Portal:United States
Introduction
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that The Cormac McCarthy Journal is one of the few academic journals about a specific author from the United States founded while its subject was alive?
- ... that at WSTA, the first radio station in the U.S. Virgin Islands, goats and chickens sometimes wandered in during broadcasts?
- ... that John Oliver has been credited with influencing United States law and culture, a phenomenon dubbed the "John Oliver effect"?
- ... that despite contesting the 1924 presidential election as a third-party candidate, Robert M. La Follette received approximately 16.6 percent of the popular vote?
- ... that the first Asian-American at West Point to be named First Captain of the cadets was John Tien, the current U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security?
- ... that David Dean served as general counsel to Texas governor Dolph Briscoe, a Democrat, as well as his Republican successor Bill Clements?
- ... that the 1936 Northeastern United States Flood directly led to the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936 by the United States Congress?
- ... that Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls was one of the leaders in the first successful effort to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in the United States?
Selected society biography -
Born into a wealthy, established family in Milton, Massachusetts, Bush was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He attended Phillips Academy and served as a pilot in the United States Navy Reserve during World War II before graduating from Yale and moving to West Texas, where he established a successful oil company. Following an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in 1964, he was elected to represent Texas's 7th congressional district in 1966. President Richard Nixon appointed Bush as the ambassador to the United Nations in 1971 and as chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1973. President Gerald Ford appointed him as the chief of the Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and as the director of Central Intelligence in 1976. Bush ran for president in 1980 but was defeated in the Republican presidential primaries by Reagan, who then selected Bush as his vice presidential running mate. In the 1988 presidential election, Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis.
Foreign policy drove Bush's presidency as he navigated the final years of the Cold War and played a key role in the reunification of Germany. He presided over the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War, ending the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in the latter conflict. Though the agreement was not ratified until after he left office, Bush negotiated and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which created a trade bloc consisting of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise by enacting legislation to raise taxes to justify reducing the budget deficit. He championed and signed three pieces of bipartisan legislation in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Immigration Act and the Clean Air Act Amendments. He also appointed David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Bush lost the 1992 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton following an economic recession, his turnaround on his tax promise, and the decreased emphasis of foreign policy in a post–Cold War political climate. (Full article...)
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Selected culture biography -
Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.
Selected location -
Tulsa was first settled in the 1830s by the Creek Native American tribe. In 1921, it was the site of the infamous Tulsa Race Riot, one of the largest and most destructive acts of racial violence in the history of the United States. For most of the 20th century, the city held the nickname "Oil Capital of the World" and played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American oil industry. Tulsa has been credited as the birthplace of U.S. Route 66 and the home of Western Swing music.
Once heavily dependent on the oil industry, economic downturn and subsequent diversification efforts created an economic base in the energy, finance, aviation, telecommunications and technology sectors. The Tulsa Port of Catoosa, at the head of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, is the most inland riverport in the U.S. with access to international waterways. Two institutions of higher education within the city operate at the NCAA Division I level, Oral Roberts University and the University of Tulsa.
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for May 16
- 1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.
- 1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.
- 1868 – President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.
- 1910 – Congress authorizes the creation of the United States Bureau of Mines (seal pictured).
- 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government an imprisonable offense.
- 1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
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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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