WonderWomen

WonderWomen

Franklin October 18, 1785 – November 5, 1788

1. He ran the Pennsylvania Gazette (newspaper) and also published Poor Richard's Almanac. Poor Richard's Almanac was very popular because it made predictions about the future and had wise sayings.
2. Established American Philosophical Society, a group devoted to the sciences and other scholarly pursuits. Franklin also organized the Pennsylvania militia, raised funds to build a city hospital and spearheaded a program to pave and light city streets. Additionally, Franklin was instrumental in the creation of the Academy of Philadelphia, a college which opened in 1751 and became known as the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.
3. Ben Franklin also invented the Franklin stove, lightning rod, bifocals (eyeglasses), and started America's first library. He is probably best known for his kite experiment which proved electricity could be harnessed from lightning.
4. In 1776, Franklin helped Thomas Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence. Two years later, he went to France and convinced the French to help America in the war against England.
5. He also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War (1775-83). In 1787, in his final significant act of public service, he was a delegate to the convention that produced the U.S. Constitution.
6. Benjamin Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
7. Franklin invented a musical instrument called the glass armonica. Composers such as Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1827) and Wolfgang Mozart (1756-91) wrote music for Franklin’s armonica

Madison (March 16, 1751- June 28, 1836)

1. Co-Authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
   During John Adams' presidency, the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed to supress certain forms of political speech. Madison joined forces with Thomas Jefferson to create the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in opposition to these acts.
2. served on the committee in charge of writing Virginia's constitution, he worked with George Mason on the draft. One of his special contributions was reworking some of the language about religious freedom.
3. Madison's "Virginia Plan" became the blueprint for the constitution that finally emerged, eventually earning him the revered title, "Father of the Constitution."
4. He established, once and for all, respect for American rights on the high seas and emerged from the war with more support than he had when he was first inaugurated in 1808.
5. Along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, he published the Federalist Papers, a series of articles arguing for a strong central government subject to an extensive system of checks and balances.
6. Madison served as secretary of state, supporting the Louisiana Purchase and the embargo against Britain and France. Indeed, Madison shaped foreign policy during Jefferson's administration, emerging from behind the scenes in 1808 to succeed him as the fourth President of the United States.

Walt Disney (1901-1966)

• Had a modest family life, one of five kids
• Pioneer of cartoons
• Created Disneyland
• In a very short time the park was entertaining tourists from around the world
• won 22 Academy Awards during his lifetime
• began drawing, painting and selling pictures to neighbors and family friends at a young age
• When Disney was 16, he dropped out of school to join the Army but was rejected for being underage. Instead, he joined the Red Cross and was sent to France for a year to drive an ambulance.
• Disney and his brother Roy soon pooled their money and moved to Hollywood
• Walt as the voice of Mickey, the cartoon was an instant sensation.
• n 1933, The Three Little Pigs and its title song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" became a theme for the country in the midst of the Great Depression.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film, premiered in Los Angeles. It produced an unimaginable $1.499 million, in spite of the Depression, and won a total of eight Oscars
• Disney was also among the first to use television as an entertainment medium
• Disney's last major success that he produced himself was the motion picture Mary Poppins (1964), which mixed live action and animation

• Plane Crazy Mickey Mouse Classic Walt Disney 1928 Sound Cartoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCZPzHg0h80

• Disney produced propaganda films for the U.S. government during World War II

• Disney studio also made training films for the American military, and created, free-of-charge, more than a thousand insignia for military units
• Disney holds the record for most individual Oscar wins (22) and nominations (59)

John D Rockefeller

1839-1937

Co-Founder of Standard Oil Company

• First great U.S. Business Trust
• Revolutionizes petroleum industry, along with other Titans such as Carnegie

Philanthropist

Most philanthropic work was through his church

Became the world’s richest man through his business of kerosene and oil

At his peak, he controlled 90% of all American oil

At his death, in 1937, his fortune was 1.4 billion dollars

Lived in a retirement estate for his last 40 years

Lived in New York

Founder of Rockefeller University and Chicago University, funded the Central Philippine University in the Philippines

Faithful to Erie Street Baptist Church

Stayed abstinent from alcohol and drugs for his whole life

Supporter of capitalism

Supporter of social Darwinism

Considered a Titan of industry

Al Capone

(1988-1947)

-dropped out of school in the sixth grade and joined the Five Points Gang in Boston

- later joined the Colosimo Mob also known as the South Side Italian gang, recruited by Johnny Torrio.

-1925 Capone became boss when Torrio was shot, but not killed in an assassination attempt

-St. Valentines massacre 1929, ordered by capone and carried out by his mob. Seven men were gunned down by four men from the Colosimo mob. Two of the members dressed as police as to avoid any suspicion, news papers named him “Public enemy number 1”

-He ran illegal brewing, distilling and distribution of beer and liquor

-payed the mayor and police force to keep himself safe from law enforcement

-payed mayor William Hale Thompson to announce he would like to reopen illegal saloons with a generous donation of $250,000

-with the police in his pocket he was able to use more brutal force to get what he wanted

-due to pay offs with local law enforcement the FBI were not able to charge him with murder so they got him on taxes and scamming

-Capone ordered his bomber target opponents of Thompson killing over 15 people in voting booths

-refusal from a store to buy his liquor would end in their store being blown up, at least 100 people were killed in these bombings

-$100 million a year, the largest portion from bootlegging, followed by gambling, prostitution, racketeering and other illicit activities

-Huge tensions with the northside gangs lead to shoot outs and civilian casualties

-Took over Cicero with bribery and widespread intimidation

-due to pay offs with local law enforcement the FBI were not able to charge him with murder so they prosecuted him for tax evasion in 1931, a federal crime during the era. The judge admitted as evidence Capone's admissions of his income and unpaid taxes during prior (and ultimately abortive) negotiations to pay the government any back taxes he owed. Capone was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in federal prison

-Capone was one of the first criminals sent to Alcatraz to serve his sentence

Cesar Chavez

b. 1927

d. 1993

-His family lost their farm due to back taxes and had to become migrant farm workers to make a living

-After the 8th grade Cesar Chavez became a full-time farm worker

-He saw how badly people were being treated and decided to do something about it.

-In 1962 he co-founded the United Farm Workers Association with Delores Huerta

-They used non-violent ways to protest like boycotting or fasting.

-By the time Cesar Chavez died, he had won many rights for the migrant farm worker: he got them better wages, better housing, and safer working conditions

-confounded American Farm Workers Association

-originally a Mexican American farm worker

-both a Latino rights activist and an American labor movement leader

-March 31 (birthday) celebrated as a state holiday in California, Texas, and Colorado

Eleanor Roosevelt

1. She was part of the Junior League, a group of elite class women who were interested in reform efforts to improve the lives of the impoverished in their living and working conditions.
2. She was part of the National Consumer’s League, which was created by women supporting milliners in sweatshops.
3. She joined the Women’s Trade Union League in 1922, and the Women’s Division of the New York Democratic Party in 1923.
4. During World War I, she worked for the Red Cross, International Congress of Working Women, and Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom.
5. In 1924, the Democratic National Committee asked her to chair its committee on women’s issues, in which she and other women leaders forced the convention to let women appoint women delegates and alternates.
6. She worked with other women to create the She-She-She Camps, making sure women were included in the National Youth Administration and Federal Arts Program.
7. She brought a large number of women activists with her to Washington when franklin Roosevelt became president. She assembled a list of women qualified for executive level appointments, and when not taken seriously, she took the list to Franklin Roosevelt.
8. During press conferences focused on informing women voters, she only allowed women reporters in the room.
9. At a meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, she deliberately stood in the aisle that separated the black and white segregated seating sections in opposition to segregation and racial discrimination. She also promoted women’s equality in her involvement with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Council of Negro Women.
10. She is famously known to be the most active First Lady in history, changing the role from the wife in the background who handled domestic matters to an important political figure in American Society.
11. After her husband died, she was appointed delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, by President Truman. She served in this position from 1945 to 1953.
12. She became chair of United Nation’s Human Rights Commission and helped write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
13. President Kennedy re-appointed her delegation to the United Nations in 1961, and later appointed her to National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps. He also made her chair to the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, after she insisted that he appointed more women to his administration.
14. Eleanor Roosevelt had her own column called “My Day”, urging women to become more involved in politics and unite as one group to be seen as professionals in industry.
15. She was also an accomplished writer with This Is My Story (1937), This I Remember (1949), On My Own (1958), and Autobiography (1961).

Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)

• Douglas MacArthur was an American general best known for his command of Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II
• After high school, MacArthur enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he excelled
• The early period in his military career was marked by frequent promotions and led to posts in countries around the world
• From 1919 to 1922 Douglas MacArthur served as the superintendent of West Point and instituted a variety of reforms intended to modernize the school
• In 1930, MacArthur was promoted to general and selected as the Army chief of staff
• In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose MacArthur as his military adviser to the Philippines and sent him there to establish a defensive military force
• MacArthur launched a number of successful offensive operations against the Japanese military in the region
• MacArthur was placed in charge of the formal surrender of Tokyo, and for the next six years, he remained in Japan to command the occupation forces there and to oversee the rebuilding of the country

Taft

Extremely versatile, only person to hold office as President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Continued Roosevelt’s “trust-busting” and broke up nearly twice as many trusts as his predecessor

Strengthened the Interstate Commerce Commission and its ability to negotiate rates with railroads
Undertook civil service reform and improved the performance of the postal service
Passed the Sixteenth Amendment codifying the federal government's authority to tax income without apportioning it among

Promoted "Dollar Diplomacy," which involved the US coordination of loans for infrastructure improvements abroad, to further the economic development of Latin American and Asian nations
Dispatched troops to safeguard U.S. citizens and property when revolution threatened in Honduras and Nicaragua, and decided not to interfere with revolutions taking place in Mexico and China

Before Presidency, Taft improved the Filipino economy and infrastructure, and expanded opportunities for governmental participation for Filipinos while serving as Governor General of the Philippines under McKinely

Imposed a corporate income tax which raised national revenue more than $13mil

supported Booker T. Washington's initiative to "uplift" African-American citizens, endorsed free immigration as well as a presidential veto on a congressional law imposing a literacy test on unskilled laborers.
Took time after the outbreak of WWI to co-found the League for Enforced Peace the League to Enforce Peace -- a precursor to the League of Nations -- with Alexander Graham Bell and other prominent Americans.

Wilson

Passed a slew of domestic reforms, including the Federal Reserve Act (creating the Federal Reserve), Federal Trade Commission Act (stopping unfair trade practices), Clayton Antitrust Act (making certain business practices illegal), Federal Farm Loan Act (providing issuance of low-cost long-term mortgages to farmers), Adamson Act (imposing 8-hour workdays for railroads) and an income tax
Became a major advocate for women's suffrage

Led the US into WWI (the Great War) in 1917
Passed the Espionage Act and Sedition Act to shore up wartime support and suppress anti-war opinions
Frequently exercised military force in Latin America, including seizing the port of Veracruz to aid Mexican counterrevolutionaries and maintaining troops in Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic
Sponsored the League of Nations following WWI and introduced his Fourteen Points address outlining an organization with a stated goal of helping to preserve territorial integrity and political independence among large and small nations alike

Walt Whitman

-Poet and journalist Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York

-Considered one of America's most influential poets, Whitman aimed to transcend traditional epics and eschew normal aesthetic form to mirror the potential freedoms to be found in America

-In 1855 he self-published the collection Leaves of Grass; the book is now a landmark in American literature, though at the time of its publication it was considered highly controversial

-Whitman later worked as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War, writing the collection Drum Taps (1865) in connection to the experiences of war-torn soldiers

-Having continued to produce new editions of Leaves of Grass along with original works, Whitman died on March 26, 1892 in Camden, New Jersey.