Biography of King George VI, Britain’s Unexpected King

King George VI (born Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George; December 14, 1895–February 6, 1952) was King of the United Kingdom, Head of the British Commonwealth, and the last Emperor of India. He succeeded to the throne after his older brother, Edward VIII, abdicated. He is the father of Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-ruling monarch. Fast Facts: King George VI Given Name:  Albert Frederick Arthur GeorgeKnown For: Served as King of the United Kingdom from 1936–1952, following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. His reign saw Britains victory in World War II as well as the end of the British Empire.Born: December 14, 1895 in Norfolk, EnglandDied: February 6, 1952 in Norfolk, EnglandSpouse: Queen Elizabeth, nee Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (m. 1923-1952)Children: Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926), Princess Margaret (1930-2002) Early Life George VI, who was known as Albert until he became king, was born to Prince George, then Duke of York (later King George V) and his wife, Mary of Teck. He was their second son, following the birth of his brother Edward the previous year. His birthday was also the 34th anniversary of the death of his great-grandfather, Prince Albert. To honor the prince—and in deference to Queen Victoria, who was reportedly upset upon hearing the news of the prince’s birth on that day—the family named the child Albert, after the late Prince Consort. Among family, Albert was known as â€Å"Bertie,† like his grandfather the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII). As a boy, Albert suffered from several health problems, including bowed knees and chronic stomach ailments. He also developed the stammer that he would struggle with for the rest of his life. When Albert was fourteen, he began attending the Royal Naval College as a naval cadet; like many royal second sons, he anticipated a military career. Although he struggled in his early studies, he graduated in his training and progressed to training on board a ship in 1913. Duke of York In 1910, Alberts father became King George V, making Albert second in line for the throne behind his brother Edward, who quickly developed a reputation for his hard-partying ways. Albert, meanwhile, had just embarked on his full-fledged naval career when World War I broke out. Although he went through an emergency appendectomy in 1913, he recovered and rejoined the war effort, eventually being mentioned in dispatches for his action during the Battle of Jutland, the largest single naval battle of the war. Albert suffered another medical setback when he had to have surgery for an ulcer in 1917, but he eventually transferred to the Royal Air Force and became the first royal to be a fully certified pilot. He was posted to France in the waning days of the war, and in 1919, after the war had ended, he became a full-fledged RAF pilot and was promoted to squadron leader. He was made Duke of York in 1920, at which time he began taking on more public duties, although his ongoing struggle with his stammer made public speaking difficult. That same year, Albert crossed paths with Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, for the first time since they were children. He fell in love with her immediately, but the path to marriage wasn’t quite so smooth. She rejected his marriage proposal twice, in 1921 and 1922, because she wasn’t sure she wanted to make the sacrifices that being a royal would require. By 1923, however, she agreed, and the couple were married on April 26, 1923. Their daughters Elizabeth and Margaret were born in 1926 and 1930, respectively. Ascent to the Throne Albert and Elizabeth lived a relatively quiet life by choice. Albert’s public speaking requirements led him to hire speech therapist Lionel Logue, whose breathing and vocal techniques helped the prince to improve his public speaking abilities. Albert and Logues work together was depicted in the Oscar-winning film The Kings Speech in 2010. Albert supported the improvement of working conditions, served as president of the Industrial Welfare Society, and ran a series of summer camps for boys from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds from 1921 until the outbreak of World War II. In 1936, George V died and Albert’s brother Edward became King Edward VIII. Controversy immediately erupted, as Edward wanted to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was in the process of divorcing her second husband. The subsequent constitutional crisis was only resolved when Edward chose to abdicate rather than give up Wallis. He did so on December 10, 1936. Since Edward was unmarried and childless, Albert became king, taking the regnal name George VI in honor of his father. He was crowned in Westminster Abbey on May 12, 1937—the date previously slated for Edward VIII’s coronation. Almost immediately, King George VI was pulled into the controversy over the U.K.’s handling of Hitler’s aggression on the European mainland. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain continued to pursue an appeasement policy, and the king was constitutionally bound to support him. In early 1939, the king and queen visited Canada, making George VI the first British monarch to visit. On the same trip, they visited the United States and formed a rapport with President Franklin D. Roosevelt that would help solidify the American-British ties in the coming years. World War II On September 3, 1939, after Germany failed to respond to an ultimatum issued over their invasion of Poland, the United Kingdom, along with its European allies, declared war on Germany. In spite of constant air raids by the German Luftwaffe, the royal family remained in official residence in London throughout World War II, although they actually split their time between Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. In 1940, Winston Churchill took over as prime minister. Although he and King George VI had a rocky relationship at first, they soon developed an excellent rapport that helped bring the U.K. through the war years. The king and queen made many visits and public appearances to keep up morale, and the monarchy hit a high in popularity. The war came to an end in 1945, and the following year, London hosted the first assembly of the United Nations, with George VI making an opening address. Later Years and Legacy In the years after the war, King George VI turned to matters of his own empire, which entered a decline in influence and power on the world stage. India and Pakistan declared independence in 1947, and Ireland left the Commonwealth altogether in 1948. When India officially became a republic, George VI took on a new title: Head of the Commonwealth. King George VI had suffered health problems all his life, and the combination of stress from the war and his heavy smoking habits led to a series of major health scares in the late 1940s. He developed lung cancer, as well as arteriosclerosis and other diseases, and underwent multiple surgeries. Princess Elizabeth, his heir, took on more and more of his duties, although she was recently married and starting a family with her husband, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On the morning February 6, 1952, King George VI was found in his room at Sandringham, having died in his sleep. His daughter Elizabeth immediately became Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 25; she is the longest reigning queen regnant of all time. He is buried in St. George’s Chapel, and the remains of his wife Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and his younger daughter Margaret have since been interred alongside him. King George VI was never supposed to be king, but he reigned over the later years of Britain as an imperial power and saw the nation through one of its most dangerous eras. Sources Bradford, Sarah. The Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI, 1895 – 1952. St. Martin’s Press, 1990.â€Å"George VI.† Biography, 2 April 2014, https://www.biography.com/people/george-vi-9308937.Howarth, Patrick. George VI: A New Biography. Hutchinson, 1987.Smith, Sally Bedell. Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch. Random House, 2012.

The Current Tax Code For The United States - 1626 Words

The current tax code for the United States is almost 74,000 pages long. Or to put that into a different light: About 116 copies of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. It is small wonder that a few of the announced candidates for President of the United States, have again begun to kick the tires on the topic of a Flat Tax. But is a flat tax actually a solution to our country’s growing tax complexity? What are the potential economic effects of a flat tax (both positive and negative)? Finally, is a flat tax even a viable solution? In short, will it work? As a concept, a flat tax is spectacular. Simplicity at its finest. As a fiscal policy, I believe that same simplicity must be examined and inspected closely. The federal tax code has a level of complexity so great, that reforming it should be the one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on. Instead, proposal after proposal calling for reform die in Congress. And there have been a lot of proposals. Arlen Specter (D-PA) put some form of a flat tax/tax reform proposal into Congress’s hands every year from 1995-2010. This is because, for the most part, the fight for reform always comes down to a two sided debate. One side wants to keep the current complex structure and the other sees no other alternative than blowing this current structure up and moving to a flat rate system. All of this brings me to the arguments for/against the flat rate tax system. Underreporting (whether intentional or unintentional) and taxShow MoreRelatedFlat Tax Reform : A Call974 Words   |  4 Pages Flat Tax Reform: A Call to Action â€Å"I love paying my income tax! This tax system is so easy to understand!† said no United States citizen, ever. No one has ever said this because it is highly unlikely that no one actually enjoys struggling with the complexity of the current income tax system in the United States. 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From 2001-2010 4,430 pages were added to the tax code, an average of a page a day. Because of the extensive tax code, there are many loopholes that allow people and businesses to evade paying large amounts of taxes, some people save billions of dollars. There are at least six loopholes that the average tax filer can exploit to save large amounts of money onRead MoreEncouraging Economic Growth with the Fair Tax Act1728 Words   |  7 Pageshave a problem. The President’s 2010 Debt Commission reported that the United States tax code must be drastically reformed in order to avert a long term economic crisis. The report stated that: The tax code is rife with inefficiencies, loopholes, incentives, tax earmarks, and baffling complexity. We need to lower tax rates, broaden the base, simplify the tax code, and bring down the deficit. We need to reform the corporate tax system to make America the best place to start and grow a business andRead MoreA Fair System Of Taxation1569 Words   |  7 Pages Since taxes have been collected in the United States, there has been substantial debate about what constitutes a truly fair system of taxation. After all, taxation without representation was the basis on which the Revolutionary War was fought against England; the new colonies were loathe to continue to accept a system in which they had to pay taxes that were dictated by a monarchy that appeared to have less and less interest in fairness. In fact, Great Britain had become completely engaged inRead MoreTax Reformation Common Ground1097 Words   |  5 PagesThe tax policy in the United States is very confusing. When the tax policy was originally written in 1913 it was four hundred pages. Now, over the past ninety one years, that tax policy has evolved to over 72,000 pages. 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However, the current tax code bears very little resemblance to the relatively simple codes that were originally written into law. Today’s tax laws have grown astonishingly complex and unequally distributes the burden of tax liabilities. Our country shouldRead MoreAmerica s Tax Policy Is Not Appropriate For The United States1236 Words   |  5 Pagessociety is America s tax policy. Currently, there is three different solutions to the current tax system. One is lowering the rate for progressive tax, our current tax system, which is progressively higher tax rate with more income. The second is fair tax, which is where people are only taxed for buying goods, not their income. The most suitable solution, is where everyone is treated fairly and must pay the same percentage of tax; this is known as flat tax. Our current tax policy is not appropriate

Leadership and Organization Development - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Leadership and Organization Development Characteristics. Answer: This report aimed at investigating if the nature of managerial skills, mindsets and roles of the contemporary managers has changed. While investigating on any changes noticeable in the contemporary managers, it was also good to find out if the changes were beneficial to management as a whole and the institutions involved. As the world changes, new skills, and technology emerge and managers therefore are required to embrace these changes for a smooth running of management and competence Management in the past years has been following a known or a defined trend but with time, its trend has changed to become contemporary meaning that managers have embraced the modern or present day managerial skills. This involves the re-evaluation of the old traditional management practices .Contemporary management entails development of thinking practices and tools that promote more adaptive responses to issues a they emerge in our day to day activities, 2016) (Beata Glinkowska and Boguslaw Kaczmarek. Managers in different fields for instance accounting, electronic commerce, business administration consumer behavior, marketing and technology and innovation management are al a subject of focus in discussing the topic contemporary management in general Change in managerial skills Managerial skills can be defined as the knowledge and the capability of the people in managerial position to accomplish particular managerial activities or duties It was found that, as the world of work evolves, so do the qualities and skills of the managers expected to lead the organization in the contemporary world do. Management work is no longer the same as it used to be and therefore, drastic changes have been witnessed now and then. This implies that the fact that managers were successful in the past does not mean they will be successful in the future. They need to embrace change in their managerial skills. There were five qualities and skills found in the contemporary managers that others in the past did not posses. (Jarratt and Stiles, 2010) The contemporary management model illustrates the removal of obstacle on the paths of the employees in order to enable them succeed. This moves an extra mile fro managing people to engaging and empowering them. It was found out that the traditional kind of management was mainly based on managing and leading by fear and dictatorship. Workers are the ones who use to put effort in work to see that the managers succeed but in the contemporary world, the trend has changed in the managers are the ones required to ensure that their employees succeed. (Caulfield et al., 2001) This does not mean that managers have become It specialist but rather have tried their best to cope up with the new technology as is emerges. By, doing this, it was found out that the modern day managers are in apposition to understand consumers as well as knowing the type of technologies to incorporate in the business and their implications. It was found that the embrace of technology by the managers has given them an excellent understanding of the trends hence adapt to the competitive environment It was found out that the most important aspect that affects management and the performance of he managers is the state f their minds. According to the investigation, managers who perform well have different mindset, a quality that has been found in many contemporary managers change in mindset give the managers confidence in all they do. The following aspects were found to be the indicators. (Levasseur, 2013) Visionary leadership In the past, managers mostly made decisions basing on the existing rigid traditions without any vision unlike today whereby managers have great visions and are committed to see that they achieve these by all means. It was found out that the modern managers are ready time and resources to develop realistic visions and leave to others to achieve them (M. Taylor, J. Cornelius and Colvin, 2014) In the cotemporary world, managers are able to understand, guide and make change happen. Managers of the future will need to have the ability to understand, direct and facilitate change. They will need strategic thinking and an ability to rise above the detail. They will need to not only manage finances and produce technology but also to set up the proper change processes In the present world, roles have been turned upside down depending on the level of their ability to adapt to the changes. Unlike n the past where managers played many roles, Managers today play a role ensuring that they evaluate all structures and culture that hinder the employee from attending the customers. This is contrary to the past because managers were not that much concerned about this. (Eastburn and Sharland, 2017) It was found that the present day managers are highly creative to explore the new emerging markets .Manger have been skilled conceptually as well as being informed and aware of the political environment.They have become single minded with passion and work o ensure that their ideas become true. (Higgs and Hender, 2004) Mindset towards growth Manager always acts as the coach of the team. He or she put everyone in the organization to play a role in ensuring that they succeed. It was found hat to do, this contemporary managers have changed their attitude from rigidity to a growth mindset .Modern managers have been found to be firm in their goals despite the obstacles. This is an aspect that has explained improvement in managerial skills among the managers in todays world. Success is more of mental than physical. If one has the force coming from within, achieving goals become more easier .System theory in relation to management is a theory found suitable to explain the above changes among contemporary managers. According to the theory, personality mastery, mental models, building shared visions, thinking and team learning is the backbone of development of three major learning capabilities; developing reflective conversation, understanding complexity and foster aspiration. System theory also views the firm in as a holistic sy stem with a high degree of integration in the process of value creation In the contemporary would, it seems that the only way through which managers will be able to be at per with the changing and ever evolving world is just to shift from the old traditions and adapt to the culture of present day which is more flexible compared to that one of the past tat was rigid. It was found that when training the managers in the present days, flexibility is emphasized to enable hem o develop ability to handle any emerging issue in the contemporary dynamic world. (Veldsman, 2014) Recommendation The fact that the world is becoming more competitive means that only those managers with high adaptive skills are the ones who will be able to see the organizations survive amidst of all challenges (Bielski, 2014). This therefore leads to a recommendation that in the contemporary world, all the managers should embrace change in terms of; familiarizing with any new emerging technology, have a flexible mindset that is able to address any issue that comes their way .A change in roles of the managers is also vital in the contemporary world in that the managers should be the ones to motivate the workers to make the organization successful. (Tang, Robinson and Harvey, 2011) References Levasseur, R. (2013). People Skills: Developing Soft SkillsA Change Management Perspective. Interfaces,43(6), pp.566-571. Eastburn, R. and Sharland, A. (2017). Risk management and managerial mindset. The Journal of Risk Finance, 18(1), pp.21-47. Chosen Problems of Contemporary Management in Modern Economy. Beata Glinkowska and Boguslaw Kaczmarek Economics World, 4(4). Tang, K., Robinson, D. and Harvey, M. (2011). Sustainability managers or rogue mid?managers?. Management Decision, 49(8), pp.1371-1394. Jarratt, D. and Stiles, D. (2010). How are Methodologies and Tools Framing Managers' Strategizing Practice in Competitive Strategy Development?. British Journal of Management, 21(1), pp.28-43. Veldsman, D. (2014). Organizational Transformation. Change Management: An International Journal, 13(2), pp.9-20. Taylor, C., J. Cornelius, C. and Colvin, K. (2014). Visionary leadership and its relationship to organizational effectiveness. Leadership Organization Development Journal, 35(6), pp.566-583 Caulfield, J., Polse, M., Stren, R. and Polese, M. (2001). The Social Sustainability of Cities: Diversity and the Management of Change. Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques, 27(3), p.381. Bielski, I. (2014). Evolution of managers opinions on usability of different resources for developing competitive advantages. Management, 18(1). Higgs, M. and Hender, J. (2004). The Characteristics of the Creative Manager. Journal of General Management, 29(4), pp.1-20

The Vietnam War Is Truly One Of The Most Unique Wars Ever Fought By Th

The Vietnam War is truly one of the most unique wars ever fought by the Unites States of by any country. It was never officially declared a war (Knowll, 3). It had no official beginning nor an official end. It was fought over 10,000 miles away in a virtually unknown country. The enemy and the allies looked exactly the alike, and may by day be a friend but by night become an enemy (Aaseng 113). It matched the tried and true tactics of World War Two against a hide, run, and shoot technique known as "Guerrilla Warfare." It matched some of the best trained soldiers in the world against largely an untrained militia of untrained farmers. The United States' soldiers had at least a meal to look forward to unlike the Communist Vietnamese soldiers who considered a fine cuisine to be cold rice and, if lucky, rat meat. The Vietnam War matched the most technically advanced country with one of the least advanced, and the lesser advanced not only beat but humiliated the strongest military in the wo rld (Aaseng, 111). When the war was finally showing signs of end, the Vietnamese returned to a newly unified communist country while the United Stated soldiers returned to be called "baby killers", and were often spat upon. With the complexities of war already long overdrawn because of the length of the war it is no wonder the returning solders often left home confused and returned home insane. Through an examination of the Vietnam War, in particular an event know as the My Lai Massacre, and the people involved with both, it can be proven that when the threshold for violence of a person is met or exceeded, the resulting psychological scarring becomes the most prominent reason for war being hell. Although officially, the Vietnam Conflict had neither a beginning nor an end, for the purpose of this paper it can be best examined through the decade the United States was involved: February 6, 1965 - August 30, 1975. During World War Two the French had been a major ally to the United States in the defeat of Adolph Hitler and the Axis Powers. France occupied and claimed the small coastline country of Vietnam in Indochina. In this region there had been recent Communist uprisings funded by the USSR The Vietnamese were willing to accept Communism in return for what they had been fighting for over 2000 years: self rule. In 1950 the United States, owing a debt of gratitude towards France, sent several advisors to aid French control in Vietnam. Over the next decade and a half, the United States would send an entire Army and Navy to aid the French in maintaining control in South Vietnam, which had separated from the Communist North Vietnam by treaty in 1954. In early August of 1964 a small Vietcong (term used to identify South Vietnamese in favor of communism and unification) patrol boat had an encounter with a United States war ship in the Gulf of Tonkin. Gunfire was exchanged, and, in the end, President Johnson agreed to allow aggressive retaliation. On February 6, 1965, the United States began the bombing of North Vietnamese cities, marking the unofficial start of the Vietnam War (Winthrop, 853-861). In the years of the war to follow, the media began to play a role. Photo-journalists would accompany platoons on missions and, through the aid of cameras and video equipment, relate the stories to the American at home. Every night for the length of the war news programs were saturated with reports of the happenings in Vietnam and death tolls for the day. Grossly eggzrated enemy casualty numbers were reported, giving the public a false view of happenings of the war. Suddenly on January 30, 1968 a Vietcong uprising, now commonly known as the Tet Offensive, took place. Tet is the Vietnamese new year and is commonly accepted as a cease-fire. With a cease-fire in effect, most major cities' defensives were less tight. As if all at once, more than one hundred South Vietnamese cities were being shelled with Vietcong gunfire. Included in the cities were Saigon, capital of South Vietnam and home to the United States Embassy. At first the Tet Offensive