title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Sailing via the Panama Canal to Japan, "Wisconsin" relieved as 7th Fleet flagship on 12 October. During the months that followed, "Wisconsin" visited the Japanese ports of Kobe, Sasebo Navy Yard, Yokosuka, Otaru, and Nagasaki. She spent Christmas at Hong Kong and was ultimately relieved of flagship duties on 1 April 1954 and returned to the United States soon thereafter, reaching Norfolk, via Long Beach and the Panama Canal, on 4 May.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 11 June, "Wisconsin" underwent a brief overhaul and commenced a midshipman training cruise on 12 July. After revisiting Greenock, Brest, and Guantánamo Bay, the ship returned to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for repairs. Shortly thereafter, "Wisconsin" participated in Atlantic Fleet exercises as flagship for the commander, Second Fleet. Departing Norfolk in January 1955, "Wisconsin" took part in Operation Springboard, during which she visited Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Then, upon returning to Norfolk, the battleship conducted another midshipman's cruise that summer, visiting Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Denmark, and Guantánamo Bay before returning to the United States.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Upon completion of a major overhaul at the New York Naval Shipyard, "Wisconsin" headed south for refresher training in the Caribbean Sea, later taking part in another Springboard exercise. During that cruise, she again visited Port-au-Prince and added Tampico, Mexico, and Cartagena, Colombia, to her list of ports of call. She returned to Norfolk on the last day of March 1955 for local operations. On 19 October, while operating in the East River in New York Harbor, "Wisconsin" was accidentally grounded, but the ship was freed in about an hour without any serious damage.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Throughout April 1956 and into May, "Wisconsin" operated locally off the Virginia Capes. On 6 May, the battleship collided with the destroyer in a heavy fog; "Wisconsin" put into Norfolk with extensive damage to her bow, and one week later entered dry dock at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. A novel experiment sped her repairs and enabled the ship to carry out her scheduled midshipman training cruise that summer. A 120-ton, 68 foot (21 m) section of the bow of "Wisconsin"s incomplete sister ship was transported by barge, in one section, from Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation of Newport News, Virginia, across Hampton Roads to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Working around the clock, "Wisconsin"s ship's force and shipyard personnel completed the operation that grafted on the new bow in 16 days. On 28 June 1956, the ship was ready for sea.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin" resumed her midshipman training on 9 July 1956. That autumn, "Wisconsin" participated in Atlantic Fleet exercises off the coast of the Carolinas, returning to port on 8 November 1956. Entering the Norfolk Naval Shipyard a week later, the battleship underwent major repairs that were not finished until 2 January 1957.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: After local operations off the Virginia capes on 3–4 January 1957 and from 9–11 January, "Wisconsin" departed Norfolk on 16 January, reporting to the commander, Fleet Training Group, at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay. "Wisconsin" served as Admiral Henry Crommelin's flagship during the ensuing shore bombardment practices and other exercises held off the isle of Culebra, Puerto Rico, from 2–4 February. Sailing for Norfolk upon completion of the training period, the battleship arrived on 7 February and resumed local operations off Norfolk. On 27 March, "Wisconsin" sailed for the Mediterranean Sea, reaching Gibraltar on 6 April, she pushed on that day to rendezvous with TF 60 in the Aegean Sea before reporting to Turkey for the NATO exercise Red Pivot.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Departing Xeros Bay on 14 April, she arrived at Naples four days later, and conducted exercises in the eastern Mediterranean. In the course of those operational training evolutions, she rescued a pilot and crewman who survived the crash of a plane from the aircraft carrier . "Wisconsin" reached Valencia, Spain, on 10 May, and three days later, entertained prominent civilian and military officials of the city.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Departing Valencia on 17 April, "Wisconsin" reached Norfolk on 27 May. En route, she was called upon to sink a Boeing KC-97F-55-BO Stratofreighter, 51-0258, which had ditched in the Atlantic on 9 May, 550 km (343.8 mi) southeast of the Azores Islands following a double engine failure, and subsequently floated for 10 days.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: On 27 May, Rear Admiral L.S. Parks relieved Rear Admiral Crommelin as Commander, BatDiv 2. Departing Norfolk on 19 June, the battleship, over the ensuing weeks, conducted a midshipman training cruise through the Panama Canal to South American waters, and reached Valparaiso on 3 July. Eight days later, the battleship headed back to the Panama Canal and the Atlantic.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: After exercises at Guantánamo Bay and off Culebra, "Wisconsin" reached Norfolk on 5 August and conducted local operations that lasted into September. She then participated in NATO exercises, which took her across the North Atlantic to the British Isles.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin"s days as an active fleet unit were numbered, and she prepared to make her last cruise. On 4 November, she departed Norfolk with a large group of prominent guests on board. Reaching New York City on 6 November, the battleship disembarked her guests, and on 8 November, headed for Bayonne, New Jersey, to commence a preinactivation overhaul. She was placed out of commission at Bayonne on 8 March 1958, and joined the United States Navy reserve fleet (better known as the "mothball fleet") there, leaving the Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1895. Subsequently, taken to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, "Wisconsin" remained there with her sister ship "Iowa" into the 1980s. While berthed in the Philadelphia Naval Yard, an electrical fire damaged the ship and left her as the "Iowa"-class battleship in the worst material condition prior to her 1980s reactivation.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: As part of President Ronald Reagan's Navy Secretary John F. Lehman's effort to create a "600-ship Navy," "Wisconsin" was reactivated 1 August 1986, a precommissioning unit (PCU) crew established, and the ship moved under tow to the Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana, to commence pre-recommissioning workups. The battleship was then towed from the Avondale Shipyard and arrived at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 2 January 1987 to receive weapons system upgrades for her modernization. During the modernization, "Wisconsin" had all of her remaining 20 mm Oerlikon and 40 mm Bofors antiaircraft guns removed, due to their ineffectiveness against modern jet fighters and enemy antiship missiles; additionally, the two gun mounts located at midship and in the aft on the port and starboard sides of the battleship were removed.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Over the next several months, the ship was upgraded with the most advanced weaponry available. Among the new weapon systems installed were four MK 141 quad cell launchers for 16 RGM-84 Harpoon antiship missiles, eight armored box launcher mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, and four of the United States Navy's Phalanx Close-in weapon system 20 mm Gatling guns for defense against enemy antiship missiles and enemy aircraft. "Wisconsin" also received eight RQ-2 Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicles, remotely controlled drones that replaced the helicopters previously used to spot for her nine guns. Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities. Armed as such, "Wisconsin" was formally recommissioned on 22 October 1988 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, under the command of Captain Jerry M. Blesch, USN. Assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet, she was subsequently homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, where she became the centerpiece of her own surface action group (SAG), also referred to as a battleship battle group (BBBG).


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin" spent the first part of 1989 conducting training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean and off the coast of Puerto Rico before returning to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a post-recommissioning shakedown that lasted the rest of the year. In mid-1990, the battleship participated in a fleet exercise.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: On 2 August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In the middle of the month, President George H. W. Bush, in keeping with the Carter Doctrine, sent the first of several hundred thousand troops, along with a strong force of naval support, to Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf area to support a multinational force in a standoff with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On 7 August, "Wisconsin" and her battle group were ordered to deploy in defense of Kuwait for Operation Desert Shield, and they arrived in the Persian Gulf on 23 August. On 15 January 1991, Operation Desert Storm commenced operations, and "Wisconsin" found herself serving alongside her sister "Missouri", just as she had done in Korea 40 years previously. Both "Wisconsin" and "Missouri" launched Tomahawk missile attacks against Iraq; they were among the first ships to fire cruise missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. "Wisconsin" served as the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) strike commander for the Persian Gulf, directing the sequence of launches that marked the opening of Operation Desert Storm and firing a total of 24 of her own TLAMs during the first two days of the campaign. "Wisconsin" also assumed the responsibility of the local antisurface warfare coordinator for the Northern Persian Gulf Surface Action Group.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin", escorted by , relieved "Missouri" on 6 February, then answered her first combat call for gunfire support since March 1952. The most recently recommissioned battleship sent 11 shells to destroy an Iraqi artillery battery in southern Kuwait during a mission called in by USMC OV-10 Bronco aircraft. Using an RQ-2 Pioneer UAV as a spotter in combat for the first time, "Wisconsin" pounded an Iraqi communications compound on 7 February. Her main guns lobbed 24 shells on Iraqi artillery sites, missile facilities, and electronic-warfare sites along the coast. That evening, she targeted naval sites with her guns, firing 50 rounds, which severely damaged or sank 15 Iraqi boats, and destroyed several piers at the Khawr al-Mufattah marina. In response to calls for fire support from US and coalition forces, "Wisconsin"s main battery was used again on 9 February, blasting bunkers and artillery sites, and shelling Iraqi troop positions near Khafji after the Iraqis were ousted from the city by Saudi and Qatari armor. On 21 February, one of "Wisconsin"s UAVs observed several trucks resupplying an Iraqi command post; in response, "Wisconsin" trained her guns on the complex, leveling or heavily damaging 10 of the buildings. "Wisconsin" and "Missouri" alternated positions on the gun line, using their guns to destroy enemy targets and soften defenses along the Kuwait coastline for a possible amphibious assault.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: On the night of 23 February, "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" turned their big guns on Kuwait's Faylaka Island to support the US-led coalition ground offensive to free Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation forces. The two ships were to conduct a diversionary assault aimed at convincing the Iraqi forces arrayed along the shores of Faylaka Island that coalition forces were preparing to launch an amphibious invasion. As part of this attack, "Missouri" and "Wisconsin" were directed to shell known Iraqi defensive positions on the island. Shortly after "Missouri" completed her shelling of Faylaka Island, "Wisconsin", while still over the horizon (and thus out of visual range of the Iraqi forces) launched her RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle to spot for her guns. As "Wisconsin"s drone approached Faylaka Island, the pilot of the drone was instructed to fly the vehicle low over Iraqi positions so that the soldiers would know that they were once again being targeted by a battleship. Iraqi troops on the ground heard the Pioneer's distinctive buzzing sound, and having witnessed the effects of "Missouri"s artillery strike on their trench line, the Iraqi troops decided to signal their willingness to surrender by waving makeshift white flags, an action dutifully noted aboard "Wisconsin". Amused at this sudden development, the men assigned to the drone's aircrew called "Wisconsin"s commanding officer, Captain David S. Bill III, and asked, "Sir, they want to surrender, what should I do with them?" This surrender to "Wisconsin"s Pioneer has since become one of the most remembered moments of the Gulf War; the incident was also the first-ever surrender of enemy troops to an unmanned aircraft controlled by a ship. "Wisconsin" drone also carried out a number of reconnaissance missions on occupied Kuwait before the coalition's ground offensive.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: The next day, "Wisconsin" answered two separate call-fire support missions for coalition forces by suppressing Iraqi troops barricaded in two bunkers. After witnessing the effects of "Wisconsin"s strike against the Iraqi positions, an elated Saudi marine commander commented over the radio, "I wish we had a battleship in our navy."


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: Both "Wisconsin" and "Missouri" delivered more than 1 million pounds of ordnance on Iraqi targets by the time President George H. W. Bush ended hostilities on 28 February. With one last salvo from her big guns, "Wisconsin" fired the last naval gunfire-support mission of the war, and thus was the final battleship in world history to see action. "Wisconsin" remained in the Persian Gulf after the cease-fire took effect, and returned home on 28 March 1991. During the eight months "Wisconsin" spent in the Persian Gulf, she had flown 348 UAV hours, recorded 661 safe helicopter landings, steamed , fired 319 rounds, 881 rounds, and 5,200 20 mm Phalanx CIWS rounds, and launched 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles. Since all four remaining battleships were decommissioned and stricken following the Gulf War, this was the last time that United States battleships actively participated in a war.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the absence of a perceived threat to the United States came drastic cuts in the defense budget. The high cost of maintaining and operating battleships as part of the United States Navy's active fleet became uneconomical; as a result, "Wisconsin" was decommissioned on 30 September 1991 after 14 total years of active service, and joined the Reserve Fleet at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) on 12 January 1995, then on 15 October 1996, she was moved to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and on 12 February 1998, she was restored to the Naval Vessel Register. On 7 December 2000, the battleship was towed from Portsmouth, Virginia, and berthed adjacent to Nauticus, The National Maritime Center in Norfolk. On 16 April 2001 the battleship's weather decks were opened to the public by the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, a U.S. Navy museum charged with "Wisconsin"s interpretation and public visitation. The ship was still owned by the Navy and was considered part of the mothball fleet.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin" was named (along with ) as one of two US Navy battleships to be maintained in the United States Navy reserve fleets in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 as shore-bombardment vessels. However, "Wisconsin" was then over 60 years old and would have required extensive modernization to return to the fleet since most of her technology dated back to World War II, and the missile and electronic-warfare equipment added to the battleship during her 1988–89 modernization were considered obsolete. In addition, the cost of modernizing the battleships was estimated to be around $500 million for reactivation and $1.5 billion for a full modernization program.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy exercised his authority to strike "Iowa" and "Wisconsin" from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museums; however, the U.S. Congress remained "deeply concerned" over the loss of naval surface-gunfire support that the battleships provided, and noted, "...navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic." Partially as a consequence, Congress passed , the National Defense Authorization Act 2006, requiring that the battleships be kept and maintained in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again. Congress had ordered that the following measures be implemented to ensure that "Wisconsin" could be returned to active duty if needed:


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: These conditions closely mirror the original three conditions that the Nation Defense Authorization Act of 1996 laid out for the maintenance of "Wisconsin" while she was in the mothball fleet. These conditions would be unlikely to impede a plan to turn "Wisconsin" into a permanent museum ship at her berth in Norfolk.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: On 14 December 2009, the US Navy officially transferred "Wisconsin" to the city of Norfolk, ending the requirement for the ship to be preserved for possible recall to active duty. The US Navy had paid the city of Norfolk $2.8 million between 2000 and 2009 to maintain the ship. A formal ceremony transferring the ship to the city of Norfolk took place on 16 April 2010. "Wisconsin" was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 28 March 2012.


title: USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

text: "Wisconsin" earned five battle stars for her World War II service, and one for the Korean War. The ship also received the Combat Action Ribbon and Navy Unit Commendation for actions in the Korean War and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. She also received over a dozen more awards for World War II, the Korean War, and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a physician, natural philosopher, and intelligence agent. The first novel, "Master and Commander", was published in 1969 and the last finished novel in 1999. The 21st novel of the series, left unfinished at O'Brian's death in 2000, appeared in print in late 2004. The series received considerable international acclaim, and most of the novels reached "The New York Times" Best Seller list. These novels comprise the heart of the canon of an author often compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to English literature.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: The 2003 film "" drew from five books in the series. Russell Crowe played the role of Jack Aubrey, and Paul Bettany that of Stephen Maturin.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Patrick O'Brian's "The Golden Ocean" (1956) and "The Unknown Shore" (1959) both depict fictional pairs of young men, loosely based on real seamen, who participate in George Anson's voyage around the world. In these two novels, O'Brian began to develop the models for the characters of Aubrey and Maturin as well as the storytelling techniques used in the series.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: O'Brian's books were written and published in the same chronological sequence as the events they describe, beginning with "Master and Commander", set in 1800, and carrying through to the final novel, set in late 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: However, they do not strictly follow history. The first six books quickly move through twelve years of the Napoleonic Wars, as established by frequent reference to historical events, with "The Fortune of War" ending on 1 June 1813 with the battle between HMS "Shannon" and USS "Chesapeake". The series then enters a kind of fantasy-time in which it takes another dozen novels to progress to November 1813. Much of this period is spent at sea, with little or no connection to real-world years, and the events of the novels take up substantially more time than the few months 'available'. External historical reference returns with "The Yellow Admiral", the 18th book in the series. Towards the beginning of this novel, it is stated that the British army under the Duke of Wellington has entered France from Spain, which occurred in November 1813. Time is then paused again for a few chapters, as a narrative apparently lasting several months ensues before a specific arrival at Christmas 1813. Thereafter, the book and the next in the series ("The Hundred Days") move swiftly through the historical events of Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia and his defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition, his exile and escape from Elba, and his final campaign and defeat in June 1815. The last completed book in the series, "Blue at the Mizzen", is the only volume which is set entirely after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: In his introduction to "The Far Side of the World", the 10th book in the series, O'Brian wrote that if the author "had known how many books were to follow the first, he would certainly have started the sequence much earlier" in real historical time. He goes on to explain that "if his readers will bear with him", books of the series will be set in "hypothetical years, rather like those hypothetical moons used in the calculation of Easter: an 1812a as it were or even an 1812b". In effect, the period from June to December 1813 is stretched out to accommodate events that ought to occupy five or six years.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: The series focuses on two main characters, naval officer Jack Aubrey and physician, naturalist, and spy Stephen Maturin, and the ongoing plot is structured around Aubrey's ascent from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Jack Aubrey is a large man (both literally and figuratively) with an energetic, gregarious, cheerful, and relatively simple personality and a deep respect for naval tradition. Remarkable early success earned him the nickname "Lucky Jack Aubrey" and a reputation as a "fighting captain", a reputation which he sought to retain throughout his career. But while frequently "brilliant" and much respected at sea, he is less competent on land, as indiscreet liaisons, impertinent remarks, and poor financial decisions often bring him trouble. Aubrey's professional life of daring exploits and reverses was inspired by the chequered careers of Thomas Cochrane and other notable captains of the Royal Navy from the period.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Irish-Catalan Dr. Stephen Maturin ostensibly serves as an adept ship's surgeon on Aubrey's various commands. However, unknown to many of his associates, he also serves as a particularly skilled volunteer intelligence agent for the British Admiralty. Maturin is described as a small, quiet, "ugly" man who is known to cast a "dangerous, pale, reptilian eye" towards his enemies. Unlike his action-oriented friend, Maturin is very well-educated with several intellectual pursuits. He is passionately fascinated by the natural world, and takes every opportunity to explore the native wildlife of his ships' ports of call around the world. He is also deeply introspective, and frequently muses on philosophical concepts of identity and self-understanding in his ciphered personal journal. Another aspect of this complex character is portrayed by his long-lasting and frequently frustrating romantic pursuit of the beautiful but unreliable Diana Villiers. He uses several addictive substances, including laudanum and coca leaves, arising from scientific curiosity, control of his reactions to physical problems, and substance dependence. He has the values of a gentleman of the era, including a strong sense of honour and involvement in duels. The latter led him to develop a strong skill with pistols and duelling by swords.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Maturin's various professional roles and personal interests allow the series to leave the sea and explore different aspects of the political and social order during the Napoleonic Era. Eventually, Maturin upstages Aubrey in character development within the series due to the diverse situations in which O'Brian can place him.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: On the surface, the two main characters have little in common. As O'Brian wrote in "The Ionian Mission", "Although (they) were almost as unlike as men could be, unlike in nationality, religion, education, size, shape, profession, habit of mind, they were united in a deep love for music, and many and many an evening had they played together, violin answering cello or both singing together far into the night." This musical connection began in the first paragraph of the first book in the series, when the two characters meet at a concert. They also share a delight in puns and dry witticisms, and particularly memorable wordplay is sometimes repeated in subsequent novels in the series, years later in book-time. One character in the novel, Sir Joseph Blaine, saw the two friends as romantics, in his remarks on Maturin in "HMS Surprise" Chapter 4: "As I was saying, strong; but not without his weaknesses. He was blaming his particular friend for romantic notions the other day – the friend who is to marry the daughter of that woman we saw just now – and if I had not been so shocked by his condition, I should have been tempted to laugh. He is himself a perfect Quixote: an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution until '93; a United Irishman until the rising, Lord Edward's adviser ... And now Catalan independence. Or perhaps I should say, Catalan independence from the beginning, simultaneously with the others. But always heart and soul, blood and purse in some cause from which he can derive no conceivable personal benefit."


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Despite their many differences, the pair are invaluable and indispensable companions throughout many years of adventure and danger. Reviewers have compared Aubrey and Maturin to other seemingly mismatched yet inseparable fictional duos such as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in "Don Quixote", Holmes and Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories, and Kirk and Spock in the .


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: The stories are primarily told in third person from the points of view of the two main characters, Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. The author sometimes employs a form of first person voice when his characters write in private journals or letters about events that are not otherwise described. The narrative point of view strays from the two main characters only briefly and seldom over the course of the series. One example is the opening scene of "The Hundred Days", in which a gossipy conversation between anonymous sailors imparts important news and information about the main characters.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Patrick O'Brian once wrote "Obviously, I have lived very much out of the world: I know little of present-day Dublin or London or Paris, even less of post-modernity, post-structuralism, hard rock or rap, and I cannot write with much conviction about the contemporary scene." This becomes obvious for readers of the Aubrey–Maturin Series, as he adopts a narrative voice contemporary with their setting. Richard Ollard, in examining the general reception to O'Brian's books, suggests that O'Brian's naval officers would be able to talk with and recognise Jane Austen's characters.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: In addition to the period language, O'Brian is adept at using naval jargon with little or no translation for the "lubberly" reader. The combination of the historical-voice narration and naval terms may seem daunting at first to some readers; but most note that after a short while a "total immersion" effect results. Occasionally, O'Brian explains obscure nautical terms by placing Stephen Maturin into the tutelage of seamen, allowing the author to vicariously teach the reader about various parts and functions of a period sailing vessel without breaking from the narrative. This was especially common early in the series, when Maturin was still new to the Royal Navy.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: In the first of the series, during a tour of the rigging, Maturin asked his tourguide if he "could not explain this maze of ropes and wood and canvas without using sea-terms" and the reply came "No, for it is by those names alone that they are known, in nearly every case".


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Also, O'Brian often addresses the historical events and themes within his books indirectly, allowing a fuller immersion for his readers without flaunting his historical understanding unlike other similar nautical authors.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: O'Brian's bone-dry and cutting wit is present throughout all his novels. Its delivery, whether in the form of narration or dialogue, is often so forthright that the reader may not perceive it at first. At times, however, O'Brian will spend a considerable portion of a volume setting up comical sequences – for example, Jack's use of rum in the "debauchery" of Maturin's pet sloth in "HMS Surprise" or Jack's assertion to William Babbington, while discussing nautical terminology, that "Sheep ain't poetical", supporting his statement by saying: "Remember that fellow in the play who calls out: 'My Kingdom for a horse'? Would not have been poetry at all, had he said sheep." (See "The Ionian Mission".) Drunk animals are a common motif through the series; for instance the following conversation between Jack and Stephen in "Post Captain": "'The carrier has brought you an ape.' 'What sort of an ape?' asked Stephen. 'A damned ill-conditioned sort of an ape. It had a can of ale at every pot-house on the road, and is reeling drunk. It has been offering itself to Babbington.'"


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Puns—often "bad" on the part of Jack—are also common throughout the novels, much to the chagrin of Stephen Maturin. Jack takes a special, perhaps overzealous, interest in nautical puns. For example, Jack often repeats one of Stephen's spur-of-the-moment puns regarding dog-watches. At a dinner, replying to a lubber's question on the term 'dog-watch' ("Post Captain", Chapter 12), Stephen suggests it is "because they are curtailed, of course" ("Cur Tailed", "cur" meaning "dog"), and like other puns, Aubrey repeats the witticism as often as occasion allows. The use of humour contrasts the two central characters. Aubrey is direct and forthright while Stephen is subtle and cunning, mirroring the overall personality of each man, especially regarding warfare tactics (ships, cannons and swords compared to intelligence gathering).


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: O'Brian has Aubrey speaking many proverbs, but usually in mangled form, such as "There's a great deal to be said for making hay while the iron is hot" (from "Treason's Harbour" and similarly in "Desolation Island"). In "HMS Surprise" (Chapter 6), Aubrey says that "A bird in the hand is worth any amount of beating about the bush". Sometimes Aubrey gets in a muddle and Maturin affectionately mocks him by playing on the mixed metaphor: '... they have chosen their cake, and must lie in it.'; Maturin replies, 'You mean, they cannot have their bed and eat it?' (also from "HMS Surprise", Chapter 7). Related to proverbs, Aubrey tells Maturin a clever Wellerism, "'It's not a fit night out for man or beast,' as the centaur observed, ha, ha, ha!" ("Yellow Admiral").


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: "Master and Commander" was first published in 1969, in the US by Lippincott, and in Great Britain and Ireland by Collins in 1970. The series continued to be a modest success in both countries, though publication was only by Collins in the UK after the fourth novel. Publication in the US ceased with "Desolation Island" in 1978. However, in 1989 Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton discovered the novels on a plane flight between London and New York. W. W. Norton began printing the books, and they were taken more seriously by critics and became a publishing success. O'Brian's series of novels sold over 400,000 copies in the next two years and continued to be a success, selling over 2 million copies by 2000. In its review of the last unfinished novel in 2004, "Publishers Weekly" reported that the series had sold over 6 million copies. W. W. Norton released the novels in e-book format on 5 December 2011. The full series has been published in German, French and Italian translations, the twenty finished books also in Spanish, and part of the series in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian translation.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: O'Brian is sometimes compared to Jane Austen, C. S. Forester and other British authors central to the English literature canon. Though sometimes compared to Trollope, Melville, Conrad and even Proust, the Aubrey–Maturin series has most often been compared to the works of Jane Austen, one of O'Brian's greatest inspirations in English literature. In a cover-story in "The New York Times Book Review" published on 6 January 1991, Richard Snow characterised Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin naval adventure novels as "the best historical novels ever written. On every page Mr. O'Brian reminds us with subtle artistry of the most important of all historical lessons: that times change but people don't, that the griefs and follies and victories of the men and women who were here before us are in fact the maps of our own lives." In a "Washington Post" article, Ken Ringle wrote, "... the Aubrey–Maturin series is better thought of as a single multi-volume novel, that, far beyond any episodic chronicle, ebbs and flows with the timeless tide of character and the human heart."


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Frank McNally, writing in honour of the 100th anniversary of the author's birth, reflects on the breadth of the appeal of the series of novels, for the quality of the writing and the relationships between the characters, which put them beyond the typical naval adventure, and gain interest from readers who "wouldn’t touch Horatio Hornblower with a bargepole." Lucy Eyre wrote to point out the appeal of the series to women readers, mentioning the nautical detail, and how it might be viewed the same as precise medical language on the television program "ER". She notes that "O’Brian is never heavy-handed with his research: it’s simply that the books are set in a perfectly realised world, which happens to be a ship at war."


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: When reviewing "The Wine-Dark Sea" in the "Hudson Review", Gary Krist is very critical of the plot of the books, suggesting that the books are full of elements of "pop fiction" and O'Brian's excessive "delight in the sheer specificity of seafaring mechanics." However, he did not deny the qualities that "push it close to that great, fuzzy art-entertainment meridian" including character development and at times, "the sense of being in the presence of an active, complex, and compassionate intelligence."


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: Numerous authors have admired the Aubrey–Maturin series, including Iris Murdoch, Eudora Welty and Tom Stoppard. Science fiction author David Drake has stated that his Republic of Cinnabar Navy was inspired by the Aubrey–Maturin books.


title: Aubrey–Maturin series

text: On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "The Jack Aubrey Novels" on its list of the 100 most influential novels.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Simpson's paradox is a phenomenon in probability and statistics in which a trend appears in several groups of data but disappears or reverses when the groups are combined. This result is often encountered in social-science and medical-science statistics, and is particularly problematic when frequency data are unduly given causal interpretations. The paradox can be resolved when confounding variables and causal relations are appropriately addressed in the statistical modeling. Simpson's paradox has been used to illustrate the kind of misleading results that the misuse of statistics can generate.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Edward H. Simpson first described this phenomenon in a technical paper in 1951, but the statisticians Karl Pearson (in 1899) and Udny Yule (in 1903) had mentioned similar effects earlier. The name "Simpson's paradox" was introduced by Colin R. Blyth in 1972. It is also referred to as Simpson's reversal, the Yule–Simpson effect, the amalgamation paradox, or the reversal paradox.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg argues that Simpson's paradox is misnamed as "there's no constriction involved, just two different ways to think about the same data" and suggests that its lesson "isn't really to tell us which viewpoint to take but to insist that we keep both the parts and the whole in mind at once."


title: Simpson's paradox

text: One of the best-known examples of Simpson's paradox comes from a study of gender bias among graduate school admissions to University of California, Berkeley. The admission figures for the fall of 1973 showed that men applying were more likely than women to be admitted, and the difference was so large that it was unlikely to be due to chance.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: However, when taking into account the information about departments being applied to, the different rejection percentages reveal the different difficulty of getting into the department, and at the same time it showed that women tended to apply to more competitive departments with lower rates of admission, even among qualified applicants (such as in the English department), whereas men tended to apply to less competitive departments with higher rates of admission (such as in the engineering department). The pooled and corrected data showed a "small but statistically significant bias in favor of women".


title: Simpson's paradox

text: The entire data showed total of 4 out of 85 departments to be significantly biased against women, while 6 to be significantly biased against men (not all present in the 'six largest departments' table above). Notably, the numbers of biased departments were not the basis for the conclusion, but rather it was the gender admissions pooled across all departments, while weighing by each department's rejection rate across all of its applicants. Whether the data show a definite women-favoring bias or just a minority-favoring bias (or a combination thereof) could be a different aspect for analysis: the data possibly show a bias in favor of the minority gender, as is visible in occurrence of 'more applicants' (orange) in the exact opposite gender than the 'more successful applicants' (green), and women were the minority in the entire population of applicants (see totals), thus are more probable to be the minority in a greater number of departments (would only not be so if men excess of 856 from the totals was accumulated in the top men departments, which is not the case). The paper does not explore this detail however (although it does recognize ""drive to recruit minority group members"" as explanation for some women-only data phenomena).


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Another example comes from a real-life medical study comparing the success rates of two treatments for kidney stones. The table below shows the success rates (the term "success rate" here actually means the success proportion) and numbers of treatments for treatments involving both small and large kidney stones, where Treatment A includes open surgical procedures and Treatment B includes closed surgical procedures. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of success cases over the total size of the group.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: The paradoxical conclusion is that treatment A is more effective when used on small stones, and also when used on large stones, yet treatment B appears to be more effective when considering both sizes at the same time. In this example, the "lurking" variable (or confounding variable) causing the paradox is the size of the stones, which was not previously known to researchers to be important until its effects were included.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Which treatment is considered better is determined by which success ratio (successes/total) is larger. The reversal of the inequality between the two ratios when considering the combined data, which creates Simpson's paradox, happens because two effects occur together:


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Based on these effects, the paradoxical result is seen to arise because the effect of the size of the stones overwhelms the benefits of the better treatment (A). In short, the less effective treatment B appeared to be more effective because it was applied more frequently to the small stones cases, which were easier to treat.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: A common example of Simpson's paradox involves the batting averages of players in professional baseball. It is possible for one player to have a higher batting average than another player each year for a number of years, but to have a lower batting average across all of those years. This phenomenon can occur when there are large differences in the number of at bats between the years. Mathematician Ken Ross demonstrated this using the batting average of two baseball players, Derek Jeter and David Justice, during the years 1995 and 1996:


title: Simpson's paradox

text: In both 1995 and 1996, Justice had a higher batting average (in bold type) than Jeter did. However, when the two baseball seasons are combined, Jeter shows a higher batting average than Justice. According to Ross, this phenomenon would be observed about once per year among the possible pairs of players.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Simpson's paradox can also be illustrated using a 2-dimensional vector space. A success rate of formula_1 (i.e., "successes/attempts") can be represented by a vector formula_2, with a slope of formula_1. A steeper vector then represents a greater success rate. If two rates formula_4 and formula_5 are combined, as in the examples given above, the result can be represented by the sum of the vectors formula_6 and formula_7, which according to the parallelogram rule is the vector formula_8, with slope formula_9.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Simpson's paradox says that even if a vector formula_10 (in orange in figure) has a smaller slope than another vector formula_11 (in blue), and formula_12 has a smaller slope than formula_13, the sum of the two vectors formula_14 can potentially still have a larger slope than the sum of the two vectors formula_15, as shown in the example. For this to occur one of the orange vectors must have a greater slope than one of the blue vectors (here formula_12 and formula_11), and these will generally be longer than the alternatively subscripted vectors – thereby dominating the overall comparison.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Simpson's reversal can also arise in correlations, in which two variables appear to have (say) a positive correlation towards one another, when in fact they have a negative correlation, the reversal having been brought about by a "lurking" confounder. Berman et al. give an example from economics, where a dataset suggests overall demand is positively correlated with price (that is, higher prices lead to "more" demand), in contradiction of expectation. Analysis reveals time to be the confounding variable: plotting both price and demand against time reveals the expected negative correlation over various periods, which then reverses to become positive if the influence of time is ignored by simply plotting demand against price.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Psychological interest in Simpson's paradox seeks to explain why people deem sign reversal to be impossible at first, offended by the idea that an action preferred both under one condition and under its negation should be rejected when the condition is unknown. The question is where people get this strong intuition from, and how it is encoded in the mind.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Simpson's paradox demonstrates that this intuition cannot be derived from either classical logic or probability calculus alone, and thus led philosophers to speculate that it is supported by an innate causal logic that guides people in reasoning about actions and their consequences. Savage's sure-thing principle is an example of what such logic may entail. A qualified version of Savage's sure thing principle can indeed be derived from Pearl's "do"-calculus and reads: "An action "A" that increases the probability of an event "B" in each subpopulation "C" of "C" must also increase the probability of "B" in the population as a whole, provided that the action does not change the distribution of the subpopulations." This suggests that knowledge about actions and consequences is stored in a form resembling Causal Bayesian Networks.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: A paper by Pavlides and Perlman presents a proof, due to Hadjicostas, that in a random 2 × 2 × 2 table with uniform distribution, Simpson's paradox will occur with a probability of exactly . A study by Kock suggests that the probability that Simpson's paradox would occur at random in path models (i.e., models generated by path analysis) with two predictors and one criterion variable is approximately 12.8 percent; slightly higher than 1 occurrence per 8 path models.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: A second, less well-known paradox was also discussed in Simpson's 1951 paper. It can occur when the "sensible interpretation" is not necessarily found in the separated data, like in the Kidney Stone example, but can instead reside in the combined data. Whether the partitioned or combined form of the data should be used hinges on the process giving rise to the data, meaning the correct interpretation of the data cannot always be determined by simply observing the tables.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: Judea Pearl has shown that, in order for the partitioned data to represent the correct causal relationships between any two variables, formula_18 and formula_19, the partitioning variables must satisfy a graphical condition called "back-door criterion":


title: Simpson's paradox

text: This criterion provides an algorithmic solution to Simpson's second paradox, and explains why the correct interpretation cannot be determined by data alone; two different graphs, both compatible with the data, may dictate two different back-door criteria.


title: Simpson's paradox

text: When the back-door criterion is satisfied by a set "Z" of covariates, the adjustment formula (see Confounding) gives the correct causal effect of "X" on "Y". If no such set exists, Pearl's "do"-calculus can be invoked to discover other ways of estimating the causal effect. The completeness of "do"-calculus can be viewed as offering a complete resolution of the Simpson's paradox.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: The Mahmudiyah rape and killings were war crimes involving the gang-rape and murder of 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murder of her family by United States Army soldiers on March 12, 2006. It occurred in the family's house to the southwest of Yusufiyah, a village to the west of the town of Al-Mahmudiyah, Iraq. Other members of al-Janabi's family murdered by American soldiers included her 34-year-old mother Fakhriyah Taha Muhasen, 45-year-old father Qassim Hamza Raheem, and 6-year-old sister Hadeel Qassim Hamza al-Janabi. The two remaining survivors of the family, 9-year-old brother Ahmed and 11-year-old brother Mohammed, were at school during the massacre and orphaned by the event.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Five U.S. Army soldiers of the 502nd Infantry Regiment were charged with rape and murder; Specialist Paul E. Cortez (born December 1982), Specialist James P. Barker (born 1982), Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman (born 1985), Private First Class Bryan L. Howard, and Private First Class Steven Dale Green (May 2, 1985 – February 15, 2014). Green was discharged from the U.S. Army for mental instability before the crimes were known by his command, whereas Cortez, Barker, Spielman and Howard were tried by a military court martial, convicted, and sentenced to decades in prison. Green was tried and convicted in a United States civilian court and was sentenced to life in prison. In 2014, he died from complications resulting from a suicide attempt.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi ( "‘Abīr Qāssim Ḥamza al-Janābī"; 19 August 1991 – 12 March 2006), lived with her mother and father (Fakhriya Taha Muhasen, 34, and Qassim Hamza Raheem, 45, respectively) and her three siblings: 6-year-old sister Hadeel, 9-year-old brother Ahmed, and 11-year-old brother Mohammed. Of modest means, Abeer's family lived in a one-bedroom house that they did not own, with borrowed furniture, in the village of Yusufiyah, which lies west of the larger township of Al-Mahmudiyah, Iraq. The family was very close. Her father, Qassim, worked as a guard at a date orchard. Abeer's mother, Fakhriya, was a stay-at-home mom. According to her brothers, little Hadeel, Abeer's 6-year-old sister, loved a sweet plant that grew in the yard, was playful but not very mischievous, and enjoyed playing hide and seek with them. Qassim doted on his family, hoping that he would one day be able to buy a home for them and that they would live and eat like everyone else. He also had a dream that his children would finish college. According to her neighbours, at the time of the massacre, Abeer spent most of her days at home, as her parents would not allow her to go to school because of security concerns. Having been born only months after the Gulf War, which devastated civilian infrastructure in Iraq, and living her entire life under sanctions, followed by the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq, Abeer had dreams as well, hoping to one day live "in the big city" (Baghdad). Her relatives describe her as proud.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Although she was only a 14-year-old child, Abeer endured repeated sexual harassment from U.S. soldiers. Abeer's home was situated approximately 200 meters (220 yards) from a six-man U.S. traffic checkpoint (TCP), southwest of the village. From their checkpoint, the soldiers would often watch Abeer doing her chores and tending the garden. The neighbors had warned Abeer's father of this, but he replied it was not a problem as she was just a small girl. Abeer's brother Mohammed (who along with his younger brother was at school at the time of the murders and thus survived) recalls that the soldiers often searched the house. On one such occasion, Private First Class Steven D. Green ran his index finger down Abeer's cheek, an action which had terrified her. Abeer's mother told her relatives before the murders that, whenever she caught the soldiers staring at Abeer, they would give her the thumbs-up sign, point to her daughter and say, "Very good, very good." Evidently this had concerned her and she made plans for Abeer to spend nights sleeping at her uncle's (Ahmad Qassim's) house. According to an affidavit later filed by the FBI, Green discussed raping the girl in the days preceding the event.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: In an interview before his arrest, Steven Green told The Washington Post "I came over here because I wanted to kill people. The truth is, it wasn't all I thought it was cracked up to be. I mean, I thought killing somebody would be this life-changing experience. And then I did it, and I was like, 'All right, whatever.' I shot a guy who wouldn't stop when we were out at a traffic checkpoint and it was like nothing. Over here, killing people is like squashing an ant. I mean, you kill somebody and it's like 'All right, let's go get some pizza.'"


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: James Barker's parents divorced when he was a child since he and his siblings were abused. His mother, Roselia Barker, said her husband hit James with a belt and sticks, pulled his hair, and put him down verbally. While Barker was in high school, his father died at the age of 73 in October 1998. James visited his father in the hospital while he was dying. James graduated from Fresno High School in 1997. James was described as an obedient son, but his mother kicked him out of the house for not having a job. He was married at one point but divorced his wife. James had two children with his wife and one child with his girlfriend.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On March 12, 2006, soldiers at the checkpoint (from the 502nd Infantry Regiment) consisting of Green, Specialist Paul E. Cortez, Specialist James P. Barker, Private First Class Jesse V. Spielman, and Private First Class Bryan L. Howard had been playing cards, illegally drinking alcohol (whiskey mixed with an energy drink), hitting golf balls, and discussing plans to rape Abeer and "kill some Iraqis." Green was very persistent about "killing some Iraqis" and kept bringing up the idea. At some point, the group decided to go to Abeer's home, after they had seen her passing by their checkpoint earlier. The four soldiers of the six-man unit responsible for the checkpoint Barker, Cortez, Green, and Spielman then left their posts for Abeer's home. Two men, Howard and another soldier, remained at the post. Howard had not been involved in discussions to rape and murder the family. He heard the four men talking about it and saw them leave, but thought they were joking and were planning to beat up some Iraqi men to blow off some steam. The sixth soldier at the checkpoint had no involvement.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On the day of the massacre, Abeer's father Qassim was enjoying time with his family, while his sons were at school. In broad daylight, the four U.S. soldiers walked to the house, not wearing their uniforms, but wearing army-issue long underwear to look like "ninjas", and separated 14-year-old Abeer and her family into two different rooms. Spielman was responsible for grabbing Abeer's 6-year-old sister, who was outside the house with her father, and bringing her inside the house. Green then broke Abeer's mother's arms (likely evidence of a struggle that resulted when she heard her daughter being raped in the other room) and murdered her parents and younger sister, while two other soldiers, Cortez and Barker, raped Abeer. Barker wrote that Cortez pushed Abeer to the floor, lifted her dress, and tore off her underwear while she struggled. According to Cortez, Abeer “kept squirming and trying to keep her legs closed and saying stuff in Arabic,” as he and Barker took turns holding her down and raping her. Cortez testified that Abeer heard the gunshots in the room in which her parents and little sister were being held, causing her to scream and cry even more as she was being violently raped by the men. Green then emerged from the room saying, "I just killed them, all are dead". Green, who later said the crime was "awesome", then raped Abeer and shot her in the head several times. After the massacre, Barker poured petrol on Abeer and the soldiers set fire to the lower part of the girl's body, from her stomach down to her feet. Barker testified that the soldiers gave Spielman their bloodied clothes to burn and that he threw the AK-47 used to murder the family into a canal. They left to "celebrate" their crimes with a meal of chicken wings. Meanwhile, the fire from Abeer's body eventually spread to the rest of the room, and the smoke alerted neighbors, who were among the first to discover the scene. One recalled, "The poor girl, she was so beautiful. She lay there, one leg was stretched and the other bent and her dress was lifted up to her neck." They ran to tell Abu Firas Janabi, Abeer's uncle, that the farmhouse was on fire and that dead bodies could be seen inside the burning building. Janabi and his wife rushed to the farmhouse and doused some of the flames to get inside. Upon witnessing the scene inside, Janabi went to a checkpoint guarded by Iraqi Army soldiers to report the crime. Abeer's 9- and 11-year-old younger brothers, Ahmed and Mohammed, returned from school that afternoon to find smoke billowing from the windows. After going to their uncle's home, they returned to the house only to be traumatized, finding their father shot in the head, mother shot in the chest, 6-year-old sister Hadeel shot in the face, and 14-year-old sister Abeer's remains burning.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: The Iraqi soldiers immediately went to examine the scene and thereafter went to an American checkpoint to report the incident. This checkpoint was different from the one manned by the perpetrators. After approximately an hour, some soldiers from the checkpoint went to the farmhouse.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Iraqi soldiers arrived on scene shortly after the incident. Green and his accomplices lied to them that the massacre had been perpetrated by Sunni insurgents. These Iraqi soldiers conveyed this information to Abeer's uncle, who viewed the bodies. U.S. investigators concluded that Iraqi insurgents had murdered the al-Janabi family. This lie was conveyed up to high command. The truth about the massacre was successfully concealed. The murders were not widely reported since Iraq was dealing with widespread violence. Several soldiers, heard of or were told about the murders, but chose not to say anything. Anthony W. Yribe was among those who heard: Green admitted to him that day that he had killed them, then gave Yribe more details the following day. In May 2006, Green was honorably discharged after he was found to have a "personality disorder". That disorder turned out to be antisocial personality disorder.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On July 10, the Mujahideen Shura Council (now a part of the Islamic State) released a graphic video showing the bodies of PFCs. Tucker and Menchaca. This video was accompanied by a statement saying that the group carried out the killings as "revenge for our sister who was dishonored by a soldier of the same brigade." "The Washington Post" reports that Charles Babineau and two other individuals from the same unit were captured and killed by militants a month after the rape. Local Iraqi officials, and U.S. officials, denied the killing of the GIs was an act of retaliation, because the soldiers were killed days before the revelation leaked out that U.S. soldiers had committed the massacre in Mahmudiyah. At the time of Menchaca and Tucker's abduction on June 16, 2006, only the perpetrators of the rape and murder, and a few soldiers in their unit engaged in covering up the crime, knew it had been committed by U.S. soldiers. The truth behind the crime was revealed on June 20, and American responsibility only became "public knowledge" in Iraq on July 4, days after which the video by the Mujahideen Shura Council was released. Also, the abduction occurred on June 16, nine days after the targeted killing of the Shura Council's leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on June 7.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: The video from the Mujahideen Shura Council claimed that upon learning of the massacre, the group "kept their anger to themselves and didn't spread the news, but were determined to avenge their sister's honor". Locals may have been able to deduce the guilt of the U.S. soldiers from the nearby checkpoint, after the Americans and their Iraqi cohort unit provided the explanation, "Sunni extremists did this." A portion of locals served as auxiliary support for both for Al Qaeda in Iraq and the 1920 Revolution Brigades. Auxiliary support supplied material aid and performed a human intelligence support function. Relaying the accusation of the local MNC-I unit to the insurgents was a basic function of that support. The Sunni extremists were able to eliminate themselves as suspects and, having an already low opinion of the U.S. military, may have assumed the guilt of the 101st Airborne soldiers. A statement issued along with the video stated that, "God Almighty enabled them to capture two soldiers of the same brigade as this dirty crusader." Other militant groups also made various claims or statements announcing revenge campaigns after the killings were reported on July 4, when the U.S. investigation into the incident was announced.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On July 4, Jaysh al-Mujahidin claimed responsibility for downing a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache "in retaliation for the child, Abir, whom U.S. soldiers raped in Al-Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad." On July 12, the Islamic Army in Iraq claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb near the entrance to the Green Zone in Baghdad, in support of the "Abir operations" targeting the "evil den in the Green prison".


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Shortly after the June 16 attack, a soldier from the unit, PFC Justin Watt, spoke with a fellow soldier, Sergeant Anthony Yribe. During their conversation, Yribe told Watt who was actually responsible for killing the al-Janabi family. Watt then approached Bryan Howard, who confirmed everything. Neither Yribe nor Howard were planning to talk.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Watt felt differently. However, he was anguished over the situation. He wanted to talk, but was terrified of retaliation. He called his father, Rick Watt, back home. Rick was an Army veteran. Watt asked his father, "If you knew something bad about your brothers, would you come forward?" Watt's father asked him for details, but he said he couldn't give any. Finally, Rick Watt told his son that whatever had happened would have to be monstrous. "Heinous," he said, "is the only reason for giving up a brother."


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Watt then talked to an officer in his platoon, Sergeant John Diem. Watt trusted Diem; he told him he knew a terrible crime had been committed and asked for his advice, knowing if he reported the crime he would be considered a traitor to his unit, and could possibly be killed by them. Diem told Watt to be cautious, but said he had a duty as an honorable soldier to report the crime to the proper authorities. The two men did not trust their chain of command to protect them if they reported a war crime. Around June 20, 2006, Watt opened up to Diem, who immediately reported the crime himself.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Four days later, the battalion leader, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Kunk, went to the checkpoints where Cortez, Barker, and Spielman were assigned. Kunk questioned them about the reported incident. All of them denied any knowledge or involvement. Kunk then went to Watt's patrol base. In interviews later on, Watt recalled the incident:Kunk had confronted Watt while he was on sentry duty, and took him to a small, dark room in a run-down building. Several soldiers, including Yribe, watched as Kunk screamed at Watt that he should charge him with filing a false report, and accused him of trying to get out of the Army. Kunk asked Watt why he would want to ruin his fellow soldiers' careers, and told him he was just repeating false information. Watt explained why he reported the incident. However, Kunk silenced him and told him to return to his post, which Watt did.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Watt then watched Kunk load up his convoy and leave. According to interviews, this was the exact scenario that Watt had feared. He had just been publicly identified as the whistleblower, then abandoned. He was now at an imminent risk of being murdered. "I can’t explain to you how I felt watching that convoy drive away," Watt recalled. "I thought I was a dead man."


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: However, Diem, who was at another checkpoint down the road, saw the convoy leaving Watt's patrol base. Diem asked Kunk if he had taken Watt with him. Kunk replied that he had not. Diem said, "You have to go back and get him. If you leave him there, they’ll kill him."Green, Barker, Cortez, Spielman, Howard, and Yribe were all arrested within days of this incident. Since Green had already been discharged from the military, the FBI assumed jurisdiction over him under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act and the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with the murders. Green was arrested as a civilian, and convicted by a civilian court, the U.S. District Court in Paducah, Kentucky. The other four, all active-duty soldiers, were convicted through courts-martial.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Green was arrested in North Carolina while traveling home from Arlington, Virginia, where he had attended the funeral of a soldier. On June 30, 2006, the FBI arrested Green, who was held without bond and transferred to Louisville, Kentucky. On July 3, federal prosecutors formally charged him with raping and murdering Abeer, and with murdering her parents and younger sister. On July 10, the U.S. Army charged four other active duty soldiers with the same crime. Yribe, was charged with failing to report the attack, but not with having participated in the massacre.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On July 6, 2006, Green entered a plea of not guilty through his public defenders. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Moyer set an arraignment date of August 8 in Paducah, Kentucky.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On July 11, his lawyers requested a gag order. "This case has received prominent and often sensational coverage in virtually all print, electronic and internet news media in the world. … Clearly, the publicity and public passions surrounding this case present the clear and imminent danger to the fair administration of justice," said the motion. Prosecutors had until July 25 to file their response to the request. On August 31, a federal judge rejected the gag order. U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell said there is "no reason to believe" that Green's right to a fair trial would be in jeopardy. Furthermore, he added, "It is beyond question that the charges against Mr. Green are serious ones, and that some of the acts alleged in the complaint are considered unacceptable in our society."


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Opening arguments in Green's trial were heard on April 27, 2009. The prosecution rested its case on May 4. On May 7, 2009, Green was found guilty by the federal court in Kentucky of rape and multiple counts of murder. While prosecutors sought the death penalty in this case, jurors failed to agree unanimously and the death sentence could not be imposed. On September 4, Green was formally sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. That Green was spared the death penalty provoked outrage from the family's relatives, with Abeer's uncle describing the sentence as "a crime -- almost worse than the soldier's crime". Green was held in the United States Penitentiary, Tucson, Arizona, and died on February 15, 2014, from complications following an attempt at suicide by hanging.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Green challenged his convictions, claiming that the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act is unconstitutional and that he should face a military trial. Green lost his appeal in August 2011.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On November 15, 2006, Specialist Barker pleaded guilty to rape and murder as part of a plea agreement requiring him to give evidence against the other soldiers to avoid a possible death sentence. He told the judge "I hated Iraqis, your honor. They can smile at you, then shoot you in your face without even thinking about it."


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: During his sentencing hearing, numerous fellow soldiers testified in favor of the argument that Barker could eventually be rehabilitated. They described Barker going weeks with minimal support and sleeping as he manned checkpoints. Captain William Fischbach, the lead prosecutor, said this was no excuse for Barker's actions and requested a life term without parole. "This burned-out corpse that used to be a 14-year-old girl never fired bullets or lobbed mortars," Fischbach said as he held pictures of the crime scene. "Society should not have to bear the risk of the accused among them ever again." Quivering as he spoke, Barker began weeping as he said "I want the people of Iraq to know that I did not go there to do the terrible things that I did. I do not ask anyone to forgive me today." He said the violence he had encountered in Iraq left him "angry and mean" toward Iraqis.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Ultimately, Barker was sentenced to 90 years in prison with the possibility of parole and must serve 10 years before being considered for parole. He was also dishonorably discharged, demoted to the rank of Private, and ordered to forfeit all of his pay and allowances. Journalists reported that "he smoked a cigarette outside as a bailiff watched over him. He grinned but said nothing as reporters passed by." He is currently held in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On January 22, 2007, Cortez pleaded guilty in a court martial to rape, conspiracy to rape, and four counts of murder as part of a plea deal to avoid a possible death sentence. During his sentencing hearing, his lawyers argued that he was under war-related stress. Cortez was sentenced to 100 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. He was also dishonorably discharged, demoted to the rank of Private, and ordered to forfeit all of his pay and allowances. Tears rolled down his face as he apologized for his roles in the murders. "I still don’t have an answer," Cortez told the judge. “I don’t know why. I wish I hadn’t. The lives of four innocent people were taken. I want to apologize for all of the pain and suffering I have caused the Al Janabi family." He is currently held in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: On August 3, 2007, Spielman, 23, was sentenced by a court martial to 110 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 10 years. He was also dishonorably discharged, demoted to the rank of Private, and ordered to forfeit all of his pay and allowances. He was convicted of rape, conspiracy to commit rape, housebreaking with intent to rape, and four counts of felony murder. He initially pleaded guilty to conspiracy toward obstruction of justice, arson, wrongfully touching a corpse, and drinking. After the verdict, Spielman's grandmother fainted, while his sister, Paige Gerlach, screamed "I hate the government. You people put him there and now, this happened." Spielman is held in the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Howard was sentenced by a court martial under a plea agreement for conspiracy to obstruct justice and being an accessory after the fact. The court found that his involvement included hearing the others discussing the crime and lying to protect them, but not commission of the actual rape or murders. Howard was sentenced to 27 months in prison, demoted in rank to Private, and dishonorably discharged.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Yribe was initially charged with obstructing the investigation, specifically, dereliction of duty and making a false statement. In exchange for his testimony against the other men, the government dropped the charges against Yribe and he was given an other than honorable discharge.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Watt, the whistleblower, received a medical discharge and is now running a computer business. He says that he received death threats after coming forward; however, starting in 2010, he was asked by the US Army Center for the Army Profession and Ethic (CAPE) at West Point, New York, to be interviewed and speak before Army Profession audiences about his decision to report the crimes in accordance with his moral obligation to uphold the Army Ethic.


title: Mahmudiyah rape and killings

text: Muhammed and Ahmed Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, the surviving brothers of murder victim Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi, are being raised by an uncle, according to testimony in the courts-martial of Cortez, Barker and Spielman.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore. Webster was one of the most prominent American lawyers of the 19th century, and argued over 200 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1814 and his death in 1852. During his life, he was a member of the Federalist Party, the National Republican Party, and the Whig Party.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Born in New Hampshire in 1782, Webster established a successful legal practice in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after graduating from Dartmouth College and undergoing a legal apprenticeship. He emerged as a prominent opponent of the War of 1812 and won election to the United States House of Representatives, where he served as a leader of the Federalist Party. Webster left office after two terms and relocated to Boston, Massachusetts. He became a leading attorney before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning cases such as "Dartmouth College v. Woodward", "McCulloch v. Maryland", and "Gibbons v. Ogden". Webster returned to the House in 1823 and became a key supporter of President John Quincy Adams. He won election to the United States Senate in 1827 and worked with Henry Clay to build the National Republican Party in support of Adams.


title: Daniel Webster

text: After Andrew Jackson defeated Adams in the 1828 U.S. presidential election, Webster became a leading opponent of Jackson's domestic policies. He strongly objected to the theory of nullification espoused by John C. Calhoun, and his "Second Reply to Hayne" speech is widely regarded as one of the greatest speeches ever delivered in Congress. Webster supported Jackson's defiant response to the Nullification Crisis but broke with the president due to disagreements over the Second Bank of the United States. Webster joined with other Jackson opponents in forming the Whig Party, and unsuccessfully ran in the 1836 U.S. presidential election. He supported Harrison in the 1840 U.S. presidential election and was appointed secretary of state after Harrison took office. Unlike the other members of Harrison's Cabinet, he continued to serve under President Tyler after Tyler broke with congressional Whigs. As secretary of state, Webster negotiated the Webster–Ashburton Treaty, which settled border disputes with Britain. In 1837, Webster was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Webster returned to the Senate in 1845 and resumed his status as a leading congressional Whig. During the Mexican–American War, he emerged as a leader of the "Cotton Whigs", a faction of Northern Whigs that emphasized good relations with the South over anti-slavery policies. In 1850, President Fillmore appointed Webster as secretary of state, and Webster contributed to the passage of the Compromise of 1850, which settled several territorial issues and enacted a new fugitive slave law. The Compromise proved unpopular in much of the North and undermined Webster's standing in his home state. Webster sought the Whig nomination in the 1852 U.S. presidential election, but a split between supporters of Fillmore and Webster led to the nomination of General Winfield Scott. Webster is widely regarded as an important and talented attorney, orator, and politician, but historians and observers have offered mixed opinions on his moral qualities and ability as a national leader.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Daniel Webster was born on January 18, 1782, in Salisbury, New Hampshire, at a location within the present day city of Franklin. He was the son of Abigail (née Eastman) and Ebenezer Webster, a farmer and local official who served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. Ebenezer's ancestor, the English-born Thomas Webster, had migrated to North America around 1636. Ebenezer had three children from a previous marriage who survived to maturity, as well as five children from his marriage to Abigail; Webster was the second-youngest of the eight siblings. He was particularly close to his older brother, Ezekiel, who was born in 1780. As a youth, he helped work the family farm but was frequently in poor health. With the encouragement of his parents and tutors, he often read works by authors such as Alexander Pope and Isaac Watts.


title: Daniel Webster

text: In 1796, he attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. After studying the classics and other subjects for several months under a clergyman, Webster was admitted to Dartmouth College in 1797. During his time at Dartmouth, he managed the school newspaper and emerged as a strong public speaker. He was chosen Fourth of July orator in Hanover, the college town, in 1800, and in his speech appears the substance of the political principles for the development of which he became famous. Like his father, and like many other New England farmers, Webster was firmly devoted to the Federalist Party and favored a strong central government. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1801 and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.


title: Daniel Webster

text: After graduating from Dartmouth, he apprenticed under Salisbury lawyer Thomas W. Thompson. Though unenthusiastic about studying the law, he believed that becoming a lawyer would allow him to "live comfortably" and avoid the bouts of poverty that had afflicted his father. In order to help support his brother Ezekiel's study at Dartmouth, Webster temporarily resigned from the law office to work as a schoolteacher at Fryeburg Academy in Maine. In 1804, he obtained a position in Boston under the prominent attorney Christopher Gore. Clerking for Gore—who was involved in international, national, and state politics—he learned about many legal and political subjects and met numerous New England politicians. He grew to love Boston, and, in 1805, was admitted to the bar.


title: Daniel Webster

text: set up a legal practice in Boscawen, New Hampshire. He became increasingly involved in politics and began to speak locally in support of Federalist causes and candidates. After his father's death in 1806, he handed over his practice to his brother, Ezekiel, and opened a new practice in the larger town of Portsmouth. Over the decade-long period he lived in Portsmouth, he handled over 1700 cases, becoming one of the most prominent attorneys in New Hampshire. Along with two other lawyers, he was appointed to revise the New Hampshire criminal code and devise regulations for state prisons.


title: Daniel Webster

text: During this time the ongoing Napoleonic Wars began to more strongly affect Americans, as Britain attacked American shipping and impressed American sailors. President Thomas Jefferson retaliated with the Embargo Act of 1807, stopping all trade to both Britain and France. As New England relied on commerce with the two nations, the region strongly suffered from the embargo, and Webster wrote an anonymous pamphlet attacking Jefferson's policies. He also campaigned for various Federalist candidates, including presidential candidate Charles C. Pinckney and gubernatorial candidate Jeremiah Smith. Although Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party dominated national elections, the Federalist Party was competitive throughout the states of New England. In 1812, the United States declared war against Britain, beginning the War of 1812. On July 4, 1812, Webster was invited to give a speech before the Washington Benevolent Society. His speech, which strongly attacked the war but warned against secession, was reprinted in newspapers throughout New England.


title: Daniel Webster

text: After the speech, he was selected as a delegate to the Rockingham Convention, a local assembly that issued a report critical of Jefferson's Democratic-Republican successor, James Madison. The Rockingham Memorial, which was largely written by Webster, challenged Madison's reasons for going to war, argued that France had been just as culpable for attacks against American shipping as the British had been, and raised the specter of secession. The Rockingham Memorial gained nationwide notoriety as a document exemplifying New England's opposition to the war. After the convention, the state Federalist Party nominated him as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. Though Madison won re-election in the 1812 U.S. presidential election, the Federalist-backed presidential candidate won New England, and Federalists swept the New Hampshire elections for the House of Representatives.


title: Daniel Webster

text: By May 1813, when he arrived in the House of Representatives for the first time, the United States had seen numerous setbacks in the War of 1812. Nonetheless, Madison's Democratic-Republican Party dominated the Thirteenth Congress, controlling over three-fifths of the seats in the House of Representatives and over two-thirds of the seats in the Senate. Webster continued to criticize the war and attacked effort to impose conscription, wartime taxes, and a new trade embargo. He was appointed to a steering committee that coordinated Federalist actions in the House of Representatives and, by the end of the Thirteenth Congress, he had emerged as a respected speaker on the House floor. In early 1815, the war came to an end after news of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent reached the United States.


title: Daniel Webster

text: After the war, President Madison called for the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States (known as the "national bank"), the imposition of a protective tariff, and federally-financed public works. While Speaker of the House Henry Clay and Congressman John C. Calhoun worked to pass Madison's proposals, other Democratic-Republicans opposed these policies because they conflicted with the party's traditional commitment to a weaker federal government. Webster favored a national bank in principle, but he voted against the bill that established the national bank because he believed that the bank should be required to remove paper banknotes issued by various state-charted banks from circulation. Before the national bank came into operation, he then led the passage of a bill that required all debts to the government to be paid in specie, Treasury notes, or notes issued by the national bank. In the tariff debate, he occupied a middle ground; he favored using tariff rates to protect domestic manufacturing, but did not want tariff rates to be so high that they would harm his home state's trading concerns. Though he took an active role in crafting the tariff bill, he ultimately missed the final vote on the Tariff of 1816. Seeking more lucrative legal work, he began to strongly consider relocating to Boston or New York during his time in Congress. In 1816, he declined to seek another term in the House of Representatives, instead establishing a new residence in Boston. In the 1816 elections, the Federalist Party suffered numerous defeats throughout the country and Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe was elected president.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Webster continued to practice law while serving in the House of Representatives, and he argued his first case before the Supreme Court of the United States in early 1814. He had been highly regarded in New Hampshire since his days in Boscawen and was respected for his service in the House of Representatives, but he came to national prominence as counsel in a number of important Supreme Court cases. Between 1814 and 1852, he argued at least one case in the vast majority of the sessions of the Supreme Court; he served as counsel in a total of 223 cases, and won approximately half of those cases. He also represented numerous clients outside of Supreme Court cases, including prominent individuals such as George Crowninshield, Francis Cabot Lowell, and John Jacob Astor.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Though Congress was dominated by Democratic-Republicans, Chief Justice John Marshall ensured that the Federalist ideology retained a presence in the courts. Webster quickly became skilled at articulating arguments designed to appeal to Marshall and another influential Supreme Court justice, Joseph Story. He played an important role in eight of the most celebrated constitutional cases decided by the Court between 1814 and 1824. In many of these—particularly in "Dartmouth College v. Woodward" (1819) and "Gibbons v. Ogden" (1824)—the Supreme Court handed down decisions based largely on his arguments. Marshall's most famous declaration, "the power to tax is the power to destroy," in "McCulloch v. Maryland" (1819), was taken from Webster's presentation against the state of Maryland. As a result of his series of successes in Supreme Court cases, many people began calling him the "Great Expounder and Defender of the Constitution." He would continue to argue cases before the Supreme Court after Marshall's death in 1835, but he generally found the Taney Court to be less receptive to his arguments.


title: Daniel Webster

text: In "Dartmouth College v. Woodward", Webster was retained by the Federalist trustees of his alma mater, Dartmouth College, in their case against the newly elected New Hampshire Democratic-Republican state legislature. The legislature had passed new laws converting Dartmouth into a state institution, by changing the size of the college's trustee body and adding a further board of overseers, which they put into the hands of the state senate. He argued that the Constitution's Contract Clause prohibited the legislature from altering the college's board of trustees. The Marshall Court, continuing with its history of limiting states' rights and reaffirming the supremacy of the constitutional protection of contract, ruled in favor of Dartmouth. The ruling set the important precedent that corporations did not, as many then held, have to justify their privileges by acting in the public interest, but were independent of the states.


title: Daniel Webster

text: He remained politically active during his time out of Congress, serving as a presidential elector, meeting with officials like Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, and delivering a well-received speech that attacked high tariffs. With the Federalists fading away as a national party, the period of Monroe's presidency came to be known as the "Era of Good Feelings" due to the lack of partisan conflict. As the Federalists failed to field a candidate in the 1820 U.S. presidential election, Webster, acting in his capacity as a presidential elector, cast his vote for Monroe. He was then elected as a delegate to the 1820 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. There he spoke in opposition to suffrage for all regardless of property ownership, arguing that power naturally follows property, and the vote should be limited accordingly; but the constitution was amended against his advice. He also supported the (existing) districting of the state senate so that each seat represented an equal amount of property. His performance at the convention furthered his reputation. In a letter to a mutual friend, Joseph Story wrote, "our friend Webster has gained a noble reputation. He was before known as a lawyer; but he has now secured the title of an eminent and enlightened statesman." In December 1820, he delivered an enthusiastically-received address commemorating the bicentennial of the landing of the "Mayflower" at Plymouth Rock.


title: Daniel Webster

text: At the behest of Federalist leaders and the business elite in Boston, Webster agreed to run for the United States House of Representatives in 1822. He won the election and returned to Congress in December 1823. In recognition of his mastery of legal issues, Speaker of the House Henry Clay assigned him the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee. In that role, he tried to pass a bill that would relieve Supreme Court justices of having to travel to far-flung western districts, but his bill did not receive a vote in the House. Seeking to re-establish his reputation for oratorical prowess on the floor of the House of Representatives, he gave a speech supporting the Greek cause in the Greek War of Independence. In another speech, he attacked the bill imposing the Tariff of 1824, arguing that high tariff rates unfairly benefited manufacturing to the detriment of agriculture and commerce. In a third speech, he defended the construction of internal improvements by the federal government, arguing that roads helped unite the nation both economically and in creating a "feeling truly national."


title: Daniel Webster

text: While a Representative, he continued accepting speaking engagements in New England, most notably his oration on the fiftieth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. He also continued his legal work, though his government service required him to rely more on his law partners.


title: Daniel Webster

text: In the 1824 U.S. presidential election, the Democratic-Republicans split among Clay, Calhoun, William H. Crawford, Andrew Jackson, and John Quincy Adams. Despite their shared connection to Massachusetts, Webster had an uneasy relationship with Adams because the latter had left the Federalist Party earlier in his career; for his part, Adams detested him. As no candidate won a majority of the electoral vote, the 1824 election was decided in a contingent election held by the House of Representatives. Webster had remained neutral prior to the election, but he supported Adams in the contingent election, in large part because he viewed Jackson as completely unqualified to be president and Crawford had suffered a major stroke. Along with Clay, he helped rally members of the House around Adams, and Adams was elected on the first ballot of the contingent election.


title: Daniel Webster

text: In 1825, President Adams set off a partisan realignment by putting forward an ambitious domestic program, based on Clay's American System, that included a vast network of federally-funded infrastructure projects. States' rights Democratic-Republicans, including Senator Martin Van Buren and Vice President John C. Calhoun, strongly opposed the program and rallied around Jackson. While some Federalists gravitated to Jackson's camp, Webster became the leader of the pro-administration forces in the House of Representatives. Supporters of Adams became known as National Republicans, while Jackson's followers coalesced into the Democratic Party. Like many Federalists, he did not immediately cast aside his partisan identity as a Federalist but embraced the American System and began to favor protective tariff rates. Justus D. Doenecke indicates that his newfound support of protective tariffs was the result of "his new closeness to the rising mill-owning families of the region, the Lawrences and the Lowells." He also backed the administration's defense of treaty-sanctioned Creek Indian land rights against Georgia's expansionist claims.


title: Daniel Webster

text: In 1827, the Massachusetts legislature elected him to the United States Senate. He was initially reluctant to leave the House of Representatives, where he had established seniority and a strong base of power, but ultimately accepted election to the Senate. After a period of consideration, he voted for the Tariff of 1828, which raised tariff rates. Prior to the 1828 U.S. presidential election, he worked with Clay to build the National Republican Party across the country. While Clay rallied support for the party in the West, he emerged as a leading National Republican in the Northeastern states. Despite his efforts and those of Clay, Democratic candidate Andrew Jackson decisively defeated President Adams in the 1828 election.


title: Daniel Webster

text: After Jackson took office, Webster opposed most of the measures favored by the new administration, including the Indian Removal Act and the establishment of the spoils system. The Jackson administration suffered from factionalism between supporters of Secretary of State Van Buren and Vice President Calhoun, the latter of whom took a prominent role in propounding the doctrine of nullification. Calhoun held that the states had the power to "nullify" laws, and he and his allies sought to nullify the high tariff rates imposed by the Tariff of 1828 (which they referred to as the "Tariff of Abominations"). During a debate over land policy in January 1830, South Carolina Senator Robert Y. Hayne, in an effort to sway the West against the North and the tariff, accused the North of attempting to limit Western expansion for their own benefit. Hayne served as a surrogate for Vice President Calhoun, who could not himself address the Senate on the issue due to his status as the Senate's presiding officer. Webster objected to the sectional attack on the North, but even more strongly objected to Hayne's pro-states' rights position. Speaking before the Senate, he articulated his belief in a "perpetual" union and attacked the institution of slavery, baiting Hayne into expounding on the doctrine of nullification on the Senate floor.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Replying to his first speech, Hayne accused him of "making war upon the unoffending South," and he asserted that nullification was constitutional because the federal government was ultimately subservient to the states. On January 27, Webster delivered his response, titled the "Second Reply to Hayne". He held that the people, and not the states, held ultimate power, and the people had established the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. He further argued that the doctrine of nullification "approach[ed] absurdity," and, by denying power to the federal government, would effectively restore the balance of power established under the Articles of Confederation. He argued that nullification constituted treason against the United States, and would ultimately lead to civil war as state officials would call out the militia to resist federal laws and actions. He ended his speech with a call for "Liberty "and" Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!" The "Second Reply to Hayne" was reprinted thousands of times, and was favorably received throughout the country. In assessing the speech's impact and popularity, some contemporaries compared it to the Federalist Papers. Three months after he delivered the "Second Reply to Hayne", Calhoun openly broke with President Jackson when, in response to Jackson's toast of "Our Union, it be preserved," Calhoun replied, "The Union: Next to our liberty, the most dear."


title: Daniel Webster

text: By 1830, he considered Clay to be the likely National Republican nominee in the 1832 U.S. presidential election, though he was skeptical that Clay would be able to defeat the Democratic nominee. The establishment of the Anti-Masonic Party, a third party opposed to both Jackson and Clay, added a new factor into the election. Some Anti-Masonic leaders attempted to recruit him to run for the presidency, but he ultimately declined to run for fear of alienating Clay and other National Republicans. Instead, he undertook a subtle campaign to win the National Republican nomination, planning a tour of the Northeast and the Northwest; His angling for the presidency marked the start of an ambivalent relationship between Clay and Webster. Nonetheless, he urged Clay to accept election to the Senate, and the two convinced Nicholas Biddle, the president of the national bank, to apply for an early renewal of the national bank's charter. As Jackson had a long record of opposing the national bank, both hoped to make the national bank an issue in the 1832 presidential election. Clay was formally nominated by the National Republicans in December 1831, while Jackson was nominated for a second term in 1832.


title: Daniel Webster

text: Biddle requested a renewal of the national bank's charter in January 1832, setting off what became known as the "Bank War." With Clay focusing on a tariff bill, Webster became the unofficial leader of pro-national bank forces in the Senate. He helped ensure that Congress approved a renewal of the charter without making any major modifications, such as a provision that would allow states to prevent the national bank from establishing branches within their borders. Congress approved the charter renewal, but, as was expected, Jackson vetoed the bill in July 1832; Jackson argued the bank was unconstitutional and served to "make the rich richer and the potent more powerful." On the Senate floor, Webster attacked the veto, arguing that only the judicial branch could judge a bill's constitutionality. Afterward he supported Clay's presidential campaign and continued his efforts on behalf of the national bank, but Jackson was re-elected by a decisive margin.