James Paul Czajkowski (born August 20, 1961), better known by his pen name of James Rollins , is an American veterinarian and writer of action-adventure / thriller , mystery , and techno-thriller novels who gave up his veterinary practice in Sacramento, California to be a full-time author. Rollins' experiences and expertise as an amateur spelunker and a certified scuba diver have provided content for some of his novels, which are often set in underground or underwater locations. Under the pen name James Clemens , he has also published fantasy novels, such as Wit'ch Fire , Wit'ch Storm , Wit'ch War , Wit'ch Gate , Wit'ch Star , Shadowfall (2005), and Hinterland (2006).
150-856: James Paul Czajkowski was born in Chicago , Illinois. His father worked for the Libby’s canning plant and his mother was a housewife. He graduated from Parkway West High School in Ballwin, Missouri in 1979. His undergraduate work focused on evolutionary biology and he graduated from the University of Missouri in Columbia in 1985 with a doctorate in veterinary medicine (D. V. M). Soon afterward, he moved to Sacramento, California , where he established his veterinary practice. In an August 16, 2012 interview, Rollins told SLM 's Jeannette Cooperman: For 20 years my paycheck
300-664: A C-54 Skymaster was converted for use as the first purpose-built presidential aircraft. Dubbed the Sacred Cow and operated by the Army Air Force , it carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and was used for another two years by President Harry S. Truman . The "Air Force One" call sign was created in 1954, after a Lockheed Constellation carrying President Dwight D. Eisenhower entered
450-551: A supersonic aircraft that could function as Air Force One. Contracts have been signed with Exosonic , Hermeus , and Boom . During the Johnson Administration , the United States Air Force acquired a Beechcraft King Air B90 which was designated VC-6A (66-7943). The aircraft was used to transport President Johnson between Bergstrom Air Force Base and his family ranch near Johnson City, Texas , and
600-403: A Democrat, was elected in 1955, in the era of machine politics . In 1956, the city conducted its last major expansion when it annexed the land under O'Hare airport, including a small portion of DuPage County. By the 1960s, white residents in several neighborhoods left the city for the suburban areas – in many American cities, a process known as white flight – as Blacks continued to move beyond
750-562: A Pan Am-crewed Boeing 314 flying boat , on a flight that covered 5,500 miles (8,890 km) in three legs. Concerned about relying upon commercial airlines to transport the president, officials of the United States Army Air Forces , the predecessor of the US Air Force, ordered the conversion of a military aircraft to accommodate the special needs of the commander-in-chief . In 1943, a C-87A transport, number 41-24159,
900-613: A VC-137A on his visit to Russia in July 1959 for the Kitchen Debates . The following month, Eisenhower became the first president to fly via jet airplane when he used SAM 970 , nicknamed "Queenie" , to meet German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. During Eisenhower's " Flight to Peace " goodwill tour in December 1959, he visited 11 Asian nations, flying 22,000 miles (35,000 km) in 19 days, twice as fast as he could have covered that distance in one of
1050-603: A battle for the future of humanity, the Sigma Force operatives uncover the true source of human intelligence. On a transatlantic flight, Seichan and Kowalski must set aside their differences when a mysterious force knocks their airplane out of the sky. Two years ago, a famous archaeologist was thought lost in the Sudanese desert during a search for proof of the ten plagues of Moses . His sudden reappearance, and subsequent death, reveal that someone had begun mummifying his body while he
1200-490: A breathtaking necropolis—something else is waiting for Sam Conklin and his exploratory party. A thing created by Man, yet not humanly possible. Something wondrous...something terrifying...a mysterious metal known only as el Sangre del Diablo (or Devil's Blood), known only to the most ancient of Incas and a secret sect of Dominican friars who have already killed and died to protect its secrets. Ex-Navy SEAL Jack Kirkland surfaces from an aborted underwater salvage mission to find
1350-637: A city in 1837 near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed . It grew rapidly in the mid-19th century. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed several square miles and left more than 100,000 homeless, but Chicago's population continued to grow. Chicago made noted contributions to urban planning and architecture , such as the Chicago School , the development of
1500-534: A civilian flight on which the US president is aboard. On 26 December 1973, President Richard Nixon and his family flew as commercial passengers on a United DC-10 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles International Airport . His staff explained that this was done to conserve fuel by not having to fly the usual Boeing 707 Air Force aircraft. In November 1999, President Bill Clinton flew from Ankara , Turkey, to Cengiz Topel Naval Air Station outside Izmit, Turkey, aboard
1650-571: A conspiracy going back three centuries to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history. The Banned and the Banished is a fantasy novel series that follows a girl named Elena, "who ripens into
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#17328695154051800-501: A couple days or more, bringing the presidential limousine and Sikorsky VH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, along with Secret Service personnel and several hundred maintenance crew. Longer trips are accompanied by tankers, such as the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender , to limit the need to stop for fuel and ensure that AF1 does not take fuel from an unvetted source. The support aircraft will often use several airports in
1950-410: A god hidden in the heart of a volcano. God-Sword will finish the first trilogy. And there may be a second trilogy with many of the same characters." On February 10, 2015, Rollins wrote in an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") on Reddit .com: "Third book is done; fourth is midway. Once the fifth is done, the entire series is slated for publication, each book coming out 6 months apart, starting with a re-release of
2100-486: A heart attack soon after. Washington was succeeded by 6th ward alderperson Eugene Sawyer , who was elected by the Chicago City Council and served until a special election. Richard M. Daley , son of Richard J. Daley, was elected in 1989. His accomplishments included improvements to parks and creating incentives for sustainable development , as well as closing Meigs Field in the middle of the night and destroying
2250-497: A man from a crashed plane and saves him from subsequent attack by foreign soldiers, his ex-wife's piloting skills take them all to the man's intended destination, a US research base on the Arctic ice. The base was set up following the discovery by advanced ice-penetrating sonar of a derelict Russian scientific base buried within a massive iceberg, Ice Station Grendel, where the personnel all died decades earlier. A Russian submarine carrying
2400-540: A manuscript he had recently completed. Beneath the ice at the bottom of the Earth is a magnificent subterranean labyrinth, a place of breathtaking wonders—and terrors beyond imagining. A team of specialists, led by archaeologist Ashley Carter, has been hand-picked to explore this secret place and to uncover the riches it holds. But they are not the first to venture here—and those they follow did not return. There are mysteries here older than humanity and revelations that could change
2550-400: A marked C-20C (Gulfstream III) using the call sign Air Force One , escorted by three F-16s. On 8 March 2000, President Clinton flew to Pakistan aboard an unmarked Gulfstream III while another aircraft with the call sign Air Force One flew on the same route a few minutes later. This diversion was reported by several US press outlets. On 1 May 2003, President George W. Bush flew in
2700-660: A model for the new field of social work . During the 1870s and 1880s, Chicago attained national stature as the leader in the movement to improve public health. City laws and later, state laws that upgraded standards for the medical profession and fought urban epidemics of cholera , smallpox , and yellow fever were both passed and enforced. These laws became templates for public health reform in other cities and states. The city established many large, well-landscaped municipal parks , which also included public sanitation facilities. The chief advocate for improving public health in Chicago
2850-441: A more contemporary water blue to represent an America both rooted in the past and flying inexorably into the future. The presidential seal was added to both sides of the fuselage near the nose and a large American flag was painted on the tail. Loewy's work won immediate praise from the president and the press. The cheatline suggested a sleek and horizontal image that mirrored America's Jet Age optimism and prosperity of
3000-401: A mysterious woman fleeing three armed men. They are after the secret she holds, which will unlock a terrible treasure steeped in blood and treachery and tied to a crime going back to the fall of Nazi Germany and a heritage of suffering and pain that reaches out from the past to wreak havoc today. In a final showdown, truths are unearthed and treasures exposed. This short story exclusive includes
3150-472: A new grade with the use of jackscrews for raising buildings. While elevating Chicago, and at first improving the city's health, the untreated sewage and industrial waste now flowed into the Chicago River , and subsequently into Lake Michigan , polluting the city's primary freshwater source. The city responded by tunneling two miles (3.2 km) out into Lake Michigan to newly built water cribs . In 1900,
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#17328695154053300-485: A possible way to contain the outbreak. Gray is thrown into action as he discovers his house ransacked, his lover missing, and Kat unconscious on the kitchen floor. Left without any leads, Gray and his team turn to a brilliant neurologist to get answers from the only witness: the comatose Kat. What Gray learns sets the team on a quest for answers to a mystery that reaches as far back as the Spanish Inquisition and to
3450-458: A power of an ancient civilization. And it will forever alter a world that's already racing toward its own destruction. Four years ago, all contact with a U.S. medical-scientific expedition in the wilderness of the Amazon basin suddenly ceased; the 30-man team was declared lost and likely dead. Now, one of its members staggers into a Christian mission but dies within hours. He carries identification: he
3600-421: A priestess and love interest, and to Rogger, a thief wise to the ways of the criminal underworld. Slogging hither and yon for scraps of clues, the three begin to suspect that the supposedly pacific gods are in fact engaged in an ongoing struggle for power and control. The self-absorption of the gods and the apathetic ignorance of the people form stumbling blocks on Tylar's quest. Failed Shadowknight Tylar witnessed
3750-510: A private collection is destroyed and the cause cannot be explained. Sigma Force's quest takes them into the Arabian Desert and to a long-buried threat that may bring about the end of the balance of power. This novel introduces Sigma Force and a mysterious opposing group, the Guild, who appear in several of Rollins' future Sigma Force novels. The magi brought gold, frankincense , and myrrh to
3900-489: A region to minimize the impact to one particular airport, and Secret Service may also preposition a Gulfstream C-37B or Boeing E-4 in a neighboring region for backup. In addition to the President, staff, and flight crew, a VC-25A can carry 102 guests in typical domestic business-class seats . The back-up VC-25 typically flies with 14 crew, two pilots, six flight crew, two cooks, and four flight attendants. When transporting
4050-523: A reviled medieval text known as the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) . What he uncovers reveals a frightening truth in the present and a future on the brink of annihilation. In the frozen tundra of Greenland, a group of modern-day researchers stumble upon a medieval ship buried a half-mile below the ice. The ship's hold contains a collection of artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age. Inside
4200-575: A sneak peek at the opening chapters of Bloodline , in which further exploits of Tucker and Kane are revealed. Sigma Force follows up on information gained in Tracker . The president's daughter is kidnapped by mysterious doctors who seek her baby. President Gant's family is revealed to be a driving force behind the Guild, with their bloodline stretching back for centuries. Jack Kirkland, who first appeared in Deep Fathom , makes an appearance. The novel deals with
4350-507: A springboard for creating similar contemporary novels filled with what he refers to as "the three M's of fiction: magic, mayhem, and monsters". Czajkowski sold his first novel, Wit'ch Fire (1999), under the pen name James Clemens, through Terry Brooks ' publisher. Brooks had been one of the judges for a writing contest at the Maui Writers' Conference in Maui , Hawaii , in which James had entered
4500-598: A stateroom in the aft fuselage and a main cabin that could seat 24 passengers or could be made up into 12 sleeper berths. It is now housed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio . Eisenhower introduced four propeller-driven aircraft to presidential service. This group included two Lockheed C-121 Constellations : aircraft Columbine II (VC-121A 48-610) and Columbine III (VC-121E 53-7885). They were named by First Lady Mamie Eisenhower for
4650-561: A tyrant from igniting a global war, they must cross the very gates of Hell. Sigma Force investigates a viral outbreak deep in the heart of the Congo. Sigma Force must intervene when a research station in the Coral Sea comes under siege during a geological disaster that triggers earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes
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4800-421: A way to bio-engineer autistic children who show savant talents, in the hope of creating a world prophet who can be manipulated to create a new era of global peace on their terms. Three murders occur on three different continents; each shares a puzzling, hideous disfigurement, but otherwise no other obvious connection. A clue links the father of one victim, an influential U.S. senator, to a Norwegian corporation. It
4950-559: Is Gerald Clark, ex-Special Forces. Two years before the expedition, while in Iraq, the CIA operative's left arm was amputated at the shoulder. Photographs of the corpse and fingerprints reveal that the arm has grown back perfectly. Unable to comprehend this inexplicable event, the United States CIA establishes a special team to return to this impenetrable secret world of unforeseen perils and to follow
5100-453: Is descending into you, we are not in contact with them – they have shut their responder [ sic ] off.' And at that time it kind of led us to believe maybe someone was coming into us in Sarasota, they saw us take off, they just stayed high and are following us at this point. We had no idea what the capabilities of the terrorists were at that point." Tillman then flew Air Force One over
5250-407: Is known to botanists as Allium tricoccum and known more commonly as "ramps". The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as " Checagou " was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir. Henri Joutel , in his journal of 1688, noted that the eponymous wild "garlic" grew profusely in the area. According to his diary of late September 1687: ... when we arrived at
5400-525: Is made when an earthquake reveals a subterranean Catholic chapel in the remote mountains of Croatia. An investigative team finds the bones of a Neanderthal woman as well as an elaborate cave painting depicting an immense battle between Neanderthal tribes and monstrous shadowy figures. At the same time, a bloody assault is carried out on a DARPA funded primate research center outside of Atlanta . Sigma Force sends operatives to look into both cases, but does not realize these events may be connected. Plunged into
5550-563: Is revealed that the characters are dealing with an ancient fungal parasite that was discovered and used first by the Egyptians and then, later, by eleventh century Celts and Druids as a bio-weapon. Seichan and a young urban explorer , who has tattooed on his body a map of the Catacombs of Paris , awaken in a Paris hotel after having been kidnapped and drugged, to find deadly electronic collars fastened around their necks. They are tasked to rescue
5700-494: Is unleashed upon the islands of Hawaii, where Gray and Seichan are wrapping up their vacation. Teamed with Kowalski and a trio of native Hawaiians, the pair must uncover the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Meanwhile, Kat, Monk and the newly appointed Librarian of Congress, Elena Delgado, follow a trail of clues left across Europe by James Smithson , the mysterious founder of the Smithsonian Institution, to discover
5850-457: The 2020 census , it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles . As the seat of Cook County , the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area , often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan , Chicago was incorporated as
6000-529: The Baghdad Zoo immediately after the Battle of Baghdad (2003) . After being decimated during the 2003 invasion of Iraq , the floodgates have been opened for the smuggling of hundreds of exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles to Western nations. However, this crime hides a deeper secret. Years later, a Louisiana state veterinarian, Lorna Polk, is flown to a wrecked fishing trawler in the Mississippi River delta basin by
6150-473: The Black Belt . While home loan discriminatory redlining against blacks continued, the real estate industry practiced what became known as blockbusting , completely changing the racial composition of whole neighborhoods. Structural changes in industry, such as globalization and job outsourcing, caused heavy job losses for lower-skilled workers. At its peak during the 1960s, some 250,000 workers were employed in
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6300-699: The Calumet River in the industrial far South Side—flow either entirely or partially through the city. Chicago's history and economy are closely tied to its proximity to Lake Michigan. While the Chicago River historically handled much of the region's waterborne cargo, today's huge lake freighters use the city's Lake Calumet Harbor on the South Side. The lake also provides another positive effect: moderating Chicago's climate, making waterfront neighborhoods slightly warmer in winter and cooler in summer. When Chicago
6450-478: The City Beautiful movement , and the steel-framed skyscraper . Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture , commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation . It has the largest and most diverse finance derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. O'Hare International Airport is routinely ranked among
6600-580: The Columbines . SAM 970 to SAM 972 would be removed from the presidential role with the early-1960s arrival of the specially built VC-137C designated SAM 26000 . The older planes would be repainted in the Loewy secondary livery designed for Air Force Two and other non-presidential VIP aircraft. SAM 970 is now on display at The Museum of Flight in Seattle , Washington. SAM 971 , best remembered for returning
6750-527: The Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad. Manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy . The Chicago Board of Trade (established 1848) listed the first-ever standardized "exchange-traded" forward contracts, which were called futures contracts . In
6900-509: The Gulf of Mexico in order, he later said, to test whether the other aircraft would follow. The other jet continued on its route, and Tillman said that it was later explained to him that an airliner had lost its transponder , which normally broadcasts an electronic identification signal, and that the pilots on board neglected to switch to another radio frequency. Later, Tillman received a warning of an imminent attack on Air Force One. "We got word from
7050-525: The Jefferson Township , which now makes up most of Chicago's Northwest Side . The desire to join the city was driven by municipal services that the city could provide its residents. Chicago's flourishing economy attracted huge numbers of new immigrants from Europe and migrants from the Eastern United States . Of the total population in 1900, more than 77% were either foreign-born or born in
7200-511: The Manasseh . The team attempts to track down a lost map, journeying to Fort Knox and the grave of Meriwether Lewis . Rollins refers to secret codes used by Thomas Jefferson and Lewis. The coded message leads Crowe to John Trumbull 's painting depicting the presentation of The Declaration of Independence . In the medieval heart of Budapest , Captain Tucker Wayne and his war dog, Kane, rescue
7350-503: The Miami , Sauk and Meskwaki peoples in this region. The first known permanent settler in Chicago was trader Jean Baptiste Point du Sable . Du Sable was of African descent, perhaps born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), and established the settlement in the 1780s. He is commonly known as the "Founder of Chicago." In 1795, following the victory of the new United States in
7500-578: The New Negro Movement , in art, literature, and music. Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as the Chicago race riot of 1919 , also occurred. The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 when Prohibition
7650-755: The Northwest Indian War , an area that was to be part of Chicago was turned over to the U.S. for a military post by native tribes in accordance with the Treaty of Greenville . In 1803, the U.S. Army constructed Fort Dearborn , which was destroyed during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn by the Potawatomi before being later rebuilt. After the War of 1812, the Ottawa , Ojibwe , and Potawatomi tribes ceded additional land to
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#17328695154057800-483: The U.S. West Coast aboard the aircraft. In 2012, President Barack Obama took British Prime Minister David Cameron to a basketball game in Ohio. On 11 October 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first US president to fly in an aircraft, an early Wright Flyer from Kinloch Field near St. Louis , Missouri . He was no longer in office at the time, having been succeeded by William Howard Taft . The record-making occasion
7950-469: The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The crew is missing, but the boat holds a live cargo: a caged group of exotic animals. Initially, Polk assumes it is part of a black market smuggling racket. Then she discovers disturbing deformities that make no sense. Also, the animals all share disturbingly heightened intelligence. To uncover the truth about the origin of this strange cargo and
8100-411: The University of Chicago , Northwestern University , and the University of Illinois Chicago , among other institutions of learning . Professional sports in Chicago include all major professional leagues , including two Major League Baseball teams. The name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the indigenous Miami–Illinois word shikaakwa for a wild relative of the onion ; it
8250-663: The Washington and Jackson Parks. During World War I and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the Southern United States . Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903. This Great Migration had an immense cultural impact, called the Chicago Black Renaissance , part of
8400-531: The Yalta Conference in February 1945. The National Security Act of 1947 , the legislation that created the US Air Force, was signed by President Harry S. Truman aboard the VC-54C. He replaced the VC-54C in 1947 with a modified C-118 Liftmaster , calling it the Independence after his Missouri hometown. It was given a distinctive exterior, as its nose was painted like the head of a bald eagle . The plane included
8550-422: The columbine , official state flower of her adopted home state of Colorado . Two Aero Commanders were also added to the fleet. Columbine II is the first plane to bear the call sign Air Force One. This designation for the US Air Force aircraft carrying the incumbent president was established after a 1954 incident in which a commercial flight, Eastern Air Lines 8610, crossed paths with Air Force 8610, which
8700-489: The oath of office aboard SAM 26000 . On Johnson's orders, the plane carried Kennedy's body back to Washington. A decade later, SAM 26000 took Johnson's body home to Texas after his state funeral in Washington. The U.S. Air Force usually does not have fighter aircraft escort the presidential aircraft over the United States but it has occurred. The first instance came during the state funeral of John F. Kennedy when it
8850-528: The thriller writer Grant Blackwood to write multiple works in the Tucker Wayne series of military thriller novels: The Kill Switch (2014) and War Hawk (2015). Tucker Wayne also appears in the SIGMA Force series in "Tracker". Chicago Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States . With a population of 2,746,388, as of
9000-528: The world's top six busiest airports by passenger traffic , and the region is also the nation's railroad hub. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $ 689 billion in 2018. Chicago's economy is diverse , with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. Chicago is a major destination for tourism , including visitors to its cultural institutions , and Lake Michigan beaches . Chicago's culture has contributed much to
9150-490: The 1800s, Chicago became the nation's railroad hub, and by 1910 over 20 railroads operated passenger service out of six different downtown terminals. In 1883, Chicago's railway managers needed a general time convention, so they developed the standardized system of North American time zones . This system for telling time spread throughout the continent. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition on former marshland at
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#17328695154059300-477: The 1850s, Chicago gained national political prominence as the home of Senator Stephen Douglas , the champion of the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the "popular sovereignty" approach to the issue of the spread of slavery. These issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln , to the national stage. Lincoln was nominated in Chicago for U.S. president at the 1860 Republican National Convention , which
9450-681: The 57th mayor of Chicago. Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois on the southwestern shores of freshwater Lake Michigan. It is the principal city in the Chicago Metropolitan Area , situated in both the Midwestern United States and the Great Lakes region . The city rests on a continental divide at the site of the Chicago Portage, connecting the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes watersheds . In addition to it lying beside Lake Michigan, two rivers—the Chicago River in downtown and
9600-463: The Air Force One call sign. After the deaths of former Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, VC-25 aircraft flew their remains to their home states of Michigan and California, respectively. On 27 April 2009, a low-flying VC-25 circled New York City for a photo-op and training exercise , alarming many New Yorkers. During Joe Biden's 2023 visit to Ukraine , the Air Force One call sign
9750-465: The Americans held during the Iran hostage crisis in 1981, is on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona . SAM 972 was scrapped in October 1996. The new VC-137C was not yet modified for presidential service when John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. On the recommendation of his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy , he contacted the French-born American industrial designer Raymond Loewy for help in designing new livery and interiors for
9900-455: The Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been a Democrat . From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis
10050-422: The Christ child; their bones may bring destruction to the world if they are allowed to remain in the hands of the thieves who stole them. Sigma Force team members risk their lives to get to the heart of one of mankind's greatest mysteries: the origins of life itself. This novel features Dr. Lisa Cummings, who was first introduced in Deep Fathom . Sigma Force members seek to prevent an outbreak that could threaten
10200-437: The Earth burning. Solar flares have triggered a series of gargantuan natural disasters. Earthquakes and hellfire rock the globe. Air Force One has vanished from the skies with America's president on board. Now, with the U.S. on the narrow brink of a nuclear apocalypse, Kirkland must pilot his oceangoing exploration ship, Deep Fathom , on a desperate mission miles below the ocean's surface. There, devastating secrets await him—and
10350-443: The Gulfstream C-37 variant on a personal trip in 2009 to visit the production of August Wilson 's Joe Turner's Come and Gone in New York. Several Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIs typically accompany the president whenever he travels, carrying the presidential limousines and other support vehicles, and have been rumored to have discreetly transported presidents and vice presidents in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan without using
10500-424: The Kennedy administration's brand. SAM 26000 was in service from 1962 to 1998, serving Presidents Kennedy to Clinton . On 22 November 1963, SAM 26000 carried President Kennedy to Dallas, Texas, where it served as the backdrop as the Kennedys greeted well-wishers at Dallas's Love Field . Later that afternoon, Kennedy was assassinated , and Vice President Lyndon Johnson assumed the office of President and took
10650-466: The Mississippi River. In 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed an area about 4 miles (6.4 km) long and 1-mile (1.6 km) wide, a large section of the city at the time. Much of the city, including railroads and stockyards , survived intact, and from the ruins of the previous wooden structures arose more modern constructions of steel and stone. These set a precedent for worldwide construction. During its rebuilding period, Chicago constructed
10800-521: The President, the primary VC-25A has three cooks and 15 flight attendants, 20 or more Secret Service agents, and some 40 members of the presidential press pool . During international state visits, another aircraft may be chartered to accommodate another 150 or more journalists and security personnel. On 11 September 2001 , George W. Bush was interrupted as he attended an event at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida , after an airplane hit
10950-475: The South American jungle, Conklin's nephew, Sam, stumbles upon a remarkable site nestled between two towering peaks, a place hidden from human eyes for thousands of years. Ingenious traps have been laid to ensnare the careless and unsuspecting, and wealth beyond imagining could be the reward for those with the courage to face the terrible unknown. But where this perilous journey ends—in the cold, shrouded heart of
11100-686: The South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. He took off on a VC-25 from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport piloted by Colonel Mark Tillman, the senior pilot of Air Force One that day. Some time later, air traffic controllers warned Tillman that a passenger jet was nearby and not responding to radio calls. Tillman recalls: "As we got over Gainesville, Florida , we got the word from Jacksonville Center. They said, 'Air Force One you have traffic behind you and basically above you that
11250-562: The South arrived in the city to work in the steel mills, railroads, and shipping yards. On December 2, 1942, physicist Enrico Fermi conducted the world's first controlled nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project . This led to the creation of the atomic bomb by the United States, which it used in World War II in 1945. Mayor Richard J. Daley ,
11400-693: The US Navy, it was delivered in 1933 and based at the naval base at Anacostia in Washington, D.C. The aircraft remained in service as a presidential transport from 1939. During World War II, German submarines operating in the Atlantic Ocean made air travel the preferred method of VIP transatlantic transportation. In 1943, Roosevelt traveled to the Casablanca Conference in Morocco on the Dixie Clipper ,
11550-553: The United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis . The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the 1833 Treaty of Chicago and sent west of the Mississippi River as part of the federal policy of Indian removal . On August 12, 1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 6,000 people. On June 15, 1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as Receiver of Public Monies. The City of Chicago
11700-775: The United States of foreign parentage. Germans , Irish , Poles , Swedes , and Czechs made up nearly two-thirds of the foreign-born population (by 1900, whites were 98.1% of the city's population). Labor conflicts followed the industrial boom and the rapid expansion of the labor pool, including the Haymarket affair on May 4, 1886, and in 1894 the Pullman Strike . Anarchist and socialist groups played prominent roles in creating very large and highly organized labor actions. Concern for social problems among Chicago's immigrant poor led Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr to found Hull House in 1889. Programs that were developed there became
11850-531: The VC-137C. Loewy, who had seen SAM 970 , complained to a friend in the White House that it "had a garish orange nose and looked too much like a military plane", Air Force One historian and former Smithsonian curator Von Hardesty told CNN . He offered Kennedy his design consultation services free of charge. Kennedy chose a red-and-gold design from one of Loewy's initial concept sketches, and asked him to render
12000-658: The aging 707 VC-137 variants he used. The interior designs, drawn up by First Lady Nancy Reagan , were reminiscent of the American Southwest . When President George W. Bush left office in January 2009, he flew to Texas in a VC-25 that used call sign SAM 28000, as it did not carry the current president of the United States. Similar arrangements were made for former presidents Ronald Reagan , Bill Clinton , and Barack Obama . President Donald Trump flew to his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly before his tenure as president ended, under
12150-615: The captain's cabin is found a clockwork gold map embedded with an intricate silver astrolabe. Once activated, the moving map traces the path of Odysseus's famous ship as it sailed away from Troy. But the route detours as the map opens to reveal a fiery river leading to a hidden realm underneath the Mediterranean Sea, the subterranean world of Tartarus. When word of Tartarus spreads, and of the cache of miraculous weapons said to be hidden there, tensions explode in this volatile region. Sigma Force must now go where humans fear to tread. To prevent
12300-553: The city include the central business district, called the Loop , and the North, South , and West Sides . The three sides of the city are represented on the Flag of Chicago by three horizontal white stripes. The North Side is the most-densely-populated residential section of the city, and many high-rises are located on this side of the city along the lakefront. The South Side is the largest section of
12450-529: The city was affected by a series of tenant rent strikes , which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68 °F during winter months by landlords. Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924,
12600-415: The city's first African American woman mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor, was elected to succeed Emanuel as mayor in 2019. All three city-wide elective offices were held by women (and women of color) for the first time in Chicago history: in addition to Lightfoot, the city clerk was Anna Valencia and the city treasurer was Melissa Conyears-Ervin . On May 15, 2023, Brandon Johnson assumed office as
12750-424: The city's first female mayor, was elected. She was notable for temporarily moving into the crime-ridden Cabrini-Green housing project and for leading Chicago's school system out of a financial crisis. In 1983, Harold Washington became the first black mayor of Chicago. Washington's first term in office directed attention to poor and previously neglected minority neighborhoods. He was re‑elected in 1987 but died of
12900-463: The city, encompassing roughly 60% of the city's land area. The South Side contains most of the facilities of the Port of Chicago . Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control -designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States . The term is commonly used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used to transport
13050-493: The clinic—dogs barking, cats meowing—so now I can write anywhere. Rollins found the authors of the Doc Savage series inspirational as a youth and acquired an extensive collection of the popular 1930s and 1940s pulp magazine stories. Rollins was fascinated by stories of the exploits of Howard Carter and his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun ( King Tut ); this true-life tale later inspired Rollins' novel Excavation , in which
13200-612: The co-pilot seat of a Sea Control Squadron Thirty-Five ( VS-35 ) S-3B Viking from Naval Air Station North Island , California to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast, where Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" speech . During the flight, the aircraft used the call sign of " Navy One " for the first time. This aircraft is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida. Barack Obama used
13350-515: The convention hall, with anti-war protesters, journalists and bystanders being beaten by police. Major construction projects, including the Sears Tower (now known as the Willis Tower , which in 1974 became the world's tallest building ), University of Illinois at Chicago , McCormick Place , and O'Hare International Airport , were undertaken during Richard J. Daley's tenure. In 1979, Jane Byrne ,
13500-527: The cost of acquiring a new aircraft. On 28 January 2015, the Air Force announced that the Boeing 747-8 would be the next presidential aircraft. On 6 December 2016, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted his opposition to the Air Force One replacement because of its high cost, "more than $ 4 billion". The US Government Accountability Office estimated the total cost at $ 3.2 billion, and the US Air Force's budget for
13650-580: The current Boeing VC-25As . Since 1990, the presidential fleet has consisted of two highly customized Boeing 747-200B (VC-25A) aircraft. The USAF has ordered two Boeing 747-8s to serve as the next presidential aircraft, designated VC-25Bs and expected to enter service no earlier than 2026. From time to time, presidents have invited other world leaders to travel with them on Air Force One. In 1973, Nixon invited Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev to fly with him to California from Washington, D.C. In 1983, President Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II toured
13800-489: The dead man's trail. On arrival, they enlist Nathan Rand, the son of the lost researchers' team leader. A mysterious plague, that threatens the Earth's entire population, leads back to Gerald Clark. This means the lost expedition's destination, which holds the key to the cure, must be discovered at any cost. But the nightmare that awaits Rand and his team of scientists and seasoned U.S. Army Rangers dwarfs any danger they may have anticipated. After an Alaskan game warden rescues
13950-586: The death of a god, whose blood healed his deformities but branded him a Godslayer and a hunted criminal. In this second volume, Tylar's struggle for the truth is vindicated when he is officially reinstated as a Shadowknight. Yet this is a trap, revealed as Sithryn forces flow from the Ice Eyrie to wage a deadly siege, trapping Tylar and his friends. But even Tylar's skill and magic cannot save the Citadel of Tashijan, ancient Shadowknight headquarters, for something foul lies at
14100-520: The design all in blue. Loewy also drew inspiration from the first printed copy of the United States Declaration of Independence , suggesting the widely spaced and upper case "United States of America" legend in Caslon typeface. He chose to expose the polished aluminum fuselage on the bottom side and used two blues, steel blue associated with the early republic and the presidency, and
14250-479: The district and forcing a shutdown of electrical power. The area was shut down for three days and some buildings did not reopen for weeks; losses were estimated at $ 1.95 billion. On February 23, 2011, Rahm Emanuel , a former White House Chief of Staff and member of the House of Representatives , won the mayoral election. Emanuel was sworn in as mayor on May 16, 2011, and won re-election in 2015. Lori Lightfoot ,
14400-561: The entire planet. The outbreak's source and the key to the cure are based on the Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat . The book also features the apparent death of Dr. Monk Kokkalis and introduction to Sigma Force of Joe Kowalski, who first appeared in Ice Hunt . Sigma Force battle a group of rogue scientists who have unleashed a bio-engineering project that could bring about the extinction of humankind. An international think-tank of scientists discover
14550-432: The era, and today signifies its legacy and tradition. Loewy's VC-137C livery was adapted for the larger VC-25A when it entered service in 1990, and the secondary variation (without the darker blue cheatline and cap over the cockpit) is still in use on USAF C-40 , C-37 , C-32 , and C-20 aircraft in standard (non-presidential) VIP configurations. The presidential paint scheme can also be seen on Union Pacific 4141 ,
14700-522: The events of the first book, Sandstorm , Sigma Force moves its headquarters into a sub-basement of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Originally published as a stand-alone novel, Sandstorm became the first book in the Sigma Force series. Commander Painter Crowe attempts to thwart a computer hacker who is putting the United States in danger. Meanwhile, in the British Museum ,
14850-526: The fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding. During World War II , the city of Chicago alone produced more steel than the United Kingdom every year from 1939 – 1945, and more than Nazi Germany from 1943 – 1945. The Great Migration, which had been on pause due to the Depression, resumed at an even faster pace in the second wave , as hundreds of thousands of blacks from
15000-605: The first two." Rollins collaborated with the mystery writer Rebecca Cantrell to write several works in the Order of the Sanguines series (comprising a trilogy published in print and digital formats, plus a number of short fiction e-books): City of Screams (2012), a novella set in Afghanistan ; The Blood Gospel (2013); Blood Brothers (2013), an e-short; Innocent Blood (2013); and Blood Infernal (2015). Rollins collaborated with
15150-537: The heart of their Order. The Cabal has infiltrated the inner council and Tylar and his allies must flee for now there can be no refuge from evil. On the FAQ section of his website, Rollins announces plans for further novels: "There are more plans for the Godslayer books. The working title for Book Three is God-Sword . Besides continuing the storyline, it will discover much more about Laurelle, her past, and her perilous journey to
15300-468: The heritage of lost power". The series is a pentalogy. The five books are as follows: For 4,000 years, the people of the Nine Lands have lived peacefully under the guidance of their hundred gods. When the goddess Meeryn is murdered the peace is shattered, and Tylar de Noche – a defrocked knight who, as sole witness, is now sole suspect – must find the killer and prove himself innocent. Tylar turns to Delia,
15450-450: The ice caves of Antarctica . In the dead of night, a faceless enemy hacks into the Smithsonian Institution's network of servers, but it is only the first strike masking a larger attack. To rescue a biologist trapped in the National Museum of Natural History and discover the true intent behind an assault that grows bolder and bloodier by the minute, Sigma Force must unleash its most headstrong operative, Joe Kowalski. An amazing discovery
15600-419: The imagery of an orbital satellite, causing it to show an image of America's Eastern Seaboard in flaming ruins. It's a race against time for Sigma to stop the apocalypse from occurring. Sigma Force fights against a geneticist with a nefarious agenda for handling the extinction of species. The team travels from California, near Yosemite National Park , to the tepuis of the northern Amazon rainforest , and to
15750-542: The kidnapper's son who has fallen under the sway of the nefarious leader of an apocalyptic cult. The trail leads them into the dark necropolis beneath Paris. Seichan and her guide must battle the clock, as the cult leader has wired the catacombs with bombs. This short story includes a sneak peek of the first 70 pages of The Devil Colony , in which a clue unlocked by the skeleton key plays a key role. SIGMA Force deals with mysterious nanotechnology that may have been mastered by an ancient Native American tribe with input from
15900-650: The locomotive used in George H. W. Bush 's funeral train. Under John F. Kennedy , presidential air travel entered the jet age. Although he could use the Eisenhower-era jets for trips to Canada, France, Austria , and the United Kingdom, when he came into office, his primary aircraft domestically was still a prop powered Douglas VC-118A Liftmaster . In October 1962, the modified long-range Boeing VC-137C Stratoliner SAM 26000 , featuring livery designed by Loewy would be delivered, and immediately became an important element of
16050-451: The lowest points are along the lake shore at 578 ft (176.2 m), while the highest point, at 672 ft (205 m), is the morainal ridge of Blue Island in the city's far south side. Lake Shore Drive runs adjacent to a large portion of Chicago's waterfront. Some of the parks along the waterfront include Lincoln Park , Grant Park , Burnham Park , and Jackson Park . There are 24 public beaches across 26 miles (42 km) of
16200-447: The main character, archaeologist Henry Conklin, and his nephew Sam discover a lost Inca city in the mountains of the Andean jungle that contains a treasure—and a curse. He also enjoyed L. Frank Baum 's Oz series, Edgar Rice Burroughs ' Tarzan novels, and C. S. Lewis ' Chronicles of Narnia . Additionally, he was inspired by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells , whose works he used as
16350-518: The manufacture of the presidential aircraft version of the 747 began during his presidency. The USAF issued a Request For Proposal in 1985 for two wide-body aircraft with a minimum of three engines and an unrefueled range of 6,000 miles (9,700 km). Boeing with the 747 and McDonnell Douglas with the DC-10 submitted proposals, and the Reagan Administration ordered two identical 747s to replace
16500-593: The midst of terror, unexpected allies, and betrayals, neither side can afford to lose. In 2008, Random House commissioned Rollins to write the novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), the eponymous, American adventure science fiction film. This is the fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, created by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg . The story starts outside
16650-412: The plane the "Spirit of '76" in honor of the forthcoming bicentennial of the United States; that logo was painted on both sides of the plane's nose. SAM 26000 was replaced in December 1972 by another VC-137C, Special Air Mission 27000 , although SAM 26000 was relegated to non-presidential VIP status (and repainted without the darker blue cap and cheatline), it served as a backup to SAM 27000 until it
16800-498: The present location of Jackson Park . The Exposition drew 27.5 million visitors, and is considered the most influential world's fair in history. The University of Chicago , formerly at another location, moved to the same South Side location in 1892. The term "midway" for a fair or carnival referred originally to the Midway Plaisance , a strip of park land that still runs through the University of Chicago campus and connects
16950-533: The president back to Washington, D.C., was aborted due to concerns that Air Force One would be attacked at Andrews Air Force Base . Instead, Tillman landed at Barksdale Air Force Base , Louisiana , and Offutt Air Force Base , Nebraska , where the president made a speech. After these stops, the president was returned to Washington, D.C. The next day, officials at the White House and the Justice Department explained that President Bush did this because there
17100-466: The president to fly in a propeller-driven aircraft. This paved the way for the Air Force's initial procurement of three Boeing 707 -120 (VC-137A) jet aircraft , designated SAM (Special Air Missions) 970, 971 and 972 . The high-speed jet technology built into these aircraft enabled presidents from Eisenhower through Nixon to travel long distances more quickly for face-to-face meetings with world leaders. Then-Vice President Richard Nixon first used
17250-476: The president, and as a metonym for the primary presidential aircraft, VC-25 , although it can be used to refer to any Air Force aircraft the president travels on. The idea of designating specific military aircraft to transport the president arose during World War II when military advisors in the War Department were concerned about the risk of using commercial airlines for presidential travel. In 1944,
17400-593: The problem of sewage contamination was largely resolved when the city completed a major engineering feat. It reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that the water flowed away from Lake Michigan rather than into it. This project began with the construction and improvement of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and was completed with the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that connects to the Illinois River , which flows into
17550-421: The program is projected to be nearly $ 4 billion. In December 2016, Boeing was on contract for preliminary development worth $ 170 million (~$ 212 million in 2023). On 1 August 2017, Defense One reported that, in an effort to pay less for the replacement program, the US Air Force contracted to purchase two of the bankrupt Russian airline Transaero 's undelivered 747-8 Intercontinentals from Boeing, which
17700-450: The quest for immortality , nanotechnology , and micro-engineering . Sigma Force chases down clues related to Attila the Hun and his fateful meeting with Pope Leo I that stopped a Hunnic invasion of Rome. The Vatican receives a package containing the skull of Genghis Khan , along with a book wrapped in his skin, leading the team to Mongolia . All the while, a nearing comet interferes with
17850-584: The runways. After successfully running for re-election five times, and becoming Chicago's longest-serving mayor, Richard M. Daley declined to run for a seventh term. In 1992, a construction accident near the Kinzie Street Bridge produced a breach connecting the Chicago River to a tunnel below, which was part of an abandoned freight tunnel system extending throughout the downtown Loop district. The tunnels filled with 250 million US gallons (1,000,000 m ) of water, affecting buildings throughout
18000-596: The said place called "Chicagou" which, according to what we were able to learn of it, has taken this name because of the quantity of garlic which grows in the forests in this region. The city has had several nicknames throughout its history, such as the Windy City , Chi-Town, Second City, and City of the Big Shoulders. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by the Potawatomi , an indigenous tribe who had succeeded
18150-400: The same airspace as a commercial airline flight using the same flight number . Since the introduction of SAM 26000 in 1962, the primary presidential aircraft has carried the distinctive livery designed by Raymond Loewy . Other aircraft designated as Air Force One have included another Lockheed Constellation, Columbine III; three Boeing 707s , introduced in the 1960s and 1970s; and
18300-549: The son of the station's former commander approaches, ostensibly to retrieve the bodies found by the Americans. Both sides know the station contains vastly important scientific secrets, worth fighting for, but neither side knows quite how the other will fight, or how Grendel itself will complicate matters. In an atmosphere of mistrust and fear, the Alaskans and the scientist overseeing the sonar project have unexpected roles to play, while in
18450-570: The steel industry in Chicago, but the steel crisis of the 1970s and 1980s reduced this number to just 28,000 in 2015. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. and Albert Raby led the Chicago Freedom Movement , which culminated in agreements between Mayor Richard J. Daley and the movement leaders. Two years later, the city hosted the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention , which featured physical confrontations both inside and outside
18600-532: The threat it poses, Polk must team up with a man who shares a dark and bloody past with her, now an agent with the CBP. Sigma Force is a fictional division of the U.S. DARPA program. Their chief operatives combine highly trained military skills with specialized scientific knowledge. Their purpose is to investigate sensitive scientific matters that could pose a threat to the United States. Its functions include counter-terrorism , research , and covert operations . Following
18750-551: The unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed the Memorial Day massacre of 1937 in the neighborhood of East Side. In 1933, Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak was fatally wounded in Miami, Florida , during a failed assassination attempt on President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt . In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting the Century of Progress International Exposition World's Fair . The theme of
18900-451: The vice president and the staff that 'Angel was next,' indicating the classified call sign for Air Force One. Once we got into the Gulf [of Mexico] and they passed to us that 'Angel was next,' at that point I asked for fighter support. If an airliner was part of the attack, it would be good to have fighters on the wing to go ahead and take care of us." At this point, Tillman said that the plan to fly
19050-625: The visual arts, literature , film, theater , comedy (especially improvisational comedy ), food , dance, and music (particularly jazz , blues , soul , hip-hop , gospel , and electronic dance music , including house music ). Chicago is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago , while the Art Institute of Chicago provides an influential visual arts museum and art school . The Chicago area also hosts
19200-644: The waterfront. Landfill extends into portions of the lake providing space for Navy Pier , Northerly Island , the Museum Campus , and large portions of the McCormick Place Convention Center. Most of the city's high-rise commercial and residential buildings are close to the waterfront. An informal name for the entire Chicago metropolitan area is "Chicagoland", which generally means the city and all its suburbs, though different organizations have slightly different definitions. Major sections of
19350-525: The world's first skyscraper in 1885, using steel-skeleton construction. The city grew significantly in size and population by incorporating many neighboring townships between 1851 and 1920, with the largest annexation happening in 1889, with five townships joining the city, including the Hyde Park Township , which now comprises most of the South Side of Chicago and the far southeast of Chicago, and
19500-480: The world. But there are also things that should not be disturbed—and a devastating truth that could doom Ashley and the expedition: they are not alone. The caverns are inhabited by an entire subterranean ecosystem of primitive mammals—some intelligent, others savage, all beyond the reach of today's knowledge. In Peru , low in the Andes , Dr. Henry Conklin discovers a 500-year-old mummy that should not be there. While deep in
19650-431: Was John H. Rauch, M.D. Rauch established a plan for Chicago's park system in 1866. He created Lincoln Park by closing a cemetery filled with shallow graves, and in 1867, in response to an outbreak of cholera he helped establish a new Chicago Board of Health. Ten years later, he became the secretary and then the president of the first Illinois State Board of Health, which carried out most of its activities in Chicago. In
19800-478: Was "specific and credible information that the White House and Air Force One were also intended targets". The White House could not confirm evidence of a threat to Air Force One, and investigation found the original claim to be a result of miscommunication. The VC-25As are to be replaced as the cost of maintaining the aging systems on their 30-year-old airframes and less efficient GE-CF6 engines has begun to surpass
19950-419: Was a brief overflight of the crowd at a county fair but was nonetheless the beginning of presidential air travel. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to fly in an aircraft while in office. The first aircraft obtained specifically for presidential travel was a Douglas Dolphin amphibian modified with luxury upholstery for four passengers and a small separate sleeping compartment. Designated RD-2 by
20100-467: Was called the Society for Human Rights . It produced the first American publication for homosexuals, Friendship and Freedom . Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband. The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of
20250-402: Was carrying President Eisenhower. Initially used informally, the designation became official in 1962. Toward the end of Eisenhower's second term, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles commented that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and other senior Soviet officials had begun using the technologically advanced Tupolev Tu-114 aircraft for their travels, and it was no longer dignified for
20400-406: Was coming from my veterinary degree and my writing was my hobby, and I thought it would be really cool to flip that around. Veterinary medicine is much harder. It's a 14-, 16-, 18-hour-a-day job. I owned my own practice, had 24 employees. I couldn't get away, that was the biggest thing. In the 10 years I ran my own practice, I had three weeks of vacation total. I started writing during my lunch hour at
20550-539: Was finally retired in 1998. In June 1974, while President Nixon was on his way to a scheduled stop in Syria , Syrian fighter jets intercepted Air Force One to act as escorts. The crew was not informed in advance, so took evasive action including a dive. After announcing his intention to resign the presidency, Nixon boarded SAM 27000 (with call sign "Air Force One") to travel to California. Colonel Ralph Albertazzie, then pilot of Air Force One, recounted that after Gerald Ford
20700-695: Was followed by 50 fighters (20 Navy and 30 Air Force), representing the states of the union. Johnson used SAM 26000 to travel extensively domestically and to visit troops in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. SAM 26000 served President Nixon on several groundbreaking overseas voyages, including his famous visit to the People's Republic of China in February 1972 and his trip to the Soviet Union later that year, both firsts for an American president. Nixon dubbed
20850-462: Was founded in 1837, most of the early building was around the mouth of the Chicago River, as can be seen on a map of the city's original 58 blocks. The overall grade of the city's central, built-up areas is relatively consistent with the natural flatness of its overall natural geography, generally exhibiting only slight differentiation otherwise. The average land elevation is 579 ft (176.5 m) above sea level . While measurements vary somewhat,
21000-566: Was held in a purpose-built auditorium called the Wigwam . He defeated Douglas in the general election, and this set the stage for the American Civil War . To accommodate rapid population growth and demand for better sanitation, the city improved its infrastructure. In February 1856, Chicago's Common Council approved Chesbrough 's plan to build the United States' first comprehensive sewerage system. The project raised much of central Chicago to
21150-521: Was incorporated on Saturday, March 4, 1837, and for several decades was the world's fastest-growing city. As the site of the Chicago Portage , the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicago's first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad , and the Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848. The canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on
21300-586: Was modified to carry President Franklin D. Roosevelt on international trips. But after a review of the C-87's controversial safety record, the Secret Service flatly refused to approve the aircraft for presidential carriage. The C-87, a derivative of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber, also carried more militaristic associations than aircraft designed for transport. The aircraft, named Guess Where II,
21450-423: Was not used for the C-32 aircraft he flew to Poland ; to increase secrecy, the call sign was SAM060 . When flying with the President, Air Force One rarely flies alone. It is often accompanied by a fleet of aircraft that can include the back-up VC-25, cargo aircraft, and tankers. In such cases, up to half a dozen cargo aircraft, such as the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III or the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy , precede AF1 by
21600-402: Was repealed. The 1920s saw gangsters , including Al Capone , Dion O'Banion , Bugs Moran and Tony Accardo battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the Prohibition era . Chicago was the location of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran. From 1920 to 1921,
21750-411: Was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago. Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, with Unemployed Councils contributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 the Workers Alliance of America begun organizing the poor, workers,
21900-404: Was still alive. When the medical team who performed the autopsy falls ill with a strange disease which quickly spreads throughout Cairo , Safia al-Maaz, who originally appeared in Sandstorm , reaches out to Sigma Force for help. The discovery of a burned body sprawled on a remote Australian beach shatters the vacation plans of Gray Pierce and Seichan. An ancient species of deadly parasitic wasp
22050-441: Was storing them in the Mojave Desert to prevent corrosion. These airplanes, which were completed in 2013, would be retrofitted with all essential equipment to serve as the next presidential aircraft, albeit without certain capabilities such as aerial refueling . In September 2020, the US Air Force announced several Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate contracts signed with aircraft manufacturers to begin development of
22200-456: Was sworn in as president, the plane had to be redesignated as SAM 27000 , indicating no president was on board the aircraft. Over Jefferson City, Missouri, Albertazzie radioed: " Kansas City , this was Air Force One. Will you change our call sign to Sierra Alpha Mike (SAM) 27000?" Back came the reply: "Roger, Sierra Alpha Mike 27000. Good luck to the President." Though Ronald Reagan 's two terms as president saw no major changes to Air Force One,
22350-403: Was used at least once to transport the President to Princeton, New Jersey . It was referred to as Lady Bird's airplane and later in its service life featured a basic color scheme similar to civilian aircraft. When the President was aboard, the aircraft used the call sign Air Force One. United Airlines is the only commercial airline to have operated Executive One , the call sign given to
22500-549: Was used to transport senior members of the Roosevelt administration on various trips. In March 1944, it flew Eleanor Roosevelt on a goodwill tour of several Latin American countries. The C-87 was scrapped in 1945. The Secret Service subsequently reconfigured a Douglas C-54 Skymaster for presidential transport duty. The VC-54C aircraft, nicknamed the Sacred Cow , included a sleeping area , radiotelephone , and retractable battery-powered elevator to lift Roosevelt in his wheelchair. The VC-54C flew President Roosevelt only once, to
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