William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States (1909-1913) and later the 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Taft rode the coattails of fellow Republican Theodore Roosevelt to an easy victory in his 1908 bid for the presidency. In his only term, Taft’s domestic agenda emphasized trust-busting, civil service reform, strengthening the Interstate Commerce Commission, improving the performance of the Postal Service and passage of the Sixteenth Amendment. Abroad, Taft sought to further the economic development of foreign nations through “Dollar Diplomacy,” and showed decisiveness and restraint in response to the Mexican Revolution. After leaving office, Taft pursued world peace through his self-founded League to Enforce Peace. After World War I, he was appointed Chief Justice of the United States and served in this capacity until shortly before his death in 1930. Taft was born on this day in 1857.
Note: The almost-6′ Taft is often remembered as being the most obese president. His weight peaked at 335-340 pounds toward the end of his presidency. The truth of the often-told story of Taft getting stuck in a White House bathtub is unclear. However, Taft did erect a sleeping porch on the roof of the White House. This is 8-bit U.S. president #19 of 43.
Nero was the fifth Emperor of the Roman Empire, from 54 to 68, and was the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne at age 17. During his reign, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing cultural life through theaters and athletic games. In 64, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his extravagant palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. For this he is infamously known as the Emperor who “fiddled while Rome burned.” Nero is also known for many executions, including that of his mother (and possibly apostles Peter and Paul), and for being the first persecutor of Christians. He reportedly captured Christians to burn them in his garden at night for a source of light. Nero was ultimately driven from the throne and, facing assassination, committed suicide in 68 at age 30.
Note: I saved Nero for my 666th pixel art character because biblical scholars contend that the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation has a specific symbolic correlation to the Emperor Nero, whose Greek name transliterated into Hebrew has the numeric value of 666. Basically it’s a code that identifies Nero as the Antichrist. Also, today is 9/11. Everything is coming together now. Illuminati, what?
Herbert Hoover was the 31st President of the United States (1929-1933). Born in Iowa, Hoover was an experienced engineer who had made a small fortune in mining. He was the first of two Presidents to redistribute their salaries (JFK was the other; he donated all his paychecks to charity). When the Wall Street Crash of 1929 struck less than eight months after Hoover took office, he tried to combat the ensuing Great Depression with government-enforced efforts, public works projects such as the Hoover Dam, tariffs and tax increases. These initiatives did not produce economic recovery during his term, but served as the groundwork for various policies incorporated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman brought Hoover back to help make the federal bureaucracy more efficient through the Hoover Commission. Hoover was born on this day in 1874.
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, diplomat and politician. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” During his lifetime, Neruda also occupied many diplomatic positions, served as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party, escaped into exile in Argentina, and later advised socialist President Salvador Allende. In September 1973, Neruda was hospitalized with prostate cancer at the time of the U.S.-backed Chilean coup d’état (the other 9/11) led by Augusto Pinochet. Neruda died suddenly of heart failure, but some suspect the junta had a hand in his death. Neruda was born on this day in 1904.
Note: In 2011, a Chilean judge ordered that an investigation be launched, following suggestions that Neruda had been killed by the Pinochet regime for his pro-Allende stance and political views. On April 8, 2013, Neruda was exhumed, 40 years after his death, to determine if he was poisoned. Last month, a court order was issued to find the man that prosecutors allege poisoned Neruda. Suspects include former CIA agent Michael Townley.
John Adams was the second President of the United States (1797-1801), having earlier served as the first Vice President of the United States. An American Founding Father, he was a statesman, diplomat and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. A lawyer and public figure in Boston, Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was its primary advocate in the Congress. Interestingly, he died on Independence Day in 1826, mere hours after Jefferson’s death, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Note: This is 8-bit U.S. president #17 of 43. Happy Fourth of July!
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953). As a senator in the early 1940s, he gained national prominence as head of the wartime Truman Committee, which exposed waste, fraud and corruption in wartime contracts. Truman was the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the U.S. successfully concluded World War II through the controversial use of atomic bombs against Japan (at Hiroshima and Nagasaki). In the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War. Truman was born on this day in 1884.
Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician and women’s rights activist. On the day she was born in rural Afghanistan, her mother set her under the blazing sun to die. Koofi was the 19th child of 23 in a polygamous family with seven wives, and her mother did not want another daughter. Despite severe burns, she survived and became the favorite child. Koofi is Afghanistan’s first female Parliament speaker and a noted activist for women and children’s rights. She has written two books about her experiences in Afghanistan under the exploitative rule of the Mujahideen and Taliban. There have been numerous attempts on her life—and her father, brother and husband have all been killed. Koofi has announced her intention to run as a presidential candidate in the 2014 elections in Afghanistan.
Koofi is an amazing woman with an awe-inspiring story. If you’re interested in watching her speak for a few minutes, she appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on February 13, 2013.
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was the last of four kings to rule the last Sinhalese monarchy of the Kingdom of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka. The Nayak kings were Buddhists who spoke Tamil. The king was eventually deposed by the British under the terms of the Kandyan Convention, in 1815, ending over 2,300 years of Sinhalese monarchy on the island. The island was incorporated into the British Empire.
Yes, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha really was the King of Kandy. I like to think he lived at the top of a gumdrop-adorned Kandy Mountain surrounded by kandy kane fences, referred to his palace as Kandyland and snacked on only the finest kandy korn. This information is not verifiable via Wikipedia. But I did find that the British Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 and the king was exiled to India, never to return. In a related story, Candy told me nothing really matters anymore.
Hugo Chávez was the President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death on March 5, 2013. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which he led until his death. Following his own political ideology of Bolivarianism (named after Simón Bolívar), Chávez focused on implementing socialist reforms, including a new constitution, increased government funding of health care and education, and significant reductions in poverty.
Note: Shortly after Hugo Chávez’s death last week after a two-year battle with cancer, it was announced that he will be embalmed and put on display “for eternity,” much like the posthumous treatment of Communist leaders Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Ho Chi Minh.
George Custer was a U.S. Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Custer graduated last in his class from West Point, but developed a strong reputation during the Civil War. He is best known for his disastrous final battle, popularly known as “Custer’s Last Stand.” Custer and all the men with him were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, fighting against a coalition of Native American tribes led by Sitting Bull. Custer was born on this day in 1839.
Ismail Enver Pasha was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the Young Turk Revolution. He was the main leader of the Ottoman Empire in both Balkan Wars and World War I. Enver was considered the most powerful figure of the government of Ottoman Turkey or “the number one man in Istanbul.” He played a major role in the Armenian Genocide, in which over two million were killed during 1915-20. Enver was born on this day in 1881.
Note: Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful you didn’t know this guy.
Elizabeth Warren is an American bankruptcy law expert, Harvard Law School professor, and the U.S. Senator-elect for the state of Massachusetts, having defeated incumbent Senator Scott Brown in the 2012 election last week. Her work as a national policy advocate led to the conception and establishment of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011. She is a frequent subject of media interviews regarding the American economy and middle-class personal finance.
I suspect Warren may be a leading Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 election (though she may wait until the 2020 election because Hillary Clinton will surely be running in 2016). This feisty, good-hearted advocate for middle-class consumers won her Senate seat by defiantly campaigning against the big banks and lobbyists “who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs.”
Augusto Pinochet was a Chilean dictator whose government killed up to 3,200 people and tortured up to 30,000 during his repressive 17-year rule. Pinochet assumed power on September 11, 1973, in a bloody coup supported by the U.S. that toppled the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, a Marxist who had pledged to lead his country “down the democratic road to socialism.” Pinochet returned Chile to democracy in 1990.
Some Chileans view Pinochet as their savior and others view him as an evil dictator. Pinochet’s CIA-backed military coup in 1973 is why some Chileans actually celebrated in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001. They thought it was symbolic retaliation on the U.S., exactly 28 years later, for the devastating legacy of Pinochet. For more information, see Chile: The Other September 11.
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th President of the United States. John F. Kennedy asked him to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election. Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of JFK in 1963 and was elected President in 1964. He was responsible for Great Society social reforms designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. Johnson also escalated U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which stimulated a large antiwar movement.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and member of the British Royal Family. She was also known for her fundraising work for international charities. Lady Di remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996. Media attention and public mourning were considerable after her death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Note: Diana’s 8-bit outfit is her iconic “Elvis” dress, made by Catherine Walker for her 1989 trip to Hong Kong. The silk dress had a standup collar and was embellished with pearls and sequins.
Slobodan Milošević was the President of Serbia from 1989-1997 and President of Yugoslavia from 1997-2000. His presidency was marked by the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars. In the midst of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Milošević was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. He was born on this day in 1941 and died in prison in 2006.
Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and influential political leader. He played a key role in Hispanic-Spanish America’s successful struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire. In Latin America, Bolívar is regarded as a hero, visionary, revolutionary and liberator. He led Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia to independence, and helped lay the foundations for democratic ideology in much of Latin America. He was born on this day in 1783.
Michelle Obama is the wife of President Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised in Chicago, she is the mother of two daughters, and is the sister of Craig Robinson, men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University. She is an advocate for poverty awareness, nutrition and healthy eating.
First Lady Michelle Obama will provide the commencement address at Oregon State University in Corvallis on Sunday, June 17, 2012.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is the 67th U.S. Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a U.S. Senator for New York from 2001-2009. As the wife of President Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the United States from 1993-2001. In the 2008 election, Clinton was a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Fawzia Koofi – No. 596
Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician and women’s rights activist. On the day she was born in rural Afghanistan, her mother set her under the blazing sun to die. Koofi was the 19th child of 23 in a polygamous family with seven wives, and her mother did not want another daughter. Despite severe burns, she survived and became the favorite child. Koofi is Afghanistan’s first female Parliament speaker and a noted activist for women and children’s rights. She has written two books about her experiences in Afghanistan under the exploitative rule of the Mujahideen and Taliban. There have been numerous attempts on her life—and her father, brother and husband have all been killed. Koofi has announced her intention to run as a presidential candidate in the 2014 elections in Afghanistan.
Koofi is an amazing woman with an awe-inspiring story. If you’re interested in watching her speak for a few minutes, she appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on February 13, 2013.