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St. Louis Lambert International Airport

St. Louis Lambert International Airport is the primary international airport serving metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Missouri. The airport covers 3,793 acres of land. STL is located 14 mi northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. The airport provides nonstop service to airports throughout the United States and to the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and Europe. In 2019, it served nearly 16 million passengers. In 2023 there were more than 270 daily departures to 80 nonstop domestic and international locations.

Named for Albert Bond Lambert, an Olympic medalist and prominent St. Louis aviator, the airport rose to international prominence in the 20th century thanks to its association with Charles Lindbergh, its groundbreaking air traffic control (ATC), its status as the primary hub of Trans World Airlines (TWA), and its iconic terminal.

St. Louis Lambert International Airport is connected by the MetroLink mass transportation rail system to other parts of the St. Louis metropolitan area, including a future connection to the region's secondary commercial airport, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport about 37 mi to the east.

Beginnings

The airport had its beginnings in 1909, when the Aero Club of St. Louis created a balloon launching base called the "Permanent Aviation Field and Dirigible Harbor" in Kinloch Park, a suburban development of the 1890s. In October 1910, the airfield hosted the first International Air Meet, attracting "many famous persons," including the Wright brothers, who brought six airplanes and their Exhibition Team. President Theodore Roosevelt accepted the club's telegraphed invitation to attend, and after initially ruling out a flight, took off on October 11 with pilot Arch Hoxsey, becoming the first U.S. president to fly. The following year, the airfield—generally called "Kinloch Field"—was the takeoff point for what is generally regarded as the first parachute jump from an airplane. The club's lease on the land expired in 1912, and the field was closed and its grandstand demolished. Efforts to revive the facility were unsuccessful.

In June 1920, a nearby 170-acre field was leased to the Missouri Aeronautical Society, which named its facility the "St. Louis Flying Field." Among the Society's leading members was Albert Bond Lambert, an Olympic silver medalist golfer in the 1904 Summer Games, president of Lambert Pharmaceutical Corporation (which made Listerine), and the first person to receive a pilot's license in St. Louis. So vigorous was Lambert in his efforts to promote St. Louis aviation that in 1923 the field was renamed "Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field." "Major" Lambert (his "rank" was given by the Aero Club and not the military) purchased the field outright in February 1925, and added hangars and a passenger terminal. In the late 1920s, the airport became the first with an air traffic control system–albeit one that communicated with pilots via waving flags. The first controller was Archie League.

Charles Lindbergh's first piloting job was flying airmail for Robertson Aircraft Corporation from the airfield. He stopped at the airport during his cross-country San Diego to New York flight about a week before his record-breaking flight to Paris in 1927. In February 1928, the City of St. Louis leased the airport for $1. Later that year, Lambert sold the airport to the city after a $2 million bond issue was passed, making it one of the first municipally owned airports in the United States.

In 1925, the airport became home to Naval Air Station St. Louis, a Naval Air Reserve facility that became an active-duty installation during World War II.

In 1930, the airport was officially christened "Lambert–St. Louis Municipal Airport" by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd. The first terminal building opened in 1933, and within the decade, the airport was served by Robertson Air Lines, Marquette Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, and Transcontinental & Western Air (later renamed TWA).

In August 1942, voters passed a $4.5 million bond issue to expand the airport by 867 acre and build a new terminal.

During World War II, the airport became a manufacturing base for the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (later McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing) and Curtiss-Wright.

After World War II: expansion, Ozark Air Lines hub

After the war, NAS St. Louis reverted to a reserve installation, supporting carrier-based fighters and land-based patrol aircraft. When it closed in 1958, most of its facilities were acquired by the Missouri Air National Guard and became "Lambert Field Air National Guard Base." Some other facilities were retained by non-flying activities of the Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve, while the rest was redeveloped to expand airline operations at the airport.

Ozark Air Lines began operations at the airport in 1950.

To handle increasing passenger traffic, Minoru Yamasaki was commissioned to design a new terminal, which began construction in 1953. Completed in 1956 at a total cost of $7.2 million, the three-domed design preceded terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York City and Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport. A fourth dome was added in 1965 following the passage of a $200 million airport revenue bond.

The April 1957 Official Airline Guide shows 44 weekday TWA departures; American, 24; Delta, 16; Ozark, 14; Eastern, 13; Braniff, 6 and Central, 2. The first scheduled jet was a TWA 707 to New York on July 21, 1959.

In 1971, the airport became "Lambert–St. Louis International Airport."

In the 1970s, St. Louis city officials proposed to replace Lambert with a new airport in suburban Illinois. After Missouri residents rejected that, Lambert in 1977 received a $290-million expansion that lengthened the runways, increased the number of gates to 81, and boosted its capacity by half. (In 1997, MidAmerica St. Louis Airport would open in Mascoutah, Illinois, far from the site proposed in the 1970s.) Concourse A and Concourse C were rebuilt into bi-level structures with jet bridges as part of a $25 million project in the mid-1970s designed by Sverdrup. The other concourses were demolished. Construction began in the spring of 1976 and was completed in September 1977. A $20 million, 120000 sqft extension of Concourse C for TWA and a $46 million, 210000 sqft Concourse D for Ozark Air Lines (also designed by Sverdrup) were completed in December 1982.

Ozark established its only hub at Lambert in the late 1950s. The airline grew rapidly, going from 36 million revenue passenger miles in 1955, to 229 million revenue passenger miles in 1965. The jet age came to Ozark in 1966 with the Douglas DC-9-10 and its network expanded to Denver, Indianapolis, Louisville, Washington, D.C., New York City, Miami, Tampa, and Orlando. With the addition of jets, Ozark began its fastest period of growth, jumping to 653 million revenue passenger miles in 1970 and 936 million revenue passenger miles in 1975; Ozark soon faced heavy competition in TWA's new hub at Lambert.

In 1979, the year after airline deregulation, STL's dominant carriers were TWA (36 routes) and Ozark (25), followed by American (17) and Eastern (12). In April 1980, British Caledonian began a nonstop flight to London's Gatwick Airport using a Boeing 707. This was the airport's first transatlantic service. The company later partnered with Ozark so that the latter's network could feed the flights. British Caledonian severed the link in October 1984.

Trans World Airlines hub

After airline deregulation in 1978, airlines began to change their operations to a hub and spoke model. Trans World Airlines (TWA) was headquartered in New York City but its main base of employment was at Kansas City International Airport (KCI) and had large operations at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) as well as St. Louis. TWA deemed Kansas City's terminals unsuitable to serve as a primary hub. TWA reluctantly ruled out Chicago, as its Chicago operation was already losing $25 million a year under competition from American Airlines and United Airlines. This meant that St. Louis was the carrier's only viable option. TWA downsized in Chicago and built up in St. Louis, swapping three Chicago gates for five of American's St. Louis gates. By December 1982, St. Louis accounted for 20% of TWA's domestic capacity. Lambert's terminal was initially too small for this operation, and TWA was forced to use temporary terminals, mobile lounges and airstairs to handle the additional flights. Concourse D was completed in 1985. In April 1985, TWA began service from Lambert to London-Gatwick, Frankfurt, and Paris. It operated the flight to London with Boeing 747s and the ones to Paris and Frankfurt with 767s.

TWA's hub grew again in 1986 when the airline bought Ozark Air Lines, which operated its hub from Lambert's B, C, and D concourses. In 1985, TWA had accounted for 56.6% of boardings at STL while Ozark accounted for 26.3%, so the merged carriers controlled over 80% of the traffic. The carriers were merged on October 26, 1986 at which time TWA served STL with nonstop service to 84 cities, an increase from 80 cities served by TWA and/or Ozark in 1985, before the merger.

Lambert again grew in importance for TWA after the airline declared bankruptcy in 1992 and the following year moved its headquarters to St. Louis from Mount Kisco, New York. TWA increased the number of cities served and started routing more connecting passengers through its hub at Lambert. The total number of passengers departing Lambert jumped almost 20% in a year, from 19.9 million passengers in 1993 to 23.4 million in 1994. Growth continued, to 27.3 million by 1997 and the airport's all-time peak of 30.6 million in 2000.

By September 1999, Lambert was TWA's main hub, with 103 destinations served by 515 daily flights: 352 on TWA mainline aircraft and 163 on Trans World Express flights operated by its commuter airline partners. Lambert became the eighth-busiest U.S. airport by flights. Congestion caused delays during peak hours and was exacerbated when bad weather reduced the number of usable runways from three to one, and traffic projections made in the 1980s and 1990s predicted enough growth to strain the airport and the national air traffic system. As a result, city leaders decided to build a 9000 foot runway, dubbed Runway 11/29, parallel to the two larger existing runways. At $1.1 billion, it was the costliest public works program in St. Louis history. It required moving seven major roads and destroying about 2,000 homes, six churches, and four schools in Bridgeton. Work began in 1998 and continued even as traffic at the airport declined after the 9/11 attacks, the collapse of TWA and its subsequent purchase by American, and American's flight reductions several years later.

American Airlines and hub closure

As TWA entered the new millennium, its financial condition deteriorated; it was purchased by American Airlines in April 2001. The last day of operations for TWA was December 1, 2001, including a ceremonial last flight to TWA's original and historic hometown of Kansas City before returning to St. Louis one final time. The following day, TWA was officially absorbed into American Airlines. The plan for Lambert was to become a reliever hub for the existing American hubs at Chicago–O'Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW). American was looking at something strategic with its new St. Louis hub to potentially offload some of the pressure on O'Hare as well as provide a significant boost to the airline's east/west connectivity.

The September 11 attacks depressed air service nationwide: total airline industry domestic revenue passenger miles dropped 20% in October 2001 and 17% in November 2001. Overnight, American no longer had the same need for a hub that bypassed its hubs at Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth, which suddenly became less congested. As a result of this and the ongoing economic recession, service at Lambert was reduced to 207 flights by November 2003. Total passenger traffic dropped to 20.4 million that same year. On the international front, American dropped flights to London-Gatwick in October 2003, leaving St. Louis without transatlantic service.

In 2006, the United States Air Force (USAF) announced plans to turn the 131st Fighter Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard into the 131st Bomb Wing. The wing's 20 F-15C and F-15D aircraft were moved to the Montana Air National Guard's 120th Airlift Wing at Great Falls International Airport/Air National Guard Base, Montana and the Hawaii Air National Guard's 154th Wing at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. The pilots and maintainers moved to Whiteman AFB, Missouri to fly and maintain the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber as the first Air National Guard wing to fly the aircraft. Lambert Field Air National Guard Base formally shut down on June 13, 2009, when the final two F-15C Eagles did a low approach over the field and then flew away, ending an 86-year chapter of Lambert's history.

2006 also saw the completion of the W-1W airport expansion after eight years of work. The culmination of this program was the opening of Runway 11/29, the airport's fourth, on April 13, 2006, when American Airlines Flight 2470 became the first commercial airliner to land on the new runway.

In 2008, Lambert's position as an American Airlines hub faced further pressure due to increased fuel costs and softened demand because of a depressed economy. American cut its overall system capacity by over 5% during 2008. At Lambert, American shifted more flights from mainline to regional. Total passengers enplaned fell 6% to 14.4 million in 2008, then fell another 11% to 12.8 million passengers in 2009. In 2009, American announced that as a part of the airline's restructuring, it would close its St. Louis hub by reducing its operations from about 200 daily flights to 36 daily flights by summer 2010. American's closure of the St. Louis hub coincided with its new "Cornerstone" plan, wherein the airline would concentrate itself in several major markets: Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. A 12-gate section of Concourse D closed in 2009 as a result of the hub closure. Further flight reductions led to the closure of Concourse B and the rest of Concourse D in 2010 (though some gates at the east end of Concourse D are now part of Concourse E).

Recent years
In the aftermath of the American hub closure, Southwest Airlines boosted daily departures from 74 to 83, adding six new destinations for a total of 31. Southwest quickly replaced American as the carrier with the most daily flights, and continues to dominate the airport to this day. Southwest Airlines had been growing steadily at Lambert since the mid-1990s. In 1998, the East Terminal (known today as Terminal 2) and Concourse E opened to accommodate Southwest's growth, where they operate today.

On April 22, 2011, a tornado (rated EF4 nearby but not at the airport itself) struck the airport's Terminal 1, destroying jetways and breaking more than half of the windows. The wind damaged a Southwest Airlines aircraft by pushing a baggage conveyor belt into it. Four American Airlines aircraft were damaged, including one that was buffeted by 80 mph crosswinds while taxiing after landing. Another aircraft, with passengers still on board, was moved away from its jetway by the storm. The FAA closed the airport at 8:54 pm CDT, and reopened it the following day at temporarily lower capacity. The damage to Concourse C even forced the airport to temporarily reopen some of Concourses B and D for additional gate space. Concourse C underwent renovations and repairs and reopened on April 2, 2012.

In late 2016, officials with the City of St. Louis announced that brand researchers had found that travelers might be confused by the name "Lambert–St. Louis International Airport". They said they might rename it St. Louis International Airport at Lambert Field to freshen up the airport's image and emphasize "St. Louis" in the name. Descendants of Albert Bond Lambert opposed the change, arguing that it de-emphasized the importance of Maj. Lambert to the airport's history and the history of aviation. The proposal was amended, and the St. Louis Airport Commission voted unanimously to change the name to St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

In May 2018, Wow Air began flights between St. Louis and Reykjavík on an Airbus A321. This was the airport's first service to Europe since 2003. Despite strong sales, Wow ended the route in January 2019 amid financial struggles. In June 2022, Lufthansa commenced nonstop service to Frankfurt using Airbus A330s. German firms like Bayer and the Merck Group have a significant presence in St. Louis.

In early 2022, airport officials released a plan that would consolidate both existing terminals into one, at the existing Terminal 1 site. The proposal would gradually demolish Concourses A, B, C and build a single new concourse with 62 gates in its place, while retaining the iconic domed terminal building. Following the completion, Terminal 2 would be demolished or repurposed.

Terminals
The airport has two terminals, five concourses, and 54 gates.

 * Terminal 1 contains 36 gates across two concourses, lettered A and C. It also has an American Airlines Admirals Club and one of the nation's largest USO facilities.
 * Terminal 2 contains 18 gates across one concourse, lettered E. It also has a public lounge operated by Wingtips. All international flights without border preclearance are processed in Terminal 2.

Runways
The airport has four runways: three parallel and one crosswind. The crosswind runway, 6/24, is the shortest of the four at 7607 ft. The newest runway is 11/29, completed in 2006 as part of a large expansion program.

The airport's current ~156 ft control tower opened in 1997 at a cost of about $15 million.

Ground transportation

The airport is served by MetroLink, the light rail transportation system serving Greater St. Louis. The Red Line has stations at Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. The Metro lines serve the city of St. Louis, along with cities in St. Louis County, and Illinois suburbs in St. Clair County.

The airport is served by I-70; eastbound leads to downtown St. Louis and Illinois with a north–south connection at I-170 immediately east of the airport, while westbound leads to St. Louis exurbs in St. Charles County with a north–south connection at I-270 immediately west of the airport.

Art and historical pieces
Black Americans in Flight is a mural that depicts African American aviators and their contributions to aviation since 1917. It is located in Terminal 1 / Main Terminal on the lower level near the entrance to gates C and D and baggage claim. The mural consists of five panels and measures 8 ft tall and 51 ft long. The first panel includes Albert Edward Forsythe and C. Alfred Anderson, the first black pilots to complete a cross-country flight; the Tuskegee Institute and the Tuskegee Airmen; Eugene Bullard; Bessie Coleman; and Willa Brown, the first African American woman commercial pilot. The second panel shows Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Clarence "Lucky" Lester, and Joseph Ellesberry. The third panel shows Gen. Daniel "Chappie" James, Capt. Ronald Radliff, and Capt. Marcella Hayes. The fourth and fifth panels show Ronald McNair, who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, Guion Bluford, who in 1983 became the first African American in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. Spencer Taylor and Solomon Thurman created the mural in 1990. The mural had a re-dedication ceremony in 2012.

One aircraft from the Missouri History Museum currently hangs from Lambert's ceilings. This aircraft, a red Monocoupe 110 Special manufactured in St. Louis in 1931, hangs in the ticketing hall of Terminal 2. The airport has also played host to two other aircraft. A Monocoupe D-127 hung near the eastern security checkpoint in Terminal 1. Charles Lindbergh bought it in 1934 from the Lambert Aircraft Corporation and flew it as his personal aircraft. It was removed in 2018 and returned to the Missouri Historical Society, from which the aircraft had been on loan since 1979, for preservation purposes. Until 1998, a Ryan B-1 Brougham, a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, hung next to the D-127.

Accidents

 * August 5, 1936: Chicago and Southern Flight 4, a Lockheed 10 Electra headed for Chicago, crashed after takeoff, killing all eight passengers and crew. The pilot became disoriented in fog.
 * January 23, 1941: a Douglas DC-3 of Transcontinental & Western Air crashed 0.4 miles west of St. Louis Municipal Airport during a landing attempt in adverse weather, killing two occupants out of the 14 on board.
 * August 1, 1943: during a demonstration flight of an "all St. Louis-built glider", a Waco CG-4A, USAAF serial 42-78839, built by sub-contractor Robertson Aircraft Company, lost its starboard wing due to a defective wing strut support and plummeted vertically to the ground at Lambert Field, killing all on board, including St. Louis Mayor William D. Becker; Maj. William B. Robertson and Harold Krueger, both of Robertson Aircraft; Thomas Dysart, president of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce; Max Doyne, director of public utilities; Charles Cunningham, department comptroller; and Henry Mueller, St. Louis Court presiding judge. The failed component had been manufactured by Robertson subcontractor Gardner Metal Products Company, of St. Louis, which, coincidentally, had been a casket maker.
 * September 6, 1944: the starboard engine of the sole completed McDonnell XP-67 prototype, USAAF serial 42-11677, caught fire during a test flight. Test pilot E.E. Elliot executed an emergency landing at Lambert Field and escaped, but the fire rapidly spread, destroying the aircraft. This was a crippling setback to the XP-67 program, which had been plagued by delays and technical problems, and the second prototype was only 15% complete, so flight testing could not promptly resume. The United States Army Air Forces deemed the XP-67 unnecessary and canceled the program.
 * May 24, 1953: a Meteor Air Transport Douglas DC-3 crashed on approach to the airport, killing six of the seven people on board.
 * February 28, 1966: astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett – the original crew of the Gemini 9 mission – were killed in the crash of their T-38 trainer while attempting to land at Lambert Field in bad weather. The aircraft crashed into the same McDonnell Aircraft Corporation building (adjacent to the airport) where their spacecraft was being assembled.
 * March 20, 1968: a McDonnell F-4 Phantom II jet fighter crashed on takeoff during a test flight. The aircraft pitched up and stalled almost immediately after lifting from the runway; both crewmen were able to eject and were not seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing explosion and fire. The crash was allegedly caused by a wrench socket, mistakenly left in the cockpit by maintenance crews, becoming lodged inside the control stick well on takeoff, jamming the stick in the full aft position.
 * March 27, 1968: Ozark Air Lines Flight 965, a Douglas DC-9-15, collided with a Cessna 150F on a local training flight approximately 1.5 miles north of the airport while both aircraft were on approach to runway 17. The Cessna was destroyed and both of its occupants were killed. The DC-9 sustained light damage and was able to land safely; none of its 44 passengers or five crewmembers were injured. The accident was attributed to inadequate visual flight rules (VFR) procedures in place at the airport, the failure of the DC-9 crew to spot the other aircraft in time, the Cessna crew's deviation from their traffic pattern instructions, and poor communications between the Cessna pilots and air traffic control.
 * July 23, 1973: while on the approach to land at St. Louis International Airport, Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 crashed near the University of Missouri – St. Louis, killing 38 of the 44 persons on board. Wind shear was cited as the cause. A tornado had been reported at Ladue, Missouri, about the time of the accident but the National Weather Service did not confirm that there was a tornado.
 * July 6, 1977: a Fleming International Airways Lockheed L-188 Electra, a cargo flight, crashed during the takeoff roll; all three occupants were killed.
 * January 9, 1984: Douglas DC-3 registration C-GSCA of Skycraft Air Transport crashed on take-off, killing one of its two crew members. The aircraft was on an international cargo flight to Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada. Both engines lost power shortly after take-off. The aircraft had been fueled with jet fuel instead of avgas.
 * April 8, 1990: A Missouri Air National Guard F-4 Phantom II veered off the runway during takeoff, crashed, and burst into flames. The pilot suffered minor injuries after his ejection seat failed to deploy and he was forced to exit the burning wreckage while the weapons officer fractured his left leg when he ejected from the aircraft.
 * November 22, 1994: TWA Flight 427 collided with a Cessna 441 Conquest, registration N441KM, at the intersection of runway 30R and taxiway Romeo. The TWA McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was taking off for Denver and had accelerated through 80 kn when the collision occurred. The MD-82 sustained substantial damage during the collision. The Cessna 441, operated by Superior Aviation, was destroyed. The pilot and the passenger were killed. The investigation found the Cessna 441 had entered the wrong runway for its takeoff.

Television

 * In the "Airport" episode of the television show NewsRadio, bad weather keeps Bill and Dave at Lambert for the entire show.
 * In "The Airport" episode of the television show Seinfeld, Jerry and Elaine leave from Lambert.
 * In the "Meg and Quagmire" episode of the television show Family Guy, Glenn Quagmire tells a story about landing at Lambert.

Film

 * In the 1986 film Manhunter, FBI agents fly into Lambert during their pursuit of the killer.
 * In the 1987 film Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Neal Page (Steve Martin) attempts to rent a car at Lambert, with disastrous consequences.
 * Part of the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs was shot at Lambert.
 * In the 2003 film Anger Management, Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) takes a flight to Lambert.
 * Part of the 2006 film The Lucky Ones, set in Austin, Texas, was shot at Lambert.
 * One scene from the 2009 film The Informant!, directed by Steven Soderbergh, was filmed at Lambert.
 * The 2009 film Up in the Air was filmed in the St. Louis area, including in Lambert's Concourse D, between March 3 and the end of April 2009. In the film, George Clooney alludes to Lambert Field's rich history with the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh.
 * The 2017 film The Layover was partially filmed and set at Lambert Airport.

title: St. Louis Lambert International Airport


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Violeta Chamorro

Violeta Barrios Torres de Chamorro (18 October 1929) is a Nicaraguan former politician who served as the 55th President of Nicaragua from 1990 to 1997. She was the first and, to date, only woman to hold the position of president of Nicaragua. Previously, she was a member of the Junta of National Reconstruction (Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional, JGRN) from 1979 to 1980.

Born into a landed family in southern Nicaragua, Chamorro was partially educated in the United States. After returning to her home country, she married and raised a family. Her husband, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, was a journalist working at his family's newspaper, La Prensa, which he later inherited. As a result of his anti-government stance, he was often jailed or exiled, forcing Chamorro to spend a decade following him abroad or visiting him in jail. When he was assassinated in 1978, Chamorro took over the newspaper. Pedro's murder strengthened the Nicaraguan Revolution and his image, as wielded by his widow, became a powerful symbol for the opposition forces.

Initially, when the Sandinistas were victorious over Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Chamorro fully supported them. She agreed to become part of the provisional government established under the Junta of National Reconstruction. However, when the Junta began moving in a more radical direction and signed agreements with the Soviet Union, Chamorro resigned on 19 April 1980 and returned to the newspaper.

Under her direction, La Prensa continued to criticize the government and its policies despite threats and government-forced shutdowns. When Daniel Ortega announced that elections would be held in 1990, Chamorro was selected as the candidate for the opposition group known as the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositora, UNO). This 14-party alliance ranged from conservatives and liberals to communists and because of ideological differences had difficulty in devising any political platform other than a promise to end the war. Despite polls indicating a victory for the incumbent Sandinista President Ortega, Chamorro won the election on 25 February 1990. She was the first elected female head of state in the Americas. She was also the second female to be elected in her own right as a head of government in the Americas, after Prime Minister Eugenia Charles of Dominica.

Chamorro was sworn into office on 25 April 1990. Chamorro's leadership covered six difficult years marked by economic strife and social unrest, but she was able to compromise with rivals, maintain a constitutional regime, re-establish international banking relationships and end the hyperinflation that had plagued the country for several years.

After leaving office on 10 January 1997, Chamorro worked on several international peace initiatives until poor health forced her to retire from public life.

Early life
Violeta Barrios Torres was born on 18 October 1929 in Rivas, a small city near the Nicaraguan border with Costa Rica, to Carlos José Barrios Sacasa and Amalia Torres Hurtado. Her family was wealthy and conservative, and although she has often been claimed by the U.S. media to be part of the Nicaraguan aristocracy, in truth, her family had large landholdings and cattle; they were more akin to the cattle barons of the western United States than the "Nicaraguan Gloria Vanderbilt" she was sometimes styled as in the American press.

She attended primary school at the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Jesus) school in Rivas and the French school in Granada. Barrios began her secondary education at the Colegio La Inmaculada in Managua and then transferred to an American boarding school, as her parents wanted her to perfect her English. She first attended Our Lady of the Lake Catholic High School for Girls in San Antonio, Texas, and then in 1945 changed to Blackstone College for Girls in Virginia. In June 1947, her father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and though he died before she could make it home, she returned to Nicaragua, without graduating in the United States.

Personal life
Violeta met Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal in 1949, they married in December 1950; subsequently, they had five children together. In 1952, on his father's death, Chamorro's husband inherited the newspaper La Prensa. He took over publishing and under his direction, the paper became a voice of opposition to the Somoza regime. Chamorro Cardenal was frequently jailed between 1952 and 1957 for the content of the paper and in 1957 led a revolt against Somoza. His actions resulted in his exile to Costa Rica, where Chamorro joined him after settling their children with his mother. Two years were spent in Costa Rica, with Pedro writing against the regime and immediately upon their return he was jailed again. Chamorro's life throughout the 1960s and 1970s was a repetitive cycle of reunions with either her husband or children. She followed him; if he was forced to leave, she left the children with family and traveled to be with him; if he was jailed, she was reunited with the children and visited him. Chamorro's earnings from a rental property that her mother had given her gave the couple a steady income. When her husband was assassinated on 10 January 1978, she took over control of the newspaper.

Over the years, Chamorro's family has been split into feuding factions based upon political association. Two of her children, Pedro and Cristiana, worked at La Prensa, although Pedro left Nicaragua in 1984 to join the Contras. Her other children were active Sandinistas; Claudia was ambassador to Costa Rica and Carlos became the editor of the FSLN daily newspaper Barricada. In spite of the conflicting political views of her children, Chamorro encouraged and hosted family dinners during which she insisted political affiliations were temporarily put aside in the interest of family harmony.

Rise to power
The assassination of Chamorro's husband sparked the Sandinista Revolution. His image became a symbol of their cause and when Daniel Ortega led the Sandinista guerrillas triumphantly into Managua in July 1979, Chamorro was with them. A coalition to replace the Somoza regime was formed. Chamorro, represented the Democratic Union of Liberation (Unión Democrática de Liberación, UDEL) in the first Junta of National Reconstruction (Junta de Gobierno de Reconstrucción Nacional, JGRN), which also included Ortega for the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN); Moisés Hassan Morales, of the pro-Sandinista National Patriotic Front (Frente Patriotico Nacional, FPN); Luis Alfonso Robelo Callejas, with the Nicaraguan Democratic Movement (Movimiento Democrático Nicaragüense, MDN); and Sergio Ramirez Mercado for the Group of Twelve (El Grupo de los Doce). This directorate, which initially promised an independent judiciary, free elections, free enterprise and a free press, was assisted by an 18-member Cabinet and a 33-member Council, whose membership represented a broad spectrum of Nicaraguan society. After the civil war of 1978–1979 and last-minute transferring of the national treasury to foreign banks by the Somoza regime, the country was devastated and it was believed that a Marxist-style government would restore prosperity; however, the Sandinistas soon began taking over television and radio stations and censoring newspapers. Following the lead of the Sandinista's mentor Fidel Castro, Cuban-style Marxism was implemented and Nicaragua increasingly took on the traits of a police state, in some respects. In others, while the Sandinistas did increase their ties with the Soviet bloc and embraced Marxist philosophy, they announced a non-alignment policy and continued discussions on diplomatic, economic, and military relationships with the United States.

In February 1980, FSLN signed several accords with the Soviet Union causing the US president, Jimmy Carter, who had initially authorized aid to the Sandinista government, to approve CIA support for the opposition forces. On 19 April 1980, Chamorro resigned from the Junta in opposition to the Sandinista's push for control, implementation of a Cuban interpretation of Marx, and failure to keep the commitments made in Puntarenas, Costa Rica for establishment of a democracy. Her exit prompted other members of the Junta to resign and join opposition groups that were beginning to form. She returned to her role as editor of La Prensa, driving it to become both an advocate of free speech and opposition thought. Her support of the Contras caused divisions in her own family and resulted in La Prensa's offices being temporarily shut down on several occasions. In 1986, President Ortega even threatened her personally with a thirty-year prison sentence for treason. That same year, she won the Louis Lyons Award from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University; the award citation said that she had "resisted repression and censorship" and remained dedicated to a free press despite threats, redactions and suppression by the government.

From 1987, a conglomerate of 14 political parties began working together in the hope of defeating the Sandinistas should an election come about. By 1989, efforts by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias and other Central American leaders had persuaded Ortega to hold elections. He agreed not only to free elections, but to the monitoring of the process. The conglomerate of opposition, now calling itself the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositora, UNO) agreed upon a formula to select a consensus candidate. After five rounds of voting, Chamorro was appointed the presidential candidate for UNO. Her platform primarily consisted of two key promises: ending the civil war and ending mandatory military service. It also played heavily on her simplicity, her faith, common sense, and the image of her being the "queen-mother" and the wife of a martyr.

Almost all news outlets reported that Chamorro could not win. She was depicted as rich with no real experience. There were rumors that she received millions from the United States via their embassy and that she was a US lackey; that she was too religious; and that her coalition was too disorganized, had no money, and was plagued by in-fighting. In reality, her humility and provincial roots worked for her; she had run a family, a business and been part of the original Junta; the Sandinistas blocked payment of funds to her from the US while simultaneously claiming she received them; and she had long been vocal about her displeasure of US involvement in Nicaragua. According to Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa; Humberto Belli, an editor of La Prensa and later Minister of Education; and other writers such as Edward Sheehan and Shirley Christian who have written about the country, Nicaragua is one of the most religious countries in Latin America. Chamorro's faith and support for free expression united those who had felt alienated by the Sandinistas. Her chief appeal though was that she promised peace to a country tired of war. Ortega spent large sums of money, and strutted around like a "macho rooster", as if the election were already won; he even used a fighting rooster as the symbol of his campaign.

The United States government was convinced Chamorro could not win without measures to "level the field". The George H. W. Bush administration wanted Congress to waive the prohibition of using National Endowment for Democracy funds to support a candidate and to approve a $9 million aid plan in addition to granting $3 million outright in assistance to UNO. Congress refused, as direct aid to candidates or parties was prohibited by law. Congress finally agreed to the $9 million package, only as per the legal requirements—meaning funds could only be used for election monitoring and observers, drives to increase voter turnout and must be fully disclosed. These funds were earmarked for building voting infrastructure, for vehicles and gasoline, salaries, poll watchers, office equipment, trips abroad to train poll workers and those registering voters, election monitoring teams, and as per the provision of foreign donations, $2 million was paid into the Nicaraguan Supreme Electoral Council run by the government. In addition, the CIA covertly paid close to $500,000 (USD) to nearly a hundred Nicaraguans living abroad so they would return home to vote. The aid package ran into difficulties though: one month before the elections, only $400,000 of the money had been sent and it was deposited in accordance with Nicaraguan law into an account at the government-run Central Bank. The vehicles which were provided for in the aid package arrived in Nicaragua, but due to the customs director's vacation, the vehicles were not cleared, nor were tags issued for their use. Three weeks before the election, UNO officials reportedly had received only around $250,000 and accused Ortega's administration of delaying tactics and taking a share off the top. The government countered that the history of the Iran–Contra affair was a basis for caution and that the US itself was creating delays. Since the United States invasion of Panama had frozen Panamanian currency, a spokesperson for the Central Bank of Nicaragua stated that the Ortega Administration had no access to their funds which were deposited in Panamanian banks. Up to 1990, Nicaragua had lived with forty years of the Somoza dictatorship, through a decade of civil warfare and Sandinista rule, and five years of US imposed economic sanctions. On 25 February 1990, Chamorro won the election with a 54.7% share of the vote, ousting the incumbent Ortega and becoming the first elected woman president in the Americas. Because the election was held in the midst of a civil war, it was important both domestically and internationally that the vote was seen to be legitimate. The Esquipulas Peace Agreement which had been brokered by Arias, called for monitoring of elections by the Organization of American States and the United Nations, among other provisions. The election was the most strictly monitored of any in Latin America and involved 2,578 international observers among them former US President Jimmy Carter; Raul Alfonsín, former President of Argentina; Alfonso López Michelsen, former President of Colombia; Rodrigo Carazo Odio, former President of Costa Rica and many Caribbean and US dignitaries. Ortega and his supporters conceded defeat without argument and observers left only a skeleton staff to assist with the transition of power.

In the resulting February 1990 elections, Violeta Chamorro and her party the UNO won an upset victory of 55% to 41% over Daniel Ortega. Opinion polls leading up to the elections divided along partisan lines, with 10 of 17 polls analyzed in a contemporary study predicting an UNO victory while seven predicted the Sandinistas would retain power.

Possible explanations include that the Nicaraguan people were disenchanted with the Ortega government, as economic mismanagement, a US embargo, and increased Contra activities in 1987 had, by 1990, decreased per capita GNI to 20 year lows. By November 1989, the White House had announced that the US economic embargo against Nicaragua would continue unless Violeta Chamorro won. Also, there had been reports of intimidation from the side of the contras, with a Canadian observer mission claiming that 42 people were killed by the contras in "election violence" in October 1989. This led many commentators to assume that Nicaraguans voted against the Sandinistas out of fear of a continuation of the contra war and economic deprivation.

Presidency (1990–1997)
Two months after the election, on 25 April 1990, Chamorro was sworn into office. The ceremony, held at the Rigoberto López Pérez Stadium before a crowd of some 20,000, marked the first time in more than five decades that a sitting government had peacefully surrendered power to the opposition. It was also the first time governmental change had been the result of a free election with substantial popular participation. With the exception of the promise to end the war, Chamorro did not present a political platform. UNO had been unable to agree on specifics, as its membership ranged from the far left to the far right, making their plan one of running against whatever the Sandinistas were for.

Social scientists who analyzed the elections, concluded that the results were rational in the context that ending the war would also end the psychological threat that the US, which had recently invaded Panama and had been deeply involved in Nicaragua, might invade the country. Sandinistan analysts confirmed these findings, determining that they had lost touch with what their constituency wanted. Marvin Ortega, who had conducted polls prior to the election, conceded that voters did not vote "with their stomachs", even though the economic situation was dire, but voted against war and the repression of their liberties.

Peace reforms
Chamorro's peace reforms are perhaps her most enduring legacy. Most noteworthy was her official declaration of the end of the war, as it was the pivot upon which all of her other policies depended. She maintained peace by reducing the size and power of the military, ending the national draft, and demobilizing the military. The day she took office, she abolished military conscription and within a few weeks had reduced the size of the army by half. Demobilization included disbanding the US-backed Contras, thereby leaving the Sandinistas with no one to fight, and creating a highly effective peace. Chamorro also granted unconditional amnesties for political crimes, resulting in little room for protest from the Sandinistas, and enabling a smooth transition of power. One of the ways she accomplished the co-operation of the Contras was to seek help openly from local officials in collecting weapons from both sides of the conflict. She began a fierce weapon-buying campaign to help eradicate the threat of continuing violence; all the collected weapons were covered in concrete at the Plaza de la Paz (Peace Square), specifically built in downtown Managua to symbolize "Never Again".

The downside of demobilization was that around 70,000 military personnel were left unemployed. Most of the conscripts returned home, but the lives of career military personnel were disrupted as they lost employment, and the houses, land, and money which was promised to them was either not delivered, due to inadequate resources, or seemed to be paid arbitrarily. Since only 5.8% of the former officers had received benefits by early 1992, many believed that only those who had political favor had either kept their jobs, in the 14% of the military that was retained, or received their promised compensation. Between April and December 1992, veterans held a series of strikes in protest of the situation. Pockets of army veterans ("recompas") and resistance veterans ("recontras") threatened to re-arm but, realizing they had the same issues, the two sides joined forces. To pacify the groups, Chamorro integrated some of the former Contra fighters into the rural police services; she established a Civil Inspectorate to investigate claims of police abuses and human rights violations. She also allowed the Sandinistas' agrarian reform movement's redistribution of land to be maintained and expanded it on the Caribbean coast to meet veterans' demands. That action created conflict with the Caribbean indigenous people who had claims to the land, and also infringed on forestry reserves, leading to criticism. Others who had received land from the Sandinistas began to return their co-operative land titles to the large landholders who had owned them before the reforms, or simply sold their portions to opportunists. Unable to solve the problem, Chamorro dealt with the most egregious claims and turned the issue over to the courts to resolve individual disputes.

From the outset, Chamarro performed a delicate balancing act. Her choice to lead the Assembly,, was rejected by the UNO vote, which chose Miriam Argüello. Chamorro kept her word to accept the vote. Her Vice President-elect Virgilio Godoy was in favor of hard-line policies to exclude the Sandinistas, but Chamorro retained Daniel Ortega's brother, Humberto Ortega, as a military leader. She claimed the position of Defense Minister and named Humberto Ortega to second-in-command as the Chief of Staff. For this, Chamorro's critics accused her of supporting the Sandinistas, but it proved to be a valuable political move. The president demonstrated that, for the good of the nation, she was willing to compromise in ways that fostered reconciliation. She also appointed three FSLN cabinet members, including one for agrarian reform.

US relations
When Chamorro was elected, President George H. W. Bush removed the embargo that Ronald Reagan had imposed during Sandinista rule and promised economic aid to the country. In addition, the United States paid off the past-due debts of Nicaragua that were owed to private banks, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Some people in Chamorro's campaign team were hoping to get $1 billion in aid from the United States to help rebuild the country after the years of civil war, but the Bush administration instead gave $300 million to the country in the first year of Chamorro's presidency, 1990, and $241 million the year after. Given the devastation that Nicaragua had faced, this aid was not enough to make any serious improvement, and the renegotiated loans created even more debt.

During Chamorro's presidency, US interest in Nicaragua declined, to the point that when Chamorro traveled to the US in April 1991 to ask Congress for more economic aid, few members showed up to listen to her. Because the Sandinistas were no longer a threat and peace talks were being established, US foreign policymakers were much less concerned with Nicaragua than with issues in the Middle East. Hoping to improve relations, Chamorro's administration repealed the law that required the country to seek compensation in the case of Nicaragua v. United States, which had long been contentious, and withdrew the suit. The United States had refused to recognise the judgment of the International Court of Justice, which had found five years earlier that the US had violated international law by sponsoring the Contras and ordered it to make reparations.

In 1992, Senator Jesse Helms attempted to cut off financial aid to Nicaragua. In his report to the Senate, he said that the Sandinistas were still controlling much of the Nicaraguan administration and suggested that the Nicaraguan government replace all former Sandinista officers with ex-Contras, replace all judges, and return all property that was taken from US citizens during the revolution. Chamorro's administration denied Helms' allegations while still trying to comply with his demands. Helms managed to sway opinion in Congress, and the US government denied Nicaragua the $104 million that had been promised for that year. The aid was cut off and Helms' demands were made the month after Chamorro withdrew the compensation claims associated with the Nicaragua vs. United States verdict.

Economic stability
Chamorro inherited an economy devastated by civil war and which had been struggling with hyperinflation since 1988. Chamorro's administration immediately set about trying to eliminate inflation. The neoliberal model outlined in the Mayorga Plan attempted to re-integrate Nicaragua into the world market, increase foreign investment while reducing foreign dependence, and increase privatization. First the government combined state enterprises into a holding company known as the Corporaciones Nacionales del Sector Público (CORNAP) and set about privatizing them. The goal was to raise capital by privatizing 90% of the CORNAP companies by 1993, but the response was slow. Next, the administration introduced the córdoba oro, which put Nicaraguan currency on par with the US dollar, but confidence in the new currency was never attained. One third of it was returned to the bank in exchange for US funds. Devaluing the currency and ending subsidies of basic consumer goods reduced government spending, but created unrest with lower-middle-class and working-class people, who were faced with rising prices, layoffs due to privatization, and stagnant wages.

In the opening months of the Chamorro administration, social programs were cut, including free bus tokens for the education sector, pensions for the elderly and disabled, child care and child development services, and health care initiatives. By 1991 the austerity measures adopted by Chamorro's administration were leading to massive strikes. Chamorro chose to recognize the workers' right to 25% of the shares of privatized state enterprises, despite the disapproval that generated both at home and abroad. The Sandinistas, who had removed some of the businesses from the private sector during their administration, were not in favor of privatization, but they were in favor of workers sharing in the revenues. The far-right of her own coalition was against making labor compromises of any kind. The US embassy and United States Agency for International Development both voiced displeasure at the concessions and speed with which the economic plan was being implemented.

In spite of the other programs implemented, inflation was reduced by the renegotiation of the country's debt (called for by the Lacayo Plan). Through negotiations, Nicaragua was able to obtain a writedown of 75% of their international debt on the condition that they had no arrears.

As noted previously, the US assisted Nicaragua in paying off the past-due debt to the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank through bridge loans, and negotiating a 95% writedown of debts owed to Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. These measures provided the means to end hyperinflation and reopen monetary markets, but they were overshadowed by high unemployment, underemployment and an overall recession. The trade deficit rose and GNP declined, and overall low wages and reductions of education and health services caused poverty to escalate, and social tensions to rise.

Violeta Chamorro's years in power began a period of significant economic and social decline for Nicaragua. From 1990 to 2001, the country fell from 60th to 116th place in the world for human development, as measured by the Human Development Index, and became the poorest country in the Americas after Haiti, according to the UNDP. Public spending per capita on health fell from $35 in 1989 to $14 in 1995. Per capita public spending on health fell from $35 in 1989 to $14 in 1995. Medical assistance for childbirth and diagnosis of female cancers have been reduced. Child development centers established in the 1980s—which served 75,000 children—have been eliminated. Life expectancy dropped from 66 years in 1989 to 60 years in 1996 due to an increase in infectious diseases and malnutrition. Infant mortality rose from 58 per 1,000 in 1990 to 72 per 1,000 in 1995.

Constitutional crisis
Besides the economic issues which plagued the country, the constitutional crisis that occurred in 1995 posed a significant threat to maintaining peace. When Chamorro took office, she was governing under the Constitution of 1987, which had been drafted by the Sandinistas and provided for a strong executive branch and a weaker, compliant legislature and judiciary. In 1993, the legislature began to review the constitution to restructure the country's government. After a year of discussion, the changes were submitted to the National Assembly, approved in the first round of voting, and passed in February 1995. The reforms to the Constitution were intended to reduce of the power of the presidency, and included measures to transfer the authority to levy taxes to the legislature, prohibit conscription, guarantee property rights, and curtail the succession of an incumbent or their close family members. Chamorro refused to publish the changes in La Gaceta (the official journal of the legislature), stating that the legislature had overstepped its authority.

In response, the legislature published the revisions on its own, effectively creating a situation of dual constitutions. As there was not a quorum, the Supreme Court was unable to act. To solve the situation, the legislators appointed six new justices, but the Court still refused to act, as doing so would be to accept the appointments and thus validate the new constitution. Chamorro choreographed a ruling from the Supreme Court which voided the Assembly's publication of the reforms, provoking the Assembly to refuse to acknowledge the Court's authority. As international investors began to fret over the ensuing instability and evaluate further aid, the Roman Catholic cardinal, Miguel Obando y Bravo, stepped in as mediator and brokered an accord. Chamorro agreed to publish the new constitution, as required by law, and the Assembly agreed to allow the president to continue to negotiate foreign aid and tax measures, though no longer by decree. One of the most contentious provisions, which banned nepotism, was conceded by Chamorro. Both sides claimed victory, though the Supreme Court issue was still not resolved: the Assembly insisted their appointees were valid and the President refused to acknowledge them.

As in other crises, Chamorro's ability to compromise was pivotal. The executive and legislative branches became more interdependent, but power was shared. The National Assembly prepared the budget, but the president had to be consulted on taxation; Supreme Court vacancies had to be agreed on by both of the other branches of government; and although the president retained the power of veto, the legislature could overturn a veto by a simple majority vote. Though some of the changes also included reform of the Code of Criminal Procedures—creating trial by jury, expanding the right of citizens to press charges, and evaluating police authority, among others—failure of the government to investigate past abuses by the police and the military or institute judicial proceedings, granted tacit impunity for those who committed human rights abuses or violence. Though the 1990 Amnesty Law had curtailed some of administration's ability to prosecute, it also lacked the funds, impartial judiciary and possibly the will to seek transitional justice. Sofía Montenegro, editor of the Sandinistan paper Barricada, and others have argued that Chamorro would have dealt with past abuse if she could have. Bishop Bernardo Hombach and others believe that her faith would have required her to forgive. Prosecutions would have prolonged conflict and harsh retaliation by the government would not have produced the reconciliation and peace she desired.

Gender consequences
Though 15 delegates of her parliament (16%) were women, few advances in women's rights were made during Chamorro's administration. Chamorro was not a feminist, since her beliefs prevented her from advocating many of the goals of traditional feminism. She was against abortion and questioned cohabitation, contraception and divorce. Cutbacks in public services during her regime, like child care and centers for rehabilitation, led to an increase in low-income women being forced into prostitution and crime. According to a United Nations study, the financial insecurity forced women and adolescents into "street professions", elevating security risks and increasing the rate of drop outs, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and prostitution. In addition, austerity measures that eliminated free health care made it difficult for the poor to afford care. The Sandinista Workers Central (Central Sandinista De Trabajadores, CST) stepped in to offer health care and child care to women who could not afford the new government plan. Chamorro did support women's rights to become property holders, and saw such ownership as a protection when divorce or widowhood deprived women of a husband's support. Her administration did not actively prepare or encourage women's participation in political life, nor did she appoint women to governmental positions.

The economic policies adopted by Chamorro feminized Nicaragua's labor force. While men's employment rate between 1977 and 1985 remained constant at 68%, women's employment outside the home in Nicaragua steadily increased during the same time frame with no reduction in the expectations of simultaneous work within the home. Women's participation in the labor market increased from 26.7% in 1977 to 32% in 1985 and by 1995 was at 36%, one of the highest participation rates in Central America. Though Chamorro's policies changed the nature of the formal work force by introducing more women, the policies did not result in corresponding income increases: wages remained stagnant and changed little over the decade.

The 1992 Sexual Crime Code modifications resulted in winners and losers. Previously, the Penal Code had the penalty for rape specified as 8 to 12 years in prison (compared to 6 to 14 for simple homicide). However, it also defined some lesser sexual crimes in a way designed to protect the interests of fathers and husbands more than of the women themselves; for example, the penalty for "kidnapping of a virgin [...] when her guardians were away or without violence" depended on whether marriage was intended. Victoria González-Rivera writes that prior to the 1992 changes, rape had been considered a private affair, and the law encouraged women to marry their rapists or accept a monetary settlement. UNO women and FSLN women in the National Assembly joined forces after Chamorro won the election and formed a Commission on Women, Youth, Children and the Family; they began to discuss reform of the sexual crimes law. Convincing 18 bipartisan legislators to introduce a reform, they asked for increasing penalties for rape (to 15 to 20 years), decriminalization for abortion if the pregnancy was the result of rape, and decriminalization of consensual sodomy. When the final bill passed, the approved version eliminated the exception for abortion for rape victims. Not only did it not decriminalize sodomy, but it increased the scope of the existing law to include "inducing, promoting or propagandizing" homosexual conduct. The new anti-sodomy law was the most repressive law of its type in Latin America, changing the imposed sentence for "anyone who induces, promotes, propagandizes, or practices sex among persons of the same sex in a scandalous manner" to as much as three years in prison. Chamorro rejected calls to veto the law and sent it for publication in La Gaceta, a legal requirement for a statute to become law. Lawyers immediately challenged the constitutionality of the law, but on 7 March 1994 the Supreme Court rejected their challenge.

Post-presidency
Chamorro retired from politics after her presidential term ended in 1997; at the time, the Nicaraguan Constitution did not allow presidents to run for immediate reelection. In July of the same year, she established a foundation bearing her name (Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro) which she chaired with the goal of creating developmental projects to strengthen peace initiatives. She joined the Carter Center's Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas Program which works for co-operation and peace throughout the Americas. Chamorro is also a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.

She suffered from poor health and had several surgeries to correct problems with osteoporosis. During her presidential campaign, she was on crutches most of the time due to a fractured kneecap as a result of her osteoporosis. She later developed a brain tumor, which has kept her out of public life.

Awards

 * Isaiah Thomas Award in Publishing from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
 * 1986 – Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.
 * 1991 – Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy.
 * 1997 – Path to Peace Award from the Path to Peace Foundation.
 * 2001 – Award for Leadership in Global Trade.

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

title: Violeta Chamorro


text:
Salt Lake City International Airport

Salt Lake City International Airport is a joint civil-military international airport located about 4 mi west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-minute drive of nearly 1.3 million jobs. The airport serves as a hub for Delta Air Lines and is a major gateway to the Intermountain West and West Coast. The airport sees 343 scheduled nonstop airline departures per day to 93 cities in North America and Europe. It is by far the busiest airport in Utah.

Salt Lake City International Airport continues to rank high for on-time departures/arrivals and the fewest flight cancellations among major US airports. The airport ranked first for on-time departures and arrivals and first for the percentage of cancellations as of April 2017. The airport is owned by the City of Salt Lake City and is administered by the municipal Department of Airports.

1900 to 1940
In 1911, a site for an air field was chosen on Basque Flats, named for Spanish-French sheep herders who worked the fields in the then-desolate area of the Salt Lake Valley, where a cinder-covered landing was subsequently created. The Great International Aviation Carnival was held the same year and brought aviation pioneers representing Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company and a team representing the Wright Brothers to Salt Lake City. World-famous aviator Glenn H. Curtiss brought his newly invented Seaplane to the carnival, a type of airplane that had never been demonstrated to the public. Curtiss took off from the nearby Great Salt Lake, awing the 20,000 spectators and making international headlines.

For several years, the new field was used mainly for training and aerobatic flights. That would change in 1920 when the United States Postal Service (USPS) began air mail service to Salt Lake City. The city bought a 100-acre tract around Basque Flats for $4,000 and built a field, hangar and other facilities. In the same year, the airfield was given the name Woodward Field, named for John P. Woodward, a local aviator. The first transcontinental air mail flight landed at Woodward Field on September 8.

In 1925, the postal service began awarding contracts to private companies. Western Air Express, the first private company to carry U.S. mail, began flying from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles via Las Vegas. Less than a year later Western Air Express would begin flying passengers along the same route. Western Air Express later became Western Airlines, which had a large hub in Salt Lake City.

Charles Lindbergh visited Woodward Field in 1927, drawing many spectators to see The Spirit of St. Louis. During the next few years the airport would gain another runway and would span over 400 acres. In 1930 the airport was renamed Salt Lake City Municipal Airport.

The first terminal and airport administration building was built in 1933 at a cost of $52,000. By then, United Airlines had begun serving Salt Lake City on flights between New York City and San Francisco.

As air travel became more popular and the United States Army Air Forces established a base at the airport during World War II, a third runway was added (Runway diagram for 1955). The April 1957 Official Airline Guide (now OAG) shows 42 weekday departures: 18 on Western, 17 United and 7 Frontier. United had flown nonstop to Chicago since 1950, but nonstop service to New York did not start until 1968. The first jets were United 720s in September 1960.

1960 terminal
A new terminal was needed and work began on the west side of the airport on Terminal 1, designed by Brazier Montmorency Hayes & Talbot and dedicated in 1960 after seven years of work and a cost of $8 million. In 1968, the airport became Salt Lake City International Airport when a non-stop route to Calgary, Canada was awarded to Western Airlines.

After airline deregulation in 1978, hub airports appeared. Western Airlines, with ties to Salt Lake City since its inception, increased service into hub status on May 1, 1982.

Terminal 2 was designed by Montmorency Hayes & Talbot and built solely for Western and had several murals by artist LeConte Stewart.

During the 1980s, the airport saw further expansion to both terminals as well as runway extension. In 1987, Western Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines. Salt Lake City would continue to be a major airline hub for Delta.

In 1991, the airport opened a new short-term parking garage. The airport opened a new runway in 1995 along with the International Terminal and E concourse for SkyWest Airlines, which was designed by Gensler. A new 328 ft control tower, new approach control facility, and a new fire station were opened in 1999.

In 2001, Concourse E was expanded for additional gates and SkyWest Airlines opened its new maintenance hangar and training facility. In 2002, the airport saw heavy crowds as Salt Lake City welcomed over one million visitors for the Winter Olympics.

In June 2008, Delta Air Lines began service to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on a Boeing 767. This was the airport's first transatlantic route. Delta also added the first flight from Salt Lake City to Asia, a link to Tokyo's Narita Airport, the following June. The service aboard Airbus A330s resulted from Delta's merger with Northwest Airlines, which had a hub at Narita. Later that year, Delta made it seasonal. The airline stopped flying to Tokyo in October 2011.

New terminal

The Airport Redevelopment Program broke ground in 2014, initiating construction of the New SLC terminal complex. This began the process of replacing the existing, aging facilities with all new facilities, including a rental car center, a parking garage, a terminal with two linear concourses (similar to Atlanta, Denver and Washington–Dulles) with 93 gates, two tunnels, and an elevated roadway. The construction was funded by airport funds, passenger and customer facility charges, bonds, and federal grants.

The Airport opened Phase 1 of the new terminal in 2020. This first phase consisted of the western portion of concourse A with 25 gates, and the western portion of Concourse B with 21 gates. The concourses are connected by a mid-field underground tunnel. After Concourse B opened, the old terminals and concourses were demolished, and then construction on concourses A and B east began. With the opening of the new airport, Delta Air Lines opened a brand new Sky Club in concourse A, which at the time was the largest in their network. The original plan called for phase 2 to be completed by December 2024. The east portion of concourse A is still considered phase 2, and opened in increments through 2023, with the final 13 gates opening on October 31, 2023. The completion of the central tunnel was moved to phase 3 of the rebuild and is scheduled to open in October 2024. Phase 3 will also include an additional Delta Sky Club, as well as the reinstallation of the floor world map that was featured in the former terminal. Phase 4 will include the airport's first non-Delta club, a United Airlines club that will be on the far east end of concourse B.

The easternmost gates of concourse B are now part of a fourth phase to be completed in 2027, and the plans now call for adding a tram to the central tunnel when a future concourse C is eventually built. All told, phase 2 through phase 4 are planned to add 48 new gates to the airport.

Facilities
The airport covers 7700 acre and has four runways. The runways are generally oriented in a NNW/SSE magnetic direction due to consistent prevailing winds in this direction.

Terminal
SLC has a single terminal with two concourses connected by an underground tunnel for a total of 68 gates. There is a single security check point with 16 lanes and eight baggage carousels.

 * Concourse A has 47 gates, completed October 2023.
 * Concourse B has 21 gates, with 26 more opening in phases beginning in 2024.

Ground transportation
The airport is accessible from I-80 at exit 115 B or from I-215 at exits 22 and 22 B, with the GA terminal accessible from I-215 exit 23. The airport can also be accessed from North Temple Street and Utah State Route 154 (Bangerter Highway), both of which terminate and merge into the airport's Terminal Drive.

Rail and bus services that connect the surrounding region to Salt Lake City International Airport include TRAX light rail service from the Airport station, UTA bus service (via TRAX), and FrontRunner commuter rail (via TRAX).

Ground transportation is available from the airport to ski resorts and locations throughout Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah, and Summit counties. Many Salt Lake taxis, limousines, and shuttles accommodate ski equipment.

General aviation
Despite being the 28th busiest airport in the world in terms of aircraft operations, the airport still maintains a large general aviation presence. In 2008, 19% of aircraft movements at the airport came from general aviation traffic. This is in contrast to most large airports, which encourage general aviation aircraft to use smaller or less busy airports in order to prevent delays to commercial traffic. The airport is able to effectively handle both commercial and general aviation traffic largely in part to the airport's layout and airspace structure. Nearly all general aviation operations are conducted on the east side of the airport, away from commercial traffic. Additionally, smaller and relatively slower general aviation aircraft arrive and depart the airport in ways that generally do not hinder the normal flow of arriving or departing commercial aircraft.

2021 data shows that there were 337 general aviation aircraft based at the airport. The airport has three fixed-base operators; Signature Flight Support, Atlantic Aviation, and Menzies Aviation located on the east side of the airport. The airport has facilities for air ambulance, law enforcement, as well as state and federal government aircraft. Additionally, the airport is home to several flight training facilities, including one operated by Westminster College.

Military operations
The Utah Air National Guard operates what was previously named the Salt Lake City Air National Guard Base on the east side of the airport. In November 2014, the installation was renamed the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base after Brigadier General Roland R. Wright, USAF (Ret).

The base occupies approximately 140 acres as a U.S. Government cantonment area leased from the airport. In addition to flight line, the installation comprises 65 buildings: 3 services, 13 administrative, and 47 industrial. There are 255 full-time Air Reserve Technician and Active Guard and Reserve personnel assigned, augmented by 1,343 part-time traditional air national guardsmen. The host wing for the installation is the 151st Wing (151 WG), an Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit operating the KC-135R Stratotanker.

Accidents and incidents

 * On May 1, 1942, United Airlines Trip 4, a Douglas DC-3 impacted the side of a hill after deviating off course 3.8 mi NE of Salt Lake Municipal Airport, all 17 on board were killed.
 * On January 17, 1963, a West Coast Airlines Fairchild F-27 on a training flight out and back to SLC crashed west of the airport into Great Salt Lake simulating an emergency descent, all three occupants perished.
 * On November 11, 1965, United Airlines Flight 227, operated with a Boeing 727, crashed just short of the runway at Salt Lake City International Airport (then named Salt Lake City Municipal Airport), killing 43 of the 91 people on board.
 * On December 16, 1969, an Aero Commander 1121 Jet Commander operated by American Smelting and Refining Co. lifted off prematurely, stalled and crashed. Both occupants died.
 * On December 18, 1977, United Airlines Flight 2860, a cargo flight operated with a Douglas DC-8 crashed into a mountain near Kaysville while in a holding pattern prior to landing at Salt Lake City International Airport. The crew was trying to figure out an electrical problem and did not realize they were adjacent to a mountain. All three people on board were killed in the accident.
 * On January 15, 1987, Skywest Airlines Flight 1834, a Fairchild Metro, collided with a Mooney M20 at 7000 feet while the Metro was on a runway 34 approach. Both aircraft fell and crashed to the ground. All eight on the Metro and two on the Mooney were killed.
 * On October 14, 1989, Delta Air Lines Flight 1554, operated with a Boeing 727, caught fire during the boarding process for a flight to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada while the aircraft was parked at a gate. Of the 22 people who were on the aircraft at the time, five sustained minor injuries. While all passengers and crew evacuated, the aircraft was destroyed. An investigation determined the fire started due to a malfunction with the passenger oxygen system.
 * On March 2, 1997, a Beechcraft Super King Air operated by Coast Hotels and Casinos impacted terrain 1.5 mi south of SLC. One passenger out of the four on board died.
 * On November 16, 2015, three days after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, an Air France Airbus A380 traveling from Los Angeles to Paris was diverted to Salt Lake City International Airport due to a bomb threat on the aircraft. The aircraft was the largest plane to ever land at the airport. The airport workers had only 15 minutes to get ready for the emergency landing.
 * On January 18, 2016, two people died when their Cessna 525 private jet crashed shortly after take-off from Salt Lake City International on their way to Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona.
 * On March 30, 2021, a chartered Delta Airlines Boeing 757 carrying the NBA's Utah Jazz to Memphis International Airport in Memphis, Tennessee for a game against the Memphis Grizzlies made an emergency landing at SLC after suffering a bird strike shortly after takeoff. The plane suffered damage to an engine but there were no injuries among its occupants.
 * On January 1, 2024, a 30-year-old man exited the terminal via an emergency exit following a reported "disturbance" and ran to a deicing area, where he proceeded to crawl into a Delta Airbus A220's engine intake. The man was removed from the engine and died on the scene. He apparently had a boarding pass for Denver.

In popular culture
In the 1974 film Airport 1975, Captain Alan Murdock (played by Charlton Heston) lands a crippled Boeing 747 at SLC which was involved in a midair collision with a Beechcraft Baron which crashed into the cockpit of the 747, killing most of the flight crew. After landing, the aircraft exited the runway but eventually came to a stop. The movie ends with an emergency evacuation of all passengers and crew at the airport. A good portion of the movie was filmed on location at SLC.

Other notable films with scenes shot on location at SLC:

 * Dumb and Dumber (1994)
 * Unaccompanied Minors (2006)
 * Darling Companion (2012)

title: Salt Lake City International Airport


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Griffin Poetry Prize

The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.

Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. In 2022, the two awards were consolidated into a single international prize of CAD$130,000. Shortlisted poets are awarded CAD$10,000, and a Lifetime Recognition Award comes with an award of CAD$25,000.

Concurrently with the merger, the Griffin Poetry Prize also introduced a juried Canadian First Book Prize to honor the year's best debut book by a Canadian poet.

History
In April 2000, Scott Griffin started the Griffin Trust to raise public awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in society's cultural life. Griffin served as its chairman, with board of trustees Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, and David Young. In June 2004, Carolyn Forché joined the board. New trustees have been named over the years: in 2014, Karen Solie, Colm Tóibín, and Mark Doty; in 2016, Jo Shapcott and Marek Kazmierski; in 2018, Ian Williams; and in 2020, Sarah Howe. Margaret Atwood, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, Jo Shapcott and Colm Tóibín have assumed the role of trustees emeriti.

The Trust created the Griffin Poetry Prize with the aim of helping to introduce contemporary collections of poetry to the public's imagination. Eligible collections of poetry must have been published between January 1 and December 31 of the prior year. Submissions must come from publishers only. Originally, the award was two annual prizes of CAD$40,000 each for collections of poetry published in English during the preceding year. One prize was to go to a living Canadian poet, the other to a living poet from any country, which could include Canada as well.

Among the trustees’ responsibilities is to select each year’s judges, who select a shortlist announced in April, National Poetry Month. The shortlisted poets then gather for an evening of public readings in May or June; the following evening, the winners are announced and all the poets feted.

In 2010, the total amount of the annual prizes was doubled from CAD$100,000 to CAD$200,000 in recognition of the prize’s tenth anniversary. The increased amount of CAD$200,000 was awarded as follows: CAD$10,000 to each of seven shortlisted poets—four international and three Canadian—for their participation in the shortlist readings. The two winners, announced the next evening at the Griffin Poetry Prize Awards, were given CAD$65,000 each, for a total of CAD$75,000 that included the CAD$10,000 awarded the previous evening.

Selections from the shortlisted works are gathered annually in The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology, typically edited by one of that year's judges. In 2019, House of Anansi Press partnered with the National Network for Equitable Library Services (NNELS) to offer the anthology in print and digital Braille editions.

The Griffin Trust has championed other initiatives. In November 2010, Scott Griffin announced Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie, a bilingual recitation contest for high school students across Canada. Other projects have included funding a statue in tribute to poet Al Purdy, participation in international poetry festivals, and donations of poetry books to organizations such as the Correctional Service of Canada, the Scottish Poetry Library, a rebuilt Slave Lake Public Library (which was destroyed in a wildfire in 2011), and other libraries, schools, and colleges.

In 2022, Griffin Poetry Prize officials announced that the Canadian and international awards would be consolidated into a single award of CAD$130,000. Founder Scott Griffin said he originally believed that Canadian poets needed a separate category, but "now that a lot of Canadians have been recognized in the poetry world, we felt it was time they had to compete on the international stage with everybody else". The trust also announced a new prize: CAD$10,000 for a debut work of Canadian poetry. Critics from within Canadian poetry expressed concern about loss of opportunities "given the role the award played in securing grants and jobs". For instance, Alicia Elliot criticized the timing of the change, considering it happened "in the midst of a rather remarkable run for Black poets, Indigenous poets and poets of colour nominated for the Canadian portion" of the prize, and suggested the change implied that Canadian literature "is only relevant and worthwhile if it is being praised internationally."

In April 2023, Scott Griffin gave an endowment to the Writers' Trust of Canada to expand the prize package for what is now the Latner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize.

2020s
Prior to 2023, the Griffin Poetry Prize was separated into two categories with prizes specifically for Canadian poets and another for international poets with each winner receiving $65,000. However, in 2023, the Canadian-specific prize was eliminated with only one winner selected each year who wins $130,000.

title: Griffin Poetry Prize


text:
Chinese paper cutting

The art of paper cutting in China may date back to the 2nd century CE, when paper was invented by Cai Lun, a court official of the Eastern Han dynasty.

Chinese paper cutting is a treasured traditional Chinese art dating back to when paper was developed. Paper cutting became popular as a way of decorating doors and windows as paper became more accessible. These elaborate cutting designs are created with scissors or artwork knives and can include a variety of shapes, such as symbols and animals. As paper became more affordable, paper-cutting became one of the most important types of Chinese folk art. Later, this art form spread to other parts of the world, with different regions adopting their own cultural styles. Because the cut-outs are often used to decorate doors and windows, they are sometimes referred to as "window flowers"  or "window paper-cuts". These cut-paper decorations are often glued to the exterior of windows, so the light from the inside shines through the negative space of the cutout. Usually, the artworks are made of red paper, as red is associated with festivities and luck in Chinese culture, but other colours are also used. Normally cut-paper artwork is used on festivals such as Chinese New Year, weddings and childbirth, as cut-paper artwork is considered to symbolize luck and happiness.

Origin
Chinese paper-cutting originated from the practice of worship of both ancestors and gods, a traditional part of Chinese culture dating back roughly two millennia. According to archaeological records, paper-cutting originates from the 6th century, although some believe that its history could be traced back as far as the Warring States period (around 3 BC), long before paper was invented. At that time, people used other thin materials, like leaves, silver foil, silk and even leather, to carve negative-space patterns. Later, when paper was invented, people realized that this material was easy to cut, store and discard, and paper became the major material for this type of artwork.

Tang dynasty
Although paper was officially invented during the Han dynasty, techniques for cutting and carving thin materials such as gold foil, silk, and leaves were developed for decoration prior to the invention of paper. During the Tang dynasty, paper cutting developed rapidly and became popular in China, which typically combined paper cutting with painting to illustrate spiritual ideas. Paper-cutting as an artform matured during the Tang dynasty, where it became considered not only a type of handicraft, but also a type of artwork, as ideas and concepts were expressed through the pattern cut into the paper.

Song dynasty
During the Song dynasty, Chinese papercutting developed into a more advanced technique, with trained artisans creating more complex artworks. The technique was used to decorate ceramics and make shadow puppets. By carving patterns onto oily cardboard and scraping patterns onto the fabric, blue-printed fabric came about.

Ming and Qing dynasties
In the Ming and Qing dynasty, paper-cutting reached a developmental peak. Folk paper-cutting spread to a wider range of people and expressed an abundance of artistic expression. Paper-cutting was used to decorate doors, windows, and walls, to show happiness and celebrate festivals. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, papercutting became a more popular Chinese art form. There are a variety of uses, including lantern and fan ornaments, needlework patterns, and window flowers. The imperial family also utilized papercutting, with the Forbidden City decorated with papercuts during the emperor's wedding ceremony. Its continual appeal reflects the Chinese people's creativity, with designs expressing cultural ideas and values.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912), this artistry witnessed its most prosperous period. For over a thousand years, people (mainly women) created cut-paper artworks as a leisure activity, creating different types of paper-cutting and passing this traditional craft onto their children, resulting in the art form becoming more popular. Paper-cutting is still practiced as an art form in modern-day China as a result.

As a material, paper mildews and rots easily. In the southeast of China, where it typically rains in May and June, this causes paper to mildew and rot especially quickly; as a result, people in the southeast typically did not engage in paper-cutting art, making it hard to find cut-paper artworks from previous centuries. In contrast, the weather in the northwest of China is usually dry, making it possible to find cut-paper art made in the Northern dynasties in Turpan, Sinkiang province.

Classification
Paper-cutting is one of the oldest and the most popular folk arts in China. It can be geographically divided into a southern and a northern style. The southern style, represented by works from Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province and Yueqing in Zhejiang Province, features ingenious and beautiful designs, exquisite carving and interesting shapes. The northern style, mainly from Yuxian and Fengning in Hebei Province, and best represented by works from northern Shaanxi, features exaggerated shapes, vigorousness, vivid depictions and diverse patterns.

Cut-paper art designed for windows is usually cut in a freeform manner, except for the flower pattern found in the corner. The theme of cut-paper window decorations varies widely, the most popular of which are based on the stories of traditional Chinese opera. As cut-paper window decorations are typically bought by farmers, the content of their designs usually describes farming, spinning, fishing and poultry farming.

Characteristics
Chinese papercutting is an art form from the Chinese cultural legacy that displays a wide range of designs, from simple basic designs consisting of a single image to symmetrical, which are created by folding the paper into proportionate portions before cutting, so that when unfolded, it forms a symmetrical design, and are usually folded into an even number, such as twice or four times. Typically, the designs are freeform and depict scenes from daily life.

Red paper is the most prevalent because it is connected with happiness and good fortune in Chinese culture. Thus, it is popularly used to celebrate important events such as weddings and festivals. Paper cutting is consistently evolving and has developed beyond China, with artists developing new techniques and materials to keep this art form alive.

Decorative use
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Chinese papercutting is mostly used for decoration nowadays. Many Chinese people decorate their windows with paper cuttings to express enthusiasm for the new season or new year. Paper cuttings are also used in homes to decorate walls, doors, lamps, and lanterns and are often presented as gifts. Furthermore, paper cuttings pasted near entrances symbolize good luck. This traditional habit festively decorates houses and special occasions. Today, paper cuttings are chiefly decorative. They liven up walls, windows, doors, columns, mirrors, lamps and lanterns in homes and are also used on presents or are given as gifts themselves. Paper cut-outs pasted on or near entrances are supposed to bring good luck. Paper cuttings used to be used as patterns, especially for embroidery and lacquer work. Cut-paper artworks are used by young people as a decoration for their kits and books.

Paper-cutting was and is mostly used as a decoration, or an aesthetic way to express people's hopes, gratitude and other emotions. The vivid designs depicting on paper-cuttings have different meanings. Some express wishes for a harvest or a wealthy life, shown through the imagery of a golden harvest, thriving domestic animals and plants, as well as good fortunes, a carp jumping over a dragon gate (a traditional Chinese story, indicating a leap towards a better life), polecats, lions, qilins (a mythical Chinese creature), jade rabbits (an animal taken from Chinese legend), pomegranates and peonies. Other designs feature legendary figures, or scenes from traditional myths or stories, such as designs of the Yellow Emperor, the meeting of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and the 24 stories of filial piety. Designs may also show people's gratitude towards life, such as paper-cuttings of a doll with two twisted hairs on each side of the head, or fish swimming through lotus plants.

Symbolic use
The most popular papercutting Chinese characters are the characters 福 (meaning 'lucky') and (meaning 'double happiness'). The character 福 is a symbol of good luck and is often displayed during Chinese New Year celebrations to bring fortune and prosperity for the coming year. The character 囍 is commonly used for weddings, symbolizes double happiness and the hope for a fulfilling marriage. These papercuts are important Chinese cultural symbols and are cherished for their aesthetic beauty.

Spiritual use
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Chinese paper cuttings' designs are often used to express hopes, appreciation, and other spiritual emotions. Common Chinese papercutting motifs include representations of harvests, animals, and mythical stories such as the carp jumping over the dragon gate. Chinese people express cultural heritage, values, and beliefs through the art of papercutting, making it a significant element of their spiritual expression.

Window paper-cuttings have a close relationship with the beginning of spring, and it is traditional to decorate windows with paper-cuttings to welcome spring. In many areas of China, especially in the north, paper-cuttings are pasted to windows to express happiness for the new season, a tradition that has been practiced since the Song and Yuan dynasties.

Educational use
Chinese papercutting has educational uses that teach children about traditional Chinese art and culture and the beauty of papercutting while learning Chinese papercutting history. Practicing paper cuts also helps children enhance their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, cutting and creativity.

Construction methods
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There are two methods of manufacturing Chinese paper-cuttings: one method uses scissors, the other a sharp knife. In the scissor method, several pieces of paper – up to eight – are fastened together, before the motif is then cut with sharp, pointed scissors. Chinese papercutting involves cutting intricate, exquisite designs from a single or multiple layers of paper with scissors or artwork knives. It is passed down through generations because both procedures demand a great deal of talent and skills. The construction methods of papercutting involve several steps, including the selection of paper materials, specifically types and colors depending on the desired effect. The selected paper is then folded multiple times, and the pattern is drawn onto it. Next, cut the design out carefully, either with scissors or an art knife. Finally, the paper cutout is opened up to reveal the exquisite design, which can be further enhanced with additional details such as coloring and shading. The construction of papercutting requires patience, skill, and carefulness, as well as the creativity and artistry of artists.

Scissor construction method
The scissor construction approach involves taping multiple sheets of paper together and then cutting off the designated shapes using sharp scissors. This cutting of multiple paper layers at the same time enables a more consistent pattern.

Knife construction method
On the other hand, in the artwork knife construction approach, the design is carved out with a sharp knife, commonly following a pattern, but expert artisans can alternatively cut varied shapes freely. In the knife method, several layers of paper are placed on a relatively soft foundation, consisting of a mixture of tallow and ashes. Following a pattern, the motifs are then cut into the paper with a sharp knife, which is usually held vertically. Skilled artisans can cut different designs freehand, without following a pattern.

title: Chinese paper cutting