The Associated Press

Type	Not-for-profit cooperative
Founded	May 1846 (1846-05)[1]
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Tom Curley, President and CEO
Industry	News media
Products	Wire service
Revenue	US$631 million (2010)[2]
Operating income	US$14.7 million (2010)[2]
Net income	US$8.8 million (2010)[2]
Employees	3,700
Website	www.ap.org

AP headquarters at 450 West 33rd Street, New York City

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative.

As of 2005^[update], the news collected by the AP is published and republished by more than 1,700 newspapers, in addition to more than 5,001 television and radio broadcasters. The photograph library of the AP consists of over 10 million images. The Associated Press operates 243 news bureaus, and it serves at least 120 countries, with an international staff located all over the world.

Associated Press also operates The Associated Press Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. The AP Radio also offers news and public affairs features, feeds of news sound bites, and long form coverage of major events.

As part of their cooperative agreement with The Associated Press, most member news organizations grant automatic permission for the AP to distribute their local news reports. For example, on page two of every edition of The Washington Post, the newspaper's masthead includes the statement, "The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to use for re-publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and all local news of spontaneous origin published herein."

The AP employs the "inverted pyramid formula" for writing that enables the news outlets to edit a story to fit its available publication area without losing the story's essential meaning and news information.

Cutbacks at longtime U.S. rival United Press International, most significantly in 1993, left the AP as the primary nationally oriented news service based in the United States, although UPI still produces and distributes news stories and photos daily. Other English-language news services, such as Reuters and the English-language service of Agence France-Presse, are based outside the United States. More recently launched internet news services, such as All Headline News (AHN) are becoming competitive to the traditional wire services like the AP.

History[link]

Logo on the former AP Building in New York City

Associated Press is a not-for-profit news cooperative formed in the spring of 1845 by five daily newspapers in New York City to share the cost of transmitting news of the Mexican-American War by boat, horse express, and telegraph. The venture was organized by Moses Yale Beach (1800–68), second publisher of the New York Sun, and agreed to by the Herald, Courier and Enquirer, Journal of Commerce, and the Express. Some historians believe that the Tribune joined at this time; documents show it was a member in 1849. The New York Times became a member in 1851. Initially known as the New York Associated Press (NYAP), the organization faced competition from the Western Associated Press (1862), which criticized it for monopolistic practices in gathering news and setting prices. An investigation completed in 1892 by Victor Lawson, editor and publisher of the Chicago Daily News, revealed that several principals of the NYAP had entered into a secret agreement with United Press, a rival organization, to share NYAP news and the profits of reselling it. The revelations led to the demise of the NYAP and in December 1892, the Western Associated Press was incorporated in Illinois as the Associated Press. An Illinois Supreme Court decision (Inter Ocean Publishing Co. v. Associated Press) in 1900—that the AP was a public utility and operating in restraint of trade—resulted in AP's move from Chicago to New York City, where corporation laws were more favorable to cooperatives.^{[citation needed]}

When the Associated Press was founded, news became a salable commodity. The creation of the rotary press followed shortly after which led to the New York 'Tribune installing high-speed press in the 1870s allowing them to publish 18,000 papers per hour. During the Civil War and Spanish-American War, there was a new incentive to write vivid, on-the-spot reporting leading to the Graphic Revolution. This occurred making man's ability to make, preserve and transmit images, and print of these events much more fesible. Due to the fact that printing speed had been dramatically increased, this movement was legendary and has the Associated Press to thank for this achievements.

Melville Stone, who had founded the Chicago Daily News in 1875, served as AP General Manager from 1893 to 1921. He embraced the standards of accuracy, impartiality, and integrity for which AP is still known. The cooperative grew rapidly under the leadership of Kent Cooper (served 1925-48), who built up bureau staff in South America, Europe, and (after World War II), the Middle East. He introduced the “telegraph typewriter” or teletypewriter into newsrooms in 1914. In 1935, AP launched the Wirephoto network, which allowed transmission of news photographs over leased private telephone lines on the day they were taken. This gave AP a major advantage over other news media outlets. While the first network was only between New York, Chicago and San Francisco, eventually AP had its network across the whole United States.^[3] In 1945, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Associated Press v. United States that AP had been violating the Sherman Antitrust Act by prohibiting member newspapers from selling or providing news to nonmember organizations as well as making it very difficult for nonmember newspapers to join the AP. In 1982, satellites began transmitting news photography. AP entered the broadcast field in 1941 when it began distributing news to radio stations; it created its own radio network in 1974. In 1994, it established APTV, a global video newsgathering agency. APTV merged with WorldWide Television News in 1998 to form APTN, which provides video to international broadcasters and websites. In 2009, AP had more than 240 bureaus globally. Its mission —“to gather with economy and efficiency an accurate and impartial report of the news”—has not changed since its founding, but digital technology has made the distribution of the AP news report an interactive endeavor between AP and its 1,400 U.S. newspaper members as well as broadcasters, international subscribers, and online customers. AP headquarters are at 450 W. 33rd Street in Manhattan.

The Associated Press began diversifying its news gathering capabilities, and by 2007 AP was generating only about 30% of its revenue from United States newspapers. 37% came from the global broadcast customers, 15% from online ventures, and 18% came from international newspapers and from photography.^[4]

Key dates[link]

• 1849: the Harbor News Association opened the first news bureau outside the United States in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to meet ships sailing from Europe before they reached dock in New York.
• 1876: Mark Kellogg, a stringer, is the first AP news correspondent to be killed while reporting the news, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. His final dispatch: "I go with (Commander George Armstrong) Custer and will be at the death."
• 1893: Melville E. Stone becomes the general manager of the reorganized AP, a post he holds until 1921. Under his leadership, the AP grows to be one of the world's most prominent news agencies.
• 1899: AP uses Guglielmo Marconi's wireless telegraph to cover the America's Cup yacht race off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, the first news test of the new technology.
• 1914: AP introduces the teleprinter, which transmitted directly to printers over telegraph wires. Eventually a worldwide network of 60-word-per-minute teleprinter machines is built.
• 1935: AP initiates WirePhoto, the world's first wire service for photographs. The first photograph to transfer over the network depicted an airplane crash in Morehouse, New York, on New Year's Day, 1935.
• 1938: AP expands to new offices at 50 Rockefeller Plaza (known as "50 Rock") in the newly built Rockefeller Center in New York City, which would remain its headquarters for 66 years.^[5]
• 1941: AP expands from print to radio broadcast news.
• 1945: AP Paris bureau chief Edward Kennedy defies an Allied headquarters news blackout to report Nazi Germany's surrender, touching off a bitter episode that leads to his eventual dismissal by the AP. Kennedy maintains that he reported only what German radio already had broadcast.
• 1951: AP Prague bureau chief William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. He is not released until 1953.
• 1994: AP launches APTV, a global video news gathering agency, headquartered in London.
• 2004: The AP moves its headquarters from 50 Rock to 450 W. 33rd Street, New York City.^[5]
• 2006: AP joined YouTube.
• 2008: The AP launches AP Mobile (initially known as the AP Mobile News Network), a multimedia news portal that gives users news they can choose and provides anytime access to international, national and local news. AP was the first to debut a dedicated iPhone news application in June 2008, offering AP’s own worldwide coverage of breaking news, sports, entertainment, politics and business as well as content from more than 1,000 AP members and third-party sources.^[6]
• 2010: AP earnings fall 65% from 2008 to just $8.8 million. The AP also announced that it would have posted a loss of $4.4 million had it not liquidated its German language news service for $13.2 million.^[7]
• 2011: AP lost $14.7 million in 2010 as revenue plummeted for a second consecutive year. 2010 revenue totaled $631 million, a decline of 7% from the previous year. This is despite sweeping price cuts designed to bolster revenues and help newspapers and broadcasters cope with declining revenue.

AP sports polls[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The AP is known for its polls on numerous college sports in the United States. The AP polls ranking the top 25 NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision) college football and NCAA Division I men's and women's college basketball teams are the most well known. The AP composes the polls by collecting and compiling the top-25 votes of numerous designated sports journalists. The AP poll of college football was particularly notable for many years because it helped determine the ranking of teams at the end of the regular season for the collegiate Bowl Championship Series until the AP, citing conflict of interest, asked for the poll to be removed from the bowl series. Beginning in the 2005 season, the Harris Interactive College Football Poll took the AP's place in the bowl series formula. Despite the invention of the BCS, the AP has maintained its status and is viewed as an equal to the BCS (USC's AP title in 2003). The AP poll is the longest serving national poll in college football, having begun in 1936.

AP sports awards[link]

Baseball[link]

The AP began its Manager of the Year Award in 1959, for a manager in each league of Major League Baseball.^[8] From 1984 to 2000, the award was given to one manager in all of MLB.^[9] The winners were chosen by a national panel of AP baseball writers and radio men. The award was discontinued in 2001.^[8]

Basketball[link]

Every year on March 31, the AP releases the names of the winners of its AP College Basketball Player of the Year and AP College Basketball Coach of the Year awards.

American football[link]

• AP NFL Coach of the Year (1957)

Associated Press Television News[link]

The APTN Building in London

In 1994, London-based Associated Press Television (APTV) was founded to provide agency news material to television broadcasters. Other existing providers of such material at the time were Reuters Television and Worldwide Television News (WTN).

In 1998, AP purchased WTN, and APTV left the Associated Press building in the Central London and merged with WTN to create Associated Press Television News (APTN) in the WTN building, now the APTN building in Camden Town.

Litigation and controversies[link]

Breach of contract and unfair competition[link]

In November 2010 the Associated Press was sued by iCopyright. iCopyright's lawsuit asserts breach of contract and unfair competition in that the Associated Press launched a copyright-tracking registry, built upon information and business intelligence that the AP misappropriated from iCopyright.^[10]

Christopher Newton[link]

Washington, D.C. bureau reporter Christopher Newton, an Associated Press reporter since 1994, was fired by AP in September 2002 after he was accused of fabricating sources since 2000, including at least 40 people and organizations. Prior to his firing, Newton had been focused on writing about federal law-enforcement while based at the Justice Department. Some of the nonexistent agencies quoted in his stories included "Education Alliance," the "Institute for Crime and Punishment in Chicago," "Voice for the Disabled" and "People for Civil Rights."^[11]

Fair-use controversies[link]

In June 2008, the AP sent numerous DMCA take down demands and threatened legal action against several blogs. The AP contended that the internet blogs were violating AP's copyright by linking to AP material and using headlines and short summaries in those links. Many bloggers and experts noted that the use of the AP news fell squarely under commonly accepted internet practices and within fair use standards.^[12] Others noted and demonstrated that AP routinely takes similar excerpts from other sources, often without attribution or licenses. AP responded that it was defining standards regarding citations of AP news.^[13]

Copyright and intellectual property[link]

In August 2005, Ken Knight, a Louisiana photographer sued^[14] the Associated Press claiming that the AP had willfully and negligently violated Knight's copyright by distributing a photograph of celebrity Britney Spears to various media outlets including, but not limited to: truTV (formerly CourtTV), America Online and Fox News. According to court documents the AP did not have a license to publish, display or relicense the photographs. The case was settled by the parties in November 2006.

In a case filed February 2005, McClatchey v. The Associated Press, a Pennsylvania photographer sued the Associated Press claiming that the AP had cropped a picture to remove the plaintiff's embedded title and copyright notice and later distributed it to news organizations without the plaintiff's permission or credit. According to court documents the parties settled the lawsuit.^[15]

In April 2011, Patricia Ann Lopez, a New Mexico courtroom sketch artist, sued the Associated Press claiming that the AP had violated her copyrights by reselling her images without a license and had deceptively, fraudulently and wrongfully passed off the artist's work as its own.^[16] According to court documents the AP did not have a license to resell or relicense the images.

Shepard Fairey[link]

In March 2009, the Associated Press counter-sued artist Shepard Fairey over his famous image of Barack Obama, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo violated copyright laws and signaled a threat to journalism. Fairey had sued the Associated Press the previous month over his artwork, titled "Obama Hope" and "Obama Progress," arguing that he did not violate copyright law because he dramatically changed the image. The artwork, based on an April 2006 picture taken for the AP by Mannie Garcia, was a popular image during the presidential campaign and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. According to the AP lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Fairey knowingly "misappropriated The AP's rights in that image." The suit, which also names Fairey's companies, asks the court to award AP profits made off the image and damages. "While (Fairey and the companies) have attempted to cloak their actions in the guise of politics and art, there is no doubt that they are profiting handsomely from their misappropriation," the lawsuit says. Fairey said he looked forward to "upholding the free expression rights at stake here" and disproving the AP's accusations.^{[citation needed]}

Hot News[link]

In January 2008, the Associated Press sued competitor All Headline News (AHN) claiming that AHN allegedly infringed on its copyrights and a contentious 'quasi-property' right to facts.^[17][18] The AP complaint asserted that AHN reporters had copied facts from AP news reports without permission and without paying a syndication fee. After AHN moved to dismiss all but the copyright claims set forth by AP, a majority of the lawsuit was dismissed.^[19] According to court documents, the case has been dismissed and both parties have settled the lawsuit.^[20]

In June 2010 the Associated Press was accused^[21] of having unfair and hypocritical policies after it was demonstrated that AP reporters had copied Hot News, original reporting and facts from the "Search Engine Land" website without permission, attribution or credit.^[22]

Governance[link]

The Associated Press is governed by an elected board of directors.^[23]

Web resource[link]

The AP's multi-topic structure has lent itself well to web portals, such as Yahoo! and MSN, all of which have news sites that constantly need to be updated. Often, such portals will rely on AP and other news services as their first source for news coverage of breaking news items. Yahoo!'s "Top News" page gives the AP top visibility out of any news outlet. This has been of major impact to the AP's public image and role, as it gives new credence to the AP's continual mission of having staff for covering every area of news fully and promptly. The AP is also the news service used on the Nintendo Wii's News Channel.^[24] In 2007 Google announced it was paying for Associated Press content displayed in Google News, but the articles are not permanently archived.^[25] On December 24, 2009, Google stopped displaying or hosting Associated Press news content on the Google News website.^[26]

See also[link]

Journalism portal

• Journalism scandals

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Associated Press (June 17, 2007). Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered War, Peace, and Everything Else. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-56898-689-0. 
• Fenby, Jonathan (February 12, 1986). The International News Services. Schocken Books. ASIN B000LD4XUO. ISBN 0-8052-3995-2, ISBN 0-8052-3995-9. 
• Schwarzlose, Richard (January 1, 1989). Nation's Newsbrokers Volume 1: The Formative Years: From Pretelegraph to 1865. Northwestern University Press. ISBN 0-8101-0818-6. 
• Schwarzlose, Richard (February 1, 1990). Nation's Newsbrokers Volume 2: The Rush to Institution: From 1865 to 1920. Northwestern University Press. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-8101-0819-6|0-8101-0819-6]]. 
• Schwarzlose, Richard (June 1979). The American Wire Services. Ayer Co Pub. ISBN 0-405-11774-4. 

External links[link]

• Official website
• AP photo archive
• AP news
• Civil Rights Greensboro

Chuck Hagel
Chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board
Incumbent
Assumed office October 28, 2009[1] Serving with David L. Boren
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Stephen Friedman
United States Senator from Nebraska
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	J. James Exon
Succeeded by	Mike Johanns
Deputy Administrator of Veteran Affairs
In office 1981–1982
President	Ronald Reagan
Personal details
Born	(1946-10-04) October 4, 1946 (age 65) North Platte, Nebraska
Nationality	American
Spouse(s)	Lilibet Hagel
Children	Allyn Hagel Ziller Hagel
Residence	Omaha, Nebraska
Alma mater	University of Nebraska at Omaha
Occupation	Electronics executive
Religion	Episcopalian[2]
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1967–1968
Rank	sergeant
Unit	2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Purple Heart Army Commendation Medal Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry Combat Infantry Badge

	Biography portal
	United States Army portal

Charles Timothy "Chuck" Hagel (born October 4, 1946) is a former United States Senator from Nebraska. A member of the Republican Party, he was first elected in 1996 and was reelected in 2002. In 2009, he was elected as Chairman of the Atlantic Council.

Early life and family[link]

Born in North Platte, Nebraska, to Betty Dunn Hagel and Charles Dean Hagel, who had German and Polish ancestry,^[3] he graduated from St. Bonaventure High School (now Scotus Central Catholic High School) in Columbus, Nebraska, the Brown Institute for Radio and Television in 1966 and the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1971. Hagel is a Vietnam War veteran, having served in the United States Army infantry, attaining the rank of Sergeant (E-5) from 1967 – 1968. He served as an infantry squad leader in the 9th Infantry Division.^[4][5] While serving during the Vietnam War, Hagel received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, two Purple Hearts, Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.^{[citation needed]} After returning from Vietnam, he worked as a bartender and radio newscaster while finishing college.

Hagel married Lilibet Ziller in April 1985. The couple live with their daughter, Allyn, and son, Ziller, in McLean, Virginia.^[6] The family has one dog, Figgie, a Portuguese water dog who was trained by Dawn Sylvia-Stasiewicz, the same dog trainer who trained the Obama Family's dog, Bo, as well as Ted Kennedy's dogs.^[7]

Hagel has two brothers: Thomas, also a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, is a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law,^[8] and Mike, an accomplished and well known artist who currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska.^[9] Hagel's third brother, Jim, died in a tragic car accident at the age of 16.^[10]

Hagel has been an avid Nebraska Cornhuskers football fan since he was a young boy growing up in Nebraska. He and his son, Ziller, presented the coin for the coin toss at the 2005 MasterCard Alamo Bowl, in which Nebraska was victorious over the Michigan Wolverines.

Career in Washington[link]

In 1971, Hagel was hired as a staffer for Congressman John Y. McCollister (R-NE), serving until 1977. For the next four years, he worked as a lobbyist for Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and, in 1980, he served as an organizer for the successful presidential campaign of former California Governor Ronald Reagan.

After Reagan's inauguration as President, Hagel was named deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration. In 1982, however, he resigned his post over a disagreement with V.A. Administrator Robert P. Nimmo, who was intent on cutting funding for V.A. programs, and who had referred to veterans groups as "greedy", and to Agent Orange as not much worse than a "little teenage acne".^[11]

Business career[link]

After leaving government employment, Hagel co-founded Vanguard Cellular, a mobile phone manufacturer that made him a multi-millionaire. While working with Vanguard, he served as president and chief executive officer of the United Service Organizations and the Private Sector Council, as deputy director and chief operating officer of the 1990 G7 Summit, and on the board of directors or advisory committee of the American Red Cross, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, Bread for the World, and the Ripon Society. He also served as Chairman of the Agent Orange Settlement Fund and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Although he was pressured by some to run for Governor of Virginia, where he had lived for 20 years, in 1992 Hagel moved back to Nebraska to become president of the McCarthy Group, an investment banking firm. He also served as a Chairman and was CEO of American Information Systems Inc. (AIS), a voting machine manufacturer.

In 1992, as President of investment group McCarthy & Co., Hagel assumed ownership and became Chairman of American Information Services (AIS), later known as Election Systems & Software (ES&S), a manufacturer of computerized voting machines. On March 15, 1995, Hagel resigned from the board of AIS as he intended to run for office.^[12]

Election to the Senate[link]

In 1996, Hagel ran for the open US Senate seat created by the retirement of Democrat J. James Exon. Hagel's opponent was Ben Nelson, then the sitting Governor of Nebraska. Although many people^{[citation needed]} believed Hagel had no chance of winning, he won a "stunning upset" in the election, receiving 56% of the vote, winning virtually all demographic groups including many black precincts that had always voted Democratic in previous elections,^{[citation needed]} and becoming the first Republican in twenty-four years to win a Senate seat in Nebraska.

Six years later in 2002, Hagel overwhelmingly won re-election with over 83% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in any statewide race in Nebraska history.

Senate career[link]

Since his election to the Senate in 1996, Hagel served as deputy whip for the Republican Caucus. He was chair of both the Senate Global Climate Change Observer Group and the Senate Oversight Task Force. He served as co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. He also served on the NATO Observer Group. Hagel was a member of four Senate committees: Foreign Relations; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; the Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Hagel's name was widely rumoured to be one of those considered by George W. Bush as a potential running mate in the 2000 presidential election. During the Bush administration, Hagel maintained a "traditionally Republican" voting record, receiving "a lifetime rating of 84 percent from the American Conservative Union and consistent A and B grades from the National Taxpayers Union."^[13] Among his most notable votes, Hagel:

• Voted for the Iraq war
• Voted for the Patriot Act
• Voted for the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts
• Voted against No Child Left Behind
• Voted against Bush’s Medicare prescription drug bill
• Voted against McCain-Feingold^[13]

In August 2004, Hagel acknowledged that he was considering a presidential campaign in 2008.

Hagel appeared as himself on the HBO series K Street in 2003, on the episode entitled "Week Four".^{[citation needed]}

On immigration, Senator Hagel supports a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program" for undocumented immigrants.^{[citation needed]} On May 25, 2006 he voted for S. 2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which passed the Senate before reaching a stalemate in the House in late 2006. On June 26, 2007, Hagel joined with Senator Ted Kennedy to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639).

In July 2007, Hagel was one of three Republican Senators who supported the legislation proposed by Democrats to require a troop withdrawal from Iraq to begin within 120 days. "This thing is really coming undone quickly, and [Prime Minister] Maliki's government is weaker by the day. The police are corrupt, top to bottom. The oil problem is a huge problem. They still can't get anything through the parliament—no hydrocarbon law, no de-Baathification law, no provincial elections" (from Robert Novak's interview with Hagel, published in the Washington Post: "Hagel's Stand".)

During his first campaign, Hagel indicated that, were he to be elected, he would retire in 2008 after two terms in the Senate.^[14] Nebraska State Attorney General Jon Bruning announced plans to challenge him in the primaries in 2008 if he did not retire.^{[citation needed]} After considering running in the 2008 presidential election, Hagel announced in 2007 that he would retire from the Senate at the end of his present term and would not seek the presidency.^[15] He has joined the faculty of Georgetown University, where his daughter currently attends, starting in the fall of 2009, as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance and will begin teaching in the fall of 2009, as reported in the Georgetown University student paper "The Hoya", and in the Washington Post ^[16]

Senator Hagel's differences with his party's platform on Iraq are reflected in a change to his voting record. As reported in:^[17] " ... [A]ccording to Congressional Quarterly, in 2006 he voted with the President ninety-six per cent of the time... Hagel's support for Bush's policies declined—in 2007, he voted with the President just seventy-two per cent of the time."

Hagel had a tradition of wearing costumes to work on Halloween, usually masquerading as colleagues or other notable political figures. He has arrived at work dressed as Joe Biden, John McCain, Colin Powell, and Pat Roberts in past years.^[18]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Foreign Relations
  • Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs
  • Subcommittee on African Affairs
  • Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs
  • Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection (Ranking Member)
• Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
• Select Committee on Intelligence
• Committee on Rules and Administration

Criticism of the Bush Administration[link]

On August 18, 2005, Hagel compared the Iraq War to Vietnam and openly mocked Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that the Iraqi insurgency was in its "last throes".^[19]

In November 2005, Hagel made a much-publicized statement: "To question your government is not unpatriotic — to not question your government is unpatriotic." (This was in reference to the lack of open debate in Congress regarding the Iraq War, and in defense of his assertion that the United States should withdraw its troops.)^{[citation needed]} In December 2005, in reference to Bush, the Republican Party, and the PATRIOT Act, Hagel made a much-publicized statement:

"I took an oath of office to the Constitution, I didn't take an oath of office to my party or my president."^[20]

In January 2006, Hagel took issue with Karl Rove over controversial statements the White House advisor made concerning the mindset of Republicans and Democrats. Hagel said, "Well, I didn't like what Mr. Rove said, because it frames terrorism and the issue of terrorism and everything that goes with it, whether it's the renewal of the Patriot Act or the NSA wiretapping, in a political context." He also said that "dark clouds" are hanging over the Republican party, and "If you look at the environment and the atmospherics politically in this town, read any poll. The sixth year of a governing party usually ... is not good ... the country is tired, a lot of complications in these international issues, we're at war."^[21] Hagel further criticized the Bush administration, saying, "National security is more important than the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. And to use it to try to get someone elected will ultimately end up in defeat and disaster for that political party."^[21]

In July 2006, Hagel again took issue with the Bush administration, this time on its handling of the Israel-Lebanon issue saying "The sickening slaughter on both sides must end and it must end now. President Bush must call for an immediate cease-fire. This madness must stop."^[22] Following heavy Republican losses in the 2006 midterm election, Hagel penned an editorial in the Washington Post highly critical of military strategies both employed and proposed for Iraq. He unequivocally declared that "There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq," and called for a "phased troop withdrawal" — making Hagel one of the most prominent voices in his party to do so.^[23]

According to a SurveyUSA poll, Hagel has a 10% higher approval rating among Nebraska Democrats than Republicans.^[24][25] OnTheIssues.org rates Hagel as a "libertarian-leaning conservative".

In January 2007, Hagel openly criticized President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. He called it, "the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out."^[26] Together with Democrats Joseph Biden and Carl Levin he proposed a non-binding resolution to the Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which rejected Bush's policy as "not in the national interest" in a 12-9 vote.^[27] However, in a Senate vote of 94-2 to revoke executive power to replace federal prosecutors without a preliminary hearing, Senator Hagel and Senator Kit Bond were the only opposition.^[28]

After an April 2007 visit to Iraq with Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Joe Sestak, Hagel expressed his belief that the occupation of Iraq should not continue indefinitely and defended Congressional actions to set a timeline for an end in occupation. In July 2007, Hagel expressed his intention to cooperate with Senate Democrats in voting for a bill that would set a timeline to get out of Iraq.^[29]

In November 2007, he rated the Bush administration "the lowest in capacity, in capability, in policy, in consensus—almost every area" of any presidency in the last forty years. He also revealed he was open to running as vice-president with the 2008 Democratic nominee.^[30] In the same month, he said, "I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I've ever seen or ever read about."^[30]

Despite his criticisms of the Bush administration, Hagel voted 78.1% of the time with the Republican party.^[31]

Decision not to seek re-election[link]

On September 10, 2007, Hagel announced that he would be retiring from the Senate at the end of his term in 2009.^[32] The announcement ended speculation regarding a possible bid for the presidency in 2008.

On its website The Times reported that the Senator was a possible candidate for the cabinet position of United States Secretary of Defense in the Barack Obama administration:

Obama is hoping to appoint cross-party figures to his cabinet such as Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska and an opponent of the Iraq war […] Senior advisers confirmed that Hagel, a highly decorated Vietnam war veteran and one of McCain’s closest friends in the Senate, was considered an ideal candidate for defense secretary.^[33]

Senator Obama was quoted in the same article, when asked about Hagel as a potential cabinet member: "Chuck Hagel is a great friend of mine and I respect him very much."^[33] Following Hagel's retirement from the Senate, in February 2009 he accepted a position as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

In 2010, Hagel endorsed Democratic Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak in his run for the United States Senate.

Vice Presidential possibilities[link]

Hagel was rumored to be a possible Obama pick for the Vice Presidential candidacy in his 2008 presidential election ticket. On June 20, 2008, Hagel said he would consider running with Obama if offered the VP spot.^[34] He had also been mentioned as a potential United States Secretary of Defense to succeed incumbent Robert Gates in the Obama administration.^[35][36] and said that he would consider serving if asked.^[37] In August, Hagel indicated that he wouldn't endorse either candidate or get involved in their campaigns.^[38] However, his wife endorsed Obama. Obama later picked Joe Biden as his running mate. Robert Gates remained Secretary of Defense for the Obama administration until 2011, when he was succeeded by Leon Panetta, a Democrat.

America: Our Next Chapter[link]

In Senator Hagel's new book, America: Our Next Chapter, he suggests that the United States should adopt independent leadership and possibly another political party. He also believes that the Iraq War is one of the five biggest blunders in U.S. history. Hagel is critical of George W. Bush's foreign policy, calling it "reckless." He has been a major critic of the war since it started, and has stated that the United States should learn from its mistakes in the Vietnam War. He considers Bush's foreign policy a "ping pong game with American lives".

Electoral history[link]

Republican primary for U.S. Senate from Nebraska, 1996^[39]

• Chuck Hagel - 108,612 (62.11%)
• Don Stenberg - 65,753 (37.60%)
• Write-ins - 498 (0.29%)

Nebraska United States Senate election, 1996^[40]

• Chuck Hagel (R) - 379,933 (56.12%)
• Ben Nelson (D) - 281,904 (41.64%)
• John W. DeCamp (Libertarian) - 9,483 (1.40%)
• Bill Dunn (Natural Law) - 4,806 (0.71%)
• Write-ins - 832 (0.12%)

Republican primary for U.S. Senate from Nebraska, 2002^[41]

• Chuck Hagel (inc.) - 144,160 (100.00%) - unopposed

Nebraska United States Senate election, 2002^[42]

• Chuck Hagel (R) (inc.) - 397,438 (82.76%)
• Charlie Matulka (D) - 70,290 (14.64%)
• Jack Graziano (Libertarian) - 7,423 (1.55%)
• Phil Chase (Independent) - 5,066 (1.06%)

Awards and honors[link]

In 2001, Hagel was awarded the exclusive Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans.^[43] Hagel is also Nebraska Admiral, an honorary title considering Nebraska is a landlocked state. On June 9, 2007, he gave the commencement address for North Central College and was given an honorary L.L.D.^[44] Hagel was the keynote speaker at the College of William and Mary's Charter Day in 2007, at which he was awarded an honorary degree of Public Service.^[45] On March 3, 2008, Hagel hosted a town hall meeting on domestic and foreign policy issues at the University of Maryland, at which the Center for American Politics and Citizenship (CAPC) gave him the Millard E. Tydings Award for Courage and Leadership in American Politics.^[46] Hagel served as the 2010 Clifford P. Case Professor of Public Affairs at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics, speaking at public programs in New Brunswick and Newark.^[47]

Current Positions[link]

Hagel currently teaches at Georgetown University in the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of National Governance.^[48] He is Chairman of the Atlantic Council, Co-Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board; a member of the Secretary of Defense’s Policy Board and Secretary of Energy’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future; and is a member of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) board of directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Chevron Corporation; the Advisory Boards of Deutsche Bank Americas; Corsair Capital; M.I.C. Industries; is a Director of the Zurich Holding Company of America; and is a Senior Advisor to McCarthy Capital Corporation.^[49]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Charlyne Berens,Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward University of Nebraska Press (2006)

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Chuck Hagel

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chuck Hagel

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chuck Hagel

Official sites

• Speech on U.S.-Iran Relations, Senate Speeches, U.S. Government, February 22, 2007
• Sandhills PAC Hagel's Political Action Committee

Documentaries, topic pages and databases

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• New York Times — Chuck Hagel News news stories and commentary
• Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward authorized biography by Charlyne Berens, book information from University of Nebraska Press ISBN 0-8032-1075-2

Media coverage

• Hagel low on cash on hand, raising retirement issue, The Hill, January 30, 2007
• Joseph Lelyveld, "The Heartland Dissident", New York Times Magazine, February 12, 2006
• Chuck Hagel: A Christmas Present, and Past, Washington Post, December 22, 2005
• Interview C-SPAN Q&A, November 13, 2005
• Hagel’s ethics filings pose disclosure issue, The Hill, January 29, 2003
• Sen. Chuck Hagel Interview (video), The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, March 31, 2008
• Connie Bruck, "Odd Man Out: Chuck Hagel's Republican Exile" The New Yorker 84/35 (3 November 2008) : 52-63

Grassroots campaigns

• Blogspot: Chuck Hagel for President, Unofficial campaign site on Blogspot
• Draft Hagel '08 grassroots presidential draft site
• Michigan for Hagel 2008, Unofficial Michigan campaign site on Blogspot
• Students for Hagel, Unofficial students' campaign site on Blogspot

v t e United States Senators from Nebraska Class 1 Tipton Paddock Van Wyck Paddock Allen Hayward Allen Dietrich Burkett G. Hitchcock Howell Thompson Hunter Burke Butler Reynolds Hruska Zorinsky Karnes Kerrey Nelson Class 2 Thayer P. Hitchcock Saunders Manderson Thurston Millard Brown Norris Wherry Seaton Griswold Bowring Abel Curtis Exon Hagel Johanns