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Witness global conflicts, the founding of nations, and other big moments in the human story.","relatedArticles":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles?category=33670&offset=0&size=5"}},"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"}},"relatedCategoriesLoadedStatus":"success"},"listState":{"list":{"count":10,"total":370,"items":[{"headers":{"creationTime":"2022-06-23T17:48:13+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-06-24T17:22:43+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-24T18:01:04+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"Conspiracy Theories","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33677"},"slug":"conspiracy-theories","categoryId":33677}],"title":"Conspiracy Theory: The Moon Landings Were Faked","strippedTitle":"conspiracy theory: the moon landings were faked","slug":"conspiracy-theory-moon-landings-were-faked","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Did men really walk on the moon? Uncover the conspiracy theories and the evidence that debunks them, as well as some folks who cried, \"hoax!\"","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"On July 20, 1969, the whole world stared into their television sets and watched blurry, flickering, black and white images as Apollo 11’s lunar excursion module, nicknamed “The Eagle,” descended from orbiting around the moon and touched down on the Sea of Tranquility. In 1960, deep in the heart of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, President John F. Kennedy upped the stakes in the “space race” between the two superpowers by proclaiming that the U.S. would land a man on the moon “before this decade is out.” Apollo 11 managed to pull it off with just four months to spare.\r\n\r\nIt was truly the technological achievement of the century, and perhaps the greatest milestone in the annals of mankind. And yet, the day after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the first human footprints on another world, there were those who didn’t believe it was possible. One woman interviewed by <em>Newsweek </em>proclaimed that she didn’t believe it because she didn’t think her TV set could pick up a transmission from the moon. A rumor began to spread across the countryside: Maybe the moon landings had been staged.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294123\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-294123 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/nasa-UeSpvB0Qo88-unsplash-1.jpg\" alt=\"Neil Armstrong with American flag on the moon\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" /> © NASA / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Claims of phony moon landing</h2>\r\nVarious claims have been made over the last three decades about ways in which the moon landings may have been faked, and why. Some of the more common ones include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>NASA’s first manned test flight of the Apollo space capsule and Saturn-series rocket resulted in a tragic fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. In a test on January 27, 1967, fire broke out in the oxygen-rich cockpit, and the three men died within 17 seconds. The claim goes that the fire set the program back so badly that the moon landings had to be completely or partially fabricated in order to make it look like the U.S. had achieved its goal on time.</li>\r\n \t<li>Some have claimed that the Van Allen radiation belts that surround the earth were far too deadly to allow Apollo spacecraft to pass through without killing the astronauts inside. Most scientists (including their discoverer Dr. James Van Allen) reject this claim, because radiation poisoning is dependent upon the amount of time a person is exposed, and Apollo astronauts passed through too quickly to have received a dangerous dose.</li>\r\n \t<li>Conspiracists claim that the astronauts were launched into low Earth orbit, and that the moon landing was videotaped in a studio. Then, after the appropriate amount of time, the orbiting Apollo spacecraft splashed down, all on international television.</li>\r\n \t<li>According to conspiracists, Stanley Kubrick, hot on the heels of directing the 1968 film <em>2001: A Space Odyssey, </em>which contained the first realistic and convincing special effects depicting spaceflight ever put on film, was brought from England to direct the Apollo 11 telecast. Anyone who knows anything about the famously temperamental and perfectionist director knows how impractical this claim is. Some claim that special effects were created by <em>2001 </em>effects artist Douglas Trumbull in a studio in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.</li>\r\n \t<li>A variation on the claim is that only <em>some </em>of the six successful moon landings were faked, while NASA had extra time to work on its faulty technology. Apollo 13’s almost fatal accident was staged in order to refocus a bored public on NASA’s need for greater funding. And Apollo 17, the final mission to the moon, was the only authentic trip, because it had a civilian crew member who couldn’t be threatened or bought off.</li>\r\n \t<li>​​The 1978 film <em>Capricorn One </em>added fuel to the hoax claims, by telling a fictional story of NASA faking a landing on Mars, while filming the events in a studio — using spacecraft virtually identical to the Apollo missions.</li>\r\n \t<li>The International Flat Earth Society, as their name makes clear, believed (and still does) that Earth isn’t round, but flat as a pancake. That being the case, as far as they were concerned, the moon landings could be nothing but a hoax.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >The evidence abounds</h2>\r\nThere’s too much evidence and far too many participants in NASA’s Apollo program to convince the overwhelming majority of people that the moon landings were anything but authentic. The Apollo missions involved $30 billion in federal dollars and 400,000 employees, with nary a squealer in the bunch. That hasn’t prevented a small cottage industry of authors from crying “hoax.” The 842 pounds of lunar rocks returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts over the course of six missions isn’t proof to them. Conspiracists claim unmanned NASA missions brought the rocks back to Earth before Apollo 11 ever launched, or they were simply cooked up artificially in a high-temperature kiln.\r\n\r\nIn spite of piles of photographic and physical evidence, this conspiracy theory hangs on, largely promoted by late author Bill Kaysing. He was a librarian at Rocketdyne, an early NASA supplier, and claimed (without proof) that the space agency never had the expertise needed to actually land men on the moon. He further alleged that the Apollo 1 astronauts (and later the Challenger Space Shuttle crew) were murdered because they were about to reveal the “truth” about NASA. Kaysing claimed that the astronauts were actually in the Nevada desert putting on the “moonwalk show” during the day, and hanging out with strippers and Las Vegas showgirls at night — requiring years of psychological therapy before they could get over the guilt of duping the public.\r\n\r\nAmateur filmmaker Bart Sibrel has taken a more confrontational approach to the issue. In 2002, he accosted Buzz Aldrin in front of a Beverly Hills hotel, demanding answers to his questions about the so-called moon landing “hoax,” calling the astronaut a “coward, a liar, and a thief.” Aldrin reacted in a less than Socratic method over the controversy and punched Sibrel right in the kisser. Other Apollo astronauts have characterized Sibrel as a “stalker.”\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Profound effects on moon walkers</h2>\r\nThe first time men from Earth stepped onto a new world had a profound effect on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and both men grappled long and hard with their public and private reactions to an event that the whole world was watching. There are two little-known items about Aldrin, in particular. Professional atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair sued NASA for violating church/ state separation by allowing government-employed astronauts to read from the book of Genesis during Apollo 8’s moon-orbiting mission in 1968. So, on his own, Aldrin (a Presbyterian) privately gave himself Communion when Apollo 11’s Eagle landed. Aldrin is also a Freemason, and he carried a special document proclaiming the moon as being under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Texas of Free and Accepted Masons, which means the Masons control not just the world, but the moon!","description":"On July 20, 1969, the whole world stared into their television sets and watched blurry, flickering, black and white images as Apollo 11’s lunar excursion module, nicknamed “The Eagle,” descended from orbiting around the moon and touched down on the Sea of Tranquility. In 1960, deep in the heart of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, President John F. Kennedy upped the stakes in the “space race” between the two superpowers by proclaiming that the U.S. would land a man on the moon “before this decade is out.” Apollo 11 managed to pull it off with just four months to spare.\r\n\r\nIt was truly the technological achievement of the century, and perhaps the greatest milestone in the annals of mankind. And yet, the day after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the first human footprints on another world, there were those who didn’t believe it was possible. One woman interviewed by <em>Newsweek </em>proclaimed that she didn’t believe it because she didn’t think her TV set could pick up a transmission from the moon. A rumor began to spread across the countryside: Maybe the moon landings had been staged.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294123\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"wp-image-294123 size-full\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/nasa-UeSpvB0Qo88-unsplash-1.jpg\" alt=\"Neil Armstrong with American flag on the moon\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" /> © NASA / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Claims of phony moon landing</h2>\r\nVarious claims have been made over the last three decades about ways in which the moon landings may have been faked, and why. Some of the more common ones include:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>NASA’s first manned test flight of the Apollo space capsule and Saturn-series rocket resulted in a tragic fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. In a test on January 27, 1967, fire broke out in the oxygen-rich cockpit, and the three men died within 17 seconds. The claim goes that the fire set the program back so badly that the moon landings had to be completely or partially fabricated in order to make it look like the U.S. had achieved its goal on time.</li>\r\n \t<li>Some have claimed that the Van Allen radiation belts that surround the earth were far too deadly to allow Apollo spacecraft to pass through without killing the astronauts inside. Most scientists (including their discoverer Dr. James Van Allen) reject this claim, because radiation poisoning is dependent upon the amount of time a person is exposed, and Apollo astronauts passed through too quickly to have received a dangerous dose.</li>\r\n \t<li>Conspiracists claim that the astronauts were launched into low Earth orbit, and that the moon landing was videotaped in a studio. Then, after the appropriate amount of time, the orbiting Apollo spacecraft splashed down, all on international television.</li>\r\n \t<li>According to conspiracists, Stanley Kubrick, hot on the heels of directing the 1968 film <em>2001: A Space Odyssey, </em>which contained the first realistic and convincing special effects depicting spaceflight ever put on film, was brought from England to direct the Apollo 11 telecast. Anyone who knows anything about the famously temperamental and perfectionist director knows how impractical this claim is. Some claim that special effects were created by <em>2001 </em>effects artist Douglas Trumbull in a studio in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.</li>\r\n \t<li>A variation on the claim is that only <em>some </em>of the six successful moon landings were faked, while NASA had extra time to work on its faulty technology. Apollo 13’s almost fatal accident was staged in order to refocus a bored public on NASA’s need for greater funding. And Apollo 17, the final mission to the moon, was the only authentic trip, because it had a civilian crew member who couldn’t be threatened or bought off.</li>\r\n \t<li>​​The 1978 film <em>Capricorn One </em>added fuel to the hoax claims, by telling a fictional story of NASA faking a landing on Mars, while filming the events in a studio — using spacecraft virtually identical to the Apollo missions.</li>\r\n \t<li>The International Flat Earth Society, as their name makes clear, believed (and still does) that Earth isn’t round, but flat as a pancake. That being the case, as far as they were concerned, the moon landings could be nothing but a hoax.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >The evidence abounds</h2>\r\nThere’s too much evidence and far too many participants in NASA’s Apollo program to convince the overwhelming majority of people that the moon landings were anything but authentic. The Apollo missions involved $30 billion in federal dollars and 400,000 employees, with nary a squealer in the bunch. That hasn’t prevented a small cottage industry of authors from crying “hoax.” The 842 pounds of lunar rocks returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts over the course of six missions isn’t proof to them. Conspiracists claim unmanned NASA missions brought the rocks back to Earth before Apollo 11 ever launched, or they were simply cooked up artificially in a high-temperature kiln.\r\n\r\nIn spite of piles of photographic and physical evidence, this conspiracy theory hangs on, largely promoted by late author Bill Kaysing. He was a librarian at Rocketdyne, an early NASA supplier, and claimed (without proof) that the space agency never had the expertise needed to actually land men on the moon. He further alleged that the Apollo 1 astronauts (and later the Challenger Space Shuttle crew) were murdered because they were about to reveal the “truth” about NASA. Kaysing claimed that the astronauts were actually in the Nevada desert putting on the “moonwalk show” during the day, and hanging out with strippers and Las Vegas showgirls at night — requiring years of psychological therapy before they could get over the guilt of duping the public.\r\n\r\nAmateur filmmaker Bart Sibrel has taken a more confrontational approach to the issue. In 2002, he accosted Buzz Aldrin in front of a Beverly Hills hotel, demanding answers to his questions about the so-called moon landing “hoax,” calling the astronaut a “coward, a liar, and a thief.” Aldrin reacted in a less than Socratic method over the controversy and punched Sibrel right in the kisser. Other Apollo astronauts have characterized Sibrel as a “stalker.”\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Profound effects on moon walkers</h2>\r\nThe first time men from Earth stepped onto a new world had a profound effect on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and both men grappled long and hard with their public and private reactions to an event that the whole world was watching. There are two little-known items about Aldrin, in particular. Professional atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair sued NASA for violating church/ state separation by allowing government-employed astronauts to read from the book of Genesis during Apollo 8’s moon-orbiting mission in 1968. So, on his own, Aldrin (a Presbyterian) privately gave himself Communion when Apollo 11’s Eagle landed. Aldrin is also a Freemason, and he carried a special document proclaiming the moon as being under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Texas of Free and Accepted Masons, which means the Masons control not just the world, but the moon!","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10189,"name":"Christopher Hodapp","slug":"christopher-hodapp","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10189"}},{"authorId":10190,"name":"Alice Von Kannon","slug":"alice-von-kannon","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10190"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33677,"title":"Conspiracy Theories","slug":"conspiracy-theories","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33677"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"Claims of phony moon landing","target":"#tab1"},{"label":"The evidence abounds","target":"#tab2"},{"label":"Profound effects on moon walkers","target":"#tab3"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":294100,"title":"The Most Famous UFO Story: Roswell","slug":"the-most-famous-ufo-story-roswell","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294100"}},{"articleId":200890,"title":"Alien Secrets: The Vril Society","slug":"alien-secrets-the-vril-society","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200890"}},{"articleId":200880,"title":"Armageddon and the Book of Revelation","slug":"armageddon-and-the-book-of-revelation","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200880"}},{"articleId":200550,"title":"Debunking the Beatles Conspiracy: \"Paul Is Dead\"","slug":"debunking-the-beatles-conspiracy-paul-is-dead","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200550"}},{"articleId":199676,"title":"Princess Diana's Death: Accident or Conspiracy?","slug":"princess-dianas-death-accident-or-conspiracy","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199676"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":294100,"title":"The Most Famous UFO Story: Roswell","slug":"the-most-famous-ufo-story-roswell","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294100"}},{"articleId":200890,"title":"Alien Secrets: The Vril Society","slug":"alien-secrets-the-vril-society","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200890"}},{"articleId":200880,"title":"Armageddon and the Book of Revelation","slug":"armageddon-and-the-book-of-revelation","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200880"}},{"articleId":200550,"title":"Debunking the Beatles Conspiracy: \"Paul Is Dead\"","slug":"debunking-the-beatles-conspiracy-paul-is-dead","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200550"}},{"articleId":199676,"title":"Princess Diana's Death: Accident or Conspiracy?","slug":"princess-dianas-death-accident-or-conspiracy","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199676"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282103,"slug":"conspiracy-theories-and-secret-societies-for-dummies","isbn":"9780470184080","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/0470184086-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/conspiracy-theories-and-secret-societies-for-dummies-cover-9780470184080-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<p><b data-author-id=\"10189\">Christopher Hodapp</b> is also the author of <i>The Templar Code For Dummies</i> and a Freemason who has traveled extensively reporting on global Masonic practices. <b data-author-id=\"10190\">Alice Von Kannon</b> is an author and historian. </p>","authors":[{"authorId":10189,"name":"Christopher Hodapp","slug":"christopher-hodapp","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10189"}},{"authorId":10190,"name":"Alice Von Kannon","slug":"alice-von-kannon","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10190"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[{"title":"Contemplating the Cosmos","slug":"theres-something-about-space","collectionId":294090}],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;conspiracy-theories&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470184080&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe0a80af\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;conspiracy-theories&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470184080&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe0a85de\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-06-23T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":294095},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T15:02:12+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-06-24T17:00:01+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-24T18:01:04+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"American History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"},"slug":"american","categoryId":33672}],"title":"U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade","strippedTitle":"u.s. supreme court overturns roe v. wade","slug":"roe-v-wade-how-abortion-became-legal-in-the-united-states","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Learn the history behind the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which guarantees a woman's right to an abortion.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"In a landmark decision on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. The justices ruled 6-3, eliminating a woman's constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years.\r\n\r\nAbout half of the states in the U.S. are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion following the Supreme Court ruling, which was expected because of a leaked draft of the court's decision in the related case <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization</em>. News outlet <em>Politico</em> obtained the draft on May 2, 2022.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >The history of Roe v. Wade</h2>\r\n<p class=\"Women's health month (May)\"><em>Roe v</em><em>ersus</em><em> Wade</em><em>, </em>better known as<em> Roe v. Wade,</em> is the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion within the first two months of pregnancy. Up until then, individual state laws regulated abortions, thereby forcing women to illegal clinics or untrained practitioners. The lack of proper medical supervision in these situations was dangerous for the women.</p>\r\nThe roots of this case lie in Dallas, Texas, in 1969. At the time, obtaining or attempting an abortion was illegal in Texas, except in cases where the woman could die. Twenty-one-year-old Norma McCorvey was single and pregnant. Thinking that abortions were legal in cases of rape and incest, she tried to get an abortion by falsely claiming she was raped. But because there was no police report to prove it, she sought the alternative, an illegal abortion. Once again, her efforts failed — police had shut down the illegal clinic. Norma's next step was to find a lawyer to sue for the right to get an abortion.\r\n\r\nTwo young attorneys named Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, dedicated to women's advocacy, took Norma's case and dubbed their plaintiff \"Jane Roe\" to protect her identity. On March 3, 1970, Coffee filed a complaint, <em>Roe </em>v.<em> Wade</em> (later amended to a class-action suit), at the Dallas federal district courthouse, suing the State of Texas over the constitutionality over its abortion laws. Henry Wade was the defending district attorney.\r\n<p class=\"Remember\">Roe won the case when the district court decided that the Texas laws were vague and infringed on the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Ninth Amendment protects citizens' rights not listed in other parts of the Constitution, including the right to privacy. Norma's attorneys argued that this extended to a woman's right to decide to bear children or not. The Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no state can abridge a citizen's fundamental rights without due process.</p>\r\nThe case was appealed and landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the Court handed down its decision in favor of Roe, declaring:\r\n<blockquote>[The] right to privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the district court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.\"<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><sup>[</sup></span></blockquote>\r\nThe Supreme Court ruling didn't come in time for Norma McCorvey to have an abortion. She delivered a child even before the district court ruled in her favor in 1970; that child was immediately adopted.\r\n\r\n<em>Roe v. Wade </em>remains as polarizing as ever. Right-to-privacy proponents, anti-abortionists, religious groups, and women's rights advocates are just some of the organizations involved in this heated socio-political issue.","description":"In a landmark decision on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. The justices ruled 6-3, eliminating a woman's constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years.\r\n\r\nAbout half of the states in the U.S. are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion following the Supreme Court ruling, which was expected because of a leaked draft of the court's decision in the related case <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization</em>. News outlet <em>Politico</em> obtained the draft on May 2, 2022.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >The history of Roe v. Wade</h2>\r\n<p class=\"Women's health month (May)\"><em>Roe v</em><em>ersus</em><em> Wade</em><em>, </em>better known as<em> Roe v. Wade,</em> is the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion within the first two months of pregnancy. Up until then, individual state laws regulated abortions, thereby forcing women to illegal clinics or untrained practitioners. The lack of proper medical supervision in these situations was dangerous for the women.</p>\r\nThe roots of this case lie in Dallas, Texas, in 1969. At the time, obtaining or attempting an abortion was illegal in Texas, except in cases where the woman could die. Twenty-one-year-old Norma McCorvey was single and pregnant. Thinking that abortions were legal in cases of rape and incest, she tried to get an abortion by falsely claiming she was raped. But because there was no police report to prove it, she sought the alternative, an illegal abortion. Once again, her efforts failed — police had shut down the illegal clinic. Norma's next step was to find a lawyer to sue for the right to get an abortion.\r\n\r\nTwo young attorneys named Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, dedicated to women's advocacy, took Norma's case and dubbed their plaintiff \"Jane Roe\" to protect her identity. On March 3, 1970, Coffee filed a complaint, <em>Roe </em>v.<em> Wade</em> (later amended to a class-action suit), at the Dallas federal district courthouse, suing the State of Texas over the constitutionality over its abortion laws. Henry Wade was the defending district attorney.\r\n<p class=\"Remember\">Roe won the case when the district court decided that the Texas laws were vague and infringed on the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Ninth Amendment protects citizens' rights not listed in other parts of the Constitution, including the right to privacy. Norma's attorneys argued that this extended to a woman's right to decide to bear children or not. The Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no state can abridge a citizen's fundamental rights without due process.</p>\r\nThe case was appealed and landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the Court handed down its decision in favor of Roe, declaring:\r\n<blockquote>[The] right to privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the district court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.\"<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><sup>[</sup></span></blockquote>\r\nThe Supreme Court ruling didn't come in time for Norma McCorvey to have an abortion. She delivered a child even before the district court ruled in her favor in 1970; that child was immediately adopted.\r\n\r\n<em>Roe v. Wade </em>remains as polarizing as ever. Right-to-privacy proponents, anti-abortionists, religious groups, and women's rights advocates are just some of the organizations involved in this heated socio-political issue.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9312,"name":"Patricia Yuu Pan","slug":"patricia-yuu-pan","description":"","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9312"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33672,"title":"American History","slug":"american","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"The history of Roe v. Wade","target":"#tab1"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":288783,"title":"First Ladies For Dummies Cheat Sheet","slug":"50-key-dates-in-us-first-lady-history","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/288783"}},{"articleId":269903,"title":"Performing Many Roles: The President’s Duties in Modern Times","slug":"performing-many-roles-the-presidents-duties-in-modern-times","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269903"}},{"articleId":269900,"title":"President Donald Trump: Controversies at Home and Abroad","slug":"president-donald-trump-controversies-at-home-and-abroad","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269900"}},{"articleId":269894,"title":"Scandals: Defining Donald Trump’s Presidency","slug":"scandals-defining-donald-trumps-presidency","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269894"}},{"articleId":269891,"title":"The 10 Worst Presidents","slug":"the-10-worst-presidents","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269891"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe0a20d3\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe0a260b\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Six months","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-05-04T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":166838},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2018-08-02T03:47:45+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-06-24T16:59:21+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-24T18:01:04+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"American History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"},"slug":"american","categoryId":33672}],"title":"Roe v. Wade and other Supreme Court decisions on abortion","strippedTitle":"roe v. wade and other supreme court decisions on abortion","slug":"roe-v-wade-1973","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Learn about several U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning women's reproductive rights that came after the historical Roe v. Wade ruling.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"The Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em> on June 24, 2022, ending nearly 50 years of a woman's constitutional right to abortion. The decision allows individual states the ability to set their own abortion laws, banning or restricting the procedure as they see fit.\r\n\r\nThe nation was expecting the landmark decision due to a leaked draft of the Supreme Court's deliberations in the related case <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization</em>. The leaked document, obtained by news outlet <em>Politico</em> on May 3, 2022, indicated the court's plans to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. At the time of the leak, about 50 states were poised to ban or severely restrict abortion, following the expected ruling.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >The history of Roe v. Wade</h2>\r\nBefore the court's decision in 2022, <em>Roe v. Wade</em> had been the litmus test for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. No judge who came out openly against <em>Roe v. Wade</em> was likely to be confirmed.\r\n\r\nIn the 1973 case<em>,</em> the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that women have the right to an abortion, at least during the first trimester of pregnancy. The court characterized abortion as a “fundamental” constitutional right, which means that any law aiming to restrict it is subject to the standard of <em>strict scrutiny</em>.\r\n\r\nIn <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey</em> (1982), the high court modified <em>Roe</em> by giving the state the right to regulate an abortion, even in the first trimester, as long as that regulation doesn’t pose an “undue burden” on the woman’s fundamental right to an abortion. One such “undue burden” identified in Casey was any requirement for the woman to notify her husband.\r\n\r\nA Texas law that placed certain restrictions on abortion clinics in the state was struck down by the Supreme Court, in a 5–3 vote, as placing an “undue burden” on abortion rights in <i>Whole Woman’s </i><em>Health v. Hellerstedt</em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;\"> (2016). </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;\">In </span><i>Stormans Inc. v. Wiesman</i> (2016), a five-justice majority on the court refused to hear a challenge to a Washington state law making it illegal for pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptive drugs. In a dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote: “This case is an ominous sign … If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”","description":"The Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade</em> on June 24, 2022, ending nearly 50 years of a woman's constitutional right to abortion. The decision allows individual states the ability to set their own abortion laws, banning or restricting the procedure as they see fit.\r\n\r\nThe nation was expecting the landmark decision due to a leaked draft of the Supreme Court's deliberations in the related case <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization</em>. The leaked document, obtained by news outlet <em>Politico</em> on May 3, 2022, indicated the court's plans to overturn <em>Roe v. Wade</em>. At the time of the leak, about 50 states were poised to ban or severely restrict abortion, following the expected ruling.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >The history of Roe v. Wade</h2>\r\nBefore the court's decision in 2022, <em>Roe v. Wade</em> had been the litmus test for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. No judge who came out openly against <em>Roe v. Wade</em> was likely to be confirmed.\r\n\r\nIn the 1973 case<em>,</em> the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that women have the right to an abortion, at least during the first trimester of pregnancy. The court characterized abortion as a “fundamental” constitutional right, which means that any law aiming to restrict it is subject to the standard of <em>strict scrutiny</em>.\r\n\r\nIn <em>Planned Parenthood v. Casey</em> (1982), the high court modified <em>Roe</em> by giving the state the right to regulate an abortion, even in the first trimester, as long as that regulation doesn’t pose an “undue burden” on the woman’s fundamental right to an abortion. One such “undue burden” identified in Casey was any requirement for the woman to notify her husband.\r\n\r\nA Texas law that placed certain restrictions on abortion clinics in the state was struck down by the Supreme Court, in a 5–3 vote, as placing an “undue burden” on abortion rights in <i>Whole Woman’s </i><em>Health v. Hellerstedt</em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;\"> (2016). </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Calibri;\">In </span><i>Stormans Inc. v. Wiesman</i> (2016), a five-justice majority on the court refused to hear a challenge to a Washington state law making it illegal for pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptive drugs. In a dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote: “This case is an ominous sign … If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10206,"name":"Michael Arnheim","slug":"michael-arnheim","description":" <p>As a lawyer who consults with various U.S. firms on constitutional issues and as author of a text on British constitutional law, <b>Dr. Michael Arnheim</b> is uniquely qualified to present an unbiased view of the U.S. Constitution, what it says, what it means, and how it&#39;s been interpreted in a variety of situations. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10206"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33672,"title":"American History","slug":"american","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":34474,"title":"American Government","slug":"american-government","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/34474"}},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"The history of Roe v. Wade","target":"#tab1"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":256325,"title":"When and Why the U.S. Constitution Was Created","slug":"when-and-why-the-u-s-constitution-was-created","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256325"}},{"articleId":256319,"title":"How the U.S. Constitution Is Interpreted","slug":"how-the-u-s-constitution-is-interpreted","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/256319"}},{"articleId":254942,"title":"Riley v. California (2014)","slug":"riley-v-california-2014","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/254942"}},{"articleId":254939,"title":"Glossip v. 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Hodges (2015)","slug":"obergefell-v-hodges-2015","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/254936"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":288783,"title":"First Ladies For Dummies Cheat Sheet","slug":"50-key-dates-in-us-first-lady-history","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/288783"}},{"articleId":269903,"title":"Performing Many Roles: The President’s Duties in Modern Times","slug":"performing-many-roles-the-presidents-duties-in-modern-times","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269903"}},{"articleId":269900,"title":"President Donald Trump: Controversies at Home and Abroad","slug":"president-donald-trump-controversies-at-home-and-abroad","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269900"}},{"articleId":269894,"title":"Scandals: Defining Donald Trump’s Presidency","slug":"scandals-defining-donald-trumps-presidency","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269894"}},{"articleId":269891,"title":"The 10 Worst Presidents","slug":"the-10-worst-presidents","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269891"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282645,"slug":"u-s-constitution-for-dummies-2nd-edition","isbn":"9781119387299","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119387299/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119387299/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/1119387299-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1119387299/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1119387299/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/u.s.-constitution-for-dummies-2nd-edition-cover-9781119387299-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"U.S. Constitution For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<p>As a lawyer who consults with various U.S. firms on constitutional issues and as author of a text on British constitutional law, <b data-author-id=\"10206\">Dr. Michael Arnheim</b> is uniquely qualified to present an unbiased view of the U.S. Constitution, what it says, what it means, and how it's been interpreted in a variety of situations. </p>","authors":[{"authorId":10206,"name":"Michael Arnheim","slug":"michael-arnheim","description":" <p>As a lawyer who consults with various U.S. firms on constitutional issues and as author of a text on British constitutional law, <b>Dr. Michael Arnheim</b> is uniquely qualified to present an unbiased view of the U.S. Constitution, what it says, what it means, and how it&#39;s been interpreted in a variety of situations. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10206"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119387299&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe09c058\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119387299&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe09c559\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Six months","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-05-04T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":254930},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2022-06-23T19:53:53+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-06-24T16:17:24+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-24T18:01:04+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"Conspiracy Theories","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33677"},"slug":"conspiracy-theories","categoryId":33677}],"title":"The Most Famous UFO Story: Roswell","strippedTitle":"the most famous ufo story: roswell","slug":"the-most-famous-ufo-story-roswell","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Learn the history behind the most famous UFO story on record, a suspected UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"The Roswell Incident is the most famous UFO story on record and is the cornerstone of an alleged government conspiracy to hide alien visits from the world. The initial discovery of a suspected UFO crash site in 1947 played out over a three-day period, then almost completely vanished from view for 30 years, before being resurrected in the 1970s by UFO researchers.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294113\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-294113\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/albert-antony-HWQXIYbs8PM-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" /> ©Albert Antony / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe biggest problem facing anyone who steps into the Roswell/UFO arena is telling truth from fiction. For every account of the event, someone debunks it. For every so-called fact, there’s a dispute over it, and even eyewitness accounts and deathbed confessions can’t be trusted. And, according to most dedicated ufologists of course, nothing officially released by the government can be trusted at all. Nevertheless, this article covers what’s generally known or alleged and what can be verified — or at least generally agreed on.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Unidentified debris discovered</h2>\r\nIn 1947, just one month after pilot Kenneth Arnold’s publicized sighting of a UFO over Washington State, a curious report came out of the little town of Roswell, New Mexico. On July 4 (Independence Day) that year, a violent thunderstorm swept through the area. The next morning, a sheep rancher named Mac Brazel, who was employed at the J. B. Foster ranch, set out across the property to look for damage from the storm. What he found was unusual debris that he couldn’t readily identify, stretched out across a large area.\r\n\r\nAfter showing the debris to a neighbor, Brazel took some of the pieces into Roswell, about 70 miles away, and presented them to the local authorities, wondering if it might be wreckage of one of the flying saucers recently reported in the news. (It may have helped motivate him that the press was offering a $3,000 reward for physical evidence of a flying saucer.) Brazel was interviewed by a local radio station, whose reporter contacted the 509th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force at nearby Roswell Army Air Field for a comment.\r\n\r\nThe base sent Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel into town and then to the Foster ranch to investigate. Marcel gathered up some of the pieces and took them home for the evening, where he showed some of them to his family. The next morning, he took the debris to the base, and Colonel William “Butch” Blanchard ordered the debris site cordoned off so it could be recovered, then issued a press release about the discovery.\r\n\r\nNewspapers and network radio reports appeared quickly, announcing that the Air Force captured a flying disc, but by the next day, a correction was issued changing the story to say that the debris came from a weather balloon. A press conference was held, and debris was displayed that seemed to verify that what was recovered was, in fact, a large rubber balloon and other pieces covered in silver foil.\r\n\r\nBrazel himself was dismayed over the publicity. He’d found pieces of weather balloons on the ranch in the past, but this find had unusual composition. Still, the rancher never claimed that what he found was metal. When it was all collected, the wreckage consisted of foil, rubber, wooden sticks, paper, and tape.\r\n\r\nOver a period of three days, the remaining debris was collected and flown to the 8th Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, where it was examined. On July 9, the Air Force issued a press release from Ft. Worth identifying the wreckage as a high altitude balloon carrying a radar target made of wood and reflective aluminum. And within several weeks of the incident, the whole event slipped from the public memory for 30 years.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Roswell resurrected</h2>\r\nIn 1978, UFO researcher Stanton Friedman was contacted by retired intelligence officer Jesse Marcel, and at this point, the Roswell story was resurrected and it becomes difficult to separate fact, fiction, faulty memory, and fraud. Following, are a sample of some of events, people, and recollections from the Roswell incident. Keep in mind, these examples have only come forth since 1978.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Jesse Marcel </strong>claimed the wreckage he collected was part of a flying disc and not a balloon. The foil-like material was unlike anything he’d ever seen before, and there were strips of purple tape that contained symbols that looked like either flowers or hieroglyphics. He said that photographs of himself posing with balloon debris were taken after the real pieces were replaced with balloon parts by superior officers. Marcel, however, couldn’t remember the month or year of the events.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Frank Kaufman </strong>claimed to have been a radar specialist at White Sands Proving Grounds. He stated that he was ordered to the White Sands facility where he tracked incoming UFOs the night of the fabled crash. He was then sent to Roswell, where he witnessed the retrieval of at least one alien occupant — except that Kaufman was really nothing but a civilian clerk in the Roswell Army Air Base personnel office. And there was no radar at White Sands. After his death in 2001, analysis of letters, memos, and other documents show that Kaufman really was an expert at forgery, records falsification, and spectacular lying, but not radar.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Glenn Dennis </strong>was a local funeral director in Roswell and claimed he’d been contacted by the air base’s “mortuary officer” about caskets and the proper treatment of bodies recovered from the desert. Later, he “stumbled” into an autopsy being performed on one of three alien corpses. He further claimed that a nurse at the Roswell air base named Naomi Maria Selff (or Naomi Sipes — it varied) told him details of the top-secret operation and gave him sketches of the aliens. Dennis said the nurse suddenly disappeared, but there’s no record of any such nurse ever having worked at the base or living in Roswell. His story had enough inconsistencies that he was eventually labeled a fraud by many UFO researchers.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nOver and over again, so-called Roswell witnesses have been exposed in major inconsistencies or outright lies. So, what could the motive for all these, and literally a hundred others, have been to make these tales up?\r\n\r\nRemember: Aliens aren’t just big business in Roswell — they’re the town’s number-one source of income. There are no less than three UFO museums in the town of only 50,000 people. True believers flock to Roswell, and it has become a UFO mecca. They sell T-shirts, dolls, coffee mugs, inflatable balloons, tours of the competing crash sites, and literally anything else you can think of — raking in millions of dollars in annual revenue to the town. The military base has been closed, there’s no interstate close by, and there’s not a lot of economic opportunities for the town of 45,000. Aliens are very big business.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Tracking the government’s paper trail</h2>\r\nUFO researchers and debunkers have both been noisy attack dogs and have made ceaseless requests for reports to be declassified and released to the public under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. A cataclysmic, earth-shaking event like capturing a real flying saucer and its alien occupants would change the course of civilization.\r\n\r\nAt the very least, a military culture that’s governed by a strict code of procedures and conduct would document such an event with a mountain of paper, photographs, and other physical evidence. Every step in the investigation of alien conduct would be painstakingly chronicled, if for no other reason than to cover the backsides of career officers terrified of making a misstep and bringing down the wrath of angry superiors on them, or worse, the wrath of an angry invading fleet of a superior intergalactic force.\r\n\r\nOut of literally thousands of pages of FOI-released documents, there isn’t even the hint of evidence of any such authentic events. In 1995, the General Accounting Office (GAO), at the request of New Mexico congressman Steve Schiff, conducted a search of all documents relating to the Roswell Army Air Base and the events of July 1947. As a result of the GAO investigation, the Air Force was directed to make an internal investigation and to report its findings.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab4\" >Two Air Force reports</h2>\r\nThe Air Force released reports about two formerly top-secret programs: 1994’s <em>The Roswell Report: Fact Vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, </em>identified a program called <em>Project Mogul; </em>and 1997’s <em>The Roswell Report: Case Closed </em>described <em>Operation High Dive. </em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Project Mogul: </strong>This program was designed to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests by using very high altitude balloons loaded with sensitive microphones and reflective boxes that could be tracked by radar. Several balloons were clustered together for extra support in case some broke, as well as to assure a constant, standard altitude position. A string of radar targets was tied to the end of the balloon clusters like a long kite tail. The targets were needed to track the experiment because the rubber balloons themselves were invisible to radar. The target boxes were mass-produced, under contract by a toy manufacturer, out of special foil, balsa wood, and tape. The tape, it was claimed, was left over from a line of holiday items and contained gold flowerlike patterns on a purple background, which accounted for the claims that the so-called saucer debris had hieroglyphics on it.The reason for the high security involved in recovering Mogul’s debris in Roswell was that it was a closely guarded, top-secret program, whose complete details weren’t even known by the civilian scientists involved in developing its technology. Likewise, the Roswell Air Base personnel would’ve had no idea what they were looking at. The balloon flights were conducted between 1947 and 1948, and based on the physical description, these may very well have been the objects spotted by pilot Kenneth Arnold the week before the Roswell Incident. The Soviets really did set off their first nuclear blast in 1949, based on secrets stolen from the U.S. program (see the sidebar “The Schulgen Memo” earlier in this chapter).<em> </em></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Operation High Dive: </strong>This is a little stranger, but the Air Force alleges that this project was the genesis of claims of seeing military personnel recovering bodies from the desert. It was a top-secret program carried out in the 1950s to test extremely high altitude human parachute jumps, primarily in case U2 surveillance plane pilots had to bail out from 70,000 feet or higher. The tests themselves were done on early crash test dummies in an effort to make design changes in parachutes that prevented uncontrolled and fatal spinning. The Air Force believes that witnesses saw these strange-looking dummies being collected in the desert by military crews, who kept the public away because of the secret nature of the experiments (the Air Force didn’t want word to get out to the Russians that they had spy planes that flew so high).<em> </em></li>\r\n</ul>\r\nPredictably, the Air Force and the GAO’s reports, along with a subsequent CIA investigation and report, all raised new accusations of a government coverup. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of UFO researchers have begrudgingly accepted that the Roswell Incident is, in all probability, nothing more than a colossal hoax.","description":"The Roswell Incident is the most famous UFO story on record and is the cornerstone of an alleged government conspiracy to hide alien visits from the world. The initial discovery of a suspected UFO crash site in 1947 played out over a three-day period, then almost completely vanished from view for 30 years, before being resurrected in the 1970s by UFO researchers.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294113\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-294113\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/albert-antony-HWQXIYbs8PM-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"473\" /> ©Albert Antony / Unsplash.com[/caption]\r\n\r\nThe biggest problem facing anyone who steps into the Roswell/UFO arena is telling truth from fiction. For every account of the event, someone debunks it. For every so-called fact, there’s a dispute over it, and even eyewitness accounts and deathbed confessions can’t be trusted. And, according to most dedicated ufologists of course, nothing officially released by the government can be trusted at all. Nevertheless, this article covers what’s generally known or alleged and what can be verified — or at least generally agreed on.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >Unidentified debris discovered</h2>\r\nIn 1947, just one month after pilot Kenneth Arnold’s publicized sighting of a UFO over Washington State, a curious report came out of the little town of Roswell, New Mexico. On July 4 (Independence Day) that year, a violent thunderstorm swept through the area. The next morning, a sheep rancher named Mac Brazel, who was employed at the J. B. Foster ranch, set out across the property to look for damage from the storm. What he found was unusual debris that he couldn’t readily identify, stretched out across a large area.\r\n\r\nAfter showing the debris to a neighbor, Brazel took some of the pieces into Roswell, about 70 miles away, and presented them to the local authorities, wondering if it might be wreckage of one of the flying saucers recently reported in the news. (It may have helped motivate him that the press was offering a $3,000 reward for physical evidence of a flying saucer.) Brazel was interviewed by a local radio station, whose reporter contacted the 509th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force at nearby Roswell Army Air Field for a comment.\r\n\r\nThe base sent Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel into town and then to the Foster ranch to investigate. Marcel gathered up some of the pieces and took them home for the evening, where he showed some of them to his family. The next morning, he took the debris to the base, and Colonel William “Butch” Blanchard ordered the debris site cordoned off so it could be recovered, then issued a press release about the discovery.\r\n\r\nNewspapers and network radio reports appeared quickly, announcing that the Air Force captured a flying disc, but by the next day, a correction was issued changing the story to say that the debris came from a weather balloon. A press conference was held, and debris was displayed that seemed to verify that what was recovered was, in fact, a large rubber balloon and other pieces covered in silver foil.\r\n\r\nBrazel himself was dismayed over the publicity. He’d found pieces of weather balloons on the ranch in the past, but this find had unusual composition. Still, the rancher never claimed that what he found was metal. When it was all collected, the wreckage consisted of foil, rubber, wooden sticks, paper, and tape.\r\n\r\nOver a period of three days, the remaining debris was collected and flown to the 8th Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, where it was examined. On July 9, the Air Force issued a press release from Ft. Worth identifying the wreckage as a high altitude balloon carrying a radar target made of wood and reflective aluminum. And within several weeks of the incident, the whole event slipped from the public memory for 30 years.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >Roswell resurrected</h2>\r\nIn 1978, UFO researcher Stanton Friedman was contacted by retired intelligence officer Jesse Marcel, and at this point, the Roswell story was resurrected and it becomes difficult to separate fact, fiction, faulty memory, and fraud. Following, are a sample of some of events, people, and recollections from the Roswell incident. Keep in mind, these examples have only come forth since 1978.\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Jesse Marcel </strong>claimed the wreckage he collected was part of a flying disc and not a balloon. The foil-like material was unlike anything he’d ever seen before, and there were strips of purple tape that contained symbols that looked like either flowers or hieroglyphics. He said that photographs of himself posing with balloon debris were taken after the real pieces were replaced with balloon parts by superior officers. Marcel, however, couldn’t remember the month or year of the events.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Frank Kaufman </strong>claimed to have been a radar specialist at White Sands Proving Grounds. He stated that he was ordered to the White Sands facility where he tracked incoming UFOs the night of the fabled crash. He was then sent to Roswell, where he witnessed the retrieval of at least one alien occupant — except that Kaufman was really nothing but a civilian clerk in the Roswell Army Air Base personnel office. And there was no radar at White Sands. After his death in 2001, analysis of letters, memos, and other documents show that Kaufman really was an expert at forgery, records falsification, and spectacular lying, but not radar.</li>\r\n \t<li><strong>Glenn Dennis </strong>was a local funeral director in Roswell and claimed he’d been contacted by the air base’s “mortuary officer” about caskets and the proper treatment of bodies recovered from the desert. Later, he “stumbled” into an autopsy being performed on one of three alien corpses. He further claimed that a nurse at the Roswell air base named Naomi Maria Selff (or Naomi Sipes — it varied) told him details of the top-secret operation and gave him sketches of the aliens. Dennis said the nurse suddenly disappeared, but there’s no record of any such nurse ever having worked at the base or living in Roswell. His story had enough inconsistencies that he was eventually labeled a fraud by many UFO researchers.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nOver and over again, so-called Roswell witnesses have been exposed in major inconsistencies or outright lies. So, what could the motive for all these, and literally a hundred others, have been to make these tales up?\r\n\r\nRemember: Aliens aren’t just big business in Roswell — they’re the town’s number-one source of income. There are no less than three UFO museums in the town of only 50,000 people. True believers flock to Roswell, and it has become a UFO mecca. They sell T-shirts, dolls, coffee mugs, inflatable balloons, tours of the competing crash sites, and literally anything else you can think of — raking in millions of dollars in annual revenue to the town. The military base has been closed, there’s no interstate close by, and there’s not a lot of economic opportunities for the town of 45,000. Aliens are very big business.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Tracking the government’s paper trail</h2>\r\nUFO researchers and debunkers have both been noisy attack dogs and have made ceaseless requests for reports to be declassified and released to the public under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. A cataclysmic, earth-shaking event like capturing a real flying saucer and its alien occupants would change the course of civilization.\r\n\r\nAt the very least, a military culture that’s governed by a strict code of procedures and conduct would document such an event with a mountain of paper, photographs, and other physical evidence. Every step in the investigation of alien conduct would be painstakingly chronicled, if for no other reason than to cover the backsides of career officers terrified of making a misstep and bringing down the wrath of angry superiors on them, or worse, the wrath of an angry invading fleet of a superior intergalactic force.\r\n\r\nOut of literally thousands of pages of FOI-released documents, there isn’t even the hint of evidence of any such authentic events. In 1995, the General Accounting Office (GAO), at the request of New Mexico congressman Steve Schiff, conducted a search of all documents relating to the Roswell Army Air Base and the events of July 1947. As a result of the GAO investigation, the Air Force was directed to make an internal investigation and to report its findings.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab4\" >Two Air Force reports</h2>\r\nThe Air Force released reports about two formerly top-secret programs: 1994’s <em>The Roswell Report: Fact Vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, </em>identified a program called <em>Project Mogul; </em>and 1997’s <em>The Roswell Report: Case Closed </em>described <em>Operation High Dive. </em>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Project Mogul: </strong>This program was designed to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests by using very high altitude balloons loaded with sensitive microphones and reflective boxes that could be tracked by radar. Several balloons were clustered together for extra support in case some broke, as well as to assure a constant, standard altitude position. A string of radar targets was tied to the end of the balloon clusters like a long kite tail. The targets were needed to track the experiment because the rubber balloons themselves were invisible to radar. The target boxes were mass-produced, under contract by a toy manufacturer, out of special foil, balsa wood, and tape. The tape, it was claimed, was left over from a line of holiday items and contained gold flowerlike patterns on a purple background, which accounted for the claims that the so-called saucer debris had hieroglyphics on it.The reason for the high security involved in recovering Mogul’s debris in Roswell was that it was a closely guarded, top-secret program, whose complete details weren’t even known by the civilian scientists involved in developing its technology. Likewise, the Roswell Air Base personnel would’ve had no idea what they were looking at. The balloon flights were conducted between 1947 and 1948, and based on the physical description, these may very well have been the objects spotted by pilot Kenneth Arnold the week before the Roswell Incident. The Soviets really did set off their first nuclear blast in 1949, based on secrets stolen from the U.S. program (see the sidebar “The Schulgen Memo” earlier in this chapter).<em> </em></li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>Operation High Dive: </strong>This is a little stranger, but the Air Force alleges that this project was the genesis of claims of seeing military personnel recovering bodies from the desert. It was a top-secret program carried out in the 1950s to test extremely high altitude human parachute jumps, primarily in case U2 surveillance plane pilots had to bail out from 70,000 feet or higher. The tests themselves were done on early crash test dummies in an effort to make design changes in parachutes that prevented uncontrolled and fatal spinning. The Air Force believes that witnesses saw these strange-looking dummies being collected in the desert by military crews, who kept the public away because of the secret nature of the experiments (the Air Force didn’t want word to get out to the Russians that they had spy planes that flew so high).<em> </em></li>\r\n</ul>\r\nPredictably, the Air Force and the GAO’s reports, along with a subsequent CIA investigation and report, all raised new accusations of a government coverup. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of UFO researchers have begrudgingly accepted that the Roswell Incident is, in all probability, nothing more than a colossal hoax.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10189,"name":"Christopher Hodapp","slug":"christopher-hodapp","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10189"}},{"authorId":10190,"name":"Alice Von Kannon","slug":"alice-von-kannon","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10190"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33677,"title":"Conspiracy Theories","slug":"conspiracy-theories","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33677"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"Unidentified debris discovered","target":"#tab1"},{"label":"Roswell resurrected","target":"#tab2"},{"label":"Tracking the government’s paper trail","target":"#tab3"},{"label":"Two Air Force reports","target":"#tab4"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":294095,"title":"Conspiracy Theory: The Moon Landings Were Faked","slug":"conspiracy-theory-moon-landings-were-faked","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294095"}},{"articleId":200890,"title":"Alien Secrets: The Vril Society","slug":"alien-secrets-the-vril-society","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200890"}},{"articleId":200880,"title":"Armageddon and the Book of Revelation","slug":"armageddon-and-the-book-of-revelation","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200880"}},{"articleId":200550,"title":"Debunking the Beatles Conspiracy: \"Paul Is Dead\"","slug":"debunking-the-beatles-conspiracy-paul-is-dead","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200550"}},{"articleId":199676,"title":"Princess Diana's Death: Accident or Conspiracy?","slug":"princess-dianas-death-accident-or-conspiracy","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199676"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":294095,"title":"Conspiracy Theory: The Moon Landings Were Faked","slug":"conspiracy-theory-moon-landings-were-faked","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294095"}},{"articleId":200890,"title":"Alien Secrets: The Vril Society","slug":"alien-secrets-the-vril-society","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200890"}},{"articleId":200880,"title":"Armageddon and the Book of Revelation","slug":"armageddon-and-the-book-of-revelation","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200880"}},{"articleId":200550,"title":"Debunking the Beatles Conspiracy: \"Paul Is Dead\"","slug":"debunking-the-beatles-conspiracy-paul-is-dead","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200550"}},{"articleId":199676,"title":"Princess Diana's Death: Accident or Conspiracy?","slug":"princess-dianas-death-accident-or-conspiracy","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199676"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282103,"slug":"conspiracy-theories-and-secret-societies-for-dummies","isbn":"9780470184080","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","conspiracy-theories"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/0470184086-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0470184086/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/conspiracy-theories-and-secret-societies-for-dummies-cover-9780470184080-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":"<p><b data-author-id=\"10189\">Christopher Hodapp</b> is also the author of <i>The Templar Code For Dummies</i> and a Freemason who has traveled extensively reporting on global Masonic practices. <b data-author-id=\"10190\">Alice Von Kannon</b> is an author and historian. </p>","authors":[{"authorId":10189,"name":"Christopher Hodapp","slug":"christopher-hodapp","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10189"}},{"authorId":10190,"name":"Alice Von Kannon","slug":"alice-von-kannon","description":" <p><b>Christopher Hodapp</b> and <b>Alice Von Kannon</b> are a husband-and-wife team who&#8217;ve had a lifelong love affair with the RV lifestyle. Alice grew up with travel trailers, and Chris traveled and worked out of a motorhome for many years as a commercial filmmaker. Veteran RVers, they&#8217;ve explored 44 of the 50 U.S. states so far, staying in literally hundreds of campgrounds and&#160;parks.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10190"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[{"title":"Contemplating the Cosmos","slug":"theres-something-about-space","collectionId":294090}],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;conspiracy-theories&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470184080&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe045a7c\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;conspiracy-theories&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9780470184080&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b5fbe045fa7\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-06-23T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":294100},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2019-11-19T02:35:30+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-06-23T18:33:46+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-24T00:01:05+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"American History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"},"slug":"american","categoryId":33672}],"title":"The Aftermath of the American Revolution","strippedTitle":"the aftermath of the american revolution","slug":"the-aftermath-of-the-american-revolution","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Discover what you can learn from the American Revolution, why it was successful, and how it has shaped many events in world history.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"The American Revolution has had enormous effects on the development of world history since that time. We can learn a lot from exploring other events that happened following the <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/education/history/american-history/american-revolution-for-dummies-cheat-sheet/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Revolution</a> and from considering the reasons that this revolution, unlike many others, was a successful endeavor.\r\n\r\nIt was a revolution like no other, “a revolution,” in the words of the 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke, “made not by chopping and changing of power in any of the existing states (nations), but by the appearance of a new state, of a new species, in a new part of the globe.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294098\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"270\"]<img class=\"wp-image-294098 size-medium\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/matt-briney-VP2oTxtOgsw-unsplash-1-270x180.jpg\" alt=\"Revolutionary War soldiers\" width=\"270\" height=\"180\" /> © Matt Briney/Unsplash[/caption]\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >How big was the American Revolution?</h2>\r\nOverstating the effects of the American Revolution on world history would be difficult. It’s been estimated, for example, that more than half of the countries belonging to the United Nations in 2019 could trace their beginnings back to documents proclaiming their legitimacy as sovereign states and modeled on or inspired by America’s Declaration of Independence.\r\n\r\nIn fact, it could be argued that just a single Revolutionary War battle in the fall of 1777 in eastern New York led to a French king having his head cut off; the end of the Spanish Empire in the New World; doubling the size of the United States; firmly establishing Canada as a British colony; and hastening the settlement of Australia. That may seem a bit of stretch, but consider this:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In September and October 1777, American forces defeated a British army near Saratoga. The stunning victory, and surrender of the entire British force, helped convince French King Louis XVI to throw France’s formidable military behind the American cause. That contributed greatly to America’s military victory over the British in the Revolutionary War.</li>\r\n \t<li>America’s subsequent creation of a democratic republic provided a vivid example to the French of how effective an uprising against a tyrannical government might be. French revolutionaries used the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a template for drafting the <em>Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen</em> in 1789. One of the casualties in the French Revolution that followed was Louis XVI — the same monarch who had helped America win its revolution.</li>\r\n \t<li>Inspired by the U.S. and French revolutions and led by Simón Bolívar — the Venezuelan who became known as the George Washington of Latin America — much of Spain’s colonial empire in Latin America revolted in the first three decades of the 19th century. By 1830, what are now the nations of Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Peru had declared independence. In addition, the former Portuguese colony of Brazil and French colony of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Domingue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saint-Domingue</a> (now Haiti) had likewise successfully rebelled.</li>\r\n \t<li>The loss of Saint-Domingue to a rebellion led by former slave Toussaint Louverture so irritated the French dictator Napoleon that he launched a major assault to retake the island. That ended in disastrous defeat for the French. The debacle helped persuade Napoleon to forget about a French Empire in the Americas. And that decision spurred France in 1803 to sell America 828,000 square miles of what became known as the Louisiana Purchase, for $15 million (about $335 million in 2019.) That doubled the size of the United States.</li>\r\n \t<li>After the U.S. victory in the Revolutionary War, as many as 80,000 Americans who had been loyal to the British fled to Canada. That had a radical demographic effect on the sparsely populated country, most of whose non-native inhabitants up to that time were of French descent. The influx of the loyalist Americans helped solidify Britain’s cultural and political hold on Canada.</li>\r\n \t<li>Prior to the Revolutionary War, America had served as a dumping ground for Britain’s unwanted, which included a vast number of those convicted of various crimes. Faced with the post-war problem of where to send its excess convicts, Britain settled on its almost-empty colony of Australia. Between 1788 and 1868, an estimated 165,000 prisoners were transported to the Down Under continent.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nSure, lots of other elements are involved in each of these events that helped bring them about and influenced their outcomes. But there is no denying the American Revolution played a significant role in all of them.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >What kind of revolution was it?</h2>\r\nThrough most of the 20th century and into the 21st, a continual hot topic of debate among historians has been whether the American Revolution was a <em>conservative</em> or <em>radical</em> affair.\r\n\r\nThe conservative-event camp argues that the real aim of the Founding Fathers was a revolution in a literal sense: a 360-degree return to the rights, liberties and economic system that America had lived under during most of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries. That was before the British government began looking for ways to raise revenues from its American colonies and started enforcing laws that benefited the mother country at the inconvenience of the colonists.\r\n\r\nAmerica’s leaders, the conservative-revolution camp contends, had nothing new or particularly daring in mind in terms of a new form of government. They mostly just wanted the British to stop changing things. The proof of that, the argument goes, is that even after the Constitution was written and the new government framework it contained was established, the same people were still in charge. Slavery continued; women remained legally inferior; and voting was still largely limited to adult males who owned something of value.\r\n\r\nBut, the radical camp counters, the conservative revolution argument ignores the fact that an entirely new form of government resulted. The Founding Fathers came up with a fundamentally different view of the relationship between government and people. Under monarchies or autocracies, government serves the purposes of the one or the few, and operates through the labor and sacrifices of the many. In the model created by the Constitution, the government functions through the will of the people it serves, as expressed by the actions of the representatives they elect.\r\n\r\nTrue, the radical camp concedes, the Founding Fathers ignored or sidestepped the inherent hypocrisy of a nation founded on lofty ideals of liberty, yet allowed slavery and treated half the populace as second-class citizens.\r\n\r\nBut they point out that the soundness of the governmental system the founders created has allowed it to gradually work to redress those wrongs: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, for example, ended slavery in 1865; the 19th gave women the right to vote in 1920. These changes weren’t reliant on the desires of individual rulers or even the whims of popular opinion. They came about as the result of Americans operating under a system, which when it was created, was a radical departure from governments of the time.\r\n\r\nIn the end, it may be futile to attempt to accurately categorize the American Revolution. A revolution is a massive upheaval, undertaken by a mass of human beings with different motives, aspirations — and levels of enthusiasm.\r\n\r\nFor example, John Hancock was a wealthy merchant; George R.T. Hewes, a poor shoemaker. Hancock presided over the group that drafted the Declaration of Independence; Hewes helped dump tea in Boston Harbor. Neither had anything to gain directly from rebellion. But both rebelled and risked their lives in doing so. Was Hancock a conservative hoping to go back to the good old days, and Hewes a radical pining for a new way of doing things? I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters. Assigning generalized labels to their reasons may be an interesting academic exercise, but not a whole lot more.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Why did the American Revolution succeed?</h2>\r\nAs the citizens of scores of other countries around the world can attest, not every revolution works equally well. England underwent two revolutions in the 17th century. One resulted in the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell; the other substituted one monarch for another. The French Revolution gave France — and the rest of the world — Napoleon. The Russian Revolution transformed the government from a corrupt and despotic regime to a corrupt and totalitarian regime.\r\n\r\nBut the American Revolution, however bumpy its path, succeeded. One reason was roots. Americans mostly derived their ideas about government from Britain, whose people had long wrestled with trying to balance the authority of the state with the liberty of the individual. By the time shots were fired at Lexington, many, if not most, Americans had also enjoyed decades of representative democracy, at least at the local level. Self-government was not a new experience. And unlike many other nations, America had escaped dominance by a single religious organization or secular interest group.\r\n\r\nThen there was luck. America abounded in natural and economic resources. Life at the time of the revolution was generally pretty good in the colonies. The desperation faced by starving or war-torn nations on the verge of rebellion was absent and thus so was the desperate need to grab onto the first Cromwell or Napoleon to come along and offer a quick fix.\r\n\r\nFinally, Americans settled on three key aspects to the system that helped ensure the revolution could mature. One was the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government — what the historian Richard Hofstadter termed “a harmonious system of mutual frustration.”\r\n\r\nWhile the system has certainly generated its fair share of friction, it has maintained a balance the Founding Fathers sometimes feared would be unobtainable. In 1974, for example, President Richard Nixon refused to release audiotapes recorded in his office to Congress, which was considering impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Nixon based his refusal on what he claimed was a “privilege” accorded to the executive branch. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress. About two weeks after the court’s decision, the president resigned.\r\n\r\nThe second key aspect of the America system that differentiated it from those of other revolutions was the recognition that the rights of the minority were every bit as important as the rights of the majority. As Thomas Jefferson put it in his first Inaugural Address, “Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail . . . the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate (this) would be oppression.”\r\n\r\nFinally, there is the elasticity of the Constitution. The document’s framers recognized they weren’t perfect and were thus unlikely to create a perfect blueprint for running the country. In the 230 years between 1789 and 2019, a total of 27 amendments were added to the Constitution. They guaranteed rights, made changes in the process of government — and in the case of Prohibition, made one societal activity illegal and then legal again.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab4\" >What you can learn from the American Revolution</h2>\r\nOne of the most rewarding things about the study of history is its reassuring reinforcement of the fact that nobody is now, or ever has been, perfect. It naturally follows that nothing any human has ever done has been perfect.\r\n\r\nThat, as John Adams pointed out in answering letters from admirers in the first quarter of the 19th century, applied to both the Founding Fathers and their efforts. “I ought not to object to your reverence for (us),” he wrote one fan, “but to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capable of comparing the merits of different periods, I have no reason to believe we were better than you are.”\r\n\r\nTo another correspondent, Adams explained that “every measure of Congress from 1774 to 1787 inclusively, was disposed (of) with acrimony and decided by as small majorities as any question is decided these days . . . it was patched and piebald (irregular) then, as it is now, and ever will be, world without end.”\r\n\r\nSo, one lesson to be learned from the American Revolution is that it’s unreasonable to expect the political descendants of the Founding Fathers to be any more infallible than they — or the fruits of their labors — were.\r\n\r\nWhich raises a second lesson: The American Revolution wasn’t finished with the end of the war, or the adoption of the Constitution, or the peaceful shift of power from one political party to another. It has been followed by a series of mini-revolutions, additions to the country’s ever-changing menu of unresolved issues and unaddressed problems.\r\n\r\nThe menu’s items have included the end of slavery; the preservation of the Union; the extension of suffrage and other rights to women; the establishment of a safety net of programs from Social Security to Medicare; the push for a color-blind justice system, and ongoing efforts to ensure that the scales of majority rule and minority rights remain in balance.\r\n\r\nAnd that leads to a third lesson, and one I touch on in the Introduction to this book: The American Revolution isn’t over. “On the contrary,” wrote Dr. Benjamin Rush, physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Founding Father, “nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.”\r\n\r\nDr. Rush’s words were written in 1786. We’re still working on perfection.","description":"The American Revolution has had enormous effects on the development of world history since that time. We can learn a lot from exploring other events that happened following the <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/education/history/american-history/american-revolution-for-dummies-cheat-sheet/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Revolution</a> and from considering the reasons that this revolution, unlike many others, was a successful endeavor.\r\n\r\nIt was a revolution like no other, “a revolution,” in the words of the 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke, “made not by chopping and changing of power in any of the existing states (nations), but by the appearance of a new state, of a new species, in a new part of the globe.”\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_294098\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"270\"]<img class=\"wp-image-294098 size-medium\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/matt-briney-VP2oTxtOgsw-unsplash-1-270x180.jpg\" alt=\"Revolutionary War soldiers\" width=\"270\" height=\"180\" /> © Matt Briney/Unsplash[/caption]\r\n<h2 id=\"tab1\" >How big was the American Revolution?</h2>\r\nOverstating the effects of the American Revolution on world history would be difficult. It’s been estimated, for example, that more than half of the countries belonging to the United Nations in 2019 could trace their beginnings back to documents proclaiming their legitimacy as sovereign states and modeled on or inspired by America’s Declaration of Independence.\r\n\r\nIn fact, it could be argued that just a single Revolutionary War battle in the fall of 1777 in eastern New York led to a French king having his head cut off; the end of the Spanish Empire in the New World; doubling the size of the United States; firmly establishing Canada as a British colony; and hastening the settlement of Australia. That may seem a bit of stretch, but consider this:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>In September and October 1777, American forces defeated a British army near Saratoga. The stunning victory, and surrender of the entire British force, helped convince French King Louis XVI to throw France’s formidable military behind the American cause. That contributed greatly to America’s military victory over the British in the Revolutionary War.</li>\r\n \t<li>America’s subsequent creation of a democratic republic provided a vivid example to the French of how effective an uprising against a tyrannical government might be. French revolutionaries used the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a template for drafting the <em>Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen</em> in 1789. One of the casualties in the French Revolution that followed was Louis XVI — the same monarch who had helped America win its revolution.</li>\r\n \t<li>Inspired by the U.S. and French revolutions and led by Simón Bolívar — the Venezuelan who became known as the George Washington of Latin America — much of Spain’s colonial empire in Latin America revolted in the first three decades of the 19th century. By 1830, what are now the nations of Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Peru had declared independence. In addition, the former Portuguese colony of Brazil and French colony of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Domingue\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Saint-Domingue</a> (now Haiti) had likewise successfully rebelled.</li>\r\n \t<li>The loss of Saint-Domingue to a rebellion led by former slave Toussaint Louverture so irritated the French dictator Napoleon that he launched a major assault to retake the island. That ended in disastrous defeat for the French. The debacle helped persuade Napoleon to forget about a French Empire in the Americas. And that decision spurred France in 1803 to sell America 828,000 square miles of what became known as the Louisiana Purchase, for $15 million (about $335 million in 2019.) That doubled the size of the United States.</li>\r\n \t<li>After the U.S. victory in the Revolutionary War, as many as 80,000 Americans who had been loyal to the British fled to Canada. That had a radical demographic effect on the sparsely populated country, most of whose non-native inhabitants up to that time were of French descent. The influx of the loyalist Americans helped solidify Britain’s cultural and political hold on Canada.</li>\r\n \t<li>Prior to the Revolutionary War, America had served as a dumping ground for Britain’s unwanted, which included a vast number of those convicted of various crimes. Faced with the post-war problem of where to send its excess convicts, Britain settled on its almost-empty colony of Australia. Between 1788 and 1868, an estimated 165,000 prisoners were transported to the Down Under continent.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nSure, lots of other elements are involved in each of these events that helped bring them about and influenced their outcomes. But there is no denying the American Revolution played a significant role in all of them.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab2\" >What kind of revolution was it?</h2>\r\nThrough most of the 20th century and into the 21st, a continual hot topic of debate among historians has been whether the American Revolution was a <em>conservative</em> or <em>radical</em> affair.\r\n\r\nThe conservative-event camp argues that the real aim of the Founding Fathers was a revolution in a literal sense: a 360-degree return to the rights, liberties and economic system that America had lived under during most of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries. That was before the British government began looking for ways to raise revenues from its American colonies and started enforcing laws that benefited the mother country at the inconvenience of the colonists.\r\n\r\nAmerica’s leaders, the conservative-revolution camp contends, had nothing new or particularly daring in mind in terms of a new form of government. They mostly just wanted the British to stop changing things. The proof of that, the argument goes, is that even after the Constitution was written and the new government framework it contained was established, the same people were still in charge. Slavery continued; women remained legally inferior; and voting was still largely limited to adult males who owned something of value.\r\n\r\nBut, the radical camp counters, the conservative revolution argument ignores the fact that an entirely new form of government resulted. The Founding Fathers came up with a fundamentally different view of the relationship between government and people. Under monarchies or autocracies, government serves the purposes of the one or the few, and operates through the labor and sacrifices of the many. In the model created by the Constitution, the government functions through the will of the people it serves, as expressed by the actions of the representatives they elect.\r\n\r\nTrue, the radical camp concedes, the Founding Fathers ignored or sidestepped the inherent hypocrisy of a nation founded on lofty ideals of liberty, yet allowed slavery and treated half the populace as second-class citizens.\r\n\r\nBut they point out that the soundness of the governmental system the founders created has allowed it to gradually work to redress those wrongs: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, for example, ended slavery in 1865; the 19th gave women the right to vote in 1920. These changes weren’t reliant on the desires of individual rulers or even the whims of popular opinion. They came about as the result of Americans operating under a system, which when it was created, was a radical departure from governments of the time.\r\n\r\nIn the end, it may be futile to attempt to accurately categorize the American Revolution. A revolution is a massive upheaval, undertaken by a mass of human beings with different motives, aspirations — and levels of enthusiasm.\r\n\r\nFor example, John Hancock was a wealthy merchant; George R.T. Hewes, a poor shoemaker. Hancock presided over the group that drafted the Declaration of Independence; Hewes helped dump tea in Boston Harbor. Neither had anything to gain directly from rebellion. But both rebelled and risked their lives in doing so. Was Hancock a conservative hoping to go back to the good old days, and Hewes a radical pining for a new way of doing things? I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters. Assigning generalized labels to their reasons may be an interesting academic exercise, but not a whole lot more.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab3\" >Why did the American Revolution succeed?</h2>\r\nAs the citizens of scores of other countries around the world can attest, not every revolution works equally well. England underwent two revolutions in the 17th century. One resulted in the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell; the other substituted one monarch for another. The French Revolution gave France — and the rest of the world — Napoleon. The Russian Revolution transformed the government from a corrupt and despotic regime to a corrupt and totalitarian regime.\r\n\r\nBut the American Revolution, however bumpy its path, succeeded. One reason was roots. Americans mostly derived their ideas about government from Britain, whose people had long wrestled with trying to balance the authority of the state with the liberty of the individual. By the time shots were fired at Lexington, many, if not most, Americans had also enjoyed decades of representative democracy, at least at the local level. Self-government was not a new experience. And unlike many other nations, America had escaped dominance by a single religious organization or secular interest group.\r\n\r\nThen there was luck. America abounded in natural and economic resources. Life at the time of the revolution was generally pretty good in the colonies. The desperation faced by starving or war-torn nations on the verge of rebellion was absent and thus so was the desperate need to grab onto the first Cromwell or Napoleon to come along and offer a quick fix.\r\n\r\nFinally, Americans settled on three key aspects to the system that helped ensure the revolution could mature. One was the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government — what the historian Richard Hofstadter termed “a harmonious system of mutual frustration.”\r\n\r\nWhile the system has certainly generated its fair share of friction, it has maintained a balance the Founding Fathers sometimes feared would be unobtainable. In 1974, for example, President Richard Nixon refused to release audiotapes recorded in his office to Congress, which was considering impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Nixon based his refusal on what he claimed was a “privilege” accorded to the executive branch. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress. About two weeks after the court’s decision, the president resigned.\r\n\r\nThe second key aspect of the America system that differentiated it from those of other revolutions was the recognition that the rights of the minority were every bit as important as the rights of the majority. As Thomas Jefferson put it in his first Inaugural Address, “Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail . . . the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate (this) would be oppression.”\r\n\r\nFinally, there is the elasticity of the Constitution. The document’s framers recognized they weren’t perfect and were thus unlikely to create a perfect blueprint for running the country. In the 230 years between 1789 and 2019, a total of 27 amendments were added to the Constitution. They guaranteed rights, made changes in the process of government — and in the case of Prohibition, made one societal activity illegal and then legal again.\r\n<h2 id=\"tab4\" >What you can learn from the American Revolution</h2>\r\nOne of the most rewarding things about the study of history is its reassuring reinforcement of the fact that nobody is now, or ever has been, perfect. It naturally follows that nothing any human has ever done has been perfect.\r\n\r\nThat, as John Adams pointed out in answering letters from admirers in the first quarter of the 19th century, applied to both the Founding Fathers and their efforts. “I ought not to object to your reverence for (us),” he wrote one fan, “but to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capable of comparing the merits of different periods, I have no reason to believe we were better than you are.”\r\n\r\nTo another correspondent, Adams explained that “every measure of Congress from 1774 to 1787 inclusively, was disposed (of) with acrimony and decided by as small majorities as any question is decided these days . . . it was patched and piebald (irregular) then, as it is now, and ever will be, world without end.”\r\n\r\nSo, one lesson to be learned from the American Revolution is that it’s unreasonable to expect the political descendants of the Founding Fathers to be any more infallible than they — or the fruits of their labors — were.\r\n\r\nWhich raises a second lesson: The American Revolution wasn’t finished with the end of the war, or the adoption of the Constitution, or the peaceful shift of power from one political party to another. It has been followed by a series of mini-revolutions, additions to the country’s ever-changing menu of unresolved issues and unaddressed problems.\r\n\r\nThe menu’s items have included the end of slavery; the preservation of the Union; the extension of suffrage and other rights to women; the establishment of a safety net of programs from Social Security to Medicare; the push for a color-blind justice system, and ongoing efforts to ensure that the scales of majority rule and minority rights remain in balance.\r\n\r\nAnd that leads to a third lesson, and one I touch on in the Introduction to this book: The American Revolution isn’t over. “On the contrary,” wrote Dr. Benjamin Rush, physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Founding Father, “nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.”\r\n\r\nDr. Rush’s words were written in 1786. We’re still working on perfection.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9116,"name":"Steve Wiegand","slug":"steve-wiegand","description":" <p><b>Steve Wiegand</b> is an award&#45;winning political journalist and history writer. Over a 35&#45;year career, he worked as a reporter and columnist at the <i>San Diego Evening Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle</i>, and <i>Sacramento Bee</i>. He is the author or coauthor of seven books dealing with various aspects of U.S. and world history. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9116"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33672,"title":"American History","slug":"american","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[{"label":"How big was the American Revolution?","target":"#tab1"},{"label":"What kind of revolution was it?","target":"#tab2"},{"label":"Why did the American Revolution succeed?","target":"#tab3"},{"label":"What you can learn from the American Revolution","target":"#tab4"}],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":265932,"title":"Women in the American Revolution","slug":"women-in-the-american-revolution","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/265932"}},{"articleId":265926,"title":"Native Americans in the Revolutionary War","slug":"native-americans-in-the-revolutionary-war","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/265926"}},{"articleId":265923,"title":"Slavery and the American Revolution","slug":"slavery-and-the-american-revolution","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/265923"}},{"articleId":265917,"title":"The Impact of the American Revolution on the Home Front","slug":"the-impact-of-the-american-revolution-on-the-home-front","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/265917"}},{"articleId":265911,"title":"The Lack of Unity in Early American Colonies","slug":"the-lack-of-unity-in-early-american-colonies","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/265911"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":294100,"title":"The Most Famous UFO Story: Roswell","slug":"the-most-famous-ufo-story-roswell","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294100"}},{"articleId":294095,"title":"Conspiracy Theory: Moon Landings Were Faked","slug":"conspiracy-theory-moon-landings-were-faked","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/294095"}},{"articleId":288783,"title":"First Ladies For Dummies Cheat Sheet","slug":"50-key-dates-in-us-first-lady-history","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/288783"}},{"articleId":269903,"title":"Performing Many Roles: The President’s Duties in Modern Times","slug":"performing-many-roles-the-presidents-duties-in-modern-times","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269903"}},{"articleId":269900,"title":"President Donald Trump: Controversies at Home and Abroad","slug":"president-donald-trump-controversies-at-home-and-abroad","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269900"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":281944,"slug":"american-revolution-for-dummies","isbn":"9781119593492","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119593492/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119593492/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/1119593492-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1119593492/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1119593492/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/american-revolution-for-dummies-cover-9781119593492-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"American Revolution For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":true,"authorsInfo":"<p><p><b><b data-author-id=\"9116\">Steve Wiegand</b></b> is an award&#45;winning political journalist and history writer. Over a 35&#45;year career, he worked as a reporter and columnist at the <i>San Diego Evening Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle</i>, and <i>Sacramento Bee</i>. He is the author or coauthor of seven books dealing with various aspects of U.S. and world history.</p>","authors":[{"authorId":9116,"name":"Steve Wiegand","slug":"steve-wiegand","description":" <p><b>Steve Wiegand</b> is an award&#45;winning political journalist and history writer. Over a 35&#45;year career, he worked as a reporter and columnist at the <i>San Diego Evening Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle</i>, and <i>Sacramento Bee</i>. He is the author or coauthor of seven books dealing with various aspects of U.S. and world history. ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9116"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119593492&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b4fec14dbc6\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119593492&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b4fec14e53b\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-06-23T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":265891},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T21:21:43+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-05-04T16:33:34+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:40+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"American History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"},"slug":"american","categoryId":33672}],"title":"A Brief History of Father's Day","strippedTitle":"a brief history of father's day","slug":"a-brief-history-of-fathers-day","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Let's hear it for the dads! Learn all about how this holiday on the third Sunday in June was conceived and founded.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Father's Day, celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June, got a jump start from <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-history-of-mothers-day.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the formation of Mother's Day</a>. Credit for beginning Father's Day celebrations is given to Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane, Washington.\r\n\r\nAt the turn of the century, Mother's Day observances were growing across the United States. The federal government had yet to recognize the holiday, but many states had adopted the third Sunday in May as a special celebration day honoring mothers. It was during a Mother's Day church service on June 20, 1909, that Sonora Smart Dodd was struck with the idea of creating a special holiday to honor fathers, too.\r\n\r\nWhen Sonora was 16, her mother died while giving birth to her sixth child, the last of five sons. Back then, like today, single parenthood was no easy task. By Sonoma's account, though, Mr. Smart did a wonderful job. Because of this love and esteem, Sonoma Smart Dodd believed that her father deserved a special time of honor just like that given to mothers on Mother's Day.\r\n\r\nIn 1909, Sonoma Smart Dodd approached the Spokane YMCA and the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and suggested that her father's birthday — June 5 — become a celebration day for Father's Day. Because they wanted more time to prepare, the Ministerial Alliance chose June 19 instead.\r\n\r\nThe first Father's Day was thus observed in the State of Washington on June 19, 1910. The idea of officially celebrating fatherhood spread quickly across the United States, as more and more states adopted the holiday. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recognized Father's Day as the third Sunday in June of that year and encouraged states to do the same. Congress officially recognized Father's Day in 1956 with the passage of a joint resolution.\r\n\r\nTen years later, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation calling for the third Sunday in June to be recognized as Father's Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon permanently established the observance of the third Sunday in June as Father's Day in the United States.\r\n\r\nSonora Smart Dodd lived to see her idea come to fruition. She died in 1978 at the ripe old age of 96.","description":"Father's Day, celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June, got a jump start from <a href=\"https://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/the-history-of-mothers-day.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the formation of Mother's Day</a>. Credit for beginning Father's Day celebrations is given to Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane, Washington.\r\n\r\nAt the turn of the century, Mother's Day observances were growing across the United States. The federal government had yet to recognize the holiday, but many states had adopted the third Sunday in May as a special celebration day honoring mothers. It was during a Mother's Day church service on June 20, 1909, that Sonora Smart Dodd was struck with the idea of creating a special holiday to honor fathers, too.\r\n\r\nWhen Sonora was 16, her mother died while giving birth to her sixth child, the last of five sons. Back then, like today, single parenthood was no easy task. By Sonoma's account, though, Mr. Smart did a wonderful job. Because of this love and esteem, Sonoma Smart Dodd believed that her father deserved a special time of honor just like that given to mothers on Mother's Day.\r\n\r\nIn 1909, Sonoma Smart Dodd approached the Spokane YMCA and the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and suggested that her father's birthday — June 5 — become a celebration day for Father's Day. Because they wanted more time to prepare, the Ministerial Alliance chose June 19 instead.\r\n\r\nThe first Father's Day was thus observed in the State of Washington on June 19, 1910. The idea of officially celebrating fatherhood spread quickly across the United States, as more and more states adopted the holiday. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recognized Father's Day as the third Sunday in June of that year and encouraged states to do the same. Congress officially recognized Father's Day in 1956 with the passage of a joint resolution.\r\n\r\nTen years later, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation calling for the third Sunday in June to be recognized as Father's Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon permanently established the observance of the third Sunday in June as Father's Day in the United States.\r\n\r\nSonora Smart Dodd lived to see her idea come to fruition. She died in 1978 at the ripe old age of 96.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9772,"name":"Andrew Hollandbeck","slug":"andrew-hollandbeck","description":"","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9772"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33672,"title":"American History","slug":"american","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33672"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":288783,"title":"First Ladies For Dummies Cheat Sheet","slug":"50-key-dates-in-us-first-lady-history","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/288783"}},{"articleId":269903,"title":"Performing Many Roles: The President’s Duties in Modern Times","slug":"performing-many-roles-the-presidents-duties-in-modern-times","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269903"}},{"articleId":269900,"title":"President Donald Trump: Controversies at Home and Abroad","slug":"president-donald-trump-controversies-at-home-and-abroad","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269900"}},{"articleId":269894,"title":"Scandals: Defining Donald Trump’s Presidency","slug":"scandals-defining-donald-trumps-presidency","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269894"}},{"articleId":269891,"title":"The 10 Worst Presidents","slug":"the-10-worst-presidents","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","american"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/269891"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[{"title":"Be a Rad Dad","slug":"be-the-best-dad","collectionId":293237}],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f8496962\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;american&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f8497083\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-05-04T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":192457},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:56:39+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-04-26T15:13:48+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:38+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"Irish History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33679"},"slug":"irish","categoryId":33679}],"title":"Irish History For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"irish history for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"irish-history-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Ireland's history includes invasions, emigrations, and so much more. This Cheat Sheet lists the key periods of Ireland's history.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Ireland’s history includes several twists and turns down through the centuries. With invasions, revolutions, emigrations and executions, Irish history boasts a wealth of intense drama.","description":"Ireland’s history includes several twists and turns down through the centuries. With invasions, revolutions, emigrations and executions, Irish history boasts a wealth of intense drama.","blurb":"","authors":[],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33679,"title":"Irish History","slug":"irish","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33679"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" 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History","slug":"key-dates-in-irish-history","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","european"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/193139"}}],"content":[{"title":"Key periods in Irish history","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Take a look at the major periods in Ireland’s history through the ages:</p>\n<h3>Ancient Ireland</h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>c. 12000 – 2750 BCE</td>\n<td>Neolithic Ireland</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2750 – 600 BCE</td>\n<td>The Bronze Age</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>700 – 150 BCE</td>\n<td>Arrival of the Celts</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>430 – 800 CE</td>\n<td>Christianity established</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>The Middle Ages</h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>800 – 900</td>\n<td>Viking invasions</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1170 – 1270</td>\n<td>Norman Ireland</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1270 – 1366</td>\n<td>English settlement and repression</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1370 – 1455</td>\n<td>Irish Revival and the Pale</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1455 – 1541</td>\n<td>Wars of the Roses and Geraldine domination</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Early Modern Ireland</h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1532 – 1603</td>\n<td>Ireland and the Reformation</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1558 – 1647</td>\n<td>The Plantations</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1649 – 60</td>\n<td>Cromwellian Ireland</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1660 – 90</td>\n<td>Establishment of Protestant supremacy</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>The Modern Age in Ireland</h3>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1695 – 1782</td>\n<td>Penal Laws and repression</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1782 – 1800</td>\n<td>Period of Irish parliamentarianism</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1800 – 1922</td>\n<td>Ireland and union</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1845 – 51</td>\n<td>Famine and emigration</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1875 – 1916</td>\n<td>Campaign for home rule</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1916 – 23</td>\n<td>Irish Revolution</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1921 – 72</td>\n<td>Stormont government of Northern Ireland</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1922 – 48</td>\n<td>Irish Free State</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1949 – 2000s</td>\n<td>The Irish Republic</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1960s – 2000s</td>\n<td>Troubles in Northern Ireland</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-04-26T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":209112},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:52:30+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-04-15T18:22:19+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:36+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"World War II History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33685"},"slug":"world-war-ii","categoryId":33685}],"title":"World War II For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"world war ii for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"world-war-ii-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Get a handle on the key people, timelines, and actions over the course of the second world war (WWII).","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"A number of people and events influenced the course and outcome of World War II. This helpful timeline of World War II (WWII) maps out those key figures and actions in the years surrounding the war.","description":"A number of people and events influenced the course and outcome of World War II. This helpful timeline of World War II (WWII) maps out those key figures and actions in the years surrounding the war.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":10025,"name":"Keith D. Dickson","slug":"keith-d-dickson","description":"Keith D. Dickson, PhD, is a professor of military studies at the Joint Forces Staff College, National Defense University. He is a retired Colonel, US Army Special Forces.","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/10025"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33685,"title":"World War II History","slug":"world-war-ii","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33685"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[{"articleId":200162,"title":"Examining the Beginnings of World War II","slug":"examining-the-beginnings-of-world-war-ii","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200162"}},{"articleId":199829,"title":"Midway: Naval Aviation's Finest Moment in World War II","slug":"midway-naval-aviations-finest-moment-in-world-war-ii","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199829"}},{"articleId":198779,"title":"World War II Comes to America: Pearl Harbor","slug":"world-war-ii-comes-to-america-pearl-harbor","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/198779"}},{"articleId":179788,"title":"A World War II Timeline","slug":"a-world-war-ii-timeline","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/179788"}}],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":200162,"title":"Examining the Beginnings of World War II","slug":"examining-the-beginnings-of-world-war-ii","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200162"}},{"articleId":199829,"title":"Midway: Naval Aviation's Finest Moment in World War II","slug":"midway-naval-aviations-finest-moment-in-world-war-ii","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199829"}},{"articleId":199281,"title":"Running Hot and Cold Following World War II","slug":"running-hot-and-cold-following-world-war-ii","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/199281"}},{"articleId":198779,"title":"World War II Comes to America: Pearl Harbor","slug":"world-war-ii-comes-to-america-pearl-harbor","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/198779"}},{"articleId":188978,"title":"World War II and the Atomic Bomb","slug":"world-war-ii-and-the-atomic-bomb","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/188978"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":282679,"slug":"world-war-ii-for-dummies","isbn":"9781119675532","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","world-war-ii"],"amazon":{"default":"https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1119675537/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","ca":"https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1119675537/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","indigo_ca":"http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-9208661-13710633?url=https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/product/1119675537-item.html&cjsku=978111945484","gb":"https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1119675537/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20","de":"https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/1119675537/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wiley01-20"},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/world-war-ii-for-dummies-cover-9781119675532-203x255.jpg","width":203,"height":255},"title":"World War II For Dummies","testBankPinActivationLink":"","bookOutOfPrint":true,"authorsInfo":"<p><b><b data-author-id=\"34888\">Keith D. Dickson</b></b> is Professor Emeritus of military studies, National Defense University. Dr. Dickson served in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces officer and taught at the Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School.</p>","authors":[{"authorId":34888,"name":"Keith D. Dickson","slug":"keith-d.-dickson","description":" <p><b>Keith D. Dickson</b> is Professor Emeritus of military studies, National Defense University. Dr. Dickson served in the U.S. Army as a Special Forces officer and taught at the Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School.</p> ","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/34888"}}],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/books/"}},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;world-war-ii&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119675532&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f80e7b9b\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;world-war-ii&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;9781119675532&quot;]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f80e82be\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":0,"title":"","slug":null,"categoryList":[],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/"}}],"content":[{"title":"Examining the beginnings of World War II","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Officially, World War II began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 and the French and English declared war against Germany as a result of that invasion. But the war&#8217;s beginnings came long before this invasion. World War II was the product of a lot of things coming together in just the wrong way at just the wrong time.</p>\n<h2>The World War I peace agreement</h2>\n<p>When the Great War ended, the winners (Britain, France, the United States, and Italy) wanted the losers (Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire) to pay. Because the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires no longer existed, that left Germany to bear the brunt of the victors&#8217; vindictive peace agreement. Humiliated and broke, Germany began nursing a big-time grudge. The victors themselves weren&#8217;t even happy with the outcome. Some (Italy) felt cheated; some (France) felt that Germany hadn&#8217;t been punished enough, and some (the U.S.) just wanted the heck out of Dodge.</p>\n<p>In addition, the peace agreement created new nations (Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia) in Eastern Europe from the wrecked Austro-Hungarian Empire and other pieces of land from here (Germany) and there (the Soviet Union). Think that didn&#8217;t tick everybody off?</p>\n<h2>The global economy</h2>\n<p>All the nations experienced financial troubles following World War I. The European nations (especially Germany, with the war debt hanging over its head) were practically destitute. Slowly, each made an economic recovery — just in time for the world economy to spiral downward. The U.S. stock market crashed in 1929, and the economies in Europe tanked pretty soon after that. Weakened by the war, no European nation was able to stop the economic downturn. And many saw the ruined economy as an indication that capitalism and democracy had failed.</p>\n<h2>The rise of totalitarianism</h2>\n<p>With the world in such a mess, folks looked toward their governments to solve their problems, and those countries without a strong tradition of democratic rule were susceptible to promises made by future tyrants who claimed that by consolidating power in one party and one man, they could provide stability and order.</p>\n<p>As a result, in Germany specifically (and in Italy earlier), the fledgling democracies gave way to dictatorships and eventual totalitarian rule (that is, all aspects of life are controlled by the dictator). In Italy, this dictator was Benito Mussolini; in Germany, it was Adolf Hitler.</p>\n<h2>The birth of Fascism and Nazism</h2>\n<p class=\"TechnicalStuff\"><i>Fascism</i> is a political ideology in which the state is exalted above all else. All effort and resources are committed to glorifying the state. Individual freedom doesn&#8217;t exist; there is only the freedom to serve the state. Fascists believe that people reach their potential only through service to their nation. If the nation is great, the people are great. And the best representation of the nation&#8217;s greatness is through war. Italy was Fascist, as was Spain after the Spanish Civil War.</p>\n<p><i>Nazism</i> is Fascism with a significant difference: the race issue. The Nazis believed that race is the fundamental trait and therefore the <i>defining </i>characteristic of a people. Just as dogs are genetically predisposed to certain roles (some hunt and others herd, for example), each race is genetically predisposed to certain roles. Some are leaders; other races (the &#8220;inferior&#8221; ones) are meant to be mastered. The Aryan race is, according to Nazis, the Master Race. Then, in descending order are, non-Aryan Caucasians, Asians, Africans, and finally Jews. The Jewish people occupied a special place at the bottom of the Nazi racial hierarchy for the following reasons:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>They &#8220;corrupted&#8221; the other inferior races and the weak minded of the Master Race with what Hitler thought of as Jewish ideas: equality among people and individual freedom.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They wanted to take over the world and thus posed a specific threat to the Master Race who, as the Master Race, deserved to rule the world.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They were &#8220;parasites&#8221; who betrayed Germany during World War I.</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>The rise of Hitler</h2>\n<p>There have always been tyrants and people who abused power, and in many ways, Hitler was no different than any other dictator. He consolidated power by eliminating anyone who could oppose him. He targeted and abused groups he didn&#8217;t like. He used propaganda as a tool to lull the German people into believing that what he told them was true.</p>\n<p>In other ways, Hitler was different. He had the power of an industrialized nation behind him. He had the capability to export his policies all over Europe through diplomatic trickery and lies and then through war. He had the certainty of his fanatical vision of a Jew-free Europe. And, maybe most frightening of all, he had the ability to make the German people as a whole believe that, by following him down the path to hell, they were fulfilling their destiny for greatness.</p>\n<h2>The British and French fear of another war</h2>\n<p>The British and French, having just been through one horrific world war (although they didn&#8217;t call it that at the time), were willing to do just about anything to make sure that they didn&#8217;t find themselves in another horrific war. For both countries, this determination to avoid conflict resulted in their policy of appeasement. By giving in to the demands of aggressors, such as Hitler, they hoped to avert another crisis that would lead to war. Obviously, this strategy didn&#8217;t work.</p>\n<h2>The isolationism of the United States</h2>\n<p>The United States, separated from Europe by an ocean, wanted to remain separated from Europe. Like the French and British, the Americans had seen enough of war. They learned as much about European politics and intrigue and blood feuds as they wanted to during the Great War, and they had no intention now of allowing themselves to get mixed up in that mess again. So they developed an isolationist policy and naively insisted that what went on in Europe — or anywhere else in the world, for that matter — was not their concern.</p>\n<h2>The empire building of Japan</h2>\n<p>Japan, long a key player in Asia, wanted to consolidate its power there. Japan still held the German bases that it had occupied in China during World War I, and as one of the victors, Japan got to keep large sections of Chinese territory that had once been controlled by the Germans, in addition to being given control of islands that had belonged to Germany. Japan also sought to increase its holdings in China, which, in addition to being a problem for the Chinese, was also a problem for the United States, who had interests there, too.</p>\n"},{"title":"World War II comes to America: Pearl Harbor","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Japan&#8217;s ambassadors delivered the first part of a final Japanese diplomatic note to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull on December 6, 1941. On the morning of December 7, the final portion of the note arrived from Tokyo to the Japanese ambassadors. The note broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. and provided instructions to destroy the code machines in the Japanese embassy. The ambassadors were to deliver the note in the early afternoon. While the Japanese ambassadors received this information, so too did American intelligence. Everyone understood the note&#8217;s meaning: War was to be declared that afternoon.</p>\n<p>Soon after receiving the note, warnings were sent to American commanders in Hawaii, the Philippines, Panama, and San Francisco with the information that the ultimatum would be delivered at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Separate messages were sent to the United States army and navy. Somehow, the alert messages bound for Hawaii ended up being transmitted by commercial telegraph and radio. A bicycle messenger, on his way from Honolulu to deliver the coded messages, found himself in the middle of a war.</p>\n<h2>The attack on Pearl Harbor</h2>\n<p class=\"Remember\">War came to America at 7:55 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The base on Oahu Island was the home of the United States Pacific Fleet and about 50,000 American troops. At Pearl Harbor was the largest concentration of U.S. forces in the Pacific.</p>\n<p>A fleet of six Japanese aircraft carriers and escort ships stationed itself 230 miles off Oahu and launched its first wave of 183 fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes. They were to inflict as much damage on the fleet as they could. They were to especially target the eight U.S. battleships and two U.S. carriers. They also sought to destroy aircraft parked on the ground.</p>\n<p>The first wave of Japanese bombers found plenty to attack. About 200 American ships and smaller craft were anchored in the harbor, and hundreds of warplanes were parked wingtip to wingtip at the airfields (planes arranged this way are easier to protect from sabotage).</p>\n<p>A second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft followed up and found the harbor obscured by giant columns of black smoke and antiaircraft fire. During this wave, the Japanese lost 19 aircraft from ground fire and American fighters that had managed to get into the air.</p>\n<p>The entire attack lasted only about an hour and fifty minutes.</p>\n<h2>The effect at Pearl Harbor</h2>\n<p>The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,400 Americans and wounded another 1,200. Of those dead, 1,103 sailors and marines were killed when a Japanese bomb penetrated the forward <i>magazine</i> (the compartment where a ship&#8217;s ammunition is stored) of the battleship USS <i>Arizona</i>, sinking the ship and the men aboard it. The USS <i>Oklahoma</i>, another battleship, was also sunk with heavy loss of life. The other six battleships were damaged, and so were a number of cruisers and destroyers. Over 340 of the 400 aircraft on Oahu were destroyed or damaged as well.</p>\n<p>In the short run, the Japanese accomplished their objective. They had knocked the United States Pacific Fleet out of action temporarily. But how temporarily was the most important issue. In the long run, the United States was able to overcome the damage at Pearl Harbor for the following reasons:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>The aircraft carriers weren&#8217;t touched. The carrier would prove to be the decisive weapon of the naval war in the Pacific, not the battleship, which every naval strategist before 1941 thought would be the primary naval weapon.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The submarines were not attacked. Submarines became one of America&#8217;s most potent weapons in crippling Japan&#8217;s vital supply lines.</li>\n</ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The repair dockyards and fuel-oil storage tanks were undamaged. Thus, Pearl Harbor was able to serve its important role in wartime as a repair and refitting base for the Pacific Fleet. In fact, most of the American ships damaged in the attack were repaired and entered action against the Japanese later in 1942 and 1943.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Nevertheless, Pearl Harbor was a bitter defeat for the United States. American territory had been attacked, and American lives had been lost. Pearl Harbor unified the divided and uncertain American population as no earlier action could.</p>\n<h2>The United States declares war on Japan</h2>\n<p>Japan had underestimated the Americans, who they believed would prefer to negotiate rather than fight. To the contrary, America wanted revenge.</p>\n<p>Although deeply divided over war issues and neutrality before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Congress was now united in seeking a declaration of war. As outlined in the United States Constitution, the president must ask Congress for such a declaration, which Roosevelt willingly did. In his message to Congress, Roosevelt captured the emotions of the day:</p>\n<p>&#8220;Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. . . . Always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.&#8221;</p>\n<p>British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had no doubt what Roosevelt&#8217;s words meant for the British. &#8220;So we had won after all!&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;After seventeen months of lonely fighting and nineteen months of my responsibility in dire stress. We had won the war. England would live; Britain would live; the Commonwealth of Nations and the Empire would live.&#8221;</p>\n"},{"title":"A World War II timeline","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>For a brief rundown of World War II, check out the following chart, which highlights critical political events, leaders, and military action in the years preceding, during, and following the war:</p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/309959.image0.jpg\" alt=\"image0.jpg\" width=\"535\" height=\"800\" /></p>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":208377},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-26T21:25:06+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-04-14T19:22:14+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:36+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670}],"title":"The History of Mother's Day","strippedTitle":"the history of mother's day","slug":"the-history-of-mothers-day","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"Learn how Mother's Day became a national holiday in 1914, and how it's the result of one daughter's tribute to her mom, Anna Reeves Jarvis.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Mother's Day as a national holiday in the United States is almost a century old, but its roots go back before the Civil War to a hard-working Virginian mother and activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis.\r\n\r\nIn total, Anna Reeves Jarvis gave birth to 11 children, though only four of them survived to adulthood. In the late 1850s, seeing the mortal costs of disease and bad sanitation, Jarvis began organizing Mothers' Day Work Clubs, which brought together local mothers to help promote cleanliness and sanitation in the community.\r\n\r\nDuring the Civil War, Jarvis (by then a resident of the Union's newly formed state of West Virginia) encouraged these clubs to remain neutral and to nurse wounded soldiers from the Confederacy and Union alike.\r\n\r\nThroughout Jarvis's work with her family, her church, and her community, she expressed her wish that someday, the importance of a mother's work would be formally recognized by all.\r\n\r\nOne of her surviving children, her daughter Anna, born in 1864, took those wishes to heart. When her mother died on May 9, 1905, the younger Anna hoped to fulfill her mother's wish. She and her friends and supporters began a letter-writing campaign to establish a national holiday in celebration of the importance of motherhood.\r\n\r\nThe campaign was successful as, by degrees, this new holiday came into being. On May 9, 1908, Jarvis's home town of Grafton, West Virginia, was the first to recognize Mother's Day in a church service on the third anniversary of Jarvis's death. At that service, Anna presented each mother in attendance with one of her mother's favorite flowers, the white carnation.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, the state of West Virginia adopted Mother's Day as a state holiday. Anna's letter-writing campaign continued as she pushed for broader recognition. One by one, more states began celebrating Mother's Day in their own ways.\r\n\r\nIt wasn't until May 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson, following a joint resolution of Congress, signed and issued <a href=\"http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/mothers-day-proc-l.jpg&c=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/mothers-day-proc.caption.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Proclamation 1268</a>, creating a national Mother's Day and setting its observance on the second Sunday of May. Since that time, every president has issued a Mother's Day proclamation that recognizes and honors America's mothers.\r\n\r\nBy then, carnations had already become a traditional symbol of Mother's Day. More specifically, red carnations were used to honor living mothers, and white carnations were placed on the graves of deceased mothers.\r\n\r\nIronically, Anna Jarvis, \"the mother of Mother's Day,\" never had any children of her own. After she died in 1948, at the age of 84, she was buried — quite fittingly — next to her mother in Philadelphia.","description":"Mother's Day as a national holiday in the United States is almost a century old, but its roots go back before the Civil War to a hard-working Virginian mother and activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis.\r\n\r\nIn total, Anna Reeves Jarvis gave birth to 11 children, though only four of them survived to adulthood. In the late 1850s, seeing the mortal costs of disease and bad sanitation, Jarvis began organizing Mothers' Day Work Clubs, which brought together local mothers to help promote cleanliness and sanitation in the community.\r\n\r\nDuring the Civil War, Jarvis (by then a resident of the Union's newly formed state of West Virginia) encouraged these clubs to remain neutral and to nurse wounded soldiers from the Confederacy and Union alike.\r\n\r\nThroughout Jarvis's work with her family, her church, and her community, she expressed her wish that someday, the importance of a mother's work would be formally recognized by all.\r\n\r\nOne of her surviving children, her daughter Anna, born in 1864, took those wishes to heart. When her mother died on May 9, 1905, the younger Anna hoped to fulfill her mother's wish. She and her friends and supporters began a letter-writing campaign to establish a national holiday in celebration of the importance of motherhood.\r\n\r\nThe campaign was successful as, by degrees, this new holiday came into being. On May 9, 1908, Jarvis's home town of Grafton, West Virginia, was the first to recognize Mother's Day in a church service on the third anniversary of Jarvis's death. At that service, Anna presented each mother in attendance with one of her mother's favorite flowers, the white carnation.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, the state of West Virginia adopted Mother's Day as a state holiday. Anna's letter-writing campaign continued as she pushed for broader recognition. One by one, more states began celebrating Mother's Day in their own ways.\r\n\r\nIt wasn't until May 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson, following a joint resolution of Congress, signed and issued <a href=\"http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/mothers-day-proc-l.jpg&c=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/mothers-day-proc.caption.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Proclamation 1268</a>, creating a national Mother's Day and setting its observance on the second Sunday of May. Since that time, every president has issued a Mother's Day proclamation that recognizes and honors America's mothers.\r\n\r\nBy then, carnations had already become a traditional symbol of Mother's Day. More specifically, red carnations were used to honor living mothers, and white carnations were placed on the graves of deceased mothers.\r\n\r\nIronically, Anna Jarvis, \"the mother of Mother's Day,\" never had any children of her own. After she died in 1948, at the age of 84, she was buried — quite fittingly — next to her mother in Philadelphia.","blurb":"","authors":[{"authorId":9772,"name":"Andrew Hollandbeck","slug":"andrew-hollandbeck","description":"","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/authors/9772"}}],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33670,"title":"History","slug":"history","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":201424,"title":"Remembering What a Buck Could Buy in the 1960s","slug":"remembering-what-a-buck-could-buy-in-the-1960s","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/201424"}},{"articleId":200868,"title":"Barbarian Invasions: Lightening Up the Dark Ages","slug":"barbarian-invasions-lightening-up-the-dark-ages","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200868"}},{"articleId":200814,"title":"Battles in the Sky: Nostradamus Predicts World War I","slug":"battles-in-the-sky-nostradamus-predicts-world-war-i","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200814"}},{"articleId":200398,"title":"Examining the Life of Malcolm X","slug":"examining-the-life-of-malcolm-x","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200398"}},{"articleId":200382,"title":"Exploring How the Civil War Began","slug":"exploring-how-the-civil-war-began","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/200382"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f808a3fd\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f808ab14\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Articles","articleList":null,"content":null,"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five years","lifeExpectancySetFrom":"2022-04-14T00:00:00+00:00","dummiesForKids":"no","sponsoredContent":"no","adInfo":"","adPairKey":[]},"status":"publish","visibility":"public","articleId":192814},{"headers":{"creationTime":"2016-03-27T16:57:20+00:00","modifiedTime":"2022-04-08T21:02:31+00:00","timestamp":"2022-06-22T19:37:35+00:00"},"data":{"breadcrumbs":[{"name":"Academics & The Arts","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33662"},"slug":"academics-the-arts","categoryId":33662},{"name":"History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33670"},"slug":"history","categoryId":33670},{"name":"Ancient Greek History","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33674"},"slug":"ancient-greek","categoryId":33674}],"title":"Ancient Greeks For Dummies Cheat Sheet","strippedTitle":"ancient greeks for dummies cheat sheet","slug":"ancient-greeks-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","canonicalUrl":"","seo":{"metaDescription":"As you're studying ancient Greece, you might want to keep this Cheat Sheet handy, for quick reference to the timeline and map.","noIndex":0,"noFollow":0},"content":"Ancient Greece is famous for its history, literature, architecture, philosophy… the list goes on! Here you will find a basic introduction to this fascinating civilization, including a map of the empire and a timeline detailing important periods and events that shaped this part of history.","description":"Ancient Greece is famous for its history, literature, architecture, philosophy… the list goes on! Here you will find a basic introduction to this fascinating civilization, including a map of the empire and a timeline detailing important periods and events that shaped this part of history.","blurb":"","authors":[],"primaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":33674,"title":"Ancient Greek History","slug":"ancient-greek","_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/categories/33674"}},"secondaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"tertiaryCategoryTaxonomy":{"categoryId":0,"title":null,"slug":null,"_links":null},"trendingArticles":null,"inThisArticle":[],"relatedArticles":{"fromBook":[],"fromCategory":[{"articleId":209250,"title":"Mythology For Dummies Cheat Sheet","slug":"mythology-for-dummies-cheat-sheet","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/209250"}},{"articleId":198907,"title":"Understanding the Origin of the Greek Gods","slug":"understanding-the-origin-of-the-greek-gods","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/198907"}},{"articleId":194095,"title":"Greek and Roman Mythology Names","slug":"gods-and-goddesses-of-greek-and-roman-mythology","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/194095"}},{"articleId":194088,"title":"Ancient Greece Timeline","slug":"ancient-greece-timeline","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/194088"}},{"articleId":194087,"title":"Map of Ancient Greece","slug":"map-of-ancient-greece","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/194087"}}]},"hasRelatedBookFromSearch":false,"relatedBook":{"bookId":0,"slug":null,"isbn":null,"categoryList":null,"amazon":null,"image":null,"title":null,"testBankPinActivationLink":null,"bookOutOfPrint":false,"authorsInfo":null,"authors":null,"_links":null},"collections":[],"articleAds":{"footerAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_adhesion_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;ancient-greek&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7f558af\"></div></div>","rightAd":"<div class=\"du-ad-region row\" id=\"article_page_right_ad\"><div class=\"du-ad-unit col-md-12\" data-slot-id=\"article_page_right_ad\" data-refreshed=\"false\" \r\n data-target = \"[{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;cat&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[&quot;academics-the-arts&quot;,&quot;history&quot;,&quot;ancient-greek&quot;]},{&quot;key&quot;:&quot;isbn&quot;,&quot;values&quot;:[null]}]\" id=\"du-slot-62b36f7f55fd3\"></div></div>"},"articleType":{"articleType":"Cheat Sheet","articleList":[{"articleId":194087,"title":"Map of Ancient Greece","slug":"map-of-ancient-greece","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/194087"}},{"articleId":194088,"title":"Ancient Greece Timeline","slug":"ancient-greece-timeline","categoryList":["academics-the-arts","history","ancient-greek"],"_links":{"self":"https://dummies-api.dummies.com/v2/articles/194088"}}],"content":[{"title":"Map of ancient Greece","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Want to impress people with your knowledge of ancient Greece? Print out and pin up this handy map as a quick and useful point of reference.</p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/170603.image0.jpg\" alt=\"image0.jpg\" width=\"535\" height=\"433\" /></p>\n"},{"title":"Ancient Greece timeline","thumb":null,"image":null,"content":"<p>Keep this helpful timeline in hand to remind yourself of the significant periods of time and essential events that took place throughout this important part of world history.</p>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">2600 BC: Beginning of the Minoan Period</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">1450 BC: Development of Linear B writing</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">1400 BC: Foundation of Mycenaean Palaces</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Bronze Age</h2>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">1370 BC: Palace complex at Knossos destroyed. Minoan civilisation comes to an end.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">c.1250 BC: The Trojan War</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">1200 BC: Destruction of Mycenaean Palaces. Doric invasions</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">1000 BC: End of Mycenaean civilisation</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Iron Age</h2>\n<ul class=\"level-one\">\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">776 BC: First Olympic Games</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">c.750 BC: The <i>Iliad</i> and the<i> Odyssey</i> composed. Greek alphabet established. Greek colonies established in Sicily and Southern Italy</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">630 BC: Colony of Cyrene established</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">594 BC: Solon renews the laws of Athens.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">508 BC: Kleisthenes reforms the Athenian constitution and Athens becomes a democracy!</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">490 BC: Battle of Marathon: Greece versus Persia I (Greece wins!)</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">483 BC: Athenians discover silver in the mines at Laureion.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">480 BC: Battle of Thermopylae: Greece versus Persia II. Battle of Salamis</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">479 BC: Battle of Plataea (Greece wins . . . eventually!)</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">477 BC: Athens establishes the Delian League.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">461–445 BC: First Peloponnesian War: Athens versus Sparta (draw)</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">431–404 BC: Second Peloponnesian War: Athens versus Sparta (Sparta wins.)</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">430 BC: Plague in Athens</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">429 BC: Death of Pericles</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">415 BC: Athenian expedition to Sicily defeated</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">399 BC: Socrates tried and executed</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">359 BC: Philip II becomes king of Macedonia.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">356 BC: Alexander the Great born</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">331 BC: Alexander the Great defeats the Persians at Gaugamela and becomes the new King of Persia!</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">322 BC: Death of Aristotle</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">300 BC: Ptolemy the Great founds the library at Alexandria.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">214 BC: Philip V of Macedon defeated by the Romans</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">172 BC: Macedonia becomes a Roman province.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p class=\"first-para\">146 BC: Romans invade Greece and take control. Ancient Greece comes to an end.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"}],"videoInfo":{"videoId":null,"name":null,"accountId":null,"playerId":null,"thumbnailUrl":null,"description":null,"uploadDate":null}},"sponsorship":{"sponsorshipPage":false,"backgroundImage":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"brandingLine":"","brandingLink":"","brandingLogo":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0}},"primaryLearningPath":"Explore","lifeExpectancy":"Five 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Conspiracy Theories Conspiracy Theory: The Moon Landings Were Faked

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

On July 20, 1969, the whole world stared into their television sets and watched blurry, flickering, black and white images as Apollo 11’s lunar excursion module, nicknamed “The Eagle,” descended from orbiting around the moon and touched down on the Sea of Tranquility. In 1960, deep in the heart of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, President John F. Kennedy upped the stakes in the “space race” between the two superpowers by proclaiming that the U.S. would land a man on the moon “before this decade is out.” Apollo 11 managed to pull it off with just four months to spare. It was truly the technological achievement of the century, and perhaps the greatest milestone in the annals of mankind. And yet, the day after astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left the first human footprints on another world, there were those who didn’t believe it was possible. One woman interviewed by Newsweek proclaimed that she didn’t believe it because she didn’t think her TV set could pick up a transmission from the moon. A rumor began to spread across the countryside: Maybe the moon landings had been staged. Claims of phony moon landing Various claims have been made over the last three decades about ways in which the moon landings may have been faked, and why. Some of the more common ones include: NASA’s first manned test flight of the Apollo space capsule and Saturn-series rocket resulted in a tragic fire that killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. In a test on January 27, 1967, fire broke out in the oxygen-rich cockpit, and the three men died within 17 seconds. The claim goes that the fire set the program back so badly that the moon landings had to be completely or partially fabricated in order to make it look like the U.S. had achieved its goal on time. Some have claimed that the Van Allen radiation belts that surround the earth were far too deadly to allow Apollo spacecraft to pass through without killing the astronauts inside. Most scientists (including their discoverer Dr. James Van Allen) reject this claim, because radiation poisoning is dependent upon the amount of time a person is exposed, and Apollo astronauts passed through too quickly to have received a dangerous dose. Conspiracists claim that the astronauts were launched into low Earth orbit, and that the moon landing was videotaped in a studio. Then, after the appropriate amount of time, the orbiting Apollo spacecraft splashed down, all on international television. According to conspiracists, Stanley Kubrick, hot on the heels of directing the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which contained the first realistic and convincing special effects depicting spaceflight ever put on film, was brought from England to direct the Apollo 11 telecast. Anyone who knows anything about the famously temperamental and perfectionist director knows how impractical this claim is. Some claim that special effects were created by 2001 effects artist Douglas Trumbull in a studio in Huntsville, Alabama, home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. A variation on the claim is that only some of the six successful moon landings were faked, while NASA had extra time to work on its faulty technology. Apollo 13’s almost fatal accident was staged in order to refocus a bored public on NASA’s need for greater funding. And Apollo 17, the final mission to the moon, was the only authentic trip, because it had a civilian crew member who couldn’t be threatened or bought off. ​​The 1978 film Capricorn One added fuel to the hoax claims, by telling a fictional story of NASA faking a landing on Mars, while filming the events in a studio — using spacecraft virtually identical to the Apollo missions. The International Flat Earth Society, as their name makes clear, believed (and still does) that Earth isn’t round, but flat as a pancake. That being the case, as far as they were concerned, the moon landings could be nothing but a hoax. The evidence abounds There’s too much evidence and far too many participants in NASA’s Apollo program to convince the overwhelming majority of people that the moon landings were anything but authentic. The Apollo missions involved $30 billion in federal dollars and 400,000 employees, with nary a squealer in the bunch. That hasn’t prevented a small cottage industry of authors from crying “hoax.” The 842 pounds of lunar rocks returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts over the course of six missions isn’t proof to them. Conspiracists claim unmanned NASA missions brought the rocks back to Earth before Apollo 11 ever launched, or they were simply cooked up artificially in a high-temperature kiln. In spite of piles of photographic and physical evidence, this conspiracy theory hangs on, largely promoted by late author Bill Kaysing. He was a librarian at Rocketdyne, an early NASA supplier, and claimed (without proof) that the space agency never had the expertise needed to actually land men on the moon. He further alleged that the Apollo 1 astronauts (and later the Challenger Space Shuttle crew) were murdered because they were about to reveal the “truth” about NASA. Kaysing claimed that the astronauts were actually in the Nevada desert putting on the “moonwalk show” during the day, and hanging out with strippers and Las Vegas showgirls at night — requiring years of psychological therapy before they could get over the guilt of duping the public. Amateur filmmaker Bart Sibrel has taken a more confrontational approach to the issue. In 2002, he accosted Buzz Aldrin in front of a Beverly Hills hotel, demanding answers to his questions about the so-called moon landing “hoax,” calling the astronaut a “coward, a liar, and a thief.” Aldrin reacted in a less than Socratic method over the controversy and punched Sibrel right in the kisser. Other Apollo astronauts have characterized Sibrel as a “stalker.” Profound effects on moon walkers The first time men from Earth stepped onto a new world had a profound effect on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and both men grappled long and hard with their public and private reactions to an event that the whole world was watching. There are two little-known items about Aldrin, in particular. Professional atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair sued NASA for violating church/ state separation by allowing government-employed astronauts to read from the book of Genesis during Apollo 8’s moon-orbiting mission in 1968. So, on his own, Aldrin (a Presbyterian) privately gave himself Communion when Apollo 11’s Eagle landed. Aldrin is also a Freemason, and he carried a special document proclaiming the moon as being under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Texas of Free and Accepted Masons, which means the Masons control not just the world, but the moon!

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American History U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

In a landmark decision on June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The justices ruled 6-3, eliminating a woman's constitutional right to abortion after nearly 50 years. About half of the states in the U.S. are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion following the Supreme Court ruling, which was expected because of a leaked draft of the court's decision in the related case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. News outlet Politico obtained the draft on May 2, 2022. The history of Roe v. Wade Roe versus Wade, better known as Roe v. Wade, is the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion within the first two months of pregnancy. Up until then, individual state laws regulated abortions, thereby forcing women to illegal clinics or untrained practitioners. The lack of proper medical supervision in these situations was dangerous for the women. The roots of this case lie in Dallas, Texas, in 1969. At the time, obtaining or attempting an abortion was illegal in Texas, except in cases where the woman could die. Twenty-one-year-old Norma McCorvey was single and pregnant. Thinking that abortions were legal in cases of rape and incest, she tried to get an abortion by falsely claiming she was raped. But because there was no police report to prove it, she sought the alternative, an illegal abortion. Once again, her efforts failed — police had shut down the illegal clinic. Norma's next step was to find a lawyer to sue for the right to get an abortion. Two young attorneys named Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee, dedicated to women's advocacy, took Norma's case and dubbed their plaintiff "Jane Roe" to protect her identity. On March 3, 1970, Coffee filed a complaint, Roe v. Wade (later amended to a class-action suit), at the Dallas federal district courthouse, suing the State of Texas over the constitutionality over its abortion laws. Henry Wade was the defending district attorney. Roe won the case when the district court decided that the Texas laws were vague and infringed on the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The Ninth Amendment protects citizens' rights not listed in other parts of the Constitution, including the right to privacy. Norma's attorneys argued that this extended to a woman's right to decide to bear children or not. The Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no state can abridge a citizen's fundamental rights without due process. The case was appealed and landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, the Court handed down its decision in favor of Roe, declaring: [The] right to privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the district court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."[ The Supreme Court ruling didn't come in time for Norma McCorvey to have an abortion. She delivered a child even before the district court ruled in her favor in 1970; that child was immediately adopted. Roe v. Wade remains as polarizing as ever. Right-to-privacy proponents, anti-abortionists, religious groups, and women's rights advocates are just some of the organizations involved in this heated socio-political issue.

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American History Roe v. Wade and other Supreme Court decisions on abortion

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, ending nearly 50 years of a woman's constitutional right to abortion. The decision allows individual states the ability to set their own abortion laws, banning or restricting the procedure as they see fit. The nation was expecting the landmark decision due to a leaked draft of the Supreme Court's deliberations in the related case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The leaked document, obtained by news outlet Politico on May 3, 2022, indicated the court's plans to overturn Roe v. Wade. At the time of the leak, about 50 states were poised to ban or severely restrict abortion, following the expected ruling. The history of Roe v. Wade Before the court's decision in 2022, Roe v. Wade had been the litmus test for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. No judge who came out openly against Roe v. Wade was likely to be confirmed. In the 1973 case, the Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that women have the right to an abortion, at least during the first trimester of pregnancy. The court characterized abortion as a “fundamental” constitutional right, which means that any law aiming to restrict it is subject to the standard of strict scrutiny. In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1982), the high court modified Roe by giving the state the right to regulate an abortion, even in the first trimester, as long as that regulation doesn’t pose an “undue burden” on the woman’s fundamental right to an abortion. One such “undue burden” identified in Casey was any requirement for the woman to notify her husband. A Texas law that placed certain restrictions on abortion clinics in the state was struck down by the Supreme Court, in a 5–3 vote, as placing an “undue burden” on abortion rights in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016). In Stormans Inc. v. Wiesman (2016), a five-justice majority on the court refused to hear a challenge to a Washington state law making it illegal for pharmacists to refuse to dispense contraceptive drugs. In a dissent, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote: “This case is an ominous sign … If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern.”

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Conspiracy Theories The Most Famous UFO Story: Roswell

Article / Updated 06-24-2022

The Roswell Incident is the most famous UFO story on record and is the cornerstone of an alleged government conspiracy to hide alien visits from the world. The initial discovery of a suspected UFO crash site in 1947 played out over a three-day period, then almost completely vanished from view for 30 years, before being resurrected in the 1970s by UFO researchers. The biggest problem facing anyone who steps into the Roswell/UFO arena is telling truth from fiction. For every account of the event, someone debunks it. For every so-called fact, there’s a dispute over it, and even eyewitness accounts and deathbed confessions can’t be trusted. And, according to most dedicated ufologists of course, nothing officially released by the government can be trusted at all. Nevertheless, this article covers what’s generally known or alleged and what can be verified — or at least generally agreed on. Unidentified debris discovered In 1947, just one month after pilot Kenneth Arnold’s publicized sighting of a UFO over Washington State, a curious report came out of the little town of Roswell, New Mexico. On July 4 (Independence Day) that year, a violent thunderstorm swept through the area. The next morning, a sheep rancher named Mac Brazel, who was employed at the J. B. Foster ranch, set out across the property to look for damage from the storm. What he found was unusual debris that he couldn’t readily identify, stretched out across a large area. After showing the debris to a neighbor, Brazel took some of the pieces into Roswell, about 70 miles away, and presented them to the local authorities, wondering if it might be wreckage of one of the flying saucers recently reported in the news. (It may have helped motivate him that the press was offering a $3,000 reward for physical evidence of a flying saucer.) Brazel was interviewed by a local radio station, whose reporter contacted the 509th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force at nearby Roswell Army Air Field for a comment. The base sent Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel into town and then to the Foster ranch to investigate. Marcel gathered up some of the pieces and took them home for the evening, where he showed some of them to his family. The next morning, he took the debris to the base, and Colonel William “Butch” Blanchard ordered the debris site cordoned off so it could be recovered, then issued a press release about the discovery. Newspapers and network radio reports appeared quickly, announcing that the Air Force captured a flying disc, but by the next day, a correction was issued changing the story to say that the debris came from a weather balloon. A press conference was held, and debris was displayed that seemed to verify that what was recovered was, in fact, a large rubber balloon and other pieces covered in silver foil. Brazel himself was dismayed over the publicity. He’d found pieces of weather balloons on the ranch in the past, but this find had unusual composition. Still, the rancher never claimed that what he found was metal. When it was all collected, the wreckage consisted of foil, rubber, wooden sticks, paper, and tape. Over a period of three days, the remaining debris was collected and flown to the 8th Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, where it was examined. On July 9, the Air Force issued a press release from Ft. Worth identifying the wreckage as a high altitude balloon carrying a radar target made of wood and reflective aluminum. And within several weeks of the incident, the whole event slipped from the public memory for 30 years. Roswell resurrected In 1978, UFO researcher Stanton Friedman was contacted by retired intelligence officer Jesse Marcel, and at this point, the Roswell story was resurrected and it becomes difficult to separate fact, fiction, faulty memory, and fraud. Following, are a sample of some of events, people, and recollections from the Roswell incident. Keep in mind, these examples have only come forth since 1978. Jesse Marcel claimed the wreckage he collected was part of a flying disc and not a balloon. The foil-like material was unlike anything he’d ever seen before, and there were strips of purple tape that contained symbols that looked like either flowers or hieroglyphics. He said that photographs of himself posing with balloon debris were taken after the real pieces were replaced with balloon parts by superior officers. Marcel, however, couldn’t remember the month or year of the events. Frank Kaufman claimed to have been a radar specialist at White Sands Proving Grounds. He stated that he was ordered to the White Sands facility where he tracked incoming UFOs the night of the fabled crash. He was then sent to Roswell, where he witnessed the retrieval of at least one alien occupant — except that Kaufman was really nothing but a civilian clerk in the Roswell Army Air Base personnel office. And there was no radar at White Sands. After his death in 2001, analysis of letters, memos, and other documents show that Kaufman really was an expert at forgery, records falsification, and spectacular lying, but not radar. Glenn Dennis was a local funeral director in Roswell and claimed he’d been contacted by the air base’s “mortuary officer” about caskets and the proper treatment of bodies recovered from the desert. Later, he “stumbled” into an autopsy being performed on one of three alien corpses. He further claimed that a nurse at the Roswell air base named Naomi Maria Selff (or Naomi Sipes — it varied) told him details of the top-secret operation and gave him sketches of the aliens. Dennis said the nurse suddenly disappeared, but there’s no record of any such nurse ever having worked at the base or living in Roswell. His story had enough inconsistencies that he was eventually labeled a fraud by many UFO researchers. Over and over again, so-called Roswell witnesses have been exposed in major inconsistencies or outright lies. So, what could the motive for all these, and literally a hundred others, have been to make these tales up? Remember: Aliens aren’t just big business in Roswell — they’re the town’s number-one source of income. There are no less than three UFO museums in the town of only 50,000 people. True believers flock to Roswell, and it has become a UFO mecca. They sell T-shirts, dolls, coffee mugs, inflatable balloons, tours of the competing crash sites, and literally anything else you can think of — raking in millions of dollars in annual revenue to the town. The military base has been closed, there’s no interstate close by, and there’s not a lot of economic opportunities for the town of 45,000. Aliens are very big business. Tracking the government’s paper trail UFO researchers and debunkers have both been noisy attack dogs and have made ceaseless requests for reports to be declassified and released to the public under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. A cataclysmic, earth-shaking event like capturing a real flying saucer and its alien occupants would change the course of civilization. At the very least, a military culture that’s governed by a strict code of procedures and conduct would document such an event with a mountain of paper, photographs, and other physical evidence. Every step in the investigation of alien conduct would be painstakingly chronicled, if for no other reason than to cover the backsides of career officers terrified of making a misstep and bringing down the wrath of angry superiors on them, or worse, the wrath of an angry invading fleet of a superior intergalactic force. Out of literally thousands of pages of FOI-released documents, there isn’t even the hint of evidence of any such authentic events. In 1995, the General Accounting Office (GAO), at the request of New Mexico congressman Steve Schiff, conducted a search of all documents relating to the Roswell Army Air Base and the events of July 1947. As a result of the GAO investigation, the Air Force was directed to make an internal investigation and to report its findings. Two Air Force reports The Air Force released reports about two formerly top-secret programs: 1994’s The Roswell Report: Fact Vs. Fiction in the New Mexico Desert, identified a program called Project Mogul; and 1997’s The Roswell Report: Case Closed described Operation High Dive. Project Mogul: This program was designed to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests by using very high altitude balloons loaded with sensitive microphones and reflective boxes that could be tracked by radar. Several balloons were clustered together for extra support in case some broke, as well as to assure a constant, standard altitude position. A string of radar targets was tied to the end of the balloon clusters like a long kite tail. The targets were needed to track the experiment because the rubber balloons themselves were invisible to radar. The target boxes were mass-produced, under contract by a toy manufacturer, out of special foil, balsa wood, and tape. The tape, it was claimed, was left over from a line of holiday items and contained gold flowerlike patterns on a purple background, which accounted for the claims that the so-called saucer debris had hieroglyphics on it.The reason for the high security involved in recovering Mogul’s debris in Roswell was that it was a closely guarded, top-secret program, whose complete details weren’t even known by the civilian scientists involved in developing its technology. Likewise, the Roswell Air Base personnel would’ve had no idea what they were looking at. The balloon flights were conducted between 1947 and 1948, and based on the physical description, these may very well have been the objects spotted by pilot Kenneth Arnold the week before the Roswell Incident. The Soviets really did set off their first nuclear blast in 1949, based on secrets stolen from the U.S. program (see the sidebar “The Schulgen Memo” earlier in this chapter). Operation High Dive: This is a little stranger, but the Air Force alleges that this project was the genesis of claims of seeing military personnel recovering bodies from the desert. It was a top-secret program carried out in the 1950s to test extremely high altitude human parachute jumps, primarily in case U2 surveillance plane pilots had to bail out from 70,000 feet or higher. The tests themselves were done on early crash test dummies in an effort to make design changes in parachutes that prevented uncontrolled and fatal spinning. The Air Force believes that witnesses saw these strange-looking dummies being collected in the desert by military crews, who kept the public away because of the secret nature of the experiments (the Air Force didn’t want word to get out to the Russians that they had spy planes that flew so high). Predictably, the Air Force and the GAO’s reports, along with a subsequent CIA investigation and report, all raised new accusations of a government coverup. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of UFO researchers have begrudgingly accepted that the Roswell Incident is, in all probability, nothing more than a colossal hoax.

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American History The Aftermath of the American Revolution

Article / Updated 06-23-2022

The American Revolution has had enormous effects on the development of world history since that time. We can learn a lot from exploring other events that happened following the American Revolution and from considering the reasons that this revolution, unlike many others, was a successful endeavor. It was a revolution like no other, “a revolution,” in the words of the 18th century British statesman Edmund Burke, “made not by chopping and changing of power in any of the existing states (nations), but by the appearance of a new state, of a new species, in a new part of the globe.” How big was the American Revolution? Overstating the effects of the American Revolution on world history would be difficult. It’s been estimated, for example, that more than half of the countries belonging to the United Nations in 2019 could trace their beginnings back to documents proclaiming their legitimacy as sovereign states and modeled on or inspired by America’s Declaration of Independence. In fact, it could be argued that just a single Revolutionary War battle in the fall of 1777 in eastern New York led to a French king having his head cut off; the end of the Spanish Empire in the New World; doubling the size of the United States; firmly establishing Canada as a British colony; and hastening the settlement of Australia. That may seem a bit of stretch, but consider this: In September and October 1777, American forces defeated a British army near Saratoga. The stunning victory, and surrender of the entire British force, helped convince French King Louis XVI to throw France’s formidable military behind the American cause. That contributed greatly to America’s military victory over the British in the Revolutionary War. America’s subsequent creation of a democratic republic provided a vivid example to the French of how effective an uprising against a tyrannical government might be. French revolutionaries used the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a template for drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789. One of the casualties in the French Revolution that followed was Louis XVI — the same monarch who had helped America win its revolution. Inspired by the U.S. and French revolutions and led by Simón Bolívar — the Venezuelan who became known as the George Washington of Latin America — much of Spain’s colonial empire in Latin America revolted in the first three decades of the 19th century. By 1830, what are now the nations of Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Peru had declared independence. In addition, the former Portuguese colony of Brazil and French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) had likewise successfully rebelled. The loss of Saint-Domingue to a rebellion led by former slave Toussaint Louverture so irritated the French dictator Napoleon that he launched a major assault to retake the island. That ended in disastrous defeat for the French. The debacle helped persuade Napoleon to forget about a French Empire in the Americas. And that decision spurred France in 1803 to sell America 828,000 square miles of what became known as the Louisiana Purchase, for $15 million (about $335 million in 2019.) That doubled the size of the United States. After the U.S. victory in the Revolutionary War, as many as 80,000 Americans who had been loyal to the British fled to Canada. That had a radical demographic effect on the sparsely populated country, most of whose non-native inhabitants up to that time were of French descent. The influx of the loyalist Americans helped solidify Britain’s cultural and political hold on Canada. Prior to the Revolutionary War, America had served as a dumping ground for Britain’s unwanted, which included a vast number of those convicted of various crimes. Faced with the post-war problem of where to send its excess convicts, Britain settled on its almost-empty colony of Australia. Between 1788 and 1868, an estimated 165,000 prisoners were transported to the Down Under continent. Sure, lots of other elements are involved in each of these events that helped bring them about and influenced their outcomes. But there is no denying the American Revolution played a significant role in all of them. What kind of revolution was it? Through most of the 20th century and into the 21st, a continual hot topic of debate among historians has been whether the American Revolution was a conservative or radical affair. The conservative-event camp argues that the real aim of the Founding Fathers was a revolution in a literal sense: a 360-degree return to the rights, liberties and economic system that America had lived under during most of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries. That was before the British government began looking for ways to raise revenues from its American colonies and started enforcing laws that benefited the mother country at the inconvenience of the colonists. America’s leaders, the conservative-revolution camp contends, had nothing new or particularly daring in mind in terms of a new form of government. They mostly just wanted the British to stop changing things. The proof of that, the argument goes, is that even after the Constitution was written and the new government framework it contained was established, the same people were still in charge. Slavery continued; women remained legally inferior; and voting was still largely limited to adult males who owned something of value. But, the radical camp counters, the conservative revolution argument ignores the fact that an entirely new form of government resulted. The Founding Fathers came up with a fundamentally different view of the relationship between government and people. Under monarchies or autocracies, government serves the purposes of the one or the few, and operates through the labor and sacrifices of the many. In the model created by the Constitution, the government functions through the will of the people it serves, as expressed by the actions of the representatives they elect. True, the radical camp concedes, the Founding Fathers ignored or sidestepped the inherent hypocrisy of a nation founded on lofty ideals of liberty, yet allowed slavery and treated half the populace as second-class citizens. But they point out that the soundness of the governmental system the founders created has allowed it to gradually work to redress those wrongs: The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, for example, ended slavery in 1865; the 19th gave women the right to vote in 1920. These changes weren’t reliant on the desires of individual rulers or even the whims of popular opinion. They came about as the result of Americans operating under a system, which when it was created, was a radical departure from governments of the time. In the end, it may be futile to attempt to accurately categorize the American Revolution. A revolution is a massive upheaval, undertaken by a mass of human beings with different motives, aspirations — and levels of enthusiasm. For example, John Hancock was a wealthy merchant; George R.T. Hewes, a poor shoemaker. Hancock presided over the group that drafted the Declaration of Independence; Hewes helped dump tea in Boston Harbor. Neither had anything to gain directly from rebellion. But both rebelled and risked their lives in doing so. Was Hancock a conservative hoping to go back to the good old days, and Hewes a radical pining for a new way of doing things? I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters. Assigning generalized labels to their reasons may be an interesting academic exercise, but not a whole lot more. Why did the American Revolution succeed? As the citizens of scores of other countries around the world can attest, not every revolution works equally well. England underwent two revolutions in the 17th century. One resulted in the dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell; the other substituted one monarch for another. The French Revolution gave France — and the rest of the world — Napoleon. The Russian Revolution transformed the government from a corrupt and despotic regime to a corrupt and totalitarian regime. But the American Revolution, however bumpy its path, succeeded. One reason was roots. Americans mostly derived their ideas about government from Britain, whose people had long wrestled with trying to balance the authority of the state with the liberty of the individual. By the time shots were fired at Lexington, many, if not most, Americans had also enjoyed decades of representative democracy, at least at the local level. Self-government was not a new experience. And unlike many other nations, America had escaped dominance by a single religious organization or secular interest group. Then there was luck. America abounded in natural and economic resources. Life at the time of the revolution was generally pretty good in the colonies. The desperation faced by starving or war-torn nations on the verge of rebellion was absent and thus so was the desperate need to grab onto the first Cromwell or Napoleon to come along and offer a quick fix. Finally, Americans settled on three key aspects to the system that helped ensure the revolution could mature. One was the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government — what the historian Richard Hofstadter termed “a harmonious system of mutual frustration.” While the system has certainly generated its fair share of friction, it has maintained a balance the Founding Fathers sometimes feared would be unobtainable. In 1974, for example, President Richard Nixon refused to release audiotapes recorded in his office to Congress, which was considering impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Nixon based his refusal on what he claimed was a “privilege” accorded to the executive branch. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress. About two weeks after the court’s decision, the president resigned. The second key aspect of the America system that differentiated it from those of other revolutions was the recognition that the rights of the minority were every bit as important as the rights of the majority. As Thomas Jefferson put it in his first Inaugural Address, “Though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail . . . the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate (this) would be oppression.” Finally, there is the elasticity of the Constitution. The document’s framers recognized they weren’t perfect and were thus unlikely to create a perfect blueprint for running the country. In the 230 years between 1789 and 2019, a total of 27 amendments were added to the Constitution. They guaranteed rights, made changes in the process of government — and in the case of Prohibition, made one societal activity illegal and then legal again. What you can learn from the American Revolution One of the most rewarding things about the study of history is its reassuring reinforcement of the fact that nobody is now, or ever has been, perfect. It naturally follows that nothing any human has ever done has been perfect. That, as John Adams pointed out in answering letters from admirers in the first quarter of the 19th century, applied to both the Founding Fathers and their efforts. “I ought not to object to your reverence for (us),” he wrote one fan, “but to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capable of comparing the merits of different periods, I have no reason to believe we were better than you are.” To another correspondent, Adams explained that “every measure of Congress from 1774 to 1787 inclusively, was disposed (of) with acrimony and decided by as small majorities as any question is decided these days . . . it was patched and piebald (irregular) then, as it is now, and ever will be, world without end.” So, one lesson to be learned from the American Revolution is that it’s unreasonable to expect the political descendants of the Founding Fathers to be any more infallible than they — or the fruits of their labors — were. Which raises a second lesson: The American Revolution wasn’t finished with the end of the war, or the adoption of the Constitution, or the peaceful shift of power from one political party to another. It has been followed by a series of mini-revolutions, additions to the country’s ever-changing menu of unresolved issues and unaddressed problems. The menu’s items have included the end of slavery; the preservation of the Union; the extension of suffrage and other rights to women; the establishment of a safety net of programs from Social Security to Medicare; the push for a color-blind justice system, and ongoing efforts to ensure that the scales of majority rule and minority rights remain in balance. And that leads to a third lesson, and one I touch on in the Introduction to this book: The American Revolution isn’t over. “On the contrary,” wrote Dr. Benjamin Rush, physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence and Founding Father, “nothing but the first act of the drama is closed. It remains yet to establish and perfect our new forms of government and to prepare the principles, morals, and manners of our citizens for these forms of government after they are established and brought to perfection.” Dr. Rush’s words were written in 1786. We’re still working on perfection.

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American History A Brief History of Father's Day

Article / Updated 05-04-2022

Father's Day, celebrated in the United States on the third Sunday of June, got a jump start from the formation of Mother's Day. Credit for beginning Father's Day celebrations is given to Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane, Washington. At the turn of the century, Mother's Day observances were growing across the United States. The federal government had yet to recognize the holiday, but many states had adopted the third Sunday in May as a special celebration day honoring mothers. It was during a Mother's Day church service on June 20, 1909, that Sonora Smart Dodd was struck with the idea of creating a special holiday to honor fathers, too. When Sonora was 16, her mother died while giving birth to her sixth child, the last of five sons. Back then, like today, single parenthood was no easy task. By Sonoma's account, though, Mr. Smart did a wonderful job. Because of this love and esteem, Sonoma Smart Dodd believed that her father deserved a special time of honor just like that given to mothers on Mother's Day. In 1909, Sonoma Smart Dodd approached the Spokane YMCA and the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and suggested that her father's birthday — June 5 — become a celebration day for Father's Day. Because they wanted more time to prepare, the Ministerial Alliance chose June 19 instead. The first Father's Day was thus observed in the State of Washington on June 19, 1910. The idea of officially celebrating fatherhood spread quickly across the United States, as more and more states adopted the holiday. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge recognized Father's Day as the third Sunday in June of that year and encouraged states to do the same. Congress officially recognized Father's Day in 1956 with the passage of a joint resolution. Ten years later, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation calling for the third Sunday in June to be recognized as Father's Day. In 1972, President Richard Nixon permanently established the observance of the third Sunday in June as Father's Day in the United States. Sonora Smart Dodd lived to see her idea come to fruition. She died in 1978 at the ripe old age of 96.

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Irish History Irish History For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-26-2022

Ireland’s history includes several twists and turns down through the centuries. With invasions, revolutions, emigrations and executions, Irish history boasts a wealth of intense drama.

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World War II History World War II For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-15-2022

A number of people and events influenced the course and outcome of World War II. This helpful timeline of World War II (WWII) maps out those key figures and actions in the years surrounding the war.

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History The History of Mother's Day

Article / Updated 04-14-2022

Mother's Day as a national holiday in the United States is almost a century old, but its roots go back before the Civil War to a hard-working Virginian mother and activist named Anna Reeves Jarvis. In total, Anna Reeves Jarvis gave birth to 11 children, though only four of them survived to adulthood. In the late 1850s, seeing the mortal costs of disease and bad sanitation, Jarvis began organizing Mothers' Day Work Clubs, which brought together local mothers to help promote cleanliness and sanitation in the community. During the Civil War, Jarvis (by then a resident of the Union's newly formed state of West Virginia) encouraged these clubs to remain neutral and to nurse wounded soldiers from the Confederacy and Union alike. Throughout Jarvis's work with her family, her church, and her community, she expressed her wish that someday, the importance of a mother's work would be formally recognized by all. One of her surviving children, her daughter Anna, born in 1864, took those wishes to heart. When her mother died on May 9, 1905, the younger Anna hoped to fulfill her mother's wish. She and her friends and supporters began a letter-writing campaign to establish a national holiday in celebration of the importance of motherhood. The campaign was successful as, by degrees, this new holiday came into being. On May 9, 1908, Jarvis's home town of Grafton, West Virginia, was the first to recognize Mother's Day in a church service on the third anniversary of Jarvis's death. At that service, Anna presented each mother in attendance with one of her mother's favorite flowers, the white carnation. Two years later, the state of West Virginia adopted Mother's Day as a state holiday. Anna's letter-writing campaign continued as she pushed for broader recognition. One by one, more states began celebrating Mother's Day in their own ways. It wasn't until May 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson, following a joint resolution of Congress, signed and issued Proclamation 1268, creating a national Mother's Day and setting its observance on the second Sunday of May. Since that time, every president has issued a Mother's Day proclamation that recognizes and honors America's mothers. By then, carnations had already become a traditional symbol of Mother's Day. More specifically, red carnations were used to honor living mothers, and white carnations were placed on the graves of deceased mothers. Ironically, Anna Jarvis, "the mother of Mother's Day," never had any children of her own. After she died in 1948, at the age of 84, she was buried — quite fittingly — next to her mother in Philadelphia.

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Ancient Greek History Ancient Greeks For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-08-2022

Ancient Greece is famous for its history, literature, architecture, philosophy… the list goes on! Here you will find a basic introduction to this fascinating civilization, including a map of the empire and a timeline detailing important periods and events that shaped this part of history.

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