title: Joy Behar

text: Beginning in 2007, she occasionally filled in as a guest host on "Larry King Live". On June 11, 2009, Behar announced that she would be hosting her own news/talk program on CNN's HLN beginning in the fall of 2009, titled "The Joy Behar Show". She did not leave "The View" but worked on both shows simultaneously. Despite reportedly being the network's second-highest-rated show, HLN decided to cancel the talk show after only two years. The final broadcast of "The Joy Behar Show" aired on December 15, 2011.


title: Joy Behar

text: In June 2012, it was formally announced that Behar would be getting another talk show, "", premiering September 4, 2012 on the Current TV network. Before the new show's launch, Behar began acting as fill-in host for Eliot Spitzer's Current TV talk show, "Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer", starting on July 18, 2012. The show ended in August 2013 due to Current TV being purchased by Al Jazeera and being replaced by Al Jazeera America.


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar's short-lived weekly late night talk show, "Late Night Joy", premiered on TLC on November 4, 2015. Each episode features Behar having intimate chats with friends in her New York City apartment. It was cancelled after 5 episodes.


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar has performed in theatrical plays, including "The Food Chain", "The Vagina Monologues", and "Love, Loss and What I Wore". She has also performed in an Off-Broadway one-woman show entitled "Me, My Mouth and I".


title: Joy Behar

text: She has written multiple books, such as a collection of humorous essays and stories called "Joy Shtick — Or What is the Existential Vacuum and Does It Come with Attachments?" and a children's book called "Sheetzucacapoopoo: My Kind of Dog", published in 2006.


title: Joy Behar

text: She appeared on the eighth season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and finished in fourth place, behind Robin Tunney, Christopher Meloni and Macy Gray, but ahead of Andy Dick. She played for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. On October 27, 2017, Behar appeared as a guest on "Real Time with Bill Maher".


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar portrayed the role of Dr. Lucy in the 2011 comedy film "Hall Pass". She also recurred in Woody Allen's Amazon series, "Crisis in Six Scenes".


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar married college professor Joe Behar in 1965. They divorced in 1981. They have one daughter, Eve Behar Scotti. Behar has a grandson named Luca. Behar began to date Steve Janowitz in 1982; they married in 2011.


title: Joy Behar

text: Behar resides in The Hamptons. She also owns a home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She is a Democrat.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs, Inc. (stylized in all lowercase) is an American footwear company based in Broomfield, Colorado, that manufactures and markets the Crocs brand of foam clogs.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs was founded by Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker Jr. to produce and distribute a foam clog, whose design they acquired from Foam Creations, Inc. of Quebec City. The shoe was originally developed as a boating shoe. The first model produced by Crocs, the "Beach", was unveiled in 2001 at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show in Florida, and the 200 pairs that they had produced were all sold. Crocs has since sold 300 million pairs of shoes. In June 2020, Crocs moved the headquarters from Niwot, Colorado, to Broomfield.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs completed an initial public offering of its common stock in February 2006. It began trading on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol CROX. On October 30, 2007, the stock dropped 24% when the company announced decreased revenue projections. On April 14, 2008, during the midst of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the stock dropped 30% in after-hours trading after the company issued a press release in which they significantly decreased earnings estimates for the first quarter. In the same statement they also said they would lay off its 600 Quebec City factory employees as retailers had been reducing orders, though about 100 sales and marketing positions would remain. "The retail environment in the U.S. has become increasingly challenging as consumer spending and traffic levels have slowed," chief executive officer Ron Snyder said. During the financial crisis, CROX dropped to as low as $0.79 before rebounding ($15.50 by November 2010). On October 18, 2011, Crocs stock suffered a single day drop of about 39.4% on lowered earnings and revenues forecast.


title: Crocs

text: In June 2013, Crocs reported a 42.5% decrease in net profits from a year before. As a result, the stock fell 20.2% in one day.


title: Crocs

text: In December 2013, the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors disclosed that it held a 5% stake in Crocs, just over a day after The Blackstone Group said it would invest $200 million in a convertible preferred stock offering that would allow the company to replace its CEO and buy back $350 million in stock. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SAC Capital management said it had accumulated a 5% passive stake in Crocs.


title: Crocs

text: On July 21, 2014, Crocs Inc. announced a restructuring plan to streamline its operations and workforce by eliminating 180 jobs, close 75 to 100 stores (out of 624 worldwide) as well as scrapping underperforming product lines. Crocs has previously eliminated 183 positions, including 70 current and planned positions in its corporate headquarters in Niwot, Colorado. Crocs also announced they would open a "global commercial center" with 50 to 75 employees in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2014, for merchandising, marketing and retail functions. In August 2018, Crocs announced it was closing its last company-operated manufacturing plants in Mexico and Italy.


title: Crocs

text: In October 2006, Crocs Inc. purchased Jibbitz, a manufacturer of accessories that snap into the holes in Crocs shoes, for $10 million, or $20 million if Jibbitz met earnings goals.


title: Crocs

text: In January 2007, Crocs acquired assets of Ocean Minded for $1.75 million in cash, plus potentially $3.75 million based on performance. Ocean Minded makes leather and ethylene-vinyl acetate-based footwear. In July 2007 Crocs agreed to buy shoe- and sandal-maker Bite Footwear, based in Redmond, Washington, for $1.75 million, or up to double that based on earnings results.


title: Crocs

text: In April 2008, Crocs acquired Tidal Trade, Inc. ("Tidal Trade"), the company's third party distributor in South Africa, for $4.6 million. The company recorded $1.4 million in customer relationships on the date of acquisition. Crocs repurchased inventory previously sold to Tidal Trade and accordingly recognized a reduction of revenue of approximately $2.1 million. Also in April the company acquired Tagger International B.V. ("Tagger"), a private limited liability company incorporated under Dutch law that manufactures messenger bags. Tagger was partially owned by the Managing Director of Crocs Europe B.V. The company acquired all Tagger assets for $2 million – $90,000 for inventory and $1.9 million for the Tagger trademark. Later in June, Crocs liquidated Fury, Inc. two years after acquiring it, after efforts to sell it off were unsuccessful. As a result, Crocs wrote off $250,000 related to the remaining customer relationships, intangible assets and trademarks over three months.


title: Crocs

text: In February 2022, Crocs acquired the Italian shoe company HEYDUDE for $2.3 billion, as well as issuance of stock to one owner of HEYDUDE.


title: Crocs

text: In June 2004, Crocs purchased Foam Creations and their manufacturing operations to secure exclusive rights to the proprietary foam resin called Croslite. Croslite is a closed-cell resin, described by third parties as an injection-moulded EVA foam. The foam forms itself to a wearer's feet and offers purported medical benefits, according to a number of podiatrists. Crocs holds a patent applied for under the title "breathable workshoes and methods for manufacturing such", and three design patents covering various ornamental aspects.


title: Crocs

text: As of 2007, the company had applied to register "Crocs" and the Crocs logo as trademarks in over 40 jurisdictions around the world, including the U.S.; many such applications were pending approval. Crocs also extended the scope of their trademark registrations and applications for both the Crocs mark and logo to cover non-footwear products, such as sunglasses, goggles, knee pads, watches, luggage, and some of their Internet sales activities.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs are made in a variety of styles and colors. The Classic styles are available in more than 20 colors; most other styles are produced in a palette of four to six colors or two-color combinations. Thus there are different styles for each season. A pair of adult Classic style Crocs normally cost $49.99.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs also sells other fashion accessories. "Jibbitz" are decorations that can be clipped to the ventilation holes in the shoes. These include designs, mainly aimed at children, which mostly feature Disney characters. "Jibbitz" normally cost $4.99 for a single clip or $16.99–19.99 for multipacks. The company has also released a line of purses in a variety of colors.


title: Crocs

text: A "Fuzz Collection" with woolly liners extend the brand's range to winterwear. A pair of adult Crocs from the "Fuzz Collection" normally cost $59.99 to $64.99.


title: Crocs

text: In 2008, the company entered the golf shoe marketplace by acquiring the golf shoe manufacturer Bite Footwear and introducing a Croc-styled pair of golf shoes, the "Ace".


title: Crocs

text: In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company launched "A Free Pair for Healthcare" offering healthcare workers a free pair of their shoes. Crocs also sent 100,000 pairs of shoes to hospitals to be distributed to staff.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs was the title sponsor of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour from 2006 through the 2009 season.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs were in the public eye in 2021 with celebrities like Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber modeling the shoes on social media. Crocs were popular on social media like Tik Tok, as well.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs collaborations are announced on a regular basis, with individuals and brands designing their own limited edition versions. In 2021, they partnered with The Smiley Company to launch a special edition Croc.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs announced in 2006 that it filed complaints with the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) and the United States district court against 11 companies that manufacture, import or distribute products, called "croc-offs", that Crocs believes infringe its patents.


title: Crocs

text: Seizures of counterfeit Crocs occurred in 2007 in the Philippines and Denmark, and were under litigation in South Africa. In 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that Crocs' design patent had been infringed.


title: Crocs

text: In 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission requested a voluntary recall of Crocs-like clogs due to a potential choking hazard involving detaching plastic rivets.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs-like brands include Airwalk, Crosskix, Poliwalks, USA Dawgs/Doggers, Veggies, among others. Versions of the Croc style clogs have appeared in children's fashion catalogs, usually under their own name brands or as no names. Other knock-offs are in discount stores, amusement park stores, beach stores, department stores, and superstores.


title: Crocs

text: Some Crocs shoes were tested and recommended by the U.S. Ergonomics company in 2005 and were accepted by the American Podiatric Medical Association in 2009. In 2008, the U.S. government Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a model of Crocs with molded insoles as diabetic footwear, to help reduce foot injuries.


title: Crocs

text: Footwear such as Crocs and flip-flops came under scrutiny in 2006 in the U.S. and 2008 in Japan when children suffered injuries after the shoes became caught in escalator mechanisms. This was due to the soft shoe material combined with the smaller size of children's feet. In 2008, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, after receiving 65 complaints of injuries, requested that Crocs change its design.


title: Crocs

text: Internationally, some healthcare facilities introduced policies in 2007 regulating Crocs. Rapid City Regional Hospital in South Dakota changed its dress code to prohibit the sandal variants and those with holes, citing safety concerns, but allowed closed-top "Professional" and the healthcare-focused "Rx" Crocs to be worn. Over 100 hospitals in Canada were advised to implement similar policies. Blekinge and Karolinska University hospitals in Sweden banned the wearing of "Forsberg slippers" ("Foppatofflor") by staff, due to high voltage static electricity buildup which was observed to interfere with electronic equipment. City hospitals in Vienna, Austria, announced banning Crocs, often worn by nursing staff, to comply with antistatic requirements.


title: Crocs

text: Crocs announced the Fuse and two others in 2009, formulated to dissipate static electricity in accordance with European standard EN ISO 20347:2004 (E), for use in the medical sector.


title: Crocs

text: Sales of Crocs increased dramatically starting in 2006, with "The New York Times" stating that first-quarterly sales roughly tripled from 2006 to 2007. A 2006 article in "The Washington Post" described the phenomenon: "Nor is the fashion world enamored of Crocs. Though their maker touts their 'ultra-hip Italian styling,' lots of folks find them hideous." In 2007, then-U.S. President George W. Bush publicly wore black Crocs with socks. Comedian Bill Maher stated during a 2007 episode of his show "Real Time" that people should "stop wearing plastic shoes". A 2007 episode of "The Daily Show" featured comedian Rob Corddry as a reporter satirically following up on that year's lewd conduct arrest of Senator Larry Craig, with Corddry stating that a person wearing Crocs is signalling that "anything goes".


title: Crocs

text: In 2008, fashion consultant Tim Gunn told "Time", "[The Croc] looks like a plastic hoof. How can you take that seriously?" A 2008 anti-Crocs essay in "Newsweek" by ice hockey player Steve Tuttle generated much response from readers who both agreed and disagreed with it. In 2009, then-First Lady Michelle Obama was spotted wearing Crocs with her daughter. Crocs were ranked the sixth worst thing to happen to men in 2007 by "Maxim". In 2010, "Time" magazine listed Crocs as one of the world's "50 Worst Inventions". The blog "IHateCrocs.com" was founded by two Canadian college students; one of its founders, Kate Leth, referred to the shoes as "hideous". The website "CrocFans.com" documented uses of the shoes. The Facebook group "I Don't Care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like a Dumbass" has been mentioned in the media.


title: Crocs

text: In the mid-2010s, public perception of Crocs began to shift. In 2015, Prince George was photographed at a charity event wearing navy blue Crocs. After one week, this created a 1,500% increase of sales according to a spokesperson for Amazon.com. Fashion designer Christopher Kane had his models wear Crocs during his show at the 2016 London Fashion Week, and Balenciaga released a 10cm Croc platform shoe in 2017. Crocs saw a massive surge in popularity in 2020, caused by the rise of casual fashion during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and its worldwide lockdowns. By 2022, they were the best-selling item of clothing on Amazon. Industry experts believed that much of the trend was also driven by Gen Z's desire for "comfort and unconventional style". Celebrities such as Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny, Ariana Grande, Post Malone, Nicki Minaj, Questlove, and Kanye West all sported Crocs during the early 2020s, inspiring fans to embrace the shoes' "newfound coolness". There have also been limited edition themed Crocs created in collaboration with Bieber, KFC, Hidden Valley Ranch, and Pixar.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources consider it the tallest human-made monument in the Western Hemisphere. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States and officially dedicated to "the American people", the Arch, commonly referred to as "The Gateway to the West", is a National Historic Landmark in Gateway Arch National Park and has become an internationally recognized symbol of St. Louis, as well as a popular tourist destination.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1947; construction began on February 12, 1963, and was completed on October 28, 1965, at an overall cost of $13 million (equivalent to $ in 2018). The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Around late 1933, civic leader Luther Ely Smith, returning to St. Louis from the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes, Indiana, saw the St. Louis riverfront area and envisioned that building a memorial there would both revive the riverfront and stimulate the economy. He communicated his idea to mayor Bernard Dickmann, who on December 15, 1933, raised it in a meeting with city leaders. They sanctioned the proposal, and the nonprofit Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (JNEMA—pronounced "Jenny May") was formed. Smith was appointed chairman and Dickmann vice chairman. The association's goal was to create:


title: Gateway Arch

text: Many locals did not approve of depleting public funds for the cause. Smith's daughter SaLees related that when "people would tell him we needed more practical things", he would respond that "spiritual things" were equally important.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The association expected that $30 million would be needed to undertake the construction of such a monument (about $ in dollars). It called upon the federal government to foot three-quarters of the bill ($22.5 million).


title: Gateway Arch

text: The suggestion to renew the riverfront was not original, as previous projects were attempted but lacked popularity. The Jefferson memorial idea emerged amid the economic disarray of the Great Depression and promised new jobs. The project was expected to create 5,000 jobs for three to four years. Committee members began to raise public awareness by organizing fundraisers and writing pamphlets. They also engaged Congress by planning budgets and preparing bills, in addition to researching ownership of the land they had chosen, "approximately one-half mile in length  ... from Third Street east to the present elevated railroad." In January 1934, Senator Bennett Champ Clark and Representative John Cochran introduced to Congress an appropriation bill seeking $30 million for the memorial, but the bill failed to garner support due to the large amount of money solicited. In March of the same year, joint resolutions proposed the establishment of a federal commission to develop the memorial. Although the proposal aimed for only authorization, the bill incurred opposition because people suspected that JNEMA would later seek appropriation. On March 28 the Senate bill was reported out, and on April 5 it was turned over to the House Library Committee, which later reported favorably on the bills. On June 8, both the Senate and House bills were passed. On June 15, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law, instituting the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission. The commission comprised 15 members, chosen by Roosevelt, the House, the Senate, and JNEMA. It first convened on December 19 in St. Louis, where members examined the project and its planned location.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Meanwhile, in December, the JNEMA discussed organizing an architectural competition to determine the design of the monument. Local architect Louis LeBeaume had drawn up competition guidelines by January 1935. On April 13, 1935, the commission certified JNEMA's project proposals, including memorial perimeters, the "historical significance" of the memorial, the competition, and the $30 million budget. Between February and April, the Missouri State Legislature passed an act allowing the use of bonds to facilitate the project. On April 15, then Governor Guy B. Park signed it into law. Dickmann and Smith applied for funding from two New Deal agencies—the Public Works Administration (headed by Harold Ickes) and the Works Progress Administration (headed by Harry Hopkins). On August 7, both Ickes and Hopkins assented to the funding requests, each promising $10 million, and said that the National Park Service (NPS) would manage the memorial. A local bond issue election granting $7.5 million (about $ in dollars) for the memorial's development was held on September 10 and passed.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On December 21, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7253 to approve the memorial, allocating the 82-acre area as the first National Historic Site. The order also appropriated $3.3 million through the WPA and $3.45 million through the PWA ($6.75 million in total). The motivation of the project was two-fold—commemorating westward expansion and creating jobs. Some taxpayers began to file suits to block the construction of the monument, which they called a "boondoggle".


title: Gateway Arch

text: Using the 1935 grant of $6.75 million and $2.25 million in city bonds, the NPS acquired the historic buildings within the historic site—through condemnation rather than purchase—and demolished them. By September 1938, condemnation was complete. The condemnation was subject to many legal disputes which culminated on January 27, 1939, when the United States Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that condemnation was valid. A total of $6.2 million was distributed to land owners on June 14. Demolition commenced on October 9, 1939, when Dickmann extracted three bricks from a vacant warehouse.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Led by Paul Peters, adversaries of the memorial delivered to Congress a leaflet titled "Public Necessity or Just Plain Pork". The JNEMA's lawyer, Bon Geaslin, believed that the flyers did not taint the project, but motivated members of Congress to find out more about the same. Although Representative John Cochran wanted to ask Congress to approve more funds, Geaslin believed the association should "keep a low profile, maintaining its current position during this session of Congress". He advised the association to "get a good strong editorial in one of the papers to the effect that a small group of tenants ... is soliciting funds [to fight] the proposed improvement, and stating that these efforts do not represent the consensus of opinion in St. Louis ... , and pointing out that such obstructions should be condemned".


title: Gateway Arch

text: Congress's reduction in spending made it impossible for the allocated funds to be obtained. NPS responded that the city would reduce its contribution if the federal government did. It also asserted that the funds were sanctioned by an executive order, but superintendent John Nagle pointed out that what "one Executive Order does, another can undo". In March 1936, Representative Cochran commented during a House meeting that he "would not vote for any measure providing for building the memorial or allotting funds to it". Geaslin found Cochran's statements to be a greater hindrance to the project than Paul Peters' opposition, for Congress might have Cochran's opinions as representative of public opinion.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Peters and other opponents asked Roosevelt to rescind Executive Order 7253 and to redirect the money to the American Red Cross. Smith impugned their motives, accusing them of being "opposed to anything that is ever advanced in behalf of the city." In February 1936, an editorial written by Paul W. Ward in "The Nation" denounced the project. Smith was infuriated, fearing the impact of attacks from a prestigious magazine, and wanted "to jump on it strong with hammer and tongs". William Allen White, a renowned newspaper editor, advised Smith not to fret.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Because the Mississippi River played an essential role in establishing St. Louis's identity as the gateway to the west, it was felt that a memorial commemorating it should be near the river. Railroad tracks that had been constructed in the 1930s on the levee obstructed views of the riverfront from the memorial site. When Ickes declared that the railway must be removed before he would allocate funds for the memorial, President of the St. Louis Board of Public Service Baxter Brown suggested that "a new tunnel ... conceal the relocated tracks and re-grading of the site to elevate it over the tunnel. These modifications would eliminate the elevated and surface tracks and open up the views to the river." Although rejected by NPS architect Charles Peterson, Brown's proposal formed the basis for the ultimate settlement.


title: Gateway Arch

text: By May 1942, demolition was complete. The Old Cathedral and the Old Rock House, because of their historical significance, were the only buildings retained within the historic site. The Old Rock House was later dismantled in 1959 with the intention of reassembling it at a new location, but pieces of the building went missing. Part of the house has been reconstructed in the basement of the Old Courthouse.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In November 1944, Smith discussed with Newton Drury, the National Park Service Director, the design of the memorial, asserting that the memorial should be "transcending in spiritual and aesthetic values", best represented by "one central feature: a single shaft, a building, an arch, or something else that would symbolize American culture and civilization."


title: Gateway Arch

text: The idea of an architectural competition to determine the design of the memorial was favored at the JNEMA's inaugural meeting. They planned to award cash for the best design. In January 1945, the JNEMA officially announced a two-stage design competition that would cost $225,000 to organize. Smith and the JNEMA struggled to raise the funds, garnering only a third of the required total by June 1945. Then mayor Aloys Kaufmann feared that the lack of public support would lead officials to abandon hope in the project. The passage of a year brought little success, and Smith frantically underwrote the remaining $40,000 in May 1946. By June, Smith found others to assume portions of his underwriting, with $17,000 remaining under his sponsorship. In February 1947, the underwriters were compensated, and the fund stood at over $231,199.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Local architect Louis LaBeaume prepared a set of specifications for the design, and architect George Howe was chosen to coordinate the competition. On May 30, 1947, the contest officially opened. The seven-member jury that would judge the designs comprised Charles Nagel Jr., Richard Neutra, Roland Wank, William Wurster, LaBeaume, Fiske Kimball, and S. Herbert Hare. The competition comprised two stages—the first to narrow down the designers to five and the second to single out one architect and his design. The design intended to include:


title: Gateway Arch

text: Saarinen's team included himself as designer, J. Henderson Barr as associate designer, and Dan Kiley as landscape architect, as well as Lily Swann Saarinen as sculptor and Alexander Girard as painter. In the first stage of the competition, Carl Milles advised Saarinen to change the bases of each leg to triangles instead of squares. Saarinen said that he "worked at first with mathematical shapes, but finally adjusted it according to the eye." At submission, Saarinen's plans laid out the arch at tall and wide from center to center of the triangle bases.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On September 1, 1947, submissions for the first stage were received by the jury. The submissions were labeled by numbers only, and the names of the designers were kept anonymous. Upon four days of deliberation, the jury narrowed down the 172 submissions, which included Saarinen's father Eliel, to five finalists, and announced the corresponding numbers to the media on September 27. Eero Saarinen's design (#144) was among the finalists, and comments written on it included "relevant, beautiful, perhaps inspired would be the right word" (Roland Wank) and "an abstract form peculiarly happy in its symbolism" (Charles Nagel). Hare questioned the feasibility of the design but appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it. Local St. Louis architect Harris Armstrong was also one of the finalists. The secretary who sent out the telegrams informing finalists of their advancement mistakenly sent one to Eliel rather than Eero. The family celebrated with champagne, and two hours later, a competition representative called to correct the mistake. Eliel "'broke out a second bottle of champagne' to toast his son." They proceeded to the second stage, and each was given a $10,069 prize (about $ in dollars). Saarinen changed the height of the arch from 580 feet to and wrote that the arch symbolized "the gateway to the West, the national expansion, and whatnot." He wanted the landscape surrounding the arch to "be so densely covered with trees that it will be a forest-like park, a green retreat from the tension of the downtown city," according to "The New York Times" architectural critic Aline Bernstein Louchheim. The deadline for the second stage arrived on February 10, 1948, and on February 18, the jury chose Saarinen's design unanimously, praising its "profoundly evocative and truly monumental expression." The following day, during a formal dinner at Statler Hotel that the finalists and the media attended, Wurster pronounced Saarinen the winner of the competition and awarded the checks—$40,000 to his team and $50,000 to Saarinen. The competition was the first major architectural design that Saarinen developed unaided by his father.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On May 25, the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission endorsed the design. Later, in June, the NPS approved the proposal. Representative H. R. Gross, however, opposed the allocation of federal funds for the arch's development.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The design drew varied responses. In a February 29, 1969, "The New York Times" article, Louchheim praised the arch's design as "a modern monument, fitting, beautiful and impressive." Some local residents likened it to a "stupendous hairpin and a stainless steel hitching post." The most aggressive criticism emerged from Gilmore D. Clarke, whose February 26, 1948, letter compared Saarinen's arch to an arch imagined by fascist Benito Mussolini, rendering the arch a fascist symbol. This allegation of plagiarism ignited fierce debates among architects about its validity. Douglas Haskell from New York wrote that "The use of a common form is not plagiarism ... [T]his particular accusation amounts to the filthiest smear that has been attempted by a man highly placed in the architectural profession in our generation." Wurster and the jury refuted the charges, arguing that "the arch form was not inherently fascist but was indeed part of the entire history of architecture." Saarinen considered the opposition absurd, asserting, "It's just preposterous to think that a basic form, based on a completely natural figure, should have any ideological connection."


title: Gateway Arch

text: By January 1951, Saarinen created 21 "drawings, including profiles of the Arch, scale drawings of the museums and restaurants, various parking proposals, the effect of the levee-tunnel railroad plan on the Arch footings, the Arch foundations, the Third Street Expressway, and the internal and external structure of the Arch." Fred Severud made calculations for the arch's structure.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On July 7, 1949, in Mayor Joseph Darst's office, city officials chose the Levee-Tunnel plan, rousing JNEMA members who held that the decision had been pressed through when Smith was away on vacation. Darst notified Secretary of the Interior Julius Krug of the city's selection. Krug planned to meet with Smith and JNEM but canceled the meeting and resigned on November 11. His successor, Oscar L. Chapman, rescheduled the meeting for December 5 in Washington with delegates from the city government, JNEMA, railroad officials, and Federal government. A day after the conference, they ratified a memorandum of understanding about the plan: "The five tracks on the levee would be replaced by three tracks, one owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MPR) and two by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) proceeding through a tunnel not longer than 3,000 feet. The tunnel would be approximately fifty feet west of the current elevated line." It would also have an overhead clearance of , lower than the regular requirement of . Chapman approved the document on December 22, 1949, and JNEM garnered the approval of the Missouri Public Service Commission on August 7, 1952.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Efforts to appropriate congressional funds began in January 1950 but were delayed until 1953 by the Korean War's depletion of federal funds.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In August 1953, Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton declared that the Department of the Interior and the railroads should finalize the agreement on the new route. In October, NPS and the TRRA decided that the TRRA would employ a surveyor endorsed by Spotts "to survey, design, estimate, and report on" the expenses of shifting the tracks. They chose Alfred Benesch and Associates, which released its final report on May 3, 1957. The firm estimated that the two proposals would cost more than expected: more than $11 million and $14 million, respectively. NPS director Conrad Wirth enjoined Saarinen to make small modifications to the design. In October, Saarinen redrafted the plans, suggesting:


title: Gateway Arch

text: On November 29, involved interests signed another memorandum of understanding approving Saarinen's rework; implementing it would cost about $5.053 million. On March 10, 1959, mayor Raymond Tucker proposed that they drop "the tunnel idea in favor of open cuts roofed with concrete slabs," which would cost $2.684 million, $1.5 million less than the cost of the approved plan. On May 12, 1958, Tucker, TRRA president Armstrong Chinn, and Missouri Pacific Railroad president Russell Dearmont entered a written agreement: "The TRRA would place $500,000 in escrow for the project, and the city [would] sell $980,000 of the 1935 bonds to match the Federal contribution." Director Wirth and Secretary Seaton approved the plan on June 2.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In July 1953, Representative Leonor Sullivan introduced H.R. 6549, a bill authorizing the allocation of no more than $5 million to build the arch. After much negotiation, both houses of Congress approved the bill in May 1954, and on May 18, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law as Public Law 361. Congress could not afford to appropriate the funds in 1955, so association president William Crowdus resorted to asking the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations for $10 million. The foundations denied the request because their function as private foundations did not include funding national memorials. In 1956, Congress appropriated $2.64 million to be used to move the railroad tracks. The remainder of the authorized appropriation was requested via six congressional bills, introduced on July 1, 1958, that revised Public Law 361 to encompass the cost of the entire memorial, increasing federal funds by $12.25 million. A month later the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of the Budget endorsed the bill, and both houses of Congress unanimously passed the bill. Eisenhower signed it into law on September 7. The NPS held off on appropriating the additional funds, as it planned to use the already-appropriated funds to initiate the railroad work.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Saarinen and city functionaries collaborated to zone buildings near the arch. In April 1959, real estate developer Lewis Kitchen decided to construct two 40-level edifices across from the arch. In July, after the plan was condemned for its potential obstruction of the arch, Kitchen discussed the issue with officials. A decision was delayed for several months because Saarinen had yet to designate the arch's height, projected between . By October, Mayor Tucker and Director Wirth resolved to restrict the height of buildings opposite the arch to (about 27 levels), and the city stated that plans for buildings opposite the arch would require its endorsement. Kitchen then decreased the height of his buildings, while Saarinen increased that of the arch.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Moving the railroad tracks was the first stage of the project. On May 6, 1959, after an official conference, the Public Service Commission called for ventilation to accompany the tunnel's construction, which entailed "placing 3,000 feet of dual tracks into a tunnel 105 feet west of the elevated railroad, along with filling, grading, and trestle work." Eight bids for the work were reviewed on June 8 in the Old Courthouse, and the MacDonald Construction Co. of St. Louis won with a bid of $2,426,115, less than NPS's estimate of the cost. At 10:30 a.m. on June 23, 1959, the groundbreaking ceremony occurred; Tucker spaded the first portion of earth. Wirth and Dickmann delivered speeches.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The NPS acquired the $500,000 in escrow and transferred it to MacDonald to begin building the new tracks. In August, demolition of the Old Rock House was complete, with workers beginning to excavate the tunnel. In November, they began shaping the tunnel's walls with concrete. Twenty-nine percent of the construction was completed by March and 95% by November. On November 17, trains began to use the new tracks. June 1962 was the projected date of fruition.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On May 16, 1959, the Senate appropriations subcommittee received from St. Louis legislators a request for $2.4911 million, of which it granted only $133,000. Wirth recommended that they reseek the funds in January 1960.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On March 10, 1959, Regional Director Howard Baker received $888,000 as the city's first subsidy for the project. On December 1, 1961, $23,003,150 in total had been authorized, with $19,657,483 already appropriated—$3,345,667 remained not yet appropriated.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The bidding date, originally December 20, 1961, was postponed to January 22, 1962, to clarify the details of the arch construction. About 50 companies that had requested the construction requirements received bidding invitations. Extending from $11,923,163 to $12,765,078, all four bids exceeded the engineer estimate of $8,067,000. Wirth had a committee led by George Hartzog determine the validity of the bids in light of the government's conditions. Following a meeting with the bidders, the committee affirmed the bids' reasonableness, and Wirth awarded the lowest bidder, MacDonald Construction Co. of St. Louis, the contract for the construction of the arch and the visitor center. On March 14, 1962, he signed the contract and received from Tucker $2.5 million, the city's subsidy for the phase. MacDonald reduced its bid $500,000 to $11,442,418. The Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company served as the subcontractor for the shell of the arch.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1959 and 1960, ground was broken, and in 1961, the foundation of the structure was laid. Construction of the arch itself began on February 12, 1963, as the first steel triangle on the south leg was eased into place. These steel triangles, which narrowed as they spiraled to the top, were raised into place by a group of cranes and derricks. The arch was assembled of 142 prefabricated stainless steel sections. Once in place, each section had its double-walled skin filled with concrete, prestressed with 252 tension bars. In order to keep the partially completed legs steady, a scissors truss was placed between them at , later removed as the derricks were taken down. The whole endeavor was expected to be completed by fall 1964, in observance of St. Louis's bicentennial.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Contractor MacDonald Construction Co. arranged a tower for spectators and provided recorded accounts of the undertaking. In 1963, a million people went to observe the progress, and by 1964, local radio stations began to broadcast when large slabs of steel were to be raised into place. "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" photographer Art Witman documented the construction for the newspaper's Sunday supplement "Pictures", his longest and most noted assignment. He visited the construction site frequently from 1963 to 1967 recording of every stage of progress. With assistant Renyold Ferguson, he crawled along the catwalks with the construction workers up to 190m above the ground. He was the only news photographer on permanent assignment at the construction, with complete access. He primarily worked with slide film but also used the only Panox camera in St. Louis to create panoramic photographs covering 140 degrees. Witman's pictures of the construction are now housed in the State Historical Society of Missouri.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The project manager of MacDonald Construction Co., Stan Wolf, said that a 62-story building was easier to build than the arch: "In a building, everything is straight up, one thing on top of another. In this arch, everything is curved."


title: Gateway Arch

text: Although an actuarial firm predicted thirteen workers would die while building the arch, no workers were killed during the monument's construction. However, construction of the arch was still often delayed by safety checks, funding uncertainties, and legal disputes.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Civil rights activists regarded the construction of the arch as a token of racial discrimination. On July 14, 1964, during the workers' lunchtime, civil rights protesters Percy Green and Richard Daly, both members of Congress of Racial Equality, climbed up the north leg of the arch to "expose the fact that federal funds were being used to build a national monument that was racially discriminating against black contractors and skilled black workers." As the pair disregarded demands to get off, protesters on the ground demanded that at least 10% of the skilled jobs belong to African Americans. Four hours later, Green and Daly dismounted from the arch to charges of "trespassing, peace disturbance, and resisting arrest." This incident "inter alia" spurred the United States Department of Justice to file the first pattern or practice case against AFL–CIO under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on February 4, 1966, but the department later called off the charges. The 1966 lawsuit was an attempt by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC) to desegregate building-trade unions nationwide. Many technical building unions had little or no African-American representation into the mid-1960s. During Lyndon Johnson's presidency, the federal government recognized the need for more integration in all levels of society and started enforcing equal employment opportunity through federally funded job contracts.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1964, the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company of Warren, Pennsylvania, sued MacDonald for $665,317 for tax concerns. In 1965, NPS requested that Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel remove the prominent letters "P-D-M" (its initials) from a creeper derrick used for construction, contending that it was promotional and violated federal law with regards to advertising on national monuments. Although Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel initially refused to pursue what it considered a precarious venture, the company relented after discovering that leaving the initials would cost $225,000 and after that, $42,000 per month, and the NPS dropped its lawsuit.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On October 26, 1965, the International Association of Ironworkers delayed work to ascertain that the arch was safe. After NPS director Kenneth Chapman gave his word that conditions were "perfectly safe," construction resumed on October 27. After the discovery of 16 defects, the tram was also delayed from running. The Bi-State Development Agency assessed that it suffered losses of $2,000 for each day the trains were stagnant.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On January 7, 1966, members of AFL–CIO deserted their work on the visitor center, refusing to work with plumbers affiliated with Congress of Industrial Unions (CIU), which represented black plumbers. A representative of AFL–CIO said, "This policy has nothing to do with race. Our experience is that these CIU members have in the past worked for substandard wages." CIU applied to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an injunction that required the AFL–CIO laborers to return to work. On February 7, Judge John Keating Regan ruled that AFL–CIO workers had participated in a secondary boycott. By February 11, AFL–CIO resumed work on the arch, and an AFL–CIO contractor declared that ten African Americans were apprenticed for arch labor. The standstill in work lasted a month. Considering how large Federal projects often "go haywire", Secretary of War Newton D. Baker said, "This memorial will be like a cathedral; built slowly but surely."


title: Gateway Arch

text: President Lyndon B. Johnson and Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes decided on a date for the topping-out ceremony, but the arch had not been completed by then. The ceremony date was reset to October 17, 1965; workers strained to meet the deadline, taking double shifts, but by October 17, the arch was still not complete. The chairman of the ceremony anticipated the ceremony to be held on October 30, a Saturday, to allow 1,500 schoolchildren, whose signatures were to be placed in a time capsule, to attend. Ultimately, PDM set the ceremony date to October 28.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The time capsule, containing the signatures of 762,000 students and others, was welded into the keystone before the final piece was set in place. On October 28, the arch was topped out as then Vice President Hubert Humphrey observed from a helicopter. A Catholic priest and a rabbi prayed over the keystone, a , triangular section. It was slated to be inserted at 10:00 a.m. local time but was done 30 minutes early because thermal expansion had constricted the gap at the top by . To mitigate this, workers used fire hoses to spray water on the surface of the south leg to cool it down and make it contract. The keystone was inserted in 13 minutes with only remaining. For the next section, a hydraulic jack had to pry apart the legs . The last section was left only . By noon, the keystone was secured. Some filmmakers, in hope that the two legs would not meet, had chronicled every phase of construction.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The Gateway Arch was expected to open to the public by 1964, but in 1967 the public relations agency stopped forecasting the opening date. The arch's visitor center opened on June 10, 1967, and the tram began operating on July 24.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The arch was dedicated by Humphrey on May 25, 1968. He declared that the arch was "a soaring curve in the sky that links the rich heritage of yesterday with the richer future of tomorrow" and brings a "new purpose" and a "new sense of urgency to wipe out every slum." "Whatever is shoddy, whatever is ugly, whatever is waste, whatever is false, will be measured and condemned" in comparison to the Gateway Arch. About 250,000 people were expected to attend, but rain canceled the outdoor activities. The ceremony had to be transferred into the visitor center. After the dedication, Humphrey crouched beneath an exit as he waited for the rain to subside so he could walk to his vehicle.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The project did not provide 5,000 jobs as expected—as of June 1964, workers numbered fewer than 100. The project did, however, incite other riverfront restoration efforts, totaling $150 million. Building projects included a 50,000-seat sports stadium, a 30-story hotel, several office towers, four parking garages, and an apartment complex. The idea of a Disneyland amusement park that included "synthetic riverboat attractions" was considered but later abandoned. The developers hoped to use the arch as a commercial catalyst, attracting visitors who would use their services. One estimate found that since the 1960s, the arch has incited almost $503 million worth of construction.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In June 1976, the memorial was finalized by federal allocations—"the statue of Thomas Jefferson was unveiled, the Museum of Westward Expansion was previewed, a theater under the Arch was dedicated in honor of Mayor Raymond Tucker and the catenary-like curving staircases from the Arch down to the levee were built."


title: Gateway Arch

text: Both the width and height of the arch are . The arch is the tallest memorial in the United States and the tallest stainless steel monument in the world.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The cross-sections of the arch's legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from per side at the bases to per side at the top. Each wall consists of a stainless steel skin covering a sandwich of two carbon-steel walls with reinforced concrete in the middle from ground level to , with carbon steel to the peak. The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The structural load is supported by a stressed-skin design. Each leg is embedded in of concrete thick and deep. of the foundation is in bedrock. The arch is resistant to earthquakes and is designed to sway up to in either direction, while withstanding winds up to . The structure weighs , of which concrete composes ; structural steel interior, ; and the 6.3mm thick grade 304 stainless steel panels that cover the exterior of the arch, . This amount of stainless steel is the most used in any one project in history. The base of each leg at ground level had to have an engineering tolerance of or the two legs would not meet at the top.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The geometric form of the structure was set by mathematical equations provided to Saarinen by Hannskarl Bandel. Bruce Detmers and other architects expressed the geometric form in blueprints with this equation:


title: Gateway Arch

text: where "f" = is the maximum height of centroid, "Q" = is the maximum cross sectional area of arch at base, "Q" = is the minimum cross sectional area of arch at top, and "L" = is the half width of centroid at the base. The triangular cross sectional area varies linearly with the vertical height of its centroid.


title: Gateway Arch

text: This hyperbolic cosine function describes the shape of a catenary. A chain that supports only its own weight forms a catenary; the chain is purely in tension. Likewise, an inverted catenary arch that supports only its own weight is purely in compression, with no shear. The catenary arch is the stablest of all arches since the thrust passes through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, instead of forcing the legs apart. The Gateway Arch itself is not a common catenary, but a more general curve of the form "y"="A"cosh ("Bx"). This makes it an "inverted weighted catenary." Saarinen chose a weighted catenary over a normal catenary curve because it looked less pointed and less steep. In 1959, he caused some confusion about the actual shape of the arch when he wrote, "This arch is not a true parabola, as is often stated. Instead it is a catenary curve—the curve of a hanging chain—a curve in which the forces of thrust are continuously kept within the center of the legs of the arch." William V. Thayer, a professor of mathematics at St. Louis Community College, later wrote to the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" calling attention to the fact that the structure was a weighted catenary.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The first proposal to illuminate the arch at night was announced on May 18, 1966, but the plan never came to fruition. In July 1998, funding for an arch lighting system was approved by St. Louis's Gateway Foundation, which agreed to take responsibility for the cost of the equipment, its installation, and its upkeep. In January 1999, MSNBC arranged a temporary lighting system for the arch so the monument could be used as the background for a visit by Pope John Paul II. Since November 2001, the arch has been bathed in white light between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. via a system of floodlights. Designed by Randy Burkett, it comprises 44 lighting fixtures situated in four pits just below ground level.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On October 5, 2004, the U.S. Senate, at the pressing of Senators Jim Talent and Kit Bond, approved a bill permitting the illumination in pink of the arch in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Both Estee Lauder and May Department Store Co. had championed the cause. One employee said that the arch would be a "beacon  ... for the importance of prevention and finding a cure." While the National Park Service took issue with the plan due to the precedent it would set for prospective uses of the arch, it yielded due to a realization that it and Congress were "on the same team" and because the illumination was legally obligatory; on October 25, the plan was carried out. The previous time the arch was illuminated for promotional purposes was on September 12, 1995, under the management of local companies Fleishman-Hillard and Technical Productions when a rainbow spectrum was shone on the arch to publicize the debut of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' "Wizard of Oz on Ice" at the Kiel Center.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In April 1965, three million tourists were expected to visit the arch annually after completion; 619,763 tourists visited the top of the arch in its first year open. On January 15, 1969, a visitor from Nashville, Tennessee, became the one-millionth person to reach the observation area; the ten-millionth person ascended to the top on August 24, 1979. In 1974, the arch was ranked fourth on a list of "most-visited man-made attraction[s]". The Gateway Arch is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world with over four million visitors annually, of which around one million travel to the top. The arch was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1987, and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On December 8, 2009, sponsored by nonprofit CityArchRiver2015, the international design competition "Framing a Modern Masterpiece: The City + The Arch + The River 2015" commenced. It aimed to "design a plan to improve the riverfront park landscape, ease access for pedestrians across Memorial Drive and expand onto the East St. Louis riverfront," as well as to attract visitors. The contest consisted of three stages—portfolio assessment (narrowed down to 8–10 teams), team interviews (narrowed down to 4–5 teams), and review of design proposals. The competition received 49 applicants, which were narrowed down to five in the first two stages. On August 17, 2010, the designs of the five finalists were revealed to the public and exhibited at the theater below the arch. On August 26, the finalists made their cases to an eight-member jury, and on September 21, the winner was revealed—Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The initiative's plans include updating Kiener Plaza and the Old Courthouse, connecting the city to the Arch grounds with a park over Interstate 70, a re-imagined museum and improved accessibility. The budget for the project is $380 million and was set to be completed in 2018.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Ground broke on the "Park over the Highway" project, the first component of the CityArchRiver project, on August 2, 2013. This project features a landscaped structure over Interstate 70 and rerouted surface traffic that had previously formed a moat separating the Gateway Arch from the Old Courthouse. This project was completed in December 2014.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The underground visitor center for the arch was designed as part of the National Park Service's Mission 66 program. The center is located directly below the arch, between its legs. Although construction on the visitor center began at the same time as construction for the arch itself, it did not conclude until 1976 because of insufficient funding; however, the center opened with several exhibits on June 10, 1967. Access to the visitor center is provided through ramps adjacent to each leg of the arch.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The center houses offices, mechanical rooms, and waiting areas for the arch trams, as well as its main attractions: the Museum of Westward Expansion and two theaters displaying films about the arch. The older theater opened in May 1972; the newer theater, called the Odyssey Theatre, was constructed in the 1990s and features a four-story-tall screen. Its construction required the expansion of the underground complex, and workers had to excavate solid rock while keeping the disruption to a minimum so the museum could remain open. The museum houses several hundred exhibits about the United States' westward expansion in the 19th century and opened on August 10, 1977.


title: Gateway Arch

text: As part of the CityArchRiver project, the visitor center and museum underwent a $176 million expansion and renovation that was completed in July 2018. Once completed, the renovation will include a 46,000-square-foot underground addition featuring interactive story galleries, video walls, a fountain and a cafe.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Near the top of the Arch, passengers exit the tram compartment and climb a slight grade to enter the observation area. This arched deck, which is over long and wide, can hold up to about 160 people, equivalent to the number of people from four trams. Sixteen windows per side, each measuring , offer views up to to the east across the Mississippi River and southern Illinois with its prominent Mississippian culture mounds at Cahokia Mounds and to the west over the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County beyond.


title: Gateway Arch

text: There are three modes of transportation up the arch: two sets of 1,076-step emergency stairs (one per leg), a 12-passenger elevator to the height, and a tram in each leg.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Each tram is a chain of eight cylindrical, five-seat compartments with a small window on the doors. As each tram has a capacity of 40 passengers and there are two trams, 80 passengers can be transported at one time, with trams departing from the ground every 10 minutes. The cars swing like Ferris-wheel cars as they ascend and descend the arch. This fashion of movement gave rise to the idea of the tram as "half-Ferris wheel and half-elevator." The trip to the top takes four minutes, and the trip down takes three minutes.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Because of a lack of funds in March 1962, the NPS did not accept bids for the arch's internal train system and considered discarding the idea. In May 1962, the Bi-State Development Agency proposed that it issue revenue bonds to obtain the required funds. The Department of the Interior and Bi-State entered into an agreement where Bi-State would construct and operate the tram. Bi-State would have to raise $1,977,750 for the construction of the tram system. It retired the bonds by setting a $1 riding fee to the top.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Bi-State put in $3.3 million revenue bonds and has operated the tram system since. The tram in the north leg entered operation in June 1967, but visitors were forced to endure three-hour-long waits until April 21, 1976, when a reservation system was put in place. The south tram was completed by March 1968. Commemorative pins were awarded to the first 100,000 passengers. As of 2007, the trams have traveled , conveying more than 25 million passengers.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On July 8, 1970, a six-year-old boy, his mother, and two of her friends were trapped in a tram in the arch's south leg after the monument closed. According to the boy's mother, the group went up the arch around 9:30 p.m. CDT, but when the tram reached the de-boarding area, its doors did not open. The tram then reportedly traveled up to a storage area above the ground, and the power was switched off. One person was able to pry open the tram door and the four managed to reach a security guard for help after being trapped for about 45 minutes.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On July 21, 2007, a broken cable forced the south tram to be shut down, leaving only the north tram in service until repairs were completed in March 2008. Around 200 tourists were stuck inside the arch for about three hours because the severed cable contacted a high-voltage rail, causing a fuse to blow. The north tram was temporarily affected by the power outage as well, but some passengers were able to exit the arch through the emergency stairs and elevator. It was about two hours until all the tram riders safely descended, while those in the observation area at the time of the outage had to wait an additional hour before being able to travel back down. An arch official said the visitors, most of whom stayed calm during the ordeal, were not in any danger and were later given refunds. The incident occurred while visitors in the arch were watching a fireworks display, and no one was seriously injured in the event. However, two people received medical treatment; one person needed oxygen and the other was diabetic. Almost immediately after the tram returned to service in 2008, however, it was closed again for new repairs after an electrical switch broke. The incident, which occurred on March 14, was billed as a "bad coincidence."


title: Gateway Arch

text: On the morning of February 9, 2011, a National Park Service worker was injured while performing repairs on the south tram. The 55-year-old was working on the tram's electrical system when he was trapped between it and the arch wall for around 30 seconds, until being saved by other workers. Emergency officials treated the injured NPS employee at the arch's top before taking him to Saint Louis University Hospital in a serious condition.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On March 24, 2011, around one hundred visitors were stranded in the observation area for 45 minutes after the doors of the south tram refused to close. The tourists were safely brought down the arch in the north tram, which had been closed that week so officials could upgrade it with a new computer system. The National Park Service later attributed the malfunction to a computer glitch associated with the new system, which had already been implemented with the south tram. No one was hurt in the occurrence.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Around 2:15 p.m. local time on June 16, 2011, the arch's north tram stalled due to a power outage. The tram became stuck about from the observation deck, and passengers eventually were told to climb the stairs to the observation area. It took National Park Service workers about one hour to manually pull the tram to the top, and the 40 trapped passengers were able to return down on the south tram, which had previously not been operating that day because there was not an abundance of visitors. An additional 120 people were at the observation deck at the time of the outage and also exited via the south tram. During the outage, visitors were stuck in the tram with neither lighting nor air conditioning. No one was seriously injured in the incident, but one visitor lost consciousness after suffering a panic attack, and a park ranger was taken away with minor injuries. The cause of the outage was not immediately known.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On June 16, 1965, the Federal Aviation Administration cautioned that aviators who flew through the arch would be fined and their licenses revoked. At least ten pilots have disobeyed this order, beginning on June 22, 1966.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1973, Nikki Caplan was granted an FAA exception to fly a hot air balloon between the arch's legs as part of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race. During the flight, on which the St. Louis park director was a passenger, the balloon hit the arch and plummeted 70 feet before recovering.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1976, a U.S. Army exhibition skydiving team was permitted to fly through the arch as part of Fourth of July festivities, and since then, numerous skydiving exhibition teams have legally jumped onto the Arch grounds, after having flown their parachutes through the legs of the Arch.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The arch has been a target of various stunt performers, and while such feats are generally forbidden, several people have parachuted to or from the arch regardless. In June 1980, the National Park Service declined a request by television producers to have a performer jump from the arch; a similar appeal by stuntman Dan Koko was also turned away in February 1986. Koko, who was a stunt double for "Superman", wanted to perform the leap during Fourth of July celebrations. In 2013 Alexander Polli, a European BASE jumper, planned to fly a wingsuit under the arch but had his demo postponed by the FAA.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On November 22, 1980, at about 8:45 a.m. CST, 33-year-old Kenneth Swyers of Overland, Missouri, parachuted onto the top of the arch. His plan was to release his main parachute and then jump off the arch using his reserve parachute to perform a base jump. Unfortunately, after landing the wind blew him to the side, and he slid down the north leg to his death. The accident was witnessed by several people, including Swyers' wife, also a parachutist. She said her husband "was not a hot dog, daredevil skydiver" and that he had prepared for the jump two weeks in advance. Swyers, who had made over 1,600 jumps before the incident, was reported by one witness to have "landed very well" on the top of the arch, but "had no footing." Swyers was reportedly blown to the top of the arch by the wind and was unable to save himself when his reserve parachute failed to deploy. The Federal Aviation Administration said the jump was unauthorized and investigated the pilot involved in the incident.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On December 27, 1980, St. Louis television station KTVI reported receiving calls from supposed witnesses of another stunt landing. The alleged parachutist, who claimed to be a retired professional stuntman, was said to be wearing a Santa Claus costume when he jumped off an airplane around 8:00 a.m. CST, parachuted onto the arch, grasped the monument's beacon, and used the same parachute to glide down unharmed. KTVI said it was told the feat was done as an act of homage to Swyers, and "apparently was a combination of a dare, a drunk, and a tribute." On the day after the alleged incident, authorities declared the jump a hoax. A spokesperson for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said no calls were received about the jump until after it was broadcast on the news, and the Federal Aviation Administration said the two calls it had received were very similar. One caller also left an out-of-service phone number, while the other never followed up with investigators. Arch officials said they did not witness any such jump, and photos provided by the alleged parachutist were unclear.


title: Gateway Arch

text: On September 14, 1992, 25-year-old John C. Vincent climbed to the top of the Gateway Arch using suction cups and proceeded to parachute back to the ground. He was later charged with two misdemeanors: climbing a national monument and parachuting in a national park. Federal prosecutor Stephen Higgins called the act a "great stunt" but said it was "something the Park Service doesn't take lightly." Vincent, a construction worker and diver from Harvey, Louisiana, said he did it "just for the excitement, just for the thrill," and had previously parachuted off the World Trade Center in May 1991. He said that scaling the arch "wasn't that hard" and that he had considered a jump off the monument for a few months. In an interview, Vincent said he visited the arch's observation area a month before the stunt, to see if he could use a maintenance hatch for accessing the monument's peak. Due to the heavy security, he instead decided to climb up the arch's exterior using suction cups, which he had used before to scale shorter buildings. Dressed in black, Vincent began crawling up the arch around 3:30 a.m. CST on September 14 and arrived undetected at the top around 5:45 a.m., taking an additional 75 minutes to rest and take photos before finally jumping. During this time, he was seen by two traffic reporters inside the One Metropolitan Square skyscraper.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Vincent was also spotted mid-air by Deryl Stone, a Chief Ranger for the National Park Service. Stone reported seeing Vincent grab his parachute after landing and run to a nearby car, which quickly drove away. However, authorities were able to detain two men on the ground who had been videotaping the jump. Stone said 37-year-old Ronald Carroll and 27-year-old Robert Weinzetl, both St. Louis residents, were found with a wireless communication headset and a video camera, as well as a still camera with a telephoto lens. The two were also charged with two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct and commercial photography in a national park. Vincent later turned himself in and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. However, he eventually accepted a guilty plea deal in which he testified against Carroll and Weinzetl, revealing that the two consented to record the jump during a meeting of all three on the day before his stunt occurred. Federal magistrate judge David D. Noce ruled on January 28, 1993, that Carroll had been involved in a conspiracy and was guilty of both misdemeanor charges; the charges against Weinzetl were dropped by federal prosecutors. In his decision, Noce stated, "There are places in our country where the sufficiently skilled can savor the exhilaration and personal satisfaction of accomplishing courageous and intrepid acts, of reaching dreamed-of heights and for coursing dangerous adventures," but added that other places are designed for "the exhilaration of mere observation and for the appreciation of the imaginings and the works of others. The St. Louis Arch and the grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial are in the latter category."


title: Gateway Arch

text: After his guilty plea, Vincent was sentenced to a $1,000 fine, 25 hours of community service, and a year's probation. In December 1992, Vincent was sentenced to ninety days in jail for violating his probation.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Two years after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, a little over $1 million was granted to institute a counterterrorism program. Park officials were trained to note the activity of tourists, and inconspicuous electronic detection devices were installed. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, security efforts became more prominent and security checkpoints moved to the entrance of the visitor center. At the checkpoints, visitors are screened by magnetometers and x-ray equipment, devices which have been in place since 1997.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The Arch also became one of several U.S. monuments placed under restricted airspace during 2002 Fourth of July celebrations. In 2003, , , movable Jersey barriers were installed to impede terrorist attacks on the arch. Later that year, it was announced that these walls were to be replaced by concrete posts encased in metal to be more harmonious with the steel color of the arch. The movable bollards can be manipulated from the park's dispatch center, which has also been upgraded.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 2006, arch officials hired a "physical security specialist," replacing a law enforcement officer. The responsibilities of the specialist include risk assessment, testing the park's security system, increasing security awareness of other employees, and working with other government agencies to improve the arch's security procedures.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, the arch typifies "the pioneer spirit of the men and women who won the West, and those of a latter day to strive on other frontiers." The arch has become the iconic image of St. Louis, appearing in many parts of city culture. In 1968, three years after the monument's opening, the St. Louis phone directory contained 65 corporations with "Gateway" in their title and 17 with "Arch". Arches also appeared over gas stations and drive-in restaurants. In the 1970s, a local sports team adopted the name "Fighting Arches"; St. Louis Community College would later (when consolidating all athletic programs under a single banner) name its sports teams "Archers". Robert S. Chandler, an NPS superintendent, said, "Most [visitors] are awed by the size and scale of the Arch, but they don't understand what it's all about ... Too many people see it as just a symbol of the city of St. Louis."


title: Gateway Arch

text: The arch has also appeared as a symbol of the State of Missouri. On November 22, 2002, at the Missouri State Capitol, Lori Hauser Holden, wife of then Governor Bob Holden uncovered the winning design for a Missouri coin design competition as part of the Fifty States Commemorative Coin Program. Designed by watercolorist Paul Jackson, the coin portrays "three members of the Lewis and Clark expedition paddling a boat on the Missouri River upon returning to St. Louis" with the arch as the backdrop. Holden said that the arch was "a symbol for the entire state ... Four million visitors each year see the Arch. [The coin] will help make it even more loved worldwide."


title: Gateway Arch

text: Louchheim wrote that although the arch "has a simplicity which should guarantee timeliness", it is entirely modern as well because of the innovative design and its scientific considerations. In "The Dallas Morning News", architectural critic David Dillon opined that the arch exists not as a functional edifice but as a symbol of "boundless American optimism". He articulates the arch's multiple "moods"—"reflective in sunlight, soft and pewterish in mist; crisp as a line drawing one moment, chimerical the next"—as a way the arch has "paid for itself many times over in wonder".


title: Gateway Arch

text: Some have questioned whether St. Louis really was—as Saarinen said—the "Gateway to the West". Kansas City-born "deadline poet" Calvin Trillin wrote,


title: Gateway Arch

text: I know you're thinking that there are considerable differences between T.S. Eliot and me. Yes, it is true that he was from St. Louis, which started calling itself the Gateway to the West after Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch was erected, and I'm from Kansas City, where people think of St. Louis not as the Gateway to the West but as the Exit from the East.


title: Gateway Arch

text: With renovations in the 2010s of the visitor center, the message of the arch has been more inclusive in its historic perspective, highlighting the impact of colonialism and particularly Manifest Destiny of American frontierism on the environment, land and people of First Americans, as well as Native Mexicans. Furthermore exhibiting the urban history of the site and the struggle of its people, as well as of its construction workers for more rights, during the civil rights movement era.


title: Gateway Arch

text: Its futuristic style has been seen as a symbol for the automobile age and the surrounding automobile centric urban and interstate infrastructure, promising a technological future of a new accessible frontier. This outlook has seen continuation, lending the Gateway Arch's iconic shape and meaning to the name and logo of the future Lunar Gateway, with its purpose as a gateway to the Moon and Mars.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1966, the arch was given a Special Award for Excellence from the American Institute of Steel Construction for being "an outstanding achievement in technology and aesthetics." On February 9, 1967, the arch received the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of 1967 from the American Society of Civil Engineers. The arch was once among "Travel + Leisure"s unofficial rankings for the most-visited attraction in the world, after Lenin's Tomb, Disney World, Disneyland, and the Eiffel Tower. On February 22, 1990, the arch received the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Twenty-Five Year Award for its "enduring significance that has withstood the test of time." It was declared "a symbolic bridge between East and West, past and future, engineering and art" that "embodies the boundless optimism of a growing nation." In 2007, the arch was ranked fourteenth on the AIA's "America's Favorite Architecture" list.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The first act of vandalism was committed in June 1968: the vandals etched their names on various parts of the arch. In all, $10,000 was spent that year to repair damage from vandalism. The arch was first targeted by graffiti artists on March 5, 1969.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 2010, signs of corrosion were reported at the upper regions of the stainless steel surface. Carbon steel in the north leg has been rusting, possibly a result of water accumulation, a side effect of leaky welds in an environment that often causes rain to enter the skin of the structure. Maintenance workers use mops and a temporary setup of water containers to ease the problem. According to NPS documents, the corrosion and rust pose no safety concerns.


title: Gateway Arch

text: A more comprehensive study of the corrosion had been suggested as early as 2006 by architectural specialists studying the Arch, and reiterated in a 2010 Historic Structure Report. In September 2010, the NPS granted Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. a contract for a structural study that would "gather data about the condition of the Arch to enable experts to develop and implement the right long-term solutions."


title: Gateway Arch

text: Stain samples were taken from the west face of the Arch on October 21, 2014, to determine the best way to clean it. The cleaning will cost about $340,000.


title: Gateway Arch

text: In 1984, structural engineer Tibor Szegezdy told "Smithsonian Magazine" that the Arch could stand "considerably less than a thousand years" before collapsing in a wind storm.


title: Gateway Arch

text: The Brickline Greenway Project is a major public-private partnership that aims to connect Forest Park and the Washington University in St. Louis Danforth Campus to the Gateway Arch grounds. Among the partners leading this project are Great Rivers Greenway, the Arch to Park Collaborative, St. Louis City, and Washington University in St. Louis. The Brickline Greenway was known as the Chouteau Greenway prior to March 10, 2020.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10)

text: The tenth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" began airing on March 22, 2018, on VH1. The premiere was broadcast one week after the finale of the third season of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars", and episodes are to be followed by "RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked". Contestants were officially announced on February 22, 2018, in a teaser trailer during an episode of "All Stars 3" later followed by a special ""Meet the Queens"" live-stream on Facebook, hosted by season nine winner, Sasha Velour. This season saw the return of season 9 contestant Eureka O'Hara who was removed from her original season after tearing her ACL. The prizes for the winner of this season include a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and a cash prize of $100,000. This is the first season in which each episode was 90 minutes long.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10)

text: The theme song played during the runway segment every episode was "Snapshot", and the song played during the closing credits was "Rock It (To The Moon)", both songs from the album Remember Me: Essential, Vol. 1.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10)

text: Much like the previous season, it featured the top four contestants of the season advance to the finale, and feature the "Lip-Sync for the Crown" " where there will be two rounds of lipsyncs and the winner of both lipsyncs will move ahead to the final lipsync and who ever wins the final lipsync will be declared as the winner.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10)

text: The winner of the tenth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" was Aquaria, with Kameron Michaels and Eureka being the runners-up, and Monét X Change being Miss Congeniality.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: The Wannsee Conference (, ) was a meeting of senior government officials of Nazi Germany and "Schutzstaffel" (SS) leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference, called by the director of the Reich Security Main Office SS-"Obergruppenführer" Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the co-operation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to occupied Poland and murdered. Conference participants included representatives from several government ministries, including state secretaries from the Foreign Office, the justice, interior, and state ministries, and representatives from the SS. In the course of the meeting, Heydrich outlined how European Jews would be rounded up and sent to extermination camps in the General Government (the occupied part of Poland), where they would be killed.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Discrimination against Jews began immediately after the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933. Violence and economic pressure were used by the Nazi regime to encourage Jews to voluntarily leave the country. After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the extermination of European Jewry began, and the killings continued and accelerated after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. On 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring gave written authorization to Heydrich to prepare and submit a plan for a "total solution of the Jewish question" in territories under German control and to coordinate the participation of all involved government organisations. At the Wannsee Conference, Heydrich emphasised that once the deportation process was complete, the fate of the deportees would become an internal matter under the purview of the SS. A secondary goal was to arrive at a definition of who was Jewish.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: One copy of the Protocol with circulated minutes of the meeting survived the war. It was found by Robert Kempner in March 1947 among files that had been seized from the German Foreign Office. It was used as evidence in the subsequent Nuremberg trials. The Wannsee House, site of the conference, is now a Holocaust memorial.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Legalized discrimination against Jews in Germany began immediately after the Nazi seizure of power in January 1933. Violence and economic pressure were used by the Nazi regime to encourage Jews to voluntarily leave the country. The ideology of Nazism brought together elements of antisemitism, racial hygiene, and eugenics and combined them with pan-Germanism and territorial expansionism with the goal of obtaining more "Lebensraum" (living space) for the Germanic people. Nazi Germany attempted to obtain this new territory by invading Poland and the Soviet Union, intending to deport or exterminate the Jews and Slavs living there, who were viewed as being inferior to the Aryan master race.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Discrimination against Jews, long-standing, but extra-legal, throughout much of Europe at the time, was codified in Germany immediately after the Nazi seizure of power on 30 January 1933. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, passed on 7 April of that year, excluded most Jews from the legal profession and the civil service. Similar legislation soon deprived other Jews of the right to practise their professions. Violence and economic pressure were used by the regime to force Jews to leave the country. Jewish businesses were denied access to markets, forbidden to advertise in newspapers, and deprived of access to government contracts. Citizens were harassed and subjected to violent attacks and boycotts of their businesses.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were enacted, prohibiting marriages between Jews and people of Germanic extraction, extramarital sexual relations between Jews and Germans, and the employment of German women under the age of 45 as domestic servants in Jewish households. The Reich Citizenship Law stated that only those of German or related blood were defined as citizens; thus, Jews and other minority groups were stripped of their German citizenship. A supplementary decree issued in November defined as Jewish anyone with three Jewish grandparents, or two grandparents if the Jewish faith was followed. By the start of World War II in 1939, around 250,000 of Germany's 437,000 Jews emigrated to the United States, British Mandatory Palestine, Great Britain, and other countries.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: After the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Hitler ordered that the Polish leadership and intelligentsia should be destroyed. The "Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen" (Special Prosecution Book Poland)—lists of people to be killed—had been drawn up by the SS as early as May 1939. The "Einsatzgruppen" (special task forces) performed these murders with the support of the "Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz" (Germanic Self-Protection Group), a paramilitary group consisting of ethnic Germans living in Poland. Members of the SS, the "Wehrmacht" (German Armed Forces), and the "Ordnungspolizei" (Order Police; Orpo) also shot civilians during the Polish campaign. Approximately 65,000 civilians were killed by the end of 1939. In addition to leaders of Polish society, they killed Jews, prostitutes, Romani people, and the mentally ill.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: On 31 July 1941, Hermann Göring gave written authorization to SS-"Obergruppenführer" (Senior Group Leader) Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), to prepare and submit a plan for a "total solution of the Jewish question" in territories under German control and to coordinate the participation of all involved government organisations. The resulting "Generalplan Ost" (General Plan for the East) called for deporting the population of occupied Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Siberia, for use as slave labour or to be murdered. The minutes of the Wannsee Conference estimated the Jewish population of the Soviet Union to be five million, including nearly three million in Ukraine.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: In addition to eliminating Jews, the Nazis also planned to reduce the population of the conquered territories by 30 million people through starvation in an action called the Hunger Plan devised by Herbert Backe. Food supplies would be diverted to the German army and German civilians. Cities would be razed and the land allowed to return to forest or resettled by German colonists. The objective of the Hunger Plan was to inflict deliberate mass starvation on the Slavic civilian populations under German occupation by directing all food supplies to the German home population and the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. According to the historian Timothy Snyder, "4.2 million Soviet citizens (largely Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians) were starved" by the Nazis (and the Nazi-controlled "Wehrmacht") in 1941–1944 as a result of Backe's plan.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Harvests were poor in Germany in 1940 and 1941 and food supplies were short, as large numbers of forced labourers had been brought into the country to work in the armaments industry. If these workers—as well as the German people—were to be adequately fed, there must be a sharp reduction in the number of "useless mouths", of whom the millions of Jews under German rule were, in the light of Nazi ideology, the most obvious example.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: At the time of the Wannsee Conference, the killing of Jews in the Soviet Union had already been underway for some months. Right from the start of Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union—"Einsatzgruppen" were assigned to follow the army into the conquered areas and round up and kill Jews. In a letter dated 2 July 1941, Heydrich communicated to his SS and police leaders that the "Einsatzgruppen" were to execute Comintern officials, ranking members of the Communist Party, extremist and radical Communist Party members, people's commissars, and Jews in party and government posts. Open-ended instructions were given to execute "other radical elements (saboteurs, propagandists, snipers, assassins, agitators, etc.)". He instructed that any pogroms spontaneously initiated by the occupants of the conquered territories were to be quietly encouraged. On 8 July, he announced that all Jews were to be regarded as partisans, and gave the order for all male Jews between the ages of 15 and 45 to be shot. By August the net had been widened to include women, children, and the elderly—the entire Jewish population. By the time planning was underway for the Wannsee Conference, hundreds of thousands of Polish, Serbian, and Russian Jews had already been killed. The initial plan was to implement "Generalplan Ost" after the conquest of the Soviet Union. European Jews would be deported to occupied parts of Russia, where they would be worked to death in road-building projects.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: On 29 November 1941, Heydrich sent invitations for a ministerial conference to be held on 9 December at the offices of Interpol at "Am Kleinen Wannsee 16". He changed the venue on 4 December to the eventual location of the meeting. He enclosed a copy of a letter from Göring dated 31 July that authorised him to plan a so-called Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The ministries to be represented were Interior, Justice, the Four Year Plan, Propaganda, and the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Between the date the invitations to the conference went out (29 November) and the date of the cancelled first meeting (9 December), the situation changed. On 5 December 1941, the Soviet Army began a counter-offensive in front of Moscow, ending the prospect of a rapid conquest of the Soviet Union. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, causing the U.S. to declare war on Japan the next day. The Reich government declared war on the U.S. on 11 December. Some invitees were involved in these preparations, so Heydrich postponed his meeting. Somewhere around this time, Hitler resolved that the Jews of Europe were to be exterminated immediately, rather than after the war, which now had no end in sight. At the Reich Chancellery meeting of 12 December 1941 he met with top party officials and made his intentions plain. On 18 December, Hitler discussed the fate of the Jews with Himmler in the "Wolfsschanze". Following the meeting, Himmler made a note on his service calendar, which simply stated: "Jewish question/to be destroyed as partisans".


title: Wannsee Conference

text: The war was still ongoing, and since transporting masses of people into a combat zone was impossible, Heydrich decided that the Jews currently living in the General Government (the German-occupied area of Poland) would be killed in extermination camps set up in occupied areas of Poland, as would Jews from the rest of Europe.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: On 8 January 1942, Heydrich sent new invitations to a meeting to be held on 20 January. The venue for the rescheduled conference was a villa at "Am Großen Wannsee 56–58", overlooking the Großer Wannsee. The villa had been purchased from Friedrich Minoux in 1940 by the "Sicherheitsdienst" (Security Force; SD) for use as a conference centre and guest house.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Heydrich invited representatives from several government ministries, including state secretaries from the Foreign Office, the Justice, Interior, and State Ministries, and representatives from the SS. The process of disseminating information about the fate of the Jews was already well underway by the time the meeting was held. Of the 15 officials who attended the conference, 8 held academic doctorates. Shorthand notes for the minutes were taken by Eichmann's secretary, Ingeburg Werlemann, and the minutes were later written by Eichmann in consultation with Heydrich.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: In preparation for the conference, Eichmann drafted a list of the total numbers of Jews in the various European countries. Countries were listed in two groups, "A" and "B". "A" countries were those under direct Reich control or occupation (or partially occupied and quiescent, in the case of Vichy France); "B" countries were allied or client states, neutral, or at war with Germany. The numbers reflect the estimated Jewish population within each country; for example, Estonia is listed as "Judenfrei" (free of Jews), since the 4,500 Jews who remained in Estonia after the German occupation had been exterminated by the end of 1941. Occupied Poland was not on the list because by 1939 the country was split three ways among Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany in the west, the territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union in the east, and the General Government where many Polish and Jewish expellees had already been resettled.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Heydrich opened the conference with an account of the anti-Jewish measures taken in Germany since the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. He said that between 1933 and October 1941, 537,000 German, Austrian, and Czech Jews had emigrated. This information was taken from a briefing paper prepared for him the previous week by Eichmann.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Heydrich reported that there were approximately eleven million Jews in the whole of Europe, of whom half were in countries not under German control. He explained that since further Jewish emigration had been prohibited by Himmler, a new solution would take its place: "evacuating" Jews to the east. This would be a temporary solution, a step towards the "final solution of the Jewish question".


title: Wannsee Conference

text: German historian Peter Longerich notes that vague orders couched in terminology that had a specific meaning for members of the regime were common, especially when people were being ordered to carry out criminal activities. Leaders were given briefings about the need to be "severe" and "firm"; all Jews were to be viewed as potential enemies that had to be dealt with ruthlessly. The wording of the Wannsee Protocol—the distributed minutes of the meeting—made it clear to participants that evacuation east was a euphemism for death.


title: Wannsee Conference

text: Heydrich went on to say that in the course of the "practical execution of the final solution", Europe would be "combed through from west to east", but that Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia would have priority, "due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities". This was a reference to increasing pressure from the Gauleiters (regional Nazi Party leaders) in Germany for the Jews to be removed from their areas to allow accommodation for Germans made homeless by Allied bombing, as well as to make space for laborers being imported from occupied countries. The "evacuated" Jews, he said, would first be sent to "transit ghettos" in the General Government, from which they would be transported eastward. Heydrich said that to avoid legal and political difficulties, it was important to define who was a Jew for the purposes of "evacuation". He outlined categories of people who would not be killed. Jews over 65 years old, and Jewish World War I veterans who had been severely wounded or who had won the Iron Cross, might be sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp instead of being killed. "With this expedient solution", he said, "in one fell swoop, many interventions will be prevented."


title: Wannsee Conference

text: The situation of people who were half or quarter Jews, and of Jews who were married to non-Jews, was more complex. Under the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, their status had been left deliberately ambiguous. Heydrich announced that "Mischlinge" (mixed-race persons) of the first degree (persons with two Jewish grandparents) would be treated as Jews. This would not apply if they were married to a non-Jew and had children by that marriage. It would also not apply if they had been granted written exemption by "the highest offices of the Party and State". Such persons would be sterilised or deported if they refused sterilisation. A ""Mischling" of the second degree" (a person with one Jewish grandparent) would be treated as German, unless he or she was married to a Jew or a "Mischling" of the first degree, had a "racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew", or had a "political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew". Persons in these latter categories would be killed even if married to non-Jews. In the case of mixed marriages, Heydrich recommended that each case should be evaluated individually, and the impact on any German relatives assessed. If such a marriage had produced children who were being raised as Germans, the Jewish partner would not be killed. If they were being raised as Jews, they might be killed or sent to an old-age ghetto. These exemptions applied only to German and Austrian Jews, and were not always observed even for them. In most of the occupied countries, Jews were rounded up and killed "en masse", and anyone who lived in or identified with the Jewish community in any given place was regarded as a Jew.