UNITED STATES

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT
TOPOGRAPHY
CLIMATE
FLORA AND FAUNA
ENVIRONMENT
POPULATION
MIGRATION
ETHNIC GROUPS
LANGUAGES
RELIGIONS
TRANSPORTATION
HISTORY
GOVERNMENT
POLITICAL PARTIES
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
JUDICIAL SYSTEM
ARMED FORCES
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
ECONOMY
INCOME
LABOR
AGRICULTURE
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
FISHING
FORESTRY
MINING
ENERGY AND POWER
INDUSTRY
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DOMESTIC TRADE
FOREIGN TRADE
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
BANKING AND SECURITIES
INSURANCE
PUBLIC FINANCE
TAXATION
CUSTOMS AND DUTIES
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
HEALTH
HOUSING
EDUCATION
LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS
MEDIA
ORGANIZATIONS
TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION
FAMOUS AMERICANS
DEPENDENCIES
BIBLIOGRAPHY

United States of America

CAPITAL: Washington, DC (District of Columbia)

FLAG: The flag consists of 13 alternate stripes, 7 red and 6 white; these represent the 13 original colonies. Fifty 5-pointed white stars, representing the present number of states in the Union, are placed in 9 horizontal rows alternately of 6 and 5 against a blue field in the upper left corner of the flag.

ANTHEM: The Star-Spangled Banner.

MONETARY UNIT: The dollar ($) of 100 cents is a paper currency with a floating rate. There are coins of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents and 1 dollar, and notes of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollars. Although issuance of higher notes ceased in 1969, a limited number of notes of 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 dollars remain in circulation.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: The imperial system is in common use; however, the use of metrics in industry is increasing, and the metric system is taught in public schools throughout the United States. Common avoirdupois units in use are the avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces or 454 grams; the long ton of 2,240 pounds or 35,840 ounces; and the short ton, more commonly used, of 2,000 pounds or 32,000 ounces. (Unless otherwise indicated, all measures given in tons are in short tons.) Liquid measures: 1 gallon = 231 cubic inches = 4 quarts = 8 pints. Dry measures: 1 bushel = 4 pecks = 32 dry quarts = 64 dry pints. Linear measures: 1 foot = 12 inches; 1 statute mile = 1,760 yards = 5,280 feet. Metric equivalent: 1 meter = 39.37 inches.

HOLIDAYS: New Year's Day, 1 January; Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., 3rd Monday in January; Presidents' Day, 3rd Monday in February; Memorial or Decoration Day, last Monday in May; Independence Day, 4 July; Labor Day, 1st Monday in September; Columbus Day, 2nd Monday in October; Election Day, 1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday in November; Veterans or Armistice Day, 11 November; Thanksgiving Day, 4th Thursday in November; Christmas, 25 December.

TIME: Eastern, 7 am = noon GMT; Central, 6 am = noon GMT; Mountain, 5 am = noon GMT; Pacific (includes the Alaska panhandle), 4 am = noon GMT; Yukon, 3 am = noon GMT; Alaska and Hawaii, 2 am = noon GMT; western Alaska, 1 am = noon GMT.

LOCATION, SIZE, AND EXTENT

Located in the Western Hemisphere on the continent of North America, the United States is the fourth-largest country in the world. Its total area, including Alaska and Hawaii, is 9,629,091 sq km (3,717,813 sq mi). The conterminous United States extends 4,662 km (2,897 mi) ene—wsw and 4,583 km (2,848 mi) sse–nnw. It is bordered on the n by Canada, on the e by the Atlantic Ocean, on the s by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and on the w by the Pacific Ocean, with a total boundary length of 17,563 km (10,913 mi). Alaska, the 49th state, extends 3,639 km (2,261 mi) e–w and 2,185 km (1,358 mi) n–s. It is bounded on the n by the Arctic Ocean and Beaufort Sea, on the e by Canada, on the s by the Gulf of Alaska, Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, and on the w by the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea, and Arctic Ocean, with a total land boundary of 12,034 km (7,593 mi) and a coastline of 19,924 km (12,380 mi). The 50th state, Hawaii, consists of islands in the Pacific Ocean extending 2,536 km (1,576 mi) n–s and 2,293 km (1,425 mi) e–w, with a general coastline of 1,207 km (750 mi).

The nation's capital, Washington, DC, is located on the mid-Atlantic coast.

TOPOGRAPHY

Although the northern New England coast is rocky, along the rest of the eastern seaboard the Atlantic Coastal Plain rises gradually from the shoreline. Narrow in the north, the plain widens to about 320 km (200 mi) in the south and in Georgia merges with the Gulf Coastal Plain that borders the Gulf of Mexico and extends through Mexico as far as the Yucatán. West of the Atlantic Coastal Plain is the Piedmont Plateau, bounded by the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachians, which extend from southwest Maine into central Alabama—with special names in some areas—are old mountains, largely eroded away, with rounded contours and forested, as a rule, to the top. Few of their summits rise much above 1,100 m (3,500 ft), although the highest, Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina, reaches 2,037 m (6,684 ft).

Between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains, more than 1,600 km (1,000 mi) to the west, lies the vast interior plain of the United States. Running south through the center of this plain and draining almost two-thirds of the area of the continental United States is the Mississippi River. Waters starting from the source of the Missouri, the longest of its tributaries, travel almost 6,450 km (4,000 mi) to the Gulf of Mexico.

The eastern reaches of the great interior plain are bounded on the north by the Great Lakes, which are thought to contain about half the world's total supply of fresh water. Under US jurisdiction are 57,441 sq km (22,178 sq mi) of Lake Michigan, 54,696 sq km (21,118 sq mi) of Lake Superior, 23,245 sq km (8,975 sq mi) of Lake Huron, 12,955 sq km (5,002 sq mi) of Lake Erie, and 7,855 sq km (3,033 sq mi) of Lake Ontario. The five lakes are accessible to oceangoing vessels from the Atlantic via the St. Lawrence Seaway. The basins of the Great Lakes were formed by the glacial ice cap that moved down over large parts of North America some 25,000 years ago. The glaciers also determined the direction of flow of the Missouri River and, it is believed, were responsible for carrying soil from what is now Canada down into the central agricultural basin of the United States.

The great interior plain consists of two major subregions: the fertile Central Plains, extending from the Appalachian highlands to a line drawn approximately 480 km (300 mi) west of the Mississippi, broken by the Ozark Plateau; and the more arid Great Plains, extending from that line to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Although they appear flat, the Great Plains rise gradually from about 460 m (1,500 ft) to more than 1,500 m (5,000 ft) at their western extremity.

The Continental Divide, the Atlantic-Pacific watershed, runs along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies and the ranges to the west are parts of the great system of young, rugged mountains, shaped like a gigantic spinal column, that runs along western North, Central, and South America from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Chile. In the continental United States, the series of western ranges, most of them paralleling the Pacific coast, are the Sierra Nevada, the Coast Ranges, the Cascade Range, and the Tehachapi and San Bernardino mountains. Between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada–Cascade mountain barrier to the west lies the Great Basin, a group of vast arid plateaus containing most of the desert areas of the United States, in the south eroded by deep canyons.

The coastal plains along the Pacific are narrow, and in many places the mountains plunge directly into the sea. The most extensive lowland near the west coast is the Great Valley of California, lying between the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Ranges. There are 71 peaks in these western ranges of the continental United States that rise to an altitude of 4,267 m (14,000 ft) or more, Mt. Whitney in California at 4,418 m (14,494 ft) being the highest. The greatest rivers of the Far West are the Colorado in the south, flowing into the Gulf of California, and the Columbia in the northwest, flowing to the Pacific. Each is more than 1,900 km (1,200 mi) long; both have been intensively developed to generate electric power, and both are important sources of irrigation.

Separated from the continental United States by Canadian territory, the state of Alaska occupies the extreme northwest portion of the North American continent. A series of precipitous mountain ranges separates the heavily indented Pacific coast on the south from Alaska's broad central basin, through which the Yukon River flows from Canada in the east to the Bering Sea in the west. The central basin is bounded on the north by the Brooks Range, which slopes down gradually to the Arctic Ocean. The Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands, sweeping west far out to sea, consist of a chain of volcanoes, many still active.

The state of Hawaii consists of a group of Pacific islands formed by volcanoes rising sharply from the ocean floor. The highest of these volcanoes, Mauna Loa, at 4,168 m (13,675 ft), is located on the largest of the islands, Hawaii, and is still active.

The lowest point in the United States is Death Valley in California, 86 m (282 ft) below sea level. At 6,194 m (20,320 ft), Mt. McKinley in Alaska is the highest peak in North America. These topographic extremes suggest the geological instability of the Pacific Coast region, which is part of the "Ring of Fire," a seismically active band surrounding the Pacific Ocean. Major earthquakes destroyed San Francisco in 1906 and Anchorage, Alaska, in 1964, and the San Andreas Fault in California still causes frequent earth tremors. In 2004, there were 3,550 earthquakes documented by the US Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. Washington State's Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, spewing volcanic ash over much of the Northwest.

CLIMATE

The eastern continental region is well watered, with annual rainfall generally in excess of 100 cm (40 in). It includes all of the Atlantic seaboard and southeastern states and extends west to cover Indiana, southern Illinois, most of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and easternmost Texas. The eastern seaboard is affected primarily by the masses of air moving from west to east across the continent rather than by air moving in from the Atlantic. Hence its climate is basically continental rather than maritime. The Midwestern and Atlantic seaboard states experience hot summers and cold winters; spring and autumn are clearly defined periods of climatic transition. Only Florida, with the Gulf of Mexico lying to its west, experiences moderate differences between summer and winter temperatures. Mean annual temperatures vary considerably between north and south: Boston, MA, 11°c (51°f); New York City, NY, 13°c (55°f); Charlotte, NC, 16°c (61°f); Miami, FL, 24°c (76°f).

The Gulf and South Atlantic states are often hit by severe tropical storms originating in the Caribbean in late summer and early autumn. In the past few years, the number of hurricanes and their severity have measurably increased. From 1970–94, there were about three hurricanes per year. From 1995 to 2003, there were a total of 32 major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.

In 2005 there were a record-breaking 23 named Atlantic hurricanes, three of which caused severe damage to the Gulf Coast region. On 25 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit Florida as a category 1 hurricane. By 29 August, the storm developed into a category 4 hurricane that made landfall in southern Louisiana. Several levees protecting the low-lying city of New Orleans broke, flooding the entire region under waters that rose over the rooftops of homes. Over 1,000 were killed by the storm. Over 500,000 people were left homeless and without jobs.

One month later, Hurricane Rita swept first into Florida and continued to make landfall between Sabine Pass, Texas, and Johnson's Bayou, Louisiana, on 24 September 2005 as a category 3 hurricane. Before reaching land, however, the storm had peaked as a category 5 hurricane that was placed on record as the strongest measured hurricane to ever have entered the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin. Over 100 people were killed.

Hurricane Wilma followed on 24 October when it made landfall north of Everglades City in Florida as a category 3 hurricane. There were about 22 deaths in the United States from Wilma; however, the storm also hit Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Mexico, reaching a death toll of at least 25 people from those countries combined.

The prairie lands lying to the west constitute a subhumid region. Precipitation usually exceeds evaporation by only a small amount; hence the region experiences drought more often than excessive rainfall. Dryness generally increases from east to west. The average midwinter temperature in the extreme north—Minnesota and North Dakota—is about–13°c (9°f) or less, while the average July temperature is 18°c (65°f). In the Texas prairie region to the south, January temperatures average 10–13°c (50–55°f) and July temperatures 27–29°c (80–85°f). Rainfall along the western border of the prairie region is as low as 46 cm (18 in) per year in the north and 64 cm (25 in) in the south. Precipitation is greatest in the early summer—a matter of great importance to agriculture, particularly in the growing of grain crops. In dry years, the prevailing winds may carry the topsoil eastward (particularly from the southern region) for hundreds of miles in clouds that obscure the sun.

The Great Plains constitute a semiarid climatic region. Rainfall in the southern plains averages about 50 cm (20 in) per year and in the northern plains about 25 cm (10 in), but extreme year-to-year variations are common. The tropical air masses that move northward across the plains originate on the fairly high plateaus of Mexico and contain little water vapor. Periods as long as 120 days without rain have been experienced in this region. The rains that do occur are often violent, and a third of the total annual rainfall may be recorded in a single day at certain weather stations. The contrast between summer and winter temperatures is extreme throughout the Great Plains. Maximum summer temperatures of over 43°c (110°f) have been recorded in the northern as well as in the southern plains. From the Texas panhandle north, blizzards are common in the winter, and tornadoes at other seasons. The average minimum temperature for January in Duluth, Minnesota, is -19°c (-3°f).

The higher reaches of the Rockies and the mountains paralleling the Pacific coast to the west are characterized by a typical alpine climate. Precipitation as a rule is heavier on the western slopes of the ranges. The great intermontane arid region of the West shows considerable climatic variation between its northern and southern portions. In New Mexico, Arizona, and southeastern California, the greatest precipitation occurs in July, August, and September, mean annual rainfall ranging from 8 cm (3 in) in Yuma, Ariz., to 76 cm (30 in) in the mountains of northern Arizona and New Mexico. Phoenix has a mean annual temperature of 22°c (71°f), rising to 33°c (92°f) in July and falling to 11°c (52°f) in January. North of the Utah-Arizona line, the summer months usually are very dry; maximum precipitation occurs in the winter and early spring. In the desert valleys west of Great Salt Lake, mean annual precipitation adds up to only 10 cm (4 in). Although the northern plateaus are generally arid, some of the mountainous areas of central Washington and Idaho receive at least 152 cm (60 in) of rain per year. Throughout the intermontane region, the uneven availability of water is the principal factor shaping the habitat.

The Pacific coast, separated by tall mountain barriers from the severe continental climate to the east, is a region of mild winters and moderately warm, dry summers. Its climate is basically maritime, the westerly winds from the Pacific Ocean moderating the extremes of both winter and summer temperatures. Los Angeles in the south has an average temperature of 13°c (56°f) in January and 21°c (69°f) in July; Seattle in the north has an average temperature of 4°c (39°f) in January and 18°c (65°f) in July. Precipitation in general increases along the coast from south to north, extremes ranging from an annual average of 4.52 cm (1.78 in) at Death Valley in California (the lowest in the United States) to more than 356 cm (140 in) in Washington's Olympic Mountains.

Climatic conditions vary considerably in the vastness of Alaska. In the fogbound Aleutians and in the coastal panhandle strip that extends southeastward along the Gulf of Alaska and includes the capital, Juneau, a relatively moderate maritime climate prevails. The interior is characterized by short, hot summers and long, bitterly cold winters, and in the region bordering the Arctic Ocean a polar climate prevails, the soil hundreds of feet below the surface remaining frozen the year round. Although snowy in winter, continental Alaska is relatively dry.

Hawaii has a remarkably mild and stable climate with only slight seasonal variations in temperature, as a result of northeast ocean winds. The mean January temperature in Honolulu is 23°c (73°f); the mean July temperature 27°c (80°f). Rainfall is moderate—about 71 cm (28 in) per year—but much greater in the mountains; Mt. Waialeale on Kauai has a mean annual rainfall of 1,168 cm (460 in), highest in the world.

The lowest temperature recorded in the United States was -62°c (-79.8°f) at Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska, on 23 January 1971; the highest, 57°c (134°f) at Greenland Ranch, in Death Valley, California, on 10 July 1913. The record annual rainfall is 1,878 cm (739 in) recorded at Kukui, Maui in 1982; the previous record for a one-year period was 1,468 cm (578 in) recorded at Fuu Kukui, Maui, in 1950.

FLORA AND FAUNA

At least 7,000 species and subspecies of indigenous US flora have been categorized. The eastern forests contain a mixture of softwoods and hardwoods that includes pine, oak, maple, spruce, beech, birch, hemlock, walnut, gum, and hickory. The central hardwood forest, which originally stretched unbroken from Cape Cod to Texas and northwest to Minnesota—still an important timber source—supports oak, hickory, ash, maple, and walnut. Pine, hickory, tupelo, pecan, gum, birch, and sycamore are found in the southern forest that stretches along the Gulf coast into the eastern half of Texas. The Pacific forest is the most spectacular of all because of its enormous redwoods and Douglas firs. In the southwest are saguaro (giant cactus), yucca, candlewood, and the Joshua tree.

The central grasslands lie in the interior of the continent, where the moisture is not sufficient to support the growth of large forests. The tall grassland or prairie (now almost entirely under cultivation) lies to the east of the 100th meridian. To the west of this line, where rainfall is frequently less than 50 cm (20 in) per year, is the short grassland. Mesquite grass covers parts of west Texas, southern New Mexico, and Arizona. Short grass may be found in the highlands of the latter two states, while tall grass covers large portions of the coastal regions of Texas and Louisiana and occurs in some parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The Pacific grassland includes northern Idaho, the higher plateaus of eastern Washington and Oregon, and the mountain valleys of California.

The intermontane region of the Western Cordillera is for the most part covered with desert shrubs. Sagebrush predominates in the northern part of this area, creosote in the southern, with salt-brush near the Great Salt Lake and in Death Valley.

The lower slopes of the mountains running up to the coastline of Alaska are covered with coniferous forests as far north as the Seward Peninsula. The central part of the Yukon Basin is also a region of softwood forests. The rest of Alaska is heath or tundra. Hawaii has extensive forests of bamboo and ferns. Sugarcane and pineapple, although not native to the islands, now cover a large portion of the cultivated land.

Small trees and shrubs common to most of the United States include hackberry, hawthorn, serviceberry, blackberry, wild cherry, dogwood, and snowberry. Wildflowers bloom in all areas, from the seldom-seen blossoms of rare desert cacti to the hardiest alpine species. Wildflowers include forget-me-not, fringed and closed gentians, jack-in-the-pulpit, black-eyed Susan, columbine, and common dandelion, along with numerous varieties of aster, orchid, lady's slipper, and wild rose.

An estimated 428 species of mammals characterize the animal life of the continental United States. Among the larger game animals are the white-tailed deer, moose, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, black bear, and grizzly bear. The Alaskan brown bear often reaches a weight of 1,200–1,400 lbs. Some 25 important furbearers are common, including the muskrat, red and gray foxes, mink, raccoon, beaver, opossum, striped skunk, woodchuck, common cottontail, snowshoe hare, and various squirrels. Human encroachment has transformed the mammalian habitat over the last two centuries. The American buffalo (bison), millions of which once roamed the plains, is now found only on select reserves. Other mammals, such as the elk and gray wolf, have been restricted to much smaller ranges.

Year-round and migratory birds abound. Loons, wild ducks, and wild geese are found in lake country; terns, gulls, sandpipers, herons, and other seabirds live along the coasts. Wrens, thrushes, owls, hummingbirds, sparrows, woodpeckers, swallows, chickadees, vireos, warblers, and finches appear in profusion, along with the robin, common crow, cardinal, Baltimore oriole, eastern and western meadowlarks, and various blackbirds. Wild turkey, ruffed grouse, and ring-necked pheasant (introduced from Europe) are popular game birds. There are at least 508 species of birds found throughout the country.

Lakes, rivers, and streams teem with trout, bass, perch, muskellunge, carp, catfish, and pike; sea bass, cod, snapper, and flounder are abundant along the coasts, along with such shellfish as lobster, shrimp, clams, oysters, and mussels. Garter, pine, and milk snakes are found in most regions. Four poisonous snakes survive, of which the rattlesnake is the most common. Alligators appear in southern waterways and the Gila monster makes its home in the Southwest.

Laws and lists designed to protect threatened and endangered flora and fauna have been adopted throughout the United States. Generally, each species listed as protected by the federal government is also protected by the states, but some states may list species not included on federal lists or on the lists of neighboring states. Conversely, a species threatened throughout most of the United States may be abundant in one or two states. As of November 2005, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed 997 endangered US species (up from 751 listed in 1996), including 68 species of mammals, 77 birds, 74 fish, and 599 plants; and 275 threatened species (209 in 1996), including 11 species of mammals, 13 birds, 42 fish, and 146 plants. The agency listed another 520 endangered and 46 threatened foreign species by international agreement.

Threatened species, likely to become endangered if trends continued, included such plants as Lee pincushion cactus. Among the endangered floral species (in imminent danger of extinction in the wild) are the Virginia round-leaf birch, San Clemente Island broom, Texas wild-rice, Furbish lousewort, Truckee barberry, Sneed pincushion cactus, spineless hedgehog cactus, Knowlton cactus, persistent trillium, dwarf bear-poppy, and small whorled pogonia.

Endangered mammals included the red wolf, black-footed ferret, jaguar, key deer, northern swift fox, San Joaquin kit fox, jaguar, jaguarundi, Florida manatee, ocelot, Florida panther, Utah prairie dog, Sonoran pronghorn, and numerous whale species. Endangered species of rodents included the Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel, beach mouse, salt-marsh harvest mouse, 7 species of bat (Virginia and Ozark big-eared Sanborn's and Mexican longnosed, Hawaiian hoary, Indiana, and gray), and the Morro Ba, Fresno, Stephens', and Tipton Kangaroo rats and rice rat.

Endangered species of birds included the California condor, bald eagle, three species of falcon (American peregrine, tundra peregrine, and northern aplomado), Eskimo curlew, two species of crane (whooping and Mississippi sandhill), three species of warbler (Kirtland's, Bachman's, and golden-cheeked), dusky seaside sparrow, light-footed clapper rail, least tern, San Clemente loggerhead shrike, bald eagle (endangered in most states, but only threatened in the Northwest and the Great Lakes region), Hawaii creeper, Everglade kite, California clapper rail, and red-cockaded woodpecker. Endangered amphibians included four species of salamander (Santa Cruz long-toed, Shenandoah, desert slender, and Texas blind), Houston and Wyoming toad, and six species of turtle (green sea, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, Plymouth and Alabama red-bellied, and leatherback). Endangered reptiles included the American crocodile, (blunt nosed leopard and island night), and San Francisco garter snake.

Aquatic species included the shortnose sturgeon, Gila trout, 8 species of chub (humpback, Pahranagat, Yaqui, Mohave tui, Owens tui, bonytail, Virgin River, and Borax lake), Colorado River squawfish, five species of dace (Kendall Warm Springs, and Clover Valley, Independence Valley, Moapa and Ash Meadows speckled), Modoc sucker, cui-ui, Smoky and Scioto madtom, 7 species of pupfish (Leon Springs, Gila Desert, Ash Meadows Amargosa, Warm Springs, Owens, Devil's Hole, and Comanche Springs), Pahrump killifish, 4 species of gambusia (San Marcos, Pecos, Amistad, Big Bend, and Clear Creek), 6 species of darter (fountain, watercress, Okaloosa, boulder, Maryland, and amber), totoaba, and 32 species of mussel and pearly mussel. Also classified as endangered were 2 species of earthworm (Washington giant and Oregon giant), the Socorro isopod, San Francisco forktail damselfly, Ohio emerald dragonfly, 3 species of beetle (Kretschmarr Cave, Tooth Cave, and giant carrion), Belkin's dune tabanid fly, and 10 species of butterfly (Schaus' swallowtail, lotis, mission, El Segundo, and Palos Verde blue, Mitchell's satyr, Uncompahgre fritillary, Lange's metalmark, San Bruno elfin, and Smith's blue).

Endangered plants in the United States included: aster, cactus, pea, mustard, mint, mallow, bellflower and pink family, snapdragon, and buckwheat. Several species on the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife and plants are found only in Hawaii. Endangered bird species in Hawaii included the Hawaiian dark-rumped petrel, Hawaiian gallinule, Hawaiian crow, three species of thrush (Kauai, Molokai, and puaiohi), Kauai 'o'o, Kauai nukupu'u, Kauai 'alialoa, 'akiapola'au, Maui'akepa, Molokai creeper, Oahu creeper, palila, and 'o'u.

Species formerly listed as threatened or endangered that have been removed from the list included (with delisting year and reason) American alligator (1987, recovered); coastal cutthroat trout (2000, taxonomic revision); Bahama swallowtail butterfly (1984, amendment); gray whale (1994, recovered); brown pelican (1984, recovered); Rydberg milk-vetch (1987, new information); Lloyd's hedgehog cactus (1999, taxonomic revision), and Columbian white-tailed Douglas County Deer (2003, recovered).

There are at least 250 species of plants and animals that have become extinct, including the Wyoming toad, the Central Valley grasshopper, Labrador duck, Carolina parakeet, Hawaiian crow, chestnut moth, and the Franklin tree.

ENVIRONMENT

The Council on Environmental Quality, an advisory body contained within the Executive Office of the President, was established by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which mandated an assessment of environmental impact for every federally funded project. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), created in 1970, is an independent body with primary regulatory responsibility in the fields of air and noise pollution, water and waste management, and control of toxic substances. Other federal agencies with environmental responsibilities are the Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service within the Department of Agriculture, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In addition to the 1969 legislation, landmark federal laws protecting the environment include the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 and 1990, controlling automobile and electric utility emissions; the Water Pollution Act of 1972, setting clean-water criteria for fishing and swimming; and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, protecting wildlife near extinction.

A measure enacted in December 1980 established a $1.6-billion "Superfund," financed largely by excise taxes on chemical companies, to clean up toxic waste dumps such as the one in the Love Canal district of Niagara Falls, NY. In 2005, there were 1,238 hazardous waste sites on the Superfund's national priority list.

The most influential environmental lobbies include the Sierra Club (founded in 1892; 700,000 members in 2003) and its legal arm, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. Large conservation groups include the National Wildlife Federation (1936; over 4,000,000), the National Audubon Society (1905; 600,000), and the Nature Conservancy (1917; 1,000,000). Greenpeace USA (founded in 1979) has gained international attention by seeking to disrupt hunts for whales and seals.

Among the environmental movement's most notable successes have been the inauguration (and mandating in some states) of recycling programs; the banning in the United States of the insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT); the successful fight against construction of a supersonic transport (SST); and the protection of more than 40 million hectares (100 million acres) of Alaska lands (after a fruitless fight to halt construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline); and the gradual elimination of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) production by 2000. In March 2003, the US Senate narrowly voted to reject a Bush administration plan to begin oil exploration in the 19 million acre (7.7 million hectare) Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). In 2003, about 25.9% of the total land area was protected. The United States has 12 natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and 22 Ramsar wetland sites. Yellowstone National Park, founded in 1872, was the first national park established worldwide.

Outstanding problems include acid rain (precipitation contaminated by fossil fuel wastes); inadequate facilities for solid waste disposal; air pollution from industrial emissions (the United States leads the world in carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels); the contamination of homes by radon, a radioactive gas that is produced by the decay of underground deposits of radium and can cause cancer; runoffs of agricultural pesticides, pollutants deadly to fishing streams and very difficult to regulate; continued dumping of raw or partially treated sewage from major cities into US waterways; falling water tables in many western states; the decrease in arable land because of depletion, erosion, and urbanization; the need for reclamation of strip-mined lands and for regulation of present and future strip mining; and the expansion of the US nuclear industry in the absence of a fully satisfactory technique for the handling and permanent disposal of radioactive wastes.

POPULATION

The population of United States in 2005 was estimated by the United Nations (UN) at 296,483,000, which placed it at number 3 in population among the 193 nations of the world. In 2005, approximately 12% of the population was over 65 years of age, with another 21% of the population under 15 years of age. There were 97 males for every 100 females in the country. According to the UN, the annual population rate of change for 2005–10 was expected to be 0.6%, a rate the government viewed as satisfactory. The projected population for the year 2025 was 349,419,000. The population density was 31 per sq km (80 per sq mi), with major population concentrations are along the northeast Atlantic coast and the southwest Pacific coast. The population is most dense between New York City and Washington, DC.

At the time of the first federal census, in 1790, the population of the United States was 3,929,214. Between 1800 and 1850, the population almost quadrupled; between 1850 and 1900, it tripled; and between 1900 and 1950, it almost doubled. During the 1960s and 1970s, however, the growth rate slowed steadily, declining from 2.9% annually in 1960 to 2% in 1969 and to less than 1% from the 1980s through 2000. The population has aged: the median age of the population increased from 16.7 years in 1820 to 22.9 years in 1900 and to 36.5 years in 2006.

Suburbs have absorbed most of the shift in population distribution since 1950. The UN estimated that 79% of the population lived in urban areas in 2005, and that urban areas were growing at an annual rate of 1.33%. The capital city, Washington, DC (District of Columbia), had a population of 4,098,000 in that year. Other major metropolitan areas and their estimated populations include: New York, 18,498,000; Los Angeles, 12,146,000; Chicago, 8,711,000; Dallas, 4,612,000; Houston, 4,283,000; Philadelphia, 5,325,000; San Diego, 2,818,000; and Phoenix, 3,393,000. Major cities can be found throughout the United States.

MIGRATION

Between 1840 and 1930, some 37 million immigrants, the overwhelming majority of them Europeans, arrived in the United States. Immigration reached its peak in the first decade of the 20th century, when nearly 9 million came. Following the end of World War I, the tradition of almost unlimited immigration was abandoned, and through the National Origins Act of 1924, a quota system was established as the basis of a carefully restricted policy of immigration. Under the McCarran Act of 1952, one-sixth of 1% of the number of inhabitants from each European nation residing in the continental United States as of 1920 could be admitted annually. In practice, this system favored nations of northern and western Europe, with the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland being the chief beneficiaries. The quota system was radically reformed in 1965, under a new law that established an annual ceiling of 170,000 for Eastern Hemisphere immigrants and 120,000 for entrants from the Western Hemisphere; in October 1978, these limits were replaced by a worldwide limit of 290,000, which was lowered to 270,000 by 1981. A major 1990 overhaul set a total annual ceiling of 700,000 (675,000 beginning in fiscal 1995), of which 480,000 would be family sponsored and 140,000 employment based. The 1996 Immigration Reform Law addressed concerns about illegal immigration and border enforcement. The 1996 Welfare Reform Law revised legal and illegal immigrants' access to different forms of public assistance, and raised the standards for US residents who sponsor immigrants. The 2000 H-1B Visa Legislation increased temporary immigration visas for hightech workers. In 2004, President Bush proposed a fair and secure immigration reform with a new temporary worker program.

In 2002, 1,063,732 immigrants entered the United States, of whom 416,860 were subject to the numerical limits. Some 342,099 immigrants in 2002 were from Asia, 404,437 were from North America, 74,506 were from South America, 174,209 from Europe, 60,269 from Africa, and 5,557 from Oceania. A direct result of the immigration law revisions has been a sharp rise in the influx of Asians (primarily Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, and Koreans), of whom 2,738,157 entered the country during 1981–90, as compared with 153,249 during the entire decade of the 1950s. Most immigrants in 2002 came from Mexico (219,380).

Since 1961, the federal government supported and financed the Cuban Refugee Program; in 1995, new accords were agreed to by the two countries. More than 500,000 Cubans were living in southern Florida by 1980, when another 125,000 Cuban refugees arrived; by 1990, 4% of Florida's population was of Cuban descent. Some 169,322 Cubans arrived from 1991–2000, and 27,520 arrived in 2002. Between 1975 and 1978, following the defeat of the US-backed Saigon (Vietnam) government, several hundred thousand Vietnamese refugees came to the United States. Under the Refugee Act of 1980, a ceiling for the number of admissible refugees is set annually; in fiscal 2002, the ceiling for refugees was 70,000. Since Puerto Ricans are American citizens, no special authorization is required for their admission to the continental United States. The population of refugees, resettled refugees, and asylum seekers with pending claims was estimated at 5,250,954 in June 2003, a 34% increase over June 2002. During the same year, the newly-formed Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS—formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service or INS) received 66,577 applications for asylum, a decline of 36% from 2002. In 2004, the United States hosted 684,564 persons of concern to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 420,854 refugees, and 263,710 asylum seekers. For that year, the United States was the fifth-largest asylum country. UNHCR reports the United States as the leading destination of refugees, accounting for 63% of all resettlement worldwide.

Large numbers of aliens—mainly from Latin America, especially Mexico—have illegally established residence in the United States after entering the country as tourists, students, or temporary visitors engaged in work or business. In November 1986, Congress passed a bill allowing illegal aliens who had lived and worked in the United States since 1982 the opportunity to become permanent residents. By the end of fiscal year 1992, 2,650,000 of a potential 2,760,000 eligible for permanent residence under this bill had attained that status. In 1996 the number of illegal alien residents was estimated at five million, of which two million were believed to be in California. As of 2002, an estimated 33.1 million immigrants (legal and illegal) lived in the United States. Of this total, the Census Bureau estimated in 2000 that 8–9 million of them were illegal alien residents. In 2004, there were 36 million foreign-born US residents, almost 30% were unauthorized, or some 10.3 million foreigners. Of these, 57% are unauthorized Mexicans. Foreign-born persons are 11% of the US population, and 14% of US workers.

As of 2006, there were three major immigration-related agencies in the United States: the Department of Homeland Security; the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, which apprehends foreigners; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is responsible for enforcement of immigration laws within the United States, together with identifying and removing unauthorized foreigners, and those ordered removed.

The major migratory trends within the United States have been a general westward movement during the 19th century; a longterm movement from farms and other rural settlements to metropolitan areas, which showed signs of reversing in some states during the 1970s; an exodus of southern blacks to the cities of the North and Midwest, especially after World War I; a shift of whites from central cities to surrounding suburbs since World War II; and, also during the post-World War II period, a massive shift from the North and East to the Sunbelt region of the South and Southwest.

In 2005, the net migration rate was estimated as 3.31 migrants per 1,000 population.

ETHNIC GROUPS

The majority of the population of the United States is of European origin, with the largest groups having primary ancestry traceable to the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland; many Americans report multiple ancestries. According to 2004 American Community Survey estimates, about 75.6% of the total population are white, 12.1% are blacks and African Americans, and 4.2% are Asian. Native Americans (including Alaskan Natives) account for about 0.8% of the total population. About 1.8% of the population claim a mixed ancestry of two or more races. About 11.9% of all US citizens are foreign-born, with the largest numbers of people coming from Latin America (17,973,287) and Asia (9,254,705).

Some Native American societies survived the initial warfare with land-hungry white settlers and retained their tribal cultures. Their survival, however, has been on the fringes of North American society, especially as a result of the implementation of a national policy of resettling Native American tribes on reservations. In 2004, estimates place the number of Native Americans (including Alaska Natives) at 2,151,322. The number of those who claim mixed Native American and white racial backgrounds is estimated at 1,370,675; the 2004 estimate for mixed Native American and African American ancestry was 204,832. The largest single tribal grouping is the Cherokee, with about 331,491 people. The Navajo account for about 230,401 people, the Chippewa for 92,041 people, and the Sioux for 67,666 people. Groups of Native Americans are found most numerously in the southwestern states of Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. The 1960s and 1970s saw successful court fights by Native Americans in Alaska, Maine, South Dakota, and other states to regain tribal lands or to receive cash settlements for lands taken from them in violation of treaties during the 1800s.

The black and African American population in 2004 was estimated at 34,772,381, with the majority still residing in the South, the region that absorbed most of the slaves brought from Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries. About 1,141,232 people claimed mixed black and white ethnicity. Two important regional migrations of blacks have taken place: (1) a "Great Migration" to the North, commencing in 1915, and (2) a small but then unprecedented westward movement beginning about 1940. Both migrations were fostered by wartime demands for labor and by postwar job opportunities in northern and western urban centers. More than three out of four black Americans live in metropolitan areas, notably in Washington, DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans, Newark, Baltimore, and New York City, which had the largest number of black residents. Large-scale federal programs to ensure equality for African Americans in voting rights, public education, employment, and housing were initiated after the historic 1954 Supreme Court ruling that barred racial segregation in public schools. By 1966, however, in the midst of growing and increasingly violent expressions of dissatisfaction by black residents of northern cities and southern rural areas, the federal Civil Rights Commission reported that integration programs were lagging. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the unemployment rate among nonwhites in the United States was at least double that for whites, and school integration proceeded slowly, especially outside the South.

Also included in the US population are a substantial number of persons whose lineage can be traced to Asian and Pacific nationalities, chiefly Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese. The Chinese population is highly urbanized and concentrated particularly in cities of over 100,000 population, mostly on the West Coast and in New York City. According to 2004 estimates, there are over 2.8 million Chinese in the United States. Asian Indians are the next largest group of Asians with over 2.2 million people in 2004. About 2.1 million people are Filipino. The Japanese population has risen steadily from a level of 72,157 in 1910 to about 832,039 in 2004. Hawaii has been the most popular magnet of Japanese emigration. Most Japanese in California were farmers until the outbreak of World War II, when they were interned and deprived of their landholdings; after the war, most entered the professions and other urban occupations.

Hispanics or Latinos make up about 14% of the population according to 2004 estimates. It is important to note, however, that the designation of Hispanic or Latino applies to those who are of Latin American descent; these individuals may also belong to white, Asian, or black racial groups. Although Mexicans in the 21st century were still concentrated in the Southwest, they have settled throughout the United States; there are over 25 million Mexicans in the country. Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans, who often represent an amalgam of racial strains, have largely settled in the New York metropolitan area, where they partake in considerable measure of the hardships and problems experienced by other immigrant groups in the process of settling in the United States; there are about 3.8 million Puerto Ricans in the country. Since 1959, many Cubans have settled in Florida and other eastern states. As of 2004, there are about 1.4 mullion Cubans in the Untied States.

LANGUAGES

The primary language of the United States is English, enriched by words borrowed from the languages of Indians and immigrants, predominantly European. Very early English borrowed from neighboring French speakers such words as shivaree, butte, levee, and prairie; from German, sauerkraut, smearcase, and cranberry; from Dutch, stoop, spook, and cookie; and from Spanish, tornado, corral, ranch, and canyon. From various West African languages, blacks have given English jazz, voodoo, and okra. According to 2004 estimates of primary languages spoken at home, about 81% of the population speak English only.

When European settlement began, Native Americans living north of Mexico spoke about 300 different languages now held to belong to 58 different language families. Only two such families have contributed noticeably to the American vocabulary: Algonkian in the Northeast and Aztec-Tanoan in the Southwest. From Algonkian languages, directly or sometimes through Canadian French, English has taken such words as moose, skunk, caribou, opossum, woodchuck, and raccoon for New World animals; hickory, squash, and tamarack for New World flora; and succotash, hominy, mackinaw, moccasin, tomahawk, toboggan, and totem for various cultural items. From Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, terms such as tomato, mesquite, coyote, chili, tamale, chocolate, and ocelot have entered English, largely by way of Spanish. A bare handful of words come from other Native American language groups, such as tepee from Dakota Siouan, catalpa from Creek, sequoia from Cherokee, hogan from Navaho, and sockeye from Salish, as well as cayuse from Chinook.

Professional dialect research, initiated in Germany in 1878 and in France in 1902, did not begin in the United States until 1931, in connection with the Linguistic Atlas of New England (1939–43). This kind of research, requiring trained field-workers to interview representative informants in their homes, subsequently was extended to the entire Atlantic Coast, the north-central states, the upper Midwest, the Pacific Coast, the Gulf states, and Oklahoma. The New England atlas, the Linguistic Atlas of the Upper Midwest (1973–76), and the first two fascicles of the Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (1980) have been published, along with three volumes based on Atlantic Coast field materials. Also published are atlases of the north-central states, the Gulf states, and Oklahoma. In other areas, individual dialect researchers have produced more specialized studies. The definitive work on dialect speech, the American Dialect Society's monumental Dictionary of American Regional English, began publication in 1985.

Dialect studies confirm that standard English is not uniform throughout the country. Major regional variations reflect patterns of colonial settlement, dialect features from England having dominated particular areas along the Atlantic Coast and then spread westward along the three main migration routes through the Appalachian system. Dialectologists recognize three main dialects—Northern, Midland, and Southern—each with subdivisions related to the effect of mountain ranges and rivers and railroads on population movement.

The Northern dialect is that of New England and its derivative settlements in New York; the northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa; and Michigan, Wisconsin, northeastern South Dakota, and North Dakota. A major subdivision is that of New England east of the Connecticut River, an area noted typically by the loss of/r/after a vowel, and by the pronunciation of can't, dance, half, and bath with a vowel more like that in father than that in fat. Generally, however, Northern speech has a strong/r/after a vowel, the same vowel in can't and cat, a conspicuous contrast between cot and caught, the/s/sound in greasy, creek rhyming with pick, and with ending with the same consonant sound as at the end of breath.

Midland speech extends in a wide band across the United States: there are two main subdivisions, North Midland and South Midland. North Midland speech extends westward from New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania into Ohio, Illinois, southern Iowa, and northern Missouri. Its speakers generally end with with the consonant sound that begins the word thin, pronounce cot and caught alike, and say cow and down as/caow/and/daown/. South Midland speech was carried by the Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania down the Shenandoah Valley into the southern Appalachians, where it acquired many Southern speech features before it spread westward into Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Missouri, Arkansas, and northeast Texas. Its speakers are likely to say plum peach rather than clingstone peach and snake doctor rather than dragonfly.

Southern speech typically, though not always, lacks the consonant/r/after a vowel, lengthens the first part of the diphthong in write so that to Northern ears it sounds almost like rat, and diphthongizes the vowels in bed and hit so that they sound like/beuhd/and/hiuht/. Horse and hoarse do not sound alike, and creek rhymes with meek. Corn bread is corn pone, and you-all is standard for the plural.

In the western part of the United States, migration routes so crossed and intermingled that no neat dialect boundaries can be drawn, although there are a few rather clear population pockets.

Spanish is spoken by a sizable minority in the United States; according to 2004 estimates, about 11.4% of the population speak Spanish as the primary language of their household. The majority of Spanish speakers live in the Southwest, Florida, and eastern urban centers. Refugee immigration since the 1950s has greatly increased the number of foreign-language speakers from Latin America and Asia.

Educational problems raised by the presence of large blocs of non-English speakers led to the passage in 1976 of the Bilingual Educational Act, enabling children to study basic courses in their first language while they learn English. A related school problem is that of black English, a Southern dialect variant that is the vernacular of many black students now in northern schools.

RELIGIONS

US religious traditions are predominantly Judeo-Christian and most Americans identify themselves as Protestants (of various denominations), Roman Catholics, or Jews. As of 2000, over 141 million Americans reported affiliation with a religious group. The single largest Christian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church, with membership in 2004 estimated at 66.4 million. Immigration from Ireland, Italy, Eastern Europe, French Canada, and the Caribbean accounts for the predominance of Roman Catholicism in the Northeast, Northwest, and some parts of the Great Lakes region, while Hispanic traditions and more recent immigration from Mexico and other Latin American countries account for the historical importance of Roman Catholicism in California and throughout most of the sunbelt. More than any other US religious body, the Roman Catholic Church maintains an extensive network of parochial schools.

Jewish immigrants settled first in the Northeast, where the largest Jewish population remains; at last estimates, about 6.1 million Jews lived in the United States. According to data from 1995, there were about 3.7 million Muslims in the country. About 1.8 million people were Buddhist and 795,000 were Hindu. Approximately 874,000 people were proclaimed atheists.

Over 94 million persons in the United States report affiliation with a Protestant denomination. Baptists predominate below the Mason-Dixon line and west to Texas. By far the nation' s largest Protestant group is the Southern Baptist Convention, which has about 16.2 million members; the American Baptist Churches in the USA claim some 1.4 million members. A concentration of Methodist groups extends westward in a band from Delaware to eastern Colorado; the largest of these groups, the United Methodist Church has about 8.2 million members. A related group, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, has about 2.5 million members. Lutheran denominations, reflecting in part the patterns of German and Scandinavian settlement, are most highly concentrated in the north-central states, especially Minnesota and the Dakotas. Two Lutheran synods, the Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church, merged in 1987 to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with more than 5 million adherents in 2004. In June 1983, the two major Presbyterian churches, the northern-based United Presbyterian Church in the USA and the southern-based Presbyterian Church in the United States, formally merged as the Presbyterian Church (USA), ending a division that began with the Civil War. This group claimed 3.4 million adherents in 2004. Other prominent Protestant denominations and their estimated adherents (2004) include the Episcopal Church, 2,334,000, and the United Church of Christ, 1,331,000.

A number of Orthodox Christian denominations are represented in the United States, established by immigrants hoping to maintain their language and culture in a new world. The largest group of Orthodox belongs to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which has about 1.5 million members.

A number of religious groups, which now have a worldwide presence, originated in the United States. One such group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), was organized in New York in 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr., who claimed to receive a revelation concerning an ancient American prophet named Mormon. The group migrated westward, in part to escape persecution, and has played a leading role in the political, economic, and religious life of Utah; Salt Lake City is the headquarters for the church. As of 2004, there are about 5.4 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Jehovah's Witnesses were established by Charles Taze Russell in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1872. They believe that Biblical prophecies are being fulfilled through world events and that the kingdom of God will be established on earth at the end of the great war described in the Bible. In 2004, there were about one million members in the Untied States.

The Church of Christ Scientist was established by Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) through her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. A primary belief of the group is that physical injury and illness might be healed through the power of prayer and the correction of false beliefs. The Mother Church is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Christian Scientists have over 1,000 congregations in the nation. The Seventh-Day Adventists were also established in the Untied States by William Miller, a preacher who believed that the second coming of Christ would occur between 1843 and 1844. Though his prediction did not come true, many of his followers continued to embrace other practices such as worship on Saturday, vegetarianism, and a focus on preparation for the second coming. In 2004, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church had 919,000 members in the United States.

TRANSPORTATION

Railroads have lost not only the largest share of intercity freight traffic, their chief source of revenue, but passenger traffic as well. Despite an attempt to revive passenger transport through the development of a national network (Amtrak) in the 1970s, the rail sector has continued to experience heavy losses and declining revenues. In 1998 there were nine Class I rail companies in the United States, down from 13 in 1994, with a total of 178,222 employees and operating revenues of $32.2 billion. In 2003 there were 227,736 km (141,424 mi) of railway, all standard gauge. In 2000, Amtrak carried 84.1 million passengers.

The most conspicuous form of transportation is the automobile, and the extent and quality of the United States road-transport system are without parallel in the world. Over 226.06 million vehicles—a record number—were registered in 2003, including more than 130.8 million passenger cars and over 95.3. commercial vehicles. In 2000, there were some 4,346,068 motorcycles registered.

The United States has a vast network of public roads, whose total length as of 2003 was 6,393,603 km (3,976,821 mi), of which, 4,180,053 km (2,599,993 mi) were paved, including 74,406 km (46,281 mi) of expressways. The United States also has 41,009 km (25,483 mi) of navigable inland channels, exclusive of the Great Lakes. Of that total, 19,312 km (12,012 mi) are still in commercial use, as of 2004.

Major ocean ports or port areas are New York, the Delaware River areas (Philadelphia), the Chesapeake Bay area (Baltimore, Norfolk, Newport News), New Orleans, Houston, and the San Francisco Bay area. The inland port of Duluth on Lake Superior handles more freight than all but the top-ranking ocean ports. The importance of this port, along with those of Chicago and Detroit, was enhanced with the opening in 1959 of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Waterborne freight consists primarily of bulk commodities such as petroleum and its products, coal and coke, iron ore and steel, sand, gravel and stone, grains, and lumber. The US merchant marine industry has been decreasing gradually since the 1950s. In 2005, the United States had a merchant shipping fleet of 486 vessels of 1,000 GRT or more, with a combined GRT of 12,436,658.

In 2004, the United States had an estimated 14,857 airports. In 2005 a total of 5,120 had paved runways, and there were also 153 heliports. Principal airports include Hartsfield at Atlanta; Logan International at Boston; O'Hare International at Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth at Dallas; Detroit Metropolitan; Honolulu International; Houston Intercontinental; Los Angeles International; John F. Kennedy, La Guardia, and Newark International at or near New York; Philadelphia International; Orlando International; Miami International; San Francisco International; L. Munoz Marin at San Juan; Seattle-Tacoma at Seattle; and Dulles International at Virginia. Revenue passengers carried by the airlines in 1940 totaled 2.7 million. By 2003, the figure was estimated at 588.997 million for US domestic and international carriers, along with freight traffic estimated at 34,206 million freight ton-km.

HISTORY

The first Americans—distant ancestors of the Native Americans—probably crossed the Bering Strait from Asia at least 12,000 years ago. By the time Christopher Columbus came to the New World in 1492 there were probably no more than two million Native Americans living in the land that was to become the United States.

Following exploration of the American coasts by English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and French sea captains from the late 15th century onward, European settlements sprang up in the latter part of the 16th century. The Spanish established the first permanent settlement at St. Augustine in the future state of Florida in 1565, and another in New Mexico in 1599. During the early 17th century, the English founded Jamestown in Virginia Colony (1607) and Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts (1620). The Dutch established settlements at Ft. Orange (now Albany, N.Y.) in 1624, New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1626, and at Bergen (now part of Jersey City, N.J.) in 1660; they conquered New Sweden—the Swedish colony in Delaware and New Jersey—in 1655. Nine years later, however, the English seized this New Netherland Colony and subsequently monopolized settlement of the East Coast except for Florida, where Spanish rule prevailed until 1821. In the Southwest, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas also were part of the Spanish empire until the 19th century. Meanwhile, in the Great Lakes area south of present-day Canada, France set up a few trading posts and settlements but never established effective control; New Orleans was one of the few areas of the United States where France pursued an active colonial policy.

From the founding of Jamestown to the outbreak of the American Revolution more than 150 years later, the British government administered its American colonies within the context of mercantilism: the colonies existed primarily for the economic benefit of the empire. Great Britain valued its American colonies especially for their tobacco, lumber, indigo, rice, furs, fish, grain, and naval stores, relying particularly in the southern colonies on black slave labor.

The colonies enjoyed a large measure of internal self-government until the end of the French and Indian War (1745–63), which resulted in the loss of French Canada to the British. To prevent further troubles with the Native Americans, the British government in 1763 prohibited the American colonists from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Heavy debts forced London to decree that the colonists should assume the costs of their own defense, and the British government enacted a series of revenue measures to provide funds for that purpose. But soon, the colonists began to insist that they could be taxed only with their consent and the struggle grew to become one of local versus imperial authority.

Widening cultural and intellectual differences also served to divide the colonies and the mother country. Life on the edge of the civilized world had brought about changes in the colonists' attitudes and outlook, emphasizing their remoteness from English life. In view of the long tradition of virtual self-government in the colonies, strict enforcement of imperial regulations and British efforts to curtail the power of colonial legislatures presaged inevitable conflict between the colonies and the mother country. When citizens of Massachusetts, protesting the tax on tea, dumped a shipload of tea belonging to the East India Company into Boston harbor in 1773, the British felt compelled to act in defense of their authority as well as in defense of private property. Punitive measures—referred to as the Intolerable Acts by the colonists—struck at the foundations of self-government.

In response, the First Continental Congress, composed of delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies—Georgia was not represented—met in Philadelphia in September 1774, and proposed a general boycott of English goods, together with the organizing of a militia. British troops marched to Concord, Massachusetts, on 19 April 1775 and destroyed the supplies that the colonists had assembled there. American "minutemen" assembled on the nearby Lexington green and fired "the shot heard round the world," although no one knows who actually fired the first shot that morning. The British soldiers withdrew and fought their way back to Boston.

Voices in favor of conciliation were raised in the Second Continental Congress that assembled in Philadelphia on 10 May 1775, this time including Georgia; but with news of the Restraining Act (30 March 1775), which denied the colonies the right to trade with countries outside the British Empire, all hopes for peace vanished. George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the new American army, and on 4 July 1776, the 13 American colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, justifying the right of revolution by the theory of natural rights.

British and American forces met in their first organized encounter near Boston on 17 June 1775. Numerous battles up and down the coast followed. The British seized and held the principal cities but were unable to inflict a decisive defeat on Washington's troops. The entry of France into the war on the American side eventually tipped the balance. On 19 October 1781, the British commander, Cornwallis, cut off from reinforcements by the French fleet on one side and besieged by French and American forces on the other, surrendered his army at Yorktown, Virginia. American independence was acknowledged by the British in a treaty of peace signed in Paris on 3 September 1783.

The first constitution uniting the 13 original states—the Articles of Confederation—reflected all the suspicions that Americans entertained about a strong central government. Congress was denied power to raise taxes or regulate commerce, and many of the powers it was authorized to exercise required the approval of a minimum of nine states. Dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation was aggravated by the hardships of a postwar depression, and in 1787—the same year that Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, providing for the organization of new territories and states on the frontier—a convention assembled in Philadelphia to revise the articles. The convention adopted an altogether new constitution, the present Constitution of the United States, which greatly increased the powers of the central government at the expense of the states. This document was ratified by the states with the understanding that it would be amended to include a bill of rights guaranteeing certain fundamental freedoms. These freedoms—including the rights of free speech, press, and assembly, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury—are assured by the first 10 amendments to the constitution, adopted on 5 December 1791; the constitution did, however, recognize slavery, and did not provide for universal suffrage. On 30 April 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

During Washington's administration, the credit of the new nation was bolstered by acts providing for a revenue tariff and an excise tax; opposition to the excise on whiskey sparked the Whiskey Rebellion, suppressed on Washington's orders in 1794. Alexander Hamilton's proposals for funding the domestic and foreign debt and permitting the national government to assume the debts of the states were also implemented. Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury, also created the first national bank, and was the founder of the Federalist Party. Opposition to the bank as well as to the rest of the Hamiltonian program, which tended to favor northeastern commercial and business interests, led to the formation of an anti-Federalist party, the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson.

The Federalist Party, to which Washington belonged, regarded the French Revolution as a threat to security and property; the Democratic-Republicans, while condemning the violence of the revolutionists, hailed the overthrow of the French monarchy as a blow to tyranny. The split of the nation's leadership into rival camps was the first manifestation of the two-party system, which has since been the dominant characteristic of the US political scene (Jefferson's party should not be confused with the modern Republican Party, formed in 1854).

The 1800 election brought the defeat of Federalist president John Adams, Washington's successor, by Jefferson; a key factor in Adam's loss was the unpopularity of the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), Federalist-sponsored measures that had abridged certain freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. In 1803, Jefferson achieved the purchase from France of the Louisiana Territory, including all the present territory of the United States west of the Mississippi drained by that river and its tributaries; exploration and mapping of the new territory, notably through the expeditions of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, began almost immediately. Under Chief Justice John Marshall, the US Supreme Court, in the landmark case of Marbury v. Madison, established the principle of federal supremacy in conflicts with the states and enunciated the doctrine of judicial review.

During Jefferson's second term in office, the United States became involved in a protracted struggle between Britain and Napoleonic France. Seizures of US ships and the impressment of US seamen by the British navy led the administration to pass the Embargo Act of 1807, under which no US ships were to put out to sea. After the act was repealed in 1809, ship seizures and impressment of seamen by the British continued, and were the ostensible reasons for the declaration of war on Britain in 1812 during the administration of James Madison. An underlying cause of the War of 1812, however, was land-hungry Westerners' coveting of southern Canada as potential US territory.

The war was largely a standoff. A few surprising US naval victories countered British successes on land. The Treaty of Ghent (24 December 1814), which ended the war, made no mention of impressment and provided for no territorial changes. The occasion for further maritime conflict with Britain, however, disappeared with the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.

Now the nation became occupied primarily with domestic problems and westward expansion. Because the United States had been cut off from its normal sources of manufactured goods in Great Britain during the war, textiles and other industries developed and prospered in New England. To protect these infant industries, Congress adopted a high-tariff policy in 1816.

Three events of the late 1810s and the 1820s were of considerable importance for the future of the country. The federal government in 1817 began a policy of forcibly resettling the Native Americans (Indians), already decimated by war and disease, in what later became known as Indian Territory (now Oklahoma); those Native Americans not forced to move were restricted to reservations. The Missouri Compromise (1820) was an attempt to find a nationally acceptable solution to the volatile dispute over the extension of black slavery to new territories. It provided for admission of Missouri into the Union as a slave state but banned slavery in territories to the west that lay north of 36°30′. As a result of the establishment of independent Latin American republics and threats by France and Spain to reestablish colonial rule, President James Monroe in 1823 asserted that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further colonization by European powers. The Monroe Doctrine declared that any effort by such powers to recover territories whose independence the United States had recognized would be regarded as an unfriendly act.

From the 1820s to the outbreak of the Civil War, the growth of manufacturing continued, mainly in the North, and was accelerated by inventions and technological advances. Farming expanded with westward migration. The South discovered that its future lay in the cultivation of cotton. The cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, greatly simplified the problems of production; the growth of the textile industry in New England and Great Britain assured a firm market for cotton. Hence, during the first half of the 19th century, the South remained a fundamentally agrarian society based increasingly on a one-crop economy. Large numbers of field hands were required for cotton cultivation, and black slavery became solidly entrenched in the southern economy.

The construction of roads and canals paralleled the country's growth and economic expansion. The successful completion of the Erie Canal (1825), linking the Great Lakes with the Atlantic, ushered in a canal-building boom. Railroad building began in earnest in the 1830s, and by 1840, about 5,300 km (3,300 mi) of track had been laid. The development of the telegraph a few years later gave the nation the beginnings of a modern telecommunications network. As a result of the establishment of the factory system, a laboring class appeared in the North by the 1830s, bringing with it the earliest unionization efforts.

Western states admitted into the Union following the War of 1812 provided for free white male suffrage without property qualifications and helped spark a democratic revolution. As eastern states began to broaden the franchise, mass appeal became an important requisite for political candidates. The election to the presidency in 1928 of Andrew Jackson, a military hero and Indian fighter from Tennessee, was no doubt a result of this widening of the democratic process. By this time, the United States consisted of 24 states and had a population of nearly 13 million.

The relentless westward thrust of the United States population ultimately involved the United States in foreign conflict. In 1836, US settlers in Texas revolted against Mexican rule and established an independent republic. Texas was admitted to the Union as a state in 1845, and relations between Mexico and the United States steadily worsened. A dispute arose over the southern boundary of Texas, and a Mexican attack on a US patrol in May 1846 gave President James K. Polk a pretext to declare war. After a rapid advance, US forces captured Mexico City, and on 2 February 1848, Mexico formally gave up the unequal fight by signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, providing for the cession of California and the territory of New Mexico to the United States. With the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, the United States acquired from Mexico for $10 million large strips of land forming the balance of southern Arizona and New Mexico. A dispute with Britain over the Oregon Territory was settled in 1846 by a treaty that established the 49th parallel as the boundary with Canada. Thenceforth the United States was to be a Pacific as well as an Atlantic power.

Westward expansion exacerbated the issue of slavery in the territories. By 1840, abolition of slavery constituted a fundamental aspect of a movement for moral reform, which also encompassed women's rights, universal education, alleviation of working class hardships, and temperance. In 1849, a year after the discovery of gold had precipitated a rush of new settlers to California, that territory (whose constitution prohibited slavery) demanded admission to the Union. A compromise engineered in Congress by Senator Henry Clay in 1850 provided for California's admission as a free state in return for various concessions to the South. But enmities dividing North and South could not be silenced. The issue of slavery in the territories came to a head with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and left the question of slavery in those territories to be decided by the settlers themselves. The ensuing conflicts in Kansas between northern and southern settlers earned the territory the name "bleeding Kansas."

In 1860, the Democratic Party, split along northern and southern lines, offered two presidential candidates. The new Republican Party, organized in 1854 and opposed to the expansion of slavery, nominated Abraham Lincoln. Owing to the defection in Democratic ranks, Lincoln was able to carry the election in the electoral college, although he did not obtain a majority of the popular vote. To ardent supporters of slavery, Lincoln's election provided a reason for immediate secession. Between December 1860 and February 1861, the seven states of the Deep South—South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—withdrew from the Union and formed a separate government, known as the Confederate States of America, under the presidency of Jefferson Davis. The secessionists soon began to confiscate federal property in the South. On 12 April 1861, the Confederates opened fire on Ft. Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, and thus precipitated the US Civil War. Following the outbreak of hostilities, Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee joined the Confederacy.

For the next four years, war raged between the Confederate and Union forces, largely in southern territories. An estimated 360,000 men in the Union forces died of various causes, including 110,000 killed in battle. Confederate dead were estimated at 250,000, including 94,000 killed in battle. The North, with great superiority in manpower and resources, finally prevailed. A Confederate invasion of the North was repulsed at the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863; a Union army took Atlanta, Georgia in September 1864; and Confederate forces evacuated Richmond, Virginia the Confederate capital, in early April 1865. With much of the South in Union hands, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia on 9 April.

The outcome of the war brought great changes in US life. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was the initial step in freeing some four million black slaves; their liberation was completed soon after the war's end by amendments to the Constitution. Lincoln's plan for the reconstruction of the rebellious states was compassionate, but only five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth as part of a conspiracy in which US Secretary of State William H. Seward was seriously wounded.

During the Reconstruction era (1865–77), the defeated South was governed by Union Army commanders, and the resultant bitterness of southerners toward northern Republican rule, which enfranchised blacks, persisted for years afterward. Vice President Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln as president, tried to carry out Lincoln's conciliatory policies but was opposed by radical Republican leaders in Congress who demanded harsher treatment of the South. On the pretext that he had failed to carry out an act of Congress, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson in 1868, but the Senate failed by one vote to convict him and remove him from office. It was during Johnson's presidency that Secretary of State Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska (which attained statehood in 1959) from Russia for $7.2 million.

The efforts of southern whites to regain political control of their states led to the formation of terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, which employed violence to prevent blacks from voting. By the end of the Reconstruction era, whites had reestablished their political domination over blacks in the southern states and had begun to enforce patterns of segregation in education and social organization that were to last for nearly a century.

In many southern states, the decades following the Civil War were ones of economic devastation, in which rural whites as well as blacks were reduced to sharecropper status. Outside the South, however, a great period of economic expansion began. Transcontinental railroads were constructed, corporate enterprise spurted ahead, and the remaining western frontier lands were rapidly occupied and settled. The age of big business tycoons dawned. As heavy manufacturing developed, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York emerged as the nation's great industrial centers. The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, engaged in numerous strikes, and violent conflicts between strikers and strikebreakers were common. The American Federation of Labor, founded in 1886, established a nationwide system of craft unionism that remained dominant for many decades. During this period, too, the woman's rights movement organized actively to secure the vote (although woman's suffrage was not enacted nationally until 1920), and groups outraged by the depletion of forests and wildlife in the West pressed for the conservation of natural resources.

During the latter half of the 19th century, the acceleration of westward expansion made room for millions of immigrants from Europe. The country's population grew to more than 76 million by 1900. As homesteaders, prospectors, and other settlers tamed the frontier, the federal government forced Indians west of the Mississippi to cede vast tracts of land to the whites, precipitating a series of wars with various tribes. By 1890, only 250,000 Indians remained in the United States, virtually all of them residing on reservations.

The 1890s marked the closing of the United States frontier for settlement and the beginning of US overseas expansion. By 1892, Hawaiian sugar planters of US origin had become strong enough to bring about the downfall of the native queen and to establish a republic, which in 1898, at its own request, was annexed as a territory by the United States. The sympathies of the United States with the Cuban nationalists who were battling for independence from Spain were aroused by a lurid press and by expansionist elements. A series of events climaxed by the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor finally forced a reluctant President William McKinley to declare war on Spain on 25 April 1898. US forces overwhelmed those of Spain in Cuba, and as a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States added to its territories the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. A newly independent Cuba was drawn into the United States orbit as a virtual protectorate through the 1950s. Many eminent citizens saw these new departures into imperialism as a betrayal of the time-honored US doctrine of government by the consent of the governed.

With the marked expansion of big business came increasing protests against the oppressive policies of large corporations and their dominant role in the public life of the nation. A demand emerged for strict control of monopolistic business practice through the enforcement of antitrust laws. Two US presidents, Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09), a Republican and Woodrow Wilson (1913–21), a Democrat, approved of the general movement for reform, which came to be called progressivism. Roosevelt developed a considerable reputation as a trustbuster, while Wilson's program, known as the New Freedom, called for reform of tariffs, business procedures, and banking. During Roosevelt's first term, the United States leased the Panama Canal Zone and started construction of a 68-km (42-mi) canal, completed in 1914.

US involvement in World War I marked the country's active emergence as one of the great powers of the world. When war broke out in 1914 between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey on one side and Britain, France, and Russia on the other, sentiment in the United States was strongly opposed to participation in the conflict, although a large segment of the American people sympathized with the British and the French. While both sides violated US maritime rights on the high seas, the Germans, enmeshed in a British blockade, resorted to unrestricted submarine warfare. On 6 April 1917, Congress declared war on Germany. Through a national draft of all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 45, some four million US soldiers were trained, of whom more than two million were sent overseas to France. By late 1917, when US troops began to take part in the fighting on the western front, the European armies were approaching exhaustion, and US intervention may well have been decisive in ensuring the eventual victory of the Allies. In a series of great battles in which US soldiers took an increasingly major part, the German forces were rolled back in the west, and in the autumn of 1918 were compelled to sue for peace. Fighting ended with the armistice of 11 November 1918. President Wilson played an active role in drawing up the 1919 Versailles peace treaty, which embodied his dream of establishing a League of Nations to preserve the peace, but the isolationist bloc in the Senate was able to prevent US ratification of the treaty.

In the 1920s, the United States had little enthusiasm left for crusades, either for democracy abroad or for reform at home; a rare instance of idealism in action was the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928), an antiwar accord negotiated on behalf of the United States by Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg. In general, however, the philosophy of the Republican administrations from 1921 to 1933 was expressed in the aphorism "the business of America is business," and the 1920s saw a great business boom. The years 1923–24 also witnessed the unraveling of the Teapot Dome scandal: the revelation that President Warren G. Harding's secretary of the interior, Albert B. Fall, had secretly leased federal oil reserves in California and Wyoming to private oil companies in return for gifts and loans.

The great stock market crash of October 1929 ushered in the most serious and most prolonged economic depression the country had ever known. By 1933, an estimated 12 million men and women were out of work; personal savings were wiped out on a vast scale through a disastrous series of corporate bankruptcies and bank failures. Relief for the unemployed was left to private charities and local governments, which were incapable of handling the enormous task.

The inauguration of the successful Democratic presidential candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in March 1933 ushered in a new era of US history, in which the federal government was to assume a much more prominent role in the nation's economic affairs. Proposing to give the country a "New Deal," Roosevelt accepted national responsibility for alleviating the hardships of unemployment; relief measures were instituted, work projects were established, the deficit spending was accepted in preference to ignoring public distress. The federal Social Security program was inaugurated, as were various measures designed to stimulate and develop the economy through federal intervention. Unions were strengthened through the National Labor Relations Act, which established the right of employees' organizations to bargain collectively with employers. Union membership increased rapidly, and the dominance of the American Federation of Labor was challenged by the newly formed Congress of Industrial Organizations, which organized workers along industrial lines.

The depression of the 1930s was worldwide, and certain nations attempted to counter economic stagnation by building large military establishments and embarking on foreign adventures. Following German, Italian, and Japanese aggression, World War II broke out in Europe during September 1939. In 1940, Roosevelt, disregarding a tradition dating back to Washington that no president should serve more than two terms, ran again for reelection. He easily defeated his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie, who, along with Roosevelt, advocated increased rearmament and all possible aid to victims of aggression. The United States was brought actively into the war by the Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii on 7 December 1941. The forces of Germany, Italy, and Japan were now arrayed over a vast theater of war against those of the United States and the British Commonwealth; in Europe, Germany was locked in a bloody struggle with the Soviet Union. US forces waged war across the vast expanses of the Pacific, in Africa, in Asia, and in Europe. Italy surrendered in 1943; Germany was successfully invaded in 1944 and conquered in May 1945; and after the United States dropped the world's first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese capitulated in August. The Philippines became an independent republic soon after the war, but the United States retained most of its other Pacific possessions, with Hawaii becoming the 50th state in 1959.

Roosevelt, who had been elected to a fourth term in 1944, died in April 1945 and was succeeded by Harry s Truman, his vice president. Under the Truman administration, the United States became an active member of the new world organization, the United Nations. The Truman administration embarked on largescale programs of military aid and economic support to check the expansion of communism. Aid to Greece and Turkey in 1948 and the Marshall Plan, a program designed to accelerate the economic recovery of Western Europe, were outstanding features of US postwar foreign policy. The North Atlantic Treaty (1949) established a defensive alliance among a number of West European nations and the United States. Truman's Point Four program gave technical and scientific aid to developing nations. When, following the North Korean attack on South Korea on 25 June 1950, the UN Security Council resolved that members of the UN should proceed to the aid of South Korea. US naval, air, and ground forces were immediately dispatched by President Truman. An undeclared war ensued, which eventually was brought to a halt by an armistice signed on 27 June 1953.

In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II, was elected president on the Republican ticket, thereby bringing to an end 20 years of Democratic presidential leadership. In foreign affairs, the Eisenhower administration continued the Truman policy of containing the USSR and threatened "massive retaliation" in the event of Soviet aggression, thus heightening the Cold War between the world's two great nuclear powers. Although Republican domestic policies were more conservative than those of the Democrats, the Eisenhower administration extended certain major social and economic programs of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, notably Social Security and public housing. The early years of the Eisenhower administration were marked by agitation (arising in 1950) over charges of Communist and other allegedly subversive activities in the United States—a phenomenon known as McCarthyism, after Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, who aroused much controversy with unsubstantiated allegations that Communists had penetrated the US government, especially the Army and the Department of State. Even those who personally opposed McCarthy lent their support to the imposition of loyalty oaths and the blacklisting of persons with left-wing backgrounds.

A major event of the Eisenhower years was the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) outlawing segregation of whites and blacks in public schools. In the aftermath of this ruling, desegregation proceeded slowly and painfully. In the early 1960s, sit-ins, "freedom rides," and similar expressions of nonviolent resistance by blacks and their sympathizers led to a lessening of segregation practices in public facilities. Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the high court in 1962 mandated the reapportionment of state and federal legislative districts according to a "one person, one vote" formula. It also broadly extended the rights of defendants in criminal trials to include the provision of a defense lawyer at public expense for an accused person unable to afford one, and established the duty of police to advise an accused person of his or her legal rights immediately upon arrest.

In the early 1960s, during the administration of Eisenhower's Democratic successor, John F. Kennedy, the Cold War heated up as Cuba, under the regime of Fidel Castro, aligned itself with the Soviet Union. Attempts by anti-Communist Cuban exiles to invade their homeland in the spring of 1961 failed despite US aid. In October 1962, President Kennedy successfully forced a showdown with the Soviet Union over Cuba in demanding the withdrawal of Soviet-supplied "offensive weapons"—missiles—from the nearby island. On 22 November 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas; hours later, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was inaugurated president. In the November 1964 elections, Johnson overwhelmingly defeated his Republican opponent, Barry M. Goldwater, and embarked on a vigorous program of social legislation unprecedented since Roosevelt's New Deal. His "Great Society" program sought to ensure black Americans' rights in voting and public housing, to give the underprivileged job training, and to provide persons 65 and over with hospitalization and other medical benefits (Medicare). Measures ensuring equal opportunity for minority groups may have contributed to the growth of the woman's rights movement in the late 1960s. This same period also saw the growth of a powerful environmental protection movement.

US military and economic aid to anti-Communist forces in Vietnam, which had its beginnings during the Truman administration (while Vietnam was still part of French Indochina) and was increased gradually by presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, escalated in 1965. In that year, President Johnson sent US combat troops to South Vietnam and ordered US bombing raids on North Vietnam, after Congress (in the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964) had given him practically carte blanche authority to wage war in that region. By the end of 1968, American forces in Vietnam numbered 536,100 men, but US military might was unable to defeat the Vietnamese guerrillas, and the American people were badly split over continuing the undeclared (and, some thought, ill-advised or even immoral) war, with its high price in casualties and materiel. Reacting to widespread dissatisfaction with his Vietnam policies, Johnson withdrew in March 1968 from the upcoming presidential race, and in November, Republican Richard M. Nixon, who had been the vice president under Eisenhower, was elected president. Thus, the Johnson years—which had begun with the new hopes of a Great Society but had soured with a rising tide of racial violence in US cities and the assassinations of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and US senator Robert F. Kennedy, among others—drew to a close.

President Nixon gradually withdrew US ground troops from Vietnam but expanded aerial bombardment throughout Indochina, and the increasingly unpopular and costly war continued for four more years before a cease-fire—negotiated by Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger—was finally signed on 27 January 1973 and the last US soldiers were withdrawn. The most protracted conflict in American history had resulted in 46,163 US combat deaths and 303,654 wounded soldiers, and had cost the US government $112 billion in military allocations. Two years later, the South Vietnamese army collapsed, and the North Vietnamese Communist regime united the country.

In 1972, during the last year of his first administration, Nixon initiated the normalization of relations—ruptured in 1949—with the People's Republic of China and signed a strategic arms limitation agreement with the Soviet Union as part of a Nixon-Kissinger policy of pursuing détente with both major Communist powers. (Earlier, in July 1969, American technology had achieved a national triumph by landing the first astronaut on the moon.) The Nixon administration sought to muster a "silent majority" in support of its Indochina policies and its conservative social outlook in domestic affairs. The most momentous domestic development, however, was the Watergate scandal, which began on 17 June 1972 with the arrest of five men associated with Nixon's reelection campaign, during a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, DC. Although Nixon was reelected in 1972, subsequent disclosures by the press and by a Senate investigating committee revealed a complex pattern of political "dirty tricks" and illegal domestic surveillance throughout his first term. The president's apparent attempts to obstruct justice by helping his aides cover up the scandal were confirmed by tape recordings (made by Nixon himself) of his private conversations, which the Supreme Court ordered him to release for use as evidence in criminal proceedings. The House voted to begin impeachment proceedings, and in late July 1974, its Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On 9 August, Nixon became the first president to resign the office. The following year, Nixon's top aides and former attorney general, John N. Mitchell, were convicted of obstruction and were subsequently sentenced to prison.

Nixon's successor was Gerald R. Ford, who in October 1973 had been appointed to succeed Vice President Spiro T. Agnew when Agnew resigned following his plea of nolo contendere to charges that he had evaded paying income tax on moneys he had received from contractors while governor of Maryland. Less than a month after taking office, President Ford granted a full pardon to Nixon for any crimes he may have committed as president. In August 1974, Ford nominated Nelson A. Rockefeller as vice president (he was not confirmed until December), thus giving the country the first instance of a nonelected president and an appointed vice president serving simultaneously. Ford's pardon of Nixon, as well as continued inflation and unemployment, probably contributed to his narrow defeat by a Georgia Democrat, Jimmy Carter, in 1976.

President Carter's forthright championing of human rights—though consistent with the Helsinki accords, the "final act" of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, signed by the United States and 34 other nations in July 1974—contributed to strained relations with the USSR and with some US allies. During 1978–79, the president concluded and secured Senate passage of treaties ending US sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone. His major accomplishment in foreign affairs, however, was his role in mediating a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, signed at the camp David, Md., retreat in September 1978. Domestically, the Carter administration initiated a national energy program to reduce US dependence on foreign oil by cutting gasoline and oil consumption and by encouraging the development of alternative energy resources. But the continuing decline of the economy because of double-digit inflation and high unemployment caused his popularity to wane, and confusing shifts in economic policy (coupled with a lack of clear goals in foreign affairs) characterized his administration during 1979 and 1980; a prolonged quarrel with Iran over more than 50 US hostages seized in Tehrān on 4 November 1979 contributed to public doubts about his presidency. Exactly a year after the hostages were taken, former California Governor Ronald Reagan defeated Carter in an election that saw the Republican Party score major gains throughout the United States. The hostages were released on 20 January 1981, the day of Reagan's inauguration.

Reagan, who survived a chest wound from an assassination attempt in Washington, DC, in 1981, used his popularity to push through significant policy changes. He succeeded in enacting income tax cuts of 25%, reducing the maximum tax rate on unearned income from 70% to 50%, and accelerating depreciation allowances for businesses. At the same time, he more than doubled the military budget, in constant 1985 dollars, between 1980 and 1989. Vowing to reduce domestic spending, Reagan cut benefits for the working poor, reduced allocations for food stamps and Aid to Families With Dependent Children by 13%, and decreased grants for the education of disadvantaged children. He slashed the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency and instituted a flat rate reimbursement system for the treatment of Medicare patients with particular illnesses, replacing a more flexible arrangement in which hospitals had been reimbursed for "reasonable charges."

Reagan's appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman justice of the Supreme Court was widely praised and won unanimous confirmation from the Senate. However, some of his other high-level choices were extremely controversial—none more so than that of his secretary of the interior, James G. Watt, who finally resigned on October 1983. To direct foreign affairs, Reagan named Alexander M. Haig, Jr., former NATO supreme commander for Europe, to the post of secretary of state; Haig, who clashed frequently with other administration officials, resigned in June 1982 and was replaced by George P. Shultz. In framing his foreign and defense policy, Reagan insisted on a military buildup as a precondition for arms-control talks with the USSR. His administration sent money and advisers to help the government of El Salvador in its war against leftist rebels, and US advisers were also sent to Honduras, reportedly to aid groups of Nicaraguans trying to overthrow the Sandinista government in their country. Troops were also dispatched to Lebanon in September 1982, as part of a multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut, and to Grenada in October 1983 to oust a leftist government there.

Reelected in 1984, President Reagan embarked on his second term with a legislative agenda that included reduction of federal budget deficits (which had mounted rapidly during his first term in office), further cuts in domestic spending, and reform of the federal tax code. In military affairs, Reagan persuaded Congress to fund on a modest scale his Strategic Defense Initiative, commonly known as Star Wars, a highly complex and extremely costly space-based antimissile system. In 1987, the downing of an aircraft carrying arms to Nicaragua led to the disclosure that a group of National Security Council members had secretly diverted $48 million that the federal government had received in payment from Iran for American arms to rebel forces in Nicaragua. The disclosure prompted the resignation of two of the leaders of the group, Vice Admiral John Poindexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, as well as investigations by House and Senate committees and a special prosecutor, Lawrence Walsh. The congressional investigations found no conclusive evidence that Reagan had authorized or known of the diversion. Yet they noted that because Reagan had approved of the sale of arms to Iran and had encouraged his staff to assist Nicaraguan rebels despite the prohibition of such assistance by Congress, "the President created or at least tolerated an environment where those who did know of the diversion believed with certainty that they were carrying out the President's policies."

Reagan was succeeded in 1988 by his vice president, George H.W. Bush. Benefiting from a prolonged economic expansion, Bush handily defeated Michael Dukakis, governor of Massachusetts and a liberal Democrat. On domestic issues, Bush sought to maintain policies introduced by the Reagan administration. His few legislative initiatives included the passage of legislation establishing strict regulations of air pollution, providing subsidies for child care, and protecting the rights of the disabled. Abroad, Bush showed more confidence and energy. While he responded cautiously to revolutions in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, he used his personal relationships with foreign leaders to bring about comprehensive peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors, to encourage a peaceful unification of Germany, and to negotiate broad and substantial arms cuts with the Russians. Bush reacted to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by sending 400,000 soldiers to form the basis of a multinational coalition, which he assembled and which destroyed Iraq's main force within seven months. This conflict became known as the Gulf War.

One of the biggest crises that the Bush administration encountered was the collapse of the savings and loan industry in the late eighties. Thrift institutions were required by law to pay low interest rates for deposits and long-term loans. The creation of money market funds for the small investor in the eighties which paid higher rates of return than savings accounts prompted depositors to withdraw their money from banks and invest it in the higher yielding mutual funds. To finance the withdrawals, banks began selling assets at a loss. The deregulation of the savings and loan industry, combined with the increase in federal deposit insurance from $40,000 to $100,000 per account, encouraged many desperate savings institutions to invest in high-risk real-estate ventures, for which no state supervision or regulation existed. When the majority of such ventures predictably failed, the federal government found itself compelled by law to rescue the thrifts. It is estimated that this will cost to taxpayers $345 billion, in settlements that will continue through 2029.

In his bid for reelection in 1992, Bush faced not only Democratic nominee Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas, but also third-party candidate Ross Perot, a Dallas billionaire who had made his fortune in the computer industry. In contrast to Bush's first run for the presidency, when the nation had enjoyed an unusually long period of economic expansion, the economy in 1992 was just beginning to recover from a recession. Although data released the following year indicated that a healthy rebound had already begun in 1992, the public perceived the economy during election year as weak. Clinton took advantage of this perception in his campaign, focusing on the financial concerns of what he called "the forgotten middle class." He also took a more centrist position on many issues than more traditional Democrats, promising fiscal responsibility and economic growth. Clinton defeated Bush, winning 43% of the vote to Bush's 38%. Perot garnered 18% of the vote.

At its outset, Clinton's presidency was plagued by numerous setbacks, most notably the failure of his controversial health care reform plan, drawn up under the leadership of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Major accomplishments included the passage, by a narrow margin, of a deficit-reduction bill calling for tax increases and spending cuts and Congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which removed or reduced tariffs on most goods moving across the borders of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Although supporters and critics agreed that the treaty would create or eliminate relatively few jobs—two hundred thousand—the accord prompted heated debate. Labor strenuously opposed the agreement, seeing it as accelerating the flight of factory jobs to countries with low labor costs such as Mexico, the third-largest trading partner of the United States. Business, on the other hand, lobbied heavily for the treaty, arguing that it would create new markets for American goods and insisting that competition from Mexico would benefit the American economy.

By the fall of 1994, many American workers, still confronting stagnating wages, benefits, and living standards, had yet to feel the effects of the nation's recovery from the recession of 1990–91. The resulting disillusionment with the actions of the Clinton administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress, combined with the widespread climate of social conservatism resulting from a perceived erosion of traditional moral values led to an overwhelming upset by the Republican party in the 1994 midterm elections. The GOP gained control of both houses of Congress for the first time in over 40 years, also winning 11 gubernatorial races, for control of a total of 30 governorships nationwide. The Republican agenda—increased defense spending and cuts in taxes, social programs, and farm subsidies—had been popularized under the label "Contract with America," the title of a manifesto circulated during the campaign.

The ensuing confrontation between the nation's Democratic president and Republican-controlled Congress came to a head at the end of 1995, when Congress responded to presidential vetoes of appropriations and budget bills by refusing to pass stop gap spending measures, resulting in major shutdowns of the federal government in November and December. The following summer, however, the president and Congress joined forces to reform the welfare system through a bill replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children with block grants through which welfare funding would largely become the province of the states.

The nation's economic recovery gained strength as the decade advanced, with healthy growth, falling unemployment, and moderate interest and inflation levels. Public confidence in the economy was reflected in a bull market on the stock exchange, which gained 60% between 1995 and 1997. Bolstered by a favorable economy at home and peace abroad, Clinton's faltering popularity rebounded and in 1996 he became the first Democratic president elected to a second term since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, defeating the Republican candidate, former Senate majority leader Robert Dole, and Independent Ross Perot, whose electoral support was greatly reduced from its 1992 level. The Republicans retained control of both houses of Congress. In 1997, President Clinton signed into law a bipartisan budget plan designed to balance the federal budget by 2002 for the first time since 1969, through a combination of tax and spending cuts. In 1998–99, the federal government experienced two straight years of budget surpluses.

In 1998, special prosecutor Kenneth Starr submitted a report to Congress that resulted in the House of Representatives passing four articles of impeachment against President Clinton. In the subsequent trial in the Senate, the articles were defeated.

Regulation of the three large financial industries underwent significant change in late 1999. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (also known as the Financial Modernization Act) was passed by Congress in November 1999. It cleared the way for banks, insurance companies, and securities companies to sell each other's services and to engage in merger and acquisition activity. Prior to the Act's passage, activities of the banking, insurance and securities industries were strictly limited by the Glass Steagall Act of 1933, which Gramm-Leach-Bliley repealed.

Health care issues received significant attention in 2000. On 23 November 1998, 46 states and the District of Columbia together reached a settlement with the large US tobacco companies over compensation for smoking-related healthcare costs incurred by the states. Payments to the states, totaling $206 billion, were scheduled to be made over 25 years beginning in 1999. Most states passed Patients' Rights legislation, and all 50 states and the District of Columbia passed Children's Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) legislation to provide health care to children in low-income families.

The ongoing strong economy continued through the late 1990s and into 2000. Economic expansion set a record for longevity, and—except for higher gasoline prices during summer 2000, stemming from higher crude oil prices—inflation continued to be relatively low. By 2000, there was additional evidence that productivity growth had improved substantially since the mid-1990s, boosting living standards while helping to hold down increases in costs and prices despite very tight labor markets.

In 2000, Hispanics replaced African Americans as the largest minority group in the United States. (Hispanics numbered 35.3 million in 2000, or 12.5% of the population, compared with 34.7 million blacks, or 12.3% of the population.)

The 2000 presidential election was one of the closest in US history, pitting Democratic vice president Al Gore against Republican Party candidate George W. Bush, son of former president George H. W. Bush. The vote count in Florida became the determining factor in the 7 November election, as each candidate needed to obtain the state's 25 electoral college votes in order to capture the 270 needed to win the presidency. When in the early hours of 8 November Bush appeared to have won the state's 25 votes, Gore called Bush to concede the election. He soon retracted the concession, however, after the extremely thin margin of victory triggered an automatic recount of the vote in Florida. The Democrats subsequently mounted a series of legal challenges to the vote count in Florida, which favored Bush. Eventually, the US Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, was summoned to rule on the election. On 12 December 2000, the Court, divided 5–4, reversed the Florida state supreme court decision that had ordered new recounts called for by Al Gore. George W. Bush was declared president. Gore had won the popular vote, however, capturing 48.4% of votes cast to Bush's 47.9%.

Once inaugurated, Bush called education his top priority, stating that "no child should be left behind" in America. He affirmed support for Medicare and Social Security, and called for pay and benefit increases for the military. He called upon charities and faith-based community groups to aid the disadvantaged. Bush announced a $1.6 trillion tax cut plan (subsequently reduced to $1.35 trillion) in his first State of the Union Address as an economic stimulus package designed to respond to an economy that had begun to falter. He called for research and development of a missile-defense program, and warned of the threat of international terrorism.

The threat of international terrorism was made all too real on 11 September 2001, when 19 hijackers crashed 4 passenger aircraft into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Stony Creek Township in Pennsylvania. The World Trade Center towers were destroyed. Approximately 3,000 people were confirmed or reported dead as a result of all four 11 September 2001 attacks. The terrorist organization al-Qaeda, led by Saudi-born Osama bin Laden, was believed to be responsible for the attacks, and a manhunt for bin Laden began.

On 7 October 2001, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against known terrorist training camps and military installations within Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban regime that supported the al-Qaeda organization. The air strikes were supported by leaders of the European Union and Russia, as well as other nations. By December 2001, the Taliban were defeated, and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai was chosen to lead an interim administration for the country. Remnants of al-Qaeda still remained in Afghanistan and the surrounding region, and a year after the 2001 offensive more than 10,000 US soldiers remained in Afghanistan to suppress efforts by either the Taliban or al-Qaeda to regroup. As of 2005, Allied soldiers continued to come under periodic attack in Afghanistan.

As a response to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, the US Congress that October approved the USA Patriot Act, proposed by the Bush administration. The act gave the government greater powers to detain suspected terrorists (or also immigrants), to counter money-laundering, and increase surveillance by domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies. Critics claimed the law did not provide for the system of checks and balances that safeguard civil liberties in the United States.

Beginning in late 2001, corporate America suffered a crisis of confidence. In December 2001, the energy giant Enron Corporation declared bankruptcy after massive false accounting practices came to light. Eclipsing the Enron scandal, telecommunications giant WorldCom in June 2002 disclosed that it had hid $3.8 billion in expenses over 15 months. The fraud led to WorldCom's bankruptcy, the largest in US history (the company had $107 billion in assets).

In his January 2002 State of the Union Address, President Bush announced that Iran, Iraq, and North Korea constituted an "axis of evil," sponsoring terrorism and threatening the United States and its allies with weapons of mass destruction. Throughout 2002, the United States pressed its case against Iraq, stating that the Iraqi regime had to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction. In November 2002, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1441, calling upon Iraq to disarm itself of any chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons it might possess and to allow for the immediate return of weapons inspectors (they had been expelled in 1998). UN and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) weapons inspectors returned to Iraq, but the United States and the United Kingdom expressed dissatisfaction with their progress, and indicated military force might be necessary to remove the Iraqi regime, led by Saddam Hussein. France and Russia, permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Germany, a nonpermanent member, in particular, opposed the use of military force. The disagreement caused a diplomatic rift in the West that was slow to repair.

After diplomatic efforts at conflict resolution failed by March 2003, the United States, on 19 March, launched air strikes against targets in Baghdād and war began. On 9 April, Baghdād fell to US forces, and work began on restoring basic services to the Iraqi population, including providing safe drinking water, electricity, and sanitation. On 1 May, President Bush declared major combat operations had been completed. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured by US forces on 13 December 2003 and placed in custody.

In May 2004, the Abu Ghraib scandal erupted. Photographs of US soldiers engaged in acts of abuse—including physical, sexual, and psychological—against Iraqi prisoners being held at the Abu Ghraib military prison outside Baghdād were made public. The fact that the prison had been a place of torture and execution under Saddam Hussein's rule made the abuse seem even more degrading. Seven US suspects were named for carrying out the abuse; most were given prison sentences on charges ranging from conspiracy to assault, but some thought higher-ranking officials, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, should resign as well.

US forces increasingly became the targets of attacks in Iraq as an insurgency against the US military presence began. By late 2005, nearly 1,900 US soldiers had been killed since major combat operations were declared over on 1 May 2003. Some 138,000 US troops remained in Iraq in late 2005, and that number was expected to increase as a referendum on a new Iraqi constitution in October 2005 and national elections in December 2005 were to be held.

The 2004 presidential election was held on 2 November. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney defeated Democratic challengers John F. Kerry and John R. Edwards. Bush received approximately 3 million more popular votes than Kerry, and won the electoral vote 286 to 251. (One electoral vote went to John Edwards when an elector pledged to Kerry voted for "John Edwards" instead.) The vote in Ohio was the deciding factor, and upon conceding Ohio, Kerry conceded the election. The campaign was run on such issues as terrorism, the War in Iraq, the economy, and to a lesser extent issues of morality and values—antigay marriage measures were on the ballots in 11 states, and all passed.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina landed on the Gulf Coast of the United States, in what was one of the worst natural disasters in US history. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was evacuated, but some 150,000 people were unable to leave before the storm hit. A day after the storm appeared to have bypassed the city's center, levees were breached by the storm surge and water submerged the metropolis. Rescuers initially ignored the bodies of the dead in the search to find the living. Those unable to leave the city were sheltered in the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center; air conditioning, electricity, and running water failed, making for unsanitary and uncomfortable conditions. They were later transferred to other shelters, including the Houston Astrodome. Looting, shootings, and carjackings exacerbated already devastating conditions. The costs of the hurricane and flooding were exceedingly high in terms of both loss of life and economic damage: more than 1,000 people died and damages were estimated to reach $200 billion. Katrina had global economic consequences, as imports, exports, and oil supplies—including production, importation, and refining—were disrupted. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security, and President Bush were criticized in varying degrees for their lack of adequate response to the disaster. FEMA director Michael D. Brown resigned his position amid the furor. Race and class issues also came to the fore, as the majority of New Orleans residents unable to evacuate the city and affected by the catastrophe were poor and African American.

GOVERNMENT

The Constitution of the United States, signed in 1787, is the nation's governing document. In the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791 and known as the Bill of Rights, the federal government is denied the power to infringe on rights generally regarded as fundamental to the civil liberties of the people. These amendments prohibit the establishment of a state religion and the abridgment of freedom of speech, press, and the right to assemble. They protect all persons against unreasonable searches and seizures, guarantee trial by jury, and prohibit excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments. No person may be required to testify against himself, nor may he be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The 13th Amendment (1865) banned slavery; the 15th (1870) protected the freed slaves' right to vote; and the 19th (1920) guaranteed the franchise to women. In all, there have been 27 amendments, the last of which, proposed in 1789 but ratified in 1992, denied the variation of the compensation of Senators and Representatives until an election intervened. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), approved by Congress in 1972, would have mandated equality between the sexes; only 35 of the required 38 states had ratified the ERA by the time the ratification deadline expired on 30 June 1982.

The United States has a federal form of government, with the distribution of powers between the federal government and the states constitutionally defined. The legislative powers of the federal government are vested in Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 435 members of the House of Representatives. Each state is allotted a number of representatives in proportion to its population as determined by the decennial census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms in every even-numbered year. A representative must be at least 25 years old, must be a resident of the state represented, and must have been a citizen of the United States for at least seven years. The Senate consists of two senators from each state, elected for six-year terms. Senators must be at least 30 years old, must be residents of the states from which they are elected, and must have been citizens of the United States for at least nine years. One-third of the Senate is elected in every even-numbered year.

Congress legislates on matters of taxation, borrowing, regulation of international and interstate commerce, formulation of rules of naturalization, bankruptcy, coinage, weights and measures, post offices and post roads, courts inferior to the Supreme Court, provision for the armed forces, among many other matters. A broad interpretation of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution has widened considerably the scope of congressional legislation based on the enumerated powers.

A bill that is passed by both houses of Congress in the same form is submitted to the president, who may sign it or veto it. If the president chooses to veto the bill, it is returned to the house in which it originated with the reasons for the veto. The bill may become law despite the president's veto if it is passed again by a two-thirds vote in both houses. A bill becomes law without the president's signature if retained for 10 days while Congress is in session. After Congress adjourns, if the president does not sign a bill within 10 days, an automatic veto ensues.

The president must be "a natural born citizen" at least 35 years old, and must have been a resident of the United States for 14 years. Under the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1951, a president may not be elected more than twice. Each state is allotted a number of electors based on its combined total of US senators and representatives, and, technically, it is these electors who, constituted as the electoral college, cast their vote for president, with all of the state's electoral votes customarily going to the candidate who won the largest share of the popular vote of the state (the District of Columbia also has three electors, making a total of 538 votes). Thus, the candidate who wins the greatest share of the popular vote throughout the United States may, in rare cases, fail to win a majority of the electoral vote. If no candidate gains a majority in the electoral college, the choice passes to the House of Representatives.

The vice president, elected at the same time and on the same ballot as the president, serves as ex officio president of the Senate. The vice president assumes the power and duties of the presidency on the president's removal from office or as a result of the president's death, resignation, or inability to perform his duties. In the case of a vacancy in the vice presidency, the president nominates a successor, who must be approved by a majority in both houses of Congress. The Congress has the power to determine the line of presidential succession in case of the death or disability of both the president and vice president.

Under the Constitution, the president is enjoined to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." In reality, the president has a considerable amount of leeway in determining to what extent a law is or is not enforced. Congress's only recourse is impeachment, to which it has resorted only three times, in proceedings against presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. Both the president and the vice president are removable from office after impeachment by the House and conviction at a Senate trial for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." The president has the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except in cases of impeachment.

The president nominates and "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate" appoints ambassadors, public ministers, consuls, and all federal judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court. As commander in chief, the president is ultimately responsible for the disposition of the land, naval, and air forces, but the power to declare war belongs to Congress. The president conducts foreign relations and makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate. No treaty is binding unless it wins the approval of two-thirds of the Senate. The president's independence is also limited by the House of Representatives, where all money bills originate.

The president also appoints as his cabinet, subject to Senate confirmation, the secretaries who head the departments of the executive branch. As of 2005, the executive branch included the following cabinet departments: Agriculture (created in 1862), Commerce (1913), Defense (1947), Education (1980), Energy (1977), Health and Human Services (1980), Housing and Urban Development (1965), Interior (1849), Justice (1870), Labor (1913), State (1789), Transportation (1966), Treasury (1789), Veterans' Affairs (1989), and Homeland Security (2002). The Department of Defense—headquartered in the Pentagon, the world's largest office building—also administers the various branches of the military: Air Force, Army, Navy, defense agencies, and joint-service schools. The Department of Justice administers the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which originated in 1908; the Central Intelligence Agency (1947) is under the aegis of the executive office. Among the several hundred quasi-independent agencies are the Federal Reserve System (1913), serving as the nation's central bank, and the major regulatory bodies, notably the Environmental Protection Agency (1970), Federal Communications Commission (1934), Federal Power Commission (1920), Federal Trade Commission (1914), and Interstate Commerce Commission (1887).

Regulations for voting are determined by the individual states for federal as well as for local offices, and requirements vary from state to state. In the past, various southern states used literacy tests, poll taxes, "grandfather" clauses, and other methods to disfranchise black voters, but Supreme Court decisions and congressional measures, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, more than doubled the number of black registrants in Deep South states between 1964 and 1992. In 1960, only 29.1% of the black votingage population was registered to vote; by the mid-1990s, that percentage had risen to over 65%.

As of the November 2004 presidential election, there were over 16 million registered African American voters (64.4% of those African Americans eligible to vote). The number of registered Hispanic voters increased from 2.5 million in 1972 to 9 million in 2004 (34.3% of eligible Hispanic voters). Sixty-four percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2004 presidential election, up from 60% in 2000. Voter registration was reported to be 72% nationwide. The next presidential election was to be held November 2008.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Two major parties, Democratic and Republican, have dominated national, state, and local politics since 1860. These parties are made up of clusters of small autonomous local groups primarily concerned with local politics and the election of local candidates to office. Within each party, such groups frequently differ drastically in policies and beliefs on many issues, but once every four years, they successfully bury their differences and rally around a candidate for the presidency. Minority parties have been formed at various periods in US political history, but most have generally allied with one of the two major parties, and none has achieved sustained national prominence. The most successful minority party in recent decades—that of Texas billionaire Ross Perot in 1992—was little more than a protest vote. Various extreme groups on the right and left, including a small US Communist Party, have had little political significance on a national scale; in 1980, the Libertarian Party became the first minor party since 1916 to appear on the ballot in all 50 states. The Green Party increased its showing in the 2000 election, with presidential candidate Ralph Nader winning 2.7% of the vote. Independent candidates have won state and local office, but no candidate has won the presidency without major party backing.

Traditionally, the Republican Party is more solicitous of business interests and gets greater support from business than does the Democratic Party. A majority of blue-collar workers, by contrast, have generally supported the Democratic Party, which favors more lenient labor laws, particularly as they affect labor unions; the Republican Party often (though not always) supports legislation that restricts the power of labor unions. Republicans favor the enhancement of the private sector of the economy, while Democrats generally urge the cause of greater government participation and regulatory authority, especially at the federal level.

Within both parties there are sharp differences on a great many issues; for example, northeastern Democrats in the past almost uniformly favored strong federal civil rights legislation, which was anathema to the Deep South; eastern Republicans in foreign policy are internationalist-minded, while Midwesterners of the same party constituted from 1910 through 1940 the hard core of isolationist sentiment in the country. More recently, "conservative" headings have been adopted by members of both parties who emphasize decentralized government power, strengthened private enterprise, and a strong US military posture overseas, while the designation "liberal" has been applied to those favoring an increased federal government role in economic and social affairs, disengagement from foreign military commitments, and safeguards for civil liberties.

President Nixon's resignation and the accompanying scandal surrounding the Republican Party hierarchy had a telling, if predictable, effect on party morale, as indicated by Republican losses in the 1974 and 1976 elections. The latent consequences of the Vietnam and Watergate years appeared to take their toll on both parties, however, in growing apathy toward politics and mistrust of politicians among the electorate. Ronald Reagan's successful 1980 presidential bid cut into traditional Democratic strongholds throughout the United States, as Republicans won control of the US Senate and eroded state and local Democratic majorities. On the strength of an economic recovery, President Reagan won reelection in November 1984, carrying 49 of 50 states (with a combined total of 525 electoral votes) and 58.8% of the popular vote; the Republicans retained control of the Senate, but the Democrats held on to the House. Benefiting from a six-year expansion of the economy, Republican George H.W. Bush won 54% of the vote in 1988. As Reagan had, Bush successfully penetrated traditionally Democratic regions. He carried every state in the South as well as the industrial states of the North.

Bush's approval rating reached a high of 91% in March of 1991 in the wake of the Persian Gulf War. By July of 1992, however, that rating had plummeted to 25%, in part because Bush appeared to be disengaged from domestic issues, particularly the 1991 recession. Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas and twenty years younger than Bush, presented himself to the electorate as a "New Democrat." He took more moderate positions than traditional New Deal Democrats, including calling for a middle-class tax cut, welfare reform, national service, and such traditionally Republican goals as getting tough on crime. The presidential race took on an unpredictable dimension with the entrance of Independent Ross Perot, a Texas billionaire. Perot, who attacked the budget deficit and called for shared sacrifice, withdrew from the race in July and then re-entered it in October. Clinton won the election with 43% of the vote, Bush received 38%, and Perot captured 18%, more than any third-party presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. As of 1992, Democrats enjoyed a large advantage over Republicans in voter registration, held both houses of congress, had a majority of state governorships, and controlled most state legislative bodies. In 1996 Bill Clinton became the first Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to be elected to a second term, with 49% of the popular vote to 41% for Republican Bob Dole, and 8% for Ross Perot, who ran as a Reform Party candidate. Republicans retained control of the House and Senate.

Aided by a growing climate of conservatism on moral issues and popular discontent with the pace of economic recovery from the recent recession, the Republicans accomplished an historic upset in the 1994 midterm elections, gaining control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. They gained 52 seats in the House, for a majority of 230–204, and 8 seats in the Senate, for a majority that came to 53–47 once Democrat Richard Shelby of Alabama changed parties shortly after the election. The Republicans also increased their power at the state level, winning 11 governorships, for a national total of 30. The number of state legislatures under Republican control increased from 8 to 19, with 18 controlled by the Democrats and 12 under split control. After the 1998 election, the Republican majority had eroded slightly in the House, with the 106th Congress including 223 Republicans, 210 Democrats, and 2 Independents; the Senate included 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats.

The major candidates in the 2000 presidential election were Republican George W. Bush, son of former president George H.W. Bush; his vice presidential running mate was Dick Cheney. The Democratic candidate was Vice President Al Gore, Jr. (Clinton administration 1992–2000). Gore chose Joseph Lieberman, senator from Connecticut, as his running mate. Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, became the first Jew to run for national office. Following the contested presidential election of 2000, George W. Bush emerged as president following a ruling by the US Supreme Court. Gore won the popular vote, with 48.4%, to 47.9% for Bush, but Bush won the electoral college vote, 271–266, with one blank vote in the electoral college cast. Sectional and demographic differences were evident in the 2000 election, with the Northeast, parts of the Mid-west, the Pacific states, and most urban areas voting Democratic, and the South, West, and rural communities voting Republican.

Following the November 2002 mid-term elections, Republicans held 229 of 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and there were 205 Democrats and 1 independent in the House. The Republicans held an extremely thin margin in the Senate, of 51 seats, to the Democrats' 48. There was one independent in the Senate, former Republican Jim Jeffords. Following the election, Nancy Pelosi became the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives, the first woman to head either party in Congress. As a result of the 2002 election, there were 60 women, 37 African Americans, and 22 Hispanics in the House of Representatives, and 14 women in the Senate. There were no African American or Hispanic senators following the 2002 election.

The 2004 presidential election was won by incumbent George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney. They defeated Democrats John F. Kerry and John Edwards. Bush received 286 electoral votes, Kerry 251, and Edwards 1 when an elector wrote the name "John Edwards" in on the electoral ballot. Bush received a majority of the popular vote—50.73%, to Kerry's 48.27%—or three million more votes than Kerry. Voter turnout was the highest since 1968, at 64%. The composition of the 109th Congress after the 2004 election was as follows: 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats, and 1 Independent in the Senate, and 232 Republicans, 202 Democrats, and 1 independent in the House of Representatives. The next elections for the Senate and House of Representatives were to be held November 2006.

The 1984 election marked a turning point for women in national politics. Geraldine A. Ferraro, a Democrat, became the first female vice presidential nominee of a major US political party; no woman has ever captured a major-party presidential nomination. In the 109th Congress (2005–06), 14 women served in the US Senate, and 68 women held seats in the US House of Representatives (including delegates).

The 1984 presidential candidacy of Jesse L. Jackson, election, the first African American ever to win a plurality in a statewide presidential preference primary, likewise marked the emergence of African Americans as a political force, especially within the Democratic Party. In 1992 an African American woman, Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, won election to the Senate, becoming the first black senator; Moseley Braun lost her reelection bid in 1998. She was a candidate for president in 2004.

There were 42 African Americans in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate in the 109th Congress. Twenty-six Hispanics were serving in the House and two in the Senate, a record number. Eight members of Congress were of Asian/Hawaiian/or other Pacific Islander ethnicity, six in the House of Representatives and two in the Senate. There was one Native American in the House. (These numbers include delegates.)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Governmental units within each state comprise counties, municipalities, and such special districts as those for water, sanitation, highways, and parks and recreation. There are more than 3,000 counties in the United States; more than 19,000 municipalities, including cities, villages, towns, and boroughs; nearly 15,000 school districts; and at least 31,000 special districts. Additional townships, authorities, commissions, and boards make up the rest of the nearly 85,000 local governmental units.

The 50 states are autonomous within their own spheres of government, and their autonomy is defined in broad terms by the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution, which reserves to the states such powers as are not granted to the federal government and not denied to the states. The states may not, among other restrictions, issue paper money, conduct foreign relations, impair the obligations of contracts, or establish a government that is not republican in form. Subsequent amendments to the Constitution and many Supreme Court decisions added to the restrictions placed on the states. The 13th Amendment prohibited the states from legalizing the ownership of one person by another (slavery); the 14th Amendment deprived the states of their power to determine qualifications for citizenship; the 15th Amendment prohibited the states from denying the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; and the 19th, from denying the vote to women.

Since the Civil War, the functions of the state have expanded. Local business—that is, business not involved in foreign or interstate commerce—is regulated by the state. The states create subordinate governmental bodies such as counties, cities, towns, villages, and boroughs, whose charters they either issue or, where home rule is permitted, approve. States regulate employment of children and women in industry, and enact safety laws to prevent industrial accidents. Unemployment insurance is a state function, as are education, public health, highway construction and safety, operation of a state highway patrol, and various kinds of personal relief. The state and local governments still are primarily responsible for providing public assistance, despite the large part the federal government plays in financing welfare.

Each state is headed by an elected governor. State legislatures are bicameral except Nebraska's, which has been unicameral since 1934. Generally, the upper house is called the senate, and the lower house the house of representatives or the assembly. Bills must be passed by both houses, and the governor has a suspensive veto, which usually may be overridden by a two-thirds vote.

The number, population, and geographic extent of the more than 3,000 counties in the United States—including the analogous units called boroughs in Alaska and parishes in Louisiana—show no uniformity from state to state. The county is the most conspicuous unit of rural local government and has a variety of powers, including location and repair of highways, county poor relief, determination of voting precincts and of polling places, and organization of school and road districts. City governments, usually headed by a mayor or city manager, have the power to levy taxes; to borrow; to pass, amend, and repeal local ordinances; and to grant franchises for public service corporations. Township government through an annual town meeting is an important New England tradition.

From the 1960s into the 21st century, a number of large cities began to suffer severe fiscal crises brought on by a combination of factors. Loss of tax revenues stemmed from the migration of middle-class residents to the suburbs and the flight of many small and large firms seeking to avoid the usually higher costs of doing business in urban areas. Low-income groups, many of them unskilled blacks and Hispanic migrants, came to constitute large segments of city populations, placing added burdens on locally funded welfare, medical, housing, and other services without providing the commensurate tax base for additional revenues.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The Supreme Court, established by the US Constitution, is the nation's highest judicial body, consisting of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices. All justices are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. Appointments are for life "during good behavior," otherwise terminating only by resignation or impeachment and conviction.

The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is relatively narrow; as an appellate court, it is open to appeal from decisions of federal district courts, circuit courts of appeals, and the highest courts in the states, although it may dismiss an appeal if it sees fit to do so. The Supreme Court, by means of a writ of certiorari, may call up a case from a district court for review. Regardless of how cases reach it, the Court enforces a kind of unity on the decisions of the lower courts. It also exercises the power of judicial review, determining the constitutionality of state laws, state constitutions, congressional statutes, and federal regulations, but only when these are specifically challenged.

The Constitution empowers Congress to establish all federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court. On the lowest level and handling the greatest proportion of federal cases are the district courts—including one each in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the District of Columbia—where all offenses against the laws of the United States are tried. Civil actions that involve cases arising under treaties and laws of the United States and under the Constitution, where the amount in dispute is greater than $5,000, also fall within the jurisdiction of the district courts. District courts have no appellate jurisdiction; their decisions may be carried to the courts of appeals, organized into 13 circuits. These courts also hear appeals from decisions made by administrative commissions. For most cases, this is usually the last stage of appeal, except where the court rules that a statute of a state conflicts with the Constitution of the United States, with federal law, or with a treaty. Special federal courts include the Court of Claims, Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and Tax Court.

State courts operate independently of the federal judiciary. Most states adhere to a court system that begins on the lowest level with a justice of the peace and includes courts of general trial jurisdiction, appellate courts, and, at the apex of the system, a state supreme court. The court of trial jurisdiction, sometimes called the county or superior court, has both original and appellate jurisdiction; all criminal cases (except those of a petty kind) and some civil cases are tried in this court. The state's highest court, like the Supreme Court of the United States, interprets the constitution and the laws of the state.

The grand jury is a body of from 13 to 24 persons that brings indictments against individuals suspected of having violated the law. Initially, evidence is presented to it by either a justice of the peace or a prosecuting county or district attorney. The trial or petit jury of 12 persons is used in trials of common law, both criminal and civil, except where the right to a jury trial is waived by consent of all parties at law. It judges the facts of the case, while the court is concerned exclusively with questions of law. The US accepts the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice with reservations.

ARMED FORCES

The armed forces of the United States of America in 2005 numbered 1.473 million on active duty and 1.29 million in the Ready Reserve, a category of participation that allows regular training with pay and extended active duty periods for training. Membership in all US armed forces is voluntary and has been since 1973 when conscription expired as the Vietnam war was winding down. The active duty force includes 196,100 women, who serve in all grades and all occupational specialties except direct ground combat units and some aviation billets.

In the 1990s, the armed forces reduced their personnel numbers and force structure because of the diminished threat of a nuclear war with the former Soviet Union or a major conflict in central Europe. Despite the interlude of the Gulf War, 1990–91, the force reductions continued throughout the decade, forcing some restructuring of the active duty forces, with emphasis on rapid deployment to deter or fight major regional conflicts much like the Gulf War, in Korea, elsewhere in the Middle East, or Latin America (e.g. Cuba). The conventional force debate centered on whether the United States could or should maintain forces to fight two regional conflicts simultaneously. In the spring of 1999, the United States took part in the NATO air campaign in response to the crisis in Kosovo, and the ensuing US participation in peacekeeping operations in the region brought with it the prospect of another long-term overseas deployment.

For the purposes of administration, personnel management, logistics, and training, the traditional four military services in the Department of Defense remain central to strategic planning. The US Army numbers 502,000 soldiers on active duty, and are deployed into 10 divisions (two armored, four mechanized infantry, two light infantry, one air assault and one airborne), as well as into various armored cavalry, aviation, artillery, signals, psychological operations, ranger, Special Forces, civil affairs and air defense units. Army missions involving special operations are given to Special Forces groups, an airborne ranger regiment, an aviation group, and a psychological warfare group, with civil affairs and communications support units. The Army had 7,620 main battle tanks, 6,719 infantry fighting vehicles, 14,900 armored personnel carriers, 6,530 towed or self-propelled artillery pieces, some 268 fixed wing aircraft, and 4,431 armed and transport helicopters. The Army National Guard (355,900) emphasizes the preparation of combat units up to division size for major regional conflicts, while the Army Reserve (351,350) prepares individuals to fill active units or provide combat support or service support/technical/medical units upon mobilization. In addition, the National Guard retains a residual state role in suppressing civil disturbances and providing disaster relief.

The US Navy had 376,750 active personnel. The service has seen its role shift from nuclear strategic deterrence and control of sea routes to Europe and Asia, to the projection of naval power from the sea. Naval task forces normally combine three combat elements: air, surface, and subsurface. The Navy had up to 80 nuclear-powered submarines, that consisted of 16 strategic ballistic missile (SSBN) and 64 tactical/attack (SSGN and SSN) submarines. The latter ships can launch cruise missiles at land targets.

As of 2005, naval aviation was centered on 12 carriers (nine nuclear-powered) and 11 carrier aircraft wings, which included armed ASW helicopters and armed long-range ASW patrol aircraft, as well as a large fleet of communications and support aircraft. The Navy controlled 983 combat capable fixed wing aircraft and 608 helicopters of all types. Naval aviation reserves provided additional wings for carrier deployment. The surface force included 27 cruisers (22 with advanced antiair suites), 49 destroyers, 30 frigates, 38 amphibious ships, 26 mine warfare ships, and 21 patrol and coastal combatants. More ships are kept in ready reserve or were manned by surface line reserve units. The fleet support force also included specialized ships for global logistics that are not base-dependent.

The Marine Corps, a separate branch of the Navy, was organized into three active divisions and three aircraft wings of the Fleet Marine Force, which also included three Force Service Support groups and special operations and antiterrorism units. The Marine Corps (173,350; 11,311 reservists) emphasized amphibious landings but trained for a wide-range of contingency employments. The Marines had 344 combat capable fixed wing aircraft, 304 helicopters of all types, 403 main battle tanks, 1,311 amphibious armored vehicles, and about 1,511 artillery pieces (926 towed).

As of 2005, the US Air Force had 379,500 active personnel, and was focused on becoming rapidly deployable rather than US-based. Almost all its aircraft are now dedicated to nonstrategic roles in support of forward deployed ground and naval forces. The Air Force stressed the missions of air superiority and interdiction with complementary operations in electronic warfare and reconnaissance, but it also included 29 transport squadrons. Air Force personnel manage the US radar and satellite early-warning and intelligence effort. The Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard (roughly 183,200 active reserves) provided a wide range of flying and support units, and its flying squadrons had demonstrated exceptional readiness and combat skills on contingency missions. Air Force reserves, for example, were the backbone of the air refueling and transport fleets.

The armed forces were deployed among a range of functional unified or specified commands for actual missions. Strategic forces were under the US Strategic Command, which was a combined service command that controlled the United States' strategic nuclear deterrence forces, which as of 2005, was made up of 550 land-based ICBMs, 16 Navy fleet ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), and 85 operational long-range bombers (B-52s and B-1As). Land-based ICBMs are under the Air Force Space Command, while the long-range bomber force was under the Air Force Air Combat Command. The Strategic Command was also responsible for strategic reconnaissance and intelligence collection, and the strategic early warning and air defense forces. In 2002 the Treaty of Moscow was signed between the United States and Russia to reduce deployed nuclear weapons by two-thirds by the year 2012. As of 2002, the United States had more than 10,000 operational nuclear warheads.

The conventional forces were deployed to a mix of geographic and organizational commands, including the Atlantic, European, Central, Southern, Northern and Pacific commands, as well as to specific organizational commands such as the Transportation Command, Special Operations Command and Air Mobility Command. Major operational units are deployed to Germany, Korea, and Japan as part of collective security alliances, in addition to forces stationed throughout other countries in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Approximately 19,000 US troops are stationed in Afghanistan with Operation Enduring Freedom.

Patterns of defense spending reflected the movement away from Cold War assumptions and confrontation with the former Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. During the 1980s when defense spending hovered around $300 billion a year and increased roughly 30% over the decade, defense spending absorbed roughly 6% of the gross domestic spending, 25% of federal spending, and 16% of net public spending. In the early 1990s, when the defense budget slipped back to the $250–$260 billion level, the respective percentages were 4.5, 18, and 11, the lowest levels of support for defense since the Korean War (1950). In 1999, the defense budget was $276.7 million or 3.2% of GDP. In 2005, US defense budget outlays totaled $465 billion.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

The United States is a charter member of the United Nations, having joined on 24 October 1945. The United States participates in ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP, and all the nonregional specialized agencies. The United States is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The United States participates in numerous intergovernmental organizations, including the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, OECD, APEC, the Colombo Plan, the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, G-5, G-7. G-8, the Paris Club (G-10), OSCE, and the WTO. Hemispheric agencies include the Inter-American Development Bank and the OAS. The country is an observer in the Council of Europe and a dialogue partner with ASEAN.

In 1992, the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), creating a free-trade zone among the three countries. It was ratified by all three governments in 1993 and took effect the following year.

NATO is the principal military alliance to which the United States belongs. The ANZUS alliance was a mutual defense pact between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States; in 1986, following New Zealand's decision to ban US nuclear-armed or nuclear-powered ships from its ports, the United States renounced its ANZUS treaty security commitments to New Zealand. The country is a signatory of the 1947 Río Treaty, an inter-American security agreement. The Untied States has supported UN missions and operations in Kosovo (est. 1999), Liberia (est. 2003), Georgia (est. 1993), and Haiti (est. 2004). The Untied States belongs to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (London Group), the Zangger Committee, the Nuclear Energy Agency, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. It holds observer status in the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

In environmental cooperation, the United States is part of the Central American–US Joint Declaration (CONCAUSA), the Antarctic Treaty, Conventions on Air Pollution and Whaling, Ramsar, CITES, the London Convention, International Tropical Timber Agreements, the Montréal Protocol, MARPOL, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the UN Conventions on Climate Change and Desertification.

ECONOMY

The US economy is the world's largest. In variety and quantity, the natural resources of the United States probably exceed those of any other nation, with the possible exception of the former Soviet Union. The United States is among the world's leading exporters of coal, wheat, corn, and soybeans. However, because of its vast economic growth, the United States depends increasingly on foreign sources for a long list of raw materials, including oil.

By the middle of the 20th century, the United States was a leading consumer of nearly every important industrial raw material. The industry of the United States produced about 40% of the world's total output of goods, despite the fact that the country's population comprised about 6% of the world total and its land area about 7% of the earth's surface.

In absolute terms the United States far exceeds every other nation in the size of its gross domestic product (GDP), which more than tripled between 1970 and 1983. In 1998 the nation's GDP in purchasing power parity terms (PPP) reached a record $8.5 trillion in current dollars, with per capita GDP reaching $31,500. Per capita GDP (PPP) stood at $40,100 in 2004, and the nation's GDP (PPP) was $11.75 trillion.

Inflation was not as significant a factor in the US economy in the 1990s and early 2000s as it was in the 1970s and 1980s. The US inflation rate tends to be lower than that of the majority of industrialized nations. For the period 1970–78, for example, consumer prices increased by an annual average of 6.7%, less than in every other Western country except Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and West Germany, and well below the price increase in Japan. The double-digit inflation of 1979–81 came as a rude shock to most Americans, with economists and politicians variously blaming international oil price rises, federal monetary policies, and US government spending.

The United States entered the post–World War II era with the world's largest, and strongest, economy. Public confidence in both business and government was strong, the nation enjoyed the largest peacetime trade surplus in its history, and the gross national product grew to a record $482.7 billion by the end of the 1950s. In the sixties the country enjoyed the most sustained period of economic expansion it had known, accompanied by rising productivity and low unemployment. Real income rose 50% during the decade, and US investment in foreign countries reached $49 billion in 1965, up from $11.8 billion in 1950. Big business and big government were both powerful forces in the economy during this period, when large industrial corporations accounted for vast portions of the national income, and the federal government expanded its role in such areas as social welfare, scientific research, space technology, and development of the nation's highway system.

After two decades of prosperity, Americans experienced an economic downturn in the 1970s, a period known for the unprecedented combination of lagging economic growth and inflation that gave birth to the term stagflation. Foreign competitors in Japan and Europe challenged the global dominance of American manufacturers, and oil crises in 1973–74 and 1979 shook public confidence in the institutions of both government and business. The forced bailouts of Chrysler and Lockheed were symbolic of the difficult transition to a new economic era, marked by the growing importance of the service sector and the ascendancy of small businesses.

During Ronald Reagan's first presidential term, from 1980 to 1984, the nation endured two years of severe recession followed by two years of robust recovery. The inflation rate was brought down, and millions of new jobs were created. The economic boom of the early and mid-eighties, however, coincided with a number of alarming developments. Federal budget deficits, caused by dramatic increases in the military budget and by rising costs of entitlement programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, averaged more than $150 billion annually. By 1992, the total deficit reached $290 billion, or $1,150 for every American. In addition, corporate debt rose dramatically, and household borrowing grew twice as fast as personal income. The eighties also witnessed a crisis in the banking industry, caused by a combination of factors, including high inflation and interest rates, problem loans to developing countries, and speculative real estate ventures that caused thousands of banks to fail when the real estate boom of the early eighties collapsed.

The disparity between the affluent and the poor widened at the end of the 20th century. The share of the nation's income received by the richest 5% of American families rose from 18.6% in 1977 to 24.5% in 1990, while the share of the poorest 20% fell from 5.7% to 4.3%. Externally, the nation's trade position deteriorated, as a high level of foreign investment combined with an uncompetitive US dollar to create a ballooning trade deficit. In 1990, the American economy plunged into a recession. Factors contributing to the slump included rising oil prices following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, a sharp increase in interest rates, and declining availability of credit. Output fell 1.6% and 1.7 million jobs were cut. Unemployment rose from 5.2% in 1989 to 7.5% in 1991, but had fallen to 4.5% by 1998.

The recovery that began in March 1991 inaugurated a sustained period of expansion that, as of mid-2000, was the third longest since World War II, characterized by moderation in the key areas of growth, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates. Real GDP growth, which fluctuated between 2% and 3.5% throughout the period, was 3.9% for 1998. After peaking at 7.5%, unemployment declined steadily throughout the early and mid-1990s, falling to 5.6% in 1995, 5.3% at the end of 1996, and in 1998, remaining below 5%. After 1993/94, inflation mostly remained under 3%. One exception to the generally moderate character of the economy was the stock market, which rose 60% between 1995 and 1997, buoyed by the combination of low unemployment and low inflation, as well as strong corporate earnings. Further cause for optimism was the bipartisan balanced-budget legislation enacted and signed into law in 1997. The plan, combining tax and spending cuts over a five-year period, was aimed at balancing the federal budget by 2002 for the first time since 1969. In early 2001, the government projected a budget surplus of $275 billion for the fiscal year ending that September. That surplus would soon be reversed.

At the beginning of the 21st century, significant economic concerns—aside from the inevitable worry over how long the boom could last without an eventual downturn—included the nation's sizable trade deficit, the increasing medical costs of an aging population, and the failure of the strong economy to improve conditions for the poor. Since 1975, gains in household income were experienced almost exclusively by the top 20% of households. However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, productivity was continuing to grow, inflation was relatively low, and the labor market was tight.

Economic growth came to a standstill in the middle of 2001, largely due to the end of the long investment boom, especially in the information technology sector. The economy was in recession in the second half of 2001, and the service sector was affected as well as manufacturing. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States exacerbated the poor economic situation. Average real GDP growth rose by only 0.3% in 2001. The US economy, which had driven global economic growth during the 1990s, became the cause of a worldwide economic downturn, including in the rest of North America, Europe, Japan, and in the developing economies of Latin America and Southeast Asia strongly influenced by trends in the US economy.

The economy began to recover, slowly, in 2002, with GDP growth estimated at 2.45%. Analysts attributed the modest recovery to the ability of business decision-makers to respond to economic imbalances based on real-time information, on deregulation, and on innovation in financial and product markets. Nevertheless, domestic confidence in the economy remained low, and coupled with major corporate failures (including Enron and WorldCom) and additional stock market declines, growth remained sluggish and uneven. Economic growth slowed at the end of 2002 and into 2003, and the unemployment rate rose to 6.3% in July 2003. The CPI inflation rate fell to under 1.5% at the beginning of 2003, which raised concerns over the risk of deflation. As well, there was a substantial rise in military spending as a result of the war in Iraq which began in March 2003.

Following the start of the war in Iraq, consumer spending rebounded, as did stock prices; the housing market remained strong; inflation was low; the dollar depreciated on world markets; additional tax cuts were passed; there was an easing of oil prices; and productivity growth was strong. Nevertheless, in 2003, the federal budget deficit was projected to reach $455 billion, the largest shortfall on record.

The American economy grew at the rate of 4.3% in the third quarter of 2005, despite the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed the port city of New Orleans and closed down a large portion of the energy industry. Unemployment hovered around 5% in 2005. Productivity had grown by 4.7%. But the nation's fast-growing economy had shaky underpinnings. Oil prices were at their highest level in real terms since the early 1980s, at $53.27/barrel. The inflation rate, which ran above 4% in late 2005, was at its highest level since 1991 (although core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, was still relatively modest). Wage growth was sluggish, and the jobs market was lagging the recovery. The current account deficit ballooned to record levels, and consumer spending was increasingly tied to prices in the over inflated housing market. The government ran a deficit of $412 billion in 2004, or 3.6% of GDP, but the deficit was forecast to narrow to $331 billion in 2006. Analysts projected that US deficits would average about 3.5% of GDP until about 2015.

INCOME

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reports that in 2005 the United States's gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated at $12.4 trillion. The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP) rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange based on current dollars. The per capita GDP was estimated at $41,800. The annual growth rate of GDP was estimated at 3.5%. The average inflation rate in 2005 was 3.2%. It was estimated that agriculture accounted for 1% of GDP, industry 20.7%, and services 78.3%.

According to the World Bank, in 2003 remittances from citizens working abroad totaled $3.031 billion or about $10 per capita.

The World Bank reports that in 2003 household consumption in United States totaled $7.385 trillion or about $25,379 per capita based on a GDP of $10.9 trillion, measured in current dollars rather than PPP. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. It was estimated that for the period 1990 to 2003 household consumption grew at an average annual rate of 3.7%. In 2001 it was estimated that approximately 13% of household consumption was spent on food, 9% on fuel, 4% on health care, and 6% on education. It was estimated that in 2004 about 12% of the population had incomes below the poverty line.

LABOR

The US labor force, including those who were unemployed, totaled 149.3 million in 2005. Of that total in that same year, farming, fishing and forestry accounted for 0.7% of the workforce, with manufacturing, extraction, transportation and crafts at 22.9%, managerial, professional and technical at 34.7%, sales and office at 25.4% and other services at 16.3%. Also that year, the unemployment rate was put at 5.1%. Earnings of workers vary considerably with type of work and section of country. In the first quarter of 2003, the national average wage was $15.27 per hour for nonagricultural workers, with an average workweek of 33.8 hours. Workers in manufacturing had a national average wage of $15.64, (including overtime), with the longest average workweek of all categories of workers at 40.4 hours in the first quarter of 2003.

In 2002, 13.2% of wage and salary workers were union members—16.1 million US citizens belonged to a union that year. In 1983, union membership was 20.1%. In 2002, there were 34 national labor unions with over 100,000 members, the largest being the National Educational Association with 2.7 million members as of 2003. The most important federation of organized workers in the United States is the American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), whose affiliated unions had 13 million members as of 2003, down from 14.1 million members in 1992. The major independent industrial and labor unions and their estimated 2002 memberships are the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 1,398,412, and the United Automobile Workers, some 710,000 (the majority of whom work for General Motors, Ford, and Daimler-Chrylser). Most of the other unaffiliated unions are confined to a single establishment or locality. US labor unions exercise economic and political influence not only through the power of strikes and slowdowns but also through the human and financial resources they allocate to political campaigns (usually on behalf of Democratic candidates) and through the selective investment of multibillion-dollar pension funds.

The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act), the basic labor law of the United States, was considerably modified by the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947 (the Taft-Hartley Act) and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (the Landrum-Griffin Act). Closed-shop agreements, which require employers to hire only union members, are banned. The union shop agreement, however, is permitted, if it allows the hiring of nonunion members on the condition that they join the union within a given period of time.

As of 2003, 23 states had right-to-work laws, forbidding the imposition of union membership as a condition of employment. Under the Taft-Hartley Act, the president of the United States may postpone a strike for 90 days in the national interest. The act of 1959 requires all labor organizations to file constitutions, bylaws, and detailed financial reports with the Secretary of Labor, and stipulates methods of union elections. The National Labor Relations Board seeks to remedy or prevent unfair labor practices and supervises union elections, while the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seeks to prevent discrimination in hiring, firing, and apprenticeship programs.

The number of work stoppages and of workers involved reached a peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, declining steadily thereafter. In 2002, there were 19 major stoppages involving 46,000 workers resulting in 660,000 workdays idle, compared with 1995, when there were 31 major stoppages involving 191,500 workers resulting in 5,771,000 days idle; a major stoppage was defined as one involving 1,000 workers or more for a minimum of one day or shift.

AGRICULTURE

In 2004, the United States produced a substantial share of the world's agricultural commodities. Agricultural exports reached almost $63.9 billion in 2004. The United States had an agricultural trade surplus of $4 billion in 2004, 14th highest among the nations.

Between 1930 and 2004, the number of farms in the United States declined from 6,546,000 to an estimated 2,110,000. The total amount of farmland increased from 399 million hectares (986 million acres) in 1930 to 479 million hectares (1.18 billion acres) in 1959 but declined to 380 million hectares (938 million acres) in 2002. From 1930 to 2004, the size of the average farm tripled from 61 to 179 hectares (from 151 to 443 acres), a result of the consolidation effected by large-scale mechanized production. The farm population, which comprised 35% of the total US population in 1910, declined to 25% during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and dwindled to less than 2% by 2004.

A remarkable increase in the application of machinery to farms took place during and after World War II (1939–45). Tractors, trucks, milking machines, grain combines, corn pickers, and pickup bailers became virtual necessities in farming. In 1920 there was less than one tractor in use for every 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of cropland harvested; by 2003 there were five tractors per 400 hectares. Two other elements essential to US farm productivity are chemical fertilizers and irrigation. Fertilizers and lime represent more than 6% of farm operating expenses. Arable land under irrigation amounted to 12% of the total in 2003.

Substantial quantities of corn, the most valuable crop produced in the United States, are grown in almost every state; its yield and price are important factors in the economies of the regions where it is grown. Production of selected US crops in 2004 (in 1,000 metric tons), and their percent of world production were wheat, 58,737 (9.3%); corn, 299,917 (33.2%); rice, 10,469 (1.7%); soybeans, 85,013 (41.6%); cotton, 5,062 (20.5%); and tobacco, 398.8 (6.1%).

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

The livestock population in 2005 included an estimated 95.8 million head of cattle, 60.6 million hogs, and 6.1 million sheep and lambs. That year, there were 1.9 billion chickens, and 88 million turkeys. Milk production totaled 80.1 million metric tons in that year, with Wisconsin, California, and New York together accounting for much of the total. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California account for more than half of all US butter production, which totaled 608,900 metric tons in 2005; in that year, the United States was the world's largest producer of cheese, with almost 4.5 million metric tons (24% of the world's total). The United States produced an estimated 15% of the world's meat supply in 2005. In 2005, meat animals accounted for $4.97 billion in exports; dairy and eggs, $1.17 billion.

FISHING

The 2003 commercial catch was 5.48 million tons. Food fish make up 80% of the catch, and nonfood fish, processed for fertilizer and oil, 20%. Aquaculture accounts for about 10% of total production.

Alaska pollock, with landings of 1,524,904 tons, was the most important species in quantity among the commercial fishery landings in the United States in 2003. Other leading species by volume included Gulf menhaden, 522,195 tons; Atlantic menhaden, 203,263 tons; Pacific cod, 257,436 tons; North Pacific hake, 140,327 tons; and American cupped oyster, 183,940 tons. In 2003, exports of fish products totaled $3,398 million (fourth after China, Thailand, and Norway).

Aquacultural production consists mostly of catfish, oysters, trout, and crayfish. In 2004, there were 1,147 catfish and 601 trout farms in the United States, with sales of $425 million and $64 million, respectively.

Pollution is a problem of increasing concern to the US fishing industry; dumping of raw sewage, industrial wastes, spillage from oil tankers, and blowouts of offshore wells are the main threats to the fishing grounds. Overfishing is also a threat to the viability of the industry in some areas, especially Alaska.

FORESTRY

US forestland covers about 226 million hectares (558.4 million acres), or 25% of the land area. Major forest regions include the eastern, central hardwood, southern, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific coast areas. The National Forest Service lands account for approximately 19% of the nation's forestland. Extensive tracts of land (4 million acres or more) are under ownership of private lumber companies in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Oregon, and Washington. During 1990–2000, forested area increased by an annual average of 38,000 hectares (93,900 acres) per year.

Domestic production of roundwood during 2004 amounted to 458.3 million cu m (16.2 billion cu ft), or 1.7% of world production, of which softwoods accounted for roughly 60%. Other forest products in 2004 included 54.3 million metric tons of wood pulp, 83.6 million metric tons of paper and paperboard (excluding newsprint), and 44.2 million cu m (1.56 billion cu ft) of wood-based panels. Rising petroleum prices in the late 1970s sparked a revival in the use of wood as home heating fuel, especially in the Northeast. Fuelwood and charcoal production amounted to 43.6 million cu m (1.5 billion cu ft) in 2004.

Throughout the 19th century, the federal government distributed forestlands lavishly as a means of subsidizing railroads and education. By the turn of the century, the realization that the forests were not inexhaustible led to the growth of a vigorous conservation movement, which was given increased impetus during the 1930s and again in the late 1960s. Federal timberlands are no longer open for private acquisition, although the lands can be leased for timber cutting and for grazing. In recent decades, the states also have moved in the direction of retaining forestlands and adding to their holdings when possible.

MINING

Rich in a variety of mineral resources, the United States was a world leader in the production of many important mineral commodities, such as aluminum, cement, copper, pig iron, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, potash, salt, sulfur, uranium, and zinc. The leading mineral-producing states were Arizona (copper, sand and gravel, portland cement, molybdenum); California (portland cement, sand and gravel, gold, boron); Michigan (iron ore, portland cement, sand and gravel, magnesium compounds); Georgia (clays, crushed and broken stone, portland and masonry cement, sand and gravel); Florida (phosphate rock, crushed and broken stone, portland cement, sand and gravel); Utah (copper, gold, magnesium metal, sand and gravel); Texas (portland cement, crushed and broken stone, magnesium metal, sand and gravel); and Minnesota (iron ore, construction and industrial sand and gravel, crushed and broken stone). Oklahoma and New Mexico were important for petroleum and natural gas, and Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, for coal. Iron ore supported the nation's most basic nonagricultural industry, iron and steel manufacture; the major domestic sources were in the Lake Superior area, with Minnesota and Michigan leading all other states in iron ore yields.

ENERGY AND POWER

The United States is the world's leading energy producer and consumer.

According to British Petroleum (BP), as of the end of 2003, the United States had proven oil reserves of 29.4 billion barrels. Oil production that year averaged 7.4 million barrels per day, with domestic demand averaging 20 million barrels per day. As a result, the United States in 2003 was a net oil importer. In 2003, imports of all oil products averaged 12.3 million barrels per day, of which crude oil accounted for an average of 9.7 million barrels per day. Refined oil production in 2003 averaged 17.8 million barrels per day.

At year-end in 2003, the United States had proven reserves of natural gas totaling 5.29 trillion cu m (186.9 trillion cu ft), according to BP. Gross production that year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), totaled 24,056.00 billion cu ft. Of that amount in 2003, some 98 billion cu ft was vented or flared, and 3,548 billion cu ft was re-injected. Marketed production totaled 19,912 billion cu ft, with dry production at 19,036 billion cu ft. Demand in that same year for dry production totaled 22,375 billion cu ft. As with oil, the United States was a net importer of natural gas. Imports of dry natural gas in 2003 totaled 3,996 billion cu ft, while dry exports totaled 692 billion cu ft, according to the EIA.

The United States had recoverable coal reserves of 246.6 billion metric tons at the end of 2004, according to BP. Of that amount, anthracite and bituminous coal reserves totaled 111.3 billion metric tons, with sub-bituminous and lignite reserves totaling 135.3 billion metric tons, according to BP. In 2003 according to the EIA, coal production by the United States totaled 1.1 billion short tons, of which 988 million short tons consisted of bituminous coal, with anthracite output totaling 1.3 million short tons. Lignite or brown coal output that year totaled 80.6 million short tons, according to the EIA.

In 2003, US electric power generation capacity by public and private generating plants totaled 932.832 million kW, of which 736.728 million kW of capacity belonged to conventional thermal fuel plants, followed by nuclear plant at 98.794 million kW. Hydroelectric capacity that year totaled 79.366 million kW, with geothermal/other capacity at 17.944 million kW. Electric power output in 2003 totaled 3,891.720 billion kWh, of which conventional thermal plants generated 2.76 billion kWh, followed by nuclear plants at 763.733 billion kWh, hydroelectric facilities at 275.806 billion kWh and geothermal/other facilities at 93.531 billion kWh.

During the 1980s, increasing attention was focused on the development of solar power, synthetic fuels, geothermal resources, and other energy technologies. Such energy conservation measures as mandatory automobile fuel-efficiency standards and tax incentives for home insulation were promoted by the federal government, which also decontrolled oil and gas prices in the expectation that a rise in domestic costs to world-market levels would provide a powerful economic incentive for consumers to conserve fuel. In 2001 the United States had 1,694 MW of installed wind power.

INDUSTRY

Although the United States remains one of the world's preeminent industrial powers, manufacturing no longer plays as dominant a role in the economy as it once did.

Between 1979 and 1998, manufacturing employment fell from 20.9 million to 18.7 million, or from 21.8% to 14.8% of national employment. Throughout the 1960s, manufacturing accounted for about 29% of total national income; by 1987, the proportion was down to about 19%. In 2002, manufacturing was experiencing a decline due to the recession that began in March 2001. In 2004, industry accounted for 19.7% of GDP. That year, 22.7% of the labor force was engaged in manufacturing, extraction, transportation, and crafts.

Industrial activity within the United States has been expanding southward and westward for much of the 20th century, most rapidly since World War II. Louisiana, Oklahoma, and especially Texas are centers of industrial expansion based on petroleum refining; aerospace and other high technology industries are the basis of the new wealth of Texas and California, the nation's leading manufacturing state. The industrial heartland of the United States is the east–north–central region, comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, with steelmaking and automobile manufacturing among the leading industries. The Middle Atlantic states (New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania) and the Northeast are also highly industrialized; but of the major industrial states in these two regions, Massachusetts has taken the lead in reorienting itself toward such high-technology industries as electronics and information processing.

Large corporations are dominant especially in sectors such as steel, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, aircraft, petroleum refining, computers, soaps and detergents, tires, and communications equipment. The growth of multinational activities of US corporations has been rapid in recent decades.

The history of US industry has been marked by the introduction of increasingly sophisticated technology in the manufacturing process. Advances in chemistry and electronics have revolutionized many industries through new products and methods: examples include the impact of plastics on petrochemicals, the use of lasers and electronic sensors as measuring and controlling devices, and the application of microprocessors to computing machines, home entertainment products, and a variety of other industries. Science has vastly expanded the number of metals available for industrial purposes, notably such light metals as aluminum, magnesium, and titanium. Integrated machines now perform a complex number of successive operations that formerly were done on the assembly line at separate stations. Those industries have prospered that have been best able to make use of the new technology, and the economies of some states have been largely based on it.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the United States was the world leader in computer manufacturing. At the beginning of the 21st century, however, the high-tech manufacturing industry registered a decline. Semiconductor manufacturing had been migrating out of the United States to East Asian countries, especially China, Taiwan, and Singapore, and research and development in that sector declined from 1999–2003. Certain long-established industries—especially clothing and steelmaking—have suffered from outmoded facilities that (coupled with high US labor costs) have forced the price of their products above the world market level. In 2005, the United States was the world's third-leading steel producer (after China and Japan). Employment in the steel-producing industry fell from 521,000 in 1974 to 187,500 in 2002. Automobile manufacturing was an ailing industry in the 1980s, but rebounded in the 1990s. The "Big Three" US automakers—General Motors (GM), Ford, and Daimler-Chrysler—manufactured over 60% of the passenger cars sold in the United States in 1995. In 2005, however, General Motors (GM) announced it was cutting 30,000 North American manufacturing jobs, the deepest cuts since 1991, when GM eliminated 74,000 jobs over four years. Passenger car production, which had fallen from 7.1 million units in 1987 to 5.4 million in 1991, rose to 6.3 million by 1995 and to 8.3 million in 1999. In 2003, over 12 million motor vehicles were produced in the United States.

The United States had a total of 148 oil refineries as of January 2005, with a production capacity as of September 2004 of 17.1 million barrels per day. Crude oil and refined petroleum products are crucial imports, however.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

In 2003, an estimated $284.6 billion was spent on research and development (R&D). Since 1980, industry's share of funding for R&D has grown to exceed the share provided by the federal government. In 2003, the proportions were 63.1% from industry and 31.2% from the federal government, followed by 5.7% from higher education. As of 2002, national spending on R&D amounted to 2.67% of GDP. In that same year, high technology exports were valued at $162.345 billion, or 32% of the country's manufactured exports. There were an estimated 4,099 scientists and engineers engaged in research and development per million people for the period 1990–2001.

In 1998 NASA's budget was $9.9 billion. In 1960 NASA spent only $1.1 billion. Launching of the space shuttle orbiter Columbia began in 1981; a fleet of four reusable shuttles, which would replace all other launch vehicles was planned. However, the January 1986 Challenger disaster, in which seven crew members died, cast doubt on the program. The three remaining shuttles were grounded, and the shuttles were redesigned for increased safety. A new shuttle, Endeavour, was built to take the place of Challenger. President Reagan, following the Challenger disaster, banned the shuttle from commercial use for nine years. The shuttle's return to space began with the launch of the shuttle Atlantis in September 1988. Following the catastrophic breakup of the space shuttle Columbia in February 2003, NASA suspended the launch schedule until the cause of the accident was determined.

The National Science Foundation (founded in 1950) is one of the chief government agencies funding scientific research. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (founded in 1848) promotes public understanding of science and technology. The National Academy of Sciences (founded in 1863) and the National Academy of Engineering (founded in 1964) are both headquartered in Washington, DC. In 1996, more than 95,000 students in the United States earned master's degrees in science and engineering. In 2002, of all bachelor's degrees awarded, 17.1% were in the sciences (natural, mathematics and computers, engineering).

DOMESTIC TRADE

Total retail sales for 2004 were $3.5 trillion. Total e-commerce sales were estimated at $69.2 billion, an increase of 23.5% over 2003. The growth of great chains of retail stores, particularly in the form of the supermarket, was one of the most conspicuous developments in retail trade following the end of World War II. Nearly

Country	Exports	Imports	Balance
World	723,608.6	1,305,091.6	-581,483.0
Canada	169,451.6	227,600.1	-58,148.5
Mexico	97,452.4	139,700.4	-42,248.0
Japan	52,061.6	121,232.3	-69,170.7
United Kingdom	33,893.8	43,741.6	-9,847.8
Germany	28,845.9	69,613.2	-40,767.3
China	28,416.6	163,250.1	-134,833.5
Korea, Republic of	24,097.3	38,344.9	-14,247.6
Netherlands	20,694.8	11,435.3	9,259.5
Other Asia nes	17,487.6	33,017.7	-15,530.1
France-Monaco	17,340.1	29,897.5	-12,557.4
(…) data not available or not significant.

100,000 single-unit grocery stores went out of business between 1948 and 1958; the independent grocer's share of the food market dropped from 50% to 30% of the total in the same period. With the great suburban expansion of the 1960s emerged the planned shopping center, usually designed by a single development organization and intended to provide different kinds of stores in order to meet all the shopping needs of the particular area. Between 1974 and 2000, the square footage occupied by shopping centers in the United States grew at a far greater rate than the nation's population.

Installment credit is a major support for consumer purchases in the United States. Most US families own and use credit cards, and their frequency of use has grown significantly in the 1990s and 2000s with aggressive marketing by credit card companies which have made cards available to households that didn't qualify in the past. The number of credit cards per household in 2004 was 8. The number of credit cards in circulation in 2004 was 641 million. The average household credit card debt in the United States in 2004 was approximately $8,650, and the total credit card debt in the United States in 2004 was some $800 billion. The use of debit cards was expected to exceed the use of credit cards in 2005.

The US advertising industry is the world's most highly developed. Particularly with the expansion of television audiences, spending for advertising has increased almost annually to successive record levels. Advertising expenditures in 2003 reached an estimated $249 billion, up from $66.58 billion in 1982 and $11.96 billion in 1960. Of the 2003 total, $87.8 billion was spent in radio, broadcast television, and cable television; $57.2 billion was spent on print media (newspapers and magazines); and internet advertising amounted to $5.6 billion.

In 2003 merchant wholesalers had combined total sales of $2.88 trillion.

FOREIGN TRADE

The volume of the US exports and imports exceeds that of any country. However, the value of US external sector as a percentage of GDP is comparatively low. The foreign trade position of the United States deteriorated in the 1980s as the United States became a debtor nation with a trade deficit that ballooned from $24 billion to over $100 billion by the end of the 1980s; by 2004, the trade deficit had reached an estimated $618 billion, a 24% increase over 2003. Exports of goods and services totaled $1.14 trillion in 2004, while imports totaled $1.76 trillion. The gap in merchandise trade with China jumped some 31% to nearly $162 billion in 2004, by far the largest gap than with any other trading partner. The Unites States' largest trading partners were Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, China, and Germany.

The Unites States' major exports include transistors, aircraft, motor vehicle parts, automobiles, computers, telecommunications equipment, medicines, chemicals, and soybeans, fruit, and corn. Major imports include computers, motor vehicle parts, automobiles, telecommunications equipment, office machines, electric power machinery, clothing medicines, furniture, toys, crude oil, and agricultural products.

BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

Since 1950, the United States has generally recorded deficits in its overall payments with the rest of the world, despite the fact that

COUNTRY	TRADE BALANCE	RANK	EXPORTS F.A.S.	RANK	IMPORTS CUSTOMS	RANK
Total, BOP Basis	-782,740.2	(X)	894,630.8	(X)	1,677,371.0	(X)
Net Adjustments	-15,263.3	(X)	-11,346.8	(X)	3,916.5	(X)
Total, Census Basis	-767,476.9	(X)	905,977.6	(X)	1,673,454.5	(X)
Afghanistan	194.8	205	262.2	93	67.3	132
Albania	-18.7	102	18.5	179	37.2	146
Algeria	-9,279.0	20	1,167.4	60	10,446.4	27
Andorra	9.9	152	10.5	187	0.7	203
Angola	-7,555.3	24	929.0	66	8,484.4	33
Anguilla	28.4	168	32.2	160	3.8	180
Antigua and Barbuda	186.0	204	190.4	105	4.4	177
Argentina	-461.8	67	4,121.9	32	4,583.6	46
Armenia	19.3	160	65.5	142	46.2	143
Aruba	-2,360.8	36	558.9	76	2,919.7	54
Australia	8,486.0	229	15,828.2	14	7,342.2	35
Austria	-3,509.7	30	2,593.3	42	6,102.9	39
Azerbaijan	87.1	193	132.5	116	45.4	144
Bahamas	1,086.8	222	1,786.7	51	699.9	80
Bahrain	-80.8	92	350.8	88	431.6	89
Bangladesh	-2,373.3	35	319.8	90	2,693.0	56
Barbados	363.0	212	394.9	84	31.9	150
Belarus	-310.2	71	34.9	158	345.2	97
Belgium	5,667.7	226	18,690.6	12	13,022.9	24
Belize	119.3	199	217.6	101	98.3	124
Benin	71.8	187	72.3	138	0.5	205
Bermuda	403.2	216	490.5	82	87.3	128
Bhutan	2.4	135	3.1	208	0.6	204
Bolivia	-73.7	94	219.5	99	293.2	102
Bosnia-Herzegovina	-52.9	96	17.6	181	70.5	131
Botswana	-110.9	88	67.3	141	178.2	112
Brazil	-9,063.8	21	15,371.7	15	24,435.5	15
British Indian Ocean Territories	0.4	125	0.8	219	0.4	208
British Virgin Islands	91.3	194	124.9	117	33.6	148
Brunei	-513.1	64	49.6	150	562.7	82
Bulgaria	-186.3	81	267.9	92	454.3	85
Burkina	23.0	163	25.1	174	2.1	188
Burma (Myanmar)	5.4	142	5.5	201	0.1	220
Burundi	3.7	137	8.1	198	4.4	176
Cambodia	-1,697.3	45	69.7	139	1,767.0	64
Cameroon	-40.8	98	117.3	119	158.2	117
Canada	-78,485.6	3	211,898.7	1	290,384.3	1
Cape Verde	7.2	148	9.9	190	2.6	185
Cayman Islands	627.2	219	680.7	70	53.5	138
Central African Republic	9.1	151	14.8	183	5.7	171
Chad	-1,444.3	49	53.8	149	1,498.1	67
Chile	-1,441.7	50	5,222.6	29	6,664.3	37
China	-201,544.8	1	41,925.3	4	243,470.1	2
Christmas Island	1.6	132	2.0	214	0.4	210
Cocos (Keeling) Island	0.6	128	1.0	217	0.5	207
Colombia	-3,387.0	31	5,462.4	28	8,849.4	31
Comoros	-1.2	113	0.3	224	1.4	192
Congo (DROC)	-198.6	78	65.0	143	263.6	107
Congo (ROC)	-1,518.8	47	104.1	123	1,622.9	65
Cook Islands	-0.4	116	1.4	216	1.7	189
Costa Rica	183.3	203	3,598.6	36	3,415.3	50
Côte d'Ivoire	-1,073.7	55	124.2	118	1,198.0	72
Croatia	-205.7	77	158.6	109	364.3	94
Cuba	369.0	213	369.0	86	(-)	226
Cyprus	53.6	181	84.2	131	30.5	152
Czech Republic	-1,139.3	54	1,053.6	63	2,192.9	59
Denmark	-3,225.8	32	1,918.4	49	5,144.2	43
Djibouti	46.5	177	47.6	151	1.1	198
Dominica	58.2	183	61.5	146	3.3	183
Dominican Republic	115.0	198	4,718.7	30	4,603.7	45
East Timor	8.6	150	8.7	197	0.1	219
Ecuador	-3,794.9	29	1,963.8	47	5,758.7	41
Egypt	1,068.0	221	3,159.3	38	2,091.2	60
El Salvador	-134.5	86	1,854.3	50	1,988.8	62

COUNTRY	TRADE BALANCE	RANK	EXPORTS F.A.S.	RANK	IMPORTS CUSTOMS	RANK
Equatorial Guinea	-1,279.7	51	281.5	91	1,561.1	66
Eritrea	29.8	172	31.1	163	1.3	196
Estonia	-366.0	70	145.4	113	511.4	84
Ethiopia	448.3	217	510.1	81	61.8	134
Falkland Islands	-0.2	117	9.0	195	9.3	164
Faroe Islands	-1.7	111	2.5	210	4.3	178
Federal Republic of Germany	-50,567.2	4	34,183.7	6	84,750.9	5
Federated States of Micronesia	23.8	164	25.3	173	1.6	191
Fiji	-141.3	85	28.2	169	169.5	114
Finland	-2,087.6	40	2,254.1	44	4,341.7	47
France	-11,431.7	16	22,410.4	9	33,842.1	10
French Guiana	26.9	167	27.0	172	0.1	217
French Polynesia	51.7	179	111.8	121	60.1	135
French Southern and Antarctic Lands	0.2	124	0.3	225	0.1	222
Gabon	-2,716.5	34	99.1	125	2,815.6	55
Gambia	30.2	173	30.6	165	0.4	209
Gaza Strip Administered by Israel	-1.2	112	0.2	226	1.4	193
Georgia	19.5	161	213.9	102	194.4	111
Ghana	179.0	202	337.4	89	158.4	116
Gibraltar	158.6	201	163.3	108	4.6	174
Greece	308.5	211	1,192.2	59	883.7	78
Greenland	-12.2	105	5.1	202	17.3	156
Grenada	76.6	188	82.4	133	5.9	169
Guadeloupe	52.4	180	54.5	148	2.1	187
Guatemala	-302.0	72	2,835.4	40	3,137.4	53
Guinea	18.9	159	93.6	129	74.7	130
Guinea-Bissau	2.0	133	2.1	213	0.1	218
Guyana	56.8	182	176.7	107	119.9	121
Haiti	262.4	209	709.6	69	447.2	87
Heard and McDonald Islands	0.1	122	0.2	227	(-)	225
Honduras	-495.4	66	3,253.8	37	3,749.2	49
Hong Kong	7,459.3	228	16,351.0	13	8,891.7	30
Hungary	-1,537.9	46	1,023.3	64	2,561.2	57
Iceland	243.0	208	512.0	80	269.0	105
India	-10,814.8	18	7,989.4	22	18,804.2	18
Indonesia	-8,960.4	22	3,053.9	39	12,014.3	26
Iran	-78.7	93	95.8	127	174.5	113
Iraq	-7,679.7	23	1,374.0	55	9,053.7	29
Ireland	-19,397.4	11	9,335.7	20	28,733.1	13
Israel	-7,093.1	25	9,737.3	19	16,830.5	19
Italy	-19,484.9	10	11,524.3	16	31,009.3	12
Jamaica	1,325.2	223	1,700.8	52	375.6	93
Japan	-82,519.2	2	55,484.5	3	138,003.7	4
Jordan	-622.7	59	644.2	71	1,266.8	69
Kazakhstan	-562.9	62	538.3	77	1,101.1	74
Kenya	284.5	210	632.5	72	348.0	96
Kiribati	1.3	130	2.4	211	1.1	197
Korea, North	5.8	145	5.8	199	(-)	227
Korea, South	-16,016.5	12	27,765.0	7	43,781.4	7
Kuwait	-2,359.9	37	1,974.9	46	4,334.8	48
Kyrgyzstan	26.5	166	31.1	162	4.6	175
Laos	5.6	144	9.8	191	4.2	179
Latvia	-184.6	82	177.5	106	362.2	95
Lebanon	379.3	214	465.7	83	86.4	129
Lesotho	-399.6	68	4.0	205	403.6	91
Liberia	-21.5	100	69.3	140	90.8	127
Libya	-1,506.5	48	83.8	132	1,590.3	(X)
Liechtenstein	-276.0	74	19.7	178	295.7	101
Lithuania	-243.9	75	390.0	85	633.9	81
Luxembourg	393.6	215	782.4	68	388.8	92
Macao	-1,147.4	53	101.6	124	1,249.0	70
Macedonia (Skopje)	-16.6	104	31.6	161	48.1	142
Madagascar	-295.4	73	28.2	168	323.6	99
Malawi	-87.5	90	28.0	170	115.5	122
Malaysia	-23,224.3	7	10,460.8	18	33,685.2	11
Maldives	3.8	138	9.3	193	5.5	172
Mali	28.8	170	32.4	159	3.6	182
Malta	-88.9	89	193.7	104	282.7	103
Marshall Islands	58.3	184	75.5	136	17.2	157

COUNTRY	TRADE BALANCE	RANK	EXPORTS F.A.S.	RANK	IMPORTS CUSTOMS	RANK
Martinique	12.7	157	35.0	157	22.2	155
Mauritania	85.3	192	86.1	130	0.8	202
Mauritius	-191.0	79	30.9	164	221.9	109
Mayotte	(-)	120	(-)	230	(-)	228
Mexico	-49,743.8	5	120,364.8	2	170,108.6	3
Moldova	-10.2	106	40.1	154	50.2	140
Monaco	-20.7	101	16.8	182	37.5	145
Mongolia	-121.8	87	21.9	177	143.6	118
Montserrat	3.9	139	4.8	203	1.0	201
Morocco	79.2	190	525.0	79	445.8	88
Mozambique	50.9	178	62.8	144	11.9	160
Namibia	-17.3	103	112.2	120	129.6	120
Nauru	1.5	131	1.6	215	0.1	215
Nepal	-86.5	91	24.7	175	111.2	123
Netherlands	11,622.6	230	26,484.6	8	14,862.0	22
Netherlands Antilles	215.2	206	1,137.6	61	922.4	77
New Caledonia	11.2	154	38.4	155	27.2	153
New Zealand	-503.4	65	2,651.8	41	3,155.2	52
Nicaragua	-555.3	63	625.5	73	1,180.8	73
Niger	13.0	158	78.5	135	65.5	133
Nigeria	-22,618.2	8	1,621.2	53	24,239.4	16
Niue	0.5	127	0.6	220	0.1	216
Norfolk Island	0.2	123	0.4	223	0.2	214
Norway	-4,834.4	28	1,941.9	48	6,776.3	36
Oman	39.9	175	594.9	75	555.0	83
Pakistan	-2,001.6	41	1,251.6	57	3,253.2	51
Palau	11.7	155	12.2	185	0.5	206
Panama	1,835.0	224	2,162.0	45	327.1	98
Papua New Guinea	-3.1	107	55.3	147	58.5	136
Paraguay	844.2	220	895.8	67	51.6	139
Peru	-2,809.7	33	2,309.4	43	5,119.2	44
Philippines	-2,355.0	38	6,895.4	25	9,250.4	28
Pitcairn Island	-0.6	114	0.5	221	1.0	200
Poland	-680.8	58	1,267.7	56	1,948.6	63
Portugal	-1,196.8	52	1,131.9	62	2,328.7	58
Qatar	538.8	218	986.6	65	447.9	86
Republic of Yemen	-59.6	95	219.0	100	278.6	104
Reunion	-2.0	110	3.8	206	5.8	170
Romania	-598.7	60	608.9	74	1,207.6	71
Russia	-11,344.3	17	3,962.4	33	15,306.7	20
Rwanda	4.2	140	10.5	188	6.3	167
San Marino	3.3	136	4.7	204	1.4	194
São Tomé and Príncipe	9.9	153	10.2	189	0.2	213
Saudi Arabia	-20,379.8	9	6,812.8	26	27,192.6	14
Senegal	154.8	200	158.5	110	3.7	181
Serbia and Montenegro	77.9	189	132.5	115	54.6	137
Seychelles	12.0	156	17.9	180	5.9	168
Sierra Leone	28.5	169	37.8	156	9.3	163
Singapore	5,532.2	225	20,642.2	11	15,110.1	21
Slovakia	-810.9	57	149.8	112	960.7	76
Slovenia	-179.2	83	233.8	98	413.0	90
Solomon Islands	0.9	129	2.3	212	1.4	195
Somalia	8.5	149	8.8	196	0.3	211
South Africa	-1,978.7	42	3,906.9	34	5,885.6	40
Spain	-1,701.0	44	6,913.6	24	8,614.6	32
Sri Lanka	-1,885.3	43	197.6	103	2,082.9	61
St. Helena	-0.5	115	2.7	209	3.3	184
St. Kitts and Nevis	44.4	176	94.1	128	49.7	141
St. Lucia	103.0	197	135.4	114	32.4	149
St. Pierre and Miquelon	-0.1	118	1.0	218	1.1	199
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	29.8	171	45.4	153	15.7	158
Sudan	94.5	195	108.1	122	13.6	159
Suriname	80.4	191	245.7	95	165.3	115
Svalbard, Jan Mayen Island	5.6	143	5.7	200	(-)	223
Swaziland	-187.0	80	11.9	186	198.9	110
Sweden	-10,105.6	19	3,715.4	35	13,821.0	23
Switzerland	-2,280.0	39	10,719.8	17	12,999.9	25
Syria	-168.5	84	155.0	111	323.6	100
Taiwan	-12,756.6	13	22,069.2	10	34,825.8	8

COUNTRY	TRADE BALANCE	RANK	EXPORTS F.A.S.	RANK	IMPORTS CUSTOMS	RANK
Tajikistan	-212.2	76	28.8	167	241.0	108
Tanzania	62.7	185	96.4	126	33.7	147
Thailand	-12,633.1	14	7,256.6	23	19,889.8	17
Togo	21.5	162	27.9	171	6.4	166
Tokelau	69.0	186	79.8	134	10.8	161
Tonga	4.3	141	9.7	192	5.4	173
Trinidad and Tobago	-6,474.1	26	1,416.7	54	7,890.9	34
Tunisia	-2.6	108	261.2	94	263.8	106
Turkey	-913.1	56	4,269.0	31	5,182.1	42
Turkmenistan	101.8	196	237.1	97	135.3	119
Turks and Caicos Islands	228.3	207	237.8	96	9.4	162
Tuvalu	(-)	119	(-)	228	0.1	221
Uganda	36.8	174	62.6	145	25.8	154
Ukraine	-565.1	61	533.0	78	1,098.0	75
United Arab Emirates	7,014.1	227	8,482.4	21	1,468.3	68
United Kingdom	-12,444.8	15	38,587.8	5	51,032.6	6
Uruguay	-375.6	69	356.7	87	732.3	79
Uzbekistan	-21.8	99	73.8	137	95.6	125
Vanuatu	6.6	147	9.1	194	2.5	186
Vatican City	23.9	165	24.2	176	0.3	212
Venezuela	-27,557.2	6	6,420.9	27	33,978.1	9
Vietnam	-5,438.0	27	1,193.2	58	6,631.2	38
Wallis and Futuna	0.4	126	0.4	222	(-)	224
West Bank Administered by Israel	2.1	134	3.7	207	1.6	190
Western Sahara	(-)	121	(-)	229	(-)	229
Western Samoa	6.6	146	14.5	184	7.9	165
Zambia	-2.6	109	29.1	166	31.7	151
Zimbabwe	-48.8	97	45.5	152	94.3	126
Unidentified	216.3	(X)	216.3	(X)	(-)	(X)
North America	-128,229.4	(X)	332,263.5	(X)	460,492.9	(X)
Western Europe	-125,453.7	(X)	200,260.3	(X)	325,714.0	(X)
Euro Area	-91,384.0	(X)	137,496.7	(X)	228,880.7	(X)
European Union (25)	-122,338.2	(X)	186,437.3	(X)	308,775.5	(X)
European Union (15)	-117,160.3	(X)	181,718.3	(X)	298,878.5	(X)
European Free Trade Association	-7,147.4	(X)	13,193.5	(X)	20,340.9	(X)
Eastern Europe	-18,539.6	(X)	10,994.0	(X)	29,533.6	(X)
Former Soviet Republics	-13,566.9	(X)	6,604.3	(X)	20,171.2	(X)
Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) in Europe	-125,232.5	(X)	199,207.8	(X)	324,440.4	(X)
Pacific Rim Countries	-328,066.4	(X)	223,334.0	(X)	551,400.4	(X)
Asia–Near East	-30,550.8	(X)	31,893.6	(X)	62,444.3	(X)
Asia–(NICS)	-15,781.6	(X)	86,827.5	(X)	102,609.1	(X)
Asia–South	-16,966.6	(X)	10,045.2	(X)	27,011.8	(X)
Assoc. of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN)	-49,278.2	(X)	49,636.7	(X)	98,914.9	(X)
APEC	-488,815.3	(X)	575,440.1	(X)	1,064,255.4	(X)
South/Central America	-50,460.1	(X)	72,413.0	(X)	122,873.0	(X)
Twenty Latin American Republics	-96,587.6	(X)	182,836.4	(X)	279,424.0	(X)
Central American Common Market	-1,304.0	(X)	12,167.5	(X)	13,471.5	(X)
Latin American Free Trade Association	-97,865.1	(X)	162,709.5	(X)	260,574.6	(X)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Allies	-198,120.9	(X)	406,259.2	(X)	604,380.0	(X)
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)	-92,866.6	(X)	32,073.8	(X)	124,940.4	(X)
Unidentified	216.3	(X)	216.3	(X)	(-)	(X)
(1) Detailed data are presented on a Census basis. The information needed to convert to a BOP basis is not available.
(2) Countries included in Euro Area are also included in European Union. See Page 27 of the FT-900 release for a list of countries.
(3) Selected countries are included in more than one area grouping. Indonesia is included in both OPEC and Pacific Rim; Venezuela is included in both OPEC and Other South/Central America.
(4) The export totals refl ect shipments of certain grains, oilseeds, and satellites that are not included in the country/area totals.
NOTE: For information on data sources, nonsampling errors and defi nitions, see the information section on page 27 of the FT-900 release, or at www.census.gov/ft900 or www.bea.gov/bea/di/home/trade.htm.

Current Account			-530.7
Balance on goods		-544.3
Imports	-1,260.7
Exports	716.4
Balance on services		47.8
Balance on income		33.3
Current transfers		-67.4
Capital Account			-3.1
Financial Account			544.2
Direct investment abroad		-173.8
Direct investment in United States		39.9
Portfolio investment assets		-72.3
Portfolio investment liabilities		544.5
Financial derivatives		…
Other investment assets		-38.8
Other investment liabilities		244.8
Net Errors and Omissions			-12.0
Reserves and Related Items			1.5
(…) data not available or not significant.

it had an unbroken record of annual surpluses up to 1970 on current-account goods, services, and remittances transactions. The balance of trade, in the red since 1975, reached a record deficit of $618 billion in 2004. The current account deficit in 2004 was 5.5% of GDP, or an estimated $635 billion.

The nation's stock of gold declined from a value of $22.9 billion at the start of 1958 to $10.5 billion as of 31 July 1971, only two weeks before President Nixon announced that the United States would no longer exchange dollars for gold. From 1990–2004, the value of the gold stock was stable at $11 billion. The US holds 8,140 metric tons of gold, and in December 2005, gold was trading at nearly $500 an ounce.

BANKING AND SECURITIES

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provided the United States with a central banking system. The Federal Reserve System dominates US banking, is a strong influence in the affairs of commercial banks, and exercises virtually unlimited control over the money supply. The Federal Reserve Bank system is an independent government organization, with important posts appointed by the president and approved by the Senate.

Each of the 12 federal reserve districts contains a federal reserve bank. A board of nine directors presides over each reserve bank. Six are elected by the member banks in the district. Of this group, three may be bankers; the other three represent business, industry, or agriculture. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (usually known as the Federal Reserve Board) appoints the remaining three, who may not be officers, directors, stockholders, or employees of any bank and who are presumed therefore to represent the public.

The Federal Reserve Board regulates the money supply and the amount of credit available to the public by asserting its power to alter the rediscount rate, by buying and selling securities in the open market, by setting margin requirements for securities purchases, by altering reserve requirements of member banks in the system, and by resorting to a specific number of selective controls at its disposal. The Federal Reserve Board's role in regulating the money supply is held by economists of the monetarist school to be the single most important factor in determining the nation's inflation rate.

Member banks increase their reserves or cash holdings by rediscounting commercial notes at the federal reserve bank at a rate of interest ultimately determined by the Board of Governors. A change in the discount rate, therefore, directly affects the capacity of the member banks to accommodate their customers with loans. Similarly, the purchase or sale of securities in the open market, as determined by the Federal Open Market Committee, is the most commonly used device whereby the amount of credit available to the public is expanded or contracted. The same effect is achieved in some measure by the power of the Board of Governors to raise or lower the reserves that member banks must keep against demand deposits. Credit tightening by federal authorities in early 1980 pushed the prime rate-the rate that commercial banks charge their most creditworthy customers-above 20% for the first time since the financial panics of 1837 and 1839, when rates reached 36%. As federal monetary policies eased, the prime rate dropped below 12% in late 1984; as of 2000 it was below 10%. In mid-2003 the federal funds rate was reduced to 1%, a 45-year low.

The financial sector is dominated by commercial banks, insurance companies, and mutual funds. There was little change in the nature of the sector between the 1930s, when it was rescued through the creation of regulatory bodies and deposit insurance, and the 1980s, when the market was deregulated. In the 1980s, the capital markets underwent extensive reforms. The markets became increasingly internationalized, as deregulation allowed foreign-owned banks to extend their operations. There was also extensive restructuring of domestic financial markets-interest-rate ceilings were abolished and competition between different financial institution intensified, facilitated by greater diversification.

Commercial and investment banking activities are separated in the United States by the Glass Steagall Act, which was passed in 1933 during the Great Depression. Fears that investment banking activities put deposits at risk led to a situation where commercial banks were unable to deal in nonbank financial instruments. This put them at severe commercial disadvantage, and the pressure for reform became so strong that the Federal Reserve Board has allowed the affiliates of commercial banks to enter a wide range of securities activities since 1986. Attempts to repeal the act were unsuccessful until November 1999, when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (also known as the Financial Modernization Act) was passed by Congress. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed Glass-Steagall and allows banks, insurance companies, and stock brokers and mutual fund companies to sell each other's products and services. These companies are also now free to merge or acquire one another.

The expansion and diversification in financial services was facilitated by information technology. Financial deregulation led to the collapse of many commercial banks and savings and loan associations in the second half of the 1980s. In the 1990s, change has continued in the form of a proliferation of bank mergers; with the passage in 1999 of Gramm-Leach-Bliley, further consolidation of the industry was predicted.

Prior to 1994 the banking system was highly fragmented; national banks were not allowed to establish branches at will, as they were subject to the banking laws of each state. Within states, local banks faced similar restraints on their branching activities. In 1988, only 22 states permitted statewide banking of national banks, while 18 allowed limited banking and ten permitted no branches. Consequently in 1988 over 60% of US commercial banks had assets of less the $150 million, while only 3% had assets valued at $500 million or more.

Such regulation rendered US banks vulnerable to merger and acquisition. Acquisitions have generally taken place through bank holding companies, which then fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve System. This has allowed banks to extend their business into nonbank activities such as insurance, financial planning, and mortgages, as well as opening up geographical markets. The number of such holding companies is estimated at 6,500. These companies are believed to control over 90% of total bank assets.

The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 removed most of the barriers to interstate bank acquisitions and interstate banking. The new act allowed banks to merge with banks in other states although they must operate them as separate banks. In addition, banks are allowed to establish branches in neighboring states. Restrictions on branching activity were lifted as of June 1997. The legislation allowed banks to lessen their exposure to regional economic downturns. It also ensured a continuing stream of bank mergers. Liberalization has encouraged a proliferation of in-store banking at supermarkets. International Banking Technologies, Inc., reported that the number of supermarket bank branches rose to 7,100 in 1998, up from 2,191 in 1994. In the mid-1990s, the number of supermarket branch banks grew at an annual rate of around 30%, but growth from 1997 to 1998 slowed to just over 10%.

Under the provisions of the Banking Act of 1935, all members of the Federal Reserve System (and other banks that wish to do so) participate in a plan of deposit insurance (up to $100,000 for each individual account as of 2003) administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Savings and loan associations are insured by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC). Individual accounts were insured up to a limit of $100,000. Savings and loans failed at an alarming rate in the 1980s. In 1989 the government signed legislation that created the Resolution Trust Corporation. The RTC's job is to handle the savings and loans bailout, expected to cost taxpayers $345 billion through 2029. Approximately 30 million members participated in thousands of credit unions chartered by a federal agency; state-chartered credit unions had over 20 million members.

The International Monetary Fund reports that in 2001, currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $1,595.5 billion. In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $6,961.2 billion. The money market rate, the rate at which financial institutions lend to one another in the short term, was 3.89%. The discount rate, the interest rate at which the central bank lends to financial institutions in the short term, was 1.25%.

When the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opened in 1817, its trading volume was 100 shares a day. On 17 December 1999, 1.35 billion shares were traded, a record high for shares traded in a single day. Record-setting trading volume occurred for 1999 as a whole, with 203.9 billion shares traded (a 20% increase over 1998) for a total value of $8.9 trillion, up from $7.3 trillion in 1998. In 1996, 51 million individuals and 10,000 institutional investors owned stocks or shares in mutual funds traded on the NYSE. The two other major stock markets in the United States are the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) and the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers). The NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) is regulated by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). As of 2004, the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, and the American Stock Exchange had a combined total of 5,231 companies listed. Total market capitalization that same year came to $16.3 trillion.

INSURANCE

The number of life insurance companies has shrunk in recent years. Between 1985 and 1995 the number fell from 2,261 to 1,840. In 1998, there were 51 life insurance mergers and acquisitions. Competition between financial institutions has been healthy and premium income has risen steadily. The overwhelming majority of US families have some life insurance with a legal reserve company, the Veterans Administration, or fraternal, assessment, burial, or savings bank organization. The passage in 1999 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allowed insurance companies, banks, and securities firms to sell each other's products and services; restrictions were also lifted on cross-industry mergers and acquisitions. In 2003, the value of all direct insurance premiums written totaled $1.1 trillion, of which nonlife premiums accounted for $574.6 billion. In that same year, State Farm Mutual Group was the top nonlife insurer, with direct written nonlife premiums of $47.2 billion, while Metropolitan Life & Affiliated was the nation's leading life insurer, with direct written life insurance premiums of $27.6 billion.

Hundreds of varieties of insurance may be purchased. Besides life, the more important coverages include accident, fire, hospital and medical expense, group accident and health, automobile liability, automobile damage, workers' compensation, ocean marine, and inland marine. Americans buy more life and health insurance than any other group except Canadians and Japanese. During the 1970s, many states enacted a "no fault" form of automobile insurance, under which damages may be awarded automatically, without recourse to a lawsuit.

PUBLIC FINANCE

Under the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the president is responsible for preparing the federal government budget. In fact, the budget is prepared by the Office of Management and Budget (established in 1970), based on requests from the heads of all federal departments and agencies and advice from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Council of Economic Advisers, and the Treasury Department. The president submits a budget message to Congress in January. Under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Congress establishes, by concurrent resolution, targets for overall expenditures and broad functional categories, as well as targets for revenues, the budget deficit, and

Revenue and Grants	1,902.4	100.0%
Tax revenue	1,086.5	57.1%
Social contributions	758.3	39.9%
Grants	…	…
Other revenue	57.6	3.0%
Expenditures	2,311.9	100.0%
General public services	281.9	12.2%
Defense	442.5	19.1%
Public order and safety	31.9	1.4%
Economic affairs	161.9	7.0%
Environmental protection	…	…
Housing and community amenities	45.8	2.0%
Health	541.9	23.4%
Recreational, culture, and religion	4.5	0.2%
Education	61	2.6%
Social protection	740.5	32.0%
(…) data not available or not significant.

the public debt. The Congressional Budget Office monitors the actions of Congress on individual appropriations bills with reference to those targets. The president exercises fiscal control over executive agencies, which issue periodic reports subject to presidential perusal. Congress exercises control through the comptroller general, head of the General Accounting Office, who sees to it that all funds have been spent and accounted for according to legislative intent. The fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September. The public debt, subject to a statutory debt limit, has been raised by Congress 70 times since 1950. The debt rose from $43 billion in 1939/40 to more than $3.3 trillion in 1993 to more than $8.2 trillion in early 2006. In 1993, pressured by Congressional Republicans, President Bill Clinton introduced a taxing and spending plan to reduce the rate of growth of the federal deficit. The Clinton administration calculated the package of tax increases and spending cuts would pare down the deficit by $500 billion over a four-year period; in fiscal year 1997/98, the budget experienced an estimated surplus of $69 billion. However, the tax cuts and extensive military spending of President George W. Bush in the first term of the new millennium erased the surplus and pushed the economy to a record $455 billion deficit for the 2003 fiscal year, followed by $412 billion for 2004.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated that in 2005 the central government took in revenues of approximately $2.1 trillion and had expenditures of $2.4 trillion. Revenues minus expenditures totaled approximately -$347 billion. Public debt in 2005 amounted to 64.7% of GDP. Total external debt in 2006 was $8.837 trillion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that in 2003, the most recent year for which it had data, central government revenues in $1,902.4 billion and expenditures were $2,311.9 billion. The value of revenues was $1.9 billion and expenditures $2.3 billion. Government outlays by function were as follows: general public services, 12.2%; defense, 19.1%; public order and safety, 1.4%; economic affairs, 7.0%; housing and community amenities, 2.0%; health, 23.4%; recreation, culture, and religion, 0.2%; education, 2.6%; and social protection, 32.0%.

TAXATION

Measured as a proportion of the GDP, the total US tax burden is less than that in most industrialized countries. Federal, state, and local taxes are levied in a variety of forms. The greatest source of revenue for the federal government is the personal income tax, which is paid by citizens and resident aliens on their worldwide income. The main state-level taxes are sales and income taxes. The main local taxes are property and local income taxes.

Generally, corporations are expected to prepay, through four installments, 100% of estimated tax liability. US corporate taxes are famous for their complexity, and it is estimated that amount spent trying to comply with, minimize and/or avoid business taxes is equal to half the tax yield. As of 2004, the United States had a top corporate federal tax rate of 35%, although the effective rate is actually 39.5%. Generally, corporations having taxable income in excess of $75,000 but not over $10 million are taxed at a 34% rate, with the first $75,000 taxed at graduated rates of 15–25%. However those whose income falls between $335,000 and $10 million are taxed at the full 34% which includes the initial $75,000. Corporations with income of over $15 million but not over $18,333,333 are subject to an additional 3% tax, while those corporations whose taxable income is over $18,333,333 are taxed at the 35% rate. The federal government also imposes an Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The purpose of the AMT is to prevent what is considered an overuse of tax deductions. As a result, the AMT is effectively a separate tax system with its own credit limitations and allowable deductions. Under the AMT, a 20% flat rate is applied to alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI), which the corporation must pay if the calculated AMT is greater than the regular tax. Conversely, if the calculated regular tax is more than the calculated AMT, then the regular tax must be paid. State and local governments may also impose their own corporate income taxes. Generally, these taxes use the federal definitions of taxable income as the starting point when applying their income taxes. Capital gains from assets held as investments are taxed at the same rates as ordinary income. Dividends, interest and royalties paid to nonresidents are subject to a withholding tax of 30%.

The United States has a progressive personal income tax structure that as of 2004, had a top rate of 35%. As with corporations, individuals can be subject to an AMT. With rates of 26% and 28%, the AMT, as it applies to individuals, is similar to the AMT charged to corporations in that the individual must pay whichever is highest, the regular tax or the AMT. Individuals may also be subject to inheritance and gift taxes, as well as state and local income taxes, all of which vary from state-to-state and locality-to-locality. Capital gains from assets held for under a year (short term) are taxed at higher rates than gains derived from assets held for more than a year (long term). Long term capital gains for individuals are taxed at a 15% rate, while those individuals who fall into lower-income tax brackets would be subject to a 5% rate. Certain capital gains derived from real estate are subject to a 25% tax rate.

The United States has not adopted a national value-added tax (VAT) system. The main indirect taxes are state sales taxes. There is an importation duty of 0.7% on imported goods. Excise taxes are levied on certain motor vehicles, personal air transportation, some motor fuels (excluding gasohol), alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, tires and tubes, telephone charges, and gifts and estates.

CUSTOMS AND DUTIES

Under the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1951, the president is required to inform the US International Trade Commission (known until 1974 as the US Tariff Commission) of contemplated concessions in the tariff schedules. The commission then determines what the "peril point" is; that is, it informs the president how far the tariff may be lowered without injuring a domestic producer, or it indicates the amount of increase necessary to enable a domestic producer to avoid injury by foreign competition. Similarly, the act provides an "escape clause,"—in effect, a method for rescinding a tariff concession granted on a specific commodity if the effect of the concession, once granted, has caused or threatens to cause "serious injury" to a domestic producer. The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 grants the president the power to negotiate tariff reductions of up to 50% under the terms of GATT.

In 1974, The US Congress authorized the president to reduce tariffs still further, especially on goods from developing countries. As the cost of imported oil rose in the mid-1970s, however, Congress became increasingly concerned with reducing the trade imbalance by discouraging "dumping" of foreign goods on the US market. The International Trade Commission is required to impose a special duty on foreign goods offered for sale at what the commission determines is less than fair market value.

Most products are dutiable under most-favored nation (MFN) rates or general duty rates. The import tariff schedules contain over 10,000 classifications, most of which are subject to interpretation. Besides duties, the United States imposes a 17% "user fee" on all imports. Excise taxes and harsher maintenance fees are also imposed on certain imports. Under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was approved by Congress in 1993, tariffs on goods qualifying as North American under the rules of origin will be phased out over a 15-year period.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

From the end of World War II through 1952, US government transfers of capital abroad averaged about $5,470 million annually, while private investments averaged roughly $730 million. Portfolio investment represented less than $150 million a year, or only 2.5% of the annual aggregate.

After 1952, however, direct private investment began to increase and portfolio investment rose markedly. In the late 1950s, new private direct investment was increasing yearly by $2 billion or more, while private portfolio investment and official US government loans were climbing by a minimum annual amount of $1 billion each. During the 1960–73 period, the value of US-held assets abroad increased by nearly 12% annually. From the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, it rose most years by at least 15%, and doubled between 1980 and 1990. Direct investments abroad had a book value of $711.6 billion in 1995, over half of which was invested in Europe, with the single greatest concentration ($119.9 billion) in the United Kingdom. Asia and the Pacific Islands had the second-largest regional total ($126 billion), with Japan ($39 billion) the leading country.

Foreign direct investment in the United States has risen rapidly, from $6.9 billion in 1960 to $27.7 billion in 1975 and $183 billion at the end of 1985. As of 1995 foreign direct investment in the United States was valued at $560 billion, of which $363.5 billion originated in Europe ($119.9 billion in the United Kingdom). Asia and the Pacific was the other major source of foreign direct investment, of which close to 90% ($108.6 billion) came from Japan. Total foreign assets in 1994 (current cost) were over $3.16 trillion. Over one-third of the investment volume was in manufacturing. In 1998 foreign direct investment reached $174.4 billion, up from $103.4 billion in 1997, and then increased to $283 billion in 1999. Foreign direct investment inflow into the United States peaked at a world record of $301 billion in 2000. In the global economic slowdown of 2001, foreign direct investment inflows dropped to $124.4 billion. The worldwide decline in foreign investment after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks was most dramatic in the United States. In 2002, estimated foreign direct investment inflow dropped more than 64% to an estimated $52.6 billion. Foreign direct investment inflow rose to $78.8 billion in 2004, up 26% from 2003. In 2004, the major investors in the United States were Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Australia.

US outward foreign direct investment in 2004 totaled $83.5 billion, with Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, Ireland, and Mexico the largest recipients of US FDI.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

By the end of the 19th century, regulation rather than subsidy had become the characteristic form of government intervention in US economic life. The abuses of the railroads with respect to rates and services gave rise to the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, which was subsequently strengthened by numerous acts that now stringently regulate all aspects of US railroad operations.

The growth of large-scale corporate enterprises, capable of exercising monopolistic or near-monopolistic control of given segments of the economy, resulted in federal legislation designed to control trusts. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, reinforced by the Clayton Act of 1914 and subsequent acts, established the federal government as regulator of large-scale business. This tradition of government intervention in the economy was reinforced during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Labor Relations Board were established. The expansion of regulatory programs accelerated during the 1960s and early 1970s with the creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Consumer Product Safety Commission, among other bodies. Subsidy programs were not entirely abandoned, however. Federal price supports and production subsidies remained a major force in stabilizing US agriculture. Moreover, the federal government stepped in to arrange for guaranteed loans for two large private firms—Lockheed in 1971 and Chrysler in 1980—where thousands of jobs would have been lost in the event of bankruptcy.

During this period, a general consensus emerged that, at least in some areas, government regulation was contributing to inefficiency and higher prices. The Carter administration moved to deregulate the airline, trucking, and communications industries; subsequently, the Reagan administration relaxed government regulation of bank savings accounts and automobile manufacture as it decontrolled oil and gas prices. The Reagan administration also sought to slow the growth of social-welfare spending and attempted, with only partial success, to transfer control over certain federal social programs to the states and to reduce or eliminate some programs entirely. Ironically, it was a Democrat, Bill Clinton, who, in 1996, signed legislation that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with a system of block grants that would enable the states to design and run their own welfare programs.

Some areas of federal involvement in social welfare, however, seem safely entrenched. Old age and survivors' insurance, unemployment insurance, and other aspects of the Social Security program have been accepted areas of governmental responsibility for decades. With the start of the 21st century, the government faced the challenge of keeping the Medicare program solvent as the postwar baby-boomer generation reached retirement age. Federal responsibility has also been extended to insurance of bank deposits, to mortgage insurance, and to regulation of stock transactions. The government fulfills a supervisory and regulatory role in labor-management relations. Labor and management customarily disagree on what the role should be, but neither side advocates total removal of government from this field.

Since the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934, government regulation of foreign trade has tended toward decreased levels of protection, a trend maintained by the 1945 Trade Agreements Extension Act, the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, and the 1974 Trade Act. The goals of free trade have also been furthered since World War II by US participation in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). With the formation in 1995 of the World Trade Organization (WTO), most-favored-nation policies were expanded to trade in services and other areas.

In 1993, Congress approved the North American Free Trade Agreement, which extended the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States to include Mexico. NAFTA, by eliminating tariffs and other trade barriers, created a free trade zone with a combined market size of $6.5 trillion and 370 million consumers. The effect on employment was uncertain—estimates varied from a loss of 150,000 jobs over the ensuing ten years to a net gain of 200,000. Labor intensive goods-producing industries, such as apparel and textiles, were expected to suffer, while it was predicted that capital goods industries would benefit. It was anticipated that US automakers would benefit in the short run by taking advantage of the low wages in Mexico and that US grain farmers and the US banking, financial, and telecommunications sectors would gain enormous new markets. As of 2005, the pros and cons of NAFTA were still being hotly debated. Spokespersons for organized labor claimed in 2000 that the agreement had resulted in a net loss of 420,000 jobs, while advocates of free trade insisted that 311,000 new jobs had been created to support record US exports to Canada and Mexico, with only 116,000 workers displaced—a net gain of 195,000 jobs.

In 2003, President George W. Bush introduced, and Congress passed a tax cut of $350 billion designed to stimulate the economy, which was in a period of slow growth. This came on the heels of a $1.35 trillion tax cut passed in 2001 and a $96 billion stimulus package in 2002. Democrats cited the loss of 2.7 million private sector jobs during the first three years of the Bush administration as evidence that the president did not have control over the economy. In 1998, for the first time since 1969, the federal budget closed the fiscal year with a surplus. In 2000, the government was running a surplus of $236 billion, or a projected $5.6 trillion over 10 years. By mid-2003, the federal budget had fallen into deficit; the deficit stood at $455 billion, which was 4.2% of gross domestic product (GDP). The budget deficit stood at $412 billion in 2004, or 3.6% of GDP, and was forecast to decline to $331 billion in 2006.

US businesses are at or near the forefront of technological advances, but the onrush of technology has created a "two-tier" labor market, in which those at the bottom lack the education and professional and technical skills of those at the top, and, increasingly, fail to receive comparable pay raises, health insurance coverage, and other benefits. Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households. Other long-term problems facing the US economy are inadequate investment in economic infrastructure, the rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, significant trade, current account, and budget deficits, and the stagnation of family income in the lower economic groups. Congress in 2003 passed an overhaul of the Medicare program to provide prescription drug coverage for the elderly and disabled; the provisions went into effect in January 2006.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Social welfare programs in the United States depend on both the federal government and the state governments for resources and administration. Old age, survivors', disability, and the Medicare (health) programs are administered by the federal government; unemployment insurance, dependent child care, and a variety of other public assistance programs are state administered, although the federal government contributes to all of them through grants to the states.

The Food and Nutrition Service of the US Department of Agriculture oversees several food assistance programs. Eligible Americans take part in the food stamp program, and eligible pupils participate in the school lunch program. The federal government also expends money for school breakfasts, nutrition programs for the elderly, and in commodity aid for the needy. The present Social Security program differs greatly from that created by the Social Security Act of 1935, which provided that retirement benefits be paid to retired workers aged 65 or older. Since 1939, Congress has attached a series of amendments to the program, including provisions for workers who retire at age 62, for widows, for dependent children under 18 years of age, and for children who are disabled prior to age 18. Disabled workers between 50 and 65 years of age are also entitled to monthly benefits. Other measures increased the number of years a person may work; among these reforms was a 1977 law banning mandatory retirement in private industry before age 70. The actuarial basis for the Social Security system has also changed. In 1935 there were about nine US wage earners for each American aged 65 or more; by the mid-1990s, however, the ratio was closer to three to one.

In 1940, the first year benefits were payable, $35 million was paid out. By 1983, Social Security benefits totaled $268.1 billion, paid to more than 40.6 million beneficiaries. The average monthly benefit for a retired worker with no dependents in 1960 was $74; in 1983, the average benefit was $629.30. Under legislation enacted in the early 1970s, increases in monthly benefits were pegged to the inflation rate, as expressed through the Consumer Price Index. Employers, employees, and the self-employed are legally required to make contributions to the Social Security fund. Currently, 6.2% of employee earnings (12.4% of self-employed earnings) went toward old-age, disability, and survivor benefits. Wage and salary earners pay Social Security taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). As the amount of benefits and the number of beneficiaries have increased, so has the maximum FICA payment. As of 2004 the maximum annual earnings for contribution and benefit purposes was $87,000.

Workers compensation laws vary according to states. Most laws were enacted before 1920; the program covering federal employees was instituted in 1908. Insurance is compulsory through public or private carriers. In most states the employer fund the total cost. There is a special federal program for miners with black lung disease (pneumoconiosis). The laws governing unemployment compensation originate in the states as well, and therefore benefits vary from state to state in duration and amount. Generally unemployment benefits amount to 50% of earnings, and federal law provides an additional 13 weeks of payments in states with high unemployment. Federal and state systems provide aid in the form of cash payments, social services, and job training to assist needy families.

Private philanthropy plays a major role in the support of relief and health services. The private sector plays an especially important role in pension management.

HEALTH

The US health care system is among the most advanced in the world. Escalating health care costs resulted in several proposals for a national health care program in the 1970s, early 1980s, and early 1990s. Most reform measures relied either on market-oriented approaches designed to widen insurance coverage through tax subsidies on a federally controlled single-payer plan, or on mandatory employer payments for insurance coverage. The health care industry continues to struggle with continued rising costs, as well as the financial burden of providing care to over 40 million people who were uninsured. The percentage among the nation's poor was much higher.

In response to rising costs, the popularity of managed care grew rapidly in the latter half of the 1990s. By 2000, 59% of the population was insured by either an HMO (health maintenance organization) or PPO (preferred provider organization). In such organizations, medical treatment, laboratory tests, and other health services for each patient are subject to the approval of the insurer before they can be covered. From 1987 to 1996, enrollment in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) doubled. By the end of the decade, however, the quality of treatment under managed care organizations was coming under increased scrutiny.

Life expectancy for someone born in 2005 was 77.71 years. Infant mortality has fallen from 38.3 per 1,000 live births in 1945 to 6.50 per 1,000 live births in 2005. The birth rate in 2002 was 14.1 per 1,000 people. In 1999, 56.5% of US adults were overweight and 21.1% were obese. Although health indicators continued to improve overall 2004, pronounced disparities between different segments of the population remained.

Leading causes of death were: heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia and influenza, Alzheimer's disease, suicide, and homicide.

Cigarette smoking has been linked to heart and lung disease; about 20% of all deaths in the United States were attributed to cigarette smoking. Smoking has decreased overall since the late 1980s. The overall trend in smoking mortality suggests a decrease in smoking among males since the 1960s, but an increase in mortality for female smokers. On 23 November 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement was signed, the result of a lawsuit brought by 46 states and the District of Columbia against tobacco companies for damages related to smoking. Payments from the settlement, totaling $206 billion, began in 1999.

The rate of HIV infection (resulting in acquired immune deficiency syndrome—AIDS), has risen since first being identified in 1981. There were a cumulative total of 750,000 AIDS cases in the 1980s and 1990s, with 450,000 deaths from the disease. In the latter 1990s, both incidence and mortality decreased with the introduction of new drug combinations to combat the disease. The number of AIDS cases declined by 30% between 1996 and 1998 and deaths were cut in half. In 2004, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS was estimated at 950,000, with the number of deaths from AIDS that year estimated at 14,000. AIDS continued to affect racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately. HIV prevalence was 0.60 per 100 adults in 1999.

Medical facilities in the United States included 5,810 hospitals in 2000, with 984,000 beds (down from 6,965 hospitals and 1,365,000 beds in 1980). As of 2004, there were an estimated 549 physicians, 773 nurses, 59 dentists, and 69 pharmacists per 100,000 people. Of the total number of active classified physicians, the largest areas of activity were internal medicine, followed by general and family practice and pediatrics.

Per capita health care expenditures rose from $247 in 1967 to about $3,380 in 1993. National health care spending reached $1 trillion in 1996 and was projected to reach $1.9 trillion by 2006. Hospital costs, amounting to over $371 billion in 1997, represented 34% of national health care spending in that year. In the late 1990s, total health care expenditures stabilized at around 13% of GDP, with most expenditures being made by the private sector.

Medicare payments have lagged behind escalating hospital costs; payments in 2000 totaled $215.9 billion. Meanwhile, the elderly population in the United States is projected to increase to 18% of the total population by 2020, thus exacerbating the conundrum of health care finance.

HOUSING

The housing resources of the United States far exceed those of any other country, with 122,671,734 housing units serving about 109,902,090 households, according to 2004 American Community Survey estimates. About 67% of all occupied units were owner-occupied, with about 10% of the total housing stock standing vacant. The average household had 2.6 people. The median home value was estimated at $151,366. The median payment for rent and utilities of rental properties was $694 per month. California had the highest number of housing units at over 12 million (in 2000); the state also had the highest estimated median housing value of owner-occupied units, at $391,102 in 2004. Wyoming had the lowest number of housing stock with an estimated 223,854 in 2000. The lowest estimated median housing value of owner-occupied units was found in Arkansas at $79,006 in 2004.

The vast majority of housing units are single-unit structures; 61% are single-family detached homes. Over 9.5 million dwellings are found in buildings of 20 units or more. Over 8.7 million dwellings are mobile homes. About 14.9% of the total housing stock was built in 1939 or before. The decade of 1970–79 had the most homes built, with 21,462,868 units, 17.6% of the existing stock. During the period 1990–99, there were 19,007,934 units built, about 15% of the existing stick. Houses being built in the 1990s were significantly larger than those built in the 1970s. The average area of single-family housing built in 1993 was 180.88 sq m (1,947 sq ft), compared to 139.35 sq m (1,500 sq ft) in 1970. The median number of rooms per dwelling was estimated at 5.4 in 2004.

EDUCATION

Education is the responsibility of state and the local governments. However, federal funds are available to meet special needs at primary, secondary, or higher levels. Each state specifies the age and circumstances for compulsory attendance. The most common program of compulsory education requires attendance for ages 6 to 16; however, most school programs continue through twelve years of study, with students graduating at age 17 or 18. The high school diploma is only granted to students who complete this course of study, no certificates of completion are granted at previous intervals. Those who leave school before completion of grade 12 may choose to take a General Educational Development Test (GED) that is generally considered to be the equivalent to a state-approved diploma.

Regular schools, which educate a person toward a diploma or degree, include both public and private schools. Public schools are controlled and supported by the local authorities, as well as state or federal governmental agencies. Private schools are controlled and supported by religious or private organizations. Elementary schooling generally extends from grade one through grade five or six. Junior high or middle school programs may cover grades six through eight, depending on the structure of the particular school district. High schools generally cover grades 9 through 12. At the secondary level, many schools offer choices of general studies or college preparatory studies. Vocational and technical programs are also available. Some schools offer advanced placement programs through which students (after appropriate exams) may earn college credits while still in high school. The school year begins in September and ends in June.

In 2003, about 58% of children between the ages of three and five were enrolled in some type of preschool program. Primary school enrollment in 2003 was estimated at about 92% of age-eligible students. The student-to-teacher ratio for primary school was at about 14:1 in 2003; the ratio for secondary school was about 15:1. In 2003, private schools accounted for about 10.8% of primary school enrollment and 9.2% of secondary enrollment. As of 2003, about 87% of the population ages 25–29 had received a high school diploma or equivalency certificate.

In 2003, about 1.1 million students were home schooled. In a home schooling program, students are taught at home by their parents or tutors using state-approved curriculum resources. Most of these students (about 82%) receive their entire education at home. Others may attend some classes at local schools or choose to attend public high school after completing preliminary grades through home schooling.

Colleges include junior or community colleges, offering two-year associate degrees; regular four-year colleges and universities; and graduate or professional schools. Both public and private institutions are plentiful. Eight of the most prestigious institutions in the country are collective known as the Ivy League. These schools are some of the oldest in the country and are known for high academic standards and an extremely selective admissions process. Though they are all now independent, nonsectarian organizations, most of them were founded or influenced by religious groups. They include: Yale University (1701, Puritans), University of Pennsylvania (1740, Quaker influence), Princeton University (1746, Presbyterian), Harvard University (1638, Puritan), Dartmouth College (1769, Puritan), Cornell University (1865), Columbia University (1754, Anglican), and Brown University (1764, Baptist).

The cost of college education varies considerably depending on the institution. There are county and state universities that receive government funding and offer reduced tuition for residents of the region. Students attending both public and private institutions may be eligible for federal aid in the form of grants or loans. Institutions generally offer their own scholarship and grant programs as well.

There are over 4,000 nondegree institutions of higher learning, including educational centers offering continuing education credits for professionals as well as general skill-based learning programs. Certificate programs are available in a number of professions and trades. Technical and vocational schools are also available for adults. In 2003, it was estimated that about 83% of the tertiary age population were enrolled in tertiary education programs. The adult literacy rate has been estimated at about 97%.

Beyond this, there are numerous public and private community organizations that offer educational programming in the form of workshops, lectures, seminars, and classes for adults interested in expanding their educational horizons.

As of 2003, public expenditure on education was estimated at 5.7% of GDP, or 17.1% of total government expenditures.

LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS

The American Library Association has reported that, as of 2004, there were an estimated 117,664 libraries in the country, including 9,211 public libraries (with over 16,500 buildings), 3,527 academic libraries, 93,861 school libraries, 9,526 special libraries, 314 armed forces libraries, and 1,225 government libraries.

The largest library in the country and the world is the Library of Congress, with holdings of over 130 million items, including 29 million books and other printed materials, 2.7 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 58 million manuscripts. The Library of Congress serves as the national library and the site of the US Copyright Office. The government maintains a system of presidential libraries and museums, which serve as archive and research centers that preserve documents and other materials of historical value related to the presidency. Starting with Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, there has been a library and museum established for each president. State governments maintain their own libraries as well.

The country's vast public library system is administered primarily by municipalities. The largest of these is the New York Public Library system with 89 branch locations and over 42.7 million items, including 14.9 million bound volumes. Other major public library systems include the Cleveland Public Library (over 9.7 million items), Los Angeles County Public Library (over 9.6 million items, 8.7 million books), the Chicago Public Library (6.5 million), the Boston Public Library system (6.1 million books, including 1.2 million rare books and manuscripts), and the Free Library of Philadelphia (6 million items).

Noted special collections are those of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York; the Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif.; the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC; the Hoover Library at Stanford University; and the rare book divisions of Harvard, Yale, Indiana, Texas, and Virginia universities.

Among the leading university libraries are those of Harvard (with about 15 million volumes in 90 libraries), Yale, Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), Michigan (Ann Arbor), California (Berkeley), Columbia, Stanford, Cornell, California (Los Angeles), Chicago, Wisconsin (Madison), and Washington (Seattle).

There are over 5,000 nonprofit museums in the United States. The most numerous type is the historic building, followed in descending order by college and university museums, museums of science, public museums of history, and public museums of art. The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, sponsors 18 national museums and the National Zoo. Sixteen of the Smithsonian national museums are located in the Smithsonian complex of Washington, DC; these include the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, American Art Museum, and the American Indian Museum. The American Indian Museum, Heye Center, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum are Smithsonian-sponsored museums located in New York.

Other eminent US museums include the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Collection of American Art, the Frick Collection, and the Brooklyn Museum, all in New York City; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Museum of Natural History; the Franklin Institute and Philadelphia Museum of Art, both in Philadelphia; and the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Also of prominence are the Cleveland Museum of Art, the St. Louis Museum of Art, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

MEDIA

All major electric communications systems are privately owned but regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. The United States uses wire and radio services for communications more extensively than any other country in the world. In 2003, there were an estimated 621 mainline telephones for every 1,000 people. The same year, there were approximately 543 mobile phones in use for every 1,000 people. The Post Office Department of the United States was replaced on 1 July 1971 by the US Postal Service, a financially autonomous federal agency. In addition to mail delivery, the Postal Service provides registered, certified, insured, express and COD mail service, issues money orders, and operates a postal savings system. Since the 1970s, numerous privately owned overnight mail and package delivery services have been established.

Radio serves a variety of purposes other than broadcasting. It is widely used by ships and aircraft for safety; it has become an important tool in the movement of buses, trucks, and taxicabs. Forest conservators, fire departments, and the police operate with radio as a necessary aid; it is used in logging operations, surveying, construction work, and dispatching of repair crews. In 2004, broadcasting stations on the air comprised over 12,000 radio stations (both AM and FM) and more than 1,500 television stations. Nearly 1,000 stations were affiliated with five major networks: NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX (all commercial), and PBS (Public Broadcasting System). As of 1997 the United States had some 9,000 cable television systems. In 2003, there were an estimated 2,109 radios and 938 television sets for every 1,000 people. About 255 of every 1,000 people were cable subscribers. Also in 2003, there were 658.9 personal computers for every 1,000 people and 551 of every 1,000 people had access to the Internet. There were 198,098 secure Internet servers in the country in 2004.

In 2005 there were over 1,500 daily newspapers in the United States. It has been estimated that about 20 large newspaper chains account for almost 60% of the total daily circulation. The US daily newspapers with the largest circulations as of 2004 were: USA Today (national), 2,220,863; Wall Street Journal (national), 2,106,774; New York Times, 1,121,057; Los Angeles Times (CA), 902,164; New York Daily News, 715,052; Washington Post (DC), 707,690; New York Post, 686,207; Chicago Tribune (IL), 600,988; Houston Chronicle (TX), 554,783; Dallas Morning News (TX), 519,014; San Francisco Chronicle (CA), 505,022; Chicago Sun-Times (IL), 481,980; Long Island/New York Newsday, 481,816; Boston Globe (MA), 451,471; Arizona Republic, 413,268; Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), 400,042; Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA), 386,015; Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 381,094; Philadelphia Inquirer (PA), 368,883; and Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH), 354,309. The Christian Science Monitor is published for daily national circulation by the Christian Science Church based in Massachusetts; circulation in 2004 was about 60,723. Investor's Business Daily, based in Los Angeles, California, also has a national circulation, reaching about 191,846 in 2004.

In 2004, the most popular consumer magazine in the country was AARP the Magazine, published bimonthly by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) with a circulation of over 22.6 million. The AARP Bulletin came in second with a circulation of about 22.1 million. The two general circulation magazines that appealed to the largest audiences were Reader's Digest (about 10 million) and TV Guide (about 9 million). Time and Newsweek were the leading news magazines, with 2004 weekly circulations of 4,034,272 and 3,135,476 respectively.

The US book-publishing industry consists of the major book companies (mainly in the New York metro area), nonprofit university presses distributed throughout the United States, and numerous small publishing firms. In 1994, 51,863 book titles were published in the United States.

The US Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press in its Bill of Rights, and the government supports these rights. Citizens enjoy a wide range of opinions in all media, where debate, editorial opinion, and government opposition viewpoints are represented in some form or another. Nearly all media are privately owned.

ORGANIZATIONS

A number of industrial and commercial organizations exercise considerable influence on economic policy. The National Association of Manufacturers and the US Chamber of Commerce, with numerous local branches, are the two central bodies of business and commerce. Various industries have their own associations, concerned with cooperative research and questions of policy alike.

Practically every profession in the United States is represented by one or more professional organizations. Among the most powerful of these are the American Medical Association, comprising regional, state, and local medical societies; the American Bar Association, also comprising state and local associations; the American Hospital Association; and the National Education Association. The most prestigious scientific and technical institutions are the National Academy of Sciences (founded 1863) and the National Academy of Engineering (1964).

Many private organizations are dedicated to programs of political and social action. Prominent in this realm are the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Common Cause, and the Anti-Defamation League. The League of Women Voters, which provides the public with nonpartisan information about candidates and election issues, began sponsoring televised debates between the major presidential candidates in 1976. The National Organization for Women and the National Rifle Association have each mounted nationwide lobbying campaigns on issues affecting their members. There are thousands of political action committees (PACs) that disburse funds to candidates for the House and Senate and other elected offices.

The great privately endowed philanthropic foundations and trusts play an important part in encouraging the development of education, art, science, and social progress in the United States. Prominent foundations include the Carnegie Corporation and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Mayo Association for the Advancement of Medical Research and Education, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Private philanthropy was responsible for the establishment of many of the nation's most eminent libraries, concert halls, museums, and university and medical facilities; private bequests were also responsible for the establishment of the Pulitzer Prizes. Merit awards offered by industry and professional groups include the "Oscars" of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Emmys" of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the "Grammys" of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Funds for a variety of community health and welfare services are funneled through United Way campaigns, which raise funds annually. The American Red Cross has over 3,000 chapters, which pay for services and activities ranging from disaster relief to blood donor programs. The Salvation Army is also a prominent national organization supporting programs of social welfare and advancement. There are several national associations dedicated to research and education for specific fields of medicine and particular diseases and conditions, such as the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the March of Dimes.

There are numerous youth clubs and associations across the country. The Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of the USA, rural 4-H Clubs, and the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian Associations are among the organizations devoted to recreation, sports, camping, and education. There are youth organizations for political parties, such as the Young Republicans and Young Democrats, and Junior ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Most national religious and service associations have youth chapters.

The largest religious organization in the United States is the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, which embraces 32 Protestant and Orthodox denominations, whose adherents total more than 42 million. Many organizations, such as the American Philosophical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Geographic Society, are dedicated to the enlargement of various branches of human knowledge. National, state, and local historical societies abound, and there are numerous educational, sports, and hobbyist groups.

The larger veterans' organizations are the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, the Catholic War Veterans, and the Jewish War Veterans. Fraternal organizations, in addition to such international organizations as the Masons, include indigenous groups such as the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Woodmen of the World. Many, such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, commemorate the national origin of their members. One of the largest fraternal organizations is the Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus.

TOURISM, TRAVEL, AND RECREATION

Among the most striking scenic attractions in the United States are: the Grand Canyon in Arizona; Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico; Yosemite National Park in California; Yellowstone National Park in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming; Niagara Falls, partly in New York; and the Everglades in Florida. The United States has a total of 49 national parks. Popular coastal resorts include those of Florida, California, and Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Historical attractions include the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall in Philadelphia; the Statue of Liberty in New York City; the White House, the Capitol, and the monuments to Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln in the District of Columbia; the Williamsburg historical restoration in Virginia; various Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields and monuments in the East and South; the Alamo in San Antonio; and Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Among many other popular tourist attractions are the movie and television studios in Los Angeles; the cable cars in San Francisco; casino gambling in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, New Jersey; thoroughbred horse racing in Kentucky; the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee; and such amusement parks as Disneyland (Anaheim, California) and Walt Disney World (near Orlando, Florida). For abundance and diversity of entertainment—theater, movies, music, dance, and sports—New York City has few rivals. In April 1993, Amtrak began the country's first regularly scheduled transcontinental passenger service, from Los Angeles to Miami.

Americans' recreational activities range from the major spectator sports—professional baseball, football, basketball, ice hockey, soccer; and horse racing; and collegiate football and basketball—to home gardening. Participant sports are a favorite form of recreation, including jogging, aerobics, tennis, and golf. Skiing is a popular recreation in New England and the western mountain ranges, while sailing, power boating, rafting, and canoeing are popular water sports.

Foreign visitors to the United States numbered 41.2 million in 2003, down from 51 million in 2000. Of these visitors, 31% came from Canada and 25% from Mexico. Hotel rooms numbered 4.4 million with an occupancy rate of 61%. With a few exceptions, such as Canadians entering from the Western Hemisphere, all visitors to the United States are required to have passports and visas.

The cost of traveling in the United States varies from city to city. According to 2005 US government estimates, daily expenses were approximately $187 in Chicago, $272 in New York, $230 in Washington, DC, and $174 in Miami. Costs are lower in smaller cities and rural areas.

FAMOUS AMERICANS

Printer, publisher, inventor, scientist, statesman, and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) was America's outstanding figure of the colonial period. George Washington (1732–99), leader of the colonial army in the American Revolution, became first president of the United States and is known as the "father of his country." Chief author of the Declaration of Independence, founder of the US political party system, and third president was Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). His leading political opponents were John Adams (1735–1826), second president, and Alexander Hamilton (b.West Indies, 1755–1804), first secretary of the treasury, who secured the new nation's credit. James Madison (1751–1836), a leading figure in drawing up the US Constitution, served as fourth president. John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth president, was an outstanding diplomat and secretary of state.

Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), seventh president, was an ardent champion of the common people and opponent of vested interests. Outstanding senators during the Jackson era were John Caldwell Calhoun (1782–1850), spokesman of the southern planter aristocracy and leading exponent of the supremacy of states' rights over federal powers; Henry Clay (1777–1852), the great compromiser, who sought to reconcile the conflicting views of the North and the South; and Daniel Webster (1782–1852), statesman and orator, who championed the preservation of the Union against sectional interests and division. Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) led the United States through its most difficult period, the Civil War, in the course of which he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Jefferson Davis (1808–89) served as the only president of the short-lived Confederacy. Stephen Grover Cleveland (1837–1908), a conservative reformer, was the strongest president in the latter part of the 19th century. Among the foremost presidents of the 20th century have been Nobel Peace Prize winner Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919); Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924), who led the nation during World War I and helped establish the League of Nations; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945), elected to four terms spanning the Great Depression and World War II. The presidents during the 1961–2000 period have been John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–63), Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–73), Richard Milhous Nixon (1913–94), Gerald Rudolph Ford (Leslie Lynch King, Jr., b.1913), Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr., b.1924), Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911–2004), George Herbert Walker Bush (b.1924), and Bill Clinton (William Jefferson Blythe III, b.1946). George Walker Bush (b.1946) became the 43rd president and first president of the 21st century.

Of the outstanding US military leaders, four were produced by the Civil War: Union generals Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822–85), who later served as the eighteenth president, and William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–91); and Confederate generals Robert Edward Lee (1807–70) and Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824–63). George Catlett Marshall (1880–1959), army chief of staff during World War II, in his later capacity as secretary of state under President Harry s Truman (1884–1972), formulated the Marshall Plan, which did much to revitalize Western Europe. George Smith Patton, Jr. (1885–1945) was a leading general who commanded major units in North Africa, Sicily, and Europe in World War II. Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) commanded the US forces in Asia during World War II, oversaw the postwar occupation and reorganization of Japan, and directed UN forces in the first year of the Korean conflict. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) served as supreme Allied commander during World War II, later becoming the thirty-fourth president. William Childs Westmoreland (1914–2005) commanded US military operations in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968 and served as US Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972. H. Norman Schwarzkopf (b.1934) commanded the successful allied invasion of Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. General Colin Luther Powell (b.1937), former Secretary of State (2001–2005) and highest ranking African American government official in the history of the United States (a position assumed by Condoleezza Rice in 2005), was a general in the army who also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993).

John Marshall (1755–1835), chief justice of the United States from 1801 to 1835, established the power of the Supreme Court through the principle of judicial review. Other important chief justices were Edward Douglass White (1845–1921), former president William Howard Taft (1857–1930), and Earl Warren (1891–1974), whose tenure as chief justice from 1953 to 1969 saw important decisions on desegregation, reapportionment, and civil liberties. The justice who enjoyed the longest tenure on the court was William O. Douglas (1898–1980), who served from 1939 to 1975; other prominent associate justices were Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841–1935), Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856–1941), and Hugo Lafayette Black (1886–1971).

Indian chiefs renowned for their resistance to white encroachment were Pontiac (1729?–69), Black Hawk (1767–1838), Tecumseh (1768–1813), Osceola (1804?–38), Cochise (1812?–74), Geronimo (1829?–1909), Sitting Bull (1831?–90), Chief Joseph (1840?–1904), and Crazy Horse (1849?–77). Other significant Indian chiefs were Hiawatha (fl. 1500), Squanto (d.1622), and Sequoya (1770?–1843). Historical figures who have become part of American folklore include pioneer Daniel Boone (1734–1820); silversmith, engraver, and patriot Paul Revere (1735–1818); frontiersman David "Davy" Crockett (1786–1836); scout and Indian agent Christopher "Kit" Carson (1809–68); James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (1837–76); William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846–1917); and the outlaws Jesse Woodson James (1847–82) and Billy the Kid (William H. Bonney, 1859–81).

Inventors and Scientists

Outstanding inventors were Robert Fulton (1765–1815), who developed the steamboat; Eli Whitney (1765–1825), inventor of the cotton gin and mass production techniques; Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791–1872), who invented the telegraph; and Elias Howe (1819–67), who invented the sewing machine. Alexander Graham Bell (b.Scotland, 1847–1922) gave the world the telephone. Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) was responsible for hundreds of inventions, among them the long-burning incandescent electric lamp, the phonograph, automatic telegraph devices, a motion picture camera and projector, the microphone, and the mimeograph. Lee De Forest (1873–1961), the "father of the radio," developed the vacuum tube and many other inventions. Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (b.Russia, 1889–1982) was principally responsible for the invention of television. Two brothers, Wilbur Wright (1867–1912) and Orville Wright (1871–1948), designed, built, and flew the first successful motor-powered airplane. Amelia Earhart (1898–1937) and Charles Lindbergh (1902–74) were aviation pioneers. Pioneers in the space program include John Glenn (b.1921), the first US astronaut to orbit the earth, and Neil Armstrong (b.1930), the first man to set foot on the moon.

Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814), developed devices for measuring light and heat, and the physicist Joseph Henry (1797–1878) did important work in magnetism and electricity. Outstanding botanists and naturalists were John Bartram (1699–1777); his son William Bartram (1739–1832); Louis Agassiz (b.Switzerland, 1807–73); Asa Gray (1810–88); Luther Burbank (1849–1926), developer of a vast number of new and improved varieties of fruits, vegetables, and flowers; and George Washington Carver (1864–1943), known especially for his work on industrial applications for peanuts. John James Audubon (1785–1851) won fame as an ornithologist and artist.

Distinguished physical scientists include Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834–1906), astronomer and aviation pioneer; Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903), mathematical physicist, whose work laid the basis for physical chemistry; Henry Augustus Rowland (1848–1901), who did important research in magnetism and optics; and Albert Abraham Michelson (b.Germany, 1852–1931), who measured the speed of light and became the first of a long line of US Nobel Prize winners. The chemists Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875–1946) and Irving Langmuir (1881–1957) developed a theory of atomic structure.

The theory of relativity was conceived by Albert Einstein (b.Germany, 1879–1955), generally considered the greatest mind in the physical sciences since Newton. Percy Williams Bridgman (1882–1961) was the father of operationalism and studied the effect of high pressures on materials. Arthur Holly Compton (1892–1962) made discoveries in the field of X rays and cosmic rays. The physical chemist Harold Clayton Urey (1893–1981) discovered heavy hydrogen. Isidor Isaac Rabi (b.Austria, 1898–1988), nuclear physicist, did important work in magnetism, quantum mechanics, and radiation. Enrico Fermi (b.Italy, 1901–54) created the first nuclear chain reaction, in Chicago in 1942, and contributed to the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Also prominent in the splitting of the atom were Leo Szilard (b.Hungary, 1898–1964), J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67), and Edward Teller (b.Hungary, 1908–2003). Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901–58) developed the cyclotron. Carl David Anderson (1905–91) discovered the positron. Mathematician Norbert Wiener (1894–1964) developed the science of cybernetics.

Outstanding figures in the biological sciences include Theobald Smith (1859–1934), who developed immunization theory and practical immunization techniques for animals; the geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866–1945), who discovered the heredity functions of chromosomes; and neurosurgeon Harvey William Cushing (1869–1939). Selman Abraham Waksman (b.Russia, 1888–1973), a microbiologist specializing in antibiotics, was codiscoverer of streptomycin. Edwin Joseph Cohn (1892–1953) is noted for his work in the protein fractionalization of blood, particularly the isolation of serum albumin. Philip Showalter Hench (1896–1965) isolated and synthesized cortisone. Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904–71) was the first to isolate and crystallize a virus. Jonas Edward Salk (1914–95) developed an effective killed-virus poliomyelitis vaccine, and Albert Bruce Sabin (1906–93) contributed oral, attenuated live-virus polio vaccines.

Adolf Meyer (b.Switzerland, 1866–1950) developed the concepts of mental hygiene and dementia praecox and the theory of psychobiology; Harry Stack Sullivan (1892–1949) created the interpersonal theory of psychiatry. Social psychologist George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) and behaviorist Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–90) were influential in the 20th century. Psychiatrist Aaron Temkin Beck (b.1921) is regarded as the founder of cognitive therapy, and Albert Ellis (b.1913) developed rational-emotive therapy.

A pioneer in psychology who was also an influential philosopher was William James (1842–1910). Other leading US philosophers are Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914); Josiah Royce (1855–1916); John Dewey (1859–1952), also famous for his theories of education; George Santayana (b.Spain, 1863–1952); Rudolf Carnap (b.Germany, 1891–1970); Willard Van Orman Quine (1908–2000), Richard Rorty (b.1931), Hilary Putnam (b.1926), John Rawls (1921–2002), Robert Nozick (1938–2002), and linguist and political philosopher Noam Chomsky (b.1928). Educators of note include Horace Mann (1796–1859), Henry Barnard (1811–1900), and Charles William Eliot (1834–1926). Noah Webster (1758–1843) was the outstanding US lexicographer, and Melvil Dewey (1851–1931) was a leader in the development of library science. Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857–1929) wrote books that have strongly influenced economic and social thinking. Also important in the social sciences have been sociologists Talcott Parsons (1902–79) and William Graham Sumner (1840–1910) and anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901–78).

Social Reformers

Social reformers of note include Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802–87), who led movements for the reform of prisons and insane asylums; William Lloyd Garrison (1805–79) and Frederick Douglass (Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, 1817–95), prominent abolitionists; Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) and Susan Brownell Anthony (1820–1906), leaders in the women's suffrage movement; Clara Barton (1821–1912), founder of the American Red Cross; economist Henry George (1839–97), advocate of the single-tax theory; Eugene Victor Debs (1855–1926), labor leader and an outstanding organizer of the Socialist movement in the United States; Jane Addams (1860–1935), who pioneered in settlement house work; Robert Marion La Follette (1855–1925), a leader for progressive political reform in Wisconsin and in the US Senate; Margaret Higgins Sanger (1883–1966), pioneer in birth control; Norman Thomas (1884–1968), Socialist Party leader; and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68), a central figure in the black civil rights movement and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Betty Friedan (1921–2006), Gloria Steinem (b.1934), and bell hooks (b.Gloria Jean Watkins, 1952) are contemporary feminists.

Religious leaders include Roger Williams (1603–83), an early advocate of religious tolerance in the United States; Jonathan Edwards (1703–58), New England preacher and theologian; Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821), the first American canonized in the Roman Catholic Church; William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), a founder of American Unitarianism; Joseph Smith (1805–44), founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and his chief associate, Brigham Young (1801–77); and Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910), founder of the Christian Science Church. Paul Tillich (b.Germany, 1886–1965) and Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) were outstanding Protestant theologians of international influence. Pat Robertson (b.1930), televangelist and leader of the Christian Coalition organization, and Jerry Falwell (b.1933), a fundamentalist Baptist pastor, televangelist, and founder of the Moral Majority movement and Liberty University, are contemporary leaders of the Christian religious right.

Famous US businessmen include Éleùthere Irénée du Pont de Nemours (b.France, 1771–1834), John Jacob Astor (Johann Jakob Ashdour, b.Germany, 1763–1848), Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794–1877), Andrew Carnegie (b.Scotland, 1835–1919), John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913), John Davison Rockefeller (1839–1937), Andrew William Mellon (1855–1937), Henry Ford (1863–1947), and Thomas John Watson (1874–1956). William Henry "Bill" Gates III (b.1955), co-founder of the Microsoft Corp., was the richest person in the world as of 2006. Other corporate leaders in the 21st century include: Warren Edward Buffett (b.1930), Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., (b.1942), H. Wayne Huizenga (b.1937), Steve Jobs (b.1955), Sam Walton (1918–1992), John Francis "Jack" Welch Jr. (b.1935), and Sanford I. Weill (b.1933).

Literary Figures

The first US author to be widely read outside the United States was Washington Irving (1783–1859). James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) was the first popular US novelist. Three noted historians were William Hickling Prescott (1796–1859), John Lothrop Motley (1814–77), and Francis Parkman (1823–93). The writings of two men of Concord, Mass.—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) and Henry David Thoreau (1817–62)—influenced philosophers, political leaders, and ordinary men and women in many parts of the world. The novels and short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) explore New England's Puritan heritage. Herman Melville (1819–91) wrote the powerful novel Moby-Dick, a symbolic work about a whale hunt that has become an American classic. Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910) is the bestknown US humorist. Other leading novelists of the later 19th and early 20th centuries were William Dean Howells (1837–1920), Henry James (1843–1916), Edith Wharton (1862–1937), Stephen Crane (1871–1900), Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945), Willa Cather (1873–1947), and Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951), first US winner of the Nobel Prize for literature (1930). Later Nobel Prize–winning US novelists include Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892–1973), in 1938; William Faulkner (1897–1962), in 1949; Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), in 1954; John Steinbeck (1902–68), in 1962; Saul Bellow (b.Canada, 1915–2005), in 1976; Isaac Bashevis Singer (b.Poland, 1904–91), in 1978; and Toni Morrison (b.1931), in 1993. Among other noteworthy writers are Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960), Henry Miller (1891–1980), James Thurber (1894–1961), Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896–1940), Vladimir Nabokov (b.Russia, 1899–1977), Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), Richard Wright (1908–60), Eudora Welty (1909–2001), John Cheever (1912–82), Bernard Malamud (1914–1986), Carson McCullers (1917–1967), Norman Mailer (b.1923), James Baldwin (1924–87), Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), John Updike (b.1932), Philip Roth (b.1933), Paul Auster (b.1947), John Barth (b.1930), Donald Barthelme (1931–1989), T. Coraghessan Boyle (b.1948), Sandra Cisneros (b.1954), Joan Didion (b.1934), Stephen Dixon (b.1936), E.L. Doctorow (b.1931), Louise Erdrich (b.1954), William Gaddis (1922–1998), Carl Hiaasen (b.1953), Oscar Hijuelos (b.1951), John Irving (b.1942), Jamaica Kincaid (b.Elaine Cynthia Potter Richardson, 1949), Jhumpa Lahiri (b.Nilanjana Sudeshna, 1967), Jonathan Lethem (b.1964), Cormac McCarthy (b.1933), Larry McMurtry (b.1936), Bharati Mukherjee (b.1940), Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938), Marge Piercy (b.1936), E. Annie Proulx (b.1935), Thomas Pynchon (b.1937), J.D. Salinger (b.1919), Wallace Stegner (1909–93), Gore Vidal (b.1925), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (b.1922), Alice Walker (b.1944), Tom Wolfe (b.1931), and Tobias Wolff (b.1945).

Noted US poets include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82), Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49), Walt Whitman (1819–92), Emily Dickinson (1830–86), Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935), Robert Frost (1874–1963), Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), Marianne Moore (1887–1972), Edward Estlin Cummings (1894–1962), Hart Crane (1899–1932), Langston Hughes (1902–67), and Rita Dove (b.1952). Ezra Pound (1885–1972) and Nobel laureate Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965) lived and worked abroad for most of their careers. Wystan Hugh Auden (b.England, 1907–73), who became an American citizen in 1946, published poetry and criticism. Elizabeth Bishop (1911–79), Robert Lowell (1917–77), Allen Ginsberg (1926–97), and Sylvia Plath (1932–63) are among the best-known poets since World War II. Robert Penn Warren (1905–89) won the Pulitzer Prize for both fiction and poetry and became the first US poet laureate. Carl Sandburg (1878–1967) was a noted poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist. The foremost US dramatists are Eugene (Gladstone) O'Neill (1888–1953), who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1936; Tennessee Williams (Th omas Lanier Williams, 1911–83); Arthur Miller (1915–2005); and Edward Albee (b.1928). Neil Simon (b.1927) is among the nation's most popular playwrights and screenwriters. August Wilson (1945–2005) won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for Fences (1985) and The Piano Lesson (1990), both of which depicted the African American experience.

Artists

Two renowned painters of the early period were John Singleton Copley (1738–1815) and Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828). Outstanding 19th-century painters were James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), Winslow Homer (1836–1910), Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), Mary Cassatt (1845–1926), Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847–1917), John Singer Sargent (b.Italy, 1856–1925), and Frederic Remington (1861–1909). More recently, Edward Hopper (1882–1967), Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975), Charles Burchfield (1893–1967), Norman Rockwell (1894–1978), Ben Shahn (1898–1969), Mark Rothko (b.Russia, 1903–70), Jackson Pollock (1912–56), Andrew Wyeth (b.1917), Robert Rauschenberg (b.1925), and Jasper Johns (b.1930) have achieved international recognition.

Sculptors of note include Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), Gaston Lachaise (1882–1935), Jo Davidson (1883–1952), Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), Alexander Calder (1898–1976), Louise Nevelson (b.Russia, 1899–1988), and Isamu Noguchi (1904–88). Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–86), Louis Henry Sullivan (1856–1924), Frank Lloyd Wright (1869–1959), Louis I. Kahn (b.Estonia, 1901–74), and Eero Saarinen (1910–61) were outstanding architects. Contemporary architects of note include Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), Edward Durrell Stone (1902–78), Philip Cortelyou Johnson (1906–2005), Ieoh Ming Pei (b.China, 1917), and Frank Gehry (b.1929). The United States has produced many fine photographers, notably Mathew B. Brady (1823?–96), Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), Edward Steichen (1879–1973), Edward Weston (1886–1958), Ansel Adams (1902–84), and Margaret Bourke-White (1904–71).

Entertainment Figures

Outstanding figures in the motion picture industry are D. W. (David Lewelyn Wark) Griffith (1875–1948), Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin (b.England, 1889–1978), Walter Elias "Walt" Disney (1906–66), and George Orson Welles (1915–85). John Ford (1895–1973), Howard Winchester Hawks (1896–1977), Frank Capra (b.Italy, 1897–1991), Sir Alfred Hitchcock (b.England, 1899–1980), and John Huston (1906–87) were influential motion picture directors; Mel Brooks (Kaminsky, b.1926), George Lucas (b.1944), and Steven Spielberg (b.1947) have achieved remarkable popular success. Woody Allen (Allen Konigsberg, b.1935) has written, directed, and starred in comedies on stage and screen. World-famous American actors and actresses include the Barrymores, Ethel (1879–1959) and her brothers Lionel (1878–1954) and John (1882–1942); Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957); James Cagney (1899–1986); Spencer Tracy (1900–1967); Helen Hayes Brown (1900–93); Clark Gable (1901–60); Joan Crawford (Lucille Fay LeSueur, 1904–77); Cary Grant (Alexander Archibald Leach, b.England, 1904–86); Greta Garbo (Greta Louisa Gustafsson, b.Sweden, 1905–90); Henry Fonda (1905–82) and his daughter, Jane (b.1937); John Wayne (Marion Michael Morrison, 1907–79); Bette (Ruth Elizabeth) Davis (1908–89); Katharine Hepburn (1909–2003); Judy Garland (Frances Gumm, 1922–69); Marlon Brando (1924–2004); Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson, 1926–62); and Dustin Hoffman (b.1937). Among other great entertainers are W. C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield, 1880–1946), Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson, b.Russia, 1886–1950), Jack Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky, 1894–1974), Fred Astaire (Fred Austerlitz, 1899–1987), Bob (Leslie Townes) Hope (b.England, 1903–2003), Bing (Harry Lillis) Crosby (1904–78), Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra (1915–98), Elvis Aaron Presley (1935–77), and Barbra (Barbara Joan) Streisand (b.1942). The first great US "showman" was Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810–91).

Composers and Musicians

The foremost composers are Edward MacDowell (1861–1908), Charles Ives (1874–1954), Ernest Bloch (b.Switzerland, 1880–1959), Virgil Thomson (1896–89), Roger Sessions (1896–1985), Roy Harris (1898–1979), Aaron Copland (1900–90), Elliott Carter (b.1908), Samuel Barber (1910–81), John Cage (1912–92), and Leonard Bernstein (1918–90). George Rochberg (1918–2005), George Crumb (b.1929), Steve Reich (b.1936), and Philip Glass (b.1937) have won more recent followings. The songs of Stephen Collins Foster (1826–64) have achieved folk-song status. Leading composers of popular music are John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), George Michael Cohan (1878–1942), Jerome Kern (1885–1945), Irving Berlin (Israel Baline, b.Russia, 1888–1989), Cole Porter (1893–1964), George Gershwin (1898–1937), Richard Rodgers (1902–79), Woody Guthrie (1912–67), Stephen Joshua Sondheim (b.1930), Paul Simon (b.1941), and Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman, b.1941). Preeminent in the blues traditions are Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter, 1888–1949), Bessie Smith (1898?–1937), and Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield, 1915–83). Leading jazz figures include the composers Scott Joplin (1868–1917), James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (1883–1983), Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899–1974), and William "Count" Basie (1904–84), and performers Louis Armstrong (1900–1971), Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan, 1915–59), John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917–93), Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920–55), John Coltrane (1926–67), and Miles Davis (1926–91).

Many foreign-born musicians have enjoyed personal and professional freedom in the United States; principal among them were pianists Artur Schnabel (b.Austria, 1882–1951), Arthur Rubinstein (b.Poland, 1887–1982), Rudolf Serkin (b.Bohemia, 1903–91), Vladimir Horowitz (b.Russia, 1904–89), and violinists Jascha Heifetz (b.Russia, 1901–87) and Isaac Stern (b.USSR, 1920). Among distinguished instrumentalists born in the United States are Benny Goodman (1909–86), a classical as well as jazz clarinetist, and concert pianist Van Cliburn (Harvey Lavan, Jr., b.1934). Singers Paul Robeson (1898–1976), Marian Anderson (1897–1993), Maria Callas (Maria Kalogeropoulos, 1923–77), Leontyne Price (b.1927), and Beverly Sills (Belle Silverman, b.1929) have achieved international acclaim. Isadora Duncan (1878–1927) was one of the first US dancers to win fame abroad. Martha Graham (1893–91) pioneered in modern dance. George Balanchine (b.Russia, 1904–83), Agnes De Mille (1905–93), Jerome Robbins (1918–98), Paul Taylor (b.1930), and Twyla Tharp (b.1941) are leading choreographers; Martha Graham (1893–1991) pioneered in modern dance.

Sports Figures

Among the many noteworthy sports stars are baseball's Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb (1886–1961) and George Herman "Babe" Ruth (1895–1948); football's Samuel Adrian "Sammy" Baugh (b.1914), Jim Brown (b.1936), Francis A. "Fran" Tarkenton (b.1940), and Orenthal James Simpson (b.1947); and golf's Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones (1902–71) and Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (1914–56). William Tatum "Bill" Tilden (1893–1953), Billie Jean (Moffitt) King (b.1943), Chris Evert (b.1954), Martina Navratilova (b.Czechoslovakia, 1956), Andre Agassi (b.1970), Peter ("Pete") Sampras (b.1971), and sisters Venus (b.1980) and Serena (b.1981) Williams have starred in tennis; Joe Louis (Joseph Louis Barrow, 1914–81) and Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay, b.1942) in boxing; William Felton "Bill" Russell (b.1934) Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (1936–99), and Michael Jordan (b.1963) in basketball; Mark Spitz (b.1950) and Michael Phelps (b.1985) in swimming; Eric Heiden (b.1958) in speed skating; and Jesse Owens (1913–80) in track and field.

DEPENDENCIES

As of January 1988, US dependencies, in addition to those listed below, included American Samoa, Guam, Midway, Wake Island, and the Northern Mariana Islands; see the Asia volume. Sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone was transferred to Panama on 1 October 1979; the canal itself reverted to Panamanian control until 31 December 1999.

Navassa

Navassa, a 5-sq-km (2-sq-mi) island between Jamaica and Haiti, was claimed by the United States under the Guano Act of 1856. The island, located at 18°24′ n and 75°1′ w, is uninhabited except for a lighthouse station under the administration of the coast guard.

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico—total area 9,104 sq km (3,515 sq mi)—is the smallest and most easterly of the Greater Antilles, which screen the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic proper. It lies between 17°51′ and 18°31′n and 65°13′ and 67°56′ w, being separated from the Dominican Republic on the island of Hispaniola to the w by the Mona Passage, 121 km (75 mi) wide, and from the Virgin Islands on the e by Vieques Sound and the Virgin Passage. Roughly rectangular, the main island of Puerto Rico extends 179 km (111 mi) e–w and 58 km (36 mi) n–s. It is crossed from east to west by mountain ranges, the most prominent being the Cordillera Central, rising to nearly 1,338 m (4,390 ft). The coastal plain is about 24 km (15 mi) wide at its broadest point, and approximately one-third of the island's land is arable. About 50 short rivers flow rapidly to the sea. Islands off the coast include Mona and Desecheo to the w and Vieques and Culebra to the e. The mildly tropical climate is moderated by the surrounding sea, and seasonal variations are slight. The prevailing winds are the northeast trades. In San Juan on the northern coast, mean temperatures range from 24°c (75 °f) for January to 27°c (81 °f) for July. Mean annual rainfall varies from 91 cm (36 in) on the south coast to 152 cm (60 in) in San Juan and may total more than 457 cm (180 in) on the northern mountain slopes in the interior. Tropical fruits and other vegetation abound. As of 1991, endangered species on the island included the Puerto Rican plain pigeon, Puerto Rican parrot, Puerto Rican boa, giant anole, and hawksbill, leatherback, olive ridley, and green sea turtles.

The population was estimated at 3,927,188 in 2006. San Juan, the capital, had an estimated population of 422,000, with a metropolitan area of more than one million. The population has more than doubled since 1930, despite extensive migration to the US mainland. Improved economic conditions on the island and diminishing opportunities in the United States had slowed the trend by 1970; net out-migration was -2.12 migrants per 1000 population in 2001. Thousands of Puerto Ricans commute annually between Puerto Rico and the United States.

Puerto Ricans are of Spanish descent (80%), black (8%), or mixed ancestry (10%). Nearly all of the Amerindian inhabitants (about 0.4% of the population in 2002) were exterminated in the 16th century. Spanish is the official language, but many Puerto Ricans also speak English, which is required as a second language in the schools. The Roman Catholic religion is predominant (85%), but evangelical Protestant sects also have wide followings.

San Juan is the busiest commercial air center in the Caribbean and there is excellent air service to New York, Miami, other points in the Caribbean, and Latin America. More than 40 steamship companies provide overseas freight and passenger service; San Juan, Ponce, and Mayagüez are the principal ports. In 1998 there were 14,400 km (9,020 mi) of paved highway; trucks carry the bulk of overland freight.

Archaeological finds indicate that at least three Amerindian cultures settled on the island now known as Puerto Rico, long before its European discovery by Christopher Columbus on 19 November 1493. The first group, belonging to the Archaic Culture, are believed to have come from Florida. Having no knowledge of agriculture or pottery, they relied on the products of the sea; their remains have been found mostly in caves. The second group, the Igneri, came from northern South America. Descended from South American Arawak stock, the Igneri brought agriculture and pottery to the island; their remains are found mostly in the coastal areas. The third culture, the Taíno, also of Arawak origin, combined fishing with agriculture. A peaceful, sedentary tribe, the Taíno were adept at stonework and lived in many parts of the island; to these Amerindians, the island was known as Borinquén.

Columbus, accompanied by a young nobleman named Juan Ponce de León, landed at the western end of the island—which he called San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist)—and claimed it for Spain. Not until colonization was well under way would the island acquire the name Puerto Rico ("rich port"), with the name San Juan Bautista applied to the capital city. The first settlers arrived on 12 August 1508, under the able leadership of Ponce de León, who sought to transplant and adapt Spanish civilization to Puerto Rico's tropical habitat. The small contingent of Spaniards compelled the Taíno, numbering perhaps 30,000, to mine for gold; the rigors of forced labor and the losses from rebellion reduced the Taíno population to about 4,000 by 1514, by which time the mines were nearly depleted. With the introduction of slaves from Africa, sugarcane growing became the leading economic activity.

Puerto Rico was briefly held by the English in 1598 and San Juan was besieged by the Dutch in 1625; otherwise, Spanish rule continued until the latter part of the 19th century. The island was captured by US forces during the Spanish-American War, and under the Treaty of Paris (December 1898) Puerto Rico was ceded outright to the United States. It remained under direct military rule until 1900, when the US Congress established an administration with a governor and an executive council, appointed by the US president, and a popularly elected House of Delegates. In 1917, Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship.

In 1947, Congress provided for popular election of the governor, and in 1948, Luis Muñoz Marín was elected to that office. A congressional act of 1950, affirmed by popular vote in the island on 4 June 1951, granted Puerto Rico the right to draft its own constitution. The constitution was ratified by popular referendum on 3 March 1952. Puerto Rico's new status as a free commonwealth voluntarily associated with the United States became effective on 25 July. The commonwealth status was upheld in a plebiscite in 1967, with 60.5% voting for continuation of the commonwealth and 38.9% for Puerto Rican statehood. In 1993 the plebiscite vote drew nearly 1.7 million voters or 73.6% of those eligible. The voters choose to keep the commonwealth status 48.4% to 46.2% for statehood, and 4.4% for independence.

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico enjoys almost complete internal autonomy. The chief executive is the governor, elected by popular vote to a four-year term. The legislature consists of a 28-member Senate and 51-member House of Representatives elected by popular vote to four-year terms. The Supreme Court and lower courts are tied in with the US federal judiciary, and appeals from Puerto Rican courts may be carried as far as the US Supreme Court.

The Popular Democratic Party (PDP) was the dominant political party until 1968, when Luis A. Ferré, a New Progressive Party (NPP) candidate, who had supported the statehood position in the 1967 plebiscite, won the governorship. The NPP also won control of the House, while the PDP retained the Senate. The PDP returned to power in 1972 but lost to the NPP in 1976 and again, by a very narrow margin, in 1980; in 1984, it took roughly two-to-one majorities in both houses. The pro-commonwealth PDP remained in control of the government in every election from 1984–92, when Pedro Rosselló, a New Progressive and supporter of statehood, was elected governor; Roselló was reelected in 1996. In the November 2000 election, Sila M. Calderon of the PDP was elected governor. There is a small but vocal independence movement, divided into two wings: the moderates, favoring social democracy, and the radicals, supporting close ties with the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. Puerto Rico elects a commissioner to serve a four-year term as a nonvoting member of the US House of Representatives. In November 2000, PPD candidate Anibal Acevedo-Vila was elected commissioner from Puerto Rico.

For more than 400 years, the island's economy was based almost exclusively on sugar. Since 1947, agriculture has been diversified, and a thriving manufacturing industry has been established; since 1956 there has been increasing emphasis on hotel building to encourage the expansion of the tourist industry. By 2000, the gross domestic product (GDP) reached $43.9 billion, up from $15.8 billion in 1986. The leading industrial products were pharmaceuticals, electronics, apparel, food products, and tourism. Sugar processing, once the dominant industry, now plays a lesser role. In 1952, there were only 82 labor-intensive plants on the island. By 1990 there were 2,000 plants—most capital intensive—in Puerto Rico.

US taxes do not apply in Puerto Rico, since the commonwealth is not represented in Congress. New or expanding manufacturing and hotel enterprises are granted exemptions of varying lengths and degrees from income taxes and municipal levies. In 1940, when annual income per capita was $118, agricultural workers made as little as 6 cents an hour, and the illiteracy rate was 70%. By 2005, per capita GDP was $18,600, and illiteracy had declined to just 6% (estimated to be slightly higher for females).

In 2001, Puerto Rico's exports totaled $46.9 billion, imports totaled $29.1 billion. Each year, an estimated 5 million tourists visit Puerto Rico.

In 1995/96, 621,370 pupils were enrolled in public schools. Enrollment in the 14 institutions of higher education was 156,439 in 1994/95; the main state-supported university is the University of Puerto Rico, with its main campus at Rico Piedras. Other institutions of higher learning are the Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, and the Inter-American University with campuses at Hato Rey, San Germán, and elsewhere.

In 2004, there were 1.1 million main telephone lines on the island; that year there were an estimated 2.7 million mobile cellular telephone lines, up from 169,265 in 1996. As of 2004, 127 radio stations (74 AM, 53 FM) were operation. In 2006, there were 32 broadcast television stations. The two largest Spanishlanguage daily newspapers, both from San Juan, are El Vocero de Puerto Rico (259,000 daily circulation in 2002), and El Nuevo Día (227,000). Publishing in English is The San Juan Star (daily circulation 76,873).

Virgin Islands of the United States

The Virgin Islands of the United States lie about 64 km (40 mi) n of Puerto Rico and 1,600 km (1,000 mi) sse of Miami, between 17°40′ and 18°25′ n and 64°34′ and 65°3′ n. The island group extends 82 km (51 mi) n–s and 80 km (50 mi) e–w with a total area of at least 353 sq km (136 sq mi). Only 3 of the more than 50 islands and cays are of significant size: St. Croix, 218 sq km (84 sq mi) in area; St. Thomas, 83 sq km (32 sq mi); and St. John, 52 sq km (20 sq mi). The territorial capital, Charlotte Amalie, on St. Thomas, has one of the finest harbors in the Caribbean.

St. Croix is relatively flat, with a terrain suitable for sugarcane cultivation. St. Thomas is mountainous and little cultivated, but it has many snug harbors. St. John, also mountainous, has fine beaches and lush vegetation; about two-thirds of St. John's area has been declared a national park. The subtropical climate, with temperatures ranging from 21–32°c (70–90 °f) and an average temperature of 25°c (77°f), is moderated by northeast trade winds. Rainfall, the main source of fresh water, varies widely, and severe droughts are frequent. The average yearly rainfall is 114 cm (45 in), mostly during the summer months.

The population of the US Virgin Islands was estimated at 123,498 in 2002, up from 96,569 at the time of the 1980 census. St. Croix has two principal towns: Christiansted and Frederiksted. Economic development has brought an influx of new residents, mainly from Puerto Rico, other Caribbean islands, and the US mainland. Most of the permanent inhabitants are descendants of slaves who were brought from Africa in the early days of Danish rule, and about 80% of the population is black. English is the official and most widely spoken language.

Some of the oldest religious congregations in the Western Hemisphere are located in the Virgin Islands. A Jewish synagogue there is the second-oldest in the New World, and the Lutheran Congregation of St. Thomas, founded in 1666, is one of the three oldest congregations in the United States. As of 1999, Baptists made up an estimated 42% of the population, Roman Catholics 34%, and Episcopalians 17%.

In 2000 there were 856 km (531.6 mi) of roads in the US Virgin Islands; the US Virgin Islands has the only US roads where driving is done on the left side of the road. Cargo-shipping services operate from Baltimore, Jacksonville, and Miami via Puerto Rico. In addition, weekly shipping service is available from Miami. Both St. Croix and St. Thomas have airports, with St. Croix's facility handling the larger number of jet flights from the continental United States and Europe.

Excavations at St. Croix in the 1970s uncovered evidence of a civilization perhaps as ancient as ad 100. Christopher Columbus, who reached the islands in 1493, named them for the martyred virgin St. Ursula. At this time, St. Croix was inhabited by Carib Indians, who were eventually driven from the island by Spanish soldiers in 1555. During the 17th century, the archipelago was divided into two territorial units, one controlled by the British, the other (now the US Virgin Islands) controlled by Denmark. The separate history of the latter unit began with the settlement of St. Thomas by the Danish West India Company in 1672. St. John was claimed by the company in 1683 and St. Croix was purchased from France in 1733. The holdings of the company were taken over as a Danish crown colony in 1754. Sugarcane, cultivated by slave labor, was the backbone of the islands' prosperity in the 18th and early 19th centuries. After brutally suppressing several slave revolts. Denmark abolished slavery in the colony in 1848. A long period of economic decline followed, until Denmark sold the islands to the United States in 1917 for $25 million. Congress granted US citizenship to the Virgin Islanders in 1927. In 1931, administration of the islands was transferred from the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Interior, and the first civilian governor was appointed. In the late 1970s, the Virgin Islands government began to consider ways to expand self-rule. A UN delegation in 1977 found little interest in independence, however, and a locally drafted constitution was voted down by the electorate in 1979.

The chief executive of the Virgin Islands is the territorial governor, elected by direct popular vote (prior to 1970, territorial governors were appointed by the US president). Constitutionally, the US Congress has plenary authority to legislate for the territory. Enactment of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands on 22 July 1954 vested local legislative power—subject to veto by the governor—in a unicameral legislature. Since 1972, the islands have sent one nonvoting representative to the US House of Representatives. Courts are under the US federal judiciary; the two federal district court judges are appointed by the US president. Territorial court judges, who preside over misdemeanor and traffic cases, are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature. The district court has appellate jurisdiction over the territorial court.

Tourism, which accounts for approximately 70% of both GDP and employment is the islands' principal economic activity. The number of tourists rose dramatically throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, from 448,165 in 1964 to over 2 million per year in the 1990s, continuing into the early 2000s. Rum remains an important manufacture, with petroleum refining (on St. Croix) a major addition in the late 1960s. Economic development is promoted by the US-government-owned Virgin Islands Corp. In 2002 the gross domestic product per capita was $14,500. The unemployment rate was 6.2% in 2003. Exports for 1992 totaled $1.8 billion while imports totaled $2.2 billion. The island's primary export is refined petroleum products. Raw crude oil constitutes the Virgin Island's principal import. In 1990, median family income was $24,036.

The territorial Department of Health provides hospital and medical services, public health services, and veterinary medicine. Education is compulsory. The College of the Virgin Islands is the territory's first institution of higher learning. There were about 70,900 main line telephones in 2004, and 41,000 mobile cellular phones. The Virgin Islands had 22 radio stations (6 AM, 16 FM) and 5 broadcast television stations in 2004.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

America's Century: Year by Year from 1900–2000. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.

Benjamin, Daniel (ed.). America and the World in the Age of Terror: A New Landscape in International Relations. Washington, D.C.: CSIS Press, 2005.

Chambers, S. Allen. National Landmarks, America's Treasures: the National Park Foundation's Complete Guide to National Historic Landmarks. New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 2000.

Davies, Philip John. (ed.) An American Quarter Century: US Politics from Vietnam to Clinton. New York: Manchester University Press, 1995.

Donaldson, Gary. America at War since 1945: Politics and Diplomacy in Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996.

Hart, James David (ed.). Oxford Companion to American Literature. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Health in the Americas, 2002 edition. Washington, D.C.: Pan American Health Organization, Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Regional Office of the World Health Organization, 2002.

Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the Civil War. Chicago: Open Court, 1996.

Jenness, David. Classic American Popular Song: The Second Half-Century, 1950–2000. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Kaplan, Edward S. American Trade Policy, 1923–1995. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1996.

Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

McElrath, Karen (ed.). HIV and AIDS: A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

McNickle, D'Arcy. Native American Tribalism: Indian Survivals and Renewals. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Newell, Clayton R. United States Army, a Historical Dictionary. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2002.

Rein, Meiling, Nancy R. Jacobs, Maek S. Siegel (eds.). Immigration and Illegal Aliens: Burden or Blessing? Wylie, Tex.: Information Plus, 1999.

Robinson, Cedric J. Black Movements in America. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Sampanis, Maria. Preserving Power through Coalitions: Comparing the Grand Strategy of Great Britain and the United States. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003.

Sinclair, Andrew. A Concise History of the United States. Rev. ed. Stroud: Sutton, 1999.

Summers, Randal W., and Allan M. Hoffman (ed.). Domestic Violence: A Global View. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America. New York: Knopf, 1994.

US Bureau of the Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office, 1879-date.

Who's Who in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women. Chicago: Marquis, 1899—.

United States

B asic D ata
Official Country Name:	United States of America
Region (Map name):	North & Central America
Population:	278,058,881
Language(s):	English, Spanish
Literacy rate:	97.0%
Area:	9,629,091 sq km
GDP:	9,837,406 (US$ millions)
Number of Daily Newspapers:	1,476
Total Circulation:	55,945,000
Circulation per 1,000:	264
Total Newspaper Ad Receipts:	48,700 (US$ millions)
As % of All Ad Expenditures:	33.10

Number of Television Stations:	1,500
Number of Television Sets:	219,000,000
Television Sets per 1,000:	787.6
Number of Cable Subscribers:	70,991,360
Cable Subscribers per 1,000:	252.1
Number of Satellite Subscribers:	16,000,000
Satellite Subscribers per 1,000:	57.5
Number of Radio Stations:	10,322
Number of Radio Receivers:	575,000,000
Radio Receivers per 1,000:	2,067.9
Number of Individuals with Computers:	161,000,000
Computers per 1,000:	579.0
Number of Individuals with Internet Access:	95,354,000
Internet Access per 1,000:	342.9

Background & General Characteristics

The press in the United States evolved through a long history of freedom and openness, and it operated at the beginning of the twenty-first century within one of the richest and most powerful societies in the world. Press freedom was a crucial factor in the formation of the American republic, and strict protections for the press were added to the United States Constitution just two years after it was ratified. European travelers observed the appetite for newspapers among ordinary American citizens and thought it a distinctive characteristic of the early Republic. Notably, Alexis de Tocqueville devoted large sections of his Democracy in America (1857) to his amazement at the amount of information from newspapers available to a common rural farmer.

From its independence from England into the twenty-first century, the U.S. press has operated without fear of prior restraint and with little fear of lawsuits resulting from coverage of governmental issues or public officials. Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, libel suits and libel law for private persons and corporations was less favorable to newspapers. Nonetheless, the press enjoyed broad protection that allowed aggressive reporting, including laws that sometimes mandated cooperation from public officials. The federal government and many state governments have passed freedom of information laws that require public meetings to be open and public documents to be available to citizens, including reporters, simply for the asking. In addition to assisting people in discovering facts, some states have passed laws which shield journalists from being compelled to divulge notes and information about sources, even when ordered to do so by a judge.

Nature of the Audience

The U.S. public is one of the most literate in the world, with a literacy rate reaching 97 percent. The United States also enjoys an extremely high per capita income and consumes massive amounts of media in all forms—newspapers and magazines, radio and television, and film documentaries. In 2000, 62.5 million newspapers circulated in the United States on any given day.

Though the United States has no single official language, most of the population speaks English. There is a large and quickly growing Spanish-speaking minority in the United States, concentrated most visibly in the Southwest, California, and Florida but present in all large cities and in many rural and agricultural areas. Federal and state laws compel most government documents to be published in a variety of languages. There are many non-English-language newspapers in the United States, published in a host of languages, but their quality and distribution vary widely, and their number has declined substantially since their height in the early 1900s.

The population of the United States grew steadily at a rate of about one percent per year from 1990 to 2000. The United States includes people who claim nearly every ethnic origin in the world. Although most Americans can claim some European descent, people of Hispanic origin are the fastest-growing minority group in the United States. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of people claiming Hispanic descent grew from 23 million to 32 million. Many legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants, and many citizens of Hispanic descent, speak only Spanish. The number of African Americans in the United States grew from 29 million to 33 million in that same time period.

New York City is the country's media capital and major financial center, although most of the country's movies and television programming comes from Los Angeles. The Midwest, which includes states in the Mississippi and Ohio River basins, is mainly an agricultural and industrial area. The relatively sparsely populated Great Plains states, most of which share the Missouri River basin, produce most of the country's food. About 80 percent of the country's population lived inside metropolitan areas in 1998, which comprised about 20 percent of the country's land.

Numbers of Newspapers by Circulation

Despite the growing population and affluence of the United States, many newspapers continue to suffer from declining or stagnant circulation. In 2000, daily newspaper circulation reached a low of 0.20 newspapers per capita, down from 0.30 in 1970. Fierce competition from cable channels, network television, radio, and the Internet continues to cut into newspapers' market share and circulation. Although advertising revenues continue to grow, their growth has generally been slow. The boom years of the 1990s reversed this trend to some extent, but the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States accelerated an already-existing economic slowdown and led to major declines in ad lineage and advertising revenues across the country. One positive result of the attacks, and the subsequent military response to the attacks by the United States, has been an increase in circulation, in both long-term subscriptions and daily single-copy sales. However, even this interest-driven increase was slowing as of the summer of 2002.

The general trend of the United States press over most of the twentieth century was toward consolidation, chain or corporate ownership, and newspaper monopolies in most towns and cities. In 2001, only 49 U.S. cities had competing daily newspapers. Of those 49 cities, 16 had two nominally competitive newspapers owned by the same company. Another 12 cities had competing newspapers published under joint operating agreements, an exemption to antitrust laws allowing two struggling newspapers to combine all operations outside their respective newsrooms. Only 21 U.S. cities, therefore, had true competition among daily newspapers. Of those cities, five—Tucson, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Seattle—had more than two competing daily newspapers, leaving 16 cities with only two competing newspapers. This number represents a massive decline from newspapers' height in the late nineteenth century, when nearly every rural town and county seat might have had two or three competing daily and weekly papers, and larger cities might have had up to 20 or 30 papers.

The number of newspapers in the United States has continued to shrink, even as the country has experienced substantial growth in population, affluence, and literacy. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the country's population was slowly aging, as a result of the post-World War II "baby boom," and older Americans have tended to be more frequent newspaper readers than younger persons.

The decline in the number of newspapers and in circulation is thus a dispiriting trend for publishers. In the last 30 years, the total number of newspapers has fallen from 1,748 to approximately 1,480. Those 1,480 newspapers are divided up into specific groups based on their daily circulation. As of Sept. 30, 2000, there were 9 newspapers that circulated more than 500,000 copies daily; 29 between 250,001 and 500,000; 67 between 100,001 and 250,000; 118 between 50,001 and 100,000; 201 between 25,001 and 50,000; 433 between 10,001 and 25,000; 363 between 5,001 and 10,000; and 260 below 5,000.

Tabloid newspapers have never been particularly popular in the United States, and most Americans tend to think of "tabloids" in terms of the supermarket alien-abduction genre of papers. However, some serious tabloids have gained a large following in certain cities; New York commuters in particular seem to enjoy the tabloidsized paper for its convenience in subway trains and on buses. As of September 30, 2000, there were a total of 51 tabloid-format papers being published in the United States. Five of those were daily broadsheet papers that published a tabloid edition only one day each week. The city with the most tabloids was New York, with four; Boston and Topeka, Kansas, had two each.

Morning, Evening, and Sunday Editions

The daily newspaper press is in the midst of a long-term conversion from publishing mostly in the evening to publishing mostly in the morning. In 1970, evening newspapers outnumbered dailies almost 5 to 1, with 1,429 evening newspapers and 334 morning papers being published. In 2000, for the first time, morning newspapers outnumbered evening, 766 to 727. In the same period, Sunday circulation grew from 49.2 million to 59.4 million, while daily circulation fell from 62.1 million to 55.8 million. Although the number of morning and evening newspapers is as of 2002 roughly equal, circulation has shifted dramatically. In 1970, evening circulation outnumbered morning 36.2 million to 25.9 million; in 2000, morning outnumbered evening 46.8 million to 9 million. Publication time roughly follows the size of the city in which a newspaper is published. As of 2002, no evening papers were published in any city larger than 250,000 people, while in towns of 5,000 or fewer, evening newspapers outnumbered morning 209 to 51. The logic of the long-term switch is complex but related essentially to newspapers' competition with broadcast media and newspapers' relationships with advertisers. Put simply, newspapers as a printed medium find it increasingly difficult to compete with television news channels on a daily basis, especially since the advent and recent massive proliferation of 24-hour cable news channels. While the afternoon or evening paper can at best summarize the events of the morning, a morning newspaper can summarize all the events of the previous day, barring sporting events or city council meetings that continue far into the night. Morning papers also are more influential in setting the tone of news discussions for the day; many broadcast reporters still get story ideas from the morning newspaper. The era of the printed newspaper as a viable medium for covering breaking news seems to be ending, although newspapers' Internet sites can be a way for papers to reclaim some of that market. In extreme circumstances press runs can be, and sometimes are, stopped or slowed, but most newspapers publish only one edition in any news cycle. The role of the afternoon paper, in the smaller communities which it generally serves, is similar to the role of the six o'clock newscast in larger cities—to provide a comprehensive summary of the day's events.

In the early 2000s, the one bright trend in circulation figures was the growth of the Sunday newspaper press. The Sunday paper is a relatively recent phenomenon, showing substantial growth in the 1980s and 1990s. As of 2002, a total of 917 Sunday newspapers were being published, up from only 538 in 1970. Most Sunday papers are published in midsize cities with populations between 10,000 and 100,000, though most Sunday circulation comes from big-city papers. Sunday papers tend to be the largest editions of the week, with papers like The New York Times publishing easily 300 pages on a single day. Sunday editions tend to be highly profitable for many papers, since they constitute a venue for a massive volume of display and classified advertising and many preprinted inserts. The Sunday paper has also traditionally contained expanded sections on science, health, books, performing arts, visual arts, TV listings, business, opinion, and the like. Additionally, many organizations use their Sunday editions for publishing expanded sections on the events of the week or for printing significantly longer stories analyzing events or trends in the public eye.

Sunday editions also often provide a place for newspapers to publish magazines, although relatively few newspapers actually produce their own. Many papers buy preprinted magazines, such as the popular Parade magazine, from news services. Many midsize and larger-circulation papers also publish a tabloid-style entertainment magazine on Fridays or weekends.

Newspaper Size

Given the size and variety of the U.S. press, there is no consistent number of pages that U.S. newspapers publish. Most midsize papers, of circulations between 25,000 and 75,000, publish between two and four news sections on any given day, with between 16 and 80 total pages. Added to the news sections can be one or two classified and display advertising sections, with between 4 and 20 total pages. Individual newspapers can even vary widely during the week in terms of their page count; most papers publish larger sections on Wednesdays, a popular day for grocery advertising, and on Fridays, when papers tend to publish special advertising sections and inserts, and possibly an entertainment magazine or tabloid section.

Most morning newspapers are in large cities, and most of the circulation of newspapers comes from the big-city press. The top 50 daily and Sunday papers in the United States all circulate in very large cities. As one would expect, the number of daily newspapers is also largest in states with large populations and large geographic areas. California leads the nation with 92 dailies, and Texas is second with 87. Delaware and the District of Columbia have the fewest dailies, with only two each. Washington, D.C., though, leads the nation in circulation per capita at 1.51 newspapers circulated per person. Of course, many of those papers are bought outside the federal district's area.

Ten Largest Newspapers

The ten largest newspapers in the United States in terms of circulation are all daily papers and are all published in large cities or their suburbs. In order of circulation size as of September 30, 2000, they were: The Wall Street Journal (New York);

USA Today (Arlington, Virginia); The New York Times ; The Los Angeles Times ; The Washington (D.C.) Post ; the Daily News (New York); The Chicago Tribune ; Newsday (Long Island, New York); The Houston Chronicle ; and The Dallas Morning News. The top ten Sunday papers vary slightly from this list, due mainly to the fact that neither The Wall Street Journal nor USA Today publishes on Sunday. They are: The New York Times ; The Los Angeles Times ; The Washington Post The Chicago Tribune ;

The Philadelphia Inquirer ; the Daily News (New York); The Dallas Morning News ; The Detroit News & Free Press ; The Houston Chronicle ; and The Boston Globe.

Small & Special Interest Press

Weekly newspapers, of course, operate on an entirely different news cycle and tend to be concentrated almost exclusively in rural communities. Some weekly newspapers, such as New York's Village Voice, circulate within a larger metropolitan area and offer a serious, though sometimes alternative, look at urban news and issues, competing directly with established newspapers and broadcast stations. Most weekly papers, however, circulate in areas with too small a population to support a daily newspaper and offer their readers coverage of areas generally ignored by larger papers and broadcasters. Weekly and semiweekly papers still make up the bulk of the American newspaper press in terms of sheer numbers, although their circulation is only about half that of daily newspapers. In 2001, a total of 6,579 community weekly papers circulated in the United States. Most of those—4,145—were paid for by subscribers, and another 1,065 circulated for free. A total of 1,369 combined paid and free editions. In any given week, 20.6 million paid and 27.4 million free weekly papers circulated in the United States in 2000.

An entirely different and more recent phenomenon has been the growth of free "shopper" papers and zoned editions of larger papers. Shoppers are generally papers that are distributed free within a given market, with their production costs paid for entirely through advertising. Zoned editions, on the other hand, are bundled with the regular newspaper and generally comprise special sections that are designed to allow advertising and news departments to produce area-specific content. In other words, a large metropolitan newspaper such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch might (and does) publish zoned editions for a variety of geographic regions and suburbs that offer coverage of local schools, development, business and other issues that do not make the regular newspaper. In 2001, some 1,399 shopper publications and 3,598 zoned editions were published in the United States.

The ethnic and religious press has been affected by the general decline of the mainstream newspaper press. The rise of the one-newspaper town, combined with the general trend towards corporate ownership and shared corporate profits, has made it more difficult for any special-interest newspaper to successfully compete for advertising dollars and subscription revenues. Special-interest publishers have tended to concentrate in the magazine sector, where narrowly focusing on a specific target market results in an ever-increasing Balkanization of the magazine medium. Not surprisingly, surviving ethnic and foreign-language papers tend to be concentrated in the large cities, where the populations they target live. In some ways, the decline in numbers of ethnic and religious papers reflects a laudable desire on the part of mainstream publishers to include all groups in their communities; however, there has been loss of unique voices in the newspaper market.

In general, the distribution of ethnic newspapers has tracked changes in the general population. The current group attracting most attention from newspaper publishers is the Hispanic market. Many big-city newspapers, and even some small-town papers in areas with large Hispanic populations, have begun publishing Spanish-language sections and tabloids, sometimes partnering with existing publications. Other newspapers targeting Hispanics have sprung up on their own in various cities. In 2000, there were 149 Hispanic newspapers published in the United States.

African Americans have long been active newspaper publishers in the United States, often because personal preference combined with real or apparent segregation made white newspaper editors reluctant to publish serious news about African Americans. Frederick Douglass, the well-known former slave and abolitionist leader, started publishing the first successful African-American newspaper, the North Star, in 1847. In 2000, some 193 newspapers aimed partially or wholly at African Americans were published in the United States.

Religious newspapers have long had a presence in the newspaper world, especially in large cities. In 2000, there were at least 127 Christian papers, mostly Catholic, and at least 75 Jewish newspapers published in the United States. Military newspapers, whether published on land bases or on large ships, make up another significant segment of the special-interest press; at least 127 military papers were published in 2000.

Quality of Journalism

One unique aspect of U.S. newspapers is their detached stance towards news and especially politics. As newspaper numbers and newspaper competition have declined, so too has the tradition of newspapers supporting a particular political party or ideology. Although most newspapers in foreign countries are generally or explicitly supportive of particular political parties, American newspapers pride themselves on their independence from the political fray. Journalists are trained to seek objectivity in their reporting and are warned against taking stances on issues, persons, or events they cover. Most newspapers, at least in theory, observe a strict separation between the news and editorial pages and maintain a strict separation of powers between the newsroom and business office. This separation of powers is meant to express papers' editorial independence and to avoid even the appearance of influences on the paper from advertisers or political parties.

Reporters and editors find a particular ethical responsibility to be as fair and accurate as possible in reporting news. Many journalists struggle to overcome their own personal biases towards the news, whether in terms of political partisanship or in terms of their own religious or ethnic backgrounds. In particular, when covering political or religious stories, journalists have to consciously remind themselves to treat all sides of an issue fairly.

What this means for most journalists is that they are either explicitly prohibited or at least discouraged from holding public office, serving as communications or public relations directors for businesses or nonprofit agencies, and generally placing themselves in the public eye as being in support of political or social issues. The logic behind these prohibitions is that while journalists are citizens and entitled to the rights and responsibilities of any citizen in an open democracy, they should not compromise even the appearance of their media organization's independence and objectivity.

In the early 2000s, however, journalists have become somewhat more visible to the public. Many newspapers consider it acceptable to sponsor public meetings dedicated to discussing an issue of public concern or to sponsor panel discussions or a series of speakers on public issues. A growing minority of journalists argues that a newspaper's civic responsibilities should be balanced against its desire to be independent and objective. Many journalists are beginning to accept the idea that newspapers should not just report on community problems, but they should be a part of a community decision-making process to fix those problems. At the same time, however, a small but vocal minority of American journalists go so far as to espouse the view that journalists should not even vote, in an attempt to strictly separate themselves from public life. Most American journalists attempt to steer a middle line, observing a strict separation between their personal, political, and spiritual lives on the one hand and their responsibilities towards a mass audience on the other.

A particular ethical problem that many newspapers face concerns relations with advertisers. Most American papers earn a large portion of their revenues from display advertising; only a very few specialty newspapers and newsletters are able to sustain themselves mostly or entirely on subscription revenues. Pressure brought against newspapers by advertisers poses particularly tricky ethical decisions at times; the newspaper may desire to be as independent as possible, but if the newspaper is forced to close, its ability to do anything ceases. This problem is particularly acute for newspapers in rural areas and small towns, which cannot rely upon support from national advertisers.

Some media critics, however, argue that most U.S. newspapers suffer from inherent biases in coverage, such as an uncritical acceptance of capitalism, free markets, and the basic two-party system, even while claiming to be objective. Corporate consolidation and the fact that as of 2002 most daily newspapers operate as only one part of giant corporations has also led many journalists to worry about the possibility of undue influence being concentrated in relatively few hands.

Three Most Influential Newspapers

By far the most influential newspaper continues to be The New York Times, which sets a standard for quality journalism unparalleled throughout the country. Although the Times is not the largest-circulation daily in the country, the influence it has on the intellectual and political world is considerable. Over the course of its history, the Times has been the newspaper of record for many Americans.

USA Today must make the top three list if for no other reason than its influence on other papers. USA Today has the distinction of being the country's only truly national newspaper; though some of its editions are zoned by regions of the country, the paper makes an effort to cover news of national importance and includes news from every state in every edition. Founded in 1982, USA Today introduced a style of news writing that emphasized short, easy-to-read stories. The paper also pioneered massive use of color photos and infographics, and it adopted a now-famous and widely copied color weather map. The focus of USA Today has never been New York Times -style investigative journalism or long series on local or national issues. The paper was, however, a success with readers, who enjoyed the use of color and its nature as a "quick read," and many of its design innovations have silently been adopted by competing papers. In fact, the last two major "gray" newspapers in the United States, the Times and The Wall Street Journal, have begun using color within the last 10 years, and many other papers have adopted some or all of the paper's innovations, such as a color weather map or daily infographic.

Rounding out the top three papers is The Wall Street Journal. A financial newspaper with a generally conservative bent, the Journal is not necessarily representative of most American newspapers, but its influence on Wall Street, and thus the world, is immense. The Journal trades the title of largest-circulation newspaper in the United States with USA Today on a regular basis. TheJournal focuses mainly on business news and approaches national news from a business angle. It has, however, won several Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on non-business news. The paper also has the distinction of owning one of the few Internet sites that actually makes money; the site's content is so unique and valuable that it can successfully charge for subscriptions. The Journal is owned by the Dow Jones corporation, the publisher of the Dow Jones stock index that is used every day to track the performance of the American economy throughout the world. The Journal 's published financial data is also used throughout the country for setting a variety of loan rates, foreign currency conversions, and the like. As of 2002, the Journal 's most recent Pulitzer Prize was won for its response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The paper's offices, across the street from the World Trade Center, were evacuated that morning and were later essentially destroyed when the twin towers collapsed. The employees of the paper evacuated en masse to the paper's printing offices in New Jersey and were actually able to improvise a paper for the next morning.

History of the Press in the United States

The first newspaper in what would become the United States appeared in Boston on September 25, 1690. Benjamin Harris published Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic, which led with a story about Massachusetts Native Americans celebrating a day of thanksgiving for a successful harvest and went on to mention rumors that the king of France had cuckolded his son. Although Harris, the publisher of the widely-used New England Primer, was a licensed printer, his newspaper only survived one issue.

During the next few decades, several papers appeared, most published by local postmasters who had access to European newspapers and the franking privilege. The longest-lived of these early papers was the Boston News-Letter, first printed in 1704 by postmaster John Campbell. Campbell's paper grew out of a handwritten newsletter that he had distributed to postal customers. Like other papers of the time, the News-Letter consisted generally of news about politics, ship movements, proclamations, speeches, and formal letters. Campbell's paper also included news about fires, shipwrecks, piracy, accidents, and other more sensational and interesting events. Campbell's paper survived for 72 years.

By 1735, printed material was once again becoming an annoyance to at least one colonial government. The Crown governor of New York, who had been attacked in various issues of John Peter Zenger's New York Weekly Journal, prosecuted Zenger on charges of seditious libel. Under British law at that time, truth was not a defense to a charge of seditious libel. The judge instructed the jury to find Zenger guilty if they determined he had indeed printed attacks on the governor, which he undoubtedly had. Perhaps swayed by Zenger's lawyer, Alexander Hamilton, the jury ignored the judge's instructions and found Zenger innocent and freed him.

During the years between Zenger's trial and the beginning of political unrest in the colonies, the best-known paper published was undoubtedly Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette. Franklin, a brilliant polymath who consciously presented himself as a rustic farmer, won success with the Gazette and other publications because of his wry style and self-deprecating writing. Unlike his older brother James, Benjamin Franklin was also able to escape being jailed by the colonial authorities—partly by picking a city friendlier to printers.

Franklin is the best-known printer from Revolutionary days, but a host of other editors helped move the colonies closer to rebellion in the years before 1775. In 1765, Parliament passed a Stamp Act specifically aimed at taxing newspapers, legal documents, and other published materials that printers saw as intended to drive them out of business. The short-lived Stamp Act was only the first in a long series of measures designed to tax colonists for supporting British troops in North America that eventually led to rebellion, but it was a significant moment in radicalizing editors against the British government.

Newspapers were only one weapon in the general colonial protest against Britain, but they were a surprisingly effective one, being able to carry news of demonstrations, mock funerals of "Liberty," news of real and perceived abuses against colonists, and perhaps most importantly news from other colonies. The same printer-editors who published newspapers were also responsible for printing and distributing the variety of pamphlets, broadsides, engravings, woodcuts, and other miscellaneous propaganda distributed by revolutionary "Committees of Correspondence" from many of the colonies. During this same period, of course, loyalist printers also published material in support of the British government, and some very conservative editors avoided news of the conflict altogether or swayed back and forth as local political winds dictated.

The most well-known colonial protest against the British government, the Boston Tea Party, is an example of how newspapers helped radicals spread their message. The men who participated in the famous party may have planned their raid at the home and office of the printer Benjamin Edes of the Boston Gazette. Edes' Gazette and other papers printed full accounts of the attack and, more importantly, the rationale behind it, which were clipped and reprinted by other colonial newspapers, spreading the news farther across the colonies at each printing and in a sense recreating the event for each new reader. Without the intervention of the press, the Boston protest, and countless others in the colonies, would have been no more than an example of local hooliganism.

During the Revolution itself, printers of all political orientations found themselves even more closely tied to the fortunes of war. Editors often were forced to flee before approaching armies, and presses—especially Tory presses—became the focus of mob violence on more than one occasion. In addition, the British naval blockade and general economic disruption caused by the war made it more difficult for editors to find supplies and to publish on anything approaching a regular basis. But newspapers had done their work; when John Adams wrote that "The Revolution was effected before the war commenced … this radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution," he referred to the work done not only by the Sons of Liberty and Committees of Correspondence, but also that done by colonial editors.

American independence resulted in a reshaping of the press. For a short time, freed of the war-driven impulse to produce patriotic material, printers reverted to the pre-Revolutionary model of commercialism and relative political neutrality. The upcoming Constitutional Convention and the ratification debates attendant to it, however, meant that editors would once again shift into a more public, political role. A new generation of editors would radically transform their newspapers, create new political roles for themselves, and eventually lay the foundations for the American party system in the years between 1790 and 1830. To understand that transformation, it is important first to examine the social role of printers in colonial and Revolutionary times.

Franklin's example notwithstanding, being a printer in colonial days was hardly a road to political power, prestige, or riches. Although printers were valued by their towns, and their business brought them into contact with the local elite, they were still artisans, sharply separated from the colonial gentry by class, manners, refinement, and occupation. Printing was a difficult and often disgusting business. The youngest apprentice in a colonial office would often be given the job of preparing sheepskin balls used to ink the type. The balls had to be soaked in urine, stamped on, and wrung out to add softness before being brought to the press. Ink was often made in the office by boiling soot in varnish. More experienced printers might spend up to sixteen hours setting type, reading copy with one hand while the other selected individual letters and placed them, backwards and reversed, into a typecase.

The locked typecase—essentially a solid block of lead type with wood frames—would be carried to the press by hand, the type itself beat with inked sheepskin balls, and the press cranked by hand to bring the plate into contact with a sheet of wetted paper. This process would produce one side of one sheet—one "impression." The sheet would then be hung to dry, and the inking, wetting, and cranking process repeated. Two experienced printers could produce about 240 sheets an hour at best. Later, they would repeat the entire process, including setting new type, for the other side of the sheet, and later fold the papers by hand. The total process of producing a rural paper with 500 to 600 copies would take at least a day and most of the night.

During the years immediately following the Revolution, printers' status actually declined throughout the country. As the process of creating a newspaper became more specialized, the job of actually printing a newspaper became increasingly divorced from the process of writing and editing the news. During the 1790s, this trend became more distinct as a new breed of editors turned away from the trade-oriented, mostly commercial, goals of their predecessors. Younger men found themselves increasingly drawn to partisan controversies and found their true calling in editing political newspapers.

From the late 1790s on, partisan newspapers became increasingly more crucial to politics and politicians in America. Partisan newspapers acted as nodal points in the political system, linking ordinary voters to their official representatives and far-flung party constituencies to one another. Political parties existed without formal organization in the early Republic, and partisan newspapers provided a forum in which like-minded politicians could plan events, plot strategy, argue platforms, and rally voters in the long intervals between campaigns and events. Physical political events like speeches, rallies, and banquets with their attendant toasts could only reach a limited number of voters at any given time, but when accounts of them were printed and reprinted in newspapers their geographic reach was vastly extended. In the days before formal party headquarters, local newspaper offices functioned as places in which politicians and editors could meet and plan strategy.

Throughout the nineteenth century, newspapers remained the focal points of political struggles, as parties and factions battled for control of prominent newspapers and regions. Newspapers could also come before formal party organization, as when William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator made him the leading figure of the abolitionist movement and predated the founding of his New England Anti-Slavery Society by a year. When black abolitionists wanted a voice in the movement, they attempted several times to found a newspaper, finally succeeding in 1847 with Frederick Douglass's North Star.

Later journalism historians searching for the origins of objectivity and professionalism would often find their origins in the penny press, started by James Gordon Bennett's New York Sun in 1833. The penny press, which owed its name to the fact that penny papers sold for one or two cents daily, instead of several dollars per year, was more stylistically than substantively different from the partisan newspapers of its day. Bennett and other editors made much out of the fact that they were "independent" in politics, but by independence they meant essentially that they were not dependent upon one party for support.

What the penny press actually did was to combine and extend many of the innovations with which other newspapers were beginning to experiment. The penny papers popularized daily copy sales rather than subscriptions, relied more upon advertising than subscriptions for support, and broadened the audience for reports on crime, courts, Wall Street, and Broadway. The penny papers also continued a process of specialization that led eventually to the "beat" system for reporters and to changes in the internal organization of newsrooms. But the penny press was a uniquely Eastern and urban phenomenon which was evolutionary rather than revolutionary in press history.

In the 1850s and 1860s, sectional politics dominated newspapers, as radical stances began to be taken by all sides on the question of slavery. After the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, eleven Southern states decided to leave the Union, making civil war inevitable. During the war years, newspaper editors often found themselves caught between competing sectional and party loyalties, especially in border states like Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, while other editors found their papers suppressed by local authorities or by invading armies. Southern editors in particular faced hardship during the war, as the northern blockade dried up the supplies they needed to publish. Other papers, especially in the North, were able to continue their vigorous partisanship; Lincoln wryly noted that even Horace Greeley's Tribune, a Republican and abolitionist paper, only supported him four days a week. Newspaper correspondents vastly expanded their use of the telegraph and photography in reporting on the war; a new genre of "illustrated magazines" made copious use of both picturesque and horrible war scenes.

In the years after the Civil War, the tremendous growth in newspapers that the nineteenth century had seen slowed somewhat. The United States grappled with a deep economic depression throughout the 1870s, and most of the South was still under military occupation. The African-American press was one sector that showed growth in the years after the Civil War, as freed slaves, most of whom had been prevented from learning to read or write, came together to create their own schools, banks, newspapers, and other public institutions. Once again, major new political movements found expression first in partisan newspapers. Editors continued to take strong stands on national political events as well, with the impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson and the increasingly corrupt administration of Ulysses S. Grant at center stage.

During the 1880s, massive changes were underway in the United States that would change the nature of newspapers and of news in the twentieth century. The U.S. economy had recovered from the depression of the 1870s and was beginning to embark on the great decades of industrial expansion that would make it the world's leading economy by the 1940s. Immigrants once again began to flood into eastern cities, accelerating an existing trend towards urbanization and creating a huge demand for foreign-language newspapers. The 1890 census for the first time counted more Americans living in cities than in rural areas. The 1890s in general would become known as one of the most flamboyant eras of American journalism, marked by incredible competition among the large urban dailies.

The two most famous representatives of the newspaper wars of the 1890s were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Pulitzer, a Hungarian who had immigrated to the United States to fight in the Civil War, bought the failing St. Louis Westliche Post, a German-language Liberal Republican newspaper, at a sheriff's sale in 1878, later combining it with the St. Louis Dispatch. Pulitzer's Post-Dispatch, which changed political orientations when Pulitzer himself became a Democrat, became a model for the kind of crusading urban newspaper that he would later run in New York. Attacking political corruption, wealth, and privilege, Pulitzer sought to create and unify a middle-class reform movement in St. Louis. When he bought the New York World in 1883, his goal was again to rescue a failing newspaper by launching it on a progressive political crusade, partly by supporting issues important to the city's large immigrant population. Hearst, the son of a wealthy California mine owner, actually got his start in journalism working for the World before purchasing the San Francisco Examiner in 1887. When Hearst returned to New York, it was as a direct competitor to Pulitzer. Hearst used his Morning Journal to attack Pulitzer, the city government, and anyone else who caught his eye, and later to encourage the United States to declare war on Spain in 1898. The circulation wars of the 1890s, which led to extremes of sensationalism later called "yellow journalism," pushed both papers' circulations above one million at times.

The period between 1890 and 1920 is also notable as an era in which individual reporters became more well-known than ever before. The era of "muckrakers" is difficult to characterize as a unified set of ideas, but most muckrakers shared a general desire for social reform, a faith in the ability of government and society to overcome problems, and a belief that their exposés would result in action. The topics muckrakers tackled ranged from Ida B. Wells's courageous work to ending lynching in the South to Jacob Riis's portraits of homeless youths in New York. At the other end of the spectrum rest journalists like Lincoln Steffens, whose "Shame of the City" series is representative of a genre that tended to focus on the personal habits and customs of the new immigrants peopling urban areas, and to blame urban corruption, homelessness, poor sanitation, and other urban problems on the ethnic or racial backgrounds of those immigrants.

The years leading up to World War I in many ways marked the high point of the newspaper press in the United States. In 1910, the number of daily newspapers in the United States peaked at 2,600; in 1914, the number of foreign-language dailies in the United States reached a high of 160. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson set up the Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel, to rally press support for the war effort. Creel's committee used a newly passed Espionage Act to limit publication of materials that questioned the war effort, mainly by revoking papers' mailing privileges. Particularly hard-hit was the Socialist press, which in 1913 had counted 323 newspapers with more than two million copies circulated daily, but other non-mainstream newspapers were also attacked by the government.

Although the Creel Committee relied more on voluntary compliance than on federal enforcement, the effort put forth by the government to bring media in line with the war effort led many editors to question the veracity of news told in support of a single point of view. This trend, combined with a general postwar disillusionment towards extreme political and social ideas, accelerated an existing trend towards the objective model of newsgathering. Although the "who, what, when, where, why and how" model of reporting had existed since at least the 1890s, the 1920s marked the first widespread acceptance of objectivity as a goal among newspapers. Increasingly fierce economic competition between newspapers and declining readership also contributed to a trend towards objective reporting; the role of corporate advertisers in supporting papers also encouraged nonpartisanship on the front page. The rise of the one-newspaper town coincided with a shift in thinking on the part of editors, who had to begin seeing their readers less as voters and more as news consumers. As always, objectivity became accepted as a news model first among large urban papers, only slowly making its way into the hinterlands.

The 1920s saw a continued decline in the number of daily newspapers but also the advent of new technologies that would eventually vastly change the news. The first commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA in Pittsburgh, made its debut broadcasting results of the Harding-Cox presidential election in 1920. By 1922, the number of stations had increased to 576, and over 100,000 radios were bought that year alone. The new technology did not at first massively change newspapers, but its popularity combined with continued declines in newspaper readership foreshadowed trends that would continue throughout the twentieth century. In 1926, when Philo Farnsworth first experimented with television sets, 5.5 million radios were in use in the United States.

The 1930s brought the Great Depression to the United States, and newspapers suffered along with the rest of the economy. The American Society of Newspaper Editors led many influential papers in opposing Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs. The defining Supreme Court decision concerning newspapers, Near v. Minnesota, was heard in 1931. In Near, the court held that First Amendment protection against prior restraint extended to prohibit state and local governments, as well as the federal government, from prohibiting publication of a newspaper on any but the most unusual circumstances.

The Depression resulted in a slowing of growth for radio as a medium, but the 1930s also saw the consolidation of stations into national radio networks and the expansion of those networks across the country. The demand for simple, concise reporting for radio news programs helped to push newspapers in the direction of the inverted-pyramid style of writing and did much to institutionalize the cult of objectivity. In addition, federal courts began to allow radio broadcasts and station licenses to be regulated by the government, holding that the radio broadcast spectrum rightly belonged to the public and could be regulated in the public interest. Roosevelt's "fireside chats" used the new medium as a way to communicate directly to the people, contributing to a general 1930s trend towards increasing the power of the federal government relative to the states.

The end of the 1930s saw the advent of World War II in Europe and a growing strain of isolationism in the United States. Many newspapers initially opposed U.S. involvement in the European war, but that opposition evaporated after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

At the beginning of the war, newspapers agreed to voluntarily censor their content under a Code of Wartime Practices developed by Byron Price, a former Associated Press editor. Many newspapers also printed information distributed by the Office of War Information, headed by Elmer Davis, which was a government body set up to disseminate morale-boosting material. World War II newspapers did not generally suffer from the same constraints as papers did under the Creel Committee in World War I, partly because World War II had significantly more support from the general public and from newspapers, and partly because no World War II counterpart of the Espionage Act was used to attack non-mainstream papers. The general economic dislocation caused by the war did cause, however, many newspapers to suspend publication. By the end of 1944, there were only 1,745 daily newspapers being published in the United States, a loss of 360 from 1937.

An important postwar development in newspaper journalism was the Hutchins Commission's report on "A Free and Responsible Press." The report, which argued that a free press had a duty to responsibly report news without scandalmongering or sensationalism, became an important statement of ethics, putting into words the philosophy that the United States press had been groping toward since the 1920s.

On July 1, 1941, two television stations in New York began broadcasting news and programs to tiny audiences in the city. Though television began as a tiny medium and though the war hampered its ability to grow, the new medium expanded rapidly after the war. By 1949, there were more than 100 television stations in the country. The growth of television hurt newspapers, though not as much as was initially predicted. The real victim of the popularity of TV, though, was radio. In the 1950s, many radio stars, including Edward R. Murrow, abandoned radio for television, and radio began to lose its appeal as a mass medium. Radio pioneered the practice of "narrowcasting" starting in the 1950s, as stations abandoned nationally produced content to focus on a specific demographic or ethnic group within its listening area. This early and successful form of target marketing predated and pres-aged efforts by magazines and some newspapers to do the same.

The 1960s were generally a decade of massive change for newspapers. Typesetting changed dramatically as the use of photocomposition and offset presses became widespread. The advent of offset spelled doom not only for the jobs of Linotype operators but also for many other specialized printing trades. The result was a rash of newspaper strikes that continued into the 1970s. Some of the cities struck were Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Portland, St. Louis, St. Paul, San Jose, and Seattle. The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press were shut down for 267 days in 1967 and 1968.

The 1970s saw one of the most dramatic instances of the power of the United States press when the Washington Post 's coverage of the Watergate burglary started a process that led to the resignation of President Nixon. The 1970s were also notable as the decade in which computers first began to invade U.S. newsrooms. Though slow and balky at first, computers would revolutionize typesetting by the 1990s, with later technology making it possible for type to go directly from computer screen to printing plate. The continued decline in multiple-newspaper cities led Congress to pass the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which allowed competing newspapers to merge essentially all of their operations outside the newsroom if one or both were in financial distress.

The 1980s brought more massive changes to the media in the United States. The first all-news TV network, CNN, debuted in 1980, and the first new national newspaper, USA Today, was first published in 1982. Though both were at first derided by the newspaper press, both survived and prospered. CNN offered the world live coverage of the Gulf War in 1991, and viewers experienced watching U.S. bombs drop on Iraqi targets live and in color. The 1990s will be remembered most as the decade in which the Internet exploded as a major cultural force. Newspapers were quick to build Internet sites and invest in the new technology as part of a "convergence" strategy, although as of the year 2002 profits from the Internet continued to elude most companies.

Increasing consolidation of newspaper chains and ever-decreasing competition have been other major trends of the 1980s and 1990s, with newspaper mergers and buyouts continuing unabated. The booming U.S. economy of the 1990s and the over-inflated stock market undoubtedly contributed to this trend. The largest recorded value of deals struck for newspapers in a single year occurred in 2000, with a total of $15 billion changing hands. Between 1990 and 2000, newspaper companies aggressively sought to expand their holdings in both numbers of newspapers and in specific geographic areas, seeking especially to cluster their holdings in and around metropolitan areas. Newspaper companies also aggressively expanded into television, radio, and the Internet, with mixed results. At the end of 2000, the top 25 media corporations controlled 662 U.S. dailies with a combined daily circulation of 40 million.

Economic Framework

Overview of the Economic Climate and its Influence on Media

The information industry in the United States is one of the most dynamic and quickly-growing sectors of an economy that was struggling to recover from recession in the middle of 2002. The prior economic census of the United States, taken in 1997, listed 144,000 businesses devoted to information and communications, with more than $623 billion in gross receipts. Of those businesses, 8,800 were newspaper publishers, with total revenues of $117.3 billion. In 1999, newspaper-publishing companies had about 400,000 employees and carried a total payroll of $26 billion. To say the least, communication industries are not an inconsiderable part of the U.S. economy.

Since 1997, the United States experienced a massive speculative boom in the stock market, fueled mainly if not entirely by companies that promised to use the limitless potential of the Internet to deliver every possible type of service to the home consumer. That speculative bubble burst in the first half of 2001, shortly after the contested George W. Bush versus Al Gore presidential election was finally decided. Uncertainty over the future course of the country, combined with a growing impatience with seemingly empty promises from Internet companies, caused a massive contraction in equities markets throughout 2001 and sent the U.S. economy into a recession.

The business climate was still stagnant in September 2001, when terrorists struck at the heart of the U.S. financial system in attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, devastated the financial district of New York, shut down the U.S. air travel system and the U.S. stock exchanges for days, and caused a massive wave of panic to ripple throughout the country. The economic news was improving somewhat in the summer of 2002, but the long-term outlook remained uncertain.

The falling stock market affected not only Internet companies but other corporations as well, including publicly-held media companies and many of their major advertisers. Many media companies were already coming to terms with falling advertising revenues before the terrorist attacks. The aftermath of September 11 caused businesses to rethink capital expenditures and shift comparatively more money into security-related spending and less into advertising. Newspapers were hurt by declining advertising but were helped somewhat by a rise in newspaper circulation since the attacks and subsequent U.S. military campaign in Central Asia. However, as of the summer of 2002, those short-term circulation gains seemed to be evaporating.

Newspapers in the Mass Media Milieu: Print Media versus Electronic Media

Newspapers make up only one portion of the mass media in the United States, and they make up a declining percentage of the media market. Although the 1997 economic census listed 8,758 newspaper publishers (including daily and weekly papers) and 6,928 periodical publishers, it also listed 6,894 radio broadcasters; 1,895 television broadcasters; 4,679 cable broadcasters; and 14,895 information and data services processing firms. With the recent growth of Internet businesses, print media are taking up an ever smaller share of the media audience.

Although both print and broadcast revenues continued to grow throughout 1998 and 1999, the rate at which newspapers grew, 6.8 percent, is only .4 point ahead of television growth (6.4 percent) and is only about half the rate of radio growth (12.5 percent). By comparison, information and data processing services grew 28.2 percent, and online information services grew by 69.5 percent. Although newspapers still outstripped online services in 1999 in total revenues, $48.5 billion to $21.1 billion, the phenomenal growth of online services implies that newspapers' dominance is limited. Newspapers also had slightly more revenue than TV and radio broadcasters, which had revenues of $47.6 billion in 1999.

One bright spot in the comparison of newspapers to broadcasting agencies has been that newspapers are generally retaining readers better than broadcasters are retaining viewers. In the summer of 2002, the news organizations of the three major networks all reported precipitous declines in the number of viewers their news programs were able to capture.

Types of Newspaper Ownership

Most newspapers in the United States are part of newspaper chains, owned by corporations that control from two to several hundred papers. Although some newspapers are still held privately or controlled by families or trusts, the trend of corporate ownership proliferated in the 1980s and 1990s. A total of only ten companies own newspapers that account for more than half of the United States' daily circulation, and three of those ten companies are privately held. As of May 2001, the top three newspaper companies—Gannett, Knight-Ridder, and the Tribune Co.—owned one-seventh of all daily newspapers, representing one-fourth of the circulation of U.S. newspapers.

In the early 2000s, chain ownership was one of the most hotly debated trends in the United States media. Critics of chains worry about consolidating so much circulation, power, and influence in the hands of a relatively few people, charging that corporate newspapers accept a corporate mentality that substitutes concern for profits and stock prices for journalistic integrity and independence. Another concern is corporate standardization. Recently, Knight-Ridder raised eyebrows across the journalistic world when it converted all of its newspapers' Internet sites to a standard corporate model, including that of the San Jose Mercury-News, which pioneered Internet newspapers. The newspapers' "Real Cities" sites, which are at Web addresses such as kansascity.com and charlotte.com, subsume the newspapers' identities entirely within the context of the corporate, "Real Cities" brand, identifying the papers themselves only vaguely and giving those newsroom teams relatively little credit for the product they produce.

One major consequence of corporate buying is that early 2000s sprees inflated the value of newspapers out of proportion to their actual profit margins. With corporate owners increasingly concerned about servicing their debts, cost cutting seems to be the only way to ensure a cash flow great enough to meet obligations to debtors. More often than not, this means staff cuts, since the major cost centers in newspapers are people and newsprint, and newsprint costs are constant and generally rising.

Of particular concern to many observers of the media scene is the increasing proportion of publishers and even general managers who come from a background in business, instead of in journalism. There is a prevailing feeling among many editors that an MBA may qualify a person to run a business but that a publisher with a business background may subvert the interests of the newspaper and its editorial independence. Of particular concern are the effect of corporate decisions on editorial content and the question of whether editorial matters may be subverted in the interest of or at the request of advertisers and other business interests of the corporation.

Some journalists have increasingly insisted on making a "full disclosure" when reporting or commenting on movies, books, or programming produced by another arm of a massive corporation. A good example would be a commentator for Time criticizing a movie produced by Time Warner, Inc., noting in his or her article the corporate ownership of both types of media. This type of disclosure, however, is only helpful in allowing those readers who were not aware of such cross-ownership to find out about it in the act of reading; it does not provide insight into the editorial decisions that produced the article or commentary in the first place, and it leaves the magazine or newspaper open to concerns of undue corporate influence.

On the other hand, corporate ownership may actually benefit many small-to medium-sized newspapers by creating a company-wide pool of resources and talent that the company can draw upon to make individual newspapers better. Corporate ownership can mean corporate discounts on newsprint, ink, printing presses, and other supplies, and can mean skilled help from within the corporation when presses break, lawsuits are threatened, or disasters strike newspapers. Corporate ownership combined with public financing can also mean that companies have an available pool of money from which to draw for special projects, better coverage, and the hiring process.

Effects of Corporate Ownership

The individual effect of corporate ownership undoubtedly varies from company to company and from newspaper to newspaper. Some papers that operated alone at a very high level might find themselves stifled by a corporate mindset that asks publishers to justify any expense to the head office; on the other hand, an infusion of corporate money, talent, and resources is a godsend to any number of struggling papers.

However, the experience of being bought and sold invariably leads to a period of uncertainty for employees of a newspaper, as the new company generally makes changes in the management structure, management philosophies, and management personnel, to say nothing of other hirings and firings that may affect jobs and morale in the newsroom and in the rest of the paper. Small changes are magnified at small newspapers, which generally have smaller staffs than larger-circulation papers and are thus more likely to be affected by cuts that could be thought insignificant at larger organizations. Half of the newspapers in the United States have circulations below 13,000 readers, and of those papers fully 47 percent changed hands in the six years between 1994 and 2000.

One unique exception to corporate ownership, and one way that some multi-newspaper cities have managed to keep operating, is through joint operating agreements (JOAs). Created in 1970 as an exemption to anti-trust laws, JOAs allow two or three competing papers to merge business and production operations while keeping news-rooms separate and continuing to produce multiple newspapers. There have been 29 JOAs in the United States since the law was passed; 12 still survive. Of the others, all except two ended with one newspaper failing, moving to weekly publication, or merging with the other paper.

Press Media and Electronic Media Audiences

The U.S. newspaper audience is more affluent, well-educated, older, and better employed than the general population, according to a 2000 Mediamark, Inc. survey that tracked participation in media in a given week. About 79 percent of American adults had looked at a newspaper within the past week at the time of the survey. Of people who had a college degree, 89.7 percent had looked at a newspaper, compared with only 60 percent who were not high school graduates. About 83.5 percent of people age 45 to 54 had read a paper, compared with 73.3 percent of people age 18 to 24. Interestingly, white and black Americans read newspapers at equal levels: 79.3 percent of whites and 79.2 percent of blacks had looked at a newspaper.

The same survey found that people who were more poorly educated watched slightly more television; 94 percent of people without a high-school degree watched television in the past week, compared with 91.1 percent of people with college degrees. Income had little effect on television viewing, but it did have a dramatic effect on Internet usage. Only 14.6 percent of people who made less than $10,000 a year had used the Internet within the last month, while 67 percent of people who made more than $50,000 a year had logged on. Interestingly, however, usage dropped precipitously among people making $150,000 a year or more, falling to just 7.6 percent of that population. Education levels made an even more dramatic difference; only 11.6 percent of people with no high school degree had used the Internet, compared with 76.5 percent of people with college degrees.

Advertisers' Influence

Advertising revenues remain a major concern for newspaper publishers. In 2001, the last year for which figures were available, newspapers saw a precipitous drop in advertising expenditures on the part of businesses. Retail, national, and classified advertising fell each quarter compared with the same quarter in 2000, which was itself down compared to 1999 spending. Total advertising expenditures fell 4.3 percent in the first quarter, 8.4 percent in the second, 10.3 percent in the third, and 11.9 percent in the fourth, for a total year-to-year decline of 9 percent overall. Classified advertising, which comprises the bulk of most small newspapers' ad revenues, took the greatest hit, declining 15.2 percent from 2000. National advertising fell by 8.5 percent, while retail advertising fell only 3.4 percent. Total ad revenues, in dollar terms, fell from $48.670 billion to $44.318 billion.

The drop in advertising revenues year-to-year has been of great concern to publishers, who rely on advertising for most of their profits. Short-term circulation gains have been evaporating at many newspapers, and many papers continue to face shrinking circulations and the prospect of falling ad revenues as well. Any cuts that come out of papers have to come from within, with employees bearing the brunt of the cuts.

Most newspapers still strive to maintain at least a 1:1 news-advertising ratio. This means in general that news and advertising lineage—a somewhat archaic term— should be approximately equal throughout the newspaper in order for the day's advertising to pay for the daily press run. Ideally, the ad ratio should be skewed slightly farther in the direction of advertising in order to maximize profits and to cost-justify the number of pages appearing in a paper, but most newspapers will generally provide an "open page" when the city desk asks for more space for a certain package of stories or for a long-standing special report. Needless to say, such a ratio is not achieved every day, nor is it achieved through display advertising alone. Weekly inserts and changes in the number of ads placed in the paper day-by-day have a large effect on papers' ad ratios.

With a large portion of a newspaper's revenues coming from advertising, it is no surprise that advertisers sometimes attempt to influence editorial policy, especially with regard to stories that have the potential to adversely affect their businesses. Pressures from individual advertisers can sometimes sway weaker or smaller newspapers to change editorial coverage or even abandon stories entirely. The effect of such pressure, as one might imagine, depends almost entirely upon the portion of a paper's revenue that an individual advertiser provides; the relative editorial strength and independence of the paper's owners; and the newspaper's standing in the community.

Influence of Special Interest Lobbies

Another collection of groups that may affect newspaper coverage of certain events is the various special-interest lobbies that exist across the country. Lobbying organizations command a disproportionate amount of newspaper coverage compared with their actual power and the amount of the population they represent essentially because of their skill at "working the media" and ensuring that they provide newsworthy events on command. Special-interest lobbies command news attention not so much through pressure or coercion as through the nature of various stunts and "media events" they stage. Stories on hot-button issues, such as abortion and gun control, often are the province of special-interest lobbies because reporters tend to call them for easy quotes and to create "balance" in stories, rather than doing the sometimes more difficult work of talking to people in the community who might have more complex, but possibly more representative, views on the issues.

Employment and Average Wage Scales

Though newspaper audiences tend to be more affluent than the rest of the population, newsroom employees tend not to be particularly well-paid compared to other groups. Exact data for newspaper pay scales can be difficult to come by, given that the Census Bureau does not break down wage data from the communications sector to specific categories or wage levels within individual communications sectors. However, wage data taken from the Economic Census of the United States, taken in 1997, suggest that newspaper workers in general are paid well below the more general communications sector and slightly below the average wage for the rest of the United States.

According to the Economic Census, the average pay per worker in the entire communications sector is $42,229 per year, with newspaper workers receiving $29,228 per year. This puts newspaper workers below the average for all newspaper, periodical, book, and database publishers, which average $33,753 per employee per year. By comparison, periodical publishers' workers average $43,500 per year, with book publishers' employees averaging $40,522 per year. Database workers average $38,400 per year, while software publishers' employees make about $69,000 per year.

To expand this view to other forms of media, we find newspaper workers again near the bottom of the pay scale. Motion picture and sound recording workers average $34,000 per year, while television broadcast workers average $50,900 per year. Only radio broadcasters average less than newspaper workers, making about $28,455 per year. The average hourly pay for newspaper employees in 2000 was $14.05 per hour, compared with $13.74 for the entire private sector. However, the average 1999 salary for a full-time worker in the United States was $36,555, placing newspaper employees well below average salary levels.

Strikes and Labor Unions

Between 1990 and 2002, there were two major newspaper strikes in the United States, in Detroit and in Seattle. There were also minor work stoppages at several newspapers, and as of the summer of 2002, there was a curious "byline strike" ongoing at the Washington Post. The relatively small number of strikes in the 1990s partly reflects the economic boom of the decade and partially reflects the dwindling influence unions have over the press.

The major labor unions in the U.S. press have always been somewhat divided between two groups, corresponding roughly to their members' place in the newsroom. One group of unions represented compositors, typesetters, printers, and other persons who were skilled laborers mainly in charge of actually printing the paper. The other group of unions, of which the Newspaper Guild is the survivor, represented reporters, copy editors, and photographers—once blue-collar, hourly-wage occupations that over the course of the twentieth century gradually became white-collar, professionalized, salaried jobs.

Offset technology utterly erased jobs once held by compositors and typesetters, and it took much of the older type of skilled labor out of printing. The elimination of lead type in favor of offset plates means that copy editors and designers can now typeset a page in one computer mouse-click. In the 1990s, newspapers gained the capability to create negatives and even press plates directly from the newsroom, eliminating the legions of skilled workers once needed to make that transition. The new offset presses also brought with them a dramatic fall in labor costs; although Ben Bradlee was wrong when he observed that one man could push a button and a newspaper would be printed, the offset presses do require much less labor to run. Printers' unions still represent the men and women who run offset presses, but their jobs have become more easily replaceable over time. In addition, the fact that as of 2002 large corporations held most newspapers shifted the balance of power decisively in favor of management; companies in the early 2000s have large pools of employees and deep pockets whose reserves that they can use to break a strike.

The Newspaper Guild also has seen a decline in its relative importance and its membership. The Guild was formed in 1933, and members once identified closely with printers and other hourly-wage workers and against their editors and the newspaper's management. Ironically, though, increasing job mobility and wage scales for reporters, editors, and photographers have increased class distinctions between the newsroom and the pressroom. In addition, the growing importance newspapers place on individual reporters, and the recent phenomenon of reporters becoming stars in their own right and being promoted as a result of their reporting, has meant that the ranks of management are increasingly filled with those who once were reporters and editors, blurring distinctions even further. The Guild's membership peaked at 34,800 in 1987 and has been falling ever since. Overall, the percentage of newspaper workers who are union members has dropped from about 17 to 20 percent in 1975 to about 10 percent in 2000.

The largest newspaper strike of the 1990s illustrates these trends in dramatic fashion. In 1990, the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News entered into a joint operating agreement. After the JOA, trumpeted by both papers' owners as a cost-saving measure, newsroom workers got an average raise of only $30 per week. Tensions in both papers simmered until July 13, 1995, when 2,500 employees of both papers, represented by six unions, walked off the job.

Gannett and Knight-Ridder, publishers of the News and Free Press, both vowed to continue publication and did. Strikers encouraged union workers in Detroit, a union-heavy and union-friendly city, to boycott the paper, and they did. The result of the strike was disaster for both sides, as circulation, advertising dollars, news-room morale, and salaries all fell. The strike lasted for 19 months, or a total of 583 days. By October 1997 some 40 percent of striking workers were back on the job, but the newspapers continued to struggle. The walkout cost the papers about $300 million, mostly on replacement workers, loss of goodwill, and lost advertising revenues. The papers saw a 280,000-paper drop in circulation, which as of 2002 had not been regained. The unions failed to shut the newspapers down, and the papers have been slow to rehire union members, many of whom took jobs elsewhere or moved out of the newspaper business. The lasting result of the strike has been bitterness and acrimony on both sides.

Following the Detroit strike, the only other major strike as of 2002 was in Seattle, where employees of the Seattle News walked out over a new contract at the end of 2000. The Seattle strike lasted 49 days, and ended at last when the Guild accepted a contract that was essentially identical to the one it had rejected initially.

An interesting development in recent years has been the resurgence of "byline strikes," whereby reporters, columnists, and sometimes photographers refuse to publish bylines with their stories. The impact on a paper's credibility is hard to gauge, though readers have reported frustration in their inability to identify writers and thus their inability to effectively complain about stories that they might not like. The concept of a byline strike was resurrected in New Jersey in April of 2001, where Jersey Journal employees began a byline strike after the paper offered them annual raises of $2 per week. Subsequently, on June 5, 2002, Washington Post employees staged a by line strike to protest the Post 's policy that they write stories both for the newspaper and for the Post 's Web site. The Newspaper Guild called on reporters to delete their bylines both from the paper and from the paper's Web site. The Post was the first newspaper to attempt such a strike, in 1987, and the effect was mixed at best. Many observers have pointed out that most readers tend to ignore bylines in any case, with the obvious exception of syndicated columns. In 2002, the effect of the Post employees' effort remained to be seen.

Circulation Patterns and Prices

Newspapers across the United States are remarkably homogenous in terms of their price. Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers from 2000 show that nearly all U.S. papers charge the same amount for their daily editions, and nearly the same amount for Sunday editions. The median cost of a daily paper has been $.50 since 1996, regardless of the size of the paper or its circulation. Average, or mean, costs tend to vary by circulation groups because a few newspapers charge slightly more or less for daily editions; for all newspapers, the mean cost is $.49. Sunday figures have been stable over the same period, with papers under 25,000 circulation charging a median amount of $1, papers between 25,000 and 50,000 charging $1.25, and papers over 50,000 circulation charging $1.50. The median charge for all Sunday papers is $1.25, and the mean charge is $1.28. Fully 76 percent of the 950 Audit Bureau of Circulations members that release single-copy costs charge 50 cents for their newspapers.

Newsprint Availability and Cost

The availability and price of newsprint remained relatively volatile through the late 1990s and early 2000s, with newspapers' desire to maintain a constant stock of paper colliding with supply constraints in the newsprint milling system. Prices per ton continued to fluctuate, reaching a high of $605 per ton in November of 1998 and falling as low as $470 per ton in September 1999. In 2000, newspapers used 11,983,000 metric tons of newsprint, a 1.1 percent increase over 1999. Stocks on hand remained relatively constant, with newspapers keeping an average of 43 days' supply on hand in 2001 and 2002.

Newsprint is one of the two major cost centers in newspaper publishing, with the other being labor costs. To reduce newsprint costs, many papers have been converting to a smaller "web width" to conserve paper, which is priced per ton. The smaller web width—50 inches at most papers, down from 52 or 54 inches—means that papers are getting perceptibly narrower, and is partially responsible for driving redesigns at many newspapers. The major effect of the shorter width that most consumers notice is that the page takes on a substantially more vertical feel, with story packages stripped down the sides of pages instead of being in horizontally boxed formats. The return to verticality of design is in some ways a throwback to the days before offset printing, when stories were confined to a single column by the technology of the lead type case.

The offset press has also benefited considerably from the revolution in computer technology that newspapers have taken advantage of through the 1980s and 1990s. The advent of the Macintosh computer and the laser printer in 1984 marked the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution and caused newspapers to realize many of the inherent capabilities of the offset press. Computers in many ways have vastly simplified the problems of copy flow throughout newsrooms, forever destroying the position of the copyboy. Copy can now flow relatively seamlessly from the reporter's laptop through phone lines and directly to the printing plate without any "hard copy" ever being printed. Design programs freed designers from the tyranny of the six-or seven-column front, allowing stories to be stripped across pages, story elements to be horizontal rather than vertical, and graphics technology to be employed to create maps, charts, and other visual elements that draw readers into the page. Offset presses also tend to make it easier for newspapers to print four-color art, including photographs and graphics, and to increase the amount of colored elements on the page. In 2002, The Wall Street Journal, for years the last bastion of strict vertical design in the United States, redesigned to use color in all of its sections and actually broke headlines across two columns on its front page.

Distribution Networks

Distribution networks continue to be a problem for many newspapers, especially those in large cities that have a very time-sensitive population and large traffic problems. Interestingly, the shift to morning publication has meant that many newspapers can be somewhat more flexible with distribution times. Afternoon papers, by their nature absolutely have to arrive by a certain time each day, while most people will not notice the difference between a 4 a.m. and a 5 a.m. throw for morning papers.

In many smaller newspapers, individual carriers, who are independent contractors, are still the preferred method for delivering subscriptions, while the circulation department might own or rent a van or truck to fill up racks across the circulation area. Bigger metropolitan papers, however, usually employ a mixture of carriers, delivery vans, and trucks, and contract with individual commercial companies to distribute newspapers. Recently, many papers have discontinued home delivery for their outlying circulation areas, relying instead on mail services for distribution. At the beginning of 2002, about 44 percent of papers owned their own distribution vehicles; 29 percent contracted; 16.9 percent used employee vehicles; and about 9.7 percent leased vehicles from another company.

Press Laws

Constitutional Guarantees—The History of First Amendment Case Law

Freedom of the press in the United States rests on a firm constitutional bulwark. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances." When the First Amendment was written, the federal government was relatively weak but greatly feared by many members of the new United States. The First Amendment, and the other nine amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights, is now generally construed as being intended to provide citizens with specific protections against an aggrandizement of power by the federal government. Most state governments had their own Bills of Rights at the time the Constitution was written, and many had stronger protections than the new federal constitution provided.

The United States legal system mixes statute law, common law, and administrative law in what can seem a confusing mishmash of rules. In general, however, most of what we think of as "First Amendment law" comes from U.S. Supreme Court decisions. The court's decisions have common-law value and are constitutionally unchallengeable. In addition, a long-standing recourse to precedents in the common law in courts of appeals and the Supreme Court means that prior decisions generally hold a great deal of value when deciding present cases.

What this means for contemporary observers is that Supreme Court decisions tend to be construed by other lawmaking bodies in terms of general rules, or tests, to be followed in determining the limits of expression. In fact, many of the court's decisions are written with a view towards providing, amplifying, correcting or challenging prior decisions and general rules. Although the federal Congress is generally loath to pass laws that obviously restrict free expression or challenge established precedents, it can and does pass new laws that fall into the many gray areas created by a common-law system and which have to be adjudicated by the courts. The federal and state governments, of course, are always at liberty to grant more freedoms to their citizens than are specifically provided for in laws and court decisions.

When James Madison was asked to write the First Amendment, he began work in a political climate that was acutely aware of the long history of the suppression of press freedoms by British authorities, dating back to Elizabethan times. Moreover, the amendment was written to satisfy Antifederalist opponents of the Constitution who feared that a strong central government would unavoidably usurp state privileges and encroach upon the rights of the common citizen.

Despite Madison's intentions, the despotic power of the federal government would be given full force during Federalist John Adams' presidency, when Congress passed a series of Alien and Sedition Acts. The acts, which were generally aimed at Antifederalist printers and suspicious foreigners who were supporters of Thomas Jefferson, succeeded in jailing some 40 Antifederalist editors and deporting several hundred supporters of the French Revolution. They had the somewhat unintended effect of creating a widespread disgust for the Federalist Party and helped Jefferson win the election of 1800. The acts were quietly left to die, never challenged in court; however, the principle of judicial review was not part of the U.S. polity before the Marbury v. Madison case in 1803.

Press freedoms would again be suppressed by governments during the nineteenth century, but those acts took place on a much more local scale. For example, Andrew Jackson suppressed presses in New Orleans that were sympathetic to the British during the War of 1812. During the great sectional debates over slavery that led up to the Civil War, the postal service routinely denied abolitionist newspapers delivery in the South, and President Lincoln, Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and a host of generals on both sides attacked and suspended printing presses during the Civil War. However, there were no major Supreme Court decisions concerning the First Amendment during the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. The country had to wait for the turmoil and agitation surrounding the outbreak of World War I for court decisions to articulate definitive theories of First Amendment freedoms.

Theories Concerning First Amendment Freedoms

The one major question that all observers agree on pertains to the freedom from prior restraint. At its base, the First Amendment was designed to prevent federal government—and, because of later decisions, state and local governments—from stopping newspapers and other media from publishing. This idea is generally construed to mean that a system of prior restraint or press licensing, like the colonies had under British rule, is proscribed. Furthermore, the amendment is construed to ban any governmental action that would have the effect of creating a system of prior restraint or of subjecting the press to any form of censorship. The major prior restraint case, Near v. Minnesota, indicated that the form of government action was less important than its effect on the press. In the single case of federal prior restraint, the Pentagon Papers case, a unanimous Supreme Court decision (New York Times Co. v. United States ) found restraint to be unconstitutional. The Near decision also noted that even if expression is unlawful, it is better punished after the fact than by restraining its publication altogether.

At a very basic level, then, the major question that arises from this assumption is whether press freedom consists of only freedom from prior restraint, or whether press freedom should be construed to include some protections from after-the-fact litigation related to materials already published. The question was not settled in favor of proscribing government interference through criminal sanctions until Schenck v. United States was handed down in 1919.

The original theory of free speech guarantees owes its origins to the publication of John Milton's Areopagitica. Milton's theory of press freedom rests upon the concept of a "marketplace of ideas" in which rational debate can take place. In such a marketplace, good and bad ideas can be given full expression and can be freely debated. In such a system, constitutional protection is given to good ideas as well as bad ideas with full confidence in truth eventually emerging. Protection of all ideas is guaranteed because only their eventual death or survival in the marketplace will tell how truthful or false they are. The concept of a marketplace of ideas enjoyed a renaissance in the press around the turn of the twentieth century; immediately before then, of course, newspapers supported individual political parties and tended not to view themselves as open forums for discussion. This theory was espoused most famously in cases such as Abrams v. United States (1919), Gitlow v. New York (1925), and Whitney v. California (1927). Gitlow is especially important as being the first time the First Amendment protections of free speech were held to be binding on state governments; for a variety of reasons, the course of court decisions following the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment meant that each individual amendment had to be applied against the state governments.

The next major development in theories of press freedom is the Meiklejohn thesis, named for its author, the philosopher Abraham Meiklejohn. In the early 1960s, Meiklejohn argued that the basis for press freedom rests upon the fact that the United States is a self-governing society. He argued that the First Amendment is designed to protect the specific type of speech by which U.S. citizens govern themselves. In essence, Meiklejohn's argument rests on the idea that the people delegate certain powers to government but reserve to themselves the right of oversight of government. Meiklejohn would also add to the First Amendment coverage for speech in all aspects of artistic, literary, scientific, educational, and philosophical endeavors because the ability of people to govern themselves effectively depends so heavily on cultivating educated rationality.

Cases that have embodied the spirit of Meiklejohn's argument include New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) and, in a decision that expresses the idea in an earlier form, Near v. Minnesota (1931). Sullivan is the defamation case in which the court set forth a strict standard that public officials must follow to prove libel against them. The court's rationale in treating with skepticism libel claims by officials is rooted in the belief that public governance relies on full and vigorous criticism of officials performing their duties and that falsehoods ought only be libelous if they are printed with actual malice and a reckless disregard for the truth. Near is best known for being the first time the court found the First Amendment's freedom of the press clause to be binding on state governments. It also was the case that placed prior restraint of the press beyond the pale of government action.

Other theories of the role of the First Amendment exist, though in less well-reasoned forms. One common interpretation is that the First Amendment functions as a "safety valve" through which extreme elements of society can vent their anger in a safer way than revolution. Another argument, which has gained increasing currency with the growing acceptance of psychological theories of development, is that the ability to freely express oneself is fundamental to individual development and growth. This latter interpretation places the First Amendment within the realm of fundamental human rights, rather than simply constitutional rights guaranteed by government.

Theories in Practice

The Supreme Court has applied these theories to actual cases in a variety of ways. In general, the court has attempted to arrive at decisions which inherently provide observers with a variety of operative tests to use when considering whether some form of speech is permitted or not. Those tests can generally be seen as corresponding to any one of a variety of fundamental tests of the First Amendment.

The most basic definition of the First Amendment is that it provides a central core of protection for any expression in all circumstances. This is known as the absolutist approach to First Amendment law, and it takes its basic approach from the language of the amendment. Absolutists can believe that no law quite literally means no law, but they express this belief in a variety of ways. Most absolutists, despite the name, do understand that there are conditions under which speech can reasonably be restricted; the famous example of crying "Fire" in a theater is the obvious one. The absolutist approach generally defines "law" as including administrative regulations as well as legislative decisions and tends to argue that restrictions on free expression must be contentneutral.

Permissible regulations would focus only on limiting the time, place, and manner of the expression and would be narrowly drawn to restrict the amount of latitude governments would have to restrict speech. The absolutist approach, then, seeks to protect all types of speech, while realizing that communities have a responsibility to protect people's safety and to ensure that speech does not become a nuisance. The time, place, and manner of restrictions could be drawn to take into account the individual needs of communities—no protests at midnight, on public highways, or on the field during public sporting events, for example—as long as they did not interfere with the substance of the regulation. In essence, time, place, and manner restrictions would have to be entirely incidental to speech to be permissible.

Another test of the First Amendment which has claimed a broader following than the absolutist approach is called the "clear and present danger" test. Like the absolutist approach, it is rooted in the ideal of a free market in ideas, but it is more restrictive than the absolutist because it argues that the content of some types of speech can be restricted. The first expression of this test was in the decision of Schenck v. United States (1919). The case focused on a leaflet issued by the American Socialist Party which called on young men to resist the draft in World War I. Schenck, a party officer, was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 by inciting insubordination in the military. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Civil War veteran, argued that Schenck's indictment was allowable because the leaflet presented "a clear and present danger" of bringing about insubordination, a problem which Congress had a legitimate right to prevent or about which Congress had at least the right to legislate. The problem with the clear and present danger test, of course, is that how clear and how present the danger is largely subjective. Moreover, the test's application would vary according to external circumstances; forms of speech permissible in peacetime might be censored in wartime. Speech might also face different restrictions as a result of the speaker's proximity to military bases, government institutions, cheering mobs, and the like. And, quite obviously, the test has the effect of allowing government to punish expression under certain conditional circumstances.

Another, even less well-organized approach to deciding First Amendment cases can be called an ad hoc balancing of interests approach. This approach takes into account the fact that laws challenged on First Amendment grounds do not exist in a vacuum but rather are the product of a balancing of interests between free speech and other governmental interests, some of which can be other constitutionally guaranteed rights. A good example of this is the tension inherent in a defendant's right to a "fair, speedy, and public trial." The guarantee of a public trial was meant to do away with the abuses of the English court system, in which the accused often did not have the right to face his accuser or even to learn the nature of the charges against him.

Unfortunately, the amendment drafted in the 1790s has run up against the mass media of the twenty-first century. In many cases, media coverage of a trial can bias or appear to bias its outcome. Especially for defendants caught after a long search or accused of particularly gruesome crimes, the media outcry can bias potential jurors, turn the community against the accused, and generally subvert the ideal that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. Closed-courtroom cases are almost always decided on an ad hoc basis by the judge or judges involved.

A host of cases have used the ad hoc approach, and no consistent direction has been given to the court or law-makers as a result. In general, the flaw in the ad hoc approach is that each case must be decided on that basis, weighing the government's interest against the free-speech interest at question. Citizens and journalists can never be sure when their speech may or may not be protected.

The last major approach to the First Amendment focuses on definitional balancing of interests, which essentially argues that classes of speech by definition are outside the pale of First Amendment rights. The classic example of a definable class of speech is obscenity, and anti-obscenity laws show both the strengths and the weaknesses of definitional balancing. On the one hand, defining classes of speech as unprotected is a more consistent approach than the ad hoc balancing approach. Every case of obscene speech is illegal. However, the problem in definitional balancing is defining obscenity, not to mention "fighting words" and a host of other classes of speech that might be illegal. Justice Stewart famously declared that though he could not define obscenity, he knew it when he saw it—an approach that reduces obscenity law to an ad hoc approach.

The other problem with definitional balancing is that it fails to take into account the circumstances and context of speech, even when that speech can be defined. Speech deemed obscene in a men's magazine, such as a description of pedophilia, might not be obscene and might even find high literary expression when in a context such as Nabokov's Lolita. Libel, another definitionally unprotected category of speech, was found to be permissible in certain cases after the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case in 1964.

These four major approaches have not always been consistently applied, nor have they been consistently argued. They are often in conflict. But they do provide some clues as to the likely future approach of the court to communications law. In general, the court of 2002 has embraced an ad hoc balancing approach, with some individual justices leaning more or less in different directions. Often this ad hoc approach has been more restrictive of First Amendment rights than previous courts have been. This court has often found itself using tests to examine specific facts or instances of the case. In general, the court has more often than not asked governments to prove that their restrictions are narrowly tailored when they relate to speech issues.

The current court has used at least three levels of speech when deciding First Amendment cases. The first model of decision-making is based on the actual content of speech; in a definitional-balancing approach, the court has often decided cases on what it perceives as the inherent value of the speech in question.

The second model is based on the mode of transmission of speech, with the court often holding that new media, such as the Internet, live by different rules than older forms of media. In two 1997 cases, Turner v. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Reno v. ACLU, the court held that "must-carry" channel rules apply to cable companies and that restrictions on indecent material transmitted over the Internet are unconstitutional. The convergence of new and old media forms will likely create major problems for the court if it continues to insist that different media have different First Amendment standards.

The court has further recognized that media organizations have a right to publish news only inasmuch as they have the right to gather news. The "right-to-access" rulings that the court has issued in recent years have extended newsgatherers' unique protections under the umbrella of First Amendment rights. In particular, the court has handed down decisions that have the effect of liberalizing Freedom of Information laws by mandating that organizations must cooperate within a reasonable amount of time with citizen requests.

Registration and Licensing of Journalists—Print Media

Journalists in the United States are generally free from requirements that they be either registered or licensed to do their jobs, and newspapers, magazines, and Internet sites can publish freely at any time without any sort of license or official recognition. Efforts to license journalists have never gained any serious momentum in the United States as a result of First Amendment rules against prior restraint; opponents of licensing argue that it would inherently operate as a form of prior restraint.

The closest that newspaper journalists come to registration is in special situations, such as when covering campaigns, the White House, or legislatures, sporting events, or in other situations where security or space restrict access to the subject of coverage. In those situations, press members are issued "credentials" from any one of a variety of bodies, which they must present to gain access. In other situations, groups of correspondents might form "pools" to cover events or speeches in which only a few members of the press can have access. In such situations, the reporters or photographers who are picked by pools to cover the event have an informal but strong understanding that the information they gather is to be shared with all members of the pool equally and without regard to "scoops" or other inter-media competition.

Although credentials are often handed out by the public-relations agency responsible for the people or event being covered—such as a football game or a White House press conference—there are informal or formal understandings that govern credentialing. Generally, media outlets are granted roughly equal numbers of credentials for any given event, meaning that no one organization can have a monopoly on a single event.

Although the credentialing parties could refuse credentials to reporters in retaliation for something they or their organizations published, such heavy-handed censorship tends not to be tolerated by the rest of the correspondents covering that organization. When credentials are denied or unexpectedly "pulled" from a legitimate media organization in retaliation for a story, the rest of the "pool" of correspondents, or the rest of those organizations credentialed to cover an event, often refuse to cover the event at all. Given the fact that any organization in a position to credential reporters is generally dependent on press coverage, such walkouts are usually successful. In a relatively recent case, efforts by Minnesota governor and former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura to force media members to wear credentials with the legend "Designated Jackal" resulted in a press outcry which quickly persuaded the governor to drop that idea.

Specific issues with licensing of broadcast stations and broadcast journalists are dealt within the section State Regulation of Broadcast Media. Suffice it to say that broadcast journalists tend to face the same credentialing requirements as print journalists, although the cameras and recording equipment TV and radio journalists use are sometimes a source of dispute, especially over their use in courtrooms. The cameras-in-the-courtroom debate is one that is fought on individual jurisdictional levels and more often than not is mediated between media organizations and individual judges.

Libel and Defamation Laws

Although libel and defamation laws have a long and complex history, the elements common to both are relatively simple. The three elements of libel are the making of a defamatory statement, publication of a defamatory statement, and identification of the person so defamed. Only a living person or an existing corporation or organization can sue for libel because only the party defamed or libeled can sue for damages. Also, the context of a statement can make a significant difference in deciding whether a statement is actionable; calling a convicted murderer inhuman is a vastly different matter from calling a respected surgeon inhuman.

There are at least seven major categories of libelous statements. They are false accusation of a crime; sexual impropriety; mental illness or loathsome disease; business or professional misconduct or incompetence; bankruptcy or fiscal irresponsibility; disgraceful behavior like substance abuse or child molestation; and product disparagement. These categories are not comprehensive. Other statements can be defamatory; indeed, 49 states find a false statement that someone is homosexual or bisexual to be defamatory. Trade libel is a relatively new category of libel, and the case law surrounding it is murky. Many states have passed "veggie libel" laws that seek to protect major agricultural industries from false claims; other states have passed similar statutes with reference to banks or insurance companies.

To successfully bring an action for libel, plaintiffs must prove that a defamatory statement has been made against them; that the statement was published to others; that the plaintiff was identified in the statement; and, in certain cases, that they suffered economic loss as a result of the libel. The requirement to show damages leads individuals into the area of distinguishing between libel per se and libel per quod. Very briefly stated, libel per se is any statement that is libelous upon its face, while libel per quod is any statement that could be libelous given what certain people know about the defamed party. For example, incorrectly stating that John Callahan was just married could be libelous per quod if people who knew Callahan is a priest read that statement. For various complex reasons, libel per se and libel per quod are treated with the same burden of proof in most states, although other states require plaintiffs to show money damages to prove that libel per quod has happened.

Defenses against libel actions vary somewhat given the nature of the case. The most basic defense against libel at common law is truth or "justification." In the United States, truth is for the most part an absolute defense against claims of libel or defamation. However, some states, such as Rhode Island, require that truth bespoken with "justifiable ends" or "good motive." This exception to truth defenses is essentially designed to protect persons from unsavory truths about themselves being used to defame them.

The truth defense is, of course, limited by the ability of a defendant to prove the truth of a statement in a court of law. The scope of the truth defense is also somewhat limited by the fact that the truth or falsity of the charges must be entire; a claim that someone is a compulsive gambler could not be supported by proving one visit to a casino.

The second major category of defenses against defamation rests on a specific privilege that confers immunity against libel suits. Privileges can be qualified or absolute: absolute privilege insulates the person who makes the statement against any charge of defamation, while qualified privileges apply only in specific circumstances and can be questioned in court.

Some persons enjoying absolute privilege include governmental officials working in executive, legislative, judicial, and administrative offices. Statements made in a legislative forum, ranging from the floor of Congress to a city council meeting, enjoy absolute privilege from libel actions. Similarly, judges, lawyers, witnesses, defendants, and plaintiffs all hold absolute privilege for statements made in a judicial setting. The executive and administrative privileges are somewhat more constrained, given the relative scarcity of debate or open meetings in such branches of government. Nevertheless, statements made in an official context by those officials enjoy absolute privilege.

There are also various qualified privileges to make libelous statements, but claims of qualified privilege are always defeated by plaintiffs' establishing malice on the part of defendants. Proving malice requires plaintiffs to prove that the relevant publication was motivated by some consideration other than that which has the privilege in the first place. Qualified privileges tend to be very specific; they include a privilege for a physician to criticize a pharmacist's competence; an employer to criticize an employee to a supervisor; a bank officer to make a charge of forgery; and various other privileges.

The media have qualified privilege based on their function to engage in public oversight of government activity or in order to notify the public of public proceedings. The privilege is based on the idea that if all proceedings were kept secret, potential abuses of power could occur. Journalists must be wary of claiming this privilege, however, because various states can and do construe differently reporters' claims of privilege.

In general, journalists have a qualified privilege to publish accounts of court proceedings or court papers that have been brought before a judge or magistrate but not to publish allegations contained in pretrial papers. Reports of grand jury investigations, district attorneys' investigations, and police proceedings can be dangerous until some action is taken on them, such as an arrest or an indictment. Reporting that someone has been arrested or indicted, however, is always privileged, as long as the form the report takes does not imply the suspect's guilt. Reports of legislative proceedings also hold a privilege, as long as those proceedings were part of an authorized public meeting.

To prove a qualified privilege, defendants must prove that the report is fair and accurate and is motivated by a sense of duty to disclose the information to those receiving it. The report does not have to be completely accurate, as long as inaccuracies do not affect the essential accuracy of the report. Also, if a defamatory result is made for any purpose other than to inform those people who have a "need to know" the information, it can be found to be malicious.

The third major category of defenses against defamation rests on a privilege to fairly comment on news and public events. The fair comment privilege has been rendered somewhat moot concerning public officials by the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case, since the privilege accorded the media this case is broader than the old "fair comment" privilege. The "fair comment" privilege was construed to allow the media to honestly express a communicator's opinion on matters of public interest, based upon clearly and fairly stated facts in the communication. The privilege was constrained somewhat by a requirement that the comment had to be free of speculation as to the motives of the person whose conduct was criticized. Before Sullivan, the media was generally made free to comment on political, literary, and artistic matters by the "fair comment" defenses, which were construed very broadly by the courts.

In the fourth category of defenses, defamation actions are called "incomplete defenses," because at best they only mitigate damages that can be collected by the plaintiff; they do not bar liability. An example of an incomplete defense is a complete and unequivocal retraction of a libelous statement made in a place that holds the same prominence as the defamatory statement. The retraction can mitigate damages, but the amount of mitigation is generally dependent upon state statutes. Media organizations can also mitigate damages by allowing a defamed person to reply to the defamation by using the organization's facilities, but the use of media facilities is not generally enough to establish "good will" on the part of the organization and can leave the organization open to further punitive damages. A reply can, however, mitigate actual damages, since a defamed party has the opportunity to influence those whose good will had presumably been damaged by the libel. Broadcast organizations can even be compelled to allow defendants to reply; however, any attempt to compel print media to allow a reply has been held to violate the First Amendment.

In recent years, libel actions have become more perilous for media organizations and for others who seek to express themselves under the First Amendment. The actual and punitive damage awards juries have been granting have skyrocketed, to a high of a jury award of $222.7 million in a 1997 libel action by Money Management Research Group, Inc. (MMAR) against Dow Jones and Co. for a Wall Street Journal article stating that MMAR was under investigation. A district court reduced the damages to $22.7 million, and a 1999 holding set aside the ruling entirely when a judge found that MMAR had withheld evidence that would have bolstered Dow Jones' defense. However, the cost of litigating the action alone was staggering, and the initial jury award had an immediately chilling effect on media organizations.

As corporations and agencies have discovered the cost of litigating suits, they have increasingly turned to filing libel suits against public organizations who criticize proposed developments and circulate petitions or call meetings opposing them. Such suits, called "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" (SLAPP), are filed with the specific intention of punishing or harassing anyone critical of the corporation and with the intention of driving poorly-funded citizens' action groups out of business. Nine states have found SLAPP suits to have a chilling effect on public debate and participation in decisions and have passed laws making such suits illegal or calling for early dismissal of such suits. The anti-SLAPP laws have also been construed to apply to media organizations.

Privacy Laws

The basic distinction between a public figure and a private person was established by the 1974 Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. case and expanded upon in subsequent decisions. Essentially, the court has distinguished between two types of public figures. The first of these types is the all-purpose public figure, such as Michael Jordan, who has such general fame or notoriety that his or her name is a household word. The second type of public figure is a limited-purpose public figure. Limited-purpose public figures are further divided into two categories, based on whether they choose or are thrust into the public eye. Voluntary public figures are those who achieve notoriety by voluntarily thrusting themselves into the "vortex" of a specific public controversy. Ralph Nader would have begun his public life as a voluntary limited-purpose public figure, moving to the status of all-purpose public figure later. Involuntary public figures are those persons who become associated with public events or become placed in the eye of the media by chance, usually related to their involuntary participation in a newsworthy event. Accident survivors often become involuntary limited-purpose public figures.

Privacy invasion as a tort has had a relatively short history in the United States, being recognized for the first time only in 1905. However, privacy laws and invasion-of-privacy cases have been some of the most contentious areas of law in recent times. As of 2002, all 50 states and the District of Columbia recognized invasion of privacy as an offense, but four states recognized a right to privacy only by statute. Liability for privacy cases is complex because there are at least four distinct branches to invasion-of-privacy cases. They include appropriating another's name or likeness; unreasonable intrusion upon another's seclusion; publicity which unreasonably places another in a false light before the public; and unreasonable publicity given to another's personal life. The tort of appropriation seems to be most applicable in the case of celebrities depending on to which application their image or name is put. In essence, modern cases of appropriation have served to create a property right in one's own image, which for many celebrities is of immense value to companies advertising all manner of products through celebrity endorsements. Appropriation of a celebrity's image for one's own use is therefore an offense analogous to a violation of copyright law. The media are relatively seldom sued for such invasions; more often, the victim of a suit is someone who has attempted to appropriate an image for advertising purposes. Media outlets are generally protected by a doctrine of "incidental use," in which depictions of celebrities which are incidental, not central, to an advertising or news product do not constitute violations of privacy. In some states, even dead celebrities—or their heirs—can have property rights in their image violated, although those rights vary widely.

The media have run afoul of intrusion laws much more frequently. The tort of intrusion occurs when one's sphere of privacy is violated without one's consent, by either physical or electronic means. When people are in a public zone, they can be recorded or photographed; however, when they are in their own homes or private places, they cannot be. That distinction also applies without regard to the victim of the intrusion. Reporters and newsgathering organizations have been sued under these statutes for a variety of reasons, ranging from invasion of a voicemail system of the Chiquita company to the use of hidden cameras to investigate a plumber posing as a doctor. Journalists have also been successfully sued for trespass and invasion, most famously in a case involving journalists who applied for jobs at a Food Lion supermarket and used their jobs to illicitly record unsafe food-handling practices at the store.

The upshot of a confusing variety of cases involving intrusion laws is complex. Essentially, journalists should know that misrepresenting themselves to gain entry to private or public property is extremely risky; that unauthorized entry constitutes intrusion and trespass; that permission from public officials is sufficient to gather news in public buildings; and that permission by police or fire officials to enter private property will not necessarily insulate a reporter against damages.

False light suits can be another treacherous area for journalists. Essentially, placing someone in a false light consists of creating a false image of that person or placing him or her in a false light through publication, whether or not that false light is defamatory. This can take several forms, from misrepresenting someone's political views to attributing to them a disease or personality trait that they do not possess. Obviously, false light suits present major problems to news organizations, in which it is often impossible to check every single fact about a person or group. In 1984, the North Carolina Supreme Court recognized that the tension between First Amendment and false light claims is significant, and it decided that false light claims should be rejected as redundant of defamation. Essentially, that means any false claim that causes actual damages can be dealt with through existing libel and defamation laws. By 1999, some 11 states, including North Carolina, had refused to recognize false light claims.

The most difficult area for journalists to currently assess is that of public disclosures of private facts. It is unclear what sorts of private facts are protected by these laws and which ones are not. Most media outlets can escape prosecution for public disclosure if the facts they published are newsworthy. In general, courts have deferred to news organizations' judgment about which facts are newsworthy, meaning that organizations have generally been prosecuted only for publishing facts that are obviously chosen solely because they involve a sensational or prurient issue. The courts have also generally found in favor of news organizations if the facts they described were in the public domain previously, even if they had not been published or broadcast.

Freedom to Gather News

Although the First Amendment protects reporters' rights to publish news, it includes no inherent protection for the right to gather news. Because of the obvious difficulties presented by the fact that government could exclude the media from access to meetings, files, records, and other information, and because of a growing suspicion on the part of the media that not all government restrictions on information had to do with legitimate "national security" issues, a movement to liberalize rules about access to information began in the 1950s and had great success throughout the 1970s. The 1980s saw a bit of backsliding on the part of government agencies, but rules were liberalized again beginning in 1993.

In 1966, Congress passed the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which requires federal executive and regulatory agencies to publish indexes of documents in the Federal Register and to provide documents on request to citizens. Documents produced by Congress and the White House are exempt from the act. In general, agencies may refuse to release documents for a variety of reasons, including national security and classification, personnel data, trial data, and trade secrets. Agencies that refuse to release documents have the burden of proof if the media or citizens request an administrative hearing.

The original effect of the act was mixed; in general, agencies were more forthcoming with documents, and journalists had a legal basis to make their requests. On the other hand, courts generally upheld agencies' view of exemptions. The act was amended in 1974 and in 1986 to liberalize disclosure rules, establish reasonable searching and copying fees, and include the Office of the President and various other government corporations and independent agencies that had claimed exemptions in the past. In general, FOIA requests are complied with promptly because agencies have an interest in avoiding expensive litigation that can result from delays or denials. Journalists have taken advantage of FOIA disclosures to expose a variety of official secrets, ranging from data on a nuclear accident in New Mexico to military overspending and the CIA's role in overthrowing governments.

Congress extended FOIA protection to electronic records in 1996, requiring agencies to list documents electronically and provide copies of records over the Internet. The act specifies that electronic records, including e-mail messages, are subject to the same disclosure rules as regular paper documents.

A corollary to the FOIA has been a proliferation of federal and state "sunshine" laws designed to open meetings to public view. In 1974, Congress passed a federal open meetings law requiring federal boards, commissions, and agencies to conduct their meetings in public and to record even informal conversations between officials and subcontractors for public consumption. A variety of state statutes have also been passed, but their expansiveness varies with each state. In general, though, Sunshine laws say that the only reason a meeting may be closed is if a board is discussing personnel issues.

The 1970s were also an era in which government agencies and media organizations began to butt heads over the question of access to information about illegal activities gathered in the course of interviews. The question is somewhat thorny because there is no question that access to information about illegal activities would serve a government interest and similarly no question that disclosing such information would make many journalists' jobs untenable. Beginning in the 1970s, some states have passed "shield laws" that protect journalists from being forced to disclose confidential information gathered during interviews or other proceedings. In some states, those laws include protection from subpoenas for newsrooms and news offices, and some statutes also include terms that allow journalists to refuse to testify at grand jury or other court proceedings.

Some journalists claim special privileges based on their "professional" status as journalists, claiming exemptions from subpoenas in the same way that lawyers and doctors might. The problem with the professionalism argument, though, is that because the government does not license journalists, professional status is informal at best.

One court case, Branzburg v. Hayes, has shed some light on the question of journalists testifying. Although the decision in Branzburg is complex, the majority of justices seemed to recognize no unique right for newsper-sons to refuse to testify before grand jury proceedings. The dissenters in the case, however, presented a three-part test to apply to the question that has subsequently been used in federal and state courts. The test would require the government to (1) show that there is probable cause to believe that the newsperson has information clearly related to a specific probable violation of law; (2) show that the information sought cannot be obtained by alternative means less damaging to First Amendment rights; and (3) demonstrate a compelling and overriding interest in that information.

Court actions regarding journalists' claims of privilege have had mixed results. In general, reporters' success in claiming privilege depends on the context of the court proceeding, and courts will not honor claims made before grand juries and trial courts. Courts will honor claims of privilege when the claim is made during civil pretrial proceedings and when confidential information is being sought by the accused and is not critical to his or her defense. However, in cases where journalists are defendants, courts are more likely to find that information is at the heart of the plaintiff's case and cannot be obtained from alternative sources. If a journalist is a plaintiff and wishes to deny information to the defense through a claim of privilege, the claim will be always be denied.

Censorship & State-Press Relations

Censorship

There is no official means for the government to censor newspapers, magazines, broadcast stations or other media in the United States. There is no federal censorship agency, and no way for the government to effectively enjoin a newspaper or magazine from publishing anything it wants to publish.

Government Efforts to Manage News

In the absence of any official mechanism for censoring the news, the United States substitutes an astonishing variety of informal mechanisms, ranging from official press conferences to whispered tips at cocktail parties, to manage what news journalists print. Recent presidential campaigns, starting with the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, have come up with "rapid response" teams to slant the news of the day in a way that is favorable to their candidate, and many public officials boast of their ability and expertise in managing the press. Media consultants are employed by nearly every government agency worth the title, and the amount of time and money spent on "spin" is astonishing. Even official handouts, charts, and graphs at press conferences reek of efforts to manage the news of the day.

At the same time that working journalists vie with politicians and news managers every day, there is massive official denial that any efforts are made to manage the press. Government investigators continually bemoan the existence of "leaks" from unnamed sources, while government "whistle-blowers," hungry to attack other agencies or motivated by a sincere desire for change, eagerly inform the media of instances of official incompetence, poor planning, or malfeasance. Such whistle-blowers have been instrumental in journalistic reports ranging from the Pentagon Papers case through Watergate and Iran-Contra to the investigations into the intelligence failure surrounding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A common "unofficial-official" method of gauging public support for a particular plan is to have a high government official unofficially "leak" plans to do something to a trusted journalist or alternatively to have an official make a statement at odds with an administration viewpoint. Stories written on such "trial balloons," and the public and international response to them, provide policy guidance to government officials at very little cost to themselves or their credibility. In the summer of 2002, Secretary of State Colin Powell co-opted the United States press to float the idea of Palestinian statehood in front of world opinion; seeing an overwhelmingly negative response from the West, President Bush quickly denied that he had ever considered Palestinian statehood.

In the face of such attempts to manage the news, journalists have responded in a variety of ways. Journalists are probably most susceptible to management when they are new to a particular beat and desperate for sources; when they are new to the profession altogether; or when they are given little choice about how to gather the news they report, as with late-night briefings while traveling on campaign airplanes. It is fair to say that most journalists quickly develop a reflexive dislike for managed news, even as they depend on it to some extent for stories and leads to stories. In the best journalistic relationships with public officials, there can exist a love-hate dichotomy between official sources and journalists; both realize that the other is necessary for their own survival, and both tend not to like that fact.

Editorial Influence on Government Policies

There is a massive but probably unquantifiable editorial influence on government policies at every level of government in the United States. The high point of editorial influence on government was probably reached during the 1970s, when the government pullback from the Vietnam War and the resignation of Richard Nixon could be directly traced to pressure applied by the press against the government. Similarly, media pressure and public opinion expressed through the media forced or encouraged the federal government to call for hearings on the Iran-Contra hostage scandal; effected a dramatic turnaround of events that saw President George H. W. Bush fall from 80 percent approval ratings to losing the 1992 election; forced the government first into and then out of Somalia; emboldened the Congress to impeach President Clinton; and was partially responsible for beginning and ending the Internet stock market boom of the 1990s. A subtler trend evident since the September 11 attacks is the continuing undercurrent of media coverage on human-rights abuses and on nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs in Iraq, apparently preparing the way for a United States effort to expel Saddam Hussein. The exact effect the media has had or will have in each of these cases is probably unmeasurable, but to say that the media had no effect on them is ludicrous.

The media is also felt in a variety of more subtle ways, generally expressed through some branch of local or state government not doing something because the newspapers would find out. The media also holds great influence over private corporations both large and small; a recent example of this influence can be felt in media coverage of the Enron scandal that encouraged many other public companies to voluntarily disclose auditing errors or questionable auditing practices.

It is important here to note, however, that the unique characteristics of the U.S. newspaper system mean that the effects of media pressure make themselves felt in unique ways. Because American newspapers and media organizations are committed to a policy of objectivity and political independence, they inherently lack some of the tools for pressuring government that newspapers linked to political parties possess.

In the press system developed in the early days of the American republic and which lasted until the 1920s, partisan newspapers could and did offer politicized solutions to national problems. Movements for the abolition of slavery, for temperance and Prohibition, for and against immigration reform, land tenure reform, education and government reform, and currency reform, to say nothing of the first calls for American independence, found their first reasoned political expression in American newspapers. The political orientation of the newspapers was apparent, and more often than not the solutions offered followed partisan orientation, but they were at least solutions, and many of them found their way into the daily public lives of Americans.

The modern press, by contrast, often finds itself constrained to suggesting solutions only on the editorial page, if there, and often is reactive to government solutions, rather than proactive in creating its own solutions. Scholars of the American press, notably Robert M. Entman, have characterized the modern press as having "power without control" and exercising "pressure without reform." Jeffrey L. Pasley cogently summarizes the arbitrary nature of the modern media in the following passage:

Typically, political power involves the ability to exercise control, implying some direction or purpose. However, this is not what the modern news media have, committed as they are to a policy of political value and lacking as they do the direct link that a successful political party forges between public attitudes, partisan elections, and government policies. Rather, the modern political news media is powerful more as the weather is—an awesome force that moves or destroys without purpose, motive, intention or plan, a power that cannot direct itself toward any particular object. Hence, though surveys have always revealed national-level journalists to be heavily Democratic in their personal beliefs, the news media over the years of the late twentieth century have raised up presidencies and candidates, then smote them down again, seemingly without much regard to substantive issues or ideological affinities. (The Tyranny of Printers 3 )

Pasley's point is well taken when one considers the peculiar nature of political reporting and the effect it has had on national campaigns in the late twentieth century.

Candidates from both parties have indeed been raised up and smote down based upon allegations of sexual or financial impropriety or on the basis of their perceived friendliness, intelligence, or trustworthiness, with depressing regularity, rather than with reporting on the basis of any major differences between candidates on public issues. Such horse-race coverage characterized the 2000 presidential campaign, in which third-party candidate Ralph Nader was able to make the statement—and have it credibly reported in serious newspapers—that there were no substantial differences between the major-party candidates. While newspapers and the media certainly influence public life, the constraints of their objective stance mean that they tend not to do so in a consistent or even constructive fashion.

Government Control of the Press

There is no direct or indirect government control over the newspaper press through subsidies, licensing, labor policies, licenses for printing, or any other official means. The broadcast media, of course, operate under an entirely different set of regulations, given their relationship with the FCC. The controls that government places on the press tend to be in the form of tax laws, workers-rights laws, and occupational safety laws administered by federal and state agencies and to which all businesses operating in a given area are subject.

Attitude toward Foreign Media

Foreign media representatives in the United States are generally treated in the same way as domestic media representatives. Foreign journalists are not subject to any special visa restrictions or restricted in sending news back to their home countries in the form of wires, cables, e-mail, satellite communications and the like.

There are no laws specifically prohibiting foreign investment in the U.S. media, except in broadcasting, where the FCC has placed specific ownership rules on broadcast licenses. Foreign companies are still not significant players in the domestic media market, except in certain sectors of the book publishing industry.

The United States remains opposed to the UNESCO Declaration of 1978, which was seen at the time by the United States as a Communist-led effort on the part of third-world countries to overthrow Western dominance of the media marketplace by imposing state-run and transnational news organizations. The United States and other Western nations feared that the Soviet-led declaration would mean an effective end to their efforts to set up media organizations in Third World countries and would put official Soviet news agencies on par with independent agencies such as the Associated Press in transnational news organizations. Subsequent to the declaration, a number of U.S. and foreign newspapers formed the World Press Freedom Committee to serve as a "watchdog" on issues of press freedom in the Third World and to provide technical expertise, scholarships, and equipment to foreign journalists. The United States withdrew altogether from UNESCO in 1984, during the Reagan administration, citing mismanagement in the agency as well as the agency's Communication Program as reasons for leaving. As of 2002, the United States had not rejoined UNESCO.

The fears of Soviet control over proposed international news organizations died with the end of the Cold War, and early 2000s activities of the World Press Freedom Committee have focused more specifically on fighting censorship in the Third World, publishing journalism manuals other training documents for journalists in lesser-developed countries, and in intervening directly with leaders of Third World nations to fight for journalists' rights in those countries.

News Agencies

Newspapers in the United States subscribe to a wide variety of news agencies, depending upon their particular region of the country, group ownership, and general focus. Business newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, of course, are more likely to subscribe to a variety of business wires, while nearly all U.S. newspapers take the Associated Press (AP). Most large papers have access to a set of wires, including the AP, Reuters, Dow Jones, and Bloomberg financial wires, and some wires associated with their individual newspaper company, such as a New York Times wire or a NYT Regional wire.

The Associated Press, founded by a group of New York newspapers in 1848, is the oldest news agency in the world and the leading news agency in the United States. The AP, a nonprofit cooperative funded by members' subscriptions, operates in 121 countries. About 5,000 broadcast stations and 1,700 newspapers subscribe to the AP in the United States alone. An additional 8,500 news organizations subscribe to the AP overseas. The AP employs about 3,700 people in 242 news bureaus around the world, and transmits more than 20 million words and 1,000 photos to the world every day. It claims to transmit data to up to one billion people every day. "AP style" is the most commonly used form of newspaper writing in the United States, and even those papers with their own stylebooks usually defer to the Associated Press Style-book in confusing or unclear cases.

The AP's major competitor, Reuters, was founded in 1851 in London, and operates in 150 countries, giving it a slightly more global reach than the AP. Reuters is a publicly held corporation which focuses more on financial and business news than the AP does. It also makes much of its profit from providing data on companies and business sectors to individual subscribers, rather than being strictly a news bureau like the AP. Reuters has 230 bureaus and claims 53,500 client locations. However, most of these client locations are not the equivalent of the AP's newspaper and broadcast organizations, but are rather locations in financial markets and businesses that subscribe to its automatic quotations services.

Other newswires that stress business and financial news are Bloomberg and Dow Jones. Like Reuters, Bloomberg is a financial news service with most of its subscribers being corporations interested in worldwide financial news. It moves stories on its financial wires and also produces TV and radio programming for broadcast stations worldwide. Bloomberg News employs about 1,200 reporters in 85 bureaus. Dow Jones is Bloomberg's major U.S. competitor; its worldwide market data and market stories are used mainly by financial newspapers, business editors, and corporate bodies.

There are also a variety of news services set up by major newspapers, including the LA Times /Washington Post service, the Chicago Tribune service, and Copley and Gannett services. Newspaper feature syndicates generally deal with rights to non-breaking news content, such as columns, cartoon strips, and the like.

Broadcast Media

Background & Growth

Broadcasting, on both radio and television, was pioneered in the United States on both a technological and a theoretical level. Many of the experiments that went into wireless technology started as extensions of newspapers; even before spoken news could be transmitted long distances over the air, newspapers would often set up banks of loudspeakers to "broad-cast" election news or sports scores to eager crowds outside their offices.

The first commercial use of radio technology in the United States appears to have been a series of broadcasts made by two Woolworth's department stores to a very limited audience in New York in 1914; the new medium was considered more of a curiosity than a serious alternative to newspapers, and radio receivers were still prohibitively expensive. The U.S. experience in World War I diverted interest from broadcasting and towards more local radio communications for a period of time, and it was not until the 1920s that radio began to gain strength as a medium. In 1920, the Detroit News set up the first newspaper broadcasting station; the Kansas City Star followed the next year. In 1920, KDKA in Pittsburgh set up the first commercial radio station. As radio receivers decreased in both size and price, their commercial availability and attractiveness grew; the new medium reached a "tipping point" in the early 1920s, with the number of receivers in use exploding from a few hundred thousand in 1920 to 5.5 million in 1926. During this period, news broadcasts increased enormously both in variety and in sophistication; the advent of professional "anchormen" and an emphasis on spoken-voice performance began to clarify the difference between newspaper and broadcast styles.

The Depression slowed the growth of radio, but in the long run the economic climate hurt newspaper advertising more. Radio receipts slumped, but the ability of radio to allow people to escape hard times through broadcast dramas made a major difference in the end. Radio started its long transition from being mainly a news medium to mainly an entertainment medium during this period.

The early 1940s moved radio back towards a focus on news as the war in Europe dominated headlines and broadcast stations. The advantage radio had over newspapers—its immediacy and ability for dramatic renditions of the spoken word—was dramatized dramatically in Edward R. Murrow's broadcasts from London, and scores of lesser-known journalists, who broadcast war news from the fronts and news from home to soldiers and sailors far from home.

By the 1950s, most serious observers of the scene would say that radio had peaked; 40 percent of U.S. households had a radio, and listening time had reached a plateau. Some predicted major declines in radio as a new competitor on the broadcast scene—television—was gaining strength. The 1950s were certainly the period in which TV saw its most rapid growth, but by the end of the decade 96 percent of American households owned a radio, and the proliferation of portable and in-car devices meant that the number of listeners was up and likely to stay there. The radio format had changed dramatically, though, as major stars had moved to the new television medium. To some extent, radio had been a victim of its own success; the number of stations grew exponentially faster than spending on advertising; budgets simply would not allow the types of original programming and news shows that the "golden age" of radio had witnessed. Listeners were now treated to a steady diet of single-format music, with occasional "spot" news reports and breezy commentary.

The decisive moment in the ascendancy of television over radio and the event that most clearly showed the transformative nature of television was the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy presidential debate. Radio listeners, and those who read the transcript in newspapers, agreed Nixon had won the substantive part of the debate; on television, however, the sweaty, unshaven Californian was overpowered by Kennedy's charm. Early television anchors became some of the most respected journalists in the United States, and certainly the best-known; Walter Cronkite's famous and principled stand against the war in Vietnam cost Nixon, as he said, middle America.

Cronkite's stand, though, like Edward Murrow's principled and fair attacks on Joseph McCarthy, were very much the exception in television and radio. Broadcasting accelerated the transformation of American journalism toward a nonpartisan, objective method of reporting. Radio and TV stations relied exclusively on commercial advertising to cover their costs; subscriptions were not an alternative, and advertisers demanded stability. A Socialist or Communist radio station could exist, but tenuously, and only insofar as its owners and its programming could meet FCC standards.

Throughout the 1960s and the 1970s, television slowly expanded its hold on the broadcast media. Radio stations, with the exception of public radio, and a few exceptionally principled stations in large metropolitan areas, or very small stations serving rural areas, simply gave up on being serious news organizations and converted almost entirely to a music format, with prepackaged news bought from UPI or another syndicated service. Television stations, on the other hand, continued to take national news seriously and expanded their broadcasts from 10 to 15 to 30 minutes throughout the period. Serious reporting, combined with spot-news availability, brought such disparate events as the Apollo landings, Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald, and the dogs of Birmingham to audiences as they happened.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, though, the three major networks were suffering under the economic crisis that gripped the rest of the United States. As was usual in a recession, advertising revenues were falling, and news programs were coming under increasing fire because they tend to lag behind dramas for revenue-producing value. The time was not ripe—or so it seemed—to launch an all-news, all-the-time cable channel. Nonetheless, 1980 saw the advent of CNN. The initial response to the network was incredulity tempered with wonder: how on earth would anyone find enough news to fill 24 hours of time daily? The new network, however, increasingly caught the attention of busy Americans who did not have the time or patience to wait for a 6 p.m. or 10 p.m. news broadcast. With its repetitive format, simple story content, and a well-earned reputation for fair coverage, CNN caught on quickly. It came before USA Today, but in many ways the two fed on each other's success; the newspaper arguably learned lessons from CNN about story content, coverage, formats, and topics.

The advent of 24-hour cable news, coupled with the increasing availability of cable television to mass audiences, was in many ways a troubling development for the major networks. ESPN followed CNN's lead to launch an all-sports network, with substantial success; in recent years, cable channels have proliferated seemingly beyond reason, with entire channels focused on nothing but fishing, history, various types of shopping, home improvement, and stock-car racing. On the one hand, the multiplication of channels has certainly drained advertising revenue from the major networks; on the other hand, CNN and its subsidiaries have been responsible for recruiting and training a new crop of broadcasters of very high quality. The influence of CNN, with its oft-repeated emphasis on prizing solid journalistic skills above persona appearance or charm, has in the long run been good for cable and broadcast news. The growth in channels, though, combined with the increasing prominence of "star" anchors commanding increasingly inflated salaries, has been less positive for the industry. And the expansion of news stations has resulted in a somewhat diluted talent pool for broadcasters. Many local newscasts still value a demographically broad "news team" over a strongly-skilled one, and many still promote style over substance in reporting.

Broadcasting Licenses and Regulations

Broadcast stations, both TV and radio, operate under somewhat different rules than print organizations. Although broadcast journalists generally operate under the same rules as print journalists when reporting on stories, the stations they work for operate under licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC, established by the Communications Act of 1934, has jurisdiction over approximately one-half of the broadcast spectrum, which is considered public, collective property. (The other half is reserved for federal government uses; military and civilian agencies take up this portion.) The FCC has specific and limited powers to regulate its portion of the spectrum. The FCC is prohibited from considering questions of competition, market share, mergers, antitrust issues, truth or falsity of advertising materials, and civil cases between broadcasters. These issues are handled by the relevant agency that would handle them outside broadcasting. For example, advertising issues are handled by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC); the FCC would only step in if a station continued to broadcast an advertisement deemed to be false and misleading by the FTC. The system is set up in this manner because of a long-standing conflict between state regulation of the spectrum and a desire to let the free market decide most of these issues on its own.

Possibly the best-known of the powers the FCC has is the power to issue licenses for broadcast stations and to renew them, or refuse to renew them, every eight years. This power grows out of the physical limitations of the broadcast spectrum; a certain number of available frequencies set by the laws of physics means that the government has to intervene to ensure that interference does not prevent stations from being heard. At the same time, the government considers itself to have a responsibility to ensure that broadcasters operating on a public spectrum operate in the "public interest." It is important to note that the government's grant of a license does not imply that the grantee holds any property rights in the frequency granted; moreover, no license can be transferred to another holder without FCC approval. The government can revoke a license before the eight-year period, but only after a notice to the licensee and an administrative hearing, during which the burden of proof rests on the FCC.

The FCC's primary role, and the statutory role from which all its other powers flow, is in granting and administering licenses to broadcast stations. The Communications Act makes it illegal for any person to own or operate a station unless it is licensed by the FCC, and the act also mandates that the FCC grant such a license only if it is in the public interest to do so. The commission also has the power to classify stations, determine the band and frequency they will transmit upon, and to approve the power (wattage) of each station.

All applicants for a license must meet certain basic qualifications before the FCC will grant a license, some of which are defined by the FCC and others of which are defined by the Communications Act. The most basic test is citizenship; broadcast licenses cannot be held by non-citizens, foreign corporations, foreign governments, or any company in which non-citizens hold one-fifth of the stock. These requirements are inflexible and can be changed only by Congress, although there are no similar restrictions on foreign ownership of cable systems.

There are also "character" qualifications built into licensing which are not precisely spelled out by the Communications Act or by the FCC. In general, applicants and licensees are screened to ensure that they are honest, would perform well as a licensee, and would follow FCC regulations. There are numerous gray areas within the character qualification. Lying to the FCC about some aspect of the licensing procedure results in automatic disqualification, regardless of the nature of the lie or its significance. These types of denials constitute the majority of FCC denials. Violations of criminal law also pose problems for potential licensees, although even felonies do not result in automatic disqualification. In general, the FCC believes that criminal cases not involving fraud are not relevant unless they affect the licensee's ability or likelihood of being truthful and/or compliant with FCC rules. Even antitrust violations do not always constitute a reason to revoke licenses; in cases involving General Electric and Westinghouse, owners respectively of the NBC and CBS networks, courts found that convictions for violating antitrust law concerned mainly branches of those companies that had little to do with their broadcast networks.

Applicants once had to demonstrate financial qualifications for constructing and operating facilities. The FCC has generally considered that licensees must be able to properly administer a scarce public resource, such as a broadcast frequency. The auction process of bidding on licenses has changed this requirement to mean that the licensee must be able to pay the transaction and to meet expenses for three months. Applicants must also demonstrate that they meet technical minimum qualifications before their applications will even be considered for qualification. An application not meeting minimum capacities will not be processed.

Applicants for renewal of TV licenses also must undergo certain scrutiny related to the Children's Television Act (CTA) of 1990. The FCC has never established any minimum rules on programming, despite widespread belief to the contrary, except in the CTA. The CTA requires applicants for renewal to demonstrate that they have "served the educational and informational needs of children" through programming. The FCC did at one time adopt a set of "guidelines," or unofficial minimum requirements for programming, though it dropped those in 1981 for radio and in 1984 for TV stations.

One major change in broadcast rules has had to do with participation of citizens' committees in the licensing process. Before a 1966 court decision, the public was barred from the licensing process by the FCC, under regulations that limited participation to "parties in interest" of the hearing. Citizens' groups usually participate in the process by filing petitions to deny the applications.

The largest problem often facing the FCC is the need to choose between two competing applicants for a single broadcast frequency. For many years, this process was particularly difficult because the set of criteria the FCC used gave rise to a cumbersome, lengthy process, which did not seem to significantly affect the quality or type of broadcasting in the country. More recently, Congress replaced the entire proceedings with an auction process, in which any applicant meeting the above qualifications can compete. Similarly, questions of renewal of licenses were once considered competitively with new applications, but Congress replaced that proceeding with an automatic-renewal process if the applicant has not violated any of the FCC's rules and regulations. If the renewal is denied, competition for the license will then begin in the auction proceeding.

Cable and Satellite Television

Common law in the United States treats cable television, satellite communications, and Internet law in different and sometimes contradictory ways from how it treats broadcast law in general. Cable television was the first new technology to pose major problems for the FCC and for the courts in determining whether the FCC had jurisdiction over cable systems.

The first cable TV systems were essentially stopgap technologies designed to plug holes in broadcast coverage for persons living in remote, mountainous, or rural areas where broadcast reception was spotty or incomplete. In such regions, communities might pay for a large antenna or receiver at a high point in an area and then transmit the received signals to subscribers via lines strung from the receiver to individual homes. Such systems could also bring in communications from distant cities and thus could eventually offer subscribers access to more stations than the FCC had originally intended to be available for an area when dividing up regions for licensing purposes. The jurisdiction of the FCC over cable systems, however, was not clear, given that the systems were essentially receiving, not transmitting or "broadcasting," units. The question of jurisdiction became even more murky when state and local agencies began to license local cable operators as businesses.

Congress eventually weighed in on the issue with the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, which clarified the split between local and national regulation and gave the FCC and local regulators specific jobs or authority in regulating cable communications. This act was amended in 1992 to add regulations improving the competitive position of broadcast television stations and directed the FCC to develop customer service standards for cable TV companies. The act was again amended in 1996 to further open cable systems to competition, allowing telephone companies to obtain franchises and relaxing rate restrictions.

The major portions of cable television law that deal directly with the First Amendment are those concerned with content regulation. The Supreme Court has held that indecent expression over cable networks can be suppressed, but the court decisions on the matter have so far been case-specific and provide no clear body of guidance to cable operators.

The ability of television to be delivered via communications satellites changed the cable and broadcast marketplace dramatically in the late 1990s. Most court decisions regulating satellite television have dealt with problems of access for local broadcast stations, which was initially unavailable or massively expensive for subscribers to early satellite systems. This was essentially a competitive disadvantage for satellite operators compared to cable systems. As satellite technology has improved, Congress and the courts have allowed satellite operators to deliver local broadcast channels and have allowed operators to broadcast network programming even when local stations' programming is unavailable. Case law concerning ownership of individual satellite dishes is virtually nonexistent, with most of the questions about what a home dish owner can legally receive being decided by administrative regulations.

Electronic News Media

Internet Law

Internet communications have already been tested in court and are likely to be one of the major areas for case law and decisions well into the twenty-first century. Some of the most difficult questions of communications law concern or are related to Internet communications, including questions of copyright, defamation, and privacy law, as well as new areas of the law that are unique to computers and the Internet. The question of jurisdiction over Internet content is also complex and frustrating. The decentralized nature of Internet communication and the means of transmission of Internet content over a variety of networks means that any law attempting to prohibit a certain type of communication in a specific area can be problematic if sites containing that type of communication located in different jurisdictions are accessible to residents of that area. Thus far, states have generally been prohibited from attempting to regulate Internet content under the Interstate Commerce Clause.

Cases concerning indecency, obscenity, and pornography on the Internet have received more media attention than any other area. Most case law in force revolves around the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, which was designed to prohibit children under the age of 18 from receiving indecent materials. The act criminalized the posting of "patently offensive" materials in a manner that made it accessible to children under 18, as well as criminalizing the knowing transmission of such content to children under 18. The CDA was immediately challenged and was overturned by the Supreme Court for overbreadth and vagueness, as well as for the fact that it was impossible to enforce for sites located outside the United States.

Cases concerning "blocking software" have also received First Amendment attention, especially when librarians or other public officials have used blocking software to prohibit access to indecent sites to patrons. Problems with filtering software have been especially egregious, since various programs have been cited as blocking access to many legitimate sites, such as breast cancer forums and free-speech societies, because of limitations in the software's logic. In one Virginia case, patrons of a county library claimed their First Amendment rights had been violated by the installation of blocking software on library computers. In that case, the court found that there were less invasive ways to serve the government interest in prohibiting access to indecent material. Conversely, a library in California was sued for not providing blocking software after a patron's 12-year-old son accessed pornography on the library's computers. The case was thrown out of court, but a revised complaint was, as of mid-2002, still pending.

An area of the Internet that has received considerable government attention since the Oklahoma City bombing is the wide availability of information on bomb-making and on terrorist attacks online. Although the same information is widely available in books and magazines, its availability online caused great concerns to members of Congress.

Defamation law has also been a contentious area of Internet law. Early cases on defamation seemed to revolve around whether an online service provider exercised editorial control over the information posted on the service; Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe and Stratton Oakmont Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co. were cases decided on these merits. The Communications Decency Act clarified the situation somewhat by stating that no provider of content or user of interactive service would be treated as a "publisher" of content provided by another user or content provider. The CDA in this case provided broad protections for individual users.

Copyright law on the Internet has been another contentious area, especially in cases dealing with questions of redistributing copyrighted material such as music or movies. Various forms of software have made redistribution of digital video and music easy and generally available, while those who download songs and videos tend to avoid paying royalties to production companies. Congress in 1998 passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which made provisions of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty applicable to the United States. Suits against companies that provide free access to copyrighted materials, as well as companies that provide software to give people free access to copyrighted materials, filed under the DMCA have generally been successful in enjoining those companies and individuals against providing such services.

In the future, the type of law that is being hesitantly applied to Internet communications may be more generally applied to the media. The phenomenon of convergence means that media types are becoming less well defined, and the basic distinctions between media based on a medium's form of publication are becoming less important. To cite just one example question: should a newspaper that defames someone through streaming audio or video on its Internet site be tried as a television or radio broadcaster, a newspaper, or an Internet service provider? The future of media law will increasingly turn on questions of the jurisdiction, regulation, and definition of media types.

Internet Sites, News Flow & Revenue Models

The United States leads the world both in the number and in the diversity of Internet news sites operated in any country. Online information services saw an estimated 65 percent growth between 1998 and 1999, according to estimates conducted after the 1997 Economic Census of the United States. In 2000, of course, the speculative stock-market frenzy, which was fed by the Internet, burst, and many online sites simply went out of business. The core revenue model of many online sites was called into question in the burst, and many independent news sites went out of business as a result. For more mainstream Internet news sites, the loss of revenue attendant to a concurrent economic slump has often been a major factor in slowing or delaying major changes.

Online innovation has sometimes also been slowed by the relatively wide variety of ways that people use to access the Internet. Many newspapers, to say nothing of television and radio stations, operate Internet sites that have the capability of providing streaming video and audio to consumers, but many of those consumers still have Internet access only through a modem, which has a relatively slow connection speed. The growth of broadband connections to the Internet, either through digital subscriber lines or through cable connections, has been slowed by the recession and needs to pick up speed before technical innovations can be used to their full advantage by media organizations.

In the early days of the Internet, many newspapers experimented with a revenue model that asked readers to subscribe to a site to get access privileges. For the most part, newspapers quickly dropped that idea when they realized that the same information many people were interested in was available for free on other sites. Particularly with regard to national or breaking news, the existence of even one site offering an Associated Press story for free was enough to draw consumers away from a subscription site, and most newspapers simply cannot offer enough unique local content to justify the price of a subscription.

The one major online exception to this trend has been The Wall Street Journal 's Internet site, www.wsj.com. The Interactive Journal has been able to continue charging a subscription fee because of its unique content and the value that it holds for people interested in business and the stock market. The site was also one of the first, and likely still one of the only, online newspaper sites to turn a profit for the company that operates it. It is also worth noting that the site, unlike many so-called "online newspapers," has its own editorial staff, including reporters, columnists, and editors, who produce unique content for the Internet that sometimes spills over into the printed Journal —unlike most newspaper sites, in which part of the daily paper's content may get "shoveled" over to the Internet site, but without any extra work or efforts to make the content more suited to the Web.

The downfall of the subscription model left newspaper companies somewhat at a loss for ways to create revenue online. Many publishers initially balked at providing stories free online that people had to pay for in the print edition. However, the growth of advertising on the Internet mitigated that concern to an extent. Many publishers came to believe that the model for an online site would end up looking more like a "shopper" newspaper, which is thrown for free and makes its revenue solely from advertising, rather than that of a standard subscription paper.

The frustrating complication that papers have confronted is a massive lack of success in coming up with a revenue model for online advertising that takes into account both cost and the number of "views" an advertisement gets. Ordinary papers, of course, charge for ads on a relatively well organized basis, based on the number of subscriptions they can legally claim. The theory is that each paper sold translates into a certain number of people viewing an ad. Online advertisers, by contrast, are unwilling to accept "page views" as evidence that an ad has been viewed and have pushed for a "click-through" model for pricing, for ads that direct a consumer to a company's Web site. The ultimate end of this debate remains to be seen.

In addition, the growth of online classified ads has not been as quick or lucrative as some newspapers could have hoped. Online classifieds were immediately trumpeted as the most lucrative source of revenue newspapers could hope to get, and publishers had visions of offering classified ad buyers access to the world, instead of just a single city, with their buy. The problems with online classifieds are partly technical, having to do with searchability issues, and partially cultural—someone who wants to buy a car in the Twin Cities would likely look in the Twin Cities first, rather than online in Boston or anywhere else. However, online classifieds have begun to show some modest growth and have become especially useful for people moving from one city to another.

Other online sites, especially sports sites and some magazine sites, have had some success in using a twotiered subscription model. These sites generally give users a certain amount of content for free—basic stories, photo galleries, and breaking news, for example. "Premuim" content, including streaming video and audio, special columns or reports, and archives of columns, is then available by subscription only. Some newspaper sites have applied this model to their online archives, charging consumers a fee for searching and downloading past content.

The real problems that Internet newspapers have to overcome in the future are partially technological, as with issues related to making Internet publication an easy and quick process for even small newspapers, and partly cultural. Only about 45 percent of adults had accessed the Internet in the last month in the spring of 2000, compared with 79.3 percent who had read a newspaper within the last week. Internet newspapers, however, could be a way for papers to make inroads into a much younger audience; only 73 percent of adults between 18 and 24 had read a newspaper, while 59 percent of that group had accessed the Internet in that same survey.

Education & Training

History of Education

The oldest, and most traditional, method of training journalists in the United States reflects the roots of printing in the urban guild system. In colonial times, aspiring editors would enter the profession as apprentices, bound to a master printer with a standard contract that might have replicated those used for apprentice silversmiths or cordwainers. After a few years of sweeping floors, cleaning presses, collecting loose type, and other menial tasks, the apprentice would gradually learn the skills that were necessary for becoming an independent printer. Skills for newspaper editors would differ only marginally from those of a commercial printer; indeed, most bookbinders and almanac-printers engaged in those occupations only as a sideline to their role as editors. The young apprentice would eventually, skills permitting, become a journeyman printer, possessing most of the skills necessary to run an office on his own and, most importantly, being no longer legally bound to the master. Journeymen, as the name suggests, were free to move about looking for work, although many stayed with a master printer for some time. When a journeyman opened up his own office, he finally gained the status of a master printer and would employ his own journeymen and apprentices.

The method of learning journalism by doing it, rather than through formal training, reflected the relative lack of status of early editors. Printer-editors were anomalous in terms of status in the early Republic. Still, the basic requirements of the job meant that editors had to learn reading and writing, as well as the basics of grammar, style, and composition. (Although exact statistics are murky, anecdotal evidence suggests that most Americans did know how to read, though ability to write was apparently much less common.) The editor might also acquire what education was possible through reading books and other newspapers, and early editors sometimes show a surprising knowledge of history and politics. Yet editors were not required or even encouraged to go to colleges, and the mere fact that editors worked with their hands meant that they could never really aspire to the status of gentlemen. The men who contributed columns to early newspapers are another matter; especially after newspapers became partisan battlegrounds, the caliber of those writing political tracts increased exponentially.

Formal training of journalists began at the height of the partisan press era but was short-lived. Duff Green's Washington Institute holds the distinction of being the first and possibly shortest-lived journalism education program in U.S. history. Green's institute, designed to teach aspiring partisan journalists the basics of running a press, setting type, writing stories, and the like, was shut down after just one year after a Washington printer's union complained that Green was using the school to unfairly compete against union labor.

The next attempt at providing aspiring editors formal education was undertaken not long after the Civil War, by former Confederate general Robert E. Lee. In 1869, Lee, then president of Washington College, suggested granting 50 scholarships to bright, aspiring journalists and hiring a full-time faculty member to teach them the basic principles and practice of journalism. Although his suggestion was approved by the college's governing board, Lee died the next year, and his plan was never put into action.

Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, as the urban press began actively and aggressively fight corruption and graft, newsgathering organizations grew in size and scale. Editors began to argue that the older system of learning-by-doing produced printers with great technical skill but relatively little real knowledge of the world around them or of major events affecting them. As editors began to envision greater roles for themselves—up to and including the presidency—calls for better education increased. As state press associations grew in size and power, the influence they exerted over state legislatures grew as well. The University of Missouri led other state universities in hiring a working editor to give classes in reporting, writing, and editing during the 1870s. Joseph Pulitzer, the flamboyant St. Louis Post-Dispatch and New York World editor, granted Columbia University a multimillion-dollar endowment to found a school of journalism in 1904. Unfortunately, the university's governing board sat on the endowment and did not get around to founding the school until 1913.

The University of Missouri founded the world's first permanent school of journalism in 1908, after nearly thirty years of agitation from the Missouri Press Association. Students in the journalism sequence produced the weekly University Missourian, which survives today as the daily Columbia Missourian, in between taking classes on reporting, editing, and design, as well as the regular university sequence. The Missourian, which is owned by the Missouri Press Foundation, is operated wholly by the school's students, with faculty members serving as editors and managers. Over time, the university and Missouri Press Foundation added a radio station and later a television station to their holdings. As of 2002, KBIAFM and KOMU are NPR and NBC affiliates and operate on the same basis as the Missourian, with students producing and editing content and faculty managing operations. The "Missouri method," which combines hands-on education with a rigorous schedule of classes, has been widely copied.

Education in the 2000s

Most aspiring journalists enter some sort of collegiate journalism education program. While the most distinguished journalism schools, like Missouri, Columbia, Northwestern University, and the University of Texas, operate separate journalism schools, many future journalists major in schools of communications or in media studies. Most large schools grant degrees in specific sequences, allowing students to specialize in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, photojournalism, or advertising. However, most communications and journalism schools separate public relations (PR) and marketing programs from journalism, placing them instead in business schools. The rationale for such separation is that advertising workers represent a specific newspaper, magazine, or broadcast station, while PR and marketing representatives work for individual businesses.

A relatively recent development is the growth of "new media" programs that combine aspects of various sequences, allowing aspiring Internet journalists to learn programming skills as well as combining skills from print and broadcast media. Many schools also offer even more specialized degrees in fields such as agricultural journalism, science journalism, community journalism and visual communications.

Statistics on the Status of Journalism Education

Data from two major organizations, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) and the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), provide some overall statistics about the status of journalism education. In all, 109 programs are accredited by ACEJMC, and another 87 are members of ASJMC but not accredited. Another 260 schools are members of neither program but still grant degrees in journalism and mass communications. In 1999, a total of 157,800 students were enrolled in undergraduate and graduate journalism programs. Of those students, 147,887 were undergraduates and 9,913 were graduate students. In 1998-1999, schools granted 31,778 undergraduate degrees, 2,776 master's degrees, and 177 doctoral degrees.

The number of students studying journalism in 1999 was thought to be a new high for the field and reflected five years of steady growth in programs after declines in the early 1990s. Undergraduate enrollments for the year increased only slightly, by just 0.7 percent, after increasing by 5.8 percent in 1998. Graduate enrollments dropped by 10 percent, continuing a four-year trend. Overall, 94 percent of enrolled students were studying for undergraduate degrees, and 90 percent of graduate students were seeking a master's degree. In part, this pattern reflects a general decline in graduate programs that was characteristic of the late 1990s, as the promise of easy money in the stock market and Internet boom lured students out of college earlier. In part, it also reflected the fact that in a country without formal licensing or qualification procedures for journalists, most students see relatively little value in graduate programs unless they wish to be journalism educators.

Figures for 1999 also reflected a general trend that more women study journalism than do men. About 60 percent of journalism students in 1999 were women, and only in the number of doctoral degrees earned did men outnumber women. Although statistics about race and ethnicity are difficult to come by, it seems that about 26 percent of students studying journalism are members of minority groups, compared with the 23 percent of the general population classified as being minorities.

For the most part, student journalists get practical experience by working at a college newspaper or a campus-wide broadcasting station. Many internship opportunities exist for students who want them; most newspapers, advertising, and broadcast stations run programs for summer interns. More formal internship programs exist for students in nearly every possible specialization, run by colleges, professional organizations, and newspaper chains. American colleges increasingly are requiring all of their students to complete some sort of internship or professional experience program as a degree requirement, and many students are eventually hired by the newspaper or organization they worked for as undergraduates.

Working journalists can belong to any of hundreds of professional organizations, many of which are organized by specialty. Some of the more distinguished organizations are the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the American Newspaper Publishers Association, the Inland Press Organization, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Smaller specialty organizations exist for reporters, assigning editors, copy editors, publishers, photographers, business writers and editors, investigative reporters, science journalists, African-American journalists, and many other groups. Also prominent are state press associations, which represent the rural, community, and suburban press as well as large metro dailies. State press associations are generally active in lobbying local and state governments, providing legal advice and help to smaller papers, holding press competitions, granting awards and other activities.

The most distinguished awards in American journalism are the Pulitzer Prizes, given by a committee located at Columbia University. As of 2002, the Pulitzer Prize Board awards 21 prizes per year, covering excellence in journalism, letters, and music. Journalism awards cover areas such as investigative reporting, local breaking news reporting, explanatory reporting, national affairs reporting, international affairs reporting, beat reporting, feature writing, commentary, criticism, editorial writing, editorial cartooning, spot news photography, and feature photography. Of particular note is the public service award, given each year to a newspaper—never an individual— which performed a significant public service to its community or the nation. Since the awards' inception, more Pulitzer Prizes have been awarded to the New York Times than any other newspaper.

Summary

As the United States press enters the twenty-first century, it faces an uncertain future. Newspapers represent a shrinking portion of the U.S. media dollar, with broadcasting gaining ground daily and the Internet representing a tremendous, unknown factor in the race for the media dollar in the next century. Convergence, the buzzword of media seminars in recent years, offers newspapers both new opportunity and a radically different way of thinking about and covering the news.

As the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, proved, the United States media will not stay comfortably isolated from the problems of the rest of the world. The demand for international news is as high in 2002 as it ever has been, and news organizations are facing a new realization that they have an obligation to report compelling stories about the rest of the world—not just to boost readership, but because readers have a need to understand the world around them. The proportion of international news found in newspapers continues to climb, and journalists continue to search for new ways to tell their stories.

As the U.S. economy continues to strengthen, advertising dollars will begin to flow back to newspapers, allowing them to spend money on covering national and international events better. A small pause in mergers will likely end, with newspapers and newspaper companies newly flush with cash looking to buy more properties. The economic recession meant that many students who had planned to graduate in 2002 stayed in graduate school for a period of time, meaning that the recent decline in graduate enrollments in journalism may turn around in the near future.

Newspapers remain in many ways the same medium they always have been, concerned with providing their readers a mix of local, national, and international news, tempered with light relief in the form of columns, features, and comics. But more and more newspapers are finding it necessary and useful to fulfill their obligations to their communities by becoming more vocal in their editorial columns, calling on their readers for ideas and participation in seminars and other media-run events, and spending more time analyzing and explaining the news, instead of just reporting it. As the world becomes more complex, newspapers face a greater challenge to explain that world and to guide readers through it in an intelligible fashion. Newspapers in the next century will become much more than clearinghouses of information. They will become guides to their communities and once again become strong voices in the leadership of their communities and their nation.

Significant Dates

• 1997: The Supreme Court strikes down the federal Communications Decency Act, claiming that it goes too far in attempting to ban pornography and obscene expression online; the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 continues to create waves in the broadcasting industry, as telecommunications giants moved into new fields and continued buying led to massive new media empires.
• 1998: Congress passes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which applies provisions of the World Intellectual Property Organization Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms treaty to the United States.
• 1999: Two journalists working for the Atlanta Constitution were jailed for contempt of court after refusing to reveal their sources.
• 2000: A contractual dispute between Time Warner Cable and Walt Disney, owner of the ABC and ESPN networks, led to a 39-hour blackout of ABC stations in some 3.5 million homes; during a raid on the home of relatives of Elian Gonzales, an NBC news crew assigned to cover the event by a pool of reporters was assaulted by Immigration and Naturalization Service representatives; in a contempt-of-court case, the editor of the Sacramento Valley Mirror was jailed for five days after he refused to reveal a source; media companies spent more than $15 billion on buying properties, a new record.
• 2001: On September 11, terrorists fly three planes loaded with fuel and people into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Another plane crashes in Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people die as a result of the attacks; the Bush administration calls on broadcast stations to stop airing videotapes of Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist group, claiming that they "aid and abet" terrorism. Some stations comply; the U.S. attack on Afghanistan brings to the forefront new iterations of old debates between the press and government concerning military affairs; a stagnant economy means fewer mergers and buyouts for media organizations.
• 2002: Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is killed in Pakistan, while covering the al-Qaeda organization.

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Robert Weir

United States

Basic Data
Official Country Name:	United States of America
Region:	North & Central America
Population:	275,562,673
Language(s):	English, Spanish
Literacy Rate:	97%
Academic Year:	September-June
Compulsory Schooling:	10 years
Public Expenditure on Education:	5.4%
Foreign Students in National Universities:	453,785
Educational Enrollment:	Primary: 24,045,967
	Secondary: 21,473,692
	Higher: 14,261,778
Educational Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 102%
	Secondary: 97%
	Higher: 81%
Teachers:	Primary: 1,499,697
	Secondary: 1,394,080
	Higher: 915,321
Student-Teacher Ratio:	Primary: 17:1
Female Enrollment Rate:	Primary: 101%
	Secondary: 97%
	Higher: 92%

History & Background

Historical Evolution:

Puritan New England: The American system of education has undergone dramatic transformations at various times since its origins in the 1600s, reflecting changes in the social life and culture of the nation. The educational system predates even the word "American," which was introduced in 1684 by Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister in New England whose sermons reflected his concerns over formal ways to rear young people. For that matter, the term "education" itself was coined around 1531, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, referring to a process for the rearing of youth in society. It was not synonymous with institutional learning until the early 1600s, coinciding with the founding of colonies in the New World.

In a sense, the religious turmoil of Europe in the 1500s is the starting point for understanding the history of education in colonial America. Had European exploration of America occurred with far more vigor in the early sixteenth century, the teachings of the Catholic Church would have been the greatest influence on early education. Because Europe's colonization of America came a full century after the Protestant Reformation, however, the most obvious influence on education in the colonies was the presence of numerous religious sects. These sects, or religious denominations, included the Puritans, Huguenots, Anabaptists, and Quakers.

Schools were among the first institutions built by the colonists. They were outranked in importance only by homes and houses of worship, a reflection of their value among a citizenry preoccupied with otherworldly salvation. All religious leaders regarded education of their young people as essential as a means to ensure the replication of their individual sects. "Especially it becomes parents to have their children well taught in the mysteries of a profitable calling," preached Cotton Mather. "We should be studious to have them know something by which they too may live." Mather also praised teachers: "Worthy of honor are the teachers that convey wisdom unto our children; worthy of double honor the happy instruments that convey saving wisdom to them."

In part because of religious doctrine and in part because those were dangerous times, sects such as the Puritans, or "Pilgrims," who began Plymouth Colony in 1620, promoted educational teachings with little sugarcoating for the children. All educational teaching was a type of religious instruction, and the intent clearly was to preserve the Puritan culture and to keep all followers homogenous and disciplined. Early religious leaders strove to influence their followers' supposedly corruptible souls with sacred teachings directed at their minds. The Bible was believed to be the direct word of God, and instruction was given to children and adults alike in thundering sermons from the pulpit.

Likewise, all teachers felt that absolute adherence to fundamental teachings was the best way to pass on values held in common. Any children resisting the teachings of a schoolmaster or displaying a disobedient nature could quickly be yanked from their benches for the liberal application of the master's lash or some other form of corporal punishment thought to drive the devil from the child's body. If children did something particularly egregious that interfered with their salvation, or the schoolmaster was unusually stern, they could sit for a time, in yokes similar to those worn by oxen, as they reflected on their transgressions.

By 1634, Massachusetts Bay had evolved from a wilderness setting into growing political and religious communities of 10,000 settlers. In Massachusetts, children began their educations at around eight years old and continued for six years. Although the English practice was generally to educate only the children of the upper classes, the colony also educated children of less wealthy settlers, as well as the offspring of ministers and merchants. Villages in the colony that became New York varied in their enforcement of education by locale. Only New York City had Latin schools comparable to those in Massachusetts. Eventually, a pro-education group with Church of England roots, called the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, started some 20 schools in New York.

In 1638, the abundant educational opportunities available in Massachusetts next became available in New Haven, Connecticut, which opened a school immediately after the town's founding. In addition to the children of villagers, schooling was available for one year to indentured servants. A schoolmaster from Boston was brought to New Haven to assume his teaching duties. A few years later, Hartford, Connecticut, had its first school and paid teacher, as did Newport, Rhode Island, by 1640.

Education in the English Colonies: The Massachusetts Bay colony continued to open schools in every town. One by one, villages established schools, supporting them with a building, land, offerings of money, and, occasionally, taxes. The colony began in 1647 to require by law secondary schools in the larger cities, as part of an effort to insure the basic literacy and religious inculcation of all citizens. Even so, education in seventeenth-century Massachusetts was hardly ideal. Some schools were placed under the care of tutors nearly as uneducated as their students. Books were limited to whatever volumes were generously lent by ministers or a town's wealthier citizens. But as the colony drew more educated settlers from England or graduated teachers from Harvard (founded in 1636), the quality of education in New England increasingly improved. Nonetheless, as the Puritans became more prosperous, their zeal for education dampened, and enrollments declined during the 1660s and 1670s.

This trend was reversed by an outburst of evangelistic passion often referred to as "The Great Awakening." Fire-and-brimstone preachers such as Jonathan Edwards, who wrote treatises and delivered orations such as "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," spurred a public dialog on educational and spiritual issues. More ministers were needed, and schools were founded to train them, reinvigorating a thirst for learning in the New England colonies.

This certainly was one of the more important educational innovations in early America, for the concept of free schools was largely unknown in civilized Europe in that age. The subjects taught were designed to assist students in practical matters of daily life: arithmetic for business; languages to communicate, debate, and preach; and reading to provide access to the Bible and to understand contracts, government documents, and laws. A few schools under more learned schoolmasters even offered language classes in Hebrew. To prepare students for the rigors of classroom life at Harvard, Latin schools were formed in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Illiterate villagers would come to depend on those with reading knowledge to keep them abreast of news, laws, and miscellaneous information.

Settlers in the other colonies founded schools that reflected both their established religions and ties to the lands from which they had emigrated, and, in most places, a single nationality or religion predominated. In a few places, however, such as New York City, many different peoples came to be assimilated after the Dutch lost control of what had been New Amsterdam.

While under control of the Dutch West India Company, the colony of New Netherlands started several schools, maintaining control as if they were business operations. Much of New York was farmland then, and access to schools was often a hardship, particularly in severe winters. Schoolmasters often were affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church and had general caretaker tasks assigned to them. New Amsterdam, the town that became New York, had its first school started in 1638 by the Dutch Reformed Church. Following the British takeover, an attempt was made, however, to give control of the former parochial school to the Anglican Church, but the diversity of New York made this impossible. It would have been difficult for any one of the 18 represented religious denominations to push its educational philosophy successfully to a city that had swelled from a population of 4,300 people in 1690 to 21,863 in 1771.

In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and surrounding towns made similar gains in population. Except for some well-run Quaker schools, however, education in colonial Pennsylvania had been neglected as merchants concentrated on building personal fortunes. Finally, in 1749, leading Philadelphia statesman Benjamin Franklin fought for the opening of an academy similar to the Latin grammar schools in Maryland, New York, and Massachusetts; he succeeded in 1751. Franklin further perceived that higher educational opportunities in other colonies were flourishing, particularly at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), Harvard College in Massachusetts, and Yale in Connecticut.

Franklin openly—and somewhat unfairly—blamed the colony's failure to keep up with German influences in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Notably, however, in some other parts of Pennsylvania where the German influence was particularly strong, education for younger children was heavily emphasized. (At this time, there was little thought given to a system of secondary education between the one-room schoolhouses and the colleges.) German communities were not at all pleased when criticized for supposed deficiencies in the education of Pennsylvania's children. From the German point of view, English speakers such as Benjamin Franklin were interlopers bent on destroying their culture and way of life.

The Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania became a particularly desirable location for Germans because of the access to the cities of Reading and Philadelphia. In the area that became the city of Allentown, German settlers showed allegiance to the Zion Reformed Church, and the German Reformed influence dominated the single-room schoolhouses, although the Lutheran and Moravian Churches also created some schools. These schools kept their ties to German culture until nearly the mid-nineteenth century. Eventually, rifts developed between the conservative German-speaking congregation and pastors and their younger opponents advocating the adoption of English in church services and in school teachings.

In time, the German community saw the need for higher education, but the Allentown Seminary it built did not survive. Much of the blame for its failure was the insistence of the Seminary's backers on preserving the school's German culture at a time when many newcomers were English speaking.

The school also failed to see education as of much importance for women. A major exception to this backwardness of colonial leaders in providing education for females was the Moravian seminary for girls, which opened in 1745. Quaker schools in Pennsylvania also strove mightily to provide an education for females; later they helped both male and female children of former Negro slaves.

Virginia settlers, largely members of the Anglican faith and therefore in favor in England, possessed little of the evangelical fervor of the Puritans who had survived years of oppression and opposition from the Crown. Although the Virginia colony founded William and Mary College in 1693 (degrees were not awarded until 1700), it and other Southern colonies did not operate anywhere near as many free grammar or public schools as did Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Drawing inspiration from the operation of English schools, schools in the Southern colonies formed on plantations. In what would become Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, such learning centers tended to be run by tutors or ministers for the education of wealthy children of plantation owners. Many of the owners then sent their children to secondary schools and colleges in England, particularly young men who were groomed to return to the colonies as Anglican ministers. At home, the privileged had access to libraries on the manor that occasionally held thousands of books.

Some children, unable to attend formal schools, nonetheless received an education with heavy emphasis on the Greek and Roman classics from male tutors, Anglican ministers, and learned women who oversaw dame schools. Status-conscious agrarians who became wealthy planters or "country gentlemen" paid the passage for tutor-scholars from England. Some students, aside from the schools, received their education in the form of apprenticeships to skilled tradesmen; this commonly was the case with orphans, for care and education of the poor was a mandate for Church of England (Anglican) congregations. Eventually, laws were enacted that enjoined masters to make certain these apprentices could read, write, and perform elementary arithmetic; enforcement of those laws was sporadic, however. Those who owned hardscrabble farms or made a subsistence living through hunting lacked the same value for the classics that the wealthy land owners possessed, but they too often saw to it that their children received some training in the socalled "three R's." Through the 1670s, Governor William Berkeley of Virginia opposed the establishment of free schools.

As immigrants from Germany, Scotland, and Ireland fled to America in search of economic opportunity in the early 1700s, however, free schools like those in the North were eventually founded. Other schools served the needs of the poor or orphans. Church of England clergy were active in the management of these free schools. Outside Virginia, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was very active in founding schools. The Society also demonstrated a passion for the education and well-being of Negro slaves and Indians. Less prosperous and later-settled colonies, most notably Georgia, were unable to start or support anything more than the most rudimentary education system. Those children who managed to receive an education equal to that in the other colonies were usually taught by a clergyman or educated wife of a settler.

Revolution & Westward Expansion: Right before the outbreak of hostilities between the American colonies and England, the population of America was about 2.5 million people. Allegiance to either side was both fierce and inflexible on the part of loyalists and patriots. During the struggle for independence, a significant number of boys and girls received no education or a deficient one at best. Access to books on the frontier was problematic. Printing presses had been present in the colonies ever since the seventeenth century, but replacement of broken parts sent by ship from England was expensive. In addition, British authorities destroyed the presses of those printers said to be publishing materials subversive to the Crown or colonial governors. Libraries existed in the colonies at the time of the Revolution, but these were not the lending libraries of the modern era.

Undereducated, overworked, short-tempered male schoolmasters often presided over the schools. Corporal punishment was a euphemism for outright brutality against children. Perhaps because books were in short supply, the custom of the day was to ask students to memorize long chapters or even whole books, making learning laborious and irksome. Not until the teacher rang a hand bell were students free to express their individual natures. Discipline and utter quiet were valued, not discussion and examination of ideas.

The educators of the time saw that the colonies had become overly dependent upon English manufactured goods, including pamphlets, textbooks, and Bibles, as well as financial support from the crown and teachers and scholars trained in the great universities of England. A great national fervor following the breaking away from England led to nothing short of jingoism, or patriotism, for a time in the nation's schools as they were gradually rebuilt or established anew. Even grammar books contained passages containing patriotic themes. History classes emphasized the cultural heroes of the revolution, and in every schoolhouse in America the walls contained a portrait of General George Washington.

The Constitution and Bill of Rights put great emphasis on preserving freedom of the press and speech, reflected in American curricula in subjects such as composition and rhetoric. Pro-American sentiment led to some historical inaccuracies and biased interpretations that were to become part of everyday learning the classroom, and it would be many years before the role of women and ethnic minorities received anywhere near the attention they receive in the twenty-first century.

Gradually, after the revolution, the priorities of the fledgling country also encompassed education. As the British departed, they ceded by treaty a grand wilderness known as the Northwest Territory that extended to the west banks of the Mississippi River, eventually becoming the states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Congress wrote forward-thinking legislation, setting aside ample lands in every township for schools. Yet as the 1803 Louisiana Purchase expanded the territory of the United States, and commerce grew in economic importance, national interest in the classical lives of the Romans and Greeks declined. Grammar schools became less dominant, and languages such as French and German were more widely taught outside ethnic communities. Astronomy, logic, and rhetoric were also staples in the curriculum.

Secondary schools were touted in Massachusetts following the final defeat of the British in the War of 1812. Since lawmakers viewed organized common schools for older children to be a splendid democratic way to provide an equal opportunity education, legislators passed a statute in 1827 requiring these "high schools" to be installed in larger townships across the state. One of the chief backers of such legislation was James G. Carter. Carter supported democratic high schools and vigorously opposed the nation's private schools, which he viewed as elitist institutions catering to the wealthy and class conscious. In spite of his passion, full compliance with the law did not occur; opposition from private academies and taxpayers asked to foot the bill for high school construction was vociferous. Practically, these could be maintained only in towns large enough to enroll students in sufficient numbers to justify paying teacher salaries and building schools. Carter's idea of a democratic school system would not fully begin to be realized for another 150 years, as reformers following the civil rights movement pressed for equal-opportunity schools.

James Madison championed a movement to found a great national university, but though money and considerable energies were expended on behalf of such an institution, it failed to overcome opposition from those who thought the founding of schools was a matter for individual states to oversee rather than the federal government. There was more support for national military academies, and the first institution of its kind was established in 1802 at West Point. The U.S. Naval Academy followed in 1845, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1876. More successful than Madison as an educational visionary was Thomas Jefferson, an advocate for free schools under local supervision. Jefferson was the prime mover behind the founding of a great state college in his own state, the University of Virginia. Its Jefferson-planned library and well-designed classroom buildings served as models for subsequent state schools of higher learning.

Civil War & Progressive Era: The late nineteenth century began to show signs of the progressive school systems that were to evolve in the twentieth century. However, education as a whole was seriously set back during the Civil War. Money that had gone to school districts was diverted to the war effort. Young male teachers were plucked from high schools and sent to war as soldiers. As the war dragged on, many schools in the South shut down entirely, and school districts in rural farming communities and mountain areas with small populations would take many decades to reach educational parity with similar communities in the North. Similarly, the South long would feel the effects of operating with a large population of poorly educated workers.

The so-called Reconstruction of the South was more accurately a dismantling of the South by Northern Republicans in retaliation for the Civil War. As a result, struggling industries and cities and towns barely able to exist could ill afford to spend money on improving school systems or paying teacher salaries. Following the Civil War, numerous schools for the education of freed slaves were established, but these were poorly financed. Impoverished students could not stay in school very long without financial support and ended up dropping out. Finding teachers to meet the demand was another battle. Only about 24 college degrees were awarded to African-Americans prior to the outbreak of the "War Between the States." The most famous teacher-preparation college for blacks, the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama, failed to prosper until the coming of energetic visionary Booker T. Washington in 1875.

As America's population grew, and modes of transportation grew sophisticated, one-room common schools began closing in favor of the establishment of larger elementary schools for grades one through eight. Secondary schools provided four years of increasingly more sophisticated instruction, although for the most part the curriculum of individual schools remained restrictive, with few, if any, course choices allowed by the school boards to make allowances for individual interests of students. In addition, by the late nineteenth century, a number of regions opted to adopt more uniform curriculums among schools under their geographical boundaries. There were, however, some vocationally oriented schools that offered practical subjects in shop subjects for students who, for financial or other reasons, were not planning to attend college. An industrial education association began in 1884, dedicated to professional standards, the hiring of trained teachers, and standardized instruction. With the Industrial Revolution had come a high demand existed for industrial workers that were literate and possessed practical training.

Women's Education: Increasingly, although female education in the United States was slow to gain hold as an idea, mothers were expected in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to initiate their children in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Well into the twentieth century, advocates for women's rights fought hard to abolish the notion that women were professionally fit only for nursing or teaching professions, thereby facing exclusion or harassment when attempting to gain entrance into professional schools.

Nonetheless, in earlier years many Americans had paid serious attention to the writings of English author Isaac Watts (1674-1748), who bemoaned the fact that women, untrained and uneducated, often were reduced to the sorriest financial circumstances if unmarried or left alone after the death of a father or spouse. Massachusetts by 1789 was more liberal and allowed females to attend schools; Connecticut and other New England states followed. In the late 1790s, Pennsylvanian Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, advocated the formal instruction of girls since they were the guardians of society's morality. Industrialization was rapidly changing familiar social roles. Women replaced schoolmasters in larger cities in the nineteenth century, and primary schools taught by females were instituted in Boston by 1818.

Nationwide, however, attempts to educate females were sporadic, and many religious denominations, such as the German Reformed Church, opposed school learning for their daughters. Even some who supposedly advocated education for girls in the nineteenth century were referring merely to "finishing schools" where social graces could be picked up, so that as married women the girls would have some preparation to teach their male offspring. Many seminaries were opened for wealthier girls in the nineteenth century as an alternative to male academies, but these primarily were intended to produce educated mothers and few other professional women other than teachers. In spite of these limitations, a small number of women did achieve upward mobility as physicians, taking advantage of their overwhelming talents, intellects, and instincts for seizing opportunities. One of the more significant seminary founders was Emma Willard, who founded her oft-emulated institution in 1821 in Troy, New York. Together with Catherine Beecher and Mary Lyon, Willard became an advocate for quality secondary educational opportunities for girls.

American Educational Leaders: Although early American settlers had been chiefly influenced by European philosophy, by the time of the Revolution, schools were working to break with the past. Nonetheless, American colonists did respect fine English minds. One of the most influential thinkers upon American educational philosophy was the British thinker John Locke, who wrote that all minds at birth were a blank tablet and the mind was imprinted with what it learned through experience. American leaders liked his emphasis on common sense and empirical knowledge, leading to a strong emphasis on the value of practical experience and the worthiness of scientific experimentation that could be replicated by others.

Among the first truly American educational philosophers was the nineteenth-century visionary Horace Mann (1796-1859), an orator and champion for the cause of preserving American democracy by the continuous development of an educated citizenry. Mann was a Massachusetts legislator who used his influence to get the state to set up a Massachusetts board of education. That accomplished, Mann quit his position and assumed the post of Massachusetts Board of Education secretary, 1837-1848. Mann used his public forum to preach with vigor the benefits of state-run schools, and he was just as passionately opposed to Calvinist schools, which he viewed as provincial and lacking in foresight.

A former Calvinist turned Unitarian, Mann was not against religious training per se, advocating scripture readings in the schools and moral lessons. In his role as administrator, he came to argue that common schools were essential for molding of character of the nation's youth and providing the training that would make them self-sufficient throughout life. Mann regarded classrooms as sanctuaries to keep children away from the world's vices. He saw teachers as guides entrusted with leading their charges down the golden paths of virtuous living. Since the U.S. government continued to distance itself from religion in affairs of state, he considered schools essential for the development of godly leaders.

When the ambitious Mann became editor of The Common School Journal and espoused his ideas there, his views on education soon were debated nationally and adopted in some form by many states. Gleefully he said in a 1839 speech that "the universal diffusion and ultimate triumph of all-glorious Christianity itself must await the time when knowledge shall be diffused among men through the instrumentality of good schools." In Mann's era, immigration then was mainly of Europeans with Christian convictions, and he did not anticipate the day when diverse numbers of people of all religions would send their children to public schools. His philosophy is also dated by his promotion of the pseudo-science of phrenology, believing that the most intelligent students could be determined by the shape and bone structure of their skulls.

On the other hand, Mann's desire to use the schools for character building would fall on equally receptive ears in the twenty-first century, and he was a tireless fighter for higher taxes to pay teachers a fair living wage and for curriculum reform. He also was an advocate for better teaching institutions to train teachers; specialized colleges for teachers and elementary and high school administrators, then, fell well below standards for graduation of accredited universities and colleges.

Mann's contemporary, educator Henry Barnard (1811-1900), was another nineteenth-century giant in education. As a member of the Connecticut legislature, he lobbied for the creation of a state school board. During his long career, Barnard was Connecticut Board of Education secretary, Rhode Island superintendent of schools, a college president (St. John's, Annapolis), a University of Wisconsin chancellor, and ultimately, in 1867, the first U.S. Commissioner of Education. In part due to his advocacy work, nearly 30 cities employed school superintendents during his tenure as U.S. Commissioner of Education.

His achievements were varied. He persuaded Rhode Island officials to begin a state system of public schools. He championed his ideas for educational reform at all levels as the publisher and editor of the American Journal of Education (1855-1881) and other trade periodicals, paving the way for educational administration to be recognized as a field in its own right. Perhaps Barnard's greatest contribution was his ability to raise public interest in the schools for the betterment of state school systems nationwide, but he also fought for better textbooks, the creation of cooperative parent-teacher associations, and systematic procedures for inspection of schools. In his lifetime, peers honored him as the foremost authority in school administration.

One of the most important educational philosophers of the early twentieth century was John Dewey (1859-1952), a pragmatist who as a young man tried to reconcile his passion for science with his New England Christian upbringing. He preached the theory of "instrumentalism," that mankind must accept statements presented by scientists that can be verified by repeated observation, instead of looking the other way or rationalizing problems away. Dewey thus introduced a system of ethics to education. His important books, How We Think and Democracy and Education, appeared respectively in 1910 and 1916 and cemented his reputation as one of the century's great thinkers and educators.

His pragmatic approach held that education was meant to help students know the world as it actually is, not in some mythic sense. His theory maintained that there is always hidden information that mankind cannot know and that the acquisition of new knowledge brings with it ever changing ways of looking at the universe. For human beings to remain unchanged in the face of rational explanations, citing unyielding belief in a higher authority was to stifle inquiry, problem-solving, and free expression. Dewey championed democracy as a way of life but left open the possibility that as new knowledge was acquired, human beings might follow a more perfect form of government in the distant future. The Progressive Education Association touted other ideas of Dewey in the 1930s particularly, attacking inflexible curriculums that stifled the personal growth of individual students and their talents and interests.

Constitutional & Legal Foundations

Colonial Precedents: Massachusetts passed a statute requiring the education of all children in 1647. Towns of 100 or more families were required by law to establish formal secondary or "grammar" schools that taught—in addition to religious values, reading, and writing—the subjects of arithmetic, Latin, and Greek. The colony's governing body required all parents living in a community of at least 50 families to employ the services of a schoolmaster who imparted, not just community and church values, but skills related to reading and writing. There was to be no charge for the children of Native Americans who wanted an education. Compensation to the schoolmaster was 50 pounds a year.

Parents were required to school their children under penalty of having those offspring placed in the custody of another master who would see to it they were educated until males reached 21 and females became 18. Towns could be heavily fined for noncompliance with the education statute.

Three years later, the growing colony of Connecticut did the same, its code drawn from the one passed in Massachusetts. Not only parents, but also masters responsible for children who were indentured servants, were required to send their charges to school. Fines were levied for noncompliance. Laws stayed in effect in both Connecticut and Massachusetts until independent state constitutions for both former colonies were written after the American Revolution. Parents in the colony of Virginia were also required to send their children to school, as education was compulsory. Failing to send one's children was to run afoul of Virginia courts.

Constitution & Federal Law: The United States Constitution makes clear that the founders wanted to place responsibility for the education of its citizens under the control of states and other jurisdictions, such as the District of Columbia. States derive their power and responsibility to their schools from the Tenth Amendment, since the federal Constitution itself makes no provision for federal control of education.

Each state writes its own statutes concerning education and amends or rewrites them as changing circumstances demand. Essentially, every state and jurisdiction must provide, maintain, support, and guide a system of public schools for the well-being and education of the citizens in that state. Each also must license and pay heed to the institutions providing private education. Because the governance of numerous school districts is enormous in scope and complexity, states in turn place primary responsibility for the overall operations into the care of administrators and boards overseeing a large number of administrative districts.

The federal government, however, has not absolutely absolved itself of the responsibility to provide material resources to U.S. schools or to step in should violations occur that appear to violate protections for citizens guaranteed by the constitution. In addition, the government throughout early American history set aside public lands to set benefit schools.

Following the precedent set in 1787, when Congress set aside land in the Northwest Territory, lawmakers passed the Morrill Act of 1862, setting aside federal lands for the purpose of building colleges and emphasizing agriculture and mechanical arts (engineering). The act was amended in 1890, taking into account the changing needs of state universities founded on public lands. Vermont congress member Justin Morrill was the prime instigator of the bill. Others in Congress expressed opposition to it; in fact, five years before its passage, the Morrill Act went down in defeat, vetoed by then-President James Buchanan. Although the pro-agriculture nature of the schools earned it the strong support of Southern lawmakers, it was after the South seceded that the Morrill Act was passed during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln. The law also had strong support from Midwest farming states.

Following the Civil War, many universities were finally constructed on the public lands set aside for that purpose, including several that offered educational opportunities in higher education to blacks. Many sons and daughters of farmers and working class Americans received the benefits of an education thanks to Morrill's bill. In addition, advances in scientific farming, wise agricultural practices, and healthier food standards also can be attributed to the establishment of those colleges. Several major U.S. universities trace their success back to land-grant beginnings, including the University of Florida, the University of Kentucky, Purdue University (Indiana), Clemson University (South Carolina), Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University, West Virginia University, Oregon State University, and the University of Maryland.

Closely connected to the Morrill Act was the Hatch Act of 1887, allowing federal aid to enable operation of agricultural research operations at state colleges for the benefit of all citizens, since the country was dependent upon agricultural products. The federal government passed the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, establishing Cooperative Extension in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the land-grant universities for educational and informational purposes.

In addition to aid for various educational institutions connected with agriculture, the government has mandated funding for vocational programs at the secondary level. This distribution of federal aid occurred during the Depression Era year of 1937 and was approved under legislation known as the George-Deen Act. The federal government under acts of 1962 approved additional aid for vocational training programs.

The National Science Foundation Act of 1950 established the National Science Foundation (NSF) as an independent agency. NSF funds science and engineering research projects and educational programs, and it actively promotes the dissemination of information in the fields of science and engineering. Congress also attempted to jumpstart research activities in the field of education when it passed the Cooperative Research Act of 1954. The purpose of the bill was to permit the Office of Education to encourage cooperative research by colleges, universities, and state departments of education. One of the primary areas of funding initially was research into mental retardation.

Concerned that the United States was losing power and prestige in the race to conquer space with the Soviets following the launch of Sputnik in 1957, Congress provided further funds for education research in 1958 under terms of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA). Among other functions, NDEA authorized student loans and other financial aid to higher education, particularly in science, mathematics, and modern languages. Another area of concern and funding was educational television and other media.

One of the more comprehensive programs of the 1960s was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Among various titles or sections, it offered aid to schools with a high percentage of low-income families to fund programs in special education, to enable school libraries to purchase materials, and to fund educational research, as well as additional purposes. The federal government through the Library Services and Construction Act of 1964 and the Medical Library Assistance Act of 1965 provided additional money for library projects and facilities.

The best known section of this 1965 legislation is Title I, by which Congress extended federal aid to the children of the poor in an attempt to provide them equal educational opportunities. President Lyndon Johnson personally endorsed Title 1 as the most compelling entry in his "Great Society" platform.

In 1981, Congress passed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act during the Republican administration of President Ronald Reagan. This bill provided block grants to states, taking away some of the direct federal involvement in Title 1 that had been criticized by some politicians. Among other major changes at that time, Congress mandated that students applying for low-interest loans demonstrate financial need for funds. Other money for students proving need was available after passage of legislation approving Pell grants.

Issues of Church & State: In early America the connection between church and state was taken for granted, but the increasing diversity of the nation forced legislators and courts to consider the issue more carefully, particularly in response to immigration. Although the Quakers, Dutch Reformed, and other denominations operated schools during the colonial period, one of the largest explosions of parochial schools occurred between 1880 and 1910 with the influx of Catholic immigrants from Poland, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and other European countries.

The milestone political action by Catholic Church interests in America was a national convention of clerics and theologians convening in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1884. This resulted in the founding of Catholic University in Washington, DC, as well as detailed plans to establish a nationwide network of diocese-based schools as well as seminaries and convents for training priests and nuns. In time, churches came to build both elementary schools and high schools. Anti-Catholic sentiment was widespread, and anti-Catholic advocates claimed victory when in the 1920s Oregon legislators mandated attendance in public schools up to age 16, effectively stopping the spread of parochial schools.

In 1925, however, the right of religious denominations to operate schools was affirmed by a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, the court opined that the state could regulate schools but not decide for parents what school they wanted for their children's education. A ruling in New York State later in the century allowed parents of public school children to send their offspring to religious instruction off public school premises.

One of the more significant issues in early twentieth-century education was creationism. States passed laws in support of a citizen's "right" to take Genesis literally with regard to Creation, thereby renouncing Charles Darwin's theories on the natural evolution of man from less significant species. In 1925 the Scopes Monkey trial brought the issue to a head, in a case against John Scopes, who taught evolutionary theory in violation of Tennessee's anti-evolution act. Although former presidential candidate and fiery attorney William Jennings Bryan won the trial, there was great public and press sympathy for defense attorney Clarence Darrow and for Scopes. Coverage of the Scopes trial by satirist H. L. Mencken caused many Americans to look skeptically at religion in general, and to begin talking heatedly about the need to keep churches out of state affairs.

Nonetheless, as late as 1999, the Kansas Board of Education passed a measure agreeing to prohibit questions on evolution from appearing on state high school standardized exams. The National Association of Biology Teachers supports classroom presentations of evolution, saying that it long has been a theory consistent with science, and it further recommends classroom discussion and study. Leading the religious vanguard against evolution is pro-Creation activist Jonathan Wells, who preaches that there is no scientific basis for evolution.

Other areas of frequent contention include character education, stopping short of religious instruction; attempts to convert children to a particular faith; and remarks that might offend some in the classroom that belong to minority faiths, practice Wicca, or have no faith at all. Some critics attack not only school prayer or celebration of religious holidays but also the mandatory recital of the Pledge of Allegiance due to the phrase "one nation under God." Court cases in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and other states have prohibited state legislatures from mandating the saying of daily Bible verses or a prayer identified as sectarian, which would effectively favor Christianity over other religions.

On the other hand, in the 1990s some parents and children were concerned that the zeal to separate church and state was depriving elementary and secondary students of some practices that interfered with neither the beliefs nor the privacy of others. For example, they perceived that students could wear clothing with slogans of a non-religious nature, but they were not permitted to wear clothing with Biblical slogans. By the late 1990s, the Department of Education published guidelines allowing children of Christian and other faiths to make references to their religious beliefs while addressing normal school subject matter and to bow their heads before meals to say grace. The NEA also became involved, attempting to create a climate where respect for a person's personal beliefs was the norm. In addition to Christianity, many schools have made a point of safeguarding the beliefs of minority religions in a school, such as Islam or Buddhism. By the late 1990s, schools also were asked to protect the rights of individuals who openly professed no faith or alternate faiths such as Wicca.

Civil Rights & Education: As part of the culture of slavery, nineteenth-century legislators passed laws against the education of blacks. Laws that deprived people of a chance to better themselves were a most egregious but effective method to keep a whole people in bondage. While some landowners provided for the rudimentary teaching of writing, reading, and arithmetic for household slaves as a matter of self-interest, others prohibited such learning entirely, and a whipping or other physical punishment could be administered for violations. The only southern states permitting landowners to educate slaves before the Civil War were Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. Because southern blacks outnumbered landowners in many southern states, there was near mass hysteria behind the legislation to keep blacks uneducated and to prevent rebellion.

Rebellions nonetheless ensued. A rebellion in South Carolina in 1739 resulted in murder of 75 slaves, and a later rebellion at Charleston in 1822 was also put down with a loss of life. Both the abolitionist movement in the South and activist efforts to educate southern begroes were dealt a serious setback in 1831 when a bloody rebellion known as the Southampton Insurrection convinced landowners that the education of slaves had to be controlled or outlawed. Nat Turner, a slave in Southampton County, Virginia, organized a revolt with dozens of runaway slaves bent on gaining freedom at all costs. In the end, the rebellion was quashed, and Turner was executed.

Not even the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolishing slavery and the Fifteenth Amendment (1869) guaranteeing civil rights stopped serious educational inequities from being practiced in many parts of the South. So-called "black codes" and later "Jim Crow" legislation enforcing school and public-place segregation were enforced from about 1865 until long into the twentieth century. White families humiliated Caucasian teachers who came from the North to educate Negro children, and a few teachers were murdered or falsely accused of the "crime" of miscegenation (the marriage or cohabitation between white and nonwhite persons).

Not that the education of blacks in the North was any more progressive in many areas. In New England, abolitionists gradually agitated for desegregation, but both white and black townspeople, and even educators, blocked what was legally permissible, many arguing for the social benefits of separate schools. In Philadelphia, a public school administrator who opened a school for blacks in 1822 actually offered white citizens an apology for doing what in other parts of the world would become known in full arrogance as "picking up the white man's burden." As an exception, Quaker schools in Pennsylvania and New England offered equal educational opportunities to all students.

In Indiana in 1850, many lawmakers not only wanted to ban any new settlers with a "drop" of black blood from settling in the state, but many wanted to pass a colonization attempt to banish existing blacks to Africa. Even legislators opposing such legislation as unconstitutional sometimes commented on what they perceived to be the "inferiority" of blacks. Laws of Indiana and Illinois allowed the establishment of non-integrated schools for Caucasian students.

Not until 1855 did a state—Massachusetts—aggressively mandate integration of the races in public schools, and that state succeeded because of a relatively low population of blacks and a strong presence of influential abolitionists. New York, with its record of putting to death blacks suspected of arson in the nineteenth century and a very large black population, failed to pass statutes to end segregation until 1900.

Many black parents supported segregation, realizing that their children could be injured, or even killed, by forcing the issue and integrating public schools. Booker T. Washington, a revered black educator, advised blacks to be passive and to turn the other cheek. The Supreme Court's Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as permitting segregation, if facilities were "separate but equal." What blacks received in reality were worthless, dated textbooks; substandard and antiquated school buildings; and teachers whose credentials usually failed to match those of teachers in schools populated mainly by white children. Historian John D. Pulliam reports that the costs of educating white and black children at the time were $102 and $67 respectively, effectively showing that separate facilities were, in fact, unequal.

Because schooling of blacks in many colonies and later in states was either repressed or outright forbidden, it took some time for a black educator to emerge as a national champion for the education of African Americans. During the late nineteenth century, a competent teacher with ambition and rhetorical genius named W.E.B. Du-Bois became this leader. Both boys and girls found equal welcome in his classroom, although facilities in black schools were risky by safety standards and furniture often was borrowed and rickety. DuBois became a nationally known writer, educator, and social critic, fiercely opposed to social and educational inequities because of race.

Years later, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the issue of "separate but equal" was revisited. In 1954, the Supreme Court utterly reversed the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, stressing that separate facilities for education cannot be defined as equal. Immediately after the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, a number of southern states tried to bypass the law but were thwarted when they tried to pass legislation that was blatantly racist. One county in Virginia tried to declare its public school system at an end, financing instead private schools that were segregated, until the U.S. Supreme Court intervened. Other states continued segregation as usual, flaunting their disregard for the Supreme Court ruling and erecting billboards all over the South that called, unsuccessfully, for Chief Justice Warren's impeachment.

Some 2,300 school districts defied the Supreme Court ruling, and agitated Caucasians in Little Rock, Arkansas, picketed a school undergoing integration and defied federal troops. These actions inspired the black and white supporters of the Reverend Martin Luther King to express powerful opposition through boycotts, marches, and sit-ins at drugstore counters and department store cafeterias. As part of their political action, marchers demanded integration and better educational opportunities for blacks, including full admission to colleges and professional schools in institutions where this had been prohibited. No longer voiceless or uneducated, the civil rights movement was manned by many African-American professional people. There were twice as many blacks in the various professions in 1957 as there had been in 1940, according to historian Samuel Eliot Morison.

Educational System—Overview

Free & Compulsory Education: After the American Revolution, pro-education spokespersons presented strong views on the best way to form and preserve the character of its citizenry through education. Already there was awareness that a quality education had a price, just as did any other quality services. Pennsylvania's state constitution made provisions for teachers in public schools to be paid by the state, a practice emulated by other states as it became apparent that children who could not afford to pay for schooling clearly needed the state to provide free schools. Eventually states passed provisions to compel children to attend schools. But just as in colonial days, when children were apprenticed to tradesman at young ages, during the nineteenth century textile manufacturers, packing plants, and mining outfits hired children to perform menial jobs. It would be the twentieth century before enforcement standards were sufficient to ensure full compliance.

However, during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, opponents of compulsory education grew more numerous and more vocal, inspired in part by successes of parents that have home-schooled their children through elementary school and secondary school. School bullying, school shootings, arrests of teachers on various charges, and poor marks received by U.S. youngsters on standardized tests have led critics to say that compulsory education should not be defended without serious thought and conscience searching. By 2001, although compulsory attendance continued in all states, legislators in Washington and other states were seriously pondering legislation that if passed would nullify or amend the law in those states.

Age Limits: All states have a minimum age for allowing a child to begin formal education, but there is no single national standard as to what the birth-month cutoff should be. The majority of states and the District of Columbia have statewide birth dates for entering five-yearolds that all districts must conform to as a kindergarten entrance policy requirement. In 2001 the state law in North Dakota set seven as the entrance age, but that law may be lowered by state legislation. Other exceptions are Colorado, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; individual school districts set the policy in those five states. All states have set a minimum dropout age somewhere between 14 and 18, with the most common age requirement being 16 (in 36 states).

Academic Year: Plans by several school districts to lengthen the academic year by four or five days have met with angry protests by students. The combination of increasingly more complex subject matter, state testing requirements, and public perceptions regarding school quality has led critics and supporters of education alike to advocate more school days in the annual calendar. Most commonly, school boards propose the increases in an attempt to raise student performance marks on standardized tests. One such protest in March 2001 occurred at Kellam High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, after the school board extended the calendar from 180 to 185 days.

Every now and then a school board comes into the news when it considers the notion of extending the school year through the summer. During the twenty-first century, the debate over whether the school year for elementary and secondary students should be extended to 11 or 12 months will be waged even more vigorously. Few schools have actually adopted such a schedule: parents argue that the change would disrupt their family lives, teachers argue that their workload is already burdensome, and students complain that their opportunity to earn money for college would be jeopardized without the chance to work summer jobs. Employers that depend on students also object to the proposal.

Enrollment: Record enrollments most definitely will be recorded during the twenty-first century. During the 1990s, the U.S. population grew by nearly 25 million people, surpassing every decade but one and guaranteeing maximum use of schools for years to come.

During the 1950s, 28 million babies were born, the largest number of births in a single 10-year period recorded up to the year 2000. Beginning in 1951, school children began enrolling in kindergartens and first grade in numbers that were unprecedented. The dramatic rise would, in 1960, begin to have an effect on secondary schools, followed by an explosion in college enrollments starting in 1964. The number of students coming into these schools at every level was due to the popularly named Baby Boom, which refers to the skyrocketing increase in births after World War II from 1946 to 1964. Enrollment in elementary and secondary schools peaked in 1971, according to the Digest of Education Statistics. As increasing numbers of U.S. parents divorced, enrollments of elementary and high school students also declined from 1971 to 1984.

The second half of 1985 once again saw a return to the trend of increasing enrollments. This coincided with an overall increase in the population. Enrollment in elementary and secondary schools reached high levels in the mid-1990s, and that trend continued to the end of the decade. U.S. public elementary school enrollment increased from 29.2 million in 1989 to 33.7 million in 1999, the last date for which estimates were available. Likewise, public high schools reported 11.4 million enrollees in 1989 and an estimated 13.5 million in 1999. These stunning increases in public K-12 schools are not reflective of the trends in private elementary and secondary schools, however. Over the same 10-year period, the private schools actually reported a 1 percent decrease. Altogether in 1999, about 6 million students enrolled in private K-12 schools.

The combined enrollment of public and private school students in U.S. elementary and secondary schools at the start of the fall 2000 semester was an estimated 53 million people, according to the federal government. The 1990 enrollment of 46.5 million students in these schools translates to a jump in enrollment of 14 percent in a single decade. Government analysts project further growth through 2005, although at a less dramatic percentage of increase than was observed during the 1990s.

By 2005, the Department of Education anticipates a leveling off of enrollment in the total number of elementary and secondary students, with decreases seen between 2005 and 2010, although projections for enrollment through 2006 suggest that numbers of secondary school students will reach an all-time high before dropping. Enrollments in elementary school are expected to stay high but somewhat more constant until 2009. The decrease in growth reflects a lower annual birth rate between 1991 and 1997.

Educator Diane Ravitch noted in 1984 that while total enrollment ballooned in the United States from 23 million to 40 million students between l945 and l980, schools declined from l85,000 institutions to fewer than 86,000 during the same time period, a reflection of the increasing popularity of consolidated elementary and secondary schools. What is difficult to predict in 2001 is whether the trend to build a few larger, consolidated schools or numerous, smaller, community-based schools will emerge victorious. Supporters and critics of each system are numerous and vocal. The consolidated schools tend to have larger classes, fewer teachers and administrators, and strong emphasis on extracurricular sports competition with rival schools.

Private School Tuition: According to the latest figures posted by the federal government, private schools charged an average tuition of $3,116 in 1993-1994. Parochial school tuition was significantly lower than that of nonsectarian schools. Catholic schools charged $2,178 on average; schools with other religious affiliations charged $2,915 on average. Nonsectarian private schools charged an average tuition of $6,631.

Immigration & Bilingual Education: U.S. residents aged five years and older who either speak no English or have a small grasp of the language are increasing in number, presenting additional challenges to teachers in the classroom. Many immigrants came to the United States from countries where English was not the official language, and they have moved into communities where proximity to family or friends has offered a compelling reason for learning a new language.

Preliminary reports from Census 2000 indicate that figures will even be higher for the number of language minorities than is available in the 1990 data, the latest information posted by the government on a state-by-state basis. Since the 1970 Census, numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants have increased. Large cities show significant additions of Hispanic populations, particularly Texas cities such as San Antonio, where Hispanic residents have been the dominant culture numerically since 1990. The Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative and Urban and Regional Research reports that Hispanic residents doubled in Austin, Dallas, and Forth Worth, while Houston reported an 80 percent increase since 1990. On the East Coast, Asians grew in similar large populations by 70 percent in Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey. Asians and Hispanics reported increases of at least 50 percent in large cities such as Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

Based on 1990 Census information, when the population was 230,445,777 people, the number of speakers who spoke a primary language other than English was 31,844,979. Of that total, 4,826,958 people spoke very little English, and 1,845,243 said they spoke it not at all. In particular, of people who reported Spanish as their primary language, some 3,804,792 reported that they spoke English poorly, while 3,040,828 reported that they did not speak English at all. Even more significant numbers for education show that 761,778 people between the ages of 5 and 17 spoke English only a little and 145,785 spoke it not at all, a significant increase since 1980. In terms of state representation, California reports 681,504 households where English is spoken not at all and 1,621,098 households where English and another primary language are spoken. Overall population in the United States in March 2001 was 283,859,806 people, according to government figures.

The Bilingual Education Act of 1967 was an attempt by the federal government to assist, in particular, school districts that found themselves with a growing influx of youngsters who were primarily speakers of Spanish or another language such as Chinese. The Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs intends to develop linguistically and culturally diverse students under the auspices of the federal Department of Education. Bilingual education most commonly has both native Spanish and native English speakers taking part in an education program wherein part of a day's school instruction is given in English and part in Spanish or another language.

English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction enables the student whose primary language is Spanish to receive concentrated assistance to learn English grammar and composition. Other classes may be taught in any combination of English and the additional language. Instruction in the native language and English, rather than English alone, has been determined to be of great assistance to students needing to master material in other classes, such as math and science. One of the drawbacks to the federal bilingual education program is a pronounced dearth of bilingual education and ESL teachers. Consequently, since 1980, federal funding has been directed to numerous teacher-training institutions to produce more than 80,000 teachers with bilingual skills.

Technology in Education: While computers are found in an increasing number of schools, and students themselves report increasing familiarity with the Internet, the majority of teachers in a 2001 survey report low levels of Internet usage. Nearly 87 percent of teachers surveyed said they were acquainted with the Internet, but only 40 percent used the Internet 30 minutes or more daily for educational purposes, according to NetDay, a nonprofit education group that assists teachers with technology.

Although elementary and secondary educators continue to put the main classroom emphasis on textbooks for student reading, technology experts see an upsurge in school Internet use since 1993. Many schools maintain a Web site; according to Web66, an international registry of schools at the University of Minnesota, nearly 9,000 elementary and secondary schools had Web sites in April 2001.

Outside the schools, thanks to home and library computers, 45 percent of America's 30 million children have access to the Internet, according to a Pew Internet & American Life Project study released in February 2001. Almost three-quarters of teens aged 12 to 17 can access the Internet, while fewer than 1 in 3 beneath the age of 12 can do so.

Mathematics & Science Teaching: The National Science Foundation takes a visible role in stressing reforms and accomplishments in U.S. schools from kindergarten through graduate education. NSF's Division of Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education provides one of the best sources for K-12 grant opportunities and general information on science education for teachers.

Science and math education have been priorities of numerous presidential administrations, but while there has been slow progress over time, in the late twentieth century the issue acquired more urgency. In spite of administration concerns, U.S. student performances overall continued at disappointing levels on national tests, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, although the NCES stresses that some U.S. youngsters do post scores equal to those of any other nation.

The NSF released scores comparing eighth graders from 38 nations and comparing their scores to similar testing conducted when they were in the fourth grade. American eighth graders had dropped measurably in scores in that four-year period, a tendency that a NSF spokesperson said might be attributed to more middle school math and science classes being staffed by teachers who were non-majors in those subjects. Overall, U.S. youngsters scored only about average on the tests, which is significantly behind the scores in Japan and Korea. They also did not keep up with gains in test scores over a four-year period exhibited by students from Canada.

In 2000, the Science and Math Teaching for the Twenty-First Century Report, also called the Sen. John Glenn Commission Report, offered strategies for improving educational performance of math and science students. In addition, as had his predecessor Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush announced in 2001 that accomplishing gains in science and math testing would be a priority of his administration. His administration recommended annual testing in state-approved math and science exams every year for students in the fourth through eighth grades.

Students with Disabilities: In 1968, the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program started as a pilot program to provide quality special education and other services to disabled children from birth through the third grade. Congress saw a need for providing families with these early intervention programs to assist children with disabilities and to provide their caregivers with information specific to their educational needs. The program began with 24 demonstration projects in 1968. Over the years, the program was greatly expanded to include model outreach projects, early intervention research disbursement, experimental projects, and in-service training projects, among other innovations. In 1990 the organization changed its name to the Early Education Program for Children with Disabilities (EEPCD).

Since 1997 and the passage of a number of federal amendments, including the Amendments to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1997, EEPCD has not been a freestanding program. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 meant a significant expansion in educational opportunities and services for disabled children. With its strong emphasis on learning, the program expressed the expectation that disabled children could receive an education with results that would become apparent in a meaningful way after schooling ended.

Since 1980, the number of students enrolled in programs for disabled children has slowly grown. About 10 percent of the school population fell under the category of disabled during the 1980-1981 school year, according to government figures. That number increased to 13 percent during the 1997-1998 school year. The fastest growing area is that segment of the population termed learning disabled. The population of learning disabled children was only four percent in 1980-1981, but it had risen two points to six percent in 1997-1998.

Curriculum & Educational Reform: The incorporation in 1906 of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (founded in 1905 by magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie) is the starting point for curriculum development in the twentieth century. This foundation became integral in the formation of standards and a standardized curriculum for all U.S. schools, as well as eventually providing a structured, unbiased means to assess the quality of educational institutions. The foundation set the standard of a single credit for courses taken in secondary schools, a recommendation met with opposition by critics who believed that certain science, mathematics, and humanities courses have more educational value than some courses perceived to be easier to pass. The NEA further fine-tuned reform when it defined core subjects required for graduation, as well as the minimum number of credits required by a student seeking a diploma (including requirements in mathematics and English).

Among numerous other changes in education over the last 110 years, the curriculum has altered considerably. Subjects generally recommended by leading educators included classical and modern languages; mathematics courses such as algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; miscellaneous science courses; and humanities courses in history, geography, and English. Even though relatively few students advanced from high school to college in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, the U.S. curriculum has been traditionally based on college-entrance.

In 1995, however, the U.S. Department of Education advocated that the secondary school curriculum be strengthened and enriched to include a focus on life beyond the classroom, issuing an online report entitled "Raising the Educational Achievement of Secondary School Students." While early American education stressed rote learning and discipline, schools in the twenty-first century must stress challenging, rigorous studies that show students a correlation between classroom studies and the occupations and endeavors they may undertake after graduation. Teachers ideally should involve students in an active way to produce knowledge, rather than merely to sit passively and receive lectures. While schools are responsible for material mandated by the state or other governing boards, they should also find innovative ways to teach that fully engage students in community, service, and work situations, enabling students to perceive the value of what they learn.

College preparedness is not to be wholly dismissed, however. The trend of placing students in vocational or general education tracks, with subjects taught that are well beneath the breadth and depth of college-preparatory tracks, faced criticism at the close of the twentieth century. Students in the lower tracks receive repetitive training in specific skills and received little opportunity to exercise problem solving and critical thinking. In addition, students coming from certain socioeconomic classes and those facing language barriers find themselves, in effect, segregated because of tracking and a concern for how students in a particular school may perform overall on standardized tests.

After studying secondary schools considered among the best in the United States, researchers Fred Newmann, director of The Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, and G. G. Wehlage identified five characteristics connected to optimal instruction:

• Schools emphasize higher-order thinking to combine facts and ideas and then to come up with conclusions and interpretations of the material.
• Students are encouraged to be problem solvers with a broad depth of knowledge and to understand the core ideas of various disciplines, as well as to see the ways various disciplines connect.
• Students apply their knowledge in ways that would prove useful in business, the military, personal investments, or recreation choices outside the classroom's walls.
• Students are encouraged to develop rhetorical skills, demonstrating that they can communicate knowledge of a subject and engage listeners in a meaningful way. In effect, they learn from their peers and vice versa.
• The classroom should provide a supportive, respectful environment where students can take intellectual risks and learn in an environment highly conducive to meeting the educational needs of all. Rather than deposit slower learners in remedial programs, the educators suggest that students may achieve better if placed in challenging environments.

The researchers also found that the main exceptions to including students of varying abilities in one classroom may be made in subjects such as mathematics or reading, where students may be grouped with others capable of roughly similar performance levels.

Another recent development in educational reform has been the interest in mandatory testing. The impetus for statewide testing as a mechanism to work for schools of higher quality was a 1983 study called "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform," produced following a mandate from Reagan-era Secretary of Education Terrel H. Bell. Some of that report's recommendations were to improve character, maintain better discipline, and reduce risks and addictive behaviors. Other recommendations were designed to bring about more effective teaching, more input from parents and local governments, and improved performance in all basics such as mathematics, science, and English.

"A Nation at Risk" coincided with poor performances by American youth on test scores in mathematics, science, and other skill areas when compared to youths in some other countries, as well as complaints from the military and business over the academic ineptitude of recruits and new workers. Presidents from Reagan through George W. Bush have made education reform the focus of campaign rhetoric, and have, during their respective administrations, pushed hard for high achievement rankings equal to or superior to results produced in the classrooms of other nations. The fact that schools blessed with resources for their relatively privileged students tend to achieve far better test results than do schools whose resources are marginal or deficient promises to contribute to a long and sometimes acrimonious debate over standards and testing.

Textbooks: Not until nearly 1690 did any sort of a uniform schoolbook appear that targeted knowledge specifically for maturing minds. The illustrated New England Primer appeared around or before 1690, offering religious instruction and the way to virtue in rhyming verse with couplets and epigrams, along the lines of "Time cuts down all, Both great and small."

The New England Primer 's sale of some 2 million copies during the colonial period cannot be overlooked as an important unifying influence in the education of children of various sects. Schools of the Northeast were similar in their piety and sober atmosphere, mattering little if the congregations were Calvinist, Congregational, Puritan, or Unitarian. Students went on from the Primer to learn psalms and passages from the Bible.

During the twenty-first century, by contrast, educators are faced with organized protests to textbook selections. Protests since 1990 have been directed against textbooks said to contain materials that are perceived to be any of the following: anti-Christian, anti-American, or representative of so-called "New Age" secular humanism. From Virginia to California, parents occasionally inform schools that they want teachers to send home parental permission slips if an assigned novel or collection of stories has one or more scenes containing sexual situations. Other textbook conflicts have arisen over matters of science, particularly how scientific theories of evolution are presented, and miscellaneous stories or plays included in literature anthologies. In one extreme case, a Florida principal authorized cutting out a play about AIDS from a textbook.

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) advises that students in elementary and secondary school will read some 32,000 pages in textbooks before graduation. ERIC recommends that state authorities involved in the selection process of adopting textbooks should be aware that textbooks in the past have excluded the achievements of women and minorities, as well as sometimes satisfying various political agendas. Women, for example, were depicted in these textbooks in dependent, domestic roles. The representation of women and minorities too often was limited to the first in particular fields such as aviation or law, rather than putting emphasis on contributions made cooperatively by women and men of all races in every aspect of American life, such as the settling of the frontier.

Teachers have begun to resist the limited choices in textbooks offered by the committees appointed by the state department of education. For example, the National Council of Teachers of English in May 1990 considered member objections to state-adopted texts that tended to control the curriculum and to limit professional choices of the teachers entrusted with the responsibility of teaching the material in the classroom. The teachers wanted the freedom not to adopt textbooks recommended by the committees or to use those textbooks in the curriculum in ways they felt most professionally comfortable. Other hard-fought discussions concern the degree of perceived difficulty of textbooks, as teachers attempt to help students pass challenging state tests required for graduation. Such was the case in California in 2001, as teachers, superintendents, and publisher representatives disagreed over the inclusion of a challenging mathematics textbook on a state-approved list.

Each year the state and local authorities selecting textbooks are making choices worth millions of dollars; the cost in California alone was estimated to be $415 million in 2001, according to the Los Angeles Times. Given that amount of money and the possibility of conflict over subject matter in textbooks representing a variety of disciplines, it is instructive to note how relatively smoothly the selection of textbooks goes each year in nearly all states. When a conflict does occur, however, the incident is likely to draw wide press coverage, suggesting that such conflicts are more common than they really are.

Less controversial is the selection process for textbooks purchased by students for college classes. In many cases, academic freedom allows instructors to choose the texts they believe will best prepare their students to understand course objectives. In a few cases, particularly where frequently offered courses are taught by adjunct or part-time instructors, a department head or appointed committee may choose the books.

Foreign Influences on Educational System: From primary to tertiary education, the strongest foreign influence on the American educational system has come from Germany. The concept of a kindergarten is a German educational innovation that has been even more successful in the United States than in its country of origin. Kindergartens were popularized in America by educators Elizabeth Peabody; William T. Harris, a St. Louis educator who became U.S. Commissioner of Education (1889-1906); and Margarethe Schurz, wife of Carl Schurz, a German èmigrè who was U.S. Secretary of the Interior and a Civil War general. Eventually, all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia adopted kindergarten programs. Mrs. Schurz learned about the operation of kindergartens and their theory directly from Friedrich Froebel, the German educator credited with the establishments of kindergarten programs in Germany. However, kindergartens met with opposition both here and in Germany, and it was not until after 1920 that the United States saw a great leap in nationwide acceptance of kindergartens as ordinary additions to school districts.

In higher education, two German innovations adopted here were the conferring of Ph.D. degrees and the German concept of scholarly research. Until the late nineteenth century, American scholars wishing to obtain additional knowledge, conduct research, and acquire the status of a doctoral degree traveled to German institutions of higher learning to do the necessary work needed to attain the highest level of scholarly attainment. In time, rightly or wrongly, American institutions began to equate the number of doctorates earned by its faculty with academic excellence. Various systems of rating universities invariably publish a ranking of faculty with the percentage of those with Ph.Ds.

American institutions in time tended to replicate German models for conducting research by raising research money from private industry and soliciting large gifts from benefactors—creating endowments to regulate these funds—and obtaining government funding. Individual professors and graduate departments soon found how expensive it was to conduct research without well-planned sources of financing from government or private sources. In time sophisticated guidelines were written to develop ethical policies dealing with extremely complex issues that arose from accepting large sums of money from sources outside the universities.

Preprimary & Primary Education

Preprimary Schools: The growing number of households headed by one spouse, and the fact that intact families nonetheless often have both spouses working, has driven a boom in the enrollment of young children in various preprimary schools. Department of Education figures report that the enrollment of three-, four-, and five-year-olds in daycare institutes and other preprimary facilities was 30 percent higher in 1998 than it had been in 1988.

In addition, young children are spending more time away from their parents in such schools. Government data shows that while about one-third (34 percent) of all children in daycare facilities spent a full day away from home in 1988, by 1998 more than half (51 percent) of three- to five-year-olds enrolled in daycare were left the full day.

Primary Schools: Massachusetts is responsible for the introduction of primary schools for children four years and older. These were a modification of the British infant schools—an idea that soon found its way into most of the progressive, larger American cities such as New York and Providence as a means of teaching and overseeing the children of working-class men and women. Eventually these primary schools were assimilated into elementary schools. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, American schools also began the formation of kindergartens.

In the United States, educators have attached great importance to the position of kindergarten teacher, the person that determines whether a youngster's first impression of schooling will be favorable or unfavorable. These learning experiences lead to increased self-esteem or contribute to the gradual unmaking of the child. Academically, kindergartens are as highly structured as any other classroom. While games are important, the teacher is conscious of the need to present work on the alphabet, phonics, arithmetic numbers, elementary grammar, and history that is free of stereotypes.

One of the major changes in the twentieth century was the national movement toward the consolidation of elementary schools following World War I, when the costs of owning an automobile had dropped low enough that teachers could drive to work from their homes. In addition, lacking in total education budgets and staffed with teachers often teaching subjects in which they had little or no preparation, rural and small schools faced the public perception after World War I that they were inferior to larger schools. As of 1930, some 7 out of 10 elementary schools—some 149,282 schools according to the Digest of Educational Statistics —were conducted in multigrade, one-room schoolhouses. In 2001 the one-room schools were almost completely part of a nostalgic past, except for a few remaining holdovers in the most rural parts of America.

Elementary School Projections: Between 2000 and 2010, federal projections anticipate a continuation of high enrollments of elementary school children. This then continues the trend of exploding elementary school population experienced in the United States from 1990 to 1999. The number of children in kindergarten through eighth grade in 1990 totaled 34 million. The increase to approximately 38.1 million K-8 students in 2000 was equal to an increase of 12 percent.

The increase will reverse itself by 2001 but only by a small reduction. By 2008, total elementary school enrollment is projected to be 37.3 million students. After that, enrollment will begin to climb once more, and total K-8 figures for 2010 are projected to be 37.5 million students.

Teachers: Elementary teachers in the twenty-first century are expected to be generalists capable of teaching several subjects, with the exception of specialized teachers in subjects such as music, art, or physical education, who work with larger numbers of students than just a single class. Increasingly, team-management skills are expected, as teachers work in tandem with one or more additional teachers to cover subject materials. Coaching of students is expected, since students in any one classroom may and do present varying levels of accomplishment, maturity, and skill levels.

Secondary Education

Origins: The concept of a "high school" can be traced back to Massachusetts in the 1820s. In Boston, the English Classical School took on the name of the English High School in 1824 and embarked on a mission to educate the majority of males that likely would not attend college. A female high school opened in Boston in 1826. In the three decades following passage of a bill in Massachusetts to make these mandatory, high schools were very slow to catch on outside that state. By means of comparison, while by 1860 Massachusetts boasted about 100 high schools, only 200 existed in the rest of the Union, whose population then was 30 million. One state similar to Massachusetts was Ohio; in 1830 after Calvin E. Stowe, a professor and husband of author Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote a report on education in Ohio after having also looked into European school systems, a number of townships in the state formed elementary and high schools.

Between 1900 and 1915, Americans searching for upward mobility became concerned that there should be high schools operating to provide an equal opportunity for all. It would take several more decades, however, for families in need of income from all sources to allow their children to take advantage of such opportunities. Also in the beginning of the twentieth century, the eight- and four-year elementary/high school programs began giving way to junior high schools and middle schools. One of the major reasons for the change was to isolate youngsters just before and after the start of adolescence.

Secondary School Projections: U.S. secondary schools will see increasing enrollments in secondary schools through 2007. However, based on U.S. birth rate figures, the population of adolescents aged 14 through 17 will experience a reduction in numbers from 2007 through 2010. Nonetheless, the higher enrollments through 2007 will produce a higher total number of secondary students during the first decade of the twenty-first century than was counted during the 1990s.

To be more specific, enrollment in grades 9 through 12 rose from 12.5 million in 1990 to about 14.9 million in 2000—a leap of about 19 percent. Expectations are that enrollment in secondary school (grades 9 through 12) will show an increase in 2006 as the number of enrollees reaches 16 million.

According to government records, the highest total for secondary school enrollment to date was 15.7 million in the fall of 1976. If estimates hold, the number of students attending grades 9 through 12 will eclipse that number, with a total registration of 15.9 million in 2005 and 16.0 million in 2006. The following year through 2010, the number of students should decline, leveling out to 15.5 million in 2010.

Teachers: Increases in student enrollments have emphasized the need for qualified secondary education teachers. Critics of education complained in 2001 about the number of secondary teachers responsible for courses outside their major, and that criticism likely will increase unless the teaching shortage can be addressed.

As subject matter in the twenty-first century becomes even more complex, secondary teachers are being expected not just to demonstrate a general knowledge of their subject matter, but actually to display mastery. Unlike elementary school teachers, who tend to teach a number of subjects, secondary teachers are assigned one or more subjects, such as history, English, physics, and or a foreign language, that require their students in turn to display wide knowledge on state-mandated tests. One of the problems frequently cited by accreditation teams is that too often secondary school teachers get asked to teach subjects outside their specialty areas due to teacher and budget shortages. In addition to the specialty, teachers likely will teach electives to students with even more specialized interests. A secondary school English teacher, for example, may teach a class in journalism or drama, as well as participate in after-class activities, such as advising student publications or directing a school musical.

Dropouts: According to the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students, there are many disagreements among educators, critics of education, politicians, and parents as to what constitutes a dropout and what the actual percentage of dropouts is nationally and state by state. Many students who for marriage, a job, or other reasons voluntarily leave school (or are expelled by the system) end up obtaining a high school diploma nonetheless, such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate or state-issued certificate of completion with requirements generally less rigorous than traditional diploma requirements. Adding to the confusion, there is no single Department of Education definition of a dropout that all school districts follow, leading to media exposés that tend to show more students leaving school than statistics imply.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) does offer some specifics regarding dropout rates. These include rates in a single year and rates for the national population in a particular age range. Perhaps a truer picture of the dropout rate can be seen from the second category, where NCES reported that the 1993 national dropout rate for people aged 16 to 24 was 11 percent (roughly 3.4 million people). In spite of low student scores on state tests and continued concern over dropouts among minority populations, that figure marks an improvement compared to the 1970s, when the dropout rate for that age category was 14.6 percent.

Critics of education point out that the loss of more than 1 out of every 10 students in American schools remains a troubling figure. In 1993, some 381,000 students dropped out of school from grades 10, 11, and 12. Rates for males and females are about the same. Rates for Hispanics and African-Americans continue to exceed rates for Caucasian students, in part because the number of minority teachers continues to be lower than optimum. In 1993, only 7.9 percent of dropouts were Caucasian, compared to 13.6 percent for African-American students and 27.5 percent for Hispanic students, according to NCES. In addition, rates for Native Americans were high. Breaking the trend, students from Asian-American families tended to have low dropout rates, according to NCES figures of 1993.

Socioeconomic statistics regarding dropouts show convincing evidence that most dropouts, overwhelmingly, are poor. NCES recorded about a 3 percent dropout rate for students whose families had an above-poverty line income level, compared to about a 24 percent dropout rate for students from poor households.

Higher Education

General Survey: In 1636, in the Massachusetts Bay town of Cambridge (then known as Newtowne), the first college in the New World opened. The college acquired the name of Harvard two years later, after minister John Harvard bequeathed some of his modest wealth to the college. Many Harvard College students planned to enter the ministry following graduation, but in time the wealthy sons of planters and merchants also opted for educations. Those who were admitted first had to demonstrate proficiency in Latin, Greek, and scripture. The school attempted to gain a reputation for excellence similar to the great English schools of Cambridge and Oxford.

Early educators at Harvard revered the ancient civilizations, and it was the ancient languages of Latin and Greek and the ancient intellectual subjects of logic, geometry, rhetoric, and so on that were the focus of minister training at early Harvard. For the ministers-to-be, Aristotle's teachings and Christian teachings both belonged in their classrooms. In other words, what had been revered in the classrooms of the medieval schools of Europe was quite similar to what was taught in the first colonial college at Harvard.

Unfortunately, the worst feudal practices of Europe also crossed the ocean into Massachusetts, likely brought there by the first scholars or by students that had studies in England first. Older students demanded acts of servitude similar to what was termed "fagging" in English universities. In time, even worse student practices such as paddling, corporal beatings, verbal abuse, humiliation, and degrading acts were part of college life in America, and these became known under the general name of "hazing." Such practices were readily accepted in a wilderness college where pranks and other rough jokes at the expense of greenhorns were an accepted part of life on the frontiers.

Authorities failed to share the student enthusiasm for hazing, imposing fines for hazing newcomers in 1657 and expelling a student for the practice in 1684. In the nineteenth century, the practice grew so out of hand that colleges such as Amherst, Yale, and Cornell suffered the ignominy of student-initiation deaths, and a speaker at Harvard denounced hazing as "a weed in the garden of academe." The "weed" continues to be a problem in the twenty-first century, as hazing deaths continue to occur among newcomers to college, many of them seeking membership into college fraternities.

On the other hand, many administrators, professors, and student scholars viewed learning as a sacred responsibility at Harvard College, and they regarded the acquisition of learning with the same serious outlook that the Puritans possessed toward religion. In time, Harvard became the model for much of what educators were trying to accomplish in the American colonies in terms of scholarship and the graduation of young men with character. At the time, no girl was admitted to Harvard. As was the case in the common schools, most learning was accomplished in the form of recitations, and students with a mind for reading and retaining long blocks of Latin text were assured success as scholars. Learning took patience, endurance, and rhetorical skills. The curriculum was fixed, and changing any part of that curriculum was sure to involve faculty members in debate for months or years.

In part because of the status of early scholars at Harvard with Oxford connections, and in part because the other colonies were so slow to establish a competing college, New England established a dominance in the field of higher education that has persisted into the twenty-first century. It took many years for other Eastern cities to establish their own centers of learning. As Benjamin Franklin's aforementioned Academy grew, the institution became known as the College of Pennsylvania, receiving its formal charter in 1755. The College of Pennsylvania, after the American Revolution, changed its name by charter in 1779 to the University of the State of Pennsylvania (shortening it to the University of Pennsylvania in 1791). The first college in New York, King's College (later Columbia University), had British ties and was started only a few years prior to the Revolutionary War.

One measure of the relatively small degree of emphasis on a college education at this time is the fact that combined enrollment at the nine American colleges in the early 1770s was a mere 750 students. That number would not grow greatly in the next three decades. While a few early leaders of the United States, most notably Thomas Jefferson, possessed strong ideals and beliefs regarding education, much of the country's energies were focused on the formation of political alliances, industry building, and preparations for defense pending another inevitable war with England.

In the first decade of the nineteenth century, exploration gave way to the founding of settlements and commerce was spreading. The need for educated citizens and ministers created a great need for colleges, not only in an ever-growing number of American cities, but even in then-western, wilderness communities such as Miami, Ohio, where plans for a college were made mere days after statehood was granted in 1803.

After a brief period of stagnation, the years after the Civil War saw efforts to increase not only the number of colleges but also the number of students afforded the opportunity of higher education. Such expansion was not surprising in a country possessing equal regard for commerce, democratic ideals, the celebration of community creation, and the unreachable quest for perfection in the nature of mankind.

Overall, collegiate enrollment continued to increase steadily by 1918 to about a half million students, as the U.S. population numbered more than 100 million people. Many colleges, particularly small schools with small endowments, entered into a crisis period during the Great Depression as enrollments in college fell drastically. Colleges began to recover in the late 1930s, but World War II once again interfered with the growth of schools, although some institutions were spared disaster when the government selected many campuses for miscellaneous course preparation of enlisted persons.

Following the war, liberal arts colleges often found themselves broadening their curriculum to reflect the national interest in majors related to mathematics and science, or they continued their curriculums and found new ways to compete for enrollment with schools that emphasized the math and science courses that industry and business demanded of new hires. Veterans returning to the classroom after hostilities ended in the mid-1940s tended to gravitate toward college programs that guaranteed them more security in the job market.

As universities themselves acquired more prestige, it became impossible for capable men and women to become dentists, lawyers, and so on without university degrees, as had been the case during much of the nineteenth century. Students seeking status themselves began to compete for entry into the schools perceived to be the best in the land. Where for many years essentially anyone with a diploma from a recognized high school could enter most institutions of higher learning, during the twentieth century increasingly tightened admission standards developed as the best and brightest students competed for a place in Ivy League and prestigious state universities.

As universities themselves set out to hire the best available faculty and to build state-of-the-art facilities, the costs of operating a university spiraled upward, as did the cost of tuition to partially pay for the skyrocketing expenses. In time, where colleges once searched for presidents with the best academic credentials and publication records, many schools began to look for candidates with slightly less stunning vitas who showed they possessed fundraising and management skills comparable to the best chief operating officers in private corporations.

Racial Minorities & Women: Segregation was a painful reality in many Southern institutions during the nineteenth century, in some cases even into the second half of the twentieth century. Not until 1826 did a college award a degree to a black in the United States. One of the few colleges to pursue opportunities for black students was Unitarian-sponsored Antioch College in Ohio, where Horace Mann served as president from 1853 until his death in 1859. The first college to establish a permanent institution for the higher education of black Americans was Hampton Institute in 1870, and it also encouraged Native Americans to attend.

Individuals such as W.E.B. DuBois and organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up the battle against the hypocrisy of separate but equal facilities. In time, there were quiet victories, including the 1950 admission of an African-American into the University of Texas law school following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Sweatt v. Painter. At Indiana University's School of Dentistry, African-Americans worked quietly behind the scenes to persuade faculty members and the dean to allow them to treat Caucasian patients in dental clinics, eliminating an unwritten policy that saw African-American dental students working only on the teeth of dental students. Overall, however, ignorance and resistance on the part of many universities blocked the path of African-Americans who desired professional and advanced degrees.

In 1973, a minuscule 2,500 Ph.D. and Ed.D degrees were awarded to African-Americans in every discipline combined. By 1998, according to the federally directed Survey of Earned Doctorates Report released by the University of Chicago, the number of doctorates earned by U.S. citizens of racial or ethnic minority groups was 14.7 percent of the total doctorates awarded, the highest percentage overall in history. Among the 97 percent of U.S. respondents who identified race/ethnicity, African-Americans earned 1,467 doctorates; Hispanics, 1,190; Asians (including Pacific Islanders), 1,168; and American Indians (including Alaskan Natives), 189. In disciplines, African-Americans received the highest number of doctorates in education, according to the report.

Other than the training school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (a target of frequent criticism by Indian leaders), between 1879 and 1918 the U.S. government, states, and religious organizations alike failed to provide an collegiate for the higher education of Native Americans. According to Morison, the United States failed to take any significant steps toward the preservation of Native American culture and the higher educational needs of Indian youth until the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act in 1934.

As of 2001, a number of higher education facilities existed to serve the needs of Native American students. These include Bay Mills Community College in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Cankdeska Cikana Community College (Little Hoop Community College) in North Dakota, Little Priest Tribal College in Nebraska, and 32 other schools of higher learning on Indian lands. In addition to the curriculum that is found at non-Indian colleges, these schools for Native Americans focus on languages that might otherwise be lost, tribal customs, and Native American history. The federal government's Executive Order No. 13021 on Tribal Colleges and Universities ensures educational opportunities through the federal government and contributes to the status as accredited higher education institutions. In 2001, the tribal colleges were asking the federal government to renew and strengthen its programs for tribal colleges and universities.

Women's higher education in America began with the founding of Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1837. The school's founder and visionary, Mary Lyon, immeasurably advanced the cause of equal opportunities for women with the college's founding, and opened the doors for other women's colleges to follow. Chief among these schools were Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, Radcliffe, Sarah Lawrence, and Bennington.

Without question, the national movement for women's rights, particularly beginning in the 1960s, brought a tremendous number of women into graduate schools as students. The Digest of Educational Statistics reports that the enrollment of female students led to greatly increased total enrollments between 1985 and 1995. During that decade, while male enrollment only increased 9 percent, but female enrollment exploded by 23 percent.

Enrollment: Total college enrollment dropped from 14.5 million students in 1992 to 14.3 million in 1995. Increases are expected in college enrollment through 2005, however, reflecting increases in the number of high school students enrolled during the last half of the 1990s, as well as a slight increase in the percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds that attends college. For example, in the 20- to 24-year-old group, a remarkable one-third enrolled in college in 1998, up from 26 percent in 1988.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1999 found that 1.8 million students, or 63 percent of almost 2.9 million high school graduates, went directly to college. Of that total, 1.2 million enrolled in four-year schools, while slightly more than 600,000 chose two-year technical colleges and community colleges. Nearly the same number of male and female high school graduates went to college directly from high school, with women slightly in the majority (917,000 compared to 905,000).

The BLS reported a decline from 1997, in which 67 percent of that year's graduates enrolled in colleges. However, as was true of private K-12 schools, enrollment in private colleges remained constant from 1989 to 1999, at 22 percent of all students that attended college. In 1999, that meant 3.3 million students were enrolled in private colleges. The high numbers of young Americans in college reflect society's emphasis on the importance of higher education and a high school diploma alike. With regard to graduate education, the numbers enrolled also increased steadily during the twentieth century. Among students attending graduate school part-time, enrollment rose from 1985 to 1995 by 19 percent, and full-time student enrollment increased 15 percent over the same time period, according to The Digest of Educational Statistics. The same journal noted that in 1980, approximately 69 percent of the population aged 25 and older had completed high school; that number soared to 83 percent by 1998. Similarly, while 17 percent of the population aged 25 and older had completed 4 years of college in 1980, that figure rose to 24 percent by 1998.

In 1998, about 5 percent of the total U.S. population that was at least 25-years-old held a master's degree as their highest degree. Approximately one percent held a professional degree (e.g., medicine or law). In addition, another one percent had earned a doctoral degree, such as a Doctor of Arts, a Doctor of Philosophy, or a Doctor of Education.

Advanced Degrees: During the first half of the nineteenth century, scholars discussed the need for Ph.D. programs, but the universities themselves dragged their heels. What advanced study that did occur at Harvard and elsewhere was often limited to theology. Although master's degrees had been awarded at Harvard ever since the seventeenth century, the first doctoral degrees were not conferred until Yale College's Sheffield Scientific School did so in 1861, awarding the terminal degrees to candidates in philosophy and classical languages. Prior to 1861, scholars wishing to obtain a graduate degree similar to those conferred upon scholars in Germany had to endure the expense and inconvenience of studying in Europe. Those who simply wanted to exercise their minds found such communities of the mind as Benjamin Franklin's American Philosophical Society to be their intellectual oases outside of academe.

Because the conferring of Ph.D. degrees raised the prestige of a college, a national trend developed late in the nineteenth century to upgrade the status of many colleges to universities. More than simply a name change, institutions that took the more prestigious "university" label had certain minimum criteria to meet, as defined by the National Association of State Universities: undergraduates who had obtained high school diplomas, four years of college work divided evenly between general and specialized coursework, at least five departments qualified to confer Ph.D.s, and one or more "schools" (a term similarly upgraded from "department") conferring professional degrees and conducting significant research in such areas as agriculture, medicine, and law. Many institutions after 1890 either met these minimum standards for university status or set out to meet the criteria in decades to come.

At first a few prestigious institutions, such as Princeton, declared that they preferred to stay small and do what they already did well, but schools that developed large research programs and instituted professional schools tended to benefit significantly in terms of school size, prestige, and ability to attract topnotch faculty, causing the institutions that resisted eventually to opt for expansion like other well-known schools had done. As universities expanded the number of Ph.D. offerings, senior faculty commonly were known as an institution's "graduate faculty," and over the years many faculty committee hours would be spent debating how much time graduate faculty should spend teaching undergraduates, aside from graduate teaching and research.

Teaching Colleges: Scholars in universities—out of misogyny or paternalism—exhibited a snobbish attitude toward the training of teachers, since most were women. Not until 1879 did the University of Michigan establish a chair in education, a a precursor to modern schools and departments of education at many prestigious institutions of higher learning. Two other prominent exceptions that established formal higher education programs for teachers in the late nineteenth century were Washington College in Pennsylvania and New York University, the latter the first to offer a graduate degree for teachers in 1887.

Some universities that attempted to put teacher education into the curriculum were unable to do so until the last decade of the nineteenth century because of hostile trustees at prestigious institutions. In 1892, after a decade spent trying to gain trustee support, educator Nicholas Murray Butler succeeded in founding the New York College for the Training of Teachers in affiliation with Columbia University. Eventually, the Teachers College, Columbia University, became known for being in the vanguard of changes in the teaching profession, including the establishment of a sort-of laboratory school called the Lincoln School by 1916.

Earlier, New York had seen the state normal school at Oswego attempt to improve instruction for teachers. Oswego incorporated teaching innovations in the 1860s that had been advocated by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827). Pestalozzi was a Swiss reformer who pioneered the use of objects in the elementary classroom to provide tactile benefits for children, which he said enhanced learning far more than did mere rote recitation.

Junior Colleges: Another important American addition to education was the concept of the junior college. These were created early in the twentieth century, the innovation of several university presidents who thought these two-year schools would free university scholars for teaching more sophisticated juniors and seniors. The idea was slow to catch on. By 1922, only 207 such schools existed. But in time, their influence spread, with 1,036 listed by the Department of Education in 1995.

International Students: The country with the largest number of international students is the United States. The 1999-2000 academic year found 514,723 foreign students enrolled in studies at colleges and universities in the United States, a 5 percent increase from 1998-1999. International students made up about 3.8 percent of total enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities. These students accounted for the expenditure of $12.3 billion.

Foreign students come to the United States in the greatest numbers from China and Japan; Asia, therefore, is the continent that sends the most foreign students to U.S. colleges and universities, representing 54 percent of the total. California, New York, and Texas attracted the most students from other countries, with 66,305; 55,085; and 35,860 international students, respectively.

International students in the United States prefer to study business and management (20 percent of the total), engineering (15 percent), and mathematics and computer sciences (19 percent). Computer study is likely to surpass business and management in popularity in future surveys of international students.

The number of international students studying in the United States is higher than the total of U.S. students studying abroad, according to 1999-2000 figures. However, the 129,770 U.S. students that studied at colleges and universities outside the U.S. represent an increase of 13.9 percent from 1998-1999. The most popular study destination for U.S. students was the United Kingdom.

Tuition: By the year 2000, tuition at both public and private colleges continued to increase faster than the rate of inflation, although not at the rate of the sharp increases that began in the 1980s and continued into the early 1990s, according to a College Board survey of more than 3,000 schools. Tuition and fees for U.S. private institutions of higher education rose 5.2 percent in 2000, as compared to a 4.4 percent hike posted by public colleges. Average fall tuition and fees at four-year public schools were posted at $3,510 in 2000, while private schools charged $16,332 for tuition and fees, according to the survey.

Administration & Finance

Department of Education: Twenty years before the Hatch Act of 1887, the United States established an agency for keeping track of statistics, administration, and educational concerns to the nation at large. Originally known as the Department of Education, it was abolished in 1868, and its successor became part of the Department of the Interior under the name of the Office of Education, from 1868 to 1869. In 1869, its name changed to the Bureau of Education, remaining under the Department of the Interior. After restructuring again in 1939, education fell under the Federal Security Agency, moving again in 1953 following the establishment of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). HEW was reorganized in 1972 under the Education Division. In 1980 a new Department of Education was created.

One of the characteristics of American education is that all levels of government actively participate in decision making, budgetary concerns, and research funding. Education is thus highly accountable to taxpayers, but the many layers of federal Department of Education bureaucracy make reform slow and costly to implement. Essentially, the mandate of the Department of Education is to supplement the educational functions headed by the individual states. The department tracks educational statistics and trends, plus takes responsibility for overseeing research and the delivery of some non-state educational services, such as school lunch programs.

Primary responsibility for education is that of states and some localities. Exceptions include the District of Columbia, Pacific islands, and Indian reservations in the United States, where the U.S. Department of the Interior or Department of Education oversees operations. For example, in Guam the Department of Education oversees K-12, vocational, and community college schooling for civilian and military dependents. In 2001, an estimated 32,000 students were enrolled in Guam's K-12 single school district system.

Funding & Expenditures: Early funding of public education was uneven from state to state and even from school district to school district, particularly during the late nineteenth century. Perhaps the most important test case benefiting school funding was the 1874 Michigan Supreme Court decision on behalf of a Kalamazoo high school board, affirming its right to assess taxes as a basis of support. Subsequently, other schools in many states that had been operating under precarious circumstances seized the opportunity to gain financial backing.

While federal contributions are considerable, the primary responsibility for funding public schools rests with states, districts, and public and private organizations. According to federal figures in 2001, only about 9 percent of the $600 billion spent annually for education is supplied by the U.S. government. About three percent of all federal money goes to various school and Head Start lunch programs.

Moneys have been earmarked since 1981 to aid financially disadvantaged elementary and secondary school youth through Chapter I of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. Title I, as it most commonly is called, has since appropriated billions of dollars to thousands of school districts whose populations contained a significant number of persons falling below the poverty line. Figures from the most recent census are used to apportion future federal aid to states and school districts to provide additional learning resources for poverty-level students. Essentially, the higher a district's number of persons living in poverty, the higher that district's federal aid.

Nonformal Education

Adult Education: The concept of adult education was considered new and revolutionary soon after it was introduced in 1918 by Syracuse University in New York State, with 18 courses and an enrollment of 300 students. A handful of other schools of higher education began similar programs about the same time.

As of 2001, whether for a teacher taking a refresher course, an adult employee attempting to acquire computer skills, or a non-native English speaker hoping to improve writing skills, continuing education courses provided hundreds of thousands of people an enjoyable way to keep their minds sharp, skills polished, and enthusiasm for learning alive.

A 1999 U.S. Department of Education report suggests that many adults consider such classes to be essential for their enjoyment and professional development. Based on a phone poll of 6,977 adults, the report concluded that adult and continuing education offers viable education options to boys and girls aged 16 and older and, especially, to adults of all ages. Classes that have a high demand are English for non-native speakers seeking fluency; General Educational Development (GED) preparation for students seeking high school equivalency; courses offering university credit toward an eventual associate, bachelor's, or graduate degree; vocational and computer skills classes; and personal development classes that serve one's avocation. According to the report, one out of every three adults surveyed said they had recently taken at least one adult or continuing education course.

Distance Education: As the price of education climbs, pushing it out of reach for students who cannot afford a year or more away from a job to finish an undergraduate degree or earn a graduate degree, distance education has become a viable alternative for obtaining additional skills, knowledge, and certification or credentials needed for career advancement. In addition, educators at the secondary school level have started to study distance education as an alternate possibility to educate students who for one reason or another fail to prosper when attending regular classes.

Throughout much of the second half of the twentieth century, distance education was regarded as a sort of useful adjunct to regular education. Classes mainly were conducted via correspondence or educational television and radio. Television, in particular, has been an attractive way to present information, since students have a strong sense of an instructor's personality as information is delivered. Many classes are videotaped by a professor and technical crew, then delivered by mail, delivery service, or electronic mail (as an attachment) to students.

But the development of Web-based courses on the Internet has been the breakthrough that proponents of distance education long had been seeking. Like television, video delivery over the Internet allows students to feel a human connection with the instructor. Unlike television, however, the Internet also allows students to interact with the instructor and other students in the distance-taught class. Industry estimates indicate that more than two million students were actively engaged in distance-learning classes in 2001.

Main drawbacks include limited possibilities for direct, face-to-face tutoring from the instructor, as well as the problem of access to a quality library, a deficiency that is being addressed through the development of online library facilities. Certain disciplines, such as the performing arts, have nearly insurmountable difficulties in terms of student-faculty interaction, although classes that might ordinarily be taught in large lecture halls actually may be more enjoyable via distance learning. Students who lack the motivation, discipline, or technical skills needed to maintain interest and to persist over time may also find such instruction methods less helpful.

It is likely that millions more adults will meet their educational goals in coming years with the aid of distance education. Most proponents agree that distance education appears to work best with adult learners who have already developed attention and discipline skills, and those who have the motivation to work hard in spite of distractions and work responsibilities. It also works with traditional students on campuses who choose to satisfy some of their educational requirements online, while still attending classes with other professors.

Distance learning may also be developed to a greater degree to serve prison inmates who wish to earn a degree while serving their sentences, giving them more job opportunities following release, and increasing their chances of attaining successful rehabilitation. Persons who live in rural areas far from educational institutions of higher learning also are afforded the opportunity to obtain knowledge and degrees they otherwise could not have accomplished without leaving home.

Teaching Profession

Digest of Education estimates show that approximately 3.1 million people were employed as elementary and secondary school teachers in the fall of 1999, an increase of about 13 percent since 1989. Of that 1999 total of 3.1 million teachers, about 2.7 million worked in public schools and 0.4 million were in private schools. About 1.9 million taught in private and public elementary schools, while about 1.2 million people taught in secondary schools.

The U.S. Department of Labor projects a healthy job picture for teachers into 2010. In particular, enrollment projections are rosy for secondary school teachers. Nonetheless, even though state budgets generally were better padded through the national economic good times of the late 1990s, teachers for the most part saw little reduction in teacher-student ratios, except in those school districts that made the lowered ratio a priority. College reformers long have said that states must create more favorable student-teacher ratios if college entrance scores are to pick up.

Despite this, a slowdown in the effort to create a more favorable student-teacher ratio has occurred. Teachers originally felt optimistic in the mid-1980s: the public school ratio in 1985 was 17.9:1, as opposed to 22.3:1 in 1970. The level stayed about the same in 1990 as in 1985, with a ratio of 17.2:1. In 1998, at a time of national prosperity, the student-teacher ratio was 16.8:1, but by 2001 there were signs that classes were slowly swelling again. In actuality, many elementary teachers have classes of 24 or more pupils; because teachers of disabled students tend to have far fewer pupils in the classroom, the overall ratio is skewed.

Salary: Earnings for K-12 teachers in 1998 ranged from as low as $19,710 yearly to as high as $70,030 yearly. Median earnings were between $33,500 and $38,000 for all K-12 teachers, although for public school teachers alone the average was higher, at around $39,300. Entry-level teachers with a four-year degree averaged $25,700 yearly. Teachers may also earn additional pay coaching sports or leading other extracurricular activities, or by taking on another job during the summer.

Average salaries for professors in 2000 tended to be lower than comparable positions for Ph.D. holders in private industry. The average salary for professors at public institutions was $56,308, while at private institutions the average salary was $58,313.

Law professors earned the highest salaries, a whopping $17,000 a year more than their closest competitors in academe, business, and engineering, according to data reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2000. Among the poorest paid college professors were English teachers of composition, at around $40,000 per year.

Age & Gender: In America's colonies all teachers were males, with the exception of southern women who taught and tutored in dame schools. But at the end of the nineteenth century and through much of the twentieth, a common perception was that teaching was a job for women. Educators did much to change that perception during the latter part of the nineteenth century, but a gender disparity remains.

According to the last available Department of Education figures for the 1993-1994 school year, female teachers outnumbered males 73 to 27 percent in public schools. The data was similar for private schools. About 75 percent were women and 25 percent were male, according to the Department of Education. However, male school principals outnumbered women 65 percent to 35 percent.

Regarding age, teachers in private schools tended to be younger. While private school teachers older than 40 made up 58 percent of all faculty members, in public schools 67 percent of teachers were over 40.

Training & Qualifications: Standards for teachers in U.S. private and public schools were demonstrably low from the colonial period up into the twentieth century. The actual job of teaching has changed more dramatically between 1950 and 2000 than it did in the preceding three centuries. Where once keeping order and requiring student recitations were the bulk of a teacher's labor, modern educators are expected to demonstrate subject competence, rhetorical and writing skills, coaching and problem-solving skills, and, above all, critical-thinking skills. They are expected to be imaginative, substituting games and computer exercises for tedious drills.

Because students learn at different rates, classes tend to be less rigorously run, with several groups of students working at different paces. To present the material, the teacher no longer requires just a blackboard and piece of chalk. Teachers increasingly are expected to come to the job with the skill to run media equipment, create and display a Microsoft Power Point demonstration from a computer, and come up with increasingly more creative ways to engage students and to ensure their mastery of material. At the same time, while teaching methods may become sophisticated, teachers themselves must enable all students to demonstrate their knowledge of the so-called "basics" of math, literacy, and science.

During the twentieth century, professional requirements for teacher certification generally stiffened in terms of coursework taken and overall classroom preparation, and graduation requirements from teacher-training institutions became rigorous. As of 2001, those requirements were being re-examined in response to teacher shortages. Administrators have started to consider hiring older people in fields such as science, for example, who decide in their 40s, 50s, and 60s that they would like to impart what they' ve learned to young people in the classroom but lack a teaching degree.

Suggested reforms in teacher training have included increasing the length of student teaching and providing additional teacher training at the graduate level or in-service level. Web sites devoted to learning and the exchange of ideas among professional elementary and secondary school educators have become increasingly popular as teachers become computer literate. Since 1955, one of the frequently waged debates has been over the level of subject mastery teachers should achieve before beginning their careers. A severe critic of traditional teacher education, Admiral Hyman Rickover charged that teachers needed additional coursework in their teaching subject or subjects.

According to the latest available figures from the Department of Education, about 47 percent of all public school teachers had earned at least a master's degree, while just 34 percent of private school teachers boasted a graduate degree. About 99 percent of all principals possessed at least a master's degree. All in all, teachers tend to make up a highly educated workforce.

Depending upon the state and school district, college students expecting to graduate from a teacher-education program are first generally required to post satisfactory scores on the College Basic Academic Subjects Examination. Many states require an overall college grade point average of 2.5 (a middle C average) from an applicant for a teaching certificate to be issued. In addition, since teachers are expected to maintain knowledge in their field, they often must have a grade point average of 3.0 (B-) in order to be accepted unconditionally into a graduate school; many graduate schools require an even higher grade point average in the applicant's major.

With the possible exception of emergency teaching certificates, applicants for a full-time teaching position must present evidence of successful completion of a bachelor's degree in education for state certification. The majority of states and school districts also demand that applicants for teaching posts turn in a score reflecting their competence in their area competence on the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) or on Praxis I or Praxis II written tests. As of 2003, the state of Ohio will also require applicants to pass another Educational Testing Service (ETS) exam called Praxis III, and other states are expected to tighten testing standards before granting licenses to applicants.

Requirements for teaching licenses vary state to state and are determined by state licensing authorities. Many states, such as Alaska, have required teachers to show recent evidence of classroom work, an obstacle for former teachers who wish to return to the profession, or for professionals in diverse fields to consider a career shift to teaching. All states demand that teachers adhere to standards of conduct generally above and beyond those expected of nonteaching citizens. States generally strip teachers of license who admit to, or are found guilty of, felonies, many misdemeanors, or behavior judged immoral by a state board or board of a local district.

Following the successful completion of an application process, a superintendent approves the applicant and then forwards a recommendation to hire to the local school board. Once signed, a teacher has a legally binding contract to work unless guilty of a crime, failing to show teaching competency, or demonstrating egregious professional conduct. Teachers, in turn, are expected to complete teaching during the term of their contract, with exceptions for pregnancy, medical leaves, and unforeseen emergencies.

Unions & Associations: During the nineteenth century, professional groups were formed that advocated high standards of teaching and administration. Several teacher groups, including the National Teachers' Association (founded in 1857), joined forces to form the National Education Association (NEA), a group that advocated reforms for students mainly involved in college-entrance curriculums, in 1870. Critics argued that the NEA catered to the very small fraction of secondary students that went on to attend college.

In time the NEA would become the largest union in the world in terms of member registrations, but growth was slow until Congress officially chartered the union in 1907. The NEA then officially renamed itself the National Education Association of the United States. One of the advantages of having a national organization was that school systems nationwide closely resembled one another in structure by 1920, dividing a student's early education into eight years of elementary school and four years of high school.

By the mid-to-late 1990s, teachers who specialized in a specific subject area also found it useful to support professional organizations that have Web sites devoted to member information and a special support section for new teachers, such as the National Council of Teachers of English.

In 2001, membership in the NEA was about 1.7 million teachers. Its closest competitor is the American Federation of Teachers with about 550,000 teachermembers. At present, only 39 states allow collective bargaining.

Summary

General Assessment: As the values of the American people change, attitudes toward formal education change. During the twenty-first century, those changes occurred on a near-volatile scale in the face of exploding technology, rampant political activism, and specialization in all intellectual fields.

America's educational system has always done a better job training individuals for their future lives than it has finding ways to improve itself for the betterment of future generations. Prideful about being on the leading edge of ideas and technology, American educators often have had to backtrack after installing innovations such as consolidated schools, and they sometimes have fallen short of other goals such as making all students Internet savvy, due to the interference of citizen groups and legislators.

American educators always have known that the future ahead of their students is uncertain, but only since the late twentieth century have educators needed to instruct students who see social changes and the need to accumulate new knowledge occurring at warp speed even before they graduate. And never before have mere secondary school students grasped technology better than some of their own teachers.

Ethical issues such as those associated with genetic engineering cannot wait until college to be discussed. Yet often such discussions never are held. Teachers find themselves symbolically transported to 1925, enmeshed in textbook battles with religious groups over the dogeared issue of evolution versus creationism.

One critic of education, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., blames the proliferation of thousands upon thousands of school districts for giving students a very narrow, locally biased body of information, resulting in what he calls a shrinking of national literacy. Author John I. Goodlad observes that too few teachers individualize instruction, promote inductive reasoning, and encourage frequent discussion. Other critics blame schools that put equal emphasis on all subjects or popular studies rather than emphasize areas that build critical thinking and a solid foundation for an ongoing, lifetime acquisition of knowledge.

Student Populations—Trends: Schools, too, are overburdened with the problems of slow learners, the disadvantaged, and non-English speakers—and even with gun-toting deviants who have shattered the image of schools as safe havens in an unsafe society. Yet, the alternative—to abandon these and educate America's best and brightest only—seems not only Un-American, but foolish, since all must somehow forge a life together for the good of the common American community.

In the twenty-first century, the face of the American community can be expected to change dramatically. As discussed earlier, Census reports demonstrate significant increases in Asian and Hispanic populations, which are predicted to continue. By 2040, Caucasian students will make up less than half the population of U.S. schools. By contrast, in 1950, white students made up 85 percent of the population of U.S. schools.

Populations of people who indicate their heritage as African-American, Asian, and Hispanic continue a trend of finding homes in the suburbs, according to the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative and Urban and Regional Research. Data released by the government for 145 metropolitan areas in March 2001 shows that many of the traditional large cities of the East Coast and the Midwest, such as New York and Chicago, continue trends of segregation in living areas, maintaining whole blocks as white or black in makeup. Such conditions result in schools that are predominantly made up of minority members, thereby making them segregated for all intents and purposes. That trend does not hold consistently across the country, as Las Vegas, for example, shows a tendency for neighborhoods to be more diverse.

Clearly, the attempt to make schools more effective must address this diversity. To that end, schools have instituted a wide array of cultural opportunities, including bilingual education, Head Start programs, Upward Bound programs, court-ordered busing, and so forth. Considerable federal support has earmarked programs to improve education, and dozens of reports and books have recommended upgrades in the quality of elementary and secondary schools. During the twenty-first century, many more recommendations can be expected to address the difficulties associated with the growing number of children who have social barriers to overcome, in addition to the learning challenges faced by students who live in homes where English is not the primary language.

In spite of well-meaning federal programs to help the poor lose their disadvantaged status, poverty-level children continue to score poorly in mathematics and science achievement tests. Critics of the Pell grants and aid to disadvantaged students say that the spiraling costs of tuition and living expenses associated with college have made it harder, not easier, for disadvantaged children to gain an education. In 2001, much discussion has occurred by members of the Congress to find ways for disadvantaged students to remain in college and to obtain their degrees, not merely to enter college and leave after one or more semesters.

Technology in Education: Many critics point to a failure of principals, school superintendents, and school boards to keep fully abreast of sweeping advances in technology instruction and the use of computers in schools. Thus while those in authority have little trouble seeing that science teachers, for example, must stay current in their fields, many have difficulty perceiving that competency in the use of technology requires similar perseverance and dedication. This requires not only the purchase of computers, but also constant updating of software, instruction, and support for teachers, and the availability of trained support staff. The ongoing process of instructional technology can frustrate principals, some senior faculty, and even younger faculty less skilled with computers. There may even be a tendency for such persons to downplay the need for technology or to denigrate those who grasp such skills seemingly effortlessly as "computer nerds." In turn, those in the vanguard of computer advances may deride those less willing to change as "technophobes."

As the gap between those comfortable with technology and those ill at ease widens, animosity between such parties may result. Those skilled in technology may lament that their school is "falling behind," while traditionalists may complain, "the basics are being ignored." Those skilled in technology may despair if computers are three or more years old, insufficient in network bandwidth, or even lacking the power to run the latest software upgrades. Unskilled administrators may consider their schools "wired" simply by having computers of any age and make on every desk in technology labs.

The fact that there is some truth to both positions may make resolution difficult, but team-building experts say it can be done if both camps can agree upon a shared vision for technology in education. The Milken Family Foundation contends that a basic change in educational philosophy and teacher-administrator mindset must occur in classrooms along with the addition of technology.

While schools have benefited from the donation of computers from benefactors and parent-teacher associations, institutions need to partake fully in teacher training available free or at low cost from such industry sources as Intel, the Bill Gates Foundation, Microsoft, Apple, and other foundations. Educational institutions at all levels can find generous funding from the Department of Education and other federal sources, some discretionary funding at the state government level, and foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Paul G. Allen Virtual Education Foundation, and the AT&T Foundation Educational Programs, among others. In addition, a small number of schools have found creative ways to approach corporations in the community to suggest the donation of computers for educational purposes.

Political Trends: Public education is frequently part of a politician's platform, whether it is a lower-echelon candidate on the local level or a presidential candidate. The administration of George W. Bush announced in 2001 that educational reform was a major administration priority. The major premise behind Bush's push for reform is his position that too many children fall through the cracks and fail to obtain a high school diploma, with at least some of the blame attributable to school systems that he sees failing to measure up to first-rate standards. The Bush Administration's slogan for school reform is "No child left behind." The administration promotes a policy agenda that would hold accountable state and school officials who fail to fix sub-par institutions, with the possibility that such institutions could be taken over by the state.

The three areas most in need of improvement, as targeted by President Bush, are mathematics, reading, and science, the three areas where elementary and secondary students test below average when compared to their peers in other developed nations. In spite of a nationwide focus on educational improvements, gains in test scores have been negligible, according to Bush. Most dramatically, 68 percent of fourth-graders in poverty-area schools failed to pass the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading exam, leading the Bush Administration to recommend a back-to-basics emphasis on phonics in the primary grades. In math, science, and physics, American high school seniors performed near the bottom of a comparison chart ranking 21 countries, including last in physics. Literacy, math, and reading achievement scores of minority Hispanic and African-American students in high schools lagged significantly behind Caucasian student counterparts.

High up on the list of Bush priorities for the future were frequent testing and so-called "vouchers," a Republican-backed proposal that would allow parents to take their children out of schools where children test poorly, allowing them a set amount toward tuition at another public or private school. The National Education Association has strongly voiced opposition to vouchers as a solution. The NEA has also criticized a suggestion by some Republican leaders that teachers of mathematics and science be compensated with higher salaries than those of their peers in other disciplines.

Conclusion: Ahead of America and its educational system are change; discord; international networking; and the establishment, merger, and failure of schools ranging from elementary to university. Distance education may one day appeal to enough students so that traditional dormitories and student life may cease to exist. Without question, the Internet and Web-based programs someday will be integrated into every classroom, but whether that will actually improve the quality of instruction is any critic's guess. In an age when the new and technologically "spiffy" is revered, will there still be students who will embrace the classics and classical liberal arts learning?

In the future, Americans will be even more a blending of many cultures and races. And the entire world must worry, not only about education, but also about whether it can solve the energy crises and imminent global warming disasters. Addressing these issues will take an educated citizenry, capable of problem solving, creativity, and the display of strong character. Increasingly, learning and applying that knowledge in creative, revolutionary ways will become our best option for survival.

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—Hank Nuwer

USA

1. Introduction

The road by which the USA entered the Second World War was long and tortuous, and reluctantly taken. The nation had historically adhered to an isolationist foreign policy, departing briefly from that line in 1917–18, when it became a belligerent against Germany in the First World War. The experience was not a happy one. It cost some 50,000 American lives and failed to produce the equitable, durable peace that President Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) had promised as the fruit of American participation. American diplomacy reverted thereafter with quickened dedication to its customary isolationism which did not release its grip on American foreign policy until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

Disillusionment with the results of US intervention in the First World War was vividly manifested in the rejection by the Senate of the Versailles settlement, including its provisions for American membership in the League of Nations. The Senate further evidenced the renewed isolationist tenor of American diplomacy when it ratified the several treaties issuing from the Washington Naval Armament Conference of 1922. Their most important provisions called for the USA to scrap nearly a million tons of warships, and to limit further naval construction, in order to comply with a mandated ratio of 5:5:3 in capital-ship tonnage among the UK, the USA, and Japan, respectively. In addition, Washington agreed not to fortify its Pacific possessions west of Pearl Harbor, including Guam and the Philippines.

In practice, the USA did not maintain even a ‘treaty strength’ fleet in the 1920s. Throughout that decade and much of the next, the US Navy had a complement of fewer than 100,000 men; the army in that same period averaged about 135,000 men. The Roosevelt administration authorized some new naval construction beginning in 1933, but the continuing constraints of isolationism and the economic crisis of the Great Depression kept the size of the American military to a minimum. As late as 1940, the army numbered 269,023 personnel; the navy 160,997; the marines 28,345.

Those numbers, and the political philosophy that underlay them, made for a weak diplomatic hand. Just how weak was revealed in 1931, when Japan seized control of Manchuria from China and established the puppet state of Manchukuo. The USA condemned the Japanese action, but was unprepared to give force to its disapproval by either economic or military means. Washington contented itself with enunciating the Stimson doctrine which withheld recognition from the Manchukuo regime while invoking the hoary principles of the ‘Open Door’, the policy of respecting Chinese Sovereignty and claiming equal commercial access to China by all nations, first enunciated by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899.

Such toothless moral posturing foreshadowed the agonizing attenuation of the American response to the outbreak of full-scale war between Japan and China in July 1937 (see China incident). Even when Japanese aircraft sank the US gunboat Panay in the river Yangtze on 12 December 1937, no warcry swept the USA. Indeed, the following month the House of Representatives narrowly defeated the Ludlow resolution, calling for a Constitutional amendment that would require a national referendum on a declaration of war. As the British prime minister, Chamberlain, accurately observed at the time: ‘It is always best and safest to count on nothing from the Americans but words.’

From 1934, isolationist sentiment was especially aroused by the hearings of the Senate Munitions Investigating Committee (the Nye Committee), where many witnesses alleged that American financiers and arms manufacturers had manipulated American entry into the First World War. Public outrage over these inflammatory accusations produced a disposition in Congress to erect statutory barriers against the possibility that the USA might again be lured into a mistaken internationalist adventure. Accordingly, the first of three Neutrality Acts was passed in 1935, which prohibited, among other restrictions, arms sales to belligerents.

Throughout this period in the mid-1930s, Roosevelt appeared personally inclined toward a more active international role for the USA, but his assessment of congressional and public opinion, his competing domestic priorities, and the absence of vigorous diplomatic initiatives by the other democratic states, all inhibited him from strenuously moving in an internationalist direction.

When war broke out in Europe in September 1939, Roosevelt induced Congress to repeal the arms embargo, but the Neutrality Act of 1939 still placed limitations on arms sales by including a ‘cash- and-carry’ provision. American opinion was strongly anti-German and anti-Japanese, but the expectation prevailed that France and the UK could contain Hitler in Europe, and that some modus vivendi might yet be worked out in Asia.

The fall of France in June 1940, leaving the UK and its empire the only Great Power facing Hitler, shattered those comfortable assumptions. A memorandum drafted that month by the army's War Plans Division predicted the UK's early defeat, called for the husbanding of all American military resources for hemispheric defence, and advocated a purely defensive posture in the Pacific.

Roosevelt, however, made the crucial decision to bet on the UK's survival. Throughout 1940, he undertook simultaneously to strengthen American military capacity, and to aid the UK by all means short of war itself. More than $10 billion was appropriated for a military build-up, including, on 20 July, an act authorizing the creation of a two-ocean navy. In September the nation's first peacetime conscription law was passed (see selective service system). The president created a National Defense Research Committee (later the Office of Scientific Research and Development) to bring scientific expertise to bear on the military effort. Remembering the damage that political partisanship had inflicted on Woodrow Wilson's diplomacy, Roosevelt in June named two internationalist-minded Republicans to his cabinet— Henry Stimson as secretary of war, and Frank Knox as secretary of navy. In November Roosevelt conveniently won re-election to an unprecedented third presidential term, while pledging that the USA would not go to war.

The ‘short of war’ strategy appeared to be Roosevelt's sincere hope. He intended to leave the actual fighting to the UK, while making the USA, as he said in a radio address of 29 December, ‘the great arsenal of democracy’ but not a belligerent. Already, on 3 September 1940, he had concluded with the UK the destroyers-for-bases agreement and on 11 March 1941 he signed the Lend-Lease Act. From 9 to 12 August 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill met at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, and drew up the Atlantic Charter. In November 1941 Congress revised the neutrality laws to allow the arming of merchant ships, and to permit sending them into war zones. American naval vessels had by that time begun escorting British convoys carrying Lend-lease goods across the Atlantic, which led to an undeclared naval war between Germany and the USA as part of the battle of the Atlantic. German submarines torpedoed the escort destroyer Kearny on 17 October 1941, and sank the Reuben James on 1 November 1941. Yet neither Hitler nor Roosevelt used these incidents to create a casus belli. The former was preoccupied with his invasion of the Soviet Union, launched on 22 June 1941 (see BARBAROSSA), the latter was restrained by his ‘short of war’ electoral promises and by continuing signs of isolationist strength in Congress. The House of Representatives, for example, still powerfully influenced by isolationist lobbies such as America First, passed an extension of the Selective Service Act on 18 August 1941 by the margin of just a single vote. Additionally, Roosevelt appreciated the woeful unpreparedness of American military forces, and he had scant need of engagement in the war in Europe while events in Asia remained so volatile.

In the ABC-1 Plan talks of January– March 1941, American and British military planners had agreed that in the event of American belligerency with both Germany and Japan, the defeat of Germany would be the first priority. But it was at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific that war eventually came to the USA, and it was on the Pacific war that much popular American feeling would focus. Among American strategists the precise interpretation of the ‘Germany first’ doctrine would remain controversial throughout the conflict.

The story of the road to Pearl Harbor is a story in which both protagonists, Japan and the USA, writhed for years on the horns of their respective dilemmas. To continue its war against China, Japan depended upon purchasing critical materials in the USA, particularly scrap metals and petroleum products. Yet the Americans made no secret of their disapproval of the Japanese role in China. The Japanese government was chronically worried about the dependability of its American supplies of metal and oil, and constantly sought alternative sources. Under the circumstances, the Japanese looked naturally to the special opportunity presented by the German subjugation of France and the Netherlands in the spring of 1940. The collapse of the French and Dutch governments left their colonies in French Indo-China and the Netherlands East Indies, rich in oil and strategic metals, tantalizingly vulnerable to Japanese penetration.

Debate divided both the Japanese and American governments over the question of Japanese pressure on French Indo-China and the East Indies, and the proper response to that pressure. In some ways the controversies within the two governments were mirror images of one another. For the Japanese, the issue was what degree of aggression could be pursued in the South Pacific without precipitating conflict with the USA. For the Americans, the question was what degree of resistance could be posed to Japanese aggression without driving Tokyo to a declaration of war.

On both sides of the Pacific, statesmen delicately adjusted these fateful balances throughout 1940 and 1941. In Tokyo, army leaders pressed for more aggressive moves towards the south. Some civilian members of the government, and some navy leaders, urged restraint. In Washington, Stimson and secretary of the treasury, Henry Morgenthau, advocated embargoing the shipment of strategic materials to Japan. But secretary of state Hull, usually backed by the navy, rather consistently opposed a strict embargo as too provocative. His influence remained paramount at least until the summer of 1941, dampening the tempo of American diplomacy directed against Japan, and delaying the moment of the final showdown.

In the summer of 1940, Washington announced its intention to limit shipments of scrap metals and oil to Japan; it imposed a formal embargo on iron and steel scrap on 26 September 1940. The following day Tokyo announced its adherence to the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. In November 1940 Japan wrung a limited oil-supply agreement from the government of the Netherlands East Indies. Japanese troops occupied French Indo-China on 24 July 1941. On 26 July 1941 Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the USA, in effect embargoing all shipments to Japan including, most crucially, oil. Though Roosevelt apparently intended to release some oil shipments in return for promises of Japanese good behaviour—thus pursuing even at this late hour the hope of reaching some kind of modus vivendi—the public announcement of the American action gave the impression of an iron-clad embargo, and Roosevelt concluded that it would be a sign of weakness to amend it.

The die was now all but cast. On 6 September 1941 a Japanese Imperial Conference stipulated that if an agreement with the USA was not in prospect by early October, Japan should move towards war. Prime Minister Konoe sought a secret meeting with Roosevelt to hammer out an accord. From Tokyo, Ambassador Joseph Grew advocated the meeting as the last chance to avoid war. But the US government, privy to Japanese intentions thanks to MAGIC intercepts, saw no hope for significant Japanese concessions—especially over China—and spurned the offer. Konoe's government fell on 16 October 1941, and the following day General Tōjō became prime minister. An Imperial Conference of 5 November 1941 directed that war plans go forward, to be confirmed on 25 November if a last effort to secure American agreement to Japanese terms for a settlement failed.

But China, especially, remained the sticking-point. Washington simply would not give any official approval to the Japanese invasion of China. Hull made this point repeatedly to Ambassador Nomura Kichisaburo during their final, fruitless round of talks in Washington from 20 November to 7 December 1941.

Yet ironically, on the same date of 5 November that Tōjō's government slipped its war machine into gear, American army and navy planners advised that, ‘considering world strategy’, further Japanese aggression in China ‘would not justify intervention by the United States against Japan’ ( H. Feis [below], p. 302). No matter. The Americans had stood on principle—the principles of the Open Door and the Stimson doctrine of non-interference in the affairs of other nations. The Japanese acted from what they regarded as economic and political necessity, but most of the world regarded it as naked aggression. Aiming to secure their access to the raw materials of French Indo-China and the Netherlands East Indies, they had first to eliminate the threat to their eastern flank posed by the US Pacific Fleet. On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked the US base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and the following day, with a sole dissenting vote, Congress declared war on Japan.

David M. Kennedy

2. Domestic life, war effort, and economy

The fall of France had finally galvanized Washington into action. The political stalemate was broken; there was near unanimity that the USA must rearm immediately. By the end of the summer Congress had approved $78 billion for future war spending (the total GNP was only $101 billion). In late summer the National Guard (state-based reserves totalling 300,000 men) was called up and, with the introduction of the Selective Service Act, the first peacetime draft began, with a target of two million men in one year. These early moves were a harbinger of a national commitment that would expand even more dramatically in the next five years. Mobilization was managed by the war and navy departments, and by new emergency agencies that were abolished when peace returned. They were headed by conservative Republican lawyers, financiers, and businessmen, as were the war and navy departments. In the latter, however, the generals and admirals minimized the influence of civilians.

Roosevelt, despite his experience in running naval affairs in the First World War, had considerable difficulty in managing the war effort. Congress was not the problem—generally, it gave all the authority and money requested—the problem was in the New Deal's style of divided responsibility. The army and the navy feuded incessantly, over grand strategy, manpower allocations, and munitions priorities (see also rivalries); inside the army, the air force carved out a large and semi-autonomous domain with its own priorities. Roosevelt's management style encouraged such divided responsibility, with feuding agencies having to return to him again and again to settle disputes. His goal of maximizing his personal control proved inefficient and confusing during the war, and more and more he had to yield authority on economic affairs. Compounding his problem was a mysterious failure of his skills in mobilizing public opinion: with few radio talks, public appearances, or dramatic statements, the president kept a low profile.

The economy in 1940 had been weakened by a decade of depression. Unemployment at nearly 15% was the highest among major nations, profits were low, and the factories were rusting because little investment had been made. Furthermore, businessmen were hostile towards Roosevelt's administration, and were doubly suspicious of the powerful new labour unions, which were themselves divided into two feuding camps: the larger, older, more conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the leftist Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Guaranteed large increases in membership, the unions suppressed wildcat strikes that threatened to interrupt war production, but also tried to keep overtime pay and other perks. On a positive note, the people were sick of internal dissension and depression and, when the call to arms sounded, proved ready to work harmoniously for the goal of a better life after the war. The economic challenge was to provide 12 million thoroughly trained soldiers and sailors, plus a huge supply of aircraft, warships, transports, electronic gear, and other matériel for American and Allied armies, plus oil and food for everybody, plus money to pay for it all (see Table 1 for US economic indictors 1939–46).

Under the Lend-Lease programme, the USA provided a quarter of the munitions for the UK, and perhaps a tenth of what the USSR used. Two-thirds of all supplies shipped abroad consisted of oil. The USA pumped nearly two-thirds of the world's oil from its rich Texas and California fields, and at only $1.15 a barrel it was cheap. At first, moving it safely was another matter, because of the German submarines off the coast (see convoys). The nation's tanker capacity reached 11.4 million tons by 1945, compared to 2.5 million tons in 1941, much of which was sunk. Civilian demand for petrol was cut 28% by rationing, and all the increased production (up 29% in 1945 over 1941) went into the war effort. In 1942 Japan captured 90% of the world's rubber supplies, but, despite early confusion, by late 1943 a highly successful synthetic rubber industry had met the increased war demands.

On US farms the recent memories of surpluses, low prices, and hardship vanished, though many young people, blacks, and marginal farmers left, shrinking the rural farm share of the population from 23% to 20%. However, Congress made sure that prices stayed high, and exempted most young farm workers from the draft. As a result, crop production increased by 15%, beef production by 37%, and pork production by 63%. A tenth of the food was exported through Lend-Lease, chiefly to the UK (43%) and the USSR (28%). Though this abundance strained the transportation and storage system, Americans ate more and better food during the war than ever before, and tightly enforced rationing ensured they were more equal in their diets. In 1938 protein, calorie, calcium, and iron consumption among the poorest one-third of the population was 74% of that consumed by the richest third. By 1942 this had increased to 89%, and to 93% by 1948. Even so, people who until the war had not been able to afford mince, now complained that even their high wages could not buy them steak.

The USA never adopted a comprehensive manpower programme. The draft reached most young men by 1944, and physical standards remained high. Draft boards were reluctant to take fathers or men under 19; if drafted they were rarely sent to combat formations. The government decided, after much debate, not to draft women or force them to enter the labour force (see Graph 1 for labour force structure 1938–47). No coercion was used to move men into war jobs, either, but the lure of very high pay proved quite sufficient. Employment in durable goods manufacturing leaped from 4.7 million in May 1940, to a peak of 10.7 million in December 1943—an astonishing gain of 6 million jobs in 3½ years. At the end of the war there were still 10.1 million workers, but overnight the munitions factories dismissed 85 to 95% of their employees and durable goods employment dropped to 6.5 million in December 1945.

With the enormous demand for construction workers to erect camps, hospitals, shipyards, and munitions plants, unemployment vanished in 1940–2. The previously dirt poor rural South became the favourite site for most military camps, and for many shipyards and munitions works. Millions of families moved from rural areas and small towns to work in overcrowded production centres like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Mobile, and Baltimore, but the shortage of skilled workers threatened to delay full production. During the Depression the government, on ideological grounds, had refused to fight unemployment through job training programmes or wage subsidies. It now reversed its policy and paid for massive training programmes through its ‘cost-plus’ contracts with private industry. (The contracts paid all legitimate costs, plus a small percentage profit.) Semi-skilled workers and high school drop-outs suddenly found themselves well-paid skilled specialists, or even foremen. More had to be done, so industry systematically ‘diluted’ or redesigned jobs so that less skilled workers could handle them. In peacetime dilution had been fiercely opposed by the unions; now they co-operated, for they obtained new rules that made most of the new workers join unions. Dilution allowed the hiring of millions of women, blacks, youth, and older people who had previously been in low-paid jobs, or unemployed.

To increase productivity further, factories stayed open for a second or even a third shift, and workers added long hours of overtime (with a 50% wage premium paid beyond the basic 40 hours). The average working week in manufacturing durable goods jumped from 38 hours in 1939 to 47 hours in 1943, and efficiency experts looked for ways to increase production. A favourite solution was to use assembly-line techniques and prefabrication, so as to minimize the amount of skilled labour needed and allow many people to work on a project simultaneously. The productivity gains were striking: it took only a third as many worker-hours to build a ship in 1945 as in 1942. Despite the disruptions caused by the draft, and by the confusion of producing new products under pressure, the overall productivity of the economy, per worker-hour, rose by 21% between 1940 and 1945. Railway workers were 63% more productive in 1943 than in 1940.

USA, 2, Table 1: Basic economic indicators, 1939–46

Year	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946
Source: Contributors.
real GNP-1940 ($)	92	100	116	131	149	159	156	138
inflation	98	100	108	121	129	133	136	152
% of GNP to war	1.0	2.2	10.9	30.7	41.4	41.5	35.3
consumer prices	99	100	105	118	126	130	133	143
real weekly $ mfg	95	100	112	124	136	141	132	122
real hourly wage mfg	97	100	105	110	115	119	116	115
total employment	95	100	113	124	131	129	125	129
non-war employment	96	100	108	111	109	108	109	121
war employment	87	100	135	184	237	234	199	165
% of women in labour force	28.0	27.9	28.5	31.0	35.8	36.5	35.9	31.1
civilian women at work		100	109	127	152	157	155	136
civilian men at work		100	105	109	102	99	96	110
% unemployed	17.2	14.6	9.9	4.7	1.9	1.2	1.9	3.9
working week, av. hours		43.8	44.2	45.2	47.3	46.2	44.3	42.4
structure of civilian labour force
% youth under 20		7.5	9.1	11.1	12.0	11.4	10.5	8.4
% adult men		70.0	68.9	64.5	59.7	58.8	59.2	66.2
% adult women		22.5	22.0	24.4	28.4	29.8	30.3	25.4
earnings, full-time men	95	100	109	121	139	146	141	125
earnings, full-time women	98	100	105	110	126	136	133	134
women's pay as %men	57.4	55.6	53.5	50.8	50.4	51.8	52.7	59.5
durable mfg output	78	100	145	201	259	254	197	138
non-durable mfg output	95	100	123	137	153	149	144	143
railway freight ton-miles	89	100	127	171	195	198	182	159
railway passenger miles	95	100	123	226	369	402	386	272
war construction	27	100	528	1,540	805	377	263	55
non-war construction	99	100	111	69	48	39	54	153
corporate taxes	48	100	280	481	624	585	424	345
corporate after-tax profit	87	100	137	160	175	168	151	235
exports to the UK	50	100	162	250	446	519	217	85
income share of top 5%	26.8	25.4	23.0	19.0	16.7	15.8	16.7	17.7
personal spending	95	100	108	106	110	117	126	141
personal taxes	93	100	121	196	542	560	603	504
personal savings	69	100	276	618	696	757	585	280
births	96	100	106	117	121	115	112	133
marriages	88	100	106	111	99	91	101	144

In 1940 the nation's steel mills operated at 82% capacity, producing 67 million tons; by 1944 they were working at full stretch pouring 89 million tons of steel, about half the world total. The numbers employed did not change—all the gains came from enhanced productivity. As tens of thousands of factories tooled up for their production runs, the machine tool industry was overwhelmed. Orders in 1942 were five times higher than in 1940, but very long working weeks helped the industry manufacture $4.7 billion of tools between 1940 and 1945, or 20 times more than in the previous decade. Engineers redesigned the tools to be more durable, more versatile, and simpler to operate; the skills the operators lacked had to be designed into the machines and jigs themselves. The total stock of machine tools in all American factories soared from one million in 1940 to 1.7 million in 1945. With many in operation for three shifts a day, the sinews of economic mobilization were ready, and in five years the USA produced $181 billions worth of munitions, of which aircraft made up 24%; ships, 22%; food, clothing, and medicine, 20%; tanks and trucks, 12%; ammunition, 10%; guns and fire control equipment, 6%; and radio and radar, 6% (see Table 2 for munitions output 1940–5). Employment in war industry as a whole peaked at 8.8 million in late 1944, 29% of them women and 8% black.

USA, 2, Table 2: US munitions output, 1940–5

	May 1940– Dec 1941	1942	1943	1944	Jan–July 1945	Total
a million metric tons  b thousand displacement tons
Source: Contributor.
Munition budget	$10,384	$30,168	$51,745	$57,594	$30,767	$180,658
aircraft	$2,152	$5,817	$12,514	$16,047	$7,716	$44,246
ships	$2,221	$6,957	$12,498	$13,429	$5,534	$40,639
guns	$429	$1,794	$3,180	$2,926	$1,373	$9,702
ammunition	$509	$2,743	$4,908	$5,768	$3,930	$17,858
vehicles	$1,508	$4,778	$5,926	$4,951	$2,942	$20,105
radar/radio	$250	$1,512	$3,043	$3,739	$2,119	$10,663
Munitions purchases
Aircraft, 000s	23	48	86	96	43	296
Aircraft weight, m kg	43	125	297	437	221	1,123
Aircraft bombsa	41	57	135	198	100	531
Warshipsb	270	847	2,562	3,223	1,341	8,243
Naval ammunitiona	32	558	658	1,191	1,039	3,478
Landing vessels, 000s	1	7	16	27	13	64
Depth charges, 000s	17	141	147	170	54	529
Torpedoes, 000s	2	5	16	24	7	54
Rifles/carbines, 000s	357	1,541	5,683	3,489	1,503	12,573
Ground artillery ammunitiona	52	615	726	1,313	1,145	3,851
Tanks	4,203	23,884	29,497	17,565	11,184	86,333

Roosevelt's promise in 1940 to build 50,000 aircraft was received with amazement. In the end, 300,000 were built, at a cost of $45 billion. The Army Air Forces took 185,000; the navy, 60,000; the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, 33,000; the USSR, 18,000; and China, 4,000. Measured by weight, the production totalled 2.9 billion pounds, of which 61% represented bombers and 22% fighters. Overnight, executives at Douglas, Consolidated Vultee, Boeing, North American, Lockheed, and smaller aircraft companies, transformed their small workshops into the world's largest and most complex factories. Riveters with just three or four weeks' training were employed extensively. Virtually all the warplanes had been designed before Pearl Harbor, though they were continually modified and upgraded. With car production suspended for the duration, the great automobile companies retooled radically. They converted their old assembly lines to make aircraft and tank gear, and the government built new plants for them, such as Ford's gigantic Willow Run bomber plant or the even larger Dodge engine plant in Chicago. The rifles, cannon, shells, and ammunition for the forces were made primarily in government arsenals. Located typically in small towns known to have a surplus of labour, they employed 486,000 workers in 1943, as against 22,000 in 1940. Shipyards launched 88,000 landing craft, 215 submarines, 147 aircraft carriers, and 952 other warships, aggregating 14 million tons. They also welded together 5,200 merchant ships totalling 39 million gross tons (see Liberty ships). The war geared up not only armies and industries but also science and technology. Chemists made possible the daily production of 80 million litres of 100-octane aviation fuel, which gave aircraft a distinct edge in speed, climb rate, and manoeuvrability. Physicists and electrical engineers perfected the proximity fuze—which made Japanese Zeros 50 times easier to hit—but the most astonishing scientific and engineering achievement of the war was the invention of the atomic bomb. In the long run, however, arguably the most important technical achievement of the war was America's first programmable electronic computer. Developed at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 (some two years after Bletchley Park's COLOSSUS II), the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was designed to calculate artillery tables.

The change in gross national product from $101 billion in 1940 to $214 billion in 1944 can be hypothetically broken down into different factors. The departure of the soldiers (ç17%) was offset by increases due to inflation (26%), new workers (11%), elimination of unemployment (12%), population growth (4%), extended hours (4%), and increases in capital and worker productivity (60%). These factors did not just happen: they required the deliberate efforts of government, the services, executives, engineers, unions, workers, and the community as a whole to make them happen. The establishment of open-ended contracts on a cost-plus basis guaranteed that corporations would aggressively search out new workers and train them. The government would pay. The patriotic willingness—even eagerness—of people to switch from stable jobs to the better paying but dead-end munitions jobs was essential. Above all, the nation's engineers and managers were inspired to design, plan, and organize vast economic potential without regard to profit.

Since nearly half the GNP had to be devoted to the war, the workers could not be allowed to spend more than half their wages. Price controls and rationing were imposed so that essential items would remain cheap. Consumer durables like automobiles, domestic appliances, and houses were no longer produced. The government spent $350 billion ($318 for direct war purposes), but only took in $147 billion in taxes. The deficit had to be borrowed. Six million volunteers whipped up patriotism and drained surplus money by selling $157 billions worth of war bonds. (Those assets would play a decisive role in maintaining prosperity after 1945.) The consequence was that the national debt of $259 billion in 1945 exceeded the GNP of $212 billion; since interest rates were kept artificially low, at about 1%, the burden was bearable. Taxes soared during the war. Previously only the wealthiest tenth paid income taxes; now 90% of all families paid, and at stiff rates. A typical worker with a wife and child earned $2,600 in 1944. Of that $253 went to federal income tax (23% after exemptions of 3 × $500), and $26 went to Social Security. Of the $2,600, 11% went to taxes, 33% to food, 33% to clothing and housing, 5% to transportation, 10% to medical costs (private medical insurance was just becoming popular), and 8% was saved or used to pay off old depression debts. Corporate taxes were raised to guarantee that profits would remain at about 1936–7 depression levels of 10% of net worth.

Americans were patriotic during the war, and more united than ever before. They therefore sacrificed some of their famed individualism in exchange for community purposes. The refrain ‘Don't You Know There's a War On!’ silenced grumblers and emboldened the community minded. While most families felt that material conditions had worsened, cold statistics showed they were distinctly better fed and better clothed than in the depression years. No matter, for Americans had recalibrated their sensibilities towards a new post-war standard of prosperity. Against that gauge the war years were uncomfortable yet optimistic. The deliberate national policy of keeping casualties to a minimum (and especially not subjecting fathers to combat) meant there were few orphans and widows to plunge a community into mourning. Indeed, for an average group of 1,000 soldiers, more fathers died a natural death on the Home Front than sons in combat. Americans were confident the soldiers would march home safe.

The demand for housing was exceptionally high in the major industrial centres, and shopping, transportation, and community services were almost overwhelmed. Fat pay checks assuaged much of the discomfort. The federal government, under the Lanham Act, provided modest support facilities for towns inundated by war industry. The act also provided for day-care centres for pre-school children. Surprisingly, they were highly controversial, as any number of social forces (mothers, factories, sundry local and federal agencies, social workers, educators, unions, clergymen) made the centres into political footballs that reflected distinctive socio-political ideologies. An apparent upsurge in juvenile delinquency heightened concerns about teenagers. There was no epidemic of delinquency; rather the youth who had been so repressed because of hard times were suddenly allowed to move about. Much of the mischief involved youth staying out beyond curfew; their older brothers were off to war, and excitement was in the air. The upsurge in high school enrolments from 1920 gave teenagers more intellectual skills and social resources. A new quasi-autonomous youth culture was beginning to flourish. Its taste in fashion, music, food, and egalitarian, consumer-oriented, informal lifestyle would soon become the norm.

Marriage, setting up a new household, and starting a family all required ingenuity and help, given the shortage of housing, furniture, and appliances. Servicemen's wives usually returned to their parents' home, a doubling up that would not be relieved until the post-war housing boom finally caught up with demand around 1948. Worse than the inconvenience and the waiting was the loneliness. Young couples discarded much of the tradition that had separated husbands and wives into different spheres. They sought egalitarian, companionable marriages. Divorce rates changed little: 27% of the wartime marriages eventually ended in divorce, compared to 26% for the late 1930s and 26% for the late 1940s. Couples were child-oriented and in 1940 they began a ‘baby boom’ that lasted until 1960. Between 1940 and 1942, the rate of first births jumped from 293 per 10,000 women to 375 (the rate of subsequent births went from 506 to 540). The increase in childbearing took place among all groups of young women, but was greatest among the best educated, who had the most resources and the most opportunities to understand and control their lives.

The nation puzzled over new roles for women, Most long-standing prohibitions against married women working were dropped. For the first time, large numbers of mothers entered the workforce. Nevertheless, social values still strongly preferred that husbands be the primary breadwinners and wives focus their attention on home duties, especially child-rearing. Women saw two kinds of jobs open up. In some munitions plants women replaced young men called up into the services, but much more often the women did not replace anyone, for over 90% of the munitions jobs were new. The image of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ doing traditionally male work was a propaganda device; the real ‘Rosies’ either did traditional woman's work, like assembling radios, or else they did a new sort of job that no one had done before, such as riveting an airplane or welding a ship. When women did replace men it was only after compromises with the unions. Fearing the old bogies of cheap/unskilled/female workers replacing their permanent male members, the unions insisted that women were temporary employees and should be paid the same as men, so that, when the men returned from war, the employers would dismiss the less efficient highly-paid women. In fact most of the new women workers did not enter munitions plants, but took office and factory jobs where they often did replace men. These jobs were non-union, and after the war the women held on to them. The workforce became distinctly more feminized, especially in the white collar sector. After the war 4.1 million women left the labour force: 50% told census takers they did so because of the demands of family; another 18% said their husbands insisted on being the sole breadwinner; 13% cited age or disability; 11% cited their return to education or to a rural home as the reason. A few left because of lack of suitable jobs (6%), or poor working conditions or lack of child care (2%). Wives were especially clear in their determination to leave their paid jobs. They had been doing double duty, and their home chores had increased because of poor services, overcrowded public transport, shortages, and increased childcare responsibilities.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), Oveta Culp Hobby of the Woman's Army Corps (WAC), Congresswoman/playwright/society leader Claire Boothe Luce, and Jackie Cochran (director of the WASP, the organization which ferried Air Force planes), along with numerous Hollywood celebrities, were the most prominent women of the day. In contrast to the depression years, which put a premium on nurturing female roles, the war years extolled masculinity. The ‘Rosie’ and WAC propaganda always featured women excelling in male roles, but it was really the change in the role of females that counted. Women invested in the future—in return for high morale, hard work, and general support for the nation's war goals, they demanded control over post-war society. They gained in power and importance inside the family, especially among better educated younger couples. The soaring birth rates and the idealization of the child-centred, egalitarian suburban home was their ultimate achievement. Government policy quickly ratified the new ideals. The EMIC (Emergency Maternal and Infant Care) programme provided free prenatal and obstetric care for servicemen's wives. The GI Bill provided very cheap home ownership, loans to start up businesses, and free college tuition for ex-servicemen. Unlike the New Deal, which targeted its aid to the poor, these programmes fitted the conservative ideal of reward for actual service to the nation.

Egalitarianism was the rule in the war years, reinforced by rationing, shortages, price controls, and the universalism of the draft. Income differentials narrowed, and relief was once more concentrated on people outside the labour force. The share of total income received by the richest 5% fell from 27% in 1939 to 16% in 1944. The communal spirit dramatically softened the lines that divided ethnic and religious groups. anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism declined sharply (see also religion). Desperately poor Slavic and Italian ethnic groups rapidly improved their economic status, earning about 94% of average by 1950.

The question of the loyalty of enemy aliens, and those of Axis origins, was troublesome. When in 1942 the army proposed that citizens of Germany and Italy be relocated away from the West Coast, public opinion would not accept wholesale removal; only 10,000 were moved. Of the 20 million Americans of German descent, only a few thousand sympathized with the Nazis (see German–American Bund). Mussolini was a good deal more popular among Italians, but obviously posed a negligible military threat. Public and élite opinion was loud and nearly unanimous that Japanese-Americans were dangerous and, at the minimum, had to be removed from strategic localities. Until 1950 federal law prevented people born in Japan (Issei) from becoming citizens; their children (Nisei) born on US soil automatically acquired citizenship, but they were mostly minors and would share the fate of their parents. Both groups were considered Japanese citizens by Tokyo. Although most proclaimed their loyalty to the USA, the level of distrust was high. Those living along the West Coast were sent to inland relocation centres, but there was no way to relocate or incarcerate the Issei in Hawaii, so the entire island was put under martial law for the duration. By 1988 public opinion had totally changed round, and the government offered an apology and cash payment to those who had been relocated. Mexicans, considered during the depression low-wage competitors for jobs and welfare benefits that ought to go to natives, had been given one-way tickets back to their home villages. During the war the buses and trains ran in the other direction, as thousands of Mexicans and Caribbeans replaced native farm workers (see Bracero programme). Since a main reason for the war in the Pacific was the USA's protective attitude towards China and the Philippines, the country's 100,000 Chinese and Filipino residents were given new recognition and their legal rights expanded (though not to fully equal status).

The economic status of blacks improved sharply during the war, as millions moved from unemployment in the city or under-employment in the cotton South, to manual labour jobs vacated by whites. In 1939, blacks comprised 10% of the non-farm labour force, but only 8.3% of the men and 4.3% of the women held jobs outside farming and domestic service. The median annual wages were 33% of the white rate for men, 46% for women. By 1944 black men and women were up to 10.1% and 9.1% of male and female employees, and their wages were 46% of the white rate for men and 42% for women. Except for government-run munitions plants, blacks were the last hired and the first fired. Segregation was still ironclad in the South, and prevailed in practice in the North. Rioting in Detroit in 1943 killed 34 as the acute housing shortage pitted newly arrived black families against newly arrived whites from the Appalachians. Observers were convinced that far more inter-racial bloodletting was inevitable, but apart from a few limited incidents in Mobile, Alabama, and Beaumont, Texas, trouble was averted for the time being (see also African Americans at war).

The national mood during the war displayed little of the crusading fervour that characterized the First World War. There was a job to be done, then everyone could go home. Hatred of the Japanese was strong, but propaganda efforts to personalize the war against Hitler and Tōjō were not persuasive. The egalitarianism which gained a strong boost during the war had some negative effects in the military: US soldiers resented the artificial privileges that set officers apart from the enlisted men. Unions vastly increased their presence in the labour force and their power inside the Democratic Party. Bargaining with management became a matter of dollars and cents, not life and death. The antics of the labour leader John L. Lewis (1880–1967), however, created powerful resentment against labour ‘barons’ who supposedly ruled their domains in non-democratic fashion without regard to the national interest. Patriotism surged during the 1940s, as business and labour, farms and factories, men and women, white and black worked together for communal goals with a degree of harmony that presaged an era of consensus. Foreign policy battles faded as a recognition developed of the value of allies and the glowing promise of collective security through the United Nations (see San Francisco conference). The community spirit forged in countless scrap drives, air raid drills, Red Cross meetings, draft board hearings, and volunteer activities helped dissolve the class lines that had come into sharp relief a decade before. The practical value of education, the necessity of expertise, the limitless promise of technology, and the economic power of systematic organization all burned themselves deeply into the national mind, providing a fount of conventional wisdom that would last for two more decades. The enormous pride in having won a world war in decisive fashion, with their enemies prostrate and the Allies desperate for American help, led to an uncritical self-confidence. It would inspire politics, diplomacy, military policy, and even the media, academe, and the corporations until the crises of the 1960s. See also world trade and world economy.

D'Ann Campbell/ and Richard Jensen

3. Government

For the USA, as for other major participants, the Second World War imposed one overriding task on the national government—marshalling the resources of the nation for the maximum feasible production of military might. Accomplishing that task accentuated one of the dominant trends of the 20th century, centralization of authority in the executive. However, centralization proceeded less far in the USA than in other countries, including the UK. Until the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USA moved only slowly away from reliance on markets and prices to allocate resources. The administrative machinery of war eventually emerged, but in ‘a crazy-quilt pattern of new emergency agencies and old departments’, according to one expert on wartime mobilization. Roosevelt initially resisted the creation of centralized control over the US economy, in part because he did not wish to inflame isolationist sentiment with overt preparations for mobilization, but also because he disliked the idea of placing one individual or agency in charge of the war effort. Additionally, the constitutionally induced conflicts between the executive and legislative branches hampered centralization and coordination, as did the wartime backlash against the New Deal, disagreements about the government's post-war programme, and clashes among powerful private interest groups representing agriculture, business, and organized labour.

By the end of the 1930s, Roosevelt's New Deal had produced a partial recovery from the Great Depression but had also generated intense controversy. In the summer of 1939, opposition to the administration's legislative programme had become so strong in Congress that any significant extension of New Deal reforms had become unlikely. In any case, the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 caused Roosevelt to reorder his priorities. Convinced that he could lead on only one front at a time, and blocked by Congressional opposition from continuing his domestic reforms, he moved national defence and foreign policy to the top of his agenda. As he would later explain, ‘Dr New Deal’ was giving way to ‘Dr Win-the-War.’ To bolster public and Congressional support, the president needed to broaden his political base. Facing vigorous isolationist opposition, he could not govern with support only from the New Deal wing of the Democratic Party. Accordingly, he considered forming a coalition cabinet, an idea he modified in June 1940 when he appointed Frank Knox and Henry Stimson, two leading Republican warhawks, to be secretaries of navy and war. He later named Jesse Jones (1874–1956), a conservative southern Democrat and the administration's chief spokesman for big business, to be secretary of commerce.

As the appointments of Knox, Stimson, and Jones signified, the president hoped to improve relations with groups that opposed the New Deal but supported his foreign and defence policies. He pursued rapprochement with the business community, which during the 1930s had become estranged from the administration. An expanded national defence programme would require the involvement and co-operation of business interests, and so in 1940 he appointed a National Defence Advisory Commission that included Edward R. Stettinius Jr. of US Steel and William S. Knudsen (1879–1948), a former General Motors executive. But this new group had no authority and no single individual in charge, for Roosevelt remained reluctant to create an agency to control economic mobilization and defence production.

As military appropriations and the federal deficit soared in the spring and summer of 1940, the Roosevelt administration prodded Congress to raise taxes. At first the president and the secretary of the treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., favoured a progressive tax programme that would confiscate excessive profits arising from defence expenditures. In the end, the president proved willing to accept revenue legislation that deviated from principles of progressive taxation. The First and Second Revenue Acts of 1940 granted substantial concessions to business. Roosevelt accepted those concessions because he was convinced that unless corporate management got what it wanted on taxes, businessmen would not sign defence contracts. Therefore he surrendered to pressure for higher profits in order to induce corporations to produce arms.

Appeasement of the business community disenchanted New Dealers, who feared that the president had completely abandoned reform. It was partly to allay such fears that Roosevelt in 1940 chose as his vice-presidential nominee the secretary of agriculture, Henry A. Wallace (1888–1965). In 1940 the Roosevelt–Wallace ticket faced a stiff challenge from the Republican Wendell L. Willkie, an attractive and articulate businessman who asserted that the New Deal had disabled the American economy and interfered with national defence. During the final weeks of the campaign, Willkie attacked Roosevelt's foreign policy as likely to lead the nation into war, but in November 1940 the president won re-election, although by a smaller margin than on the two previous occasions.

USA, 3, Table 3: Principal US Government war agencies, 1940–5

* see separate entries

Source: Contributor.

Board of Economic Warfare (later Office of Economic Warfare)

National Defense Advisory Commission

National Housing Agency

National War Labor Board

Office of Civilian Defense

Office of Defense Transportation

Office of Emergency Management

Office of Economic Stabilization

Office of Lend-Lease Administration

Office of Price Administration

Office of Production Management

Office of Scientific Research and Development

Office of Strategic Services

Office of War Information

Office of War Mobilization

(later Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion)

Petroleum Administrator for War

Rubber Administration

Smaller War Plants Corporation

War Food Administration

War Manpower Commission

War Labor Board

War Production Board

War Relocation Authority

War Shipping Administration

Even as the election campaign proceeded, the president and Congress moved to remedy American military weakness by introducing conscription (see selective service system) and by extending aid to the UK. Then, to speed up the defence production needed to implement these decisions, Roosevelt created, in January 1941, a new agency called the Office of Production Management (see Table 3 for principal government war agencies). This had somewhat broader scope and authority than its predecessor, the National Defense Advisory Commission, and, because it was jointly administered by William S. Knudsen and by union leader Sidney Hillman, it ensured that both management and labour were represented in the defence programme. But it was not a comprehensive mobilization organization. Jealous of his own prerogatives, Roosevelt still refused to establish a ministry of supply under a mobilization tsar.

By the summer of 1941, when American rearmament had still not shifted into high gear, it was becoming obvious that civilian production would have to be curtailed to increase military production, and that the president would have to relinquish his role as the day-to-day boss of the defence programme. Nevertheless, it was not until after Pearl Harbor, in January 1942, that he established the War Production Board (WPB) with significantly greater power over defence production than the Office of Production Management. To direct the WPB, Roosevelt selected Donald M. Nelson (1888–1959), a former executive with the giant retailer Sears, Roebuck. Nelson was not, however, a mobilization tsar, for he shared authority over war production with a bewildering array of officials and agencies, which caused overlapping responsibilities and much friction.

The president also had to deal with friction between the executive and legislative branches of government and among powerful and competing private interest groups. Control of agricultural prices—part of the larger problem of economic stabilization in wartime—proved especially disruptive and a major source of controversy during 1942. Following an angry debate that pitted farm lobbies and farm bloc legislators against administration loyalists, Congress passed the Stabilization Act of 1942, which finally granted the Office of Price Administration the authority to regulate farm prices.

The dispute over agricultural price control took place shortly before the congressional elections of November 1942 and proved costly to the Democratic Party. Farming belt voters elected Republicans, who were considered more inclined to support higher farm prices and incomes. These results reflected a national trend towards the Republicans, who gained 44 seats in the House of Representatives and 9 in the Senate. Low turnout contributed to Republican success, for many low-income workers and young people, who tended to vote Democratic, had not gone to the polls, while young men and women serving in the armed forces had found voting difficult. Although the Democratic Party retained nominal control of both houses of Congress, a conservative coalition of Republicans and anti-administration Democrats now exercised de facto control of the House of Representatives and exerted substantial influence in the Senate. Roosevelt faced a hostile Congress filled with anti-administration legislators who believed they had a mandate to repeal the New Deal and prevent a postwar revival of reform.

This situation confirmed Roosevelt's perception that ancillary issues would have to be subordinated to the lowest common denominator of national unity—a military victory speedily won. Vice-President Wallace and other reformers portrayed the war as a ‘people's revolution’ that compelled attention, at home and abroad, to a wide range of social and economic concerns. Roosevelt had become convinced that emphasizing these concerns would enrage his domestic opposition, divide the country, and imperil his leadership. Therefore he was ready to sacrifice social and economic reform, and concentrate almost exclusively on those things necessary to military victory. He even acquiesced as his Congressional adversaries carried out a retroactive revenge against the New Deal. They argued that enormous government expenditures for war required deep cuts in non-war spending and proceeded to eliminate several depression-era agencies and programmes.

The Congressional backlash against the New Deal also affected several war agencies. Critics complained that the Office of Civilian Defense, the Office of War Information, and the Office of Price Administration had become sanctuaries for New Dealers who were more interested in perpetuating or initiating social and economic reforms, than in effective performance of proper wartime functions. All these agencies became targets of Congressional investigations and efforts to reduce their appropriations. Such legislative reprisals reflected the irritation of anti-administration congressmen who were compelled by the war to delegate authority to an executive branch that they distrusted and despised. Having granted power with one hand, Congress frequently tried to revoke or constrain that power with the other. Ambivalence towards delegation of power accounted for much of the friction between legislative and executive branches during the war years.

In early 1943, a serious clash took place between the president and Congress over agricultural and labour policy. Farm bloc congressmen won approval for legislation intended to raise price ceilings on agricultural commodities. On 2 April 1943 Roosevelt issued a stinging veto that warned Congress against igniting a fire storm of ‘wartime inflation and post-war chaos’. With little chance of mustering a two-thirds majority in both House and Senate, anti-administration leaders made no attempt to override the veto. Nevertheless, the episode widened the breach between farm bloc legislators and the Roosevelt administration, as did a subsequent confrontation over agricultural prices in July 1943 that produced a second presidential veto.

The farm bloc reacted bitterly to agricultural price ceilings and blamed the Roosevelt administration for ‘coddling’ urban workers and consumers. In this context, legislation aimed at punishing unions for strikes in wartime began to attract support. A series of stoppages in the bituminous coal industry intensified anti-labour sentiment in Congress. In May and June 1943, John L. Lewis, the boisterous head of the United Mine Workers, ordered shutdowns intended to extract higher wages from the coal industry and the National War Labor Board. Those strikes infuriated a large proportion of the American people who thought strikes in wartime delayed victory and threatened the lives of American soldiers. A Congressional majority agreed and adopted the Smith-Connally Act (War Labor Disputes Act) of 1943, which was designed to curb the activities of labour unions. On 25 June 1943, Roosevelt vetoed the measure because it contained features more likely to foment strikes than prevent them and because the bill contained a section prohibiting political contributions by unions. The House and Senate quickly overrode the president's veto, and the Smith-Connally Act became law. It foreshadowed a post-war labour policy less favourable to unions.

With Congress in a defiant mood, Roosevelt responded by creating buffers between irritable legislators and the executive branch. On 27 May 1943 he established the Office of War Mobilization (OWM) to oversee all the federal agencies engaged in the war effort. As director of OWM, the president chose James F. Byrnes, a former Democratic senator from South Carolina. Fred Vinson, another former congressman, replaced Byrnes as head of the Office of Economic Stabilization, the principal agency for resolving domestic economic problems. Late in June 1943, the president appointed Marvin Jones, former chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, as War Food Administrator. Byrnes, Vinson, and Jones were moderate Democrats who maintained friendly relations with Capitol Hill. If those men could not get along with Congress, no one could. With these appointments, Roosevelt in effect divested himself of detailed involvement in domestic political and economic affairs, and allowed his subordinates to run the Home Front. Under Byrnes, an unofficial ‘assistant president,’ the office of War Mobilization became the central administrative mechanism for directing the war economy.

Meanwhile, Congress began to concentrate on post-war policy, as the furore over the National Resources Planning Board (NRPB) revealed. Since 1 July 1939, the NRPB had functioned as the planning arm of the executive office of the president. With the outbreak of war, the Board had started developing plans and programmes for the post-war period. A ‘new economic bill of rights’ for the American people, drafted by the NRPB in 1939, guided its work. Two reports, released in March 1943, outlined plans and programmes designed to assure the American people of the right to education, health care, housing, employment, and economic security. What the Board proposed was nothing less than the completion of the welfare state begun during the New Deal. On Capitol Hill Republicans and anti-administration Democrats exploded with indignation. In June 1943, Congress voted to eliminate the Board and specified that none of its functions could be transferred to any other government department. Having destroyed the NRPB, anti-administration congressmen proceeded to create their own instruments for post-war planning, the special Senate and House Committees on Post-War Economic Policy and Planning, whose recommendations were limited and conservative in character.

Only in the area of veterans' benefits was Congress prepared to adopt welfare state measures. On 27 October 1943, Roosevelt transmitted a message calling for generous unemployment, social security, and educational benefits for returning servicemen. In January 1944, Congress started work on a comprehensive veterans' readjustment plan that became popularly known as the ‘GI Bill of Rights’. After prompt passage by the Senate, the House scaled down the benefits, but then passed the measure substantially intact in June 1944. The Servicemen's Readjustment Act provided educational assistance, readjustment allowances, and low interest loans for housing. It won approval because it applied exclusively to veterans: Republicans and anti-administration Democrats did not intend the Act to become a model for broader welfare programmes, though the president had that possibility in mind.

Trying to minimize conflict with Congress, Roosevelt had offered little more than token resistance to the elimination of New Deal agencies and the destruction of the NRPB. Even when he did fight back against Congressional opponents, he had little success. In February 1944, the House and Senate passed a tax bill that fell far short of treasury department recommendations. Roosevelt's advisers urged him to veto the bill, and on 22 February 1944 he did so. This measure was not a tax bill at all, he declared, ‘but a tax relief bill providing relief not for the needy but for the greedy’. Infuriated by his harsh language, Congress speedily overrode the president's veto.

Having defeated Roosevelt on taxes, anti-administration congressmen turned to the issue of absentee voting by men and women in the armed forces. Public opinion polls suggested that a majority of servicemen would support the Democrats, and the president and his political advisers wanted as many soldiers as possible to cast their vote. Republicans, on the other hand, feared that a large soldier vote would jeopardize their chance of defeating Roosevelt and his fourth term programme. They formed an alliance with southern Democrats who opposed any plan that might enfranchise black soldiers (see also African Americans at war). After a protracted struggle lasting from December 1943 until March 1944, the coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats killed the administration's absentee voting bill, which provided a federal ballot, and substituted a state-controlled voting plan that would keep most southern black soldiers from participating in the election. Republicans eagerly backed that bill because it was more cumbersome than a federal ballot and would discourage voting by servicemen. The president considered the ‘states rights’ bill unacceptable, but in March 1944 let it become law without his signature.

In mid-1944, Roosevelt interrupted his concentration on war and diplomacy to consider election-year politics. When the Democratic Party held its national convention in July, his renomination was assured, but there were still decisions to be made. Because of the belief that the ill and weary president might not survive another term, the various factions of the Democratic Party fought over the vice-presidential nomination. Reformers and union leaders favoured the incumbent vice-president, Henry A. Wallace. The president, though he liked and respected Wallace, refused to insist on his renomination because he thought he had moved too far ahead of public opinion. To replace Wallace he chose Senator Harry S Truman of Missouri, who had directed a highly respected Senate investigation of war production and who was on reasonably good terms with all factions of the Democratic Party.

During the campaign of 1944, Roosevelt called for fulfilment of the new economic bill of rights to ensure housing, education, medical care, and economic security. He endorsed the goal of post-war full employment, defined as 60 million jobs, and urged the creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee to prevent job discrimination against ethnic minorities. With heavy support from organized labour and from urban voters, the president received 53.4% of the popular vote and 432 electoral votes. His victory over the Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey (1902–71) was the narrowest of his four presidential contests and the closest election since Woodrow Wilson edged out Charles Evans Hughes in 1916.

With the election over and the war moving towards a climax, New Dealers expected Roosevelt to lead a revival of reform. Those expectations were doomed to disappointment. The elections of 1944 had strengthened Democratic control of Congress but had not shattered the anti-administration coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats that now dominated Capitol Hill. The fate of two presidential appointments in early 1945 revealed the continuing strength of the anti-administration coalition. On 1 March 1945 the Senate confirmed former vice-president Henry A. Wallace as secretary of commerce, but only after Congress had drained most of the power from that office. On 23 March 1945, the Senate decisively rejected Aubrey W. Williams, Roosevelt's choice to head the Rural Electrification Administration. The president faced the same kind of opposition in the new Congress that had characterized the earlier war years.

Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945 with his plans for the post-war era only half formed. His successor, Truman, had not been taken into Roosevelt's confidence and was uncertain about key national policies and decisions. During his first months as president, Truman was preoccupied with military and diplomatic concerns, including the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, and provided little leadership on the Home Front. He tended to defer to congressional committee chairmen and was willing to let Congress set priorities, draft bills, and pass legislation.

Squabbles over reconversion policy also clogged the channels of the executive and legislative branches. Some officials in the Roosevelt administration had urged partial reconversion before the war ended so that small business firms could start civilian production. This arrangement would compensate for the fact that most war contracts had gone to big business and that the government had never made effective use of small enterprise in the war production effort (see also Smaller War Plants Corporation). However, the military services objected to piecemeal reconversion on the grounds that it might interfere with the war effort and delay victory. Large firms opposed partial reconversion because it would give smaller competitors a head start on producing for post-war markets. In the struggle over reconversion, the alliance of the military and big business prevailed.

For the American government, the Second World War proved an ambiguous experience. Executive power was enhanced, but Congress became more assertive, especially in the area of domestic policy. A conservative coalition of Republicans and anti-administration Democrats matured during the war years, rolled back part of the New Deal, and blocked passage of new domestic programmes, but the basic framework of the welfare state survived intact. The war boom ended unemployment and created a ‘politics of inflation’ that lessened support for new federal welfare measures and intensified pressures exerted on government by business, labour, and agricultural interests. In national politics and federal policy, the patterns of the post-war years had emerged before the war itself was won.

Richard Chapman

4. Defence forces and civil defence

Civilian defence served to calm fears of sabotage and attack; to turn aside demands for protection by organizing civilians to protect themselves; to generate enthusiasm for the war effort; and to provide useful services. The FBI (see Intelligence, below) wanted to handle all anti-subversion activity by itself, with no public involvement. It did a good, quiet job, but only the relocation of the West Coast Japanese-Americans, satisfied public thirst for visible action. Loud demands for anti-aircraft defences threatened to divert scarce military resources; better to have worried civilians get out and do the job themselves. By 1941, 42 states had created their own defence programmes, modelled after the successful state defence councils of 1917, New York State drew up elaborate plans to evacuate the metropolis, and in May 1941 Roosevelt created the Office of Civilian Defense, with the colourful Fiorello LaGuardia (1882–1947) as head and Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), the president's wife, as assistant director for volunteers.

LaGuardia, who continued as full-time mayor of New York City, proved incompetent; he rarely showed up at OCD headquarters. The day after Pearl Harbor he alarmed millions by warning of imminent attacks on the East Coast. The president soon gave OCD to James Landis, an efficient lawyer. With a federal staff of only 1,000, Landis stressed co-ordination with the much larger and more important state and local agencies. Manuals sent to 12,000 local offices covered the basics of organization, air raid sirens and shelters, camouflage, and defence against poison gas. Some federal money was usefully spent on fire engines; much was wasted on millions of gas masks, which cities desperately wanted. Mrs Roosevelt, interested mostly in involving blacks in the programme, was forced out. By early 1943, 12 million Americans (mostly men, nearly all white) had volunteer roles, half in protective services like air-raid warden. There were 600,000 serving as aircraft spotters; unfortunately, they turned in many false alarms. The blackout exercises saved a little electricity, but disrupted the round-the-clock movement of workers to munitions factories. Washington, of course, knew there were no enemy bombers to fear, but was distressed at the failure of one-third the population to take the war seriously, and it wanted to give the all-out enthusiasts something harmless to keep them busy. Blackouts were late coming to the Atlantic coast, where the bright lights of resort hotels silhouetted ships that were often sunk by German U-boats (see convoys). One OCD operation, the Civil Air Patrol, had civilian pilots flying their own planes. Some were armed and sent searching for German submarines; they made 57 attacks. In some large cities block organizations helped people understand the rationing scheme and hunt for war jobs; often they brought local problems to the attention of city hall.

OCD was a minor wartime agency. More effective use of volunteers was made by private agencies such as the Red Cross (which recruited nurses and collected blood), and the United Service Organization (which supported soldiers' families). With the National Guard called into service, state and local civilian defence organizations provided significant help in disasters, such as major floods in the Midwest. Disaster planning became a permanent function of government, and was the chief legacy of wartime civilian defence.

D'Ann Campbell/ and Richard Jensen

5. Armed forces

(a) High Command

All the armed forces of the USA operate under the supreme control of the president. Roosevelt, like Churchill, insisted on retaining overall direction of the American war effort, though generally speaking the US military were given a much freer hand than their British counterparts. But the demands of global coalition warfare soon exposed the inadequacy of the civilian–military command structure and the lack of army–navy co-operation, and the first meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff committee on 23 January 1942 underlined the necessity for an American equivalent of the British Chiefs of Staff. Such an equivalent was formed in February 1942 when the highest US military authority, the Joint Board, was replaced by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Later that year the command structure was further strengthened when Admiral Leahy became JCS chairman and the president's chief of staff. The strong professional bond between Leahy and Roosevelt enabled the JCS to dominate planning and co-ordination, and exercise total control over the country's armed forces. It also achieved primacy in advising the president on national strategy, production requirements, manpower allocation, and shipping.

(b) Army

Civilian control of the army, including its air arm (see below), rested with the secretary of war. He acted through the war department which contained the offices of the chiefs of the arms (infantry, field artillery, coastal artillery, and so on) and services (the suppliers and administrators) and the general staff (the planners and organizers). The secretary of war from July 1940 was Henry Stimson. His under-secretary, Robert Patterson (1891–1952), was mainly concerned with procurement so an assistant secretary, John McCloy (1895–1989), acted as Stimson's general deputy. The other assistant secretary, Robert Lovett (1895–1986), was, in effect, Stimson's air force equivalent, though nominally subordinate to him. As Roosevelt exercised his function as commander-in-chief principally through his military commanders, Stimson's responsibilities were mostly confined to the war department's civilian functions, but included development of the atomic bomb.

In September 1939 the US Army comprised, besides its air arm, the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the Organized Reserves. The Regular Army, 190,000 strong, including the territorial indigenous Philippine Scouts, was the nation's standing army. It was well trained but was under-strength and under-equipped and relied on short-term enlistments and a minuscule corps of professional officers. The National Guard comprised 200,000 civilian volunteers who were raised and trained by the individual states. They drilled for 48 evenings a year and had two weeks of federally directed training. Once the Selective Service Act had been passed in August 1940 the units of the Organized Reserves, which already had on hand a cadre of reserve officers, began to expand.

From March 1941 the USA, otherwise known as the Zone of Interior, was divided into four Defense Commands (see Map 106) which corresponded with the areas allotted to the existing four armies (numbered 1–4), while outside the continental USA were the old established Hawaii and Philippines departments and the newly formed Alaska and Caribbean Defense Commands. In March 1942 GHQ , the central training command and operational centre, was abolished and three new, co-equal, autonomous organizations were formed instead: Army Ground Forces, commanded by Lt-General Lesley McNair (1883–1944), assumed GHQ's training functions and controlled all ground combat troops within the USA; the air arm, which was given its own command structure; and Services of Supply (later Army Service Forces), commanded by Lt-General Brehon Somervell (1892–1955), which assumed responsibility for the war department's logistics and procurement.

McNair had the formidable task of building an army suitable for global conflict and finalizing its training before overseas deployment. To do this he created a number of new HQ for training and development: Armored Force, Anti-Aircraft Command, Tank Destroyer Center, Airborne Command (first organized as the Provisional Parachute Group), Amphibious Training Command/Center, Desert Training Center, and Replacement and School Command. Once trained, combat-ready troops were delivered to embarkation ports as required by theatre commanders. The Victory Program (see Wedemeyer), drawn up in early 1942, specified an army of 213 divisions, but this was later reduced to 90 (excluding 2nd Cavalry division which was disbanded).

Large though McNair's organization became it was dwarfed by Somervell's powerful and influential Army Service Forces which, as the war progressed, absorbed an increasing percentage of the army's manpower (see Table 4). Within its jurisdiction were such diverse units as the military police, chemical warfare service, corps of engineers, and quartermaster, ordnance, signal, medical, and transportation corps, but it did not administer air units as the air force insisted upon, and received, its own parallel supply organization. The Chemical Warfare Service activated about 375 air and ground chemical units, including those for gas warfare and 30 chemical mortar battalions (see mortars), which supported the infantry with high explosive, white phosphorus, and smoke shells. Its engineers performed herculean efforts in combat in virtually every major engagement, and they were sometimes also employed as infantry.

USA, 5, Table 4: Growth of the Army by branch, 1941–5 (reported actual strength and per cent of total Army)

	31 December 1941	31 December 1942	31 December 1943	31 March 1945
Branch	Strength	Per cent	Strength	Per cent	Strength	Per cent	Strength	Per cent
a Armoured, Tank Destroyer, and Anti-aircraft were not reported as separate arms. Because of inclusion of these specialities in the basic ground arms, exact breakdown of the ground arms cannot be made.
b This figure, at this date, includes perhaps 300,000 carried in the Troop Basis as ‘Hospital Population,’ most casualties occurring in the ground arms and to a less extent in the Air Corps.
c Includes Army Nurse Corps, Dietitians, and Physiotherapists.
Source: Greenfield, K., Palmer, R., and Wiley, B., US Army in World War II: The Organization of Ground Combat Troops (Washington, DC, 1947).
Infantry, Cavalry, Field Artillery (includes Armoured and Tank Destroyer)a	690,083	41.7	1,512,730	28.0	1,960,068	25.8	2,423,075b	29.7
Coast Artillery Corps (includes Anti-aircraft)a	177,379	10.7	425,187	7.9	590,939	7.8	330,442	4.1
total ground arms	867,462	52.4	1,937,917	35.9	2,551,007	33.6	2,753,517	33.8
Adjutant General	966	0.1	4,418	0.1	15,688	0.2	56,116	0.7
Engineers	91,476	5.5	333,209	6.2	561,066	7.4	688,764	8.4
Signal	50,596	3.0	241,227	4.5	309,641	4.1	331,105	4.1
Medicalc	129,512	7.8	469,981	8.8	622,227	8.2	670,151	8.2
Ordnance	34,278	2.1	235,350	4.3	316,174	4.2	332,042	4.1
Quartermaster	122,672	7.4	327,794	6.1	453,419	6.0	491,301	6.0
Chemical	6,269	0.4	46,182	0.8	66,610	0.9	61,458	0.7
Military Police			147,840	2.7	222,639	2.9	203,823	2.5
Transportation			51,041	0.9	167,612	2.2	260,260	3.2
total services	435,769	26.3	1,857,042	34.4	2,735,076	36.1	3,095,020	37.9
Air Corps	270,535	16.3	1,270,677	23.5	1,810,900	23.9	1,831,091	22.4
All Other (includes Women's Army Corps, Warrant and Flight Officers, and No Branch Assigned)	83,391	5.0	333,252	6.2	485,451	6.4	477,758	5.9
grand total	1,657,157	100.0	5,398,888	100.0	7,582,434	100.0	8,157,386	100.0

The creation of these three administrative commands allowed Marshall, the army's chief of staff, and his general staff to control operations and plans. To fight a war of unrivalled complexity in several theatres simultaneously Marshall reorganized the War Plans Division into an expanded Operations Division (OPD). This was the linchpin for the central direction of all operations, and through it Marshall controlled and monitored the various theatre commands, and co-ordinated their supply requirements. These included Iceland; North-West Service Command in the Yukon Territory of Canada; US Army Forces, South Atlantic (which co-operated with the Brazilian armed forces); the North African Service Command which ensured supplies to US forces serving in the Allied North African Theatre of Operations (redesignated Mediterranean Theatre of operations in November 1943); the Iran–Iraq Service Command (redesignated Persian Gulf Command in December 1943), which expedited the flow of Lend-Lease to the USSR; the European Theatre of Operations (see ETOUSA); and US Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas, which, with the Hawaiian Department, was responsible for administering, training, and supplying all army and air force personnel involved in the Pacific war.

In May 1942 the first of the American women's wartime services, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, was established under Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby. In 1943 it ceased to be an auxiliary force and became part of the US Army as the Women's Army Corps. Its peak strength was 99,000 women who worked in almost every military occupation except combat and from January 1943 served in every overseas theatre of war.

The US Army's highest operational field structure, the Army Group, reflected the nature of coalition warfare as its commander supervised two or more armies which often contained several nationalities. Bradley's Twelfth Army Group, which fought in north-west Europe, was almost wholly American in content, but Devers's Sixth Army Group, which fought its way into southern Germany after the French Riviera landings, was half French; and Fifteenth Army Group, formed for the Sicilian campaign and commanded by Mark Clark in the Italian campaign from December 1944, had originally been led by a British general and though predominently Anglo-American had units from many nations, including the co-belligerent Italian forces.

During the war the USA deployed eleven field armies. First, Second, Third, and Fourth were already in existence at the commencement of hostilities; Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh were raised during 1943; the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Fifteenth in 1944. Second and Fourth Armies remained in the Zone of Interior on training and administrative duties; the First, Third, Ninth, and Fifteenth Armies fought in north-west Europe; the Fifth Army took part in the Italian campaign; the Seventh Army fought as part of Devers's Sixth Army Group; and Sixth (see also Alamo Force), Eighth, and Tenth Armies were formed for service in the Pacific, the first two under MacArthur in his South-West Pacific Area, the last for the invasion of Okinawa under General Simon Buckner.

Each army comprised two or more corps of which the US Army formed 26 during the war, all but one being deployed overseas. It was the corps commander who fought the battles and he usually had at his disposal one armoured and two infantry divisions, plus supporting arms and services. The division was the basic military formation, 68 being deployed in Europe and 22 in the Pacific. The four-regiment ‘square’ infantry division was replaced in May 1940 by the slimmer, more flexible three-regiment ‘triangular’ division, 14,250 strong, which eliminated brigade HQs. A regiment comprised three battalions (each of which had three rifle companies and one heavy weapons company), a headquarters company with six 105 mm. howitzers, a service company, and an anti-tank company. When tanks and engineers, and extra support if necessary, were attached, it was known as a Regimental Combat Team (RCT). As well as the Americal and Philippine infantry divisions, the following numbered divisions were raised; 1–9, 24–38, 40–45, 63, 65, 66, 69–71, 75–100, 102–104, and 106.

German blitzkrieg tactics encouraged the belief that the US armoured division could act as a self-sufficient task force that could, by virtue of its protective armour, fire-power, and mobility, strike deep into enemy-held territory. Altogether 16 were raised as were 60 non-divisional tank battalions. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Armored Divisions were raised under ‘heavy’ tables of organizations with 390 tanks, while 4–14, 16, and 20 were organized as ‘light’ formations having 263 tanks each (1st Armoured Division also became a ‘light’ formation later). All armoured divisions were eventually deployed in Europe, but unfavourable terrain and the superiority of German tanks and anti-tank weaponry prevented them from operating as originally envisaged until German resistance collapsed in the spring of 1945. Initially, an armoured division of 14,620 men was divided into two tank regiments and one armoured infantry regiment, each of three battalions, plus three artillery battalions, but for greater flexibility this organization was abolished in 1943 and replaced by three battalions each of infantry, tank, and artillery. These were allotted, as appropriate, by the division's HQ , to two smaller HQ , known as combat com mands (CC), which could be reinforced as necessary by non-divisional tank battalions.

USA, 5, Table 5: Deployment of the Army, 30 April 1945 (reported actual strengths)

Type of Troops	European Theatre	Mediterranean Theatres	European and Mediterranean Theatre Combined	South-West Pacific Theatre	Pacific Ocean Theatre	China and India-Burma Theatres	Principal Theatres Combined
a Including as combat troops all men in engineer, signal, and chemical units of AGF type.
b In addition, air forces totalling approximately 200,000, under direct command of the commanding general of Army Air Forces, were engaged in overseas operations, chiefly in the Pacific, without being assigned to a theatre.
Source: Greenfield, Palmer, and Wiley.
Divisional combat troops	819,342	102,485	921,827	183,798	80834		1,186,459
Non-divisional combat troopsa	595,418	37,797	633,215	113,318	102,076	15,766	864,375
total ground combat troops	1,414,760	140,282	1,555,042	297,116	182,910	15,766	2,050,834
Non-divisional service troops	828,726	128,307	957,033	214,835	142,579	69,898	1,384,345
Army Air Forces	439,425	153,005	592,430	173,343	75,438	90,949	932,160b
Replacements	171,933	34,551	206,484	34,203	20,371	4,365	265,423
Patients	128,305	15,679	143,984	41,135	6,423	1,439	192,981
Overhead	54,758	17,080	71,838	29,500	19,851	10,447	131,636
Miscellaneous	27,598	4,972	32,570	12,372	3,380	5,966	54,288
army in principal theatres	3,065,505	493,876	3,559,381	802,504	450,952	198,830	5,011,667
Percentage of Army in principal theatres to total Army (8,290,993)	37.0	6.0	43.0	9.7	5.4	2.4	60.4
Percentage of ground combat units in principal theatres to all ground combat units in Army (2,233,854)	63.4	6.3	69.7	13.3	8.2	0.7	91.9

Important as armour was in offensive, mobile warfare, it was the combination of infantry and artillery that proved the key to success.‘I do not have to tell you who won the war,’ General Patton said. ‘You know our artillery did.’ High quality radio communications and spotting, combined with great flexibility, accuracy, and sheer weight of fire-power, ensured the advancing infantry maximum support. Apart from its three artillery battalions a division could also request support from non-divisional artillery under corps or army command. Altogether, the US Army raised 326 artillery battalions, around 400 anti-aircraft battalions, and 86 tank destroyer battalions. In December 1942 non-divisional regiments of anti-aircraft artillery and field artillery were converted into separate battalions. When several battalions were employed together they were controlled by a group HQ; several groups had a Brigade HQ.

Specialized divisions were also raised for a variety of purposes. In the winter of 1942–3 three light divisions—89th (Truck), 71st (Pack, Jungle), and 10th (Pack, Alpine)—were created for jungle warfare in the Pacific. Each had 9,000 men equipped with lightweight gear that could be either animal- or man-packed. However, the concept was soon discarded as combat conditions were not as expected and the US Navy and Army amphibious engineer brigades furnished the required mobility. More importantly, the higher strengths and endurance of the regular infantry divisions were found to be necessary to combat the Japanese in tropical terrain and only the 10th (Pack, Alpine) was retained. This was brought up to the strength of a normal infantry division and as 10th Mountain Division fought in the Italian campaign. The army also experimented briefly with five motorized divisions, but their equipment would have filled so much shipping space that theatre commanders rejected them in favour of receiving additional ordinary formations, and they were therefore converted to standard infantry divisions.

More successful were the five airborne divisions that were raised. Like the light divisions they were formed as smaller counterparts to the standard infantry division, but this was not found to be successful. The 13th, 17th, 82nd, and 101st Divisions, which were deployed in Europe—where they were organized into two parachute regiments and one glider regiment, plus a battalion of 105 mm. howitzers—were increased from 8,500 to 12,799 men, but the fifth formation, 11th Airborne Division, which fought in the south-west Pacific, retained its own unique structure and size.

Two cavalry divisions were also raised: 2nd Cavalry Division, which had a high proportion of African Americans and, was disbanded (twice), and 1st Cavalry Division, which fought in the south-west Pacific. The 1st Cavalry retained the old ‘square’ divisional formation of four regiments as well as the names and traditions of some of the US Army's most famous regiments, including Custer's 7th Cavalry, and was theoretically still organized as horse cavalry which fought dismounted.

Unlike in the First World War, when some divisions had had to be stripped for replacements, all 90 divisions were kept in being and were deployed all round the world (see Table 5). as by the start of the final year of the war 47 infantry regiments had sustained a casualty rate which varied from 100% to 200% this was no mean achievement (see also Ground Force Replacement System). But 90 proved to be barely sufficient (the Red Army raised 400, Germany 300, Japan 170) and all saw combat. When the German Ardennes offensive began in December 1944 the few remaining in the USA were moved to Europe and no more were then being formed.

Excluding Army Air Force personnel, by the end of the war US Army strength had risen to over 6,000,000. Casualties, including those en route to combat theatres, amounted to 820,877 including 182,701 dead.

(c) Army Air Forces

In September 1939 the army's air arm was administratively organized into the US Army Air Corps, commanded by Maj-General Arnold, and GHQ Air Force. A series of changes in this administrative structure, influenced by the air force's desire for greater autonomy, by the growing realization that its mission implied more than support for the ground forces, by the war in Europe, and by the unsatisfactory nature of the chain of command, culminated in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF), as it was called from June 1941, becoming, in March 1942, one of the army's three co-equal commands. In reality, however, it achieved equal status with the army and navy, for its commanding general, Arnold, sat with the other two service chiefs on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combined Chiefs of Staff committees, and directed air operations without formal reference to the army's chief of staff. After March 1942 the Air Corps remained the USAAF's main component, but GHQ Air Force (called Air Force Combat Command from June 1941 to March 1942) was dissolved and its responsibilities taken over by the newly formed USAAF HQ.

The expansion of the USAAF during the war years was phenomenal. In 1939 there were 17 air bases in the USA; by 1943 there 345 main bases, 116 sub-bases, and 322 auxiliary fields. It grew in strength from 20,196 men in June 1938 to nearly 1,900,000 men and women in March 1945, rising from 11% of the army's strength to over 22%. In September 1939 it had 2,470 aircraft; in July 1944, when the maximum number was reached, it had 79,908. In September 1939 it possessed only 23 B17 bombers, its one modern aircraft type; by 1945 it had at least one aircraft type in each conventional class (but not in jets), which was equal to the best of its opponents and in some cases, such as transport aircraft and heavy bombers, its superiority was unchallenged.

Administratively the USAAF relied on a number of Commands or similar organizations, for such support functions as supply, transport, and meteorological intelligence, and the larger ones had sub-commands under them. The world-wide network of radio communications was organized by the Army Airways Communications System. Training was the responsibility of Troop Carrier Command—initially called Air Transport Command until this name was transferred to the Air Ferrying Command in June 1942—and of the four home-based air forces (see below) which in May 1945 were grouped together as the Continental Air Forces (see Chart).

The USAAF employed 422,000 civilians, including WASP pilots and those who manned the Civil Air Patrol, and more than 39,000 members of the Women's Army Corps. It also controlled a wide variety of ancilliary units drawn from the army (for example, medical, police, and signal services) which were officially designated Arms and Services with AAF (ASWAAF), and an estimated 1,500,000 volunteers joined its Ground Observer Corps (seedefence forces and civil defence, above).

To carry out combat missions sixteen separate air forces were formed, numbered in the order in which they were raised. These were usually divided into a number of subordinate commands, some of which were Allied ones. A Fighter, a Bomber, and an Air Service Command was the normal minimum, but air force organizations varied widely and a system of directorates and divisions, abandoned by USAAF HQ in 1943, continued to be employed by some.

The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Air Forces, which supported First, Second, Third, and Fourth Armies, remained within the Zone of Interior for defence purposes and for training. Fifth Air Force, originally created as the Philippine Department Air Force, was part of MacArthur's South-West Pacific Area command; Sixth protected the Panama Canal and adjacent shipping lanes; Seventh protected Hawaii and then participated in the Central Pacific offensive; Eighth was based in the UK and took part in the strategic air offensives against Germany and German-occupied Europe; Ninth was employed during the North African campaign before moving to the UK to provide tactical air support for Allied ground troops in north-west Europe; Tenth, based in India, organized the Hump supply route and supported ground troops in Burma and China; Eleventh was based in Alaska; Twelfth served in North Africa and then in the Italian campaign, becoming the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations tactical air force in November 1943; Thirteenth, based in New Caledonia, provided tactical air support to Allied forces in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea campaign, and the Philippines; Fourteenth, formed as a consequence of the American Volunteer Group, augmented Tenth in operations in South-East Asia; Fifteenth, based in Italy, aided Eighth in the strategic air offensives against European targets; and Twentieth, based first in China and later in the Marianas, mounted the strategic air offensive against Japan and dropped the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces formed Spaatz's US Strategic Air Forces in Europe in January 1944; Fifth, Seventh, and Thirteenth Air Forces made up Lt-General George C. Kenney's Far East Air Forces when this was formed in August 1944; and Twentieth, controlled directly by Arnold from the Pentagon, was redesignated US Strategic Air Forces, Pacific, in July 1945.

The combat units in an Air Force, and their size and content, also varied considerably. Before the war the wing had been the key tactical and administrative organization with which GHQ Air Force had controlled its combat units. It continued in limited use during the war, but it was the group, roughly parallel to an army regiment, which was administratively and operationally the most important unit. Altogether, 243 fully equipped groups were raised, each of which usually contained three or four squadrons. Squadrons were the USAAF's basic permanent combat unit as well as the basic organization for supporting services. They, and the group or wing to which they belonged, were always described by function (see Table 6) as well as being numbered, and they normally did their advanced training together and fought as a unit—though squadrons could, and often did, operate separately. In 1944 a squadron, which comprised flights of three or more aircraft, contained from 7 B29 Superfortresses to 25 fighters and numbered from 200 to 500 men. A composite group or wing, as the term implies, had a mixture of squadrons.

By the end of the war the USAAF had taken delivery of 158,800 aircraft, including 51,221 bombers and 47,050 fighters, of which 22,948 were lost in action. During the 2,363,800 combat sorties which had been mounted 2,057,000 tons of bombs had been dropped—75% of them on Germany—and 459,750,000 rounds of ammunition fired. Casualties of 115,382 included 40,061 dead, 17,021 of whom were officers.

USA 7, Table 7: US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Coast Guards. Officers, men, and women on active duty, 1 July 1940–31 August 1945

	1 July 1940	31 Dec 1941	30 June 1942	31 Dec 1942	30 June 1943	31 Dec 1943	30 June 1944	31 Dec 1944	31 Aug 1945
Annual totals and grand totals also include numbers of officer candidates.
Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 10 Jan. 1946 pp. A 14-15.
Navy
Officers, Men	13,162	38,601	67,786	117,268	170,418	212,820	260,143	291,357	316,675
Officers, Women	0	0	0	770	3,827	6,459	7,611	8,744	8,399
total officers	13,162	38,601	67,786	118,038	174,245	219,279	267,754	300,101	325,074
Nurses	442	823	1,778	2,907	5,431	7,022	8,399	8,893	10,968
Enlisted, Men	144,824	332,274	556,477	1,099,109	1,486,696	1,995,893	2,542,653	2,735,270	2,935,695
Enlisted, Women	0	0	0	3,109	21,083	38,450	57,500	72,864	73,685
TOTAL NAVY	160,997	383,150	640,570	1,259,167	1,741,750	2,381,116	2,981,365	3,201,755	3,408,347
Marine Corps
Officers, Men	1,819	4,067	7,138	13,151	21,140	27,588	31,991	34,598	36,851
Officers, Women	0	0	0	0	244	605	797	824	813
Enlisted, Men	26,545	70,908	135,688	223,243	284,481	356,533	415,559	414,561	427,017
Enlisted, Women	0	0	0	0	3,313	9,720	16,669	17,012	17,350
total marine corps	28,364	75,346	143,528	238,423	310,994	405,169	472,582	472,380	485,833
Coast Guard
Officers, Men	1,360	1,854	3,507	5,462	8,104	10,038	11,275	11,697	11,766
Officers, Women	0	0	0	15	235	514	704	918	855
Enlisted, Men	12,261	25,575	55,142	135,231	142,631	154,251	149,589	147,865	148,629
Enlisted, Women	0	0	0	69	2,956	5,570	7,392	8,911	8,646
total coast guard	13,766	27,730	58,998	141,769	154,976	171,939	169,258	169,871	170,275
grand total	203,127	486,226	843,096	1,639,359	2,207,720	2,958,224	3,623,205	3,844,006	4,064,455

(d) Navy

Civilian control rested with the secretary of the navy. He acted through the navy department and its various bureaus, and was advised by a navy board. In July 1940 the then secretary, Charles Edison, was replaced by Knox, and in August Forrestal assumed the new post of under secretary. When Knox died in May 1944, Forrestal replaced him.

In September 1939 the US Navy was still oriented towards capital ships, of which it had fifteen, though one dated back to 1912 and two others to 1923. It also had 5 carriers, 18 heavy cruisers, 19 light cruisers, 61 submarines, and a miscellany of destroyers, patrol craft, gun boats, and wooden submarine chasers. It controlled its own aviation which operated land-based sea patrols and the specialized aircraft employed on its carriers (see carriers, 2). Between July 1940 and August 1945 more than 75,000 aircraft were delivered and naval air personnel rose from 10,923 (2,965 pilots) in mid-1940 to 437,524 (60,747 pilots) by August 1945, while the navy as a whole expanded at a similar rate (see Table 7). It also manned the guns of armed American merchantmen with personnel of the Naval Armed Guard; and inducted a large number of women (see WAVES).

Between the wars the navy's highest commander was designated Chief of Naval Operations (Opnav), a position held in September 1939 by Admiral Stark. The preponderence of the navy's strength lay in the Pacific Fleet, commanded by Admiral James O. Richardson as C-in-C US Fleet (CINCUS), which was based in the Hawaiian Islands. But there was also a small Asiatic Fleet, based on Manila, and the Atlantic Squadron. On 5 September 1939 the Atlantic Squadron started the Neutrality Patrol with its four old battleships, one carrier, four cruisers, and one destroyer squadron, and on 1 November 1940 it was redesignated Patrol Force United States Fleet before becoming the Atlantic Fleet in February 1941.

The same month the position of C-in-C, US Fleet, was abolished, and a true ‘two-ocean navy’ came into being when an Atlantic and a Pacific Command were created. Vice-Admiral King, who had commanded the Patrol Force since the previous December, was appointed C-in-C Atlantic Fleet, while Rear-Admiral Kimmel took command of the Pacific Fleet; but after the USA entered the war in December 1941 the position of C-in-C US Fleet was resurrected and King was appointed to it. At King's insistence his abbreviated title was known not as CINCUS, because it was pronounced ‘sinkus’, but COMINCH, and he was granted unprecedented powers. They excluded control of the bureaus, traditionally accountable to the navy secretary, but he was made directly responsible to the president and for current plans. Stark continued to have responsibility for long-term plans but in March 1942 he moved to London as C-in-C US naval forces in Europe and the office of Opnav was merged with COMINCH.

USA 7, Table 8: Strength of the US Navy, 1940-5

Date	Number of Vessels of all Types
Source: The United States Naval Chronology, World War II (Washington DC, 1955).
30 June 1940	1,099
30 June 1941	1,899
30 June 1942	5,612
30 June 1943	18,493
30 June 1944	46,032
30 June 1945	67,952
Warships completed or acquired between 1 July 1940 and 31 August 1945
Battleships	10
Aircraft carriers (CV, CVL)	27
Escort carriers (CVE)	111
Cruisers (CB, CA, CL)	47
Destroyers	370
Destroyer escorts	504
Submarines	217
Minecraft	975
Patrol ships and craft	1,915
Auxiliary ships	1,612
Landing ships and craft	66,055
District craft (yard craft)	3,053
total	74,896

In July 1940 Congress authorized a large increase in construction (see Table 8) and the same month Roosevelt declared his intention of giving the UK all possible help ‘short of war’ a policy which, by the following year, committed King's forces to actions hardly distinguishable from those of the belligerents (see Greer, Kearny, and Reuben James).

The US continental coastline, and some adjacent sea areas such as the Hawaiian Islands, were divided into numbered Naval Districts, but these were administrative areas not geared to directing modern anti-submarine warfare. So in July 1941 Stark formed four Sea Frontiers. Designated Eastern, Gulf, Caribbean, and Panama (which covered both ends of the canal), their areas of responsibility extended not only along a length of the coastline but about 350 km. (200 mi.) out to sea. Their task was to protect local convoys within their areas with Coast Guard cutters, blimps, and whatever other units were allotted them. (Air cover for transatlantic convoys was initially the responsibility of the USAAF's No. 1 Bomber Command—Anti-Submarine Command from October 1942—but in September 1943 the command was disbanded. The Navy then took over its aircraft and assumed its responsibilities, though the air crews remained members of the USAAF.) The Eastern Sea Frontier, which operated the few Q-ships the US Navy used during the war, was the parent organization. Working closely with Anti-Submarine Command at his New York HQ , the frontier's commander had complete operational control over all forces allocated to him, and he continued to be responsible for any coastal convoys that originated from his frontier when they left it.

In December 1941, when the Japanese launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Pacific Fleet comprised 9 battleships, 3 carriers, 21 heavy and light cruisers, 67 destroyers, and 27 submarines. The attack caused heavy losses, especially to the battleships, but the carriers were at sea, and many of the ships were later salvaged and put back into commission. The Asiatic Fleet, which in December 1941 comprised 3 cruisers, 13 destroyers, 29 submarines, 2 seaplane tenders, and 6 gunboats, became part of ABDA Command and its commander, Admiral Hart, was appointed its naval commander (ABDAFLOAT). But he lost his principal base when the Japanese overran Luzon (see Philippines campaigns) and nearly all his ships in a number of naval actions when the Japanese moved into the Netherlands East Indies (see Java Sea battle).

In March 1942 Admiral Nimitz, who had succeeded Kimmel as C-in-C Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC), was also appointed to command all US forces in the Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA) which was divided into three geographical zones: North Pacific, Central Pacific, and South Pacific. But the two separate offensives which were launched in the Pacific war—Nimitz's Central Pacific one and MacArthur's towards the Philippines—were co-ordinated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In February 1943 the naval forces in MacArthur's South-West Pacific Area (SWPA) were redesignated Seventh Fleet and in March Halsey's South Pacific command became Third Fleet (established 15 March 1943) and Central Pacific command became Fifth Fleet (established 26 April 1944). In June 1944 these two fleets merged to become the Pacific Fleet's main strike force with their commanders taking it in turns to command it (called Third Fleet when commanded by Halsey; Fifth Fleet when commanded by Spruance). In the Atlantic and Mediterranean South Atlantic command became Fourth Fleet in March 1943; Naval Forces, North-West African Waters, became Eighth Fleet; and Naval Forces, Europe, became Twelfth Fleet.

Tenth Fleet, the shore-based anti-submarine command, was formed by King in May 1943. Though designated a fleet this command had no ships, but brought together a number of organizations, such as those which dealt with convoy routing and with intelligence, which were already in existence when it was formed. By combining them under one roof King achieved greater co-ordination as well as greater security, and from it was monitored the movement of every merchant ship, warship, and aircraft in the US-controlled western Atlantic (US Strategic Zone).

The strength of each of the sea-going fleets varied, but their offensive units were always formed into task groups and task forces. By far the most powerful of these was Third Fleet's Task Force 38 (Task Force 58 when Third Fleet was operating as Fifth Fleet), which was built around the Pacific Fleet's fast carriers and was supplied across the vast stretches of the Pacific by the Fleet Train, one of the war's most outstanding feats of logistics. So powerful did this force become that by 1944 Nimitz was able to muster 14 battleships, 15 fleet carriers, 10 escort carriers, 24 cruisers, and a host of smaller vessels to support the invasion of the Marianas. The navy's submarine forces, by applying a stranglehold on Japan's shipping routes, also played a crucial role in winning the Pacific war, as did the amphibious forces of the US Marine Corps (see below), which did much of the fighting on land.

During the war years the US Navy also administered and controlled the US Coast Guard. This organized the auxiliary Coastal Picket Patrol and performed a variety of tasks on land, in the air, and at sea under the command of the four Sea Frontier commanders. Its primary function was the protection of coastal convoys, but its personnel also regulated merchant shipping in port and at wharves; patrolled beaches; manned look-out stations, and some troop transports and landing craft; and undertook air-sea rescue operations. Its personnel strength grew from 13,766 in 1940 to 170,275 in 1945, including 9,501 women (see SPARS). It was then operating more than 800 vessels over 20 m. (65 ft.) in length, and was also manning 351 naval vessels and 288 USAAF aircraft.

(e) Marine Corps

A separate service within the navy department, the USMC had the traditional marine role of being the navy's soldiers, but unlike any other marine force in the world it controlled its own aviation. The highest serving marine officer, the Corps Commandant ( General Thomas Holcomb, 1936–43; General Alexander Vandegrift, 1944–7), had his own HQ and staff, but aboard ship marines were always subordinated to naval command and, until 1947, the USMC was not represented on the JCS Committee.

In 1933 the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) was established to undertake amphibious landings and by mid-1939 a quarter of the corps' total strength of nearly 20,000 men were part of it. The FMF was organized into two brigades (1st and 2nd) which were each supported by a Marine Aviation Group (AVG). One brigade was based at Quantico, Virginia, the other at San Diego, and there were also marine units scattered all over the world on guard and garrison duties. In February 1941 the two FMF brigades were redesignated 1st and 2nd Marine Division, each made up of three infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, and various support units, and their supporting aviation became 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings. It was these formations under an administrative and co-ordinating corps HQ (First Marine Amphibious Corps, or IMAC) which undertook the marines' first operation of the war when they landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, and IMAC (redesignated Third Amphibious Corps in April 1944) became the amphibious operations planning HQ for the South Pacific area.

The USMC expanded as quickly as the other services (see Table 8) and altogether six marine divisions were activated: 3rd, 4th, and 5th in the USA between August and November 1943 and 6th, on Guadalcanal, in September 1944. The marines also raised Raider battalions (see Special Forces, below), parachute battalions (paramarines), a glider group, barrage balloon squadrons, and seven defence battalions for guarding island bases such as Wake and Guam.

Marine Corps aviation kept up with this growth. In December 1941 there were 641 pilots and 13 squadrons; by September 1945 there 10,049 pilots and 128 squadrons formed into 5 aircraft wings (1st–4th, and 9th, a training wing), plus 106,475 ground officers and enlisted men and women. Squadrons were designated by numbers and by the letters VM to which was added another letter for identification (e.g. VMF for fighter squadrons, VMB for bomber squadrons).

Before the start of Nimitz's Central Pacific offensive V Amphibious Corps (VAC) was formed in September 1943 and this subsequently oversaw the invasions of the Gilbert Islands (see Tarawa) and the Marshall Islands. Both Amphibious Corps came under the Fleet Marine Force which was redesignated Fleet Marine Force, Pacific (FMFPac) in 1944. Initially, both FMFPac and VAC were commanded by Maj-General Holland M. Smith (1882–1967) during the Central Pacific offensive, but he relinquished the latter post to Maj-General Harry Schmidt in October 1944. Marine Corps casualties during the war amounted to 91,718; 24,511 of whom were killed or died.

(f) Special Forces

The Marine Corps raised the first special forces when 1st and 2nd Raider Battalions were formed in February 1942 to spearhead amphibious landings on normally inaccessible beaches, mount surprise raiding expeditions, and conduct guerrilla-style missions. At the start of the Guadalcanal campaign 1st Raider Battalion landed on Tulagi and Savo islands, but the troops were then used in an infantry role, for which their training had not fitted them, on Guadalcanal. The 1st Raider Battalion took part in the battle for Edson's Ridge (so called after the battalion's commander) and 2nd Raider Battalion, known as Carlson's Raiders, pursued and destroyed a Japanese regiment during the course of a 240 km. (150 mi.) patrol through the jungle.

Two more Raider Battalions (3rd and 4th) were raised in the Pacific theatre in September– October 1942 and all four became part of 1st Raider Regiment formed in the New Hebrides in March 1943, but they did not always operate together. In September 1943 2nd Raider Regiment (Provisional) was formed from 2nd and 3rd Battalions which fought on Bougainville, but the increasing need for Marine Corps reinforcements, and the lack of opportunity to employ the raiders in their specialist role, led to their disbandment in January 1944, and all four battalions became 4th Marine Regiment to replace the one which had been lost in the Philippines in 1942.

The army's special forces were called the Rangers. The first battalion, the idea of Brig-General Truscott who modelled it on the British commandos, was raised from US troops stationed in Northern Ireland in mid-1942, and 50 rangers participated in the Dieppe raid that August. The 29th Ranger Battalion (Provisional), formed in the UK in December 1942, participated in raids on Norway while attached to the British commandos, and two more (3rd and 4th) were raised in Morocco during May 1943. The 1st, 3rd, and 4th took part in the Sicilian campaign and then landed at Salerno ( September 1943) and Anzio ( January 1944). They took their objective, the town of Anzio, with relative ease; but though specifically trained for raiding, and therefore lightly equipped, they were then used as conventional infantry. On 29 January two battalions (1st and 3rd) were used to spearhead the attack on Cisterna but were ambushed and almost totally annihilated. When the remaining battalion tried to reach them it suffered heavy casualties and out of the original 1,500 men only 449 remained. Two more Ranger Battalions (2nd and 5th) were activated in the USA and took part in the Normandy landings in June 1944 (see OVERLORD), 2nd landing on OMAHA beach while 5th stormed Pointe du Hoc. The 6th Ranger Battalion was formed in New Guinea in September 1944 and was employed in raids on the Japanese-occupied Philippines.

A joint US–Canadian brigade-sized unit called the First Special Service Force was also raised. It was trained in amphibious, mountain, and arctic warfare techniques with the idea of making a large-scale raid on Norwegian industry in tracked vehicles which were being developed in the UK for arctic warfare. The Norwegian government-in-exile vetoed the raid but the force, which was commanded by a US Army officer, Brigadier R. Frederick, remained in being. It landed on Kiska unopposed during the Aleutian Islands campaigns and then took part in the Italian campaign and landed at Anzio. It was also employed during the French Riviera landings in August 1944 when it took two of the Hyères islands to protect the invasion's left flank. It then operated as part of Devers's Sixth Army Group in southern France, but by then its specialist techniques were no longer required—it also proved to be highly complicated to administer—and it was disbanded in December 1944. See also GALAHAD, Mars Task Force, and Office of Strategic Services.

I. C. B. Dear and Shelby Stanton

6. Intelligence

In the Second World War, the gathering and processing of military intelligence depended less on the traditional methods of espionage agents and clandestine reconnaissance, and more on the sophisticated technologies of electronic eavesdropping and communications intelligence.

The American military intelligence units, designated G-2 in the army and N-2 in the navy, were transformed almost beyond recognition by the incorporation of scientific techniques into the age-old quest to ‘see to the other side of the hill’. The army also had the Counter Intelligence Corps (Corps of Intelligence Police until January 1942), but most important was the Signal Intelligence Service—later called the Special Branch, Military Intelligence Service—established in 1929 under the cryptologist Colonel William F. Friedman (1891–1969). The analogous navy organization was the Communication Security Unit, also known as OP-20-G, formed in 1924 under Commander Laurence F. Safford. Rivalling these units in size and importance was the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), created on 13 June 1942 under William J. Donovan.

Communications intelligence was broken into two broad categories: cryptanalysis and traffic analysis. Cryptanalysts engaged in the traditional practice of code-breaking, or deciphering the other side's encoded messages (and, reciprocally, devising and constantly revising codes for the secure transmission of their own nation's messages). But modern codes had become so complex—for example, the Japanese naval code, JN-25, comprised some 45,000 five-digit groups, each signifying a word or phrase, and each further embedded in additive five-digit groups taken from a continually changing list of 50,000 random numbers—that rudimentary computers and advanced mathematical theory were required to crack them.

American cryptanalysts led by Friedman had broken the Japanese diplomatic code, known as PURPLE, even before the outbreak of war. In the doomed negotiations between Tokyo and Washington (see introduction, above) just before Pearl Harbor, deciphered Japanese diplomatic messages, called MAGIC by the Americans, were often in the hands of Roosevelt and Hull before the messages were formally presented to the Japanese diplomats who were their intended recipients. Probably the greatest triumph of American cryptanalysis in the war was the accurate prediction by the Pearl Harbor branch of 0P-20-G, under Commander Joseph J. Rochefort Jr. of the Japanese attack on Midway, 3– 6 June 1942 (see ULTRA, 2).

Traffic analysis (see signals intelligence warfare), depended not on actually reading encrypted enemy communications, but on identifying patterns in the volume, sources, destinations, and other characteristics of radio transmissions. In the battle of the Atlantic, traffic analysis of data provided by high-frequency direction finders (see huff-duff) enabled the British and American navies to plot the approximate locations of German U-boats, by monitoring the frequent radio communications between submarines at sea and their bases in Germany. This kind of intelligence ultimately proved crucial in breaking the back of the German submarine warfare campaign.

On the Home Front, primary responsibility for intelligence gathering and analysis rested with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under J. Edgar Hoover. The Bureau existed principally to investigate violations of federal law, and to collect evidence to support criminal prosecutions, its enabling statute also authorized it to investigate any matters referred to it by the state department. Accordingly, President Roosevelt on 25 August 1936 directed Secretary of State Hull officially to request the FBI to collect information on ‘subversive activities’.

That request provided the FBI with the authority it needed to create a General Intelligence Section, without formally notifying Congress or the public. The creation of that section vastly amplified the scope of the FBI's activity, and helped to fuel the growth of the FBI from 391 agents in 1933 to some 3,000 in 1942, and 4,886 in 1944.

Even before the USA entered the war, the FBI conducted an investigation into the legality of the camps run by the German-American Bund, and also made an extensive investigation of Nazi espionage activities in America, resulting in the indictment of eighteen persons in 1938. In that same year Hoover began attaching security specialists to each of the Bureau's 45 field offices. On 21 May 1940 Roosevelt authorized wiretapping of ‘persons suspected of subversive activities’. The FBI also established a Custodial Detention Programme in 1940, identifying ‘dangerous’ individuals for arrest in case of emergency. Included on this list by December 1941 were 770 Japanese aliens whose arrest Hoover ordered after the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Hoover remained convinced that the FBI could contain any threat of Japanese subversion with individually targeted arrests of this kind, and he was critical of the later decision to intern the entire West Coast population of some 110,000 Japanese-Americans.)

A presidential directive on 26 June 1939, allocating intelligence duties among the army, navy, and FBI, assigned responsibility for both domestic and Latin American intelligence to the FBI. The Bureau investigated some 19,649 reports of sabotage in the USA during the war (none of which was definitively established to be sabotage), and foiled several German efforts to land saboteurs by submarine. In early 1941 it rounded up and imprisoned 33 Nazi suspects which accounted for all the German agents in the USA. In June 1942 eight saboteurs were landed by submarine, four on Long Island and four near Jacksonville, Florida. The FBI rounded up these as well before they could do any damage. Six were subsequently executed and two imprisoned as were some of those who helped shelter them. Another two agents were landed by submarine in Frenchman's Bay in Maine in November 1944. Their mission was to discover for Goebbels how effective his propaganda broadcasts were, but they, too, were quickly captured by the FBI and sentenced to death, though this was later commuted to life imprisonment. In Latin America, the approximately 360 agents of the FBI's Special Intelligence Service (SIS) co-operated with the Office of the Co-ordinator of Inter-American Affairs in denying strategic raw materials to enemy powers, and monitoring enemy intelligence and propaganda activity.

A major purpose of the FBI's wartime role was to forestall the kind of hysteria and vigilante disruption that had swept the USA during the First World War. Accordingly, the Bureau undertook extensive training and liaison activities with local police forces, established a network of informants in defence plants, and pre-empted a scheme by the American Legion to organize its own counter-espionage force by recruiting some 60,000 legionnaires into its American Legion Contact Program.

David M. Kennedy

7. Merchant marine

One way to understand the Second World War is to appreciate the critical role of merchant shipping in its prosecution. Throughout the entire conflict, the availability or non-availability of merchant shipping determined what the Allies could or could not do militarily. This was most evident in the early stages of the war when sinkings of Allied merchant vessels exceeded production, when slow turnarounds, convoy delays, roundabout routeing, and long voyages taxed transport severely, or when the cross-Channel invasion planned for 1942 had to be postponed for many months for reasons which included insufficient shipping. But in time, the bottoms required to help turn the tide became a reality. These were provided overwhelmingly by the USA, primarily through construction. From 1939 to 1945, the US Maritime Commission built 5,777 ships, mostly large cargo carriers and tankers, for a total of 56.3 million deadweight tons, or almost five times the size of the nation's entire 1939 fleet (see Graph 2); it was the most prodigious construction of ships ever undertaken. Had these ships not been produced, the war would have been in all likelihood prolonged many months, if not years—some argue the Allies would have lost—as there would not have existed the means to carry the personnel, supplies, and equipment needed by the combined Allies to defeat the Axis powers. The US wartime merchant fleet, built by a labour force which, at its peak, numbered more than 600,000 men and women at 70 principal private and government shipyards at a cost of $13 billion, constituted one of the most significant contributions made by any nation to the eventual winning of the Second World War.

Few could have predicted such an extraordinary American maritime growth before the outbreak of war. In 1937 the US merchant fleet was on the verge of obsolescence. In late 1938, however, the newly constituted US Maritime Commission (USMC) under Admiral Emory S. Land inaugurated a long-range construction programme geared to provide 50 ships a year for 10 years. This timely undertaking provided the nation with just enough ships, shipyards, and expertise to enable it and the Allies to weather the storm in the early stages of the war.

One of the more conspicuous manifestations of its gradual move away from neutrality was the shipping assistance the USA provided the Allies. The USMC sold large numbers of its First World War reserve fleet to the British, which, while helping the USA dispose of obsolete ships at reasonable prices, provided the UK with much needed tonnage. The USMC also constructed vessels for the Allies, in particular the UK. To facilitate mass, rapid, and efficient construction of these, a British design for an emergency 11 knot, 10,800 dwt dry cargo ship with reciprocating steam engines, the famous Liberty ship, was adopted, and orders for 260 of these, including 60 for the UK, were placed in early 1941. These and other ship type orders more than doubled with the establishment of Lend-Lease. Following Hitler's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, and reflecting continued enormous losses of Allied shipping to German attacks, the building programme was supplemented yet again. Once the USA entered the war, the main task facing the USMC was to produce merchant vessels faster than the Axis could sink them. In 1941 and 1942 the Allies were not only losing the war on land, they were losing it at sea, and a successful Axis severing of their line of supply seemed possible. Not until 1943 was the disparity between sinkings and construction overcome.

But the neutralization of the submarine menace did not diminish the need for ships, as supply lines to American and Allied forces fighting abroad on ever widening and remote fronts had to be assured. It took seven to eight tons of supplies to sustain a soldier in Europe in 1942, and double that in the Pacific. The shipyards under the USMC met the challenge admirably. In 1943 alone they launched 18 million tons. Although the USMC built some warships, including LSTs, escort carriers (‘baby flattops’), and attack cargo ships (see landing craft), most of its types, or about 77% production, were of commercial design. These included progressively more advanced vessels. The Liberty ship design, for example, was replaced by that of the Victory ship, a minimally larger, but much faster and rangier, and more commercially desirable, turbine-driven cargo carrier.

The allocation and control of the government's ships was just as significant as their construction. Once launched, the ships had to be supervised. The most efficient employment and turnaround of all ships, new or old, government or private, had be accomplished. Some balance had to be achieved between the USA's incoming strategic materials needs, and its outgoing military shipping requirements. Lend-Lease had to be serviced. The UK's minimal domestic requirements alone exceeded 25,000,000 annual tons of imported food and supplies for its civilian population. The USSR had to be supplied via long and extremely hazardous sea lanes (see Arctic convoys). In 1943, US merchant ships in Lend-Lease made 2,267 voyages to the UK, 328 to the USSR, and 281 to other Allied nations.

In order to effect efficient control and operation of the vast flotilla of merchant ships, in February 1942 Roosevelt created the War Shipping Administration (WSA), under the direction of Lewis W. Douglas. Admiral Land, as head of the USMC, continued, with his deputy, the indispensable Admiral Howard L. Vickery, to oversee shipbuilding. Douglas ultimately succeeded in creating a co-ordinated, scientifically managed, and balanced pool of ships for both war and civilian cargoes, including in the latter the critical United Kingdom Import Program. Among Douglas's and the WSA's major obstacles were the US service branches, as the US Army and Navy naturally favoured military over civil programmes, resented civilian handling of military cargoes, and actually sought to use the distribution or denial of US tonnage to the Allies as a means of influencing Allied strategic thinking, particularly during 1942 and early 1943 when British military planning was dominant. Douglas's long-range view was also in conflict with Admiral Land's and the USMC's goal of rebuilding the USA into a great post-war merchant shipping power. As Douglas saw it, the USA, with its general economic superiority, could not justify wresting control of the seas from Allied nations whose prosperity depended upon maritime revenues. For Douglas and the WSA the Atlantic Charter of 1941—the Roosevelt–Churchill agreement of fair play and global interdependence between nations allied in war—and not the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, with its strong nationalistic commitment to the economic welfare of the US shipping industry, provided the preferable guideline. In this interpretation Douglas enjoyed the invaluable support of Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's closest aide. Together, Douglas and Hopkins, with periodic support from the president, formed the staunchest pro-British team in the US war administration.

Even so, the WSA frequently had to devote as much time to soothing British anxiety about the potential post-war commercial uses of America's huge new fleet—a ‘floating avalanche’ was one British name for it—as it did to the US service branches' attempts to commandeer it. British concerns were understandable; in 1943 the US merchant fleet equalled that of the UK's in tonnage, and in 1945 had doubled it (see Graph 3). Ultimately, the British reconciled themselves to the inevitability and necessity of US shipping growth, and throughout the war were increasingly beneficiaries of it, as the WSA laboured to make up the UK's shipping losses and guarantee its post-war maritime recovery. The benefits included the continued allocation of US ships to the UK Import Program, the loan of two million tons of US vessels to London on bareboat charters, and the formalization of an Anglo-American authority, the United Maritime Authority, over all Allied shipping to prevent the chaotic and ruinous competition that followed precipitous decontrol in the First World War. The WSA also assigned many ships to European civil relief and rehabilitation programmes in 1944–5, thereby contributing significantly to the stabilization and recovery of the liberated nations.

Although Douglas left the WSA in 1944, his concepts were carried through by his successor, Captain Granville Conway, by the White House, the treasury, the Office of Lend-Lease Administration, and the state department. For the degree to which the principles of the Atlantic Charter prevailed in respect to shipping, the Potsdam accords of 1945 and the Ship Sales Act 1946 assured both the maintenance of a strong American merchant marine for foreign trade and national defence, and the beneficent policy which helped restore post-war international commerce by rehabilitating the merchant fleets of the Allies.

In the final assessment, the huge US merchant fleet not only provided critical logistical support to the war effort, but helped place the economies of the Allied and liberated nations on a more solid footing, thereby adding a substantial degree of stability to the post-war political situation.

Jeffrey J. Safford

8. Culture

(For the US film industry, see Hollywood.)

The war, filled with human drama vivid action, and exotic locales, suffused US culture during most of the 1940s. Americans, flushed with prosperity and eager for relief and relaxation, created a boom in popular entertainment. Although both popular and serious culture were characterized more by quantity than quality, a hungry public turned to a wider variety of outlets for reassurance, enlightenment, and sheer escape.

The theatre—which still chiefly meant Broadway—offered relatively little of a serious nature about the war. Lillian Hellman's Watch on the Rhine (later made into a movie) delivered a ringing call to anti-fascist arms in 1941 before Pearl Harbor, but its topical material left it time-bound. John Steinbeck's 1942 play The Moon Is Down (based on his novel of the same title) probed the human dilemmas of the German occupation and the Norwegian resistance, but was hotly controversial for its treatment of a German officer as a likeable boy-next-door caught up by irresistible forces. The few plays that entered the repertory during the war had little to do with the global conflict. The most memorable was The Glass Menagerie, which in 1945 heralded the arrival of one of America's major playwrights, Tennessee Williams.

The war, curiously, played better as a musical. Irving Berlin, the leading US song-writer, recast Yip Yip Yaphank, his light-hearted look at First World War military life, as This Is the Army ( 1942) featuring big chorus numbers performed by 300 servicemen. It was an all-male, white-dominated show, casting blacks all too aptly as second-class citizens, and with the women's roles played by men in drag. (This Is the Army was made into a popular movie, starring future politicians George Murphy and Ronald Reagan as father and son.) If This Is The Army looked backward in time, On The Town ( 1944) forecast the future. A happy collaboration of Leonard Bernstein, a major figure in American music for the next half-century, and choreographer Jerome Robbins, it celebrated high-spirited sailors who romped through New York on shore leave. It was brassy, sexual, and urban, but nostalgia for a simpler, halcyon America also continued to be big box office, notably in the enduring Richard Rodgers– Oscar Hammerstein collaboration Oklahoma! ( 1943).

Popular music took on a patriotic, martial air. The industry boomed as huge audiences were glued to their radios for war news and a mobile population with money to spend flocked to big-city clubs and country music venues. Irving Berlin's ‘God Bless America’, written in 1938 and rocketed to instantaneous recognition by Kate Smith, became the unofficial national anthem. Tin Pan Alley tried to equal such memorable hits from the First World War as ‘Over There’ and ‘K-K-K Katy’, but the innocence that had buoyed such tunes was missing in this greater, more terrible war: efforts such as ‘Goodbye Mama, I'm Off to Yokohama’ and ‘You're a Sap, Mr Jap’ fell flat.

The reality of the war was captured more by such songs as Frank Loesser's ‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition’. Domestic dislocations received bittersweet recognition in a woman's lament, ‘They're Either Too Young or Too Old’. Nostalgia for a vanished world fuelled hits like ‘The Last Time I Saw Paris’ by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein.

New musical forms and entertainers came into the spotlight. Country music was less narrowly defined by region and class as military and industrial demands brought people of diverse backgrounds side-by-side. ‘There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere’, which claimed to be the most popular song of the period, suggested the fusion of patriotism and nostalgia as country music went mainstream. GIs in Europe ranked Roy Acuf their favourite performer, and 25 country music groups played at army camps in the European theatre alone.

Big band jazz enjoyed great popularity, even though conscription and travel restrictions made staffing a nightmare. War audiences wanted loud, full music with a lively beat. From the big band scene emerged one of the biggest stars of the post-war era: Frank Sinatra. His ‘nice guy’ image combined with jazz-inspired phrasing and supple microphone work propelled him to stardom in 1943. Simultaneously the ‘bebop’ or ‘bop’ movement, an antidote to the bland commercialism of jazz and popular music, began to grow under the influence of the legendary Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. Though initially ridiculed by many critics, bop's voice from the inner city was destined to have a major effect on post-war jazz and rock. Carried abroad by GIs and their bands, the dazzling variety of American music attained new international influence.

The classical music scene languished during the war as symphony orchestras and opera companies lost musicians to military bands. American composers sometimes turned to war subjects, although few had the lasting appeal of Aaron Copland's A Lincoln Portrait, written as a declaration of faith in 1942 during the dark night of Allied losses. The most lasting compositions came from the pen of Béla Bartók, in particular his Concerto for Orchestra. Like many members of Europe's intelligentsia, Bartók, a Hungarian émigré, took refuge in the USA in the 1930s and enormously enriched American cultural life.

For serious discussions of the war the public found a flood of books, mostly by war correspondents and politicians. Non-fiction overtook novels in popularity, a trend evident with the two best-sellers of 1941. William L. Shirer's Berlin Diary chillingly portrayed Hitler's Germany, and then surrendered its lead to Joseph E. Davies's Mission to Moscow, which offered a reassuring, if over-credulous, view of the Soviet ally. In 1943 Wendell Willkie, the Republican presidential candidate of 1940, distilled his passionate internationalism into the suggestively titled One World, which sold two million copies in two years, a record to that point in American publishing. Sober readers worked through Walter Lippmann's US Foreign Policy and Sumner Welles's The Time for Decision.

The murkiness of geopolitics was leavened by human-interest stories about average GIs. Private Marion Hargrove's cosy sketches of boot camp in See Here, Private Hargrove ( 1942) became a phenomenal best-seller. As GIs moved from camp to battlefield, an obscure newspaperman named Ernie Pyle rocketed to fame with his loving portraits of ordinary soldiers. Late in the war in Up Front, Sergeant Bill Mauldin's writings and drawings conveyed a first-hand authenticity that could only have come from one who was there.

For American fiction the war would be a catalyst. During the conflict religious novels, like movies offering the reassurance of faith, proved popular. A harbinger of war-inspired subject matter and a new generation was the youthful John Hersey's A Bell for Adano, a tale of the Italian campaign, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. Major works of the war-inspired generation led by men such as Norman Mailer, James Jones, Herman Wouk, and Gore Vidal lay over the horizon.

The war spurred economic developments that shook up the genteel book trade and helped democratize American reading. It abetted the paperback revolution, begun in 1939 with Pocket Books' cautious release of ten paperbacks selling for 25 cents each. Wartime paper rationing, which squeezed books into smaller formats, helped make paperbacks respectable, and a mobile public liked the slim, light volumes. The Armed Services Editions became the biggest mass publishing venture in American history. Sixty million books, ranging from Charles Dickens and Joseph Conrad to mysteries and westerns, poured into the hands of soldiers and sailors—free. Charges of censorship flared as zealous officers tried to circumscribe what GIs, whose experiences outran many writers' imaginations, might read.

In the end the war transformed American culture. Freed from previous constraints, 12 million soldiers and sailors experienced worlds vastly different from the conventional pieties in which they had been raised. If the depression had coloured the outlook of an era, the war shaped the attitudes of a new generation prematurely powerful, sceptical, and worldly. When the veterans returned home they began reshaping the American cultural imagination to account for their experience.

Clayton R. Koppes

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Bibliography

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Bibliography

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Bibliography

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