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Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 - December 14, 1974), was an influential United States writer, journalist, and political commentator. Lippmann was born in New York City to German-Jewish parents, Jacob and Daisy Baum Lippmann. The family lived a comfortable, if not privileged, life. Annual family trips to Europe were the rule. At age 17, he entered Harvard University where he studied under George Santayana, William James, and Graham Wallas. He concentrated on philosophy and languages (he spoke both German and French) and graduated after only three years of study. In 1913 Lippmann, Herbert Croly, and Walter Weyl became the founding editors of The New Republic magazine. During World War I, Lippmann became an advisor to President Woodrow Wilson and assisted in the drafting of Wilson's Fourteen Points. Lippmann had wide access to the nation's decision makers and had no sympathy for communism. But the Golos spy ring used Mary Price, his secretary, to garner information on items Lippmann chose not to write about or names of Lippmann's sources, often not carried in stories, but of use to the MGB (USSR). Early on, Lippmann was optimistic about American democracy. He believed that the American people would become intellectually engaged in political and world issues and fulfill their democratic role as an educated electorate. In light of the events leading to World War II and the concomitant scourge of totalitarianism however, he rejected this view. Lippmann came to be seen as Noam Chomsky's moral and intellectual antithesis: He agreed with the Platonic view that the population is a great beast, a herd, that has to be controlled by an intellectual specialist class. In this sense Lippmann might be viewed as a forerunner of US neoconservatism. Chomsky used one of Lippmann's catch phrases for the title of his book about the media: Manufacturing Consent. See also: Harold Lasswell, Edward Bernays It was Lippmann who first identified the tendency of journalists to generalize about other people based on fixed ideas. In addition to his newspaper columns, he published several books. Lippmann was the first to bring the phrase "cold war" to common currency in his 1947 book by the same name.

Bibliography


- A Preface to Politics (1913) ISBN 1591022924
- Drift and Mastery (1914) ISBN 0299106047
- Public Opinion (1922) ISBN 0029191300
  -
- The Phantom Public (1925) ISBN 1560006773
- A Preface to Morals (1929) ISBN 0878559078
- The Good Society (1937) ISBN 0765808048
- The Cold War (1947) ISBN 0061317233
- Essays in the Public Philosophy (1955) ISBN 0887387918

References


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External links


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- [http://nobsblog.blogspot.com/1999/03/men-of-destiny-by-walter-lippman-1927.html Walter Lippmann Men of Destiny (1927)]
- [http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/walterlippmann.htm Walter Lippman FBI FOIA]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAlippmann.htm Biography with excerpt from works] Lippmann, Walter Lippmann, Walter Lippmann Category:ISBN needed ja:ウォルター・リップマン

1889

1889 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).

Events

January-April

common year starting on Tuesday
- January 8 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine
- January 22 - Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, DC.
- February 11 - Meiji Constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890
- January 30 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder suicide) in Mayerling hunting lodge
- February 22 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- March 4 - Grover Cleveland, 24th President of the United States (1885 - 1889) is succeeded by Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893).
- March 9 - Yohannes IV is killed in the Battle of Metemma; Sudanese forces, who had been almost defeated, rally and destroy the Ethiopian army.
- March 23 - Land run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
- March 31 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated (opens May 6). Contemporary critics regard it aesthetically displeasing
- April 22 - Oklahoma land rush: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement; Land rush begins.

May-October


- May 2 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, which gives Ethiopia control over Eritrea.
- May 15 - In Samoa, three US and three German ships sink in a typhoon because the captains refuse to leave before the others ? almost 200 drown. British steamer Calliope saves itself by pushing into the wind with full speed
- May 31 - South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania
- June 3 - The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
- June 6 - The Great Seattle Fire ravages through the downtown area without any fatalities.
- June 12 - 88 are killed in the Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in Northern Ireland.
- July 8 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.
- August 14 - The Great London Dock Strike breaks out in England.
- September 10 - Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Albert I of Monaco
- September 23 - The company Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards.
- October 2 - In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
- October 3 - Sister Carries goes to Chicago
- October 24 - Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, delivers the Tenterfield Oration calling for the Federation of Australia.

November


- November 2 - North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as the 39th and 40th U.S. states.
- November 6 - Nintendo Koppai (Later Nintendo Company, Limited) founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce and market the playing card game Hanafuda.
- November 8 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.
- November 11 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
- November 14 - Inspired by Jules Verne pioneer woman Journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) begins an attempt to beat travel around the world in less than 80 days (Bly finished the journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes).
- November 15 - Brazil is declared a republic by Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca and Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup (he was the second and last emperor of Brazil).

Unknown dates


- Wisden Cricketer's Almanac publishes its first Wisden Cricketers of the Year (actually titled Six Great Bowlers Of The Year). The cricketers chosen are George Lohmann, Bobby Peel, Johnny Briggs, Charles Turner, John Ferris and Sammy Woods.
- Frederick Abel invents cordite
- Diet of Japan founded
- French defense minister Georges Boulanger attempts a coup but is forced to flee the country
- First free elections in Costa Rica
- Glele, king of Dahomey, commits suicide
- Yellow fever interrupts the building of Panama Canal
- Huge locust swarm crosses the Red Sea and destroys crops in the Nile Valley
- Ghost Dance movement
- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.
- Fabian Essays in Socialism, edited by George Bernard Shaw, is published.
- Capilano Suspension Bridge was founded. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world, and the park is now a favourite attraction to tourists from all over the world. It is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Births

January-April


- January 21 - Edith Bratt, wife of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (d. 1971)
- January 31 - Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
- February 3 - Risto Ryti, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1956)
- February 5 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
- February 19 - Ernest Marsden, British physicist (d. 1970)
- February 22 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell, English founder of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
- February 24 - Suzanne Bianchetti, French actress (d. 1936)
- March 1 - Kanoko Okamoto, Japanese novelist, poet, and Buddhism scholar (d. 1939)
- March 1 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (d. 1960)
- March 4 ? Pearl White, American silent film actress (d. 1938) 1938]
- March 16 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
- March 24 - Albert Hill, British athlete (d. 1969)
- March 29 - Warner Baxter, American actor (d. 1951)
- April 7 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- April 8 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
- April 11 - Nick LaRocca, American musician (d. 1961)
- April 15 - Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (d. 1975)
- April 16 - Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (d. 1977)
- April 20 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian dictator of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
- April 21 - Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- April 23 - Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
- April 26 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born philosopher (d. 1951)

May-December


- May 12 - Otto Frank, German writer, father of Anne Frank (d. 1980)
- May 18 - Thomas Midgley, American chemist and inventor (d. 1944)
- May 25 - Igor Sikorsky Russian developer of the helicopter (d. 1972)
- June 21 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972)
- June 23 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)
- July 5 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (d. 1963)
- July 17 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American author (d. 1970)
- August 5 - Conrad Aiken, American writer (d. 1973)
- September 8 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio (d.1953)
- September 11 - Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (d. 1963)
- September 14 - Maria Esther Capovilla, Oldest Living Person (as of 12/9/2005)
- September 18 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (d. 1970)
- September 20 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d. 1975)
- September 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (d. 1976)
- October 3 - Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1938)
- October 8 - C. E. Woolman, American airline executive (d. 1966)
- October 13 - Douglass Dumbrille, Canadian-born actor (d. 1974)
- November 1 - Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, Canadian-born peace activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1982)
- November 14 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India (d. 1948)
- November 20 - Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
- November 30 - Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1977)
- December 9 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1966)

Unknown dates


- James Alexander Allan, Australian poet (d. 1956)

Deaths


- January 30 - Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (suicide) (b. 1858)
- January 30 - Baroness Mary Vetsera (suicide) (b. 1871)
- February 3 - Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
- March 8 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (b. 1803)
- March 9 - Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia
- April 23 - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, French writer (b. 1808)
- May 9 - William S. Harney, U.S. Army general (b. 1800)
- May 14 - Volney E. Howard, American politician (b. 1809)
- May 12 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
- June 8 - Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (b. 1844)
- June 15 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (b. 1850)
- July 10 - Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (b. 1820)
- August 19 - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French writer (b. 1838)
- September 16 - Bob Younger, American outlaw and youngest of the Younger outlaws
- September 23 - Wilkie Collins, British novelist (b. 1824)
- October 11 - James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
- October 25 - Émile Augier, French dramatist (b. 1820)
- November 18 - William Allingham, Irish author (b. 1824 or 1828)
- December 6 - Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)
- December 12 - Robert Browning, English poet (b. 1812)
- December 31 - Ion Creangă, Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839)

Heads of State


- China - Guāngxù Emperor of China, Qing Dynasty (1875-1908)
- Denmark - Christian IX, King of Denmark (1863-1906)
- France - Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (1887-1894)
- Germany - Wilhelm II, German Kaiser (1888-1918)
- Holy See - Pope Leo XIII, Bishop of Rome (1878-1903)
- Japan - Mutsuhito, Meiji emperor (1867-1912)
- Norway - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway (1872-1905)
- Ottoman Empire - Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876-1909)
- Russia - Alexander III, Tsar of Russia (1881-1894)
- Spain - Alfonso XIII of Spain, King of Spain (1886-1931)
- United States -
- # Grover Cleveland, President of the United States (1885-1889)
- # Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States (1889-1893) Category:1889 ko:1889년 ms:1889 simple:1889 th:พ.ศ. 2432

December 14

December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 17 days remaining.

Events


- 867 - Adrian II becomes Pope
- 872 - John VIII becomes Pope
- 1287 - Zuider Zee sea wall collapses, killing over 50,000 people
- 1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.
- 1790 - Alexander Hamilton proposes creation of a Bank of the United States
- 1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state
- 1896 - Glasgow Underground Railway, third in the world, opens (an accident closes it the same day and it only reopens in 1897),
- 1900 - Max Planck publishes his study of quantum theory (The birth of Quantum Theory)
- 1902 - First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean
- 1911 - First expedition reaches the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen
- 1918 - Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounced the Finnish throne.
- 1932 - Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom
- 1939 - USSR expelled from the League of Nations
- 1946 - UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City
- 1947 - NASCAR founded
- 1958 - 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach The Pole of Relative Inaccessibility
- 1959 - Motown record label is founded in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1962 - Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
- 1962 - The Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million, the highest insurance valuance for a painting in history.
- 1964 - Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964 decided by U.S. Supreme Court
- 1979 - Punk rock band The Clash release the influential double album London Calling.
- 1981 - Israel annexes the Golan Heights
- 1989 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years. Patricio Aylwin was elected president.
- 1991 - A rock slide takes off 10 metres of Mount Cook's elevation in New Zealand.
- 1995 - The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.
- 1996 - A massive freightliner hits the Riverwalk mall and hotel complex in New Orleans, Louisiana, injuring 116.
- 1999 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, announced his retirement.
- 2000 - The Texas 7 rob a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas. They stole police scanners that would be used in their following infamous heist.
- 2003 - The news of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's capture is finally announced.
- 2003 - Celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.
- 2004 - The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, is officially opened.

Births


- 1009 - Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (d. 1045)
- 1503 - Nostradamus, French astrologer and mathematician (d. 1566)
- 1546 - Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer (d. 1601)
- 1625 - Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (d. 1695)
- 1631 - Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway, English philosopher (d. 1679)
- 1640 (baptism date) - Aphra Behn, playwright and novelist (d. 1689)
- 1678 - Daniel Neal, English historian (d. 1743)
- 1720 - Justus Möser, German statesman (d. 1794)
- 1775 - Philander Chase, American founder of Kenyon College (d. 1852)
- 1775 - Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (d. 1860)
- 1824 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter (d. 1898)
- 1866 - Roger Fry, English artist and art critic (d. 1934)
- 1870 - Karl Renner, President of Austria (d. 1950)
- 1884 - Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d. 1950)
- 1895 - Paul Eluard, French poet (d. 1952)
- 1895 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
- 1896 - Jimmy Doolittle, American general (d. 1993)
- 1897 - Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
- 1902 - Frances Bavier, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1908 - Morey Amsterdam, American comedian and actor (d. 1996)
- 1909 - Edward Tatum, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1975)
- 1911 - Spike Jones, American comedian and musician (d. 1965)
- 1913 - Dan Dailey, American actor (d. 1978)
- 1914 - Karl Carstens, President of Germany (d. 1992)
- 1914 - Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (d. 2003)
- 1918 - James T. Aubrey, American television executive (d. 1994)
- 1918 - B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate
- 1919 - Shirley Jackson, American writer (d. 1965)
- 1922 - Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist, Noble Prize laureate (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Gerard Reve, Dutch writer
- 1932 - Charlie Rich, American musician (d. 1995)
- 1935 - Lee Remick, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1938 - Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian
- 1946 - Jane Birkin, English-born actress
- 1946 - Patty Duke, American actress
- 1946 - Michael Ovitz, American film producer
- 1946 - Stan Smith, American tennis player
- 1947 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
- 1949 - Bill Buckner, baseball player
- 1951 - Jan Timman, Dutch chess player
- 1953 - René Eespere, Estonian composer
- 1954 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- 1954 - James Horan, American actor
- 1959 - Dana Childs, American radio personality and basketball coach.
- 1962 - Ginger Lynn, American actress
- 1963 - Cynthia Gibb, American actress
- 1965 - Craig Biggio, baseball player
- 1966 - Bill Ranford, Canadian hockey player
- 1967 - Ewa Białołęcka, Polish writer
- 1973 - Tomasz Radzinski, Canadian footballer
- 1974 - Billy Koch, baseball player
- 1977 - KaDee Strickland, American actress
- 1979 - Michael Owen, English footballer
- 1982 - Anthony Way, British singer and actor

Deaths


- 1460 - Guarino da Verona, Italian humanist and translator (b. 1370)
- 1510 - Friedrich of Saxony (b. 1473)
- 1542 - King James V of Scotland (b. 1512)
- 1591 - Saint John of the Cross, Spanish friar and poet (b. 1542)
- 1624 - Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman (b. 1536)
- 1651 - Pierre Dupuy, French scholar (b. 1582)
- 1713 - Thomas Rymer, English historian (b. 1641)
- 1715 - Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1636)
- 1735 - Thomas Tanner, English bishop and antiquarian (b. 1674)
- 1741 - Charles Rollin, French historian (b. 1661)
- 1788 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
- 1788 - King Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
- 1799 - George Washington, first President of the United States (b. 1732)
- 1861 - Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
- 1873 - Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born zoologist and geologist (b. 1807)
- 1947 - Edward Higgins, English Salvation Army general (b. 1864
- 1963 - Dinah Washington, American singer (b. 1924)
- 1964 - William Bendix, American actor (b. 1906)
- 1984 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
- 1985 - Roger Maris, baseball player (b. 1934)
- 1989 - Andrei D. Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (b. 1921)
- 1990 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
- 1993 - Myrna Loy, American actress (b. 1905)
- 1998 - Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Annette Strauss, philanthropist and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1924)
- 2003 - Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2003 - Blas Ople, foreign minister of the Philippines (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Rod Kanehl, baseball player (b. 1934)
- 2004 - Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. Saints - Memorial of Saint John of the Cross
- Also see December 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- USA - admission of Alabama as 22nd state (1819)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/14 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/this_day_in_history/this_day_December_14.php The History Channel: This day in History] ---- December 13 - December 15 - November 14 - January 14 -- listing of all days ko:12월 14일 ms:14 Disember ja:12月14日 simple:December 14 th:14 ธันวาคม

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