Preface

Famous First Facts About American Politics is the latest volume in the series inaugurated by the H.W. Wilson Company in 1931 with the publication of Joseph Nathan Kane’s classic reference book, Famous First Facts. Our goal has been to afford readers a new way of understanding the rich history of elections, parties, and governments in the United States.

Famous First Facts About American Politics contains more than 4,000 entries under subject headings ranging alphabetically from the American Revolution to the White House. It covers the political history of the United States from the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy by Haionhwat'ha and Deganawidah sometime before the year 1550 to the ground breaking events that took place at the end of the millennium, including the first grand jury testimony delivered by a sitting president (1999) and the first campaign by a First Lady for election to public office (2000). The reader’s attention is directed to the section on the next page entitled "How to Use This Book," which describes in detail the classification scheme and the indexing system.

We would like to express our thanks and appreciation to Michael Schulze, Gray Young, and Lynn Messina of the General Publications division of the H.W. Wilson Company. Thanks are also due to Lawrence Podell; to Diane Kopperman Podell of the C. W. Post Library, Greenvale, NY; and to the many libraries and Web site sponsors where we did our research. Our special gratitude goes to our children, Hannah, Miriam, and Rafael Anzovin, for their patience and helpfulness.

Readers who would like to make suggestions for firsts to be included in future editions of this book are invited to send them to:

Editor, Famous First Facts About American Politics
H.W. Wilson Company
950 University Avenue
Bronx, NY 10452

Steven Anzovin and Janet Podell
Amherst, MA
January 2001

How to Use This Book

Related entries are grouped together under main subject categories, which are arranged alphabetically. When necessary, the main categories are divided into subcategories, likewise alphabetically arranged. For example, the main category Congress contains a large section of general entries, followed by the subcategories House, Pages, Salaries, Senate, and Sessions. The subcategory House, in turn, contains the further subcategories Representatives and Speakers. Within this structure of classification, the entries are arranged chronologically.

Each entry begins with a four-digit indexing number, starting with 1001, and an introductory phrase, referred to here as the first line, in boldface (for example, 1023. Colony to declare its independence). Please note that the four-digit indexing number does not indicate the year in which an event took place; the date can be found in the text of the entry.

History is a complicated subject, and classification is an inexact science. In many cases, entries were classifiable under more than one subject category. To find a specific entry, the reader may turn to one of the five indexes printed at the back of the volume: the comprehensive Subject Index, which alphabetically lists all major topics mentioned within entries; Years, in which entries are arranged chronologically by year; Days, in which entries are arranged by date (for example, January 1); Names, which lists the names of all the persons mentioned in the book; and Geographical, which indexes all locations by city and nation. All indexes refer not to a page number but to the entry’s indexing