Name	Jeb Bush
Order	43rd
Office	Governor of Florida
Term start	January 5, 1999
Term end	January 2, 2007
Lieutenant	Frank Brogan Toni Jennings
Predecessor	Buddy MacKay
Successor	Charlie Crist
Birth name	John Ellis Bush
Birth date	February 11, 1953
Birth place	Midland, Texas
Residence	Coral Gables, Florida
Spouse	Columba Bush
Religion	Episcopalian (before 1995) Roman Catholic (after 1995)
Alma mater	University of Texas (B.A.)
Profession	Banker Realtor
Party	Republican
Signature	Jeb Bush Signature.svg

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the younger brother of former President George W. Bush; the older brother of Neil Bush, Marvin Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch; and the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush.

Early years

Bush was also enrolled at Phillips Academy Andover, a private boarding school in Massachusetts, already attended by his brother, George. Bush made the honor roll in his first semester.

When Bush was 17, he went to León, Guanajuato, in Mexico, as part of his school's student exchange program. He spent his time there teaching English, and it was there that he met his future wife, Columba Garnica Gallo.

Bush attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Latin American Studies in 1973, taking only two and a half years to complete his work, and obtaining generally excellent grades. He had considered a career in Hollywood, but decided instead to pursue politics. He registered for the draft, but the Vietnam War ended before his number came up.

Family

After his early graduation, Bush married Columba Garnica Gallo, on February 23, 1974. Their three children are George P. Bush, Noelle Bush and John Ellis Bush, Jr. Their eldest son, George Prescott Bush (born April 24, 1976 in Texas), went to Gulliver Preparatory School, studied at Rice University, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas. Noelle Lucila Bush (born July 26, 1977 in Texas), their daughter and second child, studied at Tallahassee Community College, graduating in 2000.

John Ellis Bush, Jr., Bush's youngest son (born December 13, 1983 in Miami), works for a Miami commercial real estate firm. In October 2007, he endorsed Rudy Giuliani for the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination, and supported the effort as chairman of "Florida Young Professionals for Rudy".

On January 29, 2002, according to a police report made public via The Smoking Gun, Noelle Bush attempted to “fraudulently obtain a prescription” at a Walgreens Drug Store located in Tallahassee, Florida. The attending officers, Bob Bascom and Mark E. Dent of the Tallahassee Police Department, ascertained that Bush had telephoned the pharmacy using the name “Noelle Scidmore” in an attempt to obtain Xanax, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety disorders. As a result of her arrest, Bush was ordered by a judge to attend a rehabilitation program at the Center for Drug-Free Living in Orlando, Florida. During her time at the facility, Bush was found in contempt of court after being found in possession of two grams of cocaine, and was sentenced to 10 days in jail. Regarding her treatment, Noelle Bush herself told the court “It's been quite a challenge, and I'm grateful.”

There have been several allegations of this, but Bush was never on the payroll of Cuban exile Miguel Recarey. Bush worked at locating office spaces for IMC and did so like every other licensed Realtor; commission based on final performance. Jeb was provided with a detailed list of specifications of what was wanted. This included acceptable locations, a range of size and price per square foot parameters. Jeb's search went on for several months and multiple locations that met the established criteria were actually found by Jeb. Each time, he was provided with a series of reasons why the particular site was not acceptable. In reality, Miguel Recarey was an extremely contradictory fellow, constantly changing his mind. The last property that Jeb Bush brought forth was a deal almost too good to be true: the building was in Coral Gables, right in the middle of the preferred location requested and square foot pricing was well below the going market rate. Miguel found himself in a difficult predicament and decided to pay Jeb the $75,000 commission, not for purchase of political influence as so many are fond to accuse him of, but for 2 different reasons that don't appear in the mainstream media: 1) Jeb had performed exactly as requested and he felt he had a legal liability to pay if so challenged. If so, he did not want to be embroiled in a legal fight with the son of an influential politician and be on the wrong side of the argument, 2) He felt he had a moral obligation to pay and had already run out of excuses of why the last property Jeb found would not be acceptable. Recarey, who ran International Medical Centres (IMC), employed Bush as a real estate consultant and paid him a $75,000 fee for finding the company a new location, although the move never took place. Bush did, however, lobby the Reagan/Bush administration vigorously and successfully on behalf of Recarey and IMC. "I want to be very wealthy," Jeb Bush told the Miami News when questioned during that period.

Civic and charitable activities

After narrowly losing a 1994 election for Governor of Florida against Lawton Chiles, Bush pursued policy and charitable interests. He started a non-profit organization called The Foundation For Florida’s Future, a think tank that stated as its mission influencing public policy at the grassroots level. Jeb met with Noel Serrano, a member of the Latin Chamber of Commerce in 1991. Noel states, "Jeb was always a dedicated Public Servant long before he became Governor" He also "volunteered time to assist the Miami Children's Hospital, the United Way of Dade County and the Dade County Homeless Trust".

Jeb Bush has also worked with The James Madison Institute, a free market public policy think tank based in Tallahassee, FL. He helped the institute in numerous ways and still has his think tank working in conjunction with it. In June 2008, Jeb's institute, the Foundation for Excellence in Education,partnered with JMI to hold a summit called "> "Excellence in Action: A National Summit on Education Reform".

In 1996, The Foundation For Florida’s Future published a book that Bush had co-written, Profiles in Character (ISBN 0-9650912-0-1), a clear parallel to John F. Kennedy's 1955 book Profiles in Courage. The foundation also published and distributed policy papers, such as "A New Lease on Learning: Florida's First Charter School", which Bush co-wrote. Bush subsequently wrote the foreword to another book, published by the conservative Heritage Foundation and written by Nina Shokraii Rees, School Choice 2000: What’s Happening in the States (ISBN 0-89195-089-3).

Bush co-founded the first charter school in the State of Florida: Liberty City Charter School, a grades K-6 elementary school. The school is situated in Liberty City, a Miami neighborhood that was the site, in 1980, of the first major race riot since the Civil Rights era. The school's co-founder, working alongside Bush, was T. Willard Fair, a well-known local black activist and head of the Greater Miami Urban League. The Liberty City Charter School still operates today as a charter school.

Additionally, Bush is an active rock climber, and a strong advocate for climber's rights.

In 2000, Bush established the Points of Light program to recognize an "exemplary volunteer, organization, or person" such as Jimmy Rotonno of Our Father's House Soup Kitchen who won the award in 2003.

Religious affiliation

In addition to his business, civic and charitable activities, the Episcopalian Bush converted to Catholicism (1995). He and his wife belonged to the Epiphany Catholic Church in Miami for many years. Bush is also a Third Degree Knight of Columbus according to an August 3, 2004 speech his brother, George W. Bush, made at the 122nd Knights of Columbus Convention in Dallas. The following is an excerpt from the speech:

:"I'm proud to say that my family has contributed to your ranks. A few years ago, Governor Jeb became a Knight. And he yes and he recently took his Third Degree. I'll see him this weekend. His son is getting married. I'll pass on the word, aim for the Fourth."

In 2004, Jeb Bush (while still governor) was inducted into the Fourth Degree by Gary L. McLain at a ceremony held Nov. 1. Bush, a member of Father Hugon Council 3521 in Tallahassee, joined Father Hugon Assembly.

Political career

Early campaigns

Bush got his start in Florida politics as the Chairman of the Dade County Republican Party. Dade County played an important role in the 1986 election of Bob Martinez to the Governor's office. In return, Martinez appointed Bush as Florida's Secretary of Commerce. He served in that role in 1987 and 1988, before resigning once again to work on his father's presidential campaign. In 1989 he served as the campaign manager of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the first Cuban-American to serve in Congress. He launched an unsuccessful bid for the Governor's office in 1994 against incumbent Democratic Governor Lawton Chiles. Bush lost the election by only 63,940 votes out of 4,206,076 that were cast for the major party candidates (2,135,008; 50.8% to 2,071,068; 49.2%). In the same election year, his older brother, George, was elected Governor of Texas.

Governor of Florida

In 1998, Bush defeated the Democratic opponent Lt. Governor Buddy MacKay by over 418,000 votes (2,191,105; 55.3% to 1,773,054; 44.7%) to become Governor of Florida, after courting the state's moderate voters and Hispanics. Simultaneously, his brother, George W. Bush won a re-election victory for a second term as Governor of Texas, and the Bush brothers became the first siblings to govern two states at the same time since Nelson and Winthrop Rockefeller governed New York and Arkansas from 1967 to 1971. Bush is the first Republican governor of Florida to have served two full four-year terms.

Education

Bush's administration was marked by a focus on public education reform. His "A+ Plan" mandated standardized testing in Florida's public schools, eliminated social promotion and established a system of funding public schools based on a statewide grading system using the FCAT test. Bush has been a proponent of school vouchers and charter schools, especially in areas of the state with failing public schools, although to date very few schools have received failing grades from the state. One program that has seen fruition is the Florida Virtual School, a distance-learning program that allows students in rural areas of the state to take Advanced Placement classes for college credit. However, his policies have also been driven by a firm refusal to raise taxes for education, which led Bush to oppose a ballot initiative to amend the Florida Constitution to cap growing school class sizes. Bush said he had "a couple of devious plans if this thing passes". Despite his opposition, the amendment passed; Bush's subsequent suggestions that the amendment be repealed have contributed to criticisms that he has failed to implement it in good faith. A similar concern about new expenditures has led to controversy over whether Florida has provided adequate resources to implement a subsequent voter-approved state constitutional amendment that requires a universal state-financed pre-Kindergarten program.

In higher education, Bush approved three new medical schools during his tenure and also put forth the "One Florida" proposal, an initiative that effectively ended affirmative action admissions programs at state universities. These moves were among the influencing concerns that led to the faculty of the University of Florida to deny Bush an honorary degree, whilst the University of Florida Alumni Association made him an honorary alumnus. North Miami Beach Attorney Larry R. Fleurantin, then a UF law student, on April 1, 2001, wrote an article in the Gainesville Sun challenging Florida Governor Jeb Bush's Talented 20 Plan, the educational component of "One Florida." In response to Attorney Fleurantin's article, on April 7, 2001, Gov. Jeb Bush wrote a column in the Gainesville Sun defending his "One Florida" policy.

Libraries

On May 2006, as part of an unprecedented $448.7-million line-item veto of state funding, Bush slashed a total of $5.8 million in grants to public libraries, pilot projects for library homework help and web-based high-school texts, and funding for a joint-use library in Tampa.

After months of controversy that included thousands of e-mails, petition signatures and hundreds of picketers at the State Capitol, the Florida House voted to ditch Bush's plan to give the biggest collection at the century-old State Library to Nova Southeastern University.

Environment

Bush signed legislation to protect the Everglades and opposed federal plans to drill for oil off the coast of Florida. In early October 2005, Bush attempted to strike a compromise with fellow Republicans that would allow offshore drilling in an area that stretches 125 miles off Florida's coastline and give the state legislature the power to permit drilling closer to the state's coastlines. The compromise was warmly received by some Florida Republicans and U.S. Congressmen, such as bill sponsor Richard Pombo, but has yet to be agreed upon; others including Republican U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, objected to any backtracking on the drilling moratorium. Jeb Bush is skeptical about man-made global warming.

Health policy issues

Bush was involved in the Terri Schiavo case, involving a woman with massive brain damage, who was on a feeding tube for over 15 years, and whose husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, wished to remove the tube. This move was opposed by Terry Schiavo's parents in the courts. Bush signed "Terri's Law", a law passed by the Florida legislature that permitted the Governor to keep Schiavo on life support. The law was ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court on September 23, 2004. That decision was appealed to the federal courts. On January 24, 2005, however, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, thus allowing the Florida court's ruling to stand.

After being vetoed by previous Governor Lawton Chiles, Choose Life , a pro-life advocacy group based in Ocala, Florida submitted a specialty license plate application which passed both houses and Governor Bush signed it into law on June 8, 1999.

Bush oversaw 21 executions as Governor (more than Graham, Martinez and Chiles while they were in office). Bush never agreed to commute any sentence.

Bush also presided over switching from electric chair (the only method of executions until 2000, now optional) to lethal injection, after a botched electrocution of Allen Lee Davis (first inmate executed under his administration and last, to date, electrocuted in Florida). After two previous botched executions (Jesse Tafero in 1990 and Pedro Medina in 1997) Governors Martinez and Chiles along with legislature declined to change methods.

While he is an advocate of capital punishment, Bush suspended all executions in Florida on December 15, 2006, after the execution of Ángel Nieves Díaz was seemingly botched. The execution took 37 minutes to complete, and required a second injection of the lethal chemicals.

International trade

Bush said one of the most important goals of his final two years as Governor was to secure the FTAA Secretariat for Miami.

Vetos

There has been a 2004 veto on bill about court-appointed the parental coordinators because of the concern that the bill does not adequately protect families as they try to resolve their conflicts.

Lieutenant Governors

Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, a former fifth-grade teacher, principal, and superintendent, served only one term with Bush. After Brogan remarried, he opted not to serve a second term. Brogan was reelected to a second term in 2002 with Bush and then resigned in March 2003. He and his new wife moved to Boca Raton, where he served as president of Florida Atlantic University. In Tallahassee, a museum was named in honor of Brogan's late wife, Mary, who died on June 27, 1999 of breast cancer and, like her husband, was a Florida school teacher.

Following Brogan's resignation, Bush appointed former Florida Senate President Toni Jennings, with whom he had occasionally disagreed in regards to public policy, as Lieutenant Governor.

Florida Cabinet

As Governor, Bush served as the chairman of the Florida Cabinet, which provides collective governance over part of state government.

Other organizations

Bush was a member of the National Governors Association and the Republican Governors Association.

2002 gubernatorial election

Before Bush's re-election, no Republican in Florida had ever been re-elected to serve a second term as the state's Governor. In addition, there was likely no precedent for any Governor to be branded by the opposition as its "Number One Target" for removal from office, as Bush was ranked in 2002. This was not merely a statewide effort to oust the Republican Governor, but a much-publicized goal of the DNC and its highest leadership during the 2002 election cycle.

The Democratic primary race

Bush almost faced Janet Reno in the 2002 Florida Governor's race. However, a number of other Democratic candidates also wanted to become Florida's next Governor, including Bill McBride. A prominent litigator with Holland & Knight and a novice candidate, McBride was favored by national Democratic Party leaders in part because of his military background and perceived ability to attract Florida's more conservative voters.

In the ensuing Democratic primary contest (where only Democratic voters could vote, pursuant to state primary laws), circumstances surrounding McBride's victory outraged many voters in South Florida. Some voting venues located in Reno's urban strongholds of Broward County and Dade County, and operated by Democrats elected as county election officials reportedly opened hours late, and then ignored Bush's Executive Order, issued at Reno's request, to stay open later to accommodate all voters.

The 2002 election results

In the closely watched Florida Governor's race that attracted national attention, Bush was re-elected in November 2002, becoming the first Republican in the state's history to be re-elected as Governor. Bush defeated Democratic challenger Bill McBride with 56% to 43%, a greater margin of victory than in Bush's 1998 campaign for the Governor's office. Bush also increased the number of counties in his victory column, winning several Florida counties for the very first time. He campaigned all throughout North West Florida in Pensacola and Milton.

In January 2007, Bush became only the second Florida Governor to complete two full four-year terms in office, the first being Democrat Reubin O'Donovan Askew. (Bush was prevented from seeking a third term in the 2006 election, due to term limits under state law.)

Bush made Florida political history not only by becoming the first Republican Governor to ever win re-election in Florida, but also by being the first Florida Governor to select a woman, Toni Jennings, to serve as Florida's Lieutenant Governor. No woman had ever been appointed or elected to that high office in Florida's executive branch.

Bush is also the first Governor to hold office while having a brother simultaneously serve as President.

Political future

Due to term limits under state law, Bush was unable to seek a third term as Governor. Some speculated that Bush would run against Florida's current Democratic senator, Bill Nelson, in the 2006 U.S. Senate election, but he did not; the Republican candidate was Katherine Harris, who lost to Nelson.

Notwithstanding rumors, he did not run for president in the 2008 election.

In recent months, rumors have surfaced that Bush would attempt to win the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election; rumors that Bush has strongly denied from the beginning.

Political bases

Bush is popular among Cubans in Florida (winning 80 percent of the Cuban vote in 2002) and popular among non-Cuban Hispanics (56 percent in 2002, equaling the 56 percent he won statewide). As a longtime supporter of Israel, Bush also maintains a significant connection to Florida's Jewish voters. He was endorsed in his two winning Governor races by a national Jewish publication, and won 44 percent of the state's Jewish vote in the 2002 Governor's race. Many black voters support his focus on public education and parental choice in education, and a number of Black Republican clubs have risen in Florida. In his re-election in 2002, Bush surprised critics by winning the white female vote in the swing-voting battleground of Central Florida's I-4 corridor. Most recently, he has reached out extensively to Florida's Haitian community.

Bush's impact on his political party

Bush's appeal to Florida's highly diverse group of voters, along with his success in expanding the so-called "big tent" of the Florida Republican Party, appear to have propelled him into a commanding political position. Nationwide, American conservatives appear to be positive about Bush, seeing him as committed to upholding core conservative principles.

Throughout his two administrations, Bush's office touted his record of non–discrimination and rewarding merit, claiming he employed highly qualified women, blacks and other minorities more often in top-level government positions than any previous Florida Governor.

Outside of Florida, fellow Republican leaders throughout the country have sought Bush's aid both on and off the campaign trail. Bush's out-of-state campaign visits include Kentucky, where Republican challenger Ernie Fletcher appeared with Bush and won that state's governorship in 2003, ending a 32-year streak of Democratic governors. In California, after Democratic Governor Gray Davis was ousted in a recall vote, Bush dispatched Florida's budget director to that state to lead an independent audit of California's budget, at the request of the state's newly elected Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Political interests and business activities

Bush has been active in the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century, whose stated goal is to promote American global leadership.

Since 2004, he has been serving a four-year term as a Board Member for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). Created by Congress, this board’s purpose is to establish policy on reports examining K-12 students’ academic progress in America’s public and private schools. In 2008, Bush will be serving on the NAGB educational committee focused on Standards, Design and Methodology.

In April 2007, Jeb Bush joined Tenet Healthcare's board of directors. The following August, Bush joined investment bank, Lehman Brothers, as an adviser in its private equity group.

Bush as NFL commissioner

In May 2006, AP reported that Bush was privately approached to become the next commissioner of the National Football League. This is said to be an interest of his, but it was unknown whether he would take the position. The former commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, announced that his tenure would soon be over and he is searching for replacements. "I'm flattered," Jeb Bush said May 24, 2006 of the NFL's interest, "but I'm Governor of the state of Florida and I intend to be Governor until I leave which is January 2007. And I'm not going to consider any other options other than being Governor until I finish". Roger Goodell eventually became the new NFL commissioner.

Speech at D.C. Summit

On January 27, 2007 Bush spoke as the keynote speaker at the National Review Institute's Conservative Summit in Washington, D.C. speaking about the Democratic take over in Congress. He told political conservatives "we lost, and there are significant reasons that happened, but it isn't because conservatives were rejected. It's because we rejected the conservative philosophy in this country." He told them “don't…abandon conservative principles…we don't need to be the end all and be all for every special interest group, for every constituent that you like, for every person that's given a fundraising check to your campaign, for everything that is just wrong about public policy and politics”. In attendance at the summit was former chairman of the Republican National Committee Ed Gillespie who said if he, like Bush, “left office with approval ratings above 60 percent…he might be in Des Moines today [preparing for the presidential primary]”. But in January 2009, he announced that he would not run for the Senate. Instead, he supported Marco Rubio for the position.

Electoral history

See also

*Bush family

References

Further reading

Freedberg, Syndey P. "Jeb Bush: The Son Rises Away from Dad's Shadow." The Miami Herald, August 15, 1994.

Huffington, Arianna. "The latest Bush hypocrisy". Salon.com, September 16, 2002.

Viglucci, Andres and Alfonso Chardy. "Bush and business: Fast success, brushes with mystery". The Miami Herald, October 5, 2002.

Yardley, William. "Jeb Bush: His early values shape his politics." The Miami Herald, September 22, 2002.

Barnes, Fred. "Governor in Chief: Jeb Bush's remarkable eight years of achievement in Florida." The Weekly Standard, June 12, 2006.

External links

Official website

Official Florida Web portal

Office of the Governor

Official Governor's portrait and biography from the State of Florida

Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:American Episcopalians Category:American businesspeople Category:American expatriates in Venezuela Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American Roman Catholic politicians Category:Bolling family of Virginia Category:Bush family Category:Children of Presidents of the United States Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:Federal Emergency Management Agency critics Category:Florida Republicans Category:Governors of Florida Category:Knights of Columbus Category:Lehman Brothers Category:People from Houston, Texas Category:People from Midland, Texas Category:Phillips Academy alumni Category:Siblings of Presidents of the United States Category:State cabinet secretaries of Florida Category:Tenet Healthcare Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:People from Coral Gables, Florida

Name	Geraldine Ferraro
Image name	GeraldineFerraro.jpg
Alt	Woman in her forties, smiling for portrait, in more relaxed setting than usual for officeholders
Date of birth	August 26, 1935
Place of birth	Newburgh, New York
State1	New York
District1	9th
Term start1	January 3, 1979
Term end1	January 3, 1985
Preceded1	James Delaney
Succeeded1	Thomas J. Manton
Office2	United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
Term start2	1993
Term end2	1996
President2	Bill Clinton
Party	Democratic
Spouse	John Zaccaro
Children	Donna (b. 1962) John Jr. (b. 1964) Laura (b. 1966)
Residence	New York, New York
Alma mater	Marymount Manhattan College Fordham University
Occupation	Lawyer
Religion	Roman Catholic
Signature	Geraldine Ferraro Signature.svg

Geraldine Anne Ferraro (born August 26, 1935) is an American attorney, a Democratic Party politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party.

Ferraro grew up in New York and became a teacher and lawyer. She joined the Queens County District Attorney's Office in 1974, where she headed the new Special Victims Bureau that dealt with sex crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence. She was elected to Congress in 1978, where she rose rapidly in the party hierarchy while focusing on legislation to bring equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. In 1984, former Vice President and presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the upcoming election. In doing so she became the only Italian American to be a major-party national nominee in addition to being the first woman. The positive polling the Mondale-Ferarro ticket received when she joined faded as questions arose of her and her husband's finances. In the general election, Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in a landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush.

Ferraro ran campaigns for a seat in the United States Senate from New York in 1992 and 1998, both times emerging as the front-runner for her party's nomination but losing in primary elections both times. She served as a United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights from 1993 until 1996 in the presidential administration of Bill Clinton. She has also continued her career as a journalist, author, and businesswoman, and served in the 2008 presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Early life and education

Ferraro was born in Newburgh, New York, the daughter of Antonetta L. (née Corrieri), a first-generation Italian American seamstress, and Dominick Ferraro, an Italian immigrant and owner of two restaurants. She attended the parochial school Mount Saint Mary's in Newburgh when she was young, but Geraldine's father died of a heart attack in May 1944 when she was eight. Geraldine's mother soon invested and lost the remainder of the family's money, forcing the family to move to a low income area in the South Bronx while Geraldine's mother worked in the garment industry to support them. At Marymount she was a member of the honor society, active in several clubs and sports, and voted most likely to succeed; Her mother was adamant that she get a full education, despite an uncle in the family saying "Why bother? She's pretty. She's a girl. She'll get married." Ferraro attended Marymount Manhattan College with a scholarship During her senior year she began dating John Zaccaro of Forest Hills, Queens, who had graduated from Iona College with a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps. Ferraro received a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1956; she was the first woman in her family to gain a college degree. She earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Fordham University School of Law in 1960, Ferraro was one of only two women in her graduating class of 179. He became a realtor and businessman. The couple has three children, Donna (born 1962), John Jr. (born 1964), and Laura (born 1966). They would buy a condominium in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1983. She also occasionally worked for other clients and did some pro bono work for women in family court. She spent time at local Democratic clubs, which allowed her to maintain contacts within the legal profession and become involved in local politics and campaigns. by her cousin, District Attorney Nicholas Ferraro. Moreover, Ferraro found the nature of the cases she dealt with debilitating; She grew frustrated that she was unable to deal with root causes, and talked about running for legislative office. The location for the television series All in the Family, the district was known for its ethnic composition and conservative views. Her main issues were law and order, support for the elderly, and neighborhood preservation. Her Italian heritage also appealed to ethnic residents in the district. and quickly found prominence. established a rapport with other House Democratic leaders, this entitled her to a seat on the influential Steering and Policy Committee. both of which allowed Ferraro to push through projects to benefit her district. Male colleagues viewed her with respect as someone who was tough and ambitious. The Reagan administration, at first lukewarm to the measure, decided to sign it to gain the benefits of its popular appeal. In August 1984, she led passage of a Superfund renewal bill and attacked the Reagan administration's handling of environmental site cleanups.

Ferraro took a congressional trip to Nicaragua at the start of 1984, where she spoke to the Contras.

In all, Ferraro served three two-year terms, being re-elected in 1980 and 1982.

While in the House, Ferraro's political self-description evolved to "moderate". and an average 8 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. The AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education gave her an average approval rating of 91 percent. The National Organization for Women and the National Women's Political Caucus pushed the notion, as did several top Democratic figures such as Speaker O'Neill. both of whom were on Mondale's five-person short list.

Mondale selected Geraldine Ferraro to be his Vice-Presidential candidate on July 12, 1984, and Ferraro stated, "I am absolutely thrilled." The Mondale campaign wagered that her selection would shake up a race in which he was a decided underdog; in addition to attracting women, they hoped she could attract ethnic Democrats in the Northeast U.S. who had abandoned their party for Reagan in 1980.

As Ferraro was the first woman to run on a major party national ticket in the U.S., as well as the first Italian American, her July 19 nomination at the 1984 Democratic National Convention was one of the most emotional moments of that gathering, with female delegates appearing joyous and proud at the historic occasion. In her acceptance speech, Ferraro said, "The daughter of an immigrant from Italy has been chosen to run for vice president in the new land my father came to love." Convention attendees were in tears during the speech, not just for its significance for women but for all those who had immigrated to America.

advertised a post-convention Queens Borough Hall rally, for Ferraro to introduce Mondale to New York City voters.]]

Ferraro gained immediate, large-scale media attention. At first, their treatment centered on her novelty as a woman and her rags-to-riches background story and was overwhelmingly favorable. Nevertheless, Ferraro would face many press questions about her foreign policy inexperience, and responded by discussing her attention to foreign and national security issues in Congress. Ted Koppel questioned her closely about nuclear strategy and during Meet the Press she was asked, "Do you think that in any way the Soviets might be tempted to try to take advantage of you simply because you are a woman?"

The choice of Ferraro was viewed as a gamble, and pundits were uncertain whether it would result in a net gain or loss of votes for the Mondale campaign. In the days after the convention, Ferraro proved an effective campaigner, with a brash and confident style that forcefully criticized the Reagan administration and sometimes almost overshadowed Mondale. (While the Mondale campaign had anticipated some questions, the drawn-out vice-presidential selection process had not fully vetted her on this aspect. This was also the first time the American media had to deal with a national candidate's husband. Zaccaro was of old-world habits, and Ferraro had little knowledge of his business, his finances, or even how much he was worth. Zaccaro did not appreciate the intensity of the national exposure the two were now in and was resistant to releasing his financial information. She then quipped, "You people who are married to Italian men, you know what it's like."

This development dominated television and newspapers; A week after her previous statement, Ferraro said Zaccaro had changed his mind and would indeed release his tax records, which was done on August 20. The full statements included notice of payment of some $53,000 in back federal taxes that she owed due to what was described as an accountant's error. No campaign issue during the entire 1984 presidential campaign received more media attention than Ferraro's finances. The exposure diminished Ferraro's rising stardom, removed whatever momentum the Mondale–Ferraro ticket gained out of the convention, and delayed formation of a coherent message for the fall campaign. that issue had her on the defensive during the entire campaign. Nevertheless, Ferraro resumed her role as a strong campaigner—not only taking on the traditional running mate role of attacking the opposition vigorously, but also drawing large crowds witnessing the historic candidacy and chanting, "Ger-ry! Ger-ry!" Mondale and Ferraro rarely touched during their appearances together, to the point that he would not even place his palm on her back when they stood side-by-side; Ferraro later said this was because anything more and "people were afraid that it would look like, 'Oh, my God, they're dating.'"

There was one vice-presidential debate between Congresswoman Ferraro and Vice President George H. W. Bush. Held on October 11, the result was proclaimed mostly even by the press and historians; women voters tended to think Ferraro had won, while men, Bush. In the days leading up to the debate, Second Lady of the United States Barbara Bush had publicly referred to Ferraro as "that four-million-dollar—I can’t say it, but it rhymes with 'rich'." Ferraro's sex was a steady presence during the campaign; one study found that 27 percent of newspaper articles written about her contained gendered language.

Ferraro received one more media jolt on October 18, when the New York Post accurately reported that her father had been arrested for possession of numbers slips in Newburgh shortly before his death, and inaccurately speculated that something mysterious had been covered up about that death. Ferraro's mother had never told her about the arrest, Ferraro continued to campaign, by the end traveling more than Mondale and more than Reagan and Bush combined.

On November 6, Mondale and Ferraro lost the general election in a landslide. They received only 41 percent of the popular vote compared to Reagan and Bush's 59 percent, and in the Electoral College won only Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia. Ferraro failed to carry her own congressional district, which always tended to vote Republican in presidential races. Ferraro's presence on the ticket had little measurable effect overall. Reagan's personal appeal and campaign themes of prosperity and "It's morning again in America" were quite strong, and political observers generally agree that no combination of Democrats could have won the election in 1984.

After the election, the House Ethics Committee found that Ferraro had technically violated the Ethics in Government Act by failing to report, or reporting incorrectly, details of her family's finances, and that she should have reported her husband's holdings on her Congressional disclosure forms. However, the committee concluded that she had acted without "deceptive intent", and since she was leaving Congress anyway, no action against her was taken.

Ferraro is one of only two U.S. women to run on a major party national ticket. The other is Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, She also earned over $300,000 by giving speeches. A senate candidacy had been her original plan for her career, before she was named to Mondale's ticket. But in December 1985, she said she would not run, due to the overhanging cloud from an ongoing U.S. Justice Department probe on her and her husband's finances stemming from the 1984 campaign revelations. Then in October 1986, he was indicted on unrelated felony charges regarding an alleged 1981 bribery of Queens Borough President Donald Manes concerning a cable television contract. A full year later, he was acquitted at trial. The case against him was circumstantial, a key prosecution witness proved unreliable, and the defense did not have to present its own testimony. Meanwhile, in February 1986, the couple's son John had been arrested for possession and sale of cocaine. He was convicted, and in June 1988 sentenced to four months imprisonment; Ferraro broke down in tears in court relating the stress the episode had placed on her family.

Ferraro remained active in raising money for Democratic candidates nationwide, especially women candidates. She also did some commentating for television. She also took care of her mother, who suffered from emphysema for several years before her death in early 1990.

By October 1991, Ferraro was ready to enter elective politics again, and ran for the Democratic nomination in the 1992 United States Senate election in New York. Her opponents were State Attorney General Robert Abrams, Reverend Al Sharpton, Congressman Robert J. Mrazek, and New York City Comptroller and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. Abrams was considered the early front-runner. Ferraro emphasized her career as a teacher, prosecutor, congresswoman, and mother, and talked about how she was tough on crime. Ferraro drew renewed attacks during the primary campaign from the media and her opponents over Zaccaro's finances and business relationships. She objected that a male candidate would not receive nearly as much attention regarding his wife's activities. Holtzman ran a negative ad accusing Ferraro and Zaccaro of taking more than $300,000 in rent in the 1980s from a pornographer with purported ties to organized crime. The final debates were nasty, and Holtzman in particular constantly attacked Ferraro's integrity and finances. On the September 15, 1992 primary, Abrams edged out Ferraro by less than a percentage point, winning 37 percent of the vote to 36 percent. Ferraro did not concede she had lost for two weeks. She was eventually persuaded by state party leaders into giving an unenthusiastic endorsement with just three days to go before the general election, in exchange for an apology by Abrams for the tone of the primary. D'Amato won the election by a very narrow margin. but overall the 1992 U.S. Senate elections saw so many victories that it became known as the "Year of the Woman".

Following the primary loss, Ferraro became managing partner in the New York office of Keck, Mahin & Cate, a Chicago-based law firm. There she organized the office and spoke with clients, but did not actively practice law and left before the firm fell into difficulties.

President Clinton appointed Ferraro as a member of the United States delegation to United Nations Commission on Human Rights in January 1993. She attended the June 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna as the alternate U.S. delegate. Then in October 1993, Clinton promoted her to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, saying that Ferraro had been "a highly effective voice for the human rights of women around the world." The Clinton administration named Ferraro vice-chair of the U.S. delegation to the landmark September 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing; in this role she picked a strong team of experts in human rights issues to serve with her. During her stint on the commission, it for the first time condemned anti-Semitism as a human rights violation, and also for the first time prevented China from blocking a motion criticizing its human rights record. Regarding a previous China motion that had failed, Ferraro had told the commission, "Let us do what we were sent here to do—decide important questions of human rights on their merits, not avoid them." as the co-host representing the "from the left" vantage. She kept her brassy, rapid-fire speech and New York accent intact, and her trial experience from her prosecutor days was a good fit for the program's format. The show stayed strong in ratings for CNN, and the job was lucrative.

At the start of 1998, Ferraro left Crossfire and ran for the Democratic nomination again in the 1998 United States Senate election in New York. She had done no fundraising, out of fear of conflict of interest with her Crossfire job, but was nonetheless immediately perceived as the front-runner. Unlike the previous campaigns, her family finances never became an issue. Schumer, a tireless fundraiser, outspent her by a five-to-one margin, and Ferraro failed to establish a political image current with the times. In the September 15, 1998 primary, she was beaten soundly by Schumer by a 51 percent to 26 percent margin. Schumer would go on to decisively unseat D'Amato in the general election.

The 1998 primary defeat brought an end to Ferraro's political career. The New York Times wrote at the time: "If Ms. Ferraro's rise was meteoric, her political career's denouement was protracted, often agonizing and, at first glance, baffling."

Ferraro had felt unusually tired at the end of her senate campaign. She did not publicly disclose the illness until June 2001, when she went to Washington to successfully press in Congressional hearings for passage of the Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act. Ferraro became a frequent speaker on the disease, and an avid supporter and honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. She is not in remission, but the disease is managed through continually adjusting her treatments.

Ferraro joined Fox News Channel as a regular political commentator in October 1999. By 2005 she was making sporadic appearances on the channel, During the 2000s, Ferraro was an affiliated faculty member at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.

In January 2000, Ferraro and Lynn Martin—a former Republican Congresswoman and U.S. Secretary of Labor who had played Ferraro in George H.W. Bush's debate preparations in 1984 Its goal was to advise corporations on how to develop more women leaders and make their workplaces more amenable to female employees. G&L; Strategies subsequently became part of Golin Harris International. an international investor relations and corporate communications component of Huntsworth. There she worked with corporations, non-profit organizations, state governments and political figures. She was also a board member for New York Bancorp in the 1990s.

in March 2003 with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and opera singer Denyce Graves.]] In 1980, Ferraro co-founded the National Organization of Italian American Women, which sought to support the educational and professional goals of its members and put forward positive role models in order to fight ethnic stereotyping. She continues to be a member of its board. Ferraro has been connected with many other political and non-profit organizations. She is a board member of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1992 she was on the founding board of Project Vote Smart. By 1993, she was serving on the Fordham Law School Board of Visitors, as well as on the boards of the National Breast Cancer Research Fund, the New York Easter Seal Society, and the Pension Rights Center, and was one of hundreds of public figures on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Board of Advocates. and in 2003, the board of the National Women's Health Resource Center. During the 2000s she has been on the board of advisors to the Committee to Free Lori Berenson.

After living for many years in Forest Hills Gardens, Queens, she and her husband moved to Manhattan in 2002. She republished Ferraro: My Story in 2004, with a postscript summarizing her life in the twenty years since the campaign.

2008 presidential campaign involvement

In December 2006, Ferraro announced her support for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later, she vowed to help defend Clinton from being "swiftboated" in a manner akin to 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry. She assisted with fundraising by assuming an honorary post on the finance committee for Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. A heated nomination battle emerged between Clinton and Barack Obama, in which racial dust-ups caused by perceptions of remarks made by campaign surrogates took place.

Ferraro inserted herself into the heat via a March 2008 interview with the small California newspaper Daily Breeze in which she said: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro justified the statements by referring to her own run for vice president, saying that: "I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice-presidential candidate. It had nothing to do with my qualification." There was strong criticism and charges of racism from many supporters of Obama and Obama called them "patently absurd". Ferraro resigned from Clinton's finance committee on March 12, 2008, two days after the firestorm began, saying that she didn't want the Obama camp to use her comments to hurt Clinton's campaign.

Ferraro continued to engage the issue and criticize the Obama campaign via her position as a Fox News Channel contributor. By early April, Ferraro said people were deluging her with negative comments and trying to get her removed from one of the boards she was on: "This has been the worst three weeks of my life."

During September 2008, Ferraro gained attention yet again after the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, the first such major party bid for a woman since her own in 1984. In reaction to the nomination, Ferraro said, "It's great to be the first, but I don't want to be the only. And so now it is wonderful to see a woman on a national ticket." Ferraro speculated that the pick might win Republican presidential nominee John McCain the election, but said that she was supporting Obama now due to his running mate selection of Joe Biden having resolved her concerns about Obama's lack of experience in certain areas. Ferraro criticized the media's scrunity of Palin's background and family as gender-based and saw parallels with how she was treated by the media during her own run; a University of Alabama study also found that media framing of Ferraro and Palin was similar and often revolved around their nominations being political gambles. A Newsweek cover story detected a change in how women voters responded to a female vice presidential candidate from Ferraro's time to Palin's, but Ferraro correctly predicted that the bounce that McCain received from the Palin pick would dissipate. In a friendly joint retrospective of her 1984 debate with George H. W. Bush, Ferraro said she had had more national issues experience in 1984 than Palin did now, but that it was important that Palin make a good showing in her vice presidential debate so that "little girls [could] see someone there who can stand toe to toe with [Biden]." McCain and Palin ended up losing, but regardless of the 1984 or 2008 election result, Ferraro said that "Every time a woman runs, women win."

Ferraro received a number of honorary degrees during the 1980s and early 1990s, including from Marymount Manhattan College (1982), New York University Law School (1984), Hunter College (1985), Plattsburgh College (1985), College of Boca Raton (1989), Virginia State University (1989), Muhlenberg College (1990), Briarcliffe College for Business (1990), and Potsdam College (1991). She subsequently received an honorary degree from Case Western Reserve University (2003).

During her time in Congress, Ferraro received numerous awards from local organizations in Queens. In 2008, Ferraro was the initial recipient of the annual Trailblazer Award from the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations.

Electoral history

Democratic primary for New York's 9th congressional district, 1978

Geraldine Ferraro – 10,254 (52.98%)

Thomas J. Manton – 5,499 (28.41%)

Patrick C. Deignan – 3,603 (18.61%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1978

Geraldine Ferraro (D) – 51,350 (54.17%)

Alfred A. DelliBovi (R, Conservative) – 42,108 (44.42%)

Theodore E. Garrison (Liberal) – 1,329 (1.40%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1980

Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) – 63,796 (58.34%)

Vito P. Battista (R, Conservative, Right to Life) – 44,473 (40.67%)

Gertrude Geniale (Liberal) – 1,091 (1.00%)

New York's 9th congressional district, 1982

Geraldine Ferraro (D) (Inc.) – 75,286 (73.22%)

John J. Weigandt (R) – 20,352 (19.79%)

Ralph G. Groves (Conservative) – 6,011 (5.85%)

Patricia A. Salargo (Liberal) – 1,171 (1.14%)

1984 Democratic National Convention (Vice-Presidential tally)

Geraldine Ferraro – 3,920

Shirley Chisholm – 3

United States presidential election, 1984

Ronald Reagan/George H. W. Bush (R) (Inc.) – 54,166,829 (58.5%) and 525 electoral votes (49 states carried)

Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro (D) – 37,449,813 (40.4%) and 13 electoral votes (1 state and D.C. carried)

David Bergland/Jim Lewis (L) – 227,204 (0.2%) and 0 electoral votes

Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1992

Robert Abrams – 426,904 (37%)

Geraldine Ferraro – 415,650 (36%)

Al Sharpton – 166,665 (14%)

Elizabeth Holtzman – 144,026 (12%)

Democratic primary for the United States Senate, 1998

Chuck Schumer – 388,701 (50.83%)

Geraldine Ferraro – 201,625 (26.37%)

Mark Green – 145,819 (19.07%)

Eric Ruano-Melendez – 28,493 (3.73%)

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Text of speech accepting Democratic Party nomination for Vice President of the United States, July 19, 1984

Category:1935 births Category:Living people Category:Ambassadors of the United States Category:American autobiographers Category:American female lawyers Category:American politicians of Italian descent Category:American prosecutors Category:American Roman Catholic politicians Category:American women writers Category:Democratic Party (United States) vice presidential nominees Category:Female diplomats Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives Category:Female United States vice-presidential candidates Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni Category:Fox News Channel people Category:Georgetown University faculty Category:Harvard University staff Category:Marymount Manhattan College alumni Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York Category:Multiple myeloma patients Category:New York Democrats Category:New York lawyers Category:People from Forest Hills, Queens Category:People from Newburgh, New York Category:Representatives of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council Category:United States vice-presidential candidates, 1984 Category:Women in New York politics

Honorific-prefix	General
Name	Colin L. Powell
Honorific-suffix	KCB MSC
Caption	Powell in 2005.
Imagesize	200px
Order1	65th
Title1	United States Secretary of State
Term start1	January 20, 2001
Term end1	January 26, 2005
President1	George W. Bush
Deputy1	Richard Armitage
Predecessor1	Madeleine Albright
Successor1	Condoleezza Rice
Order2	12th
Title2	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Term start2	October 1, 1989
Term end2	September 30, 1993
President2	George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton
Deputy2	Robert T. Herres (1989) David E. Jeremiah (1989-1993)
Predecessor2	William J. Crowe
Successor2	David E. Jeremiah
Order3	16th
Title3	National Security Advisor
Term start3	November 23, 1987
Term end3	January 20, 1989
President3	Ronald Reagan
Deputy3	John Negroponte
Predecessor3	Frank Carlucci
Successor3	Brent Scowcroft
Birth date	April 05, 1937
Birth place	New York City, New York
Signature	Colin Luther Powell Signature.svg
Party	Republican
Religion	Episcopalian
Spouse	Alma Vivian Johnson Powell
Alma mater	City College of New York (B.S.) George Washington University (M.B.A.)
Profession	Soldier Statesman
Image2
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch	United States Army
Serviceyears	1958-1993
Rank	General
Unit	3rd Armored Division 23rd Infantry Division
Commands	V Corps Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Forces Command
Battles	Vietnam War Invasion of Panama Gulf War
Awards	Defense DSM (4) Army DSM (2) Defense Superior Service Medal

Colin Luther Powell (; born April 5, 1937) is a United States statesman and a retired four-star general in the United States Army. He was the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001–2005), serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position. During his military career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command (1989) and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Gulf War. He was the first, and so far the only, African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Early life

Colin Luther Powell was born on April 5, 1937 in Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Jamaican immigrant parents Maud Arial (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell. He also has Scottish ancestry. Powell was raised in the South Bronx and attended Morris High School, a former public school in the Bronx, from which he graduated in 1954. While at school, he worked at a local baby furniture store where he picked up Yiddish from the shopkeepers and some of the customers. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the City College of New York in 1958 and was a self-admitted C average student. He was later able to earn a Master of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University in 1971, after his second tour in Vietnam.

Despite his parents' pronunciation of his name as , Powell has pronounced his name since childhood, after the heroic World War II flyer Colin P. Kelly Jr. Public officials and radio and television reporters have used Powell's preferred pronunciation.

Military career

Powell described joining the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) during college as one of the happiest experiences of his life; discovering something he loved and could do well, he felt he had "found himself." Cadet Powell joined the Pershing Rifles, the ROTC fraternal organization and drill team begun by General John Pershing. Even after he had become a General, Powell kept on his desk a pen set he had won for a drill team competition. Upon graduation, he received a commission as an Army second lieutenant. He was a professional soldier for 35 years, holding a variety of command and staff positions and rising to the rank of General.

Powell was a captain during the Vietnam War, serving as a South Vietnamese Army adviser from 1962 to 1963. While on patrol in a Viet Cong-held area, he was wounded by stepping on a punji stake. He returned to Vietnam as a major in 1968, serving in the Americal Division (23rd Infantry Division), then as assistant chief of staff of operations for the Americal Division. He was charged with investigating a detailed letter by Tom Glen (a soldier from the 11th Light Infantry Brigade), which backed up rumored allegations of the My Lai Massacre. Powell wrote: "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Later, Powell's assessment would be described as whitewashing the news of the massacre, and questions would continue to remain undisclosed to the public. In May 2004 Powell said to Larry King, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."

Powell served a White House fellowship, a highly selective and prestigious position, under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973.

In his autobiography, My American Journey, Powell named several officers he served under that inspired and mentored him. As a lieutenant colonel serving in South Korea, Powell was very close to General Henry "Gunfighter" Emerson. Powell said he regarded Emerson as one of the most caring officers he ever met. Emerson was reputedly eccentric; he insisted his troops train only at night and made them repeatedly watch the television film Brian's Song to promote racial harmony. Powell always professed, however, that what set Emerson apart, was his great love of his soldiers and concern for their welfare.

In the early 1980s, Powell served at Fort Carson, Colorado. After he left Fort Carson, Powell became senior military assistant to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, whom he assisted during the 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1986 airstrike on Libya.

In 1986, he took over the command of V Corps in Frankfurt, Germany, from Robert Lewis "Sam" Wetzel. Following the Iran Contra scandal, Powell became Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, serving from 1987 to 1989. In April 1989, Powell was promoted to General and briefly served as the Commander in Chief, Forces Command, headquartered at Fort McPherson, Georgia. Later that year, President George H.W. Bush selected him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dates of ranks

Second Lieutenant: June 9, 1958

First Lieutenant: December 30, 1959

Captain: June 2, 1962

Major: May 24, 1966

Lieutenant Colonel: July 9, 1970

Colonel: February 1, 1976

Brigadier General: June 1, 1979

Major General: August 1, 1983

Lieutenant General: March 26, 1986

General: April 4, 1989

{| class="wikitable" |+ Promotions ! Insignia !! Rank !! Date |- |||GEN||1989 |- |||LTG||1986 |- |||MG||1983 |- |||BG||1979 |- |||COL||1976 |- |||LTC||1970 |- |||MAJ||1966 |- |||CPT||1962 |- |||1LT||1959 |- |||2LT||1958 |}

Awards and decorations

Badges

Combat Infantryman Badge

Expert Infantryman Badge

Ranger Tab

Parachutist Badge

Pathfinder Badge

Air Assault Badge

Presidential Service Badge

Secretary of Defense Identification Badge

Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge

Army Staff Identification Badge

Military medals and ribbons

{| |- | |Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters) |- | |Distinguished Service Medal, Army (with Oak Leaf Cluster) |- | |Defense Superior Service Medal |- | |Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster) |- | |Soldier's Medal |- | |Bronze Star |- | |Purple Heart |- | |Air Medal |- | |Joint Service Commendation Medal |- | |Army Commendation Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters) |- | |Presidential Medal of Freedom (order of precedence, if worn) |- | |Presidential Citizens Medal (order of precedence, if worn) |- | |National Defense Service Medal (with 1 Bronze Service Star) |- | |Vietnam Service Medal (with 1 Silver Service Star) |- | |Army Service Ribbon |- | |Army Overseas Service Ribbon (with award numeral 4) |}

Foreign decorations

Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation

Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

Skanderbeg's Order (Albania)

Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) (United Kingdom)

Légion d'honneur (France)

Meritorious Service Cross (M.S.C.) (Canada)

Order of Stara Planina in the First Order (Bulgaria)

National Security Advisor

and National Security Advisor Powell in 1988]] At the age of 49, Powell became Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor, serving from 1987 to 1989 while retaining his Army commission as a lieutenant general. After his tenure with the National Security Council, Powell was promoted to a full general under President George H.W. Bush and briefly served as Commander-in-Chief (CINC) of the Army's Forces Command (FORSCOM), overseeing all Army, Army Reserve, and National Guard units in the Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

His last military assignment, from October 1, 1989 to September 30, 1993, was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. At age 52, he became the youngest officer, and first Afro-Caribbean American, to serve in this position. In 1989, he joined Dwight D. Eisenhower and Alexander Haig as the third general since World War II to reach four-star rank without ever being a divisional commander. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove General Manuel Noriega from power and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. During these events, Powell earned his nickname, "the reluctant warrior." He rarely advocated military intervention as the first solution to an international crisis, and instead usually prescribed diplomacy and containment.

In his autobiography, Powell said he is haunted by the nightmare of the Vietnam War and felt that the leadership was very ineffective. Powell served a tour in Vietnam as a military adviser, and was mildly injured when he stepped on a bamboo "punji stick". The large infection made it difficult for him to walk, and caused his foot to swell for a short time, shortening his first tour. It was also during his Vietnam service, his second tour, that Powell was decorated for bravery. He single-handedly rescued several men from a burning helicopter, one of them being Maj. Gen. Charles Gettys, the commander of the Americal Division.

Additionally, Powell has been critical of other instances of U.S. foreign policy in the past, such as its support for the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. From two separate interviews in 2003, Powell stated in one about the 1973 event "I can't justify or explain the actions and decisions that were made at that time. It was a different time. There was a great deal of concern about communism in this part of the world. Communism was a threat to the democracies in this part of the world. It was a threat to the United States." In another interview, however, he also simply stated "With respect to your earlier comment about Chile in the 1970s and what happened with Mr. Allende, it is not a part of American history that we're proud of."

As a military strategist, Powell has advocated an approach to military conflicts that maximizes the potential for success and minimizes casualties. A component of this approach is the use of overwhelming force, which he applied to Operation Desert Storm in 1991. His approach has been dubbed the "Powell Doctrine".

Potential candidate

Powell's experience in military matters made him a very popular figure with both American political parties. Many Democrats admired his moderate stance on military matters, while many Republicans saw him as a great asset associated with the successes of past Republican administrations. Put forth as a potential Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in the 1992 U.S. Presidential Election or even potentially replacing Vice President Dan Quayle as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Powell eventually declared himself a Republican and began to campaign for Republican candidates in 1995. He was touted as a possible opponent of Bill Clinton in the 1996 U.S. Presidential Election, possibly capitalizing on a split conservative vote in Iowa and even leading New Hampshire polls for the GOP nomination, but Powell declined, citing a lack of passion for politics. Powell defeated Clinton 50-38 in a hypothetical match-up proposed to voters in the exit polls conducted on Election Day. Despite not standing in the race, Powell won the New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary on write-in votes.

In 1997 Powell founded America's Promise with the objective of helping children from all socioeconomic sectors.

In the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election Powell campaigned for Senator John McCain and later Texas Governor George W. Bush after the latter secured the Republican nomination. Bush eventually won, and Powell was appointed Secretary of State.

Secretary of State

and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listen to President George W. Bush speak.]] As Secretary of State in the Bush administration, Powell was perceived as moderate. Powell was unanimously voted in by the United States Senate. Over the course of his tenure he traveled less than any other U.S. Secretary of State in 30 years.

On September 11, 2001, Powell was in Lima, Peru, meeting with President Alejandro Toledo and US Ambassador John Hamilton, and attending the special session of the OAS General Assembly that subsequently adopted the Inter-American Democratic Charter. After the terrorist attacks, Powell's job became of critical importance in managing America's relationships with foreign countries in order to secure a stable coalition in the War on Terrorism.

Powell came under fire for his role in building the case for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. In a press statement on February 24, 2001 he had said that sanctions against Iraq had prevented the development of any weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein. As was the case in the days leading up to the Persian Gulf War, Powell was initially opposed to a forcible overthrow of Saddam, preferring to continue a policy of containment. However, Powell eventually agreed to go along with the Bush administration's determination to remove Saddam. He had often clashed with others in the administration, who were reportedly planning an Iraq invasion even before the September 11 attacks, an insight supported by testimony by former terrorism czar Richard Clarke in front of the 9/11 Commission. The main concession Powell wanted before he would offer his full support for the Iraq War was the involvement of the international community in the invasion, as opposed to a unilateral approach. He was also successful in persuading Bush to take the case of Iraq to the United Nations, and in moderating other initiatives. Powell was placed at the forefront of this diplomatic campaign.

, presented by Powell at the UN Security Council. On May 27, 2003, US and UK experts examined the trailers and declared they had nothing to do with biological weapons.]] while giving a presentation to the United Nations Security Council]]

Powell's chief role was to garner international support for a multi-national coalition to mount the invasion. To this end, Powell addressed a plenary session of the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003 to argue in favor of military action. Citing numerous anonymous Iraqi defectors, Powell asserted that "there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more." Powell also stated that there was "no doubt in my mind" that Saddam was working to obtain key components to produce nuclear weapons. A 2004 report by the Iraq Survey Group concluded that the evidence that Powell offered to support the allegation that the Iraqi government possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) was inaccurate.

A Senate report on intelligence failures would later detail the intense debate that went on behind the scenes on what to include in Powell's speech. State Department analysts had found dozens of factual problems in drafts of the speech. Some of the claims were taken out, but others were left in, such as claims based on the yellowcake forgery. The administration came under fire for having acted on faulty intelligence. Powell later recounted how Vice President Dick Cheney had joked with him before he gave the speech, telling him, "You've got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points." Powell's longtime aide-de-camp and Chief of Staff from 1989–2003, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, later characterized Cheney's view of Powell's mission as to "go up there and sell it, and we'll have moved forward a peg or two. Fall on your damn sword and kill yourself, and I'll be happy, too."

In September 2005, Powell was asked about the speech during an interview with Barbara Walters and responded that it was a "blot" on his record. He went on to say, "It will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."

Wilkerson said that he participated in a hoax on the American people in preparing Powell's erroneous testimony before the United Nations Security Council.

Because Powell was seen as more moderate than most figures in the administration, he was spared many of the attacks that have been leveled at more controversial advocates of the invasion, such as Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. At times, infighting among the Powell-led State Department, the Rumsfeld-led Defense Department, and Cheney's office had the effect of polarizing the administration on crucial issues, such as what actions to take regarding Iran and North Korea.

After Saddam Hussein had been deposed, Powell's new role was to once again establish a working international coalition, this time to assist in the rebuilding of post-war Iraq. On September 13, 2004, Powell testified before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, acknowledging that the sources who provided much of the information in his February 2003 UN presentation were "wrong" and that it was "unlikely" that any stockpiles of WMDs would be found. Claiming that he was unaware that some intelligence officials questioned the information prior to his presentation, Powell pushed for reform in the intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director who would assure that "what one person knew, everyone else knew."

Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State on November 15, 2004. According to The Washington Post, he had been asked to resign by the president's chief of staff, Andrew Card. The accusation came at the same time as the settlement of an agreement between Iran, the IAEA, and the European Union.

On December 31, 2004, Powell rang in the New Year by throwing the ball in Times Square with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ushering in the year 2005. He appeared on the networks that were broadcasting New Year's Eve specials and talked about this honor, as well as being a native of New York City.

Life after diplomatic service

After retiring from the role of Secretary of State, Powell returned to private life. In April 2005, he was privately telephoned by Republican senators Lincoln Chafee and Chuck Hagel, at which time Powell expressed reservations and mixed reviews about the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, but refrained from advising the senators to oppose Bolton (Powell had clashed with Bolton during Bush's first term). The decision was viewed as potentially dealing significant damage to Bolton's chances of confirmation. Bolton was put into the position via a recess appointment because of the strong opposition in the Senate.

.]] On April 28, 2005, an opinion piece in The Guardian by Sidney Blumenthal (a former top aide to President Bill Clinton) claimed that Powell was in fact "conducting a campaign" against Bolton because of the acrimonious battles they had had while working together, which among other things had resulted in Powell cutting Bolton out of talks with Iran and Libya after complaints about Bolton's involvement from the British. Blumenthal added that "The foreign relations committee has discovered that Bolton made a highly unusual request and gained access to 10 intercepts by the National Security Agency. Staff members on the committee believe that Bolton was probably spying on Powell, his senior advisors and other officials reporting to him on diplomatic initiatives that Bolton opposed."

In July 2005, Powell joined Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm, with the title of "strategic limited partner."

In September 2005, Powell criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina. Powell said that thousands of people were not properly protected, but because they were poor rather than because they were black.

On January 5, 2006, he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials. In September 2006, Powell sided with more moderate Senate Republicans in supporting more rights for detainees and opposing President Bush's terrorism bill. He backed Senators John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham in their statement that U.S. military and intelligence personnel in future wars will suffer for abuses committed in 2006 by the U.S. in the name of fighting terrorism. Powell stated that "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of [America's] fight against terrorism."

Also in 2006, Powell began appearing as a speaker at a series of motivational events called Get Motivated, along with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. In his speeches for the tour, he openly criticized the Bush Administration on a number of issues. Powell has been the recipient of mild criticism for his role with Get Motivated which has been called a "get-rich-quick-without-much-effort, feel-good schemology."

Most recently he joined the Board of Directors of Steve Case's new company Revolution Health. Powell also serves on the Council on Foreign Relations Board of directors.

Powell, in honor of Martin Luther King Day, dropped the ceremonial first puck at a New York Islanders hockey game at Nassau Coliseum on January 21, 2008. On November 11, 2008, Powell again dropped the puck in recognition of Military Appreciation Day and Veterans Day.

Recently, Powell has encouraged young people to continue to use new technologies to their advantage in the future. In a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies to a room of young professionals, he said, "That's your generation...a generation that is hard-wired digital, a generation that understands the power of the information revolution and how it is transforming the world. A generation that you represent, and you're coming together to share; to debate; to decide; to connect with each other." At this event, he encouraged the next generation to involve themselves politically on the upcoming Next America Project, which uses online debate to provide policy recommendations for the upcoming administration.

In 2008, Powell served as a spokesperson for National Mentoring Month, a campaign held each January to recruit volunteer mentors for at-risk youth.

Soon after Barack Obama's 2008 election, Powell began being mentioned as a possible cabinet member.

Political views

A moderate Republican, Powell is well known for his willingness to support liberal or centrist causes. He is pro-choice regarding abortion, and in favor of "reasonable" gun control.

The Vietnam War had a profound effect on Powell's views of the proper use of military force. These views are described in detail in the autobiography My American Journey. The Powell Doctrine, as the views became known, was a central component of US policy in the Gulf War (the first U.S. war in Iraq) and U.S. invasion of Afghanistan (the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks). The hallmark of both operations was strong international cooperation, and the use of overwhelming military force.

Powell was the subject of controversy in 2004 when, in a conversation with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, he reportedly referred to neoconservatives within the Bush administration as "fucking crazies." In addition to being reported in the press (though generally, the expletive was censored in the U.S. press), the quote was used by James Naughtie in his book, The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency, and by Chris Patten in his book, Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a New Century.

In a letter to Sen. John McCain, General Powell expressed opposition to President Bush's push for military tribunals of those formerly and currently classified as enemy combatants. Specifically, he expressed concern of Bush's plan to "amend the interpretation of Article III of the Geneva Conventions." He also pointed out that perception of the War on Terror may be losing moral support saying, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism."

View of the U.S. war in Iraq

In an interview in July 2007, Powell revealed that he had spent two and a half hours trying to persuade Bush not to invade Iraq, but that he did not prevail. At the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado Powell stated, "I tried to avoid this war. I took him [Bush] through the consequences of going into an Arab country and becoming the occupiers."

Powell went on to say that he believed Iraq was in a state of civil war. "The civil war will ultimately be resolved by a test of arms. It's not going to be pretty to watch, but I don't know any way to avoid it. It is happening now." He further noted, "It is not a civil war that can be put down or solved by the armed forces of the United States," and suggested that all the U.S. military could do was put "a heavier lid on this pot of boiling sectarian stew."

Role in presidential election of 2008

Powell donated the maximum allowable amount to John McCain's campaign in the summer of 2007 and in early 2008, his name was listed as a possible running mate for Republican nominee McCain's bid during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. However, on October 19, 2008, Powell announced his endorsement of Barack Obama during a Meet the Press interview, citing "his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities," in addition to his "style and substance." He additionally referred to Obama as a "transformational figure". Powell concluded his Sunday morning talk show comments, "It isn't easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that [...] I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain." Later in a December 12, 2008, CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria, Powell reiterated his belief that during the last few months of the campaign, Palin pushed the Republican party further to the right and had a polarizing impact on it.

In a July 2009 CNN interview with John King, Powell expressed concern over President Obama growing the size of the federal government and the size of the federal budget deficit.

Personal life

Powell married Alma Johnson on August 25, 1962. Their son, Michael Powell, was the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 2001 to 2005. As a hobby, Powell restores old Volvo and Saab cars.

==Civilian awards and honors== Powell's civilian awards include two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the President's Citizens Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award. Several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country.

*In 1991, Powell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush.

*In 1991, Powell was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, which "honors the achievements of outstanding individuals in U.S. society who have succeeded in spite of adversity and of encouraging young people to pursue their dreams through higher education."

*On September 30, 1993, Powell was awarded his second Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

*On November 9, 1993, Powell was awarded the second Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, by President Ronald Reagan. Powell served as Reagan's National Security Advisor from 1987-1989.

On December 15, 1993, Colin Powell was created an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

In 1998, he was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy for his commitment to the ideals of "Duty, Honor, Country."

The 2002 Liberty Medal was awarded to Colin Powell on July 4 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In his acceptance speech, Powell reminded Americans that "It is for America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, to help freedom ring across the globe, unto all the peoples thereof. That is our solemn obligation, and we will not fail."

The Coat of Arms of Colin Powell was granted by the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh on February 4, 2004. Technically the grant was to Powell's father (a British subject) to be passed on by descent. Scotland's King of Arms is traditionally responsible for granting arms to Commonwealth citizens of Scottish descent. Blazoned as:

Azure, two swords in saltire points downwards between four mullets Argent, on a chief of the Second a lion passant Gules. On a wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest the head of an American bald-headed eagle erased Proper. And in an escrol over the same this motto, "DEVOTED TO PUBLIC SERVICE."

The swords and stars refer to the former general's career, as does the crest, which is the badge of the 101st Airborne (which he served as a brigade commander in the mid-1970s). The lion may be an allusion to Scotland. The shield can be shown surrounded by the insignia of an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath (KCB), an award the General received after the first Gulf War.

In 2005 Powell received the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award for his contributions to Africa.

AARP honored Powell with the 2006 AARP Andrus Award, the Association's highest honor. This award, named in honor of AARP's founder, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, is presented biennially to distinguished individuals who have generated positive social change in the world, and whose work and achievements reflect AARP's vision of bringing lifetimes of experience and leadership to serve all generations.

In 2005 Colin and Alma Powell were awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution.

Colin Powell was initiated as an honorary brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Powell is a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America.

A street in Gelnhausen, Germany was named after him: "General-Colin-Powell-Straße". In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Colin Powell on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.

In 2009, an elementary school named for Colin Powell opened in El Paso. It is in the El Paso Independent School District, located on Fort Bliss property, and serves a portion of Fort Bliss. There is also a street in El Paso named for Powell, Colin Powell Drive.

Powell is an Honorary Board Member of the humanitarian organization Wings of Hope

See also

Plame affair

Pottery Barn rule

Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008

References

Further reading

LaFeber, Walter, "The Rise and Fall of Colin Powell and the Powell Doctrine," Political Science Quarterly, 124 (Spring 2009), 71–93.

Powell, Colin A. and Joseph Persico, My American Journey, Ballantine Books, 1995. ISBN 0-345-40728-8

* Excerpts from My American Journey, TIME, September 18, 1995

DeYoung, Karen, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-4170-8

Video

Address to the National Summit on Africa - Washington, DC — February 2000 - Technical Note: playback requires Flash 10 Player

External links

Colin Powell: America's Best Leaders from US News & World Report

Remarks to the United Nations Security Council, February 5, 2003

Complete text, audio, video of Colin Powell's Remarks to the UN Security Council AmericanRhetoric.com

"Colin Powell On the issues"

African Americans in the U.S. Army

"Curveball" Revelations Indicate falsified info used to start Iraq war and esp used for Powell's UN presentation on Iraq WMDs

Colin Powell Quotes

The American Presidency Project: Remarks on the Retirement of General Colin Powell in Arlington, Virginia, September 30, 1993

Category:1937 births Category:African American members of the Cabinet of the United States Category:African-American military personnel Category:American Episcopalians Category:American military personnel of Jamaican descent Category:American military personnel of the Gulf War Category:American military personnel of the Vietnam War Category:American politicians of Jamaican descent Category:Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Category:City College of New York alumni

Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:George W. Bush Administration cabinet members Category:George Washington University alumni Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Category:Jamaican people of Scottish descent Category:Joint Chiefs of Staff Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:Living people Category:Military leaders of the Gulf War Category:My Lai Massacre Category:National War College alumni Category:New York Republicans Category:People from McLean, Virginia Category:People from the Bronx Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Reagan Administration personnel Category:Recipients of Skanderbeg's Order Category:Recipients of the Air Medal Category:Recipients of the Bronze Star Medal Category:Recipients of the Combat Infantryman Badge Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit Category:Recipients of the Purple Heart medal Category:Recipients of the Ranger tab Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Maurice Category:Recipients of the Soldier's Medal Category:Spingarn Medal winners Category:United States Army Command and General Staff College alumni Category:United States Army Command and General Staff College faculty Category:United States Army generals Category:United States National Security Advisors Category:United States Secretaries of State Category:Presidential Citizens Medal recipients

Name	Carl Bernstein
Caption	Bernstein at the 2007 Texas Book Festival
Birth date	February 14, 1944
Birth place	Washington, D.C., USA
Known for	Reporting on Watergate scandal
Education	University of Maryland (did not graduate)
Employer	Vanity Fair
Occupation	Journalist, Writer
Religion	Judaism
Spouse	Nora Ephron (1976-1980) Christine (present)
Children	Jacob Bernstein, Max Bernstein
Parents	Alfred Bernstein and Sylvia Walker

Carl Bernstein ( ) (born February 14, 1944) is an American journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of White House Officians such as H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Charles Colson, and John Mitchell, and the eventual resignation of President Richard Nixon. For his role in breaking the scandal, Bernstein received many awards; his work helped earn the Post a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1973.

In a 1977 Rolling Stone article, Bernstein revealed that over 400 US journalists had been employed by the Central Intelligence Agency, secretly carrying out assignments and publishing news stories for them.

Personal

In his 1989 memoir Loyalties, Bernstein revealed that his parents had been members of the Communist Party, which shocked some because even J. Edgar Hoover had tried and been unable to prove that Bernstein's parents were party members. Bernstein's parents were allegedly persecuted during the 1950s. The FBI conducted surveillance on his family over a 30 year period producing over 2,500 pages of documents, including notes taken by agents staking out his bar mitzvah.

Bernstein graduated from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. He subsequently attended the University of Maryland, College Park, but did not graduate. Bernstein, who is Jewish, is a lifetime member of B'nai B'rith and once was President of B'nai B'rith's Northern Region.

Bernstein met Margaret Jay, daughter of British Prime Minister James Callaghan and wife of Peter Jay, then UK ambassador to the United States. They had a much-publicised extramarital relationship in 1979. Margaret later became a government minister in her own right. Bernstein and his second wife, screenwriter Nora Ephron, already had an infant son, Jacob, and she was pregnant with their second son, Max, in 1979 when she learned of her husband's affair with Jay. Ephron delivered Max prematurely after finding out. Writer Ephron was inspired by the events to write the 1983 novel Heartburn, He has also written a biography of Hillary Rodham Clinton, A Woman In Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, published by Alfred A. Knopf on June 5, 2007.

He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair magazine.

Portrayals

Bernstein was portrayed by Dustin Hoffman in the film version of All the President's Men.

Bernstein was portrayed by Bruce McCulloch in the 1999 comedy film Dick.

In the film Heartburn, Jack Nicholson's role was a thinly-veiled portrayal of Bernstein.

Books authored

All the President's Men - With Bob Woodward (1974) ISBN 0-671-21781-X,

The Final Days - With Bob Woodward (1976) ISBN 0-671-22298-8

Loyalties: A Son's Memoir - (1989)

His Holiness: John Paul II & the History of Our Time - With Marco Politi (1996)

The Secret Man - With Bob Woodward (2005) ISBN 0-7432-8715-0

A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton - (2007) ISBN 0-375-40766-9

References

External links

'Deep Throat' brings Watergate pair together again, a June 2005 New York Times story from the International Herald Tribune website

Carl Bernstein. The CIA and the Media, Rolling Stone Magazine, October 20, 1977.

Biography of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward http://www.woodwardandbernstein.net

Alfred A. Knopf http://www.aaknopf.com

Carl Bernstein Home Page http://carlbernstein.com/home.php

Carl Bernstein takes an in-depth look at the fascinating life and career of Hillary Rodham Clinton in his book "A Woman in Charge"

Watergate Papers Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Harry Ransom Center">Woodward and Bernstein web exhibition at the Harry Ransom Center

Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American biographers Category:American investigative journalists Category:American journalists Category:American media critics Category:American memoirists Category:American political writers Category:American newspaper reporters and correspondents Category:Jewish American writers Category:American Jews Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni Category:Writers from Washington, D.C. Category:Writers from Maryland Category:Writers from New York Category:Watergate figures Category:Worth Bingham Prize recipients Category:People from Silver Spring, Maryland Category:Washington Post journalists

Name	Iman Crosson
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Born	March 27, 1982 Louisville, KY United States
Occupation	Actor, impressionist, dancer, singer, video producer
Years active	2005-present
Url	youtube.com/Alphacat

Iman Crosson is an American actor, impressionist, dancer and singer known on various Internet websites under the pseudonym "Alphacat" and is known for his impersonations of U.S. President Barack Obama, and for his use of the Internet to independently promote his career.

Crosson's propensity for dancing, acting and comedy manifested at age 5, his parents enrolling him in a school for the creative arts at age 12. Crosson showed interest in various performing arts. Crosson found early work as an actor at an amusement park, a hip-hop dancer, and a runway model before entering college to major in dance and minor in acting. He was recruited into a dance company. After moving to New York City, Crosson worked as a waiter, finding occasional work as a dancer and actor. In 2005, he began promoting his talents on Internet websites, especially video sharing website YouTube.

During the summer of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Crosson won Denny's Restaurant's nationwide contest for the best impressionist of the then-candidate Barack Obama. Obama's election victory brought recognition for Crosson's comedy-, vocal-, musical-, and dance-laden video characterizations of a President during national crisis. Within months of the election, Crosson was featured on numerous entertainment, culture, and news television shows, blogs and newspapers, and received a personal invitation to perform at Aretha Franklin's March 2009 birthday celebration. Two of Crosson's videos occupy spots in the top ten most "favorited" videos on YouTube (Entertainment category). Crosson has had engagements at corporate events, parts in national commercials, and voice-over parts on Newsweek.com's The District and on two prime time television shows. Crosson co-edited and sang in the charity music video "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)," whose participants were collectively named ABC News' "Persons of the Week" by Diane Sawyer. He also spoke at the 66th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, impersonating Barack Obama who was not personally present at the event.

Childhood and education

Iman Crosson was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the youngest of five children. From age 5, young Crosson showed aptitude for entertainment, especially acting, dance and comedy. Crosson's impersonations of childhood idol Jim Carrey and re-enactments of scenes from the In Living Color television series, convinced his parents to enroll the 12 year old in the School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati, Ohio. At SCPA, Crosson's creative interests encompassed acting, dance, musical theater, creative writing and percussion.

Professional career

The early days

After graduating from SCPA, that during this period he was "so stressed out about money" and he "needed to start doing what he enjoyed... quickly." His lack of an agent limited his recognition, so Crosson took career promotion into his own hands. "The alpha part is about the fact that most guys are alpha males in their own right."

Crosson's Alphacat YouTube channel, whose videos originated from what he called "The Lion's Den," was at one time subtitled "YouTube's most diverse channel." His self-produced YouTube videos ranged from comedic, spoof, and dance and physical comedy to serious-issue discussion blogs, slice of life renditions, and autobiographical blogs. By July 2007, one of Crosson's videos had become a "promoted" video on YouTube's front page, and by November 2007 another of Crosson's videos was "featured" on YouTube's front page. During the June–December 2007 time period, Crosson's channel grew from about 1,500 subscribers to over 5,000 subscribers.

In June, 2008, YouTube suspended Crosson's account in response to a copyright infringement claim from a foreign film production company. Crosson's counterclaim caused YouTube to reinstate his account.

Continuing to work as a waiter in early summer of the election year 2008, Crosson said he did not initially take seriously the "Obama" comments from his co-workers, but "then (he) had an epiphany" and began uploading Obama impersonation videos to his YouTube account.

Breakthrough: From Denny's Breakfast to "I Can Do Whatever I Like"

During the summer of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Crosson's 30-second video won Denny's Restaurant's nationwide contest for the best impressionist of the then-candidate Barack Obama. He said that he "went from unemployed to self-employed in literally a matter of a month." of Crosson spoofing Obama preparing for a campaign debate, was posted by YouTube video publisher and Sarah Palin impressionist Lisa Donovan. A week later, Donovan, whose video description had called Crosson "The Best Barack," also posted Crosson's spoof of Obama in debate.

On election day 2008, Crosson posted a spoof of Obama singing a variation of T.I.'s song "Whatever You Like," a comedic portrayal of a President-elect facetiously gloating, "I can do whatever I like." The video was viewed more than 11 million times in its first seven months. Outside cyberspace, early jobs involved voice-over work for commercials. spoofing Obama's assumption of the Presidency, its lyrics including "I got hope on my lips, BlackBerry on my hip" and repeating "change is on the way, know it."

YouTube's official listing showed Crosson's spoof videos "T.I. Whatever You Like" (posted November 2008) and "Beyoncé Single Ladies" (posted January 2009) as being the seventh and ninth "most favorited" videos of all time (Entertainment category), having been "favorited" over 142,000 times and over 135,000 times, respectively, as of July 15, 2010.

Evolution after the Inaugural "I, Barack Obama"

After Obama's inauguration, Crosson was featured on entertainment (Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, New York Daily News), culture (The Atlantic) and news (Fox News, ABC News, CNN, Time.com) television shows, blogs and newspapers. Crosson was called a "YouTube sensation" by Fox News' Neil Cavuto, who "had a feeling (Crosson) would go very very far." New York magazine called Crosson "the man who proved Obama can be made funny."

Crosson's post-inaugural work included voice-overs in newsweek.com's The District, a video blog series in which Crosson narrates Obama's first months in Washington from the President's point of view.

Crosson entered into commercial endorsement agreements with companies, including Sanyo for its Xacti camcorders. Crosson collaborated with Rhett and Link in their March 2009 "Phatdippin' Rap" video, which contained overlays that said each YouTube star used a Sanyo camera for filming,

The success of Crosson's YouTube videos, recognized by his acceptance into YouTube's "partnership" (ad revenue-sharing) program, reportedly

Crosson's Presidential portrayals were not only musical and dance adaptations, but constituted editorials on the political, racial, ethnic and social issues of a critical time in national history. Two months after Obama's inauguration, in March 2009 Crosson's spoof of T.I.'s "Dead and Gone" included an introduction: "Have you ever felt the weight of the future of a country on your shoulders?" A musical collaboration with YouTube personality Lisa Lavie, spoof whose lyrics chide those who blame their situation on the economy ("Blame it on the news, taxpayer blues Blame it on the loans, ... on Bush, ... on Cheney).

parodying Michael Jackson in Crosson's "Obama Does Thriller" video, with Vernetta Jenkins parodying Michelle Obama parodying Jackson's love interest in Jackson's 1983 Thriller original. Crosson's parody was fashioned after Michael Jackson's 1983 Thriller video, with Crosson playing the Presidential role in a manner sympathetic to Obama and humorously portraying Fox News viewers as zombies. The Entertainment Tonight television program previewed the Thriller parody video, Asked about certain major media outlets saying that Crosson's video is "a slam at Fox news," Vernetta Jenkins, who played the part of First Lady Michelle Obama in the video, responded "With lyrics like 'Fox news is Thriller! It’s a fright! They claim they’re fair and balanced but I know they can’t be right!' This THRILLER parody is definitely a calling on the carpet for Fox News." for relief of victims of the January 12, 2010 Haiti earthquake. A collaboration of 57 unsigned or independent YouTube musicians, the YouTube video was posted as a video response to the celebrity version We Are the World 25 for Haiti that was released eight days earlier. The YouTube collaboration video received its first half-million views on YouTube in two days and became the subject of worldwide media attention, including multiple features on CNN, and a primetime news broadcast on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer in which the video's participants were named ABC News "Persons of the Week."

Crosson spoke at the 66th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner on March 17, 2010, impersonating Barack Obama who was not personally present at the event.

Crosson's collaborations include comedic spoofs of the "Kendra" reality television series, in which Crosson plays the role of professional football player Hank Baskett, husband of television personality Kendra Wilkinson who is played by fellow YouTube personality Lisa Lavie.

Crosson continues to post videos on YouTube, and actively and personally manages pages on various popular social networking websites.

Artistry and influences

Asked about his "secret to mastering the president-elect," as "uncanny," his pauses and emphasis being "dead-on."

Crosson expressed that it is his dream to "perform Obama for Obama," that is, to perform for President Obama himself. "My ultimate hope is that Obama will see it one day and laugh." For artistic innovation he credits self-knowledge—knowing and applying one's own talent and passion.

*Featured, The Insider television series, February 3, 2009.

*Voice actor, voice-over of Barack Obama, “The District," Newsweek.com's online blog series, February 2, 2009 through March 30, 2009.

*Curator of Black History Month "Spotlight" videos on YouTube's front page, February 2010.

*Performer, 66th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, personally meeting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden (March 17, 2010).

*Voice actor, voice of Barack Obama in the motion picture "Cupcake Mayor" (2010).

Media coverage

Crosson or his work have been featured by national news organizations including CNN, TIME, Fox News, entertainment television including Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and G4 TV; metropolitan newspapers radio; online news consolidators and entertainment news websites; and popular commentators.

Video statistics

{| class="wikitable" |- style="text-align:center;" ! colspan="6" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | "View" Statistics for Notable Videos in "Alphacat" Channel
(sorted by views/day) |- ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|  Title of Video (cited in article unless specifically noted)   ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|  Date Posted   ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|  Views of Video   ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|  Age (days)   ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|  Views Per Day   ! style="background: #DDDDDD;"|Note |- style="text-align:center;" | Beyoncé - "Single Ladies" Spoof (Barack Obama) | 2009-01-19 | 17,478,047 | 597 | 29,276 | style="text-align:left;"|Inauguration Day 2009 |- style="text-align:center;" | T.I.- "Whatever You Like" Spoof! (Obama- Whatever I Like) | 2008-11-04 | 17,703,586 | 673 | 26,305 | style="text-align:left;"|Election Day 2008 |- style="text-align:center;" | T.I. "Dead and Gone" Spoof- Barack Obama | 2009-03-26 | 5,185,668 | 531 | 9,766 | style="text-align:left;"|2 months post inauguration |- style="text-align:center;" | Drake - "Best I Ever Had" (Parody)" | 2009-08-02 | 3,497,501 | 402 | 8,700 | style="text-align:left;"|Drake Musical Parody |- style="text-align:center;" | "Blame It" - Jamie Foxx - Barack Obama Spoof | 2009-05-08 | 3,442,414 | 488 | 7,054 | style="text-align:left;"|3.5 months post inauguration |- style="text-align:center;" | Obama Does "Thriller" | 2009-11-04 | 787,431 | 308 | 2,557 | style="text-align:left;"|After Obama-Fox News feud |- style="text-align:center;" | Barack Obama - State of the Nation Address (Hip-Hop) | 2009-02-26 | 1,293,596 | 559 | 2,314 | style="text-align:left;"|1 month post inauguration |}

See also

YouTube

List of YouTube personalities

We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)

YouTube Live

Social impact of YouTube

References

External links

Crosson on YouTube, facebook, and Myspace.

Category:American Internet personalities Category:African American actors Category:Actors from California Category:YouTube video producers Category:American impressionists (entertainers) Category:Wright State University alumni Category:1982 births Category:Living people