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Freddie Prinze

Freddie Prinze

Freddie Prinze (June 22, 1954–January 29, 1977) was a American stand-up comedian and actor of Hungarian Jewish and Puerto Rican descent. Father of actor Freddie Prinze Jr.. In his short career he was best known as the star of Chico and the Man.

Career

He worked at several comedy clubs in New York City, including Catch A Rising Star and The Improv. For his budding career as a comedian, he changed his name to Prinze. He chose that because, according to his friend David Brenner, he wanted to be known as the "King" of comedy, but Alan King already had that last name, so he would be the "Prince" of comedy instead. In 1973, he made his first TV appearance on one of the last episodes of the Jack Paar Show. In December 1973, he had his biggest break, an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Freddie was the first young comedian to be asked to sit down and chat with Carson on his first appearance. He was to appear on, as well as guest host, The Tonight Show on numerous occasions after that. From 1974 to 1977, he starred as Francisco "Chico" Rodriguez in the NBC TV series Chico and the Man with Jack Albertson. Both Prinze and the show were an instant hit. Freddie Prinze made several appearances on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, most notably at the roasts for Sammy Davis Jr. and Muhammad Ali. He made a few other TV appearances as well, including on the Tony Orlando and Dawn Show. In 1976, he starred in a made-for-TV movie, The Million Dollar Rip-Off. Also in 1975, he released a comedy album that was taped live at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago titled Loooking Goood—his catch phrase from Chico and the Man. Prinze had a little-known talent for singing, examples of which were heard in the background of the title song of the Tony Orlando and Dawn album "To Be With You", in his appearances on their variety show. and on rare occasions on his own sitcom.

Personal life

He was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel at St. Clair's Hospital in New York, New York, the son of Karl and Maria Pruetzel. Freddie was raised in the Washington Heights section of New York. His father was of Hungarian Jewish descent and his mother was Puerto Rican Catholic. Ever the comic, Freddie would later design his background as "Hungarican", though he considered himself Puerto Rican. As a small child his mother enrolled him in ballet classes because of his weight problem. Freddie was educated first in a private Lutheran school, in a religious compromise by his parents (though his mother took him to Mass on Sundays). Then, without telling his parents, he auditioned for and was accepted to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where among other subjects he was introduced to drama and continued to study ballet. This was also where he really found his gift for comedy — he would entertain crowds in the boys' restroom — and he quit school in his senior year to become a stand-up comedian. Popular with the ladies, he dated actresses Lisa Farringer, and Pam Grier, among others. He was also good friends with Kitty Bruce, daughter of the late Lenny Bruce, whom Prinze admired. He and Kitty Bruce were reported to have been engaged to be married at one time, but the rumor was never substantiated. He married Katherine Cochran in October 1975. They had one son, Freddie James Prinze, who later became an actor. The son's middle name was in honor of James Komack, producer of Chico and the Man. In 1976, after his arrest for driving under the influence of Quaaludes, his wife filed for divorce on the grounds that his escalating dependence on drugs was endangering her and their son.

Untimely death

On January 28, 1977, after receiving a restraining order from Katherine the night before, Prinze, who for awhile had been telling friends at times that, "life isn't worth living", made a series of farewell phone calls to family, friends, and management from his hotel room at the Beverly Comstock Hotel. His business manager, Marvin "Dusty" Snyder was alarmed after receiving one of these good-bye calls and rushed over to Prinze's room. When Snyder arrived, Prinze continued with his phone calls, telling his mother "Mom, I love you very much, but I can't go on. I need to find peace." Snyder called Prinze's psychologist from the next room about what was going on, the psychologist did not take the situation seriously and told Snyder that Prinze was in no imminent danger. Snyder returned to Prinze who supposedly called his ex-wife and said, "I love you, Kathy. I love the baby, but I need to find peace. I can't go on." After the call, Prinze pulled out a gun from the sofa, Snyder tried to stop him but Prinze shot himself in the head. He was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center and was placed on life support following emergency surgery. It was hopeless though and his family decided to take him off life support, Freddie Prinze died at 1:00pm on January 29th at the age of 22.

After his death

The death, initially ruled a suicide, was years later re-ruled an "accidental shooting due to the influence of Quaaludes"; his mother led the effort to have the cause of death reworded. This change was due in large part to the fact that Prinze had a history of playing with guns, faking suicide attempts to frighten his friends to his amusement. He had left a note stating that the decision to take his life was his alone, but because he pulled the trigger in the presence of a witness, something suicides rarely do, it gave enough weight to the argument that he really was not planning to take his own life that night. In 2001, TV Land began showing reruns of Chico and the Man. The show became popular once more and gained a whole new generation of fans for Prinze and the show, as well as rekindling the interest of old fans.

See also


- List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links


- [http://www.freddieprinzesr.com/ Freddie Prinze Sr] with more history on Prinze's life and career
- [http://www.franksreelreviews.com/shorttakes/prinze.htm] information about his demise. Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie Prinze, Freddie

1954

1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-February


- January 1 - Soviet Union no longer demands war reparations from East Germany
- January 12 - Large-scale avalanches in Austria - over 20 dead
- January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation
- January 14 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
- January 15 - Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya
- January 17 - In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, Tito's second-in-command, is relieved of his duties
- January 20 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations
- January 21 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- January 25 - The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
- January 26 - Milpitas, California was incorporated as a city.
- January 27 - Very freezing weather in Europe
- February 3 - Queen Elizabeth II is the first reigning monarch to visit Australia
- February 10 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
- February 23 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- February 25 - Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.

March-April


- March 1 - Nuclear testing: Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test had been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
- March 1 - Four Puerto Ricans open fire on United States House of Representatives and wound five. Security guards apprehend them.
- March 8 - PR Newswire founded in New York by Herb Muschel.
- March 9 - Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now special entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".
- March 12 - Finland and Germany officially end the state of war.
- March 13 - French troops begin battle against Vietminh in Dien Bien Phu.
- March 19 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
- March 22 - The London bullion market reopens (it was closed in 1939).
- March 22 - London gold exchange opens for the first time since the war.
- March 23 - Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu - French forces are partially isolated.
- March 25 - RCA manufactures first color TV set (12" screen; price: $1,000).
- March 25 - Soviet Union recognizes sovereignty of East Germany but Soviet troops remain in the country.
- March 29 - C-47 with Genevieve de Galard on board is incapacitated on Dien Bien Phu runway.
- March 30 - Canada's first subway opens in Toronto.
- April 1 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
- April 3 - Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks to seek political asylum in Australia.
- April 7 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
- April 12 - Original recording of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets.
- April 14 - – Aneurin Bevan resigns from the UK Labour shadow cabinet.
- April 22 - Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

May


- May 1 - Taku (city in Japan) founded
- May 6 - Roger Bannister runs the first four minute mile
- May 7 - Construction started on Michigan's Mackinac Bridge.
- May 7 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
- May 14 - Boeing 707 released after about two years of development.
- May 17 - United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 347 US 483 1954
- May 17 - Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begains it's inqury
- May 20 - Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
- May 20 - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty launches Belarusian language programming (see also Piotra Sych).
- May 29 - Robert Menzies Government re-elected for 4th term in Australia.

June-July


- June 1 - Radio statio Sender Freies Berlin begins broadcasting
- June 9 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
- June 14 - On United States Flag Day, the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance
- June 15 - UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
- June 17 - Military coup in Guatemala
- June 18 - Pierre Mendes-France becomes prime minister of France
- June 19 - The last regular-service streetcar operated by Twin City Rapid Transit runs in Minneapolis.
- June 27 - Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup–Operation PBSUCCESS–triggering a bloody civil war that would continue for more than 35 years.
- June 27 - The world's first atomic power station opened at Obnisnsk, near Moscow.
- July 3 - Food rationing ends in Britain
- July 4 - End of rationing of meat ends all the food rationing in Britain
- July 4 - West Germany beat Hungary 3-2 to win the
- July 5 - Andhra Pradesh High Court is established.
- July 7 - In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ becomes the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record
- July 15 - Maiden flight of Boeing 707
- July 21 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
- July 28 - Foundation of the Situationist International.
- July 31 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition.

August-October


- August - First flight of a B-52 Stratofortress.
- August 6 - Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following a epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec.
- August 16 - Volume 1, Issue 1 of Sports Illustrated is published
- August 24 - President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide; he's been accused of conspiracy to murder an air force officer.
- September 3 - The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years
- September 6 - SEATO treaty signed in Manila, Philippines
- September 8 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established in Bangkok, Thailand
- September 9 - An earthquake centered on the city of Oleansville in Algeria - 1500 dead and thousands homeless
- September 11 - First Miss America Pageant broadcast on television
- September 14 - USSR tests nuclear weapon
- September 30 - USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (submarine), commissioned by the US Navy
- October 11 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
- October 18 - Texas Instruments announces the worldwide first Transistor radio.
- October 20 - Dock workers' strike expands in England
- October 23 - West Germany joins NATO
- October 26 - – Member of Muslim Brotherhood Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf tries to kill Gamal Abdal Nasser
- October 31 - Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.

November-December


- November - The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
- November 2 - Dock workers' strike in England ends
- November 3 - The first in the Godzilla series of films is released in Japan.
- November 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery
- November 13 - Don Estes invents the disrupter (a part to help combines work)
- November 14 - Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed - Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him
- November 23 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
- November 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and hits Ann Hodges, badly bruising her, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
- December 2 - Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
- December 24 - Laos becomes independent.

unknown dates


- The first organ transplants are done in Boston and Paris.
- Battle of Dien Bien Phu between French and Viet Minh forces in Indochina
- Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race
- Stop signs are changed from black-on-yellow to white-on-red
- Gerbils (Meriones Unguiculatus), brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
- Unification Church founded.
- Case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes into trial

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
- January 4 - Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
- January 6 - Anthony Minghella, British film director
- January 12 - Howard Stern, American radio host
- January 17 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- January 22 - Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
- January 23 - Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
- January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show host, producer, and publisher
- January 29 - Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
- February 1 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
- February 2 - Christie Brinkley, American model
- February 6 - Argusto Emfazie, American occultist and author
- February 12 - Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
- February 13 - Donnie Moore, baseball player (d. 1989)
- February 15 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist
- February 18 - John Travolta, American actor
- February 19 - Socrates, Brazilian footballer
- February 20 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
- February 20 - Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnapping victim
- February 23 - Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
- February 25 - John Doe, American musician
- February 26 - Michael Bolton, American singer

March-June


- March 1 - Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer
- March 4 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress
- March 8 - David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
- March 13 - The Baroness Amos, British politician
- March 15 - Craig Wasson, American actor
- March 16 - Nancy Wilson, American singer, musician, and actress
- March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
- March 24 - Robert Carradine, American actor
- March 29 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
- April 7 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
- April 7 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
- April 9 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
- April 10 - Peter MacNicol, American actor
- April 15 - Seka, American actress
- April 17 - Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
- April 18 - Rick Moranis, Canadian actor and comedian
- April 28 - Robert Sargent Shriver III son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and nephew of John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- April 29 - Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian
- May 1 - Archie Norman, British politician and businessman
- May 7 - Amy Heckerling, American film director
- May 8 - David Keith, American actor
- May 19 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
- June 9 - John Hagelin, American physicist and U.S. Presidential candidate
- June 20 - Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force, Israel first astronaut (d. 2003)
- June 22 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
- June 26 - Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
- June 27 - Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
- June 30 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)

July-October


- July 5 - John Wright, New Zealand cricket captains
- July 10 - Neil Tennant, British musician
- July 17 - Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- July 25 - Walter Payton, American football player (d. 1999)
- August 1 - Michael J. Badnarik, software engineer and U.S. Presidential candidate
- August 11 - Joe Jackson, British singer
- August 14 - Mark Fidrych, baseball player
- August 16 - James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
- August 20 - Al Roker, American television broadcaster
- August 21 - Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
- August 25 - Elvis Costello, British singer
- August 26 - Pauline Hanson, Australian politician
- September 13 - Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
- September 21 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
- September 23 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
- September 26 - Kevin Kennedy, baseball manager and television host
- September 30 - Barry Williams, American actor
- October 1 - Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
- October 3 - Dennis Eckersley, baseball player
- October 3 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
- October 9 - Scott Bakula, American television actor
- October 10 - David Lee Roth, American singer
- October 13 - Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician
- October 15 - Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
- October 24 - Mike Rounds, Governor of South Dakota

November-December


- November 2 - Pat Croce, American entrepreneur
- November 3 - Brigitte Lin, Actress
- November 7 - Kamal Haasan, Indian actor
- November 8 - Michael D. Brown, U.S. Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response
- November 14 - Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
- November 14 - Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- November 15 - Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
- November 16 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (d. 2004)
- November 27 - Patricia McPherson, American actress
- December 2 - Dan Butler, American actor
- December 7 - Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
- December 14 - Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
- December 14 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- December 20 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
- December 26 - Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer
- December 28 - Denzel Washington, American actor

Unknown dates


- Nenad Prokic, Serbian playwright

Deaths


- January 18 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- February 12 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
- March 7 - Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- March 31 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor (b. 1890)
- May 6 - B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
- May 19 - Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
- April 10 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor (b. 1862)
- April 28 - Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
- June 7 - Alan Turing, British mathematician (b. 1912)
- July 11 - Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
- July 13 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
- July 14 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- July 29 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
- August 24 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
- September 21 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
- November 3 - Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
- November 28 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- November 29 - Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
- November 30 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
- December 8 - Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
- December 30 - Eugen, Archduke of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Max Born, Walther Bothe
- Chemistry - Linus Carl Pauling
- Medicine - John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
- Literature - Ernest Hemingway
- Peace - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Fields Medalists


- Kunihiko Kodaira, Jean-Pierre Serre Category:1954 ko:1954년 ms:1954 ja:1954年 simple:1954 th:พ.ศ. 2497

January 29

January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 336 days remaining, (337 in leap years).

Events


- 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Pope Christopher.
- 1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed.
- 1676 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1814 - France defeated Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
- 1845 - The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time (New York Evening Mirror).
- 1850 - Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
- 1856 - Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.
- 1861 - Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
- 1863 - Bear River Massacre
- 1886 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
- 1891 - Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch.
- 1900 - The American League is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
- 1916 - World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins .
- 1929 - The Seeing Eye Dog organization is formed.
- 1933 - President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.
- 1936 - The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1944 - The battleship USS Missouri is launched.
- 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
- 1944 - World War II: About 300 men, women, and children die in the Massacre in Koniuchy in Poland.
- 1959 - Sleeping Beauty, the last animated feature produced by Walt Disney to be based upon a fairy tale, was first released.
- 1963 - First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
- 1964 - 1964 Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria.
- 1958 - Police capture Charles Starkweather in Wyoming.
- 1966 - The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre in New York City.
- 1986 - Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda.
- 1990 - The trial of the former skipper of the Exxon Valdez, Joseph Hazelwood, begins in Anchorage, Alaska. He is accused of negligence that resulted in America's worst oil spill.
- 1995 - Super Bowl XXIX: The San Francisco 49ers defeat the San Diego Chargers 49-26 and become the first NFL team to win five Super Bowl titles.
- 1996 - President Jacques Chirac announces a "definitive end" to French nuclear testing.
- 1996 - La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire.
- 1996 - First release of Duke Nukem 3D.
- 1998 - In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.
- 2001 - Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
- 2002 - In his State of the Union Address, United States President George W. Bush describes "regimes that sponsor terror" as an Axis of Evil.
- 2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing 56-foot long Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.

Births


- 1584 - Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
- 1632 - Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (d. 1703)
- 1688 - Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist and philosopher (d. 1772)
- 1711 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
- 1715 - Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (d. 1777)
- 1717 - Jeffrey Amherst, British military leader (d. 1797)
- 1718 - Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (d. 1794)
- 1737 - Thomas Paine, American patriot (d. 1809)
- 1749 - King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
- 1754 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of the city of Cleveland (d. 1806)
- 1782 - Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
- 1843 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
- 1860 - Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (d. 1904)
- 1862 - Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1866 - Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
- 1874 - John D. Rockefeller Jr., American entrepreneur (d. 1960)
- 1876 - Havergal Brian, British composer (d. 1972)
- 1880 - W.C. Fields, American actor (d. 1946)
- 1885 - Leadbelly, American musician (d. 1949)
- 1891 - Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina (d. 1975)
- 1905 - Barnett Newman, American painter (d. 1970)
- 1911 - Peter von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1986)
- 1913 - Peter von Zahn, German journalist and writer (d. 2001)
- 1915 - Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1918 - John Forsythe, American actor
- 1923 - Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (d. 1981)
- 1923 - Ivo Robic, Croatian singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1924 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)
- 1926 - Franco Cerri, Italian musician
- 1926 - Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1927 - Edward Abbey, American environmentalist (d. 1989)
- 1928 - Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong SAR property developer
- 1929 - Gordon Solie, wrestling announcer (d. 2000)
- 1932 - Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
- 1939 - Germaine Greer, Australian feminist writer
- 1940 - Katharine Ross, American actress
- 1942 - Claudine Longet, French singer and dancer
- 1945 - Tom Selleck, American actor
- 1947 - Linda B. Buck, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1948 - Marc Singer, Canadian actor
- 1950 - Ann Jillian, American actress
- 1950 - Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver
- 1952 - Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-born musician and record producer (The Ramones)
- 1954 - Richard 'Handsome Dick' Manitoba - American born rock singer, radio dj.
- 1954 - Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show host, producer, and publisher
- 1960 - Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
- 1960 - Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
- 1960 - Greg Louganis, American diver
- 1960 - Steve Sax, American baseball player
- 1960 - J. G. Thirlwell, Australian-born musician
- 1962 - Nicholas Turturro, American actor
- 1964 - Andre Reed, American football player
- 1965 - Dominik Hasek, Czech hockey player
- 1966 - Romário, Brazilian footballer
- 1968 - Edward Burns, American actor
- 1969 - Thomas Jane, American actor
- 1970 - Heather Graham, American actress
- 1970 - Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter
- 1973 - Jason Schmidt, baseball player
- 1975 - Sara Gilbert, American actress
- 1979 - Sui Feifei, Chinese basketball player
- 1981 - Jonny Lang, American musician

Deaths


- 1119 - Pope Gelasius II
- 1342 - Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)
- 1597 - Elias Ammerbach, German organist (b. 1530)
- 1608 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
- 1647 - Francis Meres, English writer (b. 1565)
- 1676 - Tsar Alexis I of Russia (b. 1629)
- 1678 - Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
- 1706 - Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
- 1730 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
- 1737 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (b. 1666)
- 1743 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister under Louis XV of France (b. 1653)
- 1763 - Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
- 1820 - King George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
- 1829 - Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras, French politician (b. 1755)
- 1870 - Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
- 1906 - King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
- 1928 - Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)
- 1933 - Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
- 1934 - Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
- 1946 - Harry Hopkins, American politician (b. 1890)
- 1951 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (b. 1880)
- 1956 - H. L. Mencken, American journalist (b. 1880)
- 1962 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (b. 1875)
- 1963 - Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
- 1964 - Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1969 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1893)
- 1970 - Basil Liddell Hart, British military historian (b. 1895)
- 1977 - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (b. 1902)
- 1977 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (b. 1954)
- 1980 - Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and comedian (b. 1893)
- 1986 - Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)
- 1989 - Halina Konopacka Polish athlete (b. 1900)
- 1991 - Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)
- 1992 - Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)
- 1998 - Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1916)
- 1999 - Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (b. 1918)
- 2002 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
- 2002 - Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Frank Moss, U.S. Senator from Utah (b. 1911)
- 2004 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (b. 1908)
- 2004 - Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2005 - Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist (The Quarrymen) (b. 1940)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/29 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050129.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- January 28 - January 30 - December 29 - February 29 — listing of all days ko:1월 29일 ms:29 Januari ja:1月29日 simple:January 29 th:29 มกราคม

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the