Historic Figures
WITH THE NAME MAY
More information forthcoming!
Mary Cassatt was a highly successful American Impressionist artist, whose usual subject was women, especially mothers and children. Born to an upper-middle class family, her privileged childhood included extensive travel and a sophisticated education. Still, it was a time that discouraged independence and careerism in women, especially in the arts. Mary Cassatt moved to France and, although she was not allowed entry to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts due to her gender, she studied with their masters and also self taught by copying the great works in the museums. Highly influenced by Edgar Degas, she became associated with the Impressionistic Movement, although in later years she moved away from any labels. She spent most of her life in France, being awarded the Legion d’honeur in 1904, and having had much of her work exhibited in the prestigious Paris Salon. Mary Cassatt made the decision early on not to marry and become a mother, knowing that she could not thus carry on her life’s work. Ironically, it is for those very tender depictions of mothers and children that she is best known today.
Florence Nightingale is the famous British reformer who was essentially the founder of the nursing profession, and whose name is synonymous with one who brings great comfort to others. Born in Florence, Italy, (hence the name) to a wealthy British family, Florence was raised in England and essentially educated by her father. In addition to literature, philosophy, history and languages, he added mathematics to the mix – most unusual for a girl of her times and class. Early on, young Florence felt a religious calling to a life of service, specifically nursing, and was able to realize this ambition during the Crimean War of 1853 – 1856. She pioneered many innovative methods of nursing while there, taught and trained many other young women in the 1853-56. She wrote the definitive guidebook, Notes on Nursing, and singlehandedly ushered her profession into the modern age. Considering the restrictive Victorian atmosphere in which she operated, her accomplishments are amazing. No less a luminary than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized her as “the lady with the lamp†in his 1857 poem, “St. Filomenaâ€. Her legacy lives on today in a proud profession.
Edward Kennedy “Duke†Ellington was one of the most beloved and revered figures of American jazz, whose long career encompassed composition, piano playing, radio, movie and television appearances and leading his own jazz band, with innumerable recordings testifying to his genius. Duke Ellington first gained widespread acclaim through appearances at New York City’s famed “Cotton Clubâ€, with its white, wealthy clientele; in the 1930s his band toured Europe, garnering even more attention. The prolific Ellington produced over 1,000 compositions in his lifetime, including the classics: “Satin Dollâ€, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymoreâ€, and “Sophisticated Lady†among others. Throughout his lifetime, Duke performed and recorded with such contemporary greats as Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane and Charlie Mingus. While the 1950s saw a decline in his favor, his reputation eventually was elevated to even greater prominence with his participation in the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival and with the issuance of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Duke Ellington’s Songbookâ€. Among the many awards and tributes Duke received were counted the Presidential Medal Freedom and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His fame is as great as ever today, and he is universally recognized as a musical master. His own 1973 autobiography says it all: Music is My Mistress.
Kit Carson is one of the best known characters in the pantheon of the American Old West. He was born in the Missouri Territory and apprenticed at a young age to a saddle-maker, but this was not the life for Kit. At the age of fourteen he ran off and started his extraordinary life with fur-trapping. As such, he mingled with Native American tribes and married first, an Arapaho woman and after her death, a Cheyenne. Although he could neither read nor write (except to sign his name) Kit was proficient in Spanish, French, and several Native American languages. His teaming up with John C. Fremont was serendipitous – he worked as a guide for Fremont and during their long association, Kit Carson was present on expeditions into the Sierra Nevada and the Oregon Trail, and took part in California’s Bear Flag rebellion. The tales of these exploits made Kit the subject of dime novels during his lifetime; his popularity only grew wider after his death. Kit Carson worked as a federal Indian Agent and while he advocated for the reservation system, it is generally believed that he did so in the spirit of trying to protect the native people from the growing hostility on the part of white settlers. Nonetheless, he was one of those responsible for the relocation of thousands of Navajo to a reservation in New Mexico, an episode that became known as the Long Walk, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Kit Carson retired to the life of a rancher in Colorado. In 1868 he traveled to Washington D. C. in order to plead for assistance on behalf of the Ute tribe. Certainly a man of his times, and manifesting the overriding sense of superiority of the white man, Carson still appears to have been closer than many to our somewhat more enlightened times.
Clyde Barrow was an outlaw, robber and murderer who roamed the Midwest during the Depression, wreaking havoc along with his girlfriend, Bonnie Parker, and other members of their gang, which included his brother and sister-in-law. The gang is believed to have murdered at least nine police officers, as well as several others between 1931 and 1934. Born one of seven to a hard-scrabble family in Texas, Clyde was soon at work as a petty thief, landing in jail from 1930 to 1932. While there he committed his first murder, a fellow inmate, and the die was cast for the rest of his short, sorry life. If it hadn’t been for the addition to the gang of his girlfriend, Bonnie Parker, Clyde’s story probably wouldn’t have gained much recognition. She added what little glamour there was to the sordid picture. Clyde died along with Bonnie in a bloody shootout by a police posse. The 1967 film, Bonnie and Clyde, romanticized their exploits and raised them to the level of cult status. One thing is for certain – Clyde Barrow was no Warren Beatty!
Bonnie Parker was the celebrated girlfriend of Clyde Barrow, and with him and his gang, participated in a rampage of robbery and murder between 1931 and 1934. Born in Texas, Bonnie, her two siblings and her widowed mother lived with her maternal grandparents. They were reasonably well-off and Bonnie was a good student in school. Before her 16th birthday, however, she dropped out of school and married her boyfriend. The union was short-lived (though never officially dissolved) and Bonnie was working as a waitress when she met Clyde Barrow. She was immediately smitten with him and joined him and his gang without looking back. Without looking much forward, either. Bonnie was 24 years old when she and Clyde died together in a shootout by a police posse, and moved on into legend, helped in no small way by the 1967 portrayal of her by Faye Dunaway in the movie, Bonnie and Clyde.
John Wayne was the iconic and hugely successful American movie star born in Iowa with the unfortunate moniker of Marion Morrison. Called “Duke†(happily) from a young age, the man whom the studios dubbed John Wayne came to movies by way of odd jobs and bit parts. It took the genius of director John Ford to insist on his being cast in 1939’s Stagecoach to send John Wayne to superstardom via almost 150 movies, most of them Westerns. Among his most popular movies were Rio Bravo, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and True Grit, for which he won an Academy Award. John Wayne was known in later years as much for his conservative politics as for his movies, as he boosted Republican causes, championed the war in Vietnam and bemoaned the state of contemporary American youth. As much as he stood for a militant aggressiveness, he never joined the armed services, although he tried. Deferred because of his age and family status, he was also the object his studio’s efforts to keep him on the lot cranking out pictures. Nonetheless, he epitomized the fighting patriotic American to the day of his death. Married three times, John Wayne fathered seven children and died of stomach cancer, after having beaten lung cancer some years earlier. He remains one of the best known and most popular figures of American culture to this day, and even has an airport named after him. Not bad for a boy named Sue, er, Marion.
Fanny Brice was a hugely popular American comedian, singer and actress who had successful careers in cabaret, theater, film and radio, and was further immortalized by Barbra Streisand’s portrayal of her in the 1964 Broadway musical and the subsequent 1968 film, Funny Girl, (which won Streisand the Best Actress Oscar). Born Fania Borach in New York City of Hungarian Jewish descent, Fanny dropped out of school in 1908 to work in burlesque and, within only two years, had made it into the famed Ziegfeld Follies. Fanny went on to great acclaim and fame over the years, with her inimitable (assumed) Yiddish accent, and perhaps had her biggest success playing the bratty little “Baby Snooks†for almost twenty years on the radio. Married three times and the mother of two, Fanny Brice made “My Man†her signature song (along with “Second Hand Rose), and it inevitably evokes the memory of her second husband, the con-man, Nicky Arnstein. He may have used her and abused her, but, as she sang: “But whatever my man is, I am his - forever." Well, maybe he really did look like Omar Sharif.
Bonnie Parker was the celebrated girlfriend of Clyde Barrow, and with him and his gang, participated in a rampage of robbery and murder between 1931 and 1934. Born in Texas, Bonnie, her two siblings and her widowed mother lived with her maternal grandparents. They were reasonably well-off and Bonnie was a good student in school. Before her 16th birthday, however, she dropped out of school and married her boyfriend. The union was short-lived (though never officially dissolved) and Bonnie was working as a waitress when she met Clyde Barrow. She was immediately smitten with him and joined him and his gang without looking back. Without looking much forward, either. Bonnie was 24 years old when she and Clyde died together in a shootout by a police posse, and moved on into legend, helped in no small way by the 1967 portrayal of her by Faye Dunaway in the movie, Bonnie and Clyde.
Bonnie Parker was the celebrated girlfriend of Clyde Barrow, and with him and his gang, participated in a rampage of robbery and murder between 1931 and 1934. Born in Texas, Bonnie, her two siblings and her widowed mother lived with her maternal grandparents. They were reasonably well-off and Bonnie was a good student in school. Before her 16th birthday, however, she dropped out of school and married her boyfriend. The union was short-lived (though never officially dissolved) and Bonnie was working as a waitress when she met Clyde Barrow. She was immediately smitten with him and joined him and his gang without looking back. Without looking much forward, either. Bonnie was 24 years old when she and Clyde died together in a shootout by a police posse, and moved on into legend, helped in no small way by the 1967 portrayal of her by Faye Dunaway in the movie, Bonnie and Clyde.
Otto Frank is the father of the famous Anne Frank of the heartbreaking diary, and the only one of the four Franks who survived the Holocaust. German-born, Otto Frank had served in the German army in World War I; he and his wife were raising their two young daughters in Germany. In the mid-thirties, as Nazism’s persecution of Jews was on the rise, Otto decided to take his little family to Amsterdam; there he opened a small business with the ownership in the name of non-Jewish associates. He also attempted on more than one occasion to obtain visas so he and his family could emigrate out of the country, preferably to the United States. We all know how that turned out. After two years in hiding with his family and assorted others to whom they extended their generosity, the Franks and the others in hiding were betrayed, taken prisoner and ultimately sent to Auschwitz. After the war, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam and collected the diary from the ransacked hiding place. He spent the rest of his life overseeing its publication (with some controversial bits of editing), seeing to the production of stage plays and movies, and establishing the Anne Frank Foundation. He married a fellow Holocaust survivor, had more children and lived to the ripe old age of 90, but surely a large part of Otto Frank had already died in 1945.
Tyrone Power was a highly popular American movie star, particularly through the 1940s and 1950s, with an impeccable pedigree in English theater on his father’s side. His dashing good looks made him a natural for the type of swashbuckling role he played in such romantic movies as The Mark of Zorro and Captain from Castile, although he always strived for more serious roles on the stage, both in America and England. Ironically, probably his best known role had him cast against type as the cheating womanizer accused of murder in 1957’s in Witness for the Prosecution. Tyrone Power served with distinction in the Marine Corps during World War II. Married three times, he sired two daughters and a son who was born after his death. Tyrone Power died of a heart attack at the tragically young age of 44.
Willie Mays is one of sports’ most beloved figures and arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. Willie, the “Say Hey Kidâ€, spent almost his entire career with first, the New York Giants and then, the San Francisco Giants. His number, 24, has been retired by the team (although Willie offered it to his godson, Barry Bonds). He holds numerous records and awards, including World Series championships, MVPs, Hall of Fame membership, Player of the Decade and the honor of a statue of him outside San Francisco’s ball park. Willie Mays has hobnobbed with kings and presidents, with children and charwomen, and everyone is the better for their association with him. He is a latter day elder statesman of sort, a dignified and gracious reminder of a finer, nobler time in sports.
Marquis de La Fayette (born Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier) was an aristocratic French general who served in both the American Revolutionary War, under George Washington (for whom he named his first son), and in the French Revolution. Born into a family of impeccable ancestry, the Marquis de La Fayette was a French military officer who distinguished himself in battle with the Continental Army of the American Revolution, and rallied the French government to support the American efforts to free themselves from Britain. Returning to France a hero, de La Fayette now became involved in his own country’s revolution, as a leader of the National Guard in charge of protecting the royal family. In 1824, de Lafayette made yet another voyage to America, touring all of the states and cementing the cordial relations between the United States and France. In 1834 the Marquis died of pneumonia – he is honored and revered in his own country, certainly, but his status in America is monumental, with countless representations of him from sea to sea.
Bing Crosby was one of the most famous singers of the twentieth century, as well as being a beloved movie, radio and television star. Born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma and raised in Spokane, Washington, Crosby acquired his nickname, “Bingâ€, from a popular cartoon character of the day. Singing in a trio called “The Rhythm Boys†in the early twenties, Bing Crosby soon enough broke out on his own with that trademark bass-baritone to become one of the best-selling recording artists of his time. In addition, he contributed valuable financial backing toward innovations in the recording field, achieving landmark technical advances. His movie roles were hugely successful, and he won the 1944 Academy Award for Best Actor as Father O’Malley in Going My Way. Thousands flocked to enjoy his and Bob Hope’s famous Road series of movies. Bing Crosby was equally successful in the formats of radio and television well after many men would have retired. He was an avid sportsman as well, particularly with regard to golf and to thoroughbred horse racing. Bing Crosby’s first marriage to the actress Dixie Lee produced four sons (one of whom wrote a not-very-flattering book about him); his second marriage to the much younger actress, Kathryn Grant, gave him two more sons and a daughter. Bing Crosby died of a massive heart attack on a Spanish golf course, after having played 18 holes of golf. That somehow seems appropriate.
Rudolph Valentino was an extraordinarily popular heart throb of the silent movie era of the 1920s, an Italian born sex symbol who starred in such well known films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , The Sheik and Blood and Sand. Women swooned over him, men envied him and mothers adored him. His startling and unexpected death at the age of 31 of complications after an appendectomy was a shock to his fans; his New York funeral drew an estimated throng of 100,000 people to the streets, many in hysterics. Rudolph was surely the first major star of the film industry. Although he married twice and had several romantic liaisons, he never had children (as far as we know), so we’ll never know how those rather outré smoldering good looks might have translated to 21st century standards.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American writer, lecturer, philosopher and leader of the Transcendentalist movement of self-reliance of the mid- 19th century, whose number included Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman and Margaret Fuller. Praising the relationship between man and nature, Ralph Emerson asserted that this was important to man’s essential soul, and that in pursuing the path of virtuous individualism, he paved the way to infinity. He also outraged the Christian community with his solid belief in the goodness of the Christ figure, but not the absolute divinity. In his view, everything and everyone is connected to God, therefore, all is divine. During the Civil War, Emerson was an active abolitionist, often harboring its proponents in his home in Concord, Massachusetts. Admiration of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s character and the unencumbered nature of his philosophy of the human condition are almost as widespread today as they were in his times. In his own words, he embraces a philosophy that resonates as strongly with us today as it did with his contemporaries: “I dare attempt to lay out my own road/That which myself delights in shall be Good/That which I do not want – indifferent,/That which I hate is Bad.â€
Nikolai II holds the distinction of being the last Tsar and Emperor of Russia, but let it be said, he would have preferred not to have had that distinction. Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov was about 26 years old when he ascended the throne after the unexpected death of his father, Alexander III; and he was ill-prepared for the job (as evidenced by his prophetic statement to one of his cousins: “What is going to happen to me and all of Russia?"). Oh, Nikolai, if you only knew… After becoming Tsar, Nikolai II took a page out of Nikolai I’s Handbook of Autocratic Control. Such autocratic styles of government generally lead to the continued suppression of intellectual liberal ideals, the execution of political opponents and the persecution of religious minorities (especially Russian Jews). Underground revolutionary movements began to take root in reaction to the Russian people’s extreme discontent. Then Nikolai II’s eastern expansionist policies instigated the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) with disastrous results (let’s just say the Japanese kicked a little Russian Black Sea Fleet booty). Back in homeland Russia, the 1905 Revolution and “Bloody Sunday†led to the formation of a legislative assembly (the Duma). Just when things couldn’t get worse domestically for Nikolai II, he decided to single handedly take control of the Russian Army during World War I (a war which took 3.3 million Russian lives). Russia had basically lost all of its prestige and power on the world stage and the Romanov Dynasty was left in tatters. Nikolai was forced to abdicate in March 1917 after yet another one of those revolutions Russian people are so fond of. The Bolsheviks killed the entire Romanov family: Nikolai II, Alexandra his wife, and their five children, daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and son Alexei. A horrible end to a dreadful reign. The family have since become honored as Christian martyrs inside and out of Russia.
John Wayne was the iconic and hugely successful American movie star born in Iowa with the unfortunate moniker of Marion Morrison. Called “Duke†(happily) from a young age, the man whom the studios dubbed John Wayne came to movies by way of odd jobs and bit parts. It took the genius of director John Ford to insist on his being cast in 1939’s Stagecoach to send John Wayne to superstardom via almost 150 movies, most of them Westerns. Among his most popular movies were Rio Bravo, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, and True Grit, for which he won an Academy Award. John Wayne was known in later years as much for his conservative politics as for his movies, as he boosted Republican causes, championed the war in Vietnam and bemoaned the state of contemporary American youth. As much as he stood for a militant aggressiveness, he never joined the armed services, although he tried. Deferred because of his age and family status, he was also the object his studio’s efforts to keep him on the lot cranking out pictures. Nonetheless, he epitomized the fighting patriotic American to the day of his death. Married three times, John Wayne fathered seven children and died of stomach cancer, after having beaten lung cancer some years earlier. He remains one of the best known and most popular figures of American culture to this day, and even has an airport named after him. Not bad for a boy named Sue, er, Marion.
Rudolph Valentino was an extraordinarily popular heart throb of the silent movie era of the 1920s, an Italian born sex symbol who starred in such well known films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , The Sheik and Blood and Sand. Women swooned over him, men envied him and mothers adored him. His startling and unexpected death at the age of 31 of complications after an appendectomy was a shock to his fans; his New York funeral drew an estimated throng of 100,000 people to the streets, many in hysterics. Rudolph was surely the first major star of the film industry. Although he married twice and had several romantic liaisons, he never had children (as far as we know), so we’ll never know how those rather outré smoldering good looks might have translated to 21st century standards.
Rudolph Valentino was an extraordinarily popular heart throb of the silent movie era of the 1920s, an Italian born sex symbol who starred in such well known films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse , The Sheik and Blood and Sand. Women swooned over him, men envied him and mothers adored him. His startling and unexpected death at the age of 31 of complications after an appendectomy was a shock to his fans; his New York funeral drew an estimated throng of 100,000 people to the streets, many in hysterics. Rudolph was surely the first major star of the film industry. Although he married twice and had several romantic liaisons, he never had children (as far as we know), so we’ll never know how those rather outré smoldering good looks might have translated to 21st century standards.
Harry S. Truman was America’s 33rd President serving between 1945 and 1953. Truman assumed the presidency after Roosevelt's death on April 12, 1945. Americans were stunned, still grieving and nervous about this man they hardly felt they knew. Truman was a farmer from Missouri, turned businessman, turned politician. He was plain-spoken, called it like he saw it, and had much common sense to make up for what he lacked in formal education. Known for his "The Buck Stops Here" sign on his desk, Truman had the courage to make politically controversial decisions. One such decision was dropping the Atomic Bomb, forcing the Japanese to surrender - a decision that was believed to have saved the lives of 500,000 to one million American troops and put a final end to the long and difficult World War II. His presidency will be remembered for the A Bomb, but also the Truman Doctrine (an ultimately unsuccessful containment policy on the spread of communism) and the Marshall Plan (U.S. participation in the reconstruction of Europe). Often overlooked, Truman also took the first bold steps toward the end of segregation. His wife "Bess" (Elizabeth) was the love of his life and they, with their only daughter Margaret, formed a close-knit family bond. Truman often referred to his wife as "the Boss" and his daughter as "the Boss's Boss".
Marlene Dietrich was born Maria Magdalene Dietrich on December 27, 1901 in Berlin, Germany. She began using Marlene as her professional stage name in her late teens because her parents disapproved of her acting career. Dietrich quickly became successful in her native Germany and starred in the country’s first “talkie†(movie with sound) which was made by Hollywood director Josef von Sternberg. An English version of “Der Blaue Engel†(The Blue Angel) was also released in America and catapulted Dietrich to superstardom. The sultry, husky-voiced beauty often played the roles of an unapologetic femme fetale nightclub dancer or lounge singer. She redefined notions of femininity in many ways. Some of her most notable films after The Blue Angel include Morocco, Shanghai Express, The Devil Is a Woman, Witness for the Prosecution and Judgment at Nuremberg. Her acting career spanned about 40 years and by the time she was in her 50s, Marlene focused on her also successful singing career giving performances throughout North America and Europe. She settled in Paris in her 80s and famously became a recluse, forbidding the world to see her in her advanced stages of age. She lived to be 90 years old and is buried next to her mother in Berlin.
Rachel Carson is the author of “Silent Springâ€, her 1962 prizewinning expose of the harm being done to the environment by chemicals. Having worked as a scientist and editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she had already published numerous pamphlets, scripts and articles on the conservation of natural resources, as well as three books about the sea. It was her anxiety about the increasing use of synthetic pesticides after World War II that caused her to turn her attention in that direction, and Silent Spring was the result. Vilified by corporate chemists, agriculturists and even government agencies, she held firm to her convictions, and the book was a runaway success. Rachel Carson died in 1964, but her legacy is an astounding one – no less than a 180 degree turnaround in how we, the human creatures “in charge†of this great planet, are beginning to think about and act toward the world we live in. She can truly be lauded as “The Mother of Environmentalismâ€.
Rachel Carson is the author of “Silent Springâ€, her 1962 prizewinning expose of the harm being done to the environment by chemicals. Having worked as a scientist and editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she had already published numerous pamphlets, scripts and articles on the conservation of natural resources, as well as three books about the sea. It was her anxiety about the increasing use of synthetic pesticides after World War II that caused her to turn her attention in that direction, and Silent Spring was the result. Vilified by corporate chemists, agriculturists and even government agencies, she held firm to her convictions, and the book was a runaway success. Rachel Carson died in 1964, but her legacy is an astounding one – no less than a 180 degree turnaround in how we, the human creatures “in charge†of this great planet, are beginning to think about and act toward the world we live in. She can truly be lauded as “The Mother of Environmentalismâ€.
Born Nikolay Romanov, Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to a complete economic and military collapse. As head of state, he approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the first fatal step into World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty less than four years later. He abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned. He, his wife, son and four daughters (one of whom was Anastasia, thought to have survived) were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Today, they are all considered martyrs and have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Born Nikolay Romanov, Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to a complete economic and military collapse. As head of state, he approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the first fatal step into World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty less than four years later. He abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned. He, his wife, son and four daughters (one of whom was Anastasia, thought to have survived) were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Today, they are all considered martyrs and have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the first First Lady of the land, as wife to George Washington, the first president of the United States. Born in 1731 to a Virginia planter, she married John Custis, a wealthy plantation owner, and bore him four children, two of whom lived to young adulthood. Widowed at 25, she married Washington in 1759, when she was 27, bringing considerable riches to the union. They did not have any children of their own, but together raised the two surviving Custis children, as well as two of her son John Custis’ own children after his death in the War. In addition, they financially supported their own extended families on both sides. George Washington became the legal manager of the Custis estate upon their marriage, but evidence shows that Martha was very active in the day-to-day operation of same. During the Revolutionary War, Martha traveled with Washington to the winter encampments for eight years, providing him emotional and moral support. She was opposed to his accepting the presidency and did not attend the inaugural proceedings; however, during his tenure she brought her best to her role as hostess for the nation, well aware that she was setting a template for future first ladies. Martha’s money was responsible for the great expansion that took place at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate on the Potomac, and they lived there in apparent comfort and harmony both before and after the presidential years. He died in 1799 and she followed in 1802. Posthumously, Martha Washington became the first American woman to be depicted on a U.S. postage stamp, thrice, in 1902, 1923 and 1938. Additionally, she is the only woman whose image has appeared on the face of a U.S. currency note, the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886, 1891 and 1896. This seems a fitting tribute to a woman who helped preside over the birth of a new nation.
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the first First Lady of the land, as wife to George Washington, the first president of the United States. Born in 1731 to a Virginia planter, she married John Custis, a wealthy plantation owner, and bore him four children, two of whom lived to young adulthood. Widowed at 25, she married Washington in 1759, when she was 27, bringing considerable riches to the union. They did not have any children of their own, but together raised the two surviving Custis children, as well as two of her son John Custis’ own children after his death in the War. In addition, they financially supported their own extended families on both sides. George Washington became the legal manager of the Custis estate upon their marriage, but evidence shows that Martha was very active in the day-to-day operation of same. During the Revolutionary War, Martha traveled with Washington to the winter encampments for eight years, providing him emotional and moral support. She was opposed to his accepting the presidency and did not attend the inaugural proceedings; however, during his tenure she brought her best to her role as hostess for the nation, well aware that she was setting a template for future first ladies. Martha’s money was responsible for the great expansion that took place at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate on the Potomac, and they lived there in apparent comfort and harmony both before and after the presidential years. He died in 1799 and she followed in 1802. Posthumously, Martha Washington became the first American woman to be depicted on a U.S. postage stamp, thrice, in 1902, 1923 and 1938. Additionally, she is the only woman whose image has appeared on the face of a U.S. currency note, the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886, 1891 and 1896. This seems a fitting tribute to a woman who helped preside over the birth of a new nation.
Joséphine was born the eldest daughter to an impoverished French aristocrat who had a commission in the navy so she grew up on the island of Martinique. At 16, she married a rich young army officer and moved with him to Paris. The couple had two children, but her husband grew ashamed of Joséphine's provincial manners and unsophisticated ways and they eventually separated. She stayed on in Paris and became a student of fashion and sophistication. Eventually her first husband would be guillotined for his participation in the French Revolution and she would be imprisoned for her unfortunate association with him. Her prison stay would be brief and upon release, now no longer unsophisticated; Joséphine was able to catch the eye of Napoleon Bonaparte, then a rising young army officer. They married in a civil ceremony in 1796 (she likely fudged the truth about her age and true financial means). She obviously charmed the socks off the (shall we say) less-sexually-experienced Napoleon who wrote her heaps of passionate love letters (e.g., “Sweet and incomparable Joséphine, what a strange effect do you produce upon my heart!â€) that she largely ignored. This femme fatale was too busy causing a scandal by flirting with another army officer. Napoleon almost divorced her, but eventually forgave her. When Napoleon finally became Emperor of the French (1804) she insisted on a proper marriage with religious rites. The following day she attended Napoleon's coronation by the Pope in Notre-Dame as Empress of France. Serious problems in the marriage began when Joséphine was unable to produce a male heir which was also compounded by her extravagant spending. Napoleon was cleverly able to use a church technicality in order to annul the marriage, but he didn’t quite give her the old heave-ho. Joséphine continued to live out her life lavishly and entertain extravagantly, the cost of which was footed by the Emperor.
Joséphine was born the eldest daughter to an impoverished French aristocrat who had a commission in the navy so she grew up on the island of Martinique. At 16, she married a rich young army officer and moved with him to Paris. The couple had two children, but her husband grew ashamed of Joséphine's provincial manners and unsophisticated ways and they eventually separated. She stayed on in Paris and became a student of fashion and sophistication. Eventually her first husband would be guillotined for his participation in the French Revolution and she would be imprisoned for her unfortunate association with him. Her prison stay would be brief and upon release, now no longer unsophisticated; Joséphine was able to catch the eye of Napoleon Bonaparte, then a rising young army officer. They married in a civil ceremony in 1796 (she likely fudged the truth about her age and true financial means). She obviously charmed the socks off the (shall we say) less-sexually-experienced Napoleon who wrote her heaps of passionate love letters (e.g., “Sweet and incomparable Joséphine, what a strange effect do you produce upon my heart!â€) that she largely ignored. This femme fatale was too busy causing a scandal by flirting with another army officer. Napoleon almost divorced her, but eventually forgave her. When Napoleon finally became Emperor of the French (1804) she insisted on a proper marriage with religious rites. The following day she attended Napoleon's coronation by the Pope in Notre-Dame as Empress of France. Serious problems in the marriage began when Joséphine was unable to produce a male heir which was also compounded by her extravagant spending. Napoleon was cleverly able to use a church technicality in order to annul the marriage, but he didn’t quite give her the old heave-ho. Joséphine continued to live out her life lavishly and entertain extravagantly, the cost of which was footed by the Emperor.
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the first First Lady of the land, as wife to George Washington, the first president of the United States. Born in 1731 to a Virginia planter, she married John Custis, a wealthy plantation owner, and bore him four children, two of whom lived to young adulthood. Widowed at 25, she married Washington in 1759, when she was 27, bringing considerable riches to the union. They did not have any children of their own, but together raised the two surviving Custis children, as well as two of her son John Custis’ own children after his death in the War. In addition, they financially supported their own extended families on both sides. George Washington became the legal manager of the Custis estate upon their marriage, but evidence shows that Martha was very active in the day-to-day operation of same. During the Revolutionary War, Martha traveled with Washington to the winter encampments for eight years, providing him emotional and moral support. She was opposed to his accepting the presidency and did not attend the inaugural proceedings; however, during his tenure she brought her best to her role as hostess for the nation, well aware that she was setting a template for future first ladies. Martha’s money was responsible for the great expansion that took place at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate on the Potomac, and they lived there in apparent comfort and harmony both before and after the presidential years. He died in 1799 and she followed in 1802. Posthumously, Martha Washington became the first American woman to be depicted on a U.S. postage stamp, thrice, in 1902, 1923 and 1938. Additionally, she is the only woman whose image has appeared on the face of a U.S. currency note, the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886, 1891 and 1896. This seems a fitting tribute to a woman who helped preside over the birth of a new nation.
Salvador Dalà was an important 20th century Spanish artist noted mainly for his role in the movement of surrealism as defined by his most prominent work “The Persistence of Memoryâ€. Born in Figueras, Spain in 1904 he enjoyed a happy childhood until the death of his mother from cancer when he was 16. This event would profoundly impact the young artist. After attending art school, Dalà would soon make his way to Paris, the center of the art world, during the time of Cubanism and Dada which heavily influenced him. Considered imaginative and eccentric, Salvador was quickly invited into the most prestigious inner-circles of the Parisian art world. This would include Picasso who admired DalÃ’s work. By the 1930s, Salvador Dalà became one of the icons of Surrealism (although he had many other artistic pursuits including sculpture, photography, writing and filmmaking). His work was avant-garde, lasting and as memorable as his flamboyant mustache.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the greatest American thinkers who believed in the boundlessness of the private man, individualism and the connection between man and nature in the universe. His philosophy was at the center of the American transcendental movement, and his most widely read essay, "Nature†(1833) represented 10 years of intensive study in religion, philosophy and literature. His writings would have a profound influence on some other great American thinkers: Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Some great quotes by Emerson include: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.†And “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.â€
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the greatest American thinkers who believed in the boundlessness of the private man, individualism and the connection between man and nature in the universe. His philosophy was at the center of the American transcendental movement, and his most widely read essay, "Nature†(1833) represented 10 years of intensive study in religion, philosophy and literature. His writings would have a profound influence on some other great American thinkers: Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Some great quotes by Emerson include: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.†And “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.â€
Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was the reclusive American poet who lived from 1830 to 1886, and wrote a treasure trove of poetry in her life, much of which centered on death and its consequence, immortality. The complete and unaltered collection of her poems was not published until 1955, almost a century after her death, and it established her as a major American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to an impeccable strain of Puritan settlers, one of whom founded Amherst College, her early life was one of privilege and conventionality. But she was always strongly affected by the deaths (often untimely) of friends and relatives. As she grew older, she spent most of her time at home, caring for her ailing mother and attending to household duties, while indulging in a passion for horticulture and herbariums. In 1858 she began revising and collecting her poetry, amassing over 800 pieces. By the 1860s, she had become a virtual recluse, suffering from what the physicians of the time termed “nervous prostrationâ€, but which many modern day scholars believe to have been agoraphobia. She began to be truly reclusive, speaking to visitors from behind a door, and conducting her social life largely through correspondence. In 1874, when her father died, Emily did not attend the funeral. Whatever her reasons, Emily Dickinson chose seclusion as her companion and poetry as her legacy. When she died at the age of 55, the poem read at her own funeral was that of another, equally individualistic, Emily – Emily Brontë – “No Coward Soul is Mineâ€.
Rachel Carson is the author of “Silent Springâ€, her 1962 prizewinning expose of the harm being done to the environment by chemicals. Having worked as a scientist and editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she had already published numerous pamphlets, scripts and articles on the conservation of natural resources, as well as three books about the sea. It was her anxiety about the increasing use of synthetic pesticides after World War II that caused her to turn her attention in that direction, and Silent Spring was the result. Vilified by corporate chemists, agriculturists and even government agencies, she held firm to her convictions, and the book was a runaway success. Rachel Carson died in 1964, but her legacy is an astounding one – no less than a 180 degree turnaround in how we, the human creatures “in charge†of this great planet, are beginning to think about and act toward the world we live in. She can truly be lauded as “The Mother of Environmentalismâ€.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the greatest American thinkers who believed in the boundlessness of the private man, individualism and the connection between man and nature in the universe. His philosophy was at the center of the American transcendental movement, and his most widely read essay, "Nature†(1833) represented 10 years of intensive study in religion, philosophy and literature. His writings would have a profound influence on some other great American thinkers: Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman. Some great quotes by Emerson include: “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.†And “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.â€
Charlotte was the wife of George III of England, dubbed “the mad kingâ€. She lived from 1744 to 1818 and while enjoying some measure of respect as the namesake of Charlotte, North Carolina, unfortunately fares less well by her own adopted country. Largely overlooked, she has been the subject of recent speculation that she is of African origin. As a young princess in Germany, she was picked, sight unseen, to be the king’s consort. The couple had a solid marriage until his unfortunate descent, in 1788, into what was thought to be madness. They brought up 13 out of 15 children to adulthood. Charlotte was the grandmother of Queen Victoria. She was an accomplished botanist and helped to expand Kew Gardens. She was a patroness of the arts. She founded several orphanages and she was concerned for the general welfare and education of women. She saw to the comfort of her husband during his illness. However, the abiding notion is that she was “ugly†(Dickens wrote of her as the “queen with a plain faceâ€) and had African forbears. So be it. In our opinion, that would give the current royal family a feather in its cap along with a little cachet – they should hope it is true.
Joséphine was born the eldest daughter to an impoverished French aristocrat who had a commission in the navy so she grew up on the island of Martinique. At 16, she married a rich young army officer and moved with him to Paris. The couple had two children, but her husband grew ashamed of Joséphine's provincial manners and unsophisticated ways and they eventually separated. She stayed on in Paris and became a student of fashion and sophistication. Eventually her first husband would be guillotined for his participation in the French Revolution and she would be imprisoned for her unfortunate association with him. Her prison stay would be brief and upon release, now no longer unsophisticated; Joséphine was able to catch the eye of Napoleon Bonaparte, then a rising young army officer. They married in a civil ceremony in 1796 (she likely fudged the truth about her age and true financial means). She obviously charmed the socks off the (shall we say) less-sexually-experienced Napoleon who wrote her heaps of passionate love letters (e.g., “Sweet and incomparable Joséphine, what a strange effect do you produce upon my heart!â€) that she largely ignored. This femme fatale was too busy causing a scandal by flirting with another army officer. Napoleon almost divorced her, but eventually forgave her. When Napoleon finally became Emperor of the French (1804) she insisted on a proper marriage with religious rites. The following day she attended Napoleon's coronation by the Pope in Notre-Dame as Empress of France. Serious problems in the marriage began when Joséphine was unable to produce a male heir which was also compounded by her extravagant spending. Napoleon was cleverly able to use a church technicality in order to annul the marriage, but he didn’t quite give her the old heave-ho. Joséphine continued to live out her life lavishly and entertain extravagantly, the cost of which was footed by the Emperor.
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was a true Renaissance Man in every sense of the word. He came from humble beginnings as the illegitimate child of an Italian notary and a peasant girl in Vinci, Italy (near Florence). He would eventually be raised by his father who gave him access to a vast supply of scholarly texts, which was a good thing since this boy had an insatiable curiosity. His father apprenticed the 15 year old Leonardo to Verrocchio, a renowned Florentine painter, where his genius became quickly apparent. Leonardo is mainly known as a painter and two of his works in particular are known in every corner of the world: The Mona Lisa and The Last Supper (two of the most reproduced works of arts in history). He is also known for his notebooks (which he never published) displaying his brilliance as an architect, scientist, engineer, inventor, botanist, geologist and so much more. This was a man way, way, WAY ahead of his time. His genius was practically superhuman.
Miles Davis was an iconic genius of jazz music. A trumpeter and composer, Davis’s contributions to the genre pushed jazz music into new territory. Born into a middle-class family and raised in East St. Louis, Miles inherited his musical talent from his mother. He became influenced by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and would eventually drop out of Juliard to play in a jazz quintet with “The Bird†(Parker) in 1946. Keeping up with Parker and his breakneck tempos and chord substitutions proved a humbling and invaluable experience for the young musician. He would go onto join other musicians who were playing a more relaxed, less volatile style of jazz. In the early 1950s, Miles’ contribution and standard of play would wane due to his heroin addiction, but in a few short years, he would clean-up his act and go onto form his first quintet (which included another jazz great, John Coltrane). This group would produce widely popular and great jazz music. In the 1960s, Miles moved onto another quintet that included, among others, Herbie Hancock. At this point in his career, Davis and his group improvised and experimented with new sounds – open forms of free jazz – which dazzled critics and avid jazz fans alike. The 1970s was a time when rock-and-roll was replacing jazz, and so Miles and his group experimented with fusion between the two genres and are considered pioneers of jazz-rock. Miles Davis is a giant among jazz musicians; his brilliance and contributions still influence music today.
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€
Patrick Henry was an American orator, politician and Founding Father who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. He is most known for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. An impassioned promoter of the American Revolution and Independence, Patrick Henry would go onto lead the “anti-federalists†who criticized the United States Constitution fearing that it endangered the rights of the States and therefore individual freedoms. His opposition would be instrumental in the adoption of the Bill of Rights. George Washington offered Henry the Secretary of State post in the first Presidential administration, but he declined due to his distaste for the Federalist political agenda. He would eventually change his tune after witnessing the radicalism of the French Revolution and began to understand the necessity of a secure Federal government.
Bonnie Parker was the celebrated girlfriend of Clyde Barrow, and with him and his gang, participated in a rampage of robbery and murder between 1931 and 1934. Born in Texas, Bonnie, her two siblings and her widowed mother lived with her maternal grandparents. They were reasonably well-off and Bonnie was a good student in school. Before her 16th birthday, however, she dropped out of school and married her boyfriend. The union was short-lived (though never officially dissolved) and Bonnie was working as a waitress when she met Clyde Barrow. She was immediately smitten with him and joined him and his gang without looking back. Without looking much forward, either. Bonnie was 24 years old when she and Clyde died together in a shootout by a police posse, and moved on into legend, helped in no small way by the 1967 portrayal of her by Faye Dunaway in the movie, Bonnie and Clyde.
Born in Germany as Princess of Brunswick, Caroline was betrothed to the eldest son of England’s King George III and heir apparent to the British throne, George, Prince of Wales. At the time of their engagement, they had not met. When the day came, they were both sorely disappointed - he with her lack of decorum and tact, she with his fat appearance. Despite their general revulsion for one another, Caroline bore George a daughter (Princess Charlotte of Wales) nine months after their wedding. Shortly thereafter, the pair separated, and George spitefully restricted Caroline’s access to her daughter. Trapped in a loveless marriage, and about to ascend to the throne, George tried his best to discredit his soon-to-be Queen consort. She was exiled to Italy with an annual allowance of 35,000 pounds, but she returned to assert her position as Queen consort when George became king. Yet King George IV had a trick up his sleeve; he introduced the “Pains and Penalties Bill†into Parliament in an effort to prove her adultery and be granted a legitimate divorce on those grounds. Only George had a problem. The English public loved Caroline more than him and they had no intention of seeing her wronged. Caroline was the first “People’s Princess†long before Princess Diana came onto the scene, and beloved in the same way. Queen consort Caroline became the figurehead of a growing opposition that demanded political reform in England. Unfortunately she would die too soon for history to see how this might have played out. Knowing death was imminent; Caroline got her affairs in order, wrote out her will and planned her own funeral wherein she requested that her tombstone read: “Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England."
Kit Carson is one of the best known characters in the pantheon of the American Old West. He was born in the Missouri Territory and apprenticed at a young age to a saddle-maker, but this was not the life for Kit. At the age of fourteen he ran off and started his extraordinary life with fur-trapping. As such, he mingled with Native American tribes and married first, an Arapaho woman and after her death, a Cheyenne. Although he could neither read nor write (except to sign his name) Kit was proficient in Spanish, French, and several Native American languages. His teaming up with John C. Fremont was serendipitous – he worked as a guide for Fremont and during their long association, Kit Carson was present on expeditions into the Sierra Nevada and the Oregon Trail, and took part in California’s Bear Flag rebellion. The tales of these exploits made Kit the subject of dime novels during his lifetime; his popularity only grew wider after his death. Kit Carson worked as a federal Indian Agent and while he advocated for the reservation system, it is generally believed that he did so in the spirit of trying to protect the native people from the growing hostility on the part of white settlers. Nonetheless, he was one of those responsible for the relocation of thousands of Navajo to a reservation in New Mexico, an episode that became known as the Long Walk, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Kit Carson retired to the life of a rancher in Colorado. In 1868 he traveled to Washington D. C. in order to plead for assistance on behalf of the Ute tribe. Certainly a man of his times, and manifesting the overriding sense of superiority of the white man, Carson still appears to have been closer than many to our somewhat more enlightened times.
Josiah Henson is a notable figure in American history. He was a black man born into slavery in Maryland. After an attempt to purchase his own freedom, Henson was cheated out of his money. Fearing he would be sold again, he successfully escaped to Canada around the age of 40. Henson would go onto set up settlements and schools for other fugitive slaves in Ontario and became an outspoken abolitionist. He was also an author and a minister. It is widely believed that Josiah Henson was the inspiration behind Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, “Uncle Tom's Cabin.†The good and honorable Josiah lived to be 93 years old.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is the 19th century American novelist who gave us such classics as The House of Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter, and The Marble Faun. His own New England, Puritan forbears provided the grist for the mill of his writing themes: we are born of sin, live in guilt, and pay through punishment and repentance. The abiding climate of intolerance and religious fervor contributed to the dark demises of his major characters, but not without his shedding complex psychological light upon their motivations. Hester Prynne, for example, stands out as an early example of a feminist who abides by her own principles. Nominally a Transcendentalist, in the company of the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Amos Bronson Alcott, Hawthorne nonetheless did not trust the abilities of artistic intellectuals. By all measures, Hawthorne seems to have led a relatively happy life, with a good, solid marriage to Sophia Peabody and as the father of three healthy children. He was successful at his chosen work and even served President Franklin Pierce as a United States consul in Liverpool, England. He died in 1864, at what we would call a young age – sixty – but continues to hold his exalted place in literary history through the ages.
Queen Victoria was the daughter of Edward (fourth son of King George III) and Princess Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg (sister of King Leopold of Belgium). Her father, Edward, died when she was eight months old thereby making her eventual heir to the throne since none of her three uncles had legitimate children of their own. She became Queen at the age of 18 when her uncle (William IV) died in 1837. Her reign is the longest lasting of any British monarchy (64 years). As a young Queen, Victoria leaned heavily on the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Shortly into her reign, Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Their marriage was a happy and loving 17 year union which produced nine children. Albert died of typhoid fever at the young age of 42 and Victoria sank into a deep and isolating depression. For the rest of her reign she wore black.
Born Nikolay Romanov, Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to a complete economic and military collapse. As head of state, he approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the first fatal step into World War I and thus into the demise of the Romanov dynasty less than four years later. He abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned. He, his wife, son and four daughters (one of whom was Anastasia, thought to have survived) were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Today, they are all considered martyrs and have been canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
