Latest news with #WoodrowWilson
Saudi Gazette
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Saudi Gazette
Saudi traditional dress featured at Wilson House diplomacy exhibit in Washington
Saudi Gazette report WASHINGTON — The Saudi Cultural Mission to the United States took part in the international exhibition Fashioning Power, Fashioning Peace, hosted at the historic home of former US President Woodrow Wilson, alongside over 50 countries and attended by diplomats, cultural figures, and media professionals from around the world. Saudi Arabia was represented through the display of the Thobe Al-Nashl, a traditional garment worn by the Kingdom's female delegation during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The presentation highlighted the Kingdom's support for Saudi women designers and reflected the growing visibility of Saudi women across diverse sectors. Dr. Tahani Albaiz, Saudi Cultural Attaché to the US and Canada, described the exhibition as a valuable platform for presenting Saudi national identity through visual arts and for strengthening cross-cultural dialogue. 'Culture and the arts have become central pillars of Saudi Arabia's soft power, showcasing our distinctive identity and supporting our global presence,' she Abdulaziz Al-Turki, Director of Public Relations at the Mission, noted that this marks the second consecutive participation in the event, following last year's display of the traditional Hasawi added that these initiatives are part of a broader strategy to share Saudi cultural heritage internationally and build bridges of understanding between nations.
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Did the media fail to do its job covering Joe Biden's decline?
In late 1919 US president Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that would physically and mentally incapacitate him for many months, but which was concealed from the American people by his inner circle. In the 1930s Franklin Roosevelt's inability to walk was similarly hushed up, as were Dwight Eisenhower's two heart attacks in office in the 1950s, John F Kennedy's crippling back pain in the 1960s, and Ronald Reagan 's symptoms of dementia in the mid-1980s. For a time at least, all of these were kept from voters despite being known in elite circles, including parts of the media. In that sense, the controversy over the alleged cover-up of Joe Biden 's physical and cognitive decline during his presidency (an allegation that looks increasingly plausible following the publication of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, Original Sin) is just the latest instalment in a long presidential tradition. READ MORE It has, admittedly, proved the most consequential of the lot; none of the others caused a sitting president to drop out of his re-election race with just three months to go. But that dramatic reversal was ultimately due to a catastrophic debate performance that in a few short minutes crystallised all the whispers and suspicions about Biden's real condition. In that crude sense, the media did its job. The cameras in the Atlanta studio brutally revealed the truth. But the broader question of whether journalists could have done more and earlier to uncover that truth remains contentious. In some of the responses to Original Sin you can see a desire to move on. After all, there's a real and present threat to media freedom under way right now from the current administration's legal assaults on ABC and CBS. And there's alarming evidence that those networks' corporate owners, Disney and Paramount, are only too willing to bend the knee. But the questions won't go away. 'Biden's decline, and its cover-up by the people around him, is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception,' Thompson told the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, DC a few weeks ago. 'But being truth-tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We – myself included – missed a lot of this story, and some people trust us less because of it.' [ Maureen Dowd: The tragedy of Joe Biden is that he was poisoned by power Opens in new window ] That statement provoked a furious response from veteran broadcaster Chuck Todd, who, in a tone that will startle those familiar with his TV persona, posted on Substack that 'the virtue-signalling that some people have done, to try to say that the media missed this story – they didn't miss this story ... You know why that's all out there? Because the media fucking showed it!' Perhaps. Certainly, if you search for 'Biden' and 'cognitive' across US media in 2023 and the first half of 2024 you'll get plenty of results. Many, but not all, came from the right-wing media sphere, and were often just overwrought punditry with little in the way of supporting evidence. It seems probable that the ferocity of these partisans attacks on Biden's cognition contributed to the excessive caution with which the story was treated by the likes of the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. The attacks haven't ended. Reacting to Thompson's words, current White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 'legacy media' were responsible for 'one of the greatest cover-ups and scandals that ever took place in American history'. Not for the first time, polarised hyperbole has poisoned US media's capacity to do its supposed job of reporting factual information in an objective manner. It's inconceivable that antipathy to Trump did not contribute to undue deference to his opponent. But as Jon Allsop pointed out in the New Yorker last week , 'the media' is not some sort of coherent, unified entity. Conspiracy theories are seductive because they offer an over-arching black and white narrative in which everything can be explained. Random errors, muddled thinking and unexamined motives are a little less attractive. The truth is that while reporters such as Thompson at Axios and opinion writers such as Ezra Klein at the New York Times became increasingly vocal about their concerns over Biden's condition, the subject was not addressed by their employers with the tenacity and resources it deserved. One element of this sorry saga that makes it different, I think, from Wilson, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy and even Reagan is the 'hiding in plain sight' part. Yes, Biden's inner circle were deliberately concealing his low energy levels, making sure he would only be seen in public within his few 'good' hours. And yes, it is clear they made sure any expressions of concern from within the Democratic Party were ruthlessly crushed. But this is not the 1920s. Even in a presidential system, where the leader of the country is not held to account by parliament, there will be video evidence and eyewitness accounts available, as there were here. In a way, the most damning indictment of the media's performance is that it failed to reflect the clear public judgment, recorded unambiguously over three years' worth of opinion polls, that Biden was too old and should not run again. That failure gives fuel to the accusation that modern journalists – not just in the US – have become a disconnected elite, excessively monocultural, politically conformist and too close to the institutions that they are supposed to hold to account. There is some truth to all that, but it doesn't fully account for how this saga played out. Donald Trump , inevitably, plays a role. Discussions about mental acuity and fitness for office might have taken a different course if Nikki Haley had been the Republican nominee. Regardless, when both your emperors are naked, the media's role is to report that fact, not decide that one of them is partially clothed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
When is Father's Day? Here's when it falls in 2025, history of why we celebrate dads in June
Mother's Day in the U.S. has come and gone, but another important day for parents is coming up quickly. Like Mother's Day, Father's Day always falls on a particular Sunday in June and isn't tied to a calendar date. Here's when Father's Day 2025 happens in June and how the holiday began in the U.S. Father's Day falls on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Father's Day always falls on the third Sunday of June, which means the calendar date changes every year. Mother's Day came first, and actually inspired Father's Day. According to the commercialized Mother's Day we know and celebrate in the U.S. today began in 1908, but its origins can be traced all the way back to the mid-1800s. 'The 'Mother's Day' we celebrate today has its origins in the peace-and-reconciliation campaigns of the post-Civil War era. During the 1860s, at the urging of activist Ann Reeves Jarvis, one divided West Virginia town celebrated 'Mother's Work Days' that brought together the mothers of Confederate and Union soldiers …' says. 'In 1909, 45 states observed the day, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution that made the second Sunday in May a holiday in honor of 'that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.'' But Father's Day took a little while longer to get off the ground, due to gender norms of the time. According to the Old Farmer's Almanac and Lawrence R. Samuel, author of 'American Fatherhood: A Cultural History," 'Men had a different role in the family during the first half of that century. It was patriarchal, so they felt that a special day to exalt fatherhood was a rather silly idea, when it was mothers who were underappreciated.' It wasn't until 1972, under President Richard Nixon, that Congress passed an act officially making Father's Day a national holiday. But the first Father's Day celebration can be traced all the way back to 1908, around the same time Mother's Day kicked off in the U.S. 'The first known Father's Day service occurred in Fairmont, West Virginia, on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men died in the worst mining accident in U.S. history,' the Old Farmer's Almanac says. But the observance didn't become an annual or nationally observed event. A year later, Sonora Smart Dodd, a 27-year-old in Spokane, Washington, was inspired by Mother's Day and came up with the idea to set aside a day in June to celebrate dads. 'She proposed June 5, her father's birthday, but the ministers chose the third Sunday in June so that they would have more time after Mother's Day (the second Sunday in May) to prepare their sermons,' the almanac says. 'On June 19, 1910, the first Father's Day events commenced: Sonora delivered presents to handicapped fathers, boys from the YMCA decorated their lapels with fresh-cut roses (red for living fathers, white for the deceased), and the city's ministers devoted their homilies to fatherhood.' The first bill to make Father's Day a holiday was presented to Congress just a few years later in 1913, but didn't pass. Eight years later, President Calvin Coolidge signed a resolution in favor of establishing a Father's Day and in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order dictating that the holiday would be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. In 1972, Congress approved an act to make it a national holiday, under Nixon. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: History of Father's Day in the U.S.: When the day for dads falls in 2025
Fast Company
20-05-2025
- General
- Fast Company
What a wartime housing boom reveals about solving America's housing crisis
In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation's largest housing developer, designing and constructing more than 80 new communities across 26 states in just two years. These weren't hastily erected barracks or rows of identical homes. They were thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, complete with parks, schools, shops and sewer systems. In just two years, this federal initiative provided housing for almost 100,000 people. Few Americans are aware that such an ambitious and comprehensive public housing effort ever took place. Many of the homes are still standing today. But as an urban planning scholar, I believe that this brief historic moment – spearheaded by a shuttered agency called the United States Housing Corporation – offers a revealing lesson on what government-led planning can achieve during a time of national need. Government mobilization When the U.S. declared war against Germany in April 1917, federal authorities immediately realized that ship, vehicle and arms manufacturing would be at the heart of the war effort. To meet demand, there needed to be sufficient worker housing near shipyards, munitions plants and steel factories. So on May 16, 1918, Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to provide housing and infrastructure for industrial workers vital to national defense. By July, it had appropriated US$100 million – approximately $2.3 billion today – for the effort, with Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson tasked with overseeing it via the U.S. Housing Corporation. Over the course of two years, the agency designed and planned over 80 housing projects. Some developments were small, consisting of a few dozen dwellings. Others approached the size of entire new towns. For example, Cradock, near Norfolk, Virginia, was planned on a 310-acre site, with more than 800 detached homes developed on just 100 of those acres. In Dayton, Ohio, the agency created a 107-acre community that included 175 detached homes and a mix of over 600 semidetached homes and row houses, along with schools, shops, a community center and a park. Designing ideal communities Notably, the Housing Corporation was not simply committed to offering shelter. Its architects, planners and engineers aimed to create communities that were not only functional but also livable and beautiful. They drew heavily from Britain's late-19th century Garden City movement, a planning philosophy that emphasized low-density housing, the integration of open spaces and a balance between built and natural environments. Importantly, instead of simply creating complexes of apartment units, akin to the public housing projects that most Americans associate with government-funded housing, the agency focused on the construction of single-family and small multifamily residential buildings that workers and their families could eventually own. This approach reflected a belief by the policymakers that property ownership could strengthen community responsibility and social stability. During the war, the federal government rented these homes to workers at regulated rates designed to be fair, while covering maintenance costs. After the war, the government began selling the homes – often to the tenants living in them – through affordable installment plans that provided a practical path to ownership. Though the scope of the Housing Corporation's work was national, each planned community took into account regional growth and local architectural styles. Engineers often built streets that adapted to the natural landscape. They spaced houses apart to maximize light, air and privacy, with landscaped yards. No resident lived far from greenery. In Quincy, Massachusetts, for example, the agency built a 22-acre neighborhood with 236 homes designed mostly in a Colonial Revival style to serve the nearby Fore River Shipyard. The development was laid out to maximize views, green space and access to the waterfront, while maintaining density through compact street and lot design. At Mare Island, California, developers located the housing site on a steep hillside near a naval base. Rather than flatten the land, designers worked with the slope, creating winding roads and terraced lots that preserved views and minimized erosion. The result was a 52-acre community with over 200 homes, many of which were designed in the Craftsman style. There was also a school, stores, parks and community centers. Infrastructure and innovation Alongside housing construction, the Housing Corporation invested in critical infrastructure. Engineers installed over 649,000 feet of modern sewer and water systems, ensuring that these new communities set a high standard for sanitation and public health. Attention to detail extended inside the homes. Architects experimented with efficient interior layouts and space-saving furnishings, including foldaway beds and built-in kitchenettes. Some of these innovations came from private companies that saw the program as a platform to demonstrate new housing technologies. living room to bedroom to dining room throughout the day. To manage the large scale of this effort, the agency developed and published a set of planning and design standards − the first of their kind in the United States. These manuals covered everything from block configurations and road widths to lighting fixtures and tree-planting guidelines. The standards emphasized functionality, aesthetics and long-term livability. Architects and planners who worked for the Housing Corporation carried these ideas into private practice, academia and housing initiatives. Many of the planning norms still used today, such as street hierarchies, lot setbacks and mixed-use zoning, were first tested in these wartime communities. And many of the planners involved in experimental New Deal community projects, such as Greenbelt, Maryland, had worked for or alongside Housing Corporation designers and planners. Their influence is apparent in the layout and design of these communities. A brief but lasting legacy With the end of World War I, the political support for federal housing initiatives quickly waned. The Housing Corporation was dissolved by Congress, and many planned projects were never completed. Others were incorporated into existing towns and cities. Yet, many of the neighborhoods built during this period still exist today, integrated in the fabric of the country's cities and suburbs. Residents in places such as Aberdeen, Maryland; Bremerton, Washington; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Watertown, New York; and New Orleans may not even realize that many of the homes in their communities originated from a bold federal housing experiment. The Housing Corporation's efforts, though brief, showed that large-scale public housing could be thoughtfully designed, community oriented and quickly executed. For a short time, in response to extraordinary circumstances, the U.S. government succeeded in building more than just houses. It constructed entire communities, demonstrating that government has a major role and can lead in finding appropriate, innovative solutions to complex challenges. At a moment when the U.S. once again faces a housing crisis, the legacy of the U.S. Housing Corporation serves as a reminder that bold public action can meet urgent needs.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Believe it or not, there was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working-class Americans to deal with a housing crisis
In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation's largest housing developer, designing and constructing more than 80 new communities across 26 states in just two years. These weren't hastily erected barracks or rows of identical homes. They were thoughtfully designed neighborhoods, complete with parks, schools, shops and sewer systems. In just two years, this federal initiative provided housing for almost 100,000 people. Few Americans are aware that such an ambitious and comprehensive public housing effort ever took place. Many of the homes are still standing today. But as an urban planning scholar, I believe that this brief historic moment – spearheaded by a shuttered agency called the United States Housing Corporation – offers a revealing lesson on what government-led planning can achieve during a time of national need. When the U.S. declared war against Germany in April 1917, federal authorities immediately realized that ship, vehicle and arms manufacturing would be at the heart of the war effort. To meet demand, there needed to be sufficient worker housing near shipyards, munitions plants and steel factories. So on May 16, 1918, Congress authorized President Woodrow Wilson to provide housing and infrastructure for industrial workers vital to national defense. By July, it had appropriated US$100 million – approximately $2.3 billion today – for the effort, with Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson tasked with overseeing it via the U.S. Housing Corporation. Over the course of two years, the agency designed and planned over 80 housing projects. Some developments were small, consisting of a few dozen dwellings. Others approached the size of entire new towns. For example, Cradock, near Norfolk, Virginia, was planned on a 310-acre site, with more than 800 detached homes developed on just 100 of those acres. In Dayton, Ohio, the agency created a 107-acre community that included 175 detached homes and a mix of over 600 semidetached homes and row houses, along with schools, shops, a community center and a park. Notably, the Housing Corporation was not simply committed to offering shelter. Its architects, planners and engineers aimed to create communities that were not only functional but also livable and beautiful. They drew heavily from Britain's late-19th century Garden City movement, a planning philosophy that emphasized low-density housing, the integration of open spaces and a balance between built and natural environments. Importantly, instead of simply creating complexes of apartment units, akin to the public housing projects that most Americans associate with government-funded housing, the agency focused on the construction of single-family and small multifamily residential buildings that workers and their families could eventually own. This approach reflected a belief by the policymakers that property ownership could strengthen community responsibility and social stability. During the war, the federal government rented these homes to workers at regulated rates designed to be fair, while covering maintenance costs. After the war, the government began selling the homes – often to the tenants living in them – through affordable installment plans that provided a practical path to ownership. Though the scope of the Housing Corporation's work was national, each planned community took into account regional growth and local architectural styles. Engineers often built streets that adapted to the natural landscape. They spaced houses apart to maximize light, air and privacy, with landscaped yards. No resident lived far from greenery. In Quincy, Massachusetts, for example, the agency built a 22-acre neighborhood with 236 homes designed mostly in a Colonial Revival style to serve the nearby Fore River Shipyard. The development was laid out to maximize views, green space and access to the waterfront, while maintaining density through compact street and lot design. At Mare Island, California, developers located the housing site on a steep hillside near a naval base. Rather than flatten the land, designers worked with the slope, creating winding roads and terraced lots that preserved views and minimized erosion. The result was a 52-acre community with over 200 homes, many of which were designed in the Craftsman style. There was also a school, stores, parks and community centers. Alongside housing construction, the Housing Corporation invested in critical infrastructure. Engineers installed over 649,000 feet of modern sewer and water systems, ensuring that these new communities set a high standard for sanitation and public health. Attention to detail extended inside the homes. Architects experimented with efficient interior layouts and space-saving furnishings, including foldaway beds and built-in kitchenettes. Some of these innovations came from private companies that saw the program as a platform to demonstrate new housing technologies. One company, for example, designed fully furnished studio apartments with furniture that could be rotated or hidden, transforming a space from living room to bedroom to dining room throughout the day. To manage the large scale of this effort, the agency developed and published a set of planning and design standards − the first of their kind in the United States. These manuals covered everything from block configurations and road widths to lighting fixtures and tree-planting guidelines. The standards emphasized functionality, aesthetics and long-term livability. Architects and planners who worked for the Housing Corporation carried these ideas into private practice, academia and housing initiatives. Many of the planning norms still used today, such as street hierarchies, lot setbacks and mixed-use zoning, were first tested in these wartime communities. And many of the planners involved in experimental New Deal community projects, such as Greenbelt, Maryland, had worked for or alongside Housing Corporation designers and planners. Their influence is apparent in the layout and design of these communities. With the end of World War I, the political support for federal housing initiatives quickly waned. The Housing Corporation was dissolved by Congress, and many planned projects were never completed. Others were incorporated into existing towns and cities. Yet, many of the neighborhoods built during this period still exist today, integrated in the fabric of the country's cities and suburbs. Residents in places such as Aberdeen, Maryland; Bremerton, Washington; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; Watertown, New York; and New Orleans may not even realize that many of the homes in their communities originated from a bold federal housing experiment. The Housing Corporation's efforts, though brief, showed that large-scale public housing could be thoughtfully designed, community oriented and quickly executed. For a short time, in response to extraordinary circumstances, the U.S. government succeeded in building more than just houses. It constructed entire communities, demonstrating that government has a major role and can lead in finding appropriate, innovative solutions to complex challenges. At a moment when the U.S. once again faces a housing crisis, the legacy of the U.S. Housing Corporation serves as a reminder that bold public action can meet urgent needs. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Eran Ben-Joseph, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Read more: How building more backyard homes, granny flats and in-law suites can help alleviate the housing crisis Colorado takes a new – and likely more effective – approach to the housing crisis Poor and homeless face discrimination under America's flawed housing voucher system Eran Ben-Joseph does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
