Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. senator from New Jersey. He was the 38th mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, and served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.

Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Harrington Park, New Jersey. He attended Stanford University, receiving a BA in 1991 and a master's degree a year later. He attended Queen's College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship before attending Yale Law School.

He won an upset victory for a seat on the Municipal Council of Newark in 1998, staging a 10-day hunger strike and briefly living in a tent to draw attention to urban development issues in the city. He ran for mayor in 2002 but lost to incumbent Sharpe James. He ran again in 2006 and defeated Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice. Booker's first term saw the doubling of affordable housing under development and the reduction of the city budget deficit from $180 million to $73 million. He was reelected in 2010. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in a 2013 special election and reelected in 2014 and in 2020.

Throughout his Senate tenure, Booker has written, sponsored, and passed legislation advancing women's rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and single-payer healthcare. He has pushed for economic reforms to address wealth inequality in the U.S., particularly the racial wealth gap. Booker has pursued measures to reform the criminal justice system, combat climate change, and restructure national immigration policy.

In foreign policy, he has voted successfully for tougher sanctions against Iran, voiced support for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and lobbied for increased diplomacy in the Middle East. He was the first senator to ever testify against another senator during attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions's 2017 confirmation hearing. Booker was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, suspending his campaign on January 13, 2020.

Early life and education
Booker was born in Washington, D.C.; he grew up in Harrington Park, New Jersey,  northeast of Newark. His parents, Carolyn Rose (née Jordan) and Cary Alfred Booker, were among the first black IBM executives. Booker has said that he was raised in a religious household and that he and his family attended a small African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey. Booker has Sierra Leonean ancestry, which he learned when featured on the PBS television program Finding Your Roots.

Booker graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, where he played varsity football and was named to the 1986 USA Today All-USA high school football team. He graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1991 and a Master of Arts in sociology in 1992. He played football for Stanford at tight end and was teammates with Brad Muster and Ed McCaffrey, making the All-Pacific-10 Academic team. He was elected senior class president. In addition, Booker ran The Bridge Peer Counseling Center, a student-run crisis hotline, and organized help from Stanford students for youth in East Palo Alto, California.

Booker was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at The Queen's College, Oxford, earning a degree in United States history in 1994. At Oxford, Booker served as president of the Oxford University L'Chaim Society. He obtained his Juris Doctor in 1997 from Yale Law School and operated free legal clinics for low-income residents of New Haven, Connecticut. At Yale, Booker was a founding member of the Chai Society (now Shabtai). He also was a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and active in the National Black Law Students Association.

Municipal Council of Newark
Contemplating advocacy work and a run for city council in Newark after graduating from law school, Booker lived in the city during his final year at Yale. After graduation, he served as staff attorney for the Urban Justice Center in New York and program coordinator of the Newark Youth Project. In 1998, Booker won an upset victory for a seat on the Municipal Council of Newark, defeating four-term incumbent George Branch. To draw attention to the problems of open-air drug dealing and associated violence, he went on a 10-day hunger strike, living in a tent and later in a motor home near drug-dealing areas of the city. Booker also proposed council initiatives that affected housing, young people, law and order, and the efficiency and transparency of City Hall, but was regularly outvoted.

Mayor of Newark

Mayoral campaigns

2002 election

On January 9, 2002, Booker announced his campaign for mayor of Newark rather than running for reelection as councilman. That pitted him against longtime incumbent Sharpe James. James, who had easily won election four consecutive times, saw Booker as a real threat and responded with mudslinging. At one campaign event James called him "a Republican who took money from the KKK [and] Taliban ... [who's] collaborating with the Jews to take over Newark." In the campaign James's supporters questioned Booker's suburban background, calling him a carpetbagger who was "not black enough" to understand the city. Booker lost the election, garnering 47% of the vote to James's 53%. The Oscar-nominated documentary Street Fight chronicles the election.

During the campaign, Booker founded the nonprofit organization Newark Now.

2006 election

On February 11, 2006, Booker announced that he would run for mayor again. Although James filed paperwork to run for reelection, he announced shortly thereafter that he would instead cancel his bid to focus on his work as a state senator, a position to which he was elected in 1999. At James's urging, Deputy Mayor Ronald Rice decided to run for mayor. Booker's campaign, raising over $6 million, outspent Rice's 25 to 1, for which Rice attacked him. Booker, in turn, attacked Rice as a "political crony" of James. Booker won the May 9 election with 72% of the vote. His slate of city council candidates, known as the "Booker Team", swept the council elections, giving Booker firm leadership of the city government.

2010 election

On April 3, 2010, Booker announced his candidacy for reelection. At his announcement event, he remarked that a "united government" was crucial to progress, knowing his supporters in the city council faced tough reelections. Heavily favored to win, Booker faced former judge and Essex County prosecutor Clifford J. Minor and two minor candidates. Booker was reelected with 59% of the vote.

Tenure
Before taking office as mayor, Booker sued the James administration, seeking to terminate cut-rate land deals favoring two redevelopment agencies that had contributed to James's campaigns and listed James as a member of their advisory boards. Booker argued that the state's "pay-to-play" laws had been violated and that the land deals would cost the city more than $15 million in lost revenue. Specifically, Booker referenced a parcel at Broad and South Streets that would generate only $87,000 under the proposed land deals yet was valued at $3.7 million under then-current market rates. On June 20, 2006, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello ruled in Booker's favor.

In late June 2006, before Booker took office, New Jersey investigators foiled a plot to assassinate him led by Bloods gang leaders inside four New Jersey state prisons. The motive for the plot was unclear, but was described variously as a response to the acrimonious campaign and to Booker's campaign promises to take a harder line on crime.

First term

Booker took office as mayor of Newark on July 1, 2006. After his first week in office, he announced a 100-day plan to implement reforms. The proposed changes included increasing police forces, ending background checks for many city jobs to help former offenders find employment in the city, refurbishing police stations, improving city services, and expanding summer youth programs.

One of Booker's first priorities was to reduce the city's crime rate. In furtherance of this, he appointed former deputy commissioner of operations of the New York City Police Department Garry McCarthy director of the Newark Police Department. Crime reduction was such a central concern of Booker's administration that he and his security team were known to personally patrol the Newark's streets until as late as 4 a.m.

Booker was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bipartisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets". In October 2009, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave him the Sarah Brady Visionary Award for his work in reducing gun violence. During his mayoralty, crime dropped significantly in Newark, which led the nation in violent crime reduction from 2006 to 2008. March 2010 marked Newark's first murder-free month in over 44 years, although murder and overall crime rates began to rise again after 2008. In addition to his crime-lowering initiatives, Booker doubled the amount of affordable housing under development and quadrupled the amount under pre-development, and reduced the city budget deficit from $180 million to $73 million.

After taking office, Booker voluntarily reduced his own salary twice, first by 8% early in his first year as mayor. He also raised the salaries of many city workers. But his administration imposed one-day-a-month furloughs for all non-uniformed employees from July through December 2010, as well as 2% pay cuts for managers and directors earning more than $100,000 a year. In 2008 and 2009, the City of Newark received the Government Finance Officers Association's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. In an effort to make government more accessible, Booker held regular open office hours during which city residents could meet with him to discuss their concerns. In 2010, Booker was among the finalists for the World Mayor prize, ultimately placing seventh; he was also an unsuccessful candidate for the 2012 award. In March 2010, Booker won a Shorty Award in the government category for having the best microblog.

In July 2010, Booker attended a dinner at a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, where he was seated with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, who had no known ties to Newark, announced in September 2010 that he was donating $100 million to the Newark school system. According to The New York Times, Booker and Zuckerberg continued their conversation about Booker's plans for Newark. The initial gift was made to start a foundation for education. The gift was formally announced when Booker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Zuckerberg appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Some considered the timing of Zuckerberg's donation a move for damage control to his image, as it was announced on the opening day of the movie The Social Network, a film that painted an unflattering portrait of Zuckerberg. But on her show, Winfrey told the audience that Zuckerberg and Booker had been in talks for months, had planned the announcement for the month before, and that she and Booker had to force Zuckerberg to put his name on the donation, which he had wanted to make anonymously.

On October 10, 2010, Booker established Let's Move! Newark as part of First Lady Michelle Obama's national Let's Move! initiative against childhood obesity.

Booker gained national attention on December 28, 2010, when a constituent asked him on Twitter to send someone to her elderly father's house to shovel his driveway because he was about to attempt to do it himself. Booker responded by tweeting, "I will do it myself; where does he live?" Other people volunteered, including one person who offered his help on Twitter, and 20 minutes later Booker and some volunteers showed up and shoveled the man's driveway.

Second term
In October 2011, Booker expanded the Let's Move! Newark program to include Let's Move! Newark: Our Power, a four-month fitness challenge for Newark public school students run by public health advocate Jeff Halevy.

On April 12, 2012, Booker saved a woman from a house fire, suffering smoke inhalation and second-degree burns on his hands in the process. Newark Fire Chief John Centanni said that Booker's actions possibly saved the woman's life. After Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of New Jersey's and New York's shoreline areas in late October 2012, Booker invited Newarkers without electricity and similar services to eat and sleep in his home. In February 2013, responding to a Twitter post, Booker helped a nervous constituent propose to his girlfriend. Booker rescued a dog from freezing temperatures in January 2013 and another dog that had been abandoned in a cage in July 2013.

On November 20, 2012, a melee occurred at a Newark City Council meeting Booker attended. The nine-seat council was to vote on the successor to the seat vacated by newly elected U.S. Representative Donald M. Payne, Jr. Booker's opponents on the council, including Ras Baraka, sought to appoint John Sharpe James, son of former mayor Sharpe James, while Booker and his supporters favored Shanique Speight. Booker attended the meeting to deal with the eventuality of the lack of a quorum or a tie vote, in which state law would allow him to cast a deciding vote. After acting Council President Anibal Ramos Jr. refused Baraka an opportunity to address the council, Baraka and two other council members walked away in protest. Booker cast the deciding vote for Speight. Supporters of James stormed the stage and were held back by riot police, who eventually used pepper spray on some members of the crowd. Baraka later blamed Booker for inciting the disturbance. Booker refused to comment to the media after the vote.

In December 2012, after discussions with a constituent about New Jersey's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Booker began a weeklong challenge attempting to live on a food budget of $30 per week—the amount he said that New Jersey paid SNAP recipients. When critics noted that the very name of the SNAP program shows that it is intended to "supplement" an individual's food budget, not be its sole source, Booker replied that his aim was to spark a discussion about the reality that many Americans rely solely on food stamps to survive.

Public opinion polling
Throughout Booker's mayoralty, Fairleigh Dickinson University's public opinion poll PublicMind asked New Jersey residents whether they had heard of Booker and whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him. The results were:

September 2008
 Name recognition: 56%
 Favorable opinion: 32%
 Unfavorable opinion: 8%

April 2009
 Name recognition: 62%
 Favorable opinion: 39%
 Unfavorable opinion: 10%

May 2010
 Name recognition: 66%
 Favorable opinion: 42%
 Unfavorable opinion: 6%

May 2012
 Name recognition: 67%
 Favorable opinion: 47%
 Unfavorable opinion: 6%

January 2013
 Name recognition: 75%
 Favorable opinion: 66%
 Unfavorable opinion: 13%

March 2014
 Name recognition: 88%
 Favorable opinion: 47%
 Unfavorable opinion: 23%

Legacy
Booker's mayoralty and celebrity drew substantial media attention to Newark. While he had high ratings from Newarkers, his legacy has received mixed reviews. During his tenure, millions of dollars were invested in downtown development, but underemployment and high murder rates continue to characterize many of the city's neighborhoods. Despite legal challenges initiated during his term, Newark Public Schools remained under state control for nearly 20 years. Newark received $32 million in emergency state aid in 2011 and 2012, requiring a memorandum of understanding between Newark and the state that obligated the city to request and the state to approve appointments to City Hall administrative positions.

While mayor, Booker claimed in an interview that Newark's unemployment rate had fallen by two percentage points. PolitiFact rated the claim "false" because he used data that had not been seasonally adjusted; the adjusted rate was 0.7 percentage points.

U.S. Senate

Elections

2013

On December 20, 2012, Booker announced that he would explore running for the U.S. Senate seat then occupied by Frank Lautenberg in the 2014 election, ending speculation that he would challenge Governor Chris Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial election. On January 11, 2013, Booker filed papers to form a campaign committee without announcing whether he would run. About a month later, Lautenberg—then 89 years old—announced that he would not seek reelection in 2014.

On June 3, Lautenberg died of viral pneumonia; five days later, Booker announced his intention to run for Lautenberg's seat in a 2013 special election. Booker announced his candidacy at two events, one in Newark and the other in Willingboro.

On August 13, 2013, Booker was declared the winner of the Democratic primary, with approximately 59% of the vote. On October 16, he defeated Republican Steve Lonegan in the general election, 54.9% to 44.0%. Booker was the first African-American to be elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004. The night before his victory, he visited the gravesite of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, offering prayers and lighting a vigil candle in memory of his father.

Booker resigned as mayor of Newark on October 30, and on October 31 was sworn in as the junior U.S. senator from New Jersey. He is the first African-American U.S. senator from New Jersey.

2014

On January 9, 2014, Brian D. Goldberg, a West Orange resident and New Jersey businessman, announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. On January 27, 2014, Freehold Township businessman Richard J. "Rich" Pezzullo announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Pezzullo had run for the US Senate in 1996 as the Conservative Party candidate. On February 4, 2014, conservative political consultant Jeff Bell announced his bid for the nomination. Bell was the Republican Party nominee for U.S. Senate in 1978. Ramapo College professor Murray Sabrin, who ran for the Senate in 2000 and 2008, announced his candidacy on February 13.

Bell won the Republican primary and received support from the conservative American Principles Fund, which ran a direct-mail operation costing over $80,000, and the National Organization for Marriage, an organization opposing same-sex marriage, which paid for $6,000 of automated calling. Booker defeated Bell in the general election with 55.8% of the vote to Bell's 42.4%.

2020

In his reelection campaign, Booker faced Republican nominee Rik Mehta, a pharmaceutical executive and attorney. The election was primarily conducted by mail-in ballots, as mandated by Governor Phil Murphy in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Booker and Mehta participated in a virtual debate sponsored by the New Jersey Globe, in which they sparred over issues including the Trump presidency, COVID-19 lockdowns, the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and systemic racism.

In the November 3 general election, Booker defeated Mehta, 57%–41%.

Tenure

In November 2013, Booker co-sponsored and voted for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In December 2013, he was one of the original cosponsors of Bob Menéndez's Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, which would toughen sanctions against Iran. He also voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. In January 2014, he cosponsored the Respect for Marriage Act. In February 2014, Booker voted against the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013. In March, Booker pledged to meet with each of his Republican colleagues in the Senate in order to find common ground, and was spotted having dinner with Senator Ted Cruz in Washington.

Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, Booker endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. He was considered a potential vice-presidential candidate during the primary and as the general election began, though he said on June 16 that he was not being vetted. After the election, in which Donald Trump defeated Clinton, Booker testified on January 11, 2017, against Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions, the first instance of a sitting senator testifying against another during a cabinet position confirmation hearing.

Booker supported fellow New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez when Menendez faced trial on federal corruption and bribery charges. During the trial, Booker was a character witness for Menendez, giving him effusive praise. After the judge declared a mistrial, Booker argued that prosecutors ought not to take Menendez to trial again. When Menendez ran for reelection, Booker praised Menendez, saying he was "so grateful for Bob Menendez and that I get to work with him and stand beside him." Booker downplayed the corruption allegations, saying "to try to continue to try to throw this kind of mud at him, it's not going to stick. It didn't stick when the government tried to do it and it should not stick now."

In 2018, Politico named Booker part of the "Hell-No Caucus", along with Senators Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, after he voted "overwhelmingly to thwart his [Trump's] nominees for administration jobs", including Rex Tillerson, Betsy De Vos, and Mike Pompeo; all the senators on the list were considered potential 2020 presidential contenders.

In April 2018, after the FBI raided the hotel room and offices of Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, Booker, Chris Coons, Lindsey Graham, and Thom Tillis introduced new legislation to "limit President Trump's ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller." Termed the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, the legislation would allow any special counsel, in this case Mueller, to receive an "expedited judicial review" in the 10 days following being dismissed to determine if said dismissal was suitable. If not, the special counsel would be reinstated. At the same time, according to The Hill, the bill would "codify regulations" that a special counsel could be fired by only a senior Justice Department official, while having to provide reasons in writing.

On September 5, 2018, during the Senate Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh (nominated by Trump to replace retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court), Booker questioned Kavanaugh on a series of emails marked "committee confidential" dating to Kavanaugh's time in the office of the White House Counsel during George W. Bush's presidency. The emails, which Booker's office released to the public the next day, show Kavanaugh and others in the Counsel's office discussing racial profiling as a means to combat terrorism, particularly after 9/11. Booker said that he was violating Senate rules in releasing the documents, with the penalty including possible expulsion from the Senate; he nonetheless defended his decision, referring to the process of producing documents for the hearing as a "sham" and challenging those who warned him about the consequences to "bring it on". Booker also described the release as "probably the closest I'll ever have in my life to an 'I am Spartacus' moment", referring to a line in the 1960 film Spartacus. Committee chairman Chuck Grassley said the documents had already been cleared for public release the night before, and that Booker was not violating any rules, leading some Republicans to accuse Booker of engaging in "theatrics" and "histrionics". Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas mocked Booker in comments the following week, saying, "Honorable—if we could use that word about more people who are in public life, people who actually ask the questions at confirmation hearings, instead of 'Spartacus. Booker was also one of several Democratic lawmakers and critics of President Trump who was targeted with a mailed pipe bomb.

Booker played a leading role in the push to pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. He has introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, which would legalize cannabis in the United States on the federal level, defund some law enforcement in jurisdictions that have shown racial bias in marijuana arrests, and increase funding to communities affected by the war on drugs.

Booker announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president in the 2020 election on February 1, 2019.

Booker was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count on January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Minutes after rioters breached the Capitol, Booker and his fellow senators were evacuated from the chambers. Booker blamed Trump for inciting the attack. After the attack, Booker called for the invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and/or impeachment to remove Trump.

Committee assignments

Current
 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
 Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade
 Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research
 Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security
 Committee on Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy (chair)
Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism
Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development
 Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
 Committee on the Judiciary
 Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights
 Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism
 Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights
 Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety
 Subcommittee on the Constitution

Previous
 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (2013–2018)
 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2015–2017)
 Committee on Environment and Public Works (2013–2021)

Caucus memberships
 Congressional Black Caucus
 Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus

2020 presidential campaign

On February 1, 2019, Booker announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 presidential election. Before his announcement, it was widely speculated that he would run for president but he expressed uncertainty about it. Within a month after Booker announced his candidacy, Governor Phil Murphy, Bob Menendez, and every Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New Jersey endorsed him. Booker held a campaign kickoff rally in Newark on April 13. After qualifying for the first five Democratic Party presidential debates, he failed to meet the polling thresholds to participate in the sixth debate in December 2019. On January 13, 2020, Booker announced that he was suspending his campaign. In March 2020, Booker endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president.

Political positions

Booker has been called a liberal and progressive Democrat. As a senator, he has a liberal voting record. In a July 2013 Salon interview, Booker said, "there's nothing in that realm of progressive politics where you won't find me." In a September 2013 interview with The Grio, when asked whether he considered himself a progressive, he said he was a Democrat and an American. According to the Humane Society, Booker has had the most pro-animal welfare voting record in the Senate year after year.

Booker supports long-term deficit reduction efforts to ensure economic prosperity, cap and trade taxation to combat climate change, and increased funding for education. He has spoken in favor of creating a federal job guarantee and baby bonds (low-risk savings accounts that minors get access to at age 18). In the Senate, he has emphasized issues of racial and social justice. He played a leading role in the push to pass the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. He supports ending the War on Drugs. Booker supports abortion rights and affirmative action. He also supports a single-payer health care plan: in September 2017, he joined Bernie Sanders and 14 other co-sponsors in submitting a single-payer health care plan to Congress called the "Medicare for All" bill.

On foreign policy, Booker supports scaling down U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and opposes intervention in Syria. After the US strike on Syria in April 2017, he criticized military action "without a clear plan" or authorization from Congress. He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Booker has stated that Iran poses a direct threat to American and Israeli security and feels all options should be on the table for dealing with the conflict, but his decision to back the Iran nuclear deal framework damaged his long-term relationship with some Jewish voters and supporters. In an attempt to reduce the damage, he initiated an emergency summit for Jewish leaders, which some of his longstanding supporters did not attend.

Despite his reputation as a progressive, progressives have criticized Booker on occasion. In 2017, he voted against a proposal to lower prescription drug prices, which led to criticism that he was too dependent on corporate support. In 2021, The American Prospect criticized Booker and Bob Menendez for recommending Christine O'Hearne to a federal judgeship after she had spent much of her career defending employers against discrimination and sexual harassment claims, and had defended a school against allegations that its swim coach had sexually abused a girl from ages 13 to 19.

Other activities

Obama association

In 2009, after Barack Obama became President of the United States, Booker was offered the leadership of the new White House Office of Urban Affairs. He turned the offer down, citing a commitment to Newark.

Booker generated controversy on May 12, 2012, when he appeared on Meet The Press as a surrogate for Obama's reelection campaign and made remarks critical of that campaign. Booker said that the attacks on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital were "nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright." The Romney campaign used the comments against Obama. Booker made follow-up comments clarifying that he believed Obama's attacks on Romney's record at Bain were legitimate but did not retract his point about attacking private equity in general. Two weeks later, Booker's communications director Anne Torres tendered her resignation, although she maintained it was unrelated to Meet the Press.

Affiliations and honors
Booker sits on the board of advisers of the political action committee Democrats for Education Reform. He is a member of the board of trustees at Teachers College, Columbia University and was formerly a member of the executive committee at Yale Law School and the board of trustees at Stanford University.

In 2010, Booker received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by the Jefferson Awards.

In May 2009, Booker received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the Newark-based New Jersey Institute of Technology for "his outstanding career in public service as the Mayor of Newark." In May 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from Brandeis University and was a commencement speaker that year. Booker received another honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in December 2010 from Yeshiva University for "his bold vision for Newark and setting a national standard for urban transformation." In June 2011, Booker received an honorary doctor of laws degree for the urban transformation of Newark and served as that year's commencement speaker at Williams College. In May 2012, Booker received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Bard College and gave the commencement speech. In 2010, he delivered the commencement addresses at Pitzer College on May 15; at Columbia University's Teachers College on May 17; and at Suffolk University Law School on May 23. Booker gave the commencement address to New York Law School graduates on May 13, 2011, at Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) at Lincoln Center. He gave the commencement address at the University of Rhode Island in May 2011; he also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. He delivered a commencement address to Stanford University graduates on June 17, 2012, at Stanford Stadium. He also received an honorary degree at Fairleigh Dickinson's 69th commencement ceremony in May 2012.

In May 2013, Booker gave the commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis and received an honorary doctorate of law.

On May 16, 2014, Booker gave the commencement speech at Ramapo College of New Jersey at the IZOD Center.

During the 2016 presidential election, when Clinton had an illness described as pneumonia, Donna Brazile, the then-DNC interim chair considered that her ideal replacement ticket would consist of Biden and Booker. But the possibility of a divisive reaction and the possibility of "allowing Trump to capture votes in confusion" caused her to "not entertain any more thoughts of replacing Hillary."

Films
Filmmaker Marshall Curry chronicled Booker's 2002 mayoral campaign in the documentary Street Fight. The film was nominated in 2005 for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Since 2009, Booker has starred in the documentary series Brick City. The series focuses on Booker's efforts to improve Newark by reducing crime and bring about economic renewal. Brick City won a Peabody Award in 2009 and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2010.

Booker contributed to the 2011 documentary Miss Representation and commented on the representations of women in politics in mass media.

Booker appeared in a scene in the 2015 Parks and Recreation episode "Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington" alongside Orrin Hatch.

Conan O'Brien "feud"
In the fall of 2009, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien engaged in a satirical on-air and YouTube feud with Booker, with O'Brien jokingly insulting Newark and Booker responding that he would ban O'Brien from the Newark airport. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the feud to end during a prepared comedy skit, telling Booker to chalk it up to a head injury O'Brien suffered less than two weeks earlier. Booker then appeared on O'Brien's show and assured viewers that the feud was over and that he was actually a big fan of O'Brien, who agreed that every time he made a joke about Newark, he would donate $500 to the City of Newark, and also made a $50,000 donation to the Newark Now charity, which NBC Universal matched.

Waywire
In 2012, Booker and tech executives Sarah Ross and Nathan Richardson formed Waywire, a company focused on video sharing technology. Early investors included Oprah Winfrey, Eric Schmidt, Jeff Weiner, and Troy Carter. After Booker's relationship to Waywire was discussed in a front-page New York Times story, board member Andrew Zucker stepped down from his position. Shortly thereafter, Waywire CEO Richardson departed the business as the company shifted its focus from content creation to content curation. In August 2013, Booker told NBC News he intended to resign from the Waywire board and put his holdings in a trust if elected to the Senate; by September, he had resigned from the board and donated his share of the company to charity. Waywire was sold to another video curation business the next month.

Book
In 2016, Booker wrote an autobiography, United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good.

In an article in HuffPost, Shmuly Yanklowitz said of the book:

Personal life

Booker regularly exercises and has been a vegetarian since 1992, when he was a student at Oxford University. He abstains from alcohol and "has no known vices or addictions" other than coffee. In 2014, Booker began practicing a vegan diet and has expressed his vegan ethical philosophy and advocacy for animals. As of June 2016, Booker worshiped at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark.

In 1992, Booker recounted in his column for The Stanford Daily that as a 15-year-old kissing a friend on New Year's Eve, he reached for her breast, had his hand pushed away once and then "reached [his] 'mark. The column described Booker's changed attitudes towards sexual relations and how "skewed attitudes" lead to rape. The Daily Caller and Fox News brought up the column during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings in September 2018.

From 1998 to 2006, Booker lived in Brick Towers, a troubled housing complex in Newark's Central Ward. In November 2006, as one of the last remaining tenants in Brick Towers, Booker left his apartment for the top unit in a three-story rental on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark's South Ward, an area described as "a drug- and gang-plagued neighborhood of boarded-up houses and empty lots." Brick Towers has since been demolished, and a new mixed-income development was built there in 2010.

Since 2013, Booker has lived in a townhouse he owns in the Lincoln Park section of Newark's Central Ward, also known as "the Coast" for its arts, jazz, and nightlife history.

Booker speaks Spanish; he attended a Spanish immersion program in Ecuador.

In 2020, Booker learned that he and entertainer RuPaul are cousins, after both appeared on the TV show Finding Your Roots.

In November 2022, Booker wrote a letter of support and leniency for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to the federal judge before her sentencing hearing. In the letter, Booker said that Holmes "holds onto the hope that she can make contributions to the lives of others and that she can, despite mistakes, make the world a better place."

Relationships
Booker has never been married, and in 2013 he was named one of Town & Countrys "Top 40 Bachelors". Although he has generally tried to keep his personal life private, Booker has in the past referred to himself as a "straight male" and said that he is trying to date more in hopes of finding someone to settle down with. He has been romantically linked to poet Cleo Wade. In March 2019, actress Rosario Dawson confirmed to TMZ that she was in a relationship with Booker. Their relationship ended in February 2022.

In a 1992 column in The Stanford Daily, Booker admitted that as a teenager he had "hated gays." He has himself been the target of rumors about being gay and has generally refused to address these on principle, as he explained in 2013:

Because I want to challenge people on their homophobia. I love seeing on Twitter when someone says I'm gay, and I say, "So what does it matter if I am? So be it. I hope you are not voting for me because you are making the presumption that I'm straight."

Electoral history

See also
 Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
 List of African-American United States senators

References

Further reading

External links

 Senator Cory Booker official U.S. Senate website
 U.S. Senate campaign website
 Presidential campaign website (archived)

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Cory Booker


Syrup of ipecac (), or simply ipecac, is a drug that was once widely used as an expectorant (in low doses) and a rapid-acting emetic (in higher doses). It is obtained from the dried rhizome and roots of the ipecacuanha plant (Carapichea ipecacuanha), from which it derives its name. It is no longer regularly used in medicine.

In particular, the rapidly induced forceful vomiting produced by ipecac was considered for many years to be an important front-line treatment for orally ingested poisons. However, subsequent studies (including a comprehensive 2005 meta-study) revealed the stomach purging produced by ipecac to be far less effective at lowering total body poison concentrations than the adsorption effect of oral activated charcoal (which is effective through the entire gastrointestinal tract and is often coupled with whole bowel irrigation). Ipecac also presents a small risk of overdose (being a mild poison itself) and a major risk of esophagitis and aspiration pneumonia if used to purge corrosive poisons. Having long been replaced (even in the emetic role) by more effective medications, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) now advises that "Ipecac syrup is no longer recommended for routine management of outpatient ingestions of medications or other chemicals."

Preparation

The commercial preparation of ipecac consists of  of an alcoholic extract of the roots and rhizomes of Carapichea ipecacuanha. The rest is composed of glycerin, sugar syrup, and methylparaben. Ipecac root itself is a poison, but in this diluted form, its ability to induce immediate vomiting means that the syrup is seldom fatal.

Use

Ipecac was used in cough mixtures as an expectorant or an emetic from the 18th until the early 20th century. For instance, ipecac and opium were used to produce Dover's powder, which was used in syrup form.

In 1965, the FDA approved the sale of up to one ounce of syrup of ipecac without a prescription. At the time it was approved, its use was recommended by the AAP, AAPCC, AMA, and the FDA's medical advisory board as a method to induce vomiting "for quick first-aid use in the home, under medical supervision", for use in cases of accidental poisoning.

Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, however, strongly advise against this and in fact recommend the disposal of any syrup of ipecac present in the home.  Many toxicological associations have also issued position papers recommending against its use as a first-line treatment for most ingested poisons, because of a lack of evidence that syrup of ipecac actually helps improve the outcome in cases of poisoning. Moreover, accidental overdose of ipecac can result when administered in the home. When dealing with poisoning cases in the hospital, it became difficult to obtain a differential diagnosis when syrup of ipecac had been administered, as this can add further symptoms.

A 2005 review by an HRSA-funded scientific panel concluded that vomiting alone does not reliably remove poisons from the stomach. The study suggested that indications for use of ipecac syrup were rare, and patients should be treated by more effective and safer means. Additionally, its potential side effects, such as lethargy, can be confused with the poison's effects, complicating diagnosis. The use of ipecac may also delay the use of other treatments (e.g., activated charcoal, whole bowel irrigation, or oral antidotes) or make them less effective.

Misuse
Ipecac has been used by people with bulimia nervosa as a means to achieve weight loss through induced vomiting.  Repeated use in this manner is believed to cause damage to the heart and muscles, which can ultimately result in the user's death.
Misuse of ipecac has been blamed for the death of singer Karen Carpenter in 1983. It has also been used as an agent for Münchausen syndrome by proxy.

Mechanism of action
The actions of ipecac are mainly those of major alkaloids, emetine (methylcephaeline) and cephaeline.  They both act locally by irritating the gastric mucosa and centrally by stimulating the medullary chemoreceptor trigger zone to induce vomiting.

Discontinuation
Ipecac has been found to have minimal health benefits, and is ultimately ineffective at purging the body of poisonous substances. It was initially discontinued due to production costs and lack of raw materials. As the ASHP advises:  "Ipecac syrup is no longer recommended for routine management of outpatient ingestions of medications or other chemicals." Humco and Paddock Laboratories, the last two companies to continue manufacturing ipecac syrup, both stopped production in 2010.

A heavily cited position statement outlines critical details of its effectiveness: In experimental studies the amount of marker removed by ipecac was highly variable and diminished with time. There is no evidence from clinical studies that ipecac improves the outcome of poisoned patients and its routine administration in the emergency department should be abandoned. There is insufficient data to support or exclude ipecac administration soon after poison ingestion. Ipecac may delay the administration or reduce the effectiveness of activated charcoal, oral antidotes, and whole bowel irrigation. Ipecac should not be administered to a patient who has a decreased level or impending loss of consciousness or who has ingested a corrosive substance or hydrocarbon with high aspiration potential.

See also
 Antiemetic

References

External links
AAP policy on Poison Treatment in the Home
Chemical Poisoning and Syrup of Ipecac

Emetics
Herbalism

Syrup of ipecac


Carmen was an American-British band active from 1970 to 1975. Their style was a fusion of rock, progressive, and flamenco music and dance. Carmen's first album, Fandangos in Space, is ranked number 46 in the Rolling Stone list of 50 Greatest Prog Rock Albums of All Time.

History
The group was founded by David Clark Allen, a Mexican/American Californian trained in flamenco guitar.  Originally a seven-member band in Los Angeles, the band relocated to London, England, in January 1973, where the personnel soon stabilized as a quintet.

In London, they became friendly with several rock stars of the time, including David Bowie - who introduced them internationally by including them on his Midnight Special '1980 Floor Show', Marc Bolan (Paul Fenton became his studio and tour drummer), and Bryan Ferry.  Obtaining the services of producer Tony Visconti, Carmen released three albums: Fandangos in Space (1973), Dancing on a Cold Wind (1974), and The Gypsies (1975). By early 1975, the band was enjoying its greatest success, playing as an opening act at concerts by Santana, Blue Öyster Cult, and Electric Light Orchestra, and touring for three months as the opener for Jethro Tull. A series of unfortunate events then occurred while the group was recording The Gypsies at Longview Farm. Paul Fenton seriously damaged his knee, stopping his career as a drummer for many years. Carmen and Tony Visconti ended their musical relationship, and the band's manager left. Carmen disbanded shortly after finishing their last album in 1975 and John Glascock went on to join Jethro Tull.

Music
Carmen's stage performances featured Amaral and Angela Allen dancing on a specially amplified stage floor, so that their flamenco zapateado became an integral percussive addition to the music. Spanish influences in their sound included acoustic guitar interludes in flamenco style, occasional Spanish lyrics, themes of betrayed love reminiscent of Federico García Lorca, and castanets, all supported by a traditional rock rhythm section.

Discography
The first two albums were re-issued by Angel Air records as a 2-CD set in October 2006. Carmen's third album The Gypsies was re-issued by Angel Air records in May 2007, also as a 2-CD set; the second CD, entitled Widescreen, contains new instrumental music by David Clark Allen.

Widescreen - the band David formed with Laurence Elliot-Potter - supported The Buena Vista Social Club, Eliades Ochoa, and Ojos de Brujo and played for many years regularly on the UK festival circuit.

 Fandangos in Space (1973)
 Dancing on a Cold Wind (1974)
 The Gypsies (1975)

Members
 David Clark Allen - lead vocals, acoustic flamenco guitars, electric guitars, synthesiser, mellotron, piano, backing vocals, lyrics (1970-1975)
 Angela Allen - lead vocals, synthesizer, mellotron, piano, backing vocals, dancer (1970-1975)
 Roberto Amaral - lead and backing vocals, lyrics, dancer (1971-1975)
 John Glascock - bass, bass pedals, synthesisers, lead and backing vocals, lyrics (1972-1975)
 Paul Fenton - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1973-1975)
 Brian Glascock - Drums (1970-1973)
 Dennis Trerotola - lead vocals (1970-1971)
 Adam Moody - guitars (1970-1971)
 Mark Moody - bass (1970-1971)
 Vicente - dancer (1970-1971)
 Rick Chavez - guitars (1971-1972)
 Mark Anthony - guitars, lyrics/music (1970-1972)
 Nigel Griggs - bass (1971-1972) Nigel also played bass guitar in the band Split Enz from 1977 to 1984 and performed in Schnell Fenster from 1986 to 1992.

References

External links

British progressive rock groups
American progressive rock groups

Carmen (band)


The Arado Ar 234 Blitz (English: lightning) is a jet-powered bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Arado. It was the world's first operational turbojet-powered bomber, seeing service during the final years of the Second World War.

Development of the Ar 234 can be traced back to the latter half of 1940 and the request to tender from the Ministry of Aviation to produce a jet-powered high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. Arado was the only respondent with their E.370 design. While its range was beneath that of the Ministry's specification, an initial order for two prototypes was promptly issued to the company, designated Ar 234. While both of the prototypes had been mostly completed prior to the end of 1941, the Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines were not available prior to February 1943. Due to engine unreliability, the maiden flight of the Ar 234 V1 was delayed until 30 July 1943. In addition to the original reconnaissance-orientated Ar 234A, the fast bomber Ar 234B model was developed in response to a request by the Ministry of Aviation. Due to a lack of internal space in the relatively slender fuselage, bombloads of up to  had to be carried on external racks rather than in internal bomb bays.

The Ar 234 was produced only in small numbers, despite plans for production of 500 per month in late 1945. This was partly due to a lack of available jet engines and other critical materials, for which the aircraft had to compete with other types, such as the Messerschmitt Me 262. Several models were proposed, with alternative engines, cockpit improvements, and adaptations for other roles, including as a night fighter. In late 1944, aerial reconnaissance missions over enemy territory commenced. The Ar 234 was almost entirely used to perform such reconnaissance missions and it was in this capacity that it became the last Luftwaffe aircraft to overfly the United Kingdom during the war, in April 1945. In its capacity as a bomber, the most prominent use of the Ar 234 was the repeated attempts to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen between 7 and 17 March 1945. Many airframes were destroyed or captured on the ground due to a lack of serviceable engines or fuel.

Design and development

Background
During the closing months of 1940, the Nazi German Ministry of Aviation offered a tender for a jet-powered high-speed reconnaissance aircraft with a range of . Arado was the only company to respond, offering their E.370 project, led by Professor Walter Blume. The design was of a high-wing mostly conventional-looking aircraft that was powered by a pair of Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines, one being located underneath each wing.

Arado estimated that the E.370 would possess a maximum speed of  at , an operating altitude of  and a range of . While the range was short of the Ministry's specification, it decided to order a pair of prototypes, which were designated as the Ar 234. These were largely complete before the end of 1941, but the Jumo 004 engines were not ready until February 1943. When they did arrive, Junkers considered the engines too unreliable for in-flight use and were only cleared for ground tests. Months later, flight-ready engines were finally delivered and on 30 July 1943, the Ar 234 V1 performed its first flight from Rheine airfield.

The second prototype, V2, crashed on 2 October 1943 at Rheine near Münster after suffering a fire in its port wing, the failure of both engines, and instrumentation failures. The aircraft dived into the ground from , killing the pilot. That same year, the third prototype, V3, was displayed to Adolf Hitler at Insterberg, who was enthusiastic about the aircraft and authorised Arado to obtain factory personnel, raw materials, and the funds necessary to build two hundred by the end of 1944. The eight prototype aircraft were fitted with the trolley-and-skid landing gear intended for the never produced Ar 234A version.

The sixth and eighth in the series were powered by four BMW 003 jet engines instead of two Jumo 004s;  the sixth had the four engines in individual nacelles, while the eighth had the engines in "twinned" nacelles underneath each wing. A 1942 engineering drawing of the E 370 showed a  forward tank, a  mid-fuselage tank, and an rear tank with a  capacity. These were the first four-engined jet aircraft to fly. The twin-Jumo 004 powered Ar 234 V7 prototype was the first jet aircraft used for a reconnaissance mission, on 2 August 1944.

Landing gear design

The projected weight for the aircraft was approximately . To reduce weight and maximize the internal fuel, Arado did not use retractable landing gear. Instead, the aircraft was to take off from a jettisonable tricycle gear-style trolley, referred to as a nosewheel takeoff-carriage in English, as described in an Ar 234A Typenblatt factory drawing for the V8 prototype, and land on three retractable skids, one under the central section of the fuselage and one under each engine nacelle. The main skid, beneath the fuselage, was originally intended to fully retract, and was originally shown in a 1942-dated engineering drawing, under the E 370 airframe factory development designation, as intended to be made from a three-sided channel-section component, featuring a set of nine triple-beaded wooden rollers within the channel-section main skid. However, this landing gear did not allow aircraft to move after the landing run, which would have left aircraft scattered over an airfield, unable to taxi off the runway. Erich Sommer said that landing the skid-equipped prototypes on a wet grass airstrip "was like greased lightning" and "like [landing on] soap", due to the complete lack of braking capability.

Ar 234B

At the request of the Ministry of Aviation, Arado also produced a pair of prototypes configured as fast bombers, as the Ar 234B. On 12 March 1944, the first of these, Ar 234 V9, performed its first flight. It was the first to feature a fully retractable tricycle landing gear, with the main gear retracting forward into the mid-fuselage, and the nose gear retracted rearwards.

The Ar 234's slender fuselage was largely filled with fuel tanks, leaving no room for an internal bomb bay, which was carried on external racks. The forward-set cockpit did not provide the pilot with any visibility to the rear, thus the rear firing guns it was fitted with were aimed through a periscope, mounted on the cockpit roof. This periscope could also be flipped forwards for dive-bombing however, its usefulness was impaired by the scope's image being flipped upside down. The defensive fixed rear gun system was found to be useless by the pilots, and was omitted in the Ar 234B. The aircraft was widened slightly at mid-fuselage and the central fuel tank was omitted to fit in the main landing gear, while enlarged forward () and aft () fuel tanks compensated for its removal.

During flight testing, while carrying its maximum bombload of three SC 500 bombs, the Ar 234 V9 could reach  at , faster than any other Luftwaffe bomber at the time. The normal bomb load consisted of a pair of  bombs suspended from the engines or one large  bomb semi-recessed in the underside of the fuselage, while the maximum bombload was . It could also carry the heavier BT 1400 ( unpowered bomb-torpedo), although the ground clearance was limited. If this munition was deployed, the aircraft's fuel capacity was noticeably reduced while rocket assistance was needed for takeoff. The pilot would engage the autopilot while using the bomb sight, which was interfaced with the autopilot to adjust the aircraft's flight path directly.

Production lines were being set up while the 20 B-0 pre-production aircraft were being delivered, by the end of June. Production was slow, as Arado was to maintain production to compensate for other factories bombed during the USAAF's "Big Week",(20-25 February 1944), in addition to an ongoing license-construction of the Heinkel He 177 heavy bomber. Between mid-1944 and the end of the conflict, only 210 aircraft were built. During February 1945, production switched to the C variant. German plans were for production to reach 500 per month by November 1945.

In addition, some Ar 234 B-2 airframes were modified to serve as night fighters. Designated Ar 234B-2/N and code named Nachtigall (Nightingale), these were fitted with FuG 218 "Neptun" VHF-band radar, with a reduced-dipole length version of the standard Hirschgeweih eight-dipole element, VHF-band transceiving AI radar antenna system, and carried a pair of forward-firing 20mm MG 151/20 autocannon within a Magirusbombe conformal gun pod on the rear fuselage hardpoint. The radar system was operated by a second crew member in a cramped compartment in the rear. Two of these served with Kommando Bonow, a Luftflotte Reich experimental test unit. Operations began in March 1945, but the aircraft was unsuitable for night fighting and no kills were made.

Ar 234C

The Ar 234C was equipped with four lighter ( apiece) BMW 003A engines mounted in a pair of twin-engine nacelles based on those from the eighth prototype. The primary reason for this switch was to free up Junkers Jumo 004s for the Me 262, but it also improved takeoff power to nearly (). An improved cockpit, with a slightly bulged outline in the upper contour, and integrating a swept-back fairing for the periscope, and a simplified window design with 13 glazed panels reduced to 8. The BMW jet engines improved top speed by about 20% over the B series airframes.

During October 1944, the prototype Ar 234 V19 performed its first flight. Although an operational test squadron was being prepared, only 14 C-series airframes were completed by the end of the war, with fewer than half having engines. Some were found at the end of the war sitting in the open, complete but for empty engine nacelles.. Flight testing of the new sub-type hadn't started yet when Germany surrendered. Three basic variants of the C-series were planned, with several more laid out as detailed proposals. Some of these would have had a pair of the higher thrust, but  heavier Heinkel HeS 011 jet engines, while others were to have swept or "crescent"-type wings.

Ar 234D
The D model was intended to be a two-seat aircraft based on the B-series fuselage, but with an enlarged cockpit using fewer glazing panels than the C version, powered by a pair of more powerful Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet engines. The HeS 011 powerplant never reached quantity production, with only 19 examples created and only wooden engineering mockups were built.

Ar 234P
The P model was intended to be a two-seat night fighter version with a variant of the D-series cockpit, differing in powerplant options and several options of radar. Several were in the planning stage, but none were produced.

Operational history
By 1944, the Luftwaffe's bombing capability had been severely reduced from attrition across multiple fronts, and despite the advance offered by the pending arrival of production Ar 234s, there was a shortage of experienced pilots. The first unit-level type conversion orders were issued to III/KG 76 in May 1944 and personnel had to be pulled from the front lines and brought to central Germany for aircraft and engine familiarisation, which was facilitated with two-seat Messerschmitt Me 262s.

Challenges were encountered getting the Ar 234 operational, including poor quality of worksmanship, and severe shortages of certain resources, such as fuel. The reliability of the Jumo 004 engines would worsen over time, a trend attributed to using ill-suited fuels. The engines suffered from frequent  flameouts and had to be overhauled or replaced after roughly ten hours of operation, although as ground crews became more skilled, the time needed to swap engines was reduced. The aircraft's lengthy takeoff runs were responsible for several accidents and attempts at resolution included improvements to pilot training and the use of jettisonable liquid fuel Starthilfe rocket assisted takeoff units, mounted under each outer wing. Accidents would often be fatal due to the lack of an ejection seat, the pilot instead having to exit via a highly impractical hatch in the floor.

During August 1944, several of Ar 234 prototypes - including six surviving Ar 234A-series prototypes were dispatched on aerial reconnaissance missions. The seventh prototype would perform the first reconnaissance mission over the United Kingdom by a Luftwaffe jet. These reconnaissance flights helped assess the potential for an Allied naval invasion of the Netherlands. Allied piston-engine fighters proved unable to intercept them, being incapable of matching their speed and altitude.

During the autumn of 1944, the first Ar 234Bs began entering service. Early missions included attacks in the Low Countries, at the Antwerp docks and a Brussels railway station. The type was used directly against Allied units during the Battle of the Bulge, and in January 1945, Ar 234s attacked artillery positions to the north of Bastogne. One month later, the Allies were able to capture a crashed Ar 234 after it had been forced down by a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The type also saw action in Northern Italy.

Perhaps the most notable use of the Ar 234 in the bomber role was the attempt to destroy the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. Between 7 March, when it was captured by the Allies, and 17 March, when it finally collapsed, the bridge was continually attacked by III/KG 76 Ar 234s carrying  bombs. Most attacks missed the bridge, and heavy losses were experienced from ground-based anti-aircraft guns due to the low altitude these attacks were made from.

By 10 April 1945, 38 operational Ar 234s were reportedly on strength, including 24 reconnaissance aircraft, 12 bombers, and two night-fighters. However, most of these sat waiting for fuel and qualified personnel.

The Ar 234 continued fly combat missions until the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945. Several were recorded as having been lost, often destroyed by anti-aircraft guns, or "bounced" by Allied fighters either during takeoff or on landing when the jets were flying slow and straight, and were most vulnerable. This technique had already been used against Messerschmitt Me 262 jet. Numerous examples would be captured by the Allies.

Variants

Data from: Aircraft of the Third Reich Vol.1
Arado E 370Draft proposal submitted to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) for a fast jet reconnaissance bomber.

Ar 234 V1 to V5 Initial prototypes of the Ar 234A with skid landing gear, take-off tricycle gear trolley with trio of retractable landing skids, and two Jumo 004 engines.

Ar 234 V6 & V8Prototypes for four-engined designs for the Ar 234, meant to use the alternative choice of the lower-thrust BMW 003 turbojet engines while retaining the A model skid/trolley undercarriage. The V6 was fitted with the quartet of BMW 003s in individual nacelles, unlike the V8 prototype which had the BMW jet engines in a pair of "twinned" nacelles, and essentially "prototyped" what would become the four-engined Ar 234C's engine installation.

Ar 234 V7Development aircraft for the Ar 234B production aircraft, retaining the A-series' intended skid undercarriage, and saw active service.

Ar 234 V9 to V11Representative prototypes of the Ar 234B production aircraft, with the V9 being the first airframe with retractable tricycle undercarriage.

Ar 234 V13 & V20
A pair of B-series prototypes fitted with four BMW 109-003 engines intended for the C-series aircraft, using the V8 prototype's "twinned" nacelle design, but without retractable wing-skids.

Ar 234 V15 A single B-series airframe fitted with 2 x BMW 003 engines for engine development testing, and rumored to have been considered for new wing planform tests.

Ar 234 V21 to V30C-series development aircraft. V26 and V30 had experimental thick section wooden and thin section metal laminar flow wings.

Ar 234 V16Intended to be fitted with an experimental crescent wing with sweep back lessening towards the tips, evolved by Rüdiger Kosin and Walther Lehmann. The wing was constructed but was destroyed before it could be fitted.

Ar 234 AThe first proposed production reconnaissance bomber fitted with skid undercarriage and take-off tricycle gear trolley, built only as the series of eight trolley-and-skid undercarriage V1 through V8 prototypes.

Ar 234 B-0 20 pre-production aircraft.

Ar 234 B-1 Reconnaissance version, equipped with two Rb 50/30 or Rb 75/30 cameras. All reconnaissance variants were converted from B-2 aircraft with Rüstsatz b.

Ar 234 B-1 Berlin N Two-engined aircraft, this was a wind tunnel test aircraft based on Ar 234 B-1 with FuG 244 Berlin N radar installed on top. The purpose of this plane was to be an early warning jet and also a fighter control jet.

Ar 234 B-2
 Bomber version, with a maximum bombload of 1,500 kg (3,307 lb).

Ar 234 B-2/N Night fighter version, two aircraft converted from B-2.

Ar 234 C-1 Four-engined aircraft – all C-series Ar 234s powered with a quartet of BMW 003 jet engines – as installed on the Ar 234 V8 prototype, otherwise similar to the Ar 234 B-1.

Ar 234 C-2 Four-engined aircraft similar to the Ar 234 B-2.

Ar 234 C-3 Multi-purpose version, armed with two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons beneath the nose.

Ar 234 C-3/N Proposed two-seat night fighter version, armed with two forward-firing 20 mm MG 151/20 and two 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannons, fitted with a mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun V radar.

Ar 234 C-4 Armed reconnaissance version, fitted with two cameras, armed with four 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon.

Ar 234 C-5 Proposed version with side-by-side seating for the crew. The 31st prototype was converted into this variant.

Ar 234 C-5 Berlin N Proposed C-5 with a FuG 244 Berlin-N rotating radar dish on top of the plane, for early warning and fighter control role

Ar 234 C-6 Proposed two-seat reconnaissance aircraft. The 32nd prototype was converted into this variant.

Ar 234 C-7 Night fighter version, with side-by-side seating for the crew, fitted with an enhanced FuG 245 Bremen O cavity magnetron-based centimetric (30 GHz) radar.

Ar 234 C-8 Proposed single-seat bomber version, powered by two 1,080 kg (2,380 lb) Jumo 004D turbojet engines.

Ar 234 D-1 Proposed reconnaissance version. Not built.

Ar 234 D-2 Proposed bomber version. Not built.

Ar 234 P-1  Two-seater with four BMW 003A-1 engines; one 20 mm MG 151/20 and one 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108.

Ar 234 P-2  Also a two-seater, with redesigned cockpit protected by a 13 mm (0.51 in) armour plate.

Ar 234 P-3 HeS 011A powered P-2, but with two cannon.

Ar 234P-4 as P-3 but with Jumo 004D engines.

Ar 234P-5 Three-seat version with HeS 011A engines, one 20 mm MG 151/20 and four 30 mm (1.18 in) MK 108 cannon.

Ar 234 R Rocket-powered short range high-altitude reconnaissance version It had a rocket engine in its tail, while the turbojets had been discarded. It would be towed by a He 177 to 8 km altitude after which it would propel itself to 17 km altitude over the target after which it would glide back unpowered. Project only.

Operators

 Luftwaffe
 1./Versuchsverband OKL, headquarters unit
 Sonderkommando Götz, two prototype aircraft, was then increased in size and became;
 Sonderkommando Sperling, carried reconnaissance on Western front and UK and helped to train crews of;
 1./Fernaufklärungsgruppe (FAGr) 123 (long distance reconnaissance unit)
 Sonderkommando Hecht, carried out reconnaissance of southern portion of Western Front and also intended to train crews of;
 1./FAGr 100 (reconnaissance unit)
 Sonderkommando Sommer, carried out reconnaissance in Italy and also intended to train crews of;
 1./FAGr 33 (reconnaissance unit)
 Sonderkommando Bonow, (night fighter unit)
 Kampfgeschwader 76 (bomber unit)

Surviving aircraft

Only one Ar 234 survives today, a B-2 bomber variant with manufacturer's serial number 140312. It was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola Airfield near Stavanger, Norway. The aircraft had been operating with 8. Staffel III./Kampfgeschwader 76 (later reorganised as Einsatzstaffel) during the final weeks of the war, having operated previously with the 8th squadron, carrying the full-four-character Geschwaderkennung military code "F1+GS" on the fuselage sides, with the wing code "F1" painted in a much reduced size for sanctioned, late-war "low-visibility" requirements.

Teams of the USAAF's Operation Lusty were collecting examples of Luftwaffe technology for study. This aircraft and three others were traded to Operation Lusty  by Eric "Winkle" Brown (test pilot and commanding officer of the Enemy Aircraft Flight at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) in exchange for an interview with Hermann Göring who was then being held by the Americans.

The aircraft was flown from Sola to Cherbourg in France on 24 June 1945 where it joined 34 other German aircraft to be shipped to the U.S. aboard the British aircraft carrier . Reaper departed from Cherbourg on 20 July and arrived at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. Upon arrival two of the Ar 234s were reassembled (including 140312) and flown by USAAF pilots to Freeman Army Airfield, Indiana for testing and evaluation. 140312 was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010. The fate of the second Ar 234 flown to Freeman Field remains a mystery. One of the remaining two was reassembled by the United States Navy at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for testing, but was found to be in unflyable condition and scrapped.

After receiving new engines, radio and oxygen equipment, 140312 was transferred to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio and delivered to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Squadron of the Flight Test Division in July 1946. Flight testing was completed on 16 October 1946 though the aircraft remained at Wright Field until 1947. It was then transferred to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois, and remained there until 1 May 1949 when it and several other aircraft stored at the airport were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s, the Ar 234 was moved to the Smithsonian's Paul Garber Restoration Facility at Suitland, Maryland for storage and eventual restoration.

The Smithsonian began restoring 140312 in 1984 and finished in February 1989. All paint had been stripped from the aircraft before the Smithsonian received it, so the aircraft was painted with the markings of an aircraft of 8./KG 76, the first operational unit to fly the "Blitz". The final Luftwaffe pilot who flew 140312 prior to Germany's surrender in World War II, Willi Kriessmann, was reunited with the aircraft in 1990; Kriessmann also donated his flight logs to the Smithsonian around that time. The restored aircraft was first displayed at the Smithsonian's main museum building in 1993 as part of a display titled "Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234".

In 2005, 140312 became one of the first aircraft moved to the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. Today, 140312 is displayed next to the last surviving Dornier Do 335, one of the other aircraft that accompanied it on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Reaper. 140312 is displayed with a pair of Starthilfe RATO units mounted under its wings. These may be the only surviving examples to be mounted on an aircraft design that actually used them during the conflict.

Specifications (Ar 234B-2)

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links

 Air Vectors - Arado Ar 234
 Sole surviving example of the Ar 234-Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
 Video of Walter Starthilfe RATO units in use on Ar 234s, both trolley and landing gear versions
 Captured original German film featuring Ar 234 V9 prototype (first with retractable gear) and closeups of a trolley/skid Ar 234A prototype

Ar 234
1940s German bomber aircraft
World War II bombers of Germany
World War II jet aircraft of Germany
Quadjets
German inventions of the Nazi period
High-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1943

Arado Ar 234


A group of people also known as lotus eaters, who ate only lotus flowers, and were so addicted to them that they never left, they also offered these lotuses to Odysseus and his crew. The crew were very tempted to stay and eat lotus flowers, not knowing it would keep them there forever. But Odysseus pulled them back to the ship, leaving the island of the Lotophagi.

Lotophagi


Asenath Hatch Nicholson (February 24, 1792 – May 15, 1855) was an American vegan, social observer and philanthropist. She wrote at first hand about the Great Hunger in Ireland in the 1840s. She wrote about the life of Ireland both before and during the crop failures that caused famine as she walked the country distributing copies of the Bible, food and clothing.

Life

Nicholson was born in Chelsea in Vermont in 1792. Her family belonged to the Protestant Congregation Church and she was named after the biblical Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah and wife of Joseph. She trained and became a successful teacher in her hometown before she married Norman Nicholson, a widower with three children, and went to live in New York. They family became interested in the diet recommended by Sylvester Graham. In the 1840s they ran a boarding house that offered this vegetarian diet. Nicholson also advocated exercise and occasional fasting. She published the first Graham recipes.

In May 1844, after her husband's death she left New York for Ireland and when she arrived she walked around the country, visiting virtually every county. She noted that people lacked work and they relied almost entirely on their crop of potatoes. She left for Scotland in August having observed Ireland just before the outbreak of the Irish Famine. Upon her return to America, she wrote Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger, or, An Excursion through Ireland in 1844 & 1845, for the Purpose of Personally Investigating the Condition of the Poor, which was published in New York by Baker & Scribner in 1847.

She had a sharp eye for inequality and exploitation - exploring the grounds of Clifden Castle in Connemara she wrote of a grotto she discovered:

Now appeared a fairy castle, a house with variegated pillars and open door, made of shells of the most delicate shades, arranged in stars and circles of beautiful workmanship. These showed exquisite taste in the designer, and must have been done with great cost and care. I found that a laboring peasant was the architect of this wonderful fabric, but he was kept most religiously in his rank, laboring for eight pence a day.

In Roundstone a man described potatoes to her as "The greatest curse that ever was sent on Ireland; and I never sit down, see, use, or eat one, but I wish
every divil of 'em was out of the island. The blackguard of a Raleigh who brought 'em here, entailed a curse upon the laborer that has broken his heart. Because the landholder sees we can live and work hard on 'em, he grinds us down in our wages, and then despises us because we are ignorant and ragged." She comments: This is a pithy truth, one which I had never seen in so vivid a light as now.

She returned in 1846 during the second of the five annual crop failures of the potatoes on which the poor of Ireland depended, which, together with high unemployment, was creating a national disaster. Nicholson was concerned that she would just have to witness the suffering but she wrote to the New-York Tribune and The Emancipator in New York and assistance from their readers was organised. In the following July five barrels of corn arrived from New York. On the same ship were 50 barrels for the Central Relief Committee, but Nicholson preferred to go it alone.

She wrote an eyewitness account of the Great Hunger in Ireland in the 1840s, Annals of the Famine in Ireland, 1847, 1848 and 1849, which she had observed as she walked the country distributing bibles, food, and clothing.

Nicholson died in Jersey City in 1855.

Vegetarianism

In 1835, Nicholson authored the first American vegetarian cookbook, Nature's Own Book. Nicholson stated that "good bread, pure water, ripe fruit, and vegetables are my meat and drink exclusively." The book utilized some recipes with dairy, but Nicholson personally advocated against its use.

Nicholson also authored, Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians. The book was published by William Horsell in 1849. A review in the Vegetarian Advocate, noted that "butter and eggs are excluded" from the recipes. The Vegan Society have cited the book as the first vegan cookbook.

Selected publications

Nature's Own Book (1835)
Ireland's Welcome to the Stranger: Or An Excursion Through Ireland, in 1844 & 1845, for the Purpose of Personally Investigating the Condition of the Poor (1847)
Kitchen Philosophy for Vegetarians (1849)
Annals of the Famine in Ireland in 1847, in 1848 and 1849 (1851)
Loose Papers: Or, Facts Gathered During Eight Years' Residence in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, and Germany (1853)

References

1792 births
1855 deaths
19th-century American non-fiction writers
19th-century American women writers
19th-century American philanthropists
American abolitionists
American cookbook writers
American vegetarianism activists
American women philanthropists
Fasting advocates
Orthopaths
People from Chelsea, Vermont
Philanthropists from Vermont
Vegan cookbook writers
Women cookbook writers
Writers from Vermont
19th-century women philanthropists

Asenath Nicholson