the Year for "Call Me Cray" which he co-wrote with Travis Collins. In 2017, Leith toured the 'Roy – A Tribute to Roy Orbison' show across Australia.
=== 2018: Damien Leith Storytime and Gospel ===
In 2018 Leith commenced a new project called 'Damien Leith Storytime' and features bedtime stories for kids. He released an EP in February. In August, Leith released his ninth studio album, Gospel; an album inspired by Elvis Presley.
As of late August 2018, Leith joined Muswellbrook-based radio station 98.1 Power FM as a breakfast announcer.
In 2020, Leith performed "Uninvited" with Greg Gould from Gould's album 1998.
== Personal life ==
He was born in Ireland and raised near Milltown, County Kildare. His father travelled as part of his work as an engineer, and their family lived in various countries including Libya and Botswana.
Leith later on emigrated to Australia where he married Eileen Stapleton, an Australian. They have two sons and a daughter. Leith became an Australian citizen on 25 January 2007, taking the pledge from then Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, in a nationally televised broadcast on Network Ten. He currently lives in Wollongong, New South Wales and works as a radio announcer.
== Discography ==
Live and Studio albums
The Winner's Journey (2006)
Where We Land (2007)
Catch the Wind: Songs of a Generation (2008)
Remember June (2009)
Roy: A Tribute to Roy Orbison (2011)
Now & Then (2012)
Chapter Seven (2013)
Songs from Ireland (2015)
Gospel (2018)
Two of Us: The Songs of Lennon & McCartney (2020) (with Darren Coggan)
Treasured Favourites (2020)
Roy Orbison Orchestrated (2023)
== Awards and nominations ==
=== ARIA Music Awards ===
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music
=== Helpmann Awards ===
The Helpmann Awards is an awards show, celebrating live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia since 2001. Note: 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
=== MTV Australia Awards ===
The annual MTV Australia Awards were awards issued by MTV Australia from 2005 to 2009. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg | Steven Spielberg | Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema and is the highest-grossing film director of all time. Among other accolades, he has received three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, four BAFTA Awards, twelve Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, an honorary knighthood in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015, and the National Medal of Arts in 2023. According to Forbes, he is the wealthiest celebrity. He is one of 22 people to achieve EGOT status.
Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He moved to California and studied film in college. After directing several episodes for television, including Night Gallery and Columbo, he directed the television film Duel (1971), which was approved by Barry Diller. He made his theatrical debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), also beginning his decades-long collaboration with composer John Williams, with whom he has worked with for all but five of his theatrical releases. He became a household name with the summer blockbuster Jaws (1975), and continuously directed more acclaimed escapist box-office blockbusters with Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and the original Indiana Jones trilogy (1981–1989). He also explored drama in The Color Purple (1985) and Empire of the Sun (1987).
In 1993, Spielberg directed back-to-back hits with the science fiction film Jurassic Park, the highest-grossing film ever at the time, and the epic historical drama Schindler's List, which has often been listed as one of the greatest films ever made. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the latter as well as for the World War II epic Saving Private Ryan (1998). Spielberg has since directed the science fiction films A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002), War of the Worlds (2005) and Ready Player One (2018); the historical dramas Amistad (1997), Munich (2005), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012), Bridge of Spies (2015) and The Post (2017); the comedies Catch Me If You Can (2002) and The Terminal (2004); the animated film The Adventures of Tintin (2011); the musical West Side Story (2021); and the family drama The Fabelmans (2022).
Spielberg co-founded Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures, and he has served as a producer for many successful films and television series, among them Poltergeist (1982), Gremlins (1984), Back to the Future (1985), An American Tail (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Animaniacs (1993), Freakazoid! (1995), Twister (1996), Band of Brothers (2001) and Transformers (2007–present). Several of Spielberg's works are considered among the greatest films in history, and some are among the highest-grossing films ever.
Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2013, Time listed him as one of the 100 most influential people, and in 2023, Spielberg was the recipient of the first ever Time 100 Impact Award in the US.
== Early life, education, and early career ==
Steven Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the eldest child and only son of four children. His mother, Leah Adler (née Posner), was a concert pianist and ran a kosher dairy restaurant, and his father, Arnold, was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers. His immediate family were Reform Jewish/Orthodox Jewish. Spielberg's paternal grandparents were Jews from Ukraine; his grandmother Rebecca (née Chechik), was from Sudylkiv, and his grandfather Shmuel Spielberg was from Kamianets-Podilskyi. Spielberg has three younger sisters: Anne, Sue, and Nancy. At their home in Cincinnati, his grandmother taught English to Holocaust survivors. They, in turn, taught him numbers: One man in particular, I kept looking at his numbers–his number tattooed on his forearm ... he started – you know, when–during the dinner break, when everybody was eating and not learning, he would point to the numbers. And he would say, that is a two, and that is a four. And then he'd say, and this is a eight, and that's a one. And I'll never forget this. And he said, and that's a nine. And then he crooked his arm and inverted his arm and said, and see, it becomes a six. It's magic. And now it's a nine, and now it's a six, and now it's a nine and now it's a six. And that's really how I learned my numbers for the first time ... the irony of all that, and the gift of that lesson, never really dawned on me until I was much older.
In 1952, his family moved to Haddon Township, New Jersey, after his father was hired by RCA. Spielberg attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by Rabbi Albert L. Lewis. In early 1957, the family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Spielberg had a bar mitzvah ceremony when he was thirteen. His family was involved in the synagogue and had many Jewish friends. Of the Holocaust, he said that his parents "talked about it all the time, and so it was always on my mind". His father had lost between sixteen and twenty relatives in the Holocaust. Spielberg found it difficult accepting his heritage; he said: "It isn't something I enjoy admitting ... but when I was seven, eight, nine years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents' Jewish practices. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times." Spielberg was the target of antisemitism: "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible." He gradually followed Judaism less during adolescence, after his family had moved to various neighborhoods and found themselves to be the only Jews.
Spielberg recalls his parents taking him to see Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). He had never seen a movie before, and thought they were taking him to the circus. He was terrified by the movie's train crash, and at age 12, he recreated it with his Lionel trains and filmed it. He recalls: "The trains went around and around, and after a while that got boring, and I had this eight-millimeter camera, and I staged a train wreck and filmed it. That was hard on the trains, but then I could cut the film lots of different ways and look at it over and over again." This was his first home movie. In 1958, he became a Boy Scout, eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. He fulfilled a requirement for the photography merit badge by making a nine-minute 8 mm Western, The Last Gunfight. Spielberg used his father's movie camera to make amateur features, and began taking the camera along on every Scout trip. At age 13, Spielberg made a 40-minute war film, Escape to Nowhere, with a cast of classmates. The film won first prize in a statewide competition. Throughout his early teens, and after entering high school, Spielberg made about fifteen to twenty 8 mm adventure films. He recalls that my dad told me stories about World War II constantly ... I knew, based on the stories my dad and his friends were telling about World War II, that there was no glory in war. And it was ugly, and it was cruel ... it was, you know, visually devastating. And so I thought, someday, if I ever do make a war movie for real, it's got to be something that tells the truth about what those experiences had been for those young 17-, 18-, 19-year-old boys storming Omaha Beach, let's say.
In Phoenix, Spielberg went to the local theater every Saturday. Formative films included Victor Fleming's Captains Courageous (1937), Walt Disney's Pinocchio and Fantasia (both 1940), Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and The Seven Samurai (1954), Ishirō Honda's Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) ("the film that set me on my journey"), Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) and Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ("I'm still living off the adrenalin that ... I experienced watching that film for the first time.") He attended Arcadia High School in 1961 for three years. In 1963, he wrote and directed a 140-minute science fiction film, Firelight, the basis of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Firelight, funded mainly by his father, was shown in a local theater for one evening and grossed $501 against its $500 budget.
After taking a tour bus to Universal Studios, a chance conversation with an executive led to Spielberg getting a three-day pass to the premises. On the fourth day, he walked up to the studio gates without a pass, and the security guard waved him in: "I basically spent the next two months at Universal Studios ... that was how I became an unofficial apprentice that summer." His family later moved to Saratoga, California, where he attended Saratoga High School. A year later, his parents divorced. Spielberg moved to Los Angeles to stay with his father, while his three sisters and mother remained in Saratoga. He recalls: My parents split up when I was 15 or 16 years old, and I needed a special friend, and had to use my imagination to take me to places that felt good – that helped me move beyond the problems my parents were having, and that ended our family as a whole. And thinking about that time, I thought, an extraterrestrial character would be the perfect springboard to purge the pain of your parents' splitting up. He recalls his mother had "a huge adventurous personality. We always saw her as Peter Pan, the kid who never wanted to grow up, and she sort of saw herself that way. I think my mom lived a lot of childhoods in her ninety-seven years." He was not interested in academics, aspiring only to be a filmmaker. He applied to the University of Southern California's film school but was turned down because of his mediocre grades. He then applied and enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, where he became a brother of Theta Chi fraternity. In 1968, Universal gave Spielberg the opportunity to write and direct a short film for theatrical release, the 26-minute 35 mm Amblin'. Studio vice president Sidney Sheinberg was impressed and offered Spielberg a seven-year directing contract. A year later, he dropped out of college to begin directing television productions for Universal, making him the youngest director to be signed to a long-term plan with a major Hollywood studio. Spielberg returned to Long Beach in 2002, where he presented Schindler's List to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Film and Electronic Media.
He recalls a formative encounter with one of his favorite filmmakers, John Ford, who said: "So they tell me you want to be a picture maker. You see those paintings around the office?" Spielberg said he did. John Ford pointed to a painting and asked, "Where's the horizon?" Spielberg said it was at the top. Ford asked him where it was in another painting. Spielberg said it was at the bottom. Ford said, "When you're able to distinguish the art of the horizon at the bottom of a frame or at the top of the frame, but not going right through the center of the frame, when you can appreciate why it's at the top and why it's at the bottom, you might make a pretty good picture maker."
== Career ==
=== 1969–1974: Television work and film debut ===
Spielberg made his professional debut with "Eyes", a segment of Night Gallery (1969) scripted by Rod Serling and starring Joan Crawford. Initially, there was skepticism from Crawford and studio executives regarding Spielberg's inexperience. Despite Spielberg's efforts to implement advanced camerawork techniques, studio executives demanded a more straightforward approach. His initial contributions received mixed responses, leading Spielberg to briefly step back from studio work. Crawford, reflecting on her collaboration with Spielberg, recognized his potential, noting his unique intuitive inspiration. She expressed her appreciation for Spielberg's talent in a note to him and communicated her approval to Serling. Crawford's endorsement highlighted Spielberg's early recognition in Hollywood despite hesitations regarding his experience.
In the early 1970s, Spielberg unsuccessfully tried to raise financing for his own low-budget films. He co-wrote and directed teleplays for Marcus Welby, M.D., The Name of the Game, Columbo, Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and The Psychiatrist. The Columbo episode directed would be the show's inaugural, non-pilot episode "Murder by the Book". Although unsatisfied with his work, Spielberg used the opportunity to experiment with his techniques and learn about filmmaking. He earned good reviews and impressed producers; he was earning a steady income and relocated to Laurel Canyon, LA.
Impressed, Universal signed Spielberg to do four television films. The first was Duel (1971), adapted from Richard Matheson's short story, about a salesman (Dennis Weaver) being chased down a highway by a psychotic tanker truck driver. Executives decided to promote the film on television from its quality. Reviews were positive, and Universal asked Spielberg to shoot more scenes so it could be released theatrically to international markets. "Deservedly so" writes David Thomson, "for it stands up as one of the medium's most compelling spirals of suspense. The ordinariness of the Dennis Weaver character and the monstrous malignance of the truck confront one another with a narrative assurance that never needs to remind us of the element of fable." Duel, which would mark Spielberg's debut as a film director, would first air on Barry Diller's ABC Movie of the Week before having an international theatrical release. More TV films followed: Something Evil (1972), which aired on CBS, and Savage (1973), which aired on NBC; however, unlike Duel, neither of these would have a theatrical run.
Spielberg made his official theatrical debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), based on a true story about a married couple on the run, desperate to regain custody of their baby from foster parents. The film starred Goldie Hawn and William Atherton and marked the first of many collaborations with composer John Williams. Although the film was awarded Best Screenplay at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, it was not a commercial success, which Spielberg blamed on Universal's inconsistent marketing. The film opened in 400 US theaters to positive reviews; Pauline Kael wrote "Spielberg uses his gifts in a very free-and-easy, American way—for humor, and for a physical response to action. He could be that rarity among directors, a born entertainer—perhaps a new generation's Howard Hawks." The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "a major new director is on the horizon".
=== 1975–1980: Stardom with blockbuster films ===
Producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown took a chance with Spielberg, giving him the opportunity to direct Jaws (1975), a thriller based on Peter Benchley's bestseller. In it, a great white shark attacks beachgoers at a resort town, prompting police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) to hunt it down with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a veteran shark hunter (Robert Shaw). Jaws was the first movie shot on open ocean, so shooting proved difficult, especially when the mechanical shark malfunctioned. The shooting schedule overran by a hundred days, and Universal threatened to cancel production. Against expectations, Jaws was a success, setting the domestic box-office record and making Spielberg a household name. It won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing (Verna Fields), Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams) and Best Sound (Robert Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery and John Carter). Spielberg said the malfunctioning of the mechanical shark resulted in a better movie, as he had to find other ways to suggest the shark's presence. After seeing the unconventional camera techniques of Jaws, Alfred Hitchcock praised "young Spielberg" for thinking outside the visual dynamics of the theater: "He's the first one of us who doesn't see the proscenium arch".
After declining an offer to make Jaws 2, Spielberg and Dreyfuss reunited to work on a film about UFOs, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Spielberg used 65 mm film for the best picture quality, and a new live-action recording system so recordings could be duplicated later. He cast one of his favorite directors, François Truffaut, as the scientist Claude Lacombe and worked with special effects expert Douglas Trumbull. It marked the first of many collaborations between Spielberg and editor Michael Kahn. One of the rare films both written and directed by Spielberg, Close Encounters was popular with filmgoers and won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography (Vilmos Zsigmond) and Best Sound Effects Editing (Frank Warner). Stanley Kauffmann wrote: "I saw Close Encounters at its first public showing in New York, and most of the audience stayed...to watch the credits crawl lengthily at the end. For one thing, under the credits the giant spaceship was returning to the stars. For another, they just didn't want to leave this picture. For still another, they seemed to understand the importance of those many names to what they had just seen." Kauffmann placed it first on his list of the best American films from 1968 to 1977. Kael called Spielberg "a magician in the age of movies".
His next directorial work was 1941 (1979), an action-comedy written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale about Californians preparing for a Japanese invasion after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Spielberg was self-conscious about doing comedy as he had no prior experience in it. Universal and Columbia agreed to co-finance the film. 1941 grossed more than $92 million worldwide upon release, but most critics, and the studio heads, disliked it. Charles Champlin described 1941 as "the most conspicuous waste since the last major oil spill, which it somewhat resembles".
=== 1981–1992: Established filmmaker ===
Spielberg directed Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), with a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. They considered it a homage to the serials of the 1930s and 40s. It starred Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. Filmed in La Rochelle, Hawaii, Tunisia and Elstree Studios, England, the shoot was difficult but Spielberg said it helped him hone his business acumen. The film was a box-office success and won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction (Norman Reynolds, Leslie Dilley and Michael D. Ford); Best Film Editing (Michael Kahn); Best Sound (Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker and Roy Charman); Best Sound Editing (Ben Burtt and Richard L. Anderson); and Best Visual Effects (Richard Edlund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson and Joe Johnston). Roger Ebert wrote: "Raiders of the Lost Ark is an out-of-body experience, a movie of glorious imagination and breakneck speed that grabs you in the first shot, hurtles you through a series of incredible adventures, and deposits you back in reality two hours later–breathless, dizzy, wrung-out, and with a silly grin on your face". Raiders was the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise.
Spielberg returned to science fiction with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). It tells the story of Elliot (Henry Thomas), a young boy who befriends an alien who was accidentally left behind by his companions and is attempting to return home. Spielberg eschewed storyboards so his direction would be more spontaneous, and shot roughly in sequence so the actors' performances would be authentic as they bonded with and said goodbye to E.T. Richard Corliss wrote, "This was the closing-night attraction at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, a venue not known for blubbering sentiment. At the end, as the little critter bade his farewells and the Jules Verne-like space ship left the ground, the audience similarly levitated. One heard the audience's childlike applause; one felt their spirits lift. This was rapture made audible, palpable ... Spielberg orchestrated the movements of the camera and the puppet spaceman with the feelings of—it has to be called love—expressed in young Henry Thomas' yearning face. E.T. was the first film character to be a finalist in TIME's Man of the Year sweepstakes. It would have been fine with me if the little creature, this lovely film, had won."
A special screening was organized for Ronald and Nancy Reagan, who were emotional by the end. E.T. grossed $700 million worldwide. It won four Academy Awards: Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Sound (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo and Gene Cantamessa), Best Sound Editing (Charles L. Campbell and Ben Burtt) and Best Visual Effects (Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith). Kael wrote of E.T., "His voice is ancient and otherworldly but friendly, humorous. And this scaly, wrinkled little man with huge, wide-apart, soulful eyes and a jack-in-the-box neck has been so fully created that he's a friend to us, too; when he speaks of his longing to go home the audience becomes as mournful as Elliot. Spielberg has earned the tears that some people in the audience—and not just children—shed. Genuinely entrancing movies are almost as rare as extraterrestrial visitors." Spielberg co-wrote and produced Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982), released the same summer as E.T. With John Landis, he co-produced the anthology film Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), contributing the "Kick the Can" segment.
His next feature film was the Raiders of the Lost Ark prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Working again with Lucas and Ford, the film was shot in the US, Sri Lanka and China. The film was darker than its predecessor, and led to the creation of the PG-13 rating because some content was deemed unsuitable for children under 13. Spielberg later said he was unhappy with Temple of Doom because it lacked his "personal touches and love". Nonetheless, the film was a blockbuster hit, won the Academy Award for Best Special Effects and received mostly good reviews. Kael preferred it to the original, writing, "Spielberg is like a magician whose tricks are so daring they make you laugh. He creates an atmosphere of happy disbelief: the more breathtaking and exhilarating the stunts are the funnier they are. Nobody has ever fused thrills and laughter in quite the way that he does here. He starts off at full charge in the opening sequence and just keeps going". She conceded that it was less "sincere" than Raiders, adding "that's what is so good about it." On this project Spielberg met his future wife, Kate Capshaw, who played Willie Scott. Spielberg recalled, "The second film I could have done a lot better if there had been a different story. It was a good learning exercise for me to really throw myself into a black hole. I came out of the darkness of Temple Of Doom and I entered the light of the woman I was eventually going to marry and raise a family with."
Thomson writes that "At first sight, the Spielberg of the eighties may seem more an impresario—or a studio, even—then a director." Between 1984-90, Spielberg served as producer or executive producer on nineteen feature films for his production company, Amblin Entertainment. Among them were Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984), The Goonies (Richard Donner, 1985), Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988), Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990) and Arachnophobia (Frank Marshall, 1990). In the early 1980s, Spielberg befriended Warner Communications CEO Steve Ross eventually resulting in Spielberg making films for Warner Bros. It began with The Color Purple (1985), an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, about a generation of empowered African-American women in the depression-era South. It was Spielberg's first film on a dramatic subject matter, and he expressed reservations about tackling the project: "It's the risk of being judged-and accused of not having the sensibility to do character studies." Starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, the film was a box-office hit and critics started to take note of Spielberg's foray into drama. Ebert named it the best film of the year. The film received eleven Academy Award nominations, and Spielberg won Best Director from the Directors Guild of America.
As China underwent economic reform and opened up to the American film industry, Spielberg made Empire of the Sun (1987), the first American film shot in Shanghai since the 1930s. It is an adaptation of J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel about Jamie Graham (Christian Bale), a boy who goes from being the son of a wealthy British family in Shanghai, to a prisoner of war in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. David Lean was originally set to direct, with Spielberg producing. It was written by Tom Stoppard and co-starred John Malkovich as an American expatriate. Critical reaction was mixed at the time of release; criticism ranged from the "overwrought" plot to Spielberg's downplaying of "disease and starvation". However, Andrew Sarris named it the best film of the year and later included it among the best of the decade. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, but a disappointment at the box office; Ian Alterman of The New York Times thought it was overlooked by audiences. Spielberg recalled that Empire of the Sun was one of his most enjoyable films to make. Thomson called it "a great work through and through" and "the first clear sign that Spielberg the showman was an artist, too."
In 1989, Spielberg intended to direct Rain Man, but instead directed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to meet his contractual obligations. Producer Lucas and star Ford returned for the film. A longtime James Bond fan, Spielberg cast Sean Connery as Jones's father, Henry Jones, Sr. Due to complaints about violence in Temple of Doom, Spielberg returned to more family-friendly fare for the third installment. Last Crusade received positive reviews and was a box-office success, earning $474 million; it was his biggest hit since E.T. Biographer Joseph McBride wrote that it was a comeback for Spielberg, and Spielberg acknowledged the amount he has learned from making the Indiana Jones series. Ebert wrote that, "If there is just a shade of disappointment after seeing this movie, it has to be because we will never again have the shock of this material seeming new. Raiders of the Lost Ark, now more than ever, seems a turning point in the cinema of escapist entertainment, and there was really no way Spielberg could make it new all over again. What he has done is to take many of the same elements, and apply all of his craft and sense of fun to make them work yet once again. And they do."
Also in 1989, he reunited with Richard Dreyfuss for the romantic drama Always, about an aerial firefighter. It is a modern remake of one of Spielberg's favorite childhood films, A Guy Named Joe (1943). The story was personal; he said "As a child I was very frustrated, and maybe I saw my own parents [in A Guy Named Joe]. I was also short of girlfriends. And it stuck with me." Spielberg had discussed the film with Dreyfuss back in 1975, with up to twelve drafts being written before filming commenced. Always was commercially unsuccessful and received mixed reviews. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Always is filled with big, sentimental moments, it lacks the intimacy to make any of this very moving."
After a brief setback in which Spielberg felt "artistically stalled", he returned in 1991 with Hook, about a middle-aged Peter Pan (Robin Williams), who returns to Neverland and encounters Tinker Bell (Julia Roberts) and the eponymous Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman). During filming, the stars clashed on set; Spielberg told 60 Minutes that he would never work with Roberts again. Nominated for five Academy Awards, the studio enjoyed the film but most critics did not; Thomson called it "maudlin". Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe described the film as "too industrially organized", and thought it mundane. At the box office, it earned more than $300 million worldwide from a $70 million budget.
=== 1993–1998: Transition to dramatic works ===
In 1993, Spielberg returned to the adventure genre with Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton's bestseller, with a screenplay by Crichton and David Koepp. Jurassic Park is set on a fictional island near Costa Rica, where a businessman (Richard Attenborough) has hired geneticists to create a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. In a departure from his usual order of planning, Spielberg and the designers storyboarded certain sequences from the novel early on. The film also used computer-generated imagery provided by Industrial Light & Magic; Jurassic Park was completed on time and became the highest-grossing film at the time, and won three Academy Awards.
Also in 1993, Spielberg directed Schindler's List, about Oskar Schindler, a businessman who helped save 1,100 Jews from The Holocaust. Based on Schindler's Ark, Spielberg waited ten years to make the film as he did not feel "mature" enough. He wanted to embrace his heritage, and after the birth of his son, Max, he said that "it greatly affected me [...] A spirit began to ignite in me, and I became a Jewish dad". Filming commenced on March 1, 1993, in Poland, while Spielberg was still editing Jurassic Park in the evenings. To make filming "bearable", Spielberg brought his wife and children with him. Against expectations, the film was a commercial success, and Spielberg used his percentage of profits to start the Shoah Foundation, a non-profit organization that archives testimonies of Holocaust survivors. Schindler's List won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Spielberg's first as Best Director. It also won seven BAFTAs, and three Golden Globes. Schindler's List is one of the AFI's 100 best American films ever made.
Ebert wrote, "Flaubert once wrote that he disliked Uncle Tom's Cabin because the author was constantly preaching against slavery. 'Does one have to make observations about slavery?' he asked. 'Depict it; that's enough.' And then he added, 'An author in his book must be like God in the universe, present everywhere and visible nowhere.' That would describe Spielberg, the author of this film. He depicts the evil of the Holocaust, and he tells an incredible story of how it was robbed of some of its intended victims. He does so without the tricks of his trade, the directorial and dramatic contrivances that would inspire the usual melodramatic payoffs. Spielberg is not visible in this film. But his restraint and passion are present in every shot." Filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, criticized the film for its weak representation of the Holocaust. Imre Kertész, a Hungarian author and concentration camp survivor, disliked the film, saying, "I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust." Thomson calls it "the most moving film I have ever seen."
In 1994, Spielberg took a break from directing to spend more time with his family, and set up his new film studio, DreamWorks, with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. After his hiatus, he returned to directing with a sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). A loose adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel The Lost World, the plot follows mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and his researchers who study dinosaurs at Jurassic Park and are confronted by another team with a different agenda. Spielberg wanted the onscreen creatures to be more realistic than in the first film; he used 3D storyboards, computer imagery and robotic puppets. Budgeted at $73 million, The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened in May 1997 and was one of the highest grossing films of the year. The J. Hoberman critic opined that The Lost World was "better crafted but less fun" than the first film, while The Guardian wrote "It looks like a director on autopilot [...] The special effects brook no argument."
Amistad (1997), his first film released under DreamWorks, was based on the true story of the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad. Producer Debbie Allen, who had read the book Amistad I in 1978, thought Spielberg would be perfect to direct. Spielberg was hesitant taking on the project, afraid it would be compared to Schindler's List, but said, "I've never planned my career [...] In the end I do what I think I gotta do." Starring Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou and Matthew McConaughey, Spielberg used Allen's ten years worth of research to reenact the difficult historical scenes. The film struggled to find an audience, and underperformed at the box office; Spielberg admitted that Amistad "became too much of a history lesson".
Spielberg's 1998 release was World War II epic Saving Private Ryan, about a group of US soldiers led by Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) sent to bring home a paratrooper whose three brothers were killed in the same twenty-four hours of the Normandy landing. Filming took place in England, and US Marine Dale Dye was hired to train the actors and keep them in character during combat scenes. Halfway through filming, Spielberg reminded the cast they were making a tribute to thank "your grandparents and my dad, who fought in [the war]". Critics praised the direction and its realistic portrayal of war. The film grossed a successful $481 million worldwide and Spielberg won a second Academy Award for Best Director. In August 1999, Spielberg and Hanks were awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal from Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen. Thomson writes "Ryan changed war films: combat, shock, wounds, and fear had never been so graphically presented; and yet there was also a true sense of what duties and ideas had felt like in 1944. I disliked the framing device. I would have admired a director who trusted us to get there without that. Never mind—Ryan is a magnificent film." Ebert wrote "Spielberg knows how to make audiences weep better than any director since Chaplin in City Lights. But weeping is an incomplete response, letting the audience off the hook. This film embodies ideas. After the immediate experience begins to fade, the implications remain and grow."
=== 1999–2012: Experimentations with technology ===
Spielberg returned to science fiction with A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), a loose adaptation of Brian Aldiss's short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (1969). Stanley Kubrick had bought the rights to the story in 1979 and worked on an adaptation for years. He told Spielberg about the project in 1984 and suggested that he direct, believing the story was closer to Spielberg's sensibilities. In 1999, Kubrick died. Spielberg decided to direct A.I. and wrote the screenplay. Spielberg tried to be faithful to Kubrick's vision and made allusions to his friend's work though with mixed results according to some critics. The plot revolves around an android, David (Haley Joel Osment) who, like Pinocchio, dreams of being a "real boy". The film won five Saturn Awards and grossed $236 million worldwide. Jonathan Rosenbaum highly praised the film: "If A.I. Artificial Intelligence — a film whose split personality is apparent even in its two-part title — is as much a Kubrick movie as a Spielberg one, this is in large part because it defamiliarizes Spielberg, makes him strange. Yet it also defamiliarizes Kubrick, with equally ambiguous results — making his unfamiliarity familiar. Both filmmakers should be credited for the results—Kubrick for proposing that Spielberg direct the project and Spielberg for doing his utmost to respect Kubrick's intentions while making it a profoundly personal work." A. O. Scott called it "the best fairy tale–the most disturbing, complex and intellectually challenging boy's adventure story–Mr. Spielberg has made" and chose it as the best film of the year and one of the best of the decade.
Spielberg followed A.I. with the sci-fi neo-noir Minority Report (2002), based on Philip K. Dick's short story (1956). The film stars Tom Cruise as commanding officer of precrime in futuristic Washington, D.C. Ebert named Minority Report the best film of 2002, praising its craftsmanship: "here is Spielberg using every trick in the book and matching them without seams, so that no matter how he's achieving his effects, the focus is always on the story and the characters ... Some directors place their trust in technology. Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools." However, critic Todd McCarthy thought there was not enough action. The film earned more than $358 million worldwide. Also in 2002, he released Catch Me If You Can, based on the autobiography of con-artist Frank Abagnale. Leonardo DiCaprio played Abagnale; Christopher Walken and Hanks also starred. Spielberg said, "I have always loved movies about sensational rogues—they break the law, but you just have to love them for the moxie." The film was a critical and commercial success.
Spielberg followed Catch Me If You Can with The Terminal (2004), a comedy inspired by the true story of Mehran Karimi Nasseri and by Jacques Tati's Playtime (1967). The film follows Viktor Navorski (Hanks), an Eastern European man who, after a coup in his home country, is stranded in John F. Kennedy International Airport. It features Catherine Zeta-Jones as a flight attendant and Stanley Tucci as a customs and immigration official. Ebert wrote of Viktor's predicament: "The immigration service, and indeed the American legal system, has no way of dealing with him because Viktor does not do, or fail to do, any of the things the system is set up to prevent him from doing, or not doing. He has slipped through a perfect logical loophole. The Terminal is like a sunny Kakfa story, in which it is the citizen who persecutes the bureaucracy." The titular terminal was a real set built by Alex McDowell. In 2005, Spielberg directed War of the Worlds, a co-production of Paramount and DreamWorks, based on H. G. Wells's novel; Spielberg had been a fan of the book and of George Pal's 1953 film. Starring Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, the film is about an American dock worker who is forced to look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he tries to protect and reunite them with their mother when extraterrestrials invade Earth. Spielberg used storyboards to help the actors react to computer imagery that they could not see and used natural lighting and camerawork to avoid an "over stylized" science fiction picture. The film was a box-office hit grossing more than $600 million worldwide.
Spielberg's Munich (2005) is about the Israeli government's secret retaliation after 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were murdered in the 1972 Munich massacre. The film is based on Vengeance, a book by journalist George Jonas. It was previously adapted for the screen in the 1986 television film Sword of Gideon. Spielberg, who personally remembers the incident, sought advice from former president Bill Clinton, among others, before making the film, because he did not want to cause further problems in the Middle East. Although the film garnered mostly positive reviews, some critics perceived it as antisemitic; it is one of Spielberg's most controversial films. Munich received five Academy Awards nominations: Best Picture, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Spielberg. It was his sixth Best Director nomination, and fifth Best Picture nomination.
In the mid-2000s, Spielberg scaled down his directing career and became more selective about film projects. In December 2005, he and his partners sold DreamWorks to conglomerate Viacom. In June 2006, Spielberg planned to make Interstellar, but abandoned the project, which was eventually directed by Christopher Nolan. Spielberg remained active as a producer. Spielberg returned to the Indiana Jones series in 2008 with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Released 19 years after Last Crusade, the film is set in 1957, pitting Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against Soviet agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett), searching for a telepathic crystal skull. Principal photography was complete in October 2007, and the film was released in May 2008. This was his first film not released by DreamWorks since 1997. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, but some fans were disappointed by the introduction of science fiction elements uncharacteristic of the previous films. Tom Ryan praised Spielberg and Lucas for their realistic 1950s setting—"The energy on display is impressive". It was a box-office success, grossing $790 million worldwide.
Starting in 2009, Spielberg shot the first film in a planned trilogy of motion capture films based on Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin. Spielberg had long been a fan of the comics, and per Michael Farr, Hergé "thought Spielberg was the only person who could ever do Tintin justice." The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn was co-produced by Peter Jackson and premiered in Brussels, Belgium. The film was released in North American theaters on December 21, 2011, in Digital 3D and IMAX. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $373 million worldwide. The Adventures of Tintin won Best Animated Feature at the 69th Golden Globe Awards. Spielberg followed Tintin with War Horse, shot in England in summer 2010. It was released four days after Tintin, on December 25, 2011. The film, based on Michael Morpurgo's 1982 novel, follows the friendship between a British boy and his horse Joey before and during World War I. Distributed by Walt Disney Studios with whom DreamWorks made a distribution deal in 2009, War Horse was the first of four consecutive Spielberg films released by Disney. It received acclaim from critics and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In a review for Salon magazine, Andrew O'Hehir wrote, "at this point in his career Spielberg is pursuing personal goals, and everything that's terrific and overly flat and tooth-rottingly sweet about War Horse reflects that."
Spielberg directed the historical drama Lincoln (2012), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln. Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and written by Tony Kushner, the film depicts the final four months of Lincoln's life. The film was shot in Richmond, Virginia in late 2011. and was released in the US in November 2012. Lincoln was acclaimed and earned more than $250 million worldwide. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning Best Production Design and Best Actor for Day-Lewis's performance. Donald Clarke from The Irish Times praised the direction: "Against the odds, Spielberg makes something genuinely exciting of the backstage wheedling."
=== 2013–present: Recent work ===
It was announced on May 2, 2013, that Spielberg would direct American Sniper, but he left the project before production began. Instead, he directed Bridge of Spies (2015), a Cold War thriller based on the 1960 U-2 incident, and focusing on James B. Donovan's negotiations with the Soviets for the release of pilot Gary Powers after his aircraft was shot down over Soviet territory. It was written by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers, and starred Tom Hanks as Donovan, as well as Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan and Alan Alda. It was filmed in the fall of 2014 in New York City, Berlin and Wroclaw, and was released on October 16. Bridge of Spies was popular with critics, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture; Rylance won Best Supporting Actor, becoming the second actor to win for a performance directed by Spielberg.
In 2016, Spielberg made The BFG, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's book, starring newcomer Ruby Barnhill, and Mark Rylance as the titular Big Friendly Giant. DreamWorks bought the rights in 2010, and John Madden had intended to direct. The film was the last to be written by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison before her death. It was co-produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures, marking the first Disney-branded film to be directed by Spielberg. The BFG premiered as an out-of-competition entry at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and received a wide release in the US on July 1, 2016. The BFG received fair reviews; Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune compared certain scenes to the works of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, while Toronto Sun's Liz Braun thought that there were "moments of wonder and delight" but it was too long.
A year later, Spielberg directed The Post, an account of The Washington Post's printing of the Pentagon Papers. Starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, production began in New York on May 30, 2017. Spielberg stated his attraction to the project: "When I read the first draft of the script, this wasn't something that could wait three years or two years—this was a story I felt we needed to tell today." The film received a wide release on January 12, 2018. The Post gained positive reception; the critic from the Associated Press thought "Spielberg infuses every scene with tension and life and the grandeur of the ordinary that he's always been so good at conveying." In 2017, Spielberg and Paul Greengrass, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro and Lawrence Kasdan were featured in the Netflix documentary series Five Came Back, about the war-related works of directors Frank Capra, John Ford, John Huston, George Stevens and William Wyler. Spielberg was also an executive producer. He executive produced the series with Barry Diller and Scott Rudin.
Spielberg directed the science fiction Ready Player One (2018), adapted from the novel of the same name by Ernest Cline. It stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. The plot takes place in 2045 when much of humanity uses virtual reality to escape the real world. Ready Player One began production in July 2016, and was intended to be released on December 15, 2017, but was moved to March 2018 to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It premiered at the 2018 South by Southwest film festival. Spielberg's direction was praised along with the action scenes and visual effects, but many critics thought the film was too long and overused 1980s nostalgia.
In 2019, Spielberg filmed West Side Story, an adaptation of the musical of the same name. It stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler in her film debut with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno in supporting roles. Written by Tony Kushner, the film stays true to the 1950s setting. West Side Story was released in December 2021 to positive reviews and received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, and Best Director. Spielberg also received nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, Directors Guild of America, and Critics' Choice Movie Awards. The Economist praised the choreography, stating that it "stunningly melds beauty and violence". In March 2022, Spielberg said that West Side Story would be the last musical he will direct.
Spielberg's 2022 film The Fabelmans is a fictionalized account of his own adolescence, which he wrote with Tony Kushner. Gabriel LaBelle plays Sammy Fabelman, a character inspired by Spielberg, while Michelle Williams plays Sammy's mother Mitzi Fabelman, Paul Dano plays Burt Fabelman, his father, Seth Rogen plays Bennie Loewy, Burt's best friend and co-worker who becomes Sammy's surrogate uncle, and Judd Hirsch as Mitzi's Uncle Boris. Filming began in Los Angeles in July 2021, and the film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, Spielberg's first appearance at that festival. It received widespread critical acclaim and won the festival's People's Choice Award. It received a limited theatrical release on November 11, 2022, by Universal Pictures, before expanding wide on November 23.
Despite the favorable critical reception, West Side Story and The Fabelmans were box-office failures, which Variety suggested could be attributed to a decline in the popularity of Spielberg in a film-going environment altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the public's loss of interest in prestige films. The Fabelmans received seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It was, however, a major box office success in France and became the highest-rated film of the 21st century in the country, with a 4.9 average from critics on AlloCiné from 43 reviews, with all but 6 giving the film 5 stars. Cahiers du Cinéma wrote that Spielberg, at age 76, had "come to represent like no other, the idea of cinema as wonder, at a time when the relationship to the spectacular and the cinema seems more tormented than ever" and declared that the film will "undoubtedly remain the most important and singular film of his career".
Spielberg had planned to direct Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but he stepped down and was replaced by James Mangold. Spielberg said that he would remain "hands on" as a producer, along with Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. In 2016, it was announced that it would be written by David Koepp, with a release by Disney on July 19, 2019. After a change of filming and release dates, it was postponed again when Jonathan Kasdan was announced as the film's new writer. Soon after, a new release date of July 9, 2021, was announced. In May 2019, Dan Fogelman was hired to write a new script, and Kasdan's story, focused on the Nazi gold train, would not be used; the script was ultimately credited to Mangold, Koepp, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth. In April 2020, it was announced that the release of the film was delayed to July 29, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in October 2021, the release date was again delayed to June 30, 2023. The film began production in the UK in June 2021 and finished in February 2022.
In February 2025, Spielberg began shooting his next film, Disclosure Day, reportedly about UFOs. The screenplay was written by David Koepp, based on an original idea from Spielberg. The film will star Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, and Eve Hewson, and is set to be released in theatres on June 12, 2026, by Universal Pictures.
== Other ventures ==
=== Production ===
Spielberg's first film as an executive producer was the directorial debut of Robert Zemeckis, I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). He produced Zemeckis's dark comedy Used Cars (1980), which was a critical but not a commercial success. In 1980, Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall founded Amblin Productions; the first film it produced was the romantic comedy Continental Divide (Michael Apted, 1981). It went on to produce Gremlins (Joe Dante, 1984), Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis, 1988), Joe Versus the Volcano (John Patrick Shanley, 1990), Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1997) and The Mask of Zorro (Martin Campbell, 1998). For some, including Young Sherlock Holmes (Barry Levinson, 1985) and Harry and the Hendersons (William Dear, 1987), the title "Steven Spielberg Presents" was in the opening credits. It produced Don Bluth's animated films An American Tail (1986) and The Land Before Time (1988), leading to the spin-off Amblimation. In 1985, NBC offered Spielberg a two-year contract on a television series, Amazing Stories; the show was marketed as a blend of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. NBC gave Spielberg creative control and a budget of $1 million for each episode. After two seasons and disappointing ratings, the show was not renewed. Although Spielberg's involvement as a producer would vary widely from project to project, Zemeckis said that Spielberg would always "respect the filmmaker's vision". Over the next decade, Spielberg's record as a producer brought mixed critical and commercial results. In 1992, Spielberg began to scale back producing, saying "Producing has been the least fulfilling aspect of what I've done in the last decade." He produced cartoons such as Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Family Dog, Freakazoid!, and Pinky and the Brain. He produced A Brief History of Time by Errol Morris.
In 1993, Spielberg served as an executive producer for the NBC science fiction series seaQuest DSV; the show was not a hit. In 1994, he found success producing the medical drama ER. That year, Spielberg founded DreamWorks with Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Spielberg cited greater creative control and distribution improvements as the main reasons for founding his own studio; he and his partners compared themselves to the founders of United Artists in 1919. DreamWorks' investors included Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates. After founding DreamWorks, Spielberg continued to operate Amblin Entertainment and direct films for other studios. He helped design Jurassic Park: The Ride at Universal Studios Florida. The workload of filmmaking and operating a studio raised questions about his commitments, but Spielberg maintained that "this is all fitting nicely into my life and I'm still home by six and I'm still home on the weekends." In 1998, DreamWorks Animation produced its first full-length animated features, Antz and The Prince of Egypt. Shrek (2001) was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Spielberg and Tom Hanks produced Band of Brothers (2001), a ten-part HBO miniseries based on Stephen E. Ambrose's book of the same name. It follows Easy Company of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. It won a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries. He produced Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), an adaptation of Arthur Golden's novel of the same name. Spielberg and Zemeckis executive-produced the animated film Monster House (2006), marking their eighth collaboration. He also worked with Clint Eastwood for the first time, co-producing Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima with Robert Lorenz. Spielberg served as executive producer for Disturbia, (2007) and the Transformers film series. That same year, Spielberg and Mark Burnett co-produced On the Lot, a reality and competition show about filmmaking. Spielberg returned to the World War II theme, co-producing the 2010 miniseries The Pacific with Hanks and Gary Goetzman. It is centered on the battles in the Pacific Theater. The next year, Spielberg co-created Falling Skies, a science fiction series on TNT, with Robert Rodat and produced the 2011 Fox series Terra Nova and J. J. Abrams's Super 8.
In January 2013, HBO confirmed that it was developing a World War II miniseries based on the book Donald L. Miller's Masters of the Air with Spielberg and Hanks. NME reported in March 2017 that production was under the working title The Mighty Eighth. By 2019, it was confirmed development of the miniseries, now titled Masters of the Air, had moved to Apple TV+. The series premiered on January 26, 2024. On January 18, 2023, Spielberg told press at a red carpet event for The Fabelmans that he was executive producing a documentary about John Williams, directed by Laurent Bouzereau with production companies Amblin Television, Imagine Documentaries, and Nedland Media. Other executive producers for the film include Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Justin Wilkes, Sara Bernstein, and Meredith Kaulfers. The announcement came days after Williams suggested that he might not retire from film scoring as he had previously announced. The film, Music by John Williams, premiered at the 2024 AFI Fest.
=== Upcoming and prospective projects ===
In May 2009, Spielberg bought the rights to the life story of Martin Luther King Jr., with the intention of being involved as both the producer and director. The purchase was made from the King estate, led by son Dexter, while the two other surviving children, the Reverend Bernice and Martin III, immediately threatened to sue, not having given their approvals to the project. In March 2013, Spielberg announced that he was developing a miniseries based on the life of Napoleon. In May 2016, it was announced that Cary Joji Fukunaga was in talks to direct the miniseries for HBO, from a script by David Leland based on extensive research materials accumulated by Stanley Kubrick over the years.
Spielberg was set to film an adaptation of David I. Kertzer's The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara in early 2017, for release at the end of that year, but production was ultimately postponed. It was first announced in 2014, with Tony Kushner adapting the book for the screen. Mark Rylance, in his fourth collaboration with Spielberg, was announced to star in the role of Pope Pius IX. Spielberg saw more than 2,000 children to play the role of the young Edgardo Mortara. In 2015, it was announced that Spielberg was attached to direct an adaptation of American photojournalist Lynsey Addario's memoir It's What I Do, with Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role. In April 2018, it was announced that Spielberg would direct a film adaptation of the Blackhawk comic book series. Warner Bros. would distribute the film with David Koepp writing the script.
On June 21, 2021, it was announced that Amblin Entertainment signed a deal with Netflix to release multiple new feature films for the streaming service. Under the deal, Amblin is expected to produce at least two films a year for Netflix for an unspecified number of years. In February 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that Spielberg was developing an original film centered around the character Frank Bullitt, a fictional San Francisco police officer originally portrayed by Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt. The screenplay is set to be written by Josh Singer, who previously co-wrote The Post for Spielberg. McQueen's son Chad and granddaughter Molly will serve as executive producers. Bradley Cooper was cast as Bullitt in November 2022 and will also serve as producer alongside Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger.
On February 14, 2025, it was announced that The Goonies 2 was in the works with Spielberg producing.On November 6, 2025, it was announced that Spielberg will serve as an executive producer for Gremlins 3 which will be released on November 19, 2027.
=== Video games ===
Spielberg has been an avid gamer since 1974. Spielberg played many of LucasArts adventure games, including the first Monkey Island games.
In 1995, Spielberg helped create and design LucasArts' adventure game The Dig. He also collaborated with software publishers Knowledge Adventure on the game Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, which was released in 1996; Spielberg appears in the game to direct the player.
In 2005, Spielberg collaborated with Electronic Arts (EA) on several games including one for the Wii called Boom Blox, and its sequel Boom Blox Bash Party. He is also the creator of EA's Medal of Honor series.
He dislikes the use of cutscenes in games.
=== Theatre ===
Spielberg first ventured into theatre producing in 1997, with his involvement on a production of The Diary of Anne Frank, as well as the original 1998 production of The Farnsworth Invention. In 2022, he made his Broadway producing debut as a co-producer on the musical A Strange Loop. He went on to produce the stage musical adaptations of Water for Elephants and Death Becomes Her alongside his wife Kate Capshaw, both in 2024. He will next co-produce the upcoming stage adaptation of Smash, based on the 2012 NBC television series of the same name, on which he served as an executive producer. It is set to begin performances in 2025.
== Filmmaking style and techniques ==
=== Influences ===
Spielberg cites John Ford as a formative influence: "I try to rent a John Ford film... before I start every movie, simply because he inspires me.... He's like a classic painter, he celebrates the frame, not just what's inside it." He names Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life (1946) as an influence on themes of "family, community and suburbia". He enjoyed the work of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and John Frankenheimer. In college, he was inspired by foreign films by Ingmar Bergman, Jacques Tati and François Truffaut. Spencer Tracy has also influenced the characters of Spielberg's films, as did The Twilight Zone. He says Lawrence of Arabia is the film he's seen more times than any other. With Martin Scorsese, Spielberg helped with the restoration of Lawrence by Robert A. Harris. Among films by his contemporaries, Spielberg was influenced by Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: "I was pulverized by the story and the effect the film had on me... I also felt that I should quit, that there was no reason I should continue directing because I would never achieve that level of confidence and ability to tell a story." In 2005, Coppola contacted Spielberg about restoring the film; Spielberg contacted studio head Brad Grey. In 1982, Spielberg bought one of the prop sleds from Citizen Kane. Spielberg called Kane 'the most classic movie ever made," and the sled "a symbolic emblem of quality in the film business".
=== Method and themes ===
Spielberg often uses storyboards to visualize sequences, eschewing them for E.T. the Extraterrestrial and The Color Purple for a more spontaneous effect. After filming Jaws, Spielberg learned to save special effects scenes until last and to exclude the media from filming locations. Spielberg prefers to shoot quickly, with large amounts of coverage (from single-shot to multi-shot setups), so that he will have many options in the editing room. From the beginning of his career, Spielberg's shooting style consisted of extreme high and low camera angles, long takes, and handheld cameras. He favors wide-angle lens for creating depth, and by the time he was making Minority Report, he was more confident with elaborate camera movements.
In an interview with The Tech in 2015, Spielberg described how he chooses his film projects:[Sometimes], a story speaks to me, even if it doesn't speak to any of my collaborators or any of my partners, who look at me and scratch their heads and say, "Gee, are you sure you wanna get into that trench for a year and a half?" I love people challenging me that way because it's a real test about my own convictions and [whether] I can be the standing man of my own life and take a stand on a subject that may not be popular, but that I would be proud to add to the body of my work. That's pretty much the litmus test that gets me to say, "Yeah, I'll direct that one."Spielberg's films contain many recurrent themes. One of the most pertinent revolves around "ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances". The ordinary people often have limitations, but they succeed in becoming a "hero". A consistent theme in his family-friendly work is a childlike sense of wonder and faith, and "the goodness in humanity will prevail". He has also explored the importance of childhood, loss of innocence, and the need for parental figures. In exploring the parent-child relationship, there is usually a flawed or irresponsible father figure. This theme personally resonates with Spielberg's childhood. Exploring extraterrestrial life is another aspect to his work. Spielberg described himself as like an "alien" during childhood, and this interest came from his father, a science fiction fan.
=== Collaborators ===
Michael Kahn has edited all of Spielberg's films since 1977, with the exception of E.T. (1982). Spielberg has also worked consistently with production designer Rick Carter and writer David Koepp. The producer Kathleen Kennedy is one of Spielberg's longest serving collaborators. Spielberg also displays loyalty to his actors, casting them repeatedly, including Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, Mark Rylance, Richard Dreyfuss and Tom Cruise. In 2005, Cruise called him "the greatest storyteller cinema's ever known".
Hanks has collaborated with Spielberg on various projects in both film and television. He first worked with Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan (1998) for which he received a nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor. Hanks starred in four more films, Catch Me if You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004), Bridge of Spies (2015) and The Post (2017). The pair also executive produced the war miniseries Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), both of which gained them Primetime Emmy Awards.
Janusz Kamiński has served as a cinematographer on dozens of Spielberg's films. Kamiński's first collaboration with Spielberg started with the holocaust drama film Schindler's List (1993) for which Kamiński received the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. The film used black-and-white cinematography. As Spielberg's career evolved from action to drama films, he and Kamiński adopted more handheld camerawork, as evidenced in Schindler's List and Amistad. Kamiński would later receive his second Academy Award for cinematography on Saving Private Ryan. The film's opening sequence to re-enact the invasion of Normandy was praised for realism. Kamiński garnered three more Academy Award nominations for his work on War Horse (2011), the historical epic Lincoln (2012), and West Side Story (2021).
Spielberg's long-time partnership with composer John Williams began with The Sugarland Express (1974). Williams would return to compose all but five of Spielberg's feature films (the exceptions are Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One and West Side Story). Williams won three of his five Academy Awards for Best Original Score for his work on Spielberg's films, which were Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Schindler's List (1993). While making Schindler's List, Spielberg approached Williams about composing the score. After seeing a rough, unedited cut, Williams was impressed, and said that composing would be too challenging. He said to Spielberg, "You need a better composer than I am for this film." Spielberg responded, "I know. But they're all dead!" In 2016, Spielberg presented Williams with the 44th AFI Life Achievement Award, the first to be awarded to a composer.
== Personal life ==
Spielberg met actress Amy Irving in 1976 when she auditioned for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After meeting her, Spielberg told his co-producer Julia Phillips, "I met a real heartbreaker last night." Although she was too young for the role, she and Spielberg began dating and she eventually moved into what she described as his "bachelor funky" house. They broke up in 1979. In 1984, they renewed their romance and married in November 1985. Their son, Max, had been born on June 13 of that year. In 1989, the couple divorced; they agreed to live near each other to share custody of their son. Their divorce settlement is one of the most expensive in history.
Spielberg met actress Kate Capshaw when he cast her in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984. They married on October 12, 1991; Capshaw converted to Judaism before their marriage. Spielberg said he rediscovered "the honor of being a Jew" when they married. He said, "Kate is Protestant and she insisted on converting to Judaism. She spent a year studying, did the "mikveh", the whole thing. She chose to do a full conversion before we were married in 1991, and she married me after becoming a Jew. I think that, more than anything else, brought me back to Judaism." He credits her for the family's level of observance; "This shiksa goddess has made me a better Jew than my own parents", he said. He and his family live in Pacific Palisades, California and East Hampton, New York.
He has five children with Capshaw: Sasha Rebecca Spielberg (born May 14, 1990), Sawyer Avery Spielberg (born March 10, 1992), and Destry Allyn Spielberg (born December 1, 1996), and two adopted children: Theo Spielberg (born August 21, 1988), and Mikaela George Spielberg (born February 28, 1996). He also has a stepdaughter, Jessica Capshaw (born August 9, 1976). He is the godfather of Drew Barrymore and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Spielberg was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 60. In 2022, at age 75, Spielberg was diagnosed with COVID-19 but recovered.
In 2013, Spielberg purchased the 282-foot (86 m) mega-yacht The Seven Seas for US$182 million. During his ownership it was also available for charter at US$1.2 million per month, making it one of the most expensive charters on the market at the time. In 2021 The Canadian steel mogul Barry Zekelman bought it for US$150 million and rechristened the ship Man of Steel. Thereafter, Spielberg ordered a new 358-foot (109 m) Seven Seas.
In December 2022, Spielberg was a guest on Desert Island Discs for BBC Radio 4, choosing for his luxury item an H-8 Bolex Camera.
=== Stalkers ===
In 1997, Jonathan Norman stalked Spielberg and attempted to enter his home while in possession of a "rape kit"; Norman was subsequently jailed for 25 years. Prosecutors described Norman as "sexually obsessed" with the director. Spielberg told the court he feared Norman intended to "rape or maim him". In 2001, Spielberg was stalked by conspiracy theorist and former social worker Diana Napolis. She accused him and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt of installing a mind-control device in her brain and being part of a satanic cult. Napolis was committed to a mental institution, and pled guilty to stalking. She was released on probation with a condition that she have no contact with either Spielberg or Hewitt.
== Political views ==
Spielberg has usually supported Democratic Party candidates. He has donated over $800,000 to the Democratic party and its nominees. He has been a close friend of former president Bill Clinton and worked with the president for the USA Millennium celebrations. He directed an 18-minute film for the project, scored by John Williams and entitled The American Journey. It was shown at America's Millennium Gala on December 31, 1999, in the National Mall at the Reflecting Pool at the base of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Spielberg endorsed Hillary Clinton, Clinton's wife, in the 2016 presidential election; he donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action.
Spielberg resigned as a member of the national advisory board of the Boy Scouts of America in 2001 because he disagreed with the organization's anti-homosexuality stance. In 2007, the Arab League voted to boycott Spielberg's movies after he donated $1 million for relief efforts in Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War. On February 20, 2007, Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen invited Democrats to a fundraiser for Barack Obama.
In February 2008, Spielberg resigned as advisor to the 2008 Summer Olympics in response to the Chinese government's inaction over the War in Darfur. Spielberg said in a statement, "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual [...] Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these on-going crimes, but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more." The International Olympic Committee (IOC) respected Spielberg's decision but IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed disappointment: "[Spielberg] certainly would have brought a lot to the opening ceremony in terms of creativity." Chinese state media called Spielberg's comments "unfair".
In September 2008, Spielberg and his wife offered their support to same-sex marriage in California by issuing a statement following their donation of $100,000 to the "No on Proposition 8" campaign fund, a figure equal to the amount of money Brad Pitt donated to the same campaign less than a week prior. In 2018, Spielberg and his wife donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.
In December 2023, after the October 7 attacks, the Shoah Foundation, which was founded by Spielberg, said that it had gathered over 100 video testimonies of those who experienced the attacks on that day to add them to the collection of "Holocaust survivor and witness testimony." Speaking of the attacks he said, "I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime" and that the Shoah Foundation project will ensure "that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind".
== Filmography ==
Prolific in film since the 1960s, Spielberg has directed 36 feature films, and co-produced many works.
== Awards and honors ==
Spielberg has won three Academy Awards. He received nine nominations for Best Director, and won twice (for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan). His third was in Best Picture, for Schindler's List. He is the only director to receive a Best Director nomination from the academy in 6 different decades. In 1987, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as a creative producer. Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography to promote filmmaking as a marketable skill; the badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree. In 1989, Spielberg was presented with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. Spielberg received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995.
In 1998, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The award was presented to him by President Roman Herzog in recognition of Schindler's List and work with the Shoah Foundation. Spielberg was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1999, in recognition for Saving Private Ryan. For the same film, he also received an award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America. The next year, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America.
Spielberg was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, located on 6801 Hollywood Boulevard. Additionally, he was awarded the Blessed are the Peacemakers Award from the Catholic Theological Union in 2003. On July 15, 2006, Spielberg was awarded the Gold Hugo Lifetime Achievement Award at the Summer Gala of the Chicago International Film Festival, and was awarded a Kennedy Center honor on December 3. The tribute to Spielberg featured a biographical short film narrated by Liam Neeson, and a performance of the finale to Leonard Bernstein's Candide, conducted by John Williams.
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Spielberg in 2005, the first year it considered non-literary contributors. He was a recipient of the Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award in February 2008; it is awarded for "significant and lasting contributions to the art and science of the visual effects industry". In 2009, Spielberg was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment".
In 2001, he was awarded an honorary knighthood (KBE), by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the British film industry. Because he is not a British citizen, he did not kneel to be knighted, nor can he use the honorific prefix "Sir", but he can use the suffix "KBE." Premiere ranked him first place in the list of 100 Most Powerful People in Movies in 2003. In 2004, he was awarded France's highest civil honor, the Legion of Honour by President Jacques Chirac. In June 2008, Spielberg received Arizona State University's Hugh Downs Award for Communication Excellence. In October 2009, Spielberg received the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; the prize was presented by former US President Bill Clinton. In October 2011, he was made a Commander of the Order of the Belgian Crown, one of Belgium's highest honors. On November 19, 2013, Spielberg was honored by the National Archives and Records Administration with a Records of Achievement Award. Spielberg was given two facsimiles of the 13th Amendment; the first which passed in 1861 but was not ratified, and the second signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1865 to abolish slavery. The amendment and the process of passing it were the subject of his film Lincoln. On November 24, 2015, Spielberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House.
In July 2016, Spielberg was awarded a gold Blue Peter badge by the BBC children's television program Blue Peter. He has honorary degrees from the University of Southern California, 1994; Brown University, 1999; Yale University, 2002; Boston University, 2009; and Harvard University, 2016.
In June 2022, Spielberg won his first Tony Award nomination for co-producing the Broadway production of A Strange Loop, winning Best Musical. He received a further two nominations in the same category for producing Water for Elephants (2024), and Death Becomes Her (2025).
On November 15, 2025, Spielberg was honored with the National Portrait Gallery's Portrait of a Nation Award. The Award recognizes the honoree "for their transformative contributions to American history and culture" and was presented to him by artist Amy Sherald. The National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Kate Capshaw to paint Spielberg's portrait for inclusion in the Gallery's collection.
In February 2026, Spielberg achieved EGOT status for receiving the Grammy Award for Best Music Film for producing Music by John Williams.
Directed Academy Award performancesUnder Spielberg's direction, these actors have received Academy Award nominations and wins for their performances in their respective roles.
== Legacy ==
A figure of the New Hollywood era, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the most influential and commercially successful film directors of all time. Some of his films were in the top ten highest-grossing films of the 1970s and 1980s, with Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Jurassic Park all becoming the highest-grossing film ever at the time of their respective releases. In 1996, Life magazine named Spielberg the most influential person of his generation. In 2003, Premiere magazine ranked him first place in the list of 100 Most Powerful People in Movies. In 2005, Empire magazine ranked him number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time. In 2013, Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people. According to Forbes' magazine of Most Influential Celebrities of 2014, Spielberg was ranked at first place. As of December 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth at $5.3 billion, making him one of the richest people in the entertainment industry.
His work is admired by numerous acclaimed directors, including Robert Aldrich, Ingmar Bergman, Werner Herzog, Stanley Kubrick, David Lean, Sidney Lumet, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, François Truffaut and Jean Renoir. Spielberg's films have also influenced directors J. J. Abrams, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sean Baker, Neill Blomkamp, Jon M. Chu, Arnaud Desplechin, Gareth Edwards, Roland Emmerich, Enrique Gato, Don Hertzfeldt, Peter Jackson, Kal Ng, Jordan Peele, S. S. Rajamouli, Robert Rodriguez, John Sayles, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, Kevin Smith, and Michael Williams. In 2004, film critic Tom Shone said of Spielberg, "If you have to point to any one director of the last twenty-five years [1979–2004] in whose work the medium of film was most fully itself–where we found out what it does best when left to its own devices, it has to be that guy." Jess Cagle, former editor of Entertainment Weekly, called Spielberg "arguably (well, who would argue?) the greatest filmmaker in history." Stephen Rowley, writing for Senses of Cinema, discussed Spielberg's strengths as a filmmaker, saying "there is a welcome complexity of tone and approach in these later films that defies the lazy stereotypes often bandied about his films", and that "Spielberg continues to take risks, with his body of work continuing to grow more impressive and ambitious", concluding that he has only received "limited, begrudging recognition" from critics. In a 1999 "Millennium Movies" survey of British film fans run by the Sky Premier channel, Spielberg had seven films in the top 100, which made him the most popular director.
Critics of Spielberg have argued that his films are commonly sentimental and moralistic. In Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind wrote that Spielberg is "infantilizing the audience, reconstituting the spectator as child, then overwhelming him and her with sound and spectacle, obliterating irony, aesthetic self-consciousness, and critical reflection". Critic Ray Carney and actor Crispin Glover opined that Spielberg's works lack depth and do not take risks. Filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard opined that Spielberg was partly responsible for the lack of artistic merit in mainstream cinema, and accused Spielberg of using Schindler's List to profit from a tragedy, despite the fact that Spielberg chose not to take a salary for the film. In defense of Spielberg, critic Roger Ebert said "Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"
Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant": Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter | Jimmy Carter | James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter served from 1971 to 1975 as the 76th governor of Georgia and from 1963 to 1967 in the Georgia State Senate. He lived longer than any other president in U.S. history, reaching age 100.
Born in Plains, Georgia, Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and joined the submarine service before returning to his family's peanut farm. He was active in the civil rights movement, then served as a state senator and the 76th governor, one of the first of the "New South governors" committed to desegregation. After announcing his candidacy in 1976, Carter secured the Democratic nomination as a dark horse little known outside his home state before narrowly defeating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in the general election.
As president, Carter pardoned all Vietnam draft evaders and negotiated major foreign policy agreements, including the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, and he established diplomatic relations with China. He created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. He signed bills that created the Departments of Energy and Education. The later years of his presidency were marked by several foreign policy crises, including the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (leading to the end of détente and the 1980 Olympics boycott) and the fallout of the Iranian Revolution (including the Iran hostage crisis and 1979 oil crisis). Carter sought reelection in 1980, defeating a primary challenge by Senator Ted Kennedy, but lost the election to Republican nominee Ronald Reagan.
Polls of historians and political scientists have ranked Carter's presidency below average. His post-presidency—the longest in U.S. history—is viewed more favorably. After Carter's presidential term ended, he established the Carter Center to promote human rights, earning him the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize. He traveled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections, and end neglected tropical diseases, becoming a major contributor to the eradication of dracunculiasis. Carter was a key figure in the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity. He also wrote political memoirs and other books, commentary on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and poetry.
== Early life ==
James Earl Carter Jr. was born on October 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia, at the Wise Sanitarium, where his mother worked as a registered nurse. Carter was the first U.S. president born in a hospital. He was the eldest child of Bessie Lillian Gordy and James Earl Carter Sr., and a descendant of English immigrant Thomas Carter, who settled in the Colony of Virginia in 1635. In Georgia, numerous generations of Carters worked as cotton farmers. Carter's father was a successful local businessman who ran a general store and was an investor in farmland; he had served as a reserve second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps during World War I.
During Carter's infancy, his family moved several times, settling on a dirt road in nearby Archery, which was almost entirely populated by impoverished Black families. His family eventually had three more children, Gloria, Ruth, and Billy. Carter had a good relationship with his parents, even though his mother was often absent during his childhood since she worked long hours. Although his father was staunchly pro-segregation, he allowed Jimmy to befriend the Black farmhands' children. Carter was an enterprising teenager who was given his own acre of Earl's farmland, where he grew and sold peanuts. Carter also rented out a section of tenant housing he had purchased.
=== Education ===
Carter attended Plains High School from 1937 to 1941, graduating from the 11th grade; the school did not have a 12th grade. By that time, Archery and Plains had been impoverished by the Great Depression, but the family benefited from New Deal farming subsidies, and Carter's father became a community leader. Carter was a diligent student with a fondness for reading. According to a popular anecdote, he was passed over for valedictorian after he and his friends skipped school to venture downtown in a hot rod (although it is not clear he would otherwise have been valedictorian). Carter played on the Plains High School basketball team and joined Future Farmers of America, which helped him develop a lifelong interest in woodworking.
Carter had long dreamed of attending the United States Naval Academy. In 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus, Georgia. The next year, Carter transferred to the Georgia School of Technology (now Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. While at Georgia Tech, Carter took part in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Civil rights icon Blake Van Leer encouraged Carter to join the Naval Academy. In 1943, he received an appointment to the Naval Academy from U.S. Representative Stephen Pace, and Carter graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1946. He was a good student, but was seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen. While at the academy, Carter fell in love with Rosalynn Smith, a friend of his sister Ruth. The two wed shortly after his graduation in 1946, and were married until her death on November 19, 2023. Carter was a sprint football player for the Navy Midshipmen and a standout freshman cross country runner. He graduated 60th out of 821 midshipmen in the class of 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an ensign.
== Naval career ==
From 1946 to 1953, the Carters lived in Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York, and California, during his deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. In 1948, he began officer training for submarine duty and served aboard USS Pomfret. Carter was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in 1949. His service aboard Pomfret included a simulated war patrol to the western Pacific and Chinese coast from January to March of that year. In 1951, Carter was assigned to the diesel/electric USS K-1 (SSK-1), qualified for command, and served in several positions, including executive officer.
In 1952, Carter began an association with the Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program, led by then-Captain Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover had high standards, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover had the greatest influence on his life. Carter was sent to the Naval Reactors Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C., for three-month temporary duty, while Rosalynn moved with their children to Schenectady, New York.
On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown. Carter was ordered to Chalk River to lead a U.S. maintenance crew to assist in the shutdown of the reactor. The painstaking process required each team member to don protective gear and be lowered individually into the reactor for 90 seconds at a time, limiting their exposure to radioactivity while they disassembled the crippled reactor. During and after his presidency, Carter said that his experience at Chalk River had shaped his views on atomic energy and led him to cease the development of a neutron bomb.
In March 1953, Carter began a six-month nuclear power plant operation course at Union College in Schenectady. His intent was to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, which was intended to be the second U.S. nuclear submarine. His plans changed when his father died of pancreatic cancer in July, two months before construction of Seawolf began, and Carter obtained a release from active duty so he could take over the family peanut business. Deciding to leave Schenectady proved difficult, as Rosalynn had grown comfortable with their life there. She later said that returning to small-town life in Plains seemed "a monumental step backward". Carter left active duty on October 9, 1953. He served in the inactive Navy Reserve until 1961 and left with the rank of lieutenant. Carter's awards include the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, China Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal. As a submarine officer, he also earned the "dolphin" badge.
== Farming ==
After debt settlements and division of his father's estate, Jimmy inherited comparatively little. For a year, he, Rosalynn, and their three sons lived in public housing in Plains. Carter set out to expand the family's peanut-growing business. Transitioning from the Navy to farming was difficult as his first-year harvest failed due to drought, and Carter had to open several lines of credit to keep the farm afloat. He took classes and studied agriculture while Rosalynn learned accounting to manage the business's books. Though they barely broke even the first year, the Carters grew the business and became quite successful.
== Early political career (1963–1971) ==
=== Georgia state senator (1963–1967) ===
As racial tension inflamed in Plains by the 1954 Supreme Court of the United States ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Carter favored integration but often kept those feelings to himself to avoid making enemies. By 1961, Carter began to speak more prominently of integration as a member of the Baptist Church and chairman of the Sumter County school board. In 1962, he announced his campaign for an open Georgia State Senate seat. Rosalynn, who had an instinct for politics and organization, was instrumental in his campaign. While early counting of the ballots showed Carter trailing his opponent, Homer Moore, this was later proven to be the result of fraudulent voting. Another election was held, in which Carter defeated Moore as the sole Democratic candidate. He served in both the 127th Georgia General Assembly and the 128th Georgia General Assembly.
The civil rights movement was well underway when Carter took office. Carter remained relatively quiet on the issue at first, even as it polarized much of the county, to avoid alienating his segregationist colleagues. Carter did speak up on a few divisive issues, giving speeches against literacy tests and against an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that he felt implied a compulsion to practice religion. Carter entered the state Democratic Executive Committee two years into office, where he helped rewrite the state party's rules. He became the chairman of the West Central Georgia Planning and Development Commission, which oversaw the disbursement of federal and state grants for projects such as historic site restoration.
When Bo Callaway was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1964, Carter immediately began planning to challenge him. The two had previously clashed over which two-year college would be expanded to a four-year college program by the state, and Carter saw Callaway—who had switched to the Republican Party—as representing aspects of politics he despised. Carter was reelected to a second two-year term in the state Senate, where he chaired its Education Committee and sat on the Appropriations Committee. He contributed to a bill expanding statewide education funding and getting Georgia Southwestern State University a four-year program. He leveraged his regional planning work, giving speeches around the district to make himself more visible to potential voters. On the last day of the term, Carter announced his candidacy for the House of Representatives. Callaway decided to run for governor instead; Carter decided to do the same.
=== 1966 and 1970 gubernatorial campaigns ===
In the 1966 gubernatorial election, Carter ran against liberal former governor Ellis Arnall and conservative segregationist Lester Maddox in the Democratic primary. In a press conference, he described his ideology as "Conservative, moderate, liberal and middle-of-the-road ... I believe I am a more complicated person than that." He lost the primary but drew enough votes as a third-place candidate to force Arnall into a runoff election with Maddox, who defeated Arnall. In the general election, Republican nominee Callaway won a plurality of the vote but less than a majority, allowing the Democratic-majority Georgia House of Representatives to elect Maddox as governor. Maddox's victory—due to his segregationist stance—was seen as the worst outcome for the indebted Carter. Carter returned to his agriculture business, carefully planning his next campaign. This period was a spiritual turning point for Carter; he declared himself a born again Christian. His last child, Amy, was born during this time.
In the 1970 gubernatorial election, liberal former governor Carl Sanders became Carter's main opponent in the Democratic primary. Carter ran a more modern campaign, employing printed graphics and statistical analysis. Responding to polls, he leaned more conservative than before, positioning himself as a populist and criticizing Sanders for both his wealth and perceived links to the national Democratic Party. He also accused Sanders of corruption, but when pressed by the media, he did not provide evidence. Throughout his campaign, Carter sought both the black vote and the votes of those who had supported prominent Alabama segregationist George Wallace. While he met with black figures such as Martin Luther King Sr. and Andrew Young and visited many black-owned businesses, he also praised Wallace and promised to invite him to give a speech in Georgia. Carter's appeal to racism became more blatant over time, with his senior campaign aides handing out a photograph of Sanders celebrating with Black basketball players.
Carter came ahead of Sanders in the first ballot, leading to a runoff election. The subsequent campaign was even more bitter. Despite his early support for civil rights, Carter's appeal to racism grew, and he criticized Sanders for supporting Martin Luther King Jr. Carter won the runoff election and won the general election against Republican nominee Hal Suit. Once elected, Carter began to speak against Georgia's racist politics. Leroy Johnson, a black state senator, voiced his support for Carter: "I understand why he ran that kind of ultra-conservative campaign. I don't believe you can win this state without being a racist."
== Georgia governorship (1971–1975) ==
Carter was sworn in as the 76th governor of Georgia on January 12, 1971. In his inaugural speech, he declared that "the time for racial discrimination is over", shocking the crowd and causing many segregationists who had supported his candidacy to feel betrayed. Carter was reluctant to engage with fellow politicians, making him unpopular with the legislature. He expanded the governor's authority by introducing a reorganization plan submitted in January 1972. Despite an initially cool reception in the legislature, the plan passed at midnight on the last day of the session. Carter merged about 300 state agencies into 22, although it is disputed whether that saved the state money. On July 8, 1971, during an appearance in Columbus, Georgia, he stated his intention to establish a Georgia Human Rights Council.
In a July 1971 news conference, Carter announced that he had ordered department heads to reduce spending to prevent a $57 million deficit by the end of the 1972 fiscal year, specifying that each state department would be affected and estimating that five percent over government revenue would be lost if state departments continued to fully use allocated funds. In January 1972, he requested that the state legislature fund an early childhood development program along with prison reform programs and $48 million (equivalent to $270 million in 2024) in paid taxes for nearly all state employees.
In March 1972, Carter said he might call a special session of the general assembly if the Justice Department struck down any reapportionment plans by either the House or Senate. He pushed several reforms through the legislature, providing equal state aid to schools, setting up community centers for mentally disabled children, and increasing educational programs for convicts. In one of his more controversial decisions, he vetoed a plan to build a dam on Georgia's Flint River, which attracted the attention of environmentalists nationwide.
Civil rights were a high priority for Carter, who added black state employees and portraits of three prominent black Georgians to the capitol building. This angered the Ku Klux Klan. He favored a constitutional amendment to ban busing for the purpose of expediting integration in schools on a televised joint appearance with Florida Governor Reubin Askew on January 31, 1973, and co-sponsored an anti-busing resolution with Wallace at the 1971 National Governors Conference. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Georgia's death penalty statute in Furman v. Georgia (1972), Carter signed a revised statute that reintroduced the practice. He later regretted endorsing the death penalty, saying, "I didn't see the injustice of it as I do now."
Ineligible for a second consecutive term under the 1945 Georgia Constitution, Carter considered running for president and engaged in national politics. He was named to several southern planning commissions and a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, where U.S. Senator George McGovern was the likely nominee. Carter tried to ingratiate himself with conservative and anti-McGovern voters. He was fairly obscure at the time, and his attempt at triangulation failed. On August 3, Carter met with Wallace in Birmingham, Alabama, to discuss preventing the Democrats from losing in a landslide, but they did.
Carter regularly met with his fledgling campaign staff and decided to start putting together a presidential campaign for 1976. He tried unsuccessfully to become chairman of the National Governors Association to boost his visibility. With David Rockefeller's endorsement, he was named to the Trilateral Commission in April 1973. The next year, he was named chairman of the Democratic National Committee's congressional and gubernatorial campaigns. In May 1973, Carter warned his party against politicizing the Watergate scandal, which he attributed to president Richard Nixon's isolation from Americans and secretive decision-making.
== 1976 presidential campaign ==
On December 12, 1974, Carter announced his presidential campaign at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. His speech contained themes of domestic inequality, optimism, and change. Upon his entrance in the Democratic primaries, he was competing against sixteen other candidates and was considered to have little chance against the more nationally known politicians such as Wallace. His name recognition was very low, and his opponents derisively asked "Jimmy Who?". In response to this, Carter began to emphasize his name and what he stood for, stating "My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president."
This strategy proved successful. By mid-March 1976, Carter was not only far ahead of the active contenders for the presidential nomination, but led incumbent Republican president Gerald Ford by a few percentage points. As the Watergate scandal was still fresh in the voters' minds, Carter's position as an outsider proved helpful. He promoted government reorganization. In June, Carter published a memoir titled Why Not the Best? to introduce himself to the American public.
Carter became the front-runner early on by winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. His strategy involved reaching a region before another candidate could extend influence there, traveling over 50,000 miles (80,000 kilometres), visiting 37 states, and delivering over 200 speeches before any other candidate had entered the race. In the South, he tacitly conceded certain areas to Wallace and swept them as a moderate when it became clear Wallace could not win the region. In the North, Carter appealed largely to conservative Christian and rural voters. While he did not achieve a majority in most Northern states, he won several by building the largest singular support base. Although Carter was initially dismissed as a regional candidate, he would clinch the Democratic nomination. In 1980, Laurence Shoup noted that the national news media discovered and promoted Carter, and stated:
What Carter had that his opponents did not was the acceptance and support of elite sectors of the mass communications media. It was their favorable coverage of Carter and his campaign that gave him an edge, propelling him rocket-like to the top of the opinion polls. This helped Carter win key primary election victories, enabling him to rise from an obscure public figure to President-elect in the short space of 9 months.
During an interview in April 1976, Carter said, "I have nothing against a community that is... trying to maintain the ethnic purity of their neighborhoods." His remark was intended as supportive of open housing laws, but specifying opposition to government efforts to "inject black families into a white neighborhood just to create some sort of integration". Carter's stated positions during his campaign included public financing of congressional campaigns, supporting the creation of a federal consumer protection agency, creating a separate cabinet-level department for education, signing a peace treaty with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons, reducing the defense budget, a tax proposal implementing "a substantial increase toward those who have the higher incomes" alongside a levy reduction on taxpayers with lower and middle incomes, making multiple amendments to the Social Security Act, and having a balanced budget by the end of his first term.
On July 15, 1976, Carter chose U.S. senator Walter Mondale as his running mate. Carter and Ford faced off in three televised debates, the first United States presidential debates since 1960.
For the November 1976 issue of Playboy, which hit newsstands a couple of weeks before the election, Robert Scheer interviewed Carter. While discussing his religion's view of pride, Carter said: "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times." This response and his admission in another interview that he did not mind if people uttered the word "fuck" led to a media feeding frenzy and critics lamenting the erosion of boundary between politicians and their private intimate lives.
=== Election ===
Carter once had a sizable lead over Ford in national polling, but by late September his lead had narrowed to only several points. In the final days before the election, several polls showed that Ford had tied Carter, and one Gallup poll found that Ford was slightly ahead. Most analysts agreed that Carter was going to win the popular vote, but some argued Ford had an opportunity to win the electoral college and thus the election.
Carter and Mondale ultimately defeated Ford and his runningmate Senator Bob Dole, receiving 297 electoral votes and 50.1% of the popular vote. Carter's victory was attributed in part to his overwhelming support among black voters in states decided by close margins. In Ohio and Wisconsin, where the margin between Carter and Ford was under two points, the black vote was crucial for Carter; if he had not won both states, Ford would have won the election.
=== Transition ===
Preliminary planning for Carter's presidential transition had been underway for months before his election. Carter had been the first presidential candidate to allot significant funds and a significant number of personnel to a pre-election transition planning effort, which then became standard practice. He set a mold that influenced all future transitions to be larger, more methodical and more formal than they were.
On November 22, 1976, Carter conducted his first visit to Washington, D.C. after being elected, meeting with director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) James Lynn and United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld at the Blair House, and holding an afternoon meeting with President Ford at the White House. The next day, he conferred with congressional leaders, saying that his meetings with cabinet members had been "very helpful" and that Ford had offered his assistance if he needed anything. Relations between Ford and Carter were relatively cold during the transition. During his transition, Carter announced the selection of numerous designees for positions in his administration.
A few weeks before his inauguration, Carter moved his peanut business into the hands of trustees to avoid a potential conflict of interest. He also asked incoming members of his administration to divest themselves of assets through blind trusts.
== Presidency (1977–1981) ==
Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president on January 20, 1977. One of Carter's first acts was the fulfillment of a campaign promise by issuing Proclamation 4483 declaring unconditional amnesty for Vietnam War–era draft evaders. Carter's tenure in office was marked by an economic malaise, a time of continuing inflation and recession and the 1979 energy crisis. Under Carter, in May 1980, the Federal Trade Commission became "apparently the first agency ever closed by a budget dispute", but Congress took action and the agency opened the next day.
Carter attempted to calm various conflicts around the world, most visibly in the Middle East with the signing of the Camp David Accords; giving the Panama Canal to Panama; and signing the SALT II nuclear arms reduction treaty with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His final year was marred by the Iran hostage crisis, which contributed to his losing the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan. Whistleblowers have alleged, most recently in 2023, that people working on the Reagan campaign's behalf convinced Iran to prolong the crisis to reduce Carter's chance of reelection.
=== Domestic policy ===
==== Holidays and proclamations ====
In 1978, Carter signed into law a bill creating a celebration in May called Asian American Heritage Week. May 7 and 10 were designated for national observance and recognition of the contributions of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants to American society. In 1992, President George H. W. Bush signed a bill expanding the celebration into Asian American Heritage Month. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed a bill renaming this celebration Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
==== Economy ====
The first two years of Carter's presidency were a time of intense stagflation, primarily due to recovery from a previous recession that had left fixed investment at extreme lows and unemployment at 9%. Under Carter, the unemployment rate declined from 8.1% when he took office to 5.7% by July 1978, but during the early 1980s recession it returned to its pre-1977 level. His last two years were marked by double-digit inflation, very high interest rates, oil shortages, and slow economic growth. Due to economic stimulus legislation, such as the Public Works Employment Act of 1977, proposed by Carter and passed by Congress, real household median income had grown by 5.2%, with a projection of 6.4% for the next quarter.
The 1979 energy crisis ended this period of growth, and as inflation and interest rates rose, economic growth, job creation and consumer confidence declined sharply. Federal Reserve Board chairman G. William Miller's relatively loose monetary policy had already contributed to somewhat higher inflation, rising from 5.8% in 1976 to 7.7% in 1978. The sudden doubling of crude oil prices forced inflation to double-digit levels, averaging 11.3% in 1979 and 13.5% in 1980. The sudden shortage of gasoline as the 1979 summer vacation season began exacerbated the problem and came to symbolize the crisis to the general public; the acute shortage, originating in the shutdown of Amerada Hess refining facilities, led the federal government to sue the company that year.
==== Environment ====
During his 1976 campaign, Carter promised to sign into law any bills Congress passed to regulate strip mining. In 1977, Carter signed the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which regulated strip mining.
In 1978, Carter declared a federal emergency in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. More than 800 families were evacuated from the neighborhood, which was on top of a toxic waste landfill. The Superfund law was created in response to the situation. Federal disaster money was appropriated to demolish about 500 houses and two schools built atop the dump, and to remediate the dump and construct a containment area for the hazardous waste. This was the first time such a process had been undertaken. Carter acknowledged that several more "Love Canals" existed across the country, and that discovering such hazardous dump sites was "one of the grimmest discoveries of our modern era".
In December 1978, Carter used the 1906 Antiquities Act and his executive order power to designate 56,000,000 acres (23,000,000 ha) of land in Alaska as a national monument. This executive order protected the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge until Congress codified it into law with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which doubled the amount of public land set aside for national parks and wildlife refuges.
==== U.S. energy crisis ====
Moralism typified much of Carter's action. On April 18, 1977, he delivered a televised speech declaring that the energy crisis was the "moral equivalent of war". He encouraged energy conservation and installed solar water heating panels on the White House. He wore a cardigan to offset turning down the heat in the White House. On August 4, 1977, Carter signed the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, forming the Department of Energy, the first new cabinet position in eleven years.
Carter emphasized that the House of Representatives had "adopted almost all" of the energy proposal he had made five months earlier and called the compromise "a turning point in establishing a comprehensive energy program." The next month, he called energy "the most important domestic issue that we will face while I am in office".
On January 12, 1978, Carter said the continued discussions about his energy reform proposal had been "long and divisive and arduous". In an April 11, 1978, news conference, Carter said his biggest surprise "in the nature of a disappointment" since becoming president was the difficulty Congress had in passing legislation, citing the energy reform bill in particular. After much deliberation and modification, Congress approved the Carter energy legislation on October 15, 1978. It deregulated the sale of natural gas, dropped a longstanding pricing disparity between intra- and interstate gas, and created tax credits to encourage energy conservation and the use of non-fossil fuels.
On March 1, 1979, Carter submitted a standby gasoline rationing plan per the request of Congress. On April 5, he delivered an address in which he stressed the urgency of energy conservation and increasing domestic production of energy sources such as coal and solar.
On July 15, 1979, Carter delivered a nationally televised address in which he identified what he believed to be a "crisis of confidence" among American people, under the advisement of pollster Pat Caddell who believed Americans faced a crisis in confidence from events of the 1960s and 1970s, before his presidency. Some later called this his "malaise speech", memorable for mixed reactions and his use of rhetoric. The speech's negative reception centered on a view that he did not emphasize his own efforts to address the energy crisis and seemed too reliant on Americans.
==== Relations with Congress ====
Carter typically refused to conform to Washington's rules. He avoided phone calls from members of Congress and verbally insulted them. He was unwilling to return political favors. His negativity led to frustration in passing legislation. During a press conference on February 23, 1977, Carter stated that it was "inevitable" that he would come into conflict with Congress and added that he had found "a growing sense of cooperation" with Congress and met in the past with congressional members of both parties. Carter developed a bitter feeling following an unsuccessful attempt at having Congress enact the scrapping of several water projects.
As a rift ensued between the White House and Congress afterward, Carter noted that the Democratic Party's liberal wing opposed his policies the most ardently, attributing this to Ted Kennedy's wanting the presidency. Thinking he had support from 74 Congressmen, Carter issued a "hit list" of 19 projects that he claimed were "pork barrel" spending that he said he would veto if they were included in legislation. He found himself again at odds with Congressional Democrats, as House Speaker Tip O'Neill found it inappropriate for a president to pursue what had traditionally been the role of Congress. Carter was also weakened by signing a bill that contained many of the "hit list" projects he had intended to veto.
In an address to a fundraising dinner for the Democratic National Committee on June 23, 1977, Carter said, "I think it's good to point out tonight, too, that we have evolved a good working relationship with the Congress. For eight years we had government by partisanship. Now we have government by partnership." At a July 28 news conference, assessing the first six months of his presidency, Carter spoke of his improved understanding of Congress: I have learned to respect the Congress more in an individual basis. I've been favorably impressed at the high degree of concentrated experience and knowledge that individual members of Congress can bring on a specific subject, where they've been the chairman of a subcommittee or committee for many years and have focused their attention on this particular aspect of government life which I will never be able to do.
On May 10, 1979, the House voted against giving Carter authority to produce a standby gas rationing plan. The following day, Carter described himself as shocked and embarrassed for the U.S. government by the vote and concluded "the majority of the House Members are unwilling to take the responsibility, the political responsibility for dealing with a potential, serious threat to our Nation." He added that most House members were placing higher importance on "local or parochial interests" and challenged the House to compose its own rationing plan in the next 90 days.
Carter's remarks were met with criticism by House Republicans, who accused his comments of not befitting the formality a president should have in their public remarks. Others pointed to 106 Democrats voting against his proposal and the bipartisan criticism potentially coming back to haunt him. At a news conference on July 25, 1979, Carter called on believers in the future of the U.S. and his proposed energy program to speak with Congress as it bore the responsibility to impose his proposals. Amid the energy proposal opposition, The New York Times commented that "as the comments flying up and down Pennsylvania Avenue illustrate, there is also a crisis of confidence between Congress and the President, sense of doubt and distrust that threatens to undermine the President's legislative program and become an important issue in next year's campaign."
==== Deregulation ====
In 1977, Carter appointed Alfred E. Kahn to lead the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). He was part of a push for deregulation of the industry, supported by leading economists, leading think tanks in Washington, a civil society coalition advocating the reform, the head of the regulatory agency, Senate leadership, the Carter administration, and even some in the airline industry. This coalition swiftly gained legislative results in 1978.
Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law on October 24, 1978. The main purpose of the act was to remove government control over fares, routes and market entry (of new airlines) from commercial aviation. The Civil Aeronautics Board's powers of regulation were to be phased out, eventually allowing market forces to determine routes and fares. The Act did not remove or diminish the Federal Aviation Administration's regulatory powers over airline safety.
In 1978, Carter signed a bill into law "allowing homebrewing and small-scale craft brewing to operate legally". The new law deregulated the American beer industry by making it legal to sell malt, hops, and yeast to American home brewers for the first time since the 1920 beginning of prohibition in the United States. This deregulation led to an increase in home brewing that by the 2000s had developed into a strong craft microbrew culture in the United States.
==== Chrysler bailout ====
In the late 1970s, the Chrysler Cooperation—one of the "Big Three" automakers in the U.S.—faced near-certain bankruptcy as it projected a loss of $1 billion. Carter proposed that the company forgo salary increases and bonuses, saying that it might be done "without decimating the company or putting it on its knees", but the company had already frozen wage increases and bonuses months before, to no avail. In 1979, Congress began working on a bailout plan for Chrysler, led by Congressman James J. Blanchard. Carter assembled a team that included Vice President Mondale and Assistant Domestic Policy Adviser David Rubenstein to secure a $1.5 billion loan guarantee.
In December, Congress passed the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979 to bail Chrysler out with $3.5 billion (equivalent to $11.2 billion in 2024) in aid. The bill turned over $162 million in stock to Chrysler's workers, eliminated around $125 million in wage increases, and gave Chrysler $500 million in bank loans. Carter, who had initially opposed the bailout of corporations, signed it into law in January 1980, saying that the bill saved thousands of jobs. The bailout was successful at the time, but Chrysler would eventually file for bankruptcy during the 2008 financial crisis.
==== Healthcare ====
During his presidential campaign, Carter embraced healthcare reform akin to the Ted Kennedy–sponsored bipartisan universal national health insurance. Carter's proposals on healthcare while in office included a 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal, and a 1979 proposal that provided private health insurance coverage. The 1977 mandatory health care cost proposal was passed in the Senate, but later defeated in the House. During 1978, he met with Kennedy over a compromise healthcare law that proved unsuccessful. He later said Kennedy's disagreements thwarted his plan to provide a comprehensive American health care system.
In 1980, Carter signed into law the Mental Health Systems (MHSA) Act, which allocated block grants to states to bolster community health services and provided funding to states to create and implement community-based health services. The MHSA was considered landmark legislation in mental health care. By September 1981, the Reagan administration had repealed most of the law.
==== Education ====
Early into his term, Carter collaborated with Congress to fulfill his campaign promise to create a cabinet-level education department. In an address from the White House on February 28, 1978, Carter argued "Education is far too important a matter to be scattered piecemeal among various government departments and agencies, which are often busy with sometimes dominant concerns." On February 8, 1979, the Carter administration released an outline of its plan to establish an education department and asserted enough support for the enactment to occur by June. On October 17, the same year, Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act into law, establishing the United States Department of Education.
Carter added 43,000 children and families to the Head Start program, while the percentage of nondefense dollars spent on education was doubled. In a speech on November 1, 1980, Carter stated his administration had extended Head Start to migrant children.
==== LGBTQ rights ====
During Carter's administration, the United States Foreign Service "lifted its ban on gay and lesbian personnel". In 1977, the Carter administration became the first U.S. presidential administration to invite gay and lesbian rights activists to the White House to discuss federal policy with regard to ending employment discrimination in the federal government on the basis of sexual orientation and related issues.
=== Foreign policy ===
==== Israel and Egypt ====
From the onset of his presidency, Carter attempted to mediate the Arab–Israeli conflict. After a failed attempt to seek a comprehensive settlement in 1977 (through reconvening the 1973 Geneva conference), Carter invited the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin to the presidential lodge Camp David in September 1978, in hopes of creating a definitive peace. While the two sides could not agree on Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, the negotiations resulted in Egypt formally recognizing Israel, and the creation of an elected government in the West Bank and Gaza. This resulted in the Camp David Accords, which ended the war between Israel and Egypt.
The accords were a source of great domestic opposition in both Egypt and Israel. Historian Jørgen Jensehaugen argues that by the time Carter left office in January 1981, he was "in an odd position—he had attempted to break with traditional U.S. policy but ended up fulfilling the goals of that tradition, which had been to break up the Arab alliance, sideline the Palestinians, build an alliance with Egypt, weaken the Soviet Union and secure Israel."
==== Africa ====
In an address to the African officials at the United Nations on October 4, 1977, Carter stated the U.S.'s interest to "see a strong, vigorous, free, and prosperous Africa with as much of the control of government as possible in the hands of the residents of your countries" and pointed to their unified efforts on "the problem of how to resolve the Rhodesian, Zimbabwe question." At a news conference later that month, Carter said the U.S. wanted to "work harmoniously with South Africa in dealing with the threats to peace in Namibia and in Zimbabwe in particular", to do away with racial issues such as apartheid, and to work for equal opportunities in other facets of society in the region.
Despite human rights concerns, Carter continued U.S. support for Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire. Zaire received nearly half the foreign aid Carter allocated to sub-Saharan Africa. Under Carter an alliance with Liberia's Samuel Doe, who had come to power in a 1980 coup, was pursued.
Carter visited Nigeria from March 31 to April 3, 1978, to improve relations, the first U.S. president to do so. He reiterated interest in convening a peace conference on Rhodesia that involved all parties.
The elections of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of the United Kingdom and Abel Muzorewa for Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, South Africa turning down a plan for South West Africa's independence, and domestic opposition in Congress were seen as a heavy blow to the Carter administration's policy toward South Africa. On May 16, 1979, the Senate voted in favor of lifting economic sanctions against Rhodesia, seen by some Rhodesians and South Africans as a potentially fatal blow to joint diplomacy efforts and any compromise between the Salisbury leaders and guerrillas. On December 3, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance promised Senator Jesse Helms that when the British governor arrived in Salisbury to implement an agreed Lancaster House settlement and the electoral process began, the President would take prompt action to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe Rhodesia.
==== East Asia ====
Carter sought closer relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), continuing the Nixon administration's drastic policy of rapprochement. The two countries increasingly collaborated against the Soviet Union, and the Carter administration tacitly consented to the Chinese invasion of Vietnam. In December 1978, he announced the United States' intention to formally recognize and establish full diplomatic relations with the PRC starting on January 1, 1979, while severing ties with Taiwan, including revoking a mutual defense treaty with the latter. In 1979, Carter extended formal diplomatic recognition to the PRC for the first time. This decision led to a boom in trade between the United States and the PRC, which was pursuing economic reforms under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping. Carter supported the China-allied Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia fighting the Soviet-backed Vietnamese invasion.
After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter allowed the sale of military supplies to China and began negotiations to share military intelligence. In January 1980, Carter unilaterally revoked the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty with the Republic of China (ROC). Conservative Republicans challenged Carter's abrogation of the treaty in court, but the Supreme Court ruled that the issue was a non-justiciable political question in Goldwater v. Carter. The U.S. continued to maintain quasi-diplomatic contacts with the ROC through the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
During Carter's presidency, the U.S. continued to support Indonesia under Suharto as a Cold War ally, despite human rights violations in East Timor. The violations followed Indonesia's December 1975 invasion of East Timor. Under Carter's administration military assistance to Indonesia increased, peaking in 1978. This was antithetical to Carter's stated policy of "not selling weapons if it would exacerbate a potential conflict in a region". In the Philippines, Carter supported the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos.
During a news conference on March 9, 1977, Carter reaffirmed his interest in having a gradual withdrawal of American troops from South Korea. On May 19, The Washington Post quoted Chief of Staff of U.S. forces in South Korea John K. Singlaub as criticizing Carter's withdrawal of troops from the Korean peninsula. Carter relieved Singlaub of his duties on May 21.
During a news conference on May 26, 1977, Carter said South Korea could defend itself with reduced American troops in case of conflict. From June 30 to July 1, 1979, Carter held meetings with president of South Korea Park Chung Hee for a discussion on relations between the U.S. and South Korea as well as Carter's interest in preserving his policy of worldwide tension reduction. On April 21, 1978, Carter announced a reduction in American troops in South Korea scheduled to be released by the end of the year by two-thirds, citing lack of action by Congress in regard to a compensatory aid package for the South Korean government. He supported South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during the suppression of the Gwangju Uprising in May 1980. South Korean pro-democracy activist Kim Dae-jung was sentenced to death in September 1980, but his sentence was commuted after the intervention of presidents Carter and Reagan.
==== Iran ====
On November 15, 1977, Carter pledged that his administration would continue positive relations between the U.S. and Iran, calling its contemporary status "strong, stable and progressive". On December 31, 1977, he called Iran under the Shah an "island of stability". Carter praised the Shah's "great leadership" and spoke of "personal friendship" between them. American support for the unpopular Shah increased anti-American sentiment in Iran, which intensified after the Shah, who was dying of cancer, left Iran for the last time in January 1979 and Carter allowed him to be admitted to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York on October 22, 1979.
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The students belonged to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line and supported the Iranian revolution. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for the next 444 days. They were freed immediately after Ronald Reagan succeeded Carter as president on January 20, 1981. During the crisis, Carter remained in isolation in the White House for more than 100 days.
A month into the affair, Carter announced his commitment to resolving the dispute without "any military action that would cause bloodshed or arouse the unstable captors of our hostages to attack them or to punish them". On April 7, 1980, he issued Executive Order 12205, imposing economic sanctions against Iran, and announced further government measures he deemed necessary to ensure a safe release.
On April 24, 1980, Carter ordered Operation Eagle Claw to try to free the hostages. The mission failed, leaving eight American servicemen dead and two aircraft destroyed. The failure led Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had opposed the mission, to resign.
Released in 2017, a declassified memo produced by the CIA in 1980 concluded "Iranian hardliners—especially Ayatollah Khomeini" were "determined to exploit the hostage issue to bring about President Carter's defeat in the November elections." Additionally, Tehran in 1980 wanted "the world to believe that Imam Khomeini caused President Carter's downfall and disgrace."
==== Soviet Union ====
On February 8, 1977, Carter said he had urged the Soviet Union to align with the U.S. in forming "a comprehensive test ban to stop all nuclear testing for at least an extended period of time", and that he was in favor of the Soviet Union ceasing deployment of the RSD-10 Pioneer. At a June 13 press conference, he announced that the U.S. would "work closely with the Soviet Union on a comprehensive test ban treaty to prohibit all testing of nuclear devices underground or in the atmosphere", and that Paul Warnke would negotiate demilitarization of the Indian Ocean with the Soviet Union.
At a December 30 news conference, Carter said that during "the last few months, the United States and the Soviet Union have made great progress in dealing with a long list of important issues, the most important of which is to control the deployment of strategic nuclear weapons", and that the two countries sought to conclude SALT II talks by the spring of the next year. The talk of a comprehensive test ban treaty materialized with the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II by Carter and Leonid Brezhnev on June 18, 1979.
In 1979, the Soviets intervened in the Second Yemenite War. The Soviet backing of South Yemen constituted a "smaller shock", in tandem with tensions that were rising due to the Iranian Revolution. This played a role in making Carter's stance on the Soviet Union more assertive, a shift that finalized with the impending Soviet-Afghan War.
In his 1980 State of the Union Address, Carter emphasized the significance of relations between the two regions: "Now, as during the last 3½ decades, the relationship between our country, the United States of America, and the Soviet Union is the most critical factor in determining whether the world will live at peace or be engulfed in global conflict."
===== Soviet invasion of Afghanistan =====
Communists under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Taraki seized power in Afghanistan on April 27, 1978. Due to the regime's improvement of secular education and redistribution of land coinciding with mass executions and political oppression, Taraki was deposed by rival Hafizullah Amin in September. Amin was considered a "brutal psychopath" by foreign observers and had lost control of much of the country, prompting the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan on December 24, 1979, execute Amin, and install Babrak Karmal as president.
In the West, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was considered a threat to global security and the oil supplies of the Persian Gulf, as well as the existence of Pakistan. These concerns led Carter to expand collaboration between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which had begun in July 1979, when the CIA started providing $695,000 worth of non-lethal assistance to the Afghan mujahideen. The modest scope of this early collaboration was likely influenced by the understanding, later recounted by CIA official Robert Gates, "that a substantial U.S. covert aid program" might have "raise[d] the stakes", thereby causing "the Soviets to intervene more directly and vigorously than otherwise intended."
According to a 2020 review of declassified U.S. documents by Conor Tobin in the journal Diplomatic History: The primary significance of this small-scale aid was in creating constructive links with dissidents through Pakistan's ISI that could be utilized in the case of an overt Soviet intervention ... The small-scale covert program that developed in response to the increasing Soviet influence was part of a contingency plan if the Soviets did intervene militarily, as Washington would be in a better position to make it difficult for them to consolidate their position, but not designed to induce an intervention.
On December 28, 1979, Carter signed a presidential finding explicitly allowing the CIA to transfer "lethal military equipment either directly or through third countries to the Afghan opponents of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan" and to arrange "selective training, conducted outside of Afghanistan, in the use of such equipment either directly or via third country intermediation." His finding defined the CIA's mission as "harassment" of Soviet troops; at the time, "this was not a war the CIA expected to win outright on the battlefield," in the words of Steve Coll.
Carter was determined to respond harshly to what he considered a dangerous provocation. In a televised speech on January 23, 1980, he announced sanctions on the Soviet Union, promised renewed aid and registration to Pakistan and the Selective Service System, and committed the U.S. to the Persian Gulf's defense. Carter imposed an embargo on grain shipments to the USSR, tabled SALT II, requested a 5% annual increase in defense spending, and called for a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, which was ultimately joined by 65 other nations.
In early 1980, Carter determined the thrust of U.S. policy for the duration of the war: he initiated a program to arm the mujahideen through Pakistan's ISI and secured a pledge from Saudi Arabia to match U.S. funding for this purpose. Despite huge expenditure, the Soviet Union was unable to quell the insurgency and withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. The routing of U.S. aid through Pakistan led to some controversy, as weapons sent to Karachi were frequently controlled by Pakistan, whose government influenced which rebels received assistance. Despite this, Carter has expressed no regret over his decision to support what he considered the Afghan freedom fighters.
==== International trips ====
Carter made twelve international trips to 25 countries as president. He was the first president to make a state visit to Sub-Saharan Africa when he went to Nigeria in 1978. He made several trips to the Middle East to broker peace negotiations. His visit to Iran from December 31, 1977, to January 1, 1978, took place less than a year before the overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Carter gave his "Island of Stability" speech during this visit.
=== Allegations and investigations ===
On September 21, 1977, the Carter administration's OMB director Bert Lance resigned amid allegations of improper banking activities before his tenure. United States Attorney General Griffin Bell appointed Paul J. Curran as a special counsel to investigate loans made to the peanut business Carter owned by a bank controlled by Lance, and Carter became the first sitting president to testify under oath as part of an investigation of him. In October 1979, Curran announced that no evidence had been found to support allegations that funds loaned from the National Bank of Georgia had been diverted to Carter's 1976 presidential campaign, ending the investigation.
=== 1980 presidential campaign ===
Carter's reelection campaign was based primarily on attacking Ronald Reagan. The campaign frequently pointed out and mocked Reagan's proclivity for gaffes, using his age and perceived lack of connection to his native California voter base against him. Later, the campaign used similar rhetoric as Lyndon Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign, portraying Reagan as a warmonger who could not be trusted with the nuclear arsenal. Carter attempted to deny the Reagan campaign $29.4 million (equivalent to $94 million in 2024) in campaign funds, due to dependent conservative groups already raising $60 million to get him elected—an amount that exceeded the limit of campaign funds. Carter's attempt was later denied by the Federal Election Commission.
Carter announced his reelection campaign in December 1979. A month earlier, Senator Ted Kennedy had announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. During the Democratic presidential primaries, questions about Kennedy were a frequent subject of Carter's press conferences. Despite winning key states such as California and New York, Kennedy surprised his supporters by running a weak campaign. Carter won most of the primaries and secured renomination. He later wrote that the strongest opposition to his policies came from the Democratic Party's liberal wing, which he attributed to Kennedy. Kennedy had mobilized the liberal wing, which weakened Carter's support in the general election.
Carter and Mondale were formally nominated at the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City. Carter delivered a speech notable for its tribute to the late Hubert Humphrey, whom he initially called "Hubert Horatio Hornblower", and Kennedy made "The Dream Shall Never Die" speech, in which he criticized Reagan and did not endorse Carter.
Along with Reagan and Kennedy, Carter was opposed by centrist John B. Anderson, who had previously contested the Republican presidential primaries, and upon losing to Reagan, reentered the race as an independent. Anderson advertised himself as a more liberal alternative to Reagan's conservatism. As the campaign went on, Anderson's polling numbers dropped and his base was gradually pulled to Carter or Reagan. Carter had to run against his own "stagflation"-ridden economy, while the hostage crisis in Iran dominated the news. He was attacked by conservatives for failing to "prevent Soviet gains" in less-developed countries, as pro-Soviet governments had taken power in countries including Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Afghanistan. His brother, Billy Carter, caused controversy due to his association with Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya. Carter alienated many liberal college students, who were expected to be one of his strongest support bases, by reactivating the Selective Service System on July 2, 1980, reinstating registration for the military draft. His campaign manager, Timothy Kraft, stepped down five weeks before the general election amid what turned out to be an uncorroborated allegation of cocaine use.
On October 28, Carter and Reagan participated in the sole presidential debate of the election cycle in which they were both present, due to Carter refusing to participate in debates that included Anderson. Though initially trailing Carter by several points, Reagan experienced a surge in polling after the debate. This was in part influenced by Reagan deploying the phrase "There you go again", which became the election's defining phrase. It was later discovered that in the final days of the campaign, Reagan's team acquired classified documents Carter used to prepare for the debate.
Reagan and his running mate (George H. W. Bush) defeated Carter and Mondale in a landslide, winning 489 electoral votes. The Senate went Republican for the first time since 1952. Carter's 49 electoral votes were the second-fewest for an incumbent president seeking reelection. In his concession speech, Carter admitted that he was hurt by the election's outcome but pledged "a very fine transition period" with President-elect Reagan.
== Post-presidency (1981–2024) ==
Shortly after losing reelection, Carter told the White House press corps that he intended to emulate the retirement of Harry S. Truman and not use his subsequent public life to enrich himself.
=== Diplomacy ===
Diplomacy was a large part of Carter's post-presidency. These diplomatic efforts began in the Middle East, with a September 1981 meeting with prime minister of Israel Menachem Begin, and a March 1983 tour of Egypt that included meeting with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
In 2018, official files revealed that, in January 1993, Carter had been suggested for a Northern Ireland peace process role by president-elect Bill Clinton amid speculation that Clinton would appoint a special envoy for Northern Ireland.
In 1994, Clinton sought Carter's assistance in a North Korea peace mission, during which Carter negotiated an understanding with Kim Il Sung. Carter outlined a treaty with Kim, which, in order to spur American action, he announced to CNN without the Clinton administration's consent. North Korea and the United States signed the Agreed Framework on October 21, 1994.
In March 1999, Carter visited Taiwan and met with President Lee Teng-hui. During the meeting, Carter praised the progress Taiwan made in democracy, human rights, economy, culture, science, and technology. But Carter remained a controversial figure in Taiwan for having ended U.S. diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
In 2003, Carter championed a plan to hold elections in Venezuela amid protests aimed at doing so. Ultimately, no elections were held.
In 2006, Carter stated his disagreements with Israel's domestic and foreign policy while saying he supported the country, extending his criticisms to Israel's policies in Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza.
In July 2007, Carter joined Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, South Africa, to announce his participation in The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working together on peace and human rights issues. After the announcement, Carter participated in visits to Darfur, Sudan, Cyprus, the Korean Peninsula, and the Middle East, among others. He attempted to travel to Zimbabwe in 2008, but was stopped by President Robert Mugabe's government. In December 2008, Carter met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and in a June 2012 call with Jeffery Brown, he stressed that Egyptian military generals could take full executive and legislative power to form a new constitution favoring themselves if their announced intentions came true.
On August 10, 2010, Carter traveled to North Korea and negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes. In 2017, as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea persisted, Carter recommended a peace treaty between the two nations, and confirmed that he had volunteered to the Trump administration to be a diplomatic envoy to North Korea.
=== Views on later presidents ===
Carter began his first year out of office with a pledge not to critique the Reagan administration, saying it was "too early". He sided with Reagan on issues like building neutron arms after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but frequently spoke out against his administration, denouncing many of its actions in the Middle East. He condemned the handling of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the lack of efforts to rescue and retrieve four American businessmen from West Beirut in 1984, Reagan's support of the Strategic Defense Initiative in 1985, and his claim of an international conspiracy on terrorism. In 1987 he criticized Reagan for conceding to terrorist demands, nominating Robert Bork for the Supreme Court, and his handling of the Persian Gulf crisis.
On January 16, 1989, before the inauguration of George H. W. Bush, Carter told Gerald Ford that Reagan had experienced a media honeymoon, saying that he believed Reagan's immediate successor would be less fortunate.
Carter had a mostly poor relationship with Bill Clinton, who snubbed him from his inauguration ceremony. He questioned the Clinton administration's morality, particularly with respect to the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and the pardon of Marc Rich.
In July 2001, Carter said he was "disappointed in almost everything" President George W. Bush had done, but after the September 11 attacks, he offered only praise, calling on Americans to support Bush with "complete unity". Later, Carter opposed the Iraq War and what he considered an attempt by Bush and Tony Blair to oust Saddam Hussein with "lies and misinterpretations". In 2004, Carter said he believed Bush had exploited the September 11 attacks. In 2007, Carter said the Bush administration "has been the worst in history" on foreign affairs; he later said he was just comparing Bush's tenure to Nixon's. On the Bush administration's behalf, Tony Fratto responded that Carter's comments increased his irrelevance.
Though he praised President Barack Obama in the early part of his tenure, Carter stated his disagreement with using drone strikes against suspected terrorists, Obama's choice to keep Guantanamo Bay detention camp open, and the federal surveillance programs Edward Snowden revealed.
During Donald Trump's presidency, Carter spoke favorably of the chance for immigration reform and criticized Trump for his handling of the U.S. national anthem protests. In an October 2017 interview with The New York Times, he said the media had covered Trump more harshly "than any other president certainly that I've known about". In 2019, Trump called Carter and expressed concern that China was "getting ahead" of the United States. Carter agreed, saying that China's strength came from its lack of involvement in armed conflict and calling the U.S. "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."
In July 2021, Carter gave his final recorded interview and said that President Biden had "done very well" in office.
=== Presidential politics ===
Carter was considered a potential candidate in the 1984 presidential election. In May 1982, Carter ruled out another run, and instead endorsed Mondale for the Democratic presidential nomination. After Mondale secured the nomination in the Democratic primaries, Carter critiqued the Reagan campaign, spoke at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and advised Mondale about his campaign. After the election, in which Reagan defeated Mondale, Carter said the loss was predictable because Mondale's platform included raising taxes.
In March 1987, Carter ruled himself out as a candidate in the 1988 presidential election. Ahead of the 1988 Democratic National Convention, Carter predicted that the convention would see party unity after tensions arose between presumptive nominee Michael Dukakis and runner-up Jesse Jackson. Carter delivered an address at the convention.
Carter spoke of the need for the 1992 Democratic National Convention to address certain issues not focused on in the past, and campaigned for Clinton after he became the Democratic nominee, publicly stating his expectation to be consulted during Clinton's presidency.
Carter endorsed Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, days before the 2000 presidential election, and in subsequent years voiced his opinion that Gore won the election, despite Republican nominee George W. Bush having been certified the victor following the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore.
In the 2004 presidential election, Carter endorsed the Democratic nominee John Kerry and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He also voiced concern about another voting mishap in Florida.
During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, it was speculated that Carter would endorse Barack Obama over his main primary rival Hillary Clinton, as Carter and other members of the Carter family had spoken favorably of Obama. Although he did not endorse Obama during the primaries, he said in late May 2008 that Clinton should end her bid and concede to Obama after the final primaries on June 3. On June 3, Carter endorsed Obama, and said he would vote for Obama as a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention (as a former president, Carter was entitled to hold one of 20 superdelegate slots reserved for "distinguished party leaders"). Before this, he had remained publicly neutral. During the general election campaign, Carter criticized John McCain, the Republican nominee. Once Obama became the presumptive nominee, he advised Obama not to select Clinton as his running mate.
Ahead of the primaries of the 2012 presidential election, Carter expressed his preference for Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination, though he clarified that he preferred Romney because he believed him to be the prospective Republican nominee who would most assure Obama's reelection. Carter recorded an address that was shown at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
In the 2016 presidential election, Carter was critical of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shortly after Trump entered the primary, predicting that he would lose. As the primary continued, Carter said he preferred Trump to his main rival, Ted Cruz, though he rebuked the Trump campaign during the primary and in his address to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In August 2016, Carter endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. He again expressed his support of Clinton in his speech to the Democratic convention, which he delivered by video. In 2019, Carter said that Trump would not have been elected without Russia's interference in the 2016 election. When questioned, he agreed that Trump is an "illegitimate president". In a 2017 discussion with Senator Bernie Sanders, Carter said he voted for Sanders in the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter delivered a recorded audio message endorsing Joe Biden for the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention. On January 6, 2021, after the U.S. Capitol attack, Carter released a statement that he and his wife were "troubled" by the events, that what had occurred was "a national tragedy and is not who we are as a nation", and that "having observed elections in troubled democracies worldwide, I know that we the people can unite to walk back from this precipice to peacefully uphold the laws of our nation". Carter recorded an audio message for Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021, as the Carters could not attend the ceremony in person.
In November 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled a three-judge panel of the court and scheduled a rehearing of the case against the Trump administration–proposed land swap in Alaska to allow a road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. In an unusual action, Carter had filed an opinion in support of a lawsuit by environmental groups, saying the swap violated the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act passed near the end of his presidency. Carter said the act "may be the most significant domestic achievement of my political life".
In August 2024, Carter's son Chip said his father wanted to live to 100 to vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. He did so on October 16.
=== Hurricane relief ===
Carter criticized the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, and built homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. He also partnered with former presidents to work with One America Appeal to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities, in addition to writing op-eds about the goodness seen in Americans who assist each other during natural disasters.
=== Other activities ===
The Carter family's peanut business accumulated a $1 million debt in 1981. Carter began writing books to pay off this debt. As of July 2019, he had "published more than 30, from a children's book to reflections on his presidency". After he left the White House, "[o]n average, he completed just about one book per year over those 35 years, including many bestsellers, a novel and a children's book."
In 1982, Carter founded the Carter Center, a non-governmental and nonprofit organization with the purpose of advancing human rights and alleviating human suffering. Among these efforts has been working with the World Health Organization to eradicate dracunculiasis, also called Guinea worm disease. The incidence of this disease has decreased from 3.5 million cases in the mid-1980s to four in the first seven months of 2024, according to the Carter Center's statistics.
Carter attended the dedication of his presidential library and those of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He delivered eulogies at the funerals of Coretta Scott King, Gerald Ford, and Theodore Hesburgh.
In 2007, Carter founded the New Baptist Covenant organization for social justice.
In 2013, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, their son Chip, and Chip's wife Becky traveled to the neighborhood of Queens Village in New York City. They worked on five housing construction projects with Habitat for Humanity.
As of August 2019, Carter was Honorary Chair of the World Justice Project. He was formerly an honorary chair of the Continuity of Government Commission. He continued to occasionally teach Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church as of 2019. Carter also taught at Emory University, and in 2019 was awarded tenure for 37 years of service.
=== Israel and Palestine ===
Carter was one of many international observers who took part in the first Palestinian general election in 1996. The Carter Center and National Democratic Institute sent an 85-person team to take part in the election observation.
Carter's 2006 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, a New York Times Best Seller, generated controversy for characterizing Israel's policies in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as amounting to apartheid. In remarks broadcast over radio, he said that Israel's policies amounted to an apartheid worse than South Africa's:
When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200 or so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.
Carter defended himself against accusations of antisemitism by saying "the hope is that my book will at least stimulate a debate, which has not existed in this country. There's never been any debate on this issue of any significance." He said that Israel would not have peace until it agreed to withdraw from the occupied territories, adding, "the greatest commitment in my life has been trying to bring peace to Israel."
In a 2007 speech at Brandeis University, Carter apologized for wording in the book that suggested that Palestinian suicide terror attacks were justified as a political tool. "That sentence was worded in a completely improper and stupid way. I've written my publishers to change that sentence immediately in future editions of the book. I apologize to you personally and to everyone here."
In his 2010 book We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land, Carter cites Israel's unwillingness to withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories and settlement expansion as the primary obstacle to peace in the Middle East.
== Personal life ==
Carter had three younger siblings, all of whom died of pancreatic cancer: Gloria Spann, Ruth Stapleton, and Billy Carter. He was a first cousin of politician Hugh Carter and a distant cousin of the Carter family of musicians.
Carter married Rosalynn Smith on July 7, 1946, in the Plains Methodist Church, the church of Rosalynn's family. They had three sons, John "Jack", James III "Chip", and Donnel "Jeff", and a daughter, Amy. Mary Prince (an African American woman wrongly convicted of murder, and later pardoned) was their daughter Amy's nanny for most of the period from 1971 until Carter's presidency ended. Carter had asked to be designated as her parole officer, helping enable her to work in the White House.
On October 19, 2019, the Carters became the longest-wed presidential couple, having overtaken George and Barbara Bush at 26,765 days. After Rosalynn's death on November 19, 2023, after 77 years and four months of marriage, Carter released the following statement:
Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished. She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.
The Carters' eldest son, Jack, was the 2006 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Nevada and lost to Republican incumbent John Ensign. Jack's son Jason Carter is a former Georgia state senator who in 2014 was the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, losing to the Republican incumbent, Nathan Deal. On December 20, 2015, while teaching a Sunday school class, Carter announced that his 28-year-old grandson Jeremy Carter had died of unspecified causes.
=== Interests, friendships and hobbies ===
Carter's hobbies included painting, fly fishing, woodworking, cycling, tennis, and skiing. He also had an interest in poetry, particularly the works of Dylan Thomas. During a state visit to the UK in 1977, Carter suggested that Thomas should have a memorial in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey; this came to fruition in 1982. In 1994, Carter published a book of poetry, Always a Reckoning and Other Poems, illustrated by his granddaughter Sarah Chuldenko.
Carter was a personal friend of Elvis Presley, whom he and Rosalynn met on June 30, 1973. They remained in contact by telephone two months before Presley's sudden death in August 1977. According to Carter, Presley was almost incoherent because of his addiction to barbiturates; although he phoned the White House several more times, that was the last time they spoke. The day after Presley's death, Carter issued a statement and said Presley had "changed the face of American popular culture".
Carter filed a report with both the International UFO Bureau and the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena saying that he saw an unidentified flying object in October 1969. Records showed that Carter got the date wrong, and it was in fact on January 6, 1969. In 2016, a former Air Force scientist found old government reports about a scientific project that on that date launched a barium cloud to examine the upper atmosphere. It would have appeared in the sky at an elevation of 33 degrees, which is almost exactly what Carter had speculated.
=== Beliefs ===
From a young age, Carter showed deep commitment to evangelical Christianity. He taught Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. At a private inauguration worship service, the preacher was Nelson Price, the pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church of Marietta, Georgia. An evangelical Christian, Carter appealed to voters after the scandals of the Nixon Administration, and is credited with popularizing the term "born again" into American lexicon during his 1976 presidential campaign. As president, Carter prayed several times a day, and said Jesus was the driving force in his life. He was greatly influenced by a sermon he had heard as a young man that asked: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" In 2000, after the Southern Baptist Convention announced it would no longer permit women to become pastors, he renounced his membership, saying: "I personally feel that women should play an absolutely equal role in service of Christ in the church." He remained a member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Carter's support for the Equal Rights Amendment led many evangelical conservatives to leave the Democratic Party, contributing to the development of the Christian right in American politics.
== Health ==
On August 3, 2015, Carter underwent elective surgery to remove a small mass on his liver, and his prognosis for a full recovery was initially said to be excellent. On August 12, he announced he had been diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized. On August 20, Carter said that melanoma had been found in his brain and liver and that he had begun treatment. On December 5, he announced that his medical scans no longer showed any cancer.
Carter broke his hip in a fall at his Plains home on May 13, 2019, and underwent surgery the same day at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia. On October 6, an injury above his left eyebrow sustained in another fall at home required 14 stitches and resulted in a black eye. On October 21, Carter was admitted to the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center after sustaining a minor pelvic fracture from falling at home for the third time in 2019.
On November 11, 2019, Carter was hospitalized at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain caused by bleeding connected with his falls. He was released from the hospital on November 27. On December 2, 2019, Carter was readmitted to the hospital for a urinary tract infection. He was released on December 4.
On February 18, 2023, the Carter Center announced that following a "series of short hospital stays", Carter decided to "spend his remaining time at home with his family" in Plains to "receive hospice care" for an unspecified illness.
=== Longevity ===
At 100 years old, Carter was the longest-lived former U.S. president. He was the earliest-serving living former president since Gerald Ford's death in 2006. In 2012, he surpassed Herbert Hoover as the longest-retired president. In 2017 and 2021, he became the first president to live to the 40th anniversary of his inauguration and post-presidency, respectively. In 2017, Carter, then 92, became the oldest former president ever to attend an American presidential inauguration. On March 22, 2019, he became the longest-lived U.S. president. He said in a 2019 interview with People that he never expected to live as long as he had and that the best explanation for longevity was a good marriage.
The Carter Center announced Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, an event concert to celebrate Carter's 100th birthday that featured appearances by musicians and celebrities. The event took place on September 17, 2024, at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. On October 1, 2024, Carter turned 100, the first U.S. president to do so. Local events celebrating his birthday included a F-18 Super Hornet flyover formation by eight Navy pilots from Naval Air Station Oceana, which Carter viewed from his backyard, and a naturalization ceremony for 100 new citizens at Plains High School, which Chip Carter attended.
Carter made arrangements to be buried in front of his home at 209 Woodland Drive in Plains. In 2006, he said that a funeral in Washington, D.C., with visitation at the Carter Center, was also planned. Carter asked President Biden to deliver his eulogy.
== Death and funeral ==
Carter died at his home in Plains, Georgia, on December 29, 2024, at age 100. He remains the longest-lived U.S. president and Georgia governor.
Shortly after the announcement, President Biden released a statement honoring Carter's legacy, calling him a "man of principle, faith, and humility". The nation held an official state funeral and day of mourning for Carter on January 9, 2025. All five living U.S. presidents—Biden, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and President-elect Donald Trump—attended the funeral. After the funeral, Carter's body was flown to Plains, Georgia, where he was buried next to his wife near the home where they each died. The National Park Service staff at the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park opened it to the public in July 2025.
== Legacy ==
=== Assessments ===
When Carter left office in 1981, scholars and even many Democrats viewed his presidency as a failure. Betty Glad, a political scientist at the University of Illinois, summarized the public consensus on Carter: "he didn't have a well-developed political philosophy and gave people a feeling he didn't quite know where he was headed."
Historians have ranked Carter's presidency as below average. After leaving office, he told allies he predicted history would be kinder to him than voters were in the 1980 election. In a 1982 Chicago Tribune survey, when 49 historians and scholars were asked to rank the best and worst U.S. presidents, Carter was ranked the tenth worst. In 2006, conservative British historian Andrew Roberts ranked Carter the worst U.S. president. Yet some of Carter's policy accomplishments have been more favorably received. The 2009 documentary Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace credits Carter's efforts at Camp David, which brought peace between Israel and Egypt, with bringing the only meaningful peace to the Middle East. Stuart E. Eizenstat, who served as Carter's chief White House domestic policy adviser, wrote, "Carter's accomplishments at home and abroad were more extensive and longer lasting than those of almost all modern presidents."
Carter's post-presidency activities have been universally praised, including his peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts. The Independent wrote in 2009, "Carter is widely considered a better man than he was a president."
=== Public opinion ===
In exit polls from the 1976 presidential election, many voters still held Ford's pardon of Nixon in 1974 against him. By comparison, Carter was viewed as a sincere, honest, and well-meaning southerner. During his presidency, polls generally showed that most Americans saw Carter as likable and "a man of high moral principles". In the 1980 election, Reagan projected an easy self-confidence, in contrast to Carter's serious and introspective temperament. Carter was portrayed as more pessimistic and indecisive than Reagan, who was known for his charm and delegation of tasks to subordinates. Reagan used the economic issues, the Iran hostage crisis, and the lack of Washington cooperation to portray Carter as a weak and ineffectual leader. Carter was the first elected incumbent president since Herbert Hoover in 1932 to lose a reelection bid.
Carter began his presidency with an approval rating between 66% and 75%. He maintained approval ratings above 50% until March 1978, and the following month his approval rating fell to 39%, primarily due to the declining economy. His ratings briefly rebounded after the Camp David Accords in late 1978 but dipped during the 1979 energy crisis and got as low as 28% in July 1979. At the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis, his approval rating surged to 61%, up 23 points from his pre-crisis rating. Polls also found that up to 77% of Americans approved of Carter's initial response to the crisis, but by June 1980, amid heated criticism from across the political spectrum for his failure to free the hostages, his approval rating slumped to 33%; that same month Reagan surpassed Carter in pre-1980 election polling. As Carter was leaving office, a Gallup poll found that 48% of Americans thought he had been an "average" or "above average" president, 46% said he had been "below average" or "poor", and only 3% thought he had been "outstanding". His average approval rating during his entire presidency was 46%, and he left office as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents in history.
In a 1990 Gallup survey, 45% of respondents said they approved of the overall job Carter did as president, leaving only Nixon and Lyndon B. Johnson with lower ratings. In a 2006 poll, 61% of respondents said they approved of the job Carter did as president, his highest rating since 1979. In a 2021 survey, 27% of respondents said he had been an "outstanding" or "above average" president, 43% regarded him as "average", and only 24% said he had been "below average" or "poor". A 2025 YouGov poll listed Carter as the most popular politician in America, with an overall approval rating of 64%.
=== Awards and honors ===
Carterpuri, a village in Haryana, India, was renamed in his honor after he visited in 1978.
The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum was opened in 1986. The following year, buildings connected to Carter's life were granted status as National Historic Sites and in 2021 were collectively renamed the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park.
In 1991, Carter was made an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Kansas State University, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 1998, the U.S. Navy named the third and final Seawolf-class submarine USS Jimmy Carter.
Carter received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, given in honor of human rights achievements, and the Hoover Medal, recognizing engineers who have contributed to global causes. Carter's 2002 Nobel Peace Prize was partially a response to president George W. Bush's threats of war against Iraq and Carter's criticism of the Bush administration.
In 2009, the Souther Field Airport in Americus, Georgia, was renamed Jimmy Carter Regional Airport.
In November 2024, Carter received his 10th nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for audio recordings of his books. He won four times—for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis (2007), A Full Life: Reflections at 90 (2015), Faith: A Journey For All (2018), and Last Sunday in Plains: A Centennial Celebration (2024). He is the most nominated and awarded recipient in the category.
On February 21, 2024, the White House Historical Association unveiled its official 2024 White House Christmas ornament honoring Carter's naval service and efforts for peace. This was the first time a president being honored was alive at the time of the unveiling. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen#List_of_works | Jane Austen#List of works | Jane Austen ( OST-in, AW-stin; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English writer known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.
Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are implicit critiques of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of social commentary, realism, wit, and irony have earned her acclaim amongst critics and scholars.
Austen wrote major novels before the age of 22, but she was not published until she was 35. The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816) were moderate successes, but they did not bring her public fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but it was left unfinished on her death. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869 her nephew published A Memoir of Jane Austen. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies.
Her novels have been frequently adapted into film and television. Notable film adaptations include Pride and Prejudice (1940), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Emma (1996), Mansfield Park (1999), Bride and Prejudice (2004), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Love & Friendship (2016), and Emma (2020). Notable television adaptations include Persuasion (1995), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Northanger Abbey (2007), Persuasion (2007), Lost in Austen (2008), Sense and Sensibility (2008), Emma (2009), and Sanditon (2019-2023).
== Biographical sources ==
The scant biographical information about Austen comes from her surviving letters and a number of sketches her family members and contemporaries wrote about her.
Only about 160 of the approximately 3,000 letters Austen would have written in the course of her lifetime have survived and been published. It is believed that Cassandra Austen destroyed the bulk of the letters she received from her sister, by burning or otherwise. One theory is that she wanted to ensure that the "younger nieces did not read any of Jane's sometimes acid or forthright comments on neighbours or family members." In the interest of protecting reputations from Jane's penchant for honesty and forthrightness, Cassandra, it is surmised, may have omitted details of illnesses, unhappiness and anything she considered unsavoury. It is certainly the case that important details about her life and the actions of the Austen family were deliberately omitted, such as any mention of Austen's brother George, whose undiagnosed developmental challenges led the family to have him raised away from its home, as was common for the time, or of wealthy Aunt Jane Leigh-Perrot, who was arrested, tried, and acquitted on charges of grand larceny.
The first Austen biography was her brother Henry Thomas Austen's 1818 "Biographical Notice". It appeared in a posthumous edition of Northanger Abbey and included extracts from two letters, apparently published against the judgement of other family members. Details of Austen's life continued to be omitted or embellished in her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen, published in 1869, and in William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh's biography Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters, published in 1913, all of which included additional letters.
Austen's family and relatives built a legend of "good quiet Aunt Jane", portraying her as a woman in a happy domestic situation, whose family was the mainstay of her life. Critics have long taken issue with this depiction of a "mild" Austen. Modern biographers include details excised from the letters and family biographies, but the biographer Jan Fergus writes that the challenge is to keep the view balanced, not to present her languishing in periods of deep unhappiness as "an embittered, disappointed woman trapped in a thoroughly unpleasant family."
== Early years to age 20 ==
=== Family ===
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire. Her father, George Austen (1731–1805), wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother, Cassandra, "certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago." He added that the newborn infant was "a present plaything for Cassy and a future companion." The winter of 1775-1776 was particularly harsh, and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the local church and christened Jane.
George served as the rector of the Anglican parishes of Steventon and Deane. The Reverend Austen came from an old and wealthy family of wool merchants. As each generation of eldest sons received inheritances, George's branch of the family fell into poverty. He and his two sisters were orphaned as children and had to be taken in by relatives. In 1745, at the age of fifteen, George's sister Philadelphia was apprenticed to a milliner in Covent Garden. At the age of sixteen, George entered St John's College, Oxford, where he most likely met Cassandra Leigh (1739–1827). She came from the prominent Leigh family. Her father was rector at All Souls College, Oxford, where she grew up among the gentry. Her eldest brother James inherited a fortune and large estate from his great-aunt Perrot, with the only condition that he change his name to Leigh-Perrot.
George Austen and Cassandra Leigh were engaged, probably around 1763, when they exchanged miniatures. He received the living of the Steventon parish from Thomas Knight, the wealthy husband of his second cousin. They married on 26 April 1764 at St Swithin's Church in Bath, by licence, in a simple ceremony, two months after Cassandra's father died. Their income was modest, with George's small per annum living; Cassandra brought to the marriage the expectation of a small inheritance at the time of her mother's death.
After the living at the nearby Deane rectory had been purchased for George by his wealthy uncle Francis Austen, the Austens took up temporary residence there, until Steventon rectory, a 16th-century house in disrepair, underwent necessary renovations. Cassandra gave birth to three children while living at Deane: James in 1765, George in 1766, and Edward in 1767. Her custom was to keep an infant at home for several months and then place it with Elizabeth Littlewood, a woman living nearby to nurse and raise for twelve to eighteen months.
=== Steventon ===
In 1768 the family finally took up residence in Steventon. Henry was the first child to be born there, in 1771. At about this time, Cassandra could no longer ignore the signs that little George was developmentally disabled. He had seizures and may have been deaf and mute. At this time she chose to send him to be fostered. In 1773 Cassandra was born, followed by Francis in 1774, and Jane in 1775.
According to the biographer Park Honan, the Austen home had an "open, amused, easy intellectual atmosphere", in which the ideas of those with whom members of the Austen family might disagree politically or socially were considered and discussed.
The family relied on the patronage of their kin and hosted visits from numerous family members. The elder Cassandra spent the summer of 1770 in London with George's sister, Philadelphia, and her daughter Eliza, accompanied by his other sister, Mrs Walter, and her daughter Philly. Philadelphia and Eliza Hancock were, according to Le Faye, "the bright comets flashing into an otherwise placid solar system of clerical life in rural Hampshire, and the news of their foreign travels and fashionable London life, together with their sudden descents upon the Steventon household in between times, all helped to widen Jane's youthful horizon and influence her later life and works."
Cassandra Austen's cousin Thomas Leigh visited a number of times in the 1770s and 1780s, inviting young Cassie to visit them in Bath in 1781. The first mention of Jane occurs in family documents upon her return, "... and almost home they were when they met Jane & Charles, the two little ones of the family, who had to go as far as New Down to meet the chaise, & have the pleasure of riding home in it." Le Faye writes that "Mr Austen's predictions for his younger daughter were fully justified. Never were sisters more to each other than Cassandra and Jane; while in a particularly affectionate family, there seems to have been a special link between Cassandra and Edward on the one hand, and between Henry and Jane on the other."
From 1773 until 1796 George supplemented his income by farming and by teaching three or four boys at a time, who boarded at his home. He had an annual income of £200 (equivalent to £25,000 in 2023) from his two livings. This was a very modest income at the time; by comparison, a skilled worker like a blacksmith or a carpenter could make about £100 annually while the typical annual income of a gentry family was between £1,000 and £5,000. He also rented the 200-acre Cheesedown farm from his benefactor Thomas Knight, which could make a profit of £300 (equivalent to £38,000 in 2023) a year.
During this period of her life, Jane attended church regularly, socialised with friends and neighbours, and read novels—often of her own composition—aloud to her family in the evenings. Socialising with the neighbours often meant dancing, either impromptu in someone's home after supper or at the balls held regularly at the assembly rooms in the town hall. Her brother Henry later said that "Jane was fond of dancing, and excelled in it".
=== Education ===
In 1783 Austen and her sister Cassandra were sent to Oxford to be educated by Ann Cawley, who took them to Southampton later that year. That autumn both girls were sent home after catching typhus, of which Jane nearly died. She was from then home-educated, until she attended boarding school with her sister from early in 1785 at the Reading Abbey Girls' School, ruled by Mrs La Tournelle. The curriculum probably included French, spelling, needlework, dancing, music and drama. The sisters returned home before December 1786 because the school fees for the two girls were too high for the Austen family. After 1786 Austen "never again lived anywhere beyond the bounds of her immediate family environment".
Her education came from reading, guided by her father and brothers James and Henry. Irene Collins said that Austen "used some of the same school books as the boys". Austen apparently had unfettered access both to her father's library and that of a family friend, Warren Hastings. Together these collections amounted to a large and varied library. Her father was also tolerant of Austen's sometimes risqué experiments in writing, and provided both sisters with expensive paper and other materials for their writing and drawing.
Private theatricals were an essential part of Austen's education. From her early childhood, the family and friends staged a series of plays in the rectory barn, including Richard Sheridan's The Rivals (1775) and David Garrick's Bon Ton. Austen's eldest brother James wrote the prologues and epilogues and she probably joined in these activities, first as a spectator and later as a participant. Most of the plays were comedies, which suggests how Austen's satirical gifts were cultivated. At the age of 12 she tried her own hand at dramatic writing; she wrote three short plays during her teenage years.
=== Juvenilia (1787–1793) ===
From at least the time she was aged eleven, Austen wrote poems and stories to amuse herself and her family. She exaggerated mundane details of daily life and parodied common plot devices in "stories [] full of anarchic fantasies of female power, licence, illicit behaviour, and general high spirits", according to Janet Todd. Austen compiled fair copies of twenty-nine early works from 1787 to 1793 into three bound notebooks with 90,000 words, now known as the Juvenilia, named "Volume the First", "Volume the Second" and "Volume the Third". The Juvenilia are often, according to the scholar Richard Jenkyns, "boisterous" and "anarchic"; he compares them to the work of the 18th-century novelist Laurence Sterne.
Among these works is a satirical novel in letters titled Love and Freindship [sic], written when aged fourteen in 1790, in which she mocked popular novels of sensibility. The next year, she wrote The History of England, a manuscript of thirty-four pages accompanied by thirteen watercolour miniatures by her sister, Cassandra. Austen's History parodied popular historical writing, particularly Oliver Goldsmith's History of England (1764). Honan speculates that not long after writing Love and Freindship Austen decided to "write for profit, to make stories her central effort", that is, to become a professional writer. When she was around eighteen years old, Austen began to write longer, more sophisticated works.
In August 1792, aged seventeen, Austen started Catharine or the Bower, which presaged her mature work, especially Northanger Abbey, but was left unfinished until picked up in Lady Susan, which Todd describes as less prefiguring than Catharine. A year later she began, but abandoned, a short play, later titled Sir Charles Grandison or the happy Man, a comedy in 6 acts, which she returned to and completed around 1800. This was a short parody of various school textbook abridgements of Austen's favourite contemporary novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753) by Samuel Richardson.
When Austen became an aunt for the first time aged eighteen, she sent her newborn niece Fanny Catherine Austen Knight "five short pieces of ... the Juvenilia now known collectively as 'Scraps' .., purporting to be her 'Opinions and Admonitions on the conduct of Young Women'". For Jane-Anna-Elizabeth Austen (also born in 1793), her aunt wrote "two more 'Miscellanious Morsels', dedicating them to [Anna] on 2 June 1793, 'convinced that if you seriously attend to them, You will derive from them very important Instructions, with regard to your Conduct in Life.'" There is manuscript evidence that Austen continued to work on these pieces as late as 1811 (when she was 36), and that her niece and nephew Anna and James Edward Austen made further additions as late as 1814.
Between 1793 and 1795 (aged eighteen to twenty), Austen wrote Lady Susan, a short epistolary novel, usually described as her most ambitious and sophisticated early work. It is unlike any of Austen's other works. Austen's biographer Claire Tomalin describes the novella's heroine as a sexual predator who uses her intelligence and charm to manipulate, betray and abuse her lovers, friends and family. Tomalin writes:
Told in letters, it is as neatly plotted as a play, and as cynical in tone as any of the most outrageous of the Restoration dramatists who may have provided some of her inspiration ... It stands alone in Austen's work as a study of an adult woman whose intelligence and force of character are greater than those of anyone she encounters.
According to Janet Todd, the model for the title character may have been Eliza de Feuillide, who inspired Austen with stories of her glamorous life and various adventures. Eliza's French husband was guillotined in 1794 during the Reign of Terror amidst the French Revolution; she married Jane's brother Henry Austen in 1797.
== Ages 20 to 34 ==
=== Tom Lefroy ===
When Austen was twenty, Tom Lefroy, a neighbour, visited Steventon from December 1795 to January 1796. He had just finished a university degree and was moving to London for training as a barrister. Lefroy and Austen would have been introduced at a ball or other neighbourhood social gathering, and it is clear from Austen's letters to Cassandra that they spent considerable time together: "I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together."
Austen wrote in her first surviving letter to her sister Cassandra that Lefroy was a "very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man". Five days later in another letter, Austen wrote that she expected an "offer" from her "friend" and that "I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises to give away his white coat", going on to write "I will confide myself in the future to Mr Tom Lefroy, for whom I don't give a sixpence" and refuse all others. The next day, Austen wrote: "The day will come on which I flirt my last with Tom Lefroy and when you receive this it will be all over. My tears flow as I write at this melancholy idea".
Halperin cautioned that Austen often satirised popular sentimental romantic fiction in her letters, and some of the statements about Lefroy may have been ironic. However, it is clear that Austen was genuinely attracted to Lefroy and subsequently none of her other suitors ever quite measured up to him. The Lefroy family intervened and sent him away at the end of January. Marriage was impractical as both Lefroy and Austen must have known. Neither had any money, and he was dependent on a great-uncle in Ireland to finance his education and establish his legal career. If Lefroy later visited Hampshire, he was carefully kept away from the Austens, and Jane never saw him again. In November 1798 Lefroy was still on Austen's mind as she wrote to her sister she had tea with one of his relatives, wanted desperately to ask about him, but could not bring herself to raise the subject.
=== Early manuscripts (1796–1798) ===
After finishing Lady Susan, Austen began her first full-length novel Elinor and Marianne. Her sister remembered that it was read to the family "before 1796" and was told through a series of letters. Without surviving original manuscripts, there is no way to know how much of the original draft survived in the novel published anonymously in 1811 as Sense and Sensibility.
Austen began a second novel, First Impressions (later published as Pride and Prejudice), in 1796. She completed the initial draft in August 1797, aged 21; as with all of her novels, Austen read the work aloud to her family as she was working on it and it became an "established favourite". At this time, her father made the first attempt to publish one of her novels; in November 1797 he wrote to Thomas Cadell, an established publisher in London, to ask if he would consider publishing First Impressions. Cadell returned George's letter, marking it "Declined by Return of Post". Jane may not have known of her father's efforts. Following the completion of First Impressions, Austen returned to Elinor and Marianne and from November 1797 until mid-1798, revised it heavily; she eliminated the epistolary format in favour of third-person narration and produced something close to Sense and Sensibility.
In 1797 Austen met her cousin (and future sister-in-law) Eliza de Feuillide, a French aristocrat whose first husband the Comte de Feuillide had been guillotined, causing her to flee to Britain, where she married Henry Austen. The description of the execution of the Comte de Feuillide related by his widow left Austen with an intense horror of the French Revolution that lasted for the rest of her life.
During the middle of 1798, after finishing revisions of Elinor and Marianne, Austen began writing a third novel with the working title Susan—later Northanger Abbey—a satire on the popular Gothic novel. Austen completed her work about a year later. In early 1803, Henry Austen offered Susan to Benjamin Crosby, a London publisher, who paid £10 for the copyright. Crosby promised early publication and went so far as to advertise the book publicly as being "in the press", but did nothing more. The manuscript remained in Crosby's hands, unpublished, until Austen repurchased the copyright from him in 1816.
=== Bath and Southampton ===
In December 1800 George Austen unexpectedly announced his decision to retire from the ministry, leave Steventon, and move the family to 4, Sydney Place in Bath, Somerset. While retirement and travel were good for the elder Austens, Jane Austen was shocked to be told she was moving 50 miles (80 km) away from the only home she had ever known. An indication of her state of mind is her lack of productivity as a writer during the time she lived in Bath. She was able to make some revisions to Susan, and she began and then abandoned a new novel, The Watsons, but there was nothing like the productivity of the years 1795–1799. Tomalin suggests this reflects a deep depression disabling her as a writer, but Honan disagrees, arguing Austen wrote or revised her manuscripts throughout her creative life, except for a few months after her father died. It is often claimed that Austen was unhappy in Bath, which caused her to lose interest in writing, but it is just as possible that Austen's social life in Bath prevented her from spending much time writing novels. The critic Robert Irvine argued that if Austen spent more time writing novels when she was in the countryside, it might just have been because she had more spare time as opposed to being more happy in the countryside as is often argued. Furthermore, Austen frequently both moved and travelled over southern England during this period, which was hardly a conducive environment for writing a long novel. Austen sold the rights to publish Susan to the publisher Crosby & Company, who paid her £10 (equivalent to £690 in 2023). Crosby & Company advertised Susan, but never published it.
The years from 1801 to 1804 are something of a blank space for Austen scholars as Cassandra destroyed all her letters from her sister in this period for unknown reasons. In December 1802 Austen received her only known proposal of marriage. She and her sister visited Alethea and Catherine Bigg, old friends who lived near Basingstoke. Their younger brother, Harris Bigg-Wither, had recently finished his education at Oxford and was also at home. Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen accepted. As described by Caroline Austen, Jane's niece, and Reginald Bigg-Wither, a descendant, Harris was not attractive—he was a large, plain-looking man who spoke little, stuttered when he did speak, was aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless. However, Austen had known him since both were young and the marriage offered many practical advantages to Austen and her family. He was the heir to extensive family estates located in the area where the sisters had grown up. With these resources, Austen could provide her parents a comfortable old age, give Cassandra a permanent home and, perhaps, assist her brothers in their careers. By the next morning, Austen realised she had made a mistake and withdrew her acceptance. No contemporary letters or diaries describe how Austen felt about this proposal. Irvine described Bigg-Wither as somebody who "...seems to have been a man very hard to like, let alone love".
In 1814 Austen wrote a letter to her niece Fanny Knight, who had asked for advice about a serious relationship, telling her that "having written so much on one side of the question, I shall now turn around & entreat you not to commit yourself farther, & not to think of accepting him unless you really do like him. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection". The scholar Douglas Bush wrote that Austen had "had a very high ideal of the love that should unite a husband and wife ... All of her heroines ... know in proportion to their maturity, the meaning of ardent love". A possible autobiographical element in Sense and Sensibility occurs when Elinor Dashwood contemplates "the worse and most irremediable of all evils, a connection for life" with an unsuitable man.
In 1804, while living in Bath, Austen started, but did not complete, her novel The Watsons. The story centres on an invalid and impoverished clergyman and his four unmarried daughters. Sutherland describes the novel as "a study in the harsh economic realities of dependent women's lives". Honan suggests, and Tomalin agrees, that Austen chose to stop work on the novel after her father died on 21 January 1805 and her personal circumstances resembled those of her characters too closely for her comfort.
Her father's relatively sudden death left Jane, Cassandra, and their mother in a precarious financial situation. Edward, James, Henry, and Francis Austen (known as Frank) pledged to make annual contributions to support their mother and sisters. For the next four years, the family's living arrangements reflected their financial insecurity. They spent part of the time in rented quarters in Bath before leaving the city in June 1805 for a family visit to Steventon and Godmersham. They moved for the autumn months to the newly fashionable seaside resort of Worthing, on the Sussex coast, where they resided at Stanford Cottage. It was here that Austen is thought to have written her fair copy of Lady Susan and added its "Conclusion". In 1806, the family moved to Southampton, where they shared a house with Frank Austen and his new wife. A large part of this time they spent visiting various branches of the family.
On 5 April 1809, about three months before the family's move to Chawton, Austen wrote an angry letter to Richard Crosby, offering him a new manuscript of Susan if needed to secure the immediate publication of the novel, and requesting the return of the original so she could find another publisher. Crosby replied that he had not agreed to publish the book by any particular time, or at all, and that Austen could repurchase the manuscript for the £10 he had paid her and find another publisher. She did not have the resources to buy the copyright back at that time, but was able to purchase it in 1816.
== Ages 34 to 41 ==
=== Chawton ===
Around early 1809, Austen's brother Edward offered his mother and sisters a more settled life—the use of a large cottage in Chawton village which was part of the estate around Edward's nearby property Chawton House. Jane, Cassandra and their mother moved into Chawton cottage on 7 July 1809. Life was quieter in Chawton than it had been since the family's move to Bath in 1800. The Austens did not socialise with gentry and entertained only when family visited. Her niece Anna described the family's life in Chawton as "a very quiet life, according to our ideas, but they were great readers, and besides the housekeeping our aunts occupied themselves in working with the poor and in teaching some girl or boy to read or write."
=== Published author ===
Like many women authors at the time, Austen published her books anonymously. At the time, the ideal roles for a woman were as wife and mother, and writing for women was regarded at best as a secondary form of activity; a woman who wished to be a full-time writer was felt to be degrading her femininity, so books by women were usually published anonymously in order to maintain the conceit that the female writer was only publishing as a sort of part-time job, and was not seeking to become a "literary lioness" (i.e. a celebrity). Another reason noted is that the novel was still seen as a lesser form of literature at the time compared with poetry, and many female and male authors published novels anonymously, whereas works of poetry, by both female and male writers, were almost always attributed to the author.
During her time at Chawton, Austen published four generally well-received novels. Through her brother Henry, the publisher Thomas Egerton agreed to publish Sense and Sensibility, which, like all of Austen's novels except Pride and Prejudice, was published "on commission", that is, at the author's financial risk. When publishing on commission, publishers would advance the costs of publication, repay themselves as books were sold and then charge a 10% commission for each book sold, paying the rest to the author. If a novel did not recover its costs through sales, the author was responsible for them. The alternative to selling via commission was by selling the copyright, where an author received a one-time payment from the publisher for the manuscript, which occurred with Pride and Prejudice. Austen's experience with Susan (the manuscript that became Northanger Abbey) where she sold the copyright to the publisher Crosby & Sons for £10, who did not publish the book, forcing her to buy back the copyright in order to get her work published, left Austen leery of this method of publishing. The final alternative, of selling by subscription, where a group of people would agree to buy a book in advance, was not an option for Austen as only authors who were well known or had an influential aristocratic patron who would recommend an up-coming book to their friends, could sell by subscription. Sense and Sensibility appeared in October 1811, and was described as being written "By a Lady". As it was sold on commission, Egerton used expensive paper and set the price at 15 shillings (equivalent to £50 in 2023).
Reviews were favourable and the novel became fashionable among young aristocratic opinion-makers; the edition sold out by mid-1813. Austen's novels were published in larger editions than was normal for this period. The small size of the novel-reading public and the large costs associated with hand production (particularly the cost of handmade paper) meant that most novels were published in editions of 500 copies or fewer to reduce the risks to the publisher and the novelist. Even some of the most successful titles during this period were issued in editions of not more than 750 or 800 copies and later reprinted if demand continued. Austen's novels were published in larger editions, ranging from about 750 copies of Sense and Sensibility to about 2,000 copies of Emma. It is not clear whether the decision to print more copies than usual of Austen's novels was driven by the publishers or the author. Since all but one of Austen's books were originally published "on commission", the risks of overproduction were largely hers (or Cassandra's after her death) and publishers may have been more willing to produce larger editions than was normal practice when their own funds were at risk. Editions of popular works of non-fiction were often much larger.
Austen made £140 (equivalent to £9,400 in 2023) from Sense and Sensibility, which provided her with some financial and psychological independence. After the success of Sense and Sensibility, all of Austen's subsequent books were billed as written "By the author of Sense and Sensibility" and Austen's name never appeared on her books during her lifetime. Egerton then published Pride and Prejudice, a revision of First Impressions, in January 1813. Austen sold the copyright to Pride and Prejudice to Egerton for £110 (equivalent to £6,300 in 2023). To maximise profits, he used cheap paper and set the price at 18 shillings (equivalent to £52 in 2023). He advertised the book widely and it was an immediate success, garnering three favourable reviews and selling well. Had Austen sold Pride and Prejudice on commission, she would have made a profit of £475, or twice her father's annual income. By October 1813, Egerton was able to begin selling a second edition. Mansfield Park was published by Egerton in May 1814. While Mansfield Park was ignored by reviewers, it was very popular with readers. All copies were sold within six months, and Austen's earnings on this novel were larger than for any of her other novels.
Without Austen's knowledge or approval, her novels were translated into French and published in cheaply produced, pirated editions in France. The literary critic Noel King commented in 1953 that, given the prevailing rage in France at the time for lush romantic fantasies, it was remarkable that her novels with the emphasis on everyday English life had any sort of a market in France. King cautioned that Austen's chief translator in France, Madame Isabelle de Montolieu, had only the most rudimentary knowledge of English, and her translations were more of "imitations" than translations proper, as Montolieu depended upon assistants to provide a summary, which she then translated into an embellished French that often radically altered Austen's plots and characters. The first of the Austen novels to be published that credited her as the author was in France, when Persuasion was published in 1821 as La Famille Elliot ou L'Ancienne Inclination.
Austen learned that the Prince Regent admired her novels and kept a set at each of his residences. In November 1815 the Prince Regent's librarian James Stanier Clarke invited Austen to visit the Prince's London residence and hinted Austen should dedicate the forthcoming Emma to the Prince. Though Austen disapproved of the Prince Regent, she could scarcely refuse the request. Austen disapproved of the Prince Regent on the account of his womanising, gambling, drinking, spendthrift ways, and generally disreputable behaviour. She later wrote Plan of a Novel, According to Hints from Various Quarters, a satiric outline of the "perfect novel" based on the librarian's many suggestions for a future Austen novel. Austen was greatly annoyed by Clarke's often pompous literary advice, and the Plan of a Novel parodying Clarke was intended as her revenge for all the unwanted letters she had received from the royal librarian.
In mid-1815 Austen moved her work from Egerton to John Murray, a better-known publisher in London, who published Emma in December 1815 and a second edition of Mansfield Park in February 1816. Emma sold well, but the new edition of Mansfield Park did poorly, and this failure offset most of the income from Emma. These were the last of Austen's novels to be published during her lifetime.
While Murray prepared Emma for publication, Austen began The Elliots, later published as Persuasion. She completed her first draft in July 1816. In addition, shortly after the publication of Emma, Henry Austen repurchased the copyright for Susan from Crosby. Austen was forced to postpone publishing either of these completed novels by family financial troubles. Henry Austen's bank failed in March 1816, depriving him of all of his assets, leaving him deeply in debt and costing Edward, James, and Frank Austen large sums. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had made to support their mother and sisters.
=== Illness and death ===
Austen was feeling unwell by early 1816, but ignored the warning signs. By the middle of that year, her decline was unmistakable, and she began a slow, irregular deterioration. The majority of biographers rely on Zachary Cope's 1964 retrospective diagnosis and list her cause of death as Addison's disease, although her final illness has also been described as resulting from Hodgkin's lymphoma. When her uncle died and left his entire fortune to his wife, effectively disinheriting his relatives, she suffered a relapse, writing: "I am ashamed to say that the shock of my Uncle's Will brought on a relapse ... but a weak Body must excuse weak Nerves."
Austen continued to work in spite of her illness. Dissatisfied with the ending of The Elliots, she rewrote the final two chapters, which she finished on 6 August 1816. In January 1817 Austen began The Brothers (titled Sanditon when published in 1925), completing twelve chapters before stopping work in mid-March 1817, probably due to illness. Todd describes Sanditon's heroine, Diana Parker, as an "energetic invalid". In the novel Austen mocked hypochondriacs, and although she describes the heroine as "bilious", five days after abandoning the novel she wrote of herself that she was turning "every wrong colour" and living "chiefly on the sofa". She put down her pen on 18 March 1817, making a note of it.
Austen made light of her condition, describing it as "bile" and rheumatism. As her illness progressed, she experienced difficulty walking and lacked energy; by mid-April she was confined to bed. In May, Cassandra and Henry took her to Winchester for treatment, by which time she suffered agonising pain and welcomed death.
Austen died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 at the age of 41. Henry, through his clerical connections, arranged for his sister to be buried in the north aisle of the nave of Winchester Cathedral. The epitaph composed by her brother James praises Austen's personal qualities, expresses hope for her salvation, and mentions the "extraordinary endowments of her mind", but does not explicitly mention her achievements as a writer.
== Posthumous publication ==
In the months after Austen's death in July 1817, Cassandra, Henry Austen and Murray arranged for the publication of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey as a set. Henry Austen contributed a Biographical Note dated December 1817, which for the first time identified his sister as the author of the novels. Tomalin describes it as "a loving and polished eulogy". Sales were good for a year—only 321 copies remained unsold at the end of 1818.
Although Austen's six novels were out of print in England in the 1820s, they were still being read through copies housed in private libraries and circulating libraries. Austen had early admirers. The first piece of fiction using her as a character (what might now be called real person fiction) appeared in 1823 in a letter to the editor in The Lady's Magazine. It refers to Austen's genius and suggests that aspiring authors were envious of her powers.
In 1832 Richard Bentley purchased the remaining copyrights to all of her novels, and over the following winter published five illustrated volumes as part of his Standard Novels series. In October 1833 Bentley released the first collected edition of her works. Since then, Austen's novels have been continuously in print.
== Genre and style ==
Austen's works implicitly critique the sentimental novels of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. The earliest English novelists, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett, were followed by the school of sentimentalists and romantics such as Sir Walter Scott, Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, and Oliver Goldsmith, whose style and genre Austen repudiated, returning the novel on a "slender thread" to the tradition of Richardson and Fielding for a "realistic study of manners". In the mid-20th century the literary critics F. R. Leavis and Ian Watt placed her in the tradition of Richardson and Fielding; both believe that she used their tradition of "irony, realism and satire to form an author superior to both".
Walter Scott noted Austen's "resistance to the trashy sensationalism of much of modern fiction—'the ephemeral productions which supply the regular demand of watering places and circulating libraries'". Yet her relationship with these genres is complex, as evidenced by Northanger Abbey and Emma. Similar to William Wordsworth, who excoriated the modern frantic novel in the "Preface" to his Lyrical Ballads (1800), Austen distances herself from escapist novels; the discipline and innovation she demonstrates is similar to his, and she shows "that rhetorically less is artistically more." She eschewed popular Gothic fiction, stories of terror in which a heroine typically was stranded in a remote location, a castle or abbey (32 novels between 1784 and 1818 contain the word "abbey" in their title). Yet in Northanger Abbey she alludes to the trope, with the heroine, Catherine, anticipating a move to a remote locale. Rather than full-scale rejection or parody, Austen transforms the genre, juxtaposing reality, with descriptions of elegant rooms and modern comforts, against the heroine's "novel-fueled" desires. Nor does she completely denigrate Gothic fiction: instead she transforms settings and situations, such that the heroine is still imprisoned, yet her imprisonment is mundane and real—regulated manners and the strict rules of the ballroom. In Sense and Sensibility Austen presents characters who are more complex than in staple sentimental fiction, according to the critic Tom Keymer, who notes that although it is a parody of popular sentimental fiction, "Marianne in her sentimental histrionics responds to the calculating world ... with a quite justifiable scream of female distress."
Richardson's Pamela, the prototype for the sentimental novel, is a didactic love story with a happy ending, written at a time women were beginning to have the right to choose husbands and yet were restricted by social conventions. Austen attempted Richardson's epistolary style, but found the flexibility of narrative more conducive to her realism, a realism in which each conversation and gesture carries a weight of significance. The narrative style utilises free indirect speech—she was the first English novelist to do so extensively—through which she had the ability to present a character's thoughts directly to the reader and yet still retain narrative control. The style allows an author to vary discourse between the narrator's voice and values and those of the characters.
Austen had a natural ear for speech and dialogue, according to the scholar Mary Lascelles: "Few novelists can be more scrupulous than Jane Austen as to the phrasing and thoughts of their characters." Techniques such as fragmentary speech suggest a character's traits and their tone; "syntax and phrasing rather than vocabulary" is utilised to indicate social variants. Dialogue reveals a character's mood—frustration, anger, happiness—each treated differently and often through varying patterns of sentence structures. When Elizabeth Bennet rejects Darcy, her stilted speech and the convoluted sentence structure reveals that he has wounded her:
From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that the groundwork of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike. And I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.
Austen's plots highlight women's traditional dependence on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. As an art form, the 18th-century novel lacked the seriousness of its equivalents from the 19th century, when novels were treated as "the natural vehicle for discussion and ventilation of what mattered in life". Rather than delving too deeply into the psyche of her characters, Austen enjoys them and imbues them with humour, according to critic John Bayley. He believes that the well-spring of her wit and irony is her own attitude that comedy "is the saving grace of life". Part of Austen's fame rests on the historical and literary significance that she was the first woman to write great comic novels. Samuel Johnson's influence is evident, in that she follows his advice to write "a representation of life as may excite mirth".
Her humour comes from her modesty and lack of superiority, allowing her most successful characters, such as Elizabeth Bennet, to transcend the trivialities of life, which the more foolish characters are overly absorbed in. Austen used comedy to explore the individualism of women's lives and gender relations, and she appears to have used it to find the goodness in life, often fusing it with "ethical sensibility", creating artistic tension. Critic Robert Polhemus writes, "To appreciate the drama and achievement of Austen, we need to realize how deep was her passion for both reverence and ridicule ... and her comic imagination reveals both the harmonies and the telling contradictions of her mind and vision as she tries to reconcile her satirical bias with her sense of the good."
== Reception ==
=== Contemporaneous responses ===
As Austen's works were published anonymously, they brought her little personal renown. They were fashionable among opinion-makers, but were rarely reviewed. Most of the reviews were short and on balance favourable, although superficial and cautious, most often focused on the moral lessons of the novels.
Sir Walter Scott, a leading novelist of the day, anonymously wrote a review of Emma in 1815, using it to defend the then-disreputable genre of the novel and praising Austen's realism, "the art of copying from nature as she really exists in the common walks of life, and presenting to the reader, instead of the splendid scenes from an imaginary world, a correct and striking representation of that which is daily taking place around him". The other important early review was attributed to Richard Whately in 1821. However, Whately denied having authored the review, which drew favourable comparisons between Austen and such acknowledged greats as Homer and William Shakespeare, and praised the dramatic qualities of her narrative. Scott and Whately set the tone for almost all subsequent 19th-century Austen criticism.
=== 19th century ===
Because Austen's novels did not conform to Romantic and Victorian expectations that "powerful emotion [be] authenticated by an egregious display of sound and colour in the writing", some 19th-century critics preferred the works of Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Notwithstanding Walter Scott's positivity, Austen's work did not win over those who preferred the prevailing aesthetic values of the elite Romantic zeitgeist. Her novels were republished in Britain from the 1830s and sold steadily. Austen's six books were included in the canon-making Standard Novels series by publisher Richard Bentley, which increased their stature. That series referred to her as "the founder of a school of novelists" and called her a genius.
The first French critic who paid notice to Austen was Philarète Chasles in an 1842 essay, dismissing her in two sentences as a boring, imitative writer with no substance. Austen was not widely appreciated in France until 1878, when the French critic Léon Boucher published the essay Le Roman Classique en Angleterre, in which he called Austen a "genius", the first French author to do so. The first accurate translation of Austen into French occurred in 1899 when Félix Fénéon translated Northanger Abbey as Catherine Morland.
In Britain and North America, Austen gradually grew in the estimation of both the public and the literati. In the United States, Austen was being recommended as reading in schools as early as 1838, according to Professor Devoney Looser. The philosopher and literary critic George Henry Lewes published a series of enthusiastic articles in the 1840s and 1850s. Later in the century, the novelist Henry James referred to Austen several times with approval, and on one occasion ranked her with Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, and Henry Fielding as amongst "the fine painters of life".
The publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced Austen's life story to a wider public as "dear aunt Jane", the respectable maiden aunt. Publication of the Memoir spurred another reissue of Austen's novels. Editions were released in 1883 and fancy illustrated editions and collectors' sets quickly followed. The author and critic Leslie Stephen described the popular mania that started to develop for Austen in the 1880s as "Austenolatry". Around the start of the 20th century, an intellectual clique of Janeites reacted against the popularisation of Austen, distinguishing their deeper appreciation from the vulgar enthusiasm of the masses.
In response, Henry James decried "a beguiled infatuation" with Austen, a rising tide of public interest that exceeded Austen's "intrinsic merit and interest". The American literary critic A. Walton Litz noted that the "anti-Janites" in the 19th and 20th centuries comprised a formidable literary squad of Mark Twain, Henry James, Charlotte Brontë, D. H. Lawrence, and Kingsley Amis, but in "every case the adverse judgement merely reveals the special limitations or eccentricities of the critic, leaving Jane Austen relatively untouched".
=== Modern ===
Austen's works have attracted legions of scholars. The first dissertation on Austen was published in 1883, by George Pellew, a student at Harvard University. Another early academic analysis came from a 1911 essay by the Oxford Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley, who grouped Austen's novels into "early" and "late" works, a distinction still used by scholars today. The first academic book devoted to Austen in France was Jane Austen by Paul and Kate Rague (1914), who set out to explain why French critics and readers should take Austen seriously. The same year, Léonie Villard published Jane Austen, Sa Vie et Ses Oeuvres, originally her PhD thesis, the first serious academic study of Austen in France. In 1923, R.W. Chapman published the first scholarly edition of Austen's collected works, which was also the first scholarly edition of any English novelist. The Chapman text has remained the basis for all subsequent published editions of Austen's works.
With the publication in 1939 of Mary Lascelles' Jane Austen and Her Art, the academic study of Austen took hold. Lascelles analysed the books Austen read and their influence on her work, and closely examined Austen's style and "narrative art". Concern arose that academics were obscuring the appreciation of Austen with increasingly esoteric theories, a debate that has continued since.
The period since the Second World War has seen a diversity of critical approaches to Austen, including feminist theory, and perhaps most controversially, postcolonial theory. The divide has widened between the popular appreciation of Austen, particularly by modern Janeites, and academic judgements. In 1994 the literary critic Harold Bloom placed Austen among the greatest Western writers of all time.
In the People's Republic of China after 1949, writings of Austen were regarded as too frivolous, and thus during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966–76, Austen was banned as a "British bourgeois imperialist". In the late 1970s, when Austen's works were re-published in China, her popularity with readers confounded the authorities who had trouble understanding that people generally read books for enjoyment, not political edification.
The conservative American professor Gene Koppel claimed that Austen and her family were "Tories of the deepest dye", i.e. Conservatives in opposition to the liberal Whigs. Although several feminist authors such as Claudia Johnson and Mollie Sandock claimed Austen for their own cause, Koppel argued that different people react to a work of literature in different subjective ways, as explained by the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Thus competing interpretations of Austen's work can be equally valid, provided they are grounded in textual and historical analysis: it is equally possible to see Austen as a feminist critiquing Regency-era society and as a conservative upholding its values.
== Adaptations ==
=== Written ===
Austen's novels have resulted in sequels, prequels and adaptations of almost every type, from soft-core pornography to fantasy. From the 19th century, her family members published conclusions to her incomplete novels, and by 2000 there were over 100 printed adaptations.
=== Drama, film and television ===
The first dramatic adaptation of Austen was published in 1895, Rosina Filippi's Duologues and Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen: Arranged and Adapted for Drawing-Room Performance, and Filippi was also responsible for the first professional stage adaptation, The Bennets (1901).
The first film adaptation was the 1940 MGM production of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. BBC television dramatisations released in the 1970s and 1980s attempted to adhere meticulously to Austen's plots, characterisations and settings. The British critic Robert Irvine noted that in American film adaptations of Austen's novels, starting with the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice, class is subtly downplayed, and the society of Regency England depicted by Austen that is grounded in a hierarchy based upon the ownership of land and the antiquity of the family name is one that Americans cannot embrace in its entirety.
From 1995 many Austen adaptations appeared, with Ang Lee's film of Sense and Sensibility, for which screenwriter and star Emma Thompson won an Academy Award, and the BBC's immensely popular television miniseries Pride and Prejudice, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. A 2005 British production of Pride & Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, was followed in 2007 by ITV's Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, and in 2016 by Love & Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, a film version of Lady Susan, that borrowed the title of Austen's Love and Freindship [sic].
== Honours ==
In 2013 Austen's works featured on a series of British postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail to mark the bicentenary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. Austen is on the £10 note issued by the Bank of England which was introduced in 2017, replacing Charles Darwin. In July 2017 a statue of Austen was erected in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on the 200th anniversary of her death. A statue of Austen by Martin Jennings was unveiled in October 2025 at The Close, near Winchester Cathedral.
== List of works ==
== Family trees == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholidogaster | Pholidogaster | Pholidogaster ('scaly stomach') is an extinct genus of stem-tetrapod that lived during the Middle Carboniferous period (late Viséan to early Serpukhovian). Pholidogaster is known from only two specimens found in Gilmerton, Scotland. Historically it was one of the first to show science the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians.
This animal had a very long and slender body, with small and feeble limbs. The shoulder structure is further back than is usual. Belly scales are present (hence its name), suggesting that in life it did not just swim, but scrawled over hard surfaces as well. The structure of the jaw is not clear, since the jaw bones on both specimens are not well preserved. However, there are large fangs in the front of the mouth, presumably used in hunting. It was a small to medium-sized animal around 1 m in length. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%27s_Stone | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the Harry Potter series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With the help of his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry unravels a mystery involving the dark wizard Lord Voldemort.
The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by Bloomsbury. It was published in the United States the following year by Scholastic Corporation under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction in August 1999, and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into 85 other languages and made into a feature-length film of the same name, as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the fourth best-selling book of all time.
Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of Jane Austen, one of Rowling's favourite authors; Roald Dahl, whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-teller Homer. While some commentators thought the book looked backward to Victorian and Edwardian boarding school stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as showing overcoming obstacles like bullying.
The Harry Potter series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, sociological analysis, and marketing.
== Plot ==
Harry Potter lives with his abusive uncle and aunt, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, and their bullying son, Dudley, in the fictional English town of Little Whinging. On Harry's eleventh birthday, he learns that he is a wizard when a man named Rubeus Hagrid invites him to attend Hogwarts, a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, a Dark wizard named Voldemort murdered Harry's parents and tried to kill Harry as well. However, Voldemort's killing curse rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.
Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where Harry discovers he is famous among wizards. He buys a wand, an owl named Hedwig, and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. During the journey, he befriends Ron Weasley, a fellow first-year student. He also meets Hermione Granger and has a confrontation with Draco Malfoy. At Hogwarts, a magical Sorting Hat assigns each first-year student to a House. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.
Harry's skill at broomstick flying earns him a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for the Potions professor Severus Snape, who seems to hate Harry. One night, Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor. The two boys later save Hermione from a troll and begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that Snape jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift—his father's invisibility cloak. While using the cloak to explore the school undetected, he discovers the Mirror of Erised, which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his parents in the mirror.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called the Philosopher's Stone, which grants its user immortality. A centaur named Firenze warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the Stone. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry approaches the Stone. He encounters Professor Quirrell, the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom; Snape was trying to save Harry during the match. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins to burn, and he passes out.
Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. Dumbledore explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm that was created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's end-of-year feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the home of the Dursleys for the summer.
== Characters ==
Harry Potter is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard." She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there. Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday. Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present. Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.
Ron Weasley is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him". He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizard Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
Hermione Granger, the daughter of an all-Muggle family, is a bossy girl who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term. Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright, and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness". Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble, she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone. She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
Neville Longbottom is a plump, diffident boy, so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a Remembrall, to remind him if he forgets something. Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight. Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement or if he thinks it is right and important.
Rubeus Hagrid, a half-giant nearly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall, with tangled black hair and beard, who was expelled from Hogwarts and his wand was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), though Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's gamekeeper, a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures. Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron and, later, Hermione, but his carelessness makes him unreliable.
Professor Albus Dumbledore, a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt, is the headmaster of Hogwarts, and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears. Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic, shrugs off praise, though he is aware of his own brilliance. Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".
Professor Minerva McGonagall, a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun, teaches Transfiguration and is able to transform herself into a cat. She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
Petunia Dursley, the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours. As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak and tries to pretend that she never existed.
Vernon Dursley, the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
Dudley Dursley is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.
Draco Malfoy is a slim, pale boy who speaks in a bored drawl. He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch, and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard and wizards who do not share his views. His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been bewitched. Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.
Oliver Wood is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Professor Quirrell is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires. Quirrell wears a turban to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort, whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.
Professor Severus Snape, who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair, teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in his own House of Slytherin, and appears to delight in humiliating those from other houses, especially Harry. Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast, lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.
Argus Filch, the school caretaker who knows the school's secret passages better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins. His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.
Other members of staff include: the dumpy Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, the tiny and excitable Charms teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House, the soporific History of magic teacher, Professor Binns, a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death, and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher. The poltergeist Peeves wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.
In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero, Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard" and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him. During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him". Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".
Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness". His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.
The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate, and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:
The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard. ... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was. ... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him. ... And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.
== Development, publication and reception ==
=== Development ===
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known, wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write Philosopher's Stone that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product." Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. Rowling spent six years working on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Rowling sent the book to a literary agent and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000 words. Barry Cunningham, who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors for Bloomsbury Children's Books, recommended accepting the book and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".
After it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the Scottish Arts Council, which enabled her to plan the sequels.
=== Publication and reception in the United Kingdom ===
Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance and Cunningham sent proof copies to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched. He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the pen name J. K. Rowling just before publication.
In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.) The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers. Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021 Heritage auction. Thomas Taylor created the cover for the first edition.
Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments, wrote what is thought to be the first published review, in The Scotsman on 28 June 1997. She described Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children". Another early review, in The Herald, said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews in The Guardian and The Sunday Times and in September 1997 Books for Keeps, a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five. Sunday Times said: "comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", while The Guardian called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" and The Scotsman said it had "all the makings of a classic".
In 1997 the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The Smarties award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years. The following year, Philosopher's Stone won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children. It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults, but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards – for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association / Bookseller Author of the Year. By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001. A Braille edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.
Platform 9+3⁄4, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.
=== US publication and reception ===
Scholastic Corporation bought the US rights at the Bologna Book Fair in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book. Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"), the American edition was published in September 1998 under the title Rowling suggested, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time. Philip Nel has pointed out that the change lost the connection with alchemy and some other changes lost the meaning of other terms changed in translation, for example from "crumpet" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of Philosopher's Stone. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits. Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.
At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such as Kirkus Reviews and Booklist, which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one by Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers. Although The Boston Globe and Michael Winerip in The New York Times complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book, they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise.
A year later, the US edition was selected as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and a New York Public Library 1998 Best Book of the Year and won Parenting Magazine's Book of the Year Award for 1998, the School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal.
In August 1999, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone topped the New York Times list of best-selling fiction and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until the New York Times split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings. Publishers Weekly's report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6 million copies).
In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book that was released on 1 October 2008 to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release. For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-released Sorcerer's Stone, along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art by Kazu Kibuishi in 2013.
=== Translations ===
By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages. By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being Lowland Scots. In 2025, Rowling's website reported that the novel had been translated into 85 languages. Bloomsbury have published translations in Latin and in Ancient Greek, with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".
== Style and themes ==
Philip Nel has drawn attention to Jane Austen's influence on Rowling, whom Rowling has admired since the age of twelve. The styles of both novelists encourage rereading, as details that appear insignificant are discovered to foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story (for example, the brief mention of Sirius Black near the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone foreshadows his importance as a major character in the third to fifth books). Like Austen's heroines, Harry often finds himself re-examining his beliefs as the books draw to a close. Also reminiscent of Austen is the lively social custom of the communal reading of letters. Furthermore, both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that reinforce their personalities. However, for Nel, one point of divergence between the two authors is that Rowling's humor tends towards caricature, with names resembling those found in the works of Charles Dickens. Amanda Cockrell further noted that Rowling's names invoke the dominant trait of their owners through allusions drawn from sources as varied as Roman mythology and eighteenth-century German literature. Rowling, like C. S. Lewis (author of the Narnia series), blurs the distinction between juvenile and adult fiction. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines several literary genres—fantasy, young adult fiction, boarding school stories, and Bildungsroman, among others.
Some reviewers compared Philosopher's Stone to the stories of Roald Dahl, who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of Philosopher's Stone, seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other children's author of comparable popularity in the late 1990s was an American, R. L. Stine. Some of the story elements in Philosopher's Stone resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero of James and the Giant Peach lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant aunts—one fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.
Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley. Tad Brennan commented that Rowling's writing resembles that of Homer: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression". Stephen King admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.
Nicholas Tucker described the early Harry Potter books as looking back to Victorian and Edwardian children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, including Argus Filch's cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak. Several other commentators have noted that the books present a rigidly stratified society and include many social stereotypes. However, Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.
Susan Hall wrote that there is no rule of law in the books, as the actions of Ministry of Magic officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This provides Voldemort an opportunity to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect, Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the rigidly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.
Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the dully conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", at a time when the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards spring from affection and loyalty. This is evident from his pleasure in being an occasional temporary member of the Weasley family, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later Remus Lupin and Sirius Black as father-figures.
== Legacy ==
=== Sequels ===
The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and later, in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version. It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release. The seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published on 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.
=== Illustrated version ===
An illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations by Jim Kay. The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.
=== Audio books ===
On 20 November 2015, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in audio book format simultaneously both in the UK and the US by Pottermore Publishing. The UK edition is narrated by Stephen Fry and the US edition is narrated by Jim Dale. On 4 November 2025, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as a full-cast audio edition internationally by Pottermore Publishing and Amazon's subsidiary, Audible.
=== Podcast version ===
In May 2020, a reading podcast by Spotify was created and entitled Harry Potter at Home: Readings. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises.
=== Film adaptation ===
In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first two Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million. Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as Richard Harris as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books. After extensive casting, filming began in September 2000 at Leavesden Film Studios and in London, with production ending in July 2001. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in London on 14 November 2001. Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and by a score of 65% at Metacritic, representing "generally favourable reviews".
=== Video games ===
Five independent video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 by Electronic Arts, that were loosely based on the film and book:
=== Uses in education and business ===
Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as an object lesson. Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors. Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and socialisation; stratification and social inequality; social institutions; and social theory".
Stephen Brown noted that the early Harry Potter books, especially Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names. For example, a real-world analogue of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans was introduced under licence in 2000 by toymaker Hasbro.
== Release history == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Danny_DeVito | List of awards and nominations received by Danny DeVito | Danny DeVito has a large and varied body of work as an actor, producer and director in stage, television and film.
He has received a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Producers Guild Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and Tony Award. In 2011 he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6909 Hollywood Blvd., for his contributions to television.
== Major associations ==
=== Academy Awards ===
=== BAFTA Awards ===
=== Emmy Awards ===
=== Golden Globe Awards ===
=== Screen Actors Guild Award ===
=== Tony Awards ===
== Miscellaneous awards ==
=== American Comedy Award ===
1987 - Funniest Lead Actor in a Motion Picture - Ruthless People - nominee
1988 - Funniest Lead Actor in a Motion Picture - Throw Momma from the Train - nominee
=== Broadway.com Audience Award ===
2024 - Favorite Leading Actor in a Play - I Need That - nominee
2024 - Favorite Funny Performance - I Need That - nominee
=== Golden Berlin Award ===
1990 - Golden Berlin Bear - The War of the Roses - nominee
=== Golden Raspberry Award ===
1982 - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor - Going Ape! - nominee
1991 - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director - Hoffa - nominee
1992 - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor - Batman Returns - nominee
2007 - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor - Deck the Halls - nominee
=== MTV Movie Award ===
1992 - MTV Movie Award for Best Villain - Batman Returns - nominee
=== Online Film & Television Award ===
1997 - Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Picture - Gattaca - nominee
1997 - Best Comedy/Musical Picture - Wag the Dog - nominee
1997 - Best Voice-Over Performance - Hercules - nominee
2000 - Best Picture - Erin Brokovich - nominee
=== Producers Guild of America Award ===
2000 - Best Theatrical Motion Picture - Erin Brokovich - nominee
=== Satellite Award ===
1996 - Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Matilda - nominee
1997 - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - The Rainmaker - nominee
2008 - Best Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - nominee
=== Saturn Award ===
1992 - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor - Batman Returns - nominee
=== Tribeca Film Festival ===
2016 - Tribeca Film Festival Award for Best Narrative Short - Curmudgeons - nominee
=== TV Land Award ===
2004 - TV Land Award for Bossiest Boss - Taxi - winner
2004 - TV Land Medallion Award - Taxi - winner
== Other awards ==
== Honorary awards == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Newbon | Neil Newbon | Neil Christie Newbon (born 14 August 1978) is an English actor known for voicing Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human, Nicholai Ginovaef and Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil 3 (2020) and Resident Evil Village respectively, Zeon in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3, for which he won the Game Award for Best Performance.
== Early life ==
Neil Christie Newbon was born in Birmingham on 14 August 1978, the son of sports presenter Gary Newbon. He is of Scottish descent on his mother's side and Belarusian descent on his father's side. His sister Claire is a journalist, while his twin brother Laurence is a cameraman. He played football as a teenager, usually as a goalkeeper.
== Career ==
In 1998, Newbon appeared in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me as James, a waiter in the show's notable "Going for an English" sketch. He has appeared in numerous films. He voiced a tank driver in Jackboots on Whitehall. He starred in the music videos for the Now Voyager Mix of "You Got the Love" by The Source and Candi Staton in 2006 and "Kingdom of Rust" by Doves in 2009. In 2012, he joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks as Simon Walker.
Since 2012, Newbon has provided the voice and motion capture for numerous video game characters, including Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human, Nicholai Ginovaef in Resident Evil 3, Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village and Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3. For his performance as Astarion, he won Best Performance at the 2023 Game Awards as well as the Golden Joystick for Best Supporting Performer.
Newbon is a co-founder of the training facility Performance Captured Academy, which offers courses on motion capture for aspiring actors.
== Personal life ==
Newbon married film director China Moo-Young in October 2012, and they had one daughter together before divorcing in 2015. He confirmed that he was in a relationship with his Performance Captured Academy co-founder Saleta Losada in 2018, and they were married in June 2023.
Newbon has trained in various martial arts for over 16 years, including kung fu (in the styles Crane, Shaolin, Snake, and Tiger), kickboxing, judo, and Wadō-ryū karate.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
=== Television ===
=== Video games ===
=== Stage ===
== Awards and nominations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_number | Ordinal number | In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, nth, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets. Usually Greek letters are used for ordinal number variables to help distinguish them from natural number variables.
A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least natural number that has not been previously used. To extend this process to various infinite sets, ordinal numbers are defined more generally as a linearly ordered class of numbers that include the natural numbers and have the property that every non-empty collection (set or proper class) of ordinals has a least or "smallest" element (this is needed for giving a meaning to "the least unused element"). This more general definition allows us to define an ordinal number
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
(omega) to be the least element that is greater than every natural number, along with ordinal numbers
ω
+
1
{\displaystyle \omega +1}
,
ω
+
2
{\displaystyle \omega +2}
, etc., which are even greater than
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
.
The Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory asserts that, for any set of ordinals, there exists another ordinal greater than all of them. The answer to the question "What if that set is the set of all ordinals?" (the Burali-Forti paradox) is that the collection of all ordinals is not a set, but a proper class.
A linear order such that every non-empty subset has a least element is called a well-order. The axiom of choice implies that every set can be well-ordered. Given two well-ordered sets, one is isomorphic to an initial segment of the other, and the isomorphism is unique. This allows a unique ordinal to be associated with each well-ordered set, known as its order type.
Ordinal numbers are distinct from cardinal numbers, which measure the size of sets. Although the distinction between ordinals and cardinals is not this apparent on finite sets (one can go from one to the other just by counting labels), they are very different in the infinite case, where different infinite ordinals can correspond to sets having the same cardinal. Like other kinds of numbers, ordinals can be added, multiplied, and exponentiated, although none of these operations are commutative.
Ordinals were introduced by Georg Cantor in 1883 to accommodate infinite sequences and classify derived sets, which he had previously introduced in 1872 while studying the uniqueness of trigonometric series.
== Motivation ==
A natural number (which, in this context, includes the number 0) can be used for two purposes: to describe the size of a set, or to describe the position of an element in a sequence. When generalized to infinite sets, the notion of size leads to cardinal numbers, and the notion of position leads to the ordinal numbers described here.
In a broader mathematical sense, counting can be viewed as the instantiation of mathematical induction. To enumerate a well-ordered set is effectively to verify a property for its elements sequentially. For the natural numbers, this is standard induction: if a property holds for 0, and its truth for
n
{\displaystyle n}
implies its truth for
n
+
1
{\displaystyle n+1}
, then it holds for all natural numbers. This process corresponds to the first infinite ordinal,
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
.
Mathematical contexts often require iterating beyond a single infinite limit. The ordinal
ω
2
{\displaystyle \omega ^{2}}
(represented in the figure) exemplifies the concept of nested induction. It consists of a sequence of distinct copies of the natural numbers ordered one after another. To verify a property for all ordinals less than
ω
2
{\displaystyle \omega ^{2}}
, one performs an "inner" induction (counting through
0
,
1
,
2
,
…
{\displaystyle 0,1,2,\dots }
), establishes the limit at
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
, and then proceeds to the next sequence (
ω
+
1
,
ω
+
2
,
…
{\displaystyle \omega +1,\omega +2,\dots }
). This structure parallels a nested loop in computer programming (e.g., iterating through pairs of natural numbers
(
j
,
i
)
{\displaystyle (j,i)}
ordered lexicographically). Ordinals allow the definition of processes of arbitrary complexity, such as
ω
3
{\displaystyle \omega ^{3}}
(triple nesting) or
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\omega }}
(induction over the depth of nested induction).
The validity of inductive counting rests on the property of well-foundedness, specifically the requirement that every process can be traced back to a "foundational" element. A linear order that exhibits this well-foundedness is termed a well-order. The existence of a "least" or minimal element in every non-empty subset of a well-ordered set grounds the principle of transfinite induction, generalizing standard induction by ensuring that if a property fails to hold, there exists a specific least counterexample.
Ordinals serve as the canonical abstractions of these well-ordered structures. A fundamental theorem in set theory establishes that any two well-ordered sets are comparable: given two well-orders, either they are isomorphic, or one is isomorphic to a proper initial segment of the other. This uniqueness implies that well-orders can be classified by their structure alone, independent of specific representations. Consequently, ordinal numbers are defined as the representative forms of these isomorphism classes.
== Definitions ==
=== Well-ordering ===
The construction procedure of transfinite sequences implies that the ordinals used to label their elements are well-ordered. This means that:
Every non-empty collection of ordinals
T
{\displaystyle T}
has a unique least element.
Intuitively, the least ordinal in
T
{\displaystyle T}
is the "next" ordinal introduced after all ordinals strictly less than every ordinal in
T
{\displaystyle T}
have been used. In contrast,
T
{\displaystyle T}
need not have a greatest element, for example when
T
{\displaystyle T}
is the set of all natural numbers.
Being well-ordered is stronger than merely being linearly ordered. For example, the real numbers are naturally linearly ordered, but any open interval has no least element.
The importance of well-ordering is that it enables transfinite induction. If a statement
P
(
α
)
{\displaystyle P(\alpha )}
about an ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is not universally true for all
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
, i.e., if it has any counterexamples, then it must have a least counterexample. Conversely, if it can be proven that
P
(
α
)
{\displaystyle P(\alpha )}
is true whenever
P
(
β
)
{\displaystyle P(\beta )}
is true for all
β
<
α
{\displaystyle \beta <\alpha }
, then it cannot have any least counterexample, and thus it cannot have any counterexample at all, i.e., it is indeed universally true.
=== Well-ordered sets ===
In the usual Zermelo–Fraenkel (ZF) formalization of set theory, a well-ordered set is a totally ordered set
(
S
,
≤
)
{\displaystyle (S,\leq )}
such that every non-empty subset
T
⊆
S
{\displaystyle T\subseteq S}
has a least element. Here “set” means a collection that is itself an object of ZF, as opposed to a proper class.
A well-ordered set can be written as a transfinite sequence by assigning ordinal labels to its elements in a way that respects ordering:
a
α
≤
a
β
{\displaystyle a_{\alpha }\leq a_{\beta }}
if and only if
α
≤
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \leq \beta }
. (Such a one-to-one correspondence between two ordered sets is called an order isomorphism.) The labels used in such an enumeration form an initial segment of the ordinals, in the sense that if a label is used then every smaller ordinal label is also used. By well-orderedness, there is a unique least ordinal that is not used as a label; this ordinal determines the "length" of the sequence, and is called the order type of the well-ordering. Thanks to 0-based indexing, the order type coincides with the cardinality for finite sets, including the empty set. However, for infinite sets, different well-order relations
≤
{\displaystyle \leq }
can have different order types.
=== Definition of an ordinal as an equivalence class ===
Order types can be defined without a preexisting notion of ordinals, by working directly with order isomorphisms between general well-ordered sets, just as cardinality can be defined through bijections between general (unordered) sets. As with bijections, being order-isomorphic is an equivalence relation on well-ordered sets; its equivalence classes correspond to order types (ordinals).
In the Principia Mathematica approach, the order type of a well-ordered set
(
S
,
≤
)
{\displaystyle (S,\leq )}
is identified with its isomorphism class, i.e., the set of all well-ordered sets
(
S
′
,
≤
′
)
{\displaystyle (S',\leq ')}
order-isomorphic to
(
S
,
≤
)
{\displaystyle (S,\leq )}
. Since elements of
S
′
{\displaystyle S'}
are allowed to be anything, this definition has the “set of all sets” flavor, and in ZF such collections are generally too large to be sets. This definition can still be used in type theory and in Quine's axiomatic set theory New Foundations and related systems.
In ZF and related systems of axiomatic set theory, these equivalence classes are generally too large to form sets. Consequently, it is necessary to select a unique, canonical representative from each class—a single set that embodies the structure of the well-ordering. Since the fundamental relation in set theory is set membership (
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
), the ideal representation is one where the abstract order relation
<
{\displaystyle <}
is translated directly into the membership relation
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
.
== Von Neumann definition of ordinals ==
The von Neumann representation provides this canonical form. It relies on the observation that any well-founded relation satisfying certain properties can be mapped to a specific set where the relation becomes set membership. This mapping is known as the Mostowski collapse lemma.
When applied to a well-ordering, the Mostowski collapse yields a specific set
S
{\displaystyle S}
where the order relation
x
<
y
{\displaystyle x<y}
is literally true if and only if
x
∈
y
{\displaystyle x\in y}
. The resulting sets have the property that they are transitive: every element of
S
{\displaystyle S}
is also a subset of
S
{\displaystyle S}
(i.e., the union of the set is contained within the set). In this representation, each ordinal is identified with the set of all preceding ordinals.
Thus the finite von Neumann ordinals are defined recursively as
0
=
∅
{\displaystyle 0=\emptyset }
,
1
=
{
0
}
{\displaystyle 1=\{0\}}
,
2
=
{
0
,
1
}
{\displaystyle 2=\{0,1\}}
, etc. The first infinite ordinal
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
is represented by the set of all finite ordinals, i.e., the set of von Neumann natural numbers
N
=
{
0
,
1
,
2
,
…
}
{\displaystyle \mathbb {N} =\{0,1,2,\ldots \}}
. Then
ω
+
1
=
{
0
,
1
,
2
,
…
,
ω
}
=
N
∪
{
ω
}
{\displaystyle \omega +1=\{0,1,2,\ldots ,\omega \}=\mathbb {N} \cup \{\omega \}}
, and so on.
Informally, one may define an ordinal recursively as a downward closed set of ordinals. Such a recursive definition is usually justified with the transitive closure. However, the von Neumann ordinals are already transitive sets, allowing them to be formally defined by a concise statement:
A set
S
{\displaystyle S}
is an ordinal if and only if
S
{\displaystyle S}
is transitive (every element of
S
{\displaystyle S}
is a subset of
S
{\displaystyle S}
) and strictly well-ordered by set membership (
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
).
The set
ω
≡
N
{\displaystyle \omega \equiv \mathbb {N} }
is usually defined as the smallest inductive set (containing
∅
{\displaystyle \emptyset }
and closed under successor). The "smallest" constraint guarantees that each element of
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
is either zero or the successor of another element of
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
, which allows induction to demonstrate that
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
indeed satisfies the formal definition of ordinals stated above.
=== Basic properties ===
Defining the strict order relation
<
{\displaystyle <}
as the membership relation
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
restricted to the class of all ordinals, the recursive characterization
γ
=
{
α
∣
α
<
γ
}
{\displaystyle \gamma =\{\alpha \mid \alpha <\gamma \}}
is reduced to the following statement:
If
α
∈
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \in \beta }
and
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
is an ordinal, then
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is an ordinal: transitivity of
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
as a set is found by finding that all the relevant ordinals are elements of
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
and then using the transitivity of the
∈
{\displaystyle \in }
relation within
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
; well-orderedness of
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
follows straightforwardly from well-orderedness of
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
.
The non-strict order relation
≤
{\displaystyle \leq }
has an alternative characterization:
α
≤
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \leq \beta }
if and only if
α
⊆
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \subseteq \beta }
for ordinals
α
,
β
{\displaystyle \alpha ,\beta }
. The "if" direction follows from transitivity of
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
, and the "only if" direction follows from:
If
α
≠
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \neq \beta }
are both ordinals and
α
⊂
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \subset \beta }
, then
α
∈
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \in \beta }
: let
γ
=
min
{
β
∖
α
}
{\displaystyle \gamma =\min\{\beta \setminus \alpha \}}
.
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is transitive so
α
=
{
ξ
∈
β
∣
ξ
<
γ
}
=
γ
∈
β
{\displaystyle \alpha =\{\xi \in \beta \mid \xi <\gamma \}=\gamma \in \beta }
.
This implies that
≤
{\displaystyle \leq }
is a partial order. It is in fact a total order, and a well-order:
If
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
and
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
are both ordinals, then
α
⊆
β
{\displaystyle \alpha \subseteq \beta }
or
β
⊆
α
{\displaystyle \beta \subseteq \alpha }
:
γ
=
α
∩
β
{\displaystyle \gamma =\alpha \cap \beta }
is an ordinal, so
γ
=
α
{\displaystyle \gamma =\alpha }
or
γ
=
β
{\displaystyle \gamma =\beta }
, or else
γ
∈
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma \in \gamma }
, contradicting irreflexivity.
If
A
{\displaystyle A}
is a nonempty set of ordinals, then
min
A
=
⋂
A
{\displaystyle \min A=\bigcap A}
must be in
A
{\displaystyle A}
by similar logic.
So all ordinal numbers form a well-ordered class
O
N
{\displaystyle \mathrm {ON} }
, and thus any nonempty set of ordinals equipped with
≤
{\displaystyle \leq }
is a well-ordered set.
Specific ordinals can be constructed explicitly with the following principles:
0
=
∅
{\displaystyle 0=\emptyset }
is an ordinal.
For any ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
,
s
u
c
c
α
=
α
∪
{
α
}
{\displaystyle \mathrm {succ} \;\alpha =\alpha \cup \{\alpha \}}
is an ordinal and
s
u
c
c
α
=
min
{
β
∣
β
>
α
}
{\displaystyle \mathrm {succ} \;\alpha =\min\{\beta \mid \beta >\alpha \}}
.
If A is a set of ordinals, then
sup
A
=
⋃
A
{\displaystyle \sup A=\bigcup A}
is an ordinal.
The explicit forms of
s
u
c
c
{\displaystyle \mathrm {succ} }
and
sup
{\displaystyle \sup }
imply that there exists an ordinal greater than any set of ordinals. In other words,
(Burali-Forti paradox) The class of all ordinals
O
N
{\displaystyle \mathrm {ON} }
is not a set; otherwise
s
u
c
c
sup
O
N
{\displaystyle \mathrm {succ} \sup \mathrm {ON} }
would be an ordinal not in
O
N
{\displaystyle \mathrm {ON} }
.
=== Order types ===
Every well-ordered set
S
{\displaystyle S}
is order-isomorphic to exactly one ordinal, known as its order type. Uniqueness is guaranteed because a well-ordered set cannot be isomorphic to a proper initial segment of itself, preventing isomorphism to two distinct ordinals. The existence of this ordinal is proven by defining a map pairing each
x
∈
S
{\displaystyle x\in S}
with the ordinal representing the order type of the initial segment
S
x
=
{
y
∈
S
∣
y
<
x
}
{\displaystyle S_{x}=\{y\in S\mid y<x\}}
. By the Axiom schema of replacement, the range of this map is a set of ordinals. Because this range is downward closed (the order type of a segment of a segment is a smaller ordinal), the range is itself an ordinal
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
. The domain of the isomorphism must be all of
S
{\displaystyle S}
; otherwise, the least element
z
∈
S
{\displaystyle z\in S}
outside the domain would imply
S
z
≅
γ
{\displaystyle S_{z}\cong \gamma }
, which would effectively include
z
{\displaystyle z}
in the domain, a contradiction. Thus,
S
≅
γ
{\displaystyle S\cong \gamma }
.
== Successor and limit ordinals ==
Every ordinal number is one of three types: the ordinal zero, a successor ordinal, or a limit ordinal.
Zero: The ordinal
0
=
∅
{\displaystyle 0=\emptyset }
is the least ordinal.
Successor ordinals: An ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is a successor if
α
=
S
(
β
)
=
β
∪
{
β
}
{\displaystyle \alpha =S(\beta )=\beta \cup \{\beta \}}
for some ordinal
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
. In this case,
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
is the maximum element of
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
.
Limit ordinals: An ordinal
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
is a limit ordinal if
λ
≠
0
{\displaystyle \lambda \neq 0}
and
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
is not a successor ordinal.
There is variation in the definition of limit ordinals regarding the inclusion of zero. Some texts, such as Introduction to Cardinal Arithmetic by Holz et al., define a limit ordinal as a non-zero ordinal that is not a successor. In contrast, other standard set theory texts, including Jech's Set Theory and Just and Weese's Discovering Modern Set Theory, define a limit ordinal simply as any ordinal that is not a successor, which implies that 0 is a limit ordinal. When the topological definition is used (based on the order topology), 0 is not a limit ordinal because it is not a limit point of the set of smaller ordinals (which is empty); Rosenstein's Linear Orderings uses this definition. When 0 is included as a limit, ordinals that are strictly greater than 0 and not successors are usually referred to as "nonzero limit ordinals".
The following properties characterize nonzero limit ordinals:
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
is a nonzero limit ordinal if and only if
λ
≠
0
{\displaystyle \lambda \neq 0}
and for every ordinal
α
<
λ
{\displaystyle \alpha <\lambda }
, the successor
S
(
α
)
{\displaystyle S(\alpha )}
is also less than
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
.
This implies that a nonzero limit ordinal is equal to the supremum of all ordinals strictly less than it:
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
is a nonzero limit ordinal if and only if
λ
=
sup
{
α
∣
α
<
λ
}
=
⋃
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda =\sup\{\alpha \mid \alpha <\lambda \}=\bigcup \lambda }
and
λ
≠
0
{\displaystyle \lambda \neq 0}
.
For example,
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
is a limit ordinal because any natural number is less than
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
, and the successor of any natural number is also a natural number (hence less than
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
). It is the least limit ordinal because each natural number
n
∈
ω
{\displaystyle n\in \omega }
is either zero or a successor.
== Termination of decreasing sequences ==
Any strictly decreasing sequence of ordinals
α
0
>
α
1
>
α
2
>
⋯
{\displaystyle \alpha _{0}>\alpha _{1}>\alpha _{2}>\cdots }
must be finite. This follows directly from the natural ordering of ordinals being a well-order: if there existed such an infinite decreasing sequence, then the set
{
α
i
∣
i
∈
N
}
{\displaystyle \{\alpha _{i}\mid i\in \mathbb {N} \}}
would be a set of ordinals without a least element. By the same argument, a well-ordered set has no infinite strictly descending chains; in fact, assuming the axiom of dependent choice, any total order that satisfies this condition is a well-order, giving an alternative characterization of well-ordered sets. The fact this is true for natural numbers is the basis of Fermat's method of proof by infinite descent, which can be generalized to ordinals and other well-ordered classes too, as a special case of transfinite induction where the proof of any
P
(
α
)
{\displaystyle P(\alpha )}
only requires
P
(
β
)
{\displaystyle P(\beta )}
for at most one specific
β
<
α
{\displaystyle \beta <\alpha }
.
This property may be surprising when the initial value is an infinite ordinal. Indeed, for sequences starting from a natural number
n
{\displaystyle n}
, the longest sequence is always one that decreases by 1 every step, leading to a sequence with
n
{\displaystyle n}
steps (
n
+
1
{\displaystyle n+1}
elements). This strategy of descending to the immediate predecessor remains valid for successor ordinals. However, a limit ordinal
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
has no immediate predecessor to descend to, so any next term must jump to some
β
<
λ
{\displaystyle \beta <\lambda }
, skipping infinitely many ordinals strictly between
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
and
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
. For example, when descending from
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
, one must choose a finite natural number, and thus "commit" to the number of maximum remaining steps. Descending from
ω
⋅
k
{\displaystyle \omega \cdot k}
allows one to make such a commitment
k
{\displaystyle k}
times, and descending from
ω
2
{\displaystyle \omega ^{2}}
allows one to commit to a finite value of
k
{\displaystyle k}
. Larger ordinals may allow more complicated decision structures, but the number of descending steps remains unbounded but finite.
This property is useful for proving termination for any procedure. If the states of a computation (computer program or game) can be well-ordered—in such a way that each step is followed by a "lower" step—then the computation will terminate.
== Transfinite sequence ==
If
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is any ordinal and
X
{\displaystyle X}
is a set, an
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
-indexed sequence of elements of
X
{\displaystyle X}
is a function from
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
to
X
{\displaystyle X}
. This concept, a transfinite sequence (if
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is infinite) or ordinal-indexed sequence, is a generalization of the concept of a sequence. An ordinary sequence corresponds to the case
α
=
ω
{\displaystyle \alpha =\omega }
, while a finite
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
corresponds to a tuple, a.k.a. string.
While a sequence indexed by a specific ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is a set, a sequence indexed by the class of all ordinals is a proper class. The Axiom schema of replacement guarantees that any initial segment of such a class-sequence (the restriction of the function to some specific ordinal
δ
{\displaystyle \delta }
) is a set.
When
⟨
x
ι
∣
ι
<
λ
⟩
{\displaystyle \langle x_{\iota }\mid \iota <\lambda \rangle }
is a transfinite sequence of ordinals indexed by a limit ordinal
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
and the sequence is increasing (i.e.
ι
<
ρ
⟹
x
ι
<
x
ρ
{\displaystyle \iota <\rho \implies x_{\iota }<x_{\rho }}
), its limit is defined as the least upper bound of the set
{
x
ι
∣
ι
<
λ
}
{\displaystyle \{x_{\iota }\mid \iota <\lambda \}}
.
A transfinite sequence
f
{\displaystyle f}
mapping ordinals to ordinals is said to be continuous (in the order topology) if for every limit ordinal
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
in its domain,
if f (λ) is a limit ordinal and for every ε < f (λ) there exists a δ < λ such that for every γ, if δ < γ < λ, then ε < f (γ) ≤ f (λ), and
if f (λ) is not a limit ordinal, there exists a δ < λ such that for every γ, if δ < γ < λ, then f (γ) = f (λ).
A sequence is called normal if it is both strictly increasing and continuous. If a sequence f is increasing (not necessarily strictly) and continuous and λ is a limit ordinal, then
f
(
λ
)
=
⋃
β
<
λ
f
(
β
)
{\displaystyle f(\lambda )=\bigcup _{\beta <\lambda }f(\beta )}
.
== Transfinite induction ==
Transfinite induction holds in any well-ordered set, but it is so important in relation to ordinals that it is worth restating here.
Any property that passes from the set of ordinals smaller than a given ordinal α to α itself, is true of all ordinals.
That is, if P(α) is true whenever P(β) is true for all β < α, then P(α) is true for all α. Or, more practically: in order to prove a property P for all ordinals α, one can assume that it is already known for all smaller β < α.
=== Transfinite recursion ===
Transfinite induction can be used not only to prove theorems but also to define functions on ordinals. This is known as transfinite recursion.
Formally, a function F is defined by transfinite recursion on the ordinals if, for every ordinal α, the value
F
(
α
)
{\displaystyle F(\alpha )}
is specified using the set of values
{
F
(
β
)
∣
β
<
α
}
{\displaystyle \{F(\beta )\mid \beta <\alpha \}}
.
Very often, when defining a function F by transfinite recursion on all ordinals, the definition is separated into cases based on the type of the ordinal:
Base case: Define
F
(
0
)
{\displaystyle F(0)}
.
Successor step: Define
F
(
α
+
1
)
{\displaystyle F(\alpha +1)}
assuming
F
(
α
)
{\displaystyle F(\alpha )}
is defined.
Limit step: For a limit ordinal
λ
{\displaystyle \lambda }
, define
F
(
λ
)
{\displaystyle F(\lambda )}
as the limit of
F
(
β
)
{\displaystyle F(\beta )}
for all
β
<
λ
{\displaystyle \beta <\lambda }
(either in the sense of ordinal limits or some other notion of limit if the codomain allows it).
The interesting step in the definition is usually the successor step. If
F
(
α
)
{\displaystyle F(\alpha )}
for limit ordinals
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is defined as the limsup of
F
(
β
)
{\displaystyle F(\beta )}
for
β
<
α
{\displaystyle \beta <\alpha }
and
F
{\displaystyle F}
takes ordinal values and is non-decreasing, the function
F
{\displaystyle F}
will be continuous as defined above. Ordinal addition, multiplication and exponentiation are continuous as functions of their second argument.
The existence and uniqueness of such a function are proven by constructing it as the union of partial approximations. The proof proceeds in three steps:
Local Existence: For any specific ordinal δ, one proves the existence of a unique "recursion segment"—a function defined on δ that satisfies the recursive rule for all
β
<
δ
{\displaystyle \beta <\delta }
.
Uniqueness and Compatibility: One proves that any two recursion segments agree on their common domain. If
g
1
{\displaystyle g_{1}}
is a segment on
δ
1
{\displaystyle \delta _{1}}
and
g
2
{\displaystyle g_{2}}
is a segment on
δ
2
{\displaystyle \delta _{2}}
with
δ
1
<
δ
2
{\displaystyle \delta _{1}<\delta _{2}}
, then
g
2
{\displaystyle g_{2}}
restricted to
δ
1
{\displaystyle \delta _{1}}
is identical to
g
1
{\displaystyle g_{1}}
.
Global Definition: The global class function F is defined as the union of all such unique recursion segments. For any ordinal α, the value
F
(
α
)
{\displaystyle F(\alpha )}
is the value assigned to α by any recursion segment defined on a domain larger than α.
The rigorous justification for local existence relies on the axiom schema of replacement for the step of limit ordinals in order to collect the recursion segments into a set.
This construction allows definitions such as ordinal addition, multiplication, and exponentiation to be rigorous. For example, exponentiation
α
β
{\displaystyle \alpha ^{\beta }}
is defined recursively on β:
α
0
=
1
{\displaystyle \alpha ^{0}=1}
α
β
+
1
=
α
β
⋅
α
{\displaystyle \alpha ^{\beta +1}=\alpha ^{\beta }\cdot \alpha }
(for successor ordinals)
α
λ
=
⋃
0
<
β
<
λ
α
β
{\displaystyle \alpha ^{\lambda }=\bigcup _{0<\beta <\lambda }\alpha ^{\beta }}
(for limit ordinals λ)
The principle of transfinite recursion also implies that recursion can be performed up to a specific ordinal
δ
{\displaystyle \delta }
(defining a set rather than a proper class). This is often used to define sequences of length
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
. For example, to prove that a normal function
f
{\displaystyle f}
has arbitrarily large fixed points, one constructs a sequence starting with any ordinal
γ
0
{\displaystyle \gamma _{0}}
and defines
γ
n
+
1
=
f
(
γ
n
)
{\displaystyle \gamma _{n+1}=f(\gamma _{n})}
by recursion on
n
<
ω
{\displaystyle n<\omega }
. Then the limit
δ
=
sup
n
<
ω
γ
n
{\displaystyle \delta =\sup _{n<\omega }\gamma _{n}}
is a fixed point of
f
{\displaystyle f}
because continuity ensures
f
(
δ
)
=
f
(
sup
γ
n
)
=
sup
f
(
γ
n
)
=
sup
γ
n
+
1
=
δ
{\displaystyle f(\delta )=f(\sup \gamma _{n})=\sup f(\gamma _{n})=\sup \gamma _{n+1}=\delta }
.
=== Indexing classes of ordinals ===
Any well-ordered set is similar (order-isomorphic) to a unique ordinal number
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
; in other words, its elements can be indexed in increasing fashion by the ordinals less than
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
. This applies, in particular, to any set of ordinals: any set of ordinals is naturally indexed by the ordinals less than some
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
. The same holds, with a slight modification, for classes of ordinals (a collection of ordinals, possibly too large to form a set, defined by some property): any class of ordinals can be indexed by ordinals (and, when the class is unbounded in the class of all ordinals, this puts it in class-bijection with the class of all ordinals). So the
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
-th element in the class (with the convention that the "0-th" is the smallest, the "1-st" is the next smallest, and so on) can be freely spoken of. Formally, the definition is by transfinite induction: the
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
-th element of the class is defined (provided it has already been defined for all
β
<
γ
{\displaystyle \beta <\gamma }
), as the smallest element greater than the
β
{\displaystyle \beta }
-th element for all
β
<
γ
{\displaystyle \beta <\gamma }
.
This could be applied, for example, to the class of limit ordinals: the
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
-th ordinal, which is either a limit or zero is
ω
⋅
γ
{\displaystyle \omega \cdot \gamma }
(see ordinal arithmetic for the definition of multiplication of ordinals). Similarly, one can consider additively indecomposable ordinals (meaning a nonzero ordinal that is not the sum of two strictly smaller ordinals): the
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
-th additively indecomposable ordinal is indexed as
ω
γ
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\gamma }}
. The technique of indexing classes of ordinals is often useful in the context of fixed points: for example, the
γ
{\displaystyle \gamma }
-th ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
such that
ω
α
=
α
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\alpha }=\alpha }
is written
ε
γ
{\displaystyle \varepsilon _{\gamma }}
. These are called the "epsilon numbers".
== Arithmetic of ordinals ==
There are three usual operations on ordinals: addition, multiplication, and exponentiation. Each can be defined in essentially two different ways: either by constructing an explicit well-ordered set that represents the operation or by using transfinite recursion. The Cantor normal form provides a standardized way of writing ordinals. It uniquely represents each ordinal as a finite sum of ordinal powers of ω. However, this cannot form the basis of a universal ordinal notation due to such self-referential representations as ε0 = ωε0.
Ordinals are a subclass of the class of surreal numbers, and the so-called "natural" arithmetical operations for surreal numbers are an alternative way to combine ordinals arithmetically. They retain commutativity at the expense of continuity.
Interpreted as nimbers, a game-theoretic variant of numbers, ordinals can also be combined via nimber arithmetic operations. These operations are commutative but the restriction to natural numbers is generally not the same as ordinary addition of natural numbers.
== Ordinals and cardinals ==
=== Initial ordinal of a cardinal ===
Each ordinal associates with one cardinal, its cardinality. If there is a bijection between two ordinals (e.g. ω = 1 + ω and ω + 1 > ω), then they associate with the same cardinal. Any well-ordered set having an ordinal as its order-type has the same cardinality as that ordinal. The least ordinal associated with a given cardinal is called the initial ordinal of that cardinal. Every finite ordinal (natural number) is initial, and no other ordinal associates with its cardinal. But most infinite ordinals are not initial, as many infinite ordinals associate with the same cardinal. The axiom of choice is equivalent to the statement that every set can be well-ordered, i.e. that every cardinal has an initial ordinal. In theories with the axiom of choice, the cardinal number of any set has an initial ordinal, and one may employ the Von Neumann cardinal assignment as the cardinal's representation. (However, we must then be careful to distinguish between cardinal arithmetic and ordinal arithmetic.) In set theories without the axiom of choice, a cardinal may be represented by the set of sets with that cardinality having minimal rank (see Scott's trick).
One issue with Scott's trick is that it identifies the cardinal number
0
{\displaystyle 0}
with
{
∅
}
{\displaystyle \{\emptyset \}}
, which in some formulations is the ordinal number
1
{\displaystyle 1}
. It may be clearer to apply Von Neumann cardinal assignment to finite cases and to use Scott's trick for sets which are infinite or do not admit well orderings. Note that cardinal and ordinal arithmetic agree for finite numbers.
The α-th infinite initial ordinal is written
ω
α
{\displaystyle \omega _{\alpha }}
, it is always a limit ordinal. Its cardinality is written
ℵ
α
{\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha }}
. For example, the cardinality of ω0 = ω is
ℵ
0
{\displaystyle \aleph _{0}}
, which is also the cardinality of ω2 or ε0 (all are countable ordinals). So ω can be identified with
ℵ
0
{\displaystyle \aleph _{0}}
, except that the notation
ℵ
0
{\displaystyle \aleph _{0}}
is used when writing cardinals, and ω when writing ordinals (this is important since, for example,
ℵ
0
2
{\displaystyle \aleph _{0}^{2}}
=
ℵ
0
{\displaystyle \aleph _{0}}
whereas
ω
2
>
ω
{\displaystyle \omega ^{2}>\omega }
). Also,
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
is the smallest uncountable ordinal (to see that it exists, consider the set of equivalence classes of well-orderings of the natural numbers: each such well-ordering defines a countable ordinal, and
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
is the order type of that set),
ω
2
{\displaystyle \omega _{2}}
is the smallest ordinal whose cardinality is greater than
ℵ
1
{\displaystyle \aleph _{1}}
, and so on, and
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega _{\omega }}
is the limit of the
ω
n
{\displaystyle \omega _{n}}
for natural numbers n (any limit of cardinals is a cardinal, so this limit is indeed the first cardinal after all the
ω
n
{\displaystyle \omega _{n}}
).
=== Cofinality ===
The cofinality of an ordinal
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
is the smallest ordinal
δ
{\displaystyle \delta }
that is the order type of a cofinal subset of
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
. Notice that a number of authors define cofinality or use it only for limit ordinals. The cofinality of a set of ordinals or any other well-ordered set is the cofinality of the order type of that set.
Thus for a limit ordinal, there exists a
δ
{\displaystyle \delta }
-indexed strictly increasing sequence with limit
α
{\displaystyle \alpha }
. For example, the cofinality of ω2 is ω, because the sequence ω·m (where m ranges over the natural numbers) tends to ω2; but, more generally, any countable limit ordinal has cofinality ω. An uncountable limit ordinal may have either cofinality ω as does
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega _{\omega }}
or an uncountable cofinality.
The cofinality of 0 is 0. And the cofinality of any successor ordinal is 1. The cofinality of any limit ordinal is at least
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
.
An ordinal that is equal to its cofinality is called regular and it is always an initial ordinal. Any limit of regular ordinals is a limit of initial ordinals and thus is also initial even if it is not regular, which it usually is not. If the axiom of choice holds, then
ω
α
+
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{\alpha +1}}
is regular for each α. In this case, the ordinals 0, 1,
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
,
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
, and
ω
2
{\displaystyle \omega _{2}}
are regular, whereas 2, 3,
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega _{\omega }}
, and ωω·2 are initial ordinals that are not regular.
The cofinality of any ordinal α is a regular ordinal, i.e. the cofinality of the cofinality of α is the same as the cofinality of α. So the cofinality operation is idempotent.
=== Closed unbounded sets and classes ===
The concepts of closed and unbounded sets are typically formulated for subsets of a regular cardinal
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
that is uncountable. A subset
C
⊆
κ
{\displaystyle C\subseteq \kappa }
is said to be unbounded (or cofinal) in
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
if for every ordinal
α
<
κ
{\displaystyle \alpha <\kappa }
, there exists some
β
∈
C
{\displaystyle \beta \in C}
such that
α
<
β
{\displaystyle \alpha <\beta }
. To define the property of being closed, one first defines a limit point: a non-zero ordinal
δ
<
κ
{\displaystyle \delta <\kappa }
is a limit point of
C
{\displaystyle C}
if
sup
(
C
∩
δ
)
=
δ
{\displaystyle \sup(C\cap \delta )=\delta }
. The set
C
{\displaystyle C}
is closed in
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
if it contains all of its limit points below
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
. A set that is both closed and unbounded is commonly referred to as a club set.
Examples of club sets are fundamental to set theory. The set of all limit ordinals less than
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is a club set, as there is always a limit ordinal greater than any given ordinal below
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
, and a limit of limit ordinals is itself a limit ordinal. If
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is a limit cardinal, the set of all cardinals below
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is unbounded, and its set of limit points—the limit cardinals—forms a closed unbounded set. Furthermore, if
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is a strong limit cardinal (such as an inaccessible cardinal), the set of strong limit cardinals below
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is also a club set. Another significant example arises from normal functions (functions
f
:
κ
→
κ
{\displaystyle f:\kappa \to \kappa }
that are strictly increasing and continuous); the range of any normal function is a closed unbounded subset of
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
.
Club sets possess structural properties that allow them to generate a filter. Because
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is regular and uncountable, the intersection of any two club sets is also a club set. More generally, the intersection of fewer than
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
club sets is a club set. Consequently, the collection of all subsets of
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
that contain a club set forms a
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
-complete non-principal filter, known as the closed unbounded filter (or club filter).
A subset
S
⊆
κ
{\displaystyle S\subseteq \kappa }
is termed stationary if it has a non-empty intersection with every closed unbounded set in
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
. Intuitively, stationary sets are "large" enough that they cannot be avoided by any club set. Using the notation of filters, a set is stationary if and only if it does not belong to the dual ideal of the club filter (the ideal of non-stationary sets). While every club set is stationary, not every stationary set is a club; for instance, a stationary set
S
{\displaystyle S}
may fail to be closed. Furthermore, while the intersection of a stationary set and a club set is stationary, the intersection of two stationary sets may be empty.
The distinction between club sets and stationary sets is central to the definitions of certain large cardinals. If
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is the smallest inaccessible cardinal, the set of singular strong limit cardinals below
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
forms a closed unbounded set. Because this club set contains no regular cardinals, the set of regular cardinals below the first inaccessible is not stationary. This remains true if
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is the
n
{\displaystyle n}
-th inaccessible cardinal for some
n
<
κ
{\displaystyle n<\kappa }
; the regular cardinals below it will not form a stationary set. A cardinal
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
is defined as a Mahlo cardinal precisely when the set of regular cardinals below it is stationary. By relaxing the condition on the limit cardinals, one defines a cardinal as weakly Mahlo if it is weakly inaccessible and the set of regular cardinals below it is stationary.
The closed unbounded filter is not an ultrafilter under the standard Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory with the Axiom of Choice (ZFC). This is because one can find two disjoint stationary sets, which precludes the filter from deciding membership for every subset. For any regular cardinal
κ
>
ω
1
{\displaystyle \kappa >\omega _{1}}
, the set of ordinals with cofinality
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
and the set of ordinals with cofinality
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
are disjoint stationary subsets of
κ
{\displaystyle \kappa }
. In the specific case of
κ
=
ω
1
{\displaystyle \kappa =\omega _{1}}
, the non-existence of an ultrafilter relies on the Axiom of Choice. Under ZFC, the set of limit ordinals in
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
can be partitioned into
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
disjoint stationary sets (a result related to Fodor's lemma). However, in models of set theory without the Axiom of Choice, such as those satisfying the Axiom of determinacy, the club filter on
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
can be an ultrafilter, a property connected to
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
being a measurable cardinal in those contexts.
These definitions generalize to proper classes of ordinals. A class
C
{\displaystyle C}
of ordinals is unbounded if it contains arbitrarily large ordinals, and closed if the limit of any sequence of ordinals in
C
{\displaystyle C}
is also in
C
{\displaystyle C}
. This topological definition is equivalent to assuming the indexing class-function of
C
{\displaystyle C}
is continuous. Notable examples of closed unbounded classes include the class of all infinite cardinals, the class of limit cardinals, and the class of fixed points of the
ℵ
{\displaystyle \aleph }
-function. In contrast, the class of regular cardinals is unbounded but not closed. A class is stationary if it intersects every closed unbounded class.
== Some "large" countable ordinals ==
As mentioned above (see Cantor normal form), the ordinal ε0 is the smallest satisfying the equation
ω
α
=
α
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\alpha }=\alpha }
, so it is the limit of the sequence 0, 1,
ω
{\displaystyle \omega }
,
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\omega }}
,
ω
ω
ω
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\omega ^{\omega }}}
, etc. Many ordinals can be defined in such a manner as fixed points of certain ordinal functions (the
ι
{\displaystyle \iota }
-th ordinal such that
ω
α
=
α
{\displaystyle \omega ^{\alpha }=\alpha }
is called
ε
ι
{\displaystyle \varepsilon _{\iota }}
, then one could go on trying to find the
ι
{\displaystyle \iota }
-th ordinal such that
ε
α
=
α
{\displaystyle \varepsilon _{\alpha }=\alpha }
, "and so on", but all the subtlety lies in the "and so on"). One could try to do this systematically, but no matter what system is used to define and construct ordinals, there is always an ordinal that lies just above all the ordinals constructed by the system. Perhaps the most important ordinal that limits a system of construction in this manner is the Church–Kleene ordinal,
ω
1
C
K
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}^{\mathrm {CK} }}
(despite the
ω
1
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}}
in the name, this ordinal is countable), which is the smallest ordinal that cannot in any way be represented by a computable function (this can be made rigorous, of course). Considerably large ordinals can be defined below
ω
1
C
K
{\displaystyle \omega _{1}^{\mathrm {CK} }}
, however, which measure the "proof-theoretic strength" of certain formal systems (for example,
ε
0
{\displaystyle \varepsilon _{0}}
measures the strength of Peano arithmetic). Large countable ordinals such as countable admissible ordinals can also be defined above the Church-Kleene ordinal, which are of interest in various parts of logic.
== Topology and ordinals ==
Any ordinal number can be made into a topological space by endowing it with the order topology. This topology is discrete if and only if it is less than or equal to ω. In contrast, a subset of ω + 1 is open in the order topology if and only if either it is cofinite or it does not contain ω as an element.
See the Topology and ordinals section of the "Order topology" article.
== History ==
The transfinite ordinal numbers, which first appeared in 1883, originated in Cantor's work with derived sets. If P is a set of real numbers, the derived set P′ is the set of limit points of P. In 1872, Cantor generated the sets P(n) by applying the derived set operation n times to P. In 1880, he pointed out that these sets form the sequence P' ⊇ ··· ⊇ P(n) ⊇ P(n + 1) ⊇ ···, and he continued the derivation process by defining P(∞) as the intersection of these sets. Then he iterated the derived set operation and intersections to extend his sequence of sets into the infinite: P(∞) ⊇ P(∞ + 1) ⊇ P(∞ + 2) ⊇ ··· ⊇ P(2∞) ⊇ ··· ⊇ P(∞2) ⊇ ···. The superscripts containing ∞ are just indices defined by the derivation process.
Cantor used these sets in the theorems:
These theorems are proved by partitioning P′ into pairwise disjoint sets: P′ = (P′\ P(2)) ∪ (P(2) \ P(3)) ∪ ··· ∪ (P(∞) \ P(∞ + 1)) ∪ ··· ∪ P(α). For β < α: since P(β + 1) contains the limit points of P(β), the sets P(β) \ P(β + 1) have no limit points. Hence, they are discrete sets, so they are countable. Proof of first theorem: If P(α) = ∅ for some index α, then P′ is the countable union of countable sets. Therefore, P′ is countable.
The second theorem requires proving the existence of an α such that P(α) = ∅. To prove this, Cantor considered the set of all α having countably many predecessors. To define this set, he defined the transfinite ordinal numbers and transformed the infinite indices into ordinals by replacing ∞ with ω, the first transfinite ordinal number. Cantor called the set of finite ordinals the first number class. The second number class is the set of ordinals whose predecessors form a countably infinite set. The set of all α having countably many predecessors—that is, the set of countable ordinals—is the union of these two number classes. Cantor proved that the cardinality of the second number class is the first uncountable cardinality.
Cantor's second theorem becomes: If P′ is countable, then there is a countable ordinal α such that P(α) = ∅. Its proof uses proof by contradiction. Let P′ be countable, and assume there is no such α. This assumption produces two cases.
In both cases, P′ is uncountable, which contradicts P′ being countable. Therefore, there is a countable ordinal α such that P(α) = ∅. Cantor's work with derived sets and ordinal numbers led to the Cantor-Bendixson theorem.
Using successors, limits, and cardinality, Cantor generated an unbounded sequence of ordinal numbers and number classes. The (α + 1)-th number class is the set of ordinals whose predecessors form a set of the same cardinality as the α-th number class. The cardinality of the (α + 1)-th number class is the cardinality immediately following that of the α-th number class. For a limit ordinal α, the α-th number class is the union of the β-th number classes for β < α. Its cardinality is the limit of the cardinalities of these number classes.
If n is finite, the n-th number class has cardinality
ℵ
n
−
1
{\displaystyle \aleph _{n-1}}
. If α ≥ ω, the α-th number class has cardinality
ℵ
α
{\displaystyle \aleph _{\alpha }}
. Therefore, the cardinalities of the number classes correspond one-to-one with the aleph numbers. Also, the α-th number class consists of ordinals different from those in the preceding number classes if and only if α is a non-limit ordinal. Therefore, the non-limit number classes partition the ordinals into pairwise disjoint sets. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Oti | Chris Oti | Chris Oti (born 16 June 1965 in London) is an English former rugby union player. He was a rugby winger of prodigious pace who represented England thirteen times between 1988 and 1991. He was a member of the England squad that appeared in the 1991 Rugby World Cup during which he made two appearances. Chris Oti is married with 3 children.
== International career ==
Chris Oti had a brief career as a top flight rugby union player but nevertheless made a significant contribution to the history of the sport. He was the first black player since James Peters eighty years before to represent England when he made his international debut against Scotland at Murrayfield in March 1988.
Oti was capped five times the following season including against Romania when he scored four tries. He was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia but persistent injuries meant that he was not considered for the test side, and he also missed out on the Five Nations championships of 1990 and 1991.
However, later in 1991 he was surprisingly picked ahead of Nigel Heslop – the incumbent winger for the 1991 Five Nations and Grand Slam – for the opening World Cup match against New Zealand, and kept his place for the following game against Italy. This turned out to be his last international appearance as further injuries curtailed his career: England were forced to finish the World Cup with the same makeshift back line that they had previously finished the 1990 Five Nations championship, with Halliday (nominally a centre) on the wing, thanks to both Oti and Heslop – who took over from Oti in the group stages and quarter-final – being judged unfit to start the match.
At club level Oti represented Cambridge University, Nottingham and Wasps.
== International playing statistics ==
1988 v Scotland (Murrayfield) W 9–6 (5 Nations)
1988 v Ireland (Twickenham) W 35–3 (5 Nations)
1989 v Scotland (Twickenham) D 12–12 (5 Nations)
1989 v Ireland (Dublin) W 16–3 (5 Nations)
1989 v France (Twickenham) W 11–0 (5 Nations)
1989 v Wales (Cardiff) L 12–9 (Five Nations)
1989 v Romania (Bucharest) W 58–3
1990 v Argentina (Buenos Aires) W 25–12
1990 v Argentina (Buenos Aires) L 15–13
1991 v Fiji (Suva) W 28–12
1991 v Australia (Sydney) L 40–15
1991 v New Zealand (Twickenham) L 18–12 (W.Cup)
1991 v Italy (Twickenham) W 36–6 (W.Cup)
Career Record: P13, W8, D1, L4
Test Points: 32
Tries: 8
(R) = Replacement |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Costa#Spain | Diego Costa#Spain | Diego da Silva Costa (Spanish: [ˈdjeɣo ða ˈsilβa ˈkosta], Brazilian Portuguese: [dʒiˈeɡu dɐ ˈsiwvɐ ˈkɔstɐ]; born 7 October 1988) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Brazil, he represented the Spain national team.
Costa began his career in his native Brazil before joining Braga in Portugal in 2006, aged 17. He never played for the club but spent time on loan at Penafiel, and signed with La Liga club Atlético Madrid the following year. Over the next two seasons, he had loan periods with Braga, Celta Vigo, and Albacete. His form earned him a move to fellow La Liga club Real Valladolid in 2009, where he spent one season, finishing as their top goalscorer, before returning to Atlético Madrid. Costa struggled to maintain a regular starting role with Atlético, and spent more time on loan, this time at Rayo Vallecano, where he finished as the club's highest scorer that season.
In 2011, Costa returned to Atlético with a greater role. He blossomed as a goalscorer and helped the team win a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey title, and a UEFA Super Cup, as well as reaching the 2014 UEFA Champions League final. In 2014, he was signed by Premier League club Chelsea in a deal worth €35 million (£32 million). In London, Costa won three trophies, including two Premier League titles and a League Cup. In 2018, following a rift with head coach Antonio Conte, Costa returned to Atlético Madrid in a club record transfer worth an initial €56 million, he won a UEFA Europa League title and another UEFA Super Cup as well as a second La Liga title in 2021. He ended his career in Brazil's Campeonato Brasileiro Série A with Atlético Mineiro, Botafogo and Grêmio, as well as a brief return to England with Wolverhampton Wanderers. He won a double of league and Copa do Brasil for Atlético Mineiro in 2021, and was top scorer as Grêmio won the Campeonato Gaúcho in 2024.
Costa is a dual citizen of Brazil and Spain. He played twice for Brazil in 2013, before declaring his desire to represent Spain, having been granted Spanish citizenship in September that year. He made his debut for Spain in March 2014 and has since won 24 caps and scored 10 goals, and has represented them at the 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cups.
Known for his fiery temperament, Costa has been criticised and punished for several confrontations with opponents.
== Early life ==
Costa was born in Lagarto, Sergipe, Brazil, to parents José de Jesus and Josileide. His father named him in honour of Argentine footballer Diego Maradona despite the rivalry between the two nations, and he has an elder brother named Jair after Brazilian player Jairzinho. Despite regularly playing street football, Costa did not believe as a child that he would turn professional, in part due to the remote location of his hometown. He has since set up a football academy in his hometown, where he pays all the costs. Costa is a fan of Palmeiras.
Costa trialled unsuccessfully at his hometown team Atlético Clube Lagartense. At age 15, he left Sergipe and moved to São Paulo, to work in the store of his uncle Jarminho. Although he was never a professional, Jarminho had connections in football and recommended his nephew to Barcelona Esportivo Capela, a team from the south of the city set up as an alternative to drugs and gangs for youth of the favelas. Before joining this team, he had never been coached in football. He turned professional at the club, earning around £100 per month, and competed in the under-18 Taça de São Paulo despite a four-month ban for slapping an opponent and dissent towards the referee. Although he was sent off in the first game of the tournament, he attracted the attention of renowned Portuguese agent Jorge Mendes, who offered him a contract at Braga. Costa's father was apprehensive of sending his son to Europe, and suggested he instead sign for nearby Associação Desportiva São Caetano, but he was adamant that he would take the opportunity.
Jair played on the same team as Diego and was a slimmer, more technically able player, but had less focus; the two were often not fielded at the same time in order to prevent arguments. He never turned professional, but had a three-month trial at Basque club Salvatierra.
== Club career ==
=== Early career ===
Costa signed for his first European club in February 2006, Portugal's Braga. He initially struggled with loneliness and the comparatively cold weather of northern Portugal. Out of action due to the club's lack of a youth team, he was loaned that summer to Penafiel in the second division, managed by former Portugal international Rui Bento, who desired the "rough diamond".
Through his negotiations with Spain's Atlético Madrid, Mendes arranged Costa's transfer for €1.5 million and 50% of the player's rights in December 2006, but he remained on loan at Braga until the end of the season. Atlético defeated interest from Porto and Recreativo de Huelva for Costa's signature, with director Jesús García Pitarch admitting that it was a risk to pay so much for an inexperienced player. After 5 goals in 13 games for Penafiel, he was recalled to Braga in January 2007. On 23 February, he came on in the 71st minute for Zé Carlos and scored his first goal for the team, a last-minute goal for a 1–0 win at Parma to advance 2–0 on aggregate to the Last 16 of the UEFA Cup. His season ended after seven games due to a metatarsal injury which ruled him out for six months.
Costa was presented by Atlético Madrid president Enrique Cerezo on 10 July 2007 as "the new Kaká". While scout Javier Hernández wished for him to return to fitness in the club's reserves, García Pitarch instead suggested loaning Costa out immediately. He made his debut on 11 August in the Ciudad de Vigo tournament against Celta de Vigo, replacing Simão at half-time in a penalty shootout victory.
=== Celta Vigo ===
Later that month, Costa and Mario Suárez were loaned to Segunda División side Celta de Vigo for the season, and Costa became a regular in the team, managed by former Ballon d'Or winner Hristo Stoichkov. In his seventh league match, he scored his first goal in Spanish football in a dominant home victory over Xerez; after scoring, he showboated, causing a brawl which resulted in him being sent off. Costa was subsequently rested from Celta's away game against the same opposition. The event drew the wrath of Stoichkov, who unexpectedly left his position. Towards the middle of the season, he was involved in two further controversies: he struck Málaga defender Weligton in the head, causing an injury which required medical stitches, and was sent off against Sevilla Atlético for diving and dissent, leaving his team to fight for a draw without him. The loyal strike partner of Quincy Owusu-Abeyie despite the pair not sharing a common language, he was dropped for Cypriot Ioannis Okkas. On 23 March 2008, Costa scored both Celta goals in a 2–1 win at Numancia, the latter after a long dribble; but later on in the campaign, he was sent off against Tenerife at Balaídos, after which Celta went from winning 2–0 to drawing 2–2. The team barely avoided relegation, and Costa earned a reputation for being a disruptive influence.
=== Albacete ===
Despite earning a poor reputation for his conduct, Costa attracted interest from Salamanca, Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Málaga after his loan at Celta; García Pitarch ruled out any approach from the latter, fearing how Costa would behave on the Costa del Sol. After attending Atlético's pre-season tour of Mexico, he signed on loan for Albacete, also of Segunda División, on 22 August 2008, signing a contract which would have a lower fee depending on how many games he played. He initially threatened to terminate his deal with the Castile-La Mancha team, on account of the quality of his teammates and the city's lack of a beach. Nine days after signing, he scored a late winner in a 2–1 victory over Sevilla's reserves at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte. The Queso Mecánico suffered with financial problems during Costa's loan, with him threatening to strike unless their non-playing staff were paid in full. He was dropped to the bench by manager Juan Ignacio Martínez for the home game against Real Sociedad on 13 December as punishment for an argument with goalkeeper Jonathan, but came on as a substitute to score another late winner.
Costa was known for misbehaviour on and off the pitch while at Albacete. He was sent off to Tenerife, after which he slandered the referee's mother and confronted his opponents. He pulled practical jokes on his teammates and employers, earning him the moniker "that fucking Brazilian". However, he was a central figure as they avoided relegation, assisting twice in a 3–0 win at high-flying Rayo Vallecano on 2 May 2009, despite missing a penalty.
=== Valladolid ===
In the summer of 2009, Costa was desired by Barcelona for their reserve team, an approach which Atlético rejected, citing that he remained in their plans. Frustrated by his lack of opportunities, however, a now overweight Costa argued with his management and attempted to negotiate a move to Brazil's Esporte Clube Vitória.
On 8 July 2009, Costa was sold to Real Valladolid as part of the deal that sent goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo in the opposite direction, with the transfer including a €1 million buy-back option that could be activated by Atlético at the end of the season. García Pitarch confessed that there was a verbal agreement that Costa would definitely return at the end of the campaign, and that the deal had been made to look permanent in order to give Costa more commitment to his new club.
Initially, Costa had competition up front from fellow new signings Alberto Bueno and Manucho, signed from Real Madrid and Manchester United respectively; he eventually forged a friendship with the latter, a fellow lusophone from Angola. He started strong for the Castile and León side, scoring 6 times in his first 12 games, but only found the net once in the following five-and-a-half months as the campaign eventually ended in relegation from La Liga. He was sent off in a goalless draw against Espanyol on 24 March 2010 for a stamp on Dídac Vilà in the first half.
=== Atlético Madrid ===
==== 2010–13 ====
In June 2010, Costa returned to the Colchoneros, initially as a backup to Sergio Agüero and Diego Forlán – Atlético also paid an undisclosed sum to Braga to buy all the residual 30% economic rights (the former also had to pay in excess of €833,000 in agent's fees to Gestifute). He was an unused substitute as Atlético won the 2010 UEFA Super Cup on 27 August.
On 26 September, with the injured Agüero on the substitutes bench, Costa scored the game's only goal at home against Real Zaragoza. On 3 April of the following year, already as a starter after manager Quique Sánchez Flores demoted Forlán from his position, Costa scored all of his team's goals in a 3–2 win at Osasuna.
In July 2011, during Atlético's pre-season, Costa suffered a serious knee injury, going on to miss the majority of the season. The injury prevented him from passing a medical at Turkish club Beşiktaş, having already agreed to transfer to them. On 23 January 2012, Costa was loaned to fellow league club Rayo Vallecano until June; he scored four goals in his first three appearances, including two in a 5–3 away win against Levante, eventually finishing his loan spell with 10 goals from 16 games.
For the second time in his career, Costa was an unused substitute as Atlético won the UEFA Super Cup on 1 September 2012. That December, Costa was involved in several on-field altercations in two separate matches. The first was in a 0–2 local derby loss against Real Madrid where he avoided disciplinary action after spitting incidents between him and Sergio Ramos. He was sent off in the following game at Viktoria Plzeň in the UEFA Europa League for headbutting opponent David Limberský, and was handed a four-match ban by UEFA. This, however, did not deter coach Diego Simeone from continuing to start him, and he responded by scoring three goals in two home contests, against Deportivo de La Coruña in the league (6–0) and Getafe in the season's Copa del Rey (3–0).
After the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Sevilla, Costa took his goal tally in the competition to seven in as many matches, having scored three times in the tie. In the first leg he scored two penalties in a 2–1 win and, in the second at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, scored one after an individual effort and assisted Radamel Falcao in the other, also being involved in incidents which resulted in two opposing players – Gary Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia – being sent off in the 2–2 draw.
Costa scored Atlético's equalising goal in the Copa del Rey final clash against city rivals Real Madrid on 17 May 2013, contributing to the 2–1 triumph – the first in 25 games in a streak stretching back to 1999 – and the tenth win in the tournament, confirmed by Miranda's extra-time header. He and opponent Cristiano Ronaldo had gone into the match as joint top scorers in the tournament, and thus Costa's eighth goal made him the top scorer.
==== 2013–14 season ====
In August 2013, Costa was heavily linked with a move to Liverpool, who allegedly matched his release clause of €25 million and offered him three times his salary at Atlético. Costa, however, chose to stay at the club and renewed his contract until 2018, while also doubling his wages; a few days after this, in the first match of the new season on 19 August, he scored a brace in a 3–1 win at Sevilla.
On 24 September, Costa scored both goals in a 2–1 home triumph over Osasuna to help his team stay level on points with league leaders Barcelona through six games. Four days later, in the Madrid derby, he scored the only goal of the game to record a second win over Real at the Santiago Bernabéu in under five months. For his performances, he was crowned the inaugural La Liga Player of the Month for September 2013. By his 25th birthday on 7 October, he had scored ten goals in eight league matches, equalling his tally from the previous season. All of those matches were won by Atlético, setting a new record for the best start to a season. On 23 November 2013, Costa scored an overhead volley from a cross by Gabi in a win over Getafe; the goal was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award.
On 22 October 2013, Costa marked his UEFA Champions League debut with two goals against Austria Wien, the first coming after a fine individual effort in an eventual 3–0 group stage away win. On 19 February 2014, in the first knockout round's first leg, he scored the game's only goal at Milan, scoring seven minutes from time after a corner kick from Gabi; he added a further two in the second match, helping Atlético to a 4–1 victory that put them into the quarter-finals for the first time in 17 years.
On 30 April 2014, Costa won and converted a penalty in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea, as Atlético won 3–1 at Stamford Bridge and advanced to the final of the competition for the first time since 1974. He finished the league season with 27 league goals to become the third highest scorer, and the team won the title for the first time since 1996, but he was substituted after 16 minutes of the last match of the season against Barcelona due to a hamstring injury. Atlético sought to cure this injury before the upcoming Champions League final against Real Madrid by sending him to Belgrade for treatment with a horse placenta, and he was included in the starting line-up for the decisive match. However, he left the pitch after eight minutes in an eventual 1–4 loss; manager Diego Simeone later admitted a personal mistake in selecting the player to start the final despite his recent injury. Costa scored eight goals during the Champions League campaign, equalling the record held by Vavá since 1959 for most in a season by an Atlético player, and in his entire career was in the top ten Atlético players by goal average. At the season's LFP Awards, he was nominated for the league's Best Forward, losing out to Cristiano Ronaldo.
=== Chelsea ===
Having completed his medical in June, Chelsea announced on 1 July 2014 that they had agreed to meet the £32 million buy-out clause in Costa's contract. On 15 July, Chelsea confirmed the completion of the signing of Costa, who signed a five-year contract on a salary of £150,000 a week. On signing, Costa said, "I am very happy to sign for Chelsea. Everybody knows it is a big club in a very competitive league, and I am very excited to get started in England with a fantastic coach and teammates. Having played against Chelsea last season I know the high quality of the squad I am joining". Following the departure of former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, Costa inherited his number 19 shirt, the same number he wore at the 2014 World Cup for Spain and previously at Atlético.
==== 2014–15 season ====
Costa scored on his Chelsea debut on 27 July, running onto a through ball from Cesc Fàbregas in a 2–1 friendly win against Slovene club Olimpija. His first competitive match was Chelsea's first game of the league season, away to Burnley on 18 August, scoring the team's equaliser in a 3–1 victory. He scored in his third consecutive match on 30 August, the first and last goals of a 6–3 win at Everton, the first goal coming after 35 seconds. Costa was given the Premier League Player of the Month award for August 2014. He completed his first Premier League hat-trick in his fourth game of the season against Swansea City as Chelsea continued their perfect start to the season with a 4–2 win. With seven, Costa holds the record for most goals in his first four Premier League matches, surpassing the tally of six by both Sergio Agüero and Micky Quinn. In spite of his form at the start of the season, Costa had been suffering from a recurring hamstring problem which limited his participation in training; manager José Mourinho said that it would not heal until mid-November.
Costa scored his tenth goal of the league season to give Chelsea a 2–1 win away to Liverpool on 8 November, preserving their unbeaten start to the campaign. In January, Costa was charged by the FA in relation to a stamp on Emre Can during Chelsea's win over Liverpool in the League Cup semi-finals, and was given a three-match ban. Costa won his first trophy for Chelsea on 1 March, as they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2–0 to win the League Cup at Wembley Stadium; he scored the second goal of the game.
On 26 April, Costa was chosen as one of two forwards for the season's PFA Team of the Year, alongside Tottenham's Harry Kane. Five of Costa's Chelsea teammates were also in the selection. Due to injury, he was due to miss the remainder of the season, in which Chelsea won the league title with a 1–0 home win over Crystal Palace on 3 May. However, he featured in their last match of the season on the 24th, replacing the injured Didier Drogba after half an hour against Sunderland. Seven minutes later, he scored his 20th goal of the league campaign, an equalising penalty in an eventual 3–1 home win.
With reports speculating that Costa wanting to leave Chelsea, Costa affirmed on 2 June 2015 after Chelsea's post-season tour that he had no desire to leave London, saying, "It's always a bit more difficult in the first season for adaptation, but I have no reason to leave this place, I love it, the fans love me, and I want to stay. It's really good to come in the first season [to Chelsea] and win two things [the Premier League and the League Cup titles]. Next year I'll be ready to come back and, hopefully, win a couple more trophies."
==== 2015–16 season ====
Due to injury, Costa missed the 2015 FA Community Shield, which Chelsea lost 1–0 to rivals Arsenal. On 23 August, he scored his first goal of the campaign in a 2–3 win at West Bromwich Albion, which was Chelsea's first victory of the campaign, set up by international teammate Pedro. He scored his first Champions League goal for the team on 16 September, a volley from a Cesc Fàbregas ball in a 4–0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Three days later, Costa was involved in controversy in a 2–0 home win over Arsenal; he repeatedly slapped Laurent Koscielny and chest-bumped him to the ground, and then confronted Gabriel, who allegedly tried to kick him and was sent off, though footage from ESPN Brazil later showed that little to no contact actually took place. He escaped any punishment at the time. His conduct was deemed "disgusting" by visiting manager Arsène Wenger, and teammate Kurt Zouma initially reacted by saying, "Diego likes to cheat a lot," but later clarified that he meant that "Diego is a player who puts pressure on his opponents". As a consequence, on 21 September, he was charged with violent conduct by the FA. and the following day he was given a three-match suspension. Gabriel's red card was also rescinded, although he was given a one-match ban and £10,000 fine for improper conduct after failing to leave the pitch immediately. After this incident, the Daily Express wrote that Costa was "named as [the] Premier League's dirtiest player".
After a 1–0 defeat at Stoke City on 7 November, a Britannia Stadium steward made an allegation of assault against Costa, which was resolved without further action. Also that month, Costa was again involved in a skirmish with Liverpool's Martin Škrtel, where he appeared to dig his boot into the Slovak defender's chest, but escaped punishment by the FA. On 29 November, Costa was an unused substitute in a match against Tottenham and threw his bib on the floor when Ruben Loftus-Cheek was sent on at his expense. Mourinho told the media that, "For me his behaviour is normal. A top player on the bench will not be happy."
Costa, Oscar and Fàbregas were targeted by Chelsea supporters as the players whose poor form led to the dismissal of popular manager José Mourinho in December 2015. Costa scored twice in the first game under interim replacement Guus Hiddink, a 2–2 home draw against Watford. Costa, who played in a protective mask after breaking his nose in training, improved his form under the Dutchman, scoring seven times in his first eight games under the new management.
On 12 March 2016, Costa received his first red card in a Chelsea shirt near the end of their 2–0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Everton for confronting opponent Gareth Barry. Footage appeared to show Costa biting Barry during that confrontation after clashing heads. Earlier in the match, Costa appeared to spit in the direction of the referee after he was yellow-carded for a clash with Barry. Later, both Costa and Barry denied that the bite occurred. Costa's two-match ban was extended to three, and he was fined £20,000. On 2 May, as Chelsea drew 2–2 against Tottenham to deny them the title, Costa was gouged in the eyes by Mousa Dembélé during a mass brawl; the Belgian received a retrospective six-match ban.
==== 2016–17 season ====
On 15 August 2016, Costa scored a late winner against West Ham United to give Chelsea a 2–1 win in their season opener. During the match, he caught opposing goalkeeper Adrián with a late challenge when already on a yellow card, but did not receive a second yellow and went on to score the winner; Adrián stated after the match that he was fortunate not to be seriously injured. On 15 October, he scored in a 3–0 over reigning Premier League champions Leicester City, and on 20 November Costa became the first player to reach ten league goals for the season, with the only one of the game at Middlesbrough. With two goals and two assists for league leaders Chelsea, he was voted Premier League Player of the Month for the second time in November 2016, with his manager Antonio Conte picking up the equivalent.
In January 2017, Costa fell out with Conte and was dropped from the team, amidst interest from the Chinese Super League. A potential move to Tianjin Quanjian F.C. was curtailed by the league limiting the number of foreign players in each team. He returned to Chelsea's starting line-up on 22 January, opening a 2–0 win over Hull City, his 52nd goal on his 100th appearance. Costa was Chelsea's top scorer with 20 goals as they regained the Premier League title. On 27 May, he scored an equaliser in the 2017 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, a 2–1 loss.
==== 2017–18 season ====
In June 2017, Costa was told by Conte that he was not part of his plans for the coming season and that he was free to move to another team via text message. Although Costa was linked to potential moves to the likes of Milan, Monaco, and Everton, he stated that he would only be open to moving back to his former team Atlético Madrid. Costa attempted to find a legal solution through his lawyer in pushing for a move back to Madrid, and said that Chelsea were treating him like a "criminal" by demanding a high transfer fee for his exit. He was excluded from training with the first-team, but was named in the Premier League squad, yet left out of the Champions League squad.
=== Return to Atlético Madrid ===
On 21 September 2017, Chelsea announced that Costa would return to Atlético at the start of the next transfer window in January 2018. On 26 September 2017, it was announced that after passing medical tests Costa signed a contract with Atlético. He was registered and became eligible to play after 1 January 2018, due to a transfer ban imposed on Atlético.
On 3 January 2018, he scored on his return game against Lleida Esportiu in the Copa del Rey round of 16, just five minutes after being substituted on for Ángel Correa in the 64th minute. Three days later in his first league game back, he started in a 2–0 win over Getafe at the Wanda Metropolitano and scored the second goal. However, having already been cautioned for a stray elbow on Djene Dakonam, he was cautioned for a second time for charging into the stands to celebrate his goal, thus being sent off. ESPN FC credited Costa as being a key element in Antoine Griezmann's return to form, opining that Costa's "physical presence at centre-forward has understandably distracted opposition defenders quite a lot. Griezmann has now taken up a roaming No. 10 role, with freedom to go where he feels best"; Atlético manager Diego Simeone namechecked three of Atlético's players in particular–Costa, Koke, and Filipe Luís–who had helped Griezmann perform.
Costa scored the only goal of Atlético's 1–0 home win over Arsenal in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals, sending them into the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final 2–1 on aggregate. He played in the final in Lyon, a 3–0 win over Olympique de Marseille.
In Atlético's first match of 2018–19, the UEFA Super Cup at the Lilleküla Stadium in Estonia, Costa scored twice – including in the first 50 seconds – in a 4–2 win after extra time against Real Madrid.
On 6 April 2019, he was sent off in the 28th minute against FC Barcelona, and was handed an 8-match ban for abusing a referee. On 18 June 2020, Costa marked his 200th club appearance for Los Colchoneros when he started in a huge 5–0 away win against Osasuna. Costa scored his fifth goal of the season in a 1–0 home victory against Real Betis to ensure his team a top four finish and qualification for the next season's Champions League. On 29 December 2020, Costa and Atlético agreed to terminate their contract, making Costa a free-agent.
=== Atlético Mineiro ===
On 14 August 2021, Costa joined Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro, signing a deal until December 2022. He scored on his debut on 29 August, coming off the bench in the second half and equalising in a 1–1 league draw with Red Bull Bragantino. With fellow veteran Hulk partnering him, his club won the double of Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and Copa do Brasil; they won the league by a 13-point advantage, and defeated Athletico Paranaense 6–1 on aggregate in the cup final, though Costa was substituted through injury early in the second leg. On 16 January 2022, after playing 19 times and scoring 5 goals, Costa terminated his contract.
=== Wolverhampton Wanderers ===
On 12 September 2022, Costa joined Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers until the end of the 2022–23 season. As part of a video filming aimed for social media for his public unveil, he was seen holding a chained pack of wolves. On 1 October, he made his debut for the club, coming on in the 58th minute in a 2–0 defeat to West Ham United at the London Stadium. Four weeks later, he was given his first Premier League red card of his career for headbutting Ben Mee in a 1–1 draw away to Brentford. He was suspended for three games, and due to the break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup did not return until late December; new manager Julen Lopetegui said "I want to see his character, playing football, not making silly things".
Costa made his 100th appearance in the Premier League, his 11th for Wolves, as a second-half substitute against Bournemouth at Molineux on 18 February 2023. He suffered a knee injury in the first-half of Wolves' 1–0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur on 4 March and was carried off the pitch on a stretcher. On 15 April, he scored his first goal for Wolves in a 2–0 home win against Brentford, his first goal in English football in nearly six years. It was his only goal in 25 total appearances for the club from the West Midlands. On 3 June, Wolves announced that Costa would leave at the end of his contract, alongside João Moutinho and Adama Traoré.
=== Botafogo ===
On 12 August 2023, Costa signed for Brazilian club Botafogo on a six-month contract. He chose the club over Rio de Janeiro rivals Vasco da Gama, and was signed as a replacement for the injured Tiquinho Soares. Under former Wolves manager Bruno Lage, he made his debut a week later, playing the last 22 minutes of a goalless draw away to São Paulo; he completed half of his eight passes and lost possession six times. In his next league game on 27 August, he scored twice in a 3–0 home win over Bahia, keeping his team in first place and preserving an unbroken run of wins at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos.
Costa scored three goals in 15 total appearances for Botafogo, including two games in the Copa Sudamericana. After negotiations for a new contract collapsed, he was released on 10 January 2024.
=== Grêmio ===
On 8 February 2024, Costa signed for Grêmio on a free transfer. He was signed to replace Luis Suárez, and joined on a deal until the end of the year. He made his debut on 2 March, scoring to conclude a 4–1 home win over Guarany in the last group game of the Campeonato Gaúcho. Despite playing only six games, he was top scorer for the season with six goals at age 35, including one on 6 April in the second leg of the final, a 3–1 home win over Juventude in which he was man of the match.
Grêmio lost 1–0 away to Bahia on 27 April. Costa, who had already been substituted, was sent off for dissent while on the bench, leading manager Renato Gaúcho to send all the other substitutes to the changing room to avoid a similar event. On 8 June, he suffered a left thigh tear in a 1–1 draw at home to Estudiantes de La Plata in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, ruling him out for an estimated six-to-eight weeks.
Costa played 26 games for Grêmio, scoring eight goals and assisting five, while losing prominence in the team after the signing of Martin Braithwaite. At the end of his deal, he was linked with Nacional, across the border in Uruguay.
In October 2025, Spanish sports newspaper Diario AS reported that 37-year-old Costa had not played for ten months but had not announced his retirement; he was living in Madrid and was an ambassador for Atlético Madrid at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. He announced his retirement from professional football in February 2026 on a podcast with former Atlético Madrid teammate Mario Suárez, saying "I retired a little while ago. My agent was looking for something, but the passion I once had was already gone".
== International career ==
=== Brazil ===
On 5 March 2013, Costa was called up to the Brazil national team by head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for friendlies with Italy in Geneva and Russia in London, both taking place late in that month. He made his debut in the first match on 21 March, replacing Fred midway through the second half of the 2–2 draw. Four days later at Stamford Bridge, he replaced Kaká for the last 12 minutes of a 1–1 draw with Russia.
=== Request to change teams ===
In September 2013, the Royal Spanish Football Federation made an official request to FIFA for permission to call up Costa for the Spain national team. He had been granted Spanish nationality in July. FIFA regulations currently permit players with more than one nationality to represent a second country if, like Costa, they had only represented their first country in friendly matches.
On 29 October 2013, Costa declared that he wished to play international football for Spain, sending a letter to the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). Following the news, Scolari commented, "A Brazilian player who refuses to wear the shirt of the Brazilian national team and compete in a World Cup in your country is automatically withdrawn. He is turning his back on a dream of millions, to represent our national team, the five-time champions in a World Cup in Brazil."
The CBF judicial director, Carlos Eugênio Lopes, said,
"It's obvious that the reason he made that choice was financial. The chairman [of the CBF, José Maria Marin] authorised me to open a legal action at the Justice Ministry requesting that he lose his Brazilian citizenship, which Diego Costa has rejected... The chairman told me that Costa has proved he's not fit to be part of the Scolari family, that he would contaminate the family because he's not committed to Brazil, but to Spain. He rejected his Brazilian citizenship. Marin has asked me to study the situation deeply in order to keep him from ever playing for Spain. He told me that, from now on, Costa is 'persona non grata' at the national team and that the players themselves wouldn't welcome him because of that episode".
=== Spain ===
On 28 February 2014, Spain manager Vicente del Bosque included Costa in the squad for a friendly against Italy. He finally made his debut on 5 March, playing the full 90 minutes at his club ground, the Vicente Calderón Stadium, as the hosts won 1–0.
Costa was named in Spain's 30-man provisional squad for the 2014 World Cup, as well as the final list which was named on 31 May. He returned from the injury which had ended his club season by starting in a warm-up game against El Salvador, winning a penalty in a 2–0 victory. In the first match of the tournament, against the Netherlands, he again won a penalty, conceded by Stefan de Vrij and converted by Xabi Alonso for a 1–0 lead but in an eventual 1–5 defeat; he was booed by Brazilian fans during the match. Costa then started in a 0–2 loss to Chile making little impact as he was substituted for Fernando Torres for the second consecutive match, and Spain were eliminated. He was an unused substitute in the team's third match, a 3–0 defeat of Australia.
Costa scored his first goal for Spain with the third in a 4–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying win away to Luxembourg on 12 October 2014. He did not feature again for Spain until 5 September 2015, when he was fouled by Slovakia goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik for a penalty, which Andrés Iniesta converted for a 2–0 qualifying win at the Estadio Carlos Tartiere in Oviedo. He was substituted for Paco Alcácer later in the match. Del Bosque defended Costa from criticism, saying that he performed well against the Slovak defence. However, he was not included in the final squad for the tournament.
On 5 September 2016, Costa scored his first international goals for nearly two years, in an 8–0 win over Liechtenstein at the Estadio Reino de León for Spain's opening match of 2018 World Cup qualification, the first being a header from a free-kick by his former Atlético teammate Koke. In May 2018, Costa was called up to Spain's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In their opening game on 15 June in Sochi, he scored his two first World Cup goals to help Spain secure a 3–3 draw against Portugal. Five days later, he scored the winning goal of the match against Iran.
== Player profile ==
=== Style of play and reception ===
Friends and family recalled how Costa's style of play changed little over time, with his father stating how as a child, Costa would be furious whenever his team lost. Atlético scout Javier Hernández, on watching 17-year-old Costa play for Penafiel, was impressed by the young forward's determination and power, although found it evident that he was not observing a healthy lifestyle. Costa's Penafiel manager Rui Bento, who was at Sporting CP when Cristiano Ronaldo broke into the team, rated Costa in the same calibre as the Portuguese winger. According to Atlético director Jesús García Pitarch, Costa ranks as one of the best signings of his career, alongside Mohamed Sissoko, Miranda and Ricardo Oliveira.
While on loan at Celta de Vigo, Costa drew comparisons to their former Egyptian striker Mido, who was also known for his temper. During his spell at Albacete, Costa was nicknamed after bullfighter Curro Romero and the Tasmanian devil. His manager, Juan Ignacio Martínez, conceded that Costa played as a model professional for 89 minutes per match, with only one minute per match being his downfall. Costa refers to José Luis Mendilibar as his greatest manager because of his fatherlike "tough love", respecting his talents while keeping strict discipline, once sending Costa to work in a vineyard as a punishment.
Earlier in his Atlético Madrid career, Costa's physical play was used in support of Radamel Falcao, thus ensuring a lower goalscoring rate. After Falcao was sold in 2013, the attack was restructured around Costa by manager Diego Simeone. Simeone, who like Costa was known for his competitiveness and aggression, found ways to enhance his discipline while retaining his determination. In 2014, his club teammate Diego Godín described Costa as the team's "heartbeat", commenting that he "gives us everything," also adding: "Sometimes things aren't going well and he is able to open up the game with his strength and technique." Nick Dorrington of Bleacher Report described him as a "battering ram of a striker: Strong, quick and tireless in his pursuit of the ball," while the club's manager Simeone lauded his work-rate as being "contagious".
Ahead of his competitive debut for Chelsea in August 2014, BBC Sport pundit Robbie Savage described Costa as "the missing piece in the jigsaw" for the "clear favourites" who "could end up winning the title by five or six points". He explained that Chelsea's defence was already the strongest in the league, but a poorer rate of shot-to-goal conversion had cost them the title. He praised Costa's stature and physical style of play which "suits the Premier League down to the ground" in the same role that Didier Drogba previously played at Chelsea, an opinion also voiced by the league's top scorer of all-time, Alan Shearer. Costa has also been attributed with a greater ability to keep possession of the ball than any Chelsea striker since Drogba first left the club in 2012. That same year, Henry Winter of The Telegraph noted that Costa "...has the technique, the strength and the burst of acceleration to destroy defences."
Costa's size, technique, and strength, coupled with his link-up play and ability to hold up the ball with his back to goal allow him to be an effective target-man; moreover, his constant movement and powerful running in the centre-forward role allows him to distract opponents and in turn create space for teammates. Although he was initially known to be inconsistent in the earlier part of his career, due to his low goalscoring rate, he later established himself as a good finisher as his career progressed, which along with his composure in front of goal and ability inside the penalty box, made him a prolific goalscorer, and even saw him regarded by several pundits and managers as one of the best strikers in the world at his peak. In 2018, Simeone lauded Costa for the "enthusiasm" and "aggression" he brings to Atlético Madrid, as well as his "speed, decisiveness, and physical strength."
=== Discipline and controversies ===
Costa has been the source of much controversy in his career due to confrontations with opponents, and has received multiple violent conduct charges from The Football Association of England. Opposing managers have also opined that Costa himself intends to provoke his opponents. Danny Murphy of Match of the Day has stated that Costa is targeted by players who "wind him up," but he "remains calm", and is justified to taunt opponents who taunt him. Pat Nevin, a former Chelsea winger, believes that Costa's style of play is likely to cause himself "a few injuries". In August 2014, he was criticised by Everton manager Roberto Martínez for taunting Everton's Séamus Coleman following his own goal, and stated Costa needed "to understand the ethics" of the Premier League. In October 2014, he clashed with Slovakia's Martin Škrtel in a Euro 2016 qualifier.
In January 2015, following two stamp incidents involving Costa and Liverpool players for which Costa received a three-match ban by the FA, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers stated that he thought Costa had fouled his players when "he could easily have hurdled over the player" and "there's no need to do it". Costa described his style of play as "strong but noble", and refuted allegations that he deliberately aims to injure opponents.
In late 2015, Costa was the subject of scrutiny for his comparatively poor start to his second season at Chelsea and his low scoring rate for Spain. French newspaper L'Equipe named Costa as the most hated footballer in December 2015, based on his provocative and violent behaviour.
== Career statistics ==
=== Club ===
As of match played 8 December 2024
=== International ===
As of match played 1 July 2018
As of match played 20 June 2018. Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Costa goal.
== Honours ==
Atlético Madrid
La Liga: 2013–14, 2020–21
Copa del Rey: 2012–13
UEFA Europa League: 2017–18
UEFA Super Cup: 2010, 2012, 2018
UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2013–14
Chelsea
Premier League: 2014–15, 2016–17
Football League Cup: 2014–15
FA Cup runner-up: 2016–17
Atlético Mineiro
Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2021
Copa do Brasil: 2021
Grêmio
Campeonato Gaúcho: 2024
Individual
La Liga Player of the Month: September 2013
La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14
Trofeo EFE: 2013–14
UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2013–14
Zarra Trophy: 2013–14
Premier League Player of the Month: August 2014, November 2016
PFA Team of the Year: 2014–15 Premier League
Campeonato Gaúcho top scorer: 2024
Records
Fastest goal in the UEFA Super Cup: 2018 (49 seconds in against Real Madrid) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspace | Dreamspace | Dreamspace is the third studio album by power metal band Stratovarius, released on 9 February 1994 through Noise Records. It is the last Stratovarius album to feature guitarist Timo Tolkki on vocals (after which Timo Kotipelto became the lead singer on 1995's Fourth Dimension), as well as the first to feature bassist Jari Kainulainen. Sami Kuoppamäki was asked to record drums for some of the songs after drummer Tuomo Lassila was unable to finish the sessions due to tendonitis.
== Critical reception ==
Steve Huey at AllMusic gave Dreamspace four stars out of five, saying that it "demonstrates the band coming into its own, honing its melodic Euro-metal attack to a razor-sharp point."
== Track listing ==
== Personnel ==
Timo Tolkki – vocals, guitar, engineering, mixing, production
Antti Ikonen – keyboards, computer
Tuomo Lassila – drums (tracks 1, 2, 5, 8–12, 14), percussion, flute
Sami Kuoppamäki – drums (tracks 3, 4, 6, 7, 13)
Jari Kainulainen – bass guitar
Sole – oboe
Mikko Karmila – mixing
== Charts == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifampicin | Rifampicin | Rifampicin, also known as rifampin, is an ansamycin antibiotic used to treat several types of bacterial infections, including tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium avium complex, leprosy, and Legionnaires' disease. It is almost always used together with other antibiotics with two notable exceptions: when given as a "preferred treatment that is strongly recommended" for latent TB infection; and when used as post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent Haemophilus influenzae type b and meningococcal disease in people who have been exposed to those bacteria. Before treating a person for a long period of time, measurements of liver enzymes and blood counts are recommended. Rifampicin may be given either by mouth or intravenously.
Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. It often turns urine, sweat, and tears a red or orange color. Liver problems or allergic reactions may occur. It is part of the recommended treatment of active tuberculosis during pregnancy, though its safety in pregnancy is not known. Rifampicin is of the rifamycin group of antibiotics. It works by decreasing the production of RNA by bacteria.
Rifampicin was discovered in 1965, marketed in Italy in 1968, and approved in the United States in 1971. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. The World Health Organization classifies rifampicin as critically important for human medicine. It is available as a generic medication. Rifampicin is made by the soil bacterium Amycolatopsis rifamycinica.
== Medical uses ==
=== Mycobacteria ===
Rifampicin is used for the treatment of tuberculosis in combination with other antibiotics, such as pyrazinamide, isoniazid, and ethambutol. For the treatment of tuberculosis, it is administered daily for at least six months. Combination therapy is used to prevent the development of resistance and to shorten the length of treatment. Resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to rifampicin develops quickly when it is used without another antibiotic, with laboratory estimates of resistance rates from 10−7 to 10−10 per tuberculosis bacterium per generation.
Rifampicin can be used alone in patients with latent tuberculosis infections to prevent or delay the development of active disease because only small numbers of bacteria are present. A Cochrane review found no difference in efficacy between a 3- to 4-month regimen of rifampicin and a 6-month regimen of isoniazid for preventing active tuberculosis in patients not infected with HIV, and patients who received rifampicin had a lower rate of hepatotoxicity. However, the quality of the evidence was judged to be low. A shorter 2-month course of rifampicin and pyrazinamide had previously been recommended but is no longer recommended due to high rates of hepatotoxicity.
Rifampicin should be taken on an empty stomach with a glass of water. It is generally taken either at least one hour before meals or two hours after meals.
Rifampicin is also used to treat nontuberculous mycobacterial infections including leprosy (Hansen's disease) and Mycobacterium kansasii.
With multidrug therapy used as the standard treatment of Hansen's disease, rifampicin is always used in combination with dapsone and clofazimine to avoid causing drug resistance.
It is also used in the treatment of Mycobacterium ulcerans infections as associated with Buruli ulcer, usually in combination with clarithromycin or other antibiotics.
=== Other bacteria and protozoans ===
In 2008, tentative evidence showed rifampicin may be useful in the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in combination with other antibiotics, including in difficult-to-treat infections such as osteomyelitis and prosthetic joint infections. As of 2012, if rifampicin combination therapy was useful for pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis was unclear. A meta-analysis concluded that adding adjunctive rifampicin to a β-lactam or vancomycin may improve outcomes in staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. However, a more recent trial found no benefit from adjunctive rifampicin.
It is also used as preventive treatment against Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcal) infections. Rifampicin is also recommended as an alternative treatment for infections by the tick-borne pathogens Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum when treatment with doxycycline is contraindicated, such as in pregnant women or in patients with a history of allergy to tetracycline antibiotics.
It is also sometimes used to treat infections by Listeria species, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Legionella pneumophila. For these nonstandard indications, antimicrobial susceptibility testing should be done (if possible) before starting rifampicin therapy.
The Enterobacteriaceae, Acinetobacter species, and Pseudomonas species are intrinsically resistant to rifampicin.
It has been used with amphotericin B in largely unsuccessful attempts to treat primary amoebic meningoencephalitis caused by Naegleria fowleri.
Rifampicin can be used as monotherapy for a few days as prophylaxis against meningitis, but resistance develops quickly during long-term treatment of active infections, so the drug is always used against active infections in combination with other antibiotics.
Rifampicin is relatively ineffective against spirochetes, which has led to its use as a selective agent capable of isolating them in materials being cultured in laboratories.
=== Viruses ===
Rifampicin has some effectiveness against vaccinia virus.
=== Pathogen susceptibility ===
The minimum inhibitory concentrations of rifampicin for several medically significant pathogens are:
Mycobacterium tuberculosis — 0.002 – 64 μg/mL
Mycobacterium bovis — 0.125 μg/mL
Staphylococcus aureus (methicillin resistant) — ≤ 0.006–256 μg/mL
Chlamydia pneumoniae — 0.005 μg/mL
=== Primary biliary cholangitis ===
Rifampicin is used to treat itchiness caused by primary biliary cholangitis. The treatment-related adverse effects include hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, hemolysis, and interactions with other drugs. For those reasons as well as some ethical concerns regarding off-label use of antibiotics, rifampin as a very effective preventive antibiotic for meningitis, is not considered appropriate for itchiness.
=== Hidradenitis suppurativa ===
Rifampicin with clindamycin has been used to treat the skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa.
== Adverse effects ==
The most serious adverse effect is hepatotoxicity, and people receiving it often undergo baseline and frequent liver function tests to detect early liver damage.
The more common side effects include fever, gastrointestinal disturbances, rashes, and immunological reactions. Taking rifampicin usually causes certain bodily fluids, such as urine, sweat, and tears, to become orange-red in color, a benign side effect that nonetheless can be frightening if it is not expected. This may also be used to monitor effective absorption of the drug (if drug color is not seen in the urine, the patient may wish to move the drug dose farther in time from food or milk intake). The discolorization of sweat and tears is not directly noticeable, but sweat may stain light clothing orange, and tears may permanently stain soft contact lenses. Since rifampicin may be excreted in breast milk, breastfeeding should be avoided while it is being taken.
Other adverse effects include:
Liver toxicity—hepatitis, liver failure in severe cases
Respiratory—breathlessness
Cutaneous—flushing, pruritus, rash, hyperpigmentation, redness and watering of eyes
Abdominal — nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea
Flu-like symptoms—chills, fever, headache, arthralgia, and malaise. Rifampicin has good penetration into the brain, and this may directly explain some malaise and dysphoria in a minority of users.
Allergic reaction—rashes, itching, swelling of the tongue or throat, severe dizziness, and trouble breathing
== Chemical structure ==
Rifampicin is a polyketide belonging to the chemical class of compounds termed ansamycins, so named because of their heterocyclic structure containing a naphthoquinone core spanned by an aliphatic ansa chain. The naphthoquinonic chromophore gives rifampicin its characteristic red-orange crystalline color.
The critical functional groups of rifampicin in its inhibitory binding of bacterial RNA polymerase are the four critical hydroxyl groups of the ansa bridge and the naphthol ring, which form hydrogen bonds with amino acid residues on the protein.
Rifampicin is the 3-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-iminomethyl derivative of rifamycin SV.
== Interactions ==
Rifampicin is the most powerful known inducer of the hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme system, including isoenzymes CYP2B6, CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP3A4, CYP3A5, and CYP3A7. It increases metabolism of many drugs and as a consequence, can make them less effective, or even ineffective, by decreasing their levels. For instance, patients undergoing long-term anticoagulation therapy with warfarin have to increase their dosage of warfarin and have their clotting time checked frequently because failure to do so could lead to inadequate anticoagulation, resulting in serious consequences of thromboembolism.
Rifampicin can reduce the efficacy of birth control pills or other hormonal contraception by its induction of the cytochrome P450 system, to the extent that unintended pregnancies have occurred in women who use oral contraceptives and took rifampicin even for very short courses (for example, as prophylaxis against exposure to bacterial meningitis).
Other interactions include decreased levels and less effectiveness of antiretroviral agents, everolimus, atorvastatin, rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, celecoxib, clarithromycin, caspofungin, voriconazole, and lorazepam.
Rifampicin is antagonistic to the microbiologic effects of the antibiotics gentamicin and amikacin. The activity of rifampicin against some species of mycobacteria can be potentiated by isoniazid (through inhibiting mycolate synthesis) and ambroxol (through host directed effects in autophagy and pharmacokinetics).
== Pharmacology ==
=== Mechanism of action ===
Rifampicin inhibits bacterial DNA-dependent RNA synthesis by inhibiting bacterial DNA-dependent RNA polymerase.
Crystal structure data and biochemical data suggest that rifampicin binds to the pocket of the RNA polymerase β subunit within the DNA/RNA channel, but away from the active site. The inhibitor prevents RNA synthesis by physically blocking elongation, and thus preventing synthesis of host bacterial proteins. By this "steric-occlusion" mechanism, rifampicin blocks synthesis of the second or third phosphodiester bond between the nucleotides in the RNA backbone, preventing elongation of the 5' end of the RNA transcript past more than two or three nucleotides.
In a recent study rifampicin was shown to bind to cytochrome P450 reductase and alter its conformation as well as activity towards supporting metabolism of progesterone via CYP21A2.
=== Mechanism of resistance ===
Resistance to rifampicin arises from mutations that alter residues of the rifampicin binding site on RNA polymerase, resulting in decreased affinity for rifampicin. Resistance mutations map to the rpoB gene, encoding the beta subunit of RNA polymerase. The majority of resistance mutations in E. coli are in 3 clusters on rpoB. Cluster I is amino acids 509 to 533, cluster II is amino acids 563 to 572, and cluster III is amino acid 687.
When describing mutations in rpoB in other species, the corresponding amino acid number in E. coli is usually used. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the majority of mutations leading to rifampicin resistance are in cluster I, in a 81bp hotspot core region called RRDR for "rifampcin resistance determining region". A change in amino acid 531 from serine to leucine arising from a change in the DNA sequence of TCG to TTG is the most common mutation. Tuberculosis resistance has also occurred due to mutations in the N-terminal region of rpoB and cluster III.
An alternative mechanism of resistance is through Arr-catalyzed ADP-ribosylation of rifampicin. With the assistance of the enzyme Arr produced by the non-pathogenic Mycobacterium smegmatis, ADP-ribose is added to rifampicin at one of its ansa chain hydroxy groups, thereby inactivating the drug.
=== Resistance in tuberculosis ===
Mycobacterial resistance to rifampicin may occur alone or along with resistance to other first-line antitubercular drugs. Early detection of such multidrug or extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis is critical in improving patient outcomes by instituting appropriate second-line treatments, and in decreasing transmission of drug-resistant TB. Traditional methods of detecting resistance involve mycobacterial culture and drug susceptibility testing, results of which could take up to 6 weeks. Xpert MTB/RIF assay is an automated test that can detect rifampicin resistance, and also diagnose tuberculosis. A Cochrane review updated in 2014 and 2021 concluded that for rifampicin resistance detection, Xpert MTB/RIF was accurate, that is (95%) sensitive and (98%) specific.
=== Pharmacokinetics ===
Orally administered rifampicin results in peak plasma concentrations in about 2–4 hours. 4-Aminosalicylic acid (another antituberculosis drug) significantly reduces absorption of rifampicin, and peak concentrations may be lower. If these two drugs must be used concurrently, they must be given separately, with an interval of 8 to 12 hours between administrations.
Rifampicin is easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; its ester functional group is quickly hydrolyzed in bile, and it is catalyzed by a high pH and substrate-specific esterases. After about 6 hours, almost all of the drug is deacetylated. Even in this deacetylated form, rifampicin is still a potent antibiotic; however, it can no longer be reabsorbed by the intestines and is eliminated from the body. Only about 7% of the administered drug is excreted unchanged in urine, though urinary elimination accounts for only about 30% of the drug excretion. About 60% to 65% is excreted through feces.
The half-life of rifampicin ranges from 1.5 to 5.0 hours, though hepatic impairment significantly increases it. Food consumption inhibits its absorption from the GI tract, and the drug is more quickly eliminated. When rifampicin is taken with a meal, its peak blood concentration falls by 36%. Antacids do not affect its absorption. The decrease in rifampicin absorption with food is sometimes enough to noticeably affect urine color, which can be used as a marker for whether or not a dose of the drug has been effectively absorbed.
Distribution of the drug is high throughout the body, and reaches effective concentrations in many organs and body fluids, including the cerebrospinal fluid. Since the substance itself is red, this high distribution is the reason for the orange-red color of the saliva, tears, sweat, urine, and feces. About 60% to 90% of the drug is bound to plasma proteins.
== Use in biotechnology ==
Rifampicin inhibits bacterial RNA polymerase, and is commonly used to inhibit the synthesis of host bacterial proteins during recombinant protein expression in bacteria. RNA encoding for the recombinant gene is usually transcribed from DNA by a viral T7 RNA polymerase, which is not affected by rifampicin.
== History ==
In 1957, a soil sample from a pine forest on the French Riviera was brought for analysis to the Lepetit Pharmaceuticals research lab in Milan, Italy. There, a research group headed by Piero Sensi and Maria Teresa Timbal discovered a new bacterium, Nocardia mediterranei. Nocardia mediterranei produces a class of previously unknown molecules with antibiotic activity. Because Sensi, Timbal and the researchers were particularly fond of the French crime story Rififi (about a jewel heist and rival gangs), they decided to call these compounds rifamycins. Derivatives of one molecule, rifamycin B, which itself possess minimal antibiotic activity yielded several highly active antibiotics, one of the earliest which was used as a medicine being rifamycin SV, which was introduced in some countries for the parenteral and topical treatment of infections due to gram-positive bacteria and infections of the biliary tract. After two years of attempts to obtain more stable semisynthetic products, a new molecule with high efficacy and good tolerability was produced in 1965 and was named rifampicin.
Rifampicin was first reported in 1966 by a Lepetit team led by Nicola Maggi. The paper lists Maggi as first author, followed by C. R. Pasqualucci, R. Ballotta and P. Sensi. The corresponding U.S. patent lists Nicola Maggi as first-named inventor, followed by Piero Sensi.
Rifampicin was first sold in Italy in 1968 and was approved by the FDA in 1971.
== Society and culture ==
=== Cancer-causing impurities ===
In August 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) became aware of nitrosamine impurities in certain samples of rifampin. The FDA and manufacturers are investigating the origin of these impurities in rifampin, and the agency is developing testing methods for regulators and industry to detect the 1-methyl-4-nitrosopiperazine (MNP). MNP belongs to the nitrosamine class of compounds, some of which are classified as probable or possible human carcinogens (substances that could cause cancer), based on laboratory tests such as rodent carcinogenicity studies. Although there are no data available to directly evaluate the carcinogenic potential of MNP, information available on closely related nitrosamine compounds was used to calculate lifetime exposure limits for MNP.
As of January 2021, the FDA continues to investigate the presence of 1-methyl-4-nitrosopiperazine (MNP) in rifampin or 1-cyclopentyl-4-nitrosopiperazine (CPNP) in rifapentine approved for sale in the US.
=== Names ===
Rifampicin is the INN and BAN, while rifampin is the USAN. Rifampicin may be abbreviated R, RMP, RA, RF, or RIF (US).
Rifampicin is also known as rifaldazine, rofact, and rifampin in the United States, also as rifamycin SV.
Its chemical name is 5,6,9,17,19,21-hexahydroxy-23-methoxy-2,4,12,16,18,20,22-heptamethyl-8-[N-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)formimidoyl]-2,7-(epoxypentadeca[1,11,13]trienimino)-naphtho[2,1-b]furan-1,11(2H)-dione 21-acetate.
Rifampicin is available under many brand names worldwide. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroc%C5%82aw | Wrocław | Wrocław (Polish: [ˈvrɔt͡swaf] ; German: Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder (Odra) River in the Silesian Lowlands. In 2025, the official population of Wrocław was 672,545, making it the third-largest city in Poland. The population of the Wrocław metropolitan area is around 1.25 million.
Wrocław is the historical capital of Silesia and Lower Silesia. The history of the city dates back over 1,000 years; throughout history it has been part of, chronologically: the Duchy of Poland, the Kingdom of Poland, the Duchy of Silesia, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Habsburg monarchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia and Germany, until it became again part of Poland in 1945 immediately after World War II.
Wrocław is a university city with a student population of over 130,000, making it one of the most youth-oriented cities in the country. Wrocław has numerous historical landmarks, including the Main Market Square, Cathedral Island, Bridge of Love, Wrocław Opera, the National Museum and the Centennial Hall, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Wrocław's dwarfs are a major tourist attraction and have become a symbol of Wrocław. The city is home to the Wrocław Zoo, the oldest zoological garden in Poland.
Wrocław is classified as a Sufficiency global city by GaWC. It was ranked 1st among all medium and small cities in the 2021 European Cities and Regions of the Future ranking by fDi Intelligence. The city is home to Śląsk Wrocław football club and hosted the 2012 European Football Championship. In 2016, the city was a European Capital of Culture and the World Book Capital, and hosted the Theatre Olympics and the European Film Awards. In 2017, the city was host to the World Games. In 2019, it was named a UNESCO City of Literature.
== Names and etymology ==
The origin of the city's name remains a matter of debate. It was long believed that the city was named after Duke Vratislav I of Bohemia from the Czech Přemyslid dynasty, who was ruling between 915 and 921. This thesis is contradicted, however, by the fact that the Czechs only took control of the Wrocław gród around the year 945.
The earliest recorded mentions of the city's name, found in Thietmar's Chronicle (Wrotizla, Wordisclavia, Wortizlania, Vaurtizlau), written around the year 1000, indicate the phonetic form of the original name of the city as Wrocisław, derived from the Old Polish given name Wrocisław/Warcisław. According to researchers, this was the name of the city's founder, whom Edmund Małachowicz identified as a duke from the Włost family of Niemcza.
As a result of phonetic changes, the name was later shortened to Wrocław, first recorded in 1175 in the Latinized form Wrezlaw, and it became widespread in the 13th century. Also in the 12th century, a Czech-influenced and Latinized form, Vratislavia, began to appear. The city's first municipal seal was inscribed with Sigillum civitatis Wratislavie.
By the 15th century, the Early New High German variations of the name, Breslau, first began to be used. Despite the noticeable differences in spelling, the numerous German forms were still based on the original West Slavic name of the city, with the Vr- sound being replaced over time by Br-, and the suffix -slav replaced with -slau. These variations included Wrotizla, Vratizlau, Wratislau, Wrezlau, Breßlau or Bresslau among others. A Prussian description from 1819 mentions two names of the city – Polish and German – stating "Breslau (polnisch Wraclaw)".
In other languages, the city's name is: German: Breslau [ˈbʁɛslaʊ] ; Silesian German: Brassel; Yiddish: ברעסלוי, romanized: Bresloy; Silesian: Wrocław; modern Czech: Vratislav [ˈvracɪslaf]; Hungarian: Boroszló [ˈborosloː]; and Latin: Wratislavia or Vratislavia.
People born or resident in the city are known as "Wrocławians" or "Vratislavians" (Polish: wrocławianie). The now little-used German equivalent is "Breslauer".
== History ==
In ancient times, there was a place called Budorigum at or near the site of Wrocław. It was already mapped on Claudius Ptolemy's map of AD 142–147. Settlements in the area existed from the 6th century onward during the migration period. The Ślężans, a West Slavic tribe, settled on the Oder river and erected a fortified gord on Ostrów Tumski.
Wrocław originated at the intersection of two trade routes, the Via Regia and the Amber Road. Archeological research conducted in the city indicates that it was founded around 940. In 985, Duke Mieszko I of Poland conquered Silesia, and constructed new fortifications on Ostrów. The town was mentioned by Thietmar explicitly in the year 1000 AD in connection with its promotion to an episcopal see during the Congress of Gniezno.
=== Middle Ages ===
During Wrocław's early history, control over it changed hands between the Duchy of Bohemia (1038–1054), the Duchy of Poland and the Kingdom of Poland (985–1038 and 1054–1320). Following the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Poland, the Piast dynasty ruled the Duchy of Silesia. One of the most important events during this period was the foundation of the Diocese of Wrocław in 1000. Along with the Bishoprics of Kraków and Kołobrzeg, Wrocław was placed under the Archbishopric of Gniezno in Greater Poland, founded by Pope Sylvester II through the intercession of Polish duke (and later king) Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III, during the Gniezno Congress. In the years 1034–1038 the city was affected by the pagan reaction in Poland.
The city became a commercial centre and expanded to Wyspa Piasek (Sand Island), and then onto the left bank of the River Oder. Around 1000, the town had about 1,000 inhabitants. In 1109 during the Polish-German war, Prince Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V at the Battle of Hundsfeld, stopping the German advance into Poland. The medieval chronicle, Gesta principum Polonorum (1112–1116) by Gallus Anonymus, named Wrocław, along with Kraków and Sandomierz, as one of three capitals of the Polish Kingdom. Also, the Tabula Rogeriana, a book written by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154, describes Wrocław as one of the Polish cities, alongside Kraków, Gniezno, Sieradz, Łęczyca and Santok. By 1139, a settlement belonging to Governor Piotr Włostowic (also known as Piotr Włast Dunin) was built, and another on the left bank of the River Oder, near the present site of the university. While the city was largely Polish, it also had communities of Bohemians (Czechs), Germans, Walloons and Jews.
In the 13th century, Wrocław was the political centre of the divided Polish kingdom. In April 1241, during the first Mongol invasion of Poland, the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and burnt down for strategic reasons. During the battles with the Mongols Wrocław Castle was successfully defended by Henry II the Pious. In 1245, in Wrocław, Franciscan friar Benedict of Poland, considered one of the first Polish explorers, joined Italian diplomat Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, on his journey to the seat of the Mongol Khan near Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, in what is considered the first such journey by Europeans.
After the Mongol invasion, the town was partly populated by German settlers who, in the ensuing centuries, gradually became its dominant population. The city, however, retained its multi-ethnic character, a reflection of its importance as a trading post on the junction of the Via Regia and the Amber Road. With the influx of settlers, the town expanded and in 1242 came under German town law. The city council used both Latin and German, and the early forms of the name Breslau, the German name of the city, appeared for the first time in its written records. Polish gradually ceased to be used in the town books, while it survived in the courts until 1337, when it was banned by the new rulers, the German-speaking House of Luxembourg.
The enlarged town covered around 60 hectares (150 acres), and the new main market square, surrounded by timber-frame houses, became the trade centre of the town. The original foundation, Ostrów Tumski, became its religious centre. The city gained Magdeburg rights in 1261. While the Polish Piast dynasty remained in control of the region, the city council's ability to govern independently had increased. In 1274 prince Henry IV Probus gave the city its staple right. In the 13th century, two Polish monarchs were buried in Wrocław churches founded by them, Henry II the Pious in the St. Vincent church and Henryk IV Probus in the Holy Cross church.
Wrocław, which for 350 years had been mostly under Polish hegemony, fell in 1335, after the death of Henry VI the Good, to John of Luxembourg. His son Emperor Charles IV in 1348 formally incorporated the city into the Holy Roman Empire. Between 1342 and 1344, two fires destroyed large parts of the city. In 1387 the city joined the Hanseatic League. On 5 June 1443, the city was rocked by an earthquake, estimated at magnitude 6, which destroyed or seriously damaged many of its buildings.
Between 1469 and 1490, Wrocław was ruled by Matthias Corvinus, who claimed the title King of Bohemia and ruled parts of the Bohemian Crown Lands. Corvinus was said to have had a Vratislavian mistress who bore him a son. In 1474, after almost a century, the city left the Hanseatic League. Also in 1474, the city was besieged by combined Polish-Czech forces. However, in November 1474, Kings Casimir IV of Poland, his son Vladislaus II of Bohemia, and Matthias Corvinus of Hungary met in the nearby village of Muchobór Wielki (present-day a district of Wrocław), and in December 1474 a ceasefire was signed according to which the city remained under the rule of Corvinus. The following year was marked by the publication in Wrocław of the Statuta Synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensium (1475) by Kasper Elyan, the first ever incunable in Polish, containing the proceedings and prayers of the Wrocław bishops.
=== Renaissance and the Reformation ===
In the 16th century, the Breslauer Schöps beer style was created in Breslau.
The Protestant Reformation reached the city in 1518 and it converted to the new rite. However, starting in 1526 Silesia was ruled by the Catholic House of Habsburg. In 1618, it supported the Bohemian Revolt out of fear of losing the right to religious freedom. During the ensuing Thirty Years' War, the city was occupied by Saxon and Swedish troops and lost thousands of inhabitants to the plague.
The Emperor brought in the Counter-Reformation by encouraging Catholic orders to settle in the city, starting in 1610 with the Franciscans, followed by the Jesuits, then Capuchins, and finally Ursuline nuns in 1687. These orders erected buildings that shaped the city's appearance until 1945. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, however, it was one of only a few Silesian cities to stay Protestant.
The Polish Municipal school opened in 1666 and lasted until 1766. Precise record-keeping of births and deaths by the city fathers led to the use of their data for analysis of mortality, first by John Graunt and then, based on data provided to him by Breslau professor Caspar Neumann, by Edmond Halley. Halley's tables and analysis, published in 1693, are considered to be the first true actuarial tables, and thus the foundation of modern actuarial science. During the Counter-Reformation, the intellectual life of the city flourished, as the Protestant bourgeoisie lost some of its dominance to the Catholic orders as patrons of the arts.
=== Enlightenment period ===
One of two main routes connecting Warsaw and Dresden ran through the city in the 18th century and Kings Augustus II the Strong and Augustus III of Poland often traveled that route. The city became the centre of German Baroque literature and was home to the First and Second Silesian school of poets. In 1742, the Schlesische Zeitung was founded in Breslau.
In the 1740s the Kingdom of Prussia annexed the city and most of Silesia during the War of the Austrian Succession. Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa ceded most of the territory in the Treaty of Breslau in 1742 to Prussia. Austria attempted to recover Silesia during the Seven Years' War at the Battle of Breslau, but they were unsuccessful. The Venetian Italian adventurer, Giacomo Casanova, stayed in Breslau in 1766.
=== Napoleonic Wars ===
During the Napoleonic Wars, it was occupied by the Confederation of the Rhine army. The fortifications of the city were levelled, and monasteries and cloisters were seized. The Protestant Viadrina European University at Frankfurt an der Oder was relocated to Breslau in 1811, and united with the local Jesuit University to create the new Silesian Frederick-William University (German: Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität, now the University of Wrocław). The city became a centre of the German Liberation movement against Napoleon, and a gathering place for volunteers from all over Germany. The city was the centre of Prussian mobilisation for the campaign which ended at the Battle of Leipzig.
=== Industrial age ===
The Confederation of the Rhine had increased prosperity in Silesia and in the city. The removal of fortifications opened room for the city to expand beyond its former limits. Breslau became an important railway hub and industrial centre, notably for linen and cotton manufacture and the metal industry. The reconstructed university served as a major centre of science; Johannes Brahms later wrote his Academic Festival Overture to thank the university for an honorary doctorate awarded in 1879.
In 1821, the (Arch)Diocese of Breslau withdrew from dependence on the Polish archbishopric of Gniezno, and Breslau became an exempt see. In 1822, the Prussian police discovered the Polonia Polish youth resistance organisation and carried out arrests of its members and searches of their homes. In 1848, many local Polish students joined the Greater Poland uprising against Prussia. On 5 May 1848, a convention of Polish activists from the Prussian and Austrian partitions of Poland was held in the city. On 10 October 1854, the Jewish Theological Seminary opened. The institution was the first modern rabbinical seminary in Central Europe. In 1863 the brothers Karl and Louis Stangen founded the travel agency Stangen, the second travel agency in the world.
The city was an important centre of the Polish secret resistance movement and the seat of a Polish uprising committee before and during the January Uprising of 1863–1864 in the Russian Partition of Poland. Local Poles took part in Polish national mourning after the Russian massacre of Polish protesters in Warsaw in February 1861, and also organised several patriotic Polish church services throughout 1861. Secret Polish correspondence, weapons, and insurgents were transported through the city.
After the outbreak of the uprising in 1863, the Prussian police carried out mass searches of Polish homes, especially those of Poles who had recently come to the city. The city's inhabitants, both Poles and Germans, excluding the German aristocracy, largely sympathised with the uprising, and some Germans even joined local Poles in their secret activities. In June 1863 the city was officially confirmed as the seat of secret Polish insurgent authorities. In January 1864, the Prussian police arrested a number of members of the Polish insurgent movement.
The Unification of Germany in 1871 turned Breslau into the sixth-largest city in the German Empire. Its population more than tripled to over half a million between 1860 and 1910. The 1900 census listed 422,709 residents.
In 1890, construction began of Breslau Fortress as the city's defences. Important landmarks were inaugurated in 1910, the Kaiser bridge (today Grunwald Bridge) and the Technical University, which now houses the Wrocław University of Technology.
The 1910 census listed 95.7% of the population as German-speakers, with 15,107 Polish-speakers (3%), and 3,431 (0.7%) as bilingual in Polish and German, although some estimates put the number of Poles in the city at the time at 20,000 to 30,000. The population was 58% Protestant, 37% Catholic (including at least 2% Polish) and 5% Jewish (totaling 20,536 in the 1905 census). The Jewish community of Breslau was among the most important in Germany, producing several distinguished artists and scientists.
From 1912, the head of the university's Department of Psychiatry and director of the Clinic of Psychiatry (Königlich Psychiatrischen und Nervenklinik) was Alois Alzheimer and, that same year, professor William Stern introduced the concept of IQ.
In 1913, the newly built Centennial Hall housed an exhibition commemorating the 100th anniversary of the historical German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon and the first award of the Iron Cross. The Centennial Hall was built by Max Berg (1870–1947), since 2006 it is part of the world heritage of UNESCO. The central station (by Wilhelm Grapow, 1857) was one of the biggest in Germany and one of the first stations with electrified railway services. Since 1900 modern department stores like Barasch (today "Feniks") or Petersdorff (built by architect Erich Mendelsohn) were erected.
During World War I, in 1914, a branch of the Organizacja Pomocy Legionom ("Legion Assistance Organisation") operated in the city with the goal of gaining support and recruiting volunteers for the Polish Legion, but three Legions' envoys were arrested by the Germans in November 1914 and deported to Austria, and the organisation soon ended its activities in the city. During the war, the German administration operated seven forced labour camps for Allied prisoners of war in the city.
Following the war, Breslau became the capital of the newly created Prussian Province of Lower Silesia of the Weimar Republic in 1919. After the war the Polish community began holding masses in Polish at the Church of Saint Anne, and, as of 1921, at St. Martin's and a Polish School was founded by Helena Adamczewska. In 1920 a Polish consulate was opened on the Main Square. In August 1920, during the Polish Silesian Uprising in Upper Silesia, the Polish Consulate and School were destroyed, while the Polish Library was burned down by a mob. The number of Poles as a percentage of the total population fell to just 0.5% after the re-emergence of Poland as a state in 1918, when many moved to Poland. Antisemitic riots occurred in 1923.
The city boundaries were expanded between 1925 and 1930 to include an area of 175 km2 (68 sq mi) with a population of 600,000. In 1929, the Werkbund opened WuWa (German: Wohnungs- und Werkraumausstellung) in Breslau-Scheitnig, an international showcase of modern architecture by architects of the Silesian branch of the Werkbund. In June 1930, Breslau hosted the Deutsche Kampfspiele, a sporting event for German athletes after Germany was excluded from the Olympic Games after World War I. The number of Jews remaining in Breslau fell from 23,240 in 1925 to 10,659 in 1933. Up to the beginning of World War II, Breslau was the largest city in Germany east of Berlin.
Known as a stronghold of left wing liberalism during the German Empire, Breslau eventually became one of the strongest support bases of the Nazi Party, which in the 1932 elections received 44% of the city's vote, their third-highest total in all Germany.
After Hitler's appointment as German Chancellor in 1933, political enemies of the Nazis were persecuted, and their institutions closed or destroyed. KZ Dürrgoy, one of the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany, was set up in the city in 1933. The Gestapo began actions against Polish and Jewish students (see: Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau), Communists, Social Democrats, and trade unionists. Arrests were made for speaking Polish in public, and in 1938 the Nazi-controlled police destroyed the Polish cultural centre.
In June 1939, Polish students were expelled from the university. Also many other people seen as "undesirable" by Nazi Germany were sent to concentration camps. A network of concentration camps and forced labour camps was established around Breslau to serve industrial concerns, including FAMO, Junkers, and Krupp. Tens of thousands of forced labourers were imprisoned there.
The last big event organised by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise, called Deutsches Turn-und-Sportfest (Gym and Sports Festivities), took place in Breslau from 26 to 31 July 1938. The Sportsfest was held to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the German Wars of Liberation against Napoleon's invasion.
=== Second World War ===
During the invasion of Poland, which started World War II, in September 1939, the Germans carried out mass arrests of local Polish activists and banned Polish organisations, and the city was made the headquarters of the southern district of the Selbstschutz, whose task was to persecute Poles. For most of the war, the fighting did not affect the city. During the war, the Germans opened the graves of medieval Polish monarchs and local dukes to carry out anthropological research for propaganda purposes, wanting to demonstrate German "racial purity". The remains were transported to other places, and they have not been found to this day.
In 1941, the remnants of the pre-war Polish minority in the city, as well as Polish slave labourers, organised a resistance group called Olimp. The organisation gathered intelligence, carrying out sabotage and organising aid for Polish slave workers. In September 1941 the city's 10,000 Jews were expelled from their homes and soon deported to concentration camps. Few survived the Holocaust. As the war continued, refugees from bombed-out German cities, and later refugees from farther east, swelled the population to nearly one million, including 51,000 forced labourers in 1944, and 9,876 Allied PoWs. At the end of 1944 an additional 30,000–60,000 Poles were moved into the city after the Germans crushed the Warsaw Uprising.
During the war the German administration operated four subcamps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in the city. Approximately 3,400–3,800 men were imprisoned in three subcamps, among them Poles, Russians, Italians, Frenchmen, Ukrainians, Czechs, Belgians, Yugoslavs, Dutchmen, Chinese, and about 1,500 Jewish women were imprisoned in the fourth camp. Many prisoners died, and the remaining were evacuated to the main camp of Gross-Rosen in January 1945. There were also three subcamps of the Stalag VIII-B/344 prisoner-of-war camp, three subcamps of the Stalag VIII-C POW camp, and two Nazi prisons in the city, including a youth prison, with multiple forced labour subcamps.
In 1945, the city became part of the front lines and was the site of the brutal Siege of Breslau. Adolf Hitler had in 1944 declared Breslau to be a fortress (Festung), to be held at all costs. An attempted evacuation of the city took place in January 1945, with 18,000 people freezing to death in icy snowstorms of −20 °C (−4 °F) weather. In February 1945, the Soviet Army approached the city and the German Luftwaffe began an airlift to the besieged garrison. A large area of the city centre was demolished and turned into an airfield by the defenders. By the end of the three-month siege in May 1945, half the city had been destroyed. Breslau was the last major city in Germany to surrender, capitulating only two days before the end of the war in Europe. Civilian deaths amounted to as many as 80,000. In August the Soviets placed the city under the control of German communists.
Following the Yalta Conference held in February 1945, where the new geopolitics of Central Europe were decided, the terms of the Potsdam Conference decreed that along with almost all of Lower Silesia, the city would become again part of Poland in exchange for Poland's loss of the city of Lwów along with the massive territory of Kresy in the east, which was annexed by the Soviet Union. The Polish name of Wrocław was declared official. There had been discussion among the Western Allies to place the southern Polish-German boundary on the Eastern Neisse, which meant post-war Germany would have been allowed to retain approximately half of Silesia, including those parts of Breslau that lay on the west bank of the Oder. However, the Soviet government insisted the border be drawn at the Lusatian Neisse farther west.
=== 1945–present ===
The city's German inhabitants who were not forced to flee, or could not return to their home city after the war had ended, were expelled between 1945 and 1949 and were settled in the Soviet occupation zone or in the Allied Occupation Zones in the remainder of Germany. The city's last pre-war German school was closed in 1963.
The Polish population was dramatically increased by the resettlement of Poles, partly due to postwar population transfers during the forced deportations from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union in the east region, some of whom came from Lviv (Lwów), Volhynia, and the Vilnius Region. However, despite the prime role given to re-settlers from the Kresy, in 1949, only 20% of the new Polish population actually were refugees themselves. A small German minority (about 1,000 people, or 0.2% of the population) remains in the city, so that today the proportion of the Polish population compared to that of the Germans is the reverse of what it was a hundred years ago. Traces of the German past, such as inscriptions and signs, were removed. In 1948, Wrocław organised the Recovered Territories Exhibition and the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace. Picasso's lithograph, La Colombe (The Dove), a traditional, realistic picture of a pigeon, without an olive branch, was created on a napkin at the Monopol Hotel in Wrocław during the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace.
In 1963, Wrocław was declared a closed city because of a smallpox epidemic.
In 1982, during martial law in Poland, the anti-communist underground organisations Fighting Solidarity and Orange Alternative were founded in Wrocław. Wrocław's dwarves, made of bronze, famously grew out of and commemorate Orange Alternative.
In 1983 and 1997, Pope John Paul II visited the city.
PTV Echo, the first non-state television station in Poland and in the post-communist countries, began to broadcast in Wrocław on 6 February 1990.
In May 1997, Wrocław hosted the 46th International Eucharistic Congress.
In July 1997, the city was heavily affected by the Millennium Flood, the worst flooding in post-war Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. About one-third of the area of the city was flooded. The smaller Widawa River also flooded the city simultaneously, worsening the damage. An earlier, equally devastating flood of the Oder river had taken place in 1903.
A small part of the city was also flooded during the flood of 2010. From 2012 to 2015, the Wrocław water node was renovated and redeveloped to prevent further flooding.
Municipal Stadium in Wrocław, opened in 2011, hosted three matches in Group A of the UEFA Euro 2012 championship.
In 2016, Wrocław was declared the European Capital of Culture.
In 2017, Wrocław hosted the 2017 World Games.
Wrocław won the European Best Destination title in 2018.
Wrocław is now a unique European city of mixed heritage, with architecture influenced by Polish, Bohemian, Austrian, and Prussian traditions, such as Silesian Gothic and its Baroque style of court builders of Habsburg Austria (Fischer von Erlach). Wrocław has a number of notable buildings by German modernist architects including the famous Centennial Hall (1911–1913) designed by Max Berg.
== Geography ==
Wrocław is located in the three mesoregions of the Silesian Lowlands (Wrocław Plain, Wrocław Valley, Oleśnica Plain) at an elevation of around 105–156 metres (Gajowe Hill and Maślickie Hill) above sea level. The city lies on the Oder River and its four tributaries, which supply it within the city limits – Bystrzyca, Oława, Ślęza and Widawa. The Dobra River and many streams flow through the city. The city has a sewage treatment plant on the Janówek estate.
=== Flora and fauna ===
There are 44 city parks and public green spaces covering around 800 hectares. The most notable are Szczytnicki Park, Park Południowy (South Park) and Anders Park. In addition, Wrocław University runs an historical botanical garden, founded in 1811, with a salient Alpine garden, a lake and a valley.
In Wrocław, the presence of over 200 species of birds has been registered, of which over 100 have nesting places there. As in other large Polish cities, the most numerous are pigeons. Other common species are the sparrow, tree sparrow, siskin, rook, hooded crow, jackdaw, magpie, swift, martin, swallow, kestrel, mute swan, mallard, coot, goosander, black-headed gull, great tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit, greenfinch, hawfinch, collared dove, wood pigeon, fieldfare, redwing, common starling, grey heron, white stork, common chaffinch, blackbird, jay, nuthatch, bullfinch, cuckoo, waxwing, lesser spotted woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, white wagtail, blackcap, black redstart, spotted flycatcher, collared flycatcher, goldfinch, marsh harrier, little bittern, common moorhen, reed bunting, penduline tit, great reed warbler, little crake, little ringed plover and white-tailed eagle.
The city is periodically plagued by the brown rat, especially in the Market Square and in the vicinity of eateries. Otherwise, due to the proximity of wooded areas, there are hedgehogs, foxes, wild boar, bats, martens, squirrels, roe deer, hares, beavers, polecats, otters, badgers, weasels, stoats and raccoon dogs. There are also occasional sightings of escaped muskrat, american mink and raccoon.
=== Climate ===
Within the Köppen climate classification, Wrocław has an oceanic climate (Cfb), bordering on a humid continental climate (Dfb) using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm. The position of Wrocław in the Silesian Lowlands, which are located just north of the Sudetes and to the southwest of the Trzebnickie Hills, creates a favourable environment for accumulation of heat in the Oder river valley between Wrocław and Opole. Wrocław is therefore the warmest city in Poland, among those tracked by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW), with a mean annual temperature of 9.7 °C (49 °F).
The city experiences relatively mild and dry winters, but with the skies frequently overcast. Summers are warm and generally sunny, however, that is the period when most precipitation occurs, which often falls during thunderstorms. The city sometimes experiences foehn-like conditions, particularly when the wind blows from the south or the south-west. The temperatures in the city centre often tend to be higher than on the outskirts due to the urban heat island effect.
Snow may fall in any month from October to May but normally does so in winter. The snow cover of at least 1 cm (0.39 in) stays on the ground for an average of 27.5 days per year – one of the lowest in Poland. The highest temperature in Wrocław recognised by IMGW was noted on 8 August 2015 (37.9 °C (100 °F)), though thermometers at the meteorological station managed by the University of Wrocław indicated 38.9 °C (102 °F) on that day. The lowest temperature was recorded on 11 February 1956 (−32 °C (−26 °F)).
== Government and politics ==
Wrocław is the capital city of Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a province (voivodeship) created in 1999. It was previously the capital of Wrocław Voivodeship. The city is a separate urban gmina and city-county. It is also the seat of Wrocław County, which adjoins but does not include the city.
=== Districts ===
Wrocław was previously subdivided into five boroughs (Polish: dzielnice): Old Town, Downtown, Krzyki, Fabryczna, and Psie Pole. Although they were abolished in 1991 and have not existed as public administration units since then, areas of borders and names similar/identical to the former districts exist in the practice of operation of various types of authorities and administrations (e.g., as divisions of territorial competencies of courts, prosecutors' offices, tax offices, etc.).
The present Wrocław districts (Polish: osiedla) were created in 1991, and are a type of local government district.
=== Municipal government ===
Wrocław is governed by the city's mayor and a municipal legislature known as the city council. The city council is made up of 39 councilors and is directly elected by the city's inhabitants. The remit of the council and president extends to all areas of municipal policy and development planning, up to and including development of local infrastructure, transport and planning permission. It is not able to draw taxation directly from its citizens, and instead receives its budget from the Polish national government, whose seat is in Warsaw.
The city's current mayor is Jacek Sutryk, who has served in this position since 2018. The first mayor of Wrocław after the war was Bolesław Drobner, appointed to the position on 14 March 1945, even before the surrender of Festung Breslau.
== Economy ==
Wrocław is the second-wealthiest of the large cities in Poland after Warsaw. The city is home to the largest number of leasing and debt collection companies in the country, including the largest European Leasing Fund as well as numerous banks. Due to the proximity of the borders with Germany and the Czech Republic, Wrocław and the region of Lower Silesia is a large import and export partner with these countries.
Wrocław is one of the most innovative cities in Poland with the largest number of R&D centres, due to the cooperation between the municipality, business sector and numerous universities. There are many organisations dealing with innovation–research institutions and technology transfer offices, incubators, technology and business parks, business support organisations, companies, start-ups and co-working spaces. The complex and varied infrastructure available in Wrocław facilitates the creation of innovative products and services and enables conducting research projects.
Wrocław's industry manufactures buses, railroad cars, home appliances, chemicals, and electronics. The city houses factories and development centres of many foreign and domestic corporations, such as WAGO Kontakttechnik, Siemens, Bosch, Whirlpool Corporation, Nokia Networks, Volvo, HP, IBM, Google, Opera Software, Bombardier Transportation, WABCO and others. Wrocław is the location of offices for large Polish companies including Getin Holding, AmRest, Polmos, and MCI Management SA. Kaufland Poland has its main headquarters in the city.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the city has had a developing high-tech sector.
Many high-tech companies are located in the Wrocław Technology Park, such as Baluff, CIT Engineering, Caisson Elektronik, ContiTech, Ericsson, Innovative Software Technologies, IBM, IT-MED, IT Sector, LiveChat Software, Mitsubishi Electric, Maas, PGS Software, Technology Transfer Agency Techtra and Vratis. In Biskupice Podgórne (Community Kobierzyce) there are factories of LG (LG Display, LG Electronics, LG Chem, LG Innotek), Dong Seo Display, Dong Yang Electronics, Toshiba, and many other companies, mainly from the electronics and home appliances sectors, while the Nowa Wieś Wrocławska factory and distribution centre of Nestlé Purina and factories a few other enterprises.
The city is the seat of Wrocław Research Centre EIT+, which contains, inter alia, geological research laboratories to the unconventional and Lower Silesian Cluster of Nanotechnology. The logistics centres DHL, FedEx and UPS are based in Wrocław. It is a major centre for the pharmaceutical industry (U.S. Pharmacia, Hasco-Lek, Galena, Avec Pharma, 3M, Labor, S-Lab, Herbapol, and Cezal).
Wrocław is home to Poland's largest shopping mall – Bielany Avenue (pl. Aleja Bielany) and Bielany Trade Centre, located in Bielany Wrocławskie where stores such as Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Makro, IKEA, Jula, OBI, Castorama, Black Red White, Poco, E. Wedel, Cargill, Prologis and Panattoni can be found.
Ten Square Games was founded in 2011 by Maciej Popowicz and Arkadiusz Pernal. The company's name comes from the ten-square-meter office space where it began in Wrocław. It is still headquartered in the city until this day, while its stock is listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange.
In February 2013, Qatar Airways launched its Wrocław European Customer Service.
=== Major corporations ===
=== Shopping centres ===
Magnolia Park - The fourth largest shopping centre in Poland and the largest one in Wrocław. It offers a wide selection of shops, including Zara, Sephora, Cropp, Castorama, and Primark
Wroclavia - One of the largest malls in Poland and the 2nd largest in Wrocław, after Magnolia Park. It is a major shopping centre, located next to the Wrocław Main railway station, featuring more than 150 shopping outlets, restaurants, cafes and Cinema City. The building also houses Wrocław Central coach station, which is located beneath the shopping centre
Galeria Dominikańska
Pasaż Grunwaldzki
Centrum Handlowe Korona - Large shopping complex located in north Wrocław. It features retail shops for fashion and home goods, as well as a food court & cinema
Marino
Centrum Handlowe Borek
Galeria Handlowa Sky Tower
Wrocław Fashion Outlet
Factoria Park
Renoma, a luxury department and a building of significant architectural value, representing the modernist style.
Wrocław Market Hall
Feniks
== Transport ==
Wrocław is a major transport hub, situated at the crossroad of many routes linking Western and Central Europe with the rest of Poland. The city is skirted on the south by the A4 highway, which is part of the European route E40, extending from the Polish-German to the Polish-Ukrainian border across southern Poland. The 672-kilometre highway beginning at Jędrzychowice connects Lower Silesia with Opole and the industrial Upper Silesian metropolis, Kraków, Tarnów and Rzeszów. It also provides easy access to German cities such as Dresden, Leipzig, Magdeburg and with the A18 highway Berlin, Hamburg.
The toll-free A8 bypass (Wrocław ring road) around the west and north of the city connects the A4 highway with three major routes – S5 expressway leading to Poznań, Bydgoszcz; the S8 express road towards Oleśnica, Łódź, Warsaw, Białystok; and the National Road 8 to Prague, Brno and other townships in the Czech Republic.
Traffic congestion is a significant issue in Wrocław as in most Polish cities. In 2020 it was ranked as the fifth-most congested city in Poland, and 41st in the world. On average, a car driver in Wrocław annually spends seven days and two hours in a traffic jam. Roadblocks, gridlocks and narrow cobblestone streets around the Old Town are considered obstacles by drivers. The lack of parking space is also a major setback; private lots or on-street pay bays are the most common means of parking. A 2019 study revealed that there are approximately 130 vehicles per each parking spot, and the search for an unoccupied bay takes on average eight minutes.
=== Aviation ===
The city is served by Wrocław Airport (IATA: WRO ICAO: EPWR) situated around 10 kilometres southwest from the city centre. The airport handles passenger flights with LOT Polish Airlines, Buzz, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Eurowings, Air France, KLM, Scandinavian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and air cargo connections. In 2019, over a 3.5 million passengers passed through the airport, placing it fifth on the list of busiest airports in Poland.
Among the permanent and traditional destinations are Warsaw, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Zürich and Budapest. Low-cost flights are common among British, Italian, Spanish and Ukrainian travellers, based on the number of destinations. Seasonal charter flights are primarily targeted at Polish holidaymakers travelling to Southern Europe and North Africa.
=== Rail and bus ===
The main rail station is Wrocław Główny, which is the largest railway station in Poland by the number of passengers served (21.2 million passengers a year), and perhaps the most important railroad junction alongside Warsaw Central station. The station is supported by PKP Intercity, Polregio, Koleje Dolnośląskie and Leo Express. There are direct connections to Szczecin, Poznań, and to Warsaw Central through Łódź Fabryczna station. There is also a regular connection to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Wien Hauptbahnhof (Vienna), as well as indirect to Praha hlavní nádraží (Prague) and Budapest-Nyugati with one transfer depending on the carrier.
Adjacent to the railway station, is a central bus station located in the basement of the shopping mall Wroclavia, with services offered by PKS, Neobus, Flixbus, Sindbad, and others.
=== Public transport ===
The public transport in Wrocław comprises 99 bus lines and a well-developed network of 25 tram lines, with a length of over 200 kilometres, operated by the Municipal Transport Company MPK (Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne). Rides are paid for, tickets can be purchased in vending machines, which are located at bus stops, as well as in the vending machines located in the vehicle. Payment is via contactless payment card, and the ticket is saved on the card. The tickets are available for purchase in the electronic form via mobile app: mPay, Apple Pay, SkyCash, Mobill, Google Pay. Tickets are one-ride or temporary (0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 24, 48, 72, or 168 hours).
All buses and a significant portion of the trams have low-floors.
Over a dozen traditional taxicab firms operate in the city as well as online ridesharing services Uber, iTaxi, Bolt and Free Now.
=== Other ===
There are 1,200 km (746 mi) of cycling paths, including about 100 km (62 mi) paths on flood embankments. Wrocław has a bike rental network called the City Bike (Wrocławski Rower Miejski). It has 2,000 bicycles and 200 self-service stations. In addition to regular bicycles, tandem, cargo, electric, folding, tricycles, children's, and handbikes are available, operating every year from 1 March to 30 November. During winter (December – February) 200 bikes are available in the system.
Wrocław possesses a scooter-sharing system of Lime, Bird, Bolt and Hive Free Now – motorised scooter rental is available using a mobile application.
Electronic car rental systems include Traficar, Panek CarSharing (hybrid cars), GoScooter and hop.city electric scooters using the mobile application.
A gondola lift over the Oder called Polinka began operation in 2013. Wrocław also has a river port on the Oder and several marinas.
== Demographics ==
In December 2020, the estimated population of Wrocław was 641,928, of which 342,215 were women and 299,713 were men. Since 2011, the population has been steadily rising, with a 0.142% increase between 2019 and 2020, and a 2.167% increase in the years 2011–2020. In 2018, the crude birth rate stood at 11.8 and the mortality rate at 11.1 per 1,000 residents. The median age in 2018 was 43 years. The city's population is aging significantly; between 2013 and 2018, the number of seniors, per Statistics Poland – men aged 65 or above and women aged 60 or above, surged from 21.5% to 24.2%.
Historically, the city's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1900, approximately 422,709 people were registered as residents. In 1910 the population was 512,105 of whom according to the official census 3.62% (18,538) spoke Polish, however some Polish scholars estimated that there could be even up to 50,000 (10%) people of Polish extraction in Breslau. In 1933, the population was 625,000. Between 1933 and 1939 the population declined to 620,976 on 17 May 1939. The strongest growth was recorded from 1900 to 1910, with almost 100,000 new residents within the city limits. Although the city was overwhelmingly German-speaking, the ethnic composition based on heritage or place of birth was mixed.
Around 43% of all inhabitants in 1910 were born outside Silesia and migrated into the city, mostly from the contemporary regions of Greater Poland (then the Prussian Partition of Poland) or Pomerania. Poles and Jews were among the most prominent active minorities. Simultaneously, the city's territorial expansion and incorporation of surrounding townships further strengthened population growth.
Following the end of the Second World War and post-1945 expulsions of the remaining pre-war population, Wrocław became again predominantly Polish-speaking. New incomers were primarily resettled from areas in the east which Poland lost (Vilnius and Lviv), or from other provinces, notably the regions of Greater Poland, Lublin, Białystok and Rzeszów. At the end of 1947, the city's population was estimated at 224,800 individuals. In the following years, Wrocław had the largest rate of natural increase among the five largest Polish cities. German nationals who stayed were either resettled in the late 1940s and 1950s, or assimilated, though a cultural society now exists to promote German culture in the still-existing German minority. In the 1950s, Greeks, refugees of the Greek Civil War, also settled in the city.
Wrocław currently has one of the highest concentration of foreigners in Poland alongside Warsaw and Poznań. A significant majority are migrant workers from Ukraine; other significant minorities include people from Italy, Spain, South Korea, India, Russia and Turkey. No exact statistic exists on the number of temporary residents from abroad. The city is home to a large population of foreign students.
=== Religion ===
Wrocław's population is predominantly Roman Catholic, like the rest of Poland. The diocese was founded in the city as early as 1000. It was one of the first dioceses in the country at that time. Now the city is the seat of a Catholic Archdiocese.
Prior to World War II, Breslau was mostly inhabited by Protestants, followed by a large Roman Catholic and a significant Jewish minority. In 1939, of 620,976 inhabitants, 368,464 were Protestants (United Protestants; mostly Lutherans and minority Reformed; in the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union), 193,805 Catholics, 2,135 other Christians and 10,659 Jews. Wrocław had the third largest Jewish population of all cities in Germany before the war. Its White Stork Synagogue was completed in 1840, and rededicated in 2010. In 2014, it celebrated its first ordination of four rabbis and three cantors since the Holocaust. The Polish authorities together with the German Foreign Minister attended the official ceremony.
Post-war resettlements from Poland's ethnically and religiously more diverse former eastern territories, known in Polish as Kresy, and the eastern parts of post-1945 Poland (see Operation Vistula) account for a comparatively large portion of Greek Catholics and Orthodox Christians of mostly Ukrainian and Lemko descent. Wrocław is also unique for its "Dzielnica Czterech Świątyń" (Borough of Four Temples) — a part of Stare Miasto (Old Town) where a synagogue, a Lutheran church, a Roman Catholic church and an Eastern Orthodox church stand near each other.
Other Christian denominations present in Wrocław include Seventh Day Adventists, Baptists, Free Christians, Reformed (Calvinist), Methodists, Pentecostals, Jehovah's Witnesses and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Non-Christian congregations include Buddhists. There are also minor associations practicing and promoting Rodnovery neopaganism.
In 2007, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wrocław established the Pastoral Centre for English Speakers, which offers Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, as well as other sacraments, fellowship, retreats, catechesis and pastoral care for all English-speaking Catholics and non-Catholics interested in the Catholic Church. The Pastoral Centre is under the care of Order of Friars Minor, Conventual (Franciscans) of the Kraków Province in the parish of St Charles Borromeo (Św Karol Boromeusz).
== Education ==
Wrocław is the third largest educational centre of Poland, with 135,000 students in 30 colleges which employ some 7,400 staff.
The city is home to ten public colleges and universities. The University of Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski) has over 47,000 students, and was ranked fourth among public universities in Poland by the Wprost weekly ranking in 2007. The Wrocław University of Technology (Politechnika Wrocławska) has over 20,000 students, and was considered the best university of technology in Poland by the Wprost in 2007.
The Wrocław University of Economics (Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny we Wrocławiu) has over 18,000 students, and is ranked fifth best among public economic universities in Poland by the Wprost weekly ranking in 2007. The Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu) has over 13,000 students, and ranked the third best among public agricultural universities in Poland by the Wprost weekly ranking in 2007.
Institutions include the Wrocław Medical University (Uniwersytet Medyczny we Wrocławiu), the University School of Physical Education in Wrocław, the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław (Akademia Sztuk Pięknych we Wrocławiu), the Karol Lipiński University of Music (Akademia Muzyczna im. Karola Lipińskiego we Wrocławiu), the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts, Wrocław Campus (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Teatralna w Krakowie filia we Wrocławiu), and the Tadeusz Kościuszko Land Forces Military Academy (Wyższa Szkoła Oficerska Wojsk Lądowych).
Private universities include the Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa (University of Business in Wrocław), the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS Uniwersytet Humanistycznospołeczny), the University of Law (Wyższa Szkoła Prawa), and Coventry University Wrocław (a campus branch of the Coventry University, UK).
Other cultural institutions based in Wrocław arę the Alliance Française in Wrocław, the Austrian Institute in Wrocław, the British Council in Wrocław, the Dante Alighieri Society in Wrocław, and the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław.
== Culture and landmarks ==
=== Old Town ===
The Old Town of Wrocław is listed in the Registry of Objects of Cultural Heritage and is on Poland's prestigious list of National Monuments. Several architectural landmarks and edifices are one of the best examples of Brick Gothic and Baroque architecture in the country. Fine examples of Neoclassicism, Gründerzeit and Historicism are scattered across the city's central precinct. The Wrocław Opera House, Monopol Hotel, University Library, Ossolineum, the National Museum and the castle-like District Court are among some of the grandest and most recognisable historic structures. There are several examples of Art Nouveau and Modernism in pre-war retail establishments such as the Barasch-Feniks, Petersdorff-Kameleon and Renoma department stores.
The Ostrów Tumski (Cathedral Island) is the oldest section of the city. It was once an isolated islet between the branches of the Oder River. The Wrocław Cathedral, one of the tallest churches in Poland, was erected in the mid 10th century and expanded over later centuries. The island is home to five other Christian temples and churches, the Archbishop's Palace, the Archdiocese Museum, a 9.5-metre 18th-century monument dedicated to Saint John of Nepomuk, historic tenements and the steel Tumski Bridge from 1889. A notable attraction are 102 original gas lanterns which are manually lit each evening by a cloaked lamplighter.
The early 13th-century Main Market Square (Rynek) is the oldest medieval public square in Poland, and one of the largest. The area of the main square together with the auxiliary square is 48,500 m2. It features the ornate Gothic Old Town Hall, the oldest of its kind in the country. In the north-west corner of the square is St. Elisabeth's Church (Bazylika Św. Elżbiety) with its 91.5-metre-high tower and an observation deck at an altitude of 75 metres. Beneath the basilica are two small medieval houses connected by an arched gate that once led into a churchyard; these were reshaped into their current form in the 1700s. Today, the two connected buildings are known to the city's residents as "Jaś i Małgosia", named after the children's fairy tale characters from Hansel and Gretel.
North of the church are so-called "shambles" (Polish: jatki), a former meat market with a Monument of Remembrance for Slaughtered Animals. The Salt Square, now a flower market, which opened in 1242, is located at the south-western corner of the Market Square. Close to the square, between Szewska and Łaciarska streets, is the domeless 13th-century St. Mary Magdalene Church, which in 1523 during the Reformation was converted into Wrocław's first Protestant temple.
The Cathedral of St. Vincent and St. James and the Holy Cross and St. Bartholomew's Collegiate Church are burial sites of Polish monarchs, Henry II the Pious and Henry IV Probus, respectively.
The Pan Tadeusz Museum, open since May 2016, is located in the "House under the Golden Sun" at 6 Market Square. The manuscript of the national epos, Pan Tadeusz, is housed there as part of the Ossolineum National Institute, with multimedia and interactive educational opportunities.
=== Tourism and places of interest ===
The Tourist Information Centre (Polish: Centrum Informacji Turystycznej) is situated on the Main Market Square (Rynek) in building no 14. Wrocław has been visited by over 6 million tourists in 2024. Free wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) is available at a number of places around town.
Wrocław is a major attraction for both domestic and international tourists. Noteworthy landmarks include the Multimedia Fountain, Szczytnicki Park with its Japanese Garden, miniature park and dinosaur park, the Botanical Garden, Poland's largest railway model Kolejkowo, Hydropolis Centre for Ecological Education, University of Wrocław with Mathematical Tower, Church of the Name of Jesus, Wrocław water tower, the Royal Palace, ropes course on the Opatowicka Island, White Stork Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetery and the Cemetery of Italian Soldiers.
An interesting way to explore the city is seeking out Wrocław's dwarfs – over 800 small bronze figurines can be found across the city, on pavements, walls and lampposts. They first appeared in 2005.
The Racławice Panorama is a monumental cycloramic painting, done by Jan Styka and Wojciech Kossak, depicting the Battle of Racławice during the Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. The 15×114 meter panorama was originally located in Lwów and following the end of World War II it was brought to Wrocław.
Wrocław Zoo is home to the Africarium – the only space devoted solely to exhibiting the fauna of Africa with an oceanarium. It is the oldest zoological garden in Poland, established in 1865. It is the third-largest zoo in the world in terms of the number of animal species on display.
Small passenger vessels on the Oder offer river tours, as do historic trams or the converted open-topped historic buses Jelcz 043. In 2021, the Odra Centrum has opened, an educational centre on the river which is offering workshops, a library and kayak rentals.
The Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia), designed by Max Berg in 1911–1913, is a World Heritage Site listed by UNESCO in 2006.
==== Museums ====
The National Museum at Powstańców Warszawy Square, one of Poland's main branches of the National Museum system, holds one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the country.
Ossolineum is a National Institute and Library incorporating the Lubomirski Museum (pl), partially salvaged from the formerly Polish city of Lwów (now Lviv in Ukraine), containing items of international and national significance. It has a history of major World War II theft of collections after the invasion and takeover of Lwów by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Major museums include the City Museum of Wrocław (pl), Museum of Bourgeois Art in the Old Town Hall, Museum of Architecture, Archaeological Museum (pl), Museum of Natural History at University of Wrocław, Wrocław Contemporary Museum, Archdiocese Museum (pl), Galeria Awangarda, the Arsenal, Museum of Pharmacy (pl), Post and Telecommunications Museum (pl), Geological Museum (pl), the Mineralogical Museum (pl), Ethnographic Museum (pl). Recent openings of museums were the Historical Centrum Zajezdnia (opened in 2016), the OP ENHEIM Gallery (opened in 2018), and the Museum of Illusions (opened in 2021).
==== Entertainment ====
The city is well known for its large number of nightclubs and pubs. Many are in or near the Market Square, and in the Niepolda passage, the railway wharf on the Bogusławskiego street. The basement of the old City Hall houses one of the oldest restaurants in Europe—Piwnica Świdnicka, operating since 1273, while the basement of the new City Hall contains the brewpub Spiż. Next to the market there is also brewpubs Browar Staromiejski Złoty Pies, while in other parts of the city two others brewpubs - Browar Stu Mostów and Browar Rodzinny Prost.
Mostly on the second weekend of June, the Festival of Good Beer takes place. It is the biggest beer festival in Poland.
In November and December the Christmas market is held at the Main Market Square.
=== In literature ===
The history of Wrocław is described in minute detail in the monograph Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City by Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse. A number of books have been written about Wrocław following World War II.
Wrocław philologist and writer Marek Krajewski wrote a series of crime novels about detective Eberhard Mock, a fictional character from the city of Breslau. Michał Kaczmarek published Wrocław according to Eberhard Mock – Guide based on the books by Marek Krajewski. In 2011, appeared the 1,104-page Lexicon of the architecture of Wrocław and in 2013 a 960-page Lexicon about the greenery of Wrocław. In 2019, Wrocław was recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature. Wrocław was designated as the World Book Capital for 2016 by UNESCO.
=== Films, music and theatre ===
Wrocław is home to the Wroclaw Feature Film Studio (Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych), the Film Stuntman School, ATM Grupa, Grupa 13, and Polot Media (formerly Tako Media).
Film directors Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Sylwester Chęciński, among others, made their film debuts in Wrocław. Numerous movies shot around the city include Plague, Ashes and Diamonds, The Saragossa Manuscript, Sami swoi, Lalka, A Lonely Woman, Character, Big Shu, Consul, Aimée & Jaguar, Avalon, A Woman in Berlin, Suicide Room, The Winner, 80 Million, Run Boy Run, Bridge of Spies, Hiszpanka, Breaking the Limits.
Numerous Polish TV-series were also shot in Wrocław, notably Świat według Kiepskich, Pierwsza miłość, Bodo, Belfer, The Mire, High Water, Breslau, Black Death, Killing Miss.
Also some episodes Four Tank-Men and a Dog and More Than Life At Stake were filmed in Wrocław.
There are several theatres and theatre groups, including Polish Theatre (Teatr Polski) with three stages, and Contemporary Theatre (Wrocławski Teatr Współczesny). The International Theatre Festival Dialog-Wrocław is held every two years.
Wrocław's opera traditions are dating back to the first half of the seventeenth century and sustained by the Wrocław Opera, built between 1839 and 1841. Wrocław Philharmonic, established in 1954 by Wojciech Dzieduszycki is also important for music lovers. The National Forum of Music was opened in 2015 and is a notable landmark, designed by the Polish architectural firm, Kurylowicz & Associates.
== Sport ==
The area of Wrocław is home to many professional sports teams. The most popular sport is football (Śląsk Wrocław club – Polish Champion in 1977 and 2012), followed by basketball (Śląsk Wrocław Basketball Club – award-winning men's basketball team and 17-time Polish Champion).
Matches of Group A UEFA Euro 2012's were held at Wrocław at the Municipal Stadium. Matches of EuroBasket 1963 and EuroBasket 2009, as well as 2009 Women's European Volleyball Championship, 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship and 2016 European Men's Handball Championship were also held in Wrocław. Wrocław was the host of the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships and will the host World Championship 2016 of Duplicate bridge and World Games 2017, a competition in 37 non-Olympic sport disciplines.
The Olympic Stadium in Wrocław hosts the Speedway Grand Prix of Poland. It is also the home arena of the popular motorcycle speedway club WTS Sparta Wrocław, five-time Polish Champion.
A marathon takes place in Wrocław every year in September. Wrocław also hosts the Wrocław Open, a professional tennis tournament that is part of the ATP Challenger Tour.
=== Men's sports ===
Śląsk Wrocław: men's football team, Polish Championship in Football 1977, 2012; Polish Cup winner 1976, 1987; Polish SuperCup winner 1987, 2012; Polish League Cup winner 2009. Now in Ekstraklasa (Polish Premier League).
WTS Sparta Wrocław: motorcycle speedway team, five-time Polish Champion.
Śląsk Wrocław: men's basketball team, 18 times Polish Champion, six times runner-up, 15 times third place; 12 times Polish Cup winner.
Śląsk Wrocław: men's handball team, 15-time Polish Champion.
Gwardia Wrocław: volleyball team, three-time Polish Champion.
KS Rugby Wrocław: rugby union team.
Panthers Wrocław: American football team. Panthers joined European League of Football (ELF) which is an eight-team professional league, the first league in Europe since the demise of NFL Europe. The Panthers will start playing games against teams from Germany and Spain in June 2021.
The 2025 UEFA Conference League Final between English side Chelsea and Spanish side Real Betis took place at Stadion Wrocław in Wrocław, Poland, on Wednesday 28 May 2025. Chelsea won the match 4–1.
=== Women's sports ===
Ślęza Wrocław: women's basketball team, two-times Polish Champion.
WKS Śląsk Wrocław (formerly KŚ AZS Wrocław): women's football team.
AZS AWF Wrocław: women's handball team.
AZS AE Wrocław: women's table tennis team.
== Notable people ==
== International relations ==
=== Diplomatic missions ===
There are 2 general consulates in Wrocław – Germany and Ukraine, a Vice-Consulate of Hungary, and 23 honorary consulates – Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom.
=== Twin towns – sister cities ===
Wrocław is twinned with:
== Works ==
Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City, a 2002 book |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Braves | Atlanta Braves | The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. The club was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings. The Braves are one of two remaining National League charter franchises that debuted in 1876 and are the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in North America. The franchise was known by various names until it adopted the Boston Braves name in 1912.
After 81 seasons and one World Series title in Boston, the club moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1953. With a roster of Hall-of-Fame players such as Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, and Warren Spahn, the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series in 1957. Despite the team's success, fan attendance declined. The club's owners moved the team to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1966.
The Braves did not find much success in Atlanta until 1991. From 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful teams in baseball, winning an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles, making an MLB record eight consecutive National League Championship Series appearances, and producing one of the greatest pitching rotations in the history of baseball including Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine.
The club has won an MLB record 23 divisional titles, 18 National League pennants, and four World Series championships. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities. At the end of the 2025 season, the Braves' overall win–loss record is 11,190–11,035–154 (.503). Since moving to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves have an overall win–loss record of 4,926–4,547–8 (.520) through the end of 2025.
== History ==
=== Boston (1871–1952) ===
==== 1871–1913 ====
The Cincinnati Red Stockings, formed in 1869, were the first openly all-professional baseball team but disbanded after the 1870 season. Manager Harry Wright and players moved to Boston, forming the Boston Red Stockings, a charter team in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP). Led by the Wright brothers, Ross Barnes, and Al Spalding, they dominated the National Association, winning four of five championships. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing franchise in American professional sports.
The club was known as the Boston Red Caps when they played the first National League game in 1876, winning against the Philadelphia Athletics. Despite a weaker roster in the league's first year, they rebounded to secure the 1877 and 1878 pennants. Managed by Frank Selee, they were a dominant force in the 19th century, winning eight pennants. By 1898, the team was known as the Beaneaters and they won 102 games that season, with stars like Hugh Duffy, Tommy McCarthy, and "Slidin'" Billy Hamilton.
In 1901, the American League was introduced, causing many Beaneaters players including stars Duffy and Jimmy Collins to leave for clubs of the rival league. The team struggled, having only one winning season from 1900 to 1913. In 1907, they temporarily dropped the red color from their stockings due to infection concerns.
The club underwent various nickname changes until becoming the Braves before the 1912 season. The president of the club, John M. Ward named the club after the owner, James Gaffney. Gaffney was called one of the "braves" of New York City's political machine, Tammany Hall, which used a Native American chief as their symbol.
==== 1914: Miracle ====
In 1914, the Boston Braves experienced a remarkable turnaround in what would become one of the most memorable seasons in baseball history. Starting with a dismal 4–18 record, the Braves found themselves in last place, trailing the league-leading New York Giants by 15 games after losing a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Robins on July 4. However, the team rebounded with an incredible hot streak, going 41–12 from July 6 to September 5. On August 3, Joseph Lannin the president of the Red Sox, offered Fenway Park to the Braves free of charge for the remainder of the season since their usual home, the South End Grounds, was too small. On September 7 and 8, they defeated the Giants in two out of three games, propelling them into first place. Despite being in last place as late as July 18, the Braves secured the pennant, becoming the only team under the old eight-team league format to achieve this after being in last place on the Fourth of July. They were in last place as late as July 18, but were close to the pack, moving into fourth on July 21 and second place on August 12.
The Braves entered the 1914 World Series led by captain and National League Most Valuable Player, Johnny Evers. The Boston club were slight underdogs against Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. However, they swept the Athletics and won the world championship. Inspired by their success, owner Gaffney constructed a modern park, Braves Field, which opened in August 1915 and was the largest park in the majors at the time, boasting 40,000 seats and convenient public transportation access.
==== 1915–1952 ====
From 1917 to 1933, the Boston Braves struggled. After a series of different owners, a syndicate led by Emil Fuchs and including pitching great and Fuchs' longtime friend Christy Mathewson bought the team in 1923. Mathewson's death in 1925 left Fuchs in control of the team. Despite Fuchs' commitment to success, the team faced challenges overcoming the damage from previous years. It was not until 1933 and 1934, under manager Bill McKechnie, that the Braves became competitive, but the team's improvement in performance did little to help its finances.
In an effort to boost fan attendance and finances, Fuchs orchestrated a deal with the New York Yankees to acquire Babe Ruth in 1935. Ruth was appointed team vice president with promises of profit shares and managerial prospects. Initially, Ruth seemed to provide a spark on opening day, but his declining skills became evident. Ruth's inability to run and poor fielding led to internal strife, and it became clear that his titles were symbolic. Ruth retired on June 1, 1935, shortly after hitting his last three home runs. The Braves finished the season with a dismal 38–115 record, marking the franchise's worst season.
Fuchs lost control of the team in August 1935, leading to a rebranding attempt as the Boston Bees, but it did little to alter the team's fortune. Construction magnate Lou Perini took over, eventually restoring the Braves' name. Despite World War II causing a brief setback, the team, led by pitcher Warren Spahn, enjoyed impressive seasons in 1946 and 1947 under Perini's ownership.
In 1948, the team won the pennant, behind the pitching of Spahn and Johnny Sain. The remainder of the rotation was so thin that in September, Boston Post writer Gerald Hern wrote the poem "Pray for Rain" about the pair:
The poem reached and found favor with an audience so wide that the poem's sentiment, now usually paraphrased as "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" or "Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain", entered the baseball vocabulary.
The 1948 World Series, which the Braves lost in six games to the Indians, turned out to be the Braves' last hurrah in Boston. On March 13, 1953, Perini announced he was moving the club to Milwaukee. Perini cited advent of television and the lack of enthusiasm for the Braves in Boston as the key factors in deciding to move the franchise.
=== Milwaukee (1953–1965) ===
The Milwaukee Braves' move to Wisconsin for the 1953 season was an immediate success, as they drew a National League-record 1.8 million fans and finished the season second in the league. Manager Charlie Grimm was named NL Manager of the Year.
Throughout the 1950s, the Braves were a National League power; driven by sluggers Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron, the team won two pennants and finished second twice between 1956 and 1959. In 1957, Aaron's MVP season led the Braves to their first pennant in nine years, then a World Series victory against the formidable New York Yankees. Despite a strong start in the World Series rematch the following season, the Braves ultimately lost the last three games and the World Series. The 1959 season ended in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who defeated the Braves in a playoff. The ensuing years saw fluctuating success, including the Braves finishing fifth in 1963, their first time in the "second division".
In 1962, team owner Louis Perini sold the Braves to a Chicago-based group led by William Bartholomay. Bartholomay intended to move the team to Atlanta in 1965, but legal hurdles kept them in Milwaukee for an extra season.
=== Atlanta (1966–present) ===
==== 1966–1974 ====
After arriving in Atlanta in 1966, the Braves found success in 1969, with the onset of divisional play by winning the first National League West Division title. In the National League Championship Series the Braves were swept by the "Miracle Mets". They would post only two winning seasons between 1970 and 1981. Fans in Atlanta had to be satisfied with the achievements of Hank Aaron, who by the end of the 1973 season, had hit 713 home runs, one short of Ruth's record. On April 4, opening day of the next season, he hit No. 714 in Cincinnati, and on April 8, in front of his home fans and a national television audience, he finally beat Ruth's mark with a home run to left-center field off left-hander Al Downing of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Aaron spent most of his career as a Milwaukee and Atlanta Brave before being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on November 2, 1974.
==== Ted Turner and Time Warner era ====
===== 1976–1977: Ted Turner buys the team =====
In 1976, the team was purchased by media magnate Ted Turner, owner of superstation WTBS, as a means to keep the team (and one of his main programming staples) in Atlanta. Turner used the Braves as a major programming draw for his fledgling cable network, making the Braves the first franchise to have a nationwide audience and fan base. WTBS marketed the team as "The Atlanta Braves: America's Team", a nickname that still sticks in some areas of the country, especially the South. The financially strapped Turner used money already paid to the team for their broadcast rights as a down-payment. Turner quickly gained a reputation as a quirky, hands-on baseball owner. On May 11, 1977, Turner appointed himself manager, but because MLB passed a rule in the 1950s barring managers from holding a financial stake in their teams, Turner was ordered to relinquish that position after one game (the Braves lost 2–1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates to bring their losing streak to 17 games).
===== 1978–1990 =====
The Braves didn't enjoy much success between 1978 and 1990, however, in the 1982 season, led by manager Joe Torre, the Braves secured their first divisional title since 1969. The team was led by standout performances from key players like Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Chris Chambliss, Phil Niekro, and Gene Garber. The Braves were swept in the NLCS in three games by the Cardinals. Murphy won the Most Valuable Player award for the National League in 1982 and 1983.
===== 1991–2005: 14 consecutive division titles =====
From 1991 to 2005, the Atlanta Braves enjoyed a remarkable era of success in baseball, marked by a record-setting 14 consecutive division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995. Bobby Cox returned as manager in 1990, leading the team's turnaround after finishing the previous season with the worst record in baseball. Notable developments included the drafting of Chipper Jones in 1990 and the hiring of general manager John Schuerholz from the Kansas City Royals.
The Braves' remarkable journey began in 1991, known as the "Worst to First" season. Overcoming a shaky start, the Braves bounced back led by young pitchers Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. The team secured the NL pennant in a memorable playoff race, ultimately losing a closely contested World Series to the Minnesota Twins. The following year, the Braves won the NLCS in dramatic fashion against the Pirates but fell short in the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
In 1993, the Braves strengthened their pitching staff with the addition of Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux in free agency. Despite posting a franchise-best 104 wins, they lost in the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies. The team moved to the Eastern Division in 1994, sparking a heated rivalry with the New York Mets.
The player's strike cut short the 1994 season just before the division championships, but the Braves rebounded in 1995, defeating the Cleveland Indians to win the World Series. With this World Series victory, the Braves became the first team in Major League Baseball to win world championships in three different cities. The Braves reached the World Series in 1996 and 1999 but were defeated both times by the New York Yankees.
In 1996, Time Warner acquired Ted Turner's Turner Broadcasting System, including the Braves. Despite their continued success with a ninth consecutive division title in 2000, the Braves faced postseason disappointment with a sweep by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. The team won division titles from 2002 to 2004 but experienced early exits in the NLDS each year.
==== Liberty Media era ====
===== Liberty Media buys the team =====
In December 2005, Time Warner put the club up for sale, leading to negotiations with Liberty Media. After over a year of talks, a deal was reached in February 2007 for Liberty Media to acquire the Braves for $450 million, a magazine publishing company, and $980 million in cash. The sale, valued at approximately $1.48 billion, was contingent on approval from 75 percent of MLB owners and Commissioner Bud Selig.
===== Bobby Cox and Chipper Jones retire =====
Bobby Cox's final year as manager in 2010 saw the Braves return to the postseason for the first time since 2005. The team secured the NL Wild Card but fell to the San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series in four closely contested games, marking the conclusion of Bobby Cox's managerial career. The following season the Braves suffered a historic September collapse to miss the postseason. The club bounced back in 2012 and returned to the postseason in Chipper Jones' final season. The Braves won 94 games in 2012, but that wasn't enough to win the NL East, so they faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the inaugural Wild Card Game. Chipper Jones last game was a memorable one: the Braves lost the one game playoff 6–3, but the game would be remembered for a controversial infield fly call that helped end a Braves rally in the 8th inning.
===== Truist Park and return to the World Series =====
In 2017, the Atlanta Braves began playing at Truist Park, replacing Turner Field as their home stadium. Following an MLB investigation into international signing rule violations, general manager John Coppolella resigned and faced a baseball ban. Alex Anthopoulos took over as the new general manager. The team's chairman, Terry McGuirk, apologized for the scandal and expressed confidence in Anthopoulos' integrity. A new on field mascot named Blooper was introduced at a fan event before the 2017 season. Under Anthopoulos, the Braves made the playoffs in six of his first seven seasons. In 2020 the Braves reached the National League Championship Series, but ultimately lost to the Dodgers after leading 3–1.
In the 2021 season, the Braves won the National League East with an 88–73 record. In the postseason, they quickly defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Division Series 3–1. The Braves again faced the Dodgers in the 2021 NLCS, and won in six games to take Atlanta's first National League pennant since 1999. The Braves advanced to the World Series. They defeated the Houston Astros in six games to win their fourth World Series title.
===== End of postseason run and Brian Snitker era =====
The Braves failed to qualify for the postseason in 2025, ending a streak of seven consecutive appearances. After 49 years with the organization, including ten seasons as manager, the team announced that Snitker would step down from his managerial role and transition into an advisory position with the club. In November 2025, the Braves announced that longtime bench coach Walt Weiss would be promoted to manager. Weiss, a former All-Star shortstop also spent part of his playing career in Atlanta.
=== Logos and uniforms ===
The Braves logos have evolved over the years, featuring a Native American warrior from 1945 to 1955, followed by a laughing Native American with a mohawk and a feather from 1956 to 1965. The modern logo, introduced in 1987, includes the cursive word "Braves" with a tomahawk below it.
Uniforms adopted that year evoked their 1950s classic look. For the 2023 season, the Braves had four uniform combinations, including the classic white home and gray road uniforms, a navy blue road jersey for alternate games, and two alternate uniforms for home games - a Friday night red uniform and a City Connect uniform worn on Saturdays, paying tribute to Hank Aaron. The City Connect uniform features "The A" across the chest, accompanied by a cap with the "A" logo and 1974 uniform colors.
== World Series championships ==
Over the 120 years since the inception of the World Series (119 total World Series played), the Braves franchise has won a total of four World Series Championships. The Braves are the only franchise to have won a World Series in three different cities.
== Ballparks ==
=== Former parks ===
The Boston Braves played at the South End Grounds from their inception. After a fire destroyed the park in 1894, the club temporarily played at the Congress Street Grounds until the South End Grounds could be rebuilt. During the 1914 season, it became evident that the South End Grounds was too small to accommodate larger crowds, prompting the team to play some games at Fenway Park. To address the need for a larger venue, Braves Field was built in 1915.
Braves Field remained the club's home in Boston until the team relocated to Milwaukee. Milwaukee County Stadium was constructed in 1950 to attract a Major League Baseball team and became the Braves' new home in 1953. The team played there until moving to Atlanta in 1966.
The city of Atlanta constructed Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in 1965 after reaching an agreement with the Braves to relocate from Milwaukee. The Braves played at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium until 1997, when they moved to Turner Field. Originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympics, the venue was later converted into a ballpark for the Braves. Turner Field served as the Braves' home ballpark through the 2016 season.
=== Current parks ===
==== Truist Park ====
The Atlanta Braves home ballpark has been Truist Park since 2017. Truist Park is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in the unincorporated community of Cumberland, in Cobb County, Georgia. The Braves opened Truist Park on April 14, 2017, with a four-game sweep of the San Diego Padres. The park received positive reviews. Woody Studenmund of the Hardball Times called the park a "gem" saying that he was impressed with "the compact beauty of the stadium and its exciting approach to combining baseball, business and social activities." J.J. Cooper of Baseball America praised the "excellent sight lines for pretty much every seat."
==== CoolToday Park ====
Since 2019, the Braves have played spring training games at CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida. The ballpark opened on March 24, 2019, with the Braves' 4–2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Braves left Champion Stadium, their previous Spring Training home, near Orlando, to reduce travel times and to get closer to other teams' facilities. CoolToday Park also serves as the Braves' year-round rehabilitation facility.
== Major rivalry ==
=== New York Mets ===
Although their first major confrontation occurred when the Mets swept the Braves in the 1969 NLCS, the rivalry did not become especially heated until the 1994 season when division realignment put both the Mets and the Braves in the National League East division.
The Braves faced the Mets in the 1999 National League Championship Series. The Braves initially took a 3–0 series lead, seemingly on the verge of a sweep, but the Mets rallied in Game 4 and Game 5. Despite the Mets' resilience, the Braves eventually won the series in Game 6 with Andruw Jones securing a dramatic walk-off walk, earning their 5th National League pennant of the decade. In 2022, the Braves and Mets both finished with 101 wins. The National League East title and a first-round bye came down to a crucial three-game series at Truist Park from September 30 to October 2. The Mets entered with a slight lead but faltered as the Braves swept the series. Atlanta claimed the NL East division title and first-round bye, by winning the season series against the Mets.
Since the Mets joined the league, both teams have won two World Series titles. The Braves have captured six NL pennants, while the Mets have won five. The Braves hold the advantage in the all-time head-to-head record between the two teams at 516–425. However, the Mets have the upper hand in playoff matchups with a 5–4 record.
== Nationwide fanbase ==
In addition to having strong fan support in the Metro Atlanta area and the state of Georgia, the Braves have been referred to as "America's Team" in reference to the team's games being broadcast nationally on TBS from the 1970s until 2007, giving the team a nationwide fan base.
The Braves boast heavy support within the Southeastern United States particularly in states such as Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida.
== Tomahawk chop ==
In 1991, fans of the Atlanta Braves popularized the "tomahawk chop" during games. The use of foam tomahawks faced criticism from Native American groups, who regarded it as demeaning. Despite protests, the Braves' public relations director defended it as a "proud expression of unification and family." The controversy resurfaced in 2019 when Cherokee Nation member and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley found the chop insulting, prompting the Braves to modify their in-game experience. During the off-season, discussions ensued with Native American representatives, and amid pressure in 2020 to change their name, the Braves announced ongoing talks about the chop but insisted the team name would remain unchanged.
The debate over the tomahawk chop continued into 2021. While some Native American leaders, like Richard Sneed, the Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, expressed personal indifference or tolerance, acknowledging it as an acknowledgment of Native American strength, others vehemently opposed it. Sneed emphasized larger issues facing Native American communities and questioned the focus on the chop. The Eastern Cherokee Band of Indians and the Braves initiated efforts to incorporate Cherokee language and culture into the team's activities, stadium, and merchandise, aiming for greater cultural sensitivity despite differing opinions within the Native American community.
== Achievements ==
=== Awards ===
Braves players have won seven Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards, with Dale Murphy notably earning the honor in back-to-back years, 1982 and 1983. Five Braves pitchers have received the Cy Young Award, given to the league's best pitcher, including Greg Maddux, who won it three consecutive times in 1993, 1994, and 1995.
Two Braves managers have been named Manager of the Year, with Bobby Cox winning the award three times, in 1991, 2004, and 2005. Additionally, eight Braves players have been honored with the Rookie of the Year awards.
=== Team records ===
=== Retired numbers ===
The Braves have retired eleven numbers in the history of the franchise. Most recently, Andruw Jones' number 25 was retired in 2023. Other retired numbers include Chipper Jones' number 10, John Smoltz's number 29, Bobby Cox's number 6, Tom Glavine's number 47, and Greg Maddux's number 31. Additionally, the Braves have retired Hank Aaron's number 44, Dale Murphy's number 3, Phil Niekro's number 35, Eddie Mathews' number 41, and Warren Spahn's number 21. Jackie Robinson's number 42 is also retired across all of Major League Baseball, with the exception of Jackie Robinson Day.
Six of the eleven numbers (Cox, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine) were on the Braves at the same time. Of the eleven Braves whose numbers have been retired, all who are eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame have been elected with the exception of Dale Murphy. The color and design of the retired numbers on commemorative markers and other in-stadium signage reflect the primary uniform design at the time the player was on the team.
=== Baseball Hall of Famers ===
=== Braves Hall of Fame ===
== Roster ==
== Minor league affiliates ==
The Atlanta Braves farm system consists of six minor league affiliates.
== Radio and television ==
As of the 2026 season, the Atlanta Braves' regional rights will be held in-house by the team under the banner BravesVision. Games will be distributed via partnerships with television providers in the team's market, as well as via a direct-to-consumer streaming service operated by MLB Local Media. Selected games are carried by a network of Gray Media television stations, led by WPCH-TV (the former WTBS), with Gray producing a package of spring training games, and carrying a package of regular season games in simulcast with BravesVision.
Brandon Gaudin serves as the play-by-play announcer and C.J. Nitkowski as lead analyst. Jeff Francoeur and Tom Glavine will also join the broadcast for a few games during the season. Peter Moylan, Nick Green, and John Smoltz also appear in the booth for select games as in-game analysts.
The radio broadcast team is led by the tandem of play-by-play announcer Ben Ingram and analyst Joe Simpson. Braves games are broadcast across Georgia and seven other states on at least 172 radio affiliates, including flagship station 680 The Fan in Atlanta and stations as far away as Richmond, Virginia; Louisville, Kentucky; and the US Virgin Islands. The games are carried on at least 82 radio stations in Georgia. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Earls#Journey | Flight of the Earls#Journey | The Flight of the Earls (Irish: Imeacht na nIarlaí) took place on 14 September [O.S. 4 September] 1607, when Irish earls Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, permanently departed Rathmullan in Ireland for Catholic Europe during a period of extreme political tension with the English Crown. The Flight's exact motivation is unclear and the subject of debate. They were accompanied by their extended families, retinue, followers and fellow nobility, numbering about 100 people. The earls were patriarchs of the two most powerful clans in Ulster—the O'Neill and O'Donnell clans—and their emigration is considered to symbolise the end of Gaelic Irish society. The earls' lands were later escheated and settled by British Protestants as part of the Plantation of Ulster.
Both earls fought against the Crown in the Nine Years' War (1593–1603), which ended with their surrender. The newly crowned James VI and I granted the earls generous peace terms which allowed them to retain most of their lands and titles. Many courtiers were unsatisfied with the king's leniency, and hostility towards the earls from British officials gradually increased over time. The implementation of English law in Ireland led to financial difficulties for both earls as well as a major land rights dispute between Tyrone and his vassal Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan, which was weaponised by officials such as Arthur Chichester, John Davies, and George Montgomery.
The earls may have been conspiring against the government, and their flight could have been an attempt to evade arrest or execution. The earls were bound for A Coruña, as Spain had allied with the earls' confederacy during the war. They could not reach Spain due to storms and disembarked in Quillebeuf-sur-Seine, France. Spanish king Philip III forbade the earls from entering Spain for fear of violating the 1604 Anglo-Spanish peace treaty. The refugees spent time in Leuven in the Spanish Netherlands, where the earls left their young children to be educated at the Irish College of St Anthony. The earls arrived in Rome on 29 April 1608 and were granted small pensions by Pope Paul V. Their accommodation in Rome was paltry compared to their estates in Ireland. Tyrconnell died of a fever three months later. Tyrone repeatedly demonstrated his intent to return to Ireland and retake his lands, but he became ill and died in 1616 before doing so.
Most of the passengers on the Flight never returned to Ireland. The Flight was declared as treasonous by King James, which led to the acquisition and plantation of the earls' lands. The Flight is considered a watershed moment in Irish history and has been depicted romantically by Irish nationalists.
== Background ==
=== Nine Years' War ===
From 1593, Ulster lords Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O'Donnell led a confederacy of Irish lords in resistance to the Tudor conquest of Gaelic Ireland. The Nine Years' War was a major political threat to the Tudor government's control of Ireland, and cost Queen Elizabeth I £2,000,000 to suppress—as much as was spent on all continental wars waged during her reign. Despite the confederacy's military assistance from Spain (which was then engaged in the Anglo-Spanish War against England), confederate forces were decimated at the Siege of Kinsale. Hugh Roe traveled to Spain to seek further support from King Philip III, leaving his younger brother Rory in control of his forces.The confederacy disintegrated as English forces travelled across Ulster destroying crops and livestock. The royal army's use of scorched earth tactics led to famine across 1602–1603, with conditions so extreme that the local population were reduced to cannibalism. The promised Spanish fleet was repeatedly delayed due to a lack of resources, despite Hugh Roe's petitioning. He died in Simancas of illness on 9 September 1602. Subsequently the Spanish government abandoned support for the confederacy and sought peace with England. Rory surrendered to Lord Deputy Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, at Athlone on 14 December [O.S. 4 December]. Tyrone went into hiding for several months, but eventually surrendered by signing the Treaty of Mellifont on 9 April [O.S. 30 March] 1603, which ended the Nine Years' War.
=== Implementation of English law in Ireland ===
In summer 1603, Tyrone and Rory travelled to London to submit to King James I, who had acceeded to the English throne mere days before Tyrone's surrender. Despite years of bloodshed fighting the royal army, the confederates received remarkably generous terms. Tyrone even went hunting with the new king. James pardoned Tyrone and Rory and restored them to most of their lands. Rory was made 1st Earl of Tyrconnell. Many English courtiers were upset and complained at the mild treatment of the earls, and became intent on dismantling the earls' remaining power.
Despite their peace terms, the confederates' defeat in the Nine Years' War had a profound effect on Gaelic culture. The Gaelic succession system of tanistry was replaced with primogeniture and Irish lords were forced to renounce their Gaelic titles. These legal changes, which essentially replaced the Gaelic legal system with English common law, led to a prominent land rights dispute between Tyrone and his principal sub-chief (and son-in-law) Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan. Customarily in Gaelic society, powerful chiefs granted portions of their land to sub-chiefs (Irish: uirríthe) in return for black rents. The often-tense relations between these chiefs were exploited by the government to weaken the Gaelic nobility. O'Cahan faced near-famine conditions towards the end of the war; he surrendered to English commander Henry Docwra in July 1602, relinquishing a third of his territory to the Crown under the promise that he would retain the remaining two-thirds under English law. O'Cahan's surrender critically weakened Tyrone's position and created animosity between the two men. When Tyrone surrendered at Mellifont, he negotiated with Mountjoy to retain ownership of O'Cahan's territory, overruling Docwra's promise. O'Cahan was further frustrated when Tyrone imposed various levies and taxes on the land to rebuild his wealth. O'Cahan was forced to yield a third of his lands to Tyrone. Neither man was satisfied with their circumstances as all of the castles on the disputed land remained in government hands.
=== Hostility from British officials ===
It was initially easy for Tyrone to rebuild his estates due to the lacklustre government of the new Lord Deputy, George Carey. He used his new patent to claim absolute ownership over his earldom and reduce the landholdings of other O'Neill clansmen. Both Tyrone and Tyrconnell sought to acquire Catholic abbeys on their land. Tyrone did not lose contact with Spain nor the hope that Anglo-Spanish conflict would renew. He wrote to Philip III in summer 1603, offering to take up arms for Spain if Anglo-Spanish peace negotiations failed. Despite these hopes, the Anglo-Spanish War ended in August 1604 with the signing of the Treaty of London. The Spanish government was hamstrung by bankruptcy and did not want to provoke war with England.
Many English politicians and soldiers, who had fought against Tyrone in the war, went to great lengths to convince authorities that Tyrone was untrustworthy and required adequate punishment for his continued treachery. Arthur Chichester, who became Lord Deputy in February 1605, had an aggressive attitude towards the Gaelic lords. He abolished the Gaelic feudal system, making sub-chiefs into freeholders with new legal rights. In October he banned Catholic clergy from Ireland and forced the population to attend Protestant church services. Additionally the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in late 1605 led to an increase in the severity of anti-Catholic laws. Tyrone's marriage became strained over his diminishing social position, and in December 1605 he considered divorcing his wife Catherine. Chichester sent officer Toby Caulfeild to recruit Catherine as a double agent, but she dismissed this out of hand. Tyrone was protected to an extent by Mountjoy's influence over the Irish Privy Council, but this support was lost when Mountjoy died in April 1606.
Chichester began to work with John Davies, Attorney-General for Ireland, to accuse Tyrone of treason. Despite their attempts, no hard evidence could be found. Chichester arrested and held Cuchonnacht Maguire, Maguire clan chief and a staunch supporter of Tyrone, for questioning. Other officials harnessed O'Cahan's hostility to orchestrate Tyrone's undoing. George Montgomery, the new Protestant Bishop of Derry, encouraged O'Cahan to renew his lawsuit. Montgomery also encouraged O'Cahan to leave his wife (Tyrone's daughter Rose), noting that "the breach between [O'Cahan] and his landlord [Tyrone] will be the greater by means of [Tyrone's] daughter". In March 1607 O'Cahan repudiated his marriage (though he retained Rose's dowry, against Tyrone's will) and before the end of the year he remarried to another woman.
O'Cahan received a loan from the Earl of Londonderry to fund his case, and also had Davies acting as his counsel. Davies hoped the case would set a precedent. In May 1607, the trial came before the Privy Council. Tyrone lost his temper, snatching a document from O'Cahan's hands and tearing it up in front of Chichester. Montgomery reported that Tyrone's men attempted to seize O'Cahan on his way to Dublin to attend the case's ruling. The council decreed that two-thirds of the lands should remain in O'Cahan's possession. It became clear to Tyrone that the restoration of his earldom meant little, and in a letter to the king he requested new letters patent to the disputed lands. In mid-July, Tyrone was ordered to present himself in London at the beginning of Michaelmas term (late September) to have ownership of the remaining land settled by the king.
...there are so many that seek to despoil me of the greatest part of the residue which Your Majesty was pleased I should hold, as without Your Highness' special consideration of me I shall in the end have nothing to support my estate, for [Montgomery], not contented with the great living Your Majesty has been pleased to bestow on him, seeketh not only to have from me unto him a great part of my lands... but also setteth on others...
Tyrone was not the only Irish lord frustrated with the English-led administration. The Earl of Tyrconnell was discontented that his new royal grant did not include the lands of his sub-chief Cahir O'Doherty in Inishowen, nor Lifford ("the only jewel" which he had) which was given to his cousin and rival Niall Garbh O'Donnell. Tyrconnell struggled to transition from the role of a Gaelic warlord to an Irish peer, which led to financial difficulties. By 1604, Niall Garbh's power had grown to the extent that Tyrconnell was forced to flee to the Pale. Evidence suggests that Tyrconnell was the target of an earlier weaponised campaign under Carey's deputyship. Tyrconnell alleged that he had narrowly escaped assassination from Chichester's confidant Oliver Lambert in Boyle. He later alleged that Irishman Tadhg O'Corkran had been tortured for five days on Chichester's orders to secure incrimating testimony against him. Tyrconnell became bitter and began plotting against the Crown.
== Plot ==
=== Tyrconnell's plotting ===
In December 1604, Tyrconnell indicated to the Spanish ambassador in London (Juan de Tassis, 1st Count of Villamediana) that if the political situation remained the same for two years, confederates would "embark [and] leave their country" to meet with Philip III. The ambassador gave no encouragement and emphasised that Philip III did not want to provoke conflict with England. It is possible that Tyrconnell was merely bargaining for financial aid, as in February 1606 his secretary stated that the earls preferred to receive aid in the form of a Spanish pension rather than a meeting at the Spanish court.
In 1606, Tyrconnell and Cuchonnacht Maguire made a failed attempt to flee the country in a boat at Killybegs. Shortly afterwards, Tyrconnell and Chichester attended a "tense" supper in Ballyshannon Castle. Tyrconnell complained that the castle and its fishing grounds, which the Crown had taken from the O'Donnell clan, were worth £800 a year; Chichester reportedly told Tyrconnell to "take heed of himself, or else he would make his [head] ache". On a trip to Maynooth in 1607, Tyrconnell spoke of a plot against the English government during a conversation with Richard Nugent, Baron Delvin (later 1st Earl of Westmeath).
=== Allegations from Howth ===
In early summer 1607, Anglo-Irish statesman Baron Howth, having returned from the Low Countries, alerted Chichester and the 1st Earl of Salisbury to the existence of a treasonous Catholic league. Howth implicated Tyrconnell and Delvin in "a general revolt intended by many of the nobility and principal persons of this land, together with the cities and towns of the greatest strength; and that they will shake off the yoke of the English government, as they term it, and adhere to the Spaniard". Howth couldn't prove Tyrone's involvement, but was assured from his exchanges with insiders that Tyrone was a key figure in the league. Howth also claimed that Fr. Florence Conroy, who had received funding from Philip III, was travelling to Ireland to notify the league of an impending Spanish expedition. Chichester was alarmed by this news but doubted the veracity of Howth's information. Salisbury appears not to have taken Howth's claims seriously; on 22 July 1607, Salisbury and the Privy Council wrote that it was "not worthy to draw on the King to any sudden action; because first it might alarm the Irish..." Chichester was told that he should had "rectified a little the strong discontent of the towns and others now boiling in their hearts... Their loyalty would then be confirmed and the less would be their jealousy if there were occasion to lay hold of any persons of rank".
Historians disagree on whether an Irish conspiracy existed. By contrasting Howth's accusations with Tyrone's own account, it is apparent that Howth's claims were exaggerated in certain respects. The historian Micheline Kerney Walsh stated Tyrone's records confirm the existence of this Catholic league, which included many Irish elites, which planned to occupy certain strongholds in Ireland once Spain assistance arrived. Howth stated that Philip III had promised military resources to the league, but from surviving Hispano-Irish correspondence it is clear that Philip III had not been appealed to regarding the league until after the Flight.
=== Irish reaction ===
Tyrone learnt that the government intended to imprison him, or possibly execute him, once he got to London. Kerney Walsh proposed that Tyrone probably received this news at the same time he was ordered to London (mid-July), as Chichester noted "since [Tyrone] received His Majesty's letter for his repair thither, he did lose his former cheerfulness and grew often exceedingly pensive". Tyrone and Tyrconnell later declared in correspondence with Spain that this intelligence came from "intimate friends of theirs on the King's very Council", codenamed "el Cid", "Rodan" and "Malgesi". Of these three friends, only the identity of "el Cid"—Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton—is known. The exact cause of the flight is a matter of controversy among historians. Kerney Walsh and John McCavitt state Tyrone certainly believed that his arrest was imminent. The earls had written to Philip III in February 1606 that they were "in danger every moment of losing their lives". Chichester later confirmed that he planned to arrest Tyrconnell on his next visit to Maynooth. McCavitt argued that Tyrone's arrest was "far from inevitable".
The Franciscan friar Thomas Fitzgerald was arrested for his involvement in the Flight and was subsequently questioned at Dublin Castle on 13 October [O.S. 3 October] 1607. Fitzgerald stated that "five or six months" previously, the earls were "fearful to be taken or sent for into England" and so sent seaman John Rath into Spain to seek assistance from Philip III. However the Spanish king rejected the earls' pleas, stating he would "rather have them go into England than come unto him". Soon after this, Tyrone was ordered to London. With circumstances changed, an "ensign" was sent from the Spanish Netherlands to "be in readiness to attend the coming of a ship, which should be sent for them soon after".
Cuchonnacht Maguire left Ireland for the Spanish Netherlands in late May 1607. According to reports, Maguire disguised himself as a French mariner and leased an 80-ton warship at Nantes in France. He may have had assistance from Tyrone's son Henry, who was colonel of the first Irish regiment (tercio) in the Spanish army. Maguire dressed the vessel as a fishing ship by filling it with wines and nets. It sailed from Dunkirk and anchored at Lough Swilly on 4 September [O.S. 25 August]. Maguire, Rath, Tyrconnell's secretary Matthew Tully and nobleman Donagh O'Brien were aboard.
Tyrconnell appears to be the first to learn of the vessel's arrival. Tyrone was at Slane with Chichester on 6 September [O.S. 27 August] when the news reached him. He seemed to have come to an immediate snap decision, and left for Mellifont two days later. John Davies recollected that Tyrone left Slane in an unusually solemn manner, farewelling every servant and child in the house.
== Journey ==
=== Leaving Ireland ===
Once both earls had decided to leave the country, they rushed to gather their family members. On the afternoon of 9 September [O.S. 30 August], Tyrone left Mellifont with his son Shane, who had been living there with the family of politician Garret Moore. Tyrone travelled through Dundalk, Silverbridge, Armagh, Dungannon, and on 10 September [O.S. 31 August] reached the "Craobh", an "island habitation" near Stewartstown, where he stayed for two nights. It is possible Tyrone's wife Catherine and son Brian were living there and that this time was spent preparing for their departure. His five-year-old son Conn, who was staying with his foster family in a far-off part of the country, was left behind due to time constraints, to Catherine's distress. According to an English account, Catherine "being exceedingly weary slipped down from her horse and weeping said she could go no further." Tyrone responded by threatening her with his sword "if she would not pass on with him and put on a more cheerful countenance". Tyrone was also accompanied by his son and heir Hugh O'Neill, 4th Baron Dungannon; as a result, advanced plans to marry Dungannon to a daughter of the Earl of Argyll were abruptly abandoned.
At midday on 13 September [O.S. 3 September], Tyrone and his family arrived at the home of Tyrconnell's brother Caffar in Ballindrait. Caffar (and presumably his wife Rosa) joined the group as they continued their journey that night. Tyrconnell's sister Nuala was the eldest of the three noblewomen to join the Flight, and may have been the only one to go by her own choice, as she had long been separated from her husband Niall Garbh O'Donnell. Caffar quickly rode to intercept his infant son Hugh and the foster-father on the road to Ramelton, "violently" seizing the child. The group crossed the River Foyle and reached Ramelton at daybreak the following day. They finally reached Rathmullan, a seaside village on Lough Swilly, where Tyrconnell was waiting for them. The ship had been docked at Rathmullan for over a week by then, but the crew finished packing supplies only when the earls boarded, perhaps to avoid suspicion.
At about midday on 14 September [O.S. 4 September], the earls embarked from Rathmullan for A Coruña in Spain. They were accompanied by about 100 passengers, which included their families, domestic workers and retinue, clergymen, followers and other aristocrats. Most of the passengers were Gaels from Ulster, though there were also many passengers of Old English heritage. The crew comprised French, Spanish and Flemish sailors. Notably, Tyrone's footman Pedro Blanco was leaving Ireland for the first time since he had arrived in 1588 as a seaman on the Spanish Armada. In the earls' hurry to depart, their horses were left alone on the shore.In addition to Tyrone's son Conn, many of the earls' family members remained in Ireland. Tyrconnell's teenage wife Bridget was in the last month of her pregnancy, and was staying at her grandmother's Maynooth estate when she learned of her husband's departure. Tyrconnell later explained via a messenger that his flight was not "for want of love... if [he] had known sooner of his going, he would have taken [Bridget] with him." He expected Bridget to escape to the continent soon afterwards, but she cooperated with English authorities and never saw her husband again. Bridget gave birth to Tyrconnell's only daughter, Mary, and later remarried to Nicholas Barnewall, 1st Viscount Barnewall. Caffar attempted to bring his illegitimate son Caffar Oge "Con" on the Flight, but Con's foster-father made off with the child. Tyrone's brother Cormac MacBaron O'Neill also remained in Ireland, though his sons Art Oge and Brian took part in the Flight. By the end of the war, Cormac and Tyrone's relationship had become frayed. The historian John McGurk suggested that Cormac had become a political rival to his brother. On 15 September, Cormac travelled to Dublin to inform Chichester of the earls' departure and to petition for a custodiam of Tyrone's estates. Chichester was suspicious that Cormac took a full day to confer this news. Cormac was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he later died. Kerney Walsh, who argued that the Flight was a tactical retreat, stated that Cormac's absence from the Flight was probably pre-arranged with Tyrone, so he could prepare Ireland for the anticipated Spanish expedition. Cormac was married to Tyrconnell's sister Margaret; she and her youngest son Conn made their own way to the Spanish Netherlands.
=== At sea ===
The first night "was bright, quiet and calm, with a breeze from the south-west". The émigrés considered putting in to Arranmore to source more food and drink, but a strong storm blew the ship away from shore. They set a course past Sligo and straight ahead until Croagh Patrick.
The ship's crew were not familiar with this part of the sea. At midday on 17 September, the émigrés approached three large Scandinavian ships, returning from Spain, for directions. Fearing that a royal fleet at Galway might intercept them, the émigrés sailed further out into the Atlantic to make a clearer path to Spain. The difficult voyage was plagued by strong winds, rough seas and cramped conditions. After thirteen days at sea, the émigrés trailed relics in the water behind the ship to provide relief from the storms. Tyrone had a gold cross which contained a relic of the True Cross, possibly taken from a visit to Holy Cross Abbey in 1601. A journey from Rathmullan to A Coruña should have taken only four or five days, but it had been sixteen days when the émigrés neared the Spanish coast on 30 September. The wind began to blow against them, making it impossible to sail towards Spain. The ship was thrust up the English Channel and past the Channel Islands. In acceptance of the poor weather and their dwindling food supply, the émigrés tried to reach Le Croisic in France.
=== France and Spanish Netherlands ===
When the émigrés finally disembarked in Quillebeuf-sur-Seine, France, on 4 October, less than one barrel of drinking water remained. A day later the women and children were sent with their luggage on a boat up the Seine to Rouen. Quillebeuf's governor entertained Tyrone at dinner, but would not allow the earls to continue their journey without permission from King Henry IV. In the meantime George Carew, the English ambassador in Paris, attempted to have the earls arrested. Henry IV, who considered Tyrone to be one of the greatest generals in Europe, refused English demands to hand over the earls and—though denying them from proceeding to Spain—permitted them passage through northern France to the Spanish Netherlands.The main group including Tyrone and Tyrconnell went with 17 men on horseback to La Bouille. The following day, the group were detained and taken to Lisieux. There, they were received by the town's Marshal. The two groups' separation caused confusion. The Marshal wrote to Henry IV inquiring on what should be done with the group. Carew was in Lisieux and learnt that Henry IV granted the Irish group free passage. He dispatched a messenger to England to inform James I that the earls had arrived in France. The group travelled north-east to the Spanish Netherlands, rather than south to Spain. On 15 October, the whole group left from Rouen—31 individuals on horseback, two coaches, three wagons and about 40 individuals travelled on foot. Tyrone's son Henry needed to obtain a warrant to allow the earls to travel to Spain. The group paid the local governor for the warrant with around 40 tons of salt, which had been brought on their ship. The earls were impressed by Rouen's strong Catholic culture (it had 33 parish churches and 14 monasteries) and fertile land. The group travelled fifteen miles to La Boissière, where their lodgings were below par. The next day (16 October), they reached Neufchatel where they attended Mass and had dinner. They went on to Aumale, then Poix.
The group reached Amiens, where they visited Amiens Cathedral and saw the reputed head of John the Baptist. They continued on to the village of Contay. The following day (18 October), they reached Arras, where they were met by Dr Eugene Matthews (future Bishop of Clogher and Archbishop of Dublin). They reached Douai, where two Catholic seminaries (an Irish college and an English college) had been established. The earls were celebrated as Catholic heroes by the students, and on the 23rd they were entertained with a banquet. The distinguished Irish Franciscans Fr. Florence Conroy and Fr. Robert Chamberlain travelled to Douai to meet the earls. Conroy joined the earls' group on their journey. On the 26th the group set out for Tournai. They stopped at a small village overnight, where they saw the tomb of Irish saint St Linard. The following day they continued on to Tournai on the Scheldt. From Tournai, Tyrone wrote to the Papal Nuncio at Brussels, Archbishop Guido Bentivoglio, describing the circumstances of his escape from Ireland. This was perhaps on Conroy and Chamberlain's advice. On 28 October the group got to Ath, and the next day they passed through Enghien and arrived in Notre Dame de Halle. Tyrone met his son Henry at Halle; his regiment was then quartered in the Bruges district. In early November, the earls met Ambrogio Spinola, a general in the Spanish army who had travelled from Brussels to Halle to meet them. He invited the earls to dinner. The next day the earls attended mass. They set out in coaches (others accompanied them on horseback) to Nivelles where they were entertained with music and dance that evening.
In November the group travelled to Binche to meet the Netherlands' sovereign Albert VII, Archduke of Austria. The earls were greeted by the Archduke and his wife Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia at the entrance to Binche Palace. They spent a long time conversing. Present at the meeting was Don Rodrigo de Laiso, who had survived a Spanish Armada shipwreck in Ireland. The historian Tomás Ó Fiaich noted that the atmosphere must have been tense; Tyrone's secretary Henry Hovenden, who killed 300 of Laiso's comrades (on Tyrone's orders), was also present at the meeting. Additionally Tyrconnell's father Hugh McManus offered the survivors (which included Laiso) to British authorities. They all dined, then the earls returned to Nivelles.
The group spent the following night at Halle. They continued to Brussels where they were met by Colonel Francisco and "a party of Irish, Spanish, Italian and Flemish captains". At Ambrogio Spinola's palace they were welcomed by Spinola, the papal nuncio and the Spanish ambassador. They all spent time conversing, before Spinola seated them for dinner. Tyrone was seated at the head of the table, the place of honour at the lavish feast, with Tyrconnell seated at his side.
=== Leuven ===
The group reached Leuven on 9 November, where they stayed for ten days. Tyrone stayed in a hostel named "The Emperor's House". On 25 November, the group left the women and some of their attendants behind to set out for Spain. The earls were attempting to get to Rome, and from there they would sail to Spain. They travelled to Jodoigne where they were met by a troupe of Albert VII's cavalry who escorted them to Perwez. The next day they reached Namur, where they received an order from Albert VII to return to Leuven and await further instructions. Philip III did not want the earls to enter Spain for fear of violating the 1604 Anglo-Spanish peace treaty. Spain was on the verge of bankruptcy and could not afford another war with England. The group went to Wavre overnight and then back to Leuven.
The earls were forced to spend the winter at Leuven. It was a harsh winter with the Schelt frozen over. In mid-December, the earls received news that Albert VII wanted them to leave his states. On 18 February 1608, the group went to Mechelen and on the following day to Antwerp, crossing the Schelt as they did so (partly on horseback and partly via a boat). After visiting the Irish College in Antwerp and sightseeing other attractions, the group travelled to Willebroek and then the next day to Vilvoorde and back to Leuven.
Having failed to get Albert VII's permission to travel to Spain, the earls and their companions (now reduced to thirty-two people on horseback plus the women in a coach) left Leuven on 28 February 1608 to travel southwards. The nobles left their younger children behind in Leuven under the care of Irish Franciscans at St Anthony's College. These children include Tyrone's sons Shane and Brian, Caffar's son Hugh and Tyrconnell's son Hugh Albert.
=== To Rome ===
The journey to Rome was arduous. The earls' group travelled to Namur along a poor quality road. The women left the coach behind and continued on horseback. On 4 March they travelled to Longwy and Fillières, and the next day to Malatur and Conflans. Two of their party almost drowned in a river they had to cross. The group stayed for two nights in Pont-à-Mousson, then crossed the Moselle and continued to Nancy. They left Nancy on 8 March. The group crossed the Mountain of St Martin by way of difficult roads that were covered with snow and ice. They arrived in Le Bonhomme, then continued on to Kaysersberg and Colmar. By 16 March the group reached Lucerne and crossed over Lake Lucerne; they reached Flüelen Pourlac at midnight. On Saint Patrick's Day, the group travelled through the Alps, passing over a gorge via a bridge called the Devil's Bridge. One of the group's horses was almost lost. That night the group stayed the night in Piedimonte.
Tyrone remained there for one day in an attempt to recover the money that had been lost when the horse fell—about £120, which is worth £26,500 in November 2025. Meanwhile Tyrconnell continued over the Alps. The earls had to use sleighs drawn by oxen to cross the mountain. There was difficulty descending the icy roads on the way down. They went to Faido, meeting up with Tyrconnell. They subsequently continued through the Lugano valley to Capo di Lago. The group landed at Capolago, and despite stormy and wet weather, reached Como. They travelled along good quality roads to Milan; there they remained for three weeks.
In mid-April, the earls reached Parma, where they were shown many exotic beasts such as lions, leopards and camels. They then continued to Modena and then Bologna. The next day Tyrone met with the cardinal at Bologna. From there, the group travelled to Saint Nicholas and Castel San Pietro. The group then went to Imola, then to Loreto. On 23 April, the group set out from Loreto to finally get to Rome—whilst en route, some of the group (not including Tyrone) made a pilgrimage to Assisi. As the group got closer to Rome, they sent people ahead of them to Rome and were met by Peter Lombard, Archbishop of Armagh, at Ponte Milvio. On 29 April, Tyrone and Tyrconnell were welcomed into Rome by a large procession of cardinals. The earls met Pope Paul V the next day. The pope allowed the earls to reside at Palazzo Della Rovere on Borgo Vecchio, the Palazzo Salviati. and the Borgo Santo Spirito.
== Aftermath ==
=== Britain and Ireland ===
The government was at first confused and concerned by the earls' departure, fearing that they would return to Ireland with a foreign army. At that time, an earl was expected to have licence to travel to the Continent. Tyrconnell's involvement in treasonous action was not unexpected, but Tyrone's departure caused some panic in London. Chichester's first comment on the Flight was that it had been "long since thought-out and resolved" "'by some of the fugitives", but he "could never suspect" Tyrone "of so disloyal and shallow intention as this, considering his fortune, years, and experience". Davies proposed that Tyrone may have fled to Spain or London. In a proclamation dated 25 November [O.S. 15 November] 1607, James I publicly accused the earls of plotting a rebellion and declared the Flight as treasonous. English ambassadors on the Continent, such as Thomas Edmondes, made attempts to stop the earls' journey. At least one plan to assassinate Tyrone was brought to the attention of ambassador Henry Wotton, but James I had little interest in it, believing that the earls' loss of their estates was punishment enough.
The Flight opened a power vacuum in Ulster which Chichester felt should filled by a plantation scheme. On 27 September [O.S. 17 September] 1607, only thirteen days after the earls' departure, Chichester advocated for dividing Ulster's lands among the native Irish population, former soldiers and "colonies of civil people of England and Scotland at his Majesty's pleasure". Chichester and Davies toured Ulster during the summers of 1608 and 1609, heading commissions in each county to determine the Crown's title to the proposed plantation lands. The commissions judged that the lands belonging to Tyrone (County Tyrone and Oneilland in County Armagh) and Tyrconnell (County Donegal) were escheated to the Crown.
In the aftermath of Cahir O'Doherty's failed 1608 rebellion, a more detailed plantation strategy was developed. The rebellion also allowed the government to confiscate the lands of the rebels involved—Cahir O'Doherty and Niall Garbh O'Donnell—who had owned part of the O'Donnells' traditional lands. Additionally, Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan failed to comply with the government and was imprisoned on charges of treason. Tyrone's potential return to Ireland may have hurried plantation plans. Both of the earls' titles were formally attainted by the Parliament of Ireland on 7 November [O.S. 28 October] 1614.
John Davies compared the Flight to Saint Patrick who "did only banish the poisonous worms, but suffered the men full of poison to inhabit the land still." The Archbishop of Canterbury later stated "it was the best service that ever Irishman did to the crown of England, when Tyrone ran away and left well near the fourth part of Ireland to be new planted."
Chichester's plan prioritised British settlers over the Irish, so that the Irish "may be environed with seas, strongholds and powerful men to overstay them". His plan was to "utterly destroy the customs and practices of the natives" so that the next generation of Ulster's population would "in tongue and heart and every way else become English". Gaelic institutions went into decline; the Irish bardic poet Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (c. 1625–1698) wrote that the Irish nobility were "dispersed and scattered" and referred to his time as "the breaking of the old customs". The settlement of British Protestants in Ulster had a major impact on the province's predominantly Irish Catholic population and led to major sectarian conflict throughout the following centuries. By 1732, loyalist Protestants outnumbered Catholics in Ulster.
=== Continental Europe ===
The pope granted the earls a monthly pension of a hundred crowns. Philip III offered the collective sum of 700 ducats a month for the group of about 50 émigrés. The earls were displeased with the small size of their pension and their reduced lifestyles; they quickly found themselves in debt. Tyrone was formerly one of the richest lords in Ireland. He had brought his valuables and relics to the Continent, though he was obviously unable to quickly transplant the vast quantities of cows, sheep and hens which made up his fortune. Catherine became highly distressed by the Roman climate and her separation from her children, though Tyrone forbade her from relocating to Leuven.
The many passengers of the Flight did not realise they were taking part in "a moment of epic finality". In November 1607, a young man named St Leger expressed remorse for his participation in the Flight, stating he had been "blindfoldly, with many others, carried into this journey without knowing whither he went". Some passengers, such as John Rath and Seán Crón MacDaibhid, made efforts to reunite with their loved ones.
During his time in Rome, Tyrone attended papal ceremonies, visited catacombs and relics, ascended the Scala Santa on his knees, and made the traditional pilgrimage to the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. Tyrone quickly became disillusioned with his exile and yearned to return to his position in Ireland. For the rest of his life, he did not give up the possibility of returning to Ireland. On 14 July 1608, the earls wrote to Philip III requesting increased support for Henry's Irish regiment. The Spanish Council of State carried out their request, showing that the earls still had some influence. Tyrconnell was clearly concerned for his son's safety, as he made requests to the staff at St Anthony's College for his son's supervision.In July 1608, Tyrconnell, Caffar and Dungannon travelled to Ostia, a coastal town fifteen miles west of Rome, for a holiday and "a change of air". Ostia's marshlands were ridden with mosquitoes, and after four days the young nobles became violently ill with fevers. Tyrconnell died in Rome on 28 July; Caffar and Dungannon subsequently died in 1608 and 1609 respectively. All three men were buried in the church of San Pietro in Montorio. Tyrone could not afford to pay for his son's funeral, so it was funded by Spanish ambassador Francisco Ruiz de Castro. Cuchonnacht Maguire left Rome for Spain in June 1608, but he died of fever in Genoa on 12 August 1608.
Tyrone continued to petition Philip III for his assistance in retaking Ireland from British control (including during O'Doherty's rebellion), but had no success. English spies, who were monitoring Tyrone in Rome, reported that, after a good dinner, Tyrone liked to talk about the prospect of "a good day in Ireland". In 1613 the English Crown briefly discussed with Tyrone a potential reconciliation, but this fell apart when the political situation changed. Tyrone ceased his petitioning to Philip III by 1614 when he was threatened with losing his pension unless he remained silent. By this time, Tyrone was planning an ambitious return to Ireland with Spanish aid. In March 1615, he declared to Philip III that "rather than live in Rome, he would prefer to go to his land with a hundred soldiers and die there in defence of the Catholic faith and of his fatherland". In July he bemoaned that he would likely "die within four or six years" and he did not wish to die "without the consolation of dying fighting for my religion and the territories of my forebears".
It has been alleged that Tyrone became blind in his last years, but this is probably propaganda spread by Chichester. Tyrone became seriously ill in January 1616, and died in Rome on 20 July. His elaborate funeral was paid for by the Spanish ambassador and attended by cardinals, foreign ambassadors, and many Irish dignitaries living in Europe. Tyrone was also interred in San Pietro in Montorio. The Council of State remarked to Philip III that "as the Earl left no funds for his burial, Cardinal Borja spent what was necessary at the expense of the Embassy... but in doing this he endeavoured to cover such appearances as might cause difficulties in the relations of your Majesty with the King of England". This explains the brevity of the inscription on Tyrone's tomb. Tyrone's presence in Europe was a constant source of concern for the British government, and his death came as a welcome relief. His will did not sufficiently provide for Catherine; she died in Naples in March 1619.
The earls' sons continued to use their fathers' titles and integrated into Spanish society. Tyrone's son Shane was created the successive 3rd Earl of Tyrone ("Conde de Tyrone") in the Spanish nobility. Tyrconnell's son Hugh Albert succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell in 1608, and though the title was attainted in 1614, he continued to use it throughout his life, which was recognised by Spain. He was naturalised as a Spanish subject in 1633. When Anglo-Spanish conflict was revived from 1625 to 1630, both men were advocates of a proposed 1627 Spanish invasion of Ireland in order to liberate the island from English rule.
Shane and Hugh Albert coloneled Irish regiments (tercios) in the Spanish army. This precipitated the Flight of the Wild Geese, where following the end of the Williamite War in 1691, Jacobite soldiers fled Ireland to serve in the French, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Swedish, Danish and Austrian armies in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Flight of the Earls thus marks the beginning of the modern Irish diaspora.
== Historiography ==
=== Contemporary analysis ===
Tadhg Ó Cianáin, a writer from a learned family attached to the Maguire clan, travelled with the earls from Rathmullan to Rome. Whilst living in Rome in 1609, he recorded an Irish-language eyewitness account of the journey for an audience of Franciscans at St Anthony's College. Ó Cianáin's manuscript is a unique and valuable source. He focuses on the earls' itinerary (listing the names of foreign places and dignitaries) and emphasises their connections with the international Catholic community. The title used by the Franciscans (Turas na nlarladh as Éire) indicates that the earl's journey was not yet perceived as an escape from danger, as the word turas means tour or pilgrimage. Ó Cianáin does not explain the reasons behind the earl's departure but also does not describe it as a "flight"—perhaps the intended readership did not require an explanation.
Tyrone's English contemporaries claimed that he fled in anticipation of the discovery of his treasonous plot. King James declared in his 1607 proclamation that there was never any intention of arresting the earls. Catholic apologists refuted this ex post facto statement.
=== 17th–18th century ===
Until the mid-19th century, most historians discussed the Flight in religious terms. Philip O'Sullivan Beare, in his work Historiae Catholicae Iberniae Compendium (1621), was first to claim that Tyrone fled Ireland due to a government plot to "cut down" the "leading men in the [Catholic] faith". Anglo-Irish writers John Temple and Edmund Borlase described the events of 1607 as a failed prototype version of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, which was religious in nature.
In Royal Genealogies (1737), James Anderson alleged that government minister Robert Cecil orchestrated the plot (this was related to the contemporary belief that Cecil orchestrated the Gunpowder Plot). In Civil Wars (1786), Catholic campaigner John Curry argued that the Irish plot was faked, and that it had been set up by the government via an anonymous letter. With this argument, Curry was refuting charges of Catholic disloyalty to the Crown. Curry popularised the term "Flight of the Earls". Though previous writers used the term to imply that the earls ran away from justice, Curry used it to emphasise that the earls were fleeing from danger. 18th-century Catholic historians depicted the Flight as a "flight from charges of complicity [in] a trumped-up plot". The belief that both Tyrone and the government were plotting against each other had few supporters.
=== 19th–early 20th century ===
Writers after the 19th century placed more emphasis on the political and legal situation in Ulster as motivation for Tyrone's departure (particularly John Davies's support of the O'Cahan legal case), though it was conceded that religion was a factor. Thomas Moore was the first to explore this in the fourth volume of his 1846 work History of Ireland. Charles Patrick Meehan's 1868 book The fate and fortunes of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donel, earl of Tyrconnel was a major study on the motivations and effects of the Flight of the Earls. Meehan argued that the earls were not part of any treasonous Catholic plot, and that the claim originated from an anonymous letter sent by Baron Howth on Cecil's orders. Meehan was also responsible for popularising the term "Flight of the Earls", since he titled Ó Cianáin's manuscript The Narrative of the Flight of the Earls.
Richard Bagwell, a Unionist politician and historian, stated in 1895 that whilst it is clear Tyrconnell was in contact with Spain, "it must remain uncertain whether there was any [Catholic] conspiracy". He admitted that the Flight's "immediate cause" is unclear, but that its "real causes" related to both Tyrconnell's debt and the incompatibility of Gaelic society with the structure of a modern state. Bagwell argued that, had the earls remained in Ireland, they could not have prevented the erosion of Gaelic culture and of their power. Catholic priest and historian Paul Walsh translated Ó Cianáin's manuscript in 1914 as The Flight of the Earls, influenced by the titled used by Meehan. Walsh wrote that "there is no evidence of conspiracy on the part of [Tyrone] or [Maguire]." He also argued it was unlikely that Tyrconnell feared the discovery of a Catholic plot as early as May 1607, when Baron Howth left the Netherlands with information on the league. For the 1972 Irish-language edition of Walsh's translation, the title was translated as Imeacht na nIarlaí.
=== Late 20th–21st century ===
In the 1950s and 1960s, historians such as Micheline Kerney Walsh utilised archives in France and Spain to uncover new information about the earls' emigration. Kerney Walsh was a strong critic of the name "Flight", and John McGurk stated that the term was "pandering to the English interpretation" of the event. Both historians argued that the earls' departure was a tactical retreat and not a spontaneous escape from authorities. Kerney Walsh pointed to correspondence between the earls and the Spanish government to demonstrate that Tyrone planned to ask Philip III for military aid in person, then return to Ireland at the head of an army and retake his lands. However, academic Nicholas Canny noted that, in the earls' letters addressed to James I from the continent, Tyrconnell never stated a desire to return to Ireland.
John McCavitt, who used many of the same continental sources, questioned Kerney Walsh's argument since the Spanish authorities offered "no official encouragement" to the earls. Canny and McCavitt have suggested that the earls' request for Spanish military support may have been simply to spur Philip III into being more generous towards them. Canny also speculated that Tyrconnell and Maguire initially considered emigrating to the Continent to join the Spanish army, as a means of increasing their income and social standing.
McCavitt stated that Tyrone mistakenly believed his arrest was imminent, even though it was "far from inevitable". Based on Hiberno-Spanish correspondence, the earls departed Ireland knowing full well that Philip III wanted to avoid war with England and had previously refused to help the Irish. Ultimately the earls' hopes for Spanish aid were never answered in the way they hoped. Jerrold Casway called the Flight "a miscalculated strategem neither anticipated nor welcomed by Catholic Europe". Hiram Morgan wrote that Tyrone miscalculated his own and Ireland's importance in European politics, and that the Earl became a mere pawn due to his over-reliance on the Spanish government. He stated that Tyrone "[sacrificed] his position by fleeing in the mistaken hope of [Spain's] benevolence".
Canny argued that though Tyrone was able to adapt to the new British order (unlike Tyrconnell and Maguire), he joined the others in their Flight in a panic. Tyrone may have been concerned that, had he remained in Ireland whilst Tyrconnell fled to the Continent, the government would assume that the two earls were in league. Morgan stated that "whatever prompted the flight, it was a snap decision". He noted that Tyrone's flight, leaving Ulster's Gaelic population leaderless and vulnerable to plantation, displays a selfishness that is typical of a Gaelic lord. Canny notes that Tyrone's disregard for Gaelic tradition and his Gaelic countrymen, which was most apparent during the reestablishment of his lordship in 1603-7, explains why "members of the Gaelic learned orders of his own generation" expressed little admiration for him. However many of Tyrone's rivals in Ulster were "not at all displeased" with his departure, and the historian Marianne Elliott noted that the churls "may well have fared a good deal better under the new dispensation than under the Gaelic land system".
Murray Smith stated in 1996 that it is clear the government were overturning Tyrone's generous peace terms, though the allegation of an official plot against Tyrone's life is "still in question". He also stated Tyrone was not innocent of plotting. In 2007, McGurk stated that "historians have been unable to agree on whether or not there was a [Catholic] plot in 1607", though agreed that "the historical jury is still out" on whether there was a government plot against Tyrone's life.
The Flight is typically characterised as enigmatic. Though it is considered a pivotal moment in Irish history, journalist Fintan O'Toole called the "tragic grandeur" of the Flight of the Earls "an accident of history". In contrast to the common perspective, O'Toole stated that the Flight did not mark the death of Gaelic Ireland, but was "a profound cultural disruption". The complex history of the Flight was reshaped by Irish writers into a romantic tale of saintly Catholics dramatically abandoning their homeland during a hopeless struggle against Protestant heresy.
== In culture ==
The poet Eoghan Ruadh Mac an Bhaird, who took part in the Flight, wrote an elegy titled Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (Buried in Rome). It famously begins by describing Nuala O'Donnell's grief at her brothers' deaths: "O Woman of the Piercing Wail, Who mournest o'er yon mound of clay..." Richard Weston, another participant in the Flight, wrote a poem whilst in Leuven, wishing that his wife and son were with him. Cuchonnacht Maguire was praised for his role in the Flight in a bardic poem. A bardic poem written immediately after the Flight was titled "A Good Ship's Company". Ethna Carbery's poem Princes of the North is addressed to Tyrone and laments the Flight.
The Flight has been depicted by various visual artists. An illustration of the earls leaving Rathmullan was published in A. M. Sullivan's book Story of Ireland (1867). In the 19th century, H. Warren and J. Rogers produced an engraving of Tyrone coercing Catherine to depart Ireland. One of the best known depictions of the event is Thomas Ryan's 1958 painting The Departure of O'Neill out of Ireland. Murray Smith noted the painting's nationalist message and use of religious symbolism. John Behan's 2007 bronze sculpture Flight of the Earls commemorates the Flight's 400th anniversary. Located in Rathmullan, the sculpture depicts three men walking a gangplank, with a crowd watching from the shore.
The Flight of the Earls Centre in Rathmullan is a permanent exhibition dedicated to the Flight.
=== 400th anniversary commemorations ===
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Flight in 2007, the Donegal County Council and Donegal County Development Board coordinated year-long events throughout the county, spending almost €1.2 million to boost tourism to County Donegal. In January and February 2007, BBC Northern Ireland broadcast a documentary on the Flight, where host Antaine Ó Donnaile retraced the earls' journey. Commemorative postage stamps were issued by the Irish post office, featuring illustrations of Tyrone and Tyrconnell by Seán Ó'Brógáin. In April, an exhibition was opened in Belgium.
On 14 September, President of Ireland Mary McAleese unveiled John Behan's sculpture at Rathmullan. The Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive marked the anniversary with an exhibition and outreach programme supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. A docudrama film, in which Tyrone was portrayed by Stephen Rea, was screened at the Irish Film Institute on 14 September. The Jeanie Johnston docked at Rathmullan from 12–15 September. 2007 also saw the world premiere of Donal O'Kelly's musical theatre piece Running Beast, with music by Michael Holohan, which is based on Tyrone's career.
Across 2007 and 2008, Denis Conway starred in and organised a production of Brian Friel's 1989 play Making History, which follows Tyrone in Rome reckoning with his legacy. The production was toured along the route of the Flight of the Earls, as well as at various sites in Ireland associated with Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell. Similarly to the Flight, the tour concluded in Rome.
In April 2008 there were celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of the earls' arrival in Rome, with a performance by the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. Irish clergymen were prominently featured in Pope Benedict XVI's 2008 Corpus Christi procession. Irish cardinal Seán Brady held a commemorative Mass at San Pietro in Montorio.
== Crew and passengers of the Flight ==
Compiling a complete list of individuals who embarked from Rathmullan is difficult as some left or joined the earls' main group throughout the journey from Rathmullan to Rome. Ó Cianáin kept an incomplete record of names, but famously stated there were "ninety-nine" individuals on board. Albert VII forwarded a list of travellers to Philip III on 8 November 1607, and Matthew Tully compiled a list in May 1608 for the Spanish Council of State.
Various efforts have been made to identify the crew and passengers. In 1916, Paul Walsh utilised various sources, including the Annals of the Four Masters and the English State Papers, to expand the list to 39 named participants. In a postscript he added 10 more. In their work Imeacht na nIarlaí (1972), Tomás Ó Fiaich and Pádraig de Barra compiled a list of 113 individuals who were involved (in at least some part) in the Rathmullan–Rome journey. In 2003, Jerrold Casway concluded that "sixty-five to seventy people" travelled from Rathmullan to Quillebeuf. In 2007, John McCavitt stated that at least sixty one individuals are confirmed to have travelled on the ship from Rathmullan to Quillebeuf (they are marked below with a dagger†).
=== Ship's crew ===
John McGurk stated that "the crew comprised French, Spanish and Flemish hands."
=== O'Neill clan ===
==== Family ====
There is a report of Tyrone's daughter—"very beautiful... marriageable and greatly admired"—with him in Rome in 1615. It is not clear whether she participated in the Flight or travelled to the Continent at a different time. Aodh mac Aingil wrote a poem ascribed to the late Baron Dungannon, which is addressed to a Brigid O'Neill. Paul Walsh stated it was "extremely probable" that Brigid was the same "greatly admired" daughter. Micheline Kerney Walsh agreed with this, and presumes Brigid was on the Flight. John McCavitt notes that, as the fate of Tyrone's daughter Rose is unknown, it is possible Rose was the "greatly admired" daughter.
==== Staff ====
=== O'Donnell clan ===
==== Family ====
==== Staff ====
=== Other nobles ===
=== Clergymen ===
=== Writers ===
=== Merchants ===
=== Soldiers ===
John Connor, captain†
=== Students ===
=== Other émigrés ===
=== Additional staff ===
In his account, Ó Cianáin recorded "2 lackies of [Tyrone]", "4 servants of [Tyrconnell]", "3 lackies of [Tyrconnell]" and "3 waiting women".
=== Individuals who joined the émigrés in mainland Europe ===
Florence Conroy did not board at Rathmullan; he met the earls at Douai and escorted them to Leuven, then continued on with them to Rome. Eugene Matthews travelled with the earls' party from Douai to Arras. Tyrone's son Henry met the earls at Halle and travelled with them until Leuven.
=== Notable individuals left behind in Ireland ===
Bridget FitzGerald, Tyrconnell's wife
Iníon Dubh, Tyrconnell's mother
Mary O'Donnell, Tyrconnell's sister
Niall Garbh O'Donnell, Tyrconnell's cousin and brother-in-law
Hugh Boye O'Donnell, Niall Garve's brother
Hugh McHugh Dubh O'Donnell, senior O'Donnell nobleman
Cormac MacBaron O'Neill, Tyrone's brother
Margaret O'Donnell, Tyrconnell's sister and Cormac's wife
Conn Ruadh O'Neill, Tyrone's son
Caffar Oge "Con" O'Donnell, illegitimate son of Caffar O'Donnell |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Myrdal | Gunnar Myrdal | Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( MUR-dahl, MEER-; Swedish: [ˈɡɵ̌nːar ˈmy̌ːɖɑːl]; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena." When his wife, Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, they became the fourth ever married couple to have won Nobel Prizes, and the first and only to win independent of each other (versus a shared Nobel Prize by scientist spouses).
Myrdal is best known in the United States for his study of race relations, which culminated in his 1944 book An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. The study was influential in the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education. In Sweden, his work and political influence were important to the establishment of the Folkhemmet and the welfare state.
== Early life and education ==
Myrdal was born on 6 December 1898, in Skattungbyn, Sweden, to Karl Adolf Pettersson (1876–1934), a building contractor, and his wife Anna Sofia Karlsson (1878–1965). He took the name Myrdal in 1914 after his ancestors' farm Myr in the province of Dalarna.
There is a possibly apocryphal story about an interaction between him and Gustav Cassel, where Cassel was reported to say, "Gunnar, you should be more respectful to your elders, because it is we who will determine your promotion," and he replied, "Yes, but it is we who will write your obituaries."
Gunnar Myrdal graduated with a law degree from Stockholm University in 1923 and a doctorate in economics in 1927. In June 1919, he met Alva Reimer, whom he married in October 1924 and had the first of their three children in 1927.
Myrdal's PhD thesis, The Problem of Price Formation under Economic Change, had three parts: The Basics of the Dynamic Problem of Price Formation, The Problem of the Profit of the Enterprise, and The Optimal Mode of Construction and Change, the most mathematical of the three, where he studied equilibrium of price formation under dynamic conditions.
In Gunnar Myrdal's doctoral dissertation, published in 1927, he examined the role of expectations in price formation. His analysis strongly influenced the Stockholm school. He built on Knut Wicksell's theories of cumulative process of endogenous money, stressing the importance of Knightian uncertainty and ex ante and ex post expectations role in the economic process.
== Early career ==
Between 1925 and 1929, Myrdal studied in Britain and Germany. He was a Rockefeller Fellow and visited the United States in 1929–1930. During this period, he published his first books, including The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory in 1930. Returning to Europe, he served for one year as associate professor in the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.
The Political Element is a compilation of Myrdal's lectures presented at the University of Stockholm. It gives us the historical account of the influence of politics in the development of economic theory and the relation between them. Gunnar believed that economics would be considered a true science only when the political aspect was dissociated. It was initially written to criticize the older generation of Swedish economists such as Eli Heckscher, Gustav Cassel, and Brisman, for combining and confusing facts and values in their theories of 'maximum welfare', 'price level', and 'national income'. But later it turned out be a general critique of the economic theory where he emphasized that economics should be objective and independent from values. He wrote that although economists claim to be scientific and objective, their conclusion from their analyses was always politically inclined. The Political Element was translated to German in 1932 and to English in 1953.
Gunnar Myrdal was at first fascinated by the abstract mathematical models coming into fashion in the 1920s, and helped found the Econometric Society in London. Later, however, he accused the movement of ignoring the problem of distribution of wealth in its obsession with economic growth, of using faulty statistics and substituting Greek letters for missing data in its formulas and of flouting logic. He wrote, "Correlations are not explanations and besides, they can be as spurious as the high correlation in Finland between foxes killed and divorces." Professor Myrdal was an early supporter of the theses of John Maynard Keynes, although he maintained that the basic idea of adjusting national budgets to slow or speed an economy was first developed by him and articulated in his book Monetary Economics, published in 1932, four years prior to Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.
William Barber's comment upon Myrdal's work on monetary theory goes like this:
If his contribution had been available to readers of English before 1936, it is interesting to speculate whether the 'revolution' in macroeconomic theory of the depression decade would be referred to as 'Myrdalian' as much as 'Keynesian'.
Economist G. L. S. Shackle claimed the importance of Gunnar Myrdal's analysis by which saving and investment are allowed to adjust ex ante to each other. However, the reference to ex ante and ex post analysis has become so usual in modern macroeconomics that the position of Keynes to not include it in his work was currently considered as an oddity, if not a mistake. As Shackle put it:
Myrdalian ex ante language would have saved the General Theory from describing the flow of investment and the flow of saving as identically, tautologically equal, and within the same discourse, treating their equality as a condition which may, or not, be fulfilled.
Gunnar Myrdal also developed the key concept circular cumulative causation, a multi-causal approach where the core variables and their linkages are delineated.
== Academic career ==
Gunnar Myrdal became professor at Stockholms Högskola 1933. Myrdal was professor of economics at Stockholms Högskola for 15 years, until 1947.
He became a Social Democratic Member of Parliament from 1933, and again from 1945 to 1947 he served as Minister of Commerce and Industry in Tage Erlander's government. During this period, he was heavily criticized for his financial agreement with the Soviet Union. At the same time he was accused of being responsible for the Swedish monetary crisis in 1947.
He coauthored with his wife, Alva Myrdal, the Crisis in the Population Question (Swedish: Kris i befolkningsfrågan, 1934). The work of Gunnar and Alva inspired policies adopted by the Minister of Social Affairs, Gustav Möller, to provide social support to families.
Gunnar Myrdal headed a comprehensive study of sociological, economic, anthropological and legal data on race relations in the United States funded by the Carnegie Corporation, starting in 1938. The result of the effort was Gunnar Myrdal's best-known work, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, published in 1944, written with the collaboration of R. M. E. Sterner and Arnold Rose. He characterized the problem of race relations as a dilemma because of a perceived conflict between high ideals, embodied in what he called the "American Creed," on the one hand and poor performance on the other. In the generations since the Civil War, the U.S. had been unable to put its human rights ideals into practice for the African American tenth of its population. This book was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools. Myrdal planned on doing a similar study on gender inequality, but he could not find funding for this project and never completed it.
== World War II and after ==
During World War II, Gunnar Myrdal was staunchly and publicly anti-Nazi. Together with his wife, Alva, he wrote Contact with America in 1941, which praised the United States' democratic institutions.
Gunnar Myrdal became the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in 1947. During his tenure, he founded one of the leading centers of economic research and policy development. After ten years in the position, Dr. Myrdal resigned as Executive Secretary in 1957. In 1956 and 1957, he was able to publish An International Economy, Problems and Prospects, Rich Lands and Poor and Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions. Myrdal was also a signatory of the 1950 UNESCO statement The Race Question, which rebuts the theories of racial supremacy and purity, and also influenced the Brown v. Board of Education decision. "What he knew about [United States] constitutional law we are not told nor have we been able to learn." In 1956, Myrdal wrote the foreword for African American author Richard Wright's The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference.
Between 1960 and 1967, he was a professor of international economics at Stockholm University. In 1961, he founded the Institute for International Economic Studies at the university. Throughout the 1960s, he worked on a comprehensive study of trends and policies in South Asia for the Twentieth Century Fund. The study culminated in his three-volume Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, published in 1968. In 1970, he published a companion book called The Challenge of World Poverty, where he laid out what he believed to be the chief policy solutions to the problems he outlined in Asian Drama.
Gunnar Myrdal strongly opposed the Vietnam War. In Asian Drama, Myrdal predicted that land reform and pacification would fail in Vietnam and urged the United States to begin negotiations with North Vietnam. After returning to Sweden, he headed the Swedish Vietnam Committee and became co-chair of International Commission of Inquiry Into U.S. War Crimes in Indochina. He also presided over the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an international watchdog for the arms trade. He was one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto.
In 1967 Myrdal received an honorary doctorate from Sir George Williams University, which later became Concordia University.
In 1971 both he and his wife received honorary doctorates from Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.
He shared the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (otherwise known as the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics) with Friedrich Hayek in 1974, but argued for its abolition because he believed that economics is a "soft" science.
During 1974–1975, he served as visiting professor at NYU.
Myrdal received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1979.
== Personal life ==
Myrdal married politician and diplomat Alva Myrdal in 1924, and together had son Jan Myrdal (born 1927), daughter Sissela Bok (born 1934) and daughter Kaj Fölster (born 1936). Through Fölster, he is the grandfather of Swedish economist Stefan Fölster.
Alva Myrdal was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.
Myrdal suffered from Parkinson's disease and was hospitalized for two months before he died in a hospital in Trångsund, south of Stockholm, on 17 May 1987. His daughter Kaj Fölster and his grandson, Janken Myrdal, were present.
== Contributions to the philosophy of knowledge ==
Gunnar Myrdal's scientific influence was not limited to economics. Through the introduction to Asian Drama with the title "The Beam in our Eyes" (a biblical reference; cf. Matthew 7:1–2) he introduced the approach mentioned as scientific relativism of values. This behavioral approach is narrowly connected to behavioralism and is built on the idea that the logical gulf between "is" and "ought" is more sophisticated than just dividing premises into categories. The articles edited in "Value in Social Theory" underlines Myrdal's importance to political science. As political science normally is considered more descriptive than economics, one might get the idea that Myrdal should not have dealt systematically with the values applied to economics. On the contrary, Myrdal connected social science, political science and economics as a practitioner.
Myrdal published many notable works, both before and after American Dilemma and, among many other contributions to social and public policy, founded and chaired the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Internationally revered as a father-figure of social policy, he contributed to social democratic thinking throughout the world, in collaboration with friends and colleagues in the political and academic arenas. Sweden and Britain were among the pioneers of a welfare state and books by Myrdal (Beyond the Welfare State – New Haven, 1958) and Richard Titmuss (Essays on "The Welfare State" – London, 1958) unsurprisingly explore similar themes. Myrdal's theoretical key concept "circular cumulative causation" contributed to the development of modern Non-equilibrium economics.
=== Welfare world ===
Myrdal suggested that we need to evolve from the welfare state to the welfare world, which would enable the redistribution of income and wealth not only within a country but also on a global scale. During the Cold War era, In Beyond the Welfare State, he proposed the idea of the welfare world to overcome the limitations of the welfare state in the West. Myrdal's recommendations were not accepted by international technocrats or by developing countries. However, he also thought it a more difficult task to establish the welfare world than a welfare state.
He pointed out the following limitations of the welfare state:
Nationalism of already existing Western welfare states preventing development in underdeveloped countries.
Other difficulties of development in the developing countries.
Existence of the communist countries acting as a provocateur for more revolutionary transformations.
== Awards and honours ==
=== Awards ===
West German Peace Prize (1970; jointly with his wife Alva Myrdal)
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1974)
Bronislaw Malinowski Award (1975)
Veblen-Commons Award (1975)
=== Honorary degrees ===
Harvard University (1938)
Fisk University (1947)
Nancy-Université (1950)
Columbia University, Doctor of Humane Letters (1 June 1954)
The New School for Social Research (1956)
University of Leeds, Legume Doctor (1957)
Yale University, Doctor of Laws (1959)
University of Birmingham (1961)
Brandeis University, Doctor of Laws (8 October 1961)
Howard University, Legume Doctor (1962)
Detroit (1963)
University of Edinburgh (1964)
Lincoln University (1964)
Swarthmore College, Doctor of Laws (1964)
Stockholm University, Doctor of Philosophy (31 May 1966)
Sir George Williams University, Doctor of Laws (May 1967)
University of Michigan, Doctor of Laws (1967)
Lehigh University (1967)
Temple University, Doctor of Civil Laws (1968)
University of Louisville, Doctor of Social Science (November 1968)
University of Oslo (1968)
Uppsala University (1968)
University of Jyväskylä (1969)
Atlanta University (1970)
University of Helsinki (1970)
University of the Philippines (1970)
Dartmouth College, Doctor of Science (1971)
Gustavus Adolphus College, Doctor of Humane Letters (1971)
Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (1970)
University of Bucharest (1971)
Heriot-Watt University, Doctor of Letters (July 1979)
Visva-Bharati University (1982)
=== Honours ===
Fellow of the Econometric Society (1943)
Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1945)
Honorary member of the American Economic Association (1947)
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1958)
Member of the British Academy (1973)
Member of the American Philosophical Society (1982)
== Publications ==
The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory. (1930)
Monetary Equilibrium (1931), translated to English in 1939
The Cost of Living in Sweden, 1830–1930 (1933)
Crisis in the Population Question (1934)
Fiscal Policy in the Business Cycle. The American Economic Review, vol 21, no 1, Mar 1939.
Population, a Problem for Democracy. Harvard University Press, 1940.
Contact With America (1941)
An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Harper & Bros, 1944.
Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem. Phylon, Vol. 9, No. 3, 3rd Quarter, 1948.
Conference of the British Sociological Association, 1953. II Opening Address: The Relation between Social Theory and Social Policy The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 3, Sept. 1953.
An International Economy, Problems and Prospects. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1956.
Rich Lands and Poor. 1957.
Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions, Gerald Duckworth, 1957.
Value in Social Theory: A Selection of Essays on Methodology. Ed. Paul Streeten, published by Harper, 1958.
Myrdal (1960). Beyond the Welfare State. Yale University Press.
Challenge to Affluence. Random House, 1963.
America and Vietnam – Transition, No. 3, Oct, 1967.
Twenty Years of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. International Organization, Vol 22, No. 3, Summer, 1968.
Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, 1968.
Objectivity in Social Research, 1969.
The Challenge of World Poverty: A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline. 1970.
Against the Stream.
Hur Styrs Landet?, 1982.
Gunnar Myrdal on Population Policy in the Underdeveloped World – Population and Development Review, Vol 13, No. 3, Sept. 1987.
The Equality Issue in World Development – The American Economic Review, vol 79, no 6, Dec 1989. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin | Benjamin Franklin | Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705] – April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and political philosopher. Among the most influential intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence; and the first postmaster general.
Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the British Parliament and the Crown. He pioneered and was the first president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected its president in 1769. He was appointed deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies in 1753, which enabled him to set up the first national communications network.
Franklin was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. He became a hero in North America when, as an agent in London for several colonies, he spearheaded the repeal of the unpopular Stamp Act by the British Parliament. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired as the first U.S. ambassador to France and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco–American relations. His efforts proved vital in securing French aid for the American Revolution. From 1785 to 1788, he served as President of Pennsylvania. From at least as early as 1735 through the following decades, Franklin owned at least seven slaves and ran "for sale" ads for slaves in his newspaper, but by the late 1750s, he had begun arguing against slavery, became an active abolitionist, and promoted the education and integration of African Americans into U.S. society.
As a scientist, Franklin's studies of electricity made him a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics. He also charted and named the Gulf Stream current. His numerous important inventions include the lightning rod, bifocals, glass harmonica and the Franklin stove. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, the University of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia's first fire department.
Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity. He was the only person to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris peace with Britain, and the Constitution. Foundational in defining the American ethos, Franklin has been called "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become".
Franklin's life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen him honored for more than two centuries after his death on the $100 bill and in the names of many towns and counties, educational institutions and corporations, as well as in numerous cultural references and a portrait in the Oval Office. His more than 30,000 letters and documents have been collected in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Anne Robert Jacques Turgot said of him: "Eripuit fulmen cœlo, mox sceptra tyrannis" ("He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants").
== Ancestry ==
Benjamin Franklin's father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler, soaper, and candlemaker. Josiah Franklin was born at Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, on December 23, 1657, to Thomas Franklin and Jane White. Benjamin's father and all four of his grandparents were born in England.
Josiah Franklin had a total of seventeen children with his two wives. He married his first wife, Anne Child, in about 1677 in Ecton and emigrated with her to Boston in 1683; they had three children before emigration and four after. Following her death, Josiah married Abiah Folger on July 9, 1689, in the Old South Meeting House by Reverend Samuel Willard, and had ten children with her. Benjamin, their eighth child, was Josiah Franklin's fifteenth child overall, and his tenth and final son.
Benjamin Franklin's mother, Abiah, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on August 15, 1667, to Peter Folger, a miller and schoolteacher, and his wife, Mary Morrell Folger, a former indentured servant. Mary Folger came from a Puritan family that was among the first Pilgrims to flee to Massachusetts for religious freedom, sailing for Boston in 1635 after King Charles I of England had begun persecuting Puritans. Her father Peter was "the sort of rebel destined to transform colonial America." As clerk of the court, he was arrested on February 10, 1676, and jailed on February 19 for his inability to pay bail. He spent over a year and a half in jail.
== Early life and education ==
=== Boston ===
Franklin was born on Milk Street in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, on January 17, 1706, and baptized at the Old South Meeting House in Boston. As a child growing up along the Charles River, Franklin recalled that he was "generally the leader among the boys."
Franklin's father wanted him to attend school with the clergy but only had enough money to send him to school for two years. He attended Boston Latin School but did not graduate; he continued his education through voracious reading. Although "his parents talked of the church as a career" for Franklin, his schooling ended when he was ten. He worked for his father for a time, and at 12 he became an apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who taught him the printing trade. When Benjamin was 15, James founded The New-England Courant, which was the third newspaper founded in Boston.
When denied the chance to write a letter to the paper for publication, Franklin adopted the pseudonym of "Silence Dogood", a middle-aged widow. Mrs. Dogood's letters were published and became a subject of conversation around town. Neither James nor the Courant's readers were aware of the ruse, and James was unhappy with Benjamin when he discovered the popular correspondent was his younger brother. Franklin was an advocate of free speech from an early age. When his brother was jailed for three weeks in 1722 for publishing material unflattering to the governor, young Franklin took over the newspaper and had Mrs. Dogood proclaim, quoting Cato's Letters, "Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech." Franklin left his apprenticeship without his brother's permission, and in so doing became a fugitive.
=== Moves to Philadelphia and London ===
At age 17, Franklin ran away to Philadelphia, seeking a new start in a new city. When he first arrived, he worked in several printing shops there, but he was not satisfied by the immediate prospects in any of these jobs. After a few months, while Franklin was working in one printing house, Pennsylvania governor Sir William Keith convinced him to go to London, ostensibly to acquire the equipment necessary for establishing another newspaper in Philadelphia. Discovering that Keith's promises of backing a newspaper were empty, he worked as a typesetter in a printer's shop in what is today the Lady Chapel of Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great in the Smithfield area of London, which had at that time been deconsecrated. He returned to Philadelphia in 1726 with the help of Thomas Denham, an English merchant who had emigrated but returned to England, and who employed Franklin as a clerk, shopkeeper, and bookkeeper in his business.
=== Junto and library ===
In 1727, at age 21, Franklin formed the Junto, a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community." The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia. The Junto was modeled after English coffeehouses that Franklin knew well and which had become the center of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Britain.
Reading was a great pastime of the Junto, but books were rare and expensive. The members created a library, initially assembled from their own books, after Franklin wrote:
A proposition was made by me that since our books were often referr'd to in our disquisitions upon the inquiries, it might be convenient for us to have them altogether where we met, that upon occasion they might be consulted; and by thus clubbing our books to a common library, we should, while we lik'd to keep them together, have each of us the advantage of using the books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if each owned the whole.
This did not suffice, however. Franklin conceived the idea of a subscription library, which would pool the funds of the members to buy books for all to read. This was the birth of the Library Company of Philadelphia, whose charter he composed in 1731.
=== Newspaperman ===
Upon Denham's death, Franklin returned to his former trade. In 1728, he set up a printing house in partnership with Hugh Meredith; the following year he became the publisher of The Pennsylvania Gazette, a newspaper in Philadelphia. The Gazette gave Franklin a forum for agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives through printed essays and observations. Over time, his commentary, and his adroit cultivation of a positive image as an industrious and intellectual young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. But even after he achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he habitually signed his letters with the unpretentious 'B. Franklin, Printer'.
In 1732, he published the first German-language newspaper in America – Die Philadelphische Zeitung – although it failed after only one year because four other newly founded German papers quickly dominated the newspaper market. Franklin also printed Moravian religious books in German. He often visited Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, staying at the Moravian Sun Inn. In a 1751 pamphlet on demographic growth and its implications for the Thirteen Colonies, he called the Pennsylvania Germans "Palatine Boors" who could never acquire the "Complexion" of Anglo-American settlers and referred to "Blacks and Tawneys" as weakening the social structure of the colonies. Although he apparently reconsidered shortly thereafter, and the phrases were omitted from all later printings of the pamphlet, his views may have played a role in his political defeat in 1764.
According to Ralph Frasca, Franklin promoted the printing press as a device to instruct colonial Americans in moral virtue. Frasca argues he saw this as a service to God, because he understood moral virtue in terms of actions, thus, doing good provides a service to God. Despite his own moral lapses, Franklin saw himself as uniquely qualified to instruct Americans in morality. He tried to influence American moral life through the construction of a printing network based on a chain of partnerships from the Carolinas to New England. He thereby invented the first newspaper chain. It was more than a business venture, for like many publishers he believed that the press had a public-service duty.
When he established himself in Philadelphia, shortly before 1730, the town boasted two "wretched little" news sheets, Andrew Bradford's The American Weekly Mercury and Samuel Keimer's Universal Instructor in all Arts and Sciences, and Pennsylvania Gazette. This instruction in all arts and sciences consisted of weekly extracts from Chambers's Universal Dictionary. Franklin quickly did away with all of this when he took over the Instructor and made it The Pennsylvania Gazette. The Gazette soon became his characteristic organ, which he freely used for satire, for the play of his wit, even for sheer excess of mischief or of fun. From the first, he had a way of adapting his models to his own uses. The series of essays called "The Busy-Body", which he wrote for Bradford's American Mercury in 1729, followed the general Addisonian form, already modified to suit homelier conditions. The thrifty Patience, in her busy little shop, complaining of the useless visitors who waste her valuable time, is related to the women who address Mr. Spectator. The Busy-Body himself is a true Censor Morum, as Isaac Bickerstaff had been in the Tatler. And a number of the fictitious characters, Ridentius, Eugenius, Cato, and Cretico, represent traditional 18th-century classicism. Franklin even used this classical framework for contemporary satire, as seen in the character of Cretico, the "sour Philosopher", who is clearly a caricature of his rival, Samuel Keimer.
Franklin had mixed success in his plan to establish an inter-colonial network of newspapers that would produce a profit for him and disseminate virtue. Over the years he sponsored two dozen printers in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, Connecticut, and even the Caribbean. By 1753, eight of the fifteen English language newspapers in the colonies were published by him or his partners. He began in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1731. After his second editor died, the widow, Elizabeth Timothy, took over and made it a success. She was one of the colonial era's first woman printers. For three decades Franklin maintained a close business relationship with her and her son Peter Timothy, who took over the South Carolina Gazette in 1746. The Gazette was impartial in political debates, while creating the opportunity for public debate, which encouraged others to challenge authority. Timothy avoided blandness and crude bias and, after 1765, increasingly took a patriotic stand in the growing crisis with Great Britain. Franklin's Connecticut Gazette (1755–68), however, proved unsuccessful. As the Revolution approached, political strife slowly tore his network apart.
=== Freemasonry ===
In 1730 or 1731, Franklin was initiated into the local Masonic lodge. He became a grand master in 1734, indicating his rapid rise to prominence in Pennsylvania. The same year, he edited and published the first Masonic book in the Americas, a reprint of James Anderson's Constitutions of the Free-Masons. He was the secretary of St. John's Lodge in Philadelphia from 1735 to 1738.
In January 1738, "Franklin appeared as a witness" in a manslaughter trial against two men who killed "a simple-minded apprentice" named Daniel Rees in a fake Masonic initiation gone wrong. One of the men "threw, or accidentally spilled, the burning spirits, and Daniel Rees died of his burns two days later." While Franklin did not directly participate in the hazing that led to Rees' death, he knew of the hazing before it turned fatal, and did nothing to stop it. He was criticized for his inaction in The American Weekly Mercury, by his publishing rival Andrew Bradford. Ultimately, "Franklin replied in his own defense in the Gazette."
Franklin remained a Freemason for the rest of his life.
=== Common-law marriage to Deborah Read ===
At age 17 in 1723, Franklin proposed to 15-year-old Deborah Read while a boarder in the Read home. At that time, Deborah's mother was wary of allowing her young daughter to marry Franklin, who was on his way to London at Governor Keith's request, and also because of his financial instability. Her own husband had recently died, and she declined Franklin's request to marry her daughter.
Franklin travelled to London, and after he failed to communicate as expected with Deborah and her family, they interpreted his long silence as a breaking of his promises. At the urging of her mother, Deborah married a potter named John Rogers on August 5, 1725. John soon fled to Barbados with her dowry in order to avoid debts and prosecution. Since Rogers' fate was unknown, bigamy laws prevented Deborah from remarrying.
Franklin returned in 1726 and resumed his courtship of Deborah. They established a common-law marriage on September 1, 1730. They took in his recently acknowledged illegitimate young son and raised him in their household. They had two children together. Their son, Francis Folger Franklin, was born in October 1732 and died of smallpox in 1736. Their daughter, Sarah "Sally" Franklin, was born in 1743 and eventually married Richard Bache.
Deborah's fear of the sea meant that she never accompanied Franklin on any of his extended trips to Europe; another possible reason why they spent much time apart is that he may have blamed her for possibly preventing their son Francis from being inoculated against the disease that subsequently killed him. Deborah wrote to him in November 1769, saying she was ill due to "dissatisfied distress" from his prolonged absence, but he did not return until his business was done. Deborah Read Franklin died of a stroke on December 14, 1774, while Franklin was on an extended mission to Great Britain; he returned in 1775.
=== William Franklin ===
In 1730, 24-year-old Franklin publicly acknowledged his illegitimate son William and raised him in his household. William was born on February 22, 1730, but his mother's identity is unknown. He was educated in Philadelphia and beginning at about age 30 studied law in London in the early 1760s. William himself fathered an illegitimate son, William Temple Franklin, born on the same day and month: February 22, 1760. The boy's mother was never identified, and he was placed in foster care. In 1762, the elder William Franklin married Elizabeth Downes, daughter of a planter from Barbados, in London. In 1763, he was appointed as the last royal governor of New Jersey.
A Loyalist to the king, William Franklin saw his relations with father Benjamin eventually break down over their differences about the American Revolutionary War, as Benjamin Franklin could never accept William's position. Deposed in 1776 by the revolutionary government of New Jersey, William was placed under house arrest at his home in Perth Amboy for six months. After the Declaration of Independence, he was formally taken into custody by order of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly." He was incarcerated in Connecticut for two years, in Wallingford and Middletown, and, after being caught surreptitiously engaging Americans into supporting the Loyalist cause, was held in solitary confinement at Litchfield for eight months. When finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778, he moved to New York City, which was occupied by the British at the time.
While in New York City, he became leader of the Board of Associated Loyalists, a quasi-military organization chartered by King George III and headquartered in New York City. They initiated guerrilla forays into New Jersey, southern Connecticut, and New York counties north of the city. When British troops evacuated from New York, William Franklin left with them and sailed to England. He settled in London, never to return to North America. In the preliminary peace talks in 1782 with Britain, "... Benjamin Franklin insisted that loyalists who had borne arms against the United States would be excluded from this plea (that they be given a general pardon). He was undoubtedly thinking of William Franklin."
=== Success as an author ===
In 1732, Franklin began to publish the noted Poor Richard's Almanack (with content both original and borrowed) under the pseudonym Richard Saunders, on which much of his popular reputation is based. He frequently wrote under pseudonyms. The first issue published was for the upcoming year, 1733. He had developed a distinct, signature style that was plain, pragmatic and had a sly, soft but self-deprecating tone with declarative sentences. Although it was no secret that he was the author, his Richard Saunders character repeatedly denied it. "Poor Richard's Proverbs", adages from this almanac, such as "A penny saved is twopence dear" (often misquoted as "A penny saved is a penny earned") and "Fish and visitors stink in three days", remain common quotations in the modern world. Wisdom in folk society meant the ability to provide an apt adage for any occasion, and his readers became well prepared. He sold about ten thousand copies per year—it became an institution. In 1741, Franklin began publishing The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle for all the British Plantations in America. He used the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales as the cover illustration.
Franklin wrote a letter, "Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress", dated June 25, 1745, in which he gives advice to a young man about channeling sexual urges. Due to its licentious nature, it was not published in collections of his papers during the 19th century. Federal court rulings from the mid-to-late 20th century cited the document as a reason for overturning obscenity laws and against censorship.
== Public life ==
=== Early steps in Pennsylvania ===
In 1736, Franklin created the Union Fire Company, one of the first volunteer firefighting companies in America. In the same year, he printed a new currency for New Jersey based on innovative anti-counterfeiting techniques he had devised. His political career also commenced, particularly as the Chief Clerk of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, a capacity wherein he served until 1751. Throughout his career, he was an advocate for paper money, publishing A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency in 1729, and his printer printed money. He was influential in the more restrained and thus successful monetary experiments in the Middle Colonies, which stopped deflation without causing excessive inflation. In 1766, he made a case for paper money to the British House of Commons.
As he matured, Franklin began to concern himself more with public affairs. In 1743, he first devised a scheme for the Academy, Charity School, and College of Philadelphia; however, the person he had in mind to run the academy, Rev. Richard Peters, refused and Franklin put his ideas away until 1749 when he printed his own pamphlet, Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania. He was appointed president of the Academy on November 13, 1749; the academy and the charity school opened in 1751.
In 1743, he founded the American Philosophical Society to help scientific men discuss their discoveries and theories. He began the electrical research that, along with other scientific inquiries, would occupy him for the rest of his life, in between bouts of politics and moneymaking.
During King George's War, Franklin raised a militia called the Association for General Defense because the legislators of the city had decided to take no action to defend Philadelphia "either by erecting fortifications or building Ships of War." He raised money to create earthwork defenses and buy artillery. The largest of these was the "Association Battery" or "Grand Battery" of 50 guns.
In 1747, Franklin (already a very wealthy man) retired from printing and went into other businesses. He formed a partnership with his foreman, David Hall, which provided Franklin with half of the shop's profits for 18 years. This lucrative business arrangement provided leisure time for study, and in a few years he had made many new discoveries.
Franklin became involved in Philadelphia politics and rapidly progressed. In October 1748, he was selected as a councilman; in June 1749, he became a justice of the peace for Philadelphia; and in 1751, he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. On August 10, 1753, he was appointed deputy postmaster-general of British North America. His service in domestic politics included reforming the postal system, with mail sent out every week.
In 1751, Franklin and Thomas Bond obtained a charter from the Pennsylvania legislature to establish a hospital. Pennsylvania Hospital was the first hospital in the colonies. In 1752, Franklin organized the Philadelphia Contributionship, the Colonies' first homeowner's insurance company.
Between 1750 and 1753, the "educational triumvirate" of Franklin, Samuel Johnson of Stratford, Connecticut, and schoolteacher William Smith built on Franklin's initial scheme and created what Bishop James Madison, president of the College of William & Mary, called a "new-model" plan or style of American college. Franklin solicited, printed in 1752, and promoted an American textbook of moral philosophy by Samuel Johnson, titled Elementa Philosophica, to be taught in the new colleges. In June 1753, Johnson, Franklin, and Smith met in Stratford. They decided the new-model college would focus on the professions, with classes taught in English instead of Latin, have subject matter experts as professors instead of one tutor leading a class for four years, and there would be no religious test for admission. Johnson went on to found King's College (now Columbia University) in New York City in 1754, while Franklin hired Smith as provost of the College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1755. At its first commencement, on May 17, 1757, seven men graduated; six with a Bachelor of Arts and one with a Master of Arts. It was later merged with the University of the State of Pennsylvania to become the University of Pennsylvania. The college was to become influential in guiding the founding documents of the United States: in the Continental Congress, for example, over one-third of the college-affiliated men who contributed to the Declaration of Independence between September 4, 1774, and July 4, 1776, were affiliated with the college.
In 1754, he headed the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany Congress. This meeting of several colonies had been requested by the Board of Trade in England to improve relations with the Indians and defense against the French. Franklin proposed a broad Plan of Union for the colonies. While the plan was not adopted, elements of it found their way into the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.
In 1753, Harvard University and Yale awarded him honorary master of arts degrees. In 1756, he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from the College of William & Mary. Later in 1756, Franklin organized the Pennsylvania Militia. He used Tun Tavern as a gathering place to recruit a regiment of soldiers to go into battle against the Native American uprisings that beset the American colonies.
=== Postmaster ===
Well known as a printer and publisher, Franklin was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737, holding the office until 1753, when he and publisher William Hunter were named deputy postmasters–general of British North America, the first to hold the office. (Joint appointments were standard at the time, for political reasons.) He was responsible for the British colonies from Pennsylvania north and east, as far as the island of Newfoundland. A post office for local and outgoing mail had been established in Halifax, Nova Scotia, by local stationer Benjamin Leigh, on April 23, 1754, but service was irregular. Franklin opened the first post office to offer regular, monthly mail in Halifax on December 9, 1755. Meantime, Hunter became postal administrator in Williamsburg, Virginia, and oversaw areas south of Annapolis, Maryland. Franklin reorganized the service's accounting system and improved speed of delivery between Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. By 1761, efficiencies led to the first profits for the colonial post office.
When the lands of New France were ceded to the British under the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the British province of Quebec was created among them, and Franklin saw mail service expanded between Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City, and New York. For the greater part of his appointment, he lived in England (from 1757 to 1762, and again from 1764 to 1774)—about three-quarters of his term. Eventually, his sympathies for the rebel cause in the American Revolution led to his dismissal on January 31, 1774.
On July 26, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the United States Post Office and named Franklin as the first United States postmaster general. He had been a postmaster for decades and was a natural choice for the position. He had just returned from England and was appointed chairman of a Committee of Investigation to establish a postal system. The report of the committee, providing for the appointment of a postmaster general for the 13 American colonies, was considered by the Continental Congress on July 25 and 26. On July 26, 1775, Franklin was appointed postmaster general, the first appointed under the Continental Congress. His apprentice, William Goddard, felt that his ideas were mostly responsible for shaping the postal system and that the appointment should have gone to him, but he graciously conceded it to Franklin, 36 years his senior. Franklin, however, appointed Goddard as Surveyor of the Posts, issued him a signed pass, and directed him to investigate and inspect the various post offices and mail routes as he saw fit. The newly established postal system became the United States Post Office, a system that continues to operate today.
==== Political work ====
In 1757, he was sent to England by the Pennsylvania Assembly as a colonial agent to protest against the political influence of the Penn family, the proprietors of the colony. He remained there for five years, striving to end the proprietors' prerogative to overturn legislation from the elected Assembly and their exemption from paying taxes on their land. His lack of influential allies in Whitehall led to the failure of this mission.
At this time, many members of the Pennsylvania Assembly were feuding with William Penn's heirs, who controlled the colony as proprietors. After his return to the colony, Franklin led the "anti-proprietary party" in the struggle against the Penn family and was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House in May 1764. His call for a change from proprietary to royal government was a rare political miscalculation, however: Pennsylvanians worried that such a move would endanger their political and religious freedoms. Because of these fears and because of political attacks on his character, Franklin lost his seat in the October 1764 Assembly elections. The anti-proprietary party dispatched him to England again to continue the struggle against the Penn family proprietorship. During this trip, events drastically changed the nature of his mission.
In London, Franklin opposed the 1765 Stamp Act. Unable to prevent its passage, he made another political miscalculation and recommended a friend, John Hughes, to the post of stamp distributor for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanians were outraged, believing that he had supported the measure all along, and threatened to destroy his home in Philadelphia. Franklin soon learned of the extent of colonial resistance to the Stamp Act, and he testified during the House of Commons proceedings that led to its repeal. With this, Franklin suddenly emerged as the leading spokesman for American interests in England. He wrote popular essays on behalf of the colonies. Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts also appointed him as their agent to the Crown.
During his lengthy missions to London between 1757 and 1775, Franklin lodged in a house on Craven Street, just off the Strand in central London. During his stays there, he developed a close friendship with his landlady, Margaret Stevenson, and her circle of friends and relations, in particular, her daughter Mary, who was more often known as Polly. The house is now a museum known as the Benjamin Franklin House. Whilst in London, Franklin became involved in radical politics. He belonged to a gentlemen's club (which he called "the honest Whigs"), which held stated meetings, and included members such as Richard Price, the minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church who ignited the Revolution controversy, and Andrew Kippis.
==== Scientific work ====
In 1756, Franklin had become a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (now the Royal Society of Arts), which had been founded in 1754. After his return to the United States in 1775, he became the Society's Corresponding Member, continuing a close connection. The Royal Society of Arts instituted a Benjamin Franklin Medal in 1956 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth and the 200th anniversary of his membership of the RSA.
The study of natural philosophy (referred today as science in general) drew him into overlapping circles of acquaintance. Franklin was, for example, a corresponding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. In 1759, the University of St Andrews awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of his accomplishments. In October 1759, he was granted Freedom of the Borough of St Andrews. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University in 1762. Because of these honors, he was often addressed as "Dr. Franklin."
While living in London in 1768, he developed a phonetic alphabet in A Scheme for a new Alphabet and a Reformed Mode of Spelling. This reformed alphabet discarded six letters he regarded as redundant (c, j, q, w, x, and y), and substituted six new letters for sounds he felt lacked letters of their own. This alphabet never caught on, and he eventually lost interest.
=== Return to London and Travels in Europe ===
From the mid-1750s to the mid-1770s, Franklin returned to England and spent much of his time in London., using the city as a base from which to travel. In 1771, he made short journeys through different parts of England, staying with Joseph Priestley at Leeds, Thomas Percival at Manchester and Erasmus Darwin at Lichfield. In Scotland, he spent five days with Lord Kames near Stirling and stayed for three weeks with David Hume in Edinburgh. In 1759, he visited Edinburgh with his son and later reported that he considered his six weeks in Scotland "six weeks of the densest happiness I have met with in any part of my life."
In Ireland, he stayed with Lord Hillsborough. Franklin noted of him that "all the plausible behaviour I have described is meant only, by patting and stroking the horse, to make him more patient, while the reins are drawn tighter, and the spurs set deeper into his sides." In Dublin, Franklin was invited to sit with the members of the Irish Parliament rather than in the gallery. He was the first American to receive this honor. While touring Ireland, he was deeply moved by the level of poverty he witnessed. The economy of the Kingdom of Ireland was affected by the same trade regulations and laws that governed the Thirteen Colonies. He feared that the American colonies could eventually come to the same level of poverty if the regulations and laws continued to apply to them.
Franklin spent two months in German lands in 1766, but his connections to the country stretched across a lifetime. He declared a debt of gratitude to German scientist Otto von Guericke for his early studies of electricity. Franklin also co-authored the first treaty of friendship between Prussia and America in 1785. In September 1767, he visited Paris with his usual traveling partner, Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet. News of his electrical discoveries was widespread in France. His reputation meant that he was introduced to many influential scientists and politicians, and also to King Louis XV.
=== Defending the American cause ===
One line of argument in Parliament was that Americans should pay a share of the costs of the French and Indian War and therefore taxes should be levied on them. Franklin became the American spokesman in highly publicized testimony in Parliament in 1766. He stated that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire. He said local governments had raised, outfitted and paid 25,000 soldiers to fight France—as many as Great Britain itself sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the French and Indian War alone.
In 1772, Franklin obtained private letters of Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver, governor and lieutenant governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, proving that they had encouraged the Crown to crack down on Bostonians. Franklin sent them to North America, where they escalated tensions. The letters were finally leaked to the public in the Boston Gazette in mid-June 1773, causing a political firestorm in Massachusetts and raising significant questions in England. The British began to regard him as the fomenter of serious trouble. Hopes for a peaceful solution ended as he was systematically ridiculed and humiliated by Solicitor-General Alexander Wedderburn, before the Privy Council on January 29, 1774. He returned to Philadelphia in March 1775, and abandoned his accommodationist stance.
In 1773, Franklin published two of his most celebrated pro-American satirical essays: "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One", and "An Edict by the King of Prussia."
=== Agent for British and Hellfire Club membership ===
Franklin is known to have occasionally attended the Hellfire Club's meetings during 1758 as a non-member during his time in England. However, some authors and historians would argue he was in fact a British spy. As there are no records left (having been burned in 1774), many of these members are just assumed or linked by letters sent to each other. One early proponent that Franklin was a member of the Hellfire Club and a double agent is the historian Donald McCormick, who has a history of making controversial claims.
=== Coming of revolution ===
In 1763, soon after Franklin returned to Pennsylvania from England for the first time, the western frontier was engulfed in a bitter war known as Pontiac's Rebellion. The Paxton Boys, a group of settlers convinced that the Pennsylvania government was not doing enough to protect them from American Indian raids, murdered a group of peaceful Susquehannock Indians and marched on Philadelphia. Franklin helped to organize a local militia to defend the capital against the mob. He met with the Paxton leaders and persuaded them to disperse. Franklin wrote a scathing attack against the racial prejudice of the Paxton Boys. "If an Indian injures me", he asked, "does it follow that I may revenge that injury on all Indians?"
He provided an early response to British surveillance through his own network of counter-surveillance and manipulation. "He waged a public relations campaign, secured secret aid, played a role in privateering expeditions, and churned out effective and inflammatory propaganda."
=== Declaration of Independence ===
By the time Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on May 5, 1775, after his second mission to Great Britain, the American Revolution had begun at the Battles of Lexington and Concord the previous month, on April 19, 1775. The New England militia had forced the main British army to remain inside Boston. The Pennsylvania Assembly unanimously chose Franklin as their delegate to the Second Continental Congress. In June 1776, he was appointed a member of the Committee of Five that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Although he was temporarily disabled by gout and unable to attend most meetings of the committee, he made several "small but important" changes to the draft sent to him by Thomas Jefferson.
The "all hang together" saying ascribed to Franklin at the signing is probably apocryphal. He reportedly replied to John Hancock when Hancock stated that they must all hang together, "Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Carl Van Doren in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiographical Writings writes that the person who said this was most likely Richard Penn, former governor of Pennsylvania, replying to a member of Congress who had said "they must all hang together"... 'If you do not, gentlemen,' said Mr. Penn, 'I can tell you that you will be very apt to hang separately.'"
=== Ambassador to France (1776–1785) ===
On October 26, 1776, Franklin was dispatched to France as commissioner for the United States. He took with him as secretary his 16-year-old grandson, William Temple Franklin. They lived in a home in the Parisian suburb of Passy, donated by Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, who supported the United States. Franklin remained in France until 1785. He conducted the affairs of his country toward the French nation with great success, which included securing a critical military alliance in 1778, signing the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and spearheading various clandestine operations against the British, including the privateer activities of John Paul Jones.
Among his associates in France was Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau—a French Revolutionary writer, orator and statesman who in 1791 was elected president of the National Assembly. In July 1784, Franklin met with Mirabeau and contributed anonymous materials that the Frenchman used in his first signed work: Considerations sur l'ordre de Cincinnatus. The publication was critical of the Society of the Cincinnati, established in the United States. Franklin and Mirabeau thought of it as a "noble order", inconsistent with the egalitarian ideals of the new republic.
During his stay in France, he was active as a Freemason, serving as venerable master of the lodge Les Neuf Sœurs from 1779 until 1781. In 1784, when Franz Mesmer began to publicize his theory of "animal magnetism" which was considered offensive by many, Louis XVI appointed a commission to investigate it. These included the chemist Antoine Lavoisier, the physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly, and Franklin. In doing so, the committee concluded, through blind trials that mesmerism only seemed to work when the subjects expected it, which discredited mesmerism and became the first major demonstration of the placebo effect, which was described at that time as "imagination." In 1781, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Franklin's advocacy for religious tolerance in France contributed to arguments made by French philosophers and politicians that resulted in Louis XVI's signing of the Edict of Versailles in November 1787. This edict effectively nullified the Edict of Fontainebleau, which had denied non-Catholics civil status and the right to openly practice their faith.
Franklin also served as American minister to Sweden, although he never visited that country. He negotiated a treaty that was signed in April 1783. On August 27, 1783, in Paris, he witnessed the world's first hydrogen balloon flight. Le Globe, created by professor Jacques Charles and Les Frères Robert, was watched by a vast crowd as it rose from the Champ de Mars (now the site of the Eiffel Tower). Franklin became so enthusiastic that he subscribed financially to the next project to build a manned hydrogen balloon. On December 1, 1783, Franklin was seated in the special enclosure for honored guests it took off from the Jardin des Tuileries, piloted by Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert. Walter Isaacson describes a chess game between Franklin and the Duchess of Bourbon, "who made a move that inadvertently exposed her king. Ignoring the rules of the game, he promptly captured it. 'Ah,' said the duchess, 'we do not take Kings so.' Replied Franklin in a famous quip: 'We do in America.'"
=== Return to North America ===
When he returned home in 1785, Franklin occupied a position second only to that of George Washington as the champion of American independence. Le Ray honored him with a commissioned portrait painted by Joseph Duplessis, which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. After his return, Franklin became an abolitionist and freed his two slaves. He eventually became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.
==== President of Pennsylvania and Delegate to the Constitutional convention ====
Special balloting conducted October 18, 1785, unanimously elected him the sixth president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, replacing John Dickinson. The office was practically that of the governor. He held that office for slightly over three years, longer than any other, and served the constitutional limit of three full terms. Shortly after his initial election, he was re-elected to a full term on October 29, 1785, and again in the fall of 1786 and on October 31, 1787. In that capacity, he served as host to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia.
He also served as a delegate to the Convention. It was primarily an honorary position and he seldom engaged in debate.
According to James McHenry, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Franklin what kind of government they had wrought. He replied: "A republic, madam, if you can keep it."
== Death ==
Franklin suffered from obesity throughout his middle age and elder years, which resulted in multiple health problems, including gout, which worsened as he aged. In poor health during the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, he was rarely seen in public after then until his death.
Franklin died from pleuritic attack at his home in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790, at age 84. His last reported words, conveyed to his daughter, were, "a dying man can do nothing easy", after she suggested that he change position in bed and lie on his side so he could breathe more easily. Franklin's death is described in the book The Life of Benjamin Franklin, quoting from the account of John Paul Jones:
... when the pain and difficulty of breathing entirely left him, and his family were flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery, when an imposthume, which had formed itself in his lungs, suddenly burst, and discharged a quantity of matter, which he continued to throw up while he had power; but, as that failed, the organs of respiration became gradually oppressed; a calm, lethargic state succeeded; and on the 17th instant (April 1790), about eleven o'clock at night, he quietly expired, closing a long and useful life of eighty-four years and three months.
Approximately 20,000 people attended Franklin's funeral, after which he was interred in Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia. Upon learning of his death, the Constitutional Assembly in Revolutionary France entered into a state of mourning for a period of three days, and memorial services were conducted in honor of Franklin throughout the country.
In 1728, at age 22, Franklin wrote what he hoped would be his own epitaph:
The Body of B. Franklin Printer; Like the Cover of an old Book, Its Contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believ'd, appear once more, In a new & more perfect Edition, Corrected and Amended By the Author.
Franklin's actual grave, however, as he specified in his final will, simply reads "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin."
== Inventions and scientific inquiries ==
Franklin was a prodigious inventor. Among his many creations were the lightning rod, Franklin stove, bifocal glasses and the flexible urinary catheter. He never patented his inventions; in his autobiography he wrote, "... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously."
=== Electricity, light ===
Franklin was, along with his contemporary Leonhard Euler, the only major scientist who supported Christiaan Huygens's wave theory of light, which was basically ignored by the rest of the scientific community. In the 18th century, Isaac Newton's corpuscular theory was held to be true; it took Thomas Young's well-known slit experiment in 1803 to persuade most scientists to believe Huygens's theory.
Franklin started exploring the phenomenon of electricity in the 1740s, after he met the itinerant lecturer Archibald Spencer, who used static electricity in his demonstrations. He proposed that "vitreous" and "resinous" electricity were not different types of "electrical fluid" (as electricity was called then), but the same "fluid" under different pressures. (The same proposal was made independently that same year by William Watson.) He was the first to label them as positive and negative respectively, which replaced the then current distinction made between 'vitreous' and 'resinous' electricity, and he was the first to discover the principle of conservation of charge. In 1748, he constructed a multiple plate capacitor, that he called an "electrical battery" (not a true battery like Volta's pile) by placing eleven panes of glass sandwiched between lead plates, suspended with silk cords and connected by wires.
In pursuit of more pragmatic uses for electricity, remarking in spring 1749 that he felt "chagrin'd a little" that his experiments had heretofore resulted in "Nothing in this Way of Use to Mankind", Franklin planned a practical demonstration. He proposed a dinner party where a turkey was to be killed via electric shock and roasted on an electrical spit. After having prepared several turkeys this way, he noted that "the birds kill'd in this manner eat uncommonly tender." Franklin recounted that in the process of one of these experiments, he was shocked by a pair of Leyden jars, resulting in numbness in his arms that persisted for one evening, noting "I am Ashamed to have been Guilty of so Notorious a Blunder."
Franklin briefly investigated electrotherapy, including the use of the electric bath. This work led to the field becoming widely known. In recognition of his work with electricity, he received the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1753, and in 1756, he became one of the few 18th-century Americans elected a fellow of the Society. The CGS unit of electric charge has been named after him: one franklin (Fr) is equal to one statcoulomb.
Franklin advised Harvard University in its acquisition of new electrical laboratory apparatus after the complete loss of its original collection, in a fire that destroyed the original Harvard Hall in 1764. The collection he assembled later became part of the Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, now on public display in its Science Center.
==== Kite experiment and lightning rod ====
Franklin published a proposal for an experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm. On May 10, 1752, Thomas-François Dalibard of France conducted Franklin's experiment using a 40-foot-tall (12 m) iron rod instead of a kite, and he extracted electrical sparks from a cloud. On June 15, 1752, Franklin may possibly have conducted his well-known kite experiment in Philadelphia, successfully extracting sparks from a cloud. He described the experiment in his newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, on October 19, 1752, without mentioning that he himself had performed it. This account was read to the Royal Society on December 21 and printed as such in the Philosophical Transactions. Joseph Priestley published an account with additional details in his 1767 History and Present Status of Electricity. Franklin was careful to stand on an insulator, keeping dry under a roof to avoid the danger of electric shock. Others, such as Georg Wilhelm Richmann in Russia, were indeed electrocuted in performing lightning experiments during the months immediately following his experiment.
In his writings, Franklin indicates that he was aware of the dangers and offered alternative ways to demonstrate that lightning was electrical, as shown by his use of the concept of electrical ground. He did not perform this experiment in the way that is often pictured in popular literature, flying the kite and waiting to be struck by lightning, as it would have been dangerous. Instead he used the kite to collect some electric charge from a storm cloud, showing that lightning was electrical. On October 19, 1752, in a letter to England with directions for repeating the experiment, he wrote:
When rain has wet the kite twine so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it streams out plentifully from the key at the approach of your knuckle, and with this key a phial, or Leyden jar, may be charged: and from electric fire thus obtained spirits may be kindled, and all other electric experiments [may be] performed which are usually done by the help of a rubber glass globe or tube; and therefore the sameness of the electrical matter with that of lightening [sic] completely demonstrated.
Franklin's electrical experiments led to his invention of the lightning rod. He said that conductors with a sharp rather than a smooth point could discharge silently and at a far greater distance. He surmised that this could help protect buildings from lightning by attaching "upright Rods of Iron, made sharp as a Needle and gilt to prevent Rusting, and from the Foot of those Rods a Wire down the outside of the Building into the Ground; ... Would not these pointed Rods probably draw the Electrical Fire silently out of a Cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible Mischief!" Following a series of experiments on Franklin's own house, lightning rods were installed on the Academy of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania) and the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall) in 1752.
Though Franklin is famously associated with kites from his lightning experiments, he has also been noted by many for using kites to pull humans and ships across waterways. George Pocock in the book A Treatise on The Aeropleustic Art, or Navigation in the Air, by means of Kites, or Buoyant Sails noted being inspired by Benjamin Franklin's traction of his body by kite power across a waterway.
=== Thermodynamics ===
Franklin noted a principle of refrigeration by observing that on a very hot day, he stayed cooler in a wet shirt in a breeze than he did in a dry one. To understand this phenomenon more clearly, he conducted experiments. In 1758 on a warm day in Cambridge, England, he and fellow scientist John Hadley experimented by continually wetting the ball of a mercury thermometer with ether and using bellows to evaporate the ether. With each subsequent evaporation, the thermometer read a lower temperature, eventually reaching 7 °F (−14 °C). Another thermometer showed that the room temperature was constant at 65 °F (18 °C). In his letter Cooling by Evaporation, Franklin noted that, "One may see the possibility of freezing a man to death on a warm summer's day."
In 1761, Franklin wrote a letter to Mary Stevenson describing his experiments on the relationship between color and heat absorption. He found that darker color clothes got hotter when exposed to sunlight than lighter color clothes, an early demonstration of black body thermal radiation. One experiment he performed consisted of placing square pieces of cloth of various color out in the snow on a sunny day. He waited some time and then measured that the black pieces sank furthest into the snow of all the colors, indicating that they got the hottest and melted the most snow.
According to Michael Faraday, Franklin's experiments on the non-conduction of ice are worth mentioning, although the law of the general effect of liquefaction on electrolytes is not attributed to Franklin. However, as reported in 1836 by Franklin's great-grandson Alexander Dallas Bache of the University of Pennsylvania, the law of the effect of heat on the conduction of bodies otherwise non-conductors, for example, glass, could be attributed to Franklin. Franklin wrote, "... A certain quantity of heat will make some bodies good conductors, that will not otherwise conduct ..." and again, "... And water, though naturally a good conductor, will not conduct well when frozen into ice."
=== Oceanography and hydrodynamics ===
As deputy postmaster, Franklin became interested in North Atlantic Ocean circulation patterns. While in England in 1768, he heard a complaint from the Colonial Board of Customs. British packet ships carrying mail had taken several weeks longer to reach New York than it took an average merchant ship to reach Newport, Rhode Island. The merchantmen had a longer and more complex voyage because they left from London, while the packets left from Falmouth in Cornwall. Franklin put the question to his cousin Timothy Folger, a Nantucket whaler captain, who told him that merchant ships routinely avoided a strong eastbound mid-ocean current. The mail packet captains sailed dead into it, thus fighting an adverse current of 3 miles per hour (5 km/h). Franklin worked with Folger and other experienced ship captains, learning enough to chart the current and name it the Gulf Stream, by which it is still known today.
Franklin published his Gulf Stream chart in 1770 in England, where it was ignored. Subsequent versions were printed in France in 1778 and the U.S. in 1786. The British original edition of the chart had been so thoroughly ignored that everyone assumed it was lost forever until Phil Richardson, a Woods Hole oceanographer and Gulf Stream expert, discovered it in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris in 1980. This find received front-page coverage in The New York Times. It took many years for British sea captains to adopt Franklin's advice on navigating the current; once they did, they were able to trim two weeks from their sailing time. In 1853, the oceanographer and cartographer Matthew Fontaine Maury noted that while Franklin charted and codified the Gulf Stream, he did not discover it:
Though it was Dr. Franklin and Captain Tim Folger, who first turned the Gulf Stream to nautical account, the discovery that there was a Gulf Stream cannot be said to belong to either of them, for its existence was known to Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, and to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in the 16th century.
An aging Franklin accumulated all his oceanographic findings in Maritime Observations, published by the Philosophical Society's transactions in 1786. It contained ideas for sea anchors, catamaran hulls, watertight compartments, shipboard lightning rods and a soup bowl designed to stay stable in stormy weather.
While traveling on a ship, Franklin had observed that the wake of a ship was diminished when the cooks scuttled their greasy water. He studied the effects on a large pond in Clapham Common, London. "I fetched out a cruet of oil and dropt a little of it on the water ... though not more than a teaspoon full, produced an instant calm over a space of several yards square." He later used the trick to "calm the waters" by carrying "a little oil in the hollow joint of [his] cane."
=== Meteorology ===
On October 21, 1743, according to the popular myth, a storm moving from the southwest denied Franklin the opportunity of witnessing a lunar eclipse. He was said to have noted that the prevailing winds were actually from the northeast, contrary to what he had expected. In correspondence with his brother, he learned that the same storm had not reached Boston until after the eclipse, despite the fact that Boston is to the northeast of Philadelphia. He deduced that storms do not always travel in the direction of the prevailing wind, a concept that greatly influenced meteorology. After the Icelandic volcanic eruption of Laki in 1783, and the subsequent harsh European winter of 1784, Franklin made observations on the causal nature of these two seemingly separate events. He wrote about them in a lecture series.
=== Population studies ===
Franklin had a major influence on the emerging science of demography or population studies. In the 1730s and 1740s, he began taking notes on population growth, finding that the American population had the fastest growth rate on Earth. Emphasizing that population growth depended on food supplies, he emphasized the abundance of food and available farmland in America. He calculated that America's population was doubling every 20 years and would surpass that of England in a century. In 1751, he drafted Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. Four years later, it was anonymously printed in Boston and was quickly reproduced in Britain, where it influenced the economist Adam Smith and later the demographer Thomas Malthus, who credited Franklin for discovering a rule of population growth. Franklin's predictions on how British mercantilism was unsustainable alarmed British leaders who did not want to be surpassed by the colonies, so they became more willing to impose restrictions on the colonial economy.
Kammen (1990) and Drake (2011) say Franklin's Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind (1755) stands alongside Ezra Stiles' "Discourse on Christian Union" (1760) as the leading works of 18th-century Anglo-American demography; Drake credits Franklin's "wide readership and prophetic insight." Franklin was also a pioneer in the study of slave demography, as shown in his 1755 essay. In his capacity as a farmer, he wrote at least one critique about the negative consequences of price controls, trade restrictions, and subsidy of the poor. This is succinctly preserved in his letter to the London Chronicle published November 29, 1766, titled "On the Price of Corn, and Management of the poor."
=== Decision-making ===
In a 1772 letter to Joseph Priestley, Franklin laid out the earliest known description of the Pro & Con list, a common decision-making technique, now sometimes called a decisional balance sheet:
... my Way is, to divide half a Sheet of Paper by a Line into two Columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con. Then during three or four Days Consideration I put down under the different Heads short Hints of the different Motives that at different Times occur to me for or against the Measure. When I have thus got them all together in one View, I endeavour to estimate their respective Weights; and where I find two, one on each side, that seem equal, I strike them both out: If I find a Reason pro equal to some two Reasons con, I strike out the three. If I judge some two Reasons con equal to some three Reasons pro, I strike out the five; and thus proceeding I find at length where the Ballance lies; and if after a Day or two of farther Consideration nothing new that is of Importance occurs on either side, I come to a Determination accordingly.
== Views on religion, morality, and slavery ==
Like the other advocates of republicanism, Franklin emphasized that the new republic could survive only if the people were virtuous. All his life, he explored the role of civic and personal virtue, as expressed in Poor Richard's aphorisms. He felt that organized religion was necessary to keep men good to their fellow men, but rarely attended religious services himself. When he met Voltaire in Paris and asked his fellow member of the Enlightenment vanguard to bless his grandson, Voltaire said in English, "God and Liberty", and added, "this is the only appropriate benediction for the grandson of Monsieur Franklin."
Franklin's parents were both pious Puritans. The family attended the Old South Church, the most liberal Puritan congregation in Boston, where Benjamin Franklin was baptized in 1706. Franklin's father, a poor chandler, owned a copy of a book, Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good, by the Puritan preacher and family friend Cotton Mather, which Franklin often cited as a key influence on his life. "If I have been a useful citizen," Franklin wrote to Cotton Mather's son seventy years later, "the public owes the advantage of it to that book." His first pen name, Silence Dogood, paid homage both to the book and to a widely known sermon by Mather. The book preached the importance of forming voluntary associations to benefit society. Franklin learned about forming do-good associations from Mather, but his organizational skills made him the most influential force in making voluntarism an enduring part of the American ethos.
Franklin formulated a presentation of his beliefs and published it in 1728. He no longer accepted the key Puritan ideas regarding salvation, the divinity of Jesus, or indeed much religious dogma. He classified himself as a deist in his 1771 autobiography, although he still considered himself a Christian. He retained a strong faith in a God as the wellspring of morality and goodness in man, and as a Providential actor in history responsible for American independence.
At a critical impasse during the Constitutional Convention in June 1787, he attempted to introduce the practice of daily common prayer with these words:
... In the beginning of the contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine Protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Superintending providence in our favor. ... And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance. I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men....I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.
The motion gained almost no support and was never brought to a vote.
Franklin was an enthusiastic admirer of the evangelical minister George Whitefield during the First Great Awakening. He did not himself subscribe to Whitefield's theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. He published all of Whitefield's sermons and journals, thereby earning a lot of money and boosting the Great Awakening.
When he stopped attending church, Franklin wrote in his autobiography:
... Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.
Franklin retained a lifelong commitment to the non-religious Puritan virtues and political values he had grown up with, and through his civic work and publishing, he succeeded in passing these values into the American culture permanently. He had a "passion for virtue." These Puritan values included his devotion to egalitarianism, education, industry, thrift, honesty, temperance, charity and community spirit. Thomas Kidd states, "As an adult, Franklin touted ethical responsibility, industriousness, and benevolence, even as he jettisoned Christian orthodoxy."
The classical authors read in the Enlightenment period taught an abstract ideal of republican government based on hierarchical social orders of king, aristocracy and commoners. It was widely believed that English liberties relied on their balance of power, but also hierarchal deference to the privileged class. "Puritanism ... and the epidemic evangelism of the mid-eighteenth century, had created challenges to the traditional notions of social stratification" by preaching that the Bible taught all men are equal, that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class, and that all men can be saved. Franklin, steeped in Puritanism and an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical movement, rejected the salvation dogma but embraced the radical notion of egalitarian democracy.
Franklin's commitment to teach these values was itself something he gained from his Puritan upbringing, with its stress on "inculcating virtue and character in themselves and their communities." These Puritan values and the desire to pass them on, were one of his quintessentially American characteristics and helped shape the character of the nation. Max Weber considered Franklin's ethical writings a culmination of the Protestant ethic, which ethic created the social conditions necessary for the birth of capitalism.
One of his characteristics was his respect, tolerance and promotion of all churches. Referring to his experience in Philadelphia, he wrote in his autobiography, "new Places of worship were continually wanted, and generally erected by voluntary Contribution, my Mite for such purpose, whatever might be the Sect, was never refused." "He helped create a new type of nation that would draw strength from its religious pluralism." The evangelical revivalists who were active mid-century, such as Whitefield, were the greatest advocates of religious freedom, "claiming liberty of conscience to be an 'inalienable right of every rational creature.'" Whitefield's supporters in Philadelphia, including Franklin, erected "a large, new hall, that ... could provide a pulpit to anyone of any belief." Franklin's rejection of dogma and doctrine and his stress on the God of ethics and morality and civic virtue made him the "prophet of tolerance." He composed "A Parable Against Persecution", an apocryphal 51st chapter of Genesis in which God teaches Abraham the duty of tolerance. While he was living in London in 1774, he was present at the birth of British Unitarianism, attending the inaugural session of the Essex Street Chapel, at which Theophilus Lindsey drew together the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England; this was somewhat politically risky and pushed religious tolerance to new boundaries, as a denial of the doctrine of the Trinity was illegal until the 1813 Act.
Although his parents had intended for him a career in the church, Franklin as a young man adopted the Enlightenment religious belief in deism, that God's truths can be found entirely through nature and reason, declaring, "I soon became a thorough Deist." He rejected Christian dogma in a 1725 pamphlet A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, which he later saw as an embarrassment, while simultaneously asserting that God is "all wise, all good, all powerful." He defended his rejection of religious dogma with these words: "I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me." After the disillusioning experience of seeing the decay in his own moral standards, and those of two friends in London whom he had converted to deism, Franklin decided that deism was true but it was not as useful in promoting personal morality as were the controls imposed by organized religion. Ralph Frasca contends that in his later life he can be considered a non-denominational Christian, although he did not believe Christ was divine.
In a major scholarly study of his religion, Thomas Kidd argues that Franklin believed that true religiosity was a matter of personal morality and civic virtue. Kidd says Franklin maintained his lifelong resistance to orthodox Christianity while arriving finally at a "doctrineless, moralized Christianity." According to David Morgan, Franklin was a proponent of "generic religion." He prayed to "Powerful Goodness" and referred to God as "the infinite." John Adams noted that he was a mirror in which people saw their own religion: "The Catholics thought him almost a Catholic. The Church of England claimed him as one of them. The Presbyterians thought him half a Presbyterian, and the Friends believed him a wet Quaker." Adams himself decided that Franklin best fit among the "Atheists, Deists, and Libertines." Whatever else Franklin was, concludes Morgan, "he was a true champion of generic religion." In a letter to Richard Price, Franklin states that he believes religion should support itself without help from the government, claiming, "When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and, when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig'd to call for the help of the Civil Power, it is a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."
In 1790, just about a month before he died, Franklin wrote a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University, who had asked him his views on religion:
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion, as he left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it has received various corrupt changes, and I have, with most of the present Dissenters in England, some Doubts as to his divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and I think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an Opportunity of knowing the Truth with less Trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as it probably has, of making his doctrines more respected and better observed; especially as I do not perceive that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any particular marks of his displeasure.
On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed a three-member committee composed of Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams to design the Great Seal of the United States. Franklin's proposal (which was not adopted) featured the motto: "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God" and a scene from the Book of Exodus he took from the frontispiece of the Geneva Bible, with Moses, the Israelites, the pillar of fire, and George III depicted as pharaoh.
The design that was produced was not acted upon by Congress, and the Great Seal's design was not finalized until a third committee was appointed in 1782.
Franklin strongly supported the right to freedom of speech:
In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech ...
Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech, which is the right of every man ...
=== Thirteen Virtues ===
Franklin sought to cultivate his character by a plan of 13 virtues, which he developed at age 20 (in 1726) and continued to practice in some form for the rest of his life. His autobiography lists his 13 virtues as:
Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
Industry. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Franklin did not try to work on them all at once. Instead, he worked on only one each week "leaving all others to their ordinary chance." While he did not adhere completely to the enumerated virtues, and by his own admission he fell short of them many times, he believed the attempt made him a better man, contributing greatly to his success and happiness, which is why in his autobiography, he devoted more pages to this plan than to any other single point and wrote, "I hope, therefore, that some of my descendants may follow the example and reap the benefit."
=== Slavery ===
Franklin's views and practices concerning slavery evolved over the course of his life. In his early years, Franklin owned seven slaves, including two men who worked in his household and his shop, but in his later years became an adherent of abolition. A revenue stream for his newspaper was paid ads for the sale of slaves and for the capture of runaway slaves and Franklin allowed the sale of slaves in his general store. He later became an outspoken critic of slavery. In 1758, he advocated the opening of a school for the education of black slaves in Philadelphia. He took two slaves to England with him, Peter and King. King escaped with a woman to live in the outskirts of London, and by 1758 he was working for a household in Suffolk. After returning from England in 1762, Franklin became more abolitionist in nature, attacking American slavery. In the wake of Somerset v Stewart, he voiced frustration at British abolitionists:
O Pharisaical Britain! to pride thyself in setting free a single Slave that happens to land on thy coasts, while thy Merchants in all thy ports are encouraged by thy laws to continue a commerce whereby so many hundreds of thousands are dragged into a slavery that can scarce be said to end with their lives, since it is entailed on their posterity!
Franklin refused to publicly debate the issue of slavery at the 1787 Constitutional Convention.
At the time of the American founding, there were about half a million slaves in the United States, mostly in the five southernmost states, where they made up 40% of the population. Many of the leading American founders – such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison – owned slaves, but many others did not. Benjamin Franklin thought that slavery was "an atrocious debasement of human nature" and "a source of serious evils." In 1787, Franklin and Benjamin Rush helped write a new constitution for the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and that same year Franklin became president of the organization. In 1790, Quakers from New York and Pennsylvania presented their petition for abolition to Congress. Their argument against slavery was backed by the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society.
In his later years, as Congress was forced to deal with the issue of slavery, Franklin wrote several essays that stressed the importance of the abolition of slavery and of the integration of African Americans into American society. These writings included:
"An Address to the Public" (1789)
"A Plan for Improving the Condition of the Free Blacks" (1789)
"Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim on the Slave Trade" (1790)
=== Vegetarianism ===
Franklin became a vegetarian when he was a teenager apprenticing at a print shop, after coming upon a book by the early vegetarian advocate Thomas Tryon. In addition, he would have also been familiar with the moral arguments espoused by prominent vegetarian Quakers in the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania, including Benjamin Lay and John Woolman. His reasons for vegetarianism were based on health, ethics, and economy:
When about 16 years of age, I happen'd to meet with a book written by one Tryon, recommending a vegetable diet. I determined to go into it ... [By not eating meat] I presently found that I could save half what [my brother] paid me. This was an additional fund for buying books: but I had another advantage in it ... I made the greater progress from that greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension which usually attend temperance in eating and drinking.
Franklin also declared the consumption of fish to be "unprovoked murder." Despite his convictions, he began to eat fish after being tempted by fried cod on a boat sailing from Boston, justifying the eating of animals by observing that the fish's stomach contained other fish. Nonetheless, he recognized the faulty ethics in this argument and would continue to be a vegetarian on and off. He was "excited" by tofu, which he learned of from the writings of a Spanish missionary to Southeast Asia, Domingo Fernández Navarrete. Franklin sent a sample of soybeans to prominent American botanist John Bartram and had previously written to British diplomat and Chinese trade expert James Flint inquiring as to how tofu was made, with their correspondence believed to be the first documented use of the word "tofu" in the English language.
Franklin's "Second Reply to Vindex Patriae," a 1766 letter advocating self-sufficiency and less dependence on England, lists various examples of the bounty of American agricultural products, and does not mention meat. Detailing new American customs, he wrote that, "[t]hey resolved last spring to eat no more lamb; and not a joint of lamb has since been seen on any of their tables ... the sweet little creatures are all alive to this day, with the prettiest fleeces on their backs imaginable."
=== View on inoculation ===
The concept of preventing smallpox by variolation was introduced to colonial America by an African slave named Onesimus via his owner Cotton Mather in the early eighteenth century, but the procedure was not immediately accepted. James Franklin's newspaper carried articles in 1721 that vigorously denounced the concept.
However, by 1736 Benjamin Franklin was known as a supporter of the procedure. Therefore, when four-year-old "Franky" died of smallpox, opponents of the procedure circulated rumors that the child had been inoculated, and that this was the cause of his subsequent death. When Franklin became aware of this gossip, he placed a notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette, stating: "I do hereby sincerely declare, that he was not inoculated, but receiv'd the Distemper in the common Way of Infection ... I intended to have my Child inoculated." The child had a bad case of flux diarrhea, and his parents had waited for him to get well before having him inoculated. Franklin wrote in his Autobiography: "In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen."
== Views on the future of technology ==
In a letter to Joseph Priestley, dated February 8, 1780, Franklin speculated that in the future "all Diseases may by sure means be prevented or cured, not excepting even that of Old Age, and our Lives lengthened at pleasure even beyond the antediluvian Standard". In the same letter, Franklin wrote:
The rapid progress true science now makes, occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon: it is impossible to imagine the height to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter; we may perhaps learn to deprive large masses of their gravity, and give them absolute levity for the sake of easy transport. Agriculture may diminish its labour and double its produce...
In 1773, Franklin imagined a technology similar to cryonics:
I wish it were possible to invent a method of embalming drowned persons in such a manner that they might be recalled to life at any period, however distant; for having a very ardent desire to see and observe the state of America a hundred years hence...
== Interests and activities ==
=== Musical endeavors ===
Franklin is known to have played the violin, the harp, and the guitar. He also composed music, which included a string quartet in early classical style. While he was in London, he developed a much-improved version of the glass harmonica, in which the glasses rotate on a shaft, with the player's fingers held steady, instead of the other way around. He worked with the London glassblower Charles James to create it, and instruments based on his mechanical version soon found their way to other parts of Europe. Joseph Haydn, a fan of Franklin's enlightened ideas, had a glass harmonica in his instrument collection. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed for Franklin's glass harmonica, as did Ludwig van Beethoven. Gaetano Donizetti used the instrument in the accompaniment to Amelia's aria "Par che mi dica ancora" in the tragic opera Il castello di Kenilworth (1821), as did Camille Saint-Saëns in his 1886 The Carnival of the Animals. Richard Strauss calls for the glass harmonica in his 1917 Die Frau ohne Schatten, and numerous other composers used Franklin's instrument as well.
=== Chess ===
Franklin was an avid chess player. He was playing chess by around 1733, making him the first chess player known by name in the American colonies. His essay on "The Morals of Chess" in Columbian Magazine in December 1786 is the second known writing on chess in America. This essay in praise of chess and prescribing a code of behavior for the game has been widely reprinted and translated. He and a friend used chess as a means of learning the Italian language, which both were studying; the winner of each game between them had the right to assign a task, such as parts of the Italian grammar to be learned by heart, to be performed by the loser before their next meeting.
Franklin was able to play chess more frequently against stronger opposition during his many years as a civil servant and diplomat in England, where the game was far better established than in America. He was able to improve his playing standard by facing more experienced players during this period. He regularly attended Old Slaughter's Coffee House in London for chess and socializing, making many important personal contacts. While in Paris, both as a visitor and later as ambassador, he visited the famous Café de la Régence, which France's strongest players made their regular meeting place. No records of his games have survived, so it is not possible to ascertain his playing strength in modern terms.
Franklin was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 1999. The Franklin Mercantile Chess Club in Philadelphia, the second oldest chess club in the U.S., is named in his honor.
== Legacy ==
=== Bequest ===
Franklin bequeathed £1,000 (about $4,400 at the time, or about $125,000 in 2021 dollars) each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, in trust to gather interest for 200 years. The trust began in 1785 when the French mathematician Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour, who admired Franklin greatly, wrote a friendly parody of Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack called Fortunate Richard. The main character leaves a smallish amount of money in his will, five lots of 100 livres, to collect interest over one, two, three, four or five full centuries, with the resulting astronomical sums to be spent on impossibly elaborate utopian projects. Franklin, who was 79 years old at the time, wrote thanking him for a great idea and telling him that he had decided to leave a bequest of 1,000 pounds each to his native Boston and his adopted Philadelphia.
By 1990, more than $2,000,000 (~$4.23 million in 2024) had accumulated in Franklin's Philadelphia trust, which had loaned the money to local residents. From 1940 to 1990, the money was used mostly for mortgage loans. When the trust came due, Philadelphia decided to spend it on scholarships for local high school students. Franklin's Boston trust fund accumulated almost $5,000,000 during that same time; at the end of its first 100 years a portion was allocated to help establish a trade school that became the Franklin Institute of Boston, and the entire fund was later dedicated to supporting this institute.
In 1787, a group of prominent ministers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, proposed the foundation of a new college named in Franklin's honor. Franklin donated £200 towards the development of Franklin College (now called Franklin & Marshall College).
=== Likeness and image ===
As the only person to have signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778, Treaty of Paris in 1783, and U.S. Constitution in 1787, Franklin is considered one of the leading Founding Fathers of the United States. His pervasive influence in the early history of the nation has led to his being jocularly called "the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States."
Franklin's likeness is ubiquitous. Since 1914, it has adorned American $100 bills. From 1948 to 1963, Franklin's portrait was on the half-dollar. He has appeared on a $50 bill and on several varieties of the $100 bill from 1914 and 1918. Franklin also appears on the $1,000 Series EE savings bond.
On April 12, 1976, as part of a bicentennial celebration, Congress dedicated a 20-foot (6 m) tall marble statue in Philadelphia's Franklin Institute as the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller presided over the dedication ceremony. Many of Franklin's personal possessions are on display at the institute. In London, his house at 36 Craven Street, which is the only surviving former residence of Franklin, was first marked with a blue plaque and has since been opened to the public as the Benjamin Franklin House. In 1998, workmen restoring the building dug up the remains of six children and four adults hidden below the home. A total of 15 bodies have been recovered. The Friends of Benjamin Franklin House (the organization responsible for the restoration) note that the bones were likely placed there by William Hewson, who lived in the house for two years and who had built a small anatomy school at the back of the house. They note that while Franklin likely knew what Hewson was doing, he probably did not participate in any dissections because he was much more of a physicist than a medical man.
He has been honored on U.S. postage stamps many times. The image of Franklin, the first postmaster general of the United States, occurs on the face of U.S. postage more than any other American save that of George Washington. He appeared on the first U.S. postage stamp issued in 1847. From 1908 through 1923, the U.S. Post Office issued a series of postage stamps commonly referred to as the Washington–Franklin Issues, in which Washington and Franklin were depicted many times over a 14-year period, the longest run of any one series in U.S. postal history. However, he only appears on a few commemorative stamps. Some of the finest portrayals of Franklin on record can be found on the engravings inscribed on the face of U.S. postage. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music | The Sound of Music | The Sound of Music is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 book The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German Navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children. Many songs from the musical have become standards, including "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and the title song "The Sound of Music".
The original Broadway production, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, opened in 1959 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, out of nine nominations. The first London production opened at the Palace Theatre in 1961. The show has enjoyed numerous productions and revivals since then. It was adapted as a 1965 film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Sound of Music was the last musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, as Oscar Hammerstein died of stomach cancer nine months after the Broadway premiere.
== History ==
After viewing The Trapp Family, a 1956 West German film about the Trapp family, and its 1958 sequel (The Trapp Family in America), stage director Vincent J. Donehue thought that the project would be perfect for his friend Mary Martin; Broadway producers Leland Hayward and Richard Halliday (Martin's husband) agreed. The producers originally envisioned a non-musical play that would be written by Lindsay and Crouse and that would feature songs from the repertoire of the Trapp Family Singers. Then they decided to add an original song or two, perhaps by Rodgers and Hammerstein. But it was soon agreed that the project should feature all new songs and be a musical rather than a play.
Details of the history of the von Trapp family were altered for the musical. The real Georg von Trapp did live with his family in a villa in Aigen, a suburb of Salzburg. He wrote to the Nonnberg Abbey in 1926 asking for a nun to help tutor his sick daughter, and the Mother Abbess sent Maria. His wife, Agathe Whitehead, had died in 1922. The real Maria and Georg married at the Nonnberg Abbey in 1927. Lindsay and Crouse altered the story so that Maria was governess to all of the children, whose names and ages were changed, as was Maria's original surname (the show used "Rainer" instead of "Kutschera"). The von Trapps spent some years in Austria after Maria and the Captain married and he was offered a commission in Germany's navy. Since von Trapp opposed the Nazis by that time, the family left Austria after the Anschluss, going by train to Italy and then traveling on to London and the United States. To make the story more dramatic, Lindsay and Crouse had the family, soon after Maria's and the Captain's wedding, escape over the mountains to Switzerland on foot.
== Synopsis ==
=== Act I ===
In Salzburg, Federal State of Austria, just before World War II, nuns from Nonnberg Abbey sing the Dixit Dominus. One of the postulants, Maria Rainer, is on the nearby mountainside, regretting leaving the beautiful hills ("The Sound of Music"). She returns late to the abbey where the Mother Abbess and the other nuns have been considering what to do about the free-spirit ("Maria"). Maria explains her lateness, saying she was raised on that mountain, and apologizes for singing in the garden without permission. The Mother Abbess joins her in song ("My Favorite Things"). The Mother Abbess tells her that she should spend some time outside the abbey to decide whether she is suited for the monastic life. She will act as the governess to the seven children of a widower, Austro-Hungarian Navy submarine Captain Georg von Trapp.
Maria arrives at the villa of Captain von Trapp. He explains her duties and summons the children with a boatswain's call. They march in, clad in uniforms. He teaches her their individual signals on the call, but she openly disapproves of this militaristic approach. Alone with them, she breaks through their wariness and teaches them the basics of music ("Do-Re-Mi").
Rolf, a young messenger, delivers a telegram and then meets with the eldest child, Liesl, outside the villa. He claims he knows what is right for her because he is a year older than she ("Sixteen Going on Seventeen"). They kiss, and he runs off, leaving her squealing with joy. Meanwhile, the housekeeper, Frau Schmidt, gives Maria material to make new clothes, as Maria had given all her possessions to the poor. Maria sees Liesl slipping in through the window, wet from a sudden thunderstorm, but agrees to keep her secret. The other children are frightened by the storm. Maria sings "The Lonely Goatherd" to distract them.
Captain von Trapp arrives a month later from Vienna with Baroness Elsa Schraeder and Max Detweiler. Elsa tells Max that something is preventing the Captain from marrying her. He opines that only poor people have the time for great romances ("How Can Love Survive"). Rolf enters, looking for Liesl, and greets them with "Heil". The Captain orders him away, saying that he is Austrian, not German. Maria and the children leapfrog in, wearing play-clothes that she made from the old drapes in her room. Infuriated, the Captain sends them off to change. She tells him that the children need him to show his love for them, and he angrily orders her back to the abbey. As she apologizes, they hear the children singing "The Sound of Music", which she had taught them, to welcome Elsa Schraeder. He joins in and embraces them. Alone with Maria, he asks her to stay, thanking her for bringing music back into his house. Elsa is suspicious of her until she explains that she will be returning to the abbey in September.
The Captain gives a party to introduce Elsa, and guests argue over the Anschluss (the Nazi German annexation of Austria). Kurt asks Maria to teach him to dance the Ländler. When he fails to negotiate a complicated figure, the Captain steps in to demonstrate. He and Maria dance until they come face-to-face; and she breaks away, embarrassed and confused. Discussing the expected marriage between Elsa and the Captain, Brigitta tells Maria that she thinks Maria and the Captain are really in love with each other. Elsa asks the Captain to allow the children to say goodnight to the guests with a song ("So Long, Farewell"). Max is amazed at their talent and wants them for the Kaltzburg Festival, which he is organizing. The guests leave for the dining room, and Maria slips out the front door with her luggage.
At the abbey, Maria says that she is ready to take her monastic vows; but the Mother Abbess realizes that she is running away from her feelings. She tells her to face the Captain and discover if they love each other, and tells her to search for and find the life she was meant to live ("Climb Ev'ry Mountain").
=== Act II ===
Max teaches the children how to sing on stage. When the Captain tries to lead them, they complain that he is not doing it as Maria did. He tells them that he has asked Elsa to marry him. They try to cheer themselves up by singing "My Favorite Things" but are unsuccessful until they hear Maria singing on her way to rejoin them. Learning of the wedding plans, she decides to stay only until the Captain can arrange for another governess. Max and Elsa argue with the Captain about the imminent Anschluss, trying to convince him that it is inevitable ("No Way to Stop It"). When he refuses to compromise on his opposition to it, Elsa breaks off the engagement. Alone, the Captain and Maria finally admit their love, desiring only to be "An Ordinary Couple". As they marry, the nuns reprise "Maria" against the wedding processional.
While Maria and the Captain are on their honeymoon, Max prepares the children to perform at the Kaltzburg Festival. Herr Zeller, the Gauleiter of the region, demands to know why they are not flying the Flag of Nazi Germany now that the Anschluss has occurred. The Captain and Maria return early from their honeymoon before the Festival. In view of the Nazi German occupation, the Captain decides the children should not sing at the event. Max argues that they would sing for Austria, but the Captain points out that it no longer exists. Maria and Liesl discuss romantic love; Maria predicts that in a few years Liesl will be married ("Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise)"). Rolf enters with a telegram that offers the Captain a commission in the German Navy, and Liesl is upset to discover that Rolf is now a committed Nazi. The Captain consults Maria and decides that they must secretly flee Austria. German Admiral von Schreiber arrives to find out why Captain von Trapp has not answered the telegram. He explains that the German Navy holds him in high regard, offers him the commission, and tells him to report immediately to Bremerhaven to assume command. Maria says that he cannot leave immediately, as they are all singing in the Festival concert; and the Admiral agrees to wait.
At the concert, after the von Trapps sing an elaborate reprise of "Do-Re-Mi", Max brings out the Captain's guitar. Captain von Trapp sings "Edelweiss", as a goodbye to his homeland, while using Austria's national flower as a symbol to declare his loyalty to the country. Max asks for an encore and announces that this is the von Trapp family's last chance to sing together, as the honor guard waits to escort the Captain to his new command. While the judges decide on the prizes, the von Trapps sing "So Long, Farewell" (reprise), leaving the stage in small groups. Max then announces the runners-up, stalling as much as possible. When he announces that the first prize goes to the von Trapps and they do not appear, the Nazis start a search. The family hides at the Abbey, and Sister Margaretta tells them that the borders have been closed. Rolf comes upon them and calls his lieutenant, but after seeing Liesl he changes his mind and tells him they aren't there. The Nazis leave, and the von Trapps flee over the Alps as the nuns reprise "Climb Ev'ry Mountain".
== Musical numbers ==
Notes
The musical numbers listed appeared in the original production unless otherwise noted.
† Sometimes replaced by "Something Good", which was written for the 1965 film version.
‡ Replaced by "The Lonely Goatherd" in the 1998 revival.
In some productions, "My Favorite Things" follows "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in the thunderstorm scene, while "The Lonely Goatherd" is shifted to the concert scene.
Many stage revivals have also included "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good", which were written by Richard Rodgers for the film version (since the film was made after original lyricist Oscar Hammerstein's death).
"Edelweiss" was written for the musical and did not become known in Austria until after the film's success.
The Ländler dance performed by Maria and the Captain during the party is only loosely based on the traditional Austrian dance of the same name.
== Characters and casts ==
=== Characters ===
Maria Rainer, a postulant at Nonnberg Abbey
Captain Georg von Trapp
The Children:
Liesl von Trapp, age 16
Friedrich von Trapp, age 14
Louisa von Trapp, age 13
Kurt von Trapp, age 11
Brigitta von Trapp, age 10
Marta von Trapp, age 7
Gretl von Trapp, age 5
The Mother Abbess, the head of Nonnberg Abbey
Baroness Elsa Schraeder, Captain von Trapp's "wealthy and sophisticated" fiancée
Max Detweiler, Captain von Trapp's friend, a music agent and producer
Rolf Gruber, the 17-year-old Nazi delivery boy who is in love with Liesl
Sisters Bertha, Margareta and Sophia, nuns at the Abbey
Franz, Captain von Trapp's butler
Frau Schmidt, Captain von Trapp's housekeeper
Herr Zeller, the Gauleiter
Admiral von Schreiber, of the German Navy
Ensemble of nuns, high-society neighbors of Captain von Trapp, Nazi soldiers and festival concert contestants
=== Original casts ===
=== Notable replacements ===
Broadway (1959–63)
Maria: Martha Wright, Jeannie Carson, Nancy Dussault
Baroness: Lois Hunt
Max: Paul Lipson
Rolf: Jon Voight
Broadway (1998–99)
Maria: Laura Benanti
Captain von Trapp: Dennis Parlato, Richard Chamberlain
Max: Patrick Quinn, Lenny Wolpe
West End (2006–09)
Maria: Summer Strallen
Captain von Trapp: Simon Burke, Simon MacCorkindale
The Mother Abbess: Margaret Preece
== Productions ==
=== Original productions ===
The Sound of Music premiered at New Haven's Shubert Theatre where it played an eight-performance tryout in October and November 1959 before another short tryout in Boston. The musical then opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, moved to the Mark Hellinger Theatre on November 6, 1962, and closed on June 15, 1963, after 1,443 performances. The director was Vincent J. Donehue, and the choreographer was Joe Layton. The original cast included Mary Martin as Maria, Theodore Bikel as Captain Georg von Trapp, Patricia Neway as Mother Abbess, Kurt Kasznar as Max Detweiler, Marion Marlowe as Elsa Schraeder, Brian Davies as Rolf, Lauri Peters as Liesl and Muriel O'Malley as Sister Margaretta. Patricia Brooks, June Card and Tatiana Troyanos were ensemble members in the original production. The show tied for the Tony Award for Best Musical with Fiorello!. Other awards included Martin for Best Actress in a Musical, Neway for Best Featured Actress, Best Scenic Design (Oliver Smith) and Best Conductor And Musical Director (Frederick Dvonch). Bikel and Kasznar were nominated for acting awards, and Donehue was nominated for his direction. The entire children's cast was nominated for Best Featured Actress category as a single nominee, even though two of the children were boys.
Martha Wright replaced Martin in the role of Maria on Broadway in October 1961, followed by Karen Gantz in July 1962, Jeannie Carson in August 1962 and Nancy Dussault in September 1962. Jon Voight, who later married co-star Lauri Peters, was a replacement for Rolf from September 1961 to June 1962. The national tour starred Florence Henderson as Maria and Beatrice Krebs as Mother Abbess. It opened at the Grand Riviera Theater, Detroit, on February 27, 1961, and closed November 23, 1963, at the O'Keefe Centre, Toronto. Henderson was succeeded by Barbara Meister in June 1962. Theodore Bikel was not satisfied playing the role of the Captain, and Bikel did not like to play the same role over and over again. In his autobiography, he writes: "I promised myself then that if I could afford it, I would never do a run as long as that again."
The musical premiered in London's West End at the Palace Theatre on May 18, 1961, and ran for 2,385 performances. It was directed by Jerome Whyte and used the original New York choreography, supervised by Joe Layton, and the original sets designed by Oliver Smith. The cast included Jean Bayless as Maria, followed by Sonia Rees, Roger Dann as Captain von Trapp, Constance Shacklock as Mother Abbess, Eunice Gayson as Elsa Schraeder, Harold Kasket as Max Detweiler, Barbara Brown as Liesl, Nicholas Bennett as Rolf and Olive Gilbert as Sister Margaretta.
Hammerstein died of stomach cancer on August 23, 1960, nine months after the premiere of The Sound of Music, writing no further musicals.
=== 1981 West End revival ===
In 1981, at producer Ross Taylor's urging, Petula Clark agreed to star in a revival of the show at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London's West End. Michael Jayston played Captain von Trapp, Honor Blackman was the Baroness and June Bronhill played the Mother Abbess. Other notable cast members included Helen Anker, John Bennett and Martina Grant. Despite her misgivings that, at age 49, she was too old to play the role convincingly, Clark opened to unanimous rave reviews and the largest advance sale in the history of British theatre at that time. Maria von Trapp, who attended the opening night performance, described Clark as "the best" Maria ever. Clark extended her initial six-month contract to thirteen months. Playing to 101 percent of seating capacity, the show set the highest attendance figure for a single week (October 26–31, 1981) of any British musical production in history (as recorded in The Guinness Book of Theatre). It was the first stage production to incorporate the two additional songs ("Something Good" and "I Have Confidence") that Richard Rodgers composed for the film version. "My Favorite Things" had a similar context to the film version, while the short verse "A Bell is No Bell" was extended into a full-length song for Maria and the Mother Abbess. "The Lonely Goatherd" was set in a new scene at a village fair.
=== 1998 Broadway revival ===
Director Susan H. Schulman staged the first Broadway revival of The Sound of Music, with Rebecca Luker as Maria and Michael Siberry as Captain von Trapp. It also featured Patti Cohenour as Mother Abbess, Jan Maxwell as Elsa Schraeder, Fred Applegate as Max Detweiler, Dashiell Eaves as Rolf, Patricia Conolly as Frau Schmidt and Laura Benanti, in her Broadway debut, as Luker's understudy. Later, Luker and Siberry were replaced by Richard Chamberlain as the Captain and Benanti as Maria. Lou Taylor Pucci made his Broadway debut as the understudy for Kurt von Trapp. The production opened on March 12, 1998, at the Martin Beck Theatre, and closed on June 20, 1999, after 533 performances. This production was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. It then toured in North America.
=== 2006 West End revival ===
An Andrew Lloyd Webber production opened on November 15, 2006, at the London Palladium, produced by Live Nation's David Ian and Jeremy Sams. Following failed negotiations with Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson, the role of Maria was cast through a UK talent search reality TV show called How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria? The talent show was produced by (and featured) Andrew Lloyd Webber and also featured presenter/comedian Graham Norton and a judging panel of David Ian, John Barrowman and Zoë Tyler.
Connie Fisher was selected by public voting as the winner of the show. In early 2007, Fisher suffered from a heavy cold that prevented her from performing for two weeks. To prevent further disruptions, an alternate Maria, Aoife Mulholland, a fellow contestant on How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?, played Maria on Monday evenings and Wednesday matinee performances. Simon Shepherd was originally cast as Captain von Trapp, but after two preview performances he was withdrawn from the production, and Alexander Hanson moved into the role in time for the official opening date along with Lesley Garrett as the Mother Abbess. After Garrett left, Margaret Preece took the role. The cast also featured Lauren Ward as the Baroness, Ian Gelder as Max, Sophie Bould as Liesl, and Neil McDermott as Rolf. Other notable replacements included Simon Burke and Simon MacCorkindale as the Captain and newcomer Amy Lennox as Liesl. Summer Strallen replaced Fisher in February 2008, with Mulholland playing Maria on Monday evenings and Wednesday matinees. The revival received enthusiastic reviews, especially for Fisher, Preece, Bould and Garrett. The production closed on February 21, 2009, after a run of over two years and was followed by a UK national tour, described below.
=== 2009 and 2015 UK tours ===
A UK tour began in 2009 and visited more than two dozen cities before ending in 2011. The original cast included Connie Fisher as Maria, Michael Praed as Captain von Trapp and Margaret Preece as the Mother Abbess. Kirsty Malpass was the alternate Maria. Jason Donovan assumed the role of Captain Von Trapp, and Verity Rushworth took over as Maria, in early 2011. Lesley Garrett reprised her role as Mother Abbess for the tour's final engagement in Wimbledon in October 2011.
Another UK tour, produced by Bill Kenwright, began in 2015 and toured into 2016. It was directed by Martin Connor and starred Lucy O'Byrne as Maria.
=== 2015 and 2025 North American tours ===
A North American tour, directed by Jack O'Brien and choreographed by Danny Mefford, began at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in September 2015. The tour ran until July 2017. Kerstin Anderson played Maria, with Ben Davis as Capt. von Trapp and Ashley Brown as Mother Abbess. The production received warm reviews.
A North American tour began in September 2025. The production is also directed by O'Brien with choreography by Mefford. The cast is led by Cayleigh Capaldi as Maria, Kevin Earley as Captain von Trapp, Christiane Noll as Mother Abbess, Nicholas Rodriguez as Max, Kate Loprest as the baroness, Ariana Ferch as Liesl and Ian Coursey as Rolf.
=== Other notable productions ===
==== 1960s to 2000 ====
The first Australian production opened at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 1961 and ran for three years. The production was directed by Charles Hickman, with musical numbers staged by Ernest Parham. The cast included June Bronhill as Maria, Peter Graves as Captain von Trapp and Rosina Raisbeck as Mother Abbess. A touring company then played for years, with Vanessa Lee (Graves' wife) in the role of Maria.
In 1988, the Moon Troupe of Takarazuka Revue performed the musical at the Bow Hall (Takarazuka, Hyōgo). Harukaze Hitomi and Gou Mayuka starred. A 1990 New York City Opera production, directed by Oscar Hammerstein II's son, James, featured Debby Boone as Maria, Laurence Guittard as Captain von Trapp, and Werner Klemperer as Max.
An Australian revival played in the Lyric Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales, from November 1999 to February 2000. Lisa McCune played Maria, John Waters was Captain von Trapp, Bert Newton was Max, Eilene Hannan was Mother Abbess and Rachel Marley was Marta. This production was based on the 1998 Broadway revival staging. The production then toured until February 2001, in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Rachael Beck took over as Maria in Perth and Adelaide, and Rob Guest took over as Captain von Trapp in Perth.
==== 21st century ====
An Austrian production premiered in 2005 at the Volksoper Wien in German. It was directed and choreographed by Renaud Doucet. The cast included Sandra Pires as Maria, Kurt Schreibmayer and Michael Kraus as von Trapp, with Heidi Brunner as Mother Abbess. The song "Do-Re-Mi" was rewritten as "C wie Cellophanpapier", replacing the solfège syllables with the German letter notation C through H and selecting mnemonics that begin with each letter. The production is still in the repertoire of the Volksoper with performances each season; performances are scheduled for 2024.
The Salzburg Marionette Theatre has toured extensively with their version that features the recorded voices of Broadway singers such as Christiane Noll as Maria. The tour began in Dallas, Texas, in 2007 and continued in Salzburg in 2008. The director is Richard Hamburger. In 2008, a Brazilian production with Kiara Sasso as Maria and Herson Capri as the Captain played in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and a Dutch production was mounted with Wieneke Remmers as Maria, directed by John Yost.
Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Ian and David Mirvish presented The Sound of Music at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto from 2008 to 2010. The role of Maria was chosen by the public through a television show, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, which was produced by Lloyd Webber and Ian and aired in mid-2008. Elicia MacKenzie won and played the role six times a week, while the runner-up in the TV show, Janna Polzin, played Maria twice a week. Captain von Trapp was played by Burke Moses. The show ran for more than 500 performances. It was Toronto's longest running revival ever.
A production ran at the Ópera-Citi theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2011. The cast included Laura Conforte as Maria and Diego Ramos as Captain Von Trapp. A Spanish national tour began in November 2011 at the Auditorio de Tenerife in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The tour visited 29 Spanish cities, spending one year in Madrid's Gran Vía at the Teatro Coliseum, and one season at the Tívoli Theatre in Barcelona. It was directed by Jaime Azpilicueta and starred Silvia Luchetti as Maria and Carlos J. Benito as Captain Von Trapp.
A production was mounted at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park from July to September 2013. It starred Charlotte Wakefield as Maria, with Michael Xavier as Captain von Trapp and Caroline Keiff as Elsa. It received enthusiastic reviews and became the highest-grossing production ever at the theatre. In 2014, the show was nominated for Best Musical Revival at the Laurence Olivier Awards and Wakefield was nominated for Best Actress in a Musical.
A brief South Korean production played in 2014 The same year, a Spanish language translation opened at Teatro de la Universidad in San Juan, under the direction of Edgar García. It starred Lourdes Robles as Maria and Braulio Castillo as Captain Von Trapp, with Dagmar as Elsa. A production (in Thai: มนต์รักเพลงสวรรค์) ran at Muangthai ratchadalai Theatre, Bangkok, Thailand, in April 2015 in the Thai language. The production replaced the song "Ordinary couple" with "Something Good".
A 2016 Australian tour of the Lloyd Webber production, directed by Sams, included stops in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. The cast included Amy Lehpamer as Maria, Cameron Daddo as Captain Von Trapp, Marina Prior as Baroness Schraeder and Lorraine Bayly as Frau Schmidt. The choreographer was Arlene Phillips.
== Film and television adaptations ==
On March 2, 1965, 20th Century Fox released a film adaptation starring Julie Andrews as Maria Rainer and Christopher Plummer as Captain Georg von Trapp. It was produced and directed by Robert Wise with the screenplay adaptation written by Ernest Lehman. Two songs were written by Rodgers specifically for the film, "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good". The film won five Oscars at the 38th Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
A live televised production aired twice in December 2013 on NBC. It was directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford. Carrie Underwood starred as Maria, with Stephen Moyer as Captain von Trapp, Christian Borle as Max, Laura Benanti as Elsa, and Audra McDonald as the Mother Abbess. The production was released on DVD the same month.
British network ITV presented a live version of its own on December 20, 2015. It starred Kara Tointon as Maria, Julian Ovenden as Captain von Trapp, Katherine Kelly as the Baroness and Alexander Armstrong as Max.
== Reception ==
Most reviews of the original Broadway production were favorable. Richard Watts Jr. of the New York Post stated that the show had "strangely gentle charm that is wonderfully endearing. The Sound of Music strives for nothing in the way of smash effects, substituting instead a kind of gracious and unpretentious simplicity." The New York World-Telegram and Sun pronounced The Sound of Music "the loveliest musical imaginable. It places Rodgers and Hammerstein back in top form as melodist and lyricist. The Lindsay-Crouse dialogue is vibrant and amusing in a plot that rises to genuine excitement." The New York Journal American's review opined that The Sound of Music is "the most mature product of the team ... it seemed to me to be the full ripening of these two extraordinary talents".
Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times gave a mixed assessment. He praised Mary Martin's performance, saying "she still has the same common touch ... same sharp features, goodwill, and glowing personality that makes music sound intimate and familiar" and stated that "the best of the Sound of Music is Rodgers and Hammerstein in good form". However, he said, the libretto "has the hackneyed look of the musical theatre replaced with Oklahoma! in 1943. It is disappointing to see the American musical stage succumbing to the clichés of operetta." Walter Kerr's review in the New York Herald Tribune was unfavorable: "Before The Sound of Music is halfway through its promising chores it becomes not only too sweet for words but almost too sweet for music", stating that the "evening suffer[s] from little children".
== Cast recordings ==
Columbia Masterworks recorded the original Broadway cast album at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City a week after the show's 1959 opening. The album was the label's first deluxe package in a gatefold jacket, priced $1 higher than previous cast albums. It was No. 1 on Billboard's best-selling albums chart for 16 weeks in 1960. It was released on CD from Sony in the Columbia Broadway Masterworks series. In 1959, singer Patti Page recorded the title song from the show for Mercury Records on the day that the musical opened on Broadway. The 1961 London production was recorded by EMI and released on the His Master's Voice label, and later re-issued on CD in 1997, on the Broadway Angel label. The 1961 Australian cast recording was the first time a major overseas production featuring Australian artists was transferred to disc.
The 1965 film soundtrack was released by RCA Victor and is one of the most successful soundtrack albums in history, having sold over 20 million copies worldwide. RCA Victor also released an album of the 1998 Broadway revival produced by Hallmark Entertainment and featuring the full revival cast, including Rebecca Luker, Michael Siberry, Jan Maxwell and Fred Applegate. The Telarc label made a studio cast recording of The Sound of Music, with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel (1987). The lead roles went to opera stars: Frederica von Stade as Maria, Håkan Hagegård as Captain von Trapp, and Eileen Farrell as the Mother Abbess. The recording "includes both the two new songs written for the film version and the three Broadway songs they replace, as well as a previously unrecorded verse of "An Ordinary Couple"". The 2006 London revival was recorded and has been released on the Decca Broadway label. There have been numerous studio cast albums and foreign cast albums issued, though many have only received regional distribution. According to the cast album database, there are 62 recordings of the score that have been issued over the years.
The cast recording of the 1981 West End production was the first to be recorded digitally. It was released on CD for the first time in 2010 by the UK label Pet Sounds and included two bonus tracks from the original single issued by Epic to promote the production. A recording of the 2006 London Palladium cast was released. The soundtrack from the 2013 NBC television production starring Carrie Underwood and Stephen Moyer was released on CD and digital download in December 2013 on the Sony Masterworks label. Also featured on the album are Audra McDonald, Laura Benanti and Christian Borle.
== Awards and nominations ==
=== Original Broadway production ===
=== 1998 Broadway revival === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_European_Championship | UEFA European Championship | The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contested by UEFA members' senior men's national teams, determining the continental champion of Europe. It is the second-most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup; the Euro 2016 final was watched by a global audience of around 600 million. The competition has been held every four years since 1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, but kept the name Euro 2020. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup before changing to its current name in 1968. Since 1996, the individual events have been branded as "UEFA Euro [year]".
Before entering the tournament, all teams other than the host nations (which qualify automatically) compete in a qualifying process. Until 2016, the championship winners could compete in the following year's FIFA Confederations Cup, but were not obliged to do so. From the 2020 edition onwards, the winner competes in the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions.
The seventeen European Championship tournaments have been won by ten national teams: Spain have won four titles, Germany have won three titles, Italy and France have won two titles, and the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Portugal have won one title each. To date, Spain is the only team to have won consecutive titles, doing so in 2008 and 2012.
The most recent championship, held in Germany in 2024, was won by Spain, who lifted a record fourth European title after beating England 2–1 in the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
== History ==
=== Beginnings (1960–1976) ===
Regional tournaments for national teams existed before the advent of a truly pan-European competition. Starting in 1883, the British Home Championship was an annual competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Until these national teams entered the FIFA World Cup in 1950, it was the most important international tournament these nations competed in. Similarly, from 1927 until 1960, the Central European International Cup was held six times. It brought together the national teams of Austria, Hungary, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. The idea for a pan-European football tournament was first proposed by the French Football Federation's secretary-general Henri Delaunay in 1927, but it was not until 1958 that the tournament was started, three years after Delaunay's death. In honour of Delaunay, the trophy awarded to the champions is named after him. The 1960 tournament, held in France, had four teams competing in the finals out of 17 that entered the competition. It was won by the Soviet Union, beating Yugoslavia 2–1 in a tense final in Paris. Spain withdrew from its quarter-final match against the Soviet Union because of two political protests. Of the 17 teams that entered the qualifying tournament, notable absentees were England, the Netherlands, West Germany and Italy.
Spain held the next tournament in 1964, which saw an increase in entries to the qualification tournament, with 29 entering; West Germany was a notable absentee once again and Greece withdrew after being drawn against Albania, with whom they were still at war. The hosts beat the title holders, the Soviet Union, 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
The tournament format stayed the same for the 1968 tournament, hosted and won by Italy. For the first and only time, a match was decided on a coin toss (the semi-final between Italy and the Soviet Union) and the final went to a replay, after the match against Yugoslavia finished 1–1. Italy won the replay 2–0. More teams entered this tournament (31), a testament to its burgeoning popularity.
Belgium hosted the 1972 tournament, which West Germany won, beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final, with goals coming from Gerd Müller (twice) and Herbert Wimmer at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels. This tournament would provide a taste of things to come, as the German side contained many of the key members of the 1974 FIFA World Cup-winning team.
The 1976 tournament in Yugoslavia was the last in which only four teams took part in the final tournament, and the last in which the hosts were chosen from the four qualified teams. Czechoslovakia beat West Germany in the newly introduced penalty shootout. After seven successful conversions, Uli Hoeneß missed, leaving Czechoslovak Antonín Panenka with the opportunity to score and win the tournament. An "audacious" chipped shot, described by UEFA as "perhaps the most famous spot kick of all time" secured the victory as Czechoslovakia won 5–3 on penalties.
=== Expansion to 8 teams (1980–1992) ===
The competition was expanded to eight teams in the 1980 tournament, again hosted by Italy. It involved a group stage, with the winners of the groups going on to contest the final, and the runners-up playing in the third place play-off. West Germany won their second European title by beating Belgium 2–1, with two goals scored by Horst Hrubesch at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Horst Hrubesch scored early in the first half before René Vandereycken equalised for Belgium with a penalty in the second half. With two minutes remaining, Hrubesch headed the winner for West Germany from a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge corner.
France won their first major title at home in the 1984 tournament, with their captain Michel Platini scoring 9 goals in just 5 games, including the opening goal in the final, in which they beat Spain 2–0. The format also changed, with the top two teams in each group going through to a semi-final stage, instead of the winners of each group going straight into the final. The third place play-off was also abolished. The losing teams from the semi-finals win the bronze medal.
West Germany hosted UEFA Euro 1988, but lost 2–1 to the Netherlands, their traditional rivals, in the semi-finals, which sparked vigorous celebrations in the Netherlands. The Netherlands went on to win the tournament in a rematch of their first game of the group stage, beating the Soviet Union 2–0 at the Olympiastadion in Munich. Marco van Basten scored the second goal, a volley over the keeper from the right wing which is often considered one of the best goals ever scored.
UEFA Euro 1992 was held in Sweden, and was won by Denmark, who had been invited to the finals after UN sanctions prevented Yugoslavia's participation as some of the states constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were at war with each other. The Danes beat holders the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-finals, then defeated world champions Germany 2–0. This was the first tournament in which a unified Germany took part and also the first major tournament to have the players' names printed on their backs.
=== Expansion to 16 teams (1996–2012) ===
England hosted UEFA Euro 1996, the first tournament to use the nomenclature "Euro [year]" and would see the number of teams taking part double to 16. The hosts, in a replay of the 1990 FIFA World Cup semi-final, were knocked out on penalties by Germany. The surprise team of the tournament was the newly formed Czech Republic, participating on its first international competition following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which reached the final after beating Portugal and France in the knockout stage. Germany would go on to win the final 2–1 thanks to the first golden goal ever in a major tournament, scored by Oliver Bierhoff five minutes into extra time. This was Germany's first title as a unified nation.
UEFA Euro 2000 was the first tournament to be held by two countries, in the Netherlands and Belgium. France, the reigning World Cup champions, were favoured to win, and they lived up to expectations when they beat Italy 2–1 after extra time, having come from being 1–0 down: Sylvain Wiltord equalised in the last minute of regular time and David Trezeguet scored the winning golden goal in extra time.
UEFA Euro 2004, like 1992, produced an upset: Greece, who had only qualified for one World Cup (1994) and one European Championship (1980) before, beat hosts Portugal 1–0 in the final (after having also beaten them in the opening game) with a goal scored by Angelos Charisteas in the 57th minute to win a tournament for which they were considered among the biggest underdogs. On their way to the final, they also beat holders France as well as the Czech Republic with a silver goal, a rule which replaced the previous golden goal in 2003, before being abolished itself shortly after this tournament.
The 2008 tournament, hosted by Austria and Switzerland, marked the second time that two nations co-hosted and the first edition where the new trophy was awarded. It commenced on 7 June and finished on 29 June. The final between Germany and Spain was held at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna. Spain defeated Germany 1–0, with a goal scored by Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute, sparking much celebration across the country. This was their first title since the 1964 tournament. Spain were the highest scoring team with 12 goals scored and David Villa finished as the top scorer with four goals. Xavi was awarded the player of the tournament, and nine Spanish players were picked for the team of the tournament.
The UEFA Euro 2012 tournament was co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine. Spain defeated Italy 4–0 in the final, thus becoming the first nation to defend a European Championship title, as well as the first European team to win three consecutive major tournaments. In scoring the third goal of the final, Torres became the first player to score in two European Championship finals. He was equal top scorer for the tournament with three goals in total, along with Mario Balotelli, Alan Dzagoev, Mario Gómez, Mario Mandžukić, and Cristiano Ronaldo, despite only being used as a substitute player. The tournament was otherwise notable for having the most headed goals in a Euro tournament (26 out of 76 goals in total); a disallowed goal in the England versus Ukraine group game which replays showed had crossed the goal line, and which prompted President of FIFA Sepp Blatter to tweet, "GLT (Goal-line technology) is no longer an alternative but a necessity", thus reversing his long-held reluctance to embrace such technology; and some crowd violence in group games.
=== Expansion to 24 teams (2016–present) ===
In 2007, the Football Association of Ireland and Scottish Football Association proposed the expansion of the tournament, which was later confirmed by the UEFA Executive Committee in September 2008. Out of the 54 member associations of UEFA, only three, including England and Germany, opposed the expansion. On 28 May 2010, UEFA announced that UEFA Euro 2016 would be hosted by France. France beat bids of Turkey (7–6 in voting in the second voting round) and Italy, which had the fewest votes in the first voting round. Euro 2016 was the first to have 24 teams in the finals. This was the third time France have hosted the competition. Portugal, which qualified for the knock-out phase despite finishing third in its group, went on to win the championship by defeating heavily favoured host team France 1–0 in the final, thanks to a goal from Eder in the 109th minute. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal's world-renowned striker, came out of the game due to injury in the 25th minute. This was the first time Portugal won a major tournament.
For the 2020 tournament, three bids were proposed, including a bid from Turkey, a joint bid from the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and a joint bid from Georgia and Azerbaijan. In December 2012, however, UEFA announced that the 2020 tournament would be hosted in several cities in various countries across Europe, with the semi-finals and final being played in London. The venues were selected and announced by UEFA on 19 September 2014. However, Brussels was removed as a host city on 7 December 2017 due to delays with the building of the Eurostadium. On 17 March 2020, UEFA announced that Euro 2020 would be delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, and proposed it take place from 11 June to 11 July 2021. The competition was postponed in order to reduce pressure on the public services in affected countries and to provide space in the calendar for the completion of domestic leagues that had been suspended. Before the Euro 2020, Dublin was also removed as one of the host cities due to its inability to guarantee spectators to the stadium, while Bilbao was replaced by Seville for the same reason. In the final, Italy defeated maiden finalists England 3–2 on penalties, after the game was tied 1–1 after extra time, to win their second European Championship.
The 2024 tournament returned to its usual four-year cycle after the 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic. Germany would beat Turkey for tournament hosting rights, marking the third time it would take place on German territory. Spain went on to win the tournament for a record fourth time after defeating England 2–1 in the final.
== Trophy ==
The Henri Delaunay Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the European Championship, is named in honour of Henri Delaunay, the first General Secretary of UEFA, who came up with the idea of a European championship but died five years before the first tournament in 1960. His son Pierre was in charge of creating the trophy. Since the first tournament it has been awarded to the winning team for them to keep for four years, until the next tournament. This trophy bore the words Coupe d'Europe ("European Cup"), Coupe Henri Delaunay ("Henri Delaunay Cup"), and Championnat d'Europe ("European Championship") on the front and a juggling boy on the back.
For the 2008 tournament, the Henri Delaunay Trophy was remodelled to make it larger, as the old trophy was overshadowed by UEFA's other trophies such as the new European Champion Clubs' Cup. The new trophy, which is made of sterling silver, now weighs 8 kilograms (18 lb) and is 60 centimetres (24 in) tall, being 2 kilograms (4.4 lb) heavier and 18 centimetres (7.1 in) longer than the old one. The marble plinth that was serving as base was removed. The new silver base of the trophy had to be enlarged to make it stable. The names of the winning countries that had appeared on the plaques glued to the plinth are now engraved on the back of the trophy, under the word Coupe Henri Delaunay and are written in English rather than French its predecessor had. Since 2016, the juggling boy was returned on the trophy's back.
The players and coaches of the winning team and the runner-up team are awarded gold and silver medals, respectively. Each association that competes in the final tournament receives a commemorative plaque. Each time the team losing semi-finalist, as well as each finalist, receive a dedicated plaque. Though there is no longer a third place play-off, UEFA decided in the 2008 edition to award the semi-final losers (Turkey and Russia) bronze medals for the first time, and did the same in the 2012 edition when Germany and Portugal received bronze medals. However, UEFA decided that losing semi-finalists would no longer receive medals from the 2016 edition onwards. Bronze medals were previously awarded for winners of the third place play-off, the last of which was held in 1980.
== Format ==
=== The competition ===
Before 1980, only four teams qualified for the final tournament. From 1980, eight teams competed. In 1996 the tournament expanded to 16 teams, since it was easier for European nations to qualify for the World Cup than their own continental championship; 14 of the 24 teams at the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups had been European, whereas the European Championship finals still involved only eight teams.
In 2007, there was much discussion about an expansion of the tournament to 24 teams, started by Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, due to the increased number of football associations in Europe after the break-ups of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, and the inclusion of Israel and Kazakhstan. The new president of UEFA, Michel Platini, was reported to be in favour of expansion which proved an accurate assumption. Whilst on 17 April 2007, UEFA's executive committee formally decided against expansion in 2012, Platini indicated in June 2008 that UEFA will increase participation from 16 to 24 teams in future tournaments, starting from 2016. On 25 September, it was announced by Franz Beckenbauer that an agreement had been reached, and the expansion to 24 teams would be officially announced the next day.
The competing teams are chosen by a series of qualifying games: in 1960 and 1964 through home and away play-offs; from 1968 through a combination of both qualifying groups and play-off games. The host country was selected from the four finalists after they were determined through qualifying.
Since the expansion of the final tournament starting from 1980, the host country, or countries, have been chosen beforehand and qualify automatically.
In most tournaments, the tournament consists of a round-robin group stage followed by a single-elimination knockout stage.
Up to 1968 draws were to be broken via a coin toss in all matches but the final, draw in final match was resolved via a replay.
No third place play-off has been played since 1980.
=== Qualifying ===
To qualify, a team must finish in one of the direct qualifying spots or win a play-off. After this, a team proceeds to the finals round in the host country, although hosts qualify for the tournament automatically.
The groups for qualification are drawn by a UEFA committee using seeding. Seeded teams include reigning champions and other teams based on their performance in the preceding FIFA World Cup qualifying and the last European Championship qualifying. To obtain an accurate view of the teams' abilities, a ranking is produced. This is calculated by taking the total number of points won by a particular team and dividing it by the number of games played, i.e. points per game. In the case of a team having hosted one of the two previous competitions and therefore having qualified automatically, only the results from the single most recent qualifying competition are used. If two teams have equal points per game, the committee then bases their positions in the rankings on:
Coefficient from the matches played in its most recent qualifying competition.
Average goal difference.
Average number of goals scored.
Average number of away goals scored.
Drawing of lots.
The qualifying phase is played in a group format, the composition of the groups is determined through means of a draw of teams from pre-defined seeded bowls. The draw takes place after the preceding World Cup's qualifying competition. For UEFA Euro 2020, the group qualifying phase consisted of ten groups; five of six teams and the remainder of five teams each.
Each group is played in a league format with teams playing each other home and away. The top two teams then qualified for the final tournament, with remaining places decided by playoffs depending on their ranking in the UEFA Nations League. As with most leagues, the points are awarded as three for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. In the eventuality of one or more teams having equal points after all matches have been played, the following criteria are used to distinguish the sides:
Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question.
Results of all group matches:
Superior goal difference
Higher number of goals scored
Higher number of goals scored away from home
Fair play conduct.
Drawing of lots.
=== Final tournament ===
Sixteen teams progressed to the final tournament for the 2012 tournament. They were joint hosts Poland and Ukraine, the winners and the highest ranked second-placed team from the nine qualifying groups as well as the winners of four play-off matches between the runners-up of the other groups. These sixteen teams were divided equally into four groups, A, B, C and D, each consisting of four teams. The groups were drawn up by the UEFA administration, again using seeding. The seeded teams being the host nations, the reigning champions, should they qualify, and those with the best points per game coefficients over the qualifying phase of the tournament and the previous World Cup qualifying. Other finalists were assigned to by means of a draw, using coefficients as a basis.
For the 2016 tournament, the expansion to 24 teams means that the teams will be drawn into six groups of four, with the six group winners, six group runners-up and the four best third-placed teams advancing to the round of 16 when it becomes a knockout competition.
The groups are again played in a league format, where a team plays its opponents once each. The same points system is used (three points for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a defeat). A schedule for the group matches will be drawn up, but the last two matches in a group must kick off simultaneously. The winner and runner-up of each group progress to the next round, where a knockout system is used (the two teams play each other once, the winner progresses), this is used in all subsequent rounds as well. The winners of the quarter-finals matches progress to the semi-finals, where the winners play in the final. If in any of the knockout rounds, the scores are still equal after normal playing time, extra time and penalties are employed to separate the two teams. Unlike the FIFA World Cup, this tournament no longer has a third place playoff.
== Results ==
Notes
== Summary ==
== Records and statistics ==
=== Top goalscorers ===
== Awards ==
There are currently five post-tournament awards, and one given during the tournament:
Player of the Tournament award for the best player, first awarded in 1996.
Top Scorer award (currently named Alipay Top Scorer award for sponsorship reasons) for the most prolific goal scorer.
Young Player of the Tournament (currently named SOCAR Young Player of the Tournament for sponsorship reasons) for the best player under the age of 21, first awarded in 2016.
Man of the Match award for outstanding performance during each game of the tournament, first awarded in 1996.
Team of the Tournament award for the best combined team of players in the tournament. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_albums_discography | Taylor Swift albums discography | The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has released 12 original albums, 4 re-recorded albums, 5 extended plays (EPs), and 4 live albums. In the United States, as of May 2025, she had sold 116.7 million album-equivalent units, coming from 54 million pure sales and 70.7 billion streams; the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as of November 2025 certified 110 million album units, making her the highest-certified female album artist. On the Billboard 200 chart, she has accumulated 15 albums and 98 total weeks at number one, more than any other solo act.
Swift released six albums with Big Machine Records. Her debut album, Taylor Swift (2006), spent more weeks on the Billboard 200 than any other album in the 2000s decade, and her second, Fearless (2008), was the only album from the 2000s decade to spend one year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. Fearless was Swift's first album to top the charts in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Her next albums—Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), and Reputation (2017)—all reached number one on the Billboard 200, and each of them sold over one million US first-week copies. All four albums reached number one in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand; and the latter three all reached number one in the United Kingdom.
Under a recording contract with Republic Records signed in 2018, Swift has released six original albums—Lover (2019), Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020), Midnights (2022), The Tortured Poets Department (2024), and The Life of a Showgirl (2025)—all of them peaked atop the Billboard 200. Lover was Swift's first album to reach number one in Spain and Sweden. Midnights, The Tortured Poets Department, and The Life of a Showgirl each sold one million first-week copies in the United States, and they reached number one in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, The Tortured Poets Department was Swift's first album to open with two million units in its first week, and The Life of a Showgirl opened with four million units, becoming the fastest-selling album in US history.
Swift's departure from Big Machine resulted in a dispute over the ownership of her first six albums in 2019, which resulted in her re-recording four albums—Fearless (Taylor's Version) (2021), Red (Taylor's Version) (2021), Speak Now (Taylor's Version) (2023), and 1989 (Taylor's Version) (2023)—all of which reached number one in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Fearless (Taylor's Version) was the first re-recorded album to top the Billboard 200, and 1989 (Taylor's Version) sold over a million US first-week copies. Swift holds the record for the most annual best-selling albums in the United States—nine times: Fearless in 2009, 1989 in 2014, Reputation in 2017, Lover in 2019, Folklore in 2020, Midnights in 2022, 1989 (Taylor's Version) in 2023, The Tortured Poets Department in 2024, and The Life of a Showgirl in 2025.
== Studio albums ==
=== Re-recordings ===
== Live albums ==
== Extended plays ==
== Miscellaneous ==
=== Streaming-exclusive compilations ===
=== Box set === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_season_12 | Doctor Who season 12 | The twelfth season of British science fiction television series Doctor Who began on 28 December 1974 with Tom Baker's first serial Robot, and ended with Revenge of the Cybermen on 10 May 1975.
This is the first season to feature Tom Baker as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his TARDIS, which appears to be a British police box on the outside. He is accompanied by companions Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), continuing from season eleven, and Harry Sullivan (Ian Marter), who joins in this season. With Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks having both departed along with Jon Pertwee, new producer Philip Hinchcliffe and new script editor Robert Holmes worked on this series. Letts's last story as producer was Robot, with Hinchcliffe producing the rest of the season. Holmes had previously written for the programme.
== Casting ==
=== Main cast ===
Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor
Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith
Ian Marter as Harry Sullivan
During production of season eleven, it was known that Jon Pertwee would be leaving his role as the Third Doctor and that a new Fourth Doctor would need to be cast for the part. Tom Baker was an out-of-work actor, working in construction at the time. Baker had been a television and film actor, having major parts in several films including The Vault of Horror (1973) and as the main antagonist in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad the same year. He had written to Bill Slater, the Head of Serials at the BBC, asking for work. Slater suggested Baker to Doctor Who producer Barry Letts who had been looking to fill the part. Letts had been the producer of the series since the early Pertwee serials in 1970. He had seen Baker's work in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and hired him for the part. Baker would continue in his role as the Doctor for seven seasons, longer than any other actor to play the part.
Elisabeth Sladen returned to play the role of companion Sarah Jane Smith throughout the season. Ian Marter joined the cast as Harry Sullivan. The character was created before Baker was cast; there had been discussion of casting an older actor as the Doctor, and so Harry was created as a younger character to handle the action scenes.
=== Recurring cast ===
Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
John Levene as Warrant Officer Benton
Nicholas Courtney and John Levene reprised their roles as the Brigadier and Warrant Officer Benton respectively in the first serial, Robot. Courtney had begun his role in the Second Doctor story The Web of Fear (1968), where the character was a colonel. Levene had begun in Second Doctor story The Invasion (1968), replacing another actor. Both were members of the military organization United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT). They, along with Sladen, would be the transition cast to carry through from the Third Doctor to the Fourth Doctor, though Robot is the only UNIT story for the twelfth season.
== Serials ==
After Robot, all the serials in this season continue directly one after the other, tracing one single problematic voyage of the TARDIS crew. Despite the continuity, each serial is considered its own standalone story.
The season was initially formatted as the previous Pertwee season had been with three six-part stories and two four-part stories. To this end, the initial structure was to open with the four-part Robot and the four-part Space Station by Christopher Langley followed by three six-parters – Genesis of Terror (later retitled Genesis of the Daleks), Loch Ness, and another six-part story to be determined. Script editor Robert Holmes discussed with Philip Hinchcliffe the possibility of replacing the as-yet undecided six-parter with a four-part story and a two-parter, both with the same production team. The season structure later became two four-part stories (Robot and a replacement for Space Station, The Ark in Space), the new two-parter The Destructors (later retitled The Sontaran Experiment), the six-part Genesis of Terror, and a four-part version of Loch Ness (later retitled Terror of the Zygons and held over for season 13). This decision made The Sontaran Experiment the first two-part story since Season 2's The Rescue. It was also the first to be shot entirely on location since Jon Pertwee's opening story Spearhead from Space in Season 7, and the first to be shot entirely on videotape instead of 16mm film, as was usual for location shooting. As a means of saving money, The Ark in Space and Revenge of the Cybermen were shot on the same sets.
== Production ==
Barry Letts served as producer for Robot, after which he was succeeded by Philip Hinchcliffe. Robert Holmes took over from Terrance Dicks as script editor.
Robot was written by Dicks, who cited King Kong as an influence for the serial. Dicks incorporated several familiar elements from the Third Doctor's first story Spearhead from Space (1970), which helped the audience transition between actors. The Ark in Space was written by Robert Holmes from a story by John Lucarotti that was considered unusable. Letts and Dicks were eager to have Terry Nation return to write the Daleks, but initially found his script too similar to past Dalek adventures. They suggested that he write a Dalek origin story instead, which became Genesis of the Daleks. However, under Hinchcliffe, the serial gained a darker tone.
The sets of The Ark in Space were reused for Revenge of the Cybermen. Genesis of the Daleks was the last serial of the season to be filmed, after Revenge of the Cybermen. This took place in January and February 1975.
== Broadcast ==
The entire season was broadcast from 28 December 1974 to 10 May 1975.
The title sequence for Part One of The Ark in Space was tinted sepia as an experiment, but was not repeated for subsequent episodes.
== Home media ==
=== VHS releases ===
=== Betamax releases ===
=== Video 2000 releases ===
=== Laserdisc releases ===
=== DVD and Blu-ray releases ===
All releases are for DVD unless otherwise indicated:
(B) indicates a Blu-ray release
== In print == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Diptych | Marilyn Diptych | Marilyn Diptych is a 1962 silkscreen print by American pop artist Andy Warhol depicting Marilyn Monroe. The monumental work is one of the artist's most noted of the movie star.
The print consists of 50 images. Each image of the actress is taken from the single publicity photograph from the film Niagara (1953). The underlying publicity photograph that Warhol used as a basis for his many paintings and prints of Marilyn, and the Marilyn Diptych, was owned and distributed by her movie studio. Marilyn Diptych was completed just weeks after Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962.
Silk-screening was the technique used to create this print. The twenty-five images on the left are painted in color, the right side is black and white, with color and image becoming increasingly distorted.
The Marilyn Diptych is in the collection of the Tate.
== Analysis ==
It has been suggested that the relation between the left side of the canvas and the right side of the canvas is evocative of the relation between the celebrity's life and death. The work has received praise from writers such as American academic and cultural critic Camille Paglia, who wrote in 2012's Glittering Images lauding how it shows the "multiplicity of meanings" in Monroe's life and legacy.
In a December 2, 2004, article in The Guardian, the painting was named the third most influential piece of modern art in a survey of 500 artists, critics, and others. The artwork was also ranked ninth in the past 1,000 years by Kathleen Davenport, Director, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston.
== Appropriation and fair use ==
Warhol is regarded as an artist known for the appropriation of images and he often made use of publicity photographs and publicly available photographs and motifs not owned by him, which often brought him into conflict with the owners of the source material. An example of this is Warhol's Marilyn series including the Marilyn Diptych, which resulted in a settlement with the owner of the Marilyn Monroe publicity photograph which he used as the source material for the paintings. Warhol and his estate have settled many copyright disputes including with regard to his famous flowers paintings and paintings of Jackie Kennedy, as discussed in detail in "Andy The Appropriator: The Copyright Battles You Won't Hear About at The Whitney's Warhol Exhibit" from The Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts: Although some of Warhol’s work was commissioned by individuals or companies, much of it was appropriated from other artists, photographers, and brands. Two of his most famous pieces, Marilyn Diptych and the collection of Campbell’s soup cans, are examples of his habit of appropriation. For the Marilyn series, Warhol took a promotional photograph of Marilyn Monroe and transferred it onto silkscreen print using different colors. He did not own the promotional photograph that he used and he did not have permission to use it. The resulting work was transformative enough that a strong fair use argument could be made today, but Warhol’s appropriation is undeniable. Similarly, Warhol used the Campbell’s Soup logo without permission from the company for dozens of silkscreen prints. Eventually, Campbell’s Soup tacitly approved of his use because of the free marketing they were receiving, but Warhol’s use of their logo without initial permission was still appropriation. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Say_Never_Again | Never Say Never Again | Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film directed by Irvin Kershner. The film is based on the 1961 James Bond novel Thunderball by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Fleming. The novel had been previously adapted as the 1965 film Thunderball. Never Say Never Again is the second and most recent James Bond film not to be produced by Eon Productions (the usual producer of the Bond series) but instead by Jack Schwartzman's Taliafilm. The film was executive produced by Kevin McClory, one of the original writers of the Thunderball storyline. McClory had retained the filming rights of the novel following a long legal battle dating from the 1960s.
Sean Connery played the role of Bond for the seventh and final time, marking his return to the character twelve years after Diamonds Are Forever (1971). The film's title is a reference to Connery's reported declaration in 1971 that he would "never again" play that role. As Connery was 52 at the time of filming, the script makes frequent reference to Bond as aging and past his prime – although Connery was three years younger than his Eon Productions replacement, Roger Moore. The storyline features Bond being reluctantly brought back into action to investigate the theft of two nuclear weapons by SPECTRE. Filming locations included France, Spain, the Bahamas, and Elstree Studios in the United Kingdom.
Never Say Never Again was released by Warner Bros. on 7 October 1983, and opened to positive reviews, with critics praising the cast's performances and Connery's return to the role. The film grossed $160 million at the box office, making it a commercial success, although it earned less overall than the Eon-produced Octopussy, released earlier the same year. Retrospective reception to Never Say Never Again has been mixed, and it is considered by several critics to be one of the weaker Bond films.
== Plot ==
After the MI6 agent James Bond fails a routine training exercise, his superior M sends him to a health clinic outside London to get back into shape. While there, Bond witnesses a nurse beating a male patient with a bandaged face. While the patient's eye is being scanned with a machine, she spots Bond. The nurse sends an assassin after Bond, but Bond kills the male assassin in a lengthy fight. An angry M is forced to pay for the damage the fight causes to the clinic, and he consequently suspends Bond from active duty.
The nurse is Fatima Blush, an agent of the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which is run by Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The man she was beating is Jack Petachi, a United States Air Force pilot who has undergone an operation on his eye to make it match the retinal pattern of the US President. He uses his altered retina to authorize the replacement of dummy warheads with live nuclear warheads in two cruise missiles. SPECTRE then steals the warheads, intending to extort billions of dollars from NATO. Blush covers up the crime by murdering Petachi.
M is ordered to reactivate the double-0 section, and Bond is tasked with tracking down the missing weapons. He follows a lead to the Bahamas and finds Domino Petachi, Jack's sister, and her wealthy lover Maximillian Largo, who is SPECTRE's top agent. Bond has sex with Blush aboard her boat, after which she tries to kill him. He then follows Largo's yacht to France, where he joins forces with his CIA ally Felix Leiter and his French contact Nicole. Posing as a masseur, Bond gives a massage to Domino, who reveals that Largo is hosting a charity event that evening. At the event, Bond beats Largo at a video game and wins money from him, but says he will accept a dance with Domino instead of a check. While dancing, Bond informs Domino that her brother was killed on Largo's orders.
Returning to his villa, Bond finds Nicole killed by Blush. He pursues her, but she captures him. She then demands that he declare in writing that she was his best sexual partner. Bond pulls out a pen to write, then shoots Blush with an explosive dart from the pen.
Bond boards Largo's yacht in search of the missing warheads. He finds Domino, and attempts to make Largo jealous by kissing her. Enraged, Largo traps Bond and takes him and Domino to Palmyra, his base of operations in North Africa. Largo punishes Domino for her betrayal by offering her to a group of men, but Bond escapes from captivity and rescues her.
Bond and Domino reunite with Leiter on a US Navy submarine. After the first warhead is found and defused in Washington, D.C., they track Largo to the Tears of Allah, a location on the Ethiopian coast. Bond and Leiter infiltrate the underground facility and a gun battle ensues between Leiter's team and Largo's men. Amidst the chaos, Largo flees with the second warhead. Bond catches and fights him underwater. As Largo is about to shoot Bond with a spear gun, Domino arrives and kills him. Bond defuses the warhead, then returns to the Bahamas with Domino. He vows he will never return to MI6, but she is skeptical.
== Cast ==
Sean Connery as James Bond, MI6 agent 007.
Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo, a billionaire businessman and SPECTRE Number 1, SPECTRE's senior-most agent. He is based on the character Emilio Largo in Thunderball
Max von Sydow as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE.
Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush; SPECTRE Number 12, assigned to hunt down and kill Bond. She is based on Fiona Volpe in Thunderball.
Kim Basinger as Domino Petachi, sister of Jack Petachi and girlfriend/mistress of Maximillian Largo. The surname was changed to Petrescu for the Italian release of the film.
Bernie Casey as Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA contact and friend.
Alec McCowen as "Q" (aka Algy or Algernon), Double-0 section Quartermaster who issues specialised equipment to Bond.
Edward Fox as "M", Bond's superior at MI6.
Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary.
Rowan Atkinson as Nigel Small-Fawcett, Foreign Office representative in the Bahamas.
Saskia Cohen-Tanugi as Nicole, Bond's French contact
Valerie Leon as Lady in Bahamas, whom Bond successfully seduces.
Milow Kirek as Dr. Kovacs, a nuclear physicist working for SPECTRE.
Pat Roach as Lippe, a SPECTRE assassin who tries to kill Bond at the clinic.
Anthony Sharp as Lord Ambrose, Foreign Secretary who orders M to reactivate the Double-0 section.
Prunella Gee as Nurse Patricia Fearing, a physiotherapist at the clinic.
Gavan O'Herlihy as Captain Jack Petachi, a USAF pilot used by SPECTRE to steal the nuclear missiles, and Domino Petachi's brother.
== Production ==
Never Say Never Again had its origins in the early 1960s, following the controversy over the 1961 Thunderball novel. Fleming had worked with independent producer Kevin McClory and scriptwriter Jack Whittingham on a script for a potential Bond film, to be called Longitude 78 West, which was subsequently abandoned because of the costs involved. Fleming, "always reluctant to let a good idea lie idle", turned this into the novel Thunderball, for which he did not credit either McClory or Whittingham; McClory then took Fleming to the High Court in London for breach of copyright, and the matter was settled in 1963. After Eon Productions started producing the Bond films, it subsequently made a deal with McClory, who would produce Thunderball, and then not make any further version of the novel for a period of ten years, following the release of the Eon-produced version in 1965.
In the mid-1970s, McClory again started working on a second adaptation of Thunderball and, with the working title Warhead, he brought writer Len Deighton together with Sean Connery to work on a script. A lawsuit with Eon Productions ended in a ruling that McClory owned the sole rights to SPECTRE and Blofeld, forcing Eon to remove them from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). The script initially focused on SPECTRE shooting down aircraft over the Bermuda Triangle, before taking over Liberty Island and Ellis Island as staging areas for an invasion of New York City through the sewers under Wall Street. The script was purchased by Paramount Pictures in 1978. The script ran into difficulties, after accusations from Danjaq and United Artists that the project had gone beyond copyright restrictions, which confined McClory to a film based only on the novel Thunderball; once again, the project was delayed.
Towards the end of the 1970s, developments were reported on the project under the name James Bond of the Secret Service, but when producer Jack Schwartzman became involved in 1980, and cleared a number of the legal issues that still surrounded the project, he decided against using Deighton's script. The project returned to the original nuclear terrorism plot of the original Thunderball, in order to avoid another lawsuit from Danjaq, and after McClory saw Jimmy Carter mention the issue in a 1980 presidential debate with Ronald Reagan. Schwartzman brought on board scriptwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr. to work on the screenplay. Schwartzman wanted him to make the screenplay "somewhere in the middle" between his campier projects such as Batman, and his more serious projects such as Three Days of the Condor. Connery was unhappy with some aspects of the script, and asked Tom Mankiewicz, who had rewritten Diamonds Are Forever, to work on it; however, Mankiewicz declined, as he felt he was under a moral obligation to Albert R. Broccoli. Semple Jr. ultimately left the project, after Irvin Kershner was hired as director, and Schwartzman began cutting out the "big numbers" from his script to save on the budget. Connery then hired British television writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to undertake re-writes, although they went uncredited for their efforts, despite much of the final shooting script being theirs. This was because of a restriction by the Writers Guild of America. Clement and La Frenais continued rewriting during the production, often altering it from day to day.
The film underwent one final change in title: after Connery had finished filming Diamonds Are Forever, he had pledged that he would "never again" play Bond. Connery's wife, Micheline, suggested the title Never Say Never Again, referring to her husband's vow, and the producers acknowledged her contribution by listing on the end credits "Title Never Say Never Again by Micheline Connery". A final attempt by Fleming's trustees to block the film was made in the High Court in London in the spring of 1983, but this was thrown out by the court and Never Say Never Again was permitted to proceed.
=== Cast and crew ===
When producer Kevin McClory had first planned the film in 1964, he held initial talks with Richard Burton for the part of Bond, although the project came to nothing because of the legal issues involved. When the Warhead project was launched in the late 1970s, a number of actors were mentioned in the trade press, including Orson Welles for the part of Blofeld, Trevor Howard to play M and Richard Attenborough as director.
In 1978, the working title James Bond of the Secret Service was being used and Connery was in the frame once again, potentially going head-to-head with the next Eon Bond film, Moonraker. By 1980, with legal issues again causing the project to founder, Connery thought himself unlikely to play the role, as he stated in an interview in the Sunday Express: "When I first worked on the script with Len I had no thought of actually being in the film." When producer Jack Schwartzman became involved, he asked Connery to play Bond; Connery agreed, negotiating a fee of $3 million ($10 million in 2025 dollars), casting and script approval, and a percentage of the profits. Subsequent to Connery reprising the role, Semple altered the script to include several references to Bond's advancing years – playing on Connery being 52 at the time of filming – and academic Jeremy Black has pointed out that there are other aspects of age and disillusionment in the film, such as the Shrubland's porter referring to Bond's car ("They don't make them like that anymore"), the new M having no use for the 00 section and Q with his reduced budgets. Originally, Semple wanted to emphasize Bond's age even further, writing the script to include him in semi-retirement working aboard a Scottish fishing trawler hunting Soviet Navy submarines in the North Sea. Connery's casting was formally announced in March 1983.. He trained with Steven Seagal to help get in shape for the production.
For the main villain in the film, Maximillian Largo, Connery suggested Klaus Maria Brandauer, the lead of the 1981 Academy Award-winning Hungarian film Mephisto. Through the same route came Max von Sydow as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, although he still retained his Eon-originated white cat in the film. For the femme fatale, director Irvin Kershner selected former model and Playboy cover girl Barbara Carrera to play Fatima Blush – the name coming from one of the early scripts of Thunderball. Carrera said she modeled her performance on the Hindu goddess Kali, and to "mix that in with a little bit of black widow and a little bit of praying mantis." Carrera's performance as Fatima Blush earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, which she lost to Cher for her role in Silkwood. Micheline Connery, Sean's wife, had met up-and-coming actress Kim Basinger at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and suggested her to Connery; he agreed after Dalila Di Lazzaro refused the Domino role. For the role of Felix Leiter, Connery spoke with Bernie Casey, saying that, as the Leiter role was never remembered by audiences, using a black Leiter might make him more memorable. Others cast included comedian Rowan Atkinson, who would later parody Bond in his role of Johnny English in 2003. Atkinson's character was added by Clement and La Frenais after the production had already started, in order to provide the film with a comic relief. Edward Fox was cast as M in order to portray the character as a young technocrat in contrast to the older portrayal by Bernard Lee, and to parody the Thatcher ministry's budget cuts to government services.
Connery wanted to persuade Richard Donner to direct the film, but after their meeting, Donner decided he disliked the script. Former Eon Productions' editor and director of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Peter R. Hunt, was approached to direct the film, but declined due to his previous work with Eon. Irvin Kershner, who had previously worked with Connery on A Fine Madness (1966), and had achieved success in 1980 with The Empire Strikes Back, was then hired. A number of the crew from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark were also appointed, including first assistant director David Tomblin, director of photography Douglas Slocombe, second unit director Mickey Moore and production designers Philip Harrison and Stephen Grimes.
=== Filming ===
Filming for Never Say Never Again began on 27 September 1982 on the French Riviera for two months, before moving to Nassau, the Bahamas in mid-November, where filming took place at Clifton Pier, which was also one of the locations used in Thunderball. Largo's Palmyran fortress was actually historic Fort Carré in Antibes. Largo's ship, the Flying Saucer, was portrayed by the yacht Kingdom 5KR, then owned by Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and called Nabila. The underwater scenes were filmed by Ricou Browning, who had coordinated the underwater scenes in the original Thunderball. Principal photography finished at Elstree Studios, where interior shots were filmed. Elstree also housed the Tears of Allah underwater cavern, which took three months to construct, while the Shrublands health spa was filmed at Luton Hoo. Most of the filming was completed in the spring of 1983, although there was some additional shooting during the summer of 1983.
Production on the film was troubled, with Connery taking on many of the production duties with assistant director David Tomblin. Director Irvin Kershner was critical of producer Jack Schwartzman, saying that, while he was a good businessman, "he didn't have the experience of a film producer". After the production ran out of money, Schwartzman had to fund further production out of his own pocket, and later admitted he had underestimated the amount the film would cost to make. There was tension on set between Schwartzman and Connery, who at times barely spoke to each other. Connery was unimpressed with the perceived lack of professionalism behind the scenes, and was on record as saying that the whole production was a "bloody Mickey Mouse operation!"
Steven Seagal, who was a martial arts instructor for this film, broke Connery's wrist while training. On an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Connery revealed he did not know his wrist was broken until over a decade later.
=== Music ===
James Horner was both Kershner's and Schwartzman's first choice to compose the score, after they were impressed with his work on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Horner, who worked in London for most of the time, was unavailable, according to Kershner, though Schwartzman later claimed Sean Connery vetoed him. Frequent Bond composer John Barry was invited, but declined out of loyalty to Eon. The music for Never Say Never Again was ultimately written by Michel Legrand, who composed a score similar to his work as a jazz pianist. The score has been criticised as "anachronistic and misjudged", "bizarrely intermittent" and "the most disappointing feature of the film". Legrand also wrote the main theme "Never Say Never Again", which featured lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman — who had also worked with Legrand on the Academy Award-winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind" — and was performed by Lani Hall after Bonnie Tyler, who disliked the song, had reluctantly declined.
Phyllis Hyman also recorded a potential theme song, with music written by Stephen Forsyth and lyrics by Jim Ryan, but the song — an unsolicited submission — was passed over, given Legrand's contractual obligations with the music.
=== Legal substitutions ===
Many of the elements of the Eon-produced Bond films were not present in Never Say Never Again for legal reasons. These included the gun barrel sequence (although a similar graphic is used for the "shield" during the "video game" sequence). A screen full of 007 symbols appeared instead, and similarly there was no "James Bond Theme" to use, although no effort was made to supply another tune. A pre-credits sequence was filmed but not used; instead, the film opens with the credits running over the top of the sequence of Bond on a training mission.
== Release and reception ==
Never Say Never Again opened on 7 October 1983 in 1,550 theatres, grossing an October record $10,958,157 over the four-day Columbus Day weekend, which was reported to be "the best opening record of any James Bond film" up to that point, surpassing Octopussy's $8.9 million from June that year. The film had its UK premiere at the Warner West End cinema in London on 14 December 1983 with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in attendance before opening to the public in London the following day and across the UK on 16 December. It grossed $157,750 in its first 8 days in London from 8 screens in the West End, placing it at number one at the London box office. Worldwide, Never Say Never Again grossed $160 million, which was a solid return on the budget of $36 million. The film ultimately earned less than Octopussy, which grossed $187.5 million. It was the first James Bond film to be officially released in the Soviet Union, premiering in the summer of 1990 with a gala in Moscow.
Warner Bros. released Never Say Never Again on VHS and Betamax in 1984, and on laserdisc in 1995. After Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the distribution rights in 1997 (see Legacy, below), the company has released the film on both VHS and DVD in 2001, and on Blu-ray in 2009.
=== Contemporary reviews ===
Never Say Never Again was broadly welcomed and praised by the critics: Ian Christie, writing in the Daily Express, said that Never Say Never Again was "one of the better Bonds", finding the film "superbly witty and entertaining, ... the dialogue is crisp and the fight scenes imaginative". Christie also thought that "Connery has lost none of his charm and, if anything, is more appealing than ever as the stylish resolute hero". David Robinson, writing in The Times also concentrated on Connery, saying that: "Connery ... is back, looking hardly a day older or thicker, and still outclassing every other exponent of the role, in the goodnatured throwaway with which he parries all the sex and violence on the way". For Robinson, the presence of Connery and Klaus Maria Brandauer as Maximillian Largo "very nearly make it all worthwhile." The reviewer for Time Out summed up Never Say Never Again by saying: "The action's good, the photography excellent, the sets decent; but the real clincher is the fact that Bond is once more played by a man with the right stuff."
Derek Malcolm in The Guardian showed himself to be a fan of Connery's Bond, saying the film contains "the best Bond in the business", but nevertheless did not find Never Say Never Again any more enjoyable than the recently released Octopussy (starring Roger Moore), or "that either of them came very near to matching Dr. No or From Russia with Love". Malcolm's main issue with the film was that he had a "feeling that a constant struggle was going on between a desire to make a huge box-office success and the effort to make character as important as stunts". Malcolm summed up that "the mix remains obstinately the same – up to scratch but not surpassing it". Writing in The Observer, Philip French noted that "this curiously muted film ends up making no contribution of its own and inviting damaging comparisons with the original, hyper-confident Thunderball". French concluded that "like an hour-glass full of damp sand, the picture moves with increasing slowness as it approaches a confused climax in the Persian Gulf".
Writing for Newsweek, critic Jack Kroll thought the early part of the film was handled "with wit and style", although he went on to say that the director was "hamstrung by Lorenzo Semple's script". Richard Schickel, writing in Time, praised the film and its cast. He wrote that Klaus Maria Brandauer's character was "played with silky, neurotic charm", while Barbara Carrera, playing Fatima Blush, "deftly parodies all the fatal femmes who have slithered through Bond's career". Schickel's highest praise was saved for the return of Connery, observing "it is good to see Connery's grave stylishness in this role again. It makes Bond's cynicism and opportunism seem the product of genuine worldliness (and world weariness) as opposed to Roger Moore's mere twirpishness."
Janet Maslin, writing in The New York Times, was broadly praising of the film, saying she thought that Never Say Never Again "has noticeably more humor and character than the Bond films usually provide. It has a marvelous villain in Largo." Maslin also thought highly of Connery in the role, observing that "in Never Say Never Again, the formula is broadened to accommodate an older, seasoned man of much greater stature, and Mr. Connery expertly fills the bill." Writing in The Washington Post, Gary Arnold was fulsome in his praise, saying that Never Say Never Again is "one of the best James Bond adventure thrillers ever made", going on to say that "this picture is likely to remain a cherished, savory example of commercial filmmaking at its most astute and accomplished." Arnold went further, saying that "Never Say Never Again is the best acted Bond picture ever made, because it clearly surpasses any predecessors in the area of inventive and clever character delineation".
The critic for The Globe and Mail, Jay Scott, also praised the film, saying that Never Say Never Again "may be the only installment of the long-running series that has been helmed by a first-rate director." According to Scott, the director, with high-quality support cast, resulted in the "classiest of all the Bonds". Roger Ebert gave the film 3+1⁄2 out of four stars, and wrote that Never Say Never Again, while consisting of a basic "Bond plot", was different from other Bond films: "For one thing, there's more of a human element in the movie, and it comes from Klaus Maria Brandauer, as Largo." Ebert went on to add, "there was never a Beatles reunion ... but here, by God, is Sean Connery as Sir James Bond. Good work, 007." Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune also gave the film 3½ out of four stars, writing that the film was "one of the best 007 adventures ever made".
John Nubbin reviewed Never Say Never Again for Different Worlds magazine and stated that "Never Say Never Again is not great, but Connery is - and for a lot of people, including myself, that was enough. This time, anyway."
Colin Greenland reviewed Never Say Never Again for Imagine, and stated that "Never Say Never Again is a complacent male sexist fantasy, where women can be only femmes fatales or passive victims."
=== Retrospective reviews ===
Because Never Say Never Again is not an Eon-produced film, it has not been included in a number of subsequent reviews. Norman Wilner of MSN said that 1967's Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again "exist outside the 'official' continuity, [and] are excluded from this list, just as they're absent from MGM's megabox. But take my word for it; they're both pretty awful". Nevertheless, retrospective reviews of the film remain positive. Rotten Tomatoes sampled 55 critics and judged 71% of the reviews as positive, with a top critics' rating of 70%. The site's critical consensus reads: "While the rehashed story feels rather uninspired and unnecessary, the return of both Sean Connery and a more understated Bond make Never Say Never Again a watchable retread." The score is still more positive than some of the Eon films, with Rotten Tomatoes ranking Never Say Never Again 16th among all Bond films in 2008. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating generally favourable reviews. Empire gave the film three of a possible five stars, observing that "Connery was perhaps wise to call it quits the first time round". IGN gave Never Say Never Again a score of five out of ten, claiming that the film "is more miss than hit". The reviewer also thought that the film was "marred with too many clunky exposition scenes and not enough moments of Bond being Bond".
In 1995, Michael Sauter of Entertainment Weekly rated Never Say Never Again as the ninth best Bond film to that point, after 17 films had been released. Sauter thought the film "is successful only as a portrait of an over-the-hill superhero." He admitted that "even past his prime, Connery proves that nobody does it better". James Berardinelli, in his review of Never Say Never Again, thinks the re-writing of the Thunderball story has led to a film which has "a hokey, jokey feel, [it] is possibly the worst-written Bond script of all". Berardinelli concludes that "it's a major disappointment that, having lured back the original 007, the film makers couldn't offer him something better than this drawn-out, hackneyed story." Critic Danny Peary wrote that "it was great to see Sean Connery return as James Bond after a dozen years". He also thought the supporting cast was good, saying that Klaus Maria Brandauer's Largo was "neurotic, vulnerable ... one of the most complex of Bond's foes" and that Barbara Carrera and Kim Basinger "make lasting impressions." Peary also wrote that the "film is exotic, well acted, and stylishly directed ... It would be one of the best Bond films if the finale weren't disappointing. When will filmmakers realize that underwater fight scenes don't work because viewers usually can't tell the hero and villain apart and they know doubles are being used?"
Jim Smith and Stephen Lavington, in their 2002 retrospective Bond Films, lament: "The production chaos is visible on screen, with frequently mediocre editing, direction, stunt work and photography all emerging from the restricted budget. [...] At the time, Never Say Never Again got away with it, thanks to public and critical pleasure at seeing Connery again. Now it is dated, slow and (worst of all) looks cheap, faring badly when compared to even the poorest of the Eon films."
== Legacy ==
Originally, Never Say Never Again was intended to start a series of Bond films produced by Schwartzman and starring Connery as James Bond, with McClory announcing the next planned film, S.P.E.C.T.R.E, in a February 1984 issue of Screen International. When Connery announced that he would not reprise his role as Bond in another film produced by Schwartzman three weeks before the deadline to purchase the rights to another film for $5 million, Schwartzman said that he was unlikely to make another film without a deal from MGM/UA and Danjaq.
In the 1990s, McClory announced plans to make another adaptation of the Thunderball story starring Timothy Dalton entitled Warhead 2000 AD, but the film was eventually scrapped. In 1997, Sony Pictures acquired McClory's rights for an undisclosed amount, and subsequently announced that it intended to make a series of Bond films, as the company also held the rights to Casino Royale. This move prompted a round of litigation from MGM, which was settled out of court, forcing Sony to give up all claims on Bond (with MGM's acquisition of the rights to Casino Royale finally allowing Eon Productions to make a serious, non-satirical film adaptation of that novel in 2006, with Daniel Craig as James Bond); McClory still claimed he would proceed with another Bond film, and continued his case against MGM and Danjaq; on 27 August 2001, the court rejected McClory's suit. McClory died in 2006. In 2013, McClory's heirs sold the Thunderball rights to Eon, allowing the company to reintroduce Blofeld to the Eon series in the film Spectre.
On 4 December 1997, MGM announced that the company had purchased the rights to Never Say Never Again from the estate of Schwartzman's company Taliafilm. The company has since handled the release of both the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_International | Miss International | Miss International (Miss International Beauty or The International Beauty Pageant) is a Japan-based international major beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant in the world in terms of the number of national winners participating in the international contest.
Along with Miss World, Miss Universe, and Miss Earth, the pageant is one of the Big Four beauty pageants. The Miss International Organization and the brand are currently owned (since 1968), along with Miss International Japan, by the International Cultural Association and Miss Paris Group. The pageant crown used by the organization is supplied and patented by the Mikimoto pearl company.
In 2020 and again in 2021, the pageant was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current Miss International is Catalina Duque of Colombia, who was crowned on 27 November 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
== History ==
The pageant was created in Long Beach, California, United States in 1960, after the departure of the Miss Universe pageant to Miami Beach. Hosted in Long Beach until 1967, the pageant moved to Japan from 1968 to 1970, being hosted each year in the same city as the Expo '70. For 1971, it was held in Long Beach again, but since that time it had been held annually in Japan until 2003. Since 2004, it is held in China or Japan. The first winner of the pageant in 1960 was Stella Márquez of Colombia.
Since then, Japan became the host country and the pageant has mostly been held in Japan, around autumn season either in October or November. The pageant is also called "Miss International Beauty". The pageant advocacy is to achieve a world where women can live with positivity, inner strength and individuality. The slogan of Miss International is to "correct understanding of Japan in the international community" and "the realization of world peace through mutual understanding". It has also recently adapted the slogan "Cheer All Women".
The winner of Miss International 2012, Ikumi Yoshimatsu of Japan, was not able to crown her successor due to conflict with a talent agency that threatened her safety and the pageant night itself; instead Miss International 2008, Alejandra Andreu, crowned Bea Santiago of the Philippines as Miss International 2013. The organization was criticized for allegedly asking Yoshimatsu to skip the succession ceremony and "play sick and shut up" in order to avoid a scandal with a Japanese production company whose president was allegedly harassing her. In 2017, Kevin Lilliana Junaedy of Indonesia became the first Muslim woman to win Miss International. 2020 and 2021 edition was the second and third times the pageant has been cancelled since 1966 edition, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Japanese government banned International events, following the 2020 Summer Olympics postponement.
== Recent titleholders ==
== Gallery of winners ==
== Crowns ==
=== Gallery of Miss International crowns ===
The Long Beach Pearl Crown (2022–present) – This crown was designed by Mrs. Bùi Thị Mỹ Cảnh - founder of Long Beach Pearl, the official crown sponsor of the Miss International Organization. The crown was used from 2022. The crown of Miss International 2022 (Miss International) with the theme of Cherry Blossoms welcoming the spring sun, inspired by the beauty of the cherries blooming under the spring sunshine, is the departure of spring. color, bringing the beauty of faith and positivity. The cherry blossom is a symbol of Japan, representing the spirit, strength, culture and people of Japan. Not only that, the cherry blossoms are also a symbol of intense vitality, a symbol of humility, the desire to live together peacefully, characteristic of youth. The design gathers 333 pure white pearls, symbolizing the flowers that are opening, ready to welcome the rays of spring sunshine. It is also a number that carries the meaning of luck, enthusiasm and longevity. In particular, with the highlight are 3 selected pearls with sizes up to more than 15mm, bringing the beauty of eternal life, sublimation and spread. The Miss International crown is also encrusted with 1960 white gems - symbolizing the first year the Miss International pageant was held. The fusion of feats of craftsmanship with top-notch craftsmanship, Long Beach Pearl has brought a special work for the Miss International contest.
The Mikimoto Crown (1970–1998; 2015–2019) – This crown was designed by Tomohiro Yamaji for the Mikimoto Company, the official jewel sponsor of the Miss International Organization. It contains 575.31 grams of 14k and 18k gold, 650 South Sea and Akoya pearls, ranging in size from 3 to 18 mm diameter and is valued at US$350,000. The crown was designed for the pageant on Mikimoto Pearl Island in Japan with the Mikimoto crown and tiara being first used for Miss International 2013, which was unveiled by the president of Miss International Akemi Shimomura, like the previous crown edition there are also 4 sets of small tiara's for the runners-up in this crown collection. The crown was retired after Sireethorn Leearamwat of Thailand used the crown in 2019.
The Couple of Horses Crown (1999–2005; 2007–2014) – This crown was used from 1999–2005; 2007–2014. Same as the current Mikimoto crown, this crown was designed by Tomohiro Yamaji for the Mikimoto Company. The crown has a symbolic design with a couple of horses and 530 South Sea and Akoya pearls, there are 4 sets of small tiara's for the runners-up in this crown collection. It was retired after Valerie Hernandez of Puerto Rico used the crown in 2015.
The Crystal Crown (2006) – also known as Maki Diamond tiara, this crown was used when Daniela di Giacomo of Venezuela was crowned Miss International 2006. She was the only Miss International titleholder to wear this crown. The crown was valued at US$150,000, was made of an 18 karat combination of white and yellow gold and composed of over 1,000 precious stones. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance_(tennis) | Jack Vance (tennis) | |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara | Capybara | The capybara or greater capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is the largest living rodent, native to all countries in South America except Chile. It is a semiaquatic herbivore that inhabits savannas and dense forests, living near and in bodies of water and feeding mainly on grasses and aquatic plants.
Together with the lesser capybara, it constitutes the genus Hydrochoerus. Its other close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the nutria.
The capybara is a highly social species that usually lives in groups of 10–20 individuals, but can be found in groups as large as one hundred. It is hunted for its meat and hide and for grease from its thick fatty skin.
== Etymology ==
Its common name is derived from Tupi ka'apiûara, a complex agglutination of kaá (leaf) + píi (slender) + ú (eat) + ara (a suffix for agent nouns), meaning "one who eats slender leaves", or "grass-eater". The genus name, hydrochoerus, comes from Greek ὕδωρ (hýdor "water") and χοῖρος (choíros "pig, hog") and the species name, hydrochaeris, comes from Greek ὕδωρ (hýdor "water") and χαίρω (chairo "feel happy, enjoy").
== Classification and phylogeny ==
The capybara and the lesser capybara both belong to the subfamily Hydrochoerinae along with the rock cavies. The living capybaras and their extinct relatives were previously classified in their own family Hydrochoeridae. Since 2002, molecular phylogenetic studies have recognized a close relationship between Hydrochoerus and Kerodon, the rock cavies, supporting placement of both genera in a subfamily of Caviidae.
Paleontological classifications previously used Hydrochoeridae for all capybaras, while using Hydrochoerinae for the living genus and its closest fossil relatives, such as Neochoerus, but more recently have adopted the classification of Hydrochoerinae within Caviidae. The taxonomy of fossil hydrochoerines is also in a state of flux. In recent years, the diversity of fossil hydrochoerines has been substantially reduced. This is largely due to the recognition that capybara molar teeth show strong variation in shape over the life of an individual. In one instance, material referred to four genera and seven species on the basis of differences in molar shape was later thought to represent differently aged individuals of a single species, Cardiatherium paranense.
Among fossil species, the name "capybara" can refer to the many species of Hydrochoerinae that are more closely related to the modern Hydrochoerus than to the "cardiomyine" rodents like Cardiomys. The fossil genera Cardiatherium, Phugatherium, Hydrochoeropsis, and Neochoerus are all capybaras under that concept.
== Description ==
The capybara has a heavy, barrel-shaped body and short head, with reddish-brown fur on the upper part of its body that turns yellowish-brown underneath. Its sweat glands can be found in the surface of the hairy portions of its skin, an unusual trait among rodents. The animal lacks down hair, and its guard hair differs little from over hair.Adult capybaras grow to 106 to 134 cm (3.48 to 4.40 ft) in length, stand 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) tall at the withers, and typically weigh 35 to 66 kg (77 to 146 lb), with an average in the Venezuelan llanos of 48.9 kg (108 lb). Females are slightly heavier than males. The top recorded weights are 91 kg (201 lb) for a wild female from Brazil and 73.5 kg (162 lb) for a wild male from Uruguay. Also, an 81 kg individual was reported in São Paulo in 2001 or 2002. The dental formula is 1.0.1.31.0.1.3. Capybaras have slightly webbed feet and vestigial tails. Their hind legs are slightly longer than their forelegs; they have three toes on their rear feet and four toes on their front feet. Their muzzles are blunt, with nostrils, and the eyes and ears are near the top of their heads.
Its karyotype has 2n = 66 and FN = 102, meaning it has 66 chromosomes with a total of 102 arms.
== Ecology ==
Capybaras are semiaquatic mammals found throughout all countries of South America except Chile. They live in densely forested areas near bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds, and marshes, as well as flooded savannah and along rivers in the tropical rainforest. They are superb swimmers and can hold their breath underwater for up to five minutes at a time. Capybara have flourished in cattle ranches. They roam in home ranges averaging 10 hectares (25 acres) in high-density populations.
Many escapees from captivity can also be found in similar watery habitats around the world. Sightings are fairly common in Florida, although a breeding population has not yet been confirmed. In 2011, one specimen was spotted on the Central Coast of California. These escaped populations occur in areas where prehistoric capybaras inhabited; late Pleistocene capybaras inhabited Florida and Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites in California and Hydrochoerus gaylordi in Grenada, and feral capybaras in North America may actually fill the ecological niche of the Pleistocene species.
=== Diet and predation ===
Capybaras are herbivores, grazing mainly on grasses and aquatic plants, as well as fruit and tree bark. They are very selective feeders and feed on the leaves of one species and disregard other species surrounding it. They eat a greater variety of plants during the dry season, as fewer plants are available. While they eat grass during the wet season, they have to switch to more abundant reeds during the dry season. Plants that capybaras eat during the summer lose their nutritional value in the winter, so they are not consumed at that time. The capybara's jaw hinge is not perpendicular, so they chew food by grinding back-and-forth rather than side-to-side. Capybaras are autocoprophagous, meaning they eat their own feces as a source of bacterial gut flora, to help digest the cellulose in the grass that forms their normal diet, and to extract the maximum protein and vitamins from their food. They also regurgitate food to masticate again, similar to cud-chewing by cattle. Like other rodents, a capybara's front teeth grow continually to compensate for the constant wear from eating grasses; their cheek teeth also grow continuously.
Like its relative the guinea pig, the capybara does not have the capacity to synthesize vitamin C, and capybaras not supplemented with vitamin C in captivity have been reported to develop gum disease as a sign of scurvy.
The maximum lifespan of the capybara is 8 to 10 years, but in the wild capybaras usually do not live longer than four years because of predation from South American big cats such as jaguars and cougars and from non-mammalian predators such as caimans and green anacondas.
== Social organization ==
Capybaras are gregarious. While they sometimes live solitarily, they are more commonly found in groups of around 10–20 individuals, with two to four adult males, four to seven adult females, and the remainder juveniles. Capybara groups can consist of as many as 50 or 100 individuals during the dry season when the animals gather around available water sources. Males establish social bonds, dominance, or general group consensus. They can make dog-like barks when threatened or when females are herding young.
Capybaras have two types of scent glands: a morrillo, located on the snout, and anal glands. Both sexes have these glands, but males have much larger morrillos and use their anal glands more frequently. The anal glands of males are also lined with detachable hairs. A crystalline form of scent secretion is coated on these hairs and is released when in contact with objects such as plants. These hairs have a longer-lasting scent mark and are tasted by other capybaras. Capybaras scent-mark by rubbing their morrillos on objects, or by walking over scrub and marking it with their anal glands. Capybaras can spread their scent farther by urinating; however, females usually mark without urinating and scent-mark less frequently than males overall. Females mark more often during the wet season when they are in estrus. In addition to objects, males also scent-mark females.
=== Reproduction ===
When in estrus, the female's scent changes subtly and nearby males begin pursuit. In addition, a female alerts males she is in estrus by whistling through her nose. During mating, the female has the advantage and mating choice. Capybaras mate only in water, and if a female does not want to mate with a certain male, she either submerges or leaves the water. Dominant males are highly protective of the females, but they usually cannot prevent some of the subordinates from copulating. The larger the group, the harder it is for the male to watch all the females. Dominant males secure significantly more matings than each subordinate, but subordinate males, as a class, are responsible for more matings than each dominant male. The lifespan of the capybara's sperm is longer than that of other rodents. Capybara gestation is 130–150 days, and produces a litter of four young on average, but may produce between one and eight in a single litter. Birth is on land and the female rejoins the group within a few hours of delivering the newborn capybaras, which join the group as soon as they are mobile. Within a week, the young can eat grass, but continue to suckle—from any female in the group—until weaned around 16 weeks. The young form a group within the main group. Alloparenting has been observed in this species. Breeding peaks between April and May in Venezuela and between October and November in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
=== Activities ===
Though quite agile on land, capybaras are equally at home in the water. They are excellent swimmers, and can remain completely submerged for up to five minutes, an ability they use to evade predators. Capybaras can sleep in water, keeping only their noses out. As temperatures increase during the day, they wallow in water and then graze during the late afternoon and early evening. They also spend time wallowing in mud. They rest around midnight and then continue to graze before dawn.
=== Communication ===
Capybaras communicate using barks, chirps, whistles, huffs, and purrs.
== Conservation and human interaction ==
Capybaras are not considered a threatened species; their population is stable throughout most of their South American range, though in some areas hunting has reduced their numbers. Capybaras are hunted for their meat and pelts in some areas, and otherwise killed by humans who see their grazing as competition for livestock. In some areas, they are farmed, which has the effect of ensuring the wetland habitats are protected. Their survival is aided by their ability to breed rapidly.
Capybaras have adapted well to urbanization in South America. They can be found in many areas in zoos and parks, and may live for 12 years in captivity, more than double their wild lifespan. Capybaras are docile and usually allow humans to pet and hand-feed them, but physical contact is normally discouraged, as their ticks can be vectors to Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria asked Drusillas Park in Alfriston, Sussex, England, to keep the studbook for capybaras, to monitor captive populations in Europe. The studbook includes information about all births, deaths and movements of capybaras, as well as how they are related.
Capybaras are farmed for meat and skins in South America. The meat is considered unsuitable to eat in some areas, while in other areas it is considered an important source of protein. In parts of South America, especially in Venezuela, capybara meat is popular during Lent and Holy Week as the Catholic Church (according to a legend) previously issued special dispensation to allow it to be eaten while other meats are generally forbidden. There is widespread perception in Venezuela that consumption of capybaras is exclusive to rural people.
Brazilian Lyme-like borreliosis likely involves capybaras as reservoirs and Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus ticks as vectors.
A capybara café in St. Augustine, Florida allows visitors to interact with and give head scratches to the rodents.
== In popular culture ==
Capybaras have amassed fandoms in Japan and China, particularly among youth. This has been attributed to their perception as role models of emotional well-being and harmoniousness. In Japan, Izu Shaboten Zoo and other zoos provide hot spring baths for capybaras. Video clips of the bathing capybaras have millions of views. These capybaras spawned a series of merchandise such as plush toys, and provided inspiration for the anime character Kapibara-san.
Capybaras have become a figure in meme culture in the 2020s. Common meme formats pair capybaras with the song "After Party" by Don Toliver. A song about capybaras was released and became highly popular on TikTok in 2022. Capybaras have gained a reputation as a symbol of calm due to their perceived "unflappability", and their personalities have been described as "buddha-like".
In August 2021, Argentine and international media reported that capybaras had been disrupting life in Nordelta, an affluent gated community north of Buenos Aires built atop the local capybara's preexisting wetland habitat. This inspired social media users to jokingly adopt the capybara as a symbol of class struggle and communism. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 | Apollo 13 | Apollo 13 (April 11–17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) exploded two days into the mission, disabling its electrical and life-support system. The crew, supported by backup systems on the Apollo Lunar Module, instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.
A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM's oxygen tanks to space. Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating electrical power, the SM's propulsion and life support systems could not operate. The CM's systems had to be shut down to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the crew to transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing canceled, mission controllers worked to bring the crew home alive.
Although the LM was designed to support two men on the lunar surface for two days, Mission Control in Houston improvised new procedures so it could support three men for four days. The crew experienced great hardship, caused by limited power, a chilly and wet cabin and a shortage of potable water. There was a critical need to adapt the CM's cartridges for the carbon dioxide scrubber system to work in the LM; the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution. The astronauts' peril briefly renewed public interest in the Apollo program; tens of millions watched the splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean on television.
An investigative review board found fault with preflight testing of the oxygen tank and Teflon being placed inside it. The board recommended changes, including minimizing the use of potentially combustible items inside the tank; this was done for Apollo 14. The story of Apollo 13 has been dramatized several times, most notably in the 1995 film Apollo 13 based on Lost Moon, the 1994 memoir co-authored by Lovell – and an episode of the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.
== Background ==
On May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy challenged his nation to land an astronaut on the Moon by the end of the decade, with a safe return to Earth. NASA worked towards this goal incrementally, sending astronauts into space during Project Mercury and Project Gemini, leading up to the Apollo program. The goal was achieved with Apollo 11, which landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited the Moon in Command Module Columbia. The mission returned to Earth on July 24, 1969, fulfilling Kennedy's challenge.
NASA had contracted for fifteen Saturn V rockets to achieve the goal; at the time no one knew how many missions this would require. Since success was obtained in 1969 with the sixth Saturn V on Apollo 11, nine rockets remained available for a hoped-for total of ten landings. After the excitement of Apollo 11, the general public grew apathetic towards the space program and Congress continued to cut NASA's budget; Apollo 20 was canceled. Despite the successful lunar landing, the missions were considered so risky that astronauts could not afford life insurance to provide for their families if they died in space.
Even before the first U.S. astronaut entered space in 1961, planning for a centralized facility to communicate with the spacecraft and monitor its performance had begun, for the most part the brainchild of Christopher C. Kraft Jr., who became NASA's first flight director. During John Glenn's Mercury Friendship 7 flight in February 1962 (the first crewed orbital flight by the U.S.), one of Kraft's decisions was overruled by NASA managers. He was vindicated by post-mission analysis and implemented a rule that, during the mission, the flight director's word was absolute – to overrule him, NASA would have to fire him on the spot. Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description, "The flight director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission success."
Houston's Mission Control Center was opened in 1965. It was in part designed by Kraft and now named for him. In Mission Control, each flight controller, in addition to monitoring telemetry from the spacecraft, was in communication via voice loop to specialists in a Staff Support Room (or "back room"), who focused on specific spacecraft systems.
Apollo 13 was to be the second H mission, meant to demonstrate precision lunar landings and explore specific sites on the Moon. With Kennedy's goal accomplished by Apollo 11, and Apollo 12 demonstrating that the astronauts could perform a precision landing, mission planners were able to focus on more than just landing safely and having astronauts minimally trained in geology gather lunar samples to take home to Earth. There was a greater role for science on Apollo 13, especially for geology, something emphasized by the mission's motto, Ex luna, scientia (From the Moon, knowledge).
== Astronauts and key Mission Control personnel ==
Apollo 13's mission commander, Jim Lovell, was 42 years old at the time of the spaceflight. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and had been a naval aviator and test pilot before being selected for the second group of astronauts in 1962; he flew with Frank Borman in Gemini 7 in 1965 and Buzz Aldrin in Gemini 12 the following year before flying in Apollo 8 in 1968, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon. At the time of Apollo 13, Lovell was the NASA astronaut with the most time in space, with 572 hours over the three missions.
Jack Swigert, the command module pilot (CMP), was 38 years old and held a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in aerospace science; he had served in the Air Force and in state Air National Guards and was an engineering test pilot before being selected for the fifth group of astronauts in 1966. Fred Haise, the Lunar Module pilot (LMP), was 36 years old. He held a B.S. in aeronautical engineering, had been a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and was a civilian research pilot for NASA when he was selected as a Group 5 astronaut.
According to the standard Apollo crew rotation, the prime crew for Apollo 13 would have been the backup crew for Apollo 10, with Mercury and Gemini veteran Gordon Cooper in command, Donn F. Eisele as CMP and Edgar Mitchell as LMP. Deke Slayton, NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, never intended to rotate Cooper and Eisele to a prime crew assignment, as both were out of favor – Cooper for his lax attitude towards training, and Eisele for incidents aboard Apollo 7 and an extramarital affair. He assigned them to the backup crew because no other veteran astronauts were available. Slayton's original choices for Apollo 13 were Alan Shepard as commander, Stuart Roosa as CMP, and Mitchell as LMP. However, management felt Shepard needed more training time, as he had only recently resumed active status after surgery for an inner ear disorder and had not flown since 1961. Thus, Lovell's crew (himself, Haise and Ken Mattingly), having all backed up Apollo 11 and being slated for Apollo 14, was swapped with Shepard's.
Swigert was originally CMP of Apollo 13's backup crew, with John Young as commander and Charles Duke as lunar module pilot. Seven days before launch, Duke contracted rubella from his son's friend. This exposed both the prime and backup crews, who trained together. Of the five, only Mattingly was not immune through prior exposure. Normally, if any member of the prime crew had to be grounded, the remaining crew would be replaced as well, and the backup crew substituted, but Duke's illness ruled this out, so two days before launch, Mattingly was replaced by Swigert. Mattingly never developed rubella and later flew on Apollo 16.
For Apollo, a third crew of astronauts, known as the support crew, was designated in addition to the prime and backup crews used on projects Mercury and Gemini. Slayton created the support crews because James McDivitt, who would command Apollo 9, believed that, with preparation going on in facilities across the US, meetings that needed a member of the flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated; for Apollo 13, they were Vance D. Brand, Jack Lousma and either William Pogue or Joseph Kerwin.
For Apollo 13, flight directors were Gene Kranz, White team (the lead flight director); Glynn Lunney, Black team; Milton Windler, Maroon team and Gerry Griffin, Gold team. The CAPCOMs (the person in Mission Control, during the Apollo program an astronaut, who was responsible for voice communications with the crew) for Apollo 13 were Kerwin, Brand, Lousma, Young and Mattingly.
== Mission insignia and call signs ==
The Apollo 13 mission insignia depicts the Greek god of the Sun, Apollo, with three horses pulling his chariot across the face of the Moon, and the Earth seen in the distance. This is meant to symbolize the Apollo flights bringing the light of knowledge to all people. The mission motto, Ex luna, scientia ("From the Moon, knowledge"), appears. In choosing it, Lovell adapted the motto of his alma mater, the Naval Academy, Ex scientia, tridens ("From knowledge, sea power").
On the patch, the mission number appeared in Roman numerals as Apollo XIII. It did not have to be modified after Swigert replaced Mattingly, as it is one of only two Apollo mission insignia – the other being Apollo 11 – not to include the names of the crew. It was designed by artist Lumen Martin Winter, who based it on a mural he had painted for the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The mural was later purchased by actor Tom Hanks, who portrayed Lovell in the movie Apollo 13, and it is now in the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Illinois.
The mission's motto was in Lovell's mind when he chose the call sign Aquarius for the lunar module, taken from Aquarius, the bringer of water. Some in the media erroneously reported that the call sign was taken from a song by that name from the musical Hair. The command module's call sign, Odyssey, was chosen not only for its Homeric association but to refer to the recent film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, based on a short story by science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. In his book, Lovell indicated he chose the name Odyssey because he liked the word and its definition: a long voyage with many changes of fortune.
Due to the accident and the last minute crew change of Jack Swigert replacing Ken Mattingly three days prior to launch, the Apollo 13 Robbins medallions flown aboard the mission were melted down and reminted after the mission to reflect the correct crew, and the absence of a lunar landing date.
== Space vehicle ==
The Saturn V rocket used to carry Apollo 13 to the Moon was numbered SA-508, and was almost identical to those used on Apollo 8 through 12. Including the spacecraft, the rocket weighed in at 2,949,136 kilograms (6,501,733 lb). The S-IC first stage's engines were rated to generate 440,000 newtons (100,000 lbf) less total thrust than Apollo 12's, though they remained within specifications. To keep its liquid hydrogen propellent cold, the S-II second stage's cryogenic tanks were insulated; on earlier Apollo missions this came in the form of panels that were affixed, but beginning with Apollo 13, insulation was sprayed onto the exterior of the tanks. Extra propellant was carried as a test, since future J missions to the Moon would require more propellant for their heavier payloads. This made the vehicle the heaviest yet flown by NASA, and Apollo 13 was visibly slower to clear the launch tower than earlier missions.
The Apollo 13 spacecraft consisted of Command Module 109 and Service Module 109 (together CSM-109), called Odyssey, and Lunar Module 7 (LM-7), called Aquarius. Also considered part of the spacecraft was the launch escape system, which would propel the command module (CM) to safety in the event of a problem during liftoff, and the Spacecraft–LM Adapter, numbered as SLA-16, which housed the lunar module (LM) during the first hours of the mission.
The LM stages, CM and service module (SM) were received at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1969; the portions of the Saturn V were received in June and July. Thereafter, testing and assembly proceeded, culminating with the rollout of the launch vehicle, with the spacecraft atop it, on December 15, 1969. Apollo 13 was originally scheduled for launch on March 12, 1970, but that January NASA announced the mission would be postponed until April 11, both to allow more time for planning and to spread the Apollo missions over a longer period. The plan was to have two Apollo flights per year and was in response to budgetary constraints that had recently seen the cancellation of Apollo 20.
== Training and preparation ==
The Apollo 13 prime crew undertook over 1,000 hours of mission-specific training, more than five hours for every hour of the mission's ten-day planned duration. Each member of the prime crew spent over 400 hours in simulators of the CM and (for Lovell and Haise) of the LM at KSC and at Houston, some of which involved the flight controllers at Mission Control. Flight controllers participated in many simulations of problems with the spacecraft in flight, which taught them how to react in an emergency. Specialized simulators at other locations were also used by the crew members.
The astronauts of Apollo 11 had minimal time for geology training, with only six months between crew assignment and launch; higher priorities took much of their time. Apollo 12 saw more such training, including practice in the field, using a CAPCOM and a simulated backroom of scientists, to whom the astronauts had to describe what they saw. Scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt saw that there was limited enthusiasm for geology field trips. Believing an inspirational teacher was needed, Schmitt arranged for Lovell and Haise to meet his old professor, Caltech's Lee Silver. The two astronauts, and backups Young and Duke, went on a field trip with Silver at their own time and expense. At the end of their week together, Lovell made Silver their geology mentor, who would be extensively involved in the geology planning for Apollo 13. Farouk El-Baz oversaw the training of Mattingly and his backup, Swigert, which involved describing and photographing simulated lunar landmarks from airplanes. El-Baz had all three prime crew astronauts describe geologic features they saw during their flights between Houston and KSC; Mattingly's enthusiasm caused other astronauts, such as Apollo 14's CMP, Roosa, to seek out El-Baz as a teacher.
Concerned about how close Apollo 11's LM, Eagle, had come to running out of propellant during its lunar descent, mission planners decided that beginning with Apollo 13, the CSM would bring the LM to the low orbit from which the landing attempt would commence. This was a change from Apollo 11 and 12, on which the LM made the burn to bring it to the lower orbit. The change was part of an effort to increase the amount of hover time available to the astronauts as the missions headed into rougher terrain.
The plan was to devote the first of the two four-hour lunar surface extravehicular activities (EVAs) to setting up the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) group of scientific instruments; during the second, Lovell and Haise would investigate Cone crater, near the planned landing site. The two astronauts wore their spacesuits for some 20 walk-throughs of EVA procedures, including sample gathering and use of tools and other equipment. They flew in the "Vomit Comet" in simulated microgravity or lunar gravity, including practice in donning and doffing spacesuits. To prepare for the descent to the Moon's surface, Lovell flew the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) after receiving helicopter training. Despite the crashes of one LLTV and one similar Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) prior to Apollo 13, mission commanders considered flying them invaluable experience and so prevailed on reluctant NASA management to retain them.
== Experiments and scientific objectives ==
Apollo 13's designated landing site was near Fra Mauro crater; the Fra Mauro formation was believed to contain much material spattered by the impact that had filled the Imbrium basin early in the Moon's history. Dating it would provide information not only about the Moon, but about the Earth's early history. Such material was likely to be available at Cone crater, a site where an impact was believed to have drilled deep into the lunar regolith.
Apollo 11 had left a seismometer on the Moon, but the solar-powered unit did not survive its first two-week-long lunar night. The Apollo 12 astronauts also left one as part of its ALSEP, which was nuclear-powered. Apollo 13 also carried a seismometer (known as the Passive Seismic Experiment, or PSE), similar to Apollo 12's, as part of its ALSEP, to be left on the Moon by the astronauts. That seismometer was to be calibrated by the impact, after jettison, of the ascent stage of Apollo 13's LM, an object of known mass and velocity impacting at a known location.
Other ALSEP experiments on Apollo 13 included a Heat Flow Experiment (HFE), which would involve drilling two holes 3.0 metres (10 ft) deep. This was Haise's responsibility; he was also to drill a third hole of that depth for a core sample. A Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment (CPLEE) measured the protons and electrons of solar origin reaching the Moon. The package also included a Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD) and a Dust Detector, to measure the accumulation of debris. The Heat Flow Experiment and the CPLEE were flown for the first time on Apollo 13; the other experiments had been flown before.
To power the ALSEP, the SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) was flown. Developed by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, SNAP-27 was first flown on Apollo 12. The fuel capsule contained about 3.79 kilograms (8.36 lb) of plutonium oxide. The cask placed around the capsule for transport to the Moon was built with heat shields of graphite and of beryllium, and with structural parts of titanium and of Inconel materials. Thus, it was built to withstand the heat of reentry into the Earth's atmosphere rather than pollute the air with plutonium in the event of an aborted mission.
A United States flag was also taken, to be erected on the Moon's surface. For Apollo 11 and 12, the flag had been placed in a heat-resistant tube on the front landing leg; it was moved for Apollo 13 to the Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA) in the LM descent stage. The structure to fly the flag on the airless Moon was improved from Apollo 12's.
For the first time, red stripes were placed on the helmet, arms and legs of the commander's A7L spacesuit. This was done as, after Apollo 11, those reviewing the images taken had trouble distinguishing Armstrong from Aldrin, but the change was approved too late for Apollo 12. New drink bags attached inside the helmets, and that were to be sipped from as the astronauts walked on the Moon, were demonstrated by Haise during Apollo 13's final television broadcast before the accident.
Apollo 13's primary mission objectives were to: "Perform selenological inspection, survey, and sampling of materials in a preselected region of the Fra Mauro Formation. Deploy and activate an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package. Develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment. Obtain photographs of candidate exploration sites." The astronauts were also to accomplish other photographic objectives, including of the Gegenschein from lunar orbit, and of the Moon itself on the journey back to Earth. Some of this photography was to be performed by Swigert as Lovell and Haise walked on the Moon. Swigert was also to take photographs of the Lagrangian points of the Earth-Moon system. Apollo 13 had twelve cameras on board, including those for television and moving pictures. The crew was also to downlink bistatic radar observations of the Moon. None of these was attempted because of the accident.
== Flight of Apollo 13 ==
=== Launch and translunar injection ===
The mission was launched at the planned time, 2:13:00 pm EST (19:13:00 UTC) on April 11. An anomaly occurred when the second-stage, center (inboard) engine shut down about two minutes early. This was caused by severe pogo oscillations. Starting with Apollo 10, the vehicle's guidance system was designed to shut the engine down in response to chamber pressure excursions. Pogo oscillations had occurred on Titan rockets (used during the Gemini program) and on previous Apollo missions, but on Apollo 13 they were amplified by an interaction with turbopump cavitation. A fix to prevent pogo was ready for the mission, but schedule pressure did not permit the hardware's integration into the Apollo 13 vehicle. A post-flight investigation revealed the engine could only withstand one additional cycle before it would suffer catastrophic failure. The four outboard engines and the S-IVB third stage burned longer to compensate, and the vehicle achieved very close to the planned circular 190 kilometers (120 mi; 100 nmi) parking orbit, followed by a translunar injection (TLI) about two hours later, setting the mission on course for the Moon.
After TLI, Swigert performed the separation and transposition maneuvers before docking the CSM Odyssey to the LM Aquarius, and the spacecraft pulled away from the third stage. Ground controllers then sent the third stage on a course to impact the Moon in range of the Apollo 12 seismometer, which it did just over three days into the mission.
The crew settled in for the three-day trip to Fra Mauro. At 30:40:50 into the mission, with the TV camera running, the crew performed a burn to place Apollo 13 on a hybrid trajectory. The departure from a free-return trajectory meant that if no further burns were performed, Apollo 13 would miss Earth on its return trajectory, rather than intercept it, as with a free return. A free return trajectory could only reach sites near the lunar equator; a hybrid trajectory, which could be started at any point after TLI, allowed sites with higher latitudes, such as Fra Mauro, to be reached. Communications were enlivened when Swigert realized that in the last-minute rush, he had neglected to file his federal income tax return (due April 15), and amid laughter from mission controllers, asked how he could get an extension. He was found to be entitled to a 60-day extension for being out of the country at the deadline.
Entry into the LM to test its systems had been scheduled for 58:00:00; when the crew awoke on the third day of the mission, they were informed it had been moved up three hours and was later moved up again by another hour. A television broadcast was scheduled for 55:00:00; Lovell, acting as emcee, showed the audience the interiors of Odyssey and Aquarius. The audience was limited since none of the television networks were carrying the broadcast, forcing Marilyn Lovell (Jim Lovell's wife) to go to the VIP room at Mission Control if she wanted to watch her husband and his crewmates.
=== Accident ===
About six and a half minutes after the TV broadcast – approaching 56:00:00 – Apollo 13 was about 180,000 nautical miles (210,000 mi; 330,000 km) from Earth. Haise was completing the shutdown of the LM after testing its systems while Lovell stowed the TV camera. Jack Lousma, the CAPCOM, sent minor instructions to Swigert, including changing the attitude of the craft to facilitate photography of Comet Bennett.
The pressure sensor in one of the SM's oxygen tanks had earlier appeared to be malfunctioning, so Sy Liebergot (the EECOM, in charge of monitoring the CSM's electrical system) requested that the stirring fans in the tanks be activated. Normally this was done once daily; a stir would destratify the contents of the tanks, making the pressure readings more accurate. The Flight Director, Kranz, had Liebergot wait a few minutes for the crew to settle down after the telecast, then Lousma relayed the request to Swigert, who activated the switches controlling the fans, and after a few seconds turned them off again.
Ninety-five seconds after Swigert activated those switches, the astronauts heard a "pretty large bang", accompanied by fluctuations in electrical power and the firing of the attitude control thrusters. Communications and telemetry to Earth were lost for 1.8 seconds, until the system automatically corrected by switching the high-gain S-band antenna, used for translunar communications, from narrow-beam to wide-beam mode. The accident happened at 55:54:53 (03:08 UTC on April 14; 10:08 PM EST, April 13). Swigert reported 26 seconds later, "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here," echoed at 55:55:42 by Lovell, "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a Main B Bus undervolt." William Fenner was the guidance officer (GUIDO) who was the first to report a problem in the control room to Kranz.
Lovell's initial thought on hearing the noise was that Haise had activated the LM's cabin-repressurization valve, which also produced a bang (Haise enjoyed doing so to startle his crewmates), but Lovell could see that Haise had no idea what had happened. Swigert initially thought that a meteoroid might have struck the LM, but he and Lovell quickly realized there was no leak. The "Main Bus B undervolt" meant that there was insufficient voltage produced by the SM's three fuel cells (fueled by hydrogen and oxygen piped from their respective tanks) to the second of the SM's two electric power distribution systems. Almost everything in the CSM required power. Although the bus momentarily returned to normal status, soon both buses A and B were short on voltage. Haise checked the status of the fuel cells and found that two of them were dead. Mission rules forbade entering lunar orbit unless all fuel cells were operational.
In the minutes after the accident, there were several unusual readings, showing that tank 2 was empty and tank 1's pressure slowly falling, that the computer on the spacecraft had reset and that the high-gain antenna was not working. Liebergot initially missed the worrying signs from tank 2 following the stir, as he was focusing on tank 1, believing that its reading would be a good guide to what was present in tank 2, as did controllers supporting him in the "back room". When Kranz questioned Liebergot on this, he initially responded that there might be false readings due to an instrumentation problem; he was often teased about that in the years to come. Lovell, looking out the window, reported "a gas of some sort" venting into space, making it clear that there was a serious problem.
Since the fuel cells needed oxygen to operate, when Oxygen Tank 1 ran dry, the remaining fuel cell would shut down, meaning the CSM's only significant sources of power and oxygen would be the CM's batteries and its oxygen "surge tank". These would be needed for the final hours of the mission, but the remaining fuel cell, already starved for oxygen, was drawing from the surge tank. Kranz ordered the surge tank isolated, saving its oxygen, but this meant that the remaining fuel cell would die within two hours, as the oxygen in tank 1 was consumed or leaked away. The volume surrounding the spacecraft was filled with myriad small bits of debris from the accident, complicating any efforts to use the stars for navigation. The mission's goal became simply getting the astronauts back to Earth alive.
=== Looping around the Moon ===
The lunar module had charged batteries and full oxygen tanks for use on the lunar surface, so Kranz directed that the astronauts power up the LM and use it as a "lifeboat" – a scenario anticipated but considered unlikely. Procedures for using the LM in this way had been developed by LM flight controllers after a training simulation for Apollo 10 in which the LM was needed for survival, but could not be powered up in time. Had Apollo 13's accident occurred on the return voyage, with the LM already jettisoned, the astronauts would have died, as they would have following an explosion in lunar orbit, including one while Lovell and Haise walked on the Moon.
A key decision was the choice of return path. A "direct abort" would use the SM's main engine (the Service Propulsion System or SPS) to return before reaching the Moon. However, the accident could have damaged the SPS, and the fuel cells would have to last at least another hour to meet its power requirements, so Kranz instead decided on a longer route: the spacecraft would swing around the Moon before heading back to Earth. Apollo 13 was on the hybrid trajectory which was to take it to Fra Mauro; it now needed to be brought back to a free return. The LM's Descent Propulsion System (DPS), although not as powerful as the SPS, could do this, but new software for Mission Control's computers needed to be written by technicians as it had never been contemplated that the CSM/LM spacecraft would have to be maneuvered from the LM. As the CM was being shut down, Lovell copied down its guidance system's orientation information and performed hand calculations to transfer it to the LM's guidance system, which had been turned off; at his request Mission Control checked his figures. At 61:29:43.49 the DPS burn of 34.23 seconds took Apollo 13 back to a free return trajectory.
The change would get Apollo 13 back to Earth in about four days' time – though with splashdown in the Indian Ocean, where NASA had few recovery forces. Jerry Bostick and other Flight Dynamics Officers (FIDOs) were anxious both to shorten the travel time and to move splashdown to the Pacific Ocean, where the main recovery forces were located. One option would shave 36 hours off the return time, but required jettisoning the SM; this would expose the CM's heat shield to space during the return journey, something for which it had not been designed. The FIDOs also proposed other solutions. After a meeting involving NASA officials and engineers, the senior individual present, Manned Spaceflight Center director Robert R. Gilruth, decided on a burn using the DPS that would save 12 hours and land Apollo 13 in the Pacific. This "PC+2" burn would take place two hours after pericynthion, the closest approach to the Moon. At pericynthion, Apollo 13 set the record (per the Guinness Book of World Records), which still stands, for the furthest distance from Earth by a crewed spacecraft: 400,171 kilometers (248,655 mi; 216,075 nmi) from Earth at 7:21 pm EST, April 14 (00:21:00 UTC April 15).
While preparing for the burn, the crew was told that the S-IVB had impacted the Moon as planned, leading Lovell to quip, "Well, at least something worked on this flight." Kranz's White team of mission controllers, who had spent most of their time supporting other teams and developing the procedures urgently needed to get the astronauts home, took their consoles for the PC+2 procedure. Normally, the accuracy of such a burn could be assured by checking the alignment Lovell had transferred to the LM's computer against the position of one of the stars astronauts used for navigation, but the light glinting off the many pieces of debris accompanying the spacecraft made that impractical. The astronauts accordingly used the one star available whose position could not be obscured – the Sun. Houston also informed them that the Moon would be centered in the commander's window of the LM as they made the burn, which was almost perfect – less than 0.3 meters (1 foot) per second off. The burn, at 79:27:38.95, lasted four minutes and 23 seconds. The crew then shut down most LM systems to conserve consumables.
=== Return to Earth ===
The LM carried enough oxygen, but that still left the problem of removing carbon dioxide, which was absorbed by canisters of lithium hydroxide pellets.
The LM's stock of canisters, meant to accommodate two astronauts for 45 hours on the Moon, was not enough to support three astronauts for the return journey to Earth. The CM had enough canisters, but they were of a different shape and size to the LM's, hence unable to be used in the LM's equipment. Engineers on the ground devised a way to bridge the gap, using plastic covers ripped from procedure manuals, duct tape, and other items available on the spacecraft. NASA engineers referred to the improvised device as "the mailbox". The procedure for building the device was read to the crew by CAPCOM Joseph Kerwin over the course of an hour, and was built by Swigert and Haise; carbon dioxide levels began dropping immediately. Lovell later described this improvisation as "a fine example of cooperation between ground and space".
The CSM's electricity came from fuel cells that produced water as a byproduct, but the LM was powered by silver-zinc batteries which did not, so both electrical power and water (needed for equipment cooling as well as drinking) would be critical. LM power consumption was reduced to the lowest level possible; Swigert was able to fill some drinking bags with water from the CM's water tap, but even assuming rationing of personal consumption, Haise initially calculated they would run out of water for cooling about five hours before reentry. This seemed acceptable because the systems of Apollo 11's LM, once jettisoned in lunar orbit, had continued to operate for seven to eight hours even with the water cut off. In the end, Apollo 13 returned to Earth with 12.8 kilograms (28.2 lb) of water remaining. The crew's ration was 0.2 liters (6.8 fl oz) of water per person per day; the three astronauts lost a total of 14 kilograms (31 lb) among them, and Haise developed a urinary tract infection. This infection was probably caused by the reduced water intake, but microgravity and effects of cosmic radiation might have impaired his immune system's reaction to the pathogen.
Inside the darkened spacecraft, the temperature dropped as low as 3 °C (38 °F). Lovell considered having the crew don their spacesuits, but decided this would be too hot. Instead, Lovell and Haise wore their lunar EVA boots and Swigert put on an extra coverall. All three astronauts were cold, especially Swigert, who had got his feet wet while filling the water bags and had no lunar overshoes because he had not been scheduled to walk on the Moon. They were instructed not to discharge their urine to space to avoid disturbing the trajectory, so they stored it in bags. Water condensed on the walls, though any condensation that may have been behind equipment panels caused no problems, partly because of the extensive electrical insulation improvements instituted after the Apollo 1 fire. Despite all this, the crew voiced few complaints.
Flight controller John Aaron, along with Mattingly and several engineers and designers, devised a procedure for powering up the command module from full shutdown – something never intended to be done in flight, much less under Apollo 13's severe power and time constraints. The astronauts implemented the procedure without apparent difficulty; Kranz later said their survival was partly due to their experience as test pilots in critical situations with their lives on the line.
Recognizing that cold conditions combined with insufficient rest would hinder the startup of the command module before reentry, at 133 hours into flight Mission Control gave Lovell the okay to fully power up the LM to raise the cabin temperature, which included restarting the LM's guidance computer. Having the LM's computer running enabled Lovell to perform a navigational sighting and calibrate the LM's Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). With the lunar module's computer aware of its location and orientation, the command module's computer was later calibrated in a reverse of the normal procedures used to set up the LM, shaving steps from the restart process and increasing the accuracy of the PGNCS-controlled reentry.
=== Reentry and splashdown ===
Despite the accuracy of the transearth injection, the spacecraft slowly drifted off course, necessitating a correction. As the LM's guidance system had been shut down following the PC+2 burn, the crew was told to use the line between night and day on the Earth to guide them, a technique used on NASA's Earth-orbit missions but never on the way back from the Moon. This DPS burn, at 105:18:42 for 14 seconds, brought the projected entry flight path angle back within safe limits. Nevertheless, yet another burn was needed at 137:40:13, using the LM's reaction control system (RCS) thrusters, for 21.5 seconds. The SM was jettisoned less than half an hour later, allowing the crew to see the damage for the first time, and photograph it. They reported that an entire panel was missing from the SM's exterior, the fuel cells above the oxygen tank shelf were tilted, that the high-gain antenna was damaged, and there was a considerable amount of debris elsewhere. Haise could see possible damage to the SM's engine bell, validating Kranz's decision not to use the SPS. The crew then moved out of the LM back into the CM and reactivated its life support systems.
The last problem to be solved was how to separate the lunar module a safe distance away from the command module just before reentry. The normal procedure, in lunar orbit, was to release the LM and then use the service module's RCS to pull the CSM away, but by this point, the SM had already been released. Grumman, manufacturer of the LM, assigned a team of University of Toronto engineers, led by senior scientist Bernard Etkin, to solve the problem of how much air pressure to leave in the docking tunnel (rather than venting it completely to space) to push the modules apart. The astronauts applied the solution, which was successful. The LM reentered Earth's atmosphere and was destroyed, the remaining pieces falling in the deep ocean. Apollo 13's final midcourse correction had addressed the concerns of the Atomic Energy Commission, which wanted the cask containing the plutonium oxide intended for the SNAP-27 RTG to land in a safe place. The impact point was over the Tonga Trench in the Pacific, one of its deepest points, and the cask sank 10 kilometers (6 mi; 5 nmi) to the bottom. Later helicopter surveys found no radioactive leakage.
Ionization of the air around the command module during reentry would typically cause a four-minute communications blackout. Apollo 13's shallow reentry path lengthened this to six minutes, longer than had been expected; controllers feared that the CM's heat shield had failed. Odyssey regained radio contact and splashed down safely in the South Pacific Ocean, 21°38′24″S 165°21′42″W, southeast of American Samoa and 6.5 km (4.0 mi; 3.5 nmi) from the recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima. Although fatigued, the crew was in good condition except for Haise, who had developed a serious urinary tract infection because of insufficient water intake. The crew stayed overnight on the ship and flew to Pago Pago, American Samoa, the next day. They flew to Hawaii, where President Richard Nixon awarded them the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. They stayed overnight, and then were flown back to Houston.
En route to Honolulu, President Nixon stopped at Houston to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. He originally planned to give the award to NASA administrator Thomas O. Paine, but Paine recommended the mission operations team.
== Public and media reaction ==
Worldwide interest in the Apollo program was reawakened by the incident; television coverage was seen by millions. Four Soviet ships headed toward the landing area to assist if needed, and other nations offered assistance should the craft have to splash down elsewhere. President Nixon canceled appointments, phoned the astronauts' families, and drove to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where Apollo's tracking and communications were coordinated.
The rescue received more public attention than any spaceflight to that point, other than the first Moon landing on Apollo 11. There were worldwide headlines, and people surrounded television sets to get the latest developments, offered by networks who interrupted their regular programming for bulletins. Pope Paul VI led a congregation of 10,000 people in praying for the astronauts' safe return; ten times that number offered prayers at a religious festival in India. The United States Senate on April 14 passed a resolution urging businesses to pause at 9:00 pm local time that evening to allow for employee prayer.
An estimated 40 million Americans watched Apollo 13's splashdown, carried live on all three networks, with another 30 million watching some portion of the 6+1⁄2 hour telecast. Even more outside the U.S. watched. Jack Gould of The New York Times stated that Apollo 13, "which came so close to tragic disaster, in all probability united the world in mutual concern more fully than another successful landing on the Moon would have".
== Investigation and response ==
=== Review board ===
Immediately upon the crew's return, NASA Administrator Paine and Deputy Administrator George Low appointed a review board to investigate the accident. Chaired by NASA Langley Research Center Director Edgar M. Cortright and including Neil Armstrong and six others, the board sent its final report to Paine on June 15.
It found that the failure began in the service module's number 2 oxygen tank. Damaged Teflon insulation on the wires to the stirring fan inside Oxygen Tank 2 allowed the wires to short circuit and ignite this insulation. The resulting fire increased the pressure inside the tank until the tank dome failed, filling the fuel cell bay (SM Sector 4) with rapidly expanding gaseous oxygen and combustion products. The pressure rise was sufficient to pop the rivets holding the aluminum exterior panel covering Sector 4 and blow it out, exposing the sector to space and snuffing out the fire. The detached panel hit the nearby high-gain antenna, disabling the narrow-beam communication mode and interrupting communication with Earth for 1.8 seconds while the system automatically switched to the backup wide-beam mode. The sectors of the SM were not airtight from each other, and had there been time for the entire SM to become as pressurized as Sector 4, the force on the CM's heat shield would have separated the two modules. The report questioned the use of Teflon and other materials shown to be flammable in supercritical oxygen, such as aluminum, within the tank. The board found no evidence pointing to any other theory of the accident.
Mechanical shock forced the oxygen valves closed on the number 1 and number 3 fuel cells, putting them out of commission. The sudden failure of Oxygen Tank 2 compromised Oxygen Tank 1, causing its contents to leak out, possibly through a damaged line or valve, over the next 130 minutes, entirely depleting the SM's oxygen supply. With both SM oxygen tanks emptying, and with other damage to the SM, the mission had to be aborted. The board praised the response to the emergency: "The imperfection in Apollo 13 constituted a near disaster, averted only by outstanding performance on the part of the crew and the ground control team which supported them."
Oxygen Tank 2 was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Company of Boulder, Colorado, as subcontractor to North American Rockwell (NAR) of Downey, California, prime contractor for the CSM. It contained two thermostatic switches, originally designed for the command module's 28-volt DC power, but which could fail if subjected to the 65 volts used during ground testing at KSC. Under the original 1962 specifications, the switches would be rated for 28 volts, but revised specifications issued in 1965 called for 65 volts to allow for quicker tank pressurization at KSC. Nonetheless, the switches Beech used were not rated for 65 volts.
At NAR's facility, Oxygen Tank 2 had been originally installed in an oxygen shelf placed in the Apollo 10 service module, SM-106, but which was removed to fix a potential electromagnetic interference problem and another shelf substituted. During removal, the shelf was accidentally dropped at least 5 centimeters (2 in), because a retaining bolt had not been removed. The probability of damage from this was low, but it is possible that the fill line assembly was loose and made worse by the fall. After some retesting (which did not include filling the tank with liquid oxygen), in November 1968 the shelf was re-installed in SM-109, intended for Apollo 13, which was shipped to KSC in June 1969.
The Countdown Demonstration Test took place with SM-109 in its place near the top of the Saturn V and began on March 16, 1970. During the test, the cryogenic tanks were filled, but Oxygen Tank 2 could not be emptied through the normal drain line, and a report was written documenting the problem. After discussion among NASA and the contractors, attempts to empty the tank resumed on March 27. When it would not empty normally, the heaters in the tank were turned on to boil off the oxygen. The thermostatic switches were designed to prevent the heaters from raising the temperature higher than 27 °C (80 °F), but they failed under the 65-volt power supply applied. Temperatures on the heater tube within the tank may have reached 540 °C (1,000 °F), most likely damaging the Teflon insulation. The temperature gauge was not designed to read higher than 29 °C (85 °F), so the technician monitoring the procedure detected nothing unusual. This heating had been approved by Lovell and Mattingly of the prime crew, as well as by NASA managers and engineers. Replacement of the tank would have delayed the mission by at least a month. The tank was filled with liquid oxygen again before launch; once electric power was connected, it was in a hazardous condition. The board found that Swigert's activation of the Oxygen Tank 2 fan at the request of Mission Control caused an electric arc that set the tank on fire.
The board conducted a test of an oxygen tank rigged with hot-wire ignitors that caused a rapid rise in temperature within the tank, after which it failed, producing telemetry similar to that seen with the Apollo 13 Oxygen Tank 2. Tests with panels similar to the one that was seen to be missing on SM Sector 4 caused separation of the panel in the test apparatus.
=== Changes in response ===
For Apollo 14 and subsequent missions, the oxygen tank was redesigned, the thermostats being upgraded to handle the proper voltage. The heaters were retained since they were necessary to maintain oxygen pressure. The stirring fans, with their unsealed motors, were removed, which meant the oxygen quantity gauge was no longer accurate. This required adding a third tank so that no tank would go below half full. The third tank was placed in Bay 1 of the SM, on the side opposite the other two, and was given an isolation valve that could isolate it from the fuel cells and from the other two oxygen tanks in an emergency and allow it to feed the CM's environmental system only. The quantity probe was upgraded from aluminum to stainless steel.
All electrical wiring in Bay 4 was sheathed in stainless steel. The fuel cell oxygen supply valves were redesigned to isolate the Teflon-coated wiring from the oxygen. The spacecraft and Mission Control monitoring systems were modified to give more immediate and visible warnings of anomalies. An emergency supply of 19 litres (5 US gal) of water was stored in the CM, and an emergency battery, identical to those that powered the LM's descent stage, was placed in the SM. The LM was modified to make transfer of power from the LM to the CM easier.
== Aftermath ==
On February 5, 1971, Apollo 14's LM, Antares, landed on the Moon with astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell aboard, near Fra Mauro, the site Apollo 13 had been intended to explore. Haise served as CAPCOM during the descent to the Moon, and during the second EVA, during which Shepard and Mitchell explored near Cone crater.
None of the Apollo 13 astronauts flew in space again. Lovell retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973, entering the private sector. He died in 2025 at age 97. Swigert was to have flown on the 1975 Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (the first joint mission with the Soviet Union) but was removed as part of the fallout from the Apollo 15 postal covers incident. He took a leave of absence from NASA in 1973 and left the agency to enter politics, being elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, but died of cancer before he could be sworn in, aged 51. Haise was slated to have been the commander of the canceled Apollo 19 mission, and flew the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests before retiring from NASA in 1979.
Several experiments were completed during Apollo 13, even though the mission did not land on the Moon. One involved the launch vehicle's S-IVB (the Saturn V's third stage), which on prior missions had been sent into solar orbit once detached. The seismometer left by Apollo 12 had detected frequent impacts of small objects onto the Moon, but larger impacts would yield more information about the Moon's crust, so it was decided that, beginning with Apollo 13, the S-IVB would be crashed into the Moon. The impact occurred at 77:56:40 into the mission and produced enough energy that the gain on the seismometer, 117 kilometers (73 mi) from the impact, had to be reduced. An experiment to measure the amount of atmospheric electrical phenomena during the ascent to orbit – added after Apollo 12 was struck by lightning – returned data indicating a heightened risk during marginal weather. A series of photographs of Earth, taken to test whether cloud height could be determined from synchronous satellites, achieved the desired results.
As a joke, Grumman issued an invoice to North American Rockwell, prime contractor for the CSM, for "towing" the CSM most of the way to the Moon and back. Line items included 400001 miles at $1 each (plus $4 for the first mile); $536.05 for battery charging; oxygen; and four nights at $8 per night for an "additional guest in room" (Swigert). After a 20% "commercial discount", and a 2% discount for timely payment, the final total was $312,421.24. North American declined payment, noting that it had ferried three previous Grumman LMs to the Moon without compensation.
The CM was disassembled for testing and parts remained in storage for years; some were used for a trainer for the Skylab Rescue Mission. The trainer was displayed at the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Max Ary of the Cosmosphere made a project of restoring Odyssey and it is on display at the museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Apollo 13 was called a "successful failure" by Lovell. Mike Massimino, a Space Shuttle astronaut, stated that Apollo 13 "showed teamwork, camaraderie and what NASA was really made of". The response to the accident has been repeatedly called "NASA's finest hour"; it is still viewed that way. Author Colin Burgess wrote, "the life-or-death flight of Apollo 13 dramatically evinced the colossal risks inherent in manned spaceflight. Then with the crew safely back on Earth, public apathy set in once again."
William R. Compton, in his book about the Apollo Program, said of Apollo 13, "Only a heroic effort of real-time improvisation by mission operations teams saved the crew." Rick Houston and Milt Heflin, in their history of Mission Control, stated, "Apollo 13 proved mission control could bring those space voyagers back home again when their lives were on the line." Former NASA chief historian Roger D. Launius wrote, "More than any other incident in the history of spaceflight, recovery from this accident solidified the world's belief in NASA's capabilities". The accident, though, convinced some officials including Manned Spaceflight Center director Gilruth, that if NASA kept sending astronauts on Apollo missions, some inevitably would be killed and they called for as quick an end as possible to the program. Nixon's advisers recommended canceling remaining lunar missions, saying that a disaster in space would cost him political capital. Budget cuts made a decision easier and during the pause after Apollo 13, two missions were canceled, meaning that the program ended with Apollo 17 in December 1972.
== Popular culture, media and 50th anniversary ==
The 1974 movie Houston, We've Got a Problem, while set around the Apollo 13 incident, is a fictional drama about the crises faced by ground personnel when the emergency disrupts their work schedules and places further stress on their lives. Lovell publicly complained about the movie, saying it was "fictitious and in poor taste".
"Houston ... We've Got a Problem" was the title of an episode of the BBC documentary series A Life At Stake, broadcast in March 1978. This was an accurate, if simplified, reconstruction of the events. In 1994, during the 25th anniversary of Apollo 11, PBS released a 90-minute documentary titled Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back.
Following the flight, the crew planned to write a book, but they all left NASA without starting it. After Lovell retired in 1991, he was approached by journalist Jeffrey Kluger about writing a non-fiction account of the mission. Swigert died in 1982 and Haise was no longer interested in such a project. The resultant book, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, was published in 1994.
In 1995, Apollo 13, a film adaptation of Lost Moon, was released, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks as Lovell, Bill Paxton as Haise, Kevin Bacon as Swigert, Gary Sinise as Mattingly, Ed Harris as Kranz, and Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell. James Lovell, Kranz, and other principals have stated that this film depicted the events of the mission with reasonable accuracy, given that some dramatic license was taken. For example, the film changes the tense of Lovell's famous follow-up to Swigert's original words from, "Houston, we've had a problem" to "Houston, we have a problem". The film also invented the phrase "Failure is not an option", uttered by Harris as Kranz in the film; the phrase became so closely associated with Kranz that he used it for the title of his 2000 autobiography. The film won two of the nine Academy Awards it was nominated for, Best Film Editing and Best Sound.
In the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, co-produced by Hanks and Howard, the mission is dramatized in the episode "We Interrupt This Program". Rather than showing the incident from the crew's perspective as in the Apollo 13 feature film, it is instead presented from an Earth-bound perspective of television reporters competing for coverage of the event.
In 2020, the BBC World Service began airing 13 Minutes to the Moon, radio programs which draw on NASA audio from the mission, as well as archival and recent interviews with participants. Episodes began airing for Season 2 starting on March 8, 2020, with episode 1, "Time Bomb: Apollo 13", explaining the launch and the explosion. Episode 2 details Mission Control's denial and disbelief of the accident, with other episodes covering other aspects of the mission. The seventh and final episode was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In "Delay to Episode 7", the BBC explained that the presenter of the series, medical doctor Kevin Fong, had been called into service.
In advance of the 50th anniversary of the mission in 2020, an Apollo in Real Time site for the mission went online, allowing viewers to follow along as the mission unfolds, view photographs and video, and listen to audio of conversations between Houston and the astronauts as well as between mission controllers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NASA did not hold any in-person events during April 2020 for the flight's 50th anniversary, but premiered a new documentary, Apollo 13: Home Safe, on April 10, 2020. A number of events were rescheduled for later in 2020.
== Gallery == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes | Thomas Hobbes | Thomas Hobbes ( HOBZ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher and political theorist, best known for his 1651 book Leviathan, in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy.
In his early life, overshadowed by his father's departure following a fight, he was taken under the care of his wealthy uncle. Hobbes's academic journey began in Westport, leading him to the University of Oxford, where he was exposed to classical literature and mathematics. He then graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1608. He became a tutor to the Cavendish family, which connected him to intellectual circles and initiated his extensive travels across Europe. These experiences, including meetings with figures like Galileo, shaped his intellectual development.
After returning to England from France in 1637, Hobbes witnessed the destruction and brutality of the English Civil War from 1642 to 1651 between Parliamentarians and Royalists, which heavily influenced his advocacy for governance by an absolute sovereign in Leviathan, as the solution to human conflict and societal breakdown. Aside from social contract theory, Leviathan also popularised ideas such as the state of nature ("war of all against all") and laws of nature. His other major works include the trilogy De Cive (1642), De Corpore (1655), and De Homine (1658) as well as the posthumous work Behemoth (1681).
Hobbes contributed to a diverse array of fields, including history, jurisprudence, geometry, optics, theology, classical translations, ethics, as well as philosophy in general, marking him as a polymath. Despite controversies and challenges to his reputation, including accusations of atheism and contentious debates with contemporaries, Hobbes's work profoundly influenced the understanding of political structure and human nature.
== Biography ==
=== Early life ===
Thomas Hobbes was born on 5 April 1588 (Old Style), in Westport, now part of Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. Having been born prematurely when his mother heard of the coming invasion of the Spanish Armada, Hobbes later reported that "my mother gave birth to twins: myself and fear." Hobbes had a brother, Edmund, about two years older, as well as a sister, Anne.
Although Thomas Hobbes's childhood is unknown to a large extent, as is his mother's name, it is known that Hobbes's father, Thomas Sr., was the vicar of both Charlton and Westport. Hobbes's father was uneducated, according to John Aubrey, Hobbes's biographer, and he "disesteemed learning." Thomas Sr. was involved in a fight with the local clergy outside his church, forcing him to leave London. As a result, the family was left in the care of Thomas Sr.'s older brother, Francis, a wealthy glove manufacturer with no family of his own.
==== Education ====
Hobbes was educated at Westport church from age four, went to the Malmesbury school, and then to a private school kept by a young man named Robert Latimer, a graduate of the University of Oxford. Hobbes was a good pupil, and between 1601 and 1602 he went to Magdalen Hall, the predecessor to Hertford College, Oxford, where he was taught scholastic logic and mathematics. The principal, John Wilkinson, was a Puritan and had some influence on Hobbes. Before going up to Oxford, Hobbes translated Euripides' Medea from Greek into Latin verse.
At university, Thomas Hobbes appears to have followed his own curriculum as he was little attracted by the scholastic learning. Leaving Oxford, Hobbes completed his B.A. degree by incorporation at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1608. He was recommended by Sir James Hussey, his master at Magdalen, as tutor to William, the son of William Cavendish, Baron of Hardwick (and later Earl of Devonshire), and began a lifelong connection with that family. William Cavendish was elevated to the peerage on his father's death in 1626, holding it for two years before his death in 1628. His son, also William, likewise became the 3rd Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes served as a tutor and secretary to both men. The 1st Earl's younger brother, Charles Cavendish, had two sons who were patrons of Hobbes. The elder son, William Cavendish, later 1st Duke of Newcastle, was a leading supporter of Charles I during the Civil War in which he personally financed an army for the king, having been governor to the Prince of Wales, Charles James, Duke of Cornwall. It was to this William Cavendish that Hobbes dedicated his Elements of Law.
Hobbes became a companion to the younger William Cavendish, and they both took part in a grand tour of Europe between 1610 and 1615. Hobbes was exposed to European scientific and critical methods during the tour, in contrast to the scholastic philosophy that he had learned in Oxford. In Venice, Hobbes made the acquaintance of Fulgenzio Micanzio, an associate of Paolo Sarpi, a Venetian scholar and statesman.
His scholarly efforts at the time were aimed at a careful study of classical Greek and Latin authors, the outcome of which was, in 1628, his edition of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, the first translation of that work into English directly from a Greek manuscript. Hobbes professed a deep admiration for Thucydides, praising him as "the most politic historiographer that ever writ," and one scholar has suggested that "Hobbes' reading of Thucydides confirmed, or perhaps crystallized, the broad outlines and many of the details of [Hobbes'] own thought." It has been argued that three of the discourses in the 1620 publication known as Horae Subsecivae: Observations and Discourses also represent the work of Hobbes from this period.
Although he did associate with literary figures like Ben Jonson and briefly worked as Francis Bacon's amanuensis, translating several of his Essays into Latin, he did not extend his efforts into philosophy until after 1629. In June 1628, his employer Cavendish, then the Earl of Devonshire, died of the plague, and his widow, the countess Christian, dismissed Hobbes.
=== In Paris (1629–1637) ===
In 1629, Hobbes found work as a tutor to Gervase Clifton, the son of Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, and continued in this role until November 1630. He spent most of this time in Paris. Thereafter, he again found work with the Cavendish family, tutoring William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire, the eldest son of his previous pupil. Over the next seven years, as well as tutoring, he expanded his own knowledge of philosophy, awakening in him curiosity over key philosophical debates. He visited Galileo Galilei in Florence while he was under house arrest upon condemnation, in 1636, and was later a regular debater in philosophic groups in Paris, held together by Marin Mersenne.
Hobbes's first area of study was an interest in the physical doctrine of motion and physical momentum. Despite his interest in this phenomenon, he disdained experimental work as in physics. He went on to conceive the system of thought to the elaboration of which he would devote his life. His scheme was first to work out, in a separate treatise, a systematic doctrine of body, showing how physical phenomena were universally explicable in terms of motion, at least as motion or mechanical action was then understood. He then singled out Man from the realm of Nature and plants. Then, in another treatise, he showed what specific bodily motions were involved in the production of the peculiar phenomena of sensation, knowledge, affections and passions whereby Man came into relation with Man. Finally, he considered, in his crowning treatise, how Men were moved to enter into society, and argued how this must be regulated if people were not to fall back into "brutishness and misery". Thus, he proposed to unite the separate phenomena of Body, Man, and the State.
=== In England (1637–1641) ===
Hobbes came back home from Paris in 1637, to a country riven with discontent, which disrupted him from the orderly execution of his philosophic plan. However, by the end of the Short Parliament in 1640, he had written a short treatise called The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic. It was not published and only circulated as a manuscript among his acquaintances. A pirated version, however, was published about ten years later. Although it seems that much of The Elements of Law was composed before the sitting of the Short Parliament, there are polemical pieces of the work that clearly mark the influences of the rising political crisis. Nevertheless, many (though not all) elements of Hobbes's political thought were unchanged between The Elements of Law and Leviathan, which demonstrates that the events of the English Civil War had little effect on his contractarian methodology. However, the arguments in Leviathan were modified from The Elements of Law when it came to the necessity of consent in creating political obligation: Hobbes wrote in The Elements of Law that patrimonial kingdoms were not necessarily formed by the consent of the governed, while in Leviathan he argued that they were. This was perhaps a reflection either of Hobbes's thoughts about the engagement controversy or of his reaction to treatises published by Patriarchalists, such as Sir Robert Filmer, between 1640 and 1651.
When in November 1640 the Long Parliament succeeded the Short, Hobbes felt that he was in disfavour due to the circulation of his treatise and fled to Paris. He did not return for 11 years. In Paris, he rejoined the coterie around Mersenne and wrote a critique of the Meditations on First Philosophy of René Descartes, which was printed as third among the sets of "Objections" appended, with "Replies" from Descartes, in 1641. A different set of remarks on other works by Descartes succeeded only in ending all correspondence between the two.
Hobbes also extended his own works in a way, working on the third section, De Cive, which was finished in November 1641. Although it was initially only circulated privately, it was well received and included lines of argumentation that were repeated a decade later in Leviathan. He then returned to hard work on the first two sections of his work and published little except a short treatise on optics (Tractatus opticus), included in the collection of scientific tracts published by Mersenne as Cogitata physico-mathematica in 1644. He built a good reputation in philosophic circles and in 1645 was chosen with Descartes, Gilles de Roberval, and others to referee the controversy between John Pell and Longomontanus over the problem of squaring the circle.
=== Civil War Period (1642–1651) ===
The English Civil War began in 1642, and when the royalist cause began to decline in mid-1644, many royalists came to Paris and were known to Hobbes. This revitalised Hobbes's political interests, and the De Cive was republished and more widely distributed. The printing began in 1646 by Samuel de Sorbiere through the Elsevier press in Amsterdam with a new preface and some new notes in reply to objections.
In 1647, Hobbes took up a position as mathematical instructor to the young Charles, Prince of Wales, who had come to Paris from Jersey around July. This engagement lasted until 1648, when Charles went to Holland.
The company of the exiled royalists led Hobbes to produce Leviathan, which set forth his theory of civil government in relation to the political crisis resulting from the war. Hobbes compared the State to a monster (leviathan) composed of men, created under pressure of human needs and dissolved by civil strife due to human passions. The work closed with a general "Review and Conclusion", in response to the war, which answered the question: Does a subject have the right to change allegiance when a former sovereign's power to protect is irrevocably lost?
During the years of composing Leviathan, Hobbes remained in or near Paris. In 1647, he suffered a near-fatal illness that disabled him for six months. On recovering, he resumed his literary task and completed it by 1650. Meanwhile, a translation of De Cive was being produced; scholars disagree about whether it was Hobbes who translated it.
In 1650, a pirated edition of The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic was published. It was divided into two small volumes: Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie; and De corpore politico, or the Elements of Law, Moral and Politick.
In 1651, the translation of De Cive was published under the title Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and Society. Also, the printing of the greater work proceeded, and finally appeared in mid-1651, titled Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Common Wealth, Ecclesiastical and Civil. It had a famous title-page engraving depicting a crowned giant above the waist towering above hills overlooking a landscape, holding a sword and a crozier and made up of tiny human figures. The work had an immediate impact. Soon, Hobbes was more lauded and decried than any other thinker of his time. The first effect of its publication was to sever his link with the exiled royalists, who might well have killed him. The secularist spirit of his book greatly angered both Anglicans and French Catholics. Hobbes appealed to the revolutionary English government for protection and fled back to London in winter 1651. After his submission to the Council of State, he was allowed to subside into private life in Fetter Lane.
=== Later life ===
In 1658, Hobbes published the final section of his philosophical system, completing the scheme he had planned more than 19 years before. De Homine consisted for the most part of an elaborate theory of vision. The remainder of the treatise dealt partially with some of the topics more fully treated in the Human Nature and the Leviathan. In addition to publishing some controversial writings on mathematics, including disciplines like geometry, Hobbes also continued to produce philosophical works.
From the time of the Restoration, he acquired a new prominence; "Hobbism" became a byword for all that respectable society ought to denounce. The young king, Hobbes's former pupil, now Charles II, remembered Hobbes and called him to the court to grant him a pension of £100.
The king was important in protecting Hobbes when, in 1666, the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness. That same year, on 17 October 1666, it was ordered that the committee to which the bill was referred "should be empowered to receive information touching such books as tend to atheism, blasphemy and profaneness... in particular... the book of Mr. Hobbes called the Leviathan." Hobbes was terrified at the prospect of being labelled a heretic, and proceeded to burn some of his compromising papers. At the same time, he examined the actual state of the law of heresy. The results of his investigation were first announced in three short Dialogues added as an Appendix to his Latin translation of Leviathan, published in Amsterdam in 1668. In this appendix, Hobbes aimed to show that, since the High Court of Commission had been put down, there remained no court of heresy at all to which he was amenable, and that nothing could be heresy except opposing the Nicene Creed, which, he maintained, Leviathan did not do.
The only consequence that came of the bill was that Hobbes could never thereafter publish anything in England on subjects relating to human conduct. The 1668 edition of his works was printed in Amsterdam because he could not obtain the censor's licence for its publication in England. Other writings were not made public until after his death, including Behemoth: the History of the Causes of the Civil Wars of England and of the Counsels and Artifices by which they were carried on from the year 1640 to the year 1662. For some time, Hobbes was not even allowed to respond to any attacks by his enemies. Despite this, his reputation abroad was formidable.
Hobbes spent the last four or five years of his life with his patron, William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, at the family's Chatsworth House estate. He had been a friend of the family since 1608 when he first tutored an earlier William Cavendish. After Hobbes's death, many of his manuscripts would be found at Chatsworth House.
His final works were an autobiography in Latin verse in 1672, and a translation of four books of the Odyssey into "rugged" English rhymes that in 1673 led to a complete translation of both Iliad and Odyssey in 1675.
=== Death ===
In October 1679 Hobbes suffered a bladder disorder, and then a paralytic stroke, from which he died on 4 December 1679, aged 91, at Hardwick Hall, owned by the Cavendish family.
His last words were said to have been "A great leap in the dark", uttered in his final conscious moments. His body was interred in St John the Baptist's Church, Ault Hucknall, in Derbyshire.
== Political theory ==
According to Christopher Hill:Hobbes found official political thought dominated by the idea that government was to be obeyed because ordained of God; and he substituted the theory that the state was instituted by man for his own convenience, and that it should be obeyed because the consequences of disobedience can be demonstrated to be more disagreeable than obedience, in almost all cases. That is to say, expediency, not morality, is for Hobbes the motive for political obedience.
Hobbes, influenced by contemporary scientific ideas, had intended for his political theory to be a quasi-geometrical system, in which the conclusions followed inevitably from the premises. In his theory, the state or society cannot be secure unless at the disposal of an absolute sovereign. From this follows the view that no individual can hold rights of property against the sovereign, and that the sovereign may therefore take the goods of its subjects without their consent. This particular view owes its significance to it being first developed in the 1630s when Charles I had sought to raise revenues without the consent of Parliament, and therefore of his subjects. Hobbes rejected one of the most famous theses of Aristotle's politics, namely that human beings are naturally suited to life in a polis and do not fully realize their natures until they exercise the role of citizen. It is perhaps also important to note that Hobbes extrapolated his mechanistic understanding of nature into the social and political realm, making him a progenitor of the term "social structure".
=== Leviathan ===
In Leviathan, Hobbes set out his doctrine of the foundation of states and legitimate governments and created an objective science of morality. Much of the book is occupied with demonstrating the necessity of a strong central authority to avoid the evil of discord and civil war.
Beginning from a mechanistic understanding of human beings and their passions, Hobbes postulates what life would be like without government, a condition which he calls the state of nature. In that state, each person would have a right, or licence, to everything in the world. This, Hobbes argues, would lead to a "war of all against all" (bellum omnium contra omnes). The description contains one of the best-known passages in English philosophy, which describes the natural state humankind would be in, were it not for political community:
In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving, and removing, such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
In such states, people fear death and lack both the things necessary for comfortable living, and the hope of being able to obtain them. So, in order to avoid it, people accede to a social contract and establish a civil society. According to Hobbes, society is a population and a sovereign authority, to whom all individuals in that society cede some right for the sake of protection. Power exercised by this authority cannot be resisted, because the protector's sovereign power derives from individuals' surrendering their own sovereign power for protection. The individuals are thereby the authors of all decisions made by the sovereign: "he that complaineth of injury from his sovereign complaineth that whereof he himself is the author, and therefore ought not to accuse any man but himself, no nor himself of injury because to do injury to one's self is impossible". There is no doctrine of separation of powers in Hobbes's discussion. He argues that any division of authority would lead to internal strife, jeopardizing the stability provided by an absolute sovereign. According to Hobbes, the sovereign must control civil, military, judicial and ecclesiastical powers, even the words.
== Opposition ==
=== John Bramhall ===
In 1654 a small treatise, Of Liberty and Necessity, directed at Hobbes, was published by Bishop John Bramhall. Bramhall, a strong Arminian, had met and debated with Hobbes and afterwards wrote down his views and sent them privately to be answered in this form by Hobbes. Hobbes duly replied, but not for publication. However, a French acquaintance took a copy of the reply and published it with "an extravagantly laudatory epistle". Bramhall countered in 1655, when he printed everything that had passed between them (under the title of A Defence of the True Liberty of Human Actions from Antecedent or Extrinsic Necessity).
In 1656, Hobbes was ready with The Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance, in which he replied "with astonishing force" to the bishop. As perhaps the first clear exposition of the psychological doctrine of determinism, Hobbes's own two pieces were important in the history of the free will controversy. The bishop returned to the charge in 1658 with Castigations of Mr Hobbes's Animadversions, and also included a bulky appendix entitled The Catching of Leviathan the Great Whale.
=== John Wallis ===
Hobbes opposed the existing academic arrangements and assailed the system of the original universities in Leviathan. He went on to publish De Corpore, which contained not only tendentious views on mathematics but also an erroneous proof of the squaring of the circle. This all led mathematicians to target him for polemics and sparked John Wallis to become one of his most persistent opponents. From 1655, the publishing date of De Corpore, Hobbes and Wallis continued name-calling and bickering for nearly a quarter of a century, with Hobbes failing to admit his error to the end of his life. After years of debate, the spat over proving the squaring of the circle gained such notoriety that it has become one of the most infamous feuds in mathematical history.
== Religious views ==
The religious opinions of Hobbes remain controversial, as many positions have been attributed to him and range from atheism to orthodox Christianity. In The Elements of Law, Hobbes provided a cosmological argument for the existence of God, saying that God is "the first cause of all causes".
Hobbes was accused of atheism by several contemporaries; Archbishop John Bramhall accused him of teachings that could lead to atheism. This was an important accusation, and Hobbes himself wrote, in his answer to Bramhall's The Catching of Leviathan, that "atheism, impiety, and the like are words of the greatest defamation possible". Hobbes always defended himself from such accusations. In more recent times also, much has been made of his religious views by scholars such as Richard Tuck and J. G. A. Pocock, but there is still widespread disagreement about the exact significance of Hobbes's unusual views on religion.
As A.P. Martinich has pointed out, in Hobbes's time the term "atheist" was often applied to people who believed in God but not in divine providence, or to people who believed in God but also maintained other beliefs that were considered to be inconsistent with such belief or judged incompatible with orthodox Christianity. He says that this "sort of discrepancy has led to many errors in determining who was an atheist in the early modern period". In this extended early modern sense of atheism, Hobbes did take positions that strongly disagreed with church teachings of his time. For example, he argued repeatedly that there are no incorporeal substances, and that all things, including human thoughts, and even God, heaven, and hell are corporeal, matter in motion. He argued that "though Scripture acknowledge spirits, yet doth it nowhere say, that they are incorporeal, meaning thereby without dimensions and quantity". (In this view, Hobbes claimed to be following Tertullian.) Like John Locke, he also stated that true revelation can never disagree with human reason and experience, although he also argued that people should accept revelation and its interpretations for the same reason that they should accept the commands of their sovereign: in order to avoid war.
While in Venice on tour, Hobbes made the acquaintance of Fulgenzio Micanzio, a close associate of Paolo Sarpi, who had written against the pretensions of the papacy to temporal power in response to the Interdict of Pope Paul V against Venice, which refused to recognise papal prerogatives. James I had invited both men to England in 1612. Micanzio and Sarpi had argued that God willed human nature, and that human nature indicated the autonomy of the state in temporal affairs. When he returned to England in 1615, William Cavendish maintained correspondence with Micanzio and Sarpi, and Hobbes translated the latter's letters from Italian, which were circulated among the Duke's circle.
== Works ==
1602. Latin translation of Euripides' Medea (lost).
1620. "A Discourse of Tacitus", "A Discourse of Rome", and "A Discourse of Laws". In The Horae Subsecivae: Observation and Discourses.
1626. "De Mirabilis Pecci, Being the Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire" (publ. 1636) – a poem on the Seven Wonders of the Peak.
1629. Eight Books of the Peloponnese Warre, translation with an Introduction of Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War.
1630. A Short Tract on First Principles.
Authorship doubtful, as this work is attributed by important critics to Robert Payne.
1637. A Briefe of the Art of Rhetorique
Molesworth edition title: The Whole Art of Rhetoric.
Authorship probable: While Schuhmann (1998) firmly rejects the attribution of this work to Hobbes, a preponderance of scholarship disagrees with Schuhmann's idiosyncratic assessment. Schuhmann disagrees with historian Quentin Skinner, who would come to agree with Schuhmann.
1639. Tractatus Opticus II (also known as Latin Optical Manuscript).
1640. Elements of Law, Natural and Politic
Initially circulated only in handwritten copies; without Hobbes's permission, the first printed edition would be in 1650.
1641. Objectiones ad Cartesii Meditationes de Prima Philosophia 3rd series of Objections.
1642. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Tertia de Cive (Latin, 1st limited ed.).
1643. De Motu, Loco et Tempore
First edition (1973) with the title: Thomas White's De Mundo Examined.
1644. Part of the "Praefatio to Mersenni Ballistica". In F. Marini Mersenni minimi Cogitata physico-mathematica. In quibus tam naturae quàm artis effectus admirandi certissimis demonstrationibus explicantur.
1644. "Opticae, liber septimus" (also known as Tractatus opticus I written in 1640). In Universae geometriae mixtaeque mathematicae synopsis, edited by Marin Mersenne.
Molesworth edition (OL V, pp. 215–248) title: "Tractatus Opticus".
1646. A Minute or First Draught of the Optiques (Harley MS 3360)
Molesworth published only the dedication to Cavendish and the conclusion in EW VII, pp. 467–471.
1646. Of Liberty and Necessity (publ. 1654)
Published without the permission of Hobbes.
1647. Elementa Philosophica de Cive
Second expanded edition with a new Preface to the Reader.
1650. Answer to Sir William Davenant's Preface before Gondibert.
1650. Human Nature: or The Fundamental Elements of Policie.
Includes first thirteen chapters of The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic.
Published without Hobbes's authorisation.
1650. The Elements of Law, Natural and Politic (pirated ed.)
Repackaged to include two parts:
"Human Nature, or the Fundamental Elements of Policie," ch. 14–19 of Elements, Part One (1640)
"De Corpore Politico", Elements, Part Two (1640)
1651. Philosophicall Rudiments concerning Government and Society – English translation of De Cive
1651. Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, and Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civil
1654. Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise
1655. De Corpore (in Latin)
1656. Elements of Philosophy, The First Section, Concerning Body – anonymous English translation of De Corpore
1656. Six Lessons to the Professor of Mathematics
1656. The Questions concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance – reprint of Of Libertie and Necessitie, a Treatise, with the addition of Bramhall's reply and Hobbes's reply to Bramahall's reply.
1657. Stigmai, or Marks of the Absurd Geometry, Rural Language, Scottish Church Politics, and Barbarisms of John Wallis
1658. Elementorum Philosophiae Sectio Secunda De Homine
1660. Examinatio et emendatio mathematicae hodiernae qualis explicatur in libris Johannis Wallisii
1661. Dialogus physicus, sive De natura aeris
1662. Problematica Physica
English translation titled: Seven Philosophical Problems (1682)
1662. Seven Philosophical Problems, and Two Propositions of Geometry – published posthumously
1662. Mr. Hobbes Considered in his Loyalty, Religion, Reputation, and Manners. By way of Letter to Dr. Wallis – English autobiography
1666. De Principis & Ratiocinatione Geometrarum
1666. A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England (publ. 1681)
1668. Leviathan – Latin translation
1668. An answer to a book published by Dr. Bramhall, late bishop of Derry; called the Catching of the leviathan. Together with an historical narration concerning heresie, and the punishment thereof (publ. 1682)
1671. Three Papers Presented to the Royal Society Against Dr. Wallis. Together with Considerations on Dr. Wallis his Answer to them
1671. Rosetum Geometricum, sive Propositiones Aliquot Frustra antehac tentatae. Cum Censura brevi Doctrinae Wallisianae de Motu
1672. Lux Mathematica. Excussa Collisionibus Johannis Wallisii
1673. English translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey
1674. Principia et Problemata Aliquot Geometrica Antè Desperata, Nunc breviter Explicata & Demonstrata
1678. Decameron Physiologicum: Or, Ten Dialogues of Natural Philosophy
1679. Thomae Hobbessii Malmesburiensis Vita. Authore seipso – Latin autobiography
Translated into English in 1680
=== Posthumous works ===
1680. An Historical Narration concerning Heresie, And the Punishment thereof
1681. Behemoth, or The Long Parliament
Written in 1668, it was unpublished at the request of the King
First pirated edition: 1679
1682. Seven Philosophical Problems (English translation of Problematica Physica, 1662)
1682. A Garden of Geometrical Roses (English translation of Rosetum Geometricum, 1671)
1682. Some Principles and Problems in Geometry (English translation of Principia et Problemata, 1674)
1688. Historia Ecclesiastica Carmine Elegiaco Concinnata
=== Complete editions ===
==== Molesworth editions ====
Editions compiled by William Molesworth.
==== Posthumous works not included in the Molesworth editions ====
=== Translations in modern English ===
De Corpore, Part I. Computatio Sive Logica. Edited with an Introductory Essay by L C. Hungerland and G. R. Vick. Translation and Commentary by A. Martinich. New York: Abaris Books, 1981.
Thomas White's De mundo Examined, translation by H. W. Jones, Bradford: Bradford University Press, 1976 (the appendices of the Latin edition (1973) are not enclosed).
=== New critical editions of Hobbes's works ===
Clarendon Edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, Oxford: Clarendon Press (10 volumes published of 27 planned).
Traduction des œuvres latines de Hobbes, under the direction of Yves Charles Zarka, Paris: Vrin (5 volumes published of 17 planned). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Show_No_Mercy | Show No Mercy | Show No Mercy is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released in December 1983 by Metal Blade Records. Brian Slagel signed the band to the label after watching them perform an Iron Maiden cover. The band self-financed their full-length debut, combining the savings of vocalist Tom Araya, who was employed as a respiratory therapist, and money borrowed from guitarist Kerry King's father. Touring extensively promoting the album, the band brought close friends and family members along the trip, who helped backstage with lighting and sound.
Although Show No Mercy was criticized for its poor production quality, it became Metal Blade's highest-selling release. It produced the songs "The Antichrist", "Die by the Sword" and "Black Magic", which were played at Slayer's live shows regularly.
== Background and recording ==
Slayer was the opening act for Bitch at the Woodstock Club in Los Angeles, performing eight songs—six being covers. While performing an Iron Maiden cover, the band was spotted by Brian Slagel, a former music journalist who had recently founded Metal Blade Records. Slagel met with the band backstage and asked if they would like to be featured on the label's upcoming Metal Massacre III compilation; the band agreed. The band's appearance on the compilation created underground buzz, which led to Slagel signing the band with Metal Blade Records. Recorded in Los Angeles, Show No Mercy was financed by vocalist Tom Araya, who used his earnings as a respiratory therapist, and money borrowed from guitarist Kerry King's father. King says the album is "fuckin' Iron Maiden here and there". Vocalist Araya asserts Venom, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Mercyful Fate were big influences on the record, as guitarist King was into the Satanic image.
Lombardo said in 2015 that he was not pleased with how the drums were recorded. The engineer at the time had difficulties getting the right mix between the toms and the cymbals because they were too loud. The solution was to dampen the cymbals with towels and record the toms and cymbals separately. As such, Lombardo called Show No Mercy his least favorite Slayer album, although he emphasized that the songs were great, just not his performance.
Gene Hoglan, later known as the drummer for bands like Dark Angel and Death, provided backing vocals on the song "Evil Has No Boundaries". "Back at the time it was Jeff [Hanneman] and Kerry doing the 'Evil!' You know, it didn't sound too heavy and I mentioned to like Tom or Jeff or somebody like, 'You know you guys should consider...maybe consider doing like big gang vocals on that, make it sound evil like demons and stuff,' and they were like 'Good idea.' But how about now, we got about eight dudes sitting around in the studio, and now everybody jumped up and yelled 'EVIL!!!' So I was like 'Cool' because I'm like, 'I wanna sing on this record somehow, that's how I can do it,' totally unplanned you know?! Sure enough they were like, 'Fuck we have the time, let's do it.' So I was like 'Yeah, I got to sing on it!'" On recording the drums, Slagel wanted drummer Dave Lombardo to play without using cymbals due to the amount of noise they made, as he was unsure if he could siphon the noise out, which he eventually did.
The band used Satanic themes in both lyrics and live performances to gain notice among the metal community and "to fuck with people". The back cover featured 'side 666' and inverted crosses, with Hanneman playing his guitar. Due to the imagery and lyrical content, Slayer received mail from the Parents Music Resource Center telling the band to stop releasing records. Araya comments, "Back then you had that PMRC, who literally took everything to heart. When in actuality you're trying to create an image. You're trying to scare people on purpose." The album produced the songs "The Antichrist", "Die by the Sword", and "Black Magic", which were played at Slayer's live shows regularly.
== Music and lyrics ==
Jeremy Ulrey of AllMusic characterized the sound on Show No Mercy as "basically amounting to a cleaned-up version of black metal stalwarts Venom." The album's lyrics explore themes including Satanism.
== Artwork ==
Simon Young of Metal Hammer said of the album's cover artwork: "This is what happens when rural metal fans think it'll be a laugh to dress their goat in a cape, black swimming trunks and give them a sword. One minute, it's adorable, the next, your livestock is going fucking mental."
== Release and promotion ==
After the album's release, the band went on their first US tour. Slagel gave the band a list of venue addresses and contact numbers. Araya was still working at the hospital and called the members, saying, "Today's the day. Are we gonna do this?" The band knew they never would if they did not tour now. So they set out taking Araya's Camaro and U-Haul. During the first leg of the tour, Slayer had no manager; Doug Goodman, who had met the band when he was first in line for their first show in Northern California (opening for Lȧȧz Rockit) took a vacation from his job at a grocery store to help out on the tour, eventually becoming the band's "tour guide". Goodman now tour manages acts such as Green Day and Beck.
Kevin Reed, a friend of the band, set up the drums and lighting when touring with the band. Reed's father, Lawrence R. Reed, drew the album cover, which depicts Baphomet with a sword on the album's cover. Araya's younger brother, Johnny Araya, who was 13 or 14 at the time, was a roadie who set up the back line and sound. The band hardly made enough money to sustain themselves, only buying the "essentials" such as food, gas, and beer. Araya asserts, "We basically used whatever money we got to get from point A to point B. When we got back, Brian was like, 'So, where's the money?' And we were like, 'What money?' At that time, we didn't realize that you had to ask for money up front. I think he got a lot of money sent directly to him, and we were supposed to pick up the rest."
The band performed in a hotel in Winnipeg, where the basement was the club. Araya comments, "We stayed there for like four or five days, I think. We saw Verbal Abuse play there. Then we played a place in Boston called the Lizard Lounge. In fact, a car had run into the front of the building, and it was all boarded up, but we still played there." When one of the guitarists broke a string Araya would hand them the bass, Hanneman stating, "We'd argue about it, too—like, 'I wanna play bass for a while!'"
== Reception and legacy ==
Although the band did not have enough time to sell any records while touring, the album became Metal Blade Records' highest selling release. Five thousand copies was the label's average. Show No Mercy went on to sell between 15,500 and 20,000 copies in the United States; it also went on to sell more than 15,000 overseas, as Metal Blade had worldwide rights. The success of the album led to Slagel wanting the band to release a new record and an EP.
Show No Mercy was met with polarized opinions and reviews, mostly negative when it was issued, but in some recent reviews, it came to be considered a classic album. In 1984, Dave Dickson of Kerrang! crushed the album defining it "pure, unadulterated junk", while Bernard Doe of Metal Forces called the record "one of the heaviest, fastest, most awesome albums of all time!" The German magazine Rock Hard gave Show No Mercy a positive review, which remarked how Slayer were "actually the hardest and fastest" in comparison with their contemporaries Metallica and Exciter, and defined their music as "heavy metal punk." AllMusic reviewer Jeremy Ulrey had mixed feelings towards the album, saying that even though the musicianship and production were "amateurish" compared to Slayer's later releases, the album remains a "solid, if inessential, part of the Slayer legacy". Users voted 4/5 at AllMusic. Sputnikmusic staff member Hernan M. Campbell described the album as "fast, heavy, and mean, inducing an inescapable atmosphere of utter atrocity." He noted that the "lo-fi" production quality gives the album a "classic" feeling.
Canadian journalist Martin Popoff praised Show No Mercy for being as "seminal" as Metallica's Kill 'Em All "in defining state-of-the-art speed metal" and for inspiring new bands to "expand the limits of metal." However, he "found the record stiff and one-dimensional", with "its style laid down in stifling arrangements." Fenriz, drummer for Darkthrone, cited Show No Mercy as the inspiration for the band's "current style of fusing NWOBHM with black metal". Terry Butler of Obituary and Death defined the album as "the blueprint for the beginning of death metal" and said: "When I heard Show No Mercy I wanted to play that way....It was a whole new level of mayhem. I wanted to play that way".
System of a Down's Daron Malakian has praised Show No Mercy as an influential album that helped shape him as a person and artist. He claimed he introduced heavy metal to the people of Iraq with this album when he lived there at age 14.
In 2023, Metal Hammer included the album cover on their list of "50 most hilariously ugly rock and metal album covers ever".
== Track listing ==
Note
The writing credits for "Metal Storm / Face The Slayer" only apply to "Face The Slayer". No credits for "Metal Storm" appear in the liner notes.
The 1987 re-issue also features songs from the Haunting the Chapel EP.
== Personnel ==
Personnel taken from Show No Mercy liner notes, except where noted.
Slayer
Tom Araya – bass, vocals
Kerry King – guitars, backing vocals on "Evil Has No Boundaries"
Jeff Hanneman – guitars, backing vocals on "Evil Has No Boundaries"
Dave Lombardo – drums
Additional performer
Gene Hoglan – backing vocals on "Evil Has No Boundaries"
Technical personnel
Slayer – production
Brian Slagel – executive production
Bill Metoyer – engineering, mixing
Lawrence R. Reed – cover art, cover concept and design
Steve Craig – cover concept and design, back cover and sleeve photography, logo and pentagram
Don Cline – back cover and sleeve photography
Lisa Wickwire – back cover and sleeve photography
== Charts == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV | Louis XV | Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) in 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom.
His reign of almost 59 years (from 1715 to 1774) was the second longest in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor, Louis XIV, who had ruled for 72 years (from 1643 to 1715). In 1748, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745. He ceded New France in North America to Great Britain and Spain at the conclusion of the disastrous Seven Years' War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of the Duchy of Lorraine and the Corsican Republic into the Kingdom of France. Historians generally criticize his reign and maintain that his incompetence and extravagance weakened France, depleted the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and diminished the country's reputation internationally. However, a minority of scholars argue that he was popular during his lifetime, but that his reputation was later blackened by revolutionary propaganda. His grandson and successor Louis XVI inherited a kingdom on the brink of financial disaster and gravely in need of political reform, laying the groundwork for the French Revolution of 1789.
== Early life and the Regency (1710–1723) ==
Louis XV was the great-grandson of Louis XIV and the third son of the Duke of Burgundy (1682–1712), and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, who was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. He was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 and was immediately styled the Duke of Anjou. At this time, the possibility of the Duke of Anjou becoming the next king seemed rather remote as Louis XIV's eldest son and heir, Louis's paternal grandfather Louis Le Grand Dauphin, was expected to assume the throne upon the old king's death. Next in line to the throne behind the Grand Dauphin was his eldest son- Louis's father Le Petit Dauphin and then Louis's elder brother, a child named Louis, Duke of Brittany. Disease, however, steered the line of succession forward three generations and sideways: on 14 April 1711 the Grand Dauphin, died of smallpox, and less than a year later, on 12 February 1712 the future king's mother, Marie Adélaïde, who had been stricken with measles, died, followed six days later by Louis's father, her devoted husband who would not leave her side during her illness. With the death of both the Grand and Petit dauphins, Louis's elder brother immediately became Dauphin of France, but just over two weeks further still, on 7 March, it was found that both the elder Louis and the younger Louis had also contracted measles. The two brothers were treated in the traditional way, with bloodletting. On the night of 8–9 March, the new Dauphin, age five, died from the combination of the disease and the treatment. The governess of Louis, Madame de Ventadour, forbade the doctors to bleed the two year old Duke of Anjou by hiding him in a palace closet where she cared for him alone; where he survived despite being very ill. When Louis XIV himself finally died on 1 September 1715, Louis, at the age of five, trembling and crying and against all probability, inherited the throne as Louis XV.
According to Charles V's royal ordinance of 1374, the Kingdom of France must be governed by a regent until a given king had reached the age of 13. The title of regent was customarily assigned to an under-aged king's nearest adult living relative, often his mother or an uncle. But as Louis's mother had been struck down by disease, and as his only uncle had already been enthroned as King of Spain, the job fell to his great-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. However Louis XIV had distrusted Philippe, who was a renowned soldier but was regarded by the late King as an atheist and libertine. The King referred privately to Philippe as a Fanfaron des crimes ("braggart of crimes"). Louis XIV had desired for France to be ruled by his favorite but illegitimate son, the Duke of Maine (illegitimate son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan), who was in the council and who, because of a dramatic change in the laws of succession instituted by Louis XIV, and, as his oldest surviving male descendant, could now legally become king if the legitimate direct line of succession became extinguished. In August 1714, shortly before his own death, the King rewrote his will to restrict the powers of the regent; it stipulated that the nation was to be governed by a Regency Council made up of fourteen members until the new king reached the age of majority. Philippe, nephew of Louis XIV, was named president of this Council, but other members included the Duke of Maine and at least seven of his well-known allies. According to the will, all decisions were to be made by majority vote, meaning that the president could always be outvoted by Maine's party and effectively allowing Maine to rule France for the next eight years.
Philippe saw the trap. The Parlement of Paris, an assembly of French nobles among whom Philippe had many friends, was the only judicial body in France with the authority to have this portion of the deceased King's will annulled, and immediately after the King's death Philippe approached the Parlement requesting that they do just this. In exchange for their support he agreed to restore to the Parlement its droit de remontrance (right of remonstrance) – the right to challenge a king's decisions – which had been removed by Louis XIV. The droit de remontrance would impair the monarchy's functioning and marked the beginning of a conflict between the Parlement and King which contributed to the French Revolution in 1789. In the mean time, however, the will was annulled and Philippe was installed as Regent with full powers to act in the name of the King in all matters.
On 9 September 1715, Philippe had the young King transported away from the court in Versailles to Paris, where the Regent had his own residence in the Palais Royal. On 12 September, the King performed his first official act, opening the first lit de justice of his reign at the Palais Royal. From September 1715 until January 1716 he lived in the Château de Vincennes, before moving to the Tuileries Palace. In February 1717, when he had reached the age of seven, the King was taken away in tears from his beloved governess Madame Ventadour and placed in the care of François de Villeroy, the 73-year-old Duke and Maréchal de France, named as his governor in Louis XIV's will of August 1714. Villeroy instructed the young King in court etiquette, taught him how to review a regiment, and how to receive royal visitors. His guests included the Russian Tsar Peter the Great in 1717; at their first meeting and contrary to ordinary protocol between such great rulers, the two-meter-tall Tsar greeted Louis by picking him up under the arms and giving him a kiss. Louis also learned the skills of horseback riding and hunting, which became great passions. In 1720, following the example of Louis XIV, Villeroy had the young Louis dance in public in two ballets—once at the Tuileries Palace on 24 February 1720, and then again in The Ballet des Elements on 31 December 1721. The shy Louis was terrified of these performances, and never danced in another ballet.
The King's tutor was the Abbé André-Hercule de Fleury, the bishop of Fréjus (and later to become Cardinal de Fleury), who saw that he was instructed in Latin, Italian, history and geography, astronomy, mathematics and drawing, and cartography. The King had charmed the visiting Russian Tsar in 1717 by identifying the major rivers, cities and geographic features of Russia. In his later life the King retained his passion for science and geography; he created departments in physics (1769) and mechanics (1773) at the Collège de France, and he sponsored the first complete and accurate map of France, the Cartes de Cassini. Besides his academic studies, he received a practical education in government. Beginning in 1720 he attended the regular meetings of the Regency Council.
One economic crisis disrupted the Regency; the Scottish economist and banker John Law was named controller-general of finances. In May 1716, he opened the Banque Générale Privée ("General Private Bank"), which soon became the Banque Royal. It was mostly funded by the government, and was one of the earliest banks to issue paper money, which he promised could be exchanged for gold. He also persuaded wealthy Parisians to invest in the Mississippi Company, a scheme for the colonization of the French territory of Louisiana. The stock of the company first soared and then collapsed in 1720, taking the bank with it. Law fled France, and wealthy Parisians became reluctant to make further investments or trust any currency but gold.
In 1719, France, in alliance with Britain and the Dutch Republic, declared war on Spain. Spain was defeated on both land and sea, and quickly sought peace. A Franco-Spanish treaty was signed on 27 March 1721. The two governments proposed to unite their royal families by marrying Louis to his cousin, Mariana Victoria of Spain, the three-year-old daughter of Philip V of Spain, who was himself a grandson of Louis XIV. The marriage contract was signed on 25 November 1721, and the future bride came to France and took up residence in the Louvre. However, after the death of the Regent, in 1725, the new Prime Minister decided she was too young to have children soon enough, and she was sent back to Spain. During the rest of the Regency, France was at peace, and in 1720, the Regent decreed an official silence on religious conflicts. Montesquieu and Voltaire published their first works, and the Age of Enlightenment in France quietly began.
== Government of the Duke of Bourbon (1723–1726) ==
On 15 June 1722, as Louis approached his thirteenth birthday, the year of his majority, he left Paris and moved back to Versailles, where he had happy memories of his childhood, but where he was far from the reach of public opinion. On 25 October, Louis was crowned King at the Cathedral of Reims. On 15 February 1723, the king's majority was declared by the Parlement of Paris, officially ending the regency. Philippe continued to manage the government, and took the title of Prime Minister in August 1723, but while visiting his mistress, far from the court and medical care, he died in December of the same year. Following the advice of his preceptor Fleury, Louis XV appointed his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, to replace the late Duke of Orléans as prime minister.
=== Marriage and children ===
Before his ascension, he was engaged to Infanta Mariana Victoria, and when the regent died, the royal court knew it was too early for the Infanta to have children early, so the engagement was called off and was sent back to Spain.
One of the first priorities of the Duke of Bourbon was to find a bride for the King, to assure the continuity of the monarchy, and especially to prevent the succession to the throne of the Orléans branch of the family, the rivals of his branch. A list of 99 princesses was prepared, among them being Princess Anne of Great Britain, Barbara of Portugal, Princess Charlotte Amalie of Denmark, Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Enrichetta d'Este and the Duke's own sisters Henriette Louise de Bourbon and Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon. In the end, the 21-year-old Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of Stanislaus I, the deposed king of Poland, was chosen. Of the others,
Mariana Victoria, Louis’s former fiancée, would marry the Crown Prince of Portugal and be mother to future Maria I.
Anne of Great Britain would marry the Prince of Orange.
Barbara of Portugal would marry the Prince of Asturias.
Charlotte Amalie of Denmark would live to be unmarried.
Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine would become the third wife of the King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy.
Enrichetta d’Este would marry the Duke of Parma, and later Leopold of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Henriette Louise would become Abbess de Beaumont-lès-Tours.
Élisabeth-Alexandrine would also never marry.
The marriage was celebrated in September 1725 when the king was 15 and Marie was 22. Louis was said to have fallen in love with Marie instantly, and consummated his marriage to her seven times on their wedding night. From 1727 to 1737, Marie gave Louis XV ten children: eight girls and two boys. Of the boys, only the elder, the Dauphin Louis (1729–1765), survived childhood. While he did not live to rule, his birth as the awaited heir was welcomed with celebration in all spheres of French society. (The Dauphin Louis would go on to marry Maria Josepha of Saxony in 1747, who gave birth to the next three Kings of France: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X). Louis XV's second son, the Duke of Anjou, was born in 1730 and died in 1733. Of the daughters only the two oldest daughters, who were fraternal twins, were raised at Versailles; the others were sent away to be raised at the Abbey of Fontevrault.
Marie was a pious and timid Queen who spent most of her time secluded with her own courtiers. She was a musician, read extensively, and played social games with her courtiers. After 1737, she did not share her bed with the King. She was deeply upset by the death of her son the Dauphin in 1765, and died on 24 June 1768.
=== Unigenitus, Jansenism and religious conflict ===
One of the first serious conflicts that disturbed the early reign of Louis XV was a battle within the Catholic Church over a Papal Bull called Unigenitus. The Bull was requested by Louis XIV of Pope Clement XI and granted on 8 September 1713. It was a fierce condemnation of Jansenism, a Catholic doctrine based largely on the teachings of Saint Augustine. Jansenism had attracted many important followers in France, including the philosopher Blaise Pascal, the poet Racine, aristocrats including Madame de Sévigné and Madame de Lafayette. The faculty of the Sorbonne, then primarily a theological college and a center of Jansenism, demanded clarification from the government. The Jansenists were allied with the Gallicans, theologians who wanted the Catholic Church in France to be distinctly French. The opposition to Unigenitus was particularly strong among the members of the Parlement of Paris, the assembly of the nobles. Despite the protests, on 24 March 1730 Cardinal Fleury persuaded the King to issue a decree that Unigenitus was the law of France as well as that of the Church.
The government and church imposed repressive measures. On 27 April 1732, the Archbishop of Paris threatened to excommunicate any member of the Church who read the Jansenist journal, Nouvelles Ecclésiastiques. The Parlement was strictly forbidden to discuss religious questions, preventing them from opposing the Unigenitus bull. Priests who did not accept Unigenitus were denied the authority to administer last rites to the dying. A new tax, the cinquantième, was levied against religious figures who had previously been exempted from taxation. Jansenists and Protestants were threatened with prison and banishment. As a result of these repressive acts, religious dissent remained an issue throughout the King's reign.
Tension grew between the Duke of Bourbon and Cardinal de Fleury over the King's favor. The Duke's rigid and cold personality did not appeal to the young King, who turned to his old tutor for advice on how to run the affairs of state. When the King insisted that Fleury was to be included in all meetings between himself and the Duke of Bourbon, the Duke was infuriated and began to undermine Fleury's position at court. When the King became aware of the Duke's intrigue, he abruptly dismissed him and replaced him with Fleury.
== Rule with Cardinal de Fleury (1726–1743) ==
=== Finances and control of dissent ===
From 1726 until his death in 1743, Fleury effectively ruled France with the king's assent. Fleury dictated the choices to be made, and encouraged the king's indecision and flattered his pride. He forbade the king to discuss politics with the Queen. In order to save on court expenses, he sent the youngest four daughters of the king to be educated at the Abbey of Fontevrault. On the surface it was the most peaceful and prosperous period of the reign of Louis XV, but it was built upon a growing volcano of opposition, particularly from the noble members of the Parlements, who saw their privileges and power reduced. Fleury made the papal doctrine Unigenitus part of French law and forbade any debate in Parlement, which caused the silent opposition to grow. He also downplayed the importance of the French Navy, which would prove be a fatal mistake in future conflicts.
Fleury showed the King the virtues of a stable government; he kept the same Minister of War, Bauyn d'Angervilliers, and controller of the currency, Philibert Orry, for twelve years, and his minister of foreign affairs, Germain Louis Chauvelin, for ten years. His minister of the Navy and household of the King, the Conte de Maurepas, was in office the entire period. In all he had just thirteen ministers over the course of nineteen years, while the King, in his last thirty-one years, employed forty-three.
Louis's Controller-General of Finances Michel Robert Le Peletier des Forts (1726–1730), stabilized the French currency, though he was expelled for enriching himself in 1730. His successor, Philibert Orry, substantially reduced the debt caused by the War of the Spanish Succession, and simplified and made more fair the tax system, though he still had to depend upon the unpopular dixieme, or tax of the tenth of the revenue of every citizen. Orry managed, in the last two years of Fleury's government, to balance the royal budget, an accomplishment never again repeated during the rest of the reign.
Fleury's government expanded commerce, both within France and with the rest of the world. Transportation and shipping were improved with the completion of the Saint-Quentin canal (linking the Oise and Somme rivers) in 1738, which was later extended to the Escaut River and the Low Countries, and the systematic building of a national road network. By the middle of the 18th century, France had the most modern and extensive road network in the world. The Council of Commerce stimulated trade, and French foreign maritime trade increased from 80 to 308 million livres between 1716 and 1748.
The Government continued its policy of religious repression, aimed at the Jansenists and the so-called "Gallicans" in Parlements of nobles. After the dismissal of 139 members of provincial parlements for opposing the official government and papal doctrine of Unigenitus, the Parlement of Paris had to register the Unigenitus papal bull and was forbidden to hear religious cases in the future.
=== Foreign relations – New alliances; the War of the Polish Succession ===
In the first years of his governance, Fleury and his foreign minister Germain Louis Chauvelin sought to maintain the peace by maintaining the French alliance with Great Britain, despite their colonial rivalry in North America and the West Indies. They also rebuilt the alliance with Spain, which had been shaken by the anger of the Spanish King when Louis refused to marry the Spanish infanta. The birth of the king's male heir in 1729 dispelled the risks of a succession crisis in France. However, new powers were emerging on the European stage, particularly Russia under Peter the Great and his successor, Catherine. The Habsburg monarchy under Charles VI was assembling a scattered but impressive empire as far as Serbia in southeastern Europe with territories taken from the Ottoman Empire, and from Spain, acquiring the Austrian Netherlands, Milan and the Kingdom of Naples.
A new coalition against France began to assemble in eastern Europe, sealed by a defensive treaty signed on 6 August 1726 between Prussia, Russia and Austria. In 1732 the coalition came into direct conflict with France over the succession to the Polish throne. The King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, Augustus II, was dying, and the favoured candidate to succeed him was Stanislaus I Leszczyński, the father of the Queen of France. In the same year Russia, Prussia and Austria signed a secret agreement to exclude Stanislaus from the throne, and put forward another candidate, Augustus III, son of the deceased Polish king. The death of Augustus on 1 February 1733, with two heirs claiming the throne, sparked the War of the Polish Succession. Stanislaus traveled to Warsaw, where he was elected and crowned on 12 September. Empress Anna of Russia immediately marched her regiments into Poland to support her candidate. Stanislaus was forced to flee to the fortified port of Danzig, while on 5 October Augustus III was crowned in Warsaw.
Cardinal Fleury responded with a carefully orchestrated campaign of diplomacy. He first won assurances from Britain and Holland that they would not interfere in the war, while lining up alliances with Spain and Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia in exchange for pieces of the Habsburg monarchy. On 10 October 1733, Louis formally declared war against Austria. A French army occupied the Duchy of Lorraine, while another crossed the Alps and captured Milan on 3 November, handing it over to the King of Sardinia. Fleury was less energetic in his actions to restore the Polish throne to Stanislaus, who was blockaded by the Russian navy and army in Danzig. Instead of sending the largest part of the French fleet from its station off Copenhagen to Danzig, he ordered it to return to Brest and sent only a small squadron with two thousand soldiers, which after a fierce action was sunk by the Russians. On 3 July Stanislaus was forced to flee again, in disguise, to Prussia, where he became the guest of King Frederick William I of Prussia in the castle of Königsberg.
To bring the war to an end, Fleury and Charles VI negotiated an ingenious diplomatic solution. Francis III, Duke of Lorraine, left Lorraine for Vienna, where he married Maria Theresa, the heir presumptive to the Habsburg thrones. The vacant throne of Lorraine was to be occupied by Stanislaus, who abandoned his claim to the Polish throne. Upon the death of Stanislaus, the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar would become part of France. Francis, as the future emperor, would be compensated for the loss of Lorraine by the granting of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The King of Sardinia would be compensated with certain territories in Lombardy. The marriage of Francis of Lorraine and Maria Theresa took place in 1736, and the other exchanges took place in turn. With the death of Stanislaus in 1766, Lorraine and the neighboring Duchy of Bar became part of France.
In September 1739, Fleury scored another diplomatic success. France's mediation in the war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire led to the Treaty of Belgrade (September 1739), which favoured the Ottoman Empire, beneficiary of a Franco-Ottoman alliance against the Habsburgs since the early 16th century. As a result, the Ottoman Empire in 1740 renewed the French capitulations, which marked the supremacy of French trade in the Middle East. With these successes, Louis XV's prestige reached its highest point. In 1740 Frederick William I of Prussia declared "Since the Treaty of Vienna France is the arbiter of Europe."
=== War of the Austrian Succession ===
On 29 October 1740, a courier brought the news to the King, who was hunting in Fontainebleau, that the Emperor Charles VI was dead, and his daughter Maria Theresa was set to succeed him. After two days of reflection, Louis declared, "In these circumstances, I don't want to get involved at all. I will remain with my hands in my pockets, unless of course they want to elect a Protestant emperor." This attitude did not please France's allies, who saw an opportunity to take parts of the Habsburg empire, or Louis's generals, who for a century had won glory fighting Austria. The King in Prussia had died on 31 May and was succeeded by his son Frederick the Great, a military genius with ambitions to expand Prussia's borders. The Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, supported by Frederick, challenged the succession of Maria Theresa, and on 17 December 1740 Frederick invaded the Austrian province of Silesia. The elderly Cardinal Fleury had too little energy left to oppose this war.
Fleury sent his highest ranking general, Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle, the Maréchal de Belle-Isle, the grandson of Nicolas Fouquet, the famous disgraced controller of finances of Louis XIV, as his ambassador to the Diet of Frankfurt, with instructions to avoid a war by supporting the candidacy of the Elector of Bavaria to the Austrian throne. Instead, the Maréchal, who detested the Austrians, made an agreement to join with the Prussians against Austria, and the war began. French and Bavarian armies quickly captured Linz and laid siege to Prague. On 10 April 1741 Frederick won a major victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Mollwitz. On 18 May, Fleury assembled a new alliance combining France, Prussia, Spain and Bavaria, later joined by Poland and Sardinia. However, in 1742, the balance of the war shifted against France. The German-born British King, George II, who was also the Elector of Hanover, joined the war on the side of Austria and personally took charge of his soldiers fighting the French in Germany. Maria Theresa's Hungarian army recaptured Linz and marched into Bavaria as far as Munich. In June, Frederick of Prussia withdrew from the alliance with France, after gaining the Duchies of Silesia from the Austrians. Belleville had to abandon Prague, with a loss of eight thousand men. For seven years, France was engaged in a costly war with constantly shifting alliances. Orry, the superintendent of French finance, was forced to reinstate the highly unpopular dixieme tax to fund the war. Cardinal de Fleury did not live to see the end of the conflict; he died on 29 January 1743, and thereafter Louis ruled alone.
The war in Germany was not going well; the French and Bavarian forces were faced with the combined armies of Austria, Saxony, Holland, Sardinia and Hanover. The army of the Duke of Noailles was defeated by a force of British, Hessian and Hanover soldiers led by George II at the Battle of Dettingen, and in September French forces were compelled to abandon Germany.
In 1744, the Austrian Netherlands became the primary battlefield of the war, and the French position began to improve. Frederick the Great decided to rejoin the war on the French side. Louis XV left Versailles to lead his armies in the Netherlands in person, and French field command was given to the German-born Maréchal Maurice de Saxe, a highly competent general. At the Battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745, Louis, accompanied by his young son the Dauphin, came under fire for the first time and witnessed a French victory over combined British, Dutch and Austrian forces. When the Dauphin became excited at the sight of so many dead enemy soldiers, the King told him, "You see what a victory costs. The blood of our enemies is still the blood of men. The true glory is to spare it." Saxe went on to win further victories at Rocoux (1746) and Lauffeld (1747). In 1746 French forces besieged and occupied Brussels, which Louis entered in triumph. The King gave de Saxe the Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley as a reward for his victories.
== Personal government (1743–1757) ==
After Fleury's death in January 1743, his war minister, the Duke of Noailles, showed the King a letter that Louis XIV had written to his grandson, Philip V of Spain; it counseled: "Don't allow yourself to be governed; be the master. Never have a favorite or a prime minister. Listen, consult your Council, but decide yourself. God, who made you King, will give you all the guidance you need, as long as you have good intentions." Louis followed this advice and decided to govern without a prime minister. Two of his ministers took the most prominent positions in his government; the finance minister, Jean Baptiste de Machault D'Arnouville, and the minister of the armies, Comte d'Argenson.
With the end of the war, Louis decided to take the opportunity to reduce the debt and modernize the system of taxation of the Kingdom. The package of reforms was put together by his finance minister D'Arnouville and was approved by the King and presented in two decrees issued in May 1749. The first measure was an issue of bonds, paying five percent interest, to pay off the 36 million livres of debt caused by the cost of the war. This new measure was an immediate success. The second measure was the abolition of the dixième, a tax of ten percent of revenue, which had been created to finance the war, and its replacement by the vingtième, a tax of five percent on net revenue, which, unlike the dixième, taxed the income of all French citizens, including for the first time the income from the property of the clergy and the nobility.
While the new tax was supported by many, including Voltaire, it met immediate and fierce resistance from both the nobility and the church. When on 5 May 1749 it was presented for formal registration to the Parlement of Paris, the assembly composed of high nobles and wealthy Parisians who had purchased seats, it was rejected by a vote of one hundred and six to forty nine; the majority asked for more time to consider the project. The King responded by demanding immediate registration, which the Parlement reluctantly granted on 19 May. Resistance to the new measures grew with the church and in the provinces, which had their own parlements. While the Parlements of Burgundy, Provence and Artois bowed to the King's demands, Brittany and Languedoc refused. The royal government closed down the Parlement of Brittany, ordered the members of the Parlement of Languedoc to return to their estates and parishes, and took direct control of the Provence.
Within Paris, the battle between the King and Parlement was fought over the status of the Hôpital Général, a semi-religious organization which operated six different hospitals and shelters in Paris, with a staff of some five thousand persons. Many of the hospital staff and officials were Jansenists, while the board of directors of the hospital included many prominent members of the Parlement of Paris. In 1749, the King decided to purge the hospital of Jansenists and corruption, appointed a new "Supérieure" against the will of the administrators, who resigned, then appointed four temporary administrators, and asked the First President of the Parlement of Paris, René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, to implement his decree for the reorganization of the hospital. De Maupeou refused to carry out the decree without the authorization of the Parlement, and the Parlement, without taking any action, went on vacation. On 20 November, when the Parlement returned, the King again summoned de Maupeou for an audience and again demanded action without delay. This time the Parlement members met but refused to discuss the Hospital. On 28 January 1752, the King instructed the Grand Council to change the administration of the Hospital without the approval of the Parlement. Voltaire, describing the affair, wrote, "Never before has such a small affair caused such a great emotion of the spirit." It was the first overt disobedience of the legislature against the King, and one of the first signs that the Parlement believed it, not the King, was the legitimate source of laws in the nation.
The King's original plans to tax the church also ran into difficulty. A royal decree ordered all the clergy to submit a declaration of their revenue by 17 February 1751, but that day passed without any declarations given. Instead it became known that the King had quietly issued a new decree in December 1750, canceling the tax and relying again, entirely, on the "don gratuit", the voluntary donation by the church of 1,500,000 livres. Under the new decree, instead of a tax, the church would each year collect a comparable sum and donate it freely to the government. His support for the church came both from the teachings of his tutor, Cardinal Fleury, and his gratitude to Archbishop de Beaumont, who defended him against the attacks of the Jansenists and the criticisms of the Parlement, and the Archbishop's tolerance of the King's own personal life and mistresses.
Despite the French victories, the war dragged on both in the Netherlands and in Italy, where Maréchal Belle-Isle was besieging the Austrians in Genoa. By the summer of 1747 France occupied the entire Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). In March 1748, Louis proposed a conference in Aix-la-Chapelle to bring the war to an end. The process was advanced by the capture of Maastricht by the Maréchal de Saxe on 10 April 1748. Britain, pressed by the threat of a French invasion of the rest of the Netherlands, urged a quick settlement, despite objections from Austria and Sardinia. The Treaty was quickly negotiated and signed by all the parties in September and October 1748. Louis was also eager for a quick settlement, because the naval war with Britain was extremely costly to French maritime trade. The proposition of Louis was surprisingly generous; in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Louis offered to return all of the territories he had conquered in the Netherlands to the Austrians, Maastricht to the Dutch, Nice and Savoy to the Sardinians, and Madras in India to the English. The Austrians would give the Duchy of Parma and some other territory to the Spanish Infante, Philip, while Britain would return to France Louisbourg and the island of Cape Breton. France also agreed to expel the Stuart pretender Charles Edward Stuart from its territory.
The end of the war had caused celebration in Paris, but the publication of the details of the treaty on 14 January 1749 caused dismay and anger. The Stuart pretender Charles Edward Stuart refused to leave Paris and was acclaimed by the Parisians. He was finally arrested on 10 December 1748, and transported by force to Switzerland. The French military commanders, including de Saxe, were furious about giving up the Austrian Netherlands. The King's defense of his action was practical: he did not want the Netherlands to be a permanent source of contention between France and other powers; he also felt that France had already reached its proper borders, and it was better to cultivate its prosperity rather than make it larger. His basis was also religious; he had been taught by Fleury that the Seventh Commandment forbade taking the property of others by fraud or violence. Louis often cited a Latin maxim declaring, "if anyone who asks by what means he can best defend a kingdom, the answer is, by never wishing to augment it." He also received support from Voltaire, who wrote, "It seems better, and even more useful for the court of France to think about the happiness of its allies, rather than to be given two or three Flemish towns which would have been the eternal object of jealousy." Louis lacked the communicative skills to explain his decision to the French public, and further, did not see any need to do so. The news that the King had returned the Southern Netherlands to Austria was met with disbelief and bitterness. The French obtained so little of what they had fought for that they adopted the expressions Bête comme la paix ("Stupid as the peace") and Travailler pour le roi de Prusse ("To work for the king of Prussia", i.e. working for nothing).
=== First mistresses ===
==== The de Mailly-Nesle sisters ====
Louis had been very much in love with the Queen, and they were inseparable in the early years of his reign, but as his family grew, and the Queen was constantly pregnant or exhausted by her maternities, he began to look elsewhere. He first became attached to one of the ladies of the Queen's court, Louise Julie de Mailly, who was the same age as he and from an ancient noble family. Without courtship or ceremony, he made her his mistress, and raised her to the rank of Duchess. The Duke of Luynes commented on the King's behavior: "The King loves women, and yet there is absolutely no gallantry in his spirit." In 1738, after the Queen lost an unborn child, her doctors forbade her to have relations with the King for a time. The King was offended by her refusal and thereafter never shared her bed. Acknowledging that he was committing adultery, Louis refused thereafter to go to confession and to take the sacrament. The Cardinal de Fleury tried to persuade him to confess and to give up his mistress, but without success.
In 1738, the King turned his attentions to the sister of Louise Julie, Pauline Félicité de Mailly. Pauline Félicité became pregnant in 1740, allegedly by the King, and subsequently died during childbirth; the child came to be known as "Demi-Louis" due to his visual resemblance to his father who took care of his financial needs but gave him little attention. Pauline Félicité's death caused the King to go into mourning and for a time he turned to religion for consolation. When the King finally recovered his spirits, Louise Julie introduced the King to her youngest sister, Marie Anne de Mailly. The King was immediately attracted to Marie Anne, however she insisted that he expel her older sister from the Court before she would become his mistress. The King gave in, and on 4 October 1742, Marie Anne was named a Lady of the Court of the Queen, and a month later the King ordered her older sister to leave the Court and to live in Paris. The King made his new mistress the Duchess of Châteauroux. The King's relationships with the sisters became a subject of gossip in the court and in Paris, where a popular comic poem was recited, ending: "Choosing an entire family – is that being unfaithful, or constant?"
In June 1744, the King left Versailles in order to take personal command of his armies fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession. This otherwise popular move was marred by the King's indiscreet decision to bring along Marie Anne. When Marie Anne visited the King in Metz in August 1744 she was accompanied by her sister Diane Adélaïde de Mailly. While an amiable companion, Marie Anne did not consider her simple sister to be much of a rival, however it was rumored at the time that one of the methods by which Marie Anne kept the interest of the king was to periodically offer him a ménage à trois with Diane Adélaïde. These widespread rumors made the sisters' visit to the King in Metz a national scandal and during their notorious visit the King suddenly fell gravely ill. Death appeared imminent, yet the King's chaplain, François de Fitz-James, refused him absolution unless he renounced his mistress, which he did. Marie Anne left The Court and after the King recovered he made a triumphal entry into Paris. On 25 November, Minister Maurepas was obliged to recall Marie Anne to Versailles, but she soon fell sick with convulsive pains and died on 8 December 1744. Following her death the King consoled himself with Diane Adélaïde until he met Madame de Pompadour in 1745.
The King's adultery confession, which was distributed publicly, embarrassed him and tarnished the prestige of the monarchy. Although Louis XV's recovery earned him the epithet "well-beloved" from a public relieved by his survival, the events at Metz diminished his standing. The military successes of the War of the Austrian Succession inclined the French public to overlook Louis' adulteries, but after 1748, in the wake of the anger over the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, pamphlets against the king's mistresses were widely distributed and read.
=== Second mistress ===
==== Madame de Pompadour ====
Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, better known as Madame de Pompadour, was the most famous and influential of the mistresses of Louis XV. She was the illegitimate daughter of a Paris fermier-general, and was married to a banker, Charles Guillaume Lenormant d'Étoiles. She was noticed by the King following one of his hunts, and formally met him at a costume ball celebrating carnival in 1745. By July, she was the King's mistress and was formally given the title of the Marquise de Pompadour. For the next twenty years, she was the King's confidante and advisor, helping him choose or demote ministers. Her opinions led to the downfall of some very competent ministers, including Machault d'Aurnouville and the Marquis d'Argenson, and to the promotion of a number of incompetent military commanders. Her most successful choice was the promotion of the Duke de Choiseul, who became one of the King's most effective ministers. She ceased all sexual intimacy with the King by 1750, but remained his closest advisor and titular mistress. She was promoted to Duchess in 1752, and Dame of the Queen's Palace in 1756, and was an important patron of music and the arts, as well as religious establishments. She remained close to the King until her death in 1764. He was devastated, and remained in seclusion for several weeks after she died.
=== Beginning of the Seven Years' War ===
The peace achieved by Louis with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle lasted only seven years. At the end of August 1755, Marie Therese, the Empress of Austria, discreetly wrote a letter to Louis XV, which was passed by the Austrian ambassador in Paris to Madame de Pompadour for delivery to the King. She proposed a secret alliance between Austria and France, to meet the threats of the growing power of Prussia, which was still formally an ally of France, and Britain.
In the New World, conflict had already begun between Great Britain and France. New France was at an enormous demographic disadvantage vis-à-vis its British counterparts; there were about 70,000 French colonists spread over a territory from the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and extending down the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys to Louisiana, compared with a population of one million settlers in the British 13 Colonies. To defend its territories, France had constructed Fort Duquesne to defend its frontier against the indigenous Americans; Britain sent the young George Washington with a small force to construct his own fortification, Fort Necessity, nearby. In 1754, after the killing of French envoy, Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, the French sent reinforcements and compelled Washington and his men to withdraw.
The undeclared French and Indian War followed, with British and French colonies in North America engaging in open conflict. By the end of 1755, British ships had captured over 300 French merchantmen. In January 1756, Louis sent an ultimatum to London, which was rejected by the British government. A few months later, on 16 January 1756, Frederick the Great of Prussia signed the Treaty of Westminster, allying himself with Britain. Louis responded immediately on 1 May 1756 by sealing a formal defensive treaty with Austria, the first Treaty of Versailles, offering to defend Austria in case of a Prussian attack – a reversal of France's historic conflict with Austria.
Louis declared war on Great Britain on 9 June 1756, confident of success. The French navy quickly defeated a British fleet in the Mediterranean and captured Minorca from Britain. Meanwhile, the French army greatly outnumbered its British and Prussian counterparts on the continent, and after some fighting France signed the Convention of Klosterzeven with the Duke of Cumberland, which resulted in French troops occupying parts of Hanover and the Hanoverians withdrawing from the conflict entirely. Another French army had already invaded Saxony and Hanover, the ancestral home of George II. However, the best French commander, Maurice de Saxe, had died two years after the War of the Austrian Succession, and his successors, the Prince de Soubise, the Duke D'Estrees and the Duke de Broglie detested each other, and were rarely willing to cooperate.
In August Frederick of Prussia made a lightning strike into Saxony and on 5 November 1757, though outnumbered by the French nearly two to one, decisively defeated the army of the Prince de Soubise at the Battle of Rossbach. The new British Prime Minister, William Pitt, named a new commander, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and the French armies were gradually pushed back to the Rhine, and defeated again at the Battle of Krefeld on 23 June. Thereafter, Britain and Prussia held the upper hand, tying down the French army in the German states along the Rhine.
British naval supremacy prevented France from reinforcing its colonies overseas, and British naval squadrons raided the French coast at Cancale and Le Havre and landed on the Ile d'Aix and Le Havre. In 1759 the British attacked Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West Indies, and captured Port Louis and Quebec. A series of French naval defeats forced Louis to abandon plans for invasion of Britain. In India, the French colony at Pondicherry was besieged by the British, and surrendered the following year. On 8 September 1760, Montreal surrendered, bringing to an end French rule in Canada. Martinique fell to the British in 1762.
=== Assassination attempt ===
On 5 January 1757, as the King was getting into his carriage in the courtyard of the Grand Trianon Versailles, a demented man, Robert-François Damiens, pushed through the King's guards and attacked the King, stabbing him in the side with a small knife. The King's guards seized Damiens, and the King ordered them to hold him but not harm him. The King walked up the steps to his rooms at the Trianon, where he found he was bleeding profusely. He summoned his doctor and a priest, and then fainted. Louis was saved from greater harm by the thickness of the winter clothing he was wearing. When the news reached Paris, anxious crowds gathered in the streets. The Pope, the Archduchess of Austria, and King George II, with whom France was at war, sent messages hoping for his swift recovery. Damiens was tortured to see if he had accomplices, and was tried before the Parlement of Paris, which had been the most vocal critic of the King. The Parlement demonstrated its loyalty to the King by sentencing Damiens to the most severe possible penalty. On 28–29 March 1757 Damiens was executed on the Place de Grève in Paris by dismemberment, following which his body was burned on a bonfire. The house where he was born was burned down, his father, wife and daughter were banished from France, and his brothers and sisters were required to change their name. The King recovered physically very quickly, but the attack had a depressive effect on his spirits. One of his chief courtiers, Duford de Cheverny, wrote afterwards: "it was easy to see that when members of the court congratulated him on his recovery, he replied, 'yes, the body is going well', but touched his head and said, 'but this goes badly, and this is impossible to heal.'" After the assassination attempt, the King invited his heir, the Dauphin, to attend all of the Royal Council meetings, and quietly closed down the château at Versailles where he had met with his short-term mistresses."
=== Rebellion of the Parlements ===
The Parlements were assemblies of nobles in Paris and older regions of France, whose members served as magistrates and judged civil cases. Their members included both hereditary nobles and wealthy citizens who had purchased their seats. Several of the Parlements, such as those of Rouen and Provence, had been in existence for centuries, and saw themselves as the legitimate governments in their provinces. As Louis reorganized the government and appointed his own intendants in the provinces, the authority and prestige of the Parlements decreased, and the price of the seats dropped. In Franche-Comté, Bordelaise and Rouen, the Parlements refused to follow the decrees of the royal intendants. When the intendants attempted to assert their authority and collect taxes from all classes, the Parlements went on strike, refusing to proceed with the judgment of civil cases. The civil justice system came to a halt. In 1761, the provincial Parlement of Normandy in Rouen wrote a protest to the King, explaining that the King had the exclusive power to tax, but the Parlement had the exclusive right to collect the money. The King rejected the explanation and overruled the Parlement, banished some of his most provocative Parlement members to their estates. For the rest of his reign, the Parlements swore allegiance to the King, but took every opportunity to resist his new taxes and the King's authority. This was one of the seeds of resistance to the King's authority that was to turn into a Revolution less than thirty years later.
=== Achievements and dismissal of the government ===
The Comte d'Argenson served as the Minister of War from 1743 until 1747. He was an advocate of the continuation of the absolute monarchy in the style of Louis XIV. He was responsible for creating the first school for engineers in France at Mézières (1749–50); thanks to the trained engineers, France had the finest system of roads and bridges in Europe. He also established the military academy, the École Militaire, and, following the model of the Prussians, established military training camps and exercises, and helped rebuild French military power.
Machaud D'Arnouville was brought into the government with the sponsorship of d'Argenson, but the two men gradually became rivals and enemies. D'Arnouville was the Controller of Finances from 1745 to 1754, then Minister of Navy from 1754 to 1757. He was the creator of the unpopular "Vingtieme" tax (1749), which taxed all citizens, including the nobility, at the same rate, and also freed the prices of grain (1754), which initially greatly increased agricultural production. The fluctuation of grain prices would eventually become a factor in the French Revolution.
On 1 February 1757, the King abruptly dismissed both d'Arnouville and d'Argenson, and exiled them to their estates. The King held them responsible for not preventing the assassination attempt, and their government displeased Madame de Pompadour.
== Government of the Duke de Choiseul (1758–1770) ==
Louis named the Duke de Choiseul as his minister of foreign affairs on 3 December 1758, following the recommendation of Madame de Pompadour. In 1763, he became Minister of War, giving the role of minister of foreign affairs to his cousin, the Duc de Praslin. A few months later, he also became the Minister of the Navy, and became the most influential and powerful member of the government. In the council and circles of government, he was the leader of the philosophe faction, which included Madame de Pompadour, which sought to appease the Parlements and the Jansenists. On the diplomatic front, he negotiated a "Family Pact" with the Bourbon monarch of Spain (1761); negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1761, and completed the integration of Lorraine into France (1766) upon the death of the King's father-in-law Stanislaus I Leszczyński, Duke of Lorraine. He incorporated Corsica into France (1768), and negotiated the marriage of his grandson, the future Louis XVI, with Marie Antoinette (1770).
His most notable accomplishment was the modernization of the French military, based on the lessons learned during the Seven Years' War. Under Choiseul, the government, rather than the officers, took the responsibility of training, giving uniforms, and training soldiers. The artillery was standardized, and new tactics, based on the Prussian model, were adopted and taught. The Navy in 1763 had been reduced to just 47 vessels and twenty frigates, three times smaller than the British Royal Navy fleet. He launched a major shipbuilding program to construct eighty vessels and forty-five new frigates, which would allow the French fleet, combined with the allied Spanish fleet, to outnumber the Royal Navy.
=== Suppression of the Jesuits (1764) ===
In 1764, at the urging of the Parlement, Madame de Pompadour and his foreign minister, the Duc de Chosieul, Louis decided upon the Suppression of Jesuit Order in France. The Jesuits in France numbered 3,500; they had 150 establishments in France, including 85 colleges, which were considered the best in France; their graduates included Voltaire and Diderot. The Confessor of the King, by a tradition dating back to Henry IV, was a Jesuit. Agitation against the Jesuits began in 1760 in the provincial Parlements, where the Gallicans, supporters of a specifically French version of Catholicism, were strong. The complaint against the Jesuits was that they were independent of the authority of the King and the hierarchy of the church in France. The Jesuits had already been expelled from Portugal and its colony of Brazil in 1759, because of conflicts with the government and church hierarchy there.
In France, the Parlements had taken the lead in attacking the Jesuits. On 12 February 1762, the Parlement of Rouen declared the Jesuits outside the law, forbid them to hold public positions or to teach, and demanded that they take an oath repudiating their beliefs. Between April and September 1762, the Parlements of Rennes, Bordeaux, Paris and Metz joined in the condemnation, followed in 1763 by Aix, Toulouse, Pau, Dijon and Grenoble. By the end of the year only the Parlements of Besançon, Douai, and the governments of Colmar, Flanders, Alsace and Franche-Comté, plus the Duchy of Lorraine, run by the Queen's father, the former King Stanislaus, permitted the Jesuits to function.
The campaign against the Jesuits divided the royal household; his son the Dauphin, his daughters and the Queen supported the Jesuits, while Madame de Pompadour, whose influence in the court was criticized by the Jesuits, wanted them gone. The indecisive King declared two years later that he had made the decision against his own feelings. The Jesuits departed, and were welcomed in Prussia and in Russia. The departure of the Jesuits weakened the church in France, and especially weakened the authority of the King, who, like a constitutional monarch, acted on behalf of the Parlements against his own beliefs.
=== Resistance from Parlements ===
Under the government of Choiseul, the Parlements of several French provinces continued to swear obedience to the King, while refusing to obey his intendents or to accept his new taxes. The Parlement of Franche-Comté in Besançon refused to collect the vingtieme tax imposed by the King to finance the war, claiming that only the Parlement could impose taxes. The King's government immediately dismissed the leaders of the Parlement and confined them to their residences. The Parlement of Normandy immediately supported that of Besançon; it wrote a remonstrance to the King on 5 July 1760, declaring that the Parlements represented all classes: "One King, one law, one Parlement; the law of the kingdom is a sacred pact of your alliance with the French nation; it is a kind of contract which destines the King to reign and the people to obey. In truth, no one except God can compel you to obey this sacred pact… but we can ask you, with respect, with submission… to keep your promises." This was too much for the King. He responded on 31 January 1761 that the Parlement's complaint "contained principles so false and so contrary to my authority and with expressions so indecent, particularly in connection with my Chancellor who only explained to you my wishes… that I send your letter back to you." The Parlement members of Besançon remained in exile.
The Parlement of Bordeaux went even further in its resistance to the royal government; in 1757 it brought accusations of corruption against the members of the government of the city of Bergerac, named by the Royal Council of the King. When the Royal Council blocked the pursuits of the Parlement, the Parlement wrote a protest to the King, declaring, "Sire, your Parlement cannot recognize any intermediate power between it and your person; no, your Council has over the Parlement no authority, superiority, or jurisdiction."
=== Finances and the brief ministry of Silhouette ===
The prolonged war drained the treasury of the Kingdom; France paid not only for its own army, but subsidized the armies of its allies; in 1759, France paid 19 million livres to its allies, an amount which Choiseul reduced by one-third in 1761. His new finance minister, Étienne de Silhouette imposed new taxes aimed at the wealthy; taxes on horses, carriages, silk, paintings, coffee and furs, and other luxury goods. The new taxes were extremely unpopular with the aristocracy and wealthy; Silhouette was dismissed after eight months, and his name became the common expression for paper cutouts made from a shadow, which, like his ministry, lasted only a moment. The King announced that he was giving his silver service to the mint, to be melted down and made into money.
The new Controller of Finances, Henri Bertin, a protégé of Madame de Pompadour named on 23 November 1759, reduced the luxury taxes of his predecessor, and instead proposed a broadening of the tax base to include those classes which had long been excluded, and a new survey of the wealth of the nobility. Once again the Parliaments rebelled. When the Lieutenant General of Normandy appeared before the Parliament to register the decree, it refused to register or collect the new taxes. The same scene was reproduced in the other Parlements. Once again the King yielded to Madame de Pompadour and her allies; the new decrees were withdrawn, Bertin was moved to a different position, the tax rolls were not enlarged, and no new taxes were collected; the debt remained.
=== Diplomacy – end of the Seven Years' War ===
The war with Great Britain continued, despite the death of King George II on 25 October 1760; the British Prime Minister William Pitt rejected French proposals for suggestions for negotiations. On 15 August 1761, France, Spain, Naples and Parma, all ruled by monarchs of the Bourbon family, signed the first "Family Compact", with a system of reciprocal guarantees of support if one or the other were attacked. At the same time, they signed a secret treaty with Charles III of Spain engaging Spain to declare war on Great Britain if the war was not over by May 1762. Learning of this pact, William Pitt wanted to declare an immediate war on Spain, but the new British King, George III, rejected the idea. The military forces of Frederick the Great in Prussia had been nearly exhausted in the long war against the combined forces of Austria and Russia; but Frederick was saved by the sudden death of the Tsarina Elizabeth in 1762, and her replacement by Peter III of Russia, a fervent admirer of the Prussian King.
Choiseul had taken over direction of the French navy as well as the army in October 1761, and he pressed for an offensive to bring the war to a successful end. He persuaded the Parlements and the chambers of commerce of the major French cities to sponsor the construction of warships, and rebuilt the French Navy. The French army launched a new offensive against the Prussians and Spain, and as promised by the Family Compact, launched an invasion in Portugal, an ally of Britain. However, once again the French initiatives were not enough. The French offensive in Hesse-Kassel was defeated by the Prussians, the Spanish army in Portugal made little progress, and the British took the opportunity to land on Martinique and to invade Spain's colony Cuba. Choiseul decided it was time to end the war. The preliminary negotiations opened at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 3 November 1762, and ended hostilities between Great Britain, France and Spain. The final treaty was signed in Paris on 10 February 1763. As a result of the War, France gave up its minor possessions in the West Indies; Marie Galante, Tobago and La Desiderade, but received back Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Santa Lucia, which, because of their sugar plantations, were considered of more value than all of its territories in Canada; France kept only the Iles of Saint Pierre and Miquelon. The valley of the Ohio, and the territories along the west bank of the Mississippi River were ceded to Spain. Louis formally ratified the treaty on 23 February, on the same day that his statue was unveiled on the Place Louis XV (today the Place de la Concorde)
=== Deaths of mistress, son and wife ===
The winter of 1763–64 was particularly harsh; Madame de Pompadour contracted pneumonia, and died on 15 April. The King was deeply affected, but, strictly observing court protocol, he did not attend her funeral, because she was too far below his rank, and, though mourning, carried on court business as usual. Maneuvering immediately began within the court to replace Madame de Pompadour; a leading candidate was the Duchess of Gramont, the sister of Choiseul, but the King showed no interest in a new mistress, and in February 1765 he closed down the Parc-aux-Cerfs, where he had previously met his petites maitresses.
The resistance of the Parlements to the King's authority continued. The Parlements of the provinces began to quarrel with the Parlement of Paris over which more truly represented the nation. In March 1764, the Parlement of Navarre in Pau, the smallest province, refused to accept the taxation authority of the Grand Council of the King. This time the King took action, arresting and replacing the President and leading officers of the Parlement, and replacing them with officers loyal to the King. The Parlements of Toulouse, Besançon and Rouen protested, but the King persisted. In 1765 the Parlement of Rennes in Rennes denied the authority of the King's officers to impose taxes without its permission, and went on strike. The King summoned the Parlement to Versailles, where he had his lecture read to them. This had little effect; when the King had his decree to the Parlement posted on the walls of Rennes, the Parlement ordered that the posters with the King's proclamation be taken down. The King issued letters of cachet that forbade the Parlement members to leave Rennes, but the judicial system remained on strike.
The end of 1765 brought another personal tragedy; his son and heir Louis contracted tuberculosis. He travelled with the King to the Palace of Fontainebleau. The King distracted himself by secluding himself with the astronomer César-François Cassini de Thury and making astronomic calculations, while the doctors tried, without success, to treat his son. The Dauphin died on 20 December 1765. The succession was assured, since the Dauphin had a son, the future Louis XVI, who was of age to rule, but the death put him into a deep depression. He drafted his own will, writing: "If I made errors, it was not from a lack of will, but from a lack of talents, and for not having been supported as I wished to have been, particularly in matters of religion."
The Queen, who was deeply affected by the death of the Dauphin in 1765, followed by the death of her father in 1766 and, finally, that of her daughter-in-law, died on 24 June 1768.
=== "Flagellation" of the Parlement ===
In January 1766, while the King was still mourning the death of the Dauphin, the Parlement of Rennes issued another rejection of the King's authority to collect taxes. When he ignored it, both the Parlement of Rennes and the Parlement of Rouen wrote him again, complaining that he was ignoring "the oath that you took to the nation when accepting the crown." When this part of the letter was read to the King, he interrupted the reading and declared that this accusation was false; he had taken an oath to God alone, not to the nation. On 3 March 1766, with only a few hours notice, he traveled in person from Versailles to the meeting of the Parlement of Paris at the Palais de la Cité and appeared before the members. In his message, read to them by one of his ministers, he declared, "It is in my person alone that sovereign power resides...To me alone belongs the legislative power, without dependence and without sharing...The public order emanates entirely from me...Confusion and anarchy are taking the place of legitimate order, and the scandalous spectacle of a contradictory rivaling my sovereign power reduces me to the sad necessity to use all the power that I received from God to preserve my peoples from the sad consequences of these enterprises." The speech, immediately termed "the flagellation", was published in official press, and circulated to all levels of government. It became his political testament. The conflict between the Parlements and King was muted for a time, but not resolved.
=== Third mistress ===
==== Madame du Barry ====
After the death of the Madame de Pompadour, several women in the court sought to replace her, including the Duchess of Gramont, the sister of the Duke of Choiseul, the King's chief minister. However, the King's favor turned to Jeanne Bécu, the comtesse du Barry. She was thirty-three years younger than the King. She was the illegitimate daughter of Anne Bécu, a seamstress. She was raised by the Dames de Sacre-Coeur, and had various jobs as a shop assistant and designer of dresses before she became the mistress of Jean du Barry, the brother of a count. She began to hold a salon, which attracted writers and aristocrats. Since Jean du Barry was already married, to give her legitimacy he arranged for her to become engaged to his brother, Comte Guillaume du Barry, a retired soldier. They were married on 1 September 1768, and then, without consummating the marriage, Guillaume retired to his home in Languedoc. Through her acquaintances with the nobility, she was invited to Versailles, where the King saw her and was immediately attracted to her. He invited her to Fontainebleau, and then asked her to live in the Palace of Versailles. Her appearance at the Court scandalized the Duke de Choiseul, but pleased the enemies of the Duke within the Court.
For du Barry to be presented at Court, she had to be formally presented by a member of the nobility. The elderly Contesse de Béarn was persuaded to make the presentation for a large fee, and she was presented on 22 April 1769. None of the ladies of the Court attended, and Choiseul himself, to show his displeasure, hosted a large reception the following day, which all the Court, except du Barry, attended.
The King soon installed her in the Palace of Versailles, and in 1771 gave her the new Pavillon de Louveciennes. Choiseul sowed a strong dislike for du Barry, as did Marie Antoinette, who arrived in Versailles and married the Dauphin on 16 May 1770. She described the Comtesse as "the most stupid and impertinent creature imaginable". However, the King kept du Barry close to him until the final days before his death, when he sent her away before he made confession. The presence of du Barry at the court scandalized the high members of the aristocracy. Outside the Court, the opponents of the King in the Parlements used her presence to ridicule and attack the King. She was the target of dozens of scandalous pamphlets accusing her of every possible immoral act. Decades later, during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, the Comtesse was targeted by the Jacobins as a symbol of the hated old regime; she was guillotined on 8 December 1793.
=== France enlarged: Lorraine and Corsica ===
The borders of France were enlarged for the last time before the Revolution by two additions; the Duchy of Lorraine, ruled by the King's father-in-law, Stanislaus, reverted to France after his death, and was officially joined to the kingdom 27–28 March 1766. The acquisition of Corsica was more complicated. The island formally belonged to the Republic of Genoa, but an independent Republic of Corsica had been proclaimed in 1755 by Pasquale Paoli, and the rebels controlled most of the island. The Republic of Genoa did not have the military forces to conquer the island, and permitted Louis to send French troops to occupy the ports and major cities, to keep the island from falling into British hands. When the war ended, the island was formally granted to France by Treaty of Versailles on 19 May 1768. Louis sent the army to subdue the Corsican rebels; the army on the island eventually numbered twenty-seven thousand soldiers. In May 1769 the Corsican rebels were defeated at the Battle of Ponte Novu, and Paoli took refuge in England. In 1770 the island formally became a Province of France.
=== Commerce, agriculture and the "Starvation Pact" rumor ===
Two men had an enormous influence on the economic policies of the King. François Quesnay was the best-known economist in France. He was the King's doctor, and treated Madame de Pompadour, but was also a celebrated economic theorist, whose collected writings, "Tableau Économique" (1758), were avidly read by the King and his Court: Louis referred to him as "my thinker." His students included the Marquis de Mirabeau and Adam Smith. He was a critic of government regulation, and coined the term "bureaucracy" (literally, "A government of desks"). The other was his disciple, the Minister of the Commerce of the King, Jacques Claude Marie Vincent de Gournay. The two men advocated removing as many restrictions as possible from the economy, to encourage greater production and trade. De Gournay's famous expression, laissez faire, laissez passer ("let it be done, let it pass") was later adopted as the slogan of a whole school of free market economics.
De Gournay and Quesnay proposed in particular the liberalization of agricultural markets, which were strictly controlled, to encourage greater production, competition and lower prices. Following the doctrines of Quesnay and de Gournay, Louis's controller of finances, Henri Bertin, created a new Society of Agriculture and an Agricultural Committee within the government, comparable to those existing to support commerce. In May 1763, Bertin issued a decree permitting the tax-free circulation of grain. In August 1764, Bertin permitted the export of grain from twenty-seven French ports, later expanded to thirty-six. At the same time he established a large zone around Paris, where grain was reserved exclusively for feeding the Parisians, and established a cap on the grain price, which, if it was passed, would cause the exports to cease.
The policy of freeing grain prices was effective in good years, and resulted in increased trade and lower prices, but during years with poor harvests, 1766, 1767 and 1768, prices went up. Most of the Parlements, in regions which produced grain, supported the policy, but others, including Paris and Rouen, were highly critical. In those cities, rumors began to circulate of a mythical "Starvation Pact", a supposed plot by the government to deliberately starve and eliminate the poor. These rumors eventually became one of the factors that provoked the French Revolution.
=== Preparations for a new war with Great Britain ===
The Duc de Choiseul devoted all of his considerable energy and talents to preparing a new war against Britain. In 1764, in a former Jesuit school he had closed, he created a new military preparatory school, to prepare students for the recently founded Military Academy. In 1769 he raised the Naval school to the level of a royal academy, to train officers for his new fleet. In the same year he established a military engineering school. He provided the army with hundreds of new cannon, which would be used with great success decades later during the French Revolution and by Napoleon. Using the Prussian army as a model, he reformed French military doctrine, making the state and not the officers responsible for training and equipping soldiers. A large part of the French Navy had been sunk or captured by the British in the Seven Years' War. In addition to the existing naval arsenals in Toulon, Brest and Rochefort, he opened two more in Marseille (1762) and Lorient (1764). The arsenals began building new ships; by 1772 the Navy had sixty-six ships of the line, thirty-five frigates, and twenty-one new corvettes. He and his allies in the government began planning for an invasion of England, and his government looked for new ways to challenge Great Britain. When the Duc de Broglie learned that the British were planning to tax the citizens of the British colonies in America, he wrote to the King: "It will be very curious to know what the result will be, and if their execution doesn't result in a Revolution in those states."
Choiseul combined his military preparations for war with a diplomatic alliance, the Pacte de Famille or Pact of the Family, which united with other countries ruled by Kings of the Bourbon dynasty: Spain, ruled by Louis's cousin Charles III of Spain, the Naples and Tuscany. Choiseul was so entirely focused on Great Britain as his future enemy that he almost entirely neglected the rest of Europe. He had no accredited Ambassadors in Poland, Prussia or Russia during most of the period, and stood by while Russia imposed its own candidate for King of Poland, and when Turkey and Russia went to war in 1768–70.
=== Dismissal of Choiseul ===
A new conflict between Great Britain and Spain over the remote Falkland Islands in 1770 brought about Choiseul's downfall. The British had established a settlement in the islands, which were also claimed by Spain. In early 1770 the Spanish governor of Buenos Aires sent five warships full of troops to the islands, ordering the British to leave. The British prepared to depart. When the news reached London, the British government demanded that the Spanish leave. Both sides began to prepare for war.
The possibility of a new war came just as France was undergoing a new confrontation between the King's government and the Parlement of Rennes, which once again refused to recognize the power of the King's government to impose taxes. The King wrote immediately to his cousin, the King of Spain, who wrote back that Spain did not want a war. Louis replied, "Gentleness and patience have guided me to the present, but my parlements, pushing to limit, have forgotten themselves to the point of disputing the sovereign authority that we possess only from the will of God. I am resolved to make myself obeyed by all available means..." On 24 December, the King sent a short note to Choiseul dismissing him from his post and ordering him to return to his home in Chanteloup and to remain there. A similar note went to his cousin. Choiseul asked for two days to manage his affairs, but the King refused. Explaining the decision later to the Duke de Broglie, the King wrote, "The principles of the Choiseuls are too contrary to religion, and therefore to royal authority."
== Government of Maupeou and the Triumvirate (1770–1774) ==
The King passed the leadership of the government to a triumvirate of three conservative ministers, led by his Chancellor, René de Maupeou, who had been President of the Parlement from 1763 to 1768. Maupeou and two other conservative ministers, Abbot Terray for finance and the Duc d'Aiguillon for foreign affairs and war, took charge of the government. They became known as "The Triumvirate".
=== Suppression of the Parlements ===
The first priority of Maupeou was to bring the unruly Parlements under control, and to continue with his program for the modernization of the state. Most of the members of the Parlement of Paris were on a virtual strike, refusing to render justice or approve the King's decrees. On 21 January 1771, royal agents and musketeers arrived at the homes of each of the Parlement members, informing them that their positions were confiscated and ordering them to leave Paris and return to their home provinces, and not to leave them. This was followed in February by an even more radical measure: the regional Parlements were replaced as the high courts of civil justice by six new regional high councils, to judge serious criminal and civil cases. Another decree announced the abolition of the high fees demanded by the Parlements for resolving civil cases, which were the source of their members' income; civil justice was to be rendered without charge. The powers of the Parlement of Paris alone were largely unchanged. Without the provincial parliaments, the government was able enact new laws and taxes without opposition. However, after the King's death, the nobility demanded and received the restoration of the regional parlements.
=== Finances ===
Abbot Terray was nominally a priest, though his government career was entirely secular, and his personal life was considered scandalous. He was an efficient and relentless tax collector; he opened a school to train tax inspectors, and worked to see that taxes were imposed and collected with the same precision and vigor in all regions, without interference from the local nobility. When he first took his position, the state had a budget deficit of 60 million livres, and a long-term debt of 100 million livres. By 1774, revenues had been increased by 60 million livres and the debt reduced to 20 million livres. He also reimposed the regulation of the price of grain, which had been freed in 1763 and 1764; these controls were an issue which would disturb the government and provoke agitation until the French Revolution.
=== Foreign affairs ===
The foreign affairs post had been left vacant by Choiseul, who acted as his own foreign minister. Following the dismissal of Choiseul, the King encouraged his cousin and ally Charles III of Spain to settle the crisis over the Falkland Islands with the aim of avoiding a war. Due to Choiseul's sole focus on a war with Britain, he had completely ignored the rest of Europe. France did not even have an ambassador in Vienna. In 1772 Austria, Russia and Prussia took territory from an old French ally, Poland, without protest from France. Another ally of France, Sweden, also risked being divided between Russia and Prussia upon the death of its King in 1771. The Prince Royal, Gustav III of Sweden, was staying in Paris at the time. He had a long meeting with Louis XV, who promised to support him. With French funding, and assistance from Louis's personal secret intelligence service, the Secret du Roi, Gustave III returned to Stockholm. On 19 August 1772, at his command, the Swedish royal guard imprisoned the Swedish Senate, and two days later he was proclaimed King by the Diet. Russia and Prussia, occupied with the division of Poland, protested but did not intervene.
=== Last years in Versailles ===
In the last years of his reign, the court of Versailles was a theater of manners. Marie Antoinette, a resident since her marriage, had difficulty disguising her dislike for the King's mistress, Madame du Barry. The King constructed a set of luxurious rooms for Madame du Barry on the floor above his offices; Madame du Barry also reigned in the Petit Trianon, which the King had built for Madame de Pompadour, and in the Pavillon de Louveciennes, also built for Madame de Pompadour. The Court was divided between those who welcomed Madame du Barry, and those of the older aristocracy, such as the Duc de Choiseul plus Marie Antoinette, who scorned her. The King continued his grand construction projects, including the opera theater of the Palace of Versailles, completed for the celebration of the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette, and the new Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde) in Paris, whose centerpiece was an equestrian statue of the King, modeled after that of Louis XIV on the Place Vendôme.
=== Death ===
On 26 April 1774, the King left for the Petit Trianon with Madame du Barry and several nobles from his entourage, and reported that he felt ill. He participated in the hunt the next day, but rode in his carriage instead of on horseback. That evening he was still feeling ill, and sent for the Court physician, Le Mariniére. At the surgeon's insistence, the King was brought back to the Palace of Versailles for treatment, along with Madame du Barry and the others. The King was attended by six physicians, six surgeons, each of whom took his pulse and gave his diagnosis. He was bled three times by the surgeons, without effect. When some red eruptions appeared on his skin, the doctors first diagnosed petite variole, or smallpox, which caused optimism, since the patient and doctors both believed he had already had the illness. The members of the family, particularly the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette, were asked to leave, since they had not already had the illness, and had no immunity. Madame du Barry remained with him. As the hours passed, the red eruptions of the disease grew worse, and the doctors began to fear for his life. On the morning of 1 May, the Archbishop of Paris arrived, but was kept out of the King's room to avoid alarming him. The King remained conscious and cheerful. However, on 3 May, he studied the eruptions on his hands, summoned the Archbishop, and announced, "I have the petite variole." The Archbishop instructed him to prepare for the final rites. That night, the King summoned Madame du Barry, informed her of the diagnosis, and said, "We cannot recommence the scandal of Metz. If I had known what I know now, you would not have been admitted. I owe it to God and to my people. Therefore, you have to leave tomorrow." On 7 May, he summoned his confessor and was given the final rites. The illness continued its course; one visitor on 9 May, the Duc de Croy, said the King's face resembled, with the darkening of the eruptions of the smallpox, "a mask of bronze". Louis died at 3:15 in the morning on 10 May 1774, with his daughters Adélaïde, Victoire, Sophie and Louise at his bedside.
During the French Revolution, the royal tombs were desecrated, partly to recover the lead from the coffins, and mostly to celebrate one year since the abolishment of the monarchy. On October 16, 1793 (the same day as the execution of Marie Antoinette), the tomb and the king's coffin were destroyed and opened, and there were two reports on the event: Dom Poirée, a Benedictine monk of the Abbey, described the event as such; the coffin was not opened inside the abbey, but rather at the edge of the burial pit. The body of the King, tightly wrapped in cloth and bandages, appeared to be intact and well-preserved. However, once the wrappings were removed, it "no longer resembled a human corpse". The entire body had decayed, and a stench so unbearable filled the air that it was impossible to stay nearby. To purify the air, the revolutionaries had to burn gunpowder and fire several shots.
As described above, body of Louis XV, who had not been embalmed as it was the tradition for French Kings due to the smallpox that caused his death, was found in an "advanced state of putrefaction and almost reduced to dust," to the point that the revolutionaries had to purify the air, even though a drawing of the exhumed body suggests otherwise.
Contrary to the previous accounts, Alexandre Lenoir, who witnessed the desecration of the royal tombs at Saint-Denis, described the exhumation of Louis XV as follows: "Surprisingly, this corpse, said to have died in 1771 [sic], and exhumed before me on October 10, 1793 — after twenty years of burial — appeared remarkably well-preserved, with skin as fresh as if he had just been laid to rest. In fact, no odor at all emerged when the tomb was opened, whereas the tomb of Henri IV released a strong scent of aromatic substances."The remains of the Monarch were then thrown into a mass grave along with those of the other monarchs. The bodies were only partially recovered by Louis XVIII during the Restoration (on January 21, 1816, those of the guillotined monarchs, exactly one year after the others), and were buried in the Ossuary near the Bourbon crypt, since individual identification was impossible—and there they remain to this day.
== Personality ==
Several of his contemporaries who worked closely with him tried to describe the personality of Louis XV. The Duke de Croy wrote: "He had a memory, presence, and justness of spirit that was unique. He was gentle, an excellent father, and the most honest individual in the world. He was well informed in the sciences...but with a modesty which, with him, was almost a vice. He always saw more correctly than others, but he always believed he was wrong.... He had the greatest bravery, but a bravery that was too modest. He never dared to decide for himself, but always, out of modesty, turned for advice to others, even when he saw more accurately than they did...Louis XIV had been too proud, but Louis XV was not proud enough. Other than his excessive modesty, his great and sole vice was women; He believed that only his mistresses loved him enough to tell him the truth. For that reason he allowed them to lead him, which contributed to his failure with finance, which was the worse aspect of his reign."
Others, like d'Argenson, his Minister of War commented on his extreme shyness and timidity; his inability to make conversation with others. The Duke of Luynes remarked that he often seemed to want to speak, but "his timidity stopped him and the expressions did not come; one felt that he wanted to say something obliging, but he often ended by simply asking a frivolous question."
Another characteristic remarked by contemporaries was his penchant for secrecy. "No one was a greater expert at dissimulation than the King", wrote d'Argenson. "He worked from morning to night to dissimulate; he did not say a word, make a gesture or demarche except to hide what he really wanted."
"He was the most excellent of men", wrote another contemporary, Duffort de Cheverny, "but, in defiance of himself, he spoke about the affairs of state as if someone else was governing."
== Legends: "After us, the flood" and the Parc-aux-Cerfs ==
The most famous remark attributed to Louis XV (or sometimes to Madame de Pompadour) is Après nous, le déluge ("After us, the flood"). It is commonly explained as his indifference to financial excesses, and a prediction of the French Revolution to come.
Another popular legend concerned the Maison-aux-Cerfs, the house at Versailles where, when the King was no longer having sexual relations with Madame de Pompadour, he sometimes slept with his petites maîtresses, young women recruited for that purpose. The conventional wisdom at the time was to view it as a kind of harem, organized by Madame de Pompadour, where a group of women were kidnapped and kept for the King's pleasure. The legend circulated widely in pamphlets with lurid illustrations, and made its way into some later biographies of the King. In reality the house had only one occupant at a time, and for brief periods. Madame de Pompadour herself accepted the Maison-aux-Cerfs as a preferable alternative to the risks of a rival at court, as she stated: "It is his heart I want! All these little girls with no education will not take it from me. I would not be so calm if I saw some pretty woman of the court or the capital trying to conquer it." In February 1765, after the death of Madame de Pompadour, the house was closed.
== Patron of architecture and arts ==
Louis was a major patron of architecture; he spent more money on buildings over the course of his reign than Louis XIV. His major architectural projects were the work of his favorite court architect, Ange-Jacques Gabriel. They included the Ecole Militaire (1751–1770); the Place Louis XV (now Place de la Concorde (1763–83); the Petit Trianon at Versailles (1762–64), and the opera theater of the Palace of Versailles. Louis began construction of the Church of Saint-Geneviève, now the Pantheon (1758–90). He also constructed monumental squares and surrounding buildings in the centers of Nancy, Bordeaux, and Rennes. His workshops produced fine furniture, porcelain, tapestries and other goods in the Louis XV Style which were exported to all the capital cities of Europe.
The King, the Queen and her daughters were major patrons of music. The queen and her children played the clavecin, under the instruction of François Couperin. The young Mozart came to Paris and wrote two sonatas for clavecin and violin which he dedicated to Madame Victoire, the King's daughter. Jean-Marie Leclair was appointed Director of the Music of the Chapel and the Apartments in 1733, Leclair resigned in 1736 following a dispute with another royal appointee Jean-Pierre Guignon. The most important musical figure of the reign was Jean Philippe Rameau, who was the court composer through the 1740s and 1750s, and wrote more than thirty operas for Louis and his court. The King himself, like his grandfather Louis XIV, was taught to dance ballet but danced only once in public, in 1725.
Louis XV, guided largely by Madame de Pompadour, was the most important art patron of the period. He commissioned François Boucher to paint pastoral scenes for his apartments in Versailles, and gave him the title of First Painter of the King in 1765. Other artists patronized by the King included Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Maurice Quentin de la Tour, Jean Marc Nattier, and the sculptor Edme Bouchardon. Bouchardon created the monumental statue of Louis XV on horseback which was the centerpiece of Place Louis XV until it was pulled down during the Revolution.
== King and the Enlightenment ==
The French philosophical movement later called the Enlightenment began and gathered force during the reign of Louis XV; in 1746 Diderot published his Pensées philosophiques, followed in 1749 by his Lettres sur les Aveugles and the first volume of the Encyclopédie, in 1751. Montesquieu published De l'esprit des Lois, in 1748. Voltaire published le Siecle de Louis XIV and l'Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations, in 1756. Rousseau became known in 1750 by the publication of Discours sur les sciences et les arts, followed in 1755 by Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes. These were accompanied by new works on economics, finance, and commerce by the elder Mirabeau, François Quesnay and other scientific thinkers which undermined all of the standard assumptions of royal government, economics and fiscal policy.
The censors of Louis XV at first permitted these publications; the first volume of the Encyclopédie received official permission because the government censors believed it was purely a collection of scientific articles. The project soon included a multitude of authors, including Rousseau, and had four thousand subscribers. Only later did the government and King himself take notice, after the church attacked the Encylopédie for questioning official church doctrines. The King personally removed Diderot from the list of those nominated for the Académie française, and in 1759 the Encyclopédie was formally banned.
Rousseau had a resounding success in 1756 with his opera Devin du Village, and was invited to Versailles to meet the King, but he refused. Instead, he wrote the Contrat Social calling for a new system based upon political and economic equality, published in 1762. Increasingly solitary and unstable, he wandered from province to province, before returning to Paris, where he died in solitude in 1778. His ideas, composed during the reign of Louis XV, were adopted by the revolutionaries who overthrew Louis XVI in 1789.
In the 1740s Voltaire was welcomed to the court as a playwright and poet, but his low rank as the son of a notary and the fact his father was also a Jansenist soon displeased the King and the Queen, and he was finally forced to depart Versailles. He went to Berlin, where he became a counselor to Frederick the Great, before living in Geneva and Savoy, far from Paris. On one issue in particular Voltaire took the side of Louis XV; when the King suppressed the parlements of nobles, demanded that all classes be taxed equally, and removed the charges which plaintiffs had to pay in order to have their cases heard. He wrote: "Parlements of the King! You are charged with rendering justice to the people! Render justice upon yourselves!... There is in the entire world no judicial court which has ever tried to share the power of the sovereign." However, the King's lack of further reforms in his last years disappointed Voltaire. When the King died, Voltaire wrote of his reign, "Fifty-six years, consumed with fatigues and wanderings."
== Legacy and historical judgments ==
E. H. Gombrich writes, "Louis XV and Louis XVI, the Sun King's successors, were incompetent, and content merely to imitate their great predecessor's outward show of power. The pomp and magnificence remained.... Finance ministers soon became expert swindlers, cheating and extorting on a grand scale. The peasants worked till they dropped and citizens were forced to pay huge taxes." Louis was blamed for significant diplomatic, military and economic reverses. His reign was marked by ministerial instability, while his "prestige was ruined by military failure and colonial losses". Despite Louis' failings in administration and war, many historians agree that France reached a high point of culture and art under his reign.
Louis inherited a French monarchy at the zenith of its cultural influence and political power, a position it kept during the first half of the eighteenth century. However most scholars agree that Louis XV's decisions weakened France, depleted the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and unsettled the trust and respect of the French and foreigners alike. Scholars point to the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death. Norman Davies characterizes Louis XV's reign as "one of debilitating stagnation", characterized by a costly defeat in the Seven Years' War, endless clashes between the Court and the Parlements, and religious feuds. Jerome Blum described the king as "a perpetual adolescent called to do a man's job."
The view of many historians is that Louis was unequal to the high expectations of his subjects. Robert Harris writes that, "Historians have depicted this ruler as one of the weakest of the Bourbons, a do-nothing king who left affairs of state to ministers while indulging in his hobbies of hunting and womanizing." Ministers rose and fell according to his mistresses' opinions, seriously undermining the confidence in the monarchy.
For much of his lifetime Louis XV was celebrated as a national hero. Edmé Bouchardon's equestrian statue of Louis was originally conceived to commemorate the monarch's victorious role in the War of the Austrian Succession, portrayed the king as peacemaker. Fifteen years later in 1763, following France's defeat in the Seven Years' War, it was unveiled in a patriotic spectacle staged to restore public confidence in a monarchy in decline. Located on the Place Louis XV, the statue was torn down during the Revolution.
Some scholars have turned away from the king's own actions to his image in the mind of the public. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, the leader of the Annales School, noted that the king was handsome, athletic, intelligent and an excellent hunter, but that he disappointed the people. However, he did not keep up the practice of attending Mass, and the people felt he had shirked his religious obligations and diminished the sacred nature of the monarchy.
According to Kenneth N. Jassie and Jeffrey Merrick, contemporary songs, poems, and public declarations typically portrayed a king as a "master", an unblemished "Christian", and a benevolent provider ("baker"). Young Louis' failings were attributed to inexperience and manipulation by his advisors. Jassie and Merrick argue that the king's troubles mounted steadily, and the people blamed and ridiculed his debauchery. The king was a notorious womaniser; the monarch's virility was supposed to reflect his power. Nevertheless, popular faith in the monarchy was shaken by the scandals of Louis' private life and by the end of his life he had become despised. The king ignored the famines and crises of the nation, until the people reviled him in protest, and finally celebrated his death. The monarchy survived—for a while—but Louis XV left his successor with a smoldering legacy of popular resentment.
Some sermons on his death in 1774 praised the monarch and went out of their way to excuse his faults. Jeffrey Merrick writes: "But those ecclesiastics who not only raised their eyebrows over the sins of the Beloved but also expressed doubts about his policies reflected the corporate attitude of the First Estate more accurately." They prayed the new king would restore morality at court and better serve the will of God.
The financial strain imposed by the wars and excesses of the royal court, and the consequent dissatisfaction with the monarchy, contributed to the national unrest that culminated in the French Revolution of 1789. The historian Colin Jones argues that Louis XV left France with serious financial difficulties: "The military disasters of the Seven Years' War led to acute state financial crisis.". Ultimately, Louis XV failed to overcome these fiscal problems, mainly because he was incapable of resolving conflicts among the parties and interests in his entourage. Although aware of the forces of anti-monarchism threatening his family's rule, he did not act effectively to stop them.
Trends in 20th-century French historiography, especially the Annales School, have deprecated biography and minimized the role of the King. English historian William Doyle wrote:
The political story....of the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, by contrast, had too often been scorned, and therefore neglected, as a meaningless succession of petty intrigues in boudoirs and bedrooms, unworthy of serious attention when there were economic cycles, demographic fluctuations, rising and falling classes, and deep-seated shifts in cultural values to analyse.
A few scholars have defended Louis, arguing that his highly negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Olivier Bernier argued that Louis le Bien-aimé (the well-beloved) was a popular leader who reformed France. During his 59-year reign, France was never threatened by foreign conquest, though some of its overseas colonies were lost. Many of his subjects prayed for his recovery during his serious illness in Metz in 1744. His dismissal of the Parlement of Paris and his chief minister, Choiseul, in 1771, were attempts to wrest control of government from those Louis considered corrupt. He changed the tax code to try to balance the national budget. Bernier argued that these acts would have avoided the French Revolution if his successor Louis XVI had not reversed them. Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret claims that Louis XV's tarnished reputation was created fifteen years after his death, to justify the Revolution, and that the nobility during his reign were competent.
== Arms ==
== Issue ==
Louise Élisabeth (14 August 1727 – 6 December 1759), Duchess of Parma, had issue
Anne Henriette (14 August 1727 – 10 February 1752)
Marie-Louise (28 July 1728 – 19 February 1733)
Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France (4 September 1729 – 20 December 1765), married to Marie Thérèse Raphaëlle and had issue, then married to Duchess Marie-Josèphe of Saxony and had issue including Louis XVI
Philippe, Duke of Anjou (30 August 1730 – 17 April 1733)
Marie Adélaïde (23 March 1732 – 27 February 1800)
Victoire Louise Marie Thérèse (11 May 1733 – 7 June 1799)
Sophie Philippine Élisabeth Justine (27 July 1734 – 3 March 1782)
Marie Thérèse Félicité (16 May 1736 – 28 September 1744)
Louise Marie (15 July 1737 – 23 December 1787)
=== Illegitimate issue ===
Louis XV had several illegitimate children, although the exact number is unknown. Historiography suggest the following as possible issue of the King:
With Pauline Félicité de Mailly (1712 – 9 September 1741), by marriage marquise de Vintimille. She died after giving birth to a son:
Charles Emmanuel Marie Magdelon de Vintimille (Versailles, 2 September 1741 – Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 24 February 1814), marquis du Luc. Recognized by his mother's husband, although was highly probable that his biological father was Louis XV, especially in adulthood, when he was called Demi-Louis ("Small Louis") for his exceptional resemblance with the King. He was appointed Maréchal de camp and Governor of Porquerolles. Married to Adélaïde de Castellane on 26 November 1764, he fathered three children.
With Jeanne Perray:
Amélie Florimond de Norville (Saint-Eustache, Paris, 11 January 1753 – 27 September 1790). Registered one day after her birth (12 January 1753) as a daughter of a certain bourgeois from Paris, called Louis Florimond de Norville, a non-existent person; the paternity of the King is suggested by later evidence. Married to Ange de Faure (1739–1824) on 1 June 1780, with whom she had two children.
With Marie-Louise O'Murphy (21 October 1737 – 11 December 1814), an Irish adventuress:
Agathe Louise de Saint-Antoine de Saint-André (Paris, 20 May 1754 – Paris, 6 September 1774). The first illegitimate child of the King whose parentage was certain, but she was never officially recognized; in fact, she was registered as a daughter of a Louis de Saint-André, Old official of infantry and Louise-Marie de Berhini, resident of Saint-Antoine street, non-existent persons. In November 1773 she received from the King her letters of Official Recognition of Nobility (which enabled her to marry a nobleman), and funds of 223,000 livres. One month later, on 27 December 1773, she married René Jean de La Tour-du-Pin, marquis de la Charce, and died after only nine months of marriage as a consequence of a miscarriage.
Marguerite Victoire Le Normant de Flaghac (Riom, Puy-de-Dôme, 5 January 1768 – 25 January 1830). Officially recognized by her mother's second husband, she was probably also an illegitimate child of the King. Married firstly on 24 February 1786 to Jean-Didier Mesnard, comte de Chousy, with whom she had two children; after her divorce following the incarceration of her husband in 1793, she then married Constant Lenormant d'Étiolles (a son of the husband of Madame de Pompadour) in November 1794, with whom she had another child.
With Françoise de Châlus (24 February 1734 – 7 July 1821), by marriage Duchesse de Narbonne-Lara:
Philippe Louis Marie Innocent Christophe Juste de Narbonne-Lara (Parma, 28 December 1750 – Paris, 10 May 1834), Duc de Narbonne-Lara. Captain of the Dragons Regiment of the Queen, Colonel of the Regiment of Forez and Field Marshal in 1790. Married on 3 February 1771 to Antoinette-Françoise-Claudine de La Roche-Aymon. No issue.
Louis Marie Jacques Amalric de Narbonne-Lara (Colorno, 23 August 1755 – Torgau, 17 November 1813), called Comte de Narbonne-Lara. Colonel of the Army and Honorary Chamberlain of Princess Madame Marie Adélaïde of France. In 1786 he was appointed a commander of an infantry regiment and remained in that post until the eve of the French Revolution and later served under Napoleon. Married on 16 April 1782 to Marie Adélaïde de Montholon, with whom he had two daughters. He also fathered two other children out of wedlock.
With Marguerite Catherine Haynault (11 September 1736 – 17 March 1823):
Agnès Louise de Montreuil (Saint-Sulpice, Paris, 20 May 1760 – Montmelas, 2 September 1837). Registered as a daughter of a certain Louis de Montreuil, old Official of cavalry, a non-existent person, the paternity of the King is supported by other evidence. Married on 9 December 1778 to Gaspard d'Arod de Montmelas (brother-in-law of her own mother), with whom she had four children.
Anne Louise de La Réale (Saint-Paul, Paris, 17 November 1762 – Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 30 April 1831). Registered as a daughter of Antoine Louis de la Réale, old Captain of cavalry, a non-existent person, the paternity of the King is supported by further evidence. Married on 28 August 1780 to René Guillaume Paul Gabriel Etienne de Geslin, Comte de Geslin, with whom she had six children.
With Lucie Madeleine d'Estaing (10 May 1743 – 7 April 1826), a half-sister of the Admiral d'Estaing:
Agnès Lucie Auguste (Paris, 14 April 1761 – Boysseulh, 4 July 1822). Married on 5 December 1777 to Charles de Boysseulh, vicomte de Boysseuilh, with whom she had three children.
Aphrodite Lucie Auguste (Versailles, 8 March 1763 – Artonne (Puy-de-Dôme), 22 February 1819). Married on 21 December 1784 to Jules de Boysseulh (her step-brother; son of the first marriage of her mother's husband), with whom she had one daughter.
With Anne Coppier de Romans (19 June 1737 – 27 December 1808), Baroness de Meilly-Coulonge:
Louis Aimé of Bourbon (Passy, Paris, 13 January 1762 – Rome, 28 February 1787), called the Abbot of Bourbon; he was the only one of the illegitimate children of Louis XV who was officially recognized. Abbot of Saint Vincent de Metz, French Ambassador in Rome from 1785. He died of smallpox.
With Jeanne Louise Tiercelin de La Colleterie (26 November 1746 – 5 July 1779), called Madame de Bonneval:
Benoît Louis Le Duc (7 February 1764 – 1837). Registered as a son of Louis Le Duc, old cavalry official and lady Julie de la Colleterie, both non-existent persons; his royal parentage was supported by later evidence.
With Marie Thérèse Françoise Boisselet (1731 – 1800):
Charles Louis Cadet de Gassicourt (23 January 1769 – 21 November 1821). Officially recognized by her mother's husband, Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt as his own; this story, recorded by Charles Louis' personal friend, Baron Paul Thiébault in his Memoirs, was challenged by later historiography, but later reasserted by modern works.
== Ancestry ==
== Portrayal in film and television == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homme | Homme | Homme may refer to:
== People ==
Homme, the French language word for "man" or "human"
Homme (surname), a list of people with the surname Homme
== Places ==
Homme, Agder, a village in the municipality of Valle in Agder county, Norway
Homme dam, a dam which created Homme lake near Park River, North Dakota, USA
== Other ==
Bête, a historical French card game originally known as jeu de l'homme, l'homme or homme
Homme (duo), a South Korean musical duo
Homme by David Beckham, a men's eau de toilette fragrance endorsed by English footballer David Beckham |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Johannmeyer | Willy Johannmeyer | Willy Johannmeyer (27 July 1915 – 14 April 1970) was a German officer during World War II who served from 1939 to 1945. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, and at the time of the dissolution of Nazi Germany, the last adjutant to Adolf Hitler of the army (Heeresadjutant).
== Career ==
Johannmeyer was born in Iserlohn, Westphalia, on 27 July 1915. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, he joined the Schutzstaffel (SS), No. 262992. In 1936, he was assigned to the 64th Infantry Regiment as Cadet (Fahnenjunker) and within 2 years, he rose to the rank of Leutnant.
=== World War II ===
On the Eastern Front, the 503rd Infantry Regiment was involved in the defensive battle of Nevel (south of Pskov Oblast, near Belorussia). In this sector, Johannmeyer distinguished himself with notable action during the fighting in March 1943, and was awarded the 329th Oak Leaves (Eichenlaub) to the Knight's Cross on 18 November 1943.
On 25 November, his battalion attacked Soviet positions near the town of Sergeytsevo (northwest of Nevel) with the aid of the 502nd Heavy Tank Battalion in a forest. Otto Carius, a Tiger I tank commander of the battalion, recalled in his memoirs that Johannmeyer was struck by sniper fire in the lungs from a Soviet marksman hidden in tree foliage. Initially, Johannmeyer was thought to have a limited chance of survival, but he managed to survive. Carius wrote 'he was relieved to hear from Johannmeyer while he was in hospital in 1944'. Johannmeyer was absent from his official Oak Leaves award ceremony as his condition was still considered critical. Shortly thereafter, on 1 December, Johamnmeyer was promoted to the rank of major.
On 1 March 1944, Johannmeyer was called to a training course for senior officer adjutants, and 3 months later was transferred to the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres, Army High Command). From August 1944 onwards, he served in the Army Personnel department (Heerespersonalamt), with the rank of Oberstleutnant i.G. (im Generalstab).
=== Hitler's adjutant ===
In 1945, Johannmeyer was transferred to the Führerhauptquartier (FHQ) in Berlin, located at the time in the Reich Chancellery, as Army Adjutant (Heeresadjutant), replacing Heinrich Borgmann. Johannmeyer was present at the conferences held twice a day (3:00 pm and at midnight) in the Chancellery's greenhouse, and later at those held in the Führerbunker.
On Hitler's order, Johannmeyer flew to East Prussia to "clarify" the situation developing as the Soviets advanced through the Baltic States. Hitler always considered reports by army generals unrealistic, and refusing to accept that the Eastern Front was collapsing, relied on his adjutants to relay "positive news". Johannmeyer, upon his return, reported that the army was in an alarmingly desperate state, especially after the formation of the Courland pocket and the pocket around Königsberg. Hitler refused to allow any means of withdrawal. When Johannmeyer referred to the civilian deaths occurring due to the massive evacuation of the eastern territories, Hitler replied in anger:
I won't take this into consideration at all!
Johannmeyer was among the occupants of the Führerbunker, Hitler's underground headquarters in encircled Berlin. Johannmeyer was present at Hitler's last birthday ceremony on 20 April 1945. During the pre-dawn hours of 29 April, Hitler ordered that three copies of his political testament be hand-delivered to Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner in Czechoslovakia, Karl Dönitz in Schleswig-Holstein, and the Brown House, Munich by Johannmeyer, Martin Bormann's adjutant SS-Standartenführer Wilhelm Zander, and deputy press attaché, Heinz Lorenz, respectively. The three men said their farewell to Hitler and were each handed a white dossier containing the testament by Bormann at approximately 4:00 am. Armed with automatic weapons, and in uniform, the trio left the bunker around 8.00 am, attempting to break through Soviet lines to deliver the documents to their respective objective.
Oberstleutnant Graßmann was tasked with ferrying Johannmeyer in a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch from Pfaueninsel, Wannsee, back to Field Marshal Schörner's headquarters. The plane took off at around midnight on 1–2 May 1945, but was unable to land in Berlin, due to being fired upon by Soviet Army troops.
== Post-war life ==
Johannmeyer made it back to Iserlohn. There Johannmeyer hid his copy of the documents by putting them in a container and burying it in his family's garden. He was arrested by American troops in 1945. After his release, he was engaged in industrial business, mainly in Agricultural Economics, and attained the diploma - Dipl. agr. He worked for the DEMAG subsidiary FMA Pokorny in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, and became a member of the company's board of directors. Johannmeyer died in 1970.
== Awards ==
Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class (10 June 1940) & 1st Class (29 June 1940)
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
Knight's Cross on 16 May 1942 as Oberleutnant and commander of II./Infanterie-Regiment 503
329th Oak Leaves 18 November 1943 as Hauptmann and commander of II./Infanterie-Regiment 503
== Citations == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnecessary_Mountain | Unnecessary Mountain | Unnecessary Mountain, also called Mount Unnecessary, is a peak in the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and a popular hiking destination. Its two summits are within Cypress Provincial Park, accessible via the Howe Sound Crest Trail and the Unnecessary Mountain Trail from Lions Bay. The taller south summit has an elevation of 1,548 m (5,079 ft) and its north summit is slightly lower at 1,543 m (5,062 ft).
The mountain is so named because of an "unnecessary" ascent over this mountain to reach The Lions.
In December 2014, a rockslide killed 7-year-old Erin Kate Moore as she was hiking with a group on Unnecessary Mountain.
A second peak, also named Unnecessary Mountain, is located in Alberta northwest of the town of Pincher Creek. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procellariiformes | Procellariiformes | Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families; the albatrosses, the petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, Procellariiformes are often referred to collectively as the petrels, a term that has been applied to all members of the order, or more commonly all the families except the albatrosses. They are almost exclusively pelagic (feeding in the open ocean), and have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans, with the highest diversity being the seas around New Zealand.
Procellariiformes are colonial, mostly nesting on remote, predator-free islands. The larger species nest on the surface, while most smaller species nest in natural cavities and burrows. They exhibit strong philopatry, returning to their natal colony to breed and returning to the same nesting site over many years. Procellariiforms are monogamous and form long-term pair bonds that are formed over several years and may last for the life of the pair. A single egg is laid per nesting attempt, and usually a single nesting attempt is made per year, although the larger albatrosses may only nest once every two years. Both parents participate in incubation and chick rearing. Incubation times are long compared to other birds, as are fledging periods. Once a chick has fledged there is no further parental care. Birds of this order generally have long lifespans spanning multiple decades; the world's oldest known bird, Wisdom, is now around 75 years old.
Procellariiformes have had a long relationship with humans, with the albatrosses in particular have been the subject of numerous cultural depictions. They have been important food sources for many people, and continue to be hunted as such in some parts of the world. Procellariiforms include some of the most endangered bird taxa, with many species threatened with extinction due to introduced predators in their breeding colonies, marine pollution and the danger of fisheries by-catch. Scientists, conservationists, fishermen, and governments around the world are working to reduce the threats posed to them, and these efforts have led to the signing of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, a legally binding international treaty signed in 2001.
== Nomenclature ==
The name "tubenoses", which may be used to refer to all members of this clade, refers to the "naricorns" or bony nostrils that distinguish these birds from other groups.
The word petrel (first recorded in that spelling 1602) comes from likely earlier (though not recorded until 1676) pitteral or pittrel, and refers to the way the storm petrel patters with its feet over the sea surface. The English explorer William Dampier wrote the bird was so called from its way of flying with its feet just skimming the surface of the water, recalling Saint Peter's walk on the sea of Galilee (Matthew xiv.28), being formed in English as a diminutive of Peter (< Old French: Peterelle (?) < Late Latin: Peterellus < Late Latin: Petrus < Ancient Greek: Πέτρος, romanized: Petros < Ancient Greek: πέτρα, romanized: petra = "stone"); this connection is however due to later speculation.
=== Taxonomy ===
The order Procellariiformes was named by German anatomist Max Fürbringer in 1888. The word comes from the Latin word procella, which means a violent wind or a storm, and -iformes for order.
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the family Hydrobatidae was named Procellariidae, and the family now called Procellariidae was rendered "Puffinidae". The order itself was called Tubinares. A major early work on this group is Frederick DuCane Godman's Monograph of the Petrels, five fascicles, 1907–1910, with figures by John Gerrard Keulemans.
Phylogenetic studies based on genetics have repeatedly proven this order to be a natural grouping, being monophyletic. In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, the tubenoses were included in a greatly enlarged order "Ciconiiformes". This taxonomic treatment was almost certainly erroneous, but its assumption of a close evolutionary relationship with other "higher waterbirds" – such as loons (Gaviiformes) and penguins (Sphenisciformes) – appears to be correct. The procellariiforms are most closely related to penguins, having diverged from them about 60 million years ago.
The diving petrels in the genus Pelecanoides were formerly placed in their own family Pelecanoididae. When genetic studies found that they were embedded within the family Procellariidae, the two families were merged.
All the storm petrels were once placed in the family Hydrobatidae but genetic data indicated that Hydrobatidae consisted of two deeply divergent clades that were not sister taxa. In 2018 the austral storm petrels were moved to the new family Oceanitidae. The northern storm petrels in the family Hydrobatidae are more closely related to the family Procellariidae than they are to the austral storm petrels in the family Oceanitidae.
Earlier molecular phylogenetic studies found the family Oceantidae containing the austral storm petrels as the most basal with differing branching topologies for other three families. More recent large-scale studies have found a consistent pattern with the albatross family Diomedeidae as the most basal and Hydrobatidae sister to Procellariidae.
There are 147 living species of procellariiform worldwide, and the order is divided into four extant families, with a fifth prehistorically extinct:
Family Diomedeidae (albatrosses) are very large seabirds with a large strong hooked bill. They have strong legs, enabling them to walk well on land.
Family Oceanitidae (Austral storm petrels) are among the smallest seabirds, with fluttering flight and long but weak legs. Most have dark upperparts and a white underside.
Family Hydrobatidae (northern storm petrels) are similar to the austral storm petrels but have longer more pointed wings and most species have forked tails.
Family Procellariidae (shearwaters, fulmarine petrels, gadfly petrels, and prions) are a varied group of small or medium-sized seabirds, the largest being the giant petrels. They are heavy for their size, with a high wing loading, so they need to fly fast. Most, except the giant petrels, have weak legs and are nearly helpless on land.
Family †Diomedeoididae (Early Oligocene – Early Miocene) is an extinct group that had narrow beaks and feet with wide, flat phalanges, especially on the fourth toe.
Fossils of a bird similar to a petrel from the Eocene have been found in the London Clay and in Louisiana. Diving petrels occurred in the Miocene, with a species from that family (Pelecanoides miokuaka) being described in 2007. The most numerous fossils from the Paleogene are those from the extinct family Diomedeoididae, fossils of which have been found in Central Europe and Iran.
== Description ==
Procellariiforms range in size from the very large wandering albatross, at 11 kg (24 lb) and a 3.6-metre (12-foot) wingspan, to tiny birds like the least storm petrel, at 20 g (0.71 oz) with a 32-centimetre (13-inch) wingspan, and the smallest of the prions, the fairy prion, with a wingspan of 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11.0 in). Their nostrils are enclosed in one or two tubes on their straight deeply-grooved bills with hooked tips. The beaks are made up of several plates. Their wings are long and narrow; the feet are webbed, and the hind toe is undeveloped or non-existent; their adult plumage is predominantly monochromatic, being black, white, and/or grey.
The order has a few unifying characteristics, starting with their tubular nasal passage which is used for olfaction. Procellariiformes that nest in burrows have a strong sense of smell, being able to detect dimethyl sulfide released from plankton in the ocean. This ability to smell helps to locate patchily distributed prey at sea and may also help locate their nests within nesting colonies. In contrast, surface nesting Procellariiformes have increased vision, having six times better spatial resolution than those that nest in burrows. The structure of the bill, which contains seven to nine distinct horny plates, is another unifying feature, although there are differences within the order. Petrels have a plate called the maxillary unguis that forms a hook on the maxilla. The smaller members of the order have a comb-like mandible, made by the tomial plate, for plankton feeding. Most members of the order are unable to walk well on land, and many species visit their remote breeding islands only at night. The exceptions are the huge albatrosses, several of the gadfly petrels and shearwaters and the fulmars. The latter can disable even large predatory birds with their obnoxious stomach oil, which they can project some distance. This stomach oil, stored in the proventriculus, is a digestive residue created in the foregut of all tubenoses except the diving petrels, and is used mainly for storage of energy-rich food during their long flights. The oil is also fed to their young, as well as being used for defence.
Procellariiforms drink seawater, so they have to excrete excess salt. All birds have an enlarged nasal gland at the base of the bill, above the eyes, and in the Procellariiformes the gland is active. In general terms, the salt gland removes salt from the system and forms a 5 percent saline solution that drips out of the nostrils, or is forcibly ejected in some petrels. The processes behind this involve high levels of sodium ion reabsorption into the blood plasma within the kidneys, and secretion of sodium chloride via the salt glands using less water than was absorbed, which essentially generates salt-free water for other physiological uses. This high efficiency of sodium ion absorption is attributed to mammalian-type nephrons.
== Behaviour and biology ==
Most albatrosses and procellariids use two techniques to minimise exertion while flying, dynamic soaring, and slope soaring. The albatrosses and giant petrels share a morphological adaptation to aid in flight, a sheet of tendon which locks the wing when fully extended, allowing the wing to be kept up and out without any muscle effort. Amongst the Oceanitidae storm petrels there are two unique flight patterns, one being surface pattering. In this they move across the water surface holding and moving their feet on the water's surface while holding steady above the water, and remaining stationary by hovering with rapid fluttering or by using the wind to anchor themselves in place. A similar flight method is thought to have been used by the extinct petrel family Diomedeoididae. The white-faced storm petrel possesses a unique variation on pattering, holding its wings motionless and at an angle into the wind, it pushes itself off the water's surface in a succession of bounding jumps.
=== Distribution and movements ===
The procellariiforms have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans and seas, although at the levels of family and genus there are some clear patterns. Antarctic petrels, Thalassoica antarctica, have to fly over 100 mi (160 km) to get to the ocean from their breeding colonies in Antarctica, and northern fulmars breed on the northeastern tip of Greenland, the northernmost piece of land. The most cosmopolitan family is the Procellariidae, which are found in tropical, temperate and polar zones of both the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres, though the majority do not breed in the tropics, and half the species are restricted to southern temperate and polar regions. The gadfly petrels, Pterodroma, have a generally tropical and temperate distribution, whereas the fulmarine petrels are mostly polar with some temperate species. The majority of the fulmarine petrels, along with all of the prions, are confined to the Southern Hemisphere.
The storm petrels are almost as widespread as the procellariids, and fall into two distinct families; the Oceanitidae have a mostly Southern Hemisphere distribution and the Hydrobatidae are found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. Amongst the albatrosses the majority of the family is restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, feeding and nesting in cool temperate areas, although one genus, Phoebastria, ranges across the north Pacific. The family is absent from the north Atlantic, although fossil records indicate they bred there once. Finally the diving petrels are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere.
==== Migration ====
The various species within the order have a variety of migration strategies. Some species undertake regular trans-equatorial migrations, such as the sooty shearwater which annually migrates from its breeding grounds in New Zealand and Chile to the North Pacific off Japan, Alaska and California, an annual round trip of 64,000 km (40,000 mi), the second longest measured annual migration of any bird. A number of other petrel species undertake trans-equatorial migrations, including Wilson's storm petrel, sooty and Manx shearwaters, and the Providence petrel, but no albatrosses cross the equator, as they rely on wind assisted flight. There are other long-distance migrants within the order; Swinhoe's storm petrels breed in the western Pacific and migrate to the western Indian Ocean, and Bonin petrels nesting in Hawaii migrate to the coast of Japan during the non-breeding season.
==== Navigation ====
Many species in the order travel long distances over open water but return to the same nest site each year, raising the question of how they navigate so accurately. The Welsh naturalist Ronald Lockley carried out early research into animal navigation with the Manx shearwaters that nested on the island of Skokholm. In release experiments, a Manx shearwater flew from Boston to Skokholm, a distance of 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometres) in 121⁄2 days.
Lockley showed that when released "under a clear sky" with sun or stars visible, the shearwaters oriented themselves and then "flew off in a direct line for Skokholm", making the journey so rapidly that they must have flown almost in a straight line. But if the sky was overcast at the time of release, the shearwaters flew around in circles "as if lost" and returned slowly or not at all, implying that they navigated using astronomical cues.
Researchers have also begun investigating the role of olfaction in procellariiform navigation. In a study where Cory's shearwaters were rendered anosmic with zinc sulphate, a compound which kills the surface layer of the olfactory epithelium, and released hundreds of kilometers away from their home colony at night, control birds found their way to their home nests before night was over, whereas anosmic birds did not home until the next day. A similar study that released Cory's shearwaters 800 km from their home nests, testing both magnetic and olfactory disturbance effects on navigation, found that anosmic birds took longer to home than magnetically disturbed or control birds.
=== Diet and feeding ===
The procellariiforms are for the most part exclusively marine foragers; the only exception to this rule are the two species of giant petrel, which regularly feed on carrion or other seabirds while on land. While some other species of fulmarine and Procellaria petrels also take carrion, the diet of most species of albatrosses and petrels is dominated by fish, squid, krill and other marine zooplankton. The importance of these food sources varies from species to species and family to family. For example, of the two albatross species found in Hawaii, the black-footed albatross takes mostly fish, while the Laysan albatross feeds mainly on squid. The albatrosses in general feed on fish, squid and krill. Among the procellariids, the prions concentrate on small crustacea, the fulmarine petrels take fish and krill but little squid, while the Procellaria petrels consume mainly squid. The storm petrels take small droplets of oil from the surface of the water, as well as small crustaceans and fish.
Petrels obtain food by snatching prey while swimming on the surface, snatching prey from the wing or diving down under the water to pursue prey. Dipping down from flight is most commonly used by the gadfly petrels and the storm petrels. There have been records of wedge-tailed shearwaters snatching flying fish from the air, but as a rule this technique is rare. Some diving birds may aid diving by beginning with a plunge from the air, but for the most part petrels are active divers and use their wings to move around under the water. The depths achieved by various species were determined in the 1990s and came as a surprise to scientists; short-tailed shearwaters have been recorded diving to 70 m (230 ft), sooty shearwaters to 68 m (223 ft), and the Light-mantled sooty albatross to 12 m (39 ft).
=== Life history ===
==== Breeding colonies ====
All procellariiforms are colonial, predominantly breeding on offshore or oceanic islands. The few species that nest on continents do so in inhospitable environments such as dry deserts or on Antarctica. These colonies can vary from the widely spaced colonies of the giant petrels to the dense 3.6 million-strong colonies of Leach's storm petrels. For almost all species the need to breed is the only reason that procellariiforms return to land at all. Some of the larger petrels have to nest on windswept locations as they require wind to take off and forage for food. Within the colonies, pairs defend usually small territories (the giant petrels and some albatrosses can have very large territories) which is the small area around either the nest or a burrow. Competition between pairs can be intense, as is competition between species, particularly for burrows. Larger species of petrels will even kill the chicks and even adults of smaller species in disputes over burrows. Burrows and natural crevices are most commonly used by the smaller species; all the storm petrels and diving petrels are cavity nesters, as are many of the procellariids. The fulmarine petrels and some tropical gadfly petrels and shearwaters are surface nesters, as are all the albatrosses.
Procellariiforms show high levels of philopatry, both site fidelity and natal philopatry. Natal philopatry is the tendency of an individual bird to return to its natal colony to breed, often many years after leaving the colony as a chick. This tendency has been shown through ringing studies and mitochondrial DNA studies. Birds ringed as chicks have been recaptured close to their original nests, sometimes extremely close; in the Laysan albatross the average distance between hatching site and the site where a bird established its own territory was 22 m (72 ft), and a study of Cory's shearwaters nesting near Corsica found that nine out of 61 male chicks that returned to breed at their natal colony actually bred in the burrow they were raised in. Mitochondrial DNA provides evidence of restricted gene flow between different colonies, strongly suggesting philopatry.
The other type of philopatry exhibited is site fidelity, where pairs of birds return to the same nesting site for a number of years. Among the most extreme examples known of this tendency was the fidelity of a ringed northern fulmar that returned to the same nest site for 25 years. The average number of birds returning to the same nest sites is high in all species studied, with around 91 percent for Bulwer's petrels, and 85 percent of males and 76 percent of females for Cory's shearwaters (after a successful breeding attempt).
==== Pair bonds ====
Procellariiforms are monogamous breeders and form long-term pair bonds. These pair bonds take several years to develop in some species, particularly with the albatrosses. Once formed, they last for many breeding seasons, in some cases for the life of the pair. Petrel courtship can be elaborate. It reaches its extreme with the albatrosses, where pairs spend many years perfecting and elaborating mating dances. These dances are composed of synchronised performances of various actions such as preening, pointing, calling, bill clacking, staring, and combinations of such behaviours (like the sky-call). Each particular pair will develop their own individual version of the dance. The breeding behaviour of other procellariiforms is less elaborate, although similar bonding behaviours are involved, particularly for surface-nesting species. These can involve synchronised flights, mutual preening and calling. Calls are important for helping birds locate potential mates and distinguishing between species, and may also help individuals assess the quality of potential mates. After pairs have been formed, calls serve to help them reunite; the ability of individuals to recognise their own mate has been demonstrated in several species.
==== Nesting and chick rearing ====
The majority of procellariiforms nest once a year and do so seasonally. Some tropical shearwaters, like the Christmas shearwater, are able to nest on cycles slightly shorter than a year, and the large great albatrosses (genus Diomedea) nest in alternate years (if successful). Most temperate and polar species nest over the spring-summer, although some albatrosses and procellariids nest over the winter. In the tropics, some species can be found breeding throughout the year, but most nest in discreet periods. Procellariiforms return to nesting colonies as much as several months before laying, and attend their nest sites regularly before copulation. Prior to laying, females embark on a lengthy pre-laying exodus to build up energy reserves in order to lay the exceptionally large egg; the female grey-faced petrel may spend as much as 80 days feeding out at sea after courtship before laying the egg. In the European storm petrel, a very small procellariiform, the egg can be 29 percent of the body weight of the female.
When the female returns and lays, incubation is shared between the sexes, with the male taking the first incubation stint and the female returning to sea. The duration of individual stints varies from just a few days to as much as several weeks, during which the incubating bird can lose a considerable amount of weight. The incubation period varies from species to species, around 40 days for the smallest storm petrels but longer for the largest species; for albatrosses it can span 70 to 80 days, which is the longest incubation period of any bird.
Upon hatching, the chicks are semi-precocial, having open eyes, a dense covering of white or grey down feathers, and the ability to move around the nesting site. After hatching, the incubating adult remains with the chick for a number of days, a period known as the guard phase. In the case of most burrow-nesting species, this is only until the chick is able to thermoregulate, usually two or three days. Diving petrel chicks take longer to thermoregulate and have a longer guard phase than other burrow nesters. However, surface-nesting species, which have to deal with a greater range of weather and to contend with predators like skuas and frigatebirds, consequently have a longer guard phase (as long as two weeks in procellariids and three weeks in albatrosses).
The chick is fed by both parents. Chicks are fed on fish, squid, krill, and stomach oil. Stomach oil is oil composed of neutral dietary lipids that are the residue created by digestion of the prey items. As an energy source for chicks it has several advantages over undigested prey, its calorific value is around 9.6 kcal per gram, which is only slightly lower than the value for diesel oil. This can be a real advantage for species that range over huge distances to provide food for hungry chicks. The oil is also used in defence. All procellariiforms create stomach oil except the diving petrels.
The chick fledges between two and nine months after hatching, almost twice as long as a gull of the same body mass. The reasons behind the length of time are associated with the distance from the breeding site to food. First, there are few predators at the nesting colonies, therefore there is no pressure to fledge quickly. Second, the time between feedings is long due to the distance from the nest site that adults forage, thus a chick that had a higher growth rate would stand a better chance of starving to death. The duration between feedings vary among species and during the stages of development. Small feeds are frequent during the guard phase, but afterward become less frequent. However, each feed can deliver a large amount of energy; both sooty shearwater and mottled petrel chicks have been recorded to double their weight in a single night, probably when fed by both parents.
==== Longevity ====
Procellariiforms are K-selected, being long-lived and caring extensively for their few offspring. Breeding is delayed for several years after fledging, sometimes for as long as ten years in the largest species. Once they begin breeding, they make only a single breeding attempt per nesting season; even if the egg is lost early in the season, they seldom re-lay. Much effort is placed into laying a single (proportionally) large egg and raising a single chick. Procellariiforms are generally long-lived; even the tiny storm petrels are known to have survived for over 38 years, and Manx shearwaters are known to exceed 50 years. The oldest living bird is Wisdom, a female Laysan albatross currently at least 75 years old.
== Relationship with humans ==
=== Role in culture ===
The most important family culturally is the albatrosses, which have been described by one author as "the most legendary of birds". Albatrosses have featured in poetry in the form of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous 1798 poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which in turn gave rise to the usage of albatross as metaphor for a burden. More generally, albatrosses were believed to be good omens, and to kill one would bring bad luck. There are few instances of petrels in culture, although there are sailors' legends regarding the storm petrels, which are considered to warn of oncoming storms. In general, petrels were considered to be "soul birds", representing the souls of drowned sailors, and it was considered unlucky to touch them.
In the Russian language, many petrel species from the Hydrobatidae and Procellariidae families of the order Procellariiformes are known as burevestnik, which literally means 'the announcer of the storm'. When in 1901, the Russian writer Maxim Gorky turned to the imagery of subantarctic avifauna to describe Russian society's attitudes to the coming revolution, he used a storm-announcing petrel as the lead character of a poem that soon became popular in the revolutionary circles as "the battle anthem of the revolution". Although the species called "stormy petrel" in English is not one of those to which the burevestnik name is applied in Russian (it, in fact, is known in Russian as an entirely un-romantic kachurka), the English translators uniformly used the "stormy petrel" image in their translations of the poem, usually known in English as The Song of the Stormy Petrel.
Various tubenose birds are relevant to the mythologies and oral traditions of Polynesia. The Māori used the wing bones of the albatross to carve flutes. In Hawaiian mythology, Laysan albatrosses are considered aumakua, being a sacred manifestation of the ancestors, and quite possibly also the sacred bird of Kāne. The storm petrel features prominently in the "Origin of Birds" myth.
=== Exploitation ===
Albatrosses and petrels have been important food sources for humans for as long as people have been able to reach their remote breeding colonies. Amongst the earliest-known examples of this is the remains of shearwaters and albatrosses along with those of other seabirds in 5,000-year-old middens in Chile, although it is likely that they were exploited prior to this. Since then, many other marine cultures, both subsistence and industrial, have exploited procellariiforms, in some cases almost to extinction. Some cultures continue to harvest shearwaters (a practice known as muttonbirding); for example, the Māori of New Zealand use a sustainable traditional method known as kaitiakitanga. In Alaska, residents of Kodiak Island harpoon short-tailed albatrosses, Diomedea albatrus, and until the late 1980s residents of Tristan Island in the Indian Ocean harvested the eggs of the Yellow-nosed Mollymawks, Diomedea chlororhynchos, and sooty albatrosses, Phoebetria fusca. Albatrosses and petrels are also now tourist draws in some locations, such as Taiaroa Head. While such exploitation is non-consumptive, it can have deleterious effects that need careful management to protect both the birds and the tourism.
The English naturalist William Yarrell wrote in 1843 that "ten or twelve years ago, Mr. Gould exhibited twenty-four [storm petrels], in a large dish, at one of the evening meetings of the Zoological Society".
The engraver Thomas Bewick wrote in 1804 that "Pennant, speaking of those [birds] which breed on, or inhabit, the Isle of St Kilda, says—'No bird is of so much use to the islanders as this: the Fulmar supplies them with oil for their lamps, down for their beds, a delicacy for their tables, a balm for their wounds, and a medicine for their distempers'". A photograph by George Washington Wilson taken about 1886 shows a "view of the men and women of St Kilda on the beach dividing up the catch of Fulmar". James Fisher, author of The Fulmar (1952) calculated that every person on St Kilda consumed over 100 fulmars each year; the meat was their staple food, and they caught around 12,000 birds annually. However, when the human population left St Kilda in 1930, the population did not suddenly grow.
=== Threats and conservation ===
The albatrosses and petrels are "amongst the most severely threatened taxa worldwide". They face a variety of threats, the severity of which varies greatly from species to species. Several species are among the most common of seabirds, including Wilson's storm petrel (an estimated 12 to 30 million individuals) and the short-tailed shearwater (23 million individuals); while the total population of some other species is a few hundred. There are less than 200 Magenta petrels breeding on the Chatham Islands, only 130 to 160 Zino's petrels and only 170 Amsterdam albatrosses. Only one species is thought to have become extinct since 1600, the Guadalupe storm petrel of Mexico, although a number of species had died out before this. Numerous species are very poorly known; for example, the Fiji petrel has rarely been seen since its discovery. The breeding colony of the New Zealand storm petrel was not located until February 2013; it had been thought extinct for 150 years until its rediscovery in 2003, while the Bermuda petrel had been considered extinct for nearly 300 years.
The principal threat to the albatrosses and larger species of procellariids is long-line fishing. Bait set on hooks is attractive to foraging birds and many are hooked by the lines as they are set. As many as 100,000 albatrosses are hooked and drown each year on tuna lines set out by long-line fisheries. Before 1991 and the ban on drift-net fisheries, it was estimated that 500,000 seabirds a year died as a result. This has caused steep declines in some species, as procellariiforms are extremely slow breeders and cannot replace their numbers fast enough. Losses of albatrosses and petrels in the Southern Ocean were estimated at between 1 percent and 16 percent per year, which these species cannot sustain for long.
Exotic species introduced to the remote breeding colonies threaten all types of procellariiform. These principally take the form of predators; most albatross and petrel species are clumsy on land and unable to defend themselves from mammals such as rats, feral cats and pigs. This phenomenon, ecological naivete, has resulted in declines in many species and was implicated in the extinction of the Guadalupe storm petrel. Already in 1910 Godman wrote:
Owing to the introduction of the mongoose and other small carnivorous mammals into their breeding haunts, some species, such as Oestrelata jamaicensis and newelli, have already been completely exterminated, and others appear to be in danger of extinction.
Introduced herbivores may unbalance the ecology of islands; introduced rabbits destroyed the forest understory on Cabbage Tree Island off New South Wales, which increased the vulnerability of the Gould's petrels nesting on the island to natural predators, and left them vulnerable to the sticky fruit of the native birdlime tree (Pisonia umbellifera). In the natural state these fruit lodge in the understory of the forest, but with the understory removed the fruit fall to the ground where the petrels move about, sticking to their feathers and making flight impossible.
Exploitation has decreased in importance as a threat. Other threats include the ingestion of plastic flotsam. Once swallowed, plastic can cause a general decline in the fitness of the bird, or in some cases lodge in the gut and cause a blockage, leading to death by starvation. It can also be picked up by foraging adults and fed to chicks, stunting their development and reducing the chances of successfully fledging. Procellariids are also vulnerable to marine pollution, as well as oil spills. Some species, such as Barau's petrel, Newell's shearwater and Cory's shearwater, which nest high up on large developed islands, are victims of light pollution. Fledging chicks are attracted to streetlights and may then be unable to reach the sea. An estimated 20 to 40 percent of fledging Barau's petrels and 45 to 60 percent of fledging Cory's shearwater are attracted to the streetlights on Réunion and Tenerife, respectively. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_(film) | Transformers (film) | Transformers is a 2007 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's toy line of the same name. Directed by Michael Bay from a screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, it is the first installment of the Transformers film series. The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, two factions of shape-shifting alien robots. The Autobots and Decepticons both seek a powerful artifact called the AllSpark, to win the war that has devastated their home planet of Cybertron. Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson, Megan Fox, Rachael Taylor, John Turturro, and Jon Voight also star, while Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving voice Optimus Prime and Megatron, respectively.
Don Murphy was initially interested in developing a G.I. Joe film, but then decided to develop a Transformers film after the United States went to war against Iraq in 2003. Murphy and Tom DeSanto developed the project in 2003, and DeSanto wrote a treatment. Steven Spielberg came on board as executive producer the following year, hiring Orci and Kurtzman to write the screenplay. The U.S. Armed Forces and General Motors loaned vehicles and aircraft during filming, which saved money for the production and added realism to the battle scenes. Hasbro's promotional campaign for the film included deals with various companies; advertising included a viral marketing campaign, coordinated releases of prequel comic books, toys, and books, as well as product placement deals with companies such as General Motors, Burger King, and eBay.
Transformers premiered on June 10, 2007, at the N Seoul Tower in Seoul, South Korea, and was released on July 3 in the United States, by Paramount Pictures. The film was a commercial success, grossing $709.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $145–200 million and becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2007. It won four awards from the Visual Effects Society and was nominated for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing at the 80th Academy Awards. It was followed by a sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).
== Plot ==
The planet Cybertron was ravaged by a civil war between two Transformer factions — the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, and the Decepticons, led by Megatron. Both search for a lost artifact called the AllSpark, a cube-like object that is the source of all Cybertronian life, to win the war. The Autobots want to find the AllSpark to rebuild Cybertron and end the war, while the Decepticons want to use it to conquer the universe. Megatron found the AllSpark on Earth, but crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and was frozen in the ice. Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of explorers stumbled upon Megatron in 1897. Captain Witwicky accidentally activates Megatron's navigational system, causing his eyeglasses to be imprinted with the coordinates of the AllSpark's location. Sector 7, a secret U.S. government organization, discovers the AllSpark in the Colorado River and builds the Hoover Dam around it to mask its energy emissions. The still-frozen Megatron is transported into the facility and is reverse engineered to advance human technology.
In the present day, the Decepticons — Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Bonecrusher and Brawl — have landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles and electronics. Blackout and Scorponok attack the U.S. SOCCENT military base in Qatar and try to hack into the U.S. military network to find the location of Megatron and the AllSpark, but their mission is thwarted when the base staff severs the network cable connections. While Blackout wrecks the rest of the base, Captain William Lennox, Sergeant Robert Epps, and their small group of survivors with photographic evidence of the robots escape the destruction. They are pursued by Scorponok, but he is repelled by air strikes. In the process, Lennox's team discovers that the only effective weapons against the Transformers' armor are high-heat sabot rounds. After Blackout's failure, Frenzy infiltrates Air Force One to hack into the military network and, in doing so, plants a virus. He finds the map imprinted on Archibald's glasses, which is owned by his descendant, Sam Witwicky, leading him and Barricade to begin tracking Sam's location in Los Angeles.
One of the Autobots, Bumblebee, is also on Earth, disguised as a 1976 Chevy Camaro, and is bought by Sam while shopping for his first car. Bumblebee helps him woo his crush, Mikaela Banes, and leaves at night to transmit a homing beacon to the Autobots, with Sam briefly seeing his robot form. The next day, Barricade confronts Sam and demands his grandfather's glasses, but Bumblebee rescues him and Mikaela. After Bumblebee upgrades his vehicle form by scanning a 2007 Chevrolet Camaro, they rendezvous with the arriving Autobots — Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet — who also take on forms of Earth vehicles. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam's home and obtain the glasses. Government agents from Sector 7, led by Seymour Simmons, arrive to arrest Sam and Mikaela, and capture Bumblebee after the Autobots try to rescue them.
Frenzy, disguised as a mobile phone, secretly accompanies the group to the Hoover Dam, where he alerts the other Decepticons upon locating the AllSpark and releases Megatron, while Sam convinces the Sector 7 agents to release Bumblebee so he can get the AllSpark to Optimus. The military’s communications are shut down by Frenzy's virus, but aided by a pair of hackers, Maggie Madsen and Glen Whitmann, they manage to alert the Air Force. The Autobot-human convoy goes to Mission City to obtain a radio to guide the Air Force and secure an extraction for the AllSpark as Decepticon forces attack the convoy. Bonecrusher, Jazz, Frenzy, Brawl, and Blackout are killed in the ensuing battle, and Sam manages to ram the AllSpark into Megatron's chest as he battles Optimus, killing him and destroying the AllSpark. Optimus takes a fragment of the AllSpark from Megatron's corpse, but realizes that Cybertron cannot be restored with its destruction. The U.S. government decommissions Sector 7 and sinks the deceased Decepticons into the Laurentian Abyss, while Sam and Mikaela begin a relationship, Starscream escapes into space, and Optimus sends a signal to other surviving Autobots, directing them to Earth.
== Cast ==
=== Voices ===
Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots who transforms into a blue and red 1994 Peterbilt 379 semi-trailer truck. Cullen had previously voiced Optimus Prime in the original 1980s cartoon and was chosen to reprise his role.
Hugo Weaving as Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons who transforms into a silver Cybertronian jet. Frank Welker was considered to reprise his role, but according to the film's DVD commentary, Bay thought his voice did not fit, so Weaving was chosen instead. After Weaving left the role, Welker returned as the voice of Megatron in later sequels.
Mark Ryan as Bumblebee, the Autobot scout and Sam's new guardian who transforms into a yellow and black Chevrolet Camaro (first a 1976 model and later in the movie a 2007 model).
Darius McCrary as Jazz, Optimus's second-in-command who transforms into a silver 2006 Pontiac Solstice.
Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, the Autobot medic who transforms into a green 2007 search and rescue Hummer H2 ambulance.
Jess Harnell as
Ironhide, the Autobot weapons expert who transforms into a black 2006 GMC Topkick C4500.
Barricade, the Decepticon scout and interrogator who transforms into a black 2007 Saleen S281 police car.
Charlie Adler as Starscream, Megatron's second-in-command who transforms into a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Adler had previously voiced several characters in the original series, most noticeably Silverbolt.
Reno Wilson as Frenzy, the Decepticon hacker and Barricade's minion, who transforms into a PGX Boombox, and later a Nokia N93i. Howard Stern was offered the role, but turned it down when his agent talked him out of it.
Jim Wood as Bonecrusher, a Decepticon soldier who transforms into a Buffalo H Mine-Protected vehicle.
=== Non-speaking characters ===
Blackout — Megatron's third-in-command who transforms into a MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter.
Brawl — the Decepticon demolition specialist who transforms into an up-armed M1A1 Abrams tank.
Scorponok — a scorpion-like Decepticon and Blackout's minion.
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Don Murphy was initially planning a G.I. Joe film adaptation, but when the United States launched the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Hasbro suggested adapting the Transformers franchise instead. Tom DeSanto joined Murphy because he was a fan of the series. They met with comic book writer Simon Furman, and cited the Generation 1 cartoon and comics as their main influence. They made the Creation Matrix their plot device, though Murphy had it renamed because of the film series The Matrix, but was later used again in the sequel. DeSanto chose to write the treatment from a human point of view to engage the audience, while Murphy wanted it to have a realistic tone, reminiscent of a disaster film. The treatment featured the Autobots Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, Prowl, Arcee, Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee, and the Decepticons Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave.
Steven Spielberg, a fan of the comics and toys, signed on as executive producer in 2004. John Rogers wrote the first draft, which pitted four Autobots against four Decepticons, and featured the Ark spaceship. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, fans of the cartoon, were hired to rewrite the script in February 2005. Spielberg suggested that "a boy and his car" should be the focus. This appealed to Orci and Kurtzman because it conveyed themes of adulthood and responsibility, "the things that a car represents in the United States". The characters of Sam and Mikaela were the sole point of view given in Orci and Kurtzman's first draft. The Transformers had no dialogue, as the producers feared talking robots would look ridiculous. The writers felt that even if it would look silly, not having the robots speak would betray the fanbase. The first draft also had a battle scene in the Grand Canyon. Spielberg read each of Orci and Kurtzman's drafts and gave notes for improvement. The writers remained involved throughout production, adding additional dialogue for the robots during the sound mixing (although none of this was kept in the final film, which ran fifteen minutes shorter than the initial edit). Furman's The Ultimate Guide, published by Dorling Kindersley, remained as a resource to the writers throughout production. Prime Directive was used as a fake working title. This was also the name of Dreamwave Productions' first Transformers comic book.
Michael Bay was asked to direct by Spielberg on July 30, 2005, but initially he dismissed the film as a "stupid toy movie". Bay admitted that he was skeptical when he was offered to direct. Nonetheless, he wanted to work with Spielberg, and gained new respect for the concept upon visiting Hasbro. Bay considered the first draft "too kiddie", so he increased the military's role in the story. The writers sought inspiration from G.I. Joe for the soldier characters, being careful not to mix the brands. Orci and Kurtzman were concerned the film could feel like a military recruitment commercial, so they chose to make the military believe nations like Iran were behind the Decepticon attack as well as making the Decepticons primarily military vehicles. Bay based Lennox's struggle to get to the Pentagon phoneline while struggling with an unhelpful operator on a real account he was given by a soldier when working on another film.
Orci and Kurtzman experimented with numerous robots from the franchise, ultimately selecting the characters most popular among the filmmakers to form the final cast. Bay acknowledged that most of the Decepticons were selected before their names or roles were developed, as Hasbro had to start designing the toys. Some of their names were changed because Bay was upset that they had been leaked. Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were the only characters present in each version of the script. Arcee was a female Transformer introduced by Orci and Kurtzman, but she was cut because they found it difficult to explain robotic gender; Bay also disliked her motorcycle form, which he found too small. An early idea to have the Decepticons simultaneously strike multiple places around the world was also dropped.
Bay said the film cost $145 million and explained "My secret is, I shoot very, very fast." Bay compared his way of working to James Cameron as they both work quickly and serve as their own assistant director. Bay took a 30% reduction in his fee to keep the production in Los Angeles and work with his usual crew. Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce, said the film cost only $150 million, and called it "a bargain" compared to the other tentpole films that summer, which cost as much as $300 million. According to Kim Masters of NPR, instead of boasting about how much they had spent, the studios did not want to admit to their real budget and risk further cost inflation on other projects, and her Hollywood source said that the budget of Transformers had passed $200 million.
=== Design ===
The filmmakers created the size of each robot with the size of their vehicle mode in mind, supporting the Transformer's rationale for their choice of disguise on Earth. The concept of traveling protoforms was developed by Roberto Orci when he wondered why "aliens who moonlight as vehicles need other vehicles to travel". This reflected a desire to move to a more alien look, away from the "blocky" Generation 1 Transformers. Another major influence in the designs was samurai armor, returning full-circle to the Japanese origins of the toy line. The robots also had to look alien, or else they would have resembled other cinematic robots made in the image of man.
A product placement deal with General Motors supplied alternate forms for most of the Autobots, which saved $3 million for the production. GM also provided nearly two hundred cars, most of which were flood damaged or non-salable, destined for destruction in the climactic battle scene. The U.S. Armed Forces provided significant support, enhancing the film's realism: the film features F-22s, F-117s, and V-22 Ospreys, the first time these aircraft were used for a film; soldiers served as extras, and authentic uniforms were provided for the actors. A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and Lockheed AC-130s also appear. Captain Christian Hodge joked that he had to explain to his superiors that the filmmakers wanted to portray most of their aircraft as evil Decepticons: however, he remarked "people love bad guys".
=== Filming ===
To save money on the production, Bay reduced his usual fee by 30%. He planned an 83-day shooting schedule, maintaining the required pace by doing more camera set-ups per day than usual. Bay chose to shoot the film in the United States instead of Australia or Canada, allowing him to work with a crew he was familiar with, and who understood his work ethic. A pre-shoot took place on April 19, 2006, and principal photography began three days later at Holloman Air Force Base, which stood in for Qatar. Due to their destruction later in the film by the Decepticon Blackout, the majority of the military structures shown on-screen were not property of Holloman Air Force Base, but were purchased ahead of filming from a private manufacturer of military shelter systems, AKS Military. To film the Scorponok sequence at White Sands Missile Range, a sweep was performed to remove unexploded ordnance before building of a village set could begin; ironically, the village would be blown up. The scene was broken down for the Air battle managers flying aboard the AWACS aircraft, who improvised dialogue as if it were an actual battle.
The company also shot at Hoover Dam and at The Pentagon, the first time since the September 11 attacks that film crews had been allowed at these locations. The external Hoover Dam scenes were shot before tourists arrived daily at 10:00 a.m., with shooting moving inside for the remainder of the day. Production in California was based at Hughes Aircraft at Playa Vista, where the hangar in which Megatron is imprisoned was built. Six weekends were spent in Los Angeles, California shooting the climactic battle, with some elements being shot on the Universal Studios backlot and at Detroit's Michigan Central Station. The crew was allowed to shoot at Griffith Observatory, which was still closed for renovations begun in 2002 and would reopen in November 2006. Filming wrapped on October 4, 2006.
The film has been found to re-use footage from Bay's previous film Pearl Harbor (2001).
=== Visual effects ===
Spielberg encouraged Bay to restrict CGI to the robots and background elements in the action sequences. Stunts such as Bonecrusher smashing through a bus were done practically, while cameras were placed into the midst of car crashes and explosions to make it look more exciting. Work on the animatics began in April 2005. Bay indicated that three quarters of the film's visual effects were made by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), while Digital Domain made the rest, including the Arctic discovery of Megatron; Frenzy's severed head; a vending machine mutated by the Allspark, and the Autobots' protoforms. Many of the animators were big Transformers fans and were given free rein to experiment: a scene where Jazz attacks Brawl is a reference to a scene in The Transformers: The Movie where Kup jumps on Blitzwing.
ILM created computer-generated transformations during six months in 2005, looking at every inch of the car models. Initially the transformations were made to follow the laws of physics, but it did not look exciting enough and was changed to be more fluid. Bay rejected a liquid metal surface for the characters' faces, instead going for a "Rubik's Cube" style of modeling. He wanted numerous mechanical pieces visible so the robots would look more interesting, realistic, dynamic and quick, rather than like lumbering beasts. One such decision was to have the wheels stay on the ground for as long as possible, allowing the robots to cruise around as they changed. Bay instructed the animators to observe footage of two martial artists and numerous martial arts films to make the fights look graceful.
Due to the intricate designs of the Transformers, even the simplest motion of turning a wrist needs 17 visible parts; each of Ironhide's guns are made of ten thousand parts. Bumblebee uses a piece below his face-plate as an eyebrow, pieces in his cheeks swivel to resemble a smile, and all the characters' eyes are designed to dilate and brighten. According to Bay, "The visual effects were so complex it took a staggering 38 hours for ILM to render just one frame of movement"; that meant ILM had to increase their processing facilities. Each rendered piece had to look like real metal, shiny or dull. This was difficult to model because the aged and scarred robots had to transform from clean cars. Close-up shots of the robots were sped up to look "cool", but in wide shots the animation was slowed down to convincingly illustrate a sense of weight. Photographs were taken of each set. These were used as a reference for the lighting environment, which was reproduced within a computer, so the robots would look like they were convincingly moving there. Bay, who has directed numerous car commercials, understood ray tracing was the key to making the robots look real; the CGI models would look realistic based on how much of the environment was reflecting on their bodies. Numerous simulations were programmed into the robots, so the animators could focus on animating the particular areas needed for a convincing performance.
=== Music ===
Composer Steve Jablonsky, who collaborated with Bay on The Island, scored music for the trailers before work began on the film itself. Recording took place in April 2007, at the Sony Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. The score, including the teaser music, uses six major themes across ninety minutes of music. The Autobots have three themes, one named "Optimus" to represent the wisdom and compassion of the Autobot leader, and another played during their arrival on Earth. The Decepticons have a chanted theme which relies on electronics, unlike most of the score. The AllSpark also has its own theme. Hans Zimmer, Jablonsky's mentor, also helped to compose the score.
== Release ==
Transformers had its worldwide premiere at N Seoul Tower on June 10, 2007. It was the first time a Hollywood film had its opening event in South Korea. The film's June 27 premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival used a live digital satellite feed to project the film on to a screen. A premiere took place at Rhode Island on June 28, which was a freely available event giving attendees the opportunity to buy tickets for $75 to benefit four charities: the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the Autism Project of Rhode Island, Adoption Rhode Island, and Hasbro Children's Hospital. The film was released in IMAX on September 21, 2007, with extended footage that had not been included in the general theatrical release.
=== Marketing ===
Hasbro's toy line for the film was created over two months in late 2005 and early 2006, in heavy collaboration with the filmmakers. Protoform Optimus Prime and Starscream were released in the United States on May 1, 2007, and the first wave of figures was released on June 2. The line featured characters not in the film, including Arcee. A second wave, titled "AllSpark Power", was set for release late 2007, which consisted of repaints and robotic versions of ordinary vehicles in the film. The toys feature "Automorph Technology", where moving parts of the toy allow other parts to shift automatically. Merchandise for the film earned Hasbro $480 million in 2007.
Deals were made with 200 companies to promote the film in 70 countries. Michael Bay directed tie-in commercials for General Motors, Panasonic, Burger King and PepsiCo, while props – including the Camaro used for Bumblebee and the AllSpark – were put up for charity sale on eBay. A viral marketing alternate reality game was employed through the Sector 7 website, which presented the film and all previous Transformers toys and media as part of a cover-up operation called "Hungry Dragon", perpetrated by a "real life" Sector 7 to hide the existence of genuine Transformers. The site featured several videos presenting "evidence" of Transformers on Earth, including a cameo from the original Bumblebee.
=== Home media ===
Transformers was released on DVD and HD DVD on October 16, 2007, in North America. The Wal-Mart edition of the DVD included a shortened animated version of the prequel comic book, titled Transformers: Beginnings and featuring the voices of Ryan, Cullen, and Dunn, as well as Welker as Megatron. The Target copy was packaged with a transforming Optimus Prime DVD case and a prequel comic book about the Decepticons. The DVD sold 8.3 million copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling DVD of 2007, in North America, and it sold 190,000 copies on HD DVD, which was the biggest debut on the format. The DVDs sold 13.74 million copies, making the film the most popular DVD title of 2007.
The film was released on Blu-ray on September 2, 2008. In the first week, the two-disc edition of the Blu-ray was number one in sales compared to other films on the format. The Blu-ray version accounted for two-thirds of the film's DVD sales that first week, selling the third most in overall DVD sales. On June 16, 2009, Paramount included a sticker on all new Transformers DVDs that contained a code to view exclusive content online from the first film and get a sneak peek at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The content includes three exclusive clips from Revenge of the Fallen, behind-the-scenes footage from both films, and deleted scenes from the first film. Transformers was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on December 5, 2017.
The film grossed $304.9 million in home sales.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Transformers had the highest per-screen and per-theater gross in 2007 in North America. It was released on July 3, 2007, with 8 p.m. preview screenings on July 2. The United States previews earned $8.8 million and in its first day of general release, it grossed $27.8 million, a record for Tuesday box-office gross until it was broken by The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. It broke Spider-Man 2's record for the biggest Fourth of July gross, making $29 million. Transformers opened in over 4,050 theaters in North America and grossed $70.5 million in its first weekend, debuting at #1 and amounting to a $155.4 million opening week, giving it the record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel, surpassing Spider-Man. It would also break other records during its first week, surpassing Planet of the Apes for having the highest non-sequel July opening weekend, War of the Worlds for scoring the highest non-sequel Fourth of July opening weekend, The Passion of the Christ for having the biggest non-sequel Wednesday gross and Independence Day for achieving the largest non-sequel Thursday gross. The opening's gross in the United States was 50% more than what Paramount Pictures had expected. One executive attributed it to word of mouth that explained to parents that "it [was] OK to take the kids". Transformers ended its theatrical run in the United States and Canada with a gross of $319.2 million, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2007 in these regions behind Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third. The film sold an estimated 46,402,100 tickets in North America.
The film was released in 10 international markets on June 28, 2007, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the Philippines. Transformers made $29.5 million in its first weekend, topping the box office in 10 countries. It grossed $5.2 million in Malaysia, becoming the most successful film in the country's history. Transformers opened in China on July 11 and became the second highest-grossing foreign film in the country (behind Titanic), making $37.3 million. Its opening there set a record for a foreign language film, making $3 million. The film was officially released in the United Kingdom on July 27, making £8.7 million, and helped contribute to the biggest attendance record ever for that weekend. It was second at the UK box office, behind The Simpsons Movie. In South Korea, Transformers recorded the largest audience for a foreign film in 2007 and the highest foreign revenue of the film.
Worldwide, Transformers was the highest-grossing non-sequel film in 2007 with $709.7 million, making it Bay's fourth highest-grossing film to date, with three of its sequels surpassing it. It was also the fifth highest-grossing film of 2007 worldwide, behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third.
=== Critical response ===
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 57% of 227 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "While believable characters are hard to come by in Transformers, the effects are staggering and the action is exhilarating." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
IGN's Todd Gilchrist called it Bay's best film, and "one of the few instances where it's OK to enjoy something for being smart and dumb at the same time, mostly because it's undeniably also a whole lot of fun". The Advertiser's Sean Fewster found the visual effects so seamless that "you may come to believe the studio somehow engineered artificial intelligence". The Denver Post's Lisa Kennedy praised the depiction of the robots as having "a believably rendered scale and intimacy", and ABC presenter Margaret Pomeranz was surprised "that a complete newcomer to the Transformers phenomenon like myself became involved in the fate of these mega-machines". Ain't It Cool News's Drew McWeeny felt most of the cast grounded the story, and that "it has a real sense of wonder, one of the things that's missing from so much of the big CGI light shows released these days". Author Peter David found it ludicrous fun, and said that "[Bay] manages to hold on to his audience's suspension of disbelief long enough for us to segue into some truly spectacular battle scenes". Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, giving it 3 stars out of a possible 4, writing: "It's goofy fun with a lot of stuff that blows up real good, and it has the grace not only to realize how preposterous it is, but to make that into an asset."
Response to the human storylines was mixed. The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt liked "how a teen plotline gets tied in to the end of the world", while Empire's Ian Nathan praised Shia LaBeouf as "a smart, natural comedian, [who] levels the bluntness of this toy story with an ironic bluster". Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles felt Bay's style conflicted with Spielberg's, arguing the military story only served as a distraction from Sam. James Berardinelli hated the film as he did not connect with the characters in-between the action, which he found tedious. Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan found the humans "oddly lifeless, doing little besides marking time until those big toys fill the screen", while ComingSoon.net's Joshua Starnes felt the Transformers were "completely believable, right up to the moment they open their mouths to talk, when they revert to bad cartoon characters". Daily Herald's Matt Arado was annoyed that "the Transformers [are] little more than supporting players", and felt the middle act was sluggish. CNN's Tom Charity questioned the idea of a film based on a toy, and felt it would "buzz its youthful demographic [...] but leave the rest of us wondering if Hollywood could possibly aim lower".
=== General ===
Transformers fans were initially divided over the film due to the radical redesigns of many characters, although the casting of Peter Cullen was warmly received. USA Today summarized the views of critics and audiences saying "there is general raving about the mechanical heroes and general grumbling about the excessive screen time given to some of the human characters played by Shia LaBeouf, Anthony Anderson, Tyrese Gibson and Jon Voight. Optimus Prime, the leader of the good-guy Autobots, doesn't appear until midway through the film." Transformers comic book writer Simon Furman and Beast Wars script consultant Benson Yee both considered the film to be spectacular fun, although Furman also argued that there were too many human storylines. Yee felt that being the first in a series, the film had to establish much of the fictional universe and therefore did not have time to focus on the Decepticons. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. With audiences under 18 the score rises to "A+", and the film was most popular with children and parents, including older women, and attracted many African American and Latino viewers.
The film created a greater awareness of the franchise and drew in many new fans. Transformers' box office success led to the active development of films based on Voltron and Robotech, as well as a Knight Rider reboot. When filming the sequel, Bay was told by soldiers the film helped their children understand what their work was like, and that many had christened their Buffalos – the vehicle used for Bonecrusher – after various Transformer characters.
After the film's 2009 sequel was titled Revenge of the Fallen, screenwriter Orci was asked if this film would be retitled, just as Star Wars was titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope when re-released. He doubted the possibility, but said if it was retitled, he would call it Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye.
=== Accolades ===
Entertainment Weekly named Bumblebee as their seventh favorite computer generated character, while The Times listed Optimus Prime's depiction as the thirtieth best film robot, citing his coolness and dangerousness.
== Franchise ==
The second film, Revenge of the Fallen was released June 24, 2009. The third film, Dark of the Moon was released June 29, 2011. The fourth film, Age of Extinction was released June 27, 2014, and the fifth film titled The Last Knight was released on June 21, 2017. Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction were financial successes, while The Last Knight failed at the box office. The sequels have received mostly mixed to negative reviews.
The sixth film Bumblebee was released on December 21, 2018, to positive reviews. It is the highest-rated film in the Transformers series. The seventh film Rise of the Beasts was released on June 9, 2023, to mixed reviews. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama | Barack Obama | Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Born in Honolulu, Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and later worked as a community organizer in Chicago. In 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He became a civil rights attorney and an academic, teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 1996, Obama was elected to represent the 13th district in the Illinois Senate, a position he held until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In the 2008 presidential election, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president. Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate and defeated Republican nominee John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin.
Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for efforts in international diplomacy, a decision that drew both praise and criticism. During his first term, his administration responded to the 2008 financial crisis with measures including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to address the Great Recession; a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts; legislation to reform health care; and the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a major financial regulation reform bill. Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. Obama also oversaw the end of the Iraq War and ordered Operation Neptune Spear, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, who was responsible for the September 11 attacks. He downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model by expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries. Obama also ordered the 2011 military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which contributed to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
Obama defeated Republican opponent Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan in the 2012 presidential election. In his second term, Obama advocated for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, took steps to combat climate change by signing the Paris Agreement on climate change and an executive order to limit carbon emissions, and presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed during his first term. Obama also initiated sanctions against Russia following its invasion in Ukraine and again after Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. He ordered military intervention in Iraq after gains made by ISIL following the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (a nuclear agreement with Iran), and normalized relations with Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan decreased during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout his presidency. He also promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage.
Obama left office in 2017, he continues to reside in Washington, D.C. and remains politically active, campaigning for candidates in American elections, including in Biden's successful presidential bid in the 2020 presidential election. Outside politics, Obama has published three books: Dreams from My Father (1995), The Audacity of Hope (2006), and A Promised Land (2020). His presidential library began construction in the South Side of Chicago in 2021. Historians and political scientists rank Obama highly in historical rankings of U.S. presidents.
== Early life and career ==
Barack Hussein Obama II was born on August 4, 1961 at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the only president born outside the contiguous United States. He was born to an 18-year-old American mother and a 27-year-old Kenyan father. His mother, Ann Dunham (1942–1995), was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of English, Welsh, German, Swiss, and Irish descent. In 2007 it was discovered her great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney emigrated from the village of Moneygall, Ireland to the U.S. in 1850. In July 2012, Ancestry.com found a strong likelihood that Dunham was descended from John Punch, an enslaved African man who lived in the Colony of Virginia during the seventeenth century. Obama has described the ancestors of his grandparents as Scotch-Irish mostly. Obama's father, Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982), was a married Luo Kenyan from Nyang'oma Kogelo. His last name, Obama, was derived from his Luo descent. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on a scholarship. The couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii, on February 2, 1961, six months before Obama was born.
In late August 1961, a few weeks after he was born, Barack and his mother moved to the University of Washington in Seattle, where they lived for a year. During that time, Barack's father completed his undergraduate degree in economics in Hawaii, graduating in June 1962. He left to attend graduate school on a scholarship at Harvard University, where he earned a Master of Arts in economics. Obama's parents divorced in March 1964. Obama Sr. returned to Kenya in 1964, where he married for a third time and worked for the Kenyan government as the senior economic analyst in the Ministry of Finance. He visited his son in Hawaii only once, at Christmas 1971, before he was killed in an automobile accident in 1982, when Obama was 21 years old. Recalling his early childhood, Obama said: "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." He described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage.
In 1963, Dunham met Lolo Soetoro at the University of Hawaiʻi; he was an Indonesian East–West Center graduate student in geography. The couple married on Molokai on March 15, 1965. After two one-year extensions of his J-1 visa, Lolo returned to Indonesia in 1966. His wife and stepson followed sixteen months later in 1967. The family initially lived in the Menteng Dalam neighborhood in the Tebet district of South Jakarta. From 1970, they lived in a wealthier neighborhood in the Menteng district of Central Jakarta.
=== Education ===
When he was six years old, Obama and his mother moved to Indonesia to join his stepfather. From age six to ten, he was registered in school as "Barry" and attended local Indonesian-language schools: Sekolah Dasar Katolik Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School) for two years and Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 (State Elementary School Menteng 01) for one and a half years, supplemented by English-language Calvert School homeschooling by his mother. As a result of his four years in Jakarta, he was able to speak Indonesian fluently as a child. During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him "a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works".
In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham. He attended Punahou School—a private college preparatory school—with the aid of a scholarship from fifth grade until he graduated from high school in 1979. In high school, Obama continued to use the nickname "Barry" which he kept until making a visit to Kenya in 1980. Obama lived with his mother and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Hawaii for three years from 1972 to 1975 while his mother was a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Hawaii. Obama chose to stay in Hawaii when his mother and half-sister returned to Indonesia in 1975, so his mother could begin anthropology field work. His mother spent most of the next two decades in Indonesia, divorcing Lolo Soetoro in 1980 and earning a PhD degree in 1992, before dying in 1995 in Hawaii following unsuccessful treatment for ovarian and uterine cancer.
Of his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered — to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect — became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear." Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind". Obama was also a member of the "Choom Gang" (the slang term for smoking marijuana), a self-named group of friends who spent time together and smoked marijuana.
College and research jobs
After graduating from high school in 1979, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College on a full scholarship. In February 1981, Obama made his first public speech, calling for Occidental to participate in the disinvestment from South Africa in response to that nation's policy of apartheid. In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and half-sister Maya and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan for three weeks. Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City as a junior, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and in English literature and lived off-campus on West 109th Street. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and a 3.7 GPA. After graduating, Obama worked for about a year at the Business International Corporation, where he was a financial researcher and writer, then as a project coordinator for the New York Public Interest Research Group on the City College of New York campus for three months in 1985.
Community organizer and Harvard Law School
Two years after graduating from Columbia, Obama moved from New York to Chicago when he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project, a faith-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time.
Despite being offered a full scholarship to Northwestern University School of Law, Obama enrolled at Harvard Law School in the fall of 1988, living in nearby Somerville, Massachusetts. He was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review at the end of his first year, president of the journal in his second year, and research assistant to the constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe while at Harvard. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father. Obama graduated from Harvard Law in 1991 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude.
University of Chicago Law School
In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He then taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, first as a lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a senior lecturer from 1996 to 2004.
From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration campaign with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, leading Crain's Chicago Business to name Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.
=== Family and personal life ===
In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised (Maya Soetoro-Ng) and seven other half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also shares distant ancestors in common with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, among others.
While studying in California, Obama met Alexandra McNear. The pair wrote letters to each other while in a long-distance relationship between 1982 and 1984. The letters were acquired by Emory University's Rose Library in 2014 and made public in 2017. Obama wrote of his sense of isolation:Caught without a class, a structure, or a tradition to support me, in a sense the choice to take a different path is made for me... The only way to assuage my feelings of isolation are to absorb all the traditions, classes, make them mine, me theirs. In one of his letters Obama described homosexuality as "an attempt to remove oneself from the present, a refusal perhaps to perpetuate the endless farce of earthly life". Describing his own mind as "androgynous", he wrote "I make love to men daily, but in the imagination."
Obama lived with anthropologist Sheila Miyoshi Jager while he was a community organizer in Chicago in the 1980s. He proposed to her twice, but both Jager and her parents turned him down. The relationship was not made public until May 2017, several months after his presidency had ended.
In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed at Sidley Austin. Robinson was assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, and she joined him at several group social functions but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. After suffering a miscarriage, Michelle underwent in vitro fertilization to conceive their children. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001. The Obama daughters attended the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas had two Portuguese Water Dogs; the first, a male named Bo, was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy. In 2013, Bo was joined by Sunny, a female. Bo died of cancer on May 8, 2021.
Obama is a supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and he threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the All-Star Game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears football fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolescence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after he took office as president. In 2011, Obama invited the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House; the team had not visited the White House after their Super Bowl win in 1986 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team, and he is left-handed.
In 2005, the Obama family applied the proceeds of a book deal and moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house (equivalent to $2.6 million in 2025) in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.
In December 2007, Money Magazine estimated Obama's net worth at $1.3 million (equivalent to $2 million in 2025). Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments. Per his 2012 financial disclosure, Obama may be worth as much as $10 million.
=== Religious views ===
Obama is a Protestant Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in The Audacity of Hope that he "was not raised in a religious household." He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents, as being detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person ... I have ever known", and "a lonely witness for secular humanism." He described his father as a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."
In January 2008, Obama told Christianity Today: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life." On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views, saying:
I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me.
Obama met Trinity United Church of Christ pastor Jeremiah Wright in October 1987 and became a member of Trinity in 1992. During Obama's first presidential campaign in May 2008, he resigned from Trinity after some of Wright's statements were criticized. Since moving to Washington, D.C., in 2009, the Obama family has attended several Protestant churches, including Shiloh Baptist Church and St. John's Episcopal Church, as well as Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, but the members of the family do not attend church on a regular basis.
In 2016, Obama said that he gets inspiration from a few items that remind him "of all the different people I've met along the way", adding: "I carry these around all the time. I'm not that superstitious, so it's not like I think I necessarily have to have them on me at all times." The items, "a whole bowl full", include rosary beads given to him by Pope Francis, a figurine of the Hindu deity Hanuman, a Coptic cross from Ethiopia, a small Buddha statue given by a monk, and a metal poker chip that used to be the lucky charm of a motorcyclist in Iowa.
== Legal career ==
From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago—which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project—and of the Joyce Foundation. He served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999. Obama's law license became inactive in 2007.
== Legislative career ==
=== Illinois Senate (1997–2004) ===
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding Democratic state senator Alice Palmer from Illinois's 13th District, which, at that time, spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park–Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn. Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation that reformed ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law that increased tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican governor George Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.
He was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was re-elected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.
In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.
=== 2004 U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois ===
In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race. He created a campaign committee, began raising funds, and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002. Obama formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.
Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally, and spoke out against the war. He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd "it's not too late" to stop the war.
Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving 15 candidates. In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, seen by nine million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.
Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote, the largest margin of victory for a Senate candidate in Illinois history. He took 92 of the state's 102 counties, including several where Democrats traditionally do not perform well.
=== U.S. Senate (2005–2008) ===
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. He introduced two initiatives that bore his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction concept to conventional weapons; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008. He also cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.
In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.
Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act to add safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which was never enacted but later incorporated in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.
Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi in which he condemned corruption within the Kenyan government. Obama resigned his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.
== Presidential campaigns ==
=== 2008 presidential candidacy ===
On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic, as it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and reforming the health care system.
Numerous candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process, but Obama gained a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules.
On June 2, 2008, Obama had received enough votes to clinch his nomination. After an initial hesitation to concede, on June 7, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama. On August 23, 2008, Obama announced his selection of Delaware senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Obama selected Biden from a field speculated to include former Indiana governor and senator Evan Bayh and Virginia governor Tim Kaine. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High stadium to a crowd of about eighty-four thousand; the speech was viewed by over three million people worldwide. During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.
John McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate, and he selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. Obama and McCain engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African-American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park. He is one of the three United States senators moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House, the others being Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy.
=== 2012 presidential candidacy ===
On April 4, 2011, Obama filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission and then announced his reelection campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website. As the incumbent president, he ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party presidential primaries, and on April 3, 2012, Obama secured the 2778 convention delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination. At the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Obama and Joe Biden were formally nominated by former president Bill Clinton as the Democratic Party candidates for president and vice president in the general election. Their main opponents were Republicans Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
On November 6, 2012, Obama won 332 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required for him to be reelected as president. With 51.1 percent of the popular vote, Obama became the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win the majority of the popular vote twice. Obama addressed supporters and volunteers at Chicago's McCormick Place after his reelection and said: "Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties."
== Presidency (2009–2017) ==
=== First 100 days ===
The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office, Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but Congress prevented the closure by refusing to appropriate the required funds and preventing moving any Guantanamo detainee. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records. He also revoked President George W. Bush's restoration of President Ronald Reagan's Mexico City policy which prohibited federal aid to international family planning organizations that perform or provide counseling about abortion.
=== Domestic policy ===
The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits. Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover an additional four million uninsured children. In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy that had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.
Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his presidency. He nominated Sonia Sotomayor on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring associate justice David Souter. She was confirmed on August 6, 2009, becoming the first Supreme Court Justice of Hispanic descent. Obama nominated Elena Kagan on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens. She was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three for the first time in American history.
On March 11, 2009, Obama created the White House Council on Women and Girls, which formed part of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, having been established by Executive Order 13506 with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to the welfare of American women and girls. The council was chaired by Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett. Obama also established the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault through a government memorandum on January 22, 2014, with a broad mandate to advise him on issues relating to sexual assault on college and university campuses throughout the United States. The co-chairs of the Task Force were Vice President Joe Biden and Jarrett. The Task Force was a development out of the White House Council on Women and Girls and Office of the Vice President of the United States, and prior to that the 1994 Violence Against Women Act first drafted by Biden.
In July 2009, Obama launched the Priority Enforcement Program, an immigration enforcement program that had been pioneered by George W. Bush, and the Secure Communities fingerprinting and immigration status data-sharing program.
In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program, in favor of funding earth science projects, a new rocket type, research and development for an eventual crewed mission to Mars, and ongoing missions to the International Space Station.
On January 16, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Obama signed 23 executive orders and outlined a series of sweeping proposals regarding gun control. He urged Congress to reintroduce an expired ban on military-style assault weapons, such as those used in several recent mass shootings, impose limits on ammunition magazines to 10 rounds, introduce background checks on all gun sales, pass a ban on possession and sale of armor-piercing bullets, introduce harsher penalties for gun-traffickers, especially unlicensed dealers who buy arms for criminals and approving the appointment of the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the first time since 2006. On January 5, 2016, Obama announced new executive actions extending background check requirements to more gun sellers. In a 2016 editorial in The New York Times, Obama compared the struggle for what he termed "common-sense gun reform" to women's suffrage and other civil rights movements in American history.
In 2011, Obama signed a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act. Following the 2013 global surveillance disclosures by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama condemned the leak as unpatriotic, but called for increased restrictions on the National Security Agency (NSA) to address violations of privacy. Obama continued and expanded surveillance programs set up by George W. Bush, while implementing some reforms. He supported legislation that would have limited the NSA's ability to collect phone records in bulk under a single program and supported bringing more transparency to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
==== Racial issues ====
In his speeches as president, Obama did not make more overt references to race relations than his predecessors, but according to one study, he implemented stronger policy action on behalf of African-Americans than any president since the Nixon era.
Following Obama's election, many pondered the existence of a "post-racial America". However, lingering racial tensions quickly became apparent, and many African-Americans expressed outrage over what they saw as an intense racial animosity directed at Obama. The acquittal of George Zimmerman following the killing of Trayvon Martin sparked national outrage, leading to Obama giving a speech in which he said that "Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago." The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked a wave of protests. These and other events led to the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement, which campaigns against violence and systemic racism toward black people. Though Obama entered office reluctant to talk about race, by 2014 he began openly discussing the disadvantages faced by many members of minority groups.
Several incidents during Obama's presidency generated disapproval from the African-American community and with law enforcement, and Obama sought to build trust between law enforcement officials and civil rights activists, with mixed results. Some in law enforcement criticized Obama's condemnation of racial bias after incidents in which police action led to the death of African-American men, while some racial justice activists criticized Obama's expressions of empathy for the police. In a March 2016 Gallup poll, nearly one third of Americans said they worried "a great deal" about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001.
==== LGBT rights ====
On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expanded the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. On October 30, 2009, Obama lifted the ban on travel to the United States by those infected with HIV. The lifting of the ban was celebrated by Immigration Equality. On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, which fulfilled a promise made in the 2008 presidential campaign to end the don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that had prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces. In 2016, the Pentagon ended the policy that barred transgender people from serving openly in the military.
===== Same-sex marriage =====
As a candidate for the Illinois state senate in 1996, Obama stated he favored legalizing same-sex marriage. During his Senate run in 2004, he said he supported civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex partners but opposed same-sex marriages. In 2008, he reaffirmed this position by stating "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage." On May 9, 2012, shortly after the official launch of his campaign for re-election as president, Obama said his views had evolved, and he publicly affirmed his personal support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so. During his second inaugural address on January 21, 2013, Obama became the first U.S. president in office to call for full equality for gay Americans, and the first to mention gay rights or the word "gay" in an inaugural address. In 2013, the Obama administration filed briefs that urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of same-sex couples in the cases of Hollingsworth v. Perry (regarding same-sex marriage) and United States v. Windsor (regarding the Defense of Marriage Act).
==== Economic policy ====
On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion (equivalent to $1181 billion in 2025) economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession. The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals. In March 2009, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the 2008 financial crisis, including introducing the Public–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets.
Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors (GM) and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company. In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment. He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", which temporarily boosted the economy.
The Bush and Obama administrations authorized spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury. These guarantees totaled about $11.5 trillion, but only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009. On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforced limits on discretionary spending until 2021, established a procedure to increase the debt limit, created a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and established automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee did not achieve such savings. By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent a U.S. government default on its obligations.
The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.0 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year. Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries. By November 2012, the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, decreasing to 6.7 percent in the last month of 2013. During 2014, the unemployment rate continued to decline, falling to 6.3 percent in the first quarter. GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. In July 2010, the Federal Reserve noted that economic activity continued to increase, but its pace had slowed, and chairman Ben Bernanke said the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain". Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth. The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million, while conceding that "it is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package." Although an April 2010, survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment. The economy of the United States has grown faster than the other original NATO members by a wider margin under President Obama than it has anytime since the end of World War II. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development credits the much faster growth in the United States to the stimulus plan of the U.S. and the austerity measures in the European Union.
Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes. The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion (equivalent to $1.3 trillion in 2025) Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.
In December 2013, Obama declared that growing income inequality is a "defining challenge of our time" and called on Congress to bolster the safety net and raise wages. This came on the heels of the nationwide strikes of fast-food workers and Pope Francis' criticism of inequality and trickle-down economics. Obama urged Congress to ratify a 12-nation free trade pact called the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
==== Environmental policy ====
On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. Obama visited the Gulf, announced a federal investigation, and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent congressional hearings. He then announced a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review. As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government. Prior to the oil spill, on March 31, 2010, Obama ended a ban on oil and gas drilling along the majority of the East Coast of the United States and along the coast of northern Alaska in an effort to win support for an energy and climate bill and to reduce foreign imports of oil and gas.
In July 2013, Obama expressed reservations and said he "would reject the Keystone XL pipeline if it increased carbon pollution [or] greenhouse emissions." On February 24, 2015, Obama vetoed a bill that would have authorized the pipeline. It was the third veto of Obama's presidency and his first major veto.
In December 2016, Obama permanently banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in most United States-owned waters in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans using the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Act.
Obama emphasized the conservation of federal lands during his term in office. He used his power under the Antiquities Act to create 25 new national monuments during his presidency and expand four others, protecting a total of 553,000,000 acres (224,000,000 ha) of federal lands and waters, more than any other U.S. president.
==== Health care reform ====
Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal. He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, cap premium increases, and allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over ten years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American to carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.
On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009. After public debate during the congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals. In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on using federal funds for stem cell research.
On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House. On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39. On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, colloquially "Obamacare") passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.
The ACA includes health-related provisions, most of which took effect in 2014, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014, subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of income, providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and CBO figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.
The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies; there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons. In March 2010, the CBO estimated that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.
The law faced several legal challenges, primarily based on the argument that an individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance was unconstitutional. On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5–4 vote in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius that the mandate was constitutional under the U.S. Congress's taxing authority. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby the Court ruled that "closely-held" for-profit corporations could be exempt on religious grounds under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from regulations adopted under the ACA that would have required them to pay for insurance that covered certain contraceptives. In June 2015, the Court ruled 6–3 in King v. Burwell that subsidies to help individuals and families purchase health insurance were authorized for those doing so on both the federal exchange and state exchanges, not only those purchasing plans "established by the State", as the statute reads.
=== Foreign policy ===
In February and March 2009, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration. Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab satellite TV network, Al Arabiya. On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran. On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "A New Beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace. On June 26, 2009, Obama condemned the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election.
In 2011, Obama ordered a drone strike in Yemen which targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American imam suspected of being a leading Al-Qaeda organizer. al-Awlaki became the first U.S. citizen to be targeted and killed by a U.S. drone strike. The Department of Justice released a memo justifying al-Awlaki's death as a lawful act of war, while civil liberties advocates described it as a violation of al-Awlaki's constitutional right to due process. The killing led to significant controversy. His teenage son and young daughter, also Americans, were later killed in separate U.S. military actions, although they were not targeted specifically.
In March 2015, Obama declared that he had authorized U.S. forces to provide logistical and intelligence support to the Saudis in their military intervention in Yemen, establishing a "Joint Planning Cell" with Saudi Arabia. In 2016, the Obama administration proposed a series of arms deals with Saudi Arabia worth $115 billion. Obama halted the sale of guided munition technology to Saudi Arabia after Saudi warplanes targeted a funeral in Yemen's capital Sanaa, killing more than 140 people.
In September 2016 Obama was snubbed by Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party as he descended from Air Force One to the tarmac of Hangzhou International Airport for the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit without the usual red carpet welcome.
==== War in Iraq ====
On February 27, 2009, Obama announced that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troop's levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of about 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last U.S. combat brigade exited Iraq. Remaining troops transitioned from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces. On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over. On October 21, 2011, President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be "home for the holidays."
In June 2014, following the capture of Mosul by ISIL, Obama sent 275 troops to provide support and security for U.S. personnel and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. ISIS continued to gain ground and to commit widespread massacres and ethnic cleansing. In August 2014, during the Sinjar massacre, Obama ordered a campaign of U.S. airstrikes against ISIL. By the end of 2014, 3,100 American ground troops were committed to the conflict and 16,000 sorties were flown over the battlefield, primarily by U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots. In early 2015, with the addition of the "Panther Brigade" of the 82nd Airborne Division the number of U.S. ground troops in Iraq increased to 4,400, and by July American-led coalition air forces counted 44,000 sorties over the battlefield.
==== Afghanistan and Pakistan ====
In his election campaign, Obama called the war in Iraq a "dangerous distraction" and that emphasis should instead be put on the war in Afghanistan, the region he cites as being most likely where an attack against the United States could be launched again. Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase in U.S. troop levels to 17,000 military personnel in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires." He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan and proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date; this took place in July 2011. David Petraeus replaced McChrystal in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article. In February 2013, Obama said the U.S. military would reduce the troop level in Afghanistan from 68,000 to 34,000 U.S. troops by February 2014. In October 2015, the White House announced a plan to keep U.S. Forces in Afghanistan indefinitely in light of the deteriorating security situation.
Regarding neighboring Pakistan, Obama called its tribal border region the "greatest threat" to the security of Afghanistan and Americans, saying that he "cannot tolerate a terrorist sanctuary." In the same speech, Obama claimed that the U.S. "cannot succeed in Afghanistan or secure our homeland unless we change our Pakistan policy."
===== Death of Osama bin Laden =====
Starting with information received from Central Intelligence Agency operatives in July 2010, the CIA developed intelligence over the next several months that determined what they believed to be the hideout of Osama bin Laden. He was living in seclusion in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles (56 km) from Islamabad. CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. The operation took place on May 1, 2011, and resulted in the shooting death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers, computer drives and disks from the compound. DNA testing was one of five methods used to positively identify bin Laden's corpse, which was buried at sea several hours later. Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square. Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
==== Relations with Cuba ====
Since the spring of 2013, secret meetings were conducted between the United States and Cuba in the neutral locations of Canada and Vatican City. The Vatican first became involved in 2013 when Pope Francis advised the U.S. and Cuba to exchange prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. On December 10, 2013, Cuban President Raúl Castro, in a significant public moment, greeted and shook hands with Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in Johannesburg.
In December 2014, after the secret meetings, it was announced that Obama, with Pope Francis as an intermediary, had negotiated a restoration of relations with Cuba, after nearly sixty years of détente. Popularly dubbed the Cuban Thaw, The New Republic deemed the Cuban Thaw to be "Obama's finest foreign policy achievement." On July 1, 2015, President Obama announced that formal diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States would resume, and embassies would be opened in Washington and Havana. The countries' respective "interests sections" in one another's capitals were upgraded to embassies on July 20 and August 13, 2015, respectively. Obama visited Havana, Cuba for two days in March 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to arrive since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
==== Israel ====
During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including increased military aid, re-establishment of the U.S.–Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group, and an increase in visits among high-level military officials of both countries. The Obama administration asked Congress to allocate money toward funding the Iron Dome program in response to the waves of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. In 2011, the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the United States being the only nation to do so. Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.
In 2013, Jeffrey Goldberg reported that, in Obama's view, "with each new settlement announcement, Netanyahu is moving his country down a path toward near-total isolation." In 2014, Obama likened the Zionist movement to the civil rights movement in the United States. He said both movements seek to bring justice and equal rights to historically persecuted peoples, explaining: "To me, being pro-Israel and pro-Jewish is part and parcel with the values that I've been fighting for since I was politically conscious and started getting involved in politics." Obama expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. In 2015, Obama was harshly criticized by Israel for advocating and signing the Iran Nuclear Deal; Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had advocated the U.S. congress to oppose it, said the deal was "dangerous" and "bad."
On December 23, 2016, under the Obama administration, the United States abstained from United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law, effectively allowing it to pass. Netanyahu strongly criticized the Obama administration's actions, and the Israeli government withdrew its annual dues from the organization, which totaled $6 million, on January 6, 2017. On January 5, 2017, the United States House of Representatives voted 342–80 to condemn the UN Resolution.
==== Libya ====
In February 2011, protests in Libya began against long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi as part of the Arab Spring. They soon turned violent. In March, as forces loyal to Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. In response to the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, the Foreign Minister of Libya Moussa Koussa announced a ceasefire. However Gaddafi's forces continued to attack the rebels.
On March 19, a multinational coalition led by France and the United Kingdom with Italian and U.S. support, approved by Obama, took part in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone, including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets. Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector. Some members of Congress questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath. In 2016 Obama said "Our coalition could have and should have done more to fill a vacuum left behind" and that it was "a mess". He has stated that the lack of preparation surrounding the days following the government's overthrow was the "worst mistake" of his presidency.
==== Syrian civil war ====
On August 18, 2011, several months after the start of the Syrian civil war, Obama issued a written statement that said: "The time has come for President Assad to step aside." This stance was reaffirmed in November 2015. In 2012, Obama authorized multiple programs run by the CIA and the Pentagon to train anti-Assad rebels. The Pentagon-run program was later found to have failed and was formally abandoned in October 2015.
In the wake of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, formally blamed by the Obama administration on the Assad government, Obama chose not to enforce the "red line" he had pledged and, rather than authorize the promised military action against Assad, went along with the Russia-brokered deal that led to Assad giving up chemical weapons; however attacks with chlorine gas continued. In 2014, Obama authorized an air campaign aimed primarily at ISIL.
==== Iran nuclear talks ====
On October 1, 2009, the Obama administration went ahead with a Bush administration program, increasing nuclear weapons production. The "Complex Modernization" initiative expanded two existing nuclear sites to produce new bomb parts. In November 2013, the Obama administration opened negotiations with Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, which included an interim agreement. Negotiations took two years with numerous delays, with a deal being announced on July 14, 2015. The deal titled the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" saw sanctions removed in exchange for measures that would prevent Iran from producing nuclear weapons. While Obama hailed the agreement as being a step towards a more hopeful world, the deal drew strong criticism from Republican and conservative quarters, and from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, the transfer of $1.7 billion in cash to Iran shortly after the deal was announced was criticized by the Republican party. The Obama administration said that the payment in cash was because of the "effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions." In order to advance the deal, the Obama administration shielded Hezbollah from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Project Cassandra investigation regarding drug smuggling and from the Central Intelligence Agency.
On a side note, the very same year, in December 2015, Obama started a $348 billion worth program to back the biggest U.S. buildup of nuclear arms since Ronald Reagan left the White House.
==== Russia ====
In March 2010, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about a third. Obama and Medvedev signed the New START treaty in April 2010, and the U.S. Senate ratified it in December 2010. In December 2011, Obama instructed agencies to consider LGBT rights when issuing financial aid to foreign countries. In August 2013, he criticized Russia's law that discriminates against homosexual people, but he stopped short of advocating a boycott of the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
After Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014, military intervention in Syria in 2015, and the interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, George Robertson, a former UK defense secretary and NATO secretary-general, said Obama had "allowed Putin to jump back on the world stage and test the resolve of the West", adding that the legacy of this disaster would last.
== Post-presidency (2017–present) ==
Obama's presidency ended on January 20, 2017, upon the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump. The family moved to a house they rented in Kalorama, Washington, D.C. On March 2, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum awarded the Profile in Courage Award to Obama "for his enduring commitment to democratic ideals and elevating the standard of political courage." His first public appearance since leaving the office was a seminar at the University of Chicago on April 24, where he appealed for a new generation to participate in politics. On September 7, Obama partnered with former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush to work with One America Appeal to help the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma in the Gulf Coast and Texas communities. From October 31 to November 1, Obama hosted the inaugural summit of the Obama Foundation, which he intended to be the central focus of his post-presidency and part of his ambitions for his subsequent activities following his presidency to be more consequential than his time in office.
Barack and Michelle Obama signed a deal on May 22, 2018, to produce docu-series, documentaries and features for Netflix under the Obamas' newly formed production company, Higher Ground Productions. Higher Ground's first film, American Factory, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2020. On October 24, a pipe bomb addressed to Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service. It was one of several pipe-bombs that had been mailed out to Democratic lawmakers and officials. In 2019, Barack and Michelle Obama bought a home on Martha's Vineyard from Wyc Grousbeck. On October 29, Obama criticized "wokeness" and call-out culture at the Obama Foundation's annual summit.
Obama was reluctant to make an endorsement in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries because he wanted to position himself to unify the party, regardless of the nominee. On April 14, 2020, Obama endorsed his former vice president, Joe Biden, the presumptive nominee, for president in the presidential election, stating that he has "all the qualities we need in a president right now." In May, Obama criticized President Trump for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling his response to the crisis "an absolute chaotic disaster", and stating that the consequences of the Trump presidency have been "our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before." On November 17, Obama's presidential memoir, A Promised Land, was released.
Obama and his wife attended the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021.
In February 2021, Obama and musician Bruce Springsteen started a podcast called Renegades: Born in the USA where the two talk about "their backgrounds, music and their 'enduring love of America.'" Later that year, Regina Hicks had signed a deal with Netflix, in a venture with his and Michelle's Higher Ground to develop comedy projects.
On March 4, 2022, Obama won an Audio Publishers Association (APA) Award in the best narration by the author category for the narration of his memoir A Promised Land. On April 5, Obama visited the White House for the first time since leaving office, in an event celebrating the 12th annual anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act. In June, it was announced that the Obamas and their podcast production company, Higher Ground, signed a multi-year deal with Audible. In September, Obama visited the White House to unveil his and Michelle's official White House portraits. Around the same time, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Narrator for his narration in the Netflix documentary series Our Great National Parks.
In 2022, Obama opposed expanding the Supreme Court beyond the present nine Justices.
In March 2023, Obama traveled to Australia as a part of his speaking tour of the country. During the trip, Obama met with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and visited Melbourne for the first time. Obama was reportedly paid more than $1 million for two speeches.
In October 2023, during the Gaza war, Obama declared that Israel must dismantle Hamas in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Weeks later, Obama warned Israel that its actions could "harden Palestinian attitudes for generations" and weaken international support for Israel; any military strategy that ignored the war's human costs "could ultimately backfire."
In July 2024, Obama expressed concerns about Biden's campaign viability after his critically maligned debate performance against former president Trump. On July 21, Biden withdrew his candidacy and swiftly endorsed Vice President Harris right after to run as the Democratic nominee. Obama reluctantly endorsed Harris alongside his wife Michelle five days later and delivered a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention formally endorsing her. He joined Harris on the campaign trail in October, traveling to various swing states and emphasizing her record as a prosecutor, senator, and vice president and advocating for increased voter turnout, and his criticisms of Donald Trump and the Republican Party were widely reported by various media outlets. After Trump was declared the winner of the election on November 6, Obama and Michelle congratulated him and Vice President–elect JD Vance while praising the Harris campaign and calling on liberal voters to continue supporting democracy and human rights.
Obama attended the second inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2025.
In February 2026, after Trump posted a racist meme of him and his wife, he decried the post, criticized the lack of decorum and the conduct of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
== Cultural and political image ==
Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African-American politicians who rose to prominence in the 1960s through their involvement in the civil rights movement. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong." Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, remarking: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation." Obama has frequently been referred to as an exceptional orator. During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama delivered a series of weekly video addresses on YouTube. Obama was known to avoid rigid political labels, but he described himself as a New Democrat and began to shift the New Democrat ideological faction from its more firmly centrist and fiscally conservative Clintonism toward increased openness to social liberal policy influences.
=== Job approval ===
According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating, the fifth highest for a president following their swearing in. His ratings remained above the majority level until November 2009 and by August 2010 his approval was in the low 40s, a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office. Following the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, Obama experienced a small poll bounce and steadily maintained 50–53 percent approval for about a month, until his approval numbers dropped back to the low 40s.
His approval rating fell to 38 percent on several occasions in late 2011 before recovering in mid-2012 with polls showing an average approval of 50 percent. After his second inauguration in 2013, Obama's approval ratings remained stable around 52 percent before declining for the rest of the year and eventually bottoming out at 39 percent in December. In polling conducted before the 2014 midterm elections, Obama's approval ratings were at their lowest with his disapproval rating reaching a high of 57 percent. His approval rating continued to lag throughout most of 2015 but began to reach the high 40s by the end of the year. According to Gallup, Obama's approval rating reached 50 percent in March 2016, a level unseen since May 2013. In polling conducted January 16–19, 2017, Obama's final approval rating was 59 percent, which placed him on par with George H. W. Bush and Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose final Gallup ratings also measured in the high 50s.
Obama has maintained relatively positive public perceptions after his presidency. In Gallup's retrospective approval polls of former presidents, Obama garnered a 63 percent approval rating in 2018 and again in 2023, ranking him the fourth most popular president since World War II.
=== Foreign perceptions ===
Polls showed strong support for Obama in other countries both before and during his presidency. In a February 2009 poll conducted in Western Europe and the U.S. by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the International Herald Tribune, Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful. In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.
On October 9, 2009—only nine months into his first term—the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples", which drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures. He became the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office. He himself called it a "call to action" and remarked: "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations".
== Legacy and recognition ==
Obama has been described as one of the most effective campaigners in American history (his 2008 campaign being particularly highlighted) as well as one of the most talented political orators of the 21st century. Historian Julian Zelizer credits Obama with "a keen sense of how the institutions of government work and the ways that his team could design policy proposals." Zeitzer notes Obama's policy successes included the economic stimulus package which ended the Great Recession and the Dodd-Frank financial and consumer protection reforms, as well as the Affordable Care Act. Zeitzer also notes the Democratic Party lost power and numbers of elected officials during Obama's term, saying that the consensus among historians is that Obama "turned out to be a very effective policymaker but not a tremendously successful party builder." Zeitzer calls this the "defining paradox of Obama's presidency".
The Brookings Institution noted that Obama passed "only one major legislative achievement (Obamacare)—and a fragile one at that—the legacy of Obama's presidency mainly rests on its tremendous symbolic importance and the fate of a patchwork of executive actions." David W. Wise noted that Obama fell short "in areas many Progressives hold dear", including the continuation of drone strikes, not going after big banks during the Great Recession, and failing to strengthen his coalition before pushing for Obamacare. Wise called Obama's legacy that of "a disappointingly conventional president".
Obama's most significant accomplishment is generally considered to be the Affordable Care Act (ACA), provisions of which went into effect from 2010 to 2020. Many attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal the ACA, including a "skinny repeal", have thus far failed. However, in 2017, the penalty for violating the individual mandate was repealed effective 2019. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
Many commentators credit Obama with averting a threatened depression and pulling the economy back from the Great Recession. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Obama administration created 11.3 million jobs from the month after his first inauguration to the end of his second term. In 2010, Obama signed into effect the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Passed as a response to the 2008 financial crisis, it brought the most significant changes to financial regulation in the United States since the regulatory reform that followed the Great Depression under Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 2009, Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, which contained in it the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first addition to existing federal hate crime law in the United States since Democratic President Bill Clinton signed into law the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996. The act expanded existing federal hate crime laws in the United States, and made it a federal crime to assault people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
As president, Obama advanced LGBT rights. In 2010, he signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act, which brought an end to "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the U.S. armed forces that banned open service from LGBT people; the law went into effect the following year. In 2016, his administration brought an end to the ban on transgender people serving openly in the U.S. armed forces. A Gallup poll, taken in the final days of Obama's term, showed that 68 percent of Americans believed the U.S. had made progress on LGBT rights during Obama's eight years in office.
Obama substantially escalated the use of drone strikes against suspected militants and terrorists associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In 2016, the last year of his presidency, the U.S. dropped 26,171 bombs on seven different countries. Obama left about 8,400 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, 5,262 in Iraq, 503 in Syria, 133 in Pakistan, 106 in Somalia, seven in Yemen, and two in Libya at the end of his presidency.
According to Pew Research Center and United States Bureau of Justice Statistics, from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015, inmates sentenced in U.S. federal custody declined by five percent. This is the largest decline in sentenced inmates in U.S. federal custody of any president since Jimmy Carter. By contrast, the federal prison population increased significantly under presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Obama's human rights record "mixed", adding that "he has often treated human rights as a secondary interest—nice to support when the cost was not too high, but nothing like a top priority he championed."
Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60 percent approval rating. He gained 10 spots from the same survey in 2015 from the Brookings Institution that ranked him the 18th-greatest American president. In Gallup's 2018 job approval poll for the past 10 U.S. presidents, he received a 63 percent approval rating.
=== Presidential library ===
The Barack Obama Presidential Center is Obama's planned presidential library. It will be hosted by the University of Chicago and located in Jackson Park on the South Side of Chicago.
=== Awards and honors ===
Obama received the Norwegian Nobel Committee's Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, The Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education's Ambassador of Humanity Award in 2014, the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2017, and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award in 2018. He was named TIME Magazine's Time Person of the Year in 2008 and 2012. He also received two Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Album for Dreams from My Father (2006), and The Audacity of Hope (2008) as well as three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narrator for Our Great National Parks (2022), Working: What We Do All Day (2023), and Our Oceans (2025). He also won two Children's and Family Emmy Awards. In 2024 he became the first and so far only President from the Democratic Party to win the Sylvanus Thayer Award.
=== Eponymy === |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Farrell | Colin Farrell | Colin James Farrell (; born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor. A leading man in blockbusters and independent films since the 2000s, he has received various accolades, including three Golden Globe Awards, one Screen Actors Guild Award, and one Volpi Cup in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. The Irish Times named him Ireland's fifth-greatest film actor in 2020, and Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023.
Farrell began acting in the BBC drama series Ballykissangel (1998) and made his (first credited) film debut in the drama The War Zone (1999). His first lead film role was in the war drama Tigerland (2000), and he made his breakthrough in Steven Spielberg's science fiction film Minority Report (2002). He took on high-profile roles such as Bullseye in Daredevil (2003) and as Alexander the Great in Alexander (2004), with further starring roles in Phone Booth (2002), The Recruit (2003), S.W.A.T. (2003), and Miami Vice (2006).
Farrell earned acclaim for playing a novice hitman in his first film with frequent collaborator Martin McDonagh, the dark comedy In Bruges (2008), winning a Golden Globe Award. He went on to play a variety of leading and character roles in the comedy Horrible Bosses (2011), the science fiction film Total Recall (2012), the drama Saving Mr. Banks (2013), the dark comedies Seven Psychopaths (2012) and The Lobster (2015), the thrillers The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Beguiled (2017) and Widows (2018), and the fantasy films Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and Dumbo (2019). He also starred in the second season of HBO's thriller series True Detective (2015).
In 2022, Farrell gained acclaim for his roles in the science fiction drama After Yang, the survival film Thirteen Lives, and McDonagh's drama The Banshees of Inisherin. For playing a naïve Irishman in the lattermost, he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and his second Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for the BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Actor. Farrell played Oz Cobb / Penguin in the superhero film The Batman (2022) and the HBO miniseries The Penguin (2024). For the latter, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award in the same category.
== Early life ==
Colin James Farrell was born in Castleknock, a western suburb of Dublin on 31 May 1976, to Rita (née Monaghan) and Eamon Farrell. His father played football for Shamrock Rovers FC and ran a health food shop. Farrell played for Castleknock Celtic FC, and the team was managed by his father. Farrell's uncle, Tommy Farrell, also played for Shamrock Rovers. Farrell has an older brother named Eamon, and two sisters, Catherine and Claudine (the latter now works as his personal assistant). Farrell grew up Catholic and went to St Brigid's National School, Castleknock, followed by the all-boys private school Castleknock College, and then Gormanston College in Gormanston Castle in County Meath. He unsuccessfully auditioned for the boy band Boyzone around that time.
Farrell was inspired to try acting when Henry Thomas's performance in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) moved him to tears. With his brother's encouragement, he attended the Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out when he was cast as Danny Byrne in the BBC drama Ballykissangel. While traveling in Sydney at the age of 18, Farrell became a suspect in an attempted murder case. The police sketch looked remarkably like him and he had even described blacking out during the night in question; his only alibi was that a friend journaled that the two had been taking MDMA on the other side of town that night.
== Career ==
=== 1998–2003: Early career and breakthrough ===
Farrell had roles in television shows and films, including Ballykissangel and Falling for a Dancer in 1998 and 1999. He made his feature film debut in English actor Tim Roth's directorial debut, The War Zone, a drama about child sexual abuse, starring Ray Winstone and Tilda Swinton as parents of a girl Farrell's character (Nick) dates. Farrell appeared in Ordinary Decent Criminal with Kevin Spacey and Linda Fiorentino, a film loosely based on the life of Martin Cahill. In 2000, Farrell was cast in the lead role of Private Roland Bozz in Tigerland, directed by Joel Schumacher. Farrell reportedly got the part on the basis of his charm. Emanuel Levy of Variety said that Farrell "shines as the subversive yet basically decent lad whose cynicism may be the only sane reaction to a situation". Michael Holden of The Guardian wrote that Farrell was "too much the hero" to fit the classic rebel archetype properly, but he still delivered a good performance. Tigerland earned $139,500.
Farrell's next American films, American Outlaws (2001) and Hart's War (2002), were not commercially successful. His 2002–2003 films, including Phone Booth, The Recruit and S.W.A.T. (all thrillers, with the former two his first starring roles), were well received by critics and successful at the box office. Of Phone Booth, Roger Ebert wrote that it is "Farrell's to win or lose, since he's onscreen most of the time, and he shows energy and intensity". Philip French of The Guardian praised Farrell's performance. In S.W.A.T., Farrell starred in an ensemble cast including Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Olivier Martinez and Jeremy Renner; Renner became a friend. Alan Morrison of Empire wrote, "Farrell can usually be relied upon to bring a spark to the bonfire. That's also true of [this movie]." Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times criticised Farrell's accent, writing that he "employ[ed] a wobbly American accent that makes him sound like an international criminal a step ahead of the authorities". Ebert and The New York Times' A.O. Scott disagreed on Farrell's effectiveness in The Recruit; Ebert noted Farrell's likability, but Scott felt that Farrell "spends his time in a caffeinated frenzy, trying to maintain his leading-man sang-froid while registering panic, stress and confusion". Phone Booth earned $46.6 million, S.W.A.T. $116.9 million and The Recruit $52.8 million at the box office.
Farrell's supporting roles include an ambitious Justice Department agent opposite Tom Cruise as a "potential criminal" in Minority Report (2002), and Bullseye, the villain in Daredevil (2003). Matt Damon was originally offered the Minority Report role, turning it down to appear in Ocean's Eleven. Farrell said "he had no problem" being the producer's fallback after Damon declined. Farrell was signed to the role in December 2001, although he was considered for the lead role of Matt Murdock (Daredevil) until Ben Affleck signed. Farrell was encouraged to keep his Irish accent, since this version of Bullseye is from Ireland. He read Frank Miller's Daredevil comics to understand Bullseye "because the expression on the character's faces in the comic books, and just the way they move sometimes, and the exaggerations of the character I'm playing... he's so over-the-top that you do draw from that. But it's not exactly a character you can do method acting for...you know, running around New York killing people with paper clips". In 2003, he was voted sixth World's "Sexiest Man" by Company magazine.
=== 2003–2008: Career progression ===
In late 2003, Farrell starred as a criminal who plots a bank robbery with Cillian Murphy in the dark comedy Intermission, which held the record for highest-grossing Irish independent film in Irish box-office history for three years. In 2004, he appeared in several other independent films receiving limited theatrical release in most countries, including A Home at the End of the World (adapted from Michael Cunningham's novel of the same name). Roger Ebert praised Farrell, saying that he was "astonishing in the movie, not least because the character is such a departure from everything he has done before". Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle differed, saying that Farrell "is keen on making good...The effort is there, but it's a performance you end up rooting for rather than enjoying, because there's no way to just relax and watch".
Farrell played the title role of Alexander the Great in Oliver Stone's 2004 biographical film Alexander, which, while receiving some favourable reviews internationally, was poorly received in the United States. Its portrayal of the conqueror as bisexual was controversial; the film was criticised by some historians for its treatment of the ancient Persians, although others praised it for its accuracy. An ancient history scholar at the University of Nebraska wrote:
I would compare [Alexander] to Lawrence of Arabia, in terms of sheer scope, pacing, and its unrelenting focus on a single individual... In many ways, this is a movie for Greek and Alexander 'geeks.' The more one knows, the more one will recognise—the historical accuracy of sets is better than I've seen in some documentaries.
The film grossed $167 million worldwide, just exceeding its budget of $155 million.
Farrell's next film was 2005's Academy Award-nominated The New World, his second historical epic. He played the lead role of Captain John Smith, the founder of 17th-century colonial Jamestown, Virginia who falls in love with the Native American princess Pocahontas (Q'Orianka Kilcher). Director Terrence Malick went out of his way to keep Farrell and Kilcher apart until they were filmed together. Although it was released in only 811 theatres worldwide and had a relatively low box-office gross, the film received a large number of positive reviews. In one of four reviews in The Guardian, John Patterson described it as a "bottomless movie, almost unspeakably beautiful and formally harmonious". The New World was followed by Ask the Dust, a period romance set in Los Angeles based on a John Fante novel and co-starring Salma Hayek. Reviews were mixed; Manohla Dargis of The New York Times favourably described Farrell's work, but Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian found "something a little forced in both lead performances". With a limited theatrical release, it was not a financial success.
Farrell was more successful in 2006 with his role opposite Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann's action crime drama, Miami Vice. The film grossed $164 million worldwide on a budget of $135 million, and TimeOut New York ranked it among the top 50 movies of the decade. The DVD, released the same year, also managed to sell over a million copies (equivalent to $7.91 million in pirated versions) in its first week alone, and, as of 11 February 2007, had grossed over $36.45 million in rentals. A. O. Scott criticised Farrell's work: "When he's not on screen, you don't miss him, and when he is, you find yourself, before long, looking at someone or something else." Conversely, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was enthusiastic. Farrell also reportedly took a slight pay cut to make friend and recent Oscar winner Jamie Foxx happy; his salary was initially larger than Foxx's.
Farrell appeared in Woody Allen's drama Cassandra's Dream, which premiered in 2007 and was distributed in the US in early 2008. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Farrell: "Allen is notorious for not giving his actors explicit instructions, and yet somehow this worked wonders for Farrell, who has never seemed so naked, so clear, and so unencumbered as he does here." Manohla Dargis concurred in the New York Times, adding that she thought Farrell was well-matched with co-star Ewan McGregor.
Farrell's next film, Martin McDonagh's first full-length feature, In Bruges, opened the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. While The New Yorker and TimeOut London's film critics found co-star Brendan Gleeson's performance the stronger of the two, Bradshaw of The Guardian found Farrell (as hitman Ray) to be "absolutely superb: moody and funny, lethally sexy, sometimes heartbreakingly sad and vulnerable like a little boy". Farrell won his first Golden Globe Award for his performance in the film.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in Kicking It, a documentary following six homeless men from Kenya, Russia, Afghanistan, Ireland, Spain, and the US as they attempt to qualify for the Homeless World Cup. Farrell appeared on screen and provided the narration, donating his earnings to a homeless shelter in Ireland. The film was released simultaneously in theatres and on television, airing on ESPN2 in a very short window before its DVD release. Farrell received positive reviews for his involvement in the true story.
Later in 2008, Farrell starred opposite Edward Norton in Pride and Glory, a police drama directed by Gavin O'Connor. Roger Ebert disliked the film and A. O. Scott said that Farrell "once again indulges his blustery mixture of menace and charm, overdoing both," but Gregory Kirschling of Entertainment Weekly liked Farrell's work.
=== 2009–2021: Established actor ===
On 11 January 2009, Farrell won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for In Bruges, in which he co-starred with Brendan Gleeson. In the same year, he also appeared in Terry Gilliam's film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, starring Christopher Plummer and Andrew Garfield. Farrell was one of three actors (with Johnny Depp and Jude Law), who helped to complete Heath Ledger's role when Ledger died before filming ended. They played "Imaginarium" versions of Ledger's character Tony, donating their earnings to Ledger's daughter Matilda. Farrell also starred that year in Triage, directed by Oscar-winning Bosnian screenwriter and director Danis Tanović, about the life of a war correspondent. He lost 30 pounds for the role. Farrell's work was described as "dedicated" by Variety's Todd McCarthy, and Julian Sancton of Vanity Fair wrote that the film was "a hell of a lot more insightful than other movies that deal with a similar topic". However, Triage was not widely distributed due to the marketing challenges posed by its difficult topics (including PTSD). That year, Farrell played a supporting role (as Tommy Sweet) in Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges.
Another 2009 release was Ondine, a fantasy-drama directed by Neil Jordan starring Farrell as a fisherman with a disabled daughter. Shot in the village of Castletownbere on Ireland's southwest coast, it featured cinematography by longtime Wong Kar-wai collaborator Christopher Doyle. Mary Pols of Time called the role "tailor-made for Farrell", saying that Farrell gave a "beautifully confident performance". Todd McCarthy of Variety singled Farrell out, noting that he worked well as an ensemble actor "graciously allowing [child star Alison Barry] to steal every scene she's in".
The next year, Farrell starred with Keira Knightley in the crime romance London Boulevard. The film, American William Monahan's debut as director after writing screenplays for The Departed and Body of Lies, was panned by critics. Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian wrote that the film "uses up all its energy, wit and ideas in the first 20 or so minutes, before collapsing into a flurry of boring violence". Leslie Felperin of Variety described it as "like a fancy, retro-styled pocket watch that someone accidentally broke and tried to reassemble with only a vague idea of clockwork". Felperin thought the stars' work was frail, with Farrell "mostly taciturn and vacuous." He also played the role of Valka in the survival film The Way Back in 2010.
Farrell starred in the 2011 comedy Horrible Bosses, directed by Seth Gordon with Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, and his Miami Vice co-star Jamie Foxx also in the cast. The film focuses on a trio of employees who plot to murder their tyrannical bosses. The Guardian's Mark Kermode wrote that although the film would have benefited from a tighter script, Farrell and Foxx had juicy roles which they "riff with panache". Michael Phillips of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Farrell brought "massive, slobby relish" to his role as Sudeikis' cocaine-fiend boss.
Later that year, Farrell played the main antagonist in the Fright Night remake, joining Anton Yelchin, David Tennant and Toni Collette in the story of a charismatic vampire who moves next door to a high-school student and his single mother. The film was released by DreamWorks, with Craig Gillespie (of Lars and the Real Girl) directing a script by Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Marti Noxon. Sukhdev Sandhu of The Daily Telegraph wrote that Farrell "proves his comedy credentials once more....utterly seductive as the plushly eyebrowed carpenter-cum-bloodsucker", while The New York Times' A.O. Scott thought that Farrell played his role with "a wink and a snarl and a feline purr". Logan Hill of New York magazine, on the other hand, was confused by Farrell's performance: "Sure, [it] may not make much sense, but neither do centuries-old vampires living in Nevadan subdivisions. So he goes for it."
Farrell starred with Kate Beckinsale in Columbia Pictures' Total Recall, a 2012 remake of the 1990 film, playing the role originally played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was filmed from May to September 2011 in Toronto and directed by Len Wiseman. Co-star Jessica Biel appreciated Farrell's skills, calling him "surprising and exciting. He just has the ability to be trying different things all the time." Roger Ebert and The New York Times said that although they believed Farrell the better actor, Schwarzenegger in the original was "more of a movie presence and better suited for the role".
Farrell's second film with Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released in October 2012. He starred as creatively blocked writer Marty in a black comedy with Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken. The film broke even at the box office, with generally good reviews, including David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter writing that Farrell "serves as an excellent foil for Rockwell" and he "is in subdued mode... his performance largely defined by the endless expressivity of his eyebrows." That month, Farrell appeared on the cover of the magazine Details.
In March 2013, Farrell starred in Dead Man Down, a thriller directed by Niels Arden Oplev, appearing alongside Terrence Howard for the first time since Hart's War 10 years earlier. Noomi Rapace, star of Oplev's The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, starred as a facially scarred woman who blackmails Farrell's character into killing the man who disfigured her in a car crash. Reviews were mixed, with Empire magazine calling the film "a pleasingly intricate double (or is it triple?) revenge plot anchored by excellent acting" and The Hollywood Reporter saying that "[J.H.] Wyman's script and the measured pace don't lend themselves to the necessary escalating tension that would have resulted in a more rewarding climax." The New York Times' Manohla Dargis called the film a failure, but said of Farrell that "his sensitive, hardworking eyebrows help keep it from becoming a full-bore lampoon." Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News also disliked the film, writing that it contained "a lot to roll your eyes over" and that Farrell was "as stoic as a statue".
In 2014, Farrell starred in a film adaptation of Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale. The film was written and directed by Akiva Goldsman and based on Helprin's 1983 novel, and co-starred Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, Russell Crowe, and Will Smith. Farrell won the lead role over younger actors Garrett Hedlund, Tom Hiddleston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Although the film generally received negative reviews, writers such as The Village Voice's Stephanie Zacharek had nothing but praise for Farrell. She described him as "an extraordinary appealing actor" who "has always made a terrific bad boy, but ... seems to be settling into some very serious, responsible-adult roles." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle agreed, writing that Farrell "holds the movie together" and is part of "the most beautiful [love scene] so far of 2014."
His role as P. L. Travers' alcoholic father in Saving Mr. Banks received contrasting reviews, with Scott Foundras of Variety calling it "excellent" and Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter deeming it "his best work in some time"; conversely, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described his performance as "bland" and "uninspired", while Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph found Farrell miscast in the role.
Farrell starred in Liv Ullmann's adaptation of August Strindberg's Miss Julie opposite Jessica Chastain and Samantha Morton. His turn as John, the serving man to Chastain's character's father, was described by Stephen Holden of The New York Times as the "strongest" of the three performances, though Ullmann's direction was deemed too flat by most reviewers. Farrell starred in the second season of the TV series True Detective as Ray Velcoro, alongside Vince Vaughn, Taylor Kitsch, and Rachel McAdams. The first two episodes were directed by Justin Lin. He worked with a dialect coach to adopt a nonstandard Californian accent for his character, which he found challenging.
Farrell starred in The Lobster, a romantic science fiction thriller which was released in 2015 and directed by Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos in his English-language debut. Its script was awarded the ARTE International Prize for Best CineMart 2013 Project at the 42nd Rotterdam International Film Festival. Set in a dystopian near-future in which finding a partner is a matter of life and death, the film tells an unconventional love story. The film also stars Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux, and John C. Reilly. Farrell received his second Golden Globe nomination for his performance.
In 2016, Farrell starred in the Harry Potter spin-off film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; a traced version of a licensed promotional photo of Farrell from the film was subsequently used for the character Nefarian Serpine on the tenth anniversary cover of 2007's Skulduggery Pleasant, the first book in the series of the same name. In 2017, he had leading roles in the films The Beguiled, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Roman J. Israel, Esq. In 2018, he co-starred in Steve McQueen's thriller Widows, and then starred in Tim Burton's 2019 live-action fantasy Dumbo.
=== 2022–present ===
In 2022, Farrell co-starred in the film Thirteen Lives, which chronicles the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue of a Thai boys' soccer team that was trapped 2.5 miles inside the cave for eighteen days as a result of a flash-flood. The British cave divers Rick Stanton and John Volanthen participated in the rescue operation and retrieved the boys. During this production, Farrell and the other cast members did their own stunts and diving. In an interview about the film, Farrell admitted to suffering significant anxiety from the underwater work. He portrayed Oswald "Oz" Cobb / Penguin in Matt Reeves' 2022 film The Batman. He continued to portray the character in a spin-off solo series The Penguin on HBO in 2024 with his performance earning critical praise and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. Farrell will reprise the role in The Batman Part II (2027).
Also in 2022, Farrell reunited with Martin McDonagh and Brendan Gleeson for The Banshees of Inisherin, which earned Farrell a Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the 79th Venice Film Festival and a Golden Globe, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
In February 2024, it was reported that Farrell would star alongside Margot Robbie in Kogonada's film A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Filming began in April that year.
In March 2025, it was announced that Farrell was in talks to star in a film based on Sgt. Rock for Warner Bros. and DC Studios as part of their DC Universe franchise. The film is being directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. He played alongside Tilda Swinton in Edward Berger's 2025 movie Ballad of a Small Player.
== Charity work ==
In 2007, Farrell joined other celebrities as a spokesperson for the Special Olympics World Games in Shanghai. He also lent his support to the anti-bullying campaign Stand Up! organised by the Irish LGBT youth organisation BeLonG To in March 2012. Farrell, whose brother, Eamonn, is gay, had appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show two years earlier to increase awareness of the subject.
In 2015, Colin Farrell became an official Ambassador of the Homeless World Cup, which uses street football to inspire homeless people to change their lives. On August 7, 2024, he announced that he will be starting the Colin Farrell Foundation in dedication to his son James, who has Angelman syndrome. The organization provides support to adults with intellectual disabilities and their families. "This is the first time I’ve spoken about it," he said, "and obviously the only reason I’m speaking is I can’t ask James if he wants to do this."
== Personal life ==
Farrell owns homes in Dublin and Los Angeles. In 2013, he revealed that he suffers from insomnia and has suffered from occasional bouts of depression and dark thoughts.
=== Relationships and children ===
Farrell met English actress and singer Amelia Warner at the premiere of Quills in 2000. They dated from July to November 2001. There was unproven speculation that they married. Farrell said of the relationship that they were "too fast, too young". He has had relationships with American model Nicole Narain, singer Britney Spears and actresses Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Taylor, Maeve Quinlan, and Demi Moore.
He has a son, James Padraig Farrell, born on 12 September 2003, with American model Kim Bordenave. In October 2007, he said that his son has Angelman syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterised by intellectual and developmental delay, lack of speech, and an excitable demeanour.
From 2007 to 2008, Farrell dated Irish medical student Muireann McDonnell. Farrell and British-American writer Emma Forrest dated for over a year, an experience she discussed in depth in her memoir Your Voice in My Head (which mostly focused on her relationship with her therapist, who died unexpectedly). According to Forrest, she and Farrell planned to have a child together before he ended the relationship.
On 7 October 2009, Farrell's second son, Henry Tadeusz Farrell, was born to Polish actress Alicja Bachleda-Curuś (his Ondine co-star). Farrell and Bachleda-Curuś split in 2010.
=== Drug addiction and sobriety ===
Farrell said in an interview that "[He had] been drunk or high since [he] was 14." In December 2005, he checked into a rehabilitation centre for addictions to recreational drugs and painkillers. He commented on the topic during an interview on Late Show with David Letterman after leaving rehab, and continued later to talk about it. He said, "There was an energy that was created, a character that was created, that no doubt benefited me... then there was a stage where it all began to crumble around me."
Farrell has been sober since leaving the rehab centre in 2006, and has credited his sobriety to his elder son James. In 2018, he voluntarily checked himself into rehab, as a "preemptive measure", in order to maintain his sobriety.
=== Sex tape ===
In January 2006, Farrell filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, American model Nicole Narain, and the Internet Commerce Group (ICG) for the unauthorised public distribution of a 13-minute sex tape they had made in 2003. He was offered $5 million for its rights. While ICG tried to release it, Narain said that she would work with Farrell to ensure that the tape remained private. Farrell said she tried to release it to damage his acting career and "make money out of it", which Narain denied. On 16 April 2006, they reached a confidential settlement; Farrell's lawsuit against ICG continued with a trial date of 21 July 2006, and was eventually settled amicably.
== Acting credits and awards == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megadeth | Megadeth | Megadeth is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—along with Slayer, Anthrax, and Metallica—and is credited with helping to develop and popularize the genre. Their music features intricate arrangements, fast rhythm sections, dual lead guitars, and lyrical themes such as war, conflicts, politics, religion, death, and personal relationships.
In 1985, Megadeth released their debut album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, on the independent record label Combat Records, to moderate success. It caught the attention of bigger labels, which led to Combat Records selling their contract to Capitol Records. Their first major-label album, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, was released in 1986 and was a major hit with the underground metal scene. Band members' substance abuse issues and personal disputes had brought Megadeth negative publicity during the late 1980s. Nonetheless, the band went on to release a number of platinum-selling albums, including So Far, So Good... So What! (1988), Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), and Youthanasia (1994). These albums, along with worldwide tours, brought them public recognition. Megadeth's most recent (and final) studio album, Megadeth, was released in 2026. Mustaine announced that, after the album's supporting tour concludes, Megadeth will disband.
Megadeth has undergone frequent lineup changes throughout its 42-year career, with Mustaine being the sole consistent member of the band. The band temporarily disbanded in 2002 when Mustaine suffered an arm injury and re-established in 2004 without longtime bassist David Ellefson, who had taken legal action against Mustaine. Ellefson settled out of court and rejoined the band in 2010, but was fired in 2021 amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Megadeth's current lineup includes Mustaine, bassist James LoMenzo, guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari and drummer Dirk Verbeuren.
Megadeth earned platinum certifications in the United States for five of its seventeen studio albums, and has received twelve Grammy nominations. Megadeth won its first Grammy Award in 2017 for the song "Dystopia" in the Best Metal Performance category. The band's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, regularly appears on album artwork and live shows. Megadeth hosted their own music festival, Gigantour, several times from July 2005 to August 2013, and held its first MegaCruise in October 2019.
== History ==
=== 1983–1985: Formation and Killing Is My Business ===
On April 11, 1983, Dave Mustaine was dismissed from Metallica before the band recorded their debut album Kill 'Em All due to substance abuse and personal conflicts with James Hetfield kicking his dog. As Metallica's lead guitarist since 1981, Mustaine had composed some of the group's early songs and helped hone the band into a tight live unit. Afterward, Mustaine vowed revenge by forming a band that was faster and heavier than Metallica. On the bus trip back to Los Angeles, Mustaine found a pamphlet by California senator Alan Cranston that read: "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to." The term "Megadeath" stuck with Mustaine and he wrote a song with that title with the spelling slightly changed to Megadeth, which, according to Mustaine, represented the annihilation of power.
After arriving back in Los Angeles, Mustaine began the search for new bandmates for his band. He formed the band Fallen Angels, which included Lor Kane on vocals, Robby McKinney on guitar and Matt Kisselstein on bass, in April 1983. According to Mustaine, McKinney was "a great guitar player, but he wasn't the right fit." The first Megadeth drummer Dijon Carruthers also joined around this time. Ellefson said of Carruthers that he was a fan of the drummers Les Binks and Cozy Powell. The band's name was changed to Megadeth on Kane's recommendation. As the founder, Mustaine added his new neighbors David Ellefson and Greg Handevidt to the band, who had moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles and played bass and guitar, respectively. A demo was recorded by the lineup, which had expanded to include Richard Girod on drums. The band realized that they would have to retool some of the songs following the release of Metallica's debut album, in July 1983, with "Mechanix" being the only Metallica-era song on Megadeth's debut album. Megadeth songs from the summer of 1983 included "No Time", which, according to a zine article by Brian Lew, had "anti-nuclear lyrics", while "Self Destruct" was a song about a girl whose father buried her alive, believing that she was a witch. Other songs that the band played included "Hair Pin Trigger", "Speak No Evil", "Eye for Eye" and "Heaven Knows". "Speak No Evil" was the original title of "Looking Down the Cross." Other songs that Megadeth played include “When Hell Freezes Over", "The Gambler", "Head Lock", "You Know Where to Go", as well as "Chose (sic) Your Master." One of the songs written by John Cyriis, who was briefly their singer, was called "Into the Abyss".
While Handevidt would only last a few months, Mustaine and Ellefson formed a tight musical bond. Despite his enthusiasm, Mustaine had trouble finding other members to fill out the lineup. He and Ellefson auditioned about 15 drummers, hoping to find one who understood meter changes in music. After playing with Carruthers (who had rejoined the band in the fall) and Girod, they selected Lee Rauch in late 1983.
Singers who temporarily joined the band included Billy Bonds and Cyriis, who would found Agent Steel after his firing from Megadeth. Cyriis joined the band after Carruthers persuaded his other bandmates. Following six months of trying to find a lead singer, Mustaine decided to perform lead vocals himself.
In 1984, Megadeth recorded a three-song demo tape featuring Mustaine, Ellefson and Rauch. The demo tape, Last Rites, was released on March 9, 1984. It featured early versions of "Last Rites/Loved to Death", "The Skull Beneath the Skin" and "Mechanix", all of which appeared on the band's debut album.
The band was unable to find a compatible second guitarist. Slayer's Kerry King filled in on rhythm guitar for several shows in the San Francisco area in 1984, starting with the debut gig on February 17 at Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley, California, as well as a gig at The Keystone in Berkeley that April, and would play five shows in total with the band. King went back to Slayer and Rauch was briefly replaced with Minnesota drummer Brett Frederickson, with whom Ellefson had previously played. Jazz fusion drummer Gar Samuelson joined the band in late 1984 and the band played a few gigs as a three piece band, with Samuelson officially joining Megadeth on October 24, 1984. Samuelson had previously been in the jazz band The New Yorkers with guitarist Chris Poland. After seeing Samuelson perform with Megadeth as a trio, Poland went backstage and suggested an impromptu audition as lead guitarist for the band; he joined Megadeth in December 1984.
After considering several labels, Mustaine signed the band to Combat Records, a New York-based Independent record label that offered Megadeth the highest budget to record and tour. In 1985, Combat Records gave the band $8,000 to record and produce its debut album. After spending the entire budget on drugs, alcohol and food, the band fired the original producer and, the label gave an additional $4,000 and they finished the recording themselves.
Despite its low-fidelity sound, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! was relatively successful in underground metal circles and attracted major-label interest. The band was calling itself State Of The Art Speed Metal. Music writer Joel McIver praised its "blistering technicality" and stated that the album "raised the bar for the whole thrash metal scene, with guitarists forced to perform even more accurately and powerfully". The front cover marked the debut of band mascot Vic Rattlehead, who regularly appeared on subsequent album artwork.
Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! features "Mechanix", a song Mustaine wrote during his time with Metallica. Though Mustaine told the band after his dismissal not to use the music he had written, Metallica recorded a different version of the song, "The Four Horsemen", with a slower tempo and a melodic middle section. The album also included a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' ", at a faster tempo and with altered lyrics. Megadeth's version generated controversy during the 1990s, when its writer, Lee Hazlewood, called Mustaine's changes "vile and offensive". Under threat of legal action, the song was removed from pressings released from 1995 to 2001.
In mid-1985, on a bill with Canadian speed metal band Exciter, Megadeth played its first North American tour: the Killing for a Living Tour. Guitarist Mike Albert replaced Poland, who was battling drug addiction. Although Albert was originally supposed to be a permanent replacement, Poland rejoined Megadeth in October 1985, shortly before the group began recording its second album for Combat.
=== 1986–1987: Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? ===
According to Mustaine, Megadeth was under pressure to deliver another successful album: "That sophomore offering is the 'be-all or end-all' of any band. You either go to the next level, or it's the beginning of the nadir." Mustaine composed the music for the album, with the other members adding arrangement ideas.
The album was produced on a $25,000 budget from Combat Records. Dissatisfied with its financial limitations, the band left Combat and signed with Capitol Records. Capitol bought the rights to the album, and hired producer Paul Lani to remix the earlier recordings. Released in late 1986, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? has clearer production and more sophisticated songwriting. Mustaine wanted to write socially conscious lyrics, unlike mainstream heavy metal bands who sang about "hedonistic pleasures". The album was noted for its political commentary and helped Megadeth expand its fanbase. The title track was the album's second single, and was accompanied by a music video that received regular airplay on MTV.
In February 1987, Megadeth was the opening act on Alice Cooper's Constrictor tour, and the following month began its first headlining world tour in the United Kingdom. The 72-week tour was supported by Overkill and Necros, and continued in the United States. During the tour, Mustaine and Ellefson considered firing Samuelson for his drug abuse. According to Mustaine, Samuelson had become too much to handle when intoxicated. Drummer Chuck Behler traveled with Megadeth for the last dates of the tour as the other band members feared Samuelson would not be able to continue. Poland quarreled with Mustaine, and was accused of selling band equipment to buy heroin. As a result, Samuelson and Poland were asked to leave Megadeth in 1987, with Behler becoming the band's full-time drummer.
Poland was initially replaced by Jay Reynolds of Malice, but as the band began working on its next record, Reynolds was replaced by his guitar teacher, Jeff Young, when Megadeth was six weeks into the recording of its third album.
=== 1988–1989: So Far, So Good... So What! ===
With a major-label budget, the Paul Lani-produced So Far, So Good... So What! took over five months to record. The production was plagued with problems, partially due to Mustaine's struggle with drug addiction. Mustaine later said: "The production of So Far, So Good... So What! was horrible, mostly due to substances and the priorities we had or didn't have at the time." Mustaine clashed with Lani, beginning with Lani's insistence that the drums be recorded separately from the cymbals, an unheard-of process for rock drummers. Mustaine and Lani became estranged during the mixing, and Lani was replaced by Michael Wagener, who remixed the album.
So Far, So Good... So What! was released in January 1988 and was well received by fans and critics. The album featured a cover version of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."; Mustaine changed the lyrics, later admitting that he had simply heard them incorrectly. To support the album, Megadeth embarked on a world tour that lasted for nearly eight months. The band (along with Savatage) opened for Dio on their Dream Evil tour and supported Iron Maiden on their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour, both in the United States. They also headlined a North American tour with Warlock and Sanctuary (whose debut album Refuge Denied was produced by Mustaine), and a European trek with Testament, Nuclear Assault, Flotsam and Jetsam and Sanctuary.
In June 1988, Megadeth appeared in Penelope Spheeris' documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. The documentary chronicled the Los Angeles heavy metal scene of the late 1980s, and Spheeris, who had directed Megadeth in the video for "Wake Up Dead", decided to include them to feature a more serious band in contrast to the glam metal groups. Mustaine remembered the film as a disappointment, as it aligned Megadeth with "a bunch of shit bands".
In August, the band appeared at the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington in the United Kingdom, performing to an audience of more than 100,000. One show featured a guest appearance by Metallica drummer (and Mustaine's former bandmate) Lars Ulrich. The band was added to the Monsters of Rock European tour, but left after the first show due to Ellefson's drug problems, for which he was treated immediately. Megadeth was replaced by Testament. Behler rehearsed various Rust in Peace tracks with Ellefson and Mustaine in 1989, including "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Rust in Peace... Polaris".
Shortly after the Monsters of Rock appearance, Mustaine fired Behler and Young and canceled Megadeth's Australian tour. "On the road, things escalated from a small border skirmish into a full-on raging war," Mustaine later recalled. "I think a lot of us were inconsistent because of [drugs]." During the tour, Mustaine noticed problems developing with Behler and brought in drummer Nick Menza as Behler's drum technician. As with Samuelson, Menza was expected to take over if Behler could not continue the tour. Menza replaced Behler in 1989. Young's dismissal resulted from Mustaine's suspicions that he was having an affair with Mustaine's then-girlfriend, an allegation Young denied.
The band was unable to quickly find a suitable replacement for Young. Although 1989 marked the first time since its inception that Megadeth did not tour nor perform at least one show, they recorded a cover version of Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" which appeared on the soundtrack to the Wes Craven horror movie Shocker. The video was directed by Penelope Spheeris, who recalled the filming as a "Herculean task" as Mustaine was unable to play guitar because of his drug addiction. During the March 1989 auditions for a new lead guitarist, Mustaine was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of narcotics after crashing into a parked vehicle occupied by an off-duty police officer. Mustaine entered court-ordered drug rehabilitation shortly afterwards, and became drug-free for the first time in ten years.
=== 1990–1991: Rust in Peace ===
With Mustaine sober, Megadeth continued searching for a new lead guitarist. Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash had been jamming with Mustaine and Ellefson, and although it seemed that he might join Megadeth, he remained with Guns N' Roses. Diamond Darrell of Pantera was offered the job, but the deal fell through after Mustaine refused his request to recruit his brother, Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul, as he had already hired Menza. The offer was also extended to Criss Oliva who also declined as he did not want to leave Savatage. Jeff Loomis, who would later go on to form progressive metal titans Nevermore, also auditioned though Mustaine deemed him too young to join as Loomis was only 18 at the time. Mustaine and Menza played demos of the Rust in Peace album with former guitarist Chris Poland, but he chose not to rejoin the band.
Marty Friedman filled the guitarist position at the recommendation of Ron Laffitte, a member of Capitol management. Laffitte had heard Dragon's Kiss, a solo recording by Friedman when he was in Cacophony. Mustaine and Ellefson were satisfied with Friedman's style and thought that he understood Megadeth's music. With Friedman in the group, the band completed what fans consider the definitive Megadeth lineup. The revitalized band entered the studio at Rumbo Recorders in March 1990 with co-producer Mike Clink to begin Megadeth's most critically acclaimed album, Rust in Peace. Clink was the first producer to complete a Megadeth album without being fired. Its recording was documented in Rusted Pieces, a home video released in 1991 with six music videos and an interview with the band.
Released in September 1990, Rust in Peace debuted at number 23 in the United States and number eight in the United Kingdom. Mustaine had developed a writing style with a rhythmically complex, progressive edge, and the songs featured longer guitar solos and frequent tempo changes. Described as a genre-defining work by Decibel, the album solidified Megadeth's reputation in the music industry. It features the singles "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18", both of which were accompanied by music videos and became live staples. Rust in Peace received a Grammy nomination in 1991 for Best Metal Performance, and was the group's third platinum album, certified in December 1994.
Early in 1990, Megadeth joined Slayer, Testament and Suicidal Tendencies for the successful European Clash of the Titans tour, featuring several American thrash metal bands. An American leg began the following year featuring Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax, with Alice in Chains as a supporting act. The tour was considered a multi-headliner, as the three main bands alternated time slots. In addition to the Clash of the Titans tour, Megadeth (along with Testament) supported Judas Priest on their Painkiller tour in North America late in 1990 and appeared at the second Rock in Rio festival in January 1991. In July 1991 the song "Go to Hell" was featured in the film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and on its soundtrack.
=== 1992–1993: Countdown to Extinction ===
The music for Megadeth's fifth studio album was written in two different sessions. The first session occurred after the conclusion of the Clash of the Titans tour, while the second session happened in the fall of 1991 following a one-month break. Recording sessions for the album began in January 1992 at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California. Max Norman was chosen to produce, as the band was pleased with his mixing of Rust in Peace. Megadeth spent nearly four months in the studio with Norman, writing and recording what became the band's most commercially successful album, Countdown to Extinction. The album, whose title was suggested by Menza, features songwriting contributions from each band member. Ellefson explained that the band changed its approach to songwriting for this album, beginning to write more melodic songs.
Released in July 1992, Countdown to Extinction entered the Billboard 200 chart at number two and was certified double platinum in the United States. It received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards, and its title track won a Genesis Award from the Humane Society in 1993 for raising awareness for animal rights issues. Ellefson later said that he and Friedman were disappointed that Megadeth did not win the Grammy: "It was such a bizarre moment, because it was as if the amount of work it had taken to ramp up to that hopeful night was literally gone in a second."
A world tour in support of the album was launched in late 1992, with Pantera and White Zombie as supporting acts. The tour included a North American leg in early 1993, with Stone Temple Pilots as the opening act. One month into the leg, the remaining shows, including dates in Japan, were canceled when Mustaine returned to substance abuse, ending up in a hospital emergency room. After seven weeks in rehab, Mustaine emerged sober again and the band returned to the studio to record "Angry Again". The song is featured on the soundtrack of the 1993 film Last Action Hero and received a Grammy nomination in 1994.
During mid-1993, Megadeth performed at a number of shows with Metallica in Europe. The first was at Milton Keynes Bowl in England, and included Diamond Head. In July, Megadeth was added as the opening act for Aerosmith's Get a Grip Tour, but was removed from the bill after three shows. Aerosmith said that Megadeth was "dumped" because of Mustaine's erratic behavior, while Capitol Records said it was due to "artistic restrictions". After the canceled US tour, Megadeth returned to the studio to record "99 Ways to Die", which appeared on The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience, a compilation album released in November featuring songs interspersed with commentary by the main characters of the animated series Beavis and Butt-Head. The song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards. During these sessions, Megadeth recorded a cover version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", which appeared on the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black; it was nominated for a Grammy the following year.
=== 1994–1995: Youthanasia ===
In early 1994, Megadeth reunited with producer Max Norman for the follow-up to Countdown to Extinction. With three band members living in Arizona, initial work began at Phase Four Studios in Phoenix. A few days into pre-production, problems with Phase Four's equipment forced the band to look for another studio. Mustaine insisted on recording in Arizona, but no suitable recording facility could be found. At Norman's request, the band built its own recording studio in Phoenix in a rented warehouse, later called "Fat Planet in Hangar 18". During the studio's construction, much of the pre-production songwriting and arrangements were done at Vintage Recorders in Phoenix. At Norman's suggestion, the tracks on Youthanasia had a slower tempo than previous albums, at about 120 beats per minute. The band abandoned the progressive approach from its previous albums and focused on stronger vocal melodies and more accessible, radio-friendly arrangements. For the first time, Megadeth wrote and arranged the entire album in the studio, including basic tracks recorded live by the entire band. The album's recording was video recorded and released as Evolver: The Making of Youthanasia in 1995.
On October 1, 1994, as part of the album's promotional efforts, the band launched Megadeth, Arizona, which is considered the very first official artist website ever. It was conceived by Capitol's sales director Robin Bechtel with help from designer Wendy Dougan and copywriter Jane Bogart on a total budget of $30,000 granted by Capitol. Megadeth, Arizona was conceived as "a virtual cybertown in cyberspace". It featured a chat room (Megadiner), news about the band (Horrorscopes), digital postcards and other types of content.
After eight months of studio work, Youthanasia was released in November 1994. It debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and charted in several European countries. The album was certified gold in Canada the day it was released, and was certified platinum in the US two months later. Megadeth hired fashion photographer Richard Avedon to enhance the band's image. Avedon had the band members exchange their jeans and T-shirts for a more conscious appearance. To promote Youthanasia, the band played a Halloween show in New York City called "Night of the Living Megadeth", which was broadcast live on MTV. In November, the band performed twice on the Late Show with David Letterman, playing "Train of Consequences" on the first appearance and "A Tout le Monde" on the second.
An eleven-month tour began in South America in November 1994. In 1995, Megadeth played in Europe and North America with several opening acts, including Corrosion of Conformity, Korn and Fear Factory. The tour culminated with an appearance at the Monsters of Rock festival in Brazil, co-headlining with Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne. In January 1995, Megadeth appeared on the soundtrack of the horror movie Demon Knight with the song "Diadems". In July, Megadeth released Hidden Treasures, an extended play featuring songs which originally appeared on movie soundtracks and tribute albums.
=== 1996–1999: Cryptic Writings and Risk ===
After completing the extensive world tour in support of Youthanasia, Megadeth took time off in most of 1996 and nearly broke up. During this period, Mustaine began work on MD.45, a side project with vocalist Lee Ving of Fear. The majority of the songs on the album were intended for Megadeth, but due to the band almost disbanding, Mustaine decided to use them for MD.45 instead. The duo hired drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, who had played with Alice Cooper on the South American Monsters of Rock tour earlier that year. Marty Friedman built a studio in his new home in Phoenix and completed his fourth solo album, released in April 1996.
In September 1996, Megadeth went to London to work on songs for the next album. The songwriting was closely supervised by new manager Bud Prager, who contributed musical ideas and lyrics; many lyrics and song titles were changed at his request. Regarding Prager's influence, Mustaine later wrote: "I figured maybe this guy [Prager] could help me get that intangible number one record I so badly wanted." The album, recorded in Nashville, was Megadeth's first collaboration with country pop producer Dann Huff, who had met Mustaine in 1990.
Cryptic Writings was released in June 1997. The album peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200, and was eventually certified gold in the United States. Its lead single, "Trust", became Megadeth's highest charting song on the Mainstream Rock Tracks at number five, and was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards. Although all four singles from the album entered the top 20 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, press response to the album was mixed. The album featured a diverse set of songs which the Los Angeles Times described as a "rousing balance" between older material and experimental songs. Asked about the album's eclecticism, Mustaine said that Cryptic Writings was divided into thirds. One part was based around faster, more aggressive material, another was "radio-orientated music like Youthanasia", and the final third was more melodic.
After more than a year since the band's last concert, Megadeth returned as a live act in June 1997, beginning a world tour with the Misfits and touring in the United States with Life of Agony and Coal Chamber. In July, the band participated in Ozzfest '98 but, halfway through the tour, Menza reportedly discovered a tumor on his knee and left to undergo surgery. Jimmy DeGrasso, who had collaborated with Mustaine in MD.45, was hired to replace Menza for the remainder of the tour. Though initially meant to be a temporary replacement, DeGrasso joined the band permanently after the tour. Mustaine later said that he dismissed Menza from the band because he believed the drummer had lied about having cancer.
Following the band's mainstream radio success with Cryptic Writings, Megadeth again worked with Dann Huff on its eighth studio album. The band began writing in January 1999, supervised by manager Bud Prager, who was credited with co-writing five of the album's twelve songs. With high expectations following the chart success of "Trust", Prager convinced Mustaine to grant Huff even more control over the album's recording, a decision Mustaine later regretted.
Risk, released in August 1999, was a critical and commercial failure and led to backlash from many longtime fans. Although its two predecessors incorporated rock elements alongside a more traditional heavy metal sound, Risk was virtually devoid of metal. About the band's musical direction, Dave Mustaine said: "We hit the nadir of our career with Risk, and I vowed after that we were going to get back to our roots. It took a little bit of time to do that." Risk was certified gold in the United States. The album's lead single, "Crush 'Em", appeared on the soundtrack for Universal Soldier: The Return and was used as an entrance theme for NHL hockey games and professional wrestling events.
On July 14, 1999, former drummer Gar Samuelson died of liver failure at age 41 in Orange City, Florida. Eleven days later, during Megadeth's performance at Woodstock 1999, Mustaine dedicated "Peace Sells" to Samuelson's memory. That month, Megadeth also recorded a cover version of the Black Sabbath's "Never Say Die" for the second Nativity in Black tribute album. The band began a world tour in support of Risk in September, playing with Iron Maiden during the European leg. Three months into the tour, Friedman announced his resignation from Megadeth, citing musical differences. Mustaine later said: "I told [Marty] after Risk that we had to go back to our roots and play metal, and he quit."
=== 2000–2002: The World Needs a Hero, breakup, and hiatus ===
In January 2000, guitarist Al Pitrelli, formerly of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, became Friedman's replacement. Megadeth returned to the studio in April to work on its ninth studio album. A month into production, the band received an offer to join the Maximum Rock tour with Anthrax and Mötley Crüe. Megadeth put the recording on hold and toured North America during the second quarter of 2000. Early in the tour, Anthrax was removed from the bill, allowing Megadeth to play an extended co-headlining set. The tour, however, suffered from poor ticket sales.
After 15 years with Capitol Records, Megadeth left the label in July 2000. According to Mustaine, the departure was due to ongoing tensions with Capitol management. Capitol returned the band's newest recordings and released a greatest hits album, Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, with two new tracks: "Kill the King" and "Dread and the Fugitive Mind". In November, Megadeth signed with Sanctuary Records. The band returned to the studio in October to finish its next album, The World Needs a Hero, which was near completion when Megadeth joined the Maximum Rock tour six months earlier. Following the negative response to Risk, Mustaine fired Bud Prager and produced the album himself. The songs were written by Mustaine alone, except for "Promises", which had contributions from Pitrelli. Two days before the release of The World Needs a Hero, Megadeth appeared in an episode of VH1's Behind the Music showcasing Mustaine, Ellefson, several past members, and Mustaine's old Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
The World Needs a Hero was released in May 2001 and debuted at number sixteen on the Billboard 200. It was banned in Malaysia when the national government determined that the album's artwork was "unsuitable for the nation's youth". Consequently, the band canceled its concert of August 2 in Kuala Lumpur. The album marked Megadeth's return to a more aggressive sound after the stylistic variations of its previous two albums, but critics felt it fell short of expectations. Mustaine compared the album to a huge ship at sea, turning and trying to right itself to get back on course. Its lead single, "Moto Psycho", reached number 22 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
A European tour with AC/DC in support of The World Needs a Hero began in mid-2001, followed by an American tour with Iced Earth and Endo in September. Mustaine allowed fans to choose the setlist in each American city. However, the tour was cut short following the September 11 attacks; all dates were canceled, including a DVD shoot in Argentina. The band instead played two shows in Arizona on November 16 and 17, which were filmed and released as Megadeth's first live release, Rude Awakening. That year, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! was remixed and remastered; the reissue featured modified artwork and several bonus tracks.
In January 2002, Mustaine was hospitalized for the removal of a kidney stone and was administered pain medication that triggered a relapse of his drug addiction. Following his stay, Mustaine checked himself into a treatment center in Texas. While there, Mustaine fell asleep with his left arm over the back of a chair, causing compression of the radial nerve. He was subsequently diagnosed with radial neuropathy, which left him unable to grasp or make a fist with his left hand.
On April 3, Mustaine announced in a press release that he was disbanding Megadeth, as his arm injury rendered him unable to play guitar. For the next four months, he had physical therapy five days a week, and slowly began to "re-teach" his left hand. To fulfill contract obligations to Sanctuary, Megadeth released the compilation album Still Alive... and Well?. The first half of the album contains live tracks recorded at the Web Theatre in Phoenix, and the second half has studio recordings from The World Needs a Hero.
Following nearly a year of recovery, including physical therapy, Mustaine began work on what was to have been his first solo album. The recording sessions for the new material, with Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, began in October 2003 and were completed in April 2004. The project was put on hold when Mustaine agreed to remix and remaster Megadeth's eight-album back catalog on Capitol Records, re-recording portions that were missing.
=== 2004–2005: Reformation and The System Has Failed ===
In May 2004, Mustaine returned to his solo project. Contractual obligations to the band's European label, EMI, resulted in the recording's release as a Megadeth album. Mustaine reformed the band and contacted the fan-favorite Rust in Peace lineup to re-record backing tracks. While drummer Nick Menza agreed to return, both Marty Friedman and David Ellefson were unable to come to an agreement with Mustaine. Menza was sent home shortly after rehearsals began, a few days before the start of a tour supporting Megadeth's upcoming album. Mustaine said Menza was insufficiently prepared for the physical demands of a US tour, and "it just didn't work out". This was the first album without Ellefson. Chris Poland, who played lead guitar on Megadeth's first two albums, was hired to contribute guitar solos to the new album, working with Mustaine for the first time since the 1990s. Poland opted to serve only as a session musician, wanting to remain focused on his jazz fusion project OHM.
The System Has Failed was released in September 2004. Critics heralded it as a return to form; Revolver gave the album a favorable review, calling it "Megadeth's most vengeful, poignant and musically complex offering since 1992's Countdown to Extinction". The album marked a shift toward the band's earlier sound; journalist Amy Sciarretto of CMJ New Music Report wrote that the album contained "neo-thrash riffing with biting, politically charged lyrics". The System Has Failed debuted at number eighteen on the Billboard 200 and was led by "Die Dead Enough", which reached number 21 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Mustaine announced that the album would be the band's last and would be followed by a farewell tour, after which he would focus on a solo career.
Megadeth began the Blackmail the Universe world tour in October, enlisting touring bassist James MacDonough of Iced Earth and guitarist Glen Drover of Eidolon and King Diamond. Five days before the first show, Menza was replaced by Shawn Drover, who remained with the band as a regular member. The band toured the US with Exodus and Europe with Diamond Head and Dungeon. In June 2005, Capitol released a greatest-hits compilation, Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, featuring remixed and remastered versions of songs chosen by fans from Megadeth's Capitol albums.
In mid-2005, Mustaine organized an annual thrash metal festival tour, Gigantour. Megadeth headlined the inaugural tour with acts such as Dream Theater, Nevermore, Anthrax and Fear Factory. Performances at the Montreal and Vancouver shows were filmed and recorded for a live DVD-and-CD set released in the second quarter of 2006. On October 9, following the successes of The System Has Failed and the Blackmail the Universe world tour, Mustaine announced to a sold-out crowd at the Pepsi Music Rock Festival in Argentina that Megadeth would continue to record and tour. The concert, held at Obras Sanitarias stadium in Buenos Aires in front of 25,000 fans, was filmed and released on DVD as That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires in 2007.
=== 2006–2008: United Abominations ===
In February 2006, bassist James MacDonough left the band over "personal differences". He was replaced by James LoMenzo, who had worked with David Lee Roth, White Lion and Black Label Society. The new Megadeth lineup made its live debut headlining the Dubai Desert Rock Festival in the United Arab Emirates with Testament. In March, Capitol released a two-disc DVD, Arsenal of Megadeth, which included archive footage, interviews, live shows, and many of the band's music videos. Due to licensing issues, soundtrack and non-Capitol videos were not included. The second Gigantour began during the third quarter of 2006; Megadeth again headlined, this time with Lamb of God, Opeth, Arch Enemy and Overkill. The 2006 tour included three dates in Australia, supported by Soulfly, Arch Enemy and Caliban.
In May 2006, Megadeth announced that its eleventh studio album, United Abominations, was near completion. Originally scheduled for release in October, Mustaine said that the band was "putting the finishing touches on it" and postponed its release to May of the following year. He commented on the release: "Metal needs a really good old-school record again. I believe I have delivered." United Abominations was the band's first album to feature Glen Drover, Shawn Drover and James LoMenzo. It also has a newer version of "A Tout le Monde" entitled "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)". The 2007 version is a duet with Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil; it was recorded at a slightly faster tempo than the original and contains an extended solo.
Released in May 2007, United Abominations debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 54,000 copies in the first week. In March, Megadeth began a North American tour opening for the newly reformed Heaven & Hell. The band played with Down for Canadian shows and with Machine Head for the US dates. A European summer festival tour followed. Late in the year, Megadeth returned to the United States to headline its Tour of Duty. In November, the band brought Gigantour to Australia with a lineup including Static-X, DevilDriver and Lacuna Coil.
In January 2008, Glen Drover quit Megadeth, stating that he was tired of the frequent touring and wanted to spend more time with his family. He also cited personal issues with other band members. Drover was replaced by Chris Broderick, formerly of Nevermore and Jag Panzer. Broderick was initially asked by Mustaine's management company at the end of 2007 if he would be interested in auditioning for Megadeth. After an informal meeting at Mustaine's house, Broderick was introduced as the band's new guitarist. Mustaine complimented Broderick's playing skills and called him "the best guitarist Megadeth has ever had". Broderick's former Nevermore bandmate, Van Williams, congratulated Megadeth on "getting one hell of a good player, more importantly they're getting a great guy to hang out with and a true friend".
The new lineup made its live debut at the Helsinki Ice Hall on February 4. The 2008 Gigantour, with 29 North American dates, began shortly afterwards. Mustaine wanted a shorter lineup, allowing each band a chance to perform well. The third tour featured In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy and High on Fire. Megadeth continued the Tour of Duty in South America and Mexico in May and June. A compilation album, Anthology: Set the World Afire, was released in September 2008.
=== 2009–2010: Endgame and Ellefson's return ===
In February 2009, Megadeth and Testament were scheduled on the European "Priest Feast" tour, with Judas Priest as headliners. At this time, Metallica, who had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, invited Mustaine to attend the ceremony. Mustaine was informed that he would not be inducted to the Hall of Fame because such honors were granted only to those members who received recording credit on a Metallica album. Mustaine congratulated the group respectfully, and honored his commitment to the European tour with Judas Priest. In April, Megadeth and Slayer co-headlined the Canadian Carnage. This was the first time they had performed together in more than 15 years. Machine Head and Suicide Silence opened for the four shows that occurred later in June.
In May, Megadeth finished recording its twelfth album, Endgame. The release date for Endgame was announced on the Megadeth official website, and Metal Hammer was the first to review the album track-by-track. Megadeth began its Endgame tour in October, and finished it in December. The tour featured a number of supporting acts, including Machine Head, Suicide Silence, and Warbringer. In January 2010, Megadeth was set to embark on the American Carnage tour with Slayer and Testament, but the tour was postponed due to Tom Araya's back surgery. Several weeks later, Megadeth's "Head Crusher" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards, the band's eighth Grammy nomination in 19 years.
In March, Megadeth embarked on the Rust in Peace 20th Anniversary Tour, which took place in North America and had support from Testament and Exodus. During the tour, Megadeth played Rust in Peace in its entirety. Prior to the start of the tour, early bassist David Ellefson rejoined Megadeth after eight years. In an interview for Classic Rock, he stated that Shawn Drover contacted him, informing him that bassist LoMenzo was leaving the band, saying "if ever there was a time for you and Dave [Mustaine] to talk, now is it".
Megadeth, along with Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, collectively known as the "big four" of thrash metal, agreed to perform on the same bill during mid-2010. These performances were part of the Sonisphere Festival and were held in a number of European countries. One such performance in Sofia, Bulgaria, was filmed and released as a full-length video entitled The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. These shows continued the following year in the United States. The first took place in Indio, California, and was the only scheduled show in the United States at the time, although a second American production was held at Yankee Stadium in New York City shortly afterwards.
In July 2010, after the European "big four" shows, Megadeth and Slayer commenced the first leg of the American Carnage Tour, where Megadeth played Rust in Peace in its entirety, while Slayer performed its album Seasons in the Abyss, both of which were released in 1990. From these shows onward, Vic Rattlehead started making sustained onstage appearances, to improve the visual facet of Megadeth's live performances. Shortly afterward, the two bands united with Anthrax for the Jägermeister Music Tour in late 2010. During the final show of the tour, Kerry King joined Megadeth on stage at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Hollywood to perform Megadeth's "Rattlehead". It was the first time that King had performed onstage with Megadeth since 1984. Megadeth and Slayer again shared the stage for the European Carnage Tour in March and April 2011. Megadeth also headlined the fourth annual Rockstar Mayhem Festival in July and August the same year.
In September, the band released the DVD album Rust in Peace Live, recorded at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. Later that month, Megadeth released "Sudden Death" for the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The song was commissioned by the publishers of the Guitar Hero franchise, who wanted the track to feature dark lyrics and multiple guitar solos. It was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2011 Grammy ceremony.
=== 2011–2014: Thirteen and Super Collider ===
Megadeth returned to its own Vic's Garage studio in 2011 to record its thirteenth album, to be produced by Johnny K, because Andy Sneap, the producer of Megadeth's previous two albums, was unavailable. The album was titled Thirteen and featured previously released tracks such as "Sudden Death" and "Never Dead". The album was released in November 2011, and charted at number eleven on the Billboard 200; its lead single "Public Enemy No. 1" received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, but did not win. Shortly after the album was released, Dave Mustaine stated that, after a four-year hiatus, there would be a new Gigantour tour in early 2012. The lineup consisted of Motörhead, Volbeat, and Lacuna Coil alongside Megadeth. After the conclusion of Gigantour, Rob Zombie and Megadeth embarked on a nine-date co-headlining US tour in the summer of 2012.
In September 2012, it was announced that Megadeth would re-release Countdown to Extinction in honor of the album's 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Megadeth launched a tour in which the band performed the album live in its entirety. One performance, filmed at the Pomona Fox Theater, was released as a live album, Countdown to Extinction: Live, the following year. Another track from Thirteen, "Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)", was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2013 Grammy Awards, but lost to Halestorm's "Love Bites (So Do I)".
In August, Megadeth announced the recording of its fourteenth album with producer Johnny K. At the start of 2013, Megadeth left Roadrunner Records for Mustaine's newly founded label, Tradecraft, distributed through Universal Music Group. The album, Super Collider, was released in June and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, the band's highest chart position since 1994's Youthanasia. Critical reaction to the album, however, was mixed, with criticism directed towards the album's deviation from the band's traditional metal sound. Shortly after the release of Super Collider, Mustaine stated that he had already started thinking about a fifteenth Megadeth album. He said this had been spurred by the death of Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, which gave him a sense of mortality. Mustaine elaborated: "You know, time is short. Nobody knows how long they're gonna live. You see what happened with Jeff Hanneman, so I wanna write as much as I can while I can."
The 2013 edition of Gigantour featured Black Label Society, Hellyeah, Device, and Newsted as opening bands. At the final show, Jason Newsted, Metallica's former bassist, joined Megadeth onstage to perform "Phantom Lord", a song Mustaine had co-written during his stint with Metallica. Early in 2014, Megadeth was slated to play the Soundwave festival in Australia, but pulled out over a disagreement with tour promoter A. J. Maddah concerning the band's sideshows with Newsted. Icon, an eleven-song compilation of Megadeth's Capitol-era material, was released as part of Universal Music's Icon series in February.
Megadeth encountered several setbacks throughout 2014. After Ellefson's brother died of cancer in May, the band cancelled its June tour dates to allow him to mourn. A planned August concert in Tel Aviv was canceled due to an armed conflict between Israel and Gaza. Megadeth was scheduled to appear on Motörhead's Motörboat cruise in late September, but withdrew because of Mustaine's complications following his cervical spine surgery. In October, Mustaine's mother-in-law, who suffered from Alzheimer's, went missing from a campground; her remains were discovered in late November. That same month, Drover quit the band after ten years, wanting to pursue his own musical interests, but has said he is grateful for the career Mustaine gave him. This was quickly followed by the departure of Broderick, due to artistic and musical differences. Ellefson denied rumors that Megadeth would disband, and said he and Mustaine would continue working on new music. Mustaine later said one of the reasons for Broderick and Drover leaving was their frustration over Megadeth's fan base demanding a reunion with Friedman and Menza.
=== 2015–2018: Dystopia ===
Lamb of God drummer Chris Adler and guitarist Kiko Loureiro of Angra were brought in to perform on Megadeth's fifteenth studio album after Mustaine unsuccessfully attempted to reunite the Rust in Peace lineup. In October 2015, Megadeth streamed "Fatal Illusion" off the album Dystopia, which was released in January 2016. In support of Dystopia, Megadeth embarked on a North American tour in February and March with Suicidal Tendencies, Children of Bodom and Havok (though Havok was soon removed from the tour by Megadeth's management following a dispute over a contract). Mustaine announced that Adler, who was performing with both Lamb of God and Megadeth, was no longer in the band due to scheduling conflicts between the two bands. He was replaced by Dirk Verbeuren from Soilwork, on Adler's recommendation. A second US tour took place in September and October, with support from Amon Amarth, Suicidal Tendencies, Metal Church, and Butcher Babies. Former drummer Menza died of a heart attack on May 21, 2016, while performing with OHM at a jazz club in Los Angeles.
Asked about any further Big Four gigs, Mustaine called for "the powers-that-be" to help put together a new Big Four tour in 2017 as all the respective bands were promoting new albums. Dystopia's title track won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the 2017 Grammy Awards, the band's first win after 12 nominations. Mustaine, Loureiro, Ellefson, and Verbeuren attended the ceremony; however, album drummer and award recipient Chris Adler did not. While accepting the award, the house band played Mustaine's former band Metallica's "Master of Puppets" causing some controversy among fans.
In a June 2017 interview with No Brown M&Ms, Mustaine said that Megadeth would enter the studio at the end of the year to begin working on their sixteenth studio album. A month later, Mustaine stated on Twitter that he had begun "collecting ideas" for the new album, but stated that they would "probably" enter the studio in mid-2018 to begin recording it for a 2019 release. The band joined with Scorpions for a co-headlining tour in the fall of 2017.
In 2018, Megadeth marked their 35th anniversary by re-releasing their 1985 debut album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, dubbed Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! - The Final Kill on June 8, 2018, as a deluxe package containing remastered versions of all songs to Mustaine's intended vision, a re-cut version of "These Boots" lyrically adjusted to Lee Hazlewood's version, rare live performances of songs off the album during Alice Cooper's Live in the Flesh Tour and the 1984 three song demo.
=== 2019–2023: Ellefson's second departure and The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! ===
On May 10, 2019, Megadeth entered the studio in Franklin, Tennessee, to begin pre-production of the next album, once again teaming up with Dystopia co-producer Chris Rakestraw. On June 17, the band announced that all shows scheduled in 2019 (with the exception of the MegaCruise) would be cancelled due to Mustaine being diagnosed with throat cancer; of all the cancelled dates, the band was scheduled to support Ozzy Osbourne on the North American leg of the No More Tours II tour, which had been postponed from the summer of 2019 to the summer of 2020 due to Osbourne sustaining an injury while dealing with pneumonia. They were replaced by Marilyn Manson instead. Despite Mustaine's illness, the band vowed to continue working on their new album. On November 6, Mustaine shared a video on Instagram teasing a track from the band's upcoming album, which was originally set for release in 2019. On July 17, Megadeth announced their partnership with Gimme Radio and Richard Childress Racing on the No. 2 Gimme Radio Chevrolet Camaro, which was driven by Xfinity Series driver Tyler Reddick at the New Hampshire 200 on July 20. On August 21, the band announced that they would embark on their first tour since Mustaine's illness in January and February 2020, with Five Finger Death Punch and Bad Wolves supporting on the European tour.
The band was originally scheduled to perform on the first-ever MegaCruise to coincide with the release of the next album, due to sail on October 13, 2019, from Los Angeles and hit ports of San Diego and Ensenada before returning on October 18, including performances by heavy metal acts such as Lamb of God, Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, Corrosion of Conformity, Queensrÿche, Armored Saint, Metal Church, Suicidal Tendencies, DragonForce, Doro, John 5, Death Angel and Toothgrinder; however, Mustaine was not present due to his illness. It was instead a live performance featuring members of each respective band playing Kiss songs.
Megadeth was originally scheduled to embark on a co-headlining tour in North America with Lamb of God dubbed "The Metal Tour of the Year" in the summer of 2020, with Trivium and In Flames as support acts, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was rescheduled for the summer of 2021, with Hatebreed replacing In Flames due to the latter being forced to withdraw from the line-up due to international visa issues caused by the pandemic. Megadeth re-entered the studio in Nashville in mid-2020 to resume recording their new album, tentatively planned for release in 2021. While hosting a Masterclass "Front Row Live" for fans via Zoom on January 9, 2021, Mustaine announced the title of the band's sixteenth album would be called The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!; however, he indicated that the title might be subject to change.
In May 2021, sexually explicit videos of Ellefson were leaked to social media. The videos, reportedly recorded by a 19-year-old fan who was in correspondence with Ellefson, led to initial accusations of child grooming. Ellefson and the fan denied these claims in separate statements and maintained their encounters were consensual. On May 24, Megadeth issued a statement announcing Ellefson's dismissal from the band. Ellefson later confirmed that he had actually been dismissed ten days earlier on May 14; the videos originally surfaced on May 10. Following the controversy, Mustaine said there would be no chance for Ellefson to rejoin the band, while Ellefson said he would pursue legal action against the leaked videos.
On Mustaine's Gimme Radio program The Dave Mustaine Show on June 17, he said that the bass tracks recorded by Ellefson in May 2020 would not appear on the upcoming album and would be re-recorded by a different bassist, which was completed a short time later, but did not say who it was. He also revealed a song title from the album called "The Dogs of Chernobyl". Mustaine confirmed soon after that a new bassist was chosen with a picture showing the neck of the bass guitar and the unknown member being shown on the floor behind a chair; however, he did not reveal the name, but would announce it soon. Former bassist James LoMenzo filled in for the band's upcoming tour with Lamb of God, while Steve Di Giorgio of Testament performed as a session bassist on The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!, which was released in September 2022. LoMenzo was announced as the band's official bassist in May 2022.
After several teasers, "We'll Be Back", the first single from the record, was released on June 23, along with the tracklist, followed by next singles "Night Stalkers" and "Soldier On!", released on July 22 and August 12, respectively.
In November 2022, the band released a cover of a Judas Priest song titled "Delivering The Goods" from their 1978 album, Killing Machine.
On February 27, 2023, Megadeth was joined by former guitarist Marty Friedman where they performed three songs at the Budokan in Japan. This marked Friedman's first performance with the band since 2000. On June 23, former drummer Lee Rausch died at the age of 58. Friedman made another guest appearance with the band at Wacken Open Air in August 2023.
=== 2023–present: Kiko Loureiro's departure, Megadeth, and farewell tour ===
On September 6, 2023, it was announced that lead guitarist Kiko Loureiro would temporarily be leaving the North American portion of the Crush the World Tour and that he would be replaced by Teemu Mäntysaari. On November 20, Mäntysaari joined Megadeth as their lead guitarist, after Loureiro announced he would be extending his absence from the band. Loureiro later confirmed in a November 28 podcast interview that he would be permanently leaving the band. Loureiro explained his departure in a January 2024 interview with Guitar World, saying: "I had two viable options: to be in Megadeth or not. I chose my personal life. No regrets." From August 2, 2024, to September 28, Megadeth went on a U.S. tour, with Mudvayne and All That Remains serving as support.
On August 14, 2025, the band announced their upcoming studio album, set to be their final one, alongside the news of a farewell tour in 2026. Former bassist David Ellefson expressed interest in taking part in the tour, saying: "I don't even know if [Mustaine is] retiring. He's just basically saying Megadeth's over... Would I like to be a part of it? Yeah, of course. Who wouldn't? I'm a founding member of it. I'm a 30-plus-year member of it." The first single from the upcoming album, "Tipping Point", was released on October 3, 2025. The title of the album was revealed to be Megadeth, and was scheduled to be released on January 23, 2026. The band performed "Tipping Point" live for the first time on October 14, during their European tour as the support act for Disturbed. The album debuted as the leader on both the "bestselling album and EPs" charts on iTunes.
The band performed across Canada from mid-February to early March 2026 with Anthrax and Exodus, and will support Iron Maiden on the North American leg of their Run for Your Lives World Tour. Mustaine stated on November 12, 2025, that their final tour is set to run for 'three to five' years. He later revealed that he has been suffering from Dupuytren's contracture, citing it as one of the reasons for retirement. In January 2026, Megadeth: Behind the Mask, a "track-by-track commentary" on the new album and career retrospective, was released "in over 1,000 cinemas, across more than 35 countries."
== Controversies ==
Mustaine has made numerous inflammatory statements in the press, usually regarding issues with former Metallica bandmates. The feud stemmed from his ejection from the band, how it was conducted, and disagreements on songwriting credits. Mustaine expressed his anger in the movie Metallica: Some Kind of Monster in a scene he later disapproved of as he felt he was mischaracterized, and that it did not represent the full extent of what happened during the meeting.
During a live performance of "Anarchy in the U.K." at a 1988 show in Antrim, Northern Ireland, Mustaine dedicated the song to "the cause." Before the final song, Mustaine said, "This one's for the cause! Give Ireland back to the Irish!" The quote was inspired by Paul McCartney's song "Give Ireland Back to the Irish". This elicited a riot and fighting among the audience between Irish Nationalists, the majority of whom are Catholic, and the predominantly Protestant, British Unionists in attendance. The band had to travel in a bulletproof bus back to Dublin. This incident served as inspiration for the song "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".
Controversial or misinterpreted lyrics have caused complications for the band. In 1988, MTV deemed that the song "In My Darkest Hour" encouraged suicide and banned the video. The station banned the video for "A Tout le Monde" for the same reason, though Mustaine said the song was written from the perspective of a dying man saying his last words to his loved ones. According to him, MTV considered the videos for "Skin o' My Teeth" and "Symphony of Destruction" a "little bit too harsh" and refused to play them.
During a world tour in 2001, the Malaysian government canceled the band's show in the nation's capital because the authorities had a negative perception of the group's image and music. The government deemed the band's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, as inappropriate and told the members that they would be arrested if they performed. Dave Mustaine responded: "I recognize what the Malaysian government is trying to do, and it is admirable of them trying to protect the young people in the country. But it just shows the degree of ignorance and apathy that the government has toward the problem."
In 2003, after recovering from an arm injury that threatened to end his career, Mustaine became a born-again Christian. Minor controversy was sparked by Mustaine's announcement that Megadeth would not play certain songs live due to his conversion. In May 2005, Mustaine allegedly threatened to cancel shows in Greece and Israel with extreme metal bands Rotting Christ and Dissection due to the bands' anti-Christian beliefs. This caused the two bands to cancel appearances.
In July 2004, former bassist Ellefson sued Mustaine for $18.5 million in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ellefson alleged that Mustaine short-changed him on profits including tour merchandise and publishing royalties. The suit was dismissed in 2005, and Mustaine filed a countersuit alleging that Ellefson had used the band's name in an advertisement for musical equipment; the suit was settled out of court.
On May 10, 2021, sexually explicit videos of Ellefson were posted on Twitter. The videos, reportedly recorded by a fan that Ellefson was in correspondence with, initially led to accusations of child grooming. However, Ellefson and the other party both denied the accusations, and the fan publicly claimed they were a consenting adult and the videos were unknowingly released by a third party. The Scottsdale Police Department (SPD) was contacted by Ellefson, who sought charges for revenge porn. Ellefson took a polygraph test to affirm his claims and presented police with a photo of the fan's driver's license to prove their age. He also shared screen shots of Snapchat and WhatsApp messages related to the allegations. Ellefson's partner admitted that she had shared the video with some friends but wasn't sure how it got leaked out to others. The SPD report states the fan "was remorseful and agreed to send out a social media statement on...Instagram" that they were "a willing consenting adult during their mutual virtual sexual encounter." Ellefson then posted her statement and one of his own on May 10, asserting that the allegations of grooming were false. Ellefson stated he has not been extorted in any way, and he believes the videos of their consensual adult encounter were not intentionally leaked. An official statement released the next day from Megadeth stated that the situation was being "watched closely". Mustaine announced on May 24, 2021, that Ellefson was fired from the band.
== Artistry ==
=== Musical style and instrumentation ===
Megadeth are a thrash metal band. They have also been categorized as speed metal. According to Philip Trapp of Loudwire, the band were erroneously labeled as a death metal band by The New York Times in 1990. He said: "Now, Megadeth can most certainly be associated with the rise of speed metal, seeing as how the [band] did their best to top Metallica's top speed in the '80s. But perhaps in trying to purposely distill heavy metal's elements down too much, the Times threw too many genre tags at too wide an assortment of metal bands."
Mustaine is the band's primary songwriter. He develops songs starting with a particular riff that, with modifications, becomes the central part of the song. He has said that song fragments are composed separately, and then the band makes a compact structure from them. Drummer Shawn Drover stated that Mustaine had saved many riffs over the years and that some recent material is based on those demo recordings. Ellefson stated that the band constantly creates new material, and that making a recording begins with exchanging ideas after which the band enters the studio and discusses the concept, direction, artwork, and song titles. The lyrics are usually written after the music is arranged. Discussing the band's lyrics, Mustaine said that many of the themes are derived from literature, such as the novels of George Orwell.
The music of Megadeth and its underground metal contemporaries from the 1980s featured harsh vocals, double bass drum patterns, staccato riffing, power chords, tremolo picking, and screeching lead guitar work; albums from this period were produced on low budgets. After forming Megadeth, Mustaine followed the thrash metal style of his previous band, Metallica, with more emphasis on speed and intensity. When asked to describe Megadeth's guitar style, Mustaine answered: "When you go to a show and see a guitar player who just stands there, that's a guitar player. A thrash guitar player is a guy who plays like he wants to beat the guitar's guts out." Most of the songs are recorded in standard guitar tuning as Mustaine believes it to provide a superior melody to alternative methods of tuning.
In 2017, David Ellefson talked in an interview about how the band recently started to use a lower tuning saying: "it's just natural with age, for singers it can be a struggle, so rather than quit, than not play, how do you work it around? Well, let's drop the guitars, let's find a way to work around it."
During the band's early days, Mustaine was the rhythm guitarist, while Chris Poland played lead. Poland performed only on Megadeth's first two albums at the time of the book's release; (he would go on to play on the 2004 album The System Has Failed); music journalists Pete Prown and Harvey P. Newquist credit him with making the music more colorful because of his jazz influences. According to former Metal Maniacs editor Jeff Wagner, the band's songwriting techniques peaked with the fourth album, Rust in Peace, which he described as a "flurry of precision and fluidity, making good on Megadeth's claim to being the world's state-of-the-art speed metal band". Musicologist Glenn Pillsbury stated the guitar work on the album was a mixture of Mustaine's "controlled chaos" and the "technical brilliance" of Marty Friedman. Studio efforts released in the mid- and late 1990s featured songs with compact structures and less complicated riffing.
=== Lyrical themes ===
Megadeth's lyrics often focus on death, war, politics, and religion. The lyricism centers on nihilistic themes, but occasionally deals with topics such as alienation and social problems. The earliest releases featured themes such as occultism, graphic violence, and Satanism. Nuclear warfare and government conspiracy were preoccupations on albums such as Rust in Peace and Countdown to Extinction. During Megadeth's commercial peak, Mustaine elaborated on more personal themes such as addiction and intimate relationships. For the lyrics on Cryptic Writings, Mustaine said that he wanted to write songs that had more appeal to a wider audience. The title of United Abominations is a satiric play on the name of the United Nations; Mustaine criticized the organization's ineffectiveness on a number of songs on that album.
=== Influences ===
They were influenced by traditional heavy metal bands such as UFO, Black Sabbath, Budgie and Judas Priest, new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands Raven, Angel Witch, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, and Venom, punk rock bands Sex Pistols and Ramones, hard rock bands AC/DC, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Rush, and European bands Scorpions, Accept and Mercyful Fate. Although the music has roots in punk, university professor Jason Bivins wrote that Megadeth followed the basic blueprint of Motörhead and Iron Maiden. He described the style as a mix of "the instrumental virtuosity of the NWOBHM with the speed and aggression of hardcore punk", while also drawing lyrical inspiration from the horror-themed punk band Misfits. Mustaine has also listed albums by the Beatles and David Bowie as recordings that influenced him.
=== Imagery ===
Dave Mustaine sketched the original drawing of the bands mascot Vic Rattlehead for the cover of their debut album Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!. However, Combat Records lost the artwork and improvised a completely different concept. The original artwork was recovered and placed on the reissue of Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!. According to Mustaine, the mascot represents his feelings about religious repression and freedom of expression.
Vic was on the cover art of the band's first four albums from 1985–1990; however, he was not seen on any from 1991 to 2000. He made his return on their 2001 album The World Needs a Hero and has since appeared on 10 of their 17 album covers.
A costumed version of Vic can often be seen on stage during Megadeth concerts.
Megadeth's wordmark has stayed the same throughout the bands run and features a bold serif font with elongated and sharp angles of the letters. It is occasionally occupied by a hazard symbol.
== Legacy ==
Having sold more than 50 million units worldwide, Megadeth is one of the few bands from the 1980s American underground metal scene to have achieved mass commercial success. Along with contemporaries Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, Megadeth is regarded as one of the core founding groups of thrash metal. These bands are often referred to as the "big four" of thrash metal, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. Loudwire ranked Megadeth the third best thrash metal band of all time, praising the group's "provoking lyrics and mind-warping virtuosity". CMJ New Music Report called the band's debut album a seminal release and a representative of "the golden age of speed metal". Billboard called the band's second album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? a "landmark of the thrash movement" whose lyrics it found still relevant. MTV also recognized the band as an influential metal act, highlighting the technical aspect of the early albums.
Megadeth is considered one of the most musically influential groups that originated in the 1980s. As part of the early American thrash metal movement, the band's music was a direct influence on death metal. Sociologist Keith Kahn-Harris wrote that the mainstream success of Megadeth was one of the reasons for the expansion of extreme metal to countries where it had previously been unknown. The band had influenced many metal bands, including Sepultura, Pantera, Slipknot, Bullet for My Valentine, Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold, Arch Enemy, Unearth, Darkest Hour, Municipal Waste, Children of Bodom, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, As I Lay Dying, All That Remains, Evile and Toxic Holocaust.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, Megadeth has sold 9.2 million copies of its albums in the United States between 1991 and 2014.
In 2016, the staff of Loudwire named them the seventh best metal band of all time.
== Band members ==
Current
Dave Mustaine – guitars, lead vocals (1983–2002, 2004–present)
James LoMenzo – bass, backing vocals (2006–2010, 2021–present)
Dirk Verbeuren – drums (2016–present)
Teemu Mäntysaari – guitars, backing vocals (2023–present)
== Discography ==
Studio albums
Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985)
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? (1986)
So Far, So Good... So What! (1988)
Rust in Peace (1990)
Countdown to Extinction (1992)
Youthanasia (1994)
Cryptic Writings (1997)
Risk (1999)
The World Needs a Hero (2001)
The System Has Failed (2004)
United Abominations (2007)
Endgame (2009)
Thirteen (2011)
Super Collider (2013)
Dystopia (2016)
The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! (2022)
Megadeth (2026)
== Accolades ==
Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards:
2014: Metal Guru – Dave Mustaine
Clio Awards:
2016: Silver Winner – "The Megadeth VR Experience"
Genesis Awards:
1993: Doris Day Music Award – Countdown to Extinction
Grammy Awards:
2017: Best Metal Performance – "Dystopia"
Loudwire Music Awards:
2011: Metal Album of the Year – Thirteen
2011: Metal Song of the Year – "Public Enemy No. 1"
Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards:
2007: Riff Lord – Dave Mustaine
2015: Golden God – Dave Mustaine
Revolver Golden Gods Awards:
2009: Golden God – Dave Mustaine |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_England | Richard II of England | Richard II (6 January 1367 – c. 14 February 1400), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent. The Black Prince died in 1376, leaving Richard as heir apparent to his grandfather, King Edward III. Upon the King's death, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne.
During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of regency councils, influenced by Richard's uncles John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. England faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War. A major challenge of the reign was the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, and the young king played a central part in the brutal suppression of this crisis. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War. A firm believer in the royal prerogative, Richard restrained the power of the aristocracy and relied on a private retinue for military protection instead. In contrast to his grandfather, Richard cultivated a refined atmosphere centred on art and culture at court, in which the king was an elevated figure.
His dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the nobility, and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents. In 1397, he took his revenge on the Appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled. The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny". In 1399, after John of Gaunt died, the King disinherited Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke, who had previously been exiled. Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers. Meeting little resistance, he deposed Richard and had himself crowned king. Richard is thought to have been starved to death in captivity, although questions remain regarding his final fate.
Richard's posthumous reputation has been shaped to a large extent by William Shakespeare, whose play Richard II portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition as responsible for the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. Although probably not insane, as many historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed him to be, he may have had a personality disorder, particularly manifesting itself towards the end of his reign. Most authorities agree that his policies were not unrealistic or even entirely unprecedented, but that the way in which he carried them out was unacceptable to the political establishment, leading to his downfall.
== Early life ==
Richard of Bordeaux was the younger son of Edward, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Edward, eldest son of Edward III and heir apparent to the throne of England, had distinguished himself as a military commander in the early phases of the Hundred Years' War, particularly in the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. After further military adventures, however, he contracted dysentery in Spain in 1370. He never fully recovered and had to return to England the next year.
Richard was born at the Archbishop's Palace of Bordeaux, in the duchy of Aquitaine, on 6 January 1367, reportedly prematurely due to Joan's stress caused by the Black Prince's departure on Spanish campaign. According to contemporary sources, three kings, "the King of Castile, the King of Navarre and the King of Portugal", were present at his birth. This anecdote, and the fact that his birth fell on the feast of Epiphany, was later used in the religious imagery of the Wilton Diptych, where Richard is one of three kings paying homage to the Virgin and Child.
Richard's elder brother, Edward of Angoulême, died near his sixth birthday in 1370.
During the Good Parliament of 1376 the Black Prince was dying. Having taken a house in London, he summoned both Edward III and John of Gaunt and made them swear to recognise his son, the future Richard II, as successor to Edward. Both John and the King swore to recognise Richard.
The Prince of Wales finally succumbed to his long illness in June 1376. The Commons in the Good Parliament genuinely feared that Richard's uncle, John of Gaunt, would usurp the throne. For this reason, Richard was quickly invested with the princedom of Wales and his father's other titles and publicly recognised as heir.
On 21 June 1377, King Edward III, who was for some years frail and decrepit, died after a 50-year reign. This resulted in the 10-year-old Richard succeeding to the throne. He was crowned on 16 July at Westminster Abbey. Again, fears of John of Gaunt's ambitions influenced political decisions, and a regency led by the King's uncles was avoided. Instead, the King was nominally to exercise kingship with the help of a series of "continual councils", from which Gaunt was excluded.
Gaunt, together with his younger brother Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, still held great informal influence over the business of government, but the King's councillors and friends, particularly Sir Simon de Burley and Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford, increasingly gained control of royal affairs.
In a matter of three years, these councillors earned the mistrust of the Commons to the point that the councils were discontinued in 1380. Contributing to discontent was an increasingly heavy burden of taxation levied through three poll taxes between 1377 and 1381 that were spent on unsuccessful military expeditions on the continent. By 1381, there was a deep-felt resentment against the governing classes in the lower levels of English society.
== Early reign ==
=== Peasants' Revolt ===
Whereas the poll tax of 1381 was the spark of the Peasants' Revolt, the root of the conflict lay in tensions between peasants and landowners precipitated by the economic and demographic consequences of the Black Death and subsequent outbreaks of the plague. The rebellion started in Kent and Essex in late May, and on 12 June, bands of peasants gathered at Blackheath near London under the leaders Wat Tyler, John Ball, and Jack Straw. John of Gaunt's Savoy Palace was burnt down. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon Sudbury, who was also Lord Chancellor, and Lord High Treasurer Robert Hales were both killed by the rebels, who were demanding the complete abolition of serfdom. The King, sheltered within the Tower of London with his councillors, agreed that the Crown did not have the forces to disperse the rebels and that the only feasible option was to negotiate.
It is unclear how much Richard, who was still only fourteen years old, was involved in these deliberations, although historians have suggested that he was among the proponents of negotiations. The King set out by the River Thames on 13 June, but the large number of people thronging the banks at Greenwich made it impossible for him to land, forcing him to return to the Tower. The next day, Friday, 14 June, he set out by horse and met the rebels at Mile End. He agreed to the rebels' demands, but this move only emboldened them; they continued their looting and killings. Richard met Wat Tyler again the next day at Smithfield and reiterated that the demands would be met, but the rebel leader was not convinced of the King's sincerity. The King's men grew restive, an altercation broke out, and William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, pulled Tyler down from his horse and killed him. The situation became tense once the rebels realised what had happened, but the King acted with calm resolve and, saying "I am your captain, follow me!", he led the mob away from the scene. Walworth meanwhile gathered a force to surround the peasant army, but the King granted clemency and allowed the rebels to disperse and return to their homes.
The King soon revoked the charters of freedom and pardon that he had granted, and as disturbances continued in other parts of the country, he personally went into Essex to suppress the rebellion. On 28 June at Billericay, he defeated the last rebels in a small skirmish and effectively ended the Peasants' Revolt. In the following days rebel leaders, such as John Ball, were hunted down and executed. Despite his young age, Richard had shown great courage and determination in his handling of the rebellion. It is likely, though, that the events impressed upon him the dangers of disobedience and threats to royal authority, and helped shape the absolutist attitudes to kingship that would later prove fatal to his reign.
=== Coming of age ===
It is only with the Peasants' Revolt that Richard starts to emerge clearly in the annals. One of his first significant acts after the rebellion was to marry Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, on 20 January 1382. It had diplomatic significance; in the division of Europe caused by the Western Schism, Bohemia and the Holy Roman Empire were seen as potential allies against France in the ongoing Hundred Years' War. This marriage was negotiated by the Silesian Duke and Bohemian Viceroy, Přemysl I Piast, based at the Silesian castle of Fryštát in the present-day Czech town of Karviná. This duke also led diplomatic missions between Richard II and Charles IV. Nonetheless, the marriage was not popular in England. Despite great sums of money awarded to the Empire, the political alliance never resulted in any military victories. Furthermore, the marriage was childless. Anne died from the plague in 1394, greatly mourned by her husband.
Michael de la Pole had been instrumental in the marriage negotiations; he had the King's confidence and gradually became more involved at court and in government as Richard came of age. De la Pole came from an upstart merchant family. When Richard made him chancellor in 1383, and created him Earl of Suffolk two years later, this antagonised the more established nobility. Another member of the close circle around the King was Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, who in this period emerged as the King's favourite. Richard's close friendship to de Vere was also disagreeable to the political establishment. This displeasure was exacerbated by the earl's elevation to the new title of Duke of Ireland in 1386. The chronicler Thomas Walsingham suggested the relationship between the King and de Vere was of a homosexual nature, due to a resentment Walsingham had toward the King.
Tensions came to a head over the approach to the war in France. While the court party preferred negotiations, Gaunt and Buckingham urged a large-scale campaign to protect English possessions. Instead, a so-called crusade led by Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, was dispatched, which failed miserably. Faced with this setback on the continent, Richard turned his attention instead towards France's ally, the Kingdom of Scotland. In 1385, the King himself led a punitive expedition to the north, but the effort came to nothing, and the army had to return without ever engaging the Scots in battle. Meanwhile, only an uprising in Ghent prevented a French invasion of southern England. The relationship between Richard and his uncle Gaunt deteriorated further with military failure, and Gaunt left England to pursue his claim to the throne of Castile in 1386 amid rumours of a plot against his person. With Gaunt gone, the unofficial leadership of the growing dissent against the King and his courtiers passed to Buckingham – who had by now been created Duke of Gloucester – and Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl of Arundel.
=== First crisis of 1386–1388 ===
The threat of a French invasion did not subside, but instead grew stronger into 1386. At the parliament of October that year, Michael de la Pole – in his capacity of chancellor – requested taxation of an unprecedented level for the defence of the realm. Rather than consenting, the parliament responded by refusing to consider any request until the chancellor was removed. The parliament (later known as the Wonderful Parliament) was presumably working with the support of Gloucester and Arundel. The King famously responded that he would not dismiss as much as a scullion from his kitchen at parliament's request. Only when threatened with deposition was Richard forced to give in and let de la Pole go. A commission was set up to review and control royal finances for a year.
Richard was deeply perturbed by this affront to his royal prerogative, and from February to November 1387 went on a "gyration" (tour) of the country to muster support for his cause. By installing de Vere as Justice of Chester, he began the work of creating a loyal military power base in Cheshire. He also secured a legal ruling from Chief Justice Robert Tresilian that parliament's conduct had been unlawful and treasonable.
On his return to London, the King was confronted by Gloucester, Arundel and Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, who brought an appeal of treason against de la Pole, de Vere, Tresilian, and two other loyalists: the mayor of London, Nicholas Brembre, and Alexander Neville, the Archbishop of York. Richard stalled the negotiations to gain time, as he was expecting de Vere to arrive from Cheshire with military reinforcements. The three peers then joined forces with Gaunt's son Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, and Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham – the group known to history as the Lords Appellant. On 20 December 1387 they intercepted de Vere at Radcot Bridge, where he and his forces were routed and he was obliged to flee the country.
Richard now had no choice but to comply with the appellants' demands; Brembre and Tresilian were condemned and executed, while de Vere and de la Pole – who had by now also left the country – were sentenced to death in absentia at the Merciless Parliament in February 1388. The appellants had now succeeded completely in breaking up the circle of favourites around the King.
== Later reign ==
=== A fragile peace ===
Richard gradually re-established royal authority in the months after the deliberations of the Merciless Parliament. The aggressive foreign policy of the Lords Appellant failed when their efforts to build a wide, anti-French coalition came to nothing, and the north of England fell victim to a Scottish incursion. Richard was now over twenty-one years old and could with confidence claim the right to govern in his own name. Furthermore, John of Gaunt returned to England in 1389 and settled his differences with the King, after which the old statesman acted as a moderating influence on English politics. Richard assumed full control of the government on 3 May 1389, claiming that the difficulties of the past years had been due solely to bad councillors. He outlined a foreign policy that reversed the actions of the appellants by seeking peace and reconciliation with France, and promised to lessen the burden of taxation on the people significantly. Richard ruled peacefully for the next eight years, having reconciled with his former adversaries. Still, later events would show that he had not forgotten the indignities he perceived. In particular, the execution of his former teacher Sir Simon de Burley was an insult not easily forgotten.
With national stability secured, Richard began negotiating a permanent peace with France. A proposal put forward in 1393 would have greatly expanded the territory of Aquitaine possessed by the English Crown. However, the plan failed because it included a requirement that the English king pay homage to the King of France—a condition that proved unacceptable to the English public. Instead, in 1396, a truce was agreed to, which was to last 28 years. As part of the truce, Richard agreed to marry Isabella of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France, when she came of age. There were some misgivings about the betrothal, in particular, because the princess was then only six years old and thus would not be able to produce an heir to the throne of England for many years.
Although Richard sought peace with France, he took a different approach to the situation in Ireland. The English lordships in Ireland were in danger of being overrun by the Gaelic Irish kingdoms, and the Anglo-Irish lords were pleading for the King to intervene. In the autumn of 1394, Richard left for Ireland, where he remained until May 1395. His army of more than 8,000 men was the largest force brought to the island during the late Middle Ages. The invasion was a success, and a number of Irish chieftains submitted to English overlordship. It was one of the most successful achievements of Richard's reign, and strengthened his support at home, although the consolidation of the English position in Ireland proved to be short-lived.
=== Second crisis of 1397–1399 ===
The period that historians refer to as the "tyranny" of Richard II began towards the end of the 1390s. The King had Gloucester, Arundel and Warwick arrested in July 1397. The timing of these arrests and Richard's motivation are not entirely clear. Although one chronicle suggested that a plot was being planned against the King, there is no evidence that this was the case. It is more likely that Richard had simply come to feel strong enough to safely retaliate against these three men for their role in events of 1386–1388 and eliminate them as threats to his power.
Arundel was the first of the three to be brought to trial, at the parliament of September 1397. After a heated quarrel with the King, he was condemned and executed. Gloucester was being held prisoner by the Earl of Nottingham at Calais while awaiting his trial. As the time for the trial drew near, Nottingham brought news that Gloucester was dead. It is thought likely that the King had ordered him to be killed to avoid the disgrace of executing a prince of the blood.
Warwick was also condemned to death, but his life was spared and his sentence reduced to life imprisonment. Arundel's brother Thomas Arundel, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was exiled for life. Richard then took his persecution of adversaries to the localities. While recruiting retainers for himself in various counties, he prosecuted local men who had been loyal to the appellants. The fines levied on these men brought great revenues to the crown, although contemporary chroniclers raised questions about the legality of the proceedings.
These actions were made possible primarily through the collusion of John of Gaunt, but with the support of a large group of other magnates, many of whom were rewarded with new titles, and were disparagingly referred to as Richard's "duketti". These included the former Lords Appellant
Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby, who was made Duke of Hereford, and
Thomas de Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, who was created Duke of Norfolk.
Also among them were
John Holland, the King's half-brother, promoted from Earl of Huntingdon to Duke of Exeter
Thomas Holland, the King's nephew, promoted from Earl of Kent to Duke of Surrey
Edward of Norwich, Earl of Rutland, the King's cousin, who received Gloucester's French title of Duke of Aumale
Gaunt's son John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, who was made Marquess of Somerset and Marquess of Dorset
John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury
Lord Thomas le Despenser, who became Earl of Gloucester.
With the forfeited lands of the convicted appellants, the King could reward these men with lands suited to their new ranks.
A threat to Richard's authority still existed, however, in the form of the House of Lancaster, represented by John of Gaunt and his son Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford. The House of Lancaster not only possessed greater wealth than any other family in England, they were of royal descent and, as such, likely candidates to succeed the childless Richard.
Discord broke out in the inner circles of court in December 1397, when Bolingbroke and Mowbray became embroiled in a quarrel. According to Bolingbroke, Mowbray had claimed that the two, as former Lords Appellant, were next in line for royal retribution. Mowbray vehemently denied these charges, as such a claim would have amounted to treason. A parliamentary committee decided that the two should settle the matter by battle, but at the last moment Richard exiled the two dukes instead: Mowbray for life, Bolingbroke for ten years.
In 1398 Richard summoned the Parliament of Shrewsbury, often called the Revenge Parliament and understood to have met in the Abbey of that town, which declared all the acts of the Merciless Parliament to be null and void, and announced that no restraint could legally be put on the King. It delegated all parliamentary power to a committee of twelve lords and six commoners chosen from the King's friends, making Richard an absolute ruler unbound by the necessity of gathering a Parliament again.
On 3 February 1399, Gaunt died. Rather than allowing Bolingbroke to succeed, Richard extended the term of his exile to life and expropriated his properties. The King felt safe from Bolingbroke, who was residing in Paris, since the French had little interest in any challenge to Richard and his peace policy. Richard left the country in May for another expedition in Ireland.
=== Court culture ===
In the last years of Richard's reign, and particularly in the months after the suppression of the appellants in 1397, the King enjoyed a virtual monopoly on power in the country, a relatively uncommon situation in medieval England. In this period a particular court culture was allowed to emerge, one that differed sharply from that of earlier times. A new form of address developed; where the King previously had been addressed simply as "highness", now "royal majesty", or "high majesty" were often used. It was said that on solemn festivals Richard would sit on his throne in the royal hall for hours without speaking, and anyone on whom his eyes fell had to bow his knees to the King. The inspiration for this new sumptuousness and emphasis on dignity came from the courts on the continent, not only the French and Bohemian courts that had been the homes of Richard's two wives, but also the court that his father had maintained while residing in Aquitaine.
Richard's approach to kingship was rooted in his strong belief in the royal prerogative, the inspiration of which can be found in his early youth, when his authority was challenged first by the Peasants' Revolts and then by the Lords Appellant. Richard rejected the approach his grandfather Edward III had taken to the nobility. Edward's court had been a martial one, based on the interdependence between the king and his most trusted noblemen as military captains. In Richard's view, this put a dangerous amount of power in the hands of the baronage. To avoid dependence on the nobility for military recruitment, he pursued a policy of peace towards France. At the same time, he developed his own private military retinue, larger than that of any English king before him, and gave them livery badges with his White Hart. He was then free to develop a courtly atmosphere in which the king was a distant, venerated figure, and art and culture, rather than warfare, were at the centre.
== Patronage and the arts ==
As part of Richard's programme of asserting his authority, he also tried to cultivate the royal image. Unlike any other English king before him, he had himself portrayed in panel paintings of elevated majesty, of which two survive: an over life-size Westminster Abbey portrait (c. 1390), and the Wilton Diptych (1394–1399), a portable work probably intended to accompany Richard on his Irish campaign. It is one of the few surviving English examples of the courtly International Gothic style of painting that was developed in the courts of the Continent, especially Prague and Paris. Richard's expenditure on jewellery, rich textiles and metalwork was far higher than on paintings, but as with his illuminated manuscripts, there are hardly any surviving works that can be connected with him, except for a crown, "one of the finest achievements of the Gothic goldsmith", that probably belonged to his wife Anne.
Among Richard's grandest projects in the field of architecture was Westminster Hall, which was extensively rebuilt during his reign, perhaps spurred on by the completion in 1391 of John of Gaunt's magnificent hall at Kenilworth Castle. Fifteen life-size statues of kings were placed in niches on the walls, and the hammer-beam roof by the royal carpenter Hugh Herland, "the greatest creation of medieval timber architecture", allowed the original three Romanesque aisles to be replaced with a single huge open space, with a dais at the end for Richard to sit in solitary state. The rebuilding had been begun by Henry III in 1245, but had by Richard's time been dormant for over a century.
The court's patronage of literature is especially important because this was the period in which the English language took shape as a literary language. There is little evidence to tie Richard directly to the patronage of poetry, but it was nevertheless within his court that this culture was allowed to thrive. The greatest poet of the age, Geoffrey Chaucer, served the King as a diplomat, a customs official and a clerk of The King's Works while producing some of his best-known work. Chaucer was also in the service of John of Gaunt, and wrote The Book of the Duchess as a eulogy to Gaunt's wife Blanche. Chaucer's colleague and friend John Gower wrote his Confessio Amantis on a direct commission from Richard, although he later grew disenchanted with the King.
Richard was interested in occult topics such as geomancy, which he viewed as a greater discipline that included philosophy, science, and alchemic elements and commissioned a book on, and sponsored writing and discussion of them in his court.
== Downfall ==
=== Deposition ===
In June 1399, Louis I, Duke of Orléans, gained control of the court of the insane Charles VI of France. The policy of rapprochement with the English crown did not suit Louis's political ambitions, and for this reason he found it opportune to allow Bolingbroke to leave for England. With a small group of followers, Bolingbroke landed at Ravenspurn in Yorkshire towards the end of June 1399. Insisting that his only object was to regain his own patrimony, Bolingbroke received the support of both of the preeminent northern magnates, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland. The King had taken most of his household knights and the loyal members of his nobility with him to Ireland, so Bolingbroke experienced little resistance as he moved south. The Keeper of the Realm, Edmund, Duke of York, had little choice but to side with Bolingbroke. Meanwhile, Richard was delayed in his return from Ireland and did not land in Wales until 24 July. He made his way to Conwy, where on 12 August he met with Northumberland for negotiations. On 19 August, Richard surrendered to Bolingbroke at Flint Castle, promising to abdicate if his life were spared. Both men then made their way to Chester Castle where Richard was held in the crypt of the Agricola Tower. On the journey to London, the indignant king had to ride all the way behind Bolingbroke. On arrival, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on 1 September.
It was now argued that Richard, through his tyranny and misgovernment, had rendered himself unworthy of being king. According to the normal law of primogeniture, the heir to the throne at this point would have been Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, great-grandson of Edward III's second son to reach adulthood, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, through Lionel's daughter Philippa. Bolingbroke's father, John of Gaunt, was Edward's next eldest son. However, in 1376 Edward had entailed the succession to heirs male, bypassing Philippa and her descendants in favour of his next eldest son, John of Gaunt, and thence his son Henry Bolingbroke. Richard's own view of the question during his reign is uncertain, but his assignment in 1397 of the highest place in the order of precedence to Bolingbroke suggests endorsement of his status as heir presumptive.
According to the official record, read by the Archbishop of Canterbury during an assembly of lords and commons at Westminster Hall on Tuesday 30 September, Richard gave up his crown willingly and ratified his deposition citing as a reason his own unworthiness as a monarch. In contrast, the Traison et Mort Chronicle suggests otherwise. It describes a meeting between Richard and Henry that took place one day before the parliament's session. The King succumbed to blind rage, ordered his own release from the Tower, called his cousin a traitor, demanded to see his wife, and swore revenge, throwing down his bonnet, while Henry refused to do anything without parliamentary approval. When parliament met to discuss Richard's fate, John Trevor, Bishop of St Asaph, read thirty-three articles of deposition that were unanimously accepted by lords and commons. On 1 October 1399, Richard II was formally deposed. On 13 October, the feast day of Edward the Confessor, Henry was crowned king.
=== Death ===
Henry had agreed to let Richard live after his abdication. This changed when it was revealed that the earls of Huntingdon, Kent, and Salisbury, and Lord Despenser, and possibly also the Earl of Rutland – all now demoted from the ranks they had been given by Richard – were planning to murder the new king and restore Richard in the Epiphany Rising. Although averted, the plot highlighted the danger of allowing Richard to live. He is thought to have starved to death in captivity in Pontefract Castle on or around 14 February 1400, although there is some question over the date and manner of his death. His body was taken south from Pontefract and displayed in St Paul's Cathedral on 17 February before burial in King's Langley Priory on 6 March.
Rumours that Richard was still alive persisted, but never gained much credence in England; in Scotland, however, a man identified as Richard came into the hands of Regent Albany, lodged in Stirling Castle, and served as the notional – and perhaps reluctant – figurehead of various anti-Lancastrian and Lollard intrigues in England. Henry IV's government dismissed him as an impostor, and several sources from both sides of the border suggest the man had a mental illness, one also describing him as a "beggar" by the time of his death in 1419, but he was buried as a king in Blackfriars, Stirling, the local Dominican friary. Meanwhile, Henry V – in an effort both to atone for his father's act of murder and to silence the rumours of Richard's survival – had decided to have the body at King's Langley reinterred in Westminster Abbey on 4 December 1413. Here Richard himself had prepared an elaborate tomb, where the remains of his wife Anne were already entombed.
== Character and assessment ==
Contemporary writers, even those less sympathetic to the King, agreed that Richard was a "most beautiful king", though with an unmanly "face which was white, rounded and feminine." He was athletic and tall; when his tomb was opened in 1871, he was found to be six feet (1.82 m) tall. He was also intelligent and well read, and when agitated he had a tendency to stammer. While the Westminster Abbey portrait probably shows a good similarity of the King, the Wilton Diptych portrays him as significantly younger than he was at the time; it must be assumed that he had a beard by this point. Religiously, he was orthodox, and particularly towards the end of his reign he became a strong opponent of the Lollard heresy. He was particularly devoted to the cult of Edward the Confessor, and around 1395 he had his own coat of arms impaled with the mythical arms of the Confessor. Though not a warrior king like his grandfather, Richard nevertheless enjoyed tournaments, as well as hunting.
The popular view of Richard has more than anything been influenced by Shakespeare's play about the King, Richard II. Shakespeare's Richard was a cruel, vindictive, and irresponsible king, who attained a semblance of greatness only after his fall from power. Writing a work of fiction, Shakespeare took many liberties and made great omissions, basing his play on works by writers such as Edward Hall and Samuel Daniel, who in turn based their writings on contemporary chroniclers such as Thomas Walsingham. Hall and Daniel were part of Tudor historiography, which was highly unsympathetic to Richard, although it also viewed his deposition as a misdeed which provoked divine retribution. The Tudor orthodoxy, reinforced by Shakespeare, saw a continuity in civil discord starting with Richard's misrule that did not end until Henry VII's accession in 1485. The idea that Richard was to blame for the later-15th century Wars of the Roses was prevalent as late as the 19th century, but came to be challenged in the 20th. Some recent historians prefer to look at the Wars of the Roses in isolation from the reign of Richard II.
Richard's mental state has been a major issue of historical debate since the first academic historians started treating the subject in the 19th century. One of the first modern historians to deal with Richard II as a king and as a person was Bishop Stubbs. Stubbs argued that towards the end of his reign, Richard's mind "was losing its balance altogether." Historian Anthony Steel, who wrote a full-scale biography of the King in 1941, took a psychiatric approach to the issue, and concluded that Richard had schizophrenia. This was challenged by V. H. Galbraith, who argued that there was no historical basis for such a diagnosis, a line that has also been followed by later historians of the period, such as Anthony Goodman and Anthony Tuck. Nigel Saul, who wrote an academic biography of Richard II in 1997, concedes that – even though there is no basis for assuming the King had a mental illness – he showed clear signs of a narcissistic personality, and towards the end of his reign "Richard's grasp on reality was becoming weaker."
One of the primary historiographical questions surrounding Richard concerns his political agenda and the reasons for its failure. His kingship was thought to contain elements of the early modern absolute monarchy as exemplified by the Tudor dynasty. More recently, Richard's concept of kingship has been seen by some as not so different from that of his antecedents, and that it was exactly by staying within the framework of traditional monarchy that he was able to achieve as much as he did. Yet his actions were too extreme and too abrupt. For one, the absence of war was meant to reduce the burden of taxation, and so help Richard's popularity with the Commons in parliament. However, this promise was never fulfilled, as the cost of the royal retinue, the opulence of court and Richard's lavish patronage of his favourites proved as expensive as war had been, without offering commensurate benefits. As for his policy of military retaining, this was later emulated by Edward IV and Henry VII, but Richard II's exclusive reliance on the county of Cheshire hurt his support from the rest of the country. Simon Walker writes: "What he sought was, in contemporary terms, neither unjustified nor unattainable; it was the manner of his seeking that betrayed him."
== Family tree == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_aircraft_carrier_Hiy%C5%8D | Japanese aircraft carrier Hiyō | Hiyō (Japanese: 飛鷹; "Flying Hawk") was the name ship of her class of two aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Originally planned as the ocean liner Izumo Maru (出雲丸) in 1939, she was purchased by the Navy Ministry in 1941 for conversion to an aircraft carrier. Completed shortly after the Battle of Midway in June 1942, she participated in the Guadalcanal campaign, but missed the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October because of an electrical generator fire.
The carrier's aircraft were disembarked several times and used from land bases in battles in the South West Pacific. Hiyō was torpedoed in mid-1943 and spent three months under repair. She spent most of the next six months training and ferrying aircraft before returning to combat. She was sunk by a gasoline-vapour explosion caused by an American torpedo hit during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 20 June 1944 with the loss of 247 officers and ratings, about a fifth of her complement.
== Design and description ==
The ship was ordered as the fast luxury passenger liner Izumo Maru by Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Company) in late 1938. In exchange for a Navy Ministry subsidy of 60% of her building costs, she was designed to be converted to an aircraft carrier in the event of war. The designs of Izumo Maru and her sister ship Kashiwara Maru were based on the German ocean liner SS Bremen, although they were only about half that ship's size at 27,700 gross register tons (GRT). If completed as designed, they would have been the largest ocean liners in Japan. The ships were designed to carry a total of 890 passengers; 220 first class, 120 second class and 550 third class.
After her conversion, Hiyō had a length of 220 metres (721 ft 9 in) overall. She had a beam of 26.7 metres (87 ft 7 in) and a draught of 8.15 metres (26 ft 9 in). She displaced 24,150 tonnes (23,770 long tons) at standard load. Her crew ranged from 1,187 to 1,224 officers and ratings.
The ship was fitted with a pair of Mitsubishi-Curtis geared steam turbine sets with a total of 56,250 shaft horsepower (41,950 kW), each driving one propeller, using steam provided by six Kawasaki-LaMont boilers. Hiyō had a designed speed of 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) and slightly exceeded that during sea trials. The ship carried enough fuel oil to give her a range of 11,700 nautical miles (21,700 km; 13,500 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph).
=== Flight deck arrangements ===
Hiyō's flight deck was 210.3 metres (690 ft) long and had a maximum width of 27.3 metres (89 ft 7 in). The ship was designed with two superimposed hangars, each approximately 153 metres (502 ft) long, 15 metres (49 ft) wide and 5 metres (16 ft) high. Each hangar could be subdivided by four fire curtains and they had fire fighting foam dispensers on each side. The hangars were served by two aircraft lifts.
Her air group was initially intended to consist of 12 Mitsubishi A5M "Claude" fighters, plus four in storage, 18 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, plus two in storage, and 18 Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. This was revised to substitute a dozen Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters and three in storage for the A5Ms by the time the ship was commissioned in 1942. As a result of the lessons learnt from the Battle of Midway in June, the fighter complement was increased to 21 Zeros and the B5Ns were reduced to 9. By the end of the year, 6 more Zeros replaced an equal number of D3As, giving totals of 27 A6Ms, 12 D3As and 9 B5Ns. Although it was possible to fit all these aircraft into the hangars, 8 or 9 were usually stored on the flight deck to reduce congestion below decks.
=== Armour, armament and sensors ===
As a conversion from an ocean liner, it was not possible to add much armour, although the ship had a double hull. Two plates of Ducol steel, each 25 millimetres (1 in) thick, protected the sides of the ship's machinery spaces. The ship's aviation gasoline tanks and magazines were protected by one layer of Ducol steel. Her machinery spaces were further subdivided by transverse and longitudinal bulkheads to limit any flooding.
The ship's primary armament consisted of a dozen 12.7-centimetre (5 in) Type 89 dual-purpose guns in twin mounts on sponsons along the sides of the hull. Hiyō was also initially equipped with eight triple mounts for 2.5 cm Type 96 light AA guns alongside the flight deck. This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings which rendered it a largely ineffective weapon. According to historian Mark Stille, the twin and triple mounts "lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation; the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets; the gun exhibited excessive vibration; the magazine was too small, and, finally, the gun produced excessive muzzle blast". In early 1943, four more triple mounts were added, and another four triple mounts were added late in the year. Two of these last four mounts were mounted on the stern and the others were placed in front of and behind the island. A dozen single mounts were also added, some of which were portable and could be mounted on tie-down points on the flight deck.
Two Type 94 high-angle fire-control directors, one on each side of the ship, were fitted to control the Type 89 guns. Four Type 95 directors controlled the 2.5 cm guns, and another pair were added in early 1943. Early warning was provided by two Type 2, Mark 2, Model 1 early-warning radars. The first of these was mounted on the top of the island shortly before she was completed in July 1942 and the other was added later in the year. This latter system was fitted on the port side of the hull, outboard of the aft lift. A smaller Type 3, Mark 1, Model 3 early-warning radar was added in 1944.
== Construction and career ==
Hiyō was laid down on 30 November 1939 by Kawasaki on Slipway No. 4 at their shipyard in Kobe. She was yard number 660 and had the name Izumo Maru. The ship was purchased on 10 February 1941 by the Navy Ministry, and she was temporarily referred to as No. 1002 Ship (Dai 1002 bankan) to keep her conversion secret. She was launched on 24 June 1941 and commissioned on 31 July 1942 with Captain Akitomo Beppu in command.
The ship was assigned to the Second Carrier Division of the 1st Air Fleet after commissioning and became flagship of Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta on 12 August. After spending the next few months working up, Hiyō arrived at Truk, together with her sister Jun'yō, on 9 October, to begin operations against American forces in the Guadalcanal area as part of the 3rd Fleet. On the night of 16 October, the two carriers were ordered to attack the American transports off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, and they moved south to their launching point 180 nautical miles (330 km; 210 mi) north of Lunga. At 05:15 local each ship launched nine A6M Zeros and nine B5Ns. One of Jun'yō's B5Ns was forced to turn back with mechanical problems; the rest reached their objective and discovered two destroyers bombarding Japanese supply dumps on Guadalcanal around 07:20. Hiyō's aircraft attacked USS Aaron Ward seven minutes later without effect, and the American ship shot down one B5N and damaged another which was forced to make a crash landing. Jun'yō's eight B5Ns engaged USS Lardner and also failed to hit their target, not least because they were attacked by Marine Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters at 07:32. The Marine pilots shot down three B5Ns on their first pass and severely damaged another pair which were also forced to crash-land. The US fighters then shot down the three remaining bombers after they missed Lardner. The defending Zeros were able to shoot down only one Wildcat at the cost of one of Hiyō's fighters forced to crash land, although they claimed to have shot down thirteen Marine fighters.
A fire in the ship's generator room occurred on 21 October and reduced her top speed to 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph), so Kakuta transferred his flag to Jun'yō while Hiyō returned to Truk for repairs. Three Zeros, one D3A and five B5Ns were also transferred to Jun'yō before she left. The remaining aircraft of her air group (16 Zeros and 17 D3As) were flown off for Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, on 23 October, from where the fighters escorted bombers attacking Guadalcanal the following day. A detachment from the air group was transferred to Buin, New Guinea, on 1 November and attacked American ships off Lunga Point on 11 November. Escorted by 18 Zeros from Hiyō and the 204th Naval Air Group, 9 D3As slightly damaged three cargo ships in exchange for 4 dive bombers shot down and another forced to crash land. The Zeros were able to ambush six Wildcats in the heavy cloud and shot down four while losing two of their own. That same day, those aircraft that remained at Rabaul flew back to Truk, but the Buin detachment remained there until 14 December when they were ferried back to Japan. Captain Michio Sumikawa relieved Beppu on 30 November.
Hiyō spent November in Truk before returning in early December to Japan, where she was rejoined by the rest of her air group. Aside from a brief refit at Kure from 26 February to 4 March 1943 that saw her anti-aircraft armament augmented and an additional radar installed, the ship was training in the Inland Sea until she sailed for Truk on 22 March. Her air group consisted of 27 Zeros and 12 D3As, and they were detached from Hiyō in early April to participate in Operation I-Go, a land-based aerial offensive against Allied bases in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. On 7 April her aircraft formed most of the third wave of attacks on Guadalcanal. Escorted by 24 Zeros from Hiyō and another 6 from the light carrier Zuihō, the D3As attacked shipping in the Sealark Channel. The escorts claimed to have shot down three American aircraft for the loss of one Zero and three dive bombers. Allied naval losses during the entire day included Aaron Ward, the oil tanker Kanawha, the minesweeper HMNZS Moa and damage to a transport and another tanker, although it is uncertain which aircraft sank or damaged each ship.
A second series of attacks was made against Oro Bay, New Guinea, on 11 April. Jun'yō's 9 Zeros, together with Hiyō's 21 fighters, escorted the latter's D3As. One defending fighter was claimed for the loss of a single dive bomber. The following day, 17 of Hiyō's Zeros provided top cover for several waves of attacks on Port Moresby, New Guinea, her pilots claiming nine victories without losing any of their own. On 14 April, the Japanese attacked Milne Bay, New Guinea, with a large force escorted by 75 Zeros contributed by all the carriers involved. Hiyō's fighter pilots claimed to have shot down three Allied aircraft without loss, and the bombers sank two transports. Her air group returned to Truk by 18 April to rejoin the ship.
In response to the invasion of Attu Island on 11 May, the Second Carrier Division departed Truk, accompanied by three battleships and two heavy cruisers, and reached Japan on 25 May. The Americans recaptured Attu before the fleet could depart to counter-attack. Now the flagship of the Second Carrier Division under Rear Admiral Munetaka Sakamaki, Hiyō departed Yokosuka on 7 June with Junyō en route for Truk. Later that evening, the ship was torpedoed by the submarine USS Trigger off Miyakejima. Hits in the starboard bow and boiler room knocked out all power but she managed to return to Japan the following day after restoring power. Hiyō's fighters were flown to Truk by 15 July and assigned to the light carrier Ryūhō, as were Sakamaki and his staff. While being repaired at Yokosuka until 15 September, more 2.5 cm Type 96 AA guns were installed, and Sumikawa was relieved by Captain Tamotsu Furukawa on 1 September. Two months later, Hiyō's air group was reconstituted in Singapore with 24 Zeros, 18 D3As and 9 B5Ns; the ship departed Japan for Singapore on 24 November. She arrived on 3 December, loaded her air group and was almost immediately assigned duties as an aircraft ferry. On 9 December, Hiyō left Singapore en route for Truk with several deliveries on the way. The ship arrived there on 22 December and disembarked her aircraft before proceeding to Saipan to deliver more aircraft. The air group was transferred to Kavieng and later Rabaul to provide air cover for Japanese operations there, in which the fighters claimed 80 victories in exchange for 12 losses.
Hiyō returned to Japan on 1 January 1944, and Furukawa was relieved by Captain Toshiyuki Yokoi on 15 February. Her air group was reassigned to her on 2 March, albeit without aircraft. The Japanese Navy had restructured its carrier air groups so that one air group was assigned to one carrier division and the 652nd Naval Air Group was assigned to the Second Carrier Division with Hiyō, Jun'yō and Ryūhō. The air group was the last to be rebuilt; it had only 30 Model 21 Zeros, 13 Model 52 Zeros and four D3As on hand on 1 April of its authorised 81 fighters, 36 dive bombers and 27 torpedo bombers. The ship conducted training for her aircraft in the Inland Sea until 11 May when she sailed for Tawi-Tawi in the Philippines. The new base was closer to the oil wells in Borneo on which the Navy relied for fuel and also to the Palau and western Caroline Islands, where the Japanese expected the next American attack. The location lacked an airfield on which to train the green pilots, and American submarines were very active in the vicinity which restricted the ships to the anchorage.
=== Battle of the Philippine Sea ===
The Japanese fleet was en route to Guimaras Island in the central Philippines on 13 June 1944 where it intended to practice carrier operations in an area better protected from submarines, when Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa learnt of the American attack on the Mariana Islands the previous day. Upon reaching Guimaras, the fleet refuelled and sortied into the Philippine Sea where it spotted Task Force 58 on 18 June. The Americans failed to detect the Japanese ships that day. Ozawa decided to launch his air strikes early the following morning, so the Japanese turned south to maintain a constant distance between them and the American carriers. The 652nd Naval Air Group had 81 Zeros, 27 D3As, 9 Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bombers and 18 Nakajima B6N "Jill" torpedo bombers, roughly evenly divided among the three carriers under his command. The carriers began launching their first air strike of 26 bomb-carrying A6M2 Zeros, 7 B6Ns and 16 A6M5 Zeros as escorts around 09:30. Most of these aircraft were misdirected and failed to find any American ships, although a dozen persisted in their search and found one of the American task groups. A B6N, 5 bomb-carrying Zeros and an escort Zero were shot down by the defending fighters, and no damage was inflicted on the American ships.
A second air strike of 27 D3As, 9 D4Ys, 2 B6Ns and 26 escorting Zeros was launched around 11:00, accompanied by at least 18 A6Ms and B6Ns from the carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku. They had also been given an erroneous spot report and were unable to find any American ships. Some of the aircraft headed for airfields at Rota and Guam to refuel while the remainder headed back to the carriers. A pair of Zeros and six D4Ys bound for Rota spotted the carriers Wasp and Bunker Hill en route, but failed to inflict any damage on them while losing five D4Ys to anti-aircraft fire. Radar had spotted those aircraft headed for Guam, and they were intercepted by 41 Grumman F6F Hellcats. Only an A6M5, a D4Y and seven D3As of the 49 Japanese aircraft survived the encounter and landed.
At dusk, the Japanese turned away to the north west to regroup and to refuel, and the Americans turned west to close the distance. They discovered the retiring Japanese fleet during the afternoon of the following day, and Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher ordered an air strike. Hiyō was struck by two bombs, one of which detonated above the bridge and killed or wounded virtually everyone there. More seriously, the ship was struck by one torpedo dropped by a Grumman TBF Avenger from the light carrier Belleau Wood. The torpedo knocked out the starboard engine room and started fires but Hiyō was able to continue, at reduced speed. Two hours later, a large explosion occurred when leaking gasoline vapour ignited and knocked out all power on the ship. The fires raged out of control and Hiyō sank stern first shortly afterwards at 16°20′N 132°32′E. Roughly 1,200 men were rescued by her escorting destroyers, but 247 officers and ratings died aboard the carrier.
== Footnotes == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikki:_Wild_Dog_of_the_North | Nikki: Wild Dog of the North | Nikki: Wild Dog of the North is a 1961 adventure film directed by Jack Couffer and Don Haldane. The plot, based on the novel Nomads of the North by James Oliver Curwood, centers around the adventures of a malamute dog named Nikki.
== Plot ==
In 1899, Nikki and his kind master, Andre Dupas (Jean Coutu), are traveling via canoe through the Canadian Rockies. When Nikki encounters Neewa, a black bear cub whose mother was killed by a grizzly bear named Makoos, Andre ties the two animals together, plops them in the canoe, and heads for the rapids. When the two animals become separated from Andre, the unlikely pair must learn to survive in the wilderness. When they reach land, they are forced to overcome the instinct that makes them natural enemies and join together in a search for food and shelter. Despite many fights, they eventually become friends and remain together even after their leash breaks.
With the coming of winter Neewa goes into hibernation and Nikki wanders off alone. He steals the bait from traps until he is captured by a vicious trapper named Jacques Lebeau (Émile Genest) and his reluctant Indian companion, Makoki (Uriel Luft). After watching the now full-grown dog kill a wolf in spite of the trap, Lebeau decides to train Nikki as a fighting dog although pit-fighting is illegal. When André, the new factor, challenges Lebeau for breaking the law, he is pushed into the pit with the brutalized killer dog. Nikki recognizes his old master, however, and joins André in fighting Lebeau, who is accidentally killed with his own knife. Later, while on a trip to André's trap line, Nikki spots his old friend, Neewa, but the dog realizes that the full-grown bear is happier roaming the wilds, and he chooses to remain by André's side.
== Cast ==
Jean Coutu as Andre Dupas
Émile Genest as Jacques Lebeau (as Emile Genest)
Uriel Luft as Makoki
Robert Rivard as Durante
Nikki as Self
Jacques Fauteux as Narrator
== Reception ==
The film won the 1962 Eddie from the American Cinema Editors for Best Edited Special (Documentary). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Cardin | Maurice Cardin | Maurice Cardin (July 19, 1909 – March 23, 2009) was an American politician who served in the Maryland House of Delegates from Baltimore City's 5th district from 1951 to 1966. His nephew is former Maryland U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, who took over his seat in the Maryland House of Delegates when he retired from politics.
He died of heart failure on March 23, 2009, in Lake Worth Beach, Florida at age 99. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates | Socrates | Socrates (; Ancient Greek: Σωκράτης, romanized: Sōkrátēs; c. 470 – 399 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, perhaps the first Western moral philosopher, and a major inspiration on his student Plato, who largely founded the tradition of Western philosophy. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no texts and is known mainly through the posthumous accounts of classical writers, particularly his students Plato and Xenophon. These accounts are written as dialogues, in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine a subject in the style of question and answer; they gave rise to the Socratic dialogue literary genre. Contradictory accounts of Socrates make a reconstruction of his philosophy nearly impossible, a situation known as the Socratic problem. Socrates was a polarizing figure in Athenian society. In 399 BC, he was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. After a trial that lasted a day, he was sentenced to death. As related by Plato, he was put to death by administration of poison after refusing offers from allies to help him escape.
Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity. They demonstrate the Socratic approach to areas of philosophy including epistemology and ethics. The Platonic Socrates lends his name to the concept of the Socratic method, and also to Socratic irony. The Socratic method of questioning, or elenchus, takes shape in dialogue using short questions and answers, epitomized by those Platonic texts in which Socrates and his interlocutors examine various aspects of an issue or an abstract meaning, usually relating to one of the virtues, and find themselves at an impasse, unable to define what they thought they understood. Socrates frequently proclaims his ignorance, saying that he is only sure that he does not know.
Socrates exerted a strong influence on philosophers in later antiquity and has continued to do so in the modern era. He was studied by medieval and Islamic scholars and played an important role in the thought of the Italian Renaissance, particularly within the humanist movement. Interest in him continued unabated, as reflected in the works of Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche. Depictions of Socrates in art, literature, and popular culture have made him a widely known figure in the Western philosophical tradition.
== Sources and the Socratic problem ==
Socrates did not document his teachings. All that is known about him comes from the accounts of others: mainly the philosopher Plato and the historian Xenophon, who were both his pupils; the Athenian comic dramatist Aristophanes (Socrates's contemporary); and Plato's pupil Aristotle, who was born after Socrates's death. The often contradictory stories from these ancient accounts only serve to complicate scholars' ability to reconstruct Socrates's true thoughts reliably, a predicament known as the Socratic problem. The works of Plato, Xenophon, and other authors who use the character of Socrates as an investigative tool, are written in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and his interlocutors and provide the main source of information on Socrates's life and thought. Socratic dialogues (logos sokratikos) was a term coined by Aristotle to describe this newly formed literary genre. While the exact dates of their composition are unknown, some were probably written after Socrates's death. As Aristotle first noted, the extent to which the dialogues portray Socrates authentically is a matter of some debate.
=== Plato and Xenophon ===
An honest man, Xenophon was no trained philosopher. He could neither fully conceptualize nor articulate Socrates's arguments. He admired Socrates for his intelligence, patriotism, and courage on the battlefield. He discusses Socrates in four works: the Memorabilia, the Oeconomicus, the Symposium, and the Apology of Socrates. He also mentions a story featuring Socrates in his Anabasis. Oeconomicus recounts a discussion on practical household management. Like Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apologia describes the trial of Socrates, but the works diverge substantially and, according to W. K. C. Guthrie, Xenophon's account portrays a Socrates of "intolerable smugness and complacency". Symposium is a dialogue of Socrates with other prominent Athenians during an after-dinner discussion, but is quite different from Plato's Symposium: there is no overlap in the guest list. In Memorabilia, he defends Socrates from the accusations of corrupting the youth and being against the gods; essentially, it is a collection of various stories gathered together to construct a new apology for Socrates.
Plato's representation of Socrates is not straightforward. Plato was a pupil of Socrates and outlived him by five decades. How trustworthy Plato is in representing the attributes of Socrates is a matter of debate; the view that he did not represent views other than Socrates's own is not shared by many contemporary scholars. A driver of this doubt is the inconsistency of the character of Socrates that he presents. One common but not universally accepted account of this inconsistency is that Plato initially tried accurately to represent the historical Socrates, while later in his writings putting his own views into Socrates's mouth. Under this understanding, there is a distinction between the Socratic Socrates of Plato's earlier works and the Platonic Socrates of Plato's later writings, although the boundary between the two seems blurred and the presumed chronology rests on little evidence.
Xenophon's and Plato's accounts differ in their presentations of Socrates as a person. Xenophon's Socrates is duller, less humorous and less ironic than Plato's. Xenophon's Socrates also lacks the philosophical features of Plato's Socrates—ignorance, the Socratic method or elenchus—and places more emphasis on enkrateia (self-control) than Plato's Socrates. Generally, logoi Sokratikoi cannot help us to reconstruct the historical Socrates even in cases where their narratives overlap, as authors may have influenced each other's accounts.
=== Aristophanes and other sources ===
Writers of Athenian comedy, including Aristophanes, also commented on Socrates. Aristophanes's most important comedy with respect to Socrates is The Clouds, in which Socrates is a central character. In this drama, Aristophanes presents a caricature of Socrates that leans towards sophism, ridiculing Socrates as an absurd atheist. Socrates in Clouds is interested in natural philosophy, which conforms to Plato's depiction of him in Phaedo. What is certain is that by the age of 45, Socrates had already captured the interest of Athenians as a philosopher. It is not clear whether Aristophanes's work is useful in reconstructing the historical Socrates.
Other ancient authors who wrote about Socrates were Aeschines of Sphettus, Antisthenes, Aristippus, Bryson, Cebes, Crito, Euclid of Megara, Phaedo and Aristotle, all of whom wrote after Socrates's death. Aristotle was not a contemporary of Socrates; he studied under Plato at the latter's Academy for twenty years. Aristotle treats Socrates without the bias of Xenophon and Plato, who had an emotional tie with Socrates, and he scrutinizes Socrates's doctrines as a philosopher. Aristotle was familiar with the various written and unwritten stories of Socrates. His role in understanding Socrates is limited. He does not write extensively on Socrates; and, when he does, he is mainly preoccupied with the early dialogues of Plato. There are also general doubts on his reliability on the history of philosophy. Still, his testimony is vital in understanding Socrates.
=== The Socratic problem ===
In a seminal work titled "The Worth of Socrates as a Philosopher" (1818), the philosopher Friedrich Schleiermacher attacked Xenophon's accounts; his attack was widely accepted. Schleiermacher criticized Xenophon for his naïve representation of Socrates. Xenophon was a soldier, argued Schleiermacher, and was therefore not well placed to articulate Socratic ideas. Furthermore, Xenophon was biased in his depiction of his former friend and teacher: he believed Socrates was treated unfairly by Athens, and sought to prove his point of view rather than to provide an impartial account. The result, said Schleiermacher, was that Xenophon portrayed Socrates as an uninspiring philosopher. By the early twentieth century, Xenophon's account was largely rejected.
The philosopher Karl Joel, basing his arguments on Aristotle's interpretation of logos sokratikos, suggested that the Socratic dialogues are mostly fictional: according to Joel, the dialogues' authors were just mimicking some Socratic traits of dialogue. In the mid-twentieth century, philosophers such as Olof Gigon and Eugène Dupréel, based on Joel's arguments, proposed that the study of Socrates should focus on the various versions of his character and beliefs rather than aiming to reconstruct a historical Socrates. Later, ancient philosophy scholar Gregory Vlastos suggested that the early Socratic dialogues of Plato were more compatible with other evidence for a historical Socrates than his later writings, an argument that is based on inconsistencies in Plato's own evolving depiction of Socrates. Vlastos totally disregarded Xenophon's account except when it agreed with Plato's. More recently, Charles H. Kahn has reinforced the skeptical stance on the unsolvable Socratic problem, suggesting that only Plato's Apology has any historical significance.
== Biography ==
Socrates was born in 470 or 469 BC to Sophroniscus and Phaenarete, a stoneworker and a midwife, respectively, in the Athenian deme of Alopece; therefore, he was an Athenian citizen, having been born to relatively affluent Athenians. He lived close to his father's relatives and inherited, as was customary, part of his father's estate, securing a life reasonably free of financial concerns. His education followed the laws and customs of Athens. He learned the basic skills of reading and writing and, like most wealthy Athenians, received extra lessons in various other fields such as gymnastics, poetry and music. He was married twice (which came first is not clear): his marriage to Xanthippe took place when Socrates was in his fifties, and another marriage was with a daughter of Aristides, an Athenian statesman. He had three sons with Xanthippe. Socrates fulfilled his military service during the Peloponnesian War and distinguished himself in three campaigns, according to Plato.
Another incident that reflects Socrates's respect for the law is the arrest of Leon the Salaminian. As Plato describes in his Apology, Socrates and four others were summoned to the Tholos and told by representatives of the Thirty Tyrants (which began ruling in 404 BC) to arrest Leon for execution. Again Socrates was the sole abstainer, choosing to risk the tyrants' wrath and retribution rather than to participate in what he considered to be a crime.
Socrates attracted great interest from the Athenian public and especially the Athenian youth. He was notoriously ugly, having a flat turned-up nose, bulging eyes and a large belly; his friends joked about his appearance. Socrates was indifferent to material pleasures, including his own appearance and personal comfort. He neglected personal hygiene, bathed rarely, walked barefoot, and owned only one ragged coat. He moderated his eating, drinking, and sex, although he did not practice full abstention. Although Socrates was attracted to youth, he resisted his passion for them because, as Plato describes, he was more interested in educating their souls and did not seek sex from his disciples. Politically, he did not take sides in the rivalry between the democrats and the oligarchs in Athens; he criticized both. The character of Socrates as exhibited in Apology, Crito, Phaedo and Symposium concurs with other sources to an extent that gives confidence in Plato's depiction of Socrates in these works as being representative of the real Socrates.
Socrates died in Athens in 399 BC after a trial for impiety (asebeia) and the corruption of the young. He spent his last day in prison among friends and followers who offered him a route to escape, which he refused. He died the next morning, in accordance with his sentence, after drinking poison hemlock. According to the Phaedo, his last words were: “Crito, we owe a rooster to Asclepius. Don't forget to pay the debt.”
== Trial of Socrates ==
In 399 BC, Socrates was formally accused of corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens, and for asebeia (impiety), i.e. worshipping false gods and failing to worship the gods of Athens. At the trial, Socrates defended himself unsuccessfully. He was found guilty by a majority vote cast by a jury of hundreds of male Athenian citizens and, according to the custom, proposed his own penalty: that he should be given free food and housing by the state for the services he rendered to the city, or alternatively, that he be fined one mina of silver (according to him, all he had). The jurors declined his offer and ordered the death penalty.
Of all the works written about Socrates' trial, only three survive: Plato's Apology, Xenophon's Apology, and Xenophon's Memorabilia.
Socrates was charged in a politically tense climate. In 404 BC, the Athenians had been crushed by Spartans at the decisive naval Battle of Aegospotami, and subsequently, the Spartans laid siege to Athens. They replaced the democratic government with a new, pro-oligarchic government, named the Thirty Tyrants. Because of their tyrannical measures, some Athenians organized to overthrow the Tyrants—and, indeed, they managed to do so briefly—until a Spartan request for aid from the Thirty arrived and a compromise was sought. When the Spartans left again, however, democrats seized the opportunity to kill the oligarchs and reclaim the government of Athens.
The accusations against Socrates were initiated by a poet, Meletus, who asked for the death penalty in accordance with the charge of asebeia. Other accusers were Anytus and Lycon. After a month or two, in late spring or early summer, the trial started and likely went on for most of one day. There were two main sources for the religion-based accusations. First, Socrates had rejected the anthropomorphism of traditional Greek religion by denying that the gods did bad things like humans do. Second, he seemed to believe in a daimonion—an inner voice with, as his accusers suggested, divine origin.
Plato's Apology starts with Socrates answering the various rumours against him that have given rise to the indictment. First, Socrates defends himself against the rumour that he is an atheist naturalist philosopher, as portrayed in Aristophanes's The Clouds; or a sophist. Against the allegations of corrupting the youth, Socrates answers that he has never corrupted anyone intentionally, since corrupting someone would carry the risk of being corrupted back in return, and that would be illogical, since corruption is undesirable. On the second charge, Socrates asks for clarification. Meletus responds by repeating the accusation that Socrates is an atheist. Socrates notes the contradiction between atheism and worshipping false gods. He then claims that he is "God's gift" to the Athenians, since his activities ultimately benefit Athens; thus, in condemning him to death, Athens itself will be the greatest loser. After that, he says that even though no human can reach wisdom, seeking it is the best thing someone can do, implying money and prestige are not as precious as commonly thought.
Socrates was given the chance to offer alternative punishments for himself after being found guilty. He could have requested permission to flee Athens and live in exile, but he did not do so. According to Xenophon, Socrates made no proposals, while according to Plato he suggested free meals should be provided for him daily in recognition of his worth to Athens or, more in earnest, that a fine should be imposed on him. The jurors favoured the death penalty by making him drink a cup of hemlock (a poisonous liquid). In return, Socrates warned jurors and Athenians that criticism of them by his many disciples was inescapable, unless they became good men. After a delay caused by Athenian religious ceremonies, Socrates spent his last day in prison. His friends visited him and offered him an opportunity to escape, which he declined.
The question of what motivated Athenians to convict Socrates remains controversial among scholars. There are two theories. The first is that Socrates was convicted on religious grounds; the second, that he was accused and convicted for political reasons. Another, more recent, interpretation synthesizes the religious and political theories, arguing that religion and state were not separate in ancient Athens.
The argument for religious persecution is supported by the fact that Plato's and Xenophon's accounts of the trial mostly focus on the charges of impiety. In those accounts, Socrates is portrayed as making no effort to dispute the fact that he did not believe in the Athenian gods. Against this argument stands the fact that many skeptics and atheist philosophers during this time were not prosecuted. According to the argument for political persecution, Socrates was targeted because he was perceived as a threat to democracy. It was true that Socrates did not stand for democracy during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants and that most of his pupils were against the democrats. The case for it being a political persecution is usually challenged by the existence of an amnesty that was granted to Athenian citizens in 403 BC to prevent escalation to civil war after the fall of the Thirty. However, as the text from Socrates's trial and other texts reveal, the accusers could have fuelled their rhetoric using events prior to 403 BC.
== Philosophy ==
=== Socratic method ===
A fundamental characteristic of Plato's Socrates is the Socratic method, or the method of refutation (elenchus). It is most prominent in the early works of Plato, such as Apology, Crito, Gorgias, Republic I, and others. The typical elenchus proceeds as follows. Socrates initiates a discussion about a topic with a supposed expert on the subject, usually in the company of some young men and boys, and by dialogue proves the expert's beliefs and arguments to be contradictory. Socrates initiates the dialogue by asking his interlocutor for a definition of the subject. As he asks more questions, the interlocutor's answers eventually contradict the first definition. The conclusion is that the expert did not really know the definition in the first place. The interlocutor may come up with a different definition. That new definition, in turn, comes under the scrutiny of Socratic questioning. With each round of question and answer, Socrates and his interlocutor hope to approach the truth. More often, they continue to reveal their ignorance. Since the interlocutors' definitions most commonly represent the mainstream opinion on a matter, the discussion places doubt on the common opinion.
Socrates also tests his own opinions through the Socratic method. Thus Socrates does not teach a fixed philosophical doctrine. Rather, he acknowledges his own ignorance while searching for truth with his pupils and interlocutors.
Scholars have questioned the validity and the exact nature of the Socratic method, or indeed if there even was a Socratic method. In 1982, the scholar of ancient philosophy Gregory Vlastos claimed that the Socratic method could not be used to establish the truth or falsehood of a proposition. Rather, Vlastos argued, it was a way to show that an interlocutor's beliefs were inconsistent. There have been two main lines of thought regarding this view, depending on whether it is accepted that Socrates is seeking to prove a claim wrong. According to the first line of thought, known as the constructivist approach, Socrates indeed seeks to refute a claim by this method, and the method helps in reaching affirmative statements. The non-constructivist approach holds that Socrates merely wants to establish the inconsistency between the premises and the conclusion of the initial argument.
=== Socratic priority of definition ===
Socrates starts his discussions by prioritizing the search for definitions. In most cases, Socrates initiates his discourse with an expert on a subject by seeking a definition—by asking, for example, what virtue, goodness, justice, or courage is. To establish a definition, Socrates first gathers clear examples of a virtue and then seeks to establish what they had in common. According to Guthrie, Socrates lived in an era when sophists had challenged the meaning of various virtues, questioning their substance; Socrates's quest for a definition was an attempt to clear the atmosphere from their radical skepticism.
Some scholars have argued that Socrates does not endorse the priority of definition as a principle, because they have identified cases where he does not do so. Some have argued that this priority of definition comes from Plato rather than Socrates. Philosopher Peter Geach, accepting that Socrates endorses the priority of definition, finds the technique fallacious. Αccording to Geach, one may know a proposition even if one cannot define the terms in which the proposition is stated.
=== Socratic ignorance ===
Plato's Socrates often claims that he is aware of his own lack of knowledge, especially when discussing ethical concepts such as arete (i.e., goodness, courage) since he does not know the nature of such concepts. For example, during his trial, with his life at stake, Socrates says: "I thought Evenus a happy man, if he really possesses this art (technē), and teaches for so moderate a fee. Certainly I would pride and preen myself if I knew (epistamai) these things, but I do not know (epistamai) them, gentlemen". In some of Plato's dialogues, Socrates appears to credit himself with some knowledge, and can even seem strongly opinionated for a man who professes his own ignorance.
There are varying explanations of the Socratic inconsistency (other than that Socrates is simply being inconsistent). One explanation is that Socrates is being either ironic or modest for pedagogical purposes: he aims to let his interlocutor to think for himself rather than guide him to a prefixed answer to his philosophical questions. Another explanation is that Socrates holds different interpretations of the meaning of "knowledge". Knowledge, for him, might mean systematic understanding of an ethical subject, on which Socrates firmly rejects any kind of mastery; or might refer to lower-level cognition, which Socrates may accept that he possesses. In any case, there is a consensus that Socrates accepts that acknowledging one's lack of knowledge is the first step towards wisdom.
Socrates is known for disavowing knowledge, a claim encapsulated in the saying "I know that I know nothing". This is often attributed to Socrates on the basis of a statement in Plato's Apology, though the same view is repeatedly found elsewhere in Plato's early writings on Socrates. In other statements, though, he implies or even claims that he does have knowledge. For example, in Plato's Apology Socrates says: "...but that to do injustice and disobey my superior, god or man, this I know to be evil and base..." (Apology, 29b6–7). In his debate with Callicles, he says: "...I know well that if you will agree with me on those things which my soul believes, those things will be the very truth..."
Whether Socrates genuinely thought he lacked knowledge or merely feigned a belief in his own ignorance remains a matter of debate. A common interpretation is that he was indeed feigning modesty. According to Norman Gulley, Socrates did this to entice his interlocutors to speak with him. On the other hand, Terence Irwin claims that Socrates's words should be taken literally.
Gregory Vlastos argues that there is enough evidence to refute both claims. In his view, for Socrates, there are two separate meanings of "knowledge": Knowledge-C and Knowledge-E (C stands for "certain", and E stands for elenchus, i.e. the Socratic method). Knowledge-C is something unquestionable whereas Knowledge-E is the knowledge derived from Socrates's elenchus. Thus, Socrates speaks the truth when he says he knows-C something, and he is also truthful when saying he knows-E, for example, that it is evil for someone to disobey his superiors, as he claims in Apology. Not all scholars have agreed with this semantic dualism. James H. Lesher has argued that Socrates claimed in various dialogues that one word is linked to one meaning (i.e. in Hippias Major, Meno, and Laches). Lesher suggests that although Socrates claimed that he had no knowledge about the nature of virtues, he thought that in some cases, people can know some ethical propositions.
=== Socratic irony ===
There is a widespread assumption that Socrates was an ironist, mostly based on the depiction of Socrates by Plato and Aristotle. Socrates's irony is so subtle and slightly humorous that it often leaves the reader wondering if Socrates is making an intentional pun. Plato's Euthyphro is filled with Socratic irony. The story begins when Socrates is meeting with Euthyphro, a man who has accused his own father of murder. When Socrates first hears the details of the story, he comments, "It is not, I think, any random person who could do this [prosecute one's father] correctly, but surely one who is already far progressed in wisdom". When Euthyphro boasts about his understanding of divinity, Socrates responds that it is "most important that I become your student". Socrates is commonly seen as ironic when using praise to flatter or when addressing his interlocutors.
Scholars are divided on why Socrates uses irony. According to an opinion advanced since the Hellenistic period, Socratic irony is a playful way to get the audience's attention. Another line of thought holds that Socrates conceals his philosophical message with irony, making it accessible only to those who can separate the parts of his statements which are ironic from those which are not. Gregory Vlastos has identified a more complex pattern of irony in Socrates. In Vlastos's view, Socrates's words have a double meaning, both ironic and not. One example is when he denies having knowledge. Vlastos suggests that Socrates is being ironic when he says he has no knowledge (where "knowledge" means a lower form of cognition); while, according to another sense of "knowledge", Socrates is serious when he says he has no knowledge of ethical matters. This opinion is not shared by many other scholars.
=== Socratic eudaimonism and intellectualism ===
For Socrates, the pursuit of eudaimonia motivates all human action, directly or indirectly. Virtue and knowledge are linked, in Socrates's view, to eudaimonia, but how closely he considered them to be connected is still debated. Some argue that Socrates thought that virtue and eudaimonia are identical. According to another view, virtue serves as a means to eudaimonia (the "identical" and "sufficiency" theses, respectively). Another point of debate is whether, according to Socrates, people desire what is in fact good—or, rather, simply what they perceive as good.
Moral intellectualism refers to the prominent role Socrates gave to knowledge. He believed that all virtue was based on knowledge (hence Socrates is characterized as a virtue intellectualist). He also believed that humans were guided by the cognitive power to comprehend what they desire, while diminishing the role of impulses (a view termed motivational intellectualism). In Plato's Protagoras (345c4–e6), Socrates implies that "no one errs willingly", which has become the hallmark of Socratic virtue intellectualism. In Socratic moral philosophy, priority is given to the intellect as being the way to live a good life; Socrates deemphasizes irrational beliefs or passions. Plato's dialogues that support Socrates's intellectual motivism—as this thesis is named—are mainly the Gorgias (467c–8e, where Socrates discusses the actions of a tyrant that do not benefit him) and Meno (77d–8b, where Socrates explains to Meno his view that no one wants bad things, unless they do not know what is good and bad in the first place). Scholars have been puzzled by Socrates's view that akrasia (acting because of one's irrational passions, contrary to one's knowledge or beliefs) is impossible. Most believe that Socrates left no space for irrational desires, although some claim that Socrates acknowledged the existence of irrational motivations, but denied they play a primary role in decision-making.
=== Religion ===
Socrates's religious nonconformity challenged the views of his times and his critique reshaped religious discourse for the coming centuries. In Ancient Greece, organized religion was fragmented, celebrated in a number of festivals for specific gods, such as the City Dionysia, or in domestic rituals, and there were no sacred texts. Religion intermingled with the daily life of citizens, who performed their personal religious duties mainly with sacrifices to various gods. Whether Socrates was a practicing man of religion or a 'provocateur atheist' has been a point of debate since ancient times; his trial included impiety accusations, and the controversy has not yet ceased.
Socrates discusses divinity and the soul mostly in Alcibiades, Euthyphro, and Apology. In Alcibiades Socrates links the human soul to divinity, concluding "Then this part of her resembles God, and whoever looks at this, and comes to know all that is divine, will gain thereby the best knowledge of himself." His discussions on religion always fall under the lens of his rationalism. Socrates, in Euthyphro, reaches a conclusion which takes him far from the age's usual practice: he considers sacrifices to the gods to be useless, especially when they are driven by the hope of receiving a reward in return. Instead, he calls for philosophy and the pursuit of knowledge to be the principal way of worshipping the gods. His rejection of traditional forms of piety, connecting them to self-interest, implied that Athenians should seek religious experience by self-examination.
Socrates argued that the gods were inherently wise and just, a perception far from traditional religion at that time. In Euthyphro, the Euthyphro dilemma arises. Socrates questions his interlocutor about the relationship between piety and the will of a powerful god: Is something good because it is the will of this god, or is it the will of this god because it is good? In other words, does piety follow the good, or the god? The trajectory of Socratic thought contrasts with traditional Greek theology, which took lex talionis (the eye for an eye principle) for granted. Socrates thought that goodness is independent from gods, and gods must themselves be pious.
Socrates affirms a belief in gods in Plato's Apology, where he says to the jurors that he acknowledges gods more than his accusers. For Plato's Socrates, the existence of gods is taken for granted; in none of his dialogues does he probe whether gods exist or not. In Apology, a case for Socrates being agnostic can be made, based on his discussion of the great unknown after death, and in Phaedo (the dialogue with his students in his last day) Socrates gives expression to a clear belief in the immortality of the soul. He also believed in oracles, divinations and other messages from gods. These signs did not offer him any positive belief on moral issues; rather, they were predictions of unfavorable future events.
In Xenophon's Memorabilia, Socrates constructs an argument close to the contemporary teleological intelligent-design argument. He claims that since there are many features in the universe that exhibit "signs of forethought" (e.g., eyelids), a divine creator must have created the universe. He then deduces that the creator should be omniscient and omnipotent and also that it created the universe for the advance of humankind, since humans naturally have many abilities that other animals do not. At times, Socrates speaks of a single deity, while at other times he refers to plural "gods". This has been interpreted to mean that he either believed that a supreme deity commanded other gods, or that various gods were parts, or manifestations, of this single deity.
The relationship of Socrates's religious beliefs with his strict adherence to rationalism has been subject to debate. Philosophy professor Mark McPherran suggests that Socrates interpreted every divine sign through secular rationality for confirmation. Professor of ancient philosophy A. A. Long suggests that it is anachronistic to suppose that Socrates believed the religious and rational realms were separate.
=== Socratic daimonion ===
In several texts (e.g., Plato's Euthyphro 3b5; Apology 31c–d; Xenophon's Memorabilia 1.1.2) Socrates claims he hears a daimōnic sign—an inner voice heard usually when he was about to make a mistake. Socrates gave a brief description of this daimonion at his trial (Apology 31c–d): "...The reason for this is something you have heard me frequently mention in different places—namely, the fact that I experience something divine and daimonic, as Meletus has inscribed in his indictment, by way of mockery. It started in my childhood, the occurrence of a particular voice. Whenever it occurs, it always deters me from the course of action I was intending to engage in, but it never gives me positive advice. It is this that has opposed my practicing politics, and I think its doing so has been absolutely fine." Modern scholarship has variously interpreted this Socratic daimōnion as a rational source of knowledge, an impulse, a dream or even a paranormal experience felt by an ascetic Socrates.
=== Virtue and knowledge ===
Socrates's theory of virtue states that all virtues are essentially one, since they are a form of knowledge. For Socrates, the reason a person is not good is because they lack knowledge. Since knowledge is united, virtues are united as well. Another famous dictum—"no one errs willingly"—also derives from this theory. In Protagoras, Socrates argues for the unity of virtues using the example of courage: if someone knows what the relevant danger is, they can undertake a risk. Aristotle comments: " ... Socrates the elder thought that the end of life was knowledge of virtue, and he used to seek for the definition of justice, courage, and each of the parts of virtue, and this was a reasonable approach, since he thought that all virtues were sciences, and that as soon as one knew [for example] justice, he would be just..."
=== Love ===
Some texts suggest that Socrates had love affairs with Alcibiades and other young persons; others suggest that Socrates's friendships with young boys sought only to improve them and were not sexual. In Gorgias, Socrates claims he was a dual lover of Alcibiades and philosophy, and his flirtatiousness is evident in Protagoras, Meno (76a–c) and Phaedrus (227c–d). However, the exact nature of his relationship with Alcibiades is not clear; Socrates was known for his self-restraint, while Alcibiades admits in the Symposium that he had tried to seduce Socrates but failed.
The Socratic theory of love is mostly deduced from Lysis, where Socrates discusses love at a wrestling school in the company of Lysis and his friends. They start their dialogue by investigating parental love and how it manifests with respect to the freedom and boundaries that parents set for their children. Socrates concludes that if Lysis is utterly useless, nobody will love him—not even his parents. While most scholars believe this text was intended to be humorous, it has also been suggested that Lysis shows Socrates held an egoistic view of love, according to which we only love people who are useful to us in some way. Other scholars disagree with this view, arguing that Socrates's doctrine leaves room for non-egoistic love for a spouse; still others deny that Socrates suggests any egoistic motivation at all. In Symposium, Socrates argues that children offer the false impression of immortality to their parents, and this misconception yields a form of unity among them. Scholars also note that for Socrates, love is rational.
Socrates, who claims to know only that he does not know, makes an exception (in Plato's Symposium), where he says he will tell the truth about Love, which he learned from a 'clever woman'. Classicist Armand D'Angour has made the case that Socrates was in his youth close to Aspasia, and that Diotima, to whom Socrates attributes his understanding of love in Symposium, is based on her; however, it is also possible that Diotima really existed.
=== Socratic philosophy of politics ===
While Socrates was involved in public political and cultural debates, it is hard to define his exact political philosophy. In Plato's Gorgias, he tells Callicles: "I believe that I'm one of a few Athenians—so as not to say I'm the only one, but the only one among our contemporaries—to take up the true political craft and practice the true politics. This is because the speeches I make on each occasion do not aim at gratification but at what's best." His claim illustrates his aversion for the established democratic assemblies and procedures such as voting—since Socrates saw politicians and rhetoricians as using tricks to mislead the public. He never ran for office or suggested any legislation. Rather, he aimed to help the city flourish by "improving" its citizens. As a citizen, he abided by the law. He obeyed the rules and carried out his military duty by fighting wars abroad. His dialogues, however, make little mention of contemporary political decisions, such as the Sicilian Expedition.
Socrates spent his time conversing with citizens, among them powerful members of Athenian society, scrutinizing their beliefs and bringing the contradictions of their ideas to light. Socrates believed he was doing them a favor since, for him, politics was about shaping the moral landscape of the city through philosophy rather than electoral procedures. There is a debate over where Socrates stood in the polarized Athenian political climate, which was divided between oligarchs and democrats. While there is no clear textual evidence, one widely held theory holds that Socrates leaned towards democracy: he disobeyed the one order that the oligarchic government of the Thirty Tyrants gave him; he respected the laws and political system of Athens (which were formulated by democrats); and, according to this argument, his affinity for the ideals of democratic Athens was a reason why he did not want to escape prison and the death penalty. On the other hand, there is some evidence that Socrates leaned towards oligarchy: most of his friends supported oligarchy, he was contemptuous of the opinion of the many and was critical of the democratic process, and Protagoras shows some anti-democratic elements. A less mainstream argument suggests that Socrates favoured democratic republicanism, a theory that prioritizes active participation in public life and concern for the city.
Yet another suggestion is that Socrates endorsed views in line with liberalism, a political ideology formed in the Age of Enlightenment. This argument is mostly based on Crito and Apology, where Socrates talks about the mutually beneficial relationship between the city and its citizens. According to Socrates, citizens are morally autonomous and free to leave the city if they wish—but, by staying within the city, they also accept the laws and the city's authority over them. On the other hand, Socrates has been seen as the first proponent of civil disobedience. Socrates's strong objection to injustice, along with his refusal to serve the Thirty Tyrants' order to arrest Leon, are suggestive of this line. As he says in Critias, "One ought never act unjustly, even to repay a wrong that has been done to oneself." Ιn the broader picture, Socrates's advice would be for citizens to follow the orders of the state, unless, after much reflection, they deem them to be unjust.
== Legacy ==
=== Classical antiquity ===
Socrates's impact was immense in philosophy after his death. With the exception of the Epicureans and the Pyrrhonists, almost all philosophical currents after Socrates traced their roots to him: Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, the Cynics, and the Stoics. Interest in Socrates kept increasing until the third century AD. The various schools differed in response to fundamental questions such as the purpose of life or the nature of arete (virtue), since Socrates had not handed them an answer, and therefore, philosophical schools subsequently diverged greatly in their interpretation of his thought. He was considered to have shifted the focus of philosophy from a study of the natural world, as was the case for pre-Socratic philosophers, to a study of human affairs.
Immediate followers of Socrates were his pupils, Euclid of Megara, Aristippus, and Antisthenes, who drew differing conclusions among themselves and followed independent trajectories. The full doctrines of Socrates's pupils are difficult to reconstruct. Antisthenes had a profound contempt of material goods. According to him, virtue was all that mattered. Diogenes and the Cynics continued this line of thought. On the opposite end, Aristippus endorsed the accumulation of wealth and lived a luxurious life. After leaving Athens and returning to his home city of Cyrene, he founded the Cyrenaic philosophical school which was based on hedonism, and endorsing living an easy life with physical pleasures. His school passed to his grandson, bearing the same name. There is a dialogue in Xenophon's work in which Aristippus claims he wants to live without wishing to rule or be ruled by others. In addition, Aristippus maintained a skeptical stance on epistemology, claiming that we can be certain only of our own feelings. This view resonates with the Socratic understanding of ignorance. Euclid was a contemporary of Socrates. After Socrates's trial and death, he left Athens for the nearby town of Megara, where he founded a school, named the Megarians. His theory was built on the pre-Socratic monism of Parmenides. Euclid continued Socrates's thought, focusing on the nature of virtue.
The Stoics relied heavily on Socrates. They applied the Socratic method as a tool to avoid inconsistencies. Their moral doctrines focused on how to live a smooth life through wisdom and virtue. The Stoics assigned virtue a crucial role in attaining happiness and also prioritized the relation between goodness and ethical excellence, all of which echoed Socratic thought. At the same time, the philosophical current of Platonism claimed Socrates as its predecessor, in ethics and in its theory of knowledge. Arcesilaus, who became the head of the Academy about 80 years after its founding by Plato, radically changed the Academy's doctrine to what is now known as Academic Skepticism, centered on the Socratic philosophy of ignorance. The Academic Skeptics competed with the Stoics over who was Socrates's true heir with regard to ethics. While the Stoics insisted on knowledge-based ethics, Arcesilaus relied on Socratic ignorance. The Stoics' reply to Arcesilaus was that Socratic ignorance was part of Socratic irony (they themselves disapproved the use of irony), an argument that ultimately became the dominant narrative of Socrates in later antiquity.
While Aristotle considered Socrates an important philosopher, Socrates was not a central figure in Aristotelian thought. One of Aristotle's pupils, Aristoxenus even authored a book detailing Socrates's scandals.
The Epicureans were antagonistic to Socrates. They attacked him for superstition, criticizing his belief in his daimonion and his regard for the oracle at Delphi. They also criticized Socrates for his character and various faults, and focusing mostly on his irony, which was deemed inappropriate for a philosopher and unseemly for a teacher.
The Pyrrhonists were also antagonistic to Socrates, accusing him of being a prater about ethics, who engaged in mock humility, and who sneered at and mocked people.
=== Medieval world ===
Socratic thought found its way to the Islamic Middle East alongside that of Aristotle and the Stoics. Plato's works on Socrates, as well as other ancient Greek literature, were translated into Arabic by early Muslim scholars such as Al-Kindi, Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Muʿtazila. For Muslim scholars, Socrates was hailed and admired for combining his ethics with his lifestyle, perhaps because of the resemblance in this regard with Muhammad's personality. Socratic doctrines were altered to match Islamic faith: according to Muslim scholars, Socrates made arguments for monotheism and for the temporality of this world and rewards in the next life. His influence in the Arabic-speaking world continues to the present day.
In medieval times, little of Socrates's thought survived in the Christian world as a whole; however, works on Socrates from Christian scholars such as Lactantius, Eusebius and Augustine were maintained in the Byzantine Empire, where Socrates was studied under a Christian lens. After the fall of Constantinople, many of the texts were brought back into the world of Roman Christianity, where they were translated into Latin. Overall, ancient Socratic philosophy, like the rest of classical literature before the Renaissance, was addressed with skepticism in the Christian world at first.
During the early Italian Renaissance, two different narratives of Socrates developed. On the one hand, the humanist movement revived interest in classical authors. Leonardo Bruni translated many of Plato's Socratic dialogues, while his pupil Giannozzo Manetti authored a well-circulated book, a Life of Socrates. They both presented a civic version of Socrates, according to which Socrates was a humanist and a supporter of republicanism. Bruni and Manetti were interested in defending secularism as a non-sinful way of life; presenting a view of Socrates that was aligned with Christian morality assisted their cause. In doing so, they had to censor parts of his dialogues, especially those which appeared to promote homosexuality or any possibility of pederasty (with Alcibiades), or which suggested that the Socratic daimon was a god. On the other hand, a different picture of Socrates was presented by Italian Neoplatonists, led by the philosopher and priest Marsilio Ficino. Ficino was impressed by Socrates's un-hierarchical and informal way teaching, which he tried to replicate. Ficino portrayed a holy picture of Socrates, finding parallels with the life of Jesus Christ. For Ficino and his followers, Socratic ignorance signified his acknowledgement that all wisdom is God-given (through the Socratic daimon).
=== Modern times ===
In early modern France, Socrates's image was dominated by features of his private life rather than his philosophical thought, in various novels and satirical plays. Some thinkers used Socrates to highlight and comment upon controversies of their own era, like Théophile de Viau who portrayed a Christianized Socrates accused of atheism, while for Voltaire, the figure of Socrates represented a reason-based theist. Michel de Montaigne wrote extensively on Socrates, linking him to rationalism as a counterweight to contemporary religious fanatics.
In the 18th century, German idealism revived philosophical interest in Socrates, mainly through Hegel's work. For Hegel, Socrates marked a turning point in the history of humankind by the introduction of the principle of free subjectivity or self-determination. While Hegel hails Socrates for his contribution, he nonetheless justifies the Athenian court, for Socrates's insistence upon self-determination would be destructive of the Sittlichkeit (a Hegelian term signifying the way of life as shaped by the institutions and laws of the State). Also, Hegel sees the Socratic use of rationalism as a continuation of Protagoras' focus on human reasoning (as encapsulated in the motto homo mensura: "man is the measure of all things"), but modified: it is our reasoning that can help us reach objective conclusions about reality. Also, Hegel considered Socrates as a predecessor of later ancient skeptic philosophers, even though he never clearly explained why.
Søren Kierkegaard considered Socrates his teacher, and authored his master's thesis on him, The Concept of Irony with Continual Reference to Socrates. There he argues that Socrates is not a moral philosopher but is purely an ironist. He also focused on Socrates's avoidance of writing: for Kierkegaard, this avoidance was a sign of humility, deriving from Socrates's acceptance of his ignorance. Not only did Socrates not write anything down, according to Kierkegaard, but his contemporaries misconstrued and misunderstood him as a philosopher, leaving us with an almost impossible task in comprehending Socratic thought. Only Plato's Apology was close to the real Socrates, in Kierkegaard's view. In his writings, he revisited Socrates quite frequently; in his later work, Kierkegaard found ethical elements in Socratic thought. Socrates was not only a subject of study for Kierkegaard, he was a model as well: Kierkegaard paralleled his task as a philosopher to Socrates. He writes, "The only analogy I have before me is Socrates; my task is a Socratic task, to audit the definition of what it is to be a Christian", with his aim being to bring society closer to the Christian ideal, since he believed that Christianity had become a formality, void of any Christian essence. Kierkegaard denied being a Christian, as Socrates denied possessing any knowledge.
Friedrich Nietzsche resented Socrates's contributions to Western culture. In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872), Nietzsche held Socrates responsible for what he saw as the deterioration of ancient Greek civilization during the 4th century BC and after. For Nietzsche, Socrates turned the scope of philosophy from pre-Socratic naturalism to rationalism and intellectualism. He writes: "I conceive of [the Presocratics] as precursors to a reformation of the Greeks: but not of Socrates"; "with Empedocles and Democritus the Greeks were well on their way towards taking the correct measure of human existence, its unreason, its suffering; they never reached this goal, thanks to Socrates". The effect, Nietzsche proposed, was a perverse situation that had continued down to his day: our culture is a Socratic culture, he believed. In a later publication, The Twilight of the Idols (1887), Nietzsche continued his offensive against Socrates, focusing on the arbitrary linking of reason to virtue and happiness in Socratic thinking. He writes: "I try to understand from what partial and idiosyncratic states the Socratic problem is to be derived: his equation of reason = virtue = happiness. It was with this absurdity of a doctrine of identity that he fascinated: ancient philosophy never again freed itself [from this fascination]". From the late 19th century until the early 20th, the most common explanation of Nietzsche's hostility towards Socrates was his anti-rationalism; he considered Socrates the father of European rationalism. In the mid-20th century, philosopher Walter Kaufmann published an article arguing that Nietzsche admired Socrates. Current mainstream opinion is that Nietzsche was ambivalent towards Socrates.
Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss and Karl Popper, after experiencing the horrors of World War II, amidst the rise of totalitarian regimes, saw Socrates as an icon of individual conscience. Arendt, in Eichmann in Jerusalem (1963), suggests that Socrates's constant questioning and self-reflection could prevent the banality of evil. Strauss considers Socrates's political thought as paralleling Plato's. He sees an elitist Socrates in Plato's Republic as exemplifying why the polis is not, and could not be, an ideal way of organizing life, since philosophical truths cannot be digested by the masses. Popper takes the opposite view: he argues that Socrates opposes Plato's totalitarian ideas. For Popper, Socratic individualism, along with Athenian democracy, imply Popper's concept of the "open society" as described in his The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_micronations | List of micronations | Micronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are small, self-proclaimed entities that assert their sovereignty as independent states but which are not acknowledged as such by any of the recognised sovereign states, or by any supranational organization. They should not be confused with microstates, which are recognised independent states of a small size, nor should they be confused with unrecognised states, which are of more geopolitical significance because they exercise clear control of actual territory to the exclusion of widely recognized countries.
Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity.
The following is a list of notable micronations.
== Current ==
== Former ==
== Proposed == |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Manning | Eli Manning | Elisha Nelson Manning (born January 3, 1981) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons with the New York Giants. A member of the Manning family, he is the youngest son of Archie, younger brother of Cooper and Peyton, and uncle of Arch. Manning played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels, winning the Maxwell and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm awards as a senior. He was selected first overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers and traded to the Giants during the draft.
Manning's greatest professional success was twice leading the Giants to underdog Super Bowl victories against the New England Patriots dynasty in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI. The former, which saw the wild card Giants defeat a Patriots team that was the first to win all 16 regular season games, is regarded as one of the greatest sports upsets of all time. Manning was named Super Bowl MVP in both championships, making him one of six players to receive the award multiple times.
As the Giants starting quarterback from 2004 to 2019, Manning holds the franchise records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, and completions. Never missing a game due to injury, he started 210 consecutive games from 2004 to 2017, the third-longest consecutive starts streak by an NFL quarterback. Manning ranks 11th all-time in both passing yards and passing touchdowns.
== Early life ==
Manning was born in New Orleans, the youngest of three boys to Olivia (née Williams) and NFL quarterback Elisha Archibald "Archie" Manning III, both natives of Mississippi. His older brothers, Cooper and Peyton, both played football growing up.
Manning attended high school at the Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, where he played football and basketball for the Greenies. In his high school career, Manning was a three-time All-State selection from 1996 to 1998, was named the USA Today Player of the Year in Louisiana, and passed for a school-record 7,389 yards and 89 touchdowns. His passing mark was later broken by his nephew Arch in 2022. Eli committed to play college football at the University of Mississippi.
== College career ==
Manning entered college in the shadow of his brother Peyton, quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts, and his father, who was considered a legend and folk hero at Ole Miss. During his years with the Rebels, Manning set or tied numerous single-game, season and career records. His career numbers include 10,119 passing yards (fifth on the SEC career list), 81 touchdown passes (third on the SEC career list), and a passer rating of 137.7 (tied for sixth on the SEC career list).
=== 2000 season ===
As a redshirt freshman, Manning competed with veteran Romaro Miller for the starting quarterback position and saw little playing time. He appeared in six games and passed for 170 total yards and one interception in the Rebels 7–5 season.
=== 2001 season ===
With the departure of Miller, Manning became the Rebels' starting quarterback as a sophomore. In the first game, against Murray State, he converted 20-of-23 pass attempts for 271 yards and five passing touchdowns in the 49–14 victory. In the following game, a 27–21 loss to Auburn, he had 265 passing yards, one passing touchdown and one interception. Over the next few games, Manning helped lead the Rebels to victories over Kentucky, Alabama and LSU. On November 3, in a 58–56 7OT loss to Arkansas, Manning passed for 312 passing yards and six passing touchdowns. The game marked the longest game in major college football history at the time. Overall, Manning had a solid first year as the Rebels' starting quarterback with 2,948 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, as the Rebels finished with a 7–4 record.
=== 2002 season ===
Manning's junior season started out promising with a 31–3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe and a 38–16 victory over Memphis. Manning had four passing touchdowns and one interception combined in those two games. In the next game, a 42–28 loss to Texas Tech, Manning passed for 374 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. The Rebels won their next three games, which were over Vanderbilt, #6 Florida and Arkansas State to earn Ole Miss a #21 ranking in the AP Poll. Manning had five touchdowns and one interception in that stretch. The Rebels' fortunes turned in the latter half of the season with a five-game losing streak. In the stretch was a 48–28 loss to Arkansas, in which Manning completed 42-of-56 passes for 414 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. In addition, he had a rushing touchdown. Manning's 414 passing yards marked the most he threw for in college. After a 24–12 win over rival Mississippi State, the Rebels qualified for the Independence Bowl with a 6–6 record to face off against Nebraska. Manning passed for 313 yards and one touchdown in the 27–23 victory. Overall, Manning finished with 3,401 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions in his junior season.
=== 2003 season ===
Manning started off his senior season with a 2–2 record. He played well in that stretch with 1,329 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and four interceptions, with victories over Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe, but had losses to Memphis and Texas Tech. The Rebels went on a six-game winning streak that included victories over major SEC opponents #24 Florida, Alabama, #21 Arkansas, South Carolina, and Auburn. Manning passed for 1,552 yards, 12 touchdowns, and four interceptions in the winning streak. Overall, he led the Rebels to a 10–3 record, earning a share of the SEC Western Division championship, and a 31–28 SBC Cotton Bowl Classic victory over #21 Oklahoma State, with 259 passing yards and two touchdowns in 2003. Manning helped lead Ole Miss to their first ten-win season since 1971.
As his senior year came to a close, Manning won many awards, including the Maxwell Award as the nation's best all-around player, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete Award, the Sporting News Radio Socrates Award, and the SEC Most Valuable Player Award. He was also a candidate for the 2003 Heisman Trophy, finishing third in the voting after winning quarterback Jason White (University of Oklahoma) and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald (University of Pittsburgh). Manning was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity (as was his father), was named Sigma Nu Athlete of the Year in 2001 and 2003, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2008.
Manning graduated from the University of Mississippi with a degree in marketing and a GPA of 3.44 and was on the Dean's Honor Roll.
== Professional career ==
The San Diego Chargers had the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft due to their 4–12 record in 2003. With Manning being the most coveted player in the draft, it appeared that the Chargers' intentions were to draft him first overall. Meanwhile, Manning and his father Archie Manning stated that he would refuse to play for the Chargers if drafted by them. Archie asked the father of former Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf before the draft about his son's experience with the team. In hearing that the Chargers did not help Leaf with his personal problems, it then became part of why Eli refused to play for the team.
The Chargers selected Manning with the first pick overall nonetheless. The team had a deal with the New York Giants, whereby the Giants would draft and then trade Philip Rivers and a 2004 third-round pick, used to select placekicker Nate Kaeding; a 2005 first-round pick, used to select linebacker Shawne Merriman; and a 2005 fifth-round pick (which was later traded away) to the Chargers for Manning. He signed a six-year, $45 million contract with the Giants.
Manning was one of 17 quarterbacks taken in the 2004 NFL draft, along with Rivers and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger. All three would enjoy lengthy and successful careers with the teams that signed them and have been compared favorably to the 1983 NFL draft, which included Hall of Fame quarterbacks John Elway, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino. Manning posted the lowest passing yards, touchdowns, pass completions, completion percentage, TD–INT ratio, passer rating, wins, winning percentage, and Pro Bowl honors of the three, but cemented his legacy with his two upset Super Bowl victories against the New England Patriots' dynasty. While both Manning and Roethlisberger were part of two Super Bowl-winning teams, Manning is the only quarterback of the three to earn Super Bowl MVP honors, which he received in both victories.
=== 2004 season ===
Manning made his NFL regular season debut in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He came into the game toward the end the fourth quarter in relief of Kurt Warner. He finished the 31–17 loss 3-of-9 for 66 yards. Manning made his first career regular season start against the Atlanta Falcons at Giants Stadium on November 21, 2004. In the game, Manning threw his first career touchdown on a six-yard pass to Jeremy Shockey in the third quarter. In his fourth start, against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on December 12, 2004, he ended the day with a 0.0 passer rating and was benched in the second half in favor of Warner, but remained the Giants starter through the end of the season. In Week 15, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he recorded his first multi-touchdown performance with 182 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the 33–30 loss in a duel with fellow rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. In the regular season finale, Manning passed for 144 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception in the 28–24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, getting his first win as a starter. The Giants finished with a 6–10 record and were 1–6 in games that Manning started in. He finished with 1,043 passing yards, six touchdowns, and nine interceptions.
=== 2005 season: NFC East champions ===
Following 2004, Warner left the Giants, and Manning was named the starter for 2005. Manning led the Giants to a 2–0 record with victories against the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints, before traveling to the West Coast for a test in a road game against the San Diego Chargers. Chargers fans did not forget the snub, and on September 25, 2005, when Manning and the Giants made their first trip to San Diego for a game since that draft day, the crowd booed Manning loudly every time he touched the ball. San Diego defeated the Giants 45–23, but Manning displayed what may have been his most impressive performance of his young career, going 24-of-41 for 352 yards and two touchdowns.
Manning returned home to throw for almost 300 yards and a career-high four touchdowns against the St. Louis Rams at Giants Stadium in a 44–24 romp. Two games later, he led a last-minute drive against the Denver Broncos to secure a 24–23 victory for the Giants. The drive culminated in a two-yard touchdown to Amani Toomer with five seconds remaining. Two weeks later, Manning overcame a weak first half against the San Francisco 49ers to help his team secure their first official road victory of the season, 24–6. Despite a poor performance at home against the Minnesota Vikings, throwing four interceptions, he again led his team back to tie the game in the final minutes before the Vikings won on a late field goal.
Manning finished among the top five quarterbacks in both passing yards and touchdown passes, while leading an offense that finished third in the NFL in scoring with a total of 422 points. It was the most points the Giants scored in a single season since 1963. The Giants won the NFC East with an 11–5 record and advanced to the postseason as the #4-seed. In the Wild Card Round against the Carolina Panthers, Manning was 10-of-18 for 113 yards and three interceptions in the 23–0 loss.
=== 2006 season ===
Manning's second full season was reminiscent of his 2005 season. He started off playing well and completed over 65 percent of his passes through the first four games. However, he struggled in the second half of the season and his production diminished towards the end of the regular season. After losing a tough game to his brother Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts on opening day, Manning and the Giants rebounded from a 24–7 fourth quarter deficit en route to a 30–24 overtime victory over the division rival Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2. Manning threw for a career-high 371 yards in the win with three touchdowns including a game-winning pass to Plaxico Burress in overtime to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Following a poor performance against the Seattle Seahawks the next week, Manning and the Giants responded by winning five straight games including wins over the Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons, to push their record to 6–2.
Following this winning streak, key injuries including one to wide receiver Amani Toomer pushed Manning and the Giants into a downward slide. Playing against the Chicago Bears, Manning started well, but the Giants' offense was derailed by the loss of left tackle Luke Petitgout to a broken leg. Manning was held to only 141 yards passing with two interceptions. Petitgout's loss left a gaping hole at the crucial left tackle position, and Manning was unable to repeat his first-half success. Manning struggled the next week against the Jacksonville Jaguars and the week after that, a costly interception helped to culminate a huge collapse on the road against the Tennessee Titans, with the Giants seeing a 21-point fourth quarter lead simply evaporate. Manning improved the following week, throwing for 270 yards and two touchdowns against the Dallas Cowboys, but the Giants lost 23–20. Finally regaining momentum, Manning threw three touchdowns in a win on the road against the Carolina Panthers, but then he stumbled badly in the final three games. He threw two interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles and tallied only 73 passing yards in a game against the New Orleans Saints. Although the Giants battled back to 8–8 the following week on the road against the Washington Redskins, Manning completed only 12 of 26 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. The Giants qualified for the postseason as the #6-seed and met the Philadelphia Eagles. Although he did significantly better in this game than the 2005 playoff game against the Carolina Panthers, completing 16 of 27 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns, the Giants lost in the Wild Card Round on a last-second field goal by the Eagles.
For the year, Manning threw for 3,244 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. He completed 57.7 percent of his passes, a five-point improvement from 2005, but he again struggled badly in the second half of the season. Manning finished the season with a quarterback efficiency rating of 77.0 (18th in the league) with 6.2 yards per attempt.
=== 2007 season: Super Bowl champions ===
Manning trained in the Meadowlands with offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and new quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer prior to the 2007 regular season. For the first time ever, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey practiced in the off-season with Manning to perfect their timing and chemistry rather than training alone in Miami as they did in previous years.
==== 2007 regular season ====
Manning opened the 2007 season with an outstanding personal performance against the Dallas Cowboys, completing 28 of 41 passing attempts for 312 yards, four touchdowns, and an interception in New York's 45–35 loss. However, he suffered a shoulder sprain and was removed from the game late in the second half. Although he did play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2 while throwing for 211 yards with one touchdown, the Giants defense performed poorly again and the team dropped to 0–2 with Green Bay winning, 35–13. In week three, Manning got a come-from-behind victory as the Giants defense improved, pitching a shutout in the second half and stopping the Washington Redskins on a fourth and goal situation, winning the game 24–17. The Giants defense then shut down the Philadelphia Eagles with an NFL record-tying 12 sacks, holding the Eagles offense to one field goal. The Giants won with a score of 16–3. The following week, Manning overcame a dismal first half to throw for two second-half scores in a 35–24 win over their in-city rivals, the New York Jets.
Following two straight home victories, Manning and the Giants obtained their fourth consecutive victory with a 31–10 defeat of the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome on Monday Night Football. Manning performed well, completing 27 of 39 passes for 303 yards along with a pair of touchdowns while giving away two interceptions. Behind a dominant defensive effort, the Giants improved to 5–2 the next week with a 33–15 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Manning played well again, throwing for two touchdowns in the effort. In week 8, the Giants played a road game against the Miami Dolphins on October 28, 2007, in London's Wembley Stadium. Manning only threw for 59 yards in the rain and mud, but he scored the Giants' only touchdown on a 10-yard run. This touchdown was the first in an NFL regular season game that was played outside of North America. The Giants defeated the Dolphins, 13–10, bringing the Giants to a 6–2 record at the mid-way point of the 2007 season. After losing to their division rivals the Dallas Cowboys in Week 9, New York Giants co-owner John Mara publicly questioned Manning's ability to lead the Giants in 2007, but more importantly, in the future:
The only thing we evaluate is 'Can we win with this guy?' That's the one thing. When we talk about any player at the end of the season, the No.1 question is 'Will he help us win?' And to take it one step further, 'Can we win a championship with this guy?'
After a week of criticism in the New York media and being outplayed by Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, Manning had a bounce-back victory against their conference Wild Card competitors the Detroit Lions. Manning threw for 283 yards and one touchdown but most importantly, no interceptions in a critical road game.
The following week in a 41–17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Manning threw four interceptions and had three of them returned for touchdowns. He continued to struggle until the last game of the season, against the 15–0 New England Patriots. With a playoff spot secured, the Giants could have rested their starters for the playoffs, but they instead chose to keep in the regulars and attempt to stop New England's quest for an undefeated regular season. The Giants lost 38–35, with Manning completing 22 of 32 passes for 252 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception.
==== 2007 playoffs ====
The Giants entered the playoffs as the #5-seed. On January 6, 2008, in the Wild Card Round, Manning went 20-of-27 for 185 yards playing on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The underdog Giants won 24–14, and Manning had two touchdown passes.
On January 13, 2008, in the Divisional Round Manning led the Giants to an upset victory over the heavily favored Dallas Cowboys, the number one seed in the NFC. For the third straight game, Manning played well, completing 12 of 18 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The Giants were the first team to beat an NFC number one seed in the Divisional Round since the start of the 12-team format in 1990. This victory secured an NFC Championship berth against the Green Bay Packers on January 20, 2008. In the NFC Championship, the Giants beat the Packers in overtime, with a score of 23–20 in one of the coldest postseason games in NFL history. The dramatic victory secured Manning and the Giants a trip to Super Bowl XLII. This was the first Super Bowl appearance for the New York Giants since Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.
==== Super Bowl XLII ====
In front of a record-setting American television audience and on the strength of a late fourth quarter drive led by Manning, the Giants beat the 12.5 point-favored, undefeated New England Patriots 17–14.
Manning takes the snap, back to throw, under pressure, avoids the rush and he's gonna...fight out of it, still fights out of it, now throws it deep down field, wide open Tyree who... MAKES THE CATCH! AT THE 24-YARD LINE! What a play by Manning!
Trailing 14–10 with 2:42 remaining, Manning led the Giants 83 yards on a game-winning touchdown drive. On a crucial third-and-5 at the Giants' 44-yard line, Manning connected with David Tyree on a play in which he avoided several sacks and Tyree caught the ball off his helmet for a large gain. Four plays later, Plaxico Burress caught a 13-yard touchdown pass with just 35 seconds remaining for the winning margin. Manning became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw two go-ahead fourth quarter touchdowns in a Super Bowl (Joe Montana being the first in Super Bowl XXIII in 1989). Manning also became the first quarterback to throw a last-minute, championship-winning touchdown in the NFL title game (including the pre-Super Bowl era) when a field goal would not at least tie the game.
Manning was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLII. He and his brother Peyton are the only brother combination to play at quarterback in the Super Bowl and the only set of brothers to win Super Bowl MVP, doing so in successive years.
For winning Super Bowl MVP, he was given his choice of any 2008 model Cadillac, and Manning chose an Escalade Hybrid. The Wednesday following the Super Bowl he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.
=== 2008 season: NFC East champions ===
Manning and the Giants opened the 2008 season with a win over their division rivals, the Washington Redskins, 16–7. Manning completed 19 passes of 35 for 216 yards, and had one rushing touchdown and one interception. Post-match, he said: "It was a great opening to the season. There was a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement. You could feel it in the crowd." In the Giants' next game, against the St. Louis Rams, they won again, 41–13, behind a stellar Manning performance. Manning finished the game with 20 completions, 260 yards passing and threw three touchdowns to three different receivers. The victory also marked the team's fourth straight victory over the Rams. The following week, Manning rallied the Giants to more fourth-quarter magic, overcoming a late deficit to throw the go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss, and then in overtime, throwing a clutch 31-yard pass to Amani Toomer in the Giants' 26–23 win over Cincinnati Bengals. The fourth week of the season saw the Giants score on each of their first six possessions and dominate the Seattle Seahawks, 44–6. Manning threw for two touchdowns, completing 19 of 25 passes for 267 yards as the Giants totaled 523 yards on offense, their most since 2002.
Following a poor team performance in a 35–14 loss on the road against the Cleveland Browns, Manning and the Giants responded with a 29–17 win over the 49ers and battled to a hard earned 21–14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field. Manning completed 19 of 32 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown in the crucial win, which pushed the Giants to a 6–1 record. The following week, the Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys at home 35–14 to get to 7–1 at the midway point of the regular season. Manning threw three touchdowns in the game. New York improved to 8–1 with a 36–31 win on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles. Manning threw two touchdowns in the victory, but the crucial play occurred in the third quarter. With the Giants trailing by four, Manning appeared to make an illegal forward pass to tight end Boss. After review, it was determined that the pass was legal. The Giants scored a touchdown two plays later. Week nine pitted the Giants in a battle with the visiting Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens had come into the game with the league's third-ranked defense; nevertheless, Manning led the Giants to a decisive 30–10 victory, improving to 9–1, which included a 200-yard rushing effort by running backs Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. Two weeks later, the Giants faced the Redskins at Washington in their second encounter in the season. Manning threw his first 300-yard game of the season going 21-of-34 with an interception and a 40-yard touchdown pass to Toomer. The Giants beat the Redskins 23–7. In November, Manning was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month. For the month, Manning threw for 1,036 yards and ten touchdowns, and compiled a 94.9 passer rating while leading the Giants to a perfect 5–0 record.
Manning was named to his first Pro Bowl on December 16, making him the first Giants quarterback to earn the honor since Phil Simms in 1993. In week 15, Manning and the Giants visited Texas Stadium, where Tony Romo battled through a lower back contusion and connected with nine different receivers, finishing 20-of-30 for 244 yards and two touchdowns leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 20–8 victory. In week 16 against the Carolina Panthers with NFC homefield advantage on the line, Manning had a passing day of 17 of 27 for 181 yards and no interceptions. Manning led the Giants back from deficits of 21–10 and 28–20 to tie the game with just over three minutes left, including a bullet pass to Domenik Hixon for a key two-point conversion to tie the game at 28. The game was played in freezing conditions.
After becoming the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 12–4 record, the Giants had a first playoff round bye week and homefield advantage through the rest of the playoffs. In the Divisional Round, they faced their archrival Philadelphia Eagles at Giants Stadium with its signature windy conditions. Philadelphia went on to win the game 23–11. Manning completed 15 out of 29 passes for 169 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.
=== 2009 season ===
On August 5, 2009, Manning signed a six-year US$97.5 million contract extension.
Manning and the Giants started the 2009 season with a 3–0 record. In Week 4, the Giants played the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning was playing well up until the start of the fourth quarter when on a play-action fake, he injured his heel while passing downfield to Steve Smith. He stayed in for the next play completing a 54-yard touchdown to Hakeem Nicks. It was discovered that Manning had plantar fasciitis (inflammation of connective tissue within the soles of the feet) and there was speculation he would not play against the Oakland Raiders in Week 5. However, in Week 5, Manning played well, completing eight of ten passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns with the Giants winning 44–7. This was the first time in his career that Manning had a posted a perfect passer rating.
After this five-game winning streak, the Giants fell to a four-game losing streak, losing to the New Orleans Saints, the Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers, before winning again after a bye week on Week 11 when they played the Atlanta Falcons, winning 34–31 in overtime. Against the Falcons, Manning posted a career-high 384 passing yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
On Thanksgiving, the Giants traveled to Denver to play the Denver Broncos where they lost 26–6. Manning completed 24 of 40 passes for 230 yards, with no touchdowns and an interception. In Week 14, they played their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, and lost 45–38, where it was a close game from the start. Manning passed for a career-high 391 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions but was not able to win the game. Next week, on Monday Night Football, Manning and the Giants dominated the Washington Redskins, winning the game 45–12.
The next week, in the final game in Giants Stadium, Manning and the Giants lost 41–9 against the Carolina Panthers. The Giants did not fare better the next week on the road against the Minnesota Vikings in the final regular season game, losing 44–7 while down 38 points in the fourth quarter. After the games, Manning apologized to the fans for the team's performance. The Giants finished the 2009 season with an 8–8 record and missed the playoffs.
Manning ended the 2009 season with career highs including 4,021 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, a 62.3 completion percentage rating, and a passer rating of 93.1.
=== 2010 season ===
On August 16 during a preseason game against the New York Jets, Manning was hit by Brandon Jacobs, then by Calvin Pace, which knocked off his helmet, then went face first into Jim Leonhard's face mask. As a result, Manning had a large gash that needed 12 stitches, and he left the game.
Manning and the Giants started the 2010 season with a 1–2 start followed by a five-game winning streak. In Week 15, he had 289 passing yards, four touchdowns, and one interception in the 38–31 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In Week 16, Manning connected on with Mario Manningham on a then-career-high 85-yard receiving touchdown in a 45–17 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The mark was broken the next week when Manning completed a 92-yard passing touchdown to Manningham in the 17–14 victory over the Washington Redskins. The Giants ended the 2010 NFL season with a 10–6 record. Manning led the Giants to a 17–14 win in the last game of the season against the Redskins, however, because of the Packers' 10–3 win over the Chicago Bears, the Giants did not make the playoffs. He ended the season with 4,002 yards, a career-high 31 touchdowns, but also a career-high 25 interceptions, which marked the most by a quarterback in the 2010 season, and a 62.5 completion percentage.
=== 2011 season: Second Super Bowl championship ===
In August 2011, Manning generated mild controversy in the sports media during a radio interview on The Michael Kay Show. When asked by host Michael Kay whether he was an elite "Top 10, Top 5" quarterback in the same class as Tom Brady, he responded:
I consider myself in that class. Tom Brady is a great quarterback... I think now he's grown up and gotten better every year and that's what I'm trying to do. I kind of hope these next seven years of my quarterback days are my best.
Manning received criticism for the quote for trying to inflate his own status and skills, with critics pointing out his past inconsistent stats, including his 25 interceptions in the previous season, as evidence contradicting his claims. However, Manning also received support for his comments from Giants coach Tom Coughlin, and teammates such as wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. Later in the season, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan commented on the quote, agreeing with Manning that he was an elite quarterback "for sure."
==== 2011 regular season ====
The Giants opened the 2011 season with a slow start, losing to the rival Washington Redskins 28–14– in an emotional game for both fanbases on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Manning completed 18 of 32 passes for 268 yards but threw a costly interception in the third quarter to linebacker Ryan Kerrigan, who returned it for a touchdown and swung the momentum of the game. However, the Giants recovered and won their next three games, including over the arch-rival Philadelphia Eagles, where he had 254 passing yards and four touchdowns in the 29–16 victory to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. During this streak, Manning improved, throwing for 266 yards per game with eight total touchdowns and one interception.
After a 6–2 start, including a 24–20 last-minute comeback by Manning over the New England Patriots that evoked comparisons to Super Bowl XLII, the Giants entered a tough stretch of their schedule, facing off against the San Francisco 49ers, the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers, the respective eventual NFC West, South and North champions. The Giants lost all three games as well as falling to the Philadelphia Eagles at home, leading them into a four-game skid and once again putting their postseason hopes in jeopardy. However, unlike the previous three seasons, the Giants finished strong, winning three of their last four games. This included a key win over their crosstown rival New York Jets, where Manning tied an NFL record by completing a 99-yard touchdown pass to Victor Cruz, as well as a sweep of their fellow division rival Dallas Cowboys. In the final regular-season game against the Dallas Cowboys, Manning threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns, giving the Giants the win, the NFC East title, and a playoff berth for the first time in three years. He earned a Pro Bowl nomination for his performance in the 2011 season. He threw for at least 400 yards in three separate games, setting a new franchise record.
==== 2011 playoffs ====
The Giants entered the 2011 postseason as underdogs, with the worst record of any NFC playoff team. However, Manning and his team would once again demonstrate their endurance and durability late in the year. The Giants first easily routed the Atlanta Falcons 24–2 in the Wild Card Round and then stunned the defending Super Bowl champions and top-seeded Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round to advance to the NFC Championship Game. In the win, Manning completed 21 out of 33 attempts and threw three touchdowns and one interception. The following week, the Giants avenged their regular season loss to the San Francisco 49ers with a dramatic 20–17 overtime win in the NFC Championship Game. In the game, Manning set franchise playoff records with 32 completions on 52 attempts, good enough for 316 yards and two touchdowns despite being sacked a franchise-record-tying six times. This victory secured Manning and the Giants a second trip in five years to the Super Bowl, setting up a highly anticipated Super Bowl XLII rematch against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Giants also made history as the first Super Bowl team ever outscored in the regular season (394 points scored, 400 points allowed).
==== Super Bowl XLVI ====
In the most-watched program in the history of United States television, Manning once again led the Giants to an upset victory over the 2+1⁄2-point-favored Patriots 21–17, his second Super Bowl win and the fourth overall for the franchise.
I was yelling to [Bradshaw], "Don't score, don't score", Manning said. "He tried to stop, but he fell into the end zone."
While trailing the Patriots 15–17 in the final minutes, Manning led the Giants 88 yards down the field to a touchdown that many observers described as "accidental". With just over a minute of time left in the game, the Giants called a running play and Manning handed off the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw with the hopes of stopping short of the goal line and forcing the Patriots to use their final time out, thus allowing the Giants to run out the clock. The Patriots, in turn, did not attempt to tackle Bradshaw in his run, and he then fell over the goal line despite making an attempt to stop. However, the remaining time was not enough for Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to lead a comeback and the Giants held onto the lead to win. Manning was again named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XLVI, becoming the third quarterback in a row to win the award. The Giants also became the first team ever with fewer than ten wins in a 16-game regular season to win the Super Bowl. Manning also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 4,900+ yards and win a Super Bowl in the same season. The Giants were the first team with a running game ranked last (32nd) and a defense ranked as low as 27th to win a Super Bowl.
For winning the Super Bowl, Manning and the Giants received a victory parade in Manhattan and were honored with symbolic keys to the city by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was ranked 31st by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2012.
=== 2012 season ===
The Giants endured a disappointing season following their Super Bowl run in 2011. Manning led the Giants to a 6–2 record to begin their season, including a career-best 510 passing yards to go along with three passing touchdowns and three interceptions in a Week 2 41–34 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He finished second only to Phil Simms's game with 513 passing yards in 1985 for the franchise record. However, Manning averaged an anemic 204 yards per game and 74.3 passer rating from Week 8 to Week 16, including his lowest rating in five years (38.9) in a 34–0 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15. He ended the 2012 season on a high note, throwing a career-high five touchdown passes while completing 13 of 21 pass attempts and passing for 208 yards with no interceptions, in a 42–7 Giants win over the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished the season with 26 touchdown passes, 15 interceptions and 3,948 passing yards. As was typical for this phase of his career (2012–2016), Manning was exceptionally well-protected by his offensive line; he was sacked just 19 times for a league-lowest 3.4% of passing plays. Although the Giants did not qualify for the playoffs with a 9–7 season, Manning was selected to his third Pro Bowl as a second alternate. He was ranked 43rd by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2013.
=== 2013 season ===
Manning started the 2013 season off with 450 passing yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in a 36–31 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Manning set a franchise record for most passing yards in a season opener, breaking Phil Simms's mark of 409 passing yards in the 1984 regular season opener. The loss was a sign of things to come as the Giants started the season with a 0–6 record, their worst regular season start since 1976. He threw 12 interceptions in his first five games. Manning fell to 0–3 against his older brother, Peyton in Week 2's 41–23 loss to the Denver Broncos. He was 28 of 39 for 362 yards, but was intercepted four times. Manning's four interceptions tied his career high and was the fourth time he threw four interceptions in a game. The game between Peyton and Eli was the final professional meeting of the two brothers. In Week 15, Manning threw for 156 yards and a career-high five interceptions in a 23–0 loss to the eventual Super Bowl XLVIII champion Seattle Seahawks. Manning ended the season with a career-high 27 interceptions, which were the most in one season by a quarterback since Brett Favre had 29 in 2005. The Giants finished the season 7–9, their first losing record since Manning's rookie year in 2004.
Manning passed Phil Simms to become the franchise's all-time leader in yards passing. Simms, who played 14 seasons with the Giants, finished his career with 33,462 yards in the air.
=== 2014 season ===
After an 0–2 start, the Giants won three straight games but subsequently lost their next seven games including a 16–10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in a game where Manning threw five interceptions, which tied his career high. The Giants won three of their last four games to end the season with a 6–10 record. Among Manning's highlights from the losing season was a Week 17 game where he had 429 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception in a 34–26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Manning finished the season with 30 touchdown passes, 14 interceptions and 4,410 passing yards.
=== 2015 season ===
A few days before the Giants' regular season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, Manning signed a four-year, US$84 million extension with the Giants. In Week 5, he had a franchise-record 41 completions for 441 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception, in a 30–27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Through six games, he led the Giants to a 3–3 record and a tie for first place in the NFC East. In Week 8, Manning threw a career-high six touchdowns and 350 yards, but the Giants lost to the New Orleans Saints, 52–49. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for six touchdowns and no interceptions in a game and lose. In Week 10, in a narrow 27–26 loss to the undefeated New England Patriots, Manning passed for 361 yards and two touchdowns, one of which was an 87-yard strike to Odell Beckham Jr. in the first quarter. In Week 14, in a 31–24 victory over the Miami Dolphins, he was 27-of-31 for 337 passing yards and four touchdowns to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week. After starting the season 5–5, Giants fell to 1–5 the rest of the way to finish 6–10 for the second straight season. Manning's longtime coach in Tom Coughlin stepped down at the end of the season.
Manning finished the 2015 season with career highs in touchdown passes (35), completions (387), attempts (618) and passer rating (93.6). His 35 touchdowns were one shy of tying Y. A. Tittle for most in a single season in franchise history and ranked tied for second among quarterbacks that year. Manning also threw 4,432 yards in 2015, second most in his career. On January 22, 2016, Manning was selected to his fourth career Pro Bowl, replacing Ben Roethlisberger. Manning's fourth Pro Bowl berth ties Fran Tarkenton for most Pro Bowl selections by a New York Giants quarterback in franchise history. He was ranked 47th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2016.
=== 2016 season: Return to the playoffs ===
Manning had a new head coach in Ben McAdoo for the 2016 season. Manning and the Giants started the 2016 season with a 2–3 record over the first five games. In the next game, a 27–23 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Manning threw for three touchdowns, reaching a career total of 302 touchdown passes and passing John Elway for seventh all time.
Coming off a bye week and on a two-game winning streak, beating the Ravens and the Los Angeles Rams, Manning threw a season-high four touchdowns as the Giants would halt a last-second game-winning drive by the Philadelphia Eagles to win 28–23. In a Week 16 loss against the Eagles on December 22, Manning set a franchise record with 63 pass attempts in a single game, while throwing one touchdown and three interceptions, surpassing Peyton Manning's record of 21 games with at least three interceptions with 22. Despite the loss, though, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the New Orleans Saints later that week 31–24, giving the Giants their first playoff berth since the 2011 season, when the team last won the Super Bowl.
By defeating the rival Washington Redskins in the final week of the NFL season on New Year's Day and, therefore, knocking the Redskins out of playoff contention and bringing their season record to 11–5 (their first winning season since 2012), Manning and the Giants faced the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs, as Manning completed 23 of 44 of his passes for 299 yards, while throwing for a touchdown. The Packers defeated the Giants 38–13, ending the Giants' season. Manning finished the season recording 4,027 passing, 26 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, with an 86.0 passer rating.
On February 4, 2017, Manning and Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald both won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, making it the first time since the 2006 season that two players were co-winners of this award (Drew Brees and LaDainian Tomlinson).
=== 2017 season ===
Manning and the Giants started the 2017 season with five consecutive losses. The Giants broke their losing streak with a 23–10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Week 6. The success was short-lived as the Giants lost the next game to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 24–7 to set off a three-game losing streak. During Week 9 against the Los Angeles Rams, he became the seventh quarterback to reach 50,000 passing yards. On November 28, after a 2–9 start to the season, it was announced that Manning would be benched and replaced by Geno Smith in Week 13 against the Oakland Raiders, ending Manning's streak of 210 consecutive regular-season games started. The streak was second all-time for quarterbacks behind Brett Favre's 297. Head coach Ben McAdoo gave Manning the option of starting to keep the streak going but Manning declined, stating that "My feeling is that if you are going to play the other guys, play them. Starting just to keep the streak going and knowing you won't finish the game and have a chance to win it is pointless to me, and it tarnishes the streak." The move was met with backlash from former Giants players and coaches. On December 5, two days after the Week 13 game, Manning was renamed the starter by interim head coach Steve Spagnuolo, after McAdoo was fired as head coach. During Week 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Manning finished with 434 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The Giants lost 34–29, allowing the Eagles to clinch a first-round bye. On December 24, against the Arizona Cardinals, Manning passed John Elway to take sole possession of sixth place on the NFL's all-time passing yard list. Manning started the regular-season finale against the Washington Redskins. In the 18–10 victory, he had 132 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception, as the Giants ended their disappointing season with a 3–13 record.
=== 2018 season ===
Following speculation that Manning would be released, new Giants head coach Pat Shurmur put these rumors aside by saying "I think what's important is we have a guy here who has helped this organization win Super Bowls. He's an outstanding player and I'm really looking forward to working with him."
After losses to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys to the start the season, Manning and the Giants defeated the Houston Texans by a score of 27–22. Manning was efficient, going 25-of-29 for 297 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Giants lost the next five games, with Manning leading the leagues in sacks for most of that stretch despite an improved running game from rookie Saquon Barkley. Manning had 399 passing yards against the Atlanta Falcons, the fourth of these losses, but was sacked seven times and threw two interceptions in the following game against the Washington Redskins. Manning rebounded with three touchdowns and no interceptions in the following week's 27–23 victory over the San Francisco 49ers, and 17 completions on 18 attempts for two touchdowns in a 38–35 win the following week over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Giants went 4–4 over the last eight games of the season to finish 5–11 and last in the NFC East. Manning passed for 4,299 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in the 2018 season.
=== 2019 season ===
The 2019 season was Manning's last remaining year on his contract. While the Giants had the option to release Manning in the offseason and save $17 million in both cash and cap space, the team opted to keep him on their roster. However, neither side held any discussions for a contract extension, causing doubt for Manning's future as the Giants' franchise quarterback beyond the upcoming season. The team selected quarterback Daniel Jones in the first round of that year's draft, which many saw as the Giants selecting Manning's successor while further cementing his own lame-duck status in the position. Manning was informed of the Giants' decision during their draft selection. Despite the pick, general manager Dave Gettleman said "the goal is for Eli to be our quarterback", while head coach Shurmur told Manning "it's your job to win games and keep [Jones] off the field".
Being on the Giants' roster meant that it would be Manning's 16th season with the team, marking a franchise record for the longest tenure for any player in its 94-year history. Manning started the Giants' first two games of the season, losses to the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills. On September 17, 2019, the Giants announced that Manning would not start the team's Week 3 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, instead opting for Jones. This was thought to be the end of Manning's time as the Giants' starting quarterback.
Due to an ankle injury suffered by Jones during Week 13 against the Green Bay Packers, Manning returned to the starting lineup the next week on December 9 against the Philadelphia Eagles. During the game, Manning threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns to rookie wide receiver Darius Slayton, but the game ended in a 23–17 overtime loss for the Giants. As the game was televised on Monday Night Football, it marked Manning's final primetime appearance. In the following week's game against the Miami Dolphins at home, Manning started again and threw for 283 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, leading the team to a 36–20 win. As the game ended, Manning was taken off the field and received a standing ovation from fans who believed this was his final home game as the starting quarterback. Jones returned to action in Week 16 and finished out the season. Manning finished the year with 1,042 passing yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions in four games, as the Giants finished the season 4–12.
With his contract expiring at the end of the season, Manning was set to become a free agent for the first time in his career. When discussing his future plans, Manning stated that he did not wish to be a backup quarterback or pursue coaching opportunities with the team, as he felt he served both roles throughout the year and did not enjoy either one of them. Regardless, he said he would weigh his options for the upcoming season, stating "I think I can still play". During a radio interview weeks later, team co-owner John Mara said that the Giants would welcome back Manning the next year as a backup quarterback or in a front-office role, but that newly hired head coach Joe Judge would need to give his approval to include Manning on the roster.
=== Retirement and honors ===
On January 22, 2020, Manning announced his retirement, with an official press conference scheduled for January 24. John Mara stated during the press conference that Manning would be inducted into the Giants Ring of Honor in 2020 and that Manning's number 10 jersey would be retired.
Manning rejoined the Giants in 2021 in a business operations and fan engagement role, according to the team. His jersey retirement and induction into the Giants' Ring of Honor took place on September 26, 2021, at halftime of the Giants-Atlanta Falcons game at MetLife Stadium. In 2021, he was named to the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame. He became eligible for Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 2025.
=== "The Manning Bowl" ===
Peyton and Eli Manning played against each other three times in the regular season during their professional careers. These encounters were colloquially dubbed "The Manning Bowl", and Peyton's teams, twice with the Colts and once with the Broncos, held a 3–0 record over Eli and the New York Giants. The first Manning Bowl was held on September 10, 2006, and Peyton's Colts defeated Eli's Giants by a score of 26–21. The second Manning Bowl was held on September 19, 2010, with Peyton and the Colts beating Eli's Giants again by a score of 38–14. The third and final Manning Bowl was held on September 15, 2013, and Peyton and the Broncos beat Eli's Giants 41–23. They faced each other in two Pro Bowls, in 2009 and 2013, both won by the NFC. However, they never faced each other in the playoffs as both always played in separate conferences and never made the Super Bowl at the same time.
== Career statistics ==
=== NFL ===
==== Regular season ====
==== Postseason ====
==== Super Bowl ====
=== College ===
== Career highlights ==
=== Awards and honors ===
==== NFL ====
2× Super Bowl champion (XLII, XLVI)
2× Super Bowl MVP (XLII, XLVI)
2× NFC champion (2007, 2011)
4× Pro Bowl (2008, 2011, 2012, 2015)
NFC passing touchdowns co-leader (2015)
The Sporting News Athlete of the Year (2008)
Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (2016)
Bart Starr Award (2020)
PFWA Good Guy Award (2020)
The Daily News New York Sportsperson of the Year (2008)
Hickok Belt (January 2012)
NFC Offensive Player of the Month (November 2008)
4× NFC Offensive Player of the Week (Week 2, 2006; Week 3, 2011; Week 5, 2015; Week 14, 2015)
2× PFW NFL Offensive Player of the Week (Week 2, 2006; Week 14, 2011)
3× NFL Top 100 (2012, 2013, 2016)
New York Giants Ring of Honor
New York Giants No. 10 retired
8th greatest New York Giant of all-time
The Athletic's New York Giants All-2010s Team
ESPN's New York Giants 2010s Player of the Decade
ESPN's NFC East All-2010s Team
Sports Illustrated's New York Giants All-Quarter-Century Team
New York Post's New York Giants All-Time Team
New York Post's 3rd Greatest New York Athlete of the Quarter-Century
==== College ====
During his time at Ole Miss, Manning set or tied 47 school records. He was inducted into the University's Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2015, the Shreveport Times, in conjunction with the Independence Bowl, named him the second-greatest player in the bowl game's 40 year history. In 2019, he was the only quarterback selected to the Independence Bowl's All-Time Team. On October 21, 2021, Manning was inducted into the M-Club Hall of Fame, and two days later, the Rebels retired his No. 10 jersey at halftime of its game against LSU. Manning was selected to the 2022 SEC Football Legends Class. In 2023, he was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.
2001: Conerly Trophy – Best College Football Player in Mississippi
2001: Davey O'Brien Award (finalist) – Awarded to the Nation's Top Quarterback
2001: Honorable mention All-American – The Football News
2002: Second-team All-SEC – The Associated Press
2002: Independence Bowl MVP
2003: Second-team All-American – The Associated Press and Walter Camp Football Foundation
2003: First-team All-American – The All-American Foundation and Southern Football Weekly
2003: Maxwell Award – Nation's Top Player
2003: Conerly Trophy – Best College Football Player in Mississippi
2003: SEC MVP – Birmingham Monday Morning Quarterback Club
2003: Sports Person of the Year in Mississippi – The Clarion-Ledger
2003: Mississippi Amateur Athlete of the Year – Jackson Touchdown Club
2003: National Scholar-Athlete Class – Division I-A QB
2003: Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award – Awarded to the Nation's Top Quarterback
2003: SEC Offensive Player of the Year – The Associated Press and the SEC Coaches
2003: SEC Player of the Year – The Commercial Appeal and the SEC Coaches
2003: SEC Back of the Year – Touchdown Club of Atlanta Wally Butts Award
2003: First-team All-SEC – Associated Press
2003: Colonel Earl (Red) Blaik Leadership Award – All-American Football Foundation
2003: National Scholarship-Athlete
2003: Walter Camp Player of the Year Award (finalist)
2003: William V. Campbell Trophy (finalist)
2003: 3rd in Heisman Trophy balloting
2004: NCAA Today's Top VIII Award
2004: Sporting News Radio Socrates Award
2004: SBC Cotton Bowl Classic MVP
==== Halls of fame ====
University of Mississippi Hall of Fame – Class of 2004
Sigma Nu Hall of Fame – Class of 2008
New Jersey Hall of Fame – Class of 2019
Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame – Class of 2021
M-Club Hall of Fame – Class of 2021
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame – Class of 2023
Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame – Class of 2023
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame – Class of 2024
=== Records ===
==== NFL ====
Tied NFL record for longest pass completion and touchdown: 99 yards (2011)
Most passing yards in a single postseason: 1,219 yards (2011)
Most pass completions and attempts in a single postseason: 106 completions and 163 attempts (2011)
Most fumbles lost (career): 56
Most consecutive completions to begin a Super Bowl: 9 (XLVI)
Third all-time for most consecutive starts by a National Football League quarterback: 210
==== New York Giants franchise records ====
Longest-tenured player: 16 seasons
Most pass attempts (career): 8,119
Most pass attempts (season): 618 (2015)
Most pass attempts (game): 63 (December 22, 2016, against the Philadelphia Eagles)
Most pass attempts (playoff career): 400
Most pass attempts (playoff season): 163 (2011)
Most pass attempts (playoff game): 58 (January 22, 2012, against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship)
Most completions (career): 4,895
Most completions (season): 387 (2015)
Most completions (game): 41 (October 11, 2015, against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship)
Most completions (playoff career): 242
Most completions (playoff season): 106 (2011)
Most completions (playoff game): 32 (January 22, 2012, against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship)
Most passing yards (career): 57,023
Most passing yards (season): 4,933 (2011)
Most passing yards (playoff career): 2,815
Most passing yards (playoff season): 1,219 (2011)
Most passing touchdowns (career): 366
Most passing touchdowns (playoff career): 18
Most passing touchdowns (playoff season): 9 (2011)
Most intercepted (career): 244
Most intercepted (season): 27 (2013)
Most sacked (playoff career): 27
Most sacked (playoff season): 11 (2011)
Most sacked (playoff game): 6 (January 22, 2012, against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship; tied with Phil Simms)
Most fumbles lost (career): 56
Longest completed pass: 99 yards (2011)
Most fourth quarter touchdown passes, season: 15
Most consecutive starts by a quarterback: 222 (210 regular season + 11 playoff games)
Most 300-yard passing games: 366
== Post-playing career ==
Eli and Peyton Manning joined ESPN as an NFL analyst for the 2021 season, calling nine games during the season on an alternate broadcast called the Manningcast. The show features segments with special guest stars from entertainment, politics, and sports while the Manning brothers watch the game. In addition, he currently hosts "Eli's Places" for ESPN+, where he "travel[s] to some of the most well-known and historic college football establishments and meet with giants in the sport to better understand what makes college football such a national sensation." He also received a nickname "Human Carbon Monoxide" or HCM from The Rock due to him not having a nickname unlike his brother Peyton "The Sheriff" Manning and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
== Off the field ==
=== Personal life ===
In 2007, he proposed to long-time girlfriend Abby McGrew, whom he met while attending the University of Mississippi. The couple wed in a private ceremony held in San José del Cabo, Mexico, on April 19, 2008. Together, Manning and McGrew have three daughters and a son. They reside in Summit, New Jersey.
Manning also participated in the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw on December 5, 2025.
=== Endorsements and investments ===
Manning co-starred with his brother, Peyton, in ads for NFLShop.com and Oreo. Manning is a spokesman for Citizen Watch Co., Toyota of New Jersey, and Reebok. He reportedly received several more endorsement offers after reaching Super Bowl XLII. Some of Manning's other sponsors were DIRECTV, Hublot, Nationwide Insurance, Nike, Panini, and Visa.
In August 2022, Manning joined the ownership group of the NWSL's NJ/NY Gotham FC.
=== Philanthropy and service ===
Eli and Peyton Manning volunteered in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Mannings assisted in the delivery of 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of water, Gatorade, baby formula, pumice, and pillows to the people of New Orleans. After touring the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children, he undertook a five-year campaign in 2007 to raise US$2.5 million for the construction of "The Eli Manning Children's Clinics" at the children's hospital. Manning said in 2007, "I am humbled by the work they do and am honored to make this five-year commitment to help raise funds to build this state-of-the-art clinic that will serve Mississippi families for years to come."
Since 2008, Manning has been the host of Guiding Eyes for the Blind's Golf Classic, the oldest and largest charity golf event in Westchester County, New York.
He is a former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
In 2010, Manning helped raise funds for awareness of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in wake of the catastrophe.
In 2016, Manning was part of the 14th Annual BTIG Commissions for Charity Day, which was a fundraiser for hundreds of charities.
In 2020, Manning was named to the Board of Directors for Guiding Eyes for the Blind.
=== Television ===
On May 5, 2012, Manning hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live (season 37, episode 20), with musical guest, Rihanna.
Manning began hosting The Eli Manning Show in 2021 on the New York Giant's YouTube channel. The show has featured interviews with celebrity guests such as Derek Jeter, Tracy Morgan, Bill Murray, and Caitlin Clark.
In 2022, Manningwent undercover as "Chad Powers" and participated in Penn State University football tryouts as a walk-on, which was filmed as part of an ESPN project. In that same year, he was nominated for a Sports Emmy, under the category of Outstanding Personality/Emerging On-Air Talent. In 2025, the skit was expanded into a Hulu program called Chad Powers starring Glen Powell in the title role.
=== Writing ===
In 2009, Eli, Peyton, and Archie Manning co-authored a children's book entitled, Family Huddle, which describes in simple text and pictures how the three Manning brothers played football as kids.
=== Sports memorabilia case ===
In 2014, Manning was sued in New Jersey Superior Court by sports memorabilia collectors who alleged that Manning and others conspired to sell them fraudulent memorabilia. Pretrial discovery included emails from Manning to Giants equipment manager, Joe Skiba, requesting "helmets that can pass as game-used." The suit alleged those helmets were eventually sold to the plaintiffs as game-used helmets. In May 2018, the suit was settled under confidential terms. According to lawyer and journalist, Michael McCann, Manning settled before trial in order to avoid damage to his marketability as an endorser and discipline from the NFL. |
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