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Chuck Jones

Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones (September 21, 1912–February 22, 2002) was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Brothers cartoon studio. He directed many of the classic short animated cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, and the other Warners characters, including the memorable What's Opera, Doc? (1957) and Duck Amuck (1952) (both later inducted into the National Film Registry), establishing himself as an important innovator and storyteller.

Biography

Early Life

Jones was born in Spokane, Washington, and later moved with his parents and three siblings to the Los Angeles, California area. In his autobiography, Chuck Amuck, Jones credits his artistic bent to circumstances surrounding his father, who was an unsuccessful businessman in California in the 1920s. His father, Jones recounts, would start every new business venture by purchasing new stationery and new pencils with the company name on them. When the business failed, his father would turn the useless stationery and pencils over to his children. Armed with an endless supply of high-quality paper and pencils, the children drew constantly. Jones and several of his siblings went on to artistic careers. After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute, Jones held a number of low-ranking jobs in the animation industry, including washing cels at the Ub Iwerks studio and assistant animating at the Walter Lantz studio. While at Iwerks, he met a cel painter named Dorothy Webster, who would later become his wife.

Warner Bros.

Jones joined Leon Schlesinger Productions, the independent studio that produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., in 1933 as an assistant animator. During the late 1930s, he worked under directors Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, becoming a director (or "supervisor", the original title for an animation director in the studio) himself in 1938 when Frank Tashlin left the studio. Jones' first cartoon was The Night Watchman, which featured a cute kitten who would later evolve into Sniffles the mouse. Many of Jones' cartoons of the 1930s and early 1940s were lavishly animated, but audiences and fellow Termite Terrace staff members found them lacking in genuine humor. Often slow-moving and overbearing with "cuteness", Jones' early cartoons were an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Walt Disney's shorts (especially with such cartoons as Tom Thumb in Trouble and the Sniffles cartoons). Jones finally broke away from both his traditional cuteness, and traditional animation conventions as well, with the cartoon The Dover Boys in 1942. Jones credits this cartoon as the film where he "learned how to be funny." The Dover Boys is also one of the first uses of Stylized animation in American film, breaking away from the more realistic animation styles influenced by the Disney Studio. This was also the period where Jones created many of his lesser-known characters, including Charlie Dog, Hubie and Bertie, and The Three Bears. Despite their relative obscurity today, the shorts starring these characters represent some of Jones' earliest work that was strictly intended to be funny. During the World War II years, Jones worked closely with Theodore Geisel (better known as Dr. Seuss) to create the Private Snafu series of Army educational cartoons. Private Snafu comically educated soldiers on topics like spies and laziness in a more risque way than general audiences would have been used to at the time. Jones would later collaborate with Seuss on a number of adaptations of Seuss' books to animated form, most importantly How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 1966. 1966 Jones hit his stride in the late 1940s, and continued to make his best-regarded works through the 1950s. Jones-created characters from this period includes Claude Cat, Marc Antony and Pussyfoot, Charlie Dog, Michigan J. Frog and his three most popular creations, Pepe LePew, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. The Road Runner cartoons, in addition to the cartoons that are considered his masterpieces, Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening, and What's Opera, Doc? are today hailed by critics as some of the best cartoons ever made. The staff of the Jones unit was as important to the success of these cartoons as Jones himself. Key members included layout artist/background designer/co-director Maurice Noble, writer Michael Maltese, animator and co-director Abe Levitow, and animator Ken Harris. Jones remained at Warners throughout the 1950s, except for a brief period in 1953 when Warners closed the animation studio. During this interim, Jones found employment at the Walt Disney studio, where he did four months of uncredited work on Sleeping Beauty (1959). In the early 1960s, Jones and his wife Dorothy wrote the screenplay for the animated feature Gay Purr-ee. the finished film would feature the voices of Judy Garland, Robert Goulet and Red Buttons as cats in Paris, France. The feature was produced by UPA, and Jones moonlit to work on the film, since he had an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. UPA completed the film and made it available for distribution in 1962; it was picked up by Warner Bros, who found out Jones had violated his contract and fired him from the company.

Jones on His Own

With business partner Les Goldman, Jones started an independent animation studio, Sib Tower 12 Productions, bringing on most of his unit from Warner Bros, including Maurice Noble and Michael Maltese. In 1963, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contracted with Sib Tower 12 to have Jones and his staff produce new Tom and Jerry cartoons. His animated short film The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Higher Mathematics won the 1965 Oscar for Best Animated Short. As the Tom and Jerry series wound down (it would be discontinued in 1967), Jones moved on to television. In 1966, produced and directed the TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas, featuring the voice (and facial features) of Boris Karloff. In 1967, Sib Tower 12 was absorbed by MGM and was renamed MGM Animation Visual Arts. Jones continued to work on TV specials such as Horton Hears A Who! (1970), but his main focus during this time was the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, which did lukewarm business when MGM released it in 1970. In the 1970s, Jones left MGM started a new production company, Chuck Jones Productions. His most notable work during this period was three animated TV adaptations of short stories from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Brothers, The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.

Later Years

Like many modern cartoon legends, Chuck Jones never retired: he was an active artist and cartoonist up until his last weeks. Through the 1980s and 1990s (and until 2002) Jones was painting cartoon and parody art, sold through animation galleries by his daughter's company, Linda Jones Enterprises. He was also creating new cartoons for the Internet based on his new character, "Thomas Timberwolf". Jones was not a fan of much contemporary animation, terming most of it, especially television cartoons such as those of Hanna-Barbera, "illustrated radio." Jones' intellectualism, writing ability, and capacity for self-analysis made him an historical authority as well as a major contributor to the development of the animation genre throughout the 20th century. On February 22 2002, Chuck Jones passed away at the age of 89.

Influence and critical perception

Jones is considered by many to be a master of characterization and timing. His best works are noted for depicting a refinement of character to the point that a single eyebrow wiggle could be a major gag as opposed to the wild, frenetic style usually associated with cartoons, and those of Warner Bros. in particular. Like Walt Disney, Jones wanted animation to gain respect from the film and art communities, and often undertook special animation projects reflecting such, including What's Opera Doc, The Dot and the Line, and the 1944 political film Hell-Bent for Re-Election, a campaign film for Franklin D. Roosevelt that he directed for UPA. In his later years, Jones became the most vocal alumnus of the Termite Terrace studio, frequently giving lectures, seminars, and working to educate newcomers in the animation field. Many of his principles, therefore, found their way back into the mainstream animation consciousness, and can be seen in films such as Cats Don't Dance, The Emperor's New Groove, and Lilo & Stitch. Jones had a penchant for cuteness in his earliest days as is visible in his cartoons featuring Sniffles the Mouse. Other Warners directors, particularly Tex Avery and Robert Clampett, considered "cute" to be a four letter word. By request of producer Leon Schlesinger, Jones changed his style, and began making zanier pictures such as Wackiki Wabbit and Hare Conditioned. After Avery, Clampett, and Schlesinger left the studio, Jones gradually reincorporated elements of the slow pace, sentimentality and cuteness of his previous work with characters like Marc Anthony & Pussyfoot and the young Ralph Phillips. His versions of the characters he worked with often showcased a more infantile look than other interpretations, with larger eyes and eyelashes. This is especially apparent in his Tom and Jerry films, some of which are considered the weakest in the canon. Jones, like the rest of his Termite Terrace associates after the departure of Schlesinger, has been criticized for using repetitive plots, most obvious in the Pepe Le Pew and Road Runner cartoons. It must be noted, however, that many of these films were originally issued to theatres years apart, and the repetitious factor was often done at the request of the producers, management, or theatre owners. Also, series like the Road Runner were set up as exercises in exploring the same situation in different ways. Jones had a set list of rules as to what could and could not occur in a Road Runner cartoon, and stated that it was not what happened that was important in the films, but how it happened. Chuck Jones' reinvention of certain characters is also a controversial subject. He reimagined the wacky, Clampett-esque hero Daffy Duck as a greedy, sneaky antagonist with a slow-burning temper; and he relegated hapless star Porky Pig to being a sidekick or audience-aware observer of the action. Jones also created a series of films in which he used Friz Freleng's Sylvester in the context of a real cat. Like all the Warners directors, his Bugs Bunny characterization is unique to his films: Jones' Bugs never attacks unless attacked, unlike Avery's and Clampett's bombastic rabbits.

Notable Animated Films directed by Chuck Jones

Bugs Bunny
- The Dover Boys (1942)
- Hell-Bent for Election (Franklin D. Roosevelt campaign film, 1944)
- The Rabbit of Seville (1950)
- Duck Amuck (1952)
- Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
- One Froggy Evening (1955)
- What's Opera, Doc? (1957)
- The Dot and the Line (1965)
- The Bear that wasn't (1967)
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (TV special, 1966)
- The Phantom Tollbooth (feature film, 1970)

References


- Barrier, Michael (1999). Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019-516729-5.
- Jones, Chuck (1989). Chuck Amuck : The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist. New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 037-412348-9.
- Jones, Chuck (1996). Chuck Reducks : Drawing from the Fun Side of Life. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 044-651893-X.

External links


- [http://www.chuckjones.com/ Chuck Jones web site]
- [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/jones.html Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database]
- [http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/jon1int-1 Photo gallery, full biography and online video at Achievement.org]
-
- [http://www.coldbacon.com/jones.html Good Chuck Jones tribute] Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck Jones, Chuck

September 21

September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). There are 101 days remaining.

Events


- 454 - Roman Emperor Valentinian III assassinates Aëtius in his own throne room.
- 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans: A Hanoverian army under the command of John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart
- 1765 - Antoine de Beauterne announced he had killed the Beast of Gévaudan.
- 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
- 1792 - The French National Convention votes to abolish the monarchy.
- 1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr., claims that the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which is translated into The Book of Mormon.
- 1860 - In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao.
- 1896 - British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in the Sudan.
- 1897 - The Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus letter is published in the New York Sun.
- 1898 - Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
- 1921 - Oppau explosion, a storage silo at a fertilizer producing plant exploded in Oppau, Germany, 500—600 killed.
- 1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.
- 1939 - Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu is assassinated by pro-Nazi members of the Iron Guard.
- 1942 - The B-29 Superfortress makes its debut.
- 1950 - George Marshall sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States.
- 1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1970 - Monday Night Football premieres.
- 1972 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos issues Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
- 1981 - Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1991 - Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.
- 1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.
- 1993 - Grunge rock band Nirvana releases its album In Utero.
- 1999 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.
- 2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
-
- 2002 - International Day of Peace recognized by the United Nations as a full day of ceasefire and nonviolence.
- 2003 - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
- 2004 - The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
- 2004 - Punk rock band Green Day releases its critically acclaimed album American Idiot.

Births


- 1328 - Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)
- 1411 - Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (d. 1460)
- 1415 - Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1493)
- 1428 - Jingtai Emperor of China (d. 1457)
- 1452 - Girolamo Savonarola, Dominican priest and ruler of Florence (d. 1498)
- 1629 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1694)
- 1645 - Louis Joliet, Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
- 1756 - John MacAdam, Scottish engineer and road-builder (d. 1836)
- 1840 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
- 1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
- 1853 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
- 1863 - John Bunny, American film comedian (d. 1915)
- 1866 - H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)
- 1866 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1936)
- 1873 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
- 1874 - Gustav Holst, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1895 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (d. 1925)
- 1902 - Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (d. 1963)
- 1912 - Chuck Jones, American animator (d. 2002)
- 1919 - Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
- 1919 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (d. 1988)
- 1920 - Jay Ward, American animator (d. 1988)
- 1926 - Donald A. Glaser, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1929 - Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
- 1929 - Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
- 1931 - Larry Hagman, American actor
- 1934 - Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1935 - Henry Gibson, American actor
- 1944 - Fannie Flagg, American actress and novelist
- 1944 - Hamilton Jordan, Carter's 1ST Chief of Staff
- 1945 - Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer
- 1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 - Stephen King, American author
- 1947 - Marsha Norman, American playwright
- 1949 - Artis Gilmore, American basketball player
- 1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician
- 1950 - Bill Murray, American actor
- 1951 - Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen rebel leader
- 1952 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer (Rush)
- 1953 - Arie Luyendyk, Dutch race car driver
- 1954 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
- 1955 - Mika Kaurismäki, Finnish director
- 1957 - Ethan Coen, American film director
- 1959 - Dave Coulier, American actor
- 1960 - David James Elliott, Canadian actor
- 1961 - Nancy Travis, American actress
- 1962 - Rob Morrow, American actor
- 1963 - Angus Macfadyen, Scottish actor
- 1963 - Curtly Ambrose, West Indian cricketer
- 1963 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
- 1965 - Cheryl Hines, American actress
- 1967 - Faith Hill, American singer
- 1967 - Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1968 - Ricki Lake, American actress and talk show hostess
- 1971 - Luke Wilson, American actor
- 1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro, Dominican-born actor
- 1972 - Liam Gallagher, British singer (Oasis)
- 1972 - Jon Kitna, American football player
- 1972 - David Silveria, American drummer (KoЯn)
- 1974 - Andy Todd, English footballer
- 1975 - Doug Davis, baseball player
- 1979 - Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
- 1979 - Chris Gayle, West Indian cricketer
- 1979 - Julian Gray, English footballer
- 1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
- 1981 - Nicole Richie, American actress
- 1983 - Maggie Grace, American actress
- 1983 - Hart Hancock, American musician (Amphoteric)

Deaths


- 454 - Aëtius, Roman general
- 1217 - Lembitu of Lehola, Estonian soldier
- 1327 - King Edward II of England (b. 1284)
- 1397 - Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, English military leader (executed) (b. 1346)
- 1542 - Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet
- 1558 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1500)
- 1576 - Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician (b. 1501)
- 1586 - Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (b. 1517)
- 1626 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (b. 1543)
- 1719 - Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (b. 1647)
- 1743 - Jai Singh II, King of Amber-Juiper (b. 1688)
- 1748 - John Balguy, English philosopher (b. 1686)
- 1796 - François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (b. 1769)
- 1798 - George Read, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
- 1832 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish writer (b. 1771)
- 1860 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (b. 1788)
- 1897 - Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
- 1904 - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader (b. 1840)
- 1926 - Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (b. 1857)
- 1938 - Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic Croatian writer (b. 1874)
- 1954 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor (b. 1858)
- 1957 - King Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)
- 1971 - Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- 1974 - Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1974 - Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (b. 1918)
- 1987 - Jaco Pastorius, American bassist (b. 1951)
- 1995 - Rudy Perpich, American politician (b. 1928)
- 1998 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (b. 1959)
- 2002 - Robert L. Forward, American physicist and writer (b. 1932)
- 2004 - Barry Noble Wakeman, American naturalist and educator (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances

International


- International Day of Peace of the United Nations, as propagated by Peace One Day
- RC Saints - Matthew the Evangelist Also see September 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

National


- Independence Day in Malta (1964), Belize (1981) & Armenia (1991)
- Philippines - Thanksgiving Day
- Mabon - Neopagan festival of Mabon
- In ancient Greece, the eighth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the secret rites in the Telesterion finish and the feast, Pannychis, begins.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/21 BBC: On This Day] ----- September 20 · September 22 · August 21 · October 21 · more historical anniversaries ko:9월 21일 ms:21 September ja:9月21日 simple:September 21 th:21 กันยายน

February 22

February 22 is the 53rd day of every year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 312 days remaining, 313 in leap years.

Events


- 1290s BC - The coronation of Ramses II, on whose face the sun's rays fall each year in Abu Simbel temple.
- AD 1281 - Martin IV becomes Pope.
- 1288 - Nicholas IV becomes Pope.
- 1495 - King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
- 1632 - Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
- 1744 - The Battle of Toulon begins.
- 1819 - By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
- 1847 - Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista - 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexican.
- 1855 - The Pennsylvania State University is founded.
- 1856 - The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- 1865 - Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery.
- 1876 - Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.
- 1879 - In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
- 1889 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- 1904 - UK recognises the South Orkney Islands as part of Argentina, in 1908 claims them again.
- 1915 - Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
- 1920 - In Emeryville, California, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
- 1923 - The United States begins the first transcontinental air mail route.
- 1923 - Barcelona (Catalonia): Albert Einstein visits the city, invited by the scientist Esteban Terradas i Illa, as part of the monografics course of High Studies and Exchange organized by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya and conducted by Rafael de Campalans.
- 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
- 1942 - World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense collapses.
- 1943 - Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
- 1948 - Start of the Czechoslovak Revolution.
- 1949 - Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
- 1956 - Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".
- 1958 - Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
- 1959 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
- 1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first woman to do so.
- 1973 - Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.
- 1979 - Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
- 1980 - The United States ice hockey team defeats the Soviet Union team at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in an upset dubbed the "Miracle on Ice".
- 1994 - Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
- 1997 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
- 2002 - A MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashes into the ocean near the Philippines, killing all 10 aboard.

Births


- 1040 - Rashi, French rabbi and commentator (d. 1105)
- 1403 - King Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
- 1440 - King Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1457)
- 1500 - Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian humanist (d. 1564)
- 1612 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (d. 1677)
- 1705 - Peter Artedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)
- 1714 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (d. 1795)
- 1732 (N.S.) - George Washington, first President of the United States (d. 1799)
- 1778 - Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
- 1788 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
- 1796 - Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1838)
- 1796 - Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
- 1817 - Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)
- 1819 - James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (d. 1891)
- 1839 - Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (d. 1906)
- 1840 - August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
- 1849 - Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d 1915)
- 1857 - Lord Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of the Boy Scouts (d. 1941)
- 1857 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
- 1878 - Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
- 1880 - Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1956)
- 1883 - Marguerite Clark, American silent film actress (d. 1940)
- 1886 - Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1887 - Ksawery Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)
- 1889 - Lady Olave Baden-Powell, English Chief Girl Guide (d. 1977)
- 1892 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American writer (d. 1950)
- 1899 - Dwight Frye, American actor (d. 1943)
- 1899 - George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1899 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (d. 1986)
- 1900 - Luis Buñuel, Spanish-born film director (d. 1983)
- 1902 - Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (d. 1980)
- 1903 - Morley Callaghan, Canadian writer (d. 1990)
- 1903 - Frank Plumpton Ramsey, English mathematician (d. 1903)
- 1907 - Sheldon Leonard, American actor, writer, director, and producer (d. 1997)
- 1907 - Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
- 1908 - Sir John Mills, English actor (d. 2005)
- 1914 - Renato Dulbecco, Italian-born virologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1918 - Sid Abel, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- 1918 - Charlie Finley, American sports entrepreneur (d. 1996)
- 1918 - Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer
- 1918 - Robert Wadlow, tallest person in history (d. 1940)
- 1921 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, ruler of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- 1922 - Steven Hill, American actor
- 1925 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
- 1926 - Bud Yorkin, American film director
- 1927 - Guy Mitchell, American singer
- 1928 - Paul Dooley, American actor
- 1928 - Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer
- 1929 - Rebecca Schull, American actress
- 1930 - Marni Nixon, American singer
- 1932 - Ted Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
- 1934 - Sparky Anderson, baseball manager
- 1936 - J. Michael Bishop, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1938 - Ishmael Reed, American writer
- 1941 - Hipólito Mejía, President of the Dominican Republic
- 1944 - Jonathan Demme, American director
- 1944 - Robert Kardashian, American lawyer
- 1944 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
- 1945 - Leslie Charleson, American actress
- 1949 - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- 1949 - Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player
- 1950 - Julius Erving, American basketball player
- 1950 - Ellen Greene, American actress
- 1950 - Miou-Miou, French actress
- 1950 - Julie Walters, English actress
- 1952 - Bill Frist, American politician
- 1959 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
- 1962 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist and televison personality
- 1963 - Vijay Singh, Fiji golfer
- 1966 - Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedienne
- 1966 - Brian Greig, Australian politician
- 1967 - Alf Poier, Austrian comedian
- 1968 - Jeri Ryan, American actress
- 1969 - Byron Stroud, American bassist (Fear Factory)
- 1971 - Lea Salonga, Filipina actress and singer
- 1972 - Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
- 1975 - Drew Barrymore, American actress
- 1979 - Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
- 1982 - Jenna Haze, American actress

Deaths


- 965 - Odo, Duke of Burgundy
- 1071 - Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (killed in battle)
- 1111 - Roger Borsa, King of Sicily
- 1371 - King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)
- 1512 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian merchant and explorer (b. 1454)
- 1627 - Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)
- 1674 - Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)
- 1680 - Catherine Monvoisin, French sorceress
- 1690 - Charles Le Brun, French artist (b. 1619)
- 1727 - Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
- 1731 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
- 1732 - Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
- 1742 - Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)
- 1797 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)
- 1816 - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1723)
- 1875 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
- 1875 - Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)
- 1890 - John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
- 1890 - Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter (b. 1834)
- 1892 - Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (b. 1828)
- 1901 - George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
- 1903 - Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
- 1939 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
- 1943 - Hans Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1918)
- 1943 - Sophie Scholl, German resistance fighter (b. 1921)
- 1945 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1888)
- 1961 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
- 1965 - Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (b. 1882)
- 1968 - Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
- 1976 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- 1980 - Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian artist (b. 1886)
- 1983 - Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
- 1984 - Jessamyn West, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1985 - Alexander Scourby, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1985 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (b. 1889)
- 1987 - Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)
- 1994 - Papa John Creech, American musician
- 1995 - Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1997 - Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
- 1998 - Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (b. 1910)
- 2000 - Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (b. 1946)
- 2002 - Chuck Jones, American animator (b. 1912)
- 2002 - Jonas Savimbi, Angolan rebel leader (b. 1934)
- 2004 - Roque Máspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
- 2004 - Andy Seminick, baseball player (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Zdzisław Beksiński, Polish artist (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)

Holidays and observances


- Roman Catholic Church - Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
- United States - Washington's Birthday (traditionally)
- Saint Lucia - independence (1979)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/22 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050222.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- February 21 - February 23 - January 22 - March 22 -- listing of all days ko:2월 22일 ja:2月22日 simple:February 22 th:22 กุมภาพันธ์

United States

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

Geography and climate

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

History

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

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

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

Federal government

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

The Congress

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

The President

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

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and