Problem: Lula Grace Johnson (born March 13, 1929), known professionally as Jan Howard, is an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry star. She attained popular success as a country female vocalist during the 1960s and early 1970s and was twice nominated for the Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy award. Many of her hits were written by her husband at the time, Harlan Howard. Howard's biggest hit and signature song was the 1966 country hit "Evil on Your Mind", which peaked at number five on the Billboard country charts.

In 1959, under the name Jan Howard, she released the single "Yankee Go Home", which failed to hit the country charts. In 1960, the Howards went to Nashville, Tennessee, where they appeared on The Prince Albert Show, the Grand Ole Opry segment carried nationally by NBC Radio. Howard then released her first single under her new record company, Challenge. Titled "The One You Slip Around With", the song was Howard's first significant country hit, hitting the top 15, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard country music chart and earning her several Most Promising Female Vocalist awards (over, among others, another newcomer, Loretta Lynn). Occasional appearances on the Grand Ole Opry led to friendships with several country singers, including Patsy Cline. According to Cline's 1980 biography, Honky Tonk Angel, Cline originally yelled at Howard after a performance on the Opry stage. Howard fought back, and Cline was shocked by her reply. Cline then said to Howard, "Anybody who stands up to Cline is all right, we're gonna be good friends." The two were good friends until Cline's death in 1963.  Meanwhile, painfully shy Jan was suffering from the psychological scars of her youth, as well as the anxiety of beginning a new adventure. When her weight dropped below 97 pounds, Harlan hospitalized Jan and she went into therapy.  Howard appeared on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA on February 6, 1960, and later that year she won Billboard magazine's Most Promising Female Country Award. In 1962, she charted successfully on the country charts at number 27 with, "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again". However, none of Howard's follow-up singles was successful.

Did that appearance give new opportunities?

Answer with quotes: Occasional appearances on the Grand Ole Opry led to friendships with several country singers, including Patsy Cline.


Problem: Man o' War (March 29, 1917 - November 1, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred who is widely considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time. During his career just after World War I, he won 20 of 21 races and $249,465 (equal to $3,047,451 today) in purses. He was the unofficial 1920 American horse of the year and was honored with Babe Ruth as the outstanding athlete of the year by The New York Times. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957.

Man o' War was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957. In 1959, the Man o' War Stakes was created in his honor. In the Blood-Horse magazine ranking of the top 100 U.S. Thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Man o' War was ranked No. 1. He was also ranked No. 1 by the Associated Press as the greatest horse of the 20th century in a separate poll. He was also ranked No. 1 greatest horse in racing history by Sports Illustrated (panel of 7) in 1992. ESPN ranked Man o' War as number 84 on their list of the top athletes of the 20th century.  There is a roadside historical marker at the location of his birthplace in Lexington (Nursery Stud), though the site has since been redeveloped. The stallion barn at Faraway Farm where he spent most of his life was renovated in the early 2000s - it is now part of Mt. Brilliant Farm. His stall door was loaned to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga as part a special exhibit, "Man o' War at 100", that opened on March 29, 2017.  Glen Riddle Farm in Maryland was home to Man o' War during the off seasons of his racing career. The land was redeveloped in the early 2000s as GlenRiddle, a gated community with two golf courses, one of which is named in Man o' War's honor. The barn in which Man o' War stayed was converted into the golf clubhouse. In the 1950s, the Riddle estate sold the property Riddle had owned in Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania, which became the Riddlewood housing development. One of the roads in Riddlewood is named Man o' War Drive, another is War Admiral Lane. Man o' War Boulevard, a major arterial that circles to the south of Lexington, is also named in the horse's honor. Central of Georgia Railway once ran a Man o' War passenger train between Atlanta and Columbus.

what was his legacy?

Answer with quotes: inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame


Problem: Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (September 6, 1888 - November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician known for his high-profile positions in United States politics. Kennedy was married to Rose Kennedy, and three of their nine children attained distinguished political positions: President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968), and longtime Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy (1932-2009). He was a leading member of the Democratic Party and of the Irish Catholic community.

Kennedy wanted his eldest son, Joe Jr., to become president, but after Joe Jr.'s death in August 1944, he became determined to make his second son, John, president.  Kennedy was consigned to the political shadows after his remarks during World War II ("Democracy is finished"), and he remained an intensely controversial figure among U.S. citizens because of his suspect business credentials, his Roman Catholicism, his opposition to Roosevelt's foreign policy, and his support for Joseph McCarthy. As a result, his presence in John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign had to be downplayed.  However, Kennedy still drove the campaign behind the scenes. He played a central role in planning strategy, fundraising, and coalition and alliance building. Kennedy almost oversaw the entire operation, supervising spending, helping to select advertising agencies, phoning local and state party leaders, newsmen, and business leaders.  Kennedy connections and influence were turned directly into political capital for the senatorial and presidential campaigns of sons John, Robert and Ted. Historian Richard J. Whalen describes Kennedy's influence on John Kennedy's policy decisions in his biography of Joe. Joe was influential in creating the Kennedy Cabinet (Robert Kennedy as Attorney General although he had never argued or tried a case, for example). However, in 1961, Joe Kennedy suffered a stroke that placed even more limitations on his influence in his sons' political careers. Kennedy expanded the Kennedy Compound, which continues as a major center of family get-togethers.  When John Kennedy was asked about the level of involvement and influence that his father had held in his razor-thin presidential victory over Richard Nixon, he would joke that on the eve before the election his father had asked him the exact number of votes he would need to win: there was no way he was paying "for a landslide". Kennedy was one of four fathers (the other three being George Tryon Harding, Nathaniel Fillmore, and George Herbert Walker Bush) to live through the entire presidency of a son.

How did Kennedy encourage presidential ambitions?

Answer with quotes:
Kennedy wanted his eldest son, Joe Jr., to become president, but after Joe Jr.'s death in August 1944, he became determined to make his second son, John, president.