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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Bob Sanders

2009-02-08T12:23:00.008Z

Demond "Bob" Sanders was born on 24 February, 1981 in Erie, Pennsylvania. Bob Sanders is an American football safety for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. Bob Sanders played college football at the University of Iowa. Bob Sanders was named AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2007 and is known for being the integral part of the Colts' postseason defense that led the team to a victory in Super Bowl XLI. Nicknamed "The Hitman" because of his hard hits and tackles. Another nickname that has stuck is "The Sandman" because of his last name.

Born with a name Demond that was difficult for many to pronounce correctly, Bob Sanders asked his mother if his name could be changed. Bob Sanders' mother suggested "Bob" as a nickname, and the name stuck. Bob Sanders' parents are Jean and Marion Sanders.

Bob Sanders attended Erie Central High School as a freshman before transferring to Cathedral Preparatory School in Erie, Pennsylvania and was a student and a letterman in football as a running back and as a safety. In football, he was a 4-year letterman, a 2-time All-Conference selection. As a junior, he was a 3rd-team All-State selection. As a senior, he was a team captain, and a 1st team All-State selection and finished his senior season with 900 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns while leading his team to a 13-1 record and a trip to the state championship game. Bob Sanders graduated from Cathedral Preparatory School in 2000. Bob Sanders also had 7 sacks in a high school state championship. Bob Sanders also kick boxed during his childhood.

Bob Sanders was highly recruited out of high school (Cathedral Preparatory School) due to his lack of size, but he was offered and accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa. Bob Sanders recorded 12 tackles and forced a fumble in his 1st career start against Wisconsin, and he was named Honourable Mention All-Big Ten as a freshman. In 2001, Bob Sanders started 11 games and led Iowa in tackles, garnering him the nickname "Hitman."

Bob Sanders fully enforced his nickname on the practice field at Iowa during practice drills as a freshman; he was such a physical player that during tackling drills, most of his teammates walked to the back of the player line if they knew they were going to have to go against Bob Sanders. Bob Sanders was eventually taken out of specific full-contact drills after he separated the shoulder of running back Fred Russell during one play.

As a junior, Bob Sanders helped lead Iowa to its 1st undefeated conference season in 80 years and was a key part of the 5th best rushing defense in the country. Bob Sanders started 12 games and made several key plays for the 2002 Hawkeyes. Bob Sanders blocked a Purdue field goal attempt which was returned for an Iowa touchdown, resulting in a potential 10-point difference as Iowa narrowly defeated Purdue, 31-28. Bob Sanders also forced a fumble in the 2nd half of a game against Michigan as Iowa was clinging to a 1 point lead. Iowa scored a touchdown and cruised to a 34-9 victory. The Hawkeyes compiled an 11-2 record and shared the Big Ten title in 2002 along with Ohio State, the eventual BCS National Champion in that year. Bob Sanders was named 1st-Team All-Big 10 and a 4th-Team All-American.

Bob Sanders was issued the number 33 at Iowa because his high school number, 20, was unavailable when he was a freshman. When the player wearing No. 20 left the team, he requested to change his jersey, but was prevented from doing so because his No. 33 jersey had become quite popular in the replica jersey market.

Bob Sanders was hampered early in his senior season by a foot injury. Bob Sanders returned to score his 1st career touchdown against Illinois on a fumble return. In his final home game against Minnesota, Bob Sanders recorded 16 tackles and forced 3 fumbles as he was named the Big 10 defensive player of the week. Bob Sanders led the nation in forced fumbles in 2003. Bob Sanders was named Iowa's defensive team captain and MVP after the season. Bob Sanders was named 1st-Team All-Big 10 for the 3rd consecutive year, and he was named a 2nd-Team All-American.
Bob Sanders recorded 348 tackles in his career at Iowa and became a fan favourite due to his heavy hits and relentless play. Bob Sanders graduated from Iowa in 2003, majoring in African-American World Studies.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Bob Love

2009-02-08T11:42:00.006Z

Robert (Bob) Earl “Butterbean” Love was born on 8 December, 1942, in Bastrop, Louisiana. Bob Love is a retired American professional basketball player who spent the prime of his career with the NBA's Chicago Bulls. A versatile forward who could shoot with either his left or right hand, Bob Love now works as the Bulls' Director of Community Affairs.

After starring at Morehouse High School (now defunct) in Bastrop, Louisiana, Bob Love played basketball for Southern University, where he also became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega. Bob Love earned All-America honours in 1963, and in 1965, the Cincinnati Royals selected the 6’8” forward in the 4th round of the 1965 NBA Draft. Bob Love failed to make the team, and instead spent the 1965-66 NBA season in the Eastern Basketball League. After averaging over 25 points per game, Bob Love earned the EBL Rookie of the Year Award and gained enough confidence to try out for the Royals once more. Bob Love made the team on his 2nd attempt and played 2 seasons for the Royals, largely in a reserve role. In 1968, the Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the NBA Expansion Draft and traded him to the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the 1968-69 season.

Bob Love flourished while playing for Dick Motta's Bulls. In 1969-1970, he became a full-time starter, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds. The following 2 seasons he averaged 25.2 and 25.8 points per game, appeared in his 1st 2 All-Star Games, and earned All-NBA 2nd Team honours both seasons. Bob Love also appeared in the 1973 NBA All-Star Game, and he would average at least 19 points and 6 rebounds every season until 1976-1977. Bob Love was named to the NBA's All-Defense 2nd Team in 1974 and 1975.

Bob Love's No. 10 jersey was the 2nd jersey number to be retired by the Chicago Bulls. Jerry Sloan's No. 4 was the 1st. Bob Love's 1995 wedding ceremony to Rachel Dixon took place at the United Center.

Bob Love retired in 1977 with career totals of 13,895 points and 4,653 rebounds. Bob Love suffered from a severe stuttering problem, which prevented him from finding meaningful employment after his playing days were over. At one point, Bob Love was a busboy making $4.45 an hour. Eventually, the owner of the restaurant where Bob Love washed dishes offered to pay for speech therapy classes, and in 1993 he returned to the Chicago Bulls as their director of community relations. One of his duties in this position involves regularly speaking to school children. Bob Love has also become a motivational speaker.

Bob Love wrote a book, The Bob Love Story: If It's Gonna Be, It's Up to Me, in 1999.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Bo Jackson

2009-02-03T12:55:00.005Z

Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson was born on 30 November, 1962 in Bessemer, Alabama, USA. Bo Jackson is an American athlete and a former multi-sport professional. Bo Jackson played at the highest level of sports in the United States in both American football and baseball.

In football, Bo Jackson played running back for the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League. In baseball, Bo Jackson played left field and designated hitter for the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox, and the California Angels of the American League in Major League Baseball.

Although a hip injury severely impaired his professional career, Bo Jackson was the 1st athlete to be named an All-Star in 2 major sports. Before his professional career, he earned the 1985 Heisman Trophy, the prize annually awarded to the most outstanding collegiate football player in the United States. Bo Jackson also ran a 4.12 40 yard dash.

In 1989 and 1990, Bo Jackson's name became known beyond just sports fans through the "Bo Knows" advertising campaign, a series of advertisements by Nike promoting a cross-training athletic shoe named for Bo Jackson.

Bo Jackson, the 8th of 10 children, was named after Vince Edwards, his mother's favourite actor. Bo Jackson's family described him as a "wild boar," as he would constantly get into trouble. The nickname was eventually shortened to "Bo."

Bo Jackson attended McAdory High School, where he rushed for 1,175 yards as a running back in his senior-year football season. That year, Bo Jackson also hit 20home runs in 25 games for McAdory's baseball team.

In June 1982, Bo Jackson was selected by the New York Yankees in the 2nd round of the MLB draft, but he instead chose to attend Auburn University on a football scholarship. Bo Jackson was recruited by head coach Pat Dye and then Auburn assistant coach Bobby Wallace. At Auburn, he proved to be a tremendous athlete in both baseball and football.

Bo Jackson graduated from Auburn with a degree in adult education.

Bo Jackson batted .401 with 17 home runs and 43 RBI in 1985. In a 1985 baseball game against the Georgia Bulldogs at Foley Field in Athens, Georgia, Bo Jackson led Auburn to victory with a 4-for-5 performance, with 3 home runs and a double. Bo Jackson launched his last home run that day into a brand new light standard. Bo Jackson was declared ineligible to play in the 1986 baseball season after taking a flight to Florida to undergo a physical examination for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

During his time playing for the Auburn Tigers football team, he ran for 4,303 career yards, which was the 4th best performance in SEC history behind Herschel Walker of Georgia. Bo Jackson finished his career with an average of 6.6 yards per carry, which set the SEC record (minimum 400 rushes).

In 1982, Bo Jackson's freshman year, Auburn Tigers played Boston College in the Tangerine Bowl, where Bo Jackson made a one-handed grab of an option pitch that quarterback Randy Campbell lobbed over the head of a defender. Auburn Tigers went on to win the game.

In 1983, as a sophomore, Bo Jackson rushed for 1,213 yards on 158 carries, for an average of 7.7 yards per carry, which was the 2nd best single-season average in SEC history (min. 100 rushes). In the 1983 Auburn Tigers-Alabama game, Bo Jackson rushed for 256yards on 20 rushes (12.8 yards per carry), which at the time was the 6th-most rushing yards gained in a game in SEC history and the 2nd best yard-per-rush average in a game (min. 20 attempts) in SEC history. Auburn Tigers finished the season by winning the Sugar Bowl, where Bo Jackson was named Most Valuable Player. In 1984, Bo Jackson's junior year (most of which Bo Jackson missed due to injury), he earned Most Valuable Player honours at Liberty Bowl.

In 1985, Bo Jackson rushed for 1,786 yards, which was the 2nd best single-season performance in SEC history behind Herschel Walker's 1,891 rushing yards for the University of Georgia in 1981. That year, he averaged 6.4 yards per rush, which at the time was the best single-season average in SEC history. For his performance in 1985, Bo Jackson was awarded the Heisman Trophy in what was considered the closest margin of victory ever in the history of the award, winning over University of Iowa Quarterback Chuck Long.

Bo Jackson's football number 34 was officially retired at Auburn Tigers in a halftime ceremony on October 31, 1992. Bo Jackson is 1 of only 3 numbers retired at Auburn Tigers, the others being 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan's number 7, and Pat Sullivan's teammate and favourite receiver, Terry Beasley (88). In 2007, Bo Jackson was ranked #8 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list.

Bo Jackson qualified for the 60-yard dash in his freshman and sophomore years. Bo Jackson considered joining the USA Olympic team, but sprinting would not gain him the financial security of the MLB or NFL, nor would he have sufficient time to train, given his other commitments.

Bo Jackson was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the 1st pick of the 1986 NFL Draft, but he opted to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals, the defending World Series champions, instead. Bo Jackson spent most of the season with the Memphis Chicks in the minor leagues before being called up for regular duty in 1987, where he had 22 home runs, 53 RBIs and 10 stolen bases as an outfielder for the Royals.

Bo Jackson began to show his true potential in 1989, when he was voted to start for the American League All-Star team, and was named the game's MVP for his play on both offense and defense. Bo Jackson's great plays in the game included a monstrous home run off Rick Reuschel of the San Francisco Giants which landed an estimated 448 feet from home plate - in his 1st All-Star at-bat. Bo Jackson also beat out an infield hit that resulted in the game-winning RBI. In addition to this, he had a stolen base, making him 1 of only 2 players in All-Star Game history to hit a home run and steal a base in the same game (the other is Willie Mays). Baseball announcer Vin Scully (calling the game for NBC-TV) was moved to comment, "And look at that one! Bo Jackson says hello!"

In 1990, he raised his batting average, but the uncertainty of his 2 sport loyalties may have swayed Royals management to not utilize him as much as he could have been.

On 5 June, 1989, Bo Jackson ran down a long line-drive deep to left field on a hit-and-run play against the Seattle Mariners. With speedy Harold Reynolds running from 1st base on the play, Scott Bradley's hit would have been deep enough to score him against most outfielders. But Bo Jackson, from the warning track, turned flat footed and fired a strike to catcher Bob Boone, who tagged the sliding Reynolds out. Bo Jackson's throw reached Bob Boone on the fly. Interviewed for the "Bo Jackson" episode of ESPN Classic's SportsCentury, Harold Reynolds admitted that he thought there was no way anyone would throw him out on such a deep drive into the gap in left-center, and was shocked to see his teammate telling him to slide as he rounded 3rd base.

On 11 July, 1990 against the Baltimore Orioles, Bo Jackson performed his famous "wall run," when he caught a ball approximately 2–3 strides away from the wall. As he caught the ball at full tilt, Bo Jackson looked up and noticed the wall and began to run up the wall, 1 leg reaching higher as he ascended. Bo Jackson ran along the wall almost parallel to the ground, and came down with the catch, to avoid impact and the risk of injury from the fence.

After a poor at bat he was known to snap the bat over his knee, or with his helmet on, over his head. This is illustrated in Bo Jackson's 1991 Score "Bo Breaker" card.

Before Bo Jackson finished his career in California he spent 2 years playing for the Chicago White Sox, mostly as a Designated Hitter, as his hip injury hampered his ability to play the outfield. It was with the White Sox that he made his only post-season appearance in the 1993 American League Championship Series, which Chicago lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in 6 games.

While with the Sox, Bo Jackson promised his mum that once he returned from his hip replacement surgery that he would hit a home run for her. Before he could return, his mother died. In his 1st at bat after surgery he hit a home run to right field. Bo Jackson had the ball engraved in his mother's tombstone.

In his 8 baseball seasons, Bo Jackson had a career batting average of .250, hit 141 home runs and had 415 RBIs, with a slugging average of .474. Bo Jackson's best year was 1989, with his effort earning him all-star status. In '89, Bo Jackson ranked in the league in both homers and RBI with 32/105.

Bo Jackson was drafted 1st overall in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, the Buccaneers, not wanting their new draftee to injure himself playing baseball for Auburn Tigers that year, took Bo Jackson on a trip in a private plane that cost him his college eligibility. They also gave Bo Jackson an ultimatum to choose baseball or football. This prompted him to sign with the Kansas City Royals. Since he did not sign with a team by the 1987 draft, his rights were forfeited by Tampa Bay and his name was thrown back into the draft. The Los Angeles Raiders selected Bo Jackson in the 7th round with the 183rd overall pick. The Los Angeles Raiders owner Al Davis supported Bo Jackson and his baseball career and got Bo Jackson to sign a contract by offering him a salary that was comparable to a full-time starting running back but allowing Bo Jackson to only play part-time until the baseball season was done.

Joining the Los Angeles Raiders midway through the 1987 season, Bo Jackson rushed for 554 yards on 81 carries in just 7 games. Over the next 3 seasons, Bo Jackson would rush for 2,228 more yards and 12 touchdowns: a remarkable achievement, in light of the fact that he was a "2nd string" player behind Marcus Allen.

Bo Jackson turned in a 221-yard rushing performance on Monday Night Football in 1987 against the Seattle Seahawks. During this game, he ran over Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth, who had insulted Bo Jackson and promised in a media event before the game to contain Bo Jackson. Bo Jackson also made a 91-yard run to the outside, untouched down the sideline. Bo Jackson continued sprinting until finally slowing down as he passed through the entrance to the field tunnel to the dressing rooms with teammates soon following. Bo Jackson scored 2 rushing touchdowns and 1 receiving touchdown in the game.

In his 4 seasons in the NFL, Bo Jackson rushed for 2,782 yards and 16 touchdowns with an average yards per carry of 5.4. Bo Jackson also caught 40 passes for 352 yards and 2 touchdowns. Bo Jackson's 221 yards on 30 November, 1987, just 29 days after his 1st NFL carry, is still a Monday Night Football record.

On 13 January, 1991, during a Los Angeles Raiders playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Bo Jackson suffered a serious hip injury while being tackled by linebacker Kevin Walker. The injury ended his football career and seriously threatened his baseball career. After Bo Jackson was tackled and lying in pain on the ground, he allegedly popped his hip back into place. In an interview on Untold, his Royals' teammate George Brett, who attended the game, said he asked the trainer what had happened to Bo Jackson. The trainer replied "Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that's just impossible, no one's that strong."

Following surgery and rehabilitation on his injured hip, it was discovered that Bo Jackson had avascular necrosis, as a result of decreased blood supply to the head of his left femur. This caused deterioration of the femoral head, ultimately requiring that the hip be replaced. Bo Jackson missed the entire 1992 baseball season. When he announced soon after his surgery that he would play baseball again, many thought that goal to be unrealistic, especially at the Major League level.

Before returning to his true professional sports, Bo Jackson tried his luck in basketball. Being a natural athlete, Bo Jackson played briefly for a semi-pro basketball team in L.A. Bo Jackson quickly retired.

Bo Jackson was able to return to the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and at his 1st at-bat, against the New York Yankees, he homered on his 1st swing. The next day Nike ran a full-page ad in USA Today; it simply read "Bo Knew."

Bo Jackson would hit 16 home runs and 45 RBIs that season; yet while his power remained, he no longer possessed his blazing speed. During his time with the White Sox, Bo Jackson had no stolen bases. For the 1994 season, he was signed as a free agent by the California Angels for 1 final season, where he hit another 13 home runs in 201 at bats, before retiring.

Bo Jackson became a popular figure for his athleticism in multiple sports through the late 1980s and early 1990s. Bo Jackson endorsed Nike and was involved in a popular ad campaign called "Bo Knows" which envisioned Bo Jackson attempting to take up a litany of other sports, including tennis, golf, luge, auto racing, and even playing blues music with Bo Diddley, who scolded Bo Jackson by telling him "You don't know diddley!"(In a later version of the spot, Bo Jackson is shown playing the guitar expertly, after which an impressed Diddley says, "Bo...you do know Diddley, don't you?")

Another clip, envisioning Bo Jackson playing ice hockey, was followed by Wayne Gretzky shaking his head in disbelief and dismissing the effort with a quick "No." (In his autobiography, Gretzky says his negative rejoinder came in frustration after multiple takes of him saying "Bo knows hockey!" that the director didn't like. Bo Jackson also said the bits showing Bo playing hockey were actually filmed on a wooden floor, with Bo Jackson in stocking feet.) T shirts sold by Nike capitalizing on their successful ad campaign had a list of Bo Jackson's sports - both real and imagined - with hockey crossed out.

In a later spot, Bo Jackson sees all the hoopla surrounding him and says, "I have rehab to do! I don't have time for this!", after which boxer George Foreman says, "But I do!" and steps in to finish the commercial, now re-dubbed "George Knows."

Bo Jackson also poked fun at the ad campaign during a guest appearance on a 1st season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the scene, he played basketball with Clark, portrayed by Dean Cain. Bo Jackson clearly is the better athlete, until Clark uses his flying abilities to catch the ball. Bo Jackson replies, "Bo don't know that!"

Bo Jackson also made an appearance during in an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with Will Smith where he asks Will, as "his close personal friend", some advice on what to cook for a party saying "an' when it comes to cooking, Bo Jackson don't know diddley".

Bo Jackson's legend was further cemented by his digital counterpart, affectionately known as "Tecmo Bo", in the video game Tecmo Super Bowl for the Nintendo Entertainment System. "Tecmo Bo" is one of the best running backs -- and arguably the most lethal athlete -- in video game history. Players using "Tecmo Bo" have been able to rush for 800-900 yards per game and run all over the field on one play and run out the time of a whole quarter without being tackled.

In retirement, his legend is intertwined with what many 25-35 year-olds recall as the 2nd golden age of home video gaming. Bo Jackson has commented that fans will often come up to him and regale him with stories not of his actual football feats, but rather memorable Tecmo Bowl plays.

Bo Jackson also had his own video game for the original Game Boy portable gaming system, Bo Jackson's Hit and Run. The game featured both baseball and football, but had no pro licenses for either sport and could not use any team or players' names. Released around the same time was Bo Jackson Baseball for the Nintendo NES system and IBM compatible computers. The game was heavily criticized by game reviewers and obtained poor sales results.

Bo Jackson had also made an appearance in the recent video game NFL Street 2 released in 2004 as the half back in the Gridiron Legends team. Unlocked by performing a wall move on a hotspot on the sportsplex field, he is available in the pickup pool for pickup games where you pick 7 players from the NFL. When playing the street event "open field showdown", if you had not made an extremely fast character already in own the city mode or NFL challenge, he will always be picked by the computer. If you completed NFL challenge, you can choose him to be on your team or any other Gridiron legend once you complete the mode.

Following on the heels of this widespread fame, Bo Jackson appeared in ProStars, an NBC Saturday morning cartoon. The show featured Bo Jackson, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan fighting crime and helping children (although none of the athletes featured actually provided their voices).

In 2007, Nike released a set of Nike Dunk shoes honouring Bo Jackson. The set featured 3 colourways based on previously released Nike shoes: the "Bo Knows" Trainer I, Trainer 91, and Medicine Ball Trainer III.

In 1993, Bo Jackson was honoured with the Tony Conigliaro Award. In 1995, he completed his bachelor of science degree at Auburn to fulfill the promise he made to his mother.

Through the 1990s, Bo Jackson dabbled in acting, having made several television guest appearances 1st on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990 as well as Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Married with Children. Bo Jackson later appeared in small roles in the films The Chamber and Fakin' Da Funk.

Bo Jackson served as the President of the HealthSouth Sports Medicine Council, part of Birmingham, Alabama based HealthSouth Corporation. Bo Jackson was also spokesman for HealthSouth's "Go For It": Roadshow.

Bo Jackson was given the honour of throwing out the ceremonial 1st pitch before Game 2 of the 2005 World Series.

In 2006, Bo Jackson appeared on the Spike TV sports reality show, Pros vs. Joes. In his 2nd appearance, he easily defeated amateur athletes in a home run-hitting contest. When he bunted instead of swinging on his final try for a home run, the announcer stated, "Bo knows taunting."

In 2007, Bo Jackson came together with John Cangelosi to form Bo Jackson Elite Sports Complex, an 88,000 square foot multi-sports dome facility in Lockport, Illinois. Bo Jackson is part-owner and CEO of the facility.

To this day he and his family live in Burr Ridge, Illinois.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Bill Walton

2009-01-28T11:48:00.007Z

William Theodore "Bill" Walton III was born on 5 November, 1952 in La Mesa, California, USA. Bill Walton is a retired American basketball player and current television sportscaster. The “Big Red-Head”, as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s and winning 3 straight College Player of the Year Awards and went on to have a prominent career in the NBA. Bill Walton was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on 10 May, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. Bill Walton is the father of current Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton.

Bill Walton is the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. At the age of 17, he played for the United States men's national basketball team at the 1970 FIBA World Championship.

Bill Walton played college basketball for John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1971 to 1974, winning the national title in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87-66 win over Memphis State in which the big redhead from San Diego made an impressive 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scored 44 points. Some regard this as the greatest ever offensive performance in American college basketball. The Walton-led 1971-72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30-0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30points. Bill Walton was the backbone of 2 consecutive 30-0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA record 88 game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost 5 years, in which Bill Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.

Bill Walton was the 1973 recipient of the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States. Bill Walton also received the USBWA College Player of the Year and Naismith College Player of the Year as the top college basketball player in the country 3 years in a row while attending UCLA, at the same time earning Academic All-American honours 3 times. Some college basketball historians rate Bill Walton as the greatest who ever played the game at the college level. In Bill Walton's senior year during the 1973-74 season, the school's 88 game winning streak ended with a 71-70 loss to Notre Dame. Coincidentally, the Bruins' last loss was to Notre Dame and Austin Carr in 1971 (89-81). Bill Walton admits the loss to Notre Dame (coached by Digger Phelps) to end the 88-game streak still bothers him more than any other loss in his career. During the same season, UCLA's record 7 consecutive national titles was broken when North Carolina State defeated the Bruins 80-77 in double overtime in the NCAA semi-finals. With Bill Walton's graduation in 1974 and legendary Bruin coach John Wooden's retirement after UCLA's 1975 national title, the unprecedented UCLA dynasty came to an end.

Bill Walton was drafted number 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers and was hailed as the saviour of the franchise. Bill Walton's 1st 2 seasons were marred by injury (at different times he broke his nose, foot, wrist and leg) and the Blazers missed the playoffs both years. It was not until the 1976-77 season that he was healthy enough to play 65 games and, spurred by new head coach Jack Ramsay, the Trail Blazers became the Cinderella team of the NBA. Bill Walton led the NBA in both rebounds per game and blocked shots per game that season and he was selected to the NBA All-Star Game but did not participate due to an injury. Bill Walton was named to the NBA's 1st All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA 2nd Team for his regular season accomplishments. In the postseason, Bill Walton led Portland to a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals (famously outplaying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the series) and went on to help the Trail Blazers to the NBA title over the favoured Philadelphia 76ers despite losing the 1st 2 games of the series. Bill Walton was named the Finals MVP.

The following year, the Blazers won 50 of their 1st 60 games before Bill Walton suffered a broken foot in what turned out to be the 1st in a string of foot and ankle injuries that cut short his career. Bill Walton nonetheless won the league MVP that season (1978) and the Sporting News NBA MVP, as well. Bill Walton played in his only All-Star Game in 1978 and was named to both the NBA's 1st All-Defensive Team and the All-NBA 1st Team. Bill Walton returned to action for the playoffs but was reinjured in the 2nd game of a series against the Seattle SuperSonics. Without Bill Walton to lead them, Portland lost the series to Seattle in 6 games. As it turned out, Bill Walton would never play for the Trail Blazers again. During the offseason, Bill Walton demanded to be traded, citing unethical and incompetent treatment of his and other players' injuries by the Blazers' front office. Bill Walton did not get his wish and sat out the 1978-79 season in protest, signing with the San Diego Clippers when he became a free agent in 1979.

Bill Walton spent several seasons alternating between the court and the disabled list with his hometown San Diego Clippers. After the 1984-85 campaign, Bill Walton called on 2 of the league's premier teams, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. After several players on the Celtics said they liked the idea of having Bill Walton as a teammate backing up Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, Red Auerbach made the deal happen. One anecdote that particularly illustrates Bill Walton's decision to choose the Boston Celtics over the Los Angeles Lakers is about Larry Bird, who happened to be in Auerbach's office when Bill Walton called and said that if Bill Walton felt healthy enough to play that it was good enough for him, as opposed to Los Angeles Lakers GM Jerry West, who was hedging his interest in Bill Walton pending a doctor's report. Boston Celtics acquired Bill Walton by sending popular forward Cedric Maxwell to the San Diego Clippers along with a 1st-round draft pick. Providing a reliable backup to Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, Bill Walton received the NBA 6th Man Award that season en route to the NBA Championship, becoming the only player to have ever won an NBA Finals MVP, 6th Man Award, and regular season MVP. Bill Walton is the last player to win a 6th Man Award the same year he played on an NBA Champion-winning team.

Bill Walton injured himself again the following season, but returned for the 1987 playoffs. Bill Walton spent the 1987-88 season on the injured list. Bill Walton attempted a comeback in February 1990, but injury intervened and he retired from the game. Bill Walton's ankle problems became so severe years later that he had both his ankles surgically fused. Bill Walton's saga of injury and failed rehabs was connected to the use of pain killers by the doctor who was assigned to his case. Bill Walton has said repeatedly in his broadcasts that he is just as much to blame for taking the medication as the doctor was for giving it to him. Yet his experience with injuries and the circumstances surrounding them have come to serve as a warning for professional athletes who undergo major injury as well as being an interesting case study for medical ethics. Bill Walton's injuries, along with his 1978-1979 year-long protest, gave him an unpleasant, if not odd, record. Bill Walton holds the record for the most games missed during an NBA playing career, when taking into account the number of years he was officially listed as a player on a team roster.

Bill Walton was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and had his number 32 retired by the Blazers in 1989. In 1996, he was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of all time.

Since his retirement as a player, Bill Walton has overcome a severe stuttering problem to become a successful and controversial NBA colour commentator for NBC(1990-2002), Los Angeles Clippers (1990-2002) and ABC/ESPN (since 2002).

Bill Walton's trademark catchphrases include, "That's a terrible call! Terrible," "Where in the world is [x]?" (for a player who has disappeared from a game), "What is a foul?", "Dial a violation," "He couldn't even inbound the ball!", "Throw it down, big man! Throw it down!", and "Basketball is a game played by men competing for the ultimate prize". In addition after a predominantly one-handed player makes a basket going to his strong hand Bill Walton will summarize the action and then say, "He's left-handed by the way Marv" or "Someone should tell player x that player y is left-handed and promises to be so for the remainder of the game," intimating that perhaps the defender should defend that side of the player. Bill Walton typically is paired up with Steve "Snapper" Jones for NBA games due to him and Steve Jones having a point-counterpoint banter during games. Despite their frequent on-air argumentative banter they are actually good friends as was evidenced in Bill Walton's short lived 2003 TV series Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip.

In addition, his commentary during games is notable for his frequent use of hyperbole. In one instance where Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs had a pass deflected out of bounds by a defender, Bill Walton stated, "Tony Parker just made the worst pass in the history of Western civilization!" Often this is done to intentional or perhaps unintentional comedic effect. Bill Walton also is rumoured to have challenged Marv Albert to a wrestling cage match and was considered "out of line" for the provocation. During one game he announced, Bill Walton stated, "I am the hero, I am No. 1, I can go in there and shake and bake all those youngins and teach them some real basketball so they can stop their complaining".

Bill Walton currently resides in his hometown of San Diego with his wife Lori. Bill Walton and his 1st wife, Susie, have 4 sons: Adam, Nathan, Luke, and Chris. Luke, although not as tall as his father, played collegiately for the University of Arizona and now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers as a forward. Another of Bill Walton's sons, Chris, played for San Diego State University. Nate, his middle son, played basketball at Princeton University but then entered the corporate world and earned his MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. (Bill Walton himself attended Stanford Law School for 2 years but never graduated.) Nate was also on the ballot for the 2003 California Recall Election, receiving 1,697 votes. Bill Walton's other son, Adam, also played NCAA basketball at LSU.

Bill Walton is also a well-known fan of the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Neil Young, Phish, and Bob Dylan. Bill Walton attended more than 650 Grateful Dead concerts, including traveling with the band to Egypt for its famous 1978 performance before the Pyramids (joining the band on drums), quotes Dead lyrics in TV and radio interviews. To fellow Deadheads, Bill Walton is fondly known as "Grateful Red" and the "Big Red Deadhead" and "World's Tallest Deadhead". In the video for "Touch of Grey", Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart is wearing a Celtics jacket that was given to him by Bill Walton. In 2001, Bill Walton was officially inducted into The Grateful Dead Hall of Honour.

Bill Walton expounds upon his music interests on his own satellite radio show, One More Saturday Night (named after the Dead song "One More Saturday Night"), heard during late prime time on Sirius Radio's Jam On channel. Bill Walton has stated in his online introduction to his radio show column that he enjoys going to concerts alone because then he has fewer things in between him and reaching the omega point that all concert goers seek at shows.

Bill Walton still has a committed relationship with the Boston Celtics, if not professionally, as a fan. Despite the area where he grew up, and the team his son Luke plays for, Bill Walton is careful to point out, "Even though I grew up in the heart of Laker country, the Boston Celtics were always MY team". Bill Walton also keeps a picture of the floor of the old Boston Garden in his kitchen.

In June 2008, he was asked by ESPN to predict the outcome of the NBA finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, their 1st meeting in the finals since 1987, his 2nd and final as player for Boston Celtics. Bill Walton predicted the Boston Celtics would take the series in 6 games, a prediction that came true on 17th of that month.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Austin Pendleton

2009-01-28T11:12:00.006Z

Austin Pendleton was born on 27 March, 1940 in Warren, Ohio, USA. Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.

Austin Pendleton is a graduate of Yale University, where he was a member of Scroll and Key Society. As a stage actor, he has appeared in The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance), The Diary of Anne Frank, Grand Hotel, Goodtime Charley, The Little Foxes, Fiddler on the Roof, and Up from Paradise.

Austin Pendleton penned the plays Uncle Bob, Booth, and Orson's Shadow, all of which were staged off-Broadway. Austin Pendleton's direction of Elizabeth Taylor and Maureen Stapleton in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes garnered him a Tony Award nomination. Additional directing credits include Spoils of War by Michael Weller, The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt, and The Size of the World by Charles Evered.

Austin Pendleton served as Artistic Director for Circle Repertory Company with associate artistic director Lynne Thigpen.

Austin Pendleton is an ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. began his artistic relationship there by directing Ralph Pape's Say Goodnight, Gracie for the 1979-80 season. In addition to directing at Steppenwolf, Austin Pendleton has appeared as an actor in such Steppenwolf productions as Uncle Vanya, Valparaiso and Educating Rita.

Austin Pendleton has had several television roles as well including a recurring role on HBO's Oz as the mentally unstable murderer William Giles. Austin Pendleton did his voice-over work as Gurgle in Finding Nemo.

In August 2006, Austin Pendleton appeared as the Chaplain in Bertholt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater production directed by George C. Wolfe at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York City.

In 2007, he appeared as Friar Lawrence in the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Austin Pendleton Pendleton currently teaches acting at the HB Studio and directing at The New School for Drama, both in Greenwich Village.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Arthur Blank

2009-01-26T17:07:00.006Z

Arthur M. Blank was born on 27 September, 1942, in Sunnyside, New York, USA. Arthur Blank is an American businessman and a co-founder of Home Depot. Today he is known for his philanthropy and his ownership of the Atlanta Falcons team in the National Football League and the Georgia Force team in the Arena Football League.

Arthur Blank grew up in Flushing, New York, with his father, Max, his mother, Molly, and his older brother, Michael. Arthur Blank graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and went on to attend Babson College, where he graduated in 3 years in 1963 with a B.S. degree in Business Administration. In 2009, Arthur Blank was awarded by prestigious Georgia Speaker of the Year by Emory's Barkley Forum Debate Society.

After graduating from college, Arthur Blank was hired by Handy Dan Hardware, and worked his way up through the company to become a regional manager. Arthur Blank was fired in 1978 for a disagreement with executives.

In 1978, Arthur Blank co-founded Home Depot with Bernie Marcus, another former Handy Dan manager. New York investment banker Ken Langone assembled the initial group of investors. The store revolutionized the home improvement business with its warehouse concept and Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus became billionaires as a result. Arthur Blank spent 19 years as the company's chief financial officer before succeeding Bernie Marcus as CEO. Arthur Blank retired from the company in 2001 as co-chairman.

In February 2002, Arthur Blank purchased the Atlanta Falcons franchise in the National Football League from longtime owner Taylor Smith. In September 2004, he bought the Arena Football League franchise, the Georgia Force; he moved the team back to the city of Atlanta after it had spent several years in suburban Gwinnett County.

Arthur Blank has expressed serious interest in purchasing other Atlanta franchises. In early 2006, he temporarily withdrew from contention as a potential buyer of the Major League Baseball team Atlanta Braves. Some months later, Arthur Blank re-entered serious talks with Time Warner and a report indicated that a sale was imminent. However, in February 2007, the Atlanta Braves completed the sale of the team to Liberty Media. Arthur Blank has also spoke of purchasing an expansion franchise in Major League Soccer. Atlanta is currently being considered for MLS expansion.

Arthur Blank is the Chairman, President, and CEO of AMB Group, LLC, and the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. Arthur Blank serves on the Board of Trustees of Emory University. Arthur Blank is married with Stephanie and they have 6 children and 2 grandchildren. As of 17 September, 2008, his net worth was estimated at $1.3,000,000,000. Arthur Blank was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2006. Arthur Blank and his wife reside in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, along with their 3 youngest children. A strong believer in work-life balance, Arthur Blank still makes time daily for working out and spending time with family.

In 2009, Arthur Blank was named Georgia Speaker of the Year by the Barkley Forum debating society of Emory University.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Enoch Bennett

2009-01-26T16:07:00.009Z

Enoch Arnold Bennett was born on 27 May 1867 in a modest house in Hanley, one of a conurbation of 6 towns which joined together at the beginning of the 20th century as Stoke-on-Trent, in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Enoch Bennett died on 27 March 1931 of typhoid at his home in Baker Street, London, England, UK. Enoch Bennett's ashes are buried in Burslem cemetery. Their daughter Virginia Eldin lived in France and was president of the Arnold Bennett Society.

Enoch Bennett was an English novelist.

Enoch Bennett's father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the family were able to move to a larger house between Hanley and Burslem. The younger Enoch Bennett was educated locally in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Enoch Bennett was employed by his father - his duties included rent collecting. Enoch Bennett was unhappy working for his father for little financial reward, and the theme of parental miserliness is important in his novels. In his spare time he was able to do a little journalism, but his breakthrough as a writer was to come after he had moved from his native Potteries. At the age of 21, he left his father's practice and went to London as a solicitor's clerk.

Enoch Bennett won a literary competition in Tit-Bits magazine in 1889 and was encouraged to take up journalism full time. In 1894, he became assistant editor of the periodical Woman. Enoch Bennett noticed that the material offered by a syndicate to the magazine was not very good, so he wrote a serial which was bought by the syndicate for £75.00. Enoch Bennett then wrote another. This became The Grand Babylon Hotel. Just over 4 years later, his 1st novel A Man from the North was published to critical acclaim and he became editor to the magazine.

From 1900 he devoted himself full time to writing, giving up the editorship and writing much serious criticism, and also theatre journalism, one of his special interests. Enoch Bennett moved to Trinity Hall Farm, Hockliffe, Bedfordshire, on Watling Street, which was the inspiration for his novel Teresa of Watling Street, which came out in 1904. Enoch Bennett's father Enoch Bennett died there in 1902, and is buried in Chalgrove churchyard. In 1902, Anna of the 5 Towns, the 1st of a succession of stories which detailed life in the Potteries, appeared.

In 1903, he moved to Paris, where other great artists from around the world had converged on Montmartre and Montparnasse. Enoch Bennett spent the next 8 years writing novels and plays. In 1908 The Old Wives' Tale was published, and was an immediate success throughout the English-speaking world. After a visit to America in 1911, where he had been publicised and acclaimed as no other visiting writer since Dickens, he returned to England where Old Wives' Tale was reappraised and hailed as a masterpiece. During the First World War, he became Director of Propaganda at the War Ministry. Enoch Bennett refused a knighthood in 1918. Enoch Bennett won the 1923 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Riceyman Steps and in 1926, at the suggestion of Lord Beaverbrook, he began writing an influential weekly article on books for the Evening Standard newspaper.

Osbert Sitwell, in a letter to James Agate, notes that Enoch Bennett was not, despite current views, "the typical businessman, with his mean and narrow outlook". Osbert Sitwell cited a letter from Enoch Bennett to a friend of James Agate, who remains anonymous, in Ego 5:

I find I am richer this year than last; so I enclose a cheque for £500.00 for you to distribute among young writers and artists and musicians who may need the money. You will know, better than I do, who they are. But I must make one condition, that you do not reveal that the money has come from me, or tell anyone about it.

Enoch Bennett separated from his French wife in 1922, and fell in love with the actress Dorothy Cheston, with whom he stayed for the rest of his life.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Antonio Bassolino

2009-01-26T13:20:00.010Z

Antonio Bassolino, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was born on 20 March, 1947 in Afragola, Campania. Antonio Bassolino is an Italian politician. Antonio Bassolino is currently President of the Campania region.

At the age of 17 he entered the Federation of Young Italian Communists, and in 1970 became member of the regional council for the Italian Communist Party (PCI), and, the following year, secretary of the party section in Avellino. Antonio Bassolino held the latter position until 1975, when he became regional secretary for the PCI; from 1972, he was member of the party's national committee. In 1987, he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies in the college of Catanzaro, becoming president of the Parliament media committee in 1990.

In the process leading to the split-up of the PCI into the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Party of the Communist Refoundation (PRC), Antonio Bassolino represented the moderate wing that sought mediation. Eventually, he joined the PDS.

In 1992, he was re-elected to the Chamber, and, in 1993, he was sent to Naples to reform the local section of PDS — which had been involved in the Tangentopoli bribe scandal. It was there that he gained fame as a "hardman," a reputation which surfaced during the subsequent election for mayor, which he won by defeating the right-wing candidate, Alessandra Mussolini.

Antonio Bassolino's years as mayor of Naples are generally viewed as a period of civil, economical and social renaissance for the city. In 1997 he was re-elected, this time with the 72.9% of the votes. In October 1998, Premier Massimo D'Alema nominated him Minister of Welfare; however, after the assassination of his advisor Massimo D'Antona in October 1999, Antonio Bassolino resigned in order to focus his activities on Naples.

In 2000, he ran for the presidency of Campania, which raised some controversies. Antonio Bassolino was elected with 54.3% of the votes, and, in the elections of April 2005, with 61.6%. Among his accomplishments as governor of Campania are the construction of a regional metropolitan rail service and the new TAV station for high-speed trains in his native Afragola. Antonio Bassolino received the "Gold Star" Prize for his commitment to developing tourism and cultural ventures in Naples during his years as mayor. Antonio Bassolino's essays include Mezzogiorno alla prova (1980) and La repubblica delle città (1996).

However, it has been argued that, under his administration, the regional debt has doubled. Moreover and more importantly Antonio Bassolino has a considerable share of responsibility in the environmental disaster in the Campania region due to the deficiencies of the rubbish collection and treatment systems. In fact Antonio Bassolino is 1 of the 29 people remanded for trial and accused of involvement in ongoing aggravated fraud against the State and fraud regarding public works. The collapse of the services which were supposed to collect and treat the rubbish led to accumulation or garbage in the streets of the major urban centres to the point that schools and other public places had to be closed for some days and tourism declined substantially in 2008. As a result of this an increasing number of citizens and associations have been vocally calling for Antonio Bassolino's resignation.

Antonio Bassolino is married to Anna Maria Carloni and was elected to the Senate in the XV legislature.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Aneurin Bevan

2009-01-07T18:29:00.009Z

Aneurin Bevan, usually known as Nye Bevan was born on 15 November 1897 in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, in the South Wales Valleys and on the northern edge of the South Wales coalfield and died on 6 July 1960. Aneurin Bevan was a Welsh Labour politician. Aneurin Bevan was a key figure on the left of the party in the mid-20th century and was the Minister of Health responsible for the formation of the National Health Service.

Aneurin Bevan was the son of miner David Bevan. Both Aneurin Bevan's parents were Nonconformists; his father was a Baptist and his mother a Methodist. 1 of 10 children, Aneurin Bevan did poorly at school and his academic performance was so bad that his headmaster made him repeat a year. At the age of 13, Aneurin Bevan left school and began working in the local Tytryst Colliery. David Bevan had been a supporter of the Liberal Party in his youth, but was converted to socialism by the writings of Robert Blatchford in the Clarion and joined the Independent Labour Party.

David Bevan's son also joined the Tredegar branch of the South Wales Miners' Federation and became a trade union activist: he was head of his local Miners' Lodge at only 19. Aneurin Bevan became a well-known local orator and was seen by his employers, the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company, as a revolutionary. The manager of the colliery found an excuse to get him sacked. But, with the support of the Miners' Federation, the case was judged as one of victimisation and the company was forced to re-employ him.

In 1919, he won a scholarship to the Central Labour College in London, sponsored by the South Wales Miners' Federation. At the college he gained his life-long respect for Karl Marx. Reciting long passages by William Morris, Aneurin Bevan gradually began to overcome the stammer that he had since he was a child.

Upon returning home in 1921, he found that the Tredegar Iron & Coal Company refused to re-hire him. Aneurin Bevan did not find work until 1924 in the Bedwellty Colliery, and it closed down after 10 months. Aneurin Bevan had to endure another year of unemployment and in February 1925, his father died of pneumoconiosis.

In 1926, he found work again, this time as a paid union official. Aneurin Bevan's wage of £5 a week was paid by the members of the local Miners' Lodge. Aneurin Bevan's new job arrived in time for him to head the local miners against the colliery companies in what would become the General Strike. When the strike started on 3 May, 1926, Aneurin Bevan soon emerged as one of the leaders of the South Wales miners. The miners remained on strike for 6 months. Aneurin Bevan was largely responsible for the distribution of strike pay in Tredegar and the formation of the Council of Action, an organisation that helped to raise money and provided food for the miners.

Aneurin Bevan was a member of the Cottage Hospital Management Committee around 1928 and was chairman in 1929/30.

In 1928, Aneurin Bevan won a seat on Monmouthshire County Council. With that success he was picked as the Labour Party candidate for Ebbw Vale (displacing the sitting MP), and easily held the seat at the 1929 General Election. In Parliament he soon became noticed as a harsh critic of those he felt opposed the working man. Aneurin Bevan's targets included the Conservative Winston Churchill and the Liberal Lloyd George, as well as Ramsay MacDonald and Margaret Bondfield from his own Labour party (he targeted the latter for her unwillingness to increase unemployment benefits). Aneurin Bevan had solid support from his constituency, being one of the few Labour MPs to be unopposed in the 1931 General Election.

Soon after he entered parliament Aneurin Bevan was briefly attracted to Oswald Mosley's arguments, in the context of Ramsay Macdonald's government's incompetent handling of rising unemployment. However, in the words of his biographer John Campbell, "he breached with Oswald Mosley as soon as Oswald Mosley breached with the Labour Party". This is symptomatic of his lifelong commitment to the Labour Party, which was a result of his firm belief that only a Party supported by the British Labour Movement could have a realistic chance of attaining political power for the working class. Thus, for Aneurin Bevan, joining Oswald Mosley's New Party was not an option. Aneurin Bevan is said to have predicted that Oswald Mosley would end up as a Fascist.

Aneurin Bevan married fellow socialist MP Jennie Lee in 1934. Aneurin Bevan was an early supporter of the socialists in Spain and visited the country in the 1930s. In 1936 he joined the board of the new socialist newspaper the Tribune. Aneurin Bevan's agitations for a united socialist front of all parties of the left (including the Communist Party of Great Britain) led to his brief expulsion from the Labour Party in March to November 1939 (along with Stafford Cripps and C.P. Trevelyan). But, he was readmitted in November 1939 after agreeing "to refrain from conducting or taking part in campaigns in opposition to the declared policy of the Party."

Aneurin Bevan was a strong critic of the policies of Neville Chamberlain, arguing that his old enemy Winston Churchill should be given power. During the war he was one of the main leaders of the left in the Commons, opposing the wartime Coalition government. Aneurin Bevan opposed the heavy censorship imposed on radio and newspapers and wartime Defence Regulation 18B, which gave the Home Secretary the powers to intern citizens without trial. Aneurin Bevan called for the nationalisation of the coal industry and advocated the opening of a 2nd Front in Western Europe in order to help the Soviet Union in its fight with Germany. Winston Churchill responded by calling Aneurin Bevan "... a squalid nuisance".

Aneurin Bevan believed that the 2nd World War would give Britain the opportunity to create "a new society". Aneurin Bevan often quoted an 1855 passage from Karl Marx: "The redeeming feature of war is that it puts a nation to the test. As exposure to the atmosphere reduces all mummies to instant dissolution, so war passes supreme judgment upon social systems that have outlived their vitality." At the beginning of the 1945 general election campaign Aneurin Bevan told his audience: "We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers, now we are the builders. We enter this campaign at this general election, not merely to get rid of the Tory majority. We want the complete political extinction of the Tory Party."

After World War II, when the Communists took control of China. Parliament debated the merits of recognizing the Communist government. Winston Churchill, no friend of Aneurin Bevan or Mao Zedong, commented that recognition would be advantageous to the United Kingdom for various reasons and added, "Just because you recognize someone does not mean you like him. We all, for example, recognize the Right Honourable Member from Ebbw Vale."

The 1945 General Election proved to be a landslide victory for the Labour Party, giving it a large enough majority to allow the implementation of the party's manifesto commitments and to introduce a programme of far-reaching social reforms that were collectively dubbed the 'Welfare State'. The new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, appointed Aneurin Bevan as Minister of Health, with a remit that also covered Housing. Thus, the responsibility for instituting a new and comprehensive National Health Service, as well as tackling the country's severe post-war housing shortage, fell to the youngest member of Clement Attlee's Cabinet in his first ministerial position. The free health service was paid for directly through government income, with no fees paid at the point of delivery. Government income was increased for the Welfare state expenditure by a severe increase in marginal tax rates for wealthy business owners in particular, as part of what the Labour government largely saw as the redistribution of the wealth created by the working class from the owners of large-scale industry to the workers.

On the "appointed day", 5 July 1948, having overcome political opposition from both the Conservative Party and from within his own party, and after a dramatic showdown with the British Medical Association, which had threatened to derail the National Health Service scheme before it had even begun, as medical practitioners continued to withhold their support just months before the launch of the service, Aneurin Bevan's National Health Service Act of 1946 came into force. After 18 months of ongoing dispute between the Ministry of Health and the BMA, Aneurin Bevan finally managed to win over the support of the vast majority of the medical profession by offering a couple of minor concessions, but without compromising on the fundamental principles of his NHS proposals. Aneurin Bevan later gave the famous quote that, in order for the broker to the deal, he had "stuffed their mouths with gold". Some 2,688 voluntary and municipal hospitals in England and Wales were nationalised and came under Aneurin Bevan's supervisory control as Health Minister.

Substantial bombing damage and the continued existence of pre-war slums in many parts of the country made the task of housing reform particularly challenging for Aneurin Bevan. Indeed, these factors, exacerbated by post-war restrictions on the availability of building materials and skilled labour, collectively served to limit Aneurin Bevan's achievements in this area. 1946 saw the completion of 55,600 new homes; this rose to 139,600 in 1947, and 227,600 in 1948. While this was not an insignificant achievement, Aneurin Bevan's rate of housebuilding was seen as less of an achievement than that of his Conservative (indirect) successor, Harold Macmillan, who was able to complete some 300,000 a year as Minister for Housing in the 1950s. Harold Macmillan was able to concentrate full-time on Housing, instead of being obliged, like Aneurin Bevan, to combine his housing portfolio with that for Health (which for Aneurin Bevan took the higher priority). However critics said that the cheaper housing built by Harold Macmillan was exactly the poor standard of housing that Aneurin Bevan was aiming to replace. Harold Macmillan's policies led to the building of cheap, mass-production high-rise tower blocks, which have been heavily criticised since.

Aneurin Bevan was appointed Minister of Labour in 1951 but soon resigned in protest at Hugh Gaitskell's introduction of prescription charges for dental care and spectacles -- created in order to meet the financial demands imposed by the Korean War. 2 other Ministers, John Freeman and Harold Wilson resigned at the same time.

In 1952 Aneurin Bevan published In Place of Fear, "the most widely read socialist book" of the period, according to a highly critical right-wing Labour MP Anthony Crosland. Aneurin Bevan begins: "A young miner in a South Wales colliery, my concern was with the one practical question: Where does power lie in this particular state of Great Britain, and how can it be attained by the workers?" In 1954, Hugh Gaitskell beat Aneurin Bevan in a hard fought contest to be the Treasurer of the Labour Party.

Out of the Cabinet, Aneurin Bevan soon initiated a split within the Labour Party between the right and the left. For the next 5 years, Aneurin Bevan was the leader of the left-wing of the Labour Party, who became known as Bevanites. They criticised high defence expenditure (especially for nuclear weapons) and opposed the more reformist stance of Clement Attlee. When the 1st British hydrogen bomb was exploded in 1955, Aneurin Bevan led a revolt of 57 Labour MPs and abstained on a key vote. The Parliamentary Labour Party voted 141 to 113 to withdraw the whip from him, but it was restored within a month due to his popularity.

After the 1955 general election, Clement Attlee retired as leader. Aneurin Bevan contested the leadership against both Morrison and Labour right-winger Hugh Gaitskell but it was Hugh Gaitskell who emerged victorious. Aneurin Bevan's remark that "I know the right kind of political Leader for the Labour Party is a kind of desiccated calculating machine" was assumed to refer to Hugh Gaitskell, although Aneurin Bevan denied it (commenting upon Hugh Gaitskell's record as Chancellor of the Exchequer as having "proved" this). However, Hugh Gaitskell was prepared to make Aneurin Bevan Shadow Colonial Secretary, and then Shadow Foreign Secretary in 1956. In this position, he was a vocal critic of the government's actions in the Suez Crisis, noticeably delivering high profile speeches in Trafalgar Square on 4 November 1956 at a protest rally, and devastating the government's actions and arguments in the House of Commons on 5 December 1956. That year, he was finally elected as party treasurer, beating George Brown.

Aneurin Bevan dismayed many of his supporters when, speaking at the 1957 Labour Party conference, he decried unilateral nuclear disarmament, saying "It would send a British Foreign Secretary naked into the conference-chamber". This statement is often misconstrued. Aneurin Bevan argued that unilateralism would result in Britain's loss of allies. One interpretation of Aneurin Bevan's metaphor is that the nakedness comes from the lack of allies, not the lack of weapons. According to the journalist Paul Routledge, Donald Bruce, a former MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary and adviser to Aneurin Bevan, had told him that Aneurin Bevan's shift on the disarmament issue was the result of discussions with the Soviet government where they advised him to push for British retention of nuclear weapons so they could possibly be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the United States. It should be noted that the UK was the only country apart from the superpowers of the USA and USSR to possess nuclear weapons at the time.

In 1959 despite suffering from terminal cancer, Aneurin Bevan was elected as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Aneurin Bevan could do little in his new role and died the next year at the age of 62.

Aneurin Bevan's last speech in the House of Commons, in which Aneurin Bevan referred to the difficulties of persuading the electorate to support a policy which would make them less well-off in the short term but more prosperous in the long term, was quoted extensively in subsequent years.

In 2004, over 40 years after his death, he was voted 1st in a list of 100 Welsh Heroes, this being credited much to his contribution to the Welfare State after World War II.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Alvin Lucier

2009-01-07T17:43:00.009Z

Alvin Lucier was born on 14 May, in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1931. Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. Alvin Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. Much of his work is influenced by science and explores the physical properties of sound itself: resonance of spaces, phase interference between closely-tuned pitches, and the transmission of sound through physical media.

Alvin Lucier educated in Nashua public and parochial schools and the Portsmouth Abbey School, Yale University and Brandeis University. In 1958 and 1959, Alvin Lucier studied with Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland at the Tanglewood Center. In 1960, Alvin Lucier left for Rome on a Fulbright Fellowship, where he befriended American expatriate composer Frederic Rzewski and witnessed performances by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and David Tudor that provided compelling alternatives to his classical training. Alvin Lucier returned from Rome in 1962 to take up a position at Brandeis as director of the University Chamber Chorus, which presented classical vocal works alongside modern compositions and new commissions. At a 1963 Chamber Chorus concert at New York's Town Hall, Alvin Lucier met Gordon Mumma and Robert Ashley, experimental composers who were also directors of the ONCE Festival, an annual multi-media event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A year later, Mumma and Ashley invited the Chamber Chorus to the ONCE Festival; and, in 1966, Alvin Lucier reciprocated by inviting Mumma, Ashley, and mutual friend David Behrman to Brandeis for a concert of works by the 4 composers. Based on the success of that concert, Alvin Lucier, Mumma, Ashley, and Behrman embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe under the name the Sonic Arts Group (at Ashley's suggestion, the name was later changed to the Sonic Arts Union). More a musical collective than a proper quartet, the Sonic Arts Union presented works by each of its members, sharing equipment and assisting when necessary. Performing and touring together for a decade, the Sonic Arts Union became inactive in 1976. In 1970, Alvin Lucier left Brandeis for Wesleyan University. In 1972, Alvin Lucier became a musical director of the Viola Farber Dance Company, a position he held until 1979.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Alfred Kazin

2009-01-07T17:09:00.007Z

Alfred Kazin was born on 5 June, 1915 and died on 5 June, 1998. Alfred Kazin was an American writer and literary critic, many of whose writings depicted the immigrant experience in early 20th century America.

Alfred Kazin is regarded as one of "The New York Intellectuals", and like many other members of this group he was born in Brooklyn and attended the City College of New York. However, his politics were more moderate than most of the New York intellectuals, many of whom were socialists. Alfred Kazin wrote out of a great passion-- or great disgust -- for what he was reading and embedded his opinions in a deep knowledge of history, both literary history and politics and culture. Alfred Kazin was a friend of the political theorist Hannah Arendt. In 1996 he was awarded the 1st Truman Capote Lifetime Achievement Award for literary criticism.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Aesop

2009-01-07T15:40:00.012Z

Aesop (also spelled Æsop or Esop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος—Aisōpos) (620-560 BC), known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave (δούλος) who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratus in the mid-sixth century BC in Acient Greek.

The various collections that go under the rubric "Aesop's Fables" are still taught as moral lessons and used as subjects for various entertainments, especially children's plays and cartoons.

Most of what are known as Aesopic fables is a compilation of tales from various sources, many of which originated with authors who lived long before Aesop.

Aesop himself is said to have composed many fables, which were passed down by oral tradition. Socrates was said by Plato in the Phaedo to have spent his time turning Aesop’s fables into verse while he was in prison. Demetrius Phalereus, another Greek philosopher, made the first collection of these fables around 300 BC. This was later translated into Latin by Phaedrus, a slave himself, around 25 BC. The fables from these 2 collections were soon brought together and were eventually retranslated into Greek by Babrius around A.D. 230. Many additional fables were included, and the collection was in turn translated to Arabic and Hebrew, further enriched by additional fables from these cultures.

Most of Aesop's fables had animals as main characters, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, or the Ant and the Grasshopper.

The place of Aesop's birth was and still is disputed: Amorium, Phrygia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Samos, Athens, Sardis and Thrace all claimed the honour. It has been argued by modern writers that he may have been of African origin: the scholar Richard Lobban has argued that his name is likely derived from "Aethiopian", a word used by the Greeks to refer mostly to dark-skinned people of the African interior. Aesop continues by pointing out that the stories are populated by animals present in Africa, many of the creatures being quite foreign to Greece and Europe.

The 31st Sura of the Qu'ran refers to a man named Lokman. Often confused with Aesop, and having lived several centuries earlier, Aesop's fables may be derived from the works of Lokman.

The life of Aesop himself is shrouded in obscurity. Aesop is said to have lived as a slave in Samos around 550 B.C. An ancient account of his life is found in The Book of Xanthus the Philosopher and His Slave Aesop.

According to the sparse information gathered about him from references to him in several Greek works (he was mentioned by Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle), Aesop was a slave for someone called Xanthus (Ξανθος), who resided on the island of Samos. Aesop must have been freed, for he conducted the public defense of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 20). Aesop subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the 7 Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. During the reign of Peisistratus he was said to have visited Athens, where he told the fable of The Frogs Who Desired a King to dissuade the citizens from attempting to depose Peisistratus for another ruler. A contrary story, however, said that Aesop spoke up for the common people against tyranny through his fables, which incensed Peisistratus, who was against free speech.

According to the historian Herodotus, Aesop met with a violent death at the hands of the inhabitants of Delphi, though the cause was not stated. Various suggestions were made by later writers, such as his insulting sarcasms, the embezzlement of money entrusted to him by Croesus for distribution at Delphi, and his alleged sacrilege of a silver cup. A pestilence that ensued was blamed on his execution, and the Delphians declared their willingness to make compensation, which, in default of a nearer connection, was claimed by Iadmon (Ιάδμων), grandson of Aesop's former master.

Popular stories surrounding Aesop were assembled in a vita prefixed to a collection of fables under his name, compiled by Maximus Planudes, a 14th-century monk. Aesop was by tradition extremely ugly and deformed, which is the sole basis for making a grotesque marble figure in the Villa Albani, Rome, a "portrait of Aesop". This biography had actually existed a century before Planudes. It appeared in a 13th-century manuscript found in Florence. However, according to another Greek historian Plutarch's account of the symposium of the 7 Sages, at which Aesop was a guest, there were many jests on his former servile status, but nothing derogatory was said about his personal appearance. Aesop's deformity was further disputed by the Athenians, who erected in his honour a noble statue by the sculptor Lysippus.

Aesop must have received his freedom from Iadmon, or he could not have conducted the public defence of a certain Samian demagogue (Aristotle, Rhetoric, ii. 20). According to the story, he subsequently lived at the court of Croesus, where he met Solon, and dined in the company of the Seven Sages of Greece with Periander at Corinth. During the reign of Peisistratus he is said to have visited Athens, on which occasion he related the fable of The Frogs asking for a King, to dissuade the citizens from attempting to exchange Peisistratus for another ruler. The popular stories current regarding him are derived from a life, or rather romance, prefixed to a book of fables, purporting to be his, collected by Maximus Planudes, a monk of the 14th century. In this he is described as a monster of ugliness and deformity, as he is also represented in a well-known marble figure in the Villa Albani at Rome. That this life, however, was in existence a century before Planudes, appears from a 13th-century MS. of it found at Florence. The obscurity in which the history of Aesop is involved has induced some scholars to deny his existence altogether.

It is probable that Aesop did not commit his fables to writing; Aristophanes (Wasps, 1259) represents Philocleon as having learnt the "absurdities" of Aesop from conversation at banquets, and Socrates whiled away his time in prison by turning some of Aesop's fables "which he knew" into verse (Plato, Phaedo, 61 b). Demetrius of Phalerum (345-283 B.C.) made a collection in ten books, probably in prose (Lopson Aisopeion sunagogai) for the use of orators, which has been lost. Next appeared an edition in elegiac verse, often cited by Suidas, but the author's name is unknown. Babrius, according to Crusius, a Roman and tutor to the son of Alexander Severus, turned the fables into choliambics in the earlier part of the 3rd century A.D. The most celebrated of the Latin adapters is Phaedrus, a freedman of Augustus. Avianus (of uncertain date, perhaps the 4th century) translated 42 of the fables into Latin elegiacs. The collections which we possess under the name of Aesop's Fables are late renderings of Babrius's Version or Progumnasmata, rhetorical exercises of varying age and merit. Syntipas translated Babrius into Syriac, and Andreopulos put the Syriac back again into Greek. Ignatius Diaconus, in the 9th century, made a version of 55 fables in choliambic tetrameters. Stories from Oriental sources were added, and from these collections Maximus Planudes made and edited the collection which has come down to us under the name of Aesop, and from which the popular fables of modern Europe have been derived.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Clara Barton

2008-12-02T21:36:00.006Z

Clarissa Harlowe Barton was born on 25 December, 1821 in Oxford Massachusetts, USA
and died on 12 April, 1912. Clara Barton was a pioneer American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian. Clara Barton has been described as having a "strong and independent spirit" and is best remembered for organising the American Red Cross.

Clara Barton was born to Stephen and Sarah Barton. Clara Barton was the youngest of 5children. Clara Barton's father and mother were abolitionists. Clara Barton's father was a farmer and horse breeder, while her mother Sarah managed the household. The 2 later helped found the 1st Universalist Church in Oxford.

Clara Barton had 2 brothers, Stephen and David. Young Clara was educated at home and extremely bright. It is said that her siblings were kept busy answering her many questions, and each taught her complementary skills. Clara Barton's brothers were happy to teach her how to ride horses and do other things that, at the time, were thought appropriate only for men.

When Clara Barton was 11, her brother David became her 1st patient after he fell from a rafter in their unfinished barn. Clara Barton stayed by his side for 2 years and learned to administer all his medicines, including the "great, loathsome crawling leeches".

As she continued to develop an interest in nursing, Clara Barton may have drawn inspiration from stories of her great-aunt, Martha Ballard, who served the town of Hallowell (later Augusta), Maine, as a midwife for over 3 decades. Ballard helped deliver nearly 1000 infants between 1777 and 1812, and in many cases administered medical care in much the same way as a formally trained doctor of her era.

On his death bed, Clara Barton's father gave her advice that she would later recall:

"As a patriot, he had me serve my country with all I had, even with my life if need be; as the daughter of an accepted Mason, he had me seek and comfort the afflicted everywhere, and as a Christian he charged me to honour God and love mankind."

In April 1862, after the First Battle of Bull Run, Clara Barton established an agency to obtain and distribute supplies to wounded soldiers. Clara Barton was given a pass by General William Hammond to ride in army ambulances to provide comfort to the soldiers and nurse them back to health and lobbied the U.S. Army bureaucracy, at first without success, to bring her own medical supplies to the battlefields. Finally, in July 1862, she obtained permission to travel behind the lines, eventually reaching some of the grimmest battlefields of the war and serving during the sieges of Petersburg, Virginia and Richmond, Virginia. In 1864 she was appointed by Union general Benjamin Butler as the "lady in charge" of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln placed Clara Barton in charge of the search for the missing men of the Union Army. Around this time, a young soldier named Dorence Atwater came to her door. Dorence Atwater had copied the list of the dead without being discovered by the Andersonville officials, and taken it with him through the lines when he was released from the prison. Having been afraid that the names of the dead would never get to the families, it was his intention to publish the list. Dorence Atwater did accomplish this. Dorence Atwater's list of nearly 13,000 men was considered invaluable. When the war ended, Clara Barton and Dorence Atwater were sent to Andersonville with 42 headboard carvers, and Clara Barton gave credit to young Dorence Atwater for what came to be known as “The Atwater List” in her report of the venture. Dorence Atwater also has a report at the beginning of this list, still available through Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia. Because of the work they did, they became known as the "Angels of Andersonville," according to a biography of Clara Barton. Clara Barton's work in Andersonville is displayed in the book, Numbering All the Bones, by Ann Rinaldi. This experience launched her on a nationwide campaign to identify all soldiers missing during the Civil War. Clara Barton published lists of names in newspapers and exchanged letters with soldiers’ families.

Clara Barton then achieved widespread recognition by delivering lectures around the country about her war experiences. Clara Barton met Susan B. Anthony and began a long association with the suffrage movement. Clara Barton also became acquainted with Frederick Douglass and became an activist for black civil rights, or an abolitionist.

The years of toil during the Civil War and her dedicated work searching for missing soldiers debilitated Clara Barton's health. In 1869, her doctors recommended a restful trip to Europe. In 1870, while she was overseas, she became involved with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its humanitarian work during the Franco-Prussian War. Created in 1864, the ICRC had been chartered to provide humane services to all victims of war under a flag of neutrality.

When Clara Barton returned to the United States, she inaugurated a movement to gain recognition for the International Committee of the Red Cross by the United States government. When she began work on this project in 1873, most Americans thought the U.S. would never again face a calamity like the Civil War, but Clara Barton finally succeeded during the administration of President James Garfield, using the argument that the new American Red Cross could respond to crises other than war. As Clara Barton expanded the original concept of the Red Cross to include assisting in any great national disaster, this service brought the United States the "Good Samaritan of Nations" label.

Clara Barton naturally became President of the American branch of the society, which was founded on 21 May, 1881 in Dansville, NY.(www.redcrossclara.com) John D. Rockefeller donated funds to create a national headquarters in Washington, DC, located one block from the White House.

Clara Barton at first dedicated the American Red Cross to performing disaster relief, such as after the 1893 Sea Islands Hurricane. This changed with the advent of the Spanish-American War during which it aided refugees and prisoners of war. In 1896, responding to the humanitarian crisis in the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the Hamidian Massacres, Clara Barton sailed to Constantinople and after long negotiations with Abdul Hamid II, opened the 1st American International Red Cross headquarters in the heart of Asia Minor. Clara Barton herself traveled along with 5other Red Cross expeditions to the Armenian provinces in the spring of 1896. Clara Barton also worked in hospitals in Cuba in 1898 at the age of 77. As criticism arose of her management of the American Red Cross, plus her advancing age, Clara Barton resigned as president in 1904, at the age of 83.

Various authorities have called Clara Barton a “Deist-Unitarian.” However, her actual beliefs varied throughout her life along a spectrum between freethought and deism. In a 1905 letter to her friend, Norman Thrasher, she called herself a “Universalist."

Clara Barton Birthplace Museum in North Oxford, Massachusetts is operated as part of the Barton Center for Diabetes Education, a humanitarian project established in her honour to educate and support children with diabetes and their families.

In 1975, Clara Barton National Historic Site was established as a unit of the National Park Service at Clara Barton's Glen Echo, Maryland home, where she spent the last 15 years of her life. One of the first National Historic Sites dedicated to the accomplishments of a woman, it preserves the early history of the American Red Cross, since the home also served as an early headquarters of the organization.

The National Park Service has restored 11 rooms, including the Red Cross offices, the parlours and Clara Barton's bedroom. Visitors to Clara Barton National Historic Site can gain a sense of how Clara Barton lived and worked. Guides lead tourists through the 3 levels, emphasizing Clara Barton's use of her unusual home. Modern visitors can come to appreciate the site in the same way visitors did in Clara Barton's lifetime.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Cotton Mather

2008-12-01T22:23:00.018Z

Cotton Mather was born on 12 February, 1663 and died on 13 February, 1728 was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. Cotton Mather was the son of influential minister Increase Mather. Cotton Mather is often remembered for his connection to the Salem witch trials.

Cotton Mather was named after his grandfathers, both paternal (Richard Mather) and maternal (John Cotton). Cotton Mather attended Boston Latin School, and graduated from Harvard in 1678, at only 16 years of age. After completing his post-graduate work, he joined his father as assistant Pastor of Boston's original North Church (not to be confused with the Anglican/Episcopal Old North Church). It was not until his father's death, in 1723, that Cotton Mather assumed full responsibilities as Pastor at the Church.

Author of more than 450 books and pamphlets, Cotton Mather's ubiquitous literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in America. Cotton Mather set the nation's "moral tone," and sounded the call for 2nd and 3rd generation Puritans, whose parents had left England for the New England colonies of North America to return to the theological roots of Puritanism.

The most important of these, Magnalia Christi Americana (1702), is composed of 7 distinct books, many of which depict biographical and historical narratives which later American writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Elizabeth Drew Stoddard, and Harriet Beecher Stowe would look to in describing the cultural significance of New England for later generations following the American Revolution. Cotton Mather's text thus was one of the more important documents in American history because it reflects a particular tradition of seeing and understanding the significance of place. Cotton Mather, as a Puritan thinker and social conservative, drew on the figurative language of the Bible to speak to present-day audiences. In particular, Cotton Mather's review of the American experiment sought to explain signs of his time and the types of individuals drawn to the colonies as predicting the success of the venture. From his religious training, Cotton Mather viewed the importance of texts for elaborating meaning and for bridging different moments of history (for instance, linking the Biblical stories of Noah and Abraham with the arrival of eminent leaders such as John Eliot, John Winthrop, and his own father Increase Mather).

The struggles of 1st, 2nd and 3rd-generation Puritans, both intellectual and physical, thus became elevated in the American way of thinking about its appointed place among other nations. The unease and self-deception that characterized that period of colonial history would be revisited in many forms at political and social moments of crisis (such as the Salem witch trials which coincided with frontier warfare and economic competition among Indians, French and other European settlers) and during lengthy periods of cultural definition (e.g., the American Renaissance of the late 18th and early 19th century literary, visual, and architectural movements which sought to capitalise on unique American identities).

A friend of a number of the judges charged with hearing the Salem witch trials, Cotton Mather admitted the use of "spectral evidence," (compare "The Devil in New England") but warned that, though it might serve as evidence to begin investigations, it should not be heard in court as evidence to decide a case. Despite this, he later wrote in defense of those conducting the trials, stating:

"If in the midst of the many Dissatisfaction among us, the publication of these Trials may promote such a pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I shall Re-joyce that God is Glorified...".

Highly influential due to his prolific writing, Cotton Mather was a force to be reckoned with in secular, as well as in spiritual, matters. After the fall of James II of England in 1688, Cotton Mather was among the leaders of a successful revolt against James's Governor of the consolidated Dominion of New England, Sir Edmund Andros.

Cotton Mather was influential in early American science as well. In 1716, as the result of observations of corn varieties, he conducted one of the 1st experiments with plant hybridisation. This observation was memorialised in a letter to a friend:

"My friend planted a row of Indian corn that was coloured red and blue; the rest of the field being planted with yellow, which is the most usual colour. To the windward side this red and blue so infected 3 or 4 rows as to communicate the same colour unto them; and part of ye 5th and some of ye 6th. But to the leeward side, no less than 7 or 8 rows had ye same colour communicated unto them; and some small impressions were made on those that were yet further off."

Of Cotton Mather's 3 wives and 15 children, only his last wife and 2 children survived him. Cotton Mather was buried on Copp's Hill near Old North Church.

A smallpox epidemic struck Boston in May 1721 and continued through the year.

The practice of smallpox inoculation (as opposed to the later practice of vaccination) had been known for some time. In 1706 a slave, Onesimus, had explained to Cotton Mather how he had been inoculated as a child in Africa. The practice was an ancient one, and Cotton Mather was fascinated by the idea. Cotton Mather encouraged physicians to try it, without success. Then, at Cotton Mather's urging, 1 doctor, Zabdiel Boylston, tried the procedure on his only son and 2 slaves–1 grown and 1 a boy. All recovered in about a week.

In a bitter controversy, the New England Courant published writers who opposed inoculation. The stated reason for this editorial stance was that the Boston populace feared that inoculation spread, rather than prevented, the disease; however, some historians, notably H. W. Brands, have argued that this position was a result of editor-in-chief James Franklin's (Benjamin Franklin's brother) contrarian positions. Zabdiel Boylston and Cotton Mather encountered such bitter hostility, that the selectmen of the city forbade him to repeat the experiment.

The opposition insisted that inoculation was poisoning, and they urged the authorities to try Zabdiel Boylston for murder. So bitter was this opposition that Zabdiel Boylston's life was in danger; it was considered unsafe for him to be out of his house in the evening; a lighted grenade was even thrown into the house of Cotton Mather, who had favoured the new practice and had sheltered another clergyman who had submitted himself to it.

After overcoming considerable difficulty and achieving notable success, Zabdiel Boylston traveled to London in 1724, published his results, and was elected to the Royal Society in 1726.

New Englanders perceived themselves abnormally susceptible to the Devil’s influence in the 17th century. The idea New Englanders now occupied the Devil’s land established this fear. It would only be natural for the Devil to fight back against the pious invaders. Cotton Mather shared this general concern, and combined with New England’s lack of piety, Cotton Mather feared divine retribution. English writers, who shared Cotton Mather’s fears, cited evidence of divine actions to restore the flock. In 1681, a conference of ministers met to discuss how to rectify the lack of faith. In an effort to combat the lack of piety, Cotton Mather considered it his duty to observe and record illustrious providences. Cotton Mather’s first action related to the Salem Witch Trials was the publication of his 1684 essay Illustrious Providences. Cotton Mather, being an ecclesiastical man believed in the spiritual side of the world and attempted to prove the existence of the spiritual world with stories of sea rescues, strange apparitions, and witchcraft. Cotton Mather aimed to combat materialism, the idea that only physical objects exist.

Such was the social climate of New England when the Goodwin children received a strange illness. Cotton Mather seeing an opportunity to explore the spiritual world, attempted to treat the children with fasting and prayer. After treating the children of the Goodwin family, Cotton Mather wrote Memorable Providences, a detailed account of the illness. In 1682 the Parris children received a similar illness to the Goodwin children; and Cotton Mather emerged as an important figure in the Salem Witch trials. Even though Cotton Mather never presided in the jury; he exhibited great influence over the witch trials. In 31 May, 1692, Cotton Mather sent a letter “Return of the Several Ministers,” to the trial. This article advised the Judges to limit the use of Spectral evidence, and recommended the release of confessed criminals.

Critics of Cotton Mather assert that he caused the trials because of his 1688 publication Remarkable Providences, and attempted to revive the trial with his 1692 book Wonders of the Invisible World, and generally whipped up witch hunting zeal. Others have stated, “His own reputation for veracity on the reality of witchcraft prayed, "for a good issue.” Charles Upham mentions Cotton Mather called accused witch Martha Carrier a ‘rampant hag.’ The critical evidence of Cotton Mather’s zealous behaviour comes later, during the trial execution of George Burroughs {Harvard Class of 1670}. Upham gives the Robert Calef account of the execution of Mr George Burroughs;

Mr George Burroughs was carried in a cart with others, through the streets of Salem, to execution. When he was upon the ladder, he made a speech for the clearing of his innocency, with such solemn and serious expressions as were to the admiration of all present. Mr George Burroughs' prayer (which he concluded by repeating the Lord’s Prayer) was so well worded, and uttered with such composedness as such fervency of spirit, as was very affecting, and drew tears from many, so that if seemed to some that the spectators would hinder the execution. The accusers said the black man stood and dictated to him. As soon as he was turned off, Mr Cotton Mather, being mounted upon a horse, addressed himself to the people, partly to declare that he (Mr George Burroughs) was no ordained minister, partly to possess the people of his guilt, saying that the devil often had been transformed into the angel of light…When he [Mr George Burroughs] was cut down, he was dragged by a halter to a hole, or grave, between the rocks, about 2 feet deep; his shirt and breeches being pulled off, and an old pair of trousers of one executed put on his lower parts: he was so put in, together with Willard and Carrier, that one of his hands, and his chin, and a foot of one of them, was left uncovered.

The 2nd issue with Cotton Mather was his influence in construction of the court for the trials. Bancroft quotes Mather, “Intercession had been made by Cotton Mather for the advancement of William Stoughton, a man of cold affections, proud, self-willed and covetous of distinction.” Later, referring to the placement of William Stoughton on the trial, which Bancroft noted was against the popular sentiment of the town. Bancroft referred to a statement in Cotton Mather’s diary;

The time for a favour is come,” exulted Cotton Mather; “Yea, the set time is come. Instead of my being a made a sacrifice to wicked rulers, my father-in-law, with several related to me, and several brethren of my own church, are among the council. The Governor of the province is not my enemy, but one of my dearest friends.

Bancroft also noted that Cotton Mather considered witches “among the poor, and vile, and ragged beggars upon Earth”, and Bancroft asserts that Cotton Mather considered the people against the witch trials to be 'witch advocates.'

Chadwick Hansen’s Witchcraft at Salem, published in 1969, defined Cotton Mather as a positive influence on the Salem Trials. Chadwick Hansen considered Cotton Mathers handling of the Goodwin Children to be sane and temperate. Chadwick Hansen also noted that Cotton Mather was more concerned with helping the affected children than witch-hunting. Cotton Mather treated the affected children through prayer and fasting. Cotton Mather also tried to convert accused witch Goodwife Glover after she was accused of practicing witchcraft on the Goodwin children. Most interestingly, and out of character with the previous depictions of Cotton Mather, was Cotton Mather’s decision not to tell the community of the others whom Goodwife Clover claimed practiced witch craft. One must wonder if Cotton Mather desired an opportunity to promote his church through the fear of witchcraft, why he did not use the opportunity presented by the Goodwin family. Lastly, Chadwick Hansen claimed Cotton Mather acted as a moderating influence in the trials by opposing the death penalty for lesser criminals, such as Tituba and Dorcas Good. Chadwick Hansen also notes that the negative impressions of Cotton Mather stem from his defense of the trials in, Wonders of the Invisible World. Cotton Mather became the chief defender of the trial, which diminished accounts of his earlier actions as a moderate influence.

Some historians who have examined the life of Cotton Mather after Chadwick Hansen’s book share his view of Cotton Mather. For instance, Bernard Rosenthal noted that Cotton Mather often gets portrayed as the rabid witch hunter. Bernard Rosenthal also described Cotton Mather’s guilt about his inability to restrain the judges during the trial. Larry Gregg highlights Cotton Mather’s sympathy for the possessed, when Cotton Mather stated, “the devil have sometimes represented the shapes of persons not only innocent, but also the very virtuous.” John Demos considered Cotton Mather a moderating influence on the trial.

After the trial, Cotton Mather was unrepentant for his role. Of the principal actors in the trial, only Cotton Mather and William Stoughton never admitted guilt. In fact, in the years after the trial Cotton Mather became an increasingly vehement defender of the trial. At the request of then Lieutenant-Governor William Stoughton, Cotton Mather wrote Wonders of the Invisible World in 1693. The book contained a few of Cotton Mather’s sermons, the conditions of the colony and a description of witch trials in Europe. Cotton Mather also contradicted his own advice in “Return of the Several Ministers,” by defending the use of spectral evidence. Wonders of the Invisible World appeared at the same time as Increase Mather’s Case of Conscience, a book critical of the trial. Upon reading Wonders of the Invisible World, Increase Mather publicly burned the book in Harvard Yard. Also, Boston merchant, Robert Calef began what became an 8 year campaign of attacks on Cotton Mather. The last event in Cotton Mather's involvement with witchcraft was his attempt to cure Mercy Short and Margaret Rule. Cotton Mather later wrote A Brand Pluck’d Out of the Burning and Another Brand Pluckt Out of the Burning about curing the women.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Henry Rogers

2008-11-20T00:42:00.004Z

Henry Huttleston Rogers was born on 29 January, 1840 and died on 19 May, 1909 in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, USA. Henry Rogers was a United States capitalist, businessman, industrialist, financier, and philanthropist.

Henry Huttleston Rogers was born into a working-class family , he was the son of Rowland Rogers, a former ship captain, bookkeeper, and grocer, and Mary Eldredge Huttleston Rogers. Both parents had roots back to the pilgrims, who arrived in the 17th century aboard the Mayflower. Henry Rogers mother's family earlier had used the spelling "Huddleston" rather than "Huttleston," and Henry Rogers' name is often misspelled using this earlier version.

The family moved to nearby Fairhaven, Massachusetts, a fishing village just over the bridge from the great whaling port, New Bedford. Fairhaven is a small seaside town on the south coast of Massachusetts. It borders the Acushnet River to the west and Buzzards Bay to the south. Fairhaven was incorporated in 1812 and was already steeped in history when "Hen" Rogers was just a boy. Fort Phoenix is in Fairhaven. There, during the American Revolution, British troops once stormed the area. Also within sight of the fort, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place on 14 May, 1775.

In the mid 1850s, whaling was already an industry in decline in New England. The emergence of petroleum and later natural gas as a replacement fuel for lighting in the second half of the 19th century caused a much further decline.

Henry Rogers' father was one of the many men of New England who changed from a life on the sea to other work to provide for their families. As a teenager, "Hen" Rogers carried newspapers and he worked in his father's grocery store, making deliveries by wagon. Henry Rogers was only an average student, and was in the 1st graduating class of the local high school in 1857. Continuing to live with his parents, he hired on with the Fairhaven Branch Railroad, an early precursor of the Old Colony Railroad, as an expressman and brakeman, working for 3-4 years while carefully saving his earnings.

In 1861, 21-year-old Henry Rogers pooled his savings of approximately US$600 with a friend, Charles P. Ellis. They set out to western Pennsylvania and its newly discovered oil fields. Borrowing another US$600, the young partners began a small refinery at McClintocksville near Oil City. They named their new enterprise Wamsutta Oil Refinery.

The old Native American name "Wamsutta" was apparently selected in honour of their hometown area of New England, where Wamsutta Company in nearby New Bedford had opened in 1846, and was a major employer. The Wamsutta Company was the 1st of many textile mills that gradually came to supplant whaling as the principal employer in New Bedford.

Henry Rogers and Charles P. Ellis and their tiny refinery made US$30,000 their 1st year. This amount was more than 3 entire whaling ship trips from back home could hope to earn during an average voyage of more than a year's duration. Of course, he was regarded as very successful when Henry Rogers returned home to Fairhaven for a short vacation the next year.

While vacationing in Fairhaven in 1862, Henry Rogers married his childhood sweetheart, Abbie Palmer Gifford, who was also of Mayflower lineage. Abbie Palmer Gifford returned with him to the oil fields where they lived in a one-room shack along Oil Creek where her young husband and Charles P. Ellis worked the Wamsutta Oil Refinery. While they lived in Pennsylvania, their 1st daughter, Anne, was born in 1865.

In Pennsylvania, Henry Rogers was introduced to Charles Pratt (1830–91). Born in Watertown, Massachusetts, Charles Pratt had been 1 of 11 children. Henry Rogers' father, Asa Pratt, was a carpenter. Of modest means, he spent 3 winters as a student at Wesleyan Academy, and is said to have lived on $1 a week at times. In nearby Boston, Massachusetts, Charles Pratt joined a company specialising in paints and whale oil products. In 1850 or 1851, he came to New York City, where he worked for a similar company handling paint and oil.

Charles Pratt was also a pioneer of the natural oil industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York. Charles Pratt's product later gave rise to the slogan, "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil". Charles Pratt also later founded the Pratt Institute.

When Charles Pratt met Henry Rogers at McClintocksville on a business trip, he already knew Charles P. Ellis, having earlier bought whale oil from him back east in Fairhaven. Although Charles P. Ellis and Henry Rogers had no wells and were dependent upon purchasing crude oil to refine and sell to Charles Pratt, the 2 young men agreed to sell the entire output of their small Wamsutta refinery to Charles Pratt's company at a fixed price. This worked well at first. Then, a few months later, crude oil prices suddenly increased due to manipulation by speculators. The young entrepreneurs struggled to try to live up to their contract with Charles Pratt, but soon their surplus was wiped out. Before long, they were heavily in debt to Charles Pratt.

Charles P. Ellis gave up, but in 1866, Henry Rogers went to Charles Pratt in New York and told him he would take personal responsibility for the entire debt. This so impressed Charles Pratt that he immediately hired him for his own organisation.

Charles Pratt made Henry Rogers foreman of his Brooklyn refinery, with a promise of a partnership if sales ran over $50,000 a year. Henry, Abbie, and young Anne moved to Brooklyn. The Rogers family continued to live frugally and he worked very hard. Abbie brought his meals to the "works," and often he would sleep but 3 hours a night rolled up in a blanket by the side of a still. Henry Rogers moved steadily from foreman to manager, and then superintendent of Charles Pratt's Astral Oil Refinery.

As promised, Charles Pratt gave Henry Rogers an interest in the business. In 1867, with Henry Rogers as a partner, he established the firm of Charles Pratt and Company. In the next few years, Henry Rogers became, in the words of Elbert Hubbard, Charles Pratt's "hands and feet and eyes and ears" (Little Journeys to the Homes, 1909). As their family grew, Henry and Abbie continued to live in New York City, but vacationed frequently at Fairhaven.

While working with Charles Pratt, Henry Rogers invented an improved way of separating naphtha, a light oil similar to kerosene, from crude oil. Henry Rogers was granted U.S. Patent # 120,539 on 31 October, 1871.

In the early 1871-72, Pratt and Company and other refiners became involved in a conflict with John D. Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, and Henry M. Flagler (of Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler) and the infamous South Improvement Company. South Improvement was basically a scheme to obtain secret favourable net rates from Tom Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and other railroads through secret rebates. The unfairness of the scheme outraged many independent oil producers and owners of refineries far and new alike.

The opposition among the New York refiners was led by Henry Rogers. The New York interests formed an association, and about the middle of March 1872 sent a committee of 3, with Henry Rogers as head, to Oil City to consult with the Oil Producers' Union. Their arrival in the oil regions was a matter of great satisfaction to the local oil workers. Working with the Pennsylvania independents, Henry Rogers and the New York delegation managed to forge an agreement with the railroads, whose leaders eventually agreed to open their rates to all and promised to end their shady dealings with South Improvement. The independent oil men were most exultant, but their joy was to be short-lived. John D. Rockefeller and his associates were busy trying another approach, which frequently included buying-up opposing interests.

In 1874, John D. Rockefeller approached Charles Pratt with his plans of cooperation and consolidation. Charles Pratt talked it over with Henry Rogers, and they decided that the combination would benefit them. Henry Rogers formulated terms, which guaranteed financial security and jobs for Charles Pratt and himself. John D. Rockefeller quietly accepted the offer on Henry Rogers' exact terms. Charles Pratt and Company (including Astral Oil) was one of the important independent refiners to become part of the Standard Oil Trust. Charles Pratt's son, Charles Millard Pratt (1858 to 1913), became Corporate Secretary of Standard Oil.

Around 1874, the Pratt & Company oil interests, including Henry Rogers who helped negotiate the deal, had joined John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil organisation. By 1890, Henry Rogers had become one of the key men, a vice president and chairman of its operating committee. Henry Rogers' later interviews with investigative journalist Ida M. Tarbell beginning in 1902 would later help bring what was by then also known as the Standard Oil Trust under additional regulatory control.

Typical of his seemingly dualist nature, Henry Rogers both helped build and operate Standard Oil, and through his interviews with Ida M. Tarbell, he (perhaps unintentionally) helped bring it under better control in the public interest.

Standard Oil was an oil refining conglomerate whose predecessor companies were founded by marketeer John D. Rockefeller, chemist Samuel Andrews, and other partners beginning in 1863. Borrowing heavily to expand his business, he drew 5 big refineries including the business concern of Henry Morrison Flagler into 1 firm, John D. Rockefeller, Andrews & Flagler. By 1868, what was to become Standard Oil was the world's largest oil refinery.

In 1870, John D. Rockefeller formed Standard Oil Company of Ohio and started his strategy of buying up the competition and consolidating all oil refining under 1 company. It was during this period that the Charles Pratt interests and Henry Rogers were brought into the fold. By 1878 Standard Oil held about 90% of the refining capacity in the United States.

In 1881 the company was reorganised as the Standard Oil Trust. The 3 main men of Standard Oil Trust were Henry H. Rogers, William Rockefeller and, the most important, John D. Rockefeller.

Petroleum pipelines were first developed in Pennsylvania in the 1860s to replace transport in wooden barrels loaded on wagons drawn by mules and driven by teamsters. This mule-drawn transportation was expensive and fraught with difficulties: leaking barrels, muddy trails, wagon breakdowns and mule/driver problems.

The first successful metal pipeline was completed in 1865, when Samuel Van Syckel built a 4-mile pipeline from Pithole, Pennsylvania, to the nearest railroad. This initial success led to the construction of pipelines to connect crude oil production, increasingly moving west as new fields were discovered and Pennsylvania fields declined, to refineries located near major demand centers in the Northeast.

When John D. Rockefeller observed this, he began to acquire many of the new pipelines. Soon, his Standard Oil companies owned a majority of the lines, which provided cheap, efficient transportation for oil. Cleveland, Ohio, became a center of the refining industry principally because of its transportation systems.

Henry Rogers conceived the idea of long pipelines for transporting oil and natural gas. In 1881, the National Transit Company was formed by Standard Oil to own and operate Standard's pipelines. The National Transit Company remained one of Henry Rogers' favourite projects throughout the rest of his life.

East Ohio Gas Company (EOG) was incorporated on 8 September, 1898, as a marketing company for the National Transit Company, the natural gas arm of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. The company launched its business by selling to consumers in northeast Ohio gas produced by another National Transit subsidiary, Hope Natural Gas Company.

Rubber-manufacturing city Akron, Ohio, was the first to take advantage of the lower prices for natural gas. It granted the East Ohio Gas Company a franchise in September 1898, the same month that the company was founded. During the winter of 1898–99, the National Transit Company built a 10-inch wrought iron pipeline that stretched from the Pipe Creek on the Ohio River to Akron, with branches to Canton, Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Uhrichsville, and Dennison. The 1st gas from the pipeline burned in Akron on 10 May, 1899.

Andrew Carnegie, long the leading steel magnate of Pittsburgh, retired at the turn of the 20th century, and refocused his interests on philanthropy. Andrew Carnegie's steel holdings were consolidated into the new United States Steel Corporation. Standard Oil's interest in steel properties led to Henry Rogers' becoming one of the directors when it was organised in 1901.

In 1890 the U.S. Congress passed Sherman Antitrust Act. This act is the source of all American anti-monopoly laws. The law forbids every contract, scheme, deal, conspiracy to restrain trade. It also forbids inspirations to secure monopoly of a given industry. Standard Oil Trust attracted attention from antitrust authorities and the Ohio Attorney General filed and won an antitrust suit in 1892.

Unwanted attention was also drawn to the Standard Oil Trust by Ida M. Tarbell, an American author and journalist, known as one of the leading muckrakers.

Ida M. Tarbell had been born in Erie County, Pennsylvania. As a child, she lived in what became Rouseville, Pennsylvania. This was only a short distance from Henry Rogers' Wamsutta Oil Refinery at McClintocksville, which was also in Cornplanter Township in Venango County. However, they were apparently not destined to meet for another 37 years.

Ida Tarbell's father had been forced out of business around 1872 by the South Improvement Company scheme, perpetrated by those who built Standard Oil. In 1894, she was hired by McClure's magazine. Ida Tarbell soon turned to investigative journalism, and was the 1st to really use investigative reporting, as we know it today, redefining this in-depth technique of writing. Ida Tarbell's method was to use various documents concerning Standard Oil, accompanied by interviews of employees, competitors, lawyers and experts on the topic. Ida Tarbell and her fellow staff members Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens became a celebrated muckraking trio.

Ida Tarbell became acquainted with Henry Rogers, who by then was the most senior and powerful director of Standard Oil, through his friend, Mark Twain, who arranged a meeting. Meetings between Ida Tarbell and Henry Rogers began in January 1902 and continued regularly over the next 2 years. Ida Tarbell would bring up various case histories and Henry Rogers would provide for her an explanation, documents and figures concerning the case. Henry Rogers, wily and normally-guarded in matters related to business and finance, may have been under the impression her work was to be complimentary. Henry Rogers was apparently uncustomarily forthcoming. However, Ida Tarbell's interviews with Henry Rogers formed the basis her negative exposé of the nefarious business practices of the massive Standard Oil organisation. Following extensive interviews with Henry Rogers, Ida Tarbell's investigations of Standard Oil for McClure's, ran in 19 parts from November 1902 to October 1904. They were collected and published as The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904. The book placed 5th in a 1999 list of the top 100 works of journalism in the 20th century.

Although public opposition to John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil existed prior to Ida Tarbell's investigation, it fueled public attacks on Standard Oil and in trusts in general. Ida Tarbell's book is widely credited with hastening the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil. They had never played fair, and that ruined their greatness for me, Ida Tarbell wrote about the company.

The Standard Oil Trust was broken up after the United States Supreme Court declared the company to be an "unreasonable" monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act on 15 May, 1911. However, the owners remained in charge of the smaller companies which made up 4 of the 7 Sisters.

Standard Oil was often not appreciated by the public. It developed a reputation among many for dubious business practices, including subduing competitors and engaging in illegal transportation deals with the railroad companies to ensure it could undercut its competitors' prices. Standard Oil, formed well before the discovery of Spindletop in Texas and a demand for oil other than for heat and light, was well placed to control the growth of the oil business. It was perceived that it did this by ensuring it owned and controlled all aspects of the trade.

Henry Rogers joined in the organisation of holding companies aimed at controlling natural gas production and distribution. In 1884, with associates, Henry Rogers formed the Consolidated Gas Company, and thereafter for several years he was instrumental in gaining control of great city plants, fighting terrific battles with rivals for some of them, as in the case of Boston. Almost the whole story of his natural gas interests was one of business warfare.

During the 1890s, Henry Rogers became interested in Anaconda and other copper properties in the western United States. In 1899, with William Rockefeller, and Thomas W. Lawson, he formed the 1st $75,000,000 section of the gigantic trust, Amalgamated Copper Mining Company, which was the subject of much acrid criticism then and for years afterward. In the building of this great trust, some of the most ruthless strokes in modern business history were dealt: the $38,000,000 "watering" of the stock of the 1st corporation, its subsequent manipulation, the seizure of the copper property of the Butte & Boston Consolidated Mining Company, the using of the latter as a weapon against the Boston & Montana Consolidated Copper and Silver Mining Company, the guerrilla warfare against certain private interests, and the wrecking of the Globe Bank of Boston.

A holding company aimed at controlling copper production and distribution, Amalgamated Copper controlled the copper mines of Butte, Montana and later became Anaconda Copper Company.

On 1 July, 1892, Staten Island, New York's 1st trolley line opened, running between Port Richmond and Meiers Corners. Trolleys, which cost only a nickel a ride through most of their existence, help facilitate mass transit across the Island by reaching communities not serviced by trains. Henry H. Rogers was long-known as the Staten Island transit magnate, and was also involved with the Staten Island-Manhattan Ferry Service and the Richmond Power and Light Company.

Henry Rogers was also close associate of E. H. Harriman in the latter's extensive railroad operations. Henry Rogers was a director of the Sante Fe, St. Paul, Erie, Lackawanna, Union Pacific, and several other large railroads. However, he also involved himself in at least 3 West Virginia short-line railroad projects, one of which would grow much larger than he probably anticipated.

In mid-1890s, Henry Rogers became president of the Ohio River Railroad, founded by Johnson Newlon Camden, a United States Senator from West Virginia who was also secretly involved with Standard Oil. Charles M. Pratt and Henry Rogers were 2 of the largest owners and the Ohio River Railroad's General Manager was C.M. Burt. Its General Solicitor was former West Virginia governor William A. MacCorkle. The owners wished to sell the railroad, which was losing money.

Under Henry Rogers' leadership, they formed a subsidiary, West Virginia Short Line Railroad, to build a new line between New Martinsville and Clarksburg to reach new coal mining areas, into territory already planned for expansion by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). The expansion plans had the desired effect of essentially forcing B&O to purchase the Ohio River Railroad to block the competition in the new coal areas. The Ohio River Railroad was sold to B&O in 1898.

The Kanawha and Pocahontas Railroad Company was incorporated in West Virginia in 1898 by either a son of Charles Pratt or the estate of Charles Pratt. Its line ran 15 miles from the Kanawha River up a tributary called Paint Creek. Once again, new coal mining territory was involved. Henry Rogers, acting on behalf of Charles Pratt and Company negotiated its lease to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in 1901 and its sale to a newly formed C&O subsidiary, Kanawha and Paint Creek Railway Company, in 1902.

Henry Rogers' final achievement, working with partner William Nelson Page, was the building of the Virginian Railway (VGN), which eventually extended 600 miles from the coal fields of southern West Virginia to port near Norfolk at Sewell's Point, Virginia in the harbour of Hampton Roads.

Initially, Henry Rogers' involvement in the project began in 1902 with Nelson Page's Deepwater Railway, planned as an 80-mile short line to reach untapped coal reserves in a very rugged portion of southern West Virginia, and interchange its traffic with the C&O and/or the N&W. The Deepwater Railway was probably intended for resale in the manner of the earlier 2 West Virginia short lines. However, if so, the ploy was foiled by collusion of the bigger railroads, who agreed with each other to neither purchase it or grant favourable interchange rates.

Nelson Page was the "front man" for the Deepwater project, and it is likely the leaders of the big railroads were unaware that their foe was backed by the wealthy Henry Rogers, who did not give up a good fight easily. Instead of abandoning the project, Nelson Page and Henry Rogers secretly developed a plan to extend their new railroad all the way across West Virginia and Virginia to port at Hampton Roads. They modified the Deepwater Railway charter to reach the Virginia-state line. A Rogers coal property attorney in Staunton, Virginia formed another intrastate railroad in Virginia, the Tidewater Railway.

The battle for the Tidewater Railway's rights-of-way displayed Henry Rogers at his most crafty and ingenious. Henry Rogers was able to persuade the leading citizens of Roanoke and Norfolk, both strongholds of the rival Norfolk and Western, that his new railroad would be a boon to both communities, secretly securing crucial rights-of-way in the process. In 1907, the name of the Tidewater Railway was changed to The Virginia Railway Company, and it acquired the Deepwater Railway to form the needed West Virginia-Virginia link.

Financed almost entirely from Henry Rogers' own resources, and completed in 1909, instead of interchanging, the new Virginian Railway competed with the much larger Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway for coal traffic. Built following his policy of investing in the best route and equipment on initial selection and purchase to save operating expenses, the VGN enjoyed a more modern pathway built to the highest standards, and provided major competition to its larger neighbouring railroads, each of whom tried several times unsuccessfully to acquire it after they realised it could not be blocked from completion.

However, the time and enormous effort Henry Rogers expended on the project continued to undermine his already declining health, not only because of his Herculean work but also because of the uncertain economy of the period, exacerbated by the financial Panic of 1907 which began in March of that year. To obtain the needed financing, he was forced to pour many of his own assets into the railroad. Management of the funding Henry Rogers was providing was handled by Boston financier Godfrey M. Hyams, with whom he had also worked on the Anaconda Company, and many other natural resource projects.

On 22 July, 1907, he suffered a debilitating stroke. Over a period of about 5 months, he gradually recovered. In 1908, he put the remaining financing in place needed to see his railroad to completion. When completed the following year, the Virginian Railway was called by the newspapers "the biggest little railway in the world" and proved both viable and profitable.

Many historians consider the Virginian Railway to be one of Henry Rogers' greatest legacies. The 600-mile Virginian Railway (VGN) followed his philosophy regarding investing in the best equipment and paying it employees and vendors well throughout its profitable history. It operated some of the largest and most powerful steam, electric, and diesel locomotives throughout its 50-year history. Chronicled by rail historian and rail photographer H. Reid in The Virginian Railway (Kalmbach, 1961), the VGN gained a following of railway enthusiasts which continues to the present day.

The VGN was merged into the Norfolk & Western in 1959. However, almost all of the former VGN mainline trackage in West Virginia and about 50% of that in Virginia is still in use in 2006 as the preferred route for eastbound coal trains for Norfolk Southern Corporation due to the more favourable gradients while crossing the Allegheny Mountains' continental divide and the Blue Ridge Mountains east of Roanoke, while most westbound traffic of empty coal cars uses the original Norfolk and Western main line.

Henry Rogers was an energetic man, and exhibited ruthlessness, and iron determination. In the financial and business world he could be grasping and greedy, and operated under a flexible moral code that often stretched the rules of both honesty and fair play. On Wall Street in New York City, he became known as "Hell Hound Rogers" and "The Brains of the Standard Oil Trust." Henry Rogers was considered one of the last and great "robber barons" of his day, as times were changing. Nevertheless, Henry Rogers amassed a great fortune, estimated at over $100,000,000. Henry Rogers invested heavily in various industries, including copper, steel, mining, and railways.

Much of what we know about Henry Rogers and his style in business dealings were recorded by others. Henry Rogers' behaviour in public Court Proceedings provide some of the better examples and some insight. Henry Rogers' business style extended to his testimony in many court settings. Before the Hepburn Commission of 1878, investigating the railroads of New York, he fine-tuned his circumlocutory, ambiguous, and haughty responses. Henry Rogers' most intractable performance was later in a 1906 lawsuit by the state of Missouri, which claimed that 2 companies in that state registered as independents were actually subsidiaries of Standard Oil, a secret ownership Henry Rogers finally acknowledged.

In Marquis Who's Who for 1908, Henry Rogers listed more than 20 corporations of which he was either president and director or vice president and director.

Henry H. Rogers is in the top 25 wealthiest men in America of all time. According to The Wealthy 100: From Benjamin Franklin to Bill Gates - A Ranking of the Richest Americans, Past and Present published by 2 business professors in 1996, Henry Rogers is #22, ranking ahead of J.P. Morgan, #23, Bill Gates #31, William Rockefeller #35, Warren Buffett #39, J. Paul Getty #67, and Frank W. Woolworth #82.

There were 2 very distinct aspects which characterised Henry Rogers' seemingly dualist personality. Biographers have noted that, while pitiless in business deals, in his personal affairs, there was a much kinder side. In those matters, he was both warm and generous.

Some of the other most self-made robber baron types of the late 19th century became well-known for becoming philanthropists after ending their business careers. Most notable perhaps of these was Henry Rogers' friend from business interests Andrew Carnegie. However, unlike Andrew Carnegie and others, the kinder side of Henry Rogers seems to have also been there throughout his life.

A modest man, some of his other kindness and generosity became known for the most part only after his death. Examples are found in looking over the lives and writings of Helen Keller, Mark Twain, and Booker T. Washington. However, nowhere was the kinder side more apparent when he was alive than in his hometown of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1885, seaside Fairhaven received a number of architectural gifts from the Rogers family.

These included a grammar school, Rogers School, built in 1885. The Millicent Library was completed in 1893 and was a gift to the Town by the Rogers children in memory of their sister Millicent, who had died in 1890 at the age of 17.

Abbie Palmer (née Gifford) Rogers presented the new Town Hall in 1894. The George H. Taber Masonic Lodge building, named for Henry's boyhood mentor and former Sunday-school teacher, was completed in 1901. The beautiful gothic Unitarian Memorial Church was dedicated in 1904 to the memory of Henry Rogers' mother, Mary Huttleston (née Eldredge) Rogers. The Tabitha Inn was built in 1905, and a new Fairhaven High School, affectionately called "Castle on the Hill," was completed in 1906.

Henry Rogers drained the mill pond to create a park, installed the town's public water and sewer systems, and served as superintendent of streets for his hometown.

Many years later, Henry H. Rogers' daughter, Cara Leland Rogers Broughton (Lady Fairhaven), purchased the site of Fort Phoenix, and donated it to the Town of Fairhaven in her father's memory.

Abbie and Henry Rogers had 5 children, 4 girls and a boy. Another little son had died at birth. Their oldest daughter, Anne Engle Rogers, was born in 1865 in Pennsylvania.

The family moved to New York in 1866. Daughter Cara Leland Rogers was born in Fairhaven in 1867, Millicent was born in 1873, followed by Mary (a.k.a. Mai) in 1875. Their son, Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr., was born in 1879, and was known as Harry.

"Mother of 6 children, Mrs. Rogers is represented as having been of a quiet and retiring disposition, completely devoid of the ostentation often associated with great wealth. Contemporary photographs attest to a shy and gentle charm of feature, and she is known to have cherished a deep affection for Fairhaven and a nostalgia for the simple ways of her childhood.

"She was, therefore, delighted to become the donor of Fairhaven's beautiful new 'Town House', and on February 22nd and 23rd, 1894, she attended dedication exercises and received graciously at the splendid Dedication Ball, in the first gala functions marking the opening of the new building.

"It was not given those attending these happy festivities to know that - but three months later - in May, 1894, this gentle woman was to die in New York City after an operation performed to save her life."

Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers died unexpectedly on 21 May, 1894. Abbie Palmer Gifford's childhood home, a 2-story, gable-end frame house built in the Greek Revival style has been preserved. It is made available for tours of Fairhaven, where she and her husband grew up and left many other legacies to the town and its inhabitants.

In 1896, Henry Rogers was remarried Emelie Augusta Randel Hart, a divorcée, and New York socialite, but had no children with his 2nd wife.

On 19 May, 1909, he died suddenly of another stroke, barely 6 weeks before full operations were scheduled to begin on his Virginian Railway, and only 2 days short of 15 years after his beloved Abbie, and also in New York City. After a funeral at the First Unitarian Church in Manhattan, his body was transported to Fairhaven by a New Haven Railroad train. There, he was interred beside Abbie in Fairhaven's Riverside Cemetery.

After Abbie's death, Henry Rogers developed close friendships with 2 other famous Americans: Mark Twain and Dr Booker T. Washington, and was instrumental in the education and rise to fame of Helen Keller. Urged on by Mark Twain, Henry Rogers and his 2nd wife financed a college education for the remarkable Ms. Keller.

In 1899, Henry Rogers had a luxury steam yacht built by a shipyard in the Bronx. The Kanawha, at 471-tons, was about 200 feet long and manned by a crew of 39. For the final 10 year of his life, Henry Rogers entertained friends as they sailed on cruises mostly along the East Coast of the United States, north to Maine and Canada, and south the Virginia. With Mark Twain among his frequent guests, the movements of the Kanawha attracted great attention from the newspapers, the dominant public media of the era. Cruises on the Kanawha also provided a private setting for what was later revealed to be a relationship of much greater importance than mere friendship and socialisation with Dr. Booker T. Washington.

In 1893, a mutual friend introduced Henry Rogers to humorist Mark Twain. Henry Rogers reorganised Mark Twain's tangled finances, and the 2 became close friends for the rest of Henry Rogers' life.

By the 1890s, Mark Twain's fortunes began to decline; in his later life, Mark Twain was a very depressed man, but still capable. Mark Twain was able to respond "The report of my death is an exaggeration" in the New York Journal, 2 June, 1897. Mark Twain lost 2 out of 3 of his children, and his beloved wife, Olivia Langdon, before his death in 1910.

Mark Twain also had some very bad times with his businesses. Mark Twain's publishing company ended up going bankrupt, and he lost thousands of dollars on one typesetting machine that was never finished. Mark Twain also lost a great deal of revenue on royalties from his books being plagiarised before he even had a chance to publish them himself. Things looked pretty grim financially until he met Henry Rogers in 1893.

Henry Rogers and Mark Twain enjoyed a mutually beneficial friendship which was to last for more than 16 years. Henry Rogers' family became Mark Twain's surrogate family and he was a frequent guest at the Henry Rogers townhouse in New York City. Earl J. Dias described the relationship in these words: "Rogers and Twain were kindred spirits - fond of poker, billiards, the theater, practical jokes, mild profanity, the good-natured spoof. Their friendship, in short, was based on a community of interests and on the fact that each, in some way, needed the other."

While Mark Twain openly credited Henry Rogers with saving him from financial ruin; there is also substantial evidence in their published correspondence that the close friendship in their later years was mutually beneficial. Their letters back and forth are so interesting and insightful that they were published in a book, Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers, 1893-1909.

In the written exchanges between the 2 men, there are pleasant examples of Henry Rogers' sense of fun as well as Mark Twain's well-known sense of humor.

There was a standing joke between them that Mark Twain was inclined to pilfer items from the Henry Rogers household whenever he spent the night there as a guest. 2 of the many letters provide an illustration:

In a letter sent to Mrs. Rogers by Mark Twain, he notes that while packing his things after a visit, he found that he had put in

"some articles that was laying around .......2 books, Mr. Rogers' brown slippers, and a ham. I thought it was one of ourn. It looked like one we used to have, but it shan't occur again, and don't you worry. He will temper the wind to the shorn lamb, and I will send some of the things back if there is some that won't keep. Yores in Jesus, S.L.C."

The reply to Mark Twain was a letter written by Henry Rogers on 31 October, 1906. It reads:

"Before I forget it, let me remind you that I shall want the trunk and the things you took away from my house as soon as possible. I learn that instead of taking old things, you took my best. Mrs. Rogers is at the White Mountains. I am going to Fairhaven this afternoon. I hope you will not be there. By the way, I have been using a pair of your gloves in the Mountains, and they don't seem to be much of an attraction."

In April 1907, they travelled together in Henry Rogers' steam yacht Kanawha to the Jamestown Exposition held at Sewell's Point near Norfolk, Virginia in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown Colony.

Although by this late date, both men were in marginal health, Mark Twain returned to Norfolk with Henry Rogers in April 1909, and was the guest speaker at the dedication dinner held for the newly completed Virginian Railway, a "Mountains to Sea" engineering marvel of the day. The construction of the new railroad had been solely financed by industrialist Henry Rogers.

When Henry Rogers died suddenly in New York City on 20 May, 1909 of an apoplectic stroke, the humorist had been on his way by train from Connecticut to visit Mark Twain. When Mark Twain was met with the news at Grand Central Station the same morning by his daughter, his grief-stricken reaction was widely reported. Although he served as one of the honoured pallbearers at the Henry Rogers funeral in New York later that week, he declined to ride the funeral train from New York on to Fairhaven for the internment. Albert Bigelow Paine, in his book Mark Twain: A Biography wrote that Mark Twain "could not undertake to travel that distance among those whom he knew so well, and with whom he must of necessity join in conversation."

Mark Twain himself died less than 1 year later. Mark Twain wrote in 1909, "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it." And so he did.

Helen Keller was a remarkable woman who, although deaf, and blind, made a name for herself as writer and humanitarian. Helen Keller became another of Henry Rogers' closest friends. In May 1896, at the home in New York City of editor-essayist Laurence Hutton, Henry Rogers and Mark Twain 1st saw Ms. Keller, who was then 16 years old. Helen Keller had profited under the tutelage of her gifted teacher-companion, Anne Sullivan, and when she was 20, passed with distinction the entrance examination to Radcliffe College.

In a letter to Mrs. Emile Rogers, Mark Twain praised "this marvelous child" and hoped that Helen would not be forced to retire from her studies because of poverty. Mark Twain urged Mrs. Emile Rogers to speak to Henry Rogers himself, to remind him of their 1st sight of Ms. Keller at Hutton's home and to speak also "to the other Standard Oil chiefs" to see what could be done for the meritorious Miss Keller.

Henry Rogers was generously responsive. Henry Rogers and his wife helped make possible a college education for Helen Keller at Radcliffe. They even provided her, for many years after, with a monthly stipend.

That she was grateful is obvious in the dedication of her book, The World I Live In, which reads, "To Henry H. Rogers, my Dear Friend of Many Years." On the fly leaf of Henry Rogers' own copy of the book, she wrote, To Mrs Rogers The best of the world I live in is the kindness of friends like you and Mr Rogers.

Another friend was Booker T. Washington. Around 1894, Henry Rogers attended one of the famous educator's speeches at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The next day, Henry Rogers contacted Washington, and invited him to come to 26 Broadway in his Standard Oil office to meet with him. Booker T. Washington later wrote that Henry Rogers said that he had been surprised that nobody had "passed the hat" after the speech the previous night. With the common ground of their relatively humble beginnings and early life, the seeds of a friendship between the 2 famous men had been sown.

Booker T. Washington became a frequent visitor to Henry Rogers' office, to Henry Rogers' 85-room mansion in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and was an honoured guest aboard Henry Rogers' yacht, the Kanawha. Their friendship extended over a period of 15 years.

Although Henry Rogers had died suddenly a few weeks earlier, in June 1909, Dr. Booker T. Washington went on a previously arranged speaking tour along the newly completed Virginian Railway. Dr Booker T. Washington rode in Henry Rogers' personal rail car, "Dixie", making speeches at many locations over a 7-day period.

Dr. Booker T. Washington told his audiences that his recently departed friend had urged him to make the trip and see what could be done to improve relations between the races and economic conditions for African Americans along the route of the new railway, which touched many previously isolated communities in the southern portions of Virginia and West Virginia, including passing close by the community where Washington had been born over 50 years earlier.

Some of the places where Dr. Booker T. Washington spoke on the tour were (in order of the tour stops), Newport News, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lawrenceville, Kenbridge, Victoria, Charlotte Courthouse, Roanoke, Salem, and Christiansburg in Virginia, and Princeton, Mullens, Page and Deepwater in West Virginia. One of his trip companions recorded that they had received a strong and favorable welcome from both white and African American citizens all along the tour route of the new railroad.

It was only after Henry Rogers' death that Dr. Booker T. Washington felt compelled to revealing publicly some of the extent of Henry Rogers' contributions. These, he said, were at that very time "funding the operation of at least 65 small country schools for the education and betterment of African Americans in Virginia and other portions of the South, all unknown to the recipients." Also, known only to a few trustees at Dr. Booker T. Washington's insistence, Henry Rogers had also generously provided support to institutions of higher education, including Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute.

Dr. Booker T. Washington later wrote that Henry Rogers had encouraged projects with at least partial matching funds, as that way, 2 ends were accomplished:

The gifts would help fund even greater work.

Recipients would have a stake in knowing that they were helping themselves through their own hard work and sacrifice.

Henry Rogers' example of both concern for Negro education and the concept of matching funds may well have influenced Julius Rosenwald, another self-made man from a modest background who also befriended Dr Booker T. Washington, and beginning in 1911, contributed many millions to build thousands of Rosenwald Schools in many states, in a sense, continuing the work Henry Rogers and Dr Booker T. Washington began long after both were dead.

In Fairhaven, the Rogers family gifts are located throughout the town. These include Rogers School, Town Hall, Millicent Library, Unitarian Memorial Church and Fairhaven High School. A granite shaft on the High School lawn is dedicated to Henry Rogers. In Riverside Cemetery, the Henry Huttleston Rogers Mausoleum is patterned after the Temple of Minerva in Athens, Greece. Henry, his 1st wife Abbie, and several family members are interred there.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Chris Trapper

2008-11-17T21:31:00.007Z

Chris Trapper is a musician based in Boston, Massachusetts who is most known as the lead singer of the band, The Push Stars. With The Push Stars, Chris Trapper wrote material for 4 studio albums and 3 self-produced discs. Several of his songs have been picked up for major motion picture soundtracks including There's Something About Mary and Say It Isn't So and for television shows such as Pepper Dennis, ER, and Malcolm in the Middle.

Chris Trapper's 2002 solo project "Songs from the Drive-In" showcased "his formidable storytelling talents," according to the Boston Phoenix. In 2003 Chris Trapper received a prestigious SOCAN award (Canadian songwriters and music publishers) for his songwriting contribution to Great Big Sea/Sea of No Cares album/Warner Music/Canada. Chris Trapper's album Gone Again spawned a series of live music videos by director Christopher Seufert. Chris Trapper also toured the Push Stars with Matchbox 20.

Chris Trapper's songs have been winning awards as well as the hearts of devoted listeners ever since his arrival on the Boston music scene in 1995. Chris Trapper is most widely known as the front man for the nationally acclaimed pop/rock band The Push Stars, whose "honest, heartfelt songs with timeless melodies" were described as "the kind of music that songwriters love" by Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20.

With The Push Stars, Chris Trapper has written material for 4 studio albums and 3self-produced discs. Several of his songs have been picked up for major motion picture soundtracks including There's Something About Mary and Say It Isn't So and for television shows such as Pepper Dennis, ER, and Malcolm in the Middle. Chris Trapper's 2002 solo project "Songs from the Drive-In" showcased "his formidable storytelling talents," according to the Boston Phoenix.

Chris Trapper's 2nd solo release, "Gone Again," serves up 11 new songs with a Dixieland flavour provided by Boston's renowned Wolverine Jazz Band. The newest release "Hey, You" is his 1st rock/pop solo record, featuring guest appearances by The Push Stars, Great Big Sea, Sonando, Martin Sexton, Matt Beck (Matchbox 20) and Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter).

In addition to numerous Boston Music Awards, Chris Trapper received 2 Gold Records, a Platimun record, and the prestigious SOCAN Award twice for his songwriting work with Newfoundland's Great Big Sea. Antigone Rising covered his song "Waiting, Watching, Wishing" on their latest album release. In 2006, he filmed cameo appearances for an episode of "Pepper Dennis," the WB romantic comedy, and for "August Rush," an upcoming film with Robin Williams.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Demosthenes

2008-11-05T14:54:00.004Z

Demosthenes was born in 384 and died in 322 BC, Greek: Δημοσθένης, Dēmosthénēs) was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. Demosthenes orations constitute a significant expression of ancient Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by studying the speeches of previous great orators. Demosthenes delivered his 1st judicial speeches at the age of 20, in which he argued effectively to gain from his guardians what was left of his inheritance. For a time, Demosthenes made his living as a professional speech-writer (logographer) and a lawyer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits.

Demosthenes grew interested in politics during his time as a logographer, and in 354 BC he gave his 1st public political speeches. Demosthenes went on to devote his most productive years to opposing Macedon's expansion. Demosthenes idealised his city and strove throughout his life to restore Athens' supremacy and motivate his compatriots against Philip II of Macedon. Demosthenes sought to preserve his city's freedom and to establish an alliance against Macedon, in an unsuccessful attempt to impede Philip's plans to expand his influence southwards by conquering all the Greek states. After Philip's death, Demosthenes played a leading part in his city's uprising against the new King of Macedon, Alexander the Great. However, his efforts failed and the revolt was met with a harsh Macedonian reaction. To prevent a similar revolt against his own rule, Alexander's successor in this region, Antipater, sent his men to track Demosthenes down. Demosthenes took his own life, in order to avoid being arrested by Archias, Antipater's confidant.

The Alexandrian Canon compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace recognised Demosthenes as 1 of the 10 greatest Attic orators and logographers. According to Longinus, Demosthenes "perfected to the utmost the tone of lofty speech, living passions, copiousness, readiness, speed". Cicero acclaimed him as "the perfect orator" who lacked nothing, and Quintilian extolled him as "lex orandi" ("the standard of oratory") and that "inter omnes unus excellat" ("he stands alone among all the orators").

During the last year of the 98th Olympiad or the 1st year of the 99th Olympiad. Demosthenes's father—also named Demosthenes—who belonged to the local tribe, Pandionis, and lived in the deme of Paeania in the Athenian countryside, was a wealthy sword-maker. Aeschines, Demosthenes' greatest political rival, maintained that his mother Kleoboule was a Scythian by blood—an allegation disputed by some modern scholars. Demosthenes was orphaned at the age of 7. Although his father provided well for him, his legal guardians, Aphobus, Demophon and Therippides, mishandled his inheritance.

As soon as Demosthenes came of age in 366 BC, he demanded they render an account of their management. According to Demosthenes, the account revealed the misappropriation of his property. Although his father left an estate of nearly 14talents,(very roughly 3,000 pounds in gold or 400,000 current United States dollars)Demosthenes asserted his guardians had left nothing "except the house, and 14 slaves and 30 silver minae" (30 minae = ½ talent). At the age of 20, Demosthenes sued his trustees in order to recover his patrimony and delivered 5 orations — 3 Against Aphobus during 363 BC and 362 BC and 2 Against Ontenor during 362 and 361 BC. The courts fixed Demosthenes' damages at 10 talents. When all the trials came to an end, he only succeeded in retrieving a portion of his inheritance.

Between his coming of age in 366 BC and the trials that took place in 364 BC, Demosthenes and his guardians negotiated acrimoniously but were unable to reach an agreement, for neither side was willing to make concessions. At the same time, Demosthenes prepared himself for the trials and improved his oratory skill. As an adolescent, his curiosity had been noticed by the orator Callistratus, who was then at the height of his reputation, having just won a case of considerable importance. According to Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philologist and philosopher, and Constantine Paparregopoulus, a major Greek historian, Demosthenes was a student of Isocrates; according to Cicero, Quintillian and the Roman biographer Hermippus, he was a student of Plato. Lucian, a Roman-Syrian rhetorician and satirist, lists the philosophers Aristotle, Theophrastus and Xenocrates among his teachers. These claims are nowadays disputed. According to Plutarch, Demosthenes employed Isaeus as his master in Rhetoric, even though Isocrates was then teaching this subject, either because he could not pay Isocrates the prescribed fee or because Demosthenes believed Isaeus' style better suited a vigorous and astute orator such as himself . Curtius, a German archaeologist and historian, likened the relation between Isaeus and Demosthenes to "an intellectual armed alliance".

It has also been said that Demosthenes paid Isaeus 10,000 drachmae (somewhat over 1.5talents) on the condition that Isaeus should withdraw from a school of Rhetoric which he had opened, and should devote himself wholly to Demosthenes, his new pupil. Another version credits Isaeus with having taught Demosthenes without charge. According to Sir Richard C. Jebb, a British classical scholar, "the intercourse between Isaeus and Demosthenes as teacher and learner can scarcely have been either very intimate or of very long duration". Konstantinos Tsatsos, a Greek professor and academician, believes that Isaeus helped Demosthenes edit his initial judicial orations against his guardians. Demosthenes is also said to have admired the historian Thucydides. In the Illiterate Book-Fancier, Lucian mentions 8 beautiful copies of Thucydides made by Demosthenes, all in Demosthenes' own handwriting. These references hint at his respect for a historian he must have assiduously studied.

According to Pseudo-Plutarch, Demosthenes was married once. The only information about his wife, whose name is unknown, is that she was the daughter of Heliodorus, a prominent citizen. Demosthenes also had a daughter, "the first and only one who ever called him father", according to Aeschines' in a trenchant remark. Demosthenes's daughter died young and unmarried a few days before Philip's death.

In his speeches, Aeschines often uses the pederastic relations of Demosthenes to attack him. The essence of these attacks was not that Demosthenes had relations with boys, but that he had been an inadequate pederast, one whose attentions did not benefit the boys, as would have been expected, but harmed them instead. In the case of Aristion, a youth from Plataea who lived for a long time in Demosthenes' house, Aeschines mocked him for lack of sexual restraint and possibly effeminate behavior: "Allegations about what [Aristion] was undergoing there, or doing what, vary, and it would be most unseemly for me to talk about it." Another relationship which Aeschines brings up is that with Cnosion. Aeschines's allegation, in this case, was also of a sexual nature. This time, however, he blamed Demosthenes for involving his wife by putting her in bed with the youth so as to get children by him. Athenaeus, however, presents matters in a different light, claiming that his wife bedded the boy in a fit of jealousy.

Aeschines often asserted that Demosthenes made money out of young rich men. Demosthenes claimed that he deluded Aristarchus, the son of Moschus, with the pretence that he could make him a great orator. Apparently, while still under Demosthenes' tutelage, Aristarchus killed and mutilated a certain Nicodemus of Aphidna, gouging out his eyes and tongue. Aeschines accused Demosthenes of complicity in the murder, pointing out that Nicodemus had once pressed a lawsuit accusing Demosthenes of desertion. Aeschines also accused Demosthenes of having been such a bad erastes to Aristarchus so as not even to deserve the name. Aristarchus's crime, according to Aeschines, was to have betrayed his eromenos by pillaging his estate, allegedly pretending to be in love with the youth so as to get his hands on the boy's inheritance. This he is said to have squandered, having taken 3 talents upon Aristarchus' fleeing into exile so as to avoid a trial. Thus, in payment for the trust that Aristarchus and his family put in him, "You entered a happy home [...] you ruined it." Nevertheless, the story of Demosthenes' relations with Aristarchus is still regarded as more than doubtful, and no other pupil of Demosthenes is known by name.

"If you feel bound to act in the spirit of that dignity, whenever you come into court to give judgement on public causes, you must bethink yourselves that with his staff and his badge every one of you receives in trust the ancient pride of Athens."
Demosthenes (On the Crown, 210) - The orator's defense of the honour of the courts was in contrast to the improper actions of which Aeschines accused him.

To make his living, Demosthenes became a professional litigant and logographer, writing speeches for use in private legal suits. Demosthenes was so successful that he soon acquired wealthy and powerful clients. The Athenian logographer could remain anonymous, allowing him to serve personal interests, even if it prejudiced the client. Aeschines accused Demosthenes of unethically disclosing his clients' arguments to their opponents. Aeschines queried of Demosthenes: "And the born traitor—how shall we recognise him? Will he not imitate you, Demosthenes, in his treatment of those whom chance throws in his way and who have trusted him? Will he not take pay for writing speeches for them to deliver in the courts, and then reveal the contents of these speeches to their opponents?"

As an example, Aeschines accused Demosthenes of writing a speech for Phormion, a wealthy banker, and then communicating it to Apollodorus, who was bringing a capital charge against Phormion. Plutarch supported this accusation, stating that Demosthenes "was thought to have acted dishonorably".

Demosthenes used to study in an underground room he constructed himself. Demosthenes also used to talk with pebbles in his mouth and recited verses while running. To strengthen his voice, he spoke on the seashore over the roar of the waves. Even before he turned 21 in 363 BC, Demosthenes had already demonstrated an interest in politics. In 363, 359, and 357 BC, he assumed the office of the trierarch, being responsible for the outfitting and maintenance of a trireme. In 348 BC, he became a choregos, paying the expenses of a theatrical production.

Although Demosthenes said he never pleaded a single private case, it remains unclear when and if Demosthenes abandoned the profitable but not so prestigious profession of logography. According to Plutarch, when Demosthenes 1st addressed himself to the people, he was derided for his strange and uncouth style, "which was cumbered with long sentences and tortured with formal arguments to a most harsh and disagreeable excess".

Some citizens however discerned his talent. When he first left the ecclesia (the Athenian Assembly) disheartened, an old man named Eunomus encouraged him, saying his diction was very much like that of Pericles. Another time, after the ecclesia had refused to hear him and he was going home dejected, an actor named Satyrus followed him and entered into a friendly conversation with him.

As a boy Demosthenes had a speech impediment — an inarticulate and stammering pronunciation. Aeschines taunted him and referred to him in his speeches by the nickname "Batalus", apparently invented by Demosthenes' pedagogues or by the little boys with whom he was playing. According to Plutarch, he had a weakness in his voice of "a perplexed and indistinct utterance and a shortness of breath, which, by breaking and disjointing his sentences much obscured the sense and meaning of what he spoke." Demosthenes soon undertook a disciplined programme to overcome these shortcomings and improve his locution. Demosthenes worked on his diction, his voice and his gestures. Demosthenes's zeal and perseverance have passed into proverb. It is however unknown whether these vignettes are factual accounts of events in Demosthenes' life or merely anecdotes used to illustrate his perseverance and determination.

Demosthenes continued practicing law privately while he was becoming increasingly interested in public affairs. Demosthenes mostly remained a judicial orator, but started participating in the politics of the Athenian democracy. In 355 BC he wrote Against Androtion and, in 354 BC, Against Leptines — 2 fierce attacks on individuals who attempted to repeal certain tax exemptions. In Against Timocrates and Against Aristocrates he advocated eliminating corruption. Demosthenes denounced measures regarded as dishonest or unworthy of Athenian traditions. All these speeches offer early glimpses of his general principles on foreign policy, such as the importance of the navy, of alliances and of national honour.

"While the vessel is safe, whether it be a large or a small one, then is the time for sailor and helmsman and everyone in his turn to show his zeal and to take care that it is not capsized by anyone's malice or inadvertence; but when the sea has overwhelmed it, zeal is useless."

Demosthenes (Third Philippic, 69) - The orator warned his countrymen of the disasters Athens would suffer, if they continued to remain idle and indifferent to the challenges of their times.

In 354 BC, Demosthenes delivered his 1st political oration, On the Navy, in which he espoused moderation and proposed the reform of "symmories"(boards) as a source of funding for the Athenian fleet. In 352 BC, he delivered For the Megalopolitans and, in 351 BC, On the Liberty of the Rhodians. In both speeches he opposed Eubulus, the most powerful Athenian statesman of the period 355 to 342 BC, who was against any intervention in the internal affairs of the other Greek cities.

Although none of his early orations were successful, Demosthenes established himself as an important political personality and broke with Eubulus' faction, a prominent member of which was Aeschines. Demosthenes laid the foundations for his future political successes and for becoming the leader of his own party. Demosthenes's arguments revealed his desire to articulate Athens' needs and interests.

In 351 BC, Demosthenes felt strong enough to express his view concerning the most important foreign policy issue facing Athens at that time: the stance his city should take towards Philip II of Macedon. According to Jacqueline de Romilly, a French philologist and member of the Académie française, the threat of Philip would give Demosthenes' stances a focus and a raison d'être. Henceforth, Demosthenes' career is virtually the history of Athenian foreign policy.

In 336–335 BC, the King of Macedon crippled any attempt of the Greek cities at resistance and shattered Demosthenes' hopes for Athenian independence. After Chaeronea, Philip inflicted a harsh punishment upon Thebes, but made peace with Athens on very lenient terms. Demosthenes encouraged the fortification of Athens and was chosen by the ecclesia to deliver the Funeral Oration. In 337 BC, Philip created the League of Corinth, a confederation of Greek states under his leadership, and returned to Pella. In 336 BC, Philip was assassinated at the wedding of his daughter, Cleopatra of Macedonia, to King Alexander of Epirus. After Philip's death, the army proclaimed Alexander, then aged 20, as the new King of Macedon. Greek cities like Athens and Thebes saw in this change of leadership an opportunity to regain their full independence. Demosthenes celebrated Philip's assassination and played a leading part in his city's uprising. According to Aeschines, "it was but the 7th day after the death of his daughter, and though the ceremonies of mourning were not yet completed, he put a garland on his head and white raiment on his body, and there he stood making thank-offerings, violating all decency." Demosthenes also sent envoys to Attalus, whom he considered to be an internal opponent of Alexander. Nonetheless, Alexander moved swiftly to Thebes, which submitted shortly after his appearance at its gates. When the Athenians learned that Alexander had moved quickly to Boeotia, they panicked and begged the new King of Macedon for mercy. Alexander admonished them but imposed no punishment.

"You stand revealed in your life and conduct, in your public performances and also in your public abstinences. A project approved by the people is going forward. Aeschines is speechless. A regrettable incident is reported. Aeschines is in evidence. Aeschines reminds one of an old sprain or fracture: the moment you are out of health it begins to be active."

Demosthenes (On the Crown, 198) - In On the Crown Demosthenes fiercely assaulted and finally neutralized Aeschines, his formidable political opponent.

In 335 BC Alexander felt free to engage the Thracians and the Illyrians. While he was campaigning in the north, the Thebans and the Athenians rebelled once again, believing in the rumors that Alexander was dead. Darius III of Persia financed the Greek cities that rose up against Macedon, and Demosthenes is said to have received about 300 talents on behalf of Athens and to have faced accusations of embezzlement. Alexander reacted immediately and razed Thebes to the ground. Demosthenes did not attack Athens, but demanded the exile of all anti-Macedonian politicians, Alexander first of all. According to Plutarch, a special Athenian embassy led by Phocion, an opponent of the anti-Macedonian faction, was able to persuade Alexander to relent.

Despite the unsuccessful ventures against Philip and Alexander, the Athenians still respected Demosthenes. In 336 BC, the orator Ctesiphon proposed that Athens honour Demosthenes for his services to the city by presenting him, according to custom, with a golden crown. This proposal became a political issue and, in 330 BC, Aeschines prosecuted Ctesiphon on charges of legal irregularities. In his most brilliant speech, On the Crown, Demosthenes effectively defended Ctesiphon and vehemently attacked those who would have preferred peace with Macedon. Demosthenes was unrepentant about his past actions and policies and insisted that, when in power, the constant aim of his policies was the honour and the ascendancy of his country; and on every occasion and in all business he preserved his loyalty to Athens. Demosthenes finally defeated Aeschines, although his enemy's legal objections to the crowning were probably valid.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Thomas Jefferson

2008-10-29T22:06:00.010Z

Thomas Jefferson was born on 13 April, 1743 and died on 4 July, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson died a few hours before the death of John Adams, his compatriot in their quest for independence, then great political rival, and later friend and correspondent. John Adams is often rumoured to have referenced Thomas Jefferson in his last words, unaware of his passing.

Thomas Jefferson was the 3rd President of the United States (1801–1809), the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers for his promotion of the ideals of republicanism in the United States. Major events during his presidency include the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806).

As a political philosopher, Thomas Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. Thomas Jefferson idealised the independent yeoman farmer as exemplar of republican virtues, distrusted cities and financiers, and favoured states' rights and a strictly limited federal government. Thomas Jefferson supported the separation of church and state and was the author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1779, 1786). Thomas Jefferson was the eponym of Jeffersonian democracy and the co-founder and leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated American politics for a 1/4 century. Thomas Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), 1st United States Secretary of State (1789–1793) and 2nd Vice President (1797–1801).

A polymath, Thomas Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor, and founder of the University of Virginia. When President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Thomas Jefferson has been consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

Thomas Jefferson was born into a family closely related to some of the most prominent individuals in Virginia, the 3rd of 8 children. Thomas Jefferson's mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph, a ship's captain and sometime planter, and first cousin to Peyton Randolph. Thomas Jefferson's father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor in Albemarle County (Shadwell, then Edge Hill, Virginia.) Thomas Jefferson was of Welsh descent. When Colonel William Randolph, an old friend of Peter Jefferson, died in 1745, Peter Jefferson assumed executorship and personal charge of William Randolph's estate in Tuckahoe as well as his infant son, Thomas Mann Randolph. That same year the Jeffersons relocated to Tuckahoe where they would remain for the next 7 years before returning to their home in Albemarle whereupon Peter Jefferson was appointed to the Colonelcy of the county, a very important position at the time.

In 1752, Thomas Jefferson began attending a local school run by William Douglas, a Scottish minister. At the age of 9, Thomas Jefferson began studying Latin, Greek, and French. In 1757, when he was 14 years old, his father died. Thomas Jefferson inherited about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and dozens of slaves. Thomas Jefferson built his home there, which eventually became known as Monticello.

After his father's death, he was taught at the school of the learned minister James Maury from 1758 to 1760. The school was in Fredericksville Parish near Gordonsville, Virginia, 12 miles (19 km) from Shadwell, and Thomas Jefferson boarded with James Maury's family. There he received a classical education and studied history and science.

In 1760 Thomas Jefferson entered The College of William & Amp; Mary in Williamsburg at the age of 16; he studied there for 2 years, graduating with highest honours in 1762. At The College of William & Amp; Mary, he enrolled in the philosophy school and studied mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy under Professor William Small, who introduced the enthusiastic Thomas Jefferson to the writings of the British Empiricists, including John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton (Thomas Jefferson called them the "3 greatest men the world had ever produced"). Thomas Jefferson also perfected his French, carried his Greek grammar book wherever he went, practiced the violin, and read Tacitus and Homer. A keen and diligent student, Thomas Jefferson displayed an avid curiosity in all fields and, according to the family tradition, frequently studied 15 hours a day. Thomas Jefferson's closest college friend, John Page of Rosewell, reported that Thomas Jefferson "could tear himself away from his dearest friends to fly to his studies."

While in college, Thomas Jefferson was a member of a secret organisation called the Flat Hat Club, now the namesake of the William & Amp; Mary student newspaper. Thomas Jefferson lodged and boarded at the College in the building known today as the Sir Christopher Wren Building, attending communal meals in the Great Hall, and morning and evening prayers in the Wren Chapel. Thomas Jefferson often attended the lavish parties of royal governor Francis Fauquier, where he played his violin and developed an early love for wines. After graduating in 1762 with highest honours, he studied law with George Wythe and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1767.

In addition to practicing law, Thomas Jefferson also represented Albemarle County in the Virginia House of Burgesses beginning in 1769. Following the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament in 1774, he wrote a set of resolutions against the acts, which were expanded into A Summary View of the Rights of British America, his 1st published work. Previous criticism of the Coercive Acts had focused on legal and constitutional issues, but Thomas Jefferson offered the radical notion that the colonists had the natural right to govern themselves. Thomas Jefferson also argued that Parliament was the legislature of Great Britain only, and had no legislative authority in the colonies. The paper was intended to serve as instructions for the Virginia delegation of the 1st Continental Congress, but Thomas Jefferson's ideas proved to be too radical for that body. Nevertheless, the pamphlet helped provide the theoretical framework for American independence, and marked Thomas Jefferson as one of the most thoughtful patriot spokesmen.

Thomas Jefferson served as governor of Virginia from 1779–1781. As governor, he oversaw the transfer of the state capital from Williamsburg to the more central location of Richmond in 1780. Thomas Jefferson continued to advocate educational reforms at the College of William and Mary, including the nation's 1st student-policed honour code. In 1779, at Thomas Jefferson's behest, William and Mary appointed George Wythe to be the 1st professor of law in an American university. Dissatisfied with the rate of changes he wanted to push through, he later became the founder of the University of Virginia, which was the 1st university in the United States at which higher education was completely separate from religious doctrine.

Virginia was invaded twice by the British during Thomas Jefferson's term as governor. Thomas Jefferson, along with Patrick Henry and other leaders of Virginia, were but 10 minutes away from being captured by Banastre Tarleton, a British colonel leading a cavalry column that was raiding the area in June 1781. Public disapproval of his performance delayed his future political prospects, and he was never again elected to office in Virginia.

After returning from France, Thomas Jefferson served as the 1st Secretary of State under George Washington (1789–1793). Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton began sparring over national fiscal policy, especially the funding of the debts of the war, with Alexander Hamilton believing that the debts should be equally shared, and Thomas Jefferson believing that each state should be responsible for its own debt (Virginia had not accumulated much debt during the Revolution). In further sparring with the Federalists, Thomas Jefferson came to equate Alexander Hamilton and the rest of the Federalists with Tories and monarchists who threatened to undermine republicanism. Thomas Jefferson equated Federalism with "Royalism," and made a point to state that "Hamiltonians were panting after...and itching for crowns, coronets and mitres." Thomas Jefferson and James Madison founded and led the Democratic-Republican Party. Thomas Jefferson worked with James Madison and his campaign manager John J. Beckley to build a nationwide network of Republican allies to combat Federalists across the country.

Thomas Jefferson strongly supported France against Britain when war broke out between those nations in 1793. Historian Lawrence S. Kaplan notes Thomas Jefferson's "visceral support for the French cause," while agreeing with George Washington that the nation should not get involved in the fighting. The arrival in 1793 of an aggressive new French minister, Edmond-Charles Genêt, caused a crisis for the Secretary of State, as he watched Genêt try to violate American neutrality, manipulate public opinion, and even go over George Washington's head in appealing to the people; projects that Thomas Jefferson helped to thwart. According to Schachner, Thomas Jefferson believed that political success at home depended on the success of the French army in Europe:

Thomas Jefferson, aquatint by Tadeusz Kościuszko Jefferson still clung to his sympathies with France and hoped for the success of her arms abroad and a cordial compact with her at home. Thomas Jefferson was afraid that any French reverses on the European battlefields would give "wonderful vigor to our monocrats, and unquestionably affect the tone of administering our government. Indeed, I fear that if this summer should prove disastrous to the French, it will damp that energy of republicanism in our new Congress, from which I had hoped so much reformation."

Thomas Jefferson at the end of 1793 retired to Monticello where he continued to orchestrate opposition to Alexander Hamilton and George Washington. However, the Jay Treaty of 1794, orchestrated by Alexander Hamilton, brought peace and trade with Britain – while James Madison, with strong support from Thomas Jefferson, wanted, Miller says, "to strangle the former mother country" without actually going to war. "It became an article of faith among Republicans that 'commercial weapons' would suffice to bring Great Britain to any terms the United States chose to dictate." Thomas Jefferson, in retirement, strongly encouraged James Madison.

As the Democratic-Republican candidate in 1796 he lost to John Adams, but had enough electoral votes to become Vice President (1797–1801). Thomas Jefferson's arliamentary procedure, but otherwise avoided the Senate.

Working closely with Aaron Burr of New York, Thomas Jefferson rallied his party, attacking the new taxes especially, and ran for the Presidency in 1800. Consistent with the traditions of the times, he did not formally campaign for the position. Prior to the passage of the 12th Amendment, a problem with the new union's electoral system arose. Thomas Jefferson tied with Aaron Burr for 1st place in the Electoral College, leaving the House of Representatives (where the Federalists still had some power) to decide the election.

After lengthy debate within the Federalist-controlled House, Alexander Hamilton convinced his party that Thomas Jefferson would be a lesser political evil than Aaron Burr and that such scandal within the electoral process would undermine the still-young regime. The issue was resolved by the House, on 17 February, 1801 after 36 ballots, when Thomas Jefferson was elected President and Aaron Burr Vice President. Aaron Burr's refusal to remove himself from consideration created ill will with Thomas Jefferson, who dropped Aaron Burr from the ticket in 1804 after Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

After leaving the Presidency, Thomas Jefferson continued to be active in public affairs. Thomas Jefferson also became increasingly concerned with founding a new institution of higher learning, specifically one free of church influences where students could specialise in many new areas not offered at other universities. Thomas Jefferson believed educating people was a good way to establish an organised society, and also felt schools should be paid for by the general public, so less wealthy people could obtain student membership as well. A letter to Joseph Priestley, in January, 1800, indicated that he had been planning the University for decades before its establishment.

Thomas Jefferson's dream was realised in 1819 with the founding of the University of Virginia. Upon its opening in 1825, it was then the 1st university to offer a full slate of elective courses to its students. One of the largest construction projects to that time in North America, it was notable for being centered about a library rather than a church. In fact, no campus chapel was included in his original plans. Until his death, Thomas Jefferson invited students and faculty of the school to his home; Edgar Allan Poe was among those students.

Thomas Jefferson is widely recognised for his architectural planning of the University of Virginia grounds, an innovative design that is a powerful representation of his aspirations for both state sponsored education and an agrarian democracy in the new Republic. Thomas Jefferson's educational idea of creating specialised units of learning is physically expressed in the configuration of his campus plan, which he called the "Academical Village." Individual academic units are expressed visually as distinct structures, represented by Pavilions, facing a grassy quadrangle, with each Pavilion housing classroom, faculty office, and residences. Though unique, each is visually equal in importance, and they are linked together with a series of open air arcades that are the front facades of student accommodations. Gardens and vegetable plots are placed behind surrounded by serpentine walls, affirming the importance of the agrarian lifestyle.

Thomas Jefferson's highly ordered site plan establishes an ensemble of buildings surrounding a central rectangular quadrangle, named The Lawn, which is lined on either side with the academic teaching units and their linking arcades. The quad is enclosed at one end with the library, the repository of knowledge, at the head of the table. The remaining side opposite the library remained open-ended for future growth. The lawn rises gradually as a series of stepped terraces, each a few feet higher than the last, rising up to the library set in the most prominent position at the top, while also suggesting that the Academical Village facilitates easier movement to the future.

Stylistically, Thomas Jefferson was a proponent of the Greek and Roman styles, which he believed to be most representative of American democracy by historical association. Each academic unit is designed with a 2 story temple front facing the quadrangle, while the library is modeled on the Roman Pantheon. The ensemble of buildings surrounding the quad is an unmistakable architectural statement of the importance of secular public education, while the exclusion of religious structures reinforces the principal of separation of church and state. The campus planning and architectural treatment remains today as a paradigm of the ordering of manmade structures to express intellectual ideas and aspirations. A survey of members of the American Institute of Architects identified Thomas Jefferson's campus as the most significant work of architecture in America.

The University was designed as the capstone of the educational system of Virginia. In his vision, any citizen of the commonwealth could attend school with the sole criterion being ability.

Although he was born into one of the wealthiest families in the United States, Thomas Jefferson was deeply in debt when he died.

Thomas Jefferson's trouble began when his father-in-law died, and he and his brothers-in-law quickly divided the estate before its debts were settled. It made each of them liable for the whole amount due – which turned out to be more than they expected.

Thomas Jefferson sold land before the American Revolution to pay off the debts, but by the time he received payment, the paper money was worthless amid the skyrocketing inflation of the war years. Cornwallis ravaged Thomas Jefferson's plantation during the war, and British creditors resumed their collection efforts when the conflict ended. Thomas Jefferson was burned again when he co-signed notes for a relative who reneged on debts in the financial panic of 1819. Only Thomas Jefferson's public stature prevented creditors from seizing Monticello and selling it out from under him during his lifetime.

After his death, his possessions were sold at auction. In 1831, Thomas Jefferson's 552 acres (223 hectares) were sold for $7,000 to James T. Barclay. Thomas Jefferson is buried on his Monticello estate, in Charlottesville, Virginia. In his will, he left Monticello to the United States to be used as a school for orphans of navy officers. Thomas Jefferson's epitaph, written by him with an insistence that only his words and "not a word more" be inscribed, reads:

HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON
AUTHOR OF THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
OF THE STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
AND FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Thomas Jefferson has been described by many people as a thin, tall man, who stood at approximately 6 feet and remarkably straight.

"The Sage of Monticello" cultivated an image that earned him the other nickname, "Man of the People." Thomas Jefferson affected a popular air by greeting White House guests in homespun attire like a robe and slippers. Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison (Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state), and Thomas Jefferson's daughters relaxed White House protocol and turned formal state dinners into more casual and entertaining social events. Although a foremost defender of a free press, Thomas Jefferson at times sparred with partisan newspapers and appealed to the people.

Thomas Jefferson's writings were utilitarian and evidenced great intellect, and he had an affinity for languages. Thomas Jefferson learned Gaelic in order to translate Ossian, and sent to James Macpherson for the originals.

As President, he discontinued the practice of delivering the State of the Union Address in person, instead sending the address to Congress in writing (the practice was eventually revived by Woodrow Wilson); he gave only 2 public speeches during his Presidency. Thomas Jefferson had a lisp and preferred writing to public speaking partly because of this. Thomas Jefferson burned all of his letters between himself and his wife at her death, creating the portrait of a man who at times could be very private. Indeed, he preferred working in the privacy of his office than the public eye.

Thomas Jefferson was an accomplished architect who was extremely influential in bringing the Neo-Palladian style—popular among the Whig aristocracy of Britain—to the United States. The style was associated with Enlightenment ideas of republican civic virtue and political liberty. Thomas Jefferson designed his famous home, Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia; it included automatic doors, the 1st swivel chair, and other convenient devices invented by Thomas Jefferson. Nearby is the only university ever to have been founded by a U.S. president, the University of Virginia, of which the original curriculum and architecture Thomas Jefferson designed. Today, Monticello and the University of Virginia are together 1 of only 4 man-made World Heritage Sites in the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson also designed Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg, in Bedford County, Virginia, as a private retreat from a very public life. Thomas Jefferson is also credited with the architectural design of the Virginia State Capitol building, which was modeled after the Maison Carrée at Nîmes in southern France, an ancient Roman temple. Thomas Jefferson's buildings helped initiate the ensuing American fashion for Federal architecture.

Thomas Jefferson's interests included archeology, a discipline then in its infancy. Thomas Jefferson has sometimes been called the "father of archeology" in recognition of his role in developing excavation techniques. When exploring an Indian burial mound on his Virginia estate in 1784, Thomas Jefferson avoided the common practice of simply digging downwards until something turned up. Instead, he cut a wedge out of the mound so that he could walk into it, look at the layers of occupation, and draw conclusions from them.

Thomas Jefferson enjoyed his fish pond at Monticello. It was around 3 feet (1 m) deep and mortar lined. Thomas Jefferson used the pond to keep fish that were recently caught as well as to keep eels fresh. This pond has been restored and can be seen from the west side of Monticello.

In 1780, he joined Benjamin Franklin's American Philosophical Society. Thomas Jefferson served as president of the society from 1797 to 1815.

Thomas Jefferson was an avid wine lover and noted gourmet. During his years in France (1784–1789) he took extensive trips through French and other European wine regions and sent the best back home. Thomas Jefferson is noted for the bold pronouncement: "We could in the United States make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good." While there were extensive vineyards planted at Monticello, a significant portion were of the European wine grape Vitis vinifera and did not survive the many vine diseases native to the Americas.

In 1801, he published A Manual of Parliamentary Practice that is still in use. In 1812 Thomas Jefferson published a 2nd edition.

After the British burned Washington, D.C. and the Library of Congress in August 1814, Thomas Jefferson offered his own collection to the nation. In January 1815, Congress accepted his offer, appropriating $23,950 for his 6,487 books, and the foundation was laid for a great national library. Today, the Library of Congress' website for federal legislative information is named THOMAS, in honour of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's 2-volume 1764 edition of the Qur'an was used by Rep. Keith Ellison in 2007 for his swearing in to the House of Representatives.

In a letter to Francis Hopkinson of 13 March, 1789, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“ I never had an opinion in politics or religion which I was afraid to own. A costive reserve on these subjects might have procured me more esteem from some people, but less from myself. ”

Though his religious views diverged widely from the orthodox Christianity of his day, throughout his life Thomas Jefferson was intensely interested in theology, spirituality, and biblical study. Thomas Jefferson's religious commitment is probably best summarised in his own words as he proclaimed that he belonged to a sect with just 1 member.

Thomas Jefferson was raised in the Church of England at a time when it was the established church in Virginia and only denomination funded by Virginia tax money. theologian Avery Dulles reports, "In his college years at William and Mary [Jefferson] came to admire Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and John Locke as 3 great paragons of wisdom. Under the influence of several professors he converted to the deist philosophy." Avery Dulles concludes:

“ In summary, then, Thomas Jefferson was a deist because he believed in one God, in divine providence, in the divine moral law, and in rewards and punishments after death; but did not believe in supernatural revelation. Thomas Jefferson was a Christian deist because he saw Christianity as the highest expression of natural religion and Jesus as an incomparably great moral teacher. Thomas Jefferson was not an orthodox Christian because he rejected, among other things, the doctrines that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the incarnate Son of God. Thomas Jefferson's religion is fairly typical of the American form of deism in his day. ”

Before the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson was a vestryman in his local church, a lay position that was informally tied to political office at the time. Thomas Jefferson also had friends who were clergy, and he supported some churches financially.

At the start of the Revolution appears that Thomas Jefferson employed theist terminology in the United States Declaration of Independence where he wrote the words "Creator" and "Nature's God." Thomas Jefferson believed, furthermore, it was this Creator that endowed humanity with a number of inalienable rights, such as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

In 1776 Thomas Jefferson also proposed a motto for the United States Seal. Thomas Jefferson's proposal was, "Rebellion to tyrants is Obedience to God." Thomas Jefferson suggested that the seal should feature an image of the Biblical Hebrews being rescued by God via the Red Sea.

For Thomas Jefferson, separation of church and state was a necessary reform of the religious "tyranny" whereby a religion received state endorsement, and those not of that religion were denied rights, and even punished.

Following the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson played a leading role in establishing freedom of religion in Virginia. Previously the Anglican Church had tax support. As he wrote in his Notes on Virginia, a law was in effect in Virginia that "if a person brought up a Christian denies the being of a God, or the Trinity ...he is punishable on the 1st offense by incapacity to hold any office ...; on the 2nd by a disability to sue, to take any gift or legacy ..., and by 3 year' imprisonment." Prospective officer-holders were required to swear that they did not believe in the central Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation.

From 1784 to 1786, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison worked together to oppose Patrick Henry's attempts to again assess taxes in Virginia to support churches. Instead, in 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Religious Freedom, which he had 1st submitted in 1779 and was 1 of only 3 accomplishments he put in his own epitaph. The law read:

“ No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”

In his 1787 Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson stated: "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make half the world fools and half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the world..."

Thomas Jefferson sought what he called a "wall of separation between Church and State," which he believed was a principle expressed by the First Amendment. This phrase has been cited several times by the Supreme Court in its interpretation of the Establishment Clause. In an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, he wrote:

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State.”

Regarding the choice of some governments to regulate religion and thought, Thomas Jefferson stated:

“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

Deriving from this statement, Thomas Jefferson believed that the Government's relationship with the Church should be indifferent, religion being neither persecuted nor give any special status.

“If anything pass in a religious meeting seditiously and contrary to the public peace, let it be punished in the same manner and no otherwise as it had happened in a fair or market”

Thomas Jefferson refused to issue proclamations calling for days of prayer and thanksgiving during his Presidency, yet as Governor in Virginia he did issue proclamations calling for days of prayer and thanksgiving. Thomas Jefferson's private letters indicate he was skeptical of too much interference by clergy in matters of civil government. Thomas Jefferson's letters contain the following observations: "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government," and, "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. Thomas Jefferson is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all), the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government." While opposed to the institutions of organised religion, Thomas Jefferson invoked the notion of divine justice in his opposition to slavery: "Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice can not sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!"

While the debate over Thomas Jefferson's understanding over the separation of Church and state is far from being settled, as are his particular religious tenets, his dependence on divine Providence is not nearly as ambiguous. As he stated, in his 2nd inaugural address:

“I shall need, too, the favour of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”

During the presidential campaign of 1800, the Federalists attacked Thomas Jefferson as an infidel and a Deist, claiming that Thomas Jefferson's intoxication with the religious and political extremism of the French Revolution disqualified him from public office. However, historian Edward Larson writes that, "Although Thomas Jefferson may have been a Deist at one time, by 1800 he probably was a Unitarian. Thomas Jefferson's private writings from the period reveal a profound regard for Christ's moral teachings and a deep interest in the gospels and comparative religion."

During his presidency, Thomas Jefferson attended the weekly church services held in the House of Representatives. Thomas Jefferson also permitted church services in executive branch buildings throughout his administration, one author writes that this was because Thomas Jefferson "believed that religion was a prop for republican government".

From his careful study of the Bible, Thomas Jefferson concluded that Jesus never claimed to be God. Thomas Jefferson therefore regarded much of the New Testament as "so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture". Thomas Jefferson described the "roguery of others of His disciples", and called them a "band of dupes and impostors", describing Paul as the "first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus", and wrote of "palpable interpolations and falsifications". Thomas Jefferson also described the Book of Revelation to be "merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams". While living in the White House, Thomas Jefferson began to piece together his own condensed version of the Gospels, omitting the virgin birth of Jesus, miracles attributed to Jesus, divinity and the resurrection of Jesus. Thus, primarily leaving only Jesus' moral philosophy, of which he approved. This compilation titled The LIFE AND MORALS OF JESUS OF NAZARETH Extracted Textually from the Gospels Greek, Latin, French, and English was published after his death and became known as the Jefferson Bible.

In 1803 Thomas Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, but he had high esteem for Jesus's moral teachings, which he viewed as the "principles of a pure deism, and juster notions of the attributes of God, to reform [prior Jewish] moral doctrines to the standard of reason, justice & philanthropy, and to inculcate the belief of a future state." Thomas Jefferson did not believe in miracles. Biographer Merrill D. Peterson summarises Thomas Jefferson's theology:

“First, that the Christianity of the churches was unreasonable, therefore unbelievable, but that stripped of priestly mystery, ritual, and dogma, reinterpreted in the light of historical evidence and human experience, and substituting the Newtonian cosmology for the discredited Biblical 1, Christianity could be conformed to reason. 2nd, morality required no divine sanction or inspiration, no appeal beyond reason and nature, perhaps not even the hope of heaven or the fear of hell; and so the whole edifice of Christian revelation came tumbling to the ground.”

Thomas Jefferson's experience in France just before the French Revolution made him deeply suspicious of Catholic priests and bishops as a force for reaction and ignorance. Similarly, his experience in America with inter-denominational intolerance served to reinforce this skeptical view of religion. In an 1820 letter to William Short, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "the serious enemies are the priests of the different religious sects, to whose spells on the human mind its improvement is ominous."

Thomas Jefferson also expressed general agreement with his friend Joseph Priestley's Unitarian form of Christianity. In an 1822 letter to Benjamin Waterhouse he wrote, "I rejoice that in this blessed country of free inquiry and belief, which has surrendered its conscience to neither kings or priests, the genuine doctrine of only one God is reviving, and I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian."

In a 1825 letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“I am anxious to see the doctrine of one god commenced in our state. But the population of my neighborhood is too slender, and is too much divided into other sects to maintain any one preacher well. I must therefore be contented to be an Unitarian by myself, although I know there are many around me who would become so, if once they could hear the questions fairly stated.”

Thomas Jefferson's last words were, "I resign myself to my God, and my child to my country."

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Washington Irving

2008-10-27T16:37:00.011Z

Washington Irving was born on 3 April, 1783 and died on 28 November, 1859. Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. Washington Irving was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Washington Irving's historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith and Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra. Washington Irving also served as the U.S. minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Washington Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819. Washington Irving continued to publish regularly—and almost always successfully—throughout his life, and completed a 5-volume biography of George Washington just 8months before his death, at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York.

Washington Irving, along with James Fenimore Cooper, was the 1st American writer to earn acclaim in Europe, and Washington Irving encouraged American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Edgar Allan Poe. Washington Irving was also admired by some European writers, including Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Francis Jeffrey, and Charles Dickens. As America's 1st genuine internationally best-selling author, Washington Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession, and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement.

Washington Irving's parents were William Irving, Sr., originally of Shapinsay, Orkney, and Sarah (née Sanders), Scottish-English immigrants. They married in 1761 while William was serving as a petty officer in the British Navy. They had 11 children, 8 of which survived to adulthood. Their 1st 2 sons, each named William, died in infancy, as did their 4th child, John. Their surviving children were: William, Jr. (1766), Ann (1770), Peter (1772), Catherine (1774), Ebenezer (1776), John Treat (1778), Sarah (1780), and Washington.

The Irving family was settled in Manhattan, New York City as part of the city's small vibrant merchant class when Washington Irving was born on April 3, 1783, the same week city residents learned of the British ceasefire that ended the American Revolution. Consequently, Washington Irving’s mother named him after the hero of the revolution, George Washington. At age 6, with the help of a nanny, Washington Irving met his namesake, who was then living in New York after his inauguration as president in 1789. The president blessed young Washington Irving, an encounter Washington Irving later commemorated in a small watercolor painting, which still hangs in his home today. Several of Washington Irving's older brothers became active New York merchants, and they encouraged their younger brother's literary aspirations, often supporting him financially as he pursued his writing career.

A disinterested student, Washington Irving preferred adventure stories and drama and, by age 14, was regularly sneaking out of class in the evenings to attend the theater. The 1798 outbreak of yellow fever in Manhattan prompted his family to send him to healthier climes upriver, and Washington Irving was dispatched to stay with his friend James Kirke Paulding in Tarrytown, New York. It was in Tarrytown that Washington Irving became familiar with the nearby town of Sleepy Hollow, with its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories. Washington Irving made several other trips up the Hudson as a teenager, including an extended visit to Johnstown, New York, where he passed through the Catskill mountain region, the setting for "Rip Van Winkle". " of all the scenery of the Hudson", Wshington Irving wrote later, "the Kaatskill Mountains had the most witching effect on my boyish imagination".

The 19 year old Wshington Irving began writing letters to The Morning Chronicle in 1802, submitting commentaries on New York's social and theater scene under the name of Jonathan Oldstyle. The name, which purposely evoked the writer's Federalist leanings, was the 1st of many pseudonyms Washington Irving would employ throughout his career. The letters brought Wshington Irving some early fame and moderate notoriety. Aaron Burr, a co-publisher of the Chronicle, was impressed enough to send clippings of the Oldstyle pieces to his daughter, Theodosia, while writer Charles Brockden Brown made a trip to New York to recruit Oldstyle for a literary magazine he was editing in Philadelphia.

Concerned for his health, Washington Irving's brothers financed an extended tour of Europe from 1804 to 1806. Washington Irving bypassed most of the sites and locations considered essential for the development of an upwardly-mobile young man, to the dismay of his brother William. William wrote that, though he was pleased his brother's health was improving, he did not like the choice to "gallop through Italy... leaving Florence on your left and Venice on your right". Instead, Washington Irving honed the social and conversational skills that would later make him one of the world's most in-demand guests. "I endeavor to take things as they come with cheerfulness", Washington Irving wrote, "and when I cannot get a dinner to suit my taste, I endeavor to get a taste to suit my dinner". While visiting Rome in 1805, Washington Irving struck up a friendship with the American painter Washington Allston, and nearly allowed himself to be persuaded into following Washington Allston into a career as a painter. "My lot in life, however", Washington Irving said later, "was differently cast".

A younger Washington Irving returned from Europe to study law with his legal mentor, Judge Josiah Ogden Hoffman, in New York City. By his own admission, he was not a good student, and barely passed the bar in 1806. Washington Irving began actively socialising with a group of literate young men he dubbed "The Lads of Kilkenny". Collaborating with his brother William and fellow Lad James Kirke Paulding, Washington Irving created the literary magazine Salmagundi in January 1807. Writing under various pseudonyms, such as William Wizard and Launcelot Langstaff, Washington Irving lampooned New York culture and politics in a manner similar to today's Mad magazine. Salmagundi was a moderate success, spreading Washington Irving's name and reputation beyond New York. In its 17th issue, dated 11 November, 1807, Washington Irving affixed the nickname "Gotham"—an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "Goat's Town"—to New York City.

In late 1809, while mourning the death of his 17 year old fiancée Matilda Hoffman, Washington Irving completed work on his 1st major book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker(1809), a satire on self-important local history and contemporary politics. Prior to its publication, Washington Irving started a hoax akin to today's viral marketing campaigns; he placed a series of missing person adverts in New York newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker, a crusty Dutch historian who had allegedly gone missing from his hotel in New York City. As part of the ruse, Washington Irving placed a notice—allegedly from the hotel's proprietor—informing readers that if Mr. Knickerbocker failed to return to the hotel to pay his bill, he would publish a manuscript Knickerbocker had left behind.

Unsuspecting readers followed the story of Knickerbocker and his manuscript with interest, and some New York city officials were concerned enough about the missing historian that they considered offering a reward for his safe return. Riding the wave of public interest he had created with his hoax, Washington Irving—adopting the pseudonym of his Dutch historian—published A History of New York on 6 December, 1809, to immediate critical and popular success. "It took with the public", Washington Irving remarked, "and gave me celebrity, as an original work was something remarkable and uncommon in America". Today, the surname of Diedrich Knickerbocker, the fictional narrator of this and other Washington Irving works, has become a nickname for Manhattan residents in general.

After the success of A History of New York, Washington Irving searched for a job and eventually became an editor of Analectic magazine, where he wrote biographies of naval heroes like James Lawrence and Oliver Perry. Washington Irving was also among the 1st magazine editors to reprint Francis Scott Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry", which would later be immortalized as "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.

Like many merchants and New Yorkers, Washington Irving originally opposed the War of 1812, but the British attack on Washington, D.C. in 1814 convinced him to enlist. Washington Irving served on the staff of Daniel Tompkins, governor of New York and commander of the New York State Militia. Apart from a reconnaissance mission in the Great Lakes region, he saw no real action. The war was disastrous for many American merchants, including Washington Irving's family, and in mid-1815 he left for England to attempt to salvage the family trading company. Washington Irving remained in Europe for the next 17 years.

Washington Irving spent the next 2 years trying to bail out the family firm financially but was eventually forced to declare bankruptcy. With no job prospects, Washington Irving continued writing throughout 1817 and 1818. In the summer of 1817, he visited the home of novelist Walter Scott, marking the beginning of a lifelong personal and professional friendship for both men. Washington Irving continued writing prolifically—the short story "Rip Van Winkle" was written overnight while staying with his sister Sarah and her husband, Henry van Wart in Birmingham, England, a place that also inspired some of his other works. In October 1818, Washington Irving's brother William secured for Washington Irving a post as chief clerk to the United States Navy, and urged him to return home. Washington Irving, however, turned the offer down, opting to stay in England to pursue a writing career.

In the spring of 1819, Washington Irving sent to his brother Ebenezer in New York a set of essays that he asked be published as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The 1st installment, containing "Rip Van Winkle", was an enormous success, and the rest of the work, published in 7 installments in the United States and England throughout 1819 and 1820 ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" would appear in the 6th issue), would be equally as successful.

Like many successful authors of this era, Washington Irving struggled against literary bootleggers. While in England, his sketches were published in book form by British publishers without his permission, an entirely legal practice as there were no clear international copyright laws. Seeking an English publisher to protect his copyright, Washington Irving appealed to Walter Scott for help. Walter Scott referred Washington Irving to his own publisher, London powerhouse John Murray, who agreed to take on The Sketch Book. From then on, Washington Irving would publish concurrently in the United States and England to protect his copyright, with John Murray being his English publisher of choice.

Washington Irving's reputation soared, and for the next 2 years, he led an active social life in Paris and England, where he was often feted as an anomaly of literature: an upstart American who dared to write English well.

With bothb Washington Irving and publisher John Murray eager to follow up on the success of The Sketch Book, Washington Irving spent much of 1821 travelling in Europe in search of new material, reading widely in Dutch and German folk tales. Hampered by writer's block—and depressed by the death of his brother William—Irving worked slowly, finally delivering a completed manuscript to John Murray in March 1822. The book, Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley (the location was based loosely on Aston Hall, occupied by members of the Bracebridge family, near his sister's home in Birmingham) was published in June 1822.

The format of Bracebridge was similar to that of The Sketch Book, with Washington Irving, as Crayon, narrating a series of more than 50 loosely connected short stories and essays. While some reviewers thought Bracebridge to be a lesser imitation of The Sketch Book, the book was well-received by readers and critics. "We have received so much pleasure from this book," wrote critic Francis Jeffrey in the Edinburgh Review, "that we think ourselves bound in gratitude . . . to make a public acknowledgement of it." Washington Irving was relieved at its reception, which did much to cement his reputation with European readers.

Still struggling with writer's block, Washington Irving traveled to Germany, settling in Dresden in the winter of 1822. Here he dazzled the royal family and attached himself to Mrs. Amelia Foster, an American living in Dresden with her 5 children. Washington Irving was particularly attracted to Mrs. Foster's 18-year-old daughter Emily, and vied in frustration for her hand. Emily finally refused his offer of marriage in the spring of 1823.

Washington Irving returned to Paris and began collaborating with playwright John Howard Payne on translations of French plays for the English stage, with little success. Washington Irving also learned through Payne that the novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was romantically interested in him, though Washington Irving never pursued the relationship.

In August 1824, Washington Irving published the collection of essays Tales of a Traveller—including the short story "The Devil and Tom Walker"—under his Geoffrey Crayon persona. "I think there are in it some of the best things I have ever written," Washington Irving told his sister. But while the book sold respectably, Traveller largely bombed with critics, who panned both Traveller and its author. "The public have been led to expect better things," wrote the United States Literary Gazette, while the New-York Mirror pronounced Washington Irving "overrated." Hurt and depressed by the book's reception, Washington Irving retreated to Paris where he spent the next year worrying about finances and scribbling down ideas for projects that never materialised.

While in Paris, Washington Irving received a letter from Alexander Hill Everett on 30January, 1826. Alexander Hill Everett, recently the American Minister to Spain, urged Washington Irving to join him in Madrid, noting that a number of manuscripts dealing with the Spanish conquest of the Americas had recently been made public. Washington Irving left for Madrid and enthusiastically began scouring the Spanish archives for colourful material.

The palace Alhambra, where Washington Irving briefly resided in 1829, inspired one of his most colourful books. With full access to the American consul's massive library of Spanish history, Washington Irving began working on several books at once. The 1st offspring of this hard work, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, was published in January 1828. The book was popular in the United States and in Europe and would have 175 editions published before the end of the century. It was also the 1st project of Washington Irving's to be published with his own name, instead of a pseudonym, on the title page. The Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada was published a year later, followed by Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus in 1831.

Washington Irving's writings on Columbus are a mixture of history and fiction, a genre now called romantic history. Washington Irving based them on extensive research in the Spanish archives, but also added imaginative elements aimed at sharpening the story. The 1st of these works is the source of the durable myth that medieval Europeans believed the Earth was flat.

In 1829, Washington Irving moved into Granada's ancient palace Alhambra, "determined to linger here", he said, "until I get some writings under way connected with the place". Before he could get any significant writing underway, however, he was notified of his appointment as Secretary to the American Legation in London. Worried he would disappoint friends and family if he refused the position, Washington Irving left Spain for England in July 1829.

Arriving in London, Washington Irving joined the staff of American Minister Louis McLane. Louis McLane immediately assigned the daily secretary work to another man and tapped Washington Irving to fill the role of aide-de-camp. The 2 worked over the next year to negotiate a trade agreement between the United States and the British West Indies, finally reaching a deal in August 1830. That same year, Washington Irving was awarded a medal by the Royal Society of Literature, followed by an honourary doctorate of civil law from Oxford in 1831.

Following Louis McLane's recall to the United States in 1831 to serve as Secretary of Treasury, Washington Irving stayed on as the legation's chargé d'affaires until the arrival of Martin Van Buren, President Jackson's nominee for British Minister. With Van Buren in place, Washington Irving resigned his post to concentrate on writing, eventually completing Tales of the Alhambra, which would be published concurrently in the United States and England in 1832.

Washington Irving was still in London when Van Buren received word that the United States Senate had refused to confirm him as the new Minister. Consoling Van Buren, Washington Irving predicted that the Senate's partisan move would backfire. "I should not be surprised", Washington Irving said, "if this vote of the Senate goes far toward elevating him to the presidential chair".

Washington Irving arrived in New York, after 17 years abroad on 21 May, 1832. That September, he accompanied the U.S. Commissioner on Indian Affairs, Henry Ellsworth, along with companions Charles La Trobe and Count Albert-Alexandre de Pourtales, on a surveying mission deep in Indian Territory. At the completion of his western tour, Washington Irving traveled through Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, where he became acquainted with the politician and novelist John Pendleton Kennedy.

Frustrated by bad investments, Washington Irving turned to writing to generate additional income, beginning with A Tour on the Prairies, a work which related his recent travels on the frontier. The book was another popular success and also the 1st book written and published by Washington Irving in the United States since A History of New York in 1809. In 1834, he was approached by fur magnate John Jacob Astor, who convinced Washington Irving to write a history of his fur trading colony in the American Northwest, now known as Astoria, Oregon. Washington Irving made quick work of Astor's project, shipping the fawning biographical account titled Astoria in February 1836.

During an extended stay at Astor's, Washington Irving met the explorer Benjamin Bonneville, who intrigued Washington Irving with his maps and stories of the territories beyond the Rocky Mountains. When the 2 met in Washington, D.C. several months later, Bonneville opted to sell his maps and rough notes to Washington Irving for $1,000. Washington Irving used these materials as the basis for his 1837 book The Adventures of Captain Bonneville.

These 3 works made up Washington Irving's "western" series of books and were written partly as a response to criticism that his time in England and Spain had made him more European than American. In the minds of some critics, especially James Fenimore Cooper and Philip Freneau, Washington Irving had turned his back on his American heritage in favour of English aristocracy. Washington Irving's western books, particularly A Tour on the Prairies, were well-received in the United States, though British critics accused Washington Irving of "book-making".

In 1835, Washington Irving purchased a "neglected cottage" and its surrounding riverfront property in Tarrytown, New York. The house, which Washington Irving named Sunnyside in 1841, would require constant repair and renovation over the next 20 years. With costs of Sunnyside escalating, Washington Irving reluctantly agreed in 1839 to become a regular contributor to Knickerbocker magazine, writing new essays and short stories under the Knickerbocker and Crayon pseudonyms.

Washington Irving was regularly approached by aspiring young authors for advice or endorsement, including Edgar Allan Poe, who sought Washington Irving's comments "on William Wilson" and "The Fall of the House of Usher". Washington Irving also championed America's maturing literature, advocating for stronger copyright laws to protect writers from the kind of piracy that had initially plagued The Sketch Book. Writing in the January 1840 issue of Knickerbocker, he openly endorsed copyright legislation pending in the U.S. Congress. "We have a young literature", Washington Irving wrote, "springing up and daily unfolding itself with wonderful energy and luxuriance, which... deserves all its fostering care". The legislation did not pass.

Washington Irving at this time also began a friendly correspondence with the English writer Charles Dickens, and hosted the author and his wife at Sunnyside during Dickens's American tour in 1842.

In 1842, after an endorsement from Secretary of State Daniel Webster, President John Tyler appointed Washington Irving as Minister to Spain. Washington Irving was surprised and honoured, writing, "It will be a severe trial to absent myself for a time from my dear little Sunnyside, but I shall return to it better enabled to carry it on comfortably".

While Washington Irving hoped his position as Minister would allow him plenty of time to write, Spain was in a state of perpetual political upheaval during most of his tenure, with a number of warring factions vying for control of the 12-year-old Queen Isabella II. Washington Irving maintained good relations with the various generals and politicians, as control of Spain rotated through Espartero, Bravo, then Narvaez. However, the politics and warfare were exhausting, and Washington Irving—homesick and suffering from a crippling skin condition—grew quickly disheartened:

“I am wearied and at times heartsick of the wretched politics of this country. . . . The last 10 or 12 years of my life, passed among sordid speculators in the United States, and political adventurers in Spain, has shewn me so much of the dark side of human nature, that I begin to have painful doubts of my fellow man; and look back with regret to the confiding period of my literary career, when, poor as a rat, but rich in dreams, I beheld the world through the medium of my imagination and was apt to believe men as good as I wished them to be.”

With the political situation in Spain relatively settled, Washington Irving continued to closely monitor the development of the new government and the fate of Isabella. Washington Irving's official duties as Spanish Minister also involved negotiating American trade interests with Cuba and following the Spanish parliament's debates over slave trade. Washington Irving was also pressed into service by the American Minister to the Court of St. James's in London, Louis McLane, to assist in negotiating the Anglo-American disagreement over the Oregon border that newly-elected president James K. Polk had vowed to resolve.

Returning from Spain in 1846, Washington Irving took up permanent residence at Sunnyside and began work on an "Author's Revised Edition" of his works for publisher George Palmer Putnam. For its publication, Washington Irving had made a deal that guaranteed him 12% of the retail price of all copies sold. Such an agreement was unprecedented at that time. On the death of John Jacob Astor in 1848, Washington Irving was hired as an executor of Astor's estate and appointed, by Astor's will, as 1st chairman of the Astor library, a forerunner to the New York Public Library.

As he revised his older works for Putnam, Washington Irving continued to write regularly, publishing biographies of the writer and poet Oliver Goldsmith in 1849 and the prophet Muhammad in 1850. In 1855, he produced Wolfert's Roost, a collection of stories and essays he had originally written for Knickerbocker and other publications, and began publishing at intervals a biography of his namesake, George Washington, a work which he expected to be his masterpiece. 5 volumes of the biography were published between 1855 and 1859. Washington Irving traveled regularly to Mount Vernon and Washington, D.C. for his research, and struck up friendships with Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce.

Washington Irving continued to socialise and keep up with his correspondence well into his 70s, and his fame and popularity continued to soar. "I don’t believe that any man, in any country, has ever had a more affectionate admiration for him than that given to you in America", wrote Senator William C. Preston in a letter to Washington Irving. "I believe that we have had but one man who is so much in the popular heart".

On the evening of 28 November, 1859, only 8 months after completing the final volume of his Washington biography, Washington Irving died of a heart attack in his bedroom at Sunnyside at the age of 76. Legend has it that his last words were: "Well, I must arrange my pillows for another night. When will this end?" Washington Irving was buried under a simple headstone at Sleepy Hollow cemetery on 1 December, 1859.

Washington Irving and his grave were commemorated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1876 poem, "In The Churchyard at Tarrytown", which concludes with:

How sweet a life was his; how sweet a death!
Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,
Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;
Dying, to leave a memory like the breath
Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,
A grief and gladness in the atmosphere.

Washington Irving is largely credited as the 1st American Man of Letters, and the 1st to earn his living solely by his pen. Eulogizing Washington Irving before the Massachusetts Historical Society in December 1859, his friend, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, acknowledged Washington Irving's role in promoting American literature: "We feel a just pride in his renown as an author, not forgetting that, to his other claims upon our gratitude, he adds also that of having been the 1st to win for our country an honourable name and position in the History of Letters".

Washington Irving perfected the American short story, and was the 1st American writer to place his stories firmly in the United States, even as he poached from German or Dutch folklore. Washington Irving is also generally credited as one of the first to write both in the vernacular, and without an obligation to the moral or didactic in his short stories, writing stories simply to entertain rather to enlighten.

Some critics, however—including Edgar Allan Poe—felt that while Washington Irving should be given credit for being an innovator, the writing itself was often unsophisticated. "Irving is much over-rated", Poe wrote in 1838, " and a nice distinction might be drawn between his just and his surreptitious and adventitious reputation—between what is due to the pioneer solely, and what to the writer".

Other critics were inclined to be more forgiving of Washington Irving's style. Henry Makepeace Thakeray was the 1st to refer to Washington Irving as the "ambassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old", a banner picked up by writers and critics throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. "He is the first of the American humorists, as he is almost the first of the American writers", wrote critic H.R. Hawless in 1881, "yet belonging to the New World, there is a quaint Old World flavour about him".

Early critics often had difficulty separating Washington Irving the man from Irving the writer—"The life of Washington Irving was one of the brightest ever led by an author", wrote Richard Henry Stoddard, an early Washington Irving biographer—but as years passed and Washington Irving's celebrity personality faded into the background, critics often began to review his writings as all style, no substance. "The man had no message", said critic Barrett Wendell. Yet, critics conceded that despite Washington Irving's lack of sophisticated themes—Irving biographer Stanley T. Williams could be scathing in his assessment of Washington Irving's work—most agreed he wrote elegantly.

Washington Irving popularised the nickname "Gotham" for New York City, later used in Batman comics and movies, and is credited with inventing the expression "the almighty dollar".

The surname of his Dutch historian, Diedrich Knickerbocker, is generally associated with New York and New Yorkers, and can still be seen across the jerseys of New York's professional basketball team, albeit in its more familiar, abbreviated form, reading simply Knicks.

One of Washington Irving's most lasting contributions to American culture is in the way Americans perceive and celebrate Christmas. In his 1812 revisions to A History of New York, Washington Irving inserted a dream sequence featuring St. Nicholas soaring over treetops in a flying wagon—a creation others would later dress up as Santa Claus. Later, in his 5 Christmas stories in The Sketch Book, Washington Irving portrayed an idealised celebration of old-fashioned Christmas customs at a quaint English manor, which directly contributed to the revival and reinterpretation of the Christmas holiday in the United States. Charles Dickens later credited Washington Irving as a strong influence on his own Christmas writings, including the classic A Christmas Carol. The Community Area of Irving Park in Chicago was named in Washington Irving's honour.

The Irving Trust Corporation (now the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation) was named after him. Since there was not yet a federal currency in 1851, each bank issued its own paper and those institutions with the most appealing names found their certificates more widely accepted. Washington Irving's portrait appeared on the bank's notes and contributed to their wide appeal.

Washington Irving's home, Sunnyside, is still standing, just south of the Tappan Zee Bridge in Tarrytown, New York. The original house and the surrounding property were once owned by 18th-century colonialist Wolfert Acker, about whom Washington Irving wrote his sketch Wolfert's Roost (the name of the house). The house is now owned and operated as a historic site by Historic Hudson Valley and is open to the public for tours. A memorial to him stands near the entrance to Sunnyside in the village of Irvington, which renamed itself in his memory, and visitors to Christ Episcopal Church in nearby Tarrytown, where he served as a vestryman in the last years of his life, can see his pew. Washington Irving's name is also frequently mentioned in Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 in which his name is signed on papers.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Adrian Peterson

2008-10-27T15:04:00.009Z

Adrian Lewis Peterson was born on 21 March, 1985 in Palestine, Texas. Nicknamed "A.D." (for "All Day") or "Purple Jesus", is a professional American football running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). Adrian Peterson played college football as a running back for 3 years at the University of Oklahoma. At Oklahoma, Adrian Peterson set the NCAA freshman rushing record with 1,925 yards (as a true freshman). Adrian Peterson was a 1st team All-American, and he also set a freshman record by finishing as the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Adrian Peterson finished as the school's 3rd all-time leading rusher.

Adrian Peterson was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the 7th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Coming into the league, he was known as a tall, upright runner possessing a rare combination of speed, strength, agility, size, and vision, along with a highly aggressive running style. Adrian Peterson's rare talent as both a great breakaway and power runner has often raised comparisons to past legends, including Eric Dickerson, O.J. Simpson, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers, and Jim Brown. As a rookie in the NFL, he broke numerous franchise and league records for rushing yardage, the foremost being the NFL single-game rushing record when he ran for 296 yards on 30 carries on 4 November, 2007, against the San Diego Chargers. Following his stellar 1st pro season, Adrian Peterson was a near-unanimous choice as the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. In the 2008 NFL Pro Bowl, Adrian Peterson rushed for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns, achieving the 2nd highest rushing total in Pro Bowl history. Adrian Peterson was awarded the MVP award for his performance in the Pro Bowl, which led to a 42-30 victory over the AFC.

Adrian Peterson has 1 daughter, Adeja. Adrian Peterson currently resides in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his brothers, Eldon, and Derrick Peterson.

Adrian Peterson was interested in football as a child as he began playing at the age of 7 and participated in the popular Pop Warner Football programme. Adrian Peterson continued his interest in athletics into high school where he competed in track and field, basketball, and football at Palestine High School. Adrian Peterson was most notable in football where he played during his junior and senior years. Adrian Peterson finished his 2002 campaign as a junior with 2,051 yards on 246 carries, an average of 8.3 yards per carry, and 22 touchdowns. As a senior in 2003, he rushed for 2,960 yards on 252 attempts, an average of 11.7 yards per carry, and 32 touchdowns. Concluding his high school football career at the annual U.S. Army All-American Bowl, he led the West squad with 95 yards on 9 carries and scoring 2 touchdowns and announced at the game he would attend college at Oklahoma. Among his other choices of schools were the University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Arkansas, and University of Miami. Following the season, he was awarded the Hall Trophy as the Ball Park National High School Player of the Year. In addition, he was named the top high school player by College Football News and Rivals.com.

During his freshman season, Adrian Peterson broke many NCAA freshman rushing records, rushing for 1925 yards and leading the nation in carries with 339. Adrian Peterson was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, finishing 2nd to USC quarterback Matt Leinart, which was the highest finish ever for a freshman. Adrian Peterson was also a finalist for the Doak Walker Award. Among other honours include being the 1st Oklahoma freshman recognised as a 1st-Team Associated Press All-American. Adrian Peterson contributed to an undefeated season for the Oklahoma Sooners and participated in the 2005 BCS National Championship Game with a berth to the FedEx Orange Bowl.

Adrian Peterson's playing time in 2005 was limited by a high ankle sprain. Adrian Peterson injured his ankle in the 1st Big 12 Conference game of the season against Kansas State University. Despite missing time in 4 games, he rushed for 1,208 yards and 14 touchdowns on 220 carries, finishing 2nd in Big 12 rushing yardage. Adrian Peterson's 2005 season was also notable for a career-long 84 yard touchdown run against Oklahoma State University. Upon the conclusion of the season, he was named a member of the All-Big 12 Conference team.

Nelson Peterson was released from prison during the 2006 college football season and was able to watch his son as a spectator for the 1st time on 14 October, 2006 when Oklahoma played Iowa State University. Oklahoma defeated Iowa State in that game, but Adrian Peterson broke his collar bone falling into the end zone to end a 53 yard touchdown run. During a press conference on 18 October, Adrian Peterson said he was told by doctors to expect to be out for 4 to 6 weeks. At the time of the injury, Adrian Peterson needed only 150 yards to gain to pass Billy Sims as the University of Oklahoma's all-time leading rusher. Adrian Peterson was unable to return for the rest of the Sooners regular season, but returned for the Sooners' last game against Boise State in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, where he rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown. Adrian Peterson refused to discuss his plans beyond the end of this season with the press. Adrian Peterson concluded his college football career with 1,112 rushing yards his final season, even after missing multiple games due to injury for a total of 4,045 rushing yards (only 3 season). Adrian Peterson was 73 yards short of passing Billy Sims as Oklahoma's all-time leading rusher.

Awards And Honours

Hall Trophy (2003)
First-team AP All-Freshman (2004)
First-team AP All-American (2004)
Doak Walker Award finalist (2004)
Heisman Trophy finalist (2004)

On 15 January, 2007, Adrian Peterson declared that he would forego his senior year of college and enter the 2007 NFL Draft. Concerns about his injuries suffered during college were noted by the media and potential NFL teams. Adrian Peterson started 22 out of 31 games in his college career and missed games due to a dislocated shoulder his 1st year, a high ankle sprain his sophomore year, and a broken collarbone his final year at Oklahoma. Adrian Peterson's durability was a consideration by at least 2 teams in their draft analysis, which impacted selection position. Prior to the 2007NFL Draft, Adrian Peterson was compared by professional football scouts to Eric Dickerson. ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. said of Peterson, "You can make the argument,[Peterson]is the best player in this draft, if not, certainly 1 of the top 3."

On 28 April, 2007, Adrian Peterson was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the 7th overall pick in the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adrian Peterson was the 1st running back selected in that year's draft. At a press conference during the draft, Adrian Peterson announced, "My collarbone, I would say it's 90% healed. A lot of teams know that, and I don't see it stopping me from being prepared for the season."

After being drafted by the Vikings, there was speculation that Adrian Peterson would require surgery to fully heal the collarbone injury he suffered during college, but it was soon learned that was not the case.

Adrian Peterson believes he is a player that a franchise can build around. In an interview with IGN following the NFL Draft, he said, "I'm a player who is coming in with the determination to turn a team around. I want to help my team get to the playoffs, win…and run wild. I want to bring people to the stands. I want people to come to the game to see what I can do next. Things like that can change the whole attitude of an organisation. I want to win." Adrian Peterson later told the Star Tribune in an interview, "I want to be the best player to ever play this game."

Nearly 3 months after being drafted, he was signed by the Vikings on 29 July, 2007. Adrian Peterson's contract is worth US$40.5,000,000 over 5 years, with $17,000,000 guaranteed.

Adrian Peterson’s outstanding rookie season began with high expectations from Adrian Peterson himself; he announced ambitious goals including being named Offensive Rookie of the Year, rushing for 1,800 yards during the course of the year, and breaking the league's rookie rushing record just as he broke the freshman rushing record during his 1st season at Oklahoma. The NFL's rushing record for a rookie is currently held by Eric Dickerson at 1,808 yards. Just 11 weeks into his rookie season with the Vikings, Adrian Peterson was well on his way to Eric Dickerson’s record and considered one of the elite running backs in the NFL.

On 10 August, Adrian Peterson made his Minnesota Vikings debut in a preseason game against the St. Louis Rams. Adrian Peterson ran for 33 yards on 11 carries with 1 catch for 2 yards. On 9 September, 2007, Adrian Peterson ran for 103 yards on 19carries in his 1st NFL regular season game against the Atlanta Falcons. In addition to his rushing yardage, he scored his 1st professional football touchdown on a 60 yard pass reception. Over his 1st 3 regular season games, his 431 yards (271 rushing & 160 receiving) from scrimmage are a team record. For his performance during the 3 games, Adrian Peterson received the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month award for both September and October 2007.

Adrian Peterson's breakout game as a professional came on 14 October, 2007 against the Chicago Bears, highlighted by a 3 touchdown performance and a then franchise record of 224 yards rushing on 20 carries. Adrian Peterson established additional team records for a rookie during this game, which included the most 100-yard games rushing and the longest touchdown run from scrimmage. Adrian Peterson also set an NFL rookie record with 361 all-purpose yards in a single game. Adrian Peterson's 607 rushing yards through the 1st 5 games of the season is 2nd in NFL history to Eric Dickerson. Following Adrian Peterson's record performance, Deion Sanders, now an NFL Network analyst said the following about Adrian Peterson: "He has the vision of a Marshall Faulk, the power of an Earl Campbell, and the speed of an Eric Dickerson. Let’s pray he has the endurance of an Emmitt Smith." Adrian Peterson has also been compared to Walter Payton and Tony Dorsett by Star Tribune sports journalist Jim Souhan.

3 weeks later on 4 November, 2007, Adrian Peterson broke his own franchise record as well as the NFL single game rushing yard record previously held by Jamal Lewis since 2003 when he rushed for 296 yards on 30 carries and 3 touchdowns against the San Diego Chargers. That game was his 2nd game of over 200 yards rushing, a feat no other rookie has ever accomplished in a season. In addition to the NFL rushing record in a single game, it took him past 1,000 yards rushing for the year after just 8 games. Adrian Peterson's 1,036 rushing yards represents the best 8-game performance by a rookie in NFL history.

On 11 November, 2007, just a week after his record-breaking performance against the Chargers, Adrian Peterson injured the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee in a game against the Green Bay Packers. The injury occurred in the 3rd quarter of a 34-0 defeat at Lambeau Field on a low, yet clean tackle by Packers cornerback Al Harris. Almost a month after the injury, Adrian Peterson returned to action on 2 December, 2007 against the Detroit Lions scoring 2 touchdowns and rushing for 116 yards. On 17 December Adrian Peterson played in his 1st Monday Night Football game where he had 78 yards rushing, 17 yards receiving and 2 TDs. The next day Adrian Peterson was named as the starting running back for the 2008 NFC Pro Bowl team. On 2 January, he was named The Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

On 10 February, 2008, Adrian Peterson won the 2008 NFL Pro Bowl MVP award with 16 carries for 129 yards rushing along with 2 touchdowns. The 129 yards rushing was the 2nd most in Pro Bowl history. Adrian Peterson was the 1st rookie since Marshall Faulk in 1995 to win the Pro Bowl MVP award.

Adrian Peterson finished in 2nd place in rushing yards (1341)in the 2007 season behind LaDainian Tomlinson, who finished with (1474) rushing yards.

Adrian Peterson and the Vikings entered the 2008 season with high expectations and as he did during his rookie season, Adrian Peterson set high goals for himself including a 2000-yard campaign and the NFL MVP award. Questions remained as to Adrian Peterson’s durability and the ability of the Vikings offense to take the focus of opposing defenses off of Adrian Peterson. In the 1st game of the season against the Packers, Adrian Peterson ran for 103 yards on 19 carries and a TD, including 1 reception for 11 yards. In week 2 against the Colts, Adrian Peterson had 29 carries for 160 yards and 4 receptions for 20 yards. Against Carolina in week 3 Adrian Peterson ran for 77 yards on 17 carries. In week 4 Adrianh Peterson ran the ball 18 times for 80 yards and 2 TDs against the Titans. Adrian Peterson also had 4 catches 21 yards. Against New Orleans he ran for a dismal 32 yards on 21 yards and 9 yards on a catch. Week 6 against Detroit Adrian ran for 111 yards on 25 carries and 1catch for -5 yards, but he had 2 vital fumbles that almost lost them the game. Adrian Peterson currently ranks 3rd in the NFL in rushing and 6th in yards from scrimmage.

Records

Most 200-yard rushing games for a rookie (2)
Most yards rushing in the first eight games (1,036)
Most yards rushing in a single game (296)

Awards

2008 NFL Pro Bowl MVP
2007 NFL AP Offensive Rookie of the Year
2007 Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year
Two 2007 Player of the Month awards
2008 Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Alan Turing

2008-10-26T17:16:00.009Z

Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS (pronounced /ˈt(j)ʊ(ə)rɪŋ/)was born on 23 June 1912 and died On 8 June 1954, his cleaner found him dead; the previous day, he had died of cyanide poisoning, apparently from a cyanide-laced apple he left half-eaten beside his bed. The apple itself was never tested for contamination with cyanide, but a post-mortem established that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. Most believe that his death was intentional, and the death was ruled a suicide. Alan Turing's mother, however, strenuously argued that the ingestion was accidental due to his careless storage of laboratory chemicals. Biographer Andrew Hodges suggests that Alan Turing may have killed himself in this ambiguous way quite deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability. Others suggest that Alan Turing was re-enacting a scene from 'Snow White', his favourite fairy tale. Because Alan Turing's homosexuality would have been perceived as a security risk, the possibility of assassination has also been suggested. Alan Turing's remains were cremated at Woking crematorium on 12 June 1954.

Alan Turing was an English mathematician, logician and cryptographer.

Alan Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. Alan Turing provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine. With the Turing test, meanwhile, he made a significant and characteristically provocative contribution to the debate regarding artificial intelligence: whether it will ever be possible to say that a machine is conscious and can think. Alan Turing later worked at the National Physical Laboratory, creating 1 of the 1st designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE, although it was never actually built in its full form. In 1948, he moved to the University of Manchester to work on the Manchester Mark I, then emerging as one of the world's earliest true computers.

During the Second World War Turing worked at Bletchley Park, the UK's codebreaking centre, and was for a time head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. Alan Turing devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.

Alan Turing was homosexual, living in an era when homosexuality was still both illegal and officially considered a mental illness. Subsequent to his being outed, he was criminally prosecuted, which essentially ended his career. Alan Turing died not long after, under what some believe were ambiguous circumstances.

Alan Turing was conceived in Chhatrapur, Orissa, India. Alan Turing's father, Julius Mathison Turing, was a member of the Indian Civil Service. Julius and wife Sara 1881 – 1976, daughter of Edward Waller Stoney, chief engineer of the Madras Railways wanted Alan Turing to be brought up in England, so they returned to Maida Vale, London, where Alan Turing was born 23 June 1912, as recorded by a blue plaque on the outside of the building, now the Colonnade Hotel. Alan Turing had an elder brother, John. Alan Turing's father's civil service commission was still active, and during Alan Turing's childhood years his parents travelled between Guildford, England and India, leaving their 2 sons to stay with friends in Hastings in England. Very early in life, Alan Turing showed signs of the genius he was to display more prominently later.

Alan Turing's parents enrolled him at St Michael's, a day school, at the age of 6. The headmistress recognised his genius early on, as did many of his subsequent educators. In 1926, at the age of 14, he went on to Sherborne School, a famous and expensive public school in Dorset. Alan Turing's 1st day of term coincided with the General Strike in England, but so determined was he to attend his 1st day that he rode his bicycle unaccompanied more than 60 miles (97 km) from Southampton to school, stopping overnight at an inn.

Alan Turing's natural inclination toward mathematics and science did not earn him respect with some of the teachers at Sherborne, whose definition of education placed more emphasis on the classics. Alan Turing's headmaster wrote to his parents: "I hope he will not fall between 2 schools. If he is to stay at public school, he must aim at becoming educated. If he is to be solely a Scientific Specialist, he is wasting his time at a public school".

Despite this, Alan Turing continued to show remarkable ability in the studies he loved, solving advanced problems in 1927 without having even studied elementary calculus. In 1928, aged 16, Alan Turing encountered Albert Einstein's work; not only did he grasp it, but he extrapolated Albert Einstein's questioning of Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion from a text in which this was never made explicit.

Alan Turing's hopes and ambitions at school were raised by the close friendship he developed with a slightly older fellow student, Christopher Morcom, who was Alan Turing's 1st love interest. Christopher Morcom died suddenly only a few weeks into their last term at Sherborne, from complications of bovine tuberculosis, contracted after drinking infected cow's milk as a boy. Alan Turing's religious faith was shattered and he became an atheist. Alan Turing adopted the conviction that all phenomena, including the workings of the human brain, must be materialistic.

Alan Turing's unwillingness to work as hard on his classical studies as on science and mathematics meant he failed to win a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, and went on to the college of his 2nd choice, King's College, Cambridge. Alan Turing was an undergraduate there from 1931 to 1934, graduating with a distinguished degree, and in 1935 was elected a fellow at King's on the strength of a dissertation on the central limit theorem.

In his momentous paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem"(submitted on 28 May 1936), Alan Turing reformulated Kurt Gödel's 1931 results on the limits of proof and computation, replacing Kurt Gödel's universal arithmetic-based formal language with what are now called Turing machines, formal and simple devices. Alan Turing proved that some such machine would be capable of performing any conceivable mathematical problem if it were representable as an algorithm, even if no actual Turing machine would be likely to have practical applications, being much slower than practically realisable alternatives.

Turing machines are to this day the central object of study in theory of computation. Alan Turing went on to prove that there was no solution to the Entscheidungs problem by 1st showing that the halting problem for Turing machines is undecidable: it is not possible to decide, in general, algorithmically whether a given Turing machine will ever halt. While his proof was published subsequent to Alonzo Church's equivalent proof in respect to his lambda calculus, Alan Turing's work is considerably more accessible and intuitive. It was also novel in its notion of a 'Universal (Turing) Machine', the idea that such a machine could perform the tasks of any other machine. The paper also introduces the notion of definable numbers.

Most of 1937 and 1938 he spent at Princeton University, studying under Alonzo Church. In 1938 he obtained his Ph.D. from Princeton; his dissertation introduced the notion of relative computing where Turing machines are augmented with so-called oracles, allowing a study of problems that cannot be solved by a Turing machine.

Back in Cambridge in 1939, he attended lectures by Ludwig Wittgenstein about the foundations of mathematics. The 2 argued and disagreed, with Alan Turing defending formalism and Ludwig Wittgenstein arguing that mathematics does not discover any absolute truths but rather invents them.

During the Second World War, Alan Turing was a main participant in the efforts at Bletchley Park to break German ciphers. Building on cryptanalysis work carried out in Poland by Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki and Henryk Zygalski from Cipher Bureau before the war, he contributed several insights into breaking both the Enigma machine and the Lorenz SZ 40/42 (a Teletype cipher attachment codenamed "Tunny" by the British), and was, for a time, head of Hut 8, the section responsible for reading German naval signals.

Since September 1938, Alan Turing had been working part-time for the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS), the British code breaking organisation. Alan Turing worked on the problem of the German Enigma machine, and collaborated with Dilly Knox, a senior GCCS codebreaker. On 4 September 1939, the day after the UK declared war on Germany, Alan Turing reported to Bletchley Park, the wartime station of GCCS.

Within weeks of arriving at Bletchley Park, Alan Turing had designed an electromechanical machine which could help break Enigma faster than bomba from 1932, the bombe, named after and building upon the original Polish-designed bomba. The bombe, with an enhancement suggested by mathematician Gordon Welchman, became one of the primary tools, and the major automated one, used to attack Enigma-protected message traffic.

Professor Jack Good, cryptanalyst working at the time with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park, later said: "Turing's most important contribution, I think, was of part of the design of the bombe, the cryptanalytic machine. He had the idea that you could use, in effect, a theorem in logic which sounds to the untrained ear rather absurd; namely that from a contradiction, you can deduce everything."

The bomb searched for possibly correct settings used for an Enigma message (i.e., rotor order, rotor settings, etc.), and used a suitable "crib": a fragment of probable plaintext. For each possible setting of the rotors (which had of the order of 1019 states, or 1022 for the U-boat Enigmas which eventually had 4 rotors, compared to the usual Enigma variant's 3), the bomb performed a chain of logical deductions based on the crib, implemented electrically. The bomb detected when a contradiction had occurred, and ruled out that setting, moving onto the next. Most of the possible settings would cause contradictions and be discarded, leaving only a few to be investigated in detail. Alan Turing's bomb was 1st installed on 18 March 1940. Over 200 bombs were in operation by the end of the war.

In December 1940, Alan Turing solved the naval Enigma indicator system, which was more mathematically complex than the indicator systems used by the other services. Alan Turing also invented a Bayesian statistical technique termed "Banburismus" to assist in breaking Naval Enigma. Banburismus could rule out certain orders of the Enigma rotors, reducing time needed to test settings on the bombs.

In the spring of 1941, Alan Turing proposed marriage to Hut 8 co-worker Joan Clarke, although the engagement was broken off by mutual agreement in the summer.

In July 1942, Alan Turing devised a technique termed Turingismus or Turingery for use against the Lorenz cipher used in the Germans' new Geheimschreiber machine ("secret writer") which was one of those codenamed "Fish". Alan Turing also introduced the Fish team to Tommy Flowers who under the guidance of Max Newman, went on to build the Colossus computer, the world's 1st programmable digital electronic computer, which replaced simpler prior machines (including the "Heath Robinson") and whose superior speed allowed the brute-force decryption techniques to be applied usefully to the daily-changing cyphers. A frequent misconception is that Alan Turing was a key figure in the design of Colossus; this was not the case.

Alan Turing travelled to the United States in November 1942 and worked with U.S. Navy cryptanalysts on Naval Enigma and bombe construction in Washington, and assisted at Bell Labs with the development of secure speech devices. Alan Turing returned to Bletchley Park in March 1943. During his absence, Hugh Alexander had officially assumed the position of head of Hut 8, although Hugh Alexander had been de facto head for some time — Alan Turing having little interest in the day-to-day running of the section. Alan Turing became a general consultant for cryptanalysis at Bletchley Park.

In the latter part of the war, while teaching himself electronics at the same time, and assisted by engineer Donald Bayley, Alan Turing undertook the design of a portable machine codenamed Delilah to allow secure voice communications. It was intended for different applications, lacking capability for use with long-distance radio transmissions, and in any case, Delilah was completed too late to be used during the war. Though Alan Turing demonstrated it to officials by encrypting/decrypting a recording of a Winston Churchill speech, Delilah was not adopted for use.

In 1945, Alan Turing was awarded the OBE for his wartime services, but his work remained secret for many years. A biography published by the Royal Society shortly after his death recorded:

"3 remarkable papers written just before the war, on 3 diverse mathematical subjects, show the quality of the work that might have been produced if he had settled down to work on some big problem at that critical time. For his work at the Foreign Office he was awarded the OBE."

From 1945 to 1947 he was at the National Physical Laboratory, where he worked on the design of the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine). Alan Turing presented a paper on 19 February 1946, which was the 1st detailed design of a stored-program computer. Although ACE was a feasible design, the secrecy surrounding the wartime work at Bletchley Park led to delays in starting the project and he became disillusioned. In late 1947 he returned to Cambridge for a sabbatical year. While he was at Cambridge, the Pilot ACE was built in his absence. It executed its 1st program on 10 May 1950.

In 1948 he was appointed Reader in the Mathematics Department at Manchester and in 1949 became deputy director of the computing laboratory at the University of Manchester, and worked on software for one of the earliest true computers — the Manchester Mark I. During this time he continued to do more abstract work, and in "Computing machinery and intelligence" (Mind, October 1950), Alan Turing addressed the problem of artificial intelligence, and proposed an experiment now known as the Turing test, an attempt to define a standard for a machine to be called "intelligent". The idea was that a computer could be said to "think" if it could fool an interrogator into thinking that the conversation was with a human.

In 1948, Alan Turing, working with his former undergraduate colleague, D.G. Champernowne, began writing a chess program for a computer that did not yet exist. In 1952, lacking a computer powerful enough to execute the program, Alan Turing played a game in which he simulated the computer, taking about half an hour per move. The game was recorded; the program lost to Alan Turing's colleague Alick Glennie, although it is said that it won a game against Champernowne's wife.

Alan Turing worked from 1952 until his death in 1954 on mathematical biology, specifically morphogenesis. Alan Turing published one paper on the subject called "The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis" in 1952, putting forth the Turing hypothesis of pattern formation. Alan Turing's central interest in the field was understanding Fibonacci phyllotaxis, the existence of Fibonacci numbers in plant structures. Alan Turing used reaction-diffusion equations which are now central to the field of pattern formation. Later papers went unpublished until 1992 when Collected Works of A.M. Turing was published.

Homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom and regarded as a mental illness and subject to criminal sanctions. In 1952, Arnold Murray, a 19-year-old recent acquaintance of Alan Turing's, helped an accomplice to break into Alan Turing's house, and Alan Turing reported the crime to the police. As a result of the police investigation, Alan Turing acknowledged a sexual relationship with Arnold Murray, and a crime having been identified and settled, Alan Turing and Arnold Murray were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885. Alan Turing was unrepentant and was convicted of the same crime Oscar Wilde had been convicted of more than 50 years before.

Alan Turing was given a choice between imprisonment and probation, conditional on his undergoing hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. Alan Turing accepted the estrogen hormone injections, which lasted for a year, to avoid jail. Side effects included gynecomastia (breast enlargement). Alan Turing's conviction led to a removal of his security clearance and prevented him from continuing consultancy for GCHQ on cryptographic matters. At the time, there was acute public anxiety about spies and homosexual entrapment by Soviet agents, possibly due to the recent exposure of the Cambridge 5 as KGB double agents. ( Alan Turing was never accused of espionage.)

Since 1966, the Turing Award has been given annually by the Association for Computing Machinery to a person for technical contributions to the computing community. It is widely considered to be the computing world's equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

Various tributes to Alan Turing have been made in Manchester, the city where he worked towards the end of his life. In 1994 a stretch of the A6010 road (the Manchester city intermediate ring road) was named Alan Turing Way. A bridge carrying this road was widened, and carries the name 'Alan Turing Bridge'.

A statue of Alan Turing was unveiled in Manchester on 23 June 2001. It is in Sackville Park, between the University of Manchester building on Whitworth Street and the Canal Street 'gay village'. A celebration of Alan Turing's life and achievements arranged by the British Logic Colloquium and the British Society for the History of Mathematics was held on 5 June 2004 at the University of Manchester; the Alan Turing Institute was initiated in the university that summer. The building housing the School of Mathematics, the Photon Sciences Institute and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics is named the Alan Turing Building and was opened in July 2007.

On 23 June 1998, on what would have been Alan Turing's 86th birthday, Andrew Hodges, his biographer, unveiled an official English Heritage Blue Plaque on his childhood home in Warrington Crescent, London, now the Colonnade hotel. To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, a memorial plaque was unveiled on 7 June 2004 at his former residence, Hollymeade, in Wilmslow.

For his achievements in computing, various universities have honoured him. On 28 October 2004 a bronze statue of Alan Turing sculpted by John W Mills was unveiled at the University of Surrey in Guildford. The statue marks the 50th anniversary of Alan Turing's death. It portrays him carrying his books across the campus. Turing Road in the University's Research Park predates this.

The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and Los Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia, both have computer laboratories named after Alan Turing. The University of Texas at Austin has an honours computer science programme named the Turing Scholars. Istanbul Bilgi University organises an annual conference on the theory of computation called Turing Days. The computer room in King's College, Cambridge is named the "Turing Room" after him. Carnegie Mellon University has a granite bench, situated in The Hornbostel Mall, with the name "A. M. Turing" carved across the top, "Read" down the left leg, and "Write" down the other. The Boston GLBT pride organisation named Alan Turing their 2006 Honourary Grand Marshal.

On 13 March 2000, St Vincent & The Grenadines issued a set of stamps to celebrate the greatest achievements of the 20th century, one of which carries a recognisable portrait of Alan Turing against a background of repeated 0s and 1s, and is captioned '1937: Alan Turing's theory of digital computing'.

A 1.5-ton, life-size statue of Alan Turing was unveiled on 19 June 2007 at Bletchley Park. Built from approximately 500,000 pieces of Welsh slate, it was sculpted by Stephen Kettle, having been commissioned by the late American billionaire Sidney Frank.

The Turing Relay is a 6-stage relay race on riverside footpaths from Ely to Cambridge and back. These paths were used for running by Alan Turing while at Cambridge; his marathon best time was 2 hours, 46 minutes.

Experimental music duo Matmos, whose members are a homosexual couple, released a limited edition EP in 2006 entitled For Alan Turing.

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Moses

2008-10-24T06:53:00.006+01:00

Moses (Latin: Moyses, Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה, Standard Moshe Tiberian Mōšeh; Greek: Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: موسىٰ, Mūsa; Ge'ez: ሙሴ, Musse) is a Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and military leader, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Moses is the most important prophet in Judaism, and also an important prophet of Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, Mormonism, Rastafari, Raëlism, Chrislam and many other faiths.

According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew mother, Jochebed, who hid him when a Pharaoh (Feraun, as mentioned in the Qu'ran), ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, where they wandered in the desert for 40 years, during which time, according to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments. Despite living to 120, Moses died before reaching the Land of Israel. According to the Torah, Moses was denied entrance to that destination because he himself disobeyed God's instructions about how to release water from a rock. According to the Qu'ran the reason for the wandering in the desert was the disobedience of his Israelite followers during the Exodus. In Islamic perspective, Moses (Hazrat Musa) and the obedient Israelites weren't punished, but got rewards for their patience during the wandering years.

The Book of Exodus takes up the narrative many years after the close of the Book of Genesis, at the end of which the Israelites were dwelling in relative harmony with the native Egyptians in the Land of Goshen, the eastern part of the Nile Delta.

After Joseph died, a new pharaoh came to power who was hostile to the Israelites and enslaved them.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was a son of Amram, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel, having descended from Jacob, and his wife Jochebed. Jochebed (also Yocheved) was kin to Amram's father Kohath. Moses had 1 older (by 7 years) sister, Miriam, and 1 older (by 3 years) brother, Aaron. According to Genesis, Amram's father Kohath immigrated to Egypt with 70 of Jacob's household, making Moses part of the 2nd generation of Israelites born during their time in Egypt.

In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses (dated by the Talmud to 7 Adar 2368, or 1393 BCE)occurred at a time when the current Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile. The Torah and Flavius Josephus leave the identity of this Pharaoh unstated.

Jochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son and kept him concealed for 3 months. When she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile River in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch.According to Quran, she is commanded by God to place him in an ark and cast him on the waters of the Nile, thus abandoning him completely to God's protection and demonstrating her total trust in God. In the Biblical account, Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat until it reached a place where Pharaoh's daughter Thermuthis (Bithiah)was bathing with her handmaidens. It is said that she spotted the baby in the basket and had her handmaiden fetch it for her. After several women had unsuccessfully attempted to nurse the child, Miriam came forward and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse, and he grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and became her son, as she had no other children at the time of her adoption of Moses.

This birth legend is in many respects similar to the 7th century BCE Neo-Assyrian version of the birth of the king Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BCE who, being born of modest means, was set in the Euphrates river in a basket of bulrushes and discovered by a member of the Akkadian royalty who reared him as their own. Professor Eric H. Cline refers to the story of the birth of Moses as a 'foundation myth', similar to those of Sargon, Cyrus the Great and Romulus and Remus.

Exodus and Flavius Josephus do not mention whether this daughter of Pharaoh was an only child or, if she was not an only child, whether she was an eldest child or an eldest daughter. Nor do they mention whether Thermuthis later had other natural or adopted children. If Ramesses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression as is traditionally thought, identifying her would be extremely difficult as Rameses II is thought to have fathered over a hundred children. The daughter of Pharaoh named him Mosheh, similar to the Hebrew word mashah, "to draw out".

In Greek translation, Mosheh was Hellenized as Mωυσής (Mousēs or Moses).

The Classical Rabbis in the Midrash identify Moses as 1 of 7 biblical characters who were called by various names. Moses' other names were: Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by his father), Jered (by Miriam), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), Kehath, Avi Soco (his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel). Moses is also attributed the names Toviah (as a first name), and Levi (as a family name), Heman, Mechoqeiq (lawgiver) and Ehl Gav Ish.

According to the Torah, the name "Moses" comes from the (Hebrew) verb meaning "to pull/draw out" [of water], so named by Pharaoh's daughter (identified by the Midrash as Bithiah from I Chr; or (Thermuthis) ) after she had pulled the infant from the banks of the river. Further, Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, which would also shows deliverance out of water. Josephus also cites this etymology.
Some medieval Jewish scholars had suggested that Moses' actual name was the Egyptian translation of "to draw out", and that it was translated into Hebrew, either by the Bible, or by Moses himself later in his lifetime.

Some modern scholars had suggested that the daughter of the pharaoh might have derived his name from the Egyptian word moses, which means "son" or "formed of" or "has provided"; for example, "Thutmose" means "son of Thoth", and Rameses means "Ra has provided (a son)".

According to Islamic tradition, his name, Mūsā, is derived from two Egyptian words: Mū which means water and shā meaning tree (or reeds), in reference to the fact that the basket in which the infant Moses floated came to rest by trees close to Pharaoh's residence.

A growing number of critical scholars believe that Moses actually had a full Egyptian name, consisting of the root word moses and the name of a god (similar to Rameses), but the name of the god was later dropped, either when he assimilated into Hebrew culture or by later scribes who were dismayed that their greatest prophet had such an Egyptian name.

Amongst the Aramaeans and Neo-Hittites of the northern Sam'al Yaudi state there is mention of an ancestral culture hero Moschos, linked to the Greek hero Mopsus (whose name means "calf"), who has certain similarities to parts of the Moses these similarities are only being in a similar location and having a similar name.

After Moses had reached adulthood, he went to see how his brethren who were enslaved to the Egyptians were faring. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and buried the body in the sand, supposing that no one who knew about the incident would be disposed to talk about it. The next day, seeing 2 Hebrews quarreling, he endeavored to separate them, whereupon the Hebrew who was wronging the other taunted Moses for slaying the Egyptian. Moses soon discovered from a higher source that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he therefore made his escape over the Sinai Peninsula. Moses stopped at a well, where he protected 7 shepherdesses from a band of rude shepherds. The shepherdesses' father Hobab (also known as Raguel and Jethro, and Shoaib according to Qur'an, a priest of Midian was immensely grateful for this assistance Moses had given his daughters, and adopted him as his son, gave his daughter Zipporah to him in marriage, and made him the superintendent of his herds. There he sojourned 40 years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born. One day, Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb (Exodus 3), usually identified with Mount Sinai — a mountain that was thought in the Middle Ages to be located on the Sinai Peninsula, but that many scholars now believe was further east, towards Moses' home of Midian. At Mount Horeb, he saw a burning bush that would not be consumed. When he turned aside to look more closely at the marvel, God spoke to him from the bush, revealing his name to Moses.

God commissioned Moses to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from bondage. God had Moses practice transforming his rod into a serpent and inflicting and healing leprosy, and told him that he could also pour river water on dry land to change the water to blood. Quran's account has emphasized Moses' mission to invite the Pharaoh to accept God's divine message as well as give salvation to the Israelites.

Moses then set off for Egypt, was nearly killed by God because his son was not circumcised (The meaning of this latter obscure passage is debatable, because of the ambiguous nature of the Hebrew and its abrupt presence in the narrative. Several interpretations are therefore possible.), was met on the way by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed kindred after they returned to Egypt, who believed Moses and Aaron after they saw the signs that were performed in the midst of the Israelite assembly. It is also revealed that during Moses' absence, the Pharaoh of the Oppression (sometimes identified with Ramesses II) had died, and been replaced by a new Pharaoh, known as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. If Rameses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression, then this new Pharaoh would be Merneptah. Because the story the book of Exodus describes is catastrophic for the Egyptians — involving horrible plagues, the loss of thousands of slaves, and many deaths (possibly including the death of Pharaoh himself, although that matter is unclear in Exodus) — it is conspicuous that no Egyptian records speaking of Israelites in Egypt have ever been found. However, Merneptah, is indeed, historically known to have been a mediocre ruler, and certainly one weaker than Rameses II. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord God of Israel wanted Pharaoh to permit the Israelites to celebrate a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh replied that he did not know their God and would not permit them to go celebrate the feast. Pharaoh upbraided Moses and Aaron and made the Israelites find their own straw besides meeting the same daily quota of bricks. Moses and Aaron gained a 2nd hearing with Pharaoh and changed Moses' rod into a serpent, but Pharaoh's magicians did the same with their rods. Moses and Aaron had a 3rd opportunity when they went to meet the Pharaoh at the Nile riverbank, and Moses had Aaron turn the river to blood, but Pharaoh's magicians could do the same. Moses obtained a 4th meeting, and had Aaron bring frogs from the Nile to overrun Egypt, but Pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing. Apparently Pharaoh eventually got annoyed by the frogs and asked Moses to remove the frogs and promised to let the Israelites go observe their feast in the wilderness in return. The next day all the frogs died leaving a horrible stench and an enormous mess, which angered Pharaoh and decide against letting the Israelites leave to observe the feast. Eventually Pharaoh let the Hebrews depart after Moses's God sent 10 plagues upon the Egyptians. The 3rd was lice, gnats, and flies. The 4th was attacking of wild beasts. The 5th was the invasion of diseases on the Egyptians' cattle, oxen, goats, sheep, camels, and horses. 6th were boils on the skins of Egyptians. 7th, fiery hail and thunder struck Egypt. The 8th plague was locusts encompassing Egypt. The 9th plague was total darkness. The 10th plague culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian male 1st-borns, whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave in the Exodus. The events are commemorated as Passover, referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites while smiting the Egyptians.

Moses lead his people Eastward, beginning the long journey to Canaan. The procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp 3 times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but Exodus records that God divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. There is some contention about this passage, since an earlier incorrect translation of Yam Suph to Red Sea was later found to have meant Reed Sea. When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them.

According to the Quran the Pharaoh was leading the Egyptian army himself, and drowned along with his army, and in his last words before drowning he asks God for forgiveness - (قَالَ آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلِـهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ) - , however God made him die with his body in perfect shape, so he would be an example for every tyrant who defies the prophets - surat Yunis:92 (يونس:92) -.
When the people arrived at Marah, the water was bitter, causing the people to murmur against Moses. Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet. Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation. When the people camped in Rephidim, there was no water, so the people complained again and said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came 4th.

In response, Moses bid Joshua lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favour of the Amalekites. Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites.

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to see Moses and brought Moses' wife and 2 sons with him. After Moses had told Jethro how the Israelites had escaped Egypt, Jethro went to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then ate bread with the elders. The next day Jethro observed how Moses sat from morning to night giving judgement for the people. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint judges for lesser matters, a suggestion Moses heeded.

When the Israelites came to Sinai, they pitched camp near the mountain. Moses commanded the people not to touch the mountain. Moses received the Ten Commandments orally (but not yet in tablet form) and other moral laws. Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 of the elders to see the God of Israel. Before Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets, he told the elders to direct any questions that arose to Aaron or Hur. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry. After Moses had persuaded the Lord not to destroy the people of Israel, he went down from the mountain and was met by Joshua. Moses destroyed the calf and rebuked Aaron for the sin he had brought upon the people. Seeing that the people were uncontrollable, Moses went to the entry of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." All the sons of Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go from gate to gate slaying the idolators.

Following this, according to the last chapters of Exodus, the Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. Moses was given 8 prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian, Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the Antiquities of the Jews and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke. Miriam was punished with leprosy for 7 days.

The people left Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran. (Paran is a vaguely defined region in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, just south of Canaan) Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After 40 days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only 2 of the 12 spies (Joshua and Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and are nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion. The people began weeping and wanted to return to Egypt. Moses turned down the opportunity to have the Israelites completely destroyed and a great nation made from his own offspring, and instead he told the people that they would wander the wilderness for 40 years until all those 20 years or older who had refused to enter Canaan had died, and that their children would then enter and possess Canaan. Early the next morning, the Israelites said they had sinned and now wanted to take possession of Canaan. Moses told them not to attempt it, but the Israelites chose to disobey Moses and invade Canaan, but were repulsed by the Amalekites and Canaanites. According to the Quran, Moses encourages the Israelites to enter Canaan, but they are unwilling to fight the Canaanites, fearing certain defeat. Moses responds by pleading to Allah that he and his brother Aaron be separated from the rebellious Israelites.

The Tribe of Reuben, led by Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 Israelite princes accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man. Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents. After Moses spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again. Fire consumed the 250 men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites. The people were struck with a plague that killed 14,700 persons, and was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people. To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had the chief prince of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them lay them in the sanctuary. Moses also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds.

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed 4th. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites. This was the 2nd occasion Moses struck a rock to bring 4th water; however, it appears that both sites were named Meribah after these 2 incidents.

Now ready to enter Canaan, the Israelites abandon the idea of attacking the Canaanites head-on in Hebron, a city in the southern part of Canaan, having been informed by spies that they were too strong, it is decided that they will flank Hebron by going further East, around the Dead Sea. This requires that they pass through Edom, Moab, and Ammon. These 3 tribes are considered Hebrews by the Israelites as descendants of Lot, and therefore cannot be attacked. However they are also rivals, and are therefore not permissive in allowing the Israelites to openly pass through their territory. So Moses leads his people carefully along the eastern border of Edom, the southernmost of these territories. While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the manna. After many of the people had been bitten by serpents and died, Moses made the brass serpent and mounted it on a pole, and if those who were bitten looked at it, they did not die.

According to the Biblical Book of Kings this brass serpent remained in existence until the days of King Hezekiah, who destroyed it after persons began treating it as an idol. When they reach Moab, it is revealed that Moab has been attacked and defeated by the Amorites led by a king named Sihon. The Amorites were a non-Hebrew Canannic people that once held power in the Fertile Crescent. When Moses asks the Amorites for passage and it is refused, Moses attacks the Amorites (as non-Hebrews, the Israelites have no reservations in attacking them), presumably weakened by conflict with the Moabites, and defeats them. The Israelites now holding the territory of the Amorites just north of Moab, desire to expand their holdings by acquiring Bashan, a fertile territory north of Ammon famous for its oak trees and cattle. It is led by a king named Og. Later rabbinical legends made Og a survivor of the flood, suggesting the he had sat on the ark and was fed by Noah. The Israelites fight with Og's forces at Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites are victorious and slay every man, woman, and child of his cities and take the spoil for their bounty.

Balak, king of Moab, having heard of the Israelites conquests, fears that his territory might be next. Therefore he sends elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam (apparently a powerful and respected prophet), son of Beor (Bible), to induce him to come and curse the Israelites. Balaam's location is unclear. Balaam sends back word that he can only do what God commands, and God has, via a dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking priests and offers Balaam honours, and so God tells Balaam to go with them. Balaam thus sets out with 2 servants to go to Balak, but an Angel tries to prevent him. At first the Angel is seen only by the ass Balaam is riding. After Balaam starts punishing the ass for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam, and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the ass is the only reason the Angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.

Balak meets with Balaam at Kirjath-huzoth, and they go to the high places of Baal, and offer sacrifices at seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which Balaam relates to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another high place at Pisgah, to try again. Building another 7 altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel. Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, and, after the 7 sacrifices there, decides not to seek enchantments but instead looks on the Israelites from the peak. The spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a 3rd positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks on the Kenites, and Amalekites and offers 2 more predictions of fate. Balak and Balaam then simply go to their respective homes. Later, Balaam informed Balak and the Midianites that, if they wished to overcome the Israelites for a short interval, they needed to seduce the Israelites to engage in idolatry. The Midianites sent beautiful women to the Israelite camp to seduce the young men to partake in idolatry, and the attempt proved successful.

Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, put an end to the matter of the Midianite seduction by slaying 2 of the prominent offenders, but by that time a plague inflicted on the Israelites had already killed about 24000 persons. Moses was then told that because Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites, Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood. After Moses had taken a census of the people, he sent an army to avenge the perceived evil brought on the Israelites by the Midianites. Numbers 31 says Moses instructed the Israelite soldiers to kill every Midianite woman, boy and the non-virgin girl, although virgin girls were shared amongst the soldiers. The Israelites killed Balaam, and the 5 kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba.

Moses appointed Joshua, son of Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites. Moses then died at the age of 20.

After all this was accomplished, Moses was warned that he would not be permitted to lead the nation of Israel across the Jordan river, but would die on its eastern shores. Moses therefore assembled the tribes, and delivered to them a parting address, which forms the Book of Deuteronomy. In this address it is commonly accepted that he recapitulated the Law, reminding them of its most important features. When Moses finished, and he had pronounced a blessing on the people, he went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, looked over the promised land of Israel spread out before him, and died, at the age of 120(dated by the Talmud to 7th of Adar 2488, or 1273 BCE). God Himself buried him in an unknown grave. Moses was thus the human instrument in the creation of the nation of Israel by communicating to it the Torah. More humble than any other man, he enjoyed unique privileges, for "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the HaShem knew face to face".

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Speech Differences And Stutter Series-Disabled Legend Theodore Roosevelt

2008-10-23T15:37:00.008+01:00

Theodore Roosevelt was born on 27 October, 1858, in a 4-story brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, in the modern-day Gramercy section of New York City, the 2nd of 4 children of Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (1831–1877) and Mittie Bulloch (1835–1884). Theodore Roosevelt died on 6 January, 1919, also known as T.R., and to the public (but never to friends and intimates) as Teddy. Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. A leader of the Republican Party and of the Progressive Party, he was a Governor of New York and a professional historian, naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier. Theodore Roosevelt is most famous for his personality: his energy, his vast range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" personality. Originating from a story from one of Theodore Roosevelt's hunting expeditions, Teddy bears are named after him.

Theodore Roosevelt had an elder sister Anna, nicknamed "Bamie" as a child and "Bye" as an adult for being always on the go, and 2 younger siblings—his brother Elliott (the father of Eleanor Roosevelt) and his sister Corinne (grandmother of newspaper columnists Joseph and Stewart Alsop).

As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt prepared for and advocated war with Spain in 1898. Theodore Roosevelt organised and helped command the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment – the Rough Riders – during the Spanish-American War. Returning to New York as a war hero, he was elected governor. An avid writer, his 35 books include works on outdoor life, natural history, the American frontier, political history, naval history, and his autobiography.

In 1901, as Vice President, the 42-year-old Theodore Roosevelt succeeded President William McKinley after William McKinley's assassination by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Theodore Roosevelt is the youngest person to become President. Theodore Roosevelt was a Progressive reformer who sought to move the dominant Republican Party into the Progressive camp. Theodore Roosevelt distrusted wealthy businessmen and dissolved 40monopolistic corporations as a "trust buster". Theodore Roosevelt was clear, however, to show he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle but was only against corrupt, illegal practices. Theodore Roosevelt's "Square Deal" promised a fair shake for both the average citizen (through regulation of railroad rates and pure food and drugs) and the businessmen. Theodore Roosevelt was the 1st U.S. president to call for universal health care and national health insurance. As an outdoorsman, he promoted the conservation movement, emphasizing efficient use of natural resources. After 1906 he attacked big business and suggested the courts were biased against labour unions. In 1910, he broke with his friend and anointed successor William Howard Taft, but lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft and ran in the 1912 election on his own one-time Bull Moose ticket. Theodore Roosevelt beat William Howard Taft in the popular vote and pulled so many Progressives out of the Republican Party that Democrat Woodrow Wilson won in 1912, and the conservative faction took control of the Republican Party for the next 2 decades.

Theodore Roosevelt negotiated for the U.S. to take control of the Panama Canal and its construction in 1904; he felt the Panama Canal's completion was his most important and historically significant international achievement. Theodore Roosevelt was the 1st American to be awarded the Nobel Prize, winning its Peace Prize in 1906, for negotiating the peace in the Russo-Japanese War.

Historian Thomas Bailey, who disagreed with Theodore Roosevelt's policies, nevertheless concluded, "Roosevelt was a great personality, a great activist, a great preacher of the moralities, a great controversialist, a great showman. Theodore Roosevelt dominated his era as he dominated conversations....the masses loved him; he proved to be a great popular idol and a great vote getter." Theodore Roosevelt's image stands alongside Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln on Mount Rushmore. Surveys of scholars have consistently ranked him from 3rd to 7th on the list of greatest American presidents.

The Roosevelts had been in New York since the mid-17th century. Theodore Roosevelt was born into a wealthy family; by the 19th century, the family had grown in wealth, power and influence from the profits of several businesses including hardware and plate-glass importing. The family was strongly Democratic in its political affiliation until the mid-1850s, then joined the new Republican Party. Theodore Roosevelt's father, known in the family as "Thee", was a New York City philanthropist, merchant, and partner in the family glass-importing firm Roosevelt and Son. Theodore Roosevelt was a prominent supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the Union effort during the American Civil War. Theodore Roosevelt's mother Mittie Bulloch was a Southern belle from a slave-owning family in Roswell, Georgia and had quiet Confederate sympathies. Mittie's brother, Theodore's uncle, James Dunwoody Bulloch, was a United States Navy officer who became a Confederate admiral and naval procurement agent in Britain. Another uncle, Irvine Bulloch, was a midshipman on the Confederate raider CSS Alabama; both remained in England after the war. From his grandparents' home, a young Theodore Roosevelt witnessed Abraham Lincoln's funeral in New York.

Sickly and asthmatic as a youngster, Theodore Roosevelt had to sleep propped up in bed or slouching in a chair during much of his early childhood, and had frequent ailments. Despite his illnesses, he was a hyperactive and often mischievous boy. Theodore Roosevelt's lifelong interest in zoology was formed at age 7 upon seeing a dead seal at a local market. After obtaining the seal's head, the young Theodore Roosevelt and 2 of his cousins formed what they called the "Roosevelt Museum of Natural History". Learning the rudiments of taxidermy, he filled his makeshift museum with many animals that he killed or caught, studied, and prepared for display. At the age of 9, he codified his observation of insects with a paper titled "The Natural History of Insects".

To combat his poor physical condition, his father compelled the young Theodore Roosevelt to take up exercise. To deal with bullies, Theodore Roosevelt started boxing lessons. 2 trips abroad had a permanent impact: family tours of Europe in 1869and 1870, and of the Middle East 1872 to 1873.

Theodore, Sr. had a tremendous influence on his son. Of him Theodore Roosevelt wrote, "My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was the best man I ever knew. Theodore Roosevelt combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness, and great unselfishness. Theodore Roosevelt would not tolerate in us children selfishness or cruelty, idleness, cowardice, or untruthfulness." Theodore Roosevelt's sister, Corinne, later wrote, "He told me frequently that he never took any serious step or made any vital decision for his country without thinking first what position his father would have taken."

Young "Teedie", as he was nicknamed as a child, (the nickname "Teddy" was from his 1st wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, and he later harboured an intense dislike for it) was mostly home schooled by tutors and his parents. A leading biographer says: "The most obvious drawback to the home schooling Theodore Roosevelt received was uneven coverage of the various areas of human knowledge." Theodore Roosevelt was solid in geography (thanks to his careful observations on all his travels) and very well read in history, strong in biology, French and German, but deficient in mathematics, Latin and Greek. Theodore Roosevelt matriculated at Harvard College in 1876. Theodore Roosevelt's father's death in 1878 was a tremendous blow, but Theodore Roosevelt redoubled his activities. Theodore Roosevelt did well in science, philosophy and rhetoric courses but fared poorly in Latin and Greek. Theodore Roosevelt studied biology with great interest and indeed was already an accomplished naturalist and published ornithologist. Theodore Roosevelt had a photographic memory and developed a life-long habit of devouring books, memorising every detail. Theodore Roosevelt was an eloquent conversationalist who, throughout his life, sought out the company of the smartest people. Theodore Roosevelt could multitask in extraordinary fashion, dictating letters to one secretary and memoranda to another, while browsing through a new book.

While at Harvard, Theodore Roosevelt was active in rowing, boxing, the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and was a member of the Porcellian Club. Theodore Roosevelt also edited a student magazine. Theodore Roosevelt was runner-up in the Harvard boxing championship, losing to C.S. Hanks. Upon graduating, he underwent a physical examination and his doctor advised him that due to serious heart problems, he should find a desk job and avoid strenuous activity. Theodore Roosevelt chose to embrace strenuous life instead.

Theodore Roosevelt graduated Phi Beta Kappa(22nd of 177) from Harvard in 1880, and entered Columbia Law School. When offered a chance to run for New York Assemblyman in 1881, he dropped out of law school to pursue his new goal of entering public life.

While at Harvard, the Theodore Roosevelt began a systematic study of the role played by the nascent US Navy in the War of 1812. Theodore Roosevelt recorded that right in the middle of classes on mathematics at Harvard, his mind would wander from his tedious lessons to the accomplishments of the infant US Navy, the clash of the "fighting tops". Reading through the literature of the day, Theodore Roosevelt found both American and British accounts heavily biased and that there had been no systematic study of the tactics employed by opposing forces. Although a tremendous challenge for a young man with no formal military nor naval education, nevertheless, helped on the nautical science aspects by his 2 former Confederate naval officer uncles living in Liverpool and Theodore Roosevelt did his own original research. After graduation, in 1882, the 23 year old Theodore Roosevelt published his 1st book, "The Naval War of 1812." Immediately, reviewers praised the book’s scholarship and style. The newly established Naval War College adopted it for study, and the Department of the Navy ordered a copy placed in library of every capital ship. Theodore Roosevelt brought out a subsequent edition with questions and answers from both scholars and critics. On modern naval historian, writes that, "Roosevelt’s study of the War of 1812 influenced all subsequent scholarship on the naval aspects of the War of 1812 and continues to be reprinted. More than a classic, it remains, after 120 years, a standard study of the war."

Alice Hathaway Lee (July 29, 1861 in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts – February 14, 1884in Manhattan, New York) was the 1st wife of Theodore Roosevelt and mother of their child, Alice. Roosevelt's wife, Alice died of an undiagnosed case of kidney failure called, in those days, Bright's disease at 2pm in the afternoon, 2 days after Alice Lee was born. Theodore Roosevelt's mother, Mittie, had died of typhoid fever in the same house, on the same day, at 3am, some 11 hours earlier. After the near simultaneous deaths of his mother and wife, Theodore Roosevelt left his daughter in the care of his sister, Anna "Bamie/Bye" in New York City. In his diary he wrote a large X on the page and indicated that "the light has gone out of my life."

A short time later, Theodore Roosevelt also wrote a short tribute to his wife published privately. To the immense disappointment of his wife's namesake and daughter, Alice, he would not speak of his wife publicly or privately for the rest of his life and made no mention of her in his autobiography. Theodore Roosevelt would later indicate that this was his only method of dealing with a such a debilitating loss.

Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican activist during his years in the Assembly, writing more bills than any other New York state legislator. Already a major player in state politics, he attended the Republican National Convention in 1884 and fought alongside the Mugwump reformers; they lost to the Stalwart faction that nominated James G. Blaine. Refusing to join other Mugwumps in supporting Democrat Grover Cleveland, the Democratic nominee, he debated with his friend Henry Cabot Lodge the plusses and minuses of staying loyal or straying. When asked by a reporter whether he would support James G. Blaine, he replied, "That question I decline to answer. It is a subject I do not care to talk about." Upon leaving the convention, he complained "off the record" to a reporter about James G. Blaine's nomination. But, in probably the most crucial moment of his young political career, he resisted the very instinct to bolt from the Party that would overwhelm his political sense in 1912. In an account of the Convention, another reporter quoted him as saying that he would give "hearty support to any decent Democrat." Theodore Roosevelt would later take great (and to some historical critics such as Henry Pringle, rather disingenuous) pains to distance himself from his own earlier comment, indicating that while he made it, it had not been made "for publication." Leaving the convention, his idealism quite disillusioned by party politics, Theodore Roosevelt indicated that he had no further aspiration but to retire to his ranch in the wild Badlands of the Dakota Territory that he had purchased the previous year while on a buffalo hunting expedition.

Theodore Roosevelt built a 2nd ranch, which he named Elk Horn, 35 miles (56 km) north of the boomtown of Medora, North Dakota. On the banks of the Little Missouri, Theodore Roosevelt learned to ride, rope, and hunt. Theodore Roosevelt rebuilt his life and began writing about frontier life for Eastern magazines. As a deputy sheriff, Theodore Roosevelt hunted down 3 outlaws who stole his river boat and were escaping north with it up the Little Missouri. Capturing them, he decided against hanging them, and sending his foreman back by boat, he took the thieves back overland for trial in Dickinson, guarding them 40 hours without sleep and reading Tolstoy to keep himself awake. When he ran out of his own books, he read a dime store western that one of the thieves was carrying. ." While working on a tough project aimed at hunting down a group of relentless horse thieves, Theodore Roosevelt came across the famous Deadwood Sheriff, Seth Bullock. The 2 would remain friends for life.

After the uniquely severe U.S. winter of 1886-1887 wiped out his herd of cattle and his $60,000 investment (together with those of his competitors), he returned to the East, where in 1885 he had built Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York. It would be his home and estate until his death. Theodore Roosevelt ran as the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City in 1886 as "The Cowboy of the Dakotas"; he came in 3rd.

Following the election, he went to London in 1886 and married his childhood sweetheart, Edith Kermit Carow. They honeymooned in Europe, and Theodore Roosevelt led a party to the summit of Mont Blanc, a feat which resulted in his induction into the British Royal Society. They had 5 children: Theodore Jr., Kermit, Ethel Carow, Archibald Bulloch "Archie", and Quentin.

Theodore Roosevelt's definitive 1882 book The Naval War of 1812 was standard history for 2 generations. Theodore Roosevelt undertook extensive and original research, computing British and American man-of-war broadside throw weights. However, his biographies Thomas Hart Benton (1887) and Gouverneur Morris (1888) are considered hastily-written and superficial. Theodore Roosevelt's 4-volume history of the frontier titled The Winning of the West (1889–1896) had a notable impact on historiography, as it presented a highly original version of the frontier thesis elaborated upon by his friend Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893.

In the 1888 presidential election, Theodore Roosevelt campaigned in the Midwest for Benjamin Harrison. President Benjamin Harrison appointed Theodore Roosevelt to the United States Civil Service Commission, where he served until 1895. In his term, he vigorously fought the spoilsmen and demanded the enforcement of civil service laws. In spite of Theodore Roosevelt's support for Benjamin Harrison's reelection bid in the presidential election of 1892, the eventual winner, Grover Cleveland (a Bourbon Democrat), reappointed him to the same post.

Theodore Roosevelt became president of the board of New York City Police Commissioners in 1895. During the 2 years he held this post, Theodore Roosevelt radically reformed the police department. The police force was reputed as one of the most corrupt in America. The NYPD's history division records that Theodore Roosevelt was "an iron-willed leader of unimpeachable honesty, (who) brought a reforming zeal to the New York City Police Commission in 1895." Theodore Roosevelt and his fellow commissioners established new disciplinary rules, created a bicycle squad to police New York's traffic problems and standardized the use of pistols by officers. Thoedore Roosevelt implemented regular inspections of firearms, annual physical exams, appointed 1,600 new recruits based on their physical and mental qualifications and not on political affiliation, established meritorious service medals, and shut down corrupt police hostelries. During his tenure, a Municipal Lodging House was established by the Board of Charities, and Theodore Roosevelt required officers to register with the Board. Theodore Roosevelt also had telephones installed in station houses. Always an energetic man, he made a habit of walking officers' beats late at night and early in the morning to make sure they were on duty. Theodore Roosevelt became caught up in public disagreements with Commissioner Parker, who sought to negate or delay the promotion of many officers put forward by Theodore Roosevelt. As Governor of New York State before becoming Vice President in March 1901, Theodore Roosevelt signed an act replacing the Police Commissioners with a single Police Commissioner.

Theodore Roosevelt was always facinated by history. Urged by Roosevelt's close friend, Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge, President William McKinley appointed a delighted Theodore Roosevelt to the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897. (Because of the inactivity of Secretary of the Navy John D. Long at the time, this basically gave Theodore Roosevelt control over the department.) Theodore Roosevelt was instrumental in preparing the Navy for the Spanish-American War and was an enthusiastic proponent of testing the U.S. military in battle, at one point stating "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one".

On leaving the Army, Theodore Roosevelt was elected governor of New York in 1898 as a Republican. Theodore Roosevelt made such a concerted effort to root out corruption and "machine politics" that Republican boss Thomas Collier Platt forced him on William McKinley as a running mate in the 1900 election, against the wishes of William McKinley's manager, Senator Mark Hanna. Theodore Roosevelt was a powerful campaign asset for the Republican ticket, which defeated William Jennings Bryan in a landslide based on restoration of prosperity at home and a successful war and new prestige abroad. William Jennings Bryan stumped for Free Silver again, but William McKinley's promise of prosperity through the gold standard, high tariffs, and the restoration of business confidence enlarged his margin of victory. William Jennings Bryan had strongly supported the war against Spain, but denounced the annexation of the Philippines as imperialism that would spoil America's innocence. Theodore Roosevelt countered with many speeches that argued it was best for the Filipinos to have stability, and the Americans to have a proud place in the world. Theodore Roosevelt's 6 months as Vice President (March to September 1901) were uneventful. On 2 September, 1901, at the Minnesota State Fair, Theodore Roosevelt 1st used in a public speech a saying that would later be universally associated with him: "Speak softly and carry a big stick, and you will go far."

At the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on 6 September, 1901, President William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz (Zol-gash). Theodore Roosevelt had been at a luncheon of the Vermont Fish and Game League on Lake Champlain when he learned the news. Theodore Roosevelt rushed to Buffalo, but after being assured the President would recover, he went on a planned family camping and hiking trip to Mount Marcyin the Adirondacks. In the mountains, a runner notified him William McKinley was on his death bed. Theodore Roosevelt pondered with his wife, Edith, how best to respond, not wanting to show up in Buffalo and wait on William McKinley's death. Theodore Roosevelt was rushed by a series of stagecoaches to North Creek train station. At the station, Theodore Roosevelt was handed a telegram that said President William McKinley died at 2:30 AM that morning. Theodore Roosevelt continued by train from North Creek to Buffalo. Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Buffalo later that day, accepting an invitation to stay at the home of Ansley Wilcox, a prominent lawyer and friend since the early 1880s when they had both worked closely with New York State Governor Grover Cleveland on civil service reform.

Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in the Ansley Wilcox House at Buffalo, borrowing Ansley Wilcox's morning coat. Theodore Roosevelt did not swear on a Bible, in contrast to the usual tradition of US presidents. Expressing the fears of many old-line Republicans, Mark Hanna lamented "that damned cowboy is president now." Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest person to assume the presidency, at 42, and he promised to continue William McKinley's cabinet and his basic policies. Theodore Roosevelt did so, but after winning election in 1904, he moved to the political left, stretching his ties to the Republican Party's conservative leaders.

Theodore Roosevelt commanding 2 large bears "Interstate Commerce Commission" and "Federal Courts" to attack Wall Street before the Panic of 1907. Puck May 8, 1907Theodore Roosevelt promised to continue William McKinley's program, and at first he worked closely with William McKinley's men. Theodore Roosevelt 20,000-word address to the Congress in December 1901 asked Congress to curb the power of trusts "within reasonable limits." They did not act but Theodore Roosevelt did, issuing 44 lawsuits against major corporations; he was called the "trust-buster".

Theodore Roosevelt firmly believed: "The Government must in increasing degree supervise and regulate the workings of the railways engaged in interstate commerce." Inaction was a danger, he argued: "Such increased supervision is the only alternative to an increase of the present evils on the one hand or a still more radical policy on the other."

Theodore Roosevelt's biggest success was passage of the Hepburn Act of 1906, the provisions of which were to be regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The most important provision of the Act gave the ICC the power to replace existing rates with "just-and-reasonable" maximum rates, with the ICC to define what was just and reasonable. Anti-rebate provisions were toughened, free passes were outlawed, and the penalties for violation were increased. Finally, the ICC gained the power to prescribe a uniform system of accounting, require standardised reports, and inspect railroad accounts. The Act made ICC orders binding; that is, the railroads had to either obey or contest the ICC orders in federal court. To speed the process, appeals from the district courts would go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. The limited on railroad rates depreciated the value of railroad securities, a factor in causing the panic of 1907.

In response to public clamor (and due to the uproar cause by Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle), Theodore Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, as well as the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. These laws provided for labeling of foods and drugs, inspection of livestock and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants. Congress replaced Theodore Roosevelt's proposals with a version supported by the major meatpackers who worried about the overseas markets, and did not want small unsanitary plants undercutting their domestic market.

Theodore Roosevelt was the 5ht Vice President to succeed to the office of President, but the 1st to win election in his own right. (Millard Fillmore ran and lost on a
3rd-party ticket 4 years after leaving office, and Chester Arthur was denied nomination by his party in 1884). After Senator Mark Hanna, William McKinley's old campaign manager, died in February 1904, there was no one in the Republican Party to oppose Theodore Roosevelt, and he easily won the nomination. When an effort to draft former president Grover Cleveland failed, the Democrats were without a candidate and finally settled on obscure New York judge Alton B. Parker. The outcome was never in doubt. Theodore Roosevelt crushed Alton B. Parker 56%-38% in the popular vote and 336-140 in the Electoral College, sweeping the country outside the perennially Democratic Solid South. Socialist Eugene Debs got 3%. The night of the election, after his victory was clear, Theodore Roosevelt promised not to run again in 1908. Theodore Roosevelt later regretted that promise, as it compelled him to leave the White House at the age of only 50, at the height of his popularity.

Theodore Roosevelt took Cabinet members and friends on long, fast-paced hikes, boxed in the state rooms of the White House, romped with his children, and read voraciously. In 1908, he was permanently blinded in his left eye during one of his boxing bouts, but this injury was kept from the public at the time. Theodore Roosevelt's many enthusiastic interests and limitless energy led one ambassador to wryly explain, "You must always remember that the President is about 6."

During his presidency, Theodore Roosevelt tried but did not succeed to advance the cause of spelling reform as advocated by the Simplified Spelling Board. Theodore Roosevelt issued an executive order requiring the use of the reformed spelling system in August 1906. Theodore Roosevelt tried to force the federal government to adopt the system, sending an order to the Public Printer to use the system in all public federal documents. The order was obeyed, and among the documents thus printed was the President's special message regarding the Panama Canal.

The reform annoyed the public, forcing him to rescind the order. Literary critic Brander Matthews, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt and one of the chief advocates of the reform as Chairman of the Spelling Reform Board, remonstrated with him for abandoning the effort. Theodore Roosevelt replied on 16 December: "I could not by fighting have kept the new spelling in, and it was evidently worse than useless to go into an undignified contest when I was beaten. Do you know that the one word as to which I thought the new spelling was wrong – thru – was more responsible than anything else for our discomfiture?" Next summer Theodore Roosevelt was watching a naval review when a newspaper launch marked "Pres Bot" chugged ostentatiously by. The President waved and laughed with delight.

Theodore Roosevelt's oldest daughter, Alice, was a controversial character during his stay in the White House. When friends asked if he could rein in his elder daughter, Theodore Roosevelt said, "I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both." In turn, Alice said of him that he always wanted to be "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral."

Theodore Roosevelt's contribution to the White House was the construction of the original West Wing, which he had built to free up the 2nd floor rooms in the residence that formerly housed the president's staff. Theodore Roosevelt and Edith also had the entire house renovated and restored to the federal style, tearing out the Victorian furnishings and details (including Tiffany windows) that had been installed over the previous 3 decades.

Theodore Roosevelt angrily complained about the foreign policy of President Wilson, calling it "weak." This caused him to develop an intense dislike for Woodrow Wilson. When World War I began in 1914, Theodore Roosevelt strongly supported the Allies of World War I and demanded a harsher policy against Germany, especially regarding submarine warfare. In 1916, he campaigned energetically for Charles Evans Hughes and repeatedly denounced Irish-Americans and German-Americans who Theodore Roosevelt said were unpatriotic because they put the interest of Ireland and Germany ahead of America's by supporting neutrality. Theodore Roosevelt insisted one had to be 100% American, not a "hyphenated American" who juggled multiple loyalties. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, Theodore Roosevelt sought to raise a volunteer infantry division, but Woodrow Wilson refused.

Theodore Roosevelt's attacks on Woodrow Wilson helped the Republicans win control of Congress in the off-year elections of 1918. Theodore Roosevelt was popular enough to seriously contest the 1920 Republican nomination, but his health was broken by 1918, because of the lingering malaria. Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin, a daring pilot with the American forces in France, was shot down behind German lines in 1918. Quentin was his youngest son and probably his favourite. It is said the death of his son distressed him so much that Theodore Roosevelt never recovered from his loss.

Theodore Roosevelt's Grave in Youngs Memorial Cemetery Oyster Bay, New York 26 steps leading to Theodore Roosevelt's grave, commemorating his service as 26th President Despite his debilitating diseases, Theodore Roosevelt remained active to the end of his life. Theodore Roosevelt was an enthusiastic proponent of the Scouting movement. The Boy Scouts of America gave him the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to hold such title. One early Scout leader said, "The 2 things that gave Scouting great impetus and made it very popular were the uniform and Teddy Roosevelt's jingoism."

On 6 January, 1919 Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep at Oyster Bay of a coronary embolism, preceded by a 2 1/2-month illness described as inflammatory rheumatism, and was buried in nearby Youngs Memorial Cemetery. Upon receiving word of his death, his son, Archie, telegraphed his siblings simply, "The old lion is dead." Woodrow Wilson's vice president at the time Thomas R. Marshall said of his death "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."

Theodore Roosevelt intensely disliked being called "Teddy," and was quick to point out this fact to those who used the nickname, though it would become widely used by newspapers during his political career. Theodore Roosevelt attended the Madison Square Presbyterian Church until the age of 16. Later in life, when Theodore Roosevelt lived at Oyster Bay he attended an Episcopal church with his wife. While in Washington he attended services at Grace Reformed Church. As President he firmly believed in the separation of church and state and thought it unwise to have In God We Trust on currency, because he thought it sacrilegious to put the name of the Deity on something so common as money. Theodore Roosevelt was also a Freemason, and regularly attended the Matinecock Lodge's meetings. Theodore Roosevelt once said that "One of the things that so greatly attracted me to Masonry that I hailed the chance of becoming a Mason was that it really did act up to what we, as a government, are pledged to – namely to treat each man on his merit as a man."

Theodore Roosevelt had a lifelong interest in pursuing what he called, in an 1899 speech, "the strenuous life." To this end, he exercised regularly and took up boxing, tennis, hiking, rowing, polo, and horseback riding. As governor of New York, he boxed with sparring partners several times a week, a practice he regularly continued as President until one blow detached his left retina, leaving him blind in that eye (a fact not made public until many years later). Thereafter, he practiced jujutsu and continued his habit of skinny-dipping in the Potomac River during winter.

Theodore Roosevelt was an enthusiastic singlestick player and, according to Harper's Weekly, in 1905 showed up at a White House reception with his arm bandaged after a bout with General Leonard Wood. Theodore Roosevelt was also an avid reader, reading tens of thousands of books, at a rate of several a day in multiple languages. Along with Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt is often considered the most well read of any American politician.

For his gallantry at San Juan Hill, Theodore Roosevelt's commanders recommended him for the Medal of Honour, but his subsequent telegrams to the War Department complaining about the delays in returning American troops from Cuba doomed his chances. In the late 1990s, Theodore Roosevelt's supporters again took up the flag on his behalf and overcame opposition from elements within the U.S. Army and the National Archives. On 16 January, 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Theodore Roosevelt the Medal of Honour posthumously for his charge up San Juan Hill, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. Theodore Roosevelt's eldest son, Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., received the Medal of Honour for heroism at the Battle of Normandy in 1944. The Roosevelts thus became 1 of only 2 father-son pairs to receive this honour.

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles is named after him.

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