Portal:United States
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Parent Portals: Geography / North America / United States
Introduction
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The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.
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Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. Its most populous subdivision is Fairfax County, part of Northern Virginia, where slightly over a third of Virginia's population of more than 8.8 million live.
Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...) -
The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. Although the uprising was part of a larger one, the Mexican Federalist War, that included other provinces opposed to the regime of President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government believed the United States had instigated the Texas insurrection with the goal of annexation. The Mexican Congress passed the Tornel Decree, declaring that any foreigners fighting against Mexican troops "will be deemed pirates and dealt with as such, being citizens of no nation presently at war with the Republic and fighting under no recognized flag". Only the province of Texas succeeded in breaking with Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas. It was eventually annexed by the United States about a decade later.
The revolution began in October 1835, after a decade of political and cultural clashes between the Mexican government and the increasingly large population of Anglo-American settlers in Texas. The Mexican government had become increasingly centralized and the rights of its citizens had become increasingly curtailed, particularly regarding immigration from the United States. Mexico had officially abolished slavery in Texas in 1829, and the desire of Anglo Texans to maintain the institution of chattel slavery in Texas was also a major cause of secession. Colonists and Tejanos disagreed on whether the ultimate goal was independence or a return to the Mexican Constitution of 1824. While delegates at the Consultation (provisional government) debated the war's motives, Texians and a flood of volunteers from the United States defeated the small garrisons of Mexican soldiers by mid-December 1835. The Consultation declined to declare independence and installed an interim government, whose infighting led to political paralysis and a dearth of effective governance in Texas. An ill-conceived proposal to invade Matamoros siphoned much-needed volunteers and provisions from the fledgling Texian Army. In March 1836, a second political convention declared independence and appointed leadership for the new Republic of Texas. (Full article...) -
Edward Urner Goodman (May 15, 1891 – March 13, 1980) was an
influential leader in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) movement for much of the twentieth century. Goodman was the national program director from 1931 until 1951, during the organization's formative years of significant growth when the Cub Scouting and Exploring programs were established. He developed the BSA's national training center in the early 1930s and was responsible for publication of the widely read Boy Scout Handbook and other Scouting books, writing the Leaders Handbook used by Scout leaders in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s, Goodman was executive director of Men's Work for the National Council of Churches in New York City and active in church work.
Goodman is best remembered today for having created the Order of the Arrow (OA), a popular and highly successful program of the BSA that continues to honor Scouts for their cheerful service. Since its founding in 1915, the Order of the Arrow has grown to become a nationwide program having thousands of members, which recognizes those Scouts who best exemplify the virtues of cheerful service, camping, and leadership by membership in BSA's honor society. As of 2007, the Order of the Arrow has more than 183,000 members. (Full article...) -
William Feiner SJ (born Wilhelm Feiner; December 27, 1792 – June 9, 1829) was a German Catholic priest and Jesuit who became a missionary to the United States and eventually the president of Georgetown College, now known as Georgetown University.
Born in Münster, he taught in Jesuit schools in the Russian Empire and Polish Galicia as a young member of the Society of Jesus. He then emigrated to the United States several years after the restoration of the Society, taking up pastoral work and teaching theology in Conewago, Pennsylvania, before becoming a full-time professor at Georgetown College. There, he also became the second dedicated librarian of Georgetown's library. Eventually, Feiner became president of the college in 1826. While president, he taught theology at Georgetown and ministered to the congregation at Holy Trinity Church. (Full article...) -
Night of January 16th (sometimes advertised as The Night of January 16th) is a theatrical play by Russian-born American writer Ayn Rand, inspired by the death of Swedish industrialist Ivar Kreuger. The play is set in a courtroom during a murder trial, and an unusual feature is that members of the audience are chosen to play the jury. The court hears the case of Karen Andre, a former secretary and lover of businessman Bjorn Faulkner who is accused of his murder. The play does not directly portray the events leading to Faulkner's death; instead the jury must rely on character testimony to decide whether Andre is guilty. The play's ending depends on the verdict. Rand's intention was to dramatize a conflict between individualism and conformity, with the jury's verdict revealing which viewpoint they preferred.
The play was first produced in 1934 in Los Angeles under the title Woman on Trial; it received mostly positive reviews and enjoyed moderate commercial success. Producer Al Woods took it to Broadway during the 1935–36 season and re-titled it Night of January 16th. It drew attention for its innovative audience-member jury and became a hit, running for seven months. Doris Nolan, in her Broadway debut, received positive reviews for her portrayal of the lead role. Several regional productions followed. An off-Broadway revival in 1973, under the title Penthouse Legend, was a commercial and critical failure. A film based on the play was released in 1941; the story has also been adapted for television and radio. (Full article...) -
On March 27, 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive eruption took place on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am. The eruption, which had a volcanic explosivity index of 5, was the first to occur in the contiguous United States since the much smaller 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California. It has often been considered the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history.
The eruption was preceded by a two-month series of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes caused by an injection of magma at shallow depth below the volcano that created a large bulge and a fracture system on the mountain's north slope. An earthquake at 8:32:11 am PDT (UTC−7) on May 18, 1980, caused the entire weakened north face to slide away, a sector collapse which was the largest subaerial landslide in recorded history. This allowed the partly molten rock, rich in high-pressure gas and steam, to suddenly explode northward toward Spirit Lake in a hot mix of lava and pulverized older rock, overtaking the landslide. An eruption column rose 80,000 feet (24 km; 15 mi) into the atmosphere and deposited ash in 11 U.S. states and various Canadian provinces. At the same time, snow, ice, and several entire glaciers on the volcano melted, forming a series of large lahars (volcanic mudslides) that reached as far as the Columbia River, nearly 50 miles (80 km) to the southwest. Less severe outbursts continued into the next day, only to be followed by other large, but not as destructive, eruptions later that year. The thermal energy released during the eruption was equal to 26 megatons of TNT. (Full article...) -
Abby is an American sitcom created by Nat Bernstein and Mitchel Katlin that aired for one season on UPN from January 6, 2003, to March 4, 2003. The show revolves around television producer Abigail "Abby" Walker (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) and her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Will Jeffries (Kadeem Hardison). After they break up in the pilot episode, they agree to live together as friends in their rent-controlled San Francisco apartment.
Bernstein and Katlin had intended to feature Abby and Will as an interracial couple and had cast Sean O'Bryan, a white actor, as Will. After a negative response from test audiences, they gave the role to Hardison and recast O'Bryan as a supporting character, along with Randy J. Goodwin and Tangie Ambrose. (Full article...) -
Flower Drum Song was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the West End and on tour. It was adapted for a 1961 musical film.
After their extraordinary early successes, beginning with Oklahoma! in 1943, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written two musicals in the 1950s that did not do well and sought a new hit to revive their fortunes. Lee's novel focuses on a father, Wang Chi-yang, a wealthy refugee from China, who clings to traditional values in San Francisco's Chinatown. Rodgers and Hammerstein shifted the focus of the musical to his son, Wang Ta, who is torn between his Chinese roots and assimilation into American culture. The team hired Gene Kelly to make his debut as a stage director with the musical and scoured the country for a suitable Asian – or at least, plausibly Asian-looking – cast. The musical, more light-hearted than Lee's novel, was profitable on Broadway and was followed by a national tour. (Full article...) -
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (/ˈbaɪdərbɛk/ BY-dər-bek; March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical approach and purity of tone, with such clarity of sound that one contemporary famously described it like "shooting bullets at a bell”.
His solos on seminal recordings such as "Singin' the Blues" and "I'm Coming, Virginia" (both 1927) demonstrate a gift for extended improvisation that heralded the jazz ballad style, in which jazz solos are an integral part of the composition. Moreover, his use of extended chords and an ability to improvise freely along harmonic as well as melodic lines are echoed in post-WWII developments in jazz. "In a Mist" (1927) is the best known of Beiderbecke's published piano compositions and the only one that he recorded. His piano style reflects both jazz and classical (mainly impressionist) influences. All five of his piano compositions were published by Robbins Music during his lifetime. (Full article...) -
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress and producer. She is known for starring in both action film franchises and independent dramas, and her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide. The world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, she appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world list in 2013 and the Forbes Celebrity 100 list from 2013 to 2016.
Lawrence began her career as a teenager with guest roles on television. Her first major role was as a main cast member on the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–2009). She made her film debut with a supporting role in the drama Garden Party (2008) and had her breakthrough playing a poverty-stricken teenager in the independent film Winter's Bone (2010). Lawrence gained stardom portraying the mutant Mystique in the X-Men film series (2011–2019) and Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015). The latter made her the highest-grossing action heroine. (Full article...) -
"Pilot", also known as "Everybody Lies", is the first episode of the medical drama House. It premiered on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. It introduces the character of managerial, antisocial Dr. Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) and his team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. The episode features House's attempts to diagnose a kindergarten teacher after she collapses in class.
House was created by David Shore, who got the idea for the misanthropic title character from a doctor's visit. Initially, producer Bryan Singer wanted an American to play House, but British actor Hugh Laurie's audition convinced him that a foreign actor could play the role. Shore wrote House as a character with parallels to Sherlock Holmes—both are drug users, blunt, and close to being friendless. The show's producers wanted House disabled in some way and gave the character a damaged leg arising from an improper diagnosis. (Full article...) -
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influential figure in popular music.
After signing with Interscope Records in 2007, Gaga achieved global recognition with her debut album, The Fame (2008), and its reissue The Fame Monster (2009). The project scored a string of successful singles, including "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "Bad Romance", "Telephone", and "Alejandro". Her second full-length album, Born This Way (2011), explored electronic rock and techno-pop and sold more than one million copies first-week. Its title track became the fastest-selling song on the iTunes Store, with over one million downloads in less than a week. Following her electronic dance music-influenced third album, Artpop (2013), she pursued jazz on the album Cheek to Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennett, and delved into soft rock on the album Joanne (2016). (Full article...) -
Lady Blue is an American detective and action-adventure television series. Produced by David Gerber, it originally aired for one season on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) network from September 15, 1985, to January 25, 1986. It was picked up by ABC after its pilot aired as a television film on April 15, 1985. The show revolves around Chicago detective Katy Mahoney (Jamie Rose) and her violent methods of handling cases. The supporting cast includes Danny Aiello, Ron Dean, Diane Dorsey, Bruce A. Young, Nan Woods, and Ricardo Gutierrez. Johnny Depp also guest-starred on the series in one of his earliest roles. With cinematography by Jack Priestley, the episodes were filmed on location in Chicago. Television critics noted Lady Blue's emphasis on violence, calling Mahoney "Dirty Harriet" (after Clint Eastwood's character Dirty Harry). Rose said she joined the project after being drawn to its genre. She prepared for the role by watching Eastwood's films, received advice from Eastwood on how to handle a gun, and practiced at a shooting range.
After the pilot aired, Lady Blue was criticized by several watchdog organizations (particularly the National Coalition on Television Violence) as the most violent show on television. ABC moved the series from Thursdays to Saturdays before cancelling it in early 1986, partially due to the complaints about excessive violence. Critical reception to the series was primarily negative during its run, but television studies author Cary O'Dell questions whether that stemmed from contemporary sexism. Lady Blue has not been released on DVD, Blu-ray, or an online streaming service. The series' rights are owned by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, but there are no plans for future home releases. (Full article...) -
Ormond Beatty (August 13, 1815 – June 24, 1890) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was the seventh president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. An 1835 graduate of Centre, Beatty became a professor the following year and taught chemistry, natural philosophy, mathematics, metaphysics, biblical history, and church history over the course of his career. He was selected to fill the position of president pro tempore following the resignation of William L. Breckinridge in 1868 and was unanimously elected president by the board of trustees in 1870. He was Centre's first president who was not a Christian minister, and he led the school until his resignation in 1888, at which point he taught for two additional years before his death in 1890. Beatty also involved himself in religious affairs, serving as a ruling elder in the First and Second Presbyterian Churches in Danville, as a commissioner to three Presbyterian Church General Assemblies, and as a trustee of the Danville Theological Seminary. (Full article...) -
"Abyssinia, Henry" is the 72nd episode of the American teleivision series M*A*S*H, and the final episode of the third season. Written by Everett Greenbaum and Jim Fritzell, it first aired on March 18, 1975. The episode is notable for its shocking ending, in which the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital's amiable commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (played by McLean Stevenson), receives an honorable discharge and leaves for home but, in the final scene, is reported to be killed by enemy fire. This ending prompted more than 1,000 letters to series producers Gene Reynolds and Larry Gelbart, and drew fire from both CBS and 20th Century Fox.
The title of the episode refers to the 1920s–1930s slang use of "Abyssinia" for "goodbye". ("Abyssinia", pronounced /ˌæbɪˈsɪniə/, can be understood as "I'll be seeing you".) (Full article...) -
The Harry F. Sinclair House is a mansion at the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The house was built between 1897 and 1899. Over the first half of the 20th century, the house was successively the residence of businessmen Isaac D. Fletcher and Harry F. Sinclair, and then the descendants of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director of New Netherland. The Ukrainian Institute of America acquired the home in 1955. After the house gradually fell into disrepair, the institute renovated the building in the 1990s. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
The mansion was designed in an eclectic French Renaissance style by C. P. H. Gilbert and built by foreman Harvey Murdock. The building largely retains its original design, except for a tankhouse on the roof. Gilbert and Murdock constructed the bulk of the house with brick, which was then faced with limestone ashlar. The northern facade on 79th Street, containing the main entrance, is characterized by multiple windows in square recesses or semi-elliptical and fully Gothic arches. The western facade on Fifth Avenue is symmetrical and dominated by a curved, projecting pavilion. The interior of the mansion comprises 27 rooms on six floors, for a total floor-space of 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2). Critical reviews of the house's architecture over its history have been largely positive. (Full article...) -
Billy Joe Tolliver (born February 7, 1966) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) for twelve seasons with the San Diego Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, Houston Oilers, Shreveport Pirates, Kansas City Chiefs, and New Orleans Saints. Over the course of his NFL career, he played in 79 games, completed 891 of 1,707 passes for 10,760 yards, threw 59 touchdowns and 64 interceptions, and retired with a passer rating of 67.7.
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A graduate of Boyd High School and Texas Tech University, Tolliver was selected in the second round of the 1989 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers. He started 19 games in two seasons at San Diego before being traded to Atlanta, where he saw playing time as a backup for three seasons. In 1994, he became one of three starting quarterbacks for Houston and then served as quarterback of the Shreveport Pirates in the CFL during their final season of activity in 1995. After not competing in 1996, Tolliver played for both Atlanta and Kansas City in 1997. He then started 11 games for New Orleans in two seasons but did not take the field in 2000. A stint with the Green Bay Packers in the 2001 offseason concluded his professional career. (Full article...) -
Angelina Jolie (/dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-LEE; born Angelina Jolie Voight, /ˈvɔɪt/; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. The recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Tony Award and three Golden Globe Awards, she has been named Hollywood's highest-paid actress multiple times.
Jolie made her screen debut as a child alongside her father, Jon Voight, in Lookin' to Get Out (1982). Her film career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993), followed by her first leading role in Hackers (1995). After starring in the television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), Jolie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1999 drama Girl, Interrupted. Her portrayal of the titular heroine in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) established her as a leading lady. Jolie's success continued with roles in the action films Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), and Salt (2010), as well as in the fantasy film Maleficent (2014) and its 2019 sequel. She also had voice roles in the animated films Shark Tale (2004) and Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–2016), and gained praise for her dramatic performances in A Mighty Heart (2007), Changeling (2008), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Maria (2024). (Full article...) -
The 1880 Republican National Convention convened from June 2 to June 8, 1880, at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Delegates nominated James A. Garfield of Ohio and Chester A. Arthur of New York as the official Republican Party candidates for president and vice president in the 1880 presidential election.
Of the 14 men in contention for the Republican nomination, the three strongest leading up to the convention were Ulysses S. Grant, James G. Blaine, and John Sherman. Grant had served two terms as president from 1869 to 1877, and was seeking an unprecedented third term in office. He was backed by the Stalwart faction of the Republican Party, which supported political machines and patronage. Blaine was a senator and former representative from Maine who was backed by the Half-Breed faction of the Republican Party. Sherman, the brother of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, was serving as Secretary of the Treasury under President Rutherford B. Hayes. A former senator from Ohio, he was backed by delegates who did not support the Stalwarts or Half-Breeds. (Full article...) -
William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with the public when an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, shot him twice in the abdomen. McKinley died on September 14 of gangrene caused by the wounds. He was the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.
McKinley enjoyed meeting the public and was reluctant to accept the security available to his office. Secretary to the President George B. Cortelyou feared that an assassination attempt would take place during a visit to the Temple of Music and took it off the schedule twice, but McKinley restored it each time. (Full article...) -
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (often referred to simply as Sgt. Pepper) is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.
At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, Revolver (1966), this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24 November at EMI Studios with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from EMI, the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track. (Full article...) -
Main building and Cadet Corps of Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1916
The history of Texas A&M University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, began in 1871, when the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was established as a land-grant college by the Reconstruction-era Texas Legislature. Classes began on October 4, 1876. Although Texas A&M was originally scheduled to be established under the Texas Constitution as a branch of the yet-to-be-created University of Texas, subsequent acts of the Texas Legislature never gave the university any authority over Texas A&M. In 1875, the Legislature separated the administrations of A&M and the University of Texas, which still existed only on paper.
For much of its first century, enrollment at Texas A&M was restricted to men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. During this time, a limited number of women were allowed to attend classes but forbidden from gaining a degree. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France. During World War II, Texas A&M produced over 20,000 combat troops, contributing more officers than both the United States Military Academy and United States Naval Academy combined. (Full article...) -
To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World, commonly referred to as the Victory or Death letter, is an open letter written on February 24, 1836, by William B. Travis, commander of the Texian forces at the Battle of the Alamo, to settlers in Mexican Texas. The letter is renowned as a "declaration of defiance" and a "masterpiece of American patriotism", and forms part of the history education of Texas schoolchildren.
On February 23, the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas had been besieged by Mexican forces led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Fearing that his small group of men could not withstand an assault, Travis wrote this letter seeking reinforcements and supplies from supporters. The letter closes with Travis's vow of "Victory or Death!", an emotion which has been both praised and derided by historians. (Full article...) -
Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. It stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town. Murray Hamilton plays the mayor, and Lorraine Gary portrays Brody's wife. The screenplay is credited to Benchley, who wrote the first drafts, and actor-writer Carl Gottlieb, who rewrote the script during principal photography.
Shot mostly on location at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts from May to October 1974, Jaws was the first major motion picture to be shot on the ocean and consequently had a troubled production, going over budget and schedule. As the art department's mechanical sharks often malfunctioned, Spielberg decided to mostly suggest the shark's presence, employing an ominous and minimalist theme created by composer John Williams to indicate its impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures' release of the film to over 450 screens was an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture at the time, and it was accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign that heavily emphasized television spots and tie-in merchandise. (Full article...) -
The action of 1 August 1801 was a single-ship action of the First Barbary War fought between the American schooner USS Enterprise and the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli off the coast of modern-day Libya.
As part of Commodore Richard Dale's Mediterranean Squadron, Enterprise had been deployed with the American force blockading the Vilayet of Tripoli. Enterprise, under the command of Lieutenant Andrew Sterett, had been sent by Commodore Dale to gather supplies at Malta. While cruising towards Malta, Enterprise engaged Tripoli, commanded by Admiral Rais Mahomet Rous. Tripoli put up a stubborn fight and perfidiously feigned surrender three times in an engagement lasting three hours before the polacca was finally captured by the Americans. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Nathaniel Coe declined nomination to the United States Senate, instead choosing to serve as an inspector for the United States Postal Service?
- ... that Ralph E. Brock was the first academically trained African-American forester in the United States?
- ... that in 1945 the US Army confiscated the Hotel Rose in Wiesbaden, which is now the Hessian State Chancellery?
- ... that the Piedmont Hotel hosted a former, a current, and a future U.S. president in one week?
- ... that a pending case at the United States Supreme Court, Haaland v. Brackeen, "could completely erase tribal sovereignty"?
- ... that wood type for printing was invented in China, first mass-produced in the United States, and later exported back to China for use by missionaries?
- ... that United States Air Force colonel Virgil K. Meroney flew two combat missions with his son before his son was killed in action in March 1969, during the Vietnam War?
- ... that James Edward Moore was the chief of staff of the Ninth United States Army, which Omar Bradley described as "uncommonly normal"?
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Photograph: William Henry Jackson; Restoration: BammeskDenver is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded in 1858, the city is named after James W. Denver, a governor of the Kansas Territory, and it is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.3 meters) above sea level. Formerly part of Arapahoe County, Denver became a consolidated city-county in 1902.
This picture shows a panorama of Denver in around 1898, viewed from the top of the Colorado State Capitol, facing northwest and looking down 16th St. The domed building on the left is the former Arapahoe County Courthouse, demolished in 1933, and the Brown Palace Hotel is visible on the righthand side. -
Artist: George Munger; Restoration: Lise BroerIn the evening hours of August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces attacked Washington, D.C., setting fire to the White House and the unfinished Capitol Building (damage to latter shown here), among other buildings. This was the second and last time in United States history that a foreign power has captured and occupied the United States capital. -
The mushroom cloud from the Ivy Mike nuclear test, one of two tests conducted as part of Operation Ivy at the Pacific Proving Grounds on Elugelab in the Marshall Islands. Mike was the first successful full-scale test of a multi-megaton thermonuclear weapon, and it left an underwater crater 6,240 ft (1,900 m) wide and 164 ft (50 m) deep where the island had been. -
Photograph: Jack Weir; restoration: CarolSpearsApollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans, commander Neil Armstrong and LM pilot Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon. On July 21, 1969, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. This mission quickly captured the public's imagination and became prominent in popular culture. Over 530 million viewers worldwide watched the Moon landing, and it received widespread newspaper coverage. For example, the July 21, 1969, edition of The Washington Post—shown here—used the main headline "'The Eagle Has Landed'—Two Men Walk on the Moon". In subsequent years, the Moon landing has been frequently depicted or referenced in media, including in literature, films, and video games. -
Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew ShivaJohn Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, minister and ambassador to foreign nations, and treaty negotiator, United States Senator, Congressman from Massachusetts, and the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. Involved in negotiating the treaties of Ghent, 1818, and Adams–Onís, Adams has been called one of the United States' greatest diplomats and secretaries of state. As president, he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education, paying off much of the national debt despite being stymied by a Congress controlled by opponents and lacking patronage networks. Historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president. -
Engraving credit: W. W. Rice, after Robert Walter Weir; restored by Andrew ShivaArtists producing art and engraving on United States banknotes began experimenting with copper plates as an alternative to wood engraving in the early 18th century. Applied to the production of paper currency, copper-plate engraving, and later steel engraving, enabled banknote design and printing to rapidly advance during the 19th century. This vignette, engraved by W. W. Rice, appeared on certain United States fifty-dollar bills issued in 1875. Produced for the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the engraving is of Robert Walter Weir's painting Embarkation of the Pilgrims, which hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda. It depicts the Pilgrims on the deck of the ship Speedwell as they depart Delfshaven in South Holland on July 22, 1620. They met additional colonists at Southampton, England, and transferred to the Mayflower before sailing to the New World. -
Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew ShivaBenjamin Harrison (1833–1901) was a politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd President of the United States from 1889 to 1893. Before ascending to the presidency, Harrison established himself as a prominent local attorney, church leader, and politician in Indianapolis, Indiana, and as a Union Army soldier in the American Civil War. After a term in the U.S. Senate (1881–1887), the Republican Harrison was elected to the presidency in 1888. Hallmarks of his administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and Sherman Antitrust Act, as well as modernizing the U.S. Navy and admitting six new western states to the Union. -
Photograph credit: Los Angeles Times; restored by RhododendritesHelen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She lost her sight and hearing after a bout of illness at the age of nineteen months. When she was seven years old, she met her first teacher and life-long companion, Anne Sullivan, who taught her language skills, including reading and writing. After attending Radcliffe College at Harvard University, she became the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She worked for the American Foundation for the Blind for many years, during which time she toured the United States and traveled to 35 countries around the world. This 1920 photograph depicts Keller examining a magnolia flower. -
Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew ShivaThe Utah Territory was a U.S. territory in the Western United States that existed from its creation on September 9, 1850, to its admission to the Union on January 4, 1896 as the State of Utah. This picture shows the Utah Territory's historical coat of arms, as illustrated by American engraver Henry Mitchell in State Arms of the Union, published in 1876 by Louis Prang. The escutcheon depicts a beehive, representing the state's industrious and hard-working inhabitants, and sego lilies symbolizing peace. -
Artist: Daniel A. Jenks; Restoration: Papa Lima WhiskeyA drawing of travelers on the California Trail, one of the major emigrant trails across the Western United States used by over 250,000 people heading west during the California Gold Rush. This, combined with those coming from the east across the Isthmus of Panama or around Cape Horn, greatly increased the population of California, and spurred the movement to make it the 31st U.S. state. -
Painting credit: Gilbert StuartThe Lansdowne portrait is an iconic life-size portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart in 1796. It depicts the 64-year-old president of the United States during his final year in office. The portrait was a gift to the former British prime minister William Petty, 1st Marquess of Lansdowne, and spent more than 170 years in England. In 1968, it was loaned to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and purchased by the gallery in 2001. This copy of the Lansdowne portrait, also painted by Stuart, hangs in the East Room of the White House; it was rescued by First Lady Dolley Madison during the Burning of Washington in 1814. -
Photo credit: Dorothea LangeA 1935 photo of a family of migrant workers in California, United States, during the Great Depression. In the United States, the term "migrant worker" is commonly used to describe low-wage workers performing manual labor in the agriculture field. During the Great Depression, Okies who fled the Dust Bowl were a significant source of temporary farm labor. Outside the U.S., the modern definition of the term by the United Nations includes anyone working outside of their home country. -
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaWilliam Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773 – April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States in 1841. He died of typhoid, pneumonia or paratyphoid fever 31 days into his term, becoming the first president to die in office. His death sparked a brief constitutional crisis regarding succession to the presidency. Vice President John Tyler claimed a constitutional mandate to become the new president and took the presidential oath of office, setting an important precedent for an orderly transfer of the presidency and its full powers when the previous president fails to complete the elected term. -
Photo credit: Johnson & RogersA panorama of Dallas, Texas, April 1, 1913. Dallas, which was incorporated on February 2, 1856, is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. -
The 1933 double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a $20 face value. 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens double eagle were minted in 1933, the last year of production for the double eagle, but no specimens ever officially circulated, and nearly all were melted down due to the discontinuance of the domestic gold standard in 1933. It currently holds the record for the highest price paid at auction for a single U.S. coin, having been sold for $7.59 million.
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Selected culture biography -
Zappa was married to Kathryn J. "Kay" Sherman from 1960 to 1964. In 1967, he married Adelaide Gail Sloatman, with whom he remained until his death from prostate cancer in 1993. They had four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. Gail Zappa manages the businesses of her late husband under the name the Zappa Family Trust.
Selected location -
The comprises five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. With over 8.2 million residents within an area of 322 square miles (830 km²), it's the most densely populated major city in the United States.
Many of the city's neighborhoods and landmarks are known around the world. The Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they arrived at Ellis Island in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wall Street is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The city has had several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.
New York is the birthplace of many cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art, abstract expressionism in painting, and hip hop, salsa and Tin Pan Alley in music. In 2005, nearly 170 languages were spoken in the city and 36% of its population was born outside the United States. With its 24-hour subway and constant bustling of traffic and people, New York is known as "The City That Never Sleeps."
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for April 9
- 1865 – Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
- 1867 – Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
- 1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
- 1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
- 1959 – NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven" (pictured).
- 1992 – A United States Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving is the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake. (Full article...)
Selected panorama -
Joshua Tree National Park in Southeastern California.
More did you know? -
- ... that during his 1838 Lyceum address, Abraham Lincoln (pictured) warned of a tyrant overtaking the United States from within?
- ... that Perry Greeley Holden was the first professor of agronomy in the United States?
- ... that only 6% of Pacific hurricanes make landfall on the United States, and that the state of Arizona is affected by a tropical cyclone only about once every five years?
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