title: First Red Scare

text: Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, protested that President Wilson and members of his Cabinet had provided assurances when the Act was passed that it would not be used to prevent strikes by labor unions. He provided detailed accounts of his negotiations with representatives of the administration, especially Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson. He also argued that the end of hostilities, even in the absence of a signed treaty, should have invalidated any attempts to enforce the Act's provisions. Nevertheless, he attempted to mediate between Palmer and Lewis, but after several days called the injunction "so autocratic as to stagger the human mind." The coal operators smeared the strikers with charges that Lenin and Trotsky had ordered the strike and were financing it, and some of the press echoed that language. Others used words like "insurrection" and "Bolshevik revolution." Eventually Lewis, facing criminal charges and sensitive to the propaganda campaign, withdrew his strike call, though many strikers ignored his action. As the strike dragged on into its third week, coal supplies were running low and public sentiment was calling for ever stronger government action. Final agreement came on December 10.


title: First Red Scare

text: Despite two attempts on his life in April and June 1919, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer moved slowly to find a way to attack the source of the violence. An initial raid in July 1919 against a small anarchist group in Buffalo failed when a federal judge tossed out his case. In August, he organized the General Intelligence Division within the Department of Justice and recruited J. Edgar Hoover, a recent law school graduate, to head it. Hoover pored over arrest records, subscription records of radical newspapers, and party membership records to compile lists of resident aliens for deportation proceedings. On October 17, 1919, just a year after the Immigration Act of 1918 had expanded the definition of aliens that could be deported, the U.S. Senate demanded Palmer explain his failure to move against radicals.


title: First Red Scare

text: Palmer launched his campaign against radicalism with two sets of police actions known as the Palmer Raids in November 1919 and January 1920. Federal agents supported by local police rounded up large groups of suspected radicals, often based on membership in a political group rather than any action taken. Undercover informants and warrantless wiretaps (authorized under the Sedition Act) helped to identify several thousand suspected leftists and radicals to be arrested.


title: First Red Scare

text: Only the dismissal of most of the cases by Acting United States Secretary of Labor Louis Freeland Post limited the number of deportations to 556. Fearful of extremist violence and revolution, the American public supported the raids. Civil libertarians, the radical left, and legal scholars raised protests. Officials at the Department of Labor, especially Post, asserted the rule of law in opposition to Palmer's anti-radical campaign. Post faced a Congressional threat to impeach or censure him. He successfully defended his actions in two days of testimony before the House Rules Committee in June 1919 and no action was ever taken against him. Palmer testified before the same committee, also for two days, and stood by the raids, arrests, and deportation program. Much of the press applauded Post's work at Labor, while Palmer, rather than President Wilson, was largely blamed for the negative aspects of the raids.


title: First Red Scare

text: On December 21, 1919, the "Buford", a ship the press nicknamed the "Soviet Ark", left New York harbor with 249 deportees. Of those, 199 had been detained in the November Palmer Raids, with 184 of them deported because of their membership in the Union of Russian Workers, an anarchist group that was a primary target of the November raids. Others on board, including the well-known radical leaders Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, had not been taken in the Palmer Raids. Goldman had been convicted in 1893 of "inciting to riot" and arrested on many other occasions. Berkman had served 14 years in prison for the attempted murder of industrialist Henry Clay Frick in 1892. Both were convicted in 1917 of interfering with military recruitment. Some of the 249 were leftists or anarchists or at least fell within the legal definition of anarchist because they "believed that no government would be better for human society than any kind of government." In beliefs they ranged from violent revolutionaries to pacifist advocates of non-resistance. Others belonged to radical organizations but disclaimed knowledge of the organization's political aims and had joined to take advantage of educational programs and social opportunities.


title: First Red Scare

text: The U.S. War Department used the "Buford" as a transport ship in the Spanish–American War and in World War I and loaned it to the Department of Labor in 1919 for the deportation mission. A "strong detachment of marines" numbering 58 enlisted men and four officers made the journey and pistols were distributed to the crew. Its final destination was unknown as it sailed under sealed orders. Even the captain only learned his final destination while in Kiel harbor for repairs, since the State Department found it difficult to make arrangements to land in Latvia. Finland, though chosen, was not an obvious choice, since Finland and Russia were at war.


title: First Red Scare

text: The notoriety of Goldman and Berkman as convicted anti-war agitators allowed the press and public to imagine that all the deportees had similar backgrounds. "The New York Times" called them all "Russian Reds". Most of the press approved enthusiastically. The Cleveland "Plain Dealer" wrote: "It is hoped and expected that other vessels, larger, more commodious, carrying similar cargoes, will follow in her wake." The "New York Evening Mail" said: "Just as the sailing of the Ark that Noah built was a pledge for the preservation of the human race, so the sailing of the Ark of the Soviet is a pledge for the preservation of America." Goldman later wrote a book about her experiences after being deported to Russia, called "My Disillusionment in Russia".


title: First Red Scare

text: As reported by "The New York Times", some communists agreed to be deported while others were put into a concentration camp at Camp Upton in New York pending deportation hearings.


title: First Red Scare

text: On January 7, 1920, at the first session of the New York State Assembly, Assembly Speaker Thaddeus C. Sweet attacked the Assembly's five Socialist members, declaring they had been "elected on a platform that is absolutely inimical to the best interests of the state of New York and the United States." The Socialist Party, Sweet said, was "not truly a political party," but was rather "a membership organization admitting within its ranks aliens, enemy aliens, and minors." It had supported the revolutionaries in Germany, Austria, and Hungary, he continued, and consorted with international Socialist parties close to the Communist International. The Assembly suspended the five by a vote of 140 to 6, with just one Democrat supporting the Socialists. A trial in the Assembly, lasting from January 20 to March 11, resulted in a recommendation that the five be expelled and the Assembly voted overwhelmingly for expulsion on April 1, 1920.


title: First Red Scare

text: Opposition to the Assembly's actions was widespread and crossed party lines. From the start of the process, former Republican Governor, Supreme Court Justice, and presidential candidate Charles Evans Hughes defended the Socialist members: "Nothing  ... is a more serious mistake at this critical time than to deprive Socialists or radicals of their opportunities for peaceful discussion and thus to convince them that the Reds are right and that violence and revolution are the only available means at their command." Democratic Governor Al Smith denounced the expulsions: "To discard the method of representative government leads to the misdeeds of the very extremists we denounce and serves to increase the number of enemies of orderly free government." Hughes also led a group of leading New York attorneys in a protest that said: "We have passed beyond the stage in political development when heresy-hunting is a permitted sport."


title: First Red Scare

text: America's newspapers continually reinforced their readers' pro-American views and presented a negative attitude toward the Soviet Union and communism. They presented a threat of imminent conflict with the Soviet Union that would be justified by the clash with American ideals and goals.


title: First Red Scare

text: In addition, when "The New York Times" reported positively about the Soviet Union, it received less attention from the public than when it reported antagonistically about it. This did not hold true when Soviet interests agreed with American ones. As a result of this, the "Times" had a tendency to use exaggerated headlines, weighted words, and questionable sources in order to create a negative slant against the Soviets and communism. The tendency was to be very pro-American and theatrical in their coverage.


title: First Red Scare

text: The Red Scare led to the Western popularization of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". The text was purportedly brought to the United States by a Russian army officer in 1917; it was translated into English by Natalie de Bogory (personal assistant of Harris A. Houghton, an officer of the Department of War) in June 1918, and White Russian expatriate Boris Brasol soon circulated it in American government circles, specifically diplomatic and military, in typescript form, It also appeared in 1919 in the "Public Ledger" as a pair of serialized newspaper articles. But all references to "Jews" were replaced with references to "Bolsheviki" as an exposé by the journalist—and subsequently highly respected Columbia University School of Journalism dean—Carl W. Ackerman. Shortly thereafter it was adapted as "The International Jew" series in The Dearborn Independent, establishing the myth of Jewish Bolshevism.


title: First Red Scare

text: America's film industry reflected and exploited every aspect of the public's fascination with and fear of Bolshevism. "The German Curse in Russia" dramatized the German instigation of Russia's October Revolution. The Soviet nationalization of women was central to the plot of "The New Moon", in which women between the ages of 23 and 32 are the property of the state and the heroine, Norma Talmadge, is a Russian princess posing as a peasant during the Russian Revolution. Similarly, in "The World and Its Woman" starring Geraldine Farrar, the daughter of an American engineer working in Russia becomes an opera star and has to fend off attempts to "nationalize" her.


title: First Red Scare

text: Several films used labor troubles as their setting, with an idealistic American hero and heroine struggling to outwit manipulative left-wing agitators. "Dangerous Hours" tells the story of an attempted Russian infiltration of American industry. College graduate John King is sympathetic to the left in a general way. Then he is seduced, both romantically and politically, by Sophia Guerni, a female agitator. Her superior is the Bolshevik Boris Blotchi, who has a "wild dream of planting the scarlet seed of terrorism in American soil." Sofia and Boris turn their attention to the Weston shipyards that are managed by John's childhood sweetheart, May. The workers have valid grievances, but the Bolsheviks set out to manipulate the situation. They are "the dangerous element following in the wake of labor as riffraff and ghouls follow an army." When they threaten May, John has an epiphany and renounces revolutionary doctrine.


title: First Red Scare

text: A reviewer in "Picture Play" protested the film's stew of radical beliefs and strategies: "Please, oh please, look up the meaning of the words 'bolshevik' and 'soviet.' Neither of them mean 'anarchist,' 'scoundrel' or 'murderer' – really they don't!"


title: First Red Scare

text: Some films just used Bolsheviks for comic relief, where they are easily seduced ("The Perfect Woman") or easily inebriated ("Help Yourself"). In "Bullin the Bullsehviks" an American named Lotta Nerve outwits Trotsky. New York State Senator Clayton R. Lusk spoke at the film's New York premiere in October 1919. Other films used one feature or another of radical philosophy as the key plot point: anarchist violence ("The Burning Question"), assassination and devotion to the red flag ("The Volcano"), utopian vision ("Bolshevism on Trial").


title: First Red Scare

text: The advertising for "Bolshevism on Trial" called it "the timeliest picture ever filmed" and reviews were good. "Powerful, well-knit with indubitably true and biting satire," said "Photoplay". As a promotion device, the April 15, 1919, issue of "Moving Picture World" suggested staging a mock radical demonstration by hanging red flags around town and then have actors in military uniforms storm in to tear them down. The promoter was then to distribute handbills to the confused and curious crowds to reassure them that "Bolshevism on Trial" takes a stand against Bolshevism and "you will not only clean up but will profit by future business." When this publicity technique came to the attention of U.S. Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson, he expressed his dismay to the press: "This publication proposes by deceptive methods of advertising to stir every community in the United States into riotous demonstrations for the purpose of making profits for the moving picture business  ..." He hoped to ban movies treating Bolshevism and Socialism.


title: First Red Scare

text: In 1919 Kansas enacted a law titled "An act relating to the flag, standard or banner of Bolshevism, anarchy or radical socialism" in an attempt to punish the display of the most common symbol of radicalism, the red flag. Only Massachusetts (1913) and Rhode Island (1914) passed such "red flag laws" earlier. By 1920 they were joined by 24 more states. Some banned certain colors (red or black), or certain expressions ("indicating disloyalty or belief in anarchy" or "antagonistic to the existing government of the United States"), or certain contexts ("to overthrow the government by general strike"), or insignia ("flag or emblem or sign"). The "Yale Law Journal" mocked the Connecticut law against symbols "calculated to  ... incite people to disorder," anticipating its enforcement at the next Harvard-Yale football game. Ohio exempted college pennants and Wisconsin made an exception for historical museums. Minnesota allowed red flags for railroad and highway warnings. Setting patriotic standards, red flag laws regulated the proper display of the American flag: above all other flags, ahead of all other banners in any parade, or flown only in association with state flags or the flags of friendly nations. Punishment generally included fines from $1,000 to $5,000 and prison terms of 5 to 10 years, occasionally more.


title: First Red Scare

text: At the federal level, the Espionage Act of 1917 and the amendments to it in the Sedition Act of 1918 prohibited interference with the war effort, including many expressions of opinion. With that legislation rendered inoperative by the end of World War I, Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, supported by President Wilson, waged a public campaign in favor of a peacetime version of the Sedition Act without success. He sent a circular outlining his rationale to newspaper editors in January 1919, citing the dangerous foreign-language press and radical attempts to create unrest in African American communities. At one point Congress had more than 70 versions of proposed language and amendments for such a bill, but it took no action on the controversial proposal during the campaign year of 1920.


title: First Red Scare

text: Palmer called for every state to enact its own version of the Sedition Act. Six states had laws of this sort before 1919 usually aimed at sabotage, but another 20 added them in 1919 and 1920. Usually called "anti-syndicalist laws," they varied in their language, but generally made it a crime to "destroy organized government" by one method or another, including "by the general cessation of industry," that is, through a general strike. Many cities had their own versions of these laws, including 20 in the state of Washington alone.


title: First Red Scare

text: Within Attorney General Palmer's Justice Department, the General Intelligence Division (GID) headed by J. Edgar Hoover had become a storehouse of information about radicals in America. It had infiltrated many organizations and, following the raids of November 1919 and January 1920, it had interrogated thousands of those arrested and read through boxes of publications and records seized. Though agents in the GID knew there was a gap between what the radicals promised in their rhetoric and what they were capable of accomplishing, they nevertheless told Palmer they had evidence of plans for an attempted overthrow of the U.S. government on May Day 1920.


title: First Red Scare

text: With Palmer's backing, Hoover warned the nation to expect the worst: assassinations, bombings, and general strikes. Palmer issued his own warning on April 29, 1920, claiming to have a "list of marked men" and said domestic radicals were "in direct connection and unison" with European counterparts with disruptions planned for the same day there. Newspapers headlined his words: "Terror Reign by Radicals, says Palmer" and "Nation-wide Uprising on Saturday." Localities prepared their police forces and some states mobilized their militias. New York City's 11,000-man police force worked for 32 hours straight. Boston police mounted machine guns on automobiles and positioned them around the city.


title: First Red Scare

text: The date came and went without incident. Newspaper reaction was almost uniform in its mockery of Palmer and his "hallucinations." Clarence Darrow called it the "May Day scare." The "Rocky Mountain News" asked the Attorney General to cease his alerts: "We can never get to work if we keep jumping sideways in fear of the bewiskered Bolshevik." The "Boston American" assessed the Attorney General on May 4:


title: First Red Scare

text: Everybody is laughing at A. Mitchell Palmer's May Day "revolution." The joke is certainly on A. Mitchell Palmer, but the matter is not wholly a joke. The spectacle of a Cabinet officer going around surrounded with armed guards because he is afraid of his own hand-made bogey is a sorry one, even though it appeals to the humor of Americans. Of course, the terrible "revolution" did not come off. Nobody with a grain of sense supposed that it would. Yet, in spite of universal laughter, the people are seriously disgusted with these official Red scares. They cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars spent in assembling soldiers and policemen and in paying wages and expenses to Mr. Palmer's agents. They help to frighten capital and demoralize business, and to make timid men and women jumpy and nervous.


title: First Red Scare

text: Palmer's embarrassment buttressed Louis Freeland Post's position in opposition to the Palmer raids when he testified before a Congressional Committee on May 7–8.


title: First Red Scare

text: Once Palmer's warnings of a May Day attempt to overthrow the government proved false, the anti-Bolshevik hysteria wound down quickly. In testimony before Congress on May 7–8, Louis Freeland Post defended his release of hundreds seized in Palmer's raids so successfully that attempts to impeach or censure him ended. Later in the month, a dozen prominent lawyers including Felix Frankfurter and Roscoe Pound endorsed a report that condemned Palmer's Justice Department for the "utterly illegal acts committed by those charged with the highest duty of enforcing the laws" including entrapment, police brutality, prolonged incommunicado detention, and violations of due process in court.


title: First Red Scare

text: In June, Massachusetts Federal District Court Judge George W. Anderson ordered the discharge of twenty more arrested aliens and effectively ended the possibility of additional raids. The conservative "Christian Science Monitor" found itself unable to support Palmer any longer, writing on June 25, 1920: "What appeared to be an excess of radicalism  ... was certainly met with  ... an excess of suppression." Leaders of industry voiced similar sentiments, including Charles M. Schwab of Bethlehem Steel, who thought Palmer's activities created more radicals than they suppressed, and T. Coleman du Pont who called the Justice Department's work evidence of "sheer Red hysteria."


title: First Red Scare

text: At the Democratic National Convention in July, Palmer never had a chance at winning the nomination. Coolidge, famous for his opposition to the right of police to strike, won a place on the Republican ticket, but the party's nominee, and the eventual winner of the 1920 election, was the U.S. Senator from Ohio, Warren G. Harding. He sounded a very different note in mid-August. An interviewer wrote that "his jaws fairly snapped" when he said that "too much has been said about Bolshevism in America. It is quite true that there are enemies of Government within our borders. However, I believe their number has been greatly magnified. The American workman is not a Bolshevik; neither is the American employer an autocrat."


title: First Red Scare

text: When another anarchist bomb exploded on Wall Street in September 1920, newspaper response was comparatively restrained. "More bombs may be exploded," wrote the "New York Times", "Other lives may be taken. But these are only hazards of a war which  ... must be faced calmly." If anarchists sought to make people fearful, "By keeping cool and firm we begin their defeat."


title: First Red Scare

text: Nevertheless, the after-effects of the First Red Scare were a major factor in the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge, Go, and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem that is still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. Lasker was a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to commutative algebra, which included proving the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings. His philosophical works and a drama that he co-wrote, however, received little attention.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Emanuel Lasker was born on December 24, 1868, at Berlinchen in Neumark (now Barlinek in Poland), the son of a Jewish cantor. At the age of eleven he was sent to study mathematics in Berlin, where he lived with his brother Berthold, eight years his senior, who taught him how to play chess. Berthold was among the world's top ten players in the early 1890s. To supplement their income, Emanuel Lasker played chess and card games for small stakes, especially at the Café Kaiserhof.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker won the Café Kaiserhof's annual Winter tournament 1888/89 and the "Hauptturnier A" ("second division" tournament) at the sixth DSB Congress (German Chess Federation's congress), held in Breslau. Winning the Hauptturnier earned Lasker the title of "master". The candidates were divided into two groups of ten. The top four in each group competed in a final. Lasker won his section, with 2½ points more than his nearest rival. However, scores were reset to 0 for the final. With two rounds to go, Lasker trailed the leader, Viennese amateur von Feierfeil, by 1½ points. Lasker won both of his final games, while von Feierfeil lost in the penultimate round (being mated in 121 moves after the position was reconstructed incorrectly following an adjournment) and drew in the last round. The two players were now tied. Lasker won a playoff and garnered the master title. This enabled him to play in master-level tournaments and thus launched his chess career.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker finished second in an international tournament at Amsterdam, ahead of Mason and Gunsberg. In spring 1892, he won two tournaments in London, the second and stronger of these without losing a game. At New York City in 1893, he won all thirteen games, one of the few times in chess history that a player has achieved a perfect score in a significant tournament.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: His record in matches was equally impressive: At Berlin in 1890 he drew a short playoff match against his brother Berthold and won all his other matches from 1889 to 1893, mostly against top-class opponents: Curt von Bardeleben (1889), Jacques Mieses (1889), Henry Edward Bird (1890), Berthold Englisch (1890), Joseph Henry Blackburne (1892), Jackson Showalter (1892–93) and Celso Golmayo Zúpide (1893). Chessmetrics calculates that Emanuel Lasker became the world's strongest player in mid 1890, and that he was in the top ten from the very beginning of his recorded career in 1889.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1892 Lasker founded the first of his chess magazines, "The London Chess Fortnightly", which was published from August 15, 1892, to July 30, 1893. In the second quarter of 1893, there was a gap of ten weeks between issues, allegedly because of problems with the printer. Shortly after its last issue, Lasker traveled to the US, where he spent the next two years.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker challenged Siegbert Tarrasch, who had won three consecutive strong international tournaments (Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, and Dresden 1892), to a match. Tarrasch haughtily declined, stating that Lasker should first prove his mettle by attempting to win one or two major international events.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Rebuffed by Tarrasch, Lasker challenged the reigning World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, to a match for the title. Initially Lasker wanted to play for US$5,000 a side, and a match was agreed to at stakes of $3,000 a side, but Steinitz agreed to a series of reductions when Lasker found it difficult to raise the money. The final figure was $2,000, which was less than for some of Steinitz's earlier matches (the final combined stake of $4,000 would be worth over $495,000 at 2006 values). The match was played in 1894 at venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal. Steinitz had previously declared he would win without doubt, so it came as a shock when Lasker won the first game. Steinitz won the second game and maintained the balance through the sixth. However, Lasker won all the games from the seventh to the eleventh, and Steinitz asked for a week's rest. When the match resumed, Steinitz looked in better shape and won the 13th and 14th games. Lasker struck back in the 15th and 16th, and Steinitz did not compensate for his losses in the middle of the match. Hence Lasker won convincingly with ten wins, five losses, and four draws. On May 26, Lasker thus became the second formally recognized World Chess Champion and confirmed his title by beating Steinitz even more convincingly in their rematch in 1896–97 (ten wins, two losses, and five draws).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Influential players and journalists belittled the 1894 match both before and after it took place. Lasker's difficulty in getting backing may have been caused by hostile pre-match comments from Gunsberg and Leopold Hoffer, who had long been a bitter enemy of Steinitz. One of the complaints was that Lasker had never played the other two members of the top four, Siegbert Tarrasch and Mikhail Chigorin – although Tarrasch had rejected a challenge from Lasker in 1892, publicly telling him to go and win an international tournament first. After the match some commentators, notably Tarrasch, said Lasker had won mainly because Steinitz was old (58 in 1894).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Emanuel Lasker answered these criticisms by creating an even more impressive playing record. He came third at Hastings 1895 (where he may have been suffering from the after-effects of typhoid fever), behind Pillsbury and Chigorin but ahead of Tarrasch and Steinitz, and then won first prizes at very strong tournaments in St Petersburg 1895–96 (an elite, 4-player tournament, ahead of Steinitz, Pillsbury and Chigorin), Nuremberg (1896), London (1899) and Paris (1900); tied for second at Cambridge Springs 1904, and tied for first at the Chigorin Memorial in St Petersburg 1909.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Later, at St Petersburg (1914), he overcame a 1½-point deficit to finish ahead of the rising stars, Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, who later became the next two World Champions. For decades chess writers have reported that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia conferred the title of Grandmaster of Chess upon each of the five finalists at St Petersburg 1914 (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall), but chess historian Edward Winter has questioned this, stating that the earliest known sources supporting this story were published in 1940 and 1942.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker's match record was as impressive between his 1896–97 rematch with Steinitz and 1914: he won all but one of his normal matches, and three of those were convincing defenses of his title.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1906 Lasker and Géza Maróczy agreed to terms for a World Championship, but the arrangements could not be finalised, and the match never took place.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker's first world championship match since 1897 was against Frank Marshall in the World Chess Championship 1907. Despite his aggressive style, Marshall could not win a single game, losing eight and drawing seven (final score: 11½–3½).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker then played Tarrasch in the World Chess Championship 1908, first at Düsseldorf then at Munich. Tarrasch firmly believed the game of chess was governed by a precise set of principles. For him the strength of a chess move was in its logic, not in its efficiency. Because of his stubborn principles he considered Lasker as a who won his games only thanks to dubious tricks, while Lasker mocked the arrogance of Tarrasch who, in his opinion, shone more in salons than at the chessboard. At the opening ceremony, Tarrasch refused to talk to Lasker, only saying: "Mr. Lasker, I have only three words to say to you: check and mate!"


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker gave a brilliant answer on the chessboard, winning four of the first five games, and playing a type of chess Tarrasch could not understand. For example, in the second game after 19 moves arose a situation (see diagram) in which Lasker was a pawn down, with a and . At this point it appeared Tarrasch was winning, but 20 moves later he was forced to resign. Lasker eventually won by 10½–5½ (eight wins, five draws, and three losses). Tarrasch claimed the wet weather was the cause of his defeat.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1909 Lasker drew a short match (two wins, two losses) against Dawid Janowski, an all-out attacking Polish expatriate. Several months later they played a longer match in Paris, and chess historians still debate whether this was for the World Chess Championship. Understanding Janowski's style, Lasker chose to defend solidly so that Janowski unleashed his attacks too soon and left himself vulnerable. Lasker easily won the match 8–2 (seven wins, two draws, one loss). This victory was convincing for everyone but Janowski, who asked for a revenge match. Lasker accepted and they played a World Chess Championship match in Berlin in November–December 1910. Lasker crushed his opponent, winning 9½–1½ (eight wins, three draws, no losses). Janowski did not understand Lasker's moves, and after his first three losses he declared to Edward Lasker, "Your homonym plays so stupidly that I cannot even look at the chessboard when he thinks. I am afraid I will not do anything good in this match."


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Between his two matches against Janowski, Lasker arranged another World Chess Championship in January–February 1910 against Carl Schlechter. Schlechter was a modest gentleman, who was generally unlikely to win the major chess tournaments by his peaceful inclination, his lack of aggressiveness and his willingness to accept most draw offers from his opponents (about 80% of his games finished by a draw).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: At the beginning, Lasker tried to attack but Schlechter had no difficulty defending, so that the first four games finished in draws. In the fifth game Lasker had a big advantage, but committed a blunder that cost him the game. Hence at the middle of the match Schlechter was one point ahead. The next four games were drawn, despite fierce play from both players. In the sixth Schlechter managed to draw a game being a pawn down. In the seventh Lasker nearly lost because of a beautiful exchange sacrifice from Schlechter. In the ninth only a blunder from Lasker allowed Schlechter to draw a lost ending. The score before the last game was thus 5–4 for Schlechter. In the tenth game Schlechter tried to win tactically and took a big advantage, but he missed a clear win at the 35th move, continued to take increasing risks and finished by losing. Hence the match was a draw and Lasker remained World Champion.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: It has been speculated that Schlechter played unusually risky chess in the tenth game because the terms of the match required him to win by a margin of two games. But according to Isaak and Vladimir Linder, this was unlikely. The match was originally to be a 30-game affair and Schlechter would have to win by two games. But they note that according to the Austrian chess historian Michael Ehn, Lasker agreed to forgo the plus two provision in view of the match being subsequently reduced to only 10 games. For proof Ehn quoted Schlechter's comment printed in Allgemeine Sportzeitung (ASZ) of December 9, 1909 "There will be ten games in all. The winner on points will receive the title of world champion. If the points are equal, the decision will be made by the arbiter."


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1911 Lasker received a challenge for a world title match against the rising star José Raúl Capablanca. Lasker was unwilling to play the traditional "first to win ten games" type of match in the semi-tropical conditions of Havana, especially as drawn games were becoming more frequent and the match might last for over six months. He therefore made a counter-proposal: if neither player had a lead of at least two games by the end of the match, it should be considered a draw; the match should be limited to the best of thirty games, counting draws; except that if either player won six games "and" led by at least two games before thirty games were completed, he should be declared the winner; the champion should decide the venue and stakes, and should have the exclusive right to publish the games; the challenger should deposit a forfeit of US$2,000 (equivalent to over $250,000 in 2020 values); the time limit should be twelve moves per hour; play should be limited to two sessions of 2½ hours each per day, five days a week. Capablanca objected to the time limit, the short playing times, the thirty-game limit, and especially the requirement that he must win by two games to claim the title, which he regarded as unfair. Lasker took offence at the terms in which Capablanca criticized the two-game lead condition and broke off negotiations, and until 1914 Lasker and Capablanca were not on speaking terms. However, at the 1914 St. Petersburg tournament, Capablanca proposed a set of rules for the conduct of World Championship matches, which were accepted by all the leading players, including Lasker.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Late in 1912 Lasker entered into negotiations for a world title match with Akiba Rubinstein, whose tournament record for the previous few years had been on a par with Lasker's and a little ahead of Capablanca's. The two players agreed to play a match if Rubinstein could raise the funds, but Rubinstein had few rich friends to back him and the match was never played. This situation demonstrated some of the flaws inherent in the championship system then being used. The start of World War I in summer 1914 put an end to hopes that Lasker would play either Rubinstein or Capablanca for the World Championship in the near future.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Throughout World War I (1914–1918) Lasker played in only two serious chess events. He convincingly won (5½−½) a non-title match against Tarrasch in 1916. In September–October 1918, shortly before the armistice, he won a quadrangular (four-player) tournament, half a point ahead of Rubinstein.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Despite his superb playing results, chess was not Lasker's only interest. His parents recognized his intellectual talents, especially for mathematics, and sent the adolescent Emanuel to study in Berlin (where he found he also had a talent for chess). Lasker gained his abitur (high school graduation certificate) at Landsberg an der Warthe, now a Polish town named Gorzów Wielkopolski but then part of Prussia. He then studied mathematics and philosophy at the universities in Berlin, Göttingen (where David Hilbert was one of his doctoral advisors) and Heidelberg.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker was also a mathematician. In 1895 he published two mathematical articles in "Nature". On the advice of David Hilbert he registered for doctoral studies at Erlangen during 1900–1902. In 1901 he presented his doctoral thesis "Über Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze" ("On Series at Convergence Boundaries") at Erlangen and in the same year it was published by the Royal Society. He was awarded a doctorate in mathematics in 1902. His most significant mathematical article, in 1905, published a theorem of which Emmy Noether developed a more generalized form, which is now regarded as of fundamental importance to modern algebra and algebraic geometry.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker held short-term positions as a mathematics lecturer at Tulane University in New Orleans (1893) and Victoria University in Manchester (1901; Victoria University was one of the "parents" of the current University of Manchester). However, he was unable to secure a longer-term position, and pursued his scholarly interests independently.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1906 Lasker published a booklet titled "Kampf" ("Struggle"), in which he attempted to create a general theory of all competitive activities, including chess, business and war. He produced two other books which are generally categorized as philosophy, "Das Begreifen der Welt" ("Comprehending the World"; 1913) and "Die Philosophie des Unvollendbar" (sic; "The Philosophy of the Unattainable"; 1918).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1896–97 Lasker published his book "Common Sense in Chess", based on lectures he had given in London in 1895.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1903, Lasker played in Ostend against Mikhail Chigorin, a six-game match that was sponsored by the wealthy lawyer and industrialist Isaac Rice in order to test the Rice Gambit. Lasker narrowly lost the match. Three years later Lasker became secretary of the Rice Gambit Association, founded by Rice in order to promote the Rice Gambit, and in 1907 Lasker quoted with approval Rice's views on the convergence of chess and military strategy.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Beginning in 1910, he wrote a weekly chess column for the New York Evening Post, for which he was Chess Editor.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Emanuel Lasker became interested in the strategy game Go after being introduced to it by his namesake Edward Lasker, probably in 1907 or 1908 (Edward Lasker wrote a successful book "Go and Go-Moku" in 1934). He and Edward played Go together while Edward was helping him prepare for his 1908 match with Tarrasch. He kept his interest in Go for the rest of his life, becoming one of the strongest players in Germany and Europe and contributing occasionally to the magazine "Deutsche Go-Zeitung". It is alleged that he once said "Had I discovered Go sooner, I would probably have never become world chess champion".


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: At the age of 42, in July 1911, Lasker married Martha Cohn (née Bamberger), a rich widow who was a year older than Lasker and already a grandmother. They lived in Berlin. Martha Cohn wrote popular stories under the pseudonym "L. Marco".


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: During World War I, Lasker invested all of his savings in German war bonds, which lost nearly their entire value with the wartime and post-war inflation. During the war, he wrote a pamphlet which claimed that civilization would be in danger if Germany lost the war.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In January 1920 Lasker and José Raúl Capablanca signed an agreement to play a World Championship match in 1921, noting that Capablanca was not free to play in 1920. Because of the delay, Lasker insisted on a final clause that allowed him to play anyone else for the championship in 1920, that nullified the contract with Capablanca if Lasker lost a title match in 1920, and that stipulated that if Lasker resigned the title Capablanca should become World Champion. Lasker had previously included in his agreement before World War I to play Akiba Rubinstein for the title a similar clause that if he resigned the title, it should become Rubinstein's.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: A report in the "American Chess Bulletin" (July–August 1920 issue) said that Lasker had resigned the world title in favor of Capablanca because the conditions of the match were unpopular in the chess world. The "American Chess Bulletin" speculated that the conditions were not sufficiently unpopular to warrant resignation of the title, and that Lasker's real concern was that there was not enough financial backing to justify his devoting nine months to the match. When Lasker resigned the title in favor of Capablanca he was unaware that enthusiasts in Havana had just raised $20,000 to fund the match provided it was played there. When Capablanca learned of Lasker's resignation he went to the Netherlands, where Lasker was living at the time, to inform him that Havana would finance the match. In August 1920 Lasker agreed to play in Havana, but insisted that he was the challenger as Capablanca was now the champion. Capablanca signed an agreement that accepted this point, and soon afterwards published a letter confirming this. Lasker also stated that, if he beat Capablanca, he would resign the title so that younger masters could compete for it.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: The match was played in March–April 1921. After four draws, the fifth game saw Lasker blunder with Black in an equal ending. Capablanca's solid style allowed him to easily draw the next four games, without taking any risks. In the tenth game, Lasker as White played a position with an Isolated Queen Pawn but failed to create the necessary activity and Capablanca reached a superior ending, which he duly won. The eleventh and fourteenth games were also won by Capablanca, and Lasker resigned the match.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Reuben Fine and Harry Golombek attributed this to Lasker's being in mysteriously poor form. On the other hand, Vladimir Kramnik thought that Lasker played quite well and the match was an "even and fascinating fight" until Lasker blundered in the last game, and explained that Capablanca was 20 years younger, a slightly stronger player, and had more recent competitive practice.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker was in his early 50s when he lost the world championship to Capablanca, and he retired from serious match play afterwards; his only other match was a short exhibition against Frank James Marshall in 1940, which was never completed due to Lasker's illness and subsequent death a few months after it started. After winning the Moravská Ostrava 1923 chess tournament (without a single loss) and the New York 1924 chess tournament (1½ points ahead of Capablanca) and finishing second at Moscow in 1925 (1½ points behind Efim Bogoljubow, ½ point ahead of Capablanca), he effectively retired from serious chess.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: During the Moscow 1925 chess tournament, Lasker received a telegram informing him that the drama written by himself and his brother Berthold, "" ("History of Mankind"), had been accepted for performance at the Lessing theatre in Berlin. Lasker was so distracted by this news that he lost badly to Carlos Torre the same day. The play, however, was not a success.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1926, Lasker wrote "Lehrbuch des Schachspiels", which he re-wrote in English in 1927 as "Lasker's Manual of Chess". He also wrote books on other games of mental skill: "Encyclopedia of Games" (1929) and "Das verständige Kartenspiel" (means "Sensible Card Play"; 1929; English translation in the same year), both of which posed a problem in the mathematical analysis of card games; "Brettspiele der Völker" ("Board Games of the Nations"; 1931), which includes 30 pages about Go and a section about a game he had invented in 1911, Lasca.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1930, Lasker was a special correspondent for Dutch and German newspapers reporting on the Culbertson-Buller bridge match during which he became a registered teacher of the Culbertson system. He became an expert bridge player, representing Germany at international events in the early 1930s, and wrote "Das Bridgespiel" ("The Game of Bridge") in 1931.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In spring 1933 Adolf Hitler started a campaign of discrimination and intimidation against Jews, depriving them of their property and citizenship. Lasker and his wife Martha, who were both Jewish, were forced to leave Germany in the same year. After a short stay in England, in 1935 they were invited to live in the USSR by Nikolai Krylenko, the Commissar of Justice who had been responsible for Show trials and, in his other capacity as Sports Minister, was an enthusiastic supporter of chess. In the USSR, Lasker renounced his German citizenship and received Soviet citizenship. He took permanent residence in Moscow, and was given a post at Moscow's Institute for Mathematics and a post of trainer of the USSR national team.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker returned to competitive chess to make some money, finishing fifth in Zürich 1934 and third in Moscow 1935 (undefeated, ½ point behind Mikhail Botvinnik and Salo Flohr; ahead of Capablanca, Rudolf Spielmann and several Soviet masters), sixth in Moscow 1936 and equal seventh in Nottingham 1936. His performance in Moscow 1935 at age 66 was hailed as "a biological miracle".


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In August 1937, Martha and Emanuel Lasker decided to leave the Soviet Union, and they moved, via the Netherlands, to the United States (first Chicago, next New York) in October 1937. They were visiting Martha's daughter, but they may also have been motivated by political upheaval in the Soviet Union. In the United States Lasker tried to support himself by giving chess and bridge lectures and exhibitions, as he was now too old for serious competition. In 1940 he published his last book, "The Community of the Future", in which he proposed solutions for serious political problems, including anti-Semitism and unemployment.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker was considered to have a "psychological" method of play in which he considered the subjective qualities of his opponent, in addition to the objective requirements of his position on the board. Richard Réti published a lengthy analysis of Lasker's play in which he concluded that Lasker deliberately played inferior moves that he knew would make his opponent uncomfortable. W. H. K. Pollock commented, "It is no easy matter to reply correctly to Lasker's bad moves."


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker himself denied the claim that he deliberately played bad moves, and most modern writers agree. According to Grandmaster Andrew Soltis and International Master John L. Watson, the features that made his play mysterious to contemporaries now appear regularly in modern play: the g2–g4 "Spike" attack against the Dragon Sicilian; sacrifices to gain positional advantage; playing the "practical" move rather than trying to find the best move; counterattacking and complicating the game before a disadvantage became serious. Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik said, "He realized that different types of advantage could be interchangeable: tactical edge could be converted into strategic advantage and vice versa", which mystified contemporaries who were just becoming used to the theories of Steinitz as codified by Siegbert Tarrasch.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Max Euwe opined that the real reason behind Lasker's success was his "exceptional defensive technique" and that "almost all there is to say about defensive chess can be demonstrated by examples from the games of Steinitz and Lasker", the former exemplifying passive defence and the latter an active defence.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: The famous win against José Raúl Capablanca at St. Petersburg in 1914, which Lasker needed in order to retain any chance of catching up with Capablanca, is sometimes offered as evidence of his "psychological" approach. Reuben Fine describes Lasker's choice of opening, the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez, as "innocuous but psychologically potent". However, an analysis of Lasker's use of this variation throughout his career concludes that he had excellent results with it as White against top-class opponents, and sometimes used it in "must-win" situations. Luděk Pachman writes that Lasker's choice presented his opponent with a dilemma: with only a ½ point lead, Capablanca would have wanted to play safe; but the Exchange Variation's pawn structure gives White an endgame advantage, and Black must use his aggressively in the middlegame to nullify this. In Kramnik's opinion, Lasker's play in this game demonstrated deep positional understanding, rather than psychology.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Fine reckoned Lasker paid little attention to the openings, but Capablanca thought Lasker knew the openings very well but disagreed with a lot of contemporary opening analysis. In fact before the 1894 world title match, Lasker studied the openings thoroughly, especially Steinitz's favorite lines. He played primarily e4 openings, particularly the Ruy Lopez. He opened with 1.d4 relatively rarely, although his d4 games had a higher winning percentage than his e4 ones. With the Black pieces, he mainly answered 1.e4 with the French Defense and 1.d4 with the Queen's Gambit. Lasker also used the Sicilian Defense fairly often. In Capablanca's opinion, no player surpassed Lasker in the ability to assess a position quickly and accurately, in terms of who had the better prospects of winning and what strategy each side should adopt. Capablanca also wrote that Lasker was so adaptable that he played in no definite style, and that he was both a tenacious defender and a very efficient finisher of his own attacks.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker followed Steinitz's principles, and both demonstrated a completely different chess paradigm than the "romantic" mentality before them. Thanks to Steinitz and Lasker, positional players gradually became common (Tarrasch, Schlechter, and Rubinstein stand out.) But, while Steinitz created a new school of chess thought, Lasker's talents were far harder for the masses to grasp; hence there was no Lasker school.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In addition to his enormous chess skill, Lasker was said to have an excellent competitive temperament: his rival Siegbert Tarrasch once said, "Lasker occasionally loses a game, but he never loses his head." Lasker enjoyed the need to adapt to varying styles and to the shifting fortunes of tournaments. Although very strong in matches, he was even stronger in tournaments. For over 20 years, he always finished ahead of the younger Capablanca: at St. Petersburg 1914, New York 1924, Moscow 1925, and Moscow 1935. Only in 1936 (15 years after their match), when Lasker was 67, did Capablanca finish ahead of him.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In 1964, "Chessworld" magazine published an article in which future World Champion Bobby Fischer listed the ten greatest players in history. Fischer did not include Lasker in the list, deriding him as a "coffee-house player [who] knew nothing about openings and didn't understand positional chess". In a poll of the world's leading players taken some time after Fischer's list appeared, Tal, Korchnoi, and Robert Byrne all said that Lasker was the greatest player ever. Both Pal Benko and Byrne stated that Fischer later reconsidered and said that Lasker was a great player.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Statistical ranking systems place Lasker high among the greatest players of all time. The book "Warriors of the Mind" places him sixth, behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Fischer, Mikhail Botvinnik and Capablanca. In his 1978 book "The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present", Arpad Elo gave retrospective ratings to players based on their performance over the best five-year span of their career. He concluded that Lasker was the joint second strongest player of those surveyed (tied with Botvinnik and behind Capablanca). The most up-to-date system, Chessmetrics, is rather sensitive to the length of the periods being compared, and ranks Lasker between fifth and second strongest of all time for peak periods ranging in length from one to twenty years. Its author, the statistician Jeff Sonas, concluded that only Kasparov and Karpov surpassed Lasker's long-term dominance of the game. By Chessmetrics' reckoning, Lasker was the number 1 player in 292 different months—a total of over 24 years. His first No. 1 rank was in June 1890, and his last in December 1926—a span of 36½ years. Chessmetrics also considers him the strongest 67-year-old in history: in December 1935, at age 67 years and 0 months, his rating was 2691 (number 7 in the world), well above second-place Viktor Korchnoi's rating at that age (2660, number 39 in the world, in March 1998).


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker founded no school of players who played in a similar style. Max Euwe, World Champion 1935–1937 and a prolific writer of chess manuals, who had a lifetime 0–3 score against Lasker, said, "It is not possible to learn much from him. One can only stand and wonder." However, Lasker's pragmatic, combative approach had a great influence on Soviet players like Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: There are several "Lasker Variations" in the chess openings, including Lasker's Defense to the Queen's Gambit, Lasker's Defense to the Evans Gambit (which effectively ended the use of this gambit in tournament play until a revival in the 1990s), and the Lasker Variation in the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defense.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker was shocked by the poverty in which Wilhelm Steinitz died and did not intend to die in similar circumstances. He became notorious for demanding high fees for playing matches and tournaments, and he argued that players should own the copyright in their games rather than let publishers get all the profits. These demands initially angered editors and other players, but helped to pave the way for the rise of full-time chess professionals who earn most of their living from playing, writing and teaching. Copyright in chess games had been contentious at least as far back as the mid-1840s, and Steinitz and Lasker vigorously asserted that players should own the copyright and wrote copyright clauses into their match contracts. However, Lasker's demands that challengers should raise large purses prevented or delayed some eagerly awaited World Championship matches—for example Frank James Marshall challenged him in 1904 to a match for the World Championship but could not raise the stakes demanded by Lasker until 1907. This problem continued throughout the reign of his successor, Capablanca.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Some of the controversial conditions that Lasker insisted on for championship matches led Capablanca to attempt twice (1914 and 1922) to publish rules for such matches, to which other top players readily agreed.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In his 1905 article on commutative algebra, Lasker introduced the theory of primary decomposition of ideals, which has influence in the theory of Noetherian rings. Rings having the "primary decomposition property" are called "Laskerian rings" in his honor.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: His attempt to create a general theory of all competitive activities were followed by more consistent efforts from von Neumann on game theory, and his later writings about card games presented a significant issue in the mathematical analysis of card games.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker died of a kidney infection in New York on January 11, 1941, at the age of 72, as a charity patient at the Mount Sinai Hospital. A funeral service for him was held at the Riverside Memorial Chapel. He was buried at historic Beth Olom Cemetery, Queens, New York.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Edward Lasker, born in Kempen (Kępno), Greater Poland (then Prussia), the German-American chess master, engineer, and author, claimed that he was distantly related to Emanuel Lasker. They both played in the great New York 1924 chess tournament.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Lasker was a good friend of Albert Einstein, who wrote the introduction to the posthumous biography "Emanuel Lasker, The Life of a Chess Master" from Dr. Jacques Hannak (1952). In this preface Einstein expresses his satisfaction at having met Lasker, writing:


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: In Michael Chabon's alternate history mystery novel, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union", the murdered man, Mendel Shpilman (born during the 1960s), being a chess enthusiast, uses the name "Emanuel Lasker" as an alias. The reference is clearly understood by the protagonist, Detective Meyer Landsman, because he has also studied chess.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: The following table gives Lasker's placings and scores in tournaments. The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.


title: Emanuel Lasker

text: Here are Lasker's results in matches. The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Bug is a 2006 psychological thriller film directed by William Friedkin and written by Tracy Letts, based on his 1996 play of the same name. The film stars Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Lynn Collins, Brían F. O'Byrne, and Harry Connick Jr.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: "Bug" debuted at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival before being purchased by Lionsgate, which released the film the following year in May 2007. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics, who praised its intensity, directing, acting, and take on paranoia, but were polarized about its writing. They disagreed about the ending in particular. Friedkin and Letts collaborated again as director and writer on the 2011 film "Killer Joe".


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Agnes White is a waitress working at a gay bar while living in a run-down motel in rural Oklahoma. Unable to move on after the disappearance of her young son Lloyd nearly ten years ago, Agnes binges on drugs and alcohol with her lesbian friend R.C.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Agnes is constantly plagued by silent telephone calls that she believes are being made by her abusive ex-husband Jerry Goss, who has recently been paroled. Jerry had previously attempted to murder her, and stalked her prior to his arrest in spite of Agnes filing a restraining order against him. One night, R.C. introduces Agnes to Peter Evans, a socially awkward yet courteous drifter. Agnes quickly strikes up a bond with Peter over their mutual loneliness, and she allows Peter to stay the night. The pair's sleep is interrupted by a malfunctioning smoke alarm, which Peter destroys with a Magic 8 Ball handed to him by Agnes.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The next morning, Jerry barges into Agnes's room while Peter is out getting food. After menacing her, Jerry attempts to reconcile. However, when Agnes insults him, Jerry punches her. Jerry leaves, declaring he will return and pushing a returning Peter out of the way. Peter comforts Agnes, and the two have sex that night.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: However, Peter wakes Agnes up in the middle of the night, having apparently found an aphid in the bed. A paranoid Peter kills a number of them, and reveals he is being pursued. However, he refuses to tell Agnes who is hunting him on the grounds it will put her in danger and flees. Agnes, feeling abandoned, bursts into tears and a remorseful Peter returns. Peter reveals himself to be a veteran of The Gulf War. He claims that he was subjected to biological testing by the U.S. government, that the anonymous phone calls were made by government agents in anticipation of his arrival, and that the room has become infested by bugs planted by the government as part of the experiments. Peter's movements and behavior become more erratic as he fights the "invisible" bugs, that he claims are infesting his body.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Over time, Agnes begins to share in his behavior. R.C., who has taken Agnes to visit a dermatologist, is convinced there are no bugs in the motel room. Agnes has also reported to the motel owner that their room has bugs but says he told her none of the other rooms have a bug problem. Peter is furious over these developments. R.C. tries to convince Agnes to leave Peter, mentioning that a man named Dr. Sweet is looking for him. But, after Peter has an episode, Agnes slaps R.C. and tells her to leave. Peter and Agnes isolate themselves, closing the room, covering it with flypaper and aluminum foil to fend off communications, and lighting it with the glow from bug zappers. Peter, believing that a colony of microscopic bug egg-sacs was implanted in one of his teeth, tears the tooth out with pliers. After examining the tooth using a child's microscope, he believes he sees the bugs in the remains of the crushed tooth, as does Agnes. Peter is progressively more obsessed with using the microscope, believing that the bugs are living in and eating his blood.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Dr. Sweet arrives at the motel with Jerry. After Jerry bursts in, Sweet sends him outside. Sweet tells Agnes that Peter escaped from a mental institution where he was undergoing treatment and that delusions about insects are a known symptom of Peter's mental illness. Agnes distrusts Sweet, who goes on to claim that he knows where Lloyd is and that the bugs are in fact real. Sweet attempts to convince her that he can help Agnes and Peter escape from the conspiracy.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Peter appears from the bedroom wielding a knife. As he argues with Sweet, Sweet unobtrusively readies a syringe, preparing to sedate Peter, but Peter stabs and savagely kills Sweet. Agnes is distraught believing that Peter has destroyed her chance of learning more about her son, but Peter insists Sweet was not even human, merely a 'robot' sent by the government. Together, Peter and Agnes elaborate upon Peter's beliefs in an escalating conspiracy, becoming convinced that Agnes's son was kidnapped by the government to lead her and Peter to meet. They believe that each was separately infected with bugs meant to mate with each another (one being the 'drone' and one being the 'Queen') and take over the world. To prevent this, Agnes and Peter decide douse each other in gasoline. Jerry, furious over his ex-wife's unstable behaviour, tries to break into the room but Agnes injures him with a nailgun. Agnes and Peter declare their love for each other before setting themselves ablaze.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: During the end credits, various toys in Agnes's room are shown completely intact, with no sign of the aluminum foil. The opening shot of the film is repeated with the body of Sweet lying prone in the foil-covered room which is undamaged by fire. It is left unclear which shot, if any, is "real".


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The set design was done by Franco-Giacomo Carbone, the production designer of films such as "Hostel" (2005) and "Rocky Balboa" (2006).


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Most of the film's action occurs in a seedy motel room. The scenario has three interconnected rooms — a bathroom, a kitchenette and a living room. At one point in the film, the room has several dozen fly strips hanging from the ceiling. At another point the entire room is covered from floor to ceiling in tinfoil. Friedkin has said the tinfoil was a nightmare to work with, because it had to be repaired constantly, and because it reflected everybody who was there, including the crew.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Exteriors of the motel were filmed near Olancha, California, and at Grace King High School while studio interiors of the motel room were filmed on a soundstage (a high school gymnasium) in Metairie, Louisiana, near New Orleans. A grocery store scene was shot at Migliore's Grocery, and the lesbian bar scene was shot at Boomerang's Bar, both located in New Sarpy, Louisiana. The movie took 21 days to shoot.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The story is supposed to take place in Oklahoma, but the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind the motel belies the shooting location.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The film score was composed by Brian Tyler, with additional music by Serj Tankian. The end title song "Disappearing Act" was written and performed by Chris Cornell. Jay Faires was the film's music supervisor.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The film's theme song is performed by Serj Tankian, the lead singer of the rock band System of a Down. "Beautiful Day" is performed by Scott Weiland, the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Additional artists are Sean and Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek), Chainsaw Kittens, The Backsliders, Susan Tedeschi, Jerry Leiber, The Coasters, Alvin Robinson, Los Tigres del Norte, Leon Russell, and Brian Tyler.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Distributed by Lionsgate, the film premiered in May 2006 in France in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The film received its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest on September 25, 2006, in Austin, Texas. It opened in the U.S. at 1,661 theaters on May 25, 2007. In its opening weekend it earned $3.24 million, and ranked as number four, of the most-seen films of the weekend, placed behind the popular franchise films "", "Shrek 3" and "Spider-Man 3".


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: It was released to theaters in France on February 21, 2007. It drew praise from most critics in France, but did not reach the top in the box office. In its opening week in France, it ranked as number twenty of the most-visited films of the week, and earned $216,244 from sixty-six screens.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Friedkin has said that the film would have been flagged, in the 1960s or 1970s, as a horror film, but he insists it is no such thing. He told ComingSoon.net that "There were all sorts of people who looked at "Bug", (including magazine people like "Fangoria") and they called it a horror film," he said. The horror connection "came from a lot of sources." Friedkin claims that "Bug" is "in many ways, a black comedy love story. He stated in an interview, that "It's not a genre film, but marketing works in mysterious ways. They have to find a genre for it. 'This is a comedy. This is a melodrama. This is a love story. This is a horror film. This is an adventure film.' "Bug" doesn't fit easily into any of those categories."


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: "Bug" was released on DVD on September 20, 2007. It was also available on HD DVD as a German exclusive, and has subsequently been released on Blu-ray Disc in Germany as well. A North American Blu-ray Disc release never materialized.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. , the film holds a 61% approval rating of review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 132 reviews with an average rating of 6.25/10. The consensus states: "Disappointing resolution aside, "Bug" uses its claustrophobic setting and cinéma vérité camerawork to tense, impressive effect". Metacritic reports an average score of 62 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 29 reviews.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: At Cannes, "Chicago Sun-Times" critic Roger Ebert remarked, "The film has caused a stir at Cannes, not least because its stars, Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, achieve a kind of manic intensity that's frightening not just in itself but because you fear for the actors." A year later, he awarded the film 3 stars out of 4, describing it in his review as "lean, direct, unrelenting" and calling it "a return to form after some disappointments like "Jade"." He also acknowledged others' criticism of its single-location setting, which he defended by writing, "There is nothing here to 'open up' and every reason to create a claustrophobic feel. Paranoia shuts down into a desperate focus. It doesn't spread its wings and fly."


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: Judd was praised for her performance by critic Dennis Dermody from "Paper", who wrote: "Ashley Judd gives a raw, shattering Oscar-worthy performance." Stephen Schaeffer from the "Boston Herald" called it "one of the most disturbing horror movies imaginable". The film received generally positive reviews from the U.K. media, receiving three out of five in "The Guardian". It was also critic Mark Kermode's film of the week on BBC Radio 5 Live.


title: Bug (2006 film)

text: The film received an award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival from the International Federation of Film Critics in the Director's Fortnight section.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: The Murray State Racers men's basketball program represents Murray State University in intercollegiate men's basketball. Murray State completed a 74-season run in the Ohio Valley Conference, a part of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), in 2021–22, and moved to the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1, 2022. The Racers have played home games at the CFSB Center on their campus in Murray, Kentucky since 1998. Murray State made its 18th appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2022. Five times the Racers advanced in the tournament, most recently by defeating the University of San Francisco in 2022. In 1988, Murray State defeated NC State in the first round but lost to eventual national champion Kansas in the second round. In 2010, 22 years to the date of the 1988 win, the Racers beat Vanderbilt and lost to eventual runner-up Butler in the second round.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Murray State's first basketball venues were Wilson Hall (1926–27); Lovett Auditorium (1927–1937), which had a capacity of 1,500; and Carr Health Building (1937–1954), which had a capacity of 3,000. Racer Arena opened in 1954 and entertained Racer fans for 43 years. While its capacity was 5,500, over 6,000 people crowded the arena on numerous occasions. Racer Arena is now a volleyball-only facility, one of the largest in NCAA Division I.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Replacing Racer Arena was the CFSB Center, the current home of Murray State men's basketball. Completed in June 1998 at a cost of $20 million, the facility is a modern arena which can host other events besides basketball. The CFSB Center sits 8,602 and includes a $250,000 scoreboard and a 2,000 sq. ft. weight room. The first basketball game at the CFSB Center was against Southern Illinois on November 14, 1998, a 65–62 victory for the Racers in front of 7,633 spectators. It was formerly known as the Regional Special Events Center, or "RSEC", until the name was changed on September 17, 2010 after Community Financial Services Bank donated $3.3 million to Murray State, at the time the largest donation in athletic history.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In 2005, "Street & Smith's" named the Racers the 52nd best program of all time. In their prestige system, ESPN ranked Murray State the 30th best programs from 1984 to 2008, breaking a tie with Villanova due to a higher winning percentage. The Racers are the highest "true" mid-major team in their rankings.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Carlisle Cutchin launched the Murray State basketball program in 1925. At the time, Murray State was a teacher's college and the nickname was the Thoroughbreds. In the 1935–36 season, Cutchin coached Murray State to its highest win percentage for a season at .920, when his Thoroughbreds finished with a record of 23–2. That season also included Murray State's best start, at 19–1. In his final season, he led the Thoroughbreds to the title game of the 1941 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament, at which time they lost to the San Diego State Aztecs 36–34. Since he retired in 1941, he has maintained his position as the all-time winningest coach in Murray State basketball history, with a career record of 267–101.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Rice Mountjoy was hired as the next men's basketball coach from Danville High School, where he was athletic director. In his only season with the Thoroughbreds, he coached the team to an 18–4 record. That season was marked by strong play from early jump shot proponent Joe Fulks, who transferred from Millsaps College. Mountjoy left after the 1941–42 season to coach Augusta Tilghman High School in nearby Paducah.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Former Murray State basketball player and then-freshman team coach John Miller replaced Mountjoy as head basketball coach. His best season was his first, when he led the team to a 21–5 record and finished fourth in the 1941 NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: From Southern Illinois, Harlan Hodges led the team to two NAIA Tournaments and two No. 16 AP rankings in his six seasons, with a 109–66 () record. Bennie Purcell and Garrett Beshear were on the roster during those years and were later named NAIA All-Americans. Hodges left Murray in May 1954 for the University of Idaho in the Pacific Coast Conference, where success largely eluded him. He resigned after five seasons in 1959 to become the superintendent of schools in Anna, Illinois, then returned to Murray in 1964 to teach.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Rex Alexander was promoted from assistant to head coach after former North Carolina head coach Tom Scott accepted, then turned down the head coaching post at Murray State. Alexander led Murray State for four seasons, posting a 45–54 record, including a 15–10 mark in 1955–56. But after his first team was Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament runners-up, his teams never finished higher than third in the conference and he was replaced by DePauw University head coach Cal Luther on March 5, 1958. Alexander agreed to stay on as an assistant coach under Luther.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In 1958, Murray State hired Cal Luther, who had served the previous four seasons as head coach at DePauw. In 16 seasons under Luther, Murray State won three OVC regular-season championships and made the NCAA tournament in 1964 and 1969. His 1970–71 team reached No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, entering the rankings after a thrilling 73–71 victory over Western Kentucky in Murray. WKU would go on to reach the NCAA tournament Final Four that season. A two-time OVC Coach of the Year, Luther led the Racers to a 241–134 record.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Luther's most notable players were future professional players Dick Cunningham, Claude Virden and Stewart Johnson, as well as Racer greats Herb McPherson, Jim Jennings and Les Taylor.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Cal Luther was a firebrand of a coach. The standing joke at the university was the over and under of Cal throwing off his jacket during a game due to a call by a ref, or from frustration with a player. The latter part of his tenure was marred by an OVC issue with testing and which tests the schools in the OVC used to qualify athletes. During the 1973–74 season several players were disqualified for using an illegal testing equivalency. This happened across the OVC, and Murray was not the only school to lose student athletes. Most of the disqualified athletes were allowed to transfer by the NCAA to other schools, but OVC schools lost the services of those athletes who had not actually taken the SAT, but had taken the ACT.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: After three seasons as an assistant under Cal Luther, Fred Overton was elevated to head coach in 1975. After a 9–17 first season, the Racers started the 1976–77 season with a 17–6 record before dropping their last four games for a 17–10 final ledger, finishing second in the OVC. But after the Racers posted an 8–17 in 1977–78, Overton was fired.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Ron Greene returned to his alma mater fresh off earning the AP Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year award at Mississippi State in 1978.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: After managing only four wins in his first season as coach at Murray, Greene led the Racers to 23 wins the following year and an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. The Racers knocked off Jacksonville and Alabama before losing to Illinois 65–63 in the quarterfinals, all on the road. Greene's Racers would win three Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles and reach the NIT twice more under his guidance.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: A highlight of the 1981–82 season came when Murray State traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to play against Notre Dame. Murray State defeated a Notre Dame team coached by Digger Phelps 56–54.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: His overall record at Murray State was 119–78. While at the Racer helm, Greene coached Racer greats Gary Hooker and Lamont Sleets.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In Steve Newton's second season, in 1986-87 the team finished with a 13–15 record. This marked the last time the Racers had a losing season for the next 29 seasons; only Arizona, Kansas, and Syracuse hold longer streaks.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In addition to Murray's win in 1988, two years later the No. 16 seed Racers took No. 1 seed Michigan State into overtime before falling 75–71. The loss in 1990 was the closest a 16 seeded team had ever come to knocking off a No. 1 seeded team in the tournament. While a 16 seeded Princeton team and a 16 seeded East Tennessee State team both fell by just 1 point during regulation in the 1989 tournament, the 1990 Murray State team was the only 16 seed ever to take a game into overtime. In 1997, the No. 15 seed Racers nearly shocked the No. 2 seed Duke Blue Devils in a 71–68 loss.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In 1988, Jeff Martin became the first basketball player in Murray State, and OVC, history to be invited to the Olympic trials for the US Basketball Team. This was the last year that professionals were not allowed on the team. Martin did not make the team but impressed many with his performance.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: The best-known player in the Newton era is Popeye Jones. While at Murray State, Jones scored 2,057 points which still ranks fourth all time for the Racers. He is also Murray State's all-time leader in rebounds with 1,374, and led the nation in that category in the 1990–91 season. Jones is the only player in MSU history to record more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Jones helped lead the Racers to OVC championships in 1991 and 1992. He went on to have a successful career in the NBA after being drafted in the second round by the Houston Rockets in the 1992 NBA Draft.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Scott Edgar was hired as head basketball coach after serving six seasons as an assistant coach under Nolan Richardson at Arkansas. Bringing a version of Richardson's uptempo "40 Minutes of Hell" philosophy to Murray, Edgar led the Racers to two NCAA tournament appearances (1992, 1995) and one NIT appearance (1994) in four seasons. His teams won three OVC regular-season championships (1992, 1994 and 1995), posting a 48–14 record in conference games during his tenure.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Edgar recruited Racer greats Marcus Brown and Vincent Rainey to Murray State, with Brown averaging 22.4 points and Rainey 18.8 points in Edgar's final season at Murray.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Mark Gottfried was hired as head basketball coach after serving seven seasons as an assistant coach under Jim Harrick at UCLA. Gottfried was hired shortly after he finished the 1995 season with the Bruins, in which he helped lead the Bruins to an NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. Mark Gottfried was also the nephew of ESPN analyst and former Murray State football coach Mike Gottfried.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In Gottfried's first season, the Racers returned four starters, including Marcus Brown, from the Racer team that nearly upset North Carolina in the 1995 NCAA tournament, and the team was picked to finished first in the OVC. The Racers won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship in 1996 for the third straight season; however, the Racers were defeated in the OVC tournament. In the final game of the tournament, Murray State's Vincent Rainey was charged with a foul with two-tenths of a second left on the clock in a tie game against the rival Austin Peay Governors. APSU's Reggie Crenshaw made two free throws and the Racers lost the game 70–68. As a result of the loss, the Racers did not reach the 1996 NCAA tournament. The Racers lost to the Missouri Tigers in the opening round of the 1996 National Invitational Tournament, and finished the season 19–10. Marcus Brown finished his college playing career at the close of the 1996 season with 2,236 career points, which is third best in Murray State history.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: With a November 23, 1996, victory over the Belmont Bruins, the Racers began a 47-game home winning streak that would last into the 1999–2000 season. The Racers won the 1997 OVC Tournament with an overtime win over Austin Peay and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: ESPN's College Basketball Encyclopedia names the Racers 1997–98 season as having the best team in school history. OVC player of the year De'Teri Mayes led the 1997–98 team to 23 victories by double digit margins. Isaac Spencer was a freshman on the team. Spencer would go on to score 2,248 points over four seasons, which places him second place all time for the Racers. The Racers won both the OVC regular season and OVC tournament again in 1998; however, Murray State fell to number eight seed Rhode Island in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Racers finished the season a number 25 ranking in the final AP Poll. Mark Gottfried won three Ohio Valley Conference Championships in each of his three seasons, the only OVC coach to accomplish such a mark.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Gottfried was hired by Alabama to be head basketball coach in March 1998. He had been a starting player for the Crimson Tide for three seasons between 1985 and 1987.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Tevester Anderson was promoted to head coach of the Racers in March, 1998 after Mark Gottfried left Murray State to take the head coach position at the University of Alabama. Anderson, the first African American to serve as head coach of the Murray State men's basketball team, had previously served as an assistant coach under Gottfried during the previous three seasons. At age 61, Anderson was also the oldest rookie head coach in NCAA Division I basketball. In his first year as coach of the Racers, Anderson led the team to a 27–6 record, an Ohio Valley Conference championship, and an NCAA tournament appearance. Anderson was named the OVC's Co-Coach of the Year and was named NABC District 7 Coach of the Year following the 1998–99 season.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In Anderson's second year as head coach, the Racers finished the 1999–2000 season with a 23–9 record. The record was good enough to capture a share of the OVC regular season championship, but the Racer's failed to win the OVC Tournament and earn a spot in the NCAA tournament. Murray State home court winning streak, the longest in the nation, also came to an end in 2000 with a January 15 loss to Southeast Missouri State University.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Over the next three years under Anderson, the success of the Racer basketball program steadily declined, culminating in a low point during the 2002–03 season. The Racers finished the 2002–03 season with a 17–12 record, which was fourth-place in the OVC standings. The fourth-place finish was the worst finish in the OVC standings since the 1986–87 season. Amid rumors that Anderson would relinquish his coaching duties at Murray State under pressure from university officials, he resigned from the head coach position in March 2003. Anderson was named as the new head coach at Jackson State University in April 2003.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Previously an assistant at Cincinnati (1997–2001) under Bob Huggins and at Louisville (2001–03) under Rick Pitino, Mick Cronin was introduced as the new head coach of the Racers on April 5, 2003. When he accepted the position, Cronin became the fourth youngest head coach in NCAA Division-I basketball. In Cronin's first season as head coach, the Racers won the OVC tournament and advanced to the first round of the NCAA tournament where the Racers fell to No. 5 seeded Illinois. The success of the 2003–04 season was also tainted by arrests and suspensions. Just before the start of the 2004 NCAA tournament, juniors Adam Chiles and Kelvin Brown were arrested on drug charges. Chiles was charged with hindering prosecution and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and Brown was charged with theft from an alleged gas drive-off, possession of marijuana, and his second offense of possession of drug paraphernalia. Both were arrested following a 911 hangup call from their apartment in which Chiles was found outside and Brown was found hiding in a closet. Chiles was cleared to play in the tournament, but Brown was suspended indefinitely and later dismissed from the team in April.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Problems continued for the Racers in the 2004–05 season. The team's only returning starter, Adam Chiles, was dismissed from the team in November following his second arrest of 2004. Chiles was stopped by Kentucky State Police while driving on Western Kentucky Parkway near Leitchfield, Kentucky. Chiles was charged with driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, possession of an open alcoholic beverage container, and speeding. Chiles had averaged 10.1 points and 3.9 assists for the Racers in the previous season. The Racers went on to finish the 2004–05 season with a record of 20–10 and a first round loss in the OVC tournament.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In the 2006 tournament, junior guard Trey Pearson missed a critical 3-point shot in the final seconds of the first-round game against No. 3 seeded defending champion North Carolina. UNC was fouled on the rebound and went to the line to sink the game clinching shots to defeat the No. 14 seeded Racers 69–65. After the 2006 NCAA tournament Cronin took the reins of the Cincinnati Bearcats, his hometown team and alma mater.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: The Racers won their first-round game in the 2010 NCAA tournament in dramatic fashion, defeating fourth-seeded Vanderbilt 66–65 on a buzzer-beating jump shot by senior Danero Thomas. This was the first time that any Ohio Valley Conference team had advanced to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament since Middle Tennessee advanced in 1989. The Racers followed up a regular season conference championship for the second year in a row in 2011. The Racers were eliminated from the OVC tournament in 2011; however, they earned a number six seed in the National Invitational Tournament where the Racers suffered a first round loss to Missouri State University. In May 2011, Billy Kennedy announced that he was leaving Murray State to accept the head coach position at Texas A&M University.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: Steve Prohm was introduced as the 15th head coach on May 23, 2011. Prohm was promoted to the head coach position after serving as an assistant coach under Billy Kennedy for the previous five seasons. The Racers won the 2011 Great Alaska Shootout early in the 2011–12 season and went on a 23-game winning streak to start the season. The team's 23–0 start under Prohm was the best start to a season in team history. The 23–0 start beat the previous best start record of 16–0 set by the 1935–36 men's basketball team under Carlisle Cutchin. The 23–0 start was the third-best start in NCAA Division I history for a first-year head coach, and it set OVC records for most wins to start a season and overall winning streak during a season


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: The 10th win of the 2011–12 season was a victory over the then No. 21-ranked Memphis Tigers. This was Murray State's first win over a ranked team since defeating Vanderbilt in the 2010 NCAA tournament. It was also Murray State's first win over a ranked team during the regular season since the Racers defeated No. 12 Arkansas in 1997. Following the victory over Memphis, the Racers entered the national polls at No. 24 on the AP Top 25 Poll on December 12, 2011. This marked the first time an OVC basketball team had been ranked in the major national polls since the Racers were last ranked at No. 25 in the final poll of the 1998 season. The No. 24 ranking also marked the team's highest ranking since February 1971, when the Racers were 17th. The No. 24-ranked Racers defeated the Lipscomb Bisons in the 11th game of the season. The victory was the first win for Murray State as a ranked team since a ranked Racer team defeated Tennessee Tech 72–69 on February 2, 1971. On January 2, 2012, Murray State moved into the No. 1 spot in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. The Racers became the first OVC team to ever achieve the No. 1 ranking in the Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. Following Murray State's 16th win of the season, a January 7, 2012, victory over conference-rival Austin Peay, the Racers moved up to No. 14 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll and No. 15 in the AP Poll. Their 17th win came against Jacksonville State at the CFSB center to put the Racers to 17–0, and their best start in school history. Their 18th win against Tennessee Tech, 82–74 on January 14, 2012, kept Murray one of only three Division I schools with an unbeaten season as of that date. The January 9 AP ranking was the highest ranking in the history of the Murray State men's basketball program. The No. 15 ranking was also the highest ranking for an OVC team since the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were ranked No. 7 on March 16, 1971.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: On February 9, 2012, Murray State hosted OVC-rival Tennessee State University as the No. 9 team in the nation and the lone unbeaten in Division I basketball. Murray State lost 72–68. Two days later, Murray State answered with a definitive win at home against rival Austin Peay 82–63, bringing its record to 24–1. This win was quickly followed by a win on the road at SEMO, 75–66, to clinch the Racers third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: On February 18, Murray State hosted St. Mary's College in a much-anticipated Bracketbuster event, and the last home game of the season. The game was not only a sellout, but the largest ever for attendance at the CFSB center: 8,825. This marked the first time two ranked teams played at the CFSB Center (Murray State No. 16 AP, No. 14 USA Today/ESPN; St. Mary's No. 21 AP, No. 16 USA Today/ESPN) and the first time a ranked Murray State team played another ranked team. The game also featured a national TV audience on ESPN with legendary announcers Dave O'Brien and Dick Vitale calling the action. Murray State never trailed in the game and defeated St. Mary's 65–51, improving its record to 26–1. As the historic 2011–12 season came to a close, the Murray State men's basketball program was the recipient of several high-profile awards. Coach Steve Prohm was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, which marked the third-consecutive year the award was presented to a Murray State head coach. Prohm also was recognized as the District-IV Coach of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association and District 19 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Prohm also received two national coach of the year awards: the Basketball Times Coach of the Year Award and the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year Award. Junior point guard Isaiah Canaan was named OVC Player of the Year and Second Team All-America by the Associated Press, as well as selected to the John R. Wooden All-American team, Lute Olson All-America team, NABC All-America Third Team, and Sporting News All-America First Team. Canaan was a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, Bob Cousy Award, Oscar Robertson Trophy, Lou Henson Award and to the Naismith College Player of the Year Midseason watch list.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: On June 8, 2015, Prohm was announced as the new head coach at Iowa State. The Iowa State job had become open when Fred Hoiberg left to become head coach of the Chicago Bulls.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: On June 10, 2015, Matt McMahon was hired as head coach of Murray State. McMahon served as an assistant under Prohm and had just left the school to serve as an assistant to Eric Konkol at Louisiana Tech on May 27, 2015 before Prohm left for Iowa State. "I am so excited to know that Coach McMahon will be returning to Murray State to lead the Racers," Murray State athletic director Allen Ward said. "After watching him for four years, I'm convinced he's the right man for the job. He's an outstanding coach, nationally recognized as one of the top assistants in the country, with a tremendous upside. Matt has the talent and integrity to continue the momentum we've built, put his own stamp on the program, and meet the expectations that come with being the head coach at Murray State."


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: In his first season as head coach, the Racers finished the season 17–14, 10–6 in OVC play to finish in a tie for the West Division title. They lost in the quarterfinals of the OVC tournament. However, the following year, the team's record dipped as they finished 16–17, 8–8 in OVC play to finish in third place in the West Division and losing in the semifinals of the OVC tournament.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: McMahon's third Racer team posted a 26–6, 16–2 record, winning the OVC regular season and tournament championships. They were received a 12 seed in the 2018 NCAA tournament, where they fell in the first round to West Virginia. After the season, he was named National Association of Basketball Coaches District 19 Coach of the Year.


title: Murray State Racers men's basketball

text: The 2018–19 season saw the Racers win 15 of their first 17 games, with the only losses to Southeastern Conference opponents Alabama and eventual Final Four participant Auburn, both on the road. By then, the nation had been introduced to sophomore point guard Ja Morant, who scored 25 points against Auburn and 38 against Alabama. The Racers went on to post a 16–2 OVC record and won the conference tournament championship over Belmont, 77–65, in Evansville, Indiana, earning a bid to the NCAA tournament for the 17th time. There, the Racers earned a No. 12 seed and defeated Marquette of the Big East Conference, 83–64, in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 21 behind a triple-double from Morant (17 points, 11 rebounds, 16 assists). Two days later, Murray State fell to No. 4 seed Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference, 90–62, finishing the season with a 28–5 record. After the season, Morant was named a consensus First Team All-American after becoming the first player in NCAA history to average at least 20 points and 10 assists per game (24.5 ppg, 10 apg).