title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In the aftermath of allied victory in the Gulf War, Bush was widely considered to be likely to win re-election, but Clinton defeated Bush in large part by focusing on the economy. Despite his defeat, Bush left office with a 56 percent job approval rating, and he remained popular with the public until his death in 2018. Historians generally view Bush as a passive, hands-off president who was "successful in foreign affairs but a disappointment in domestic affairs." In polls of historians and political scientists, Bush is generally ranked as an average or above-average president.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Having served in various government positions, particularly the position of Director of the CIA, Bush sought the presidential nomination in the 1980 Republican primaries. He was defeated by Ronald Reagan, a conservative former governor from California. Seeking to balance the ticket with an ideological moderate, Reagan selected Bush as his running mate. Reagan triumphed over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election, and Bush took office as vice president in 1981. Bush enjoyed warm relations with Reagan, and the vice president served as an important adviser and made numerous public appearances on behalf of the Reagan administration.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush entered the 1988 Republican presidential primaries in October 1987. He promised to provide "steady, experienced leadership", and Reagan privately supported his candidacy. Bush's major rivals for the Republican nomination were Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, Congressman Jack Kemp of New York, and Christian televangelist Pat Robertson. Though considered the early front-runner for the nomination, Bush came in third in the Iowa caucus, behind Dole and Robertson. Due in part to a financial advantage over Dole, Bush rebounded with a victory in the New Hampshire primary, then won South Carolina and 16 of the 17 states holding a primary on Super Tuesday. Bush's competitors dropped out of the race soon after Super Tuesday.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush, occasionally criticized for his lack of eloquence when compared to Reagan, delivered a well-received speech at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Known as the "thousand points of light" speech, it described Bush's vision of America: he endorsed the Pledge of Allegiance, prayer in schools, capital punishment, and gun rights. Bush also pledged that he would not raise taxes, stating: "Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again. And all I can say to them is: read my lips. No new taxes." Bush selected little-known Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his running mate. Though Quayle had compiled an unremarkable record in Congress, he was popular among many conservatives, and the campaign hoped that Quayle's youth would appeal to younger voters.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: While Bush won a swift victory in the Republican primaries, many in the press referred to the Democratic presidential candidates as the "Seven Dwarfs" due to a lack of notable party leaders in the field. Senator Ted Kennedy and Governor Mario Cuomo both declined to enter the race, while the campaigns of former Senator Gary Hart and Senator Joe Biden both ended in controversy. Ultimately, Governor Michael Dukakis, known for presiding over an economic turnaround in Massachusetts, emerged as the Democratic presidential nominee, defeating Jesse Jackson, Al Gore, and several other candidates. Leading in the polls, Dukakis launched a low-risk campaign that proved ineffective. Under the direction of strategist Lee Atwater, the Bush campaign attacked Dukakis as an unpatriotic liberal extremist. The campaign seized on Willie Horton, a convicted felon from Massachusetts who had raped a woman while on a prison furlough; the Bush campaign charged that Dukakis presided over a "revolving door" that allowed dangerous convicted felons to leave prison. Dukakis damaged his own campaign with a widely mocked ride in an M1 Abrams tank and a poor performance at the second presidential debate.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush defeated Dukakis by a margin of 426 to 111 in the Electoral College, and he took 53.4 percent of the national popular vote. Bush ran well in all the major regions of the country, but especially in the South. He became the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836, as well as the first person to succeed a president from his own party via election since Herbert Hoover in 1929. In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush was inaugurated on January 20, 1989, succeeding Ronald Reagan. He entered office at a period of change in the world; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Soviet Union came in his presidency. In his inaugural address, Bush said:


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush would go on to describe his vision of the nation, saying:America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work and sacrifice?


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it. What do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship?


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush's first major appointment was that of James Baker as Secretary of State; Baker was Bush's closest friend and had served as Reagan's White House Chief of Staff. Bush's first pick for Defense Secretary, John Tower, was rejected by the Senate, becoming the first cabinet nominee of an incoming president to be rejected. Leadership of the Department of Defense instead went to Dick Cheney, who had had previously served as Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff and would later serve as vice president under George W. Bush. Kemp joined the administration as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, while Elizabeth Dole, the wife of Bob Dole and a former Secretary of Transportation, became the Secretary of Labor under Bush. Bush retained several Reagan officials, including Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas F. Brady, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, and Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Like most of his predecessors since Richard Nixon, Bush concentrated executive power in the Executive Office of the President. New Hampshire Governor John H. Sununu, a strong supporter of Bush during the 1988 campaign, became chief of staff. Sununu would oversee the administration's domestic policy until his resignation in 1991. Richard Darman, who had previously served in the Treasury Department, became the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Brent Scowcroft was appointed as the National Security Advisor, a role he had also held under Ford. In the aftermath of the Reagan era Iran–Contra affair, Bush and Scowcroft reorganized the National Security Council, vesting power in it as an important policy-making body. Scowcroft's deputy, Robert Gates, emerged as an influential member of the National Security Council. Another important foreign policy adviser was General Colin Powell, a former National Security Advisor who Bush selected as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Beginning mid-May 1991, several damaging stories about Sununu, many of them involving taxpayer funded trips on air force jets, surfaced. Bush was reluctant to dismiss Sununu until December 1991, when Sununu was forced to resign. Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner, who earned plaudits for his handling of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, replaced Sununu as chief of staff. Clayton Yeutter also joined the administration as a Counselor to the President for domestic policy. Baker became chief of staff in August 1992 and was succeeded as Secretary of State by Lawrence Eagleburger.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Vice President Quayle enjoyed warm relations with Bush, and he served as a liaison to conservative members of Congress. However, his influence did not rival that of leading staffers and cabinet members like Baker and Sununu. Quayle was often mocked for his verbal gaffes, and opinion polls taken in mid-1992 showed him to be the least popular vice president since Spiro Agnew. Some Republicans urged Bush to dump Quayle from the ticket in 1992, but Bush decided that picking a new running mate would be a mistake.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush appointed two justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1990, Bush appointed a largely unknown state appellate judge, David Souter, to replace liberal icon William Brennan. Souter had come under consideration for the Supreme Court vacancy through the efforts of Chief of Staff Sununu, a fellow native of New Hampshire. Souter was easily confirmed and served until 2009, but joined the liberal bloc of the court, disappointing Bush. In 1991, Bush nominated conservative federal judge Clarence Thomas to succeed Thurgood Marshall, a long-time liberal stalwart. Thomas, the former head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), faced heavy opposition in the Senate, as well as from pro-choice groups and the NAACP. His nomination faced another difficulty when Anita Hill accused Thomas of having sexually harassed her during his time as the chair of EEOC. Thomas won confirmation in a narrow 52–48 vote; 43 Republicans and 9 Democrats voted to confirm Thomas's nomination, while 46 Democrats and 2 Republicans voted against confirmation. Thomas became one of the most conservative justices of his era, who would go on to contribute to landmark Supreme Court decisions, such as "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization" (2022).


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush sent candidates selected by the Justice Department to the Senate, including 42 judges to the United States courts of appeals, and 148 judges to the United States district courts. Among these appointments were future Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, as well as Vaughn R. Walker, who was later revealed to be the earliest known gay federal judge. Bush also experienced a number of judicial appointment controversies, as 11 nominees for 10 federal appellate judgeships were not processed by the Democratically controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Nonetheless, by the end of Bush's tenure, Republican appointees made up a majority of the membership of each of the thirteen federal appeals courts.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: During the 1980s, the U.S. had supplied aid to Manuel Noriega, an anti-Communist dictator of Panama who engaged in drug trafficking. In May 1989, Noriega annulled the results of a democratic presidential election. Bush objected to the annulment of the election and worried about the status of the Panama Canal with Noriega still in office. Overcoming massive public protests and an attempted coup, Noriega had staying power. Noriega would go on to declare that a state of war existed between Panama and the United States. After an American serviceman was killed by Noriega forces in December 1989, Bush ordered 24,000 troops into the country with an objective of removing Noriega from power. The United States invasion of Panama, known as "Operation Just Cause", was the first large-scale American military operation in more than 40 years that was not related to the Cold War. American forces quickly took control of the Panama Canal Zone and Panama City. Noriega surrendered on January 3, and was quickly transported for trial in the United States. Twenty-three Americans died in the operation, while another 394 were wounded. Noriega was convicted and imprisoned on racketeering and drug trafficking charges in April 1992. Historian Stewart Brewer argues that the invasion "represented a new era in American foreign policy" because Bush did not justify the invasion under the Monroe Doctrine or the threat of Communism, but rather on the grounds that it was in the best interests of the United States.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had eased Cold War tensions during Reagan's second term, but Bush was initially skeptical of Soviet intentions. During the first year of his tenure, Bush pursued what Soviets referred to as the "pauza", a break in Reagan's détente policies. While Bush implemented his "pauza" policy in 1989, Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe challenged Soviet domination. In 1989, Communist governments fell in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, while the governments of Bulgaria and Romania instituted major reforms. In November 1989, the government of East Germany opened the Berlin Wall, and it was subsequently demolished by gleeful Berliners. Many Soviet leaders urged Gorbachev to crush the dissidents in Eastern Europe, but Gorbachev declined to send in the Soviet military, effectively abandoning the Brezhnev Doctrine. The U.S. was not directly involved in these upheavals, but the Bush administration avoided the appearance of gloating over the demise of the Eastern Bloc to avoid undermining further democratic reforms. Bush also helped convince Polish leaders to allow democratic elections and became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hungary.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: By mid-1989, as unrest blanketed Eastern Europe, Bush requested a meeting with Gorbachev, and the two agreed to hold the December 1989 Malta Summit. After the Malta summit, Bush sought cooperative relations with Gorbachev throughout the remainder of his term, believing that the Soviet leader was the key to peacefully ending the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. The key issue at the Malta Summit was the potential reunification of Germany. While Britain and France were wary of a re-unified Germany, Bush pushed for German reunification alongside West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Gorbachev also resisted the idea of a reunified Germany, especially if it became part of NATO, but the upheavals of the previous year had sapped his power at home and abroad. Gorbachev agreed to hold "Two-Plus-Four" talks among the U.S., the Soviet Union, France, Britain, West Germany, and East Germany, which commenced in 1990. After extensive negotiations, Gorbachev eventually agreed to allow a reunified Germany to be a part of NATO. With the signing of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Germany officially reunified in October 1990.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Though Gorbachev acquiesced to the democratization of Soviet satellite states, he suppressed nationalist movements within the Soviet Union itself. The Soviet Union had occupied and annexed the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the 1940s, and many of the citizens of these nations had never accepted Soviet rule. Lithuania's March 1990 proclamation of independence was strongly opposed by Gorbachev, who feared that the Soviet Union could fall apart if he allowed Lithuania's independence. The United States had never recognized the Soviet incorporation of the Baltic states, and the crisis in Lithuania left Bush in a difficult position. Bush needed Gorbachev's cooperation in the reunification of Germany, and he feared that the collapse of the Soviet Union could leave nuclear arms in dangerous hands. The Bush administration mildly protested Gorbachev's suppression of Lithuania's independence movement, but took no action to directly intervene. Bush warned independence movements of the disorder that could come with secession from the Soviet Union; in a 1991 address that critics labeled the "Chicken Kiev speech", he cautioned against "suicidal nationalism".


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In July 1991, Bush and Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) treaty, the first major arms agreement since the 1987 Intermediate Ranged Nuclear Forces Treaty. Both countries agreed to cut their strategic nuclear weapons by 30 percent, and the Soviet Union promised to reduce its intercontinental ballistic missile force by 50 percent. In August 1991, hard-line Communists launched a coup against Gorbachev; while the coup quickly fell apart, it broke the remaining power of Gorbachev and the central Soviet government. Later that month, Gorbachev resigned as general secretary of the Communist party, and Russian president Boris Yeltsin ordered the seizure of Soviet property. Gorbachev clung to power as the President of the Soviet Union until December 1991, when the Soviet Union dissolved. Fifteen states emerged from the Soviet Union, and of those states, Russia was the largest and most populous. Bush and Yeltsin met in February 1992, declaring a new era of "friendship and partnership". In January 1993, Bush and Yeltsin agreed to START II, which provided for further nuclear arms reductions on top of the original START treaty.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: The Soviet Union and the United States had generally been considered the two superpowers of the Cold War era; with the collapse of the Soviet Union, some began to label the United States as a "hyperpower". Political scientist Francis Fukuyama speculated that humanity had reached the "end of history" in that liberal, capitalist democracy had permanently triumphed over Communism and fascism. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union and other Communist governments led to conflicts in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Africa. The Yugoslav Wars broke out in 1991 as several constituent republics of Yugoslavia sought independence, and the Bush administration supported relief efforts and European-led attempts to broker peace.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, Iraq had invaded Iran in 1980, beginning the Iran–Iraq War, which finally ended in 1988. The U.S. had supported Iraq during that war due to U.S. hostility towards Iran, but Bush decided not to renew loans to Iraq because of Hussein's brutal crack-down on dissent and his threats to attack Israel. Faced with massive debts and low oil prices, Hussein decided to conquer the country of Kuwait, a small, oil-rich country situated on Iraq's southern border.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Bush imposed economic sanctions on Iraq and assembled a multi-national coalition opposed to the invasion. The administration feared that a failure to respond to the invasion would embolden Hussein to attack Saudi Arabia or Israel, and wanted to discourage other countries from similar aggression. Many in the international community agreed; Margaret Thatcher stated that "if Iraq wins, no small state is safe." Bush also wanted to ensure continued access to oil, as Iraq and Kuwait collectively accounted for 20 percent of the world's oil production, and Saudi Arabia produced another 26 percent of the world's oil supply.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In preparation for a military operation against Iraq, the United States transferred thousands of soldiers to Saudi Arabia, and General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. developed an invasion plan. For several weeks, the Bush administration considered the possibility of foregoing the use of force against Iraq, with the hope that economic sanctions and international pressure would eventually convince Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. At Bush's insistence, in November 1990, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution authorizing the use of force if Iraq did not withdrawal from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Gorbachev's support, as well as China's abstention, helped ensure passage of the UN resolution. Bush convinced Britain, France, and other nations to commit soldiers to an operation against Iraq, and he won important financial backing from Germany, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In January 1991, Bush asked Congress to approve a joint resolution authorizing a war against Iraq. Bush believed that the UN resolution had already provided him with the necessary authorization to launch a military operation against Iraq, but he wanted to show that the nation was united behind a military action. Speaking before a joint session of the Congress regarding the authorization of air and land attacks, Bush laid out four immediate objectives: "Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and without condition. Kuwait's legitimate government must be restored. The security and stability of the Persian Gulf must be assured. And American citizens abroad must be protected." He then outlined a fifth, long-term objective: "Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective – a new world order – can emerge: a new era – freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony... A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak." Despite the opposition of a majority of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, Congress approved the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 1991.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: After the January 15 deadline passed without an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait, U.S. and coalition forces began a 39-day bombing of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and other Iraqi positions. The bombing devastated Iraq's power grid and communications network, and resulted in the desertion of about 100,000 Iraqi soldiers. In retaliation, Iraq launched Scud missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, but most of the missiles did little damage. On February 23, coalition forces began a ground invasion into Kuwait, evicting Iraqi forces by the end of February 27. About 300 Americans, as well as approximately 65 soldiers from other coalition nations, died during the military action. A cease fire was arranged on March 3, and the UN passed a resolution establishing a peacekeeping force in a demilitarized zone between Kuwait and Iraq. A March 1991 Gallup poll showed that Bush had an approval rating of 89 percent, the highest presidential approval rating in the history of Gallup polling.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: During the military action, the coalition forces did not pursue Iraqi forces across the border, leaving Hussein and his elite Republican Guard in control of Iraq. Bush explained that he did not give the order to overthrow the Iraqi government because it would have "incurred incalculable human and political costs... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq." His decision not to press the attack remains controversial. As Secretary of Defense Cheney noted, "Once we had rounded Hussein up and gotten rid of his government, then the question is what do you put in his place?" In the aftermath of the war, the Bush administration encouraged rebellions against Iraq, and Kurds and Shia Arabs both rose against Hussein. The U.S. declined to intervene in the rebellion, and Hussein violently suppressed the uprisings. After 1991, the UN maintained economic sanctions against Iraq, and the United Nations Special Commission was assigned to ensure that Iraq did not revive its weapons of mass destruction program.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: One of Bush's priorities was strengthening relations between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Bush had developed a warm relationship with Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping prior to taking office. Despite the personal rapport between Bush and Deng, human rights issues presented a serious challenge to Bush's China policy. In mid-1989, students and other individuals protested in favor of democracy and intellectual freedom across two hundred cities in the PRC. In June 1989, the People's Liberation Army violently suppressed a demonstration in Beijing in what became known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Bush was eager to maintain good relations with the PRC, which had drawn increasingly closer to the United States since the 1970s, but he was outraged by the PRC's handling of the protests. In response to the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the United States imposed economic sanctions and cut military ties. However, Bush also decided that Tiananmen should not interrupt Sino-U.S. relations. Thus he secretly sent special envoy Brent Scowcroft to Beijing to meet with Deng, and, the economic sanctions that had been levied against China were lifted. George Washington University revealed that, through high-level secret channels on 30 June 1989, the US government conveyed to the government of the People's Republic of China that the events around the Tiananmen Square protests were an "internal affair". Fang Lizhi and his wife remained in the US Embassy until 25 June 1990, when they were allowed by Chinese authorities to leave the embassy and board a U.S. Air Force C-135 transport plane to Britain. This resolution partly came about after confidential negotiations between Henry Kissinger, acting on behalf of US President Bush, and Deng. Other factors were a false confession by Fang, an attempted intervention by Scowcroft, and an offer from the Japanese government to resume loans to the PRC in return for the resolution of "the Fang Lizhi problem."


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In 1987, the U.S. and Canada had reached a free trade agreement that eliminated many tariffs between the two countries. President Reagan had intended it as the first step towards a larger trade agreement to eliminate most tariffs among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Mexico had resisted becoming involved in the agreement at the time, but Carlos Salinas de Gortari expressed a willingness to negotiate a free trade agreement after he took office in 1988. The Bush administration, along with the Progressive Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, spearheaded the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico. In addition to lowering tariffs, the proposed treaty would restrict patents, copyrights, and trademarks.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In 1991, Bush sought fast track authority, which grants the president the power to submit an international trade agreement to Congress without the possibility of amendment. Despite congressional opposition led by House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, both houses of Congress voted to grant Bush fast track authority. NAFTA was signed in December 1992, after Bush lost re-election, but President Clinton won ratification of NAFTA in 1993. NAFTA remains controversial for its impact on wages, jobs, and overall economic growth. President Donald Trump denounced NAFTA but signed a new treaty with Canada and Mexico in 2020 that made few changes.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Faced with several issues, Bush refrained from proposing major domestic programs during his tenure. He did, however, make frequent use of the presidential veto, and used the threat of the veto to influence legislation.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: The U.S. economy had generally performed well since emerging from recession in late 1982, but finally slipped into a mild recession in 1990. The unemployment rate rose from 5.9 percent in 1989 to a high of 7.8 percent in mid-1991. A number of highly publicized early layoffs by companies like Aetna led some to call it a "white-collar recession". In point of fact, by late 1991 there had been more than a million blue-collar jobs lost compared to approximately 200,000 white-collar jobs lost for a 5-to-1 ratio. Even so, this was still more of a "white collar" recession by comparison than the early 1980s double-dip recession had been. Explanations for the economic slowdown varied; some Bush supporters blamed Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan for failing to lower interest rates.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: The large federal deficits, spawned during the Reagan years, rose from $152.1 billion in 1989 to $220 billion for 1990; the $220 billion deficit represented a threefold increase since 1980. The chief factors pushing the federal deficit upward going in to 1991 were the weak economy, which was depressing both corporate profits and household incomes, and a bailout for the savings and loans industry, which cost more than $100 billion over multiple years. By the end of 1991, polls showed significant public discontent with Bush's handling of the economy. As the public became increasingly concerned about the economy and other domestic affairs, Bush's well-received handling of foreign affairs became less of an issue for most voters. Several congressional Republicans and economists urged Bush to respond to the recession, but the administration was unable to develop an economic plan.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: As he was opposed to major defense spending cuts and had pledged to not raise taxes, the president had major difficulties in balancing the budget. Bush and congressional leaders agreed to avoid major changes to the budget for fiscal year 1990, which began in October 1989. However, both sides knew that spending cuts or new taxes would be necessary in the following year's budget in order to avoid the draconian automatic domestic spending cuts required by the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Balanced Budget Act.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: The administration engaged in lengthy negotiations for the passage of the fiscal year 1991 budget. In January 1990, Bush submitted his budget for fiscal year 1991; the budget included cuts to defense spending and the capital gains tax. In March, Congressman Dan Rostenkowski put forward the Democratic counter-proposal, which included an increase in the gasoline tax. In a statement released in late June 1990, Bush said that he would be open to a deficit reduction program which included spending cuts, incentives for economic growth, budget process reform, as well as tax increases. To fiscal conservatives in the Republican Party, Bush's statement represented a betrayal, and they heavily criticized him for compromising so early in the negotiations.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In September 1990, Bush and Congressional Democrats announced a compromise to cut funding for mandatory and discretionary programs while also raising revenue, partly through a higher gas tax. The compromise additionally included a "pay as you go" provision that required that new programs be paid for at the time of implementation. Though he had previously promised to support the bill, House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich led the conservative opposition to the bill. Liberals also criticized the budget cuts in the compromise, and in October, the House rejected the deal, resulting in a brief government shutdown. Without the strong backing of the Republican Party, Bush was forced to agree to another compromise bill, this one more favorable to Democrats. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), enacted on October 27, 1990, dropped much of the gasoline tax increase in favor of higher income taxes on top earners. It included cuts to domestic spending, but the cuts were not as deep as those that had been proposed in the original compromise. Bush's decision to sign the bill damaged his standing with conservatives and the general public, but it also laid the groundwork for the budget surpluses of the late 1990s.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Though Bush generally refrained from making major proposals for new domestic programs, he stated his intention to be an education and environmental president. A 1983 report, titled "A Nation at Risk", had raised concern about the quality of the American educational system. Bush proposed the Educational Excellence Act of 1989, a plan to reward high-performing schools with federal grants and provide support for the establishment of magnet schools. Bush's education platform consisted mainly of offering federal support for a variety of innovations, such as open enrollment, incentive pay for outstanding teachers, and rewards for schools that improve performance with underprivileged children. Conservatives, who generally sought to shrink the role of the federal government in education, opposed the bill. Liberals opposed the proposed vouchers for private schools, were wary of the student testing designed to ensure higher educational standards, and favored higher levels of federal spending on educational programs for minorities and the economically disadvantaged. Bush believed that educational costs should primarily be borne by state and local governments, and he did not favor dramatically raising the overall level of federal funding for education. Because of the lack of support from both liberals and conservatives, Congress did not act on his education proposals. Bush later introduced the voluntary "America 2000" program, which sought to rally business leaders and local governments around education reform. Though Bush did not pass a major educational reform package during his presidency, his ideas influenced later reform efforts, including Goals 2000 and the No Child Left Behind Act.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: The disabled had not received legal protections under the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, and many faced discrimination and segregation as Bush took office. In 1988, Lowell P. Weicker Jr. and Tony Coelho had introduced the Americans with Disabilities Act, which barred employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. The bill had passed the Senate but not the House, and it was reintroduced in 1989. Though some conservatives opposed the bill due to its costs and potential burdens on businesses, Bush strongly supported it, partly because his son, Neil, had struggled with dyslexia. After the bill passed both houses of Congress, Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 into law in July 1990. The act required employers and public accommodations to make "reasonable accommodations" for the disabled, while providing an exception when such accommodations imposed an "undue hardship".


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: After the Supreme Court handed down rulings that limited the enforcement of employment discrimination, Senator Ted Kennedy led passage of a civil rights bill designed to facilitate launching employment discrimination lawsuits. In vetoing the bill, Bush argued that it would lead to racial quotas in hiring. Congress failed to override the veto, but re-introduced the bill in 1991. In November 1991, Bush signed the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which was largely similar to the bill he had vetoed in the previous year.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In June 1989, the Bush administration proposed a bill to amend the Clean Air Act. Working with Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, the administration won passage of the amendments over the opposition of business-aligned members of Congress who feared the impact of tougher regulations. The legislation sought to curb acid rain and smog by requiring decreased emissions of chemicals such as sulfur dioxide. The measure was the first major update to the Clean Air Act since 1977. Bush also signed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. However, the League of Conservation Voters criticized some of Bush's other environmental actions, including his opposition to stricter auto-mileage standards.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In 1982, Congress had passed the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, which deregulated savings and loans associations and increased FDIC insurance for savings and loans associations. As the real estate market declined in the late 1980s, hundreds of savings and loans associations collapsed. In February 1989, Bush proposed a $50 billion package to rescue the saving and loans industry, the creation of the Office of Thrift Supervision to regulate the industry, and establishment the Resolution Trust Corporation to liquidate the assets of insolvent companies. Congress passed the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, which incorporated most of Bush's proposals. In the wake of the savings and loan crisis, the Senate Ethics Committee investigated five senators, collectively referred to as the "Keating Five", for allegedly providing improper aid to Charles Keating, the chairman of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: President Bush devoted attention to voluntary service as a means of solving some of America's most serious social problems. He often used the "thousand points of light" theme to describe the power of citizens to solve community problems. In his 1989 inaugural address, President Bush said, "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good." Four years later, in his report to the nation on The Points of Light Movement, President Bush said, "Points of Light are the soul of America. They are ordinary people who reach beyond themselves to touch the lives of those in need, bringing hope and opportunity, care and friendship. By giving so generously of themselves, these remarkable individuals show us not only what is best in our heritage but what all of us are called to become."


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In 1990, the Points of Light Foundation was created as a nonprofit organization in Washington to promote this spirit of volunteerism. In 2007, the Points of Light Foundation merged with the Hands On Network with the goal of strengthening volunteerism, streamlining costs and services and deepening impact. Points of Light, the organization created through this merger, has approximately 250 affiliates in 22 countries and partnerships with thousands of nonprofits and companies dedicated to volunteer service around the world. In 2012, Points of Light mobilized 4 million volunteers in 30 million hours of service worth $635 million.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990, which led to a 40 percent increase in legal immigration to the United States. The bill more than doubled the number of visas given to immigrants on the basis of job skills, and advocates of the bill argued that it would help fill projected labor shortages for various jobs. Bush had opposed an earlier version of the bill that allowed for higher immigration levels, but supported the bill that Congress ultimately presented to him.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush became a member of the National Rifle Association early in 1988 and had campaigned as a "pro-gun" candidate with the NRA's endorsement during the 1988 election. In March 1989, he placed a temporary ban on the import of certain semiautomatic rifles. This action cost him endorsement from the NRA in 1992. In 1995, after leaving office, Bush publicly resigned his life membership in the organization after receiving a form letter from the NRA depicting agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as "jack-booted thugs".


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In the 1989 case of "Texas v. Johnson," the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to criminalize burning the American flag. In response, Bush introduced a constitutional amendment empower Congress to outlaw the desecration of the American flag. Congress did not pass the amendment, but Bush did sign the Flag Protection Act of 1989, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush appointed William Bennett to serve as the first Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, an agency that had been established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. Like Bennett, Bush favored an escalation of the federal role in the "war on drugs", including the deployment of the National Guard to aid local law enforcement.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: As other presidents have done, Bush issued a series of pardons during his last days in office. On December 24, 1992, he granted executive clemency to six former government employees implicated in the Iran–Contra affair of the late 1980s, most prominently former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Bush described Weinberger, who was scheduled to stand trial on January 5, 1993, for criminal charges related to Iran-Contra, as a "true American patriot". In addition to Weinberger, Bush pardoned Duane R. Clarridge, Clair E. George, Robert C. McFarlane, Elliott Abrams, and Alan Fiers, all of whom had been indicted and/or convicted of criminal charges by an Independent Counsel headed by Lawrence Walsh. The pardons effectively brought an end to Walsh's investigation of the Iran-Contra scandal.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush announced his reelection bid in early 1992; with a coalition victory in the Persian Gulf War and high approval ratings, Bush's reelection initially looked likely. Many pundits believed that Democrats were unlikely even to improve on Dukakis's 1988 showing. As a result, many leading Democrats, including Mario Cuomo, Dick Gephardt, and Al Gore, declined to seek their party's presidential nomination. However, Bush's tax increase had angered many conservatives, and he faced a challenge from the right in the 1992 Republican primaries. Conservative political columnist Pat Buchanan rallied the party's right-wing with attacks on Bush's flip-flop on taxes and his support for the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Buchanan shocked observers by finishing a strong second in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. Bush fended off Buchanan's challenge and won his party's nomination at the 1992 Republican National Convention, but the convention adopted a socially conservative platform strongly influenced by the Christian right.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: As the economy grew worse and Bush's approval ratings declined, several Democrats decided to enter the 1992 Democratic primaries. Former Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts won the New Hampshire primary, but Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas emerged as the Democratic front-runner. A moderate who was affiliated with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), Clinton favored welfare reform, deficit reduction, and a tax cut for the middle class. Clinton withstood attacks on his personal conduct and defeated Tsongas, former California Governor Jerry Brown, and other candidates to win the Democratic nomination. Clinton selected Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, a fellow Southerner and baby boomer, as his running mate. Polling taken shortly after the Democratic convention showed Clinton with a twenty-point lead. Clinton focused his campaign on the economy, attacking the policies of Reagan and Bush.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: In early 1992, the race took an unexpected twist when Texas billionaire Ross Perot launched a third party bid, claiming that neither Republicans nor Democrats could eliminate the deficit and make government more efficient. His message appealed to voters across the political spectrum disappointed with both parties' perceived fiscal irresponsibility. Perot later bowed out of the race for a short time, then reentered. Perot also attacked NAFTA, which he claimed would lead to major job losses. Perot dropped out of the race in July 1992, but rejoined the race in early October.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Clinton won the election, taking 43 percent of the popular vote and 370 electoral votes, while Bush won 37.5 percent of the popular vote and 168 electoral votes. Perot won 19% of the popular vote, one of the highest totals for a third party candidate in U.S. history, drawing equally from both major candidates, according to exit polls. Clinton performed well in the Northeast, the Midwest, and the West Coast, while also waging the strongest Democratic campaign in the South since the 1976 election. Bush won a majority of the Southern states and also carried most of the Mountain States and the Plains states. In the concurrent congressional elections, Democrats retained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Several factors were important in Bush's defeat. The ailing economy which arose from recession may have been the main factor in Bush's loss, as 7 in 10 voters said on election day that the economy was either "not so good" or "poor". On the eve of the 1992 election, the unemployment rate stood at 7.8%, which was the highest it had been since 1984. Bush's re-election campaign, which could no longer rely on Lee Atwater due to Atwater's death in 1991, may have been less effective than the 1988 Bush campaign. The president was also damaged by his alienation of many conservatives in his party.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: According to Seymour Martin Lipset, the 1992 election had several unique characteristics. Voters felt that economic conditions were worse than they actually were, which harmed Bush. A rare event was the a strong third-party candidate. Liberals launched a backlash against 12 years of a conservative White House. The chief factor was Clinton's uniting his party, and winning over a number of heterogeneous groups.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: At the elite level, a number of commentators and political experts deplored the state of American politics in 1991–1992, and reported the voters were angry. Many analysts blamed the poor quality of national election campaigns.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Bush was widely seen as a "pragmatic caretaker" president who lacked a unified and compelling long-term theme in his efforts. Indeed, Bush's sound bite where he refers to the issue of overarching purpose as "the vision thing" has become a metonym applied to other political figures accused of similar difficulties. Facing a Democratic Congress and a large budget deficit, Bush focused much of his attention on foreign affairs. Later, this would become a point of criticism for his Presidency, with opponents such as Bill Clinton and Ross Perot claiming that he ignored domestic issues and exclusively solved foreign ones. His ability to gain broad international support for the Gulf War and the war's result were seen as both a diplomatic and military triumph, rousing bipartisan approval, though his decision to withdraw without removing Saddam Hussein left mixed feelings, and attention returned to the domestic front and a souring economy. Amid the early 1990s recession, his image shifted from "conquering hero" to "politician befuddled by economic matters".


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Despite his defeat, Bush climbed back from low election day approval ratings to leave office in 1993 with a 56% job approval rating. Bush's oldest son, George W. Bush, served as the country's 43rd president from 2001 to 2009. The Bushes were the second father and son pair to serve as president, following John Adams and John Quincy Adams. By December 2008, 60% of Americans gave George H. W. Bush's presidency a positive rating. In the 2010s, Bush was fondly remembered for his willingness to compromise, which contrasted with the intensely partisan era that followed his presidency. Polls of historians and political scientists have generally ranked Bush as an average president. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Bush as the 17th best president. A 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians ranked Bush as the 20th best president.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Richard Rose described Bush as a "guardian" president, and many other historians and political scientists have similarly described Bush as a passive, hands-off president who was "largely content with things as they were". Historian John Robert Greene notes, however, that Bush's frequent threat of a veto allowed him to influence legislation. Bush is widely regarded as a realist in international relations; Scowcroft labeled Bush as a practitioner of "enlightened realism". Greene argues that the Bush administration's handling of international issues was characterized by a "flexible response to events" influenced by Nixon's realism and Reagan's idealism.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Michael Beschloss and Strobe Talbott praise Bush's handling of the USSR, especially how he prodded Gorbachev in terms of releasing control over the satellites and permitting German unification--and especially a united Germany in NATO. However Bush had an exaggerated view of Gorbachev as the best leader of a new Russia, and missed the more important role of Boris Yeltsin as the true spokesman for public opinion in Russia in its disdain for Gorbachev and his unyielding devotion to Communism.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: Andrew Bacevich judges the Bush administration was “morally obtuse” in the light of its “business-as-usual” attitude towards China after the massacre in Tiananmen Square and the uncritical support of Gorbachev as the Soviet Union disintegrated.


title: Presidency of George H. W. Bush

text: George Herbert Walker Bush came into the presidency as one of the most qualified candidates to assume the office. He had a long career in both domestic politics and foreign affairs, knew the government bureaucracy, and had eight years of hands-on training as vice president. Still, if presidential success is determined by winning reelection, Bush was unsuccessful because he failed to convince the American public to give him another four years in office. Generally the Bush presidency is viewed as successful in foreign affairs but a disappointment in domestic affairs. In the minds of voters, his achievements in foreign policy were not enough to overshadow the economic recession, and in 1992, the American public voted for change.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Palestine ( ) is a city in and the seat of Anderson County in the U.S. state of Texas. It was named for Palestine, Illinois, by preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated from that town.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The city had a 2020 U.S. census population of 18,544, making it the sixth-largest incorporated municipality in Northeast Texas by population. Palestine is a relatively small city located in the Piney Woods, equidistant from the major cities of Dallas, Houston, and Shreveport, Louisiana.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: It is notable for its natural environment, and has a notable dogwood blooming season. It has 23 historical sites on the National Register of Historic Places, and was the western terminus of the historic Texas State Railroad. Today this steam-and-diesel railroad museum operates tourist trains between Palestine and Rusk.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Indigenous groups such as the Coushatta Indians occupied this area for thousands of years before European encounter. During the years of Spanish and Mexican control of major parts of the Southwest, what became East Texas was lightly settled by Europeans.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: A trading post was established by Anglo Americans here about 1843, and some settlers gathered around it. In 1846, the Texas Legislature created Palestine to serve as a seat for the newly established Anderson County. James R. Fulton, Johnston Shelton, and William Bigelow were hired by the first Anderson County commissioners to survey the surrounding land and lay out a town site. This consisted of a central courthouse square and the surrounding 24 blocks.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The city was named after Palestine, Illinois, as suggested by Daniel Parker, a minister of Pilgrim Church who had migrated with numerous other settlers from that town.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: By 1858, Palestine had grown to a population of 2000. An 1861 state almanac showed that the city was connected to the rest of Texas via a tri-weekly stagecoach that served Huntsville, Crockett, and Nacogdoches. In 1861 a joint resolution called for the construction of the "Metropolitan Railroad" from Texarkana to Austin, passing through Palestine, Henderson, and Fairfield. These plans were interrupted when the American Civil War broke out.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: In the postwar period, during the Reconstruction era, the timber trade and town growth were stimulated in the 1870s by the construction of a railroad through here. The city had a population of more than 10,000 by 1898.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad first connected Palestine to the city of Hearne in 1872. Later that year it was connected northeast to Longview. The railroad merged in 1873 to become the International and Great Northern Railroad (IGN).


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The IGN later became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, then ultimately Union Pacific Railroad. In 1875, IGN president H.M. Hoxie moved to Palestine and built the first Victorian mansion there. Successful merchant owners and railroad executives built other elaborate homes along South Sycamore Street.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The IGN built a major depot in 1892 and a modern passenger coach shop in 1902, making Palestine an important locomotive and coach location. These shops continued to operate until 1954. At that time, the present facility was built, which is exclusively for freight-car repair.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Today, the Palestine Car Shop is one of only two car shops on the Union Pacific Railroad that perform major modifications and repairs to freight cars. The Palestine UP workforce has more than 100 employees.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: After the state completed the Rusk Penitentiary near the city of Rusk, the state leased convict labor to the railroad as workers. The railroad originally transported raw materials to the iron smelter located at the Rusk Penitentiary. In 1906, the line reached Maydelle, and by 1909, the line was completed when it reached Palestine.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Regularly scheduled train service ceased in 1921. The line was leased to various railroad companies until 1969, when they abandoned it during national restructuring of the industry. The Texas Legislature adapted the railroad as a state park in 1972, to be devoted to operating trains that showed some of the state's railroad history.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The Texas State Railroad is a state park that allows visitors to ride trains pulled by diesel and steam locomotives between the park's Victorian-style depots and through the forests of East Texas. This short railroad line dates to 1883.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: In 1914, the county's fifth courthouse was completed. It is still in use. One of the many historical sites is Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which was designed by Nicholas J. Clayton.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: In 1928, oil was discovered at Boggy Creek, east of Palestine. The production of oil resources added to and diversified the town's economy. Palestine became a center for oil-well servicing and supplies in support of other producing fields found later elsewhere in Anderson County.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Construction of the earth-filled Blackburn Crossing Dam on the Upper Neches River, creating Lake Palestine as a reliable source of water, was begun in 1960, and completed in 1962. A municipal water authority manages this resource. The dam was enlarged from 1969 to 1972 to 75 feet high, and 5,720 feet long.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: About 40% of the content from the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was recovered. seven astronauts were killed in the accident. Debris from "Columbia" was found in and outside Palestine and other East Texas towns. Palestine's NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (renamed in honor of the shuttle crew), has flown 1,700 high-altitude balloons for universities and research agencies.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: On November 15, 2015, a mass shooting took place at a campsite several miles northwest of Palestine. Six people were killed by an intoxicated neighbor who was upset about losing his family's land. The shooter was charged with capital murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a Brazos County jury on November 15, 2017.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Palestine is located near the center of Anderson County at (31.757925, –95.638473). Several numbered highways converge on the city, including U.S. Highways 79, 84, and 287, plus Texas State highways 19 and 155. Dallas is to the northwest, and Houston is to the south. Tyler is to the northeast.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 1.06%, is covered by water.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Lake Palestine is a freshwater lake created in 1962 by the construction of the Blackburn Crossing dam on the Neches River. A 25,600-acre lake with a total length of 18 miles, 135 miles of shoreline and an average depth of 16.25 ft, it offers an array of freshwater fish species including bass, crappie, and catfish. The Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority owns and operates Lake Palestine.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The city of Palestine has a water contract for 25 million gallons of water per day. It is served by a channel dam, 13 miles of pipeline, and a water treatment plant which the city operates for water coming into the city.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The average warmest month is July; the highest recorded temperature was 114 °F in 1954. On average, the coolest month is January, and the lowest recorded temperature was –6 °F in 2021. The maximum average precipitation occurs in October.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: At the 1850 United States census, Palestine had a population of 2,000; a decade later, its population declined to 1,938, yet has since increased in population since to a historic 18,712 at the 2010 U.S. census.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 18,544 people, 6,560 households, and 4,479 families residing in the city.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: As the city's population has grown despite interval declines from 1990 to 2020, its racial and ethnic makeup continues to be dominated by non-Hispanic or non-Latino whites, and Black or African Americans according to official census records. According to the 2020 American Community Survey's 5-year estimates program, roughly 47.6% of the population was non-Hispanic white, and 26.9% Black or African American. Hispanics and Latino Americans of any race made up 22.2% of the population, and residents from two or more races were 2.6%. The official census tabulation and census estimates reflect continued diversification within the United States; in 2000, the racial and ethnic makeup was 64.60% White, 24.77% African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.79% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 7.90% from other races, and 1.37% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latino Americans of any race were 14.88% of the population.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: There was an estimated 6,560 households in Palestine, with the average household size at 2.68; according to 2020 census estimates, there were 4,479 families and the average family size was 3.32. Of the households and families comprising the city's population, 57.9% of housing units were owner-occupied and 42.1% were renter-occupied units. In 2000, there were 6,641 households; 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 18.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were not families. About 28.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.13.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: At the 2000 U.S. census, the median income for a household in the city was $30,497, and for a family was $36,806. Males had a median income of $28,331 versus $20,662 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,514. About 16.6% of families and 20.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.7% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over. Since the 2020 census, the median household income increased to $40,684 and households paid a median of $817 a month.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Typical of many rural American communities, Palestine's economy is stimulated by small businesses, and local chains from national and international retailers such as Walmart. The largest employer is the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which employs more than 3,900. Other significant employers include a thriving medical and healthcare sector that tends to the large population of retirees.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: According to the city's 2016 audited Annual Financial Report, the city's general fund had $13.1 million in revenues, $14.6 million in expenditures, $3.1 million in total assets, $0.4 million in total liabilities, and $6.7 million in cash in investments across all funds. In addition to the city's general fund, the water treatment plant provides potable water to residents. It operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, treating and pumping an average of 3 million gallons of water per day between Lake Palestine and city residents. The water-distribution system employs 26 lift stations and about 275 miles of water lines; wastewater involves roughly 250 miles of sanitary sewer lines.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The current Anderson County Courthouse in Palestine is the fourth building to serve this purpose. C. H. Page and Brothers designed this brick Renaissance Revival brick courthouse, which opened in 1914. Located in downtown Palestine between Fannin and Dechard streets, it was remodeled in the 1980s.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Palestine is represented in the Texas Senate by Republican Robert Nichols, District 3, and in the Texas House of Representatives by Republican Byron Cook, District 8.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: At the national level, the two U.S. senators from Texas are Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz; Palestine is part of Texas' US Congressional 5th District, currently represented by Republican Lance Gooden.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: With almost 3,500 students, the Palestine Independent School District is the largest school district in Palestine. The district comprises:


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Located on the western edge of the city, the Westwood Independent School District is home to around 1,700 students. It consists of a primary, elementary, junior=high, and high-school campuses.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: University Academy, a charter school operated by the University of Texas at Tyler, began in 2012 with grades 3–6, expanding upward to grades 7–12 at the rate of one grade per year. In March 2018, the school had 188 students enrolled, and planned to grow to 600 students. On March 19, 2018, the university announced it would be upgrading the University Academy school building at a cost of $650,000.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Trinity Valley Community College operates TVCC-Palestine just north of the city limits at the intersection of US 287 and State Highway 19. In addition to offering academic transfer courses, the Palestine campus offers vocational-technical programs in vocational nursing, cosmetology, mid-management, computer science, criminal justice, business and office technology, fire science, legal assistant, emergency medical technician, and paramedic programs, and also trains correctional officers for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Continuing education and adult education courses are also offered.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The University of Texas at Tyler also operates a campus in the city. A new, $9.6 million, campus opened in 2010, fall semester. The UT-Tyler Palestine Campus currently offers courses in nursing.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Palestine is served by the daily "Palestine Herald-Press", founded in 1849 as the "Palestine Advocate", now owned by Community Newspaper Holdings.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: The city is served by the Tyler television broadcast market. The nearest television transmitter to the city is KETK-TV (NBC) located 30 miles away at Mt. Selman. Likewise, most radio stations serving Palestine originate from Tyler, Jacksonville, or Henderson.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Wired internet for the city is primarily provided by Suddenlink and CenturyLink, with Windstream serving rural areas formerly operated by Valor Telecom. In the 2000s, Comcast and AT&T provided DSL service before withdrawing from the local market.


title: Palestine, Texas

text: Palestine is served by the general aviation Palestine Municipal Airport, located on the northwest edge of the city. Activated in 1942, its FAA identifier is PSN. Its runway 18/36 has a length of 5005 ft, and crosswind runway 9/27 has a length of 4002 ft. It is home to 31 airplanes, mostly single-engined, and is owned and operated by the city. Palestine was served by Trans-Texas Airlines (later known as Texas International Airlines) during the 1940s and 1950s using Douglas DC-3 aircraft. One afternoon flight arrived from Dallas and Tyler continuing on to Lufkin, Beaumont, and Houston, while another aircraft stopped through going the other way. The service was discontinued between 1952 and 1954.


title: Ward McAllister

text: Samuel Ward McAllister (December 28, 1827 – January 31, 1895) was a popular arbiter of social taste in the Gilded Age of late 19th-century America. He was widely accepted as the authority as to which families could be classified as the cream of New York society (the Four Hundred). But his listings were also questioned by those excluded from them, and his own personal motives of self-aggrandisement were noted.


title: Ward McAllister

text: Born Samuel Ward McAllister to a socially prominent Savannah, Georgia, judicial family. His parents were Matthew Hall McAllister (1800–1865) and Louisa Charlotte (née Cutler) McAllister (1801–1869).


title: Ward McAllister

text: Through his maternal aunt, Julia Rush Cutler, and her husband, Samuel Ward, he was a first cousin of Julia Ward Howe and Samuel Cutler Ward, the lobbyist whose first wife Emily Astor had been the daughter of William Backhouse Astor Sr. and a granddaughter of John Jacob Astor. His maternal grandparents were Benjamin Clark Cutler, Norfolk County Sheriff, and Sarah (née Mitchell) Cutler.


title: Ward McAllister

text: In 1850, McAllister traveled to California with his father during the Gold Rush and became one of the partners in the law firm McAllister & Sons.


title: Ward McAllister

text: McAllister wrote that after his marriage in 1853, he bought a farm on Narragansett Bay, planted trees and left for a three-year journey throughout Europe's great cities and spas—Bath, Pau, Bad Nauheim, and the like—where he observed the mannerisms of other wealthy Americans and titled nobility, returning to New York with his wife and two small children 15 October 1858. Using his wife's wealth and his own social connections, McAllister sought to become a tastemaker amongst New York's "Knickerbocracy", a collection of old merchant and landowning families who traced their lineage back to the days of colonial New Amsterdam. Above all in McAllister's life was his desire for social recognition by what he termed the ""Ton"," i. e. the cream of society.


title: Ward McAllister

text: Although purported to be an index of New York's best families, McAllister's list was suspiciously top-heavy with nouveau riche industrialists and McAllister's southern allies, seeking a new start in the nation's financial capital after the American Civil War. In his glory, McAllister referred to his patroness, Mrs. Caroline Astor ("The" Mrs. Astor), as his "Mystic Rose". McAllister was an early summer colonist of Newport, Rhode Island, and was largely responsible for turning the simple seaside resort into a Mecca for the pleasure-seeking, status-conscious rich of the Gilded Age. His gift for party and picnic planning soon made him a society darling.


title: Ward McAllister

text: Among the undesirables McAllister endeavored to exclude from the charmed circle of the Four Hundred were the many nouveau riche Midwesterners who poured into New York seeking social recognition. In 1893, McAllister wrote a column about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in which he urged that if Chicago society hostesses wanted to be taken seriously, they should hire French chefs and "not frappé their wine too much." The "Chicago Journal" replied, "The mayor will not frappé his wine too much. He will frappé it just enough so the guests can blow the foam off the tops of the glasses without a vulgar exhibition of lung and lip power. His ham sandwiches, sinkers, and ... pigs' feet, will be triumphs of the gastronomic art."


title: Ward McAllister

text: McAllister's downfall came when he published a book of memoirs entitled "Society as I Have Found It" in 1890. The book, and his hunger for media attention, did little to endear him to the old guard, who valued their privacy in an era when millionaires were the equivalent of modern movie stars.


title: Ward McAllister

text: McAllister coined the phrase "The Four Hundred" by declaring that there were "only 400 people in fashionable New York Society." According to him, this was the number of people in New York who really mattered; the people who felt at ease in the ballrooms of high society ("If you go outside that number," he warned, "you strike people who are either not at ease in a ballroom or else make other people not at ease."). The number was popularly supposed to be the capacity of Mrs William Backhouse Astor Jr.'s ballroom. The lavish parties were held at the Astor mansion.


title: Ward McAllister

text: On February 16, 1892, McAllister named the official list of The Four Hundred in "The New York Times". "The Four Million", the title of a book by O. Henry, was a reaction to this phrase, expressing O. Henry's opinion that "every" human being in New York was worthy of notice.


title: Ward McAllister

text: In 1872, McAllister founded the "Society of Patriarchs" which was a group of 25 gentlemen from New York Society. The group of 25 were "representative men of worth, respectability, and responsibility." Beginning with the 1885–1886 season, the Patriarchs threw a ball each year, known as the Patriarchs Ball, which each member was entitled to invite four ladies and five gentlemen to, thereby establishing the invitees as fit for society. The first Patriarchs Ball was held at Delmonico's, with the Balls, which were difficult to obtain invitations to, receiving significant press coverage. The Patriarchs Ball inspired similar balls, including the Ihpetonga Ball, which was considered "the most important social event of the season in Brooklyn."


title: Ward McAllister

text: On 15 March 1853, McAllister married a Georgia born heiress who was then living in Madison, New Jersey, Sarah Taintor Gibbons (1829–1909), the daughter of William Gibbons (1794–1852) and Abigail Louisa (née Taintor) Gibbons (1791–1844). Her grandfather was politician, lawyer, and steamboat owner Thomas Gibbons. Her father built the Gibbons Mansion in Madison, New Jersey, which her brother sold to Daniel Drew after their father's death, and which Drew donated to found Drew Theological Seminary (now known as Drew University).


title: Ward McAllister

text: Ward McAllister died while dining alone, and in social disgrace for his writings, at New York's Union Club, in January 1895. His funeral, held on February 5, 1895, was well attended by many society figures of the day, including Chauncey Depew and Cornelius Vanderbilt II. McAllister is interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.


title: Volvo S90

text: The Volvo S90 is an executive sedan manufactured and marketed by Swedish automaker Volvo Cars since 2016. Its estate variant is called the Volvo V90.


title: Volvo S90

text: For the model year of 2017 (the first model year), a short and long wheelbase sedan as well as an estate model were made available. For 2017, the short wheelbase model was sold in North America and Europe, while the long wheelbase model was primarily sold in China. Volvo has hinted at possible coupe variants, but not until at least 2020 as the Polestar 1.


title: Volvo S90

text: Before its reveal, the first official pictures of the S90 were shown on Wednesday, 2 December 2015. The S90 was unveiled to the public in January 2016, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. The S90's design was well received, winning the "Production Car Design of the Year" award for 2015.


title: Volvo S90

text: While not a direct successor to the second-generation S80, the S90 replaces it as the flagship sedan in Volvo's lineup. Several trim levels are available, ranging from "Momentum" to "Inscription". In July 2016, an optional, cosmetic R-Design package was announced. A long wheelbase version was announced and is available in the United States.


title: Volvo S90

text: For the 2022 model year in the United Kingdom, the range was limited to the S90 Recharge, a mild-hybrid sedan. The S90 Recharge was limited to Plus and Ultimate trim levels with the T8 AWD mild-hybrid engine, a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder available with all-wheel-drive only.


title: Volvo S90

text: For the model year of 2017, a special stretched version of the S90 was made in China, primarily for that market. It is stretched by behind the B pillar. This initial Chinese variant was not badged as "S90L". For the model year of 2018, this long wheelbase S90 was introduced in the United States and Europe (the short wheelbase S90 was then discontinued in the United States, but not in Europe).


title: Volvo S90

text: By mid-2017, the Swedish Torslandaverken Plant no longer produced the S90. Production and assembly has mainly moved to the Chinese Daqing plant. It also locally assembled (CKD) in Volvo Car Manufacturing Malaysia in Shah Alam, Malaysia and Volvo Trucks Bengaluru plant in India.


title: Volvo S90

text: In February 2020, the official photos of refreshed S90 were leaked along with the refreshed V90. The taillights now have sequential LED indicators & Inscription variants get chrome garnish on the front bumper.


title: Volvo S90

text: The S90 is only available with 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines from the VEA family (Drive-E). The more powerful petrol engines are compound charged, as is the plug-in hybrid variant called the "T8". The D5 diesel engine features Volvo's new "PowerPulse" technology that is designed to eliminate turbo lag, as well as an i Art injection system.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college admits both undergraduates and postgraduates and awards degrees in liberal arts and sciences under the purview of the University of Delhi.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: In 2017, the governing body of the college unilaterally initiated a move toward making it an autonomous institution. In 2018, the plan was put on hold after the University Grants Commission received legal advice against passing a favourable decision.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: Ranked eleventh among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2022, the institution has produced distinguished alumni in fields like politics, law, journalism, film and business.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The history of St. Stephen's College can be traced to St. Stephen's High School, founded in 1854 by Samuel Scott Allnutt, chaplain of Delhi, run by the Delhi Mission of the United Society. With the closure of Government College, Delhi, in 1879 because of financial problems, Valpy French immediately urged the Cambridge Mission, an Anglican mission organised by the alumni of University of Cambridge, to fill the breach. The other major aim for the foundation of the college was response to British Indian Government's policy of promoting English education in India.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: It was Samuel Scott Allnutt of St. John's College, Cambridge, who was mainly responsible for founding the college. Finally on 1 February 1881, in support of the work of the United Society Partners in the Gospel, the Cambridge Brotherhood founded the St. Stephen's College. Allnutt served as its first principal.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college's first premises were in Chandni Chowk, Delhi, with five boarders and three professors, and was an affiliate of the University of Calcutta, but later in 1882, it changed its affiliation to Punjab University. The Punjab University received its charter more than one year after the founding of St. Stephen's College, which became one of the two institutions first affiliated to it and moved into premises in Kashmiri Gate, Delhi.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: In 1906, principal G. Hibbert Ware abdicated his post in favour of S. K. Rudra who became the first Indian to head a major educational institution in India. The decision was frowned upon at the time, but Rudra proved to have a tenure of extraordinary importance for the college.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: Charles Freer Andrews, a prominent lecturer at the college and member of the Cambridge Brotherhood, was active in the Indian independence movement, and was named "deenbandhu" (friend of the poor) by Mahatma Gandhi on account of his work with the needy and the trade union movement. Currently, a portrait ofAndrews is hung beside the portrait of his good friend Rabindranath Tagore in the principal's office. It is also believed that Rabindranath Tagore completed the English translation of "Gitanjali", for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, while a guest at the college.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: With the establishment of the University of Delhi in 1922, the college became a constituent college of the university.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: Women were first admitted in 1928, as there were no women's colleges in Delhi affiliated with the Anglican Church at the time; after the founding of Miranda House in 1949, women were not accepted as students until 1975.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college was named after Saint Stephen, who was adopted by the Anglican Church as the patron saint of Delhi after Christian converts were reportedly stoned to death during the 1857 uprising, as they were the first Christian martyrs in North India and were stoned, parallels to Saint Stephen were obvious.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The badge is a martyr's crown on a field of martyr's red within a five-pointed star edged with Cambridge blue. The five-pointed star represents India, the Cambridge blue border of star represents the impact of University of Cambridge, having been founded by the members of the Cambridge Mission to Delhi and the ground is coloured red to represent Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr and patron saint of the Anglican Mission in Delhi, in whose memory the college is built, stands the martyr's crown in gold.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: St. Stephen's College is a co-educational institution of higher learning. It is one of the three founding colleges of University of Delhi, along with Hindu College and Ramjas College. In spite of its location in North India, the college has always striven to admit students and select teachers from all communities and from all parts of India. It also admits a small number of students from overseas. The college offers a number of scholarships and awards to meritorious students. These are endowed over a period of time. As of February 2017, the governing body of St. Stephen's College has decided to go ahead with the proposal to seek autonomy for the institution.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The campus is located in the North Campus of the University of Delhi and designed by the distinguished Welsh architect Walter Sykes George. The construction was completed in 1941. The college had previously functioned from a campus in Kashmiri Gate, Delhi, housed in distinctive Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture. This building now houses the Election Commission of Delhi. In fact, some college playing fields are still located between Kashmiri Gate and Mori Gate. Facilities for a number of sports are provided for on the college campus. The Francis Monk Gymnasium, the Ladies Common Room, and the Junior Common Room provide facilities for indoor sports and recreation. A chapel is open to all members for worship and meditation.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college's halls of residence are spread across six blocks, named for former principals, as given below:


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: These too have different parts like main block and extension. Originally only for male students (termed "Scholars in Residence"), three of these blocks are now allotted to female students. These blocks have a capacity of 500 men and women. Each block is supervised by a member of the faculty functioning as block tutor. Porters and other staff who work in residence are referred to as "gyps" and "karamcharis" respectively.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The St. Stephen's College library has rare Sanskrit and Persian manuscripts. It also offers digital services to students and has its own homegrown online public access catalog. There is also a college archive housed in the library, containing various documents relating to the history of the college.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: There is also an International Languages School which provides certificate courses in European and Asian languages. Further several departments have their own undergraduate research fellowships to encourage undergraduates to engage in research. These fellowships are in partnership with other colleges in some cases or advised by the faculty themselves. There are additional certificate courses offered by the college as well in addition to those provided by the Delhi University.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The curriculum of the courses followed is in tune with those of the Delhi University. Two annual exams are held and internal assessment contributing to 25% marks make up for continuous evaluation during the rest of the semester.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college has also introduced a one of a kind certificate course in "Citizenship and Cultural Richness" which brings together a series of lectures by eminent Indian academics in a variety of fields ranging from science to literature, economics and social values. This had been touted as outreach by the principal of the college.<ref name="http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi"></ref>


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: St. Stephen's is ranked eighth among colleges in India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2021. "India Today" ranked St. Stephen second among art colleges and third among science colleges in 2020.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college has its own selection process unlike other colleges under Delhi University. The college has an online application process where prospective applicants are expected to fill in their interests and academic achievements. The college releases a list for students selected to an interview and admission test by the first week of June. Every department has its own academic criteria and admission test/interview process. The interview constitutes 15% of the evaluation process. Candidates called for interview are usually selected in a ratio of 5:1. St. Stephen's generally receives around 30,000 applicants for 400 seats each year leading to an incredibly low admit rate of 1.33%. However, this rate is also offset by reservation for minorities which amount to 50% and reservation for scheduled castes, tribes and as allowed by the Indian Constitution. Accounting for all quotas for affirmative action, St. Stephen's admits roughly 40% students from the general category.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: The college also has several exchange programs with universities from Japan, the UK, Europe and the US.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: Student clubs and societies have always played an important role in the life of the college, and are seen as vital to student development. Each academic subject has a society which sponsors lectures and discussions. The popular extra-curricular societies and clubs engage in activities concerned with debating, dramatics, wall climbing and trekking, film, social service, photography, quizzing and astronomy. The social service league is the largest and most active society of St. Stephen's College which follows the mantra "Service above Self". It works for the betterment of the underprivileged sections of the society. In continuance of a long tradition, the Planning Forum regularly invites distinguished visitors to address and join issue with students on various topical issues. The college also publishes department newsletters, college magazines and yearbooks. Several departments also publish their annual journals aside from the college publications. The college English dramatics society, the Shakespeare Society, is amongst the most famous clubs in the institution, with a history dating back to the turn of the 20th century. The Shakespeare Society has had a long tradition of performing at least one Shakespeare play annually, a tradition that has started to change with time. Many celebrities started out in this society including Konkana Sen and Kabir Bedi.


title: St. Stephen's College, Delhi

text: Alumni and students of St. Stephen's College are called "Stephanians". The college has produced many distinguished alumni, including several members of the Indian Parliament and the presidents of three countries. The college is one of the largest contributors to Indian Rhodes Scholars, as well as Chevening, Commonwealth, Inlaks, Nehru-Fulbright scholars among others. Alumni of the college include distinguished economists, CEOs of "Fortune" 500 companies, scientists, mathematicians, historians, writers, bureaucrats, journalists, lawyers, and sportspersons including a number of Olympians and international athletes.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: The Orchard is an American music and entertainment company, specializing in media distribution, marketing, and sales. It is a subsidiary of Sony Music, based in New York City. In 2019, the company sold off its film and television division, which was renamed 1091 Media.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In early 2003, The Orchard was bought by Dimensional Associates. Danny Stein, the CEO of Dimensional Associates, was appointed Executive Chairman, and Greg Scholl left management consulting firm McKinsey & Company to become The Orchard's CEO, changing its strategy and operating model and building a new management team.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In 2009, The Orchard was named the 66th-fastest growing company in North America for the five-year period from 2004 to 2009.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In 2009, Scholl accepted a position as president, Local Integrated Media at NBCUniversal and Brad Navin was appointed CEO.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In 2012, Sony acquired a majority stake of 51% in the company in a cash and equity deal with an estimated total valuation of $100 million.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In 2015, the remaining equity in the company was acquired by Sony Music Entertainment for over $200 million.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: Its clients include independent artists and labels such as Johnny & Associates, JYP Entertainment, Daptone Records, Cleopatra Records, and Frenchkiss Records, who partnered with The Orchard in 2012 to create Frenchkiss Label Group in addition to their digital and physical deals with the company. In 2014, the partnership expanded even further when The Orchard acquired Frenchkiss Records outright.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: The company also licenses music for use in advertising, television and film. Heineken, Target, Southern Comfort, and the LU family of brands have used songs from The Orchard's catalogue in their advertisements. The Black Angels' "Yellow Elevator #2" and The Raveonettes' "Aly, Walk With Me" were featured on "True Blood", Frankie Avalon's "Venus" was played on "Dexter," the Dum Dum Girls' "Coming Down" and Kina Grannis’ "The One You Say Goodnight To" were heard on season 5 of "Gossip Girl" and various artists from The Orchard's catalog were heard throughout Season 2 of Vice on HBO. Songs distributed by The Orchard that have made it into film soundtracks include Faye Adams' "Hurts Me To My Heart" and Mozart's "Rondo No. 2 in C Major for Violin and Orchestra, K.373: Allegretto Grazioso" in Lee Daniels' "The Butler" The Red Army Choir of Alexandrov's "Soviet National Anthem" in "", Frankie Avalon's classic "Swingin' on a Rainbow" in "The Help" and Macon Greyson's "Black Light" in "The Wrestler."


title: The Orchard (company)

text: On June 1, 2017, Sony Music announced that it would merge RED Distribution and Red Essential into The Orchard, which would have a U.S. market share of 6% with $350 million in annual revenue.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: In February 2019, co-founder Scott Cohen retired from The Orchard and joined the senior management team at Warner Music Group.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance) was a global sales, marketing and distribution company with majority stake owned by Sony. The subsidiary serviced independent artists, labels, filmmakers and other content providers on digital and mobile outlets, including making copyright claims on online content. Founded in 2003, IODA provided various distribution, marketing, publishing and administrative services to selected independent record labels, physical distributors, video companies, recording artists, filmmakers, print media publishers and independent authors, including license negotiations, media encoding and metadata management, royalty payment administration and reporting, and marketing and promotional support. IODA had relationships with major mobile and online download retailers including iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and Amazon.com.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: On July 1, 2009, Sony Music Entertainment and IODA announced their global strategic partnership to leverage combined worldwide online retail distribution networks and complementary technologies to support independent labels and music rightsholders.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: On March 5, 2012, Sony acquired the remaining stake of IODA. The company's operations were merged with the Orchard.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: The Orchard's YouTube multi-channel network has more than 1,000 channels across the globe and uses technology, built in-house, called B.A.C.O.N. (Bulk Automated Claiming on The Orchard Network) to crawl, claim and track YouTube videos to monetize for their clients. It was ranked 7th in the U.S. in July 2014.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: YouTube users have expressed concerns about The Orchard claiming copyright ownership of music used in user-generated content that may or may not belong to them. According to an article by The Orchard on their Daily Rind blog, if audio is matched to a particular copyright owner via YouTube's content identification system, then one or more links will be placed under the video in order to help promote the copyright owner's music, with the video remaining available. The article states that erroneous claims are removed by The Orchard Team after review upon email communication with their dispute department. However, they are not timely in their response, which leads some YouTube users (or copyright/original content owners/creators) to believe The Orchard is attempting to acquire AdSense revenue falsely from claims that go undisputed.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: The Orchard along with Rumblefish Inc. was subject to a 2019 copyfraud dispute regarding a public domain performance by the United States Navy Band uploaded onto YouTube. A 2019 case study noted examples of The Orchard selling music works and digital ad revenue online without permission of the artists in the 2010 case "Bryant v. Media Right Productions, Inc."


title: The Orchard (company)

text: The Orchard owns the catalogues of TVT Records, Premium Latin Music (home to Aventura), Blind Pig Records,


title: The Orchard (company)

text: ViiiZUALEYES MEDIA GROUP & RECORDINGS INC., Frenchkiss Records, Mexican label Discos Joey, JDub Records, Music of the World, Xanadu Records, and Shrapnel Records.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: Some of the better known record labels distributed by The Orchard are Fat Possum Records, Murk Nature Records, Atypeek Music, Bindelari Music, Birthday Cake Media, Tilt Music Production, WhoMag, Black River Entertainment, Smithsonian Folkways, Cleopatra Records, Eclipse Records, Electronic Arts Music, Frontiers Records, Heaven Music, Sunrise Music Label, Casanova Records, Castro Music, Hope Music Group, InVogue Records, Lakeshore Records, MCFL Entertainment, Lamon Records, Lojinx, LRC/ Groove Merchant, Mystic Records, Heavy Pen Entertainment, Hot Panda Media, Napalm Records, Pure Noise Records, Robbins Entertainment, Relapse Records, Southern Fried Records, Ruby Recordings, Cain Empire Records, The Spicy Effect, Third Man Records, ARY Records, Flo & Eddie inc, J Storm, and Concore Entertainment.


title: The Orchard (company)

text: BalconyTV is an online music channel launched in June 2006, featuring acoustic performances on balconies around the world. In 2007, it won Best Music Website at the Irish Digital Media Awards, and was nominated for Best Viral Video Content at the Webby Awards in 2008. Since then, the channel has expanded to hosting over 12,000 shows in over 50 cities, and more than 25 countries.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, both of which pertain to road signs and road traffic.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: Marked pedestrian crossings are often found at intersections, but may also be at other points on busy roads that would otherwise be too unsafe to cross without assistance due to vehicle numbers, speed or road widths. They are also commonly installed where large numbers of pedestrians are attempting to cross (such as in shopping areas) or where vulnerable road users (such as school children) regularly cross. Rules govern usage of the pedestrian crossings to ensure safety; for example, in some areas, the pedestrian must be more than halfway across the crosswalk before the driver proceeds.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: Signalised pedestrian crossings clearly separate when each type of traffic (pedestrians or road vehicles) can use the crossing. Unsignalised crossings generally assist pedestrians, and usually prioritise pedestrians, depending on the locality. Pelican crossings use signals to keep pedestrians together where they can be seen by motorists, and where they can cross most safely across the flow of vehicular traffic, whereas zebra crossings are uncontrolled and more appropriate for lower people flows. What appears to be just pedestrian crossings can also be created largely as a traffic calming technique, especially when combined with other features like pedestrian priority, refuge islands, or raised surfaces.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: Pedestrian crossings already existed more than 2000 years ago, as can be seen in the ruins of Pompeii. Blocks raised on the road allowed pedestrians to cross the street without having to step onto the road itself which doubled up as Pompeii's drainage and sewage disposal system. The spaces between the blocks allowed horse-drawn carts to pass along the road.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: The first pedestrian crossing signal was erected in Bridge Street, Westminster, London, in December 1868. It was the idea of John Peake Knight, a railway engineer, who thought that it would provide a means to safely allow pedestrians to cross this busy thoroughfare. The signal consisted of a semaphore arm (manufactured by Saxby and Farmer, who were railway signaling makers), which was raised and lowered manually by a police constable who would rotate a handle on the side of the pole. The semaphore arms were augmented by gas illuminated lights at the top (green and red) to increase visibility of the signal at night. However, in January 1869, the gas used to illuminate the lights at the top leaked and caused an explosion, injuring the police operator. No further work was done on signalled pedestrian crossings until fifty years later.


title: Pedestrian crossing

text: In the early 20th century, car traffic increased dramatically. A reader of "The Times" wrote to the editor in 1911: