Events

1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

1308 – The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor of Japan, begins.

1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

1768 – King Taksin's coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital.

1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario).

1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.

1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.

1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.

1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

1867 – United States claims Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1879 – The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.

1885 – Indian National Congress a political party of India is founded in Bombay, British India.

1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in ''Boulevard des Capucines'', marking the debut of the cinema.

1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.

1908 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California.

1918 – Constance Markievicz while detained in Holloway prison, became the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons.

1935 – ''Pravda'' publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revives New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.

1943 – World War II – After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona.

1944 – Maurice Richard becomes the first player to score 8 points in one game of NHL ice hockey.

1945 – The United States Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.

1948 – The DC-3 airliner ''NC16002'' disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.

1950 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played" – Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium.

1973 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.

1974 – Senegalese marxist group ''Reenu-Rew'' founds the political movement And-Jëf at a clandestine congress.

1978 – With the crew investigating a problem with the landing gear, United Airlines Flight 173 runs out of fuel and crashes in Portland, Oregon, killing 10. As a result, United Airlines instituted the industry's first crew resource management program.

1989 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.

1990 – Probotector for the NES is released.

2000 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

2009 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

Births

1164 – Emperor Rokujō of Japan (d. 1176)

1522 – Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (d. 1583)

1619 – Antoine Furetière, French writer (d. 1688)

1635 – Princess Elizabeth of England (d. 1650)

1655 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)

1665 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, British general (d. 1716)

1763 – John Molson, English-born Canadian brewer (d. 1836)

1778 – Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)

1842 – Calixa Lavallée, French-Canadian composer (O Canada) (d. 1891)

1856 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate, and 34th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1924)

1866 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian and diplomat (d. 1935)

1879 – Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)

1882 – Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astronomer (d. 1944)

1888 – Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)

1898 – Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (d. 1957)

1898 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (d. 1947)

1899 – Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)

1902 – Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 2001)

1902 – Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (d. 1988)

1903 – Earl Hines, American musician (d. 1983)

1903 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)

1905 – Cliff Arquette, American actor (d. 1974)

1908 – Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)

1910 – Billy Williams, American singer (d. 1972)

1913 – Lou Jacobi, Canadian actor (d. 2009)

1914 – Bernard Youens, English actor (d. 1984)

1914 – Bidia Dandaron, Buddhist author and teacher in the USSR (d. 1974)

1915 – Pops Staples, American musician (The Staple Singers) (d. 2000)

1921 – Johnny Otis, American musician

1922 – Stan Lee, American comic book writer

1924 – Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)

1925 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (d. 2002)

1928 – Moe Koffman, Canadian musician (d. 2001)

1929 – Brian Redhead, British journalist (d. 1994)

1929 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (d. 1970)

1931 – Guy Debord, French writer (d. 1994)

1932 – Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (d. 2002)

1932 – Dorsey Burnette, American singer (d. 1979)

1932 – Roy Hattersley, British politician

1932 – Harry Howell, Canadian hockey player

1932 – Nichelle Nichols, American actress and singer

1932 – Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (d. 1990)

1933 – John Y. Brown, Jr., American politician and 55th Governor of Kentucky

1934 – Rudi Faßnacht, German football manager (d. 2000)

1934 – Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (d. 1987)

1934 – Dame Maggie Smith, British actress

1936 – Jacques Mesrine, French criminal (d. 1979)

1936 – Lawrence Schiller, American journalist

1937 – Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist

1938 – Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician and former President (d. 1999)

1938 – Dick Sudhalter, American jazz musician (d. 2008)

1939 – Philip Anschutz, American businessman

1940 – Don Francisco, Chilean television host

1942 – Roger Swerts, Belgian cyclist

1943 – Keith Floyd, British chef (d. 2009)

1943 – David Peterson, Canadian politician

1943 – Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Peruvian cardinal

1943 – Richard Whiteley, British television presenter (d. 2005)

1944 – Johnny Isakson, American politician

1944 – Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel laureate

1945 – Birendra of Nepal (d. 2001)

1946 – Edgar Winter, American musician

1946 – Mike Beebe, American politician and 45th Governor of Arkansas

1946 – Pierre Falardeau, Quebec film director

1946 – Tim Johnson, American politician, senior senator from South Dakota

1947 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican baseball player (d. 2000)

1948 – Mary Weiss, American Singer (The Shangri-Las)

1950 – Øivind Blunck, Norwegian comedian and actor

1950 – Alex Chilton, American musician (The Box Tops, Big Star) (d. 2010)

1950 – Rainer Maria Latzke, German mural artist

1950 – Hugh McDonald, American musician (Bon Jovi)

1951 – Ian Buruma, Anglo-Dutch scholar and writer on Japan and the Far East

1952 – Arun Jaitley, Indian Politician

1953 – Richard Clayderman, French pianist

1953 – Tatsumi Fujinami, Japanese professional wrestler

1953 – Charlie Pierce, American writer

1954 – Gayle King, American magazine editor

1954 – Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler

1954 – Denzel Washington, American actor

1955 – Liu Xiaobo, Chinese human rights activist, Nobel laureate

1956 – Nigel Kennedy, British violinist

1957 – Anne Sargeant, Australian netballer

1958 – Twila Paris, American singer

1959 – Ana Torroja, Spanish singer (Mecano)

1960 – Raymond Bourque, Canadian hockey player

1960 – James Caan, British-Pakistani entrepreneur

1960 – Melvin Turpin, American basketball player (d. 2010)

1961 – Kent Nielsen, Danish footballer and football coach

1962 – Melissa R. Kelly, former Maryland politician

1962 – Michel Petrucciani, French pianist (d. 1999)

1962 – Choi Soo Jong, South Korean actor

1962 – Niel van der Watt, South African composer

1962 – Rachel Z, American pianist

1964 – Maite Zúñiga, Spanish athlete

1965 – Allar Levandi, Estonian Nordic combined skier

1967 – Chris Ware, American cartoonist

1969 – Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer

1970 – Elaine Hendrix, American actress

1970 – Francesca Le, American porn star

1971 – Benny Agbayani, American baseball player

1971 – Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder

1971 – William Gates, American basketball player

1972 – Roberto Palacios, Peruvian footballer

1972 – Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player

1972 – Adam Vinatieri, American football player

1973 – Alex Dimitriades, Australian actor

1973 – Herborg Kråkevik, Norwegian singer and actress

1973 – Seth Meyers, American actor

1974 – Rob Niedermayer, Canadian-born ice-hockey player

1974 – Jason Ridge, American porn actor

1975 – B.J. Ryan, American baseball player

1976 – Igor Žiković, Croatian footballer

1977 – Shane Elford, Australian rugby league player

1978 – Chris Coyne, Australian footballer

1978 – John Legend, American musician

1979 – James Blake, American tennis player

1979 – Bill Hall, American baseball player

1979 – Senna Guemmour, German Singer (Monrose)

1979 – Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress

1979 – Bree Williamson, Canadian actress

1980 – Vanessa Ferlito, American actress

1980 – Lomana LuaLua, Congo footballer

1981 – Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer

1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, first American test-tube baby

1981 – Sienna Miller, British actress

1981 – Frank Turner, English Singer-Songwriter

1981 – Mika Väyrynen, Finnish footballer

1981 – Narsha, Korean pop singer (Brown Eyed Girls)

1982 – Cedric Benson, American football player

1982 – Ferry Rotinsulu, Indonesian footballer

1982 – François Gourmet, Belgian decathlete

1982 – Kevin Pereira, American television host

1983 – Mike He, Taiwanese actor

1984 – Leroy Lita, English footballer

1984 – Alex Lloyd, British racing driver

1985 – Kamani Hill, American footballer

1985 – Taryn Terrell, American wrestler/model

1986 – Tom Huddlestone, English footballer

1987 – Thomas Dekker, American actor

1989 – Mackenzie Rosman, American actress

1990 – David Archuleta, ''American Idol'' runner-up, American singer

2001 – Madison De La Garza, American child actress

2002 – Kelsey Smith-Briggs, American murder victim (d. 2005)

Deaths

300 – Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria

1367 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)

1446 – Antipope Clement VIII

1503 – Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)

1558 – Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)

1622 – Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and saint (b. 1567)

1663 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)

1671 – Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar (b. 1611)

1694 – Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662), of the joint monarchy William and Mary

1703 – Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)

1706 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)

1708 – Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)

1715 – William Carstares, Scottish minister (b. 1649)

1734 – Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)

1736 – Antonio Caldara, Italian composer (b. 1670)

1795 – Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (b. 1747)

1859 – Thomas Macaulay, British poet (b. 1800)

1872 – James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855–1856) (b. 1808)

1897 – Rev. William Corby, American Catholic priest (b. 1833)

1900 – Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese explorer (b. 1846)

1916 – Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1835)

1917 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War One flying ace (b. 1892)

1918 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)

1919 – Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (b. 1854)

1924 – Léon Bakst, Russian artist (b. 1866)

1932 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)

1937 – Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)

1938 – Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (b. 1886)

1943 – Steve Evans, American baseball player (b. 1885)

1945 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)

1947 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)

1949 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)

1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)

1959 – Ante Pavelić, leader of Nazi Germany puppet Independent State of Croatia (b. 1889)

1962 – Kathleen Clifford, American actress (b. 1887)

1963 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)

1967 – Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (b. 1875)

1971 – Max Steiner, Austrian-born American film music composer (b. 1888)

1976 – Katharine Byron, American politician (b. 1903)

1976 – Freddie King, American musician (b. 1934)

1981 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)

1983 – William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)

1983 – Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (b. 1910)

1983 – Dennis Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)

1984 – Sam Peckinpah, American film director (b. 1925)

1986 – Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1922)

1989 – Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)

1991 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)

1992 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player (b. 1917)

1993 – William L. Shirer, American journalist (b. 1904)

1994 – Jean-Louis Lévesque, French Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1911)

1999 – Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)

2001 – Samuel A. Goldblith, American food scientist (b. 1919)

2001 – William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)

2003 – Benjamin Hacker, American admiral (b. 1935)

2004 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)

2004 – Susan Sontag, American writer (b. 1933)

2006 – Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iranian Minister of Justice (b. 1956)

2007 – Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami, Iran national basketball team player (b. 1982)

2008 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-born painter (b. 1923)

2009 – James Owen "The Rev" Sullivan, American musician drummer and back-up vocalist of Avenged Sevenfold (b. 1981)

2010 – Billy Taylor, American musician (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:

*Abel (Coptic Church)

*Caterina Volpicelli

*Feast of the Holy Innocents or Childermas. In Spain and Latin American countries the festival is celebrated with pranks (''inocentadas''), similar to April Fools' Day. (Roman Catholic Church, Church of England, Lutheran Church)

King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand)

Proclamation Day, celebration started on the day following Christmas. (South Australia)

The fourth day of Christmas. (Western Christianity)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

----

Category:Days of the year Category:December

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Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Dianne Feinstein
Jr/sr	Senior Senator
State	California
Alongside	Barbara Boxer
Term start	November 10, 1992
Predecessor	John F. Seymour
Order2	Chairwoman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Term start2	January 6, 2009
Predecessor2	John D. Rockefeller IV
Order3	Chairwoman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus
Term start3	January 3, 2009
Predecessor3	Joe Biden
Order4	Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Term start4	January 4, 2007
Term end4	January 3, 2009
Predecessor4	Trent Lott
Successor4	Chuck Schumer
Order5	38th Mayor of San Francisco
Term start5	December 4, 1978
Term end5	January 8, 1988
Predecessor5	George Moscone
Successor5	Art Agnos
Order6	Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Term start6	1970
Term end6	1978
Birth date	June 22, 1933
Birth place	San Francisco, California
Occupation	United States Senator
Residence	San Francisco, California
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Judge Jack Berman (div.)Bertram Feinstein (deceased)Richard C. Blum (1980 - )
Children	Katherine Feinstein Mariano
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.A.)
Net worth	$49-110 million (USD)
Religion	Judaism
Website	Senator Dianne Feinstein
Footnotes	}}

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (; born June 22, 1933) is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University. In the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention to the city. Feinstein, who was the first to discover the shootings, succeeded Moscone as mayor. During her tenure as San Francisco's first female mayor she took a politically moderate stance, leading a revamp of the the city's cable car system and overseeing the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two became California's first female U.S. Senators. Feinstein formerly chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007–2009) and has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. She is also the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.

Early life

Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman in San Francisco to Betty (née Rosenburg), a former model, and Leon Goldman, a nationally renowned surgeon. Feinstein's paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Poland, while her maternal grandparents, who were of the Russian Orthodox faith, left St. Petersburg, Russia, after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Her mother's surname, "Rosenburg", originates from German ancestry. Feinstein's father died of diabetes in 2003.

Personal life

Feinstein graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School (California) in 1951 and from Stanford University in 1955 with a B.A. in History.

In 1956, she married Jack Berman (died 2002), a colleague in the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Feinstein and Berman divorced three years later. Their daughter, Katherine Feinstein Mariano (b. 1957), is Presiding Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.

In 1962, shortly after beginning her career in politics, Feinstein married neurosurgeon Bertram Feinstein; her second husband died of colon cancer in 1978.

In 1980, Feinstein married Richard C. Blum, an investment banker. In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth-wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million. By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million. Her 347-page financial-disclosure statement characterized by the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' as "nearly the size of a phone book" draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband, with many of her assets in blind trusts.

Early political career

In 1961, Feinstein worked to end housing discrimination in San Francisco. Prior to elected service, she was appointed by then-California Governor Pat Brown to serve as a member of the California Women's Parole Board. Feinstein also served as a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco.

President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

In 1969, Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She remained on the Board for nine years.

During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco twice, in 1971 against mayor Joseph Alioto, and in 1975, when she lost the contest for a runoff slot (against George Moscone) by one percentage point, to supervisor John Barbagelata.

She was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 with initial opposition from Quentin Kopp.

On November 27, 1978, San Francisco mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by a rival politician, Dan White, who had resigned from the Board of Supervisors only two weeks prior. Feinstein was close by in City Hall at the time of the shootings, and discovered Milk's body after hearing the gunshots and going to investigate. Later that day at a press conference originally organized by Moscone to announce White's successor, Feinstein announced the assassinations to the stunned public, stating: "As president of the board of supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed."

Feinstein appears in archival footage and is credited in the Academy Award-winning documentary film ''The Times of Harvey Milk'' (1984). She appears again briefly in archival footage, announcing the death of Moscone and Milk in the 2008 film ''Milk''. Feinstein and her position as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors are also alluded to several times in the movie, and a portrayal of her character has a few off-screen lines.

As president of the Board of Supervisors upon the death of Mayor Moscone, Feinstein succeeded to the mayoralty on December 4, 1978.

Mayor of San Francisco

Feinstein served out the remainder of Moscone's term. She made no staffing changes to his team until she was elected in her own right in 1979. She was re-elected in 1983 and served a second full term.

One of the first challenges to face Feinstein as mayor was the state of the San Francisco cable car system. In late 1979, the system had to be shut down for emergency repairs, and an engineering evaluation concluded that it needed comprehensive rebuilding at a cost of $60 million. Feinstein took charge of the effort, and helped win federal funding for the bulk of the rebuilding job. The system closed for rebuilding in 1982 and reopened in 1984 in time for the Democratic National Convention that was held in the city that year. Feinstein also oversaw planning policies to increase the number of high rise buildings in San Francisco.

Perhaps because of her statewide ambitions, Feinstein was seen as a relatively moderate Democrat in one of the country's most liberal cities. As a supervisor, she was considered part of the centrist bloc that included Dan White and was generally opposed to Moscone. As mayor, Feinstein angered the city's large gay community by refusing to march in a gay rights parade and by vetoing domestic partner legislation in 1983. In the 1980 presidential election, while a majority of Bay Area Democrats continued to support Senator Ted Kennedy's primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter even after it was clear Kennedy could not win, Feinstein was a strong supporter of the Carter-Mondale ticket. She was given a high profile speaking role on the opening night of the August Democratic National Convention, urging delegates to reject the Kennedy delegates' proposal to "open" the convention, thereby allowing delegates to ignore their states' popular vote, a proposal that was soundly defeated.

In the run up to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. However, he chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. Also in 1984, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8, 1988.

In 1985, at a press conference, Feinstein revealed details about the hunt for serial killer Richard Ramírez, and in so doing angered detectives by giving away details of his crimes.

In 1987, ''City and State'' magazine named Feinstein the nation's "Most Effective Mayor." Feinstein served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s while mayor of San Francisco.

Governor's election

In 1990, Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of California. Although she won the Democratic Party's nomination for the office, she then lost in the general election to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who vacated his seat in the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, she was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures associated with that campaign.

U.S. Senate career

Elections

On November 3, 1992, Feinstein won a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated a year earlier when Senator Pete Wilson resigned to become governor. The election was held at the same time as the general election for U.S. President and other offices. Barbara Boxer was elected at the same time for the Senate seat to be vacated by Alan Cranston. Because Feinstein was elected to an unexpired term, she became a senator as soon as the election was certified in November while Boxer would not take office until the expiration of Cranston's term in January; thus Feinstein became California's senior senator, even though she was elected at the same time as Barbara Boxer. Feinstein was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006.

Approval ratings

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- style="background:lightgrey;" ! style="width:200px;"| Source ! style="width:150px;"| Date ! style="width:200px;"| Approve ! style="width:200px;"| Disapprove ! style="width:200px;"| Undecided |- | Survey USA | January 17, 2011 | 43% | 48% | 10% |- | Public Policy Polling | February 2, 2011 | 50% | 39% | 11% |- | Field Poll | February 2, 2011 | 48% | 33% | 19% |- | Field Poll | June 21, 2011 | 43% | 39% | 18% |}

Committees

Committee on Appropriations

*Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

*Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

*Subcommittee on Defense

*Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development

*Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Chairwoman)

*Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Committee on the Judiciary

*Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts

*Subcommittee on the Constitution

*Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs

*Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Refugees

*Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security

Committee on Rules and Administration

Select Committee on Intelligence (Chairwoman)

Political positions

2008 presidential politics

As a superdelegate, Feinstein had declared that she would support Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, once Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee for the party, she fully backed his candidacy. Days after Obama amassed enough delegates to win the Democratic Party nomination, Feinstein lent her Washington, D.C. home to both Clinton and Obama to have a private one-on-one meeting. Feinstein did not attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver because she fell and broke her ankle.

She chaired the United States Congress Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and acted as mistress of ceremonies, introducing each participant at the 2009 presidential inauguration.

Feinstein voted for the extension of the PATRIOT ACT, and the FISA provisions.

Feinstein co-sponsored (along with Tom Coburn, an Oklahoman Republican) an amendment through the Senate to the 'Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011' that eliminated the 'Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit'. The Senate passed the amendment on June 16, 2011. Introduced in 2004, the subsidy provided a 45c per gallon credit on pure ethanol and a 54c per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. These subsidies had resulted in an annual expenditure of $6 billion, the removal of which will help to quash the escalating US debt crisis. &

2010 Gubernatorial election

Feinstein had been reported as considering a run for Governor of California in 2010 to replace term limited Republican incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger. A private poll in July 2008 showed Feinstein far outpacing former governor Jerry Brown, 50 percent to 24 percent, with Congressman John Garamendi at 10 percent. A February 2009 poll showed that 36 percent of Democrats sampled in the poll said they would support Feinstein if she ran for governor. Brown earned 14 percent, followed by Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa, at 9 percent and 22 percent undecided. By October, although undeclared, in a poll by Field Research she led the Democratic field with 52 percent of all voters and 68 percent of Democratic voters. After months of speculation, Feinstein announced in February 2010 that she would not be running for governor. Feinstein became campaign chair for Barbara Boxer in the United States Senate election which resulted in Boxer's reelection.

Accusations of corruption

In 2009 Feinstein was accused of corruption when her husband's real estate company was awarded a lucrative federal agency contract.

Awards and honors

Feinstein was presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award for public service by the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution on November 3, 2001 in Los Angeles, California.

Offices held

Public Offices
! Office	! Type	! Location	! Elected	! Term began	! Term ended
			1978	December 4, 1978	January 8, 1980
			1979	January 8, 1980	January 8, 1984
			1983	January 8, 1984	January 8, 1988
	Legislature	Washington, D.C.	1992	November 10, 1992	January 3, 1995
	Legislature	Washington, D.C.	1994	January 3, 1995	January 3, 2001
	Legislature	Washington, D.C.	2000	January 3, 2001	January 3, 2007
	Legislature	Washington, D.C.	2006	January 3, 2007	January 3, 2013

United States Senate service
! Dates	! Congress	! Chamber	! Majority	! President	! Committees	! Class
1993–1995				Bill Clinton	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
1995–1997				Bill Clinton	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
1997–1999				Bill Clinton	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
1999–2001				Bill Clinton	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
2001–2003				George W. Bush	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
2003–2005				George W. Bush	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
2005–2007				George W. Bush	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
2007–2009				George W. Bush	Rules (chair), Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence
2009–2011				Barack Obama	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence (chair)
2011–2013				Barack Obama	Rules, Judiciary, Appropriations, Intelligence (chair)

Electoral history

See also

California government and politics

Footnotes

References

Roberts, Jerry (1994). ''Dianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry,'' Harpercollins. ISBN 0062585088

Weiss, Mike (2010). ''Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind the Double Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk,'' Vince Emery Productions. ISBN 78-0-9825650-5-6

External links

United States Senator Dianne Feinstein ''official U.S. Senate site''

Op-ed archives at Project Syndicate

Profile at SourceWatch

Biography at Jewish Women Encyclopedia

Diane Feinstein's Opening Remarks at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration at ''AmericanRhetoric.com'', video, audio and text

{{U.S. Senator box |before=John F. Seymour |state=California |class=1 |start=November 10, 1992 |alongside=Alan Cranston, Barbara Boxer}}

Category:1933 births Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:American women mayors Category:California Democrats Category:Female United States Senators Category:Gun control advocates Category:Jewish United States Senators Category:Jewish American mayors Category:Living people Category:Mayors of San Francisco, California Category:San Francisco Board of Supervisors members Category:Stanford University alumni Category:United States Senators from California Category:Women in California politics Category:Democratic Party United States Senators

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Coordinates	°′″N°′″N
Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989
Birth place	Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, country, dance-pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose
Website	150pxTaylor Swift's signature }}

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.

In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. In November 2008, Swift released her second album, ''Fearless'', and the recording earned Swift four Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, at the 52nd Grammy Awards. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' finished 2008 at number-three and number-six respectively, with sales of 2.1 and 1.5 million. ''Fearless'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks. Swift was named ''Artist of the Year'' by ''Billboard'' Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album ''Speak Now'' on October 25, 2010, which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''Forbes'' ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million, 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million and 2011's 7th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million, too. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000s by ''Billboard''. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most successful digital artist in music history with over 34.3 million digital tracks sold. On June 2011, renowned site The Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood ''The Country Royalty'', as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on ''Rolling Stone'' Queens of Pop list. , she has sold over 20 million albums and 34.3 million singles worldwide. She has been listed in the 2012 ''Guinness Book Of World Records'' as the Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist for her album ''Speak Now'', and Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist. In 2011, ''Billboard'' named her woman of the year.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker who previously worked in finance, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. Her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin. She grew up on a Christmas-tree farm.

When Swift was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet". At the age of ten, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, Swift wrote her first song, "Lucky You". When Swift was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. Swift was a victim of bullying, and spent her time writing songs to express her emotions. She also started performing at local karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs.

Swift began to regularly visit Nashville, Tennessee, and work with local songwriters. When she was 14, her family relocated to Nashville. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School, but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and Swift's grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact that one can have by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–2005: musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the US Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

2006–2008: ''Taylor Swift''

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the ''Billboard'' 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood. The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well. The second single from the ''Taylor Swift'' album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award. Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the ''Billboard'' Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, ''Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection,'' which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. left|upright|thumb|Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007 "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released ''Beautiful Eyes'', an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on ''Billboard'''s Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the ''Billboard'' 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–2010: ''Fearless'' and MTV VMA incident

Swift's second studio album, ''Fearless'', was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at No.1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, ''Fearless'' has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut ''Taylor Swift'' with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009. In its debut week, seven songs in total on ''Fearless'' were charted on ''Billboard'' Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on ''Fearless'', 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics. The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on ''Romeo and Juliet''. The song has reached No.2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and No.4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart. The second single from ''Fearless'', "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas. She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart. It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The ''Billboard'' 200. In mid-January 2009, Swift became the first country artist to top the 2 million mark in paid downloads with three different songs. Swift is ''Billboard'''s Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. ''Fearless'' and ''Taylor Swift'' took the No.1 and No.2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, ''Fearless'', she has released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film ''Hannah Montana: The Movie''. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for ''Fearless''. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM ''Album of the Year'' award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones. On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech. Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst, and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of ''The Jay Leno Show''. On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on ''The View'', where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident. Following her appearance on ''The View'', West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology. However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downgrade the perception of disrespect it created. Swift would later perform a song at the 2010 VMA called "Innocent" which is about the incident and in the song she absolves West of his actions. On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Country Music Association's highest honor. On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album ''Fearless'' namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at No.27 and "Come in With the Rain" at No.30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46). In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at No.80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles. ''Fearless'' was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: ''Speak Now''

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film ''Valentine's Day'', in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada. In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana. In mid-July 2010, ''Billboard'' revealed that Swift's new album is called ''Speak Now''. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour. Hong Kong is the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour and Swift will begin the European and American leg afterwards. Swift's first live album, ''Speak Now World Tour: Live'', featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, is scheduled for a November 21, 2011 release. Many dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled due to Swift suffering from bronchitis and was told she is unable to perform. Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks. She was ranked second on ''Rolling Stone'''s lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade. Swift appeared on the ''Hamish & Andy'' show where she performed a new song called "Chaperone Dads", which is dedicated to a select group of her fans. The week following the release of her "Sparks Fly" video Swift jumped from nineteen to ten on the ''Billboard'''s Social 50. Swift has revealed that she has already written 25 songs for an untitled follow-up album to ''Speak Now'', set to release in the later part of 2012. She commented on them, "They’re sad. If I'm being honest."

On December 23, 2011, Taylor announced via Twitter, "Something I've been VERY excited about for a VERY long time is going to be happening VERY soon." Several hours later, Taylor announced that she is featured on ''The Hunger Games'' Official Movie Soundtrack. Her song, entitled "Safe & Sound", was the first track released from the album. The song was co-written by The Civil Wars, who also co-recorded the song with Taylor. On January 8, 2012, Taylor was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Taylor has sold 41,821,000 million digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy whom she toured with in the past. "Fifteen" was written about her freshman year of high school. It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her." She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on ''Saturday Night Live''; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them." Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." ''The New York Times'' described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled ''MTV's Once Upon a Prom'' and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled ''CMT Crossroads'', which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, ''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''. The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in ''Hannah Montana: The Movie'' credited as herself. The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled ''Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift'' included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film ''Valentine's Day''. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout. She has been cast to voice the role of Audrey in the animated film ''The Lorax'', set to be released in 2012. In January 2012, Swift was offered the role of Eponine in the film adaptation of the musical, ''Les Misérables''.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for ''Blender'', for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in ''People'''s annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on ''Maxim's'' sexiest women of 2008, number fifty on the 2009 list and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. ''CosmoGirl'' voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for ''TIME''s "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. ''People'' magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed. On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011. The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her ''Speak Now'' album. Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.

Philanthropy

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes. The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state. In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the ''Victory Junction Gang''; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the ''Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund'' and the ''National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund''.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

On May 23, 2011, Taylor Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show. The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards. In July 2011, Swift further aided to the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.

Personal life

In addition to her relationship with Joe Jonas, which ended in October 2008, Swift's dating history has included other celebrities: Taylor Lautner, for three months in 2009; and Jake Gyllenhaal, from late 2010 to early 2011. Swift has also been romantically linked to John Mayer. There has been speculation that the songs "Dear John" and "The Story of Us" from her album ''Speak Now'' are about Mayer. In October 2011, she revealed to Ellen Degeneres on her show ''Ellen'' that, "I don't even have, like, kind of a boyfriend. I don't have someone that I'm texting that is a guy that someday might be my boyfriend. There's like nothing going on right now."

In November 2011, Taylor adopted a Scottish fold kitten. She named her Meredith after the character Meredith Grey from the popular ABC drama ''Grey's Anatomy''. The kitten appeared in the official music video for Taylor's song ''Ours'' alongside Taylor and ''Friday Night Lights'' star Zach Gilford.

Filmography

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! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2007		Herself	Guest; Episode: Season 2 Finale
2008	''CMT Crossroads''	Herself	Episode: "Taylor Swift and Def Leppard"
2009	''Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience''	Herself
2009	''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Haley Jones
2009	''Hannah Montana: The Movie''	Herself	Cameo
2009	''Saturday Night Live''	Herself	Host/Musical Guest
2009		Herself	Guest; Episode: Week 6 results
2010		Felicia	Movie acting debut
2010	''Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless''	Herself	Main Role
2010		Herself	Guest; Episode: 200th episode
2012	''''	Audrey
2012	''Bruno the Robot''	Various

Discography

Albums

''Taylor Swift'' (2006)

''Fearless'' (2008)

''Speak Now'' (2010)

Awards and nominations

Tours

Fearless Tour (2009–10)

Speak Now World Tour (2011–2012)

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:American child singers Category:American country banjoists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:Child pop musicians Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Reading, Pennsylvania Category:People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players

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