The Morning Delivery

Hurricane Sandy Resource Page

According to the latest from the Associated Press , Hurricane Sandy, a Category 1 hurricane already blamed for 69 deaths in the Caribbean, was 110 miles southeast of Atlantic City with sustained winds at 90 mph and is expected to blow ashore in New Jersey early this evening, sooner than previously expected.

The Washington Post reported that federal offices in the nation’s capital will be closed on Tuesday for the second consecutive day because of Hurricane Sandy.  Non-emergency employees will be granted administrative leave; emergency employees will be required to report to work as usual.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently issued a news release on what to expect in terms of coastal change during the storm, primarily in the form of beach erosion.

According to Vic Hines, chief of communications (Eastern Studies) from USGS, the likelihoods of erosion and overwash increased for all areas. Approximately 95 percent of the coast between the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the south shore of Long Island, NY, is very likely to experience dune erosion.  Overwash is very likely along 50 percent of the Delmarva and NJ sandy beaches and 12 percent of the Long Island barriers.

As Sandy begins its violent path inland, a worthwhile online tool featured by USGS is a  a Hurricane Sandy Storm Tide Mapper which allows users to look at what real-time storm sensors and streamgages are reading in order to track water levels before and after the storm.

USGS additionally features a splendid resource page, highlighting key USGS links for those wanting to track what's happening with water levels; the page also includes the latest information on storm-related activities, and the most recently issued news releases.

In order to keep up on the latest news developments on Hurricane Sandy, readers should keep in mind, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have torn down their pay walls for at least the next couple of days (Monday and Tuesday) so that readers can stayed informed on the latest developments.

The New York Times, by the way, features a tremendous interactive storm tracker for keeping informed on the latest weather information from Albany to Washington D.C..; while the Wall Street Journal  is doing an equally superb job  streaming  the latest photos, tweets, and other updated hurricane information. from their reporters and photographers out in the trenches. And The Washington Post, not to be outdone, is featuring  The Grid a special presentation of tweets and photos about the storm.

Other Resources related to Hurricane Sandy to keep in mind.

• The Red Cross: Is featuring a Hurricane App in which from your mobile phone, you can call "**REDCROSS" (**73327677) and they’ll send you a link to download the app to your phone. Red Cross additionally has a ``Safe and Well’’ feature in which residents can register in order to let loved ones know their safe.

• For the latest hurricane advisories, check in on the National Hurricane Center home page.

• The Google Crisis Response Team has launched a Hurricane Sandy map  to help online users follow the trajectory of the storm.

• NASA provides the latest storm image and data, which includes Hurricane Sandy images, videos, public advisory alerts, and Sandy images on Flickr.

• As usual, the Weather Channel has the most up-to-date developments at their Hurricane Central    with frequent updates at Twitter @TWC_hurricane. The Weather Channel has also rolled out an interactive map and radar at Weather Underground . In addition, online users can receive severe weather alerts in their area on their mobile devices.

• NYC Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder

• NJ.Com lists key contacts: phone numbers, websites, and social media for Morris County, NJ, which is located about 25 miles west of New York City. 

• Hurricane Sandy By the Numbers  from U.S. News on NBCNews.com

• How to Prepare for a Hurricane: Ready.gov 

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 29, 2012

 

Whatever Became of Those Catchy Presidential Campaign Slogans?

I heard New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on a talk show not long ago, reflecting on the presidential clash between President Obama and Mitt Romney, wondering whatever became of the bumper stickers that used to be so prominent in presidential campaigns.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered the same thing: what has happened to the art of catchy campaigns slogans, buttons and bumper stickers?

Before Mr. Obama latched on to ``Romnesia’’ as a condition affecting Mitt Romney, which is the inability to remember past positions, the slogans have been awfully bland and uninspiring by both camps. Obama championed the flat sounding `Forward,’’ while Mr. Romney invoked the equally uninspiring `` Committ to Mitt,’’ and ``We Can't afford four more years.’’

Only recently, the Romney campaign has stumbled upon a snappy phrase more to their liking: “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose,’’ a popular catchphrase from the NBC American sports drama television series “Friday Night Lights,’’;  though the show's writer and director Peter Berg took issue with Team Romney for co-opting that phrase into their campaign without permission.

Matthew A. Baum, who is the Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications and professor of public policy and government at Harvard University, has noticed the same trend regarding the lack of political slogans in this election cycle. ``It seems to be’’ Baum wrote in an email, `` that slogans haven't played a particularly big role this year. That doesn't mean there aren't important pieces of symbolic language. The most obvious one is the "47%" trope that Romney handed gift wrapped to Obama. Obama has sought to use this to cast Romney as an out of touch elitist who doesn't care about the middle class or share their values. On the other side, "You didn't build that" became an important bit of symbolic language for the Romney campaign in its efforts to paint Obama as unsympathetic to small business.’’

According to Baum, then, the ``symbolic language’’ and ``symbolic rhetoric’’ played out in the media (particularly on social media), pack more of a punch, especially to the slice of undecided voters and low information voters who are not accessing the candidates in any great detail.

``All that said'', Baum writes, ``I think it is interesting that there really aren't any compelling campaign slogans this year (no "Hope and Change," no "Bridge to the 21st Century", no "Thousand Points of Light", etc.).’’

To get a sense of the sequence of political slogans and catchphrases through the years, I’ve compiled a list of some of the more entertaining slogans advanced during presidential campaigns.

• Bibles will be burned, property rights destroyed, and the marriage institution abolished’’
-1800-Federalist Party of John Adams attack on Thomas Jefferson because of his sympathy with the French Revolution. 

• ``Dambargo’’
- 1808: Charles Pinckney and the Federalist attack on Thomas Jefferson’s unpopular embargo against trade with Great Britain.

• ``A rich man’s war, but a poor man’s fight’’
1864: -George B. McClellan and the Democratic Party’s opposition to the draft and the continuation of the war.

• ``His Fraudulency’’;  and `` Rutherfraud B. Hayes’’
-1876: Samuel J. Tilden and the Democratic Party’s attack on Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, whose supporters were accused of election fraud.

• ``Rum, Romanism and Tammany’’
-1928: Herbert Hoover and the Republican Party’s attack on Al Smith’s Catholicism, his refusal to support Prohibition, along with his association with Tammany Hall.

• ``Destruction, Delay, Deceit, Despair’’
-1932: FDR and Democratic Party’s attack of the Republicans.

• ``Ben Hogan for President, If We’re Going to Have a Golfer,/ Let’s Have a Good One.’’
-1952:  Adlai E. Stevenson and the Democratic Party’s popular bumper sticker critical of Dwight Eisenhower’s frequent golf outings.

• `` Au H2O =1964
-Popular 1964 Barry Goldwater bumper sticker.

• ``Welcome Doctor Strangewater’’
-1964: LBJ and the Democratic Party’s attack on Goldwater; in a sarcastic reference to the motion picture, ``Doctor Strangelove.’’

• ``Jack was nimble, Jack was quick /  But Bobby simply makes me sick’’
-1968:  Hubert Humphrey and the Democratic Party’s anti-Robert Kennedy posters during the primaries.

• ``Nobody for President’’
-1980: Popular bumper sticker seen around the country.

• If Jimmy Carter Wins, We Lose’’
-1980: Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party’s attack on Jimmy Carter.

• ``Reagan—Eat  My Grits’’
-1980: Anti-Reagan slogan found circulating at the Democratic Party Convention.

• ``Import peanuts, export Carter’’
-Anti-Carter delegates from New York circulate this slogan at the Republican Party Convention.

• ``ABC Movement-Anybody But Carter’’
-1980: A dump Carter slogan at the Democratic Convention.

• ``JACKSON for President-Follow the Rainbow''
-Campaign Button during Jesse Jackson Sr.'s 1984 run for President.

• ``It's the Economy Stupid''
-In an effort to deflect media attention surrounding reports of Bill Clinton’s marital infidelity; Clinton's campaign manager James Carville posted this slogan in their campaign headquarters. Clinton staffers, in turn, invoked the statement during press interviews and it quickly became a popular sound bite.

• ``Clinton/Gore--Out in Four''
-Bob Dole and the Republican Party's 1996 attack button against Bill Clinton for a second term.

• ``Show Bush the Door in 04''
   -Anti George W. Bush campaign button (2004)

• ``Bush Cheney '04 - Leave No Billionaire Behind’’
-Anti-George W. Bush campaign button (2004)

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 25, 2012

Source: ``Words Meant to Influence Political Choices in the United States: 1800-1980’’ By Fay M. Blake and H. Morton Newman; ``Encyclopedia of Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues and Platforms’’ By Robert North Roberts and Scott John Hammond (Greenwood Press). 

Will This World Series Be Jim Leyland’s Last Hurrah?

If the Detroit Tigers win their fifth World Series in franchise history, will this pave the way for Jim Leyland to leave the game in grand fashion with a championship ring and having led Motown to their first World Series title since 1984, back when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and Prince Harry was just a month old ?

As we head into the 108th World Series, beginning Wednesday in San Francisco, pitting the Giants against the Detroit Tigers, some might be asking the same question.

The reasons are obvious: Leyland turns 68 in December. Tony LaRussa,  who guided the St Louis Cardinals to their 11th   World Series title over the Texas Rangers last year, announced his retirement three days after hoisting The Commissioner’s Trophy and indulging in a little of the bubbly. La Russa actually was the first manager in MLB history to retire after winning a World Series.

After 33 years as manager, the last 16 with the Cardinals, “it’s just time to do something else,” La Russa, age 67, told the media.

Though Leyland has reportedly dismissed any thoughts of retiring at the end of the year when his contract is up, the temptation to leave the game with a World Series ring, which would be his second (he guided the Florida Marlins to a World Series win in 1997) would be tempting to any manager his age, especially with all that he has accomplished during his dazzling managerial career that extends back to 1986 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Of course, the Tigers are hardly a one-hit wonder. With the mighty thunder exploding off the bats of Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder, and staff ace Justin Verlander all returning next season; it’s not inconceivable to expect the Tigers to be back for another epic Fall Classic showdown next year. So, the thinking goes, why would Leyland want to leave at the end of the year with such a powerful team returning for even more pyrotechnics next season?

During a conference call Monday with ESPN’s top baseball analysts, I posed that very question to the all-star panel.  Orel Hershiser (ESPN radio analyst), said, ``It’s only a perfect opportunity [retiring at the end of the World Series] if he [Jim Leyland] wants to do it.  Because I think this guy wants to die in his spikes.  He’s an amazing man to have around baseball.  It would be sad to have him go.  This is the father, your grandfather, your brother, your best friend that can air you out all in one body. ‘’

Curt Schilling (``Baseball Tonight’’ analyst), meanwhile, reflecting on the question, dwelt on the obvious advantages of leaving the game on top. `` Yeah, I was allowed to do that and walk away when I chose to.  That’s what makes it optimal for him.  If this is what he wants and he wants to walk away, it’s perfect.’’ ``Either way, win or lose’’, Schilling said, `` when he [Leyland] walks away, it will have to be great.  He’s had an amazing run, and he’s had a significant impact on the game.  So, I think win or lose, his legacy is safe when he walks away.’’

Karl Ravech, host of ESPN’s ``Baseball Tonight’’, echoing Hershiser and Schilling’s thoughts, added, ``I think Jim at his age and what he’s been able to accomplish maybe at that point where he says, sure, I won, and I walked away.  But the challenge in that clubhouse [as] with Terry Francona, they want to go back.  I mean, Terry won two World Series and was burnt out.  It took him about a year to say I’m not
burnt out anymore.  But sure, the answer to your question is yes.  There can’t be a better time to walk away than when you’re walking away on top.’’

Other highlights of yesterday’s conference call.

Will Leyland stick with the hot hand of Phil Coke to close out the 9th or return to Jose Valverde who melted down in Game One of the ALCS against the Yankees?

Curt Schilling: ``I played with Jose Valverde.  He’s a good kid.  I love him to death.  He’s out of gas.  This is like watching Mitch Williams in 1993 again.  He’s throwing the ball without command inside the strike zone.  I can’t see him coming in to get the big out.  Game 1, if they need two outs in the ninth, I don’t know that he’s the guy.''

The legacy of Justin Verlander, even at his tender age, just barely in his prime? 

Karl Ravech: ``I think in order to establish a legacy in baseball in this country; you really need to win World Series.  And until Justin does that, his legacy will not be what it should very well be if he wins the World Series.  Obviously, he’s positioned himself and his team, and the owner has done enough to surround him with players to make that happen.’’

Game One of the World Series kicks off Wednesday (8:07 , ET) at AT&T Park (24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets) in San Francisco, which will be broadcast on television by Fox Sports, while ESPN will provide exclusive radio coverage. MLB International, MLB Network, MLB.com and SiriusXM also will be providing comprehensive World Series coverage.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 23, 2012

 

A Brief Survey of Rare Birds or Most Creative Halloween Costumes for 2012

As we rapidly approach the time of the year when Halloween bashes will be in full swing, I thought I would take a brief look of what the fashion craze is this year?

It’s really quite staggering the number of shops across the country which cater to costumes.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010 estimates), there are 1, 634 costume rental and formal wear establishments across the nation.  And according to the National Retail Federation, 35.7 percent of Americans look to a retail store for costume ideas. What's more, seven in 10 Americans (71.5 percent) will get into the haunting Halloween mood, up from 68.6 percent last year, the most in NRF’s 10-year survey history.

NRF’s survey also points out that the average person this year will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $72.31 last year, with total Halloween spending expected to reach $8 billion; and nearly six million adults planning to dress as a witch, and 3.2 million as vampires.

So let’s take a brief tour around the country to see what’s trending.

1.) At Ricky's NYC, an edgy, ultra-hip beauty shop specializing in unique fashion accessories (with a number of stores located throughout Manhattan), their top 10 Halloween costumes for adults are as follows:

• Catwoman

• Sexy Flash

• Smurfette

• Captain Jack Sparrow

• Big Bird

• Red Riding Hood

• Burlesque Babe

• Parisian Showgirl

• Snow White

• The Huntsman

2.) Straight from the first presidential debate, ``Big Bird'' has been an eye-catcher at Mallet Pharmacy & Costume  in Madison Wisconsin, so much so that the owners of the store have even shipped yellow feather wigs to NPR in Washington, DC. In addition to Big Bird, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney masks have also been popular.

As of yet, no requests for a Clinton Eastwood mask with any empty chair attached to the customer.  NFL replacement ref costumes, however, according to the shops owners, `` have flown out the door.''

Other popular items at Mallet's include:

• Shades of Grey, (Grey clothes, grey wig and grey makeup) are also popular for "50 shades of grey."

• Super heroes, including Teenage Ninja Turtles still are top on boys list followed by Harry Potter and Basic Black Robes with a Scary Mask.

• Girls are still interested in Princesses, Witches and Animal Costumes.

• The classics are still strong! Adults still make Zombies their number one choice followed by vampires.

3.) Massachusetts may not be considered a swing state, but the Garment District in Cambridge, Ma., has been rocking it with a variety of politically themed costumes, including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney masks, elephant and donkey mascot costumes, and other politically correct accessories.

The owner informs me they had a Big Bird on order – that’s been a popular political-themed request this year; and at least one creative customer put together a “workout Paul Ryan” costume using items from their store.

For the nonpartisans, other popular items at the Garment District include: Gotye, Hunger Games characters, Snow White characters, and superheroes – especially The Avengers or the new Dark Knight-style Batman.  In addition, the “classics” are still going strong –including pirates, Star Wars characters, zombies, and vampires.

4.) At Costume World Dallas , the most popular costume of the year is Kia Dancing Hampsters.
Also popular are:

• Grapes costume – add helmet and a gun or sword- Grapes of Wrath

• Any pig mask or ears tail. Nose of a pig – add wings- Swine Flu

• Any bug kit or bug accessories- add wings- Flu Bug

• Priest set with wig with curlers- Holy Roller

• 18th century with cow bell or any bell and skeleton makeup- you are a dead ringer! 

5.) At Beyond Costumes in Yonkers, the owners tell me they have received tons of requests for Big "Yellow" Bird since the debate. Other popular costumes include: many of the super heroes, including Avenger's, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Iron Man. Also doing well are Batman, Batwoman, and Catgirl from Dark Knight Rises.

Some of the more artistic costumes, according to the stores owners, have involved creative futuristic styles, mixing shiny body suits and capes with platinum wigs and giant wings, more of a Lady Gaga inspiration. Also taking classic Halloween costumes such as Frankenstein and putting a modern twist to it.

6.) Sword & Stone in Burbank Calif., is a costume shop which for the most part caters to film and commercial clients. Since they supply costumes to Capitol One for their "what's in your wallet" campaign, they have received some interest in the Visigoth outfits. And according to store owner, Tony Swatton, they have also received inquiries about sexy gladiator costumes for women.

7.) At Gene’s Costumes in Kensington, MD, while there are plenty of political masks and some celebrity masks like Donald Trump, Charlie Sheen, The "Governator" and Uncle Sam in stock, Gene’s most popular this year, much like other years, involve Decades like '70's and 80's and 20's,  pirates, superheroes, Renaissance costumes, vampires and zombies.

8.) At Backstage Inc., in Washington D.C., their top 10 most popular costume include:

• Lincoln and Vampires
• Zombies
• Boardwalk Empire
• Renaissance
• Fairy Tale
• Super Heroes
• Steampunk
• 70’s
• Asian themed (the theme of D.C.'s drag event this year
• Skin Suits

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 22, 2012

What Cleveland Should Know About Terry Francona?

                                                                                                       Photo Credit: AP

 

When it was announced that Terry Francona would be the next manager of the Cleveland Indians, not only did Clevelanders know they had at long last snatched their big blue marlin off the shores of Lake Erie, but for the first time in franchise history, the Tribe had hired a manager who had previously won a World Series.

After finishing a disappointing 68-94 during the 2012 season, 20 games out of 1st place in the AL Central division, a miserable season punctuated with an 18-45 swoon after July 27th, winning only five games in the month of August, (their worst month in their 112-year history), Indian fans were in need of encouraging news to give them a sense of hope during the cold harsh winter that brighter days and a new beginning lie ahead.

Francona’s roots to Northeast Ohio have been widely reported. His father, Tito, played for the Cleveland Indians from 1959-64. Terry himself had a brief tour of duty with the Tribe, playing 62 games in 1988; and he additionally worked in the Indians’ front office as an advisor in 2001.

At least on paper, Tito’s managerial credentials are striking:  He ended the Red Sox infamous 86-year draught by winning two World Series (2004, 2007), and with his four years managing the Philadelphia Phillies (1997-2000) and eight more with the Red Sox, this New Brighton, Pa. native racked up a remarkable.529 winning pct, 4th among active mangers with at least 1,000 games.

But other than his impressive resume, how well do Clevelanders really know Terrance Johnathan Francona, age 53, and the 42nd manager in Tribe history?

What do Indians fans need to know about their new skipper who everyone likes to call Tito?

With that question in mind, I reached out to some of the people who knew Francona the best over the last decade: the Boston media, including Dan Shaughnessy, sports columnist and associate editor for The Boston Globe, who has just finished writing a book with the Tribe’s new manager, titled, ``Francona: The Red Sox Years’’ , which hits the bookstores on January 22, 2013. ``Terry worked hard on this book’’, Shaughnessy told me, ``it’s going to be a big hit, you guys are going to love it.’’  

But readers shouldn’t brace themselves for a tell-all-book peppered with sharp knives aimed at Francona’s most bitter enemies and critics. Shaughnessy told me that ``Terry was very careful not to write anything that would be hurtful to players or write anything that would come back to bite him.’’

Other thoughts that Shaughnessy shared with me during our brief phone conversation:

On Francona’s dealings with the Boston media? ``He’s funny and available. He has pet peeves. He doesn’t like people talking when he’s talking. He’s doesn’t like cell phones going off during press conferences. He has stories about everything; he’s like a Forrest Gump type guy. Terry is real baseball guy. All year long he said to me he wanted to manage again. The players are going to love this guy. ‘’

On his health? ``He’s very fit, very strong, but there’s a limit to what he can do. He’s had to deal with a lot of medical issues through the years, which have all been pretty well documented.’’

How successful will Francona be with the Tribe ? `` He believes in Mark Shapiro (president) and Chris Antonetti (GM) and what they are doing. You’ve got to have a roster and a payroll. It takes talent.  Since the Indians took him on, he’s been harder to find. He’s been going at it 24/7 right from day one.’’

On the Red Sox’s epic collapse in 2011, finishing 7-20, which led to his firing? ``If you look at what happened to the Red Sox in 2012, [the Red Sox finished the year with a 69-93 record, their first losing season since 1997, and their first season with 90 or more losses since 1966] it’s a miracle he kept them afloat as long as he did. Francona remained the same person since I first knew him; he was the same guy all eight years.’’

When I asked others what Cleveland should know about Terry Francona, here are some responses that came back:

• ``In my years of covering Terry and now the one season we shared as teammates at ESPN, I have a great appreciation and respect for Terry's ability to connect with people. He brings such a human touch and a willingness to "let you into his world" that you immediately feel like he's with you and your with him. This is a wonderful and necessary trait for successful managers in today’s clubhouse environment. The Indians have got themselves a very smart baseball man with the touch required to relate to today’s player.''

-Karl Ravech, host of ``ESPN's ``Baseball Tonight''

• ``I had no idea about his personal stuff with his wife.  I worry about him. Circulation problems are the reason he wears the loose jersey.  Despite looking like he’s in great shape, he’s actually a physical wreck on the inside. I really care for him without getting too close to a person. He always served our [media] needs, was expansive with answers and always tried to use the right word. It was a pleasure to deal with this man for eight years.  His communication with the players while in Boston was exemplary. I would give him my highest endorsement as manager.’’

-Bob Ryan, sports columnist, The Boston Globe

• ``I was the Globe beat writer covering the 2004 Red Sox, which was Tito's first year with the team. Once he warmed up to the new environment (about midway through spring training), he was a pleasure to work with: professional, accessible, informative, cooperative, punctual, witty. The results that year spoke volumes about his ability to juggle the many demands of managing the Red Sox. I considered his 2011 season to be an aberration, a year when he had a lot of personal things going on that contributed to him losing focus and ultimately his authority over many of the players. Clevelanders should know they are getting a first-rate baseball guy who almost certainly is eager to remind everyone he also can be a first-rate manager.’’

-Bob Hohler, investigative sports reporter for The Boston Globe, who covered the Red Sox during their magical 2004 World Series run.

• ``It seems like most good managers fall into one of two schools – they are either great in the clubhouse or they are exceptional tacticians. The beauty of Francona is that he is both. No manager will spend more hours at the ballpark than Francona. It isn’t uncommon for him to get to the ballpark at 10 or 10:30 in the morning for a 7 p.m. game. Francona will pour through every scouting report given to him, and is exceptional at knowing all of the matchups.
 
Francona loves interacting with his players, and is equally adept at being a father figure, a friend or, when needed, a disciplinarian. He is exceedingly loyal and will never sell a player out to the media. If Francona has an issue with a player, he will never divulge it in the media. Instead, it will be done behind closed doors, and almost always, he will say nice things about that player publicly.
 
Terry also handles the media well, enjoying the give-and-take on a daily basis. If you want to second guess Francona, be sure you are fully prepared for the argument. He has a reason for everything he does in a game, and therefore, he expects reporters to have a sound argument and full knowledge of the facts when they question him.’’
 
-Ian Browne, Boston Red Sox beat reporter for MLB.com.

• ``Francona is a player's manager. He will not throw them under the bus under any circumstance and tries to anticipate possible problems and avoid them. He needs talent to win, of course, but his players will work for him.''

-Ron Borges, sports columnist for The Boston Herald

• ``Funny, sincere, loyal, knows baseball''

Michael Silverman, Boston Red Sox beat reporter for the Boston Herald

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 18, 2012

How Well Do You Know Your Swing States?

 

 

With less than 30 days to go before Election Day, the race for the White House is heating up; both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney are reloading their pistols for the final leg of the their blistering campaign with two crucial presidential debates yet to come.

The first presidential debate on Wednesday in Denver took on Super Bowl enthusiasm with more than 67 million people tuning in; nearly 15 million more than watched in 2004, while 10.3 million tweets in 90 minutes exploded across the Internet (a new record), adding even more intensity to what is shaping up to be one of the closest presidential clashes in U.S. history.

Of particular importance will be the attention paid to 11 key swing states (Ohio, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia, North Carolina, and Iowa) to see which candidate will be able to seize the majority of these to assure victory on November 6th.

In 2008, Mr. Obama carried 28 states, the District of Columbia, sweeping the Midwest, including winning three of the former Confederate states in the South (Virginia, North Carolina, Florida), and three of the eight states in the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico), which many believe laid the foundation for a ``blue wall’’ of Democratic states which will ensure Democratic victories on the national stage for years to come.

President Obama was on the verge of pulling away in key battleground states more than a week ago, but since the debate on Wednesday, with Mr. Romney having bested his opponent (at least according to a majority of post-debate analysis and scorecards) has begun to make significant inroads in many key swing states, leaving Mr. Obama (according to multiple polls) locked in a dead heat. Many election observers, moreover, argue the election may tilt either way depending on the size of the voter turnout.

Mr. Obama won 69.5 million votes in 2008 (9.5 million more than John McCain), the largest vote in history for any candidate achieving 53.7 percent of the national popular vote, making it one of the most decisive presidential elections since Ronald Reagan’s landslide of 1984, when he scooped up 49 of the 50 states. What’s more, the number of voters in 2008 increased to 132 million (or 61.6 percent of eligible voters, a 1.5 increase from 2004), while voting participation rose by more than 10 percent in a dozen states, which has largely been attributed to early voting and absentee ballots. In 2008, more than 30 million ballots were cast before Election Day.

So as we inch closer and closer to Election Day and as the key swing states comes under closer scrutiny in the weeks ahead, I thought I would underscore some major features of these states, while providing a past presidential election statistical snapshot of the 11 battleground states which more than likely will determine the winner of the 2012 presidential election. 

NOTE: According to Tom Nardone, associate commissioner for employment and unemployment statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the state unemployment rate estimates for September won't be released until October 19th. The most recent unemployment data for individual states, therefore, is August, 2012.

1.) Ohio (The Buckeye State)

• Capital: Columbus

• Origin of State Name: The name ``Ohio'' is derived from the Iroquois Indian world oheo, which means ``beautiful.

• Population: 11,544,951 (2011 Estimate)

• Counties: 88

• Electoral Votes: 18

• Unemployment Rate: 7.2 percent (August, 2012)

• State Song: ``Beautiful Ohio’’

• State Rock Song: ``Hang on Sloopy’’ (Approved by the Ohio General Assembly in 1985, making Ohio the only state which has officially adopted a rock song).

• State Motto: With God All Things are Possible

• Ohio has been the native state of seven U.S. presidents; another, William Henry Harrison, the 9th president of the United States, while born in Charles City, a Virginia colony, settled in Ohio later in his life and always considered the Buckeye state his home.

• From 1869 through 1881, the White House was occupied by three Ohioans, all Republicans and all former Union Army generals.

• The two candidates for president in 1920 were both from Ohio; Senator Warren G. Harding, the Republican and former newspaper man against James M. Cox, the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio. Harding easily won the general election, winning 37 states and 60.3 percent of the vote.

• From 1856 through 1996, Ohioans for the most part voted for the Republican candidate in the presidential elections, the exceptions being Woodrow Wilson (twice), FDR (three times), Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (twice).

• In 2008, Barack Obama carried Ohio, winning 51.5 percent of the vote to 46.9 percent for John McCain, a departure from 2004, when George W. Bush won Ohio with 50.8 percent of the vote to John Kerry’s 48.7 percent.

• Out of the last 16 presidential elections, Ohio voted for the winning Democratic candidate seven times, while voting for the winning Republican candidate nine times, dating back to 1948.

• The 2010 census counted more than 350,000 Ohioans of Hispanic descent; a 40 percent increase from the 2000 Census.

• 51.1 percent of the state’s population is female. Around the state, 4.6 million women over the age of 16 are part of Ohio’s workforce.

• Cincinnati is President Howard Taft’s Birthplace.

• Point Pleasant (Clermont County) 25 miles southeast of Cincinnati is the birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant (Republican), the 18th president of the United States.

• Blooming Grove (Morrow County) is the birthplace of Warren G. Harding (Republican), the 29th president of the United States.

• Moreland Hills, a village in Cuyahoga County, is the birthplace of James A. Garfield (Republican), the 20th President of the United States.

• Niles (Trumbull County) is the birthplace of William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States.

• The City of Delaware (Delaware County), 30 miles north of Columbus, is the birthplace of Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican), the 19th President of the United States.

• North Bend, a village in Hamilton County, along the Ohio River, is the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison (Republican), the 23rd President of the United States.

• Benjamin Harrison (1888) was one of only four presidents in United States history to be elected to the presidency by the Electoral College though he lost the popular vote. The others were: John Quincy Adams, 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes, 1876, and George W. Bush, 2000.

Source: Ohio Secretary of State; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press). 

2.) Florida (Sunshine State)

• Capital: Tallahassee

• Origin of State Name: Named in 1513 by Juan Ponce de Leon, who landed during Pascua Florida, the Easter festival of flowers.

• Entered Union: March 3, 1845 (27th State)

• Florida’s Population: 19, 057, 542 (2011 estimate)

• Population Rank - 4th in U.S. behind California, Texas & New York

• 67 Counties

• State Motto: In God We Trust

• State Song: The Swanee River (``Old Folks at Home’’)

• Electoral Votes: 29

• Unemployment Rate: 8.8 percent (August, 2012)

• Beginning in the 1950’s, many registered Democrats in Florida became ``presidential Republicans,’’ throwing their support behind Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 and Richard M. Nixon in 1960.

• In the 1996 presidential election, Florida backed a Democrat (Bill Clinton) for the first time in 20 years.

• In the postwar period from 1948 through 2008, Florida supported the Democratic candidates only five times: 1948, 1964, 1976, 1996, and 2008.

• In the highly controversial 2000 presidential race, a mere 275 votes separated George Bush from his Democratic opponent Al Gore before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a hand recount of returns be stopped, giving Bush the necessary 25 electoral votes in the Sunshine state to secure the presidency.

• In 2008, Barack Obama won Florida with 51 percent of the vote to 48.2 percent for John McCain.

• Largest County - Palm Beach at 2,578 square miles

• Number of people who move to Florida each day - 1,000

• Number of golf courses - more than 1,250

• Number of Beaches - 663 miles

• Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, (2011 estimate): 22.9 percent (National Average: 16.7 percent)

Florida’s Connection with U.S. Presidents:

• Andrew Jackson as army general seized La Florida from Spain in 1821 and was sworn in as Florida’s first territorial governor in Plaza Ferdinand VII in Pensacola, an outdoor garden and park in the historic district of Pensacola, Florida. Jackson was the seventh president of the United States from 1829 through 1837.

• The Harry S. Truman Little White House located in Key West is the State of Florida's only presidential site. It was originally constructed in 1890 as housing for naval officers. Truman spent the most time there, logging 11 trips and more than 175 days. President John F. Kennedy hosted British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan in the 1960s. William Howard Taft and Dwight Eisenhower also used the Little White House for relaxation much like other presidents used Camp David.

• In 1961, the United States Navy Seabees (construction battalions) constructed a secret bunker on Peanut Island, a five-minute helicopter ride from the former Kennedy estate near Palm Beach. It was an evacuation site for President Kennedy in the event of a nuclear attack during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Kennedy Bunker is now declassified and open to the public.

• In Clermont, west of Orlando, The Presidents Hall of Fame has a hands-on classroom where teachers and students can sit in a chair from the Oval Office or from Ford’s Theater as well as peek inside a 60- by 20-foot replica of the White House.

• In Daytona Beach (Volusia County), Florence Harding, wife of President Warren Harding, childhood home is now a fine dining restaurant called The Cellar.  Harding used the home (originally built in 1907 by his father-in-law) as a wintering spot for his family to escape Ohio’s harsh weather.

• In Orlando, all 44 Presidents bring history to life at The Hall of Presidents, an attraction located in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom in the Walt Disney World Resort. The attraction is a multi-media stage show featuring Audio-Animatronic figures of all individual U.S. Presidents, including President Obama, delivering the Presidential Oath, and President Lincoln reciting the Gettysburg Address.

• In Tampa, the 2012 host city for the Republican National Convention welcomed then-Col. Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders in 1898 at the Tampa Bay Hotel.  The national historic landmark is now a museum on the University of Tampa campus filled with treasures.

Source: Truman Little White House, VisitFlorida.com; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

3.) Colorado (Centennial State)

• Capital: Denver

• Entered Union: August 1, 1876 (38th state)

• Origin of State Name: From the Spanish word, Colorado, meaning red or reddish brown.

• State Song: Where Columbines Grow

• State Folk Dance: Square Dance

• State Motto: Nil sine numine (Nothing without providence)

• Colorado Population: 5,116,796 (2011 estimate)

• Unemployment Rate:  8.2 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 9

• Between 1960 through 1990, Colorado was considered a solidly Republican red state.

• Between 1948 and 2008, the Democratic presidential candidate won Colorado only four times: 1948, 1964, 1992 and 2008.

• In 2008, Barack Obama won Colorado with 53.7 percent of the vote to John McCain’s 44.7 percent.

• By July, 2009, Colorado’s population exceeded five million for the first time in its history.

• Percent of white persons: 88.3 percent

• Percent of black persons: 4.3 percent

• Percent of persons of Hispanic or Latino origins: 20.9 percent

• Colorado ranked second in the number of citizens with a bachelor’s degree

• Colorado was originally part of the Nebraska, Utah, Kansas, and New Mexico Territories. In 1859 a provisional territorial government was formed, called the Territory of Jefferson. In 1861 Congress created the Territory of Colorado.

• Colorado was the second state in the nation to extend suffrage to women in 1894 after Wyoming.

• In 1803, through the Louisiana Purchase, signed by President Thomas Jefferson, the United States acquired a vast area which included what is now most of eastern Colorado.

• On July 7, 1908 Denver municipal Auditorium, seating 12,500, was completed in time for the Democratic National Convention, when William Jennings Bryan was nominated the third time for President.

• In 1973, Eisenhower Tunnel is built beneath the Continental Divide sixty miles west of Denver, making it easier to reach the ski slopes of western Colorado.

Source: Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

4.) Nevada (Silver State), also known as the Sagebrush State, and Battle Born State

• Capital: Carson City

• Origin of State Name: Named for the Sierra Nevada mountain range, nevada, meaning ``snow-covered’’ in Spanish.

• State Motto: "All for Our Country"

• State Song: ``Home Means Nevada’’

• Population: 2,723,322 (2011 estimate)

• Unemployment Rate: 12.1 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 6

• Number of Counties: 16, plus one city-county (Carson City)

• Between 1948 through 2008, the Democratic candidate for president has won Nevada only five times: 1948, 1960, 1964, 1992, and 2008.

• In 2004, Nevada became classified as a “battleground state”; meaning that it was hard to predict which side of the presidential vote the Silver State would fall on.

• In 2008, Barack Obama won Nevada with 55.1 percent of the vote to 42.7 percent for John McCain.

• In 2008, John McCain won over white working class voters in Nevada by 11 points.

• Obama’s convincing victory in the Silver State has been attributed to his strong support among minorities, specifically, 94 percent among blacks( representing 10 percent of voters, a one percent increase from 2004) and 76 percent among Hispanics, (16 percent of voters, a six-point increase from 2004). Among whites in Nevada, Obama lost males by 17 points, women by one point, while winning males overall by a four point margin and female voters overall by 21 points.

• In 1899, Charles Fey invented a slot machine called the Liberty Bell, which became the model for all slots.

• Author Mark Twain worked for the first newspaper in Nevada, the Territorial Enterprise.

• President Theodore Roosevelt visited Nevada in 1903.

• 87 percent of Nevada land is controlled by the Federal government.

• In 1914, Nevada women were granted voting rights by state election.

• Gambling was reinstated in the State in 1931

• Hoover Dam, near Las Vegas was completed in 1935

• Nevada is the seventh largest state in size.

• Nevada is the largest gold-producing state in the U.S. and third in the world behind South Africa and Australia.

• Nevada is the gambling and entertainment capital of the U.S.

• Nevada has over 200,000 slot machines, one for every 10 residents.

• Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than any other place on earth.

• On average, 150 couples are married each day in Las Vegas.

• According to Guy Rocha, Nevada State Archivist, the first sitting president to campaign in the Silver State seeking re-election was Herbert Hoover in 1932, when he stopped in Elko for a few hours on his way to California.

• A number of election laws throughout the older Statutes of Nevada, beginning in 1869, made the sale or provision of alcoholic beverages on Election Day illegal. The provision, NRS 293.605, was finally repealed in 1967.

• African-American men were prohibited from voting in Nevada until 1870, when the national constitution was amended.

• Mormon men were prohibited from voting in Nevada under a statute approved in 1887; until 1888, when the statute was declared unconstitutional by the Nevada Supreme Court. The statute was not officially repealed until 1909.

Source: Home Page of Senator Harry Reid; Political History of Nevada (Eleventh Edition) issued by Dean Heller, Secretary of State; Nevada Commission on Tourism; ``America’s New Swing Region: Changing Politics and Demographics in the Mountain West’’ by Ruy Teixeira; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

5.) Michigan (Wolverine State)

• Capital: Lansing, since 1847; prior to that, Detroit

• Number of counties: 83

• Entered Union: January 26, 1837 (26th)

• Origin of State Name: Thought to have been derived from the Fox Indian word mesikami, meaning ``large lake.’’

• State Motto: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice (If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you).

• State Song: Michigan, My Michigan (unofficial)

• Electoral Votes: 16

• Unemployment: 9.4 percent (August, 2012)

• Michigan had never cast a plurality of popular votes for a Democrat before the 1932 election.

• Between 1948 and 1992, the Republican candidate for president carried Michigan in nine out of 13 elections.

• The Democratic candidate for president has carried Michigan in the last five elections, dating back to 1992.

• Bill Clinton won Michigan with 44 percent of the vote in 1992 and 52 percent in 1996; Al Gore took Michigan with 51 percent of the vote in 2000; and John Kerry secured the Wolverine state with 51 percent of the vote in 2004 to George W. Bush’s 48 percent.

• In 2008, Barack Obama carried Michigan effortlessly with 57.4 percent of the vote to John McCain’s 41.0 percent.

• Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States, was the only U.S. president from Michigan.

• Mitt Romney was born at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on March 12, 1947

• Michigan is the 10th largest state in the Union (combined with land and water area).

• Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties alone account for more than 40 percent of the state's population.

• Michigan ranks 38th among the 50 states.

Key Dates in Michigan History:

• 1805: The Michigan Territory is created, with Detroit designated as the seat of government. William Hull is appointed governor. A devastating fire burned Detroit to the ground.

• 1819: The Treaty of Saginaw cedes nearly six million acres of Indian lands to Michigan settlers. Michigan sends a delegate to Congress.

• 1841: The University of Michigan moves from Detroit to Ann Arbor.

• 1854: The Republican Party is organized in Jackson.

• 1908: Henry Ford begins manufacturing the Model T.

• In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt ran as a member of the Bull Moose Party and won a majority of the Michigan popular vote. He ran as a Republican in 1904.

• 1941: Automobile plants are converted for the production of war materials, and Michigan becomes known as the "Arsenal of Democracy."

• 1959: Berry Gordy Jr. founds Motown Records in Detroit.

• 1980: The Republican National Convention is held in Detroit.

• 1981: The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum are dedicated in Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, respectively.

• 1992: Michigan State University hosts the third and final presidential debate of the election year.

• 2002: Jennifer M. Granholm becomes Michigan's first female governor.

Source: Michigan.gov; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

6.) New Hampshire (Granite State); also known as Mother of Rivers, White Mountain State, and the Switzerland of America.

• Capital: Concord

• Origin of State Name: Named for the English county of Hampshire.

• Population: 1,318,194 (2011 estimate)

• State Motto: ``Live Free or Die.'' The motto comes from a statement written by the Revolutionary General John Stark, hero of the Battle of Bennington.

• Entered Union: June 21, 1788 (9th)

• State Song: ``Old New Hampshire’’

• State Sport: Skiing (adopted in 1998)

• Unemployment: 5.7 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 4

• Franklin Pierce, the nation’s 14th president, was the only chief executive to have come from New Hampshire.

• Between 1856 and 1932 New Hampshire voted Republican in every presidential election except in 1912 and 1916.

• For 40 years, between 1948 and 1988, a Democratic presidential candidate only won New Hampshire once:  In 1964 when Lyndon Johnson swallowed up the state with 63.9 percent of the vote.

• In the last five presidential elections, beginning in 1992, the Democratic candidate for president has won New Hampshire four times. George W. Bush, in 2000, took New Hampshire with 48.1 percent of the vote to Al Gore’s 46.8 percent.

• In 1992, Bill Clinton won New Hampshire by a one percent margin; by 1996 he won the Granite State by a commanding 10 percent margin; officially moving NH out of the ``safe GOP’’ column and into the ``battleground state’’ column.

• In 2008, Barack Obama convincingly carried New Hampshire 54 percent to 45 percent, sweeping all of the state's 10 counties.

• New Hampshire was one of the 13 original colonies.

• New Hampshire has 10 counties, 13 municipalities, 221 towns and 22 unincorporated places.

• New Hampshire is one of the six New England states, the others being Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

• New Hampshire has 1,300 lakes or ponds and about 40 rivers with a total mileage of about 41,800 miles.

• In 1863, President Lincoln established the first national Thanksgiving Day, inspired by letters from Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport, New Hampshire.

• In her pioneering work as editor of Ladies Magazine (1828-36) and Godey's Lady's Book (1837-77), Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport, New Hampshire, elevated the status of women and the importance of American literature.

• In March 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers president Branch Rickey assigned Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe to the Nashua Dodgers, a new farm team, making Nashua, New Hampshire, the first modern city to host an integrated professional baseball team.

• On October 12, 1853, Amos Tuck called a meeting in Exeter, New Hampshire, of four political parties opposed to the Democratic Party and proposed the name Republican.

• Since 1920, the first ballot of the New Hampshire Presidential Primary has been cast in the Ballot Room of the Balsams Hotel in Dixville Notch.

• First Legal State Lottery in the U.S: In 1963, the New Hampshire Legislature approved the Sweepstakes Program. In 1964, Governor John W. King purchased the first lottery ticket at Rockingham Park, Salem, New Hampshire.

• First Women's Strike in the U.S.: In 1828, women mill workers at the Cocheco Mills, Dover, New Hampshire, went out on strike to protest new mill regulations, in what became known as the "Factory Girls" Strike.

• First American in Space: On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., of Derry, New Hampshire, rode a Mercury spacecraft aloft for 15 minutes, and reached a peak altitude of 115 miles.

• First Free Libraries in the Nation: The Dublin Juvenile Library, established in 1822, was the first free public library. The Peterborough Town Library, established in 1833, was the first library supported by public taxation.

Source: New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development; New Hampshire State Council on the Arts; ``The Change Election: Money, Mobilization, and Persuasion in the 2008 Federal Elections'' By David Magleby; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

7.) North Carolina (Tar Heel State); also known as the Old North State

• Capital: Raleigh (established 1792)

• Origin of State Name: Named in honor of King Charles I of England

• Population: 9,656,401 (2011 estimate)

• Entered Union: November 21, 1789 (12th)

• State Motto: Esse quam videri (To be rather than to seem)

• State Song: ``The Old North State," lyrics by William Gaston, music collected and arranged by Mrs. E. E. Randolph.

• Unemployment: 9.7 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 15

• U.S. Presidents from North Carolina: Andrew Jackson (7th), James K. Polk (11th), Andrew Johnson (17th).

• Democratic candidates for president won five consecutive elections in North Carolina between 1948 and 1964.

• Between 1968 and 2008, Democratic candidates for president only won the Tar Heel state twice: In 1976 and 2008.

• In 2004, George W, Bush carried North Carolina with over 56 percent of the vote.

• In 1996 and 2000, North Carolina was approximately seven percentage points more Republican than the nation. But since 2008, North Carolina has voted only three percentage points more Republican than the nation, moving the Tar Heel state into ``battleground state'' territory.

• In 2008, Barack Obama won North Carolina by the slimmest of margins, with 49.7 percent of the vote to John McCain’s 49.4 percent.

• North Carolina's population has increased by 7.6 percent since 2004

• First state university in the United States - University of North Carolina opened in 1795 in Chapel Hill.

• First successful powered airplane flight - 1903 by the Wright Brothers, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk.

• North Carolina sent 130,000 to 135,000 Confederate troops into battle and had the highest death toll — about 33,500 — of any Southern state.

• Freedom Hill, an Edgecombe County colony established in 1865 by former slaves, became Princeville, the nation's first town incorporated by African-Americans.

• George Washington spent the night at a dozen North Carolina inns in addition to visiting homes on his tour of Southern battlefields in 1791.

• President James Monroe revived the idea of touring the country, and his 1819 Southern tour brought him to New Bern, a city that specializes in preserving and presenting its history.

• Andrew Johnson, our 17th U.S. president was born (1808) in downtown Raleigh in a kitchen at Casso's Inn, a busy establishment where both of his parents worked.

• Woodrow Wilson, our 28th U.S. president, was the son of a minister who was pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Wilmington from 1874 to 1885.

• Ten presidents have stayed at The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville during in its 99-year history, including Barack Obama.

• According to Golf Digest, 15 of the last 18 U.S. presidents have hit the golf courses — several have found their way to Pinehurst, America's original golf resort. Warren G. Harding, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald R. Ford, George H.W. Bush and Richard M. Nixon all teed-up on the famous greens.

• Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush all campaigned at the N.C. State Fair.

• President Harry S. Truman broke ground on Wake Forest University’s Winston-Salem campus in 1951.

• President Richard M. Nixon graduated with a law degree from Duke in 1937.

• The Ashe County seat is named for Thomas Jefferson, as are the town of West Jefferson and Jefferson Mountain State Natural Area.

• Madison County and the town of Madison (in Rockingham County): Both are named for James Madison.

• Jackson County and the city of Jacksonville (the Onslow County seat): Both are named for Andrew Jackson.

• Lincoln and Lincolnton: The county and its seat, which are northwest of Charlotte, are named for Abraham Lincoln

Source: North Carolina Department of Commerce; ``The New Politics of the Old South’’ by Charles S. Bullock, Mark J. Rozell;  Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

8.) Virginia (Old Dominion)

• Capital: Richmond (since 1780)

• Population: 8,096,604 (2011 estimate)

• Origin of State Name: Named for Queen Elizabeth I of England, the ``Virgin Queen’’

• Entered Union: June 25, 1788 (10th).

• State Motto: Sic simper tyrannis (Thus ever to tyrants)

• State Song: ``Carry Me Back to Old Virginia’’ was formally retired from use in 1997 but has not yet been replaced.

• State Slogan: Virginia is for Lovers, created in 1969 as the state’s official tourism slogan, represents a love of life and a passion for travel

• Unemployment: 5.9 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 13

• Between 1948 and 2008, Democratic candidates for president only carried Virginia three times: 1948, 1964 and 2008.

• Beginning in 1952, Virginia voters began to shift their votes decisively toward Republicans.

• From 1968 through 2004, Virginia voters consistently voted Republican, except for 1964 when LBJ won the state with 53.5 percent of the vote.

• President Obama carried Virginia in 2008 by 6.3 percentage points (52.6 to 46.3 percent), 7.1 percentage points higher than John Kerry in 2004.

• Virginia cast 500,000 more votes in 2008 than they did four years earlier, a 16.3 point increase.

• Virginia does not permit voters to declare party allegiance.

• Virginia is known as the “Mother of Presidents” – having produced more American presidents than any other state at 8: George Washington (1st, 1789-1797), Thomas Jefferson (3rd, 1801-1809), James Madison (4th, 1809-1817), James Monroe (5th, 1817-1825), William Henry Harrison (9th, 1841), John Tyler (10th, 1841-1845), Zachary Taylor (12th, 1849-1850), and Woodrow Wilson (28th, 1913-1921).

• Virginia is one of four states known as a “Commonwealth.’’ The others are Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Massachusetts.

• More Civil War battles were fought in Virginia than in any other state.

• Virginia is the site of the first major battle of the Civil War – First Manassas – and the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Source: Virginia.gov, Official Tourism Website of the Commonwealth of Virginia; ``Atlas of the 2008 Elections’’ by Stanley D. Brunn; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

9.) Wisconsin (Badger State)

• Capital: Madison

• Origin of State Name: Thought to have been derived from the Ojibwa word wishkonsing, meaning ``place of the beaver.’’

• Entered Union: May 29, 1848 (30th).

• Population, 5,711,767 (2011 estimate)

• State Motto: Forward

• State Song: ``On Wisconsin’’

• State Beverage: Milk

• State Dance: Polka, reflecting the rich Czech-Polish and German heritage found throughout the state.

• Unemployment: 7.5 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 10

• Between 1948 and 1984, voters in Wisconsin voted Republican seven times; while tilting toward the Democrat nominee three times: 1948, 1964, and 1976.

• In the 2000 presidential elections, 67 percent of the Wisconsin voting age population voted compared to 52 percent nationally.

• Wisconsin has not voted Republican since 1984, but in the last two presidential elections the state was among the closest races in the nation.

• Democrats won Wisconsin narrowly by 4,000 votes in 2000 and 12,000 votes in 2004. Obama won Wisconsin by 414,818 votes in 2008.

• Congressman Paul Ryan, running mate to Republican nominee Mitt Romney, was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, a city located in the southern part of the state.

• Wisconsin was the first state to mandate a presidential primary beginning in 1905.

• Green Bay, home of the Packers is known as “Titletown USA” and is additionally the state's oldest city.

• Nearly 21 million gallons of ice cream are consumed by Wisconsinites each year.

• Wisconsin was the first state in America to open a kindergarten

• Milwaukee is home of Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

• The Republican Party was founded in Ripon in 1854

• The Hamburger Hall of Fame is located in Seymour.

• The first Ringling Brothers Circus was staged in Baraboo in 1884.

• Monroe is the Swiss Cheese Capital of the World

Source: Wisconsin.gov; Wisconsin Historical Society; Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).
 

10.) Pennsylvania (Keystone State)

• Capital: Harrisburg

• Origin of State Name: Named for Admiral William Penn, father of the founder of Pennsylvania.

• Entered Union: December 12, 1787 (2nd).

• Population: 12,742,886 (2011 estimate)

• Counties: 67

• State Song: "Pennsylvania.'' The official state song of the Commonwealth was written and composed by Eddie Khoury and Ronnie Bonner and is the official song for all public purposes.

• State Motto: Virtue, Liberty and Independence

• State Slogan: State of Independence.

• State Dog: Great Dane

• State Beverage: Milk

• Unemployment: 8.1 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 20

• James Buchanan, the 15th U.S. President, is the only president from Pennsylvania and the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor.

• Pennsylvania was a stronghold of the Republican Party from Abraham Lincoln (1860) through 1934.

• Between 1948 and 1960, Republican candidates for president won in Pennsylvania in three out of four elections; John Kennedy managed to defeat Richard Nixon in 1960 with 51.1 percent of the vote to Nixon’s 48.7 percent.

• Not until November 1960 did Democratic voter registration surpass GOP registration for the first time in the 20th century.

• Beginning with John F. Kennedy's win over Richard Nixon in 1960, Pennsylvania became firmly attached to the Democratic Party.

• Between 1960 through 2008, the Democratic candidate nominee carried the Keystone State nine times with Republicans carrying the state only in 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1988.

• The last Democratic candidate for president unable to carry Pennsylvania was Michael Dukakis in 1988.

• Barack Obama took Pennsylvania in 2008 by a commanding 54.7 percent of the vote to John McCain's 44.3 percent.

• The Democrats took control of the two major cities, Pittsburgh in 1933 and Philadelphia in 1951, and gained electoral majorities for the Democratic nominees in seven of the eleven presidential elections from 1936 to 1976.

• Pennsylvania is officially a Commonwealth, a word which comes from Old English and means the "common weal" or well-being of the public. In Pennsylvania, all legal processes are carried out in the name of the Commonwealth.

• Both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed in Philadelphia.

• Benjamin Franklin once served as speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

• By 1840 Pennsylvania was the home of more newspapers than any other state.

• The first all-motion-picture theater in the world was opened on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh on June 19, 1905, by John P. Harris and Harry Davis.

• The first commercial broadcast station in the world was KDKA in Pittsburgh, which started daily schedule broadcasting on November 2, 1920.

• The 2000 Census showed 9.97 percent of Pennsylvania’s population to be African American, less than the national average of 12.3 percent. This included 45 percent of the population of Philadelphia County, 17 percent of Dauphin County, 14.5 percent of Delaware County, and 12.4 percent of Allegheny County.

• Pennsylvania’s Hispanic or Latino population in 2000 was 3.2 percent of the state’s total, far less than the Hispanic percentage for the nation, which was 12.5 percent.

• The first night football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892 between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary.

• Kathryn O’Hay Granahan was the first female member of Congress from Philadelphia and the Treasurer of the United States from 1962 to 1966.

• In 1946, scientists J. Presper Eckert Jr. and John W. Mauchly of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania produced the world’s first electronic computer, the ENIAC, for the U.S. Army.

• Forest County has the distinction of being the only county in Pennsylvania without a traffic light.

• In December 1913, the first drive-in gasoline filling station in the world opened at the corner of Baum and St. Clair Streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

• Pennsylvania is the first state in the United States to place its URL on license plates.

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; Pennsylvania State Data Center; Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: ``The Realignment of Pennsylvania Politics Since 1960’’ by Renee M. Lamis; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

11.) Iowa (Hawkeye State)

• Capital City: Des Moines

• Origin: Named for Iowa Indians of the Siouan family

• Population:  3,062,309 ((2011 estimate)

• Number of counties: 99

• Entered Union:  December 28, 1846 (29th)

• State Motto: Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain

• State Song: ``Song of Iowa’’

• Rank among states: 30

• White alone:   91.3 percent

• Black or African American alone:   2.9 percent

• Hispanic or Latino (of any race):   5.2 percent

• Unemployment: 5.5 percent (August, 2012)

• Electoral Votes: 6

• Iowa was the birthplace of Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, who was also the first U.S. president born west of the Mississippi.

• For nearly 70 years following the Civil War, the vast majority of Iowa voters supported the Republicans in state and national elections.

• From 1940 through 1984, Iowans voted Republican in 10 out of 12 presidential elections.

• Beginning in 1988, the Democratic candidate for president in Iowa has carried the state in five out of the last six elections. George W. Bush in 2004 narrowly won the Hawkeye state with 49.9 percent of the vote to John Kerry’s 49.2 percent.

• In 2008, Barack Obama carried Iowa with 53.9 percent of the vote to John McCain’s 44.4 percent.

• In addition to Herbert Hoover, Iowa was the birthplace of Vice President Henry A. Wallace (the 33rd Vice President of the United States under FDR, 1941–1945); First Lady Mamie Doud Eisenhower, and Carrie Chapman Catt, a suffragist leader whose efforts resulted in women's right to vote.

• Iowa was the first state created out of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

• John Brown, the radical abolitionist, spent the winters of 1857 and 1859 in the small Quaker village of Springdale, preparing for his raid on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, which led to his capture and eventual hanging.

• Iowa ranks first in beef, pork, corn, soybean and grain production.

• Iowa has 92,600 farms with an average size of 135 hectares

• The world's first electronic digital computer was built and operated by researchers at Iowa State University in the 1930's.

• Iowa students' ACT and SAT scores rank among the top five states.

• The high school graduation rate in Iowa is 88 percent; 17 percent above the national average.

• The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum located in West Branch, Iowa, next to the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site includes Hoover’s birthplace cottage and final resting place, a blacksmith shop, a one-room schoolhouse, and a replica of the Oval Office.

• Effigy Mounds National Monument is a group of prehistoric American Indian burial and ceremonial mounds located near Marquette in northeast Iowa.

• The estimated Latino population of Iowa as of July 1, 2011, is 158, 014, making people of Latino origin the state’s largest race or ethnic minority. Latinos constitute 5.2 percent of the state’s total population.

Source: Iowa Department of Economic Development; Iowa Tourism Office; Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States (7th edition); America Votes 29: Election Returns by State (Rhodes Cook, CQ Press).

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
October 8, 2012

Election Resources to Keep in Mind:

Office of the Federal Registrar, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: 1789-2004 Presidential Elections

Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives: Election Statistics

Federal Election Commission: Federal Elections 2008: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

The American Presidency Project: Presidential Election Data

Roper Center (Public Opinion Archives): Presidential Elections

United States Election Project: Voter Turnout (Data compiled by Dr. Michael McDonald, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University).

47 Percent Reconsidered

Ever since he was caught on camera saying he has all but written off 47 percent of the voting population who he thinks are dependent on the government and have already thrown their lot with Barack Obama, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign has been in complete shambles and disrepair.

A recent Gallup Poll shows that 36 percent of voters say Mr. Romney's comments make them less likely to vote for him, while 20 percent say the remarks make them more likely to vote for him, and 43 percent say the comments won't make a difference.

No one, especially a presidential contender, ever likes to be considered just a number, but it seems ``47 percent’’ will stick to the Republican nominee like a hard stale stick of chewing gum right up until election day.

Since we can’t seem to escape ``47 percent’’ being mentioned on television, in our daily newspaper, on the Internet or in other daily conversations, I thought I would call to mind other ``47 percent’’ figures that might be relevant in the dialogue of this bruising 2012 presidential campaign.

• About 47 percent of Congress, or 250 current members of Congress, are millionaires, according to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics of lawmakers' personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010.

• Nearly 47 percent of the food-stamp recipients in the United States are children, and about 8 percent are the elderly, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

• According to a March, 2012 New York Times/CBS News poll, 36 percent of Americans approve of the Affordable Care Act, while 47 percent are opposed.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 47 percent more Hispanic citizens voted in 2008 than in 2004.

• A recent Gallup Poll says that 47 percent of Americans now have guns, more than any time since 1993.

• The U.S. currently accounts for 47 percent of global credit and debit card fraud, according to a recent issue of The Nilson Report.

• According to a March, 2012 survey by the Online Publishers Association (OPA), 47 percent of Americans is expected read newspapers and magazines on tablet devices by the middle of next year.

• The share of online shoppers will likely reach 47 percent by 2015, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group.

• News Corp. profit soared 47 percent in the first three months of the year.

• Apple generates about 47 percent of the mobile computing industry, according to data compiled by the investment firm Morgan Keegan.

• TV ad spending will account for 47 percent of media budgets, according to a joint survey by ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and Forrester Research, Inc.

• 47 percent of Chicago voters backed the city's recent teachers' strike, according to McKeon & Associates, a Joliet-based opinion polling company.

• In the decade since the file-sharing site Napster emerged in 1999, music sales in the U.S. have dropped 47 percent, from $14.6 billion to $7.7 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

• 47 percent of Netflix users in 2012 streamed movies online, according to a recent Nielsen survey.

• 47 percent of Americans say Facebook has the greatest impact on purchasing behavior (compared with just 24 percent in 2011), according to Edison Research, a market research firm.

• About 47 percent of women have no children.

• In 2011, women accounted for 47 percent of all employed persons 16 years of age and older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• 33 million people in the United States lived alone in 2011-53 percent of unmarried U.S. residents 18 and older were women; 47 percent were men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• About 47 percent of obese and overweight men said they believed their weight was a problem, while 53 percent didn’t, according to a recent study at the University of Florida.

• A survey by Pew Research Center revealed that 47 percent of men eat in a fast food restaurant at least weekly, compared to 35 percent of women.

• About 47 percent of American adults have at least one risk factor for heart disease, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• As of May, 2012, U.S. travel to overseas claimed 47 percent of all U.S. outbound international travel.

• At 47 percent, blacks constitute a disproportionate percentage of the homeless population, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

• Nearly 47 percent of police officers worked a non-day shift, compared to just 9 percent of other U.S. workers, according to researchers from the University of Buffalo.

• Only 47 percent of African-American males and 44 percent of Hispanic males graduate from high school, according to House Resolution 721 from the 112th Congress (June 29, 2012).

• The largest percentage of children (47 percent) in foster care was in nonrelatives’ foster family homes, according to the Children’s Bureau Express.

• According to Congressman Gerry Connolly (representing the 11th District of Virginia),`about 47 percent of the federal workforce are expected to retire in the next decade.

• During a 1-year period, 47 percent of youth ages 14 to 17 experienced a physical assault, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

• Miami tops the list with 47 percent of the labor force being foreign born and where 45 percent of business owners are foreign born, according to  the Fiscal Policy Institute, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, research and education organization based in New York.

• Heart disease and cancer constituted 47 percent of all deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  

• Exports of manufactured goods to our trade agreement partners totaled $595.8 billion in 2011, representing nearly 47 percent of total U.S. manufactured goods exports, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

• Natural gas furnishes as much as 47 percent of U.S. industrial energy requirements because it meets the industrial energy buyer's criteria of availability, energy cost, and form value so well, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

• The return rate for urgent care within 30 days of discharge was 29 percent for women and 47 percent for men, according to a study from Boston Medical Center.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
September 21, 2012

 

A Brief History of Teacher Strikes in the United States

With Chicago school teachers having completed their third day of striking, impacting an estimated 350,000 students with no agreement in sight over Mayor Rahm Emanuel's demand for tougher teacher evaluations; this might be a fitting time to review a brief history of teacher labor unrest in the United States.

• The National Education Association (NEA) founded in 1857 encouraged professionalism and strongly discouraged collective bargaining or striking through much of the 20th century.

• The Chicago Teachers Federation was founded in 1897.

• Women comprised 86 percent of the teachers in urban schools in 1920, up from 59 percent in 1870.

• The American Federation of Teachers, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, was founded in 1916 and today represents 1.5 million members in more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide.

• The AFT membership rose from 22,000 in 1941 to 42,000 in 1947 or 4.5 percent of the workforce.

• The first single salary schedule for teachers, (which provides salary increments according to a teacher's years of experience and number of college or university units and degrees), was developed in the Denver, Colorado school system in 1920. By 1931, 22 percent of school systems used the single-salary schedule, and in 1941, it was 31 percent.

• Due to perceived anti-patriotism among AFT’s leadership, especially among some of its more prominent members who opposed the U.S. entry into World War I, the American Legion targeted many teachers as being ``disloyal’’, pushing for their dismissal and even pushed schools to include lessons on dutiful patriotism in their curriculum.

• Concerned that teacher unions known for ``contemptuous and rebellious’’ attitudes toward authorities might pass similar characteristics  on to impressionable children, Chicago School Board president, Jacob Loeb,  in 1917, passed the infamous ``Loeb Rule,’’ which prohibited Chicago teachers from joining trade unions.

• Political repression, and lack of support  for the right to strike; this in addition to the Great Depression led to the stagnation of teacher salaries through much of the 1930s, including teachers taking on larger workloads and class sizes, while state governments slashed school budgets .

• With teacher strikes rare during much of the 1930’s, the Chicago teachers in District 1 in 1936 led a protest in front of the Board of Education when they defaulted on their salaries.

• Wartime inflation after War World II resulted in economic hardships for many teachers nationwide as they found much of their income eroded. According to historian Marjorie Murphy, during the war years, the average real income of industrial workers rose 80 percent while teachers' real income fell 20 percent.

• By 1943, teachers went on strike in 12 states. Their militancy paid big dividends as the average teacher salary increased by 13 percent since the end of World War II.

• Post-war strike fever was sparked first by Norwalk, Connecticut teachers in September 1946, who successfully won increased pay along with their union being recognized.  New Jersey teachers also staged a short strike in 1946. The biggest and most successful teachers strike, by far of that year took place in November in St. Paul, Minnesota when teachers went on a five-week strike which eventually led a pay increase beginning in April, 1947.

• The Condon-Waldin Act law passed by the New York State Legislature in 1947 called for the immediate firing of employees if they struck and were prohibited from reinstatement under a three-year pay freeze and five-year probation.

• In Buffalo, NY in 1946-1947 teachers struck and won major concessions when other labor unions struck in support of the teachers; Minneapolis teachers also struck in May, 1948 winning a pay raise despite the school board attempting to lock them out.

• Also in 1948, AFT locals in San Francisco, California, and Jersey City, New Jersey, w o n pay raises after combative teachers struck.

• The post-war strike wave prompted a number of state legislatures to pass harsh anti-strike laws for public employees, including in Delaware where a bill was passed which would impose a $500 fine and one year in prison for any public employee who struck.

• Teachers in Providence Rhode Island hit the streets for a week in 1950 and won a historic basic contract, one of the first in the nation for teachers.

• During the 1950’s, with the menace of the Cold War filling the air and many teachers being accused of ``subversion’’, teacher militancy was practically nonexistent through much of the decade; one of the lone exceptions being in New Jersey where there were a total of nine strikes through the 1950’s.

• By 1959, Wisconsin was the only state with collective bargaining legislation.

• The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) was founded in 1960 as Local 2 of the now 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

• On November 7, 1960, the UFT with its 50,000 public school teachers launched a one-day strike to convince New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., and the board of education to hold an election that would give teachers to right to choose a collective bargaining unit. Their demands were met in June, 1961.

• In response to the successful New York City strike, between 1961 and 1965, there were as many as six public school teacher strikes nationwide.

• In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10968, giving federal employees collective bargaining rights, and providing momentum for similar changes in state laws.

• In 1963, AFT repealed its ``no-strike’’ pledge; and by early 1965, AFT locals secured collective bargaining rights in Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia.

• By 1968, AFT locals had become the collective bargaining agent for teachers in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, Kansas City, Cleveland, Newark, Toledo, St. Louis, New Orleans, Washington, DC, and a number of other cities.

• During the 1960's, 22 states passed laws granting collective bargaining to local and state employees.

• In 1968, the San Francisco Federation of Teachers (SFFT) staged a one-day walkout that won salary increases, improved benefits, smaller class sizes, including the hiring of 300 new teachers under a union-negotiated affirmative action plan.

• Thousands of New York City teachers, more than 54,000, went on strike in 1968 during the height of the city's racial tensions when the black school board of Ocean-Hill-Brownsville, a Brooklyn district at war with many of its teachers, dismissed as many as 13 teachers and administrators who were predominantly white and Jewish and were represented by the United Federation of Teachers. The UFT demanded the reinstatement of the teachers. The strike dragged on for 36 days before the local board finally agreed to reinstate the dismissed teachers.

• May, 1969: Chicago teachers go on strike for the first time in the city’s history. The strike was resolved after one day when teachers agreed to an increase in salary of $100 a month, raising starting pay of teachers to $8,400. The contract also guaranteed regularly assigned teachers wouldn't be dismissed, established the maximum allowed students in each course, and guaranteed that no educational programs would be eliminated.

• In 1970, Newark teachers w o n a modest pay increase with the board agreeing to hire 252 teachers' aides to take over many of the "nonprofessional duties."

• January, 1971:  The second strike by Chicago teachers lasts for four days before agreeing to an 8 percent pay raise, making them one of the best paid in the country.

• On January 10, 1973, unable to reach an agreement on higher wages, smaller classes and a shorter school year, Chicago teachers strike for the third time in four years. The strike lasted two weeks.

• The nation witnessed a marked increase of teacher militancy during the 1970s, as teachers' unions began to push for more of a voice in educational policy.

• By the end of the 1970's, collective bargaining agreements covered 72 percent of public school teachers.

• Between July 1960 and June 1974, the country experienced over 1,000 teacher strikes involving more than 823,000 teachers.

• Nationwide, there was decline in teacher strikes in the 1980s and 1990s, but also saw increased political activism in teachers' unions.

• October 4, 1987: The Chicago Teachers Union agreed to end their 19 day strike, the longest in the city’s history, after winning a four percent pay increase in the first year, with any raise in the second year contingent on funds received by the Chicago school board. The agreement also included reductions in class size in some schools.  It was the ninth strike in the Chicago Public Schools system in 18 years.

• There were four Chicago teacher strikes between 1980 and 1987 due to the local and state government’s failures to fund salary increases and school improvements.

• Skyrocketing health care costs led to a number of teacher strikes nationwide by the late 1990’s.

• September 10, 2012: Chicago teachers, some 26,000, the third largest school district nationwide, go on strike for the first time in 25 years with the most contentious issues splitting the two sides apart centering on a new teacher evaluation system and health care benefits.

• According to the Chicago Tribune, there were 10 teacher strikes throughout Illinois in the 2001-02 school years, but since then, the state has had just five since 2007-08.

• The longest teachers' strike in Illinois history took place in the town of Homer in southeastern Champaign County that lasted from October 16, 1986, to June 23, 1987, an eight-month strike which swallowed up a staggering 156 school days, beating the record once set in Cleveland, Ohio in the 2002-03 school year which lasted 62 days.

• Since the 1960’s, there have been well over 3,000 teacher strikes which have lasted more than one day.

• Full-time and part-time public school teachers in 2007–08, some 76 percent of public school teachers were female, 44 percent were under age 40 and 52 percent had a master’s or higher degree.

• Among both males and females, 83 percent of public school teachers were White, seven percent each were Black or Hispanic, one percent each were Asian or of two or more races, and less than one percent each were Pacific Islander or American Indian/Alaska Native in 2007.

• The average salary for full-time public school teachers in 2010–11 was $56,069 in current dollars (not adjusted for inflation). In constant (inflation-adjusted) dollars, the average salary was about three percent higher in 2010–11 than in 1990–91.

Bill Lucey
[email protected]
September 12, 2012

Source: ``Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History; `` Teachers and Reform: Chicago Public Education, 1929-70’’ By John F. Lyons; National Center for Education Statistics

 

Watergate 40 Year-Anniversary: A Collection of Historic Footnotes

Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, tightening up their lead in The Washington Post newsroom

Publisher Katharine Graham, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, managing editor Howard Simons, and executive editor Ben Bradlee in 1973. Photo By Mark Godfrey/The Image Works.

***

Sunday marks the 40-year anniversary of Watergate.

What started out as a ``third rate burglary’’ at 2: 30 a.m. on June 17, 1972  at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C., quickly ballooned into a federal investigation, leading to 41 individuals linked to the White House being indicted, another 21 individuals would serve prison time, culminating in the 37th President of the United States (facing almost certain impeachment), resigning in disgrace to become the first president in U.S. history forced from office. Not your everyday fender bender.

So, to remember the occasion of one of the most explosive political scandals of the 20th century being  uncovered only through the hard work and dogged dedication of two young aggressive reporters at The Washington Post, I’ve compiled what I hope to be are some interesting facts and footnotes about Watergate scandal.

• ``Watergate" is an "exclusive" apartment building complex (including shopping and offices) in Washington, D.C. On the sixth floor were the offices of the Democratic National Committee. On June 17, 1972, in response to a call by a security guard, police were alerted and found five men spying inside the Democratic Committee's offices. A total of seven men were arrested and indicted in September by a Federal grand jury and charged with  illegally entering the offices with intent to tap conversations and steal documents.: Those discovered in the offices, included: James McCord, Jr., Bernard L. Barker, Frank Sturgis, Eugenio R. Martinez, Virgillio R. Gonzales; E. Howard Hunt Jr. and G. Gordon Liddy. Of the seven, Hunt and McCord were charged with intercepting conversations.

A Footnote: The $80 a week security guard, Frank Wills, who alerted police to the burglaries, died on September 27, 2000 at the age of 52 from a brain tumor. [See Obituary] 

• Alfred E. Lewis, staff writer for The Washington Post, first reported on the break-in at the Democratic National headquarters on June 18, 1972:

Published contributions of this first story, included Washington Post Staff Writers Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Bart Barnes, Kirk Scharfenberg, Martin Weil, Claudia Lery, Abbott Combes, and Tim O'Brien.

In The New York Times on June 18, 1972, the break-in story appeared on page 30.

• On June 19, 1972: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein publish their first article on the Watergate affair, in which they name former CIA employee James W. McCord as being a salaried security coordinator for President Nixon’s reelection committee. 

• Executing an article search for ``Richard Nixon'' on NexisDirect from LexisNexis from June 1, 1972 through 2012, shows that there were a total of 483,088 search results: 31,379 from 1972-1980, 184,305 from 1980 through 1999 and 267,404 from 2000 through 2012.

• Searching for articles on  ``Watergate'' on LexisNexis from June 1, 1972 through 2012, shows there were a total of 127, 506 results with 7,959 results from 1972 through 1980, 60,958 from 1980 through 1999, and 58,589 results from 2000 through 2012.

• Searching on WorldCat  which contains more than 271 million items and represents the collections of 72,000 libraries worldwide, shows that on June 10, 2012, there were 7,965 records for ``Richard Nixon''; 4,206 records for ``Watergate'', 3,590 records for the ``Watergate Affair;  while searching for ``Nixon’’ and ``Watergate Affair’’ as a subject, returns 1,396 records.

• According to Bowker's Books in Print Database, as of May 30, 2012, there have been a total of 266 books published about the ``Watergate Affair'', 87 of those books were written in the 1970's, 36 in the 1980's, 60 in the 1990's, 69 from 2000 through 2009, and 14 from 2010 through 2012.

• Even with many U.S. newspapers well staffed, including beefed up bureaus in Washington, the Watergate break-in remained largely a Washington Post story. Former editor of  national news at The Washington Post Ben Bagdikian once estimated that of the ``sixteen bureaus with ten or more correspondents based in Washington, employing a total of 433 reporters, fewer than fifteen were assigned full time to Watergate before the Senate Select Committee began hearings in May 1973.’’

• In November, 1972, President Nixon won reelection with a commanding 61 percent of the vote, carrying 49 states.

• Despite the public outrage over Watergate, through most of 1973, the sluggish economy dominated the polls, and in 1974 the energy crisis was the biggest concern to American voters.  Even after the public confidence in Nixon plummeted during the Senate televised hearings in the summer of 1973, 43 percent of the poll respondents in June 1974 considered Watergate to be "just politics," compared with 48 percent who considered it to be a serious matter.

• Richard Nixon's overall job rating in a Harris Survey fell from 59 percent in March of 1973 to 29 percent in July of 1974.

• A Gallup telephone poll immediately after Nixon's speech showed 79 percent of a national sample believing Nixon did the "best thing" by resigning and just 13 percent thought he should have "stayed.

• On May 31, 2005, (acutally published in July, 2005 of the magazine) America' best kept secret came to a screeching halt when Vanity Fair revealed the identity of ``Deep Throat’’, Woodward and Bernstein’s critical anonymous source in the Watergate investigation. Their coveted source was W. Mark Felt, the associate director of the FBI under President Nixon.

Felt died on September 18, 2008 at age 95.

• The Watergate scandal coined or popularized a number of words and phrases, among them: Saturday night massacre, stonewalling, cover up, dirty tricks, straight arrow, expletive deleted, third-rate burglary, plumbers, Deep Throat, and the Big Enchilda.

• By far, the most popular term associated with Watergate was ``smoking gun’’ a code word for clear evidence of Richard Nixon’s involvement in the cover-up and grounds for impeachment. One of the first references to ``smoking gun’’ is found in The New York Times on July 14, 1974, when Roger Wilkins wrote in his lead paragraph: ``The big question asked over the last few weeks in and around the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing room by committee members who were uncertain about how they felt about impeachment was, ``Where's the smoking gun''?

• William Safire, writing in a January 26, 2003 New York Times article, found two early references to the phrase ``smoking gun.'' On July 31, 1974, Representative Jack Brooks told the impeachment panel that he thought Nixon was guilty of income-tax invasion. Millions of Americans will view this evidence as a so-called ``smoking gun’’ the Texan said. Then on August 5, 1974, the committee released a transcript of a recording of  a meeting on June 23, 1972, capturing White House chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, asking President Nixon, ``You think the thing to do is to get them, the FBI to stop?  Nixon replied, ``Right, fine.'' Representative Barbara Conable of New York, almost without delay said that it ``looked like a smoking gun'' and the recording quickly became known as the ``smoking-gun tape.''

• The word ``plumbers'' a Watergate euphemism for someone who plugs leaks was coined by David Young, who was a Special Assistant at the National Security Council in the Nixon Administration and an Administrative Assistant to Henry Kissinger. According to transcripts from a television interview, Young stumbled upon the ``plumbers’’ while talking with his mother-in-law, who asked him "What are you working on, dear?" Young replied: "Well, I am plugging leaks." She said "Oh how nice, we had carpenter in the family, now we have a plumber."  Young liked the word plumbers so much that he had the word placed on the inside of the door of their office room (no. 16) in the White House. Later, when questioned under oath, Young admitted we called ourselves the ``plumbers.''

• Contrary to popular belief, Bob Woodward's anonymous source, ``Deep Throat’’ never said ``Follow the Money.''  One of the most famous lines in American cinema was actually coined by ``All the President’s Men’’ screenplay writer, William Goldman.  Woodward himself never separated fact from fiction until he was questioned about the quote years ago. So sure the line was indeed uttered by Deep Throat that he rifled through his notes and to his complete amazement-he realized ``Follow the money’’ was nothing more than a Hollywood creation.

• In the Congressional elections after Richard Nixon’s resignation, the Republicans felt the sting of the voter backlash: The Senate lost five, dropping them to only 37 seats to the Democrats 60. The most crushing loss came in the House, where the GOP lost 48 seats, giving the Democrats a strong majority with 291 seats to the Republicans' 144.

• 75 new Democratic members of the House came to Washington in 1975, many of them still in their early 40’s, giving rise to a new label for this new class of idealistic public servants  determined to change the culture of Washington. They were dubbed the ``Watergate Babies'' by the press.  Of those 75 ``Watergate Babies’’, five of them are still in the U.S. Congress 40 years later: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont): Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) (first elected to the House in 1974) ;  Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) (first elected in the House in 1974); Rep. George Miller (D-California); and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California).

• In his original review of the motion picture ``All the President's Men'' for The Chicago Sun-Times published on January 1, 1976  , film critic Roger Ebert wrote: ``For all of its technical skill, the movie essentially shows us the same journalistic process several times as it leads closer and closer to an end we already know. The film is long, and would be dull if it weren't for the wizardry of Pakula, his actors, and technicians.''  Vincent Canby, meanwhile, in his April 8, 1976 review in The New York Times, wrote of the film: ``The manners and methods of big-city newspapering, beautifully detailed, contribute as much to the momentum of the film as the mystery that's being uncovered. Maybe even more, since the real excitement of "All The President's Men" is in watching two comparatively inexperienced reporters stumble onto the story of their lives and develop it triumphantly, against all odds.’’  

• There is a perception that the heroic reporting by Woodward and Bernstein during Watergate led to a sharp spike in enrollment in journalism schools throughout the country.  Unfortunately, no such hard data supports this assumption. Writing in ``Pulitzer School’’ (Columbia University Press, 2003) James Boylan writes: ``A legend that has persisted for thirty years insists that journalism school applications spiked upward after the Watergate exposures.  No such thing: the rise had begun six years before--Columbia had its first big surge from 1963 to 1965--for reasons still not well explained, and continued through the 1980s, at Columbia and elsewhere."

• Though Woodward and Bernstein might not been the direct cause of young people selecting journalism as their chosen career field, their remarkable Watergate reporting clearly helped set a new standard in American journalism. Historian James AuCoin, for example, writing in ``Journalism History’’ (1995), wrote: ``Buried by generations of conservative newspaper publishers and complacent reporters, investigative reporting would not experience a revival until the end of the 1960's, beginning with skeptical reporting on the war in Vietnam and culminating just a few years later in the Watergate disclosures of Woodward and Bernstein, which suddenly gave new muckrakers the status of celebrities.''

• A Footnote: Lincoln Steffens, a New York reporter, who specialized in  investigating government and political corruption at the dawn of the 20th century,  first talked about ``journalistic investigations'' in 1906; and according to Editor & Publisher in a December 8, 1952 article: ``Newspapers must turn more and more to great reporters. They will be known as investigative reporters.’’ ….. `` Investigative reporting has as its goal the stimulation of sufficient indignation to force a new code of ethics on the public officeholder.''

• A graph plotted by Google on their ``Ngram Viewer’ shows how interest in investigative reporting rose, beginning in the late 1960’s. Plotting out the evolution of ``government mistrust’’ shows a similar increase of interest during the same time period.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
June 13, 2012

***

Memorable Watergate Quotes:

• ``A third-rate burglary attempt''
-Ronald L. Ziegler, press conference, Key Biscayne, Florida, June 19, 1972, characterizing the break-in of the Democratic National Headquarters two days earlier.

• ``Katie Graham's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published''
-John N. Mitchell, telephone interview, September 29, 1972 as quoted in ``All the President's Men'' (1974) by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Bernstein was checking a lead accusing Mitchell of controlling a secret fund that financed the Watergate break-in and other political espionage operations.

• `The essential question is simply put: What did the president know and when did he know it?''
-Howard H. Baker, Jr. Senate Watergate Committee hearings, June 25, 1973

• ``I'm not a crook''
-Richard Nixon, press conference, Disney World, November 11, 1973

• ``I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.''
-Richard Nixon announcing his resignation as president, August 8, 1974

• ``Our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works''
-Gerald Ford, inaugural statement upon succeeding Richard M. Nixon as president, August 9, 1974

• ``I screwed up terribly in what was a little thing and it became a big thing’’......``I brought myself down. I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in, and they twisted it with relish. And I guess if I had been in their position, I'd have done the same thing.''

-Richard M. Nixon, television interview with David Frost, May 4, 1977

Source: The Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations

***

Key Dates of the Watergate Affair

June 17, 1972: James McCord and four others are arrested by Washington police inside the Democrats' Watergate headquarters. Police confiscate cameras, eavesdropping equipment, and $2,300 in cash with serial numbers in sequence.

September 15, 1972: G. Gordon Liddy, Howard Hunt and five others caught inside the Watergate on June 17th are indicted by a federal grand jury.

October 10, 1972: The Washington Post reports that the FBI have established that the bugging of the Democratic headquarters originated from a ``massive campaign of political spying and sabotage’’, which was directed by officials of the White House and the Committee for the Re-election of the President. 

October 25, 1972: Based on information from federal investigators, The Washington Post reveals that H.R. Haldeman was one of five high-ranking presidential assistants authorized to make payments from a secret Nixon campaign cash fund used to finance a spying and sabotage campaign against Democratic presidential candidates.

February 7, 1973: The start of the Watergate investigation officially kicks off when the Senate votes unanimously to create the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities under the leadership of Senator Sam Ervin Jr.

April 30, 1973: John Erlichman, Haldeman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst resign. Nixon fires John Dean.

May 17, 1973: Televised Watergate hearings begin.

October 13, 1973: The House Judiciary Committee considers procedures for impeachment.

November 14, 1973: The White House learns there is an 18 1/2 minute gap in the June 20, 1972 tape of a meeting between Haldeman and Nixon.

January 15, 1974: Technical experts determine that the 18 1/2-minute gap in the June 20th tape was erased manually.

February 6, 1974: The House votes 410 to 4 to proceed with impeachment, including giving the House Judiciary Committee broad subpoena powers.

March 1, 1974: Seven key members of the Nixon administration, including John Mitchell, Haldeman, Erlichman and Chuck Colson are indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglary. Nixon is named as an ``unindicted coconspirator''

April 30, 1974: The White House releases 1,239 pages of edited transcripts involving White House discussion on Watergate and other White House business.

May 9, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee begins formal hearings on the possible impeachment of Richard Nixon.

July 24, 1974: In the United States vs. Nixon, the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous decision ruled executive power was something to be determined by the courts, not the president. Nixon, the court ruled, will be required to turn over the tapes

July 24, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee begins debate on articles of impeachment against Nixon.

July 27, 1974: The House Judiciary Committee on a 27-11 vote, recommends Nixon be impeached on grounds that he obstructed the investigation of the Watergate break-in and was equally complicit in the cover-up. Other articles of impeachment are voted on again on July 29 and July 30th.

August 5, 1974: Three new transcripts are released by the White House; the most damaging is the one from June 23, 1972 between Haldeman and Nixon which reveals Nixon personally ordered the cover-up within six days after the break-in of the Democrat's national headquarters.

August 7, 1974: Nixon meets with Senate Minority Leader High Scott, House Minority Leader John Rhodes and Senator Barry Goldwater who inform him the cards are clearly stacked against him: specifically, that he only has about 15 votes against impeachment in the Senate and approximately 10 votes against impeachment in the House.

August 8, 1974: Nixon announces his resignation on nationwide television, which became effective at noon, the next day, August 9th.

September 8, 1974: President Gerald Ford grants Nixon ``full, free, and absolute pardon'' for any crimes he may have committed as president.

-Bill Lucey

Source: ``The Watergate Crisis’’ By Michael Genoves (Guides to Historic Events of the Twentieth Century [Greenwood Press]; Washington Post Archives.

***
All the President’s Men 40 Years Later: A Biographical Update:

• Harry Robbins Haldeman or H.R. "Bob" Haldeman; Richard M. Nixon's White House chief of staff was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, serving 18 months at the Lompoc Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) located 60 miles northwest of Santa Barbara. After being released from prison (on parole) on December 20, 1978, Nixon’s right hand man became vice president of the David H. Murdoch real estate development company. He died of cancer, age 67, at his home in Santa Barbara, California on November 12, 1993. [See Obituary ] 

• John Daniel Ehrlichman was counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. Convicted on January 1, 1975 of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury in the Watergate affair, he served a total of 18 months from the Federal prison camp at Stafford, Arizona. After prison, he tried his hand at writing while living in Santa Fe., N.M., later serving as senior vice president of Law Environmental, an engineering company in Atlanta with a concentration on hazardous-waste handling.

He died on February 14, 1999 at his home in Atlanta while suffering from diabetes. He was 73. [See Obituary]

• John Newton Mitchell, Attorney General of the United States from 1969 to 1972 under President Richard Nixon, was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, serving 19 months at the Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, a minimum security prison.

Upon his release from prison on February 21, 1975 for medical reasons, the former attorney general told reporters gathered around him: ``From henceforth, don't call me. I'll call you."

According to his obituary, after being released from prison, he lived an obscure life in his Georgetown home, working occasionally as a consultant.  On November 9, 1988, Mitchell collapsed from a heart attack on the sidewalk in front of 2812 N St., N.W., Georgetown, Washington, D.C.  He was 75.
[See Obituary]

• Jeb Stuart Magruder served in the White House until the spring of 1971, later managing the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) as Deputy Director, and assistant to CRP Director and Attorney General of the United States John N. Mitchell.

On May 21, 1974, Magruder began serving seven months in a Federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania for his role in the botched burglary of Watergate and the following cover-up.

After prison, he earned a Master of Divinity from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 1981, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. He served as associate minister at the First Presbyterian Church in Burlingame, California and First Community Church of Columbus, Ohio.  In 1990, Magruder became senior pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington, Kentucky.

• Maurice Stans, who served as the finance chairman for the Committee to Re-elect the President, working for the re-election of Richard Nixon, was indicted on 10 counts of perjury and conspiracy in connection with a $200,000 contribution from fugitive financier Robert Vesco. He was acquitted in 1974.

Soon after the Watergate trials, he wrote a book, “The Terrors of Justice.”, and later another book followed: “One of the President’s Men.”

Stans died on April 14, 1998, age 90, after suffering a heart attack at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California.[See Obituary]

• Charles "Chuck" Wendell Colson, a Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973, who compiled the infamous “enemies list” of individuals considered threats to the White House  while orchestrating schemes to discredit Daniel Ellsberg, (the former United States Pentagon analyst suspected of leaking a top-secret history of the Vietnam War to the New York Times and The Washington Post), was released from prison (on parole) in January 1975, after serving seven months in Maxwell Correctional Facility in Alabama for conspiring to cover up the Watergate burglary.

After prison, Nixon’s professed ``hatchet man’’ became an Evangelical Christian leader and cultural commentator and strong advocate for prison reform. Colson founded the Prison Fellowship in 1976; and in 1983, he pushed for bipartisan, legislative reforms in the U.S. criminal justice system.

On April 21, 2012, Colson died from a brain hemorrhage.’’ He was 80. [See Obituary}

• John Wesley Dean III who served as White House Counsel to United States President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973, spent four months in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up on charges of obstruction of justice.

Dean, now a fierce critic of the Republican Party (who advocated the impeachment of George W. Bush), lives in Beverly Hills, Calif. with his wife, Maureen and is currently an author, columnist, and commentator on U.S. politics. He’s also an investment banker.

• James Walter McCord, Jr. a former CIA agent, later an electronics expert in the Watergate burglaries was charged with eight counts of conspiracy, burglary and wiretapping.  He was sentenced to four months in jail.

In 1974, he published a book entitled, "A Piece of Tape -- The Watergate Story: Fact and Fiction."

McCord currently resides in Rockville, Md.

• Egil Krogh, head of the "Special Investigation Unit" in the White House, formed a secret operation charged with fixing leaks, an organization that came to be known as the ``plumbers’’ and was the one who approved the September 1971 burglary of the office of Lewis Fielding, the psychiatrist treating Daniel Ellsberg.  G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt carried out the actual break-in.

On November 30, 1973, Krogh pled guilty to federal charges of conspiring to violate Fielding's civil rights and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He was sentenced to two to six years in prison, but was released after 4 ½ months. 

After being readmitted to practice law, he became a partner at Krogh & Leonard in Seattle and currently provides legal, consulting, and mediation services to energy and other clients.

In 2007, Krogh wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times, describing ``the meltdown of personal integrity’’ which had poisoned the Nixon White House.
 
Krogh’s brother-in-law, Peter Horton, is the director and executive producer of the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy.

• George Gordon Battle Liddy, better known as G. Gordon Liddy, was the chief operative for the White House Plumbers unit during Richard Nixon's presidency.

Along with E. Howard Hunt, Liddy carried out the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building in May and June 1972.

On January 30, 1973, Liddy began serving a 20-year prison sentence for his role in the Watergate break-in, for conspiracy in the Daniel Ellsberg case and for contempt of court,, but on April 12, 1977, President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence to eight years ``in the interest of fairness’’, so the president reasoned, based on the limited sentences of others convicted in the Watergate scandal. Liddy became eligible for parole on July 9, 1977 and was released on September 7, 1977 having served a total of four and a-half years of prison time.

Liddy is currently a radio talk show host and frequently a guest panelist for Fox News Channel.

• Everette Howard Hunt, Jr. was an American intelligence officer and writer. Hunt served for many years as a CIA officer. In addition to Liddy and others, Hunt was one of the Nixon White House "plumbers" — a secret team of operatives charged with fixing "leaks". Hunt and Liddy engineered the first Watergate burglary, and other undercover operations for Nixon. For his complicity in the Watergate scandal, Hunt was convicted of burglary, conspiracy and wiretapping, and beginning on April 25, 1975, served 33 months in prison at the low-security Federal Prison Camp at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

After prison, Hunt moved to Miami, married a schoolteacher and started a second family. He died in South Florida of complications from pneumonia on January 23, 2007 [See Obituary]

• Donald Henry Segretti, a former political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President (Nixon) during the early 1970s, ran a campaign of ``dirty tricks’’ against the Democrats, with his work being paid for by Herb Kalmbach, Nixon's lawyer, from presidential campaign re-election funds. Prior to April 7, 1972, there was no requirement that contributors to political campaigns had to be disclosed.

In 1974, Segretti pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of distributing illegal and forged campaign literature and was sentenced to six months in prison, but was released after serving four months.

In the 1976 film ``All the President's Men’’, Segretti was played by Robert Walden.

In 2000, he served as co-chair of John McCain's presidential campaign in Orange County, California.

-Bill Lucey

****

 Watergate Resources to Keep in Mind:

• Watergate Trial Conversations (Nixon Presidential Library & Museum)

• The Washington Post Watergate Special Section

• Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force

• Richard M. Nixon: The Watergate Tapes (University of Berkeley)

• The Obama Administration:  Nixon Library Now Telling Full Watergate Story

• PBS American Experience: Nixon

• The Woodward and Bernstein Watergate Papers (Harry Ransom Center: The University of Texas at Austin)

• A Question & Answer with Bob Woodward (posted on www.bobwoodward.com  

 

Preparing for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee

 

Queen Elizabeth II, wearing St. Edward's Crown at her coronation on June 2, 1953

****

Britain will be ablaze in lavish festivities this weekend, marking the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II ascending to the throne.

Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip were actually not in England, but on a safari in Kenya when she learned her father, George VI died on February 6, 1952.

Under British tradition, the monarch succeeds automatically on the death of his or her predecessor. The coronation is simply a public declaration of their new position. Patrick Allitt, a native of Derbyshire, England and Professor of U.S. History at Emory University, believes since the weather is traditionally so ``beastly’’ in February, the government most likely decided to postpone the ceremony until the summer. 

The coronation for Queen Elizabeth took place on June 2, 1953, with some 8,000 invited guests, including prime ministers and heads of state present as she took the oath of office to serve her people as queen.

Though there is usually a gap between the succession and the public coronation, that wasn’t always the case.  Early British tradition held that a monarch was not really king until he was crowned. Harold II (1066) for example, was crowned on the same day of Edward the Confessor’s burial, while Henry I was crowned just three days after the death of his brother, William Rufus in 1100.

The coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953 was revolutionary in that it marked the first time television cameras were allowed inside Westminster Abbey.  53 percent of the adult population of Great Britain (over 19 million) reportedly viewed the procession-and 56 percent (over 20 million)-viewed the Coronation Service, leaving only 12 percent of the adult population who showed no interest in listening of viewing the coronation.

Allowing television cameras to capture the coronation was in fact merely an extension of technological innovations surrounding other such pomp and pageantry. The coronation of her father, George VI (1937) was recorded by cinematography for the first time; and the first coronation photographs were taken at the public ceremony of George V, Elizabeth’s grandfather, in 1911.

Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was the 38th in the present Abbey church and the 50th to have taken place in Westminster.

The ceremony at the coronation has hardly changed over the last 1,000 years, though there have been a few modifications. The preliminary walk to the abbey was abandoned by Charles I in 1625; while the banquet in Westminster Hall was dropped by William IV in 1831.  Elaborate embellishments, meanwhile, were made beginning in 1660, when swords were added; one of them was lost in subsequent years and was replaced with another one in 1678. A Bible was added to the ceremony in 1689 and ``Zadok the Priest’’ was an anthem composed by George Frideric Handel specifically for the coronation of George II in 1727.

59 years ago, June 2, 1953, Elizabeth walked into the Abbey at the end of a procession of 250, pausing first at Theatre, located between the Choir and Sanctuary. There were three chairs used during the ceremony by the Sovereign-the Chair of State: the Throne, and King Edward's Chair, holding the Stone of Scone, first used for the coronation of Edward II in 1308.

A rite known as the ``Recognition’’ was presided over by the Archbishop who presented the Queen to the congregation and asked if they were willing to do homage and service. All roared in unison: `` God Save Queen Elizabeth’’ with the sound of trumpets smothering the air.

The oath followed and the presentation of the Bible, and then the communion service began. After the Creed, the Queen took her place in King Edward's Chair, dressed in an unadorned white gown, waiting to be anointed.  She was invested with the royal robes and ornaments:  the Jewelled Sword, the Armills (gold bracelets of sovereignty and wisdom), the Orb and Sceptre and the Coronation Ring. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, raising high the heavy crown of Edward the Confessor, solemnly lowered it  on to the Queen's head, while everyone rose to their feet.

All shouted, ``God Save the Queen’’, with trumpets blaring and the guns of the Tower of London firing a Royal Salute.

The Queen and Prince Phillip then made their way to St. Edward's Chapel where the Queen was festooned in her Royal Purple Robe, while the heavy St. Edward's Crown was replaced by the lighter Imperial State Crown.

To end the ceremony, the newly crowned Queen moved with her great procession through the Abbey to the West Door to the sounds of the National Anthem and the pealing of bells.

The coronation parade included the Queen's magnificent carriage surrounded by a phalanx of horse guards, sultans, prime ministers, heads of state and military troops from throughout the Empire and Commonwealth.  Later in the evening, Prime Minister Winston Churchill introduced the Queen's coronation day speech on radio and television. ``Let it not be thought the age of Chivalry belongs in the past. Here at the summit of our worldwide community is a lady, the Queen.’’

When the parade ended, Elizabeth, only 27 years old, with her family beside her, stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony, waving to the euphoric crush of people (despite the heavy rain) as jet planes of the Royal Air Force blazed across the Mall in tight formation.

In a pre-recorded Coronation message later that evening, the Queen addressing the 16 independent countries in which she is head of state, counseled her subjects to guard freedom and practice tolerance, ``so we can go forward together in peace.’’ ``Throughout all my life’’ the Queen said in her moving radio broadcast, `` and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.’’

A Footnote: Queen Elizabeth made history a few years later when she delivered her first televised Christmas speech in 1957. The royal Christmas radio broadcast was a long established tradition which was first inaugurated by George V in 1932.

Though Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was carried off splendidly without any embarrassing blunders, there have been a few mishaps and minor calamities at other coronations in British history. 

William the Conqueror’s coronation (1066), for example, was spoiled by the massacre of his new Saxon subjects. In 1599, Elizabeth I complained that the holy oil was too greasy and had a foul smell.

In addition, in 1727, Queen Caroline was forced to borrow jewels since George I had given the rest to his mistresses. George IV, meanwhile, had some unsolicited theatrics at his coronation in 1821 when his estranged wife demanded to be let in the church right in the middle of the ceremony.  Queen Victoria during her coronation in 1838 was in agonizing pain, or so she claimed, when the archbishop clumsily pushed the ring on her wrong finger; and in 1937, King George VI recalled the archbishop was juggling the crown on his head so much that he never did find out if it was put on his head the wrong way.

Despite plenty of optimism at the time of Elizabeth’s coronation with British journalists speaking of a new ``Elizabethan age to come’’, the early part of her reign was in fact marked by severe economic challenges and financial hardships.  Europe was beginning to recover economically, especially Germany which was quickly becoming a dangerous competitor. In addition to the European recovery, the Eastern economies of Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, were producing televisions, radios, refrigerators and computers at mad clips, representing a formidable threat to the UK.

Aside from their economic challenges, Britain’s railways, mines, shipyards and cotton mills desperately needed upgrading and a fresh infusion of investment, while there was a public clamor at home for new hospitals, schools and badly needed housing.

Finally, Elizabeth’s reign witnessed the collapse of the Empire in quick succession.  Britain withdrew from Malaya and Ghana in 1957, Nigeria in 1960, Sierra Leone and Tanganyika  in 1961, Uganda, Jamaica and Trinidad in 1962, Zambia and Aden in 1964. Britain had already withdrawn from India in 1948 before Elizabeth ascended to the throne.

Elizabeth II or Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born to the Duke and Duchess of York on April 21, 1926.  Her sister, Margaret Rose was born in 1930. The unexpected abdication of her uncle, Edward VII, brought her father, Albert Frederick Arthur George to the throne as George VI. She married her distant cousin, a naval officer, Philip Mountbatten (Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former Prince of Greece and Denmark ), in November, 1947 with the first of their four children, a son,  Prince Charles born a year later in 1948.

On April 21, 2006, Queen Elizabeth at age 80 became the third oldest person to hold the British crown.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
June 1, 2002