title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Drafting of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" story began in 2006, when Wes Anderson produced an 18-page script with longtime collaborator Hugo Guinness. They imagined a fragmented tale of a character inspired by a mutual friend, based in modern France and the United Kingdom. Though their prototype led to a roughly 12-minute-long cut, the Anderson–Guinness collaboration stalled when the two men were unable to coalesce a uniform sequence of events to advance their story. By this time, Anderson had begun researching the work of Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig, with which he was vaguely familiar. He became fascinated with Zweig, gravitating to "Beware of Pity" (1939), "The World of Yesterday" (1942), and "The Post Office Girl" (1982) for their fatalist mythos and Zweig's portrait of early twentieth-century Vienna. Anderson also used period images and urbane Europe-set mid-century Hollywood comedies as references. He ultimately pursued a historical pastiche with an alternate timeline, disillusioned with popular media's romanticism of pre-World War II European history. Once "The Grand Budapest Hotel" took definite form, Anderson resumed the scriptwriting, finishing the screenplay in six weeks. The producers tapped Jay Clarke to supervise production of the film's animatics, with voiceovers by Anderson.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Anderson's sightseeing in Europe was another source of inspiration for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" visual motifs. The writer-director visited Vienna, Munich, and other major cities before the project's conception, but most location scouting began after the Cannes premiere of his coming-of-age drama "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). He and the producers toured Budapest, small Italian spa towns, and the Czech resort Karlovy Vary before a final stop in Germany, consulting hotel staff to develop an accurate idea of a real-life concierge's work.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: A seventeen-actor ensemble received star billing in "The Grand Budapest Hotel". Anderson customarily employs a troupe of longtime collaborators—Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, and Jason Schwartzman have worked on one or more of his projects. Norton and Murray immediately signed when sent the script. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" ensemble comprised mostly bit cameos. Because of the limitations of such roles, Brody said that the most significant challenge was balancing the film's comedy with the otherwise solemn subject matter. All were the filmmakers' first casting choices save for Swinton, whom they pursued for Madame D. when Angela Lansbury dropped out as a result of a prior commitment to a "Driving Miss Daisy" theater production. Once hired, actors were encouraged to study the source material to prepare. Dafoe and Fiennes in particular found the animatics helpful in conceptualizing "The Grand Budapest Hotel" from Anderson's perspective, though Fiennes did not refer to them too often because he wanted his performance to be spontaneous.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Anderson desired an English actor to play Gustave, and Fiennes was an actor he sought to work with for several years. Fiennes, surprised by the offer, was eager to depart from his famously villainous roles and found Gustave's panache compelling. Fiennes said he was initially unsure how to approach his character because the extent of Anderson's oversight meant actors could not improvise on set, constraining his usually instinctive performing style. The direction of Gustave's persona then became another question of tone, whether the portrayal be hyper-camp or understated. Fiennes drew on several sources to shape his character's persona, among them his triple role as Hungarian-Jewish men escaping fascist persecution in the István Szabó-directed drama "Sunshine" (1999), his brief stint as a young porter at Brown's Hotel in London, and the experience reading "The World of Yesterday". Johnny Depp was reported as an early candidate in the press, claims which Anderson denied, despite later reports that scheduling conflicts had halted negotiations.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Casting director Douglas Aibel was responsible for hiring a suitable actor to play young Zero. Aibel's months-long search for prospective actors proved troublesome as he was unable to fulfill the specifications for an unknown teenage actor of Arabic descent. "We were just trying to leave no stone unturned in the process." Filmmakers held auditions in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, France, England, and the United States before revising the role's ethnic criterion. Eventually the filmmakers narrowed their search to Tony Revolori and his older brother Mario, novices of Guatemalan descent, and Tony landed the part after one taped audition. He and Anderson rehearsed together for over four months before the start of filming to build a rapport. Abraham spent about a week on set filming his scenes as the elderly Zero.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Saoirse Ronan joined "The Grand Budapest Hotel" in November 2012. Though a longtime Anderson fan, Ronan feared the deadpan, theatrical acting style characteristic of Anderson-directed films would be too difficult to master. She was reassured by the writer-director's conviction, "He guides everyone extremely well. He is very secure in his vision and he is very comfortable with everything he does. He knows it is going to work." The decision to play Agatha with Ronan's native Irish accent was Anderson's idea, after experimenting with German, English, and American accents; they felt an Irish accent projected a warm, feisty spirit into Agatha.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The project was director of photography Robert Yeoman's eighth film with Anderson. Yeoman participated in an early scouting session with Anderson, recording footage with stand-in film crew to assess how certain scenes would unfold. Yeoman drew on Vittorio Storaro's dramatic lighting techniques in the romantic musical "One From the Heart" (1982). Filmmakers shot "The Grand Budapest Hotel" in ten weeks, from January to March 2013 in eastern Germany, where it qualified for a tax rebate financed by the German government's Federal Film Fund and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. They also found Germany attractive because the production base was geographically confined, facilitating efficient logistics, but the frigid weather and reduced daylight of early winter disrupted the shooting schedule, compounded by the slow film stock used for the camerawork. To rectify the issue, the producers used artificial lighting, accelerated the daily work schedule, and filmed night scenes at dusk.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Principal photography took place at the Babelsberg Studio in suburban Berlin and in Görlitz, a mid-sized border town on the Lusatian Neisse on Germany's eastern frontier. The filmmakers staged their largest interior sets at the vacant twentieth-century Görlitzer Warenhaus, whose atrium doubled for the Grand Budapest Hotel lobby. The top two floors housed production offices and storage space for cameras and wardrobe. Anderson at one point considered buying the Warenhaus to save it from demolition. He and the producers eyed vacant buildings because they could exercise full artistic control, and scouting active hotels that often enforce heavy shooting restrictions would call into question "The Grand Budapest Hotel" integrity. Exterior shots of the eighteenth-century estate Hainewalde Manor and interior shots of stood in for the Schloss Lutz estate. Elsewhere in Saxony, production moved to Zwickau—shooting at the Osterstein Castle—and the state capital Dresden, where scenes were filmed at the Zwinger and the Pfunds Molkerei creamery.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Yeoman shot "The Grand Budapest Hotel" on 35 mm film using Kodak Vision3 200T 5213 film stock from a single Arricam Studio camera provided by Arri's Berlin office. His approach entailed the use of a Chapman-Leonard Hybrid III camera dolly for tracking shots and a geared head to achieve most of the film's rapid whip pans. For whip pans greater than 90 degrees, the filmmakers installed a fluid head from Mitchell Camera Corporation's OConnor Ultimate product line for greater fidelity. Anderson requested Yeoman and project key grip Sanjay Sami focus on new methods for shooting the scenes. Thus they used the Mad About Technology Towercam Twin Peek, a telescoping camera platform, to traverse between floors, sometimes in lieu of a camera crane. For example, when a lantern drops to the basement from a hole in the cell floor in the Checkpoint Nineteen jailbreak scene, the filmmakers suspended the towercam upside-down, a setup which allowed the camera to descend to the ground.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" uses three aspect ratios as framing devices which streamline the film's story, evoking the aesthetic of the corresponding periods. The multifarious structure of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" emerged from Anderson's desire to shoot in 1.37:1 format, also known as Academy ratio. Production used Academy ratio for scenes set in 1932, which, according to Yeoman, provided the filmmakers with greater-than-routine headroom. He and the producers referred to the work of Ernst Lubitsch and other directors of the period to acclimate to the compositions produced from said format. Filmmakers formatted modern scenes in standard 1.85:1 ratio, and the 1968 scenes were captured in widescreen 2.40:1 ratio with Technovision Cooke anamorphic lenses. These lenses produced a certain texture, one that lacked the sharpness of Panavision's Primo anamorphic lenses.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Yeoman lit interior shots with tungsten incandescent fixtures and DMX-dimmer-controlled lighting. The crew made the Warenhaus ceiling from stretched muslin rigged with twenty 4K HMI lamps, an arrangement wherein the reflected light penetrated the skylight, accentuating the set's daylighting. Yeoman preferred the lighting choice because the warm tungsten fixtures contrasted with the coolish daylight. When shooting deliberately less inviting hotel sets, such as Zero and Gustave's small bedrooms and the Grand Budapest's servants' quarters, the filmmakers combined fluorescent lighting, paper lanterns, and bare incandescent lights for historical accuracy.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The Stuttgart-based LUXX Studios and Look Effects' German branch (also in Stuttgart) managed most of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" visual effects, under the supervision of Gabriel Sanchez. Their work for the film comprised 300 shots, created by a small cadre of specialized artists. The development of the film's effects was swift, but at times difficult. Sanchez did not work on set with Anderson as Look Effects opened their Stuttgart headquarters after "The Grand Budapest Hotel" filming wrapped, and therefore was only able to reference his prior experience with the director. The California-based artist also became homesick working his first international assignment. Only four artists from the newly assembled team had experience working on a multi-million dollar studio set.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Creation of the effects was daunting because of their technical demands. The filmmakers camouflaged some of the stop-motion and matte effects in the forest-set chase scene to convey the desired intensity, and enhancing the snowscape with particle effects posed another challenge. Sanchez cites the observatory and hotel shots as work that best demonstrate his special effects team's ingenuity. To achieve the aging brutalist design of the 1968 Grand Budapest, they generated computer models supplemented with detailed lighting, matte effects and shadowy expanses. The crew used a similar technique in developing digital shots of the observatory; unlike the hotel, the observatory's base miniature was presented in pieces. They rendered the observatory with 20 different elements, data furthermore enhanced at Anderson's request. It took about one hour per shot to complete the final digital rendering.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Adam Stockhausen—another Anderson associate—was responsible for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" production design. He and Anderson collaborated previously on "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007) and "Moonrise Kingdom". Stockhausen researched the Library of Congress's photochrom print collection of alpine resorts to source ideas for the film's visual palette. These images showcased little of recognizable Europe, instead cataloging obscure historical landmarks unknown to the general public. The resulting stylistic choice is a warm, bright visual palette pronounced by soft pastel tonalities. Some of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" interior sets contrast this look in interior shots, primarily Schloss Lutz and the Checkpoint Nineteen prison: the imposing hardwoods, intense greens and golds of the Schloss Lutz evoke oppressive wealth, and the derelict Checkpoint Nineteen decays in a cool bluish-gray tint.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The filmmakers relied on matte paintings and miniature effect techniques to play on perspective for elaborate scenes, creating the illusion of size and grandeur. Under the leadership of Simon Weisse, scale models of structures were constructed by a Berlin-based propmaking team at Studio Babelsberg in tandem with the Görlitz shoot. Weisse joined "The Grand Budapest Hotel" design staff after coming to the attention of production manager Miki Emmrich, with whom he worked on "Cloud Atlas" (2012). Anderson liked the novelty of miniatures, having used them in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004) and more extensively in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009).


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Weisse and his propmakers built three major miniature models: the -scale forest set, the -scale observatory, and the Grand Budapest Hotel set, based on art director Carl Sprague's conceptual renderings. The Grand Budapest Hotel set comprised the hotel building atop a wooded ledge with a funicular, bound by a Friedrichian landscape painting superimposed with green-screen technology. Designers sculpted the 3-meter-high (9.8 ft) hotel with silicone resin molds and etched brass embellishment. Photos of the Warenhaus set were then glued in boxes installed to each window to convey the illusion of light. The funicular's 35-degree slope required a separate, lateral model. Timber, soldered brass, fine powdered sugar, and styrofoam were used to construct the observatory set, and polyester fiberfill was the forest model's snow.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The creation of "Boy with Apple" was a four-month-long process by English painter Michael Taylor, who was inspired by Renaissance portraiture. Taylor had been approached by one of the producers before receiving the script and source material, and the film's artistic direction piqued his interest. The painter originally worked alone before deferring to Anderson for input when certain aspects of the painting did not match the writer-director's vision. Taylor found the initial process difficult, struggling to be true to "Boy with Apple" eclectic sources. He said that while he had been unfamiliar with Anderson's work, that unfamiliarity enabled him to imbue the painting with a unique identity. The producers' casting choice for "Boy with Apple" subject was contingent on the character description of a blond-haired boy with the slender, athletic frame of a ballet dancer. They signed Ed Munro, an actor with a theater background, the day after his audition. The filmmakers staged the painting sessions at a Jacobean boarding school, then empty for summer holiday, near Taylor's home in Dorset. Filmmakers dressed Munro in about 50 ornate costumes with velvet cloaks, codpieces and furs, photographed each one, and submitted them to Anderson for approval. Munro, who maintained the same posture and facial expression for several hours, found the costuming uncomfortable.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Ann Atkins was "The Grand Budapest Hotel" lead graphic designer. She devised Zubrowkan objects—newspapers, banknotes, police reports and passports—from reference material gathered from the location scouting. Atkins was a novice in film but had valuable expertise in advertising design to reference, producing 20 sketches of a single artifact per day when the on-set shooting peaked. She used an antique typewriter for the mock documents with a dip pen for the embellished handwriting. Among her early tasks was the creation of weathered, worn props for fidelity to the film's timeline. To achieve the appearance of prolonged exposure to air, Atkins blow dried paper dipped in tea. She said, "The beautiful thing about period filmmaking is that you’re creating graphic design for a time before graphic designers existed, per se. It was really the craftsmen who were the designers: the blacksmith designed the lettering in the cast iron gates; the glazier sculpted the lettering in the stained glass; the sign-painter drew the lettering for the shopfronts; the printer chose the type blocks for the stationery."


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Pastries are an important motif in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" story. The signature "courtesan au chocolat" from Mendl's mirrors the French dessert "religieuse", a choux-based pastry with a mocha (or chocolate) glaze and vanilla custard filling. A Görlitz pastry chef crafted the "courtesan" before working with Anderson on the final design.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Veteran costume designer Milena Canonero endeavored to capture the essence of the film's characters. Canonero researched 1930s uniform design and period artwork by photographers George Hurrell and Man Ray and painters Kees van Dongen, Gustav Klimt, George Grosz and Tamara de Lempicka. Canonero was also influenced by non-period literature and art. Specialized artists then realized her designs in Photoshop, allowing them to work closely to the actors' likenesses. The filmmakers assembled most of the basic costumes in their Görlitz workshop, others from the Berlin-based Theaterkunst, and the uniforms came from a Polish workshop. They rented vintagewear for extras in crowd shots. Canonero used dense mauve and deep-purple AW Hainsworth facecloth for the Grand Budapest uniforms instead of the more subdued colors typical of hospitality uniforms. She researched diverse ideas for the gray-and-black military uniforms, in accordance with script specifications that they not be green or too historically identifiable. Anderson did most of the insignia, occasionally approving designs from Canonero's workshop in Rome.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The filmmakers gave the characters distinct looks. They distinguished men with facial hair to complement their sharp style. Gustave's wardrobe was intended to evoke "a sense of perfection and control" even in his collapsing livelihood. Anderson and Canonero visualized Agatha with a Mexico-shaped facial birthmark and a wheat blade in her hair, costumed to reflect her working-class stature and the brightness of her pastries. Madame was dressed in a silk velvet coat-and-gown-ensemble with Klimtesque handprint patterns and mink trim by Fendi, from a previous professional relationship with Anderson and Canonero. Fendi developed the gray astrakhan fur overcoat for Norton's Albert, and loaned other furs to assist the needs of the shoot. To age Swinton, makeup artist Mark Coulier applied soft silicone rubber prosthetics encapsulated in dissolvable plastic molding on her face. Dafoe's Jopling wore a Prada leather coat inspired by outerwear for military dispatch riders, adorned with custom silver knuckle pieces from jeweler Waris Ahluwalia (a close friend of Anderson's). Canonero modified the coat with fine red-wool stitching and a weapons compartment inside the front lapel.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Anderson recruited Alexandre Desplat to compose the film's Russian folk-influenced score encompassing symphonic compositions and background drones; the balalaika formed the score's musical core. The instrument gave Anderson and music supervisor Randall Poster a chance to immerse themselves in an unfamiliar genre, and they spent about six months consulting experts to hone their vision. Its score's classical roots make "The Grand Budapest Hotel" unique among Anderson-directed projects, forgoing the writer-director's usual practice of employing a selection of contemporary pop music. Desplat felt his exposure to Anderson's idiosyncrasies was integral to articulating an Eastern European musical approach for the film's score. His direction expanded on some of the sounds and instrumentation of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Moonrise Kingdom". As well, the scope of Desplat's responsibilities entailed differentiating "The Grand Budapest Hotel" sprawling cast of characters with distinctive melodic themes and motifs. ABKCO Records released the 32-track score digitally on March 4, 2014. It featured sampled recordings and contributions from orchestras such as the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra and a 50-person ensemble of French and Russian balalaika players.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The reticent Anderson did not discuss themes in interviews conducted during the press junkets, lending several interpretations of "The Grand Budapest Hotel". Studies cite intertwining messages of tragedy, war, fascism, and nostalgia as the film's thematic center.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Nostalgia is a major theme in Anderson's repertoire. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" universe is envisioned with nostalgic yearning, where characters perpetuate the "illusion of a time where they don't belong", the consequence of not so much the recapture of a vanished era than a romanticizing of the past. One theory among critics suggests "profound" subtext of the science of human memory within the film's nonlinear narrative structure, whereas others saw "The Grand Budapest Hotel" as an introspection of Anderson's sensibilities both as a writer and as a director. According to the academic Donna Kornhaber, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" reinforces the increasingly dark subtext of collectivism defining late period Anderson films.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" does not directly refer to historical events, rather oblique references contextualize the real time history. The most deliberate of these references allude specifically to Nazism. In perhaps the film's most dramatic display of corrupt power, the Zubrowkan military invasion of the Grand Budapest, and the fascist emblems of the hotel lobby's newly adorned tapestry, mirror scenes from Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda film "Triumph of the Will" (1935). Gustave's black-and-white stripes evoke the uniforms of the concentration camp prisoners, and his steadfast commitment to his job becomes an act of defiance that threatens to jeopardize his life. "The Atlantic" Norman L. Eisen, who is among the people listed in "Special Thanks" at the end of the film, called "The Grand Budapest Hotel" a cautionary tale of the consequences of the Holocaust, a story that examines Nazi motivations while traversing postwar European history through comedy. He contends that certain main characters symbolize both the oppressed—the openly bisexual Gustave represents the LGBT community, the refugee Zero represents nonwhite immigrants, and Kovacs represents ethnic Jews—and the oppressor in Dmitri, overseer of a fascist, SS-like organization. Film critic Daniel Garrett argues Gustave defies fascist notions of human perfection because he embraces the flaws of his peers, despite his own expertise: "Gustave is not surprised by feelings of anxiety or desire, or contemptuous of a scarred or crippled body; and he shares his values with his staff, with Zero. Gustave sees the heart and the effort, the spirit, despite his regard for excellence, ritual, and style."


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Another principal topic of discussion among critics has been "The Grand Budapest Hotel" exploration of friendship and loyalty. Indeed, Zero appears to be Gustave's only true friend, and his unwavering devotion (at first, a mentor-protégé relationship) establishes the film's strongest bond. Gustave is underwhelmed by Zero but is increasingly empathetic to his newly hired mentee's plight in their subsequent exploits, united by their shared enthusiasm for the hotel—so much that he defends Zero against police thuggery and rewards his loyalty with his inheritance. Zero's less-central romance with Agatha is as constant a presence as his friendship with Gustave; he continues operating the hotel in his dead lover's memory, despite the slain Gustave representing the Grand Budapest's spirit. The subject matter's emphasis of love, friendship, and the intertwining tales of nobility, dignity, and self-control, "The New Yorker" Richard Brody argues, forms the "very soul of a moral politics that transcends accidents of circumstance and particular historical incidents".


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Kornhaber contends the focus on the dynamic of a mismatched pairing forms the crux of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" central theme. The unusual circumstance of the Gustave–Zero friendship seems to reflect an attachment to "an idea of historical and cultural belonging that they find ultimately to be best expressed through one another", and by proxy, the two men discover a fundamental kinship through their shared esteem of the Grand Budapest.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" use of color accentuates narrative tones and conveys visual emphasis to the subject matter and passage of time. The film eschews Anderson's trademark pale yellow for a sharp palette of vibrant reds, pinks and purples in prewar Grand Budapest scenes. The composition fades as the timeline forebodes impending war, sometimes in complete black-and-white in scenes exploring Zero's memory of wartime, underscoring the gradual tonal shift. Subdued beiges, orange, and pale blue characterize the visual palette of postwar Grand Budapest scenes, manifesting the hotel's diminished prestige.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" premiered in competition at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival on February 6, 2014, winning the fest's Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. The film was Anderson's third in competition at the festival. It headlined the 10th Glasgow Film Festival as the event's opening film, held February 20 – March 2, 2014, before hosting its North American premiere on February 27 at the Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Fox Searchlight spearheaded the marketing campaign. Their strategy involved merchandise releases, a global publicity tour, the creation of mock websites about Zubrowkan culture, and trailers highlighting the cast's star power. One of their most significant marketing tactics, instructional videos detailing the creation of desserts mirroring Mendl's baked goods, used fan footage submitted to the producers for TV-commercial spots on cooking networks. In conjunction with their collaboration with Anderson, Prada showcased its capsule collection of custom luggage from in-store displays at the Berlin flagship store.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was released in France on February 26, 2014, preceding the film's global rollout. General release expanded to Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States (March 7), and two other international markets the second week. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" opened to a few US theaters as part of a month-long limited platform release, initially screening from four arthouse theaters in New York and Los Angeles. After the 87th Academy Awards' nominations announcement, Fox re-expanded the film's theater presence for a brief, multi-city re-release campaign.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: Fox Searchlight released "The Grand Budapest Hotel" on DVD and Blu-ray on June 17, 2014. The discs include behind-the-scenes footage with Murray, promotional shots, deleted scenes, and the theatrical trailer. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was the fourth-best selling film on DVD and Blu-ray in its first week of US sales, selling 92,196 copies and earning US$1.6 million. By March 2015, the film had sold 551,639 copies.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The Criterion Collection issued director-approved special edition Blu-ray and DVD releases of "The Grand Budapest Hotel" on April 28, 2020. The discs include audio commentary from Anderson, Goldblum, producer Roman Coppola, and film critic Kent Jones; storyboard animatics, a behind-the-scenes documentary, video essays, and new cast and crew interviews.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was considered a surprise box office success. The film's performance plateaued in North America after a strong start, but finished the theatrical run as Anderson's highest-grossing film in the market. It performed strongest in key European and Asian markets. Germany was the most lucrative market, and the film's link to that country boosted the box office performance. South Korea, Australia, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom represented some of the film's largest takings. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" earned $59.3 million (34.3 percent of its earnings) in the United States and Canada and $113.6 million (65.7 percent) overseas, for a worldwide total of $172.9 million, making it the 46th-highest-grossing film of 2014, and Anderson's highest-grossing film to date.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The film posted $2.8 million from 172 theaters during its opening week in France, trailing "Supercondriaque" and "Non-Stop". In Paris, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" screenings were the weekend's biggest numbers. The film's $16,220 per-theater average was the best opening for any Anderson-directed project in France to date. In its second week the number of theaters grew to 192, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" grossed another $1.64 million at the French box office. Earnings dropped by just 30 percent the following weekend, for a total gross of $1.1 million. By March 24, the box office posted five percent increase, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" French release had taken $8.2 million overall.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The week of March 6 saw "The Grand Budapest Hotel" take $6.2 million from 727 theaters internationally, yielding the strongest figures in Belgium ($156,000, from 12 theaters), Austria ($162,000, from 29 theaters), Germany ($1.138 million, from 163 theaters), and the United Kingdom (top-three debut, with £1.53 million or $1.85 million from 284 theaters). It increased 11 percent in Germany the following weekend to $1.1 million, and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" yielded $5.2 million from German cinemas by the week of March 31. It sustained the box office momentum into the second week of UK general release with improved sales from an expanded theater presence, and by the third week, the film topped the national top ten with £1.27 million ($1.55 million) from 458 screens, buoyed by positive reviews in the media. After a month it had earned $13.2 million in the UK. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" expansion to other overseas markets continued toward the end of March, marked by significant releases in Sweden (first place, with $498,108), Spain (third, with $1 million), and South Korea (the country's biggest specialty film opening ever, with $622,109 from 162 cinemas). During its second week of release in South Korea, the film's box office ballooned by 70 percent to $996,000. On its opening week elsewhere, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" earned $1.8 million in Australia, $382,000 in Brazil, and $1 million in Italy. By May 27, the film's international gross exceeded $100 million.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: In the United States, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" opened to a $202,792-per theater average from a four-theater $811,166 overall gross, breaking the record for most robust live-action limited release previously held by Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" (2012). The return, exceeding Fox's expectations for the weekend, was the best US opening for an Anderson-directed project to date. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" also eclipsed "Moonrise Kingdom" $130,749 per-theater average, Anderson's highest-opening limited release until then. Fading interest in films hoping to capitalize on Academy Awards prestige and its crossover appeal to younger, casual moviegoers were crucial to "The Grand Budapest Hotel" early box office success. The film sustained the box office momentum as large suburban cineplexes were added to its limited run, racking $3.6 million the second week and $6.7 million the following weekend. The film officially entered wide release the week of March 30 by screening in 977 theaters across North America. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, and Montreal were "The Grand Budapest Hotel" most successful North American cities. Its theater count peaked at 1,467 in mid-April before a gradual decline. By the end of the month, the film's domestic gross topped $50 million. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" ended its North American run on February 26, 2015.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" received critical acclaim and various critics selected the film in their end-of-2014 lists. It appeared on professional rankings from BBC and IndieWire, based on retrospective appraisal, as one of the greatest films of the twenty-first century. Many of the reviews complimented "The Grand Budapest Hotel" for its craftsmanship, often singling out the film's zany sensibility and Anderson's expertise for further praise, the latter for the creation of a fanciful onscreen world which does not take itself too seriously. Occasionally "The Grand Budapest Hotel" drew criticism for evading some of the harsh realities of the subject matter; according to a "Vanity Fair" reviewer, the film's devotion to a "kitschy adventure story that feels curiously weightless, at times even arbitrary" undermined any thoughtful moral. The comic treatment of a madcap adventure was cited among the strengths of the film, though sometimes the fragmented storytelling approach was considered a flaw by some critics, such as "The New Yorker" David Denby, for following a sequence of events that seemed to lack emotional continuity.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: The actors' performances were routinely mentioned in the reviews. Journalists felt the ensemble brought "The Grand Budapest Hotel" ethos to life in comedic and dramatic moments, particularly Ralph Fiennes, whose performance was called "transformative" and "total perfection". "San Francisco Chronicle" Mick LaSalle felt Fiennes's casting was the study of a reserved actor exhibiting the fullest extent of his emotional range, and "Los Angeles Times" Kenneth Turan believed he exuded an "unbounded but carefully calibrated zeal", the only such actor capable of realizing Anderson's vision of a "will-o'-the-wisp world heft and reality while still being faithful to the singular spirit that underlies it". On the other hand, characterization in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" drew varying responses from reviewers; Gustave, for example, was described as a man "of convincing feelings", "sweetly wistful", but a protagonist lacking the depth of other prolific heroes in the Anderson canon, emblematic of a film that doesn't quite appear to fully flesh out the core cast of characters.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads, "Typically stylish but deceptively thoughtful, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" finds Wes Anderson once again using ornate visual environments to explore deeply emotional ideas." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned "The Grand Budapest Hotel" a score of 88 out of 100 based on 48 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was not an immediate favorite to dominate the 87th Academy Awards season. The film's early March opening was thought to deter any chance of Oscar recognition, since the usual industry practice to better position feature films for awards attention is to schedule a fall release. The last spring season releases to achieve Best Picture success until then were "Erin Brockovich" (2000) and "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991). As the Academy Award nominations approached, a frontrunner had not emerged, partly as a result of a critical backlash against the season's biggest contenders, such as "American Sniper", "Selma" and "The Imitation Game". But US critics spread their honors for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" when compiling their end-of-year lists, and the film soon gained momentum thanks to a significant presence in the award circuit. Fox Searchlight president Nancy Utley attributed the film's ascendancy to its months-long presence on multi-media home entertainment platforms, which provided greater viewing opportunity for Academy voters. At the Academy Award season, the film received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (tied with "Birdman"), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing; and won Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design.


title: The Grand Budapest Hotel

text: "The Grand Budapest Hotel" was a candidate for other awards for excellence in writing, acting, directing, and technical achievement. It received nominations such as the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and the César Award for Best Foreign Film. The film's other wins include three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, five British Academy Film Awards, and a Golden Globe in the category of Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy.


title: Leah Remini

text: Leah Marie Remini (; born June 15, 1970) is an American actress and activist. She starred as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom "The King of Queens" (1998–2007) and as Vanessa Celluci in the CBS sitcom "Kevin Can Wait" (2017–2018), both alongside Kevin James.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini coproduced and hosted the A&E documentary series "" (2016–2019), for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special. She also cohosted the daytime talk show "The Talk" (2010–2011). Remini's films include the comedy "Old School" (2003), the mystery comedy "Handsome" (2017), and the romantic comedy "Second Act" (2018).


title: Leah Remini

text: After being a member of the Church of Scientology from childhood, Remini left the organization in 2013. Two years later, Remini released her book, ""; the memoir became number one on the "New York Times" best-seller list. In 2016, she followed up with an Emmy Award-winning documentary television series on A&E, "Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath", where she created a platform for victims and survivors of Scientology.


title: Leah Remini

text: Since July 2020, Remini has been the cohost of the podcast "Scientology: Fair Game", alongside Mike Rinder.


title: Leah Remini

text: Leah Marie Remini was born on June 15, 1970, in Brooklyn, New York City, to Vicki Marshall and George Remini, who owned an asbestos removal company. Her mother is of Austrian Jewish descent, while her father has Italian ancestry, rooted in Sicily. Remini was raised in Bensonhurst.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini was baptized Roman Catholic and raised in the Catholic faith during her early childhood. When Remini was eight years old, her mother joined the Church of Scientology, and Remini was thereafter raised as a Scientologist. At 13 years old, Remini and sister Nicole were taken to join Scientology's Paramilitary organization called the Sea Organization, where they were forced to sign billion-year contracts and work for their room and board. Sea Org children do not live with their parents, are treated as adults, and work around the clock. Remini's mother decided to take her children out of the Sea Org and return to civilian Scientology life within the same year. Remini moved to Los Angeles, California, with her mother and sisters, where she spent the remainder of her teenage years working to pay off their debt to Scientology. This debt, known as a Freeloader Debt or Freeloader Bill, is a retroactive billing for any auditing received or any Scientology training received while in the Sea Org, and can run into tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition, Remini and her family worked regular jobs to pay for continuing Scientology courses and services.


title: Leah Remini

text: One of Remini's early television roles was on "Who's the Boss?" as Charlie Briscoe, which led to a spin-off series entitled "Living Dolls", in which Remini starred with Halle Berry. The show premiered in late 1989 and ran for twelve episodes.


title: Leah Remini

text: In 1991, Remini had a supporting role as Tina Bovasso on ABC's sitcom "The Man in the Family". She then had recurring roles on "Saved by the Bell" playing Stacey Carosi, and on "Evening Shade" as Taylor Newton's (Jay R. Ferguson) girlfriend, Daisy. Remini then appeared in two more short-lived series, "First Time Out" (1995) and "Fired Up" (1997–98). In 1991 and 1993, she appeared on "Cheers" as Serafina, the daughter of Carla and Nick Tortelli (Rhea Perlman and Dan Hedaya). In 1994, Remini auditioned for the role of Monica Geller on "Friends", but the role went to Courteney Cox. Remini later appeared in the 1995 "Friends" episode "The One with the Birth" in which she played a pregnant woman, Lydia, whose delivery is aided by Joey.


title: Leah Remini

text: In 1998, Remini landed the role of Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom "The King of Queens". The series was successful, and ran for nine seasons from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007. During her time on the show, she starred in Quaker State's television commercials in 2000 and 2001.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini had a supporting role in the comedy film "Old School" (2003). She also starred in her own reality show, "Inside Out: Leah Remini", which was a documentary that aired on VH1 about Remini's wedding. Following the success of the wedding special, VH1 documented the next phase of their lives with the birth of her daughter Sofia Bella. Remini has starred in nine-episode webisodes of "In the Motherhood", along with Chelsea Handler and Jenny McCarthy, and made two guest appearances on Handler's talk show "Chelsea Lately".


title: Leah Remini

text: On December 15, 2009, Remini appeared as Carrie Heffernan on "Lopez Tonight" with George Lopez in an episode reuniting the cast of the "George Lopez" sitcom. Remini and Holly Robinson Peete appeared on "The Young and the Restless" on July 28, 2011.


title: Leah Remini

text: In October 2011, Remini signed a talent development deal at ABC and ABC Studios that required the network and the studio to develop a comedy project for Remini to star in and produce.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini competed on season 17 of "Dancing with the Stars", in which she was partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani. The couple made it to the tenth week of competition and reached fifth place. Remini later returned in season 19 as a guest co-host on week six. She returned as guest co-host on season 21 during weeks six and seven.


title: Leah Remini

text: In 2013, Remini joined the cast of the TV Land comedy "The Exes", filling a recurring role starting in season three. Remini created, produced and starred in a reality television series titled "". The show focuses on Remini's family life. It premiered on TLC on July 10, 2014.


title: Leah Remini

text: In early 2017, Remini returned to acting and was announced as one of the leads in NBC's sitcom "What About Barb?", a gender-swapped version of the 1991 Frank Oz comedy "What About Bob?". She portrayed Suzanne, a renowned psychotherapist and best-selling author. Ultimately, NBC passed on the project and it wasn't picked up to series. In March 2017, it was announced Remini would reunite with Kevin James on the season finale of "Kevin Can Wait". In June 2017, it was announced Remini was upped to a series regular beginning with season two. In May 2018, the series was cancelled by the network after two seasons. In 2017, Remini co-starred in the comedy films "Mad Families", "The Clapper", and "Handsome". In 2018, she starred as Joan, opposite Jennifer Lopez, in the romantic comedy film "Second Act".


title: Leah Remini

text: In 2020 Remini & her production company, No, Seriously Productions signed a production deal with Critical Content. In June 2022, Remini was named a judge on the seventeenth season of Fox's dance competition series "So You Think You Can Dance", replacing Matthew Morrison.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini was a co-host in the first season of the CBS daytime talk show, "The Talk", which premiered October 18, 2010. The other co-hosts were Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Holly Robinson Peete, and Sharon Osbourne. The show, similar to "The View", seeks to address motherhood and contemporary issues. In March 2012, a heavily publicized Twitter dispute ignited between Remini and Osbourne when Remini fired back at Osbourne, Osbourne making criticisms of Remini and Holly Robinson Peete on "The Howard Stern Show" in relation to their contracts not being renewed for "The Talk". In response to questions from her Twitter followers, Remini tweeted:


title: Leah Remini

text: In response, Osbourne tweeted, "I had absolutely nothing to do with her departure from the show and have no idea why she continues to take to Twitter to spread this false gossip." Remini tweeted a challenge to Osbourne to establish in a court of law what statements she (Remini) had made that were untrue.


title: Leah Remini

text: Friction in relation to these matters resurfaced in the media in early 2021 when Osbourne was embroiled in a scandal over her remarks made on "The Talk" to Sheryl Underwood and ultimately terminated from the program over them. Both Peete and Remini took to social media to reproach Osbourne over her conduct in relation to the scandal, pointing out that they had been treated similarly by her, charging Osbourne with additional discriminatory behaviors as well. Osbourne responded with threats of defamation lawsuits against Peete and Remini, but ultimately did nothing.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini met actor Angelo Pagán at a Cuban restaurant in 1996. He has three sons from previous relationships. They were married on July 19, 2003. Their daughter was born on June 16, 2004, one day after Remini's 34th birthday. Remini and husband Angelo baptized their daughter Sofia as a Catholic.


title: Leah Remini

text: In July 2013, Remini left Scientology, owing to policies that forbid members from questioning the management of Church leader David Miscavige, which she believed was corrupt; the reported abuse of members of its Sea Org religious order; its policy of "disconnection"; and its practice of branding those who have left the Church of their own accord as "Suppressive Persons" and the Fair Gaming tactics that Scientology has used for decades.


title: Leah Remini

text: According to former high-ranking Sea Org member Mike Rinder, Remini's problems with Scientology began when she asked about the whereabouts of Miscavige's wife Shelly at the 2006 wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and was told by then-spokesman Tommy Davis that she did not "have the fucking rank" to do so. Remini then filed a "knowledge report" in which she asserted that Miscavige, Cruise, and other senior Scientology members engaged in behavior that was inconsistent with Church rules. She was subsequently "subjected to years of 'interrogations' and 'thought modification'" that led to her being blackballed within Scientology. Fellow parishioners with whom Remini had been friends for decades wrote internal reports about her, resulting in a Church investigation into her family.


title: Leah Remini

text: During a September 9, 2013, appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", Remini discussed her departure from Scientology and the loss of friends who are still in the Church who, according to Remini, are not permitted to have contact with her. Following her departure from Scientology, she publicly expressed her appreciation for those who supported her departure. Remini's sister Nicole, who had earlier left Scientology herself, revealed that the rest of their family left the Church along with Remini to avoid being split up by the disconnection policy. Writer and director Paul Haggis, who had previously been the most famous person to publicly disavow Scientology, wrote an open letter, published by "The Hollywood Reporter", thanking Remini for standing by him after he left Scientology and praised her "enormous amount of integrity and compassion".


title: Leah Remini

text: In August 2013, it was disclosed that Remini had filed a missing person report with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) concerning Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, who has not been seen in public since 2007. After the report was filed, the LAPD looked into the matter, met and spoke with Shelly before closing the investigation, and stated Remini's report was "unfounded". Scientology said in a statement that the whole affair was simply harassment and a publicity stunt for Remini.


title: Leah Remini

text: In October 2013, it was reported that Remini had been subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit in Comal County, Texas, against Scientology and David Miscavige, regarding acts of alleged harassment and surveillance against Monique Rathbun, who was married to ex-Scientology executive Mark Rathbun. Monique Rathbun's attorney, Ray Jeffery, said he wanted Remini, a former Scientologist, to give a deposition in the hopes she could testify that Miscavige has vast influence over the operations of the Church and had to have known about the alleged harassment.


title: Leah Remini

text: Remini released her memoir "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology" on November 3, 2015. In a 2015 interview with "People" magazine, Remini stated that she was embracing Catholicism and found comfort in the religion's practices, contrasting her experiences with Scientology. Remini developed a series for A&E focusing on ex-Scientologists speaking about their experiences, entitled "". The show premiered November 29, 2016. In a statement released by the network, Remini said:


title: Leah Remini

text: The documentary series received many awards in its three seasons: two Emmys, Reality Television Awards 2017 for hosting, 2018 NATPE Unscripted Breakthrough Awards for Best Innovation, 2019 Truth to Power Award, CHILD USA 2019 Barbara Blaine Trailblazer Award, and two Gracie Awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (for On-Air Talent - Lifestyle and Entertainment and for Non-Fiction Entertainment).


title: Leah Remini

text: In 2015, Remini was interviewed by "People", and her return to the Catholic Church following her departure from Scientology was discussed at length.


title: Leah Remini

text: In May 2021, Remini was accepted into an associate degree program in liberal arts at New York University.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the . A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana, from 2012 to 2020, which earned him the nickname "Mayor Pete".


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Oxford, attending the latter on a Rhodes Scholarship. From 2009 to 2017, he was an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He was mobilized and deployed to the War in Afghanistan for seven months in 2014. Before being elected as mayor of South Bend in 2011, Buttigieg worked on the political campaigns of Democrats Jill Long Thompson, Joe Donnelly, and John Kerry, and ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for Indiana state treasurer in 2010. While serving as South Bend's mayor, Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015. He married Chasten Glezman, a schoolteacher and writer, in June 2018. Buttigieg declined to seek a third term as mayor.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg ran as a candidate for president in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, launching his campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election on April 14, 2019. He became one of the first openly gay men to launch a major party presidential campaign. Despite initially low expectations, he gained significant momentum in mid-2019 when he participated in several town hall meetings and television debates. Buttigieg narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and placed a close second in the New Hampshire primary. By winning Iowa, he became the first openly gay candidate to win a presidential primary or caucus. Buttigieg dropped out of the race on March 1, 2020, and endorsed Joe Biden the following day.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: President-elect Biden named Buttigieg as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation in December 2020. His nomination was confirmed on February 2, 2021, by a vote of 86–13, making him the first openly gay Cabinet secretary in U.S. history. Nominated at age 38, he is also the youngest Cabinet member in the Biden administration and the youngest person ever to serve as Secretary of Transportation.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Pete Buttigieg, the only child of Jennifer Anne (Montgomery) and Joseph Anthony Buttigieg II, was born on January 19, 1982, in South Bend, Indiana. His mother uses the name Anne Montgomery. His parents met and married while employed as faculty at New Mexico State University. His father was born in Hamrun, Malta, and emigrated to the United States to pursue his doctorate. Buttigieg's father embarked on a career as a professor of English at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend. Buttigieg's mother also taught at the University of Notre Dame for 29 years. His father was a translator and editor of the three-volume English edition of Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci's "Prison Notebooks" and influenced his pursuit of literature in college.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg was valedictorian of the class of 2000 at St.Joseph High School in South Bend. That year, he won first prize in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's "Profiles in Courage" essay contest. He traveled to Boston to accept the award and met Caroline Kennedy and other members of President Kennedy's family. The subject of his winning essay was the integrity and political courage of then U.S. representative Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of only two independent politicians in Congress. In 2000, Buttigieg was also chosen as one of two student delegates from Indiana to the United States Senate Youth Program, an annual scholarship competition sponsored jointly by the U.S. Senate and the Hearst Foundations.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After graduating from St. Joseph High School, Buttigieg attended Harvard University, where he majored in history and literature. He became president of the Student Advisory Committee of the Harvard Institute of Politics and worked on the institute's annual study of youth attitudes on politics. He wrote his undergraduate thesis, titled "The Quiet American's Errand into the Wilderness", on the influence of Puritanism on U.S. foreign policy as reflected in Graham Greene's novel "The Quiet American". He graduated "magna cum laude" from Harvard in 2004, and was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford. In 2007, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in philosophy, politics, and economics after studying at Pembroke College, Oxford. At Oxford, he was an editor of the "Oxford International Review", and was a co-founder and member of the Democratic Renaissance Project, an informal debate and discussion group of approximately a dozen Oxford students.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Before graduating from college, Buttigieg was an investigative intern at WMAQ-TV, Chicago's NBC News affiliate. He also interned for Democrat Jill Long Thompson during her unsuccessful 2002 congressional bid.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After college, Buttigieg worked on John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign as a policy and research specialist for several months in Arizona and New Mexico. From 2004 to 2005, Buttigieg was conference director of the Cohen Group. In 2006, he lent assistance to Joe Donnelly's successful congressional campaign.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After earning his Oxford degree, in 2007 Buttigieg became a consultant at the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, where he worked on energy, retail, economic development, and logistics for three years. His clients at McKinsey included the health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, electronics retailer Best Buy, Canadian supermarket chain Loblaws, two nonprofit environmentalist groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Energy Foundation, and several U.S. government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Department, Defense Department, and Postal Service. He took a leave of absence from McKinsey in 2008 to become research director for Jill Long Thompson's unsuccessful campaign for Indiana governor. His work at McKinsey included trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, which he rarely discusses. Buttigieg left McKinsey in 2010 in order to focus full-time on his campaign for Indiana state treasurer.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg has been involved with the Truman National Security Project since 2005 and serves as a fellow with expertise in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was named to the organization's board of advisors in 2014.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg joined the U.S. Navy Reserve through the direct commission officer (DCO) program and was sworn in as an ensign in naval intelligence in September 2009. He took a seven-month leave during his mayoral term to deploy to Afghanistan in 2014. While there, Buttigieg was part of a unit assigned to identify and disrupt terrorist finance networks. Part of this was done at Bagram Air Base, but he was also an armed driver for his commander on more than 100 trips into Kabul. Buttigieg has jokingly referred to his role as an armed driver as "military Uber", because he had to watch out for ambushes and explosive devices along the roads and ensure that the vehicle was guarded. Also, while deployed in Afghanistan, Buttigieg was assigned to the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, a counterterrorism unit that targeted Taliban insurgency financing. Buttigieg was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal, and he left the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2017.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg was the Democratic nominee for state treasurer of Indiana in 2010. He received 37.5 percent of the vote, losing to Republican incumbent Richard Mourdock. Much of Buttigieg's campaign had focused on criticizing Mourdock for investing state pension funds in Chrysler junk bonds, and for having subsequently filed a lawsuit against Chrysler's bankruptcy restructuring, which Buttigieg argued imperiled Chrysler jobs in the state of Indiana.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Shortly after losing the 2010 Indiana State Treasurer election, Buttigieg ran for the Democratic nomination for mayor of South Bend in 2011. In a PBS Michiana – WNIT broadcast, he expressed his desire to reinvigorate South Bend, especially with respect to job creation and education. Buttigieg campaigned on other issues, such as pursuing international investment, increasing presence of police and other safety professionals, and improving city services. Buttigieg won his primary election against four opponents on May 3, 2011, receiving 7,663 votes.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg was elected mayor of South Bend in the November 2011 general election with 10,991 of the 14,883 votes cast, or 74 percent of all votes. He defeated Republican nominee Norris W. Curry Jr. and Libertarian nominee Patrick M. Farrell. Buttigieg took office in January 2012 at the age of 29, becoming the second-youngest mayor in South Bend history and the youngest incumbent mayor, at the time, of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Before Buttigieg took office, Jiha'd Vasquez, a 16-year-old black boy, was found hanging from an electrical tower on April 14, 2011. Vasquez's backpack, on the ground near his body, had several items missing, according to Vasquez's mother Stephanie Jones. The coroner, Chuck Hurley, who had no medical experience, claimed Vasquez's death was a suicide; Buttigieg later appointed Hurley to serve as interim police chief. Vasquez's body was cremated without an autopsy being conducted. Jones attempted to get Buttigieg to investigate her son's death, but he did not, fearing "potential political risks." According to Jones, Buttigieg told her to call his office, but she never got a response. Jones and South Bend NAACP legal redress chairman Tom Bush claimed the event was a cover-up, with Bush saying he suspected the Ku Klux Klan may be involved and hoped for a federal investigation, but did not expect it, saying "the only reason this will get done is if you’re on a microphone yelling and screaming." When Buttigieg's presidential campaign was asked about the incident by a reporter in 2019, they did not give a response. In 2019, Jones and St.Joseph County coroner Mike McGann argued that the case should be reopened; however, sheriff William Redman said he would not consider reopening the case unless further evidence came to light.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After a federal investigation ruled that South Bend police had illegally recorded telephone calls of several officers, Buttigieg demoted police chief Darryl Boykins in 2012. Buttigieg also dismissed the department's communications director, who had discovered the recordings but continued to record the line at Boykins's command. The police communications director alleged that the recordings captured four senior police officers making racist remarks and discussing illegal acts.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg has written that his "first serious mistake as mayor" came shortly after taking office in 2012, when he decided to ask for Boykins's resignation. Backed by supporters and legal counsel, Boykins requested reinstatement. When Buttigieg denied his request, Boykins, as the city's first African-American police chief, sued the city for racial discrimination, arguing that the taping policy had existed under previous police chiefs, who were white. Buttigieg settled the lawsuits brought by Boykins and the four officers out of court for over $800,000. A federal judge ruled in 2015 that Boykins's recordings violated the Federal Wiretap Act. Buttigieg came under pressure from political opponents to release the eight tapes, but he said that it was not possible to release seven of them, citing the Federal Wiretap Act. It was unclear if releasing the eighth tape would violate any laws. St. Joseph County Superior Court Judge Steve Hostetler heard a case for the release of five cassette tapes. Judge Hostetler ruled that the cassette tapes must be released to the South Bend City Council in May 2021.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: As mayor, Buttigieg promoted a number of development and redevelopment projects. Buttigieg was a leading figure behind the creation of a nightly laser-light display along downtown South Bend's St.Joseph River trail as public art. The project cost $700,000, which was raised from private funds. The "River Lights" installation was unveiled in May 2015 as part of the city's 150th anniversary celebrations. He also oversaw the city's launching of a 3-1-1 system in 2013. Buttigieg's administration oversaw the sale of numerous city-owned properties. One of Buttigieg's signature programs was the "Vacant and Abandoned Properties Initiative". Known locally as "1,000 Properties in 1,000 Days", it was a project to repair or demolish blighted properties across South Bend. The program reached its goal two months before its scheduled end date in November 2015. By the thousandth day of the program, before Buttigieg's first term ended, nearly 40 percent of the targeted houses were repaired, and 679 were demolished or under contract for demolition. Buttigieg took note of the fact that many homes within communities of color were the ones demolished, leading to early distrust between the city and these communities.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: While mayor, Buttigieg served for seven months in Afghanistan as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserve, returning to the United States on September 23, 2014. In his absence, Deputy Mayor Mark Neal, South Bend's city comptroller, served as executive from February 2014 until Buttigieg returned to his role as mayor in October 2014.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In 2015, during the controversy over Indiana Senate Bill 101the original version of which was widely criticized for allowing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender peopleButtigieg emerged as a leading opponent of the legislation. Amid his reelection campaign, he came out as gay and expressed his solidarity with the LGBTQ community.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg announced in 2014 that he would seek a second term in 2015. He won the Democratic primary with approximately 78 percent of the vote, defeating Henry Davis Jr., the city councilman from the second district. In November 2015, he was elected to his second term as mayor with over 80 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Kelly Jones by a margin of 8,515 to 2,074 votes. After winning reelection, Buttigieg signed an executive order helping to establish a recognized city identification card in 2016.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: To improve South Bend's downtown area, Buttigieg proposed a Smart Streets urban development program in 2013. In early 2015after traffic studies and public hearingshe secured a bond issue for the program backed by tax increment financing. Smart Streets was a complete streets implementation program aimed at improving economic development and urban vibrancy as well as road safety. Elements of the project were finished in 2016, and was officially completed in 2017. The project was credited with spurring private development in the city.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In a new phase of the Vacant and Abandoned Properties Initiative, South Bend partnered with the Notre Dame Clinical Law Center to provide free legal assistance to qualifying applicants wishing to acquire vacant lots and, with local nonprofits, to repair or construct homes and provide low-income home ownership assistance using South Bend Housing and Urban Development funds.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: The City of South Bend partnered with the State of Indiana and private developers to break ground on a $165million renovation of the former Studebaker complex in 2016, hoping that the redevelopment would facilitate industrial and housing units. This development is in the Renaissance District, which includes nearby Ignition Park. In 2017, it was announced that the long-abandoned Studebaker Building84, also known as "Ivy Tower", would have its exterior renovated with $3.5million in Regional Cities funds from the State of Indiana and another $3.5million from South Bend tax increment financing, with plans for the building and other structures in its complex to serve as a technology hub. The website "Best Cities" later ranked South Bend number 39 on its 2020 list of the 100 best small cities in the United States, citing Buttigieg's efforts to revitalize the Studebaker factory and Downtown South Bend.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Under Buttigieg, the city also began a smart sewer program, the first phase of which was finished in 2017 at a cost of $150million. The effort used federal funds and by 2019 had reduced the combined sewer overflow by 75 percent. The impetus for the effort was a fine that the EPA had levied against the city in 2011 for Clean Water Act violations. In 2019, Buttigieg asked for the city to be released from an agreement with the EPA brokered under his mayoral predecessor Steve Luecke, in which South Bend had agreed to make hundreds of millions dollars in further improvements to its sewer system by 2031.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: The Common Council approved Buttigieg's request to enable his administration to develop a city climate plan in April 2019; Buttigieg signed a contract with the Chicago firm Delta Institute to help develop it. In late November 2019, the city's Common Council voted 7–0 to approve the resultant Carbon Neutral 2050 plan, setting the goal of meeting the Paris Agreement's 26 percent emission reduction by 2025, and aiming for a further reductions of 45 percent by 2035.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Supporting private development in South Bend was another initiative Buttigieg continued during his second term. By 2019, the city had seen $374million in private investment for mixed-use developments since Buttigieg had taken office, by one estimate. By another account, Downtown South Bend saw roughly $200million in private investment during Buttigieg's tenure.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: With respect to infrastructure, Buttigieg promoted the idea of moving the city's South Shore Line station from South Bend International Airport to the city's downtown in August 2018. He made it a goal to have the city complete this project by 2025. Also, South Bend launched Commuters Trust, a new transportation benefit program created in collaboration with local employers and transportation providers, including South Bend Transpo and Lyft, in 2019. The program was made possible by a $1million three-year grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge. Furthermore, under Buttigieg, South Bend invested $50million in the city's parks, many of which had been neglected during the preceding decades.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After a white South Bend police officer shot and killed Eric Logan, an African-American man, in June 2019, Buttigieg was drawn from his presidential campaign to focus on the emerging public reaction. Police body cameras were not turned on during Logan's death. Soon after Logan's death, Buttigieg presided over a town hall meeting attended by disaffected activists from the African-American community as well as relatives of the deceased man. The local police union accused Buttigieg of making decisions for political gain. Buttigieg secured $180,000 in November 2019 to commission a review of South Bend's police department policies and practices, to be conducted by Chicago-based consulting firm 21CP Solutions.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Many African-Americans have accused Buttigieg of racism for his response to this and other incidents. Former South Bend councilman Henry Davis Jr. alleged that Buttigieg "perpetuated and tolerated" systemic racism in the city. Michael Harriot, senior writer at The Root, accused Buttigieg of "racist paternalism" for saying that children of color lack role models that promote the value of education. Many African-Americans also point to Buttigieg's firing of Darryl Boykins, South Bend's first black chief of police. Boykins claimed that Buttigieg used a scandal—involving secret tapes of white police officers making racist comments—as a pretext for firing him.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In the 2016 U.S. Senate election in Indiana, he campaigned on behalf of Democratic Senate nominee Evan Bayh and criticized Bayh's opponent, Todd Young, for having voiced support in 2010 for retaining the military's don't ask, don't tell policy, which Bayh had voted to repeal. In the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, Buttigieg endorsed Hillary Clinton. He also endorsed Democratic nominee Lynn Coleman in that year's election for Indiana's 2nd congressional district, which included South Bend.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Frank Bruni of "The New York Times" published a 2016 column praising Buttigieg's work as mayor, with a headline asking if he might be "the first gay president". Barack Obama cited him as one of the Democratic Party's talents in a November 2016 profile on the outgoing president conducted by "The New Yorker". As Buttigieg's national profile grew following his run in the 2017 Democratic National Committee chairmanship election, Buttigieg increased his out-of-city travel. By early 2018, there was speculation that Buttigieg would run for either governor or president in 2020.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: For the 2018 midterms, Buttigieg founded the political action committee (PAC) Hitting Home PAC. That October, Buttigieg personally endorsed 21 congressional candidates. He also later endorsed Mel Hall, Democratic nominee in the 2018 election for Indiana's 2nd congressional district. Buttigieg campaigned for Joe Donnelly's reelection campaign in the United States Senate election in Indiana. Buttigieg campaigned for candidates in more than a dozen states, including early presidential primary states such as Iowa and South Carolina, a move indicating potential interest in running for president. He officially announced his run on January 23, 2019.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg announced that he would not seek a third term as mayor of South Bend in December 2018. Buttigieg endorsed James Mueller in the 2019 South Bend mayoral election. Mueller was a high-school classmate of Buttigieg's and his mayoral chief of staff, and later executive director of the South Bend Department of Community Investment. Mueller's campaign promised to continue the progress that had been made under Buttigieg's mayoralty. Buttigieg appeared in campaign advertisements for Mueller and donated to Mueller's campaign. Mueller won the May 2019 Democratic primary with 37 percent of the vote in a crowded field. In the November 2019 general election, Mueller defeated Republican nominee Sean M. Haas with 63 percent of the vote. Mueller took office on New Year's Day 2020.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In January 2017, Buttigieg announced his candidacy for chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in its 2017 chairmanship election. He built a national profile as an emerging dark horse in the race for the chairmanship with the backing of former DNC chairman Howard Dean, former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, Indiana senator Joe Donnelly, and North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp. Buttigieg campaigned on the need for the Democratic Party to empower its millennial members.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and U.S. representative Keith Ellison quickly emerged as the favored candidates of a majority of DNC members. Buttigieg withdrew from the race on the day of the election without endorsing a candidate, and Perez was elected chairman after two rounds of voting.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: On January 23, 2019, Buttigieg announced that he was forming an exploratory committee to run for President of the United States in the upcoming 2020 election. Buttigieg sought the Democratic Party nomination for president. If he had been elected, he would have been the youngest and first openly gay American president. Amid the start of Buttigieg's presidential effort, on February 12, 2019, he published his debut book, autobiography "Shortest Way Home". Two months later, Buttigieg officially launched his campaign on April 14, 2019, in South Bend.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg described himself as a progressive and a supporter of democratic capitalism. Historian David Mislin identifies Buttigieg as a pragmatic progressive in the tradition of the Social Gospel movement once strong in the Midwest. Buttigieg identifies regulatory capture as a significant problem in American society.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Initially regarded as a long-shot candidate, Buttigieg rose into the top-tier of candidates in the primary by December 2019. In early February 2020, Buttigieg led the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses results with 26.2 percent to Bernie Sanders' 26.1 percent, winning 14 delegates to Sanders's 12. The LGBTQ Victory Fund, Buttigieg's first national endorsement, noted the historical first of an openly gay candidate winning a state presidential primary. Buttigieg finished second behind Sanders in the New Hampshire primary. After placing a fourth in the South Carolina primary with 8.2 percent of the vote, behind Joe Biden (48.7 percent), Bernie Sanders (19.8 percent), and Tom Steyer (11.3 percent), Buttigieg dropped out of the race on March 1, 2020, and endorsed Biden.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In April 2020, Buttigieg launched Win The Era PAC, a new super PAC to raise money and distribute it to down-ballot Democrats. The PAC focused on local elected positions, and its list of endorsements included candidates such as Jaime Harrison, Cal Cunningham, Gina Ortiz Jones, Christine Hunschofsky, and Levar Stoney. On June 8, 2020, the University of Notre Dame announced that it had hired Buttigieg as a teacher and researcher for the 2020–21 academic year. Also, in October 2020, Buttigieg released his second book, "".


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg acted as a surrogate for Biden's campaign in the general election. He delivered a speech on the closing night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, and also announced Indiana's votes during the convention's roll call. On September 5, 2020, Buttigieg was announced to be a member of the advisory council of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, which was planning the presidential transition of Joe Biden. Ahead of the vice presidential debate, Buttigieg played the role as a stand-in for Republican vice president Mike Pence in Democratic to prepare vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Buttigieg was selected to perform this role because of his experience working with Pence during their simultaneous tenures as mayor of South Bend and governor of Indiana, respectively.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Following the end of his presidential campaign, Buttigieg was considered a possible Cabinet appointee in Joe Biden's administration. After Biden was declared the winner of the election on November 7, 2020, Buttigieg was again mentioned as a possible nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador to China or Secretary of Transportation. On December 15, 2020, Biden announced that he would nominate Buttigieg as his Secretary of Transportation. The Senate Commerce Committee advanced Buttigieg's nomination to the full Senate with a vote of 21–3. Buttigieg was confirmed on February 2, 2021, with a vote of 86–13; and was sworn in the next morning.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: As Secretary of Transportation, Buttigieg has worked on re-organizing the department's internal policy structure, including carrying out a thorough review process of rules enacted under the Trump administration. For example, Buttigieg reinstated an Obama-era pilot program which ensures local hiring for public works projects on May 19, 2021, with the goal of helping minorities and disadvantaged individuals. This program had been revoked in 2017 during the Trump administration, when the Department of Transportation returned to rules established during the Reagan administration, which banned geographic-based hiring preferences.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg addressed the African American Mayors Association in late February 2021 to discuss systemic racism. He argued that misguided investments in the federal transport and infrastructure policy had contributed to racial inequity. In early March 2021, "Politico" noted that Buttigieg had mentioned racial equity in almost every interview he gave to the press as it related to his work at the department. In late June 2022, Buttigieg launched a $1 billion Reconnecting Communities pilot program to establish racial equity in roads. Using money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the program aims to reconnect cities and neighborhoods divided by roads through projects such as rapid bus lines, pedestrian walkways, and planning studies.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Early into his tenure, Buttigieg noted that the United States's actions surrounding road traffic safety is lacking and suggested improving the design of roads. Also, while acknowledging how the United States fell behind other developed countries with respect to bicycle and pedestrian safety, Buttigieg encouraged greater focus on human behavior in infrastructure policy. Likewise, in March 2021, Buttigieg indicated he was open to tolls on Interstate 80, but not the tollage of bridges, suggesting "big picture solutions" instead, like a mileage tax. However, the Biden administration did not include a gas tax or mileage tax in the infrastructure plan it released that month.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg informed Congress in late March 2021 that the Biden administration was planning to prioritize the construction of the Gateway Rail Tunnel Project due to its economic significance. The progress of the project, which was stalled by President Trump, was said to be moving faster, according to New York senator Chuck Schumer. Buttigieg announced the environmental impact assessment of the project—which was largely seen as a sign of major progress on the project. Also, Buttigieg has served as a promoter of the American Jobs Plan and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In June 2021, the White House created a task force to address supply chain disruptions, with Buttigieg as one of its leaders. By October 2021, global supply bottlenecks had resulted in record shortages of household goods for American consumers. Buttigieg cited high demand and the pandemic as some of the causes for the disruptions, while predicting that the disruptions would "continue into next year".


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After conservatives criticized Buttigieg for taking paternity leave, Buttigieg declared that he would not apologize for "taking care of my premature newborn infant twins. The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work." According to his department, Buttigieg had been on paid leave since mid-August 2021, where for a month he was "mostly offline except for major agency decisions and matters that could not be delegated", and he "has been ramping up activities since then", making many media appearances in early October 2021. The White House had approved Buttigieg's leave.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: After passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Insider called Buttigieg "the most powerful transportation secretary ever", as the department now has $210 billion of discretionary grants to award.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: During his 2020 campaign for the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg proposed spending $1trillion on U.S. infrastructure projects over the next ten years, estimating that the plan would create at least six million jobs. The plan focused on green energy, protecting tap water from lead, fixing roads and bridges, improving public transportation, repairing schools, guaranteeing broadband internet access, and preparing communities for floods and other natural disasters.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports abortion rights and the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother is in danger. He favors amending civil rights legislation, including the Federal Equality Act so that LGBT Americans receive federal non-discrimination protections.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports expanding opportunities for national service, including a voluntary year of national service for those turning 18 years old.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In July 2019, Buttigieg shared his "Douglass Plan", named after abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to address systemic racism in America. The initiative would allocate $10billion to African-American entrepreneurship over five years, grant $25billion to historically black colleges, legalize marijuana, expunge drug convictions, halve the federal prison population, and propose a federal New Voting Rights Act designed to increase voting access.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports abolishing the death penalty, moving toward reversing criminal sentences for minor drug-related offenses, and eliminating incarceration for drug possession offenses.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In 2019, Buttigieg called for the United States to decriminalize mental illness and addiction via initiatives such as re-entry programs. Also, he aspired to decrease incarceration rates because of mental illnesses or substance use by 75 percent during his first term as President of the United States.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg favors the abolition of the Electoral College and has also called for restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports a constitutional amendment on campaign finance to reduce the undue influence of money in politics. During his 2020 presidential run, in response to accusation of campaign finance concerns, Buttigieg's campaign told "Newsweek" that he did not accept contributions from individuals and organizations such as corporate political action committees. In addition, Buttigieg's campaign emphasized that Buttigieg had included critical campaign finance reforms as part of his campaign platform, including pushing to overturn "Citizens United" and "Buckley v. Valeo".


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports statehood for the District of Columbia, and said that he would support Puerto Rico statehood if desired by the Puerto Rican people.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: During his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Buttigieg stated that, if elected, he would restore the United States' commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement and double its pledge to the Green Climate Fund. He also supports the Green New Deal proposed by House Democrats, solar panel subsidies, and a carbon tax and dividend policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg identifies as a democratic capitalist and has decried crony capitalism. He has entertained the possibility of antitrust actions against large technology companies on the basis of privacy and data security concerns. During the Democratic primary, he supported deficit and debt reduction, arguing that large debt makes it harder to invest in infrastructure, health and safety.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In July 2019, he released a plan to strengthen union bargaining power, to raise the minimum wage to $15, and to offer national paid family leave.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg's education plan includes a $700billion investment in universal full-day child care and pre-kindergarten for all children from infancy to age five. Buttigieg has also proposed tripling Title I funding for schools serving students predominately from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Other goals include doubling the amount of new teachers of color in the next 10 years, addressing school segregation with a $500million fund, paying teachers more, expanding mental health services in schools, and creating more after-school programs and summer learning opportunities.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: His plan for debt-free college has called for expanding Pell Grants for low-income students, as well as other investments and reversing Trump's tax cuts for the wealthy. Under Buttigieg's college plan, the bottom 80 percent of students with respect to income would have received free education, while the top 20 percent would have paid for at least some portion of their tuition. Buttigieg has opposed free college tuition for all students because he has believed universally free tuition unfairly subsidizes higher-income families at the expense of lower-income individuals who do not attend college. This position distinguished Buttigieg from his competitors in the 2020 presidential election.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg called for modifying the structure of defense spending, while suggesting that he might favor an overall increase in defense spending.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg has said that he believes the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks was justified but supported the planned withdrawal of American troops from the region with a maintained intelligence presence. He is a committed supporter of Israel, favors a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, opposes proposals for Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and disapproves of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments in support of applying Israeli law in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In 2008, Buttigieg wrote an op-ed in "The New York Times" calling on the United States to support the "de facto" independent Republic of Somaliland.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In June 2019, Buttigieg said: "We will remain open to working with a regime like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the benefit of the American people. But we can no longer sell out our deepest values for the sake of fossil fuel access and lucrative business deals." He supports ending U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg has condemned China for its mass detention of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang. He criticized Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, which critics say gave Turkey the green light to launch its military offensive against Syrian Kurds.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In 2018, Buttigieg said he favored Medicare for All. During his presidential campaign, Buttigieg has promoted "Medicare for All Who Want It", which includes a public option for health insurance. He has spoken favorably of Maryland's all-payer rate setting. Buttigieg has described Medicare for All Who Want It as inclusive, more efficient than the current system, and a possible precursor or "glide path" to single-payer health insurance. He also favors a partial expansion of Medicare that would allow Americans ages 50 to 64 to buy into Medicare, and supports proposed legislation, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, that would "create a fund to guarantee up to 12 weeks of partial income for workers to care for newborn children or family members with serious illnesses."


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In August 2019, Buttigieg released a $300billion plan to expand mental health care services and fight addiction.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and has drawn attention to the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policies. He defended a resident of Granger, Indiana, who was deported after living in the U.S. for 17 years despite regularly checking in with ICE and applying for a green card.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg has said Trump has been reckless in sending American troops to the southern border, and that it is a measure of last resort.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg is a Christian, and he has said his faith has had a strong influence in his life. He was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant and he attended Catholic schools. While at the University of Oxford, Buttigieg began to attend Christ Church Cathedral and said he felt "more-or-less Anglican" by the time he returned to South Bend. St.Augustine, James Martin, and Garry Wills are among his religious influences. A member of the Episcopal Church, Buttigieg is a congregant at the Cathedral of St.James in downtown South Bend.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Besides his native English, Buttigieg has some knowledge of Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, Dari Persian, and French. Buttigieg plays guitar and piano, and in 2013 performed with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra as a guest piano soloist with Ben Folds. Buttigieg was a 2014 Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg came out as gay in a June 2015 piece in the "South Bend Tribune", becoming Indiana's first openly gay elected executive. He was the first elected official in Indiana to come out while in office and the highest elected official in Indiana to come out.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg announced his engagement to Chasten Glezman, a junior high school teacher, in a December 14, 2017 Facebook post. They had been dating since August 2015 after meeting on the dating app Hinge. They were married on June 16, 2018, in a private ceremony at the Cathedral of St.James. This made Buttigieg the first mayor of South Bend to get married while in office. Chasten uses his husband's surname, Buttigieg.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg announced that he and his husband had become parents on August 17, 2021. Buttigieg announced that they had adopted two newborn fraternal twins on September 4, 2021.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: In July 2022, Buttigieg established his permanent residence in Traverse City, Michigan, which is Chasten's hometown, and registered to vote in Michigan.


title: Pete Buttigieg

text: Buttigieg was a 2015 recipient of the Fenn Award, given by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in recognition of his work as mayor. To mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in June 2019, "Queerty" named him one of its "Pride50" people—"trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people". At the Golden Heart Awards, run by God's Love We Deliver, Buttigieg was awarded the "Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Leadership and Public Service" in October 2019. Equality California, an LGBT-rights organization, gave Buttigieg and his husband Chasten their Equality Trailblazer Award in August 2020. "Attitude", a British gay lifestyle magazine, named Buttigieg their 2020 Person of the Year to recognize his groundbreaking run for the presidency.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or to kill high level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: All active SEALs are members of the U.S. Navy. The CIA's highly secretive and elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits operators from SEAL Teams, with joint operations going back to the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War. This cooperation still exists today, as evidenced by military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: Although not formally founded until 1962, the modern-day U.S. Navy SEALs trace their roots to World War II. The United States Military recognized the need for the covert reconnaissance of landing beaches and coastal defenses. As a result, the joint Army, Marine Corps, and Navy Amphibious Scout and Raider School was established in 1942 at Fort Pierce, Florida. The Scouts and Raiders were formed in September of that year, just nine months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, from the Observer Group, a joint U.S. Army-Marine-Navy unit.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: Recognizing the need for a beach reconnaissance force, a select group of Army and Navy personnel assembled at Amphibious Training Base (ATB) Little Creek, Virginia on 15 August 1942 to begin Amphibious Scouts and Raiders (Joint) training. The Scouts and Raiders' mission was to identify and reconnoiter the objective beach, maintain a position on the designated beach prior to a landing, and guide the assault waves to the landing beach. The unit was led by U.S. Army 1st Lieutenant Lloyd Peddicord as commanding officer, and Navy Ensign John Bell as executive officer. Navy chief petty officers and sailors came from the boat pool at ATB, Solomons, Maryland, and Army Raider personnel came from the 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions. They trained at Little Creek until embarking for the North Africa campaign the following November. Operation Torch was launched in November 1942 off the Atlantic coast of French Morocco in North Africa.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: The first group included Phil H. Bucklew, the "Father of Naval Special Warfare," after whom the Naval Special Warfare Center building is named. Commissioned in October 1942, this group saw combat in November 1942 during Operation Torch on the North African Coast. Scouts and Raiders also supported landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Normandy, and southern France.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: The second group of Scouts and Raiders, code-named Special Service Unit No. 1, was established on 7 July 1943, as a joint and combined operations force. The first mission, in September 1943, was at Finschhafen in Papua New Guinea. Later operations were at Gasmata, Arawe, Cape Gloucester, and the east and south coasts of New Britain, all without any loss of personnel. Conflicts arose over operational matters, and all non-Navy personnel were reassigned. The unit, renamed 7th Amphibious Scouts, received a new mission, to go ashore with the assault boats, buoy channels, erect markers for the incoming craft, handle casualties, take offshore soundings, clear beach obstacles, and maintain voice communications linking the troops ashore, incoming boats and nearby ships. The 7th Amphibious Scouts conducted operations in the Pacific for the duration of the conflict, participating in more than 40 landings.


title: United States Navy SEALs

text: The third and final Scouts and Raiders organization operated in China. Scouts and Raiders were deployed to fight with the Sino-American Cooperative Organization (SACO). To help bolster the work of SACO, Admiral Ernest J. King ordered that 120 officers and 900 men be trained for "Amphibious Raider" at the Scout and Raider school at Fort Pierce, Florida. They formed the core of what was envisioned as a "guerrilla amphibious organization of Americans and Chinese operating from coastal waters, lakes, and rivers employing small steamboats and sampans." While most Amphibious Raider forces remained at Camp Knox in Calcutta, three of the groups saw active service. They conducted a survey of the upper Yangtze River in the spring of 1945 and, disguised as coolies, conducted a detailed three-month survey of the Chinese coast from Shanghai to Kitchioh Wan, near Hong Kong.