title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Seeking to avoid the high levels of inflation that had accompanied the heavy borrowing of the American Civil War, the Wilson administration raised taxes during the war. The War Revenue Act of 1917 and the Revenue Act of 1918 raised the top tax rate to 77 percent, greatly increased the number of Americans paying the income tax, and levied an excess profits tax on businesses and individuals. Despite these tax acts, the United States was forced to borrow heavily to finance the war effort. Treasury Secretary McAdoo authorized the issuing of low-interest war bonds and, to attract investors, made interest on the bonds tax-free. The bonds proved so popular among investors that many borrowed money in order to buy more bonds. The purchase of bonds, along with other war-time pressures, resulted in rising inflation, though this inflation was partly matched by rising wages and profits.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: To shape public opinion, Wilson in 1917 established the first modern propaganda office, the Committee on Public Information (CPI), headed by George Creel.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson called on voters in the 1918 off-year elections to elect Democrats as an endorsement of his policies. However the Republicans won over alienated German-Americans and took control. Wilson refused to coordinate or compromise with the new leaders of House and Senate—Senator Henry Cabot Lodge became his nemesis.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: In November 1919, Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, began to target anarchists, Industrial Workers of the World members, and other antiwar groups in what became known as the Palmer Raids. Thousands were arrested for incitement to violence, espionage, or sedition. Wilson by that point was incapacitated and was not told what was happening.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: After the signing of the armistice, Wilson traveled to Europe to lead the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, thereby becoming the first incumbent president to travel to Europe. Although Republicans now controlled Congress, Wilson shut them out. Senate Republicans and even some Senate Democrats complained about their lack of representation in the delegation. It consisted of Wilson, Colonel House, Secretary of State Robert Lansing, General Tasker H. Bliss, and diplomat Henry White was the only Republican, and he was not an active partisan. Save for a two-week return to the United States, Wilson remained in Europe for six months, where he focused on reaching a peace treaty to formally end the war. Wilson, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando made up the "Big Four", the Allied leaders with the most influence at the Paris Peace Conference. Wilson had an illness during the conference, and some experts believe the Spanish flu was the cause.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Unlike other Allied leaders, Wilson did not seek territorial gains or material concessions from the Central Powers. His chief goal was the establishment of the League of Nations, which he saw as the "keystone of the whole programme". Wilson himself presided over the committee that drafted the Covenant of the League of Nations. The covenant bound members to respect freedom of religion, treat racial minorities fairly, and peacefully settle disputes through organizations like the Permanent Court of International Justice. Article X of the League Covenant required all nations to defend League members against external aggression. Japan proposed that the conference endorse a racial equality clause; Wilson was indifferent to the issue, but acceded to strong opposition from Australia and Britain. The Covenant of the League of Nations was incorporated into the conference's Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war with Germany, and into other peace treaties.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Aside from the establishment the League of Nations and solidifying a lasting world peace, Wilson's other main goal at the Paris Peace Conference was that self-determination be the primary basis used for drawing new international borders. However, in pursuit of his League of Nations, Wilson conceded several points to the other powers present at the conference. Germany was required to permanently cede territory, pay war reparations, relinquish all of her overseas colonies and dependencies and submit to military occupation in the Rhineland. Additionally, a clause in the treaty specifically named Germany as responsible for the war. Wilson agreed to allowing the Allied European powers and Japan to essentially expand their empires by establishing de facto colonies in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia out the former German and Ottoman Empires; these territorial awards to the victorious countries were thinly disguised as "League of Nations mandates". The Japanese acquisition of German interests in the Shandong Peninsula of China proved especially unpopular, as it undercut Wilson's promise of self-government. Wilson's hopes for achieving self-determination saw some success when the conference recognized multiple new and independent states created in Eastern Europe, including Albania, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: The conference finished negotiations in May 1919, at which point the new leaders of republican Germany viewed the treaty for the first time. Some German leaders favored repudiating the peace due to the harshness of the terms, though ultimately Germany signed the treaty on June 28, 1919. Wilson was unable to convince the other Allied powers, France in particular, to temper the harshness of the settlement being leveled at the defeated Central Powers, especially Germany. For his efforts towards creating a lasting world peace, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Ratification of the Treaty of Versailles required the support of two-thirds of the Senate, a difficult proposition given that Republicans held a narrow majority in the Senate after the 1918 U.S. elections. Republicans were outraged by Wilson's failure to discuss the war or its aftermath with them, and an intensely partisan battle developed in the Senate. Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge supported a version of the treaty that required Wilson to compromise. Wilson refused. Some Republicans, including former President Taft and former Secretary of State Elihu Root, favored ratification of the treaty with some modifications, and their public support gave Wilson some chance of winning the treaty's ratification.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: The debate over the treaty centered around a debate over the American role in the world community in the post-war era, and senators fell into three main groups. The first group, consisting of most Democrats, favored the treaty. Fourteen senators, mostly Republicans, were known as the "irreconcilables" as they completely opposed U.S. entrance into the League of Nations. Some of these irreconcilables opposed the treaty for its failure to emphasize decolonization and disarmament, while others feared surrendering American freedom of action to an international organization. The remaining group of senators, known as "reservationists", accepted the idea of the League but sought varying degrees of change to ensure the protection of American sovereignty and the right of Congress to decide on going to war.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Article X of the League Covenant, which sought to create a system of collective security by requiring League members to protect one another against external aggression, seemed to force the U.S. to join in any war the League decided upon. Wilson consistently refused to compromise, partly due to concerns about having to re-open negotiations with the other treaty signatories. When Lodge was on the verge of building a two-thirds majority to ratify the Treaty with ten reservations, Wilson forced his supporters to vote Nay on March 19, 1920, thereby closing the issue. Cooper says that "nearly every League advocate" went along with Lodge, but their efforts "failed solely because Wilson admittedly rejected all reservations proposed in the Senate." Thomas A. Bailey calls Wilson's action "the supreme act of infanticide". He adds: "The treaty was slain in the house of its friends rather than in the house of its enemies. In the final analysis it was not the two-thirds rule, or the 'irreconcilables,' or Lodge, or the 'strong' and 'mild' reservationists, but Wilson and his docile following who delivered the fatal stab."


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: To bolster public support for ratification, Wilson barnstormed the Western states, but he returned to the White House in late September due to health problems. On October 2, 1919, Wilson suffered a serious stroke, leaving him paralyzed on his left side, and with only partial vision in the right eye. He was confined to bed for weeks and sequestered from everyone except his wife and his physician, Dr. Cary Grayson. Dr. Bert E. Park, a neurosurgeon who examined Wilson's medical records after his death, writes that Wilson's illness affected his personality in various ways, making him prone to "disorders of emotion, impaired impulse control, and defective judgment." Anxious to help the president recover, Tumulty, Grayson, and the First Lady determined what documents the president read and who was allowed to communicate with him. For her influence in the administration, some have described Edith Wilson as "the first female President of the United States." Link states that by November 1919, Wilson's "recovery was only partial at best. His mind remained relatively clear; but he was physically enfeebled, and the disease had wrecked his emotional constitution and aggravated all his more unfortunate personal traits.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Throughout late 1919, Wilson's inner circle concealed the severity of his health issues. By February 1920, the president's true condition was publicly known. Many expressed qualms about Wilson's fitness for the presidency at a time when the League fight was reaching a climax, and domestic issues such as strikes, unemployment, inflation and the threat of Communism were ablaze. In mid-March 1920, Lodge and his Republicans formed a coalition with the pro-treaty Democrats to pass a treaty with reservations, but Wilson rejected this compromise and enough Democrats followed his lead to defeat ratification. No one close to Wilson was willing to certify, as required by the Constitution, his "inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office." Though some members of Congress encouraged Vice President Marshall to assert his claim to the presidency, Marshall never attempted to replace Wilson. Wilson's lengthy period of incapacity while serving as president was nearly unprecedented; of the previous presidents, only James Garfield had been in a similar situation, but Garfield retained greater control of his mental faculties and faced relatively few pressing issues.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: When the war ended the Wilson Administration dismantled the wartime boards and regulatory agencies. Demobilization was chaotic and at times violent; four million soldiers were sent home with little money and few benefits. In 1919, strikes in major industries broke out, disrupting the economy. The country experienced further turbulence as a series of race riots broke out in the summer of 1919. In 1920, the economy plunged into a severe economic depression, unemployment rose to 12 percent, and the price of agricultural products sharply declined.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and similar attempts in Germany and Hungary, many Americans feared the possibility of terrorism in the United States. Such concerns were inflamed by the bombings in April 1919 when anarchists mailed 38 bombs to prominent Americans; one person was killed but most packages were intercepted. Nine more mail bombs were sent in June; injuring several people. Fresh fears combined with a patriotic national mood sparking the "First Red Scare" in 1919. Attorney General Palmer from November 1919 to January 1920 launched the Palmer Raids to suppress radical organizations. Over 10,000 people were arrested and 556 aliens were deported, including Emma Goldman. Palmer's activities met resistance from the courts and some senior administration officials. No one told Wilson what Palmer was doing. Later in 1920 the Wall Street bombing on September 16, killed 40 and injured hundreds in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil up to that point. Anarchists took credit and promised more violence to come; they escaped capture.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Prohibition developed as an unstoppable reform during the war, but the Wilson administration played only a minor role. The Eighteenth Amendment passed Congress and was ratified by the states in 1919. In October 1919, Wilson vetoed the Volstead Act, legislation designed to enforce Prohibition, but his veto was overridden by Congress.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson personally opposed women's suffrage in 1911 because he believed women lacked the public experience needed to be good voters. The actual evidence of how women voters behaved in the western states changed his mind, and he came to feel they could indeed be good voters. He did not speak publicly on the issue except to echo the Democratic Party position that suffrage was a state matter, primarily because of strong opposition in the white South to Black voting rights.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: In a 1918 speech before Congress, Wilson for the first time backed a national right to vote: "We have made partners of the women in this war...Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" The House passed a constitutional amendment providing for women's suffrage nationwide, but this stalled in the Senate. Wilson continually pressured the Senate to vote for the amendment, telling senators that its ratification was vital to winning the war. The Senate finally approved it in June 1919, and the requisite number of states ratified the Nineteenth Amendment in August 1920.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Despite his medical incapacity, Wilson wanted to run for a third term. While the 1920 Democratic National Convention strongly endorsed Wilson's policies, Democratic leaders refused, nominating instead a ticket consisting of Governor James M. Cox and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republicans centered their campaign around opposition to Wilson's policies, with Senator Warren G. Harding promising a "return to normalcy". Wilson largely stayed out of the campaign, although he endorsed Cox and continued to advocate for U.S. membership in the League of Nations. Harding won a landslide, winning over 60% of the popular vote and every state outside of the South. Wilson met with Harding for tea on his last day in office, March 3, 1921. Due to his health, Wilson was unable to attend the inauguration.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: On December 10, 1920, Wilson was awarded the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize "for his role as founder of the League of Nations". Wilson became the second sitting United States president after Theodore Roosevelt to become a Nobel Peace Laureate.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: After the end of his second term in 1921, Wilson and his wife moved from the White House to a town house in the Kalorama section of Washington, D.C. He continued to follow politics as President Harding and the Republican Congress repudiated membership in the League of Nations, cut taxes, and raised tariffs. In 1921, Wilson opened a law practice with former Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. Wilson showed up the first day but never returned, and the practice was closed by the end of 1922. Wilson tried writing, and he produced a few short essays after enormous effort; they "marked a sad finish to a formerly great literary career." He declined to write memoirs, but frequently met with Ray Stannard Baker, who wrote a three-volume biography of Wilson that was published in 1922. In August 1923, Wilson attended the funeral of his successor, Warren Harding. On November 10, 1923, Wilson made his last national address, delivering a short Armistice Day radio speech from the library of his home.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson's health did not markedly improve after leaving office, declining rapidly in January 1924. Woodrow Wilson died on February 3, 1924, at the age of 67. He was interred in Washington National Cathedral, being the only president whose final resting place lies within the nation's capital.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson was born and raised in the South by parents who were committed supporters of both slavery and the Confederacy. Academically, Wilson was an apologist for slavery and the Redeemers, and one of the foremost promoters of the Lost Cause mythology.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson was the first Southerner elected president since Zachary Taylor in 1848 and the only former subject of the Confederacy. Wilson's election was celebrated by southern segregationists. At Princeton, Wilson actively dissuaded the admission of African-Americans as students. Several historians have spotlighted consistent examples in the public record of Wilson's overtly racist policies and the inclusion of segregationists in his Cabinet. Other sources say Wilson defended segregation as "a rational, scientific policy" in private and describe him as a man who "loved to tell racist 'darky' jokes about black Americans."


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: During Wilson's presidency, D. W. Griffith's pro-Ku Klux Klan film "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) was the first motion picture to be screened in the White House. Though he was not initially critical of the movie, Wilson distanced himself from it as public backlash mounted and eventually released a statement condemning the film's message while denying he had been aware of it prior to the screening.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: By the 1910s, African-Americans had become effectively shut out of elected office. Obtaining an executive appointment to a position within the federal bureaucracy was usually the only option for African-American statesmen. According to Berg, Wilson continued to appoint African-Americans to positions that had traditionally been filled by black people, overcoming opposition from many southern senators. Oswald Garrison Villard, who later became an opponent of his, initially thought that Wilson was not a bigot and supported progress for black people, and he was frustrated by southern opposition in the Senate, to which Wilson capitulated. In a conversation with Wilson, journalist John Palmer Gavit came to the realization that opposition to those views "would certainly precipitate a conflict which would put a complete stop to any legislative program." Since the end of Reconstruction, both parties recognized certain appointments as unofficially reserved for qualified African-Americans. Wilson appointed a total of nine African-Americans to prominent positions in the federal bureaucracy, eight of whom were Republican carry-overs. For comparison, William Howard Taft was met with disdain and outrage from Republicans of both races for appointing thirty-one black officeholders, a record low for a Republican president. Upon taking office, Wilson fired all but two of the seventeen black supervisors in the federal bureaucracy appointed by Taft.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Since 1863, the U.S. mission to Haiti and Santo Domingo was almost always led by an African-American diplomat regardless of what party the sitting president belonged to; Wilson ended this half-century-old tradition but continued to appoint black diplomats like George Washington Buckner, as well as Joseph L. Johnson, to head the mission to Liberia. Since the end of Reconstruction, the federal bureaucracy had been possibly the only career path where African-Americans could experience some measure of equality, and was the life blood and foundation of the black middle-class. Wilson's administration escalated the discriminatory hiring policies and segregation of government offices that had begun under Theodore Roosevelt and continued under Taft. In Wilson's first month in office, Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson urged the president to establish segregated government offices. Wilson did not adopt Burleson's proposal but allowed Cabinet Secretaries discretion to segregate their respective departments. By the end of 1913, many departments, including the Navy, Treasury, and Post Office, had segregated work spaces, restrooms, and cafeterias. Many agencies used segregation as a pretext to adopt a whites-only employment policy, claiming they lacked facilities for black workers. In these instances, African-Americans employed prior to the Wilson administration were either offered early retirement, transferred, or simply fired.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Racial discrimination in federal hiring increased further when after 1914, the United States Civil Service Commission instituted a new policy requiring job applicants to submit a personal photo with their application. As a federal enclave, Washington, D.C., had long offered African-Americans greater opportunities for employment and less glaring discrimination. In 1919, black veterans returning home to D.C. were shocked to discover Jim Crow laws had set in, many could not go back to the jobs they held prior to the war or even enter the same building they used to work in due to the color of their skin. Booker T. Washington described the situation: "I had never seen the colored people so discouraged and bitter as they are at the present time."


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: While segregation had been present in the Army prior to Wilson, its severity increased significantly under his election. During Wilson's first term, the Army and Navy refused to commission new black officers. Black officers already serving experienced increased discrimination and were often forced out or discharged on dubious grounds. Following the entry of the U.S. into World War I, the War Department drafted hundreds of thousands of black people into the Army, and draftees were paid equally regardless of race. Commissioning of African-Americans officers resumed but units remained segregated and most all-black units were led by white officers.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Unlike the Army, the U.S. Navy was never formally segregated. Following Wilson's appointment of Josephus Daniels as Secretary of the Navy, a system of Jim Crow was swiftly implemented; with ships, training facilities, restrooms, and cafeterias all becoming segregated. While Daniels significantly expanded opportunities for advancement and training available to white sailors, by the time the U.S. entered World War I, African-American sailors had been relegated almost entirely to mess and custodial duties, often assigned to act as servants for white officers.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: In response to the demand for industrial labor, the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South surged in 1917 and 1918. This migration sparked race riots, including the East St. Louis riots of 1917. In response to these riots, but only after much public outcry, Wilson asked Attorney General Thomas Watt Gregory if the federal government could intervene to "check these disgraceful outrages". On the advice of Gregory, Wilson did not take direct action against the riots. In 1918, Wilson spoke out against lynching in the United States, stating: "I say plainly that every American who takes part in the action of mob or gives it any sort of continence is no true son of this great democracy but its betrayer, and ... [discredits] her by that single disloyalty to her standards of law and of rights." In 1919, another series of race riots occurred in Chicago, Omaha, and two dozen other major cities in the North. The federal government did not become involved, just as it had not become involved previously.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Wilson is generally ranked by historians and political scientists as an above average president. In the view of some historians, Wilson, more than any of his predecessors, took steps towards the creation of a strong federal government that would protect ordinary citizens against the overwhelming power of large corporations. He is generally regarded as a key figure in the establishment of modern American liberalism, and a strong influence on future presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Cooper argues that in terms of impact and ambition, only the New Deal and the Great Society rival the domestic accomplishments of Wilson's presidency. Many of Wilson's accomplishments, including the Federal Reserve, the Federal Trade Commission, the graduated income tax, and labor laws, continued to influence the United States long after Wilson's death.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Many conservatives have attacked Wilson for his role in expanding the federal government. In 2018, conservative columnist George Will wrote in "The Washington Post" that Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson were the "progenitors of today's imperial presidency". Wilson's idealistic foreign policy, which came to be known as Wilsonianism, also cast a long shadow over American foreign policy, and Wilson's League of Nations influenced the development of the United Nations. Saladin Ambar writes that Wilson was "the first statesman of world stature to speak out not only against European imperialism but against the newer form of economic domination sometimes described as 'informal imperialism.'"


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Notwithstanding his accomplishments in office, Wilson has received criticism for his record on race relations and civil liberties, for his interventions in Latin America, and for his failure to win ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Despite his southern roots and record at Princeton, Wilson became the first Democrat to receive widespread support from the African-American community in a presidential election. Wilson's African-American supporters, many of whom had crossed party lines to vote for him in 1912, found themselves bitterly disappointed by the Wilson presidency, his decision to allow the imposition of Jim Crow within the federal bureaucracy in particular.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: Ross Kennedy writes that Wilson's support of segregation complied with predominant public opinion. A. Scott Berg argues Wilson accepted segregation as part of a policy to "promote racial progress... by shocking the social system as little as possible." The ultimate result of this policy was unprecedented levels of segregation within the federal bureaucracy and far fewer opportunities for employment and promotion being open to African-Americans than before. Historian Kendrick Clements argues "Wilson had none of the crude, vicious racism of James K. Vardaman or Benjamin R. Tillman, but he was insensitive to African-American feelings and aspirations." A 2021 study in the "Quarterly Journal of Economics" found that Wilson's segregation of the civil service increased the black-white earnings gap by 3.4–6.9 percentage points, as existing black civil servants were driven to lower-paid positions. Black civil servants who were exposed to Wilson's segregationist policies experienced a relative decline in home ownership rates, with suggestive evidence of lasting adverse effects for the descendants of those black civil servants. In the wake of the Charleston church shooting, some individuals demanded the removal of Wilson's name from institutions affiliated with Princeton due to his stance on race.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library is located in Staunton, Virginia. The Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home in Augusta, Georgia, and the Woodrow Wilson House in Washington, D.C., are National Historic Landmarks. The Thomas Woodrow Wilson Boyhood Home in Columbia, South Carolina is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Shadow Lawn, the Summer White House for Wilson during his term in office, became part of Monmouth University in 1956. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Prospect House, Wilson's residence during part of his tenure at Princeton, is also a National Historic Landmark. Wilson's presidential papers and his personal library are at the Library of Congress.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., is named for Wilson, and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton was named for Wilson until Princeton's Board of Trustees voted to remove Wilson's name in 2020. The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is a non-profit that provides grants for teaching fellowships. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was established to honor Wilson's legacy but was terminated in 1993. One of Princeton's six residential colleges was originally named Wilson College. Numerous schools, including several high schools, bear Wilson's name. Several streets, including the Rambla Presidente Wilson in Montevideo, Uruguay, have been named for Wilson. The USS "Woodrow Wilson", a "Lafayette"-class submarine, was named for Wilson. Other things named for Wilson include the Woodrow Wilson Bridge between Prince George's County, Maryland and Virginia, and the Palais Wilson, which serves as the temporary headquarters of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva until 2023 at the end of leasing. Monuments to Wilson include the Woodrow Wilson Monument in Prague.


title: Woodrow Wilson

text: In 1944, 20th Century Fox released "Wilson", a biopic about the 28th President. Starring Alexander Knox and directed by Henry King, "Wilson" is considered an "idealistic" portrayal of the title character. The movie was a personal passion project of studio president and famed producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who was a deep admirer of Wilson. The movie received mostly praise from critics and Wilson supporters, and scored ten Academy Awards nominations, winning five. Despite its popularity amongst elites, "Wilson" was a box-office bomb, incurring an almost $2 million loss for the studio. The movie's failure is said to have had a deep and long lasting impact on Zanuck and no attempt has been made by any major studio since to create a motion picture based around the life of Wilson.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the legendary Greek hero) is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the , since the league's inception in 1956 and, along with and , it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax was one of the most successful clubs in the world in the 20th century. According to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, Ajax were the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century and "The World's Club Team of the Year" in 1992. According to German magazine "Kicker", Ajax were the second-most successful European club of the 20th century. The club is one of five teams that have earned the right to keep the European Cup and to wear a multiple-winner badge. In 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the , KNVB Cup, and the European Cup. They also won the first (albeit unofficial) European Super Cup against Rangers in January 1973. Ajax's most recent international trophies are the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, 1995 UEFA Super Cup and the 1995 Champions League, where they defeated Milan in the final; they lost the 1996 Champions League final on penalties to Juventus. In 1995, Ajax was crowned as "World Team of the Year" by "World Soccer" magazine.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax is also one of four teams to win the continental treble and the Intercontinental Cup or Club World Cup in the same season/calendar year; this was achieved in the 1971–72 season. Ajax are one of five clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, a predecessor of the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1962. Ajax plays at the Johan Cruyff Arena, which opened as the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996 and was renamed in 2018. They previously played at and the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium (for international matches). Throughout their history, Ajax have cultivated a reputation for scouting, spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900. The club achieved promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911 and had its first major success in 1917, winning the KNVB Beker, the Netherlands' national cup. The following season, Ajax became national champion for the first time. The club defended its title in 1918–19, becoming the only team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Netherlands Football League Championship.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Throughout the 1920s, Ajax was a strong regional power, winning the Eerste Klasse West division in 1921, 1927 and 1928, but could not maintain its success at the national level. This changed in the 1930s, with the club winning five national championships (1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939), making it the most successful Dutch team of the decade. Ajax won its second KNVB Cup in 1942–43, and an eighth Dutch title in 1946–47, the last season the club was managed by Englishman Jack Reynolds, who, up to this point, had overseen all of its national championship successes as well as its 1917 KNVB Cup win.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands' new professional league, the , was played with Ajax participating as a founding member. The Amsterdam club became the first national champions under the new format and made its debut in the European Champion Clubs' Cup the following year, losing to Hungarian champions 6–2 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage. The team were again champions in 1960 and won a third KNVB Cup in 1961.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1965, Rinus Michels, who had played for the club between 1946 and 1958, was appointed manager of Ajax, implementing his philosophy of Total Football which was to become synonymous with both Ajax and the Netherlands national team. A year earlier, Johan Cruyff, who would go on to become widely regarded as the greatest Dutch footballer of all-time, made his debut. Between them, Michels and Cruyff led Ajax through the most successful period in its history, winning seven titles, four KNVB Cups and three European Cups.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax won the Dutch championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and reached the 1969 European Cup final, losing to Milan. During the 1966–67 season, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in an season and also won the KNVB Cup to achieve its first league and cup double. In 1969–70, Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second league and cup double in five seasons, winning 27 out of 34 league matches and scoring 100 goals.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The 1970–71 season saw Ajax retain the KNVB Cup and reach the 1971 European Cup final, where they defeated 2–0 with goals from Dick van Dijk and Arie Haan to become continental champions for the first time, with Cruyff being named European Footballer of the Year. After this success, Michels departed to become manager of Barcelona and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács. In Kovács' first season, Ajax completed a treble of the European Cup, the and a third consecutive KNVB Cup. The following season, the team beat Argentine to win the 1972 Intercontinental Cup and retained their and European Cup titles, becoming the first club to win three consecutive European Cups since Real Madrid in the 1950s.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1973, Michels' Barcelona broke the world transfer record to bring Cruyff to Catalonia. Kovács also departed to become manager of the France national team, signalling the end of this period of international success.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1976–77, Ajax won its first domestic championship in four seasons and recorded a double of the and KNVB Cup two years later.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The early 1980s saw the return of Cruyff to the club, as well as the emergence of young players Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. The team won back-to-back titles in 1982 and 1983, with all three playing a significant role in the latter. After Cruyff's sale to rivals in 1983, van Basten became Ajax's key player, top scoring in the for four seasons between 1983–84 and 1986–87.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1985, Cruyff returned to Ajax as manager and the team ended his first season in charge with 120 goals from 34 matches. However, Ajax still finished as runner-up to PSV by eight points. The following season, Ajax again lost out on the title to PSV, but won the European Cup Winners' Cup, its first continental trophy in 14 years. After this, Cruyff left the club to become manager of Barcelona and Rijkaard and van Basten were sold to Sporting CP and Milan respectively. Despite these losses, Ajax reached a second consecutive Cup Winners' Cup final in 1988, where they lost to Belgian club .


title: AFC Ajax

text: The 1988–89 season saw Dennis Bergkamp, a young forward who had first appeared under Cruyff in 1986, establish himself as a regular goalscorer for Ajax. Bergkamp helped Ajax to the title and was the top scorer in the division in 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93. Under the management of Louis van Gaal, Ajax won the UEFA Cup in 1992 to become the second club, after , to have won all three major European club competitions.


title: AFC Ajax

text: After the sale of Bergkamp to in 1993, van Gaal re-signed the experienced Rijkaard to complement his young Ajax team featuring academy graduates Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde, as well as mercurial foreign talents Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and Jari Litmanen, and veteran captain Danny Blind. The team regained the Dutch championship in 1993–94, and won it again in 1994–95 and 1995–96 to become the first Ajax side to win three back-to-back championships since 1968. The height of van Gaal's success came in 1994–95, where Ajax became the first, and to date only, team to complete an entire season unbeaten. The team also won its first European Cup since its 1970s era, defeating Milan in the 1995 UEFA Champions League final 1–0, with the winning goal scored by 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert. Ajax again reached the final one year later, but were defeated on penalties by .


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax's return as a European force was short-lived, as van Gaal and several members of the squad soon departed to some of the continent's biggest clubs. The 2000s was a lean decade for the club, with only two championships won. However, Ajax's academy continued to produce star players such as Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2010, Frank de Boer was appointed manager of Ajax and led the club to its first league title in seven years, and record 30th title overall, in the 2010–11 season. This was followed by back-to-back wins in 2011–12 and 2012–13 to match his three consecutive titles as a player in the 1990s. In 2013–14, Ajax were again champions, winning four consecutive league titles for the first time in club history. After finishing as runner-up to PSV in both 2014–15 and 2015–16, de Boer resigned as Ajax head coach in May 2016.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Peter Bosz took over the club and led them to the 2017 UEFA Europa League final, their first European final in 21 years. They lost to Manchester United with a lineup that was the youngest ever in a European final, averaging an age of 22 years and 282 days. For the third consecutive season, they finished runner-up in the , this time to .


title: AFC Ajax

text: The 2018–19 season for Ajax involved a remarkable run in the UEFA Champions League. Due to their runner-up finish in the 2017–18 Eredivisie, Ajax entered the tournament in the second qualifying round. After successive victories against Sturm Graz, and , they qualified for the group stage. Ajax was drawn in a group with German champions Bayern Munich, Portuguese side Benfica and Greek champions AEK Athens. Ajax finished runner-up in this group, qualifying for the knockout stages, where they were drawn against three-time defending champions Real Madrid. After losing 1–2 in the first leg, they defeated Real Madrid 4–1 in the away match, stunning the defending champions in their own stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu, with an aggregate score of 5–3. Dušan Tadić was awarded a perfect score of 10 by following the match.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Thus, Ajax progressed to the quarter-finals and were drawn with Italian champions . In the first leg in the Johan Cruyff Arena, they drew 1–1. In the second leg at the Juventus Stadium, Ajax came from behind to win 2–1 and 3–2 on aggregate. Matthijs de Ligt scored the winning goal for Ajax to help the team advance to its first Champions League semi-final since 1997. There, they would face English side Tottenham Hotspur.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In the first leg of the semi-final, Ajax beat Tottenham 1–0 away from home. In the second leg, Ajax scored twice in the first half to generate a 3–0 lead on aggregate. However, in the second half, Lucas Moura scored three times, including in the 6th minute of added time, resulting in Ajax losing via the away goals rule.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax were in first place on goal difference when the was declared void, preventing them being Dutch champions for the 35th time, but still qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The club is also particularly famous for its renowned youth programme that has produced many Dutch talents over the years – Johan Cruyff, Edwin van der Sar, Gerald Vanenburg, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Rafael van der Vaart, Patrick Kluivert, Marco van Basten, Wesley Sneijder, Maarten Stekelenburg, Nigel de Jong, Frenkie de Jong, and Matthijs de Ligt have come through the ranks and are just some of the talents who have played for Ajax. Ajax also regularly supplies the Dutch national youth teams with local talent.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Due to mutual agreements with foreign clubs, the youth academy has also signed foreign players as teenagers before making first team debuts, such as Belgian defensive trio Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Thomas Vermaelen along with winger Tom De Mul, all of whom are full internationals, as well as Dutch international Vurnon Anita and Javier Martina, representing Curaçao.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax has also expanded its talent searching programme to South Africa with Ajax Cape Town. Ajax Cape Town was set up with the help of Rob Moore. Ajax has also had a satellite club in the United States under the name Ajax America, until it filed for bankruptcy. There are some youth players from Ajax Cape Town that have been drafted into the squad, such as South African internationals Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero and Cameroonian international Eyong Enoh.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1995, the year Ajax won the UEFA Champions League, the Netherlands national team was almost entirely composed of Ajax players, with van der Sar in goal; players such as Michael Reiziger, Frank de Boer and Danny Blind in defence; Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf in midfield; and Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars in attack.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2011, Ajax opened its first youth academies outside the Netherlands when the club partnered up with George Kazianis and All Star Consultancy in Greece to open the Ajax Hellas Youth Academy. The offices are based in Nea Smyrni, Attica, with the main training facility located on the island of Corfu, hosting a total of 15 football youth academies throughout Greece and Cyprus. Eddie van Schaik heads the organization as coach and consultant, introducing the Ajax football philosophy at the various Greek football training camps.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2016, Ajax launched the ACA (Ajax Coaching Academy) with the intention of sharing knowledge, and setting up a variety of camps and clinics for both players and coaches.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax's first stadium was built in 1911 out of wood and was called Het Houten Stadion (English: The Wooden Stadium). Ajax later played in the Olympic Stadium built for the 1928 Summer Olympics hosted in Amsterdam. This stadium, designed by Jan Wils, is known in Dutch as . In 1934, Ajax moved to De Meer Stadion in east Amsterdam, close to the location of Het Houten Stadion. It was designed by architect and Ajax-member Daan Roodenburgh, who had also designed the club's first stadium. It could accommodate 29,500 spectators and Ajax continued to play there until 1996. For big European and national fixtures, the club would often play at the Olympic Stadium, which could accommodate about twice the number of spectators.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1996, Ajax moved to a new home ground in the southeast of the city known as the Amsterdam Arena, since 2018 known as the Johan Cruyff Arena. This stadium was built by the Amsterdam city authority at a cost of $134 million. The stadium is capable of holding 55,865 spectators. The Arena has a retractable roof and set a trend for other modern stadiums built in Europe in the following years. In the Netherlands, the Arena earned a reputation for a terrible grass pitch caused by the removable roof that, even when open, takes away too much sunlight and fresh air. During the 2008–09 season, ground staff introduced an artificial lighting system that finally reduced this problem considerably.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The much-loved De Meer Stadion was torn down and the land was sold to the city council. A residential neighbourhood now occupies the area. The only thing left of the old stadium are the letters "AJAX", which nowadays is in place on the façade of the youth training grounds De Toekomst, near the Johan Cruyff Arena.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 1900, when the club was founded, the emblem of Ajax was just a picture of an Ajax player. The crest was slightly altered following the club's promotion to the top division in 1911 to match the club's new outfits. In 1928, the club logo was introduced with the head of the Greek hero Ajax. The logo was once again changed in 1990 into an abstract version of the previous one. The new logo still sports the portrait of Ajax, but drawn with just 11 lines, symbolizing the 11 players of a football team.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax originally played in an all-black uniform with a red sash tied around the players' waists, but that uniform was soon replaced by a red/white striped shirt and black shorts. Red, black and white are the three colours of the flag of Amsterdam. When under manager Jack Kirwan, however, the club earned promotion to the top flight of Dutch football for the first time in 1911 (then the "Eerste Klasse" or 'First Class', later named the ), Ajax were forced to change their colours because Sparta Rotterdam already had exactly the same outfit. Special kits for away fixtures did not exist at the time and according to football association regulations the newcomers had to change their colours if two teams in the same league had identical uniforms. Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit.


title: AFC Ajax

text: AFC Ajax is the only Dutch club with an initial public offering (IPO). The club is registered as a Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam, since 17 May 1998. With a launch price of ƒ25,- (Guilders) the club managed to a bring their total revenue up to €54 million (converted) in their first year on the market. After short-lived success, however, the rate dropped, at one point as low as €3.50. Criticism was brought forth that the legal grid for a naamloze vennootschap would not be suitable for a Football club, and that the sports related ambitions would suffer from the new commercial interests of the now listed Ajax. Shares of the company in the year 2008 were valued at approximately €5.90 per share.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2008, a Commission under guidance of honorary member Uri Coronel concluded that the IPO was of no value to the club, and that measures should be taken to exit the stock exchange by purchasing back all public shares. Ajax remain on the stock exchange.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax's shirts have been sponsored by TDK from 1982 to 1991, and by ABN AMRO from 1991 to 2008. AEGON then replaced ABN AMRO as the new head sponsor for a period of seven years. On 1 April 2007, Ajax wore a different sponsor for the match against Heracles Almelo, "Florius". Florius is a banking programme launched by ABN AMRO who wanted it to be the shirt sponsor for one match.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The shirts have been manufactured by Le Coq Sportif (1973–1977), Puma (1977–1979), Cor du Buy (1979-1980), Le Coq Sportif (1980–1984), Kappa (1985–1989) and Umbro (1989–2000) in the past, and by Adidas since 2000 (until at least 2025).


title: AFC Ajax

text: At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Ajax won the Football shirt of the Year award for their black and rose colored away shirt by Adidas. The annual award was presented by Subside Sports, which had previously given the award to Internazionale, Juventus and the Belgium national team. It was Ajax's first time winning the award.


title: AFC Ajax

text: On 7 November 2014, it was announced that Ajax had agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract worth €8 million annually with Dutch cable operating company Ziggo as the new shirt sponsor for the club. Having extended their contract with AEGON for half a season until December, the club featured "Fonds Gehandicaptensport", a charitable fund for handicapped sports on its away shirts for a six-month period before transitioning to Ziggo in 2015.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Jong Ajax ("formerly more commonly known as Ajax 2") is the reserve team of AFC Ajax. The team is composed mostly of professional footballers, who are often recent graduates from the highest youth level (Ajax A1) serving their first professional contract as a reserve, or players who are otherwise unable to play in the first team.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Since 1992, Jong Ajax competed in the Beloften Eredivisie, competing against other reserve teams such as Jong PSV, Jong FC Groningen or Jong AZ. They have won the Beloften title a record eight times, as well as the KNVB Reserve Cup three times, making them the most successful reserve squad in the Netherlands. By winning the Beloften Eredivisie title, Jong Ajax were able to qualify for the actual KNVB Cup, even advancing to the semi-finals on three occasions. Their best result in the Dutch Cup was under manager Jan Olde Riekerink in 2001–02, when a semi-final loss to Utrecht in a Penalty shoot-out after extra time, which saw Utrecht advance, and thus preventing an Ajax–Jong Ajax Dutch Cup final.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The 2013–14 season marked the Jupiler League debut of the Ajax reserves' squad, Jong Ajax. Previously playing in the Beloften Eredivisie (a separate league for reserve teams, not included in the Dutch professional or amateur league structure), players were allowed to move around freely between the reserve team and the first team during the season. This is no longer the case as Jong Ajax now registers and fields a separate squad from that of Ajax first team for the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Their home matches are played at Sportpark De Toekomst, except for the occasional match in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Now regarded a semi-professional team in their own respect, the only period in which players are able to move between squads are during the transfer windows, unless the player has made less than 15 appearances for the first team, then he is still eligible to appear in both first team and second team matches during the season. Furthermore, the team is not eligible for promotion to the or to participate in the KNVB Cup. Jong Ajax were joined in the Eerste Divisie by Jong Twente and Jong PSV, reserve teams who have also moved from the Beloften to the Eerste Divisie, in place of VV Katwijk, SC Veendam and AGOVV Apeldoorn, increasing the total number of teams in the Jupiler League from 18 to 20.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax reserve squad Jong Ajax left the Beloften Eredivisie in 2013, having held a 21-year tenure in the reserves league, having also won the league title a record eight times (1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009).


title: AFC Ajax

text: AFC Ajax Vrouwen ("English: AFC Ajax Women") are the women's team of AFC Ajax, competing in the women's eredivisie, the highest level of women's football in the Netherlands. Founded on 18 May 2012, the women's team saw Ajax attracting many of the Netherlands top talents, with International players such as Anouk Hoogendijk, Daphne Koster and Petra Hogewoning joining the Amsterdam club in its maiden season in women's professional football. The team won their first piece of silverware when they defeated PSV/FC Eindhoven 2–1 in the final of the KNVB Women's Cup.


title: AFC Ajax

text: AFC Ajax Amateurs, better known as Ajax Zaterdag, is a Dutch amateur football club founded 18 March 1900. It is the amateur team of the professional club AFC Ajax, who play their home matches at the Sportpark De Toekomst training grounds to a capacity of 5,000. The team was promoted from the Eerste Klasse to the Hoofdklasse ahead of the 2011–12 season, the league in which they are currently competing. The team has won the Eerste Klasse title twice, as well as the *KNVB District Cup West I on two occasions as well.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Furthermore, Ajax Zaterdag have also managed to qualify for the KNVB Cup on their own accord on three occasions, namely in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2021. Even advancing to the second round before bowing out to Vitesse on 24 September 2008.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax HVA (1922–1972) was the baseball team of AFC Ajax founded in 1922, and competed as founding members of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top flight of professional baseball in the Netherlands. Ajax won the national baseball title a total of four times (1924, 1928, 1942, 1948) before the club opted to no longer field a baseball team, and to focus solely on football in 1972. Ajax spent a total of 50 years at the top flight of Baseball in the Netherlands from 1922 to 1972. The dissolution of Ajax baseball club resulted in the players finding a new sponsor in a mustard manufacturing company called Luycks, while merging with the Diemen Giants to become the Luycks Giants, thus replacing both former clubs.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2016, Ajax launched an esports team, with Koen Weijland as the club's first signing, making their debut on the Global stage of professional gaming. They have since signed the likes of Dani Hagebeuk, Lev Vinken, Joey Calabro and Bob van Uden, the latter spent his first season on loan to the esports team of Japanese club Sagan Tosu.


title: AFC Ajax

text: "As one of the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands, Ajax have amassed a number of intense rivalries over the years. Listed below are the most significant of the rivalries involving Ajax."


title: AFC Ajax

text: Feyenoord from Rotterdam are Ajax's archrivals. Every year both clubs play the "De Klassieker" ("The Classic"), a match between the teams from the two largest cities of the Netherlands. During the 1970s, Ajax and Feyenoord were the only two clubs in the Netherlands who were able to clinch national titles, as well as achieve continental and even global success. A meeting between the two clubs became the measure for who was truly the best club in the Netherlands. The "Klassieker" is the most famous of all the rivalries in the Netherlands and the matches are always sold out. The fixture is seen in the public eye as "the graceful and elegant football of Ajax, against the indomitable fighting spirit of Feyenoord"; the confidence of the capital city versus the blue collar mentality of Rotterdam. Matches are known for their tension and violence, both on and off the pitch. Over the years, several violent incidents have taken place involving rival supporters, leading to the current prohibition of away supporters in both stadiums. The lowest point was reached on 23 March 1997, when supporters of both clubs met on a field near Beverwijk, where Ajax-supporter Carlo Picornie was fatally injured, the incident is commonly referred to as the "Battle of Beverwijk".


title: AFC Ajax

text: PSV are also a rival of Ajax, but in terms of tension and rivalry, these matches are not as loaded as the duels with Feyenoord. The rivalry has existed for some time with PSV and stems from various causes, such as the different interpretations of whether current national and international successes of both clubs correlates and the supposed opposition between the Randstad and the province. The matches between these two teams is commonly referred to as "De Topper" ("The Topper"), and involves the two most trophy-laden sides in Dutch football and is essentially a clash of two competing schools of thought in Dutch football. Historically, PSV compete with a workmanlike ethic, preferring a more robust 4–3–1–2 or 4–2–3–1, typically shunning the frivolous 4–3–3 approach favoured in Amsterdam. While Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff helped to innovate Total Football in the sixties and seventies, a different philosophy was honed in Eindhoven by Kees Rijvers and Guus Hiddink in the late 1970s and '80s. This in turn has created one of the more philosophical rivalries in football, an ideological battleground, which is gradually becoming as heated and intense as the matches Ajax and Feyenoord partake in.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Aside from Feyenoord and PSV, Ajax have several other rivalries, although in most cases the sentiment is mostly felt by the opposition and is more directed towards Ajax, with one of them being Utrecht. Although the rivalry is more felt on the Utrecht side then with Ajax, matchups between the two sides are often quite intense. Both teams have fanatic supporters, and clashes off the pitch are more often the rule than the exception. The same goes for ADO Den Haag, with both supporter groups often getting in conflicts, when ADO-Hooligans set fire to the supporters home of Ajax, and Ajax hooligans subsequently broke into the Supporters home of ADO tensions between the two clubs rose. In 2006, supporters from both clubs were banned from attending away matches for five years due to frequent violent outbreaks and clashes.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Further teams who share a rivalry with Ajax include Twente, Vitesse Arnhem, Groningen and AZ, although the latter is often regarded by Ajax supporters as the club's "little brother". With AZ being from nearby Alkmaar and therefore situated in the same province as Ajax, match-ups between the two sides are commonly known as the "De Noord-Hollandse Derby" ("North Holland Derby") and are often very competitive, intense and loaded fixtures.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Past rivalries include local Amsterdam derbies between Ajax and clubs such as Blauw-Wit, DWS and De Volewijckers (which later merged to become FC Amsterdam in 1972). However, the tension between the local sides lessened as the division of the clubs through playing in different leagues over time became greater. Years of not competing in the same league resulted in less frequent match-ups, until tensions finally settled between the Amsterdam clubs. The last Amsterdam derby to take place in an official league match was when Ajax defeated FC Amsterdam 5–1 on 19 March 1978.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax are known for having fanatic core supporter-groups, of which F-Side and VAK410 are the most famous. F-Side were founded on 3 October 1976, and are situated right behind the goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena, on the southern end of the stadium in rows 125–129. Their name is derived from the group's former location on the F-side of the old De Meer Stadion. The F-side supporters are responsible for a big part of the atmosphere in the stadium, but are also known for rioting during and after matches. If in any match Ajax should win the coin toss, the second half of the match Ajax always play towards the south-end of the stadium. VAK410 (English: Row 410) were founded in 2001 and are situated in the Zuidhoek ("South corner") of the stadium on the upper ring in rows 424–425. The group was originally situated on the North-West side of the stadium in row 410, from where it derives its name, until relocating to their current place in the stands in 2008. Members of VAK410 are known to perform various stunts, which include massive banners, to enhance the atmosphere in the stadium. Neither F-Side or VAK410 have seats in their sections of the stadium, and both groups stand for the duration of the match.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Through the official "Football Top 20" of Dutch sports research group "SPORT+MARKT", it was revealed in 2010 that Ajax had approximately 7.1 million supporters throughout Europe. This is significantly more than rivals Feyenoord and PSV (each 1.6 and 1.3 million, respectively), which puts Ajax as the club with the 15th-most supporters across Europe. The study also revealed that approximately 39% of the Netherlands were Ajax supporters. Not only does Ajax have many supporters, but several fans attend their matches in European competition, with an average attendance of 48,677 spectators for every international match Ajax played, putting the team at 12th place in Europe for highest attendance, ahead of high-profile clubs such as Milan and Chelsea. It is noteworthy that not all stadiums share the capacity of the Johan Cruyff Arena.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The Supporters Club Ajax () is officially the largest supporters club in the Netherlands with 94,000 members. Founded on 7 May 1992, the supporters club organize big monthly events throughout the Netherlands, and particularly around the official Ajax Open Training Day, which attracts thousands of supporters each year. Furthermore, the supporters group is responsible for the Ajax Life website, as well as the fanzine which is issued 20 times a year.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In 2006, the AFCA Supportersclub was introduced as the club's second official supporters' association, through the merger of the Onafhankelijke Fanclub Ajax (OFA) and the Ajax Supporters Delegatie (ASD). The AFCA Supportersclub has a reported 42,000 members, as well as a former member on the Board of Administration of Ajax, in Ronald Pieloor.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The third official supporters club is the Ajax Business Associates (ABA). Founded in 1991 the ABA is the Business club of Ajax. Members occupy the skyboxes in the Stadium and can make use of the clubs' amenities and luxury suites including the ABA club and lounge. The ABA is also responsible for hosting the annual Ajax Business Golf Trophy, an amateur golf tournament where several active and former Ajax players, as well as prominent people and members of the ABA, participate.


title: AFC Ajax

text: This graph displays the average attendance for home matches of Ajax from 1988 to 2018, whereby the difference in capacity of the De Meer Stadion and the Johan Cruyff Arena (est. 1996) is clearly visible.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Historically, Ajax was popularly seen as having "Jewish roots". While it had fewer Jewish players than WV-HEDW, Ajax has had a Jewish image since the 1930s when the home stadium was located next to a Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost and opponents saw many supporters walking through the Nieuwmarkt/Waterloopleinbuurt (de Jodenhoek—the "Jews' corner") to get to the stadium. The city of Amsterdam was historically referred to as a Mokum city, Mokum (מקום) being the Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven", and as anti-Semitic chants and name calling developed and intensified at the old De Meer Stadion from frustrated supporters of opposing clubs, Ajax fans (few of whom are actually Jewish) responded by embracing Ajax's "Jewish" identity: calling themselves "super Jews", chanting "Jews, Jews" ("Joden, Joden") at games, and adopting Jewish symbols such as the Star of David and the Israeli flag.


title: AFC Ajax

text: This Jewish imagery eventually became a central part of Ajax fans' culture. At one point ringtones of "Hava Nagila", a Hebrew folk song, could be downloaded from the club's official website. Beginning in the 1980s, fans of Ajax's rivals escalated their antisemitic rhetoric, chanting slogans like "Hamas, Hamas/Jews to the gas" ("Hamas, hamas, joden aan het gas"), hissing to imitate the flow of gas, giving Nazi salutes, and other things. The eventual result was that many (genuinely) Jewish Ajax fans stopped going to games.


title: AFC Ajax

text: In the 2000s, the club began trying to persuade fans to drop their Jewish image. In 2013, a documentary titled "Superjews" was released by NTR and Viewpoint Productions which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film was directed by Nirit Peled, an Israeli living in Amsterdam, and an independent film maker who offers a very personal view into the game, the lore of Ajax and its relation to Judaism from both the supporters as well as from a Jewish perspective.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax have won numerous friendly tournaments, unsanctioned by UEFA or FIFA, including the Amsterdam Tournament, Bruges Matins Trophy, Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu, Eusébio Cup, Ted Bates Trophy, Jalkapalloturnaus and Chippie Polar Cup. ("For a complete list, see the list of AFC Ajax honours")


title: AFC Ajax

text: Ajax have a total of 45 honorary club members, from people who have been invested within the club's administrative engagements, to committed players who have excelled in the athletic department. Of those 45 members 40 have since died. Five members still remain, having been reduced from eight members after Piet Keizer renounced his membership, seven after the passing of Johan Cruyff and six after the passing of Uri Coronel.


title: AFC Ajax

text: The Club van 100 is the official list of Football players who have appeared in one hundred or more official matches for AFC Ajax. The club currently has a total of over 150 members. The record for league appearances is held by Mr. Ajax himself Sjaak Swart, who appeared in 463 league matches for Ajax. There is a beneficiary team called Lucky Ajax, which was initiated by Sjaak Swart. Lucky Ajax participate in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity, and commonly at football ceremonies to bid farewell to retiring players. One of the prerequisites for playing on Lucky Ajax, which is invitational only, is that you are a member of the Club van 100, having made at least 100 official match appearances for Ajax in the first team of the club.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Lucky Ajax are a beneficiary team that was initiated by Sjaak Swart in the seventies, competing in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity and/or to bid farewell to retiring former Ajax players. The team is made up of various members of the Club van 100 of Ajax who will come out of retirement for this match to face the Ajax squad that is current of that year. Past participants have included Barry Hulshoff, Sonny Silooy, Simon Tahamata, Ronald Koeman, Tscheu La Ling, Gerrie Mühren, John van 't Schip, Brian Roy, Stanley Menzo, Peter van Vossen and Fred Grim. The name Lucky Ajax is derived from the famous "Lucky Ajax" nickname from how people used to refer to the club when Ajax would either win a match by chance, by a decision of a referee, or by coincidence such as was said to be the case during the infamous "Mistwedstrijd" ("Fog Match").


title: AFC Ajax

text: As of the 2007–08 season, no player could wear the number 14 shirt at Ajax after the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for Johan Cruyff, "the legendary number fourteen". Cruyff himself laughed off the tribute, saying the club had to let its best player play with number 14. Spanish midfielder Roger was the last player to wear the number. Marvin Zeegelaar wore the shirt number In preparation for the 2011–12 season in one preseason match, while Aras Özbiliz wore the number 14 shirt in one pre-season match ahead of the 2011–12 season as well. The club stated that this was, in fact, not done in error.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Established in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. The tournament was hosted annually each summer by Ajax until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participated in the competition, played in a league format since 1986. Since its return, the tournament used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. An additional point, however, was awarded for each goal scored. The system was designed to reward teams that adopted a more attacking style of play. Each entrant played two matches, with the winner being the club that finished at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Het Olympisch Stadion where Ajax played the bigget games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena (now Johan Cruyff Arena) played host to the event since its return until the last edition was played in 2009. Ajax is the most successful team of the tournament, having won it a record ten times, while Benfica from Portugal were the last team to win the tournament, in 2009.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Established in 2005, the Copa Amsterdam is an international friendly football tournament for Under-19 youth teams, that is organized by Ajax and the Amsterdam city council, which takes place at the Olympic Stadium as part of the annual Amsterdam Sports Weekend, a citywide sponsored initiative to promote 'sports and recreation' within the city of Amsterdam. Each Summer the city of Amsterdam and Ajax invite U-19 teams from various top clubs from around the World to participate in the tournament. Seven teams are invited and play in the competition every year. Over the years, clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Real Madrid have had their senior youth teams participate in the tournament. Cruzeiro from Brazil are the most successful club in the history of the tournament, having won it three times in total.


title: AFC Ajax

text: Established in 2010, the AEGON Future Cup is an international friendly tournament for Under-17 youth teams, which is organized by AFC Ajax and their main sponsor, the insurance company AEGON. The tournament is held each year at the Johan Cruyff Arena and at the Sportpark De Toekomst, the team's training ground, which also inspired the name of the competition, since "De Toekomst" in Dutch means The Future. Every year during the Easter weekend, six U-17 teams are invited to participate in the competition, while the seventh place for the contesters is reserved for the winners of the "Craques Mongeral AEGON Future Cup" in Brazil, the sister competition of the tournament in South America. Youth teams from top clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Milan and many more have participated in the competition over the years. Ajax are the most successful club of the tournament, having won the trophy a total of five times.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and war films; initially as a supporting player and later a leading man. A quintessential cinematic "tough-guy", Bronson was cast in various roles where the plot line hinged on the authenticity of the character's toughness and brawn. At the height of his fame in the early 1970s, he was the world's No. 1 box office attraction, commanding $1 million per film.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Born to a Lithuanian-American coal mining family in rural Pennsylvania, Bronson served in the United States Army Air Forces as a bomber tail gunner during World War II. He worked several odd jobs before entering the film industry in the early 1950s, playing bit and supporting roles as henchmen, thugs, and other "heavies". After playing a villain in the Western film "Drum Beat", he was cast in his first leading role by B-movie auteur Roger Corman, playing the title character in the gangster picture "Machine-Gun Kelly" (1958). The role brought him to the attention of mainstream critics, and led to sizable co-lead parts as an Irish-Mexican gunslinger in "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), a claustrophobic tunneling expert in "The Great Escape" (1963), a small-town Southern louche in "This Property Is Condemned" (1966), and a prisoner-turned-commando in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967).


title: Charles Bronson

text: For his contributions to the film industry, Bronson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson was born Charles Dennis Buchinsky, the eleventh of fifteen children, into a Roman Catholic family of Lithuanian origin in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, in the coal region of the Allegheny Mountains north of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. His father, Walter Buchinsky (born: Valteris P. Bučinskis), was a Lipka Tatar from Druskininkai in southern Lithuania. Bronson's mother, Mary (née Valinsky), whose parents were from Lithuania, was born in the coal mining town of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson did not speak any English at home during his childhood in Pennsylvania, like many children he grew up with. He recalled that even back when he was in the army, his accent was strong enough to make his comrades think he came from another country (despite Bronson having been born and raised in the US). Besides English, he could also speak Lithuanian, Russian and Greek.


title: Charles Bronson

text: In a 1973 interview, Bronson said that he did not know his father very well and "I'm not even sure if I loved him or hated him." He said that all he could remember was that when his mother said that his father was coming home, the children would hide. When Bronson was 10 years old, his father died and he went to work in the coal mines, first in the mining office and then in the mine. He later said he earned one dollar for each ton of coal that he mined. In another interview, he said that he had to work double shifts to earn $1 a week. Bronson later recounted that he and his brother engaged in dangerous work removing "stumps" between the mines, and that cave-ins were common.


title: Charles Bronson

text: The family suffered extreme poverty during the Great Depression, and Bronson recalled going hungry many times. His mother could not afford milk for his younger sister, so she was fed warm tea instead. His family was so poor that he once had to wear his sister's dress to school for lack of clothing. Bronson was the first member of his family to graduate from high school.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson worked in the mine until he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in 1943 during World War II. He served in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress aerial gunner with the Guam-based 61st Bombardment Squadron within the 39th Bombardment Group, which conducted combat missions against the Japanese home islands. He flew 25 missions and received a Purple Heart for wounds received in battle.


title: Charles Bronson

text: After the end of World War II, Bronson worked at many odd jobs until joining a theatrical group in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He later shared an apartment in New York City with Jack Klugman while both were aspiring to play on the stage. In 1950, he married and moved to Hollywood, where he enrolled in acting classes and began to find small roles.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Until 1954, Bronson's credits were all as Charles Buchinsky. His first film role – an uncredited one – was as a sailor in "You're in the Navy Now" in 1951, directed by Henry Hathaway. Other early screen appearances were in "The Mob" (1951); "The People Against O'Hara" (1951), directed by John Sturges; "Bloodhounds of Broadway" (1952); "Battle Zone" (1952); "Pat and Mike" (1952), as a boxer and mob enforcer; "Diplomatic Courier" (1952), another for Hathaway; "My Six Convicts" (1952); "The Marrying Kind" (1952); and "Red Skies of Montana" (1952).


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1952, Bronson boxed in a ring with Roy Rogers in Rogers' show "Knockout". He appeared on an episode of "The Red Skelton Show" as a boxer in a skit with Skelton playing "Cauliflower McPugg". He appeared with fellow guest star Lee Marvin in an episode of "Biff Baker, U.S.A.", an espionage series on CBS starring Alan Hale Jr. In the following year, he had small roles in "Miss Sadie Thompson" (1953); "House of Wax" (1953), directed by Andre DeToth; "The Clown" (1953); "Torpedo Alley" (1953); and "Riding Shotgun", starring Randolph Scott and again directed by DeToth.


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1954, during the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) proceedings, he changed his surname from Buchinsky to Bronson at the suggestion of his agent, who feared that an Eastern European surname might damage his career. Still as Buchinsky, he had a notable support part as an Apache, "Hondo", in the film "Apache" (1954) for director Robert Aldrich, followed by roles in "Tennessee Champ" (1954) for MGM, and "Crime Wave" (1954) directed by de Toth.


title: Charles Bronson

text: His first film as Charles Bronson was "Vera Cruz" (1954), again working for Aldrich. Bronson then made a strong impact as the main villain in the Alan Ladd western "Drum Beat", directed by Delmer Daves, as a murderous Modoc warrior, Captain Jack (based on a real person), who relishes wearing the tunics of soldiers he has killed. He was in "Target Zero" (1955), "Big House, U.S.A." (1955), and had a significant role in the Daves western "Jubal" (1956), starring Glenn Ford.


title: Charles Bronson

text: He had the lead role in the episode "The Apache Kid" of the syndicated crime drama "The Sheriff of Cochise", starring John Bromfield; Bronson was subsequently cast twice in 1959 after the series was renamed "U.S. Marshal". He guest-starred in the short-lived CBS situation comedy, "Hey, Jeannie!" and in three episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents": "And So Died Riabouchinska" (1956), "There Was an Old Woman" (1956), and "The Woman Who Wanted to Live" (1962).


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1957, Bronson was cast in the Western series "Colt .45" as an outlaw named Danny Arnold in the episode "Young Gun". He had a support role in Sam Fuller's "Run of the Arrow" (1957). In 1958, Bronson appeared as Butch Cassidy on the TV western "Tales of Wells Fargo" in the episode titled "Butch Cassidy".


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson scored the lead in ABC's detective series "Man with a Camera" (1958–1960), in which he portrayed Mike Kovac, a former combat photographer freelancing in New York City.


title: Charles Bronson

text: He was cast in leading man roles in some low budget films, notably, "Machine-Gun Kelly" (1958), a biopic of a real life gangster directed by Roger Corman. He also starred in "Gang War" (1958), "When Hell Broke Loose" (1958), and "Showdown at Boot Hill" (1959).


title: Charles Bronson

text: On television, he played Steve Ogrodowski, a naval intelligence officer, in two episodes of the CBS military sitcom/drama, "Hennesey", starring Jackie Cooper, and he played Rogue Donovan, an escaped murderer in "Yancy Derringer" (episode: "Hell and High Water"). Bronson starred alongside Elizabeth Montgomery in a "Twilight Zone" episode ("Two"; 1961). He appeared in five episodes of Richard Boone's "Have Gun – Will Travel" (1957–63).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson had a support role in an expensive war film, "Never So Few" (1959), directed by John Sturges. Bronson was cast in the 1960 episode "Zigzag" of "Riverboat", starring Darren McGavin. That same year, he was cast as "Dutch Malkin" in the episode "The Generous Politician" of "The Islanders". Bronson appeared as Frank Buckley in the TV western "Laramie" in the 1960 episode "Street of Hate".


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1960, he garnered attention in John Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven", in which he was cast as one of seven gunfighters taking up the cause of the defenseless. During filming, Bronson was a loner who kept to himself, according to Eli Wallach. He received $50,000 for this role. This role made him a favorite actor of many in the former Soviet Union, such as Vladimir Vysotsky.


title: Charles Bronson

text: The following year, Bronson could be seen, again in the role of a boxer, in an episode of "" (S3E16, titled "The Last Round"), aired January 10, 1961. AIP put Bronson in the romantic lead of "Master of the World" (1961), supporting Vincent Price. He had a support role in MGM's "A Thunder of Drums" (1961) but a bigger part in "X-15" (1961).


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1961, Bronson was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting role in an episode entitled "Memory in White" of CBS's "General Electric Theater", hosted by Ronald Reagan. In 1962, he appeared alongside Elvis Presley in "Kid Galahad". In 1963, he co-starred in the series "Empire".


title: Charles Bronson

text: Sturges cast Bronson for another Hollywood production, "The Great Escape" (1963), as claustrophobic Polish prisoner of war Flight Lieutenant Danny Velinski, nicknamed "The Tunnel King" (coincidentally, Bronson really was claustrophobic because of his childhood work in a mine). The film was a huge hit and Bronson had one of the leads, but he still found himself playing a villain in "4 for Texas" (1963) for Robert Aldrich.


title: Charles Bronson

text: During the 1963–64 television season Bronson portrayed Linc, the stubborn wagon master in the ABC western series "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters". In 1964, Bronson guest-starred in an episode of the western TV series "Bonanza" as Harry Starr ("The Underdog").


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson had the lead in "Guns of Diablo" (1965), a Western. In the 1965–1966 season, he guest-starred in an episode of "The Legend of Jesse James". In 1965, Bronson was cast as Velasquez, a demolitions expert, in the third-season episode "Heritage" on ABC's WW II drama "Combat!".


title: Charles Bronson

text: He had a relatively minor role in "Battle of the Bulge" (1965) and was billed fourth in MGM's "The Sandpiper" (1966), which the popularity of stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor propelled to a big success. He was billed third in "This Property Is Condemned" (1966).


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1967, he guest-starred as Ralph Schuyler, an undercover government agent in the episode "The One That Got Away" on ABC's "The Fugitive".


title: Charles Bronson

text: That year Aldrich gave Bronson an excellent role in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), where he played an Army death row convict conscripted into a suicide mission. It was a massive box office success but Bronson was only the third lead. He seemed unable to make the transition to star of major studio films in Hollywood. In "Villa Rides" (1968) he supported Robert Mitchum and Yul Brynner, playing the real-life Rodolfo Fierro.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson made a serious name for himself in European films. He was making "Villa Rides" when approached by the producers of a French film "Adieu l'ami" looking for an American co-star for Alain Delon. Bronson's agent Paul Kohner later recalled the producer pitched the actor "on the fact that in the American film industry all the money, all the publicity, goes to the pretty boy hero types. In Europe... the public is attracted by character, not face."


title: Charles Bronson

text: The film was a big success in Europe. Even more popular was "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) where Bronson played Harmonica. The director, Sergio Leone, once called him "the greatest actor I ever worked with", and had wanted to cast Bronson for the lead in 1964's "A Fistful of Dollars". Bronson turned him down and the role launched Clint Eastwood to film stardom. The film was the biggest hit of 1969 in France.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson appeared in a French action film, "Guns for San Sebastian" (1968) alongside Anthony Quinn. In Britain, he was cast in the lead of "Lola" (1969), playing a middle-aged man in love with a 16-year-old girl. He then made a buddy comedy with Tony Curtis in Turkey, "You Can't Win 'Em All" (1970).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson then played the lead in a French thriller, "Rider on the Rain" (1970) which was a big hit in France. It won a Hollywood Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson starred in some French-Italian action films, "Violent City" (1970) and "Cold Sweat" (1970), the latter directed by Terence Young. He was in a French thriller, "Someone Behind the Door" (1971) alongside Anthony Perkins, then starred in another directed by Young, the French-Spanish-Italian Western, "Red Sun" (1971). "The Valachi Papers" (1972) was a third with Young; Bronson played Joseph Valachi.


title: Charles Bronson

text: That year, this overseas fame earned him a special Golden Globe Henrietta Award for "World Film Favorite – Male" together with Sean Connery.


title: Charles Bronson

text: In 1972, Bronson began a string of successful action films for United Artists, beginning with "Chato's Land" (1972), although he had done several films for UA before this in the 1960s ("The Magnificent Seven", etc.).


title: Charles Bronson

text: "Chato's Land" was the first film Bronson made with director Michael Winner. Winner was reunited with Bronson in "The Mechanic" (1972) and "The Stone Killer" (1973). Bronson worked with Sturges on "Chino" (1973), then did "Mr. Majestyk" (1974) with Richard Fleischer based on a book by Elmore Leonard.


title: Charles Bronson

text: One film UA brought into the domestic mainstream was "Violent City", an Italian-made film originally released overseas in 1970, but not issued in the U.S. until 1974 under the title "The Family".


title: Charles Bronson

text: By 1973, Bronson was considered to be the world's top box office attraction, and commanded $1 million per film (approx $6.5 in 2022).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson's most famous role came at age 52, in "Death Wish", his most popular film, with director Michael Winner. He played Paul Kersey, a successful New York architect who turns into a crime-fighting vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted. This movie spawned four sequels over the next two decades, all starring Bronson.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson starred in two films directed by Tom Gries: "Breakout" (1975), and "Breakheart Pass" (1975), a Western adapted from a novel by Alistair MacLean, which was a box office disappointment. He also starred in the directorial debut of Walter Hill, "Hard Times" (1975), playing a Depression-era street fighter making his living in illegal bare-knuckled matches in Louisiana. He earned good reviews. Bronson reached his pinnacle in box-office drawing power in 1975, when he was ranked 4th, behind only Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Al Pacino.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson did a Western comedy for UA, "From Noon till Three" (1976) but it was not well received. At Warner Bros he made "St. Ives" (1976), his first film with director J. Lee Thompson. He played Dan Shomron in "Raid on Entebbe" (1977), then was reunited with Thompson in "The White Buffalo" (1977), produced by Dino de Laurentiis for UA. UA also released "Telefon" (1977), directed by Don Siegel.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson went on to make two films for ITC, "Love and Bullets" (1979) and "Borderline" (1980). He was reunited with Thompson on "Caboblanco" (1980), and played Albert Johnson in "Death Hunt" (1981), opposite Lee Marvin.


title: Charles Bronson

text: In the years between 1976 and 1994, Bronson commanded high salaries to star in numerous films made by smaller production companies, most notably Cannon Films, for whom some of his last films were made.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson was paid $1.5 million by Cannon to star in "Death Wish II" (1982), directed by Michael Winner. In the story, architect Paul Kersey (Bronson) moves to Los Angeles with his daughter. After she is murdered at the hands of several gang members, Kersey once again becomes a vigilante. The film was a big success at the box office.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Cannon Films promptly hired Bronson for "10 to Midnight" (1983), in which he played a cop chasing a serial killer. The film marks the fourth collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson. The supporting cast includes Lisa Eilbacher, Andrew Stevens, Gene Davis, Geoffrey Lewis, and Wilford Brimley.


title: Charles Bronson

text: ITC Entertainment hired Thompson and Bronson for "The Evil That Men Do" (1984), co-starring Theresa Saldana and Joseph Maher. The film was adapted by David Lee Henry and John Crowther from the novel of the same name by R. Lance Hill. Bronson plays a former assassin, who comes out of retirement to avenge the death of his journalist friend.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Cannon reunited Bronson and Winner for "Death Wish 3" (1985). It is the last to be directed by Winner. Kersey returns to battle with New York street punk gangs while receiving tacit support from an NYPD lieutenant (Ed Lauter).


title: Charles Bronson

text: In "Murphy's Law" (1986), directed by Thompson, Bronson plays Jack Murphy, a hardened, antisocial LAPD detective who turns to alcohol to numb the pain of harsh reality. His ex-wife, played by Angel Tompkins, has become a stripper and his career is going nowhere. His world is turned upside down when an ex-convict, played by Carrie Snodgress, frames him for putting her in prison earlier in his career.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson next appeared in the TV movie "Act of Vengeance" (1986), directed by John Mackenzie, playing real-life union leader Joseph Yablonski. It premiered on April 21, 1986.


title: Charles Bronson

text: More typical of this period were four Cannon action films: "Assassination" (1987) directed by Peter Hunt, and three with Thompson: "" (1988), "Messenger of Death" (1989) and "" (1989).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson's appeared in 1991's "The Indian Runner", directed by Sean Penn, followed by the TV movies "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" (1991) and "The Sea Wolf" (1993).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson's last starring role in a theatrically released film was 1994's "". His final films were a trilogy of TV movies which were "Family of Cops" (1995), "" (1997) and "Family of Cops 3" (1999).


title: Charles Bronson

text: At the time of his death, film critic Stephen Hunter said that Bronson "oozed male life-force, stoic toughness, capability, strength" and "always projected the charisma of ambiguity: Was he an ugly handsome man or a handsome ugly man? You were never sure, so further study was obligatory." Hunter said, "he never became a great actor, but he knew exactly how to dominate a scene quietly." Bronson "was the man with the name ending in a vowel ... who never left the position, never complained, never quit, never skulked. He simmered, he sulked, he bristled with class resentments, but he hung in there, got the job done and expected no thanks. His nobility was all the more palpable for never having to be expressed in words."


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson told critic Roger Ebert in 1974 that "I'm only a product like a cake of soap, to be sold as well as possible." He said that in the action pictures he was producing at the time, there was not much time for acting. He said: "I supply a presence. There are never any long dialogue scenes to establish a character. He has to be completely established at the beginning of the movie, and ready to work."


title: Charles Bronson

text: Director Michael Winner said that Bronson did not have to "go into any big thing about what he does or how he does it" because he had a "quality that the motion-picture camera seems to respond to. He has a great strength on the screen, even when he's standing still or in a completely passive role. There is a depth, a mystery – there is always the sense that something will happen."


title: Charles Bronson

text: Sergio Leone offered Bronson the part of "Man with No Name" in "A Fistful of Dollars". Bronson declined, arguing that the script was bad. Bronson was again approached for a starring role in the sequel "For a Few Dollars More" but he passed, citing that the sequel's script was like the first film. Bronson was offered both the roles of Tuco and Angel Eyes in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Bronson wanted to accept but he had to decline both, as he was in England filming "The Dirty Dozen". Bronson would later star in Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968).


title: Charles Bronson

text: Ingmar Bergman wanted to make a film with Bronson but the actor turned him down. "Everything is weakness and sickness with Bergman," he said.


title: Charles Bronson

text: He was considered for the role of Snake Plissken in "Escape from New York" (1981), but director John Carpenter thought he was too tough looking and too old for the part, and decided to cast Kurt Russell instead.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson auditioned for the role of Superman for the 1978 film adaptation, but producer Ilya Salkind turned him down for being too earthy and decided to cast Christopher Reeve.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson was scarred by his early deprivation and his early struggle as an actor. A 1973 newspaper profile said that he was so shy and introverted he could not watch his own films. Bronson was described as "still suspicious, still holds grudges, still despises interviews, still hates to give anything of himself, still can't believe it has really happened to him." He was embittered that it took so long for him to be recognized in the U.S., and after achieving fame he refused to work for a noted director who had snubbed him years before.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1974 that Bronson does not volunteer information, does not elaborate, and has no theories about his films. He wrote that Bronson threatened to "get" "Time" magazine critic Jay Cocks, who had written a negative review he viewed as a personal attack, and that unlike other actors who projected violence on film, Bronson seemed violent in person.


title: Charles Bronson

text: His first marriage was to Harriet Tendler, whom he met when both were fledgling actors in Philadelphia. They had two children, Suzanne and Tony, before divorcing in 1965. She was 18 years old when she met the 26-year-old Charlie Buchinsky at a Philadelphia acting school in 1947. Two years later, with the grudging consent of her father, a successful, Jewish dairy farmer, Tendler wed Buchinsky, a Catholic and a former coal miner. Tendler supported them both while she and Charlie pursued their acting dreams. On their first date, he had four cents in his pocket — and went on, now as Charles Bronson, to become one of the highest paid actors in the country.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson was married to English actress Jill Ireland from October 5, 1968, until her death in 1990. He had met her in 1962, when she was married to Scottish actor David McCallum. At the time, Bronson (who shared the screen with McCallum in "The Great Escape") reportedly told him, "I'm going to marry your wife". The Bronsons lived in a grand Bel Air mansion in Los Angeles with seven children: two by his previous marriage, three by hers (one of whom was adopted), and two of their own, Zuleika and Katrina, the latter of whom was also adopted. After they married, she often played his leading lady, and they starred in fifteen films together.


title: Charles Bronson

text: To maintain a close family, they would load up everyone and take them to wherever filming was taking place, so that they could all be together. They spent time in a colonial farmhouse on in West Windsor, Vermont, where Ireland raised horses and provided training for their daughter Zuleika so that she could perform at the higher levels of horse showing. The family frequented Snowmass, Colorado in the 1980s and early 1990s for the winter holidays.


title: Charles Bronson

text: On May 18, 1990, aged 54, after a long battle with breast cancer, Jill Ireland died of the disease at their home in Malibu, California. In the 1991 television film "Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story", Bronson was portrayed by actor Lance Henriksen. In December 1998, Bronson was married for a third time to Kim Weeks, an actress and former employee of Dove Audio who had helped record Ireland in the production of her audiobooks. The couple were married for five years until Bronson's death in 2003.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Bronson's health deteriorated in his later years, and he retired from acting after undergoing hip-replacement surgery in August 1998. Bronson died at age 81 on August 30, 2003, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.


title: Charles Bronson

text: Although pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease have been cited as his cause of death, neither appears on his death certificate, which cites "respiratory failure", "metastatic lung cancer", with, secondarily, "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease" and "congestive cardiomyopathy" as the causes of death. He was interred at Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, Vermont.


title: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

text: The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) since the 1950s. The bomber is capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of weapons, and has a typical combat range of around 8,800 miles (14,080 km) without aerial refueling.