- Industry: Printing & publishing
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Routledge is a global publisher of academic books, journals and online resources in the humanities and social sciences.
(born 1924) If Bette Davis and Joan Crawford defined bitchiness on screen, Doris Day (born Doris Von Kappelhoff) came to epitomize virginal niceness for American society in the 1950s and 1960s—a nonsexual tease (ironically often paired with Rock Hudson in romantic comedies) whose independent career and sophistication melted at the altar. Her 1975 autobiography Doris Day: Her Own Story, revealed that this charmed comedic life was as far from her own story as it was from that of many other struggling American women in those decades.
Industry:Culture
(born 1924) Jimmy Carter’s presidency (1977–81) marks a transition between the challenges associated with the social movements of the 1960s and early 1970s and the conservative triumph of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Carter, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and a relatively unknown governor of Georgia, campaigned against the Watergate scandal. He was fortunate in running against the inept Gerald Ford, who was weakened both by his pardoning of Richard Nixon and by the mistrust he evoked in the increasingly dominant conservative wing of the Republican Party.
Carter’s victory suggested a further weakening of the Democratic Party organization, a process already in motion with the McGovern reforms. The born-again Georgian entered office sustained only by his own campaign organization. His mastery of detail and his commitment to governmental efficiency rested on his belief that he could stand above politics—and politicians. As a result, his relations with Congress were poor.
Carter faced a series of crises that finally brought down his presidency in a tidal wave of Republican conservatism.
On domestic issues, Carter was a social liberal and an economic conservative. His early legislation to deregulate natural gas, reform the tax code and introduce moderate healthcare reform antagonized the more liberal Ted Kennedy wing of the party. The shaky performance of the economy wracked by stagflation, i.e. a lethal mixture of high unemployment and high inflation, was dealt a serious blow when oil prices soared in 1979 following the Iranian revolution. Carter appointed as Chairperson of the Federal Reserve System Paul A. Volcker, a conservative monetarist who proceeded to initiate deflationary tight money practices which, in the short run, drove up unemployment without an immediate decline in inflation. As such, with the 1980 election pending, Carter presided over what appeared to be an economic debacle.
At the same time, Carter suffered from the energizing of the very evangelical Christians who had initially rallied to his candidacy The accumulated impact of the cultural victories of the 1960s, especially the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights, but also liberalization regarding pornography, the elimination of school prayer, the rise of gay and lesbian rights contributed to attacks on the Carter administration at a disastrous conference on families, the religious right arguing that the family was exclusively nuclear.
Finally Carter’s foreign policy waffled between a human rights agenda articulated by his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, and the hard-line agenda of National Security Council head, Zbigniew Brzezinski. His success at Camp David in bringing Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin together wilted before the following events: the criticisms of the Panama Canal treaty (1978), the Sandi-nista victory over Somoza in Nicaragua (1979), Cuban military efforts in Ethiopia and Angola in the late 1970s and, especially the frustration over the Iranian holding of fifty-three Americans as hostages following the overthrow of the Shah (1979), the Soviet repression of Polish solidarity (1980) and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979). As a result, Carter, despite shifting to the Brzezinski position and sharply increasing military spending, was perceived as weak.
Even his efforts to punish the Soviets by halting wheat deals and boycotting the Moscow Olympics backfired, as did the humiliating failure at rescuing the hostages.
In November 1980, the conservative Ronald Reagan decisively defeated a Jimmy Carter campaign torn by party discord, economic failure and international defeats. Since 1980, Jimmy Carter, perceived by most as a presidential failure, has seemed to many through his humanitarian efforts, at home and abroad, to be one of the most successful former presidents.
Industry:Culture
(born 1924) Republican activist who came to prominence with her A Choice Not an Echo (1964), which stridently decried American kingmakers while promoting the conservative candidacy and platform of Barry Goldwater. Since 1972 she has guided the Eagle Forum, a grassroots organization claiming 80,000 members, committed to lower taxes and limitations on government at home and abroad, as well as conservative and Christian values in the classroom and family and an antifeminist agenda. Schlafly herself has become a radio commentator, Internet spokesperson, columnist and newsletter author, as well as organizer and witness at congressional hearings.
Industry:Culture
(born 1924) The first African American woman ever elected to US Congress, Shirley Chisholm became a member of the New York State Assembly in 1964 following a career working as an educational consultant for New York City day-care centers. In 1968 she was elected on the Democratic ticket to serve in Congress. After re-election in 1971, she lost in the New York presidential primary of 1972–the first African American to run for this office.
Industry:Culture
(1924 – 1984) Southern novelist, essayist and chronicler in elegant prose of American society Capote’s work represents a complex tapestry of American reflections, including his own homosexuality and regional memories, wars of class and culture in New York City, NY and a chilling portrait of contemporary violence in his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood (1966). Other important works include Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948) and Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958).
Industry:Culture
(1924 – 1987) A Pentecostal preacher during his teens in New York City, NY, loosely described in Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953), Baldwin left the church to become a novelist, playwright and essayist. Baldwin’s other great novels, Another Country (1962) and Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), explore the intersection of race and sexuality and the ways these have shaped American culture. His play Blues for Mr Charlie (1964) was based on the Emmett Till murder case. Baldwin rose to international fame with the publication of The Fire Next Time (1963), which, though conciliatory towards whites, considered the slowness of racial change in the United States, and warned of dire consequences if this continued—predictions seemingly fulfilled in ensuing assassinations and race riots. Sickened by the racial climate in the US, Baldwin lived in southern France.
Industry:Culture
(born 1925) A native of Texas, Rauschenberg taught at Black Mountain College and later collaborated with John Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. One of several influential artists who reacted against the particular seriousness and introspection of abstract expressionism of the 1940s and 1950s, Rauschenberg experimentedwith popular imagery and found objects, incorporating them into more whimsical pieces.
Rather than ignoring the city environment, he incorporated the junk and technology of industrial society into large collages and constructions out of corrugated cardboard that utilized their labels and binding tapes. His work influenced pop art, minimalism and collage work, and continues to influence experimentalists today.
Industry:Culture
(born 1925) Architect, theorist and forerunner of postmodernism. Venturi broke the spell of modernism with his controversial book Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture (1966) and later Learning from Las Vegas (1972). Winner of the Rome Prize in Architecture (1954), Venturi looked to history and the vernacular in his designs, as exemplified in his Vanna Venturi House (1963). He also designed the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, London (1986), and the Seattle Art Museum (1991). Venturi, based in Philadelphia in partnership with architect and wife Denise Scott Brown, has expanded his designs with a series of furniture.
Industry:Culture
(born 1925) Comic actor in the best sense of both worlds—who else could convey the naivete of Mr Roberts (Academy Award, 1955), the drag humor of Some Like it Hot (1959), the burnt-out businessperson of Save the Tiger (Academy Award, 1973), the confused patriotism of Missing (Best Actor, Cannes, 1982) and so many other roles with such personality and mastery? Lemmon often plays an American everyman, decent and confounded by a twisted world, whether in comedy or tragedy yet his versatility and craftsmanship set him apart and earned him American Film Institute Accolades in 1988.
After four decades and multiple awards, he continues to delight audiences and won a Golden Globe for his television performance in Inherit the Wind (1999).
Industry:Culture
(born 1925) Palestinian-born intellectual known for both his groundbreaking research in comparative literature and his incisive political commentary especially on issues relating to Palestinians. Author of Orientalism (1978), which radically altered the study of literature and colonialism, and Culture and Imperialism (1993), Columbia professor Said is one of the most prominent intellectuals in the United States today. A member of the Palestine National Council, he has been an outspoken critic of American foreign policy in the Middle East.
Industry:Culture
