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Patty Hearst

Patty Hearst

Patricia Campbell Hearst, better known as Patty Hearst (born February 20, 1954), now known as Patricia Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite and occasional actress. She is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst and was the victim of a 1974 kidnapping, but soon afterwards became a criminal herself - she robbed a bank and spent time in prison (although she later received a presidential pardon).

Biography

Hearst was born in San Mateo, California, the third of five daughters of Randolph Apperson Hearst. She grew up primarily in the wealthy San Francisco suburb of Hillsborough, California and attended Crystal Springs Uplands School.

Kidnapping and her time with the SLA

Crystal Springs Uplands School She was kidnapped on February 4 1974 (shortly before her 20th birthday) from the Berkeley, California apartment that she shared with her fiance Steven Weed, by an urban guerilla terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). When the attempt to prisoner-swap Hearst for jailed SLA members failed, the SLA made ransom demands which resulted in the donation by the Hearst family of $6 million worth of food to the poor of the Bay Area. After the distribution of food, Hearst was still not released. On April 15, 1974, she was photographed wielding an assault rifle while robbing the Sunset branch of the Hibernia Bank. Later communications from her were issued under the pseudonym Tania and revealed that she was committed to the goals of the SLA. A warrant was issued for her arrest and in September 1975, she was arrested in an apartment with other SLA members. 1975 In her trial, which started on January 15, 1976, Hearst claimed she had been locked blindfolded in a closet and physically and sexually abused, which caused her to join the SLA. Her defense was largely based around the claim that her actions could be attributed to a severe case of "Stockholm syndrome," in which captives become sympathetic with their captors. Hearst further argued she was coerced or intimidated into her part in the bank robbery. Attorney F. Lee Bailey defended Patty Hearst. Hearst later said the famed attorney did a very poor job defending her. Legal analysts have said Bailey presented a very poor case. He gave a very short and weak closing argument to the jury and many speculated he was intoxicated. Hearst was convicted of bank robbery on March 20. Her sentence was eventually commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and Hearst was released from prison on February 1, 1979. She was granted a full pardon by President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, the final day of his presidency.

Later life

After her release from prison, Hearst married her former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. Currently, she lives quietly with her husband and two daughters in Connecticut. Hearst tells her version of events beginning with her kidnapping by the SLA in her memoir Every Secret Thing, which was later made into the film Patty Hearst by Paul Schrader, with Natasha Richardson portraying Hearst. Public opinion remains divided as to whether Hearst was coerced or brainwashed while being held by the SLA. Hearst's notoriety intersected with the noted crime-fetish of film director John Waters, who has used Hearst in small roles in films including Cry-Baby, Serial Mom (perhaps her most memorable cameo, as a hapless juror whose lack of fashion sense has serious consequences), Pecker, Cecil B. DeMented, and A Dirty Shame. She was also parodied in the 1976 film Network. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst is a documentary made in 2004; it was first called Neverland, but the name had to be changed because of possible confusion with the feature film Finding Neverland. On October 19, 2005 Patty Hearst's voice was heard as ex-stripper "Haffa Dozen" on Sci-Fi Channel's animated TV series "Tripping the Rift" [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/354165p-301901c.html]

Quotes

"I was kidnapped by terrorists. It's not like I'm numb to this and think it can't happen. But get real! There's so much weeping and wailing and memorializing, my feeling is it'd be a lot healthier if people didn't externalize so much and kind of bucked up a little bit." .... "What good is our government if they can’t keep our level of fear at a point where we can think about what’s really going on?" she told Lowdown. "We are a nation with the most frightened people on the planet. People who come over here just laugh at us."- New York Daily News, October 10, 2005, Lloyd Groves Lowdown [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/354165p-301901c.html]

Trivia


- The famous Hearst SLA "mystery gun" is a modified full auto M1 Carbine with sawed-off barrel, according to court testimony.

References


- Boulton, David. The Making Of Tania Hearst. Bergenfield, N.J., U.S.A.: New American Library, 1975. 224+[12] p., ill., ports., facsim., index, 22 cm. Also published: London, G.B.: New English Library, 1975.
- Hearst, Patty, with Alvin Moscow, Patty Hearst: Her Own Story, New York: Avon, 1982. ISBN 0380706512. This was the title after the movie came out. Original title: Every Secret Thing.
- Weed, Steven, with Scott Swanton. My Search for Patty Hearst, New York: Warner, 1976. Weed was Hearst's boyfriend at time of kidnap.

External links


- [http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0201/22/lkl.00.html CNN Patty Hearst Interview Transcript]
- [http://www.who2.com/pattyhearst.html Who2? Bio]
- [http://www.crimelibrary.com/terrorists_spies/terrorists/hearst/1.html The story of Patty Hearst on Crime Library]
-
- [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/guerrilla/index.html Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst] official website Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty Hearst, Patty

February 20

February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 314 days remaining, 315 in leap years.

Events


- 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are annexed to the crown of Scotland.
- 1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
- 1724 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.
- 1725 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
- 1792 - The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.
- 1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, was executed.
- 1816 - Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville debuts at Teatro Argentina, with a fiasco.
- 1835 - Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake
- 1864 - Battle of Olustee
- 1872 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.
- 1873 - The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.
- 1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
- 1913 - King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
- 1921 - The film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.
- 1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
- 1942 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.
- 1943 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
- 1943 - The Paricutín volcano begins to form in Paricutín, México.
- 1944 - World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.
- 1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
- 1952 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
- 1952 - The film The African Queen opens at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.
- 1959 - The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
- 1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.
- 1965 - Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
- 1974 - Science fiction writer Philip K. Dick claims he began experiencing intense gnostic visions on this date.
- 1976 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.
- 1987 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, in the USA, a bomb explodes in a computer store.
- 1992 - Ross Perot announces his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live.
- 1992 - The FA Premier League is formed and takes over as the professional league in England from season 1992–93.
- 1998 - The afternoon newspaper Nashville Banner publishes its final edition.
- 2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.
- 2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.
- 2003 - In Rhode Island, in the USA, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.
- 2005 - Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
- 2005 - Jeff Gordon wins his third Daytona 500.

Births


- 1631 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (d. 1712)
- 1745 - Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)
- 1751 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)
- 1753 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)
- 1757 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)
- 1819 - Alfred Escher, Swiss politician, railroad entrepreneur (d. 1882)
- 1839 - Benjamin Waugh, American minister and founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)
- 1844 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)
- 1844 - Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)
- 1848 - Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
- 1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1888 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
- 1893 - Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)
- 1901 - Muhammad Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)
- 1902 - Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)
- 1904 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
- 1912 - Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)
- 1914 - John Daly, South African-born broadcaster (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (d. 1985)
- 1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, American clothing designer and entrepreneur
- 1925 - Robert Altman, American film director
- 1925 - Heinz Kluncker, German labor union leader
- 1926 - Richard Matheson, American author
- 1927 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer, and anti-Communist (d. 1986)
- 1927 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)
- 1927 - Sidney Poitier, American actor
- 1931 - Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
- 1934 - Bobby Unser, American race car driver
- 1936 - Marj Dusay, American actress
- 1936 - Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1937 - Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 - Roger Penske, American race car driver
- 1937 - Nancy Wilson, American singer
- 1938 - Richard Beymer, American actor
- 1941 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer
- 1942 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player
- 1943 - Mike Leigh, British film director
- 1944 - Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1945 - Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1946 - Brenda Blethyn, English actress
- 1946 - Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress
- 1947 - Peter Osgood, English footballer
- 1947 - Peter Strauss, American actor
- 1948 - Jennifer O'Neill, Brazilian-born actress
- 1949 - Ivana Trump, Czech skier, model and socialite
- 1950 - Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor
- 1951 - Edward Albert, American actor
- 1951 - Gordon Brown, British politician
- 1951 - Randy California, guitarist (d. 1997)
- 1954 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
- 1954 - Patty Hearst, American socialite and kidnapping victim
- 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- 1963 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- 1966 - Cindy Crawford, American model
- 1967 - Kurt Cobain, American musician (d. 1994)
- 1971 - Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
- 1975 - Brian Littrell, American musician (Backstreet Boys)
- 1976 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- 1977 - Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
- 1978 - Julia Jentsch, German actress
- 1980 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
- 1981 - Tony Hibbert, English footballer
- 1985 - Yulia Volkova, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)

Deaths


- 702 - Chan Bahlum II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)
- 1171 - Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
- 1194 - King Tancred of Sicily
- 1258 - Al-Musta'sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad
- 1408 - Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)
- 1431 - Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
- 1513 - King Christian II of Denmark (b. 1455)
- 1579 - Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
- 1618 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
- 1626 - John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)
- 1762 - Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)
- 1771 - Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)
- 1773 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
- 1778 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
- 1790 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
- 1803 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)
- 1806 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)
- 1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)
- 1871 - Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)
- 1893 - P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)
- 1895 - Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer
- 1907 - Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
- 1916 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)
- 1920 - Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)
- 1961 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)
- 1966 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
- 1968 - Anthony Asquith, British film director and writer (b. 1902)
- 1969 - Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
- 1970 - Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)
- 1972 - Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 1972 - Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)
- 1975 - Robert Strauss, American politician and diplomat (b. 1918)
- 1976 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- 1980 - J.B. Rhine, American parapsychologist (b. 1895)
- 1981 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (b. 1904)
- 1985 - Clarence Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
- 1992 - Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)
- 1992 - Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
- 1993 - Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)
- 1996 - Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)
- 1996 - Tōru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)
- 1999 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
- 1999 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)
- 2000 - Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)
- 2001 - Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2003 - Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)
- 2003 - Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Harry Jacunski, American football player
- 2003 - Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White)
- 2005 - Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)
- 2005 - John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2005 - Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/20 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050220.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 19 - February 21 - January 20 - March 20 -- listing of all days ko:2월 20일 ms:20 Februari ja:2月20日 simple:February 20 th:20 กุมภาพันธ์

1954

1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January-February


- January 1 - Soviet Union no longer demands war reparations from East Germany
- January 12 - Large-scale avalanches in Austria - over 20 dead
- January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation
- January 14 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio.
- January 15 - Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya
- January 17 - In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, Tito's second-in-command, is relieved of his duties
- January 20 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations
- January 21 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
- January 25 - The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
- January 26 - Milpitas, California was incorporated as a city.
- January 27 - Very freezing weather in Europe
- February 3 - Queen Elizabeth II is the first reigning monarch to visit Australia
- February 10 - President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam
- February 23 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- February 25 - Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.

March-April


- March 1 - Nuclear testing: Officials announce that an American hydrogen bomb test had been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
- March 1 - Four Puerto Ricans open fire on United States House of Representatives and wound five. Security guards apprehend them.
- March 8 - PR Newswire founded in New York by Herb Muschel.
- March 9 - Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now special entitled "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy".
- March 12 - Finland and Germany officially end the state of war.
- March 13 - French troops begin battle against Vietminh in Dien Bien Phu.
- March 19 - Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in color.
- March 22 - The London bullion market reopens (it was closed in 1939).
- March 22 - London gold exchange opens for the first time since the war.
- March 23 - Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu - French forces are partially isolated.
- March 25 - RCA manufactures first color TV set (12" screen; price: $1,000).
- March 25 - Soviet Union recognizes sovereignty of East Germany but Soviet troops remain in the country.
- March 29 - C-47 with Genevieve de Galard on board is incapacitated on Dien Bien Phu runway.
- March 30 - Canada's first subway opens in Toronto.
- April 1 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
- April 3 - Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks to seek political asylum in Australia.
- April 7 - Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
- April 12 - Original recording of "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets.
- April 14 - – Aneurin Bevan resigns from the UK Labour shadow cabinet.
- April 22 - Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.

May


- May 1 - Taku (city in Japan) founded
- May 6 - Roger Bannister runs the first four minute mile
- May 7 - Construction started on Michigan's Mackinac Bridge.
- May 7 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
- May 14 - Boeing 707 released after about two years of development.
- May 17 - United States Supreme Court hands down its decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 347 US 483 1954
- May 17 - Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begains it's inqury
- May 20 - Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
- May 20 - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty launches Belarusian language programming (see also Piotra Sych).
- May 29 - Robert Menzies Government re-elected for 4th term in Australia.

June-July


- June 1 - Radio statio Sender Freies Berlin begins broadcasting
- June 9 - McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army
- June 14 - On United States Flag Day, the words "under God" added to the Pledge of Allegiance
- June 15 - UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
- June 17 - Military coup in Guatemala
- June 18 - Pierre Mendes-France becomes prime minister of France
- June 19 - The last regular-service streetcar operated by Twin City Rapid Transit runs in Minneapolis.
- June 27 - Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup–Operation PBSUCCESS–triggering a bloody civil war that would continue for more than 35 years.
- June 27 - The world's first atomic power station opened at Obnisnsk, near Moscow.
- July 3 - Food rationing ends in Britain
- July 4 - End of rationing of meat ends all the food rationing in Britain
- July 4 - West Germany beat Hungary 3-2 to win the
- July 5 - Andhra Pradesh High Court is established.
- July 7 - In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ becomes the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record
- July 15 - Maiden flight of Boeing 707
- July 21 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
- July 28 - Foundation of the Situationist International.
- July 31 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition.

August-October


- August - First flight of a B-52 Stratofortress.
- August 6 - Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following a epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec.
- August 16 - Volume 1, Issue 1 of Sports Illustrated is published
- August 24 - President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide; he's been accused of conspiracy to murder an air force officer.
- September 3 - The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years
- September 6 - SEATO treaty signed in Manila, Philippines
- September 8 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established in Bangkok, Thailand
- September 9 - An earthquake centered on the city of Oleansville in Algeria - 1500 dead and thousands homeless
- September 11 - First Miss America Pageant broadcast on television
- September 14 - USSR tests nuclear weapon
- September 30 - USS Nautilus, 1st atomic-powered vessel (submarine), commissioned by the US Navy
- October 11 - Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
- October 18 - Texas Instruments announces the worldwide first Transistor radio.
- October 20 - Dock workers' strike expands in England
- October 23 - West Germany joins NATO
- October 26 - – Member of Muslim Brotherhood Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf tries to kill Gamal Abdal Nasser
- October 31 - Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.

November-December


- November - The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
- November 2 - Dock workers' strike in England ends
- November 3 - The first in the Godzilla series of films is released in Japan.
- November 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery
- November 13 - Don Estes invents the disrupter (a part to help combines work)
- November 14 - Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed - Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him
- November 23 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
- November 30 - In Sylacauga, Alabama, a 4 kg meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and hits Ann Hodges, badly bruising her, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
- December 2 - Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
- December 24 - Laos becomes independent.

unknown dates


- The first organ transplants are done in Boston and Paris.
- Battle of Dien Bien Phu between French and Viet Minh forces in Indochina
- Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race
- Stop signs are changed from black-on-yellow to white-on-red
- Gerbils (Meriones Unguiculatus), brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
- Unification Church founded.
- Case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes into trial

Births

January-February


- January 2 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
- January 4 - Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
- January 6 - Anthony Minghella, British film director
- January 12 - Howard Stern, American radio host
- January 17 - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy and nephew of U.S president John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- January 22 - Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
- January 23 - Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
- January 29 - Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show host, producer, and publisher
- January 29 - Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
- February 1 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician
- February 2 - Christie Brinkley, American model
- February 6 - Argusto Emfazie, American occultist and author
- February 12 - Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
- February 13 - Donnie Moore, baseball player (d. 1989)
- February 15 - Matt Groening, American cartoonist
- February 18 - John Travolta, American actor
- February 19 - Socrates, Brazilian footballer
- February 20 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
- February 20 - Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnapping victim
- February 23 - Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
- February 25 - John Doe, American musician
- February 26 - Michael Bolton, American singer

March-June


- March 1 - Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer
- March 4 - Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress
- March 8 - David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
- March 13 - The Baroness Amos, British politician
- March 15 - Craig Wasson, American actor
- March 16 - Nancy Wilson, American singer, musician, and actress
- March 17 - Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
- March 24 - Robert Carradine, American actor
- March 29 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
- April 7 - Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
- April 7 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
- April 9 - Dennis Quaid, American actor
- April 10 - Peter MacNicol, American actor
- April 15 - Seka, American actress
- April 17 - Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
- April 18 - Rick Moranis, Canadian actor and comedian
- April 28 - Robert Sargent Shriver III son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and nephew of John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy
- April 29 - Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian
- May 1 - Archie Norman, British politician and businessman
- May 7 - Amy Heckerling, American film director
- May 8 - David Keith, American actor
- May 19 - Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
- June 9 - John Hagelin, American physicist and U.S. Presidential candidate
- June 20 - Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force, Israel first astronaut (d. 2003)
- June 22 - Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
- June 26 - Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
- June 27 - Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
- June 30 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)

July-October


- July 5 - John Wright, New Zealand cricket captains
- July 10 - Neil Tennant, British musician
- July 17 - Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- July 25 - Walter Payton, American football player (d. 1999)
- August 1 - Michael J. Badnarik, software engineer and U.S. Presidential candidate
- August 11 - Joe Jackson, British singer
- August 14 - Mark Fidrych, baseball player
- August 16 - James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
- August 20 - Al Roker, American television broadcaster
- August 21 - Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
- August 25 - Elvis Costello, British singer
- August 26 - Pauline Hanson, Australian politician
- September 13 - Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
- September 21 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
- September 23 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (d. 1996)
- September 26 - Kevin Kennedy, baseball manager and television host
- September 30 - Barry Williams, American actor
- October 1 - Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
- October 3 - Dennis Eckersley, baseball player
- October 3 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
- October 9 - Scott Bakula, American television actor
- October 10 - David Lee Roth, American singer
- October 13 - Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician
- October 15 - Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
- October 24 - Mike Rounds, Governor of South Dakota

November-December


- November 2 - Pat Croce, American entrepreneur
- November 3 - Brigitte Lin, Actress
- November 7 - Kamal Haasan, Indian actor
- November 8 - Michael D. Brown, U.S. Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response
- November 14 - Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
- November 14 - Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- November 15 - Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
- November 16 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (d. 2004)
- November 27 - Patricia McPherson, American actress
- December 2 - Dan Butler, American actor
- December 7 - Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
- December 14 - Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
- December 14 - Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- December 20 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
- December 26 - Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer
- December 28 - Denzel Washington, American actor

Unknown dates


- Nenad Prokic, Serbian playwright

Deaths


- January 18 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- February 12 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
- March 7 - Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- March 31 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor (b. 1890)
- May 6 - B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
- May 19 - Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
- April 10 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor (b. 1862)
- April 28 - Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
- June 7 - Alan Turing, British mathematician (b. 1912)
- July 11 - Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
- July 13 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
- July 14 - Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- July 29 - Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
- August 24 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
- September 21 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
- November 3 - Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
- November 28 - Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- November 29 - Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
- November 30 - Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
- December 8 - Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
- December 30 - Eugen, Archduke of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Max Born, Walther Bothe
- Chemistry - Linus Carl Pauling
- Medicine - John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
- Literature - Ernest Hemingway
- Peace - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Fields Medalists


- Kunihiko Kodaira, Jean-Pierre Serre Category:1954 ko:1954년 ms:1954 ja:1954年 simple:1954 th:พ.ศ. 2497

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded1 from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law.