Cold War and Friendships

Today we learned about how Cold War foreign policy is quite analogous to modern friendships. At the Moscow summit meeting, the Russians yelled at Nixon for 3.5 hours, but they were just yelling at him because they needed to show their support for Vietnam. They sent the tape of the yelling to North Vietnam, and after the transcript had been sent, they had a party and drank together like buddies. If the Soviet Union didn't show support for North Vietnam, they feared they would turn to China or another enemy. It's kind of interesting because this is reflected in the way we support our friends. For example, sometimes you just have to lend your sympathy/support even if you don't really agree with what your friend is complaining about. This obligatory sympathy generally happens when you want something from someone else, and that can only be accomplished by showing you are totally on their side.

War in Vietnam

The United States needed to get involved in the chaos in Vietnam.  Originally after World War II, the French had returned to Vietnam but had a difficult time.  An independence movement was being held by the Communists, under the lead of Ho Chi Minh.  The French were unable to contain the country, representing an end to there Imperialism Era.  Vietnam was then split into two.  The north of Vietnam was controlled by a communist government and was favored by the majority of the country.  The south of Vietnam was under a government run by Buddhists.  Although both sides treated their people poorly, the United States sided with the South due to the fact   they were "Not Communist".  Without a large country like France overseeing the governments, a civil war broke out between the North and the South.  To aid South Vietnam, the United States sent troops and soon found out that their South Vietnam allies were poor fighters.  This resulted in most of the fighting done by the United States.  We were unwilling to invade North Vietnam as the fear of the Soviet Union or the Chinese getting involved was too high.  The United States would remain supporting the South until 1975, with the end of the war.

The early part of the Vietnam war

The Vietnam War was an effort to contain communism in southeast Asia. America saw North Vietnam's leader, Ho Chi Minh, as a communist. Because of this, America sent troops into Vietnam in order to continue with the containment program throughout the world. Americans tried to eliminate all communist Vietnamese, known as Vietcongs. However, they had no idea who was a normal civilian, and who was a Vietcong. The US sent many people from South Vietnam into "Fortified Hamlets" in order to not let the Vietcong persuade them into becoming communist. On top of this they burned down many peasant's villages. The entire plan backfired when this resulted in more people wanting to join the Vietcong.

Beginning of the Vietnam War

The conflict in Vietnam began in Dien Bien Phu in 1954, when communists overthrew the French occupation of Indochina and set up a communist, nationalist regime. In North Vietnam the leader of the group, Ho Chi Minh, was viewed as a national hero for ridding the nation of foreign imperial oppression. The United States, however, disregarded his role as a nationalist and saw him only as a communist, even though he was a nationalist first and a communist second. Due to the ideological conflicts of the Cold War and the policy of containment, the US was determined to prevent North Vietnam's fall to communist spread to its neighboring countries in a theory called the domino affect. To try to stop the communists aka the Vietcong from conquering South Vietnam, the US sent advisers and support to the dictator in South Vietnam. The dictator with US advisory burned the South Vietnamese peasants' villages to the ground and sent them to “fortified hamlets” to isolate them from the Vietcong. However this just made the villagers more angry with the government and more inclined to join the Vietcong, and it went on in this cycle of being increasingly more violent to control the people but it just made them more angry until finally his dictatorship was overthrown and then he was assassinated by his own army. Seeing that the unstable South Vietnam would be doomed without American intervention, President Johnson sent more aid to South Vietnam, including naval and air support. At the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam, American ships were attacked by torpedo submarines. Shortly after the commander of a ship claimed that they were under attack, even though there was never any evidence of a hostile. Despite this, Johnson claimed that there had been two attacks, and he used the unprovoked attacks (even though there was only one attack) to convince Congress to give him the ability to do what ever was necessary to help the cause of suppressing the communists in Vietnam. Congress then handed its check of the ability to declare war to the president, and then Johnson sent the first ground troops into Vietnam, and the war had begun.

LGBT Movement

Homosexuality movement-

At the time in many states it is a crime to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transexual. It is even viewed as a mental illness by Physiologists. People who identify with LGBT sexualities are forced to camouflage their identities in order to avoid oppression and discrimination in the public and workplaces. These people are afraid to come out publicly under these identities as they don't want to be ostracized. In some cases gay people are fired from their jobs or even arrested in States where it is deemed illegal to identify with LGBT sexualities. Even a U.S government official is fired because he was gay. As a result of being fired for his sexuality he started to protest outside of the White House with other openly gay people. People are now starting to fight back against the oppression and similar to the women's and civil right's movements, they are trying to bring the cause to light through the media. At a gay bar there took place a riot where police tried to arrest gays and the victims decided to fight back for their freedom. This raid otherwise known as the Stonewall Raid is a great example of the oppressed fighting back for their rights. Homosexuality is eventually taken off of the list of mental illnesses.

Women's Rights Movement- Cooper Cornell

Women's Rights- 
The movement starts with women's desire for equal economic opportunities including equal pay and rights to male workers. At the time the movement is starting, women are not allowed to open bank accounts or start businesses. The National Organization of Women is founded in order to push for the amendment making economic equality between genders. Due to the amendment it is now illegal to discriminate based on gender in the workplace. At the time everyone viewed women as wives who take care of the house and kids. Even the president, John F. Kennedy, joked about women's rights and viewed them as house wives. One of the first methods women took to change the societal norms was through publishing books. The first book that questioned the societal views on women was called The Feminine Mystique. At the time Hugh Hefner, a billionaire, had started a company that set up clubs with scantily dressed women called Playboy bunnies. At these clubs women would be used as sex symbols for the entertainment of men. One journalist went undercover as a Playboy Bunny in order to expose the discrimination in an article. As a result, Hugh Hefner changed the working conditions of his female workers. During the time women were supposed to marry and have kids, however one woman wrote a book about being a single woman who had sex with whomever she pleased and used birth control to prevent pregnancy. This book helped spread and idea of female freedom and individualism to women across the nation. Even TV shows such as That Girl show independent women as main characters that are free to make their own decisions. This idea of sexual liberation become one of the main concepts behind the movement. Similar to the methods of the Civil Rights Movement, women are trying to break attention to the cause and the discrimination towards them. They are bringing the oppression to light in order to achieve more rights and freedoms as equals to their male counterparts.

Lets Move Into The Movement!

The 1960's was the decade of movement. Women wanted to be independent. They wanted to be able to work. They didn't want to be always relying on their husbands. They wanted to be able to provide for themselves. They wanted to work for as long as they liked for whatever reason they wanted. They wanted to be able to have control over their own body. What that eluded to was birth control. They wanted to be able to choose whether or not they themselves could have a baby. They didn't want to have it where their husband was choosing for them. They didn't want a life where their spouse was the one controlling whether or not they could have a kid, or have their own bank account, or where they had to be stay in mothers who cleaned or cooked. Other movements that proceeded the women's right's movement included the free speech movement, the farm worker movement, gay rights movement, and many many more. Of course with all this change, some people may not agree with it all. In comes the rise of the conservative party (those who didn't like all the change). They wanted to put a stop to all these movements. They wanted to stay in the past with all the suppression of all the minorities. They didn't like what was changing and they wanted to keep to what they had. Essentially the conservatives did not really get their way, but they really did not like all the change going on.

Tactics of the Black Civil Rights Movement

Overall, the strategy of the people in the Black Civil Rights Movements of the 1950 and 1960s in America was to spread the message of their movement and generate sympathy for their cause. They primarily achieved this through the use of television and non-violence. The television forwarded their cause greatly because it allowed their marches and speeches to be re-shown endlessly, and they were able to be shown quickly throughout the entire nation. The TV allowed their message to reach nearly every person in America. Also, the use of television allowed people everywhere to see the violence of the southerners towards them, which in cases like the Selma March where young black students were attacked viciously with attack dogs and fire hoses was a tremendous help towards generating sympathy. The tactic of nonviolent protesting was also very effective because it gave them the moral high ground, and through methods like overflowing jails they showed opponents of their cause that they could not suppress the movement through violence or by arresting them.

Victory in the Pacific

In the early part of the war in the Pacific, the Japanese were better soldiers than Americans because the Japanese saw themselves as expendable and they lived by “death before surrender.” In addition, they were better trained and equipped. The war in the Pacific was very important for the US because the US defeated the Japanese. At Midway, the Japanese were going to trap the Americans, but it ended up being the Americans trapping the Japanese. The Americans broke the Japanese war code and bombed the island. The Japanese lost 25,000 fighters and pilots. It was very big loss- a loss that was not replaceable. The war had a major impact on the Japanese Americans. People thought they could have been spies and were suspicious of them. People of Japanese ancestry were evacuated and shipped off by train to camps. 120,000 spent most of the war living in camps in California, Texas and Washington.

The Navajo Code Talkers

For my research paper, I wrote about whether or not the Navajo Code Talkers should have been given more credit. I chose this topic because not many know about the Navajo Code Talkers, including myself. I thought it be interesting to learn more about them. The Navajo Code Talkers consisted of Navajos from Navajo Nation who were fluent in both Navajo and English. These communicators took part in the Pacific of World War II from 1942 to 1945. At the time, the Japanese were skilled at cracking codes and had deciphered every code the Americans had used. For this reason, the Americans needed to develop an unbreakable code. This is where the code talkers came in. Philip Johnston, who grew up in the Navajo Reservation, proposed to the Marine Corps that they should use Navajo as a code language in 1942 since it was only spoken by people who lived with Navajos. After the code proved to be unbreakable by code-breaking specialists, the code talkers were involved in many battles like the Battle of Guadalcanal and Battle of Iwo Jima. The Battle of Guadalcanal was a very important battle for both the Navajos and the US because it was United States’ first victory and Japan’s first defeat. While they were indispensable at Guadalcanal, they were even more indispensable at Iwo Jima because were if it were not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima. Overall, the code talkers should have been given more credit at the time because they contributed a great deal to US’s victories in World War II.

Civil Rights

During the 1960s, many social movements were taking place to advance human civil rights. The primary movement during this time was equality for all races. Black Americans fought hard for the right to be treated as the equals that they were in society. Through revolts, riots, sit-ins, marches, protests, and other strategies, the civil rights movement worked to demolish segregation, prejudice, and racism in the United States. One of the primary leaders of this social revolution was Martin Luther King Jr. MLK never stopped fighting for equality through his peaceful tactics and even now, years after his death, his principles and ideas are still very relevant and taught worldwide. Learning about civil rights movements that occurred in the past, I wonder how those who participated back then, especially Martin Luther King, would respond to the movements occurring today, such as Black Lives Matter, the events in Ferguson Mississippi, diversity in the media, and the growing issue surrounding police brutality.

Civil Rights and Why the Movement Worked!!

The two main reasons for the success of the civil rights movement was the use of emotion and nonviolence. 

First, emotion. Think about the scenes we saw with the white police officers literally shooting painful jets of water at these skinny kids, or the officers letting loose these giant German shepherds that honestly looked really hungry and angry. Think about the reaction you had to that footage. Now take that reaction and multiply it by about 194.3 million (population of US in 1965). The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement definitely seized the opportunities presented by television and took advantage of the fact that their actions would be broadcast to a national audience, not just local. In my opinion, this spread awareness of the situation in the South (and other parts of the country) and led to legal action being taken, as lawmakers realized that the American public was dissatisfied/disappointed with them. 

Secondly, nonviolence contributed greatly to the success of the movement. Though numerous riots broke out across the nation towards the end of the movement, most of the movement had been nonviolent. Dr. King and other leaders were able to make deals and create change in the legal system because the protesters had not been the ones throwing teargas and physically beating the other side. Because the black protesters had funneled their anger into peaceful marches instead of riots and arson, civil rights bills because laws. The use of emotion and non-violence contributed the passing of legal safeguards for blacks in America.

Emmett Till

Over the past few days in class we have discussed the civil rights movement during the 1960's. This movement was sparked after racial tensions grew, and some African Americans began to stand up for themselves. Many were outraged by the brutal and horrific death of Emmett Till. Emmett was brutally beaten and killed at the age of 14 for talking to a white woman in a shop. His mother wanted the world to see what happened to him, and held an open casket funeral where people could see how badly he was beaten. This was one of the main sparks of the movement, which resulted in many marches, riots, deaths, and ultimately more freedom for African Americans.

The Problem with No Name

The Feminine Mystique was written by Betty Friedan in 1963.  This book was written mainly from personal experience.  Women were suffering from the problem that has no name.  This gave a vague sense of dissatisfaction.   The social norm of the time period has women run the household, not holding a “man’s” occupation.  The idea was that women will run the home and have children, nothing else.  This created an unequal relationship between the wife and the husband.  “Woman had not gotten enough out of life”.  Helen Gurley Brown was another author in the era who stated that men and women had different standards regarding intercourse before marriage.  

The King Falls yet the Movement moves on.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a reverend residing Ebenezer Baptist Church, taking upon his family's line of pastors.  After receiving his B.A. degree from Morehouse College, a segregated university in Atlanta, Georgia.  Later, he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, becoming a Pastor at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.  He always had strong opinions regarding equality of civil rights between races.  His most famous speech was the well-known, "I have a Dream", given on August 28th, 1963 around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.  His "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" illustrated the reasons why Negros shouldn't be denied the right to vote.  At age 35, King received his Nobel Piece Prize, making him the youngest man to ever receive the award.  In the Mason Temple in Memphis Tennessee, King gave his "I've been to the Mountain Top" speech, saying he had seen the Promise Land and he ensured that the people would reach it, however not necessarily with him leading the way.  This speech about predicted the event that could occur the following day.  On the following day, April 4th, 1963, King was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee.  Although the leader of the movement was no more, the movement would continue on, as it still does today.

"Mutual Assured Destruction" a.k.a MAD

As the Cold War progresses by the years and make both superpowers, U.S. and U.S.S.R., even powerful and advanced in technology and machinery. It really starts to worry both sides about the fact that their country could get nuked anytime and not be prepared for it. This cause extreme paranoia for both sides and also brought the ideology of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). MAD was the idea of mass producing in nuclear warheads from both sides, so that if one were nuked, the other could return massive attacks and both sides will lose drastically, therefore it's not worth the risk to nuke the other. Another thing adding up to the MAD concept is that submarines play a big role in nuclear warheads. The technology at the time was capable of nuking another country from a submarine, which balance powers on both sides if they both have it. A submarine could actually carry and activate 24 nuclear warheads. Another point in history that actually disturbed the MAD concept was when Russia started developing ABMs (Anti-Ballistic Missiles), which was thought to have jeopardized the U.S. protection against a nuke while Russia had one. The U.S. was not going to invest in ABMs since they were much more expensive than warheads themselves, so they came up with a comeback to Russia. The U.S. developed MIRVs (Multiple Interdependent Re-entry Vehicles) which where multiple warheads fitted into one missile. The Signifacance of this invention or discovery was that one ABM could only destroy one warhead while the MIRV shots another 4 more, if 5 was the total amount of warheads in that one missile. Both sides eventually agreed on limiting nukes, but it did not sot the arms race because they now can fit multiple warheads into one missile.

what's up with cuba?

When Fidel Castro took the power as president in the early decade, cuba began striking downhill. Castro was an extreme communist and a complete dictator, he was both hostile and completely ruthless to his men and to the cuban population as a whole. Cuba refused to collaborate and refine oil for them which led to the economic sink of many large companies such as shell. The united states and cuba were going back and forth with what they called "non combat attacks". 34th president Einshenhower decided to cut the sugar cane import from cuba to the US by more than 95% destroying many cuban farms by leaving families homeless and jobless. Cuba being a very underdeveloped country struggle a lot and agriculture was one of the main things that was able to keep its economy going. US president took it a but too far by hiring cuban spies and fire up the farmer's fields. Besides strains between those two nations there was also a lot of rivalry between russia an the US regarding Nuclear missiles. Cuba at the time was armed with russian Missiles, and the last step they had to take in order to win the war was to launch those missiles. The US was greatly disadvantaged by having their enemy's missiles right next to theirs. The russians were a lot closer to the US but the US were still far from russia. In the end the war resulted in a huge disaster and until a year ago, americans were not welcomed to cuba.

MAD

MAD stands for mutual assured destruction, which sounds pretty terrifying. This was a strategy used by both the Americans and the Soviets during the Cold War. The strategy was to be able to ensure that if the other nation did a first strike wiping out all of your major cities and military bases, that you would still be able to launch a very high amount of nuclear weapons back at the enemy, killing tens of millions of people. The reality was that both sides wanted enough nukes to scare the other side into not attacking, because there would always be a huge retaliation, that was designed to kill 25-50% of the enemies' civilian population. This could be equal to or larger than the entire amount of people killed in all of WWII.

"Cuban Missile Crisis"

There is a very commonly known event during the Cold War called the Cuban Missile Crisis and it is very known because it was the closet point of the Cold War where the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. got into a nuclear war. The crisis all began from the hated dictator of Cuba, that the U.S. put in charge, since he was a non-communist. Due to the hatred of the dictator, a rebellion began to overthrow the rule of the dictator and to rise in a new leader. The person who formed the rebellion in Cuba was called Fidel Castro. Castro wanted to support the cuban people, and especially the hard working class of Cuba. He then succeeds in taking power of Cuba and becomes the new leader. As leader, he starts to claim things as Cuban property like trades, supplies, etc., that actually were owned to the U.S.. Meanwhile in the U.S., the American government were angered by this act of rebellion that they send CIA officials to destroy the trading, goods, and supply in Cuba. This angered the Cubans and after many other things the U.S. have tried to do to weaken Cuba, it got Castro to face what he sees a new friend, which is the U.S.S.R.. They have been communicating and have been friendly countries for a while. It wasn't until later when Cuba became communist. President Kennedy did notice the relations between the two communist countries and they did try to invade Cuba to overthrow the Castro regime, but was very very weaken invasion at the Bay of Pigs. The U.S. send very few people to attack, so they drilled tons more people to prepare for an invasion of Cuba. Fidel, worried about another possible and much much bigger invasion faced towards the Soviets for help and the U.S.S.R. responded with giving Cuba nuclear missiles for defense. This was not immediately noticed by the U.S. until they started to spy on Cuba by air. It took them a while, but they eventually find out the Soviets have given Fidel missiles. This was very alarming because the U.S. capital could be nuked easily in 5 mins at anytime. Due to all the tension, the U.S. response with a naval blockage against Fidel. The tension was getting too high that the Soviets and Americans saw this as something they did not want to happen, so the Soviets withdrew the missiles from Cuba and the Americans promised not to invade Cuba. Fidel, in the other case, was very furious of taking away the missiles.

"McCarthyism"

McCarthyism is a predominant persuasive lie of accusing a person or group of people as or in acquaintance communists to or supporting its belief or communist people. McCarthyism was an abusive move for the purpose of gaining power and popularity used and founded by Joe McCarthy, the terrible senator during the cold war. Since Joe McCarthy was getting anywhere to reach popularity and in jeopardy of losing his position as senator from his ranking as worst senator of the United States, he tries to think of a way to gain popularity fromt the people. He soon realizes the easiest way is accuse people of having some relations with communism and during that era, anyone accused of being communist could bring that person under serious consequence. McCarthy goes and keeps on telling people that he would hear, see, or notice communists in certain areas, states, or inside certain buildings. He would bring up that he knows there are 200 communist in one area and he would make a list of fake communist people who actually are listed from real people’s names. He does gain lots of popularity and it startles the position of presidency. He majorly affected the Americans to become very paranoid about many communists existing in the U.S., but in reality there was only a little. In the end, from no proof of real communist from McCarthy, the people know he’s lying and ignore him. This kind of starts to fade the idea of many communists spies or communists in general being present in America.

Start of Cold War

The Second World War has ended and people around Europe are very happy and relieved that the Axis have lost the war. However, it isn't long before another longer-term, but less deadly war is approaching rapidly, called the Cold War. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the big two superpower countries left in postwar were the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., who were quick to become enemies. From history of both sides, they didn't have much of a great relationship and now that Nazi Germany was gone, and they were the two major powers left, they begin the long lasting tensions on nuclear aggression. Stalin in postwar had his army in the Cordon Sanitaire countries and he was going to "protect" these countries he claimed. In reality, he became hostile to any country he controlled that wasn't becoming communist. This later on caused people to move out of East Germany or East Berlin, were this became problematic to both West and East Germany and Berlin, the Berlin Wall was made to block both sides off so they wouldn't escape. The U.S. has a great economy going in post war and also they wanted to help out the Europeans countries in the West of Germany (expect Spain) to maintain their economy and stand against the U.S.S.R.. This became known as the Marshall Plan. It is also known from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the U.S. had an atomic bomb, and they try to intimidate the U.S.S.R. with it. However, when the Russians receive their first atomic bomb that works, it becomes the beginning of the arms race, or mass production of warheads between   U.S. and U.S.S.R..

The Concept of MAD

Mutual assured Destruction or MAD, was a strategies of the militaries consisting in the Cold War. The Americans as well as the Soviet Union decided that because they had begun to create so many nuclear missiles if one side decided to take the first shot the world would be an utter annihilation in a matter of days. The two sides believed that because they were so heavily armed there was no reward for beginning any sort of combat. In the early 1960s both the Soviets and the Americans developed anti ballistic missiles which could essentially impede one missile being shot at someone in mid air. These Anti Ballistic Missile's however would weaken the MAD agreement the two countries had

come to. Ultimately the United States came up with MIRVs which are US had 5 nuclear warheads on one missile. They were able to stagnate the Russians ABM's by attaching more that one nuclear warhead on a missile.

McCarthyism

McCarthyism is the act of making accusations of treason without any evidence.  It came about in the 1950s, when people were extremely scared of Communism.  Anti-Communist senator McCarthy gained popularity for his extreme anti-communist methods.  McCarthy would accuse people, especially other government officials, of having communist ties, which could ruin their lives even without viable proof.  Communist sympathizers were also a large target of McCarthyism, as well as people in the entertainment industry and educators.  Many people were put in jail on charges that had no evidence behind them.  These charges were eventually overturned when McCarthyism had its downfall in the late 1950s, but the damage was irreparable.

Cuban Missile Crisis

I think once Cuba became alliances with Russia and Russia put nuclear missiles in Cuba that was when America began to believe things could get really dangerous. As a result of one missile fired to the US it could really destroy a large part of the country and thousands if not millions of lives would be lost. I think it's smart that the US put this "fake" bombs in Turkey because it probably made Russia a little more hesitant into shooting the missiles because they new that the United States could press a button and most of their country would be gone in a matter of minutes.

McCarthyism

McCarthyism was a campaign against people accused of being communists. Americans feared communists because it was during the early 1950s, the height of the Cold War when the Soviets set off their first bomb. Since they feared the communists, those who were accused, were at the Senate held hearings and were blacklisted. McCarthyism was a period of time in which Americans could not believe what they wanted to believe. Usually men fight with their sleeves rolled and Joseph McCarthy, a master of media, believed that what he was doing was an effective way to defend American culture, which is why he described McCarthyism as “Americanism with its sleeves rolled.” For this, he is considered a emotive dictator who engages in demagoguery. In his opinion, suspected communists were criminals and it was not injustice to him at all to accuse men without any evidence.

5 Causes of the Great Depression

One of the major causes of the Great Depression was the Stock Market Crash. Stockholders lost more than $40 billion dollars. Only 2% of the American families controlled 26% of the wealth. Even though some of the losses were regained, there was just too much damage and America entered the Great Depression. The second major cause was bank failures. 9000 banks failed in 1930. Bank deposits were uninsured and people lost their savings. In addition, surviving banks were not willing to create new loans. The third major cause was reduction in purchases. People stopped purchasing items because of fear of more economic suffering. Due to this fact, there were less items being producing resulting in loss of jobs and accumulation of inventory. The fourth major cause was American Economic Policies with Europe. Because businesses were failing, the government created a tariff to protect American companies. This resulted in high tax for imports resulting in less trade. The last major cause was drought conditions. A drought in the Mississippi Valley meant man could not pay their taxes and debts. Instead, people had to sell their farms and were not able to make profit.

Rich Homie McCarthy doing some shady things

McCarthyism is a system in which the American government can entice its people to help them to purge themselves of the unknown possible communists that exist in their country. After the war the US was terrified of communism and became paranoid to the point where they turned inward in order to rid themselves completely of everything that even slightly relates to the Soviet Union and their ways of doing things. This era was encouraging citizens to turn upon each other in order to do the dirty work for the government, which thus only increased the state of fear that people lived in. They were not safe in their own homes, as even neighbors would accuse each other of communism. This era can be easily related to that of the salem witch trials because everyone is accusing people for the reason that they simply do not like them. People were forced to be publicly questioned for intimidation tactics, which in my personal opinion is barbaric to use one’s fellow citizens against one. And if these people were to be deemed communist then, must like the hollywood 10, they would be blacklisted and shunned from most of the community.

Nuclear War Simulation

On Wednesday, the class participated in a simulation of what the tension between nations over nuclear weapons would have been during the Cold War. Every group had a different piece of the flashlight that was necessary to build a functioning flashlight. While the tension that arose during this simulation was no where near what had built up during the war simulation in 1st semester, it became a situation of who could nuke their opponents the fastest. What I found interesting about this simulation was that all of our tensions, in my group at least, were directed toward one specific group in general. This anger was based slightly on the fact that they had cheated us out of a part by giving us one that we already had, but mostly because we still had a lot of pent up anger about Group 1 during the war simulation. I think that this is really interesting because it was similar to what was happening between the USA and Russia during the Cold War. Not only were they building off of increasing tension, but they were still angry over the past, which also contributed to the tensions that arose, creating a situation that could have potentially destroyed much of the world.

Nuclear BOMB simulation!

On Wednesday at the end of class, Mr. Stewart told us we would be doing a simulation. Since my group is usually the "shady", and fun seeking group we were ecstatic to find out we had a simulation waiting for us. Essentially the simulation was trying to simulate how difficult it was to make a Nuclear Bomb. The way Mr. Stewart simulates this is by first he gave every group, components to a flashlight. Our group got the batteries, others got the lightbulb, etc. We had to trade components or make deals of some sorts to try and gain all the components of our flashlight or the "bomb". We had to announce when we were going to test our bomb to the whole class, so that others could see if our "bomb" worked. The twist is, some of the components that were given, didn't actually work. So I think this was to simulate not everyone got it right on their first try, and maybe they got some of the pieces wrong; Or they did actually just have bad parts. Of course our group got all the components first, using our shady ways... but not all of our components worked to fulfill it's purpose. For being shady to other groups those who finally built their "Nuclear Bomb" nuked us immediately.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a clear threat from the USSR where Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba, and the US was already angered by Cuba and their new socialist regime. After failed attempts to oust Fidel Castro from power, the most major failure being the unsuccessful invasion of the exiled Cubans at the Bay of Pigs, the Americans now had a desire to invade Cuba to remove the Soviet power. The Cubans had allowed the Soviets to bring missiles to Cuba because they believed it was their duty to be comrades and cooperate in order to protect their own socialist ideas from the Americans. However, the Americans used their naval power to surround Cuba and try to prevent the Soviets from sending their nuclear missiles to Cuba, but the Soviet transports continued on course. This meant the only way the Americans could stop the cargo boats was to seize them, which would be an act of war. While it seemed that this new war was inevitable, it took many rushed telegrams between president Kennedy and the Soviet leader Khrushchev to prevent their armies from a full-scale assault.

Social Movements during the 60s

          During the 60s multiple social movements began to arise. The most well known being the Civil Rights Movement, lead primarily by Martin Luther King Jr. This movement wanted to stop segregation and discrimination against African Americans in public places. However, this movement was not the only important movement of the 60s and gave rise to even more social movements. One of these is the Women's Liberation Movement. This movement sought out more freedom for women and lead to sexual liberation, more access to birth control, and more accepted options for women rather than primarily taking care of the home. Another movement was the Environmental Movement, which was started by the book Silent Spring and caused people to begin to pay attention to environmental issues. The Latino Rights Movement also started in an attempt to get health and safety laws for farmers. The Latino's movement used the ideas of the Civil Rights Movement by boycotting and hosting similar marches. The Gay Rights Movement started as well and for the first time gay individuals would fight back against the police, and being gay was then no longer seen as a mental disorder. While all these progressive social movements began to arise and make changes to American Society, one group was not content will all the new changes happening in America. The Conservative Movement arose, against government power and regulations that were coming about do to the other movements. This was the first time that Conservatism was represented in government. Overall, the 60s brought about a lot of change, shaping the United States into the country it is today.

Pros and Cons of the Options that the United States Considered Regarding Cuba

When the US government learned that the USSR had begun setting up nuclear missiles in Cuba, they began considering different ways of how to remove them. The debate boiled down to four main options: air-striking Cuba, invading Cuba, blockading Cuba, or trying to reach a diplomatic solution with the Russians. However, each of these options had its own benefits and consequences. Air striking Cuba was the first option of everyone's list. It would quickly destroy Russian nuclear missiles without endangering too many American lives. However, this would be an act of war so it could possibly trigger a nuclear holocaust. Additionally, it was possible that the strike could miss some of the missiles which were hidden and/or hard to see, and then the Russians could set them up and fire them. Another option was invading with armed forces. This would be better than the airstrike because it would guarantee that all of the missile would be captured or destroyed, but it wold be worse because there were 43,000 Russian soldiers as well as Cuban forces guarding the island which would result in many American casualties. Also, like the airstrike, invading would be an act of war. The next idea was a blockade. The blockade was a less violent approach because they wouldn't be attacking Cuba, however the blockade wouldn't be as effective as the previous options because it only stopped ships coming to Cuba so it wouldn't get rid of the missiles already there. Also, creating a blockade was technically an act of war and the US had no international authority to stop foreign ships in the open sea. To try to play it off and a non-war action, the US government called the option a "quarantine" instead of a blockade. The last option was a diplomatic approach. The diplomatic approach would be the safest option because it would not be an act of war or aggression which could lead to war like the other options did. However, this wasn't a preferable option because it would be the most difficult to make happen, because it would be very hard to convince the Russians to remove their missiles and they could simply say no. At the end of the meeting the first choice on everyone's mind was the airstrike, however because the US didn't want to jump into aggressive action, Kennedy chose to do the "quarantine". By the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the method used to finally rid the island of the missiles was through diplomatic negotiation, where the US agreed to not use American nuclear missiles in Turkey and to not invade Cuba if the USSR would take their missiles and soldiers out. By the end of the Cold War, it was learned that the Russians had had operational missiles on Cuba at the time of the planning, which means that it is a good thing we didn't air strike or invade because an invasion force would have been obliterated and they would have nuked American cities.

Cuba

Today in class we finished the second part of the documentary on Cuba. Cuba started to go the wrong direction when Fidel Castro took over after the revolution, and the Soviets supported him. He became a dictator, and executed many Cuban citizens.  When Castro began buying oil from Russia, the US refused to refine the oil. In response, Castro shut down all American businesses in Cuba were shut down. When Russia and Cuba became close allies, tension grew between the US and the Soviets, especially when Russia moved nuclear warheads into Cuba. Russia and the US both new that the key to winning a nuclear war was having a first strike that would be so strong it would prevent a counter attack. However as tensions grew, the Soviets and the US were able to come to an agreement, and the missiles were removed from Cuba.

Cuba

Cuba began going downhill when Fidel Castro came into power as the President of Cuba.  Fidel Castro was a strong believer in Communism.  Being a complete dictator, Fidel Castro was hostile towards his men.  He then got oil from Russia.  In response to the United States refusal to refine the oil, all United States companies in Cuba such as Shell, were destroyed.  The going back and forth of non-combat "attacks" continued between the United States and Cuba.  President Eisenhower then cut the Sugar cane imports by 95%, destroying Cuban farmers.  To take matters further, he hired Cuban exiles to destroy the remaining fields in Cuba.  The competition between the US and Russia regarding nuclear missiles also grew.  Cuba was armed with Russian Missiles.  The key to winning a nuclear war was to have the First Strike.  With the new Russian missiles stationed in Cuba, the US was at a disadvantage as the travel time for the Russian missiles was now much less than the US's.  The options to rid the missiles in Cuba included Air strike, Invasion of Cuba, Diplomacy negotiations, or a quarantine, all with their own pros and cons.

CUBAAAAAAAAAAAa

Today in class we started talking about Cuba. We talked about how Fidel Castro came into power and started to screw everything up. He was a total dictator, who was executed civilians, he was a just not a good leader. Castro then nationalized American holdings in Cuba. In response President Eisenhower cut Cuba's sugar market by 95%; and he recruited Cuban exiles to the CIA to burn sugar cane fields in Cuba. Since we were still in the Cold War against the USSR anything that was unpleasant to the US the USSR was right behind it. So Cuba was a big unpleasantry, and of course the USSR supported and helped Cuba with it's tomfoolery. That's about all we got to in the video. But essentially at this time, we were not very fond of Castro, Cuba, or the USSR.

Hitler and the Economy

This post is pretty much a summary of one of the sections of my research paper. Hitler was actually quite beneficial to Germany in terms of it's economy. Sure, Hitler had a lot going on in his head, and most of it was probably extremely unacceptable, BUT Hitler works wonders for Germany economy. Before World War Two, Germany was in a depression. Failing economy, and war debts from the first world war were plaguing the economy, and it wasn't doing any better than America was at this time. When Hitler came in though, he changed that completely. He, similar to Roosevelt, put in a ton of national worker projects highways and such, along with several other reforms. No one really wants to read too in depth, so I'll just leave it at that, but ya he really got Germany's economy back on track. So, while he created some of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen, he did do one thing good for Germany.

Rich homie Row (vs. Wade)

Roe v. Wade (1973) This case was the case that made the state law that banned abortion except to save mother’s life unconstitutional. The Court ruled that states could only control abortion during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Obviously this law is supporting the pro-choice stance that many people hold today, as it is limiting the way that the state can interfere with the choices of a woman who finds herself pregnant. I am so grateful that this law exists because I find it appalling that anyone would be willing to take away a women's right to her own body, and most importantly her right to choose what is done with it. By making laws to ban women from getting abortions confines them to being nothing but a piece of public property. I am very passionate about this because I do not see how a women, who a lot of the time in these situations is terrified and overwhelmed, who is trying to make the best decision for herself and her life, effects the state to a point where they feel the need to pass a law to literally ban them from making a choice.

Civil Rights in the 1950s

One could say that the Civil Rights movement began to take root in the 1950s. In 1955, a seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus to a white man. This led to a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery public buses. The Brown vs. Board of Education court decision reversed segregation. Arkansas’ governor ordered the Arkansas guard to surround the Little Rock high school so that the black students couldn’t enter. A white mob surrounded one black student who had been separated from the other seven students. One of the witnesses described the mob as dogs nipping at her; when she would try to move between them, they would close in on her. The question was “Do the states have the right to impose their social order in defiance of federal court orders?” and Eisenhower said no. He sent the 101st Airborne troop to send the Little Rock Nine to school safely. Melba Beals said that it was the first time she felt hope. It was the first time she felt proud to salute the flag.

The 1950's

On Friday in class we watched the first part of the 1950's documentary. The economy was booming after the war, and people had more money to spend. This caused America to become more of a consumer society, which we still see today. People were buying things that they didn't need, just in order to say they have them. This is very similar to a lot of people today, who want to buy the latest edition of everything, just to have it. It's also interesting to see how almost everyone was getting married, and they were marrying young. Today, most people in their early-mid twenties' are not married.

People also started moving into suburbs, which became very popular. Suburbs were planned communities that had cookie cutter houses that were crammed together. Rock and Roll also became very popular, especially with young people. It was edgy at the time, and many older people thought youth should not be listening to it. An example of this today is rap.

1950's

The 1950's was a period of time where things were looking up. People had a little more money they could use and entertainment was at an all time high. America was becoming more of a consumer society because people were buying and selling goods and they were offering more unique services. During the 1950s over 95% of the people who were able to be married were married. Many people were moving into homes and contractors were slapping down cookie cutter homes one after another. In the end people were starting to enjoy life and the rise of Rock n Roll couldn't have come at a better time. People loved their lives and realized that they had been placed into a unique group of people. Everyone began to enjoy the way life was going.

The 1950s

America in the 1950s had become a consumer society. People were buying and selling things more than ever. Much of what the 1950s was like is similar to how we view the American Dream today. Ninety seven percent of marriageable men and women were married, causing people to often describe the 1950s as a "couples society." A quarter of Americans moved into suburbs. A whole suburb community would be built at one time and all the houses would look the same."Rock n' roll" music became popular in the 1950s with the youth population. However, many parents thought that the music was to vulgar and a euphemism for sex. In the 1950s, more people also were able to afford televisions. This became a key part of life in the 1950s and shaped the entire time period. People across the country could watch the same shows and news. Gathering and watching shows together became a popular way of socializing. The Civil Rights movement was greatly affected by the use of the television, as the technology help spread the message of desegregation and no discrimination across the country. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man on December 1, 1955. Shortly after the black community organized a peaceful boycott of the buses. The boycott lasted over a year, but eventually lead to desegregation on buses. The Brown vs Board for Education case results were tested when black students were prevented from entering their school in Arkansas. However, Eisenhower intervenes and showed that states could not disobey federal laws. The cold war also began in the 1950s. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik Americans felt they were behind and not working hard enough to be educated. Americans hard work to change what they thought of as lack of education lead to the space race. Overall, the 1950s was a relatively good time for America were social change started to begin.

3/4

Today in class, we began discussing how life changed after WWII, and in particular, after the Korean War

American society after the Korean War began to become more of a consumer society, which means that more goods were bought and produced in stores and factories. This helped give way to many new fashions, such as having a television in every home. The television dramatically changed home and work life, since many people wanted to be home to see their favorite television show.

Another big change was that rock and roll began to take hold in the younger generations at this time, and more suggestive and sexual materials were being published, such as playboy magazine. Many older Americans began to worry about the younger generation for listening to rock, and even accused the singers of being the devil's advocates, but as time passed, rock slowly infused itself into the society.

Homes were even affected at this time. People began to create suburbs, less densely populated areas where houses rather than apartments were constructed. These houses generally were nearly identical, and the home life helped give way to a baby boom at this time.

Chapter 11-15 Test

The block day this week tested our knowledge on the pre war, World War II, and the early Cold War.  I found the best and most effective way to study for this test in particular was in studying the practice tests provided on Edmodo under the "Practice Tests" folder.  The test, at least the beginning portion, consisted mainly of questions identical to those from the 11-15 Practice test itself.  Although there were a few questions thrown in the bunch made to trick you, like using the phrase "all of the following except" and "which of the following were not...", which would guarantee a missed question if not playing close attention to the question given.  In the end, I definitely feel confident that the combination of studying the practice tests like the back of your hand and paying close attention in class to political cartoons specifically, ensure a successful, non stressful testing experience.