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Hamilton Fish

Hamilton Fish (August 3, 1808 – September 7, 1893) was an American politician and statesman who served as the 16th governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from 1869 to 1877. Fish was the most trusted advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant and recognized as the pillar of Grant's presidency. He is considered one of the nation's most effective U.S. secretaries of state by scholars, known for his judiciousness and efforts towards reform and diplomatic moderation. He settled the controversial Alabama Claims with the United Kingdom, developing the concept of international arbitration and avoided war with Spain over Cuban independence by coolly handling the volatile Virginius incident. He also organized a peace conference and treaty between South American countries and Spain. In 1875, Fish negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty for sugar production with the Kingdom of Hawai'i, initiating the process which ended in the 1893 overthrow of the House of Kalākaua and statehood. Fish worked with James Milton Turner to settle the Liberia-Grebo War in 1876.

Fish came from prominence and wealth. His Dutch American family was long-established in New York City. He attended Columbia College and later passed the New York state bar. Initially working as commissioner of deeds, he ran unsuccessfully for New York State Assembly as a Whig candidate in 1834. After marrying, he returned to politics and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843. Fish ran for New York's lieutenant governor in 1846, falling to a Democratic Anti-Rent Party contender. When the office was vacated in 1847, Fish ran and was elected to the position. In 1848, he ran and was elected governor of New York, serving one term. In 1851, he was elected U.S. Senator for New York, serving one term. Fish gained valuable experience serving on Committee on Foreign Relations. Fish was a moderate on the question of maintaining or dissolving slavery; he opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery.

After traveling to Europe, Fish returned to the United States and supported Abraham Lincoln, the Republican nominee for president in the 1860 U.S. presidential election. During the American Civil War, Fish raised money for the Union war effort and served on Lincoln's presidential commission that made successful arrangements for Union and Confederate troop prisoner exchanges. Fish returned to his law practice after the Civil War, and was thought to have retired from political life. When Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1868, he appointed Fish as U.S. secretary of state in 1869. Fish took on the State Department with vigor, reorganized the office, and established civil service reform. During his tenure, Fish had to contend with Cuban belligerency, the settlement of the Alabama claims, Canada–U.S. border disputes, and the Virginius incident. Fish implemented the new concept of international arbitration, where disputes between countries were settled by negotiations, rather than military conflicts. Fish was involved in a political feud between U.S. senator Charles Sumner and President Grant in the latter's unsuccessful efforts to annex the Dominican Republic. Fish organized a naval expedition in an unsuccessful attempt to open trade with Korea in 1871. Leaving office and politics in 1877, Fish returned to private life and continued to serve on various historical associations. Fish died quietly of old age in his luxurious New York State home in 1893.

Fish has been praised by historians for his calm demeanor under pressure, honesty, loyalty, modesty, and talented statesmanship during his tenure under President Grant, briefly serving under President Hayes. The hallmark of his career was the Treaty of Washington, peacefully settling the Alabama Claims. Fish also ably handled the Virginus incident, keeping the United States out of war with Spain. Fish, while Secretary of State, lacked empathy for the plight of African Americans, and opposed annexation of Latin American countries. Fish has been traditionally viewed to be one of America's top ranked Secretaries of State by historians. Fish's male descendants would later serve in the U.S. House of Representatives for three generations.

Early life and education
Fish was born on August 3, 1808, in what is the present-day Hamilton Fish House in Greenwich Village in New York City, to Nicholas Fish and Elizabeth Stuyvesant, a daughter of Peter Stuyvesant and direct descendant of New Amsterdam's Director-General Peter Stuyvesant. He was named after his parents' friend Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father and the nation's first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington. Nicholas Fish (1758–1833) was a leading Federalist politician and notable figure of the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Fish was active in the Yorktown Campaign, which featured the final battles of the American Revolutionary War and led to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and American independence. Peter Stuyvesant was a prominent founder of New York, then a Dutch Colony, and his family owned much property in Manhattan.

Fish received his primary education at M. Bancel, a private school. In 1827, Fish graduated from Columbia College, having obtained high honors. At Columbia, Fish became fluent in French, a language that would later help him as U.S. Secretary of State. After his graduation, Fish studied law for three years in the law office of Peter A. Jay, served as president of the Philolexian Society, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1830, practicing briefly with William Beach Lawrence. Influenced politically by his father, Fish aligned himself to the Whig Party. He served as commissioner of deeds for the city and county of New York from 1831 through 1833, and was an unsuccessful Whig candidate for New York State Assembly in 1834.

On December 15, 1836, Fish married Julia Kean, a sister of Col. John Kean, both descendants of William Livingston, a New Yorker who went on to become New Jersey's first governor. The couple's lengthy married life was described as happy and Mrs. Fish was known for her "sagacity and judgement." The couple had three sons and five daughters.

U.S. Congress
For eight years after his defeat as a Representative in the New York State Assembly, Fish was reluctant to run for office. However, Whig party leaders in 1842 convinced him to run for the House of Representatives. In November, Fish was elected to the House of Representatives; having defeated Democrat John McKeon and serving in the 28th Congress from New York's 6th District between 1843 and 1845. The Whigs at this time were in the minority in the House; however, Fish gained valued national experience serving on the Committee of Military Affairs. Fish failed to win a re-election bid for a second term in the House.

Lieutenant governor
Fish was the Whig candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1846, but was defeated by Democrat Addison Gardiner who had been endorsed by the Anti-Rent Party. Leasing farmers in New York refused to pay rent to large land tract owners and sometimes resorted to violence and intimidation. Fish had opposed the Anti-Rent Party for the use of illegal tactics not to pay rent. Gardiner was elected in May 1847 a judge of the New York Court of Appeals and vacated the office of lieutenant governor. Fish was then in November 1847 elected to fill the vacancy, and was Lieutenant Governor in 1848. Lieut. Gov. Fish had a favorable reputation for being "conciliatory" and for his "firmness" over the New York Senate.

Governor
In November 1848, he was elected Governor of New York, defeating John A. Dix and Reuben H. Walworth, and served from January 1, 1849, to December 31, 1850. At 40 years of age, Fish was one of the youngest governors to be elected in New York history. Fish advocated and signed into law free public education facilities throughout New York state. He also advocated and signed into law the building of an asylum and school for the intellectually disabled. During his tenure the canal system in the state of New York was increased. In 1850, Fish recommended that the state legislature form a committee to collect and publish the Colonial Laws of New York. None of the bills that Governor Fish vetoed were overturned by the New York legislature. In his annual messages Fish spoke out against the extension of slavery from land acquired from the Mexican–American War, including California and New Mexico. His anti-slavery messages gave Fish national attention and President Zachary Taylor, also a Whig, was going to nominate Fish to the Treasury Department in a cabinet shakeup. However Taylor died in office before he could nominate Fish. Despite his national popularity Fish was not renominated for Governor.

U.S. Senator
After Fish retired from office as governor, he did not openly seek the nomination to be elected U.S. Senator. However, Fish's supporters, the William H. Seward-Thurlow Weed Whigs, in January 1851 nominated him as a candidate for U.S. Senator. A deadlock ensued over his nomination because one New York legislature Whig Senator was upset about Fish not publicly supporting the Compromise of 1850. Before the election Fish had only stated government should enforce the laws. Although Fish did not favor the spread of slavery he was hesitant to support the free soil movement. Finally, when two Democratic Senators who were against Fish's nomination were conspicuously absent, the Senate took action and voted. On March 19, 1851, Fish was elected a U.S. Senator from New York and he took his seat on December 1, serving alongside future Secretary of State William H. Seward.

In the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations until the end of his term on March 4, 1857. Fish became friends with President Franklin Pierce's Secretary of State William L. Marcy and Attorney General Caleb Cushing. He was a Republican for the latter part of his term and was part of a moderately anti-slavery faction. During the 1850s, the Republican Party replaced the Whig Party as the central party against the Democratic Party. By 1856, Fish privately considered himself a Whig although he knew that the Whig Party was no longer viable politically. Fish was a quiet Senator, rather than an orator, who liked to keep to himself. Fish often was in disagreement with Senator Sumner, who was firmly opposed to slavery and advocated equality for blacks. His policy was to vote for legislation on the side of "justice, economy, and public virtue." He strongly opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Fish often voted with the Free Soil faction and was strongly against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. In February 1855, merchants represented by Moses H. Grinnell, criticized Fish's bill on immigration and maritime commerce. Fish's bill was designed to protect Irish and German immigrants who were dying on merchant ships during oceanic passage to America. The merchants believed that Fish's bill was oppressive to commercial interests over human interests.

During his tenure, the nation and Congress were in tremendous political upheaval over slavery, that included violence, disorder, and disturbances of the peace. In 1856, pro-slavery advocates invaded Kansas and used violent tactics against those who were anti-slavery. In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner was viciously attacked by Preston Brooks in the Senate Chamber. At the expiration of his term, he traveled with his family to Europe and remained there until shortly before the opening of the American Civil War, when he returned to begin actively campaigning for the election of Abraham Lincoln. While in France, Fish studied foreign policy with diplomats and distinguished Americans, and gained valuable experience that would eventually benefit his tenure as U.S. Secretary of State.

American Civil War
Fish had several important roles during the American Civil War. Fish's private secretary was involved in the attempt of the merchant ship Star of the West to bring relief supplies to Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor. During this period, Fish often met with General Winfield Scott, commander-in-chief of the US Army. Fish was dining with Scott in New York when a telegram reported that Confederates had fired on Star of the West. Fish said that this meant war; Scott replied "Don't utter that word, my friend. You don't know what a horrid thing war is."

In 1861–1862, Fish participated in the Union Defense Committee of the State of New York, which cooperated with New York City in raising and equipping Union Army troops, and disbursed more than $1 million for the relief of New York volunteers and their families. The committee included chairman John A. Dix, William M. Evarts, William E. Dodge, A.T. Stewart, John Jacob Astor, and other New York men. Fish was appointed chairman of the committee after Dix joined the Union Army.

In 1862, President Lincoln appointed Fish and Bishop Edward R. Ames as commissioners to visit Union prisoners in Richmond, Virginia. The Confederate government, however, would not allow them to enter the city. Instead, Fish and Rev. Ames started the prisoner exchange program which continued virtually unchanged throughout the war. After the war ended, Fish went back to private practice as a lawyer in New York.

From 1860 to 1869, Fish was trustee of The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York stepping down from that role when he became US Secretary of State.

U.S. Secretary of State
Fish was appointed Secretary of State by President Ulysses S. Grant and served between March 17, 1869, and March 12, 1877. He was President Grant's longest-serving Cabinet officer. Upon assuming office in 1869, Fish was initially underrated by some statesmen including former Secretaries of State William H. Seward and John Bigelow. Fish, however, immediately took on the responsibilities of his office with diligence, zeal, and intelligence. Fish's tenure as Secretary of State was lengthy, almost eight years, and he had to contend with many foreign policy issues including the Cuban insurrection, the Alabama Claims, and the Franco-Prussian War.

During Reconstruction, Fish was not known to sympathize with Grant's policy to eradicate the Ku Klux Klan, racism in the Southern states, and promote African American equality. Fish complained of being bored at Grant's cabinet meetings when Grant's U.S. Attorney General Amos T. Akerman told of atrocities of the Klan against black citizens.

Alabama Claims
Throughout Fish's tenure during Grant's first term in office, Fish periodically threatened to resign. After Fish's and Grant's high-water mark accomplishment of settling the Alabama Claims, Fish told Grant he would resign on August 1, 1871. Grant, however, needed Fish's professional advice and pleaded with Fish to remain in office. Grant told Fish he could not replace him. Fish remained in office, 13 years Grant's senior, even under ill health.

When Fish assumed office he immediately began a series of reforms in the Department of State. After appropriations were given to his office by Congress, Fish cataloged and organized 700 volumes of miscellaneous State Department documents and created the Bureau of Indexes and Archives. Fish introduced indexing of State Department files so subordinates could easily find documents. Fish implemented civil service reform by having State Department applicants be required to pass an entry examination before being appointed consultant. This policy was sometimes hampered, since President Grant could appoint any person to office without the person having to take an examination. However, the policy of testing overall improved the staff at the State Department. Fish's methods of organization included disciplined staff and prompt copying of dispatches.

The method of record keeping, however, was cumbersome and had remained unchanged since John Quincy Adams' presidency. Rather than world regions, countries were listed in alphabetical order; the correspondence was embedded in bound diplomatic and consular category archives, rather than by subject matter. Added to countries' information was a miscellaneous category filed chronologically. This resulted in a tedious and time-consuming process to make briefings for Congress. Diplomatic ministers, only 23 in 1877, were not kept informed of current world events that took place in other parts of the world.

By 1869, Cuban nationals were in open rebellion against their mother country Spain, due to the unpopularity of Spanish rule. American sentiment favored the Cuban rebels and President Grant appeared to be on the verge of acknowledging Cuban belligerency. Fish, who desired settlement over the Alabama Claims, did not approve of recognizing the Cuban rebels, since Queen Victoria and her government had recognized Confederate belligerency in 1861. Recognizing Cuban belligerency would have jeopardized settlement and arbitration with Great Britain. In February 1870, Senator John Sherman authored a Senate resolution that would have recognized Cuban belligerency. Working behind the scenes Fish counseled Sherman that Cuban recognition would ultimately lead to war with Spain. The resolution went to the House of Representatives and was ready to pass, however, Fish worked out an agreement with President Grant to send a special message to Congress that urged not to acknowledge the Cuban rebels. On June 13, 1870, the message written by Fish was sent to Congress by the President and Congress, after much debate, decided not to recognize Cuban belligerency. President Grant continued the policy of Cuban belligerent non recognition for the rest of his two administrations. This policy, however, was tested in 1873 with the Virginius Affair.

Annexation of Santo Domingo
After President Grant assumed office on March 4, 1869, one of his immediate foreign policy interests was the annexation of the Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic, at that time referred to as Santo Domingo, to the United States. Grant believed the annexation of Santo Domingo would increase the United States' mineral resources and alleviate the effects of racism against African Americans in the South. Hamilton Fish, though loyal to Grant, racially opposed annexation of Latin American countries, saying "the incorporation of those peopled by the Latin race would be but the beginnings of years of conflict and anarchy." The divided island nation, run by mulatto leader President Buenaventura Báez, had been troubled with civil strife. Báez had controversially imprisoned an American citizen, Davis Hatch, for speaking out against the Báez government, susceptible to a Haitian military take over.

Fish told Grant that the U.S. Senate would not be ready to pass a Santo Domingo annexation treaty. In April 1869, Fish gave Grant's private secretary Orville Babcock "special agent" status to search the island. Babcock, a military aide, who had served with merit in the Civil War, was a proponent of annexation, and racially open to annexing a Latin American mixed race country, by the United States. In September 1869, Babcock made a preliminary treaty that would annex Santo Domingo to the United States and give it the opportunity to apply for statehood. In October 1869, Fish drew up a formal treaty that included: a $1,500,000 payment of the Dominican national debt; Samaná Bay would be leased to the United States for $150,000 yearly payment; Santo Domingo would eventually be given statehood.

In a private conference with Grant, Fish agreed to support the Santo Domingo annexation if Grant sent Congress a non-belligerency statement not to get involved with the Cuban rebellion against Spain. Charles Sumner, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was against the treaty, believing that Santo Domingo needed to remain independent, and that racism against U.S. black citizens in the South needed to be dealt with in the continental United States. Sumner believed that blacks on Santo Domingo did not share Anglo-American values. On January 10, 1870, Grant submitted the Santo Domingo treaty to the United States Senate. Fish believed senators would vote for annexation only if statehood was withdrawn; however, President Grant refused this option. The Senate took its time deliberating, and finally rejected the treaty on June 30, 1870. Eighteen senators led by Charles Sumner defeated the treaty. Grant, angered at Sumner's refusal to support the treaty, fired Sumner's friend J. Lothrop Motley, Grant's ambassador to England, for disregarding Fish's instructions regarding the Alabama Claims. Grant believed that Sumner had in January 1870 stated his support for the Santo Domingo treaty. Sumner was then deprived of his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1871 by Grant's allies in the Senate.

1870: Colombian inter-oceanic canal treaty
President Grant and Secretary Fish were interested in establishing an inter-oceanic canal through Panama. Secretary Fish organized a treaty signing on January 26, 1870, in Bogota between the United States and Colombia that established a Panama route for the inter-oceanic canal. The Colombian Senate, however, amended the treaty so much that the strategic value of the inter-oceanic canal construction became ineffective. As a result, the United States Senate refused to ratify the treaty.

1871: Treaty of Washington
During the previous administration of President Andrew Johnson, Secretary of State Seward attempted to resolve the Alabama Claims with the Johnson-Clarendon convention and treaty. The Alabama Claims had arisen out of the American Civil War, when Confederate raiding ships built in British ports (most notably the C.S.S. Alabama) had sunk a significant number of Union merchant ships. Sumner also stated the Civil War would have ended by 1863 if the British weren't complicit in allowing its blockade runners to smuggle hundreds of thousands of weapons through the Union blockade to the Confederacy. As such, Sumner demanded that Britain pay $2 billion or simply cede Canada to the United States for the Alabama Claims.

The Johnson-Clarendon treaty, presented to Congress by President Ulysses S. Grant, was overwhelmingly defeated by the Senate and the claims remained unresolved. Anglophobia led by Charles Sumner was at an all-time high when Fish became Secretary of State. In late 1870, an opportunity arrived to settle the Alabama Claims under Prime Minister William Gladstone. Fish, who was determined to improve relations with Britain, along with President Grant and Senate supporters, had Charles Sumner removed by vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the door was open for renewed negotiations with Britain.

On January 9, 1871, Fish met with British representative Sir John Rose in Washington and an agreement was made, after much negotiation, to establish a Joint Commission to settle the Alabama Claims to be held in Washington under the direction of Hamilton Fish. At stake was the financing of America's debt with British bankers during the Civil War, and peace with Britain was required. On February 14, 1871, both distinguished High Commissioners representing Britain, led by the Earl of Ripon, George Robinson, and the United States, led by Fish, met in Washington, D.C., and negotiations over settlement went remarkably well. Also representing Britain was Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald. After 37 meetings, on May 8, 1871, the Treaty of Washington was signed at the State Department and became a "landmark of international conciliation". The Senate ratified the treaty on May 24, 1871. On August 25, 1872, the settlement for the Alabama claims was made by an international arbitration committee meeting in Geneva and the United States was awarded $15,500,000 (~$ in ) in gold only for damage done by the Confederate warships. Under the treaty settlement over disputed Atlantic fisheries and the San Juan Boundary (concerning the Oregon boundary line) was made. The treaty was considered an "unprecedented accomplishment", having solved border disputes, reciprocal trade, and navigation issues. A friendly perpetual relationship between Great Britain and America was established, with Britain having expressed regret over the Alabama damages.

1871: South American détente and armistice
On April 11, 1871, a peace-trade conference, presided over by Hamilton Fish, was held in Washington D.C., between Spain and the South American republics of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia, which resulted in an armistice between the countries. These countries had been in a "technical" state of war since 1866, and the United States in 1871 served as mediator under the direction of Hamilton Fish. Representing Spain was Mauricio Lopez Roberts; Manuel Freyer represented both Peru and Bolivia; Joaquín Godoy represented Chile; and Antonio Flores represented Ecuador. President Grant gave Fish full powers to control negotiations at the détente meeting between the five countries. The signed armistice treaty consisted of seven articles; hostilities were to cease for a minimum of three years and the countries would allow commercial trade with neutral countries.

1871: Korean expedition and conflict
In 1871, Korea was known as the "Hermit Kingdom", a country determined to remain isolated from other nations, specifically from commerce and trade from Western nations, including the United States. In 1866, U.S. relations with Korea were troubled when Christian missionaries were beheaded by the Korean Daewongun, regent to King Kojong, and the crew of the General Sherman, a U.S. trading ship, were massacred. Secretary Seward, under President Johnson, demanded redress for what was perceived as the outrageous actions of the Korean government. U.S. Naval warships were ordered to the Orient, however, when Seward's term ended in 1869, he was unable to organize a naval expedition. When Fish took office, he organized the Korean naval expedition and broadened the purposes. In April 1871, Fish ordered Frederick F. Low, minister to China, to take the Asiatic Fleet and voyage to Seoul. The purpose of the expedition was to seek retribution for the assaulted sailors and to open up a commercial treaty with the King of Korea. Fish had told the fleet not to use force unless the honor of the U.S. flag was infringed by the Koreans.

On May 8, 1871, Low and Rear Admiral John Rodgers, commander of the Asiatic Squadron, voyaged to Korea with five warships, 85 guns, and 1,230 sailors and marines. On May 16, the naval squadron reached Nagasaki Bay, and a week later lowered anchor near the mouth of the Han River. The Koreans sent unofficial representatives to stall for time and hope the American squadron would leave. In June, the American fleet was performing a nautical survey and was fired upon by the Korean forts on the Han River leading to Seoul. The American fleet fired back, damaging the forts. The Americans demanded an apology on the grounds that the honor of the American flag had been violated. On June 10, a U.S. military expedition was launched after the Koreans failed to apologize for the attack; the objective was to destroy the Korean forts on Ganghwa Island. The U.S.S. Monocacy pounded the forts with 9 inch guns while 546 sailors and 105 marines landed on the island and captured and destroyed the Korean forts. The "Citadel" fortress, on a steep 115-foot hillside, put up the stiffest resistance to the American troops, who fought in hand-to-hand combat with the Korean Tiger Hunters. All of the Korean forts taken were destroyed and leveled on June 11. Three hundred fifty Korean Tiger Hunters were killed, compared with only one American officer and two American sailors. Lieut. Hugh W. McKee was the first U.S. Navy officer to die in battle in Korea.

The Asiatic Squadron remained on the Han River for three weeks, but the Koreans would not open negotiations for a commercial treaty. As the American squadron left, the Koreans believed that they had won a great victory over the Americans. The attempt to open Korea up to trade was similar to how Commodore Matthew Perry in 1854 had approached the opening of Japan. Korea, however, proved to be more isolated than Japan. In 1881, Commodore Robert W. Shufeldt, without using a naval fleet, went to a more conciliatory Korean government and made a commercial treaty. The U.S. was the first Western nation to establish formal trade with Korea.

1873: Virginius affair
During the 1870s, Cuba was in a state of rebellion against Spain. In the United States, Americans were divided on whether to militarily aid the rebel Cubans. Many jingoists believed the United States needed to fight for the Cuban rebels and pressured the Grant Administration to take action. A privately owned ship, the Virginius, was used to run guns, ammunition, and vital supplies to the Cuban rebels. The captain of the Virginius was Joseph Fry, former officer of the Confederate and Federal Navies. On October 31, 1873, the Virginius was run down in neutral waters by the Spanish warship, the Tornado, off of Morant Bay, Jamaica. After being hit, the Virginius took on water and was forced to surrender to the Spanish authorities. The 103 crew members consisted of Cuban rebel recruits and 52 American and British citizens. The Spanish hauled down and trampled the American flag, and brought the prisoners to Santiago. A total of 53 Virginius crew members were executed by the Spanish authorities. The Spanish finally stopped the carnage as a British warship appeared with guns ready to fire on Santiago. The American Navy, at this time, although formidable worldwide, was in decline after the American Civil War.

When news reached the United States of the executions, President Grant and Secretary Fish were forced to make an immediate response. Many Americans demanded a full-scale war with Spain. Fish found out that the registration was falsified under American ownership, however, the executions of Americans demanded action. Fish coolly handled the situation, calling upon Spanish minister, Admiral José Polo de Bernabé in Washington D.C., and holding a conference. A settlement was made where Spain relinquished the severely damaged Virginius to the U.S. Navy, while survivors were released that included 13 Americans. The Spanish Captain who ordered the executions was censured, and Spain paid $80,000 reparations to American families whose family members were executed in Santiago. The national honor of both Spain and the United States was preserved and it was chiefly due to the restraint and moderation of Fish and Bernabé that a satisfactory settlement of the Virginius Affair was reached by the United States and Spain.

1875: Hawaiian reciprocal trade treaty
Fish also negotiated the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 with the Hawaiian Kingdom under the reign of King Kalākaua. Hawaiian sugar was made duty-free, while the importation of manufactured goods and clothing was allowed into the island kingdom. By opening Hawaii to free trade the process for annexation and eventual statehood into the United States had begun.

1876: Liberian-Grebo War
The U.S. settled the Liberian-Grebo War in 1876 when Hamilton Fish dispatched the USS Alaska, under President Grant's authority, to Liberia. Liberia was in practice an American colony. U.S. envoy James Milton Turner, the first African American ambassador, requested a warship to protect American property in Liberia. Turner, bolstered by U.S. naval presence in harbor and support of the USS Alaska captain, negotiated the incorporation of Grebo people into Liberian society and the ousting of foreign traders from Liberia.

1876: Republican convention
As the 1876 Republican convention approached during the U.S. presidential election, President Grant, unknown to Fish, had written a letter to Republican leaders to nominate Fish for the Presidential ticket. The letter was never read at the convention and Fish was never nominated. President Grant believed that Fish was a good compromise choice between the rival factions of James G. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling. Cartoonist Thomas Nast drew a caricature of Fish and Rutherford B. Hayes as the Republican Party ticket. Fish, who was ready to retire to private life, did not desire to run for president and was content at returning to private life. Fish found out later that President Grant had written the letter to the convention.

1877: Nicaragua inter-oceanic canal negotiations
President Grant at the close of his second term, and Secretary Fish, remained interested in establishing an inter-oceanic canal treaty. Fish and the State Department negotiated with a special envoy from Nicaragua in February 1877 for an inter-oceanic treaty. Negotiations, however, failed as the status of the neutral zone could not be established.

Later life and health
After leaving the Grant Cabinet in 1877 and briefly serving under President Hayes, Fish retired from public office and returned to private life practicing law and managing his real estate in New York City. Fish was revered in the New York community and enjoyed spending time with his family.

Fish resided in Glen Clyffe, his estate near Garrison, New York, in Putnam County, New York, in the Hudson River Valley. His health remained good until around 1884, having suffered from neuralgia.

Death, funeral, and burial
On September 6, 1893, Fish had retired from the evening having played cards with his daughter. The following morning on September 7, Fish, at the age of 85, suddenly died. His death was attributed to advanced age. On September 11, 1893, Fish was buried in Garrison at St. Philip's Church in the Highlands Cemetery under waving trees on the hills along the Hudson River shoreline. He was buried next to his wife and oldest daughter near the grave of Edwards Pierrepont, President Grant's U.S. Attorney General. Many notable persons attended Fish's funeral, and Bishop Potter conducted services. Julia Grant, widowed wife of Grant, attended Fish's funeral.

Historical reputation
Charles Francis Adams described Fish as "a quiet and easy-going man; but, when aroused, by being, as he thought, 'put upon', he became very formidable. Neither was it possible to placate him." Fish's 20th Century biographer, A. Elwood Corning, stated that Fish was free from "petty jealousies and prejudices which so often drag the reputation of statesmen down to the level of politicians" and that Fish "used the language and practiced the manners of a gentleman." As an invaluable member of the Grant Administration, Fish commanded "men's confidence, and respect by his firmness, candor, and justice."

A survey of scholars in the December 1981 American Heritage magazine ranked Fish third on a list of top ten Secretaries of State, noting his settlement of the Alabama Claims in 1871, his settlement of the Virginius Incident, and his role in the Hawaiian treaty ratified by the Senate in 1875.

There is a memorial to Fish at the Cathedral of All Saints in Albany, New York. The Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, which spans the Hudson River 50 miles north of New York City between Dutchess and Orange counties, is named after Fish. A street in the Bronx, New York, is named after Fish, as is Hamilton Fish Park in Manhattan.

Fish was a long time member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati by right of his father's service as an officer in the Continental Army. Fish succeeded to his father's seat in the Society in 1834, following his father's death the previous year. In 1848, Fish became the Vice President General of the national society and, in 1854, he became its president general. In 1855, Fish was elected president of the New York Society. Fish served as both president general of the national society and president of the New York Society until his death in 1893.

Notable descendants
Three of Fish's direct descendants, all named Hamilton, served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York state. Hamilton Fish II, Fish's son, served one term as U.S. Representative from 1909 to 1911. Fish II also served as assistant to his father at the U.S. State Department.

Hamilton Fish III, Fish's grandson, served as U.S. Representative from 1920 to 1945. Hamilton Fish IV, Fish's great-grandson, served as U.S. Representative from 1969 to 1995. Another son Stuyvesant Fish was an important railroad executive. Another son, Nicholas Fish II, was a U.S. diplomat, who was appointed second secretary of legation at Berlin in 1871, became secretary in 1874, and was chargé d'affaires at Berne in 1877–1881, and minister to Belgium in 1882–1886, after which he engaged in banking in New York City. Hamilton Fish, Fish's grandson by Nicholas, was an 1895 graduate of Columbia College, saw service in the Spanish–American War as one of the storied Rough Riders. He was the first member of that regiment to be killed in action, at the Battle of Las Guasimas, Cuba.

His great nephew Thomas Kean was New Jersey governor from 1982 until 1990 and chairman of the 9/11 Commission following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Books

 * scholarly review and response by Calhoun at

title: Hamilton Fish


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Tim Roth

Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the "Brit Pack".

Roth was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer in his film debut The Hit (1984). Since then, he gained more attention for his roles in films, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), and Vincent & Theo and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (both 1990). Roth has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Four Rooms (1995) and The Hateful Eight (2015). For his performance in Rob Roy (1995), Roth won a BAFTA Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award.

Roth made his directorial debut with the film The War Zone (1999). He played Cal Lightman in the Fox series Lie to Me (2009–2011) and Jim Worth/Jack Devlin in the Sky Atlantic series Tin Star (2017–2020). Roth played Emil Blonsky/Abomination in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Incredible Hulk (2008), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022).

Early life
Roth was born on 14 May 1961 in Dulwich, London. His mother, Ann, was a painter and teacher. His father Ernie, was a Fleet Street journalist and painter. His father was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, to a family of Irish descent. Although he was not of Jewish background, his father changed his surname from "Smith" to the German/Yiddish "Roth" in the 1940s, as "an act of anti-Nazi solidarity".

Roth is a survivor of child sexual abuse, committed by his paternal grandfather, whom he has stated sexually abused him from childhood until his early teen years. He first revealed that he was a victim of sexual abuse during press for the 1999 film The War Zone, which dealt with the topics of incest and sexual violence within a family, but declined to name the perpetrator at that time. In December 2016, he gave an interview to The Guardian in which he revealed that his abuser was his grandfather, who had also abused his father when he was a child.

Roth attended school in Lambeth before moving to Croydon Technical School, due to bullying. He attended the Strand School in Tulse Hill. Roth wanted to be a sculptor and studied at London's Camberwell College of Arts.

Career
Roth starred in television films in the 1980s, including Made in Britain, Meantime and Murder with Mirrors. After his film debut The Hit, he earned an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. He played an East End character in King of the Ghetto, a controversial drama based on a novel by Farukh Dhondy set in Brick Lane and broadcast by the BBC in 1986. In the late 1980s, Roth, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis, Bruce Payne and Paul McGann were dubbed the Brit Pack.

In 1990, he played Vincent van Gogh in Vincent & Theo, and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Roth became an international star when he collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on several films, including Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Four Rooms.

He played Archibald Cunningham in Rob Roy. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe. Roth starred in Woody Allen's musical film Everyone Says I Love You and in The Legend of 1900. He also co-starred with Tupac Shakur in the film Gridlock'd. Roth made his directorial debut film The War Zone, a film version of Alexander Stuart's novel. In 2001, he played General Thade the evil chimpanzee in Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes. For the Harry Potter film series, Roth declined the role of Severus Snape, which went to Alan Rickman.

Roth starred in Francis Ford Coppola's film Youth Without Youth, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, and played Emil Blonsky / Abomination, a Russian-born officer in the British Royal Marines Commandos, in The Incredible Hulk. Louis Leterrier was a fan of Roth's work. Leterrier wrote on Empire magazine: "it's great watching a normal Cockney boy become a superhero!". Roth starred in the television series Lie to Me as Cal Lightman, an expert on body language assisting local and federal law organisations with the crime. A fan of Monty Python since his youth, Roth appeared in the 2009 television documentary, Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyers Cut). He appeared on the cover of Manic Street Preachers' 2010 studio album, Postcards from a Young Man.

In 2012, he became the president of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. He starred as FIFA President Sepp Blatter in United Passions, a film about football's governing body, released in 2014, to coincide with FIFA's 110th anniversary, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Roth starred in the 2015 film Chronic which had a limited release. He received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead nomination. Roth played Oswaldo Mobray in the ensemble western film The Hateful Eight, and played a butler in a deleted scene for the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Roth reprised his role as Emil Blonsky/Abomination in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and in the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022), both set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Personal life
Roth's son Jack, born to Lori Baker in 1984, is also an actor. Roth married Nikki Butler in 1993. They had two sons, Hunter and Cormac. Cormac, a musician, died aged 25 from germ cell cancer on 16 October 2022.

Roth is a supporter of the Green Party of England and Wales.

He endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the 2016 US presidential election. Roth was critical of Donald Trump's victory saying "I hate Trump. I hate everything that he stands for. He should never be forgotten or forgiven for anything he said on the road to the White House".

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

title: Tim Roth


text:
Venezuelan bolívar

The bolívar is the official currency of Venezuela. Named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar, it was introduced following the monetary reform in 1879, before which the venezolano was circulating. Due to its decades-long reliance on silver and gold standards, and then on a peg to the United States dollar, it was considered among the most stable currencies and was internationally accepted until 1964, when the government decided to adopt a floating exchange rate instead.

Since 1983, the currency has experienced a prolonged period of high inflation, losing value almost 500-fold against the US dollar in the process. The depreciation became manageable in the mid-2000s, but it still stayed in double digits. It was then, on 1 January 2008, that the hard bolívar (bolívar fuerte in Spanish, sign: Bs.F, code: VEF) replaced the original bolívar (sign: Bs; code: VEB) at a rate of Bs.F 1 to Bs. 1,000 (the abbreviation Bs. is due to the first and the final letters of the plural form of the currency's name, bolívares).

The value of the hard bolívar, pegged to the US dollar, did not stay stable for long despite attempts to institute capital controls. Venezuela entered another period of abnormally high inflation in 2012, which the country has not exited. The central bank stuck to the pegged subsidised exchange rate until January 2018, which was overpriced so people began using parallel exchange rates despite a ban on publishing them. From 2016 to 2019 and again in 2020, the currency experienced hyperinflation for a total period of 38 months.

The rampant inflation prompted another two redenominations. The first occurred in August 2018, when Bs.F 100,000 were exchanged for 1 sovereign bolívar (bolívar soberano in Spanish, sign: Bs.S, code: VES). The second one, dubbed the "nueva expresión monetaria" or new monetary expression, occurred on 1 October 2021, when Bs.S 1,000,000 were exchanged for 1 digital bolívar (bolívar digital in Spanish, sign: Bs.D, code: VED), thus making Bs.D 1 worth Bs. 100,000,000,000,000 (1014, or Bs. 100 trillion in short scale).

Both Bs.S and Bs.D currencies are in circulation, though the economy has undergone extensive currency substitution, so the majority of transactions happen in US dollars, or, to a lesser extent, the Colombian peso.

Bolívar
The bolívar is named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar. The bolívar was adopted by the monetary law of 1879, replacing the short-lived venezolano at a rate of five bolívares to one venezolano. Initially, the bolívar was defined on the silver standard, equal to 4.5 g fine silver, following the principles of the Latin Monetary Union. The monetary law of 1887 made the gold bolívar unlimited legal tender, and the gold standard came into full operation in 1910. Venezuela went off gold in 1930, and in 1934, the bolívar exchange rate was fixed in terms of the US dollar at a rate of Bs. 3.914 = US$1, revalued to Bs. 3.18 = 1 US dollar in 1937, a rate which lasted until 1941. Until 18 February 1983 (now called, Spanish for Black Friday, by many Venezuelans), the bolívar had been the region's most stable and internationally accepted currency. It then fell prey to high devaluation.

Exchange controls were imposed on February 5, 2003, to limit capital flight. The rate was pegged to the US dollar at a fixed exchange rate of Bs. 1,600 to the dollar.

Hard bolívar
The government announced on 7 March 2007 that the bolívar would be redenominated at a ratio of 1,000 to 1 on 1 January 2008 and renamed the bolívar fuerte, or hard bolívar in an effort to facilitate the ease of transaction and accounting. The newer name literally means "hard bolívar", as in hard currency, and in reference to an old coin called the peso fuerte worth 10 Spanish reales. The alternate meaning of "strong" was also used by the government in promotional material The official exchange rate is restricted to individuals by CADIVI, which imposes an annual limit on the amount available for travel.

Since the government of Hugo Chávez established strict currency controls in 2003, there have been a series of five currency devaluations, disrupting the economy. On 8 January 2010, the value was changed by the government from the fixed exchange rate of Bs.F 2.15 to Bs.F 2.60 for some imports (certain foods and healthcare goods) and Bs.F 4.30 for other imports like cars, petrochemicals, and electronics. On 4 January 2011, the fixed exchange rate became Bs.F 4.30 for US$1.00 for both sides of the economy. On 13 February 2013 the hard bolívar was devalued to Bs.F 6.30 per US$1 in an attempt to counter budget deficits. On 18 February 2016, President Maduro used his newly granted economic powers to devalue the official exchange rate of the hard bolívar from Bs.F 6.30 per US$1 to Bs.F 10 per US$1, which is a 37% depreciation against the US dollar.

The hard bolívar entered hyperinflation in November 2016.

On January 26, 2018, the government retired the protected and subsidized Bs.F 10 per US$1 exchange rate that was highly overvalued as a result of rampant inflation. On February 5, 2018, the Central Bank of Venezuela announced a 99.6% [sic] devaluation, with the exchange rate going to Bs.F 25,000 per US$. This made the hard bolívar the second-least-valued circulating currency in the world based on the official exchange rate, behind only the Iranian rial, and between September 2017 and August 2018, according to the informal exchange rate, the hard bolívar was the least-valued circulating currency unit in the world.

The official exchange rate stood at Bs.F 248,832 to US$1 as of August 10, 2018, making it the least-valued circulating currency in the world based on official exchange rates.

In June 2018, the government authorized a new exchange rate for buying, but not selling, currency. On August 13, 2018, the rate was Bs.F 4,010,000 to US$1, according to ZOOM Remesas.

Sovereign bolívar
On 22 March 2018, President Nicolás Maduro announced a new monetary reform program, with a planned revaluation of the currency at a ratio of 1,000 to 1. The change was to be made effective from 4 June 2018.

In May 2018, the government required prices to be expressed in both hard bolívares and sovereign bolívares at the then-planned rate of 1,000 to 1. For example, one kilogram of pasta was shown with a price of Bs.F 695,000 and Bs.S 695. Prices expressed in the new currency were rounded to the nearest 50 céntimos as that was expected to be the lowest denomination in circulation at launch. The rounding created difficulties because some items and sales qualities were priced at significantly less than Bs.S 0.50; for example a litre of gasoline and a Caracas Metro ticket typically cost Bs.S 0.06 and Bs.S 0.04, respectively.

The change in currency was originally scheduled for June 4, 2018. The President delayed the planned June launch date of the sovereign bolívar, citing from Aristides Maza, "the period established to carry out the conversion is not enough". The revaluation was rescheduled to 20 August 2018, and the rate changed to 100,000 to 1, with prices being required to be expressed at the new rate starting 1 August 2018.

On 20 August 2018, the Maduro government launched the new sovereign bolívar currency, with Bs.S 1 worth Bs.F 100,000. New coins in denominations of 50 céntimos and Bs.S 1, and new banknotes in denominations of Bs.S 2, Bs.S 5, Bs.S 10, Bs.S 20, Bs.S 50, Bs.S 100, Bs.S 200 and Bs.S 500 were introduced. Under the country's official fixed exchange rate to the US dollar the new currency was devalued by roughly 95% compared to the old hard bolívar. The day was declared a bank holiday to allow the banks to adjust to the new currency. Initially, during a transition period the sovereign bolívar was to be run alongside the hard bolívar. However, from the start of the transition, on 20 August, hard bolívar notes of Bs.F 500 and less could not be used; only deposited at banks.

Concurrently with the release of the new currency, the minimum wage was raised to Bs.S 1,800 per month, a 33-fold increase, and sales tax increased from 12% to 16%.

Additionally, the sovereign bolívar is supposed to have a fixed exchange rate to the petro cryptocurrency, with a rate of Bs.S 3,600 to one petro; a peg of petro and sovereign bolívar was announced by Maduro as early as August 2018. The petro is supposedly tied to the price of a barrel of oil (about US$60 in August 2018). As of the end of August 2018, there is no evidence that the cryptocurrency is being traded. Petro is regarded by many as a scam.

Following the introduction of the sovereign bolívar, inflation increased from 61,463% on 21 August 2018 to 65,320% on 22 August 2018. By 24 August 2018, the introduction of the sovereign bolívar had not prevented hyperinflation. According to inflation analyst Steve Hanke, between 18 August and 21 August 2018, the inflation rate increased from 48,760% to 65,320%. In October 2021, the country removed six zeroes from its currency while adapting a newer version of the bolivar currency system under a project known as "Digital bolivar".

Digital bolívar
The bolívar digital, lit. "digital bolívar" was introduced on 1 October 2021 at a rate of Bs.S 1,000,000 to 1 digital bolívar. Since its announcement, the Central Bank has used the abbreviation "Bs." (i.e., not "Bs.D") in examples of prices marked in digital bolívares.

The digital bolívar did not replace the sovereign bolívar, since sovereign bolívar banknotes continued to be accepted at a ratio of 1 million to 1. For example, the Bs.S 500,000 banknote is worth 0.50 digital bolívars, an amount which can also be referred to as 50 céntimos of a digital bolívar.

From October 1, 2021 through 27 April 2022 retailers were required to post prices in both sovereign and digital bolívars, By 2024, however it was more common to see prices posted in "REF" (or "Ref", "ref", etc.), an abbreviation for the word Referencia, representing a price in U.S. dollars, which customers can pay in digital and/or sovereign bolívars at the current rate of exchange.

Currency black market

The black (or parallel) market value of the hard bolívar and the sovereign bolívar has been significantly lower than the fixed exchange rate and other rates set by the Venezuelan government (SICAD, SIMADI, DICOM). In November 2013, it was almost one-tenth that of the official fixed exchange rate of Bs.F 6.30 per US dollar. In September 2014, the currency black market rate for the hard bolívar reached 100 VEF/USD; on 25 February 2015, it went over 200 VEF/USD. on 7 May 2015, it was over 275 VEF/USD and on 22 September 2015, it was over 730 VEF/USD. Venezuela still had the highest inflation rate in the world in July 2015. By 3 February 2016, this rate reached 1,000 VEF/USD. This rate surpassed 4,300 VEF/USD on 10 December 2016. It surpassed 10,000 VEF/USD on 28 July 2017, and on 7 September 2017, the rate surpassed 20,000 VEF/USD for the first time. Inflation accelerated, and on 1 December 2017, it reached 100,000 VEF/USD for the first time ever. The rate surpassed 200,000 VEF/USD on 18 January 2018, then 500,000 VEF/USD on 16 April, 1 million VEF/USD on 30 May, 2 million VEF/USD on 7 June, and 5 million VEF/USD on 16 August.

At the time of redenomination on 20 August 2018, the exchange rate was 59.21 VES/USD. By the end of the month it reached 87 VES/USD. The rate then surpassed 100 VES/USD on 3 October 2018, 1,000 VES/USD on 9 January 2019, 10,000 VES/USD on 19 July, 100,000 VES/USD on 6 April 2020, and reached the 1,000,000 VES/USD on 23 November 2020. According to DolarToday, the parallel exchange rate was 4,146,022 VES/USD as of 30 August 2021.

Exchange rate history
It is illegal to publish the "parallel exchange rate" in Venezuela. One popular website that has been publishing parallel exchange rates since 2010 is DolarToday, which has also been critical of the Maduro government. This table shows a condensed history of the parallel foreign exchange rate of the Venezuelan bolívar (hard and sovereign) to one United States dollar between 2012 and 2021, according to DolarToday.

Bolívar

In 1879, silver coins were introduced in denominations of Bs. $1⁄100$, Bs. $1/5$, Bs. 1, Bs. 2, and Bs. 5, together with gold Bs. 20. Gold Bs. 100 were also issued between 1886 and 1889. In 1894, silver Bs. $1⁄100$ coins were introduced, followed by cupro-nickel 5 and $1⁄100$ céntimos in 1896.

In 1912, production of gold coins ceased, whilst production of the Bs.5 ended in 1936. In 1965, nickel replaced silver in the 25 and 50 céntimos, with the same happening to the 1 and 2 bolívares in 1967. In 1971, cupro-nickel 10 céntimo coins were issued, the $1⁄100$ céntimos having last been issued in 1958. A nickel Bs. 5 was introduced in 1973. Clad steel (first copper, then nickel and cupro-nickel) was used for the 5 céntimos from 1974. Nickel clad steel was introduced for all denominations from 25 céntimos up to 5 bolívares in 1989.

In 1998, after a period of high inflation, a new coinage was introduced in denominations of Bs. 10, Bs. 20, Bs. 50, Bs. 100 and Bs. 500.

The former coins were:

All the coins had the same design. On the obverse the left profile of the Libertador Simón Bolívar is depicted, along with the inscription "Bolívar Libertador" within a heptagon, symbolizing the seven stars of the flag. On the reverse the coat of arms is depicted, circled by the official name of the country, with the date and the denomination below. In 2001, the reverse design was changed, putting the denomination of the coin at the right of the shield of the coat of arms, surrounded in a semicircle by the official name of the country and the year of its issue below.

Hard bolívar
Coins of the hard bolívar were in denominations of 1, 5, 10, $1⁄5$, 25, 50 céntimos, and Bs.F 1. They were quickly rendered obsolete by high inflation. It may be noticed that there was a $1⁄2$-céntimo coin and a 1-céntimo coin, but no 1⁄2-céntimo coin. Therefore, giving correct change for a purchase of, say, $1⁄4$ céntimos would require using a $12 1⁄2$-céntimo coin and getting 8 céntimos back.

In December 2016, it was announced that coins of Bs.F 10, Bs.F 50, and Bs.F 100 would enter circulation. These three coins would replace the banknotes of the same denominations.

Sovereign bolívar
Sovereign bolívar coins were announced to be produced in denominations of 50 céntimos and Bs.S 1 (Bs.F 50,000 and Bs.F 100,000 respectively). These two coins were worthless by September 2019.

Digital bolívar
Coins of the Digital bolívar were issued on October 1, 2021 in denominations of 25 and 50 céntimos and 1 bolívar. The coins were introduced along with the redenomination of the currency from the Sovereign bolívar to the Digital bolívar.

Bolívar
In 1940, the Banco Central de Venezuela began issuing paper money, introducing denominations of Bs. 10, Bs. 20, Bs. 50, Bs. 100 and Bs. 500. Bs. 5 notes were issued between 1966 and 1974, when they were replaced by coins. In 1989, notes for Bs. 1, Bs. 2 and Bs. 5 were issued.

As inflation took hold, higher denominations of banknotes started being introduced: Bs. 1,000 in 1991, Bs. 2,000 and Bs. 5,000 in 1994, and Bs. 10,000, Bs. 20,000 and Bs. 50,000 in 1998. The first Bs. 20,000 banknotes were made in a green color similar to the one of the Bs. 2,000 banknotes, which caused confusion, and new banknotes were made in a new olive green color.

Starting from 2000, banknotes ranging from Bs. 5,000 to Bs. 50,000 were renamed to REPÚBLICA BOLIVARIANA DE VENEZUELA instead of BANCO CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA on the obverse, after the 1999 constitution was adopted. Moreover, banknotes of Bs. 10,000, Bs. 20,000 and Bs. 50,000 were updated in April 2006 after the National Assembly approved changes to the coat of arms, which were made official on March 12, 2006.

The following is a list of former Venezuelan bolívar banknotes:

2008–2016 ("2007")
New banknotes of the series 2007–2015 with values of Bs.F 2 to Bs.F 100 were issued from 20 March 2007 until 5 November 2015 and became legal tender from 1 January 2008 to 20 August 2018. The greater the values, the longer re-issuing occurred. Only the Bs.F 50 and Bs.F 100 notes were re-issued in November 2015.

 * Bs.F 2: March 20, 2007 to October 29, 2013
 * Bs.F 5: March 20, 2007 to August 19, 2014
 * Bs.F 10: March 20, 2007 to August 19, 2014
 * Bs.F 20: March 20, 2007 to August 19, 2014
 * Bs.F 50: March 20, 2007 to November 5, 2015
 * Bs.F 100: March 20, 2007 to November 5, 2015

The obverse side is portrait-oriented, with the lower half carrying a portrait, while the reverse side is landscape-oriented, the left two thirds showing an animal in front of its habitat.

Re-issues retain the value-specific motifs, but the printing quality is different. The notes are printed by Casa de la Moneda Venezuela in Venezuela.

2016–17

High inflation, which was a part of Venezuela's economic collapse, caused the hard bolívar's value to plummet. The Bs.F 2 and Bs.F 5 notes were no longer found in circulation due to the hyperinflation, but remained legal tender. By December 2016, the Bs.F 100 note, the largest denomination, was only worth about US$0.23 on the black market.

On 7 December 2016, a new series of banknotes (recolors of the previous notes) in denominations of Bs.F 500, Bs.F 1,000, Bs.F 2,000, Bs.F 5,000, Bs.F 10,000, and Bs.F 20,000 were unveiled to the Venezuelan public. Days later on 11 December, President Nicolás Maduro who had been ruling by decree wrote into law that the Bs.F 100 would be pulled from circulation within 72 hours because "mafias" were allegedly storing those particular notes to drive inflation. With more than 6 billion Bs.F 100 notes issued consisting of 46% of Venezuela's issued currency, Maduro enacted an exchange for Venezuelan citizens to transfer all Bs.F 100 notes for Bs.F 100 coins while also blocking international travel to prevent the return of the bolívares that were supposedly stockpiled. The government justified the move claiming that the United States was working with crime syndicates to spirit away Venezuela's paper money to warehouses in Europe to cause the fall of the government. The government was thwarting this threat by withdrawing the notes from circulation. On 14 February 2017, Paraguayan authorities uncovered a 30-tonne stash of Bs.F 50 and Bs.F 100 notes totaling Bs.F 1.5 billion on its Brazilian border that had not yet been circulated. According to a United States Department of Defense adviser linked to The Pentagon, the Bs.F 1.5 billion was printed by Venezuela and destined for Bolivia, since unlike the implied exchange rate of thousands of hard bolívares equaling one United States dollar, the exchange rate was approximately 10 hard bolívares per dollar, making the value of the stash 419 times stronger, from US$358,000 to US$150 million. The Pentagon adviser further stated that the Venezuelan government tried to send the newly printed notes to be exchanged by the Bolivian government so Bolivia could pay 20% of its debt to Venezuela, and so Venezuela could use the US dollars for its own disposal.

On 3 November 2017, the Banco Central de Venezuela issued a Bs.F 100,000 note which is similar to the Bs.F 100 note of the 2007 series and the Bs.F 20,000 of the 2016 series, but with the denomination spelled out in full instead of adding an additional three zeros to the number 100. This denomination was worth US$2.42 using the unofficial exchange rate at the date of its release.

New banknotes of the 2016–17 series with values of Bs.F 500 to Bs.F 100,000 were issued from 7 December 2016 until 20 August 2018, the day when the sovereign bolívar was introduced. Notes from Bs.F 5,000 to Bs.F 100,000 were recently re-issued in December 2017.

 * Bs.F 500: August 18, 2016 to March 23, 2017
 * Bs.F 1,000: August 18, 2016 to March 23, 2017
 * Bs.F 2,000: August 18, 2016
 * Bs.F 5,000: August 18, 2016 to December 13, 2017
 * Bs.F 10,000: August 18, 2016 to December 13, 2017
 * Bs.F 20,000: August 18, 2016 to December 13, 2017
 * Bs.F 100,000: September 7, 2017 to December 13, 2017,

Maduro has announced that after the currency redenomination has carried out on 20 August 2018, these old denominations with a face value of 1,000 hard bolívares or higher will circulate in parallel with the new series of sovereign bolívar notes and will continue to be used for a limited time. Banknotes with a face value below BsF. 1,000 were withdrawn from circulation and ceased to be legal tender on 20 August 2018. They have to be deposited in local banks.

2018
By May 2018, the hard bolívar's banknotes represented very little value and they had become in short supply. Weighing scales could no longer convert mass to price and receipts could no longer fit the numbers on their paper.

In June 2018, seven months after its release, the value of the Bs.F 100,000 note (largest denomination), had its value reduced by 98%, from US$2.42 (in November 2017) to US$0.05, as a result of increasing hyperinflation.

The lower denomination hard bolívar banknotes (up to Bs.F 500) were demonetized on 20 August 2018; with the introduction of the sovereign bolívar. Higher denominations (Bs.F 1,000 and above) remained legal tender during a transition period. On 30 November 2018, it was announced that the remaining denominations of the old currency will be withdrawn from circulation and cease to be legal tender on 5 December 2018.

2018
On 22 March 2018, with a declared state of emergency, a redenomination of the currency was announced. The conversion from hard bolívar to sovereign bolívar banknotes officially occurred on 20 August 2018, with new denominations of Bs.S 2, Bs.S 5, Bs.S 10, Bs.S 20, Bs.S 50, Bs.S 100, Bs.S 200, and Bs.S 500. Four months after entry into circulation, shops and state banks began refusing the Bs.S 2, as its value had significantly declined since the redenomination. By November 2019, except for the Bs.S 500, all notes issued in 2018 were worthless.

2019
Further inflation since the soberano redenomination resulted in the creation of Bs.S 10,000, Bs.S 20,000 and Bs.S 50,000 banknotes in June 2019. Not mentioning inflation, the Central Bank of Venezuela said the introduction of the new banknotes would "complement and optimize" the monetary system and that their purpose was to make payment systems "more efficient". On 23 April 2020, the exchange rate per xe.com was US$1 = 144,697.34 VES; the following day, the rate slid to US$1 = Bs.S 171,140.42.

Banknotes with a narrow segmented security thread were printed by Goznak, those with a wider one were printed elsewhere.

2020
As of December 2020, the highest denomination banknote (Bs.S 50,000) was worth less than US$0.05 and the minimum wage is Bs.S 1,200,000 (about US$1) per month. By September 2020, all sovereign bolivar banknotes (Bs.S 2 to Bs.S 500) issued on 20 August 2018 were deemed worthless. Venezuelan officials are planning a new Bs.S 100,000 note. Meanwhile, as of 16 December 2020, the exchange rate was over 1 million bolivares to one US dollar.

2021
On 5 March 2021, the Central Bank of Venezuela introduced 3 new denominations: Bs.S 200,000, Bs.S 500,000 and Bs.S 1,000,000 which were made available to the general public on 8 March 2021. The Bs.S 1,000,000 note was only worth US$0.52 at the time of the announcement.

By late May 2021 the exchange rate had risen to over 3 million sovereign bolívares to one US dollar.

According to a July 2021 Bloomberg article, Venezuela plans to redenominate the bolívar at a ratio of 1,000,000:1 in August 2021, effectively removing six zeros from the denominations. The current largest denomination banknote is 1,000,000 bolívares, expressed on the note with a predominant 1 followed by the descriptive millón de bolívares. It is therefore likely that the bank intends to retain the bolívar currency name while reusing the existing note designs.

Digital bolívar
Banknotes of 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 digital bolívares were introduced in 2021, all bearing similar motifs but different colors.

title: Venezuelan bolívar


text:
Fifteen (TV series)

Fifteen (known as Hillside in Canada) is a teen drama television series that aired on YTV in Canada and on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1993. Created and produced by John T. Binkley, the series was Nickelodeon's only teenage soap opera. The show was shot on videotape, similar to most daytime dramas.

The series was first conceived as Hillside in an improvised form for The Disney Channel, where a 13-episode pilot series was produced and tested in the United States. After Disney decided not to proceed with the project, Nickelodeon and Canadian partners joined Binkley in producing the series; which was known in its first and second seasons as Hillside in Canada, and throughout the 65-episode run as Fifteen in the United States.

The show was subsequently syndicated around the world, with runs in Germany and Israel, among others. Rerun rights are held by the Peter Rodgers Organization, which has made the first season available for free on Prime Video.

The series features a large ensemble cast that underwent several changes over the show's four-season run. Notable cast members include Laura Harris, Enuka Okuma, and Ryan Reynolds (Reynolds later admitted to disliking working on the show so much that he briefly considered quitting acting altogether).

Plot
Fifteen followed the students of fictional Hillside School and dealt with a variety of issues including dating, divorce, alcohol abuse, infidelity and friendship. The show played heavily into stereotypes, including two characters named Dylan and Chris, who wore leather jackets to show off their toughness, but which could not completely disguise their inner selves. At one point, they play a gig with their band Teenagers in Love at the local eatery and hangout spot The Avalon.

Cast and characters

 * Laura Harris as Ashley Frasier – Ashley is a soft-spoken honor student who struggles to balance academic expectations with personal relationships. Though considered wholesome, she occasionally makes bad decisions to spite her image. She's the longtime on-again, off-again girlfriend of Matt Walker.
 * Todd Talbot as Matt Walker – The captain and star player of the school's basketball team, Matt struggles with substance abuse throughout the series which harms his relationships and school reputation. He loves Ashley, but he and she continue to break up. They finally break up for good and he moves away.
 * Ryan Reynolds as Billy Simpson – The younger brother of Courtney, Billy frequently hangs around Dylan and looks up to him. After facing family problems and personal betrayal (as well as numerous romantic rejections), Billy turns to bullying to mask his emotions. An intervention from Dylan finally gets through to Billy and he makes amends for his bullying streak.
 * Chris William Martin as Dylan Blackwell – The mysterious rebel of the school, Dylan aspires to become a musician. He's often stuck managing conflict within his band, has a troubled relationship with his parents and later drops out of school. He had a fractious rivalry with Matt at first, but they became friends as the series went on. He and Ashley have feelings for each other and finally explore them.
 * Robyn Ross as Brooke Morgan (seasons 1–3) – Brooke is the self-centered and mean-spirited antagonist who often inserts herself into other's business where it's not warranted. She is arrogant, spiteful, cruel, and manipulative, but her self-centered ways come back to haunt her on more than one occasion. She's at odds with her sisters, whom their father seems to favor more than her. Brooke eventually leaves in the third season and moves to France.
 * Sarah Douglas as Courtney Simpson (seasons 1–3) – Courtney is the modest best friend of Ashley. She navigates a difficult relationship with her brother Billy during their parent's separation. She tends to be naive and meek at times.
 * Ken Angel as Jake Deosdade (seasons 1 and 3) – Jake is a good friend to many students at Hillside but fancies Courtney in particular. He has feelings for Courtney and the two eventually start dating. Absent in China through season 2, Jake returns to Hillside for season 3. He is also Matt's best friend.
 * Enuka Okuma as Kelly (season 1) – Brooke's equally cunning friend. Friction begins when Brooke has Kelly take the blame for a scheme against Ashley that they both conspired on. Kelly plots revenge on Brooke with the help of her sister, Theresa. Their friendship dissolves because of it. Kelly disappears without explanation after Season 1.
 * Janine Cox as Theresa Morgan (season 1) – Brooke's little sister. Unlike Brooke, Theresa is kind-hearted and sensitive. She begins to lose respect for her sibling after seeing how she uses people for her own ends. She has a crush on Dylan. She aids Kelly in her revenge plot against Brooke. Theresa never appears again after Season 1, but unlike Kelly, who vanished and was never mentioned again, Theresa is said to be attending a prestigious art school in Season 2 by Brooke.
 * Aubrey Nealon as Olaf (season 1) – A transfer student from Finland ostracized by most of the students. He often struggles to find the right word to describe his circumstances. He is a chess fanatic and friends with Billy.
 * Ahnee Boyce as Cyndi (season 1) – An activist for environmental causes who is frustrated with the lack of concern from students. Strong-willed, assertive, but friendly, Cyndi wasn't afraid to speak her mind or put people like Brooke in their place when she had to.
 * Roxanne Alexander as Roxanne Lee (seasons 2–4) – Roxanne is an associate of Chris who displays a tough exterior and is often the catalyst for dissent within Dylan's band. Chris has feelings for her and wants to be in a band with her. Roxanne shows a more vulnerable side during Season 4 when it was revealed she was a victim of abuse at the hands of her father.
 * Andrew Baskin as Chris McDonald (seasons 2–4) – A troubled youth often at odds with others, especially Dylan. He plays guitar and aspires to be a rock star. Seen as a hoodlum, he later makes a genuine attempt to change his ways and develops feelings for Ashley. They date briefly, but Ashley finally leaves him due to his true abusive nature and his interest in Roxanne, when Roxanne and Chris become especially scornful. After seemingly losing everything and accepting his fate as an outcast, he turns around when Russ makes a genuine attempt to befriend him.
 * Lisa Warner as Stacy Collins (seasons 2–4) – An awkward and timid girl who begins an unlikely friendship with Brooke. While she initially looks up to Brooke and aspires to be her friend, Stacy begins to tire of her attitude. She then begins to do the same towards Roxanne.
 * David Wight as David O'Brien (seasons 2–4) – The student manager/trainer of the basketball team. While a bit shy, Dave doesn't hesitate to stand up for himself or others when provoked. He especially looks up to Matt.
 * Arseman Yohannes as Arseman Harrell (seasons 2–4) – Arseman is a cheerful, candid person who often lends other students advice or a kind ear. She has a good singing voice, which attracts the attention of Dylan's band. She eventually leaves due to her hatred of the way the band is run, and later dates Dylan.
 * John Boyd as John DiMarco (seasons 2–3) – A prankster who catches the wrath of Billy over a joke he pulls on him.
 * Erin Inglis as Erin Walker (seasons 2–3) – Matt's adoring younger sister, Erin is protective of her brother and is easily offended by rumors about him.
 * Claire Langlois as Amanda Morgan (season 2) – Brooke's other sister. Amanda provokes her sister's ire after she tattles on Brooke to her parents. Billy has a crush on Amanda, but she bluntly rejects him, calling him immature. She steals Courtney's necklace and allows Janice to take the blame for it, and Brooke exacts her revenge by telling the whole school about it, leaving Amanda an outcast by the season's end.
 * Rekha Shah as Janice (season 2) – An overly eager and awkward new transfer student who has difficulty making friends upon her arrival. She eventually befriends Courtney and Arseman, but is then accused by Brooke of stealing an heirloom necklace of Courtney's, is shunned by her classmates, and decides to transfer schools again. It turns out Brooke's sister Amanda, not Janice, was the thief, and Courtney and Janice reconcile, though not before Janice transfers out of Hillside.
 * Minna Koch as Lea (season 2) – Lea befriends Erin when the latter is having difficulty fitting in at school.
 * James Greye as Richard (season 3) – Responsible for booking the musical acts at The Avalon.
 * Micah Cox as Micah (season 4) – A player on the boys soccer team. Micah briefly clashes with Pepper over her success at his expense.
 * Russell Dayvault as Russ Talbot (season 4) – Pepper's best friend. When Russ has health complications, his friends become concerned.
 * Erin Donovan as Brittany Nichols (season 4) – Brittany is highly aware of her attractiveness and not beyond using it to her benefit. She has an acute knowledge of football.
 * Elizabeth Ortiz as Liz (season 4) – Similar to Courtney's character, Liz is a reserved student who enjoys writing poetry, later forming a friendship with Roxanne.
 * Pepper Binkley as Pepper O'Brien (season 4) – Dave's tomboy sister who is heavily into sports. She later tries out for the boys' soccer team.
 * Allison Bloom as Jennifer Locke (season 4) – A spiritual successor to Brooke, Jennifer is a shallow and materialistic individual from a wealthy family. She makes a point to insult everyone she comes across and is jealous of her younger brother, who has a remarkably high I.Q.
 * David Whitty as Michael Rowland (season 4) – Star Football Team Captain & Quarterback. Brittany takes a quick interest in Michael, creating tension between him and Billy.
 * Jason Angel as Jason Locke (season 4) – The precocious younger brother of Jennifer, whose knowledge often helps solve other student's dilemmas.
 * Loyal Pyczynski as Loyal (season 4) – Introduced late in the series, Loyal is Billy's new stepbrother from his mother's marriage to Billy's father.

Episodes
The entire first season is available for download from iTunes. The first season was previously on Hulu and the entire series currently streams on Amazon Prime Video.

As of 2021, all four seasons are available through FilmRise on devices such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. All four seasons are also available through FilmRise for streaming on IMDb TV, now known as Freevee.

Production notes
The series' head writer for all 65 episodes was Ian Weir, who wrote all but five episodes. Its director was Michael Berry.

Season 1 was taped from September to October 1990. Season 2 was taped from June to July 1991. Season 3 was taped in December 1991. Season 4 was taped from August to September 1992.

The first season of the show was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, while the second season was filmed at the studios of CJOH-TV (where fellow Nickelodeon series You Can't Do That on Television was also based) in Ottawa, Ontario. The third and fourth seasons were taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Both Seasons 3 & 4 were taped in Nickelodeon Studios' Stage 18.

title: Fifteen (TV series)


text:
Talk:2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Early discussion
This page will soon be merged with U.S. presidential election, 2004. If you object, say so here: Talk:U.S._presidential_election%2C_2004

I've decided not to delete this page altogether...it appears to be a potentially useful stub, if someone were to flesh it out. However, the idea of maintaining the timeline here was ill conceived, and thus I moved that material back to the main 2004 election page -- RobLa 06:22, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I've replaced the long and visually horrendous list of primary and caucus results into what I hope is an understandable table format. Obviously, one we get towards Super Tuesday, we'll have to add another table below it... the other alternative would be to turn the table by 90 degrees... - Seth Ilys 01:38, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Fantastic idea, and bravo! I really like the format - compacting it really communicates a lot.  The good news about adding a second table is that presumably many of the candidates have/will have dropped out, so the second table will be smaller, as will the third and fourth.  Given 51 states/districts, we could either try to cram 17 states into 3 tables, or have 13 states in 4 tables.  I think 4 tables will be fine.  -- RobLa 05:23, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I haven't calculated how many, but a number of states don't have primaries or caucuses, so we may only need 3 tables. --Minesweeper 09:13, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Yes, great job packing a lot of information in a small space. Rotating 90° makes sense, since the "states" axis is the one that will grow.  However, formatting appears to work best with the states across the top.  If it's too much trouble to rotate, then just having multiple tables is fine in my book. --Minesweeper 09:13, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Why is this article called "primary" and not "primaries?" or "primaries and caucuses"? Adam 01:45, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Perhaps "U.S. Democratic Party Presidential Nomination, 2004" ...that's what this is all about -- RobLa 05:23, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

U.S. Democratic Party presidential nomination, 2004 will do. --Jiang

I attempted to rearrange the table on this page, putting the candidates along the top and the states along the side (the table can't expand enough horizontally to fit in all the states that will eventually come up, and so I was trying to set it up so that it could expand down the page rather than across it). However, something didn't work with the HTML, so I reverted my edit. I haven't been able to find where exactly the problem is, but the table always appears at the very end of the page, not in the proper section (despite appearing in the correct place in the Wiki code). My attempt at a new version of the table is in the Page History - is there someone who can possibly work out exactly what part I messed up? Even if people would rather keep the original table, I'd quite like to know what I did wrong for future reference. Thanks. -- Vardion 12:21, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I restored Vardion's table and updated; someone will come along and fix the HTML so it displays in the proper position; but the improvement to the table is fantastic... (I also restored the candidates to alphabetical order, because it would be a small pain to move each candidate to the end as they drop out...) - Seth Ilys 14:24, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I've posted a little note at Village pump asking for someone to take a look at it. Thanks for trying to fix it - the problem seems very difficult to pin down, and I wasn't having any luck with it. (Thanks for re-alphabeticizing the candidates, too). -- Vardion 03:21, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I seem to have nailed it: there was a single missing </small> tag throwing the whole thing off. If it's any consolation, I never would have spotted it myself; I ran the table code through a computer program that automatically checks for things like that. —Paul A 04:10, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Thanks, that's great. I'd never have found something like that. I'll have to find one of those checking programs, I think... - Vardion 04:29, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

---

I have removed Lyndon LaRouche due to the reasons given at Talk:U.S._presidential_election%2C_2004. -- iHoshie 04:50, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

wow! great chart
i love the chart. it is easy to follow. kudos! however, the delegate totals don't seem to add up. Where did Kucinich get his 2? Where did Sharpton get his 12? Kingturtle 06:00, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * From what I can gather, they're from so-called "superdelegates" (important party officials, etc.) who are not specifically bound to support a particular candidate by any primary or caucus. Also, they can change their vote up to convention time, so the current numbers are tentative. See .  --Minesweeper 08:48, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

 * It might be useful to add a line to the table that lists superdelegate counts. Additionally, I recently read something about expatriate Democrats.  Apparently, the people living abroad (estimated around 7 million people) get nine total delegates, so maybe it's not really worth worrying about (though it shows yet another way in which D.C. gets shafted :-p)  —Mulad 21:28, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Added clarification as a footnote to the table. - Seth Ilys 21:51, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

What's up with Wesley Clark's total number of delegates? When I add up the numbers in his row, I get to 68, but the total is only 57. He cannot have a negative number of superdelegates, can he? Andre Engels 14:11, 18 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I think it had to do with state-level pledged delegates in Arizona, but very little of the delegate selection process makes sense to me. I'm getting numbers from CNN's website; the total delegate scorecard shows Clark with only 14 delegates from Arizona, while the Arizona numbers show 22. Clark's individual data only show a discrepancy between "initial" and "current" delegate count in Arizona, too. Jxg 23:24, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I added a superdelegate row, using data from CNN. Jxg 02:28, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

dates
it is useful to the reader to see the dates each candidate dropped out. Please put those dates back in. Kingturtle 23:17, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Should we color in Dean's victory and second-place finish(es) after Feb. 18? He didn't formally drop out of the race, after all, but "stopped actively campaigning". Jxg 01:34, 2004 Mar 3 (UTC)

 * Of course we should. Vermont voted for him, and he'll get their delegates to the convention. Neow 02:08, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * (Naturally we should enter his numbers into the table, but as it stands now his column is bright FFE8E8 all the way down, despite his third-place finish in Idaho.) Thanks. Jxg 02:20, 2004 Mar 3 (UTC)

Super Tuesday delegate counts are available at Yahoo. Kingturtle 02:48, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The 44th President
It is less than a year till January 20, 2005! By the time John Kerry is inaugurated on that day, I wonder what people will say! Interestingly, this is the first time in 200 years when there was a President elected in a year evenly divisible by 40 who survived his full 4-year term.
 * Hopefully...the term's not over yet. Don't jinx it.  --Goobergunch 18:10, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Well. We jinxed. JohnKerry2004 20:36, 20 Jan 2024 (UTC)

Sources for narrative
Much of the current article was pieced together from bits of other articles. Here's the list of articles I copied prose from:

 * Howard Dean
 * John Edwards
 * George W. Bush
 * Wesley Clark
 * 2003 invasion of Iraq
 * U.S. presidential election, 2004 timeline
 * John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004
 * 2004 Democratic National Convention

I think that's all of them, but I may have missed one or two. -- RobLa 20:29, July 25, 2005 (UTC)

Iraq War
Does this section really belong in this article? It barely has anything to do with the actual topic, and has more to do with POV statements both for and against certain actions by the President during the war that have nothing to do with the Democratic nomination process. Jfiling 00:07, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

 * The war was the backdrop for that period of the race in 2003 (and pretty much the whole race). It may be appropriate to shorten this section, but it's hard to construct a narrative that ignores the war.  -- RobLa 22:22, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

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Map Colors
, let's discuss on talk page so interested editors can see.

I have no issue with changing the colors for candidates. In fact, I agree that changing colors to things found in official campaign materials is appropriate and meaningful. Thank you for the thought you have put into this! However, we should ensure that we are changing all of the colors on this page at the same time. If, for example, we change Wesley Clark from yellow to green but fail to change the associated map image, it makes the map inaccurate. Instead of showing Clark as winning Oklahoma, it showed him winning Dean's contests instead. Likewise, Dean was changed to yellow and was then shown as winning Oklahoma according to the map. That is why I reverted your first edit. If you would like to change the map and legend simultaneously, I have no objections. I would assist, but I am not a map expert and it is likely to take me quite a while to figure it out. Michelangelo1992 (talk) 02:33, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

 * I did update the map image, as you can see from the | change log of the file. For whatever reason it's been taking a few days for the updated version to show up. I don't exactly know why, but that is what must have caused the confusion.
 * I see now; thanks for pointing that out. Clicking on that link has now changed the map to appear correctly on my screen. (Perhaps it was an issue with my cache? I’m not quite sure). Regardless, thank you for updating the map, and I would definitely support the new colors if you would like to reinstate them. Michelangelo1992 (talk) 02:52, 17 March 2020 (UTC)

Different ways to view who won what
I feel like maybe we should make it like the 2008 article, with like different options for the map to show who won first place for delegate allocation and also for convention roll call, cause like I dont know which map im looking at right now (eye)rizz (talk) 02:01, 2 January 2024 (UTC)


text:
Fred Foster

Fred Luther Foster (July 26, 1931 – February 20, 2019) was an American record producer, songwriter, and music business executive who founded Monument Records and Combine Music. As a record producer he was most closely associated with Roy Orbison, and was also involved in the early careers of Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. Foster suggested to Kris Kristofferson the title and theme of "Me and Bobby McGee", which became a hit for Kristofferson, Roger Miller, and Janis Joplin, and for which Foster received a co-writing credit.

Early career
Foster left his family's farm in North Carolina at the age of 18 and moved near his sister's family in Washington, D.C., where he got a job working for the Hot Shoppes restaurant chain. While at work, he met popular area country music entertainer Billy Strickland, who invited Foster to one of his shows and sparked Foster's interest in songwriting. Foster began working for J&F Distributing Co. in Baltimore, where he launched the company's pop division. He started recording local acts, and supervised Jimmy Dean's debut hit, "Bumming Around".

In 1953 he started to work for Mercury Records, but clashed with the company's executives over his endorsement of rockabilly acts. In late 1955, he unsuccessfully tried to convince Fred Talmadge, Mercury's Marketing Director, to sign the 20 year old Elvis Presley, then still at Sun Records but with competing offers from both Atlantic and RCA Records. Foster then briefly joined ABC-Paramount, where he acquired the rights to George Hamilton IV's recording, "A Rose and a Baby Ruth", which became the company's first million-seller, and also signed Lloyd Price to the label.

Monument Records, Combine Music, and success
After working in record promotions for several years, in March 1958 Foster co-founded Monument Records and publishing company Combine Music with business manager Jack Kirby and well-known Baltimore disc jockey "Buddy" Deane. Founded in Washington, D.C., the label's name was inspired by the Washington Monument.

For the label's first release, Foster took Billy Grammer to RCA's Nashville studio to record "Gotta Travel On" with Chet Atkins. Having spent all but $80 of Monument's initial $1,200 of funding to record the song, Foster negotiated for Monument to be the first label distributed by London Records. Grammer's single, released in October 1958, was a crossover hit, reaching #4 on the U.S. pop chart, #5 on the U.S. country chart, and #14 on the U.S. R&B chart in 1959, selling over 900,000 copies. It also spawned a nationwide dance craze called "The Shag", and Foster and Dick Flood co-wrote "The Shag (Is Totally Cool)" by Billy Graves which reached number 53 on Billboard's Hot 100. Later that year, Monument co-founder "Buddy" Dean sold his 30% share of the company back to Foster.

In early 1959 Roy Orbison's manager and Acuff-Rose president Wesley Rose approached Foster about signing the singer to Monument Records, and Foster said yes. As Orbison began recording for the label, his signature sound was realized, leading to a string of 18 hit singles and five best-selling LPs, beginning with the 1960 release "Only the Lonely." Foster is credited for his part in the development of Roy Orbison's career and for producing Orbison's early hits, including "Only the Lonely" – his breakthrough hit – "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Running Scared", "In Dreams", "Crying", "It's Over", "Mean Woman Blues", "Pretty Paper", and "Blue Bayou". Writer Richie Unterberger has compared Foster to more widely known producers such as Phil Spector and Leiber and Stoller, for the way in which he expanded the range of instrumentation used on pop and rock'n'roll records, using orchestration and choirs of vocalists, as well as making extensive use of Nashville A-Team session musicians such as Charlie McCoy and Jerry Kennedy.

Recognizing he was spending more than half of his time in Nashville for recording sessions with Monument artists, Foster relocated Monument Records and Combine Music to Hendersonville. in 1960. In 1963, Foster expanded his label, forming the soul and R&B imprint Sound Stage 7. Its roster of artists included Joe Simon, the Dixie Belles, Arthur Alexander, and Ivory Joe Hunter.

From Orbison's departure from Monument in 1965, Foster worked mainly with country musicians. He played a significant role in Dolly Parton's early career, signing her to Monument in 1964, shortly after her arrival in Nashville, and overseeing her recordings, culminating with her first top-40 country hit, "Dumb Blonde", in 1967. Foster also produced recordings by Willie Nelson, Ray Stevens, Kris Kristofferson, Tony Joe White, Larry Gatlin, Charlie McCoy, Al Hirt, Boots Randolph, Jeannie Seely, Jerry Byrd, Billy Joe Shaver, Grandpa Jones, the Velvets, and Robert Mitchum. Foster suggested to Kris Kristofferson the title and theme of "Me and Bobby McGee", which became a hit for Kristofferson, Roger Miller, and Janis Joplin, and for which Foster received a co-writing credit.

Recording Studios
In 1964 Monument Records acquired the Sam Phillips Recording Service of Nashville, a recording studio in the top floor of the Cumberland Building, a former Masonic Lodge at 315 Seventh Avenue North in Nashville, which was renamed Fred Foster Sound Studios. Projects recorded at this studio include Roy Orbison's 1964 hit "It's Over", Charlie Rich's 1965 hit "Mohair Sam", Ronnie Dove's One Kiss For Old Times' Sake, and Sandy Posey 1966 hit "Single Girl". In late 1967 the studio's rental agreement was terminated when the Seventh Avenue building was sold (it would later be demolished) and Foster utilized Music City Records while securing a new location for his studio.

Foster found the ideal location for his company's new recording studios and offices. The building, on 16th Avenue at the end of Music Row, was originally built in 1903 as a Presbyterian church. Completed in 1969, Monument Recording Studios featured a 33 x 39 foot recording space with 23 foot high ceilings, a 19 x 27 foot control room, acoustic echo chambers, business office, and recreation room. The studio was operated by Monument until 1975, when it was purchased by producer Chip Young, who operated it as a Nashville location of his Young 'Un Sound recording studio.

Later activities
Foster sold the Monument label to Sony in the early 1980s. However, he remained active with his own Sunstone production company. He produced Willie Nelson's 2006 Grammy Award–nominated You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker and Nelson's collaboration with Merle Haggard and Ray Price, Last of the Breed (2007). The latter was the winner of the 2008 Grammy for Best Country Collaboration, for the track "Lost Highway". Foster’s final production was Dawn Landes’s Meet Me at the River (2018).

Personal life and death
Foster was born in Rutherford County, North Carolina. His father was Vance Hampton Foster, and his mother was Clara Marcella (Weaste) Foster. He had three brothers and four sisters. After his father's death in 1947, Foster struggled for two years to run the family's farm and support his mother. He married Lura Bainbridge on February 27, 1974. They had one son, Vance, and four daughters, Micki, Leah, Brit, and Kristin. Foster died in Nashville in 2019, aged 87, after a short illness.

Honors
Foster was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum on October 12, 2009, and was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame on October 11, 2012.

On March 29, 2016, it was announced that Foster would become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted alongside fellow North Carolinians Randy Travis and Charlie Daniels on October 16, 2016.

title: Fred Foster