Biography
Amelia Earhart - First Woman To Fly Alone | Mini Bio | Biography
After a plane ride at an air show, Amelia Earhart decided she would learn to fly. After becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, she embarked on her flight around the world and disappeared over the Pacific Ocean....
Biography
Dolley Madison - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Dolley Madison was born in the Quaker community of New Garden, North Carolina, on May 20, 1768. Her husband, James Madison, was president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. The vivacious Dolley set the template for the role of first...
Biography
Nancy Reagan - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Nancy Davis Reagan (born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and the wife of Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. She served as the First Lady of the United States from...
Biography
Pat Nixon - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Pat Nixon, the wife of Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was extremely active in her husband's political life, both as vice president and as president, traveling with him and taking up the cause of volunteerism....
Biography
Betty Ford - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on April 8, 1918, in Chicago, Illinois, Betty Ford became first lady when President Richard Nixon resigned, making her vice president husband, Gerald Ford, acting president. She became well known for her openness as first lady—a...
Biography
Mary Todd Lincoln - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Mary Todd Lincoln was born on December 13, 1818, in Lexington, Kentucky. She married politician and lawyer Abraham Lincoln on November 4, 1842. When the Civil War began, Mary's family supported the South, but she remained a fervent...
Biography
Ludwig van Beethoven - Pianist & Composer | Mini Bio | BIO
Ludwig van Beethoven (December 16, 1770 to March 26, 1827) was a German pianist and composer widely considered the greatest of all time, whose innovative compositions combined vocals and instruments, widening the scope of sonata,...
Biography
Mamie Eisenhower - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Mamie Eisenhower's family wintered in San Antonio, Texas, and it was there in October 1915 that she met Dwight Eisenhower, a young army lieutenant, and they were married only 7 months later. Although she did not change the job of first...
Biography
Laura Bush - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Laura Bush was born on November 4, 1946, in Midland, Texas. Following her marriage to George W. Bush in 1977, Laura devoted her time to volunteer work and homemaking. After George was elected governor of Texas in 1994, Laura raised her...
Biography
Franz Liszt - Pianist & Composer | Mini Bio | BIO
Franz Liszt was born on October 22, 1811, in Raiding, Hungary [now Raiding, Austria]. His father, a multi-instrumentalist, taught him to play piano. By the time Liszt was 9 years old, he was performing in concert halls. As an adult, he...
Biography
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - U.S. First Lady | Mini Bio | BIO
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was born Jacqueline Lee Bouvier on July 28, 1929, in Southampton, New York. She married John F. Kennedy in 1953. When she became first lady in 1961, she worked to restore the White House to its original...
Biography
Idi Amin - Military Leader | Mini Bio | BIO
Idi Amin was a Ugandan president born circa 1925 in Kokobo, West Nile Province, Uganda. He rose within the military from the 1940s through 1970. Amin overthrew the current leader in 1971 and declared himself president, and he remained in...
Biography
Joseph Stalin - Dictator | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on December 18, 1879, in Gori, Georgia, Joseph Stalin rose to power as General Secretary of the Communist Party, becoming a Soviet dictator upon Vladimir Lenin's death. Stalin forced rapid industrialization and the collectivization...
Biography
Franklin D. Roosevelt - U.S. President | Mini Bio | BIO
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 to April 12, 1945) was the 32nd American president who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II, greatly expanding the powers of the federal government through a...
Biography
Margaret Thatcher - Prime Minister | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England, Margaret Thatcher became Britain's Conservative Party leader and in 1979 was elected prime minister, the first woman to hold the position. During her three terms, she cut social welfare...
Biography
Adolf Hitler - Dictator | Mini Bio | BIO
Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 to April 30, 1945) was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, serving as dictator and leader of the Nazi Party, or National Socialist German Workers Party, for the bulk of his time in power. Hitler’s...
Biography
Richard Wagner - Conductor & Composer | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in Germany on May 22, 1813, Richard Wagner went on to become one of the world's most influential—and controversial—composers. He is famous for both his epic operas, including the four-part, 18-hour Ring Cycle, as well as for his...
Biography
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Pianist & Composer | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musician capable of playing multiple instruments who started playing in public at the age of 6. Over the years, Mozart aligned himself with a variety of...
Biography
Muammar al-Qaddafi - Dictator | Mini Bio | BIO
Muammar al-Qaddafi was born in a Bedouin tent in Sirte, Libya, in 1942. He joined the military and staged a coup to seize control of Libya in 1969, ousting King Idris. Though his Arab nationalist rhetoric and socialist-style policies...
Biography
Barack Obama - U.S. President & Lawyer | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in Honolulu in 1961, Barack Obama went on to become President of the Harvard Law Review and a U.S. senator representing Illinois. In 2008, he was elected President of the United States, becoming the first African-American...
Biography
Saddam Hussein - Iraq President | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on April 28, 1937, in Tikrit, Iraq, Saddam Hussein was a secularist who rose through the Baath political party to assume a dictatorial presidency. Under his rule, segments of the populace enjoyed the benefits of oil wealth, while...
Biography
Kim Jong-il - Dictator | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in either 1941 or 1942, much of Kim Jong Il's persona is based on a cult of personality, meaning that legend and official North Korean government accounts describe his life, character, and actions in ways that promote and legitimize...
Biography
Prince Charles - Prince | Mini Bio | BIO
Born on November 14, 1948 as the oldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Prince Charles is the longstanding heir apparent to the British throne. Under public scrutiny his entire life, Charles graduated from Trinity College...
Biography
Mitt Romney - U.S. Governor | Mini Bio | BIO
Born in Michigan on March 12, 1947, Mitt Romney is the son of former Michigan Governor George Romney. He founded the investment firm Bain Capital and later ran for the Massachusetts Senate in 1994, losing to incumbent Ted Kennedy. Romney...