Portal:United States
Introduction
Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Cy Block and Ross Horning testified before the United States Congress about how the reserve clause limited their careers in professional baseball?
- ... that a Brontosaurus stamp led to the United States Postal Service being accused of "fostering scientific illiteracy"?
- ... that New Zealand composer Maewa Kaihau sold her rights to the song "Now is the Hour" for £10, a decade before it became a hit in the United Kingdom and United States?
- ... that the Springfield Science Museum is home to the oldest operating projection planetarium in the United States?
- ... that amateur astronomer A. O. Granger expanded his home to include the largest observatory and telescope in the southeastern United States?
- ... that Francis Childs was the publisher and printer of The New York Daily Advertiser, the third daily newspaper to appear in the United States, in 1785?
- ... that in 1848, the Hartford and New Haven Railroad was "regularly run with greater speed than any other railroad in the United States"?
- ... that James B. Tapp was the first United States Army Air Forces pilot to be recognized as a flying ace for flying very-long-range missions over Japan in P-51s during World War II?
Selected society biography -
Born into a wealthy, established family in Milton, Massachusetts, Bush was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. He attended Phillips Academy and served as a pilot in the United States Navy Reserve during World War II before graduating from Yale and moving to West Texas, where he established a successful oil company. Following an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate in 1964, he was elected to represent Texas's 7th congressional district in 1966. President Richard Nixon appointed Bush as the ambassador to the United Nations in 1971 and as chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1973. President Gerald Ford appointed him as the chief of the Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China in 1974 and as the director of Central Intelligence in 1976. Bush ran for president in 1980 but was defeated in the Republican presidential primaries by Reagan, who then selected Bush as his vice presidential running mate. In the 1988 presidential election, Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis.
Foreign policy drove Bush's presidency as he navigated the final years of the Cold War and played a key role in the reunification of Germany. He presided over the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War, ending the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait in the latter conflict. Though the agreement was not ratified until after he left office, Bush negotiated and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, which created a trade bloc consisting of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Domestically, Bush reneged on a 1988 campaign promise by enacting legislation to raise taxes to justify reducing the budget deficit. He championed and signed three pieces of bipartisan legislation in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Immigration Act and the Clean Air Act Amendments. He also appointed David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. Bush lost the 1992 presidential election to Democrat Bill Clinton following an economic recession, his turnaround on his tax promise, and the decreased emphasis of foreign policy in a post–Cold War political climate. (Full article...)
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Selected culture biography -
In a career spanning over two decades, Carey has sold more than 200 million albums, singles and videos worldwide, according to Island Def Jam, which makes her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Carey was cited as the world’s best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the 1998 World Music Awards and was also named the best-selling female artist of the millennium by the same award-giving body in 2000. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third-best-selling female artist, with shipments of 63 million albums. In 2008, Carey earned her eighteenth number one single on the Hot 100, the most by any solo artist. Aside from her commercial accomplishments, she has earned five Grammy Awards and is known for her five-octave vocal range, power, melismatic style and use of the whistle register.
Selected location -
The city was incorporated on June 5, 1837 and named after then-President of the Republic of Texas—former General Sam Houston. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where Mission Control Center is located.
Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in the energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and technology; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits—attracting more than 7 million visitors a year to the Houston Museum District. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and is one of five U.S. cities that offer year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for August 2
- 1776 – While the date of the signing the Declaration of Independence is disputed, some modern historians believe that at least some of the signatories to Declaration of Independence sign the document on this day.
- 1790 – The first United States Census is conducted.
- 1892 – Jack L. Warner, the president and driving force behind Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, is born.
- 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt urging him to begin the Manhattan project to develop a nuclear weapon.
- 1943 – The Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, who would go on to become the President of the United States, saves all but two of his crew.
- 1964 – Three North Vietnamese gunboats engage the destroyer USS Maddox (pictured) and several United States Navy aircraft. This is the first of two incidents involving the Maddox that are collectively referred to as the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
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More did you know? -
- ... that over 400 species of birds (state bird, Brown Thrasher, pictured) have been recorded in the American state of Georgia?
- ... that the book The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives explores U.S. military expenditures on items including Southern catfish restaurants and Dunkin' Donuts?
- ... that the book Beyond the First Amendment argues freedom of speech on the Internet is not easily addressed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?
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