What was Eisenhower's title after Germany's surrender?

Following the German unconditional surrender, Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone, based at the IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main. He had no responsibility for the other three zones, controlled by Britain, France and the Soviet Union, except for the city of Berlin, which was managed by the Four-Power Authorities through the Allied Kommandatura as the governing body. Upon discovery of the Nazi concentration camps, he ordered camera crews to document evidence of the atrocities in them for use in the Nuremberg Trials. He reclassified German prisoners of war (POWs) in U.S. custody as Disarmed Enemy Forces (DEFs), who were no longer subject to the Geneva Convention. Eisenhower followed the orders laid down by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in directive JCS 1067, but softened them by bringing in 400,000 tons of food for civilians and allowing more fraternization. In response to the devastation in Germany, including food shortages and an influx of refugees, he arranged distribution of American food and medical equipment. His actions reflected the new American attitudes of the German people as Nazi victims not villains, while aggressively purging the ex-Nazis.


In what structure was Eisenhower's headquarters in the US Occupation Zone?


In what city was the headquarters of the US Occupation Zone located?


Aside from the US, what other countries had occupation zones in Germany?


What agreement was not applicable to Disarmed Enemy Forces?


Who was Chief of Staff of the Army before Eisenhower?

In November 1945, Eisenhower returned to Washington to replace Marshall as Chief of Staff of the Army. His main role was rapid demobilization of millions of soldiers, a slow job that was delayed by lack of shipping. Eisenhower was convinced in 1946 that the Soviet Union did not want war and that friendly relations could be maintained; he strongly supported the new United Nations and favored its involvement in the control of atomic bombs. However, in formulating policies regarding the atomic bomb and relations with the Soviets, Truman was guided by the U.S. State Department and ignored Eisenhower and the Pentagon. Indeed, Eisenhower had opposed the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, writing, "First, the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon." Initially, Eisenhower was characterized by hopes for cooperation with the Soviets. He even visited Warsaw in 1945. Invited by Bolesław Bierut and decorated with the highest military decoration, he was shocked by the scale of destruction in the city. However, by mid-1947, as East–West tensions over economic recovery in Germany and the Greek Civil War escalated, Eisenhower gave up and agreed with a containment policy to stop Soviet expansion.


About how many soldiers demobilized after the war ended?


What president ignored Eisenhower's recommendations in regard to atomic weapons?


What was Eisenhower's position on the use of nuclear weapons against Japan?


What city did Eisenhower notably visit in 1945?


When was it suggested to Eisenhower that he might one day become president?

In June 1943 a visiting politician had suggested to Eisenhower that he might become President of the United States after the war. Believing that a general should not participate in politics, one author later wrote that "figuratively speaking, [Eisenhower] kicked his political-minded visitor out of his office". As others asked him about his political future, Eisenhower told one that he could not imagine wanting to be considered for any political job "from dogcatcher to Grand High Supreme King of the Universe", and another that he could not serve as Army Chief of Staff if others believed he had political ambitions. In 1945 Truman told Eisenhower during the Potsdam Conference that if desired, the president would help the general win the 1948 election, and in 1947 he offered to run as Eisenhower's running mate on the Democratic ticket if MacArthur won the Republican nomination.


Along with dogcatcher, what political job did Eisenhower specifically not want to be considered for?


What role did Eisenhower believe he could not fulfill if he was believed to want to become involved in politics?


What general was considered a potential Republican presidential candidate in 1948?


At what meeting did Truman tell Eisenhower that he would assist him in running for president?


What state's delegates were considering supporting Eisenhower in 1948?

As the election approached, other prominent citizens and politicians from both parties urged Eisenhower to run for president. In January 1948, after learning of plans in New Hampshire to elect delegates supporting him for the forthcoming Republican National Convention, Eisenhower stated through the Army that he was "not available for and could not accept nomination to high political office"; "life-long professional soldiers", he wrote, "in the absence of some obvious and overriding reason, [should] abstain from seeking high political office". Eisenhower maintained no political party affiliation during this time. Many believed he was forgoing his only opportunity to be president; Republican Thomas E. Dewey was considered the other probable winner, would presumably serve two terms, and Eisenhower, at age 66 in 1956, would then be too old.


Why was it unlikely that Eisenhower would run for president in 1956?


Who was it assumed would win the election of 1948?


What position did Eisenhower occupy in 1948?

In 1948, Eisenhower became President of Columbia University, an Ivy League university in New York City. The assignment was described as not being a good fit in either direction. During that year Eisenhower's memoir, Crusade in Europe, was published. Critics regarded it as one of the finest U.S. military memoirs, and it was a major financial success as well. Eisenhower's profit on the book was substantially aided by an unprecedented ruling by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that Eisenhower was not a professional writer, but rather, marketing the lifetime asset of his experiences, and thus he only had to pay capital gains tax on his $635,000 advance instead of the much higher personal tax rate. This ruling saved Eisenhower about $400,000.


What was the title of Eisenhower's memoir?


What group of schools did Columbia University belong to?


What body ruled the Eisenhower was not a professional writer?


While Eisenhower was president of Columbia, what group did he also work with?

Eisenhower's stint as the president of Columbia University was punctuated by his activity within the Council on Foreign Relations, a study group he led as president concerning the political and military implications of the Marshall Plan, and The American Assembly, Eisenhower's "vision of a great cultural center where business, professional and governmental leaders could meet from time to time to discuss and reach conclusions concerning problems of a social and political nature". His biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook suggested that this period served as "the political education of General Eisenhower", since he had to prioritize wide-ranging educational, administrative, and financial demands for the university. Through his involvement in the Council on Foreign Relations, he also gained exposure to economic analysis, which would become the bedrock of his understanding in economic policy. "Whatever General Eisenhower knows about economics, he has learned at the study group meetings," one Aid to Europe member claimed.


What was Blanche Wiesen Cook in relation to Eisenhower?


Along with business and government, what leaders did Eisenhower see meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations?


What sort of analysis did Eisenhower first experience with the Council on Foreign Relations?


What position was held by James Forrestal?

Within months of beginning his tenure as the president of the university, Eisenhower was requested to advise U.S. Secretary of Defense James Forrestal on the unification of the armed services. About six months after his appointment, he became the informal Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington. Two months later he fell ill, and he spent over a month in recovery at the Augusta National Golf Club. He returned to his post in New York in mid-May, and in July 1949 took a two-month vacation out-of-state. Because the American Assembly had begun to take shape, he traveled around the country during mid-to-late 1950, building financial support from Columbia Associates, an alumni association.


What position did Eisenhower informally hold?


After becoming sick, where did Eisenhower recover?


What was the name of Columbia University's alumni association?


When did Eisenhower vacation for two months outside New York?


Aside from his university work, where did Eisenhower gain useful contacts?

The contacts gained through university and American Assembly fund-raising activities would later become important supporters in Eisenhower's bid for the Republican party nomination and the presidency. Meanwhile, Columbia University's liberal faculty members became disenchanted with the university president's ties to oilmen and businessmen, including Leonard McCollum, the president of Continental Oil; Frank Abrams, the chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Bob Kleberg, the president of the King Ranch; H. J. Porter, a Texas oil executive; Bob Woodruff, the president of the Coca-Cola Corporation; and Clarence Francis, the chairman of General Foods.


What Continental Oil leader was Eisenhower tied to?


What was the political orientation of Columbia's teachers?


What state was Frank Abrams' oil company located in?


When was Eisenhower's resignation of Columbia turned down?

The trustees of Columbia University refused to accept Eisenhower's resignation in December 1950, when he took an extended leave from the university to become the Supreme Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and he was given operational command of NATO forces in Europe. Eisenhower retired from active service as an Army general on May 31, 1952, and he resumed his presidency of Columbia. He held this position until January 20, 1953, when he became the President of the United States.


What role did Eisenhower fill after leaving Columbia?


On what date did Eisenhower leave active duty in the military?


What job did Eisenhower hold after his second tenure as president of Columbia?


When did Eisenhower become President of the United States?


Who was President of the United States prior to Eisenhower?

President Truman, symbolizing a broad-based desire for an Eisenhower candidacy for president, again in 1951 pressed him to run for the office as a Democrat. It was at this time that Eisenhower voiced his disagreements with the Democratic party and declared himself and his family to be Republicans. A "Draft Eisenhower" movement in the Republican Party persuaded him to declare his candidacy in the 1952 presidential election to counter the candidacy of non-interventionist Senator Robert A. Taft. The effort was a long struggle; Eisenhower had to be convinced that political circumstances had created a genuine duty for him to offer himself as a candidate, and that there was a mandate from the populace for him to be their President. Henry Cabot Lodge, who served as his campaign manager, and others succeeded in convincing him, and in June 1952 he resigned his command at NATO to campaign full-time. Eisenhower defeated Taft for the nomination, having won critical delegate votes from Texas. Eisenhower's campaign was noted for the simple but effective slogan, "I Like Ike". It was essential to his success that Eisenhower express opposition to Roosevelt's policy at Yalta and against Truman's policies in Korea and China—matters in which he had once participated. In defeating Taft for the nomination, it became necessary for Eisenhower to appease the right wing Old Guard of the Republican Party; his selection of Richard M. Nixon as the Vice-President on the ticket was designed in part for that purpose. Nixon also provided a strong anti-communist presence as well as some youth to counter Ike's more advanced age.


Truman wanted Eisenhower to run for the presidency as a member of what party?


Who did the Republicans want to block with an Eisenhower candidacy in 1952?


Who was Eisenhower's campaign manager in 1952?


In what part of the country, previously neglected by Republican presidential candidates, did Eisenhower campaign?

In the general election, against the advice of his advisors, Eisenhower insisted on campaigning in the South, refusing to surrender the region to the Democratic Party. The campaign strategy, dubbed "K1C2", was to focus on attacking the Truman and Roosevelt administrations on three issues: Korea, Communism and corruption. In an effort to accommodate the right, he stressed that the liberation of Eastern Europe should be by peaceful means only; he also distanced himself from his former boss President Truman.


Along with Korea and Communism, what issue did Eisenhower attack Truman on?


What was the strategy called that was used by Eisenhower's campaign?


How did Eisenhower claim Eastern Europe should be liberated?


What was the home state of Joseph McCarthy?

Two controversies during the campaign tested him and his staff, but did not affect the campaign. One involved a report that Nixon had improperly received funds from a secret trust. Nixon spoke out adroitly to avoid potential damage, but the matter permanently alienated the two candidates. The second issue centered on Eisenhower's relented decision to confront the controversial methods of Joseph McCarthy on his home turf in a Wisconsin appearance. Just two weeks prior to the election, Eisenhower vowed to go to Korea and end the war there. He promised to maintain a strong commitment against Communism while avoiding the topic of NATO; finally, he stressed a corruption-free, frugal administration at home.


Where did Eisenhower claim he would end the war?


During the campaign, from where was it claimed Nixon had received money improperly?


What topic did Eisenhower not discuss during the campaign?


Eisenhower was the last president born in the 19th century, and at age 62, was the oldest man elected President since James Buchanan in 1856 (President Truman stood at 64 in 1948 as the incumbent president at the time of his election four years earlier). Eisenhower was the only general to serve as President in the 20th century and the most recent President to have never held elected office prior to the Presidency (The other Presidents who did not have prior elected office were Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, William Howard Taft and Herbert Hoover).


Who was the oldest man to become President prior to Eisenhower?


What did Eisenhower have in common with presidents Taylor, Grant, Taft and Hoover?


How many times had Eisenhower been elected to office prior to becoming president?


Due to a complete estrangement between the two as a result of campaigning, Truman and Eisenhower had minimal discussions about the transition of administrations. After selecting his budget director, Joseph M. Dodge, Eisenhower asked Herbert Brownell and Lucius Clay to make recommendations for his cabinet appointments. He accepted their recommendations without exception; they included John Foster Dulles and George M. Humphrey with whom he developed his closest relationships, and one woman, Oveta Culp Hobby. Eisenhower's cabinet, consisting of several corporate executives and one labor leader, was dubbed by one journalist, "Eight millionaires and a plumber." The cabinet was notable for its lack of personal friends, office seekers, or experienced government administrators. He also upgraded the role of the National Security Council in planning all phases of the Cold War.


Along with Lucius Clay, who advised Eisenhower on cabinet appointments?


What woman was a member of Eisenhower's cabinet?


Along with George Humphrey, what cabinet official did Eisenhower have a close relationship with?


What quip was used to describe Eisenhower's cabinet?


What war did Eisenhower want to end as president?

Prior to his inauguration, Eisenhower led a meeting of advisors at Pearl Harbor addressing foremost issues; agreed objectives were to balance the budget during his term, to bring the Korean War to an end, to defend vital interests at lower cost through nuclear deterrent, and to end price and wage controls. Eisenhower also conducted the first pre-inaugural cabinet meeting in history in late 1952; he used this meeting to articulate his anti-communist Russia policy. His inaugural address, as well, was exclusively devoted to foreign policy and included this same philosophy, as well as a commitment to foreign trade and the United Nations.


What type of cabinet meeting did Eisenhower hold for the first time ever?


Policy in regard to what country was discussed at Eisenhower's first cabinet meeting?


What type of policy was the focus of Eisenhower's inaugural address?


How did Eisenhower describe his political views?

Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower adhered to a political philosophy of dynamic conservatism. A self-described "progressive conservative," he continued all the major New Deal programs still in operation, especially Social Security. He expanded its programs and rolled them into a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, while extending benefits to an additional ten million workers. He implemented integration in the Armed Services in two years, which had not been completed under Truman.


How many people were added to the Social Security rolls by Eisenhower?


What New deal program did Eisenhower particularly support?


What cabinet agency did Eisenhower make Social Security a part of?


What policy in regard to the military did Eisenhower see to completion?


What wing of the GOP was Eisenhower opposed to?

As the 1954 congressional elections approached, and it became evident that the Republicans were in danger of losing their thin majority in both houses, Eisenhower was among those blaming the Old Guard for the losses, and took up the charge to stop suspected efforts by the right wing to take control of the GOP. Eisenhower then articulated his position as a moderate, progressive Republican: "I have just one purpose ... and that is to build up a strong progressive Republican Party in this country. If the right wing wants a fight, they are going to get it ... before I end up, either this Republican Party will reflect progressivism or I won't be with them anymore."


In what year were the first federal elections after Eisenhower became president?


What type of Republican did Eisenhower characterize himself as?


Prior to the 1954 elections, who had majorities in Congress?


Upon election, how many terms did Eisenhower believe he would serve?

Initially Eisenhower planned on serving only one term, but as with other decisions, he maintained a position of maximum flexibility in case leading Republicans wanted him to run again. During his recovery from a heart attack late in 1955, he huddled with his closest advisors to evaluate the GOP's potential candidates; the group, in addition to his doctor, concluded a second term was well advised, and he announced in February 1956 he would run again. Eisenhower was publicly noncommittal about Nixon's repeating as the Vice President on his ticket; the question was an especially important one in light of his heart condition. He personally favored Robert B. Anderson, a Democrat, who rejected his offer; Eisenhower then resolved to leave the matter in the hands of the party. In 1956, Eisenhower faced Adlai Stevenson again and won by an even larger landslide, with 457 of 531 electoral votes and 57.6% of the popular vote. The level of campaigning was curtailed out of health considerations.


In what year did Eisenhower have a heart attack?


When did Eisenhower make an announcement stating that he would run for a second term?


Who did Eisenhower want as his 1956 running mate?


Who did Eisenhower defeat in the 1956 presidential election?


What event led Eisenhower to want to improve highways in the US?

Eisenhower's goal to create improved highways was influenced by difficulties encountered during his involvement in the U.S. Army's 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy. He was assigned as an observer for the mission, which involved sending a convoy of U.S. Army vehicles coast to coast. His subsequent experience with encountering German autobahn limited-access road systems during the concluding stages of World War II convinced him of the benefits of an Interstate Highway System. Noticing the improved ability to move logistics throughout the country, he thought an Interstate Highway System in the U.S. would not only be beneficial for military operations, but provide a measure of continued economic growth. The legislation initially stalled in the Congress over the issuance of bonds to finance the project, but the legislative effort was renewed and the law was signed by Eisenhower in June 1956.


What German transportation project influenced Eisenhower on highways?


When did Eisenhower sign the law to create the Interstate Highway System?


Along with military benefits, what did Eisenhower see as the benefit of the highway project?


Why did Congress hold up the highway bill?


What agreements did the GOP Old Guard want Eisenhower to abandon?

In 1953, the Republican Party's Old Guard presented Eisenhower with a dilemma by insisting he disavow the Yalta Agreements as beyond the constitutional authority of the Executive Branch; however, the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 made the matter a practical moot point. At this time Eisenhower gave his Chance for Peace speech in which he attempted, unsuccessfully, to forestall the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union by suggesting multiple opportunities presented by peaceful uses of nuclear materials. Biographer Stephen Ambrose opined that this was the best speech of Eisenhower's presidency.


Why did the Old Guard say Eisenhower should void the Yalta Agreements?


What world leader died in March of 1953?


What speech did Eisenhower give after Stalin died?


Who called the Chance for Peace speech the best one Eisenhower gave as president?


What did Eisenhower reduce as he increased nuclear weapons stockpiles?

The U.N. speech was well received but the Soviets never acted upon it, due to an overarching concern for the greater stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. Indeed, Eisenhower embarked upon a greater reliance on the use of nuclear weapons, while reducing conventional forces, and with them the overall defense budget, a policy formulated as a result of Project Solarium and expressed in NSC 162/2. This approach became known as the "New Look", and was initiated with defense cuts in late 1953.


What was the policy of increasing nuclear weapons while decreasing conventional forces called?


When did Eisenhower begin to cut the defense budget?


Along with NSC 162/2, what influenced the development of the New Look policy?


Why did nuclear arms negotiations with Russia fail prior to 1955?

In 1955 American nuclear arms policy became one aimed primarily at arms control as opposed to disarmament. The failure of negotiations over arms until 1955 was due mainly to the refusal of the Russians to permit any sort of inspections. In talks located in London that year, they expressed a willingness to discuss inspections; the tables were then turned on Eisenhower, when he responded with an unwillingness on the part of the U.S. to permit inspections. In May of that year the Russians agreed to sign a treaty giving independence to Austria, and paved the way for a Geneva summit with the U.S., U.K. and France. At the Geneva Conference Eisenhower presented a proposal called "Open Skies" to facilitate disarmament, which included plans for Russia and the U.S. to provide mutual access to each other's skies for open surveillance of military infrastructure. Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev dismissed the proposal out of hand.


In what city did the US and Russia conduct nuclear talks in 1955?


Who refused to permit nuclear weapons inspections in the wake of the 1955 talks?


In May of 1955, a treaty was signed giving independence to what country?


What was the plan Eisenhower presented at the Geneva Conference called?


What country did Eisenhower believe communists would conquer if they took over Guatemala?

In 1954, Eisenhower articulated the domino theory in his outlook towards communism in Southeast Asia and also in Central America. He believed that if the communists were allowed to prevail in Vietnam, this would cause a succession of countries to fall to communism, from Laos through Malaysia and Indonesia ultimately to India. Likewise, the fall of Guatemala would end with the fall of neighboring Mexico. That year the loss of North Vietnam to the communists and the rejection of his proposed European Defence Community (EDC) were serious defeats, but he remained optimistic in his opposition to the spread of communism, saying "Long faces don't win wars". As he had threatened the French in their rejection of EDC, he afterwards moved to restore West Germany, as a full NATO partner.


The domino theory was applied to Central America and what other region?


In what year was Eisenhower's EDC rejected?


What country was made a full partner in NATO as the result of the failure of EDC?


According to Eisenhower, all of Southeast Asia would become communist if the communist insurgency won in what country?


With Eisenhower's leadership and Dulles' direction, CIA activities increased under the pretense of resisting the spread of communism in poorer countries; the CIA in part deposed the leaders of Iran in Operation Ajax, of Guatemala through Operation Pbsuccess, and possibly the newly independent Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). In 1954 Eisenhower wanted to increase surveillance inside the Soviet Union. With Dulles' recommendation, he authorized the deployment of thirty Lockheed U-2's at a cost of $35 million. The Eisenhower administration also planned the Bay of Pigs Invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba, which John F. Kennedy was left to carry out."


What was the code name of the overthrow of the Iranian government?


What CIA operation toppled the Guatemalan government?


Under what president did the Bay of Pigs Invasion take place?


What make and model aircraft was Air Force Flight 8610?

Over New York City in 1953, Eastern Airlines Flight 8610, a commercial flight, had a near miss with Air Force Flight 8610, a Lockheed C-121 Constellation known as Columbine II, while the latter was carrying President Eisenhower. This prompted the adoption of the unique call sign Air Force One, to be used whenever the president is on board any US Air Force aircraft. Columbine II is the only presidential aircraft to have ever been sold to the public and is the only remaining presidential aircraft left unrestored and not on public display.


What aircraft had an incident with Air Force Flight 8610?


What call sign does an Air Force aircraft have when a president is traveling on it?


What was the name of the Lockheed C-121 Constellation that carried Eisenhower?


In what year was Eisenhower involved in an incident while flying?


What caused Eisenhower to kickstart the US space program?

On the whole, Eisenhower's support of the nation's fledgling space program was officially modest until the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, gaining the Cold War enemy enormous prestige around the world. He then launched a national campaign that funded not just space exploration but a major strengthening of science and higher education. His Open Skies Policy attempted to legitimize illegal Lockheed U-2 flyovers and Project Genetrix while paving the way for spy satellite technology to orbit over sovereign territory, created NASA as a civilian space agency, signed a landmark science education law, and fostered improved relations with American scientists.


What was the legal status of the U-2 flyovers?


Along with the U-2 flyovers, what did Eisenhower try to legitimize with the Open Skies Policy?


What was the name of the civilian space agency created by Eisenhower?


With whom did Eisenhower try to improve relations?


Where did the Chinese begin to increase forces after Eisenhower entered the White House?

In late 1952 Eisenhower went to Korea and discovered a military and political stalemate. Once in office, when the Chinese began a buildup in the Kaesong sanctuary, he threatened to use nuclear force if an armistice was not concluded. His earlier military reputation in Europe was effective with the Chinese. The National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Strategic Air Command (SAC) devised detailed plans for nuclear war against China. With the death of Stalin in early March 1953, Russian support for a Chinese hard-line weakened and China decided to compromise on the prisoner issue.


What did Eisenhower threaten to do if there was no armistice in Korea?


Along with the Joint Chiefs and SAC, what body was involved with formulating plans for nuclear war with China?


What event led to decreased Russian support for China?


The boundary line of what year formed the 1953 armistice line?

In July 1953, an armistice took effect with Korea divided along approximately the same boundary as in 1950. The armistice and boundary remain in effect today, with American soldiers stationed there to guarantee it. The armistice, concluded despite opposition from Secretary Dulles, South Korean President Syngman Rhee, and also within Eisenhower's party, has been described by biographer Ambrose as the greatest achievement of the administration. Eisenhower had the insight to realize that unlimited war in the nuclear age was unthinkable, and limited war unwinnable.


In what month in 1953 did the armistice come into being?


Who was the President of South Korea at the time of the armistice?


What American official notably opposed the armistice?


Who described the armistice as Eisenhower's greatest presidential accomplishment?


Along with the British and Israelis, what forces invaded Egypt in 1956?

In November 1956, Eisenhower forced an end to the combined British, French and Israeli invasion of Egypt in response to the Suez Crisis, receiving praise from Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Simultaneously he condemned the brutal Soviet invasion of Hungary in response to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He publicly disavowed his allies at the United Nations, and used financial and diplomatic pressure to make them withdraw from Egypt. Eisenhower explicitly defended his strong position against Britain and France in his memoirs, which were published in 1965.


What was the combined Israeli-British-French invasion in response to?


Who was the leader of Egypt at the time of the Suez Crisis?


What year saw the publication of Eisenhower's memoirs?


What war was being fought by France in 1953?

Early in 1953, the French asked Eisenhower for help in French Indochina against the Communists, supplied from China, who were fighting the First Indochina War. Eisenhower sent Lt. General John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel to Vietnam to study and assess the French forces there. Chief of Staff Matthew Ridgway dissuaded the President from intervening by presenting a comprehensive estimate of the massive military deployment that would be necessary. Eisenhower stated prophetically that "this war would absorb our troops by divisions."


Who convinced Eisenhower not to intervene in Vietnam?


Who was providing supplies to the Vietnamese communists fighting against France?


How large of a military deployment did Ridgway say would be necessary in Vietnam?


Aside from bombers, what aid did Eisenhower provide to the French?

Eisenhower did provide France with bombers and non-combat personnel. After a few months with no success by the French, he added other aircraft to drop napalm for clearing purposes. Further requests for assistance from the French were agreed to but only on conditions Eisenhower knew were impossible to meet – allied participation and congressional approval. When the French fortress of Dien Bien Phu fell to the Vietnamese Communists in May 1954, Eisenhower refused to intervene despite urgings from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Vice President and the head of NCS.


What did American bombers drop on Vietnam?


When did Dien Bien Phu fall to the communists?


Along with the Vice President and NCS head, who urged Eisenhower to intervene after the fall of Dien Bien Phu?


What arguably impossible conditions did Eisenhower set for further intervention on behalf of the French?


Eisenhower responded to the French defeat with the formation of the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) Alliance with the U.K., France, New Zealand and Australia in defense of Vietnam against communism. At that time the French and Chinese reconvened Geneva peace talks; Eisenhower agreed the U.S. would participate only as an observer. After France and the Communists agreed to a partition of Vietnam, Eisenhower rejected the agreement, offering military and economic aid to southern Vietnam. Ambrose argues that Eisenhower, by not participating in the Geneva agreement, had kept the U.S out of Vietnam; nevertheless, with the formation of SEATO, he had in the end put the U.S. back into the conflict.


Along with the United States, the United Kingdom and France, who formed SEATO?


What group did France split Vietnam with?


Who met in peace talks with France at Geneva?


In late 1954, Gen. J. Lawton Collins was made ambassador to "Free Vietnam" (the term South Vietnam came into use in 1955), effectively elevating the country to sovereign status. Collins' instructions were to support the leader Ngo Dinh Diem in subverting communism, by helping him to build an army and wage a military campaign. In February 1955, Eisenhower dispatched the first American soldiers to Vietnam as military advisors to Diem's army. After Diem announced the formation of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, commonly known as South Vietnam) in October, Eisenhower immediately recognized the new state and offered military, economic, and technical assistance.


Who was the first ambassador to South Vietnam?


When did Eisenhower first send military advisers to South Vietnam?


Who was the leader of South Vietnam in 1954?


Along with Free Vietnam, what was another term for South Vietnam?


How many days did the President of South Vietnam visit the US for in 1957?

In the years that followed, Eisenhower increased the number of U.S. military advisors in South Vietnam to 900 men. This was due to North Vietnam's support of "uprisings" in the south and concern the nation would fall. In May 1957 Diem, then President of South Vietnam, made a state visit to the United States for ten days. President Eisenhower pledged his continued support, and a parade was held in Diem's honor in New York City. Although Diem was publicly praised, in private Secretary of State John Foster Dulles conceded that Diem had been selected because there were no better alternatives.


Where was a parade held for the President of South Vietnam?


How many soldiers did Eisenhower ultimately send to Vietnam?


According to Dulles, why was Diem made president of Vietnam?


When was a U-2 downed over the Soviet Union?

On May 1, 1960, a U.S. one-man U-2 spy plane was reportedly shot down at high altitude over Soviet Union airspace. The flight was made to gain photo intelligence before the scheduled opening of an East–West summit conference, which had been scheduled in Paris, 15 days later. Captain Francis Gary Powers had bailed out of his aircraft and was captured after parachuting down onto Russian soil. Four days after Powers disappeared, the Eisenhower Administration had NASA issue a very detailed press release noting that an aircraft had "gone missing" north of Turkey. It speculated that the pilot might have fallen unconscious while the autopilot was still engaged, and falsely claimed that "the pilot reported over the emergency frequency that he was experiencing oxygen difficulties."


What was the downed U-2 gathering intelligence in advance of?


What was the rank of the pilot of the downed U-2?


Where was the East-West summit to have taken place?


What did the Eisenhower administration refer to the downed U-2 as?

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev announced that a "spy-plane" had been shot down but intentionally made no reference to the pilot. As a result, the Eisenhower Administration, thinking the pilot had died in the crash, authorized the release of a cover story claiming that the plane was a "weather research aircraft" which had unintentionally strayed into Soviet airspace after the pilot had radioed "difficulties with his oxygen equipment" while flying over Turkey. The Soviets put Captain Powers on trial and displayed parts of the U-2, which had been recovered almost fully intact.


Where did the Eisenhower administration say that the downed U-2 was intended to be flying?


According to the cover story, what did the "weather research" pilot have trouble with?


What happened to Powers in the Soviet Union?


What did Khrushchev refer to the U-2 as?


Along with Eisenhower, Macmillan and de Gaulle, what leader attended the Four Powers Paris Summit?

The 1960 Four Power Paris Summit between President Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Harold Macmillan and Charles de Gaulle collapsed because of the incident. Eisenhower refused to accede to Khrushchev's demands that he apologize. Therefore, Khrushchev would not take part in the summit. Up until this event, Eisenhower felt he had been making progress towards better relations with the Soviet Union. Nuclear arms reduction and Berlin were to have been discussed at the summit. Eisenhower stated it had all been ruined because of that "stupid U-2 business".


What did Khrushchev demand that Eisenhower do?


Along with reducing nuclear weapons, what was to have been the topic of conversation at the Four Power Paris Summit?


What did Eisenhower blame for ruining the summit?


In what year was the Four Power Paris Summit intended to take place?


Which president initially began to desegregate the US military?

While President Truman had begun the process of desegregating the Armed Forces in 1948, actual implementation had been slow. Eisenhower made clear his stance in his first State of the Union address in February 1953, saying "I propose to use whatever authority exists in the office of the President to end segregation in the District of Columbia, including the Federal Government, and any segregation in the Armed Forces". When he encountered opposition from the services, he used government control of military spending to force the change through, stating "Wherever Federal Funds are expended ..., I do not see how any American can justify ... a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds".


When did the desegregation of the United States Armed Forces begin?


When did Eisenhower deliver his first State of the Union?


What control did Eisenhower use to push through desegregation?


In what geographical area did Eisenhower promise to end desegregation in his State of the Union address?


Who did Eisenhower tell DC officials to integrate?

Eisenhower told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating black and white public school children. He proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and of 1960 and signed those acts into law. The 1957 act for the first time established a permanent civil rights office inside the Justice Department and a Civil Rights Commission to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights. Although both acts were much weaker than subsequent civil rights legislation, they constituted the first significant civil rights acts since 1875.


What was the first civil rights act proposed to Congress by Eisenhower?


In what year did Eisenhower propose his second civil rights act?


What sort of commission did the Civil Rights Act of 1957 establish?


Under the Civil Rights Act of 1957, what federal department contained a civil rights office?


What state refused to integrate its schools in 1957?

In 1957, the state of Arkansas refused to honor a federal court order to integrate their public school system stemming from the Brown decision. Eisenhower demanded that Arkansas governor Orval Faubus obey the court order. When Faubus balked, the president placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent in the 101st Airborne Division. They escorted and protected nine black students' entry to Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school, for the first time since the Reconstruction Era. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote to Eisenhower to thank him for his actions, writing "The overwhelming majority of southerners, Negro and white, stand firmly behind your resolute action to restore law and order in Little Rock".


What military unit was sent from outside of Arkansas to oversee desegregation?


What Arkansas militia unit did Eisenhower federalize in 1957?


Who was the governor of Arkansas in 1957?


How many black students were escorted by the 101st Airborne to Little Rock Central High School?


In what year did Joseph McCarthy declare that the federal government was employing communists?

This prevented Eisenhower from openly condemning Joseph McCarthy's highly criticized methods against communism. To facilitate relations with Congress, Eisenhower decided to ignore McCarthy's controversies and thereby deprive them of more energy from involvement of the White House. This position drew criticism from a number of corners. In late 1953 McCarthy declared on national television that the employment of communists within the government was a menace and would be a pivotal issue in the 1954 Senate elections. Eisenhower was urged to respond directly and specify the various measures he had taken to purge the government of communists. Nevertheless, he refused.


What did Eisenhower do when he was encouraged to respond to McCarthy's accusations?


What organization did Eisenhower want to keep from being one of McCarthy's targets?

Among Ike's objectives in not directly confronting McCarthy was to prevent McCarthy from dragging the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) into McCarthy's witch hunt for communists, which would interfere with, and perhaps delay, the AEC's important work on H-bombs. The administration had discovered through its own investigations that one of the leading scientists on the AEC, J. Robert Oppenheimer, had urged that the H-bomb work be delayed. Eisenhower removed him from the agency and revoked his security clearance, though he knew this would create fertile ground for McCarthy.


What was the AEC working on at this time?


What AEC scientists counseled delaying the development of the hydrogen bomb?


What did Eisenhower do to Oppenheimer after he said that the hydrogen bomb should be delayed?


What did McCarthy threaten to do in May of 1955?

In May 1955, McCarthy threatened to issue subpoenas to White House personnel. Eisenhower was furious, and issued an order as follows: "It is essential to efficient and effective administration that employees of the Executive Branch be in a position to be completely candid in advising with each other on official matters ... it is not in the public interest that any of their conversations or communications, or any documents or reproductions, concerning such advice be disclosed." This was an unprecedented step by Eisenhower to protect communication beyond the confines of a cabinet meeting, and soon became a tradition known as executive privilege. Ike's denial of McCarthy's access to his staff reduced McCarthy's hearings to rants about trivial matters, and contributed to his ultimate downfall.


What tradition was fostered by Eisenhower's reaction to McCarthy's subpoena threats?


Eisenhower denied McCarthy access to the personnel of what branch of the federal government?


The Democrats gained a majority in both houses in the 1954 election. Eisenhower had to work with the Democratic Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (later U.S. president) in the Senate and Speaker Sam Rayburn in the House, both from Texas. Joe Martin, the Republican Speaker from 1947 to 1949 and again from 1953 to 1955, wrote that Eisenhower "never surrounded himself with assistants who could solve political problems with professional skill. There were exceptions, Leonard W. Hall, for example, who as chairman of the Republican National Committee tried to open the administration's eyes to the political facts of life, with occasional success. However, these exceptions were not enough to right the balance."


After the 1954 election, who was the Speaker of the House?


Who was made Senate Majority Leader after the 1954 election?


What state were Johnson and Rayburn from?


Who was Speaker of the House between 1953 and 1955?


What did Martin think Eisenhower did too much of in his relations with Congress?

Speaker Martin concluded that Eisenhower worked too much through subordinates in dealing with Congress, with results, "often the reverse of what he has desired" because Members of Congress, "resent having some young fellow who was picked up by the White House without ever having been elected to office himself coming around and telling them 'The Chief wants this'. The administration never made use of many Republicans of consequence whose services in one form or another would have been available for the asking."


As a result of Eisenhower's actions toward Congress, what did Martin think Congress often gave him?


Who did Martin think Eisenhower should have made better use of?


What were Harlan and Stewart's party affiliations?

Whittaker was unsuited for the role and soon retired. Stewart and Harlan were conservative Republicans, while Brennan was a Democrat who became a leading voice for liberalism. In selecting a Chief Justice, Eisenhower looked for an experienced jurist who could appeal to liberals in the party as well as law-and-order conservatives, noting privately that Warren "represents the kind of political, economic, and social thinking that I believe we need on the Supreme Court ... He has a national name for integrity, uprightness, and courage that, again, I believe we need on the Court". In the next few years Warren led the Court in a series of liberal decisions that revolutionized the role of the Court.


Who did Eisenhower nominate for Chief Justice?


What sort of decisions did Warren favor on the Supreme Court?


Along with liberals, who was Eisenhower trying to appeal to with the Warren pick?


Where did Eisenhower pick up the habit of smoking?

Eisenhower began smoking cigarettes at West Point, often two or three packs a day. Eisenhower stated that he "gave [himself] an order" to stop cold turkey in March 1949 while at Columbia. He was probably the first president to release information about his health and medical records while in office. On September 24, 1955, while vacationing in Colorado, he had a serious heart attack that required six weeks' hospitalization, during which time Nixon, Dulles, and Sherman Adams assumed administrative duties and provided communication with the President. He was treated by Dr. Paul Dudley White, a cardiologist with a national reputation, who regularly informed the press of the President's progress. Instead of eliminating him as a candidate for a second term as President, his physician recommended a second term as essential to his recovery.


How many cigarettes did Eisenhower smoke daily at West Point?


When did Eisenhower stop smoking completely?


Who was Eisenhower's employer when he gave up smoking?


Who was the cardiologist who treated Eisenhower after his heart attack?


What caused Eisenhower's stroke of 1957?

As a consequence of his heart attack, Eisenhower developed a left ventricular aneurysm, which was in turn the cause of a mild stroke on November 25, 1957. This incident occurred during a cabinet meeting when Eisenhower suddenly found himself unable to speak or move his right hand. The stroke had caused an aphasia. The president also suffered from Crohn's disease, chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine, which necessitated surgery for a bowel obstruction on June 9, 1956. To treat the intestinal block, surgeons bypassed about ten inches of his small intestine. His scheduled meeting with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was postponed so he could recover from surgery at his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was still recovering from this operation during the Suez Crisis. Eisenhower's health issues forced him to give up smoking and make some changes to his dietary habits, but he still indulged in alcohol. During a visit to England he complained of dizziness and had to have his blood pressure checked on August 29, 1959; however, before dinner at Chequers on the next day his doctor General Howard Snyder recalled Eisenhower "drank several gin-and-tonics, and one or two gins on the rocks ... three or four wines with the dinner".


Where was Eisenhower when he suffered a stroke in 1957?


What couldn't Eisenhower move as a result of his stroke?


Why did Eisenhower need surgery on June 9, 1956?


What August 1965 event caused Eisenhower to drop out of public life?

The last three years of Eisenhower's second term in office were ones of relatively good health. Eventually after leaving the White House, he suffered several additional and ultimately crippling heart attacks. A severe heart attack in August 1965 largely ended his participation in public affairs. In August 1966 he began to show symptoms of cholecystitis, for which he underwent surgery on December 12, 1966, when his gallbladder was removed, containing 16 gallstones. After Eisenhower's death in 1969 (see below), an autopsy unexpectedly revealed an adrenal pheochromocytoma, a benign adrenaline-secreting tumor that may have made the President more vulnerable to heart disease. Eisenhower suffered seven heart attacks in total from 1955 until his death.


For what ailment did Eisenhower receive surgery in 1966?


What did Eisenhower have removed via surgery on December 12, 1966?


How many heart attacks did Eisenhower have between 1955 and 1969?


Who did Eisenhower endorse for president in 1960?

In the 1960 election to choose his successor, Eisenhower endorsed his own Vice President, Republican Richard Nixon against Democrat John F. Kennedy. He told friends, "I will do almost anything to avoid turning my chair and country over to Kennedy." He actively campaigned for Nixon in the final days, although he may have done Nixon some harm. When asked by reporters at the end of a televised press conference to list one of Nixon's policy ideas he had adopted, Eisenhower joked, "If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don't remember." Kennedy's campaign used the quote in one of its campaign commercials. Nixon narrowly lost to Kennedy. Eisenhower, who was the oldest president in history at that time (then 70), was succeeded by the youngest elected president, as Kennedy was 43.


Who was the Democratic candidate for president in 1960?


Who was the youngest person elected to the United States presidency?


Who won the US presidential election of 1960?


On what date did Eisenhower deliver his farewell speech?

On January 17, 1961, Eisenhower gave his final televised Address to the Nation from the Oval Office. In his farewell speech, Eisenhower raised the issue of the Cold War and role of the U.S. armed forces. He described the Cold War: "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method ..." and warned about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals and continued with a warning that "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex."


In his farewell speech, what complex did Eisenhower warn the American people of?


What war did Eisenhower talk about in his Address to the Nation?


What term did Eisenhower use to describe the character of communism?


From where did Eisenhower deliver his farewell speech?


What town did Eisenhower retire to after his presidency?

Eisenhower retired to the place where he and Mamie had spent much of their post-war time, a working farm adjacent to the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, only 70 miles from his ancestral home in Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In 1967 the Eisenhowers donated the farm to the National Park Service. In retirement, the former president did not completely retreat from political life; he spoke at the 1964 Republican National Convention and appeared with Barry Goldwater in a Republican campaign commercial from Gettysburg. However, his endorsement came somewhat reluctantly because Goldwater had attacked the former president as "a dime-store New Dealer".


What Pennsylvania county did Eisenhower grow up in?


Who did Eisenhower donate his farm to in 1967?


What did Barry Goldwater call Eisenhower?


Who was the Republican presidential candidate in 1964?


On the morning of March 28, 1969, at the age of 78, Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C. of congestive heart failure at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The following day his body was moved to the Washington National Cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, where he lay in repose for 28 hours. On March 30, his body was brought by caisson to the United States Capitol, where he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda. On March 31, Eisenhower's body was returned to the National Cathedral, where he was given an Episcopal Church funeral service.


What Christian denomination did Eisenhower belong to?


When did Eisenhower's funeral train arrive in Abilene, Kansas?

That evening, Eisenhower's body was placed onto a train en route to Abilene, Kansas, the last time a funeral train has been used as part of funeral proceedings of an American president. His body arrived on April 2, and was interred later that day in a small chapel on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library. The president's body was buried as a General of the Army. The family used an $80 standard soldier's casket, and dressed Eisenhower's body in his famous short green jacket. His only medals worn were: the Army Distinguished Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit. Eisenhower is buried alongside his son Doud, who died at age 3 in 1921. His wife Mamie was buried next to him after her death in 1979.


What was the cost of Eisenhower's casket?


What color jacket was Eisenhower buried in?


In popular memory, what sport was Eisenhower known for playing?

In the immediate years after Eisenhower left office, his reputation declined. He was widely seen by critics as an inactive, uninspiring, golf-playing president compared to his vigorous young successor. Despite his unprecedented use of Army troops to enforce a federal desegregation order at Central High School in Little Rock, Eisenhower was criticized for his reluctance to support the civil rights movement to the degree that activists wanted. Eisenhower also attracted criticism for his handling of the 1960 U-2 incident and the associated international embarrassment, for the Soviet Union's perceived leadership in the nuclear arms race and the Space Race, and for his failure to publicly oppose McCarthyism.


What did critics feel that Eisenhower should have opposed in public?


How did critics characterize Kennedy in comparison to Eisenhower?


What nation was considered the leader in the nuclear arms race?


From where did Eisenhower get the idea of a White House Chief of Staff?

Since the 19th century, many if not all presidents were assisted by a central figure or "gatekeeper", sometimes described as the President's Private Secretary, sometimes with no official title at all. Eisenhower formalized this role, introducing the office of White House Chief of Staff – an idea he borrowed from the United States Army. Every president after Lyndon Johnson has also appointed staff to this position. Initially, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter tried to operate without a chief of staff, but each eventually appointed one.


Who was the last president not to appoint a Chief of Staff?


Along with Ford, what president initially didn't appoint a Chief of Staff but later did?


What 19th century informal political office did the modern role of White House Chief of Staff correspond to?


How many appreciation medals were minted?

The development of the appreciation medals was initiated by the White House and executed by the Bureau of the Mint through the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The medals were struck from September 1958 through October 1960. A total of twenty designs are cataloged with a total mintage of 9,858. Each of the designs incorporates the text "with appreciation" or "with personal and official gratitude" accompanied with Eisenhower's initials "D.D.E." or facsimile signature. The design also incorporates location, date, and/or significant event. Prior to the end of his second term as President, 1,451 medals were turned-in to the Bureau of the Mint and destroyed. The Eisenhower appreciation medals are part of the Presidential Medal of Appreciation Award Medal Series.


In what city were the appreciation medals minted?


During what period were the appreciation medals minted?


How many appreciation medals were destroyed by the Bureau of the Mint?


What is the formal name of the Interstate Highway System?

The Interstate Highway System is officially known as the 'Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways' in his honor. It was inspired in part by Eisenhower's own Army experiences in World War II, where he recognized the advantages of the autobahn systems in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Commemorative signs reading "Eisenhower Interstate System" and bearing Eisenhower's permanent 5-star rank insignia were introduced in 1993 and are currently displayed throughout the Interstate System. Several highways are also named for him, including the Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290) near Chicago and the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70 west of Denver.


Along with Germany and Switzerland, what country contained an autobahn during the Second World War?


What is another name for Eisenhower Expressway?


When were "Eisenhower Interstate System" signs first posted along highways?


What major city is Interstate 290 close to?


At what Augusta hole was the Eisenhower Pine located?

A loblolly pine, known as the "Eisenhower Pine", was located on Augusta's 17th hole, approximately 210 yards (192 m) from the Masters tee. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an Augusta National member, hit the tree so many times that, at a 1956 club meeting, he proposed that it be cut down. Not wanting to offend the president, the club's chairman, Clifford Roberts, immediately adjourned the meeting rather than reject the request. The tree was removed in February 2014 after an ice storm caused it significant damage.


How many meters away from the Masters tee on Augusta's 17th was the Eisenhower Pine?


What did Eisenhower want to be done to the Eisenhower Pine?


What damaged the Eisenhower Pine in February 2014?


In what year did Eisenhower propose that the pine tree named after him be removed?


The Bronx /ˈbrɒŋks/ is the northernmost of the five boroughs (counties) of New York City in the state of New York, located south of Westchester County. Many bridges and tunnels link the Bronx to the island and borough of Manhattan to the west over and under the narrow Harlem River, as well as three longer bridges south over the East River to the borough of Queens. Of the five boroughs, the Bronx is the only one on the U.S. mainland and, with a land area of 42 square miles (109 km2) and a population of 1,438,159 in 2014, has the fourth largest land area, the fourth highest population, and the third-highest population density.


Where is the Bronx positioned among NYC boroughs?


What is unique about the Bronx's location?


The Bronx is named after Jonas Bronck who created the first settlement as part of the New Netherland colony in 1639. The native Lenape were displaced after 1643 by settlers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bronx received many immigrant groups as it was transformed into an urban community, first from various European countries (particularly Ireland, Germany and Italy) and later from the Caribbean region (particularly Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic), as well as African American migrants from the American South. This cultural mix has made the Bronx a wellspring of both Latin music and hip hop.


When did Bronck settle in the New York area?


What native tribe lived in the New York area?


What types of music the Bronx famous for?


The Bronx contains one of the five poorest Congressional Districts in the United States, the 15th, but its wide diversity also includes affluent, upper-income and middle-income neighborhoods such as Riverdale, Fieldston, Spuyten Duyvil, Schuylerville, Pelham Bay, Pelham Gardens, Morris Park and Country Club. The Bronx, particularly the South Bronx, saw a sharp decline in population, livable housing, and the quality of life in the late 1960s and the 1970s, culminating in a wave of arson. Since then the communities have shown significant redevelopment starting in the late 1980s before picking up pace in the 1990s into today.


What neighborhoods of the Bronx are more affluent?


When did the South Bronx lose quality of life?


What crime problem happened in the Bronx in the 70s?


Jonas Bronck (c. 1600–43) was a Swedish born emigrant from Komstad, Norra Ljunga parish in Småland, Sweden who arrived in New Netherland during the spring of 1639. He became the first recorded European settler in the area now known as the Bronx. He leased land from the Dutch West India Company on the neck of the mainland immediately north of the Dutch settlement in Harlem (on Manhattan island), and bought additional tracts from the local tribes. He eventually accumulated 500 acres (about 2 square km, or 3/4 of a square mile) between the Harlem River and the Aquahung, which became known as Bronck's River, or The Bronx. Dutch and English settlers referred to the area as Bronck's Land. The American poet William Bronk was a descendant of Pieter Bronck, either Jonas Bronck's son or his younger brother.


When did Bronck reach the New York area?


What entity did Bronck get his land from?


How much land did Bronck eventually own?


The Bronx is referred to, both legally and colloquially, with a definite article, as the Bronx. (The County of Bronx, unlike the coextensive Borough of the Bronx, does not place the immediately before Bronx in formal references, nor does the United States Postal Service in its database of Bronx addresses.) The name for this region, apparently after the Bronx River, first appeared in the Annexed District of the Bronx created in 1874 out of part of Westchester County and was continued in the Borough of the Bronx, which included a larger annexation from Westchester County in 1898. The use of the definite article is attributed to the style of referring to rivers. Another explanation for the use of the definite article in the borough's name is that the original form of the name was a possessive or collective one referring to the family, as in visiting The Broncks, The Bronck's or The Broncks'.


What county was the Bronx split off from?


When did farmers build a bridge over the Harlem River?

The development of the Bronx is directly connected to its strategic location between New England and New York (Manhattan). Control over the bridges across the Harlem River plagued the period of British colonial rule. Kingsbridge, built in 1693 where Broadway reached the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, was a possession of Frederick Philipse, lord of Philipse Manor. The tolls were resented by local farmers on both sides of the creek. In 1759, the farmers led by Jacobus Dyckman and Benjamin Palmer built a "free bridge" across the Harlem River which led to the abandonment of tolls altogether.


Why did farmers build a bridge over the Harlem River?


What strategic advantage did the Bronx's location have?


How many counties did New York originally have?

The territory now contained within Bronx County was originally part of Westchester County, one of the 12 original counties of the English Province of New York. The present Bronx County was contained in the town of Westchester and parts of the towns of Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In 1846, a new town, West Farms, was created by division of Westchester; in turn, in 1855, the town of Morrisania was created from West Farms. In 1873, the town of Kingsbridge (roughly corresponding to the modern Bronx neighborhoods of Kingsbridge, Riverdale, and Woodlawn) was established within the former borders of Yonkers.


Parts of which towns became part of the Bronx?


When was the town of Kingsbridge created?


When did New York City annex Kingsbridge?

The consolidation of the Bronx into New York City proceeded in two stages. In 1873, the state legislature annexed Kingsbridge, West Farms and Morrisania to New York, effective in 1874; the three towns were abolished in the process. In 1895, three years before New York's consolidation with Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, the whole of the territory east of the Bronx River, including the Town of Westchester (which had voted in 1894 against consolidation) and portions of Eastchester and Pelham, were annexed to the city. City Island, a nautical community, voted to join the city in 1896.


When did New York City annex West Farms?


When did New York City annex Morrisania?


When did New York City annex part of Pelham?


When did New York City annex part of Eastchester?


The history of the Bronx during the 20th century may be divided into four periods: a boom period during 1900–29, with a population growth by a factor of six from 200,000 in 1900 to 1.3 million in 1930. The Great Depression and post World War II years saw a slowing of growth leading into an eventual decline. The mid to late century were hard times, as the Bronx declined 1950–85 from a predominantly moderate-income to a predominantly lower-income area with high rates of violent crime and poverty. The Bronx has experienced an economic and developmental resurgence starting in the late 1980s that continues into today.


What was the Bronx's population in 1900?


What was the Bronx's population in 1929?


How many Jews lived in the Bronx in 1937?

The Bronx underwent rapid urban growth after World War I. Extensions of the New York City Subway contributed to the increase in population as thousands of immigrants came to the Bronx, resulting in a major boom in residential construction. Among these groups, many Irish Americans, Italian Americans and especially Jewish Americans settled here. In addition, French, German, Polish and other immigrants moved into the borough. The Jewish population also increased notably during this time. In 1937, according to Jewish organizations, 592,185 Jews lived in The Bronx (43.9% of the borough's population), while only 54,000 Jews lived in the borough in 2011. Many synagogues still stand in the Bronx, but most have been converted to other uses.


How many Jews lived in the Bronx in 2011?


What led to the Bronx's population growth?


What immigrant groups were the most prevalent in the Bronx?


How much of the Bronx was Jewish in 1937?


Yet another may have been a reduction in the real-estate listings and property-related financial services (such as mortgage loans or insurance policies) offered in some areas of the Bronx — a process known as redlining. Others have suggested a "planned shrinkage" of municipal services, such as fire-fighting. There was also much debate as to whether rent control laws had made it less profitable (or more costly) for landlords to maintain existing buildings with their existing tenants than to abandon or destroy those buildings.


What might have encouraged landlords to abandon or destroy buildings?


What example city service was cut back on in the Bronx?


What crime was common in the Bronx in the 1970s?

In the 1970s, the Bronx was plagued by a wave of arson. The burning of buildings was predominantly in the poorest communities, like the South Bronx. The most common explanation of what occurred was that landlords decided to burn their low property-value buildings and take the insurance money as it was more lucrative to get insurance money than to refurbish or sell a building in a severely distressed area. The Bronx became identified with a high rate of poverty and unemployment, which was mainly a persistent problem in the South Bronx.


Why did some landlords burn their own buildings?


Where were poverty and unemployment the worst in the Bronx?


What city plan helped redevelop the Bronx?

Since the late 1980s, significant development has occurred in the Bronx, first stimulated by the city's "Ten-Year Housing Plan" and community members working to rebuild the social, economic and environmental infrastructure by creating affordable housing. Groups affiliated with churches in the South Bronx erected the Nehemiah Homes with about 1,000 units. The grass roots organization Nos Quedamos' endeavor known as Melrose Commons began to rebuild areas in the South Bronx. The IRT White Plains Road Line (2 5 trains) began to show an increase in riders. Chains such as Marshalls, Staples, and Target opened stores in the Bronx. More bank branches opened in the Bronx as a whole (rising from 106 in 1997 to 149 in 2007), although not primarily in poor or minority neighborhoods, while the Bronx still has fewer branches per person than other boroughs.


How many units are in the Nehemiah Homes?


How many bank branches were in the Bronx by 2007?


What award did the Bronx receive in 1997?

In 1997, the Bronx was designated an All America City by the National Civic League, acknowledging its comeback from the decline of the mid-century. In 2006, The New York Times reported that "construction cranes have become the borough's new visual metaphor, replacing the window decals of the 1980s in which pictures of potted plants and drawn curtains were placed in the windows of abandoned buildings." The borough has experienced substantial new building construction since 2002. Between 2002 and June 2007, 33,687 new units of housing were built or were under way and $4.8 billion has been invested in new housing. In the first six months of 2007 alone total investment in new residential development was $965 million and 5,187 residential units were scheduled to be completed. Much of the new development is springing up in formerly vacant lots across the South Bronx.


How were window decals used in the Bronx in the 1980s?


How many housing units were built in the Bronx in 2002-2007?


How much was invested in housing in the Bronx in 2002-2007?


What is Kingsbridge Armory being turned into?

Several boutique and chain hotels have opened in recent years in the South Bronx; in addition, a La Quinta Inn that has been proposed for the Mott Haven waterfront. The Kingsbridge Armory, often cited as the largest armory in the world, is scheduled for redevelopment as the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. Under consideration for future development is the construction of a platform over the New York City Subway's Concourse Yard adjacent to Lehman College. The construction would permit approximately 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2) of development and would cost US$350–500 million.


What was the largest armory in the world?


Where is a La Quinta being built in the Bronx?


How much would a Concourse Yard platform cost?


How much development space would a Concourse Yard platform provide?


What's on the other side of the Hudson from the Bronx?

The Bronx is almost entirely situated on the North American mainland. The Hudson River separates the Bronx on the west from Alpine, Tenafly and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, New Jersey; the Harlem River separates it from the island of Manhattan to the southwest; the East River separates it from Queens to the southeast; and to the east, Long Island Sound separates it from Nassau County in western Long Island. Directly north of the Bronx are (from west to east) the adjoining Westchester County communities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. (There is also a short southern land boundary with Marble Hill in the Borough of Manhattan, over the filled-in former course of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Marble Hill's postal ZIP code, telephonic Area Code and fire service, however, are shared with the Bronx and not Manhattan.)


What's on the other side of the Harlem River from the Bronx?


What's on the other side of the East River from the Bronx?


The Bronx's highest elevation at 280 feet (85 m) is in the northwest corner, west of Van Cortlandt Park and in the Chapel Farm area near the Riverdale Country School. The opposite (southeastern) side of the Bronx has four large low peninsulas or "necks" of low-lying land that jut into the waters of the East River and were once salt marsh: Hunt's Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck and Throg's Neck. Further up the coastline, Rodman's Neck lies between Pelham Bay Park in the northeast and City Island. The Bronx's irregular shoreline extends for 75 square miles (194 km2).


What part of the Bronx formerly a salt marsh?


What are the Bronx's four low peninsulas?


The northern side of the borough includes the largest park in New York City—Pelham Bay Park, which includes Orchard Beach—and the fourth largest, Van Cortlandt Park, which is west of Woodlawn Cemetery and borders Yonkers. Also in the northern Bronx, Wave Hill, the former estate of George W. Perkins—known for a historic house, gardens, changing site-specific art installations and concerts—overlooks the New Jersey Palisades from a promontory on the Hudson in Riverdale. Nearer the borough's center, and along the Bronx River, is Bronx Park; its northern end houses the New York Botanical Gardens, which preserve the last patch of the original hemlock forest that once covered the entire county, and its southern end the Bronx Zoo, the largest urban zoological gardens in the United States. Just south of Van Cortlandt Park is the Jerome Park Reservoir, surrounded by 2 miles (3 km) of stone walls and bordering several small parks in the Bedford Park neighborhood; the reservoir was built in the 1890s on the site of the former Jerome Park Racetrack. Further south is Crotona Park, home to a 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) lake, 28 species of trees, and a large swimming pool. The land for these parks, and many others, was bought by New York City in 1888, while land was still open and inexpensive, in anticipation of future needs and future pressures for development.


How many types of trees are in Crotona Park?


When was the Jerome Park Reservoir built?


What do the NY Botanical Gardens preserve?


East of the Bronx River, the borough is relatively flat and includes four large low peninsulas, or 'necks,' of low-lying land which jut into the waters of the East River and were once saltmarsh: Hunts Point, Clason's Point, Screvin's Neck (Castle Hill Point) and Throgs Neck. The East Bronx has older tenement buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multifamily homes, as well as single family homes. It includes New York City's largest park: Pelham Bay Park along the Westchester-Bronx border.


In what river does the Bronx have 4 peninsulas?


What parts of the Bronx have more hills?

The western parts of the Bronx are hillier and are dominated by a series of parallel ridges, running south to north. The West Bronx has older apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, multifamily homes in its lower income areas as well as larger single family homes in more affluent areas such as Riverdale and Fieldston. It includes New York City's fourth largest park: Van Cortlandt Park along the Westchester-Bronx border. The Grand Concourse, a wide boulevard, runs through it, north to south.


What parts of West Bronx are more affluent?


Why has the supposed size of the 'South Bronx' grown?

Like other neighborhoods in New York City, the South Bronx has no official boundaries. The name has been used to represent poverty in the Bronx and applied to progressively more northern places so that by the 2000s Fordham Road was often used as a northern limit. The Bronx River more consistently forms an eastern boundary. The South Bronx has many high-density apartment buildings, low income public housing complexes, and multi-unit homes. The South Bronx is home to the Bronx County Courthouse, Borough Hall, and other government buildings, as well as Yankee Stadium. The Cross Bronx Expressway bisects it, east to west. The South Bronx has some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country, as well as very high crime areas.


When was Fordham Road being used as the limit of the South Bronx area?


Which river is the eastern edge of the South Bronx?


Which direction does the Cross Bronx Expressway run through the South Bronx?


What in the Bronx has been compared to Broadway?

There are three primary shopping centers in the Bronx: The Hub, Gateway Center and Southern Boulevard. The Hub–Third Avenue Business Improvement District (B.I.D.), in The Hub, is the retail heart of the South Bronx, located where four roads converge: East 149th Street, Willis, Melrose and Third Avenues. It is primarily located inside the neighborhood of Melrose but also lines the northern border of Mott Haven. The Hub has been called "the Broadway of the Bronx", being likened to the real Broadway in Manhattan and the northwestern Bronx. It is the site of both maximum traffic and architectural density. In configuration, it resembles a miniature Times Square, a spatial "bow-tie" created by the geometry of the street. The Hub is part of Bronx Community Board 1.


What is the main retail area of the South Bronx?


How much land was the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market built on?

The Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market, in the West Bronx, is a shopping center that encompasses less than one million square feet of retail space, built on a 17 acres (7 ha) site that formerly held the Bronx Terminal Market, a wholesale fruit and vegetable market as well as the former Bronx House of Detention, south of Yankee Stadium. The $500 million shopping center, which was completed in 2009, saw the construction of new buildings and two smaller buildings, one new and the other a renovation of an existing building that was part of the original market. The two main buildings are linked by a six-level garage for 2,600 cars. The center has earned itself a LEED "Silver" designation in its design.


How much did the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market cost?


How many floors does the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market's parking garage have?


How many cars can the Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market's parking garage hold?


What part of Manhattan are the West Bronx's streets similar to?

The Bronx street grid is irregular. Like the northernmost part of upper Manhattan, the West Bronx's hilly terrain leaves a relatively free-style street grid. Much of the West Bronx's street numbering carries over from upper Manhattan, but does not match it exactly; East 132nd Street is the lowest numbered street in the Bronx. This dates from the mid-19th century when the southwestern area of Westchester County west of the Bronx River, was incorporated into New York City and known as the Northside.


What is the lowest street number seen in the Bronx?


What was the Bronx called in the mid-19th century?


How much of the Bronx's population is Hispanic?

According to the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race); 30.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.9% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 3.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.6% from some other race (non-Hispanic) and 1.2% of two or more races (non-Hispanic). The U.S. Census considers the Bronx to be the most diverse area in the country. There is an 89.7 percent chance that any two residents, chosen at random, would be of different race or ethnicity.


How much of the Bronx's population is non-Hispanic White?


How much of the Bronx's population is non-Hispanic Black?


How much of the Bronx's population is non-Hispanic Asian?


How much of the Bronx's population is non-Hispanic multiracial?


How much of the Bronx speaks Spanish at home?

As of 2010, 46.29% (584,463) of Bronx residents aged five and older spoke Spanish at home, while 44.02% (555,767) spoke English, 2.48% (31,361) African languages, 0.91% (11,455) French, 0.90% (11,355) Italian, 0.87% (10,946) various Indic languages, 0.70% (8,836) other Indo-European languages, and Chinese was spoken at home by 0.50% (6,610) of the population over the age of five. In total, 55.98% (706,783) of the Bronx's population age five and older spoke a language at home other than English. A Garifuna-speaking community from Honduras and Guatemala also makes the Bronx its home.


How much of the Bronx speaks English at home?


How much of the Bronx speaks African languages at home?


How much of the Bronx speaks French at home?


How much of the Bronx speaks Chinese at home?


How much of the Bronx is white (including Hispanic) as of 2009?

According to the 2009 American Community Survey, White Americans of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-fifth (22.9%) of the Bronx's population. However, non-Hispanic whites formed under one-eighth (12.1%) of the population, down from 34.4% in 1980. Out of all five boroughs, the Bronx has the lowest number and percentage of white residents. 320,640 whites called the Bronx home, of which 168,570 were non-Hispanic whites. The majority of the non-Hispanic European American population is of Italian and Irish descent. People of Italian descent numbered over 55,000 individuals and made up 3.9% of the population. People of Irish descent numbered over 43,500 individuals and made up 3.1% of the population. German Americans and Polish Americans made up 1.4% and 0.8% of the population respectively.


How much of the Bronx was non-Hispanic white as of 1980?


How much of the Bronx was non-Hispanic white as of 2009?


How many white people live in the Bronx?


How many non-Hispanic white people live in the Bronx?


How much of the Bronx's population is black (including Hispanic)?

At the 2009 American Community Survey, Black Americans made the second largest group in the Bronx after Hispanics and Latinos. Blacks of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic origin represented over one-third (35.4%) of the Bronx's population. Blacks of non-Hispanic origin made up 30.8% of the population. Over 495,200 blacks resided in the borough, of which 430,600 were non-Hispanic blacks. Over 61,000 people identified themselves as "Sub-Saharan African" in the survey, making up 4.4% of the population.


How much of the Bronx's population is black (not including Hispanic)?


How many Bronx residents called themselves "Sub-Saharan African" in 2009?


What percent of Bronx residents called themselves "Sub-Saharan African" in 2009?


How many people in the Bronx are black (not including Hispanic)?


What percent of the Bronx is Hispanic and Latino Americans?

In 2009, Hispanic and Latino Americans represented 52.0% of the Bronx's population. Puerto Ricans represented 23.2% of the borough's population. Over 72,500 Mexicans lived in the Bronx, and they formed 5.2% of the population. Cubans numbered over 9,640 members and formed 0.7% of the population. In addition, over 319,000 people were of various Hispanic and Latino groups, such as Dominican, Salvadoran, and so on. These groups collectively represented 22.9% of the population. At the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race). Asian Americans are a small but sizable minority in the borough. Roughly 49,600 Asians make up 3.6% of the population. Roughly 13,600 Indians call the Bronx home, along with 9,800 Chinese, 6,540 Filipinos, 2,260 Vietnamese, 2,010 Koreans, and 1,100 Japanese.


What percent of the Bronx is Puerto Rican?


How many multiracial people live in the Bronx?

Multiracial Americans are also a sizable minority in the Bronx. People of multiracial heritage number over 41,800 individuals and represent 3.0% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and African American heritage number over 6,850 members and form 0.5% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Native American heritage number over 2,450 members and form 0.2% of the population. People of mixed Caucasian and Asian heritage number over 880 members and form 0.1% of the population. People of mixed African American and Native American heritage number over 1,220 members and form 0.1% of the population.


What percent of the Bronx has mixed Caucasian and African American heritage?


What percent of the Bronx is multiracial?


What percent of the Bronx has mixed Caucasian and Asian heritage?


What percent of the Bronx has mixed Caucasian and Native American heritage?


When was the 'one man, one vote' decision?

The office of Borough President was created in the consolidation of 1898 to balance centralization with local authority. Each borough president had a powerful administrative role derived from having a vote on the New York City Board of Estimate, which was responsible for creating and approving the city's budget and proposals for land use. In 1989 the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that Brooklyn, the most populous borough, had no greater effective representation on the Board than Staten Island, the least populous borough, a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause pursuant to the high court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision.


Which amendment contains the Equal Protection Clause?


When was the Board of Estimate found unconstitutional?


Why was the Board of Estimate found unconstitutional?


When did Carrion Jr. retire as Borough President?

Until March 1, 2009, the Borough President of the Bronx was Adolfo Carrión Jr., elected as a Democrat in 2001 and 2005 before retiring early to direct the White House Office of Urban Affairs Policy. His successor, Democratic New York State Assembly member Rubén Díaz, Jr., who won a special election on April 21, 2009 by a vote of 86.3% (29,420) on the "Bronx Unity" line to 13.3% (4,646) for the Republican district leader Anthony Ribustello on the "People First" line, became Borough President on May 1.


When was Carrion Jr. first elected Borough President?


When was Carrion Jr. re-elected Borough President?


In the 2008 primary, how much of the Bronx vote did Clinton get?

In the Presidential primary elections of February 5, 2008, Sen. Clinton won 61.2% of the Bronx's 148,636 Democratic votes against 37.8% for Barack Obama and 1.0% for the other four candidates combined (John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Richardson and Joe Biden). On the same day, John McCain won 54.4% of the borough's 5,643 Republican votes, Mitt Romney 20.8%, Mike Huckabee 8.2%, Ron Paul 7.4%, Rudy Giuliani 5.6%, and the other candidates (Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Alan Keyes) 3.6% between them.


In the 2008 primary, how much of the Bronx vote did Obama get?


In the 2008 primary, how much of the Bronx vote did McCain get?


In the 2008 primary, how much of the Bronx vote did Huckabee get?


In the 2008 primary, how much of the Bronx vote did Romney get?


Who did the Bronx support for President in 1928?

Since then, the Bronx has always supported the Democratic Party's nominee for President, starting with a vote of 2-1 for the unsuccessful Al Smith in 1928, followed by four 2-1 votes for the successful Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Both had been Governors of New York, but Republican former Gov. Thomas E. Dewey won only 28% of the Bronx's vote in 1948 against 55% for Pres. Harry Truman, the winning Democrat, and 17% for Henry A. Wallace of the Progressives. It was only 32 years earlier, by contrast, that another Republican former Governor who narrowly lost the Presidency, Charles Evans Hughes, had won 42.6% of the Bronx's 1916 vote against Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's 49.8% and Socialist candidate Allan Benson's 7.3%.)


How much of the Bronx's vote in 1916 did Hughes get?


How much of the Bronx's vote in 1916 did Wilson get?


How much of the Bronx's vote in 1916 did Benson get?


How much of the Bronx's vote in 1948 did Truman get?


Who was the only Republican Mayor candidate to win the Bronx since 1914?

The Bronx has often shown striking differences from other boroughs in elections for Mayor. The only Republican to carry the Bronx since 1914 was Fiorello La Guardia in 1933, 1937 and 1941 (and in the latter two elections, only because his 30-32% vote on the American Labor Party line was added to 22-23% as a Republican). The Bronx was thus the only borough not carried by the successful Republican re-election campaigns of Mayors Rudolph Giuliani in 1997 and Michael Bloomberg in 2005. The anti-war Socialist campaign of Morris Hillquit in the 1917 mayoral election won over 31% of the Bronx's vote, putting him second and well ahead of the 20% won by the incumbent pro-war Fusion Mayor John P. Mitchel, who came in second (ahead of Hillquit) everywhere else and outpolled Hillquit city-wide by 23.2% to 21.7%.


Who did the Bronx vote against for mayor in 1997?


Who did the Bronx vote against for mayor in 2005?


How much of the Bronx vote did Hillquit get in 1917?


How many students attended the Bronx public noncharter schools as of 2000?

Education in the Bronx is provided by a large number of public and private institutions, many of which draw students who live beyond the Bronx. The New York City Department of Education manages public noncharter schools in the borough. In 2000, public schools enrolled nearly 280,000 of the Bronx's residents over 3 years old (out of 333,100 enrolled in all pre-college schools). There are also several public charter schools. Private schools range from élite independent schools to religiously affiliated schools run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Jewish organizations.


How many students attended the Bronx public and private schools as of 2000?


Which religious organizations run private schools in the Bronx?


Which entity runs the Bronx's public noncharter schools?


What percent of the Bronx population has a high school diploma, as of 2000?

Educational attainment: In 2000, according to the U.S. Census, out of the nearly 800,000 people in the Bronx who were then at least 25 years old, 62.3% had graduated from high school and 14.6% held a bachelor's or higher college degree. These percentages were lower than those for New York's other boroughs, which ranged from 68.8% (Brooklyn) to 82.6% (Staten Island) for high school graduates over 24, and from 21.8% (Brooklyn) to 49.4% (Manhattan) for college graduates. (The respective state and national percentages were [NY] 79.1% & 27.4% and [US] 80.4% & 24.4%.)


What percent of the Bronx population has a university degree, as of 2000?


What percent of the Brooklyn population has a high school diploma, as of 2000?


What percent of the Staten Island population has a high school diploma, as of 2000?


What percent of the Manhattan population has a university degree, as of 2000?


Which of NYC's prestigious nonreligious private schools are in the Bronx?

Many public high schools are located in the borough including the elite Bronx High School of Science, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, DeWitt Clinton High School, High School for Violin and Dance, Bronx Leadership Academy 2, Bronx International High School, the School for Excellence, the Morris Academy for Collaborative Study, Wings Academy for young adults, The Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice, Validus Preparatory Academy, The Eagle Academy For Young Men, Bronx Expeditionary Learning High School, Bronx Academy of Letters, Herbert H. Lehman High School and High School of American Studies. The Bronx is also home to three of New York City's most prestigious private, secular schools: Fieldston, Horace Mann, and Riverdale Country School.


Where is the High School for Violin and Dance?


Where is the DeWitt Clinton High School?


When did NYC begin splitting up the large Bronx high schools?

In the 1990s, New York City began closing the large, public high schools in the Bronx and replacing them with small high schools. Among the reasons cited for the changes were poor graduation rates and concerns about safety. Schools that have been closed or reduced in size include John F. Kennedy, James Monroe, Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson, Evander Childs, Christopher Columbus, Morris, Walton, and South Bronx High Schools. More recently the City has started phasing out large middle schools, also replacing them with smaller schools.


Which Bronx schools have been closed or made smaller?


What type of schools is NYC now working on shrinking?


When did a PBS documentary air about the Bronx's music history?

The Bronx's evolution from a hot bed of Latin jazz to an incubator of hip hop was the subject of an award-winning documentary, produced by City Lore and broadcast on PBS in 2006, "From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale". Hip Hop first emerged in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. The New York Times has identified 1520 Sedgwick Avenue "an otherwise unremarkable high-rise just north of the Cross Bronx Expressway and hard along the Major Deegan Expressway" as a starting point, where DJ Kool Herc presided over parties in the community room.


What PBS documentary covered the Bronx's music history?


Beginning with the advent of beat match DJing, in which Bronx DJs (Disc Jockeys) including Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Kool Herc extended the breaks of funk records, a major new musical genre emerged that sought to isolate the percussion breaks of hit funk, disco and soul songs. As hip hop's popularity grew, performers began speaking ("rapping") in sync with the beats, and became known as MCs or emcees. The Herculoids, made up of Herc, Coke La Rock, and DJ Clark Kent, were the earliest to gain major fame. The Bronx is referred to in hip-hop slang as "The Boogie Down Bronx", or just "The Boogie Down". This was hip-hop pioneer KRS-One's inspiration for his thought provoking group BDP, or Boogie Down Productions, which included DJ Scott La Rock. Newer hip hop artists from the Bronx include Big Pun, Lord Toriq and Peter Gunz, Camp Lo, Swizz Beatz, Drag-On, Fat Joe, Terror Squad and Corey Gunz.


What types of music did hip hop emerge from?


The Bronx is the home of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. The original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923 on 161st Street and River Avenue, a year that saw the Yankees bring home their first of 27 World Series Championships. With the famous facade, the short right field porch and Monument Park, Yankee Stadium has been home to many of baseball's greatest players including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.


How many times have the Yankees won the World Series?


Which historic great players have played at Yankee Stadium?


Where are many of the Bronx's playwrights from?

The Bronx is home to several Off-Off-Broadway theaters, many staging new works by immigrant playwrights from Latin America and Africa. The Pregones Theater, which produces Latin American work, opened a new 130-seat theater in 2005 on Walton Avenue in the South Bronx. Some artists from elsewhere in New York City have begun to converge on the area, and housing prices have nearly quadrupled in the area since 2002. However rising prices directly correlate to a housing shortage across the city and the entire metro area.


How many seats does the Pregones' new theater have?


When did the Pregones' new theater open?


What types of art does the Bronx Museum of the Arts focus on?

The Bronx Museum of the Arts, founded in 1971, exhibits 20th century and contemporary art through its central museum space and 11,000 square feet (1,000 m2) of galleries. Many of its exhibitions are on themes of special interest to the Bronx. Its permanent collection features more than 800 works of art, primarily by artists from Africa, Asia and Latin America, including paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and mixed media. The museum was temporarily closed in 2006 while it underwent a major expansion designed by the architectural firm Arquitectonica.


How large are the Bronx Museum of the Arts' galleries?


When did the Bronx Museum of the Arts open?


How many works are in the Bronx Museum of the Arts' permanent collection?


Who designed the Bronx Museum of the Arts' 2006 expansion?


When was the Lorelei Fountain written about?

The Bronx has also become home to a peculiar poetic tribute, in the form of the Heinrich Heine Memorial, better known as the Lorelei Fountain from one of Heine's best-known works (1838). After Heine's German birthplace of Düsseldorf had rejected, allegedly for anti-Semitic motives, a centennial monument to the radical German-Jewish poet (1797–1856), his incensed German-American admirers, including Carl Schurz, started a movement to place one instead in Midtown Manhattan, at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. However, this intention was thwarted by a combination of ethnic antagonism, aesthetic controversy and political struggles over the institutional control of public art.


In 1899, the memorial, by the Berlin sculptor Ernst Gustav Herter (1846–1917), finally came to rest, although subject to repeated vandalism, in the Bronx, at 164th Street and the Grand Concourse, or Joyce Kilmer Park near today's Yankee Stadium. (In 1999, it was moved to 161st Street and the Concourse.) In 2007, Christopher Gray of The New York Times described it as "a writhing composition in white Tyrolean marble depicting Lorelei, the mythical German figure, surrounded by mermaids, dolphins and seashells."


Where was Herter's Heine memorial placed in 1899?


Where was Herter's Heine memorial moved in 1999?


Who designed the City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum's building?

The peninsular borough's maritime heritage is acknowledged in several ways.The City Island Historical Society and Nautical Museum occupies a former public school designed by the New York City school system's turn-of-the-last-century master architect C. B. J. Snyder. The state's Maritime College in Fort Schuyler (on the southeastern shore) houses the Maritime Industry Museum. In addition, the Harlem River is reemerging as "Scullers' Row" due in large part to the efforts of the Bronx River Restoration Project, a joint public-private endeavor of the city's parks department. Canoeing and kayaking on the borough's namesake river have been promoted by the Bronx River Alliance. The river is also straddled by the New York Botanical Gardens, its neighbor, the Bronx Zoo, and a little further south, on the west shore, Bronx River Art Center.