title: Chilika Lake

text: In 1998, an executive committee constituted with financial authority, supplemented with financial support from the Tenth and Eleventh Finance Commissions of the Government of India, gave support to the management initiatives taken up by CDA. This facilitated a coordinated approach to plan and implement effective ameliorative management actions.


title: Chilika Lake

text: An Integrated Management Plan was implemented with financial support of Rs 570 million (US$12.7 million) out of "special problem grants" recommended by the Finance Commissions. Hydrobiological monitoring was supported under the Odisha Water Resources Consolidation Project of the World Bank, to the extent of Rs 10 million (US$220,000). A strong support network was created with 7 state government organizations, 33 NGOs, 3 national government ministries, 6 other organizations, 11 international organizations, 13 research institutions and 55 different categories of community groups.


title: Chilika Lake

text: In 2003, a collaboration of Indian and Japanese experts led to a friendly relationship between Chilika lake and Saroma Lake in Japan called "Sister Wetlands".


title: Chilika Lake

text: Considering the threats faced by the lake, the National Wetlands, Mangroves and Coral Reefs Committee of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, also identified the lake as a priority site for conservation and management. The ameliorative actions were taken by the CDA to restore the ecosystem and to improve the socio-economic conditions of the communities living around the lake and on its islands involved the following.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The most effective ameliorative action was the hydrological intervention of opening the new lake mouth and channel to the sea through the barrier beach at Satapura. This improved the spatial and temporal salinity gradients of the lake to maintain the unique characteristics of an estuarine eco-system. This intervention was undertaken after detailed scientific studies, including 3-dimensional mathematical modeling and hydraulics studies on a model prototype, were carried out by the Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune and National Institute of Oceanography, Goa. In September 2000, the desiltation of the channel connecting the lake to the sea and opening of a new mouth to restore the natural flows of water and salinity levels was carried out. These actions resulted in a notable increase in the lake's fish yield and a reduction of freshwater weeds. The new mouth reduced the length of the outflow channel by . Opening of the new mouth provided a favorable increased salinity regime throughout the lake with less fluctuations and improved water clarity.


title: Chilika Lake

text: In 2002, Chilika was taken out of the Montreux Record, in light of the improved conditions of the lake. Chilika lake is the first Ramsar site in Asia to be


title: Chilika Lake

text: The ecological richness of the lake is of great value in preserving the genetic diversity because of the multiplicity of its habitat, flora and fauna. (Some are pictured in the photo gallery). The Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) surveyed the lake between 1985 and 1988 and identified 800 species of fauna, including many rare, endangered, threatened and vulnerable species, but excluding terrestrial insects.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The rare and threatened animal species identified are green sea turtle (EN), dugong (VU), Irrawaddy dolphin (EN), blackbuck (NT), Spoon billed sandpiper (CR), Chilika limbless skink (CR) and fishing cat (VU). 24 mammalian species were reported. 37 species of reptiles and amphibians are also reported.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Recent surveys revealed an overall 726 species of flowering plants belonging to 496 genera and 120 families. This represents about one –fourth of the vascular plant species of the Odisha state where some 2900 species altogether are found. Fabaceae is the most dominant plant family followed by Poaceae and Cyperaceae. Certain species were found to be characteristic of specific islands.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The flora is predominantly of aquatic and sub-aquatic plants. The species reported are leguminosae, poaceae, and cyperaceae; endemic cassipourea ceylanica; five species of seagrass, and more.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Chilika Lake is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds, on the Indian sub-continent. It is one of the hotspots of biodiversity in the country. Some species listed in the IUCN Red List of threatened animals inhabit the lake for at least part of their life cycle.


title: Chilika Lake

text: White bellied sea eagles, greylag geese, purple moorhen, jacana, flamingos, egrets, grey and purple herons, Indian roller, storks, white ibis, spoonbills, brahminy ducks, shovellers, pintails, and more.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Migratory water fowl arrive here from as far as the Caspian Sea, Baikal Lake and remote parts of Russia, Mongolia, Lakah, Siberia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and from the Himalayas. A census conducted in the winter of 1997-98 recorded about 2 million birds in the lake.


title: Chilika Lake

text: In 2007, nearly 840,000 birds visited the lake, out of which 198,000 were spotted in Nalbana Island. On 5 Jan 2008, a bird census involving 85 wildlife officials counted 900,000 birds of which 450,000 were sighted in Nalabana. Removal of invasive species of freshwater aquatic plants, especially water hyacinth, due to restoration of salinity, is a contributing factor for the recent increasing attraction of birds to the lake.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Nalbana Island is the core area of the Ramsar designated wetlands of Chilika Lake. Nalbana means "a weed-covered island" In the Odia language. It is a major island in the center of the lake and has an area of . The island gets completely submerged during the monsoon season. As the monsoon recedes in the winter, lake levels decrease and the island is gradually exposed, birds flock to the island in large numbers to feed on its extensive mudflats. Nalbana was notified in 1987 and declared a bird sanctuary in 1973 under the Wildlife Protection Act.


title: Chilika Lake

text: As per the Chilika Development Authority's (CDA) updated data (2002), 323 aquatic species, which includes 261 fish species, 28 prawns and 34 crabs are reported out of which sixty five species breed in the lake. 27 species are freshwater fishes and two genera of prawns. The remaining species migrate to the sea to breed. 21 species of herrings and sardines of the family Clupeidae are reported.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Between 1998–2002, 40 fish species were recorded here for the first time and following the reopening of the lake mouth in 2000, six threatened species have reappeared, including:


title: Chilika Lake

text: For centuries fisher folk evolved exclusive rights of fishing through a complex system of partitioning the fisheries of the lake, harvested the lake in a relatively sustainable fashion and developed a large range of fishing techniques, nets and gear.


title: Chilika Lake

text: During the British rule, in 1897–98, fishermen community enjoyed exclusive fisheries rights in the lake. The fisheries of the lake were part of the Zamindari estates of Khallikote, Parikud, Suna Bibi, Mirza Taher Baig and the Chaudhary families of Bhungarpur and the Khas Mahal areas of Khurda, lying within the kingdoms of the Rajas of Parikud and Khallikote. The zamindars (Landlords) leased out the fisheries exclusively to the local fisherfolk.


title: Chilika Lake

text: With the abolition of zamindari (land lordship) system in 1953, traditional fishing areas continued to be leased out to cooperatives of local fishermen. Fishing, particularly, prawn fishing, became increasingly remunerative with outside interest playing an important role. But in 1991, when the government of Odisha proposed a leasing policy that would have resulted in the auction of leases to the highest bidder, the Fishermen's cooperatives challenged the order in court. The High Court of Odisha ordered the Government to enact changes that would protect the interests of traditional fishermen and since then no new leases have been reported. This has resulted in a chaotic regime in which powerful vested interests from outside dominate, and the local people have been subordinated.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Butter catfish and "Wallago attu" are the most common type of fish found in the lake. 11 species of fish, 5 species of prawn and 2 crab species are commercially important. The commercially important prawn are giant tiger prawn ("Metapenaeus monoceros"), Indian prawn ("Penaeus indicus"), "Metapenaeus monoceros" (Speckled shrimp), "Metapenaeus affinis" (Pink prawn) and "Metapenaeus dobson" (Kadal shrimp). Mangrove crab is the most important commercial crab. Fish landings in the lake, which fluctuated in the past, have recorded a remarkable recovery after the opening of the new mouth and dredging of silt –choked old mouth Magarmukh in 2000–2001, resulted in a better intermixing of the tidal influx from the sea and freshwater inflow from rivers. Against an all time lowest landing of fish and prawn of in 1995–96, the all-time high is reported to be during 2001–2002 resulting in an estimated per capita income for the fisher folk of Rs 19,575 (about US$392) during the year. Recently, the Government of Odisha have issued a notification banning the lease of Chilika Lake for Culture Fishery.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The Irrawaddy dolphin ("Orcaella brevirostris") is the flagship species of Chilika lake. Chilika is home to the only known population of Irrawaddy dolphins in India and one of only two lagoons in the world that are home to this species.


title: Chilika Lake

text: A small population of Bottlenose dolphins, also migrate into the lagoon from the sea. Chilika fishermen say that when Irrawaddy dolphins and bottlenose dolphins meet in the outer channel, the former get frightened and are forced to return toward the lake.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Some Irrawaddy dolphins used to be sighted only along the inlet channel and in a limited portion of the central sector of the lake. After the opening of the new mouth at Satapada in 2000, they are now well distributed in the central and the southern sector of the lake. The number of dolphins sighted has varied from 50 to 170. A 2006 census counted 131 dolphins and the 2007 census revealed 138 dolphins. Out of the 138 dolphins, 115 were adults, 17 adolescents and six calves. 60 adults were spotted in the outer channel followed by 32 in the central sector and 23 in the southern sector.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Dolphin tourism provides an important alternative source of income for many local residents. There are four tourist associations in Satapada employing three hundred and sixty 9-HP long-tail motor boats taking tourists to a area of the lake for dolphin watching. About 500 fishing families are involved in this business. The Odisha Tourism Department and the Dolphin Motorboat Association, an NGO at Satpada, report about 40,000 tourists visit Chilika every year for dolphin watching. October–January, and May–June are the peak season for tourists at Chilika, with a maximum 600-700 per day during December–January. The Dolphin Motorboat Association has 75 8-passenger motorboats for dolphin watching. Tourists pay Rs. 250 for 60–90 minutes per trip(approx ₹4k for 10 people with 3.5 hours in a private boat in 2018). According to the Association, most tourists see dolphins. Only 5% return disappointed. Besides the Association, the Odisha Tourism Department organises "dolphin-watch" for tourists. Even during monsoon, about 100 tourists/day visit the lake.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Boat based dolphin watching tours impact dolphin behavior and cause several accidental dolphin deaths each year. CDA conducts an annual census of dolphin deaths. They report 15 deaths in 2003–04, 11 in 2004–05, 8 in 2005-06 and 5 in 2006–07. 40% of the 2006-07 deaths were by mechanised boats.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Since 2004, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has been conducting a science-based community education project to conserve the Irrawaddy dolphins and Chilika Lake. They have determined the primary cause of mortality for this population of dolphins is floating gill nets and hook line fisheries and the secondary cause is boat strikes from increasing unmanaged tourism activities.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The Irrawaddy dolphins have a seemingly mutualistic relationship of co-operative fishing with the traditional fishermen. Fishermen recall when they would call out to the dolphins, to drive fish into their nets. Castnet fishing with the help of Irrawaddy dolphins in upper reaches of the Ayeyawady River has been well documented.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The 15 km Nalaban Island is within the Lagoon and is the core area of the Ramsar designated wetlands. It was declared a bird sanctuary under the Wildlife Protection Act in 1973. It is the heart of the park where one can see thousands of birds descending during the migratory season. The island disappears during monsoon season due to inundation, and post-monsoon, the island emerges again.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The vast lake harbours 225 species of fish, a wide variety of phytoplankton, algae and aquatic plants, and also supports over 350 species of non-aquatic plants. The other areas where high concentrations of birds are recorded are Gerasara, Parikud Island, and the western shores of the Northern sector.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The open air and scenic natural flora and fauna of the lake are an attraction for eco-tourism. This is expected to provide a degree of alternate employment to the local community and generate environmental awareness, among local residents as well as visitors, about the conservation and wise use of the lake's natural resources. The locations within the lake identified for such activity are:


title: Chilika Lake

text: Recently Chilika Lake has gathered a reputation to be a tourist trap where a number of individuals run pearl and gemstone scams.Chilika Lake gemstone scam in India


title: Chilika Lake

text: The lake is well connected by road to Chennai and Kolkata through National Highway No 16. Satpada town on the eastern bank of the lake is about by road southwest of the city of Puri and at a distance of from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, which is also the nearest airport.


title: Chilika Lake

text: A broad gauge railway line of the South Eastern Railway from Kolkata skirts along the western bank of the lake passing through Balugaon, Chilika and Rambha stations.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Within the lake precincts, Odisha Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. (OTDC) and the Revenue Department of the state government offer boat cruises. Private operators also provide country boats on hire to various islands in the lake.


title: Chilika Lake

text: There are OTDC Guest houses at Barkul, Rambha, Satapada & several hotels at Balugaon. Before entering into the Nalbana Bird Sanctuary one has to obtain an entry permit. The entry permit has to be produced at entry/exit points, at check gates as and whenever requested by officials.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Akanksha Damini Joshi's award-winning film, Chilika Bank$ (2008) tells the story via a banyan tree on the banks of lake Chilika tracing the ecological changes in the lake over four decades. From 1970s, when it was exposed to extensive poaching by the outsiders, through 1980s when the lake was over-fished, to 1990s when the aqua culture ponds became a common sight, and finally the first decade of the 21st century when the environmental interference that was made to protect the lake ended up becoming its greatest threat.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Joshi's film maps the destruction of the lake and its abuse for the past four decades. The locals have been looted of their life support system with migration now being their only recourse. The film provides account of how uncontrolled human intervention has turned the lake, which was a sustainable livelihood resource, into a mere waterbody that tourists can dip their feet into.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The film produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust was honored with the Livelihood Award at the CMS Vatavaran Environment and Wildlife Film Festival, New Delhi in 2009. It was recipient of the First Prize at , South Asia Documentary Film Festival. Chilika Bank$ was screened in the Indian Panorama section of the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa 2009 in the non-feature film category. The film has garnered multiple television screenings on India's public broadcaster, Doordarshan's various channels.


title: Chilika Lake

text: The film was an Official Selection at the Film South Asia, Kathmandu in 2009, the Rodos EcoFilms International Festival,Greece in 2010 and the 4th Samsung Women's International Film Festival, Chennai in 2011.


title: Chilika Lake

text: Chilika Banks is displayed in various renowned university libraries like the Harvard University, Washington University, Duke University, Emory University and Syracuse University; and the Library of Congress, de facto the National Library of United States of America.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Keith Maurice Ellison (born August 4, 1963) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 30th attorney general of Minnesota. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Ellison was the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2019. He also served as the titular deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017 to 2018. In Congress, Ellison was a vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a Chief Deputy Whip. He also sat on the House Committee on Financial Services. Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to Congress and the first African American representative from Minnesota.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison's profile was raised when he joined the race for chair of the Democratic National Committee in November 2016, gaining support from progressive groups and U.S. senators Bernie Sanders (of Vermont) and Chuck Schumer (of New York). His candidacy prompted renewed scrutiny of his past statements and affiliation with the Nation of Islam, which drew criticism from some moderate Democrats. Ellison was defeated by former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who subsequently appointed Ellison Deputy Chair, a decision approved by unanimous voice vote of DNC members.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On June 5, 2018, Ellison announced that he would not seek reelection to Congress, and seek the office of Minnesota attorney general. Ellison won the Democratic primary and defeated Republican Doug Wardlow in the general election, becoming the first African American elected to partisan statewide office in Minnesota, as well as the first Muslim in the U.S. to win statewide office. He was reelected in 2022.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Keith Ellison, the third of five sons, was raised Catholic in Detroit, Michigan, by his parents, Leonard Ellison, a psychiatrist and Clida (Martinez) Ellison, a social worker. Ellison and three of his brothers became lawyers; his other brother became a doctor. One of Ellison's brothers is also the pastor of "Church of the New Covenant Baptist" in Detroit. Ellison's youth was influenced by the involvement of his family in the civil rights movement, including his grandfather's work as a member of the NAACP in Louisiana.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison graduated in 1981 from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, where he was active in sports and a senator in the student government. At the age of 19, while attending Wayne State University in Detroit, Ellison converted from Catholicism to Islam, later giving the following explanation: "I can't claim that I was the most observant Catholic at the time [of my conversion]. I had begun to really look around and ask myself about the social circumstances of the country, issues of justice, issues of change. When I looked at my spiritual life, and I looked at what might inform social change, justice in society ... I found Islam."


title: Keith Ellison

text: After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1986, Ellison married his high school sweetheart and moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota Law School. Ellison graduated with a Juris Doctor in 1990.


title: Keith Ellison

text: After graduating from law school, Ellison worked for three years at the firm of Lindquist & Vennum, where he was a litigator specializing in civil rights, employment, and criminal defense law. Ellison then became executive director of the nonprofit Legal Rights Center in Minneapolis, which specializes in the defense of indigent clients. Upon leaving the Legal Rights Center, Ellison entered private practice with the law firm Hassan & Reed Ltd, specializing in trial practice. Ellison has also been regularly involved in community service. He served as the unpaid host of a public affairs talk program at KMOJ radio, and has also often volunteered as a track coach for several organizations, working with youth between the ages of five and 18. He said, "It's a great community-building device because it's for all ages and all genders. Everyone can find a way to fit in."


title: Keith Ellison

text: In November 2002 Ellison was elected to his first public office, as a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives serving House district 58B. At the time he took his seat, his party was the smallest House minority in Minnesota history. During this session Ellison was appointed to the Governmental Operations & Veterans Affairs Policy Committee, the Judiciary Policy & Finance Committee and the Local Government & Metropolitan Affairs Committee. He also spearheaded an ethics complaint against Rep. Arlon Lindner for a speech Lindner made that Ellison alleged amounted to a denial that homosexuals were persecuted during the Holocaust.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison was reelected to his seat in 2004 with 84% of the vote. During the 84th session, he served on the Civil Law & Elections Committee and the Public Safety Policy & Finance Committee. Upon his election to Congress, Ellison's seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives was filled by Augustine Dominguez, a Latino community activist and fellow member of the DFL.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison's House seat was previously held by Martin Olav Sabo, whose announcement of his intention to retire precipitated Ellison's candidacy. At the DFL Convention on May 6, 2006, Ellison won the party endorsement over nine other candidates, leading 2-to-1 on the first ballot, and winning endorsement on the fourth ballot. In the primary, Ellison faced former state senator Ember Reichgott Junge, Minneapolis city council member Paul Ostrow, and Sabo's chief of staff Mike Erlandson, whom Sabo had endorsed. Ellison won the primary on September 12, 2006, with 41% of the vote. One issue Ellison's campaign opponents raised was the repeated suspension of his driver's license for failure to pay tickets and fines. Ellison had also failed to pay all or part of his income taxes in five separate years between 1992 and 2000, forcing the state and Internal Revenue Service to put liens on his home. He later paid in excess of $18,000. In the November 2006 election, Ellison faced Republican Alan Fine, the Green Party's Jay Pond, and Tammy Lee of the Independence Party. Ellison won the seat with 56% of the vote.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In early 2006, the Minnesota State Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board reprimanded Ellison for events alleged in 2002–04, namely


title: Keith Ellison

text: In 2005 the board opened an investigation, and Ellison was subpoenaed and fined. Ellison was repeatedly fined for late filings, was sued twice by the Attorney General of Minnesota, and was warned about absent or incomplete disclosures.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison was elected to the House of Representatives on November 7, 2006, and sworn in on January 4, 2007. He received national attention for his decision to use an English translation of the Qur'an, translated by British scholar George Sale in 1734, that once belonged to President Thomas Jefferson for his reenacted swearing-in ceremony, which generated both praise and criticism from political pundits.


title: Keith Ellison

text: At the time of his swearing in Ellison said he intended to focus on wages, housing, "relief and justice for the middle class", and ending the U.S. involvement in the Iraq War. Ellison was also a vocal critic of the George W. Bush administration, and sought a position on the House Judiciary Committee for oversight. In his first week as a member of Congress Ellison voted with the new Democratic majority as part of the 100-Hour Plan to raise the minimum wage, for federal funding of stem cell research, and to allow Medicare to negotiate pharmaceutical prices.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On April 3, 2014, Ellison introduced the Money Remittances Improvement Act of 2014 (H.R. 4386; 113th Congress) into the United States House. The bill would make it easier for nonbank financial institutions such as money service businesses to provide remittance payments internationally. Ellison said that "passage of the Money Remittances Improvement Act is cause for celebration for all diaspora communities, including the Somali and Hmong communities I am proud to represent in Minnesota."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On May 3, 2007, Ellison introduced a bill to outlaw universal default, the practice whereby credit card companies raise interest rates on customers who are behind on payments to other creditors. The bill was supported by House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank. Ellison, who described the bill as "the beginning of a whole credit reform effort we're going to be pursuing," also announced his interest in limiting high interest rates on credit cards and easing the process for those who have a legitimate need to file bankruptcy. This provision ultimately became law in 2009 as part of the "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights" portion of the Credit CARD Act of 2009.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In 2017, after acting chair Donna Brazile resigned, Ellison ran for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, along with Howard Dean, Martin O'Malley, Raymond Buckley, and Jaime R. Harrison, chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. Ellison, who at the time served as chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, emerged as a top contender and was viewed as a progressive alternative to the more moderate wings of the party. The race was viewed by some commentators and analysts as a proxy battle between the Clinton and Sanders factions of the party.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In autumn 2016, Ellison was endorsed by both Senator Bernie Sanders and incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. In November 2016, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid endorsed Ellison for DNC chair. In early December Ellison's endorsements included the AFL–CIO and several elected officials in Congress, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Martin Heinrich, and Representatives John Lewis, Luis Gutiérrez and Tulsi Gabbard, among others.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Obama loyalists were uneasy with Ellison, and began looking for a candidate to oppose him, holding meetings with Obama administration labor secretary Thomas Perez. In November 2016, the Investigative Project on Terrorism published a 2010 speech in which Ellison asked why the United States foreign policy in the Middle East "is governed by what is good or bad through a country of 7 million people. A region of 350 million all turns on a country of 7 million. Does that make sense? Is that logic?" His comments were interpreted as a reference to Israel. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) effectively announced its opposition to Ellison's candidacy, issuing a press release saying that his statement "raises serious concerns about whether Ellison faithfully could represent the Democratic Party's traditional support for a strong and secure Israel." CNN also reported on his past support for anti-Semitic and radical organizations and individuals, particularly the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan, but said they had found no anti-Semitic writings or public statements by Ellison, and cited his public rejection of the group "due to its propagation of bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas and statements". "The New York Times" reported that one of the Democratic Party's biggest donors, Haim Saban, said in his 2016 foreign policy forum that Ellison is "clearly an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel person." Reporters from "The Washington Post", "Slate" and "The Huffington Post" have described this as part of a smear campaign against Ellison, and note that Ellison's rivals agreed that Saban should apologize for the comments. Schumer replied to critics, saying that Ellison has supported pro-Israeli policies within the Democratic Party, telling "The Atlantic" that "while I disagree with some of [Ellison's] past positions, I saw him orchestrate one of the most pro-Israel platforms in decades by successfully persuading other skeptical committee members to adopt such a strong platform."


title: Keith Ellison

text: Opposition also arose from Democrats concerned that Ellison, a sitting congressman, would not be able to devote himself to the position full-time. In response, Ellison pledged that he would resign from Congress if he won the election. Others opposed him on ideological grounds, characterized by National Public Radio (NPR) as representing the party's division in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary between centrist supporters of Hillary Clinton and the party's left wing, which backed Bernie Sanders. But FiveThirtyEight argued that Perez and Ellison have "essentially identical" ideologies.


title: Keith Ellison

text: By February 2017, Perez was perceived as the front-runner, according to "The New York Times". A member of The Young Turks spotted Ellison and Perez dining together a week before the election was held. Upon being elected chair, Perez quickly motioned for Ellison to be elected "deputy chair", saying, "it is a motion that I have discussed with a good friend, and his name is Keith Ellison". The two newly elected chairs worked together when Perez was labor secretary, and he has regarded Ellison as one of his "best allies". The position of "deputy chair" does not exist in the DNC's bylaws. On November 8, 2018, Ellison resigned as Deputy Chair to focus on his upcoming tenure as Attorney General of Minnesota.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On June 5, 2018, Ellison announced that he would not seek reelection to a seventh term in Congress in 2018, but would instead run for Minnesota Attorney General. On August 14, Ellison won the Democratic primary with 49.8% of the vote, a little more than 30% over his nearest rival. In the general election Ellison faced Republican Doug Wardlow; Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party candidate Noah Johnson endorsed Ellison, but remained on the general election ballot. On November 6, 2018, Ellison won the election for Attorney General by more than 100,000 votes. This made him the first Muslim person to win election to a statewide office in the United States, and the first African American elected to statewide office in Minnesota.


title: Keith Ellison

text: During the campaign, misconduct allegations surfaced that influenced the election. "Politico" wrote that Ellison's election would depend on "what voters make of the misconduct allegations he's facing." It was alleged that in 2006 Ellison "pushed, shoved and verbally abused" former girlfriend Amy Alexander. Ellison denied the accusation and alleged that Alexander had harassed him and threatened to "destroy" him. A judge granted Ellison's request for a restraining order against Alexander and refused a similar request by Alexander against Ellison.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In August 2018, Ellison's ex-girlfriend Karen Monahan and her son accused him of attempting to drag her off a bed while shouting obscenities. He denied her allegations and said in an interview he did not know how to react because he did not wish to demonize her. A Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party investigation conducted by attorney Susan Ellingstad concluded that Monahan's accusation was unsubstantiated, as she rejected requests to provide the video she said proved her allegations. The report states that Monahan would not allow Ellingstad to view the footage privately.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Unsealed divorce records from Hennepin County Family Court revealed that Ellison had claimed that Kim Ellison had physically abused him.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On May 31, 2020, Ellison accepted Minnesota governor Tim Walz's request that he take over as special prosecutor in the Derek Chauvin case. Three days later, Ellison's office charged Derek Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd's neck, with second-degree murder, a more serious charge than Hennepin County attorney Mike Freeman's original charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Ellison also charged the other three officers at the scene, whom Freeman's office had not originally charged, with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. Freeman and trial lawyers Steve Schleicher, Jerry Blackwell and Matthew Frank were among those who served on Ellison's prosecution team. Chauvin was convicted on all three counts on April 20, 2021. Ellison's management of the prosecution won him praise from progressives, and led to speculation that he would seek a higher office.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison supports the Reward Work Act of 2018 to reform US labor law and corporate law by guaranteeing the right of employees in listed companies to elect one-third of the board of directors.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In 2009 and 2011 Ellison had a 100% rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America indicating a pro-choice voting record.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In a November 12, 2010, interview with the BBC's program "Outlook", Ellison was asked to describe his constituents. He answered, "The district I represent is the kind of district where you can have a Member of Congress stand up for religious tolerance and against religious bigotry, against anyone, but also stand up for the rights of gays, too." In Congress he served as vice-chair of the Congressional Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus.


title: Keith Ellison

text: During a March 2014 appearance on "Real Time with Bill Maher", Ellison said he was "for gun control, but I don't think you have got to eliminate ownership of all guns in order to get some common-sense gun rules." Host Bill Maher asked him, "Then why doesn't your party come out against the Second Amendment?" Guest Sheila Bair then interjected, "Fifty-one votes, that's all it takes." Ellison responded, "I sure wish they would. I sure wish they would." Ellison's campaign has stated he was responding to Bair, not to Maher. Bair has said that she was referring to President Barack Obama's nomination of Vivek Murthy for U.S. Surgeon General. Murthy supports stronger gun regulations.


title: Keith Ellison

text: After President George W. Bush vetoed HR 1591 that provided military funding for the Iraq War because it contained timetables for withdrawal, Ellison and fellow Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top House Democrats in voting "no" to HR 2206 that provided the funding without any timetables. The bill passed the House on a 280 to 142 margin.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison joined fellow Minnesota freshman Democrat Tim Walz in opposing Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On January 10, 2007, Bush announced his plans for the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. The gist of this announcement had been known around the Capitol for over a week, and when the Associated Press asked Ellison for his reaction to the idea on January 8, 2007, he said that it was "way too late, way too little. ... So rather than do something small and ineffective, why not get about the business of what we're going to have to do eventually, which is to begin to end the occupation?" Ellison called for an immediate withdrawal in Iraq: "We could describe it as a redeployment or withdrawal, but I think we have run the course in terms of our ability to resolve this conflict militarily. I think we need to have a political and economic and diplomatic engagement, and we need to encourage the forces that are in Iraq to begin to resolve the violence in Iraq." When asked if he would support Bush's call for an additional $100 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Ellison said, "I want to see [the request] first, I want to actually look at it, but I'm not inclined to continue to support a war or an occupation that he has no plans to get us out of, and which is so costly in terms of dollars and lives of American soldiers but also Iraqis." When asked for a reaction to the comments, the White House referred to a previous statement by press secretary Tony Snow: "Democrats will have to decide where they stand on two issues: 'No. 1, do you want Iraq to succeed, and, if so, what does that mean? And, No. 2, do you believe in supporting the troops as you say, and how do you express that support?'"


title: Keith Ellison

text: In 2019, the city of Bloomington passed an ordinance that forbade filming students of Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in a public park, which led to a successful lawsuit against the city in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reinstate the First Amendment rights of the parties involved. Ellison had asked the court to drop the case.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison has supported normalizing Iran-United States relations and reopening an interest section or embassy in Tehran; he was one of only five Democrats in Congress who voted against the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. In a speech to the National Iranian American Council, he said it does not make sense to cut off contact with the Iranian government, because "when we put up an embassy or an interest section in another country, it's not a gift to them ... You're not doing something for the other country by having someone to look after our interests there, and by withdrawing it, it's not a punishment."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On June 28, 2007, Ellison became a cosponsor of Rep. Dennis Kucinich's bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney for "high crimes and misdemeanors." Ellison's spokesperson, Rick Jauert, said the effort was "largely to send a message" and that Ellison "has no illusions that this is going anywhere and that's fine. We've got more important things to do that affect people's daily lives. He basically signed on out of principle, as an expression of the importance of the rule of law — that nobody is above the law, not even the vice president."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On July 8, 2007, Ellison gave a speech in Edina, Minnesota, where he denounced Bush's commutation of Lewis Libby's sentence: "If Libby gets pardoned, then he should not have the cover of the Fifth Amendment. He's going to have to come clean and tell the truth. Now, he could get Gonzales-itis [referring to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales], you know, with 71 lapses of memory within a two-hour period." He also criticized Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives saying, "This is basically the Department of Religious Outreach. ... It's essentially a public-relations outreach arm for the Bush administration to reach out to the far right of the evangelical Christian movement. That's really all it is."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On July 25, 2007, Ellison voted in the House Judiciary Committee to issue citations of Contempt of Congress to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers for "failure to comply with subpoenas on the firings of several federal prosecutors".


title: Keith Ellison

text: In 2017 Ellison declared that he is open to demands to start an impeachment process against President Donald Trump, saying "Donald Trump has already done a number of things which legitimately raise the question of impeachment." By the December 2019 Impeachment of Donald Trump, Ellison was no longer serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison issued a statement on March 21, 2008, that criticized the Chinese government for its Tibet policy and for its relationship with Sudan's leaders "as they commit genocide on the citizens of Darfur."


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison was arrested along with seven other people including U.S. Representatives James McGovern, John Lewis, Donna Edwards, and Lynn Woolsey for civil disobedience in April 2009 when they spoke at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest that the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, had asked international aid groups bringing food, health care and water, to leave Darfur.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison was the second U.S. Representative (after Raúl Grijalva) to endorse Bernie Sanders for president in the 2016 Democratic primary. He endorsed Hillary Clinton after she secured the party's nomination.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On June 28, 2019, Ellison endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, citing Medicare for All. He endorsed Joe Biden after Biden won the Democratic nomination.


title: Keith Ellison

text: In late March and early April 2007 Ellison was a member of a congressional delegation on a "fact-finding trip to the Middle East". The group included Representatives Henry Waxman, Tom Lantos, Louise Slaughter, Nick Rahall, Dave Hobson, who were led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The delegation visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall. Ellison called his visit to Islam's third-holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as "personally moving". The group met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and discussed the peace plan devised by the Saudis in 2002. The delegation also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.


title: Keith Ellison

text: The group's visit to Syria was criticized by the Bush administration, which restated its view that the United States should not have diplomatic relations with state sponsors of terrorism. While there the delegation conveyed a message from Olmert to Syrian President Bashar Assad that "Israel is interested in peace if Damascus stops supporting terrorism". In Lebanon the group met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri. They also visited the grave of Rafik Hariri and met with his son Saad Hariri. In Saudi Arabia the group spoke to King Abdullah and his Shura Council of advisers. They praised his peace plan and advocated a greater role for women in his nation's political process. Ellison's inclusion in the delegation was praised by council member Abdul-Rahman al-Zamel. Ellison called the king a "visionary leader" and said, "Even being in the same country where Mecca and Medina are located was personally uplifting for me." Ellison also said he hoped his presence as a Muslim among the delegation conveyed a message to the Israelis and Palestinians that "people can come together. Reconciliation is possible."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On July 28 and 29, 2007, Ellison was among an "all-freshman bipartisan congressional delegation" visiting Iraq, arranged by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and led by Rep. Jerry McNerney. Before the trip Ellison told reporters that he would be stopping over in Germany to visit wounded U.S. soldiers being treated there. He also said that he respected any politician who visited Iraq, making note of Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who went in February 2007, along with five other governors. Ellison said, "If this country is going to ask these young people to stand in a war zone, their political leadership should visit them." In Iraq the delegation met with Iraqi and U.S. military officials, including Gen. David Petraeus.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Soon after he returned from Iraq, Ellison and 19 other representatives took a week-long trip to Israel sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer led the group and personally invited Ellison to join them for a stay from August 12–18, 2007. The group met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ellison's spokesperson told reporters that the trip was "a natural extension of his visit to Iraq" and that "the Middle East peace issue is important to the diverse communities of his Minneapolis-area district—from the Jewish Community Relations Council to the patrons of the Holy Land Middle Eastern eatery on Lake Street and Central Avenue. He hears about it every time he goes back to his district." The group traveled to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the northern Galilee region, and Ramallah, and viewed the Israeli border with Lebanon.


title: Keith Ellison

text: During this trip Ellison said that Israel did not permit him to travel to Gaza, where a conflict was occurring. In a 2009 interview with reporter Shihab Rattansi, Ellison expressed his disappointment at his inability to see the humanitarian situation for himself and called for a more open discussion on Gaza, saying: "The people who have a strong sympathy for the Israeli position ... dominate the conversation. And it's really not politically safe to say, look, there are two sides to this, and Israel has not been an angel in this, and certainly there have been people on the Palestinian side who have not contributed to a constructive solution."


title: Keith Ellison

text: During the summer 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel, Ellison published an editorial in "The Washington Post" that called for an end to the blockade in Gaza. Citing his three trips to Gaza since 2009, Ellison suggested that empowering Gazans by ending the blockade would weaken extremists and help move towards final status peace.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On February 19, 2009, Ellison and fellow Representative Brian Baird visited Gaza to view the destruction from the Gaza War and to meet with international and local relief agencies, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. This visit, which Ellison and Baird say did not have the official sanction of the Obama administration, was the first time any U.S. government official had entered Gaza in more than three years. Ellison said: “The stories about the children affected me the most. No parent, or anyone who cares for kids, can remain unmoved by what Brian and I saw here.“


title: Keith Ellison

text: The following day Ellison and Baird visited the Israeli towns of Sderot and Ashkelon, which were the targets of numerous Qassam rocket attacks, repeatedly launched from within the Gaza Strip.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison visited Norway in January 2008 because of Norway's prominent role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and because of the Norwegian-American heritage of many of his constituents. While there, Ellison met with former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, then president of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights. The "Star Tribune" reported that the "trip underscores Ellison's desire to play a role in the international peace movement."


title: Keith Ellison

text: In mid-2008 Ellison joined a U.S. House Democracy Assistance Commission delegation that traveled to six African countries, including Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mauritania and Kenya. "The people of the 5th congressional district [his own] know that, in this globalized world, to have peace and security relies on other people having a modicum of peace and security," Ellison said upon returning. He attended a July 4 reception at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Nairobi, Kenya, where Ellison met Sarah Hussein Onyango Obama, the step-grandmother of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.


title: Keith Ellison

text: With his victory to the United States House of Representatives Ellison became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress and the highest Muslim elected official in the United States, with Congressman André Carson elected in 2008, as the only other Muslim serving in the U.S. Congress. Ellison's election has been seen as inspirational to American Muslims, and he encourages civic empowerment through participation in the political process. Ellison generally "downplayed the role of religion in his drive for office," but he has become active in advocacy for Muslim American civic engagement and civil rights causes on a national level since.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On November 18, 2006, Ellison gave a speech called "Imams and Politics" to the Fourth Annual Body Meeting of the North American Imams Federation. The Federation's materials presented the issues to be outlined in Ellison's speech as follows: "Many Muslims around the United States are involved in political activities at different levels. Recognizing the sensitivity of political issues and the potential for divisiveness within the communities as a result of divergent political views, Imams must be able to provide Muslims with the proper guidance and educate them on the etiquettes of any political involvement within the Islamic context. Questions also arise on whether Imams and Islamic centers should be involved in politics at all and what the extent of this involvement should be, therefore Imams should have the ability to address these concerns. Overall, it is important that Imams are aware and understand the general political climate of their communities and be especially conversant with the issues that affect Muslims." Ellison also took part in "Community Night" with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, and Imam Dr. Omar Shahin. This was "for Imams to meet and interact with community members." Some of the participants of this meeting became involved in the Flying Imams controversy after being removed from an Arizona bound plane for "concerning behavior". Ellison became involved in this controversy shortly after it erupted when he attempted to arrange a meeting between parties including US Airways executives, the Metropolitan Airports Commission, and other legislators and community members.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On December 27, 2006, Ellison spoke at a meeting in Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Detroit for Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES). The meeting was with leaders from the Catholic, Muslim, and Arab-American communities, along with members of the organized labor movement. He told those in attendance that the principles of Islam guide his life, but he has no intention of imposing his faith on others, "I'm not a religious leader, I've never led religious services of any kind. I'm not here to be a preacher, but in terms of political agenda items, my faith informs me." He addressed the Qur'an Oath controversy of the 110th United States Congress and said that he hoped religion could be a uniting, rather than a dividing force: "They've never actually tried to explore how religion should connect us, they're into how religion divides us. ... They haven't really explored ... how my faith connects me to you."


title: Keith Ellison

text: Two months after taking office, Ellison met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top State Department officials to talk about "showcasing his story as part of their public diplomacy efforts in the Muslim world." According to the "Star Tribune", Ellison was "profiled three times by the State Department's overseas press bureau." He also "did a Voice of America interview from his office, where an American flag was placed conspicuously behind his desk for the cameras." In the interview which was set to play in the Middle East and South Asia, Ellison stressed global inclusiveness and quoted verse 49:13 of the Qur'an "Oh humanity, We created you from a single pair ..." Ellison also accepted the Bush administration's request to be part of a "teleconference with Karen Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy. The White House has asked that the teleconference promote American values and confront ideological support for terrorism around the world." The Voice of America applauded Ellison's cooperation saying "He is the most famous freshman congressman in the world."


title: Keith Ellison

text: After he took his oath of office he was surrounded by the foreign press, intrigued in part by the oath controversy, who "had to be ushered out of his office after he took his oath to make room for home-state news crews." Ellison has been "featured in a series of articles written for foreign dissemination by the Department's Bureau of International Information Programs." Including an article that was translated into Persian and Arabic that "highlighted the diversity of his constituents in Minnesota, ranging from Swedes and Norwegians to 'the largest Somali immigrant community in America.'" In his work in cooperation with the state department, Ellison stresses the religious freedom available in the U.S., saying things like "religious tolerance has a much longer pedigree in America than some of the intolerance we've seen lately." Even in his work with the State Department he remained critical of President Bush's Iraq policy saying "he wants people around the world to know that 'there are many Americans who want to relate to the rest of the world in terms of cooperation, not military domination.'" Ellison staffers told reporters that "the State Department has shown no signs of squeamishness about publicizing his criticism of the war." When asked about working with elements of the Bush administration Ellison said "Hey, my country first. We can work out our political differences later. I've said I'm willing to do whatever I can to make some friends for America."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On November 14, 2006, Glenn Beck of CNN Headline News said to Ellison, "I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.' And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way." Ellison replied that his constituents, "know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There's no one who's more patriotic than I am, and so you know, I don't need to — need to prove my patriotic stripes."


title: Keith Ellison

text: When asked by Beck for his opinion on Muslim extremists, Ellison replied, "They're criminals. But I think that people who commit criminal acts should be treated like criminals, regardless of their faith." Ellison has also said, "Osama bin Laden no more represents Islam than Timothy McVeigh represented Christianity." Asked about the incident later, Ellison dismissed it, saying, "It's just shock TV. Some pundits think they have to ask the most outrageous questions."


title: Keith Ellison

text: On January 2, 2007, Beck said on his radio program that Ellison did not take offense at the comments and the two had a friendly chat off the air. On January 9, 2007, at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, Beck said it was "Quite possibly the poorest-worded question of all time." He clarified by saying, "My point to Keith Ellison ... is the same point that I make to my own faith, and that is — you must stand up before things get out of control ... And it's important for people of all faiths, when someone is hijacking their religion, to stand and say, 'That is not what we do. That is not who we are."'


title: Keith Ellison

text: As a law student in 1989 and 1990 Ellison wrote several columns under the name "Keith E. Hakim" in the student newspaper, the "Minnesota Daily". He defended Louis Farrakhan against claims of racism, and further wrote that Farrakhan "is also not an anti-Semite" and called affirmative action a "sneaky" form of compensation for slavery, suggesting that white Americans instead pay reparations to blacks. "Mother Jones" reported that, under the name "Keith X Ellison," he wrote defenses of Farrakhan against accusations of anti-semitism after the 1995 Million Man March, and again in 1997.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Minister James Muhammad, a former leader of the Nation of Islam's Twin Cities study group, has said that Ellison served for several years as the group's "chief of protocol", in which capacity he acted as a liaison between Muhammad and local communities.


title: Keith Ellison

text: During Ellison's 2006 campaign Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb unearthed posts about Ellison's "Minnesota Daily" articles and his involvement with the Nation of Islam. In response Ellison wrote a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota & the Dakotas stating he had never been a member, and that his connections with the Nation of Islam were limited to an 18-month period during which he helped organize the Minnesota contingent at the 1995 Million Man March. In 2016, CNN referred instead to Ellison's "decade-long involvement in the Nation of Islam". Ellison's letter denounced the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan: "I wrongly dismissed concerns that they [Farrakhan's remarks] were anti-Semitic. They were and are anti-Semitic and I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did". He explained his previous views by saying that he "did not adequately scrutinize the positions and statements of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, and Khalid Muhammed." He also wrote, "any kind of discrimination and hate are wrong. This has always been my position". During the 2006 campaign many prominent Jewish DFL activists supported Ellison, including fundraisers Samuel and Sylvia Kaplan and State Representative Phyllis Kahn, who said it was "inconceivable that he could have ever been an anti-Semite."


title: Keith Ellison

text: During the 2006 election Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) and James Yee, the former Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, spoke at an August 25 fundraiser for Ellison. Awad and Ellison knew each other as they attended the University of Minnesota Law School at the same time. According to the "Minneapolis Star Tribune", Ellison accepted individual contributions from Nihad Awad and another leader of CAIR; Ellison responded that he had fully disclosed all contributions and said that he had "nothing to hide". Ellison stressed that he was supported by individuals, and that the non-profit organization itself did not endorse his candidacy.


title: Keith Ellison

text: His Republican opponent in the race, Alan Fine, criticized Ellison for accepting these contributions, saying that CAIR was "a group that Democrats say has deep ties to terrorism". In response to Ellison's opponents, CAIR leaders Parvez Ahmed and Nihad Awad wrote, "We are proud of our personal donations to Ellison's campaign" and derided any 'guilt by association' arguments.


title: Keith Ellison

text: On July 8, 2007, Ellison discussed the power of the executive branch in a speech before the organization Atheists for Human Rights. He stated that Dick Cheney said it was "beneath his dignity in order for him to answer any questions from the citizens of the United States. That is the very definition of totalitarianism, authoritarianism and dictatorship." He went on to say, "It's almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country, Hitler, in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted. The fact is that I'm not saying September 11 was a U.S. plan or anything like that because, you know, that's how they put you in the nut-ball box — dismiss you."


title: Keith Ellison

text: Fox News picked up the story and their commentator John Gibson categorized Ellison's comments as accusing President George W. Bush "of planning and executing the 9/11 attacks". In Congress, Representatives Eric Cantor and Zach Wamp wrote House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding she "swiftly and immediately" reprimand Ellison for his remarks. The letter said, "Even if Ellison asserts that he was not implying that 9/11 was orchestrated by the administration, the comparison he draws between Hitler and the President of United States is disgraceful. These comments inflame hatred and division at a time when we should be promoting our unity and reconciliation." The Anti-Defamation League also stated "Whatever his views may be on the administration's response to 9/11 and the conduct of the war on terrorism, likening it to Hitler's rise to power and Nazism is odious and demeans the victims of 9/11 and the brave American men and women engaged in the war on terror. Furthermore, it demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about the horrors that Hitler and his Nazi regime perpetrated."


title: Keith Ellison

text: When later questioned about his comments, Ellison told a reporter that Osama bin Laden, and not the Bush administration, was responsible for the attacks. He added, "In the aftermath of a tragedy, space is opened up for governments to take action that they could not have achieved before that." He pointed to the Iraq War and provisions granting greater arrest and surveillance powers within the USA PATRIOT Act as examples. Ellison also said:


title: Keith Ellison

text: In response to a question, I stated that the Bush Administration exploited post-9/11 fears to advance a policy agenda that has undermined our civil liberties. I stand by this statement. ... I want to be clear that the murderous Nazi regime is historically distinct and the horror of the Holocaust must be acknowledged as a unique event in human history. I did not intend any direct comparison between the totalitarian state of Nazi Germany and the current administration. I have taken consistent and strong stands against Holocaust denial throughout my life in public service.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Representative Bill Sali of Idaho drew criticism for his comments in an August 8, 2007, interview with the conservative Christian-based "American Family News Network". Sali, an outspoken Evangelical Christian, denounced the Senate leadership for allowing a Hindu to lead the opening prayer, claiming that the non-Christian invocation threatened to endanger America by removing "the protective hand of God."


title: Keith Ellison

text: Former Democratic Idaho Congressman Richard Stallings, among others, demanded that Sali either apologize or resign. In response Sali sent Ellison an email saying he "meant no offense". Ellison was in Iraq with a congressional delegation, but his spokesperson, Micah Clemens, said, "The congressman just doesn't respond to comments like that." A "New York Sun" editorial wrote that claims that the founders did not anticipate Muslim legislators are incorrect. The specific subject was brought up in several state conventions to ratify the Constitution, including by William Lancaster's opposition to the prospect during North Carolina's 1788 Hillsborough Convention.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison and his former wife, Kim, a high school mathematics teacher, had four children between 1989 and 1997. Keith Ellison is a Muslim, and although Kim Ellison is not, the Ellisons' four children were raised in the Muslim faith. One of their sons, Jeremiah, was elected to the Minneapolis City Council.


title: Keith Ellison

text: During Ellison's 2006 campaign Kim Ellison revealed that she had been living with moderate multiple sclerosis for several years. Keith Ellison filed for a legal separation from Kim Ellison in 2010, and their divorce was finalized on May 2, 2012. Kim Ellison was elected to the Minneapolis School Board in 2012 as vice-chair and in November 2016 as an at-large member.


title: Keith Ellison

text: Ellison was chosen by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee for its Trailblazer Award. He was named an "Utne Reader" visionary in 2011.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spectral classes of stars to their actual temperatures. He was elected to the Parliament of India in 1952 from Calcutta.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Meghnad Saha was born in 1893 in a very poor family in Shaoratoli, a village near Dhaka-Bikrampur, in the former Bengal Presidency of British India (in present-day Village- Shaoratoli, Thana- Kaliakair, District- Gazipur, Bangladesh). Son of Jagannath Saha (a grocer) and Smt. Bhubneshwari Devi, Meghnad struggled to rise in life. During his early schooling he was forced to leave Dhaka Collegiate School because he participated in the Swadeshi movement. He earned his Indian School Certificate from Dhaka College. He was also a student at the Presidency College, Kolkata and Rajabazar Science College CU. As a student, Saha faced caste-based discrimination from his fellow students. When Saha was at the Eden Hindu Hostel, upper-caste students objected to him eating in the same dining hall as them. He was also a professor at Allahabad University from 1923 to 1938, and thereafter a professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Calcutta until his death in 1956. He became Fellow of the Royal Society in 1927. He was president of the 21st session of the Indian Science Congress in 1934.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Amongst Saha's classmates were Satyendra Nath Bose, Jnan Ghosh and Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee. In his later life he was close to Amiya Charan Banerjee. Saha was an atheist.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Saha's study of the thermal ionisation of elements led him to formulate what is known as the Saha equation. This equation is one of the basic tools for interpretation of the spectra of stars in astrophysics. By studying the spectra of various stars, one can find their temperature and from that, using Saha's equation, determine the ionisation state of the various elements making up the star. This work was soon extended by Ralph H. Fowler and Edward Arthur Milne. Saha had previously reached the following conclusion on the subject.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Saha also invented an instrument to measure the weight and pressure of solar rays and helped to build several scientific institutions, such as the Physics Department in Allahabad University and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Calcutta. He founded the journal "Science and Culture" and was the editor until his death. He was the leading spirit in organizing several scientific societies, such as the National Academy of Science (1930), the Indian Physical Society (1934), Indian Institute of Science (1935). He was the Director at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science during 1953–1956. The Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, founded in 1943 in Kolkata, is named after him.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: To actively participate in the planning of education, industrialization, health, and river valley development, Saha stood as a candidate in the constituency of North-West Calcutta in the 1951 Loksabha election. He ran on the ticket of Union of Socialists and Progressives but Saha always maintained his independence. He was pitted against a powerful and well-funded candidate from Congress, Mr. Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka. Saha was not well funded for his campaign and wrote to his publisher in November 1951 to ask for a Rs 5,000 advance against the sale of his textbook, "Treatise on Heat", "because I am standing for election in the house of the people from NW Calcutta". Saha won the contest by a margin of 16%.


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Saha actively participated in the parliament in the areas of Education, Refugee and Rehabilitation, Atomic Energy, Multipurpose River Projects and Flood Control and long term planning. In the book "Meghnad Saha in Parliament" Saha is described as "Never unduly critical, Saha was so forthright, so incisive, so thorough in pointing out lapses that the treasury bench was constantly on the defensive. This is brought out by the way he was accused of leaving his laboratory and straying into a territory not his own. But the reason why he was slowly drifting towards this public role (he was never a politician in the correct sense of the term) was the gradually widening gulf between his dream and the reality—between his vision of an industrialised India and the Government implementation of the plan."


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Saha was the chief architect of river planning in India and prepared the original plan for the Damodar Valley Project. His own observation with respect to his transition into government projects and political affairs is as follows:


title: Meghnad Saha

text: Saha died on 16 February 1956 of a cardiac arrest in New Delhi. He was on his way to the office of the Planning Commission in Rashtrapati Bhavan, when he collapsed a few yards away from there. He died on the way to hospital, at 10:15 a.m. (IST). It was reported that he had been suffering from hypertension for ten months prior to his death. His remains were cremated at the Keoratola crematorium in Kolkata the following day.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, Central America, or South America, or "vice versa". Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, balloons and other aircraft.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Early aircraft engines did not have the reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of miles, and the weather, especially in the North Atlantic, is unpredictable. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, transatlantic flight has become routine, for commercial, military, diplomatic, and other purposes.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The idea of transatlantic flight came about with the advent of the hot air balloon. The balloons of the period were inflated with coal gas, a moderate lifting medium compared to hydrogen or helium, but with enough lift to use the winds that would later be known as the Jet Stream. In 1859, John Wise built an enormous aerostat named the "Atlantic", intending to cross the Atlantic. The flight lasted less than a day, crash-landing in Henderson, New York. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe prepared a massive balloon of called the "City of New York" to take off from Philadelphia in 1860, but was interrupted by the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. The first successful transatlantic flight in a balloon was the Double Eagle II from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, near Paris in 1978.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The competition was suspended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 but reopened after Armistice was declared in 1918. The war saw tremendous advances in aerial capabilities, and a real possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft emerged.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Between 8 and 31 May 1919, the Curtiss seaplane "NC-4" made a crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland, then to the Azores, and on to mainland Portugal and finally the United Kingdom. The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the "Daily Mail" prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also because more than one aircraft was used in the attempt.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: There were four teams competing for the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic. They were Australian pilot Harry Hawker with observer Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve in a single-engine Sopwith Atlantic; Frederick Raynham and C. W. F. Morgan in a Martinsyde; the Handley Page Group, led by Mark Kerr; and the Vickers entry John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. Each group had to ship its aircraft to Newfoundland and make a rough field for the takeoff.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Hawker and Mackenzie-Grieve made the first attempt on 18 May, but engine failure brought them down in the ocean where they were rescued. Raynham and Morgan also made an attempt on 18 May but crashed on takeoff due to the high fuel load. The Handley Page team was in the final stages of testing its aircraft for the flight in June, but the Vickers group was ready earlier.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: During 14–15 June 1919, the British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. During the War, Alcock resolved to fly the Atlantic, and after the war he approached the Vickers engineering and aviation firm at Weybridge, which had considered entering its Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber in the competition but had not yet found a pilot. Alcock's enthusiasm impressed Vickers's team, and he was appointed as its pilot. Work began on converting the Vimy for the long flight, replacing its bomb racks with extra petrol tanks. Shortly afterwards Brown, who was unemployed, approached Vickers seeking a post and his knowledge of long-distance navigation convinced them to take him on as Alcock's navigator.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Vickers's team quickly assembled its plane and at around 1:45 p.m. on 14 June, while the Handley Page team was conducting yet another test, the Vickers plane took off from Lester's Field, in St John's, Newfoundland.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Alcock and Brown flew the modified Vickers Vimy, powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle 360 hp engines. It was not an easy flight, with unexpected fog, and a snow storm almost causing the crewmen to crash into the sea. Their altitude varied between sea level and and upon takeoff, they carried 865 imperial gallons (3,900 L) of fuel. They made landfall in Clifden, County Galway at 8:40 a.m. on 15 June 1919, not far from their intended landing place, after less than sixteen hours of flying.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presented Alcock and Brown with the "Daily Mail" prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in "less than 72 consecutive hours". There was a small amount of mail carried on the flight making it also the first transatlantic airmail flight.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The two aviators were awarded the honour of Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) one week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first transatlantic flight by rigid airship, and the first return transatlantic flight, was made just a couple of weeks after the transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown, on 2 July 1919. Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force flew the airship R34 with his crew and passengers from RAF East Fortune, Scotland to Mineola, New York (on Long Island), covering a distance of about in about four and a half days.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The flight was intended as a testing ground for postwar commercial services by airship (see Imperial Airship Scheme), and it was the first flight to transport paying passengers. The R34 wasn't built as a passenger carrier, so extra accommodations was arranged by slinging hammocks in the keel walkway. The return journey to Pulham in Norfolk, was from 10 to 13 July over some 75 hours.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic was made by the Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922. Coutinho and Cabral flew from Lisbon, Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in stages, using three different Fairey III biplanes, and they covered a distance of between 30 March and 17 June.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first transatlantic flight between Spain and South America was completed in January 1926 with a crew of Spanish aviators on board "Plus Ultra", a Dornier Do J flying boat; the crew was the captain Ramón Franco, co-pilot Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz, Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant), Juan Manuel Durán, and Pablo Rada.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first transpolar flight eastbound and the first flight crossing the North Pole ever, was the airship carrying Norwegian explorer and pilot Roald Amundsen on 11 May 1926. He flew with the airship "NORGE" ("Norway") piloted by the Italian colonel Umberto Nobile, non-stop from Svalbard, Norway to Teller, Alaska, USA. The flight lasted for 72 hours.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first night-time crossing of the South Atlantic was accomplished during 16–17 April 1927 by the Portuguese aviators Sarmento de Beires, Jorge de Castilho and Manuel Gouveia, flying from the Bijagós Archipelago, Portuguese Guinea, to Fernando de Noronha, Brazil in the "Argos", a Dornier Wal flying boat.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In the early morning of 20 May 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field, Mineola, New York, on his successful attempt to fly nonstop from New York to the European continental land mass. Over the next 33.5 hours, Lindbergh and the "Spirit of St. Louis" encountered many challenges before landing at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, at 10:22 p.m. on 21 May 1927, completing the first solo crossing of the Atlantic.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first east-west non-stop transatlantic crossing by an aeroplane was made in 1928 by the "Bremen", a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, from Baldonnel Airfield in County Dublin, Ireland.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: On 18 August 1932 Jim Mollison made the first east-to-west solo trans-Atlantic flight; flying from Portmarnock in Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick, Canada in a de Havilland Puss Moth.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In 1936 the first woman aviator to cross the Atlantic east to west, and the first person to fly solo from England to North America, was Beryl Markham. She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, "West with the Night".


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first transpolar transatlantic (and transcontinental) crossing was the piloted by the crew led by Valery Chkalov covering some over 63 hours from Moscow, Russia to Vancouver, Washington from 18–20 June 1937.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: On 11 October 1928, Hugo Eckener, commanding the airship "Graf Zeppelin" as part of DELAG's operations, began the first non-stop transatlantic passenger flights, leaving Friedrichshafen, Germany, at 07:54 on 11 October 1928, and arriving at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 15 October.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Thereafter, DELAG used the "Graf Zeppelin" on regular scheduled passenger flights across the North Atlantic, from Frankfurt-am-Main to Lakehurst. In the summer of 1931 a South Atlantic route was introduced, from Frankfurt and Friedrichshafen to Recife and Rio de Janeiro. Between 1931 and 1937 the "Graf Zeppelin" crossed the South Atlantic 136 times.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The British rigid airship R100 made a successful return trip from Cardington to Montreal in July–August 1930, in what was intended to be a proving flight for regularly scheduled passenger services. Following the R101 disaster in October 1930, the British rigid airship program was abandoned and the R100 scrapped, leaving DELAG as the sole remaining operator of transatlantic passenger airship flights.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In 1936 DELAG began passenger flights with "LZ 129 Hindenburg", and made 36 Atlantic crossings (North and South). The first passenger trip across the North Atlantic left Friedrichshafen on 6 May with 56 crew and 50 passengers, arriving Lakehurst on 9 May. Fare was $400 one way; the ten westward trips that season took 53 to 78 hours and eastward took 43 to 61 hours. The last eastward trip of the year left Lakehurst on 10 October; the first North Atlantic trip of 1937 ended in the Hindenburg disaster.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: It would take two more decades after Alcock and Brown's first nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1919, before commercial airplane flights became practical. The North Atlantic presented severe challenges for aviators due to weather and the long distances involved, with few stopping points. Initial transatlantic services, therefore, focused on the South Atlantic, where a number of French, German, and Italian airlines offered seaplane service for mail between South America and West Africa in the 1930s.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Between February 1934 and August 1939 Lufthansa operated a regular airmail service between Natal, Brazil, and Bathurst, Gambia, continuing "via" the Canary Islands and Spain to Stuttgart, Germany. From December 1935, "Air France" opened a regular weekly airmail route between South America and Africa. German airlines, such as "Deutsche Luft Hansa", experimented with mail routes over the North Atlantic in the early 1930s, with flying boats and dirigibles.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In the 1930s a flying boat route was the only practical means of transatlantic air travel, as land-based aircraft lacked sufficient range for the crossing. An agreement between the governments of the US, Britain, Canada, and the Irish Free State in 1935 set aside the Irish town of Foynes, the most westerly port in Ireland, as the terminal for all such services to be established.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Imperial Airways had bought the Short Empire flying boat, primarily for use along the empire routes to Africa, Asia and Australia, and had established an international airport on Darrell's Island, in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (640 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina), which began serving both Imperial Airways (subsequently renamed British Overseas Airways Corporation, or BOAC) and Pan American World Airways (PAA) flights from the United States in 1936, but began exploring the possibility of using it for transatlantic flights from 1937. PAA would begin scheduled trans-Atlantic flights via Bermuda before Imperial Airways did, enabling the United States Government to covertly assist the British Government before the United States entry into the Second World War as mail was taken off trans-Atlantic PAA flights by the Imperial Censorship of British Security Co-ordination to search for secret communications from Axis spies operating in the United States, including the Joe K ring, with information gained being shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The range of the Short Empire flying boat was less than that of the equivalent US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such was initially unable to provide a true trans-Atlantic service.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Two flying boats ("Caledonia" and "Cambria") were lightened and given long range tanks to increase the aircraft's range to .


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In the US, attention was at first focused on transatlantic flight for a faster postal service between Europe and the United States. In 1931 W. Irving Glover, the second assistant postmaster, wrote an article for "Popular Mechanics" on the challenges and the need for a regular service. In the 1930s, under the direction of Juan Trippe, Pan American began to get interested in the feasibility of a transatlantic passenger service using flying boats.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: On 5 July 1937, A.S. Wilcockson flew a Short Empire for Imperial Airways from Foynes to Botwood, Newfoundland and Harold Gray piloted a Sikorsky S-42 for Pan American in the opposite direction. Both flights were a success and both airlines made a series of subsequent proving flights that same year to test out a variety of different weather conditions. Air France also became interested and began experimental flights in 1938.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: As the Short Empire only had enough range with enlarged fuel tanks at the expense of passenger room, a number of pioneering experiments were done with the aircraft to work around the problem. It was known that aircraft could maintain flight with a greater load than is possible to take off with, so Major Robert H. Mayo, Technical general manager at Imperial Airways, proposed mounting a small, long-range seaplane on top of a larger carrier aircraft, using the combined power of both to bring the smaller aircraft to operational height, at which time the two aircraft would separate, the carrier aircraft returning to base while the other flew on to its destination.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The Short Mayo Composite project, co-designed by Mayo and Shorts chief designer Arthur Gouge, comprised the "Short S.21 Maia", ("G-ADHK") which was a variant of the Short "C-Class" Empire flying-boat fitted with a trestle or pylon on the top of the fuselage to support the "Short S.20 Mercury"("G-ADHJ").


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The first successful in-flight separation of the "Composite" was carried out on 6 February 1938, and the first transatlantic flight was made on 21 July 1938 from Foynes to Boucherville. "Mercury", piloted by Captain Don Bennett, separated from her carrier at 8 pm to continue what was to become the first commercial non-stop east-to-west transatlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine. This initial journey took 20 hrs, 21 min at an average ground speed of .


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Another technology developed for the purpose of transatlantic commercial flight, was aerial refuelling. Sir Alan Cobham developed the "Grappled-line looped-hose" system to stimulate the possibility for long-range transoceanic commercial aircraft flights, and publicly demonstrated it for the first time in 1935. In the system the receiver aircraft trailed a steel cable which was then grappled by a line shot from the tanker. The line was then drawn back into the tanker where the receiver's cable was connected to the refueling hose. The receiver could then haul back in its cable bringing the hose to it. Once the hose was connected, the tanker climbed sufficiently above the receiver aircraft to allow the fuel to flow under gravity.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Cobham founded Flight Refuelling Ltd in 1934 and by 1938 had demonstrated the "FRL's looped-hose" system to refuel the Short Empire flying boat "Cambria" from an Armstrong Whitworth AW.23. Handley Page Harrows were used in the 1939 trials to aerial refuel the Empire flying boats for regular transatlantic crossings. From 5 August – 1 October 1939, sixteen crossings of the Atlantic were made by Empire flying boats, with 15 crossings using FRL's aerial refueling system. After the 16 crossings more trials were suspended due to the outbreak of World War II.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The Short S.26 was built in 1939 as an enlarged Short Empire, powered by four 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) Bristol Hercules sleeve valve radial engines and designed with the capability of crossing the Atlantic without refuelling. It was intended to form the backbone of Imperial Airways' Empire services. It could fly unburdened, or 150 passengers for a "short hop". On 21 July 1939, the first aircraft, (G-AFCI "Golden Hind"), was first flown at Rochester by Shorts' chief test pilot, John Lankester Parker. Although two aircraft were handed over to Imperial Airways for crew training, all three were impressed (along with their crews) into the RAF before they could begin civilian operation with the onset of World War II.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Meanwhile, Pan Am bought nine Boeing 314 Clippers in 1939, a long-range flying boat capable of flying the Atlantic. The "Clippers" were built for "one-class" luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation; with a cruising speed of only . The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The "Yankee Clipper"'s inaugural trip across the Atlantic was on 24 June 1939. Its route was from Southampton to Port Washington, New York with intermediate stops at Foynes, Ireland, Botwood, Newfoundland, and Shediac, New Brunswick. Its first passenger flight was on 9 July, and this continued only until the onset of the Second World War, less than two months later. The "Clipper" fleet was then pressed into military service and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In 1938 a Lufthansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor long range airliner flew non-stop from Berlin to New York and returned non-stop as a proving flight for the development of passenger carrying services. This was the first landplane to fulfil this function and marked a departure from the British and American reliance on flying boats for long over-water routes. A regular Lufthansa Transatlantic service was planned but didn't begin until after World War II.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: It was from the emergency exigencies of World War II that crossing the Atlantic by land-based aircraft became a practical and commonplace possibility. With the Fall of France in June 1940, and the loss of much war materiel on the continent, the need for the British to purchase replacement materiel from the United States was urgent. Airbases for refuelling were built in Greenland and Iceland, which were occupied by the United States after the German invasion of Denmark (1940).


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The British and United States Government hurried a secret agreement before Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 for the United States to establish a base in Bermuda. Ultimately, the agreement would be expanded to include a United States Naval Operating Base, containing a Naval Air Station serving anti-submarine flying boats, on the Great Sound (near to the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda that had been operated for the Royal Navy with the rest of the Fleet Air Arm at its original location in HM Dockyard Bermuda until 1939 by the Royal Air Force, and the Darrell's Island airport, which was taken over by the Royal Air Force for trans-Atlantic ferrying of flying boats such as the Catalinas, which were flown there from United States factories to be tested prior to acceptance by the Air Ministry and delivery across the Atlantic, usually on direct flights to Greenock, Scotland. RAF Transport Command flights, such as those flown by Coronados, also utilised the facility as BOAC and PAA continued to do) and Kindley Field, serving landplanes, constructed by the United states Army for operation by the United States Army Air Forces, but to be used jointly by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. In January, 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Bermuda on his return to Britain, following December 1941 meetings in Washington D.C. with US President Franklin Roosevelt, in the weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Churchill flew into Darrell's Island on the BOAC Boeing 314 "Berwick". Although it had been planned to continue the journey aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York, he made an impulsive decision to complete it by a direct flight from Bermuda to Plymouth, England aboard Berwick, marking the first trans-Atlantic air crossing by a national leader. When the first runway at Kindley Field became operational in 1943, the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm relocated Roc target tugs that had been operating on floats from RNAS Bermuda to the airfield to operate as landplanes, and RAF Transport Command moved its operations there, leaving RAF Ferry Command at Darrell's Island.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The time taken for an aircraft – such as the Lockheed Hudson – bought in the United States, to be flown to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, and then partially dis-assembled before being transported by ship to England, where it was re-assembled and subject to repairs of any damage sustained during shipment, could mean an aircraft could not enter service for several weeks. Further, German U-boats operating in the North Atlantic Ocean made it particularly hazardous for merchant ships between Newfoundland and Britain.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Larger aircraft could be flown directly to the UK and an organization was set up to manage this using civilian pilots. The program was begun by the Ministry of Aircraft Production. Its minister, Lord Beaverbrook a Canadian by origin, reached an agreement with Sir Edward Beatty, a friend and chairman of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to provide ground facilities and support. Ministry of Aircraft Production would provide civilian crews and management and former RAF officer Don Bennett, a specialist in long distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of the Pathfinder Force, led the first delivery flight in November 1940.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In 1941, MAP took the operation off CPR to put the whole operation under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero") was set up by Morris W. Wilson, a banker in Montreal. Wilson hired civilian pilots to fly the aircraft to the UK. The pilots were then ferried back in converted RAF Liberators. "Atfero hired the pilots, planned the routes, selected the airports [and] set up weather and radiocommunication stations."


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The organization was passed to Air Ministry administration though retaining civilian pilots, some of which were Americans, alongside RAF navigators and British radio operators. After completing delivery, crews were flown back to Canada for the next run. RAF Ferry Command was formed on 20 July 1941, by the raising of the RAF Atlantic Ferry Service to Command status. Its commander for its whole existence was Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Bowhill.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: As its name suggests, the main function of Ferry Command was the ferrying of new aircraft from factory to operational unit. Ferry Command did this over only one area of the world, rather than the more general routes that Transport Command later developed. The Command's operational area was the north Atlantic, and its responsibility was to bring the larger aircraft that had the range to do the trip over the ocean from American and Canadian factories to the RAF home Commands.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: With the entry of the United States into the War, the Atlantic Division of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command began similar ferrying services to transport aircraft, supplies and passengers to the British Isles.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: By September 1944 British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), as Imperial Airways had by then become, had made 1,000 transatlantic crossings.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: After World War II long runways were available, and North American and European carriers such as Pan Am, TWA, Trans Canada Airlines (TCA), BOAC, and Air France acquired larger piston airliners that could cross the North Atlantic with stops (usually in Gander, Newfoundland and/or Shannon, Ireland). In January 1946 Pan Am's Douglas DC-4 was scheduled New York (La Guardia) to London (Hurn) in 17 hours 40 minutes, five days a week; in June 1946 Lockheed L-049 Constellations had brought the eastward time to London Heathrow down to 15 hr 15 min.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: To aid aircraft crossing the Atlantic, six nations grouped to divide the Atlantic into ten zones. Each zone had a letter and a vessels station in that zone, providing radio relay, radio navigation beacons, weather reports and rescues if an aircraft went down. The six nations of the group split the cost of these vessels.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: The September 1947 ABC Guide shows 27 passenger flights a week west across the North Atlantic to the US and Canada on BOAC and other European airlines and 151 flights every two weeks on Pan Am, AOA, TWA and TCA, 15 flights a week to the Caribbean and South America, plus three a month on Iberia and a Latécoère 631 six-engine flying boat every two weeks to Fort de France.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In May 1952, BOAC was the first airline to introduce a passenger jet, the de Havilland Comet, into airline service, operating on routes in Europe and beyond (but not transatlantic). All Comet 1 aircraft were grounded in April 1954 after four Comets crashed, the last two being BOAC aircraft which suffered catastrophic failure at altitude. Later jet airliners, including the larger and longer-range Comet 4, were designed so that in the event of for example a skin-failure due to cracking the damage would be localized and not catastrophic.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: On 4 October 1958, BOAC started the "first-ever transatlantic jet service" between London Heathrow and New York Idlewild with a Comet 4, and Pan Am followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Supersonic flights on the Concorde were offered from 1976 to 2003, from London (by British Airways) and Paris (by Air France) to New York and Washington, and back, with flight times of around three and a half hours one-way. Since the loosening of regulations in the 1970s and 1980s, many airlines now compete across the Atlantic.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: In 2015, 44 million seats were offered on the transatlantic routes, an increase of 6% over the previous year. Of the 67 European airports with links to North America, the busiest was London Heathrow Airport with 231,532 weekly seats, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport with 129,831, Frankfurt Airport with 115,420, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol with 79,611. Of the 45 airports in North America, the busiest linked to Europe was New York John F. Kennedy International Airport with 198,442 seats, followed by Toronto Pearson International Airport with 90,982, New York Newark Liberty International Airport with 79,107, and Chicago O'Hare International Airport with 75,391 seats.


title: Transatlantic flight

text: Joint ventures, allowing coordination on prices, schedules, and strategy, control almost 75% of Transatlantic capacity. They are parallel to airline alliances: British Airways, Iberia and American Airlines are part of Oneworld; Lufthansa, Air Canada and United Airlines are members of Star Alliance; and Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM and Alitalia belong to SkyTeam. Low cost carriers are starting to compete on this market, most importantly Norwegian Air Shuttle, WestJet and WOW Air. A total of 431 non-stop routes between North America and Europe were scheduled for summer 2017, up 84 routes from 347 in 2012 – a 24% increase.