Portal:United States

United States portal logo

Parent Portals: Geography / North America / United States

---

Introduction

Flag of the United States of America

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

Featured article -

This is a Featured article, which represents some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

---

• 
  
  

  

  USS Minneapolis at Tulagi with torpedo damage, 1 December 1942

  
  The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or in Japanese sources as the Battle of Lunga Point (ルンガ沖夜戦, "Night Battle off Lunga"), was a nighttime naval battle that took place on 30 November 1942 between United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near Tassafaronga Point on Guadalcanal.
  
  In the battle, a US force of five cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright intercepted eight Japanese destroyers attempting to deliver food to their forces on Guadalcanal. The US destroyers waited four minutes after radar contact for permission to launch torpedoes and missed the optimal firing position; the torpedoes all missed, and the destroyers retired. The US cruisers opened fire and sank one destroyer. The muzzle flash exposed the US cruisers' positions. Under the command of Rear Admiral Raizō Tanaka, Japanese destroyers quickly launched Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes, sinking one US cruiser and heavily damaging three others. The rest of Tanaka's force escaped undamaged but failed to complete the intended supply mission. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  USS Quincy being illuminated by searchlights of Chōkai, on fire and sinking from Japanese torpedoes

  
  The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and in Japanese sources as the First Battle of the Solomon Sea (第一次ソロモン海戦, Dai-ichi-ji Soromon Kaisen), and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle during the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific War of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle took place on 8–9 August 1942 and was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, the first of several naval battles in the straits later named Ironbottom Sound, near the island of Guadalcanal.
  
  The Imperial Japanese Navy, in response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands, mobilized a task force of seven cruisers and one destroyer under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. This task force sailed from Japanese bases in New Britain and New Ireland down New Georgia Sound (also known as "The Slot") with the intention of interrupting the Allied landings by attacking the supporting amphibious fleet and its screening force. The Allied screen consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers under Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, but only five cruisers and seven destroyers were involved in the battle. In a night action, Mikawa thoroughly surprised and routed the Allied force, sinking one Australian and three American cruisers, while suffering minimal damage in return. Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, considers this battle and the Battle of Tassafaronga to be two of the worst defeats in U.S. naval history, surpassed only by the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Sounders FC players lift the U.S. Open Cup trophy after winning the final.

  
  The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was played on September 2, 2009, at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. The match determined the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup, a tournament open to amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation. This was the 96th edition of the oldest competition in United States soccer. The match was won by Seattle Sounders FC, who defeated D.C. United 2–1. Clyde Simms scored D.C. United's only goal. Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque scored Seattle's two goals as the club became the second expansion team in Major League Soccer (MLS) history to win the tournament in their inaugural season.
  
  D.C. United entered the tournament as the competition's defending champions. They had previously won the tournament in 1996 as well. Both Sounders FC and D.C. United had to play through two qualification rounds for MLS teams before entering the official tournament. Prior to the final, there was a public dispute between the owners of the two clubs regarding the selection of D.C. United to host it at their home field, RFK Stadium. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  The Norfolk, Virginia, Bicentennial half dollar is a half dollar commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1937, though it bears the date 1936. The coin commemorates the 200th anniversary of Norfolk being designated as a royal borough, and the 100th anniversary of it becoming a city. It was designed by spouses William Marks Simpson and Marjory Emory Simpson.
  
  Virginia Senator Carter Glass sought legislation for a Norfolk half dollar, but the bill was amended in committee to provide for commemorative medals instead. Unaware of the change, Glass and the bill's sponsor in the House of Representatives, Absalom W. Robertson, shepherded the legislation through Congress. Local authorities in Norfolk did not want medals, and sought an amendment, which passed Congress in June 1937. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) or Canadian lynx is one of the four living species in the genus Lynx. It is a medium-sized wild cat characterized by long, dense fur, triangular ears with black tufts at the tips, and broad, snowshoe-like paws. Its hindlimbs are longer than the forelimbs, so its back slopes downward to the front. The Canada lynx stands 48–56 cm (19–22 in) tall at the shoulder and weighs between 5 and 17 kg (11 and 37 lb). It is a good swimmer and an agile climber.
  
  The Canada lynx was first described by Robert Kerr in 1792. Three subspecies have been proposed, but their validity is doubted; it is mostly considered a monotypic species. It ranges across Alaska, Canada and northern areas of the contiguous United States, where it predominantly inhabits dense boreal forests.
  It is a specialist predator and depends heavily on the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) for food. This leads to a prey-predator cycle, as the Canada lynx population responds to the cyclic rises and falls in snowshoe hare populations over the years in Alaska and central Canada. The Canada lynx population increases with an increasing hare population; if the hare population decreases in a given area, it moves to areas with more hares and has fewer offspring. The Canada lynx hunts mainly around twilight, or at night, when the snowshoe hare tends to be active. The Canada lynx waits for the hare on specific trails or in "ambush beds", then pounces on it and kills it by a bite on its head, throat or the nape of its neck. Individuals, particularly of the same sex, tend to avoid each other, forming "intrasexual" territories. The mating season is roughly a month long from March to early April. After a gestation of two to three months, females give birth to a litter of one to eight kittens, which are weaned at the age of 12 weeks. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  A Pan Am Stratocruiser, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident.

  
  Pan Am Flight 7 was a westbound round-the-world flight operated by Pan American World Airways. On November 8, 1957, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-29 serving the flight, named Clipper Romance of the Skies, crashed in the Pacific Ocean en route to Honolulu International Airport from San Francisco. The crash killed all 36 passengers and eight crew members.
  
  The flight's fate was not known until about nine hours after its last known radio transmission, by which point the plane would have run out of fuel. No radio reports of any emergencies were received from the flight crew. Under the assumption that the plane could have survived a controlled landing on the ocean surface, the United States Coast Guard launched an extensive search for the plane and any survivors. The week-long hunt became the largest search and rescue operation in the Pacific Ocean up to that date. The bodies of 19 of the victims and pieces of the plane were eventually recovered about 900 nautical miles (1,000 mi; 1,700 km) northeast of Honolulu. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  The 1 Line, formerly Central Link, is a light rail line in Seattle, Washington, United States, and part of Sound Transit's Link light rail system. It serves 23 stations in King and Snohomish counties, traveling 33 miles (53 km) between Lynnwood City Center and Angle Lake stations. The line connects Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, Shoreline, the University District, Downtown Seattle, the Rainier Valley, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. The 1 Line carried over 26 million total passengers in 2023, with an average of nearly 80,000 daily passengers on weekdays. It runs for 20 hours per day on weekdays and Saturdays, with headways as low as six minutes during peak hours, and reduced 18-hour service on Sundays and holidays.
  
  Trains are composed of three or more cars that each can carry 194 passengers, including 74 in seats, along with wheelchairs and bicycles. Fares are paid through the regional ORCA card, paper tickets, or a mobile app. Sound Transit uses proof-of-payment to verify passenger fares, employing fare ambassadors and transit police to conduct random inspections. Until August 2024, fares were calculated based on distance traveled. All stations have ticket vending machines, public art, bicycle parking, and bus connections, while several also have park-and-ride lots. (Full article...)
• 
  The Convention of 1833 (April 1–13, 1833), a political gathering of settlers of Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government. Despite the political uncertainty succeeding from a recently-concluded civil war, 56 delegates met in San Felipe de Austin to draft a series of petitions to the Alamo. The volatile William H. Wharton presided over the meeting.
  
  Although the convention's agenda largely mirrored that of the Convention of 1832, delegates also agreed to pursue independent statehood for the province, which was then part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. Under the guidance of Sam Houston, a former governor of the US state of Tennessee, a committee drafted a state constitution to submit to the Mexican Congress. The proposed constitution was largely patterned on US political principles but retained several Spanish customs. Delegates also requested customs exemptions and asked for a ban on immigration to Texas to be lifted. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Satellite image of Tropical Storm Carrie near Massachusetts

  
  Tropical Storm Carrie was a strong tropical storm that affected the East Coast of the United States in early September 1972. The third tropical cyclone of the 1972 Atlantic hurricane season, Carrie formed on August 29 from a complex sequence of meteorological events starting with the emergence of a tropical wave into the Atlantic in the middle of August.
  
  Tracking generally northward throughout its life, Carrie reached an initial peak intensity as a moderate tropical storm before nearly weakening back into tropical depression status. The storm began to intensify in a baroclinic environment after turning toward the northwest, its winds of 70,000 miles per hour (110,000 km/h) as it was transitioning into an extratropical system eclipsed the cyclone's previous maximum strength. The extratropical remnants of Carrie skirted eastern New England before making the landfall in Maine on September 4 and dissipating over the Gulf of Saint Lawrence during the next two days. (Full article...)
• 

  

  Clockwise from top left: Spire of the Chrysler Building, Manhattan; upper levels of the Park Plaza Apartments, the Bronx; entrance of Madison Gardens apartments, Brooklyn; and the Marine Air Terminal exterior, Queens

  
  
  Art Deco architecture flourished in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. The style broke with many traditional architectural conventions and was characterized by verticality, ornamentation, and building materials such as plastics, metals, and terra cotta. Art Deco is found in government edifices, commercial projects, and residential buildings in all five boroughs. The architecture of the period was influenced by worldwide decorative arts trends, the rise of mechanization, and New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, which favored the setback feature in many buildings.
  
  The exuberant economy of the Roaring Twenties and commercial speculation spurred a citywide building boom. The size and sophistication of Art Deco ranged from towering skyscrapers to modest middle-class housing and municipal buildings. Colorful, lavishly-decorated skyscrapers came to dominate the skyline of Manhattan before the Great Depression ended their construction. The Depression and changing tastes pushed the style to more subdued applications as it spread in the 1930s, becoming a style of choice for infrastructure projects and modern middle-class apartments in the outer boroughs. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  USS Indiana – the lead ship of the class

  
  The Indiana class was a class of three pre-dreadnought battleships launched in 1893. These were the first battleships built by the United States Navy comparable to contemporary European ships, such as the British HMS Hood. Authorized in 1890 and commissioned between November 1895 and April 1896, these were relatively small battleships with heavy armor and ordnance that pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. Specifically intended for coastal defense, their freeboard was insufficient to deal well with the waves of the open ocean. The turrets lacked counterweights, and the main belt armor was placed too low to be effective under most conditions.
  
  The ships were named Indiana, Massachusetts, and Oregon and were designated Battleship Number 1 through 3. All three served in the Spanish–American War, although Oregon—which was stationed on the West Coast—had to cruise 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km; 16,000 mi) around South America to the East Coast first. After the war, Oregon returned to the Pacific and participated in the Philippine–American War and Boxer Rebellion, while her sister ships were restricted to training missions in the Atlantic Ocean. After 1903, the obsolete battleships were decommissioned and recommissioned several times, the last time during World War I when Indiana and Massachusetts served as training ships, while Oregon was a transport escort for the Siberian Intervention. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Chaffee in 1964

  
  Roger Bruce Chaffee (/ˈtʃæfiː/; February 15, 1935 – January 27, 1967) was an American naval officer, aviator and aeronautical engineer who was a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program.
  
  Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he became an Eagle Scout. He graduated from Central High School in 1953, and accepted a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) scholarship. He began his college education at Illinois Institute of Technology, where he was involved in the fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma. He transferred to Purdue University in 1954, continuing his involvement in Phi Kappa Sigma serving as chapter president in 1956 and obtaining his private pilot's license. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Appaloosa horse

  
  The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting patterns overlaid on top of one of several recognized base coat colors. The color pattern of the Appaloosa is of interest to those who study equine coat color genetics, as it and several other physical characteristics are linked to the leopard complex mutation (LP). Appaloosas are prone to develop equine recurrent uveitis and congenital stationary night blindness; the latter has been linked to the leopard complex.
  
  Artwork depicting prehistoric horses with leopard spotting exists in prehistoric cave paintings in Europe. Images of domesticated horses with leopard spotting patterns appeared in artwork from Ancient Greece and Han dynasty China through the early modern period. In North America, the Nez Perce people of what today is the United States Pacific Northwest developed the original American breed. Settlers once referred to these spotted horses as the "Palouse horse", possibly after the Palouse River, which ran through the heart of Nez Perce country. Gradually, the name evolved into Appaloosa. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Theatrical release poster

  
  Greed is a 1924 American silent psychological drama film written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. It stars Gibson Gowland as Dr. John McTeague; ZaSu Pitts as Trina Sieppe, his wife; and Jean Hersholt as McTeague's friend and eventual enemy Marcus Schouler. The film tells the story of McTeague, a San Francisco dentist, who marries his best friend Schouler's girlfriend Trina.
  
  Greed was one of the few films of its time to be shot entirely on location, with von Stroheim shooting approximately 85 hours of footage before editing. Two months alone were spent shooting in Death Valley for the film's final sequence, and many of the cast and crew became ill. Von Stroheim used sophisticated filming techniques such as deep focus cinematography and montage editing. He considered Greed to be a Greek tragedy, in which environment and heredity controlled the characters' fates and reduced them to primitive bêtes humaines (human beasts), a naturalistic concept in the vein of Zola. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Downtown Lock Haven at night at the intersection of East Main Street and North Grove Street

  
  Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area, itself part of the Williamsport–Lock Haven combined statistical area. At the 2020 census, Lock Haven's population was 8,108.
  
  Built on a site long favored by pre-Columbian peoples, Lock Haven began in 1833 as a timber town and a haven for loggers, boatmen, and other travelers on the river or the West Branch Canal. Resource extraction and efficient transportation financed much of the city's growth through the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, a light-aircraft factory, a college, and a paper mill, along with many smaller enterprises, drove the economy. Frequent floods, especially in 1972, damaged local industry and led to a high rate of unemployment in the 1980s. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Portrait c. 1845

  
  John Adam Eckfeldt (June 15, 1769 – February 6, 1852) was an American worker and official during the first years of the United States Mint. A lifelong Philadelphian, Eckfeldt served as the second chief coiner of the Mint, from 1814 until 1839.
  
  Eckfeldt's father owned a large smithy and involved himself in early attempts at American coinage. Adam Eckfeldt built early presses for the Mint, engraved some of its early dies, and was responsible for the designs of early American copper coinage, as well as the 1792 half disme which some authorities consider the first United States coin. He was appointed assistant coiner of the Mint in 1796, and became chief coiner on his predecessor's death in 1814. (Full article...)
• 
  "SLAPP Suits" is a segment of HBO's news-satire television series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, focusing on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). It first aired on November 10, 2019, as part of the twenty-ninth episode of the series's sixth season. The episode marked British-American comedian and host John Oliver's response to winning a SLAPP defamation lawsuit against him initiated by American mining businessman Robert E. Murray. The lawsuit began in 2017, after Oliver heavily criticized Murray and his company, Murray Energy, in a segment concerning the coal-mining industry in the United States. Murray claimed in his lawsuit that Oliver had carried out a character assassination against him, but the case was dismissed in under a year, and an appeal by Murray Energy was unsuccessful. During the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief that was widely covered due to its sarcastic humor.
  
  In "SLAPP Suits", Oliver discussed the outcome of the lawsuit and the damaging effects of similar lawsuits, giving an overview of Murray's other SLAPPs and their potential harm to independent journalism. Oliver ended the twenty-six-minute segment with the musical number "Eat Shit, Bob!" in celebration of winning the lawsuit, invoking his right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to make negative jokes and comments about people and corporations. The title of the number references a check returned by a Murray Energy miner on the grounds that it incentivized unsafe mining practices, with the words "Eat Shit Bob" written on the check. The segment and musical number were lauded by critics and nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, with the episode winning one award for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series, and the musical number winning another for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming. (Full article...)
• 

  

  First book edition cover of The Red Badge of Courage (1895)

  
  
  The Red Badge of Courage is an 1895 war novel by American author Stephen Crane. The novel was published on 3 October 1895. Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage", to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as flag-bearer, carrying the regimental colors.
  
  Although Crane was born after the war, and had not at the time experienced battle first-hand, the novel is known for its realism and naturalism. He began writing what would become his second novel in 1894, using various contemporary and written accounts (such as those published previously by Century Magazine) as inspiration. It is believed that he based the fictional battle on that of Chancellorsville; he may also have interviewed veterans of the 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commonly known as the Orange Blossoms. Initially shortened and serialized in newspapers in December 1894, the novel was published in full in October 1895. A longer version of the work, based on Crane's original manuscript, was published in 1982. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  The Seated Liberty dollar was a dollar coin struck by the United States Mint from 1840 to 1873 and designed by its chief engraver, Christian Gobrecht. It was the last silver coin of that denomination to be struck before passage of the Coinage Act of 1873, which temporarily ended production of the silver dollar for American commerce. The coin's obverse is based on that of the Gobrecht dollar, which had been minted experimentally from 1836 to 1839. However, the soaring eagle used on the reverse of the Gobrecht dollar was not used; instead, the United States Mint (Mint) used a heraldic eagle, based on a design by late Mint Chief Engraver John Reich first utilized on coins in 1807.
  
  Seated Liberty dollars were initially struck only at the Philadelphia Mint; in 1846, production began at the New Orleans facility. In the late 1840s, the price of silver increased relative to gold because of an increase in supply of the latter caused by the California Gold Rush; this led to the hoarding, export, and melting of American silver coins. The Coinage Act of 1853 decreased the weight of all silver coins of five cents or higher, except for the dollar, but also required a supplemental payment from those wishing their bullion struck into dollar coins. As little silver was being presented to the US Mint at the time, production remained low. In the final years of the series, there was more silver produced in the US, and mintages increased. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Maguire in 1866 by the Brady–Handy studio

  
  Bernard A. Maguire SJ (February 11, 1818 – April 26, 1886) was an Irish-American Catholic priest and Jesuit who served twice as the president of Georgetown University. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to the United States at the age of six, and his family settled in Maryland. Maguire attended Saint John's College in Frederick, Maryland, and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1837. He continued his studies at Georgetown University, where he also taught and was prefect, until his ordination to the priesthood in 1851.
  
  In 1852, Maguire was appointed president of Georgetown University. His tenure is regarded as successful; new buildings were erected, the number of students increased, and the preparatory division was partially separated from Georgetown College. Upon the end of his presidency in 1858, he engaged in pastoral and missionary work in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, and developed a reputation as a skilled preacher. In the aftermath of the American Civil War, which devastated the university, Maguire again became president of Georgetown in 1866. The long-planned Georgetown Law School was established at the end of his presidency. His term ended in 1870, and he returned to missionary work, traveling throughout the country. He died in Philadelphia in 1886. (Full article...)
• 
  The 2008 UAW-Dodge 400 was the third stock car race of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on March 2, 2008, before a crowd of 153,000 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, an intermediate track that holds NASCAR races. The 267-lap race was won by Carl Edwards of the Roush Fenway Racing team, who started from second position. Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second and Edwards's teammate Greg Biffle was third.
  
  Kyle Busch, the pre-race Drivers' Championship leader over Ryan Newman, won the pole position with the fastest overall lap time in the qualifying session. Busch led the first twenty laps until he was passed by Edwards. He held the lead until the first green-flag pit stops and regained the position after the stops ended. Busch retook the lead on lap 81 and held it until he was passed by Matt Kenseth. Jeff Gordon took over the lead on lap 163, before Earnhardt became the leader on the 181st lap and maintained this position until Edwards regained it 14 laps later. The race was stopped for 17 minutes when Gordon crashed on lap 262, and car parts were strewn into the path of other drivers, requiring officials to clean the track. Edwards maintained the lead at the restart and held it to win the race. There were 11 cautions and 19 lead changes by nine different drivers during the race. (Full article...)
• 
  Ho Ho Ho, also known as VH-1 Presents RuPaul: Ho Ho Ho, is a Christmas album and the third studio album by American singer and drag queen RuPaul. Released on October 28, 1997, by the record label Rhino, it is RuPaul's first album featuring Christmas music and serves as a follow-up to his 1996 album Foxy Lady. RuPaul co-produced the album with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato from the production company World of Wonder. Ho Ho Ho consists of thirteen tracks, including ten covers of Christmas standards and carols, and three original songs written by Joe Carrano and RuPaul. Music critics frequently described the album as an example of camp though RuPaul clarified that it included several more serious covers, specifically "All Alone on Christmas" and "Hard Candy Christmas".
  
  Ho Ho Ho was praised by critics following its release and during retrospective reviews; its cheerful and humorous compositions were frequently cited as the album's highlights, though some commentators responded negatively to the record's use of humor and the lack of clarity in its overall message. It was included in a 2016 parody list discussing the alt-right, the "War on Christmas", and the bathroom bill. The album peaked at number 27 on the Heatseekers Albums Billboard chart, selling a little more than 4,000 copies in one week. To support the record, RuPaul filmed a television special as part of his VH1 talk show The RuPaul Show. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Piles of ruined film cans outside the fire-damaged vault building

  
  A major fire occurred in a 20th Century-Fox film-storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, United States on July 9, 1937. Flammable nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film-industry laboratories, studios and vaults, although the precise causes were often unknown. In Little Ferry, gases produced by decaying film, combined with high temperatures and inadequate ventilation, resulted in spontaneous combustion.
  
  One death and two injuries resulted from the fire, which also destroyed all of the archived film in the vaults, resulting in the loss of most of the silent films produced by the Fox Film Corporation before 1932. Also destroyed were negatives from several other studios. The fire brought attention to the potential for decaying nitrate film to spontaneously ignite and changed the focus of film-preservation efforts to include a greater focus on fire safety. (Full article...)
• 

  

  
  The Turban Head eagle, also known as the Capped Bust eagle, was a ten-dollar gold piece, or eagle, struck by the United States Mint from 1795 to 1804. The piece was designed by Robert Scot, and was the first in the eagle series, which continued until the Mint ceased striking gold coins for circulation in 1933. The common name is a misnomer; Liberty does not wear a turban but a cap, believed by some to be a pileus or Phrygian cap (Liberty cap): her hair twisting around the headgear makes it resemble a turban.
  
  The eagle was the largest denomination authorized by the Mint Act of 1792, which established the Bureau of the Mint. It was not struck until 1795, as the Mint at first struck copper and silver coins. The number of stars on the obverse was initially intended to be equal to the number of states in the Union, but with the number at 16, that idea was abandoned in favor of using 13 stars in honor of the original states. The initial reverse, featuring an eagle with a wreath in its mouth, proved unpopular and was replaced by a heraldic eagle. (Full article...)
• 
  
  

  

  Schmid after a Sounders match in 2010

  
  Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (German: [ˈziːkfʀiːt ˈziːɡiː ʃmiːt]; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German soccer coach.
  
  Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his family when he was a child. He played college soccer from 1972 to 1975 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he was a starting midfielder. He coached his former college team, the UCLA Bruins from 1980 to 1999. During that period, he became one of the most successful collegiate coaches of all time, leading the Bruins to a record of 322–63–33 (wins–losses–draws). The team made 16 consecutive playoff appearances from 1983 to 1998, winning the national championship in 1985, 1990, and 1997. Schmid also worked with U.S. Soccer throughout the 1990s. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that children's writer Patricia MacLachlan kept a small bag of dirt from the prairies as a reminder of her Wyoming roots?
• ... that the Adelaide L. T. Douglas House, built for a New York City socialite, housed the United States Olympic Committee before being sold to Guatemala?
• ... that during one of his Diddy parties, Sean Combs promised not to spill champagne on the Declaration of Independence?
• ... that Addie Viola Smith was the first female Foreign Service officer to serve under the United States Department of Commerce?
• ... that United States Air Force brigadier general E. Daniel Cherry became close friends with the Vietnamese pilot whom he shot down during the Vietnam War?
• ... that the Pellissippi Parkway in East Tennessee takes its name from a Native American name that was applied to both the Clinch and Ohio Rivers?
• ... that at the age of 19, Van E. Chandler was the youngest pilot in the United States Armed Forces to become a flying ace during World War II?
• ... that soprano Carolina White performed the title role in the United States premiere of Il segreto di Susanna at the Metropolitan Opera in 1911?

Selected society biography -

Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins on July 6, 1921) is the widow of former United States President Ronald Reagan and was First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Born in New York, her parents divorced soon after her birth; she grew up in Maryland, living with an aunt and uncle while her mother pursued acting jobs. As Nancy Davis, she was an actress in the 1940s and 1950s, starring in films such as Donovan's Brain, Night into Morning, and Hellcats of the Navy. In 1952 she married Ronald Reagan, who was then president of the Screen Actors Guild; they had two children. Nancy became the First Lady of California when her husband was Governor from 1967 to 1975.

She became the First Lady of the United States in January 1981 following her husband's victory, but experienced criticism early in his first term largely due to her decision to replenish the White House china. Nancy restored a Kennedy-esque glamor to the White House following years of lax formality, and her interest in high-end fashion garnered much attention as well as criticism for accepting unreported loans and gifts from fashion designers. She championed recreational drug prevention causes by founding the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign, which was considered her major initiative as First Lady. More controversy ensued when it was revealed in 1988 that she had consulted an astrologer to assist in planning the president's schedule after the 1981 assassination attempt on her husband's life.

Selected image -

• 
  James A. Garfield

  Credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

  James A. Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881, until his death by assassination six and a half months later. He had been shot at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., on July 2 that year by Charles J. Guiteau, a disgruntled office seeker. According to some historians, Garfield might have survived his wounds had the doctors attending him had at their disposal today's medical research and techniques. Instead, they probed the wound with unsterilized fingers and equipment, trying to locate the bullet, and the resulting infection was a significant factor in his death.
  
  This picture is a line engraving of Garfield, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents, which was reportedly given to Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage.
• 
  Camp David Accords

  Photo credit: U.S. News & World Report
  Restoration: Lise Broer

  United States President Jimmy Carter (right) greeting Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the White House on April 8, 1980, shortly after the Camp David Accords went into effect. The agreements were signed by Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, and led directly to the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty.
• 
  Andrew Jackson

  Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

  Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He has been widely revered in the United States as an advocate for democracy and the common man, but many of his actions proved divisive, garnering both fervent support and strong opposition from different sectors of society. His reputation has suffered since the 1970s, largely due to his pivotal role in the forcible removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands; however, surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson favorably among U.S. presidents.
• 
  California State Capitol

  Photograph credit: Andre m

  The California State Capitol, located in Sacramento, is the seat of the California government. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, comprising the Assembly and the Senate, along with the office of the governor of California. The Neoclassical structure was designed by Reuben S. Clark and completed between 1861 and 1874. The California State Capitol Museum is housed on its grounds.
• 
  Point Cabrillo Light

  Photograph: Frank Schulenburg

  The Point Cabrillo Light is a lighthouse in northern California, United States, between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of Caspar. It is part of the California state park system as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park. Completed in 1909, the lighthouse was manned by the United States Coast Guard from 1939 until it was automated in 1973. Beginning in 1996, the station was restored to the state it would have been in the 1930s.
• 
  Whig Party (United States)

  Image: Nathaniel Currier; Restoration: Lise Broer

  "An Available Candidate: The One Qualification for a Whig President"—an editorial cartoon about the 1848 U.S. presidential election, showing a military man representing either Zachary Taylor or Winfield Scott, both of whom were generals in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, atop a pile of skulls. The Whig Party only operated for about 20 years, but during their brief existence, they could boast a number of political luminaries such as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Abraham Lincoln, and would see three of their members become President of the United States (not including Lincoln, who was elected as a Republican).
• 
  Martin Van Buren

  Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

  Martin Van Buren (December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A founder of the Democratic Party, he won the 1836 presidential election with the endorsement of popular outgoing President Andrew Jackson and the organizational strength of his party. He lost his 1840 reelection bid to the Whig Party nominee William Henry Harrison, thanks in part to the poor economic conditions surrounding the Panic of 1837, a financial crisis that touched off a major depression. This line engraving of Van Buren was produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents.
• 
  C. Everett Koop

  Photograph: United States Public Health Service; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  C. Everett Koop (1916–2013) was an American pediatric surgeon and public health administrator. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and served as the 13th Surgeon General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989. Koop was known for his work to reduce tobacco use, AIDS, and abortion, and for his support of the rights of disabled children.
• 
  Memorials and services for the September 11 attacks

  Photo credit: David Iliff

  A collection of hand-painted tiles adorns this fence in Greenwich Village in Manhattan as a memorial for the attacks of September 11, 2001. Recurring themes within these pieces of art include world peace, American patriotism, and appreciation of the heroism of the FDNY and NYPD.
• 
  Rutherford B. Hayes

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was an American soldier and politician who was elected the 19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. The election, at the end of the Reconstruction Era, was highly contentious and he was declared the winner through the Compromise of 1877. As president he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.
• 
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  Lithograph: Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  A bird's eye view of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a 1902 lithograph by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler. At this point in its history, Pittsburgh was an industrial and commercial powerhouse, with extensive railroad connections to the rest of the United States. Together with the rest of Allegheny County, it produced massive amounts of steel and steel products: by 1911 they reached 24% of the national output of pig iron, 34% of Bessemer steel, 44% of open hearth steel, 53% of crucible steel, 24% of steel rail, and 59% of structural shape.
• 
  Virginia Opossum

  Photo credit: Cody Pope

  The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial found in North America. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, it is a successful opportunist and is found throughout North America from coast to coast (introduced to California in 1910), and from Central America and Mexico to southern Canada.
• 
  Fractional currency

  Banknote design credit: United States Department of the Treasury; photographed by the National Numismatic Collection

  Fractional currency, also referred to as shinplasters, was introduced by the United States federal government following the outbreak of the Civil War. These low-denomination banknotes of the U.S. dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876; they were issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25 and 50 cents across five issuing periods. The notes could be redeemed by the U.S. Postal Service for the face value in postage stamps.
  
  This picture shows a third-issue fifty-cent fractional currency note (one of three variants of this denomination), issued by the United States Department of the Treasury between 5 December 1864 and 16 August 1869, featuring a portrait of Francis E. Spinner, then treasurer of the United States, on the obverse. This banknote is in the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
  
  

  Other denominations:
  '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000001C-QINU`"'
  

  
  * 3¢
  * 5¢
  * 10¢
  * 25¢
  * 50¢ (II)
  * 50¢ (III)
  
• 
  History of Dallas, Texas (1874-1929)

  Photo credit: Johnson & Rogers

  A panorama of Dallas, Texas, April 1, 1913. Dallas, which was incorporated on February 2, 1856, is the third-largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States.
• 
  Chicago Theatre

  Photo: Daniel Schwen

  The Chicago Theatre is located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago. When it opened on October 26, 1921, the 3,880-seat theater was promoted as the "Wonder Theatre of the World". Its marquee, "an unofficial emblem of the city", appears frequently in film, television, artwork, and photography.

Selected culture biography -

Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963) is a retired American professional basketball player. Widely considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he became one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA (National Basketball Association) around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984 and quickly emerged as one of the stars of the league. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the foul line at Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five NBA MVP (Most Valuable Player) awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances and three All-Star MVPs, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA record for highest career regular season scoring average with 30.1 points per game, as well as averaging a record 33.4 points per game in the playoffs. In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press's list of athletes of the century.

Selected location -

Erie is an industrial city on the shore of Lake Erie in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city with a population of 104,000. Erie's Metropolitan Area consists of 281,000 residents. The city is the seat of government for Erie County.

Erie is in proximity to Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo, New York; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Once teeming with heavy industry, Erie's heavy manufacturing sector now consists mainly of plastics and locomotive building. Known for its lake-effect snow, Erie is in the heart of the Rust Belt and has begun to focus on tourism as a driving force in its economy. More than four million people each year visit Presque Isle State Park, for water recreation, and a new casino named for the state park is growing in popularity.

Erie is known as the Flagship City because of the presence of Oliver Hazard Perry's flagship USS Niagara.

Selected quote -

Anniversaries for March 20

• 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
• 1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place is sentenced to become the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• 1914 – In New Haven, Connecticut, the first international figure skating championship takes place.
• 1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
• 1928 – Fred Rogers, host of the long running children's television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, is born.
• 1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago, an early proponent of modern art in the United States, hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso.
• 1942 – In Terowie, South Australia, General Douglas MacArthur makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".

Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -

The Hot Brown was first served in Louisville's Brown Hotel

The cuisine of Kentucky mostly resembles and is a part of traditional Southern cuisine. Some common dinner dishes are fried catfish and hushpuppies, fried chicken and country fried steak. These are usually served with vegetables such as green beans, greens, pinto beans (or "soup beans") slow-cooked with pork as seasoning and served with cornbread. Other popular items include fried green tomatoes, cheese grits, corn pudding, fried okra, and chicken and dumplings, which can be found across the commonwealth. (Full article...)

Selected panorama -

San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm.

San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm in the Coachella Valley, California.

More did you know? -

• ... that Michele S. Jones (pictured) was the first woman in the U.S. Army to attain the rank of command sergeant major before she retired to a military liaison position in the Obama Administration?
• ... that Grant Park Symphony Orchestra began a tradition of Independence Day Eve concerts in Grant Park accompanied by fireworks when the Petrillo Music Shell was relocated in 1978?
• ... that the Action of 9 February 1799 fought between the frigates USS Constellation and L'Insurgente during the Quasi War was the first ever victory for the United States Navy?

Topics

Categories

Category puzzle

Select [►] to view subcategories

United States

States of the United States

United States-related lists

Works about the United States

Buildings and structures in the United States

Culture of the United States

Economy of the United States

Environment of the United States

Geography of the United States

Government in the United States

Health in the United States

History of the United States

Organizations based in the United States

American people

Phish

Politics of the United States

Society of the United States

Images of the United States

United States stubs

Featured content

List articles

United States-related lists

Culture Artists Composers Novelists Playwrights Poets Education Colleges and universities Federal academies School districts Economy Hospitals

Geography Cities Counties States and territories Indian reservations Government Presidents First ladies Federal agencies Political parties Governors Congressional districts United States Representatives United States Senators History Military history State name etymologies Years

Law Law enforcement agencies Legislation Prisons Justices of the Supreme Court Media Newspapers Radio networks Television networks Television stations Natural history Lakes Rivers Mountains

People People from United States Protected areas National parks National Register of Historic Places Religion Televangelists Transportation Airlines Airports Bridges Interstate Highways Railroads U.S. Highways

Tasks

Featured article candidates Scott Carpenter Grace Coolidge George B. Crittenden Total pages in content type is 3 Featured list candidates List of accolades received by Green Book List of Tacoma Defiance seasons List of awards and nominations received by Kristen Bell List of Stranger Things episodes U.S. Figure Skating Championships World Figure Skating Championships Total pages in content type is 6 Good article nominees 1989 visit by Boris Yeltsin to the United States 2002 Marib airstrike 2010 Yazoo City tornado 2017–18 College Football Playoff 2018–19 College Football Playoff 2021 Bowling Green tornadoes 2024 Men's T20 World Cup American Dad! season 1 American Privacy Rights Act Kurt Angle Jeff Baena Adrian Baril Statue of John Barry The Batman (film) Black horror Blenko Glass Company Botetourt Medal Jan Brewer Bryant Park restroom Statue of Edmund Burke (Washington, D.C.) Aaron Burr Delbert Cowsette Dan Busby Deadpool & Wolverine Melvin Edwards The Fabelmans William Arthur Ganfield Granite State (Breaking Bad) Grupo Frontera political controversy J. Edward Guinan Neil Patrick Harris Have I Got News for You (American game show) Hawaii Holomua The Head Hunter (2018 film) Pete Hegseth Dolores Huerta Interstate 85 in North Carolina John Holmes Jackson Khyree Jackson James Charnley House Thomas Jefferson Johnson desk John Paul Jones Memorial KGAN KUAT-TV KVDA KVEO-TV Hurricane Larry John Laurens Howard Lutnick Macaroni Riots Manhattan Project feed materials program Marvel Studios Mike McLachlan Megalopolis (film) John Michael Montgomery Eileen Niedfield Plutonium Finishing Plant Ed Policy Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act Re-Logic Regulations on children's television programming in the United States Roddy Ricch Seattle Kraken Solid South Ed Storm Tornado outbreak of December 28–29, 2024 The Ugly Black Bird 2024 United States drone sightings University of Southwestern Louisiana basketball scandal Lee Warne Washington D.C. Temple Washington University in St. Louis Red Weiner Jeremy Allen White Whoops (song) Jordyn Wieber Ted Williams WLIO WLTX Worcester Consolidated Street Railway WXIN Total pages in content type is 82
To create Missing articles Requested articles U.S. Representatives listed here. To discuss on Articles for deletion See: Deletion sorting/United States of America for the current list. To expand American Old West Confederate States Army To destub Category:Stub-Class United States articles Category:United States stubs	Assessment requests Requests for assessment New articles National • State A-F • State G-L • State M-N • State O-Z Most Popular pages Popular pages To find images Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the United States	Maintenance and cleanup Unreferenced BLP's Needing cleanup Category:United States articles missing geocoordinate data Category:United States articles needing attention Category:United States articles needing infoboxes Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in the United States Category:Wikipedia requested maps in the United States Other issues Portal:United States - Needs to be updated and expanded Modern Census - Update articles using old 2000 and 2010 census data to use the most recent 2020 data

Related portals

State-related

---

Region or city-related

---

Sports-related

---

Transportation-related

---

Other US-related

---

Nearby areas

WikiProjects

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

• 

  Commons
  Free media repository

• 

  Wikibooks
  Free textbooks and manuals

• 

  Wikidata
  Free knowledge base

• 

  Wikinews
  Free-content news

• 

  Wikiquote
  Collection of quotations

• 

  Wikisource
  Free-content library

• 

  Wikiversity
  Free learning tools

• 

  Wikivoyage
  Free travel guide

• 

  Wiktionary
  Dictionary and thesaurus

More portals

Discover Wikipedia using portals

• 

  List of all portals

• 

  The arts portal

• 

  Biography portal

• 

  Current events portal

• 

  Geography portal

• 

  History portal

• 

  Mathematics portal

• 

  Science portal

• 

  Society portal

• 

  Technology portal

• 

  Random portal

• 

  WikiProject Portals