One America Appeal

Last updated

One America Appeal
FoundedSeptember 7, 2017 (2017-09-07)
Founders Jimmy Carter
George H. W. Bush
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Type 501(c)(3)
FocusRecovery efforts for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria
Location
Area served
Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
MethodDonations
Website www.oneamericaappeal.org

The One America Appeal is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded on 7 September 2017, by all five then living former U.S. Presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. This joint appeal originally aimed to encourage support for recovery efforts for Hurricane Harvey, but was then extended to include areas most affected by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. [1] The appeal was launched when the five former Presidents aired a joint PSA on the NFL's regular season opening broadcast. [2]

Contents

All funds collected through this fund will go into a special account established through the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation and then all proceeds will be distributed to assist hurricane victims.

According to an update issued on 21 October 2017, the effort has raised $31 million in funds from more than 80,000 donors. [3] The appeal concluded fundraising on 31 December 2017 and raised $41.3 million in total from around 110,500 donors. [4]

Benefit concert

A benefit concert, "Deep from the Heart: The One America Appeal", was held on 21 October 2017 at the Reed Arena at Texas A&M University in College Station and headlined by all five living former U.S. Presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter). Ticket sales and other proceeds went to the special hurricane recovery effort. The concert was hosted by Lee Greenwood, with Martin Guigui as Music Director, and featured the country music band Alabama, Sam Moore, Yolanda Adams, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. [5] Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance, performing "Million Reasons", "You and I" and "The Edge of Glory" at the concert. [6] The Texas A&M University Singing Cadets also made an appearance to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner", "God Bless the USA" (alongside Greenwood), and "Lean on Me" at the end of the concert. A pre-taped video message from sitting US President Donald Trump was shown during the concert, in which he described the effort as "tremendous". [7] [8]

Donations

Donations to the fund will be distributed to these organisations: [9]

Founders

Five living former U.S. Presidents were co-founders of the One America Appeal in 2017. (George H.W. Bush died on 30 November 2018.)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Carter</span> President of the United States from 1977 to 1981

James Earl Carter Jr. is an American politician and humanitarian who served from 1977 to 1981 as the 39th president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 1963 to 1967 in the Georgia State Senate and from 1971 to 1975 as the 76th governor of Georgia. Carter is the longest-lived president in U.S. history and the first to live to 100 years of age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States presidential election</span> 56th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, and Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Obama became the first African American to be elected to the presidency. This was the first election since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president nor vice president was on the ballot, as well as the first election since 1928 in which neither ran for the nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical rankings of presidents of the United States</span> Rankings of the success of US presidents

In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or popular opinion. The scholarly rankings focus on presidential achievements, leadership qualities, failures, and faults. Popular-opinion polls typically focus on recent or well-known presidents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speechwriter</span> Person who writes speeches that will be delivered by another person

A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches to be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be employed to write for weddings and other social occasions.

In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were first conducted by George Gallup to gauge public support for the president of the United States during their term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Typically, an approval rating is given to a politician based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A question might ask: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the current president is handling their job as president?".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Bush</span> President of the United States from 2001 to 2009

George Walker Bush is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and Republican Party, he was the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George W. Bush Presidential Center</span> Presidential library and museum for U.S. President George W. Bush, located near Dallas, Texas

The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which opened on April 25, 2013, is a complex that includes former United States President George W. Bush's presidential library and museum, the George W. Bush Policy Institute, and the offices of the George W. Bush Foundation. It is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in University Park, Texas, near Dallas. It was selected to be the eventual burial location of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States (2001–2009), and his wife Laura Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portraits of presidents of the United States</span> Official portraits for U.S. presidents

Beginning with painter Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington, it has been tradition for the president of the United States to have an official portrait taken during their time in office, most commonly an oil painting. This tradition has continued to modern times, although since the adoption of photography as a widely used and reliable technology, the official portrait may also be a photograph.

The post-presidency of Bill Clinton began on January 20, 2001 following the end of Clinton's second term as president. Clinton was the 42nd president of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. After he left office, he continued to be active in the public sphere, touring the world, writing books, and campaigning for Democrats, including his wife, Hillary Clinton, who served as the junior U.S. senator from New York between 2001 and 2009 and the 67th United States Secretary of State between 2009 and 2013, on her presidential campaigns in 2008, in which she was runner-up for the Democratic nomination, and in 2016, when she lost the election to Donald Trump. After Clinton left office, he ended up forming a close friendship with George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and later, with their son George W. Bush.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reagan era</span> Period in the history of the United States, 1981–1991

The Reagan era or the Age of Reagan is a periodization of recent American history used by historians and political observers to emphasize that the conservative "Reagan Revolution" led by President Ronald Reagan in domestic and foreign policy had a lasting impact. It overlaps with what political scientists call the Sixth Party System. Definitions of the Reagan era universally include the 1980s, while more extensive definitions may also include the late 1970s, the 1990s, and even the 2000s. In his 2008 book, The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974–2008, historian and journalist Sean Wilentz argues that Reagan dominated this stretch of American history in the same way that Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal legacy dominated the four decades that preceded it.

Presidential Reunion is an American comedy Web short directed by Ron Howard and Jake Szymanski and starring Saturday Night Live cast members who parodied Presidents Ford to Obama. The skit was released onto the Funny or Die website on March 3, 2010, and received mixed to negative reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark K. Updegrove</span> American historian

Mark K. Updegrove is an American author, historian, journalist, and Presidential Historian for ABC News. He is the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation in Austin, Texas. Previously, he served as the director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum for eight years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States presidential visits to the Middle East</span>

Ten United States presidents have made presidential visits to the Middle East. The first trips by an incumbent president to countries in the Middle East were those by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and were an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. To date, 16 visits have been made to Egypt, 12 to Saudi Arabia, 11 to Israel, six to both Iraq, Jordan and Turkey, four to Iran, three to the Palestinian Territories, two to both Kuwait and Syria, one to Bahrain, Georgia, Oman, Qatar, and to the United Arab Emirates. No incumbent American president has yet visited Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Lebanon, and Yemen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Quayle</span> American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1979)

Stephanie Quayle is an American singer-songwriter and musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Post-presidency of Jimmy Carter</span> Actions of U.S. President Jimmy Carter after leaving office

The post-presidency of Jimmy Carter began on January 20, 1981, following the end of Jimmy Carter's term as president. Carter was the 39th president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. Carter's post-presidency is widely considered by historians and political analysts to be one of the most accomplished of any former U.S. president. After leaving office, Carter remained engaged in political and social projects, establishing the Carter Center, building his presidential library, teaching at Emory University in Atlanta, and writing numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry. He also contributed to the expansion of the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity.

The National Medal of Honor Museum is a museum that honors United States Armed Forces Medal of Honor recipients, founded and funded by the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation. The museum is scheduled to open on March 25, 2025 in Arlington, Texas, with groundbreaking beginning in March 2022. Previously, the group decided to build the museum in Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant but decided on Arlington later.

On January 20, 1993, following the first inauguration of his successor Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara Bush built a retirement house in the community of West Oaks, Houston. He established a presidential office within the Park Laureate Building on Memorial Drive in Houston. He also frequently spent time at his vacation home in Kennebunkport, took annual cruises in Greece, went on fishing trips in Florida, and visited the Bohemian Club in Northern California. He declined to serve on corporate boards, but delivered numerous paid speeches and served as an adviser to The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. He never published his memoirs, but he and Brent Scowcroft co-wrote A World Transformed, a 1998 work on foreign policy. Portions of his letters and his diary were later published as The China Diary of George H. W. Bush and All the Best, George Bush.

References

  1. "One Nation. One Appeal". One America Appeal. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  2. "All 5 living ex-presidents to attend hurricane relief concert". CBS News. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  3. Beavers, Olivia (October 21, 2017). "Campaign from former presidents raises $31M for disaster relief". The Hill. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  4. "One America Appeal Raises Over $41 Million for Hurricane Relief" (PDF). One America Appeal. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  5. "Why five former U.S. presidents are putting politics aside". NBC News. October 21, 2017. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  6. Calvario, Liz. "Lady Gaga Joins Former Presidents at One America Appeal Benefit Concert in Texas, Donates $1 Million -- Watch". Entertainment Tonight. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  7. Kenny, Caroline; Malloy, Allie (October 21, 2017). "Ex-Presidents attend hurricane relief concert". CNN. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  8. The White House (October 21, 2017). "President Trump Delivers a One America Appeal Message" . Retrieved October 22, 2017 via YouTube.
  9. "Former Presidents Obama, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41 and Carter to Headline Oct 21st Concert Benefiting Hurricane Relief Efforts" (PDF). One America Appeal. Retrieved October 22, 2017.