Editing Martha's Vineyard (section)

===Modern era===
{{See also|Martha's Vineyard in World War II}}
Martha's Vineyard was used by the Army, Navy and Air Force from 1941 through 1945 for  training missions that ranged from landings on beaches to climbing cliffs and bombing practice.
 
The linguist [[William Labov]] wrote his [[Master of Arts|master's thesis]] on changes in the Martha's Vineyard dialect of English.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/hsl_shl/tristan.htm|title=Nonstandard verb forms in the dialect of Tristan Da Cunha|publisher=Let.leidenuniv.nl|access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref> The 1963 study is widely recognized as a seminal work in the foundation of [[sociolinguistics]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/Papers/labov.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627121040/http://albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca/Papers/labov.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Albuquerque.bioinformatics.uottawa.ca|archive-date=June 27, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Marthasvineyard-Chappaquiddick-DikeBridge.jpg|thumb|Dike Bridge, Chappaquiddick]]The island received international notoriety after the "[[Chappaquiddick incident]]" of July 18, 1969, in which [[Mary Jo Kopechne]] was killed in a car driven off the Dike Bridge by U.S. Senator [[Ted Kennedy|Edward "Ted" Kennedy]]. The bridge crossed Poucha Pond on [[Chappaquiddick Island]] (a smaller island formerly connected to the Vineyard and part of Edgartown). The bridge was intended for people on foot and [[bicycle]]s, as well as the occasional emergency vehicle when conditions warranted. Currently, [[4×4]] vehicles with passes are allowed to cross the reconstructed bridge.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Martha's Vineyard in Timeline - Popular Timelines |url=https://populartimelines.com/t/62207/Marthas-Vineyard |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=populartimelines.com |language=en}}</ref>

On November 23, 1970, in the Atlantic Ocean just west of Aquinnah, [[Simas Kudirka]], a Soviet seaman of [[Lithuania]]n nationality, [[History of the United States Coast Guard#The Kudirka incident|attempted to defect]] to the United States by leaping onto a [[United States Coast Guard]] cutter from a Soviet fishing trawler and asking for asylum. The Coast Guard allowed a detachment of four seamen from the Soviet ship to board the cutter and "drag the kicking, screaming Kudirka back to their vessel." He was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,944247,00.html |title=Refugees: How Simas Was Returned |magazine=[[TIME]] |date=December 28, 1970 |access-date=July 3, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Weiser |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/09/15/a-new-country-and-a-new-courtroom/9aefc300-2cf3-4d1d-8788-c947245c31a4/ |title=A New Country and a New Courtroom |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=September 15, 1980 |access-date=July 3, 2021}}</ref>

In 1974, [[Steven Spielberg]] filmed the movie ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' on Martha's Vineyard, most notably in the fishing village of [[Menemsha]] and the town of [[Chilmark, Massachusetts|Chilmark]]. Spielberg selected island natives Christopher Rebello as Chief Brody's oldest son, Michael Brody; Jay Mello as the younger son, Sean Brody; and [[Lee Fierro]] as Mrs. Kintner. Scores of other island natives appeared in the film as [[Extra (actor)|extras]]. Later, scenes from ''[[Jaws 2]]'' and ''[[Jaws: The Revenge]]'' were filmed on the island, as well. In June 2005 the island celebrated the 30th anniversary of ''Jaws'' with a weekend-long Jawsfest.<ref>{{Cite web|title=JawsFest '05 marks 30th anniversary of Jaws' release|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/life/travel/2005/06/04/JawsFest-05-marks-30th-anniversary-of-Jaws-release/stories/200506040129|access-date=October 26, 2021|website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Martha's Vineyard secession flag, unoriginal, but free bird.png|thumb|Martha's Vineyard secession flag]]

In 1977, distressed over losing their guaranteed seat in the Massachusetts General Court, inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard considered the possibility of [[secession]] from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, either to become part of another state (having received offers from both [[Vermont]] and [[Hawaii]]), reincorporating as a separate U.S. territory, or as the nation's [[51st state]]. The separatist flag, consisting of a white seagull over an orange disk on a sky-blue background, is still seen on the island today. Although the idea of separation from Massachusetts eventually proved impracticable, it did receive attention in the local, regional, and even national media.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.mvmagazine.com/2007/september-october/secession.php |title=Talkin' About a Revolution |last=Seccombe |first=Mike |year=2007 |access-date=September 10, 2009 |publisher=Martha's Vineyard Magazine |pages=September–October issue | url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110714141528/http://www.mvmagazine.com/2007/september-october/secession.php |archive-date= July 14, 2011}}</ref>

On March 5, 1982, [[John Belushi]] died of a drug overdose in Los Angeles, California, and was buried four days later in Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark. Belushi often visited the Vineyard and his family felt it fitting to bury him there. On his gravestone is the quote: "Though I may be gone, Rock 'N' Roll lives on." Because of the many visitors to his grave and the threat of vandalism, his body was moved somewhere near the grave site. His grave remains a popular site for visitors to Chilmark and they often leave tokens in memory of the late comedian.<ref>{{cite book |title=Belushi |last=Belushi Pissano |first=Judith |year=2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1919236_1919237_1919234,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090906235719/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1919236_1919237_1919234,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=September 6, 2009 | magazine=Time | title=Top 10 Celebrity Grave Sites | date=September 3, 2009}}</ref>

Since the 1990s, [[Bill Clinton]] has spent regular vacation time on the island during and after his presidency, along with his wife, [[Hillary Clinton]], and their daughter, [[Chelsea Clinton|Chelsea]]. Clinton was not the first president to visit the islands; [[Ulysses S. Grant]] visited the vacation residence of his friend, Bishop [[Gilbert Haven]] on August 24, 1874. As a coincidental footnote in history, Bishop Haven's [[Gingerbread (architecture)|gingerbread cottage]] was located in Oak Bluffs at 10 Clinton Avenue. The avenue was named in 1851 and was designated as the main promenade of the [[Wesleyan Grove|Martha's Vineyard Campmeeting Association campgrounds]].<ref>{{cite book | title=Oak Bluffs: The Cottage City Years on Martha's Vineyard |author=Jones, Peter A.|year=2007<!--
|access-date=September 9, 2009--> |publisher=Arcadia Publishing| page=37| isbn=978-0-7385-4977-4}}</ref>  In December 2019, President [[Barack Obama]] completed the purchase of a {{convert|30|acre|adj=on}} homestead on the Edgartown Great Pond.<ref name="ObamaHome">{{cite news | url= https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2019/12/04/president-obama-buys-home-edgartown-great-pond |title= President Obama Buys Home on Edgartown Great Pond |last= Wells |first= Julia |date= December 4, 2019 |access-date= May 13, 2020 |newspaper= Vineyard Gazette
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200421051947/https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2019/12/04/president-obama-buys-home-edgartown-great-pond |archive-date= April 21, 2020 |url-status= dead}}</ref>

On July 16, 1999, a [[John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash|small plane crashed]] off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, claiming the lives of pilot [[John F. Kennedy Jr.]], his wife [[Carolyn Bessette]], and her sister Lauren Bessette. Kennedy's mother, former U.S. first lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis]], maintained a home in Aquinnah (formerly "Gay Head") until her death in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 24, 2021 |title=And This is the House That Jackie Built |url=https://mvmagazine.com/news/2021/02/24/and-house-jackie-built |access-date=October 26, 2022 |website=Martha's Vineyard Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

In the summer of 2000, an outbreak of [[tularemia]], also known as rabbit fever, resulted in one death and piqued the interest of the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]], which wanted to test the island as a potential investigative ground for aerosolized ''[[Francisella|Francisella tularensis]]''. Over the following summers, Martha's Vineyard was identified as the only place in the world where documented cases of tularemia resulted from [[lawn mowing]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tularemia on Martha's Vineyard: Seroprevalence and Occupational Risk |volume=9 |issue=3 |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |doi=10.3201/eid0903.020462 |date=March 2003 |doi-access=free |last1=Feldman |first1=Katherine A. |last2=Stiles-Enos |first2=Donna |last3=Julian |first3=Kathleen |last4=Matyas |first4=Bela T. |last5=Telford |first5=Sam R. |last6=Chu |first6=May C. |last7=Petersen |first7=Lyle R. |last8=Hayes |first8=Edward B. |pages=350–354 |pmid=12643831 |pmc=2958548 }}</ref> The research could prove valuable in preventing [[bioterrorism]].{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} In the television show ''[[The X-Files]]'', [[Fox Mulder]]'s parents live on the island,<ref name="Maslin">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/books/25masl.html|title=The Ghost – Robert Harris – Books – Review|last=Maslin|first=Janet|date=October 25, 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 26, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and it was also the setting for Robert Harris' 2007 novel ''[[The Ghost (novel)|The Ghost]]''.<ref name="Maslin" />

In September 2022, Florida governor [[Ron DeSantis]] flew two planeloads of Venezuelan [[Martha's Vineyard migrant crisis|migrants to Martha's Vineyard]] in an effort to draw attention to what Republican governors consider "the Biden administration's failed border policies".<ref>{{cite news | date = September 15, 2022 | title = Florida's DeSantis flies dozens of migrants to Martha's Vineyard | url = https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/floridas-desantis-flies-dozens-of-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/ar-AA11R0GB | work = CBS News}}</ref> Some observers criticized DeSantis because the migrants were flown there unannounced. For nearly two days, island residents provided clothing, food, toys, toiletries, and temporary shelter, before removing the migrants from the island.<ref>{{cite news | date = September 20, 2022 | title = Critics Ron DeSantis Lured Migrants to Martha's vineyard under terrible Lie | url = https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/09/19/critics-ron-desantis-lured-migrants-marthas-vineyard-terrible-lie/10424956002/ | work = Tallahassee Democrat}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | date = September 16, 2022 | title = Venezuelan Migrants Welcomed to Martha's Vineyard with Open Arms | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/migrants-arrive-warm-welcome-marthas-vineyard/ | work = CBS News}} </ref>