William Harrison Riker (September 22, 1920 – June 26, 1993) was an American political scientist who applied game theory and mathematics to political science.

Riker was born in Des Moines, Iowa, earned his Bachelor's Degree in economics at Indiana's DePauw University and received his Ph.D at Harvard University in 1948. He took on a professorship at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin (then Lawrence College), where he published The Theory of Political Coalitions (1962). In 1962, he became the chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Rochester, where he remained chair until 1977, and remained active until his death.

He founded the now-mainstream field of positive political theory, which introduced game theory and the axiomatic method of social choice theory to political science. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Kenneth Shepsle in their Memoir write that "These have proved crucial to predictive tests for political theory."

Among other contributions, he is known for work on the theory and history of federalism and on something he called "heresthetics" - the art politicians use when they change political outcomes without changing peoples' underlying preferences, for example by manipulating the order in which decisions are made.

William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these two offices.

Before becoming President, Taft was selected to serve on the Ohio Superior Court in 1887. In 1890, Taft was appointed Solicitor General of the United States and in 1891 a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Taft Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Taft Secretary of War in an effort to groom Taft, then his close political ally, into his handpicked presidential successor. Taft assumed a prominent role in problem solving, assuming on some occasions the role of acting Secretary of State, while declining repeated offers from Roosevelt to serve on the Supreme Court.

Riding a wave of popular support for fellow Republican Roosevelt, Taft won an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency.

Antonio "Tony" Montana is a fictional character and the main character of the 1983 film Scarface. He is portrayed by Al Pacino in the movie, and is voiced by André Sogliuzzo in the 2006 video game Scarface: The World Is Yours. A prequel novel written by L.A. Banks, "Scarface: The Beginning", tells the tragic events that lead into the movie. Tony Montana has become a cultural icon and is one of the most famous movie characters of all time, embodying the rise from the bottom to the top. In 2008, Montana was named the 27th Greatest Movie Character by Empire Magazine. He is partly based on Tony Camonte, the main character of the 1932 movie of the same name. According to Oliver Stone, Tony's last name was inspired by former NFL quarterback, Joe Montana, Stone's favorite player. His net worth is $1 billion. A prequel novel of the same name was also written.

In May 1980, Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro opens Mariel Harbor in Mariel, Cuba allowing departing Cubans, former convicts, and criminals to emigrate to Miami, Florida on boats. Tony is one of the many 125,000 Cubans on the Mariel Boatlift to Miami, an estimated 25,000 of whom had a criminal record. When he gets to Miami, he is questioned by U.S. officials; he lies about his whole life, telling them that his entire family is dead or stayed behind in Cuba and that he was a "political prisoner". However, because of a tattoo on his left hand, which indicates that he was an assassin in prison, he is not granted a green card.