Portal:Missouri

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The Missouri Portal

Missouri (pronounced /mɪˈzʊri/ or /mɪˈzʊrə/) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The four largest urban areas are, in descending order, St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri was originally purchased from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and part of the Missouri Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state in 1821.

Missouri mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of the nation as a mixture of urban and rural culture. It has long been considered a political bellwether state. It is a state with both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a blend between the eastern and western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most western city." Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains, with the Missouri River dividing the two. The confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers is located near St. Louis.

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Selected article

USS Missouri (BB-63) ("Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo") is a U.S. Navy battleship, and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri is the final battleship to be built by the United States, and among the Iowa-class battleships is notable for being the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. Missouri was ordered on 12 June 1940 and her keel was laid at the New York Navy Yard in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on 6 January 1941.

Missouri was decommissioned a final time on 31 March 1992, having received a total of eleven battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf. She was maintained on the Naval Vessel Register until January 1995, when her name was struck. In 1998 she was donated to the Missouri Memorial Association, and is presently a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (Read more...)

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Spotlight city

Columbia (pronounced /kəˈlʌmbiə/) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the largest city in mid-Missouri. With an estimated population of 94,428 in 2006, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 162,314 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the location of the University of Missouri. The college town is politically liberal and known by the nicknames "The Athens of Missouri," "College Town USA," and "CoMo." Over half the population of Columbia possesses a bachelor's degree making it one of the most highly educated municipalities in the United States.

Located in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, Columbia is equidistant from St. Louis and Kansas City, in a region known as "Mid-Missouri". Today, Columbia has a highly diversified economy, and is often ranked high for its business atmosphere. Never a strong center of industry and manufacturing, the city's economic base relies on the education, medical, technology and insurance industries. Studies consistently rank Columbia as a top city in which to live for educational facilities, health care, technological savvy, economic growth, cultural opportunities and cost of living. The city has been ranked as high as the second-best place to live in the United States by Money Magazine's annual list and is regularly in the top 100. People from Columbia are described as "Columbians." (Read more...)

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Selected picture

Credit: Daniel Schwan
The Gateway Archand Downtown St. Louisare recognizable symbols of Missouri edit

Did you know...

...that St. Charles was the first capital of Missouri?
...that Kansas City has more miles of boulevards than Paris and more fountains than any city except Rome?
...that St. Louis was the site of the demonic possession incident that inspired the book, and later the movie,"The Exorcist"?
...that the tallest man in documented medical history was Robert Pershing Wadlow from St. Louis? He was 8 feet, 11.1 inches tall.

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Featured content

Featured articles: Barbara McClintock • Daniel Boone • Harry S. Truman • Pioneer Zephyr • Robert A. Heinlein • USS Missouri (BB-63) • Uncle Tupelo • William Tecumseh Sherman

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State facts

Missouri State Capitolbuilding

Nickname: The Show-Me State
Capital: Jefferson City
Governor: Matt Blunt (R)
Total area: 180,533 square kilometers (69,704 square miles)
Population (2006 census est): 5,878,415
Date admitted to the Union: 1821
Senators: Kit Bond (R), Claire McCaskill (D)

State symbols:

The Bluebird, Missouri's state bird

Animal: Missouri Mule
Bird: Eastern Bluebird
Fish: Channel Catfish
Flower: Hawthorne
Insect: Honeybee
Tree: Flowering Dogwood
Fossil: Crinoid
Rock: Mozarkite
Mineral: Galena
Song: Missouri Waltz
Dance: Square dance

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Selected biography

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953). As vice president, he succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died less than three months after he began his fourth term. As president, Truman faced challenge after challenge in domestic affairs. The disorderly reconversion of the economy of the United States was marked by severe shortages, numerous strikes, and the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act over his veto. He confounded all predictions to win re-election in 1948, largely due to his famous Whistle Stop Tour of rural America. After his re-election he was able to pass only one of the proposals in his Fair Deal program. He used executive orders to begin desegregation of the U.S. armed forces.

Truman, whose demeanor was very different from that of the patrician Roosevelt, was a folksy, unassuming president. He popularized such phrases as "The buck stops here" and "If you can't stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen." He overcame the low expectations of many political observers who compared him unfavorably with his highly regarded predecessor. At one point in his second term, near the end of the Korean War, Truman's public opinion ratings reached the lowest of any United States president, until George W. Bush in April of 2008. Despite negative public opinion during his term in office, popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency became more positive after his retirement from politics and the publication of his memoirs. He died in 1972. Many U.S. scholars today rank him among the top ten presidents. Truman's legendary upset victory in 1948 over Thomas E. Dewey is routinely invoked by underdog presidential candidates. (Read more...)

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