User:Wehwalt/TFAblurbs

This is a compendium of possible blurbs for my FAs that have not yet appeared main page, or sometimes for articles about to become (I hope) FAs. The dates are merely for convenience and do not indicate an intent to nominate for that date.

January 9


Richard Nixon (1913–1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. Nixon waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy; in 1968 he ran again for the presidency and was elected. American involvement in Vietnam was widely unpopular; although Nixon initially escalated the war there, he subsequently moved to end US involvement, completely withdrawing American forces by 1973. Nixon's ground-breaking visit to the People's Republic of China in 1972 opened diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. He was reelected by a landslide in 1972. Nixon's second term was marked by crisis, with 1973 seeing an Arab oil embargo as a result of U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, and a continuing series of revelations about the Watergate scandal, which began as a break-in at a Washington office and escalated despite Nixon administration efforts to cover it up. This cost Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office. In retirement, Nixon's work as an elder statesman—authoring several books and undertaking many foreign trips—helped to rehabilitate his image. (more…)

November 17
 The Heidi Game was an American football game played on November 17, 1968. The home team, the Oakland Raiders, defeated the New York Jets, 43–32. The game is remembered for its exciting finish, as Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to overcome a 32–29 New York lead. The Heidi Game obtained its name because the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) controversially broke away from the game with the Jets still winning to air the television film Heidi at 7 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone. A high-scoring contest, together with a number of injuries and penalties for the two bitter American Football League rivals caused the game to run long. NBC executives had ordered that Heidi must begin on time, but given the exciting game, they decided to postpone the start of the film and continue football coverage. As 7 p.m. approached, many members of the public called NBC to inquire about the schedule, to complain or opine, jamming NBC's switchboards, and the change could not be communicated. Heidi began as scheduled, preempting the final moments of the game and the two Oakland touchdowns in the eastern half of the country, to the outrage of viewers. (more…)

January 17
 The Standing Liberty quarter was a 25-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1930. It succeeded the Barber quarter, which had been minted since 1892. Featuring the goddess of Liberty on one side and an eagle in flight on the other, the coin was designed by sculptor Hermon Atkins MacNeil. In 1915, the Director of the Mint, Robert W. Woolley, set in motion efforts to replace the Barber dime, quarter, and half dollar, as he mistakenly believed that the law required new designs. MacNeil submitted a militaristic design that showed Liberty on guard against attacks. The Mint required modifications to the initial design, and MacNeil's revised version included dolphins to represent the oceans. In late 1916, Mint officials made major changes to the design without informing MacNeil. The sculptor complained about the changes after receiving the new issue in January 1917. The Mint obtained special legislation to allow MacNeil to redesign the coin as he desired. One change made by the sculptor was the addition of a chain mail vest that covered Liberty's formerly bare breast. (more…)

March 4
 The nickel is a five-cent coin issued by the United States Mint. Composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel, the piece has been struck since 1866. The silver half dime, also equal to five cents, had been issued since the 1790s. The economic upset of the American Civil War drove gold and silver from circulation, and the government at first issued paper currency in place of low-value coins. As two-cent (in 1864) and three-cent pieces (1865) without precious metal content had been successfully introduced, Congress also authorized a five-cent piece of base metal; the Mint began striking this in 1866. The Shield nickel, the initial design, was struck until 1883, when it was replaced by the Liberty Head nickel. As part of a drive to increase the beauty of American coinage, the Buffalo nickel was introduced in 1913; it was followed by the Jefferson nickel in 1938. After using special designs in for the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 2004 and 2005, the Mint reverted to using Jefferson nickel designer Felix Schlag's original reverse (or "tails" side), although substituting a new obverse by Jamie Franki.

August 31


The Indian Head eagle was a ten-dollar gold piece, or eagle struck by the United States Mint continuously from 1907 until 1916, and then irregularly until 1933. The obverse and the reverse, designed by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, were originally commissioned for use on other denominations. The coin, as sculpted by Saint-Gaudens, was in too high relief for the Mint to strike readily; completion of the design modifications necessary to make the coin sufficiently flat to be struck by one blow of the Mint's presses took months. Following the sculptor's death on August 3, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt, an advocate of new designs on US coinage, insisted that the new eagle be finished and struck that month. New pieces [ pictured] were given to the President on August 31, which differ from the coins struck later for circulation. The omission of the motto "In God We Trust" on the new coins caused public outrage, and prompted Congress to pass a bill mandating its inclusion. (more…)

April 30


The Franklin half dollar is a coin that was struck by the United States Mint ("Mint") from 1948 to 1963. The fifty-cent piece pictures Founding Father Benjamin Franklin on the obverse and the Liberty Bell on the reverse. A small eagle was placed to the right of the bell to fulfill the legal requirement that half dollars depict the figure of an eagle. Produced in 90 percent silver with a reeded edge, the coin was struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints. Mint director Nellie Tayloe Ross had long admired Franklin, and wanted him to be depicted on a coin. In 1947, she instructed the Mint's chief engraver, John R. Sinnock, to prepare designs for a Franklin half dollar. Sinnock's designs were based on his earlier work, but he died before their completion. The designs were completed by Sinnock's successor, Gilroy Roberts. The Mint submitted the new designs to the Commission of Fine Arts ("Commission") for its advisory opinion. The Commission disliked the small eagle and felt that depicting the crack in the Liberty Bell would expose the coinage to jokes and ridicule. (more…)

August 30


The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman, it gained its common name as the obverse depiction of a young Liberty, identifiable by her winged Phrygian cap, was confused with the Roman god Mercury. Weinman is believed to have used Elsie Stevens, the wife of lawyer and poet Wallace Stevens, as a model. The coin's reverse depicts a fasces, symbolizing unity and strength, and an olive branch, signifying peace. By 1916, the dime, quarter, and half dollar designed by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber had been struck for 25 years, and could be replaced by the Treasury, of which the Mint is a part, without Congressional authorization. Mint officials were under the misapprehension that the designs had to be changed, and held a competition among three sculptors, in which Barber, who had been in his position for 36 years, also took part. Weinman's designs for the dime and half dollar were selected. Although the new coin's design was admired for its beauty, the Mint made modifications to it upon learning that vending machine manufacturers were having difficulties making the new dime work in their devices. The coin continued to be minted until 1945, when the Treasury ordered that a new design, featuring recently deceased president Franklin Roosevelt, take its place. (more…)

November 15


The Jefferson nickel has been the five-cent coin struck by the United States Mint since 1938, when it replaced the Buffalo nickel. Beginning in 2006, the copper-nickel coin's obverse has featured a forward-facing portrayal of early U.S. President Thomas Jefferson by Jamie Franki. The coin's reverse is the original by Felix Schlag; in 2004 and 2005, the piece bore commemorative designs. First struck in 1913, the Buffalo nickel had long been difficult to coin, and after it completed the 25-year term during which it could only be replaced by Congress, the Mint moved quickly to replace it with a new design. The Mint conducted a design competition in early 1938, requiring that Jefferson be depicted on the obverse, and Jefferson's house, Monticello on the reverse. Schlag won the competition, but was required to submit an entirely new reverse and make other changes before the new piece went into production in October 1938. As nickel was a strategic war material during World War II, nickels coined from 1942 to 1945 were struck in a copper-silver-manganese alloy which would not require adjustment to vending machines, and bear a large mintmark above the depiction of Monticello on the reverse. In 2004 and 2005, the nickel saw new designs as part of the Westward Journey nickel series, and since 2006 has borne Schlag's reverse and Franki's obverse. (more…)

July 1


Sir John A. Macdonald (1815–1891) was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century. Macdonald served almost nineteen years as Canadian Prime Minister; he is surpassed in tenure only by William Lyon Mackenzie King. Macdonald was born in Scotland; his family emigrated to Kingston, Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario) when he was a boy. He served in the legislature of the colonial Province of Canada and by 1857 had become premier under the province's unstable political system. When in 1864 no party proved capable of governing for long, Macdonald agreed to a proposal from his political rival, George Brown, that the parties unite in a Great Coalition to seek federation and political reform. A series of conferences resulted in the British North America Act and the birth of Canada as a nation on 1 July 1867. Macdonald was designated as the first Prime Minister of the new nation, and served in that capacity for most of the remainder of his life, losing office for five years in the 1870s over the Pacific Scandal (bribery in the financing of the Canadian Pacific Railway). After regaining his position, he saw the railroad through to completion in 1885, a means of transportation and freight conveyance which helped unite Canada as one nation. (more…)

October 22


Nixon in China is an opera in three acts by John Adams, with a libretto by Alice Goodman. Adams' first opera, it was inspired by the 1972 visit to China by US President Richard Nixon (arrival in China shown). The work premiered at the Houston Grand Opera on October 22, 1987, in a production by Peter Sellars with choreography by Mark Morris. When Sellars approached Adams with the idea for the opera in 1985,  Adams was initially reluctant, but eventually decided that the work could be a study in how myths come to be, and accepted the project. Adams mixes Stravinskian 20th century neoclassicism, jazz references, and big band sounds reminiscent of Nixon's youth in the 1930s. The combination of these elements varies frequently, to reflect changes in the onstage action. Following the 1987 premiere, the opera received mixed reviews; some critics dismissed the work, predicting it would soon vanish. However, it has been presented on many occasions since, in Europe as well as in North America, and has been recorded twice. In 2011, the opera received its Metropolitan Opera debut, a production based on the original sets, and in the same year was given an abstract production in Toronto by the Canadian Opera Company. Recent critical opinion has tended to recognize the work as a significant and lasting contribution to American opera. (more…)

September 24


Mark Hanna (1837–1904) was a Republican United States Senator from Ohio and the friend and political manager of President William McKinley. Hanna was born in New Lisbon (today Lisbon), Ohio, in 1837. His family moved to the growing city of Cleveland in his teenage years, where he attended high school with John D. Rockefeller. Hanna was a wealthy man in Cleveland by his 40th birthday, and turned his attention to politics. Despite Hanna's efforts on his behalf, Ohio Senator John Sherman failed to gain the Republican nomination for president in 1884 and 1888. With Sherman becoming too old to be considered a contender, Hanna worked to elect McKinley. In 1895, Hanna left his business career to devote himself full time to McKinley's campaign. The Democrats nominated former Nebraska Congressman William Jennings Bryan, who ran on a bimetallism, or "Free Silver", platform. Hanna's fundraising broke records, and once initial public enthusiasm for Bryan and his program subsided, McKinley was comfortably elected. Declining a Cabinet position, Hanna secured appointment as senator from Ohio after Sherman was made Secretary of State; he was re-elected by the Ohio Legislature in 1898 and 1904. He died in 1904, and is remembered for his role in McKinley's election, thanks to savage cartoons by such illustrators as Homer Davenport, who depicted him, inaccurately, as McKinley's political master. (more…)

October 10


Allegro was a 1947 musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics), their third collaboration for the stage. The musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr. from birth to age 35—Joe follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at a big-city hospital. After the immense successes of the first two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel, the pair sought a subject for their next play. Hammerstein had long contemplated a serious work which would deal with the problems of the ordinary man in the fast-moving modern world. The duo sought to create a work which would be as innovative as their first two stage musicals. To that end, they created a play with a large cast, including a Greek chorus. The production would have no sets; props and projections served to suggest locations. After a disastrous tryout in New Haven, Connecticut, the musical opened on Broadway to a large advance sale of tickets, and very mixed reviews. The show was viewed as too moralistic, and the Broadway production closed after nine months; it was followed by a short national tour. It had no West End production, and has rarely been revived. Allegro has been recorded twice, the original cast album and a studio recording released in 2009. (more…)

April 19


Carousel was the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline. The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow, whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs. The show includes the well-known songs "If I Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite among all his musicals. Following the spectacular success of the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma! (1943), the pair sought to collaborate on another piece, knowing that any resulting work would be compared with Oklahoma!, most likely unfavorably. They were initially reluctant to seek the rights to Liliom; Molnár had refused permission for the work to be adapted in the past, and the original ending was considered too depressing for the musical theatre. After acquiring the rights, the team created a work with lengthy sequences of music and made the ending more hopeful. Though it has never achieved as much commercial success as Oklahoma!, the piece has been repeatedly revived, and has been recorded several times. A production by Nicholas Hytner enjoyed success in 1992 in London, in 1994 in New York and on tour. In 1999, Time magazine named Carousel the best musical of the 20th century. (more…)

January 15


C. D. Howe (1886–1960) was a powerful Canadian Cabinet minister of the Liberal Party. Howe served in the governments of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957. Born in Massachusetts, Howe moved to Nova Scotia as a young adult to take up a professorship at Dalhousie University. After working for the Canadian government as an engineer, he began his own firm, and became a wealthy man. In 1935, he was recruited as a Liberal candidate for the Canadian House of Commons by then Opposition leader Mackenzie King. The Liberals won the election in a landslide, and Howe won his seat. Mackenzie King appointed him to the Cabinet. When World War II began in 1939, Howe played a crucial role in Canada's war effort, and recruited many corporate executives to serve in wartime enterprises. Howe's impatience with the necessity for parliamentary debate of his proposals won him few friends, and he was often accused of dictatorial conduct by the Opposition. As the Liberal government entered its third decade, it and Howe came to be seen as arrogant. The Government's attempt to impose closure in the 1956 Pipeline Debate led to major controversy in the House of Commons. In the 1957 election, Howe's actions and policies were made an issue by Opposition leader John Diefenbaker. Howe lost his seat in the election, and Diefenbaker became Prime Minister, ending almost 22 years of Liberal rule. (more…)

November 30


Pipe Dream is the seventh stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; it premiered on Broadway on November 30, 1955. The work is based on John Steinbeck's short novel Sweet Thursday—Steinbeck (pictured) wrote the novel, a sequel to Cannery Row, in the hope of having it adapted into a musical. Set in Monterey, California, the musical tells the story of the romance between Doc, a marine biologist, and Suzy, who in the novel is a prostitute; her profession is only alluded to in the stage work. As Hammerstein adapted Sweet Thursday, he and Rodgers had concerns about featuring a prostitute as female lead and setting part of the musical in a bordello. They signed operatic diva Helen Traubel to play Fauna, the house madam. As the show progressed through tryouts, Hammerstein repeatedly revised it, obscuring Suzy's profession and the nature of Fauna's house. Pipe Dream met with poor reviews, and rapidly closed once it exhausted its advance sale. It had no national tour or London production, and has rarely been presented since. There was no movie at the time; the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization (which licenses their works) once hoped for a film version featuring the Muppets with Fauna played by Miss Piggy. (more…)

December 13


The Liberty Head nickel was an American five-cent piece. It was struck for circulation from 1883 until 1912; at least five pieces were surreptitiously struck dated 1913. The original copper-nickel five-cent piece, the Shield nickel, had longstanding production problems, and in the early 1880s, the United States Mint was looking to replace it. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber was instructed to prepare designs for proposed one-, three-, and five-cent pieces, which were to bear similar designs. Only the new five-cent piece was approved, and went into production in 1883. The design was struck for almost thirty years, and large quantities were produced to meet commercial demand, especially as coin-operated machines became popular. Beginning in 1911, the Mint began work to replace the Liberty head design, and a new design, which became known as the Buffalo nickel, went into production in February 1913. No 1913 Liberty head nickels were officially struck; however, five are known to exist. It is uncertain how these pieces originated, but they have come to be among the most expensive coins in the world—one sold in 2010 for $3,737,500. (more…)

November 11
<div style="width:55%; background-color:#f5fffa; border:1px solid #cef2e0;padding:1em;padding-top:0.5em; color: black"> The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis has been described as the greatest political crisis and constitutional crisis in Australia's history. It culminated on 11 November 1975 with the removal of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party by Governor-General Sir John Kerr. Kerr then appointed the Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister. Whitlam's Labor government had been elected in 1972 with a small majority in the House of Representatives, but with the Opposition controlling the Senate. While the Whitlam Government introduced many new policies and programs, it was also rocked by scandals and political miscalculations. In October 1975, the Opposition used its control of the Senate to block appropriation bills, or supply, which finance governmental operations and which had been passed by the House of Representatives, and urged Kerr to dismiss Whitlam. Whitlam believed that Kerr would not dismiss him, and Kerr did nothing to disabuse Whitlam. On 11 November 1975, Whitlam intended to call a half-Senate election in an attempt to break the deadlock. When he went to seek Kerr's approval of the election, Kerr instead dismissed him as Prime Minister, and shortly thereafter installed Fraser in his place. (more….)

November 22
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The Kennedy half dollar, first minted in 1964, is a currently-struck fifty cent coin issued by the United States Mint. Intended as a memorial to the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, it was authorized by Congress just over a month after his death. Use of existing works by Mint sculptors Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro allowed dies to be prepared with great speed. The coins vanished from circulation soon after their release in April 1964 due to collectors, hoarders, and those interested in a memento of the late president. Although the Mint greatly increased production, the coins still failed to circulate. Continued rises in the price of silver increased the hoarding and caused the removal of the metal from the denomination, lowering the percentage of fine silver per coin from ninety percent to forty percent (the "silver clad" pieces). Even after this change was made, the coins failed to circulate significantly, as the now-replaced Franklin half dollar had. In 1971, silver was eliminated entirely from the coins. A special design for the reverse of the half dollar was issued for the United States Bicentennial and was struck in 1975 and 1976. In addition to business strikes, special collector coins were struck for the Bicentennial in silver clad; silver proof sets in which the dime, quarter and half dollar were struck in 90% silver were first minted in 1992. Even though ample supplies of half dollars are now available, their circulation is extremely limited. Since 2002, Kennedy half dollars have only been struck to satisfy the demand from collectors, and are available through the Mint. (more….)

May 28
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The early life, business career and political rise of Neville Chamberlain culminated on 28 May 1937, when he was summoned to Buckingham Palace to "kiss hands" and accept the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Chamberlain was born in 1869; his father was the politician and future Cabinet minister, Joseph Chamberlain. He was educated at Rugby School and Mason Science College; at neither institution was he particularly successful. In 1918, Chamberlain was elected to the House of Commons, at age 49 the oldest man to enter Parliament and later become Prime Minister. After four years on the backbenches, Chamberlain saw rapid promotion, briefly becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer after less than a year as a minister. Chamberlain subsequently spent five years as Minister of Health, securing the passage of many reforming acts. After two years in opposition, Chamberlain became part of Ramsey MacDonald's National Government, and spent five and a half years as Chancellor, directing Britain's financial policies as the nation emerged from the Depression. When Stanley Baldwin (who had replaced MacDonald as Prime Minister in 1935) retired in 1937, Chamberlain succeeded him. (more….)