IN: Samuel Dale Brownback (born September 12, 1956) is an American lawyer, politician, diplomat and the current United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom since 2018. Brownback previously served as the 46th Governor of Kansas, as a U.S. Senator from Kansas, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as the Secretary of Agriculture of Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during the Republican Revolution of 1994, representing Kansas's 2nd congressional district for a single term, before running in a 1996 special election for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by Bob Dole. He won the special election and the following two regular elections, serving until 2011.

Brownback was a member of the Judiciary Committee, the Senate Appropriations Committee (where he chaired the Subcommittee on District of Columbia when the Republicans were in the majority), the Joint Economic Committee, and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, which he at one time chaired. The Helsinki Commission monitors compliance with international agreements reached in cooperation with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.  In 2000, Brownback and Congressman Chris Smith led the effort to enact the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. President Clinton signed the legislation in October 2000. According to Christianity Today, the stronger enforcement increased the number of U.S. federal trafficking cases eightfold in the five years after enactment.  As of August 12, 2007, in the 110th Session of Congress, Brownback had missed 123 votes due to campaigning (39.7 percent) - surpassed only by Tim Johnson (D) of South Dakota who due to a critical illness had missed 100% of the votes of the 110th Session, and John McCain (R) of Arizona with 149 votes missed due to campaigning (48.1 percent).  As of April 2012, Brownback had an approval rating of 34 percent according to a Survey USA Poll. A Republican polling company found his approval rating to be 51 percent in May 2012. In November 2015, Brownback had an approval rating of 26 percent according to a Morning Consult poll, the lowest among all governors in the United States.  In 2006, Brownback blocked a confirmation vote on a George W. Bush federal appeals court nominee from Michigan, judge Janet T. Neff. He objected to her joining the bench solely for her having attended a same-sex commitment ceremony in Massachusetts in 2002 which involved a next door neighbor who was a close childhood friend of Neff's daughters. His action had blocked confirmation votes on an entire slate of appointments that already had been approved by a bipartisan group of Senators. In July 2007, he finally lifted his block that had prevented the vote, and the Senate confirmed her by 83-4. Brownback was joined in opposition by just three other conservatives, then-Senators Jim Bunning, Jon Kyl, and Mel Martinez.

was he involved in any scandals?

OUT: Brownback blocked a confirmation vote on a George W. Bush federal appeals court nominee from Michigan, judge Janet T. Neff.


IN: Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901 - August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, educator, and husband of American human rights activist Ava Helen Pauling. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific topics. New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time, and as of 2000, he was rated the 16th most important scientist in history. Pauling was one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.

Pauling's discoveries led to decisive contributions in a diverse array of areas including around 350 publications in the fields of quantum mechanics, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, protein structure, molecular biology, and medicine.  His work on chemical bonding marks him as one of the founders of modern quantum chemistry. The Nature of the Chemical Bond was the standard work for many years, and concepts like hybridization and electronegativity remain part of standard chemistry textbooks. While his Valence bond approach fell short of accounting quantitatively for some of the characteristics of molecules, such as the color of organometallic complexes, and would later be eclipsed by the molecular orbital theory of Robert Mulliken, Valence Bond Theory still competes, in its modern form, with Molecular Orbital Theory and density functional theory (DFT) as a way of describing the chemical phenomena. Pauling's work on crystal structure contributed significantly to the prediction and elucidation of the structures of complex minerals and compounds. His discovery of the alpha helix and beta sheet is a fundamental foundation for the study of protein structure.  Francis Crick acknowledged Pauling as the "father of molecular biology". His discovery of sickle cell anemia as a "molecular disease" opened the way toward examining genetically acquired mutations at a molecular level.  Pauling's 1951 publication with Robert B. Corey and H. R. Branson, "The Structure of Proteins: Two Hydrogen-Bonded Helical Configurations of the Polypeptide Chain," was a key early finding in the then newly emerging field of molecular biology. This publication was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society presented to the Department of Chemistry, Caltech, in 2017.

Was he ever nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?

OUT: 


IN: Forest "Evy" Evashevski (February 19, 1918 - October 30, 2009) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks in 1942. Evashevski served as the head football coach at Hamilton College in 1941, Washington State University from 1950 to 1951, and the University of Iowa from 1952 to 1960, compiling a career record of 68-35-6. Evashevski's 1958 Iowa team went 8-1-1, winning the Big Ten Conference title and defeating the California Golden Bears in the 1959 Rose Bowl.

"People in the Midwest are my people and I wanted to be back among them...And, of course, I don't have to tell you what I think of Big Ten football. It's the best in the country." With those words, Evashevski left the Palouse in eastern Washington to become the University of Iowa's 19th head football coach.  Evashevski nearly took the head coaching job at Indiana University, but Fritz Crisler urged him to consider Iowa. He felt that it would be easier to attain statewide support at Iowa than in Indiana, where Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame shared the spotlight. Evashevski was familiar with Iowa City from his stint with the Naval Pre-Flight School. Crisler was the man who recommended Evashevski to Iowa's athletic director, Paul Brechler. Crisler did warn Brechler, however, that Evashevski was "a tough, stubborn Polack, and you might have to put the reins on him."  In 1952, Iowa football had only had three winning seasons in the previous 16 years. Iowa had also gone without a Big Ten Conference title for three decades. A United Press International story named three football programs in 1952 with new coaches that would struggle to ever be competitive: Iowa, Indiana, and Pittsburgh. Iowa's first two opponents in 1952 were Pittsburgh and Indiana, and Iowa lost to both, starting the year 0-2. But Evashevski knew the Hawkeye program could be resurrected. When he came to Iowa, Evashevski was asked by a writer, "Do you think Iowa could ever really have a consistently winning team?" Evashevski snapped, "Why in the hell do you think I took the job?" Afterwards, a photographer noted, "I think that man truly believes he's the savior of Iowa football."

Did he have any major wins?

OUT: