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Tom Vilsack

Thomas James Vilsack (born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States secretary of agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. During his tenure, Iowa experienced a peak in new CAFO construction.

On November 30, 2006, he formally launched his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2008 election, but ended his bid on February 23, 2007. President-elect Barack Obama announced Vilsack's selection to be Secretary of Agriculture on December 17, 2008. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on January 20, 2009. Until his January 13, 2017 resignation one week prior to the end of Obama's second term as president, he had been the only member of the U.S. Cabinet who had served since the day Obama originally took office.

On July 19, 2016, The Washington Post reported that Vilsack was on Hillary Clinton's two-person shortlist to be her running mate for that year's presidential election. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia was ultimately selected. On December 10, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate Vilsack to once again serve as secretary of agriculture in the incoming Biden administration. Vilsack was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 23, 2021, by a vote of 92–7. Currently Vilsack is the second longest serving Secretary of Agriculture, only being surpassed by fellow Iowan James "Tama Jim" Wilson.

Early life and education
Vilsack was born on December 13, 1950, in a Roman Catholic orphanage in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his 23-year-old birth mother (a secretary) had lived since September 1950 under the pseudonym of "Gloria"; he was baptized as "Kenneth". He was adopted in 1951 by Bud, a real-estate agent and insurance salesman, and Dolly Vilsack. They named him Thomas James.

Vilsack attended Shady Side Academy, a preparatory high school in Pittsburgh. He received a bachelor's degree in 1972 from Hamilton College. While at Hamilton, he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. He received a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School in 1975.

Early political career, Iowa Senate
Vilsack moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa after marriage. Vilsack raised funds to rebuild an athletic facility for young people; in a 2016 interview, he describes himself "as the Jerry Lewis of Mount Pleasant for a couple days" when he hosted a pledge drive on the local radio station to raise the funds. This led him to involvement in the local Chamber of Commerce and United Way. He and his wife volunteered in the failed 1988 presidential campaign of then senator Joe Biden.

After the mayor of Mount Pleasant was gunned down in December 1986, Vilsack led a fundraising drive to build a memorial fountain. The deceased mayor's father asked Vilsack to run for mayor of Mount Pleasant; he was elected and began serving in 1987. Vilsack was elected to the Iowa Senate in 1992. Following his election, he worked on legislation requiring companies who received state tax incentives to provide better pay and benefits. He helped pass a law for workers to receive health coverage when changing jobs and helped redesign Iowa's Workforce Development Department. He also wrote a bill to have the State of Iowa assume a 50% share of local county mental health costs. In 1995, Vilsack voted for H.F. 519 "to protect animal agricultural producers". The founder of hog factory farming operation Iowa Select Farms Jeff Hansen was pleased, and is quoted as saying the bill was a fair compromise.

Governor of Iowa, 1999-2007
In 1998, Terry Branstad chose not to seek re-election after 16 years as governor. The Iowa Republican Party nominated Jim Ross Lightfoot, a former U.S. Representative. Vilsack defeated former Iowa Supreme Court Justice Mark McCormick in the Democratic primary and chose Sally Pederson as his running mate. Lightfoot was the odds-on favorite to succeed Branstad and polls consistently showed him in the lead. However, Vilsack narrowly won the general election and became the first Democrat to serve as governor of Iowa in thirty years and only the fifth Democrat to hold the office in the 20th century.

During the 2000 contest for the Democratic presidential nomination between Vice President Al Gore and former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, he remained neutral.

In 2002 he won his second term in office by defeating Republican challenger attorney Doug Gross by eight percentage points.

In the first year of his second term, Vilsack used a line-item veto, later ruled unconstitutional by the Iowa Supreme Court, to create the Grow Iowa Values Fund, a $503   million appropriation designed to boost the Iowa economy by offering grants to corporations and initiatives pledged to create higher-income jobs. He vetoed portions of the bill that would have cut income taxes and eased business regulations. After a special session of the Iowa General Assembly on September 7, 2004, $100   million in state money was set aside to honor previously made commitments. The Grow Iowa Values Fund was reinstated at the end of the 2005 session: under the current law, $50   million per year will be set aside over the next ten years.

For most of Vilsack's tenure as governor, Republicans held effective majorities in the Iowa General Assembly. Following the November 2, 2004, elections, the fifty-member Senate was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, and Republicans held a 51–49 majority in the House of Representatives.

In July 2005, Vilsack signed an executive order allowing all felons who had served their sentences to vote. Approximately 115,000 felons regained their voting rights. He said: "When you've paid your debt to society, you need to be reconnected and re-engaged to society." Previously, convicted felons were disenfranchised, but could petition the governor to initiate a process, normally requiring six months, to restore their right to vote.

During the 2005 legislative session, Vilsack signed legislation designed to reduce methamphetamine use. It imposed greater restrictions on products containing the active ingredient pseudoephedrine, requiring them to be sold behind pharmacy counters rather than via open-access. It required purchasers to show identification and sign a logbook. It took effect on May 21, 2005.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London in June 2005, Vilsack vetoed a bill to restrict Iowa's use of eminent domain, citing its potential for negative impact on job creation. He said: "You have an interesting balance between job growth, which everybody supports, and restricting the power of government, which a lot of people support." His veto was overridden by the legislature.

Vilsack is a former member of the National Governors Association Executive Committee. He was chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2004. He was also chair of the Governors Biotechnology Partnership, the Governors Ethanol Coalition, and the Midwest Governors Conference, and has also been chair and vice-chair of the National Governors Association's committee on Natural Resources, where he worked to develop the NGA's farm and energy policies.

Vilsack was thought to be high on the list of potential running mates for Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. In 2005, Vilsack established Heartland PAC, a political action committee aimed at electing Democratic governors. In the first report, he raised over half a million dollars. Vilsack left office in 2007; he did not seek a third term and was succeeded by Chet Culver. During Vilsack governorship from 2002 through 2006 Iowa experienced its peak building boom for new CAFOs.

2008 U.S. presidential campaign
On November 30, 2006, Tom Vilsack became the second Democrat (after Mike Gravel) to officially announce intentions to run for the presidency in the 2008 election. In his announcement speech, he said "America's a great country, and now I have the opportunity to begin the process, the legal process of filing papers to run for President of the United States." Vilsack dropped out of the race on February 23, 2007, citing monetary constraints.

Vilsack's campaign made significant use of social media by maintaining an active MySpace profile, a collection of viral video clips on YouTube, a Facebook profile, videoblog on blip.tv, and a conference call with the podcast site TalkShoe. On January 27, 2007, Vilsack called into the Regular Guys Show hosted by Kurt Hurner to conduct a 15‑minute interview on his running for the Democratic nomination for 2008. Since then, Vilsack appeared again on the show, now The Kurt Hurner Show at Talk Shoe on August 12, 2008, this time as a supporter of Barack Obama for president taking questions from callers to the program for 30 minutes.

During the campaign, Vilsack joined fellow candidates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in supporting the establishment of a U.S. Public Service Academy as a civilian counterpart to the military academies.

Shortly after ending his 2008 bid for the White House, Vilsack endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton and was named the national co-chair for Clinton's presidential campaign.

Views on Iraq
Vilsack was critical of President Bush's execution of the war in Iraq, but he hesitated to call for an immediate and complete pullout of U.S. forces: "I don't think we're losing in Iraq. It appears to be a draw. People are upset by the fact that their kids are over there and there doesn't seem to be any end to this whole process. It's not pacifism that makes people think this way. They're questioning the credibility and competence of the Commander-in-Chief."

On December 5, Vilsack announced that he favored withdrawing most U.S. forces from Iraq and leaving a small force in the northern region for a limited period. He said U.S. forces provided the Iraqi government with "both a crutch and an excuse" for inaction. He said U.S. withdrawal "may very well require them to go through some chaotic and very difficult times", but that he believed it the only way to force the Iraqi government to take control of the country.

Views on energy security
The Vilsack Energy Security Agenda set out a strategy to dramatically reduce U.S. reliance on foreign energy and to cut the United States' carbon emissions. It also called for replacing the Department of Energy with a new Department of Energy Security, to oversee and redefine the federal government's role in energy policy. The reorganized department would have acted as an institutional advocate for innovation in energy policy and was intended to ensure accountability as the nation works towards achieving its energy security goals. Through this new department, America's overriding objective in energy policy would have been to make America the unquestioned leader in clean energy, enhancing national security and economic strength.

In a 2007 lecture to the Commonwealth Club of California, Vilsack stated:

"Iowa is one of the nation's leading producers of corn-based ethanol, and many people in my state have an economic stake in the expanded use of corn-based ethanol. But the reality is that corn-based ethanol will never be enough to reach our goals. Some have suggested that we import more sugar-based ethanol from Brazil and we should indeed consider all sources of available ethanol  ... but if we are going to create energy security we can't simply replace one imported source of energy with another. That alone is not security    ... the only way we can produce enough domestically is if we greatly improve the technology used to produce cellulosic ethanol."

Appointment

On December 17, 2008, then-President-elect Barack Obama announced his choice of Vilsack as the nominee to be the 30th Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack has governed a largely agricultural state as did the previous two Secretaries of Agriculture, Mike Johanns (who was later a United States Senator from Nebraska) (2005–2007) and Ed Schafer (2007–2009).

The Senate confirmed Vilsack's nomination for the position by unanimous consent on January 20, 2009.

Reaction to Vilsack's nomination from agricultural groups was largely positive and included endorsements from the Corn Refiners Association, the National Grain and Feed Association, the National Farmers Union, the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Vilsack was the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership, and was named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, an industry lobbying group.

Actions
Vilsack appointed Shirley Sherrod as the Georgia Director of Rural Development, saying she would be an "important advocate on behalf of rural communities". Months after the appointment, Vilsack forced her to resign based on accusations of considering race in the handling of her job responsibilities at a private advocacy firm in 1986. Subsequent reports claimed that Vilsack had overreacted to a selectively edited tape of a speech that Sherrod had given to the NAACP. The edited tape had been posted online by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart. Vilsack expressed his "deep regret" to Sherrod in acting hastily.

On January 24, 2012, Obama appointed Vilsack the designated survivor during the President's State of the Union address.

Beef advocacy
In March 2012, Vilsack joined three midwest governors in a campaign to defend the use of a processed beef product made from trimmings left after beef carcasses are butchered, dubbed "pink slime" by its critics. He said "it's safe, it contains less fat and historically it's been less expensive" and that it should be available to consumers and school districts that want to buy it.

Global warming
At a Drake University forum on climate change April 22, 2014, Vilsack stated "agriculture tends to take the brunt of criticism about climate change, but the industry contributes only 9   percent of the greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet" and that while there were "challenges globally in terms of agriculture and its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions that's not necessarily the case in the United States."

Considered resignation
In 2015, Vilsack told President Obama he was considering resigning from his position. The Washington Post reported that he said, "There are days when I have literally nothing to do" as he weighed his decision to quit. Obama asked Vilsack to remain in his position and asked him to look into the problem of opioid addiction.

Between cabinet tenures
Shortly after his tenure ended, Vilsack released a statement in support of his succession by Sonny Perdue as the Secretary of Agriculture, making Perdue the only cabinet member nominee to receive a public statement of support from an Obama cabinet member. He was mentioned as a possible candidate for the United States Senate in 2020, for the seat currently held by Republican incumbent Joni Ernst, but subsequently declined to run.

In February 2017, Vilsack became president and CEO of the US Dairy Export Council.

Vilsack endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

Nomination and confirmation hearings
In December 2020, Biden announced he would nominate Vilsack to again serve as the Secretary of Agriculture. The move was met by some with criticism from black farmers and progressives, because of Vilsack's perceived relationship with status quo and corporate agriculture. He appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee on February 2, 2021, and was unanimously approved. His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on February 23, 2021, by a 92–7 vote. He was sworn into office by Vice President Kamala Harris on February 24, 2021.

Tenure
During his tenure, Vilsack announced that the USDA would leverage $100 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand America's meat processing capacity.

Personal life
Vilsack met his wife, Ann Christine "Christie" Bell, in a cafeteria while at Hamilton College in New York in October 1968. Vilsack approached her and asked, "Are you a Humphrey or a Nixon supporter?" She replied "Humphrey" and they soon began dating. On August 18, 1973, the couple was married in Christie Vilsack's hometown of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Vilsack and his wife moved to Mount Pleasant in 1975, where he joined his father-in-law's law practice.

Tom and Christie Vilsack have two sons, Jess and Doug.

In May 2017, Vilsack's six-year-old granddaughter, Ella, died of complications from influenza.

Vilsack won $150,000 in the Powerball in 2020.

Electoral history

 * 1992 election for Iowa State Senate, 49th District:
 * Democratic Primary
 * Tom Vilsack (D), 100.0%

 * 1992 General Election:
 * Tom Vilsack (D), 50.1% – 12,544 votes
 * Dave Heaton (R), 42.1% – 10,551 votes
 * Dan Reed (I), 7.8% – 1,945 votes

 * 1994 election for Iowa State Senate, 49th District:
 * Democratic Primary
 * Tom Vilsack (D), 99.9% – 1,201 votes
 * scattering, 0.1% – 1 vote

 * 1994 General Election:
 * Tom Vilsack (D), 98.8% – 12,288 votes
 * scattering, 1.2% – 145 votes

title: Tom Vilsack


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Terry Branstad

Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is an American politician and former diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 before serving as governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017. He is the longest-serving governor in United States history. Branstad served as the United States Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2020 under President Donald Trump.

Branstad served as the 39th governor of Iowa from 1983 to 1999. Following this initial retirement from politics, he served as President of Des Moines University, a private medical osteopathic school, from 2003 to 2009. In 2010, Branstad returned to Iowa politics, running for governor again and defeating Democratic incumbent Chet Culver to become the state's 42nd governor. His tenure of 22 years, 4 months, and 13 days makes him the longest-serving governor in American history, having surpassed George Clinton's record of 20 years, 11 months, and 2 days on 14 December 2015.

In December 2016, Branstad accepted President Donald Trump's nomination to serve as the United States Ambassador to China. Branstad resigned as governor of Iowa on May 24, 2017 and was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to China on July 12, 2017. In 2020, Branstad resigned as Ambassador to China in order to work on President Trump's 2020 reelection campaign.

On January 24, 2023, it was announced that Branstad would take over as the new president of the World Food Prize Foundation.

Early life
Branstad was born in Leland, Iowa. His father was Edward Arnold Branstad, a farmer; his mother was Rita (née Garland). Branstad's mother was Jewish, and his father was a Norwegian American Lutheran. Branstad was raised Lutheran and later converted to Catholicism. He is a second cousin of US Attorney-General Merrick Garland.

Education
Branstad received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Iowa in 1969 and a Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School in 1974. He was drafted after college and served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1971 as a military policeman in the 503rd Military Police Battalion at Fort Bragg. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service; he once recalled that he arrested actress Jane Fonda for coming onto the post at Arlington National Cemetery, where she was planning to attend an antiwar protest.

Early political career
Branstad served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 and was the Lieutenant Governor of Iowa from 1979 to 1983, the year he was first elected governor.

First tenure (1983–1999)
When he took office as governor at age 36, Branstad became the youngest chief executive in Iowa's history. Reelected in 1986, 1990, and 1994, he left office as Iowa's longest-serving governor. He served as Chairman of the National Governors Association in 1989–1990, and also was Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association. In 1997 he chaired the Education Commission of the States, the Republican Governors Association, and the Governors' Ethanol Coalition.

In 1983 Branstad vetoed a bill to establish a state lottery.

Branstad made reinstatement of the death penalty a central focus of his 1994 re-election campaign; however, despite successfully being re-elected, he was unable to implement this policy due to opposition from Democrats in the Iowa State Senate.

Iowa's unemployment rate went from 8.5% when Branstad took office to a record low 2.5% by the time he left office in 1999. In his first year as governor, the state budget had a $90 million deficit. It took several years until the budget was balanced. Branstad said he did not have enough support in the legislature to approve budget reforms until 1992. By 1999 Iowa had an unprecedented $900 million budget surplus.

Inter-gubernatorial career
Branstad focused most of his efforts outside of politics after leaving office in early 1999. He founded Branstad and Associates, LLC and was also a partner in the firm of Kaufman, Pattee, Branstad & Miller and a financial advisor for Robert W. Baird and Co.

In August 2003 Branstad accepted an offer from Des Moines University to become its president. On October 16, 2009, he announced his retirement from Des Moines University to run again for governor.

President George W. Bush appointed Branstad to chair the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. The commission was charged with developing a plan to improve the educational performance of students with disabilities. After completing his work with the commission in 2003, Branstad was asked to serve as a member of the National Advisory Council for Positive Action for Teen Health, or PATH. The advisory council encourages action to detect adolescent mental illness. In April 2003 Branstad was named a public member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which comprises both professional and public members who address a variety of issues related to accounting.

Branstad serves on the boards of Conmed Health Management Inc, American Future Fund, the Iowa Health System, Liberty Bank, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and Living History Farms.

2010 gubernatorial election
On August 2, 2009, The Des Moines Register reported that Branstad was actively considering seeking the Republican nomination for governor. On October 7, Branstad filed papers to run for governor in the 2010 election. According to a September Des Moines Register poll, he maintained a 70% favorability rating from Iowans as compared to Governor Chet Culver's rating of 50%.

On June 8, 2010, Branstad won the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but when opposing candidate Bob Vander Plaats conceded, he did not endorse Branstad.

The Des Moines Tea Party gave Branstad a "no" on their report card regarding "criteria for acceptance" and said Branstad had "a history of raising taxes, [was] not a true conservative, increased the size of government every year he held office, [and] built a state-owned phone company." Multiple sources:
 * Former Iowa State Auditor Richard Johnson accused Branstad of keeping "two sets of books" on the state budget while governor. Johnson said Branstad needed to be "transparent" to Iowa voters about the reporting of Iowa's finances during his tenure as governor.
 * Former Iowa State Auditor Richard Johnson accused Branstad of keeping "two sets of books" on the state budget while governor. Johnson said Branstad needed to be "transparent" to Iowa voters about the reporting of Iowa's finances during his tenure as governor.
 * Former Iowa State Auditor Richard Johnson accused Branstad of keeping "two sets of books" on the state budget while governor. Johnson said Branstad needed to be "transparent" to Iowa voters about the reporting of Iowa's finances during his tenure as governor.
 * Former Iowa State Auditor Richard Johnson accused Branstad of keeping "two sets of books" on the state budget while governor. Johnson said Branstad needed to be "transparent" to Iowa voters about the reporting of Iowa's finances during his tenure as governor.

2014 gubernatorial election
Branstad ran for reelection in 2014. He was opposed in the Republican primary by Tom Hoefling, a political activist and nominee for president in 2012 for both America's Party and American Independent Party. Branstad won the primary with 83% of the vote.

In the general election, Branstad faced Democratic nominee State Senator Jack Hatch and won with 59% of the vote.

Voting rights
Branstad rescinded an executive order by signed by governor Tom Vilsack that restored voting rights to approximately 115,000 felons who had completed their sentences. Iowa was the last remaining state to have felons permanently disenfranchised until 2020, when Branstad's successor, Kim Reynolds, restored voting rights for some felons who had completed their sentences.

Taxes
In June 2013, Branstad signed into law a sweeping tax reform bill that had widespread bipartisan support, passing the Iowa Senate by 44 votes to 6 and the Iowa House by 84 votes to 13. The bill, Senate File 295, provided for the state's largest tax cut in history, including an estimated $4.4 billion in property tax reform and an estimated $90 million of annual income tax relief, in part in the form of an increase in the earned income tax credit. The bill also included significant reforms to education and health care.

Job creation ranking
A June 2013 Business Journals analysis of 45 of the country's 50 governors ranked Branstad 28th in job creation. The ranking was based on a comparison of the annual private sector growth rate in all 50 states using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Gun rights
On April 13, 2017, with large Republican majorities in the Iowa legislature, Branstad signed a bill into law expanding gun rights, enacting a stand-your-ground law, expanding the right of citizens to sue if they believe their Second Amendment rights are being infringed, and expanding the gun rights of minors, among several other provisions.

Bakken pipeline
Branstad's business-friendly appointments to the Iowa Utilities Board were controversial. They have "virtually assured" approval of the Iowa section of the Dakota Access pipeline. His last appointment was that of Richard W. Lozier Jr., who represented a pro-pipeline lobby group and who had to recuse himself one month after he joined in 2017.

Discrimination lawsuit
On July 15, 2019, a jury in Polk County, Iowa awarded a gay former state official $1.5 million in damages, finding that Branstad had discriminated against him based on sexual orientation in 2012.

U.S. Ambassador to China
In December 2016 President-elect Donald Trump chose Branstad to serve as US Ambassador to China, succeeding Max Baucus. Branstad accepted the offer within one day after meeting with Trump in New York. Trump cited Branstad's decades of experience with China while governor of Iowa. Xi Jinping, China's paramount leader, considers Branstad an "old friend". Branstad's relationship with Xi dates to 1985, when Xi, then a young official from Hebei Province, headed a five-man agricultural delegation to Iowa. Branstad's hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee was held on May 2, 2017.

Branstad was confirmed by the Senate on May 22, 2017, in an 82 to 13 vote. He resigned as governor on May 24, 2017, in a ceremony at the Iowa State House, and was immediately sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to China. His appointment marked the third time in a decade that a politician resigned a statewide office to become the Ambassador to China; Jon Huntsman Jr. resigned as governor of Utah in 2009, and Max Baucus resigned as U.S. senator from Montana in 2014.

In May 2019, Branstad traveled to Tibet Autonomous Region amid heightening trade tensions between the United States and China. This diplomatic journey was designed to give the United States a better perception of Tibet and its people, cultural practices, and life.

Branstad stepped down as U.S. Ambassador to China in early October 2020.

Personal life
Branstad married Christine Johnson on June 17, 1972. They have three children, Eric, Allison, and Marcus, and eight grandchildren. His wife has worked as a medical assistant and as a volunteer at schools and hospitals. Eric Branstad is a political consultant and lobbyist whose lobbying activities on behalf of Chinese firms while Branstad was US Ambassador to China led to charges with conflict of interest. Branstad denied the allegation. Allison moved to Beijing with her father when he was appointed ambassador because she landed a job at the International School of Beijing as a third grade teacher. Marcus was appointed by his father to the Iowa Natural Resources Commission in 2013 and works as a lobbyist for the American Chemistry Council.

Branstad is a member of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. He received the honor of "Knight Commander of the Court of Honor" in 2015.

In 2015 longtime newspaperman and Iowa historian Mike Chapman published a biography of Branstad, Iowa's Record-Setting Governor: The Terry Branstad Story. The book details Branstad's youth on the family farm, his high school days in Forest City, and his rise in politics.

Electoral history

 * 1972 election for Iowa House of Representatives District 8:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 59.0%
 * Elmer Selbrand (D), 41.0%
 * 1974 election for Iowa House of Representatives District 8:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 68.7%
 * Jean Haugland (D), 31.3%
 * 1976 election for Iowa House of Representatives District 8:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 70.4%
 * Franklin Banwart (D), 29.6%
 * 1978 Republican primary election for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa:
 * Terry Branstad, 42.1%
 * Hansen, 32.7%
 * Oakley, 25.2%
 * 1978 election for Lieutenant Governor of Iowa:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 57.7%
 * William Palmer (D), 42.3%
 * 1982 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * 1982 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 52.8%
 * Roxanne Conlin (D), 46.6%
 * Marcia Farrington (L), 0.3%
 * Jim Bittner (S), 0.3%

 * 1986 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * 1986 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 51.9%
 * Lowell Junkins (D), 48.0%

 * 1990 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * '''1990 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 60.6%
 * Donald Avenson (D), 38.8%
 * Bailey/Nelson (SW), 0.4%

 * 1994 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * Republican Primary
 * Terry Branstad (R), 51.8%
 * Fred Grandy (R), 48.1%

 * 1994 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 56.8%
 * Bonnie Campbell (D), 41.6%
 * Hughes/Davis (Petition), 0.6%
 * Butler/Stone (NL), 0.4%
 * Olsen/Carey (L), 0.3%
 * Galati/Pena (SW), 0.1%

 * 2010 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * Republican Primary
 * Terry Branstad (R), 114,290 votes, 50.4%
 * Bob Vander Plaats (R), 92,759, 40.9%
 * Rod Roberts (R), 19,916, 8.8%

 * 2010 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 52.9%
 * Chet Culver (D), 43.1%
 * Jonathan Narcisse (I), 1.3%
 * Eric Cooper (L), 1.3%
 * James Hughes (I), 0.3%
 * David Rosenfeld (SW), 0.2%
 * Write-Ins, 0.2%

 * 2014 election for Governor of Iowa:
 * Republican Primary:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 129,752 votes, 79.8%
 * Tom Hoefling (R), 16.2%
 * Write-Ins, 0.2%
 * 2014 General Election:
 * Terry Branstad (R), 59.1%
 * Jack Hatch (D), 37.3%
 * Lee Deakins Hieb (L), 1.8%
 * Jim Hennager (I), 0.9%
 * Jonathan Narcisse (I), 0.9%
 * Write-ins, 0.1%
 * Write-ins, 0.1%

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Terry Branstad


text:
Talk:Tom Vilsack

Untitled comments

 * The title "Nominee-designate" - is that standard? Not sure, never heard it before... - also, not sure why Sonny Perdue is seen as an Obama appointee when he wasn't **

The article doesn't mention what, if any, experience Vilsack has in agriculture. This is more than slightly relevant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.97.69.229 (talk) 02:20, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Tom Vilsack, 51, was elected as Iowa's 39th Governor in 1998.

The Vilsack Administration increased the number of children covered by health insurance by 300%. He also created a statewide drug-purchasing organization, to reduce the price of prescription drugs for old people.

Vilsack 100 million pennies from the federal government for a 17-county task group that tries to arrest methamphetamine producers. His budget also provided $50 million for a new state crime lab.

A previous mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa (pop. 8,751), Vilsack was elected to the Iowa State Senate in 1992. As a Senator, Vilsack worked to force companies receiving state tax incentives to provide better pay and benefits, passed a law allowing workers to receive their health coverage when changing jobs, and helped redesign the state's Workforce Development Department. He also wrote a bill forcing the state to pay for 50% of county mental health costs. -- Text from this page is the same as; http://www.state.ia.us/governor/bios/vilsackbio.html Which is covered by this copyright; http://www.iowaccess.org/main/copyright.html

See also the Google search for text that is in this article;

--mav

Note that copyright law governs the creative expression of ideas, not the ideas or information themselves. --Lir

 * The created expression of ideas is in the choice and order of words used. When you copy that verbatum then you are violating copyright. Please don't do that. --mav

I am not copying verbatim. There are only so many ways to say a former  mayor  of  mt  pleasant  iowa  pop  8751  --Lir

 * There are many ways to say that. I suggest you find one that doesn't violate somebody elses copyright. Your agree not to violate other people's copyright each time you submit a page since this message is displayed; DO NOT SUBMIT COPYRIGHTED WORK WITHOUT PERMISSION!  Please rewrite the text to remove the original copyright and stop erasing this page - it makes it appear as if you are trying to hide something. --mav

but this isnt copyrighted. it is re-written. you are being ridiculous. -Lir

 * You just rewrote it so the version I was talking about was the same as the original text. Thank you for doing the rewrite, the text now passes the Google test. I will now wikify the new text for you. BTW, you might want to vist Manual of Style which has good Wikification pointers. --mav

 * Hm. One billion pennies is a bit much. Also improving prose. --mav

well if you typed it vilsack and $10 million i bet you might get the page and we wouldn't want that to happen...--Lir

 * When doing Google tests I copy multiple words that are centered upon a period. Therefore all the words in the second half of the first sentence and the first half of the second sentence have to be exactly the same for me to find any matches. --mav

It remains to be seen what Vilsack's future would be. Even though John Kerry ultimately chose John Edwards, some political observers feel that in the event of a Kerry/Edwards victory that Vilsack would be offered a cabinet level position. So he may not even go to 2006 as governor of Iowa. It'll be intersting to see how this all comes out in November.
 * JesseG 03:32, 10 Jul 2004 (UTC)

My friend is a reporter for the local newspaper - she usually covers political news. She told me that even though Vilsack has said he will not run for a third term that he may be talked into remaining with the balance between the two parties in Des Moines.

JesseG 23:18, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

There have been rumours flying around on the possibility that Vilsack may be considered for the position of DNC chairman when McAuliffe steps down next year.

Zahra

This entry has a lot of POV\"vote for this guy" going on. - Jaysus Chris 03:49, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

This article tells nothing about most of his positions on the only important issue: agriculture. I now know how he feels about GM crops, but thats one of many issues. How does he feel about corn subsidies? Other crop subsidies? FDA regulations? Nitrogen fertilizer? What does he want to do about type one biofuels? Would he strengthen alergy reporting requirements? What does he think about the ethics of the modern chicken farm? How does he feel about pesticide overuse? Crop rotation? other modern farming methods? Does he support tax subsidies for oraganic farmers? Would he tax milk? How does he feel about food stamps and America's food purchasing programs? How does he feel about foreign food aid? Would he increase funding to the FDA? For restraunt inspectors? Food manufacturing facility inspectors? Does he favor continued terriffs on food products? increased terriffs on food products?199.67.236.234 (talk) 04:24, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Suggest removing Category:Iowa politicians as redundant with Category:Governors of Iowa
The following discussion was on my talk page. I'm moving it here instead since it relates directly to this article:

Please don't remove vital categories such as Category:Iowa politicians. Such categories are vital to the attempts to improve the articles of such people. Most of the categories you removed from Tom Vilsack were indeed redundant, but please remember that a politician category is NOT redundant with a lawyer category. Thank you. --Tim4christ17 talk 17:52, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

 * I didn't say it was redundant with a lawyer category. It was redundant with the Category:Governors of Iowa. Clearly all Iowa Governors are also Iowa politicians. Except in rare cases, an article should not appear in both a category and its parent category (in this case, both "Governors" and "Politicians"). I'll move this discussion to the article page, though, for any other follow-up comment. Dugwiki 17:58, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

As I mentioned above, it is normally recommended that an article not appear in both a category and its parent category. I'll leave Category:Iowa politicians in question in place temporarilly, pending discussion, but still recommend ultimately removing it since it is redundant with Category:Governors of Iowa. Dugwiki 18:07, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Keepseagle vs Vilsack
This is a class action settlement that awards approximately $750 million to Native Americans whose trust land was mismanaged between 1981-1999 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.234.0.138 (talk) 01:07, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Governors
The category box is in error, the gov-elect hasn't taken office yet. At the least, it should be listed 'Culver (elect)'. GoodDay 17:47, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Superfluous sentence:
In the last paragraph:

"During the appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Stewart pointed out that Vilsack was "not, seemingly an asshole," in comparison to current President George W. Bush. Since Stewart's view on President Bush is usually critical, it can be assumed that the expletive was meant in a negative way"

I'm not entirely sure that calling someone an asshole can ever be construed as a compliment, so pointing out that it is an insult is superfluous and a bit puzzling.

Also, on the section on Iraq, the paragraph starts by saying he has a politically moderate position on the subject, then says he favours pulling out almost all the troops, which is a fairly extreme position so these two statements made in the present tense about his position on the issue are contradictory.

Mb667584 12:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)Dex

Iraq position changing?
It appears now, as of mid-February, that he wants an immediate pullout from Iraq. Does this mean begin troop withdrawal now or have it completed real soon? -Amit

Vilsack has dropped from the 2008 Presidential race.
Somebody add this to the main article, as without it, one gets the impression that ex-Governor Vilsack is still running. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.40.226.226 (talk) 22:24, 27 February 2007 (UTC).

Million dollars?
I read he raised one million dollars, did he spend it? give it back? give it to another candiate?

Surname
What is the national origin of his adoptive father's surname? Badagnani 04:18, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

OCA opposition
Is this section actually noteworthy? It notes that the OCA feels he would be a poor pick for the agricultural poobah, with a list of reasons, but the reasons given aren't inherently obvious as to why they're actually detrimental to the large percentage of the population, or, anyone at all.

It seems cut/paste from OCA's bullet points they posted earlier. It violates a neutral POV. 69.143.88.44 (talk) 08:14, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I've expanded this section so that it now discusses how some groups endorsed this nomination while at least one (OCA) strongly opposed it. I think it is important and mostly NPOV. OCA sentences may need a recheck for NPOV. ike9898 (talk) 21:09, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Details of political history
How long was he mayor of Mount Pleasant? How long did he serve in the Senate?CountMacula (talk) 18:47, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Vandalism
Courtesy of Revision as of 00:26, 25 February 2013 (edit) (undo) 72.89.98.188 (talk) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Agent Cooper (talk • contribs) 22:25, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Frontline Report on Salmonella Outbreak
Secretary Vilsak was interviewed by Frontline in a program that was broadcast on 5-12-2015, on the response of the Department to a series of salmonella outbreaks resulting from the appearance in poultry of new and virulent strains of salmonella. He insisted that the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) did not have the authority to order recalls of chicken contaminated with the bacteria, even if highly pathogenic strains were present. However he refused to ask Congress to pass legislation providing the FSIS with that authority. Danwoodard (talk) 03:02, 13 May 2015 (UTC)

removing Pigford scandal claim
I am removing this claim: "Vilsack was also a prime mover in enabling the "Pigford" scandal, a massive fraud involving billions in payouts to minority supplicants who falsely claimed Agriculture department bias in the awarding of farm loans." The source given is http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/us/farm-loan-bias-claims-often-unsupported-cost-us-millions.html. This NYT article is a primary source to begin with, but even setting that aside, it never makes the assertion from our article. It only quotes people making this claim, and others countering the claim. (From the journalist's tone, it sounds to me like she sides with those alleging fraud, but she never says so.) --Allen (talk) 00:10, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

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Special case to use archive.is
The line in the article:

On March 28, 2012, Vilsack came out publicly defending the use of "pink slime" added in ground beef.[27 ]

Sources an article from 2012 that is no longer available online. The only archived instance of that article is on archive.is

https://archive.is/mbP67

Please consider allowing this source, as it's currently the only one that has proof of his statement.

Alexipwns (talk) 12:36, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Last member of Obama's original cabinet
The lead says that when Arne Duncan resigns, Vilsack will become the last cabinet member who has served since Obama took office. This is not true since Joe Biden and Shaun Donovan have also served on Obama's cabinet from the beginning. This claim should either be removed or possibly rephrased to say "cabinet secretary" rather than "member of the cabinet" Aliiqve (talk) 17:32, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

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Sec Agriculture under Biden
In December 2020, Joe Biden nominated Vilsack to be the Secretary of Agriculture, a position he held for 8 years under President Barack Obama. Vilsack was selected over traditional farm groups support of former U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and reformers who wanted the Department of Agriculture to spend money on climate change supporting Representative Marcia Fudge, who was nominated for Secretary of HUD.[41]

I added this because it creates useful context. Otherwise, it's similar to "Jones nominated for Sec of Agri by President Smith-end of story". Instead, it informs the reader in a very brief way about the dynamics of history and Vilsack's nomination. Vowvo (talk) 20:01, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Tom Vilsack


text:
Talk:Terry Branstad

Picture
This picture is from 25 years ago! Can we get a more modern one? -- Erroneuz1 (talk) 23:20, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Uploaded one from Flickr, courtesy of IowaPolitics.com --Philosopher Let us reason together. 18:25, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
 * I moved the 1984 Branstad picture into the Early Life and Career section. American007 (talk) 20:07, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Lack of Detail
This man was Governor of Iowa for 18 YEARS, and there's absolutely NO detail on his governorship, except for "he became governor, then he left"! Surely there must be SOMETHING to write about! 21:40, 12 March 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.46.172.25 (talk)
 * I agree. American007 (talk) 20:08, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

 * I would like to see which issues he is in favor of and what he is planning on working towards... Garfield 263 (talk) 03:35, 6 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, given the fact that his last term ended twelve years ago, I wonder how many Wikipedians know much about his first four terms, especially since Wikipedians tend toward the younger end of the age spectrum. Again, unfortunately, that just means that it's that much more important to have decent content in his article...  Hopefully now that he's governor-elect, more people will be interested in expanding it.  --Philosopher Let us reason together. 12:00, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

How come there is no mention of his son that got off scott free after he drove drunk and killed some inocent people? Where is the mention of the illegal use of his power? No one else gets off scott free from a drunk driving charge especially when they kill people? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.239.23.194 (talk) 20:56, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Just words ...
Ron Paul win Iowa and Terry Branstad live threatened by choking on carrot. more:  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.90.197.87 (talk) 05:52, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Worst Governor in America?
Does anyone really believe that the CREW reference to Branstad being "one of the worst governors in America" is appropriate in this article? It appears that the rating is based on a subjective analysis limited to 16 Republican governors and 2 Democratic governors and in which all the governors analyzed received the rating. Their report only mentions the 18 governors that they labeled as "worst". None of the other governors that they supposedly analyzed are referenced. Even NPR and the Chairman of the NY Dem Party of questioned the credibility of the report. CFredkin (talk) 15:45, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

Governor of Iowa
Recently, a large amount of information has been added about Branstad's term as Governor of Iowa after 2011. There are several problems with this addition. First, in this extremely large amount of information, there are absolutely no references or other sources. For such an expansive amount of information, there ought to be at least a few references.

Also, the vast majority of information in this section deals with controversies during Branstad's term as Governor, leaving only one small paragraph (with no references, of course) to explain other events. This violates WP:UNDUE as it gives the controversies in his term undue weight in comparison with the rest of the article, which mentions little else about Branstad as governor. I don't know this for sure, since I don't live in Iowa, but I think it's doubtful that the so-called "controversies" during his term really are this important to give so much weight to, because Branstad won re-election in 2014 in landslide and to my knowledge remains a popular governor. --1990'sguy (talk) 00:30, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

 * I removed two sections that had no business being there, but left two in for now. One, the Court appointment section, may deserve some mention, but I'm not sure that it belongs in "criticism".  The other, the veto lawsuit, was a significant controversy, but I don't actually recall much about it off-hand.  Both need citations badly, but they wouldn't be hard to find.  With regard to the note about popularity, if there is a recent poll about that, it could be nice to have in the article, both for "current" and for when he was running against Chet Culver several years ago.  Of course, the worst balance issue in the article is the one mentioned above - that there is virtually nothing about his earlier terms in the article.  – Philosopher Let us reason together. 01:41, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

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Terry Branstad's Son, Eric, Killed Two People In 1991
Surprised this wasn't mentioned in the personal life section. It was a big deal in his personal life since he was in office at the time. It was an automobile accident and Eric only received a traffic violation. Terry Branstad faced reporters asking questions about his son "getting off easy" for years. A lot of stories talking about it cite a column in the Des Moines Register titled Did Eric Branstad Get A Break? Unforutnately not able to find it, but can find plenty of new stories mentioning the accident. 72.74.148.76 (talk) 21:54, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

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Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeburgh Festival of arts at nearby Snape Maltings, which was founded by Britten in 1948. It also hosts an annual poetry festival and several food festivals and other events.

Aldeburgh, as a port, gained borough status in 1529 under Henry VIII. Its historic buildings include a 16th-century moot hall and a Napoleonic-era Martello Tower. A third of its housing consists of second homes. Visitors are drawn to its Blue Flag beach and fisherman huts, where fresh fish is sold, to Aldeburgh Yacht Club and to its cultural offerings. Two family-run fish and chip shops have been rated among the country's best. The independent Aldeburgh bookshop has been in business for more than seventy years, is locally thought to have been the site of the birthplace of George Crabbe (1754–1832) and has organised the annual Aldeburgh Literary Festival since 2002.

History
The name "Aldeburgh" derives from the Old English ald (old) and burh (fortification), although this structure, along with much of the Tudor town, has now been lost to the sea. In the 16th century, Aldeburgh was a leading port and had a flourishing shipbuilding industry. The flagship of the Virginia Company, the Sea Venture is believed to have been built here in 1608. Aldeburgh's importance as a port declined as the River Alde silted up and larger ships could no longer berth. It survived mainly on fishing until the 19th century, when it also became a seaside resort. Much of its distinctive, whimsical architecture dates from that period. The river is now home to a yacht club and a sailing club.

Between 1959 and 1968, the village was the location of a Royal Observer Corps monitoring bunker, to be used in the event of a nuclear attack. The bunker was later demolished and no trace survives.

Geography
Aldeburgh is on the North Sea coast, about 87 mi north-east of London, 20 mi north-east of Ipswich and 23 mi south of Lowestoft. Locally it is 4 mi south of the town of Leiston and 2 mi south of the village of Thorpeness. It lies just north of the River Alde, with the narrow shingle spit of Orford Ness all that stops the river meeting the sea at Aldeburgh – instead it flows another 9 mi to the south-west.

The beach is mainly shingle and wide in places, allowing fishing boats to draw up onto the beach above the high tide, but it narrows at the neck of Orford Ness. The shingle bank allows access to the Ness from the north, passing a Martello tower and two yacht clubs at the site of the former village of Slaughden. Aldeburgh was flooded in the North Sea flood of 1953, after which its flood defences were strengthened. The beach received a Blue Flag rural beach award in 2005.

The town is within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), with a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and nature reserves in its locality. The Alde-Ore Estuary SSSI covers the area surrounding the river from Snape to its mouth, including the whole of Orford Ness. This contains several salt marsh and mudflat habitats. The Leiston-Aldeburgh SSSI extends from the northern edge of the town over a range of habitats, including grazing marsh and heathland. It includes Thorpeness Mere and the North Warren RSPB reserve, an area of wildlife and habitat conservation, and nature trails run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

Two smaller geological SSSI units lie on the southern edges. Aldeburgh Brick Pit, of 0.84 ha, shows a clear stratigraphy of Red Crag deposits above Corralline Crag. Aldeburgh Hall Pit is a shallow pit 0.8 ha in area, featuring a section of Corralline Crag. It is seen as one of the best sites in Britain for Neogene fauna.

The town's churches include the pre-Reformation Anglican parish church of St Peter and St Paul and the Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Peter.

Governance

Aldeburgh has a town council and lies within the East Suffolk non-metropolitan district. Aldeburgh ward, including Thorpeness and other communities, had a population of 3225 in the 2011 census, when the mean age of the inhabitants was 55 and the median age 61.

It is within the Suffolk Coastal parliamentary constituency represented by Therese Coffey, having had John Gummer as the MP from 1979 to 2010. It is seen as a safe seat for the Conservatives.

Aldeburgh was a parliamentary borough from 1571 and returned two Members of Parliament (MPs), the right to vote being vested in the town's freemen. By the mid-18th century it was classed as a rotten borough, as the votes were controlled by a City of London merchant, Thomas Fonnereau: and memorably described it as "a venal little borough in Suffolk". It lost its representation under the Great Reform Act of 1832.

In 1908 Aldeburgh became the first British town to elect a female mayor: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, whose father, Newson Garrett, had been mayor in 1889. In 2006, Sam Wright became Aldeburgh's town crier and mace bearer at 15, and so the youngest in the world.

In 1885 Aldeburgh became a municipal borough in the administrative county of East Suffolk, the district contained the parish of Aldeburgh. On 1 April 1934 part of Hazlewood parish was added Aldeburgh parish and district from Plomesgate Rural District when Hazlewood was abolished. On 1 April 1974 the district was abolished and became part of Suffolk Coastal in the non-metropolitan county of Suffolk. A successor parish was formed covering the same area as the former district and its parish. In 2019 Aldeburgh became part of East Suffolk district.

Transport
Aldeburgh is linked to the A12 by the A1094 road, at Friday Street in Benhall. The B1122 leads to Leiston.

There are direct bus services from the town to Saxmundham, Beccles, Halesworth, Woodbridge and Ipswich. Buses in the area are operated by First Eastern Counties and Borderbus.

Aldeburgh railway station opened in 1860 as the terminus of the Aldeburgh Branch Line from Saxmundham, but was closed in 1966 under the Beeching Axe. Nowadays, the nearest railway station is Saxmundham on the East Suffolk Line, approximately 7 mi away. Saxmundham station is served by hourly weekday services to Ipswich, for connections towards London Liverpool Street, and to Lowestoft for connections to Norwich.

Lifeboat station
The RNLI station in the town was operating two lifeboats in 2016.

Moot Hall
The Moot Hall is a Grade I listed timber-framed building, used for council meetings for more than 400 years. The Town Clerk's office remains there and it houses the local museum. It was built in about 1520 and altered in 1654. The brick and stone infilling of the ground floor is later. The hall was restored and the external staircase and gable ends were rebuilt in 1854–1855 under the direction of R. M. Phipson, chief architect of the Diocese of Norwich, in which Aldeburgh then stood. There are 64 other listed historic buildings and monuments in the town.

Martello Tower
A unique quatrefoil Martello Tower stands at the isthmus leading to the Orford Ness shingle spit. It is the largest and northernmost of 103 English defensive towers built in 1808–1812 to resist a threatened Napoleonic invasion. The Landmark Trust now runs it as holiday apartments. From May 2015 to May 2016, an Antony Gormley statue was on display on the roof as part of his LAND art installation.

The Martello Tower is the only surviving building of the fishing village of Slaughden, which had been washed away by the North Sea by 1936. Near the Martello Tower at Slaughden Quay are barely visible remains of the fishing smack Ionia. It had become stuck in the treacherous mud of the River Alde and was then used as a houseboat. It was burnt in 1974 after becoming unsafe.

Fort Green Mill

The four-storey windmill at the southern end of the town was built in 1824 and converted into a dwelling in 1902.

WW2 tank trap
A WW2 tank trap can be seen next to Slaughden Road.

Aldeburgh Beach Lookout
The Aldeburgh Beach Lookout is a historic landmark on the Aldeburgh seafront. Grade II listed, it was built in about 1830 as a lookout tower to assist or plunder shipping along the hazardous North Sea coast. The South African writer Laurens van der Post did his writing there for more than thirty years. Since 2010, the lookout has provided an artistic space for residents and tourists, with Antony Gormley sculptures on display between the lookout and the sea.

Scallop
On Aldeburgh's beach, a short distance north of the town centre, stands a sculpture called Scallop, dedicated to Benjamin Britten, who would walk along the beach in the afternoons. Created from stainless steel by the Suffolk-based artist Maggi Hambling, it stands 15 ft high and was unveiled in November 2003. The piece is made up of two interlocking scallop shells, each broken, the upright shell being pierced by the words, "I hear those voices that will not be drowned," taken from Britten's opera Peter Grimes. The sculpture is meant to be enjoyed both visually and in a tactile way: people are encouraged to sit on it and watch the sea.

The upright portion of the shell splits into three sections positioned at different angles. The positioning of these effects a visual transformation, depending on the vantage point from which the sculpture is viewed.

The sculpture is controversial in the local area, with some local residents considering it "spoils the beach". It has been vandalised with graffiti and paint on thirteen occasions. There have been petitions both for its removal and retention.

First World War
A nearby aerodrome, Royal Naval Air Station Aldeburgh, was used in the First World War as a night landing ground and for training observers.

Notable residents

 * Henry Johnson (c. 1659–1719), the "greatest shipbuilder and shipowner of his day" and MP for Aldeburgh, 1689–1719
 * George Crabbe (1754–1832), poet, was born in Aldeburgh, which features in his poems The Village and The Borough. The latter concerns a fisherman named Peter Grimes, on whose story Benjamin Britten's opera of that name was based.
 * John Liptrot Hatton (1809–1886) was an internationally celebrated English composer, conductor, pianist and singer who stayed in Aldeburgh for some time and wrote, for the place he loved, an Aldeburgh Te Deum.
 * Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917) was the first woman to qualify as a physician and surgeon in Britain, co-founder of first hospital staffed by women, first female dean of a British medical school, first female Doctor of Medicine in France, first woman in Britain elected to a school board, and as Mayor of Aldeburgh, first female mayor and magistrate in Britain. She is buried in the town churchyard
 * Annie Hall Cudlip, (1838–1918) writer, novelist and short story writer, was born in Aldeburgh.
 * Agnes Garrett (1845–1935), suffragist and interior designer, founded the Ladies Dwellings Company.
 * Dame Millicent Fawcett (1847–1929), suffragist, feminist and writer, was born in Aldeburgh, where she set her one novel, Janet Doncaster.
 * M. R. James (1862–1936), author, set a story, "A Warning to the Curious", in "Seaburgh" (Aldeburgh). Landmarks such as the Martello tower and White Lion Hotel feature.
 * Mabel Lilian Basham, filmmaker, documented daily life and key events in Aldeburgh including the local Women's Institute
 * Joan Cross (1900–1993), soprano and theatre director who created several Britten opera roles, is buried in the town churchyard.
 * Gerry Fiennes (1906–1985), railway manager and author, was Mayor of Aldeburgh in 1976.
 * Imogen Holst (1907–1984), composer, conductor, teacher, assistant to Benjamin Britten, and co-director of the Aldeburgh Festival from 1956 to 1977, lived in Aldeburgh from 1952 and is buried in the town churchyard.
 * H. T. Cadbury-Brown (1913–2009), architect.
 * [[File:Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia (restored).jpg|thumb|162x162px|Benjamin Britten, 1968]][[Benjamin Britten]] (1913–1976) moved to the town in 1942. He, Eric Crozier (1914–1994) and Peter Pears (1910–1986) founded the Aldeburgh Festival and Aldeburgh Music Club. He moved with Pears into The Red House in 1957. They lie side by side in the town churchyard.
 * Ian Tait (1926–2013) was a GP in Aldeburgh (from 1959) and one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival; he is known for his work in the modernisation of general practice.
 * Ruth Rendell (1930–2015), author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries, created Chief Inspector Wexford.
 * Rt Revd Sandy Millar (born 1939), once vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton and co-founder of the Alpha course, lives in Aldeburgh.
 * Francis Carnwath CBE (1940–2020), deputy director of the Tate gallery 1990–1994, and co-founder of the Aldeburgh Beach Lookout.
 * Sue Lloyd (1939–2011), model and actress, played Barbara Hunter in Crossroads.
 * Christine Truman (born 1941), Grand Slam tennis event winner, lives in Aldeburgh.
 * Malcolm Bowie (1943–2007), Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, 2002–2006.
 * Peter Sinfield (born 1943), songwriter with the progressive rock act King Crimson, lives in Aldeburgh.
 * Cevanne Horrocks-Hopayian (living), composer, was born in the area and lives in Aldeburgh, on the border with Thorpeness.
 * Roy Keane (born 1971), footballer, became an Aldeburgh resident in 2009 on taking over as manager of Ipswich Town.
 * Miranda Raison (born 1977), actress, has a weekend cottage in Aldeburgh and belongs to Aldeburgh Golf Club.
 * Isabella Summers (born 1980), songwriter, producer and remixer (Florence and the Machine), is from Aldeburgh.

Culture
Outside the town, the Snape Maltings is the venue for the Aldeburgh Festival held every June.

Aldeburgh Music Club, founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears in 1952, has since evolved into one of East Anglia's leading choirs, with about 100 members and more than 120 supporting patrons. It rehearses from early September to late May each year and holds three major performances, two of them at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.

The annual Aldeburgh Carnival in August has been held at least since 1892 and possibly since 1832, when "Ye Olde Marine Regatta" was mentioned. The focal point today is a carnival procession featuring locals and visitors dressed in homemade costumes and on floats, often with a topical or local theme. In the evening, a parade with Chinese lanterns and a firework display are traditional. The procession has been led for more than thirty years by Chief Marshal Trevor Harvey, also a Carnival Committee member for more than fifty years.

The Suffolk Craft Society hold an annual themed exhibition in the Peter Pears Gallery over July and August, showing the work of its members.

The town of Aldeburgh, or "Owlbarrow", is the setting of a series of children's illustrated books centred on Orlando (The Marmalade Cat) written by Kathleen Hale, who spent holidays in the town. Many illustrations in the books feature landmarks in the town, including the Moot Hall. The town features in the 1989 thriller Cross of Fire by novelist Colin Forbes, as do the nearby villages of Dunwich and Snape Maltings. James Herbert based his book The Jonah in the area, using several names represented in the local area for characters, including Slaughden.

Aldeburgh (spelt there Aldborough) is the location of a key scene in Wilkie Collins's novel No Name, where Captain Wragge and Magdalen Vanstone enact their conspiracy against Noel Vanstone and Mrs Lecount. The town's Martello Tower is (1862) mentioned as a landmark. Aldeburgh also features in Joseph Freeman's novel Arcadia Lodge as "Seaburgh", and in the M. R. James story A Warning to the Curious. The Maggi Hambling sculpture appears in an early scene, as do various other landmarks.

Fishing
Aldeburgh is notable for its line fishing for amateur anglers; it has been called "a great spot for bass, flounders, sole, dabs, cod, whiting and eels". However, the East Anglian Daily Times says "countless years of commercial over-fishing has all but destroyed many of our [Suffolk's] offshore sea fisheries" and traditional, sustainable inshore fishing is under threat, with likely knock-on effects for the coastal community. Local fishermen featured in the "Fish Fight" campaigns of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Greenpeace, supporting small-scale inshore fishermen.

Rugby
Aldeburgh is home to Aldeburgh and Thorpeness Rugby Club, based at Kings Field in Aldeburgh. The club runs an adult team in the Eastern Counties Leagues, an Under-15s team, Midi/Mini rugby, and Women's touch rugby. The club started out in nearby Thorpeness and moved in 2015 to work with Aldeburgh Town Council and Aldeburgh Community Centre.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the Tacolneston TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter situated north-east of the town.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Suffolk, Heart East, Greatest Hits Radio Ipswich & Suffolk and Alde and Blyth Community Radio (ABC), a community radio station.

The town is served by the local newspaper the East Anglian Daily Times.

Other amenities
These include Aldeburgh Cottage Hospital, a traditional English cottage hospital, the Aldeburgh Library, which also relies on volunteers, and the Aldeburgh cinema, which puts on films and cultural events.

title: Aldeburgh


text:
Aldeburgh Festival

The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall.

History of the Aldeburgh Festival
The Festival was founded in 1948 by the composer Benjamin Britten, the singer Peter Pears and the librettist/producer Eric Crozier. Their work with the English Opera Group (which they had founded with designer John Piper in 1947) frequently took them away from home, and it was while they were on tour in Switzerland with Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia in August of that year, that Peter Pears said "Why not make our own Festival? A modest Festival with a few concerts given by friends? Why not have an Aldeburgh Festival?" The English Opera Group would provide a core programme of opera productions, but the vision was soon widened to include readings of poetry, literature, drama, lectures and exhibitions of art. The first festival was held from 5–13 June 1948 and used the Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, a few doors away from Britten's house in Crabbe Street, as its main venue, with performances in other venues such as Aldeburgh's fifteenth century Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It featured a performance of Albert Herring by the English Opera Group; Britten's newly written Saint Nicolas; and performances by Clifford Curzon and the Zorian String Quartet.

Over the years the festival grew and took in additional venues in nearby Orford, Blythburgh and Framlingham. However, the lack of a large venue was holding back the further development of the festival until one of the largest mid-nineteenth century maltings in East Anglia, at Snape, a village just outside Aldeburgh, became available. Britten, who had lived in Snape in the 1930s, had the vision that the largest of the malthouses could be converted into a Concert Hall. Most of the building's original character, such as the distinctive square malthouse roof-vents, was retained. The new concert hall was opened by the Queen on 2 June 1967, at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival.

Two years later, on the first night of the 1969 Festival, the concert hall was destroyed by fire. Only the shell of the outer walls remained. For that year the Festival was moved to other local venues and only one performance was lost. By the following year the hall had been rebuilt and once again it was opened in the presence of the Queen, this time at the start of the 1970 Festival. The new Concert Hall at Snape Maltings became the main focus for the Aldeburgh Festival, although performances continued to be held at all the former venues.

For the first six years of the Aldeburgh Festival, the joint Artistic Directors remained Britten, Pears and Crozier; in 1955, Britten and Pears were in sole charge, then the following year they were joined by Imogen Holst, who remained a member of the Artistic Directorate until her death in 1984. After Britten's own death in 1976, the artistic direction of the festival was shared; musicians who joined the artistic team included Philip Ledger, Colin Graham, Steuart Bedford, Mstislav Rostropovich, Murray Perahia, Simon Rattle, John Shirley-Quirk and Oliver Knussen.

From the beginning, the Festivals were characterised by an eclectic range of music, from the classics – Bach, Haydn, Mozart – to contemporary work, with young composers in particular being commissioned. By 1982, Britten–Pears archivist Rosamund Strode calculated that the Festival had to that date presented new works by over 75 composers, with world premieres of fifteen operas. Concert goers were over the ensuing years to see new works not only by Britten himself, but by composers such as Lennox Berkeley, Richard Rodney Bennett, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Alfred Schnittke, Toru Takemitsu, Michael Tippett, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Malcolm Williamson, many of whom came to the Festival as composer-in-residence.

Imogen Holst introduced early choral music, and soon works by European composers rarely heard at that time in England were in the repertoire, such as Berg, Mahler, Schoenberg, Poulenc, Boulez, and Webern. Later, Copland, Dutilleux, Lutoslawski and Kodály were to come to the Festival. In contrast, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Joyce Grenfell, Peggy Ashcroft and actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company made regular appearances; Princess Grace of Monaco came to take part in a poetry recital. Sviatoslav Richter played for Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The size and capacity of the Concert Hall enabled the Festival to present full-scale orchestras for the first time, and for many years Simon Rattle brought his City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to Snape. There was a strong connection with Russian music: Rostropovich and Richter became frequent visitors, and in 1970 Shostakovich's 14th Symphony, dedicated to Britten, had its first performance outside the USSR at the Concert Hall.

Peter Pears, in addition to his role as joint Artistic Director, was a regular performer, often accompanied by Britten, and often appearing in up to ten concerts during the Festival. Janet Baker, Julian Bream, Osian Ellis, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, John Shirley-Quirk and Robert Tear were among the regular performers in the early days, followed later by Alfred Brendel, Ian Bostridge, Thomas Allen, Philip Langridge and Ann Murray.

The Concert Hall proved very capable of being turned into an opera stage. The Royal Opera presented A Midsummer Night's Dream in the first season, and on 16 June 1973, the first performance of Britten's final opera, Death in Venice, was given at the Concert Hall, with Pears in the role of Aschenbach. In 1976, in what was to be Britten's last Festival, Janet Baker sang the premiere of his dramatic cantata Phaedra in a festival that included performances by André Previn, Elisabeth Söderström, Sviatoslav Richter and the entire Rostropovich family.

In 1979, Rostropovich conducted the Britten–Pears School in a performance of Eugene Onegin (with Pears as guest in the role of M. Triquet, and Eric Crozier as the valet Guillot). In subsequent years, the school regularly performed an opera during the festival.

The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a virtual one was held in its place.

The festival today
The organisation responsible for running the Aldeburgh Festival changed its name to Aldeburgh Music in 2006.

Thomas Adès was succeeded as Artistic Director of the Festival by Pierre-Laurent Aimard in 2009. In 2009, a suite of new spaces at Snape Maltings, including the Hoffmann Building's Britten Studio and the Jerwood Kiln Studio, was opened with the premiere performance of Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Corridor.

The 2012 Festival had Oliver Knussen as Artist in Residence, and the typically eclectic programme included new productions of Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!, a concert series exploring the work of Helmut Lachenmann, recitals by Menahem Pressler, Ian Bostridge, Peter Serkin, Miklós Perényi, Dezső Ránki and the Arditti and Keller Quartets, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with the UK premiere of a work by Elliott Carter, as well as dramatised performances with film at the Leiston Long Shop Museum, the complete screening with live accompaniment of Britten's 1930s film scores, a promenade performance of John Cage's Song Books in the Hoffmann Building under the banner of, and open-air community events on Aldeburgh Beach.

The centenary of Britten's birth was held between November 2012 and November 2013, and the 2013 Festival, the 66th, featured a new production by Tim Albery of Britten's opera, Peter Grimes, the complete church parables in Orford Church, and new works by Harrison Birtwistle, Wolfgang Rihm, Judith Weir, Magnus Lindberg and Richard Rodney Bennett.

The Aldeburgh Festival retains a unique character, largely due to its location in rural Suffolk. It also continues to emphasise the presentation of new music, new interpretations and the rediscovery of forgotten music. It has seen the premieres of several works by Britten (A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1960; Death in Venice in 1973) and also Harrison Birtwistle's Punch and Judy in 1968, The Io Passion in 2004, The Corridor in 2009 and The Cure in 2015.

The Aldeburgh Festival has always included the visual arts as well as music, and a number of exhibitions are curated each year to accompany the music programme. From 2011, the main exhibition of contemporary art has been promoted under the title SNAP, at various locations around the Snape Maltings site, organised by Abigail Lane. In 2012, featured artists included Glenn Brown, Brian Eno, Ryan Gander, Maggi Hambling and Gavin Turk.

title: Aldeburgh Festival