This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | William McKinley |
---|---|
Office | 25th President of the United States |
Vicepresident | Garret HobartTheodore Roosevelt |
Term start | March 4, 1897 |
Term end | September 14, 1901 |
Predecessor | Grover Cleveland |
Successor | Theodore Roosevelt |
Order2 | 39th Governor of Ohio |
Lieutenant2 | Andrew Harris |
Term start2 | January 11, 1892 |
Term end2 | January 13, 1896 |
Predecessor2 | James Campbell |
Successor2 | Asa Bushnell |
State3 | Ohio |
District3 | 18th |
Term start3 | March 4, 1887 |
Term end3 | March 4, 1891 |
Predecessor3 | Isaac Taylor |
Successor3 | Joseph Taylor |
Term start4 | March 4, 1883 |
Term end4 | March 4, 1885 |
Predecessor4 | Addison McClure |
Successor4 | Jonathan Wallace |
State5 | Ohio |
District5 | 20th |
Term start5 | March 4, 1885 |
Term end5 | March 4, 1887 |
Predecessor5 | David Paige |
Successor5 | George Crouse |
State6 | Ohio |
District6 | 17th |
Term start6 | March 4, 1881 |
Term end6 | March 4, 1883 |
Predecessor6 | James Monroe |
Successor6 | Joseph Taylor |
Term start7 | March 4, 1877 |
Term end7 | March 4, 1879 |
Predecessor7 | Laurin Woodworth |
Successor7 | James Monroe |
State8 | Ohio |
District8 | 16th |
Term start8 | March 4, 1879 |
Term end8 | March 4, 1881 |
Predecessor8 | Lorenzo Danford |
Successor8 | Jonathan Updegraff |
Birth date | January 29, 1843 |
Birth place | Niles, Ohio, U.S. |
Death date | September 14, 1901 |
Death place | Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
Party | Republican Party |
Spouse | Ida Saxton |
Children | KatherineIda |
Alma mater | Allegheny CollegeAlbany Law School |
Profession | Lawyer |
Religion | Methodism |
Signature | William McKinley Signature-full.svg |
Signature alt | Cursive signature in ink |
Allegiance | United StatesUnion |
Branch | United States ArmyUnion Army |
Serviceyears | 1861–1865 |
Rank | CaptainBrevet major |
Battles | American Civil War |
Unit | 23rd Ohio Infantry }} |
McKinley, a native of Ohio, was of Scots-Irish and English descent, born into a large family, and served with distinction in the Civil War. He became an able lawyer, quickly joined the Ohio Republican party ranks, was married by age 28 and became a father briefly before the deaths of his two daughters. When wife Ida's health suddenly diminished in 1873, McKinley assumed a caregiving role for her, which eventually allowed her to serve as First Lady; his need for a diversion from these duties prompted him to launch his political career.
By the late 1870s, McKinley had become a national Republican leader. He served in Congress as Representative of Ohio, and also was elected Governor of Ohio. His signature issue was high tariffs on imports as a formula for prosperity, as typified by his McKinley Tariff of 1890. As the Republican candidate in the 1896 presidential election, opposing Democrat William Jennings Bryan, he promoted pluralism among ethnic groups. His campaign, designed by Mark Hanna, introduced revolutionary advertising techniques, and defeated the crusade of his arch-rival, William Jennings Bryan.
McKinley presided over a return to prosperity after the Panic of 1893, with the gold standard as a keystone. He demanded that Spain end its atrocities in Cuba, which were angering Americans; Spain resisted the interference and the Spanish-American War began in 1898. The U.S. victory was quick and decisive, as the weak Spanish fleets were sunk and both Cuba and the Philippines were captured within several months. As a result of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, the former Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were annexed by the United States as unincorporated territories, and U.S occupation of Cuba began; this occurred in the face of the opposition from Democrats and anti-imperialists fearing a loss of republican values. McKinley also annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898, with all its citizens becoming full American citizens.
McKinley was reelected in the 1900 presidential election following another intense campaign against Bryan, which focused on foreign policy and the return of prosperity. President McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in September of the following year, and succeeded by his Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. McKinley's presidency receives an aggregate rating of 20th among the presidents in the historical rankings of Presidents of the United States.
McKinley's aggressive promotion of the protective tariff was a byproduct of his allegiance to his native rural Ohio, where the economy, and livelihoods, very much depended upon the production of iron, coal, farm machinery and wool. He became expert at the art of bill drafting, could navigate easily through buried loopholes in the tariff rate schedule, and learned the subtlety of writing a law that appeared to moderate tariff rates while in fact increasing them.
After leaving Congress, McKinley ran for and was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891, defeating Democrat James E. Campbell, with the help of Mark Hanna. His campaign emphasized the use of the gold standard, though he later was a proponent of bimetallism, which led to shifts of emphasis and inconsistent statements, resulting in an image of expediency on currency issues. He was reelected in 1893 when opposed by Lawrence T. Neal. As governor, he took a keen interest in industrial arbitration legislation which provided a non mandatory process for the peaceful settlement of labor disputes, and aided in facilitating a few settlements with McKinley's support. In one strike against a railroad, however, he was required to call out the national guard, which quickly restored peace. At the Republican national convention in 1892, he received a few votes as nominee for president while campaigning for the reelection of President Benjamin Harrison, and established himself as a probable candidate for president in 1896.
In 1893, McKinley came close to declaring bankruptcy due to his liability on loans he had endorsed for Robert L. Walker. McKinley had made his endorsements on blank notes, which Walker increased as needed, eventually totaling over $130,000. Due to the fundraising efforts of Hanna on behalf of the victimized, though negligent, McKinley, the obligations were satisfied, bankruptcy (and resignation as Governor) was avoided and McKinley was able to quickly regain his political poise.
The off year elections of 1894 found McKinley in very high demand, and had him traversing sixteen states to make over 350 speeches on behalf of various Republicans. He succeeded in bolstering various factions, including farmers, industrialists and union members. Due in part to his efforts, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives was reversed.
In 1895, a community of severely impoverished miners in Hocking Valley telegraphed Governor McKinley to report their plight, writing, "Immediate relief needed." Within five hours McKinley had paid out of his own pocket for a railroad car full of food and other supplies to be sent to the miners. He then proceeded to contact the Chambers of Commerce in every major city in the state, instructing them to investigate the number of citizens living below poverty level. When reports returned revealing large numbers of starving Ohioans, the governor headed a charity drive and raised enough money to feed, clothe, and supply more than 10,000 people.
After winning the nomination he went home and conducted his campaign exclusively from his front porch, addressing hundreds of thousands of voters, including organizations ranging from traveling salesmen to bicycle clubs. Many of these voters campaigned for McKinley after returning home. McKinley left Canton only twice during the campaign, and his home town took on quite a carnival atmosphere. The Republican National Committee raised an unprecedented $3.5 million.
McKinley's opponent was William Jennings Bryan, who ran on a single issue of "free silver" and money policy. In his letter formally accepting his nomination, McKinley issued a dissertation on the currency question of primary concern, saying "Good money never made times hard", and his remarks eminently satisfied the sound money men, from goldbugs to bi-medalists, and also made clear his support of tariffs. McKinley promised that he would promote industry and banking, and guarantee prosperity for every group in a pluralistic nation. A Democratic cartoon ridiculed the promise, saying it would rock the boat. McKinley replied that the protective tariff would bring prosperity to all groups, city and country alike, while Bryan's free silver would create inflation but no new jobs, would bankrupt railroads, and would permanently damage the economy.
McKinley succeeded in getting votes from the urban areas and ethnic labor groups. Campaign manager Hanna adopted newly-invented advertising techniques to spread McKinley's message. Although Bryan was ahead in August, McKinley's counter-crusade put him on the defensive and gigantic parades for McKinley in every major city a few days before the election undercut Bryan's allegations that workers were coerced to vote for McKinley. He defeated Bryan by a large margin. His appeal to all classes is thought by many to have marked a realignment of American politics and initiated the progressive era. His success in industrial cities gave the Republican party a grip on the North comparable to that of the Democrats in the South.
In civil service administration, McKinley reformed the system to make it more flexible in critical areas. The Republican platform, adopted after President Cleveland's extension of the merit system, emphatically endorsed this, as did McKinley himself. Against extreme pressure, particularly in the Department of War, the President resisted until May 29, 1899. His order of that date withdrew from the classified service 4,000 or more positions, removed 3,500 from the class theretofore filled through competitive examination or an orderly practice of promotion, and placed 6,416 more under a system drafted by the Secretary of War. The order declared regular a large number of temporary appointments made without examination, besides rendering eligible, as emergency appointees without examination, thousands who had served during the Spanish War. In patronage terms, McKinley adeptly employed appointments to cultivate the favor of members of the Senate, but also made appointments which flowed to his singular benefit. While many suspected otherwise, newly appointed Senator Mark Hanna was not allowed to assume an insider's role in McKinley's decision making. The President had earlier offered Hanna the patronage-dispensing position of Postmaster General, which Hanna refused.
Republicans pointed to the deficit under the Wilson Law with much the same concern manifested by President Grover Cleveland in 1888 over the surplus. A new tariff law had to be passed, if possible before a new Congressional election. An extra session of Congress was therefore summoned for March 15, 1897. The Ways and Means Committee, which had been at work for three months, forthwith reported through Chairman Nelson Dingley the bill which bore his name. With equal promptness the Committee on Rules brought in a rule at once adopted by the House, whereby the new bill, in spite of Democratic pleas for time to examine, discuss, and propose amendments, reached the Senate the last day of March. More deliberation marked procedure in the Senate. This body passed the bill after toning up its schedules with some 870 amendments, most of which pleased the Conference Committee and became law. The President signed the act July 24, 1897. The Dingley Act was estimated by its author to advance the average rate from the 40 percent of the Wilson Bill to approximately 50 percent or a shade higher than the McKinley rate. As proportioned to consumption the tax imposed by, it was probably heavier than that under either of its predecessors.
Reciprocity, a feature of the McKinley Tariff, was suspended by the Wilson Act. The Republican platform of 1896 declared protection and reciprocity twin measures of Republican policy. Clauses graced the Dingley Act allowing reciprocity treaties to be made, "duly ratified" by the Senate and "approved" by Congress. Under the third section of the Act some concessions were given and received, but the treaties negotiated under the fourth section, which involved lowering of strictly protective duties, met summary defeat when submitted to the Senate.
George B. Cortelyou served as the first presidential press secretary of sorts. He was the first individual in the president's office who regularly called for correspondents when an announcement was to be made, provided them with workspace in the White House, and also prepared and distributed statements to the press.
The President's selection of leadership in the State Department was a mélange. First, McKinley's appointment of aging Ohio Senator John Sherman to head the State Department was questioned from the outset. While McKinley genuinely hoped Sherman's reputation and experience would bolster the integrity of his Cabinet, it quickly became apparent that Sherman was too old to function in his role. (McKinley's first choice for the State Department, Senator William Allison of Iowa, declined the offer.) Sherman, who previously served as Secretary of the Treasury, initially appeared to be a strong selection. Although Sherman was indeed an experienced statesman, he was too advanced in years, but succeeded for a time in obscuring his increased senility. McKinley named longtime friend William Rufus Day as First Assistant to Sherman, to serve as the de-facto department head, even though Day lacked any experience as a diplomat, and demonstrated it. McKinley further relied on the deaf career diplomat, Alvey A. Adee, as Second Assistant to Sherman, to mentor Day in his role. This lineup was thus often maligned: "The Secretary knows nothing, the First Assistant says nothing, and the Second Assistant hears nothing."
On February 15, 1898, the'' Maine'' mysteriously exploded and sank in the Havanna harbor, causing the deaths of 250 men, along with a hew and cry from the public for war against Spain; at the same time the State Dept. began intense efforts at negotiations with Spain. The Navy named a board of inquiry to investigate, and McKinley asked the public to withhold judgment until the inquiry, as well as diplomatic negotiations, were complete. The President received a report of the investigation on a Friday, which concluded the explosion was caused by a submarine mine of unknown origin. McKinley immediately prepared a message for Congress, which included a key request for its "deliberate consideration" as well as forbearance while negotiations for peace continued. A copy of the report was leaked that weekend, and significant Congressional and public support for war was emboldened. The President's message was then delayed by another 5 days, to allow for military preparations and evacuation of American citizens from Cuba.
When the President finalized his message to Congress, he softened his stance of preference for negotiation, in favor of a policy of "neutral intervention". Congress initially passed a joint resolution, recognizing Cuban independence (but not a free standing republic), demanding Spanish withdrawal from Cuba, and directing the President to use armed forces for enforcement. The ''Maine'' tragedy also led to a sudden realization of naval ill-preparedness, and Congress quickly passed an appropriation bill for $50 million for defense. The onus of Navy purchases fell to Assistant Secretary Roosevelt, who burned to launch the Atlantic Squadron full tilt against Havanna, and who viewed the more sanguine McKinley as "having no more backbone than a chocolate éclair." Nevertheless, Mckinley had promptly issued an ultimatum to Spain to cease and desist, and also ordered a blockade of Cuba. A few days later Congress voted to declare war against Spain, effective with the blockade.
A week after the President's ultimatum, the Navy Department pressed for authority to immediately begin offensives against the Spanish fleet in the Philippines, in light of Britain's declared neutrality and presence in the area. The President responded with authorization to Asiatic Squadron commander George Dewey. Dewey's victory in the Philippines was quick and decisive, and the President promoted him to Rear Admiral for his efforts. McKinley assigned Major General Wesley Merritt the role of military governor in the Philippines, with orders to establish military rule, but to avoid severity upon civilians, and to disown any intent to make war or to ally with any faction. Merritt's mission temporarily stalled in California, for lack of personnel and transportation.
At the outset of the war, in many respects the War Department was thus not well prepared, under the leadership of Secretary Russell A. Alger. McKinley was also forced to suspend his initial order for an attack on Havanna, due to inadequate supplies and troops to proceed. Alger placed unsupported blame on the President for restricting expenditures to coastline defenses. The Navy Department as well was not without its own difficulties in its initial offensive operations in the Carribean. While the Spanish naval commander Pascual Cervera idled in port at Santiago, U.S. commander Winfield Scott Schley refused to carry out orders to pursue the Spanish fleet, claiming a shortage of coal. Shley also refused to recognize rival William T. Sampson as the top commander in the Cuba operation. It was only after multiple false starts and chaotic supply management and transportation problems that the Army succeeded in dispatching 17,000 troops (the largest force in U.S. history at the time) from Tampa en route to Santiago under the leadership of William R. Shafter. Once in transit, Shafter consistently directed the campaign of the ground war with minimal consultation or even communication with Sampson and the Navy, shunning use of the marines or the benefit of Naval bombardment. By his own admission, Shafter commented, "there was no strategy about it – just to do it quick." Once unloaded, the troops' orders were first and foremost to move rapidly on Las Gasimas; the offensive was a success, except for the fact that due to continued inefficiencies in the Quartermaster Corps., Shafter had outrun his supplies. The President was very much aware of the inefficiencies of waging war, and worked mightily to reduce the problems; nevertheless, he had witnessed first hand much worse, in fresh memories of the Civil War. There was a fair amount of finger pointing inherent in the midst of military missteps; McKinley was reluctant to react precipitously, assuming that some of these problems would be experienced regardless of who was in place. While the war was still in its infancy, he had already begun to focus on the terms of peace, saying, "We must be certain to keep what we have worked to acquire." The President did ultimately ask for Secretary Alger's resignation in the wake of the War Department's many inefficiencies; many thought the action came later than warranted.
Volunteer militia and national guard units indeed rushed to the colors, including Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders". The famous Battle of Las Gisamas and Battle of San Juan Hill were pivotal successes in the war effort, though they came at an inordinate number of casualties equal to ten percent of Shafter's forces. The naval war in Cuba was ultimately also a success, the shortest war in U.S. history, and after 118 days Spain agreed to peace terms at the Treaty of Paris in July. Secretary of State John Hay called it a "splendid little war." The United States gained ownership of Guam and Puerto Rico from Spain as well as purchasing the Philippines for $20 Million, and political and economic control over Cuba through the Platt Amendment. According to many historians, the United States had thus begun to display attributes of strong imperialism. Hawaii, which for years had tried to join the U.S., was annexed.
At the Peace Conference Spain sold its rights to the Philippines to the U.S., which took control of the islands and suppressed local rebellions, over the objection of the Democrats and the newly formed Anti-Imperialist League. McKinley sent William Howard Taft to the Philippines and then to Rome to settle the long-standing dispute over lands owned by the Catholic Church. By 1901 the Philippines were peaceful again after a decade of turmoil. The above recollection is not corroborated, according to biographer Gould, who rejects the quotation as unlikely to have been made. Historians Schweikart and Allen indicate that the "Christianize" point represented a minor factor in the President's policy, though Protestant American missionaries had a presence on the islands. Other historians have dismissed the missionary element as an excuse for sheer secular expansionism.
McKinley made several speeches on African American equality and justice: }}
Despite McKinley's laudatory rhetoric, the political realities prevented any real action on the part of his administration in regards to race relations. McKinley did little to alleviate the backwards situation of black Americans because he was "unwilling to alienate the white South." During the Spanish-American War, McKinley made certain that black soldiers served, and even countermanded army orders preventing recruitment of African-American soldiers. Such efforts, as Gerald Bahles points out, however, did little to "stem the deteriorating position of blacks in American society."
name | McKinley |
---|---|
president | William McKinley |
president start | 1897 |
president end | 1901 |
vice president | Garret A. Hobart |
vice president start | 1897 |
vice president end | 1899 |
vice president 2 | None |
vice president start 2 | 1899 |
vice president end 2 | 1901 |
vice president 3 | Theodore Roosevelt |
vice president date 3 | 1901 |
state | John Sherman |
state start | 1897 |
state end | 1898 |
state 2 | William R. Day |
state date 2 | 1898 |
state 3 | John Hay |
state start 3 | 1898 |
state end 3 | 1901 |
treasury | Lyman J. Gage |
treasury start | 1897 |
treasury end | 1901 |
war | Russell A. Alger |
war start | 1897 |
war end | 1899 |
war 2 | Elihu Root |
war start 2 | 1899 |
war end 2 | 1901 |
justice | Joseph McKenna |
justice start | 1897 |
justice end | 1898 |
justice 2 | John W. Griggs |
justice start 2 | 1898 |
justice end 2 | 1901 |
justice 3 | Philander C. Knox |
justice date 3 | 1901 |
post | James A. Gary |
post start | 1897 |
post end | 1898 |
post 2 | Charles E. Smith |
post start 2 | 1898 |
post end 2 | 1901 |
navy | John D. Long |
navy start | 1897 |
navy end | 1901 |
interior | Cornelius N. Bliss |
interior start | 1897 |
interior end | 1899 |
interior 2 | Ethan A. Hitchcock |
interior start 2 | 1899 |
interior end 2 | 1901 |
agriculture | James Wilson |
agriculture start | 1897 |
agriculture end | 1901 }} |
One bullet was easily found and extracted, but doctors were unable to locate the second bullet. It was feared that the search for the bullet might cause more harm than good. In addition, McKinley appeared to be recovering, so doctors decided to leave the bullet where it was.
The newly developed x-ray machine was displayed at the fair, but doctors were reluctant to use it on McKinley to search for the bullet because they did not know what side effects it might have on him. The operating room at the exposition's emergency hospital did not have any electric lighting, even though the exteriors of many of the buildings at the extravagant exposition were covered with thousands of light bulbs. The surgeons were unable to operate by candlelight because of the danger created by the flammable ether used to keep the president unconscious, so doctors were forced to use pans instead to reflect sunlight onto the operating table while they treated McKinley's wounds.
McKinley's doctors believed he would recover, and he convalesced for more than a week in Buffalo at the home of the exposition's director. On the morning of September 12, he felt strong enough to receive his first food orally since the shooting – toast and a small cup of coffee. However, by afternoon he began to experience discomfort and his condition rapidly worsened. McKinley began to go into shock. At 2:15 am on September 14, 1901, eight days after he was shot, he died at age 58 from gangrene surrounding his wounds. His last words were, "It is God's way; His will be done, not ours." He was originally buried in the receiving vault of West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio. His remains were later reinterred in the McKinley Memorial, also in Canton.
The scene of the assassination, the Temple of Music, was demolished in November 1901, along with the rest of the Exposition grounds. A stone marker in the middle of Fordham Drive, a residential street in Buffalo, marks the approximate spot where the shooting occurred. Czolgosz's revolver is on display in the Pan-American Exposition exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo.
McKinley was the last veteran of the American Civil War in the White House; he was the last president of the 19th century and the first of the 20th.
Category:1843 births Category:1901 deaths Category:Albany Law School alumni Category:Allegheny College alumni Category:American Methodists Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Assassinated United States Presidents Category:Deaths by firearm in New York Category:Deaths from gangrene Category:Governors of Ohio Category:History of the United States (1865–1918) Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio Category:Ohio Republicans Category:People from Canton, Ohio Category:People from Niles, Ohio Category:People murdered in New York Category:People of the Spanish–American War Category:Presidents of the United States Category:Republican Party Presidents of the United States Category:Republican Party state governors of the United States Category:Republican Party (United States) presidential nominees Category:Union Army officers Category:United States Army officers Category:United States presidential candidates, 1892 Category:United States presidential candidates, 1896 Category:United States presidential candidates, 1900 Category:University of Mount Union alumni William McKinley
af:William McKinley am:ዊሊያም ማኪንሌይ ang:William McKinley ar:ويليام مكينلي an:William McKinley az:Uilyam Mak-Kinli bn:উইলিয়াম ম্যাকিনলি zh-min-nan:William McKinley be:Уільям Мак-Кінлі be-x-old:Ўільям МакКінлі bcl:William McKinley bs:William McKinley bg:Уилям Маккинли ca:William McKinley ceb:William McKinley cs:William McKinley co:William McKinley cy:William McKinley da:William McKinley de:William McKinley et:William McKinley el:Ουίλλιαμ ΜακΚίνλεϋ es:William McKinley eo:William McKinley eu:William McKinley fa:ویلیام مککینلی fr:William McKinley ga:William McKinley gv:William McKinley gd:William McKinley gl:William McKinley ko:윌리엄 매킨리 hi:विलियम मकिन्ली hr:William McKinley io:William McKinley id:William McKinley is:William McKinley it:William McKinley he:ויליאם מקינלי pam:William McKinley ka:უილიამ მაკ-კინლი rw:William McKinley sw:William McKinley la:Gulielmus McKinley lv:Viljams Makinlijs lb:William McKinley lt:William McKinley hu:William McKinley mr:विल्यम मॅककिन्ली ms:William McKinley my:ဝီလျံ မက်ကင်လီ nl:William McKinley ja:ウィリアム・マッキンリー no:William McKinley nn:William McKinley oc:William McKinley pnb:ولیم میک کنلے pl:William McKinley pt:William McKinley ro:William McKinley rm:William McKinley ru:Маккинли, Уильям sco:William McKinley sq:William McKinley scn:William McKinley simple:William McKinley sk:William McKinley sl:William McKinley sr:Вилијам Макинли sh:William McKinley fi:William McKinley sv:William McKinley tl:William McKinley th:วิลเลียม แมกคินลีย์ tr:William McKinley uk:Вільям Мак-Кінлі ur:ولیم میک کنلے vi:William McKinley war:William McKinley yi:וויליאם מעקינלי yo:William McKinley zh:威廉·麦金莱This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Amelia Earhart |
---|---|
Full name | Amelia Mary Earhart |
Birth date | July 24, 1897 |
Birth place | Atchison, Kansas, U.S. |
Disappeared date | |
Disappeared place | Pacific Ocean, en route to Howland Island |
Disappeared status | Declared dead in absentiaJanuary 05, 1939 |
Nationality | American |
Spouse | George P. Putnam |
Known for | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and setting many aviation records. |
Signature | Amelia_Earheart_Signature.png }} |
During an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Earhart disappeared over the central Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.
Amelia Mary Earhart, daughter of Samuel "Edwin" Stanton Earhart (March 28, 1867) and Amelia "Amy" Otis Earhart (1869–1962), was born in Atchison, Kansas, in the home of her maternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis (1827–1912), a former federal judge, president of the Atchison Savings Bank and a leading citizen in Atchison. This was the second child in the marriage as an infant was stillborn in August 1896. Alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and was not satisfied with Edwin's progress as a lawyer.
Earhart was named, according to family custom, after her two grandmothers (Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton). From an early age Earhart, nicknamed "Meeley" (sometimes "Millie") was the ringleader while younger sister (two years her junior), Grace Muriel Earhart (1899–1998), nicknamed "Pidge," acted the dutiful follower. Both girls continued to answer to their childhood nicknames well into adulthood. Their upbringing was unconventional since Amy Earhart did not believe in molding her children into "nice little girls." Meanwhile their maternal grandmother disapproved of the "bloomers" worn by Amy's children and although Earhart liked the freedom they provided, she was aware other girls in the neighborhood did not wear them.
Although there had been some missteps in his career up to that point, in 1907 Edwin Earhart's job as a claims officer for the Rock Island Railroad led to a transfer to Des Moines, Iowa. The next year, at the age of 10, Earhart saw her first aircraft at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Her father tried to interest her and her sister in taking a flight. One look at the rickety old "flivver" was enough for Earhart, who promptly asked if they could go back to the merry-go-round. She later described the biplane as “a thing of rusty wire and wood and not at all interesting.”
In 1915, after a long search, Earhart's father found work as a clerk at the Great Northern Railway in St. Paul, Minnesota, where Earhart entered Central High School as a junior. Edwin applied for a transfer to Springfield, Missouri, in 1915 but the current claims officer reconsidered his retirement and demanded his job back, leaving the elder Earhart with nowhere to go. Facing another calamitous move, Amy Earhart took her children to Chicago where they lived with friends. Earhart made an unusual condition in the choice of her next schooling; she canvassed nearby high schools in Chicago to find the best science program. She rejected the high school nearest her home when she complained that the chemistry lab was "just like a kitchen sink." She eventually was enrolled in Hyde Park High School but spent a miserable semester where a yearbook caption captured the essence of her unhappiness, "A.E. – the girl in brown who walks alone."
Earhart graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1916. Throughout her troubled childhood, she had continued to aspire to a future career; she kept a scrapbook of newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields, including film direction and production, law, advertising, management and mechanical engineering. She began junior college at Ogontz School in Rydal, Pennsylvania but did not complete her program.
During Christmas vacation in 1917, Earhart visited her sister in Toronto. World War I had been raging and Earhart saw the returning wounded soldiers. After receiving training as a nurse's aide from the Red Cross, she began work with the Volunteer Aid Detachment at Spadina Military Hospital. Her duties included preparing food in the kitchen for patients with special diets and handing out prescribed medication in the hospital's dispensary.
By 1919 Earhart prepared to enter Smith College but changed her mind and enrolled at Columbia University signing up for a course in medical studies among other programs. She quit a year later to be with her parents who had reunited in California.
In Long Beach, on December 28, 1920, Earhart and her father visited an airfield where Frank Hawks (who later gained fame as an air racer) gave her a ride that would forever change Earhart's life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." After that 10-minute flight (that cost her father $10), she immediately became determined to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer at the local telephone company, she managed to save $1,000 for flying lessons. Earhart had her first lessons, beginning on January 3, 1921, at Kinner Field near Long Beach, but to reach the airfield Earhart took a bus to the end of the line, then walked four miles (6 km). Earhart's mother also provided part of the $1,000 "stake" against her "better judgement." Her teacher was Anita "Neta" Snook, a pioneer female aviator who used a surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck" for training. Earhart arrived with her father and a singular request, "I want to fly. Will you teach me?"
Earhart's commitment to flying required her to accept the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. She chose a leather jacket, but aware that other aviators would be judging her, she slept in it for three nights to give the jacket a "worn" look. To complete her image transformation, she also cropped her hair short in the style of other female flyers. Six months later, Earhart purchased a second-hand bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane which she nicknamed "The Canary." On October 22, 1922, Earhart flew the Airster to an altitude of , setting a world record for female pilots. On May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license (#''6017'') by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).
Throughout this period, her grandmother's inheritance, which was now administered by her mother, was constantly depleted until it finally ran out following a disastrous investment in a failed gypsum mine. Consequently, with no immediate prospects for recouping her investment in flying, Earhart sold the "Canary" as well as a second Kinner and bought a yellow Kissel "Speedster" two-passenger automobile, which she named the "Yellow Peril." Simultaneously, Earhart experienced an exacerbation of her old sinus problem as her pain worsened and in early 1924, she was hospitalized for another sinus operation, which was again unsuccessful. After trying her hand at a number of unusual ventures including setting up a photography company, Earhart set out in a new direction. Following her parents' divorce in 1924, she drove her mother in the "Yellow Peril" on a transcontinental trip from California with stops throughout the West and even a jaunt up to Calgary, Alberta. The meandering tour eventually brought the pair to Boston, Massachusetts where Earhart underwent another sinus procedure, this operation being more successful. After recuperation, she returned for several months to Columbia University but was forced to abandon her studies and any further plans for enrolling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because her mother could no longer afford the tuition fees and associated costs. Soon after, she found employment first as a teacher, then as a social worker in 1925 at Denison House, living in Medford, Massachusetts.
When Earhart lived in Medford, she maintained her interest in aviation, becoming a member of the American Aeronautical Society's Boston chapter and was eventually elected its vice president. She flew out of Dennison Airport (later the Naval Air Station Squantum) in Quincy, Massachusetts and helped finance its operation by investing a small sum of money. Earhart also flew the first official flight out of Dennison Airport in 1927. As well as acting as a sales representative for Kinner airplanes in the Boston area, Earhart wrote local newspaper columns promoting flying and as her local celebrity grew, she laid out the plans for an organization devoted to female flyers.
After Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927, Amy Phipps Guest, (1873–1959), expressed interest in being the first woman to fly (or be flown) across the Atlantic Ocean. After deciding the trip was too perilous for her to undertake, she offered to sponsor the project, suggesting they find "another girl with the right image." While at work one afternoon in April 1928, Earhart got a phone call from Capt. Hilton H. Railey, who asked her, "Would you like to fly the Atlantic?"
The project coordinators (including book publisher and publicist George P. Putnam) interviewed Earhart and asked her to accompany pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot/mechanic Louis Gordon on the flight, nominally as a passenger, but with the added duty of keeping the flight log. The team departed Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m on June 17, 1928, landing at Burry Port (near Llanelli), Wales, United Kingdom, exactly 20 hours and 40 minutes later. Since most of the flight was on "instruments" and Earhart had no training for this type of flying, she did not pilot the aircraft. When interviewed after landing, she said, "Stultz did all the flying—had to. I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes." She added, "...maybe someday I'll try it alone."
While in England, Earhart is reported as receiving a rousing welcome on June 19, 1928, when landing at Woolston in Southampton, England. She flew the Avro Avian 594 Avian III, SN: R3/AV/101 owned by Lady Mary Heath and later purchased the aircraft and had it shipped back to the United States (where it was assigned “unlicensed aircraft identification mark” 7083).
When the Stultz, Gordon and Earhart flight crew returned to the United States, they were greeted with a ticker-tape parade in New York followed by a reception with President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.
Trading on her physical resemblance to Lindbergh, whom the press had dubbed "Lucky Lindy," some newspapers and magazines began referring to Earhart as "Lady Lindy." The United Press was more grandiloquent; to them, Earhart was the reigning "Queen of the Air." Immediately after her return to the United States, she undertook an exhausting lecture tour (1928–1929). Meanwhile, Putnam had undertaken to heavily promote her in a campaign including publishing a book she authored, a series of new lecture tours and using pictures of her in mass market endorsements for products including luggage, Lucky Strike cigarettes (this caused image problems for her, with ''McCall's'' magazine retracting an offer) and women's clothing and sportswear. The money that she made with "Lucky Strike" had been earmarked for a $1,500 donation to Commander Richard Byrd's imminent South Pole expedition.
Rather than simply endorsing the products, Earhart actively became involved in the promotions, especially in women's fashions. For a number of years she had sewn her own clothes, but the "active living" lines that were sold in 50 stores such as Macy's in metropolitan areas were an expression of a new Earhart image. Her concept of simple, natural lines matched with wrinkle-proof, washable materials was the embodiment of a sleek, purposeful but feminine "A.E." (the familiar name she went by with family and friends). The luggage line that she promoted (marketed as Modernaire Earhart Luggage) also bore her unmistakable stamp. She ensured that the luggage met the demands of air travel; it is still being produced today. A wide range of promotional items would appear bearing the Earhart "image" and likewise, modern equivalents are still being marketed to this day. The marketing campaign by G.P. Putnam was successful in establishing the Earhart mystique in the public psyche.
Earhart subsequently made her first attempt at competitive air racing in 1929 during the first Santa Monica-to-Cleveland Women's Air Derby (later nicknamed the "Powder Puff Derby" by Will Rogers). During the race, at the last intermediate stop before the finish in Cleveland, Earhart and her friend Ruth Nichols were tied for first place. Nichols was to take off right before Earhart, but her aircraft hit a tractor at the end of the runway and flipped over. Instead of taking off, Earhart ran to the wrecked aircraft and dragged her friend out. Only when she was sure that Nichols was uninjured did Earhart take off for Cleveland but due to the time lost, she finished third. Her courageous act was symbolic of Earhart's selflessness; typically, she rarely referred to the incident in later years.
In 1930, Earhart became an official of the National Aeronautic Association where she actively promoted the establishment of separate women's records and was instrumental in the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) accepting a similar international standard. While to a reader today it might seem that Earhart was engaged in flying "stunts," she was, with other female flyers, crucial to making the American public "air minded" and convincing them that "aviation was no longer just for daredevils and supermen."
During this period, Earhart became involved with The Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots providing moral support and advancing the cause of women in aviation. She had called a meeting of female pilots in 1929 following the Women's Air Derby. She suggested the name based on the number of the charter members; she later became the organization's first president in 1930.
Earhart's ideas on marriage were liberal for the time as she believed in equal responsibilities for both "breadwinners" and pointedly kept her own name rather than being referred to as Mrs. Putnam. When ''The New York Times'', per the rules of its stylebook, insisted on referring to her as Mrs. Putnam, she laughed it off. GP also learned quite soon that he would be called "Mr. Earhart." There was no honeymoon for the newlyweds as Earhart was involved in a nine-day cross-country tour promoting autogyros and the tour sponsor, Beech-nut Gum. Although Earhart and Putnam had no children, he had two sons by his previous marriage to Dorothy Binney (1888–1982), a chemical heiress whose father's company, Binney & Smith, invented Crayola crayons: the explorer and writer David Binney Putnam (1913–1992) and George Palmer Putnam, Jr. (born 1921). Earhart was especially fond of David who frequently visited his father at their family home in Rye, New York. George had contracted polio shortly after his parents' separation and was unable to visit as often.
A few years later, a fire broke out at the Putnam residence in Rye and before it could be contained, destroyed much of the Putnam family treasures including many of Earhart's personal mementos. Following the fire, Putnam and Earhart decided to move to the West Coast, since Putnam had already sold his interest in the publishing company to his cousin Palmer, setting up in North Hollywood, which brought Putnam close to Paramount Pictures and his new position as head of the editorial board of this motion picture company.
At the age of 34, on the morning of May 20, 1932, Earhart set off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland with the latest copy of a local newspaper (the dated copy was intended to confirm the date of the flight). She intended to fly to Paris in her single engine Lockheed Vega 5b to emulate Charles Lindbergh's solo flight. Her technical advisor for the flight was famed Norwegian American aviator Bernt Balchen who helped prepare her aircraft. He also played the role of "decoy" for the press as he was ostensibly preparing Earhart's Vega for his own Arctic flight. After a flight lasting 14 hours, 56 minutes during which she contended with strong northerly winds, icy conditions and mechanical problems, Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. The landing was witnessed by Cecil King and T. Sawyer. When a farm hand asked, "Have you flown far?" Earhart replied, "From America." The site now is the home of a small museum, the ''Amelia Earhart Centre.''
As the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic, Earhart received the Distinguished Flying Cross from Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Herbert Hoover. As her fame grew, she developed friendships with many people in high offices, most notably Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady from 1933–1945. Roosevelt shared many of Earhart's interests and passions, especially women's causes. After flying with Earhart, Roosevelt obtained a student permit but did not pursue her plans to learn to fly. The two friends communicated frequently throughout their lives. Another famous flyer, Jacqueline Cochran, considered Earhart's greatest rival by both media and the public, also became a confidante and friend during this period.
That year, once more flying her faithful Vega which Earhart had tagged "old Bessie, the fire horse," she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City on April 19. The next record attempt was a nonstop flight from Mexico City to New York. Setting off on May 8, her flight was uneventful although the large crowds that greeted her at Newark, New Jersey were a concern as she had to be careful not to taxi into the throng.
Earhart again participated in long-distance air racing, placing fifth in the 1935 Bendix Trophy Race, the best result she could manage considering that her stock Lockheed Vega topping out at was outclassed by purpose-built air racers which reached more than . The race had been a particularly difficult one as one competitor, Cecil Allen, died in a fiery takeoff mishap and rival Jacqueline Cochran was forced to retire due to mechanical problems, the "blinding fog" and violent thunderstorms that plagued the race.
Between 1930–1935, Earhart had set seven women's speed and distance aviation records in a variety of aircraft including the Kinner Airster, Lockheed Vega and Pitcairn Autogiro. By 1935, recognizing the limitations of her "lovely red Vega" in long, transoceanic flights, Earhart contemplated, in her own words, a new "prize... one flight which I most wanted to attempt – a circumnavigation of the globe as near its waistline as could be." For the new venture, she would need a new aircraft.
Through contacts in the Los Angeles aviation community, Fred Noonan was subsequently chosen as a second navigator because there were significant additional factors which had to be dealt with while using celestial navigation for aircraft. He had vast experience in both marine (he was a licensed ship's captain) and flight navigation. Noonan had recently left Pan Am, where he established most of the company's China Clipper seaplane routes across the Pacific. Noonan had also been responsible for training Pan American's navigators for the route between San Francisco and Manila. The original plans were for Noonan to navigate from Hawaii to Howland Island, a particularly difficult portion of the flight; then Manning would continue with Earhart to Australia and she would proceed on her own for the remainder of the project.
With the aircraft severely damaged, the flight was called off and the aircraft was shipped by sea to the Lockheed facility in Burbank, California for repairs.
Motion picture evidence from Lae suggests that an antenna mounted underneath the fuselage may have been torn off from the fuel-heavy Electra during taxi or takeoff from Lae's turf runway, though no antenna was reported found at Lae. Don Dwiggins, in his biography of Paul Mantz (who assisted Earhart and Noonan in their flight planning), noted that the aviators had cut off their long-wire antenna, due to the annoyance of having to crank it back into the aircraft after each use.
During Earhart and Noonan's approach to Howland Island the ''Itasca'' received strong and clear voice transmissions from Earhart identifying as KHAQQ but she apparently was unable to hear voice transmissions from the ship. At 7:42 am Earhart radioed "We must be on you, but cannot see you—but gas is running low. Have been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her 7:58 am transmission said she couldn't hear the ''Itasca'' and asked them to send voice signals so she could try to take a radio bearing (this transmission was reported by the ''Itasca'' as the loudest possible signal, indicating Earhart and Noonan were in the immediate area). They couldn't send voice at the frequency she asked for, so Morse code signals were sent instead. Earhart acknowledged receiving these but said she was unable to determine their direction.
In her last known transmission at 8:43 am Earhart broadcast "We are on the line 157 337. We will repeat this message. We will repeat this on 6210 kilocycles. Wait." However, a few moments later she was back on the same frequency (3105 kHz) with a transmission which was logged as a "questionable": "We are running on line north and south." Earhart's transmissions seemed to indicate she and Noonan believed they had reached Howland's charted position, which was incorrect by about five nautical miles (10 km). The Itasca used her oil-fired boilers to generate smoke for a period of time but the fliers apparently did not see it. The many scattered clouds in the area around Howland Island have also been cited as a problem: their dark shadows on the ocean surface may have been almost indistinguishable from the island's subdued and very flat profile.
Whether any post-loss radio signals were received from Earhart and Noonan remains controversial. If transmissions were received from the Electra, most if not all were weak and hopelessly garbled. Earhart's voice transmissions to Howland were on 3105 kHz, a frequency restricted to aviation use in the United States by the FCC. This frequency was not thought to be fit for broadcasts over great distances. When Earhart was at cruising altitude and midway between Lae and Howland (over from each) neither station heard her scheduled transmission at 0815 GCT. Moreover, the 50-watt transmitter used by Earhart was attached to a less-than-optimum-length V-type antenna.
The last voice transmission received on Howland Island from Earhart indicated she and Noonan were flying along a line of position (taken from a "sun line" running on 157–337 degrees) which Noonan would have calculated and drawn on a chart as passing through Howland. After all contact was lost with Howland Island, attempts were made to reach the flyers with both voice and Morse code transmissions. Operators across the Pacific and the United States may have heard signals from the downed Electra but these were unintelligible or weak.
Some of these transmissions were hoaxes but others were deemed authentic. Bearings taken by Pan American Airways stations suggested signals originating from several locations, including Gardner Island. It was noted at the time that if these signals were from Earhart and Noonan, they must have been on land with the aircraft since water would have otherwise shorted out the Electra's electrical system. Sporadic signals were reported for four or five days after the disappearance but none yielded any understandable information. The captain of the later said "There was no doubt many stations were calling the Earhart plane on the plane's frequency, some by voice and others by signals. All of these added to the confusion and doubtfulness of the authenticity of the reports."
Later search efforts were directed to the Phoenix Islands south of Howland Island. A week after the disappearance, naval aircraft from the ''Colorado'' flew over several islands in the group including Gardner Island, which had been uninhabited for over 40 years. The subsequent report on Gardner read: "Here signs of recent habitation were clearly visible but repeated circling and zooming failed to elicit any answering wave from possible inhabitants and it was finally taken for granted that none were there... At the western end of the island a tramp steamer (of about 4000 tons)... lay high and almost dry head onto the coral beach with her back broken in two places. The lagoon at Gardner looked sufficiently deep and certainly large enough so that a seaplane or even an airboat could have landed or takenoff [sic] in any direction with little if any difficulty. Given a chance, it is believed that Miss Earhart could have landed her aircraft in this lagoon and swum or waded ashore." They also found that Gardner's shape and size as recorded on charts were wholly inaccurate. Other Navy search efforts were again directed north, west and southwest of Howland Island, based on a possibility the Electra had ditched in the ocean, was afloat, or that the aviators were in an emergency raft.
The official search efforts lasted until July 19, 1937. At $4 million, the air and sea search by the Navy and Coast Guard was the most costly and intensive in U.S. history up to that time but search and rescue techniques during the era were rudimentary and some of the search was based on erroneous assumptions and flawed information. Official reporting of the search effort was influenced by individuals wary about how their roles in looking for an American hero might be reported by the press. Despite an unprecedented search by the United States Navy and Coast Guard no physical evidence of Earhart, Noonan or the Electra 10E was found. The United States Navy aircraft carrier and battleship ''Colorado'', the ''Itasca'' (and even two Japanese ships, the oceanographic survey vessel ''Koshu'' and auxiliary seaplane tender ''Kamoi'') searched for six–seven days each, covering .
Immediately after the end of the official search, Putnam financed a private search by local authorities of nearby Pacific islands and waters, concentrating on the Gilberts. In late July 1937 Putnam chartered two small boats and while he remained in the United States, directed a search of the Phoenix Islands, Christmas (Kiritimati) Island, Fanning (Tabuaeran) Island, the Gilbert Islands and the Marshall Islands, but no trace of the Electra or its occupants was found.
Back in the United States, Putnam acted to become the trustee of Earhart's estate so that he could pay for the searches and related bills. In probate court in Los Angeles, Putnam requested to have the "death in absentia" seven-year waiting period waived so that he could manage Earhart's finances. As a result, Earhart was declared legally dead on January 5, 1939.
David Jourdan, a former Navy submariner and ocean engineer specializing in deep-sea recoveries, has claimed any transmissions attributed to Gardner Island were false. Through his company Nauticos he extensively searched a quadrant north and west of Howland Island during two deep-sea sonar expeditions (2002 and 2006, total cost $4.5 million) and found nothing. The search locations were derived from the line of position (157–337) broadcast by Earhart on July 2, 1937. Nevertheless, Elgen Long's interpretations have led Jourdan to conclude, "The analysis of all the data we have – the fuel analysis, the radio calls, other things – tells me she went into the water off Howland." Earhart's stepson George Palmer Putnam Jr. has been quoted as saying he believes "the plane just ran out of gas." Susan Butler, author of the "definitive" Earhart biography ''East to the Dawn'', says she thinks the aircraft went into the ocean out of sight of Howland Island and rests on the seafloor at a depth of . Tom D. Crouch, Senior Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, has said the Earhart/Noonan Electra is "18,000 ft. down" and may even yield a range of artifacts that could rival the finds of the ''Titanic'', adding, "...the mystery is part of what keeps us interested. In part, we remember her because she's our favorite missing person."
In July 2007, an editor at ''Avionews'' in Rome compared the Gardner Island hypothesis to other non-crash-and-sink theories and called it the "most confirmed" of them. In 1988, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) initiated their project to investigate the Earhart/Noonan disappearance and since then has sent six expeditions to the island. They have suggested Earhart and Noonan may have flown without further radio transmissions for two and a half hours along the line of position Earhart noted in her last transmission received at Howland, arrived at then-uninhabited Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro) in the Phoenix group, landed on an extensive reef flat near the wreck of a large freighter (the ) and ultimately perished.
TIGHAR's research has produced a range of documented archaeological and anecdotal evidence supporting this hypothesis. For example, in 1940, Gerald Gallagher, a British colonial officer and licensed pilot, radioed his superiors to inform them that he had found a "skeleton... possibly that of a woman", along with an old-fashioned sextant box, under a tree on the island's southeast corner. He was ordered to send the remains to Fiji, where in 1941, British colonial authorities took detailed measurements of the bones and concluded they were from a male about 5 ft 5 in tall. However, in 1998 an analysis of the measurement data by forensic anthropologists indicated the skeleton had belonged to a "tall white female of northern European ancestry." The bones themselves were misplaced in Fiji long ago and have not been found.
During World War II, US Coast Guard LORAN Unit 92, a radio navigation station built in the summer and fall of 1944 and operational from mid-November 1944 until mid-May 1945 was located on Gardner Island's southeast end. Dozens of US Coast Guard personnel were involved in its construction and operation, but were mostly forbidden from leaving the small base or having contact with the Gilbertese colonists then on the island and found no artifacts known to relate to Earhart.
Artifacts discovered by TIGHAR on Nikumaroro have included improvised tools, an aluminum panel (possibly from an Electra), an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas which is the exact thickness and curvature of an Electra window and a size 9 Cat's Paw heel dating from the 1930s which resembles Earhart's footwear in world flight photos. tall and Earhart was and wore a size 6 shoe according to her sister.|group=N}} The evidence remains circumstantial, but Earhart's surviving stepson, George Putnam Jr., has expressed enthusiasm for TIGHAR's research.
From July 21 to August 2, 2007, a TIGHAR expedition visited Nikumaroro searching for unambiguously identifiable aircraft artifacts and DNA. The group included engineers, technical experts and others. They were reported to have found additional artifacts of as yet uncertain origin on the weather-ravaged atoll, including bronze bearings which may have belonged to Earhart's aircraft and a zipper pull which might have come from her flight suit.
In December 2010, the research group said it had found bones that appeared to be part of a human finger. The following March they reported that DNA testing at the University of Oklahoma proved inconclusive as to whether the bone fragments were from a human or from a sea turtle.
Thomas E. Devine (who served in a postal Army unit) wrote ''Eyewitness: The Amelia Earhart Incident'' which includes a letter from the daughter of a Japanese police official who claimed her father was responsible for Earhart's execution.
Former U.S. Marine Robert Wallack claimed he and other Marines opened a safe on Saipan and found Earhart's briefcase. Former U.S. Marine Earskin J. Nabers claimed that while serving as a wireless operator on Saipan in 1944, he decoded a message from naval officials which said Earhart's aircraft had been found at Aslito AirField, that he was later ordered to guard the aircraft and then witnessed its destruction. In 1990, the NBC-TV series ''Unsolved Mysteries'' broadcast an interview with a Saipanese woman who claimed to have witnessed Earhart and Noonan's execution by Japanese soldiers. No independent confirmation or support has ever emerged for any of these claims. Purported photographs of Earhart during her captivity have been identified as either fraudulent or having been taken before her final flight.
Since the end of World War II, a location on Tinian, which is five miles (eight km) southwest of Saipan, had been rumoured to be the grave of the two aviators. In 2004 a scientifically supported archaeological dig at the site failed to turn up any bones.
Earhart's accomplishments in aviation inspired a generation of female aviators, including the more than 1,000 women pilots of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who ferried military aircraft, towed gliders, flew target practice aircraft, and served as transport pilots during World War II.
The home where Earhart was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum and is maintained by the Ninety-Nines, an international group of female pilots of whom Amelia was the first elected president.
A small section of Earhart's Lockheed Electra starboard engine nacelle recovered in the aftermath of the Hawaii crash has been confirmed as authentic and is now regarded as a control piece that will help to authenticate possible future discoveries. The evaluation of the scrap of metal was featured on an episode of ''History Detectives'' on Season 7 in 2009.
In 2001, another commemorative flight retraced the route undertaken by Amelia Earhart in her August 1928 trans-continental record flight. Dr. Carlene Mendieta flew an original Avro Avian, the same type that was used in 1928.
Category:1897 births Category:1937 deaths Category:American aviators Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1937 Category:Aviation pioneers Category:Female aviators Category:Harmon Trophy winners Category:People from Atchison County, Kansas Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Category:People declared dead in absentia Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents Category:Missing people Category:Purdue University faculty Category:Writers from Kansas Category:Missing aviators
af:Amelia Earhart ar:أميليا إيرهارت an:Amelia Earhart ast:Amelia Earhart zh-min-nan:Amelia Earhart bjn:Amelia Earhart bs:Amelia Earhart bg:Амелия Еърхарт ca:Amelia Earhart cs:Amelia Earhartová da:Amelia Earhart de:Amelia Earhart et:Amelia Earhart el:Αμέλια Έρχαρτ es:Amelia Earhart eo:Amelia Earhart eu:Amelia Earhart fa:آملیا ارهارت fr:Amelia Earhart gl:Amelia Earhart ko:아멜리아 에어하트 hr:Amelia Earhart id:Amelia Earhart is:Amelia Earhart it:Amelia Earhart he:אמיליה ארהארט ku:Amelia Earhart la:Amalia Earhart lv:Amēlija Erharte lb:Amelia Earhart hu:Amelia Earhart nl:Amelia Earhart ja:アメリア・イアハート no:Amelia Earhart nds:Amelia Earhart pl:Amelia Earhart pt:Amelia Earhart ro:Amelia Earhart ru:Эрхарт, Амелия sq:Amelia Earhart simple:Amelia Earhart sk:Amelia Earhartová sl:Amelia Earhart sr:Амелија Ерхарт sh:Amelia Earhart fi:Amelia Earhart sv:Amelia Earhart tl:Amelia Earhart ta:அமேலியா ஏர்ஃகாட் th:อเมเลีย เอียร์ฮาร์ต tr:Amelia Earhart uk:Амелія Ергарт vi:Amelia Earhart zh:阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
By 1903, Bollée had started producing larger vehicles and soon gained a good reputation for quality. When the Wright brothers visited France to show their aircraft, Bollée let them use his Mans factory.
Léon Bollée was injured in a flying accident in 1911 and never really recovered as he also had a pre-existing heart problem and died in 1913. His widow continued to run the company but in 1922 it was bought by the Morris Motor Company and the company was renamed ''Morris-Léon Bollée'', the intention being to use the new company to sell Morris designs in France and circumvent the then current French import restrictions. Morris sold the company in 1931 to a group of investors who renamed it ''Societé Nouvelle Léon Bollée'' and production continued until 1933.
Category:1870 births Category:1913 deaths Category:Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Category:People from Le Mans
de:Léon Bollée fr:Léon Bollée nl:Léon BolléeThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Jim Marrs |
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image 18ze | 180px |
birth date | December 05, 1943 |
birth place | Fort Worth, Texas US |
occupation | JournalistAuthor |
children | }} |
Jim Marrs (born 5 December 1943) is an American former newspaper journalist and New York Times best-selling author of books and articles on a wide range of alleged cover ups and conspiracies. Marrs is a prominent figure in the JFK conspiracy press and his book ''Crossfire'' was a source for Oliver Stone's film ''JFK''. He has written books asserting the existence of government conspiracies regarding aliens, 9/11, telepathy, and secret societies. He was once a news reporter in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and has taught a class on the Kennedy Assassination at University of Texas at Arlington. Marrs is a member of the Scholars for 9/11 Truth.
Since 1980, Marrs has been a free-lance writer, author, and public relations consultant. He has also published a rural weekly newspaper along with a monthly tourism tabloid, a cable television show, and several videos.
Since 1976, Marrs has taught a course on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1989, his book, ''Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy'', was published and reached the ''New York Times'' Paperback Non-Fiction Best Seller list in mid-February 1992. It became a basis for the Oliver Stone film ''JFK''. Marrs served as a chief consultant for both the film's screenplay and production. In it, Marrs claims the Illuminati were behind the murder, and indicates the group are keepers of ancient knowledge brought to earth in prehistory by an alien race called the Annunaki. This idea was popularized by Zecharia Sitchin.
Beginning in 1992, Marrs spent three years researching and completing a non-fiction book on a top-secret government program called the Stargate Project involving the psychic phenomenon known as remote viewing, only to have the program canceled as it was going to press in the summer of 1995. Within two months, the story of military-developed remote viewing broke nationally in the Washington Post after the CIA revealed the program.
In May 1997, Marrs' investigation of UFOs, ''Alien Agenda'', was published by HarperCollins Publishers. ''Publishers Weekly'' described ''Alien Agenda'' as "the most entertaining and complete overview of flying saucers and their crew in years". The paperback edition was released in mid-1998. It has been translated into several foreign languages and become the top-selling UFO book in the world.
In early 2000, HarperCollins published ''Rule by Secrecy'', which claimed to trace a hidden history connecting modern secret societies to ancient and medieval times. This book also reached the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. In 2003, his book ''The War on Freedom'' probed the alleged conspiracies of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. It was released in 2006 under the title ''The Terror Conspiracy''.Marrs has been a featured speaker at a number of national conferences including the annual International UFO Congress and the annual Gulf Breeze UFO Conference, but he also speaks at local conferences, such as Conspiracy Con and The Bay Area UFO Expo. Beginning in 2000, he began teaching a course on UFOs at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Marrs has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, C-SPAN, The Discovery Channel, TLC, The History Channel, ''This Morning America'', ''Geraldo'', ''The Montel Williams Show'', ''Today'', ''TechTV'', ''Larry King'' (with George Noory), and ''Art Bell'' radio programs, as well as numerous national and regional radio and TV shows.
Radio Interviews Though participating in a number of radio shows, it has become tradition for Jim Marrs to be the guest of the season premier of Binnall of America Audio
Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:American UFO writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Researchers of the John F. Kennedy assassination Category:Ufologists Category:People from Fort Worth, Texas Category:Texas Tech University alumni Category:Writers from Texas
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