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<mask> (5 June 1880 – 16 November 1965) was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as the president of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1932, leader of the Opposition in both the Free State and Ireland from 1932 to 1944, leader of Fine Gael from 1934 to 1944, founder and leader of Fine Gael's predecessor, Cumann na nGaedheal, from 1923 to 1933, chairman of the Provisional Government from August 1922 to December 1922, the president of Dáil Éireann from September 1922 to December 1922, the minister for Finance from 1922 to 1923 and minister for Local Government from 1919 to 1922. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1921 to 1944. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Kilkenny constituency from 1918 to 1922. While Cosgrave never officially held the office of Taoiseach (the current title of Ireland's prime minister, created in 1937), he is recognised to have been the first Taoiseach due to having been the Free State's first head of government. His son, Liam, served as Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977. Early and private life
<mask> was born at 174 James's Street, Dublin in 1880, to <mask>, grocer, and Bridget (Nixon) Cosgrave. He was educated at the Christian Brothers School at Malahide Road, Marino, before entering his father's publican business.<mask> first became politically active when he attended the first Sinn Féin convention in 1905. He was a Sinn Féin councillor on Dublin Corporation from 1909 until 1922 and joined the Irish Volunteers in 1913, although he never joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood because he didn't believe in secret societies. He played an active role in the Easter Rising of 1916, serving under Éamonn Ceannt as a Captain at the South Dublin Union. Following the rebellion, Cosgrave was sentenced to death, but that was later commuted to penal servitude for life and he was interned at Frongoch internment camp, Wales. While imprisoned, he won a seat for Sinn Féin in the Kilkenny City by-election of August 1917. After his victory, he made a speech on the balcony of the courthouse. In September 1917, he and Michael Collins addressed a crowd in Dunboyne, County Meath, urging people to join the Irish Volunteers.<mask> again won an Irish seat at the 1918 general election, this time for Kilkenny North. Although he and many other Sinn Féin MPs were still in prison at the time, 27 free Sinn Féin MPs, in accordance with their party's manifesto, refused to go to Westminster and instead formed the First Dáil, in which <mask> took his seat after he was released from prison in 1919. On 24 June 1919, he married Louisa Flanagan (28 August 1882 – 1959) in Dublin, daughter of Alderman Michael Flanagan, a nationalist councillor on Dublin Corporation between 1884 and 1919. During his later years, <mask> was cared for by his son and daughter-in-law, Liam and Vera. Political career

Minister for local government
Although Cosgrave was one of the most politically experienced of Sinn Féin's TDs, <mask> was not within the leadership of the party. However, when Éamon de Valera formed the Second Ministry of Dáil Éireann on 2 April 1919, Cosgrave was named as Secretary of Local Government. His close friendship with de Valera and his long experience on Dublin Corporation, most recently as Chairman of its Finance Committee, were among the reasons he was selected.His chief task as Minister was the job of organising the non-cooperation of the people with the British authorities and establishing an alternative system of government. After the 1920 local elections, elected under the new system of single transferable vote, 28 of the 33 local councils pledged loyalty to the Ministry of Local Government established by the Dáil. These councils then cut their links to the British government. Anglo-Irish Treaty
<mask> supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which had been signed on 6 December 1921. At the cabinet meeting in Dublin held to consider the Treaty immediately after it had been signed, <mask> surprised de Valera by agreeing with Collins and with Arthur Griffith, de Valera's predecessor as leader of Sinn Féin and the chairman of the delegation which included Collins that had negotiated the Treaty. It was narrowly supported by the cabinet in a vote of 4 to 3, and was supported by the Dáil in a vote of 64 to 57. However, de Valera voted against, and resigned as president in January 1922 (which in August 1921 had been upgraded from a prime ministerial President of Dáil Éireann to a full head of state, called President of the Irish Republic).Griffith succeeded de Valera as president. Collins, in accordance with the Treaty, formed a Provisional Government; this included <mask> amongst its membership as Minister for Local Government. From July onward, he also became Minister for Finance. Chairman of the Provisional Government
The months following the acceptance of the Treaty saw a gradual progression to civil war. The split in Sinn Féin gradually deepened, and the majority of the IRA hardened against accepting anything less than a full republic. Collins and de Valera tried desperately to find a middle course, and formed a pact whereby Sinn Féin fought a general election in June with a common slate of candidates. Despite this pact, the electorate voted heavily in favour of pro-Treaty candidates.On the day of the election, the draft Constitution of the Irish Free State was published; it was rejected by the Anti-Treatyites, for it was clearly not a republican document. Collins, forced to a decision, opted to maintain the Treaty position and the support of the British government, and moved to suppress the Republican opposition that had seized the Four Courts in Dublin. The Civil War began on 28 June 1922, and the IRA was decisively defeated in the field over the following two months, being largely pinned back to Munster. In August 1922, both Griffith and Collins died in quick succession; the former of natural causes, the latter a few days later when ambushed by Republicans at Béal na Bláth, County Cork. With de Valera now on the fringes as the nominal leader of the anti-Treaty forces in the Civil War, the new dominion (which was in the process of being created but which would not legally come into being until December 1922) had lost all its most senior figures. Though it had the option of going for General Richard Mulcahy, Collins' successor as Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, the pro-Treaty leadership opted for <mask>, in part due to his democratic credentials as a long-time politician. Having previously held the Local Government and Finance portfolios, <mask> became Chairman of the Provisional Government on 30 August and President of Dáil Éirean on 9 September.He served in both offices simultaneously until on 6 December 1922, when the Irish Free State came into being. 1st President of the Executive Council (1922–1932)
On 6 December 1922, <mask> was elected by the Dáil as President of the Executive Council. He formed the First Executive Council of the Irish Free State. <mask> was a small, quiet man, and at 42 was the oldest member of the Cabinet. He had not sought the leadership of the new country, but once it was his he made good use of it. One of his chief priorities was to hold the new country together and to prove that the Irish could govern themselves. Some historians have claimed that he lacked vision as a leader and was surrounded by men who were more capable than himself.However, during his ten years as president he proved an able leader of the emerging Irish state who had a sound judgement on the matters of state that the new country was facing. Domestic policy

As head of the Free State government during the Civil War, he was ruthless in what he saw as defence of the state against his Republican former comrades. Although he disagreed with the use of the death penalty in principle, in October 1922, he enacted a Public Safety Bill, after difficult debates, and following the offer of an amnesty, that allowed for the execution of anyone who was captured bearing arms against the state, or aiding armed attacks on state forces. He told the Dáil on 27 September 1922: "although I have always objected to the death penalty, there is no other way that I know of in which ordered conditions can be restored in this country, or any security obtained for our troops, or to give our troops any confidence in us as a government". His view was that if harsh action were not taken, a guerrilla war could drag on indefinitely, making the achievement of law and order and establishing the Free State impossible. His army ordered courts martial on the rebels, 77 of whom were executed by firing squads by May 1923, including Erskine Childers, Liam Mellowes and Rory O'Connor, far more than the 14 IRA volunteers the British executed in the War of Independence. The Republican side, for their part, attacked pro-Treaty politicians and their homes and families.<mask>'s family home was burned down by Anti-Treaty fighters, and one of his uncles was shot dead. (see also Destruction of country houses in the Irish revolutionary period and Executions during the Irish Civil War). <mask> said "I am not going to hesitate if the country is to live, and if we have to exterminate ten thousand Republicans, the three million of our people is greater than this ten thousand". In April 1923, the pro-Treaty Sinn Féin members organised a new political party called Cumann na nGaedheal with <mask> as leader. The following month the Civil War was brought to an end, when the remaining anti-Treaty IRA guerrillas announced a ceasefire and dumped their arms. His first act as a statesman was to pass a Bill for the Constitution of the Irish Free State, that some TDs felt did not need to be in writing. This was done by October 1922, in good time for the formal establishment of the Free State in December.In the first few years in power <mask>'s new government faced a number of problems. The government attempted to reduce the size of the National Army. During the Civil War it had grown to over 55,000 men which, now that the war was over, was far too large and costly to maintain. Some army officers challenged the authority of the government to cut the size of the Army. The officers, mostly Pro-Treaty IRA men, were angry that the government was not doing enough to help to create a republic and predicted massive unemployment. When he and his

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 position were challenged by the disgruntled Army officers of the Irish Republican Army Organisation, other politicians and soldiers took the important decisions. In March 1924, more layoffs were expected, and army officers Major-General <mask>bin and Colonel Charles Dalton sent an ultimatum to the government demanding an end to the demobilisation.Minister for Justice Kevin O'Higgins, who was also acting president for Cosgrave while the latter was in hospital, moved to resolve the so-called "Army Mutiny". Richard Mulcahy, the Minister for Defence, resigned, and O'Higgins was victorious in a very public power struggle within Cumann na nGaedheal. The crisis within the army was solved but the government was divided. In 1924, the British and Irish governments agreed to attend a Boundary Commission to redraw the border which partitioned Ireland between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The Free State's representative was Minister for Education Eoin MacNeill, a respected scholar. The Free State expected to gain much territory in heavily Catholic and republican parts of Counties Londonderry, Fermanagh, Tyrone, and Armagh, for the British government had indicated during the Treaty negotiations that the wishes of the nationalist inhabitants along the border would be taken into account. However, after months of secret negotiations a newspaper reported that there would be little change to the border, and the Free State would actually lose territory in County Donegal.MacNeill resigned from the Commission and, shortly afterwards, from the government for not reporting to <mask> on the details of the commission. <mask> immediately went to London for a meeting with the British Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, where they agreed to let the border remain as it was, and in return the Free State did not have to pay its pro-rata share of the Imperial debt. In the Dáil debate on 7 December, <mask> stated: "I had only one figure in my mind and that was a huge nought. That was the figure I strove to get, and I got it." <mask> turned down a plea for asylum in Ireland for <mask> while in exile. The request was made by the trade union leader <mask>'Brien in 1930. <mask> recorded that he:

In June 1927, a general election was held in which de Valera's new party, Fianna Fáil, won many seats on an abstentionist platform.In July the Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, was assassinated on his way home from Sunday Mass by the IRA. The government passed to force Fianna Fáil to take their seats in the Dáil and this proved successful with de Valera and his party entering the Dáil. Previously, without de Valera, <mask> faced very little opposition, giving him considerable freedom of action. However, de Valera's arrival significantly altered the situation. Foreign policy

Although <mask> and his government accepted dominion status for the Irish Free State, they did not trust the British to respect this new independence. The government embarked on fairly radical foreign initiatives. In 1923 the Irish Free State became a member of the League of Nations.The new state also became the first British Commonwealth country to have a separate or non-British representative in Washington, D.C., and exchanged diplomats with many other European nations. The Anglo-Irish Treaty itself also gave the Irish much more independence than many other dominions. The Oath of Allegiance in the Irish Free State was much less monarchist than its equivalent in Canada or Australia. The king's representative in Ireland was Irish, unlike the other dominions, and although the head of state was the king, power was derived from the Irish people and not him. There were also questions raised about the word "treaty". The British claimed it was an internal affair while the Irish saw it as an international agreement between two independent states, a point which was accepted by the League of Nations, when that body registered the Treaty as an international agreement in 1924. Even with these advances, the Irish Free State legally remained part of the United Kingdom until 1931, when the Statute of Westminster removed virtually all of London's remaining authority over the Free State and the other dominions.This step effectively made the Free State the internationally recognised independent, although still partitioned, Irish state, arguably fulfilling Collins' vision of the Treaty giving the Irish people "the freedom to achieve freedom." Economic policy
During the ten years that Cosgrave and Cumann na nGaedheal were in power they adopted a conservative economic policy. Taxation was kept as low as possible and the budget was balanced to avoid borrowing. The Irish currency remained linked to the British currency, resulting in the overvaluation of the Irish pound. Free trade was advocated as opposed to protection, but moderate tariffs were introduced on some items. The new government decided to concentrate on developing agriculture, while doing little to help the industrial sector. Agriculture responded well with stricter quality-control being introduced and the passing of a Land Act to help farmers buy their farms.Also, the Irish Sugar Company and the Agricultural Credit Corporation were established to encourage growth. However, the economic depression that hit in the 1930s soon undid the good work of <mask> and his ministers. Industry was seen as secondary to agriculture and little was done to improve it. The loss of the industrialised north-east of Ireland had a bad effect on the country as a whole. However, the Electricity Supply Board, with the first national grid in Europe, was established to provide employment and electricity to the new state. General election 1932

A general election was not required by law until the end of 1932. However, <mask> called one for February of that year.There was growing unrest in the country and a fresh mandate was needed for an important Commonwealth meeting in the summer. Another reason for calling the election early was the Eucharistic Congress to be held in June, a major national and international event. <mask>, like most of his cabinet a devout Catholic, had invested much time in the build-up to it and wished it to proceed without any tension from a pending general election. In the event, Éamon de Valera and Fianna Fáil were the ones to derive all the kudos from that event. Cumann na nGaedheal fought the election on its record of providing ten years of honest government and political and economic stability. Instead of developing new policies, the party played the "red card" by portraying the new party, Fianna Fáil, as communists. Fianna Fáil offered the electorate a fresh and popular manifesto of social reform.Unable to compete with this, <mask> and his party lost the election, and a minority Fianna Fáil government came to power. <mask> in opposition
Following the general election of that year, <mask> assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition, as Fianna Fáil began what turned out to be a sixteen-year period of single-party government. In 1933, three groups, Cumann na nGaedheal, the National Centre Party and the National Guard came together to form a new party, called Fine Gael. <mask> was named the merged party's deputy leader, with Eoin O'Duffy as party leader. However, since O'Duffy didn't have a seat in the Dáil, <mask> became Fine Gael's parliamentary leader, and thus remained Leader of the Opposition. He became party leader the following year when O'Duffy stepped down. Under his leadership, Fine Gael lost elections in 1937, 1938 and 1943.<mask> retired as leader of the party at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in the Mansion House, Dublin, on 26 January 1944, and was succeeded by Richard Mulcahy. Legacy
An effective and good chairman rather than a colourful or charismatic leader, he led the new state during the more turbulent period of its history, when the legislation necessary for the foundation of a stable independent Irish polity needed to be pushed through. <mask>'s governments in particular played a crucial role in the evolution of the British Empire into the British Commonwealth, with fundamental changes to the concept of the role of the Crown, the governor-generalship and the British Government within the Commonwealth. In overseeing the establishment of the formal institutions of the state, his performance as its first political leader may have been undervalued. In an era when democratic governments formed in the aftermath of the First World War were moving away from democracy and towards dictatorships, the Free State, under Cosgrave, remained unambiguously democratic, a fact shown by his handing over of power to his one-time friend, then rival, Éamon de Valera, when de Valera's Fianna Fáil won the 1932 general election, in the process killing off talk within the Irish Army of staging a coup to keep <mask> in power and de Valera out of government. Perhaps the best endorsement made of <mask> came from his old rival Éamon de Valera, with whom he was reconciled before his death. To his own son, Vivion, weeks after taking power in 1932 and reading the files on the actions of <mask>'s governments in relation to its work in the Commonwealth, he said of <mask> and <mask>'s ministers, "[W]hen we got in and saw the files … they did a magnificent job, Viv.They did a magnificent job." Death

<mask> died on 16 November 1965, aged 85. The Fianna Fáil government under Seán Lemass awarded him the honour of a state funeral, which was attended by the cabinet, the leaders of all the main Irish political parties, and Éamon de Valera, then President of Ireland. He is buried in Goldenbridge Cemetery in Inchicore in Dublin. Richard Mulcahy said, "It is in terms of the Nation and its needs and its potential that I praise God who gave us in our dangerous days the gentle but steel-like spirit of rectitude, courage and humble self-sacrifice, that was <mask><mask>". <mask>'s son, Liam, served as a TD from 1943 to 1981 and went on to become leader of Fine Gael from 1965 to 1977 and Taoiseach from 1973 to 1977. W. T.'s grandson, also called Liam, also served as a TD and as Senator and his granddaughter, Louise Cosgrave, served as a Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Councillor from 1999 to 2009.In October 2014, his grave was vandalised, the top of a Celtic cross on the headstone being broken off. It was again vandalised in March

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<mask> (born 5 June 1931) is a British doctor, formerly a GP and a Medical Director with the United Nations. He is a humanist and secular activist, campaigning in particular for Voluntary Euthanasia and Doctor-Assisted Suicide. Career
<mask> was trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College, London (graduating in 1955), and at Columbia University, New York. He was awarded a master's degree in public health from the latter in 1960. He worked at Prince of Wales Hospital, London, from 1955 to 1956. In 1957 he became Medical Officer at the United Nations. In 1961 he worked with the UN in Pakistan, returning to his Medical Officer post in 1963 and rising to become Medical Director of the United Nations in 1969.He became Director of Personnel at the United Nations Development Programme in 1973. In 1977, he was the UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh. From 1980 to 1982, <mask> was the UNICEF Senior Adviser on Childhood Disabilities. In 1982, he returned to the United Nations to become Medical Director again. In 1989 and 1990, he was the Medical Director for the World Bank and the IMF. He was struck off by the UK General Medical Council in 2005 after openly admitting travelling to the Isle of Man in October 2003 to assist fellow campaigner Patrick Kneen to end his life. <mask> was arrested by the Isle of Man police for this activity in December 2003, but he was never charged.In April 1990 <mask> resigned from the World Bank. He wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal which detailed his complaints about the Bank. He cited in particular "the Bank's bloated, overpaid bureaucracy, its wasteful practices, and its generally poor management." Returning to the UK in 1993, <mask> became the Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Association in 1995, and its chairman from 1996 to 1998. Campaigning
<mask> is an active supporter of euthanasia, humanism and secularism. He was interviewed by Ritula Shah about such matters in the BBC Radio 4 series One to One on 21 May 2013. Voluntary Euthanasia
From 1995 to 2003, <mask> was either the vice-chairman or the Chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (now, renamed Dignity in Dying).In November 1999 <mask> stood as a "Campaign for Living Will Legislation" candidate in the Kensington and Chelsea parliamentary by-election occasioned by the death of MP Alan Clark. Polling took place on 25 November, and <mask> gained 97 votes, putting him 9th out of 18 candidates. <mask> was elected. <mask> was President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies from 2002 to 2004, and a Director of that organisation from 2004 to 2006. In December 2009, <mask> established the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (SOARS) which is promoting a discussion on the possibility of elderly, competent individuals, who are suffering from various medical problems, having a doctor legally end their lives, if this is their persistent request. From 2009 to August 2015 he was the Coordinator of this organisation. In October 2015 he was made a Patron of SOARS.Since 2005 <mask> has accompanied four individuals from the UK to Switzerland to witness their doctor-assisted suicides there. In 2009 he was arrested for partially financing the trip of Raymond Cutkelvin to Dignitas, but after a year on bail, he was not charged. Secularism and Humanism
<mask> is a Patron of Humanists UK and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. Since 2005 <mask> has sponsored the National Secular Society's £5000 Secularist of the Year award, which is known as the Irwin Prize. In 2006 he founded the Secular Medical Forum  and was its Coordinator for three years. On 15 September 2010, <mask>, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK. Personal life
<mask>'s father was William Knox <mask> FRCS, a surgeon and author of medical textbooks.<mask> married Elizabeth Naumann in 1958; the marriage was dissolved in 1982. He married Frederica Harlow in 1983. He later married Patricia Walters in 1994 – they divorced in 2000. His current partner is Angela Farmer. He has three daughters. Publications

Collected Essays (Editor)
"I'll See Myself Out, Thank You": Thirty personal views in support of assisted suicide. Skyscraper Publications, 2015

"Family Doctor" Booklets
Travelling Without Tears.London: British Medical Association, 1964. pp. 30. The Truth About Cancer. London: British Medical Association, 1969. pp. 31. Public Affairs Pamphlets
Check-ups: safeguarding your health. no.314.New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1961. pp. 18. Overweight: a problem for millions. no.364. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1964. pp. 20. Blood: new uses for saving lives.no.377. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1965. pp. 28. Viruses, Colds, and Flu. no.395. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1966. pp. 20.What Do We Know About Allergies? no. 486. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1972. pp. 28. Overweight: a problem for millions. Revised edition.no.364a. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1973. pp. 24. Aspirin: current knowledge about an old medication. no. 614. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1983. pp.24. Can We Survive Nuclear War? no.625. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1984. pp. 28. Nuclear Energy, Good or Bad? no.629.New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1984. pp. 29. Risks to Health and Safety on the Job. no. 644. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1986. pp. 28.Criticism of the World Bank
Banking on Poverty: An Insider's Look at the World Bank, Cato Foreign Policy Briefing 3, 20 September 1990..  Reprinted as Chapter 31 of Danaher, Kevin (1994). 50 Years is Enough: the case against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Boston, MA: South End Press. pp. 152–160. References

Life
New York Times coverage of <mask>'s marriage to Frederica Harlow, 10 April 1983

Voluntary Euthanasia
In praise of... Dr <mask>, Guardian, 4 October 2005
Euthanasia doctor is struck off, BBC news, 27 September 2005
Euthanasia campaigner to stand in byelection, British Medical Journal, 30 October 1999

Secularism and Humanism
BHA profile of Dr <mask>

British activists
1931 births
Living people
Euthanasia in the United Kingdom
Euthanasia activists
Medical doctors struck off by the General Medical Council

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Michael Henry Knox Irwin
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<mask> (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J<mask>, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected office, as an alderman, but his capacity as chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Party allowed him to use his large network of family and friends to help the election of politicians, in some cases by voter fraud, and to hand out government contracts and patronage jobs. He became wealthy in the process, but his addiction to gambling, especially horse racing, later led to a large accumulation of personal debts. In 1939, he was convicted of income tax evasion and served 15 months in a federal prison. The Pendergast organization helped to launch the political career of future US President Harry S. Truman, which caused Truman's early enemies to dub him "the senator from Pendergast". Early years
<mask>, also known to close friends as "TJ", was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Raised as a Catholic, he had nine brothers and sisters.The family's name is misspelled as Pendergest in the 1880 census and is listed accordingly. It has been claimed that Pendergast attended St. Mary's College, a boarding school for boys as young as nine and as old as eighteen, conducted by the Jesuits in St. Marys, Kansas, but records of the school, which are kept in the Jesuit archives in St. Louis, disprove that claim. (St. Mary's College was not connected in any way to the girls' school of the same name in Leavenworth, Kansas, conducted by the Sisters of Charity.) It is sometimes claimed that he earned a football scholarship to St. Mary's College, but that is also untrue. There were then no athletic scholarships awarded, and there were no intramural games. In the 1890s, the young <mask>t worked in his older brother <mask>'s West Bottoms tavern. The West Bottoms were then an immigrant section of town located at the "bottom" of the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River above which spread the more prosperous sections of Kansas City.<mask>, an alderman in Kansas City's city council, tutored him in the diversities of the city's political ways and systems and in the strategic advantages of controlling blocs of voters. James retired in 1910 and died the next year after he had named <mask> as his successor. After his brother's death, <mask>t served in the city council until he stepped down in 1916 to focus on consolidating the factions of the Jackson County Democratic Party. After a new city charter was passed in 1925 that placed the city under the auspices of a city manager picked by a smaller council, Pendergast easily gained control of the government. Pendergast married Caroline Snyder in February 1911 and raised three children (two girls and a boy) at their home on 5650 Ward Parkway. He was a member of the Knight of Columbus, which used his connection to reach Truman during the 1930s persecution of Catholics and others in Mexico. Chairman of Jackson County Democratic Club

Pendergast ruled from a simple two-story yellow brick building at 1908 Main Street.Messages marked with his red scrawl were used to secure all manner of favors. He was unquestionably corrupt, and there were regularly shootouts and beatings on election days during his watch. However, the permissive go-go days also gave rise to the golden era of Kansas City jazz (now commemorated at the American Jazz Museum at 18th and Vine) as well as a golden era of building in Kansas City. Pendergast tried to portray a "common touch" and made attention-grabbing displays of helping pay medical bills, providing "jobs", and hosting famous Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the poor. Fraud and intimidation often caused Kansas City voter turnout to be close to 100 percent in the Pendergast days. Despite Prohibition, Pendergast's machine and a bribed police force allowed alcohol and gambling. Additionally, many elections were fixed to keep political friends in power.In return, Pendergast's companies like Ready-Mixed Concrete were awarded government contracts. Under a $40 million bond program, the city constructed many civic buildings during the Depression. Among the projects were the Jackson County Courthouse, in Downtown Kansas City, and the concrete "paving" of Brush Creek, near the Country Club Plaza. (A local urban legend in which bodies of Pendergast opponents were buried under the Brush Creek concrete was finally put to rest when the concrete was torn up for a renewal project in the 1980s.) Pendergast also had a hand in other projects like the Power and Light Building, Fidelity Bank and Trust Building, Municipal Auditorium, and the construction of inner-city high schools. Pendergast placed many of his associates in positions of authority throughout Jackson County and exercised strong influence in determining the Democratic candidates for statewide office. For example, he picked Guy Brasfield Park as Democratic candidate for Missouri governor in 1932 after the previous candidate, Francis Wilson, died two weeks before the election.Pendergast also extended his rule into neighboring cities such as Omaha, Nebraska, and Wichita, Kansas, where members of his family had set up branches of the Ready-Mixed Concrete company. The Pendergast stamp was to be found in the packing plant industries, local politics, bogus construction contracts, and the jazz scene in those cities as well. Downfall and later years
Pendergast's downfall was related to a falling out with Missouri Governor Lloyd C. Stark. Pendergast had endorsed Stark, the heir to an agricultural fortune and known for promoting the Golden Delicious variety of apples, for governor in 1936. Pendergast was out of the country during the election, and his followers were even more obvious and corrupt than usual in Stark's successful election. With Mafia-related shootings and election violence underway in Jackson County, US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., went after a Mafia boss, Charles Carrollo, and Pendergast as part of Morgenthau's crackdown on corruption and organized crime. Despite Pendergast's history of delivering votes for Roosevelt and other leading Democrats, Morgenthau directed his subordinates to "let the chips fall where they may".With investigations looming, Stark turned against Pendergast, which prompted federal investigations and the pulling of federal funds from Pendergast's control. In 1939 Edward L. Schneider, the secretary-treasurer of eight of the Pendergast businesses, took his own life. Another factor in the downfall was Pendergast's failing health. Shortly after attending the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 1936, he was taken ill and later diagnosed with colon cancer and was in poor health for the remainder of his life. In 1939, Pendergast was arraigned for failing to pay taxes on a bribe received to pay off gambling debts. After serving 15 months in prison at the nearby United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, he lived quietly at his home, 5650 Ward Parkway, until his death in 1945. Pentergast's headquarters at 1908 Main are listed on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places but not on the National Register of Historic Places.Truman connection

During his military service during World War I, Harry Truman had become close friends with <mask>, T. J. 's nephew. When Truman's attempt at a clothing business failed in 1922, Jim Pendergast suggested that he run for a "judgeship" in eastern Jackson County (actually an administrative, rather than a judicial position). With the help of the Pendergast organization, Truman was elected to that and later to a similar county-wide position. In 1934, after several other potential candidates turned him down, T. J. was persuaded to support Truman, whom he considered something of a lightweight, for the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat. Truman prevailed in a close primary and went on to win in the general election.Although Truman was derisively named "the senator from Pendergast" by his opponents, he does not appear to have had a close personal relationship with Pendergast himself. Both men met on only a handful of occasions and were photographed together only once, at the 1936 Democratic Party convention. After Pendergast was convicted of income tax evasion, Missouri Governor Lloyd C. Stark sought to unseat Truman in the 1940 US Senate election. It was a very bitter campaign, which made both men lifelong enemies. Truman was re-elected after US Attorney Maurice Milligan, who had prosecuted Pendergast, also entered the race, which caused Milligan and Stark to split the anti-Pendergast vote. In his second term as Senator, with Pendergast out of power and World War II underway, Truman was finally able to shake his association with the Pendergast machine and build a national reputation as a military spending reformer. In 1945, Vice President Truman shocked many when he attended the Pendergast funeral.He was reportedly the only elected official who attended the funeral. Truman brushed aside the criticism and said simply: "He was always my friend and I have always been his." Legacy

Two of his biographers have summed up Pendergast's uniqueness as a political boss:
Pendergast may bear comparison to various big-city bosses, but his open alliance with hardened criminals, his cynical subversion of the democratic process, his monarchistic style of living, his increasingly insatiable gambling habit, his grasping for a business empire, and his promotion of Kansas City as a wide-open town with every kind of vice imaginable, combined with his professed compassion for the poor and very real role as city builder, made him bigger than life, difficult to characterize. Pendergast's legacy is evident in Kansas City. See also
Alcohol laws of Missouri
Byrd Organization

References

Further reading
 Dorsett, Lyle W. The Pendergast Machine (1968). Lawrence H. Larsen and Nancy J. Hulston, "Criminal Aspects Of The Pendergast Machine", Missouri Historical Review (91#2) (1997) pp. 168–180.Matlin, John S. "Political party machines of the 1920s and 1930s: <mask> and The Kansas City Democratic machine". (PhD Dissertation, University of Birmingham, UK, 2009) online; Bibliography on pp. 277–292. Milligan, Maurice M. Missouri Waltz: The Inside Story of the Pendergast Machine by the Man Who Smashed It (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948). Roe, Jason (2018). "Thomas Joseph Pendergast", Biography from The Pendergast Years: Kansas City in the Jazz Age & Great Depression. Kansas City Public Library.External links
 Missouri's Most Important Politician – history essay at Secretary of State office; includes photos and cartoons
 Kansas City Police Memorial on Pendergast
 Kansas City Public Library biography on Pendergast
 Men Who Made Kansas City: Thomas J. Pendergast

 Byte Out of History – FBI Involvement in Early Election Fraud Case in Kansas City (FBI)

1873 births
1945 deaths
American people convicted of tax crimes
American political bosses
Kansas City crime family
Leaders of political parties in the United States
Missouri Democrats
Missouri local politicians
Politicians from Kansas City, Missouri
Politicians from St. Joseph, Missouri
Missouri politicians convicted of crimes
American politicians of Italian descent

masks:
Thomas Joseph Pendergast
. Pendergast
Thomas Joseph Pendergast
Tom Pendergas
James Pendergast
James Pendergast
Tom
Tom Pendergas
Jim Pendergast
Tom Pendergast


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Count <mask> de Sárvár-Felsővidék (Széchenyi István, sárvár-felsővidéki gróf Széchenyi István , archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and writer. Widely considered one of the greatest statesmen in his nation's history, within Hungary he is still known to many as "the Greatest Hungarian". Family and early life
Széchenyi was born in Vienna to Count Ferenc Széchényi and Countess Juliána Festetics de Tolna; he was the youngest of their two daughters and three sons. The Széchenyis were an old and influential noble family of Hungary. Traditionally loyal to the House of Habsburg, they were linked with noble families, such as the Liechtenstein, the House of Esterházy and the House of Lobkowicz. <mask>'s father was an enlightened aristocrat who founded the Hungarian National Museum and the Hungarian National Library. The boy spent his childhood both in Vienna and on the family estate of Nagycenk, Hungary.Military service in the Napoleonic Wars
After his private education, the young Széchenyi joined the Austrian army and participated in the Napoleonic Wars. He was seventeen years old when he entered the army. He fought with distinction at the battle of Raab (14 June 1809) and on 19 July brought about the subsequent junction of the two Austrian armies by conveying a message across the Danube to General Chasteler at the risk of his life. Equally memorable was his famous ride, through the enemy's lines on the night of 16–17 October 1813, to convey to Blücher and Bernadotte the wishes of the two emperors that they should participate in the battle of Leipzig on the following day, at a given time and place. In May 1815 he was transferred to Italy, and at the battle of Tolentino scattered Murat's bodyguards by a dashing cavalry charge. He left the service as a captain in 1826 (after his promotion to major was turned down) and turned his interest towards politics. Political career
From September 1815 to 1821, Széchenyi traveled extensively in Europe, visiting France, England, Italy, Greece and the Levant, and studying their institutions.He also established important personal connections. The rapid modernization of Britain fascinated him the most, and strongly influenced his thinking. He was also impressed with the Canal du Midi in France, and began to envision ways to improve navigation on the lower Danube and Tisza. The Count quickly became aware of the growing gap between the modern world and his native Hungary. For the rest of his life, he was a determined reformer and promoted development. Széchenyi found early political support from his friend, Count Miklós Wesselényi, a noble from Transylvania; however, their relation later weakened. The great reformer

Széchenyi gained a wider reputation in 1825, by supporting the proposal of the representative of Sopron county, Pál Nagy, to establish the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Széchenyi donated the full annual income of his estates that year, 60,000 forints, towards it.His example brought donations of 58,000 forint from three other wealthy nobles, and they gained Royal approval for the academy. He wanted to promote the use of the Hungarian language in this effort. This was an important milestone in his life and for the reform movement. In 1827, he organized the Nemzeti Kaszinó, or National Casino, a forum for the patriotic Hungarian nobility. The Casino had an important role in the reform movement by providing an institute for political dialogues. To reach a wider public, <mask> decided to publish his ideas. His series of political writings, the Hitel (Credit, 1830), the Világ, (World/Light, 1831), and the Stádium (1833), addressed the Hungarian nobility.He condemned their conservatism and encouraged them to give up feudal privileges (e.g. free of taxation status), and act as the driving elite for modernization. <mask> (with the help of Austrian ship's company Erste Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (DDSG) ), established the Óbuda Shipyard on the Hungarian Hajógyári Island in 1835, which was the first industrial scale steamship building company in the Habsburg Empire. <mask> envisioned his program for Hungary within the framework of the Habsburg Monarchy. He was convinced that Hungary initially needed a gradual economic, social and cultural development; he opposed both undue radicalism and nationalism. The latter he found particularly dangerous within the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, where people were divided by ethnicity, language and religion. Besides his comprehensive political ideas, he concentrated on the development of transportation infrastructure, as he understood its importance for development and communication.Part of this program was the regulation of the flow of waters of the lower Danube to improve navigation, in order to open it to commercial shipping and trade from Buda to the Black Sea. He became the leading figure of the Danube Navigation Committee by the early 1830s, which completed its work in ten years. Previously the river had been dangerous for ships and was not efficient as an international trading route. Széchenyi was the first to promote steamboats on the Danube, the Tisza (Theiss), and Lake Balaton, also measures to open up Hungary to trade and development. Recognizing the potential for the project for the region, <mask> successfully lobbied in Vienna to gain Austrian financial and political support. He was appointed as high commissioner and supervised the works for years. During this period, he traveled to Constantinople and built up relations in the Balkan area.He wanted to develop Buda and Pest as a major political, economic and cultural center of Hungary. He supported the construction of the first permanent bridge between the two cities, the Chain Bridge. Besides its improving transportation connections, the Chain Bridge was a symbolic structure, foreshadowing the later unification of the two cities as Budapest, connected across rather than divided by the river. Marriage and family
In 1836 at the age of 45, Széchenyi married Countess Crescencia von Seilern und Aspang in Buda. They had three children:
 Júlia <mask>, who died at the age of three months
 , who traveled to Eastern countries several times
 Ödön <mask>, who died as a Turkish pasha

Béla <mask> became known for his wide travels and explorations in the East Indies, Japan, China, Java, Borneo, western Mongolia, and the frontiers of Tibet. In 1893, he published an account of his experiences, written in German. Political rivalry with Kossuth
His relations with Lajos Kossuth were not good: he always thought Kossuth was a political agitator who overplayed his popularity.<mask>, although in a minority, continued to counsel for caution in the Diet and other meetings. In March 1848, he accepted the portfolio of ways and communications "in the first responsible Magyar administration" under Lajos Batthyány, but he feared the disruption of revolution. "Long debate" of reformers in the press (1841–1848)
In his 1841 pamphlet People of the East (Kelet Népe), Count <mask> responded to Kossuth's reform proposals. <mask> believed that economic, political and social reforms should proceed slowly and with care, in order to avoid the potentially disastrous prospect of violent interference from the Habsburg dynasty. <mask> was aware of the spread of Kossuth's ideas in Hungarian society, which he took to overlook the need for a good relationship with the Habsburg dynasty. Kossuth, for his part, rejected the role of the aristocracy, and questioned established norms of social status. In contrast to Széchenyi, Kossuth believed that in the process of social reform it would be impossible to restrain civil society in a passive role.He warned against attempting to exclude wider social movements from political life, and supported democracy, rejecting the primacy of elites and the government. In 1885, he labeled Széchenyi a liberal elitist aristocrat, while Széchenyi considered Kossuth to be a democrat. Széchenyi was an isolationist politician, while Kossuth saw strong relations and collaboration with international liberal and progressive movements as essential for the success of liberty. <mask> based his economic policy on the laissez-faire principles practiced by the British Empire, while Kossuth supported protective tariffs due to the comparatively weak Hungarian industrial sector. While Kossuth envisioned the construction of a rapidly industrialized country, Széchenyi wanted to preserve the traditionally strong agricultural sector as the main characteristic of the economy. Retreat from politics
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 developed in the direction of Hungary attempting to break away from Habsburg rule, an attempt eventually crushed with severe repression by the Austrian authorities – both of which very much contrary to Széchenyi's way of thinking and his vision for Hungary's future. In early September 1848, <mask>'s nervous state brought depression and a breakdown; his doctor ordered him to the private Asylum of Dr. Gustav Görgen in Oberdöbling.With his wife's care, he gradually recovered enough to resume writing but did not return to politics. He wrote the book Önismeret (Self awareness) about children, education and pedagogy. He also wrote Ein Blick (One Look), a study of the deep political problems of Hungary at the beginning of the 1850s. Death
Still suffering from depression, <mask> committed suicide by a gunshot to his head on 8 April 1860, in his 68th year. (April 8 was the anniversary of the death of the Hungarian national hero Francis II Rákóczi, a century earlier). All Hungary mourned Széchenyi's death. The academy was in official mourning, along with the most prominent persons of the leading political and cultural associations (including counts József Eötvös, János Arany, and Károly Szász).His rival Kossuth said he was "the greatest of the Magyars". Writings
 Hitel (Credit, 1830)
 Világ, (World/Light, 1831)
 Stádium (1833)
 Önismeret (Self awareness)
 Ein Blick (One Look)
 Most of his numerous writings on political and economic subjects were translated into German for wider appreciation in Europe. From 1884 to 1896, the Hungarian Academy published a nine-volume edition of his writings in Pest. Legacy and honors

 A statue of him was unveiled on 23 May 1880 in Budapest. Also in 1880, a statue commemorating him was unveiled in Sopron. In 1898, the chain bridge over the Danube was named Széchenyi Lánchíd "Széchenyi Chain Bridge" in his honour. In a survey by Median and Elemér Hankiss at the end of 2007, the Hungarian public considered him the "best fit statesman" among Hungarian historical figures.In 2008, the <mask> <mask> Chair in International Economics was privately endowed at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, United States. In collaboration with Mathias Corvinus Collegium and Sapientia Hungarian University of Transilvania, the Chair oversees and develops three major academic programs to strengthen relations with Central Eastern Europe, especially Hungary: the Hungarian American Business Leaders (HABL), the QU executive MBA Trip in Hungary, and the Foreign Lecture Series. Since 1990, <mask>'s portrait has been featured on the 5000 Hungarian forint banknote, with a new design in 1999. 2002, a Hungarian made-for-TV movie portrayed his life from 1820 to 1860; it is entitled  (The Bridgeman) (in Hungarian). István Széchenyi Postage stamp was issued by Hungary on 1 July 1932 by honoring him in Famous Hungarians series of stamps. Another stamp in his honor was issued by Hungary on 3 May 1966; it shows the Chain Bridge in the backdrop of his portrait. A stamp of the face of <mask> <mask> superimposed on the island of the Danube was issued by Hungary on 8 April 2016.Asteroid 91024 Széchenyi, discovered by astronomers Krisztián Sárneczky and László Kiss at the Piszkéstető Station in 1998, was named in his memory. The official  was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 January 2008 (). References

Attribution

External links

 His picture on the Hungarian 5000 forint banknote
 A Hídember (The Bridgeman) (2002), Hungarian made-for-TV movie, IMDB (in Magyar). 1791 births
1860 deaths
Politicians from Vienna
Istvan
Hungarian nobility
Austrian Empire military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
Public Works and Transport ministers of Hungary
Hungarian writers
19th-century Hungarian people
Hungarian politicians who committed suicide
Hungarian national conservatives
1860s suicides

masks:
István Széchenyi
István Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
István
Széchenyi
Széchenyi
István
Széchenyi


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Jean-<mask> (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who presided over the La France Insoumise group in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2021. He has been the member of the National Assembly for the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône since 2017. After joining the Socialist Party in 1976, he was successively elected a municipal councillor of Massy (1983) and general councillor of Essonne (1985). In 1986, he entered the Senate, to which he was reelected in 1995 and 2004. He also served as Minister for Vocational Education between 2000 and 2002, under Minister of National Education Jack Lang, in the cohabitation government of Lionel Jospin. He was part of the radical wing of the Socialist Party until the Reims Congress of 2008, at the outcome of which he left the party to found the Left Party with Marc Dolez, a member of the National Assembly. Mélenchon first served as party president before becoming party co-president alongside Martine Billard, a position he held until 2014.As co-president of the Left Party, he joined the electoral coalition of the Left Front before the 2009 European election; he was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the South-West constituency and reelected in 2014. He was the coalition's candidate in the 2012 presidential election, in which he came in fourth, receiving 11.1% of the first-round vote. Mélenchon founded the movement La France Insoumise (FI, "France Unbowed" or “France in Revolt”) in February 2016. He stood as a candidate in the 2017 presidential election "outside the frame of political parties", again coming in fourth, with 19.6% of the first-round vote. He became a member of the National Assembly for La France Insoumise following the 2017 legislative election, receiving 59.9% in the second round in Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency, located in Marseille, the country's second largest city. Biography

Early life (1951–1976)
Jean-Luc Mélenchon was born in Tangier (Tangier International Zone), Morocco. His father, Georges, was a postmaster of Spanish descent, and his mother, Jeanine Bayona, was a primary school teacher of Spanish and Sicilian descent.He grew up in Morocco, until his family moved to France in 1962. Mélenchon was then educated at the Lycée Pierre-Corneille, a state secondary school in Rouen, Normandy. With a degree in philosophy from the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon and having gained the CAPES (a professional teaching qualification), he became a teacher before entering politics. Socialist Mitterrandist leader (1976–1986)
Jean-Luc Mélenchon left Besançon to enter professional life in Lons-le-Saunier (Jura), and joined the Socialist Party (PS) in September 1976. He soon assumed local and departmental responsibilities (deputy section secretary of Montaigu), and developed a federal newspaper that fought for a union between PS and the French Communist Party (PCF). It was at this time that the latter broke the agreements of the union of the left on a joint program of government. He then came to the attention of Claude Germon, mayor of Massy (Essonne) and member of the executive office of the PS responsible for the business section.Without stable work after his application was rejected at the Croix du Jura newspaper, he was hired by Claude Germon to become his private secretary. He became one of the leading Mitterrandist leaders of the Essonne federation, which led him to the position of first secretary of this federation at the Valence Congress in 1981; he remained in this position until 1986. He positioned himself both against the "Second left" of Michel Rocard and the "Centre of socialist studies, research, and education" (CERES) of Jean-Pierre Chevènement. He was elected senator during the senatorials of 1986. Socialist Party (1986–2008)

Departure from the Socialists and foundation of the Left Party (2008–2012)
At the Reims Congress, in September 2008, the political current "Trait d'union", created after the victory of the "No" in the French European Constitution referendum of 2005, Mélenchon made a new contribution. On the eve of the filing of the motions, an agreement was reached between the seven contributions of the left wing of the PS, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon was one of the signatories of the motion C entitled "A world of advance", led by Benoît Hamon. He described this gathering as a "historic event": For the first time, this motion brought together all the sensibilities of the left wing of the PS, with emblematic personalities like Gérard Filoche, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, and Paul Quilès.On 6 November 2008, the Socialist militants voted to decide between 6 motions. The motion supported by Ségolène Royal led with about 29% of the votes cast, while the one led by Benoît Hamon came in fourth with 18.5%. For Jean-Luc Mélenchon, it is a victory of the outgoing majority, which carries 80% of the votes (with the three firsts motions) and, among them, the motion advocating the alliance in the center. Believing themselves too far from this trend to the point that it would not be useful to take part in the congress, Jean-Luc <mask> and Marc Dolez announced on 7 November their decision, "by fidelity to their commitments", and for their independence of action, to leave the Socialist Party, and to create a new movement "without concession facing the right". They announced "the construction of a new left-wing party", simply called the "Left Party" (on the German model of Die Linke), and called for "the constitution of a left-wing front for the European elections". On 18 November, in a meeting with the French Communist Party, the two parties announced their alliance in the form of a "partnership", within the framework of a "left front for another democratic and social Europe, against the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon and the current European Treaties". The launch meeting of the Left Party is held on 29 November in Saint-Ouen, in the presence of Die Linke's co-chairman, Oskar Lafontaine.First presidential candidacy (2012)

Mélenchon was the candidate representing the Left Front (Communist Party of France, Left Party, Unitarian Left) in the 2012 French presidential election. He took fourth place and achieved 11.10% of the vote, trailing behind François Hollande, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Marine Le Pen (and their respective parties, the Socialist Party, Union for a Popular Movement, and National Front). In comparison, the winner, François Hollande, received 28.63% of the vote. Presidency of François Hollande (2012–2017)

Mélenchon represented the Left Front in the Pas-de-Calais' 11th constituency against his rival Marine Le Pen, where she had over 31% in the presidential election. He received third place with 21.46% of the vote, narrowly edged out for second by Socialist Party member Phillip Kemel. Mélenchon decided not to stand in the second round of the election after this result. During the presidency of François Hollande, Mélenchon became one of the most critical voices in the left against his centrist free-market policy.He denounced a betrayal to the culture and ideas of the French Left. Second presidential candidacy (2017)

On 10 February 2016, Melenchon launched the left-wing political platform La France Insoumise ("Unbowed France") during an interview on the French television channel TF1. La France Insoumise was subsequently endorsed by several parties, such as the Left Party and French Communist Party, in addition to members of the Europe Écologie Les Verts such as Sergio Coronado, a gay assembly member for the 2nd Overseas Constituency, and the mayor of Grenoble, Éric Piolle. On 12 January 2017, Mélenchon secured the 500 elected sponsors required to be validated by the Constitutional Council. After Benoît Hamon won the nomination for the Parti Socialiste on a left-wing platform, beating former Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, 58–41, Hamon announced on TF1 on 27 February that he and Melenchon had been in talks to form an alliance, but their stances on the European Union separated them, as Melenchon's platform was to renegotiate EU treaties or hold a referendum. France 24 reported following this that, "Adding their scores would place a candidate in first or second place"

Jean-Luc Mélenchon held at a consistent 12% for most of the campaign, until a late upwards surge which put him just behind third place Francois Fillon at 18%. This late surge is mainly due to Mélenchon's performance within the second presidential debate hosted by BFM TV and CNews, where, according to an Elabe poll, he was found the most convincing candidate by 25%.However, he did not qualify for the second round of voting, winning 19% of the vote in the first round, placing fourth. After the first round, Mélenchon refused to endorse Macron, told his voters that "no vote should go to the National Front", as he had done in 2002. Following constant criticism for this choice, Mélenchon invited members of La France Insoumise to vote on who he will endorse with the choices being "Vote for Emmanuel Macron", "Blank Vote", or "Abstain", with the result being announced on 2 May. 36.12% submitted a blank vote, 34.83% chose to endorse Macron, and 29.05% abstained. His campaign positions included the intent to establish a Sixth Republic and preserve the environment. According to the NGOs for the development aid Action Against Hunger, Action santé mondiale, CARE France, and ONE Campaign, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the candidate in the presidential election who is the most engaged regarding international solidarity. Together with other French intellectuals, he vigorously denounces free trade between France and the United States as an example of global exploitation.Member of the National Assembly (since 2017)

In June 2017, Mélenchon became a member of the National Assembly for La France Insoumise following his win in the legislative election in the 4th constituency of Bouches-du-Rhône, which covers parts of the centre of Marseille. He won 59.9% of the vote in the second round against En Marche! candidate Corrine Versini. He defeated sitting member Patrick Mennucci in the first round, a notable member of the Socialist Party in Marseille. His election to the National Assembly drew national media attention. During the examination of the 2017 Labour Law bill, he was remarked in the National Assembly for his multiple interventions, defending the Labour Code status quo along with fellow La France Insoumise members, arguing that flexibilisation would be harmful to workers. He drew attention from the media once more when he came in Parliament with a five euros food shopping bag to denounce a student benefits cut planned by the government.In December 2019, Mélenchon received a suspended prison sentence of three months for rebellion and provocation following an altercation with police officers who had come to serve a warrant at the La France Insoumise headquarters in Paris. Political positions
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is a socialist republican and historical materialist, inspired primarily by Jean Jaurès (the founder of French republican socialism). He is a proponent of increased labour rights and the expansion of French welfare programmes. Mélenchon has also called for the mass redistribution of wealth to rectify existing socioeconomic inequalities. Domestic policies proposed by Mélenchon include a 100% income tax on earnings over €360,000 a year, full state reimbursement for health care costs, a reduction in presidential powers in favour of the legislature, and the easing of immigration laws. Mélenchon supports same-sex marriage and women's right to abortion. He also supports the legalisation of cannabis.Mélenchon is an outspoken critic of the European Union (EU), which he claims has been corrupted through neoliberalism. During his 2012 campaign, Mélenchon positioned himself against the trend towards economic globalisation, which he denounced as disproportionately profiting the financial industry and "high income earners" at the expense of the poor. He insisted international organisations such as the EU threatened to "strangle the voice of the people". He supports a renegotiation of European treaties. Mélenchon opposes the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which he perceives as an affront to France's national sovereignty. He has repeatedly called for France to withdraw from NATO. Mélenchon has been labelled a "populist" by numerous diverse people, with the PS senator Luc Carvounas saying he goes to "the summits of demagoguery and populism", and the magazine Slate, stating that Mélenchon's rhetoric is "shocking" and implying his entire political life is based around pleasing the people.He has been compared to Marine Le Pen in terms of debating style; political scientist Dominique Reynié even went as far as to say he "flirts with xenophobia when it helps him". Mélenchon has himself his vision of populism, which he sees as positive if it comes with a left ideology. He is inspired by the philosopher Chantal Mouffe, who sought to theorise and rehabilitate the term "left populism". This theory argues that neoliberalism and austerity only made the far-right stronger and that the word "people" has to be reintroduced into the political sphere in a civic sense rather than an ethnic way (creating a "right populism" to fight). Mélenchon has voiced his support for Rattachism. The Sixth Republic and the French Constitution

Jean-Luc Mélenchon advocates for the holding of a constitutional convention to create a Sixth Republic. In 2017, in La France Insoumise's manifesto titled L'Avenir En Commun, it states in the first chapter: "The new constitution that France needs must be radically different".On 14 September 2014, Mélenchon wrote in Le Monde, "France must protect itself from the powers of finance. They devour the real economy." He goes on, "To this end, the definition of the constitutional rights of private ownership of capital should change", he continues by stating, "Again, it is inclusion in the Constitution that will fix this and make it a common rule." Mélenchon is also endorsed by the "Movement for the 6th Republic", and has spoken positively of them before. A spokesman for La France Insoumise affirmed that Mélenchon was very welcoming of a Sixth Republic run by the people that welcomes democracy, ecology, and challenges social issues. The constitutional convention members must not have ever been elected representatives, and they will not be able to present themselves thereafter. Agriculture and animal treatment
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is very much in favour of better treatment of animals.He stated during an interview with the magazine Gala that he changed his diet to "reduce consumption of meat and relieve animal suffering". The association L214, which is a non-profit for animal protection, stated that he was the only candidate "for animals" during its evaluation of the candidates' programmes, giving him a score of 15.7/20, placing him at the head of 11 candidates. European Parliament
Jean-Luc Mélenchon's attendance before the 2012 presidential election was at 63%, and after this, his average is often compiled with pre-2012, so it is compiled at 71.40% Mélenchon justified his relatively low attendance with how active he is within France itself, and has posted a list of other reasons on his blog. He increased his attendance after that, with the website votewatch.eu reporting it in 2017 at 85.1%

Foreign policy

Germany
Mélanchon is critical of German policies. After writing a pamphlet against German

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Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon
Mélenchon


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 policies in May 2015, Mélenchon declared : ...But I'm not being anti-German. My aim is to rid my readers of any fascination with the so-called "German model". What a "model", indeed!It is a mockery, a fake paradise, whose population suffers from increasing impoverishment and social violence. The fantasy of the "German model" is the opium of the rich! After the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in December 2014, described reform efforts so far in France and Italy as "insufficient", Mélenchon replied through Twitter in German and French: "Maul zu, Frau #Merkel ! Frankreich ist frei. Occupez-vous de vos pauvres et de vos équipements en ruines !" ("Shut your mouth, Mrs. Merkel! France is free.Take care of your poor and your ruined equipment."). In reaction to the referendum on the Greek sovereign debt crisis in early July 2015, he said that the "right-wing German government" was primarily responsible for the aggravation of the crisis. Commenting for The Guardian in April 2017, Natalie Nougayrède, a former executive editor and managing editor of Le Monde, noted: "In his 2015 book Bismarck’s Herring, Mélenchon wrote that, 'Germany is again a danger', its 'imperialism' is 'returning', and the EU is its 'new empire'. He's described Germans as 'grumbling Teutons' who seek to 'deport' their old people to Eastern Europe or Thailand. And he's written that German 'expansionism' was at work in the country's 1990 reunification – an 'annexation' of East Germany, in his words. That, in itself, is no small rewriting of history, and no small denial of a people's freely expressed will after the fall of communism. His criticism of Angela Merkel's eurozone policies goes far beyond the economic.It peddles nationalistic, if not bigoted, hatreds. He may have tried to soften that impression by saying he wants 'the peoples of Europe' to revolt against their governments – and not start to fight among themselves. But he has hardly backtracked on any of his earlier statements. Much of this echoes and amplifies Le Pen's rhetoric, rather than helping to combat it." Russia
Mélenchon mocked accusations of support for Vladimir Putin, saying that it is unlike for an "eco-socialist" to support Vladimir Putin, and when attacked by Benoît Hamon on the topic of Putin, he stated: "I am not bound in any way to Mr. Putin. I am absolutely fighting his policy, and if I was Russian, I would not vote for his party, but for the Russian Left Front whose leader is in prison." However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon considers that Putin is a president elected by the ballot box and that one must therefore treat him as a legitimate president.Mélenchon declared to be opposed to his domestic policy and said that if he were Russian, he would be in the opposition; he takes for example the fact that his friend of the Russian Left Front, Sergey Udaltsov, is imprisoned in Russia. Opposed to Mélenchon political views, some magazine editors claimed Mélenchon "supported Russia". Notably, the journalist Nicolas Hénin said that Mélenchon is "on the left of the political spectrum, but is an advocate for the Kremlin leader", with Hénin quoting how Mélenchon is the "political victim number one" after the murder of the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Cécile Vaissié, author of The Kremlin Networks, considers Jean-Luc Mélenchon as "one of those that approve of Putin", and Yannick Jadot of EELV said that the "pro-Russia" stance is "contrary to any environment thinking". Syria
Mélenchon is in favour of a United Nations-led intervention in Syria featuring all nations on the Security Council. He opposes intervention without international cooperation. After the chemical attack in Ghouta, he said that he feels like a strike on Syria "would be a mistake", and calls for a "political solution".He has compared an intervention in Syria to Iraq, and has approved of Russia's intervention in Syria, saying that he believes Vladimir Putin will resolve the ISIS problem in Syria, noting "It was the Russians who cut off the lines of supply that Daesh used to smuggle oil to Turkey". He said many times that he believed Putin could not be left to solve the problem in Syria alone, saying: "The UN will solve the problem [...] it's time for an international coalition". In response to the Turkish military operation "Barış Pınarı Harekâtı" against the YPG, Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted:

Saudi Arabia
During a Europarliament session on 8 June 2016 concerning Venezuela, Mélenchon criticized what he called European hypocrisy, comparing European tolerance of Saudi Arabian rule and intolerance of Venezuelan rule. Venezuela

In 2018, he affirmed that the countries that denounced the 2018 presidential elections were "henchmen of the United States", insisting that the date of the elections was agreed upon with the approval of former Spanish Prime Minister José Rodríguez Zapatero. Iran

Following the killing of major general Qasem Soleimani, Mélenchon tweeted: "We must equally condemn the USA and Iran as warmongers. My condemnation of the USA does not exempt Iran from the fact that it is a theocracy that wants to destroy the State of Israel." On French news channel LCI, he declared: "the current government of Iran claims it wants to destroy the State of Israel.This is an intolerable project which in itself creates incredible tension in the region, and obviously favors extremes on either side." National Defense
Mélenchon wants France to withdraw from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and advocates for what he calls a "separate France" which is pacifist. He opposes the concept of a unified European army. In the 2017 presidential election, he made his main foreign policy point to be the exit from NATO, stating that the organisation has led to "war" and French "submission to the United States". Mélenchon also says that Nuclear Deterrence is an "essential element of our protection", but it is "outdated". Regionalism
Mélenchon has no real position on regionalism, but has stated that he supports the teaching of regional languages, especially Breton. He supports state funding for the teaching of the Breton language.He has gone against autonomy for Brittany, even blaming socialists from the region for promoting "autonomy". In 2018, Mélenchon was asked a question about an anti-corruption investigation by a journalist from Toulouse. He responded by mocking her accent, accusing her of "talking nonsense" and then asking "has anyone got a question in more or less comprehensible French?". Video of the exchange was circulated widely on social media and sparked a debate about whether discrimination based on regional accents should be made illegal. Mélenchon apologised for his comment, claiming he thought the journalist was mocking his own accent. Controversies

Interactions with the media
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is often highly critical of the media, and has before asked his supporters to monitor and film journalists, especially of Le Monde and Libération. Mélenchon has insulted numerous journalists.He labelled Renaud Revel of L'Express a "dirty little spy" and labelled the newspaper "fascist". He accused Le Monde journalists of being "une muse de la CIA" ("a muse of the CIA"). When questioned on if he could win "without Benoît Hamon" by a France 5 reporter, he answered "being annoyed" and told a member of his team to get the journalist out. Accusations of anti-Semitism
In 2013, Mélenchon was accused of making "unacceptable comments" targeting Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, notably prompting the reaction of Harlem Désir: "Mélenchon should immediately withdraw these unacceptable comments that he made using the vocabulary of the 1930s". In August 2014, during a speech in Grenoble, Mélenchon used the controversial term "aggressive communities" in his criticism of a Jewish organization - the Representative Council of Jews of France (CRIF), a coalition of organisations representing French Jewry - "We’ve had enough of CRIF", asserting "France is the opposite of aggressive communities that lecture to the rest of country." He also declared "We do not believe that any people is superior to another", which was viewed as an anti-Semitic trope. Mélenchon's comments came in the wake of a series of protests across France against Operation Protective Edge.Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched on synagogues in the Paris area, while multiple anti-Semitic attacks had been reported across France within the previous month. Instead of condemning the attacks, he praised the protesters: "If we have anything to condemn, then it is the actions of citizens who decided to rally in front of the embassy of a foreign country or serve its flag, weapon in hand." In July 2017, Mélenchon maintained that Republican France bears no guilt in the Holocaust, and criticized Emmanuel Macron for admitting at a gathering in Paris remembering the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup that Vichy France was the legal French government at the time, thus conceding the French State's responsibility in the deportation of the Jews. Mélenchon's comments were echoing those of former President of France Mitterrand, who declared in 1994 that the round-up and deportation of Jews to death camps during the war was the work of the country's Nazi occupiers and "Vichy France", an illegitimate entity distinct from France. Haaretz noted that Marine Le Pen had made comments similar to Mélenchon's three months earlier. Following the murder in March 2018 in Paris of Mireille Knoll, an elderly Jewish woman who survived the events at Vel d'Hiv and the Holocaust, Mélenchon ignored requests from CRIF leadership for him to stay away from a march in her memory. As with Marine Le Pen, who made the same choice to be present, despite the appeal, he was booed and abused by a group of extremist protesters.In November 2019, Mélenchon further accused CRIF of practicing "blatant, violent, and aggressive sectarianism, namely against me", after it asking him not to attend the memorial ceremony for Knoll more than 18 months earlier. No physical violence occurred at the march; police accompanied Mélenchon and his team away from the proceedings. In December 2019, he deplored that UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave in to the accusations of anti-Semitism in his party, saying Corbyn "had to endure, unaided, churlish anti-Semitism claims from England's chief rabbi and various influence networks linked to Likud. Instead of riposting, he spent his time apologising and making pledges ... It showed a weakness that troubled the popular sectors [of the electorate]". Mélenchon later published a post on his personal blog denouncing the use of anti-Semitism as a pretext to launch smear campaigns against political figures. He called the "method ... absurd, offending, but, more importantly, dangerous.For all this is at the expense of the real fight against anti-Semitism. Its main result is to lower the vigilance threshold of sincere anti-racists." In 2020, while interviewed about the French police, he said, "I don't know if Jesus was on a cross, but he was apparently put there by his own people". This declaration was condemned by the Wiesenthal Center, who said that it was spreading belief in Jewish deicide; they noted that this allegation was condemned by the papal encyclical Nostra Aetate, and noted that "its imagery fueled violence across Europe, culminating in the Nazi Holocaust". In October 2021, Mélenchon was again accused of anti-Semitism, after he made a comment singling out the Jewish tradition as responsible for the far-right political positions of Éric Zemmour. His remark was condemned as anti-Semitic by different political figures across the political spectrum, such as Christophe Castaner (LREM), Gilbert Collard ( RN), and Pierre Moscovici (PS). Political journalist Edwy Plenel responded: "No, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, racism, historical revisionism, sexism, apologism for Pétain, and this hate of others that Zemmour spouts obsessively, are in no way Jewish traditions."Accusations of promoting conspiracy theories
Mélenchon has often accused the "mediacracy" of specifically being against him and his proposed policies, and claims that the media is controlled by oligarchs. His populist and self-proclaimed "anti-system" rhetoric has also been accused of feeding into conspiracies. In 2011, French historian Nicolas Lebourg considered that Jean-Luc Mélenchon is considered to be "a left-wing conspiracy theorist" by authors who believe that "denouncing the oligarchy is illegitimate". According to Conspiracy Watch, figures of the "left of the left", such as Noam Chomsky or Jean-Luc Mélenchon, avoid criticising conspiracy myths present in their own ranks, because they try to spare certain "conspiracy activists". But if Jean-Luc Mélenchon practices this "demagogy", it would be "quite unfair and abusive to classify him as a conspiracy theorist" according to the organisation. In June 2021 Mélenchon sparked controversy when he claimed that "in the last week of the presidential campaign, we'll have a grave incident or murder" that he claims would feed into an anti-Islam sentiment, citing the attack on retiree Paul Voise in 2002 shortly before the 1st round of the presidential election, the Jihadist attack against a Jewish school in Toulouse by Mohammed Merah a few months before the presidential election of 2012, and the terrorist attack in Paris a few days before the 1st round of the 2017 presidential election. His statements sparked condemnation outside of his political party.Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, claimed that Mélenchon has been promoting conspiracy theories for several years. Political career
Governmental functions

Minister of Vocational Education, 2000–2002. Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

Member for Bouches-du-Rhône's 4th constituency, 2017-

European Parliament

Member of European Parliament, 2009–2017. Senate of France

Senator of Essonne, 1986–2000 (became minister in 2000), 2004–2010 (resignation, elected in European Parliament in 2009). Elected in 1986, re-elected in 1995, 2004. (At the age of 35, he was the youngest member of the Senate when he was elected to it in 1986.) General Council

Vice-president of the General Council of Essonne, 1998–2001.General councillor of Essonne, 1985–1992, 1998–2004. Re-elected in 1998. Municipal Council

Deputy-mayor of Massy, Essonne, 1983–1995. Municipal councillor of Massy, Essonne, 1983–2001. Re-elected in 1989, 1995. Political function

Co-president of the Left Party, 2008–2014. Publications
Mélenchon's published works include:

References

External links

 Page on the French Senate website
 MEP webpage

1951 births
Anti-German sentiment in Europe
Candidates in the 2012 French presidential election
Candidates in the 2017 French presidential election
Candidates in the 2022 French presidential election
Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Ecosocialists
French Senators of the Fifth Republic
French people of Italian descent
French people of Sicilian descent
French people of Spanish descent
Government ministers of France
Internationalist Communist Organisation politicians
La France Insoumise politicians
Left Party (France) MEPs
Left Party (France) politicians
Left-wing populism in France
Living people
Lycée Pierre-Corneille alumni
MEPs for South-West France 2009–2014
MEPs for South-West France 2014–2019
People from Tangier
Socialist Party (France) politicians
Senators of Essonne
University of Franche-Comté alumni
French politicians convicted of


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<mask> (February 18, 1895 – December 14, 1920), nicknamed "The Gipper", was a  college football player at the University of Notre Dame under head coach Knute Rockne. <mask> was selected as Notre Dame's first Walter Camp All-American, and played several positions, particularly halfback, quarterback, and punter. <mask> died at age 25 of a streptococcal throat infection and pneumonia, three weeks after a victory over Northwestern in his senior season, and was the subject of Rockne's "Win just one for the Gipper" speech. In the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American, he was portrayed by Ronald Reagan. College career
Born and raised in Laurium, Michigan, on the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula, <mask> entered Notre Dame intending to play baseball for the Fighting Irish. While on campus, he was recruited by Rockne for the football team, despite having no experience in organized football. During his Notre Dame career, <mask> led the Irish in rushing and passing each of his last three seasons (1918, 1919, and 1920).His career mark of 2,341 rushing yards lasted over fifty years, until Jerome Heavens broke it  <mask> was also an ideal handler of the forward  and threw for 1,789  He scored 21 career touchdowns, averaged 38 yards a punt, and gathered five interceptions as well as 14 yards per punt return and 22 yards per kick return in four seasons  Gipp is still Notre Dame's all-time leader in average yards per rush for a season (8.1), career average yards per play of total offense (9.37), and career average yards per game of total offense (128.4). Death

Gipp died December 14, 1920, two weeks after being elected Notre Dame's first All-American by Walter Camp, and second consensus All-American  (after Gus Dorais). A frequently told but probably apocryphal story of <mask>'s death begins when he returned to Notre Dame's campus after curfew from a night out. Unable to gain entrance to his residence, <mask> went to the rear door of Washington Hall, the campus' theatre building. He was a steward for the building and knew the rear door was often unlocked. He usually spent such nights in the hall. On that night, however, the door was locked, and Gipp was forced to sleep outside.By the morning, he had contracted pneumonia and eventually died from a related infection. It is more likely that <mask> contracted strep throat and pneumonia while giving punting lessons after his final game, November 20 against Northwestern. Since antibiotics were not available in the 1920s, treatment options for such infections were limited. <mask>'s hometown of Laurium built a memorial in his honor; he is buried in Lake View Cemetery near West Tamarack, Michigan. "Win just one for the Gipper"
It was on his hospital bed that he is said to have delivered the "win just one for the Gipper" line. He apparently said this line to  the full quotation from which the line is derived is:
"I've got to go, Rock. It's all right.I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy." Rockne used the story of <mask>, along with this deathbed line that he attributed to Gipp, to rally his team to a  upset of the previously undefeated Army team in 1928, with Jack Chevigny scoring the "that's one for the Gipper" tying touchdown at Yankee Stadium. Chevigny was later killed in action in World War II at Iwo Jima. The phrase "Win one for the Gipper" was later used as a political slogan by Ronald Reagan, who in 1940 portrayed <mask> in Knute Rockne, All American and was often referred to as "The Gipper".At the Republican National Convention in 1988 in New Orleans, he told Vice President Bush, "<mask>, go out there and win one for the Gipper." The term was also used by President <mask>. Bush at the 2004 convention in New York City, when he honored the recently deceased President Reagan by stating, "this time we can truly win one for the Gipper." The Republicans won both presidential elections. Exhumation

On October 4, 2007, <mask>'s body was exhumed for DNA testing to determine if he had fathered a child out of wedlock with an 18-year-old high school student. The right femur was removed and the rest of the remains were reburied the same day. A sports author who was present at the exhumation said it was requested by Rick Frueh, the grandson of one of Gipp's sisters. The tests showed that he was not the father of the child who was born within days of Gipp's  Other Gipp relatives claimed in a subsequent lawsuit that the exhumation was conducted in an improper manner and under questionable circumstances.The lawsuit was subsequently

<mask> was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame (located in Atlanta, GA) on December 14, 1951, at 3:27 a.m., in memory of the time and date of his death. <mask> Gipp Memorial Park was dedicated on August 3, 1935, in his hometown. A plaque kept in the park lists former George Gipp Award-winners, given to outstanding senior, male athletes from Calumet High School. He was ranked #22 on ESPN's Top 25 Players In College Football History list. Statistics
In 2002, the NCAA published "NCAA Football's Finest," researched and compiled by the NCAA Statistics Service. For Gipp they published the following statistics:

References

Further reading
 One For The Gipper-<mask>, Knute Rockne and Notre Dame", Patrick Chelland. Panoply Publications, 298 pp., 2008.<mask> at Notre Dame-The Untold Story, Emil Klosinski. Publish America, 278 pp., 2003. The Life and Times of <mask>, <mask>s. And Books, 219pp., April 1988. The Gipper: <mask>, Knute Rockne, and the Dramatic Rise of Notre Dame Football'', Jack Cavanaugh. Skyhorse Publishing, 320 pages., September 2010. External links

 Village of Laurium – <mask>p

1895 births
1920 deaths
American football drop kickers
American football halfbacks
American football punters
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players
All-American college football players
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
People from Laurium, Michigan
Players of American football from Michigan
American men's basketball players
Deaths from pneumonia in Indiana
Deaths from streptococcus infection

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George Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
Gipp
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George
George W
Gipp
Honors Gipp
George
George Gipp
Gipp
George Gipp
George Geka
George Gipp
George Gip


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<mask>, born Elliot Small in 1944, also known as Uncle Remus, is a veteran street-musician in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He plays the harmonica, sings, and is a street icon in New Orleans. Early life
Growing up in the Lafitte Housing Projects, Small developed a love of music as a young boy, in part to deal with the pains of an unhappy home life. Small's uncle was a professional musician who worked with Lloyd Washington of the Ink Spots, and often let his nephew come to the Dew Drop Inn to hear them play. One day when his uncle left for work without his harmonica, Small picked it up and put it to his mouth. "Oooh, it was awful," he said, laughing. "He chewed tobacco.I had to sterilize that thing." The uncle gave young <mask> a harmonica, and he fell in love with the sound of the mouth harp, teaching himself by playing along with the music on his mama's radio. At home, Small's mother favored classical music, giving the youngster diverse tastes at an early age. Teaching himself to dance from watching Fred Astaire movies on television, Small began performing on street corners for change, dancing while singing and playing his harmonica. "They brought me to New York to tap on Broadway when I was 6 or 7, and my mama got killed up there," he said. The man they lived with beat them both and ended up killing his mother. After it happened, his grandmother brought Small back to New Orleans and gave him and his older sister Frances a good life."She was a sweet old lady," he said. "My stepfather was a man who did not love his child," he said. "But my uncle would come to the house, and play the harmonica to me." Early career

As a young man, Small then made the rounds as a soul singer in local clubs. He recorded singles with arranger Wardell Quezergue, some of which are available on Malaco and Tuff City Records compilations of New Orleans funk. In the early '60s, Small's family relocated to New York City, where he took his first steps as a professional entertainer. Small once again played on the streets in between regular gigs, which included a role in a stage revival of Show Boat, helped the Louisiana vocal group The Dixie Cups go up to New York, opened on tour with The Temptations, and cut a few of his own R&B singles.One was entitled "I'm a Devil,"  recorded for Bang! Records. and Small promoted the record with live appearances while wearing what some fans remember as a red devil's suit complete with horns and pitchfork. "Well, it wasn't called a devil suit," he said. "It was a pretty, silk red suit, that looked good. It was a nice show." At the time, Small remembers, he was billed as "The Harmonica King."He also recorded his own "Girls Are Made for Lovin'" in 1969, a Wardell Quezergue (“Big Q”) production which has the feel of something by Curtis Mayfield, maybe, or Smokey Robinson. It’s not an identifiably New Orleans record, although it was made there, originally released on the New Sound label and picked up by Bang. Small recorded the funk song "E-Ni-Me-Ni-Mi-Ni-Mo" at Sea-Saint Studios in New Orleans, probably in 1975. Small produced the session and co-wrote the song along with Quezergue and guitarist Teddy Royal. Malaco purchased the master in 1976 and released it as a two-part single, which was a commercial failure. By the '80s, Small had become dissatisfied with life in New York, the grueling schedule of performing in local clubs and on the road, and the music business in general. Bad decisions and unfair contracts had soured him on the industry.When the sight in his good eye started to go and everything got fuzzy, he signed away the rights to one of his songs. "It was to a guy I had taken a liking to, a guy I trusted," he said. Small moved back to New Orleans and took his music to the streets, where it would belong only to him and to the passersby who heard it. Small developed the persona of <mask>, an old man dressed in blue denim overalls, a bright red shirt, Santa beard, and a floppy hat who played blues harp and sang for the street traffic on his corner at Royal and Toulouse streets in the French Quarter, right where he started out. He often teams with guitarist Michael “Stoney B” Stone and they have become an institution in New Orleans for the people who stop to listen to them and throw change in their bucket. His act was even written up in The New York Times in 1995. He arrives here most mornings by taxi and spends his days singing his soulful songs and playing his harmonica.It's the place where everybody knows his name. "When I feel sick, I come out here to feel better," he said. "The French Quarter is my medicine." Small said he doesn’t even know what beer tastes like and he’s never touched drugs and the only thing he smokes is the exhaust from the cars that pass Royal and Toulouse. His listeners reward him with dollar bills and treasures, like the gold wedding band he wears on his finger. "A lot of people walk around with plastic now instead of cash, so they throw what they can," he said. "Some of the rings I get out of my bucket even have diamonds on them."Playing for Change
Small did not completely lose his sight to glaucoma until 2005. It was in that year that recording engineer and producer Mark Johnson launched a project called Playing for Change, dedicated to promoting international unity through music. He began recording performances by street performers from around the world. Johnson heard Small sing the Ben E. King hit "Stand by Me" and immediately recorded him singing the tune on Royal Street, making his performance the centerpiece of a video featuring performances of the number by a handful of artists. In 2009, after the "Stand by Me" video was posted online, it racked up 159,380,589 plays on YouTube (14 February 2021), and suddenly Small had an international audience. Small signed on for a tour with a band of musicians affiliated with the Playing for Change project. He has also been on The Tonight Show and The Colbert Report.He performed to a crowd of more than 40,000 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California, on June 30, 2009, playing the "Star Spangled Banner" on harmonica and singing "God Bless America." Later that same year, the Playing for Change Band came to New Orleans to accompany Small on his debut CD Sugar Sweet, released November 3, 2009, an eclectic collection that includes gospel, blues, soul and what Small calls "some strong love songs." Keb Mo' also accompanied on the album. Small is the first artist to be signed to Playing for Change Records/Concord Music Group. The whole experience taught him to trust people again. "Mark Johnson changed my life," he said. "He made me lift my head up."Small has been featured on Playing for Change in several episodes. References

External links
 New York Times article on <mask> and Michael Stone

1945 births
Living people
American street performers
Street performance
Musicians from New Orleans

masks:
Grandpa Elliott Small
Elliott
Grandpa Elliott
Elliott Small