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PT 109

PT 109

:PT-109 redirects here. For the movie starring Cliff Robertson, see PT 109 (movie). PT 109 (movie) PT-109 was a PT boat commanded by future United States President John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Kennedy's actions after the sinking of the PT-109 allowed him to claim "war hero" status in his political career, and may have contributed to his long-term back problems. Kennedy's idling boat was rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri on August 2, 1943 in the Blackett Strait between Kolombangara and Arundel in the Solomon Islands, cutting it in half and killing two of his men. Kennedy led the survivors, clinging to the wreckage of the boat, to safety on the deserted Plum Pudding Island. An article about the experience was printed in Reader's Digest just before Kennedy's first Congressional run, and the campaign reproduced the article and distributed it to potential voters. Though Kennedy emerged a hero (awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal) many in the military including Douglas MacArthur thought he should have faced a court-martial for losing his boat in such a manner. In addition to the book mentioned below, the episode was also made into a 1963 movie PT 109, starring Cliff Robertson. The island was renamed to Kennedy Island. The wreckage of PT-109 may have been located; a May 2002 a National Geographic expedition headed by Dr. Robert Ballard found wreckage matching the description and location of Kennedy's vessel in the Solomon Islands [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html]. However, under current Navy policy, the wreckage site is a gravesite and may not be disturbed. Gerald Zinser, the last survivor of the PT-109, died in 2003.

Reference


- Robert J. Donovan, PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII (1961) ISBN 0071376437

External link


- [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/pt_boats/pt_109/pt_109.htm Maritimequest PT-109 Photo Gallery and Fact Sheet] Category:Kennedy family Category:United States Navy patrol boats

Cliff Robertson

Clifford Parker Robertson III (born September 9, 1925) is an American actor notable for his performances in PT 109 (as the young John F. Kennedy), The Best Man, Charly (for which he won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor), Picnic, Obsession, Autumn Leaves and Star 80. Younger audiences may recognize Cliff Robertson best for his part as Uncle Ben Parker in the movie version of Spider-Man Born in La Jolla, California to wealthy parents, Robertson has made the most of the few starring roles he has received. He is equally at home in movies and on television, and has done voiceovers for several television commercials. Robertson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6801 Hollywood Blvd.

External link


-
- [http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/cliffrobertson.htm Article on Robertson's private aviation collection]
- [http://www.cliffrobertson.info Cliff Robertson's Official Website] Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff Robertson, Cliff



John F. Kennedy

For other uses, see JFK (disambiguation) or John Kennedy (disambiguation). John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), often referred to as John F Kennedy, JFK, or Jack Kennedy, was the 35th President of the United States. He served from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. A member of the prominent Kennedy political family, he is considered an icon of American liberalism. Kennedy is the youngest person ever to have been elected president of the country, at the age of 43. (Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest ever to serve as President of the country.) Major events during his presidency included the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, early events of the Vietnam War, and the American Civil Rights Movement. In rankings of U.S. presidents, historians usually grade Kennedy above average, but among the general public he is often regarded as among the greatest presidents. Kennedy is also the only Roman Catholic ever to become President, the first president to serve who was born in the 20th century, the last to die while still in office, the last Democrat from the North to be elected, and the last to be elected while serving in the U.S. Senate. Kennedy died the youngest of any U.S. president, at 46 years and 177 days, when he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The assassination is often considered a defining moment in U.S. history both because of its traumatic impact on the entire nation, and because of Kennedy's elevation as an icon for a new generation of Americans and American aspirations.

Early life and Education

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Years later, it would be revealed that Kennedy had been diagnosed as a young man with Addison's Disease, a rare endocrine disorder. This and other medical disorders were kept from the press and the public throughout Kennedy's life. Kennedy attended The Choate School in Connecticut, one of the country's most elite, and he graduated in 1935. Before enrolling in college, he attended the London School of Economics for a year, where he studied political economy under the tutelage of Professor Harold Laski. In the fall of 1935, he enrolled in Princeton University, but was forced to leave after contracting jaundice. The next fall, he began attending Harvard College. Kennedy traveled to Europe twice during his years at Harvard, visiting the United Kingdom, while his father was serving as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. In 1937, Kennedy was prescribed steroids to control his colitis, which only heightened his medical problems causing him to develop osteoporosis of the lower lumbar spine [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1276266]. In 1938, Kennedy wrote his honors thesis, entitled "Why England Slept" on the British portion of the Munich Agreement. He graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs in June 1940. His thesis was published in 1940 and became a best-seller.

Military service

In the spring of 1941, Kennedy volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was rejected, mainly because of his troublesome back. However, the U.S. Navy accepted him in September of that year with the influence of the director of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), a former naval attaché to ambassador Joseph Kennedy. As an ensign, he served in the office that supplied bulletins and briefing information for the Secretary of the Navy. It was during this assignment that the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. It was also during this time that he began a romantic relationship with Inga Arvad, a suspected Nazi spy. The relationship ended, however, when Kennedy was transferred to the ONI field office in South Carolina. He attended the Naval Reserve Officers Training School and Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Training Center before being assigned for duty in Panama and eventually the Pacific theater. He participated in various commands in the Pacific theater and earned the rank of lieutenant, commanding a patrol torpedo boat (PT boat).[http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq60-2.htm] patrol torpedo boat On August 2, 1943, Kennedy's boat, the PT-109, was taking part in a night-time military raid near New Georgia (near the Solomon Islands) when it was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy was thrown across the deck, injuring his already troubled back. Still, Kennedy somehow towed a wounded man three miles through the ocean, arriving on an island where his crew was subsequently rescued. Kennedy said that he blacked out for periods of time during the ordeal. For these actions, Kennedy received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal under the following citation: :"For heroism the rescue of 3 men following the ramming and sinking of his motor torpedo boat while attempting a torpedo attack on a Japanese destroyer in the Solomon Islands area on the night of Aug 1-2, 1943. Lt. KENNEDY, Capt. of the boat, directed the rescue of the crew and personally rescued 3 men, one of whom was seriously injured. During the following 6 days, he succeeded in getting his crew ashore, and after swimming many hours attempting to secure aid and food, finally effected the rescue of the men. His courage, endurance and excellent leadership contributed to the saving of several lives and was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service." Kennedy's other decorations of the Second World War include the Purple Heart, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. He was honorably discharged in early 1945, just a few months before the Japanese surrendered. In May 2002, a National Geographic expedition found what is believed to be the wreckage of the PT-109 in the Solomon Islands [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020710_kennedyPT109.html].

Early political career

PT-109 After World War II, Kennedy entered politics (partly to fill the void of his popular brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., on whom his family had pinned many of their hopes but who was killed in the war). In 1946, Representative James Michael Curley vacated his seat in an overwhelmingly Democratic district to become mayor of Boston and Kennedy ran for that seat, beating his Republican opponent by a large margin. He was reelected twice, but had a mixed voting record, often diverging from President Harry S. Truman and the rest of the Democratic Party. Harry S. Truman commencement.]] In 1952, Kennedy ran for the Senate with the slogan "Kennedy will do more for Massachusetts." In an upset victory, he defeated Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. by a margin of about 70,000 votes. Kennedy adroitly dodged criticizing fellow Senator Joseph McCarthy's controversial campaign to root out Communists and Soviet spies in the U.S. government, because of McCarthy's popularity in Massachusetts. McCarthy was a friend of JFK's father, dated the Kennedy sisters, and younger brother Robert F. Kennedy briefly worked for McCarthy. Although Kennedy was ill during the 65–22 vote to censure McCarthy, he was criticized by McCarthy opponents such as Eleanor Roosevelt who later said of the episode, "he should have displayed less profile, and more courage". Kennedy married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on September 12, 1953. He underwent several spinal operations in the two following years, nearly dying (receiving the Catholic faith's "last rites" four times during his life), and was often absent from the Senate. During this period, he published Profiles in Courage, highlighting eight instances in which U.S. Senators risked their careers by standing by their personal beliefs. The book was awarded the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. In 1956, Kennedy campaigned for the Vice Presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention, but convention delegates selected Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver instead. However, Kennedy's efforts helped bolster his reputation within the party. An example of Kennedy's political suppleness prior to the 1960 campaign was his handling of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He voted for final passage, while earlier voting for the "jury trial amendment", which some people feel rendered the Act toothless. He was able to say to both sides that he supported them. In 1958, Kennedy published the first edition of his book A Nation of Immigrants, closely following his involvement in the Displaced Persons Act and the 1957 bill to bring families together.

1960 Presidential election

A Nation of Immigrants In 1960, Kennedy declared his intent to run for President of the United States. In the Democratic primary election, he faced challenges from Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, and Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956 who was not officially running but was a favorite write-in candidate. Kennedy won key primaries like Wisconsin and West Virginia. In the latter state, Kennedy made a visit to a coal-mine, and talked to the mine workers to win their support, as most people in that conservative, mostly Protestant state were deeply suspicious about Kennedy being a Catholic. Kennedy emerged as a universally acceptable candidate for the party after that victory. On July 13, 1960 the Democratic Party nominated Kennedy as its candidate for president. Kennedy asked Johnson to be his Vice Presidential candidate, despite clashes between the two during the primary elections. He needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916. Major issues included how to get the economy moving again, Kennedy's Catholicism, Cuba, and whether or not both the Soviet space and missile programs had surpassed those of the U.S. To allay fears that his Roman Catholicism would impact his decision-making, he said in a famous speech in Houston, Texas (to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association), on September 12, 1960, "I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters - and the Church does not speak for me." [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johnfkennedyhoustonministerialspeech.html] (Also see Al Smith, the first Catholic to receive the presidential nomination for a major party, in 1928.) In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first televised US presidential debates. During the debates, Nixon looked tense, sweaty, and unshaven compared to Kennedy's composure and handsomeness, leading many to deem Kennedy the winner, although historians consider the two evenly matched as orators. Interestingly, many who listened on radio thought Nixon more impressive in the debate.[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/K/htmlK/kennedy-nixon/kennedy-nixon.htm] The debates are considered a political landmark: the point at which the medium of television played an important role in politics and looking presentable on camera became one of the important considerations for presidential and other political candidates. In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy beat Nixon in a very close race. There were serious allegations that vote fraud in Texas and Illinois had cost Nixon the presidency[http://www.leanleft.com/archives/cat_reviews.html]. There were unusually large margins in Richard Daley's Chicago — which were announced after the rest of the vote in Illinois. The only change after the official recount was a win for Kennedy in Hawaii.

Presidency

Hawaii] Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", he said. He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." [http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/jfk-inaug.htm]

Foreign policies

On April 17, 1961, Kennedy gave orders allowing a previously-planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. With support from the CIA, in what is known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles, called "Brigade 2506" returned to the island in the hope of deposing Castro, but the CIA had underestimated popular support for Castro, made several mistakes in devising and carrying out the plan, and the exiles did not rally the Cuban people as expected. By April 19 Castro's government had killed or captured most of the invading exiles and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release for the 1,189 survivors. After 20 months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. The incident was a major embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full responsibility for the debacle. On August 13, 1961, the East German government began construction of the Berlin Wall separating East Berlin from the Western sector of the city, due to the American military presence in West Berlin. Kennedy claimed this action was in violation of the "Four Powers" agreements. Kennedy initiated no action to have it dismantled, and did little to reverse or halt the eventual extension of this barrier to a length of 155 km. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962 when American U-2 spy planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba. Kennedy faced a dire dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites it might have led to nuclear war with the U.S.S.R. If the U.S. did nothing, it would endure the perpetual threat of nuclear weapons within its region, in such close proximity, that if launched preemptively, the U.S. may have been unable to retaliate. Another fear was that the U.S. would appear to the world as weak in its own hemisphere. Many military officials and cabinet members pressed for an air assault on the missile sites but Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine in which the U.S. Navy inspected all ships. He began negotiations with the Soviets and a week later, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles while the U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba, and also secretly promised to remove U.S. ballistic missiles from Turkey within six months. Following this incident, which brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or since, Kennedy was more cautious in confronting the Soviet Union. Arguing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable", Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America, by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to troubled countries in the region and sought greater human rights standards in the region. He worked closely with Puerto Rican Governor Luis Muñoz Marín for the development of the Alliance of Progress, as well as developments on the autonomy of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Another example of Kennedy's belief in the ability of non-military power to improve the world was the creation of the Peace Corps, one of his first acts as president. Through this program, which still exists today, Americans volunteered to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. Kennedy also used limited military action to contain the spread of communism. Determined to stand firm against the spread of communism, Kennedy continued the previous administration's policy of political, economic, and military support for the unstable South Vietnamese government, which included sending military advisers and U.S. special forces to the area. U.S. involvement in the area continually escalated until regular U.S. forces were directly fighting the Vietnam War in the next administration. On June 26, 1963 Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism. While Kennedy was speaking, some people on the other side of the wall in East Berlin were applauding Kennedy and showing their distaste for Soviet control. Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism - "Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in." The speech is known for its famous phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner". Troubled by the long-term dangers of radioactive contamination and nuclear weapons proliferation, Kennedy also pushed for the adoption of a Limited or Partial Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but does not prohibit testing underground. The United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to the Treaty. Kennedy signed the Treaty into law in August 1963, and believed it to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his administration. On the occasion of his visit to Ireland in 1963, President Kennedy joined with Irish President Eamon de Valera to form The American Irish Foundation. The mission of this organization was to foster connections between Americans of Irish descent and the country of their ancestry. (See The Ireland Funds)

Domestic policies

The Ireland Funds]] Kennedy used the term New Frontier as a label for his domestic program. It ambitiously promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession. Kennedy also promised an end to racial discrimination. The turbulent end of state-sanctioned racial discrimination was one of the most pressing domestic issues of Kennedy's era. The U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 that racial segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this decision. There also remained the practice of segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. Kennedy started his fight for civil rights when he appealed to Black voters during his campaign in 1962. In 1962 James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of Mississippi, but he was prevented by white students. Kennedy responded by sending some 400 federal marshals and 3000 troops to ensure that Meredith could enroll in his first class. Kennedy also assigned federal marshals to protect Freedom Riders. Thousands of Americans of all races and backgrounds joined Kennedy in protesting racial discrimination. Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights, and during the 1960 campaign he telephoned Coretta Scott King, wife of the jailed Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which drew much black support to his candidacy. However, as president, Kennedy initially believed the grassroots movement for civil rights would only anger many Southern whites and make it even more difficult to pass civil rights laws through Congress, which was dominated by Southern Democrats, and he distanced himself from it. As a result, many civil rights leaders viewed Kennedy as unsupportive of their efforts. On June 11, President Kennedy intervened when the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from enrolling. George Wallace moved aside after being confronted by federal marshals, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, and the Alabama National Guard. That evening Kennedy gave his famous Civil Rights Address on National television and radio. [http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/johnfkennedycivilrights.htm] Kennedy proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. [http://www.mass.gov/statehouse/statues/jfk_landing.htm] [http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/39.htm] Also on the domestic front, in 1963 Kennedy proposed a tax reform that included income tax cuts, but this was not passed by the Congress until after his death in 1964. It is one of the largest tax cuts in modern U.S. history, surpassing the Reagan tax cut of 1981.

Support of space programs

Neil Armstrong.]] Kennedy was eager for the United States to lead the way in the space race. The Soviet Union was ahead of the U.S. in its knowledge of space exploration and Kennedy was determined that the U.S. could catch up. In a speech made at Rice University in September 1962, he said , "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space" and "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."[http://webcast.rice.edu/speeches/19620912kennedy.html] Kennedy asked Congress to approve more than twenty two billion dollars for Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the Moon before the end of the decade. In 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, this goal was finally realized when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon.

Cabinet


Buzz Aldrin ----

Supreme Court appointments

Kennedy appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:
- Byron Raymond White - 1962
- Arthur Joseph Goldberg - 1962

Image, social life and family

Both Kennedy and his wife "Jackie" were very young in comparison to earlier presidents and first ladies, and were both extraordinarily popular in ways more common to pop singers and movie stars than politicians, influencing fashion trends and becoming the subjects of numerous photo spreads in popular magazines. The Kennedys brought a new life and vigor to the atmosphere of the White House. They believed that the White House should be a place to celebrate American history, culture, and achievement, and invited artists, writers, scientists, poets, musicians, actors, Nobel Prize winners and athletes to visit. Jacqueline Kennedy also gathered new art and furniture and eventually restored all the rooms in the White House. The White House also seemed like a more fun, youthful place, because of the Kennedys' two young children, Caroline and John Jr. (who came to be known in the popular press as "John-John" though years later Jacqueline Kennedy denied that the family called him by that name). Outside the White House Lawn, the Kennedys established a pre-school, swimming pool, and tree house. John Jr. Behind the glamorous facade, the Kennedys also suffered many personal tragedies. Jacqueline suffered a miscarriage in 1955, and gave birth to a stillborn daughter in 1956. (Although the daughter was unnamed - and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to her parents with a marker reading "Baby Girl" Kennedy - later reports indicated that the Kennedys had intended to call her Arabella.) The death of their newborn son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy in August 1963 was a great loss. Information revealed after Kennedy's death leaves no doubt that he had many extramarital affairs while in office, including liaisons in the White House with some female staff, prostitutes, members of the press and others. In his era, though, such issues were not considered fit for publication, and in Kennedy's case, they were never publicly discussed during his life, even though there were some public clues of an involvement with Marilyn Monroe, such as the manner in which she sang Happy Birthday Mr. President at his televised birthday party in May 1962. In the years after his death, many liaisons were revealed, including one with Judith Campbell Exner, who was simultaneously involved with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. The charisma of Kennedy and his family posthumously led to the figurative designation of "Camelot" for his administration.

Assassination and aftermath

Camelot President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:30 pm CST while on a political trip through Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged at 7:00 pm for killing a Dallas policeman by "murder with malice", and also charged at 11:30 pm for the murder of the president (there being no charge of "assassination" of a president at that time). Oswald was fatally shot less than two days later in the basement of the Dallas police station by Jack Ruby. Five days after Oswald was killed, the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, created the Warren Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, to investigate the assassination. It concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. A later investigation in the 1970s by the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) also concluded that Oswald was the assassin, however, it added that he was likely part of a conspiracy to kill the president, although the committee did not uncover sufficient evidence to identify any other members of the conspiracy. Critics have proposed a number of Kennedy assassination theories which contradict the various theories on exactly how the assassination took place that have been proposed by the government's official reports. There is no consensus among government investigations, let alone amongst their critics, on the number of bullets fired at the president, the direction from which all the bullets were fired, and which of the bullets struck the president, and Governor John Connally who was also wounded in the attack. Lee Harvey Oswald denied shooting anyone, and claimed he was being set up as a "patsy". He claimed the photograph of him holding the alleged murder weapon was a fabrication, and that he would prove his face was pasted on the body of someone else holding the rifle. However, because of his own murder by Jack Ruby, Oswald's guilt or innocence was never determined in a court of law. Some critics contend that Oswald was not involved at all and that he was framed. Among the most widely posited conspirators in the assassination are the CIA, the mafia, the KGB, and Fidel Castro, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, and some sort of military-industrial complex led by U.S. Army Generals.

Legacy and memorials

Lyndon B. Johnson Television became the primary source by which people kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination, with newspapers the following day becoming more souvenirs than sources of updated information. U.S. networks switched to 24 hour news coverage for the first time ever. Kennedy's state funeral and the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald were all broadcast live in America and in other places around the world. It was with this event that television matured as a news source rivalling that of newspapers. Lee Harvey Oswald On March 14, 1967 Kennedy's body was moved to a permanent burial place and memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson said of the assassination that "all of us...will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours." Kennedy is buried with his wife and their deceased children, and his brother Robert is also buried nearby. His grave is marked with an "Eternal Flame". Many of Kennedy's speeches, especially his inaugural address are considered iconic, and despite his relatively short term in office, and a lack of major legislative changes during his term, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best presidents, in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Kennedy's legacy has been memoralized in various aspects of American culture. New York Idlewild International Airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963 to honor his memory, and the USS John F. Kennedy was awarded on April 30, 1964 as a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. The John F. Kennedy Library opened in 1979 as Kennedy's official presidential library. John F. Kennedy University opened in Pleasant Hill, California in 1964 as a school for adult education. John F. Kennedy National Historic Site preserves his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy in 1963, but reverted to its original name in 1973. Hundreds of schools across the U.S were also renamed in his honor. The Phi Kappa Theta chapter at Worcester Polytechnic Institute made Kennedy an honorary brother of the fraternity. fraternity Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, Kennedy's portrait now appears on the United States half dollar coin.

Criticism

Kennedy is among the most popular former presidents of the United States; however, a number of critics argue that his reputation is largely undeserved. While he was young and charismatic, he had little chance to achieve much during his presidency. Under this reasoning, his immense popularity results from the fact that his short time in office was marked by the optimistic beginnings of many programs declared to be of great benefit to the United States, its people, and various global issues. Unlike the tenures of other U.S. presidents, Kennedy's time in office, generally speaking, thereby lacked the scandals and controversies seen in the terms of many other presidents who served longer. The Civil Rights Act which he sent to Congress in June of 1963 was, at least in part, conceived by his brother and Attorney-General Robert F. Kennedy, and largely implemented by his successor, Lyndon Johnson, in 1964. Kennedy's personal life has attracted the ire of critics, some of whom argue that lapses in judgment in his personal life impacted his professional life. Many of these criticisms stem from revelations about the extent to which the Kennedy family went to hide his serious, potentially life-threatening health issues (e.g. he suffered from Addison's disease) from the voting public, his heavy medication regimen, his long history of extra-marital dalliances, and alleged, circuitous links to organized crime figures. Seymour Hersh's The Dark Side of Camelot (1998) presents such a critical argument. Robert Dallek's An Unfinished Life (2003) is a more balanced biography, but contains much detail on Kennedy's health issues. Another of Kennedy's critics is U.S. intellectual Noam Chomsky, whose book Rethinking Camelot: JFK, the Vietnam War, and US Political Culture (1993) presents an image of the Kennedy administration opposite to the one that lingers in mainstream memory. The book is a criticism of policy rather than his personal life, and explores information not usually presented about the 35th president. In particular, Chomsky and many other critics highlight the ill-planned increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict under Kennedy's tenure.

Media

See also


- John F. Kennedy assassination
- Kennedy assassination theories
- Kennedy family
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- Robert F. Kennedy
- Robert F. Kennedy assassination
- Kennedy Compound
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts
- U.S. presidential election, 1960
- History of the United States (1945–1964)
- Jesuit Ivy
- Peace Corps
- John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
- John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede, England
- Kennedy Memorial Trust
- Five cents John Kennedy, postage stamp
- Whiz Kids
- Evelyn Lincoln, personal secretary to the President
- Kennedy Doctrine
- Lincoln/Kennedy Coincidences
- Coincidence theory
- Kennedy curse

References


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- [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=K000107 Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress]
- Gretchen Rubin radio interview. November 4, 2005 on Up To Date. [www.kcur.org/UTDarchive.html]

External links


- [http://www.jfklibrary.org/ John F. Kennedy Library]
- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html The White House Biography]
- [http://search.yale.edu:8765/query.html?col=ycsg&col=opa&col=yaleuniv&col=dynamic&qt=John+F.+Kennedy&charset=iso-8859-1&qp=%2Burl%3Awww.yale.edu%2Flawweb%2Favalon JFK at the Avalon Project]
- [http://www.whitehousetapes.org/pages/tapes_jfk.htm JFK's Secret White House Recordings @ University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs]
- [http://vvl.lib.msu.edu/showfindingaid.cfm?findaidid=KennedyJF Audio clips of Kennedy's speeches and other commentary]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKindex.htm Assassination of President Kennedy Encyclopaedia]
- [http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm McAdams website about JFK]
- [http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-01/strange-world.html article: Facts and Fiction in the Kennedy Assassination]
- [http://www.rootdig.com/john_f_kennedy.html John F. Kennedy in United States Census Records]
- Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, John F. ko:존 F. 케네디 ja:ジョン・F・ケネディ simple:John F. Kennedy th:จอห์น เอฟ. เคนเนดี้

Pacific Theater

The Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) is the term used in the United States for all military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, during World War II. Pacific War is a more common name, around the world, for the broader conflict between the Allies and Japan, between 1937 and 1945. Partly because of the nearly equal roles of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy in conducting war in the Pacific Theater, but largely for domestic political reasons, there was not a single Allied or US commander for the theater (comparable to Eisenhower in the ETO). Indeed, the organizational structure was rather tangled, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff frequently required to be involved, and the Army and Navy commanders reporting to both the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of War. (No doubt the attendant difficulties helped motivate the formation of the Department of Defense in 1947.) The two main Allied commanders in the PTO were Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas, the title held by Admiral Chester Nimitz and Supreme Allied Commander South West Pacific Area1, General Douglas MacArthur (following termination of the short-lived ABDACOM, in early 1942.)

Japanese nomenclature


- At least initially in World War II, the official Japanese name for the war was Dai toua sensou (大東亜戦争, Greater East Asia War). This name was chosen by a cabinet decision on December 10, 1941, to refer to both the war with the United States and the ongoing war in China, which began with the China Incident (or Mukden Incident). The name was released to the public two days later, on December 12, with a government explanation that it referred to the motivation of Asian nations to achieve independence from the Western nations — it was not intented to set parameters for the battlefield. Soon after the start of the war with the U.S., this term was prohibited in official documents, though some say its use continued.
- The war was from this point called Taiheiyo sensou (太平洋戦争) literally meaning the Pacific War. This latter term has been in use since that time.
- Less often, Jyugonen'sensou (十五年戦争 15 Year War) is used to refer to the war, beginning with the Japanese invasion of China in 1931 (also called the Sino-Japanese War) to the end of World War II in 1945. The term is used to highlight the rule of militarism over the years.

A theater of operations

The term "theater of operations" was defined in the [American] field manuals as the land and sea areas to be invaded or defended, including areas necessary for administrative activities incident to the military operations (chart 12). In accordance with the experience of World War I, it was usually conceived of as a large land mass over which continuous operations would take place and was divided into two chief areas-the combat zone, or the area of active fighting, and the communications zone, or area required for administration of the theater. As the armies advanced, both these zones and the areas into which they were divided would shift forward to new geographic areas of control.2

See also


- Pacific War
- Greater East Asia War, describing Japanese war plans
- Timeline WW II - Pacific Theatre
- Pacific Ocean Areas.
- The South West Pacific Area.
- The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II.
- Carl Spaatz U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific.
- Operation August Storm, the Soviet Campaign against Japan in 1945.
- Imperial Japanese Army
- Imperial Japanese Navy

References

# [http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/331.html#331.34 Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander SWPA] # [http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Sp1941-42/ench7.htm 88 Msg: through established channels] # [http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/orgadmin/org_admin_wwii_chpt7.htm Chapter VII: Prewar Army Doctrine for Theater]

External links


- http://ask.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~yasutomi/private2/home/glossary.html (Some English translations for Japanese terms.) Category:World War II Pacific Theatre ja:太平洋戦争

Destroyer

:This article is about the warship. For other meaning, see destroyer (disambiguation). destroyer (disambiguation) destroyer]] In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). At the beginning of the 21st century, destroyers are the heaviest surface combatants in general use, with only two nations (the United States and Russia) operating cruisers and none operating battleships or battlecruisers.

Genesis of the destroyer

The destroyer originated in Britain and Japan in the last years of the 1880s, and became firmly established after the Chilean Civil War of 1891 and in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). In those conflicts, a new type of ship proved to be devastatingly effective—the swift, small torpedo-boat invented by John Ericsson. These small boats had speed greater than that of the larger ships, and could dash in close to them, loose their torpedoes, and dash away. While normally a small, short-range boat of this sort would be easily destroyed long before getting into range, they could be operated within a fleet with larger ships as long as the fleet was close to base. In this case the defending force had to choose which set of targets to attack: the larger ships which they were built to counter, or the smaller torpedo boats which were charging in to attack. Yet this one-two punch cost almost nothing to the attacker, as the small torpedo boats were very inexpensive. The world's navies recognized the need for a counter weapon and developed the torpedo-boat destroyer. The basic idea was to have a screen of ships that were as fast as the torpedo boats, but armed with guns instead of torpedoes. They would operate at a distance from the main fleet of capital ships to keep the torpedo-boats from ever getting into torpedo firing range. However it was clear even at the time that this concept had problems of its own. The ship would indeed be capable of holding off an attack by torpedo boats (which typically have no guns of their own), but while operating away from the fleet they would be easy targets for any other capital ship. Thus they were often given torpedoes of their own. Another problem was that the torpedo-boats were short ranged and thus easy and cheap to produce. However the destroyers had the problem of needing to operate as a screen for the fleet. This required them to have the speed and range of the battleships, so destroyers were often much larger than the boats they were designed to counter.

First designs

battleships (1887)]] The first effective design of a torpedo-boat destroyer emerged in 1885 with the Japanese Kotaka, a Japanese-designed, but British-built, torpedo-boat with expanded capabilities and performances, which "was the forerunner of torpedo-boat destroyers that appeared a decade later" (Kaigun, David C. Evans). Designed and ordered in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. She was armed with four 1-pounder (37 mm) quick-firing guns and four torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots, and at 203 tons, was the largest torpedo boat yet designed. In her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could go beyond a role of coastal defense, and was capable of following larger ships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the Kotaka, "considered Japan to have effectively invented the destroyer" (Howe). Yarrow shipyards Almost immediately after the order of the Kotaka was placed, Fernando Villaamil of the Spanish Navy also placed an order for a torpedo-boat destroyer in November 1885, with the British builder James and George Thompson, of Clydebank, also nearby the Yarrow shipyards. The ship, named Destructor, was laid down at the end of the year, launched in 1886, and commissioned in 1887, thereby becoming the first torpedo-boat destroyer to be completed. Her displacement was 380 tons, and she was equipped with triple expansion engines generating 3,800 HP, for a maximum speed of 22.6 knots. She was armed with one 90 mm Hontoria cannon, four 57 mm Nordenfeldt cannon, two 37 mm Hotchkiss guns and 3 Schwartzkopff torpedo tubes. Her complement was 60 men. Hotchkiss).]] The next effective design of torpedo boat destroyer, with the range and speed to keep up with battleships, was the Havock class of two ships of the Royal Navy, developed in 1892 under the newly appointed Third Sea Lord Rear Admiral "Jackie" Fisher, and launched in 1893. The Havock had a 240 tons displacement, a speed of 27 knots, and was armed with a single 12-pounder (76 mm) gun, three 6-pounders (57 mm), and three 46 cm torpedo tubes. The torpedo boat destroyer later on took over the role of the smaller torpedo boats, performing torpedo attacks on fleets, such as the devastating Japanese attack on the Russian fleet in Port Arthur at the opening of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, and attacks in the Pacific theatre of World War II.

World War I

Torpedo Boat destroyers grew in size and effectiveness in the early part of the 20th century. Innovations such as turbine propulsion, oil-fired rather than coal-fired boilers, and longer ranged "heater" torpedoes led to effective ships being designed by Britain and Germany. The threat evolved by World War I with the perfection of the submarine. In general, the submarine, or U-boat, of the era was nothing more than a submersible torpedo boat. This change allowed the submarine to hide from the guns of the destroyers and close to firing while underwater. This led to an equally rapid destroyer evolution during the war, which was quickly equipped with depth charges and sonar for countering this new threat. At the end of the war the state of the art was represented by the British V and W class destroyer.

Inter War

V and W class destroyer Destroyer construction continued during the inter war period initially with designs evolved from the British V & W Class. A major innovation came with the Japanese Fubuki class destroyers or special type of 1928, which introduced enclosed turrets capable of anti-aircraft fire and the 24-inch (60cm) oxygen fuelled Type 93 torpedo. Most other nations replied with similar larger type ships examples include the US Porter-class destroyer leader and the British Afridi-class destroyer (commonly called "Tribals") The submarine threat had been insufficiently realized, however; while sonar (or ASDIC)was fitted, training in its use was indifferent. Weapons to attack submarines changed little, and ahead-throwing weapons, a need recognized in WW1, had made no progress.

World War II

By World War II the threat had evolved once again. Submarines were more effective, and aircraft had become important weapons of naval warfare; once again the fleet destroyers were unequipped for combatting these new targets. They were re-equipped with new anti-aircraft guns, radar, and ahead-throwing ASW weapons, in addition to their existing light guns, depth charges, and torpedoes. By this time the destroyers had become large multi-purpose vessels, expensive targets in their own right rather than expendable vessels for the protection of others. This led to the introduction of smaller and cheaper specialized anti-submarine warships by the Royal Navy: corvettes and later frigates, while the US introduced destroyer escorts.

Post War

Some conventional destroyers were completed in the late 1940's and 1950's which built on wartime experience. These vessels were significantly larger than wartime ships and had fully automatic main guns, unit Machinery, radar, sonar, and antisubmarine weapons such as the Squid mortar. Examples include the British Daring-class, US Forrest Sherman-class, and the Soviet Kotlin-class destroyers. Some World War II-vintage ships were modernised for anti-submarine warfrare, and to extend their service lives, to avoid having to build (expensive) brand-new ships. Examples include the US FRAM I programme and the British Type 15 frigate.

The Missile Age

The advent of surface-to-air (SAM) missiles and surface-to-surface (SSM) missiles, such as the Exocet, in the early 1960's changed naval warfare. Guided missile destroyes (DDG in the US Navy) were developed to carry these weapons and protect the fleet from air, submarine and surface threats. Examples include the Soviet Kashin-class, the British County-class, and the American Charles F. Adams-class.

Modern destroyers

Charles F. Adams-class The United States commissioned its first destroyer, USS Bainbridge, Destroyer No. 1, in 1902. In the US Navy, destroyers operate in support of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups. Destroyers (with a DD hull classification symbol) primarily perform anti-submarine warfare duty while guided missile destroyers (DDGs) are multi-mission (anti-submarine, anti-aircraft, and anti-surface warfare) surface combatants. The relatively-recent addition of cruise missile launchers has greatly expanded the role of the destroyer in strike and land-attack warfare. As the expense of heavier surface combatants has generally removed them from the fleet, destroyer tonnage has grown (a modern Arleigh Burke-class destroyer has the same tonnage as a World War II light cruiser). Arleigh Burke is billed by her builders, the Bath Iron Works, as ton-for-ton the most powerful warship in history. Bath Iron Works destroyer]] One class of destroyers is currently in use by the US Navy: the Arleigh Burke class. The last Spruance class destroyer in service, USS Cushing (DD-985), was decommissioned on September 21, 2005. The Zumwalt class were planned to replace them; on November 1, 2001, the US Navy announced the issuance of a revised Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Future Surface Combatant Program. Formerly known as DD 21, the program will now be called DD(X) to more accurately reflect the program purpose, which is to produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants, not a single ship class. DD(X) is no longer called Zumwalt class, and is much larger than traditional destroyers, being nearly three thousand tons heavier than a Ticonderoga-class cruiser. It will potentially employ advanced weaponry and an all-electric Integrated Power System. Integrated Power System The Royal Navy's first destroyers were the Havock-class destroyers of 1893. The Royal Navy currently operates 8 ships of the Type 42 class. The destroyers (as well as frigates) are, as always, the workhorses of the fleet, the former optimised for air defence and the latter for surface and subsurface warfare. They are equally at home in large task groups or on independent operations which may include sanctions enforcement, humanitarian relief or anti-drug patrols. British destroyers (of recent times) have an average displacement of around 5,000 tonnes, and are armed with a mixture of guns and missiles including 114 mm (4.5 inch) Mk 8 guns, Sea Dart Missiles, 20 mm Close range guns, Vulcan Phalanx close in weapons system (CIWS), anti submarine torpedo tubes. The current Royal Navy destroyers are to be replaced by the new Type 45 Daring Class from 2006 onwards. A class of 12 ships is envisaged, with an entire programme budget of £6 billion. Displacing around 7,200 tons, they will be equipped with the UK variant of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS). Design and construction of the first ships is to be split between BAE Systems and Vosper Thornycroft under the overall project management of BAE systems. Two of the ships will be assembled at Scotstoun, by BAE Systems and the other by Vosper Thornycroft at a new shipbuilding facility at Portsmouth Naval Yard.

See also


- List of destroyer classes
- United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification

References


- "Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941", David C. Evans, Mark R.Peattie, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland ISBN 0870211927
- "The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy: Development and Technology in Asia from 1540 to the Pacific War", Christopher Howe, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226354857
- "The Atlantic Campaign", Dan van der Vat.
- "DD-963 Spruance-class" http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/dd-963.htm

External links


- [http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/stc0644.htm The Japanese 1887 Kotaka (Japanese)]
- [http://www.historialago.com/av_0110_d_destructor_tribal.htm The Spanish 1886 Destructor (Spanish)] Category:Ship types ko:구축함 ms:Kapal pembinasa ja:駆逐艦

August 2

August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining.

Events


- 338 BC - Rise of Macedon: Philip II of Macedon crushes Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea.
- 216 BC - Punic Wars: In the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal destroys the Roman army of Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro in what is considered one of the great masterpieces of the tactical art.
- AD 461 - Majorian resigns as Western Roman Emperor; shortly afterwards Libius Severus is declared western Roman emperor by Ricimer
- 1610 - Henry Hudson sails into what it is now known as Hudson Bay, thinking he had made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.
- 1776 - Delegates to the Continental Congress begin signing the United_States_Declaration of Independence.
- 1790 - The first US Census is conducted.
- 1798 - Second Coalition: The Battle of the Nile between French and British navies ends with a British victory.
- 1869 - Japan's samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869).
- 1870 - Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London.
- 1903 - Fall of the Ottoman Empire: Unsuccessful uprising of the Bulgarians against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden uprising.
- 1916 - World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.
- 1918 - Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.
- 1934 - Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany.
- 1943 - PT-109, with future president of the United States Lieutenant John F. Kennedy aboard, sinks.
- 1944 - The "Zigenerblock of the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau is liquidated. The last 3000 Sinti and Roma are murdered by German SS.
- 1944 - Beginning of the Treblinka uprising.
- 1945 - World War II: Potsdam Conference, in which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, concludes.
- 1950 - The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures is released in a public event held in Yankee Stadium in New York City.
- 1955 - Velcro is patented.
- 1964 - North Vietnam allegedly fires on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
- 1967 - The second Blackwall Tunnel opens in Greenwich, London.
- 1975 - In New Orleans, Louisiana, the Superdome officially opens with an NFL football game between the New Orleans Saints and Houston Oilers.
- 1976 - An intruder breaks into Priscilla Davis's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas and kills Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr.
- 1979 - New York Yankees catcher Thurman Munson dies in a plane crash. An avid pilot, he was practicing takeoffs and landings in his new Cessna Citation jet. The official cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error.
- 1980 - A bomb explodes at the railway station in Bologna, Italy, killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
- 1985 - A Delta Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar crashes at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas, killing 137.
- 1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
- 1994 - Popular Japanese television and movie actor Beat Takeshi is seriously injured in a motorcycle accident.
- 1997 - Eighteen lives are lost in the Thredbo landslide in New South Wales, Australia.
- 2005 - Air France Flight 358 skids off the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport outside Toronto, Canada, destroying the plane but resulting in no loss of life.

Births


- 1533 - Theodor Zwinger, Swiss scholar (d. 1588)
- 1672 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (d. 1733)
- 1674 - Philip II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (d. 1723)
- 1696 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1754)
- 1703 - Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)
- 1754 - Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-born architect and city planner (d. 1825)
- 1788 - Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (d. 1853)
- 1815 - Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German writer (d. 1894)
- 1834 - Frédéric Bartholdi, French sculptor (d. 1904)
- 1835 - Elisha Gray, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1901)
- 1854 - Milan I, King of Serbia (d. 1901)
- 1865 - Irving Babbitt, American literary critic (d. 1933)
- 1868 - King Constantine I of Greece (d. 1923)
- 1871 - John French Sloan, American artist (d. 1951)
- 1892 - Jack Warner, Canadian film producer (d. 1978)
- 1897 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1974)
- 1900 - Helen Morgan, American actress (d. 1941)
- 1905 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (d. 1963)
- 1905 - Myrna Loy, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1912 - Vladimir Zerjavic, Croatian statistician (d. 2001)
- 1914 - Beatrice Straight, American actress (d. 2001)
- 1915 - Gary Merrill, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1924 - James Baldwin, American author (d. 1987)
- 1924 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1925 - Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentinian dictator
- 1932 - Peter O'Toole, Irish-born actor
- 1934 - Valery Bykovsky, cosmonaut
- 1937 - Garth Hudson, Canadian musician (The Band)
- 1939 - Wes Craven, American film director
- 1941 - Doris Coley, American singer (Shirelles) (d. 2000)
- 1942 - Isabel Allende, American author
- 1944 - Jim Capaldi, British drummer, singer, and songwriter (Traffic) (d. 2005)
- 1948 - Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
- 1950 - Lance Ito, American judge
- 1953 - Butch Patrick, American actor
- 1957 - Mojo Nixon, American musician and actor
- 1959 - Apollonia Kotero, American singer and actress
- 1961 - Linda Fratianne, American figure skater
- 1964 - Mary-Louise Parker, American actress
- 1969 - Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
- 1969 - Richard Hallebeek, Dutch guitarist
- 1970 - Tony Amonte, American hockey player
- 1970 - Kevin Smith, American actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1974 - Jeremy Castle, American singer and songwriter
- 1975 - Xu Huaiwen, Chinese-born badminton player
- 1977 - Edward Furlong, American actor
- 1977 - Dave Farrel, American musician
- 1982 - Hélder Postiga, Portuguese footballer
- 1985 - Jeff Healy, American model
- 1992 - Hallie Kate Eisenberg, American actress

Deaths


- 461 - Majorian, Roman Emperor (assassinated) (b. 457)
- 686 - Pope John V
- 1100 - King William II of England
- 1222 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse (b. 1156)
- 1511 - Andrew Barton, Scottish naval leader
- 1589 - King Henry III of France (b. 1551)
- 1611 - Kato Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord and samurai (b. 1562)
- 1696 - Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, Scottish military commander at the Massacre of Glencoe (b. 1630)
- 1769 - Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician (b. 1689)
- 1776 - Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)
- 1788 - Thomas Gainsborough, English artist (b. 1727)
- 1815 - Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, French marshal (murdered) (b. 1763)
- 1859 - Horace Mann, American educator and abolitionist (b. 1796)
- 1876 - James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, American gunfighter (b. 1837)
- 1890 - Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (b. 1813)
- 1903 - Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (b. 1850)
- 1921 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- 1922 - Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (b. 1847)
- 1923 - Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States (b. 1865)
- 1934 - Paul von Hindenburg, German general and politician (b. 1847)
- 1936 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (b. 1872)
- 1939 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American Rosacrucian mystic (b. 1883)
- 1945 - Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (b. 1863)
- 1976 - Fritz Lang, Austrian film director (b. 1890)
- 1978 - Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)
- 1979 - Thurman Munson, baseball player (b. 1947)
- 1986 - Roy Cohn, American politician (b. 1927)
- 1988 - Raymond Carver, American writer (b. 1938)
- 1990 - Norman Mclean, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1997 - William S. Burroughs, American writer (b. 1914)
- 1998 - Shari Lewis, American puppeteer (b. 1933)
- 2003 - Don Estelle, British actor (b. 1933)
- 2003 - Mike Levey, American television personality (b. 1948)
- 2004 - Don Tosti, musician (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances


- Costa Rica - Our Lady of the Angels
- Bulgaria/Republic of Macedonia - Ilinden (St. Ilya Day), a day of remembrance of the Ilinden Uprising
- Feast day of Ilya the Prophet in Russian Orthodox Church
- Feast day of St Peter Julian Eymard Roman Catholic Church
- Day of airborne forces in Russia

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/2 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050802.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- August 1 - August 3 - July 2 - September 2 -- listing of all days ko:8월 2일 ms:2 Ogos ja:8月2日 simple:August 2 th:2 สิงหาคม

Kolombangara

Kolombangara is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the Solomon Islands. Almost perfectly round in shape and about 15 km across, the island is a stratovolcano that reaches an altitude of 1,770 meters. The island forms part of the southern boundary of the New Georgia Sound; to the northwest the Vella Gulf separates it from Vella Lavella and Gizo, while to the southeast New Georgia lies across the Kula Gulf. Kolombangara is heavily forested, with few inhabitants. During World War II the island and the waters around it were the scene of fighting; the Japanese used an airstrip on some flat ground at Vila on the south shore of the island, and in May 1943 based several military units on the island, under the command of Major General Noboru Sasaki, in an attempt to establish a defense line through the Central Solomons. Naval battles nearby included the battle of Kula Gulf and battle of Kolombangara. US forces "leapfrogged" Kolombangara to land on Vella Lavella, and the Japanese evacuated Kolombangara between 23 September and 4 October 1943. Category:Stratovolcanoes Category:Subduction volcanoes Category:Volcanoes of the Solomon Islands ja:コロンバンガラ島

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a nation in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea and is part of the Commonwealth of Nations. It consists of more than 990 islands, which together cover a land mass of 28,000 square kilometres.

History

Main article: History of the Solomon Islands The United Kingdom established a protectorate over Solomon Islands in the 1890s. Some of the most intense fighting of World War II occurred on these islands. Self-government was achieved in 1976 and independence was granted on July 7, 1978. Current issues include corruption, land relations, government deficits, deforestation, and malaria control. Continuing civil unrest led to an almost complete breakdown in normal activity: civil servants remained unpaid for months at a time, and cabinet meetings had to be held in secret to prevent local warlords from interfering. The security forces were unable to reassert control, largely because many police and security personnel are associated with one or another of the rival gangs. In July 2003 the Governor General of Solomon Islands issued an official request for international help, which was subsequently endorsed by the government. A sizable international security contingent of 2,200 police and troops, led by Australia and New Zealand, and with representatives from about 20 other Pacific nations began arriving the next month under Operation Helpem Fren, the Australian contribution is known as Operation Anode.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the Solomon Islands Politics of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is a Constitutional Monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom recognised as the head of the State of Solomon Islands, a Commonwealth Realm. The Queen is represented by the governor general, chosen by the Parliament for a 5-year term. The government is a parliamentary democracy with a unicameral Parliament and a ministerial system of government and is represented by a national Parliament of 50 members, elected for 4-year terms. However, Parliament may be dissolved by majority vote of its members before the completion of its term. Parliamentary representation is based on single-member constituencies. Suffrage is universal for citizens over age 18. The prime minister, elected by Parliament, chooses the other members of the cabinet. Each ministry is headed by a cabinet member, who is assisted by a permanent secretary, a career public servant, who directs the staff of the ministry. Solomon Islands governments are characterized by weak political parties and highly unstable parliamentary coalitions. They are subject to frequent votes of no confidence, and government leadership changes frequently as a result. Cabinet changes are common.

Provinces

prime minister

Geography

Main article: Geography of the Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is a wide island nation that lies East of Papua New Guinea and consists of many islands: Choiseul, the Shortland Islands; the New Georgia Islands; Santa Isabel; the Russell Islands; Ngela (the Florida Islands); Malaita; Guadalcanal; Sikaiana; Maramasike; Ulawa; Uki; Makira (San Cristobal); Santa Ana; Rennell and Bellona; the Santa Cruz Islands and three remote, tiny outliers, Tikopia, Anuta and Fataka. The distance between the most western and most eastern islands is about 1500 km. Especially the Santa Cruz Islands, north of Vanuatu, (of which Tikopia is part) are isolated at more than 200 km from the other islands. Volcanoes with varying degrees of activity are situated on some of the larger islands, while many of the smaller islands are simply tiny atolls covered in sand and palm trees. Bougainville is geograph