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John Young

John Young

John Young might refer to the following people:
- John Young (fl. 1698–1732), English publisher of later editions of The Dancing Master
- John Young (naval officer) (ca. 1740–1781), a captain in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War
- John Young (U.S. politician) (1802–1852), 19th century Governor of New York.
- John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar (1807–1876), the second Governor General of Canada.
- John Russell Young (1840–1899), an American journalist, author, diplomat, and the seventh Librarian of Congress (1897–1899).
- John Young (soccer), (1872–1958), member of the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame
- John Zachary Young (1907–1997), an English zoologist who studied neural action
- John Andrew Young (1916–2002), an American politician from the state of Texas.
- John W. Young (born 1930), United States astronaut
- John Young, Special Operations Executive field agent
- John Young, publisher of the Cryptome website
- John Young, Royal Advisor to Kamehameha I, Kingdom of Hawaii John Young might also refer to:
- USS John Young (DD-973), a Spruance-class destroyer in the United States Navy named for the naval officer.
- John Young Parkway, a four- and six-lane surface road in Florida named for the astronaut.

John Young (naval officer)

John Young (ca. 1740-1781) was a captain in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War, commander of the Saratoga which was lost at sea. He began his seafaring career at an early age in the colonial merchant marine and, at the start of the American Revolution, was commissioned 23rd on the list of captains in the Continental Navy. On 20 September 1776, the Continental Congress directed Young to take the sloop-of-war Independence to Martinique to protect American mercantile shipping in the West Indies. Collaterally, Independence was to raid British shipping whenever the opportunity arose. On 5 July 1777, Young was ordered to Nantes, France, and subsequently arrived at Lorient with two prizes. On 17 February 1778, while in French waters, he sailed through the French Fleet, saluting that nation's government with a 13-gun salute. In return he received a nine-gun salute, one of the earliest salutes rendered by the French government to the fledgling American government. At the time, John Paul Jones was on board Independence. Young returned to America in the spring of 1778 and successively commanded two Pennsylvania privateers, Buckskin and Impertinent, before he was given command of the sloop-of-war Saratoga - then fitting out at Philadelphia - in May 1780. Young took her to sea on 13 August 1780 and, in the course of the ship's first cruise, captured one prize before she returned to port for repairs and alterations. Subsequent cruises were more successful, as Young commanded Saratoga on three more sweeps at sea in which he took a total of eight more prizes. Young proved himself a daring and resourceful commander. On one occasion, he took Saratoga between two British ships and captured both. Largely as a result of his dedication and emphasis on training, Saratoga compiled a distinguished, but altogether brief, record before her untimely and unexplained loss. Saratoga set sail from Cap Francais, in what is now the Dominican Republic, on 15 March 1781. After taking a prize three days later, the sloop-of-war became separated from her later that day when a strong gale swept through the area, the high winds nearly swamping the prize commanded by Midshipman Penfield. After the storm passed by, Saratoga was nowhere to be seen, having vanished without a trace. The United States Navy named two ships, USS Young, and USS John Young (DD-973) in his honor.

Reference


- William Bell Clark, The First Saratoga, Being the Saga of John Young and His Sloop-of-War (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1953) Young, John Young, John Young, John

John Young (U.S. politician)

John Young (June 12, 1802 - April 23, 1852) was an American politician. He was born in Chelsea, Vermont. As a child, he moved to Freeport (now Conesus), Livingston County, New York. He had only basic schooling but, by self-study accumulated a knowledge of classics and became a law clerk, becoming admitted to the bar in 1829. He entered politics as a Jacksonian Democrat, and shortly afterward moved to the Anti-Masonic Party, on whose ticket he was elected to the Assembly (lower house) of the New York state legislature, beginning service in 1832. He later moved to the Whig Party, getting elected to the House of Representatives, serving from 1836 - 37 and 1841 - 43. (NOTE: one source shows both sets of dates. Another only shows him elected in 1840, which would be consistent with an 1841-43 term only.) In 1845 he returned to the New York State Assembly, as a candidate of the Whigs and Antirenters, and was urged to run against the incumbent Governor, Silas Wright, on the Whig ticket. He defeated Wright and served as the Governor of New York from January, 1847 to the end of 1848. In 1848 he became a strong supporter of Zachary Taylor's candidacy for President of the United States, and was rewarded when Taylor was successful by appointment as Assistant Treasurer of the United States in New York City. He served in the latter post until his death from tuberculosis. Young, John Young, John Young, John Young, John Young, John

John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar

The Right Honourable John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, PC (August 31, 1807 – October 6, 1876) was the second Governor General of Canada. Born in Bombay, India, Young sat as a member of Parliament in the British House of Commons between 1831 and 1835. He married the 14-year-old Lady Adelaide Annabella Dalton on April 8, 1835. From 1841 to 1846, he occupied a cabinet minister's post in the government of Sir Robert Peel. He was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands from 1855 to 1859, followed by a post as the twelfth Governor of New South Wales, Australia, from May 16, 1861 to December 24, 1867. Young was appointed Administrator of Canada from the time that Lord Monck left office in 1868 until he was sworn in as Governor General on February 2, 1869. As Canada's second Governor General, Lord Lisgar (as he became in 1870) was not shy about voicing criticism or strong opinions. While some resented his independent mind, Sir John A. Macdonald thought Lisgar the most able of the Governors General he had known. A review of Lord Lisgar's term of office and accomplishments explains this high regard. In his first year in office, the Red River Rebellion began under Louis Riel. On December 6, 1869, hopes of appeasement led him to declare an amnesty during the Riel confrontation. Then, in 1870, a rebel group of Irish-Americans, called Fenians, raided Canada in an attempt to win Irish independence from Britain. In both conflicts, Lord Lisgar was a wise mediator who helped lessen some of the potential bitterness. He also prevented the execution of the captured Fenian invaders by sending a sternly worded telegram to those who were ready to apply quick justice. During this time of considerable turmoil, Canada was also experiencing a period of growth and increasing unity. Manitoba joined Confederation in 1870 and British Columbia, though still uncommitted, was considering union. When a delegation from British Columbia came in June 1870 to discuss joining Canada, Lord Lisgar spoke to them personally of the young country's wish to include the colony in Confederation. British Columbia joined Canada in 1871. The proposed 1869 transfer of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company to the Crown was delayed until 1870 by the Red River Rebellion. In the interim, Lord Lisgar was the nominal Lieutenant Governor of the huge parcel of land. He was a strong supporter of Confederation and played a positive role in building a united Canada by touring the country extensively and promoting this goal. Lord Lisgar made important advances in relations with the United States. He was the first Governor General to travel to the United States, meeting President Ulysses S. Grant and inaugurating a rail link between Boston and Portland with Saint John and Fredericton, New Brunswick in 1871. In 1869 he also received the first royal visitor since Confederation – the 19-year old Prince Arthur, third son of Queen Victoria. Prince Arthur would return to Canada in 1911, as the Duke of Connaught, to be Governor General. Lord Lisgar and his wife, Lady Adelaide Annabella Dalton Lisgar, added many important traditions to Rideau Hall. They held the first recorded New Year's Levee in 1869, while he was Administrator, and organized Christmas and Garden Parties. And in 1872, the noon gun firing on Parliament Hill was established, and the Governor General's Foot Guards army regiment was created. The first duty of the new regiment was to provide a guard of honour for Lord Lisgar on his departure from office in June of the same year. After completing his term of office in Canada, Lord Lisgar returned to Ireland. Lady Lisgar re-married twice after Lord Lisgar's death on October 6, 1876, and died in Paris on July 19, 1895 at the age of 74. Having died without either issue or close relations, his barony ended with him. Lisgar Collegiate Institute on Lisgar Street in Ottawa takes its name from Lord Lisgar. A likeness of Lord Lisgar is prominently displayed in the school's library.

External links


- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=39455 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- [http://www.gg.ca Website of the Governor General of Canada] Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar, John Young, 1st Baron

John Russell Young

John Russell Young (November 20, 1840 – January 17, 1899) an American journalist, author, diplomat, and the seventh Librarian of Congress, serving from 1897 to 1899. Young was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, but as a young child his family emigrated to Philadelphia. He entered the newspaper business as a proofreader at age 15. As a reporter for the Philadelphia Press, he distinguished himself with his coverage of the Battle of Bull Run. By 1862 he was managing editor of the Press and another newspaper. In 1865 he moved to New York. He began writing for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune and became managing editor of that paper. He also began working for the government, undertaking missions to Europe for the US Department of State and the US Department of the Treasury. In 1872, he joined the New York Herald and reported for them from Europe. Young was invited to accompany President Ulysses S. Grant on Grant's famous 1877-1879 world tour, chronicled in Young's book Around the World with General Grant. Young impressed Grant, especially in China where Young struck up a friendship with Li Hongzhang. Grant persuaded President Chester A. Arthur to appoint Young minister to China in 1882. In this position he distinguished himself by mediating and settling disputes between the US and China and France and China. In 1885 he resumed working for the Herald in Europe. In 1890 he returned to Philadelphia. In 1897 President William McKinley appointed him Librarian of Congress, the first Librarian confirmed by Congress. During his tenure, the Library began moving from its original home in the US Capitol Building to its own structure, an accomplishment largely the responsibility of his predecessor, Ainsworth Rand Spofford. Spofford served as Chief Assistant Librarian under Young. Young held the post of Librarian until his death. His brother was Congressman James Rankin Young. Young, John Russell Young, John Russell Young, John Russell Young, John Russell

National Soccer Hall of Fame

The National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York, is located within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in Canastota. It honors the best American soccer players, and the people who collaborated to build the sport in the United States. Despite its denomination as a national Hall of Fame and its location in the United States, a select few non-American players are honored; but those must have U.S. ties, such as former North American Soccer League players Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer.

Players inducted

Builders inducted

External links


- [http://www.soccerhall.org/ National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum] Category:Sports Halls of Fame Category:Soccer in the United States

John Andrew Young

John Andrew Young (November 10, 1916 - January 22, 2002) was a politician from the state of Texas. Young was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and he graduated St. Edwards University. Young served in the United States Navy during World War II. Young was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1956. Young became involved in a scandal when a former staffer said that she received a pay raise after giving in to sexual advances from him. Young was defeated in the Democratic party primary election in 1978. Young, John Andrew Young, John Andrew Young, John Andrew Young, John Andrew

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 Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive (SOE), often called "the Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes's fictional group of spies, was a World War II organisation initiated by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton in July 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. Originally designated as 'Section D' of MI6, the mission of the SOE was to encourage and facilitate espionage and sabotage behind enemy lines and to serve as a focal point for the formation of a vestigial resistance movement in Britain itself (the Auxiliary Units) in the possible event of an Axis invasion. Known also as Churchill's Secret Army and charged by him to "set Europe ablaze." Head of the SOE from September 1943 was Colin Gubbins (1896-1976), a soldier who rose to the rank of Major General. The headquarters of SOE were at 64 Baker Street. Another important London base was Aston House, where weapons and tactics research was conducted. Under the cover name ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau) SOE set up an Establishment where development of equipment for use in the Secret war could be undertaken. Called Station IX this was situated at the Frythe - a former hotel, outside Welwyn. Here ISRB developed Radios, Weapons, explosive devices, and "booby - traps" for use by Agents and clandestine raiding forces. Among products produced at Station IX were a miniature folding motorbike (the Welbike) - for use by parachutists, a silenced pistol (the Welrod) and several miniature submersible craft (the Welman and Sleeping Beauty). A sea -trials unit was set up in West Wales at Goodwick, by Fishguard (station IXa) where these craft were tested. In late 1944 craft were despatched to Australia to the Allied Intelligence Bureau (SRD), for tropical testing.[http://www.welfreighter.info/] SOE's operations in France were directed by two London-based country sections. The "F" Section, under British control, recruited agents who were not prepared to accept the leadership of General De Gaulle, while the "RF" Section was linked to de Gaulle's]] Free French operations. As well, there were two smaller sections: "EU/P" Section, which dealt with the Polish community in France and the "DF" Section which was responsible for escape routes and coordination. During the latter part of 1942 another section known as 'AMF' was established in Algiers. The initial training centre of the SOE was at Wanborough Manor, Guildford. The SOE included a number of women, its F Section (France) alone placed 39 female agents in to the field, of whom 13 did not return. The Valençay SOE Memorial was unveiled at Valençay in the Indre département of France on May 6, 1991, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the despatch of F Section's first agent to France. The memorial's "Roll of Honour" lists the names of the 91 men and 13 women members of the SOE who gave their lives for France's freedom. The SOE were highly dependent upon the security of radio transmissions. The development of high quality radios, secure transmission procedures and proper ciphers took a considerable time. Leo Marks, SOE's chief cryptographer, was responsible for the development of better codes to replace the insecure poem codes. SOE were particularly active in the following countries: France, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Greece, Poland, Czechoslovakia. Through cooperation with the Special Operations Executive and the British intelligence service, a group of Jewish volunteers from Palestine were sent on missions to several countries in Nazi-occupied Europe from 1943 to 1945. From early 1942, S.O.E. also contributed to the allied war effort in South East Asia, and by the latter part of the war, covered resistance and covert operations throughout the region. This part of S.O.E. adopted the name Force 136. In March of 1941 a group performing commando raids in Norway, Norwegian Independent Company 1 (NOR.I.C.1) was organized under leadership of Captain Martin Linge. Their initial raids in 1941 was Operation Archery), their best known raids were probably the Norwegian heavy water sabotage. Communication lines with London were gradually improved, so that in 1945, 64 radio operators were spread throughout Norway. On May 5, 1941, Georges Bégué (1911-1993) became the first SOE agent dropped in France who then setup radio communications and met the next drop of agents. Between Bégué's first drop and August 1944, more than four hundred F Section agents were sent into occupied France to serve in a variety of functions such as arms and sabotage instructors, couriers, circuit organisers, liaison officers, and radio operators. SOE was dissolved officially in 1946, and much of its sphere of influence reverted to the Secret Intelligence Service, SIS, better known as MI6. See SOE F Section timeline for a list of significant events in the history of F Section. See also SOE F Section networks for details of the individual networks operated by F Section. SOE was known in public by its cover name, the Inter-Services Research Bureau (ISRB).

Agents

Amongst SOE's agents can be numbered:
- Lorraine Adie, who married American OSS agent Miles Copeland, Jr.
- Jack Agazarian (1916-1945)
- France Antelme (1900-1945)
- Guy D'Artois
- Lisé de Baissac
- Alcide Beauregard
- Yolande Beekman (1911-1944)
- Georges Bégué (1911-1993)
- Robert Benoist (1895-1944)
- Muriel Byck
- Gustave "Guy" Biéler (1904-1944)
- Emanuel Bierer (1884-ukn)
- Helen Anna Agate Thormann-Bierer (1885-ukn)
- Pierre Brossolette (1903-1944)
- Denise Bloch (1915-1945)
- Andrée Borrel (1919-1944)
- Tony Brooks
- Maurice Buckmaster (1902-1992)
- Sonya Butt
- Robert Bennett Byerly
- Francis Cammaerts (1916- )
- William John Chalk (1899-ukn)
- Robert Arthur Chapman (1901-ukn)
- Arthur Christie (1921-2003)
- Odette Churchill - see Odette Sansom
- Peter Churchill (1909-1972)
- Adolphus Richard Cooper (1899-ukn)
- Yvonne Cormeau (1909-1998)
- Madeleine Damerment (1917-1944)
- Major Jim Davies
- Francois Adolphe Deniset
- Henri Dericourt (1909-1962)
- Sir Derek Dodson
- Gustave Duclos
- Albrecht Gaiswinkler (1905-1979)
- Emile Garry (1909-1944)
- Haim Gerson
- Christine Granville, General Motors (1915-1952) (real name Krystyna Skarbek)
- Virginia Hall (1906-1982)
- Marcel Homet (1897-ukn)
- Desmond Hubble (1910-1944)
- Max Hymans (1900-1961)
- Peter Johnsen
- Noor Inyat Khan (1914-1944)
- Andrzej Kowerski
- James Larose
- Cecily Lefort (1900-1945)
- Vera Leigh (1903-1944)
- Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915- )
- John Kenneth Macalister (1914-1944)
- Eileen Nearne
- Alfred Newton
- Henry Newton
- Gilbert Norman (1914-1944)
- Sonia Olschanezky (1923-1944)
- Harry Peulevé (1916-1963)
- Frank Pickersgill (1915-1944)
- Eliane Plewman (1917-1944)
- Sir Anthony Quayle (1913-1989)
- Alex Rabinovich
- Harry Rée (1914-1991)
- Chaviva Reik (1914-1944)
- Lilian Rolfe (1914-1945)
- Diana Rowden (1915-1944)
- Yvonne Rudelatt (1895-1945)
- Roméo Sabourin (1923-1944)
- Odette Sansom-Hallowes, GC (1912-1995)
- Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville), General Motors (1915-1952)
- Einar Skinnarland (1918-2002)
- Maurice Southgate
- Arthur Staggs (1912- )
- George Reginald Starr (1904-1980)
- John Renshaw Starr
- Brian Stonehouse (1918-1998)
- Francis Suttil (1910-1945)
- Violette Szabo (1921-1945)
- Hannah Szenes (1921-1944)
- Jacques Taschereau
- Paul-Émile Thibeault
- F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas (1902-1964)
- Pierre de Vomécourt
- Nancy Wake (1912- )
- Peter Wand-Tetley
- William Grover-Williams (1903-1945)
- Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908-1949)
- Pearl Witherington (1914- )
- John Young

Numbered stations

SOE operated several "stations" located in country houses and elsewhere. These were given numbers, such as:
- Station VI - Bride Hall, the weapons acquisition section.
- Station IX - The Frythe estate near Welwyn Garden City, which began as a wireless research unit (Special Signals), then became a weapons development & production centre, then a research and development station. Now a factory belonging to Smithkline Beecham. [http://www.timelapse.dk/Welrod/uk/SoeStationIX.htm]
- Station X - Bletchley Park, a radio station, now more famous for its subsequent use as a code breaking centre. The radio station moved to Aston House when code breaking activities took over.
- Station XI - Aston House near Stevenage, a research and development station.
- Station XII - also at Aston House, the radio station that started at Bletchley Park.
- Station XIV - Briggens, near Roydon, Essex, contained the forgery section.
- Station XV - Thatched Barn - on the Barnet bypass at Borehamwood, Hertfordshire - camouflage section, for development of booby traps.
- Station XVA - Kensington, London - prototypes.
- Station XVB - A training centre for agents and Demonstration Room for briefing officials, at the Natural History Museum in London. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/darwincentre/live/presentations/181103PaulClark.html]
- Station XVC - photographic and make-up section.
- Station 53a - Grendon Hall in Grendon Underwood, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire - cryptology centre. Now a prison.
- Station 53b - Poundon, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester. - radio listening and transmission station.
- Station 53c - Poundon, Buckinghamshire, near Bicester. - Training American forces in SOE communications techniques. 53b and 53c were physically separate establishments but close to each other. Some of the 53b staff were transferred when 53c opened. Others, whose code numbers are unknown, included:
- Gaynes Hall near St Neots in Cambridgeshire - Norwegian section.
- The Firs - Whitchurch, near Aylesbury - explosives testing.
- Arisaig, Inverness-shire - finishing school [http://www.btinternet.com/~m.a.christie/facts.htm]
- Henley-on-Themes - quartermaster
- Fawley Court, Henley on Thames - S.O.E. Signals section training facility
- Bellasis, at Box Hill, outside Dorking
- Brickendonbury Manor - sabotage

See also:


- Cichociemni
- Edmund Charaszkiewicz
- MI5
- MI6
- PWE
- British military history
  - British military history of World War II
- UK topics

Bibliography and filmography


- The Secret History of SOE - Special Operations Executive 1940-1945, (BPR Publications, 2000), Professor William Mackenzie. ISBN 0953615189
- Secret Agent - The True Story of the Special Operations Executive, (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2000), David Stafford, ISBN 0563537345
- R.J.Minney wrote the book "Carve Her Name with Pride" in 1956, telling the story of Violette Szabo. A film of the same title was made in 1958 starring Paul Schofield and Virginia McKenna.
- William Stanley Moss wrote the book "Ill Met by Moonlight" in 1950, giving his first-hand account of an SOE operation in 1944 to kidnap Major General Heinrich Kreipe, the German divisional commander on Crete. The film "Night Ambush", based on the book, was made in 1957, starring Dirk Bogarde and Marius Goring.
- Jerrard Tickell wrote the book "Odette: The story of a British agent" in 1949, telling the story of Odette Sansom-Hallowes. The film "Odette", based on the book, was made in 1950, starring Anna Neagle and Trevor Howard.
- Jean Overton Fuller wrote the book "The Starr Affair", telling the story of John Renshaw Starr.
- The Heroes of Telemark is a film, made in 1965, based on an SOE operation to sabotage the heavy water plant at Rjukan, Norway in 1943.
- A French/Norwegian black and white docu-film from 1948 titled "La Bataille de l'eau lourde"/"Kampen om tungtvannet" (trans. "The Fight Over the Heavy Water"), featured some of the ‘original cast’, so to speak. Joachim Rønneberg has stated; "'The Fight over Heavy Water' was an honest attempt to describe history. On the other hand 'Heroes of Telemark' had little to do with reality.”
- "Nancy Wake Codename: The White Mouse" is a 1987 docudrama about Nancy Wake's work for SOE, partly narrated by herself.
- "Between Silk and Cyanide" by Leo Marks, 1998; Marks was the Head of Codes at SOE and this book is an account of his struggle to introduce better encryption for use by the field agents
- "Mission Scapula SOE in the Far East" by Arthur Christie, ISBN 0954701003 A true story about an ordinary soldier seconded into MI5 and sent on a mission to Singapore just before it fell. With Freddy Spencer-Chapman.
- "Operation Daybreak" is a 1976 film, based upon a true, dangerous operation in May 1942 to drop a small group of Czech S.O.E. agents into their own occupied country with the singular deadly mission to assassinate Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler's protege, Reinhard Heydrich, Reichsprotektor (representing the nazi protectorate over the Czech puppet-state) of Bohemia and Moravia, hated as The Butcher of Prague. The mission succeeded, but with tragic results.
- "Bridge on the River Kwai" is a well-known classic British-made war-drama 1957, set in Thailand during WW2, during the construction of the Siam - Burma railway through virgin jungle and endless hills and gorges, using malnourished, mistreated allied prisoners of war. A counter-story in the film, which collides with the main story at the climax, relates to a mission to destroy the newly-constructed railway bridge by a fictious cloak and dagger sabotage organisation called 'Force 316', whose training base is in Ceylon. In fact, this is a thinly-disguised reference to the real-life Force 136, part of SOE, who indeed had wartime jungle-training facilities in Ceylon at M.E. 25 - Horona.
- Fictional versions of SOE turn up as the organization in charge of occult activities in Tim Powers' Declare and Charles Stross's The Atrocity Archives.

Miscellany/trivia


- Author Ian Fleming, who knew both Maurice Buckmaster and Vera Atkins, is reputed to have used at least parts of them to create "M", and "Miss Moneypenny" in his James Bond books. In his first Bond novel, Fleming is said to have based the "Vesper Lynd" character on the beautiful SOE agent, Christine Granville. Another agent that Fleming used for his Bond character was Duane Hudson.

External links


- [http://clutch.open.ac.uk/schools/emerson00/soe_gubbins_marks.html Colin Gubbins, Leo Marks and the SOE]
- [http://www.pro.gov.uk/releases/feb2002-SOE/list.htm Special Operations Executive Records Release 8th Feb 2002] (dead link)
- [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2003/may12/default.htm Special Operations Executive Records Releases in May 2003]
- [http://www.64-baker-street.org/ 64 Baker Street: The Women of the SOE]
- [http://www.m.a.christie.btinternet.co.uk/ "Mission Scapula" Special Operations Executive in the Far East.] Category:World War II groups Category:Espionage
-

Cryptome

Cryptome is a controversial website, hosted in the United States by its owner John Young, that functions as a repository for information that is prohibited or suppressed by various governments. According to his website, John Young is a former architect from New York City. It also contains obscure documents relating to freedom of speech, cryptography, surveillance, and so on. Although many of the files available are of little importance, Cryptome has caused a stir in the past with items such as:
- [http://cryptome.org/mi6-list.htm The MI6 files] - a list of MI6 agents published on May 13, 1999.
- The Eyeball series - a series of detailed maps for sensitive government facilities and sites of significant public interest.
- Pictures of dead U.S. soldiers from the 2003 invasion of Iraq that the Pentagon refused to release. Cryptome has attracted the attention of government agencies. Young reported being visited by two FBI agents from a counter-terrorism office and described having a casual discussion with the agents [http://cryptome.org/fbi-cryptome.htm]. Young states on another occasion, two FBI agents spoke with him on the phone. During the conversation, Young recalls, one agent warning of "serious trouble", if a published account of the conversation contained the agents names [http://cryptome.org/fbi-psia.htm]. Cryptome has been cited by the blog www.wagnews.blogspot.com as a CIA fake. The site claims that Cryptome forms part of--or has been manipulated or misled in support of--a false opposition to corporate forces in the USA, the aim of which is to distract people from real activism. No evidence has been provided to support the claim.[http://wagnews.blogspot.com/2005/08/cias-internet-fakes.html] In March 2005 the conservative-leaning Reader's Digest published an article with a highly critical view of Cryptome in its regular feature "That's Outrageous". It asserted that Cryptome is an "invitation to terrorists" and claimed that Young "may well have put lives at risk".[http://cryptome.org/web-threats.htm]

See also


- Cartome

External links


- [http://www.cryptome.org/ Cryptome.org]
- Cryptome founders John Young and Deborah Natsios participated in [http://www.h2k2.net/panels.html#stand a panel on Standing Up To Authority] at H2K2
- [http://www.jya.com John Young's website] Category:Organizations in cryptography Category:Websites

Kamehameha I

:This article is about the Hawaiian ruler. For other uses, see Kamehameha (disambiguation). Kamehameha (disambiguation) Kamehameha, also known as Kamehameha I and Kamehameha the Great (circa 1758-1819), unified the Hawaiian Islands in battle and formally established the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1810. A skilled diplomat, Kamehameha developed friendships with the major colonial powers in the Pacific resulting in the preservation of independence, as well as a guarantee of peace and prosperity of the kingdom, for future generations of native Hawaiians. Kamehameha is most noted for his vehement defense of traditional Hawaiian values and the kapu system of law and religion. He is also remembered for mamalahoe or the Law of the Splintered Paddle, used today throughout the world protecting the human rights of non-combatants in times of battle. In 1871, Kamehameha V decreed a holiday, Kamehameha Day, in Kamehameha I's honor. This holiday is still celebrated annually today, on June 11. In addition, a statue was erected in his honor at Ali‘iolani Hale, the center of Hawai‘i's judicial system. Two identical statues also exist in Kohala and the United States Capitol.

Legendary birth

Although there is some debate as to the precise year of his birth, Hawaiian legends claimed that a great king would one day unite the islands, and that the sign of his birth would be a comet. Halley's comet was visible from Hawai‘i in 1758, and it is therefore assumed that Kamehameha was born shortly after its appearance. Kamehameha's birth is s