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Kennedy Center Honors

Kennedy Center Honors

The Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded annually, since 1978 by the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The honorees are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts. Nominations are made to the Board of Trustees by past honorees and members of the center's national artists committee. For the 2004 Honors, recommendations came from Dan Aykroyd, Christine Baranski, Angela Bassett, Joshua Bell, Adrien Brody, Dave Brubeck, Cy Coleman, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Suzanne Farrell, Renee Fleming, Morgan Freeman, Rosemary Harris, Paloma Herrera, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Nathan Lane, Yo-Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Pinchas Zuckerman. The awards are given at a United States Department of State dinner held the night before the annual Honors Gala at the Kennedy Center Opera House. A White House reception is also given in their honor. The ceremony is recorded during the first weekend of December and is not telecast live. Edited versions are currently shown on CBS.

List of recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors


- 2005 Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, Julie Harris, Robert Redford, and Tina Turner
- 2004 Warren Beatty, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, Elton John, Joan Sutherland, and John Williams
- 2003 James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, and Itzhak Perlman
- 2002 James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, and Elizabeth Taylor
- 2001 Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Luciano Pavarotti
- 2000 Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Plácido Domingo, Clint Eastwood, and Angela Lansbury
- 1999 Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder
- 1998 Bill Cosby, Fred Ebb & John Kander, Willie Nelson, André Previn, and Shirley Temple Black
- 1997 Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, and Edward Villella
- 1996 Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, and Maria Tallchief
- 1995 Jacques d'Amboise, Marilyn Horne, B.B. King, Sidney Poitier, and Neil Simon
- 1994 Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, and Pete Seeger
- 1993 Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, George Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Marion Williams
- 1992 Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rogers, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Paul Taylor
- 1991 Roy Acuff, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, and Robert Shaw
- 1990 Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Rise Stevens, Jule Styne, and Billy Wilder
- 1989 Harry Belafonte, Claudette Colbert, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Martin and William Schuman
- 1988 Alvin Ailey, George Burns, Myrna Loy, Alexander Schneider, Roger L. Stevens
- 1987 Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr, Nathan Milstein and Alwin Nikolais
- 1986 Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, Antony Tudor and Ray Charles
- 1985 Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe and Beverly Sills
- 1984 Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carlo Menotti, Arthur Miller and Isaac Stern
- 1983 Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and Virgil Thomson
- 1982 George Abbott, Lillian Gish, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly and Eugene Ormandy
- 1981 Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins and Rudolf Serkin
- 1980 Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne and Leontyne Price
- 1979 Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham and Tennessee Williams
- 1978 Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers and Arthur Rubinstein

External link


- [http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/ The Kennedy Center Honors] Kennedy Center Honors Category:Awards

1978

1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar).

Events

January


- January 1 - The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law.
- January 1 - Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay - 213 dead.
- January 4 - Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet.
- January 6 - The Hungarian Holy Crown (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) returned to Hungary from the United States where it was held after World War II.
- January 7 - Emilio Palma is born in Antarctica, making his birth the southernmost in history.
- January 10 - Assassination of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, who had criticized the Nicaraguan government. Riots erupt against Somoza's government.
- January 18 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
- January 19 - Federal Appeals Court Judge William H. Webster appointed as Director of the FBI.
- January 22 - Ethiopia announces the ambassador of West Germany as Persona non grata.
- January 23 - Sweden becomes the first nation to ban aerosol sprays that are thought to damage earth's protective ozone layer.
- January 24 - Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 burns in Earth atmosphere and its debris is scattered over Canadian Northwest Territories
- January 28 - Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento", is arrested
- January 30 - Blizzards in the USA kill 90.

February


- February 1 - Film director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl.
- February 8 - Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcasted on radio for the first time.
- February 11 - 16 Unification Church couples wed in New York City.
- February 11 - Military mobilization in Somalia due to an apparent Ethiopian attack.
- February 11 - The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
- February 13 - Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two garbagemen, a policeman and several others. Many believe that ASIO was responsible.
- February 15 - Rhodesia's prime minister Ian Smith and three black leaders agree on the transfer to black majority rule.
- February 15 - Serial killer Ted Bundy is captured in Florida.
- February 16 - The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
- February 21 - Electrical workers in Mexico City find an Aztec monolith in the middle of the city.

March


- March 1 - Charlie Chaplin's remains are stolen from Cosier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland but are recovered 11 weeks later near Lake Geneva.
- March 1 - Broadway play Timbuktu opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
- March 3 - Ethiopia admits that its troops are fighting with the aid Cuban soldiers against Somalian troops in Ogaden.
- March 3 - Rhodesia attacks Zambia.
- March 3 - New York Post publishes an article about David Rorvik's book The Cloning of Man about a supposed cloning of a human being
- March 6 - US porn publisher Larry Flynt is shot and paralysed
- March 11 - Palestinian terrorists on the Tel Aviv Haifa highway kill 34 Israelis.
- March 15 - The United States Senate approves the Panama Canal neutrality treaty; votes to turn the canal over to Panama by the year 2000 on April 18.
- March 16 - Israeli forces invade Lebanon.
- March 16 - Former Italian premier Aldo Moro is kidnapped by Red Brigades, who kill five bodyguards; he is found dead on May 9.
- March 17 - The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz runs aground on the coast of Brittany.
- March 18 - Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.
- March 22 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- March 24 - The tanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two off Brittany spilling 50,000 metric tons of crude oil.
- March 28 - The US Supreme Court hands down 5-3 decision in Stump v. Sparkman, 435 U.S. 349, a controversial case involving involuntary sterilization and judicial immunity.

April


- April 1 - Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.
- April 8 - Regular broadcasts of proceedings in British Parliament start.
- April 16 - In Cologne, 15,000 former members of the resistance movement demonstrate against National Socialism.
- April 18 - The US Senate votes 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31 1999.
- April 27 - President of Afghanistan, Daud Khan is killed during a military coup - Mohammed Takain succeeds him.
- April 30 - The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan is proclamed, under pro-communist leader Nur Mohammed Taraki.

May


- May 4 - – Communist activist Henri Curiel is murdered in Paris.
- May 5 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds gets his 3000th major league hit.
- May 8 - Norway opens a natural gas field in the Polar Sea.
- May 9 - In Rome, the body of Aldo Moro, the Italian president of the Christian-Democrats, is found in a parked car.
- May 12-May 13 - Group of mercenaries lead by Bob Denard oust Ali Soilih in the Comoros - 10 local soldiers killed. Denard forms a new government
- May 12 - In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining centre of the province of Shaba. The government of Zaire asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
- May 15 - Students of the University of Teheran riot in Tabriz - an army stops the riot.
- May 17 - Charles Chaplin's coffin is found ten miles from the cemetery it was stolen from, near Lake Geneva.
- May 18 - Soviet dissident Yuri Orlov is sentenced for seven years hard labor for distributing counterrevolutionary material.
- May 18-May 19 - Belgian and French paratroopers fly to Zaire to aid the fight against the rebels.
- May 20 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becames the first woman to run across the USA - trek took 69 days.
- May 22 - Exiled leaders Ahmed Abdallah and Mohammed Ahmed return to the Comoros
- May 25 - A bomb explodes in the security section of Northwestern University - security guard is wounded. The first bomb of the Unabomber case.
- May 26 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, Resorts International, the first legal casino in the eastern United States, opens.
- May 29 - Ali Soilih is found dead, allegedly shot when trying to escape

June


- June 6 - Californians in referendum approve Proposition 13 for a nearly 60% slash in property tax revenues.
- June 9 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints extends the priesthood and temple blessings to "all worthy males," ending a general policy of excluding blacks from priesthood and temples since 1849 (see Blacks and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
- June 12 - Serial killer David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam," is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
- June 15 - King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old Lisa Halaby.
- June 19 - Cricketer Ian Botham becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a century and take eight wickets in one innings of a Test match.
- June 19 - Comic Strip Garfield debuts in newspapers.
- June 21 - An outbreak of shooting between Provisional IRA members and the British Army leaves one civilian and three IRA men dead.
- June 22 - Discovery of Charon, a satellite of Pluto, announced.
- June 23 - Josip Broz Tito is named for Yugoslav president for life.
- June 24 - President of Yemen Arab Republic Ahmad al-Ghashmi is killed.
- June 25 - Argentina defeats Netherlands 3-1 after extra time to win the 1978 World Cup.
- June 26 - The bombing of Breton nationalists causes destruction in Versailles.
- June 28 - The Supreme Court of the United States, in the Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities.
- June 30 - Ethiopia begin a massive offensive in Eritrea.

July-August


- July 7 - The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
- July 25 - First human birth, girl Louise Brown, from in vitro fertilization (the test tube baby).
- August 6 - Pope Paul VI dies at age of 80.
- August 7 - United States President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal.
- August 12 - Sino-Japanese relations: The Treaty of Peace and Friendship is signed between Japan and the People's Republic of China.
- August 15 - Foundation of Mirapuri - The City of Peace and Future Man in Europe, Italy.
- August 17 - Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Preque Isle, Maine
- August 19 - Fire in Rex Cinema in Tehran - 477 dead.
- August 20 - Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al airline bus in London.
- August 20 - In Abadan, Iran, nearly 400 are killed when Muslim extremist arsonists set fire to a crowded theater.
- August 25 - The Shroud of Turin goes on public display for the first time in 45 years.
- August 25 - US Army sergeant Walter Robinson "walks" across the English Channel in 11 hours 30 minutes using homemade water shoes
- August 26 - Albino Cardinal Luciani succeeds Pope Paul VI as Pope John Paul I.

September-October

Pope John Paul I
- September 1 - Dublin Institute of Technology is established.
- September 5 - Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
- September 8 - Riots in Teheran - Iranian army troops open fire - 122 dead, 4000 wounded.
- September 11 - The tip of an umbrella poisons Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov, probably on orders of Bulgarian intelligence. He dies four days later.
- September 17 - Camp David peace agreement between Israel and Egypt
- September 19 - British Police launch a massive murder hunt when newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater is shot dead after disturbing a burglary.
- September 25 - PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727, collides with a small private airplane and crashes in San Diego, California resulting in the death of 144.
- September 28 - Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.
- October 1 - Vietnam attacks Cambodia.
- October 7 - Wranslide in NSW; the Wran government is re-elected with a increased majority.
- October 8 - Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 317.60mph at Blowering Dam, Australia.
- October 10 - US President Jimmy Carter signs a bill into law that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
- October 14 - Daniel arap Moi becomes president of Kenya.
- October 16 - Karol Wojtyła becomes Pope John Paul II.
- October 27 - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.

November-December


- November 3 - Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- November 5 - Riots and demonstrations in Teheran - the British embassy is sacked.
- November 7 - Indira Gandhi re-elected to Indian parliament.
- November 17 - The Star Wars Holiday Special airs on CBS.
- November 18 - Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his People's Temple in a mass murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.
- November 19 - The first US Take Back the Night march occurs in San Francisco.
- November 20 - Military coup in Spain fails.
- November 27 - In San Francisco, California, city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.
- November 30 - Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems until November 13 1979.
- December 4 - Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until Friday, January 8, 1988).
- December 11 - Lufthansa heist - Six men rob a Lufthansa cargo facility in New York City's Kennedy airport.
- December 11 - Massive anti-Shah demonstration in Iran - 2 million demonstrators.
- December 13 - First Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation.
- December 15 - Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to go into default since the Great Depression, under the mayoral administration of Dennis Kucinich.
- December 25 - Vietnam launches a major offensive against the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
- December 27 - The Spanish Constitution is approved in referendum officially ending 40 years of military dictatorship.

Unknown dates


- The Hillside Strangler, a stealthy serial killer, is on the prowl in Los Angeles.
- The Usu volcano erupts in Japan.
- Eagles' Hotel California was nominated for a Grammy award.
- Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was nominated for a Grammy award.
- Artificial insulin is invented.
- David Rorvik claims he has participated in a creation of a human clone in his book In His Image.
- Abortion legalized in Italy for first time.
- Acorn Computers Ltd is founded.
- The Honda Prelude, the car which introduced the world to the VTEC engine and 4-wheel steering, begins production. It would continue for many years before it would be discontinued and replaced with the S2000 and Acura RSX.
- Remove Intoxicated Drivers established.
- Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems established to promote temperance.

Births

January-May


- January 1 - Erica Durance, Canadian actress
- January 3 - Alex Leigh, British model
- January 4 - Dwight Freeney, American football player
- January 9 - Chad Johnson, American football player
- January 14 - Shawn Crawford, American runner
- January 28 - Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
- February 7 - Ashton Kutcher, American actor
- February 14 - Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
- February 15 - Tuan Le, American poker player
- February 20 - Jakki Degg, British model
- February 20 - Julia Jentsch, German actress
- February 23 - Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (d. 2003)
- February 24 - Janine Machin, English radio presenter
- March 1 - Jensen Ackles, American actor
- March 14 - Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
- March 21 - Kevin Federline, American dancer
- March 22 - Josh Heupel, American football player
- March 23 - Nicholle Tom, American actress
- April 5 - Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer
- April 9 - Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
- April 9 - Rachel Stevens, English singer
- April 16 - Lara Dutta, Indian actress
- May 1 - Matt Lovato, American bassist (Mest)
- May 9 - Marwan al-Shehhi, United Arab Emirates hijacker (d. 2001)
- May 12 - Jason Biggs, American actor
- May 13 - Mike Bibby, American basketball player
- May 13 - Barry Zito, baseball player
- May 21 - Briana Banks, German actress
- May 22 - Jordan, English model

June-September


- June 1 - Danielle Harris, American voice actress
- June 6 - Carl Barat, English singer and guitarist (The Libertines)
- June 8 - Maria Menounos, American actress, journalist, and televison presenter
- June 10 - Shane West, American actor
- June 19 - Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player
- June 22 - Champ Bailey, American football player
- June 22 - Dan Wheldon, English race car driver
- July 9 - Linda Park, Korean-born actress
- July 18 - Ben Sheets, baseball player
- July 21 - Francine Dee, import car model
- July 25 - Gerard Warren, American football player
- August 1 - Edgerrin James, American football player
- August 9 - Audrey Tautou, French actress
- August 19 - Callum Blue, English actor
- August 21 - Reuben Droughns, American football player
- August 23 - Kobe Bryant, American basketball player
- August 24 - Rafael Furcal, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- August 27 - Mase, American rapper
- September 7 - Nora Greenwald, American professional wrestler
- September 11 - Ed Reed, American football player
- September 12 - Ruben Studdard, American singer
- September 20 - Jason Bay, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- September 22 - Harry Kewell, Australian footballer
- September 24 - Wietse van Alten, Dutch archer
- September 25 - Jodie Kidd, English model
- September 29 - Kurt Nilsen, Norwegian singer
- September 30 - Candice Michelle, American professional wrestler and model

October-December


- October 2 - Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer
- October 13 - Jermaine O'Neal, American basketball player
- October 14 - Usher Raymond, American musician
- October 20 - Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer
- October 21 - Joey Harrington, American football player
- October 25 - Russell Anderson, Scottish footballer
- October 26 - Antonio Pierce, American football player
- October 27 - Vanessa-Mae, Singaporean musician
- October 29 - Travis Henry, American football player
- November 1 - Manju Warriar, Indian actress
- November 6 - Taryn Manning, American actress
- November 9 - Sisqó, American actor and singer (Dru Hill)
- November 10 - Eve, American rapper
- November 17 - Reggie Wayne, American football player
- November 24 - Katherine Heigl, American actress
- November 25 - Shina Ringo, Japanese singer and musician
- November 30 - Clay Aiken, American singer
- December 1 - Brad Delson, American guitarist (Linkin Park)
- December 2 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian-born singer and songwriter
- December 8 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
- December 8 - Vernon Wells, baseball player
- December 9 - Jesse Metcalfe, American actor
- December 18 - Katie Holmes, American actress
- December 23 - Andra Davis, American football player
- December 23 - Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- December 23 - Estella Warren, Canadian swimmer, model, and actress
- December 29 - Alexis Amore, Peruvian actress, dancer, and model

Unknown dates


- Kris Roe, American guitarist and singer (The Ataris)
- Princess Tamara Czartoryski-Borbon, Spanish athlete

Deaths

January-June


- January 13 - Hubert H. Humphrey, U.S Vice President and Senator (b. 1911)
- January 13 - Joe McCarthy, baseball manager (b. 1887)
- January 14 - Harold Abrahams, English athlete (b. 1899)
- January 14 - Kurt Gödel, Austrian-born mathematician (b. 1906)
- January 22 - Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (b. 1894)
- January 23 - Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (b. 1946)
- January 23 - Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
- February 11 - James B Conant, American chemist and headmaster of Harvard University (b. 1893)
- February 11 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- February 27 - Vadim Salmanov, Russian composer (b. 1912)
- March 18 - Leigh Brackett, American author (b. 1915)
- March 19 - Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
- March 21 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, fifth President of Ireland (b. 1911)
- March 31 - Charles Best, American-born medical scientist (b. 1899)
- April 21 - Sandy Denny, English singer (b. 1947)
- May 1 - Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (b. 1903)
- May 9 - Aldo Moro, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1916)
- May 14 - Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
- May 22 - Joe Colombo, American gangster (b. 1914)
- June 7 - Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)

July-December


- July 30 - Umberto Nobile, Italian aviator (b. 1885)
- August 2 - Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
- August 6 - Pope Paul VI (heart attack) (b. 1897)
- August 21 - Charles Eames, American architect and designer (b. 1907)
- August 22 - Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan statesman
- August 26 - Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
- September 7 - Keith Moon, English drummer (The Who) (drug overdose) (b. 1947)
- September 9 - Jack Warner, Canadian film studio founder (b. 1892)
- September 10 - Ronnie Peterson, Swedish race car driver (racing accident) (b. 1944)
- September 11 - Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident (assassinated) (b. 1929)
- September 15 - Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft engineer (b. 1898)
- September 23 - Lyman Bostock, baseball player (murdered) (b. 1950)
- September 26 - Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
- September 28 - Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
- October 6 - Johnny O'Keefe, Australian singer (b. 1935)
- October 10 - Ralph Metcalfe, American athlete (b. 1910)
- November 6 - Harry Bertoia, Italian artist and designer (b. 1915)
- November 15 - Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
- December 8 - Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
- December 10 - Ed Wood, American filmmaker (b. 1924)
- December 11 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- December 27 - Houari Boumédiènne, President of Algeria (b. 1932)

Unknown dates


- Walter C. Alvarez, American physician (b. 1884)
- Pankaj Mullick, Bengali composer and singer (b. 1904)
- Mark A. Shaw, American temperance movement leader and Prohibition Party candidate for vice-president in 1964 (b. ?)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, Arno Allan Penzias, Robert Woodrow Wilson
- Chemistry - Peter D. Mitchell
- Medicine - Werner Arber, Daniel Nathans, Hamilton O. Smith
- Literature -Isaac Bashevis Singer
- Peace - Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat and Menachem Begin
- Economics - Herbert Simon

Fields Medalists


- Pierre Deligne, Charles Fefferman, Grigory Margulis, Daniel Quillen

Templeton Prize


- Professor Thomas F. Torrance Category:1978 als:1978 ko:1978년 ja:1978年 simple:1978 th:พ.ศ. 2521

Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center

The Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center, more formally known as the Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, maintain and administer the Center and its site. The honorary chairs of the Board of Trustees are the First Lady and her living predecessors. Members of the board are specified by 20 USC 78h and as of 2001 included:
- Ex officio members such as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of State (substituting for the Director of the United States Information Agency after that agency was abolished), the Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Superintendent of Schools of the District of Columbia, the Director of the National Park Service, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,
- Ten congressional representatives appointed for six-year terms, consisting of the chairs and ranking minority members of the House's Committee on Public Works and Transportation and the Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works, three members appointed by the President of the Senate and three appointed by the Speaker of the House;
- Thirty general trustees appointed by the President of the United States for six-year terms. Recent examples of political appointees to the board include Anita Arnold (of Texarkana, Texas), Democratic fund-raiser and tobacco heir Smith Bagley, billionaire Ronald Burkle, socialite Buffy Cafritz, Senator Jon Corzine, former Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley, Bush appointee Bo Derek, Ronald Dozoretz M.D., former Reagan chief-of-staff Kenneth Duberstein, businessman Melvyn J. Estrin, lawyer George Farias, former Speaker of the House Thomas Foley, attorney David Girard-diCarlo, Vinod Gupta (of Omaha, Nebraska), Anne Sewell Johnson of (Austin, Texas), Bush fund-raiser Brenda LaGrange Johnson, AOL co-founder James V. Kimsey, community activist Marlene Malek, philanthropist Alma Johnson Powell, former Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy Smith, and former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. The board awards the Kennedy Center Honors.

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (or Kennedy Center) opened in 1971 as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy. The idea for the center, however, dates to 1958, when a National Cultural Center was proposed for Washington, DC. The center, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, is located on the Potomac River and is adjacent to the Watergate Hotel. The Center has three main theaters: A Concert Hall on the south side, an Opera House in the middle, and the Eisenhower Theater on the north side, named for Dwight Eisenhower. Other performance venues in the Center include the Terrace Theater, the Theater Lab, and the Millennium Stage. Free performances are held on the Millennium Stage every evening at 6:00 PM. In December 2005, a new theater will open, the Family Theater, which replaces what was once the AFI Theater in the Hall of States. Closed for the 2003/2004 season, the Opera House was extensively renovated with a revised seating arrangement at the orchestra level and re-desgined entrances to this level also. Since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded annually by the center's Board of Trustees. The Center has awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor since 1998. The Kennedy Center houses a number of groups and institutions, including:
- National Symphony Orchestra
- Washington National Opera
- Washington Ballet
- Washington Performing Arts Society
- American College Theater Festival

See also


- Lincoln Center

External link


- [http://www.kennedy-center.org/ Kennedy Center official website] Category:Arts centres Category:Concert halls Category:Washington, D.C. culture Category:National memorials in Washington, DC Category:Buildings and monuments honoring American Presidents

American culture

:This article very generally discusses the customs and culture of the United States; for the "popular (pop) culture" of the United States, see arts and entertainment in the United States. American culture can be interpreted as being largely based on Western culture and British culture, with influences from the native peoples, Africans brought to the U.S. as slaves, and to a lesser extent other more recent immigrants from Asia and elsewhere. Additionally, due to its large size and the value placed on individualism, there are many integrated but unique subcultures within the U.S.

Attitudes

The formative years of the United States have been identified by some in the late 18th century, and a great deal of U.S. culture is couched in the ideals of The Enlightenment. The Declaration's mission statement about securing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; French revolution's ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity; and the national motto of E pluribus unum ("From many, one") reflect the country's values and social development. Another primary influence on American culture is the constant stream of new immigrants, many of whom had fled persecution or oppression in their home countries, and were seeking freedom (including religious freedom) and economic opportunity, leading them to reject totalitarian practices. By and large, Americans value the ideals of individual liberty, individualism, self-sufficiency, altruism, equality, Judeo-Christian morals, free markets, a republican form of government, democracy, populism, pluralism, feminism, and patriotism. (Americans often believe that their patriotism has nuances that differentiate it from nationalism and nationalism's negative connotations.)

Society and economic attitudes

There is a close relationship between America's political and economic traditions: that the individual pursuit of self-interest leads to the best result both for the individual and for society as a whole, is believed to be a successful formula for both economic success and optimal political function. An effect of this can be seen by the fact that while the United States government is not the most generous donor of international aid, Americans are by far the most generous in terms of individual charitable contributions. The precise amount of individual economic freedom that Americans should have is often debated, with the (usually slight) differences in opinion marking the major differences between political parties. The end result, however, is that the U.S. economy has become the largest on earth, with most of its citizens enjoying comparatively high living standards. The fact that the United States is the largest English-speaking marketplace allows firms to compete across the country and to enjoy economies of scale (cost reductions that arise from the huge scale of manufacturing) that reduce prices and benefit consumers. The relatively uniform commercial culture--with many large stores or "chains" operating nationwide--produces a commercial atmosphere that is relatively homogeneous throughout the country. The population of the United States tends to be centered in large cities, in marked contrast to the demographics of a century ago, when the country was quite agrarian. The United States is generally skeptical or hostile toward socialist and communist ideologies, but some of the related movements, such as the labor movement, became a defining part of America's heritage after the New Deal. The country was less affected by socialist ideas in the 20th century than was Europe, and the McCarthy Era and the Cold War as a whole demonstrated a deeply felt hostility to communism, which, especially at that time, was perceived as anti-individualist, undemocratic, and essentially anti-American. They are also evidenced in aspects of social policy (for example, the absence of a national health care system and the constant controversy about the size and role of the government, especially the federal government, in individuals' lives and in states' laws). The American tradition of free-market capitalism has led the populace (and their leaders) to generally accept the vicissitudes of the free market and the continuous alterations to society that a changing economy implies, although social and economic displacement are common. The result is a flexible, profit-oriented socioeconomic system.

Relationship to other countries/cultures

Some Americans exhibit ethnocentric or insular outlooks, with little interest in the culture or political developments of other countries. For example, as a possible result of this trait, comparatively few books from European countries or Japan are translated for sale in the United States and sales of those that are translated tend to be slow. Imported films are generally less successful than domestic productions. Likewise, imported television shows (other than anime and Monty Python) are also rarely successful, except on PBS, although remakes of foreign shows are increasingly common. This is emphasized in the Americanization of such television shows as The Office, Queer as Folk, and Red Dwarf. In this process, the show is often rewritten and localized with American actors cast in the place of their British counterparts. By contrast, in many other countries, films and television programs produced abroad are broadcast unchanged (except for dubbing/subtitling). Americans also tend to travel to other countries less than citizens of European countries, for example, partly because international travel from the United States typically entails much further distances than for Europeans, and much higher cost.

Body contact and expression

In most regions of the U.S., public display of affection, as well as significant expression of emotion, was historically disapproved and discouraged, prior to the mid-20th century. Such attitudes have seen considerable change, however, with the cultural revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s. There is considerable variation with respect to attitudes, mostly generational in nature, and while Americans are not generally as demonstrative of their affections as, say, Latin Americans or Southern Europeans, they are considerably more so than, for instance, the Northern Europeans or the Japanese, have been historically.

Names

The citizens and many other residents of the United States refer to themselves and each other as Americans, and to their country as the United States or as America. Non-Hispanic Americans understand, and may say, "the Americas" with the meaning of the two major continents of the Western hemisphere, but generally will resist using "America" in that sense, despite that designation's familiarity to Spanish speakers. While to many foreigners "Yankees" is synonymous with the American people, Americans almost always use the term for the sports team, for New Englanders, New Yorkers, or in contrast to Southerners. The major exception to that is Americans' occasional ironic usage of "Yankee" (or especially "Yank", construed by Americans as a British usage), in attempting to convey either striving to transcend American parochialism, or resignation to the failure of any such striving. "The States" is a term generally used when referring to the country from an overseas or Canadian vantage point. "The US" or "The U.S." is a casual, short-hand term. When discussing the American Civil War, Americans use the phrase "the Union" to refer to the states that remained under the control of the federal government in Washington and did not secede to join the Confederacy. The phrase is also occasionally used in contemporary discussions of American federalism and states' rights. Fairly formal terms, still short-hand, evoking patriotic observances (possibly with irony) are "U.S.A." (with or without the periods, and usually with "the"); a more marked version is "the U. S. of A." The full name of the nation, the "United States of America," is very formal and is most often used in formal government documents, pledges, or ceremonies.

Intra-national allegiances

Because of the size and large population of the country, America is often described as a nation of joiners who tend to self-associate with non-familial groups. Individuals tend to perceive themselves as "free agents" rather than bound by family or clan ties. Group allegiances are sometimes regional, but can also be related to a professional or fraternal organization. For example, residents of North Carolina are proud to be "Tar Heels," Indiana residents are "Hoosiers" and many cities have a strong sense of civic identity, often reinforced by an innocuous but deeply felt rivalry with another local city. An example of such a rivalry existed until the early 1960s between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. A strong rivalry that continues to this day involves the cities of Boston and New York, which is centered around the historic rivalry between the 26-time World Champion New York Yankees and the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox. Recent immigrants tend to congregate with other immigrants from their country of origin, often establishing neighborhoods (sometimes called ethnic enclaves) in cities with popular names like "Chinatown", "Poletown", or "Little Saigon." Second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants tend to have looser affiliations with their ethnic groups. America has tens of thousands of clubs and organizations, and if a group has a charitable or service orientation, Americans may volunteer their time through those groups. Examples of these groups include the Rotary Club, the Boy Scouts of America, Little League, etc.

Food

Main article: Cuisine of the United States The types of food served at home vary the most and depend upon the region of the country and the family's own cultural heritage. Americanized versions of these cultural foods, such as American Chinese cuisine, sometimes appear. Recent immigrants tend to eat food similar to that of their country of origin. Families that have lived for a few generations in the U.S. tend to eat some combination of that and the food common to the region they live in or grew up in, such as New England cuisine, Midwestern cuisine, Southern cuisine, Tex-Mex cuisine, and Californian cuisine.

Tobacco and other drugs

Use of tobacco has statistically decreased sharply among Americans with higher levels of education, with use at only 10% among the college educated, while continuing at 40% among high school dropouts. American tobacco users smoke cigarettes and cigars, as well as engaging in dipping or tobacco chewing. It is generally possible to avoid tobacco smoke in business establishments provided care is taken. Many towns, cities and even some states, such as California and Florida, prohibit smoking in the interior of public places.

Sports

Main article: Sports in the United States American sports are quite distinct from those played elsewhere in the world. Baseball has a huge following and is referred to as the "national pastime"; Major League Baseball teams play almost every day from April to October. American football (known simply as "football" in the U.S. and as gridiron in the UK) attracts more viewers than baseball nowadays; however, National Football League teams play only 16 regular-season games each year, so baseball is the runaway leader in ticket sales. Basketball, invented in Massachusetts by a Canadian, is another popular sport. NASCAR has also grown from a mainly southern sport to the second most watched sport in America behind football. Less popular, but still considered a major spectator sport, is hockey. Hockey, always a mainstay of Great Lakes area culture, gained tenuous footholds in regions like the Carolinas and Tampa Bay, Florida, in recent years, as the National Hockey League pursued a policy of expansion. The cancellation of the 2004-2005 NHL season could slow, or even halt, the spread of hockey into new regions of the United States. Unlike in Europe, Africa, South America, and recently, Asia, soccer has a small following, and is mostly popular in the more international cities of New York and Los Angeles, where there happens to be a high immigrant population. Generally few non-Hispanic American adults appear to be attracted to soccer as spectators, but the sport is widely played by children of all backgrounds. Sports such as cricket, rugby, common in other English-speaking nations, are nearly nonexistent in the United States. However, many amateur cricket leagues have been formed by Indian and Pakistani immigrants, and as a result, the sport has made limited inroads into the non-immigrant community. Australian Rules Football is also one of the fastest growing sports in the USA, partly through agressive promotion by the Australian Football Association of North America. The extent in America to which sports are associated with secondary and tertiary education is unique among nations. Particularly notable in basketball and football, high school and particularly college sports are followed with a fervor equalling or exceeding that felt for professional sports; college football games can draw six-digit crowds and, for upper-tier schools, sports are a significant source of revenue. Though student athletes may be held to significantly lower academic requirements than non-athletes at universities, a minimum standard does exist.

Clothing

Main article: Dress of the United States Dress is usually casual and informal, and in the Western tradition of pants and a shirt. Women may also wear skirts or dresses. Exceptions are major cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where many residents dress more stylishly (and more expensively.) Social and business situations may call for tailored suits or other more elegant outfits. The strictest clothing convention applies to skirts and dresses; they are usually exclusively reserved and used by women and young girls. Jeans, a T-shirt and athletic shoes, with optional baseball cap (increasingly, worn backwards), come close to being a "national uniform". Types of clothing worn often have something to do with which region of the country people live in. Some Texans and residents of the Southwest dress in a style typically associated with traditional cowboys. In the region from New England to Boston, preppy style clothing is popular. In the South, people sometimes dress more casually, although formality in certain contexts is valued some parts of the region, a trend which may also influence ethnic groups outside the South, including African Americans. The greatest variations in dress are related to climate. Easterners generally tend to dress more formally than Westerners, though this is also closely connected with cultural history as well. Residents of northern states wear heavy sweaters, warm, water-resistant boots, stocking caps and heavy coats or down parkas in the cold season. In Hawaii, the Hawaiian shirt as an acceptable item of wear by men has received formal approval by the state legislature. In beach areas and places with relatively warm and consistent climates, especially California, Hawaii, and Florida, "skimpy" clothing is considered acceptable in all but the most formal settings. Cowboy hats, Western boots and large silver belt buckles are found in southwestern and western regions of the United States, particularly Texas and Arizona. However, many from the Southern United States dress in the aforementioned jeans and t-shirt. The trend toward informality has increased among many segments of society. For instance, students at colleges and universities are often noted for wearing flip flops or thongs as well as pyjamas to class.

Education

Main article: Education in the United States Should be merged with Education in the United States In the American educational system children are generally required to attend school from the age of five or six until age 16, with the majority continuing until they are at least 17 or 18, or have graduated from high school. The public education systems vary from one state to another but generally are organized as follows:
- Age five: Kindergarten
- Ages six-11: Elementary school. Children start in grade 1 and advance to grade 5 or 6.
- Ages 12-13 or 12-14: Junior high school or middle school (usually grades 7-9 or grades 6-8, respectively).
- Ages 14-18: High school (usually grades 9-12 or 10-12, depending on whether the community uses middle schools or junior high schools). The entire span of primary and secondary education, from Kindergarten to grade 12, is often abbrieved in the US as K-12 or K12, which in spoken American English is rendered as "K through 12" or "K 12." Additionally, many children attend schools before they reach the age of five. These pre-schools are often private and not part of the public educational system although some public school systems include pre-schools.

Public education

Public education in the United States is provided by the separate states, not the federal government (except in the limited circumstances of on-base public schools provided for military dependents). All states provide public school education from kindergarten through the twelfth year of high school free of charge; further, the federal government does not establish a standard nationwide curriculum. Rather, the curriculum is typically established by state educational departments or local school districts, and teachers in many districts may have wide discretion to determine what is taught in the classroom. Increasingly, however, more comprehensive statewide curricula are being developed. Also, as of 2003, there is increasing state and federal pressure to quantify teaching efficacy using results from standardized tests, which tends to lead to a more uniform curriculum. This trend toward educational standardization, which has been attributed with a concommittant decline in flexibility in teaching, and other reforms—such as the use of whole language methodology for teaching reading in primary school, instead of the more traditional phonics-based approach—promoted in recent years have been controversial. Other criticisms of recent educational trends include an increasing lack of post-secondary scholarships and subsidies. Funding of the public school systems is most often provided primarily at the local level,with money obtained from county or city property taxes used to fund the public schools (in conjunction with additional funds from the state and federal governments). Private school education in the United States at the primary and secondary levels generally receives little or no governmental support in the form of direct funding or subsidies, although non-profit bodies running private schools may receive favorable tax status. Conversely, because of the constitutional prohibition regarding governmental establishment of religion, most private religious schools are in fact barred from such direct governmental support.

Private education

Most of the private institutions have traditionally been religious institutions, such as Catholic schools, various Protestant schools, and yeshivas. Some private secular schools, military schools, and multi-lingual schools are available. Private secular and multi-lingual elementary and secondary education may cost $10,000 to $20,000 per year per student in large metropolitan areas, placing these schools out of reach of all but the wealthiest of middle- and upper-class families. However, many of these schools, reflecting the American spirit of private charity, provide academic scholarships and need-based assistance. Religious schools vary in price, from nearly free to costs on par with private secular schools. Poorer families may send their children to these lower-priced schools for a religious education, or because they consider the schools better than the available public schools. Home schooling is allowed in many states and is an alternative for a small minority of households. The motivation for home schooling is often religious or political.

Higher education

The United States is a great center of higher education, boasting more than 1,500 universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher learning. Undergraduate degrees granted by institutions of higher education include associate's degrees from community colleges and bachelor's degrees from four-year schools. Common postgraduate degrees are master's degrees or Ph.D.s, or specialized professional degrees such as a J.D. for a lawyer, an MBA for a businessperson or an M.D. for a doctor. As with the lower level public education system, there is no national public university system in the United States; each state has its own public university system. There are also many privately run colleges, universities, and trade schools, some of them religiously affiliated. State university tuition ranges from nearly free on up, but is generally significantly lower than at private schools, and is often lower for state residents than for out-of-state students. Among the prestigious private universities of the United States are the eight Ivy League schools; others include Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Chicago, Duke University, Emory University, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and Georgetown University. Prestigious state universities include the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the College of William and Mary, the University of Texas, and the University of Michigan. Among liberal arts colleges prestigious schools include the Little Three and Five Colleges of Ohio. The U.S. federal government does provide some federal grants and loans for higher education to many families. Most universities offer academic scholarships and need-based aid; however, the American attitude is that higher education is a privilege, not a right, and that it is proper for students to assume some of the cost of their own education through work and loans. Students seeking officership in the United States Military may enroll in ROTC courses at most colleges and universities, or in one of service academies, such as West Point or Annapolis.

Language

Main article: Languages in the United States The primary, although not official, language of the United States is English, of the subtype termed American English. Other major languages are Spanish (because of the proximity of and immigration from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries of Central and South America, as well as the cultural crossover of the borderlands), Hawaiian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and to a certain extent French (primarily in far north New England, due to the Acadian-Canadian influence, and in Louisiana). There are more than 300 languages besides English which can claim native speakers in the United States--some of which are spoken by the indigenous peoples (about 150 living languages) and others which were imported by immigrants. Homegrown creoles include Gullah and Cajun, both spoken in the southeastern United States. Deaf people and their affiliates primarily communicate via American Sign Language. The demographics of the United States illustrate why American English is largely rhotic; the letter "R" is pronounced in most words with that letter, which may be due to large-scale immigration from Britain in the 1600s when the English spoken throughout Great Britain was still rhotic. During this time, the King James Version of the Bible was written, and is referred to as such in the United States, not the "authorized version." Possibly also as a result of cultural diaspora stemming to the 1600s, is that various King James Version phrases, as well as the words of Shakespeare and the British units of measure, still resonate for many Americans. There are four major regional dialects in the United States--northeastern, south, inland north and midlands. The midlands accent (considered the "standard accent" in the United States, and analogous in some respects to the received pronunciation elsewhere in the English-speaking world) extends from what were once the "Middle Colonies" across the Midwest to the Pacific states.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the United States Historically, United States religious tradition has been primarily Protestant Christianity, but this tradition coexists in a public sphere where religious plurality and secularism are the norm. For example, the United States Constitution enshrined individual freedom of religious practice, which courts have since interpreted to mean that the government is a secular institution, an idea called "separation of church and state". While the many Christian sects have the most adherents, many other faiths are also popular. No one religion holds sway over the entirety of the population. "Culture wars" often have roots in religious differences, but religious violence is virtually nonexistent and roundly condemned by religious as well as non-religious individuals. U.S. people as a whole attend religious services more often than do their peers in most Northern European countries. In fact, the U.S. is rare among industrialized nations in that most of its citizens consider themselves religious. According to the 2001 American Religious Identity Survey (ARIS), 76.5% of United States residents, or 159 million people, identify themselves as Christians; 13.2% or 27.5 million identify as non-religious or secular. Other faiths represented include the 1.3% (or 2.8 million) of U.S. people who identify themselves as Jewish; 0.5% (1 million) who identify themselves as Muslim; 0.5% (1 million) who identify themselves as Buddhists; 0.5% (991,000) who identify as agnostic; 0.4% (902,000) who identify as atheist; 0.4% (766,000) identify as Hindu; and 0.3% (629,000) who identify as Unitarian Universalist. According to the same study, the major Christian denominations (making up the vast majority of faiths actively practiced in the United States) are (in order): Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian,