Texaco ("The Texas Company") is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand.

Texaco was an independent company until it merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001. It began as the Texas Fuel Company, founded in 1901 in Beaumont, Texas, by Joseph S. Cullinan, Thomas J. Donoghue, Walter Benona Sharp, and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop. For many years, Texaco was the only company selling gasoline under the same brand name in all 50 US states, as well as Canada, making it the most truly national brand among its competitors. Its current logo features a white star in a red circle (a reference to the lone star of Texas), leading to the long-running advertising jingles "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star" and "Star of the American Road."^{[citation needed]} The company was headquartered in Harrison, New York, near White Plains, prior to the merger with Chevron.

Texaco gasoline comes with Techron, an additive developed by Chevron, as of 2005, replacing the previous CleanSystem3. The Texaco brand is strong in the U.S., Latin America and West Africa. It has a presence in Europe as well; for example, it is a well-known retail brand in the UK, with around 1,100 Texaco-branded service stations.

History[link]

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A Texaco fuel station in Miami Beach, Florida

A Texaco fuel dispenser in England, United Kingdom

Founding through 1930s[link]

• 1901 – Founded in Beaumont, Texas. Known as the Texas Fuel Company.
• 1905 – Texaco establishes an operation in Antwerp, Belgium, under the name Continental Petroleum Company.
• 1913 – Texaco acquires control of the Central Petroleum Company.^[1]
• 1914 – Occupied new offices in Houston on the corner of San Jacinto and Rusk.
• 1928 – Texaco becomes the first U.S. oil company to sell its gasoline nationwide under one single brand name in all 48 states (50 states after Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union in 1959).
• 1931 – The Texas Company (Texaco's corporate name) purchases Indian Oil Company, based in Illinois, a move that expands Texaco's refining and marketing base in the Midwest and also gives Texaco the rights to Indian's manufacturing processes of Havoline "Wax Free" motor oil, which becomes a Texaco product and provides the company with a higher-quality motor oil product.
• 1932 – Texaco introduces Fire Chief gasoline nationwide, a motor fuel that meets the octane requirements for fire engines, and promotes it through a radio program over NBC hosted by Ed Wynn, the "Texaco Fire Chief."
• 1936 – Texaco begins supplying the Nationalist rebels in Spain with oil, and continues to do so for the duration of the war, delivering some 3,500,000 barrels (560,000 m³).^[2]
• 1936 – Marketing operations east of Suez (including Asia, East Africa, and Australasia) are placed into a joint venture with Standard Oil Company of California – Socal (Chevron) under the brand name Caltex, in exchange for Socal placing its Bahrain refinery and Arabian oilfields into the venture.
• 1937 – Texaco commissions industrial designer Walter Dorwin Teague to develop a modern service station design. The resulting "Teague" Texaco station design is a functional white building with green trimmings featuring one or more service bays for "Washing", "Marfak Lubrication", etc., an office area with large plate glass window for display of tires, batteries, and accessories, along with "Men" and "Ladies" restrooms featuring Texaco-green tile walls and floors. The Teague station design is typically built of white porcelain tile but local and regional variations could include painted brick, concrete brick, and stucco materials. Other features include red Texaco stars on the upper facade on outer sidewalls and above the service bays, and red lettering spelling out "TEXACO" above the office area. Stations are identified by the street from Texaco's "banjo" sign.
• 1938 – Texaco introduces Sky Chief gasoline, a premium grade fuel developed from the ground up as a high-octane gasoline rather than just an ethylized regular product. Sky Chief is dispensed from a silver gas pump in contrast with the red pump used for Fire Chief gasoline – a move that lasts many years until the early 1960s.
  

  

  1939 Texaco tanker truck by Dodge on display at the Henry Ford Museum.
• 1939 – Texaco becomes one of the first oil companies to introduce a "Registered Rest Room" program to ensure that restroom facilities at all Texaco stations nationwide maintained a standard level of cleanliness to the motoring public. The "Registered Rest Room" program is later copied by other oil companies and continued at Texaco until the energy crises of the 1970s, which was caused by oil embargoes.

1940s and 50s[link]

• 1940 – Torkild Rieber, CEO, is led to resign when his connections with German Nazism, and his supply of oil to the Fascist forces during the Spanish Civil War are made public^[3][4]
• 1947 – Texaco's European marketing operations are also placed into the Caltex joint venture
• 1947 – Texaco merged its British operation with Trinidad Leaseholds under the name Regent; it gained full control of Regent in 1956,^[5] but the Regent brand remained in use until 1968-9.
• 1954 – Texaco adds the detergent additive Petrox to its "Sky Chief" gasoline, which was also souped up with higher octane to meet the antiknock needs of new cars with high-compression engines. A new plant was built in Port Arthur, Texas specifically to manufacture Petrox.
• 1958 – Texaco became the sole sponsor of The Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC-TV. The nightly newscast had had difficulty retaining sponsors since it first took the air in the fall of 1956.
• 1959 – The Texas Company changes its corporate name to Texaco, Inc. to better reflect the value of the Texaco brand name, which represented the biggest selling gasoline brand in the U.S. and only marketer selling gasoline under one brand name in all 50 states.
• 1959 – Texaco acquires McColl-Frontenac Oil Company Ltd. of Canada and changes its name to Texaco Canada Ltd.^[6]
• Late 1950s – Bought Paragon Oil, a major fuel oil distribution company in the northeastern U.S.

1960s and 70s[link]

• 1961 – Texaco introduces the "The Man who wears the Star" campaign with the "Texaco Star Theme" written by W.A. Fredricks. The radio jingle (as of 1961), went as follows:

Texaco fuel station in Poá (São Paulo), Brazil

Both Fire Chief and Sky Chief gasolines are promoted as "Climate Controlled" as various blends of both gasolines are distributed to Texaco stations in various parts of the country.

• 1964 – Texaco introduces the "Matawan" service station design at a station in Matawan, New Jersey. Features include mansard roofing design, service bays moved to the side of station and sheetrock covering over most exterior walls.^[7]
• 1966 – Texaco replaces the long-running banjo sign with a new hexagon logo that had previously been test-marketed with the "Matawan" station design introduced two years earlier. The new logo featured red outline with TEXACO in black bold lettering and small banjo logo with red star and green T at bottom. Texaco also enters agreement with Howard Johnson's for Texaco credit card to be honored for charging of lodging and food at Howard Johnson motor lodges, a widespread trend of the time among major oil companies that would last until the 1973 oil crisis.
• 1967 – Regent name replaced by Texaco at British petrol stations.^[8]
• 1970 – In response to increasingly stringent federal emission standards that would ultimately lead to mandating of unleaded gasoline in 1975 and later-model cars and trucks, Texaco introduced Lead-free Texaco as the first regular-octane lead-free gasoline at stations in the Los Angeles area and throughout Southern California. Lead-free Texaco would become available nationwide in 1974, in time for the introduction of 1975-model vehicles.
• 1978 – Texaco Canada Ltd. merges with Texaco Explorations Canada Ltd. to form Texaco Canada Inc.^[6]

1980s and 90s[link]

• November 21, 1980 – Lake Peigneur/Jefferson Island disaster
• 1982 – The new service station design emphasizes use of dark colors including, black, red and gray. Gasoline products receive name changes with the advent of self-service including Lead-free Texaco to Texaco Unleaded, Fire Chief to Texaco Regular, and Super Lead-free Sky Chief to Texaco Super Unleaded.

• 1985 – On November 19, Pennzoil (represented by famous Houston litigator Joe Jamail) won a US$10.53 billion verdict against Texaco in the largest civil verdict in US history (Texaco established a signed contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Gordon Getty).
• 1987 – Texaco files for bankruptcy; company continues trading under protection of U.S. bankruptcy laws.
• 1988 – Texaco and Saudi Aramco agree to form a joint venture known as Star Enterprise in which Saudi Aramco would own a 50% share of Texaco's refining and marketing operations in the eastern U.S. and Gulf Coast.^[9]
• 1989 – Texaco introduces System3 gasolines in all three grades of fuel, featuring the latest detergent additive technology to improve performance by reducing deposits that clog fuel injection systems. Texaco Canada Inc sold to Imperial Oil with retail operations converted to Esso brand.
• 1991 – The company was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[10]
• 1993 – Several dozen tribal leaders and residents from the Ecuadoran Amazon file a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Texaco, as a result of massive ecological pollution of the area and rivers around Texaco's Ecuadorian offshore drilling sites, causing toxic contamination of approximately 30,000 residents.^[11]
• 1994 – Texaco's System3 gasolines replaced by new CleanSystem3 gasoline for improved engine performance.
• 1995 – Texaco merges its Danish and Norwegian downstream operations with those of Norsk Hydro under the new brand HydroTexaco. This joint venture was sold in 2007 to Norwegian retail interests as YX Energi, following the purchase of Hydro by Statoil.
• 1996 – Texaco pays over $170 million to settle racial discrimination lawsuits filed by black employees at the company. It was the largest racial discrimination lawsuit settlement in the U.S. at the time, and was particularly damaging to Texaco's public relations when tapes were released containing ethnic slurs used repeatedly by company officers at high-level corporate meetings.^[12]
• 1998 – Formed joint venture Equilon with Shell Oil Company, combining their Western and Midwestern U.S. refining and marketing.^[13] This gave rise to the 2006 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust case of Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, which cleared both Texaco and Shell of any antitrust liability concerning the pricing of Equilon's gasoline.
• 1998 – Formed joint venture Motiva with Shell Oil Company and Saudi Aramco in which the Star Enterprise operations were merged with the Eastern and Gulf Coast U.S. refining and marketing operations of Shell.^[13]

2000 to 2010[link]

• 2001 – Texaco purchases right to NiMH battery used in electric vehicles, Chevron Corporation then merges with Texaco six days later. Shell purchases Texaco's interest in the Equilon and Motiva joint ventures.^[14]
• 2002 – Shell Oil Company begins converting its Texaco stations to the Shell brand, a process expected to be complete by June 2004, "the largest retail re-branding initiative in American business history."^[15]
• July 2004 – Chevron regains non-exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S.^[16]
• August 2005 – Texaco introduces the Techron additive into its fuels in the U.S. and parts of Latin America.^[17]
• July 2006 – Chevron regains exclusive rights to the Texaco brand name in the U.S. and begins opening up gas stations across the U.S. and sold some of its BP and its Citgo stations in the southeast.^[18]
• 2007 – Delek Benelux took over marketing activities for Chevron Global Energy Inc. in Benelux, including 869 filling stations, mostly under the Texaco brand.^[19] Chevron Corporation sold its Conoco stations in Mississippi to the Texaco brand name, a process to be complete at the end of the year.
• April 2010 – Chevron continued to allow independent jobbers to switch to the Texaco brand, such as the small chain of BP gas stations in Mississippi operated by Mississippi Oil/Smith Petroleum as Dandy Dan C-Stores.^[20]
• July 2010 – Chevron and Texaco end retail operations in the Mid-Atlantic US, removing their brand from 1,100 stations in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and parts of Tennessee.^[21]

Corporate headquarters[link]

Prior to the merger, Texaco's headquarters, a 750,000-square-foot (70,000 m²) building, were in Harrison, New York, near White Plains.^[22][23][24] In 2002, Chevron sold the former Texaco headquarters to Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley bought the building and the surrounding 107 acres (0.43 km²) for $42 million.^[22]

Sponsorships[link]

Racing driver Nigel Mansell driving in the 1993 CART IndyCar World Series

Texaco is associated with the Havoline brand of motor oil and other automotive products. It was one of the sponsors of NASCAR with drivers like Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, Ricky Rudd, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Texaco last sponsored the #42 Dodge driven by Montoya. Havoline sponsored a NASCAR race car continuously from the early 1980s through the 2008 season. At the end of the 2008 NASCAR season, Texaco/Havoline officially ended their sponsorship with NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing. This brought to a close a 20-plus year relationship with the sport. Texaco has also has also been involved in open wheel racing, sponsoring the Texaco Grand Prix of Houston along with sponsoring drivers like Indianapolis 500 winner Mario Andretti and his son Michael.

Texaco was long associated with the Metropolitan Opera as sole sponsor of its radio broadcasts for 63 years. It was identified as well with such entertainment legends as Bob Hope, Jack Benny and Milton Berle (many of their shows were originally sponsored by Texaco – see Texaco Star Theatre, which includes the sponsorship lyrics of the opening theme: "We're the men of Texaco, We work from Maine to Mexico..."). Berle's program was broadcast in the same time slot as Fulton J. Sheen's religious program for a while, thus leading to Berle's oft-quoted quip, "We both have the same boss – Sky Chief!"

In Latin America, Texaco sponsors Brazilian soccer superstar Ronaldinho. In West Africa, Texaco sponsors the soccer-based comic Supa Strikas.

Environmental issues[link]

From 1965–1993, Texaco participated in a consortium to develop the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. It has been accused of extensive environmental damage from these operations, and faces legal claims from both private plaintiffs and the government of Ecuador. The case has been widely publicized by environmental activists and is the subject of Crude, a 2009 documentary film by Joe Berlinger. Chevron claims that it is being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket defendant, when the actual responsibility lies with the government and its national oil company.

The NiMH chemistry used in modern hybrid vehicles was invented by ECD Ovonics founder, Stan Ovshinksy, and Dr. Masahiko Oshitani of the Yuasa Company^[25][26] In 1994, General Motors acquired a controlling interest in Ovonics's battery development and manufacturing. On October 10, 2001, Texaco purchased GM's share in GM Ovonics, and Chevron completed its acquisition of Texaco six days later. In 2003, Texaco Ovonics Battery Systems was restructured into Cobasys, a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) Ovonics.^[27] Chevron's influence over Cobasys extends beyond a strict 50/50 joint venture. Chevron holds a 19.99% interest in ECD Ovonics.^[28] In addition, Chevron maintains the right to seize all of Cobasys' intellectual property rights in the event that ECD Ovonics does not fulfill its contractual obligations.^[29] On September 10, 2007, Chevron filed a legal claim that ECD Ovonics has not fulfilled its obligations. ECD Ovonics disputes this claim.^[30] Since that time, the arbitration hearing was repeatedly suspended while the parties negotiate with an unknown prospective buyer. No agreement has been reached with the potential buyer.^[31] Cobasys's patents relating to NiMH batteries expire in 2015.

In her book, Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America, published in February 2007, Sherry Boschert argues that large-format NiMH batteries are commercially viable but that Cobasys refuses to sell or license them to small companies or individuals. Boschert argues that Cobasys accepts only very large orders for these batteries. When Boschert conducted her research, major auto makers showed little interest in large orders for large-format NiMH batteries. However, Toyota employees complained about the difficulty in getting smaller orders of large format NiMH batteries to service the existing 825 RAV-4EVs. Because no other companies were willing to make large orders, Cobasys was not manufacturing nor licensing any large format NiMH battery technology for automotive purposes. Boschert concludes that "it's possible that Cobasys (Chevron) is squelching all access to large NiMH batteries through its control of patent licenses in order to remove a competitor to gasoline. Or it's possible that Cobasys simply wants the market for itself and is waiting for a major automaker to start producing plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles."^[32]

In an interview with the Economist, Ovshinsky subscribed to the former view. "I think we at ECD we made a mistake of having a joint venture with an oil company, frankly speaking. And I think it’s not a good idea to go into business with somebody whose strategies would put you out of business, rather than building the business.^[33]"

In December 2006, Cobasys and General Motors announced that they had signed a contract under which Cobasys provides NiMH batteries for the Saturn Aura hybrid sedan.^[34] In March 2007, GM announced that it would use Cobasys NiMH batteries in the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu hybrid as well.

In October 2007, International Acquisitions Services, Inc. and Innovative Transportation Systems AG filed suit against Cobasys and its parents for refusing to fill a large, previously agreed-upon order for large-format NiMH batteries to be used in the electric Innovan.^[31]

In August 2008, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. filed suit against Cobasys claiming that Cobasys isn’t delivering the batteries it agreed to build for Mercedes-Benz’s planned hybrid SUV.^[35]

Cobasys was sold^[36] in 2009 to SB Li Motive, which is a joint venture formed by Bosch and Samsung to develop lithium ion batteries for automotive applications. The sale price was not disclosed. The German-Korean company will integrate Cobasys as the North American branch of the company. Cobasys will supply batteries to the new Mercedes ML450 hybrid.

See also[link]

	Hudson Valley portal
	Texas portal
	Companies portal
	Energy portal

• Chevron Corporation
• Caltex – joint venture between Texaco and Chevron, now a major international brand name of Chevron Corporation

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Texaco

• Texaco
• Texaco Car of the Decades
• Texaco Xpress Lube
• Havoline
• Chevron
• Regent
• World Internet News: "Big Oil Looking for a Government Handout," April 2006.
• Texaco Alumni Site

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since February 2010. It may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Tagged since November 2007.

Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones performing in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Rickie Lee Jones
Born	(1954-11-08) November 8, 1954 (age 57) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Origin	Los Angeles and Hollywood, California, United States
Genres	Rock, R&B, singer-songwriter, jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	since 1978
Labels	Warner Bros. (1979–1989; 1997–2000) Geffen (1989–1995) Reprise (1995–1997) Artemis (2000–2003) V2 (2003-06) New West (2006-09) Fantasy (2009-present)
Website	RickieLeeJones.com
Music sample
Chuck E.'s In Love noicon Rickie Lee Jones, Chuck E.'s in Love (Warner Bros., 1979)

Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a five-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards. Her songwriting has been characterized as "a blend of bravado and vulnerability [that] wavers on indefinable borders."^[1] She is also known for her unique singing style, especially in live performances. One concert reviewer, describing her rendering of "We Belong Together," states she "reached her apex, skating from swells into near screams into breathy whispers, from pontillist stacatto scats into brassy, trumpetlike bursts."^[2]

In 1999, Jones was listed at #30 in the VH1 list of 100 greatest women of rock^[3].

Biography[link]

Childhood[link]

Rickie Lee Jones was born on the north side of Chicago to Bettye and Richard Jones. Her paternal grandfather, Frank 'Peg Leg' Jones, and her grandmother, Myrtle Lee, a dancer, were Vaudevillians based in Chicago, Illinois. A singer/dancer/comedian, Peg Leg Jones' routine consisted of playing the ukelele, singing ballads, and telling stories. One of four children, her father was a WW2 veteran. A singer, song writer, painter, and trumpet player, Mr. Jones worked as a waiter. Her mother, Bettye, was raised in orphanages in Ohio with her three brothers until she was old enough to leave. Bettye and Richard met in a drug store coffee shop. Rickie Lee was born the third child of four, in Chicago, 1954.

The family moved to Arizona in 1959, and the dry, desolation and heavenly skies ( Little Puffy Clouds) would provide the emotional landscape of her lyrical imagery (Last Chance Texaco, Flying Cowboys) that marks her early music. Her childhood in the Jones family was lonely, her imagination flourished. She grew up riding horses, studying dance, practicing swimming with her AAU coach before and after school. Her brother's accident, when she was 10 years old, changed the direction of her life. Her family moved to Olympia, Washington, where her father finally left the family for good. Rickie Lee finally dropped out of school in her 11th year, took her 'ged' and enrolled in college in Tacoma. She moved to Huntington Beach, California on her 18th birthday, and found her way to Venice, California, and to the boyfriend Mark Vaughan, who would support her in these formative years, as she worked odd jobs and enrolled in Santa Monica College, studying anthropology and music.

Early career[link]

At the age of 21, Jones began to play in clubs in Venice. She met Alfred Johnson, a piano player and song writer, and the two wrote some of her most famous songs in the first week they wrote together, including Company and parts of Weasel and the White Boys Cool. Nick Mathe, a neighbor, took an interest in her music, helped her get publicity photos with Bonnie Shiftman, then at A&M, in the off hours the three of them shot Miss Jones' first pictures. Rickie Lee played her music in showcases, worked with cover bands in clubs, sat in with Venice jazz bands, where her 'my Funny Valentine' became something of a local legend. But it wasn't until she moved to Hollywood that her career took off. She came to the attention of Dr. John and Little Feat's Lowell George in early 1978 through the efforts of Ivan Ulz, and it was Lowell who recorded her song "Easy Money" as the single for his first solo record. Jones also met Tom Waits and Chuck Weiss, whom she wrote about, and for a time, hung out with. When Lenny Woronker and Tommy LaPuma heard about her in 1978, a bidding war ensued, and Jones was signed to Warner Bros. for a five record deal, as an unknown, a girl on unemployment, whose life was about to change the course of pop music at a time when it was highly divided by genre. For if her early career accomplished one thing, it was to bring women out of the folkrock genre and into a more expansive idea. Jones multi genre music and provocative stage show forged the way for all who came after her.

Rickie Lee Jones met Tom Waits at The Troubadour in 1977 after an Ivan Ulz show in which she had sang a few of her songs - and her father's song, the Moon is Made of Gold. The two would-be lovers at the onset of her career, creating a life long association with one another, and harnessing her with his name long after their love affair was over. They were a popular couple at the time (Second City TV skits...) and they moved in together, Waits leaving his Tropicana days, Jones coming off a world wide tour in which she was booked as 'the new voice of America' in Germany, France and England. After their break up, Jones hooked up with pal Sal Bernardi. This long-time collaborator, who inspired her "Weasel and the White Boys", would remain a personal and musical partner for decades. Nominated for 6 grammies, she told her mentor Bob Regher she would not attend the ceremony. Calling him at the last minute, they raced to the event just in time for her to walk up and collect her 'best new artist' trophy, in her leather jacket and boa, signature beret and gloves. Her popular acceptance speech, in which she thanked her lawyer and accountant (this was the year most of the winners, from Dylan to Diamond, were thanking God), became the hallmark, again, for speeches to come.

Jones and Waits were lovers of such enigmatic appeal it would be many decades before the media stopped asking them about one another. In fact, even after the break up, Francis Ford Coppola asked Rickie Lee to collaborate with Mr. Waits on the upcoming film, One from the Heart, but she balked, citing the recent breakup. Francis responded that it would be perfect for the film, since the two characters are separated, and he asked her to reconsider. Realizing the pressure to reunite with Tom Waits, Jones refused the job. It was then that Waits met his future wife, and Jones began work on Pirates, one of the 100 must-hear CDs, a 5 star Rolling Stone record, including We Belong Together, garnering praise from every corner of rock media at the time. Steely Dan, Randy Newman, the Brecker Brothers, and Steve Gadd, are a few of the A-list folk inducted to create the 18 month ordeal that gave birth to her second 'sophomore' effort, a study in the end of her love affair and the darkness that followed.

Early success: 1978–82[link]

By 1977, Jones was performing original material at the Ala Carte club in Hollywood with Alfred Johnson, with whom she had composed "Weasel and the White Boys Cool" and "Company". She was noticed there by rock journalist/attorney Stann Findelle, who wrote about her in Performance Magazine and advised her in her career for a short time. Jones' success on the club scene soon translated into songwriting kudos, when her friend Ivan Ulz introduced Lowell George of Little Feat to Jones' composition "Easy Money" by singing it to him over the telephone. George included the song on his album Thanks, I'll Eat it Here in 1978. It became the only single for George's first solo attempt, and final record before his death. The announcement of George's death was recorded on the same Rolling Stone cover featuring Rickie Lee Jones crouching in a black bra and white beret - an issue that would become the largest selling issue in the magazine's history up to that time.^{[citation needed]} Her appearance - as an unknown (her debut record had been released less than a month before) - on Saturday Night Live television show on April 7, 1979 sparked an overnight sensation. She performed "Chuck E's in Love" and "Coolsville".

A four-song demo of material was circulated around the L.A. music scene in 1978, with Emmylou Harris later recalling that she had heard an early version of "The Last Chance Texaco" on the demo tape. The recordings came to the attention of Lenny Waronker, producer and executive at Warner Bros. Records. Jones was signed to the label, and work commenced on her debut album, co-produced by Waronker and Russ Titelman. Jones was courted by the major labels, and chose Waronker because of his work with Randy Newman, and because, she said, she had a vision of standing in his office the moment she saw his name on the back of Newman's Sail Away album.

Rickie Lee Jones was released in March 1979 and became a hit, buoyed by the success of the jazz-flavored single "Chuck E.'s In Love" (#4 Billboard Hot 100, 1979) and its accompanying video. The album, which included guest appearances by Dr. John, Randy Newman, and Michael McDonald, went to US #3 on the Billboard 200 and produced another US Top 40 hit with "Young Blood" (#40) in late 1979.

Following a successful world tour, the cover of Rolling Stone magazine ^[4], Jones secured five nominations at the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, Song of the Year ("Chuck E.'s in Love"), and Best New Artist, which she won at the January 1980 ceremony. She was also voted Best Jazz Singer by Playboy magazine's critic and reader polls. Jones was covered by Time magazine on her very first professional show, in Boston, and they dubbed her "The Duchess of Coolsville."

After moving to New York City, Jones spent the majority of 1981 working on a follow-up album, written and recorded partly in reaction to the break-up of her relationship with Tom Waits sometime between late 1979 and early 1980^{[citation needed]}. The songs were written between September 1979 and June 1981 - when the last lyrics to "Traces of the Western Slope" and the last bass on "A Lucky Guy" were put down. The recording sessions finally yielded Pirates in July 1981.

Rolling Stone remained fervent supporters of Jones, with a second cover feature in 1981 ^[5]; the magazine also included a glowing five-star assessment of Pirates, which became a commercially successful follow-up by reaching US #5 on the Billboard 200. A single, "A Lucky Guy", became the only Billboard Hot 100 hit from the album, peaking at #64, but "Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)" and "Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking" became minor Top 40 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. More importantly, historically, is the fact that in America "Woody and Dutch..." became a kind of commercial mainstay. The finger snaps and jive talk beat were imitated in advertisements for McDonald's, Dr. Pepper, and others.

Jones' quirky fashion as well became quickly edified as well, her skin-tight lycra pant suit, elbow length fingerless gloves, the famous red beret and the red high heels showed up in some capacity everywhere. Pat Benetar can be seen in Rickie Lee suits. Jones' career suffered from a lack of guidance after her mentor Bob Regher died in 1986, and her signature vocal sound was imitated by so many, few people born after 1990 seem to know who she is. Aside from being the first video star (her 11 minute WB short film was so successful in promoting her image that a year later MTV came into being), her influence on pop and jazz was prominent in the early years of her career.

Voted best jazz singer two years in a row by audiences and critics (Playboy and Rolling Stone polls, 1980, 1981), her insistence on covering jazz in a career that clearly was a pop career might have damaged her marketability, but it certainly opened the door for a wider scope of music from pop singers in general. Obscure jazz standards began to show up on the sudden rush of established pop singers to cover jazz standards (the obscure Billy Barnes ballad "Something Cool," for instance, had a rise in popularity after Jones introduced it in concert to rock audiences on her debut tour). Jones' impact on pop music may be rarely measured by the rock media, she was associated with no movement (punk, new wave, country rock) to bring her mileage when her own work was ebbing, but there is no doubt that her appearance turned the tide of pop music from disco to singer songwriter.

Another lengthy and successful tour into 1982 followed, before Jones moved back to California, settling in San Francisco. A partial tour memento, the EP Girl at Her Volcano, was issued originally as a 10" record in 1983, featuring a mix of live and studio cover versions of jazz and pop standards, as well as one Jones original, "Hey, Bub," which was recorded for Pirates. Jones then relocated to Paris.

Period of transition: 1983–89[link]

The remainder of the 1980s found Jones falling out of favor commercially and pursuing a more complex and experimental sound.

Jones settled in France and recorded new material, some of which was released on her third full-length solo album, The Magazine, in September 1984. The Magazine found Jones combining the melodic, jazz-inspired sound of her debut with the complex structures of Pirates, with a more synth-driven sound, owed to working closely with composer James Newton Howard on the album. Alongside the more commercially appealing material, Jones included a three-song suite, subtitled "Rorschachs", exploring multi-tracked vocals and synth patterns. Only the upbeat "The Real End" made it into the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984, peaking at #82.

She began to pursue jazz standards, recording "The Moon Is Made of Gold", which was written by her father, and "Autumn Leaves" for Rob Wasserman's album Duets in 1985. Jones took a four-year break from her recording schedule, largely attributed to the deaths of her mentor Bob Regher and her father, Richard Loris Jones that same year^[6].

Jones returned to the United States in 1987 after a tour of Israel and Norway, and the imminent birth of her daughter brought her home to California. In September 1988, work began on her fourth solo album following another Grammy nomination for her Wasserman collaboration "Autumn Leaves". With songs dating from the mid-1980s, Jones teamed up with Steely Dan's Walter Becker to craft Flying Cowboys, which was released on the Geffen Records label in September 1989. Jones also included some writing collaborations with her husband Pascal Nabet Meyer. "The Horses", co-written with Becker, was featured in the movie Jerry Maguire and became an Australian #1 hit single for Daryl Braithwaite in 1991. The album made the US Top 40, reaching #39 on the Billboard 200, with the college radio hit "Satellites" making it to #23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Jones ended the decade on a high note with her duet with Dr. John, a cover of "Makin' Whoopee", winning her second Grammy Award, this time in the category of Best Jazz Vocal Collaboration.

Experimentation and change: 1990–2001[link]

Jones in concert

Following a tour with Lyle Lovett, Jones enlisted David Was to helm her idiosyncratic album of covers, Pop Pop, ranging from jazz and blues standards to Tin Pan Alley to Jimi Hendrix's "Up from the Skies". The album, released in September 1991, was a hit on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums (#8, 1991), but became her least commercially successful record yet, reaching #121 on the Billboard 200.

Soon after, The Orb issued "Little Fluffy Clouds", featuring a sampled Jones interview. However, Jones objected to the unauthorized use of her voice and pursued the issue in the legal system. In 1992 she toured extensively with Rob Wasserman, with whom she had collaborated in the mid-1980s.

Her swan song for Geffen Records was Traffic From Paradise, released in September 1993. The album was slightly more successful than its predecessor, reaching #111 on the Billboard 200, and was notable for its collaboration with Leo Kottke, its musical diversity, and a cover of David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel", which was slated to be the title track for the Oscar-winning film Boys Don't Cry, when Bowie's publishing pulled the plug by asking for too much money from the little independent movie.

A number of television and movies had licensed her work in these years, including Thirtysomething, Frankie and Johnny, When a Man Loves a Woman, Jerry Maguire, Friends with Money and the French film Subway. Jones sang a duet with Lyle Lovett on "North Dakota" for his Joshua Judges Ruth CD.

Jones' first solo shows in 1994 paved the way for her "unplugged" acoustic album Naked Songs, released in September 1995 through a one-off deal with Reprise Records. The album, which reached US #121 on the Billboard 200, featured acoustic re-workings of Jones classics and album material, but no new songs.

Emphasizing her experimentation and change, Jones embraced electronic music for Ghostyhead, released on Warner Bros. Records in June 1997. The album, a collaboration with Rick Boston (both are credited with production and with twenty-one instruments in common), found Jones employing beats, loops, and electronic rhythms, and also showcased Jones' connection with the trip-hop movement of the mid-to-late 1990s. Despite some positive reviews, it did not meet with commercial success, peaking at US #159 on the Billboard 200. There are critics who consider this her best record, and who believe that it had large impact on electronic singer-songwriter music that would emerge 10 years later.

1990 - 1996 seemed to be Jones' lowest professional ebb. Everything she recorded was met with extreme skepticism and even harsh criticism. Her live shows, on the other hand, were lauded as a return to form. She had not really been on a stage in America (at least the eastern half) in eight years when she toured for Flying Cowboys.

Jones' second album of cover versions, It's Like This, was released on the independent record label Artemis Records in September 2000. The album included cover versions of material by artists including The Beatles, Steely Dan, Marvin Gaye, and the Gershwin brothers. The album made it onto three Billboard charts — #148 on the Billboard 200, #10 on Top Internet Albums, and #42 on Top Independent Albums. The album also secured Jones another Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

After starting up her official website, Artemis issued an archival Jones release, Live at Red Rocks, in November 2001, featuring material recorded during the Flying Cowboys era tour of 1989-1990, including a Lyle Lovett duet.

Artistic renaissance: 2002 and beyond[link]

Rickie Lee Jones performing on the Legacy Stage on June 15, 2007.

After Ghostyhead, Jones largely retired from public view and admitted that she had battled writers' block^{[citation needed]}. She spent much of her time at her home in Olympia, Washington, tending her garden and bringing up her now-teenage daughter Charlotte.

Released on the independent V2 in October 2003, The Evening of My Best Day featured influences from jazz, Celtic folk, blues, R&B, rock, and gospel, and spawned a successful and lengthy spurt of touring. The album peaked at US #189 on the Billboard 200. The CD helped to swing her career away from an apparent middle-of the-road perception, a posture she seemed furiously bent on avoiding. She invited punk bass icon Mike Watt (the Minutemen, Iggy Pop) to perform on "It Takes You There", while "Ugly Man" was a direct aim at the George Bush 'regime' evoking, with an anthem-like Hugh Masekela arrangement, what she termed 'the Black Panther horns', and calling for 'revolution, everywhere that you're not looking, revolution.'

Renewed interest in Jones led to the three-disc anthology Duchess of Coolsville: An Anthology, released through reissue specialists Rhino in June 2005. A lavish package, the alphabetically arranged release featured album songs, live material, covers, and demos, and featured essays by Jones as well as various collaborators, as well as tributes from artists including Randy Newman, Walter Becker, Quincy Jones, and Tori Amos.

Also in 2005, Jones was invited to take part in her boyfriend and collaborator Lee Cantelon's music version of his book The Words, a book of the words of Christ, set into simple chapters and themes. Cantelon's idea was to have various artists recite the text over primal rock music, but Jones elected to try something that had never been done, to improvise her own impression of the texts, melody and lyric, in stream of consciousness sessions, rather than read Jesus' words. The sessions were recorded at an artist's loft on Exposition Boulevard in Culver City. When Cantelon could no longer finish the project, Jones picked it up as her own record and hired Rob Schnaf to finish the production at Sunset Sound in 2007, and the result was The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, released on the independent New West Records in February 2007. It included "Circle in the Sand," recorded for the soundtrack to the film Friends With Money (2006), for which Jones also cut "Hillbilly Song." The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard debuted at #158 on the Billboard 200 and #12 on the Top Independent Albums tally. Writer Ann Powers included this on her list of Grammy-worthy CDs for 2007.

For her next project, Jones opted to finish half-written songs dating back as far as 1986 ("Wild Girl") as well as include new ones (the 2008-penned "The Gospel of Carlos, Norman and Smith," "Bonfires"). Working closely with long-time collaborator David Kalish, with whom Jones first worked on 1981's Pirates, Jones released Balm in Gilead on the Fantasy label in November 2009. The album also included a new recording of "The Moon Is Made Of Gold," a song written by her father Richard Loris Jones in 1954. Ben Harper, Victoria Williams, Jon Brion, Alison Krauss and the late Vic Chesnutt all made contributions to the album.

In May 2010 Jones performed at the Sydney Opera House as part of the VIVID festival.^[7]

Other work[link]

In 2001, Jones was the organizer of the web community "Furniture for the People", which is involved in gardening, social activism, bootleg exchange and left wing politics. She has produced records (including Leo Kottke's Peculiaroso), and provided a voiceover for Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, in which she played the Blue Fairy (Known as the Good Fairy or Fairy Godmother in the film). Jones also enjoys gardening.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Rickie Lee Jones - (1979) US #3, UK #18^[8]
• Pirates - (1981) US #5, UK #37
• Girl at Her Volcano (EP) - (1983) US #39, UK #51
• The Magazine - (1984) US #44, UK #40
• Flying Cowboys - (1989) US #39, UK #50
• Pop Pop - (1991) US #121
• Traffic from Paradise - (1993) US #111
• Naked Songs - Live And Acoustic - (1995) US #121
• Ghostyhead - (1997) US #159
• It's Like This - (2000) US #148, UK #185
• Live at Red Rocks - (2001)
• The Evening of My Best Day - (2003) US #189
• Rickie Lee Jones: Duchess of Coolsville - (2005)
• The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard - February 2007 US #158
• Balm in Gilead - November 2009

Singles[link]

Other contributions[link]

• WFUV: City Folk Live VII (2004) - "Mink Coat at the Bus Stop"
• Little Fluffy Clouds (1990–93) - Spoken word sampled by British ambient-house group, The Orb, charting three times on the UK Singles Chart: number 87(1990), number 95(1991), and number 10(1993).
• Scarecrow (1985) - Provided backing vocals on "Between a Laugh and a Tear" by John Cougar Mellencamp

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rickie Lee Jones

• Official Website
• Rickie Lee Jones @ The Tivoli, Brisbane 31st May 2010 (Live Review) - LifeMusicMedia.com

Edward Everett Horton
in Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935)
Born	(1886-03-18)March 18, 1886 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	September 29, 1970(1970-09-29) (aged 84) Encino, California, U.S.
Other names	E.E. Horton Edward Horton
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1906–1970
Partner	Gavin Gordon[1]

Edward Everett Horton (March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970) was an American character actor.^[2] He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. He is especially known for his work in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Early life[link]

Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isabella S. Diack and Edward Everett Horton. His mother was born in Matanzas, Cuba to Mary Orr and George Diack, immigrants from Scotland.^[3] Many sources state that Edward Everett Horton's grandfather and namesake was Edward Everett Hale, author of The Man Without a Country.^{[citation needed]} Horton attended the Boys' High School, Brooklyn, and Baltimore City College high school in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was inducted into that school's Hall of Fame.^[4] He attended college at Brooklyn Polytechnic and Columbia University, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He began his college career at Oberlin College, Ohio. He was asked to leave after an incident where he climbed to the top of the Service Building, and after collecting an audience, threw off a dummy, causing the viewers to think he had jumped. His sense of humor exceeded that of the College administration.

Stage and film career[link]

Horton started his stage career in 1906, singing and dancing and playing small parts in Vaudeville and in Broadway productions. In 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and started getting roles in Hollywood films. His first starring role was in the 1922 comedy film Too Much Business, and he portrayed the lead role of an idealistic young classical composer in Beggar on Horseback in 1925. In the late 1920s he starred in two-reel silent comedies for Educational Pictures, and made the transition to talking pictures with Educational in 1929. As a stage trained performer, he found more film work easily, and appeared in some of Warner Bros.' early talkies, including The Hottentot and Sonny Boy. His distinctive voice was one of his trademarks.

Horton originally went under his given name, Edward Horton. His father persuaded him to adopt his full name professionally, reasoning that there might be other actors named Edward Horton, but only one named Edward Everett Horton.

Horton's screen character was instantly defined from his earliest talkies: pleasant and dignified, but politely hesitant when faced with a potentially embarrassing situation. Horton soon cultivated his own special variation of the time-honored double take (an actor's reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction). In Horton's version, he would smile ingratiatingly and nod in agreement with what just happened; then, when realization set in, his facial features collapsed entirely into a sober, troubled mask.

Horton starred in many comedy features in the 1930s, usually playing a mousy fellow who put up with domestic or professional problems to a certain point, and then finally asserted himself for a happy ending. He is best known, however, for his work as a character actor in supporting roles. Some of his noteworthy films include The Front Page (1931), Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alice in Wonderland (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935, one of several Astaire/Rogers films in which Horton appeared), Danger - Love at Work (1937), Lost Horizon (1937), Holiday (1938), Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963). He last appeared in a non-speaking role in Cold Turkey (1971).

Horton continued to appear in stage productions, often in summer stock. His performance in the play Springtime for Henry became a perennial in summer theaters.^{[clarification needed]}

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in a cottage on Horton's estate for a time in the late 1930s.

In a scene in Friz Freleng's cartoon Hare Trigger, Yosemite Sam (in his debut) calls himself "the meanest, toughest, rip-roarin'-est, Edward Everett Horton-est hombre what ever packed a six-shooter!"

Radio and television[link]

From 1945 to 1947, Horton hosted radio's Kraft Music Hall. During the 1950s, Horton worked in television. One of his most famous appearances is an I Love Lucy episode, where he is cast against type as a frisky, amorous suitor. (Horton, a last-minute replacement for another actor, received a special, appreciative credit in this episode.) Beginning in 1959 he narrated the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment of the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. In 1965 he played the medicine man, Roaring Chicken, in the sitcom F Troop. He parodied this role, portraying "Chief Screaming Chicken" on Batman as a pawn to Vincent Price's Egghead in the villain's attempt to take control of Gotham City.

Death and influence[link]

Horton died of cancer at age 84 in Encino, California. He is buried in Glendale's Whispering Pines section of Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Shortly after he died, the city of Los Angeles renamed a portion of Amestoy Avenue, the dead-end street where he lived in the district of Encino, "Edward Everett Horton Lane". For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Edward Everett Horton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6427 Hollywood Boulevard.

Horton was greatly admired by the British DJ & comedian Maurice Cole, who took the stage name Kenny Everett in his honor.

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

Listen to[link]

• Interview with Edward Everett Horton (January 8, 1940)

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Everett Horton

• Edward Everett Horton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Edward Everett Horton at the Internet Movie Database
• Edward Everett Horton at the TCM Movie Database
• Edward Everett Horton on SilentMajority.com
• Edward Everett Horton at Find a Grave

Edward Everett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 4th district
In office March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1835
Preceded by	Timothy Fuller
Succeeded by	Samuel Hoar
15th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 13, 1836 – January 18, 1840
Lieutenant	George Hull
Preceded by	John Davis Samuel Turell Armstrong as Acting Governor
Succeeded by	Marcus Morton
20th United States Secretary of State
In office November 6, 1852 – March 4, 1853
President	Millard Fillmore
Preceded by	Daniel Webster
Succeeded by	William L. Marcy
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office March 4, 1853 – June 1, 1854
Preceded by	John Davis
Succeeded by	Julius Rockwell
Personal details
Born	(1794-04-11)April 11, 1794 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	January 15, 1865(1865-01-15) (aged 70) Boston, Massachusetts
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Gray Brooks
Children	Anne Gorham Everett Charlotte Brooks Everett Grace Webster Everett Edward Brooks Everett Henry Sidney Everett William Everett
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Politician, educator
Religion	Unitarian
Signature	Edward Everett's signature

Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also taught at Harvard University and served as president of Harvard.

Everett was one of the great American orators of the ante-bellum and Civil War era. He is often remembered today as the featured orator at the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg in 1863, where he spoke for over two hours — immediately before President Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous, two-minute Gettysburg Address.

Early life and education[link]

Birthplace of Everett in Dorchester, MA. ca.1898 photo

Everett was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to the Rev. Oliver Everett,^[1] a 1779 graduate of Harvard College,^[2] and Lucy Hill, the daughter of Alexander S. Hill of Philadelphia. He was a direct descendant of Richard Everett and first cousin to Congressman Horace Everett. He attended Boston Latin School and Phillips Exeter Academy and, at the age of 13, he was admitted to Harvard University. In 1811, at age 17, he graduated as the valedictorian of his class. He studied theology under the urging of the Rev. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, and was ordained pastor of the Brattle Street Church in Boston in 1814. But he soon gave up the pulpit for further studies and a post as professor of Greek literature.

By arrangement with Harvard, Everett spent two years in Europe, studying and traveling on full salary. He spent much of this time at the University of Göttingen in Germany, where he became the first American to receive a German Ph.D. in Prussia. He learned French, German, and Italian, and studied Roman law, archaeology, and Greek art.

He returned to Harvard in 1819, and took up his teaching duties. He hoped to implant the scholarly methods of Germany at Harvard, but after a few years became bored with drilling students in Greek grammar, and became active in politics.

Marriage and children[link]

On May 8, 1822 Edward Everett married Charlotte Gray Brooks, a descendant of John Howland, (c. 1599–1673) who was one of the Pilgrims who travelled from England to North America on the Mayflower, signed the Mayflower Compact, and helped found Plymouth Colony.^[3] She was the daughter of Peter Chardon Brooks and Ann Gorham. Ann was the daughter of Rebecca Call and Nathaniel Gorham, the fourteenth President of the United States in Congress assembled, under the Articles of Confederation. They had six children:

1. Anne Gorham Everett (March 3, 1823 – October 18, 1854)
2. Charlotte Brooks Everett (August 13, 1825 – December 15, 1879); married Captain Henry Augustus Wise USN
3. Grace Webster Everett (December 24, 1827 – 1836)
4. Edward Brooks Everett (May 6, 1830 – November 5, 1861); married Helen Cordis Adams
5. Henry Sidney Everett (December 31, 1834 – October 4, 1898); married Katherine Pickman Fay
6. William Everett (October 10, 1839 – February 16, 1910); U.S. Representative from Massachusetts

He was the great uncle of Edward Everett Hale.^[4]

Early political career[link]

In 1824, Everett was elected U.S. Representative from Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District. The Federalist Party had collapsed, and the victorious Democratic-Republican Party had become diffuse, so no formal party affiliations existed at this time. Everett was associated with the "National Republican" faction of John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. He supported Clay's "National System" and the interests of Massachusetts' propertied class. Everett was re-elected to four additional terms as a National Republican, serving until 1835. The National Republicans became the Whig Party in 1834.

Everett resigned his professorship in 1826, but remained associated with Harvard as a member of the Board of Overseers, serving until 1847.

Everett retired from Congress in 1835. Instead he ran for Governor of Massachusetts as a Whig. He was elected, taking office in January 1836. He was re-elected in 1836, 1837, and 1838, but was narrowly defeated in 1839.

Implementation of the Prussian education system (of which he himself was a graduate) was to become a goal of Everett's. From 1837-1840, he collaborated with Horace Mann to develop public education in Massachusetts along the lines of the Prussian model.

Shortly after the adoption of the Prussian system in Massachusetts, the Governor of New York set up the same method in twelve different New York schools on a trial basis.

Diplomatic service[link]

After leaving office in January 1840, Everett traveled in Europe with his family for several months. When the Whigs won the 1840 election, Everett was appointed "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James" (that is, ambassador to Great Britain) at the recommendation of his friend Daniel Webster. He served until 1845, when after a change of administrations he was replaced by Democrat Louis McLane.

He brought several manuscripts from the East. Everett stated: "I omitted no opportunity of searching for Greek manuscripts in the libraries of the religious houses which I visited in Greece, particularly those of Megaspelion in the Morea and of Meteora in Thessaly. (...) I heard from Mr. Cartwright, the British Consul-General, of a few Greek MSS. belonged to the family of a Greek prince in decay, which were offered for sale."^[5]

Return to Harvard[link]

With the Democrats in power, Everett was out of office. He took up the post of President of Harvard University in 1846, serving until 1849. He was not enamored of the job, finding that Harvard was short of resources. He was not popular with the rowdy students, who nicknamed him “Old Granny.” Nonetheless, he completed several important reforms and established Harvard's first school of science.

Later political career[link]

Edward Everett

When the Whigs won the 1848 election and returned to power in 1849, Everett resigned from Harvard and resumed political activity in Washington. He assisted Webster, now Secretary of State, and when Webster died in November 1852, President Fillmore appointed him to serve the remaining four months of Webster's term, to March 1853.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts elected Everett to the Senate, for a term starting March 4, 1853. As a Senator he angered Massachusetts anti-slavery men by not voting on the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Everett was nominally anti-slavery, but seemed overly concerned with placating pro-slavery Southerners to avoid civil war. This did not satisfy the increasingly vehement anti-slavery Massachusetts public. In April 1854, he presented a petition from the people of Dedham against the Missouri Compromise and one from the people of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in favor of securing religious freedom for Americans abroad.^[6] On June 1, 1854, after only a little more than one year of a six year term, Everett resigned.

Everett lived on Summer Street, Boston, 1852-1865^[7]

Last years[link]

Free of political obligations, Everett traveled the country with his family, occasionally giving public speeches in support of the Union and other causes. He was by this time a famous orator, known for both the quality of his text and his outstanding delivery. He took up the cause of preserving George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. His speaking tour raised almost $70,000 for that purpose.

The 1860 election threatened to produce a national crisis, with pro-slavery Southerners splitting the Democratic Party, and threatening secession if a Republican was selected President. The Whig Party no longer existed, but a group of former Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party, which claimed as its sole principle the preservation of the Union. The Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell for President, and Everett for Vice President. The Bell-Everett ticket received less than 13% of the vote, mostly in the South.

With the election of Lincoln, the Civil War broke out. Everett, though he had been a moderate on the slavery issue, was an ardent Unionist. He devoted his efforts to raising support for the Union cause through public speaking. In November 1863, when the military cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated, Everett was the featured speaker. His two-hour formal oration preceded the much shorter, but now far more famous Gettysburg Address of President Lincoln. For his part, Everett was deeply impressed by the concise speech and wrote to Lincoln noting "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."^[8]

In the 1864 election, Everett campaigned extensively for Lincoln and the "Union" Party, as the Republicans called themselves that year. He exhausted himself in this effort, and died on January 15, 1865.

Everett died in Boston and is interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Everett also had a love for mathematics as can be seen from a famous quote: ‘In the pure mathematics we contemplate absolute truths which existed in the divine mind before the morning stars sang together, and which will continue to exist there when the last of their radiant host shall have fallen from heaven.’

Honors[link]

The city of Everett, Massachusetts is named for him. It lies 4.1 miles (6.6 km) from Boston.^[9]

Edward Everett Square, in Dorchester, Boston, is named for him. It is the intersection of Columbia Road, Massachusetts Avenue, East Cottage Street and Boston Street.

An elementary school in Chicago, Illinois was named for him in 1891. The school still stands at 3410 S. Bell Street.

Edward Everett donated 130 volumes to the Everett School (named in his honor) in St. Cloud, MN on February 12, 1858. This was the first library in the city of St. Cloud. The Everett School was torn down in 1887.

See also[link]

Biography portal

Manuscripts acquired by Everett in Constantinople

• Lectionary 172
• Lectionary 296
• Lectionary 297
• Lectionary 298

References[link]

• Bush, Philippa Call, and Anne Gorham Everett. Memoir of Anne Gorham Everett; With Extracts from Her Correspondence and Journal. Boston: Priv. print, 1857. googlebooks Retrieved December 6, 2008.
• Haxtun, Annie Arnoux. Signers of the Mayflower Compact . Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1998. ISBN 0-8063-0173-2.
• "Thirty-Third Congress". The New York Times. April 7, 1854. 

Further reading[link]

• Everett. Orations and speeches on various occasions. v.1 (8th ed., 1870); v.3 (1839)
• E. Everett, An account of some Greek Manuscripts, procured at Constantinople in 1819 and now belonging to the Library of the University at Cambridge, Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 4 (1820)
• Frothingham, Paul Revere, Edward Everett, Orator and Statesman, Houghton Mifflin Company (1925)

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Edward Everett

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Edward Everett

• Works of Edward Everett at HolyeBooks.org
• Full text of Everett's Gettysburg Oration
• Biography, and career summary
• Works by Edward Everett at Project Gutenberg
• Edward Everett at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2009-04-11
• Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography
• Internet archive.org
• "Edward Everett". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=321. Retrieved September 3, 2010. 

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Weeks Saltonstall Brooke Tsongas Kerry v t e United States Whig Party Vice Presidential Nominees Francis Granger / John Tyler · John Tyler · Theodore Frelinghuysen · Millard Fillmore · William Alexander Graham · Andrew Jackson Donelson · Edward Everett v t e Cabinet of President Millard Fillmore (1850–1853) Vice President None (1850–1853) Secretary of State Daniel Webster (1850–1852) Edward Everett (1852–1853) Secretary of the Treasury Thomas Corwin (1850–1853) Secretary of War Charles M. Conrad (1850–1853) Attorney General John J. Crittenden (1850–1853) Postmaster General Nathan K. Hall (1850–1852) Samuel D. Hubbard (1852–1853) Secretary of the Navy William A. Graham (1850–1852) John P. Kennedy (1852–1853) Secretary of the Interior Thomas M.T. McKennan (1850) Alexander H.H. Stuart (1850–1853) v t e United States Ambassadors to the United Kingdom Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1785–1811 John Adams 1785–1788 Thomas Pinckney 1792–1796 Rufus King 1796–1803 James Monroe 1803–1807 William Pinkney 1808–1811 Jonathan Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811–1812 Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1815–1893 John Quincy Adams 1815–1817 Richard Rush 1818–1825 Rufus King 1825–1826 Albert Gallatin 1826–1827 James Barbour 1828–1829 Louis McLane 1829–1831 Martin Van Buren 1831–1832 Aaron Vail (chargé d'affaires) 1832–1836 Andrew Stevenson 1836–1841 Edward Everett 1841–1845 Louis McLane 1845–1846 George Bancroft 1846–1849 Abbott Lawrence 1849–1852 Joseph R. Ingersoll 1852–1853 James Buchanan 1853–1856 George M. Dallas 1856–1861 Charles Adams, Sr. 1861–1868 Reverdy Johnson 1868–1869 John Lothrop Motley 1869–1870 Robert C. Schenck 1871–1876 Edwards Pierrepont 1876–1877 John Welsh 1877–1879 James Russell Lowell 1880–1885 Edward J. Phelps 1885–1889 Robert Todd Lincoln 1889–1893 Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James's 1893–present Thomas F. Bayard, Sr. 1893–1897 John Hay 1897–1898 Joseph Choate 1899–1905 Whitelaw Reid 1905–1912 Walter Page 1913-1918 John W. Davis 1918–1921 George Harvey 1921–1923 Frank B. Kellogg 1924–1925 Alanson B. Houghton 1925–1929 Charles G. Dawes 1929–1931 Andrew W. Mellon 1932–1933 Robert Bingham 1933–1937 Joseph P. Kennedy 1938–1940 John G. Winant 1941–1946 W. Averell Harriman 1946 Lewis W. Douglas 1947–1950 Walter S. Gifford 1950–1953 Winthrop W. Aldrich 1953–1957 John Hay Whitney 1957–1961 David K. E. Bruce 1961–1969 Walter H. Annenberg 1969–1974 Elliot L. Richardson 1975–1976 Anne Armstrong 1976–1977 Kingman Brewster, Jr. 1977–1981 John J. Louis, Jr. 1981–1983 Charles H. Price II 1983–1989 Henry E. Catto, Jr. 1989–1991 Raymond G. H. Seitz 1991–1994 William J. Crowe 1994–1997 Philip Lader 1997–2001 William Stamps Farish III 2001–2004 Robert H. Tuttle 2005–2009 Louis Susman 2009– v t e Presidents of Harvard University Eaton (as schoolmaster) Dunster Chauncy Hoar Oakes Rogers Mather* S. Willard* Leverett Wadsworth Holyoke Winthrop* Locke* Winthrop* Langdon J. Willard Pearson* Webber Kirkland Quincy Everett Sparks Walker Felton Hill Eliot Lowell Conant Pusey Bok Rudenstine Summers Bok* Faust * indicates acting president v t e State Secretaries of the United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs 1781–1789 R. Livingston Jay Secretary of State 1789–present Jefferson Randolph Pickering J. Marshall Madison Smith Monroe Adams Clay Van Buren E. Livingston McLane Forsyth Webster Upshur Calhoun Buchanan Clayton Webster Everett Marcy Cass Black Seward Washburne Fish Evarts Blaine Frelinghuysen Bayard Blaine Foster Gresham Olney Sherman Day Hay Root Bacon Knox Bryan Lansing Colby Hughes Kellogg Stimson Hull Stettinius Byrnes G Marshall Acheson Dulles Herter Rusk Rogers Kissinger Vance Muskie Haig Shultz Baker Eagleburger Christopher Albright Powell Rice Clinton