Copyright © 2015 Bert N. Langford (Images may be subject to copyright. Please send feedback)
Welcome to Our Generation USA!
Cultural Icons
From around the Globe, those individuals and institutions that have made the World a better place to live, whether in entertainment; and regardless of sexual orientation, race, gender, ethnicity or creed, including heroes and loss of their own life or limbs, while inspiring others.
See also the following Web Pages:
"Generations"
"Culture", and "Cultural Icons"
Popular Female_Icons
Popular_Male_Icons
Click on Icon of Interest to be taken to that topic below:
- Cultural Icons
- First Responders who were killed as a result of the September 11, 2001 ("9/11") Attacks
- CIA Memorial Wall
- The Death of Osama Bin Laden by the United States Navy SEAL Team Six
- List of Military Memorials and Monuments in the United States
- Desmond Doss, conscientious Objector who won the Medal of Honor during World War II.
- Thomas W. Bennett, conscientious objector who won the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War
- United States National Cemeteries
- Gloria Steinem
- Women's Rights including a List of Women's Rights Advocates in the United States
- Betty Friedan, Women's Rights Activist
- Susan B. Anthony, women's rights activist
- Helen Gurley Brown (Feminist)
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
- Dick Gregory, Civil Rights Activist
- International Women's Day
- Bella Abzug, Feminist Movement Activist
- Julian Bond
- Peace Movement including a List of Peace Activists
- Civil Rights Movements, including a List of Civil Rights Leaders
- Jesse Jackson
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Maya Angelou
- Muhammad Ali
- Rosa Parks
- Shirley Chisholm
- Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1/28/1986)
- Space Shuttle Columbia disaster (2/1/2003)
- Captain Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III
- John Glenn
- Firefighters in the United States including a List of those who gave their life to save others, along with the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial
- List of American Police Officers Who Have Lost Their Lives in the Line of Duty
- A List of journalists killed in the United States while reporting, covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist.
- LGBT Social Movements, Including a List of Activists
- First Responders in the United States
- John McCain III
- Tammy Duckworth
- Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in the United States
- Wildfire Fighters in the United States
- The Giving Pledge
- Tom Steyer
- Warren Buffett
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, World War II Allied Military Commander and President of the United States (1953-1961)
- Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)
- John Lewis, Congressman and Civil Rights Leader (1940-2020)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
- Stacey Abrams
- Erin Brockovich
- Dr. Anthony Fauci
- Nancy Pelosi (D,CA) (House Speaker: 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023)
- Awards and Decorations of the United States Armed Forces featuring the Medal of Honor
- Mary Trump, Niece of Donald J Trump along with the Psychology of Donald Trump ("Psychology Today")
- Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock and Roll"
- Bill Gates (Microsoft)
- Barack Obama and Family
- Steven Jobs, Apple Founder
- Alexei Navalny (Russian Opposition Leader toVladimir Putin)
- Barbra Streisand: Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper present Barbra Streisand with SAG Life Achievement award (2/24/2024)
- Arnold Schwarzenegger ("The Governator!")
- Carol Burnett
- Walt Disney
- Michael Jackson, "The King of Pop!"
Cultural Icons
200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons : People Magazine (New York, N. Y.), Vh1: Amazon.sg: Books
- YouTube Video: Inspired By The Greatest Generation
- YouTube Video: How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Became A Pop Culture Icon | TODAY
- YouTube Video: Taylor Swift - You Need To Calm Down
200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons : People Magazine (New York, N. Y.), Vh1: Amazon.sg: Books
[Your WebHost: this web page is focused on individuals and events, even objects that have made noteworthy contributions to Society throughout the World. Note that we are covering Wikipedia topics for "Cultural Icons"which also apply to those remarkable individuals like Madonna, Nelson Mandela and many others!]
Cultural Icons:
A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic symbol of that culture.
When individuals perceive a cultural icon, they relate it to their general perceptions of the cultural identity represented. Cultural icons can also be identified as an authentic representation of the practices of one culture by another.
In popular culture and elsewhere, the term "iconic" is used to describe a wide range of people, places, and things. Some commentators believe that the word "iconic" is overused.
Examples
According to the Canadian Journal of Communication, academic literature has described all of the following as "cultural icons":
A web-based survey was set up in 2006 allowing the public to nominate their ideas for national icons of England, and the results show the range of different types of icons associated with an English view of English culture. One example is the red AEC Routemaster London double decker bus.
Matryoshka dolls are seen internationally as cultural icons of Russia. In the former Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle symbol and statues of Vladimir Lenin instead represented the country's most prominent cultural icons.
The values, norms, and ideals represented by a cultural icon vary among people who subscribe to it and more widely among others who may interpret cultural icons as symbolizing quite different values. Thus an apple pie is a cultural icon of the United States, but its significance varies among Americans.
National icons can become targets for those opposing or criticising a regime, for example, crowds destroying statues of Lenin in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism or burning the American flag to protest US actions abroad.
Religious icons can also become cultural icons in societies where religion and culture are deeply entwined, such as representations of the Madonna in societies with a strong Catholic tradition.
See also:
Cultural Icons:
A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic symbol of that culture.
When individuals perceive a cultural icon, they relate it to their general perceptions of the cultural identity represented. Cultural icons can also be identified as an authentic representation of the practices of one culture by another.
In popular culture and elsewhere, the term "iconic" is used to describe a wide range of people, places, and things. Some commentators believe that the word "iconic" is overused.
Examples
According to the Canadian Journal of Communication, academic literature has described all of the following as "cultural icons":
- Shakespeare,
- Oprah,
- Batman,
- Anne of Green Gables,
- the Cowboy,
- the 1960s female pop singer,
- the horse,
- Las Vegas,
- the library,
- the Barbie doll,
- DNA,
- and the New York Yankees."
A web-based survey was set up in 2006 allowing the public to nominate their ideas for national icons of England, and the results show the range of different types of icons associated with an English view of English culture. One example is the red AEC Routemaster London double decker bus.
Matryoshka dolls are seen internationally as cultural icons of Russia. In the former Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle symbol and statues of Vladimir Lenin instead represented the country's most prominent cultural icons.
The values, norms, and ideals represented by a cultural icon vary among people who subscribe to it and more widely among others who may interpret cultural icons as symbolizing quite different values. Thus an apple pie is a cultural icon of the United States, but its significance varies among Americans.
National icons can become targets for those opposing or criticising a regime, for example, crowds destroying statues of Lenin in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism or burning the American flag to protest US actions abroad.
Religious icons can also become cultural icons in societies where religion and culture are deeply entwined, such as representations of the Madonna in societies with a strong Catholic tradition.
See also:
- Our New Icons by The Daily Telegraph
- Nothing and no one are Off Limits in an Age of Iconomania by The Age
- British Postal Museum & Archive: Icons of England
- Culture24: Icons of England
- Celebrity culture
- Popular culture
- Teen idol
- Art pop
- Honorific nicknames in popular music
- Nothing and no one are Off Limits in an Age of Iconomania by The Age
First Responders Who Were Killed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 ("9/11") Attacks including a Timeline of Events
YouTube Video about the 911 Attack and the First Responders
Pictured: LEFT: FDNY Truck at the collapsed World Trade Center on September 11, 2001; RIGHT: Night View of 9/11 Memorial in NYC.
[Website Host: while not in NYC the day of the 9/11 attacks, I was traveling to my client's office the morning of 9/11 and across the harbor, and could visibly see the towers burning the morning of 9/11/2001, and then the next day, only smoke was visible: it is the most horrifying scene I've ever experienced. God bless the first responders (as well as the victims).
Insofar as my history of the World Trade Towers, my wife and I had celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary at the Windows on the World restaurant atop of one of the Trade Towers, on September 1, 1995).]
Click here for Listing of First Responders who died in response to the 9/11 Attacks.
Click here for the Timeline of Events leading up to, during, and following 9/11 Attacks.
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs.
Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) — all of which departed from airports on the northeastern United States bound for California — were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists.
Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City.
Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed, (see above YouTube video) with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia, leading to a partial collapse of the building's western side.
The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, initially was steered toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.
Suspicion for the attack quickly fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda.
Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks.
Although al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives.
Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U.S. Navy in May 2011.
The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, closing Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U.S. and Canada until September 13.
Many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks.
Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, and the Pentagon was repaired within a year. On November 18, 2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site.
The building was officially opened on November 3, 2014. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Click here for further information about 9/11.
Insofar as my history of the World Trade Towers, my wife and I had celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary at the Windows on the World restaurant atop of one of the Trade Towers, on September 1, 1995).]
Click here for Listing of First Responders who died in response to the 9/11 Attacks.
Click here for the Timeline of Events leading up to, during, and following 9/11 Attacks.
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs.
Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) — all of which departed from airports on the northeastern United States bound for California — were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists.
Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City.
Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed, (see above YouTube video) with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia, leading to a partial collapse of the building's western side.
The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, initially was steered toward Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
It was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively.
Suspicion for the attack quickly fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda.
Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks.
Although al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives.
Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U.S. Navy in May 2011.
The destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure caused serious damage to the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, closing Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U.S. and Canada until September 13.
Many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks.
Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, and the Pentagon was repaired within a year. On November 18, 2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site.
The building was officially opened on November 3, 2014. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Click here for further information about 9/11.
CIA Memorial Wall
YouTube Video: The Secret Deaths of CIA Operatives: A Fascinating History of Espionage (2000)
Pictured: The Wall with 103 stars: The Central Intelligence Agency - CIA Memorial Wall (The Memorial Wall is on the north wall of the Original Headquarters Building lobby. This wall of 103 stars stands as a silent, simple memorial to those CIA officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. The Memorial Wall was commissioned by the CIA Fine Arts Commission in May 1973 and sculpted by Harold Vogel in July 1974. To learn more about the CIA, visit www.cia.gov.)
The Memorial Wall is a memorial at the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia. It honors CIA employees who died in the line of service.
The Memorial Wall is located in the Original Headquarters Building lobby on the north wall.
There are 117 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall, each one representing an employee who died in the line of service. Paramilitary officers of the CIA's Special Activities Division comprise the majority of those memorialized.
A black Moroccan goatskin-bound book, called the "Book of Honor," sits in a steel frame beneath the stars, its "slender case jutting out from the wall just below the field of stars," and is "framed in stainless steel and topped by an inch-thick plate of glass."
Inside it shows the stars, arranged by year of death and, when possible, lists the names of employees who died in CIA service alongside them. The identities of the unnamed stars remain secret, even in death.
In 1997, there were 70 stars, 29 of which had names. There were,
84 of the 117 entries in the book contain names, while the other employees are represented only by a gold star followed by a blank space.
The Wall bears the inscription "IN HONOR OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY" in gold block letters. The Wall is flanked by the flag of the United States on the left and a flag bearing the CIA seal on the right.
When new names are added to the Book of Honor, stone carver Tim Johnston of the Carving and Restoration Team in Manassas, Virginia adds a new star to the Wall if that person's star is not already present.
Johnston learned the process of creating the stars from the original sculptor of the Wall, Harold Vogel, who created the first 31 stars and the Memorial Wall inscription when the Wall was created in July 1974.
The wall was "first conceived as a small plaque to recognize those from the CIA who died in Southeast Asia, the idea quickly grew to a memorial for Agency employees who died in the line of duty."
The process used by Johnston to add a new star is as follows:
The Honor and Merit Awards Board (HMAB) recommends approval of candidates to be listed on the wall to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA states that "Inclusion on the Memorial Wall is awarded posthumously to employees who lose their lives while serving their country in the field of intelligence. Death may occur in the foreign field or in the United States.
Death must be of an inspirational or heroic character while in the performance of duty; or as the result of an act of terrorism while in the performance of duty; or as an act of premeditated violence targeted against an employee, motivated solely by that employee's Agency affiliation; or in the performance of duty while serving in areas of hostilities or other exceptionally hazardous conditions where the death is a direct result of such hostilities or hazards."
After approval by the director, the Office of Protocol arranges for a new star to be placed on the Wall.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the CIA Memorial Wall:
The Memorial Wall is located in the Original Headquarters Building lobby on the north wall.
There are 117 stars carved into the white Alabama marble wall, each one representing an employee who died in the line of service. Paramilitary officers of the CIA's Special Activities Division comprise the majority of those memorialized.
A black Moroccan goatskin-bound book, called the "Book of Honor," sits in a steel frame beneath the stars, its "slender case jutting out from the wall just below the field of stars," and is "framed in stainless steel and topped by an inch-thick plate of glass."
Inside it shows the stars, arranged by year of death and, when possible, lists the names of employees who died in CIA service alongside them. The identities of the unnamed stars remain secret, even in death.
In 1997, there were 70 stars, 29 of which had names. There were,
- 79 stars in 2002,
- 83 in 2004,
- 90 in 2009,
- 107 in 2013,
- 111 in 2014
- and 117 in 2016.
84 of the 117 entries in the book contain names, while the other employees are represented only by a gold star followed by a blank space.
The Wall bears the inscription "IN HONOR OF THOSE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY" in gold block letters. The Wall is flanked by the flag of the United States on the left and a flag bearing the CIA seal on the right.
When new names are added to the Book of Honor, stone carver Tim Johnston of the Carving and Restoration Team in Manassas, Virginia adds a new star to the Wall if that person's star is not already present.
Johnston learned the process of creating the stars from the original sculptor of the Wall, Harold Vogel, who created the first 31 stars and the Memorial Wall inscription when the Wall was created in July 1974.
The wall was "first conceived as a small plaque to recognize those from the CIA who died in Southeast Asia, the idea quickly grew to a memorial for Agency employees who died in the line of duty."
The process used by Johnston to add a new star is as follows:
- Johnston creates a star by first tracing the new star on the wall using a template.
- Each star measures 2¼ inches tall by 2¼ inches wide and half an inch deep;
- all the stars are six inches apart from each other, as are all the rows.
- Johnston uses both a pneumatic air hammer and a chisel to carve out the traced pattern.
- After he finishes carving the star, he cleans the dust and sprays the star black, which as the star ages, fades to gray.
The Honor and Merit Awards Board (HMAB) recommends approval of candidates to be listed on the wall to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA states that "Inclusion on the Memorial Wall is awarded posthumously to employees who lose their lives while serving their country in the field of intelligence. Death may occur in the foreign field or in the United States.
Death must be of an inspirational or heroic character while in the performance of duty; or as the result of an act of terrorism while in the performance of duty; or as an act of premeditated violence targeted against an employee, motivated solely by that employee's Agency affiliation; or in the performance of duty while serving in areas of hostilities or other exceptionally hazardous conditions where the death is a direct result of such hostilities or hazards."
After approval by the director, the Office of Protocol arranges for a new star to be placed on the Wall.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the CIA Memorial Wall:
United States Navy SEAL Team Six and its Assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
YouTube Video: Inside The Situation Room with President Obama Rock Center Killing Of Osama Bin Laden
Pictured: Diagram of Osama bin Laden's hideout, showing the high concrete walls that surround the compound
Click here for more about SEAL Team 6 that conducted the raid.
Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist group Al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am PKT (20:00 UTC, May 1) by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six).
The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led operation, with Joint Special Operations Command, commonly known as JSOC, coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid.
In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), aka "Night Stalkers," and operators from the CIA's Special Activities Division, which recruits heavily from former JSOC Special Mission Units.
The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. U.S. military officials said that after the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried him at sea within 24 hours of his death in accordance with Islamic tradition.
According to Carlotta Gall, a Pakistani official (to whom she later clarified that she did not speak, the information coming through a friend), told her that a senior U.S. official had told him that the United States had direct evidence that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, knew of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, but ISI, Pasha, and officials in Washington all denied this.
Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation.
The raid was supported by over 90% of the American public, was welcomed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a large number of governments, but was condemned by others, including two-thirds of the Pakistani public. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others, including Amnesty International. Also controversial was the decision not to release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden's death to the public.
In the aftermath of the killing, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani formed a commission under Senior Justice Javed Iqbal to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. The resulting Abbottabad Commission Report was leaked to Al Jazeera on July 8, 2013.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Osama bin Laden including his assassination:
Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist group Al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am PKT (20:00 UTC, May 1) by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six).
The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led operation, with Joint Special Operations Command, commonly known as JSOC, coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid.
In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), aka "Night Stalkers," and operators from the CIA's Special Activities Division, which recruits heavily from former JSOC Special Mission Units.
The raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. U.S. military officials said that after the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden's body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried him at sea within 24 hours of his death in accordance with Islamic tradition.
According to Carlotta Gall, a Pakistani official (to whom she later clarified that she did not speak, the information coming through a friend), told her that a senior U.S. official had told him that the United States had direct evidence that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, knew of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, but ISI, Pasha, and officials in Washington all denied this.
Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation.
The raid was supported by over 90% of the American public, was welcomed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a large number of governments, but was condemned by others, including two-thirds of the Pakistani public. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others, including Amnesty International. Also controversial was the decision not to release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden's death to the public.
In the aftermath of the killing, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani formed a commission under Senior Justice Javed Iqbal to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack. The resulting Abbottabad Commission Report was leaked to Al Jazeera on July 8, 2013.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Osama bin Laden including his assassination:
- The search for bin Laden
- Operation Neptune Spear
- Aftermath
- Role of Pakistan
- Code name
- Derivation of intelligence
- Intelligence post mortem
- Helicopter stealth technology revelations
- Previous attempts to capture or kill bin Laden
- See also:
- Abbottabad commission
- Coup de main
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
- High-value target
- Robert J. O'Neill (U.S. Navy SEAL)
- Shakil Afridi, doctor who supposedly assisted the U.S. in locating bin Laden
- Special Activities Division
List of Military Memorials and Monuments in the United States
YouTube Video: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Stories
Pictured above:
The Top Photo is of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 2-acre (8,000 m²) national memorial in Washington, DC.
It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for (Missing In Action) during the War.
Its construction and related issues have been the source of controversies, some of which have resulted in additions to the memorial complex. The memorial currently consists of three separate parts: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, completed first and the best-known part of the memorial; the Three Servicemen Memorial, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.
The main part of the memorial, which was completed in 1982, is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin. In 2007, it was ranked tenth on the "List of America's Favorite Architecture" by the American Institute of Architects. As a National Memorial, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Memorial Wall is made up of two 246 feet 9 inches (75.21 m) long gabbro walls, etched with the names of the servicemen being honored in panels of horizontal rows with regular typeface and spacing. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them. At the highest tip (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet (3.1 m) high, and they taper to a height of 8 inches (20 cm) at their extremities. Symbolically, this is described as a "wound that is closed and healing."
When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together. One wall points toward the Washington Monument, the other in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall where visitors may walk. The wall listed 58,191 names when it was completed in 1983; as of May 2015, there are exactly 58,307 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing (MIAs, POWs, and others). Directories are located on nearby podiums so that visitors may locate specific names.
Click here for more about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
___________________________________________________________________________
The Bottom Photo is of the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, (Iwo Jima Memorial), a national monument located in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. Dedicated 63 years ago in 1954, it is located in Arlington Ridge Park, near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon.
The war memorial is dedicated to all U.S. Marine Corps personnel who died in the defense of the United States since 1775.
The memorial was inspired by the iconic 1945 photograph of six Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
It was taken by Associated Press combat photographer Joe Rosenthal. Upon first seeing the photograph, sculptor Felix de Weldon created a maquette for a sculpture based on the photo in a single weekend at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, where he was serving in the Navy. He and architect Horace W. Peaslee designed the memorial. Their proposal was presented to Congress, but funding was not possible during the war. In 1947, a federal foundation was established to raise funds for the memorial.
Click here for more about the United States Marine Corps War Memorial
___________________________________________________________________________
The following is a partial listing of United States Memorials and Monuments: CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LISTING.
The Top Photo is of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 2-acre (8,000 m²) national memorial in Washington, DC.
It honors U.S. service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and those service members who were unaccounted for (Missing In Action) during the War.
Its construction and related issues have been the source of controversies, some of which have resulted in additions to the memorial complex. The memorial currently consists of three separate parts: the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, completed first and the best-known part of the memorial; the Three Servicemen Memorial, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.
The main part of the memorial, which was completed in 1982, is in Constitution Gardens adjacent to the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives around 3 million visitors each year. The Memorial Wall was designed by American architect Maya Lin. In 2007, it was ranked tenth on the "List of America's Favorite Architecture" by the American Institute of Architects. As a National Memorial, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Memorial Wall is made up of two 246 feet 9 inches (75.21 m) long gabbro walls, etched with the names of the servicemen being honored in panels of horizontal rows with regular typeface and spacing. The walls are sunk into the ground, with the earth behind them. At the highest tip (the apex where they meet), they are 10.1 feet (3.1 m) high, and they taper to a height of 8 inches (20 cm) at their extremities. Symbolically, this is described as a "wound that is closed and healing."
When a visitor looks upon the wall, his or her reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and present together. One wall points toward the Washington Monument, the other in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. There is a pathway along the base of the Wall where visitors may walk. The wall listed 58,191 names when it was completed in 1983; as of May 2015, there are exactly 58,307 names, including 8 women. Approximately 1,200 of these are listed as missing (MIAs, POWs, and others). Directories are located on nearby podiums so that visitors may locate specific names.
Click here for more about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
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The Bottom Photo is of the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, (Iwo Jima Memorial), a national monument located in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. Dedicated 63 years ago in 1954, it is located in Arlington Ridge Park, near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon.
The war memorial is dedicated to all U.S. Marine Corps personnel who died in the defense of the United States since 1775.
The memorial was inspired by the iconic 1945 photograph of six Marines raising a U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
It was taken by Associated Press combat photographer Joe Rosenthal. Upon first seeing the photograph, sculptor Felix de Weldon created a maquette for a sculpture based on the photo in a single weekend at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, where he was serving in the Navy. He and architect Horace W. Peaslee designed the memorial. Their proposal was presented to Congress, but funding was not possible during the war. In 1947, a federal foundation was established to raise funds for the memorial.
Click here for more about the United States Marine Corps War Memorial
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The following is a partial listing of United States Memorials and Monuments: CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LISTING.
- United States Air Force Memorial
- All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors
- Korean War Veterans Memorial
- United States Navy Memorial
- Ranger Memorial
- Vietnam Women's Memorial
Desmond Doss, Conscientious Objector who won the Medal of Honor during World War II.
YouTube Video: Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge* - The True Story Behind The Movie / Trailer
* -- Hacksaw Ridge (Movie)
Pictured: Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman on October 12, 1945
Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II.
After distinguishing himself in the Battle of Okinawa, he became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty. He is also the only conscientious objector to receive the medal during World War II.
During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 75 wounded infantrymen atop the Maeda Escarpment. Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa, and was evacuated on May 21, 1945 aboard the USS Mercy.
For more about Desmond Doss, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
After distinguishing himself in the Battle of Okinawa, he became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty. He is also the only conscientious objector to receive the medal during World War II.
During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 75 wounded infantrymen atop the Maeda Escarpment. Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa, and was evacuated on May 21, 1945 aboard the USS Mercy.
For more about Desmond Doss, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
- Early life
- World War II service
- Subsequent life
- Awards and decorations
- Other honors and recognition
- In popular culture
- See also:
Thomas W. Bennett, conscientious objector who won the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War
YouTube Video about Conscientious Objector Thomas W. BennettWho Won the Medal of Honor War in Vietnam
Thomas William Bennett (April 7, 1947 – February 11, 1969) was a U.S. Army medic and the second conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor (Desmond Doss, a medic in World War II, was the first). Bennett was killed in action during the Vietnam War and posthumously received the Medal of Honor.
Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, Thomas W. Bennett was sociable and deeply religious. He was raised Southern Baptist, but while a student at West Virginia University, he formed the Campus Ecumenical Council during his freshman year.
When he was placed on academic probation after the Fall 1967 semester, he considered his options should he lose his academic deferment. Deeply patriotic, but opposed to killing on religious grounds, he opted to enlist as a conscientious objector who was willing to serve. This classification is different from a conscientious objector who will not assist the military in any way. He was trained as a field medic.
Cpl. Thomas W. Bennett arrived in South Vietnam on January 1, 1969, and was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The unit began a series of strenuous patrols in the dense, mountainous terrain.
On February 9, 1969, the unit came under intense fire, and Cpl. Bennett risked gunfire to pull at least five wounded men to safety. That evening, his platoon sergeant recommended him for the Silver Star.
Over the coming days, Cpl. Bennett repeatedly put himself in harm's way to tend to the wounded. On February 11, while attempting to reach a soldier wounded by sniper fire, Cpl. Bennett was gunned down. On April 7, 1970, his posthumous Medal of Honor was presented to his mother and stepfather by President Richard Nixon.
A dormitory tower at West Virginia University's Evansdale Residential Complex is named in his honor.
A medical clinic at Fort Hood, Texas is named in his honor.
He is the subject of Peaceful Patriot: the Story of Tom Bennett by Bonni McKeown.
Medal of Honor Citation:
Rank and organization: Corporal, United States Army, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment.
Place and date: Chu Pa Region, Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam, 9–11 February 1969
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Cpl. Bennett distinguished himself while serving as a platoon medical aidman with the 2d Platoon, Company B, during a reconnaissance-in-force mission.
On 9 February the platoon was moving to assist the 1st Platoon of Company D which had run into a North Vietnamese ambush when it became heavily engaged by the intense small arms, automatic weapons, mortar and rocket fire from a well fortified and numerically superior enemy unit. In the initial barrage of fire, 3 of the point members of the platoon fell wounded.
Cpl. Bennett, with complete disregard for his safety, ran through the heavy fire to his fallen comrades, administered life-saving first aid under fire and then made repeated trips carrying the wounded men to positions of relative safety from which they would be medically evacuated from the battle position. Cpl. Bennett repeatedly braved the intense enemy fire moving across open areas to give aid and comfort to his wounded comrades.
He valiantly exposed himself to the heavy fire in order to retrieve the bodies of several fallen personnel. Throughout the night and following day, Cpl. Bennett moved from position to position treating and comforting the several personnel who had suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds. On 11 February, Company B again moved in an assault on the well fortified enemy positions and became heavily engaged with the numerically superior enemy force.
Five members of the company fell wounded in the initial assault. Cpl. Bennett ran to their aid without regard to the heavy fire. He treated 1 wounded comrade and began running toward another seriously wounded man. Although the wounded man was located forward of the company position covered by heavy enemy grazing fire and Cpl. Bennett was warned that it was impossible to reach the position, he leaped forward with complete disregard for his safety to save his comrade's life.
In attempting to save his fellow soldier, he was mortally wounded. Cpl. Bennett's undaunted concern for his comrades at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
See Also:
Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, Thomas W. Bennett was sociable and deeply religious. He was raised Southern Baptist, but while a student at West Virginia University, he formed the Campus Ecumenical Council during his freshman year.
When he was placed on academic probation after the Fall 1967 semester, he considered his options should he lose his academic deferment. Deeply patriotic, but opposed to killing on religious grounds, he opted to enlist as a conscientious objector who was willing to serve. This classification is different from a conscientious objector who will not assist the military in any way. He was trained as a field medic.
Cpl. Thomas W. Bennett arrived in South Vietnam on January 1, 1969, and was assigned to Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The unit began a series of strenuous patrols in the dense, mountainous terrain.
On February 9, 1969, the unit came under intense fire, and Cpl. Bennett risked gunfire to pull at least five wounded men to safety. That evening, his platoon sergeant recommended him for the Silver Star.
Over the coming days, Cpl. Bennett repeatedly put himself in harm's way to tend to the wounded. On February 11, while attempting to reach a soldier wounded by sniper fire, Cpl. Bennett was gunned down. On April 7, 1970, his posthumous Medal of Honor was presented to his mother and stepfather by President Richard Nixon.
A dormitory tower at West Virginia University's Evansdale Residential Complex is named in his honor.
A medical clinic at Fort Hood, Texas is named in his honor.
He is the subject of Peaceful Patriot: the Story of Tom Bennett by Bonni McKeown.
Medal of Honor Citation:
Rank and organization: Corporal, United States Army, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment.
Place and date: Chu Pa Region, Pleiku Province, Republic of Vietnam, 9–11 February 1969
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Cpl. Bennett distinguished himself while serving as a platoon medical aidman with the 2d Platoon, Company B, during a reconnaissance-in-force mission.
On 9 February the platoon was moving to assist the 1st Platoon of Company D which had run into a North Vietnamese ambush when it became heavily engaged by the intense small arms, automatic weapons, mortar and rocket fire from a well fortified and numerically superior enemy unit. In the initial barrage of fire, 3 of the point members of the platoon fell wounded.
Cpl. Bennett, with complete disregard for his safety, ran through the heavy fire to his fallen comrades, administered life-saving first aid under fire and then made repeated trips carrying the wounded men to positions of relative safety from which they would be medically evacuated from the battle position. Cpl. Bennett repeatedly braved the intense enemy fire moving across open areas to give aid and comfort to his wounded comrades.
He valiantly exposed himself to the heavy fire in order to retrieve the bodies of several fallen personnel. Throughout the night and following day, Cpl. Bennett moved from position to position treating and comforting the several personnel who had suffered shrapnel and gunshot wounds. On 11 February, Company B again moved in an assault on the well fortified enemy positions and became heavily engaged with the numerically superior enemy force.
Five members of the company fell wounded in the initial assault. Cpl. Bennett ran to their aid without regard to the heavy fire. He treated 1 wounded comrade and began running toward another seriously wounded man. Although the wounded man was located forward of the company position covered by heavy enemy grazing fire and Cpl. Bennett was warned that it was impossible to reach the position, he leaped forward with complete disregard for his safety to save his comrade's life.
In attempting to save his fellow soldier, he was mortally wounded. Cpl. Bennett's undaunted concern for his comrades at the cost of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
See Also:
- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Vietnam War
- Desmond Doss
- Joseph G. LaPointe Jr.
United States National Cemeteries
YouTube Video: Arlington National Cemetery Full Military Honors Burial
LEFT: Gettysburg National Cemetery, Pennsylvania; RIGHT: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia
"United States national cemetery" is a designation for 147 nationally important cemeteries in the United States.
A national cemetery is generally a military cemetery containing the graves of U.S. military personnel, veterans and their spouses, but not exclusively so. There are also state veteran cemeteries.
The best known national cemetery is Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
Some national cemeteries, especially Arlington, contain the graves of important civilian leaders and other important national figures. Some national cemeteries also contain sections for Confederate soldiers.
The National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs maintains 131 of the 147 national cemeteries as well as the Nationwide Gravesite Locator, which can be used to find burial locations of American military veterans.
The Department of the Army maintains two national cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery.
The National Park Service (NPS) maintains 14 cemeteries associated with historic sites and battlefields.
The American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency, maintains 24 American military cemeteries and other memorials outside of the United States.
Click here for an alphabetical listing of National Cemeteries.
A national cemetery is generally a military cemetery containing the graves of U.S. military personnel, veterans and their spouses, but not exclusively so. There are also state veteran cemeteries.
The best known national cemetery is Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C.
Some national cemeteries, especially Arlington, contain the graves of important civilian leaders and other important national figures. Some national cemeteries also contain sections for Confederate soldiers.
The National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs maintains 131 of the 147 national cemeteries as well as the Nationwide Gravesite Locator, which can be used to find burial locations of American military veterans.
The Department of the Army maintains two national cemeteries, Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery.
The National Park Service (NPS) maintains 14 cemeteries associated with historic sites and battlefields.
The American Battle Monuments Commission, an independent agency, maintains 24 American military cemeteries and other memorials outside of the United States.
Click here for an alphabetical listing of National Cemeteries.
Gloria Steinem
YouTube Video: Gloria Steinem speaks at Women's March on Washington*
* -- March on Washington January 21, 2017
Pictured: Gloria Steinem attending the Ms. Foundation for Women’s 23rd annual Gloria Awards, named for her, on May 19, 2011. Learn more and sign up for email alerts from the Ms. Foundation. ms.foundation.org/
Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist, who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a founder of Ms. magazine. In 1969, Steinem published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation", which brought her to national fame as a feminist leader.
Gloria Steinem speaking with supporters at the Women Together Arizona Summit at Carpenters Local Union in Phoenix, Arizona, September 2016.
In 2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center, an organization that works "to make women visible and powerful in the media".
Steinem currently travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer, and is a media spokeswoman on issues of equality.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Gloria Steinem:
Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a founder of Ms. magazine. In 1969, Steinem published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation", which brought her to national fame as a feminist leader.
Gloria Steinem speaking with supporters at the Women Together Arizona Summit at Carpenters Local Union in Phoenix, Arizona, September 2016.
In 2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center, an organization that works "to make women visible and powerful in the media".
Steinem currently travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer, and is a media spokeswoman on issues of equality.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Gloria Steinem:
- Early life
- Journalism career
- Activism
- Involvement in political campaigns
- CIA ties
- Personal life
- Feminist positions
- Awards and honors
- In media
- Works
- See also:
Women's Rights including a List of Women's Rights Activists in the United States
YouTube Video Women's Rights Activists Protest Trump
Pictured: Feminist March on Washington 1/21/2017
Click here for a List of Women's Rights Activists in the United States.
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide, and formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the nineteenth century and feminist movement during the 20th century.
In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.
Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right:
Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide, and formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the nineteenth century and feminist movement during the 20th century.
In some countries, these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behavior, whereas in others they are ignored and suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls, in favor of men and boys.
Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right:
- to bodily integrity and autonomy;
- to be free from sexual violence;
- to vote;
- to hold public office; to enter into legal contracts;
- to have equal rights in family law;
- to work;
- to fair wages or equal pay;
- to have reproductive rights;
- to own property;
- to education.
Betty Friedan, Women's Rights Activist
YouTube Video of One of America's great feminists Betty Friedan (1964) CBC
Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century.
In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men."
In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 women and men.
In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus. Friedan was also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a vote of 354–24) and Senate (84–8) following intense pressure by women's groups led by NOW in the early 1970s.
Following Congressional passage of the amendment, Friedan advocated for ratification of the amendment in the states and supported other women's rights reforms: she founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-centered positions of many liberal feminists.
Regarded as an influential author and intellectual in the United States, Friedan remained active in politics and advocacy for the rest of her life, authoring six books. As early as the 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. One of her later books, The Second Stage (1981), critiqued what Friedan saw as the extremist excesses of some feminists.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for further amplification about Betty Friedan:
In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men."
In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City alone attracted over 50,000 women and men.
In 1971, Friedan joined other leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus. Friedan was also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a vote of 354–24) and Senate (84–8) following intense pressure by women's groups led by NOW in the early 1970s.
Following Congressional passage of the amendment, Friedan advocated for ratification of the amendment in the states and supported other women's rights reforms: she founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-centered positions of many liberal feminists.
Regarded as an influential author and intellectual in the United States, Friedan remained active in politics and advocacy for the rest of her life, authoring six books. As early as the 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. One of her later books, The Second Stage (1981), critiqued what Friedan saw as the extremist excesses of some feminists.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for further amplification about Betty Friedan:
- Early life
- Writing career
- Activism in the women's movement
- Influence
- Personality
- Personal life
- Death
- Papers
- Awards and honors
- Bibliography
Susan B. Anthony, women's rights activist
YouTube Video Susan B. Anthony, the Suffragette Superhero (Smithsonian Channel)
Susan Brownell Anthony (February 15, 1820 – March 13, 1906) was an American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement. Born into a Quaker family committed to social equality, she collected anti-slavery petitions at the age of 17. In 1856, she became the New York state agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society.
In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities, primarily in the field of women's rights.
In 1852, they founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Anthony was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female. In 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in United States history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery.
In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans. In 1868, they began publishing a women's rights newspaper called The Revolution.
In 1869, they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of a split in the women's movement. In 1890, the split was formally healed when their organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Anthony as its key force. In 1876, Anthony and Stanton began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on what eventually grew into the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The interests of Anthony and Stanton diverged somewhat in later years, but the two remained close friends.
In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Popularly known as the Anthony Amendment and introduced by Sen. Aaron A. Sargent (R-CA), it became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
Anthony traveled extensively in support of women's suffrage, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and working on many state campaigns. She worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active. She also helped to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
When she first began campaigning for women's rights, Anthony was harshly ridiculed and accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage. Public perception of her changed radically during her lifetime, however. Her 80th birthday was celebrated in the White House at the invitation of President William McKinley. She became the first actual woman to be depicted on U.S. coinage when her portrait appeared on the 1979 dollar coin.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Susan B. Anthony:
In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong friend and co-worker in social reform activities, primarily in the field of women's rights.
In 1852, they founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Anthony was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was female. In 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in United States history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery.
In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans. In 1868, they began publishing a women's rights newspaper called The Revolution.
In 1869, they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of a split in the women's movement. In 1890, the split was formally healed when their organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Anthony as its key force. In 1876, Anthony and Stanton began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on what eventually grew into the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The interests of Anthony and Stanton diverged somewhat in later years, but the two remained close friends.
In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. Although she refused to pay the fine, the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Popularly known as the Anthony Amendment and introduced by Sen. Aaron A. Sargent (R-CA), it became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.
Anthony traveled extensively in support of women's suffrage, giving as many as 75 to 100 speeches per year and working on many state campaigns. She worked internationally for women's rights, playing a key role in creating the International Council of Women, which is still active. She also helped to bring about the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
When she first began campaigning for women's rights, Anthony was harshly ridiculed and accused of trying to destroy the institution of marriage. Public perception of her changed radically during her lifetime, however. Her 80th birthday was celebrated in the White House at the invitation of President William McKinley. She became the first actual woman to be depicted on U.S. coinage when her portrait appeared on the 1979 dollar coin.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Susan B. Anthony:
- Biography
- Views
- Death and legacy
- Ten-dollar bill
- See also:
Helen Gurley Brown (Feminist)
YouTube Video of Helen Gurley Brown: I'm a devout feminist*
* -- In 1996, Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown declared herself a feminist and talked about the importance of sex (CNN)
Helen Gurley Brown (February 18, 1922 – August 13, 2012) was an American author, publisher, and businesswoman. She was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine for 32 years.
In 1965 Helen took over as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine and was in that position until 1997. Brown revamped the magazine by taking it from a women’s magazine written by men to one of the most widely sold women’s magazines, now available in more than 100 countries.
When she began at the magazine, Brown had no editing experience. Her take on the magazine was to be frank when talking about sex in this new version of Cosmopolitan. Sex and the Single Girl gave Brown the formula that is today’s Cosmopolitan.
She gave women the freedom to know that women do have sexual desires. The New York Times described the Cosmo Girl that Brown was after as “self-made, sexual and supremely ambitious. ... she looked great, wore fabulous clothes and had an unabashedly good time when those clothes came off.” After being gently let go, Brown went on to be editor of the international Cosmopolitan magazines.
Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, disliked what Brown had done in her book and in the magazine. Friedan said that what Brown was doing was “anti-feminist” and an “immature teenage-level sexual fantasy”.
Feminist views of the magazine were re-evaluated in the 1990s by looking at the fact that it had helped women take a look at their roles and change them. Audie Cornish from NPR said that Helen “has been called a bad girl, a pioneer in Prada, a revolutionary in stilettos.”
Brown looked at herself as a feminist, but this description was contested by several others. In the world of feminism, Brown’s role has been highly contested as empowering women to be unashamed of their sexual urges and as creating a magazine that may live on as a sexist magazine with a body image problem. However, some feminists feel that the sexism in our world cannot be blamed all on Cosmopolitan and Brown, with other magazines circulating that objectify women’s bodies. These other people look at Brown’s work as both “progressive and retrogressive” when it comes to the feminist movement.
For more about Helen Gurley Brown, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
In 1965 Helen took over as editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine and was in that position until 1997. Brown revamped the magazine by taking it from a women’s magazine written by men to one of the most widely sold women’s magazines, now available in more than 100 countries.
When she began at the magazine, Brown had no editing experience. Her take on the magazine was to be frank when talking about sex in this new version of Cosmopolitan. Sex and the Single Girl gave Brown the formula that is today’s Cosmopolitan.
She gave women the freedom to know that women do have sexual desires. The New York Times described the Cosmo Girl that Brown was after as “self-made, sexual and supremely ambitious. ... she looked great, wore fabulous clothes and had an unabashedly good time when those clothes came off.” After being gently let go, Brown went on to be editor of the international Cosmopolitan magazines.
Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique, disliked what Brown had done in her book and in the magazine. Friedan said that what Brown was doing was “anti-feminist” and an “immature teenage-level sexual fantasy”.
Feminist views of the magazine were re-evaluated in the 1990s by looking at the fact that it had helped women take a look at their roles and change them. Audie Cornish from NPR said that Helen “has been called a bad girl, a pioneer in Prada, a revolutionary in stilettos.”
Brown looked at herself as a feminist, but this description was contested by several others. In the world of feminism, Brown’s role has been highly contested as empowering women to be unashamed of their sexual urges and as creating a magazine that may live on as a sexist magazine with a body image problem. However, some feminists feel that the sexism in our world cannot be blamed all on Cosmopolitan and Brown, with other magazines circulating that objectify women’s bodies. These other people look at Brown’s work as both “progressive and retrogressive” when it comes to the feminist movement.
For more about Helen Gurley Brown, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
YouTube Video: History of the NAACP and Civil Rights
Pictured: Founders of the NAACP: Moorfield Storey, Mary White Ovington and W.E.B. Du Bois.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial organization to advance justice for African Americans by W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield Storey.
Its mission in the 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."
Their national initiatives included political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by their legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of black foreign refugees, and questions of economic development. Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses the once common term colored people, referring to people of some African ancestry.
The NAACP bestows annual awards to people of color in two categories: Image Awards are for achievement in the arts and entertainment, and Spingarn Medals are for outstanding achievement of any kind. Its headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NAACP also has additional regional offices in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Colorado and California. Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region. Local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members.
In the U.S., the NAACP is administered by a 64-member board, led by a chairperson. The board elects one person as the president and one as chief executive officer for the organization; Benjamin Jealous is its most recent (and youngest) president, selected to replace Bruce S. Gordon, who resigned in March 2007.
Julian Bond, Civil Rights Movement activist and former Georgia State Senator, was chairman until replaced in February 2010 by health-care administrator Roslyn Brock.
For decades in the first half of the 20th century, the organization was effectively led by its executive secretary, who acted as chief operating officer. James Weldon Johnson and Walter F. White, who served in that role successively from 1920 to 1958, were much more widely known as NAACP leaders than were presidents during those years.
Departments within the NAACP govern areas of action. Local chapters are supported by the 'Branch and Field Services' department and the 'Youth and College' department. The 'Legal' department focuses on court cases of broad application to minorities, such as systematic discrimination in employment, government, or education.
The Washington, D.C., bureau is responsible for lobbying the U.S. government, and the Education Department works to improve public education at the local, state and federal levels. The goal of the Health Division is to advance health care for minorities through public policy initiatives and education.
As of 2007, the NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members. The NAACP's non-current records are housed at the Library of Congress, which has served as the organization's official repository since 1964.
The records held there comprise approximately five million items spanning the NAACP's history from the time of its founding until 2003.
In 2011, the NAACP teamed with the digital repository ProQuest to digitize and host online the earlier portion of its archives, through 1972 – nearly two million pages of documents, from the national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country, which offer first-hand insight into the organization's work related to such crucial issues as lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in all its aspects (in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, housing).
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the NAACP:
Its mission in the 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination."
Their national initiatives included political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by their legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct, the status of black foreign refugees, and questions of economic development. Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses the once common term colored people, referring to people of some African ancestry.
The NAACP bestows annual awards to people of color in two categories: Image Awards are for achievement in the arts and entertainment, and Spingarn Medals are for outstanding achievement of any kind. Its headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NAACP also has additional regional offices in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, Texas, Colorado and California. Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region. Local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members.
In the U.S., the NAACP is administered by a 64-member board, led by a chairperson. The board elects one person as the president and one as chief executive officer for the organization; Benjamin Jealous is its most recent (and youngest) president, selected to replace Bruce S. Gordon, who resigned in March 2007.
Julian Bond, Civil Rights Movement activist and former Georgia State Senator, was chairman until replaced in February 2010 by health-care administrator Roslyn Brock.
For decades in the first half of the 20th century, the organization was effectively led by its executive secretary, who acted as chief operating officer. James Weldon Johnson and Walter F. White, who served in that role successively from 1920 to 1958, were much more widely known as NAACP leaders than were presidents during those years.
Departments within the NAACP govern areas of action. Local chapters are supported by the 'Branch and Field Services' department and the 'Youth and College' department. The 'Legal' department focuses on court cases of broad application to minorities, such as systematic discrimination in employment, government, or education.
The Washington, D.C., bureau is responsible for lobbying the U.S. government, and the Education Department works to improve public education at the local, state and federal levels. The goal of the Health Division is to advance health care for minorities through public policy initiatives and education.
As of 2007, the NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members. The NAACP's non-current records are housed at the Library of Congress, which has served as the organization's official repository since 1964.
The records held there comprise approximately five million items spanning the NAACP's history from the time of its founding until 2003.
In 2011, the NAACP teamed with the digital repository ProQuest to digitize and host online the earlier portion of its archives, through 1972 – nearly two million pages of documents, from the national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country, which offer first-hand insight into the organization's work related to such crucial issues as lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in all its aspects (in the military, the criminal justice system, employment, housing).
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the NAACP:
African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
YouTube Video: Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream Speech
Pictured: The March on Washington participants and leaders marching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial
The Civil Rights Movement or 1960s Civil Rights Movement (also referred to as the African-American Civil Rights Movement although the term "African American" was not widely used in the 1950s and 1960s) encompasses social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights enumerated in the Constitution and federal law. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South.
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations and productive dialogues between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations, which highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans.
Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included:
This phase of the Civil Rights Movement witnessed the passage of several primary pieces of federal legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, expressly banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment practices and ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and by public accommodations.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 restored and protected voting rights for minorities. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 removed racial and national barriers and opened the way for non-white immigrants.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the country young people were inspired to take action.
A wave of inner city riots in black communities from 1964 through 1970 undercut support from the white community. The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from about 1966 to 1975, challenged the established black leadership for its cooperative attitude and its nonviolence, and instead demanded political and economic self-sufficiency.
Many popular representations of the movement are centered on the leadership and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr., who won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the movement. But, some scholars note that the movement was too diverse to be credited to one person, organization, or strategy.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the African-American Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1968:
The movement was characterized by major campaigns of civil resistance. Between 1955 and 1968, acts of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience produced crisis situations and productive dialogues between activists and government authorities. Federal, state, and local governments, businesses, and communities often had to respond immediately to these situations, which highlighted the inequities faced by African Americans.
Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included:
- boycotts such as the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) in Alabama;
- "sit-ins" such as the influential Greensboro sit-ins (1960) in North Carolina;
- marches, such as the Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) in Alabama;
- and a wide range of other nonviolent activities.
This phase of the Civil Rights Movement witnessed the passage of several primary pieces of federal legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, expressly banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment practices and ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and by public accommodations.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 restored and protected voting rights for minorities. The Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 removed racial and national barriers and opened the way for non-white immigrants.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the country young people were inspired to take action.
A wave of inner city riots in black communities from 1964 through 1970 undercut support from the white community. The emergence of the Black Power movement, which lasted from about 1966 to 1975, challenged the established black leadership for its cooperative attitude and its nonviolence, and instead demanded political and economic self-sufficiency.
Many popular representations of the movement are centered on the leadership and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr., who won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the movement. But, some scholars note that the movement was too diverse to be credited to one person, organization, or strategy.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the African-American Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1968:
- Background
- Mass action replacing litigation
- Key events
- Brown v. Board of Education, 1954
- Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955–1956
- Desegregating Little Rock Central High School, 1957
- The method of Nonviolence and Nonviolence Training
- Robert F. Williams and the debate on nonviolence, 1959–1964
- Sit-ins, 1958–1960
- Freedom Rides, 1961
- Voter registration organizing
- Integration of Mississippi universities, 1956–65
- Albany Movement, 1961–62
- Birmingham Campaign, 1963
- "Rising tide of discontent" and Kennedy's Response, 1963
- March on Washington, 1963
- Malcolm X joins the movement, 1964–1965
- St. Augustine, Florida, 1963–64
- Mississippi Freedom Summer, 1964
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964
- King awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 1964
- Boycott of New Orleans by American Football League players, January 1965
- Selma Voting Rights Movement and the Voting Rights Act, 1965
- Fair housing movements, 1966–1968
- Memphis, King assassination and the Poor People's March 1968
- Civil Rights Act of 1968
- Other issues
- Johnson administration: 1963–1968
- Prison reform
- Cold War
- Documentary films
- Activist organizations
- Individual activists
- See also:
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1865–95)
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954)
- Timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68)
- List of civil rights leaders
- Executive Order 9981, ending racial discrimination in the United States military
- Photographers of the American Civil Rights Movement
- "We Shall Overcome", unofficial movement anthem
- List of Kentucky women in the civil rights era
- African-American Civil Rights Movement in popular culture
Dick Gregory, Civil Rights Activist
YouTube Video of Dick Gregory, as Civil Rights Activist*
* -- This event happened in Ferguson, MO after the shooting of teenager Mike Brown by a police officer (August 15, 2014)
Pictured: Dick Gregory with Muhammad Ali
Richard Claxton "Dick" Gregory (born October 12, 1932) is an American civil rights activist, social critic, writer, entrepreneur, conspiracy theorist, comedian, and occasional actor.
Active in the Civil Rights Movement, on October 7, 1963, Gregory came to Selma, Alabama, and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as "Freedom Day" (October 7, 1963).
In 1964, Gregory became more involved in civil rights activities, activism against the Vietnam War, economic reform, anti-drug issues, conspiracy theories, and others. As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strikes and campaigns in America and overseas.
Gregory is also an outspoken feminist, and in 1978 joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Margaret Heckler, Barbara Mikulski, and other suffragists to lead the National ERA March for Ratification and Extension, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol of over 100,000 on Women's Equality Day (August 26), 1978 to demonstrate for a ratification deadline extension for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, and for the ratification of the ERA.
The march was ultimately successful in extending the deadline to June 30, 1982, and Gregory joined other activists to the Senate for celebration and victory speeches by pro-ERA Senators, Members of Congress, and activists. The ERA narrowly failed to be ratified by the extended ratification date.
On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle, and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others, had performed. Gregory gave a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid movements.
Gregory and Mark Lane conducted landmark research into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which helped move the U.S. House Select Assassinations Committee to investigate the murder, along with that of John F. Kennedy. Lane was author of conspiracy theory books such as Rush to Judgment.
The pair wrote the King conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray did not act alone. Gregory has also argued that the moon landing was faked and the commonly accepted account of the 9/11 attacks is incorrect, among other conspiracy theories.
Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy Hostage Crisis in Iran. In 1980 he traveled to Tehran to attempt to negotiate the hostages' release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45 kg) when he returned to the United States.
In 1998 Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. with President Bill Clinton in attendance. Not long after, the President told Gregory's long-time friend and public relations Consultant Steve Jaffe, "I love Dick Gregory; he is one of the funniest people on the planet."
They spoke of how Gregory had made a comment on Dr. King's birthday that broke everyone into laughter, when he noted that the President made Speaker Newt Gingrich ride "in the back of the plane," on an Air Force One trip overseas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Dick Gregory:
Active in the Civil Rights Movement, on October 7, 1963, Gregory came to Selma, Alabama, and spoke for two hours on a public platform two days before the voter registration drive known as "Freedom Day" (October 7, 1963).
In 1964, Gregory became more involved in civil rights activities, activism against the Vietnam War, economic reform, anti-drug issues, conspiracy theories, and others. As a part of his activism, he went on several hunger strikes and campaigns in America and overseas.
Gregory is also an outspoken feminist, and in 1978 joined Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Margaret Heckler, Barbara Mikulski, and other suffragists to lead the National ERA March for Ratification and Extension, a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the United States Capitol of over 100,000 on Women's Equality Day (August 26), 1978 to demonstrate for a ratification deadline extension for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, and for the ratification of the ERA.
The march was ultimately successful in extending the deadline to June 30, 1982, and Gregory joined other activists to the Senate for celebration and victory speeches by pro-ERA Senators, Members of Congress, and activists. The ERA narrowly failed to be ratified by the extended ratification date.
On July 21, 1979, Gregory appeared at the Amandla Festival where Bob Marley, Patti LaBelle, and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others, had performed. Gregory gave a speech before Marley's performance, blaming President Carter, and showing his support for the international Anti-Apartheid movements.
Gregory and Mark Lane conducted landmark research into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which helped move the U.S. House Select Assassinations Committee to investigate the murder, along with that of John F. Kennedy. Lane was author of conspiracy theory books such as Rush to Judgment.
The pair wrote the King conspiracy book Code Name Zorro, which postulated that convicted assassin James Earl Ray did not act alone. Gregory has also argued that the moon landing was faked and the commonly accepted account of the 9/11 attacks is incorrect, among other conspiracy theories.
Gregory was an outspoken activist during the US Embassy Hostage Crisis in Iran. In 1980 he traveled to Tehran to attempt to negotiate the hostages' release and engaged in a public hunger strike there, weighing less than 100 pounds (45 kg) when he returned to the United States.
In 1998 Gregory spoke at the celebration of the birthday of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. with President Bill Clinton in attendance. Not long after, the President told Gregory's long-time friend and public relations Consultant Steve Jaffe, "I love Dick Gregory; he is one of the funniest people on the planet."
They spoke of how Gregory had made a comment on Dr. King's birthday that broke everyone into laughter, when he noted that the President made Speaker Newt Gingrich ride "in the back of the plane," on an Air Force One trip overseas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Dick Gregory:
International Women's Day (Celebrated on March 8)
YouTube Video of 2017 International Women's Day by the United Nations*
* -- United Nations - UN Secretary-General António Guterres' hails women for their many contributions on International Women's Day, 8 March 2017. This year's theme is “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030”.
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 every year.[3] It commemorates the movement for women's rights.
The earliest Women's Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America.
On March 8, 1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, a demonstration of women textile workers began, covering the whole city. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.
Other Holidays honoring Women include:
The earliest Women's Day observance was held on February 28, 1909, in New York and organized by the Socialist Party of America.
On March 8, 1917, in the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, a demonstration of women textile workers began, covering the whole city. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Seven days later, the Emperor of Russia Nicholas II abdicated and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
March 8 was declared a national holiday in Soviet Russia in 1917. The day was predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations.
Other Holidays honoring Women include:
- Rosa Parks Day (February 4 / December 1)
- National Girls and Women in Sports Day (one day first week of February)
- Lady Day (March 8)
- Harriet Tubman Day (March 10)
- Kartini Day (April 21 in Indonesia)
- Helen Keller Day (June 27)
- Women's Equality Day (August 26)
- Mother's Day
Bella Abzug, Feminist Movement Activist
YouTube Video: Bella Abzug in her own words
Pictured: Bella Abzug was the first Jewish woman in Congress, and a bold feminist. She served from 1971-1977.
Bella Savitsky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, U.S. Representative, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement.
In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus.
Abzug declared, "This woman's place is in the House—the House of Representatives", in her successful 1970 campaign. She was later appointed to chair the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year and to plan the 1977 National Women's Conference by President Gerald Ford and led President Jimmy Carter's commission on women.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Bella Abzug:
In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus.
Abzug declared, "This woman's place is in the House—the House of Representatives", in her successful 1970 campaign. She was later appointed to chair the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year and to plan the 1977 National Women's Conference by President Gerald Ford and led President Jimmy Carter's commission on women.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Bella Abzug:
- Early life
- Legal and political career
- Later life and death
- Family
- Legacy
- Selected bibliography
- In popular culture
- See also;
Julian Bond
YouTube Video Julian Bond: MLK, Rights, and Civil Disobedience
Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement, politician, professor and writer. While a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the early 1960s, he helped to establish the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
Bond was elected to four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and later to six terms in the Georgia State Senate, serving a combined twenty years in both legislative chambers.
From 1998 to 2010, Bond was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Julian Bond:
Bond was elected to four terms in the Georgia House of Representatives and later to six terms in the Georgia State Senate, serving a combined twenty years in both legislative chambers.
From 1998 to 2010, Bond was chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Julian Bond:
- Early life and education
- Political organizing
- Career
- Personal life
- Awards and honors
- Bibliography
- See also: List of civil rights leaders
Peace Movements including a List of Peace Activists
YouTube Video John Lennon "Give Peace a Chance" Live in Toronto 1969*
*-John Lennon
Pictured: (L) U.S. Postage Stamp featuring Jane Addams; (R) Carl Sagan
Click here for a List of Prominent Peace Activists around the Globe.
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or all wars), minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, and is often linked to the goal of achieving world peace.
Means to achieve these ends include advocacy of:
The political cooperative is an example of an organization that seeks to merge all peace movement organizations and green organizations, which may have some diverse goals, but all of whom have the common goal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those that oppose it often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.
Some people refer to the global loose affiliation of activists and political interests as having a shared purpose and this constituting a single movement, "the peace movement", an all encompassing "anti-war movement". Seen this way, the two are often indistinguishable and constitute a loose, responsive, event-driven collaboration between groups with motivations as diverse as:
For more about Peace Activism in the United States, click here.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for additional information about Peace Activism:
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or all wars), minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, and is often linked to the goal of achieving world peace.
Means to achieve these ends include advocacy of:
- pacifism,
- non-violent resistance,
- diplomacy,
- boycotts,
- peace camps,
- moral purchasing,
- supporting anti-war political candidates,
- legislation to remove the profit from government contracts to the Military–industrial complex,
- banning guns,
- creating open government and transparency tools,
- direct democracy,
- supporting Whistleblowers who expose War-Crimes or conspiracies to create wars,
- demonstrations,
- and national political lobbying groups to create legislation.
The political cooperative is an example of an organization that seeks to merge all peace movement organizations and green organizations, which may have some diverse goals, but all of whom have the common goal of peace and humane sustainability. A concern of some peace activists is the challenge of attaining peace when those that oppose it often use violence as their means of communication and empowerment.
Some people refer to the global loose affiliation of activists and political interests as having a shared purpose and this constituting a single movement, "the peace movement", an all encompassing "anti-war movement". Seen this way, the two are often indistinguishable and constitute a loose, responsive, event-driven collaboration between groups with motivations as diverse as:
- humanism,
- environmentalism,
- veganism,
- anti-racism,
- anti-sexism,
- decentralization,
- hospitality,
- ideology,
- theology,
- and faith.
For more about Peace Activism in the United States, click here.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for additional information about Peace Activism:
- Category:Peace movements
- Category:Peace organizations
- Category:Peace awards
- Category:Anti-war
- Category:Anti-war protests
- Category:Anti-nuclear movement
- American Friends Service Committee
- Conscientious objector
- Conscientious objection throughout the world
- Global citizens movement
- International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
- List of anti-war organizations
- Nuclear-free zone
- Peace
- Peace Pledge Union
- Peace symbol
- Peace flag
- Peace walk
- War resister
- White Rose
- World peace
- World Peace Marathon
Civil Rights Movements, including a List of Civil Rights Leaders
YouTube Video: History of the Civil Rights Movement
Pictured: Martin Luther King and other African-American Civil Rights Movement leaders in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln during the March on Washington, August 28, 1963
Click here for a List of Civil Rights Leaders.
Civil rights movement is a worldwide series of political movements for equality before the law, that peaked in the 1960s. In many situations they have been characterized by nonviolent protests, or have taken the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change through nonviolent forms of resistance.
In some situations, they have been accompanied, or followed, by civil unrest and armed rebellion. The process has been long and tenuous in many countries, and many of these movements did not, or have yet to, fully achieve their goals, although the efforts of these movements have led to improvements in the legal rights of some previously oppressed groups of people, in some places.
The main aim of the successful African-American Civil Rights Movement and other movements for civil rights included ensuring that the rights of all people were and are equally protected by the law.
These include but are not limited to the rights of minorities, women's rights, and LGBT rights.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about The Civil Rights Movement:
Civil rights movement is a worldwide series of political movements for equality before the law, that peaked in the 1960s. In many situations they have been characterized by nonviolent protests, or have taken the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change through nonviolent forms of resistance.
In some situations, they have been accompanied, or followed, by civil unrest and armed rebellion. The process has been long and tenuous in many countries, and many of these movements did not, or have yet to, fully achieve their goals, although the efforts of these movements have led to improvements in the legal rights of some previously oppressed groups of people, in some places.
The main aim of the successful African-American Civil Rights Movement and other movements for civil rights included ensuring that the rights of all people were and are equally protected by the law.
These include but are not limited to the rights of minorities, women's rights, and LGBT rights.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about The Civil Rights Movement:
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. (born Jesse Louis Burns; October 8, 1941) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997.
He is the founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. Former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. is his eldest son. Jackson was also the host of Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Jesse Jackson:
He is the founder of the organizations that merged to form Rainbow/PUSH. Former U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. is his eldest son. Jackson was also the host of Both Sides with Jesse Jackson on CNN from 1992 to 2000.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Jesse Jackson:
- Early life and education
- Civil rights activism
- International activism
- Political activism
- Electoral history
- Awards and recognition
- Personal life
- See also:
- "I Am - Somebody" - a poem popularized by Jesse Jackson
- List of civil rights leaders
- List of Notable Freemasons
Martin Luther King, Jr.
YouTube Video: "I Have a Dream"
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr., January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.
King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam."
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. King's death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport.
King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.
Click on any of the following hyperlinks for additional information about Martin Luther King, Jr.:
King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful 1962 struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, and helped organize the 1963 nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year he and SCLC took the movement north to Chicago to work on segregated housing. In the final years of his life, King expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam."
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People's Campaign, when he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. King's death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities. Ray, who fled the country, was arrested two months later at London Heathrow Airport.
King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in numerous cities and states beginning in 1971, and as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also renamed for him.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011.
Click on any of the following hyperlinks for additional information about Martin Luther King, Jr.:
- Early life and education
- Montgomery bus boycott, 1955
- Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- March on Washington, 1963
- Selma voting rights movement and "Bloody Sunday", 1965
- Chicago open housing movement, 1966
- Opposition to the Vietnam War
- Poor People's Campaign, 1968
- Assassination and aftermath
- Legacy
- Ideas, influences, and political stances
- FBI and King's personal life
- Awards and recognition
- Five Dollar Bill
- Works
- See also:
Maya Angelou
YouTube Video: Maya Angelou's Poem "On the Pulse of Morning"*
* -- This is video footage of Maya Angelou reciting her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the 1993 Presidential Inaugural. This footage is official public record produced by the White House Television (WHTV) crew, provided by the Clinton Presidential Library.
Maya Angelou ( born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa.
She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she earned the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture.
Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U. S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies.
She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel.
Click on any blue hyperlinks for more about Maya Angelou:
She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa.
She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she earned the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture.
Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U. S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies.
She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel.
Click on any blue hyperlinks for more about Maya Angelou:
Muhammad Ali
YouTube Video: Muhammad Ali -- Civil Rights Champion and Anti-war Activist
Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.
Cassius Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At age 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and turned professional later that year.
At age 22 in 1964, he won the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight titles from Sonny Liston in a big upset.
Clay then converted to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his "slave name", to Muhammad Ali. He set an example of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the white establishment by refusing to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War.
He was eventually arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges, and stripped of his boxing titles. He successfully appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971, by which time he had not fought for nearly four years and thereby lost a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation.
Ali is regarded as one of the leading heavyweight boxers of the 20th century. He remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion, having won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Between February 25 and September 19, 1964, Ali reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion.
He is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times. He was ranked as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, and the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury.
Nicknamed "The Greatest", he was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were:
At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He was known for trash talking, and often freestyled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, both for his trash talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism, anticipating elements of rap and hip hop music.
As a musician, Ali recorded two spoken word albums and a rhythm and blues song, and received two Grammy Award nominations. As an actor, he performed in several films and a Broadway musical. Additionally, Ali wrote two autobiographies, one during and one after his boxing career.
As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam (NOI) and advocated their black separatist ideology. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering initially to Sunni Islam and later to Sufism, and supporting racial integration, like his former mentor Malcolm X.
After retiring from boxing in 1981, Ali devoted his life to religious and charitable work. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, which his doctors attributed to boxing-related brain injuries. As the condition worsened, Ali made limited public appearances and was cared for by his family until his death on June 3, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Muhammad Ali:
Cassius Clay was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At age 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and turned professional later that year.
At age 22 in 1964, he won the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight titles from Sonny Liston in a big upset.
Clay then converted to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his "slave name", to Muhammad Ali. He set an example of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the white establishment by refusing to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War.
He was eventually arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges, and stripped of his boxing titles. He successfully appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971, by which time he had not fought for nearly four years and thereby lost a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali's actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation.
Ali is regarded as one of the leading heavyweight boxers of the 20th century. He remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion, having won the title in 1964, 1974, and 1978. Between February 25 and September 19, 1964, Ali reigned as the undisputed heavyweight champion.
He is the only boxer to be named The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year six times. He was ranked as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC, and the third greatest athlete of the 20th century by ESPN SportsCentury.
Nicknamed "The Greatest", he was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were:
- the first Liston fight;
- the "Fight of the Century",
- "Super Fight II",
- the "Thrilla in Manila" versus his rival Joe Frazier,
- and "The Rumble in the Jungle" versus George Foreman.
At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He was known for trash talking, and often freestyled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, both for his trash talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism, anticipating elements of rap and hip hop music.
As a musician, Ali recorded two spoken word albums and a rhythm and blues song, and received two Grammy Award nominations. As an actor, he performed in several films and a Broadway musical. Additionally, Ali wrote two autobiographies, one during and one after his boxing career.
As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam (NOI) and advocated their black separatist ideology. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering initially to Sunni Islam and later to Sufism, and supporting racial integration, like his former mentor Malcolm X.
After retiring from boxing in 1981, Ali devoted his life to religious and charitable work. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome, which his doctors attributed to boxing-related brain injuries. As the condition worsened, Ali made limited public appearances and was cared for by his family until his death on June 3, 2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Muhammad Ali:
- Early life and amateur career
- Professional boxing
- Personal life
- Vietnam War and resistance to the draft
- Later years
- Legacy
- Professional boxing record
Rosa Parks
YouTube Video From "The Rosa Parks Story: "Arrested"
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement , whom the United States Congress called "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement". Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in California and Missouri (February 4), and Ohio and Oregon (December 1).
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.
Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation. Others had taken similar steps, including Bayard Rustin in 1942, Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1952, and the members of the ultimately successful Browder v. Gayle 1956 lawsuit (Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith) who were arrested in Montgomery for not giving up their bus seats months before Parks.
NAACP organizers believed that Parks was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws, although eventually her case became bogged down in the state courts while the Browder v. Gayle case succeeded.
Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP; and Martin Luther King, Jr., a new minister in town who gained national prominence in the civil rights movement.
At the time, Parks was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. She had recently attended the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee center for training activists for workers' rights and racial equality. She acted as a private citizen "tired of giving in". Although widely honored in later years, she also suffered for her act; she was fired from her job as a seamstress in a local department store, and received death threats for years afterwards. Her situation also opened doors.
Shortly after the boycott, she moved to Detroit, where she briefly found similar work. From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to John Conyers, an African-American US Representative. She was also active in the Black Power movement and the support of political prisoners in the US.
After retirement, Parks wrote her autobiography and continued to insist that the struggle for justice was not over and there was more work to be done. In her final years, she suffered from dementia. Parks received national recognition, including the NAACP's 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman and third non-US government official to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Rosa Parks:
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order to give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled.
Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation. Others had taken similar steps, including Bayard Rustin in 1942, Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1952, and the members of the ultimately successful Browder v. Gayle 1956 lawsuit (Claudette Colvin, Aurelia Browder, Susie McDonald, and Mary Louise Smith) who were arrested in Montgomery for not giving up their bus seats months before Parks.
NAACP organizers believed that Parks was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws, although eventually her case became bogged down in the state courts while the Browder v. Gayle case succeeded.
Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP; and Martin Luther King, Jr., a new minister in town who gained national prominence in the civil rights movement.
At the time, Parks was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. She had recently attended the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee center for training activists for workers' rights and racial equality. She acted as a private citizen "tired of giving in". Although widely honored in later years, she also suffered for her act; she was fired from her job as a seamstress in a local department store, and received death threats for years afterwards. Her situation also opened doors.
Shortly after the boycott, she moved to Detroit, where she briefly found similar work. From 1965 to 1988 she served as secretary and receptionist to John Conyers, an African-American US Representative. She was also active in the Black Power movement and the support of political prisoners in the US.
After retirement, Parks wrote her autobiography and continued to insist that the struggle for justice was not over and there was more work to be done. In her final years, she suffered from dementia. Parks received national recognition, including the NAACP's 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman and third non-US government official to lie in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Rosa Parks:
- Early years
- Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott
- Detroit years: 1960s-2000s
- Death and funeral
- Legacy and honors
- In popular culture
- See also:
Shirley Chisholm
YouTube Video: Shirley Chisholm : The First Black Congresswoman
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician, educator, and author.
In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983.
In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about SHirley Chisholm:
In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, and she represented New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983.
In 1972, she became the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
In 2015, Chisholm was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about SHirley Chisholm:
- Early life and education
- Career as educator
- State legislator
- Member of Congress
- Subsequent years and death
- Legacy
- Awards and honors
- Writings
- See also: List of African-American United States Representatives
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1/28/1986)
YouTube Video: Challenger Disaster Live on CNN
Pictured: Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume after its in-flight breakup, resulting in its destruction and the deaths of all seven crew members (memorial service pictured).
On January 28, 1986, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two Payload Specialists.
The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 EST.
Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring was not designed to fly under unusually cold conditions as in this launch.
Its failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft field joint attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces broke up the orbiter.
The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation. The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown; several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The shuttle had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers Commission found NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes had been key contributing factors to the accident, with the agency violating its own safety rules.
NASA managers had known since 1977 that contractor Morton Thiokol's design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the O-rings, but they had failed to address this problem properly. NASA managers also disregarded warnings (an example of "go fever") from engineers about the dangers of launching posed by the low temperatures of that morning, and failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors.
As a result of the disaster, the Air Force decided to cancel its plans to use the Shuttle for classified military satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, deciding to use the Titan IV instead.
Approximately 17 percent of Americans witnessed the launch live because of the presence of Payload Specialist Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space. Media coverage of the accident was extensive: one study reported that 85 percent of Americans surveyed had heard the news within an hour of the accident.
The Challenger disaster has been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace ethics.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster:
The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 EST.
Disintegration of the vehicle began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The O-ring was not designed to fly under unusually cold conditions as in this launch.
Its failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft field joint attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces broke up the orbiter.
The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation. The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown; several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The shuttle had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
The disaster resulted in a 32-month hiatus in the shuttle program and the formation of the Rogers Commission, a special commission appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to investigate the accident. The Rogers Commission found NASA's organizational culture and decision-making processes had been key contributing factors to the accident, with the agency violating its own safety rules.
NASA managers had known since 1977 that contractor Morton Thiokol's design of the SRBs contained a potentially catastrophic flaw in the O-rings, but they had failed to address this problem properly. NASA managers also disregarded warnings (an example of "go fever") from engineers about the dangers of launching posed by the low temperatures of that morning, and failed to adequately report these technical concerns to their superiors.
As a result of the disaster, the Air Force decided to cancel its plans to use the Shuttle for classified military satellite launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, deciding to use the Titan IV instead.
Approximately 17 percent of Americans witnessed the launch live because of the presence of Payload Specialist Christa McAuliffe, who would have been the first teacher in space. Media coverage of the accident was extensive: one study reported that 85 percent of Americans surveyed had heard the news within an hour of the accident.
The Challenger disaster has been used as a case study in many discussions of engineering safety and workplace ethics.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster:
- O-ring concerns
- Pre-launch conditions
- January 28 launch and failure
- Aftermath
- Investigation
- NASA and Air Force response
- Legacy
- Video documentation
- Film
- Other media
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster (2/1/2003)
YouTube Video: Inside Space Shuttle Columbia STS 107 during the Accident All hell breaks loose
Pictured:
Top Photo: Crew Members who lost their life in the tragedy
Bottom Photo: the moment the Columbia disintegrated
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.
During the launch of STS-107, Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. A few previous shuttle launches had seen minor damage from foam shedding, but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed.
When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.
After the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years, as they had been after the Challenger disaster. Construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was put on hold; the station relied entirely on the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation for resupply for 29 months until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation until STS-121.
Several technical and organizational changes were made, including adding a thorough on-orbit inspection to determine how well the shuttle's thermal protection system had endured the ascent, and keeping a designated rescue mission ready in case irreparable damage was found. Except for one final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, subsequent shuttle missions were flown only to the ISS so that the crew could use it as a haven in case damage to the orbiter prevented safe reentry.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy:
During the launch of STS-107, Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. A few previous shuttle launches had seen minor damage from foam shedding, but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed.
When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.
After the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years, as they had been after the Challenger disaster. Construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was put on hold; the station relied entirely on the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation for resupply for 29 months until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation until STS-121.
Several technical and organizational changes were made, including adding a thorough on-orbit inspection to determine how well the shuttle's thermal protection system had endured the ascent, and keeping a designated rescue mission ready in case irreparable damage was found. Except for one final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, subsequent shuttle missions were flown only to the ISS so that the crew could use it as a haven in case damage to the orbiter prevented safe reentry.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy:
- Crew
- Debris strike during launch
- Flight risk management
- Re-entry timeline
- Presidential response
- Recovery of debris
- Investigation
- Memorials
- Effect on space programs
- Sociocultural aftermath
- See also:
Captain Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III
YouTube Video Sully Sullenberger's Miracle on the Hudson*
* -- Courtesy of the Smithsonian Channel
Pictured: Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger and passengers awaiting rescue
Chesley Burnett "Sully" Sullenberger III (born January 23, 1951) is a retired American airline captain celebrated for the January 15, 2009 water landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan after the plane was disabled by striking a flock of Canada geese immediately after takeoff; all 155 people aboard survived.
Sullenberger is an international speaker on airline safety and has helped develop new protocols for airline safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, of the EAA's Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013. He retired from US Airways after 30 years as a commercial pilot on March 3, 2010.
In May of the following year, Sullenberger was hired by CBS News as an Aviation and Safety Expert.
He is the co-author, with Jeffrey Zaslow, of the New York Times bestseller Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, a memoir of his life and of the events surrounding Flight 1549, published in 2009 by HarperCollins.
His second book, Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America's Leaders, was published in May 2012. He was ranked second in Time's "Top 100 Most Influential Heroes and Icons of 2009", after Michelle Obama.
For more about Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
Sullenberger is an international speaker on airline safety and has helped develop new protocols for airline safety. He served as the co-chairman, along with First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, of the EAA's Young Eagles youth introduction-to-aviation program from 2009 to 2013. He retired from US Airways after 30 years as a commercial pilot on March 3, 2010.
In May of the following year, Sullenberger was hired by CBS News as an Aviation and Safety Expert.
He is the co-author, with Jeffrey Zaslow, of the New York Times bestseller Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, a memoir of his life and of the events surrounding Flight 1549, published in 2009 by HarperCollins.
His second book, Making a Difference: Stories of Vision and Courage from America's Leaders, was published in May 2012. He was ranked second in Time's "Top 100 Most Influential Heroes and Icons of 2009", after Michelle Obama.
For more about Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
- Early life
- Military service
- Civil aviation career
- Retirement and subsequent career
- Personal life
- In popular culture
John Glenn
YouTube Video John Glenn launch, Walter Cronkite " Go, baby ! " LIVE on TV, CBS, February 20, 1962
Pictured: Two Magazine Covers featuring John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio.
In 1962 he was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II and Korea with six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters on his Air Medal.
He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the United States' first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission; the first American to orbit the Earth, he was the fifth person in space.
He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven.
After Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 and retired from the Marine Corps the following year, he planned to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. An injury in early 1964 forced his withdrawal, and he lost a close primary election in 1970.
A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn first won election to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years until January 3, 1999.
In 1998, still a sitting senator, Glenn was the oldest person to fly in space as a crew member of the Discovery space shuttle and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John Glenn:
In 1962 he was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II and Korea with six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters on his Air Medal.
He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the United States' first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission; the first American to orbit the Earth, he was the fifth person in space.
He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven.
After Glenn resigned from NASA in 1964 and retired from the Marine Corps the following year, he planned to run for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. An injury in early 1964 forced his withdrawal, and he lost a close primary election in 1970.
A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn first won election to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years until January 3, 1999.
In 1998, still a sitting senator, Glenn was the oldest person to fly in space as a crew member of the Discovery space shuttle and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John Glenn:
- Early life and education
- Military career
- NASA career
- Political career
- Return to space
- Personal life
- Illness and death
- Awards and honors
- See also:
- List of spaceflight records
- The John Glenn Story, a 1962 documentary film
- Project Mercury Commemorative stamp
Firefighters in the United States including a List of those who gave their life to save others, along with the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial
YouTube Video of 9/11 FireFighters filmed while inside the world trade center during its collapse
Pictured: (LEFT) Firefighters raising the fallen flag following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001 (9/11); (RIGHT) The National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
As of 2014, there are around 1,134,400 firefighters serving in 27,198 fire departments nationwide and responding to emergencies from 58,150 fire stations. Of those firefighters, 31% or 346,150 were career firefighters and 69% or 788,250 were volunteers,
A Fire department responds to a fire every 23 seconds throughout the United States. Fire departments responded to 33,602,500 calls for service in 2015. 21,500,000 were for medical help, 2,533,500 were false alarms, and 1,345,500 were for actual fires.
Since at least 1980, calls for fires have decreased as a proportion of total calls and in absolute numbers from 3,000,000 to 1,400,000 in 2011, while in the same period medical calls have increased from 5,000,000 to 19,800,000.
The professionalization of American firefighting was largely a result of three factors: the steam fire engines, the fire insurance companies, that demanded the municipalization of firefighting, and the theory that suggested payment of wages would naturally result in improved service.
Paid firefighters may be union or non-union. However, many municipalities still rely on volunteer, paid on call, or part-time firefighters. These non full-time firefighters are rarely union, and their interests are represented by the National Volunteer Fire Council.
The United States Fire Administration provides national leadership to local fire services. The fire departments report fires and other incidents according to the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which maintains records of the incidents in a uniform manner.
The National Fire Protection Association sets and maintains minimum standards and requirements for firefighting duties and equipment. The suppression of wildfires is regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is done through the National Wildland Coordination Center.
The two million fire calls that American fire departments respond to each year represent the highest figures in the industrialized world. Each year thousands of people die, tens of thousands of people are injured, and property damage reaches billions of dollars. Indirect costs, such as temporary lodging expenses, lost time at work, medical expenses, and psychological damages are equally alarming (The United States Fire Administration 1996).
According to American Red Cross statistics, the annual losses from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters combined in the United States average just a fraction of those from fires. House fires in particular are one of the most common tragedies facing emergency disaster workers in recent history. According to the US Fire Administration, the United States has a more severe fire problem than generally perceived. In inner city Pennsylvania neighborhoods, house fires have greatly increased, especially in socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
An alarming trend in these specific house fires is that sixty percent of these houses do not have working smoke detectors. Additionally, these households are prone to using supplemental heating devices and substandard extension cords that are not Underwriters Laboratories (UL) compliant. UL compliant extension cords are labeled with valuable information as to the use, size, and rating of the cord.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Firefighting in the United States: ___________________________________________________________________________
Click Here for a List of the deadliest firefighter disasters in the United States.
National Fallen Firefighters Memorial since 1990 is officially designated by the United States Congress as the National Memorial to career and volunteer fallen firefighters. Located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, it was conceived as a tribute to American fire service.
The memorial was constructed in 1981 on the campus of the National Fire Academy. Plaques listing the names of firefighters encircle the plaza from the same year. When a firefighter dies on duty, local fire officials notify the United States Fire Administration and a notice is immediately posted on the Memorial grounds.
The flags over the Memorial are flown at half-staff in honor of the fallen firefighter. If some criteria are met, the fallen firefighter is honored at the annual memorial service. The Memorial is open to the public throughout the year.
On October 16, 2001, President George W. Bush approved legislation requiring the United States flag to be lowered to half-staff on all Federal buildings to memorialize fallen firefighters. Public Law 107-51 requires this action to occur annually in conjunction with observance of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. The date of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service is traditionally the first Sunday in October. The service is held at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
A Fire department responds to a fire every 23 seconds throughout the United States. Fire departments responded to 33,602,500 calls for service in 2015. 21,500,000 were for medical help, 2,533,500 were false alarms, and 1,345,500 were for actual fires.
Since at least 1980, calls for fires have decreased as a proportion of total calls and in absolute numbers from 3,000,000 to 1,400,000 in 2011, while in the same period medical calls have increased from 5,000,000 to 19,800,000.
The professionalization of American firefighting was largely a result of three factors: the steam fire engines, the fire insurance companies, that demanded the municipalization of firefighting, and the theory that suggested payment of wages would naturally result in improved service.
Paid firefighters may be union or non-union. However, many municipalities still rely on volunteer, paid on call, or part-time firefighters. These non full-time firefighters are rarely union, and their interests are represented by the National Volunteer Fire Council.
The United States Fire Administration provides national leadership to local fire services. The fire departments report fires and other incidents according to the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which maintains records of the incidents in a uniform manner.
The National Fire Protection Association sets and maintains minimum standards and requirements for firefighting duties and equipment. The suppression of wildfires is regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This is done through the National Wildland Coordination Center.
The two million fire calls that American fire departments respond to each year represent the highest figures in the industrialized world. Each year thousands of people die, tens of thousands of people are injured, and property damage reaches billions of dollars. Indirect costs, such as temporary lodging expenses, lost time at work, medical expenses, and psychological damages are equally alarming (The United States Fire Administration 1996).
According to American Red Cross statistics, the annual losses from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters combined in the United States average just a fraction of those from fires. House fires in particular are one of the most common tragedies facing emergency disaster workers in recent history. According to the US Fire Administration, the United States has a more severe fire problem than generally perceived. In inner city Pennsylvania neighborhoods, house fires have greatly increased, especially in socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
An alarming trend in these specific house fires is that sixty percent of these houses do not have working smoke detectors. Additionally, these households are prone to using supplemental heating devices and substandard extension cords that are not Underwriters Laboratories (UL) compliant. UL compliant extension cords are labeled with valuable information as to the use, size, and rating of the cord.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Firefighting in the United States: ___________________________________________________________________________
Click Here for a List of the deadliest firefighter disasters in the United States.
National Fallen Firefighters Memorial since 1990 is officially designated by the United States Congress as the National Memorial to career and volunteer fallen firefighters. Located in Emmitsburg, Maryland, it was conceived as a tribute to American fire service.
The memorial was constructed in 1981 on the campus of the National Fire Academy. Plaques listing the names of firefighters encircle the plaza from the same year. When a firefighter dies on duty, local fire officials notify the United States Fire Administration and a notice is immediately posted on the Memorial grounds.
The flags over the Memorial are flown at half-staff in honor of the fallen firefighter. If some criteria are met, the fallen firefighter is honored at the annual memorial service. The Memorial is open to the public throughout the year.
On October 16, 2001, President George W. Bush approved legislation requiring the United States flag to be lowered to half-staff on all Federal buildings to memorialize fallen firefighters. Public Law 107-51 requires this action to occur annually in conjunction with observance of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. The date of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service is traditionally the first Sunday in October. The service is held at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial.
List of American Police Officers Who Have Lost Their Lives in the Line of Duty
YouTube Video: 135 police officers killed in the line of duty in 2016
Pictures of 114 Police Officers who were killed on Sept 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack
This is a list of American police officers killed in the line of duty. Summaries of the overall casualty figures, by year, are also provided. Click on the blue hyperlinks below for a list of American police officers killed in the line of duty. Summaries of the overall casualty figures, by year, are also provided.
- Overview by year: 2010-2016
- Lists of officers killed
- Before 2010
- 2010 -2017
- See also:
List of journalists killed in the United States
YouTube Video 2016 Rededication of the Journalists Memorial
Pictured: LEFT: Bill Biggart, Photo Journalist, killed on 9/11; RIGHT: Robert Stevens, photo editor, killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks when letters containing anthrax were mailed to multiple media outlets in the United States.
Numerous journalists have been murdered or killed in the United States while reporting,
covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist. At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic investigations.
The most recent journalists killed in the United States are Alison Parker and Adam Ward, who were killed on August 26, 2015, during a live news broadcast on WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia.
The most dangerous sector of the US media after 1980 has been the race and ethnic press.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, ten journalists serving the Vietnamese, Haitian and Chinese immigrant communities were killed in political assassinations between 1980 and 1993.
Chauncey Bailey, who was the editor at a large circulation African American newspaper, was murdered in 2007 for his investigative reporting. Since the September 11 attacks, terrorism-related deaths involving journalists is another trend.
In some cases, journalists have been attacked but survived, such as Victor Riesel.
Click here for a listing of Journalists Killed in the United Stages while reporting or covering a military conflict, or because they were journalists.
Click on any of the following hyperlink for further information:
covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist. At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic investigations.
The most recent journalists killed in the United States are Alison Parker and Adam Ward, who were killed on August 26, 2015, during a live news broadcast on WDBJ in Roanoke, Virginia.
The most dangerous sector of the US media after 1980 has been the race and ethnic press.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, ten journalists serving the Vietnamese, Haitian and Chinese immigrant communities were killed in political assassinations between 1980 and 1993.
Chauncey Bailey, who was the editor at a large circulation African American newspaper, was murdered in 2007 for his investigative reporting. Since the September 11 attacks, terrorism-related deaths involving journalists is another trend.
In some cases, journalists have been attacked but survived, such as Victor Riesel.
Click here for a listing of Journalists Killed in the United Stages while reporting or covering a military conflict, or because they were journalists.
Click on any of the following hyperlink for further information:
LGBT Social Movements, Including a List of Activists
YouTube Video: Evolution of gay rights from 1967 to today as reported (6/26/15) by CBS Evening News
Pictured:
TOP PHOTOS: Chaz Bono (LEFT) with his mother Cher, (RIGHT) born Chastity Sun Bono
BOTTOM PHOTO: Caitlyn Jenner as (L) Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic Gold Medalist; (R) Caitlyn Jenner after sex reassignment surgery
Click here for a List of LGBT Rights Activists in the United States
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) social movements are social movements that advocate for the equalized acceptance of LGBT people in society.
In these movements, LGBT people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is now generally called LGBT rights, sometimes also called gay rights or gay and lesbian rights.
Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The earliest organizations to support LGBT rights were formed in the 19th century.
A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people. Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia.
LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the LGBT Social Movement:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) social movements are social movements that advocate for the equalized acceptance of LGBT people in society.
In these movements, LGBT people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is now generally called LGBT rights, sometimes also called gay rights or gay and lesbian rights.
Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The earliest organizations to support LGBT rights were formed in the 19th century.
A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for LGBT people. Some have also focused on building LGBT communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from biphobia, homophobia, and transphobia.
LGBT movements organized today are made up of a wide range of political activism and cultural activity, including lobbying, street marches, social groups, media, art, and research.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about the LGBT Social Movement:
- Overview
- History
- Public opinion
- See also:
- Age of consent
- Biphobia
- Bisexual American history
- Civil rights
- Coming out
- Declaration of Montreal
- Gay culture
- Gay icon
- Gay men in American history
- GLSEN
- Heterosexism
- Homosexual agenda
- International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
- Intersex human rights
- Lesbian American history
- LGBT movements in the United States
- LGBT rights by country or territory
- Lesbian separatism
- List of gay-rights organizations
- List of LGBT rights activists
- List of social movements
- Minority rights
- Pink capitalism
- Pro-gay slogans and symbols
- Special rights
- Spirit Day
- Social stigma (Historic stigmatization of GLBT community and lifestyle)
- Transgender American history
First Responders in the United States
YouTube Video: Tribute to First Responders
Pictured: United States First Responders Association
A first responder is a person who is likely to be among the first people to arrive at and assist at the scene of an emergency such as an accident, natural disaster, or terrorist attack and has received some training for this.
First responders typically include police officers, deputy sheriffs, firefighters, paramedics, rescuers and others who have joined voluntary organizations connected with this type of work.
A certified first responder is one who has received certification to provide pre-hospital care in a certain jurisdiction. A community first responder is a person dispatched to attend medical emergencies until an ambulance arrives.
A wilderness first responder is trained to provide pre-hospital care in remote settings and will therefore have skills in ad hoc patient packaging and transport by non-motorized means.
First responders must be trained to deal with a wide array of potential medical emergencies. Because of the high level of stress and uncertainty associated with the position, first responders must maintain physical and mental health.
Even with such preparation, first responders face unique risks of being the first people to aid those with unknown contagions. For example, in 2003 first responders were among the earliest victims of the previously unknown SARS virus, when they cared for patients affected with the virus.
First responders are often viewed as highly valued members of a community because of their important role during emergencies. It’s common for local businesses to offer special perks and discounts to first responders because of this.
The term first responder is defined in U.S. Homeland Security Presidential Directive, HSPD-8 and reads: "The term "first responder" refers to those individuals who in the early stages of an incident are responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence, and the environment, including emergency response providers as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 101), as well as emergency management, public health, clinical care, public works, and other skilled support personnel (such as equipment operators) that provide immediate support services during prevention, response, and recovery operations."
Emergency response providers are defined by 6 U.S.C. § 101 as follows:
"The term “emergency response providers” includes Federal, State, and local governmental and nongovernmental emergency public safety, fire, law enforcement, emergency response, emergency medical (including hospital emergency facilities), and related personnel, agencies, and authorities."
See also Emergency medical responder levels by U.S. state
First responders typically include police officers, deputy sheriffs, firefighters, paramedics, rescuers and others who have joined voluntary organizations connected with this type of work.
A certified first responder is one who has received certification to provide pre-hospital care in a certain jurisdiction. A community first responder is a person dispatched to attend medical emergencies until an ambulance arrives.
A wilderness first responder is trained to provide pre-hospital care in remote settings and will therefore have skills in ad hoc patient packaging and transport by non-motorized means.
First responders must be trained to deal with a wide array of potential medical emergencies. Because of the high level of stress and uncertainty associated with the position, first responders must maintain physical and mental health.
Even with such preparation, first responders face unique risks of being the first people to aid those with unknown contagions. For example, in 2003 first responders were among the earliest victims of the previously unknown SARS virus, when they cared for patients affected with the virus.
First responders are often viewed as highly valued members of a community because of their important role during emergencies. It’s common for local businesses to offer special perks and discounts to first responders because of this.
The term first responder is defined in U.S. Homeland Security Presidential Directive, HSPD-8 and reads: "The term "first responder" refers to those individuals who in the early stages of an incident are responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence, and the environment, including emergency response providers as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 101), as well as emergency management, public health, clinical care, public works, and other skilled support personnel (such as equipment operators) that provide immediate support services during prevention, response, and recovery operations."
Emergency response providers are defined by 6 U.S.C. § 101 as follows:
"The term “emergency response providers” includes Federal, State, and local governmental and nongovernmental emergency public safety, fire, law enforcement, emergency response, emergency medical (including hospital emergency facilities), and related personnel, agencies, and authorities."
See also Emergency medical responder levels by U.S. state
John McCain III
YouTube Video of Senator John McCain EPIC Senate Floor Speech After Health Care Vote 7/25/17
Pictured: John McCain Clockwise From Upper Left: At the Naval Academy, 1954; With his squadron (front right) and T-2 Buckeye trainer, 1965; John McCain is administered to in a Hanoi, Vietnam hospital as a prisoner; The 1992 christening of USS John S. McCain at Bath Iron Works, with his mother Roberta, son Jack, daughter Meghan, and wife Cindy.
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman, politician and war hero who served as a United States Senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death. He previously served two terms in the United States House of Representatives and was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama.
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Arizona, in that office since 1987. He was the Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election.
McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator and flew ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers.
During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire.
While McCain was on a bombing mission over Hanoi in October 1967, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. The wounds that he sustained during war have left him with lifelong physical disabilities.
He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. In 1982, McCain was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served two terms. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and easily won re-election five times, most recently in 2016.
While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues.
After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually resulted in passage of the McCain–Feingold Act in 2002.
He is also known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam, and for his belief that the Iraq War should have been fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, and he opposed pork barrel spending. He also played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations with the bi-partisan group known as the Gang of 14.
McCain entered the race for the Republican nomination for President in 2000, but he lost a heated primary season contest to George W. Bush of Texas. He secured the nomination in 2008 after coming back from early reversals, but was defeated by Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the general election, losing by a 365–173 electoral college margin and by 53–46% in the popular vote.
He subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, especially in regard to foreign policy matters. By 2013, however, he had become a key figure in the Senate for negotiating deals on certain issues in an otherwise partisan environment. In 2015, McCain became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. In 2017, the year before his death at age 81, he reduced his role in the Senate after a diagnosis of brain cancer.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John McCain III:
John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Arizona, in that office since 1987. He was the Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election.
McCain followed his father and grandfather, both four-star admirals, into the United States Navy and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He became a naval aviator and flew ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers.
During the Vietnam War, he was almost killed in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire.
While McCain was on a bombing mission over Hanoi in October 1967, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. The wounds that he sustained during war have left him with lifelong physical disabilities.
He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona, where he entered politics. In 1982, McCain was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served two terms. He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 and easily won re-election five times, most recently in 2016.
While generally adhering to conservative principles, McCain at times has had a media reputation as a "maverick" for his willingness to disagree with his party on certain issues.
After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five, he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns, which eventually resulted in passage of the McCain–Feingold Act in 2002.
He is also known for his work in the 1990s to restore diplomatic relations with Vietnam, and for his belief that the Iraq War should have been fought to a successful conclusion. McCain has chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, and he opposed pork barrel spending. He also played a key role in alleviating a crisis over judicial nominations with the bi-partisan group known as the Gang of 14.
McCain entered the race for the Republican nomination for President in 2000, but he lost a heated primary season contest to George W. Bush of Texas. He secured the nomination in 2008 after coming back from early reversals, but was defeated by Democratic nominee Barack Obama in the general election, losing by a 365–173 electoral college margin and by 53–46% in the popular vote.
He subsequently adopted more orthodox conservative stances and attitudes and largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, especially in regard to foreign policy matters. By 2013, however, he had become a key figure in the Senate for negotiating deals on certain issues in an otherwise partisan environment. In 2015, McCain became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. In 2017, the year before his death at age 81, he reduced his role in the Senate after a diagnosis of brain cancer.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John McCain III:
- Early life and military career, 1936–1981
- House and Senate elections and career, 1982–2000
- 2000 presidential campaign
- Senate career, 2000–2008
- 2008 presidential campaign
- Senate career after 2008
- Political positions
- Cultural and political image
- Awards and honors
- Writings by McCain
- Death and funeral
- Tributes
Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Senator and Purple Heart Recipient
YouTube Video by Tammy Duckworth to Trump: I won't be lectured by draft dodger
[Your Webhost: Senator Duckworth recently announced that she is pregnant, the first serving Senator to be so. In addition, she is the first Asian-American to be elected to Congress, and perhaps most importantly she served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Iraq war, and who lost both of her legs as a result. She has continued to serve our Country with distinction since.]
Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, serving as the junior United States Senator for Illinois since 2017.
A member of the Democratic Party, she earlier represented Illinois' 8th district for two terms (2013–2017) in the United States House of Representatives. Before election to office, she served as Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (2009-2011), and she was the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs (2006-2009). In the 2016 election, Duckworth defeated incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk for the seat in the United States Senate.
Duckworth was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to Congress, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her father, an American, and her Thai mother were working and living there at the time. Duckworth is the second Asian-American woman serving in the U.S. Senate after Mazie Hirono and next to Kamala Harris.
An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war. Having received a medical waiver, she continued to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard along with her husband, Major Bryan W. Bowlsbey, a signal officer and fellow Iraq War veteran, until her retirement from the Army in October 2014.
For more about Tammy Duckworth, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, serving as the junior United States Senator for Illinois since 2017.
A member of the Democratic Party, she earlier represented Illinois' 8th district for two terms (2013–2017) in the United States House of Representatives. Before election to office, she served as Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (2009-2011), and she was the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs (2006-2009). In the 2016 election, Duckworth defeated incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk for the seat in the United States Senate.
Duckworth was the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to Congress, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand. Her father, an American, and her Thai mother were working and living there at the time. Duckworth is the second Asian-American woman serving in the U.S. Senate after Mazie Hirono and next to Kamala Harris.
An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war. Having received a medical waiver, she continued to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard along with her husband, Major Bryan W. Bowlsbey, a signal officer and fellow Iraq War veteran, until her retirement from the Army in October 2014.
For more about Tammy Duckworth, click on any of the following blue hyperlinks:
- Early life and education
- Military service
- Government service
- U.S. House of Representatives
- U.S. Senate
- Political positions
- Personal life
- Electoral history
- See also:
- List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
- Veterans for a Secure America
- VoteVets.org
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
- Women in the United States Senate
- Senator Tammy Duckworth official U.S. Senate site
- Tammy Duckworth for Senate (campaign)
- Tammy Duckworth at Ballotpedia
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Project Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- Duckworth participates in panel discussion, Returning Veterans at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) In the United States
YouTube Video: FDNY Emergency Medical Service
YouTube Video: How to Perform the Heimlich Maneuver by WatchMojo
Pictured below: "What is EMS"
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the federal government, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Wide differences in population density, topography, and other conditions can call for different types of EMS systems; consequently, there is often significant variation between the Emergency Medical Services provided in one state and those provided in another.
Organization and Funding:
Land ambulance:
EMS delivery in the US can be based on various models. While most services are, to some degree, publicly funded, the factor which often differentiates services is the manner in which they are operated. EMS systems may be directly operated by the community, or they may fall to a third-party provider, such as a private company. The most common operating models in the U.S. include:
Publicly operated EMS:
In one of the more common publicly operated models, an EMS system is operated directly by the municipality it services. The services themselves may be provided by a local government, or may be the responsibility of the regional (or state) government.
Municipality-operated services may be funded by service fees and supplemented by property taxes. In many such cases, the EMS system is considered to be too small to operate independently, and is organized as a branch of another municipal department, such as the Public Health department.
In small communities that lack a large population or tax-base, such a service may not be able to operate unless it is staffed by community volunteers. In these cases, the volunteer squad may receive some funding from municipal taxes, but is generally heavily reliant on voluntary donations to cover operating expenses. This provides a significant challenge for volunteer groups, since the training standards for staff must be met, and the vehicle and equipment standards adhered to, while the group does all or most of its own fundraising.
Without the presence of dedicated volunteers, however, many small communities in America might be without local EMS systems and would either have no service at all or be forced to rely on service from more distant communities.
Another operating model for publicly operated EMS is what is generally referred to in the industry as the 'third service' option. In this option, rather than being an integral part of (or in some cases, an 'add-on' to) one of the traditional 'emergency' services (fire and police), the service is organized as a separate, free-standing, municipal department, with organization that may be similar to, but operated independently from, either the fire or police departments.
In a variant of this model, the EMS system may be recognized as a legitimate third emergency service, but provided under a contractual agreement with another organization, such as a private company or a hospital, instead of direct operation. This model is sometimes referred to as the 'public utility' model. This may be a cost-saving measure, or it may be because the community feels that they lack the resident expertise to deal with medical oversight and control issues, and the legal requirements that typically surround an Emergency Medical Service.
In yet another model for publicly operated EMS, the system may be integrated into the operations of another municipal emergency service, such as the local fire department or police department. This integration may be partial or complete. In the case of partial integration, the EMS staff may share quarters, administrative services, and even command and control with the other service.
In the case of full integration, the EMS staff may be fully cross-trained to perform the entry-level function of the other emergency service, whether firefighting or policing. Many communities perceive this as providing 'added value' to the community, since municipal workers are fulfilling more than one function, and are less likely to be idle.
Private/for profit EMS:
Ambulance services operating on a private/for profit basis have a long history in the U.S. Often, particularly in smaller communities, ambulance service was seen by the community as a lower priority than police or fire services, and certainly nothing that should require public funding.
Until the professionalization of emergency medical services in the early 1970s, one of the most common providers of ambulance service in the United States was a community's local funeral home. This occurred essentially by default, as hearses were the only vehicles at the time capable of transporting a person lying down.
Funeral home ambulance operations were sometimes supplemented by 'mom and pop' operations, which were not affiliated with funeral homes but rather operated on much the same basis as a taxi service.
There were no national standards for ambulance services and staff generally had little, if any, medical training or equipment, leading to a high pre-hospital mortality rate. Such companies continue to operate this way in some locations, providing non-emergency transport services, fee-for-service emergency service, or contracted emergency ambulance service to municipalities, as in the public utility model.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, more than 200 private ambulance companies in the U.S. were gradually merged into large regional companies, some of which continue to operate today. As this trend continued, the result was a few remaining private companies, a handful of regional companies, and two very large multinational companies which currently dominate the entire industry.
These services continue to operate in some parts of the U.S., either on a fee-for-service basis to the patient, or by means of contracts with local municipalities. Such contracts usually result in a fee-for-service operation which is funded by the municipality on a supplementary basis, in exchange for formal guarantees of adequate performance on such issues as staffing, skill sets, resources available, and response times.
Model of care:
The Emergency Medical Service system in the United States typically follows the Anglo-American model (bringing the patient to the hospital), as opposed to the Franco-German model (bringing the hospital to the patient) of service delivery. Apart from a handful of doctors who work on Medevac aircraft or perform training or medical quality assurance, it is extremely uncommon to see a physician deliberately responding to the scene of an emergency.
Air ambulance:
Air ambulance services in the United States can be operated by a variety of sources. Some services are hospital-operated, while others may be operated by Federal, State or local government; or through a variety of departments, including local or State police, the United States Park Service, or Fire Departments. Such services may be operated directly by any of these EMS systems, or they may be contracted to a third-party provider, such as an aircraft charter company.
In addition, it is not uncommon for U.S. military helicopters to be pressed into service providing air ambulance support. The vast distances covered by the U.S. mean that while helicopters may be the preferred form of service delivery for 'on-scene' emergencies, fixed wing aircraft, including small jets, are often used for transfers from rural hospitals to tertiary care sites. These aircraft are typically staffed by a mix of personnel including physicians, nurses, and paramedics, and in some cases, by all three.
Publicly operated air ambulance service is supplemented by emergency and non-emergency air transport service, which may be provided by dedicated air ambulance companies, or by aircraft charter companies as a 'sideline' business operation. Air Ambulance companies are not all considered the same. Some are brokers that farm-out the air medical transports other are highly accredited by accrediting organizations like CAMTS.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Emergency Medical Services in the United States:
Wide differences in population density, topography, and other conditions can call for different types of EMS systems; consequently, there is often significant variation between the Emergency Medical Services provided in one state and those provided in another.
Organization and Funding:
Land ambulance:
EMS delivery in the US can be based on various models. While most services are, to some degree, publicly funded, the factor which often differentiates services is the manner in which they are operated. EMS systems may be directly operated by the community, or they may fall to a third-party provider, such as a private company. The most common operating models in the U.S. include:
Publicly operated EMS:
In one of the more common publicly operated models, an EMS system is operated directly by the municipality it services. The services themselves may be provided by a local government, or may be the responsibility of the regional (or state) government.
Municipality-operated services may be funded by service fees and supplemented by property taxes. In many such cases, the EMS system is considered to be too small to operate independently, and is organized as a branch of another municipal department, such as the Public Health department.
In small communities that lack a large population or tax-base, such a service may not be able to operate unless it is staffed by community volunteers. In these cases, the volunteer squad may receive some funding from municipal taxes, but is generally heavily reliant on voluntary donations to cover operating expenses. This provides a significant challenge for volunteer groups, since the training standards for staff must be met, and the vehicle and equipment standards adhered to, while the group does all or most of its own fundraising.
Without the presence of dedicated volunteers, however, many small communities in America might be without local EMS systems and would either have no service at all or be forced to rely on service from more distant communities.
Another operating model for publicly operated EMS is what is generally referred to in the industry as the 'third service' option. In this option, rather than being an integral part of (or in some cases, an 'add-on' to) one of the traditional 'emergency' services (fire and police), the service is organized as a separate, free-standing, municipal department, with organization that may be similar to, but operated independently from, either the fire or police departments.
In a variant of this model, the EMS system may be recognized as a legitimate third emergency service, but provided under a contractual agreement with another organization, such as a private company or a hospital, instead of direct operation. This model is sometimes referred to as the 'public utility' model. This may be a cost-saving measure, or it may be because the community feels that they lack the resident expertise to deal with medical oversight and control issues, and the legal requirements that typically surround an Emergency Medical Service.
In yet another model for publicly operated EMS, the system may be integrated into the operations of another municipal emergency service, such as the local fire department or police department. This integration may be partial or complete. In the case of partial integration, the EMS staff may share quarters, administrative services, and even command and control with the other service.
In the case of full integration, the EMS staff may be fully cross-trained to perform the entry-level function of the other emergency service, whether firefighting or policing. Many communities perceive this as providing 'added value' to the community, since municipal workers are fulfilling more than one function, and are less likely to be idle.
Private/for profit EMS:
Ambulance services operating on a private/for profit basis have a long history in the U.S. Often, particularly in smaller communities, ambulance service was seen by the community as a lower priority than police or fire services, and certainly nothing that should require public funding.
Until the professionalization of emergency medical services in the early 1970s, one of the most common providers of ambulance service in the United States was a community's local funeral home. This occurred essentially by default, as hearses were the only vehicles at the time capable of transporting a person lying down.
Funeral home ambulance operations were sometimes supplemented by 'mom and pop' operations, which were not affiliated with funeral homes but rather operated on much the same basis as a taxi service.
There were no national standards for ambulance services and staff generally had little, if any, medical training or equipment, leading to a high pre-hospital mortality rate. Such companies continue to operate this way in some locations, providing non-emergency transport services, fee-for-service emergency service, or contracted emergency ambulance service to municipalities, as in the public utility model.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, more than 200 private ambulance companies in the U.S. were gradually merged into large regional companies, some of which continue to operate today. As this trend continued, the result was a few remaining private companies, a handful of regional companies, and two very large multinational companies which currently dominate the entire industry.
These services continue to operate in some parts of the U.S., either on a fee-for-service basis to the patient, or by means of contracts with local municipalities. Such contracts usually result in a fee-for-service operation which is funded by the municipality on a supplementary basis, in exchange for formal guarantees of adequate performance on such issues as staffing, skill sets, resources available, and response times.
Model of care:
The Emergency Medical Service system in the United States typically follows the Anglo-American model (bringing the patient to the hospital), as opposed to the Franco-German model (bringing the hospital to the patient) of service delivery. Apart from a handful of doctors who work on Medevac aircraft or perform training or medical quality assurance, it is extremely uncommon to see a physician deliberately responding to the scene of an emergency.
Air ambulance:
Air ambulance services in the United States can be operated by a variety of sources. Some services are hospital-operated, while others may be operated by Federal, State or local government; or through a variety of departments, including local or State police, the United States Park Service, or Fire Departments. Such services may be operated directly by any of these EMS systems, or they may be contracted to a third-party provider, such as an aircraft charter company.
In addition, it is not uncommon for U.S. military helicopters to be pressed into service providing air ambulance support. The vast distances covered by the U.S. mean that while helicopters may be the preferred form of service delivery for 'on-scene' emergencies, fixed wing aircraft, including small jets, are often used for transfers from rural hospitals to tertiary care sites. These aircraft are typically staffed by a mix of personnel including physicians, nurses, and paramedics, and in some cases, by all three.
Publicly operated air ambulance service is supplemented by emergency and non-emergency air transport service, which may be provided by dedicated air ambulance companies, or by aircraft charter companies as a 'sideline' business operation. Air Ambulance companies are not all considered the same. Some are brokers that farm-out the air medical transports other are highly accredited by accrediting organizations like CAMTS.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Emergency Medical Services in the United States:
- History
- Standards
- See also:
- 9-1-1
- Ambulance
- Certified first responder
- List of EMS provider credentials
- Emergency Medical Dispatcher
- Emergency medical technician
- Emergency medical responder levels by state
- Emergency medicine
- Paramedics in the United States
- Paramedic
- The White Paper
- National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians
- National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians
- National Volunteer Fire Council - EMS/Rescue Section
- The Difference Between an EMT and a Paramedic
- How Pittsburgh's Freedom House Pioneered Paramedic Treatment
Wildfire Fighters in the United States including the 2017 California Wildfires
YouTube Video: Wildfires turn California freeway into wall of flames
Pictured below: Largest California fire eyes communities northwest of Los Angeles 12/7/2017 by CBS News
Wildfire Fighting is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires.
Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas.
Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, these wildfire-trained crews suppress flames, construct firelines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland-urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Wildfire Fighting:
The 2017 California wildfire season was the most destructive wildfire season on record, which saw multiple wildfires burning across California. A total of 9,133 fires burned 1,381,405 acres (5,590.35 km2), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history.
Throughout the early months of 2017, there was heavy rainfall over most of California, which triggered widespread flooding, thus temporarily mitigating the state's severe drought conditions. However, according to a report published by the National Interagency Fire Center, the potential for large fires was "expected to remain near normal through the spring, but once fine fuels dry out, there will likely be a spike in grass fire activity.”
In October 2017, 250 wildfires ignited across Northern California, burning over 245,000 acres (990 km2), and causing more than $9.4 billion (2017) in insured property losses, becoming the costliest group of wildfires on record.
It will take at least several months, and likely years to fully recover from the devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California in October, which destroyed at least 8,900 structures and killed 44 people, according to Sonoma County officials. In addition, the Northern California fires hospitalized or injured at least 192 other people.
In December 2017, strong Santa Ana winds triggered a new round of wildfires, including the massive Thomas Fire in Ventura County. The December 2017 fires forced over 230,000 people to evacuate, with the 6 largest fires burning over 307,900 acres (1,246 km2) and more than 1,300 structures.
During the year, 5 of the 20 most destructive wildfires in the state's history burned between October and December: #1 Tubbs, #6 Nuns, #7 Thomas, #11 Atlas, and #17 Redwood Valley Complex.
On December 8, AccuWeather predicted that the total economic toll of the 2017 California wildfire season will reach at least $180 billion (2017 USD).
In 2014, a study found a human fingerprint in growing California wildfire risks. The paper is titled “Extreme fire season in California: A glimpse into the future?” It was published as the second chapter of “Explaining Extreme Events of 2014”, by the American Meteorological Society.
The authors also projected into the future, and the predicted results showed increases in the drought index, the area under extreme threat of fires, and the days of fire danger, stating that, "The increase in extreme fire risk is expected within the coming decade to exceed that of natural variability and this serves as an indication that anthropogenic climate warming will likely play a significant role in influence California’s fire season."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about 2017 California wildfires: See also:
Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas.
Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, these wildfire-trained crews suppress flames, construct firelines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland-urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Wildfire Fighting:
- History:
- Objectives
- Organization
- Dispatch Centers
- Management
- Communication
- Tactics
- Fires at the wildland-urban interface
- Equipment and personnel
- Success of fire suppression
- See also:
- 2002 airtanker crashes
- Aerial firefighting
- Fire ecology
- Glossary of wildland fire terms
- International Association of Wildland Fire
- Tanker 910
- Wildland Firefighter Foundation
- National Fire Danger Rating System
- The International Association of Wildland Fire
- United States National Interagency Fire Center
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - Fighting Wildfires
- Ballistic System for Fighting Forest Fire
- sps services
The 2017 California wildfire season was the most destructive wildfire season on record, which saw multiple wildfires burning across California. A total of 9,133 fires burned 1,381,405 acres (5,590.35 km2), according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history.
Throughout the early months of 2017, there was heavy rainfall over most of California, which triggered widespread flooding, thus temporarily mitigating the state's severe drought conditions. However, according to a report published by the National Interagency Fire Center, the potential for large fires was "expected to remain near normal through the spring, but once fine fuels dry out, there will likely be a spike in grass fire activity.”
In October 2017, 250 wildfires ignited across Northern California, burning over 245,000 acres (990 km2), and causing more than $9.4 billion (2017) in insured property losses, becoming the costliest group of wildfires on record.
It will take at least several months, and likely years to fully recover from the devastating wildfires that ripped through Northern California in October, which destroyed at least 8,900 structures and killed 44 people, according to Sonoma County officials. In addition, the Northern California fires hospitalized or injured at least 192 other people.
In December 2017, strong Santa Ana winds triggered a new round of wildfires, including the massive Thomas Fire in Ventura County. The December 2017 fires forced over 230,000 people to evacuate, with the 6 largest fires burning over 307,900 acres (1,246 km2) and more than 1,300 structures.
During the year, 5 of the 20 most destructive wildfires in the state's history burned between October and December: #1 Tubbs, #6 Nuns, #7 Thomas, #11 Atlas, and #17 Redwood Valley Complex.
On December 8, AccuWeather predicted that the total economic toll of the 2017 California wildfire season will reach at least $180 billion (2017 USD).
In 2014, a study found a human fingerprint in growing California wildfire risks. The paper is titled “Extreme fire season in California: A glimpse into the future?” It was published as the second chapter of “Explaining Extreme Events of 2014”, by the American Meteorological Society.
The authors also projected into the future, and the predicted results showed increases in the drought index, the area under extreme threat of fires, and the days of fire danger, stating that, "The increase in extreme fire risk is expected within the coming decade to exceed that of natural variability and this serves as an indication that anthropogenic climate warming will likely play a significant role in influence California’s fire season."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about 2017 California wildfires: See also:
- List of California wildfires
- May 2014 San Diego County wildfires
- 2008 California wildfires
- October 2007 California wildfires
- 2017 California floods
- 2017 California fires information - CalFire
The Giving Pledge
YouTube Video: The Giving Pledge: Billionaires Give it all Away by CBS News 1/1/2011
Pictured Below: Wealthy Americans who have signed the pledge include (L-R) Bill and Melinda Gates; Warren Buffet
The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
As of 2017, the pledge has 158 signatories, either individuals or couples; some of the 158 have since died. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and their pledges total over $365 billion.
It does not actually dictate that the money is spent in any certain way or towards any particular charity or cause, and there is no legal obligation to actually donate any money.
The organization's goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death. The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. On The Giving Pledge's website, each individual or couple writes a letter explaining why they chose to give.
History:
In June 2010, the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began recruiting members. As of August 2010, the aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion.
As of April 2011, 69 billionaires had joined the campaign and given a pledge, and by the following year, The Huffington Post reported that a total of 81 billionaires had committed.
As of 2012, signatories of the pledge include the following:
By May 2017, 158 individuals and/or couples were listed as pledgers.
Benefits to those making the Pledge:
“However, the admirable benefits of the Giving Pledge should not obscure two important consequences resulting from increased charitable donations. First, the Giving Pledge erodes the federal tax base, particularly the federal estate tax base. Second, the Giving Pledge can be satisfied by gifts and bequests to family-controlled private foundations. While some private foundations are commendable institutions pursuing important charitable objectives, others are not.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Sr. have been vigorous supporters of the federal estate tax. In this sense, there is considerable irony in the fact that Giving Pledgers avoid all federal estate taxes on the money they leave to charity. Indeed, much of the Giving Pledgers’ wealth consists of appreciated stock for which they have paid no federal income tax.
Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates, Sr. have spoken eloquently of the need for wealthy individuals to repay the public for the government services that made their wealth possible. A Giving Pledger (or other charitable donor) who leaves appreciated stock tax-free to charity makes no such repayment.
Click here for a List of Signers.
See also:
As of 2017, the pledge has 158 signatories, either individuals or couples; some of the 158 have since died. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, and their pledges total over $365 billion.
It does not actually dictate that the money is spent in any certain way or towards any particular charity or cause, and there is no legal obligation to actually donate any money.
The organization's goal is to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death. The pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. On The Giving Pledge's website, each individual or couple writes a letter explaining why they chose to give.
History:
In June 2010, the Giving Pledge campaign was formally announced and Bill Gates and Warren Buffett began recruiting members. As of August 2010, the aggregate wealth of the first 40 pledgers was $125 billion.
As of April 2011, 69 billionaires had joined the campaign and given a pledge, and by the following year, The Huffington Post reported that a total of 81 billionaires had committed.
As of 2012, signatories of the pledge include the following:
- Hasso Plattner,
- David Rockefeller,
- Azim Premji,
- Richard Branson,
- Elon Musk,
- Tim Cook,
- Sara Blakely,
- and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
By May 2017, 158 individuals and/or couples were listed as pledgers.
Benefits to those making the Pledge:
- Immediate recognition (for non-binding pledge)
- Avoid paying taxes to the federal government
- Heirs may retain control of assets that would otherwise go to the government
“However, the admirable benefits of the Giving Pledge should not obscure two important consequences resulting from increased charitable donations. First, the Giving Pledge erodes the federal tax base, particularly the federal estate tax base. Second, the Giving Pledge can be satisfied by gifts and bequests to family-controlled private foundations. While some private foundations are commendable institutions pursuing important charitable objectives, others are not.
Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Sr. have been vigorous supporters of the federal estate tax. In this sense, there is considerable irony in the fact that Giving Pledgers avoid all federal estate taxes on the money they leave to charity. Indeed, much of the Giving Pledgers’ wealth consists of appreciated stock for which they have paid no federal income tax.
Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates, Sr. have spoken eloquently of the need for wealthy individuals to repay the public for the government services that made their wealth possible. A Giving Pledger (or other charitable donor) who leaves appreciated stock tax-free to charity makes no such repayment.
Click here for a List of Signers.
See also:
- Altruism
- Charity (practice)
- Charitable organization
- Earning to give
- Effective altruism
- List of members of the Forbes 400
- Random act of kindness
- The World's Billionaires
- Venture philanthropy
- Volunteering
- Official website
Tom Steyer
- YouTube Video: Tom Steyer's Impeachment Ad "Struck A Nerve" With President Donald Trump by MSNBC on October 30, 2017
- YouTube Video: Tom Steyer announcing his decision to run for President of the United States
Thomas Fahr Steyer (born June 27, 1957) is an American billionaire, hedge fund manager, philanthropist, environmentalist, liberal activist, and fundraiser. He is a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.
Steyer is the founder and former co-senior managing partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became (through merger) Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank. Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations.
Since 1986, Steyer has been a partner and member of the Executive Committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based $8 billion private equity firm.
In 2010, Steyer and his wife signed The Giving Pledge to donate half of their fortune to charity during their lifetime. In 2012, he sold his stake in and retired from Farallon Capital.
Switching his focus to politics and the environment, he launched NextGen America, a non-profit organization that supports progressive positions on climate change, immigration, health care, and education.
Steyer served on the Board of Trustees at Stanford University from 2012 to 2017.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Tom Steyer:
Steyer is the founder and former co-senior managing partner of Farallon Capital and the co-founder of OneCalifornia Bank, which became (through merger) Beneficial State Bank, an Oakland-based community development bank. Farallon Capital manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors include college endowments and foundations.
Since 1986, Steyer has been a partner and member of the Executive Committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based $8 billion private equity firm.
In 2010, Steyer and his wife signed The Giving Pledge to donate half of their fortune to charity during their lifetime. In 2012, he sold his stake in and retired from Farallon Capital.
Switching his focus to politics and the environment, he launched NextGen America, a non-profit organization that supports progressive positions on climate change, immigration, health care, and education.
Steyer served on the Board of Trustees at Stanford University from 2012 to 2017.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Tom Steyer:
- Early life and education
- Career
- Philanthropy
- Political activity
- Views and positions
- Awards and honors
- Personal life
- See also:
Warren Buffett
YouTube Video of Warren Buffett: Advice For Entrepreneurs (2018)
Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist who serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is considered one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net worth of $87.5 billion as of February 17, 2018, making him the third wealthiest person in the United States and in the world.
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing that was pioneered by Benjamin Graham.
Buffett attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created the Buffett Partnership after meeting Charlie Munger, and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assumed its name to create a diversified holding company.
Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970, and he has been referred to as the "Wizard", "Oracle", or "Sage" of Omaha by global media outlets. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.
Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2009 with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.
Buffett is also active contributing to political causes, having endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election; he has publicly opposed the policies, actions, and statements of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Warren Buffett:
Buffett was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He developed an interest in business and investing in his youth, eventually entering the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 before transferring and graduating from University of Nebraska at the age of 19. He went on to graduate from Columbia Business School, where he molded his investment philosophy around the concept of value investing that was pioneered by Benjamin Graham.
Buffett attended New York Institute of Finance to focus his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. He created the Buffett Partnership after meeting Charlie Munger, and his firm eventually acquired a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assumed its name to create a diversified holding company.
Buffett has been the chairman and largest shareholder of Berkshire Hathaway since 1970, and he has been referred to as the "Wizard", "Oracle", or "Sage" of Omaha by global media outlets. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth.
Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He founded The Giving Pledge in 2009 with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, whereby billionaires pledge to give away at least half of their fortunes.
Buffett is also active contributing to political causes, having endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election; he has publicly opposed the policies, actions, and statements of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Warren Buffett:
- Early life and education
- Investment career
- Investment philosophy
- Personal life
- Wealth and philanthropy
- Political and public policy views
- See also:
- Berkshire Hathaway official website
- The Buffett
- Buffett Partnership Letters
- "Warren Buffett's Letters to Shareholders". Berkshire Hathaway.
- Berkshire Hathaway SEC 13F Filings
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- "Warren Buffett collected news and commentary". The New York Times.
- "Warren Buffett collected news and commentary". The Guardian.
- Works by or about Warren Buffett in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Stempel, Jonathan (February 12, 2008). "FACTBOX: Warren Buffett at a glance". Reuters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, World War II Allied Military Commander and President of the United States (1953-1961)
YouTube Video: President Eisenhower's Farewell Presidential Address about the Dangers of the Military/Industrial Complex
Pictured below: (L) General Eisenhower speaks with men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, on June 5, 1944, the day before the D-Day invasion; (R) Eisenhower’s Presidential Portrait.
[Your Web Host: In addition to including Eisenhower as our 34th President, I have added him as a great American. Not only as President, but also for his service as the Allied Military Commander during World War II, where his leadership led to the successful defeat of Germany! During his presidency, he was responsible for legislation covering the earliest civil rights act, the space program, and the Interstate Highway System!]
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American Army general and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
During World War II, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
Eisenhower was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front.
Eisenhower was also the first American President to be bound by the 22nd Amendment, which limits the number of times one can be elected to the office of President of the United States.
Born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, he was raised in Kansas in a large family of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry; his parents had a strong religious background. His mother was born a Lutheran, married as a River Brethren, and later became a Jehovah's Witness.
Eisenhower did not belong to any organized church until 1952. He cited constant relocation during his military career as one reason.
He graduated from West Point in 1915 and later married Mamie Doud, with whom he had two sons. During World War I, he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained tank crews. Following the war, he served under various generals and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1941.
After the U.S. entered World War II, Eisenhower oversaw the successful invasions of North Africa and Sicily before supervising the invasions of France and Germany. After the war, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff and then took on the uncomfortable role as president of Columbia University. In 1951–52, he served as the first Supreme Commander of NATO.
In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican in order to block the foreign policies of Senator Robert A. Taft. He won that election and the 1956 election in landslides, both times defeating Adlai Stevenson II. He became the first Republican elected President since 1928.
Eisenhower's main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. In 1953, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons until China agreed to terms regarding POWs in the Korean War. An armistice ended the stalemated conflict.
Eisenhower's New Look policy of nuclear deterrence prioritized inexpensive nuclear weapons while reducing funding for expensive Army divisions. He continued Harry S. Truman's policy of recognizing the Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, and he won congressional approval of the Formosa Resolution.
Eisenhower's administration provided major aid to help the French fight off Vietnamese Communists in the First Indochina War. After the French left he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. He supported local military coups against governments in Iran and Guatemala.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt, and he forced them to withdraw. He also condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action.
During the Syrian Crisis of 1957 Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-Western neighbors.
After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the Space Race.
Eisenhoer deployed 15,000 soldiers during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a summit meeting with the Soviets collapsed when an American spy plane was shot down over Russia. He approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was left to his successor to carry out.
On the domestic front, Eisenhower was a moderate conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. He covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege.
Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders that integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Eisenhower's largest program was the Interstate Highway System. He promoted the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act.
Eisenhower's two terms saw widespread economic prosperity except for a minor recession in 1958. In his farewell address to the nation, Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers.
Eisenhower was voted Gallup's most admired man twelve times and also achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office. Historical evaluations of his presidency place him among the upper tier of U.S. presidents.
For more about Dwight D. Eisenhower, click here.
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American Army general and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
During World War II, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe.
Eisenhower was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front.
Eisenhower was also the first American President to be bound by the 22nd Amendment, which limits the number of times one can be elected to the office of President of the United States.
Born David Dwight Eisenhower in Denison, Texas, he was raised in Kansas in a large family of mostly Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry; his parents had a strong religious background. His mother was born a Lutheran, married as a River Brethren, and later became a Jehovah's Witness.
Eisenhower did not belong to any organized church until 1952. He cited constant relocation during his military career as one reason.
He graduated from West Point in 1915 and later married Mamie Doud, with whom he had two sons. During World War I, he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained tank crews. Following the war, he served under various generals and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1941.
After the U.S. entered World War II, Eisenhower oversaw the successful invasions of North Africa and Sicily before supervising the invasions of France and Germany. After the war, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff and then took on the uncomfortable role as president of Columbia University. In 1951–52, he served as the first Supreme Commander of NATO.
In 1952, Eisenhower entered the presidential race as a Republican in order to block the foreign policies of Senator Robert A. Taft. He won that election and the 1956 election in landslides, both times defeating Adlai Stevenson II. He became the first Republican elected President since 1928.
Eisenhower's main goals in office were to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and reduce federal deficits. In 1953, he threatened the use of nuclear weapons until China agreed to terms regarding POWs in the Korean War. An armistice ended the stalemated conflict.
Eisenhower's New Look policy of nuclear deterrence prioritized inexpensive nuclear weapons while reducing funding for expensive Army divisions. He continued Harry S. Truman's policy of recognizing the Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, and he won congressional approval of the Formosa Resolution.
Eisenhower's administration provided major aid to help the French fight off Vietnamese Communists in the First Indochina War. After the French left he gave strong financial support to the new state of South Vietnam. He supported local military coups against governments in Iran and Guatemala.
During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Eisenhower condemned the Israeli, British and French invasion of Egypt, and he forced them to withdraw. He also condemned the Soviet invasion during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 but took no action.
During the Syrian Crisis of 1957 Eisenhower approved a CIA-MI6 plan to stage fake border incidents as an excuse for an invasion by Syria's pro-Western neighbors.
After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Eisenhower authorized the establishment of NASA, which led to the Space Race.
Eisenhoer deployed 15,000 soldiers during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. Near the end of his term, his efforts to set up a summit meeting with the Soviets collapsed when an American spy plane was shot down over Russia. He approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was left to his successor to carry out.
On the domestic front, Eisenhower was a moderate conservative who continued New Deal agencies and expanded Social Security. He covertly opposed Joseph McCarthy and contributed to the end of McCarthyism by openly invoking executive privilege.
Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent Army troops to enforce federal court orders that integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Eisenhower's largest program was the Interstate Highway System. He promoted the establishment of strong science education via the National Defense Education Act.
Eisenhower's two terms saw widespread economic prosperity except for a minor recession in 1958. In his farewell address to the nation, Eisenhower expressed his concerns about the dangers of massive military spending, particularly deficit spending and government contracts to private military manufacturers.
Eisenhower was voted Gallup's most admired man twelve times and also achieved widespread popular esteem both in and out of office. Historical evaluations of his presidency place him among the upper tier of U.S. presidents.
For more about Dwight D. Eisenhower, click here.
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)
- YouTube Video: Harriet Tubman Story
- YouTube Video: Harriet Tubman for Kids
- YouTube Video: What You Never Knew About Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, c. January 29, 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist.
Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry.
During the American Civil War, Tubman served as an armed scout and spy for the United States Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the struggle for women's suffrage.
Born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate slave owner threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life.
She was a devout Christian and experienced strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God.
In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger".
After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, Tubman helped guide fugitives farther north into British North America, and helped newly freed slaves find work. Tubman met the abolitionist John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for the raid on Harpers Ferry.
When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves.
After the war, Tubman retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents.
She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After she died in 1913, she became an icon of courage and freedom.
Twenty-dollar bill:
On April 20, 2016, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced plans to add Tubman to the front of the twenty-dollar bill, moving President Andrew Jackson, himself a slave owner, to the rear of the bill.
Lew instructed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to expedite the redesign process, and the new bill was expected to enter circulation sometime after 2020.
However, Steven Mnuchin, the current U.S. Treasury Secretary, said that he will not commit to putting Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill, explaining "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. This is something we'll consider; right now we have a lot more important issues to focus on."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Harriet Tubman:
Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry.
During the American Civil War, Tubman served as an armed scout and spy for the United States Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the struggle for women's suffrage.
Born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate slave owner threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life.
She was a devout Christian and experienced strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God.
In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger".
After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, Tubman helped guide fugitives farther north into British North America, and helped newly freed slaves find work. Tubman met the abolitionist John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for the raid on Harpers Ferry.
When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves.
After the war, Tubman retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents.
She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After she died in 1913, she became an icon of courage and freedom.
Twenty-dollar bill:
On April 20, 2016, then-U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced plans to add Tubman to the front of the twenty-dollar bill, moving President Andrew Jackson, himself a slave owner, to the rear of the bill.
Lew instructed the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to expedite the redesign process, and the new bill was expected to enter circulation sometime after 2020.
However, Steven Mnuchin, the current U.S. Treasury Secretary, said that he will not commit to putting Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill, explaining "People have been on the bills for a long period of time. This is something we'll consider; right now we have a lot more important issues to focus on."
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Harriet Tubman:
- Birth and family
- Childhood
- Family and marriage
- Escape from slavery
- Nicknamed "Moses"
- John Brown and Harpers Ferry
- Auburn and Margaret
- American Civil War
- Later life
- Legacy
- See also:
- Works by or about Harriet Tubman at Internet Archive
- Harriet Tubman: Online Resources, from the Library of Congress
- Full text of Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Harriet Tubman Biography Page from Kate Larson
- Harriet Tubman Web Quest: Leading the Way to Freedom – Scholastic.com
- The Tubman Museum of African American History
- "Harriet Tubman National Historical Park & Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park" (PDF). National Parks Conservation Association.
- "Harriet Tubman Could Become New Face of US $20 Bill". VOA News. May 13, 2015.
- Michals, Debra. "Harriet Tubman". National Women's History Museum. 2015.
- Maurer, Elizabeth L. "Harriet Tubman". National Women's History Museum. 2016.
- List of slaves
- List of suffragists and suffragettes
- Maryland Women's Hall of Fame
- Richard Amos Ball
John Lewis, Congressman and Civil Rights Leader (1940-2020)
- YouTube Video: Remembering Rep. John Lewis, in his own words
- YouTube Video: John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader
- YouTube Video: Rep. John Lewis on Witnessing Black Lives Matter, Decades After '60s Civil Rights Movement
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.
Lewis served as the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966.
Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States.
A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to Congress in 1986 and served for 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. The district he served includes the northern three-quarters of Atlanta.
He was a leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1991 as a Chief Deputy Whip and from 2003 as Senior Chief Deputy Whip. Lewis received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (see picture above with President Obama.)
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John Lewis:
Lewis served as the Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966.
Lewis was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington. He fulfilled many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States.
A member of the Democratic Party, Lewis was first elected to Congress in 1986 and served for 17 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Due to his length of service, he became the dean of the Georgia congressional delegation. The district he served includes the northern three-quarters of Atlanta.
He was a leader of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1991 as a Chief Deputy Whip and from 2003 as Senior Chief Deputy Whip. Lewis received many honorary degrees and awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (see picture above with President Obama.)
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about John Lewis:
- Early life
- Student activism and SNCC
- Field Foundation, SRC, and VEP (1966–1977)
- Early work in government
- U.S. House of Representatives
- Biographies
- Personal life and death
- Honors
- Electoral history
- In popular culture
- Bibliography
- See also:
- List of African-American United States Representatives
- List of civil rights leaders
- List of United States Congress members who died in office
- John Lewis at Curlie
- SNCC Digital Gateway: John Lewis, Documentary website created by the SNCC Legacy Project and Duke University, telling the story of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and grassroots organizing from the inside-out
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- John Lewis debates the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), June 11, 1996.
- Rep. Lewis on Congress, Gitmo, Afghan War and Charles Rangel – video interview by Democracy Now!, November 17, 2010
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Finding your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "Season 1, Episode 2: John Lewis and Cory Booker"
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)
- YouTube Video: Former Clerks Of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Watch As Casket Arrives At Supreme Court
- YouTube Video: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks (2016)
- YouTube Video: Stephen Colbert - Ruth Bader Ginsburg Workout Music
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (born Joan Ruth Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton and was generally viewed as a moderate judge who was a consensus builder at the time of her nomination.
She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time.
Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor and was the first Jewish woman to serve on the court.
During her tenure, Ginsburg wrote notable majority opinions, including:
Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school.
Ginsburg earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class.
Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class.
After law school, Ginsburg entered academia. She was a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the few women in her field.
Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993. Between O'Connor's retirement in 2006 and the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor in 2009, she was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, Ginsburg became more forceful with her dissents, notably in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007). Ginsburg's dissenting opinion was credited with inspiring the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009, making it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims.
Ginsburg received attention in American popular culture for her passionate dissents in numerous cases, widely seen as reflecting paradigmatically liberal views of the law. She was playfully and notably dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G." by a law student, a reference to the late Brooklyn-born rapper The Notorious B.I.G., and she later embraced the moniker. Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time.
Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor and was the first Jewish woman to serve on the court.
During her tenure, Ginsburg wrote notable majority opinions, including:
- United States v. Virginia (1996),
- Olmstead v. L.C. (1999),
- and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000).
Ginsburg was born and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school.
Ginsburg earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class.
Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class.
After law school, Ginsburg entered academia. She was a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the few women in her field.
Ginsburg spent much of her legal career as an advocate for gender equality and women's rights, winning many arguments before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsel in the 1970s.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court in 1993. Between O'Connor's retirement in 2006 and the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor in 2009, she was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, Ginsburg became more forceful with her dissents, notably in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007). Ginsburg's dissenting opinion was credited with inspiring the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009, making it easier for employees to win pay discrimination claims.
Ginsburg received attention in American popular culture for her passionate dissents in numerous cases, widely seen as reflecting paradigmatically liberal views of the law. She was playfully and notably dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G." by a law student, a reference to the late Brooklyn-born rapper The Notorious B.I.G., and she later embraced the moniker. Ginsburg died at her home in Washington, D.C., on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87, from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Ruth Bader Ginsburg:
- Early life and education
- Early career
- U.S. Court of Appeals
- Supreme Court
- Other activities
- Personal life
- Longevity on the court
- Death
- Recognition
- In popular culture
- See also:
- Bill Clinton U.S. Supreme Court candidates
- Demographics of the U.S. Supreme Court
- List of justices of the U.S. Supreme Court
- List of law clerks of the U.S. Supreme Court
- List of U.S. Supreme Court cases during the Rehnquist Court
- List of U.S. Supreme Court cases during the Roberts Court
- List of U.S. Supreme Court justices by time in office
- List of Jewish United States Supreme Court justices
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg papers at the Library of Congress OCLC 70984211
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Ballotpedia
- Issue positions and quotes at OnTheIssues
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg, video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
Stacey Abrams
- YouTube Video: Stacey Abrams 3 Questions you ask yourself about Everything You Do
- YouTube Video: Stacey Abrams on The Power of Storytelling & Inspiring Action
- YouTube Video: Stacey Abrams Exposes How Republicans Hold Onto Power Through Voter Suppression
Stacey Yvonne Abrams (born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017.
A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. Her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–21 U.S. Senate election and special election, which gave Democrats control over the Senate. In 2021, Abrams was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in the 2020 election.
Abrams was the Democratic nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, becoming the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. She lost and refused to formally concede to Brian Kemp in an election marked by accusations that Kemp engaged in voter suppression as Georgia Secretary of State.
In February 2019, Abrams became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Stacey Abrams:
A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. Her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, where Joe Biden won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–21 U.S. Senate election and special election, which gave Democrats control over the Senate. In 2021, Abrams was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in the 2020 election.
Abrams was the Democratic nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, becoming the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. She lost and refused to formally concede to Brian Kemp in an election marked by accusations that Kemp engaged in voter suppression as Georgia Secretary of State.
In February 2019, Abrams became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Stacey Abrams:
- Early life and education
- Legal and business career
- Political career
- Political positions
- Writing career
- Honors and awards
- Other work
- Personal life
- Books
Erin Brockovich
- YouTube Video: Erin Brockovich says her background gave her thick skin and determination
- YouTube video: Top 10 Things Erin Brockovich Got Factually Right & Wrong (MsMojo)
- YouTube Video: Erin Brockovich (2000) - Erin Brockovish-Ellis Interview
Erin Brockovich (born Pattee; June 22, 1960) is an American legal clerk, consumer advocate, and environmental activist.
Despite her lack of education in the law, Brockovich was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination in a town in California with the help of attorney Ed Masry in 1993.
Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert Finney as Masry.
Since then, Brockovich has become a media personality as well, hosting the TV series Challenge America with Erin Brockovich on ABC and Final Justice on Zone Reality.
She is the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting. She also works as a consultant for Girardi & Keese, the New York law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg, which has a focus on personal injury claims for asbestos exposure, and Shine Lawyers in Australia.
Early life:
Brockovich was born Erin Pattee in Lawrence, Kansas, the daughter of Betty Jo (born O'Neal; c. 1923–2008), a journalist, and Frank Pattee (1924–2011), an industrial engineer and football player.
She has two brothers, Frank Jr. and Thomas (1954–1992), and a sister, Jodie. She graduated from Lawrence High School, then attended Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wade College in Dallas, Texas.
She worked as a management trainee for Kmart in 1981, but quit after a few months and entered a beauty pageant. She won Miss Pacific Coast in 1981, and left the beauty pageant after the win.
Pacific Gas & Electric litigation:
Main article: Hinkley groundwater contamination
The case (Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric, file BCV 00300) alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium (also written as "chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the town of Hinkley, near Barstow in southern California.
At the center of the case was a facility, the Hinkley compressor station, built in 1952 as a part of a natural-gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium in a cooling tower system to fight corrosion.
The waste water was discharged to unlined ponds at the site, and some of the waste water percolated into the groundwater, affecting an area of approximately 2 square miles (5.2 km2) near the plant. The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) put the PG&E site under its regulations in 1968.
The case was settled in 1996 for US$333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in United States history to that date. Masry & Vititoe, the law firm for which Brockovich was a legal clerk, received $133.6 million of that settlement, and Brockovich received $2.5 million as part of her fee.
A study released in 2010 by the California Cancer Registry showed that cancer rates in Hinkley "remained unremarkable from 1988 to 2008". An epidemiologist involved in the study said that the 196 cases of cancer reported during the most recent survey of 1996 through 2008 were fewer than what he would expect based on demographics and the regional rate of cancer.
However, in June 2013, Mother Jones magazine featured a critique from the Center for Public Integrity of the author's work on the later epidemiological studies.
As of 2016, average Cr-6 levels in Hinkley were recorded as 1.19 ppb with a peak of 3.09 ppb. For comparison, the PG&E Topock Compressor Station on the California-Arizona border averaged 7.8 ppb with peaks of 31.8 ppb based on a PG&E Background Study.
Other litigation:
Working with Edward L. Masry, a lawyer based in Thousand Oaks, California, Brockovich went on to participate in other anti-pollution lawsuits. One suit accused the Whitman Corporation of chromium contamination in Willits, California. Another, which listed 1,200 plaintiffs, alleged contamination near PG&E's Kettleman Hills compressor station in Kings County, California, along the same pipeline as the Hinkley site. The Kettleman suit was settled for $335 million in 2006.
In 2003, after experiencing problems with mold contamination in her own home in the Conejo Valley, Brockovich received settlements of $430,000 from two parties, and an undisclosed amount from a third party, to settle her lawsuit alleging toxic mold in her Agoura Hills, California, home. Brockovich then became a prominent activist and educator in the area as well.
Brockovich and Masry filed suit against the Beverly Hills Unified School District in 2003, in which the district was accused of harming the health and safety of its students by allowing a contractor to operate a cluster of oil wells on campus. Brockovich and Masry alleged that 300 cancer cases were linked to the oil wells.
Subsequent testing and epidemiological investigation failed to corroborate a substantial link, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs. In May 2007, the School District announced that it was to be paid $450,000 as reimbursement for legal expenses.
Brockovich assisted in the filing of a lawsuit against Prime Tanning Corp. of St. Joseph, Missouri in April 2009. The lawsuit claims that waste sludge from the production of leather, containing high levels of hexavalent chromium, was distributed to farmers in northwest Missouri to use as fertilizer on their fields.
It is believed to be a potential cause of an abnormally high number of brain tumors (70 since 1996) around the town of Cameron, Missouri. The site was investigated by the EPA and the agency found "no detections of total chromium" and further stated that the 70 brain tumors were not abnormally high for the population size.
In June 2009, Brockovich began investigating a case of contaminated water in Midland, Texas. "Significant amounts" of hexavalent chromium were found in the water of more than 40 homes in the area, some of which have now been fitted with state-monitored filters on their water supply. Brockovich said: "The only difference between here and Hinkley is that I saw higher levels here than I saw in Hinkley."
In 2012, Brockovich became involved in the mysterious case of 14 students from LeRoy, New York, who began reporting perplexing medical symptoms, including tics and speech difficulties. Brockovich believed environmental pollution from the 1970 Lehigh Valley Railroad derailment was the cause, and conducted testing in the area.
Brockovich was supposed to return to LeRoy to present her findings, but never did; in the meantime, the students' doctors determined the cause was mass psychogenic illness, and that the media exposure was exacerbating the symptoms. No environmental causes were found after repeat testing, and the students improved once the media attention died down.
In early 2016, Brockovich became involved in potential litigation against Southern California Gas for a large methane leak from its underground storage facility near the community of Porter Ranch north of Los Angeles.
Awards:
Movies and television:
Brockovich's work in bringing litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric was the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the title role. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing in a Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich herself had a cameo role as a waitress named Julia R.
Brockovich originally recorded a cameo role in the 2007 animated film The Simpsons Movie, based on the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons. However, Brockovich's role was ultimately cut from the film.
Brockovich had a more extensive role in the 2012 documentary Last Call at the Oasis, which focused on not only water pollution but also the overall state of water scarcity as it relates to water policy in the United States.
On April 8, 2021, Rebel, a television series which creator Krista Vernoff loosely based on Brockovich's life, premiered on ABC.
Books and articles:
Brockovich's first book, Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (ISBN 978-0071383790), was published in 2001. A second book, Superman's Not Coming, was released on August 25, 2020.
In 2021, Brockovich wrote about hormone-disrupting chemicals (such as PFAS) decimating human fertility at an alarming rate.
Personal life:
Brockovich has three children: a son Matthew and a daughter Katie from her first marriage to Shawn Brown, and a daughter Elizabeth "Beth" from her second marriage to Steven Brockovich. Her third husband was an actor and country music DJ, Eric L. Ellis. As of 2016, Brockovich resides in Agoura Hills, California, in a house she purchased in 1996 with her US$2.5 million bonus after the Hinkley settlement.
See also:
Despite her lack of education in the law, Brockovich was instrumental in building a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) involving groundwater contamination in a town in California with the help of attorney Ed Masry in 1993.
Their successful lawsuit was the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Erin Brockovich (2000), starring Julia Roberts as Brockovich and Albert Finney as Masry.
Since then, Brockovich has become a media personality as well, hosting the TV series Challenge America with Erin Brockovich on ABC and Final Justice on Zone Reality.
She is the president of Brockovich Research & Consulting. She also works as a consultant for Girardi & Keese, the New York law firm of Weitz & Luxenberg, which has a focus on personal injury claims for asbestos exposure, and Shine Lawyers in Australia.
Early life:
Brockovich was born Erin Pattee in Lawrence, Kansas, the daughter of Betty Jo (born O'Neal; c. 1923–2008), a journalist, and Frank Pattee (1924–2011), an industrial engineer and football player.
She has two brothers, Frank Jr. and Thomas (1954–1992), and a sister, Jodie. She graduated from Lawrence High School, then attended Kansas State University, in Manhattan, Kansas, and graduated with an Associate in Applied Arts Degree from Wade College in Dallas, Texas.
She worked as a management trainee for Kmart in 1981, but quit after a few months and entered a beauty pageant. She won Miss Pacific Coast in 1981, and left the beauty pageant after the win.
Pacific Gas & Electric litigation:
Main article: Hinkley groundwater contamination
The case (Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas & Electric, file BCV 00300) alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium (also written as "chromium VI", "Cr-VI" or "Cr-6") in the town of Hinkley, near Barstow in southern California.
At the center of the case was a facility, the Hinkley compressor station, built in 1952 as a part of a natural-gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area. Between 1952 and 1966, PG&E used hexavalent chromium in a cooling tower system to fight corrosion.
The waste water was discharged to unlined ponds at the site, and some of the waste water percolated into the groundwater, affecting an area of approximately 2 square miles (5.2 km2) near the plant. The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) put the PG&E site under its regulations in 1968.
The case was settled in 1996 for US$333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit in United States history to that date. Masry & Vititoe, the law firm for which Brockovich was a legal clerk, received $133.6 million of that settlement, and Brockovich received $2.5 million as part of her fee.
A study released in 2010 by the California Cancer Registry showed that cancer rates in Hinkley "remained unremarkable from 1988 to 2008". An epidemiologist involved in the study said that the 196 cases of cancer reported during the most recent survey of 1996 through 2008 were fewer than what he would expect based on demographics and the regional rate of cancer.
However, in June 2013, Mother Jones magazine featured a critique from the Center for Public Integrity of the author's work on the later epidemiological studies.
As of 2016, average Cr-6 levels in Hinkley were recorded as 1.19 ppb with a peak of 3.09 ppb. For comparison, the PG&E Topock Compressor Station on the California-Arizona border averaged 7.8 ppb with peaks of 31.8 ppb based on a PG&E Background Study.
Other litigation:
Working with Edward L. Masry, a lawyer based in Thousand Oaks, California, Brockovich went on to participate in other anti-pollution lawsuits. One suit accused the Whitman Corporation of chromium contamination in Willits, California. Another, which listed 1,200 plaintiffs, alleged contamination near PG&E's Kettleman Hills compressor station in Kings County, California, along the same pipeline as the Hinkley site. The Kettleman suit was settled for $335 million in 2006.
In 2003, after experiencing problems with mold contamination in her own home in the Conejo Valley, Brockovich received settlements of $430,000 from two parties, and an undisclosed amount from a third party, to settle her lawsuit alleging toxic mold in her Agoura Hills, California, home. Brockovich then became a prominent activist and educator in the area as well.
Brockovich and Masry filed suit against the Beverly Hills Unified School District in 2003, in which the district was accused of harming the health and safety of its students by allowing a contractor to operate a cluster of oil wells on campus. Brockovich and Masry alleged that 300 cancer cases were linked to the oil wells.
Subsequent testing and epidemiological investigation failed to corroborate a substantial link, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Wendell Mortimer granted summary judgment against the plaintiffs. In May 2007, the School District announced that it was to be paid $450,000 as reimbursement for legal expenses.
Brockovich assisted in the filing of a lawsuit against Prime Tanning Corp. of St. Joseph, Missouri in April 2009. The lawsuit claims that waste sludge from the production of leather, containing high levels of hexavalent chromium, was distributed to farmers in northwest Missouri to use as fertilizer on their fields.
It is believed to be a potential cause of an abnormally high number of brain tumors (70 since 1996) around the town of Cameron, Missouri. The site was investigated by the EPA and the agency found "no detections of total chromium" and further stated that the 70 brain tumors were not abnormally high for the population size.
In June 2009, Brockovich began investigating a case of contaminated water in Midland, Texas. "Significant amounts" of hexavalent chromium were found in the water of more than 40 homes in the area, some of which have now been fitted with state-monitored filters on their water supply. Brockovich said: "The only difference between here and Hinkley is that I saw higher levels here than I saw in Hinkley."
In 2012, Brockovich became involved in the mysterious case of 14 students from LeRoy, New York, who began reporting perplexing medical symptoms, including tics and speech difficulties. Brockovich believed environmental pollution from the 1970 Lehigh Valley Railroad derailment was the cause, and conducted testing in the area.
Brockovich was supposed to return to LeRoy to present her findings, but never did; in the meantime, the students' doctors determined the cause was mass psychogenic illness, and that the media exposure was exacerbating the symptoms. No environmental causes were found after repeat testing, and the students improved once the media attention died down.
In early 2016, Brockovich became involved in potential litigation against Southern California Gas for a large methane leak from its underground storage facility near the community of Porter Ranch north of Los Angeles.
Awards:
- Honorary Doctor of Laws and commencement speaker at Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, in May 2005
- Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters and commencement speaker at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, on May 5, 2007
- Honorary Master of Arts, Business Communication, from Jones International University, Centennial, Colorado
Movies and television:
Brockovich's work in bringing litigation against Pacific Gas & Electric was the focus of the 2000 feature film, Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts in the title role. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing in a Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. Erin Brockovich herself had a cameo role as a waitress named Julia R.
Brockovich originally recorded a cameo role in the 2007 animated film The Simpsons Movie, based on the long-running animated sitcom The Simpsons. However, Brockovich's role was ultimately cut from the film.
Brockovich had a more extensive role in the 2012 documentary Last Call at the Oasis, which focused on not only water pollution but also the overall state of water scarcity as it relates to water policy in the United States.
On April 8, 2021, Rebel, a television series which creator Krista Vernoff loosely based on Brockovich's life, premiered on ABC.
Books and articles:
Brockovich's first book, Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (ISBN 978-0071383790), was published in 2001. A second book, Superman's Not Coming, was released on August 25, 2020.
In 2021, Brockovich wrote about hormone-disrupting chemicals (such as PFAS) decimating human fertility at an alarming rate.
Personal life:
Brockovich has three children: a son Matthew and a daughter Katie from her first marriage to Shawn Brown, and a daughter Elizabeth "Beth" from her second marriage to Steven Brockovich. Her third husband was an actor and country music DJ, Eric L. Ellis. As of 2016, Brockovich resides in Agoura Hills, California, in a house she purchased in 1996 with her US$2.5 million bonus after the Hinkley settlement.
See also:
- Official website of Erin Brockovich
- The Brockovich Report BrockovichBlog.com
- Brockovich Village
- Official MySpace of Erin Brockovich
- Erin Brockovich biography on the Biography Channel
- Erin Brockovich at IMDb
- Evening with Erin Brockovich in Sydney, hosted by the Climate Change Coalition 2007
- Detail about Hinkley case at AwesomeStories.com
- Did Hinkley Residents Really Win? at salon.com
- Weitz & Luxenberg PC
- Shine Lawyers Australia
- Environmental Justice Society
- Erin Brockovich video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
Dr. Anthony Fauci
- YouTube Video: Dr. Anthony Fauci, explained
- YouTube Video: COVID-19: Chasing Science to Save Lives featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci
- YouTube Video: Brad Pitt playing Dr. Fauci on Saturday Night Live!
Anthony Stephen Fauci OMRI ( December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President.
As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci has served the American public health sector in various capacities for more than fifty years and has acted as an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. He has been director of the NIAID since 1984 and has made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases, both as a research scientist and as the head of the NIAID.
From 1983 to 2002, Fauci was one of the world's most frequently cited scientists across all scientific journals. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on the AIDS relief program PEPFAR.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served under President Donald Trump as one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Fauci's advice was frequently contradicted by Trump, and Trump's supporters alleged that Fauci was trying to politically undermine Trump's run for reelection.
After Joe Biden took office, Fauci began serving as one of the lead members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team and as Biden's chief medical advisor.
On August 22, 2022, Dr. Fauci announced he will be stepping down from government service in December
Early life and education:
Anthony Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Eugenia Lillian (née Abys; 1909–1965) and Stephen A. Fauci (1910–2008). His father was a Columbia University-educated pharmacist who owned his pharmacy. Fauci's mother and sister worked the pharmacy's register, and Fauci delivered prescriptions.
Fauci's mother also worked at a dry cleaner. The pharmacy was located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, directly beneath the family apartment, previously in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. When he was a child, Fauci developed a fascination with World War II.
Fauci's grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy in the late 19th century. His paternal grandparents, Antonino Fauci and Calogera Guardino, were from Sciacca, and his maternal grandparents were from Naples. His maternal grandmother Raffaella Trematerra was a seamstress, and his maternal grandfather Giovanni Abys was a Swiss-born artist noted for his landscape and portrait painting, magazine illustrations in Italy, as well as graphic design for commercial labels, including olive oil cans.
Fauci grew up Catholic, but now considers himself a humanist, stating that he thinks "that there are a lot of things about organized religion that are unfortunate, and [that he tends] to like to stay away from it." In 2021, he was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.
Fauci attended Regis High School, a private Jesuit school in Manhattan's Upper East Side, where he captained the school's basketball team despite standing only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall.
Fauci decided halfway through high school to become a physician. After graduating in 1958, Fauci attended the College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics with a pre-med track.
Fauci then attended Cornell University's Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine), graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1966 ranked first in his class. At Cornell, he focused on adult internal medicine, mainly infectious diseases and the immune system.
Fauci then did an internship and residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (now Weill Cornell Medical Center).
Career:
Fauci discusses his work in 2020:
After completing his medical residency in 1968, Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases's (NIAID) Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI).
He became head of the LCI's Clinical Physiology Section in 1974, and in 1980 was appointed chief of the NIAID's Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He became director of the NIAID in 1984, a position he still holds. Fauci has been offered the position of director of the NIH on several occasions, but has declined each time.
Fauci has been at the forefront of U.S. efforts to contend with viral diseases like HIV/AIDS, SARS, the Swine flu, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19. He played a significant role in the early 2000s in creating the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and in driving development of biodefense drugs and vaccines following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Fauci has been a visiting professor at many medical centers and has received numerous honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Medical achievements:
Fauci has made important scientific observations that contributed to the understanding of the regulation of the human immune response and is recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents adapt to that response. He developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis.
In a 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey, members of the American Rheumatism Association ranked Fauci's work on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and granulomatosis with polyangiitis as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.
Fauci discovered how to re-dose cancer drugs in a way that turned a 98 percent mortality rate of the disorder vasculitis into a 93 percent remission rate.
Fauci has contributed to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's natural defense system, progressing to AIDS. He has outlined the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Fauci has worked to develop strategies for the therapy and immune reconstitution of patients with the disease, as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. His current research is concentrated on identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV.
In 2003, the Institute for Scientific Information stated that from 1983 to 2002, "Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist among the 2.5 to 3.0 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world who published articles in scientific journals. As a government scientist under seven presidents, Fauci has been described as "a consistent spokesperson for science, a person who more than any other figure has brokered a generational peace" between the two worlds of science and politics.
HIV/AIDS epidemic:
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Fauci remarked, "My career and my identity has really been defined by HIV." He was one of the leading researchers during the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. In 1981, he and his team of researchers began looking for a vaccine or treatment for this novel virus, though they would meet a number of obstacles.
In October 1988, protesters came to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, who had become the institute's director in 1984, bore the brunt of the anger from the LGBTQ+ community who were largely ignored by the government.
Leading AIDS activist Larry Kramer attacked Fauci relentlessly in the media. He called him an "incompetent idiot" and a "pill-pushing" tool of the medical establishment. Fauci did not have control over drug approval though many people felt he was not doing enough.
Fauci did make an effort in the late 1980s to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community in New York and San Francisco to find ways he and the NIAID could find a solution. Though Fauci was initially admonished for his treatment of the AIDS epidemic, his work in the community was eventually acknowledged. Kramer, who had spent years hating Fauci for his treatment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, eventually called him "the only true and great hero" among government officials during the AIDS crisis.
In 2014, Sean Strub of HuffPost criticized Fauci for "delaying promotion of an AIDS treatment that would have prevented tens of thousands of deaths in the first years of the epidemic" and accused him of "rewriting history."
Political commentator Helen Andrews defended Fauci's actions during the epidemic in a 2021 article, writing:
"The idea that Fauci was "wrong" about A.I.D.S., which some of his contemporary opponents repeat, is unfair. His most notorious error was a 1983 paper suggesting "routine close contact, as within a family household," might spread the disease, but it was an understandable mistake given what was known at the time and he corrected it within a year, lightning speed by the standards of academic publishing. He behaved more responsibly than some of his peers when it came to speculating about a heterosexual A.I.D.S. epidemic around the corner. He was not one of the hysteria-mongers—though he did benefit from the hysteria when negotiating budgets with Congress."
2009 swine flu pandemic:
In a meeting with reporters on September 17, 2009, Fauci predicted that the H1N1 virus causing the 2009 swine flu pandemic could infect as many as one in three Americans, more than the amount of Americans usually infected by the seasonal flu.
Ebola congressional hearing:
See also: Ebola virus cases in the United States
On October 16, 2014, in a United States congressional hearing regarding the Ebola virus crisis, Fauci, who, as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had been discussing the importance of screening for weeks, testified that NIAID was still some distance away from producing sufficient quantities of cures or vaccines for widespread trials.
Specifically, Fauci said, "While NIAID is an active participant in the global effort to address the public health emergency occurring in west Africa, it is important to recognize that we are still in the early stages of understanding how infection with the Ebola virus can be treated and prevented."
Fauci also remarked in the hearing: "As we continue to expedite research while enforcing high safety and efficacy standards, the implementation of the public health measures already known to contain prior Ebola virus outbreaks and the implementation of treatment strategies such as fluid and electrolyte replacement is essential to preventing additional infections, treating those already infected, protecting healthcare providers, and ultimately bringing this epidemic to an end."
COVID-19 pandemic:
See also: COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
According to The Washington Post, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci was "mostly unknown outside the medical community".
Trump administration:
Fauci had not met with Trump until three years after Trump was inaugurated as president.
Fauci was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force established in late January 2020, under President Donald Trump, to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. He became a de facto public health spokesperson for the office of the president during the pandemic, and a strong advocate for ongoing social distancing efforts in the United States.
In interviews on January 21, January 26, and February 17, Fauci commented on COVID-19. He said that at the time of the interviews ("right now"), COVID-19 was not a "major threat" to the American public, with the risk to the American public being "low", but that it was "an evolving situation", and that "public health officials need to take [COVID-19] very seriously".
In the latter interview, Fauci said that COVID-19 could become a "global pandemic which would then have significant implications for" the United States.
In March 2020, he predicted that the infection fatality rate would likely be close to 1%, which was ten times more severe than the 0.1% reported rate for seasonal flu.
In a March 8, 2020, interview, Fauci stated that "right now in the United States, people [who are not infected] should not be walking around with masks", but "if you want to do it, that's fine". In the same interview, Fauci said that buying masks "could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need" them: "When you think masks, you should think of healthcare providers needing them".
When Fauci made this comment, America's top surgical mask maker was struggling to produce enough masks to meet the increased demand. On April 3, the CDC reversed course, quoting recent studies that showed asymptomatic transmission of the virus, thus advocating for the public to wear non-surgical masks to reduce community transmission while Fauci advocated for wearing facial coverings in public.
In mid-April, when asked about social distancing and stay-at-home measures, Fauci said that if the administration had "started mitigation earlier" more lives could have been saved, and "no one is going to deny that." He added that the decision-making for implementing mitigation measures was "complicated", and "there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then."
Fauci's comments were met with a hostile response from former Republican congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine. Trump retweeted Lorraine's response, which included the call to "#FireFauci", drawing public alarm. "Fire Fauci" has also been chanted by anti-lockdown protesters in various locations, including Florida and Texas. As a result, the White House denied that Trump was firing Fauci, and blamed the media for overreacting.
Due to Trump's opposition to CDC mask wearing guidelines and social distancing measures, which Fauci advocated, Fauci was criticized by right-wing pundits and received death threats that necessitated a security detail. In an interview with 60 Minutes in 2020, he mentioned that other members of his family, including his wife and daughters, had been repeatedly harassed since the pandemic began.
In June 2020, Fauci said that he was "very concerned" that the ongoing protests against police brutality would cause "surges" in COVID-19 cases, stating that the "large crowds" are a "perfect set-up" for the virus to spread. In July 2020, Fauci advised the public to "avoid crowds of any type".
On July 6, 2020, Fauci spoke on a Facebook livestream, offering his opinion that the country's situation pertaining to COVID-19 "is really not good", pointing to more than 55,000 new cases on July 4, 2020. He said the United States was "still knee-deep in the first wave" of cases, and was experiencing a "resurgence of infections".
On July 7, 2020, during a press conference, Fauci stated that it was a "false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death" for COVID-19 in the country: "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency."
Both Trump and the White House had cited the falling death rate as proof of success of the Trump administration's response. After this appearance by Fauci, the White House cancelled three media appearances that had been scheduled for him later that week. On July 7, 2020, Trump contradicted Fauci's comments describing a dire situation in the country, with Trump saying: "I think we are in a good place. I disagree with [Fauci]." While there were disagreements, Trump also at times praised Fauci.
On July 9, 2020, Trump publicly claimed that Fauci "made a lot of mistakes". By July 12, 2020, a White House official told media outlets that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things", passing to the media a list of purported mistakes made by Fauci during the outbreak.
One of the supposed mistakes highlighted was Fauci's February 29, 2020, statement in an interview that "at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis."
However, the White House list neglected to mention that in that same interview, Fauci had stated that the risk could change, "when you start to see community spread", and that the disease could morph into "a major outbreak" in the country.
As late as September 23, 2020, when U.S. coronavirus fatalities exceeded 200,000, conservatives continued to question Fauci's and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations for responding to the pandemic. In a hearing before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Kentucky's Senator Rand Paul asked him if he had "second thoughts" about his mitigation recommendations, including keeping six feet of distance from others and mask-wearing, claiming, "our death rate is essentially worse than Sweden's."
Fauci stood by the guidelines, indicating Sweden's fatality rate exceeded those of other Scandinavian countries, and said the comparison between Sweden and the U.S. was not legitimate. Fauci said the recommendations remained valid. After Paul then asserted New York's high fatality rate showed that mitigation efforts were insufficient, Fauci replied, "You've misconstrued that, Senator, and you've done that repetitively in the past."
Fauci explained further that New York State had succeeded in getting the virus under control by following the CDC's clinical guidelines. Paul had made numerous claims about herd immunity, Sweden's interventions to combat the pandemic, the contention that the populations of Asian countries have greater resilience against COVID-19, and statements about death rates due to the virus.
In October 2020, Fauci objected after his words, "I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more" were featured in an advertisement from the Trump campaign touting Trump's handling of the pandemic. Fauci said he did not consent to the ad, his words were taken out of context (he was actually referring to how hard the Coronavirus Task Force was working), and he had never made a political endorsement in his career.
Also, in October, Fauci criticized the Great Barrington Declaration's "focused protection" herd immunity strategy, calling it "ridiculous", "total nonsense" and "very dangerous", saying that it would lead to a large number of avoidable deaths.
Fauci said that 30 percent of the population had underlying health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus and that "older adults, even those who are otherwise healthy, are far more likely than young adults to become seriously ill if they get COVID-19."
He added, "This idea that we have the power to protect the vulnerable is total nonsense because history has shown that that's not the case. And if you talk to anybody who has any experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases, they will tell you that that is risky, and you'll wind up with many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to hospitalizations and deaths. So I think that we just got to look that square in the eye and say it's nonsense."
On October 18, 2020, Fauci mentioned that he "wasn't surprised" Donald Trump contracted COVID-19. The next day, during a presidential call, Trump called Fauci "a disaster" and said that "people are tired of COVID."
During a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 19, Trump launched attacks on his political rival Joe Biden, saying that Biden "wants to listen to Dr. Fauci" regarding the handling of the pandemic, upon which Biden merely replied "Yes" on Twitter.
On October 31, The Washington Post published an extensive interview with Fauci, in which he voiced a candid assessment of the administration's COVID-19 policies and was critical of the influence of presidential advisor Scott Atlas.
Shortly after midnight on November 2, 2020, Trump insinuated he would fire Fauci "after the election" while on stage at a campaign rally at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. At the rally, he made false claims that the pandemic was "rounding the turn" and was met by audience chants of "Fire Fauci!", to which he responded, "Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until after the election ... I appreciate the advice. Despite the rhetoric, Fauci was not fired.
On December 2, the United Kingdom became the first western country to license a vaccine against the coronavirus (Pfizer-BioNTech). In response, Fauci said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was proceeding "the correct way" and said the U.K. "really rushed through that approval".
The next day Fauci apologized, telling the BBC "I have a great deal of confidence in what the U.K. does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint. Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the U.K. ... I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way."
On January 3, 2021, President Trump tweeted, "The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of [the CDC's] ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries".
That same morning, Fauci responded in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, "The numbers are real. We have well over 300,000 deaths. We are averaging two- to three thousand deaths per day. All you need to do ... is go into the trenches, go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people, and real deaths."
When asked if the 2021 United States Capitol attack was a COVID-19 superspreader event, Fauci stated: "I think for those people there, they probably put themselves at an increased risk because they essentially did not adhere to the fundamentals of public health and COVID-19 context which is universal wearing of masks, keeping physical distance, avoiding crowds in congregate settings. The fact that it was outdoors is a little bit better than if they were indoors completely. But you can still have a super spreader situation when you do things in a crowded way."
On January 23, 2021, Fauci was quoted saying that letting the science speak on the pandemic got him "into a little bit of trouble" and got "push-back from people in the White House, including the president", during the Trump administration. Fauci was also reportedly blocked from appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show for some time because the Trump administration "didn't like the way [Maddow handles] things and they didn't want me on [the show]."
Biden administration:
On December 3, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden asked Fauci, in addition to remaining in his role as director of the NIAID, to serve as the chief medical advisor to the president in the Biden administration. Fauci accepted the offer.
After the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021, Fauci said he experienced a "liberating feeling" in being able to speak freely about science without interference from the new administration. He pictured Biden's administration as committed to being "completely transparent, open and honest".
In early April 2021, Fauci said of the current situation in the United States that "It's almost a race between getting people vaccinated and this surge that seems to want to increase".
In early May 2021, when asked if the CDC's summer camp guidance was excessive, Fauci responded by saying that "I wouldn't call them excessive, but they certainly are conservative" and added that the guidance "looks a bit strict" and "a bit stringent".
Also in early May, Fauci said that he is "not convinced" that COVID-19 originated naturally and that "we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened".
In mid-May 2021, Fauci said that Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks outdoors, except for in "completely crowded situations". This guidance was updated in July 2021 to recommend that all people wear masks regardless of vaccination status, in what Fauci said was due to the much more contagious Delta variant.
In May 2021, Fauci denied that the National Institutes of Health supported "gain-of-function research" at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In early June 2021, over 3,000 internal government emails sent by Fauci from January to June 2020 were obtained by media outlets through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These emails contain information about how the United States and Fauci initially responded to COVID-19.
On June 22, 2021, Fauci said that the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is the "greatest threat" to eliminating COVID-19 in the United States.
In December 2021, Fauci, along with virologist Jeffery K. Taubenberger and David M. Morens endorsed the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, advocating in favor of "an international collaborative effort to extensively sample coronaviruses from bats as well as wild and farmed animals to help understand the full "universe" of existing and emerging coronaviruses."
In February 2022, Fauci told the Financial Times that "As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus."
In March 2022, Fauci said that the United States should expect an increase in COVID-19 cases from the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, but that it might not lead to a severe increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
On April 27, 2022, Fauci said that the United States was "out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase" of COVID-19.
On May 15, 2022, Fauci said that he would resign if Donald Trump wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In a July 2022 interview with Politico, Fauci had been reported to be "leaving by the end of President Joe Biden's term", though he later clarified he may step down from his role as NIAID director.
Fauci also told Politico he is seeking to "help repair the widespread partisan polarization that has divided the nation and politicized science". On August 22, 2022, Fauci announced that he will step down from his position in December "to pursue the next chapter" of his carrer.
Cultural impact:
Owing to his prominent role in the United States response to numerous global pandemics, most notably HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, Fauci has become the subject of tributes and interpretations across various media, including television, literature, merchandising, and internet memes. Brad Pitt's performance as Fauci during the 2020 season of Saturday Night Live earned the actor an Emmy nomination, and praise from Fauci.
Author Sally Quinn has credited Fauci as the inspiration for the love interest to the protagonist in her bestselling 1991 romance novel Happy Endings. Larry Kramer based the character Dr. Anthony Della Vida on Fauci in his play The Destiny of Me.
In the spring of 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, bakeries across the United States began selling pastries, particularly donuts, with Fauci's face on them to pay tribute to his work in the public health sector.
In September 2021, Fauci, a documentary film about Fauci's life and career, was released by Magnolia Pictures. The film was produced by National Geographic Documentary Films.
In 2021, anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released the book The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. In response, Fauci described the author as "a very disturbed individual".
Personal life:
Fauci has lived in the same house since 1977. In 1985, Fauci married Christine Grady, a nurse and bioethicist with the NIH, after they met while treating a patient. Grady is chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Together they have three adult daughters.
On June 15, 2022, Fauci tested positive for COVID-19, experiencing mild symptoms. He is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots.
Fauci makes $480,654 annually working for the NIAID, making him the highest paid U.S. government employee.
Fauci says he is an independent nonpartisan and his voter registration shows that he is not affiliated with any political party, although he still votes. Prior to 2020, he had positive relationships with both Democrats and Republicans and considered George W. Bush a close friend: "Obviously there's been appropriate controversy regarding decisions regarding Iraq", "but his moral compass about health equity is very strong.", saying that Bush did "by far" the most to combat HIV/AIDS through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that distributed lifesaving drugs in Africa.
According to Fauci, "[Bush's] exact words to me were, 'We have a moral responsibility as a rich nation to not have people suffer and die merely because of where they live and the circumstances in which they were born'". Former CDC director and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, Tom Frieden, said that "I have no idea what his politics are. Reagan and both Bushes liked him. Clinton and Obama liked him".
Memberships:
Fauci is a member of the following:
He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals, as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, and as an author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks.
On March 23, 2021, Fauci was admitted as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Awards and honors:
In addition to receiving an honorary degree in 2015, Fauci was invited to deliver guest remarks on May 21, 2020, for the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2020.
Other notable guest speakers during the virtual ceremony included Reddit co-founder and commencement speaker Alexis Ohanian; and philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The College of the Holy Cross renamed its science complex the Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex on June 11, 2022.
Click here for Selected Works and Publications.
See also:
As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci has served the American public health sector in various capacities for more than fifty years and has acted as an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. He has been director of the NIAID since 1984 and has made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases, both as a research scientist and as the head of the NIAID.
From 1983 to 2002, Fauci was one of the world's most frequently cited scientists across all scientific journals. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on the AIDS relief program PEPFAR.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he served under President Donald Trump as one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Fauci's advice was frequently contradicted by Trump, and Trump's supporters alleged that Fauci was trying to politically undermine Trump's run for reelection.
After Joe Biden took office, Fauci began serving as one of the lead members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team and as Biden's chief medical advisor.
On August 22, 2022, Dr. Fauci announced he will be stepping down from government service in December
Early life and education:
Anthony Fauci was born on December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Eugenia Lillian (née Abys; 1909–1965) and Stephen A. Fauci (1910–2008). His father was a Columbia University-educated pharmacist who owned his pharmacy. Fauci's mother and sister worked the pharmacy's register, and Fauci delivered prescriptions.
Fauci's mother also worked at a dry cleaner. The pharmacy was located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, directly beneath the family apartment, previously in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. When he was a child, Fauci developed a fascination with World War II.
Fauci's grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy in the late 19th century. His paternal grandparents, Antonino Fauci and Calogera Guardino, were from Sciacca, and his maternal grandparents were from Naples. His maternal grandmother Raffaella Trematerra was a seamstress, and his maternal grandfather Giovanni Abys was a Swiss-born artist noted for his landscape and portrait painting, magazine illustrations in Italy, as well as graphic design for commercial labels, including olive oil cans.
Fauci grew up Catholic, but now considers himself a humanist, stating that he thinks "that there are a lot of things about organized religion that are unfortunate, and [that he tends] to like to stay away from it." In 2021, he was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association.
Fauci attended Regis High School, a private Jesuit school in Manhattan's Upper East Side, where he captained the school's basketball team despite standing only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) tall.
Fauci decided halfway through high school to become a physician. After graduating in 1958, Fauci attended the College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics with a pre-med track.
Fauci then attended Cornell University's Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medicine), graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1966 ranked first in his class. At Cornell, he focused on adult internal medicine, mainly infectious diseases and the immune system.
Fauci then did an internship and residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (now Weill Cornell Medical Center).
Career:
Fauci discusses his work in 2020:
After completing his medical residency in 1968, Fauci joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a clinical associate in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases's (NIAID) Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (LCI).
He became head of the LCI's Clinical Physiology Section in 1974, and in 1980 was appointed chief of the NIAID's Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He became director of the NIAID in 1984, a position he still holds. Fauci has been offered the position of director of the NIH on several occasions, but has declined each time.
Fauci has been at the forefront of U.S. efforts to contend with viral diseases like HIV/AIDS, SARS, the Swine flu, MERS, Ebola, and COVID-19. He played a significant role in the early 2000s in creating the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and in driving development of biodefense drugs and vaccines following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Fauci has been a visiting professor at many medical centers and has received numerous honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Medical achievements:
Fauci has made important scientific observations that contributed to the understanding of the regulation of the human immune response and is recognized for delineating the mechanisms whereby immunosuppressive agents adapt to that response. He developed therapies for formerly fatal diseases such as polyarteritis nodosa, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and lymphomatoid granulomatosis.
In a 1985 Stanford University Arthritis Center Survey, members of the American Rheumatism Association ranked Fauci's work on the treatment of polyarteritis nodosa and granulomatosis with polyangiitis as one of the most important advances in patient management in rheumatology over the previous 20 years.
Fauci discovered how to re-dose cancer drugs in a way that turned a 98 percent mortality rate of the disorder vasculitis into a 93 percent remission rate.
Fauci has contributed to the understanding of how HIV destroys the body's natural defense system, progressing to AIDS. He has outlined the mechanisms of induction of HIV expression by endogenous cytokines. Fauci has worked to develop strategies for the therapy and immune reconstitution of patients with the disease, as well as for a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. His current research is concentrated on identifying the nature of the immunopathogenic mechanisms of HIV infection and the scope of the body's immune responses to HIV.
In 2003, the Institute for Scientific Information stated that from 1983 to 2002, "Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientist among the 2.5 to 3.0 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world who published articles in scientific journals. As a government scientist under seven presidents, Fauci has been described as "a consistent spokesperson for science, a person who more than any other figure has brokered a generational peace" between the two worlds of science and politics.
HIV/AIDS epidemic:
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian, Fauci remarked, "My career and my identity has really been defined by HIV." He was one of the leading researchers during the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s. In 1981, he and his team of researchers began looking for a vaccine or treatment for this novel virus, though they would meet a number of obstacles.
In October 1988, protesters came to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, who had become the institute's director in 1984, bore the brunt of the anger from the LGBTQ+ community who were largely ignored by the government.
Leading AIDS activist Larry Kramer attacked Fauci relentlessly in the media. He called him an "incompetent idiot" and a "pill-pushing" tool of the medical establishment. Fauci did not have control over drug approval though many people felt he was not doing enough.
Fauci did make an effort in the late 1980s to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community in New York and San Francisco to find ways he and the NIAID could find a solution. Though Fauci was initially admonished for his treatment of the AIDS epidemic, his work in the community was eventually acknowledged. Kramer, who had spent years hating Fauci for his treatment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, eventually called him "the only true and great hero" among government officials during the AIDS crisis.
In 2014, Sean Strub of HuffPost criticized Fauci for "delaying promotion of an AIDS treatment that would have prevented tens of thousands of deaths in the first years of the epidemic" and accused him of "rewriting history."
Political commentator Helen Andrews defended Fauci's actions during the epidemic in a 2021 article, writing:
"The idea that Fauci was "wrong" about A.I.D.S., which some of his contemporary opponents repeat, is unfair. His most notorious error was a 1983 paper suggesting "routine close contact, as within a family household," might spread the disease, but it was an understandable mistake given what was known at the time and he corrected it within a year, lightning speed by the standards of academic publishing. He behaved more responsibly than some of his peers when it came to speculating about a heterosexual A.I.D.S. epidemic around the corner. He was not one of the hysteria-mongers—though he did benefit from the hysteria when negotiating budgets with Congress."
2009 swine flu pandemic:
In a meeting with reporters on September 17, 2009, Fauci predicted that the H1N1 virus causing the 2009 swine flu pandemic could infect as many as one in three Americans, more than the amount of Americans usually infected by the seasonal flu.
Ebola congressional hearing:
See also: Ebola virus cases in the United States
On October 16, 2014, in a United States congressional hearing regarding the Ebola virus crisis, Fauci, who, as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) had been discussing the importance of screening for weeks, testified that NIAID was still some distance away from producing sufficient quantities of cures or vaccines for widespread trials.
Specifically, Fauci said, "While NIAID is an active participant in the global effort to address the public health emergency occurring in west Africa, it is important to recognize that we are still in the early stages of understanding how infection with the Ebola virus can be treated and prevented."
Fauci also remarked in the hearing: "As we continue to expedite research while enforcing high safety and efficacy standards, the implementation of the public health measures already known to contain prior Ebola virus outbreaks and the implementation of treatment strategies such as fluid and electrolyte replacement is essential to preventing additional infections, treating those already infected, protecting healthcare providers, and ultimately bringing this epidemic to an end."
COVID-19 pandemic:
See also: COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
According to The Washington Post, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci was "mostly unknown outside the medical community".
Trump administration:
Fauci had not met with Trump until three years after Trump was inaugurated as president.
Fauci was a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force established in late January 2020, under President Donald Trump, to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. He became a de facto public health spokesperson for the office of the president during the pandemic, and a strong advocate for ongoing social distancing efforts in the United States.
In interviews on January 21, January 26, and February 17, Fauci commented on COVID-19. He said that at the time of the interviews ("right now"), COVID-19 was not a "major threat" to the American public, with the risk to the American public being "low", but that it was "an evolving situation", and that "public health officials need to take [COVID-19] very seriously".
In the latter interview, Fauci said that COVID-19 could become a "global pandemic which would then have significant implications for" the United States.
In March 2020, he predicted that the infection fatality rate would likely be close to 1%, which was ten times more severe than the 0.1% reported rate for seasonal flu.
In a March 8, 2020, interview, Fauci stated that "right now in the United States, people [who are not infected] should not be walking around with masks", but "if you want to do it, that's fine". In the same interview, Fauci said that buying masks "could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need" them: "When you think masks, you should think of healthcare providers needing them".
When Fauci made this comment, America's top surgical mask maker was struggling to produce enough masks to meet the increased demand. On April 3, the CDC reversed course, quoting recent studies that showed asymptomatic transmission of the virus, thus advocating for the public to wear non-surgical masks to reduce community transmission while Fauci advocated for wearing facial coverings in public.
In mid-April, when asked about social distancing and stay-at-home measures, Fauci said that if the administration had "started mitigation earlier" more lives could have been saved, and "no one is going to deny that." He added that the decision-making for implementing mitigation measures was "complicated", and "there was a lot of pushback about shutting things down back then."
Fauci's comments were met with a hostile response from former Republican congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine. Trump retweeted Lorraine's response, which included the call to "#FireFauci", drawing public alarm. "Fire Fauci" has also been chanted by anti-lockdown protesters in various locations, including Florida and Texas. As a result, the White House denied that Trump was firing Fauci, and blamed the media for overreacting.
Due to Trump's opposition to CDC mask wearing guidelines and social distancing measures, which Fauci advocated, Fauci was criticized by right-wing pundits and received death threats that necessitated a security detail. In an interview with 60 Minutes in 2020, he mentioned that other members of his family, including his wife and daughters, had been repeatedly harassed since the pandemic began.
In June 2020, Fauci said that he was "very concerned" that the ongoing protests against police brutality would cause "surges" in COVID-19 cases, stating that the "large crowds" are a "perfect set-up" for the virus to spread. In July 2020, Fauci advised the public to "avoid crowds of any type".
On July 6, 2020, Fauci spoke on a Facebook livestream, offering his opinion that the country's situation pertaining to COVID-19 "is really not good", pointing to more than 55,000 new cases on July 4, 2020. He said the United States was "still knee-deep in the first wave" of cases, and was experiencing a "resurgence of infections".
On July 7, 2020, during a press conference, Fauci stated that it was a "false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death" for COVID-19 in the country: "There's so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus, don't get yourself into false complacency."
Both Trump and the White House had cited the falling death rate as proof of success of the Trump administration's response. After this appearance by Fauci, the White House cancelled three media appearances that had been scheduled for him later that week. On July 7, 2020, Trump contradicted Fauci's comments describing a dire situation in the country, with Trump saying: "I think we are in a good place. I disagree with [Fauci]." While there were disagreements, Trump also at times praised Fauci.
On July 9, 2020, Trump publicly claimed that Fauci "made a lot of mistakes". By July 12, 2020, a White House official told media outlets that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things", passing to the media a list of purported mistakes made by Fauci during the outbreak.
One of the supposed mistakes highlighted was Fauci's February 29, 2020, statement in an interview that "at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis."
However, the White House list neglected to mention that in that same interview, Fauci had stated that the risk could change, "when you start to see community spread", and that the disease could morph into "a major outbreak" in the country.
As late as September 23, 2020, when U.S. coronavirus fatalities exceeded 200,000, conservatives continued to question Fauci's and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendations for responding to the pandemic. In a hearing before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Kentucky's Senator Rand Paul asked him if he had "second thoughts" about his mitigation recommendations, including keeping six feet of distance from others and mask-wearing, claiming, "our death rate is essentially worse than Sweden's."
Fauci stood by the guidelines, indicating Sweden's fatality rate exceeded those of other Scandinavian countries, and said the comparison between Sweden and the U.S. was not legitimate. Fauci said the recommendations remained valid. After Paul then asserted New York's high fatality rate showed that mitigation efforts were insufficient, Fauci replied, "You've misconstrued that, Senator, and you've done that repetitively in the past."
Fauci explained further that New York State had succeeded in getting the virus under control by following the CDC's clinical guidelines. Paul had made numerous claims about herd immunity, Sweden's interventions to combat the pandemic, the contention that the populations of Asian countries have greater resilience against COVID-19, and statements about death rates due to the virus.
In October 2020, Fauci objected after his words, "I can't imagine that anybody could be doing more" were featured in an advertisement from the Trump campaign touting Trump's handling of the pandemic. Fauci said he did not consent to the ad, his words were taken out of context (he was actually referring to how hard the Coronavirus Task Force was working), and he had never made a political endorsement in his career.
Also, in October, Fauci criticized the Great Barrington Declaration's "focused protection" herd immunity strategy, calling it "ridiculous", "total nonsense" and "very dangerous", saying that it would lead to a large number of avoidable deaths.
Fauci said that 30 percent of the population had underlying health conditions that made them vulnerable to the virus and that "older adults, even those who are otherwise healthy, are far more likely than young adults to become seriously ill if they get COVID-19."
He added, "This idea that we have the power to protect the vulnerable is total nonsense because history has shown that that's not the case. And if you talk to anybody who has any experience in epidemiology and infectious diseases, they will tell you that that is risky, and you'll wind up with many more infections of vulnerable people, which will lead to hospitalizations and deaths. So I think that we just got to look that square in the eye and say it's nonsense."
On October 18, 2020, Fauci mentioned that he "wasn't surprised" Donald Trump contracted COVID-19. The next day, during a presidential call, Trump called Fauci "a disaster" and said that "people are tired of COVID."
During a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on October 19, Trump launched attacks on his political rival Joe Biden, saying that Biden "wants to listen to Dr. Fauci" regarding the handling of the pandemic, upon which Biden merely replied "Yes" on Twitter.
On October 31, The Washington Post published an extensive interview with Fauci, in which he voiced a candid assessment of the administration's COVID-19 policies and was critical of the influence of presidential advisor Scott Atlas.
Shortly after midnight on November 2, 2020, Trump insinuated he would fire Fauci "after the election" while on stage at a campaign rally at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport in Opa-locka, Florida. At the rally, he made false claims that the pandemic was "rounding the turn" and was met by audience chants of "Fire Fauci!", to which he responded, "Don't tell anybody, but let me wait until after the election ... I appreciate the advice. Despite the rhetoric, Fauci was not fired.
On December 2, the United Kingdom became the first western country to license a vaccine against the coronavirus (Pfizer-BioNTech). In response, Fauci said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was proceeding "the correct way" and said the U.K. "really rushed through that approval".
The next day Fauci apologized, telling the BBC "I have a great deal of confidence in what the U.K. does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint. Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the U.K. ... I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way."
On January 3, 2021, President Trump tweeted, "The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of [the CDC's] ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries".
That same morning, Fauci responded in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press, "The numbers are real. We have well over 300,000 deaths. We are averaging two- to three thousand deaths per day. All you need to do ... is go into the trenches, go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people, and real deaths."
When asked if the 2021 United States Capitol attack was a COVID-19 superspreader event, Fauci stated: "I think for those people there, they probably put themselves at an increased risk because they essentially did not adhere to the fundamentals of public health and COVID-19 context which is universal wearing of masks, keeping physical distance, avoiding crowds in congregate settings. The fact that it was outdoors is a little bit better than if they were indoors completely. But you can still have a super spreader situation when you do things in a crowded way."
On January 23, 2021, Fauci was quoted saying that letting the science speak on the pandemic got him "into a little bit of trouble" and got "push-back from people in the White House, including the president", during the Trump administration. Fauci was also reportedly blocked from appearing on The Rachel Maddow Show for some time because the Trump administration "didn't like the way [Maddow handles] things and they didn't want me on [the show]."
Biden administration:
On December 3, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden asked Fauci, in addition to remaining in his role as director of the NIAID, to serve as the chief medical advisor to the president in the Biden administration. Fauci accepted the offer.
After the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021, Fauci said he experienced a "liberating feeling" in being able to speak freely about science without interference from the new administration. He pictured Biden's administration as committed to being "completely transparent, open and honest".
In early April 2021, Fauci said of the current situation in the United States that "It's almost a race between getting people vaccinated and this surge that seems to want to increase".
In early May 2021, when asked if the CDC's summer camp guidance was excessive, Fauci responded by saying that "I wouldn't call them excessive, but they certainly are conservative" and added that the guidance "looks a bit strict" and "a bit stringent".
Also in early May, Fauci said that he is "not convinced" that COVID-19 originated naturally and that "we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened".
In mid-May 2021, Fauci said that Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks outdoors, except for in "completely crowded situations". This guidance was updated in July 2021 to recommend that all people wear masks regardless of vaccination status, in what Fauci said was due to the much more contagious Delta variant.
In May 2021, Fauci denied that the National Institutes of Health supported "gain-of-function research" at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In early June 2021, over 3,000 internal government emails sent by Fauci from January to June 2020 were obtained by media outlets through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These emails contain information about how the United States and Fauci initially responded to COVID-19.
On June 22, 2021, Fauci said that the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant is the "greatest threat" to eliminating COVID-19 in the United States.
In December 2021, Fauci, along with virologist Jeffery K. Taubenberger and David M. Morens endorsed the development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, advocating in favor of "an international collaborative effort to extensively sample coronaviruses from bats as well as wild and farmed animals to help understand the full "universe" of existing and emerging coronaviruses."
In February 2022, Fauci told the Financial Times that "As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of Covid-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus."
In March 2022, Fauci said that the United States should expect an increase in COVID-19 cases from the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, but that it might not lead to a severe increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
On April 27, 2022, Fauci said that the United States was "out of the full-blown explosive pandemic phase" of COVID-19.
On May 15, 2022, Fauci said that he would resign if Donald Trump wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election. In a July 2022 interview with Politico, Fauci had been reported to be "leaving by the end of President Joe Biden's term", though he later clarified he may step down from his role as NIAID director.
Fauci also told Politico he is seeking to "help repair the widespread partisan polarization that has divided the nation and politicized science". On August 22, 2022, Fauci announced that he will step down from his position in December "to pursue the next chapter" of his carrer.
Cultural impact:
Owing to his prominent role in the United States response to numerous global pandemics, most notably HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, Fauci has become the subject of tributes and interpretations across various media, including television, literature, merchandising, and internet memes. Brad Pitt's performance as Fauci during the 2020 season of Saturday Night Live earned the actor an Emmy nomination, and praise from Fauci.
Author Sally Quinn has credited Fauci as the inspiration for the love interest to the protagonist in her bestselling 1991 romance novel Happy Endings. Larry Kramer based the character Dr. Anthony Della Vida on Fauci in his play The Destiny of Me.
In the spring of 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, bakeries across the United States began selling pastries, particularly donuts, with Fauci's face on them to pay tribute to his work in the public health sector.
In September 2021, Fauci, a documentary film about Fauci's life and career, was released by Magnolia Pictures. The film was produced by National Geographic Documentary Films.
In 2021, anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released the book The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. In response, Fauci described the author as "a very disturbed individual".
Personal life:
Fauci has lived in the same house since 1977. In 1985, Fauci married Christine Grady, a nurse and bioethicist with the NIH, after they met while treating a patient. Grady is chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Together they have three adult daughters.
On June 15, 2022, Fauci tested positive for COVID-19, experiencing mild symptoms. He is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots.
Fauci makes $480,654 annually working for the NIAID, making him the highest paid U.S. government employee.
Fauci says he is an independent nonpartisan and his voter registration shows that he is not affiliated with any political party, although he still votes. Prior to 2020, he had positive relationships with both Democrats and Republicans and considered George W. Bush a close friend: "Obviously there's been appropriate controversy regarding decisions regarding Iraq", "but his moral compass about health equity is very strong.", saying that Bush did "by far" the most to combat HIV/AIDS through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) that distributed lifesaving drugs in Africa.
According to Fauci, "[Bush's] exact words to me were, 'We have a moral responsibility as a rich nation to not have people suffer and die merely because of where they live and the circumstances in which they were born'". Former CDC director and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, Tom Frieden, said that "I have no idea what his politics are. Reagan and both Bushes liked him. Clinton and Obama liked him".
Memberships:
Fauci is a member of the following:
- National Academy of Sciences,
- the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
- the National Academy of Medicine,
- the American Philosophical Society,
- and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters,
- as well as other numerous professional societies including:
He serves on the editorial boards of many scientific journals, as an editor of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, and as an author, coauthor, or editor of more than 1,000 scientific publications, including several textbooks.
On March 23, 2021, Fauci was admitted as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.
Awards and honors:
- 1979: Arthur S. Flemming Award
- 1993: Honorary Doctor of Science, Bates College
- 1995: Ernst Jung Prize (shared with Samuel A. Wells, Jr.)
- 1995: Honorary Doctor of Science, Duke University
- 1996: Honorary Doctor of Science, Colgate University
- 1999: Honorary Doctor of Public Service, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
- 2002: Albany Medical Center Prize
- 2003: Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement
- 2005: National Medal of Science, President of the United States
- 2005: American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2007: Mary Woodard Lasker Public Service Award, Lasker Foundation
- 2007: George M. Kober Medal, Association of American Physicians
- 2008: Presidential Medal of Freedom
- 2013: UCSF Medal, University of California, San Francisco
- 2013: Robert Koch Gold Medal, Robert Koch Foundation, Germany
- 2013: Prince Mahidol Award, Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, Thailand
- 2015: Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Johns Hopkins University
- 2015: Honorary Doctor of Public Service, The George Washington University
- 2016: John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award
- 2018: Honorary Doctor of Science, commencement speaker, American University
- 2018: Honorary Doctor of Science, Boston University
- 2019: Bertrand Russell Society Award
- 2020: Federal Employee of the Year, Partnership for Public Service
- 2020: Presidential Citation for Exemplary Leadership, National Academy of Medicine
- 2020: Ripple of Hope Award, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
- 2020: Time's Guardian of the Year, along with the frontline health workers, Assa Traoré, Porche Bennett-Bey, and racial justice organizers.
- 2020: Harris Dean's Award, The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy
- 2020: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
- 2020: John Maddox Prize, Sense about Science
- 2021: Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2021: Dan David Prize, Dan David Foundation, Israel
- 2021: President's Medal, The George Washington University
- 2021: Honorary Doctor of Science, McGill University
- 2022: Honorary Doctor of Science, Sapienza University of Rome
- 2022: Honorary Doctor of Science, commencement speaker, University of Michigan
- 2022: Hutch Award winner, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
In addition to receiving an honorary degree in 2015, Fauci was invited to deliver guest remarks on May 21, 2020, for the Johns Hopkins University Class of 2020.
Other notable guest speakers during the virtual ceremony included Reddit co-founder and commencement speaker Alexis Ohanian; and philanthropist and former New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The College of the Holy Cross renamed its science complex the Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex on June 11, 2022.
Click here for Selected Works and Publications.
See also:
- Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
- Anthony S. Fauci at PubMed
- Anthony Fauci publications indexed by Google Scholar
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Anthony Fauci at IMDb
Nancy Pelosi (D,CA) (House Speaker: 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023)
- YouTube Video: Watch Nancy Pelosi Rip Up Copy Of President Donald Trump’s State Of The Union Speech
- YouTube VIdeo: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds her final weekly press conference
- YouTube Video: Newly released video shows brutal attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (D'Alesandro; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023.
Until Kamala Harris became vice president in 2021, Pelosi was also the highest-ranking woman in the presidential line of succession in U.S. history, as the speaker of the House is second in the line of succession.
She has represented California's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 1987. The district, numbered as the 5th district from 1987 to 1993, the 8th from 1993 to 2013, and the 12th from 2013 to 2023, includes most of the city of San Francisco.
Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore, the daughter of mayor and congressman Thomas D'Alesandro. She graduated from Trinity College, Washington, in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the next year; the two had met while both were students. They moved to New York City before settling down in San Francisco with their children.
Focused on raising her family, Pelosi stepped into politics as a volunteer for the Democratic Party. She was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election and is now in her 19th term; she is the dean of California's congressional delegation. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2001 and elevated to House minority leader a year later, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.
In the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi led the Democrats to a majority in the House for the first time in 12 years and was subsequently elected Speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
During her first speakership, Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration's attempts to partially privatize Social Security. She participated in the passage of the Obama administration's landmark bills, including:
Pelosi lost the speakership after the Republican Party retook the majority in the 2010 midterm elections, but she retained her role as leader of the House Democrats and became House minority leader for a second time.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats regained majority control of the House, and Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former speaker to reclaim the gavel since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
During her second speakership, the House twice impeached President Donald Trump, first in December 2019 and again in January 2021; the Senate acquitted Trump both times.
She participated in the passage of the Biden administration's landmark bills, including:
In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans narrowly regained control of the House for the new Congress, ending her tenure as speaker. On November 29, 2022, the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Caucus named Pelosi "Speaker Emerita".
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Nancy Pelosi:
Until Kamala Harris became vice president in 2021, Pelosi was also the highest-ranking woman in the presidential line of succession in U.S. history, as the speaker of the House is second in the line of succession.
She has represented California's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 1987. The district, numbered as the 5th district from 1987 to 1993, the 8th from 1993 to 2013, and the 12th from 2013 to 2023, includes most of the city of San Francisco.
Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore, the daughter of mayor and congressman Thomas D'Alesandro. She graduated from Trinity College, Washington, in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the next year; the two had met while both were students. They moved to New York City before settling down in San Francisco with their children.
Focused on raising her family, Pelosi stepped into politics as a volunteer for the Democratic Party. She was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election and is now in her 19th term; she is the dean of California's congressional delegation. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2001 and elevated to House minority leader a year later, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.
In the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi led the Democrats to a majority in the House for the first time in 12 years and was subsequently elected Speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the office.
During her first speakership, Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration's attempts to partially privatize Social Security. She participated in the passage of the Obama administration's landmark bills, including:
- the Affordable Care Act,
- the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,
- the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act,
- the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
- and the 2010 Tax Relief Act.
Pelosi lost the speakership after the Republican Party retook the majority in the 2010 midterm elections, but she retained her role as leader of the House Democrats and became House minority leader for a second time.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats regained majority control of the House, and Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former speaker to reclaim the gavel since Sam Rayburn in 1955.
During her second speakership, the House twice impeached President Donald Trump, first in December 2019 and again in January 2021; the Senate acquitted Trump both times.
She participated in the passage of the Biden administration's landmark bills, including:
- the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,
- the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,
- the CHIPS and Science Act,
- the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,
- and the Respect for Marriage Act.
In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans narrowly regained control of the House for the new Congress, ending her tenure as speaker. On November 29, 2022, the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Caucus named Pelosi "Speaker Emerita".
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Nancy Pelosi:
- Early life and education
- Early career
- U.S. House of Representatives
- Political positions
- Electoral history
- Personal life
- Honors and decorations
- See also:
- Electoral history of Nancy Pelosi
- Know Your Power
- List of female speakers of legislatures in the United States
- Women in the United States House of Representatives
- Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi official U.S. House website
- Nancy Pelosi for Congress campaign website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Nancy Pelosi at Curlie
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Nancy Pelosi Archived June 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
- Articles:
- "Trinity Graduates Win Re-election: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi '62 Poised to Become Speaker, November 8, 2006
- "Rolling With Pelosi", Newsweek, October 23, 2006
- "Pelosi mines 'California gold' for Dems nationwide: Personal skills, wide network of wealthy donors help party's House leader gather millions", San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2006
- "Pelosi rides high", The Economist, February 22, 2007
- "This Is What a Speaker Looks Like", Winter 2007 cover story, Ms.
- "Opinion | How Nancy Pelosi's unlikely rise turned her into the most powerful woman in U.S. history: A troublemaker with a gavel", by Karen Tumulty, The Washington Post, March 25, 2020
Awards and Decorations of the United States Armed Forces
featuring the Medal of Honor
* -- Desmond Doss, the only conscientious objector who won the Medal of Honor in World War II.
Pictured: President Obama awarded Kyle J. White, a former active-duty Army Sergeant, the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House. Sgt. White received the medal for his courageous actions during combat operations against an armed enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007.
featuring the Medal of Honor
- YouTube Video from the Movie "Hacksaw Ridge" (2016) honoring Desmond Doss*
- YouTube Legacy Video of Medal of Honor Recipient Mary Walker
- YouTube Video: Meet the newest Medal of Honor Recipient
* -- Desmond Doss, the only conscientious objector who won the Medal of Honor in World War II.
Pictured: President Obama awarded Kyle J. White, a former active-duty Army Sergeant, the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House. Sgt. White received the medal for his courageous actions during combat operations against an armed enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007.
The awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces include various medals, service ribbons, ribbon devices, and specific badges which recognize military service and personal accomplishments of members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Such awards are a means to outwardly display the highlights of a service member's career.
U.S. military awards currently issued to service members:
General order of precedence:
The precedence of particular awards will vary slightly among the different branches of service. All awards and decorations may be awarded to any service member unless otherwise designated by name or notation.
Military departments:
To denote additional achievements or multiple awards of the same decoration, the United States military maintains a number of award devices which are pinned to service ribbons and medals.
___________________________________________________________________________
The Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians, and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States (the commander in chief of the armed forces) and is presented "in the name of the United States Congress."
It is sometimes referred to as the "Congressional Medal of Honor".
The secretary of the Army, on behalf of the Department of Defense, has testified to Congress that the term "Congressional Medal of Honor" is "incorrect" as a matter of statute, and that "it seems inappropriate to modify the name of the medal with the word 'Congressional' as each award is made in the name of the Congress," through a mandated process in the military chain of command, not 'by' Congress, and there is no other Medal of Honor, so no need for the modifier.
There are three distinct variants of the medal: one for the Army, awarded to soldiers; one for the Naval Service, awarded to sailors, marines, and coast guardsmen; and one for the Air and Space Forces, awarded to airmen and guardians.
The Medal of Honor was introduced for the Naval Service in 1861, soon followed by the Army's version in 1862. The Air Force used the Army's version until they received their own distinctive version in 1965.
The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The President typically presents the Medal of Honor at a formal ceremony intended to represent the gratitude of the American people, with posthumous presentations made to the primary next of kin.
According to the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, there have been 3,535 Medals of Honor awarded since the decoration's creation, with over 40% awarded for actions during the American Civil War. Notably, however, 911 Army medals were revoked after Congress authorized a review in 1917, and a number of Navy medals were also revoked prior to the turn of the century—none of these are included in this total except for those that were subsequently restored. In 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as "National Medal of Honor Day".
History:
In 1861, early in the American Civil War, a proposal for a battlefield decoration for valor was submitted to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, the Commanding General of the United States Army, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward D. Townsend, an assistant adjutant at the Department of War and Scott's chief of staff.
Scott, however, was strongly against the American republic's awarding medals for valor, a European monarchical tradition. After Scott retired in October 1861, however, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service.
On December 9, 1861, Iowa Senator James W. Grimes, Chairman on the Committee on Naval Affairs, introduced bill S. 82. The bill included a provision authorizing 200 "medals of honor," "to be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seaman-like qualities during the present war...."
On December 21, the bill was passed and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Secretary Welles directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration.
On May 15, 1862, the United States Department of the Navy ordered 175 medals ($1.85 each) from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia with "Personal Valor" inscribed on the back of each one.
On February 15, 1862, Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, introduced a resolution for a Medal of Honor for the Army.
The resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12, 1862. This measure provided for awarding a medal of honor "to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection."
By mid-November the Department of War contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, who had been responsible for the Navy's design, to prepare 2,000 medals for the Army ($2.00 each) to be struck at the mint. The Army's version had "The Congress to" written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which "gave them a reddish tint."
On March 3, 1863, Congress made the Army Medal of Honor a permanent decoration by passing legislation permitting the award to such soldiers "as have most distinguished or who may hereafter most distinguish themselves in action." The same legislation also authorized the medal for officers of the Army. On March 25, the Secretary of War presented the first Medals of Honor to six U.S. Army volunteers in his office.
In 1896, the ribbon of the Army's version of the Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical. Again, in 1904 the planchet of the Army's version of the Medal of Honor was redesigned by General George Lewis Gillespie. The purpose of the redesign was to help distinguish the Medal of Honor from other medals, particularly the membership insignia issued by the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1917, based on the report of the Medal of Honor Review Board, established by Congress in 1916, 911 recipients were stricken from the Army's Medal of Honor list because the medal had been awarded inappropriately. Among them were William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody and Mary Edwards Walker.
In 1977, the Army's board for correction of military records unilaterally restored Walker's medal at the request of a relative. The board had no authority to overturn a statute, and the restoration violated not only the period law during the Civil War, but also the law requiring revocation in 1916, and modern law in 1977.
As a reaction to Walker's restoration, a relative of Cody's requested the same action from the Army's board for correction, and it reinstated the medals for Cody and four other civilian scouts on June 12, 1989.
Subsequent litigation over the Garlin Conner award, which was recommended by the Army's board for correction of military records in 2015, established that the correction boards lack the authority to unilaterally award medals of honor.
In Conner's case, the board merely recommended the medal, which was then referred to the Senior Army Decorations Board, and ultimately to the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense, and the President, who requested a waiver be passed by Congress.
A separate Coast Guard Medal of Honor was authorized in 1963 but was not designed or awarded. A separate design for a version of the medal for the Department of the Air Force was authorized in 1956, designed on April 14, 1965, and first awarded in January 1967. Previously, airmen of the U.S. Air Force received the Army's version of the medal.
Appearance:
There are three versions of the Medal of Honor, one for each of the military departments of the Department of Defense (DoD): the Department of the Army, Department of the Navy (Naval Service), and Department of the Air Force (Air and Space Forces). Members of the Coast Guard, part of the Department of Homeland Security, are eligible to receive the Naval version. Each medal is constructed differently, and the components are made from gilding metals and red brass alloys with some gold plating, enamel, and bronze pieces.
The United States Congress considered a bill in 2004 which would require the Medal of Honor to be made with 90% gold, the same composition as the lesser-known Congressional Gold Medal, but the measure was dropped.
Army variant:
The Army's version is described by the Institute of Heraldry as "a gold five-pointed star, each point tipped with trefoils, 1+1⁄2 inches [3.8 cm] wide, surrounded by a green laurel wreath and suspended from a gold bar inscribed VALOR, surmounted by an eagle. In the center of the star, Minerva's head surrounded by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
On each ray of the star is a green oak leaf. On the reverse is a bar engraved THE CONGRESS TO with a space for engraving the name of the recipient." The pendant and suspension bar are made of gilding metal, with the eye, jump rings, and suspension ring made of red brass. The finish on the pendant and suspension bar is hard enameled, gold plated, and rose gold plated, with polished highlights.
Naval variant:
The Naval version is described as "a five-pointed bronze star, tipped with trefoils containing a crown of laurel and oak. In the center is Minerva, personifying the United States, standing with her left hand resting on fasces and her right hand holding a shield emblazoned with the shield from the coat of arms of the United States. She repulses Discord, represented by snakes (originally, she was repulsing the snakes of secession). The medal is suspended from the flukes of an anchor. It is made of solid red brass, oxidized and buffed.
Air and Space Forces variant:
The Air and Space Forces version is described as "within a wreath of green laurel, a gold five-pointed star, one point down, tipped with trefoils and each point containing a crown of laurel and oak on a green background. Centered on the star, an annulet of 34 stars is a representation of the head of the Statue of Liberty.
The star is suspended from a bar inscribed with the word VALOR above an adaptation of Jupiter's thunderbolt from the Department of the Air Force's seal. The pendant is made of gilding metal. The connecting bar, hinge, and pin are made of bronze. The finish on the pendant and suspension bar is hard enameled, gold plated, and rose gold plated, with buffed relief.
Historic versions:
Main article: Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor has evolved in appearance over time. The upside-down star design of the Naval version's pendant adopted in early 1862 has not changed since its inception.
The Army's 1862 version followed and was identical to the Naval version except an eagle perched atop cannons was used instead of an anchor to connect the pendant to the suspension ribbon.
The medals featured a female allegory of the Union, with a shield in her right hand that she used to fend off a crouching attacker and serpents. In her left hand, she held a fasces. There are 34 stars surrounding the scene, representing the number of states in the union at the time.
In 1896, the Army version changed the ribbon's design and colors due to misuse and imitation by nonmilitary organizations.
In 1904, the Army "Gillespie" version introduced a smaller redesigned star and the ribbon was changed to the light blue pattern with white stars seen today. The 1904 Army version also introduced a bar with the word "Valor" above the star. In 1913, the Naval version adopted the same ribbon pattern.
After World War I, the Department of the Navy decided to separate the Medal of Honor into two versions, one for combat and one for non-combat. This was an attempt to circumvent the requirement enacted in 1919 that recipients participate "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy," which would have foreclosed non-combat awards.
By treating the 1919 Medal of Honor as a separate award from its Civil War counterpart, this allowed the Department of the Navy to claim that it was not literally in violation of the 1919 law.
The original upside-down star was designated as the non-combat version and a new pattern of the medal pendant, in cross form, was designed by the Tiffany Company in 1919.
Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels selected Tiffany after snubbing the Commission of Fine Arts, which had submitted drawings that Daniels criticized as "un-American". The so-called Tiffany Cross was to be presented to a sailor or marine who "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, distinguish[es] himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."
Despite the "actual conflict" guidelines, the Tiffany Cross was awarded to Navy CDR (later RADM) Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett for their flight to the North Pole in 1926. The decision was controversial within the Navy's Bureau of Navigation (which handled personnel administration), and officials considered asking the attorney general of the United States for an advisory opinion on the matter.
Byrd himself apparently disliked the Tiffany Cross, and eventually requested the alternate version of the medal from President Herbert Hoover in 1930. The Tiffany Cross itself was not popular among recipients—one author reflected that it was "the most short-lived, legally contentious, and unpopular version of the Medal of Honor in American history."
In 1942, in response to a lawsuit, the Department of the Navy requested an amendment to expressly allow noncombat awards of the Medal of Honor. When the amendment passed, the Department of the Navy returned to using only the original 1862 inverted 5-point star design.
In 1944, the suspension ribbons for both versions were replaced with the now-familiar neck ribbon.
When the Air and Space Force's version was designed in 1965, it incorporated similar elements and design from the Army version. At the Department of the Air Force leadership's insistence, the new medal depicted the Statue of Liberty's image in place of Minerva on the medal and changed the connecting device from an eagle to Jupiter's thunderbolt flanked with wings as found on the Department of the Air Force's seal.
The Air Force diverged from the traditional depiction of Minerva in part due to a desire to distinguish itself from the Army, including the Institute of Heraldry that traditionally designs awards, but which falls under the Army.
Neck ribbon, service ribbon and lapel button:
Since 1944, the Medal of Honor has been attached to a light blue colored moiré silk neck ribbon that is 1+3⁄16 in (30 mm) in width and 21+3⁄4 in (550 mm) in length. The center of the ribbon displays thirteen white stars in the form of three chevron.
Both the top and middle chevrons are made up of 5 stars, with the bottom chevron made of 3 stars. The Medal of Honor is one of only two United States military awards suspended from a neck ribbon. The other is the Commander's Degree of the Legion of Merit, and is usually awarded to individuals serving foreign governments.
On May 2, 1896, Congress authorized a "ribbon to be worn with the medal and [a] rosette or knot to be worn in lieu of the medal." The service ribbon is light blue with five white stars in the form of an "M." It is placed first in the top position in the order of precedence and is worn for situations other than full-dress military uniform.
The lapel button is a 1⁄2-inch (13 mm), six-sided light blue bowknot rosette with thirteen white stars and may be worn on appropriate civilian clothing on the left lapel.
Devices:
In 2011, Department of Defense instructions in regard to the Medal of Honor were amended to read "for each succeeding act that would otherwise justify award of the Medal of Honor, the individual receiving the subsequent award is authorized to wear an additional Medal of Honor ribbon and/or a 'V' device on the Medal of Honor suspension ribbon" (the "V" device is a 1⁄4-inch-high (6.4 mm) bronze miniature letter "V" with serifs that denotes valor).
The Medal of Honor was the only decoration authorized to use the "V" device (none were ever issued) to designate subsequent awards in such a fashion. Nineteen individuals, all now deceased, were double Medal of Honor recipients.
In July 2014, DoD instructions were changed to read, "A separate MOH is presented to an individual for each succeeding act that justified award," removing the authorization for the "V" device.
Medal of Honor Flag
On October 23, 2002, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–248 (text) (PDF) was enacted, modifying 36 U.S.C. § 903, authorizing a Medal of Honor Flag to be presented to each person to whom a Medal of Honor is awarded. In the case of a posthumous award, the flag will be presented to whomever the Medal of Honor is presented to, which in most cases will be the primary next of kin of the deceased awardee.
The flag was based on a concept by retired U.S. Army Special Forces First Sergeant Bill Kendall of Jefferson, Iowa, who in 2001, designed a flag to honor Medal of Honor recipient Army Air Forces Captain Darrell Lindsey, a B-26 pilot from Jefferson who was killed in action during World War II.
Kendall's design of a light blue field emblazoned with 13 white five-pointed stars was nearly identical to that of Sarah LeClerc's of the Institute of Heraldry. LeClerc's gold-fringed flag, ultimately accepted as the official flag, does not include the words "Medal of Honor" as written on Kendall's flag.
The color of the field and the 13 white stars, arranged in the form of a three-bar chevron, consisting of two chevrons of five stars and one chevron of three stars, emulate the suspension ribbon of the Medal of Honor. The flag has no defined proportions.
The first Medal of Honor Flag recipient was U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, whose flag was presented posthumously. President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor and Flag to the family of Smith during the award ceremony for him in the White House on April 4, 2005.
A special Medal of Honor Flag presentation ceremony was held for over 60 living Medal of Honor recipients on board the USS Constitution in September 2006.
Presentation
There are two distinct protocols for recommending and adjudicating the Medal of Honor.
The first and most common is recommendation within three years and approval within five years through the chain of command of the service member.
The second method, which normally applies outside of the statute of limitations, is when a recommendation is referred to a military service by a member of the U.S. Congress, generally at the request of a constituent under 10 U.S.C. § 1130.
In both cases, if the proposal is outside the time limits for the recommendation, approval to waive the time limit requires a special Act of Congress. The Medal of Honor is presented by the President on behalf of, and in the name of, the Congress.
Since 1980, nearly all Medal of Honor recipients—or in the case of posthumous awards, the next of kin—have been personally decorated by the president. Since 1941, more than half of the Medals of Honor have been awarded posthumously.
Evolution of criteria:
19th century (Navy): Navy regulations published in 1865 specified that "The medal shall only be awarded to those petty officers, and others indicated, who shall have evinced in battle some signal act of valor or devotion to their country; and nothing save such conduct, coupled with good general qualities in the service, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to it." The regulation also permitted awards to seamen for "extraordinary heroism in the line of their profession," which meant heroism outside of combat operations.
19th century (Army): Several months after President Abraham Lincoln signed Public Resolution 82 into law on December 21, 1861, for a Navy medal of honor, a similar resolution was passed in July 1862 for an Army version of the medal. Six U.S. Army soldiers who hijacked a Confederate locomotive named The General in 1862 were the first Medal of Honor recipients; James J. Andrews led the raid. He was caught and hanged as a U.S. spy, but as a civilian he was not eligible to receive the medal. Many Medals of Honor awarded in the 19th century were associated with "saving the flag" (and country), not just for patriotic reasons, but because the U.S. flag was a primary means of battlefield communication at the time. Because no other military decoration was authorized during the Civil War, some seemingly less exceptional and notable actions were recognized by a Medal of Honor during that conflict.
20th century: Early in the twentieth century, the Department of the Navy awarded many Medals of Honor for peacetime bravery. For instance, in 1901, John Henry Helms aboard USS Chicago was awarded the medal for saving the ship's cook from drowning. Seven sailors aboard USS Iowa were awarded the medal after the ship's boiler exploded on January 25, 1904. Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett were awarded the medal—the combat ("Tiffany") version despite the existence then of a non-combat form of the Navy medal—for the 1926 flight they claim reached the North Pole. And Admiral Thomas J. Ryan was awarded the medal for saving a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Between 1919 and 1942, the Department of the Navy issued two separate versions of the Medal of Honor, one for acts related to combat and one for non-combat bravery. The criteria for the award tightened during World War I for the Army version of the Medal of Honor, while the Navy version retained a non-combat provision until 1963. In an Act of Congress of July 9, 1918, the War Department version of the medal required that the recipient "distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," and also required that the act of valor be performed "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy."
This followed shortly after the results of the Army Medal of Honor Review Board, which struck 911 medals from the Medal of Honor list in February 1917 for lack of basic prerequisites. These included the members of the 27th Maine erroneously awarded the medal for reenlisting to guard the capital during the Civil War, 29 members of Abraham Lincoln's funeral detail, and six civilians, including Buffalo Bill Cody (restored along with four other scouts in 1989) and a doctor, Mary Edwards Walker, who had cared for the sick (this last was restored posthumously in 1977).
World War II: As a result of lawsuits, the Department of the Navy requested the Congress expressly authorize non-combat medals in the text of the authorizing statute, since the department had been awarding non-combat medals with questionable legal backing that had caused it much embarrassment. The last non-combat Navy Medal of Honor was awarded in 1945, although the Department of the Navy attempted to award a non-combat Medal of Honor as late as the Korean War. Official accounts vary, but generally, the Medal of Honor for combat was known as the "Tiffany Cross", after the company that designed the medal.
The Tiffany Cross was first awarded in 1919, but was unpopular partly because of its design as well as a lower gratuity than the Navy's original medal. The Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor was awarded at least three times in non-combat circumstances. By a special Act of Congress, the medal was presented to Byrd and Bennett (see above). In 1942, the Department of the Navy reverted to a single Medal of Honor, although the statute still contained a loophole allowing the award for both "action involving actual conflict with the enemy" or "in the line of his profession." Arising from these criteria, approximately 60 percent of the medals earned during and after World War II have been awarded posthumously.
Public Law 88–77, July 25, 1963: The requirements for the Medal of Honor were standardized among all the services, requiring that a recipient had "distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." Thus, the act removed the loophole allowing non-combat awards to Navy personnel.
The act also clarified that the act of valor must occur during one of three circumstances:
Congress drew these three circumstances of combat from President Kennedy's executive order of April 25, 1962, which previously added the same criteria to the Purple Heart. On August 24, Kennedy added similar criteria for the Bronze Star Medal.
The amendment was necessary because Cold War armed conflicts did not qualify for consideration under previous statutes such as the 1918 Army Medal of Honor statute that required valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy," since the United States has not formally declared war since World War II as a result of the provisions of the United Nations Charter.
According to congressional testimony by the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, the services were seeking authority to award the Medal of Honor and other valor awards retroactive to July 1, 1958, in areas such as Berlin, Lebanon, Quemoy and Matsu Islands, Taiwan Straits, Congo, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba.
Revocation:
19th century: Early Navy regulations published in the Civil War era permitted the Navy Department to unilaterally rescind Medals of Honor for dishonorable behavior, including being "convicted of treason, cowardice, felony, or any infamous crime." As a result, at least 15 medals were revoked in the nineteenth century, including a medal for Third-Class Boy George Hollat, whose medal was revoked for desertion. Hollat's name erroneously remains on the Navy's list of medal recipients in modern times. The Army did not revoke any medals until the twentieth century.
20th century: In the early twentieth century the Medal of Honor Legion requested that some Army Medals of Honor be revoked, in particular the 864 medals awarded to members of the 27th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment for alleged enlistment extensions.
The Judge Advocate General of the Army determined that it would be unlawful for the Army to revoke the medals unilaterally absent "fraud, mistake in matters of fact arising from errors in calculation, or newly discovered material evidence," since this would require reopening acts or decisions of predecessors, and thus unsettling administrative res judicata (an administrative finality doctrine).
This interpretation led Congress to authorize a review to revoke these medals in 1916, leading to the revocation of 911 medals. The Army later authorized revocation of service medals due to misconduct in 1961, and eventually expanded this authority to include valor decorations (including the Medal of Honor) in 1974. The Army regulation stated "[o]nce an award has been presented, it may be revoked if facts subsequently determined would have prevented original approval of the award, had they been known at the time of award."
Eventually, all services' regulations permitted revocation on similar grounds: the Air Force adopted unilateral revocation of valor decorations in 1969, and Navy adopted regulations permitting revocation of valor decorations in 1976.
21st century: Unilateral revocation of decorations (including the Medal of Honor) were eventually standardized by the Office of the Secretary of Defense after controversy surrounding the revocation of the Distinguished Service Cross approved for Army Major Mathew Golsteyn, who was charged with murdering a detainee but then pardoned by President Trump before trial.
This incident led DoD to clarify the prerequisites for revoking military awards due to misconduct in the DoD Awards Manual in 2019: "[t]he revocation of [personal military decorations] under the 'honorable' service requirement should be used sparingly and should be limited to those cases where the Service member's actions:
DoD also requested that Congress expand the statutory requirement for honorable service after award qualification to include all military decorations, which passed in December 2019.
Authority and privileges:
The four specific statutory sections authorizing the medal, as last amended on August 13, 2018, are as follows:
"The President may award, and present in the name of Congress, a medal of honor of appropriate design, with ribbons and appurtenances, to a person who while a member of the [Army] [naval service] [Air Force] [Coast Guard], distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."[123]
Privileges and courtesies:
The Medal of Honor confers special privileges on its recipients:
Saluting:
Legal protection:
1904:
The Army redesigned its Medal of Honor, largely a reaction to the copying of the Medal of Honor by various veterans organizations, such as the Grand Army of the Republic. To prevent the making of copies of the medal, Brigadier General George Gillespie, Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War, applied for and obtained a patent for the new design. General Gillespie received the patent on November 22, 1904, and he transferred it the following month to the Secretary of War at the time, William Howard Taft.
1923:
Congress passed a statute (the year before the 20-year term of the patent would expire)—which would later be codified at 18 U.S.C. §704—prohibiting the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of military medals or decorations. In 1994, Congress amended the statute to permit an enhanced penalty if the offense involved the Medal of Honor.
2006:
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was enacted. The law amended 18 U.S.C. § 704 to make it a federal criminal offense for a person to deliberately state falsely that he or she had been awarded a military decoration, service medal, or badge. The law also permitted an enhanced penalty for someone who falsely claimed to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
June 28, 2012:
In the case of United States v. Alvarez, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005's criminalization of the making of false claims of having been awarded a military medal, decoration, or badge was an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
The case involved an elected official in California, Xavier Alvarez, who had falsely stated at a public meeting that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor, even though he had never served in any branch of the armed forces.
The Supreme Court's decision did not specifically address the constitutionality of the older portion of the statute which prohibits the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of military medals or decorations. Under the law, the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of the Medal of Honor is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to one year.
June 3, 2013:
President Barack Obama signed into law a revised version of the Stolen Valor Act, making it a federal offense for someone to represent themselves as awardees of medals for valor in order to receive "money, property, or other tangible benefit" (including grants, educational benefits, housing, etc.).
False representations about the Medal of Honor or other valor decorations still result in a fine or imprisonment up to one year, or both, but are now narrowly tailored to financial gain rather than protected speech. As of 2017, there were only two reported arrests and prosecutions under the law, leading at least 22 states to enact their own legislation to criminalize stolen valor amid claims that the federal law was virtually unenforced.
Duplicate medals:
Medal of Honor recipients may apply in writing to the headquarters of the service branch of the medal awarded for a replacement or display Medal of Honor, ribbon, and appurtenance (Medal of Honor flag) without charge.
Primary next of kin may also do the same and have any questions answered in regard to the Medal of Honor that was awarded.
Recipients:
Main article: List of Medal of Honor recipients
The first Medals of Honor were awarded and presented to six U.S. Army soldiers ("Andrews Raiders") on March 25, 1863, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in his office of the War Department.
Private Jacob Parrott, a U.S. Army volunteer from Ohio, became the first actual Medal of Honor recipient, awarded for his volunteering for and participation in a raid on a Confederate train in Big Shanty, Georgia, on April 12, 1862, during the American Civil War.
After the medal presentations, the six decorated soldiers met with President Lincoln in the White House.
Bernard John Dowling Irwin was the first (chronologically by action) Medal of Honor recipient during the Apache Wars. His actions on February 13, 1861, are the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded.
The first U.S. Navy sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor on April 3, 1863. 41 sailors received the award, with 17 awards for action during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
The first marines awarded the Medal of Honor were John F. Mackie and Pinkerton R. Vaughn on July 10, 1863; Mackie for USS Galena on May 15, 1862, and Vaughn for USS Mississippi on March 14, 1863.
The first, and so far only, Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor was Signalman First Class Douglas Munro. He was posthumously awarded it on May 27, 1943, for evacuating 500 marines under fire on September 27, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
The only woman awarded the Medal of Honor is Mary Edwards Walker, who was a civilian Army acting assistant surgeon during the American Civil War.
The first black recipients of the Medal of Honor were sixteen Army soldiers and sixteen Navy sailors that fought during the Civil War.
The only Medal of Honor to be classified as "top secret" was awarded to Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura for his actions on April 24, 1951, during the Korean War when he was presumed dead. The Medal of Honor, which had not been publicly announced, was classified as top secret for his protection until his release in August 1953.
The 1917 Medal of Honor Board revoked 911 awards, but only 910 names from the Army's Medal of Honor list, including awards to:
None of the 910 impacted recipients were ordered to return their medals, although on the question of whether the recipients could continue to wear their medals, the Judge Advocate General advised the Medal of Honor Board that the Army was not obligated to police the matter. Walker continued to wear her medal until her death.
Although some sources claim that President Jimmy Carter formally restored her medal posthumously in 1977, this action was actually taken unilaterally by the Army's Board for Correction of Military Records. The Army Board for Correction of Military Records also restored the Medals of Honor of Buffalo Bill and four other civilian scouts in 1989.
Sixty-one Canadians who served in the United States Armed Forces, mostly during the American Civil War. Since 1900, four Canadians have received the medal. The only Canadian-born, naturalized U.S. citizen to receive the medal for heroism during the Vietnam War was Peter C. Lemon.
While the governing statute for the Army's Medal of Honor (10 U.S.C. § 6241), beginning in 1918, explicitly stated that a recipient must be "an officer or enlisted man of the Army," "distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," and perform an act of valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy," exceptions have been made:
Double click on the following list for the original (editable) version:
U.S. military awards currently issued to service members:
General order of precedence:
The precedence of particular awards will vary slightly among the different branches of service. All awards and decorations may be awarded to any service member unless otherwise designated by name or notation.
Military departments:
To denote additional achievements or multiple awards of the same decoration, the United States military maintains a number of award devices which are pinned to service ribbons and medals.
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The Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians, and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States (the commander in chief of the armed forces) and is presented "in the name of the United States Congress."
It is sometimes referred to as the "Congressional Medal of Honor".
The secretary of the Army, on behalf of the Department of Defense, has testified to Congress that the term "Congressional Medal of Honor" is "incorrect" as a matter of statute, and that "it seems inappropriate to modify the name of the medal with the word 'Congressional' as each award is made in the name of the Congress," through a mandated process in the military chain of command, not 'by' Congress, and there is no other Medal of Honor, so no need for the modifier.
There are three distinct variants of the medal: one for the Army, awarded to soldiers; one for the Naval Service, awarded to sailors, marines, and coast guardsmen; and one for the Air and Space Forces, awarded to airmen and guardians.
The Medal of Honor was introduced for the Naval Service in 1861, soon followed by the Army's version in 1862. The Air Force used the Army's version until they received their own distinctive version in 1965.
The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The President typically presents the Medal of Honor at a formal ceremony intended to represent the gratitude of the American people, with posthumous presentations made to the primary next of kin.
According to the Medal of Honor Historical Society of the United States, there have been 3,535 Medals of Honor awarded since the decoration's creation, with over 40% awarded for actions during the American Civil War. Notably, however, 911 Army medals were revoked after Congress authorized a review in 1917, and a number of Navy medals were also revoked prior to the turn of the century—none of these are included in this total except for those that were subsequently restored. In 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as "National Medal of Honor Day".
History:
In 1861, early in the American Civil War, a proposal for a battlefield decoration for valor was submitted to Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, the Commanding General of the United States Army, by Lieutenant Colonel Edward D. Townsend, an assistant adjutant at the Department of War and Scott's chief of staff.
Scott, however, was strongly against the American republic's awarding medals for valor, a European monarchical tradition. After Scott retired in October 1861, however, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service.
On December 9, 1861, Iowa Senator James W. Grimes, Chairman on the Committee on Naval Affairs, introduced bill S. 82. The bill included a provision authorizing 200 "medals of honor," "to be bestowed upon such petty officers, seamen, landsmen, and marines as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other seaman-like qualities during the present war...."
On December 21, the bill was passed and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Secretary Welles directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration.
On May 15, 1862, the United States Department of the Navy ordered 175 medals ($1.85 each) from the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia with "Personal Valor" inscribed on the back of each one.
On February 15, 1862, Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, introduced a resolution for a Medal of Honor for the Army.
The resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12, 1862. This measure provided for awarding a medal of honor "to such non-commissioned officers and privates as shall most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other soldier-like qualities during the present insurrection."
By mid-November the Department of War contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, who had been responsible for the Navy's design, to prepare 2,000 medals for the Army ($2.00 each) to be struck at the mint. The Army's version had "The Congress to" written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which "gave them a reddish tint."
On March 3, 1863, Congress made the Army Medal of Honor a permanent decoration by passing legislation permitting the award to such soldiers "as have most distinguished or who may hereafter most distinguish themselves in action." The same legislation also authorized the medal for officers of the Army. On March 25, the Secretary of War presented the first Medals of Honor to six U.S. Army volunteers in his office.
In 1896, the ribbon of the Army's version of the Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical. Again, in 1904 the planchet of the Army's version of the Medal of Honor was redesigned by General George Lewis Gillespie. The purpose of the redesign was to help distinguish the Medal of Honor from other medals, particularly the membership insignia issued by the Grand Army of the Republic.
In 1917, based on the report of the Medal of Honor Review Board, established by Congress in 1916, 911 recipients were stricken from the Army's Medal of Honor list because the medal had been awarded inappropriately. Among them were William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody and Mary Edwards Walker.
In 1977, the Army's board for correction of military records unilaterally restored Walker's medal at the request of a relative. The board had no authority to overturn a statute, and the restoration violated not only the period law during the Civil War, but also the law requiring revocation in 1916, and modern law in 1977.
As a reaction to Walker's restoration, a relative of Cody's requested the same action from the Army's board for correction, and it reinstated the medals for Cody and four other civilian scouts on June 12, 1989.
Subsequent litigation over the Garlin Conner award, which was recommended by the Army's board for correction of military records in 2015, established that the correction boards lack the authority to unilaterally award medals of honor.
In Conner's case, the board merely recommended the medal, which was then referred to the Senior Army Decorations Board, and ultimately to the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of Defense, and the President, who requested a waiver be passed by Congress.
A separate Coast Guard Medal of Honor was authorized in 1963 but was not designed or awarded. A separate design for a version of the medal for the Department of the Air Force was authorized in 1956, designed on April 14, 1965, and first awarded in January 1967. Previously, airmen of the U.S. Air Force received the Army's version of the medal.
Appearance:
There are three versions of the Medal of Honor, one for each of the military departments of the Department of Defense (DoD): the Department of the Army, Department of the Navy (Naval Service), and Department of the Air Force (Air and Space Forces). Members of the Coast Guard, part of the Department of Homeland Security, are eligible to receive the Naval version. Each medal is constructed differently, and the components are made from gilding metals and red brass alloys with some gold plating, enamel, and bronze pieces.
The United States Congress considered a bill in 2004 which would require the Medal of Honor to be made with 90% gold, the same composition as the lesser-known Congressional Gold Medal, but the measure was dropped.
Army variant:
The Army's version is described by the Institute of Heraldry as "a gold five-pointed star, each point tipped with trefoils, 1+1⁄2 inches [3.8 cm] wide, surrounded by a green laurel wreath and suspended from a gold bar inscribed VALOR, surmounted by an eagle. In the center of the star, Minerva's head surrounded by the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
On each ray of the star is a green oak leaf. On the reverse is a bar engraved THE CONGRESS TO with a space for engraving the name of the recipient." The pendant and suspension bar are made of gilding metal, with the eye, jump rings, and suspension ring made of red brass. The finish on the pendant and suspension bar is hard enameled, gold plated, and rose gold plated, with polished highlights.
Naval variant:
The Naval version is described as "a five-pointed bronze star, tipped with trefoils containing a crown of laurel and oak. In the center is Minerva, personifying the United States, standing with her left hand resting on fasces and her right hand holding a shield emblazoned with the shield from the coat of arms of the United States. She repulses Discord, represented by snakes (originally, she was repulsing the snakes of secession). The medal is suspended from the flukes of an anchor. It is made of solid red brass, oxidized and buffed.
Air and Space Forces variant:
The Air and Space Forces version is described as "within a wreath of green laurel, a gold five-pointed star, one point down, tipped with trefoils and each point containing a crown of laurel and oak on a green background. Centered on the star, an annulet of 34 stars is a representation of the head of the Statue of Liberty.
The star is suspended from a bar inscribed with the word VALOR above an adaptation of Jupiter's thunderbolt from the Department of the Air Force's seal. The pendant is made of gilding metal. The connecting bar, hinge, and pin are made of bronze. The finish on the pendant and suspension bar is hard enameled, gold plated, and rose gold plated, with buffed relief.
Historic versions:
Main article: Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor has evolved in appearance over time. The upside-down star design of the Naval version's pendant adopted in early 1862 has not changed since its inception.
The Army's 1862 version followed and was identical to the Naval version except an eagle perched atop cannons was used instead of an anchor to connect the pendant to the suspension ribbon.
The medals featured a female allegory of the Union, with a shield in her right hand that she used to fend off a crouching attacker and serpents. In her left hand, she held a fasces. There are 34 stars surrounding the scene, representing the number of states in the union at the time.
In 1896, the Army version changed the ribbon's design and colors due to misuse and imitation by nonmilitary organizations.
In 1904, the Army "Gillespie" version introduced a smaller redesigned star and the ribbon was changed to the light blue pattern with white stars seen today. The 1904 Army version also introduced a bar with the word "Valor" above the star. In 1913, the Naval version adopted the same ribbon pattern.
After World War I, the Department of the Navy decided to separate the Medal of Honor into two versions, one for combat and one for non-combat. This was an attempt to circumvent the requirement enacted in 1919 that recipients participate "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy," which would have foreclosed non-combat awards.
By treating the 1919 Medal of Honor as a separate award from its Civil War counterpart, this allowed the Department of the Navy to claim that it was not literally in violation of the 1919 law.
The original upside-down star was designated as the non-combat version and a new pattern of the medal pendant, in cross form, was designed by the Tiffany Company in 1919.
Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels selected Tiffany after snubbing the Commission of Fine Arts, which had submitted drawings that Daniels criticized as "un-American". The so-called Tiffany Cross was to be presented to a sailor or marine who "in action involving actual conflict with the enemy, distinguish[es] himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."
Despite the "actual conflict" guidelines, the Tiffany Cross was awarded to Navy CDR (later RADM) Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett for their flight to the North Pole in 1926. The decision was controversial within the Navy's Bureau of Navigation (which handled personnel administration), and officials considered asking the attorney general of the United States for an advisory opinion on the matter.
Byrd himself apparently disliked the Tiffany Cross, and eventually requested the alternate version of the medal from President Herbert Hoover in 1930. The Tiffany Cross itself was not popular among recipients—one author reflected that it was "the most short-lived, legally contentious, and unpopular version of the Medal of Honor in American history."
In 1942, in response to a lawsuit, the Department of the Navy requested an amendment to expressly allow noncombat awards of the Medal of Honor. When the amendment passed, the Department of the Navy returned to using only the original 1862 inverted 5-point star design.
In 1944, the suspension ribbons for both versions were replaced with the now-familiar neck ribbon.
When the Air and Space Force's version was designed in 1965, it incorporated similar elements and design from the Army version. At the Department of the Air Force leadership's insistence, the new medal depicted the Statue of Liberty's image in place of Minerva on the medal and changed the connecting device from an eagle to Jupiter's thunderbolt flanked with wings as found on the Department of the Air Force's seal.
The Air Force diverged from the traditional depiction of Minerva in part due to a desire to distinguish itself from the Army, including the Institute of Heraldry that traditionally designs awards, but which falls under the Army.
Neck ribbon, service ribbon and lapel button:
Since 1944, the Medal of Honor has been attached to a light blue colored moiré silk neck ribbon that is 1+3⁄16 in (30 mm) in width and 21+3⁄4 in (550 mm) in length. The center of the ribbon displays thirteen white stars in the form of three chevron.
Both the top and middle chevrons are made up of 5 stars, with the bottom chevron made of 3 stars. The Medal of Honor is one of only two United States military awards suspended from a neck ribbon. The other is the Commander's Degree of the Legion of Merit, and is usually awarded to individuals serving foreign governments.
On May 2, 1896, Congress authorized a "ribbon to be worn with the medal and [a] rosette or knot to be worn in lieu of the medal." The service ribbon is light blue with five white stars in the form of an "M." It is placed first in the top position in the order of precedence and is worn for situations other than full-dress military uniform.
The lapel button is a 1⁄2-inch (13 mm), six-sided light blue bowknot rosette with thirteen white stars and may be worn on appropriate civilian clothing on the left lapel.
Devices:
In 2011, Department of Defense instructions in regard to the Medal of Honor were amended to read "for each succeeding act that would otherwise justify award of the Medal of Honor, the individual receiving the subsequent award is authorized to wear an additional Medal of Honor ribbon and/or a 'V' device on the Medal of Honor suspension ribbon" (the "V" device is a 1⁄4-inch-high (6.4 mm) bronze miniature letter "V" with serifs that denotes valor).
The Medal of Honor was the only decoration authorized to use the "V" device (none were ever issued) to designate subsequent awards in such a fashion. Nineteen individuals, all now deceased, were double Medal of Honor recipients.
In July 2014, DoD instructions were changed to read, "A separate MOH is presented to an individual for each succeeding act that justified award," removing the authorization for the "V" device.
Medal of Honor Flag
On October 23, 2002, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–248 (text) (PDF) was enacted, modifying 36 U.S.C. § 903, authorizing a Medal of Honor Flag to be presented to each person to whom a Medal of Honor is awarded. In the case of a posthumous award, the flag will be presented to whomever the Medal of Honor is presented to, which in most cases will be the primary next of kin of the deceased awardee.
The flag was based on a concept by retired U.S. Army Special Forces First Sergeant Bill Kendall of Jefferson, Iowa, who in 2001, designed a flag to honor Medal of Honor recipient Army Air Forces Captain Darrell Lindsey, a B-26 pilot from Jefferson who was killed in action during World War II.
Kendall's design of a light blue field emblazoned with 13 white five-pointed stars was nearly identical to that of Sarah LeClerc's of the Institute of Heraldry. LeClerc's gold-fringed flag, ultimately accepted as the official flag, does not include the words "Medal of Honor" as written on Kendall's flag.
The color of the field and the 13 white stars, arranged in the form of a three-bar chevron, consisting of two chevrons of five stars and one chevron of three stars, emulate the suspension ribbon of the Medal of Honor. The flag has no defined proportions.
The first Medal of Honor Flag recipient was U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, whose flag was presented posthumously. President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor and Flag to the family of Smith during the award ceremony for him in the White House on April 4, 2005.
A special Medal of Honor Flag presentation ceremony was held for over 60 living Medal of Honor recipients on board the USS Constitution in September 2006.
Presentation
There are two distinct protocols for recommending and adjudicating the Medal of Honor.
The first and most common is recommendation within three years and approval within five years through the chain of command of the service member.
The second method, which normally applies outside of the statute of limitations, is when a recommendation is referred to a military service by a member of the U.S. Congress, generally at the request of a constituent under 10 U.S.C. § 1130.
In both cases, if the proposal is outside the time limits for the recommendation, approval to waive the time limit requires a special Act of Congress. The Medal of Honor is presented by the President on behalf of, and in the name of, the Congress.
Since 1980, nearly all Medal of Honor recipients—or in the case of posthumous awards, the next of kin—have been personally decorated by the president. Since 1941, more than half of the Medals of Honor have been awarded posthumously.
Evolution of criteria:
19th century (Navy): Navy regulations published in 1865 specified that "The medal shall only be awarded to those petty officers, and others indicated, who shall have evinced in battle some signal act of valor or devotion to their country; and nothing save such conduct, coupled with good general qualities in the service, shall be held to establish a sufficient claim to it." The regulation also permitted awards to seamen for "extraordinary heroism in the line of their profession," which meant heroism outside of combat operations.
19th century (Army): Several months after President Abraham Lincoln signed Public Resolution 82 into law on December 21, 1861, for a Navy medal of honor, a similar resolution was passed in July 1862 for an Army version of the medal. Six U.S. Army soldiers who hijacked a Confederate locomotive named The General in 1862 were the first Medal of Honor recipients; James J. Andrews led the raid. He was caught and hanged as a U.S. spy, but as a civilian he was not eligible to receive the medal. Many Medals of Honor awarded in the 19th century were associated with "saving the flag" (and country), not just for patriotic reasons, but because the U.S. flag was a primary means of battlefield communication at the time. Because no other military decoration was authorized during the Civil War, some seemingly less exceptional and notable actions were recognized by a Medal of Honor during that conflict.
20th century: Early in the twentieth century, the Department of the Navy awarded many Medals of Honor for peacetime bravery. For instance, in 1901, John Henry Helms aboard USS Chicago was awarded the medal for saving the ship's cook from drowning. Seven sailors aboard USS Iowa were awarded the medal after the ship's boiler exploded on January 25, 1904. Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett were awarded the medal—the combat ("Tiffany") version despite the existence then of a non-combat form of the Navy medal—for the 1926 flight they claim reached the North Pole. And Admiral Thomas J. Ryan was awarded the medal for saving a woman from the burning Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Between 1919 and 1942, the Department of the Navy issued two separate versions of the Medal of Honor, one for acts related to combat and one for non-combat bravery. The criteria for the award tightened during World War I for the Army version of the Medal of Honor, while the Navy version retained a non-combat provision until 1963. In an Act of Congress of July 9, 1918, the War Department version of the medal required that the recipient "distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," and also required that the act of valor be performed "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy."
This followed shortly after the results of the Army Medal of Honor Review Board, which struck 911 medals from the Medal of Honor list in February 1917 for lack of basic prerequisites. These included the members of the 27th Maine erroneously awarded the medal for reenlisting to guard the capital during the Civil War, 29 members of Abraham Lincoln's funeral detail, and six civilians, including Buffalo Bill Cody (restored along with four other scouts in 1989) and a doctor, Mary Edwards Walker, who had cared for the sick (this last was restored posthumously in 1977).
World War II: As a result of lawsuits, the Department of the Navy requested the Congress expressly authorize non-combat medals in the text of the authorizing statute, since the department had been awarding non-combat medals with questionable legal backing that had caused it much embarrassment. The last non-combat Navy Medal of Honor was awarded in 1945, although the Department of the Navy attempted to award a non-combat Medal of Honor as late as the Korean War. Official accounts vary, but generally, the Medal of Honor for combat was known as the "Tiffany Cross", after the company that designed the medal.
The Tiffany Cross was first awarded in 1919, but was unpopular partly because of its design as well as a lower gratuity than the Navy's original medal. The Tiffany Cross Medal of Honor was awarded at least three times in non-combat circumstances. By a special Act of Congress, the medal was presented to Byrd and Bennett (see above). In 1942, the Department of the Navy reverted to a single Medal of Honor, although the statute still contained a loophole allowing the award for both "action involving actual conflict with the enemy" or "in the line of his profession." Arising from these criteria, approximately 60 percent of the medals earned during and after World War II have been awarded posthumously.
Public Law 88–77, July 25, 1963: The requirements for the Medal of Honor were standardized among all the services, requiring that a recipient had "distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." Thus, the act removed the loophole allowing non-combat awards to Navy personnel.
The act also clarified that the act of valor must occur during one of three circumstances:
- While engaged in action against an enemy of the United States
- While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.
- While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.[107][108]
Congress drew these three circumstances of combat from President Kennedy's executive order of April 25, 1962, which previously added the same criteria to the Purple Heart. On August 24, Kennedy added similar criteria for the Bronze Star Medal.
The amendment was necessary because Cold War armed conflicts did not qualify for consideration under previous statutes such as the 1918 Army Medal of Honor statute that required valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy," since the United States has not formally declared war since World War II as a result of the provisions of the United Nations Charter.
According to congressional testimony by the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, the services were seeking authority to award the Medal of Honor and other valor awards retroactive to July 1, 1958, in areas such as Berlin, Lebanon, Quemoy and Matsu Islands, Taiwan Straits, Congo, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba.
Revocation:
19th century: Early Navy regulations published in the Civil War era permitted the Navy Department to unilaterally rescind Medals of Honor for dishonorable behavior, including being "convicted of treason, cowardice, felony, or any infamous crime." As a result, at least 15 medals were revoked in the nineteenth century, including a medal for Third-Class Boy George Hollat, whose medal was revoked for desertion. Hollat's name erroneously remains on the Navy's list of medal recipients in modern times. The Army did not revoke any medals until the twentieth century.
20th century: In the early twentieth century the Medal of Honor Legion requested that some Army Medals of Honor be revoked, in particular the 864 medals awarded to members of the 27th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment for alleged enlistment extensions.
The Judge Advocate General of the Army determined that it would be unlawful for the Army to revoke the medals unilaterally absent "fraud, mistake in matters of fact arising from errors in calculation, or newly discovered material evidence," since this would require reopening acts or decisions of predecessors, and thus unsettling administrative res judicata (an administrative finality doctrine).
This interpretation led Congress to authorize a review to revoke these medals in 1916, leading to the revocation of 911 medals. The Army later authorized revocation of service medals due to misconduct in 1961, and eventually expanded this authority to include valor decorations (including the Medal of Honor) in 1974. The Army regulation stated "[o]nce an award has been presented, it may be revoked if facts subsequently determined would have prevented original approval of the award, had they been known at the time of award."
Eventually, all services' regulations permitted revocation on similar grounds: the Air Force adopted unilateral revocation of valor decorations in 1969, and Navy adopted regulations permitting revocation of valor decorations in 1976.
21st century: Unilateral revocation of decorations (including the Medal of Honor) were eventually standardized by the Office of the Secretary of Defense after controversy surrounding the revocation of the Distinguished Service Cross approved for Army Major Mathew Golsteyn, who was charged with murdering a detainee but then pardoned by President Trump before trial.
This incident led DoD to clarify the prerequisites for revoking military awards due to misconduct in the DoD Awards Manual in 2019: "[t]he revocation of [personal military decorations] under the 'honorable' service requirement should be used sparingly and should be limited to those cases where the Service member's actions:
- are not compatible with continued military service,
- result in criminal convictions,
- result in determinations that the Service member did not serve satisfactorily in a specific grade or position,
- or result in a discharge from military service that is characterized as 'Other Than Honorable,' 'Bad Conduct,' or 'Dishonorable.'"
DoD also requested that Congress expand the statutory requirement for honorable service after award qualification to include all military decorations, which passed in December 2019.
Authority and privileges:
The four specific statutory sections authorizing the medal, as last amended on August 13, 2018, are as follows:
- Army: 10 U.S.C. § 7271
- Navy and Marine Corps: 10 U.S.C. § 8291
- Air Force and Space Force: 10 U.S.C. § 9271
- Coast Guard: 14 U.S.C. § 2732 A version is authorized but it has never been awarded.
"The President may award, and present in the name of Congress, a medal of honor of appropriate design, with ribbons and appurtenances, to a person who while a member of the [Army] [naval service] [Air Force] [Coast Guard], distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty."[123]
Privileges and courtesies:
The Medal of Honor confers special privileges on its recipients:
- Each Medal of Honor recipient may have his or her name entered on the Medal of Honor Roll (10 U.S.C. § 1134a and 38 U.S.C. § 1562) so long as they qualified for the medal under modern statutory authority.
- Each person whose name is placed on the Medal of Honor Roll is certified to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as being entitled to receive a monthly pension above and beyond any military pensions or other benefits for which they may be eligible. The pension is subject to cost-of-living increases; as of November 22, 2022, it is $1,619.34 a month.
- Enlisted recipients of the Medal of Honor are entitled to a supplemental uniform allowance.
- Recipients receive special entitlements to air transportation under the provisions of DOD Regulation 4515.13-R. This benefit allows the recipient to travel as deemed fit, as well as allows the recipient's dependents to travel either overseas–overseas, overseas–continental U.S., or continental U.S.–overseas when accompanied by the recipient.
- Special identification cards and commissary and exchange privileges are provided for Medal of Honor recipients and their eligible dependents.
- Recipients are granted eligibility for interment at Arlington National Cemetery, if not otherwise eligible.
- Fully qualified children of recipients are automatically nominated to any of the United States service academies, although they must otherwise be qualified for admission.
- Recipients receive a ten percent increase in retired pay.
- Those awarded the medal after October 23, 2002, receive a Medal of Honor Flag. The law specified that all 103 living prior recipients as of that date would receive a flag.
- Recipients receive an invitation to all future presidential inaugurations and inaugural balls.
- As with all medals, retired personnel may wear the Medal of Honor on "appropriate" civilian clothing. Regulations specify that recipients of the Medal of Honor are allowed to wear the uniform "at their pleasure" with standard restrictions on political, commercial, or extremist purposes (other former members of the armed forces may do so only at certain ceremonial occasions).
- Forty states offer a special license plate for certain types of vehicles to recipients at little or no cost to the recipient. The states that do not offer Medal of Honor specific license plate offer special license plates for veterans for which recipients may be eligible.
- In 1969, the Nebraska State Legislature amended the Nebraska Hall of Fame statutes "to provide that Nebraskans awarded the Medal of Honor shall be named to the Hall of Fame" and required that the Hall of Fame Commission procure a plaque with the names of the Medal of Honor recipients.
Saluting:
- Although not required by law or military regulation of all military services, members of the uniformed services are encouraged to render salutes to recipients of the Medal of Honor as a matter of respect and courtesy regardless of rank or status, whether or not they are in uniform. This is one of the few instances where a living member of the military will receive salutes from members of a higher rank. According to paragraph 1.6.1.1 of Air Force Instruction 1-1, the United States Air Force requires that salutes be rendered to Medal of Honor recipients.
Legal protection:
1904:
The Army redesigned its Medal of Honor, largely a reaction to the copying of the Medal of Honor by various veterans organizations, such as the Grand Army of the Republic. To prevent the making of copies of the medal, Brigadier General George Gillespie, Jr., a Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War, applied for and obtained a patent for the new design. General Gillespie received the patent on November 22, 1904, and he transferred it the following month to the Secretary of War at the time, William Howard Taft.
1923:
Congress passed a statute (the year before the 20-year term of the patent would expire)—which would later be codified at 18 U.S.C. §704—prohibiting the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of military medals or decorations. In 1994, Congress amended the statute to permit an enhanced penalty if the offense involved the Medal of Honor.
2006:
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was enacted. The law amended 18 U.S.C. § 704 to make it a federal criminal offense for a person to deliberately state falsely that he or she had been awarded a military decoration, service medal, or badge. The law also permitted an enhanced penalty for someone who falsely claimed to have been awarded the Medal of Honor.
June 28, 2012:
In the case of United States v. Alvarez, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Stolen Valor Act of 2005's criminalization of the making of false claims of having been awarded a military medal, decoration, or badge was an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.
The case involved an elected official in California, Xavier Alvarez, who had falsely stated at a public meeting that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor, even though he had never served in any branch of the armed forces.
The Supreme Court's decision did not specifically address the constitutionality of the older portion of the statute which prohibits the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of military medals or decorations. Under the law, the unauthorized wearing, manufacturing, or sale of the Medal of Honor is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment of up to one year.
June 3, 2013:
President Barack Obama signed into law a revised version of the Stolen Valor Act, making it a federal offense for someone to represent themselves as awardees of medals for valor in order to receive "money, property, or other tangible benefit" (including grants, educational benefits, housing, etc.).
False representations about the Medal of Honor or other valor decorations still result in a fine or imprisonment up to one year, or both, but are now narrowly tailored to financial gain rather than protected speech. As of 2017, there were only two reported arrests and prosecutions under the law, leading at least 22 states to enact their own legislation to criminalize stolen valor amid claims that the federal law was virtually unenforced.
Duplicate medals:
Medal of Honor recipients may apply in writing to the headquarters of the service branch of the medal awarded for a replacement or display Medal of Honor, ribbon, and appurtenance (Medal of Honor flag) without charge.
Primary next of kin may also do the same and have any questions answered in regard to the Medal of Honor that was awarded.
Recipients:
Main article: List of Medal of Honor recipients
The first Medals of Honor were awarded and presented to six U.S. Army soldiers ("Andrews Raiders") on March 25, 1863, by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in his office of the War Department.
Private Jacob Parrott, a U.S. Army volunteer from Ohio, became the first actual Medal of Honor recipient, awarded for his volunteering for and participation in a raid on a Confederate train in Big Shanty, Georgia, on April 12, 1862, during the American Civil War.
After the medal presentations, the six decorated soldiers met with President Lincoln in the White House.
Bernard John Dowling Irwin was the first (chronologically by action) Medal of Honor recipient during the Apache Wars. His actions on February 13, 1861, are the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded.
The first U.S. Navy sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor on April 3, 1863. 41 sailors received the award, with 17 awards for action during the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
The first marines awarded the Medal of Honor were John F. Mackie and Pinkerton R. Vaughn on July 10, 1863; Mackie for USS Galena on May 15, 1862, and Vaughn for USS Mississippi on March 14, 1863.
The first, and so far only, Coast Guardsman to be awarded the Medal of Honor was Signalman First Class Douglas Munro. He was posthumously awarded it on May 27, 1943, for evacuating 500 marines under fire on September 27, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal.
The only woman awarded the Medal of Honor is Mary Edwards Walker, who was a civilian Army acting assistant surgeon during the American Civil War.
- She received the award in 1865 after the Judge Advocate General of the Army determined that she could be given a retroactive commission or brevet, but Secretary of War Stanton ruled against her in spite of this legal advice.
- Instead of a commission, President Andrew Johnson directed that "the usual medal of honor for meritorious services be given her." Evidently, Johnson did not know that the award was restricted by law to soldiers, which made the award unlawful. This defect later led to the award's revocation in 1917, and then questionable reinstatement by the Army's Board for Correction of Military Records in 1977.
The first black recipients of the Medal of Honor were sixteen Army soldiers and sixteen Navy sailors that fought during the Civil War.
- The first award was announced on April 6, 1865, to twelve black soldiers from the five regiments of U.S. Colored Troops who fought at New Market Heights outside of Richmond on September 29, 1864.
- The first black man to earn the Medal of Honor was William Harvey Carney. He earned the Medal during the Battle of Fort Wagner, but was not presented with it until 1900.
The only Medal of Honor to be classified as "top secret" was awarded to Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura for his actions on April 24, 1951, during the Korean War when he was presumed dead. The Medal of Honor, which had not been publicly announced, was classified as top secret for his protection until his release in August 1953.
The 1917 Medal of Honor Board revoked 911 awards, but only 910 names from the Army's Medal of Honor list, including awards to:
- Mary Edwards Walker,
- William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody
- and the first of two awards issued February 10, 1887, to George W. Mindil, who retained his award issued October 25, 1893.
None of the 910 impacted recipients were ordered to return their medals, although on the question of whether the recipients could continue to wear their medals, the Judge Advocate General advised the Medal of Honor Board that the Army was not obligated to police the matter. Walker continued to wear her medal until her death.
Although some sources claim that President Jimmy Carter formally restored her medal posthumously in 1977, this action was actually taken unilaterally by the Army's Board for Correction of Military Records. The Army Board for Correction of Military Records also restored the Medals of Honor of Buffalo Bill and four other civilian scouts in 1989.
Sixty-one Canadians who served in the United States Armed Forces, mostly during the American Civil War. Since 1900, four Canadians have received the medal. The only Canadian-born, naturalized U.S. citizen to receive the medal for heroism during the Vietnam War was Peter C. Lemon.
While the governing statute for the Army's Medal of Honor (10 U.S.C. § 6241), beginning in 1918, explicitly stated that a recipient must be "an officer or enlisted man of the Army," "distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty," and perform an act of valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy," exceptions have been made:
- Charles Lindbergh, 1927, civilian pilot, and U.S. Army Air Corps reserve officer. Lindbergh's medal was authorized by a special act of Congress, which effectively waived his ineligibility on the grounds of not being on duty, performing an act of gallantry, or being in combat. Lindbergh's award also violated President Coolidge's executive order prohibiting multiple awards for the same action, as he also received a Distinguished Flying Cross for the same transatlantic flight.
- Major General (Retired) Adolphus Greely was awarded the medal in 1935, on his 91st birthday, "for his life of splendid public service." The result of a special act of Congress similar to Lindbergh's, Greely's medal citation did not reference any acts of valor.
- Foreign unknown recipients include five WWI Unknowns:
- the Belgian Unknown Soldier,
- the British Unknown Warrior,
- the French Unknown Soldier,
- the Italian Unknown Soldier,
- and the Romanian Unknown Soldier.
- U.S. unknown recipients include one each from four wars: World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
- The Vietnam Unknown was later identified as Air Force First Lieutenant Michael Blassie through the use of DNA identification.
- Blassie's family asked for his Medal of Honor, but the Department of Defense denied the request in 1998.
- According to Undersecretary of Defense Rudy de Leon, the medal was awarded symbolically to all Vietnam unknowns, not to Blassie specifically.
- The action also resulted in clarification of unknown medal awards in the FY2005 defense bill, which expressly stated such medals are "awarded to the member as a representative of the members of the armed forces who died in such war or other armed conflict and whose remains have not been identified, and not to the individual personally."
Double click on the following list for the original (editable) version:
Related recipients:
Arthur MacArthur, Jr. and Douglas MacArthur are the first father and son to be awarded the Medal of Honor. The only other such pairing is Theodore Roosevelt (awarded in 2001) and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Notably, one member in each pair was strongly influenced by political considerations;
Five pairs of brothers have received the Medal of Honor:
Another notable pair of related recipients are Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher (rear admiral at the time of award) and his nephew, Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher (lieutenant at the time of award), both awarded for actions during the United States occupation of Veracruz.
Late awards:
Since 1979, 86 late Medal of Honor awards have been presented for actions from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. In addition, five recipients whose names were included on the Army's medal revocations in 1917 had their awards restored.
A 1993 study commissioned by the U.S. Army investigated "racial disparity" in the awarding of medals. At the time, no Medals of Honor had been awarded to U.S. soldiers of African descent who served in World War II. After an exhaustive review, the study recommended that ten Distinguished Service Cross recipients be awarded the Medal of Honor.
On January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven of these World War II veterans, six of them posthumously and one to former Second Lieutenant Vernon Baker.
In 1998, a similar study of Asian Americans resulted in Clinton presenting 22 Medals of Honor in 2000. This was following a historical review conducted by a team of historians headed by Jim McNaughton at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, located in the Presidio of Monterey, California.
The review ultimately forwarded at least 47 cases of Distinguished Services Crosses for potential upgrade, as well as one Silver Star. Twenty of the resulting medals went to U.S. soldiers of Japanese descent of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd RCT) who served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
One of these Medal of Honor recipients was Senator Daniel Inouye, a former U.S. Army officer in the 442nd RCT.
In 2005, President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor to Tibor Rubin, a Hungarian-born American Jew who was a Holocaust survivor of World War II and enlisted U.S. infantryman and prisoner of war in the Korean War, whom many believed to have been overlooked because of his religion.
On April 11, 2013, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Army chaplain Captain Emil Kapaun for his actions as a prisoner of war during the Korean War.
This follows other awards to:
As a result of a congressionally mandated review to ensure brave acts were not overlooked due to prejudice or discrimination, on March 18, 2014, President Obama upgraded Distinguished Service Crosses to Medals of Honor for 24 Hispanic, Jewish and black individuals—the "Valor 24"—for their actions in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Three were still living at the time of the ceremony.
On November 6, 2014, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing for actions on July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg. Lieutenant Cushing's award is the last Medal of Honor to be presented to a soldier in the American Civil War, 151 years after the date of the action.
In 2010 and again in 2014, Congress directed the Department of Defense to “survey military leaders . . . to the lowest level of command to determine if there is a trend of downgrading awards . . . for medals related to acts of valor and gallantry,” and also to “review the Medal of Honor process to ensure that the nomination process, valor requirements, and timeliness of the process do not unfairly penalize service members.” This ultimately resulted in a review of all post 9/11 valor awards, several of which resulted in Medals of Honor.
Another historical review for World War I medals that may have been tainted by discrimination was authorized in the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Conducted under the George S. Rob Centre at Park University, the review is still ongoing but has already identified some 200 medals for potential upgrade.
Click on any of the following hyperlinks for more about the Medal of Honor:
Arthur MacArthur, Jr. and Douglas MacArthur are the first father and son to be awarded the Medal of Honor. The only other such pairing is Theodore Roosevelt (awarded in 2001) and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.
Notably, one member in each pair was strongly influenced by political considerations;
- Douglas MacArthur's medal was approved for service in violation of both law and policy that prohibited such action,
- and Theodore Roosevelt's medal was approved after members of Congress successfully lobbied the Secretary of the Army to reverse a prior determination that "Theodore Roosevelt's bravery in battle did not rise to the level that would justify the Medal of Honor and, indeed, it did not rise to the level of men who fought in that engagement."
Five pairs of brothers have received the Medal of Honor:
- John and William Black, in the American Civil War. The Blacks are the first brothers to be so honored.
- Charles and Henry Capehart, in the American Civil War, the latter for saving a drowning man while under fire.
- Antoine and Julien Gaujot. The Gaujots also have the unique distinction of receiving their medals for actions in separate conflicts, Antoine in the Philippine–American War and Julien when he crossed the Mexican border to rescue Mexicans and Americans in a Mexican Revolution skirmish.
- Harry and Willard Miller, during the same naval action in the Spanish–American War.
- Allen and James Thompson, in the same American Civil War action.
Another notable pair of related recipients are Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher (rear admiral at the time of award) and his nephew, Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher (lieutenant at the time of award), both awarded for actions during the United States occupation of Veracruz.
Late awards:
Since 1979, 86 late Medal of Honor awards have been presented for actions from the Civil War to the Vietnam War. In addition, five recipients whose names were included on the Army's medal revocations in 1917 had their awards restored.
A 1993 study commissioned by the U.S. Army investigated "racial disparity" in the awarding of medals. At the time, no Medals of Honor had been awarded to U.S. soldiers of African descent who served in World War II. After an exhaustive review, the study recommended that ten Distinguished Service Cross recipients be awarded the Medal of Honor.
On January 13, 1997, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven of these World War II veterans, six of them posthumously and one to former Second Lieutenant Vernon Baker.
In 1998, a similar study of Asian Americans resulted in Clinton presenting 22 Medals of Honor in 2000. This was following a historical review conducted by a team of historians headed by Jim McNaughton at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, located in the Presidio of Monterey, California.
The review ultimately forwarded at least 47 cases of Distinguished Services Crosses for potential upgrade, as well as one Silver Star. Twenty of the resulting medals went to U.S. soldiers of Japanese descent of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (442nd RCT) who served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II.
One of these Medal of Honor recipients was Senator Daniel Inouye, a former U.S. Army officer in the 442nd RCT.
In 2005, President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Honor to Tibor Rubin, a Hungarian-born American Jew who was a Holocaust survivor of World War II and enlisted U.S. infantryman and prisoner of war in the Korean War, whom many believed to have been overlooked because of his religion.
On April 11, 2013, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to Army chaplain Captain Emil Kapaun for his actions as a prisoner of war during the Korean War.
This follows other awards to:
- Army Sergeant Leslie H. Sabo, Jr. for conspicuous gallantry in action on May 10, 1970, near Se San, Cambodia, during the Vietnam War
- and to Army Private First Class Henry Svehla and Army Private First Class Anthony T. Kahoʻohanohano for their heroic actions during the Korean War.
As a result of a congressionally mandated review to ensure brave acts were not overlooked due to prejudice or discrimination, on March 18, 2014, President Obama upgraded Distinguished Service Crosses to Medals of Honor for 24 Hispanic, Jewish and black individuals—the "Valor 24"—for their actions in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Three were still living at the time of the ceremony.
On November 6, 2014, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing for actions on July 3, 1863, during the Battle of Gettysburg. Lieutenant Cushing's award is the last Medal of Honor to be presented to a soldier in the American Civil War, 151 years after the date of the action.
In 2010 and again in 2014, Congress directed the Department of Defense to “survey military leaders . . . to the lowest level of command to determine if there is a trend of downgrading awards . . . for medals related to acts of valor and gallantry,” and also to “review the Medal of Honor process to ensure that the nomination process, valor requirements, and timeliness of the process do not unfairly penalize service members.” This ultimately resulted in a review of all post 9/11 valor awards, several of which resulted in Medals of Honor.
Another historical review for World War I medals that may have been tainted by discrimination was authorized in the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Conducted under the George S. Rob Centre at Park University, the review is still ongoing but has already identified some 200 medals for potential upgrade.
Click on any of the following hyperlinks for more about the Medal of Honor:
- 27th Maine and other revoked awards
- Similarly-named U.S. decorations
- See also:
- African-American Medal of Honor Recipients Memorial
- Distinguished Intelligence Cross
- Home of the Heroes, a recognition of Pueblo, Colorado, for being the hometown of four Medal of Honor recipients
- Kentucky Medal of Honor Memorial
- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- Medal of Honor Memorial (Indianapolis)
- Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal
- Military awards and decorations
- Texas Medal of Honor Memorial
- Congressional Medal of Honor Society
- U.S. Army Medal of Honor
- Submarine Force Medal of Honor Recipients. Submarine Force Museum website
- List of Native Americans who have received the Medal of Honor
- History, Legend and Myth: Hollywood and the Medal of Honor (Medal of Honor recipients depicted on film)
- American Valor PBS/WETA.
- Loubat, J. F. and Jacquemart, Jules, Illustrator, The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776–1876.
- U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry: Medal of Honor-Army
- U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry: Medal of Honor-Navy
- U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry: Medal of Honor-Air Force
- Pritzker Military Museum & Library
Mary Trump, Niece of Donald J Trump along with the Psychology of Donald Trump ("Psychology Today")
- YouTube Video: Mary Trump on her uncle: 'He is an entitled loser who did nothing but waste his father's fortune'
- YouTube Video: Mary Trump and Why it is ‘beyond’ Donald to imagine going to prison
- YouTube Video: 'The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump': 27 Psychiatrists Assess | The Last Word | MSNBC
Mary Lea Trump (born May 3, 1965) is an American psychologist and writer. A niece of former US president Donald Trump, she has been critical of him as well as the rest of the Trump family. Her 2020 book about him and the family, Too Much and Never Enough, sold nearly one million copies on the day of its release. A second book, The Reckoning, followed in 2021.
In September 2020, Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in her grandfather Fred Trump's real-estate portfolio.
A year later, Donald Trump sued Mary for at least $100 million for providing The New York Times with financial documents which it used as a source for a 2018 exposé about his wealth and the family's finances.
Early life and education:
Trump was born in May 1965 to flight attendant Linda Lee Clapp and Fred Trump Jr., a commercial airline pilot of Trans World Airlines and son of real-estate developer Fred Trump (Donald Trump's father). Her older brother is Frederick Trump III.
Trump's father, Fred Trump Jr., died on September 29, 1981, at the age of 42 from a heart attack caused by alcoholism, when she was aged 16. She was at school, watching a film in the auditorium with other children when a teacher pulled her aside and made her call home.
She found out after a series of phone calls that her father had died. She was not able to see her father's body despite her request to do so and had to be content with saying her goodbye to a closed coffin at the funeral.
Trump graduated from the Ethel Walker School in 1983. She studied English literature at Tufts University, earned a master's degree in English literature at Columbia University, for which she studied the works of William Faulkner and his dysfunctional fictional Compson family, and holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University.
Will of Fred Trump Sr.:
Further information: Fred Trump § Wealth and death
See also: New York investigations of The Trump Organization
Fred Trump Sr.'s will left the bulk of his estate, in equal shares, to his surviving children, while each of his grandchildren was left $200,000.[In 1981, when Mary's father predeceased him, Fred Sr.'s lawyers had recommended amending his will, to leave Fred Trump Jr.'s children larger shares than the grandchildren with living parents, writing that "Given the size of your estate, this is tantamount to disinheriting them. You may wish to increase their participation in your estate to avoid ill will in the future." However, Fred Trump Sr. refused to do so.
Fred Sr. was diagnosed with "mild senile dementia" in 1991 and about two years later began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Donald Trump, at the time facing financial ruin, sought control of his elderly father's estate, leading to a family fight which The Washington Post described as "epic".
When Fred Trump Sr. died in 1999, Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, contested their grandfather's will.
Shortly after Fred Sr.'s death, Fred III's wife gave birth to a son named William, who has epileptic spasms, a rare and debilitating medical condition requiring a lifetime of care. Fred Sr. had established a foundation that paid the medical expenses of his family.
Mary Trump and her brother filed suit against Donald Trump and two of his three living siblings, Maryanne Trump Barry and Robert Trump, for exerting undue influence on the elderly Fred Sr.'s will.
In response, Donald, Maryanne and Robert cut off Mary and Fred III's medical insurance, including coverage for William. The lawsuit was settled in 2001, with Mary and Fred III selling their interests in the family business (which included ground leases for two of Fred Sr.'s major properties).
In 2018, Mary Trump provided financial records, including some Trump family tax returns, to The New York Times for its exposé on Fred and Donald Trump's finances, which alleges that Fred and the siblings of Fred Jr. – especially Donald – "participated in dubious tax schemes ... including instances of outright fraud", effectively avoiding over $500 million in gift taxes.
In September 2020, Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in Fred Sr.'s real-estate portfolio by undervaluing her interests and coercing her to sign a settlement. The defendants' lawyers asked for dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming that she had waited too long to file suit.
Trump's lawyers responded that "[r]easonable diligence would not have uncovered the fraud" more than a decade earlier. In a January 2022 hearing, lawyers for Donald Trump, Maryanne Trump Barry, and the estate of Robert Trump asked for Mary Trump's lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that she had waited too long to file her lawsuit because she had had access to the relevant documents since 2001 and that a six-year statute of limitations imposed by the 2001 settlement had expired.
In November 2022, the lawsuit was dismissed on the basis that Trump's 2001 settlement agreement had "unambiguously released defendants from unknown claims, including fraud claims". She made an appeal request, which was denied on June 22, 2023.
In September 2021, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times (namely the authors of the 2018 exposé) for over $100 million. The suit accuses Mary Trump and the three New York Times journalists of utilizing confidential documents in an "insidious" conspiracy against Donald.
Mary called the suit an act of "desperation". In a January 2023 hearing, a lawyer for the Times argued that the truthfulness of the exposé outweighed other considerations. Donald's lawyer Alina Habba singled out Mary's use of a burner phone to communicate with the Times, the counsel for which argued was merely to protect its source.
On May 3, 2023, a New York Supreme Court justice dismissed the Times from the suit and ordered Donald to pay its legal fees (which neared $400,000) on the basis that his assertions lacked constitutional merit and that, owing to the First Amendment, "reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary news gathering activities without fear of tort liability".
A ruling the next month allowed Donald to pursue his claim against Mary. She requested a stay of proceedings during her appeal attempt, but this was denied on January 12, 2024.
Career:
Trump worked for one year at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center while working on her PhD research. She is a contributor to the book Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, published by Columbia University Press in 2001. She has taught graduate courses in developmental psychology, trauma, and psychopathology.
She is the founder and chief executive officer of The Trump Coaching Group, a life-coaching company, and has also owned and operated a number of small businesses in the Northeast.
Too Much and Never Enough:
Main article: Too Much and Never Enough
Trump's first book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, is an unauthorized biography of Donald Trump published on July 14, 2020, by Simon & Schuster. According to Trump's note at the beginning of the book, all accounts in the book come either from her own memory or from recorded conversations with family, friends, and others.
Other sources are legal, financial and family documents, email correspondence, and the New York Times investigative article by David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner. The book details how Mary Trump was the anonymous source who provided The New York Times with Trump family tax returns.
The New York Times report won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.
Upon the announcement of Too Much and Never Enough in June 2020, her uncle Robert Trump attempted to block its release, stating that she signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the 2001 lawsuit settlement. The filing of a temporary restraining order against Mary Trump was dismissed by a New York court for a lack of jurisdiction, and the book was published on July 14, 2020.
The book sold close to one million copies on its first day of sales.
The Reckoning:
Main article: The Reckoning (Trump book)
Trump's second book, The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, was published by St. Martin's Press on August 17, 2021. Drawing from American history, Trump posits that the country has suffered trauma from its inception because of its inclusion of systemic racism and its failure to address the existence of white supremacy, especially by Republicans in recent decades.
The Mary Trump Show:
Trump has a podcast, titled The Mary Trump Show, on which she discusses politics and other matters. On February 1, 2022, she announced that she would be removing her show from Spotify to protest alleged COVID-19 misinformation being spread on The Joe Rogan Experience, which is exclusively distributed on Spotify.
Politics:
She supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
In 2018, David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times published "an exhaustive 18-month investigation of Donald Trump's finances that debunked his statements of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges", for which they were awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.
Mary Trump has stated that she was a key source of information for that study, having come into possession of Donald Trump's tax documents during the discovery process in the dispute over her grandfather's estate.
On July 15, 2020, Mary Trump said in an ABC News interview conducted by George Stephanopoulos that Donald Trump should resign as president, as he was "utterly incapable of leading this country, and it's dangerous to allow him to do so".
In an interview later that month on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trump stated that Donald Trump exhibited sociopathic tendencies but not at a high-functioning level like his father. She said the president was institutionally insulated from responsibilities throughout his childhood and was never held accountable for his actions.
After the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, Trump said her uncle should be "barred from ever running for public office again".
Personal life:
Trump is openly gay. In Too Much and Never Enough, she makes a brief reference to the fact and states that "Nobody in the family knew; they'd always been spectacularly uninterested in my personal life ... and never asked about my boyfriends or relationships."
She wrote that her grandmother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, once referred to Elton John as a "faggot", and consequently, Trump decided not to come out and tell her grandmother or other immediate family that she was going to marry a woman, with whom she would later raise a daughter.
She has since divorced, and lives on Long Island, New York, with her 21-year-old daughter, who was conceived by in-vitro fertilization via a sperm donor.
See also: ___________________________________________________________________________
The Psychology of Donald Trump
From "Psychology Today":
Donald Trump's niece traces development of his “dangerous” psychology.
Posted August 8, 2020 | Reviewed by Matt Huston
In 2017, a group of mental health professionals gathered at a “duty to warn” conference and then published their informed opinions in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, contending that he was unfit to be president (Lee, 2017).
In the book, they illustrated their professional perceptions of Donald Trump (DT) with his statements and actions known to that point. (See also the 2020 film, Unfit, for more discussions of the psychology of DT by clinicians.)
Many of the mental health professionals drew a connection between DT’s behavior and extreme or pathological narcissism (narcissistic personality disorder) which entails entitlement, exploitation, and empathy impairment, along with the typical characteristics of narcissism:
Craig Malkin, Ph.D., pointed out that pathological narcissism can spiral into a psychotic spiral of paranoia, impaired and volatile decision making, and gaslighting.
Lance Dodes, M.D., reminded readers of the characteristics
of antisocial personality disorder:
Dodes discussed sociopathy and its various descriptions, which all include cruel, callous, bullying, dehumanizing, sadistic, unempathic, predatory, devaluing and immoral behavior.
Sociopaths project their feelings onto others, who are seen as aggressive and dangerous.
Sociopaths exhibit a loss of reality, attack others with raging outbursts. People are categorized in the moment as good or evil, with loyalty critical for landing in the “good” category. He described DT's behavior as fitting into these categories.
John D. Gartner, Ph.D., adopts Erich Fromm’s (1964) term malignant narcissism to describe DT’s behavior. Fromm said malignant narcissism represented the severest of pathologies, the cause of the most vicious destructiveness and inhumanity. Malignant narcissism includes narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial behavior, paranoid traits and sadism.
Gartner argued that DT’s behavior demonstrates not only the badness of malignant narcissism but madness—a hypomanic temperament needing constant stimulation.
What does Mary Trump’s book add to the picture?
Mary Trump, niece of DT and a mental health professional, has an inside scoop on the Trump family and writes about it in her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. As a clinician herself, she gives us insight into his childhood and family culture, linking them to his behavior today.
Mary Trump describes a nightmare of a childhood, relative to a supportive ecological system for raising a human being. DT's basic emotional needs were reportedly not provided for during sensitive periods.
He is described as having been an aggressive, uncontrollable child, suggesting that he was not provided with the responsive care needed in the first years of life.
Although she cannot show us his first two years of life, at the time when systems that undergird emotional and behavioral self-regulation, sociality and cooperation are being co-constructed by parental care, she tells us, he lost his mother to hospitalization and was left in the non-care of a “high-functioning sociopath” of a father, Fred Trump (p. 24).
According to her, Fred Trump had no interest in the children. He rebuffed the attachment-seeking behaviors of DT and his younger 9-month-old brother, Robert, who learned to equate neediness with “humiliation, despair, and hopelessness” (p. 25).
“Child abuse is, in some sense, the experience of “too much” or “not enough.” Donald directly experienced the “not enough” in the loss of connection to his mother at a crucial developmental stage, which was deeply traumatic. Without warning his needs weren’t being met, and his fears and longings went unsoothed.
Having been abandoned by his mother for at least a year, and having his father fail not only to meet his needs but to make him feel safe or loved, valued or mirrored, Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life. … As he grew older Donald was subjected to my grandfather’s “too muchness” at second hand—witnessing what happened to Freddy when he was on the receiving end of too much attention, too much expectation, and most saliently, too much humiliation.” (p. 26)
The world revolved around Fred’s authoritarianism. DT’s mother was reportedly narcissistic herself, “unstable and needy,” thinking more of her needs than those of her children (p. 23). She left the raising of the boys to her husband, who did not pay attention to anyone initially except DT’s older brother, Freddy (Mary Trump’s father), who was expected to take over the father’s business.
As Mary Trump tells it, DT watched as his father humiliated and smashed his elder brother’s spirit, a more sensitive and creative personality than his father or brother, characteristics unappreciated by his father who thought only of moneymaking and frugality—one’s financial worth was self-worth. DT watched and learned to be what his father wanted. His father was a successful real estate developer who benefited from government programs.
Fred was impressed with DT’s brashness and boldness. They got along well because they had similar traits and DT did not seem to let his father’s cruelty affect him.
She gives extensive examples of sociopathic behavior in the father: He was emotionally abusive toward everyone; people were belittled and silenced. She describes a certain emotional numbness in the household, inability to express vulnerability or soft feelings even when people were suffering or died.
What vices were encouraged in the family, as Mary Trump describes it? Lying, selfishness, contempt, cruelty, low empathy, hubris, using people, ruthlessness, greed. What virtues were discouraged? Empathy, kindness, humility, honesty. What was encouraged? Obedience to the will of Fred Trump.
This account of DT is the epitome of how child raising practices in dominator cultures damage children (Eisler & Fry, 2019), especially boys, who may have less built-in resilience and need more nurturing due to their slower maturation (Schore, 2017).
Under-nurtured boys often develop a focus on ranking, hierarchy, and dominance, not apparent in “harmonious” families who do not coerce their children (Baumrind, 1971), nor in our ancestral context (Sorenson, 1998).
In a dominator culture, nurturing is undervalued. Competition and ruthlessness are encouraged. When human beings are alienated from relationship, insecurely attached to mother, family, community and planet, they may be especially likely to become destructive (Fromm, 1941) because the wrong capacities will be enhanced—for domination (primitive systems that are prehuman and innate).
They “won’t know any better” because they are missing key capacities for social intelligence. They will have forms of dysregulation, such as emotional dysregulation—blaming others for their stress response. In the worst cases they will develop the pathologies mentioned above.
In the same 2017 book, Thomas Singer, M.D., puzzled over the American psyche that voted DT into office. He suggests, like others, that America has turned into a society expecting continuous entertainment and stimulation, not able to think too hard about complex topics.
Slogans and spectacle are more attractive. He thinks the nation has a wounded collective psyche. The wound is exhibited in an implicit extinction anxiety, which encompasses not only a person’s personal security (mobility, income, job security) but the country’s inequality, perceived challenges from non-white groups, standing in the world community, and planetary wellbeing.
When Americans say they “want their country back” they are expressing this complex anxiety.
A new movie, Unfit, interviews clinicians who discuss Donald Trump.
[End of Article]
In September 2020, Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in her grandfather Fred Trump's real-estate portfolio.
A year later, Donald Trump sued Mary for at least $100 million for providing The New York Times with financial documents which it used as a source for a 2018 exposé about his wealth and the family's finances.
Early life and education:
Trump was born in May 1965 to flight attendant Linda Lee Clapp and Fred Trump Jr., a commercial airline pilot of Trans World Airlines and son of real-estate developer Fred Trump (Donald Trump's father). Her older brother is Frederick Trump III.
Trump's father, Fred Trump Jr., died on September 29, 1981, at the age of 42 from a heart attack caused by alcoholism, when she was aged 16. She was at school, watching a film in the auditorium with other children when a teacher pulled her aside and made her call home.
She found out after a series of phone calls that her father had died. She was not able to see her father's body despite her request to do so and had to be content with saying her goodbye to a closed coffin at the funeral.
Trump graduated from the Ethel Walker School in 1983. She studied English literature at Tufts University, earned a master's degree in English literature at Columbia University, for which she studied the works of William Faulkner and his dysfunctional fictional Compson family, and holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies at Adelphi University.
Will of Fred Trump Sr.:
Further information: Fred Trump § Wealth and death
See also: New York investigations of The Trump Organization
Fred Trump Sr.'s will left the bulk of his estate, in equal shares, to his surviving children, while each of his grandchildren was left $200,000.[In 1981, when Mary's father predeceased him, Fred Sr.'s lawyers had recommended amending his will, to leave Fred Trump Jr.'s children larger shares than the grandchildren with living parents, writing that "Given the size of your estate, this is tantamount to disinheriting them. You may wish to increase their participation in your estate to avoid ill will in the future." However, Fred Trump Sr. refused to do so.
Fred Sr. was diagnosed with "mild senile dementia" in 1991 and about two years later began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Donald Trump, at the time facing financial ruin, sought control of his elderly father's estate, leading to a family fight which The Washington Post described as "epic".
When Fred Trump Sr. died in 1999, Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, contested their grandfather's will.
Shortly after Fred Sr.'s death, Fred III's wife gave birth to a son named William, who has epileptic spasms, a rare and debilitating medical condition requiring a lifetime of care. Fred Sr. had established a foundation that paid the medical expenses of his family.
Mary Trump and her brother filed suit against Donald Trump and two of his three living siblings, Maryanne Trump Barry and Robert Trump, for exerting undue influence on the elderly Fred Sr.'s will.
In response, Donald, Maryanne and Robert cut off Mary and Fred III's medical insurance, including coverage for William. The lawsuit was settled in 2001, with Mary and Fred III selling their interests in the family business (which included ground leases for two of Fred Sr.'s major properties).
In 2018, Mary Trump provided financial records, including some Trump family tax returns, to The New York Times for its exposé on Fred and Donald Trump's finances, which alleges that Fred and the siblings of Fred Jr. – especially Donald – "participated in dubious tax schemes ... including instances of outright fraud", effectively avoiding over $500 million in gift taxes.
In September 2020, Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in Fred Sr.'s real-estate portfolio by undervaluing her interests and coercing her to sign a settlement. The defendants' lawyers asked for dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming that she had waited too long to file suit.
Trump's lawyers responded that "[r]easonable diligence would not have uncovered the fraud" more than a decade earlier. In a January 2022 hearing, lawyers for Donald Trump, Maryanne Trump Barry, and the estate of Robert Trump asked for Mary Trump's lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that she had waited too long to file her lawsuit because she had had access to the relevant documents since 2001 and that a six-year statute of limitations imposed by the 2001 settlement had expired.
In November 2022, the lawsuit was dismissed on the basis that Trump's 2001 settlement agreement had "unambiguously released defendants from unknown claims, including fraud claims". She made an appeal request, which was denied on June 22, 2023.
In September 2021, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times (namely the authors of the 2018 exposé) for over $100 million. The suit accuses Mary Trump and the three New York Times journalists of utilizing confidential documents in an "insidious" conspiracy against Donald.
Mary called the suit an act of "desperation". In a January 2023 hearing, a lawyer for the Times argued that the truthfulness of the exposé outweighed other considerations. Donald's lawyer Alina Habba singled out Mary's use of a burner phone to communicate with the Times, the counsel for which argued was merely to protect its source.
On May 3, 2023, a New York Supreme Court justice dismissed the Times from the suit and ordered Donald to pay its legal fees (which neared $400,000) on the basis that his assertions lacked constitutional merit and that, owing to the First Amendment, "reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary news gathering activities without fear of tort liability".
A ruling the next month allowed Donald to pursue his claim against Mary. She requested a stay of proceedings during her appeal attempt, but this was denied on January 12, 2024.
Career:
Trump worked for one year at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center while working on her PhD research. She is a contributor to the book Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, published by Columbia University Press in 2001. She has taught graduate courses in developmental psychology, trauma, and psychopathology.
She is the founder and chief executive officer of The Trump Coaching Group, a life-coaching company, and has also owned and operated a number of small businesses in the Northeast.
Too Much and Never Enough:
Main article: Too Much and Never Enough
Trump's first book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, is an unauthorized biography of Donald Trump published on July 14, 2020, by Simon & Schuster. According to Trump's note at the beginning of the book, all accounts in the book come either from her own memory or from recorded conversations with family, friends, and others.
Other sources are legal, financial and family documents, email correspondence, and the New York Times investigative article by David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner. The book details how Mary Trump was the anonymous source who provided The New York Times with Trump family tax returns.
The New York Times report won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.
Upon the announcement of Too Much and Never Enough in June 2020, her uncle Robert Trump attempted to block its release, stating that she signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the 2001 lawsuit settlement. The filing of a temporary restraining order against Mary Trump was dismissed by a New York court for a lack of jurisdiction, and the book was published on July 14, 2020.
The book sold close to one million copies on its first day of sales.
The Reckoning:
Main article: The Reckoning (Trump book)
Trump's second book, The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, was published by St. Martin's Press on August 17, 2021. Drawing from American history, Trump posits that the country has suffered trauma from its inception because of its inclusion of systemic racism and its failure to address the existence of white supremacy, especially by Republicans in recent decades.
The Mary Trump Show:
Trump has a podcast, titled The Mary Trump Show, on which she discusses politics and other matters. On February 1, 2022, she announced that she would be removing her show from Spotify to protest alleged COVID-19 misinformation being spread on The Joe Rogan Experience, which is exclusively distributed on Spotify.
Politics:
She supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
In 2018, David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times published "an exhaustive 18-month investigation of Donald Trump's finances that debunked his statements of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges", for which they were awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting.
Mary Trump has stated that she was a key source of information for that study, having come into possession of Donald Trump's tax documents during the discovery process in the dispute over her grandfather's estate.
On July 15, 2020, Mary Trump said in an ABC News interview conducted by George Stephanopoulos that Donald Trump should resign as president, as he was "utterly incapable of leading this country, and it's dangerous to allow him to do so".
In an interview later that month on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Trump stated that Donald Trump exhibited sociopathic tendencies but not at a high-functioning level like his father. She said the president was institutionally insulated from responsibilities throughout his childhood and was never held accountable for his actions.
After the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, Trump said her uncle should be "barred from ever running for public office again".
Personal life:
Trump is openly gay. In Too Much and Never Enough, she makes a brief reference to the fact and states that "Nobody in the family knew; they'd always been spectacularly uninterested in my personal life ... and never asked about my boyfriends or relationships."
She wrote that her grandmother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, once referred to Elton John as a "faggot", and consequently, Trump decided not to come out and tell her grandmother or other immediate family that she was going to marry a woman, with whom she would later raise a daughter.
She has since divorced, and lives on Long Island, New York, with her 21-year-old daughter, who was conceived by in-vitro fertilization via a sperm donor.
See also: ___________________________________________________________________________
The Psychology of Donald Trump
From "Psychology Today":
Donald Trump's niece traces development of his “dangerous” psychology.
Posted August 8, 2020 | Reviewed by Matt Huston
In 2017, a group of mental health professionals gathered at a “duty to warn” conference and then published their informed opinions in the book, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, contending that he was unfit to be president (Lee, 2017).
In the book, they illustrated their professional perceptions of Donald Trump (DT) with his statements and actions known to that point. (See also the 2020 film, Unfit, for more discussions of the psychology of DT by clinicians.)
Many of the mental health professionals drew a connection between DT’s behavior and extreme or pathological narcissism (narcissistic personality disorder) which entails entitlement, exploitation, and empathy impairment, along with the typical characteristics of narcissism:
- Believing you are superior to others
- Fantasizing about success
- Exaggerating talents and achievements
- Expecting constant admiration and praise
- Believing you are special and acting that way
- Failing to recognize others’ feelings
- Expecting others to do what you want
- Taking advantage of others
- Expressing disdain for the “inferior”
- Jealousy of others
- Easily hurt and rejected
- Having a fragile self-esteem
- Appearing tough and unemotional
- Setting unrealistic goals
- Unable to keep healthy relationships
Craig Malkin, Ph.D., pointed out that pathological narcissism can spiral into a psychotic spiral of paranoia, impaired and volatile decision making, and gaslighting.
Lance Dodes, M.D., reminded readers of the characteristics
of antisocial personality disorder:
- Failure to conform to laws and social norms
- Deceitfulness
- Impulsivity
- Irritability and aggressiveness
- Reckless disregard for safety of others and of self
- Pattern of irresponsibility
- Lack of remorse
- Conduct disorder:
- impulsivity,
- aggressiveness,
- callousness,
- and deceitfulness
- starting before age 15)
Dodes discussed sociopathy and its various descriptions, which all include cruel, callous, bullying, dehumanizing, sadistic, unempathic, predatory, devaluing and immoral behavior.
Sociopaths project their feelings onto others, who are seen as aggressive and dangerous.
Sociopaths exhibit a loss of reality, attack others with raging outbursts. People are categorized in the moment as good or evil, with loyalty critical for landing in the “good” category. He described DT's behavior as fitting into these categories.
John D. Gartner, Ph.D., adopts Erich Fromm’s (1964) term malignant narcissism to describe DT’s behavior. Fromm said malignant narcissism represented the severest of pathologies, the cause of the most vicious destructiveness and inhumanity. Malignant narcissism includes narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial behavior, paranoid traits and sadism.
Gartner argued that DT’s behavior demonstrates not only the badness of malignant narcissism but madness—a hypomanic temperament needing constant stimulation.
What does Mary Trump’s book add to the picture?
Mary Trump, niece of DT and a mental health professional, has an inside scoop on the Trump family and writes about it in her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. As a clinician herself, she gives us insight into his childhood and family culture, linking them to his behavior today.
Mary Trump describes a nightmare of a childhood, relative to a supportive ecological system for raising a human being. DT's basic emotional needs were reportedly not provided for during sensitive periods.
He is described as having been an aggressive, uncontrollable child, suggesting that he was not provided with the responsive care needed in the first years of life.
Although she cannot show us his first two years of life, at the time when systems that undergird emotional and behavioral self-regulation, sociality and cooperation are being co-constructed by parental care, she tells us, he lost his mother to hospitalization and was left in the non-care of a “high-functioning sociopath” of a father, Fred Trump (p. 24).
According to her, Fred Trump had no interest in the children. He rebuffed the attachment-seeking behaviors of DT and his younger 9-month-old brother, Robert, who learned to equate neediness with “humiliation, despair, and hopelessness” (p. 25).
“Child abuse is, in some sense, the experience of “too much” or “not enough.” Donald directly experienced the “not enough” in the loss of connection to his mother at a crucial developmental stage, which was deeply traumatic. Without warning his needs weren’t being met, and his fears and longings went unsoothed.
Having been abandoned by his mother for at least a year, and having his father fail not only to meet his needs but to make him feel safe or loved, valued or mirrored, Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life. … As he grew older Donald was subjected to my grandfather’s “too muchness” at second hand—witnessing what happened to Freddy when he was on the receiving end of too much attention, too much expectation, and most saliently, too much humiliation.” (p. 26)
The world revolved around Fred’s authoritarianism. DT’s mother was reportedly narcissistic herself, “unstable and needy,” thinking more of her needs than those of her children (p. 23). She left the raising of the boys to her husband, who did not pay attention to anyone initially except DT’s older brother, Freddy (Mary Trump’s father), who was expected to take over the father’s business.
As Mary Trump tells it, DT watched as his father humiliated and smashed his elder brother’s spirit, a more sensitive and creative personality than his father or brother, characteristics unappreciated by his father who thought only of moneymaking and frugality—one’s financial worth was self-worth. DT watched and learned to be what his father wanted. His father was a successful real estate developer who benefited from government programs.
Fred was impressed with DT’s brashness and boldness. They got along well because they had similar traits and DT did not seem to let his father’s cruelty affect him.
She gives extensive examples of sociopathic behavior in the father: He was emotionally abusive toward everyone; people were belittled and silenced. She describes a certain emotional numbness in the household, inability to express vulnerability or soft feelings even when people were suffering or died.
What vices were encouraged in the family, as Mary Trump describes it? Lying, selfishness, contempt, cruelty, low empathy, hubris, using people, ruthlessness, greed. What virtues were discouraged? Empathy, kindness, humility, honesty. What was encouraged? Obedience to the will of Fred Trump.
This account of DT is the epitome of how child raising practices in dominator cultures damage children (Eisler & Fry, 2019), especially boys, who may have less built-in resilience and need more nurturing due to their slower maturation (Schore, 2017).
Under-nurtured boys often develop a focus on ranking, hierarchy, and dominance, not apparent in “harmonious” families who do not coerce their children (Baumrind, 1971), nor in our ancestral context (Sorenson, 1998).
In a dominator culture, nurturing is undervalued. Competition and ruthlessness are encouraged. When human beings are alienated from relationship, insecurely attached to mother, family, community and planet, they may be especially likely to become destructive (Fromm, 1941) because the wrong capacities will be enhanced—for domination (primitive systems that are prehuman and innate).
They “won’t know any better” because they are missing key capacities for social intelligence. They will have forms of dysregulation, such as emotional dysregulation—blaming others for their stress response. In the worst cases they will develop the pathologies mentioned above.
In the same 2017 book, Thomas Singer, M.D., puzzled over the American psyche that voted DT into office. He suggests, like others, that America has turned into a society expecting continuous entertainment and stimulation, not able to think too hard about complex topics.
Slogans and spectacle are more attractive. He thinks the nation has a wounded collective psyche. The wound is exhibited in an implicit extinction anxiety, which encompasses not only a person’s personal security (mobility, income, job security) but the country’s inequality, perceived challenges from non-white groups, standing in the world community, and planetary wellbeing.
When Americans say they “want their country back” they are expressing this complex anxiety.
A new movie, Unfit, interviews clinicians who discuss Donald Trump.
[End of Article]
Elvis Presley, "The King of Rock & Roll"
Double click on Image below to be taken to Original Topic covering Elvis under "Rock and Roll" Web Page:
Double click on Image below to be taken to Original Topic covering Elvis under "Rock and Roll" Web Page:
Barack and Michelle Obama along with
Daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama
Daughters Malia Obama and Sasha Obama
- YouTube Video: President Obama Discusses Life Post-Presidency And His Lifelong Passion For National Parks
- YouTube Video: Barack Obama speaks out on politics, life in the White House, and Donald Trump
- YouTube Video: MICHELLE OBAMA Opens Up On Her 8 Years In The White House: "We Know Too Much."
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 in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and as a civil rights lawyer and university lecturer.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a B.A. 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. He also went into elective politics. Obama represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president and chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.
Obama was elected president, defeating Republican Party nominee John McCain in the presidential election and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. Nine months later he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of praise and criticism.
Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis, and included:
Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He ordered the counterterrorism raid which killed Osama bin Laden and downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries.
Obama also ordered military involvement in Libya in order to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon emissions.
Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, and he negotiated a nuclear agreement with Iran and normalized relations with Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell dramatically during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency.
Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, and during his presidency the Supreme Court struck down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. His presidential library in Chicago began construction in 2021.
Legacy and recognition:
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." Zelizer 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.
Zelizer 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." Zelizer 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 financial crisis of 2007–2008, 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 LGB 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 the following U.S. troops in foreign territories 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 since Democratic President 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:
Main article: Barack Obama Presidential Center
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:
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Barack Obama
Obama received:
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 two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narrator for Our Great National Parks (2022), and Working: What We Do All Day (2023).
He also won two Children's and Family Emmy Awards.
Since leaving office, Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in various American elections, such as his former vice president Joe Biden in his successful bid for president in 2020.
Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books:
Rankings by scholars and historians, in which he has been featured since 2010, place him in the middle to upper tier of American presidents.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Barack Obama:
Politics
The Immediate Family of Barack Obama:
Wife and Former First Lady Michelle Obama
along with Daughters Sasha Obama & Malia Obama Pictured below: Sad News, Malia Obama Cried WheN She Was There to Send Younger Sister Sasha Obama off to College. (See also YouTube Video above).
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 in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and as a civil rights lawyer and university lecturer.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University in 1983 with a B.A. 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. He also went into elective politics. Obama represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from 1997 until 2004, when he successfully ran for the U.S. Senate. In 2008, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, he was nominated by the Democratic Party for president and chose Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.
Obama was elected president, defeating Republican Party nominee John McCain in the presidential election and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. Nine months later he was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, a decision that drew a mixture of praise and criticism.
Obama's first-term actions addressed the global financial crisis, and included:
- a major stimulus package, to guide the economy in recovering from the Great Recession,
- a partial extension of George W. Bush's tax cuts,
- legislation to reform health care,
- a major financial regulation reform bill,
- and the end of a major U.S. military presence in Iraq.
Obama also appointed Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, the former being the first Hispanic American on the Supreme Court. He ordered the counterterrorism raid which killed Osama bin Laden and downplayed Bush's counterinsurgency model, expanding air strikes and making extensive use of special forces, while encouraging greater reliance on host-government militaries.
Obama also ordered military involvement in Libya in order to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1973, contributing to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
After winning re-election by defeating Republican opponent Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2013. In his second term, Obama took steps to combat climate change, signing a major international climate agreement and an executive order to limit carbon emissions.
Obama also presided over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and other legislation passed in his first term, and he negotiated a nuclear agreement with Iran and normalized relations with Cuba. The number of American soldiers in Afghanistan fell dramatically during Obama's second term, though U.S. soldiers remained in the country throughout Obama's presidency.
Obama promoted inclusion for LGBT Americans, and during his presidency the Supreme Court struck down same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Obama left office on January 20, 2017, and continues to reside in Washington, D.C. His presidential library in Chicago began construction in 2021.
Legacy and recognition:
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." Zelizer 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.
Zelizer 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." Zelizer 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 financial crisis of 2007–2008, 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 LGB 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 the following U.S. troops in foreign territories at the end of his presidency::
- 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
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 since Democratic President 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:
Main article: Barack Obama Presidential Center
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:
Main article: List of awards and honors received by Barack Obama
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 two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Narrator for Our Great National Parks (2022), and Working: What We Do All Day (2023).
He also won two Children's and Family Emmy Awards.
Since leaving office, Obama has remained active in Democratic politics, including campaigning for candidates in various American elections, such as his former vice president Joe Biden in his successful bid for president in 2020.
Outside of politics, Obama has published three bestselling books:
- Dreams from My Father (1995),
- The Audacity of Hope (2006),
- and A Promised Land (2020).
Rankings by scholars and historians, in which he has been featured since 2010, place him in the middle to upper tier of American presidents.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Barack Obama:
- Early life and career
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Presidential campaigns - Presidency (2009–2017)
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Politics
- DREAM Act
- Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009
- Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
- IRS targeting controversy
- Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012
- National Broadband Plan (United States)
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- SPEECH Act
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- Other:
- Lists
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- Official
- Official website of The Obama Foundation
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- Column archive at The Huffington Post
- Barack Obama at Curlie
- United States Congress. "Barack Obama (id: O000167)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
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- Barack Obama collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Barack Obama articles in the archive of the Chicago Tribune
- Works by Barack Obama at Project Gutenberg
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- Barack Obama on Nobelprize.org
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The Immediate Family of Barack Obama:
Wife and Former First Lady Michelle Obama
along with Daughters Sasha Obama & Malia Obama Pictured below: Sad News, Malia Obama Cried WheN She Was There to Send Younger Sister Sasha Obama off to College. (See also YouTube Video above).
The Immediate Family of Barack Obama:
Michelle Obama:
Main article: Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer, university administrator, and writer who served as the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is Barack Obama's wife, and was the first African-American first lady.
Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and spent her early legal career working at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her husband.
She subsequently worked as the associate dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the vice president for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Barack and Michelle married in 1992.
Michelle campaigned for her husband's presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She returned to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and again during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she delivered a speech in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, and fellow first lady, Hillary Clinton.
As first lady, Michelle Obama sought to become a role model for women, an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating, and became a fashion icon.
Malia Obama and Sasha Obama
Barack and Michelle Obama have two daughters: Malia Ann (born July 4, 1998, and Natasha Marian (known as Sasha), born June 10, 2001. They were both delivered at University of Chicago Medical Center by their parents' friend and physician Anita Blanchard.
Sasha was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. arrived as an infant in 1961. In 2014, Malia and Sasha were named two of "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014" by Time magazine.
Before his inauguration, President Obama published an open letter to his daughters in Parade magazine, describing what he wants for them and every child in America: "to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world".
In July 2008, the family gave an interview to the television series Access Hollywood.
Obama later said they regretted allowing the children to be included. Malia and Sasha both graduated from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., the same school that Chelsea Clinton, Tricia Nixon Cox, Archibald Roosevelt and the grandchildren of Joe Biden (when he was Vice President) attended.
The Obama girls began classes there on January 5, 2009; Malia graduated in 2016. Before the family moved to Washington in 2009, both girls attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory School.
In his victory speech on the night of his election, President Obama repeated his promise to Sasha and Malia to get a puppy to take with them to the White House. The selection was slow because Malia is allergic to animal dander; the president subsequently said that the choice had been narrowed down to either a labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog, and that they hoped to find a shelter animal.
On April 12, 2009, it was reported that the Obamas had adopted a six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog given to them as a gift by Senator Ted Kennedy; Malia and Sasha named the dog Bo. The White House referred to Bo as the First Dog. In 2013, the family adopted a second Portuguese Water Dog named Sunny.
As a high school student, Malia Obama spent a portion of the summer in 2014 and 2015 working in television studios in New York and Los Angeles She spent the summer of 2016 working as an intern in the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain.
During the week June 26, 2016, to July 3, 2016, Michelle, Sasha, Malia, and Michelle's mother Marian Robinson went to Liberia to promote the Let Girls Learn Peace initiative, for which the United States has provided $27 million in aid.
They met with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia and the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Then they went to Morocco, where they had a panel with Freida Pinto and Meryl Streep moderated by CNN's Isha Sesay in Marrakesh and delivered a substantive amount of money to aid 62 million girls lacking access to formal education.
They proceeded to Spain where Michelle delivered a message about the initiative.
In August 2016, Sasha began working at Nancy's, a seafood restaurant in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. In the fall of 2016, Malia went on an 83-day trip to Bolivia and Peru.
In February 2017, Malia started an internship for Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company film studio in New York City.
In August 2017, Malia started attending Harvard University. Sasha graduated from Sidwell Friends in 2019 and began attending the University of Michigan in the fall.
Sasha transferred to the University of Southern California and graduated in 2023.
Malia graduated from Harvard in 2021 and began working as a writer on the Amazon Prime Video television series Swarm.
In spring 2023, Donald Glover confirmed that Malia was working on a short film for his production company;
The Heart, starring Tunde Adebimpe, was announced as part of the Short Cuts program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Written and directed by "Malia Ann" (her credited name), the film screened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, resided in the White House during the Obama presidency.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more abou The Extended Obama Family:
See also:
Michelle Obama:
Main article: Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer, university administrator, and writer who served as the First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is Barack Obama's wife, and was the first African-American first lady.
Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and spent her early legal career working at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her husband.
She subsequently worked as the associate dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the vice president for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Barack and Michelle married in 1992.
Michelle campaigned for her husband's presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She returned to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and again during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she delivered a speech in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, and fellow first lady, Hillary Clinton.
As first lady, Michelle Obama sought to become a role model for women, an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating, and became a fashion icon.
Malia Obama and Sasha Obama
Barack and Michelle Obama have two daughters: Malia Ann (born July 4, 1998, and Natasha Marian (known as Sasha), born June 10, 2001. They were both delivered at University of Chicago Medical Center by their parents' friend and physician Anita Blanchard.
Sasha was the youngest child to reside in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. arrived as an infant in 1961. In 2014, Malia and Sasha were named two of "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014" by Time magazine.
Before his inauguration, President Obama published an open letter to his daughters in Parade magazine, describing what he wants for them and every child in America: "to grow up in a world with no limits on your dreams and no achievements beyond your reach, and to grow into compassionate, committed women who will help build that world".
- While living in Chicago, the Obamas kept busy schedules, as the Associated Press reported: "soccer, dance and drama for Malia,
- gymnastics and tap for Sasha,
- piano and tennis for both".
In July 2008, the family gave an interview to the television series Access Hollywood.
Obama later said they regretted allowing the children to be included. Malia and Sasha both graduated from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., the same school that Chelsea Clinton, Tricia Nixon Cox, Archibald Roosevelt and the grandchildren of Joe Biden (when he was Vice President) attended.
The Obama girls began classes there on January 5, 2009; Malia graduated in 2016. Before the family moved to Washington in 2009, both girls attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory School.
In his victory speech on the night of his election, President Obama repeated his promise to Sasha and Malia to get a puppy to take with them to the White House. The selection was slow because Malia is allergic to animal dander; the president subsequently said that the choice had been narrowed down to either a labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog, and that they hoped to find a shelter animal.
On April 12, 2009, it was reported that the Obamas had adopted a six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog given to them as a gift by Senator Ted Kennedy; Malia and Sasha named the dog Bo. The White House referred to Bo as the First Dog. In 2013, the family adopted a second Portuguese Water Dog named Sunny.
As a high school student, Malia Obama spent a portion of the summer in 2014 and 2015 working in television studios in New York and Los Angeles She spent the summer of 2016 working as an intern in the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Spain.
During the week June 26, 2016, to July 3, 2016, Michelle, Sasha, Malia, and Michelle's mother Marian Robinson went to Liberia to promote the Let Girls Learn Peace initiative, for which the United States has provided $27 million in aid.
They met with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former president of Liberia and the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Then they went to Morocco, where they had a panel with Freida Pinto and Meryl Streep moderated by CNN's Isha Sesay in Marrakesh and delivered a substantive amount of money to aid 62 million girls lacking access to formal education.
They proceeded to Spain where Michelle delivered a message about the initiative.
In August 2016, Sasha began working at Nancy's, a seafood restaurant in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. In the fall of 2016, Malia went on an 83-day trip to Bolivia and Peru.
In February 2017, Malia started an internship for Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company film studio in New York City.
In August 2017, Malia started attending Harvard University. Sasha graduated from Sidwell Friends in 2019 and began attending the University of Michigan in the fall.
Sasha transferred to the University of Southern California and graduated in 2023.
Malia graduated from Harvard in 2021 and began working as a writer on the Amazon Prime Video television series Swarm.
In spring 2023, Donald Glover confirmed that Malia was working on a short film for his production company;
The Heart, starring Tunde Adebimpe, was announced as part of the Short Cuts program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Written and directed by "Malia Ann" (her credited name), the film screened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama's mother, resided in the White House during the Obama presidency.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more abou The Extended Obama Family:
See also:
- Family of Joe Biden
- List of African-American firsts
- New England Historic Genealogical Society
- "The Mystery of Michelle Obama's Roots" (Real Clear Politics)
- "Fashionable first daughters, Malia and Sasha" Archived July 21, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (New York Daily News news photos)
- Barack Obama's Family Tree – Photo Essays – Time
- "Though Obama Had to Leave to Find Himself, It Is Hawaii That Made His Rise Possible", by David Maraniss
- Barack Obama's Branch-y Family Tree by Jake Tapper
- "Obama Family Tree" series, by Scott Fornek
- "Notes on the Ancestry of Senator Barack Hussein Obama Jr.", by Gary Boyd Roberts
- "Obama, Clinton and McCain have some famous relations", by Associated Press
- "Tracking Michelle Obama's Slave Roots", by Joe Johns and Justine Redman
- Satirical Onion article about Obama son misinterpreted as fact
- Malia Obama collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Sasha Obama collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- "President Barack Obama's Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
- "Michelle Obama's Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
- "Obama's Irish family links by RTÉ
Pictured below:
Click on the image to be taken to the original topic found under the Innovations web page:
Click on the image to be taken to the original topic found under the Innovations web page:
Alexei Naalny (1976-2024), Russian Opposition Voice to Vladimir Putin
- YouTube Video: Alexei Navalny, in his own words
- YouTube Video: Navalny - Official Trailer
- YouTube Video: Daily Podcast: Did Russian opposition die with Alexei Navalny?
* -- Tucker Carlson's Interview of Vladimir Putin:
Alexei Navalny’s Death Makes Tucker Carlson’s Putin Interview Even More Dreadful
BY FRED KAPLAN, Slate News and Politics
FEB 16, 20241:37 PM
Is Tucker Carlson still in Moscow? I wonder if he was lounging in a café with his FSB handlers, laughing at their jokes while savoring a scrumptious pierogi, when the news broke that Alexei Navalny—Russia’s, perhaps the world’s, most famous political prisoner—had died in a Siberian prison at the age of 47.
Carlson had spent the week following his dreadful interview with Vladimir Putin on a guided tour of Moscow’s most sparkling sights. In videos posted on his website, he marvels at the Kievskaya subway station (“no graffiti, no filth, no rapists or people waiting to push you onto the tracks … nicer than anything in our country”), goes slack-jawed in a grocery store (where food prices are so low that he finds himself “radicalized” against American leaders), and admires the Russian capital’s “clean, safe streets.”
Until Friday, these videos seemed merely risible, the work of an ersatz journalist so naïve that he appears startlingly unaware of the long history of gullible Westerners falling for such cherry-picked displays of Soviet majesty.
Yes, the subway stations are magnificent. Does Carlson know they were dug by slave labor and designed by British engineers, some of whom Stalin jailed for espionage; that some of the gorgeous marble was taken from the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which Stalin had blown up in 1931?
Yes, the platforms, like the streets, are safe and clean, as are most facilities in authoritarian countries, but does he know about their facial-recognition sensors, which have led to dozens of protesters being arrested on the platforms?
The groceries at the store he visited are a quarter the price of American food, but even so, they are too expensive for the typical Russian, who earns one-sixth the money that the average American does.
Even so, had Carlson ventured outside Moscow’s center, much less into the country’s heartland, he would have found little cause for awe.
But today, after Navalny’s death, Carlson’s paeans to Putin’s Moscow seem still more repellent. Navalny—the last serious opposition leader, the one Russian figure who could coax tens of thousands of anti-Putin protesters out to the streets—will be recorded in history books as the great martyr of modern Russian democracy.
Carlson, to the extent he’s remembered at all, will take his place alongside Walter Duranty, the New York Times reporter of the 1930s who covered up Stalin’s crimes, romanticizing the murderous dictator as a great leader—though Duranty’s deeds were deliberate, stemming from ideology, whereas Carlson is simply a bumbler. (Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, something Carlson couldn’t even dream of; it was better late than never that the Times disowned the prize in 2003.)
At the end of his embarrassing interview with Putin (which even the Russian president later trashed, saying the questions were too “soft”), Carlson at least asked about the fate of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in a Russian prison, on trumped-up charges of espionage, for almost a year.
However, this seemed only prelude to Carlson’s request to take Evan back home with him—a favor that Putin brushed away. But did Carlson ask about Paul Whelan, another unjustly detained American? Did he ask about Navalny? (The interview, which seems unedited, contains no such questions.)
It is not, and may never be, known whether Navalny was outright murdered, as were other critics of Putin, such as former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, double agent Sergei Skripal, human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, and Chechen-war critic Sergei Yushenkov.
Either way, Navalny died in one of Putin’s most remote prisons, as a result of horrid conditions in other prisons, where he was placed as a result of challenging Putin’s rule.
[End of Article]
___________________________________________________________________________
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (Wikipedia)
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024) was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner.
He organised anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia and against President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member, the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
Through his social media channels, Navalny and his team published material about corruption in Russia, organised political demonstrations and promoted his campaigns. In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves", which became a popular epithet. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials and their associates.
Navalny twice received a suspended sentence for embezzlement, in 2013 and 2014. Both criminal cases were widely considered politically motivated and intended to bar him from running in future elections. He ran in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and came in second with 27% of the vote but was barred from running in the 2018 presidential election.
In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service.
In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was hospitalised in Germany. Following his arrest, mass protests were held across Russia. In February 2021, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and a half years' detention, and his organisations were later designated as extremist and liquidated.
In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial described as a sham by Amnesty International; his appeal was rejected and in June, he was transferred to a high-security prison.
In August 2023, Navalny was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison on extremism charges.
In December 2023, Navalny went missing from prison for almost three weeks. He re-emerged in an Arctic Circle corrective colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
On 16 February 2024, the Russian prison service reported that Navalny had died at the age of 47. His death sparked protests, both in Russia and in various other countries.
Accusations against the Russian authorities in connection with his death have been made by Western governments and international organisations.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks or more about Alexei Navalny:
Alexei Navalny’s Death Makes Tucker Carlson’s Putin Interview Even More Dreadful
BY FRED KAPLAN, Slate News and Politics
FEB 16, 20241:37 PM
Is Tucker Carlson still in Moscow? I wonder if he was lounging in a café with his FSB handlers, laughing at their jokes while savoring a scrumptious pierogi, when the news broke that Alexei Navalny—Russia’s, perhaps the world’s, most famous political prisoner—had died in a Siberian prison at the age of 47.
Carlson had spent the week following his dreadful interview with Vladimir Putin on a guided tour of Moscow’s most sparkling sights. In videos posted on his website, he marvels at the Kievskaya subway station (“no graffiti, no filth, no rapists or people waiting to push you onto the tracks … nicer than anything in our country”), goes slack-jawed in a grocery store (where food prices are so low that he finds himself “radicalized” against American leaders), and admires the Russian capital’s “clean, safe streets.”
Until Friday, these videos seemed merely risible, the work of an ersatz journalist so naïve that he appears startlingly unaware of the long history of gullible Westerners falling for such cherry-picked displays of Soviet majesty.
Yes, the subway stations are magnificent. Does Carlson know they were dug by slave labor and designed by British engineers, some of whom Stalin jailed for espionage; that some of the gorgeous marble was taken from the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which Stalin had blown up in 1931?
Yes, the platforms, like the streets, are safe and clean, as are most facilities in authoritarian countries, but does he know about their facial-recognition sensors, which have led to dozens of protesters being arrested on the platforms?
The groceries at the store he visited are a quarter the price of American food, but even so, they are too expensive for the typical Russian, who earns one-sixth the money that the average American does.
Even so, had Carlson ventured outside Moscow’s center, much less into the country’s heartland, he would have found little cause for awe.
But today, after Navalny’s death, Carlson’s paeans to Putin’s Moscow seem still more repellent. Navalny—the last serious opposition leader, the one Russian figure who could coax tens of thousands of anti-Putin protesters out to the streets—will be recorded in history books as the great martyr of modern Russian democracy.
Carlson, to the extent he’s remembered at all, will take his place alongside Walter Duranty, the New York Times reporter of the 1930s who covered up Stalin’s crimes, romanticizing the murderous dictator as a great leader—though Duranty’s deeds were deliberate, stemming from ideology, whereas Carlson is simply a bumbler. (Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932, something Carlson couldn’t even dream of; it was better late than never that the Times disowned the prize in 2003.)
At the end of his embarrassing interview with Putin (which even the Russian president later trashed, saying the questions were too “soft”), Carlson at least asked about the fate of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in a Russian prison, on trumped-up charges of espionage, for almost a year.
However, this seemed only prelude to Carlson’s request to take Evan back home with him—a favor that Putin brushed away. But did Carlson ask about Paul Whelan, another unjustly detained American? Did he ask about Navalny? (The interview, which seems unedited, contains no such questions.)
It is not, and may never be, known whether Navalny was outright murdered, as were other critics of Putin, such as former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, journalist Anna Politkovskaya, double agent Sergei Skripal, human rights activist Natalya Estemirova, and Chechen-war critic Sergei Yushenkov.
Either way, Navalny died in one of Putin’s most remote prisons, as a result of horrid conditions in other prisons, where he was placed as a result of challenging Putin’s rule.
[End of Article]
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Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (Wikipedia)
Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (4 June 1976 – 16 February 2024) was a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner.
He organised anti-government demonstrations and ran for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia and against President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Navalny was a Russian Opposition Coordination Council member, the leader of the Russia of the Future party and founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). He was recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, and was awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work on human rights.
Through his social media channels, Navalny and his team published material about corruption in Russia, organised political demonstrations and promoted his campaigns. In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves", which became a popular epithet. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials and their associates.
Navalny twice received a suspended sentence for embezzlement, in 2013 and 2014. Both criminal cases were widely considered politically motivated and intended to bar him from running in future elections. He ran in the 2013 Moscow mayoral election and came in second with 27% of the vote but was barred from running in the 2018 presidential election.
In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalised in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service.
In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole conditions while he was hospitalised in Germany. Following his arrest, mass protests were held across Russia. In February 2021, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and a half years' detention, and his organisations were later designated as extremist and liquidated.
In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial described as a sham by Amnesty International; his appeal was rejected and in June, he was transferred to a high-security prison.
In August 2023, Navalny was sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison on extremism charges.
In December 2023, Navalny went missing from prison for almost three weeks. He re-emerged in an Arctic Circle corrective colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
On 16 February 2024, the Russian prison service reported that Navalny had died at the age of 47. His death sparked protests, both in Russia and in various other countries.
Accusations against the Russian authorities in connection with his death have been made by Western governments and international organisations.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks or more about Alexei Navalny:
- Early life and education
- Legal career
- Political activity
- Anti-corruption investigations
- Criminal cases
- Poisoning and recovery
- Imprisonment
- Death
- Reception
- Political positions
- Awards and honours
- Family and personal life
- Books and publications
- See also:
- 2017–2018 Russian protests
- 2019 Moscow protests
- 2021 Russian protests
- List of designated prisoners of conscience
- List of people who survived assassination attempts
- List of solved missing person cases
- List of prison deaths
- Official website (in Russian)
- Navalny's page for the Yale World Fellows Program
- "Palace for Putin. History of the biggest bribery" – a video released by Navalny on 19 January 2021, after returning to Moscow.
- Rai News 24. Video footages (16-17 February 2024; 2:43) of a convoy, presumably carrying the body of Alexei Navalny, moving from Labytnangi across Ob to Salehard. Rai News 24, 20 February 2024
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