William Borah
United States Senator from Idaho
In office March 4, 1907 – January 19, 1940
Preceded by	Fred Dubois
Succeeded by	John W. Thomas
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
In office 1924–1933
Preceded by	Henry Cabot Lodge
Succeeded by	Key Pittman
Dean of the United States Senate
In office March 4, 1933 – January 19, 1940
Preceded by	Reed Smoot
Succeeded by	Ellison D. Smith
Personal details
Born	William Edgar Borah (1865-06-29)June 29, 1865 near Fairfield, Illinois
Died	January 19, 1940(1940-01-19) (aged 74) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary McConnell
Residence	Boise
Alma mater	University of Kansas
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Protestant

William Edgar Borah (June 29, 1865 – January 19, 1940) was a prominent Republican attorney and longtime United States Senator from Idaho noted for his oratorical skills and isolationist views. One of his nicknames later in life was "The Lion of Idaho."

Early life and career[link]

Borah was born near Fairfield, Illinois. His schooling included the Wayne County common schools and the Southern Illinois Academy at Enfield. According to a drawing published by H. T. Webster in 1916, he had a boyhood ambition to be a railway conductor.^[1] He attended University of Kansas in 1885 but was forced to leave after contracting tuberculosis his freshman year. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in September 1887.

Career[link]

After practicing law in Lyons, Kansas, Borah relocated to Boise, Idaho in 1890, where he became the most prominent attorney in the new state. Borah once wrote a letter to the Board of Pardons protesting the change of sentence in hanging "Diamondfield Jack" Davis, a man charged with killing a sheepherder who was working for a cattle company.^[2]

Borah ran for the United States Senate in 1902, but was defeated in the Idaho Legislature by Weldon B. Heyburn, a Republican attorney from Wallace. In 1907, shortly after being elected to the Senate, Borah served as the prosecuting attorney in the nationally publicized trial of "Big Bill" Haywood and two other radical labor union officials for the 1905 murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Clarence Darrow defended Haywood.

In 1907, a Federal grand jury indicted him for conspiracy to defraud the United States by procuring timberlands through fraudulent means. At the time he was the attorney for the Barber Lumber Company. The trial of the case was deferred until the conclusion of the Haywood case.

Marriage and family[link]

In 1895, Borah married Mary McConnell (1870–1976), daughter of Governor William J. McConnell. They had no children.

Years later he had a relationship with Alice Roosevelt Longworth, with whom he had one daughter, Paulina Longworth (1925–1957).^[3]

US Senate[link]

Borah's former residence in Washington, D.C.

On January 15, 1907, the Idaho Legislature elected William Borah to the U.S. Senate over the controversial Democratic incumbent, Fred Dubois. Borah was reelected by the Idaho Legislature in 1912, and four more times by popular vote (1918, 1924, 1930 and 1936) after an amendment changed the way senators were selected. He remains the longest-serving member of the United States Congress in Idaho history.

A member of the Republican National Committee from 1908 to 1912, Borah was a delegate to the 1912 Republican National Convention. As a senator, Borah was dedicated to principles rather than party loyalty, a trait which earned him the nickname "the Great Opposer." He disliked entangling alliances in foreign policy and became a prominent anti-imperialist and nationalist, favoring a continued separation of American liberal and European Great Power politics. He encouraged the formation of a series of world economic conferences and favored a low tariff.

In 1919 Borah and other Senate Republicans, notably Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and Hiram W. Johnson of California, clashed with President Woodrow Wilson over Senate ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. It ended World War I and established the League of Nations. Borah emerged as leader of the "Irreconcilables," a group of senators noted for their uncompromising opposition to the treaty and the League. During 1919, Borah and Johnson toured the country speaking against the treaty in response to Wilson's speaking tour supporting it. Borah's impassioned November 19, 1919, speech on the Senate floor in opposition to the treaty and League of Nations contributed to the Senate's ultimate rejection of it.^[4]

In 1922 and 1923, Borah spoke against passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which had passed the House. A strong supporter of state sovereignty, he believed that its clause authorizing federal authorities to punish state officials for failure to suppress lynchings was unconstitutional. The bill was defeated by filibuster in the Senate by Southern Democrats. When another bill was introduced in 1935 and 1938, Borah continued to speak against it, by that time saying that it was no longer needed, as the number of lynchings had dropped sharply.^[5]

From 1925 to 1933, Borah served as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As Chairman, he became known for his pro-Soviet views, favoring recognition of the Soviet Union, and sometimes interceded with that government in an unofficial capacity during the period when Moscow had no official relations with the United States. Purportedly, Kremlin officials held Borah in such high esteem that American citizens could gain permission to travel throughout the Soviet Union with nothing more than a letter from the Senator.^{[citation needed]}

Domestically, he sponsored bills that created the Department of Labor and the Children's Bureau. He was one of the Senators responsible for uncovering the scandals of the Harding Administration. In 1932, unhappy with the misguided policies of President Herbert Hoover, such as a doubling of revenues with no positive results, in light of the Great Depression Borah refused to publicly endorse Hoover's reelection campaign.

After Hoover's defeat by the Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt, Borah as the Dean of the United States Senate supported certain components of the New Deal. These included old-age pensions and the confiscation of U.S. citizens' gold by executive order, but he opposed the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

Personality and views[link]

Borah was a progressive Republican who often had strong differences of opinion with the conservative wing of the party. Borah also had a reputation for being headstrong. When conservative President Calvin Coolidge was told of Borah's fondness for horseback riding, the president is said to have replied, "It's hard to imagine Senator Borah going in the same direction as his horse."

Conservative Republicans in Idaho, notably Governor and later Senator Frank R. Gooding, often feuded with Borah as well. Nevertheless, Borah became a strong political force in Idaho and elsewhere often in spite of opposition from his own party.

Wallace E. Olson, then president of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in mocking the United States income tax system and rates reported on the debates held in Congress that,

A fear expressed by a number of opponents was that the proposed law, with its low rates was the camel's nose under the tent that once a tax on incomes was enacted, rates would tend to rise. Sen. William E. Borah of Idaho was outraged by such anxieties, and derided a suggestion that the rate might eventually climb as high as 20 percent. Who, he asked, could impose such socialistic, confiscatory rates? Only Congress. And how could Congress, the Representatives of the American People, be so lacking in fairness, justice and patriotism? -- Wall Street Journal, October 5, 1973. Page 8 at columns 4-6.

In 1931 Borah declared he was in favor of the revision of the Versailles Treaty and the Polish corridor, and the revision of the Treaty of Trianon that divided lands from the old Hungarian Kingdom between Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia.^[6]

In 1932 Borah strongly disagreed with the suggestion of the drafters of the London Economic Conference of 1933, who met in Geneva, that the United States should settle intergovernmental debts as a step to recover from the Great Depression.^[7]

1936 Presidential campaign[link]

In an attempt to revitalize the progressive wing of the Republican Party, in 1936 a 71-year-old Borah ran for nomination as candidate for President of the United States, becoming the first Idahoan to do so. Borah's candidacy was opposed by the conservative Republican leadership and dismissed by Roosevelt. He managed to win only a handful of delegates. Borah won a majority of delegates in only one state, Wisconsin, where he had the endorsement of Progressive United States Senator Robert M. La Follette, Jr. Borah refused to endorse the eventual Republican nominee, Alf Landon, leading some to believe he might cross party lines and support Roosevelt's reelection. As he had four years earlier, ultimately he chose to support neither candidate.^[8]

Legacy[link]

Borah Peak, Idaho's tallest mountain

Despite his failed presidential run, throughout his long career Borah remained personally popular among Idaho voters. While in the Senate in Idaho he never faced a serious political challenge from either the Republicans or Democrats. After abandoning his presidential campaign, later in 1936 at the height of Democratic power during the New Deal era, Borah ran for reelection against three-term Idaho Governor C. Ben Ross, a Roosevelt ally, and won with well over 60 percent of the vote.

Known for his public integrity, eloquent speaking ability, and genuine concern for his constituents, his private affairs were less straight forward; his romantic relationship with the irascible and none too discreet Alice Roosevelt Longworth was unseemly, especially for the time, but it apparently did him no lasting political harm.^[9]

William E. Borah died in Washington, D.C., on January 19, 1940 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 74. He is buried in Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.^[10]

In 1947, the state of Idaho donated a bronze statue of Borah to the National Statuary Hall Collection. Idaho's highest point, Borah Peak, at 12,662 feet (3859 m), is named for him, as are two public schools: Borah High School in Boise, and Borah Elementary School in Coeur d'Alene. At the University of Idaho, an annual symposium on foreign affairs, a residence hall, and a theater in the student union building bear his name.

William E. Borah Apartment, Windsor Lodge, a home of his in Washington, D.C., was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.^[11]

Bora Laskin, the Chief Justice of Canada from 1973–1984, was named after Borah.^[12]

Hitler quote[link]

Borah may be best known today for having reportedly said, in September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler—all this might have been averted." The source of this quote was a 1940 Senate Document, News Articles on the Life and Works of Honorable William E. Borah, compiled and written by William Kinsey Hutchinson, then International News Service's Washington Bureau Chief. Hutchinson indicated that Borah said it to him in private "in words that ran like a prayer."^[13] There is no other public record of Borah saying this; Borah died before Hutchinson published the document, and thus could not deny or confirm it; its veracity is therefore unknown.

The quote has been repeatedly cited as evidence of the alleged naivete of a belief in the power of pure diplomacy. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has referred to the quote in at least three of his columns, making an analogy to negotiating with China in 1989, with North Korea in 1994 and with Iran in 2006.^[14] In August 2006 United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld referred to the quote when decrying those who want to "negotiate a separate peace with terrorists".^[15]

On May 15, 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush referred to the quote in a speech to the Knesset in Israel commemorating that nation's 60th anniversary, after stating, "some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along." Some, including Barack Obama himself, interpreted Bush's comment to be a criticism of Obama, who was about to become the Democratic nominee for president, for his stated willingness to negotiate with the leaders of Iran. White House staff stated that the reference was meant more as a criticism of former president Jimmy Carter, who had argued that the U.S. should be willing to meet with Hamas.^[16]

Other quotations[link]

• "No more fatuous chimera has ever infested the brain than that you can control opinions by law or direct belief by statute, and no more pernicious sentiment ever tormented the heart than the barbarous desire to do so. The field of inquiry should remain open, and the right of debate must be regarded as a sacred right." —1917^[17]

• "America has arisen to a position where she is respected and admired by the entire world. She did it by minding her own business... the European and American systems do not agree." —1919 speech in Brooklyn opposing the League of Nations.^[18]

v t e United States Senators from Idaho Class 2 Shoup Dubois Borah Thomas Gossett Dworshak Miller Dworshak Jordan McClure Craig Risch Class 3 McConnell Dubois Heitfeld Heyburn Perky Brady Nugent Gooding Thomas Pope Clark Taylor Welker Church Symms Kempthorne Crapo

v t e Deans of the United States Senate Gunn/Langdon • Foster • Brown • Hillhouse • Anderson • Gaillard • Ruggles • King • Benton • Mangum • Pearce • Bayard/Foot • Foot • Wade • Sumner • Chandler • Anthony • Edmunds • Morrill • Allison • Hale • Frye • Cullom • Gallinger • Lodge • Warren • Simmons • Smoot • Borah • Smith • McKellar • George • Hayden • Russell • Ellender • Aiken • Eastland/McClellan • Eastland • Magnuson • Stennis • Thurmond • Byrd • Inouye

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William Edgar Borah

• BORAH, William Edgar at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• National Statutory Hall - U.S. Capitol
• Borah Foundation & Symposium - University of Idaho
• Morris Hill Cemetery Boise, ID - walking tour
• Biography UMKC Law School - biography of William Borah
• Borah High School - biography of William E. Borah
• A Lion Among the Liberals: William Edgar Borah and the rise of New Deal Liberalism
• TIME magazine - cover - William Edgar Borah - 30-Mar-1936
  • article - "Long ago and far away"

William Edgar (born 1938) is a British mechanical engineer, who was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 2004.

He is graduate from Strathclyde University and Birmingham University with an MSc in Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics. In 1990, he became Chief Executive of the National Engineering Laboratory.^[1]

He gave the George Stephenson Lecture on "The challenges of offshore oil and gas deepwater".^[2] He was Director of Seaforth Engineering, which built the Underwater Training Centre at Fort William, Scotland and the National Hyperbaric Centre at Aberdeen. He was a Group Director of the John Wood Group, was Chairman of the J.P. Kenny Group for ten years, and on the board of Subsea UK.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article about an engineer, inventor or industrial designer from the United Kingdom or its predecessor states is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Bill Fontana (born in Cleveland, Ohio, April 25, 1947) is known internationally for his pioneering experiments in sound art.

Life and career[link]

Fontana attended New School for Social Research in New York and studied both music and philosophy. He traveled to Australia, and also stayed in Japan and Germany composing. Fontana began making sound sculptures in 1976. In a career spanning 30 years, Fontana’s sound sculptures use the urban environment as a living source of musical information, all with the potential to conjure up visual imagery in the mind of the listener. He has made works all over the world and has presented his sound sculptures extensively, including at the Venice Biennale (1999), the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (1995), The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1991), Tate Modern, London (2006), Madison Square Park, New York (2007), and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1987, 1997, 2010). Some of his more famous works include Distant Trains, Satellite Ear Bridge Cologne-San Francisco, Journey Through My Sound Sculptures, The Sound of an Unblown Flute, and Panoramic Echoes.

Fontana is represented by Haunch of Venison, London - New York, [1] and Haines Gallery, San Francisco. [2] He married Australlian choreographer Nanette Hassall.

External links[link]

• Bill Fontana's website
• Work in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art collection
• SFMOMA Bay Area Treasure Award
• San Jose Mercury article
• Madison Square Art
• Bill Fontana's musical sculptures
• Bill Fontana: Spiraling Echoes, 2009
• Bill Fontana biography on Media Art Net

Deborah Salvatrice Blando (Sant'Agata di Militello, March 3, 1969) is an Italian-Brazilian singer and composer. She has about 5 million copies sold worldwide, with six albums released between 1991 and 2002. She has seven #1 singles and ten Top 10 singles in Brazil, 5 singles in the American Hispanic market, and two of them in the Top 10 which became known in Europe, such as the pop ballad Innocence in 1992.

Biography[link]

Deborah, born in Sant'Agata di Militello, the daughter of an Italian father and a Brazilian of Ukrainian descent, who was raised in Brazil. In 1975 she moved to Florianópolis, Brazil. At age 12, she was invited to record her first album under the pseudonym Giovanna, entitled Joy of People, which was recorded completely in Italian and performed on major television shows. Her parents, however, did not allow her to pursue her career as it would disrupt her studies and thus forced her to stop. Later, she resumed her musical career working on Oswaldo Montenegro, including The Minstrels.

International career[link]

A Different Story[link]

In 1989, Deborah Blando was already contracted by the Sony Music Brazil and met Cyndi Lauper and her manager at the time, David Wolff. Deborah soon moved to New York and signed with Sony Music International to release her new album A Different Story.

The first single, Boy (Why Do You Want to Make Me Blue), joined the American dance chart, and traded in the Coca-Cola (Diet Coke). A Different Story: Special Edition was released in 1993, including a new version for Décadence Avec Élégance by Lobão, and a version of "A Maçã" by Raul Seixas and Paulo Coelho. The Innocence single, reached #13 on major radio stations in Europe.

In 1995, Deborah was invited by the Spanish trip-hop band B-Tribe to join the album Suave Suave. She was also invited by Coca-Cola to record the track Seven Seas Of Rhye, the single selling 1 million copies in Brazil.

Unicamente[link]

In 1997, Deborah released the CD Unicamente, which exploded onto the charts. In the same year, the single Cat was used as the title song for the Brazilian soap opera Malhação on the Rede Globo network. This album had the participation of renowned producers such as Patrick Leonard (Madonna, Jeff Back) and David Foster (Michael Jackson, Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston).

In 1998, Deborah released a new CD and once again exploded on the charts with the single Somente O Sol version of the song I'm Not in Love. Her second single and first music video this year wasEagles. Produced by Deborah and Marc Moreau, this album became her most successful in Europe, being certified gold in Portugal.

Career changes[link]

In the year 2000, Deborah faced a major crisis with the recording label Virgin / EMI, generating a great process and a boycott of her songs on international radio.

Concealed by April Music back to basics with the album Salvatrice with only rewrites recent Italian with covers of Rolling Stone and Laura Pausini. At this time, she recorded Junto Com Teu Sonho for the Portuguese release of Where the Dream Takes You, the theme from the Walt Disney movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

In 2002 Universal Music released a greatest hits collection, with a bonus with five previously unreleased tracks.

Ronan Keating[link]

In 2003, she recorded the Brazilian cover for When You Say Nothing at All. The single reached the top 10 in the Latin charts. Her duet of the song in English with Irish singer Ronan Keating was a great success in England.

Decline and removal of media[link]

Deborah Blando suffers from bipolar disorder and this greatly hindered her career. She decided to leave her career aside to move back to London and study Kadampa Buddhism to search for inner peace. With Deborah's illness, her musical projects were left to the background as she sought treatment.

Polares[link]

Even through a personal crisis, Deborah found the strength to polish an electronic music album, combining house, psy-trance, and ballads with the influence of trip-hop. The album was recorded during her stint in the United States and Mexico. Ready at the end of 2007, it is perhaps her boldest effort yet. It contains 16 tracks and is totally made in partnership with her friend Alexander Green. The album mixes are on account of total DJs Claudio Ferreira Audiocactos and Sandrinho "Sanschwartz", who brought to the work house and psy-trance elements. Polares moves in two worlds, a dance-based electronic music and other melancholy, with elements such as acoustic piano, strings and guitar. The singer interprets the songs in English and Portuguese, with the songs "Agreement Signed" and "Every Minute" being included on the soundtrack of national and international TV Globo soap opera Seven Sins.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Greatest hits albums[link]

Singles[link]

Soundtrack[link]

Tours[link]

• A Different Story (1992)
• M200 Summer Concerts (1994)
• Unicamente Tour (1997)
• Self-titled Album "Deborah Blando" Tour (1998)
• A Luz Que Acende O Olhar (2002)
• Acústico Debora Blando (2011)
• Show Balada eletrônica Debora Blando (2012)

External links[link]

• (Portuguese) Official website
• Deborah Blando at the Internet Movie Database