title: ISO 4217

text: In the case of national currencies, the first two letters of the alpha code are the two letters of the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code and the third is usually the initial of the currency's main unit. So Japan's currency code is : "JP" for Japan and "Y" for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the names "dollar, franc, peso" and "pound" being used in dozens of countries, each having significantly differing values. While in most cases the ISO code resembles an abbreviation of the currency's full English name, this is not always the case, as currencies such as the Algerian dinar, Aruban florin, Cayman dollar, renminbi, sterling and the Swiss franc have been assigned codes which do not closely resemble abbreviations of the official currency names.


title: ISO 4217

text: In some cases, the third letter of the alpha code is not the initial letter of a currency unit name. There may be a number of reasons for this:


title: ISO 4217

text: In addition to codes for most active national currencies ISO 4217 provides codes for "supranational" currencies, procedural purposes, and several things which are "similar to" currencies:


title: ISO 4217

text: The use of an initial letter "X" for these purposes is facilitated by the ISO 3166 rule that no official country code beginning with X will ever be assigned.


title: ISO 4217

text: The inclusion of EU (denoting the European Union) in the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list allows the euro to be coded as EUR rather than assigned a code beginning with X, even though it is a supranational currency.


title: ISO 4217

text: ISO 4217 also assigns a three-digit numeric code to each currency. This numeric code is usually the same as the numeric code assigned to the corresponding country by ISO 3166-1. For example, USD (United States dollar) has numeric code which is also the ISO 3166-1 code for "US" (United States).


title: ISO 4217

text: A number of currencies had official ISO 4217 currency codes and currency names until their replacement by another currency. The table below shows the ISO currency codes of former currencies and their common names (which do not always match the ISO 4217 names). That table has been introduced end 1988 by ISO.


title: ISO 4217

text: Examples for the ratios of :1 and :1 include the United States dollar and the Bahraini dinar, for which the column headed “Minor unit” shows “2” and “3”, respectively. , two currencies have non-decimal ratios, the Mauritanian ouguiya and the Malagasy ariary; in both cases the ratio is 5:1. For these, the “Minor unit” column shows the number “2”. Some currencies, such as the Burundian franc, do not in practice have any minor currency unit at all. These show the number “0”, as with currencies whose minor units are unused due to negligible value.


title: ISO 4217

text: The ISO standard does not regulate either the spacing, prefixing or suffixing in usage of currency codes. According however to the European Union's Publication Office, in English, Irish, Latvian and Maltese texts, the ISO 4217 code is to be followed by a hard space and the amount:


title: ISO 4217

text: In Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish the order is reversed; the amount is followed by a hard space and the ISO 4217 code:


title: ISO 4217

text: Note that, as illustrated, the order is determined not by the currency but by the native language of the document context.


title: ISO 4217

text: The US dollar has two codes assigned: USD and USN ("US dollar next day"). The USS (same day) code is not in use any longer, and was removed from the list of active ISO 4217 codes in March 2014.


title: ISO 4217

text: A number of active currencies do not have an ISO 4217 code, because they may be: (1) a minor currency pegged at par (1:1) to a larger currency, even if independently regulated, (2) a currency only used for commemorative banknotes or coins, or (3) a currency of an unrecognized or partially recognized state. These currencies include:


title: ISO 4217

text: Despite having no presence or status in the standard, three letter acronyms that resemble ISO 4217 coding, are sometimes used locally or commercially to represent currencies or currency instruments.


title: ISO 4217

text: Minor units of currency (also known as currency subdivisions or currency subunits) are often used for pricing and trading stocks and other assets, such as energy, but are not assigned codes by ISO 4217. Two conventions for representing minor units are in widespread use:


title: ISO 4217

text: A third convention is similar to the second one but uses an upper-case letter, e.g. ZAC for the South African Cent.


title: ISO 4217

text: Cryptocurrencies have "not" been assigned an ISO 4217 code. However, some cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges use a three-letter acronym that resemble an ISO 4217 code.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originator of heartland rock, combining mainstream rock musical styles with narrative songs about working class American life. Nicknamed "the Boss", his career has spanned six decades. Springsteen is known for his poetic, socially conscious lyrics and energetic stage performances, sometimes lasting up to four hours.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 1973, Springsteen released his first two albums, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." and "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle", neither of which earned him a large audience. He changed his style and reached worldwide popularity with "Born to Run" in 1975. It was followed by "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (1978) and "The River" (1980), which topped the US "Billboard" 200 chart. After the solo recording, "Nebraska" (1982), he reunited with the E Street Band for "Born in the U.S.A." (1984), his most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums of all time. Seven of its singles reached the Top Ten of the "Billboard" Hot 100, including the title track. Springsteen recorded his next three albums, "Tunnel of Love" (1987), "Human Touch" (1992), and "Lucky Town" (1992) using mostly session musicians. He reassembled the E Street Band for 1995's "Greatest Hits", then recorded the sparse acoustic "The Ghost of Tom Joad", followed by the EP "Blood Brothers" (1996), his last release of the decade.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen dedicated his 2002 album "The Rising" to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, "Devils & Dust" (2005) and "" (2006), followed by two more albums with the E Street Band: "Magic" (2007) and "Working on a Dream" (2009). The next two, "Wrecking Ball" (2012) and "High Hopes" (2014), topped album charts worldwide. His latest releases include the solo "Western Stars" (2019), the E Street Band-featuring "Letter to You" (2020) and a solo cover album "Only the Strong Survive" (2022). When "Letter to You" went to No.2 in the US, Springsteen became the first artist to score a Top Five hit across six consecutive decades.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Among the album era's prominent acts, Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and more than 71 million in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award (for "Springsteen on Broadway"). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016. He ranked 23rd on "Rolling Stone"s list of the Greatest Artists of All Time, which described him as being "the embodiment of rock & roll".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen was born at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey, on September 23, 1949. He is of Dutch, Irish, and Italian descent. He spent his childhood in Freehold, where he lived on South Street. His father, Douglas Frederick "Dutch" Springsteen (1924–1998), worked as a bus driver and held other jobs. Throughout his life Douglas Springsteen had mental health problems, which worsened in his later years. Springsteen's mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli) (born 1925), was originally from the Bay Ridge neighborhood in Brooklyn, worked as a legal secretary, and was the main breadwinner in Springsteen's family. Springsteen has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. The latter had a brief acting career, but left to pursue photography full time; she later took photos for his albums "Human Touch", "Lucky Town", and "The Ghost of Tom Joad".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen's Italian maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense. He emigrated through Ellis Island and could not read or write when he arrived. He eventually became a lawyer and impressed the young Springsteen as being larger than life. The name Springsteen is topographic and of Dutch origin, literally translated as "jump stone" but more generally a stepping stone used on unpaved streets or between two houses. The Springsteens, originally from the province of Groningen, were among the early Dutch families who settled in the colony of New Netherland in the 1600s, in the person of Joost Springsteen.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Raised as a Catholic, Springsteen attended the St. Rose of Lima Catholic school in Freehold, where he was at odds with the nuns and rebelled against the strictures imposed upon him, even though some of his later music reflects a Catholic ethos and includes a few rock-influenced, traditional Irish-Catholic hymns. In a 2012 interview, he explained that it was his Catholic upbringing rather than political ideology that most influenced his music. He remarked that his faith had given him a "very active spiritual life" but joked that this "made it very difficult sexually". He added, "Once a Catholic, always a Catholic." He grew up hearing fellow New Jersey singer Frank Sinatra on the radio and became interested in being a musician himself when, in 1956 and 1957, at the age of seven, he saw Elvis Presley on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Soon after, his mother rented him a guitar from Mike Diehl's Music in Freehold for $6 a week, but it failed to provide him with the instant gratification he desired.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In ninth grade, Springsteen began attending the public Freehold High School, but did not fit in there either. A former teacher said he was a "loner who wanted nothing more than to play his guitar". He graduated in 1967, but felt so alienated that he skipped his graduation ceremony. He briefly attended Ocean County College, but dropped out. Called for the draft when he was 19, Springsteen failed the physical examination and avoided service in the Vietnam War. The concussion he suffered in a motorcycle accident when he was 17 and his behavior at induction reportedly made him unacceptable for service. The Springsteen family moved to San Mateo, California, in 1969, but Bruce, 20, and his sister, Virginia, who was married and pregnant, stayed behind.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 1964, Springsteen saw the Beatles' televised appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Inspired, he bought his first guitar for $18.95 at the Western Auto Appliance Store. Thereafter, he started playing for audiences with a band called the Rogues at local venues, including Elks Lodge in Freehold.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In late 1964, Springsteen's mother took out a loan to buy him a $60 Kent guitar. Springsteen later memorialized this act in his song "The Wish". The following year, he went to the house of Tex and Marion Vinyard, who sponsored young bands in town. They helped him become the lead guitarist and subsequently one of the lead singers of the Castiles. The Castiles recorded two original songs at a public recording studio in Brick Township and played a variety of venues, including Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. Marion Vinyard said that she believed the young Springsteen when he promised he would make it big.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In the late 1960s, Springsteen performed briefly in a power trio known as Earth, playing in clubs in New Jersey, with one major show at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: From 1969 through early 1971, Springsteen performed with Steel Mill (originally called Child), which included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steve Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. During this time, they performed regularly at venues on the Jersey Shore, especially The Stone Pony. They also played in Richmond, Virginia, Nashville, Tennessee, and California, quickly gathering a cult following. A "San Francisco Examiner" review of their show at The Matrix by music critic Philip Elwood gave Springsteen early credibility. In his glowing assessment of Steel Mill, Elwood wrote: "I have never been so overwhelmed by a totally unknown talent," ..."the first big thing that's happened to Asbury Park since the good ship Morro Castle burned to the waterline of that Jersey beach in '34". Elwood went on to praise their "cohesive musicality" and, in particular, singled out Springsteen as "a most impressive composer". In San Mateo, Steel Mill recorded three original Springsteen songs at "Pacific Recording".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Over the next two years, as Springsteen sought to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he performed with Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom (early- to mid-1971), the "Sundance Blues Band" (mid-1971), and the "Bruce Springsteen Band" (mid-1971 to mid-1972).


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen's prolific songwriting ability included "more words in some individual songs than other artists had in whole albums", as his future record label would describe it in early publicity campaigns. He brought his skills to the attention of several people who went on to prove influential to his career development, including new managers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos, who in turn brought him to the attention of Columbia Records talent scout John Hammond. Hammond auditioned Springsteen in May 1972.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In October 1972, Springsteen formed a new band for the recording of his debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." The band eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. Springsteen acquired the nickname "the Boss" during this period, since he took on the task of collecting his band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates. The nickname also reportedly sprang from games of Monopoly that Springsteen would play with other Jersey Shore musicians.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen was signed to Columbia Records in 1972 by Clive Davis after having piqued the interest of John Hammond, who had signed Bob Dylan to the same label a decade earlier. Despite the expectations of Columbia Records' executives that Springsteen would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him, and formed the E Street Band (although the band would not be formally named for several months). His debut album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.", released in January 1973, established him as a critical favorite, though sales were slow.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Because of Springsteen's lyrical poeticism and folk rock-rooted music exemplified on tracks like "Blinded by the Light" and "For You", as well as the Columbia and Hammond connections, critics initially compared Springsteen to Dylan. "He sings with a freshness and urgency I haven't heard since I was rocked by 'Like a Rolling Stone'" wrote "Crawdaddy" magazine editor Peter Knobler in Springsteen's first interview/profile in March 1973. Photographs for that original profile were taken by Ed Gallucci. "Crawdaddy" discovered Springsteen in the rock press and was his earliest champion. Knobler profiled him in "Crawdaddy" three times, in 1973, 1975 and 1978. (Springsteen and the E Street Band acknowledged the magazine's support by giving a private performance at the "Crawdaddy" 10th Anniversary Party in New York City in June 1976.) Music critic Lester Bangs wrote in "Creem" in 1975 that when Springsteen's first album was released "...many of us dismissed it: he wrote like Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, sang like Van Morrison and Robbie Robertson, and led a band that sounded like Van Morrison's".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In September 1973, Springsteen's second album, "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle", was released. Like "Greetings from Asbury Park", it was met with critical acclaim but limited commercial success. Springsteen's songs became grander in form and scope with the E Street Band providing a less folksy, more rhythm and blues vibe, and the lyrics often romanticized teenage street life. "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" became fan favorites, and the long, rousing "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" continues to rank among Springsteen's most beloved concert numbers. "Rosalita" is the ninth most played song in his catalog; as of June 2020, it has been played by Springsteen 809 times.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: After seeing Springsteen's performance at the Harvard Square Theater, music critic Jon Landau wrote in the May 22, 1974 issue of Boston's "The Real Paper": "I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time." Landau helped to finish the epic new album "Born to Run" and subsequently became Springsteen's manager and producer. Given an enormous budget in a last-ditch effort at a commercially viable record, Springsteen became bogged down in the recording process while striving for a "Wall of Sound" production. But when his manager, Mike Appel, orchestrated the release of an early mix of "Born to Run" to nearly a dozen radio stations, anticipation built toward the album's release.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The album took more than 14 months to record with six months alone spent on developing the song "Born to Run". During this time, Springsteen battled with anger and frustration over the album, saying he heard "sounds in [his] head" that he could not explain to the others in the studio. It was during a recording session of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", on July 13, 1975, that Steve Van Zandt was asked by Springsteen and Jon Landau to take charge and instruct the horn players. They both knew he was playing guitar and managing Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who had the sound they were seeking. Van Zandt "sang each horn player his part, with the lines, the timing and the inflection all perfect. The musicians played their parts, and the horns were recorded. When they finished, Springsteen turned to Mike Appel and said, "Okay. It's time to put the boy on the payroll. I've been meaning to tell you, he's the new guitar player." Van Zandt joined the E Street Band a week later on July 20, the opening night of the Born to Run tour. He also helped Springsteen perfect "Born to Run" by adding its memorable guitar line. In the 2005 documentary "Wings for Wheels", Springsteen called his friend's input on the track's main riff "arguably Steve's greatest contribution to my music."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The album was completed on July 25. But at the end of the grueling recording sessions, Springsteen was still unsatisfied. Upon first hearing the finished album, he threw it into the alley; another master was so bad that Springsteen flung it out of his hotel room window and into a river. He was going to scrap half of it, he told Appel, and substitute live recordings for upcoming show dates at The Bottom Line in New York City, a venue where he often played.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On August 13, 1975, Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's The Bottom Line club. The 10-show stand attracted media attention and was broadcast live on WNEW-FM. Decades later, "Rolling Stone" magazine named the stand one of the "50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "Born to Run" was released on August 25, 1975. It proved to be a breakthrough album that catapulted Springsteen to worldwide fame. The album peaked at No. 3 on the "Billboard" 200, and while reception at US top 40 radio outlets for the album's two singles was not overwhelming ("Born to Run" reached a modest No. 23 on the "Billboard" charts, and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" peaked at No. 83), almost every track on the album received album-oriented rock airplay, especially "Born to Run", "Thunder Road", "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", and "Jungleland", all of which remain perennial favorites on many classic rock stations. In October 1975, Springsteen appeared on the covers of both "Newsweek" and "Time" in the same week. So great did the wave of publicity become that he eventually rebelled against it during his first venture overseas, tearing down promotional posters before a concert appearance in London.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: A legal battle with former manager Mike Appel kept Springsteen out of the studio for nearly a year, during which time he kept the E Street Band together through extensive touring across the U.S. Despite the optimistic fervor with which he often performed, Springsteen's new songs sounded more somber than much of his previous work. Reaching settlement with Appel in 1977, Springsteen returned to the studio, and the subsequent sessions produced "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (1978). Musically, this album was a turning point in Springsteen's career. Gone were the raw, rapid-fire lyrics, outsized characters, and long, multi-part musical compositions of the first three albums; the songs were leaner and more carefully drawn and began to reflect Springsteen's growing intellectual and political awareness. The cross-country 1978 tour to promote the album would become legendary for the intensity and length of its shows.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: By the late 1970s, Springsteen earned a reputation as a songwriter whose material could provide hits for other bands. Manfred Mann's Earth Band had achieved a U.S. No. 1 pop hit with a heavily rearranged version of "Greetings" "Blinded by the Light" in early 1977. Patti Smith reached No. 13 with her version of Springsteen's unreleased "Because the Night" with revised lyrics by Smith in 1978. The Pointer Sisters hit No. 2 in 1979 with Springsteen's then unreleased "Fire". Between 1976 and 1978, Springsteen provided four compositions to Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, including "The Fever" and "Hearts of Stone", and collaborated on four more with Steven Van Zandt, producer of their first three albums.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In September 1979, Springsteen and the E Street Band joined the Musicians United for Safe Energy anti-nuclear power collective at Madison Square Garden for two nights, playing an abbreviated set while premiering two songs from his upcoming album. The subsequent "No Nukes" live album, as well as the following summer's "No Nukes" documentary film, represented the first official recordings and footage of Springsteen's fabled live act and Springsteen's first tentative dip into political involvement.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen continued to focus on working class life with the 20-song double album "The River" in 1980, which included an intentionally paradoxical range of material from good time party rockers to emotionally intense ballads, and finally yielded his first hit top ten single as a performer, "Hungry Heart". The album sold well, becoming his first No. 1 on the "Billboard" Pop Albums chart.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "The River" was released in 1982 followed by the stark solo acoustic "Nebraska". According to the Dave Marsh's biographies, Springsteen was depressed when he wrote this material, resulting in a brutal depiction of American life. While "Nebraska" did not sell as well as Springsteen's three previous albums, it garnered widespread critical praise, including being named "Album of the Year" by "Rolling Stone" magazine's critics, and influenced later works by other major artists.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen is probably best known for his album "Born in the U.S.A." (1984), which sold 15 million copies in the U.S., 30 million worldwide, and became one of the best-selling albums of all time with seven singles hitting the Top 10. The title track was a bitter commentary on the treatment of Vietnam veterans, some of whom were Springsteen's friends. The lyrics in the verses were entirely unambiguous when listened to, but the anthemic music and the title of the song made it hard for many, from politicians to the common person, to get the lyrics—except those in the chorus, which could be read many ways. The song made a huge political impact, as he was advocating for the rights of the common working-class man.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The song was widely misinterpreted as jingoistic, and in connection with the 1984 presidential campaign became the subject of considerable folklore. In 1984, conservative columnist George Will attended a Springsteen concert and then wrote a column praising Springsteen's work ethic. Six days after the column was printed, in a campaign rally in Hammonton, New Jersey, President Ronald Reagan said, "America's future rests in a thousand dreams inside your hearts. It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire—New Jersey's own, Bruce Springsteen." Two nights later, at a concert in Pittsburgh, Springsteen told the crowd, "Well, the president was mentioning my name in his speech the other day and I kind of got to wondering what his favorite album of mine must've been, you know? I don't think it was the "Nebraska" album. I don't think he's been listening to this one." He then began playing "Johnny 99", with its allusions to closing factories and criminals.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "Dancing in the Dark" was the biggest of seven hit singles from "Born in the U.S.A.", peaking at No. 2 on the "Billboard" singles chart. The video for the song showed a young Courteney Cox dancing on stage with Springsteen, which helped start the actress's career. The song "Cover Me" was written by Springsteen for Donna Summer, but his record company persuaded him to keep it for the new album. A big fan of Summer's work, Springsteen wrote another song for her, "Protection". Videos for the album were directed by Brian De Palma and John Sayles. Springsteen played on the "We Are the World" song and album in 1985. His live track "Trapped" from that album received moderate airplay on US Top 40 stations as well as reaching No. 1 on the "Billboard" Top Rock Tracks chart.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The "Born in the U.S.A." period represented the height of Springsteen's visibility in popular culture and the broadest audience he would ever reach (aided by the release of Arthur Baker's dance mixes of three of the singles). From June 15 to August 10, 1985, all seven of his albums appeared on the UK Albums Chart: the first time an artist had charted their entire back catalogue simultaneously.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "Live/1975–85", a five-record box set (also on three cassettes or three CDs), was released near the end of 1986 and became the first box set to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. album charts. It is one of the most commercially successful live albums of all time, ultimately selling 13 million units in the U.S. During the 1980s, several Springsteen fanzines were launched, including "Backstreets" magazine.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen released the much more sedate and contemplative "Tunnel of Love" album in 1987. The album is a mature reflection on the many faces of love found, lost and squandered, which only selectively used the E Street Band.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On July 19, 1988, Springsteen's concert in East Germany attracted 300,000 spectators. Journalist Erik Kirschbaum called the concert "the most important rock concert ever, anywhere" in his 2013 book "Rocking the Wall. Bruce Springsteen: The Berlin Concert That Changed the World". The concert had been conceived by the Socialist Unity Party's youth wing in an attempt to placate the youth of East Germany, who were hungry for more freedom and the popular music of the West. However, it is Kirschbaum's opinion that the success of the concert catalyzed opposition to the regime in East Germany, and helped contribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall the following year.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Later in 1988, Springsteen headlined the worldwide Human Rights Now! tour for Amnesty International. In late 1989, he dissolved the E Street Band.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 1992, after risking fan accusations of "going Hollywood" by moving to Los Angeles and working with session musicians, Springsteen released two albums at once: "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: An electric band appearance on the acoustic "MTV Unplugged" television program (later released as "In Concert/MTV Plugged") was poorly received and cemented fan dissatisfaction. Springsteen seemed to realize this a few years hence when he spoke humorously of his late father during his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acceptance speech:


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen won an Academy Award in 1994 for his song "Streets of Philadelphia", which appeared on the soundtrack to the film "Philadelphia". The video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This technique was developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 1995, after temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded for his first "Greatest Hits" album (a recording session that was chronicled in the documentary "Blood Brothers"), and also one show at Tramps in New York City, he released his second folk album, "The Ghost of Tom Joad". The album was inspired by John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" and by "Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass", a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dale Maharidge and photographer Michael Williamson. The album was generally less well-received than the similar "Nebraska" due to the minimal melody, twangy vocals, and political nature of most of the songs; however, some praised it for giving voice to immigrants and others who rarely have one in American culture. The lengthy, worldwide, small-venue solo acoustic Ghost of Tom Joad Tour that followed successfully presented many of his older songs in drastically reshaped acoustic form, although Springsteen had to explicitly remind his audiences to "shut the fuck up" and not to clap during the performances.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Following the tour, Springsteen moved from California back to New Jersey with his family. In 1998, he released the sprawling, four-disc box set of outtakes, "Tracks". Later, he would acknowledge that the 1990s were a "lost period" for him: "I didn't do a lot of work. Some people would say I didn't do my best work."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 by Bono (the lead singer of U2), a favor he returned in 2005.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 1999, Springsteen and the E Street Band reunited and began their extensive Reunion Tour, which lasted over a year. Highlights included a record sold-out, 15-show run at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey and a ten-night, sold-out engagement at New York City's Madison Square Garden. A new song, "American Skin (41 Shots)", about the police shooting of Amadou Diallo, which was played at these shows proved controversial.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 2002, Springsteen released his first studio effort with the full band in 18 years, "The Rising", produced by Brendan O'Brien. The album, mostly a reflection on the September 11 attacks, was a critical and popular success. The title track gained airplay in several radio formats, and the record became Springsteen's best-selling album of new material in 15 years. Kicked off by an early-morning Asbury Park appearance on "The Today Show", The Rising Tour commenced; the band barnstormed through a series of single-night arena stands in the U.S. and Europe. Springsteen played an unprecedented 10 nights in Giants Stadium in New Jersey. At the 45th Annual Grammy Awards, "The Rising" won the Grammy for Best Rock Album and was nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year. In addition, "The Rising" won the Grammy for Best Rock Song and for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. It was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. "Rolling Stone" later named "The Rising" the 35th best song of the decade. VH1 placed it 81st on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '00s".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: At the Grammy Awards of 2003, Springsteen performed the Clash's "London Calling" along with Elvis Costello, Dave Grohl, and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and No Doubt's bassist, Tony Kanal, in tribute to Joe Strummer. In 2004, Springsteen and the E Street Band participated in the Vote for Change tour, along with John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bright Eyes, the Dave Matthews Band, Jackson Browne, and other musicians.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "Devils & Dust" was released on April 26, 2005, and was recorded without the E Street Band. It is a low-key, mostly acoustic album, in the same vein as "Nebraska" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad". Some of the material was written almost 10 years earlier during, or shortly after, the Ghost of Tom Joad Tour, with a few having been performed then but not released. The title track concerns an ordinary soldier's feelings and fears during the Iraq War. The album entered the charts at No. 1 in 10 countries. Springsteen began the solo Devils & Dust Tour at the same time as the album's release, playing both small and large venues. Attendance was disappointing in a few regions, and everywhere (other than in Europe) tickets were easier to get than in the past.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In April 2006, Springsteen released "", an American roots music project focused around a big folk sound treatment of 15 songs popularized by the radical musical activism of Pete Seeger. A tour began the same month, with the 18-strong ensemble of musicians dubbed the Seeger Sessions Band (and later shortened to the Sessions Band). The tour proved very popular in Europe, selling out everywhere and receiving some excellent reviews, but newspapers reported that a number of U.S. shows suffered from sparse attendance.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen's next album, entitled "Magic", was released on October 2, 2007. Recorded with the E Street Band, it had 10 new Springsteen songs plus "Long Walk Home", performed once with the Sessions band, and a hidden track (the first included on a Springsteen studio release), "Terry's Song", a tribute to Springsteen's long-time assistant Terry Magovern, who died on July 30, 2007. "Magic" debuted at No. 1 in Ireland and the UK.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: It was announced on November 21, 2007, that Springsteen's longtime friend and founding E Street Band member, Danny Federici, would be taking a leave of absence from the "Magic Tour" to pursue treatment for melanoma. Charles Giordano filled in as Federici's replacement.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Federici returned to the stage on March 20, 2008, for a Springsteen and E Street Band performance in Indianapolis. On April 17, 2008, Federici died of cancer.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. He gave solo acoustic performances in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008, culminating with a November 2 rally at which he debuted the song "Working on a Dream" in a duet with Scialfa. Following Obama's electoral victory on November 4, Springsteen's song "The Rising" was the first song played over the loudspeakers after Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. Springsteen was the musical opener for the on January 18, 2009, which was attended by over 400,000 people. He performed "The Rising" with an all-female choir. Later he performed Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On January 11, 2009, Springsteen won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song for "The Wrestler", from the Darren Aronofsky film by the same name. After receiving a heartfelt letter from lead actor Mickey Rourke, Springsteen supplied the song for the film for free.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen performed at the halftime show at Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, agreeing to perform after having declined on prior occasions. A few days before the game, Springsteen gave a rare press conference at which he promised a "twelve-minute party." It has been reported that this press conference was Springsteen's first press conference in more than 25 years. His 12-minute 45-second set, with the E Street Band and the Miami Horns, included abbreviated renditions of "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out", "Born to Run", "Working on a Dream", and "Glory Days", the latter complete with football references in place of the original baseball-themed lyrics. The set of appearances and promotional activities led Springsteen to say, "This has probably been the busiest month of my life."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen's "Working on a Dream" album, dedicated to the memory of Danny Federici, was released in late January 2009. The supporting Working on a Dream Tour ran from April 2009 until November 2009. The band performed five final shows at Giants Stadium, opening with a new song highlighting the historic stadium, and Springsteen's Jersey roots, named "Wrecking Ball". A DVD from the Working on a Dream Tour entitled "" was released in 2010.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen received the Kennedy Center Honors on December 6, 2009. President Obama gave a speech in which he asserted that Springsteen had incorporated the lives of regular Americans into his expansive palette of songs. Obama added that Springsteen's concerts were not just rock-and-roll concerts, but "communions". The event included musical tributes from Melissa Etheridge, Ben Harper, John Mellencamp, Jennifer Nettles, Sting, and Eddie Vedder.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The 2000s ended with Springsteen named one of eight Artists of the Decade by "Rolling Stone" magazine and with Springsteen's tours ranking him fourth among artists in total concert grosses for the decade.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band's saxophonist and founding member, died on June 18, 2011, of complications from a stroke.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen's 17th studio album, "Wrecking Ball", was released on March 6, 2012. The album consists of eleven tracks plus two bonus tracks. Three songs previously only available as live versions—"Wrecking Ball", "Land of Hope and Dreams", and "American Land"—appear on the album. "Wrecking Ball" became Springsteen's tenth No. 1 album in the United States, tying him with Elvis Presley for third most No. 1 albums of all time. Only the Beatles (19) and Jay Z (12) have more No. 1 albums.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Following the release of the album, Springsteen and the E Street Band announced plans for the Wrecking Ball Tour, which began on March 18, 2012. On July 31, 2012, in Helsinki, Finland, Springsteen performed his longest concert ever at 4 hours and 6 minutes and 33 songs.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen campaigned for President Barack Obama's re-election in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin. At the rallies, he briefly spoke to the audience and performed a short acoustic set that included a newly written song titled "Forward".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: At year's end, the Wrecking Ball Tour was named "Top Draw" for having the top attendance out of any tour by the "Billboard" Touring Awards. The tour finished second to Roger Waters, who had the top-grossing tour of 2012. Springsteen finished second only to Madonna as the top money maker of 2012 with $33.44 million. The "Wrecking Ball" album, along with the single "We Take Care of Our Own", was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song for "We Take Care of Our Own" and Best Rock Album. "Rolling Stone" named "Wrecking Ball" the number one album of 2012 on their Top 50 albums of 2012 list.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In late July 2013, the documentary "Springsteen & I", directed by Baillie Walsh and produced by Ridley Scott, was released simultaneously via a worldwide cinema broadcast in over 50 countries and in over 2000 movie theaters.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen released his eighteenth studio album, "High Hopes", on January 14, 2014. The first single and video were of a newly recorded version of the song "High Hopes", which Springsteen had previously recorded in 1995. The album was the first by Springsteen in which all songs are either cover songs, newly recorded outtakes from previous records, or newly recorded versions of songs previously released. The 2014 E Street Band touring lineup, along with deceased E Street Band members Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, appear on the album. "High Hopes" became Springsteen's eleventh No. 1 album in the US. It was his tenth No. 1 in the UK, tying him for fifth all-time with the Rolling Stones and U2. "Rolling Stone" named "High Hopes" the second best album of the year (behind only U2's "Songs of Innocence") on their Top 50 Albums of 2014 list.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen made his acting debut in the final episode of season three of Van Zandt's show "Lilyhammer", which was named "Loose Ends" after a Springsteen song on the "Tracks" album.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On August 6, 2015, Springsteen performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" and "Born to Run" on the final episode of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", as Stewart's final 'Moment of Zen'. On October 16, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of "The River", Springsteen announced "" box set. Released on December 4, it contains four CDs (including many previously unreleased songs) and three DVDs (or Blu-ray) along with a 148-page coffee table book. In November 2015, "American Skin (41 Shots)" was performed with John Legend at "".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen made his first appearance on "Saturday Night Live" since 2002 on December 19, 2015, performing "Meet Me in the City", "The Ties That Bind", and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The River Tour 2016 began in January 2016 in support of "The Ties That Bind: The River Collection" box set. All first-leg shows in North America included an in-sequence performance of the entire "The River" album along with other songs from Springsteen's catalog, and all dates were recorded and made available for purchase. In April 2016, Springsteen was one of the first artists to boycott North Carolina's anti-transgender bathroom bill. More dates were eventually announced expanding the original three-month tour into a seven-month tour with shows in Europe in May 2016 and another North American leg starting in August 2016 and ending the following month.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 23, 2016, "Chapter and Verse", a compilation from throughout Springsteen's career dating back to 1966, was released. On September 27, 2016, Simon & Schuster published his 500-page autobiography, "Born to Run". The book rose quickly to the top of the "NY Times" Best Sellers List.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 7, 2016, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Springsteen performed for 4 hours and 4 minutes. This show, which was part of "The River 2016 Tour", stands as his longest-ever show in the United States. "The River 2016 Tour" was the top-grossing worldwide tour of 2016; it pulled in $268.3 million globally and was the highest-grossing tour since 2014 for any artist topping Taylor Swift's 2015 tour which grossed $250.1 million.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen supported Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign by performing an acoustic set of "Thunder Road", "Long Walk Home" and "Dancing in the Dark" at a rally in Philadelphia on November 7, 2016. On November 22, 2016, Springsteen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award by Barack Obama. On January 12, 2017, Springsteen and Patti Scialfa performed a special 15-song acoustic set for President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at the White House's East Room two days before the president gave his farewell address to the nation.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: "Springsteen on Broadway", an eight-week run at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in New York City in fall 2017, was announced in June 2017. The show included Springsteen reading excerpts from his 2016 autobiography "Born to Run" and performing other spoken reminiscences. Originally scheduled to run from October 12 through November 26, the show was extended three times; the last performance occurred on December 15, 2018. For Springsteen's production of "Springsteen on Broadway", he was honored with a Special Tony Award at the 72nd Tony Awards in 2018.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On December 14, 2018, the live album "Springsteen on Broadway" was released. The album reached the top 10 in more than 10 countries and no. 11 in the United States.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: It was announced on July 23, 2019, that Springsteen would premiere his film, "Western Stars", at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2019. He co-directed the film along with longtime collaborator Thom Zimny. The film features Springsteen and his backing band performing the music from "Western Stars" to a live audience. The film was released in theaters on October 25, 2019, and the film's soundtrack, "Western Stars – Songs from the Film", was also released that day.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On May 29, 2020, Springsteen appeared remotely during a livestream, no-audience concert by the Dropkick Murphys at Fenway Park in Boston. Springsteen performed the Dropkick Murphys song "Rose Tattoo" and his song "American Land", sharing co-vocals with Ken Casey on both songs. The event marked the first music performance without an in-person audience at a major U.S. arena, stadium or ballpark during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the livestream, viewers were encouraged to make charitable donations. The livestream attracted over 9 million viewers and raised over $700,000.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 10, 2020, Springsteen released the single "Letter to You". The single "Ghosts" was released on September 24, 2020. "Letter to You", Springsteen's twentieth studio album, was released on October 23, 2020. Springsteen also released a documentary entitled "Letter to You" on October 23. The documentary was shot exclusively in black and white and was directed by Thom Zimny. The album "Letter to You" features 12 songs and runs just under one hour.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On November 16, 2020, Springsteen was featured as a guest singer for Bleachers' newest single, "Chinatown", for their 3rd studio album "Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen and the E Street Band were musical guests on the December 12, 2020, episode of "Saturday Night Live", where they performed "Ghosts" and "I'll See You in My Dreams". This marked the band's first performance since 2017 and their first to promote "Letter to You". Garry Tallent and Soozie Tyrell opted to remain at home due to COVID-19 concerns; this was the first time Tallent had ever missed a performance with the band, and Jack Daley of the Disciples of Soul filled in for him.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On February 22, 2021, it was announced that Springsteen was releasing an eight-part podcast on Spotify titled "" that would feature himself in conversation with Barack Obama discussing a wide range of topics including family, race, marriage, fatherhood, and the state of the U.S.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On May 16, 2021, John Mellencamp announced that Springsteen would appear on his next album. On September 29, 2021, Mellencamp released the single and music video for "Wasted Days", which features Springsteen on co-lead vocals and guitar.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On June 7, 2021, Springsteen announced that his "Springsteen on Broadway" shows would return for a limited run at Jujamcyn's St. James Theatre beginning on June 26, 2021. In an interview with E Street Radio's Jim Rotolo on June 10, 2021, Springsteen said that he did not plan on playing any shows in 2021 but was talked into the Broadway shows by a "friend". During the same interview, Springsteen also announced an upcoming collaboration with the Killers. Later that day the Killers' social media announced the title of the song "Dustland" after a series of teases by the band throughout the day.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 11, 2021, Springsteen performed "I'll See You in My Dreams" in tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On December 13, 2021, Springsteen gave a surprise four song performance at the John Henry's Friends benefit concert for children diagnosed with Autism where he was joined by Steve Earle and the Dukes as his backing band. On December 14, 2021, Max Weinberg indicated that he felt a tour with Springsteen and the E Street Band was very likely in 2022 saying "Until the bus pulls up at my house, figuratively speaking, I'm not quite sure but I'm pretty convinced ... (that) myself, my colleagues and the people who are interested are going to be very pleasantly surprised in 2022. I don't make plans for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band but I feel very good about the next 18, 24 months." On December 16, 2021, Springsteen sold the masters of his entire catalog and the coinciding music publishing rights to Sony Music for $500 million. This topped what Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift received for their catalogs by $200 million. This sale, along with his Broadway shows and projects with Obama, helped him top the "Rolling Stone" list of the highest-paid musicians of 2021.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On May 24, 2022, it was announced that he would be launching an international tour with the E Street Band in 2023, the first such since 2017.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 26, 2022, it was announced that Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa would perform at the inaugural Albie Awards at the New York Public Library on September 29, 2022.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On September 29, 2022, Springsteen announced that his twenty-first studio album, "Only the Strong Survive", would be released on November 11, 2022. The album features fifteen covers of classic soul music songs from the 60s and 70s and was preceded by the singles "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)", "Nightshift", "Don't Play That Song" and "Turn Back the Hands of Time". To promote the album, Springsteen will perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on November 14, 15 and 16, 2022 along with a special Thanksgiving episode on November 24, 2022.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Springsteen has been called a "rock 'n' roll poet" who "[radiates] working-class authenticity". His work "epitomizes rock's deepest values: desire, the need for freedom and the search to find yourself." Often described as cinematic in their scope, Springsteen's lyrics frequently explore highly personal themes such as individual commitment, dissatisfaction and dismay with life in a context of everyday situations. Springsteen's themes include social and political commentary and are rooted in the struggles faced by his own family of origin.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In 2003, "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included "Born to Run" (18), "Born in the U.S.A." (85), "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle" (132), "Darkness on the Edge of Town" (151), "Nebraska" (224), "The River" (250), "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." (379), and "Tunnel of Love" (475). In 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, "Rolling Stone" included "Born to Run" (21), "Thunder Road" (86), and "Born in the U.S.A." (275). "Acclaimed Music" ranks him as the fifth most celebrated artist in popular music history.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: A shift in Springsteen's lyrical approach began with the album "Darkness on the Edge of Town", in which he focused on the emotional struggles of working class life, alongside more typical rock and roll themes. Reviewing "Born in the U.S.A.", "Rolling Stone" critic Debby Miller noted that "Springsteen ignored the British Invasion and embraced instead the legacy of Phil Spector’s releases, the sort of soul that was coming from Atlantic Records, and especially the garage bands that had anomalous radio hits. He’s always chased the utopian feeling of that music".


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Jon Pareles included Springsteen among the "pantheon" of artists of the album era. "Springsteen is the quintessential album-era rock star", writes Ann Powers, who argues that while other acts like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Marvin Gaye probably made better individual works, "none [had] used the long-player form itself more powerfully over the arc of a career, not only to establish a world through song, but to inhabit an enduring persona". He used it to lyricize "America's slide from industrial-era swagger into service-economy anomie". In her mind, Springsteen needed the "track-by-track architecture of albums to flesh out characters, relate each to the other, extend metaphors and build a palpable, detail-strewn landscape through which they could travel". He simultaneously grew musically "both with his stalwart E Street Band (a metaphor itself for the family connections and community spirit his songs celebrate or lament) and in more minimalist projects."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Concert goers are often confused by the fact that Springsteen appears to be booed by his fans when he appears on stage. In fact his fans are calling his name in an exaggerated way as "Bruuuce", which sounds like boos.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: While rejecting religion in his earlier years, Springsteen stated in his autobiography "Born to Run", "I have a personal relationship with Jesus. I believe in his power to save, love [...] but not to damn." In terms of his lapsed Catholicism, he has stated that he "came to ruefully and bemusedly understand that once you're a Catholic you're always a Catholic". He elaborated, "I don't participate in my religion but I know somewhere... deep inside... I'm still on the team."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen has spoken openly about his struggles with depression, which he accepted and began to face in his 30s. Around this time, frustrated with being an underweight "fast food junkie" who would have to be helped off the stage after a show due to poor health, he began running up to six miles on a treadmill and lifting weights three times a week; in September 2019, an article celebrating his 70th birthday revealed that he has maintained this same workout routine since he began following it. He has also reportedly followed a mostly vegetarian diet since around the same time, and has avoided hard drugs all of his life.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: In a June 2017 interview with Tom Hanks, Springsteen admitted to having been a tax evader early in his career.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen dated actress Joyce Hyser for four years in the early 1980s. Previously, he had dated photographer Lynn Goldsmith and model Karen Darvin. In the early 1980s, he met Patti Scialfa at The Stone Pony bar in New Jersey, the evening she was performing alongside his friend Bobby Bandiera, with whom she had written "At Least We Got Shoes" for Southside Johnny. Springsteen liked her voice, and after the performance he introduced himself to her. They soon started spending time together and became friends.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Early in 1984 Springsteen asked Scialfa to join the E Street Band for the upcoming Born in the U.S.A. Tour. According to the book "Bruce" by Peter Ames Carlin, they seemed about to become a couple through the first leg of the tour; however, Springsteen was introduced to actress and married her shortly after midnight on at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Opposites in background, the two had an age difference, and Springsteen's traveling took its toll on their relationship. Many of the songs on "Tunnel of Love" described the unhappiness he felt in his relationship with Phillips.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: The Tunnel of Love Express Tour began in late February 1988 and Springsteen convinced Scialfa to rejoin the tour. She expressed reluctance at first because she wanted to start recording her first solo album, but when he told her the tour would be short, she agreed to postpone her own solo record and join the tour. Phillips and Springsteen separated in the spring of 1988, but the separation was not made public. Springsteen and Scialfa fell in love during the Tunnel of Love Express Tour and started living together soon after his separation from Phillips. Citing irreconcilable differences, Phillips filed for divorce in Los Angeles on and a settlement was reached in December and finalized on They had no children.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen received press criticism for the apparent haste in which he and Scialfa started their relationship. In a 1995 interview with "The Advocate", he told Judy Wieder about the negative publicity the couple subsequently received: "It's a strange society that assumes it has the right to tell people whom they should love and whom they shouldn't. But the truth is, I basically ignored the entire thing as much as I could. I said, 'Well, all I know is, this feels real, and maybe I have got a mess going here in some fashion, but that's life.'" Years later, he reflected, "'I didn't protect Juli... some sort of public announcement would have been fair, but I felt overly concerned about my own privacy. I handled it badly, and I still feel badly about it. It was cruel for people to find out the way they did.'"


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen and Scialfa lived in New Jersey before moving to Los Angeles, where they decided to start a family. On July 25, 1990, Scialfa gave birth to the couple's first child, Evan James Springsteen. On June 8, 1991, Springsteen and Scialfa married at their Los Angeles home in a private ceremony, only attended by family and close friends. Their second child, Jessica Rae Springsteen, was born on December 30, 1991. Their third child, Samuel Ryan Springsteen, was born on January 5, 1994. In a 1995 interview, Springsteen said, "I went through a divorce, and it was really difficult and painful and I was very frightened about getting married again. So part of me said, 'Hey, what does it matter?' But it does matter. It's very different than just living together. First of all, stepping up publicly—which is what you do: You get your license, you do all the social rituals—is a part of your place in society and in some way part of society's acceptance of you ... Patti and I both found that it did mean something."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: When their children reached school age in the 1990s, Springsteen and Scialfa moved back to New Jersey to raise them away from paparazzi. The family owns and lives on a horse farm in Colts Neck Township and has a home in Rumson; they also own homes in Los Angeles and Wellington, Florida. Evan graduated from Boston College; he writes and performs his own songs and won the 2012 Singer/Songwriter Competition held during the Boston College's Arts Festival. Jessica graduated from Duke University and is a nationally ranked champion equestrian. She made her show-jumping debut with the Team USA in August 2014. She won a silver medal as part of the U.S. equestrian team at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in Tokyo in 2021 due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Sam is a Jersey City, New Jersey, firefighter.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: On July 17, 2022, Scialfa and Springsteen became first-time grandparents with the birth of a daughter of their son Sam.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen supported Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, announcing his endorsement in April 2008. He appeared at several rallies in support of Obama's campaign throughout 2008. At an Ohio rally, Springsteen discussed the importance of "truth, transparency and integrity in government, the right of every American to have a job, a living wage, to be educated in a decent school, and a life filled with the dignity of work, the promise and the sanctity of home". The Topps company marked the support in a commemorative trading card set, in which Springsteen makes an appearance on card #59, "the 'O' Street Band." Despite saying that he would sit out the 2012 presidential election, Springsteen campaigned for Obama's re-election in Ohio, Iowa, Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen is an activist for LGBT rights and has spoken out many times as a strong supporter of gay marriage. In an April 1996 interview with "The Advocate" he spoke of the importance of gay marriage: "You get your license, you do all the social rituals. It's part of your place in society, and in some way part of society's acceptance of you." In 2009, he posted the following statement on his website: "I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that 'The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is—a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law. In 2012, he lent his support to an ad campaign for gay marriage called "The Four 2012". Springsteen noted in the ad, "I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now." In April 2016, Springsteen cancelled a show in Greensboro, North Carolina, days before it was to take place to protest the state's newly passed Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also referred to as the "bathroom law", which dictates which restrooms transgender people are permitted to use and prevents LGBT citizens from suing over human rights violations in the workplace. Springsteen released an official statement on his website. The Human Rights Campaign celebrated Springsteen's statement, and he has received much praise and gratitude from the LGBT community.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: During a 2017 show in Perth, Springsteen made a statement celebrating the post-inauguration Women's March against the incoming Trump administration in cities worldwide: "We're a long way from home, and our hearts and spirits are with the hundreds of thousands of women and men that marched yesterday in every city in America, and in Melbourne ... [They] rallied against hate and division and in support of tolerance, inclusion, reproductive rights, civil rights, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, the environment, wage equality, gender equality, healthcare, and immigrant rights. We stand with you. We are the new American resistance."


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen was a staunch critic of Donald Trump throughout his presidency. In October 2019, he said Trump "doesn't have a grasp of the deep meaning of what it means to be an American," and in June 2020 called him a "threat to our democracy". Springsteen's song "The Rising" was featured prominently in the 2020 Democratic National Convention in support of Joe Biden, accompanied with a new video and campaign slogan, #TheRising. On October 13, 2020, author Don Winslow released a video critical of Trump prior to his campaign event in Pennsylvania. The video features Springsteen's song "Streets of Philadelphia". A few days prior to the 2020 United States presidential election, Springsteen provided narration for a campaign ad that spotlights Biden's upbringing in Scranton, Pennsylvania with "My Hometown" playing throughout the ad. Biden used "We Take Care of Our Own" as one of his theme songs, as Obama had before him in 2012.


title: Bruce Springsteen

text: Springsteen has sold more than 140 million records worldwide and more than 71 million records in the United States, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. He has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award, and a Special Tony Award (for "Springsteen on Broadway"). Springsteen was inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2009, was named MusiCares person of the year in 2013, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2016. In May 2021, Springsteen became the eighth recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, a prize that honors an artist who speaks out for social justice and carries on the spirit of the folk singer.


title: Democracy Index

text: The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research division of the Economist Group, a UK-based private company which publishes the weekly newspaper "The Economist". Akin to a Human Development Index but centrally concerned with political institutions and freedoms, the index attempts to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries and territories, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states.


title: Democracy Index

text: The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five categories, measuring pluralism, civil liberties and political culture. In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categorizes each country into one of four regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes. The first Democracy Index report was published in 2006. Reports were published every two years until 2010 and annually thereafter.


title: Democracy Index

text: As described in the report, the "Democracy Index" produces a weighted average based on the answers to 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted answers. Most answers are experts' assessments. Some answers are provided by public-opinion surveys from the respective countries. In the case of countries for which survey results are missing, survey results for similar countries and expert assessments are used in order to fill in gaps.


title: Democracy Index

text: Each answer is converted to a score, either 0 or 1, or for the three-answer questions, 0, 0.5 or 1. With the exceptions mentioned below, within each category, the scores are added, multiplied by ten, and divided by the total number of questions within the category. There are a few modifying dependencies, which are explained much more precisely than the main rule procedures. In a few cases, an answer yielding zero for one question voids another question; e.g. if the elections for the national legislature and head of government are not considered free (question 1), then the next question, ""Are elections... fair?"", is not considered, but automatically scored zero. Likewise, there are a few questions considered so important that a low score on them yields a penalty on the total score sum for their respective categories, namely:


title: Democracy Index

text: The five category indices, which are listed in the report, are then averaged to find the overall score for a given country. Finally, the score, rounded to two decimals, decides the regime-type classification of the country.


title: Democracy Index

text: The report discusses other indices of democracy, as defined, e.g. by Freedom House, and argues for some of the choices made by the team from the Economist Intelligence Unit. In this comparison, a higher emphasis is placed on the public opinion and attitudes, as measured by surveys, but on the other hand, economic living-standards are not weighted as one criterion of democracy (as seemingly some other investigators have done).


title: Democracy Index

text: Full democracies are nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are not only respected but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles. These nations have a valid system of governmental checks and balances, an independent judiciary whose decisions are enforced, governments that function adequately, and diverse and independent media. These nations have only limited problems in democratic functioning.


title: Democracy Index

text: Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.


title: Democracy Index

text: Hybrid regimes are nations with regular electoral frauds, preventing them from being fair and free democracies. These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opposition, non-independent judiciaries, widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anaemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.


title: Democracy Index

text: Authoritarian regimes are nations where political pluralism is nonexistent or severely limited. These nations are often absolute monarchies or dictatorships, may have some conventional institutions of democracy but with meagre significance, infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections (if they take place) are not fair or free (including sham elections), the media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and censorship and suppression of governmental criticism are commonplace.


title: Democracy Index

text: The following table indicates the number of nations and the percentage of World population for each type of regime. Some microstates are not considered in the calculation.


title: Democracy Index

text: The following table lists the average score for each geographic region defined in the report. The By country section shows the countries in each region.


title: Democracy Index

text: The following table shows each nation's score over the years. The regions are assigned by the Economist Intelligence Unit, and may differ from conventional classifications (for example, Turkey is grouped in Western Europe).


title: Democracy Index

text: The following table shows the five parameters that made up the score of each nation in 2021 and the changes that had occurred since 2020.


title: Democracy Index

text: In 2016, the United States was downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy; its score, which had been declining for some years, crossed the threshold from 8.05 in 2015 to 7.98 in 2016. The report stated that this was caused by myriad factors dating back to at least the late 1960s which have eroded Americans' trust in governmental institutions.


title: Democracy Index

text: The 2017 "Democracy Index" registered, at the time, the worst year for global democracy since 2010–11. Asia was the region with the largest decline since 2016. Venezuela was downgraded from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian regime. In China, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), further entrenched his power by writing his contribution to the CCP's ideology, dubbed Xi Jinping Thought, into the party's constitution. Moldova was downgraded from a flawed democracy to a hybrid regime as a result of problematic elections. By contrast, Armenia was re-upgraded from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime as a result of constitutional changes that shifted power from the presidency to parliament. In 2017, the Gambia was upgraded again from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime after Yahya Jammeh, who was president from 1996 to 2017, was defeated by Adama Barrow, an opposition candidate in the 2016 presidential elections.


title: Democracy Index

text: In 2019, France, Portugal and Chile were upgraded from flawed democracies to full democracies. In fact, this was not a new experience for the former two, which suffered from the eurozone crisis many years before. By contrast, Malta was downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy. Thailand and Albania were upgraded from hybrid regimes to flawed democracies. Algeria was upgraded again from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime.


title: Democracy Index

text: In 2020, Taiwan was upgraded from flawed democracy to full democracy following reforms in the judiciary, and soared to 11th position from its previous position at 33. Japan and South Korea were also upgraded again to a full democracy, while France and Portugal were once again relegated to flawed democracies. Hong Kong was downgraded from a flawed democracy to a hybrid regime. Algeria was downgraded again from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian regime. The Economist Intelligence Unit noted that democracy "was dealt a major blow in 2020". Almost 70% of countries covered by the "Democracy Index" recorded a decline in their overall score, as most of them imposed lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to some arresting journalists and citizens accused of spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The global average score fell to its lowest level since the index began in 2006.


title: Democracy Index

text: In 2021, both the global and regional average scores continued downward trends, with the exception of the Central and Eastern Europe region. Spain and Chile were downgraded from full democracies to flawed democracies, while Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and Tunisia were downgraded from flawed democracies to hybrid regimes. Haiti, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan were downgraded from hybrid regimes to authoritarian regimes. In addition, Moldova, Montenegro, and North Macedonia were upgraded from hybrid regimes to flawed democracies, whereas Mauritania was upgraded from authoritarian to hybrid regime. For the first time, two countries displaced North Korea as the lowest-ranked states in the Democracy Index. In Myanmar, the elected government was overthrown in a military coup, and protests were suppressed by the junta; thus, its score went down by 2.02 points. Afghanistan, as a result of the 2021 Taliban offensive and subsequent takeover of government, registered the lowest score of any state ever recorded on the Democracy Index at 0.32.


title: Democracy Index

text: Investment analyst Peter Tasker has criticised the "Democracy Index" for lacking transparency and accountability beyond the numbers. To generate the index, the Economist Intelligence Unit has a scoring system in which various experts are asked to answer 60 questions and assign each reply a number, with the weighted average deciding the ranking. However, the final report does not indicate what kinds of experts, nor their number, nor whether the experts are employees of the Economist Intelligence Unit or independent scholars, nor the nationalities of the experts.


title: Chile

text: Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile covers an area of , with a population of 17.5 million as of 2017. It shares land borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the north-east, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chile also controls the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. It also claims about of Antarctica under the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The country's capital and largest city is Santiago, and its national language is Spanish.


title: Chile

text: Spain conquered and colonized the region in the mid-16th century, replacing Inca rule, but failing to conquer the independent Mapuche who inhabited what is now south-central Chile. In 1818, after declaring independence from Spain, Chile emerged in the 1830s as a relatively stable authoritarian republic. In the 19th century, Chile saw significant economic and territorial growth, ending Mapuche resistance in the 1880s and gaining its current northern territory in the War of the Pacific (1879–83) after defeating Peru and Bolivia. In the 20th century up to the 1970s Chile saw a process of democratization, rapid population growth and urbanization and increasing reliance on exports from copper mining for its economy. During the 1960s and 1970s, the country experienced severe left-right political polarization and turmoil. This development culminated with the 1973 Chilean coup d'état that overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically elected left-wing government and instituted a 16-year right-wing military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that left more than 3,000 people dead or missing. The regime ended in 1990 after a referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a center-left coalition which ruled until 2010.


title: Chile

text: Chile is a developing country with a high-income economy and ranks 42nd in the Human Development Index. It is among the most economically and socially stable nations in South America, leading Latin America in rankings of competitiveness, per capita income, globalization, state of peace, and economic freedom. Chile also ranks high regionally in sustainability of the state, democratic development, and has the lowest homicide rate in the Americas after Canada. It is a founding member of the United Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Pacific Alliance, and joined the OECD in 2010.


title: Chile

text: There are various theories about the origin of the word "Chile". According to 17th-century Spanish chronicler Diego de Rosales, the Incas called the valley of the Aconcagua "Chili" by corruption of the name of a Picunche tribal chief () called "Tili", who ruled the area at the time of the Incan conquest in the 15th century. Another theory points to the similarity of the valley of the Aconcagua with that of the Casma Valley in Peru, where there was a town and valley named "Chili".


title: Chile

text: Other theories say Chile may derive its name from a Native American word meaning either 'ends of the earth' or 'sea gulls'; from the Mapuche word , which may mean 'where the land ends'" or from the Quechua , 'cold', or , meaning either 'snow' or "the deepest point of the Earth". Another origin attributed to "chilli" is the onomatopoeic —the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a bird locally known as trile.


title: Chile

text: The Spanish conquistadors heard about this name from the Incas, and the few survivors of Diego de Almagro's first Spanish expedition south from Peru in 1535–36 called themselves the "men of Chilli". Ultimately, Almagro is credited with the universalization of the name "Chile", after naming the Mapocho valley as such. The older spelling "Chili" was in use in English until the early 20th century before switching to "Chile".


title: Chile

text: Stone tool evidence indicates humans sporadically frequented the Monte Verde valley area as long as 18,500 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, migrating Indigenous Peoples settled in fertile valleys and coastal areas of what is present-day Chile. Settlement sites from very early human habitation include Monte Verde, Cueva del Milodón and the Pali-Aike Crater's lava tube.


title: Chile

text: The Incas briefly extended their empire into what is now northern Chile, but the Mapuche (or Araucanians as they were known by the Spaniards) successfully resisted many attempts by the Inca Empire to subjugate them, despite their lack of state organization. They fought against the Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui and his army. The result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river.


title: Chile

text: In 1520, while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, Ferdinand Magellan discovered the southern passage now named after him (the Strait of Magellan) thus becoming the first European to set foot on what is now Chile. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, who came from Peru in 1535 seeking gold. The Spanish encountered various cultures that supported themselves principally through slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting.


title: Chile

text: The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarro's lieutenants, who founded the city of Santiago on 12 February 1541. Although the Spanish did not find the extensive gold and silver they sought, they recognized the agricultural potential of Chile's central valley, and Chile became part of the Spanish Empire.


title: Chile

text: Conquest took place gradually, and the Europeans suffered repeated setbacks. A massive Mapuche insurrection that began in 1553 resulted in Valdivia's death and the destruction of many of the colony's principal settlements. Subsequent major insurrections took place in 1598 and in 1655. Each time the Mapuche and other native groups revolted, the southern border of the colony was driven northward. The abolition of slavery by the Spanish crown in 1683 was done in recognition that enslaving the Mapuche intensified resistance rather than cowing them into submission. Despite royal prohibitions, relations remained strained from continual colonialist interference.


title: Chile

text: Cut off to the north by desert, to the south by the Mapuche, to the east by the Andes Mountains, and to the west by the ocean, Chile became one of the most centralized, homogeneous colonies in Spanish America. Serving as a sort of frontier garrison, the colony found itself with the mission of forestalling encroachment by both the Mapuche and Spain's European enemies, especially the English and the Dutch. Buccaneers and pirates menaced the colony in addition to the Mapuche, as was shown by Sir Francis Drake's 1578 raid on Valparaíso, the colony's principal port. Chile hosted one of the largest standing armies in the Americas, making it one of the most militarized of the Spanish possessions, as well as a drain on the treasury of the Viceroyalty of Peru.


title: Chile

text: The first general census was conducted by the government of Agustín de Jáuregui between 1777 and 1778; it indicated that the population consisted of 259,646 inhabitants: 73.5% of European descent, 7.9% mestizos, 8.6% indigenous peoples and 9.8% blacks. Francisco Hurtado, Governor of the province of Chiloé, conducted a census in 1784 and found the population consisted of 26,703 inhabitants, 64.4% of whom were whites and 33.5% of whom were natives. The Diocese of Concepción conducted a census in areas south of the Maule river in 1812, but did not include the indigenous population or the inhabitants of the province of Chiloé. The population is estimated at 210,567, 86.1% of whom were Spanish or of European descent, 10% of whom were indigenous and 3.7% of whom were mestizos, blacks and mulattos.


title: Chile

text: A 2021 study by Baten and Llorca-Jaña shows that regions with a relatively high share of North European migrants developed faster in terms of numeracy, even if the overall number of migrants was small. This effect might be related to externalities: the surrounding population adopted a similar behavior as the small non-European immigrant group, and new schools were created. Ironically, there might have been positive spillover effects from the educational investment made by migrants, at the same time numeracy might have been reduced by the greater inequality in these regions. However, the positive effects of immigration were apparently stronger.


title: Chile

text: In 1808, Napoleon's enthronement of his brother Joseph as the Spanish King precipitated the drive by the colony for independence from Spain. A national junta in the name of Ferdinand – heir to the deposed king – was formed on 18 September 1810. The Government Junta of Chile proclaimed Chile an autonomous republic within the Spanish monarchy (in memory of this day, Chile celebrates its National Day on 18 September each year).


title: Chile

text: After these events, a movement for total independence, under the command of José Miguel Carrera (one of the most renowned patriots) and his two brothers Juan José and Luis Carrera, soon gained a wider following. Spanish attempts to re-impose arbitrary rule during what was called the Reconquista led to a prolonged struggle, including infighting from Bernardo O'Higgins, who challenged Carrera's leadership.


title: Chile

text: Intermittent warfare continued until 1817. With Carrera in prison in Argentina, O'Higgins and anti-Carrera cohort José de San Martín, hero of the Argentine War of Independence, led an army that crossed the Andes into Chile and defeated the royalists. On 12 February 1818, Chile was proclaimed an independent republic. The political revolt brought little social change, however, and 19th-century Chilean society preserved the essence of the stratified colonial social structure, which was greatly influenced by family politics and the Roman Catholic Church. A strong presidency eventually emerged, but wealthy landowners remained powerful. Bernardo O'Higgins once planned to expand Chile by liberating the Philippines from Spain and incorporating the islands. In this regard he tasked the Scottish naval officer, Lord Thomas Cochrane, in a letter dated November 12, 1821, expressing his plan to conquer Guayaquil, the Galapagos Islands, and the Philippines. There were preparations, but the plan didn't push through because O' Higgins was exiled.


title: Chile

text: Chile slowly started to expand its influence and to establish its borders. By the Tantauco Treaty, the archipelago of Chiloé was incorporated in 1826. The economy began to boom due to the discovery of silver ore in Chañarcillo, and the growing trade of the port of Valparaíso, which led to conflict over maritime supremacy in the Pacific with Peru. At the same time, attempts were made to strengthen sovereignty in southern Chile intensifying penetration into Araucanía and colonizing Llanquihue with German immigrants in 1848. Through the founding of Fort Bulnes by the Schooner Ancud under the command of John Williams Wilson, the Magallanes region joined the country in 1843, while the Antofagasta region, at the time part of Bolivia, began to fill with people.


title: Chile

text: Toward the end of the 19th century, the government in Santiago consolidated its position in the south by the Occupation of Araucanía. The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina confirmed Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. As a result of the War of the Pacific with Peru and Bolivia (1879–83), Chile expanded its territory northward by almost one-third, eliminating Bolivia's access to the Pacific, and acquired valuable nitrate deposits, the exploitation of which led to an era of national affluence. Chile had joined the stand as one of the high-income countries in South America by 1870.


title: Chile

text: The 1891 Chilean Civil War brought about a redistribution of power between the President and Congress, and Chile established a parliamentary style democracy. However, the Civil War had also been a contest between those who favored the development of local industries and powerful Chilean banking interests, particularly the House of Edwards which had strong ties to foreign investors. Soon after, the country engaged in a vastly expensive naval arms race with Argentina that nearly led to war.


title: Chile

text: The Chilean economy partially degenerated into a system protecting the interests of a ruling oligarchy. By the 1920s, the emerging middle and working classes were powerful enough to elect a reformist president, Arturo Alessandri, whose program was frustrated by a conservative congress. In the 1920s, Marxist groups with strong popular support arose.


title: Chile

text: A military coup led by General Luis Altamirano in 1924 set off a period of political instability that lasted until 1932. Of the ten governments that held power in that period, the longest lasting was that of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who briefly held power in 1925 and then again between 1927 and 1931 in what was a de facto dictatorship (although not really comparable in harshness or corruption to the type of military dictatorship that have often bedeviled the rest of Latin America).


title: Chile

text: By relinquishing power to a democratically elected successor, Ibáñez del Campo retained the respect of a large enough segment of the population to remain a viable politician for more than thirty years, in spite of the vague and shifting nature of his ideology. When constitutional rule was restored in 1932, a strong middle-class party, the Radicals, emerged. It became the key force in coalition governments for the next 20 years. During the period of Radical Party dominance (1932–52), the state increased its role in the economy. In 1952, voters returned Ibáñez del Campo to office for another six years. Jorge Alessandri succeeded Ibáñez del Campo in 1958, bringing Chilean conservatism back into power democratically for another term.


title: Chile

text: The 1964 presidential election of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva by an absolute majority initiated a period of major reform. Under the slogan "Revolution in Liberty", the Frei administration embarked on far-reaching social and economic programs, particularly in education, housing, and agrarian reform, including rural unionization of agricultural workers. By 1967, however, Frei encountered increasing opposition from leftists, who charged that his reforms were inadequate, and from conservatives, who found them excessive. At the end of his term, Frei had not fully achieved his party's ambitious goals.


title: Chile

text: In the 1970 election, Senator Salvador Allende of the Socialist Party of Chile (then part of the "Popular Unity" coalition which included the Communists, Radicals, Social-Democrats, dissident Christian Democrats, the Popular Unitary Action Movement, and the Independent Popular Action), achieved a partial majority in a plurality of votes in a three-way contest, followed by candidates Radomiro Tomic for the Christian Democrat Party and Jorge Alessandri for the Conservative Party. Allende was not elected with an absolute majority, receiving fewer than 35% of the votes.


title: Chile

text: The Chilean Congress conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president Jorge Alessandri, and, keeping with tradition, chose Allende by a vote of 153 to 35. Frei refused to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende, on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the right wing.


title: Chile

text: An economic depression that began in 1972 was exacerbated by capital flight, plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, to increase consumer spending and redistribute income downward. Joint public-private public works projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was nationalized. Many enterprises within the copper, coal, iron, nitrate, and steel industries were expropriated, nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and unemployment fell during the Allende administration's first year.


title: Chile

text: Allende's program included advancement of workers' interests, replacing the judicial system with "socialist legality", nationalization of banks and forcing others to bankruptcy, and strengthening "popular militias" known as MIR. Started under former President Frei, the Popular Unity platform also called for nationalization of Chile's major copper mines in the form of a constitutional amendment. The measure was passed unanimously by Congress. As a result, the Richard Nixon administration organized and inserted secret operatives in Chile, in order to swiftly destabilize Allende's government. In addition, US financial pressure restricted international economic credit to Chile.


title: Chile

text: The economic problems were also exacerbated by Allende's public spending which was financed mostly by printing money and poor credit ratings given by commercial banks.


title: Chile

text: Simultaneously, opposition media, politicians, business guilds and other organizations helped to accelerate a campaign of domestic political and economical destabilization, some of which was backed by the United States. By early 1973, inflation was out of control.


title: Chile

text: On 26 May 1973, Chile's Supreme Court, which was opposed to Allende's government, unanimously denounced Allende's "disruption of the legality of the nation". Although illegal under the Chilean constitution, the court supported and strengthened Pinochet's soon-to-be seizure of power.


title: Chile

text: A military coup overthrew Allende on 11 September 1973. As the armed forces bombarded the presidential palace, Allende apparently committed suicide. After the coup, Henry Kissinger told U.S. president Richard Nixon that the United States had "helped" the coup.


title: Chile

text: A military junta, led by General Augusto Pinochet, took control of the country. The first years of the regime were marked by human rights violations. Chile actively participated in Operation Condor. In October 1973, at least 72 people were murdered by the Caravan of Death. According to the Rettig Report and Valech Commission, at least 2,115 were killed, and at least 27,265 were tortured (including 88 children younger than 12 years old). In 2011, Chile recognized an additional 9,800 victims, bringing the total number of killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons to 40,018. At the national stadium, filled with detainees, one of those tortured and killed was internationally known poet-singer Víctor Jara (see "Music and Dance", below).


title: Chile

text: A new Constitution was approved by a controversial plebiscite on 11 September 1980, and General Pinochet became president of the republic for an eight-year term. After Pinochet obtained rule of the country, several hundred committed Chilean revolutionaries joined the Sandinista army in Nicaragua, guerrilla forces in Argentina or training camps in Cuba, Eastern Europe and Northern Africa.


title: Chile

text: In the late 1980s, largely as a result of events such as the 1982 economic collapse and mass civil resistance in 1983–88, the government gradually permitted greater freedom of assembly, speech, and association, to include trade union and political activity. The government launched market-oriented reforms with Hernán Büchi as Minister of Finance. Chile moved toward a free market economy that saw an increase in domestic and foreign private investment, although the copper industry and other important mineral resources were not opened to competition. In a plebiscite on 5 October 1988, Pinochet was denied a second eight-year term as president (56% against 44%). Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a bicameral congress on 14 December 1989. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the "Concertación", received an absolute majority of votes (55%). President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period.


title: Chile

text: In December 1993, Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the son of previous president Eduardo Frei Montalva, led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%). Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile. In January 2006, Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, of the Socialist Party, defeating Sebastián Piñera, of the National Renewal party, extending the "Concertación" governance for another four years. In January 2010, Chileans elected Sebastián Piñera as the first rightist President in 20 years, defeating former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the "Concertación", for a four-year term succeeding Bachelet. Due to term limits, Sebastián Piñera did not stand for re-election in 2013, and his term expired in March 2014 resulting in Michelle Bachelet returning to office. Sebastián Piñera succeeded Bachelet again in 2018 as the President of Chile after winning the December 2017 presidential election.


title: Chile

text: On 27 February 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15–30 billion, around 10% to 15% of Chile's real gross domestic product.


title: Chile

text: Chile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On 5 August 2010, the access tunnel collapsed at the San José copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó in northern Chile, trapping 33 men below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world.