Jack Welch

John Francis Welch Jr. (November 19, 1935 – March 1, 2020) was an American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001. In 2006, Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million.[2] When he retired from GE he received a severance payment of $417 million, the largest such payment in business history
Early life and education
Jack Welch was born in Peabody, Massachusetts, the son of Grace (Andrews), a homemaker, and John Francis Welch, Sr, a Boston & Maine Railroad conductor.[4] Welch was Irish American and Roman Catholic. His paternal and maternal grandparents were Irish.[5]

Throughout his early life in middle school and high school, Welch found work in the summers as a golf caddie, newspaper delivery boy, shoe salesman, and drill press operator.[5] Welch attended Salem High School, where he participated in baseball, football, and captained the hockey team.[5]

Late in his senior year, Welch was accepted to University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied chemical engineering. Welch worked in chemical engineering at Sunoco and PPG Industries during his college summers.[5] In his sophomore year, he became a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.[5] Welch graduated in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering, turning down offers from several companies in order to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[5][6] He graduated from the University of Illinois, in 1960, with a masters and a PhD in chemical engineering.[7][8]

General Electric
Welch joined General Electric in 1960. He worked as a junior chemical engineer in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at a salary of $10,500, which would be equivalent to approximately $90,000 in 2018 dollars. In 1961, Welch planned to quit his job as junior engineer because he was dissatisfied with the raise offered to him and was unhappy with the bureaucracy he observed at GE. Welch was persuaded to remain at GE by Reuben Gutoff, an executive at the company, who promised him that he would help create the small-company atmosphere Welch desired.[9] In 1963, an explosion at the factory which was under his management blew off the roof of the facilities, and he was almost fired for that episode.[10]

By 1968, Welch became the vice president and head of GE's plastics division, which at the time was a $26 million operation for GE.[6] Welch oversaw production as well as the marketing for the GE-developed plastics Lexan and Noryl. Not long after, in 1971, Welch also became the vice president of GE's metallurgical and chemical divisions.[6] By 1973, Welch was named the head of strategic planning for GE and he held that position until 1979, which involved him now working from the corporate headquarters, exposing him to many of the "big fish" he would one day be among.[11] Not long after his promotion to head of strategic planning, Welch was named senior vice president and head of Consumer Products and Services Division in 1977, a position he held until 1979 when he became the vice chairman of GE.[6]

In 1981, Welch became GE's youngest chairman and CEO, succeeding Reginald H. Jones. By 1982, Welch had dismantled much of the earlier management put together by Jones with aggressive simplification and consolidation. One of his primary leadership directives was that GE had to be No. 1 or No. 2 in the industries it participated in.[12]

CEO
Through the 1980s, Welch sought to streamline GE. In 1981, he made a speech in New York City called "Growing fast in a slow-growth economy".[13] Under Welch's leadership, GE increased market value from $12 billion in 1981 to $410 billion when he retired,[14] making 600 acquisitions while shifting into emerging markets. Welch pioneered a policy of informality at the work place, allowing all employees to have a small business experience at a large corporation.[9] Welch worked to eradicate perceived inefficiency by trimming inventories and dismantling the bureaucracy that had almost led him to leave GE in the past. He closed factories, reduced payrolls and cut lackluster units.[15]

Welch valued surprise and made unexpected visits to GE's plants and offices.[9] Welch popularized so-called "rank and yank" policies used now by other corporate entities. Each year, Welch would fire the bottom 10% of his managers, regardless of absolute performance.[16] He earned a reputation for brutal candor. He rewarded those in the top 20% with bonuses and employee stock options. He also broadened the stock options program at GE, extending availability from top executives to nearly one third of all employees. Welch is also known for abolishing the nine-layer management hierarchy and bringing a sense of informality to the company.[17]

During the early 1980s he was dubbed "Neutron Jack" (in reference to the neutron bomb) for eliminating employees while leaving buildings intact.[18] In Jack: Straight From The Gut, Welch stated GE had 411,000 employees at the end of 1980, and 299,000 at the end of 1985. Of the 112,000 who left the payroll, 37,000 were in businesses which GE sold off, and 81,000 were reduced in continuing businesses. In return, GE had tremendously increased its market capitalization. Welch reduced basic research, and closed or sold off under-performing businesses.

In 1986, GE acquired RCA.[19] RCA's corporate headquarters were located in Rockefeller Center; Welch subsequently took up an office in the now GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The RCA acquisition resulted in GE selling off RCA properties to other companies and keeping NBC as part of the GE portfolio of businesses. During the 1990s, Welch shifted GE's business from manufacturing to financial services through numerous acquisitions.

Welch adopted Motorola's Six Sigma quality program in late 1995. In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8 billion and in 2000, the year before he left, they were nearly $130 billion.[14] By 1999 he was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine.[20]

Embedding succession planning and employee development is important since the departures of management can have significant consequences on an organization.[21] This decision will have paramount effects on future activities. Welch was passionate in making people GE's core competency.[22] There was a lengthy and publicized succession planning saga prior to his retirement among James McNerney, Robert Nardelli, and Jeff Immelt, with Immelt eventually selected to succeed Welch as chairman and CEO. His successor plan had always been a priority, as noted in his 1991 speech "From now on, [choosing my successor] is the most important decision I'll make. It occupies a considerable amount of thought almost every day."[23]

Welch's "walk-away" package from GE was not valued at the time of his retirement, but GMI Ratings estimates its worth at $420 million.[24]

He served as Chairman of The Business Council in 1991 and 1992.[25]

Criticism
Upon his retirement from GE, Welch had stated that his effectiveness as its CEO for two decades would be measured by the company's performance for a comparable period under his successors. Welch had grown GE to over $450 billion in market capitalization, of which about 40% was in financial services. Twenty years later, the company's market capitalization was only $200 billion, and Welch refused to discuss its decline, other than noting much of the decline had resulted from investments in real estate, and that his immediate, handpicked successor, Jeff Immelt had to deal with the aftereffects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.[26] The New York Times published a critical article in 2017, noting GE's stock price as overvalued under Welch because of the growth of the financial services sector, as well as describing the amalgamated corporation's decline in 16 years under Immelt, who likewise was one of the country's highest-paid managers and eventually sold off two of Welch's largest acquisitions, NBCUniversal and GE Capital.[27]

According to BusinessWeek in 1998, Welch's critics questioned whether the short-term performance pressure he placed on employees may have led them to "cut corners", thus contributing to subsequent scandals over defense-contracting, and/or the Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond-trading scheme in the early 1990s.[9] The following year, CEO Welch took issue with reclassification of GE in the Fortune 500 as a "diversified financial services company" rather than an "electrical equipment company," and by 2005 many had noted that the price-earnings ratios of the financial services sector were lower than that for GE.[28] In 2014, GE Capital (the company's major financial services branch organized during Welch's tenure) agreed to the largest credit card discrimination settlement in history, concerning many years of deceptive marketing as well as discriminatory credit practices.[29] After Welch's tenure, GE Capital had been labeled as "too big to fail" and had become regulated by the Federal Reserve. The retired Welch publicly praised his former firm's "slim-down" and return to being an industrial company.[28] In 2018 Welch discussed the different financial culture in Kidder, Peabody & Co., whose acquisition he arranged during his tenure at GE, and whose ethos was based on short term bonus calculations.[26] Shortly before the settlement was announced, GE Capital renamed itself as Synchrony Bank; the spin-off took two years.

Welch also often received criticism for a lack of compassion for the middle class and working class. When asked about excessive CEO pay compared to ordinary workers (including backdating stock options, golden parachutes for nonperformance, and extravagant retirement packages), Welch labeled such allegations "outrageous" and vehemently opposed proposed SEC regulations affecting executive compensation. Countering the public uproar, Welch declared that CEO compensation should continue to be dictated by the "free market," without interference from government or other outside parties.[30]

Welch's income and assets came under particular scrutiny during his divorce from his second wife, Jane Welch, in 2001, for adultery with the woman who became his third wife. Court filings during the divorce described Welch's GE compensation, which led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of the then-retired Welch's employment contracts with GE.[31][32] In 1996, Welch and GE had agreed to a "retention package" worth $2.5 million, and which promised continued access after Welch's retirement to benefits he had received as CEO—including an apartment in New York, baseball tickets and the use of a private jet and chauffeured car.[31][33] Welch stated that he did not want more money, nor a more traditional stock package, but instead preferred to retain the lifestyle he had enjoyed as GE's CEO. According to a 2008 interview with Welch, he had filed the agreement with the SEC, and addressed the media attention and accusations of being "greedy" by renouncing those benefits.[33]

In 2012, Welch and his third wife, Suzy Welch, quit their business associations with Fortune magazine and Reuters news service after Fortune published an article which criticized Welch's tweet shortly before the 2012 election that alleged the Obama administration manipulated certain economic statistics, as well as another article which elucidated the 100,000 jobs GE lost during his tenure as CEO.[34]

Later career
Following Welch's retirement from General Electric, he became an adviser to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and to the chief executive of IAC, Barry Diller.[35][36] In addition to his consulting and advisory roles, Welch had been active on the public speaking circuit and co-wrote a popular column for BusinessWeek with his wife, Suzy, for four years until November 2009. The column was syndicated by The New York Times.[36][37]

In September 2004, the Central Intelligence Agency published a parody of Welch applying his management skills while serving as imagined Deputy Director of Intelligence.[38]

In 2005, he published Winning, a book about management co-written with Suzy Welch, which reached No. 1 on The Wall Street Journal bestseller list,[39] and appeared on New York Times Best Seller list.[35][36]

On January 25, 2006, Welch gave his name to Sacred Heart University's College of Business, which was known as the "John F. Welch College of Business"[40] until 2016, when it began using the name the "Jack Welch College of Business." Since September 2006, Welch had been teaching a class at the MIT Sloan School of Management to a hand-picked group of 30 MBA students with a demonstrated career interest in leadership.[41]

In December 2016, Welch joined a business forum assembled by then president-elect Donald Trump to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues.[42]

Jack Welch Management Institute
In 2009, Welch founded the Jack Welch Management Institute (JWMI), a program at Chancellor University that offered an online executive Master of Business Administration. The institute was acquired by Strayer University in 2011.[43] Welch had been very actively involved with the curriculum, faculty and students since the beginning of the institution.[44][45] JWMI's MBA program was recently named the number one most influential education brand on Linkedin[46] and one of the top business schools to watch in 2016.[47] The program has also been named one of the Top 25 Online MBA Programs four years in a row (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) by The Princeton Review.[48] Its goal is not to make money, but to build over time focusing on the quality of the program and increasing the number of students enrolled year after year.[49]

At GE, Welch became known for his teaching and growing leaders. He had taught at MIT Sloan School of Management and taught seminars to CEOs all over the globe. "More than 35 CEOs at today's top companies [were] trained under Jack Welch".[50] JWMI students had direct access to Welch and he hosted quarterly video conferences with his students.[50]

It is known that along with his video conferences, Welch created many video responses to messages on bulletin boards and answered individual emails. His investment in the university was also reflected in his interest in the institute's Net Promoter score (NPS). He administered surveys on satisfaction regularly and scrutinized the results to find scores that needed improvement. In an interview with Wired Academic, Welch explained the overall status of his MBA program, stating that the persistence rate of students continuing on to a second year had grown from 90% to 95%, and that JWMI turns away very few students in the admissions process. He also said that he would like better leadership training for MBA students.[51]

Personal life
Welch had four children with his first wife, Carolyn. They divorced amicably in 1987 after 28 years of marriage.[52] His second wife, Jane Beasley, was a former mergers-and-acquisitions lawyer. She married Welch in April 1989, and they divorced in 2003. While Welch had crafted a prenuptial agreement, Beasley insisted on a ten-year time limit to its applicability, and thus she was able to leave the marriage reportedly with around $180 million.[53]

Welch's third wife, Suzy Wetlaufer (née Spring), co-authored his 2005 book Winning as Suzy Welch. She served briefly as the editor-in-chief of the Harvard Business Review. Welch's wife at the time, Jane Beasley, found out about an affair between Wetlaufer and Welch. Beasley informed the Review and Wetlaufer was forced to resign in early 2002 after admitting to the affair with Welch while preparing an interview with him for the magazine.[54] They married on April 24, 2004[55]

Starting in January 2012, Welch and Suzy Welch wrote a biweekly column for Reuters and Fortune,[56][57] which they both left on October 9, 2012, after an article critical of Welch and his GE career was published by Fortune.[58]

Death
Welch died from kidney failure at his home in Manhattan[59] on March 1, 2020, at age 84.[60][61][62]

Personal opinions
Welch identified politically as a Republican.[63] He stated that global warming is "the attack on capitalism that socialism couldn't bring", and that it is a form of "mass neurosis".[64] Yet, he said that every business must embrace green products and green ways of doing business, "whether you believe in global warming or not ... because the world wants these products".[65]

Regarding shareholder value, Welch said in a Financial Times interview on the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, "On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy...your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products".[66]

Welch was widely criticized for his views on the job numbers from September 2012.[67] After the Bureau of Labor Statistics released employment data stating that the U.S. unemployment rate had dropped from 8.1% to 7.8%, Welch tweeted, "Unbelievable jobs numbers ... these Chicago guys will do anything ... can't debate so change numbers".[68] Welch stood by his tweet, stating if he could write it again, he would add question marks at the end to make it clear that his intention was to raise a question over the legitimacy of the numbers.[69] A subsequent New York Post article on the employment data suggested manipulation of some of the survey responses by an individual employee in 2010,[70] but that article was widely debunked, including the fact that the employee had not worked at the Bureau since 2011.[71][72][73] No proof of the political manipulation of the job numbers from September 2012 has been presented.[74] The Census Bureau later released a statement denying the possibility of systematic manipulation of the data.[75] Still, in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Welch wrote that the debate led to people looking at unemployment data more carefully and skeptically. Referencing his original tweet, he stated "Thank God I did", in a Squawk Box appearance,[69] and also wrote, "The coming election is too important to be decided on a number. Especially when that number seems so wrong".[76]

Legacy
Jack Welch instilled an organizational behavior that he called "boundaryless". He called such a company, a "boundaryless company". He defined it as removing the barriers between traditional functions, and finding great ideas, anywhere within the organization, or from outside the organization, and sharing them with everyone in the company.[77][78][79][80] General Electric under CEO Jeff Immelt had realigned itself becoming more specialized, cutting off ties with older businesses, and is now more focused on services in finance, health care, and aircraft engines.[80]

An article from The New York Times highlights the fact that General Electric after the era of Jack Welch is more focused on core businesses after a spin-off of its North America retail finance business. After selling a fraction of its business, Immelt planned to use the proceeds to build the capital as a "standalone company", resulting in "a boost for shareholders".[81]

Popular culture
On March 11, 2010, Welch cameoed as himself in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, appearing in the season four episode "Future Husband". In the episode, Welch confronts Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy, to confirm the sale of NBC Universal to a fictional Philadelphia-based cable company called Kabletown. The sale is a satirical reference to the real-world acquisition of NBCUniversal from General Electric by Comcast in November 2009.[82]

Bibliography
Jack: Straight From The Gut, by Jack Welch — Warner Business Books (2001)(ISBN 0-446-69068-6)
Winning by Jack and Suzy Welch — HarperCollins (April 2005), (ISBN 0-06-075394-3)
Winning: The Answers by Jack and Suzy Welch — Harper (2006) (ISBN 0-00725264-1)

Robinhood

Robinhood Markets, Inc. is a U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in Menlo Park, California.[2][3] The company offers a mobile app and website that offers people the ability to invest in stocks, ETFs, and options through Robinhood Financial and crypto trading through Robinhood Crypto.[4] Robinhood operates a website and mobile apps for iPhone, Apple Watch, and Android.[5][6][7] The company has no storefront offices and operates entirely online to operate without fees.[8]

Robinhood is a FINRA-approved broker-dealer, registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.[9][2] The company's main source of revenue comes from interest earned on customers' cash balances and margin lending.[10][11] According to the company it has 6 million users
History
Robinhood was founded in April 2013 by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, who had previously built high-frequency trading platforms for financial institutions in New York City.[9][13] The company's name comes from its mission to "provide everyone with access to the financial markets, not just the wealthy". Tenev noted that executing a trade cost brokerages "fractions of a penny" but they typically charged fees of $5 to $10 per trade, as well as required account minimums of $500 to $5,000.[14][15]

The app officially launched in March 2015.[16]

As of January 2015, 80% of the firm's customers belonged to the "millennial" demographic (people born in the 1980s through mid-1990s) and the average customer age was 26.[17] Fifty percent of users who have made a trade use the app daily and 90% use the app weekly.[18] By February 2018, Robinhood had 3 million user accounts, around the same number as the online broker E-Trade.[19]

In April 2017, Robinhood raised $110 million at a $1.3 billion valuation led by Yuri Milner of DST Global, Greenoaks Capital, and Thrive Capital.[20][21] On May 10, 2018, Robinhood closed a $363 million Series D financing round led by DST Global.[22] As of May 2018, Robinhood had raised a total of $539 million in venture capital funding, with the last valuation at $5.6 billion, up from their previous evaluation of $1.3 billion.[22] In May 2019, reports from Bloomberg and other outlets publicized Robinhood’s pursuit of an additional $200 million in funding, which could value the company in the $7 billion to $10 billion range.[23][24] In November 2019 an expansion to the United Kingdom was announced.[25]

Products
Stock and ETF trading
Robinhood's original product was commission-free trades of stocks and exchange-traded funds. In February 2016 Robinhood introduced instant deposits, crediting users instantly for deposits up to $1,000; previously, funds took three days to appear via ACH transfer.[8] In September 2016 they launched Robinhood Gold, a premium subscription plan that offers up to $50,000 in instant deposits, margin trading, and more market analytics.[26] As of February 2017, the company had executed over $30 billion in trades.[10] In August 2017, the company began offering free stocks in exchange for referring new users.[27] Robinhood has prohibited its users from purchasing some high-risk penny stocks, such as banning purchases of Helios and Matheson Analytics, the owner of MoviePass, in August 2018.[28]

In October 2019 several major brokerages such as E-Trade, TD Ameritrade, and Charles Schwab announced in quick succession they were eliminating trading fees. Competition with Robinhood was cited as a reason.[29][30][31] Support for purchasing fractional shares and automatic dividend reinvestment was announced in December 2019.[32]

Cryptocurrency trading
On January 25, 2018, Robinhood announced a waitlist for commission-free cryptocurrency trading.[33][34] At the end of the first day the waitlist had grown to more than 1,250,000.[35] Robinhood began offering trading of Bitcoin and Ethereum to users in California, Massachusetts, Missouri, and Montana in February 2018.[36] In May 2018, Robinhood expanded its trading platform to Wisconsin and New Mexico.[37] By November 2019 trading was available in 46 states and the District of Columbia.[38]

Banking
In June 2018, it was reported that Robinhood was in talks to obtain a United States banking license, with a spokesperson from the company claiming the company was in "constructive" talks with the U.S. OCC.[39]

In December Robinhood announced checking and savings accounts, with debit cards issued by Ohio-based Sutton Bank, to be available in early 2019.[40] Robinhood claimed the accounts would have a 3% annual interest rate; at the time of the announcement the highest interest rate on a savings account from a licensed bank was 2.36%.[41] Robinhood initially claimed the accounts would be SIPC insured, which the SIPC denied.[42] The products were rebranded as "Cash Management" the next day.[43] In January 2019 the waitlist and sign-up page were removed from the app.[44] A new Cash Management feature was announced in October 2019, with FDIC insurance from various partner banks and an annual 2.05% interest rate, though lowered before launch to 1.8% after a federal rate cut.[45] The feature launched in December 2019.[46]

Controversies
Payment for order flow
Bloomberg News reported in October 2018 that Robinhood receives almost half of its revenue from payment for order flow.[47] The company later confirmed this on its corporate website when asked by CNBC.[48] The Wall Street Journal found that Robinhood "appears to be taking more cash for orders than rivals," by up to a 60-to-1 ratio, according to its regulatory filings.[49]

FINRA fined Robinhood $1.25M in December 2019 for failing to ensure that its customers received the best price for orders. All of Robinhood's trades between October 2016 and November 2017 were routed to companies that paid for order flow, and the company did not consider the price improvement which may have been obtained through other market makers.[50]

Security breach
In July 2019, Robinhood admitted to storing customer passwords in cleartext and in readable form across their internal systems, according to emails it sent to affected customers. Robinhood declined to say how many customers were affected by the error and claims that it did not find any evidence of abuse.[51]

Infinite money
In November 2019, a glitch was shared on the WallStreetBets subreddit that allowed Robinhood Gold users to borrow unlimited funds. The loophole was closed shortly thereafter and accounts that exploited it were suspended, but not before some accounts recorded six figure losses by using what WallStreetBets users dubbed the "infinite money cheat code."[52][53][54]

Outage
On March 2 2020, Robinhood suffered a systemwide all-day outage during the largest daily point gain in the Dow Jones' history, preventing users from performing most actions on the platform, including opening and closing positions

CDC

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the leading national public health institute of the United States. The CDC is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.[2]

Its main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability in the US and internationally.[3] The CDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease control and prevention. It especially focuses its attention on infectious disease, food borne pathogens, environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, injury prevention and educational activities designed to improve the health of United States citizens. In addition, the CDC researches and provides information on non-infectious diseases such as obesity and diabetes and is a founding member of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes.
The Communicable Disease Center was founded July 1, 1946, as the successor to the World War II Malaria Control in War Areas program[5] of the Office of National Defense Malaria Control Activities.[6]

Preceding its founding, organizations with global influence in malaria control were the Malaria Commission of the League of Nations and the Rockefeller Foundation.[7] The Rockefeller Foundation greatly supported malaria control,[7] sought to have the governments take over some of its efforts, and collaborated with the agency.[8]

The new agency was a branch of the U.S. Public Health Service and Atlanta was chosen as the location because malaria was endemic in the Southern United States.[9] The agency changed names (see infobox on top) before adopting the name Communicable Disease Center in 1946. Offices were located on the sixth floor of the Volunteer Building on Peachtree Street.

With a budget at the time of about $1 million, 59 percent of its personnel were engaged in mosquito abatement and habitat control with the objective of control and eradication of malaria in the United States[10] (see National Malaria Eradication Program).

Among its 369 employees, the main jobs at CDC were originally entomology and engineering. In CDC's initial years, more than six and a half million homes were sprayed, mostly with DDT. In 1946, there were only seven medical officers on duty and an early organization chart was drawn, somewhat fancifully, in the shape of a mosquito. Under Joseph Walter Mountin, the CDC continued to advocate for public health issues and pushed to extend its responsibilities to many other communicable diseases.[11]

In 1947, the CDC made a token payment of $10 to Emory University for 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land on Clifton Road in DeKalb County, still the home of CDC headquarters as of 2019. CDC employees collected the money to make the purchase. The benefactor behind the "gift" was Robert W. Woodruff, chairman of the board of The Coca-Cola Company. Woodruff had a long-time interest in malaria control, which had been a problem in areas where he went hunting. The same year, the PHS transferred its San Francisco based plague laboratory into the CDC as the Epidemiology Division, and a new Veterinary Diseases Division was established.[5] An Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) was established in 1951, originally due to biological warfare concerns arising from the Korean War; it evolved into two-year postgraduate training program in epidemiology, and a prototype for Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP), now[when?] found in numerous countries, reflecting CDC's influence in promoting this model internationally.[12]

The mission of CDC expanded beyond its original focus on malaria to include sexually transmitted diseases when the Venereal Disease Division of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) was transferred to the CDC in 1957. Shortly thereafter, Tuberculosis Control was transferred (in 1960) to the CDC from PHS, and then in 1963 the Immunization program was established.[13]

It became the National Communicable Disease Center (NCDC) effective July 1, 1967.[6] The organization was renamed the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on June 24, 1970, and Centers for Disease Control effective October 14, 1980.[6] An act of the United States Congress appended the words "and Prevention" to the name effective October 27, 1992. However, Congress directed that the initialism CDC be retained because of its name recognition.[14]

Currently[when?], the CDC focus has broadened to include chronic diseases, disabilities, injury control, workplace hazards, environmental health threats, and terrorism preparedness. CDC combats emerging diseases and other health risks, including birth defects, West Nile virus, obesity, avian, swine, and pandemic flu, E. coli, and bioterrorism, to name a few. The organization would also prove to be an important factor in preventing the abuse of penicillin. In May 1994 the CDC admitted having sent several biological warfare agents to the Iraqi government from 1984 through 1989, including Botulinum toxin, West Nile virus, Yersinia pestis and Dengue fever virus.[15]

On April 21, 2005, then–CDC Director Julie Gerberding formally announced the reorganization of CDC to "confront the challenges of 21st-century health threats".[16] The four Coordinating Centers—established under the G. W. Bush Administration and Gerberding—"diminished the influence of national centers under [their] umbrella",[clarification needed] and were ordered cut under the Obama Administration in 2009.[17]

Today[when?], the CDC's Biosafety Level 4 laboratories are among the few that exist in the world,[18] and serve as one of only two official repositories of smallpox in the world. The second smallpox store resides at the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in the Russian Federation. The CDC revealed in 2014 that it had discovered several misplaced smallpox samples and also that lab workers had potentially been infected with anthrax.[19]

Organization
The CDC is organized into "Centers, Institutes, and Offices" (CIOs), with each organizational unit implementing the agency's activities in a particular area of expertise while also providing intra-agency support and resource-sharing for cross-cutting issues and specific health threats. Generally, CDC "Offices" are subdivided into Centers, which in turn are composed of Divisions and Branches.[5] However, the Center for Global Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are freestanding organizational units and do not belong to a parent Office.

As of August 2019, the CIOs are:

Director
Principal Deputy Director
Deputy Director - Public Health Service and Implementation Science
Office of Minority Health and Health Equity
Center for Global Health
Center for Preparedness and Response
Center for State, Tribal, Local, and Territory Support
Deputy Director - Public Health Science and Surveillance
Office of Science
Office of Laboratory Science and Safety
Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services
National Center for Health Statistics
Deputy Director - Non-Infectious Diseases
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
Deputy Director - Infectious Diseases
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (includes the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, which issues quarantine orders)
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Office of the Director
Chief of Staff
Chief Operating Officer
Human Resources Office
Office of Financial Resources
Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Chief Medical Officer
CDC Washington Office
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity
Associate Director - Communication
Associate Director - Laboratory Science and Safety
Associate Director - Policy and Strategy
The Office of Public Health Preparedness was created during the 2001 anthrax attacks shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Its purpose was to coordinate among the government the response to a range of biological terrorism threats.[20]

Budget and operations
CDC's budget for fiscal year 2018 is $11.9 billion.[21]

In addition to its Atlanta headquarters, CDC's other domestic locations are Anchorage, Fort Collins, Hyattsville, Research Triangle Park, San Juan (Puerto Rico), and Washington, D.C., while NIOSH operates its own facilities in Cincinnati, Morgantown, Pittsburgh, Spokane, Denver, and Anchorage.[22] In addition, CDC operates quarantine facilities in 20 cities in the U.S.[23]

The CDC offers grants that help many organizations each year advance health, safety and awareness at the community level throughout the United States. The CDC awards over 85 percent of its annual budget through these grants.[24]

Workforce
As of 2008, CDC staff numbered approximately 15,000 (including 6,000 contractors and 840 Commissioned Corps officers) in 170 occupations. Eighty percent held bachelor's degrees or higher; almost half had advanced degrees (a master's degree or a doctorate such as a PhD, D.O., or M.D.).[25]

Common CDC job titles include engineer, entomologist, epidemiologist, biologist, physician, veterinarian, behavioral scientist, nurse, medical technologist, economist, public health advisor, health communicator, toxicologist, chemist, computer scientist, and statistician.[26]

The CDC also operates a number of notable training and fellowship programs, including those indicated below.

Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS)
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is composed of "boots-on-the-ground disease detectives" who investigate public health problems domestically and globally.[27] When called upon by a governmental body, EIS officers may embark on short-term epidemiological assistance assignments, or "Epi-Aids", to provide technical expertise in containing and investigating disease outbreaks.[28][29][30] The EIS program is a model for the international Field Epidemiology Training Program.

Public Health Associates Program
The CDC also operates the Public Health Associate Program (PHAP), a two-year paid fellowship for recent college graduates to work in public health agencies all over the United States. PHAP was founded in 2007 and currently[?] has 159 associates in 34 states.[31]

Leadership
The Director of CDC is a Senior Executive Service position[32] that may be filled either by a career employee, or as a political appointment that does not require Senate confirmation, with the latter method typically being used. The director serves at the pleasure of the President and may be fired at any time.[33][34][35] The CDC director concurrently serves as the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.[36]

Sixteen directors have served the CDC or its predecessor agencies.[37][38]

Louis L. Williams Jr., MD (1942–1943)
Mark D. Hollis, ScD (1944–1946)
Raymond A. Vonderlehr, MD (1947–1951)
Justin M. Andrews, ScD (1952–1953)
Theodore J. Bauer, MD (1953–1956)
Robert J. Anderson, MD, MPH (1956–1960)
Clarence A. Smith, MD, MPH (1960–1962)
James L. Goddard, MD, MPH (1962–1966)
David J. Sencer, MD, MPH (1966–1977)
William H. Foege, MD, MPH (1977–1983)
James O. Mason, MD, MPH, Ph.D (1983–1989)
William L. Roper, MD, MPH (1990–1993)
David Satcher, MD, PhD (1993–1998)
Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, MPH (1998–2002)[39]
Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH (2002–2008)
Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH (2009 – Jan 2017)[33]
Anne Schuchat, MD, RADM USPHS (Jan–July 2017)[40]
Brenda Fitzgerald, MD (July 2017 – Jan 2018)[41]
Anne Schuchat, MD (Jan–Mar 2018)
Robert R. Redfield, MD (March 2018–present)[42]
Datasets and survey systems
CDC Scientific Data, Surveillance, Health Statistics, and Laboratory Information.[43]
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the world's largest, ongoing telephone health-survey system.[44]
Mortality Medical Data System.[45]
Abortion statistics in the United States[46]
Areas of focus
Communicable diseases
The CDC's programs address more than 400 diseases, health threats, and conditions that are major causes of death, disease, and disability. The CDC's website has information on various infectious (and noninfectious) diseases, including smallpox, measles, and others.

Influenza
The CDC has launched campaigns targeting the transmission of influenza, including the H1N1 swine flu, and launched websites to educate people in proper hygiene.[47]

Division of Select Agents and Toxins
Within the division are two programs: the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) and the Import Permit Program. The FSAP is run jointly with an office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, regulating agents that can cause disease in humans, animals, and plants. The Import Permit Program regulates the importation of "infectious biological materials."[48]

The CDC runs a program that protects the public from rare and dangerous substances such as anthrax and the Ebola virus. The program, called the Federal Select Agent Program, calls for inspections of labs in the U.S. that work with dangerous pathogens.[49]

During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the CDC helped coordinate the return of two infected American aid workers for treatment at Emory University Hospital, the home of a special unit to handle highly infectious diseases.[50]

As a response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Congress passed a Continuing Appropriations Resolution allocating $30,000,000 towards CDC's efforts to fight the virus.[51]

Non-communicable diseases
The CDC also works on non-communicable diseases, including chronic diseases caused by obesity, physical inactivity and tobacco-use.[52]

Antibiotic resistance
The CDC implemented their National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria as a measure against the spread of antibiotic resistance in the United States. This initiative has a budget of $161 million and includes the development of the Antibiotic Resistance Lab Network.[53]

Global health
The CDC works with other organizations around the world to address global health challenges and contain disease threats at their source. It works closely with many international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as ministries of health and other groups on the front lines of outbreaks. The agency maintains staff in more than 60 countries, including some from the U.S. but even more from the countries in which it operates.[54] The agency's global divisions include the Division of Global HIV and TB (DGHT), the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria (DPDM), the Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP), and the Global Immunization Division (GID).[55]

The CDC is integral in working with the WHO to implement the International Health Regulations (IHR), a legally binding agreement between 196 countries to prevent, control, and report on the international spread of disease, through initiatives including the Global Disease Detection Program (GDD).[56]

The CDC is also a lead implementer of key U.S. global health initiatives such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative.[57]

Travelers' health
The CDC collects and publishes health information for travelers in a comprehensive book, CDC Health Information for International Travel, which is commonly known as the "yellow book."[58] The book is available online and in print as a new edition every other year and includes current travel health guidelines, vaccine recommendations, and information on specific travel destinations. The CDC also issues travel health notices on its website, consisting of three levels:

"Watch": Level 1 (practice usual precautions)

"Alert": Level 2 (practice enhanced precautions)

"Warning": Level 3 (avoid nonessential travel)[59]

Foundation
The CDC Foundation operates independently from CDC as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of Georgia. The creation of the Foundation was authorized by section 399F of the Public Health Service Act to support the mission of CDC in partnership with the private sector, including organizations, foundations, businesses, educational groups, and individuals.[60][61]

Popular culture and controversies
Lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water
Because of the Lead contamination in Washington, D.C. drinking water the United States House of Representatives conducted an investigation, that uncovered that the CDC had made claims in a report that had indicated there was no risk from high lead levels - although it is the opposite.[citation needed]

Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male
For 15 years, the CDC had direct oversight over the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.[62] In the study, which lasted from 1932 to 1972, a group of African American men (nearly 400 of whom had syphilis) were studied to learn more about the disease. Notably, the disease was left untreated in the research subjects and they never gave their informed consent to serve as research subjects. The Tuskegee Study was initiated in 1932 by the Public Health Service. The CDC took over the study in 1957.[63]

The CDC's response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s has been criticized for promoting some public health policies that harmed HIV+ people and for providing ineffective public education. The agency's response to the 2001 anthrax attacks was also criticized for ineffective communication with other public health agencies and with the public.[64]

CDC zombie apocalypse outreach campaign
On May 16, 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's blog published an article instructing the public on what to do to prepare for a zombie invasion. While the article did not claim that such a scenario was possible, it did use the popular culture appeal as a means of urging citizens to prepare for all potential hazards, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods.[65]

According to David Daigle, the Associate Director for Communications, Public Health Preparedness and Response, the idea arose when his team was discussing their upcoming hurricane-information campaign and Daigle mused that "we say pretty much the same things every year, in the same way, and I just wonder how many people are paying attention." A social-media employee mentioned that the subject of zombies had come up a lot on Twitter when she had been tweeting about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and radiation. The team realized that a campaign like this would most likely reach a different audience from the one that normally pays attention to hurricane-preparedness warnings and went to work on the zombie campaign, launching it right before hurricane season began. "The whole idea was, if you're prepared for a zombie apocalypse, you're prepared for pretty much anything," said Daigle.[66]

Once the blog article became popular, the CDC announced an open contest for YouTube submissions of the most creative and effective videos covering preparedness for a zombie apocalypse (or apocalypse of any kind), to be judged by the "CDC Zombie Task Force". Submissions were open until October 11, 2011.[67] They also released a zombie-themed graphic novella available on their website.[68] Zombie-themed educational materials for teachers are available on the site.[69]

Gun violence
One area of current[when?] partisan dispute related to CDC funding is studying gun violence. The 1996 Dickey Amendment states "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control".[70] Advocates for gun control oppose the amendment and have tried to overturn it.[71]

In 1992, Mark L. Rosenberg and five CDC colleagues founded the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, with an annual budget of c. $260,000 that focused on "identifying the root causes of firearm deaths and the best methods to prevent them".[72] Their first report which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1993, entitled "Gun Ownership as a Risk Factor for Homicide in the Home" reported that the "mere presence of a gun in a home increased the risk of a firearm-related death by 2.7 percent, and suicide fivefold—a "huge" increase."[72] In response, the NRA launched a "campaign to shut down the Injury Center." Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership and Doctors for Integrity and Policy Research joined the pro-gun effort and by 1995, politicians also supported the pro-gun initiative. In 1996, Jay Dickey (R) Arkansas introduced the Dickey Amendment statement "which stated "none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control" as a rider[70] in the 1996 appropriations bill."[72] In 1997, "Congress redirected all of the money previously earmarked for gun violence research to the study of traumatic brain injury."[72] David Satcher, who was the CDC head from 1993 to 1998[73] advocated for gun violence research until he left in 1998. In 1999 Rosenberg was fired.[72] Over a dozen "public health insiders, including current and former CDC senior leaders" told The Trace interviewers that CDC senior leaders took an overly cautious stance in their interpretation of the Dickey amendment. They could have done much more.[72] Rosenberg told The Trace in 2016, "Right now, there is nothing stopping them from addressing this life-and-death national problem."[72]

The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2013 asking them "to support at least $10 million within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in FY 2014 along with sufficient new funding at the National Institutes of Health to support research into the causes and prevention of gun violence. Furthermore, we urge Members to oppose any efforts to reduce, eliminate, or condition CDC funding related to gun violence prevention research."[74] Congress maintained the ban in subsequent budgets.[71]

Language guidelines
In December 2017, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration had issued a list of seven words that were forbidden in official CDC documentation.[75][76] Yuval Levin, after contacting HHS officials, wrote in the traditionally conservative-leaning National Review that the Post story was not accurate.

James Lipton

Louis James Lipton (September 19, 1926 – March 2, 2020) was an American writer, lyricist, actor, and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He was the executive producer, writer, and host of the Bravo cable television series Inside the Actors Studio, which debuted in 1994. He retired from the show in 2018
Early life
Lipton was born on September 19, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of Betty (née Weinberg), a teacher and librarian,[3] and Lawrence Lipton, a journalist and beat poet. Known for writing the Beat Generation chronicle The Holy Barbarians, Lawrence was a graphic designer, a columnist for the Jewish Daily Forward, and a publicity director for a movie theater.[4][5] Lawrence was a Polish Jewish immigrant (from Łódź), while Betty's parents were Russian Jews.[6][7][8] His parents divorced when Lipton was six,[3] and his father abandoned the family.[9]

Lipton's family struggled financially, and he started to work at age 13.[9] He worked in high school as a newspaper copy boy for the Detroit Times and as an actor in the Catholic Theater of Detroit and in radio.[3][9] After graduating from Central High School in Detroit, he attended Wayne State University for one year in the mid-1940s and enlisted in the United States Air Force
Lipton portrayed Dan Reid, the Lone Ranger's nephew, on WXYZ Radio's The Lone Ranger. He initially studied to be a lawyer in New York City, and turned to acting to finance his education.[3][10][11] He wrote for several soap operas: Another World, The Edge of Night, Guiding Light, The Best of Everything, Return to Peyton Place and Capitol. He also acted for over ten years on The Guiding Light.[10] Lipton studied for two and half years with Stella Adler, four years with Harold Clurman, and two years with Robert Lewis.[3] He also started studying voice and dance (including modern dance and classical ballet), and choreographed a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre.[3]

In 1951, he appeared in the Broadway play The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman. He portrayed a shipping clerk turned gang member in Joseph Strick's 1953 film, The Big Break, a crime drama. He was the librettist and lyricist for the short-lived 1967 Broadway musical Sherry!, based on the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play The Man Who Came to Dinner, with music by his childhood friend Laurence Rosenthal. The score and orchestrations were lost for over 30 years, and the original cast was never recorded. In 2003, a studio cast recording (with Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Carol Burnett, Tommy Tune, Mike Myers and others) renewed interest in the show.[12][13]

His book, An Exaltation of Larks, was first published in 1968, and has been in-print and revised several times since then, including a 1993 Penguin Books edition.[14] The book is a collection of "terms of venery", both real and created by Lipton himself. The dust jacket biography for the first edition of Exaltation said his activities included fencing, swimming, and equestrian pursuits and that he had written two Broadway productions.

In 1983, Lipton published his novel, Mirrors, about dancers' lives. He later wrote and produced it as a made-for-television movie.[10] For the genre of television, Lipton produced some two dozen specials including: twelve Bob Hope Birthday Specials; The Road to China, an NBC entertainment special produced in China; and the first televised presidential inaugural gala (for Jimmy Carter).[10]

In 2004, 2005, 2013, and 2019, Lipton appeared on several episodes of Arrested Development as Warden Stefan Gentles. In 2008, he provided the voice for the Director in the Disney animation film Bolt. He played "himself" as Brain Wash, interviewer of the monster Eva's acting teacher in the Paris-Vietnam animated film Igor. Lipton also appears twice in the same episode of Family Guy in cutaways where he simply says "Improv!" both times
In the early 1990s, Lipton was inspired by Bernard Pivot and sought to create a three-year educational program for actors that would be a distillation of what he had learned in the 12 years of his own intensive studies.[10] In 1994, he arranged for the Actors Studio—the home base of "method acting" in the United States for over 60 years—to join with New York City's New School University and form the Actors Studio Drama School, a formal degree-granting program at the graduate level.[10] After ending its contract with the New School, the Actors Studio established The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in 2006.[citation needed]

Lipton created a project within the Actors Studio Drama School: a non-credit class called Inside the Actors Studio (1994), where successful and accomplished actors, directors and writers would be interviewed and would answer questions from acting students.[10] These sessions are also taped, edited, and broadcast on television for the general public to see. The episodes are viewed in 89 million homes throughout 125 countries.[16] Lipton hosted the show and conducted the main interview.[10] During an interview with Daniel Simone, author of The Lufthansa Heist, when asked if he had anticipated the sudden success, Lipton responded, "Not in my wildest imaginations. It was a joint, arduous effort involving many people. At a point and time not too distant in the past, I had three lives. I was the dean of the Actors Studio, the writer of the series, its host and executive producer. I maintained a preposterous sixteen-hour schedule."[17] He was awarded France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014 for his work in the show.[16]

In September 2018, Lipton declared that he was stepping down from the program after more than 24 years.[18]

Personal life
Between 1954 and 1959, Lipton was married to actress Nina Foch. He was married to Kedakai Turner Lipton, a model and real estate broker, from 1970 until his death. Kedakai Turner Lipton was known as the model playing Miss Scarlett on the cover of the boardgame Clue.[5] She was the book and illustration designer for James Lipton's book, An Exaltation of Larks, The Ultimate Edition.

In the 200th episode of Inside the Actors Studio, Lipton revealed that he was an atheist. He also revealed that, during the 1950s, he had been a procurer of prostitutes in Paris.[9]

Lipton stated in interviews that he was a pilot, certified in Airplane Single Engine Land planes.[19][20] He had been flying since 1980 and learned in a Cessna 152 and 172, at Van Nuys Airport. As of 2013, he had logged more than 1,000 hours of flight time. Lipton was a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.[21]

Death
Lipton died of bladder cancer at his home in Manhattan on March 2, 2020, at the age of 93.[1]

In popular culture
On MadTV, he was portrayed by Will Sasso and Paul C. Vogt. On Saturday Night Live, he was portrayed by Will Ferrell. On Mr Show, he was portrayed by David Cross.

Clare Crawley

Clare Crawley (born March 20, 1981)[1] is an American hairstylist and television personality, best known for her role as the runner-up on the 18th season of ABC's The Bachelor and as the lead of the 16th season of The Bachelorette.[2] She also appeared on seasons 1 and 2 of Bachelor in Paradise, and on Bachelor Winter Games.
Early life and education
Crawley was born in Sacramento, California and is the youngest of six sisters. She is of Mexican descent on her mother's side.[3] Her father passed away from brain cancer in 2004.[4]

Career
Crawley is a hairstylist at De Facto Salon in Sacramento.[5][6]

Television shows
The Bachelor
Crawley first appeared as a contestant on Juan Pablo Galavis's season of The Bachelor, where she made it to the final two but was rejected in favor of fellow contestant Nikki Ferrell.[7] During her time on The Bachelor, she and Galavis went out at night to swim in the ocean together, which Galavis later called a mistake as he did not want to set a bad example for his daughter.[8] After Galavis rejected her, Crawley called him out for the inappropriate language he used regarding their time together, which was met with widespread praise by viewers.[9]

Bachelor in Paradise
After The Bachelor, Crawley appeared on the first two seasons of Bachelor in Paradise; however, she was unsuccessful in finding love and left voluntarily on both seasons.[10][11]

Bachelor Winter Games
Crawley returned for The Bachelor Winter Games, where she was involved in a love triangle with Christian Rauch and Benoit Beauséjour-Savard.[12] Although Crawley left alone, the reunion special on February 22, 2018, revealed she and Beauséjour-Savard had gotten back together offscreen. Beauséjour-Savard proposed to Crawley on stage, and she accepted.[13] On April 6, 2018, the couple revealed they had broken up.[14] Beauséjour-Savard later returned for season 5 of Bachelor In Paradise.

Chris Matthews

Christopher John Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American political commentator, retired talk show host, and author. Matthews hosted his weeknight hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, on MSNBC from 1994 until March 2, 2020, when he announced his retirement on air.

Early life and education

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Mary Teresa (née Shields) and Herb Matthews, a court reporter.[4][5] Matthews' father was a Protestant of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his mother was from an Irish Catholic family;[6] Matthews is a Roman Catholic.[7]



Matthews attended La Salle College High School. Matthews is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[8][9] Matthews was also a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics.[10]



Matthews served in the United States Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970[11] as a trade development adviser.



Matthews holds 34 honorary degrees from numerous universities and colleges.



Awards

Matthews is the recipient of several awards, including The Pennsylvania Society's Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement in 2005,[12] the Abraham Lincoln Award from the Union League of Philadelphia,[13] the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Award,[14] and the 2016 Tip O'Neill Irish Diaspora Award.[15]



Career

Political career and views

When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as an officer with the United States Capitol Police.[16] Subsequently, Matthews served on the staffs of four Democratic Members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, Matthews mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary.[17] Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter Administration, and later worked for six years as Chief of Staff to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan Administration.

Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am.... I voted for George W. in 2000."[18] Salon.com has called him the "most conservative voice" on MSNBC's primetime lineup.[19] Matthews has been accused by Media Matters for America[20] of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.[21][22]

On the April 14, 2008, edition of The Colbert Report, Matthews alluded to a possible run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania.[23] On November 28, 2008, Matthews contacted senior staffers of Barack Obama's campaign about a possible Senate run.[24][25] On January 7, 2009, The New York Times reported that Matthews told his staffers that he would not run for the Senate.[26]

While discussing proposed healthcare reform on the December 17, 2009, edition of Hardball, Matthews stated, "The Republicans will know they have lost.... Let them keep score and it's easy. It's complicated when liberals get to keep score. We're always arguing. Well, I'm a liberal, too."[27][28]

In 2004, at the Democratic National Convention, Matthews predicted that he had "just seen the first black president".[29]

The Huffington Post reported on Matthews' emotional expressions of support for Barack Obama during the 2008 Presidential election, quoting him as saying "I have to tell you, you know, it's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often." [30]

According to a 2011 study, Matthews has a history of making misogynistic comments in his political coverage.[31] The study found that Matthews treated Hillary Clinton worse in the 2008 Democratic primary than any other news person.[31] During the primaries, Matthews depicted her with horns on her head, said that the only reason she was a front-runner in the primary was because "her husband messed around", said "she didn't win there on merit" and referred to her as a "she-devil".[31]

In March 2012, Matthews described himself as a centrist during an episode of his MSNBC talk show Hardball. That statement was questioned by Mediaite's Josh Feldman directly afterward, based on Matthews' frequent condemnation of right-wing political figures and his emotional expression of support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Feldman observed that Matthews has criticized liberals such as Hillary Clinton and occasionally even Barack Obama, and that this could explain Matthews' description of himself as a "centrist".[32]

On November 18, 2019, Matthews was interviewing Representative Eric Swalwell when he farted aloud and sparked #FartGate online. Swalwell denied ripping the fart and pinned the blame on either Matthews or a moving mug.[33]

On February 7, 2020, Matthews followed a Democratic Party presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire as a panel member to discuss what had been broadcast. Afterward, after praising participant Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar before a live MSNBC studio audience, he launched into what Rolling Stone characterized as an on-air "unbelievable post-debate rant" against Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. Matthews began speculating that, as a socialist, erratically comparing Sanders to Fidel Castro, Sanders might support public executions in New York's Central Park, and that Matthews himself might be a victim of such supposed executions.[34] MSNBC host Chris Hayes broke in at one point and said that Sanders supported the type of nonviolent, democratic socialism found in Denmark, but Matthews continued to maintain that Sanders might support violent revolution.[34] Matthews was responding to Sanders' answer to a question posed by moderator George Stephanopoulos about how to pay for his "Medicare for All," and if that would bring people together. Sanders answered, "The way you bring people together is to make it clear that we're not going to give tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations. They're going to start paying their fair share of taxes. The way you bring people together is by ending the international disgrace of this country being the only major nation on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right".[35]

Author and talk show host
Matthews worked in print media for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner (1987–2000) and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his research in the National Archives produced a series of exclusives on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988.

In 1997, Matthews began his own weeknight talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on America's Talking and then moved to MSNBC. Hardball with Chris Matthews featured pundits and elected officials as guests.

The Chris Matthews Show aired in syndication from 2002 until 2013. The show was formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who served as the moderator. He is estimated to earn more than $5 million a year. He is the author of eight best-selling books:

Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit (2017)
Tip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked (2013)
Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero (2011)
Life's a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success (2007)
American: Beyond our Grandest Notions (2002)
Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (2001)
Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America (1996)
Hardball: How Politics is Played, Told by One Who Knows the Game (1988)
Elusive Hero spent 12 weeks on The New York Times' bestseller list.[36] The book was lauded by critics. "Matthews excels in capturing the tribalism of the Irish Catholic culture and experience Kennedy both absorbed and overcame as he made his way...[and] is at his best in describing political dynamics," The Washington Post said.[37] "Matthews proves a compelling storyteller," said The Boston Globe.[38] "Matthews has produced a valuable addition to the literature about the life and career of our 35th president," said The Christian Science Monitor.[39] "Matthews's stirring biography reveals Kennedy as a 'fighting prince never free from pain, never far from trouble, and never accepting the world he found,'" said Publishers Weekly.[40]

In 2013, Matthews announced that he had signed a long-term contract extension with MSNBC but that he would no longer host The Chris Matthews Show in order to focus his efforts on Hardball, writing books, and producing documentaries. The final episode of The Chris Matthews Show aired on July 21.[41]

On March 2, 2020, Matthews announced his retirement from Hardball, effective immediately.[42]

Controversies
Sexual harassment allegations
In December, 2017, details surfaced of a 1999 settlement Matthews' employer, CNBC, reached with a female producer of Matthews' program who alleged Matthews made inappropriate comments about her in front of colleagues in the workplace.[43][44][45][46][47]

In February 2020, political journalist Laura Bassett alleged that, prior to appearing on his program in October 2016, to comment on sexual assault allegations against then candidate Donald Trump, Matthews made inappropriate remarks about Bassett's television studio makeup, clothing, and dating life, and asked her, "Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?” Bassett claims that when she laughed nervously, and said nothing, Matthews followed up to the makeup artist with: “Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.”[48][49] In 2017, Bassett had previously published a personal essay about the incident, [50] and was afraid to name Matthews at the time for fear of retaliation from MSNBC.

Nazi metaphor
On February 22, 2020, commenting on the 2020 Nevada Democratic caucuses, Matthews invoked "the fall of France" to the Nazis in 1940 as a metaphor for Bernie Sanders's victory in the state.[51] As members of Sanders's family were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, his comparison was viewed as insensitive and prompted widespread negative reactions on Twitter calling for him to be removed from MSNBC.[52] This came after Matthews' similar inflammatory remarks that "if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War there would have been executions in Central Park."[53] With mounting criticism of his Nazi analogy, on his Monday, February 24 show, Matthews issued an unusual on-air apology to Senator Sanders and his supporters.[54] Matthews has not apologized for his execution remarks.

Personal life

Matthews has been married since 1980 to Kathleen Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., before accepting a position as an executive vice president with Marriott International. In 2015, Kathleen Matthews launched an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination to run for a House seat in Maryland's 8th congressional district, which has been represented by progressive Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin since 2016. The couple have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican, is a former county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.[55] He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.[56]

Matthews is a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan.[57]

Matthews was the commencement speaker at Ohio State University on May 4, 2014[58] and Merrimack College on May 15, 2015

Amar Singh (politician)

Amar Singh (born 27 January 1956) is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh who was one of the leaders of Samajwadi Party.[2][3] He was the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. On 6 January 2010, he resigned from all the posts of Samajwadi Party[4] and was later expelled from the party by its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on 2 February 2010.[5] He spent a brief period in judicial custody in 2011. He finally retired from politics.[6] In his statement he mentioned, "I want to give more time to my wife and my family. Therefore after the last day of polling (on May 13), I will retire from politics." In 2016, he was elected to Rajya Sabha with support from Samajwadi Party even after facing a stiff opposition from a section of the party including the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav. He was also reinstated as one of the general secretaries of the party in October 2016.
Political career
Singh's prominence in Delhi surged when the UPA government was reduced to a minority after the Communist Party of India withdrew their support over the proposed Nuclear Accord with the United States. His Samajwadi Party pledged support to the UPA government with the support of its 39 members.[7]

On 6 January 2010, he was kicked out from the party as well as from its parliamentary board and as its spokesperson. He also used his blog to speak about his abrupt departure from the Samajwadi Party.[citation needed] Mr Singh along with his close associate Jaya Prada were expelled from the Samajwadi Party in February, 2010. On 21 December 2010, Singh launched his official website and blog, supposedly after being encouraged by Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan, whom he was close to at the time.[citation needed]

Singh floated his own political party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and fielded candidates in 360 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2012 assembly polls. However his party did not win a single seat in these election. He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal party in March 2014, contested the general elections that year from Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh in 2014 Indian general election and lost.[8]

He was admitted at a hospital in Dubai with kidney failure and was stated to be critical on February 19, 2013. [9].

Positions held
Nov. 1996 : Elected to Rajya Sabha
1997-98 : Member, Committee on Papers Laid on the Table
1998-99 and Oct. 2004 onwards : Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance
June 1998 – Feb. 2004 and Aug. 2004 – Aug. 2006 : Member, Committee on Finance
1999–2001 : Member, Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Rajya Sabha
1999 : Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Member, Informal Consultative Committee for Northern Railway Zone
April 2001 – Dec.2002 : Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on Stock Market Scam and matters relating thereto
March 2002 – Nov. 2002 : Member, Committee on Petitions
Nov. 2002 : Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
June 2003 – Aug. 2004 : Member, Committee of Privileges
Aug. 2004 – May 2009 and Aug.2009 onwards : Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare
Aug. 2004 onwards : Member, General Purposes Committee
Sept. 2006 onwards : Member, Business Advisory Committee
May 2008 – Nov. 2008 : Member, Committee on Public Undertakings
Nov. 2008 : Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Jan. 2010 onwards : Member, Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health.[citation needed]
2016 : Elected to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh as an independent member by support of Samajwadi Party
Controversies
On 22 July 2008 he accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of kidnapping six MPs of his party from Uttar Pradesh and holding them captive in Uttar Pradesh Bhavan, New Delhi.[10][11][12][13] Later, Samajwadi Party expelled the six MPs for defying the party directive during the confidence motion voting.[14]

He also courted controversy by asking for a probe in the Jamia Nagar Batla house encounter case. First he gave ₹10 lakh cheque to the family of Mohan Chand Sharma, a police officer who died in the encounter, which bounced when checked its validity. Later he asked for a judicial enquiry into the firing incidence suggesting that the encounter may have been fake. Mohan Chand Sharma's family criticized him and returned his money.[15][16][17][18]

Amar Singh has been chargesheeted for offering bribes to three parliament members of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2008 under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Delhi Police on 24 August 2011.[19] Amar Singh has pleaded health grounds for not appearing before the courts where the chargesheet was being heard.[20] However, distressed by adverse media reports, Mr. Singh has appeared before the courts to dispel allegations that he is running away from a process of law. After hearing his personal pleas, the Court has sent Mr. Amar Singh to judicial custody till 19 September 2011, in Delhi's Tihar jail.[21] But the money trail in this scandal was not traced to Amar Singh's account as per Supreme Court order and nor concrete evidence could be found against him.

2011 tapes controversy
Amar Singh had filed a petition in 2006 after some of his telephone conversations were illegally tapped and were in circulation. The leader had moved the apex court and got a restraint order against their publication in the media. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of India removed the stay on publishing the taped conversations with Bollywood star including Bipasha Basu.

The Government of India's council through its top law officer Goolam Vahanvati, the then Attorney general of India accepted on record that these tapes were illegal and morphed. A case was registered on the basis of this illegal taping. And a man called Anurag Singh was arrested for this misdeed. He again tried to repeat the same thing with former finance minister Arun Jaitley which resulted in him being arrested again for getting indulgent in same cyber crime.[citation needed]

Clinton Cash
In reference to the book Clinton Cash, the New York Post questioned Singh's $5 million contribution to the Clinton Foundation, writing "Singh’s donation was treated with suspicion and amusement in India."[22]

Personal life
Singh was born in a Rajput family[23] in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.