title: Paradise Lost

text: Milton's first criticism of idolatry focused on the constructing of temples and other buildings to serve as places of worship. In Book XI of "Paradise Lost", Adam tries to atone for his sins by offering to build altars to worship God. In response, the angel Michael explains that Adam does not need to build physical objects to experience the presence of God. Joseph Lyle points to this example, explaining "When Milton objects to architecture, it is not a quality inherent in buildings themselves he finds offensive, but rather their tendency to act as convenient loci to which idolatry, over time, will inevitably adhere." Even if the idea is pure in nature, Milton thought it would unavoidably lead to idolatry simply because of the nature of humans. That is, instead of directing their thoughts towards God, humans will turn to erected objects and falsely invest their faith there. While Adam attempts to build an altar to God, critics note Eve is similarly guilty of idolatry, but in a different manner. Harding believes Eve's narcissism and obsession with herself constitutes idolatry. Specifically, Harding claims that "... under the serpent's influence, Eve's idolatry and self-deification foreshadow the errors into which her 'Sons' will stray." Much like Adam, Eve falsely places her faith in herself, the Tree of Knowledge, and to some extent the Serpent, all of which do not compare to the ideal nature of God.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Milton made his views on idolatry more explicit with the creation of Pandæmonium and his allusion to Solomon's temple. In the beginning of "Paradise Lost" and throughout the poem, there are several references to the rise and eventual fall of Solomon's temple. Critics elucidate that "Solomon's temple provides an explicit demonstration of how an artefact moves from its genesis in devotional practice to an idolatrous end." This example, out of the many presented, distinctly conveys Milton's views on the dangers of idolatry. Even if one builds a structure in the name of God, the best of intentions can become immoral in idolatry. The majority of these similarities revolve around a structural likeness, but as Lyle explains, they play a greater role. By linking Saint Peter's Basilica and the Pantheon to Pandemonium—an ideally false structure—the two famous buildings take on a false meaning. This comparison best represents Milton's Protestant views, as it rejects both the purely Catholic perspective and the Pagan perspective.


title: Paradise Lost

text: In addition to rejecting Catholicism, Milton revolted against the idea of a monarch ruling by divine right. He saw the practice as idolatrous. Barbara Lewalski concludes that the theme of idolatry in "Paradise Lost" "is an exaggerated version of the idolatry Milton had long associated with the Stuart ideology of divine kingship." In the opinion of Milton, any object, human or non-human, that receives special attention befitting of God, is considered idolatrous.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Although Satan's army inevitably loses the war against God, Satan achieves a position of power and begins his reign in Hell with his band of loyal followers, composed of fallen angels, which is described to be a "third of heaven." Similar to Milton's republican sentiments of overthrowing the King of England for both better representation and parliamentary power, Satan argues that his shared rebellion with the fallen angels is an effort to "explain the hypocrisy of God," and in doing so, they will be treated with the respect and acknowledgement that they deserve. As Wayne Rebhorn argues, "Satan insists that he and his fellow revolutionaries held their places by right and even leading him to claim that they were self-created and self-sustained" and thus Satan's position in the rebellion is much like that of his own real world creator.


title: Paradise Lost

text: "Paradise Lost" is, among other things, a poem about civil war. Satan raises 'impious war in Heav'n' (i 43) by leading a third of the angels in revolt against God. The term 'impious war' implies that civil war is impious. But Milton applauded the English people for having the courage to depose and execute King Charles I. In his poem, however, he takes the side of 'Heav'n's awful Monarch' (iv 960). Critics have long wrestled with the question of why an antimonarchist and defender of regicide should have chosen a subject that obliged him to defend monarchical authority.


title: Paradise Lost

text: The editors at the Poetry Foundation argue that Milton's criticism of the English monarchy was being directed specifically at the Stuart monarchy and not at the monarchy system in general.


title: Paradise Lost

text: In a similar vein, C.S. Lewis argued that there was no contradiction in Milton's position in the poem since "Milton believed that God was his 'natural superior' and that Charles Stuart was not."


title: Paradise Lost

text: C. S. Lewis interpreted the poem as a genuine Christian morality tale. Other critics, like William Empson, view it as a more ambiguous work, with Milton's complex characterization of Satan playing a large part in that perceived ambiguity. Empson argued that "Milton deserves credit for making God wicked, since the God of Christianity is 'a wicked God.'" Leonard places Empson's interpretation "in the [Romantic interpretive] tradition of William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley."


title: Paradise Lost

text: Empson's view is complex. John Leonard points out that "Empson never denies that Satan's plan is wicked. What he does deny is that God is innocent of its wickedness: 'Milton steadily drives home that the inmost counsel of God was the Fortunate Fall of man; however wicked Satan's plan may be, it is God's plan too [since God in "Paradise Lost" is depicted as being both omniscient and omnipotent].'" Leonard calls Empson's view "a powerful argument"; he notes that this interpretation was challenged by Dennis Danielson in his book "Milton's Good God" (1982).


title: Paradise Lost

text: Milton used a number of acrostics in the poem. In Book 9, a verse describing the serpent which tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden spells out "SATAN" (9.510), while elsewhere in the same book, Milton spells out "FFAALL" and "FALL" (9.333). Respectively, these probably represent the double fall of humanity embodied in Adam and Eve, as well as Satan's fall from Heaven.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Blank verse was not much used in the non-dramatic poetry of the 17th century until "Paradise Lost", in which Milton used it with much license and tremendous skill. Milton used the flexibility of blank verse, and its capacity to support syntactic complexity, to the utmost. Milton also wrote "Paradise Regained" and parts of "Samson Agonistes" in blank verse.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Although Milton was not the first to use blank verse, his use of it was very influential and he became known for the style. When Miltonic verse became popular, Samuel Johnson mocked Milton for inspiring bad blank verse, but he recognized that Milton's verse style was very influential. Poets such as Alexander Pope, whose final, incomplete work was intended to be written in the form, and John Keats, who complained that he relied too heavily on Milton, adopted and picked up various aspects of his poetry. In particular, Miltonic blank verse became the standard for those attempting to write English epics for centuries following the publication of "Paradise Lost" and his later poetry. The poet Robert Bridges analyzed his versification in the monograph "Milton's Prosody".


title: Paradise Lost

text: The writer and critic Samuel Johnson wrote that "Paradise Lost" shows off "[Milton's] peculiar power to astonish" and that "[Milton] seems to have been well acquainted with his own genius, and to know what it was that Nature had bestowed upon him more bountifully than upon others: the power of displaying the vast, illuminating the splendid, enforcing the awful, darkening the gloomy, and aggravating the dreadful."


title: Paradise Lost

text: William Blake famously wrote in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell": "The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it." This quotation succinctly represents the way in which some 18th- and 19th-century English Romantic poets viewed Milton.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Tobias Gregory wrote that Milton was "the most theologically learned among early modern epic poets. He was, moreover, a theologian of great independence of mind, and one who developed his talents within a society where the problem of divine justice was debated with particular intensity." Gregory says that Milton is able to establish divine action and his divine characters in a superior way to other Renaissance epic poets, including Ludovico Ariosto or Tasso.


title: Paradise Lost

text: In "Paradise Lost" Milton also ignores the traditional epic format of a plot based on a mortal conflict between opposing armies with deities watching over and occasionally interfering with the action. Instead, both divinity and mortal are involved in a conflict that, while momentarily ending in tragedy, offers a future salvation. In both "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained", Milton incorporates aspects of Lucan's epic model, the epic from the view of the defeated. Although he does not accept the model completely within "Paradise Regained", he incorporates the "anti-Virgilian, anti-imperial epic tradition of Lucan". Milton goes further than Lucan in this belief and ""Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" carry further, too, the movement toward and valorization of romance that Lucan's tradition had begun, to the point where Milton's poems effectively create their own new genre".


title: Paradise Lost

text: The first illustrations to accompany the text of "Paradise Lost" were added to the fourth edition of 1688, with one engraving prefacing each book, of which up to eight of the twelve were by Sir John Baptist Medina, one by Bernard Lens II, and perhaps up to four (including Books I and XII, perhaps the most memorable) by another hand. The engraver was Michael Burghers (given as 'Burgesse' in some sources). By 1730 the same images had been re-engraved on a smaller scale by Paul Fourdrinier.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Some of the most notable illustrators of "Paradise Lost" included William Blake, Gustave Doré, and Henry Fuseli. However, the epic's illustrators also include John Martin, Edward Francis Burney, Richard Westall, Francis Hayman, and many others.


title: Paradise Lost

text: Outside of book illustrations, the epic has also inspired other visual works by well-known painters like Salvador Dalí who executed a set of ten colour engravings in 1974. Milton's achievement in writing "Paradise Lost" while blind (he dictated to helpers) inspired loosely biographical paintings by both Fuseli and Eugène Delacroix.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era. He was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941, and one of the best-paid actors of that era. At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930s and 1940s that epitomized mainstream America's self-image.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: At the peak of his career between ages 15 and 25, he made 43 films, and was one of MGM's most consistently successful actors. A versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career. Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney "the best there has ever been". Clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles in "National Velvet" and "The Human Comedy", said Rooney was "the closest thing to a genius" with whom he had ever worked. He won a Golden Globe Award in 1982 and an Emmy Award in the same year for the title role in a television movie "Bill" and was awarded Academy Honorary Award in 1982.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child actor, and made his film debut at the age of 6. He played the title character in the "Mickey McGuire" series of 78 short films, from age 7 to 13. At 14 and 15, he played Puck in the play and subsequent film adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". At the age of 16, he began playing Andy Hardy, and gained first recognition at 17 as Whitey Marsh in "Boys Town." At only 19, Rooney became the second-youngest Best Actor in a Leading Role nominee and the first teenager to be nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Mickey Moran in 1939 film adaptation of coming-of-age Broadway musical "Babes in Arms"; he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939. Rooney received his second Academy Award nomination in the same category for his role as Homer Macauley in "The Human Comedy".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Drafted into the military during World War II, Rooney served nearly two years entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio, and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones. Returning in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles, but too short at for most adult roles, and was unable to gain as many starring roles. However, numerous low-budget, but critically well-received films noir had Rooney playing the lead during this period and the 1950s. Rooney's career was renewed with well-received supporting roles in films such as "The Bold and the Brave" (1956), "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962), "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963), "Pete's Dragon" (1977), and "The Black Stallion" (1979). For his roles in "The Bold and the Brave" and "The Black Stallion", Rooney received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1957 and 1980 respectively. In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in "Sugar Babies", a role that earned him nominations for Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He made hundreds of appearances on TV, including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney was born Joseph Yule Jr. in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on September 23, 1920, the only child of Nellie W. Carter and Joe Yule. His mother was an American former chorus girl and burlesque performer from Kansas City, Missouri, while his father was a Scottish-born vaudevillian, who had emigrated to New York from Glasgow with his family at the age of three months. They lived in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. When Rooney was born, his parents were appearing together in a Brooklyn production of "A Gaiety Girl". He later recounted in his memoirs that he began performing at the age of 17 months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney's parents separated when he was four years old in 1924, and he and his mother moved to Hollywood the following year. He made his first film appearance at age six in 1926, in the short "Not to be Trusted". Rooney got bit parts in films such as "The Beast of the City" (1932) and "The Life of Jimmy Dolan" (1933), which allowed him to work alongside stars such as Joel McCrea, Colleen Moore, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Wayne, and Jean Harlow. He enrolled in the Hollywood Professional School and later attended Fairfax High School.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: His mother saw an advertisement for a child to play the role of "Mickey McGuire" in a series of short films. Rooney got the role and became "Mickey" for 78 of the films, running from 1927 to 1936, starting with "Mickey's Circus" (1927), his first starring role. During this period, he also briefly voiced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for Walter Lantz Productions. He made other films in his adolescence, including several more of the McGuire films. At age 14, he played the role of Puck in the Warner Bros. all-star adaptation of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in 1935. Critic David Thomson hailed his performance as "one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic". Rooney then moved to MGM, where he befriended Judy Garland, with whom he began making a series of musicals that propelled both of them to stardom.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1937, Rooney was selected to portray Andy Hardy in "A Family Affair", which MGM had planned as a B-movie. Rooney provided comic relief as the son of Judge James K. Hardy, portrayed by Lionel Barrymore (although former silent-film leading man Lewis Stone played the role of Judge Hardy in subsequent pictures). The film was an unexpected success, and led to 13 more "Andy Hardy" films between 1937 and 1946, and a final film in 1958.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: According to author Barry Monush, MGM wanted the Andy Hardy films to appeal to all family members. Rooney's character portrayed a typical "anxious, hyperactive, girl-crazy teenager", and he soon became the unintended main star of the films. Although some critics describe the series of films as "sweet, overly idealized, and pretty much interchangeable," their ultimate success was because they gave viewers a "comforting portrait of small-town America that seemed suited for the times", with Rooney instilling "a lasting image of what every parent wished their teen could be like".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Behind the scenes, however, Rooney was like the "hyperactive girl-crazy teenager" he portrayed on the screen. Wallace Beery, his co-star in "Stablemates", described him as a "brat", but a "fine actor". MGM head Louis B. Mayer found it necessary to manage Rooney's public image, explains historian Jane Ellen Wayne:


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Fifty years later, Rooney realized in hindsight that these early confrontations with Mayer were necessary for him to develop into a leading film star: "Everybody butted heads with him, but he listened and you listened. And then you'd come to an agreement you could both live with. ... He visited the sets, he gave people talks ... What he wanted was something that was "American", presented in a cosmopolitan manner."


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1937, Rooney made his first film alongside Judy Garland with "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry". Garland and Rooney became close friends as they co-starred in future films and became a successful song-and-dance team. Audiences delighted in seeing the "playful interactions between the two stars showcase a wonderful chemistry". Along with three of the "Andy Hardy" films, where she portrayed a girl attracted to Andy, they appeared together in a string of successful musicals, including coming-of-age musical "Babes in Arms" (1939). For his performance as Mickey Moran, 19-year-old Mickey Rooney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, becoming the second-youngest Best Actor nominee. During an interview in the 1992 documentary film "MGM: When the Lion Roars", Rooney describes their friendship:


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1937, Rooney received top billing as Shockey Carter in "Hoosier Schoolboy", but his breakthrough role as a dramatic actor came in 1938's "Boys Town" opposite Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, who runs a home for wayward and homeless boys. 18-year-old Rooney and 17-year-old Deanna Durbin were awarded a special Juvenile Academy Award in 1939, for "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth". Jane Ellen Wayne describes one of the "most famous scenes" in the film, where tough young Rooney is playing poker with a cigarette in his mouth, his hat is cocked, and his feet are up on the table. "Tracy grabs him by the lapels, throws the cigarette away, and pushes him into a chair. 'That's better,' he tells Mickey." Louis B. Mayer said "Boys Town" was his favorite film during his years at MGM.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney was the biggest box-office draw in 1939, 1940, and 1941. For their roles in "Boys Town", Rooney and Tracy won first and second place in the "Motion Picture Herald" 1940 National Poll of Exhibitors, based on the box-office appeal of 200 players. A contributor to "Boys' Life" magazine wrote, "Congratulations to Messrs. Rooney and Tracy! Also to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer we extend a hearty thanks for their very considerable part in this outstanding achievement." Actor Laurence Olivier once called Rooney "the greatest actor of them all". He appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine in 1940, timed to coincide with the release of "Young Tom Edison"; the cover story began:


title: Mickey Rooney

text: During his long career, Rooney also worked with many of the screen's female stars, including Elizabeth Taylor in "National Velvet" (1944) and Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961)." With his appearing with Marilyn Monroe in "The Fireball" (1950) and with Grace Kelly in "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" (1954), Rooney is the only actor ever co-starring with four of the greatest female screen legends ever. Rooney's "bumptiousness and boyish charm" as an actor developed more "smoothness and polish" over the years, writes biographer Scott Eyman. The fact that Rooney fully enjoyed his life as an actor played a large role in those changes:


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Clarence Brown, who directed Rooney in his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Human Comedy" (1943) and again in "National Velvet" (1944), enjoyed working with Rooney in films:


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In June 1944, Rooney was inducted into the United States Army, where he served more than 21 months (until shortly after the end of World War II) entertaining the troops in America and Europe in Special Services. He spent part of the time as a radio personality on the American Forces Network, and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for entertaining troops in combat zones. In addition to the Bronze Star, Rooney also received the Army Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal, for his military service.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney's career declined after his return to civilian life. He was now an adult with a height of only ( according to his 1942 draft registration) and he could no longer play the role of a teenager, but he also lacked the stature of most leading men. He appeared in the film "Words and Music" in 1948, which paired him for the last time with Garland on film (he appeared with her on one episode as a guest on "The Judy Garland Show"). He briefly starred in a CBS radio series, "Shorty Bell", in the summer of 1948, and reprised his role as Andy Hardy, with most of the original cast, in a syndicated radio version of "The Hardy Family" in 1949 and 1950 (repeated on Mutual during 1952).


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1949, "Variety" reported a renegotiation of Rooney's deal with MGM. He agreed to make one film a year for them for five years at $25,000 a movie (his fee until then had been $100,000, but Rooney wanted to enter independent production.) Rooney claimed he was unhappy with the billing MGM gave him for "Words and Music", but his career was at a low point. His "New York Times" obituary reported, "at one point in 1950, the only job he could get was touring Southern states with the Hadacol Caravan," promoting a patent medicine that was later forced off the market.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: His first television series, "The Mickey Rooney Show", also known as "Hey, Mulligan", was created by Blake Edwards with Rooney as his own producer, and appeared on NBC television for 32 episodes from August 1954 to June 1955. In 1951, he made his directorial debut with "My True Story", starring Helen Walker. Rooney also starred as a ragingly egomaniacal television comedian, loosely based on Red Buttons, in the live 90-minute television drama "The Comedian", in the "Playhouse 90" series on the evening of Valentine's Day in 1957, and as himself in a 1960 revue called "The Musical Revue of 1959", based on the 1929 film "The Hollywood Revue of 1929". In May 1956, Sequoia University awarded Rooney an honorary degree of PhD in Fine Arts for his work.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1958, Rooney joined Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in hosting an episode of NBC's short-lived "Club Oasis" comedy and variety show. In 1960, Rooney directed and starred in "The Private Lives of Adam and Eve", an ambitious comedy known for its multiple flashbacks and many cameos. In the 1960s, Rooney returned to theatrical entertainment. He accepted film roles in undistinguished films, but still appeared in better works, such as "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962) and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963).


title: Mickey Rooney

text: He portrayed a Japanese character, Mr. Yunioshi, in the 1961 film version of Truman Capote's novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's". His performance was criticized by some in subsequent years as a racist caricature. Rooney later said that he would not have taken the role if he had known it would offend people.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1961, Rooney appeared on television's "What's My Line?", and mentioned that he had already started enrolling students in the Mickey Rooney School of Entertainment. His school venture never came to fruition. This was a period of professional distress for Rooney; as a childhood friend, director Richard Quine put it: "Let's face it. It wasn't all that easy to find roles for a 5-foot-3 man who'd passed the age of Andy Hardy." In 1962, although he had earned $12 million by that point, his debts had forced him into filing for bankruptcy.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1966, Rooney was working on the film "Ambush Bay" in the Philippines when his wife Barbara Ann Thomason—a former model and aspiring actress who had won 17 straight beauty contests in Southern California—was found dead in her bed. Her lover, Milos Milos—who was one of Rooney's actor-friends—was found dead beside her. Detectives ruled it a murder-suicide, which was committed with Rooney's own gun.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Francis Ford Coppola had bought the rights to make "The Black Stallion" (1979), and when casting it, he called Rooney and asked him if he thought he could play a jockey. Rooney replied saying, "Gee, I don't know. I never played a jockey before." He was kidding, he said, since he had played a jockey in at least three past films, including "Down the Stretch", "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry", and "National Velvet". The film garnered excellent reviews and earned $40 million in its first run, which gave Coppola's struggling studio, American Zoetrope, a significant boost. It also gave Rooney newfound recognition, along with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1983, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Rooney their Academy Honorary Award for his lifetime of achievement.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In addition to his movie roles, Rooney made numerous guest-starring roles as a television character actor for nearly six decades, beginning with an episode of "Celanese Theatre". The part led to other roles on such television series as "Schlitz Playhouse", "Playhouse 90", "Producers' Showcase", "Alcoa Theatre", "The Soldiers", "Wagon Train", "General Electric Theater", "Hennesey", "The Dick Powell Theatre", "Arrest and Trial" (1964), "Burke's Law" (1963), "Combat!" (1964), "The Fugitive", "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre", "The Jean Arthur Show" (1966), "The Name of the Game" (1970), "Dan August" (1970), "Night Gallery" (1970), "The Love Boat", "" (1995), "Murder, She Wrote" (1992), and "The Golden Girls" (1988) among many others.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1961, he guest-starred in the 13-week James Franciscus adventure–drama CBS television series "The Investigators". In 1962, he was cast as himself in the episode "The Top Banana" of the CBS sitcom, "Pete and Gladys", starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1963, he entered CBS's "The Twilight Zone", giving a one-man performance in the episode "The Last Night of a Jockey" (1963). Also in 1963, in 'The Hunt' for "Suspense Theater", he played the sadistic sheriff hunting the young surfer played by James Caan. In 1964, he launched another half-hour sitcom, "Mickey". The story line had "Mickey" operating a resort hotel in Southern California. His own son Tim Rooney appeared as his character's teenaged son on this program, and Emmaline Henry starred as Rooney's wife. The program lasted for 17 episodes.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: When Norman Lear was developing "All in the Family" in 1970, he wanted Rooney for the lead role of Archie Bunker. Rooney turned Lear down, and the role eventually went to Carroll O'Connor.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney garnered a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special for his role in 1981's "Bill". Playing opposite Dennis Quaid, Rooney's character was a mentally handicapped man attempting to live on his own after leaving an institution. His acting quality in the film has been favorably compared to other actors who took on similar roles, including Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman, and Tom Hanks. He reprised his role in 1983's "Bill: On His Own", earning an Emmy nomination for the turn.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney did voice acting from time to time. He provided the voice of Santa Claus in four stop-motion animated Christmas TV specials: "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (1970), "The Year Without a Santa Claus" (1974), "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July" (1979) and "A Miser Brothers' Christmas" (2008). In 1995, he appeared as himself on "The Simpsons" episode "Radioactive Man".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: After starring in one unsuccessful TV series and turning down an offer for a huge TV series, Rooney, now 70, starred in the Family Channel's "The Adventures of the Black Stallion", where he reprised his role as Henry Dailey in the film of the same name, 11 years earlier. The series ran for three years and was an international hit.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: A major turning point came in 1979, when Rooney made his Broadway debut in the acclaimed stage play "Sugar Babies", a musical revue tribute to the burlesque era co-starring former MGM dancing star Ann Miller. Aljean Harmetz noted, "Mr. Rooney fought over every skit and argued over every song and almost always got things done his way. The show opened on Broadway on October 8, 1979, to rave reviews, and this time he did not throw success away. Rooney and Miller performed the show 1,208 times in New York and then toured with it for five years, including eight months in London. Co-star Miller recalls that Rooney "never missed a performance or a chance to ad-lib or read the lines the same way twice, if he even stuck to the script". Biographer Alvin Marill states, "at 59, Mickey Rooney was reincarnated as a baggy-pants comedian—back as a top banana in show biz in his belated Broadway debut." For his performance, Rooney received nominations for Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Following this, he toured as Pseudelous in Stephen Sondheim's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". In the 1990s, he returned to Broadway for the final months of "Will Rogers Follies", playing the ghost of Will's father. On television, he starred in the short-lived sitcom, "One of the Boys", along with two unfamiliar young stars, Dana Carvey and Nathan Lane, in 1982.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: He toured Canada in a dinner theatre production of "The Mind with the Naughty Man" in the mid-1990s. He played The Wizard in a stage production of "The Wizard of Oz" with Eartha Kitt at Madison Square Garden. Kitt was later replaced by Jo Anne Worley.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney wrote a memoir titled "Life is too Short", published by Villard Books in 1991. A "Library Journal" review said, "From title to the last line, 'I'll have a short bier', Rooney's self-deprecating humor powers this book." He wrote a novel about a child star, published in 1994, "The Search for Sunny Skies". On November 10, 2000, he starred in the Disney Channel original movie "Phantom of the Megaplex".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Despite the millions of dollars that he earned over the years, such as his $65,000-a-week earnings from "Sugar Babies", Rooney was plagued by financial problems late in life. His longtime gambling habit caused him to "gamble away his fortune again and again". He declared bankruptcy for the second time in 1996 and described himself as "broke" in 2005. He kept performing on stage and in the movies, but his personal property was valued at only $18,000 when he died in 2014.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney and his wife Jan toured the country in 2005 through 2011 in a musical revue called "Let's Put on a Show". "Vanity Fair" called it "a homespun affair full of dog-eared jokes" that featured Rooney singing George Gershwin songs.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 2006, Rooney played Gus in "Night at the Museum". He returned to play the role again in the sequel "" in 2009, in a scene that was deleted from the final film.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: On May 26, 2007, Rooney was grand marshal at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. He made his British pantomime debut, playing Baron Hardup in "Cinderella", at the Sunderland Empire Theatre over the 2007 Christmas period, a role he reprised at Bristol Hippodrome in 2008 and at the Milton Keynes theatre in 2009.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 2011, Rooney made a cameo appearance in "The Muppets", and in 2014, at age 93, six weeks before his death, he reprised his role as Gus in "", which was dedicated to Robin Williams, who also died that year, and to him. Although confined to a wheelchair, he was described by director Shawn Levy as "energetic and so pleased to be there. He was just happy to be invited to the party."


title: Mickey Rooney

text: An October 2015 article in "The Hollywood Reporter" maintained that Rooney was frequently abused and financially depleted by his closest relatives in the last years of his life. The article said that it was clear that "one of the biggest stars of all time, who remained aloft longer than anyone in Hollywood history, was in the end brought down by those closest to him. He died humiliated and betrayed, nearly broke, and often broken." Rooney suffered from bipolar disorder and had attempted suicide two or three times over the years, with resulting hospitalizations reported as "nervous breakdowns".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: At the time of his death (April 6, 2014), Rooney was married to Jan Chamberlin Rooney, although they had separated in June 2012. He had nine children and two stepchildren, as well as 19 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Rooney had been addicted to sleeping pills, and overcame the addiction in 2000 when he was in his late 70s. In 1997, he was arrested on suspicion of beating his wife, Jan, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: On February 16, 2011, Rooney was granted a temporary restraining order against his stepson Christopher Aber and Aber's wife Christina, and they were ordered to stay 100 yards from Rooney, his stepson Mark Rooney, and Mark's wife Charlene. Rooney claimed that he was a victim of elder abuse. On March 2, 2011, Rooney appeared before a special U.S. Senate committee that was considering legislation to curb elder abuse, testifying about the abuse he claimed to have suffered at the hands of family members. In 2011, all of Rooney's finances were permanently handed over to a conservator, who called Rooney "completely competent".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In April 2011, the temporary restraining order that Rooney was previously granted was replaced by a confidential settlement between Rooney and Aber. Aber and Jan Rooney denied all the allegations.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In May 2013, Rooney sold his home of many years, reportedly for $1.3 million, and split the proceeds with his wife, Jan.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney was married eight times, with six of the marriages ending in divorce. In 1942, he married his first wife, actress Ava Gardner, who at that time was still an obscure teenaged starlet. They divorced the following year, partly because he had apparently been unfaithful. While stationed in the military in Alabama in 1944, Rooney met and married Betty Jane Phillips, who later became a singer under the name B. J. Baker. They had two sons together. This marriage ended in divorce after he returned from Europe at the end of World War II. His marriage to actress Martha Vickers in 1949 produced one son, but ended in divorce in 1951. He married actress Elaine Mahnken in 1952, and they divorced in 1958.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: In 1958, Rooney married model and actress Barbara Ann Thomason (stage name Carolyn Mitchell). She was murdered in 1966 by stuntman and actor Milos Milos, who then shot himself. Thomason and Milos had an affair while Rooney was traveling, and police theorized that Milos had shot her after she wanted to end it. Rooney then married Barbara's best friend, Marge Lane, though the marriage lasted only 100 days. He was married to Carolyn Hockett from 1969 to 1975. In 1978, he married his eighth and final wife, Jan Chamberlin. Their marriage lasted until his death, a total of 34 years (longer than his seven previous unions combined). However, they separated in 2012.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney died of natural causes (including complications from diabetes) in Studio City, on April 6, 2014, at the age of 93. A group of family members and friends, including Mickey Rourke, held a memorial service on April 18. A private funeral, organized by another set of family members, was held at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where he was buried, on April 19. His eight surviving children said in a statement that they were barred from seeing Rooney during his final years.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: At his death, "Vanity Fair" called Rooney "the original Hollywood train wreck". Despite earning millions during his career, he had to file for bankruptcy in 1962 due to mismanagement of his finances. In his later years, Rooney had entrusted his finances to his stepson, who funneled Rooney's earnings to pay for his own lavish lifestyle. His millions in earnings had dwindled to an estate that was valued at only $18,000. He died owing medical bills and back taxes, and contributions were solicited from the public.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Rooney was one of the last surviving actors of the silent-film era. His film career spanned 88 years, from 1926 to 2014, continuing until shortly before his death. During his peak years from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Rooney was among the top box-office stars in the United States, and in 1939 was "the" biggest box-office draw, followed immediately by Tyrone Power.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: He made 43 films between the ages of 15 and 25. Among those, his role as Andy Hardy became one of "Hollywood's best-loved characters," with Marlon Brando calling him "the best actor in films".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: "There was nothing he couldn't do," said actress Margaret O'Brien. MGM boss Louis B. Mayer treated him like a son and saw in Rooney "the embodiment of the amiable American boy who stands for family, humbug, and sentiment," wrote critic and author David Thomson.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: By the time Rooney was 20, his consistent portrayals of characters with youth and energy suggested that his future success was unlimited. Thomson also explains that Rooney's characters were able to cover a wide range of emotional types, and gives three examples where "Rooney is not just an actor of genius, but an artist able to maintain a stylized commentary on the demon impulse of the small, belligerent man:"


title: Mickey Rooney

text: By the end of the 1940s, Rooney was no longer in demand, and his career declined. "In 1938," he said, "I starred in eight pictures. In 1948 and 1949 together, I starred in only three." Film historian Jeanine Basinger observed while his career "reached the heights and plunged to the depths, Rooney kept on working and growing, the mark of a professional." Some of the films that reinvigorated his profile were "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962), "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (1963), and "The Black Stallion" (1979). In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in "Sugar Babies", and "found himself once more back on top".


title: Mickey Rooney

text: Though not talked about openly, many fellow actors, directors and producers considered Rooney one of the most arrogant and self-centered actors in Hollywood, and he was considered very difficult to work with.


title: Mickey Rooney

text: One of the most enduring performers in show business history, Rooney appeared in over 300 films in 88 years.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Tonya Maxene Price (née Harding; born November 12, 1970) is an American former figure skater, retired boxer and a reality television personality. Born in Portland, Oregon, Harding was raised primarily by her mother, who enrolled her in ice skating lessons beginning at three years old. Harding spent much of her early life training, eventually dropping out of high school to devote her time to the sport. After climbing the ranks in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships between 1986 and 1989, Harding won the 1989 Skate America competition. She became the 1991 and 1994 U.S. champion before being stripped of her 1994 title, and 1991 World silver medalist. In 1991, she became the first American woman and the second woman in history (after Midori Ito) to successfully land a triple Axel in competition. Harding is a two-time Olympian and a two-time Skate America Champion.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In January 1994, Harding became embroiled in controversy when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, orchestrated an attack on her fellow U.S. skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. Both women then competed in the February 1994 Winter Olympics, where Kerrigan won the silver medal and Harding finished eighth. On March 16, 1994, Harding accepted a plea bargain in which she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution. As a result of her involvement in the aftermath of the assault on Kerrigan, the United States Figure Skating Association banned her for life on June 30, 1994.


title: Tonya Harding

text: From 2003 to 2004, Harding competed as a professional boxer. Her life has been the subject of many books, films, documentaries, and academic studies. In 2014, two television documentaries were made about Harding's life and skating career ("Nancy & Tonya" and "The Price of Gold"), inspiring Steven Rogers to write the film "I, Tonya" in 2017, in which Harding was portrayed by Australian actress Margot Robbie. In 2018, she was a contestant on season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars", finishing in third place. In 2019, she won of "Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition".


title: Tonya Harding

text: Tonya Maxene Harding was born on November 12, 1970, in Portland, Oregon, to LaVona Golden (b. 1940) and Albert Harding (1933–2009). During Harding's youth, her father held various odd jobs (managed apartments, drove a truck, and worked at a bait & tackle store), yet was often underemployed due to poor health. She was raised in East Portland and began skating at age three, training with coach Diane Rawlinson. Harding also hunted, drag raced and learned auto mechanics from her father. LaVona struggled to support the family while working as a waitress and hand-sewed her daughter's skating costumes to save money. Harding's parents divorced after 19 years of marriage in 1987, when she was 16 years old. She dropped out of David Douglas High School during her sophomore year to focus on skating, and earned a General Educational Development (GED) Certificate in 1988.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding claimed she was frequently abused by her mother. She stated that by the time she was seven years old, physical and psychological abuse had become a regular part of her life. LaVona admitted to one instance of hitting Harding at an ice rink. In January 2018, Harding's childhood friend and filmmaker, Sandra Luckow, spoke in defense of Harding's mother because she felt that the 2017 film "I, Tonya" stretched some truths about LaVona's character. Luckow said that although Harding's mother could be "egregious" towards her daughter, LaVona funded and appreciated Harding's skating lessons and had "a huge amount of humanity".


title: Tonya Harding

text: In Harding's 2008 authorized biography, "The Tonya Tapes" (written by Lynda D. Prouse from recorded interviews with Harding), she said she was the victim of acquaintance rape in 1991 and that her half-brother, Chris Davison, molested her on several occasions when she was a child. In 1986, Harding called the police after Davison had been sexually harassing and terrorizing her. He was arrested and spent a short time in prison. Harding said her parents were in denial about Davison's behavior and told her not to press criminal charges against him. Davison was killed in an unsolved vehicular hit-and-run accident in 1988. On May 3, 1994, during an interview with Rolonda Watts, Harding said that Davison was the only person in her life unworthy of forgiveness and "the only person I've ever hated."


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding trained as a figure skater throughout her youth with coach Diane Rawlinson. In the mid-1980s, she began working her way up the competitive skating ladder. She placed sixth at the 1986 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, fifth in 1987 and 1988, and third in 1989. After competing in the February 1989 Nationals Championship, Harding began training with Dody Teachman as her coach. She then won the October 1989 Skate America competition, and was considered a strong contender at the February 1990 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. However, she was experiencing the flu and asthma and had a poor free skate. After the original program, she dropped from second place and finished seventh overall.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding's breakthrough year came in 1991 when, at the U.S. Championships, she completed her first triple Axel in competition on February 16 – the first American woman to execute the jump. She landed seven triple jumps in the long program including the triple Axel. She won the 1991 U.S. Ladies' Singles title with the event's first 6.0 technical merit score since Janet Lynn's 1973 performance at the U.S. Championships. She won the long program when seven of the nine judges gave her first place, and won the competition. She scored eight 5.9s and one 6.0 for technical merit and six 5.9s, one 5.8 and two 5.7s for composition and style. At the March 1991 World Championships, an international event, she again completed the triple Axel. Harding would finish second behind Kristi Yamaguchi and in front of Nancy Kerrigan, marking the first time one country swept the ladies medal podium at the World Figure Skating Championships.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Despite these record-breaking performances, after 1991, Harding was never again able to successfully complete the triple Axel in competition; her competitive results began to decline. She and Dody Teachman had briefly parted ways in April 1991, but had reunited in June; Harding was still training under Teachman for the upcoming 1992 season. She placed third in the January 1992 U.S. Figure Skating Championships despite twisting her ankle during practice, and finished fourth in the February 1992 Winter Olympics. On March 1, 1992, Harding gave Teachman a summary dismissal and returned to Diane Rawlinson to be coached by her. On March 29, Harding placed sixth in the 1992 World Championships, although she had a better placement at the November 1992 Skate Canada International event finishing fourth.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In January 1994, Harding won the U.S. Championships, but was later stripped of her title: the USFSA disciplinary panel voted to vacate the title in June 1994, following an investigation of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan. In February 1994, Harding was permitted to remain a member of the U.S. Olympic ice skating team, despite brief legal controversy. In Lillehammer, after an issue with a broken skate lace in the long program, she was given a re-skate by the judges and finished in eighth place, behind Oksana Baiul (gold) and Nancy Kerrigan (silver). Despite her USFSA ban, however, she did later compete at the professional level, placing second at the ESPN Pro Skating Championship in 1999.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In June 1994, Claire Ferguson, the President of the USFSA, voted to strip Harding of her 1994 title. However, the competition results were not changed and the title was left vacant rather than moving all the other competitors up one position.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On , one day before the U.S. Figure Skating Championship first Ladies' Singles competition, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in a corridor after a practice session at the Detroit Cobo Arena. The aftermath of the attack was recorded on a news camera and broadcast around the world. The assailant was Shane Stant, contracted to break her right knee; he turned himself in to the FBI in Phoenix on January 14. Stant and his uncle, Derrick Smith, were hired for this assault by Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard Shawn Eckardt. After failing to find Kerrigan in Massachusetts, Stant had taken a 20-hour bus trip to Detroit. Nancy Kerrigan was walking behind a curtain when Stant rushed behind her. Using both hands, he swung a 21-inch (53 cm) ASP telescopic baton at her right leg, striking above her knee. The attack was intended to seriously injure Kerrigan so that she could not compete in the Nationals (Kerrigan was the defending 1993 Champion) nor the Winter Olympics. Kerrigan's leg was not broken but severely bruised, forcing her to withdraw from the Championships and forgo competing to retain the U.S. Ladies' title. On January 8, Harding won the U.S. title; she and Kerrigan were then both selected for the 1994 Olympic team.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On January 11, Harding was interviewed for KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon. Harding was asked whether someone she knew could have planned the attack. Harding replied, "I have definitely thought about it." Gillooly stood in her view behind the camera during the interview. The interview ended with Harding saying, "No one controls my life but me...if there's something in there that I don't like, I'm going to change it." Harding also confirmed she had spoken with FBI agents in Detroit and again in Portland. On January 13, Eckardt and Smith were arrested. On January 14, the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) made a statement on whether Eckardt's arrest affected Harding's Olympic placement: "We will deal only with the facts." Harding and Gillooly's separate lawyers confirmed the couple were in daily contact and cooperation with law enforcement. On January 15, Harding and Gillooly spoke with reporters, but declined to comment about the investigation. On January 16, Harding's lawyer held a press conference in which he read a statement denying Harding's involvement in the attack on Kerrigan. Harding left her home that evening to practice with her coaches, where she spoke with reporters and performed a triple Axel.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On January 18, 1994, Harding was with her lawyers when she submitted to questioning by the DA and FBI. She was interviewed for over ten hours. Eight hours into the interview, her lawyer read a statement declaring her separation from Gillooly: "I continue to believe that Jeff is innocent of any wrongdoing. I wish him nothing but the best". Her full FBI transcript was released on February 1. "The Seattle Times" reported on the transcript, stating that Harding had "changed her story well into a long interview...After hours of denying any involvement in trying to cover up the plot, an FBI agent finally told [her] that he knew she had lied to him, that he would tell her exactly how she had lied to him." In the transcript's final passage, Harding stated "I hope everyone understands. I'm telling on someone I really care about. I know now [Jeff] is involved. I'm sorry." On January 19, Gillooly surrendered to the FBI. On January 20, Diane Sawyer asked Harding on "Primetime" about the case. Harding said she had done nothing wrong. On January 27, it was reported Gillooly had been testifying about the attack plot since January 26; possibly implicating Harding as allegedly assisting. Harding's close friend Stephanie Quintero, with whom she was living, spoke to reporters on her behalf: "[Tonya] was shocked, very hurt. She was believing in [Jeff]." Harding later held a press conference to read a prepared statement. She said she was sorry Kerrigan was attacked, that she respected Kerrigan, and claimed not to know in advance of the plot to disable her. Harding took responsibility "for failing to report things [about the assault] when I returned home from Nationals [on January 10]. Failure to immediately report this information is not a crime." Many states' laws, including Oregon's, state that the act of concealing criminal knowledge alone is not a crime.


title: Tonya Harding

text: The attack on Kerrigan received a substantial amount of publicity, and news media crews camped outside Kerrigan's home. In January 1994, the story was on the covers of "Sports Illustrated", "Newsweek", and "TIME". There was now much speculation about Harding's alleged involvement in the assault plot. Because Harding and Kerrigan would be representing the US in the February Lillehammer Olympics, speculation reached a media frenzy. Abby Haight and J.E. Vader, reporters for "The Oregonian", wrote a biography of Harding called "Fire on Ice", which included excerpts of her January 18th FBI interview.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On February 1, Gillooly's attorney negotiated a plea bargain in exchange for testimony regarding all involved parties in the attack. In July, he was sentenced to two years in prison and publicly apologized to Kerrigan – adding "any apology coming from me rings hollow." Gillooly and Eckardt pleaded guilty to racketeering; Stant and Smith (who drove the getaway car and funneled money) pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree assault. Judge Donald Londer noted the attack could have injured Kerrigan more seriously. Eckardt died in 2007.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On February 5, the USFSA disciplinary panel stated there were reasonable grounds to believe Harding had violated the sport's code of ethics. Her admitted failure to report about an assault on a fellow competitor, supported by her FBI transcripts, led to Harding being formally charged with "[making] false statements about her knowledge". The USFSA recommended that she face a disciplinary hearing. Claire Ferguson, president of the USFSA, decided not to suspend Harding's membership before a hearing took place. If she had been suspended, she likely still would have competed at the Olympics after filing suit, seeking an injunction against the USFSA, and asserting her rights under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978. The panel examined evidence including the testimonies of Stant and Smith, Harding and Gillooly's telephone records, and notes found in a Portland saloon trash bin on January 30. Harding was given 30 days to respond.


title: Tonya Harding

text: News media began attending Harding's Portland practices; also filming her on February 7, running barefoot to stop a tow truck from hauling her illegally parked vehicle. On February 10, Connie Chung interviewed Harding. When asked about Gillooly, Harding said: "I never did anything to hurt [Jeff]. If I ever did anything, it was to stick up for him and protect him." Chung also negotiated to fly on the same airplane with Harding to Oslo, leaving on February 15. Chung admitted she would not have travelled to Norway were it not for the scandal.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On February 17, 1994, Harding and Kerrigan shared the ice at a practice session in the Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre. Approximately 400 members of the press were there to document the practice. Scott Hamilton thought the sport was depicted as a "tabloid event". It was noted that Nancy Kerrigan chose to wear the same skating costume at the practice session that she was wearing when Stant attacked her. Kerrigan later confirmed that her choice of dress that day was deliberate: "Humor is good, it's empowering." The tape-delayed broadcast of the February 23 Ladies' Olympic technical program is one of the most watched telecasts in the US. On February 25, Harding finished eighth in the Olympics; Nancy Kerrigan, having recovered from her injury, won the Olympic silver behind gold medalist Oksana Baiul from Ukraine.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On March 9, Judge Owen Panner granted Harding a requested stay until June on her disciplinary hearing. Meanwhile, Portland authorities stated the criminal investigation would conclude by March 21 with any indictments and a grand jury report to be made at that time.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On March 16, 1994, Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution as a Class C felony offense at a Multnomah County court hearing. She and her lawyer, Robert Weaver, negotiated a plea bargain ensuring no further prosecution. Judge Donald Londer conducted routine questioning to make certain Harding understood her agreement, that she was entering her plea "knowingly and voluntarily". Harding told Londer she was. Her plea admissions were knowing of the assault plot after the fact, settling on a cover story with Gillooly and Eckardt on January 10, witnessing pay phone calls to Smith affirming the story on January 10 and 11, and lying to FBI with the story on January 18. Law enforcement investigators had been following and videotaping the co-conspirators since January 10; they knew about the pay phone calls. Her penalties included three years of probation, a $100,000 fine, and 500 hours community service. She agreed to reimburse Multnomah County $10,000 in legal expenses, undergo a psychiatric examination, and volunteered to give $50,000 to the Special Olympics Oregon (SOOR) charity. Oregon sentencing guidelines carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding's plea conditions imposed her U.S. Figure Skating Association resignation, necessitating her withdrawal from the 1994 Worlds (for which she was scheduled to leave on March 17). District attorney Norman Frink said if Harding had not agreed to the plea, she would have faced "an indictment on all possible charges...punishment was taking away [skating] privilege."


title: Tonya Harding

text: Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, donated $25,000 toward Harding's legal fees. She had also made approximately $600,000 from an "Inside Edition" deal.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Weaver said the plea agreement was satisfactory to Harding, partly because she avoided prison: "we would have prevailed at trial." An executive of the USFSA commented "[We] don't know if Tonya is innocent or guilty...if [she was involved before] the national championship." On March 18, Claire Ferguson decided Harding's disciplinary hearing would proceed in June. The USFSA's executive committee met to discuss Harding seeking reinstatement and whether they might strip her of the 1994 National Championship title. Neither issue was decided at that time.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On March 21, 1994, a Portland grand jury issued an indictment stating there was evidence Harding participated in the attack plot. The indictment concluded more than two months of investigation and witness testimonies from Diane Rawlinson; Harding's choreographer Erika Bakacs; freelance figure skating writer Vera Marano; and Eckardt's college instructor and classmates. It stated there was evidence Harding fraudulently used USFSA-provided skating monies to finance the assault. It also read that Harding, Gillooly, Eckardt, Smith, and Stant agreed to "knowingly cause physical injury ... by means of a dangerous weapon." The grand jury said the evidence implied Harding was "involved from the beginning or very close." She was not charged in the indictment due to the terms of her March 16 plea agreement.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On June 29, the USFSA disciplinary panel met for nine hours over two days to consider Harding's alleged role in the attack. On June 30, chairman William Hybl stated,


title: Tonya Harding

text: The panel decided that pertinent FBI reports, court documents, and Harding's March 16 plea agreement presented


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding did not attend or participate in the two-day hearing. Weaver said the decision disappointed her but was not a surprise, and that she had not decided on an appeal. Harding was stripped of her 1994 U.S. Championship title and banned for life from participating in USFSA events as either a skater or coach. The USFSA has no authority over professional skating events, yet Harding was "persona non grata" on the pro circuit. Few skaters and promoters would work with her, and she did not benefit from the ensuing boom in professional skating after the scandal.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Shortly before the 1998 Winter Olympics, the CBS and Fox news divisions re-examined the scandal for two televised special reports. Harry Smith hosted the CBS special. He reported that Harding still held to her statement from her press conference given on January 27, 1994: "I had no prior knowledge of the planned assault on Nancy Kerrigan." Smith then interviewed Kerrigan, asking how she responded to that statement. Kerrigan referred to transcripts she had read from Harding's FBI interview on January 18, 1994. After reading through the interrogation of that day, she concluded that "[Tonya] knew more than she admits." The Fox special report was called "Breaking the Ice: The Women of '94 Revisited", hosted by James Brown with interviews of Harding, Gillooly, and Kerrigan. Gillooly (granted a name change to Jeff Stone in 1995) said Harding avoiding prison did not anger him, and that he felt his own punishment was just. Stone reflected on Harding's position of "limited involvement" in Kerrigan's attack and speculated that a "guilty conscience" still troubled her. Brown then mediated a joint interview with both Kerrigan and Harding present. The two former competitors shared sincere desires for happy families and general well-wishes. Kerrigan said that she hoped Harding could learn from past mistakes and "find happiness". Harding said she was grateful to personally express remorse to Kerrigan again.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In Harding's 2008 biography, "The Tonya Tapes" (transcribed by Lynda D. Prouse from recorded interviews), she stated that she wanted to call the FBI in 1994 to reveal what she knew, but decided not to when Gillooly allegedly threatened her with death following a gunpoint gang rape by him and two other men she did not know. Gillooly responded with surprise that "groundless claims" against him could be published and specifically contended her gang rape accusation to be "utterly ridiculous". In 2013, "Deadspin" sought Gillooly for an interview and he again defended himself against the gunpoint gang rape allegation. He expressed regret that Harding is often "remembered for what I talked her into doing," meaning allegedly plotting to injure Kerrigan. Gillooly admitted that his past "stupidity" was part of Harding's 1994 ruin and maintained that he still considered her a great figure skater. He also said "I've had it easy, compared to poor Tonya...she tends to be the butt of the joke. It's kind of sad to me."


title: Tonya Harding

text: In 2014, Nancy Kerrigan addressed the scandal during a brief interview with sportscaster Bob Costas: "Whatever apology Tonya has given, I accept it. It's time for all us – I've always wished [Tonya] well – she has her own family, I have my family. It's time to make that our focus and move on with our lives."


title: Tonya Harding

text: On February 15, 1994, an explicit 1991 videotape clip of Harding topless was shown on "A Current Affair"; three still frames from this clip were also published in "The Sun" (a British tabloid newspaper). The "New York Post" reported that Gillooly had supplied the videotaped fragment for an undisclosed sum of money.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On July 26, 1994, "Penthouse" announced that its September issue would feature different stills of Harding and Gillooly having sex from the same extended videotape. This 35-minute sex tape would also be copied and marketed exclusively by "Penthouse". Both Gillooly and Harding used the same agent to negotiate equal payment on the "Penthouse" sale.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On June 22, 1994, in Portland, Oregon, Harding appeared on an AAA professional wrestling show as the manager for wrestling stable Los Gringos Locos. The night's performance included Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero. A promotional musical event was unsuccessful when Harding and her band, the Golden Blades, were booed off the stage at their only performance, in 1995 in Portland.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In 1994, Harding was cast in "Breakaway", an action film, the plot centered on Harding being unwittingly involved in an organized crime syndicate's attempt to violently recover $300,000 of stolen money, alongside Teri Fruichantie and Joseph "Joe" Estévez. The film was released in 1996.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding has also appeared on television, on the game show "The Weakest Link": "15 Minutes of Fame Edition" in 2002 along with Kato Kaelin,


title: Tonya Harding

text: Since leaving skating and boxing, Harding has worked as a welder, a painter at a metal fabrication company, and a hardware sales clerk at Sears. As of 2017, she stated that she worked as a painter and deck builder. She lives in Vancouver, Washington.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In August 2019, Harding was seen in a television commercial in the United States promoting Direct Auto Insurance.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In 2002, Harding boxed against Paula Jones on the Fox Network "Celebrity Boxing" event, winning the fight. On February 22, 2003, she made her official women's professional boxing debut, losing a four-round split decision against Samantha Browning on the undercard of Mike Tyson vs. Clifford Etienne. Harding's boxing career came about amid rumors that she was having financial difficulties and needed to fight in the ring to earn money. She did another celebrity boxing match, on "The Man Show", and won against co-host Doug Stanhope. Stanhope later claimed on his podcast that the fight was fixed because Harding refused to "fight a man".


title: Tonya Harding

text: On March 23, 2004, it was reported that she canceled a planned boxing match against Tracy Carlton in Oakland, California, because of an alleged death threat against her.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On June 24, 2004, she was defeated by Amy Johnson in a match held in Edmonton, Alberta. Fans reportedly booed Harding as she entered the ring and cheered wildly for Johnson when she won in the third round.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On August 12, 2009, Harding set a new land speed record for a vintage gas coupe with a speed of driving a 1931 Ford Model A, named "Lickity-Split", on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Her setting of that land speed record was featured on an episode of "" that focused on "Record Breakers".


title: Tonya Harding

text: In April 2018, Harding was announced as one of the celebrities competing on season 26 of "Dancing with the Stars". It was a special four-week season only featuring athletes. She was partnered with professional dancer Sasha Farber. The couple reached the finals of the competition, where Harding finished in third place, behind Adam Rippon and Josh Norman.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In August 2018, Harding was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete in the fifth celebrity edition of Food Network's "Worst Cooks in America", set to broadcast in April 2019. Harding, learning under Chef Anne Burrell, ultimately won the competition. The US$25,000 prize went to her chosen charity of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding is the only child of Albert Gordon Harding and LaVona Golden, who had been married three times before and had four other children. The two divorced in 1987. Harding had a tumultuous relationship with her mother, alleging both physical and emotional abuse. She cites one occasion where her mother threw a knife at her, leaving a permanent scar on her arm.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding began a relationship with 17-year-old Jeff Gillooly in September 1986 when she was 15. They moved into a home together in 1988 when he worked in distribution at the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. They married on March 18, 1990, when she was 19 and he was 22. In January 1992, Harding told Terry Richard of "The Oregonian", "Jeff always put food on the table and a roof over my head. He paid for my skating for a couple of years. If it hadn't been for him during that time, I wouldn't have been skating." They divorced on August 28, 1993. During the autumn of 1993, Gillooly was working part-time managing Harding's career and taking real estate classes. Harding and Gillooly had been continuing to see each other since early October 1993 and were sharing a rented chalet in Beavercreek, Oregon until January 18, 1994.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding married Michael Smith in 1995; they divorced in 1996. On October 29, 1996, Harding received media attention after using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to help revive an 81-year-old woman who collapsed at a bar in Portland while playing video poker.


title: Tonya Harding

text: On February 22, 2000, Harding attacked her then-boyfriend Darren Silver, repeatedly punching him in the face and throwing a hubcap at his head. The attack left Silver with a bloodied face and Harding was arrested. She initially pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges, but in a May trial in Clark County District Court admitted to attacking Silver and was sentenced to three days in jail, 10 days of community service and a suspended jail sentence of 167 days.


title: Tonya Harding

text: She married 42-year-old Joseph Price on June 23, 2010, when she was 39 years old. She gave birth to a son named Gordon on February 19, 2011.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding stated on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on February 26, 2018, that she is still active in skating and practices three times a week. She performed several jumps and spins on the show. She trains with her former coach Dody Teachman.


title: Tonya Harding

text: Harding's life, career, and role in the 1994 attack have been widely referenced in popular culture, including a 2007 primary campaign speech by then-Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama in which he said, "Folks said there's no way Obama has a chance unless he goes and kneecaps the person ahead of us, does a Tonya Harding." In 2014, Matt Harkins and Viviana Olen created the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding Museum in their Brooklyn apartment, collecting and archiving memorabilia related to Nancy Kerrigan and Harding. A contemporaneous "Vogue" article noted that Harding had developed a "cult following" through the years.


title: Tonya Harding

text: In 1995, the book "Women on Ice: Feminist Essays on the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan Spectacle" was published, containing numerous essays analyzing Harding's public image. For example, Abigail Feder wrote that there existed "overdetermined femininity in Ladies' Figure Skating...femininity and athleticism are mutually exclusive concepts in American culture." Sam Stoloff wrote that, during the scandal, the media placed a greater emphasis on Harding's class rather than her gender (femininity). He noted how she was subjected to a "litany of vaguely pejorative or mocking expressions" associated with "low class" cultural attributes, sometimes due to Harding's personal interests and hobbies. Stoloff theorized that Harding represented an American social class that required interpretation ("the class Other") as he referenced the anthropological tone of Susan Orlean's 1994 essay "Figures in a Mall," written for "The New Yorker".


title: Tonya Harding

text: In academic Sarah Marshall's 2014 essay entitled "Remote Control: Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, and the Spectacles of Female Power and Pain", she noted the pervasive role of the media in the 1994 scandal: "Somehow, in the scandal's aftermath, the form of the Tonya-bash was able to alchemize even the most chilling details of Tonya's life into tabloid gold." Marshall also examined the role of Harding's "tomboy" persona in the context of figure skating. She theorized that Harding was rejected by the figure skating ethos because she did not conform – as Marshall believed many figure skaters, including Nancy Kerrigan, did – to appearing as "beautiful without being sexual, strong without being intimidating, and vulnerable without being weak."


title: Confucius

text: Confucius ( ; , "Master Kǒng"; or commonly ; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Confucius's teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society, remaining influential across China and East Asia to this day.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius considered himself a transmitter for the values of earlier periods which he claimed had been abandoned in his time. His philosophical teachings, called Confucianism, emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity. His followers competed with many other schools during the Hundred Schools of Thought era, only to be suppressed in favor of the Legalists during the Qin dynasty. After the collapse of Qin and the victory of Han over Chu, Confucius's thoughts received official sanction in the new government. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Confucianism developed into a system known in the West as Neo-Confucianism, and later as New Confucianism. Confucianism was part of the Chinese social fabric and way of life; to Confucians, everyday life was the arena of religion.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius is traditionally credited with having authored or edited many of the Chinese classic texts, including all of the Five Classics, but modern scholars are cautious of attributing specific assertions to Confucius himself. Aphorisms concerning his teachings were compiled in the "Analects", but only many years after his death.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius's principles have commonality with Chinese tradition and belief. With filial piety, he championed strong family loyalty, ancestor veneration, and respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives, recommending family as a basis for ideal government. He espoused the Golden Rule, "Do not do unto others what you do not want done to yourself".


title: Confucius

text: The name "Confucius" is a Latinized form of the Mandarin Chinese (, "Master Kong"), and was coined in the late 16th century by the early Jesuit missionaries to China. Confucius's clan name was Kong () and his given name was Qiu (). His "courtesy name", a capping ("guan": ) given at his coming of age ceremony, and by which he would have been known to all but his older family members, was Zhongni (), the "Zhòng" indicating that he was the second son in his family.


title: Confucius

text: It is thought that Confucius was born on September 28, 551 BCE, in Zou (, in modern Shandong province). The area was notionally controlled by the kings of Zhou but effectively independent under the local lords of Lu, who ruled from the nearby city of Qufu. His father Kong He (or Shuliang He) was an elderly commandant of the local Lu garrison. His ancestry traced back through the dukes of Song to the Shang dynasty which had preceded the Zhou. Traditional accounts of Confucius's life relate that Kong He's grandfather had migrated the family from Song to Lu.


title: Confucius

text: Kong He died when Confucius was three years old, and Confucius was raised by his mother Yan Zhengzai () in poverty. His mother later died at less than 40 years of age. At age 19 he married Lady Qiguan (), and a year later the couple had their first child, their son Kong Li (). Qiguan and Confucius later had two daughters together, one of whom is thought to have died as a child and one was named Kong Jiao ().


title: Confucius

text: Confucius was born into the class of "shi" (), between the aristocracy and the common people. He is said to have worked in various government jobs during his early 20s, and as a bookkeeper and a caretaker of sheep and horses, using the proceeds to give his mother a proper burial. When his mother died, Confucius (aged 23) is said to have mourned for three years, as was the tradition.


title: Confucius

text: In Confucius's time, the state of Lu was headed by a ruling ducal house. Under the duke were three aristocratic families, whose heads bore the title of viscount and held hereditary positions in the Lu bureaucracy. The Ji family held the position "Minister over the Masses", who was also the "Prime Minister"; the Meng family held the position "Minister of Works"; and the Shu family held the position "Minister of War". In the winter of , Yang Hu—a retainer of the Ji family—rose up in rebellion and seized power from the Ji family. However, by the summer of , the three hereditary families had succeeded in expelling Yang Hu from Lu. By then, Confucius had built up a considerable reputation through his teachings, while the families came to see the value of proper conduct and righteousness, so they could achieve loyalty to a legitimate government. Thus, that year (), Confucius came to be appointed to the minor position of governor of a town. Eventually, he rose to the position of Minister of Crime.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius desired to return the authority of the state to the duke by dismantling the fortifications of the city—strongholds belonging to the three families. This way, he could establish a centralized government. However, Confucius relied solely on diplomacy as he had no military authority himself. In , Hou Fan—the governor of Hou—revolted against his lord of the Shu family. Although the Meng and Shu families unsuccessfully besieged Hou, a loyalist official rose up with the people of Hou and forced Hou Fan to flee to the Qi state. The situation may have been in favor for Confucius as this likely made it possible for Confucius and his disciples to convince the aristocratic families to dismantle the fortifications of their cities. Eventually, after a year and a half, Confucius and his disciples succeeded in convincing the Shu family to raze the walls of Hou, the Ji family in razing the walls of Bi, and the Meng family in razing the walls of Cheng. First, the Shu family led an army towards their city Hou and tore down its walls in .


title: Confucius

text: Soon thereafter, Gongshan Furao (also known as Gongshan Buniu), a retainer of the Ji family, revolted and took control of the forces at Bi. He immediately launched an attack and entered the capital Lu. Earlier, Gongshan had approached Confucius to join him, which Confucius considered as he wanted the opportunity to put his principles into practice but he gave up on the idea in the end. Confucius disapproved the use of a violent revolution by principle, even though the Ji family dominated the Lu state by force for generations and had exiled the previous duke. Creel (1949) states that, unlike the rebel Yang Hu before him, Gongshan may have sought to destroy the three hereditary families and restore the power of the duke. However, Dubs (1946) is of the view that Gongshan was encouraged by Viscount Ji Huan to invade the Lu capital in an attempt to avoid dismantling the Bi fortified walls. Whatever the situation may have been, Gongshan was considered an upright man who continued to defend the state of Lu, even after he was forced to flee.


title: Confucius

text: During the revolt by Gongshan, Zhong You had managed to keep the duke and the three viscounts together at the court. Zhong You was one of the disciples of Confucius and Confucius had arranged for him to be given the position of governor by the Ji family. When Confucius heard of the raid, he requested that Viscount Ji Huan allow the duke and his court to retreat to a stronghold on his palace grounds. Thereafter, the heads of the three families and the duke retreated to the Ji's palace complex and ascended the Wuzi Terrace. Confucius ordered two officers to lead an assault against the rebels. At least one of the two officers was a retainer of the Ji family, but they were unable to refuse the orders while in the presence of the duke, viscounts, and court. The rebels were pursued and defeated at Gu. Immediately after the revolt was defeated, the Ji family razed the Bi city walls to the ground.


title: Confucius

text: The attackers retreated after realizing that they would have to become rebels against the state and their lord. Through Confucius' actions, the Bi officials had inadvertently revolted against their own lord, thus forcing Viscount Ji Huan's hand in having to dismantle the walls of Bi (as it could have harbored such rebels) or confess to instigating the event by going against proper conduct and righteousness as an official. Dubs (1949) suggests that the incident brought to light Confucius' foresight, practical political ability, and insight into human character.


title: Confucius

text: When it was time to dismantle the city walls of the Meng family, the governor was reluctant to have his city walls torn down and convinced the head of the Meng family not to do so. The "Zuozhuan" recalls that the governor advised against razing the walls to the ground as he said that it made Cheng vulnerable to the Qi state and cause the destruction of the Meng family. Even though Viscount Meng Yi gave his word not to interfere with an attempt, he went back on his earlier promise to dismantle the walls.


title: Confucius

text: Later in , Duke Ding personally went with an army to lay siege to Cheng in an attempt to raze its walls to the ground, but he did not succeed. Thus, Confucius could not achieve the idealistic reforms that he wanted including restoration of the legitimate rule of the duke. He had made powerful enemies within the state, especially with Viscount Ji Huan, due to his successes so far. According to accounts in the "Zuozhuan" and "Shiji", Confucius departed his homeland in after his support for the failed attempt of dismantling the fortified city walls of the powerful Ji, Meng, and Shu families. He left the state of Lu without resigning, remaining in self-exile and unable to return as long as Viscount Ji Huan was alive.


title: Confucius

text: The "Shiji" stated that the neighboring Qi state was worried that Lu was becoming too powerful while Confucius was involved in the government of the Lu state. According to this account, Qi decided to sabotage Lu's reforms by sending 100 good horses and 80 beautiful dancing girls to the duke of Lu. The duke indulged himself in pleasure and did not attend to official duties for three days. Confucius was disappointed and resolved to leave Lu and seek better opportunities, yet to leave at once would expose the misbehavior of the duke and therefore bring public humiliation to the ruler Confucius was serving. Confucius therefore waited for the duke to make a lesser mistake. Soon after, the duke neglected to send to Confucius a portion of the sacrificial meat that was his due according to custom, and Confucius seized upon this pretext to leave both his post and the Lu state.


title: Confucius

text: After Confucius's resignation, he began a long journey or set of journeys around the principality states of north-east and central China including Wey, Song, Zheng, Cao, Chu, Qi, Chen, and Cai (and a failed attempt to go to Jin). At the courts of these states, he expounded his political beliefs but did not see them implemented.


title: Confucius

text: According to the "Zuozhuan", Confucius returned home to his native Lu when he was 68, after he was invited to do so by Ji Kangzi, the chief minister of Lu. The "Analects" depict him spending his last years teaching 72 or 77 disciples and transmitting the old wisdom via a set of texts called the Five Classics.


title: Confucius

text: During his return, Confucius sometimes acted as an advisor to several government officials in Lu, including Ji Kangzi, on matters including governance and crime.


title: Confucius

text: Burdened by the loss of both his son and his favorite disciples, he died at the age of 71 or 72 from natural causes. Confucius was buried in Kong Lin cemetery which lies in the historical part of Qufu in the Shandong Province. The original tomb erected there in memory of Confucius on the bank of the Sishui River had the shape of an axe. In addition, it has a raised brick platform at the front of the memorial for offerings such as sandalwood incense and fruit.


title: Confucius

text: Although Confucianism is often followed in a religious manner by the Chinese, many argue that its values are secular and that it is, therefore, less a religion than a secular morality. Proponents argue, however, that despite the secular nature of Confucianism's teachings, it is based on a worldview that is religious. Confucianism discusses elements of the afterlife and views concerning Heaven, but it is relatively unconcerned with some spiritual matters often considered essential to religious thought, such as the nature of souls.


title: Confucius

text: In the "Analects", Confucius presents himself as a "transmitter who invented nothing". He puts the greatest emphasis on the importance of study, and it is the Chinese character for study () that opens the text. Far from trying to build a systematic or formalist theory, he wanted his disciples to master and internalize older classics, so that their deep thought and thorough study would allow them to relate the moral problems of the present to past political events (as recorded in the "Annals") or the past expressions of commoners' feelings and noblemen's reflections (as in the poems of the "Book of Odes").


title: Confucius

text: One of the deepest teachings of Confucius may have been the superiority of personal exemplification over explicit rules of behavior. His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules. Confucian ethics may, therefore, be considered a type of virtue ethics. His teachings rarely rely on reasoned argument, and ethical ideals and methods are conveyed indirectly, through allusion, innuendo, and even tautology. His teachings require examination and context to be understood. A good example is found in this famous anecdote:


title: Confucius

text: By not asking about the horses, Confucius demonstrates that the sage values human beings over property (which animals seem to represent in this example); readers are led to reflect on whether their response would follow Confucius's and to pursue self-improvement if it would not have.


title: Confucius

text: One of his teachings was a variant of the Golden Rule, sometimes called the "Silver Rule" owing to its negative form:


title: Confucius

text: Often overlooked in Confucian ethics are the virtues to the self: sincerity and the cultivation of knowledge. Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption, and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness. Cultivating knowledge and sincerity is also important for one's own sake; the superior person loves learning for the sake of learning and righteousness for the sake of righteousness.


title: Confucius

text: The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in "lǐ" () is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: (a) ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, (b) social and political institutions, and (c) the etiquette of daily behavior. Some believed that "lǐ" originated from the heavens, but Confucius stressed the development of "lǐ" through the actions of sage leaders in human history. His discussions of "lǐ" seem to redefine the term to refer to all actions committed by a person to build the ideal society, rather than those conforming with canonical standards of ceremony.


title: Confucius

text: In the early Confucian tradition, "lǐ" was doing the proper thing at the proper time; balancing between maintaining existing norms to perpetuate an ethical social fabric, and violating them in order to accomplish ethical good. Training in the "lǐ" of past sages, cultivates virtues in people that include ethical judgment about when "lǐ" must be adapted in light of situational contexts.


title: Confucius

text: In Confucianism, the concept of "li" is closely related to "yì" (), which is based upon the idea of reciprocity. "Yì" can be translated as righteousness, though it may mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest. While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of "yì" is doing the right thing for the right reason.


title: Confucius

text: Just as action according to "lǐ" should be adapted to conform to the aspiration of adhering to "yì", so "yì" is linked to the core value of "rén" ()."Rén" consists of five basic virtues: seriousness, generosity, sincerity, diligence, and kindness. "Rén" is the virtue of perfectly fulfilling one's responsibilities toward others, most often translated as "benevolence" or "humaneness"; translator Arthur Waley calls it "Goodness" (with a capital "G"), and other translations that have been put forth include "authoritativeness" and "selflessness". Confucius's moral system was based upon empathy and understanding others, rather than divinely ordained rules. To develop one's spontaneous responses of "rén" so that these could guide action intuitively was even better than living by the rules of "yì". Confucius asserts that virtue is a mean between extremes. For example, the properly generous person gives the right amount – not too much and not too little.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius's political thought is based upon his ethical thought. He argued that the best government is one that rules through "rites" ("lǐ") and people's natural morality, and "not" by using bribery and coercion. He explained that this is one of the most important analects: "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of the shame, and moreover will become good." ("Analects" 2.3, tr. Legge). This "sense of shame" is an internalisation of duty, where the punishment precedes the evil action, instead of following it in the form of laws as in Legalism.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius looked nostalgically upon earlier days, and urged the Chinese, particularly those with political power, to model themselves on earlier examples. In times of division, chaos, and endless wars between feudal states, he wanted to restore the Mandate of Heaven () that could unify the "world" (, "all under Heaven") and bestow peace and prosperity on the people. Because his vision of personal and social perfections was framed as a revival of the ordered society of earlier times, Confucius is often considered a great proponent of conservatism, but a closer look at what he proposes often shows that he used (and perhaps twisted) past institutions and rites to push a new political agenda of his own: a revival of a unified royal state, whose rulers would succeed to power on the basis of their moral merits instead of lineage. These would be rulers devoted to their people, striving for personal and social perfection, and such a ruler would spread his own virtues to the people instead of imposing proper behavior with laws and rules.


title: Confucius

text: While Confucius supported the idea of government ruling by a virtuous king, his ideas contained a number of elements to limit the power of rulers. He argued for representing truth in language, and honesty was of paramount importance. Even in facial expression, truth must always be represented. Confucius believed that if a ruler is to lead correctly, by action, that orders would be unnecessary in that others will follow the proper actions of their ruler. In discussing the relationship between a king and his subject (or a father and his son), he underlined the need to give due respect to superiors. This demanded that the subordinates must advise their superiors if the superiors are considered to be taking a course of action that is wrong. Confucius believed in ruling by example, if you lead correctly, orders by force or punishment are not necessary.


title: Confucius

text: Confucius heavily promoted the use of music with rituals or the rites order. The scholar Li Zehou argued that Confucianism is based on the idea of rites. Rites serve as the starting point for each individual and that these sacred social functions allow each person's human nature to be harmonious with reality. Given this, Confucius believed that "music is the harmonization of heaven and earth; the rites is the order of heaven and earth". Thus the application of music in rites creates the order that makes it possible for society to prosper.


title: Confucius

text: The Confucian approach to music was heavily inspired by the Shijing and the Classic of Music, which was said to be the sixth Confucian classic until it was lost during the Han Dynasty. The Shijing serves as one of the current Confucian classics and is a book on poetry that contains a diversified variety of poems as well as folk songs. Confucius is traditionally ascribed with compiling these classics within his school. In the Analects, Confucius described the importance of the art in the development of society:


title: Confucius

text: Confucius's teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by his numerous disciples and followers, who organized his teachings into the Analects. Confucius's disciples and his only grandson, Zisi, continued his philosophical school after his death. These efforts spread Confucian ideals to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China, thereby giving Confucianism the first wide-scale test of its dogma.


title: Confucius

text: Two of Confucius's most famous later followers emphasized radically different aspects of his teachings. In the centuries after his death, Mencius () and Xun Zi () both composed important teachings elaborating in different ways on the fundamental ideas associated with Confucius. Mencius () articulated the innate goodness in human beings as a source of the ethical intuitions that guide people towards "rén", "yì", and "lǐ", while Xun Zi () underscored the realistic and materialistic aspects of Confucian thought, stressing that morality was inculcated in society through tradition and in individuals through training. In time, their writings, together with the "Analects" and other core texts came to constitute the philosophical corpus of Confucianism.


title: Confucius

text: This realignment in Confucian thought was parallel to the development of Legalism, which saw filial piety as self-interest and not a useful tool for a ruler to create an effective state. A disagreement between these two political philosophies came to a head in when the Qin state conquered all of China. Li Si, Prime Minister of the Qin dynasty, convinced Qin Shi Huang to abandon the Confucians' recommendation of awarding fiefs akin to the Zhou Dynasty before them which he saw as being against to the Legalist idea of centralizing the state around the ruler. When the Confucian advisers pressed their point, Li Si had many Confucian scholars killed and their books burned—considered a huge blow to the philosophy and Chinese scholarship.


title: Confucius

text: Under the succeeding Han and Tang dynasties, Confucian ideas gained even more widespread prominence. Under Wudi, the works of Confucius were made the official imperial philosophy and required reading for civil service examinations in which was continued nearly unbroken until the end of the 19th century. As Mohism lost support by the time of the Han, the main philosophical contenders were Legalism, which Confucian thought somewhat absorbed, the teachings of Laozi, whose focus on more spiritual ideas kept it from direct conflict with Confucianism, and the new Buddhist religion, which gained acceptance during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Both Confucian ideas and Confucian-trained officials were relied upon in the Ming Dynasty and even the Yuan Dynasty, although Kublai Khan distrusted handing over provincial control to them.


title: Confucius

text: During the Song dynasty, the scholar Zhu Xi () added ideas from Daoism and Buddhism into Confucianism. In his life, Zhu Xi was largely ignored, but not long after his death, his ideas became the new orthodox view of what Confucian texts actually meant. Modern historians view Zhu Xi as having created something rather different and call his way of thinking "Neo-Confucianism". Neo-Confucianism held sway in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam until the 19th century.


title: Confucius

text: The works of Confucius were first translated into European languages by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty. The first known effort was by Michele Ruggieri, who returned to Italy in 1588 and carried on his translations while residing in Salerno. Matteo Ricci started to report on the thoughts of Confucius, and a team of Jesuits—Prospero Intorcetta, Philippe Couplet, and two others—published a translation of several Confucian works and an overview of Chinese history in Paris in 1687. François Noël, after failing to persuade ClementXI that Chinese veneration of ancestors and Confucius did not constitute idolatry, completed the Confucian canon at Prague in 1711, with more scholarly treatments of the other works and the first translation of the collected works of Mencius. It is thought that such works had considerable importance on European thinkers of the period, particularly among the Deists and other philosophical groups of the Enlightenment who were interested by the integration of the system of morality of Confucius into Western civilization.