Despite his initial reluctance, Johnson agreed to run for re-election for governor in 1855, and became the nominee at the party convention.

Despite initial success, Shapur lifted his siege after his army missed an opportunity to exploit a collapsed wall.

Despite initial activity in the Lords, his career there was cut short by the House of Lords Act 1999.

Despite its initial recklessness, the alliance was very prestigious for both families.

Despite his initial high profile after the end of the Monkees, Jones struggled to establish himself as a solo artist.

Despite some initial success, bolstered by heavy advertising, the brand did not prove popular and was eventually withdrawn from sale.

Despite all this, the film is also one of the most widely seen Godzilla films in the United States — it was popular in its initial theatrical release, largely due to an aggressive marketing campaign, including elaborate posters of the two title monsters battling atop New York City's World Trade Center towers, presumably to capitalize on the hype surrounding the Dino De Laurentiis remake of King Kong, which used a similar image for its own poster.

Despite the initial popularity of the measure, the newspapers praised Cleveland's veto.

Despite initial successes, the German army was stopped close to Moscow in December 1941.

Despite some initial expressions of enthusiasm, Hoxha and Shehu mistrusted Nikita Khrushchev's programs of " peaceful coexistence " and " different roads to socialism " because they appeared to pose the threat that Yugoslavia might again try to take control of Albania.

Despite its initial dismal commercial showing, " Forever Changes " has since gained recognition as one of the all-time great rock albums.

Despite the initial distrust of the King and Crown Prince, and the loathing of Queen Augusta, Bismarck soon acquired a powerful hold over the King by force of personality and powers of persuasion.

Despite great initial excitement, the seed was found to be that of a European Juncaceae or Rush plant that had been glued into the fragment and camouflaged using coal dust.

Despite the initial success, the Olympic Movement faced hard times, as the 1900 ( in De Coubertin's own Paris ) and 1904 Games were both swallowed by World's Fairs, and received little attention.

Despite initial media reports, the affidavit made no mention of Clemens or Pettitte.

Despite the marginalised Left Opposition's demand for the restoration of Soviet democracy, Stalin developed a bureaucratic, authoritarian government, that was condemned by democratic socialists, anarchists and Trotskyists for undermining the initial socialist ideals of the Bolshevik Russian Revolution.

Despite a period of instability known as the Battle of the Booksellers when the initial copyright terms under the Statute began to expire, the Statute of Anne remained in force until the Copyright Act 1842 repealed it.

Despite an initial period of compliance, the principle of donating copies of books to certain libraries lapsed, partly due to the unwieldiness of the statute's provisions and partly because of a lack of cooperation by the publishers.

Despite initial opposition from her parents and difficulties presented by a sexist society, she gained education from books in her father's library and from correspondence with famous mathematicians such as Lagrange, Legendre, and Gauss.

Despite an initial reluctance to develop for video game consoles, Square entered the Nintendo Famicom market in December 1985 with the porting of Thexder.

Despite initial excitement, the guidance of longtime baseball executives, Eddie Leishman and Buzzie Bavasi as well as a new playing field, the team struggled ; the Padres finished in last place in each of its first six seasons in the NL West, losing 100 games or more four times.

Despite initial setbacks, he won increasing support among the natives.

Despite its initial focus on the elites, the Union was successful in raising funds from across French society.

Despite their initial cooperation against " revisionism ," Hoxha denounced Mao as a revisionist, along with almost every other self-identified Communist organization in the world.

Despite the initial failure of the story, it changed the course of Clarke's career.

Despite the strong start, the team played poorly in May and June and entered the All Star break at 47 – 48, still leading the NL West.

Despite the party's weaknesses, Sinclair gained a high profile as he sought to recall the Midlothian Campaign and once more revitalise the Liberals as the party of a strong foreign policy.

Despite a strong lineup anchored by the potent Lajoie and Shoeless Joe Jackson, poor pitching kept the team below third place for most of the next decade.

Despite the potential for a financially strong owner, Stouffer had some non-baseball related financial setbacks and, consequently, the team was cash-poor.

Despite the comparative obscurity of the kingdom, there were strong connections between Essex and the Kentish kingdom across the river Thames which led to the marriage of King Sledd to Ricula, sister of the king, Aethelbert of Kent.

Despite strong government measures, tension continued to grow, and Carías was ultimately forced to release some prisoners.

Despite the downturn, Hong Kong ’ s economic strengths, including a sound banking system, virtually no public debt, a strong legal system, ample foreign exchange reserves, rigorous anti-corruption measures and close ties with the mainland China, enable it to quickly respond to changing circumstances.

Despite his aping of Fascism, and the strong economic ties with resurgent Nazi Germany, Metaxas followed a policy of neutrality, given Greece's traditionally strong ties to Britain, reinforced by King George II's personal anglophilia.

Despite this, the strong claims made by the doctrine of human rights continue to provoke considerable skepticism and debates about the content, nature and justifications of human rights to this day.

Despite strong Italian influence, Zog refused to completely give in to Italian pressure.

Despite the formal disapproval of religious authority, the segregation of women in Muslim societies and the strong emphasis on male virility leads adolescent males and unmarried young men to seek sexual outlets with boys younger than themselves — in one study in Morocco, with boys in the age-range 7 to 13.

Despite strong economic and cultural ties with Thailand, parts of the border shared by the two countries are indefinite.

Despite coup attempts in 1980, 1983, and 1988, Gayoom's popularity remained strong, allowing him to win three more presidential terms.

Despite achieving independence in 1956, Morocco still has a strong relationship with its former colonizers.

Despite a strong push in the middle of the 2007 season, winning five straight games, the Vikings lost their final two games to finish the season at 8 – 8, missing the playoffs.

Despite its strong Australian showing, and having an American producer ( Peter McIan ), Business as Usual was twice rejected by Columbia's parent company in the United States.

Despite a strong Presbyterian presence on its campus, Occidental cut ties to the church in 1910.

Despite its criticisms, though, realism has strong defenders.

Despite numerous requests by Abdullah bin Jassim — for strong military support, for weapons, and even for a loan — the British were reluctant to become involved in inland affairs and kept him at arm's length.

Despite not selling as well as its predecessor, the album boasted several strong singles, including " Run's House ", " Beats to the Rhyme ", and " Mary Mary.

Despite his pragmatic acceptance of the new power balance in the Pacific after World War II and his strong support for the American alliance, he publicly professed continued admiration for links with Britain, exemplified by his admiration for Queen Elizabeth II, and famously described himself as " British to the bootstraps ".

Despite the global financial crisis, the South Korean economy, helped by timely stimulus measures and strong domestic consumption of products that compensated for a drop in exports, was able to avoid a recession unlike most industrialized economies, posting positive economic growth for two consecutive years of the crisis.

Despite these expansions, some still felt copyright was not a strong enough regime.

Despite the work of the 1400 strong Iraq Survey Group in post-war Iraq, no evidence of actual WMD capability has so far been uncovered ; according to its final report in September 2004.