From today's featured article
Joseph B. Foraker (1846–1917) was an American politician. A Republican, he served as the 37th governor of Ohio (1886–1890) and a U.S. senator (1897–1909). Born in rural Ohio, Foraker enlisted in the Union Army at age 16 and fought in the Civil War. After the war, he was a member of Cornell's first graduating class, and became a lawyer; he was elected a judge in 1879. Although defeated in his first run for governor in 1883, he was elected in 1885. Foraker lost re-election in 1889, but was elected senator by the legislature in 1896. In the Senate, he supported the Spanish–American War and the annexation of the Philippines and Puerto Rico. He differed with President Theodore Roosevelt over the Brownsville affair, in which black soldiers had been accused of terrorizing a Texas town; Roosevelt had dismissed the entire battalion. Foraker fought unsuccessfully for their reinstatement, and Roosevelt helped defeat Foraker's re-election bid. In 1972, the Army reversed the dismissals and cleared the soldiers. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that when Bernard Schriever (pictured) was promoted to general in 1961, General Curtis LeMay looked at his four stars and said that had it been up to him, Schriever would not be wearing them?
- ... that during the Battle of Bovey Heath, Royalist officers escaped by "throwing their stakes of money", which the enemy soldiers paused to collect?
- ... that Kevin Harlan said his "first good move" in sports broadcasting was getting into radio at WGBP-FM?
- ... that after 78-year-old Maggy Hurchalla was ordered to pay US$4 million for interfering with a mining company, her kayaks were seized?
- ... that the Celebes warty pig has been domesticated and introduced into other Indonesian islands?
- ... that bassist Fred Thomas performed with James Brown for over thirty years?
- ... that the African tropical tree Pouteria adolfi-friedericii was named after a German explorer?
- ... that the gynaecologist Margaret Puxon, who started studying law to prevent boredom while on maternity leave, eventually became a barrister?
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