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1943

1943

1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday.

Events

January

- January 4 - End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren.
- January 11 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
- January 11 - General Juanto dies in Argentina - Ramón Castillo succeeds him
- January 12 - Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and writer, dies in Neuengamme concentration camp
- January 13 - Richard Moll, actor
- January 14 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office (Miami, Florida to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill to discuss World War II).
- January 15 - World War II: Japanese are driven off Guadalcanal.
- January 15 - The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated (Arlington, Virginia).
- January 18 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
- January 18 - The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rise up for the first time, starting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- January 23 - World War II: British forces capture Tripoli from the Nazis.
- January 23 - In Spearfish, South Dakota, temperature rises from -20 to +7 degrees Celsius in two minutes
- January 23 - Duke Ellington plays at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the first time.
- January 24 - World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
- January 27 - World War II: 50 bombers mount the first all American air raid against Germany (Wilhelmshaven was the target).
- January 29 - German police arrests necrophiliac Bruno Ludke

February

Bruno Ludke]
- February 1 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Prime Minister of Norway by the Nazi occupiers.
- February 2 - World War II: In Russia, the Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end with the surrender of the German 6th Army.
- February 3 - World War II: The death of the Four Chaplains when their ship was struck by a torpedo.
- February 7 - World War II: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in two days.
- February 8 - World War II: Battle of Kursk - the Soviet Red Army successfully repels a massive German attack.
- February 8 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal - United States forces defeat Japanese troops.
- February 10 - March 3 - Mohandas Gandhi keeps a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment
- February 11 - General Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
- February 12 - Mark Stephen Dube jr. was born.
- February 14 - World War II: Rostov, Russia is liberated.
- February 14 - World War II: Battle of the Kasserine Pass - German General Erwin Rommel and his Afrika Korps launch an offensive against Allied defenses in Tunisia; it is the United States' first major battle defeat of the war.
- February 16 - World War II: Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov
- February 18 - The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
- February 20 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
- February 22 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- February 27 - The Smith Mine #3 in Bearcreek, Montana, United States explodes, killing 74 men.
- February 28 - OPERATION GUNNERSIDE, 6 Norwegians led by Joachim Ronneberg successfully attack the heavy water plant Vemork.

March

- March 1 - "Panzer General" Heinz Guderian becomes the Inspector-General of the Armoured Troops for the German Army during World War II.
- March 2 - World War II: Battle of the Bismarck Sea - United States and Australian forces sink Japanese convoy ships.
- March 3 - 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station in London.
- March 8 - World War II: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville in a battle that will last five days.
- March 13 - World War II: On Bougainville, Japanese troops end their assault on American forces at Hill 700.
- March 13 - Holocaust: German forces liquidate the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.
- March 26 - World War II: Battle of Komandorski Islands - In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.

April

- April 3 - Shipwrecked steward Poon Lim is rescued by Brazilian fishermen after he has been adrift for 130 days
- April 22 - Albert Hofmann writes his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, which he first synthesized in 1938.
- April 25 - Easter occurs on the latest possible date. Last time 1886 next time 2038.
- April 27 - The U.S. Federal Writers' Project is shuttered.

May

Federal Writers' Project]
- May 11 - World War II: American troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
- May 13 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- May 16 - World War II: The Dambuster Raids by RAF 617 Sqdn on German dams.
- May 16 - Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
- May 17 - World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return.
- May 17 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
- May 24 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes Chief Medical Officer in Auschwitz.

June

- June 4 - Military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
- June 22 - U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division land in North Africa prior to training at Arzew, French Morocco while serving in World War II.

July

- July 5 - World War II: Battle of Kursk - The largest tank battle in history begins.
- July 5 - World War II: An Allied invasion fleet sails to Sicily.
- July 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Kula Gulf off Kolombangara.
- July 10 - World War II: The Allied invasion of Sicily marks the beginning allied invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy by the U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division.
- July 12 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Kolombangara.
- July 19 - World War II: Rome is bombed by the Allies for the first time in the war.
- July 24 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
- July 25 - In Italy the Gran Consiglio del Fascismo retires its consent to Mussolini; Mussolini is arrested and the power is given to Maresciallo d'Italia Gen. Pietro Badoglio.
- July 28 - World War II: Operation Gomorrah - The British bomb Hamburg causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

August

- August 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the Battle of Vella Gulf off Kolombangara.
- August 17 - World War II: The US 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
- August 29 - World War II: Germany dissolves the Danish government after it refuses to deal with a wave of strikes and disturbances to the satisfaction of the German authorities. (See: Occupation of Denmark)

September

- September 3 - World War II: Mainland Italy is invaded by Allied forces under Bernard L. Montgomery, for the first time in the war.
- September 5 - World War II: The 503rd Parachute Regiment under American General Douglas MacArthur lands and occupies Nadzab, just east of the port city of Lae in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
- September 7 - A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
- September 8 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the surrender of Italy to the Allies.
- September 8 - World War II: Julius Fucik is executed by Nazis.
- September 8 - First classes commence at Grace University.
- September 23 - World War II: Republic of Salò is founded.

October

- October 6 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Vella Lavella.
- October 7 - World War II: Naples post office explosion
- October 13 - World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
- October 18 - Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China.
- October 21 - Lucie Aubrac and others in her French Resistance cell liberate Raymond Aubrac from Gestapo imprisonment
- October 22 - World War II: RAF delivers a highly destructive airstrike on the German industrial and population center of Kassel

November

- November 1 - World War II: In Operation Goodtime, United States Marines land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
- November 2 - World War II: In the early morning hours, American and Japanese ships fight the inconclusive Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville.
- November 2 - World War II: British troops, in Italy, reach the Garigliano River.
- November 15 - Porajmos: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies and "part-Gypsies" were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps."
- November 16 - World War II: After flying from Britain, 160 American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.
- November 16 - World War II: Japanese submarine sinks surfaced USA submarine USS Corvina near Truk
- November 18 - World War II: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 aviators.
- November 20 - World War II: Battle of Tarawa begins - United States Marines land on Tarawa and Makin atolls in the Gilbert Islands and take heavy fire from Japanese shore guns.
- November 22 - World War II: War in the Pacific - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and ROC leader Chiang Kai-Shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
- November 22 - Lebanon gains independence from France.
- November 23 - The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg was destroyed. It was rebuilt in 1961 and called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
- November 25 - World War II: Americans and Japanese fight the naval Battle of Cape St. George between Buka and New Ireland.
- November 28 - World War II: Tehran Conference - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss war strategy (on November 30 they established an agreement concerning a planned June 1944 invasion of Europe codenamed Operation Overlord).
- November 29 - Second session of AVNOJ, the Anti-fascist council of national liberation of Yugoslavia, is held in Jajce, Bosnia and Herzegovina, determining the post-war ordering of the country.

December

- December 4 - World War II: In Yugoslavia, resistance leader Marshal Tito proclaims a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in-exile.
- December 4 - Great Depression ends in the United States: With unemployment figures falling fast due to World War II-related employment, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes the Works Progress Administration.
- December 20 - Military coup in Bolivia
- December 24 - World War II: US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied commander.
- December 30 - Subhash Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.

Undated

- Development of the Colossus computer by British to break German encryption (see History of computing hardware).
- Mondragón cooperative begins in Basque Country in Spain
- Arana Hall, Otago founded.

Ongoing

- Second World War (1939-1945)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January

- January 2 - Baris Manco, Turkish celebrity
- January 4 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
- January 6 - Terry Venables, English football manager
- January 10 - Jim Croce, American singer (d. 1973)
- January 11 - Jim Hightower, American radio host and author
- January 16 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
- January 18 - Kay Granger, American politician
- January 19 - Janis Joplin, American singer (d. 1970)
- January 19 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
- January 24 - Sharon Tate, American actress (d. 1969)
- January 25 - Tobe Hooper, American film director
- January 26 - César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
- January 30 - Marty Balin, American musician

February

- February 2 - Erkan Genis, Turkish artist
- February 3 - Blythe Danner, American actress
- February 4 - Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese politician
- February 5 - Nolan Bushnell, American video game pioneer
- February 5 - Craig Morton, American football player
- February 6 - Fabian, American singer
- February 7 - Gareth Hunt. English actor
- February 9 - Joe Pesci, American actor
- February 9 - Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 13 - Geoff Edwards, American game show host
- February 14 - Maceo Parker, American musician (P-Funk)
- February 18 - Graeme Garden, Scottish writer, comedian, and actor
- February 19 - Tim Hunt, British biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- February 20 - Mike Leigh, Britsh film director
- February 21 - David Geffen, American record executive and film producer
- February 23 - Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach
- February 25 - George Harrison, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 2001)
- February 24 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
- February 26 - Bill Duke, American actor and director
- February 27 - Morten Lauridsen, American composer

March

- March - John Leeson, British actor
- March 1 - Gil Amelio, American entrepreneur
- March 2 - Peter Straub, American author
- March 8 - Lynn Redgrave, English actress
- March 9 - Bobby Fischer, American chess player
- March 9 - Charles Gibson, American television journalist
- March 15 - David Cronenberg, Canadian film director
- March 19 - Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- March 19 - Mario Monti, Italian member of the European Commission
- March 21 - Vivian Stanshall, English comedian, writer, artist, broadcaster, and musician (d. 1995)
- March 22 - Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
- March 22 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (d. 1976)
- March 26 - Bob Woodward, American journalist
- March 29 - Eric Idle, English actor, writer, and composer
- March 29 - John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- March 29 - Vangelis, Greek musician and composer
- March 31 - Christopher Walken, American actor

April

- April 5 - Max Gail, American actor
- April 8 - Miller Farr, American football player
- April 10 - Andrzej Badeński, Polish athlete
- April 20 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
- April 23 - Dominik Duka, Czech Catholic bishop and theologian
- April 28 - John O. Creighton, American astronaut

May

- May 8 - Toni Tennille, singer
- May 10 - Richard (Dick) Darman, American federal government official and businessman
- May 14 - Jack Bruce, British musician and songwriter
- May 14 - Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President of Iceland
- May 17 - Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, King of Malaysia
- May 22 - Betty Williams, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- May 23 - John Newcombe, Australian tennis player
- May 25 - Jessi Colter, American singer and composer
- May 27 - Bruce Weitz, American actor
- May 30 - James Chaney, American civil rights worker (d.1964)
- May 31 - Joe Namath, American football player
- May 31 - Sharon Gless, American actress

June

- June 2 - Ilayaraja, Music Composer,Tamil Nadu,India
- June 6 - Richard Smalley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 8 - Colin Baker, British actor
- June 15 - Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
- June 17 - Newt Gingrich, American politician
- June 17 - Barry Manilow, American musician
- June 23 - James Levine, American conductor
- June 26 - John Beasley, American actor
- June 26 - Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 27 - Rico Petrocelli, baseball player
- June 29 - Maureen O'Brien, British actress

July

- July 4 - Konrad "Conny" Bauer, German trombonist
- July 4 - Geraldo Rivera, American reporter and talk show host
- July 5 - Curt Blefary, baseball player (d. 2001)
- July 10 - Arthur Ashe, American tennis player (d. 1993)
- July 26 - Mick Jagger, English singer (Rolling Stones)

August

- August 4 - Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper
- August 5 - Nelson Briles, baseball player (d. 2005)
- August 7 - Dino Valente, American musician, (d. 1994)
- August 11 - Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and leader
- August 14 - Jimmy Johnson, American football coach and television analyst
- August 17 - Robert De Niro, American actor
- August 20 - Sylvester McCoy, British actor
- August 24 - John Cipollina, American musician, (d. 1989)
- August 28 - Lou Piniella, baseball player and manager
- August 30 - Jean-Claude Killy, French skier

September

- September 6 - Richard J. Roberts, English biochemist and molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- September 6 - Roger Waters, English musician
- September 11 - Gilbert Proesch, Italian-born artist (Gilbert and George)
- September 11 - Raymond Villeneuve, Canadian terrorist
- September 22 - Toni Basil, American musician and video artist
- September 28 - J. T. Walsh, American actor (d. 1998)
- September 29 - Lech Wałęsa, President of Poland, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- September 30 - Johann Deisenhofer, German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- September 30 - Ian Ogilvy, English actor

October

- October 2 - Franklin Rosemont, American poet
- October 6 - Michael Durrell, American actor
- October 14 - Lois Hamilton, American model, actress, and artist (d. 1999)
- October 16 - Paul Rose, Canadian terrorist

November

- November 7 - Joni Mitchell, American musician
- November 7 - Michael Spence, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- November 11 - Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
- November 12 - Wallace Shawn, American actor
- November 14 - Peter Norton, American software engineer and businessman
- November 19 - Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)

December

- December 5 - Eva Joly, Norwegian-born French magistrate
- December 8 - James Douglas "Jim" Morrison, American musician (d. 1971)
- December 11 - John Kerry, American politician
- December 12 - Grover Washington Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
- December 13 - Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player
- December 17 - Ron Geesin, British musician and songwriter (Pink Floyd)
- December 18 - Keith Richards, English guitarist and songwriter (The Rolling Stones)
- December 23 - Harry Shearer, American actor and writer
- December 24 - Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
- December 28 - Richard Whiteley, English television presenter (d. 2005)
- December 31 - John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
- December 31 - Ben Kingsley, English actor

Deaths

January-June

- January 5 - George Washington Carver, American educator, activist, and botanist
- January 23 - Alexander Woollcott, American bon vivant (b. 1887)
- January 26 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)
- February 14 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (b. 1862)
- February 17 - Armand J. Piron, American musician and composer (b. 1888)
- March 3 - George Thompson, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- March 12 - Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
- March 13 - Stephen Vincent Benet, American poet (b. 1898)
- March 28 - Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer and pianist (b. 1873)
- April 18 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
- May 14 - Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1854)
- May 26 - Edsel Ford, son of Henry Ford (b. 1893)
- June 26 - Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1868)

July-December

- July 21 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b. 1900)
- August 12 - Bobby Peel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
- August 14 - Joe Kelley, baseball player (b. 1871)
- August 21 - Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
- August 28 - King Boris III of Bulgaria (b. 1894)
- September 1 - Charles Atangana, Cameroonian chief
- September 24 - John Stone Stone, American physicist and inventor (b. 1869)
- October 5 - Leon Roppolo, American musician (b. 1902)
- October 9 - Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- October 19 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864)
- December 1 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b. 1862)
- December 7 - Per Imerslund, "The aryan idol" (b. 1912)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - Otto Stern
- Chemistry - George de Hevesy
- Physiology or Medicine - Carl Peter Henrik Dam, Edward Adelbert Doisy, Gerhard Domagk
- Literature - not awarded
- Peace - not awarded
- ko:1943년 ms:1943 ja:1943年 simple:1943 th:พ.ศ. 2486

Common year starting on Friday

This is the calendar for any common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C), for example, 2010. (A common year is a year with 365 days—in other words, not a leap year.)

Millennium	Century	Year
2nd Millennium:	19th century:	1802	1813	1819	1830	1841	1847	1858	1869	1875	1886	1897
2nd Millennium:	20th century:	1909	1915	1926	1937	1943	1954	1965	1971	1982	1993	1999
3rd Millennium:	21st century:	2010	2021	2027	2038	2049	2055	2066	2077	2083	2094
3rd Millennium:	22nd century:	2100	2106	2117	2123	2134	2145	2151	2162	2173	2179	2190

Category:Friday Category:Weeks ko:금요일로 시작하는 평년 th:ปีปกติสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันศุกร์

Culbert Olson

Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 - April 13, 1962) was a U.S.politician. He was born in Fillmore, Utah to Daniel Olson and his wife Delilah King. He had an elder brother named Emmet Olson. Their mother Delilah was a suffragette and became the first female elected official in Utah. Both parents belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However Culbert was not convinced of the existence of God and became an atheist at an early age. He served as the Governor of California from January 2, 1939 until January 4, 1943, and was the only Democrat elected to that office between 1898 and 1958. In his 1942 bid for re-election he was defeated by state Attorney General Earl Warren. He later became president of the United Secularists of America. He died in Los Angeles at age 85, and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in suburban Glendale.

Quote

:If you want to know what Hell is like, just be Governor. – Olson speaking to his successor, Earl Warren

External link

- [http://www.governor.ca.gov/govsite/govsgallery/h/biography/governor_29.html Biography from the State of California]
- [http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/roots/olson/ A detailed profile alongside other American Atheists]
- [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAolsonCB.htm Another profile of him]
Olson, Culbert Olson, Culbert Olson, Culbert Olson, Culbert

Earl Warren

Earl Warren (March 19, 1891–July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). As Chief Justice, his term of office was marked by numerous rulings affecting, among other things, the legal status of racial segregation, civil rights, separation of church and state and police arrest procedure in the United States.

Education

Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles, California, to Matt Warren, a Norwegian immigrant, and Christine "Chrystal" Hernlund, a Swedish immigrant. Matt Warren was a longtime employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Earl grew up in Bakersfield, California, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, both as an undergraduate (B.A.1912) and as a law student at Boalt Hall (J.D.1914). While at Berkeley, Warren joined the Sigma Phi Society, a fraternal organization with which he maintained lifelong ties. Warren was admitted to the California bar in 1914. Warren then worked for five years for private law firms in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began working for San Francisco County in 1920 and in 1925 was appointed as District Attorney of Alameda County when the incumbent resigned. He was re-elected to three four-year terms. As a tough-on-crime District Attorney, Warren had a reputation for high-handedness; however, none of his convictions were ever overturned on appeal.

Political Career

Warren became a well-known figure in California and was appointed to the Regents of the University of California while district attorney. In 1939, he became Attorney General of the State of California. He was elected Governor of California in 1942 as a Republican. California law at the time allowed individuals to run in any primary election they chose. In 1946, Warren managed the singular feat of winning the Republican, Democratic, and Progressive primary elections and thus ran unopposed in the 1946 general election. He was elected to a third term (as a Republican) in 1950. Warren's state service was marked by his support for the internment of Japanese and Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. However, it was also marked by laying the infrastructure to support a two-decade boom that lasted from the end of World War II until the mid-1960s. In particular, Warren and University of California President Clark Kerr presided over construction of a renowned public university system that provided inexpensive, high quality education to two generations of Californians. Warren ran for Vice President of the United States in 1948 on a ticket with Thomas Dewey. They lost narrowly to Harry Truman and Alben Barkley.

Supreme Court

In 1953, Warren was appointed Chief Justice of the United States by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commented that "he represents the kind of political, economic, and social thinking that I believe we need on the Supreme Court. . . . [H]e has a national name for integrity, uprightness, and courage that, again, I believe we need on the Court." To the surprise of many, Warren was a much more liberal justice than had been anticipated. As a result, President Eisenhower later remarked that nominating Warren for the Chief Justice seat "was the biggest damned fool mistake I've ever made in my life." Warren was able to craft a long series of landmark decisions including Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954), which overthrew the segregation of public schools; the "one man, one vote" cases of 1962–1964, which dramatically altered the relative power of rural regions in many states; Hernandez v. Texas, which gave Mexican-Americans the right to serve on juries; and Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436 (1966), which required that certain rights of a person being interrogated while in police custody be clearly explained, including the right to an attorney (often called the "Miranda warning"). At the direct request of President Lyndon Johnson, and against his better judgment, Warren headed what became known as the Warren Commission to investigate the circumstances of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Commission eventually concluded that the assassination was the act of a single individual, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. The Commission's findings have long been controversial. (Earl Warren was a character in the Oliver Stone film, JFK, portrayed by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.) Warren retired from the Supreme Court in 1969. He was affectionately known by many as the "Superchief," although he became a lightning rod for controversy among conservatives: signs declaring "Impeach Earl Warren" could be seen across the South throughout the 1960s. Warren has a high school named after him in Downey, California: Warren High School. It should be noted that this high school, founded in 1956, was originally called "Earl Warren High School." Warren had attended the dedication of the school and given a speech. In the later 1960s, the Downey Unified School District's Board of Education officially changed the name of the school to simply "Warren High School" in an effort to discredit the Chief Justice for his liberalism and also to distance the Los Angeles suburb, which was then nearly all-white and very heavily Republican, from the Chief Justice who put an end to school segregation. Earl Warren Middle School in Solana Beach, California is also named after him. In 1977, Fourth College, one of the six undergraduate colleges at the University of California, San Diego, was renamed Earl Warren College in his honor. Warren was married to a young widow born in Sweden named Nina Palmquist Meyers. He died in Washington, DC. The Earl Warren Bill of Rights Project is named in his honor. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1981.

Family

Warren is the grandfather of actress Tyne Daly, who coincidentally went on to marry an African-American man.

Quotations

- "Legislators represent people, not trees or acres. Legislators are elected by voters, not farms or cities or economic interests." From Reynolds v. Sims, on the subject of State Senate apportionment.
- "It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of one of those liberties which make the defense of our nation worthwhile."

Notes

# [http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/460.cfm Personal and confidential To Milton Stover Eisenhower, 9 October 1953. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 460. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996]. Accessed 12 October, 2005

External links

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page forUS, USA, United States, orAmerican. 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 contiguousUnited 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 Senateex 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