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Iron Eyes Cody

Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera Oscar de Corti, April 3, 1904 – January 4, 1999) was an American actor of Sicilian descent who portrayed Native Americans in Hollywood films, including the role of Chief Iron Eyes in Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948). He also played a Native American shedding a tear about pollution in one of the country's most well-known television public service announcements from the group Keep America Beautiful. Living in Hollywood, he began to insist, even in his private life, that he was Native American, over time claiming membership in several different tribes. In 1996, Cody's half-sister said that he was of Italian ancestry, but he denied it. After his death, it was revealed that he was of Sicilian parentage and not Native American at all.

Early life
Cody was born Espera Oscar de Corti on April 3, 1904, in Kaplan in Vermilion Parish, in southwestern Louisiana, a second son of Francesca Salpietra from Sicily and her husband, Antonio de Corti from southern Italy. He had two brothers, Joseph and Frank, and a sister, Victoria. His parents had a local grocery store in Gueydan, Louisiana, where he grew up. His father left the family and moved to Texas, where he took the name Tony Corti. His mother married Alton Abshire and had five more children with him.

When the three de Corti brothers were teenagers, they joined their father in Texas and shortened their last name from de Corti to Corti. Cody's father, Tony Corti, died in Texas in 1924. The brothers moved on to California, where they were acting in movies, and changed their surname to Cody. Joseph William and Frank Henry Cody worked as extras, then moved on to other work. Frank was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1949.

Career
Cody began acting in the late 1920s. He worked in film and television until his death. Cody claimed his father was Cherokee and his mother Cree, also naming several different tribes, and frequently changing his claimed place of birth. To those unfamiliar with Indigenous American or First Nations cultures and people, he gave the appearance of living as if he were Native American, fulfilling the stereotypical expectations by wearing his film wardrobe as daily clothing—including braided wig, fringed leathers and beaded moccasins—at least when photographers were visiting, and in other ways continuing to play the same Hollywood-scripted roles off-screen as well as on.

He appeared in more than 200 films, including The Big Trail (1930), with John Wayne; The Scarlet Letter (1934), with Colleen Moore; Sitting Bull (1954), as Crazy Horse; The Light in the Forest (1958) as Cuyloga; The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), with Joseph Cotten; Nevada Smith (1966), with Steve McQueen; A Man Called Horse (1970), with Richard Harris; and Ernest Goes to Camp (1987) as Chief St. Cloud, with Jim Varney. He also appeared in over a hundred television programs. In 1953, he appeared twice in Duncan Renaldo's syndicated television series, The Cisco Kid as Chief Sky Eagle. He guest starred on the NBC western series, The Restless Gun, starring John Payne, and The Tall Man, with Barry Sullivan and Clu Gulager. In 1961, he played the title role in "The Burying of Sammy Hart" on the ABC western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams. A close friend of Walt Disney, Cody appeared in a Disney studio serial titled The First Americans, and in episodes of The Mountain Man, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. In 1964 Cody appeared as Chief Black Feather on The Virginian episode "The Intruders". He played Seeba in S8 E26 "The Jarbo Pierce Story" on "Wagon Train", 1965.

Cody was widely seen as the "Crying Indian" in the "Keep America Beautiful" public service announcements (PSA) in the early 1970s. The environmental commercial, first aired on Earth Day in 1971, depicted Cody in a Plains Indians/Hollywood Indian-style costume, shedding a tear after trash is thrown from the window of a car and it lands at his feet. The announcer, William Conrad, says: "People start pollution; people can stop it." The ad won two Clio awards, incited a frenzy of community involvement, and "helped reduce litter by 88% across 38 states", according to one reliable source. Cody was a participant in the documentary series Hollywood (1980), where he discussed early Western filmmaker William S. Hart's use of Plains Indian Sign Language.

The Joni Mitchell song "Lakota", from the 1988 album, Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm, features Cody's chanting. He made a cameo appearance in the 1990 film Spirit of '76.

Personal life and death
In 1936, Cody married archaeologist Bertha Parker. She was active in excavations during the late 1920s and early 1930s before becoming an assistant in archaeology at the Southwest Museum. They adopted two children said to be of Dakota-Maricopa origin, Robert Tree Cody and Arthur. The couple remained married until Bertha's death in 1978.

Although the non-Native public who knew him from the movies and television thought of Cody as a Native American, a 1996 story by The Times-Picayune in New Orleans questioned his heritage, reporting that he was a second-generation Italian-American. This was based on an interview with his half-sister, and documents including a baptismal record. Cody, who now wore his Hollywood costumes in daily life, denied the claim.

Cody died at the age of 94 from mesothelioma at home in Los Angeles on January 4, 1999. Before death, he had written this comment: "Make me ready to stand before you with clean and straight eyes. When life fades, as the fading sunset, may our spirits stand before you without shame."

Honors
On April 20, 1983, he was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6601 Hollywood Boulevard.

In 1999, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.

title: Iron Eyes Cody


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Messiah University

Messiah University is a private interdenominational evangelical Christian university in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

History
The school was founded as Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home in 1909 by the Brethren in Christ Church. Originally located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the home of Messiah's first president, Samuel Rogers (S.R.) Smith, a local businessman and leader in the Brethren in Christ Church, the school was moved to Grantham in 1911, following the construction of the campus' first building, Old Main. (The university now uses a Mechanicsburg mailing address, but its main campus is still located in Grantham.) The building was constructed on land donated by S.R. Smith, who had moved his home and various business interests outside of the city to allow for growth in the farmlands surrounding Grantham. In the early years, the school offered a high school curriculum and several Bible programs. By 1921, it had also become a junior college, making it the second junior college in Pennsylvania, and changed its name to Messiah Bible School. The campus covers 375 acres.

By the 1950s, the school offered four-year college programs and accordingly in 1951 it changed its name to Messiah College. Messiah discontinued its high school program in 1959 and added liberal arts programs during this period. It was accredited as a four-year college in 1963, and continued to expand its liberal arts programs.

In 1964, Messiah College took over the operations of Upland College in Upland, California, a Brethren in Christ Church college that had been operating since the 1920s. The Upland campus was closed and all operations were consolidated to Pennsylvania. Four years later, Messiah College opened its Philadelphia Campus in a partnership with Temple University. This campus closed at the end of the Spring 2014 semester.

In 2002, Messiah College's Harrisburg Institute was founded in downtown Harrisburg. Its purpose was to serve as an academic and research center and connect students with the unique needs of an urban environment. The institute also provided housing for up to 25 students.

Following the US Justice Department Scandal involving alumna Monica Goodling in 2007, several members of the media ridiculed Messiah College. Jon Stewart on The Daily Show referred to Messiah as a school "where people have faith that they'll receive a quality education, and yet somehow it never arrives," and "that everyone in the God business knows (Messiah) is a 'savior school'." Bill Maher also mocked Messiah, calling it "the home of the Fighting Christies."

Even though it is no longer owned by the Brethren in Christ Church, Messiah continues to be influenced by its traditions, primarily in the Anabaptist, but also the Radical Pietist and Wesleyan holiness movements. Today, it is a nondenominational Christian college, with a faith base that is broadly evangelical and includes students and employees from a variety of denominations and Christian faith traditions.

In July 2020, Messiah College became Messiah University.

2008 Compassion Forum
The Compassion Forum was a question-and-answer session hosted by Messiah in which CNN commentators Jon Meacham and Campbell Brown as well as select members of the audience posed questions about Faith and Politics to Democratic political candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The forum took place on April 13, 2008, and was given live national coverage by CNN. The event was organized by the religious organization Faith in Public Life. John McCain was invited to participate in the event but declined the invitation, citing a schedule conflict.

Academics
Messiah University offers more than 150 undergraduate majors, minors, concentrations, teaching certificates and pre-professional advising options in two schools: the School of Arts, Culture and Society; and the School of Science, Engineering and Health. In addition to major requirements, there is a general education curriculum, required for all students. General education requirements include but are not limited to theology courses, a philosophy, a literature, a social science, an art course, a world views class, physical education courses, first year and senior seminars, and a comprehensive first-year seminar course added in 2009 called Created and Called for Community.

Messiah University awards Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in the liberal and applied arts and sciences. Specialized programs include extensive off-campus study, individualized majors, independent study, service-learning, internships, allied health programs in partnership with other institutions and a College Honors Program. Some majors allow students to graduate one or two semesters early, depending on their particular field of study.

In 2009, Messiah University launched its first graduate programs, and currently offers master's programs. It also offers certificate programs along with an ACEND-accredited dietetic internship program.

Messiah University students have earned academic honors and fellowships such as Rhodes, Fulbright, Carnegie, Truman and Boren scholarships. Joy Yu-Ho Wang became Messiah University's first Rhodes Scholar in 1997.

Messiah University's academic year is divided into Fall and Spring Terms. The January Term, or J-Term, was a three-and-a-half-week period where students could choose to take one course intensively, participate in a cross cultural study program or simply stay home for an extended vacation. J-Term was discontinued in 2021.

The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Academic programs in engineering, dietetics, nursing, athletic training, music, social work, education, theater, business, art and design, counseling and occupational therapy are each accredited by professional associations.

International programs
In 2015, the institution was ranked 25th among all undergraduate institutions in the country that send students to study abroad by the Institute for International Education's Open Doors Report. In 2014–2015, more than 500 Messiah students earned academic credit by studying abroad in more than 40 different countries.

Cross-cultural courses are offered during May term. These trips are led by faculty members, and students earn credits by participating in an intense three-week study of a particular geographic region or culture. Messiah University students can also participate in the International Business Institute (IBI), an overseas program in international economics and business designed to give students an opportunity to integrate academic study with international field experience. Students who travel with IBI during the summer visit corporate headquarters, manufacturing plants, and government and international agencies across Europe and Asia. Students can also work in a variety of fields through an international internship.

Athletics
The Messiah University Falcons compete in NCAA Division III athletics with 22 intercollegiate athletic teams. Messiah is a member of the Middle Atlantic Conferences. The Messiah University mascot is the Falcon, which was given the name Fandango in 2006. Through the Senior Class Gift from the Class of 2017, the mascot changed his look and was renamed to Flex. Their local rival is Elizabethtown College.

Messiah's men's and women's soccer teams both won the NCAA Division III National Championship in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012. The Falcons men's soccer team are eleven-time national champions, winning the NCAA Men's Division III Soccer Championship in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2017. Messiah's women's soccer team has won the NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Championship in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2019. Messiah University is the only college in the NCAA to win both the men's and women's soccer national championship in the same year, and they have achieved that distinction four times (in 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012). The men's and women's track & field teams have won 11 individual NCAA Division III National Championships. In 2010, Messiah was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the third best school in the nation for soccer fans.

The women's softball team won their first NCAA Division III national championship in 2009.

The women's field hockey team won their first NCAA Division III National Championship in 2016.

The men's wrestling team has won five individual NCAA Division III National Championships. The team finished as the national runner-up in 2016.

In 2017 Tim Moses became the first-ever NCAA Division III men's pole vaulter to earn All-American honors in every indoor and outdoor season (eight total).

Community Covenant
Students at Messiah University are required to sign a Community Covenant upon entering. The document states that every person is created in the image of God, and that there are certain responsibilities of living in community that must also be assumed in relation to God, others, and his creation.

The Community Covenant affirms belief in God and the Bible. The Covenant requires commitment to academic integrity, responsible decision making in light of Christian values, and balancing personal freedom with concern for others. The Covenant bans both on- and off-campus the use of illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco as well as gambling, profanity, "occult practices", sexual intercourse outside of marriage, and homosexual behavior. It also prescribes the avoidance of drunkenness, stealing, and dishonesty. The covenant also prohibits certain attitudes, such as greed, lust, and jealousy, but allows that these attributes are typically expressed less outwardly.

LGBT prohibition
Messiah's student handbook prohibits "same-sex sexual expression" including identifying as a couple or expressing physical intimacy, although heterosexual couples are specifically allowed to do these things by the handbook. Unlike many religious schools with a similar policy, Messiah has never requested a Title IX exemption for permission to discriminate against LGBT students.

The university's stance on homosexuality, as stated in the Community Covenant, has been a source of contention and controversy amongst the student body, administration, and alumni. A number of articles have been published concerning the issue in the university's student newspaper, the Swinging Bridge, as well as in local media.

An alumni group, Inclusive Alumni, was formed in support of Isaiah Thomas and aimed at changing the institution's policy. Isaiah Thomas was a student who decided to transfer out of Messiah in May 2011, after claims of harassment by students and also a professor. He also claims he received a death threat via Facebook. He claims that the institution said that they followed up on his claims but refused to change the policy.

Chapel
Undergraduate students at Messiah University are required to attend 14 chapel services each semester.

In addition to chapel services, Messiah University provides discipleship groups, ministry outreach teams, community service, mission trips and other special programs such as "Powerhouse," a weekly student-led contemporary worship service.

Student activities
Students at Messiah University can spend their free time playing in intramural sports leagues, participating in various clubs, watching on-campus movies, and hanging out at local diners, among other things. Underclassmen also participate in floor activities organized by their RAs. The Student Government Association funds 60+ organizations on campus that aim at providing for a co-curricular atmosphere conducive to a holistic education and enjoyable experience while enrolled at Messiah. The SGA also provides students with unique access towards influencing governance and overall institutional prerogatives.

Messiah University's Student Activities Board (SAB) is an executive organization that attempts to help students engage with popular culture by bringing different concerts, films, and other forms of entertainment to campus. In recent years, Messiah University has, through SAB, hosted such musicians and bands as Bob Dylan, Counting Crows, Katy Perry, Chiddy Bang, Fun., Jack's Mannequin, Ingrid Michaelson, Mat Kearney, Owl City, Brand New, Guster, Janelle Monáe, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Anberlin, Nickel Creek, White Rabbits, The Decemberists, Regina Spektor, Iron & Wine, M. Ward, The Low Anthem, Mates of State, Exit Clov, Feist, Wilco, Rosie Thomas, Copeland, mewithoutYou, Phantom Planet, Erin McKeown, Rilo Kiley, 4th Avenue Jones, Lifehouse, Jon Bellion, Johnnyswim, Jason Mraz, Josh Ritter, Magic, 21 Pilots, Colony House, Smallpools, NF, Lecrae, Ben Rector, and VERITE, and as well as Christian artists Needtobreathe, Andy Mineo, Relient K, Jeff Deyo, August Burns Red, Jars of Clay, Cross Movement, Matt Wertz and Out of Eden, among others. They also plan dances, coffeehouses, cultural engagement and other special activities (like outings, Broadway trips, and festivals) for students. SAB hosts a free concert series throughout the semester, held in the Larsen Student Union building. Local, indie and up-and-coming bands and artists play throughout the school year. These concerts are free not only to students, but to the public as well.

Traditions

 * White-Out March during homecoming
 * Midnight Scream during Finals week
 * Candlelight service for new students and their parents before the start of the Fall semester
 * "Creeking": This tradition started out as a way of congratulating male students who had recently gotten engaged. The student would be taken to the nearby Yellow Breeches Creek by his friends and thrown in. It is also common for people to be "creeked" on their birthdays. The tradition has been extended to the female population.
 * Pancake night in Lottie Nelson Dining Hall
 * Service Day: In April, the University sponsors a day of service in which faculty, staff, administration, and students serve in campus and local community service projects.
 * Tubing in the Yellow Breeches Creek

Alumni

 * Vanessa Alfano (1999), founder of healthystyleny.com and former American weather anchor for WWOR-TV in New York City
 * Ernest Boyer (did not graduate; transferred out), Chancellor of the State University of New York, U.S. Commissioner of Education, and President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
 * Chris Boyles (2002), decathlete
 * Dave Brandt (1985), professional soccer coach
 * Lynn H. Cohick (1984), New Testament scholar and provost at Northern Seminary
 * Ray Crist (1916), chemist who participated in the Manhattan Project
 * Brian Duffield (2008), screenwriter
 * Peter Enns (1982), Biblical scholar, theologian, and writer
 * Monica Goodling (1995), U.S. government lawyer and George W. Bush administration political appointee
 * Peter Greer (1997), anti-poverty advocate, author, and president and CEO of Hope International (Christian microfinance)
 * Chris Heisey (attended 2003–2006, did not graduate), Major League Baseball player
 * Derreck Kayongo (1995), CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights
 * Levi Landis (2003), curator, musician, festival producer, and CEO of GoggleWorks Center for the Arts.
 * Brian Sell (did not graduate; transferred out), long-distance runner
 * Jay Smith, Christian apologist
 * David J. Steinberg (1986), late actor
 * Gregory Alan Thornbury (1993), president of The King's College
 * Steve Thurston (1998), journalist, entrepreneur, and CEO of Integrity Ministries (Integridad Network, Inc.)

Faculty

 * Robin Collins, American philosopher
 * Douglas Jacobsen, religious studies scholar and author, professor emeritus
 * Donald Kraybill, former Provost of Messiah College and former professor at Elizabethtown College
 * Ron Sider, theologian and social activist, professor emeritus

Demographics
Messiah College CDP is a census-designated place located in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County, in the state of Pennsylvania. It is located near Grantham and consists of the campus of Messiah University. It was first listed as a CDP in 2010. Per the 2020 census, the population was 2,841.

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

title: Messiah University


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Roman Dmowski

Roman Stanisław Dmowski ( Polish:, 9 August 1864 – 2 January 1939) was a Polish politician, statesman, and co-founder and chief ideologue of the National Democracy (abbreviated "ND": in Polish, "Endecja") political movement. He saw the Germanization of Polish territories controlled by the German Empire as the major threat to Polish culture and therefore advocated a degree of accommodation with another power that had partitioned Poland, the Russian Empire. He favoured the re-establishment of Polish independence by nonviolent means and supported policies favourable to the Polish middle class. While in Paris during World War I, he was a prominent spokesman for Polish aspirations to the Allies through his Polish National Committee. He was an instrumental figure in the postwar restoration of Poland's independent existence. Throughout most of his life, he was the chief ideological opponent of the Polish military and political leader Józef Piłsudski and of the latter's vision of Poland as a multinational federation against German and Russian imperialism.

Dmowski never wielded significant political power except for a brief period in 1923 as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Nevertheless, he was one of the most influential Polish ideologues and politicians of his time. A controversial personality most of his life, Dmowski desired a homogeneous, Polish-speaking and Roman Catholic-practicing nation as opposed to Piłsudski's vision of Prometheism, which sought a multi-ethnic Poland reminiscent of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. As a result, his thinking marginalized other ethnic groups living in Poland, particularly those in the Kresy (which included Jews, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians), and he was regarded as anti-Semitic. He remains a key figure of Polish nationalism, and has been frequently referred to as "the father of Polish nationalism".

Early life
Dmowski was born on 9 August 1864 in Kamionek near Warsaw, in the Kingdom of Poland, which three years later became part of the Russian Empire (as Vistula Land). His father was a road construction worker and later an entrepreneur. Dmowski attended schools in Warsaw, studying biology and zoology at Warsaw University, from which he graduated in 1891. As a student he became active in the Polish Youth Association "Zet" (Związek Młodzieży Polskiej "Zet"), where he was active in opposing socialist activists. The Zet had links with the Liga Polska (Polish League), which Dmowski joined in 1889. A key concept of the League was Polskość (Polishness), as opposed to trójlojalizm (triple loyalty).

He also organized a student street demonstration on the 100th anniversary of the Polish Constitution of For this he was imprisoned by Russian Imperial authorities for five months in the Warsaw Citadel. He was then exiled to Libau and Mitau in Kurland (Latvia). After 1890 he was also developing as a writer and publicist, publishing political and literary criticism in Głos, where he became close friends with Jan Ludwik Popławski, who would be his mentor. After his release from exile, Dmowski became quite critical of the Liga Polska, accusing it of being controlled by Free Masons and being generally incompetent.

In April 1893, Dmowski co-founded the National League and became its first leader. The group differed from the Liga Polska as Dmowski insisted that there could be one Polish national identity, leading him to attack regionalism as a form of split loyalty that was weakening the Polish nation. The same concept also excluded minorities such as Jews from his projected Polish nation. In November 1893 he was sentenced to exile from the Vistula Land. Dmowski went to Jelgava, and soon afterward in early 1895 to Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (modern Lviv, Ukraine, Lwów in Polish), where together with Popławski he began to publish a new magazine, Przegląd Wszechpolski (All-Polish Review). In 1897, he co-founded the National-Democratic Party (Stronnictwo Narodowo-Demokratyczne or "Endecja"). The Endecja was to serve as a political party, a lobby group and an underground organization that would unite Poles who espoused Dmowski's views into a disciplined and committed political group. In 1899, Dmowski founded the Society for National Education as an ancillary group. From 1898 to 1900, he resided in France and Britain, and travelled to Brazil. In 1901 he took up residence in Kraków, then part of the Austrian partition of Poland. In 1903 he published a book, Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka (Thoughts of a Modern Pole), one of the first if not the first nationalist manifesto in European history.

In Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka, Dmowski was harshly critical of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for exalting the nobility and for its tolerance for minorities, which contradicted his principle of "healthy national egoism". He also rejected liberalism and socialism for putting the individual above the nation-state, which for Dmowski was the only unit that really mattered. Dmowski argued that the privileged status of the aristocracy in the old Commonwealth had hindered national development, and what was needed was a strong sense of nationality that would unite the nation into one. He also attacked the Romantic nationalism of the 19th century for viewing Poland as the "Christ of Nations", instead arguing for a hard-headed national egoism. Dmowski opposed revolutionary means of fighting, preferring political struggle, and aimed for independence through increased autonomy. After the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Dmowski met with Colonel Akashi Motojiro, the Japanese military attache in Sweden and spy-master for Japanese intelligence activities, in Kraków in March 1904. Although reluctant to collaborate with the Japanese, Dmowski agreed to Akashi's proposal that Polish soldiers in the Russian Army in Manchuria might be encouraged to defect to the Imperial Japanese Army. He travelled to Tokyo to work out the details, and at the same time made a successful effort to prevent the Japanese from aiding a rival Polish political activist, Józef Piłsudski, who wanted assistance for a planned insurrection in Poland, an aspiration which Dmowski felt would be doomed to failure.

In 1905, Dmowski moved to Warsaw, back in the Russian partition of Poland, where he continued to play a growing role in the Endecja faction. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Dmowski favoured co-operation with the Imperial Russian authorities and welcomed Nicholas II's October Manifesto of 1905 as a stepping stone on the road towards renewed Polish autonomy. During the revolt in Łódź in June 1905, the Endeks, acting under Dmowski's orders, opposed the uprising led by Piłsudski's Polish Socialist Party (PPS). During the course of the "June Days", as the Łódź uprising is known, a miniature civil war raged between Endecja and the PPS. As a result of the elections to the First Duma (legislative assembly in the late Russian Empire), which were boycotted by the PPS, the National Democrats won 34 of the 55 seats allotted to Poland. Dmowski and the Endecja saw the Duma as a way of improving Congress Poland's position within the Russian Empire as he considered guerrilla war to be impractical. Dmowski himself was elected a deputy to the Second and Third Dumas (beginning on 27 February 1907) and was president of the Polish caucus within it. He was seen as a conservative, and despite being a Polish caucus leader, he often had more influence on the Russian than the Polish deputies. Between October 1905 and early 1906, over 2000 Poles were killed by Russian police or military and an additional 1000 were sentenced to death. Even though Dmowski was often denounced as a sellout, he maintained that he was undertaking the only realistic course of action for Poland under the circumstances.

Over time, Dmowski became more receptive to Russian overtures, particularly neoslavism, warming up to the idea that Poland and Russia may have a common future, particularly due to Germany being their common enemy. In light of what he regarded as Russian cultural inferiority, Dmowski felt that a strong Russia was more acceptable than a strong Germany. In Dmowski's view, the Russian policy of Russification would not succeed in subjugating the Poles, while the Germans would be far more successful with their Germanisation policies. He explained those views in his book Niemcy, Rosja i kwestia Polska (Germany, Russia and the Polish Cause), published in 1908. This was not a universally popular attitude, and in 1909 Dmowski resigned his deputy mandate to focus on an internal political struggle within Endecja. He lost the election to the Fourth Duma in 1912 to a socialist politician, Eugeniusz Jagiełło from the Polish Socialist Party – Left, who won with the support of the Jewish vote. Dmowski viewed this as a personal insult; in exchange, he organized a successful boycott of Jewish businesses throughout much of Poland.

World War I
In 1914, Dmowski praised the Grand Duke Nicholas's Manifesto to the Polish Nation of 14 August, which vaguely assured the Tsar's Polish subjects that there would be greater autonomy for "Congress Poland" after the war and that the Austrian provinces of East and West Galicia, together with the Pomerania province of Prussia, would be annexed to the Kingdom of Poland when the German Empire and Austria-Hungary were defeated. However, subsequent attempts on the part of Dmowski to have the Russians make firmer commitments along the lines of the Grand Duke Nicholas's manifesto were met with elusive answers. Nonetheless, Dmowski's pro-Russian and anti-German propaganda succeeded in frustrating Piłsudski's plans of causing an anti-Russian uprising, and bolstered his position as an important Polish political figure on the international scene, especially with the Triple Entente. In November he became one of the active members of the Polish National Committee.

In 1915, Dmowski, increasingly convinced of Russia's impending defeat, decided that to support the cause of Polish independence he should go abroad to campaign on behalf of Poland in the capitals of the western Allies. During his lobbying efforts, his friends included such opinion makers as the British journalist Wickham Steed. In particular, Dmowski was very successful in France, where he made a very favourable impression on public opinion. He gave a series of lectures at Cambridge University, which impressed the local faculty enough that he was given an honorary doctorate. In August 1917, in Paris, he created a new Polish National Committee aimed at rebuilding a Polish state. That year he also published, at his own expense, Problems of Central and Eastern Europe, that he soon distributed among numerous English speaking diplomats. He was a vocal critic of Austro-Hungary, and campaigned for the creation of a number of Slavic states (including for the Czechs, as well as non-Slavic Hungarians and Romanians) in its place. Within the Polish political community, he opposed those who supported allying themselves with Germany and Austria-Hungary, including supporters of a vague German proposal for a Regency Kingdom of Poland, with undefined borders, that Germany promised to create after World War I (while in secret, actually planning to strip it of up to 30,000 square kilometres for German colonization after the removal of its Polish population).

In 1917, Dmowski laid out a plan for the borders of a re-created Polish state; it would include Greater Poland, Pomerania with Gdańsk, Upper Silesia, south strip of East Prussia and Cieszyn Silesia. In September that year, Dmowski's National Committee was recognized by the French as the legitimate government of Poland. The British and the Americans were less enthusiastic about Dmowski's National Committee, but likewise recognized it as Poland's government a year later. However, the Americans refused to provide backing for what they regarded as Dmowski's excessive territorial claims (Dmowski's Line). The American President Woodrow Wilson reported, "I saw Mr. Dmowski and Mr. Paderewski in Washington, and I asked them to define Poland for me, as they understood it, and they presented me with a map in which they claimed a large part of the earth."

In part, Wilson's objections stemmed from the dislike of Dmowski personally. One British diplomat stated, "He was a clever man, and clever men are distrusted; he was logical in his political theories and we hate logic; and he was persistent with a tenacity which was calculated to drive everybody mad." Another area of objection to Dmowski was with his antisemitic remarks, as in a speech he delivered at a dinner organized by the writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton, that began with the words, "My religion came from Jesus Christ, who was murdered by the Jews." When British Prime Minister David Lloyd George criticized Dmowski and the committee, Dmowski saw this as a result of Lloyd George's representation of Jewish interests. He refused to admit a single Polish Jew to the National Committee, despite support for such a proposal from Paderewski. A number of American and British Jewish organizations campaigned during the war against their governments recognizing the National Committee. Another leading critic of Dmowski was the historian Sir Lewis Namier, a Jew who served as the British Foreign Office's resident expert on Poland during the war, and who claimed to be personally offended by antisemitic remarks made by Dmowski. Namier fought hard against British recognition of Dmowski and "his chauvinist gang". In turn, Dmowski's experiences at that time convinced him of the existence of an international "Judeo-Masonic conspiracy, unfriendly towards Poland and intransigently hostile to his [Endecja] party".

Post-World War I

At the end of the World War, two governments claimed to be the legitimate governments of Poland: Dmowski's in Paris and Piłsudski's in Warsaw. To put an end to the rival claims of Piłsudski and Dmowski, the composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski met with both men and persuaded them to reluctantly join forces. Both men had something that the other needed. Piłsudski was in possession of Poland after the war, but as the Pole who had fought with the Austrians for the Central Powers against the Russians, he was distrusted by the Allies. Piłsudski's newly reborn Polish Army, formed from his Polish Legions, needed arms from the Allies, something that Dmowski was much better suited to persuade the Allies to deliver upon. Beyond that, the French were planning to send the Blue Army of General Józef Haller – loyal to Dmowski – back to Poland. The fear was that if Piłsudski and Dmowski did not put aside their differences, a civil war might break out between their partisans. Paderewski was successful in working out a compromise in which Dmowski and himself were to represent Poland at the Paris Peace Conference while Piłsudski was to serve as provisional president of Poland. Not all of Dmowski's supporters accepted this compromise, and on 5 January 1919, Dmowski's partisans (led by Marian Januszajtis-Żegota and Eustachy Sapieha) attempted a failed coup against Piłsudski.

As a Polish delegate at the Paris Peace Conference and a signatory of the Versailles Treaty, Dmowski exerted a substantial influence on the Treaty's favorable decisions regarding Poland. On 29 January 1919, Dmowski met with the Allies' Supreme War Council for the first time; his five-hour presentation there, delivered in English and French, was described as brilliant. At the meeting, Dmowski stated that he had little interest in laying claim to areas of Ukraine and Lithuania that were formerly part of Poland, but no longer had a Polish majority. At the same time Dmowski strongly pressed for the return of Polish territories with Polish-speaking majorities taken by Prussia from Poland in the 1790s, as well as for some territories beyond Poland's pre-1772 borders, such as southern East Prussia and Upper Silesia. Dmowski himself admitted that from a purely historical point of view, ethnic-linguistic considerations aside, the Polish claims to Silesia were not entirely strong, but he claimed it for Poland on economic grounds, especially the coal fields. Moreover, Dmowski claimed that German statistics had lied about the number of ethnic Poles living in eastern Germany and that "these Poles were some of the most educated and highly cultured in the nation, with a strong sense of nationality and men of progressive ideas". In addition, Dmowski, with the strong backing of the French, wanted to send the "Blue Army" to Poland via Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland); it was the intention of both Dmowski and the French that the Blue Army create a territorial fait accompli. This proposal created much opposition from the Germans, the British and the Americans, and finally the Blue Army was sent to Poland in April 1919 via land. Piłsudski was opposed to needlessly annoying the Allies, and it has been suggested that he did not care much about the Danzig issue.

In regard to Lithuania, Dmowski did not view Lithuanians as having a strong national identity, and viewed their social organization as tribal. Those areas of Lithuania that had either Polish majorities or minorities were claimed by Dmowski on the grounds of self-determination. In the areas with Polish minorities, the Poles would act as a civilizing influence; only the northern part of Lithuania, which had a solid Lithuanian majority, was Dmowski willing to concede to the Lithuanians. His initial plans for Lithuania involved giving it an autonomy within a Polish state. This caused Dmowski to have very acrimonious disputes with the Lithuanian delegation at Paris. With regard to the former Austrian province of East Galicia, Dmowski claimed that the local Ukrainians were quite incapable of ruling themselves and also required the civilizing influence of Polish leadership. In addition, Dmowski wished to acquire the oil fields of Galicia. His support for that was however more lackluster than that for other regions, and he opposed Piłsudski's proposal of an alliance or federation with Ukrainians. From the Allied powers only the French supported Polish claims to Galica wholeheartedly. In the end, it was the actual fighting on the ground in Galicia, and not the decisions of the diplomats in Paris, that decided that the region would be part of Poland. The French did not back Dmowski's aspirations in the Cieszyn Silesia region, and instead supported the claims of Czechoslovakia. Dmowski for a long time had praised the Czechs as model for national restoration in face of Germanization, and despite his dispute with Czech political leaders, his opinion of the Czech people as a whole remained positive.

Forever a political opponent of Piłsudski, Dmowski favored what he called a "national state", a state in which the citizens would speak Polish and be of the Roman Catholic faith. If Piłsudski's vision of Poland was based on the historical multiethnic state that had existed under the Jagiellonian dynasty, which he hoped to recreate with a multinational federation (Międzymorze federation), Dmowski's vision was the earlier Polish kingdom ruled by the Piast dynasty, ethnically and religiously homogeneous. Piłsudski believed in a wide definition of Polish citizenship in which peoples of different languages, cultures and faiths were to be united by a common loyalty to the reborn Polish state. Dmowski regarded Piłsudski's views as dangerous nonsense, and felt that the presence of large number of ethnic minorities would undermine the security of Polish state. At the Paris Peace Conference, he argued strenuously against the Minority Rights Treaty forced on Poland by the Allies.

Dmowski himself was disappointed with the Treaty of Versailles, partly because he was strongly opposed to the Minority Rights Treaty imposed on Poland and partly because he wanted the German-Polish border to be somewhat farther to the west than Versailles allowed. Both of these disappointments Dmowski blamed on what he claimed was the "international Jewish conspiracy". Throughout his life, Dmowski maintained that the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George had been bribed by a syndicate of German-Jewish financiers to give Poland what Dmowski considered to be an unfavorable frontier with Germany. His relations with Lloyd George were very poor. Dmowski found Lloyd George to be arrogant, unscrupulous and a consistent advocate of ruling against Polish claims to the West and the East. Dmowski was very offended by Lloyd George's ignorance of Polish affairs and in particular was enraged by his lack of knowledge about river traffic on the Vistula. Dmowski called Lloyd George "the agent of the Jews". Lloyd George in turn claimed in 1939 that "Poland had deserved its fate".

Later life
Dmowski was a deputy to the 1919 Legislative Sejm, but he attended only a single session, seeing the Sejm as too chaotic for him to exert much influence; he also spent much of that year either in Paris or recuperating from a lung infection, in Algeria. He reorganized endecja into a new party, Popular National Union (Związek Ludowo-Narodowy). During the Polish-Soviet War he was a member of the Council of National Defense and a vocal critic of Piłsudski's policies. In the aftermath of the war, Polish eastern borders were similar, if somewhat smaller, from what became known as Dmowski's Line.

When the time came to write a Polish constitution in the early 1920s, the National Democrats insisted upon a weak presidency and strong legislative branch. Dmowski was convinced that Piłsudski would become president and saw a weak executive mandate as the best way of crippling his rival. The constitution of 1921 did indeed outline a government with a weak executive branch. When Gabriel Narutowicz, a friend of Piłsudski, was elected president by the Sejm in 1922, he was seen by many among endecja as having been elected with the support of the parties representing the national minorities, with the notable backing of the Polish Jewish politician Yitzhak Gruenbaum. After Narutowicz's election, the National Democrats started a major campaign of vilification of the "Jewish president" elected by "foreigners". Subsequently, a fanatical National Democratic supporter, painter Eligiusz Niewiadomski assassinated Narutowicz.

He was a Minister of Foreign Affairs from October to December 1923 in the government of Wincenty Witos. That year he received the Order of Polonia Restituta from the government of Władysław Sikorski.

In 1926, in the aftermath of Piłsudski's May coup d'état, Dmowski founded the Camp of Great Poland (Obóz Wielkiej Polski), though he would find himself more of an ideologue than a leader, as he was displaced by new, younger politicians. In 1928 he founded the National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe). He kept publishing newspaper articles, brochures and books. With declining health, he mostly retired from politics by 1930. In 1934, a section of the youth wing of the Endecja found Dmowski insufficiently hardline for their taste and broke away to found the more radical National Radical Camp (known by its Polish acronym as the ONR). His last major campaign was a series of political attacks on the alleged "Judeo-Masonic" associates of President Ignacy Mościcki.

Death
Weakening in health, Dmowski moved to the village of Drozdowo near Łomża, where he died on 2 January 1939 at the age of 74.

Dmowski was buried at the Bródno Cemetery in Warsaw in the family grave. His funeral was widely attended, with at least 100,000 attendees; the Piłsudski's legacy sanacja government snubbed him without any official representative attending.

Theorist of nationalism
From his early student years, Dmowski was opposed to socialism and suspicious of federalism; he desired Polish independence and a strong Polish state, and saw socialism and conciliatory federalist policies as prioritizing an international idea over the national one. Over the years he became an influential European nationalist thinker. Dmowski had a scientist's background and thus preferred logic and reason over emotion and passion. He once told famous pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski that music was "mere noise". Dmowski felt very strongly that Poles should abandon what he considered to be foolish romantic nationalism and useless gestures of defiance and should instead work hard at becoming businessmen and scientists. Dmowski was very much influenced by Social Darwinist theories, then popular in the Western world, and saw life as a merciless struggle between "strong" nations who dominated and "weak" nations who were dominated.

In his 1902 book Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka (Thoughts of a Modern Pole), Dmowski denounced all forms of Polish Romantic nationalism and traditional Polish values. He sharply criticized the idea of Poland as a spiritual concept and as a cultural idea. Instead Dmowski argued that Poland was merely a physical entity that needed to be brought into existence through pragmatic bargaining and negotiating, not via what Dmowski considered to be pointless revolts – doomed to failure before they even began – against the partitioning powers. For Dmowski, what the Poles needed was a "healthy national egoism" that would not be guided by what Dmowski regarded as the unrealistic political principles of Christianity. In the same book, Dmowski blamed the fall of the old Commonwealth on its tradition of tolerance. While at first critical of Christianity, Dmowski viewed some sects of Christianity as beneficial to certain nations, through not necessarily Poland. Later in 1927 he revised this earlier view and renounced his criticism of Catholicism, seeing it as an essential part of the Polish identity. Dmowski saw all minorities as weakening agents within the nation that needed to be purged. In his 1927 book Kościół, Naród I Państwo (Church, Nation and State), Dmowski wrote: "'Catholicism is not a supplement to Polishness; it is somehow rooted in its very existence and to an important extent it even forms its existence. The attempt to separate Catholicism from Polishness in Poland, cutting off the nation from religion and Church, would mean destroying the very existence of the nation. The Polish State is a Catholic State. This is not because the vast majority of its inhabitants are Catholics or because of the percentage of Catholics. From our point of view, Poland is Catholic in the full sense of the word, because we are a national state, and our people is a Catholic people'."

In the pre-war years, the history of Poland was contested terrain as different ideological forces pulled Polish nationalists in opposite directions, represented by Dmowski and Piłsudski. Throughout his career, Dmowski deeply disliked Piłsudski and much of what he stood for. Dmowski came from an impoverished urban background and had little fondness for Poland's traditional elitist social structure. Instead, Dmowski favored a modernizing program and felt Poles should stop looking back nostalgically at the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which Dmowski held in deep contempt and should instead embrace the "modern world". In particular, Dmowski despised the old Commonwealth for its multi-national structure and religious tolerance. He saw the ethnic minorities in Poland (Jews, Belarusians, Lithuanians, and Ukrainians) as a direct threat to the cultural identity, integrity and ethnic cohesion of Poland, directly in competition with the Polish petit bourgeoisie (small bourgeoisie, aka semi-autonomous peasantry) with which he identified. Dmowski argued that good citizens should only have one allegiance to the nation, and there is no middle ground. In his ideal view of Poland there would be no ethnic minorities; they would either be polonized or forced to emigrate. The success of his nationalistic ideas, also adopted and propagated by nationalists in other countries (such as Lithuania and Ukraine) contributed to the disappearance of the tolerant, multiethnic Polish-Lithuanian identity.

Dmowski admired Italian Fascism. In the summer of 1926 Dmowski wrote a series of articles admiring Mussolini and the Italian fascist model, and helped organize the Camp of Great Poland (OWP), a broad anti-Sanacja front modeled on Italian fascism that was known for its anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence. Later he nonetheless tried to ensure that OWM would not blindly imitate the Italian or German models.

Antisemitism
Dmowski often communicated his belief in an "international Jewish conspiracy" aimed against Poland. In his essay "Żydzi wobec wojny" (Jews on the War) written about World War I, Dmowski claimed that Zionism was only a cloak to disguise the Jewish ambition to rule the world. Dmowski asserted that once a Jewish state was established in Palestine, it would form "the operational basis for action throughout the world". In the same essay, Dmowski accused the Jews of being Poland's most dangerous enemy and of working hand in hand with the Germans to dismember Poland again. Dmowski believed that the 3,000,000 Polish Jews were far too numerous to be absorbed, and assimilated into the Polish Catholic culture. Dmowski had advocated emigration of the entire Jewish population of Poland as the solution to what he regarded as Poland's "Jewish problem", and over time came to argue for increasing harsh measures against the Jewish minority, though he never suggested killing Jews. He opposed physical violence, arguing for the boycotts of Jewish businesses instead, later supplemented with their separation in the cultural area (through policies such as numerus clausus). Dmowski made anti-Semitism a central element in Endecja's radical nationalist outlook. Endecja's crusade against Jewish cultural values gained mounting intensity in the antisemitism of the 1930s, but there were no major pogroms or violent attacks on the Jews in Poland until the German Nazis occupied Poland and made it their mission in 1939–1944. In his 1931 novel Dziedzictwo, Dmowski wrote: "A Jewish woman will always be a Jew, a Jewish man, a Jew. They have another skin, they smell differently, they carry the evil among the nations". In his 1938 essay Hitleryzm a Źydzi, Dmowski wrote: "'The tool of the Jews was Wilson, who was concerned that the Allied troops did not cross the German border...Lloyd George stopped regions from becoming part of Poland as they were before: the great majority of our Upper Silesia, Malborg, Sztum and Kwidzyn, and also Gdansk. Lloyd George acted like an agent of the Jews, and nothing gave the impression that Wilson was any less dependent on them. The Jews, therefore, negotiated an agreement with German Freemasonry, who, in return for help at the conference on the border question, agreed to provide them with a leading position in the German Republic. Eventually, after the peace, the Jews worked for Germany and against Poland in England, American, and even in France, but especially stove so that Germany became less and less a German state and more a Jewish one'."

For Dmowski, one of Poland's principal problems was that not enough Polish-speaking Catholics were middle-class, while too many ethnic Germans and Jews were. To remedy this perceived problem, he envisioned a policy of confiscating the wealth of Jews and ethnic Germans and redistributing it to Polish Catholics. Dmowski was never able to have this program passed into law by the Sejm, but the National Democrats did frequently organize "Buy Polish" boycott campaigns against German and Jewish shops. The first of Dmowski's antisemitic boycotts occurred in 1912 when he attempted to organize a total boycott of Jewish businesses in Warsaw as "punishment" for the defeat of some Endecja candidates in the elections for the Duma, which Dmowski blamed on Warsaw's Jewish population. Throughout his life, Dmowski associated Jews with Germans as Poland's principal enemies; the origins of this identification stemmed from Dmowski's deep anger over the forcible "Germanization" policies carried out by the German government against its Polish minority during the Imperial period, and over the fact that most Jews living in the disputed German/Polish territories had chosen to assimilate into German culture, not Polish culture. In Dmowski's opinion Jewish community was not attracted to the cause of Polish independence and was likely to ally itself with potential enemies of Polish state if it would benefit their status.

Dmowski was also a vocal opponent of freemasonry, as well as of feminism.

Recognition and legacy
Dmowski is considered one of the most influential conservative politicians in the history of modern Poland, although his legacy is controversial and he continues to be a highly polarizing figure. He has been called "the father of Polish nationalism" and the "icon of the contemporary Polish political right" who, as a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles, played a critical role in the restoration of Polish independence after World War I. Conversely, he has been described as the founder of contemporary Polish antisemitism and criticized for his disdain for women's rights. Dmowski's life and work has been subject to numerous academic articles and books. Andrzej Walicki in 1999 noted that main sources on Dmowski are Andrzej Micewski's Roman Dmowski (1971), Roman Wapiński's Roman Dmowski (1988) and Krzysztof Kawalec's Roman Dmowski (1996).

Suppressed in communist Poland, Dmowski's legacy has been more widely recognised since the fall of communism in 1989. A bridge in Wrocław was named after him in 1992. In November 2006 a statue of Roman Dmowski was unveiled in Warsaw; it led to a series of protests from organizations which see Dmowski as a fascist and an enemy of progressive politics; due to similar protests plans to raise statues or memorials elsewhere have been delayed. The political commentator, Janusz Majcherek, wrote in 2005: "Instead of a modern Conservative Party, such as was able to modernize Britain or Spain, we find in Poland a cheap copy of the Endecja, in which an old-fashioned pre-war nationalism mingles with a pre-Vatican II Catholicism, united in its rejection of modernization and mistrust of the West". Both Jarosław Kaczyński and Lech Kaczyński have cited Dmowski as an inspiration. Lech, then the mayor of Warsaw, supported the erection of the Dmowski statue in 2006.

On 8 January 1999, he was honoured by the Polish Sejm with special legislation "for his achievement for the independence of Poland and expansion of Polish national consciousness". The document honours him also for founding Polish school of political realism and responsibility, shaping Polish (especially the Western) borders and "emphasizing the firm connection between Catholicism and Polishness for the survival of the Nation and the rebuilding of the State".

Dmowski was awarded several state awards: the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1923), Order of the Star of Romania and Order of Oranje-Nassau. He received honorary degrees from Cambridge University (1916) and the University of Poznań (1923). He refused other awards. On 11 November 2018 (100th anniversary of Polish Independence), he was posthumously awarded the Order of the White Eagle.

Selected works

 * Myśli nowoczesnego Polaka (Thoughts of a Modern Pole), 1902.
 * Niemcy, Rosja a sprawa polska (Germany, Russia and the Polish Cause), 1908. French translation published under the title: La question polonaise (Paris 1909).
 * Separatyzm Żydów i jego źródła (Separatism of Jews and its Sources), 1909.
 * Upadek myśli konserwatywnej w Polsce (The Decline of Conservative Thought in Poland), 1914.
 * Polityka polska i odbudowanie państwa (Polish Politics and the Rebuilding of the State), 1925.
 * Zagadnienie rządu (On Government), 1927.
 * Kościół, naród i państwo (The Church, Nation and State), 1927.
 * Świat powojenny i Polska (The World after War and Poland), 1931.
 * Przewrót (The Coup), 1934.

title: Roman Dmowski


text:
The Thorn Birds

The Thorn Birds is a 1977 novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough. Set primarily on Drogheda—a fictional sheep station in the Australian Outback named after Drogheda, Ireland—the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans 1915 to 1969. The novel is the best-selling book in Australian history, and has sold over 33 million copies worldwide.

The novel was also adapted into an eponymous television miniseries; during its 27–30 March 1983 run, it became the United States' second-highest rated miniseries of all time, behind Roots. Subsequently, a 1996 miniseries entitled The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years filled in a gap of 19 years in the middle of the novel. It was criticised for inconsistencies with the original series.

The novel was also adapted into a musical in 2009, The Thorn Birds Musical. In 2022, The Thorn Birds was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

Plot
The story begins in New Zealand on 8 December 1915, the fourth birthday of Meghann "Meggie" Cleary, who is the only daughter of Padraic ("Paddy"), an Irish farm labourer, and Fiona ("Fee"), his wife. Meggie is a beautiful child with curly red-gold hair, but receives little coddling and must struggle to hold her own in the family, which includes five older brothers at the time. Her favourite brother is the eldest, Frank, a rebellious young man who is unwillingly preparing himself for the blacksmith's trade. He is much shorter than his other brothers, but very strong. Unlike the other Clearys, he has black hair and eyes, believed to be inherited from his Maori great-great-grandmother.

Paddy has a wealthy sister, Mary Carson, a widow who lives in New South Wales, Australia, on Drogheda, an enormous sheep station. One day, Paddy receives an offer from Mary of a job on her estate, so in 1921, the whole Cleary family moves from New Zealand to Australia.

In Drogheda, the family meets Ralph de Bricassart, a young, capable, and ambitious priest. As punishment for insulting a bishop, he has been relegated to a remote parish in the town of Gillanbone, near Drogheda. Ralph has befriended Mary Carson, hoping a hefty bequest from her to the Catholic Church might liberate him from his exile. Ralph is "a beautiful man", and Mary goes to great lengths to tempt him to break his vows. Ralph shrugs off her attentions and ploys, and continues his visits. He cares for all of the Clearys and particularly cherishes forlorn little Meggie.

Frank's relationship with his father, Paddy, has never been peaceful. The two vie for Fee's attention. Frank resents the many pregnancies Paddy has caused her to endure. Fee, now in her 40s, reveals she is again pregnant; the two men quarrel violently, and Paddy tells Frank he is not his biological son. Fee, the daughter of a prominent New Zealand citizen, is revealed to have had an affair with a married politician. The result, Frank, was already 18 months old when Fee married Paddy. Because he resembles her lost love, Frank has always been Fee's favourite child. After the argument with Paddy, Frank runs away to become a prizefighter. Fee gives birth to twin boys, James and Patrick (Jims and Patsy), but shows little interest in them. Shortly afterward, Meggie's beloved little brother, Hal, dies.

With Frank gone and Hal dead, Meggie clings to Ralph de Bricassart, who has been her constant mentor and friend. As she grows into womanhood, some begin to question their close relationship, including Ralph and Meggie themselves. Mary Carson, motivated by jealousy mingled with Machiavellian cruelty, devises a plan to separate Ralph from Meggie by tempting him with a high place in the church hierarchy. Although her will of record leaves the bulk of her estate to Paddy, she quietly writes a new one, making the Roman Catholic Church the main beneficiary and Ralph the executor.

In the new will, the true magnitude of Mary's wealth is finally revealed. Drogheda is not the centre of her fortune as Ralph and Paddy have long believed, but is merely a hobby, a diversion from her true financial interests. Mary's wealth is derived from a vast multinational financial empire worth over 13 million pounds (about A$200 million in modern terms). The sheer size of Mary's bequest will guarantee Ralph's rapid rise in the church. She also makes sure that after she dies, only Ralph, at first, will know of the new will – forcing him to choose between Meggie and his own ambition. She also provides for her disinherited brother, promising all his grandchildren and him a home on Drogheda as long as any of them lives.

At Mary's 75th birthday party, Ralph goes to great lengths to avoid Meggie, now 17 and dressed in a beautiful rose-pink evening gown. Later, he explains to Meggie that others might not see his attention as innocent. Mary dies later that night, and Ralph learns of the new will. He sees at once the subtle genius of Mary's plan, and although he weeps and calls her "a disgusting old spider", he takes the new will to her lawyer without delay. The lawyer, scandalised, urges Ralph to destroy the will, but to no avail. The bequest of 13 million pounds works its expected magic and Ralph soon leaves for Sydney to begin his rapid advance in the church.

Before he leaves, Meggie confesses her love for him and they share a passionate kiss, but Ralph pulls away because of his duties as a priest, and begs Meggie to find a suitable partner.

The Clearys learn that Frank has been convicted of murder after killing someone in a fight. Frank spends three decades in prison.

More tragedy follows: Paddy dies in a lightning fire, and son Stu is killed by a wild boar shortly after finding his father's body. Meanwhile, Ralph, unaware of Paddy and Stu's deaths, is on his way back to Drogheda after hearing of the fire. He suffers minor injuries when his plane bogs in the mud. As Meggie tends his wounds, their passion is reignited, but again Ralph rebuffs Meggie, and he remains at Drogheda only long enough to conduct the funerals.

Three years later, a sheep shearer named Luke O'Neill begins to court Meggie. Although his motives are more mercenary than romantic, she marries him because he looks a little bit like Ralph, and also because Luke is not Catholic and she wants little to do with religion – her own way of getting back at Ralph. She soon realises her mistake. After a brief honeymoon, Luke, a skinflint who regards women as sex objects and prefers the company of men, finds Meggie a live-in job with a kindly couple, the Muellers, and leaves to join a gang of itinerant sugarcane cutters in North Queensland. Before he leaves, he appropriates all Meggie's savings and arranges to have her wages paid directly to him. He tells her he is saving money to buy a homestead; however, he quickly becomes obsessed with the competitive toil of cutting cane and has no real intention of giving it up. Hoping to change Luke's ambition and settle him down, Meggie deliberately thwarts his usual contraception and bears Luke a red-haired daughter, Justine. The new baby, however, makes little impression on Luke.

Father Ralph visits Meggie during her difficult labour. He has come to say goodbye, as he is leaving Australia for Rome. He sees Meggie's unhappiness and pities her. Justine proves to be a fractious baby, so the Muellers send Meggie to an isolated island resort for a rest. Father Ralph returns to Australia, learns of Meggie's whereabouts from Anne Mueller, and joins her for several days. There, at last, the lovers consummate their passion, and Ralph realises that despite his ambition to be the perfect priest, his desire for Meggie makes him a man like other men. He returns to the church, and Meggie, now pregnant with Ralph's child, decides to separate from Luke. She sleeps one last time with Luke to ensure that her child's paternity will not be questioned, then tells Luke what she really thinks of him and returns to Drogheda, leaving him to his cane-cutting.

Back home, she gives birth to a beautiful boy whom she names Dane. Fee, who has had experience in such matters, notices Dane's resemblance to Ralph as soon as he is born. The relationship between Meggie and Fee takes a turn for the better. Justine grows into an independent, keenly intelligent girl who loves her brother dearly; however, she has little use for anyone else and calmly rebuffs Meggie's overtures of motherly affection. None of Meggie's other surviving brothers ever marry, and Drogheda gradually becomes a place filled with old people.

Ralph visits Drogheda after a long absence, and meets Dane for the first time; although he finds himself strangely drawn to the boy, he fails to recognise that they are father and son. The long-imprisoned Frank is also finally paroled at this time, thanks to Ralph's intercession, and returns to Drogheda a broken man. Dane grows up and decides, to Meggie's dismay, to become a priest. Fee tells Meggie that what she stole from God she must now give back. Justine, meanwhile, decides to become an actress and leaves Australia to seek her career in England. Ralph, now a cardinal, becomes a mentor to Dane, but is still blind to the fact that the young man is his own son. Dane is also unaware of their true relationship. Ralph takes great care of him, and because of their resemblance, people mistake them for uncle and nephew. Ralph and Dane encourage the rumour.

Justine and her brother remain close, although he is often shocked at her sexual adventures and free-wheeling lifestyle. She befriends Rainer Hartheim, a German politician who is a great friend of both Dane and Ralph's, and who falls deeply in love with her. Their friendship becomes the most important thing in her life and is on the verge of becoming something more when tragedy strikes.

Dane, who has just become a priest, is vacationing in Greece. While there, he goes swimming one day and drowns while attempting to rescue two women from a dangerous current. Meggie reveals before Dane's funeral that Dane is Ralph's son. Ralph dies in Meggie's arms after the funeral.

Justine breaks off all communications with Rainer and falls into a depressed, hum-drum existence. Eventually, they renew their acquaintance on strictly platonic terms, until Rainer visits Drogheda alone to urge Meggie to help him pursue Justine's hand in marriage. Justine, now the sole surviving grandchild of Fee and Paddy Cleary, finally accepts her true feelings for Rainer, and they marry.

Thornbird myth
The book's title refers to the mythical "thornbird" that searches for thorn trees from the day it is hatched. When it finds the perfect thorn tree, it impales itself on a thorn and sings the most beautiful song ever heard as it dies. The myth alludes to the Parable of the Sower in the Synoptic Gospels and chapter 9 of the Gospel of Thomas.

In the front matter of the book, the myth is set out:

"There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to out-carol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain.... Or so says the legend."

No sources have been found for this myth prior to the appearance of the book, although since then, it has been described in various nonscholarly sources as "an old Celtic legend".

A different myth associates the European goldfinch with the title "Thornbird", recounting that a goldfinch plucked a thorn out of Christ's crown of thorns and blood splashed onto its feathers. The bird is said to feature in several paintings of children destined for the church.

List of characters

 * Meghann "Meggie" Cleary – The central character, she is the only daughter in a large family of sons. The novel takes her from early childhood to old age.
 * Father Ralph de Bricassart – Meggie's true love, he is a handsome, ambitious Irish Catholic priest.
 * Padraic "Paddy" Cleary – Meggie's father, a kind and simple Irish labourer
 * Fiona "Fee" Armstrong Cleary – Paddy's wife and Meggie's mother, she is an aristocratic woman who bore a child out of wedlock before marrying Paddy Cleary.
 * Francis "Frank" Armstrong Cleary – Meggie's eldest brother, Fee's out-of-wedlock first son, Paddy's stepson, he is a favourite of both Meggie and Fee. He becomes a prizefighter.
 * Mary Elizabeth Cleary Carson – Paddy's immensely wealthy older sister, Father Ralph's benefactor, owner of Drogheda
 * Luke O'Neill – Meggie's husband and the father of Justine
 * Dane O'Neill – Son of Meggie and Ralph, who drowns in Greece at the age of 26
 * Justine O'Neill – Daughter of Meggie and Luke, an intelligent, independent girl
 * Luddie and Anne Mueller – Meggie's employers during her marriage to Luke, they become lifelong friends.
 * Bob, Jack, and Hughie Cleary – Three of Meggie's older brothers, they all resemble Paddy and live out their days, unmarried, on Drogheda.
 * Stuart "Stu" Cleary – A quiet, kindly boy, he resembles his mother. Of Meggie's five older brothers, he is the closest to her in age.
 * Harold "Hal" Cleary – Meggie's cherished baby brother, he dies when he is four years old.
 * James and Patrick "Jims and Patsy" Cleary – Twin boys, they are Meggie's youngest brothers.
 * Rainer "Rain" Moerling Hartheim – Friend of Ralph's and eventually Dane's, he is a member of the West German Parliament and eventual husband of Justine.
 * Archbishop (later Cardinal) Vittorio di Contini-Verchese – Ralph's mentor, friend to Rainer and Dane

In popular culture
The Thorn Birds played a recurring role as a joke element in the TV show Late Night with Seth Meyers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as he taped the show from his home, the book appeared on a side table. On different camera cuts, the book will appear again with adjusted titles, sometimes many at a time.

Former NFL offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson is named after The Thorn Birds character Father Ralph de Bricassart.

title: The Thorn Birds


text:
Chengdu J-9

The Chengdu J-9 (Chinese: 歼-9) was an interceptor aircraft that was cancelled during development in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was proposed in 1964 by the 601 Institute (Shenyang) as a higher-performing alternative to the Shenyang J-8. Development was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution and frequently changing requirements; in addition, development was transferred to the 611 Institute (Chengdu). The program was cancelled in 1980.

Development
By 1964, the Chengdu J-7 was inadequate to perform long-range, high-altitude interceptions. The Chinese Aeronautical Establishment held a conference on 25 October to discuss future fighters. The 601 Institute had two proposals; a twin-engined "scaled-up" J-7 which became the J-8, and a higher-performing single-engined option that became the J-9. The J-9 was technically riskier; it was not based on an existing design, and the required engine - an afterburning turbofan generating 83 kN dry and 121 kN reheat thrust - did not exist in China. Shenyang developed a delta and a double-delta concept in 1965.

Development was officially approved following a Ministry of Aerospace Industry (MAI) conference on 12-17 January 1966 with the goal of either an air superiority fighter or a pure interceptor. This was revised on April 1 with new requirements for endurance, rate of climb, and significantly increased range. A development schedule was approved on April 12. Shenyang responded first with the J-9A-IV (a tailed delta with lateral intakes) and then the J-9B-V (a tailless-delta); the former was unable to meet requirements. The Cultural Revolution paused development. Development on the J-9B-V resumed in 1968. The goal of flying a prototype by the 20th anniversary of the PRC in October 1969 could not be achieved due to major development problems. MAI shifted work back to the J-9A-IV. In addition, development was transferred to Chengdu because Shenyang was now fully occupied with the J-8. Wang Shounan became the new chief designer.

The Ministry of Defense issued new requirements on 9 June 1970 - and slightly revised in November - for even greater range, speed, and altitude. Chengdu abandoned the J-9A-IV, and reworked the J-9B-V into the J-9B-VI. The J-9B-VI was a canard-delta with lateral intakes; a single ventral intake was rejected. The intended engine, the Woshan WS-6 turbofan, encountered development problems; a reverse-engineered Khachaturov R29-300 turbojet, to be called the WS-15, was selected as a less powerful alternative.

The requirements were revised in February 1975, calling for more range and an armament of four PL-4 air-to-air missiles. In November the State Planning Commission approved funding for five prototypes, with the first flight to take place in late-1980 or early-1981. However, the program was ended in 1980.

title: Chengdu J-9