1980s

At the beginning of the 1980s, a general feeling of “gloom” was present throughout America because many people died in Vietnam, there was a lot of economic problems, and Anti-Americanism sentiment was spreading in the Middle East. Reagan was appealing to many Americans because he said he would help the country get over the humiliation from Vietnam and become the economic, military and moral leaders once again. Although he was appealing, reduction in welfare programs under President Reagan had negative effects. Homelessness became a prominent feature in urban areas. In the urban areas, the influx of “crack” cocaine magnified bad effects. Cocaine was cheap and the effects were strong. Because the effects only lasted a few minutes, it was super addictive. Reaganomics got rid of government regulations and cut corporate taxes so corporates could get rich quicker because it increased corporate profits. The people around Reagan were conservative and people who got AIDS got it by doing things other people didn’t approve of and wouldn’t do.” They thought it was something that only homosexuals were affected by. Once a few celebrities got AIDS, the public realized it wasn’t just for lowly people. Gorbachev made changes and allowed others to make changes. He wanted to be more accepting of other viewpoints and that allowed people to speak out. People said they didn't like communism and started to rebel peacefully, which led to eventual demise of communism. Reagan is anti-communist and that speeds up the end of communism in Europe.

America's Backyard

In 1954, the CIA believed that if PB Success worked in Guatemala, it would work in Cuba, but it didn’t because Cuba was different. PB Success was the CIA operation consisted of making Arbenz government look bad or ineffective. It drove Arbenz and his wife in exile. Because PB Success didn’t work, they decided that they had to go more extreme, so they launched the Bay of Pigs operation. By the early 1960s, there were left-wing uprisings in Central and South America: Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, Perú, República Dominicana, Cuba, El Salvador. The American government was hostile to Salvador Allende’s government in Chile because his government helped people associated with Che Guevara that Americans are trying to capture. Allende was kind of communist, so Americans didn’t like him. American companies were afraid that President Allende would take their resources. On the other hand, in Chile, the rich people didn’t like them because they were taking money from the rich to help the poor.

Social Movements

In the 1960s, different conditions existed and created a variety of social movements. One of them was the women’s rights movements. Women had limited rights. Not only could they not open their own letters, they couldn’t open their own businesses. Betty Friedan shared her perspective on the issue through her book, “Feminine Mystique.” This book discusses Betty’s sense of dissatisfaction and lack of opportunities. Similarly, Helen Gurley Brown wrote a book about her own life and how she supported herself. Both authors were a huge impacts on women because they gave them a different perspective on life. Another social movement is the environmentalist movement. One author Rachel Carson, wrote the book Silent Spring. The book discussed the detrimental effects on the environment. Pesticides were released and entered the biosphere, killing bugs but also making their way up the food chain threatening birds, fish and children. Chemical and agricultural companies attacked her for releasing the information, but the government backed her up. Rachel Carson play a big role in starting the movement because she spread the information to the public, allowing them to see what was really going on. In addition, another social movement that created is the gay rights movement. Gay men were forced to seek treatment because they was supposedly something wrong with them. They started the Stonewall riot and fought the police in order to stand up for themselves. They were tired of being called wrong.

Black Civil Rights Movements

The overarching theme linking the strategies used during the Black Civil Rights Movements is appealing to people’s emotions with media. Emmett Till was murdered at the age of 14 for flirting with a white woman in Mississippi. His mother decided to have an open casket during his funeral. His mother did this to show everyone the truth and how bad everything was in the South. This strategy generated empathy within people because compared to everywhere else, Mississippi was one of the most segregated areas. In addition, Martin Luther King got high schoolers to protest against segregation. Because they were protesting, police beat them with hoses even though protesting is nonviolent. The protests were on international television and made Americans look bad. This intentional protesting was to make Americans stand up and advocate for change. Media was very important during the Black Civil Rights Movements because without it, it would have been harder to promote change.

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.

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.

John Rockefeller

Rockefeller started working at the age of 16 as an assistant bookkeeper. Oil production became very popular and he sensed opportunities, so he established an oil refinery. His refinery was known as the Standard Oil Company. The company bought out its rivals and became the most powerful refinery. The various companies became known as the Standard Oil Trust, which controlled refineries and pipelines. Standard Oil built its own barrels and figured out new uses for petroleum. The Anti-Sherman Act was later created by US Congress and forced the Standard Oil to be broken into many individual companies. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller donated money to the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller University. Rockefeller changed the lives of ordinary people because of his emphasis on size and efficiency.

John Pierpont Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was born to a banker. He started his own private banking company after working for his father. His company, JP Morgan & Co become one of the most powerful financial firms that the government looked to the firm for help during the depression and financial crisis. Morgan dominated Carnegie’s business. He strengthened the railroad industry and created the US Steel Corporation. Morgan is considered one of the country’s leading businessmen because he helped shaped the nation.

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie grew up in a family in which education was very important. Carnegie educated himself at a local library and taught himself how to decipher morse code by ear. He came to the US with his family at the age of 13. He got a job at the Pennsylvania Railroad and worked as the assistant and telegrapher for Thomas Scott. His experiences with Thomas Scott taught him about the railroad industry and business. Carnegie started his own business, known as Carnegie Steel Company. His strategies helped him become one of them most powerful men who improve the economy. Because he was an avid reader, he donated five million dollars to the New York Public Library. Growing up in a family with education having great importance, he established Carnegie-Mellon University.

The Vanderbilts

At the age of 16, Cornelius Vanderbilt borrow a hundred dollars to buy his first small ferry boat. He started his own passenger ferry business and ferried people and goods between Staten Island and Manhattan. Vanderbilt was a hard working and skilled sailor. He didn’t want his business to decline so he got a job operating a steamboat for a man. Later, he started his own steamboat business. He had very affordable rates and was very good at stealing customers. His competitors saw him as a threat and paid him to leave the Hudson River. As time went on, rail travel was growing, so Vanderbilt decided to buy railroads in New york. He became a millionaire with the business he made. Vanderbilt was so rich, in fact, when he died, he had more money than the government. He donated some of the money to the university. His son later double his fortune in six years. Vanderbilt popularized steel rails and led other like Rockefeller and Carnegie to do the same as him, allowing the economy to grow.

The Progressive President: Woodrow Wilson

Wilson initially not progressive because he believed that the president should lead the government and make sure the government followed the will of the people. His time as governor made him progressive when he fought the city bosses and political machines. During his time in office as president, he was in fact progressive because of the social and political changes in society. Wilson was an idealist because of his education and limited experience. Although he was an intelligent man, the public thought of him as cold and distant. Wilson wanted to reduce the tariffs that hurt American businesses and consumers, so he went to the Congress and they agreed to design the Underwood Tariff Bill to reduce import fees. The bill introduced graduated income taxes. In addition, he created the Federal Reserve Act. This act created the Federal Reserve Board which supervised the reserve districts. It also created the Federal Reserve Notes, paper currency that allowed the government to adjust the flow of money. Wilson was the last of the progressive presidents who mostly got the US involved in a European war.

The Progressive President: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was a progressive because he supported labor and he tore down large companies, supporting small businesses. He created the Square Deal in 1901 that would supposedly solve the problems: control of corporation, consumer protection and conservation. Coal mining was dirty and dangerous, so miners went on strike for higher pay and reduction in workday. The first part of the deal was control of corporation. Mine owners didn’t want to negotiate with Roosevelt, but it wasn’t until he declared that he would seize the mines and operate it with the federal troops that the miner owners listened to him. Owners increased pay by 10 percent and shortened the work day to 9 hours. In addition, Roosevelt began to attack large monopolistic corporations because the companies were engaged in corrupt practices. The Northern Securities Company controlled most of the railroads and wanted to create a total monopoly. Roosevelt stopped them and the Supreme Court ordered the company to be dissolved. The second part of the deal was consumer protection. Roosevelt passed the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. These acts ensured healthy products. The last part of the deal was conservation. In 1902, he passed the Newlands Act so that the government could sell public lands. Landowners would have to pay back the irrigation costs from the money they earned from their fertile land.

Federalists vs Republicans

Alexander Hamilton was the leader of the Federalists while Thomas Jefferson was the leader of the Republicans. The Federalists believed in a strong central government and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. Federalists were well-educated and they considered themselves to be the elite ruling class or the “enlightened few.” They favored the wealthy and supported manufacturing and international trade. The Republicans on the other hand believed in a weaker central government and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. They supported agriculture because that way, they could themselves and purchase goods from Europe. To them, all people could govern if they were properly educated and people would put aside their selfishness for the good of everyone. The Republicans gained National office and excised taxes and tariffs.

New World Order

People like Alex Jones are a positive and negative aspect of democracy. Alex Jones is a role model because of his courage to freely speak to others about his thoughts on the government and the conspiracy theories. I admire him for going on the street and telling people what he thinks because there were people that disagreed with him and went into an argument with him. He is an inspiration to people like Luke Rudowski and Jack McLamb. At the same time, he is a negative aspect for accusing the government. He wanted to expose the highly secretive meetings of the Bilderberg group and tried to persuade people into thinking against the government without actual evidence.