Portal:United States/Did you know/archive/2010/July

July 2010

 * ... that commercial fishing of Sockeye salmon from the Chilkoot Lake in Haines Borough, Alaska, is worth about US$1 million annually?
 * ... that the report "Top Secret America" by The Washington Post revealed that over 850,000 people in the U.S. intelligence community have top-secret clearance?
 * ... that Nevada Governor John Henry Kinkead (pictured) was the first United States official to hold office in Alaska?
 * ... that Max Desfor's image Flight of Refugees Across Wrecked Bridge in Korea was taken during the longest retreat in the military history of the United States?
 * ... that President Barack Obama called to congratulate baseball pitcher Mark Buehrle after his perfect game?
 * ... the River Raisin National Battlefield Park will preserve the site of the United States' deadliest defeat in the War of 1812?
 * ... that the rise in the manufacturing of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s was partially due to the United States' embargo on China?
 * ... that Democrat Mayor Thomas G. Dunn, national co-chairman of Democrats for Nixon, was "read out of the party" for his support of Republican President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election bid?
 * ... that British actress Christine McKenna starred in the 1979 series Flambards but is now a television producer in the United States?
 * ... that the Rivadavia-class battleships (pictured) were the subject of a fierce competition between France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States?
 * ... that US Army soldiers march to the top of Hill 303 in Korea every year to place flowers commemorating the victims of the Hill 303 massacre of the Korean War (memorial pictured)?
 * ... that a door-to-door salesman sold a US$1,700 Kirby vacuum cleaner to a woman with Alzheimer's who already owned one and lived alone in a mobile home?
 * ... that during the Vietnam War's Battles of Prek Klok I and II, 13 times more Viet Cong were killed than American troops?
 * ... that Ann Waldron initially wrote children's books, then turned to biographies of authors from the Southern United States, and at age 78 began writing murder mysteries set at Princeton University?
 * ... that a cave in Okinawa is called the Cave of the Negroes because three apparently African American US Marines were killed by villagers and their bodies dumped in the cave?
 * ... that although formally established by U.S. President Bill Clinton, the President’s Management Council has existed in various forms since the Reagan administration?
 * ... that Military Road in Arlington County, Virginia, was built by U.S. Army troops in just three days?
 * ... that the buffalo jump at Madison Buffalo Jump State Park in Montana was used for approximately 2000 years by various Native American tribes?
 * ... that the United States men's volleyball team won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics, after not competing at the three previous Games?
 * ... that U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam Graham Martin held George W. Webber implicitly responsible for a mortar attack that killed 32 South Vietnamese children?
 * ... that, in 2010, American professional wrestler Scott C. Despres twice defeated Antonio Thomas in the space of a month?
 * ... that in 2000, porters at Sotheby's auction disposed of a box in a crushing machine, accidentally destroying a painting worth about US$157,000 inside?
 * ... that the U.S. Justice Department tried to cite the merger of Detroit-based chains Cunningham Drug and Kinsel Drug as a violation of the Clayton Antitrust Act?
 * ... that the Ribbon Creek incident at U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island resulted in the relief "without prejudice" of Major General Joseph C. Burger?
 * ... that the Oak Circle Historic District was the first historic district to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Wilmette, Illinois?
 * ... that Private James Pym won the Medal of Honor for carrying water to wounded soldiers while under heavy fire during the Battle of Little Bighorn?
 * ... that Chet D. Traylor, a former Louisiana Supreme Court justice, has entered the 2010 Republican primary to challenge U.S. Senator David Vitter?
 * ... that in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the right to boycott peacefully?
 * ... that Ward's Castle (pictured), on the state line between Rye Brook, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, is believed to be the first reinforced concrete building in the United States?
 * ... that during the Vietnam War the Swedish FNL movement used to attack U.S. diplomats with eggs, tomatoes and, occasionally, surströmming?
 * ... that urban renewal led to only one side of Lake Street (pictured) in Bergen, New York, being designated a historic district?
 * ... that Medal of Honor recipient First Lieutenant Lewis Warrington III is the grandson of American naval hero Lewis Warrington?
 * ... that during World War II, Fort McGilvray sat 650 feet above Alaska's Resurrection Bay to defend against a possible Japanese invasion?
 * ... that the historian William Y. Thompson during the 1950s researched the origins of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, forerunner of the American Red Cross?
 * ... that Ramón Estévez, who played a sycophantic, "spineless corporal" in Cadence, wore glasses and "his hat most of the time" to keep from being recognized as Charlie Sheen's brother?
 * ... that when Danish socialist pioneer and former prisoner Poul Johansen Geleff (pictured) emigrated to the United States, Danish police helped pay for his travel costs?
 * ... that after leading African-American troops in the American Civil War, Alfred Stedman Hartwell became a supreme court judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii?
 * ... that the United States Army sends Military History Detachments to war zones to collect historical documents, such as oral histories, for writing histories?
 * ... that American schoolteacher Rita Abrams and the fourth-grade class in her school recorded an album which featured a Billboard Hot 100 hit and saw her being nominated for a Grammy?
 * ... that after earning the Medal of Honor in 1890, U.S. Cavalryman Frederick E. Toy went on to serve as an orderly to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt?
 * ... that Consolidated Edison distributed dry ice to its customers who lost power during the July 2010 Canada/United States heatwave?
 * ... that Blount Island in the St. Johns River is home to both the United States Marine Corps' Maritime Prepositioning ship program and the largest container facility at the Port of Jacksonville?
 * ... that after being ambushed by the Tonto Apaches, U.S. Calvaryman Bernard Taylor carried his wounded commanding officer half a mile back to their encampment under heavy fire?
 * ... that Egon Schiele's 1912 Portrait of Wally (pictured) was seized by the United States Customs Service which alleged that the painting was Nazi plunder?
 * ... that the weeping willow planted by John Parke Custis on his Abingdon plantation is known as the progenitor of all weeping willows in the United States?
 * ... that the Louisiana Reconstruction politician Marshall H. Twitchell survived six bullets in an 1876 assassination attempt but lost the use of both arms?
 * ... that, two years after winning the Medal of Honor for gallantry in the American Indian Wars, George W. Thompson deserted the U.S. Army?
 * ... that Frankliniella tritici, known as Eastern flower thrips, is an insect that damages crops in the United States of America, including strawberries, grapes, beans and asparagus?
 * ... that the former Smith Tavern in Armonk, New York, has been a militia headquarters, stagecoach stop, post office, parsonage, farmhouse and museum in over 200 years of existence?
 * ... that the prisoner rehabilitation Second Chance Program, based on works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, was criticized during the 2010 United States Senate elections in Nevada?
 * ... that a telescope, high school, bridge, and locks and dam are among the places named for United States Senator Robert Byrd in the U.S. state of West Virginia?
 * ... that although Chris Young was voted Tu'i Manu'a Elisala by several chiefs in American Samoa, Governor Edward Stanley Kellogg denied him the title, claiming it was incompatible with the United States Constitution?
 * ... that Thomas H. Forsyth was denied the Medal of Honor by the United States Department of War but later received it after a petition nearly 20 years later?
 * ... that the Kentucky attorney and politician Fuller Harding died in 2010 in the same house in which he was born in 1915?
 * ... that John James was awarded the Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action" after defending the Lyman Train from Indian attacks for three days?
 * ... that Brigadier General James Jackson was awarded the Medal of Honor twenty years after his actions in the pursuit of Chief Joseph following the Battle of the Clearwater in 1877?
 * ... that Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso, Texas, is the site of the only tin mine ever operated in the United States?
 * ... that Bill Dague was the first consensus All-American football player from the United States Naval Academy?
 * ... that the clientele of Diego's Hair Salon has included politicians, diplomats, and two U.S. Supreme Court Justices?
 * ... that, in 2004, Portland City Grill became Oregon's first restaurant to make Restaurants & Institutions magazine's list of the "top 100 highest-grossing independent restaurants" in the United States?
 * ... that some of the suspects in an alleged network of Russian spies planted in the United States were paired as couples and had children together to help maintain their covert status?
 * ... that the Arkansas Democratic politician Hayes McClerkin in 1970 challenged Governor Winthrop Rockefeller's "list" of militants disrupting college and university campuses?
 * ... that the Chetco (pictured) were once one of the largest Native American tribes on the southern coast of Oregon, but now only about 40 of their descendants remain?
 * ... that Eric Hamilton, the youngest American college football head coach when hired by Trenton State College at age 23, has held the same job for 33 years?
 * ... that football coach Denny Douds, climbing the career wins list after decades at the same university, jumped with the U.S. Army Parachute Team in May 2010 at age 69?
 * ... that Elakala Falls (pictured) may derive its name from the legend of Elakala, the story of a Native American princess who threw herself over the edge of the first waterfall when her lover scorned her?
 * ... that since 1997, The Georgetown Improv Association has hosted "Improvfest," one of the oldest improvisational theater festivals in the United States?
 * ... that John Hartmann, a 24-year-old law student, won election to the New Jersey General Assembly's 15th Legislative District in 1991, making him the youngest Republican ever elected to the Assembly?
 * ... that the Oyu Tolgoi mine will cost US$4.6 billion to complete, and will be the most expensive project in Mongolian history?