latin americans

African Americans were not the only people fighting for civil rights. Another group that fought were the Latin Americans. In class I learned that Hernandez was not treated fairly at all when being tried in court. Mexicans were legally given the right to participate in jury duty. However, far after the civil rights movements, Mexican Americans and other Latinos were still viewed as lower class humans than many other races. They were only believed to be citizens because they were born there. However, after this trial, the Mexican Americans are viewed with more equality than before.

Richie Nixion

Richard Mihous Nixion was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate studies at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington in 1942 to work for the federal government. He subsequently served on active duty in the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as vice president. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California to Pat Brown in 1962. In 1968 he ran again for the presidency and was elected when he defeated Hubert Humphrey.

The Persian Gulf War and Its Effects

The Persian Gulf War began when Iraq invade its neighbor Kuwait in 1990. Arab powers like Egypt and Saudi Arabia were alarmed by this action, and feared that Iraq would attack them as well. The invasion of Kuwait was alarming to the United States as well, because if Iraq succeeded in its campaign it could have potentially had control of a large majority of the oil supply, and the US had not forgotten the economic crisis it suffered in the 1970s from middle-eastern oil embargoes. Saudi Arabia allowed the US to use it as a staging ground, and in 1991 the US began a massive air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 100 hours of ground fighting, the US and its allies had won, and much of the Iraqi forces in Kuwait had fled, surrendered, or been killed. The Persian Gulf War was important to the American people because it restored confidence in the military. In Kuwait the US did not have to worry about cold war repercussions like it had in Vietnam, so it was able to utilize its full potential. In addition, the technology of war had improved greatly since Vietnam. Smart bombs and stealth aircraft were widely used allowing the US military to be terrifyingly precise with its bombings. Also, unlike in Vietnam the press was only allowed to see what the military wanted it to see, which was simply smart bombs hitting targets and not the suffering of the victims of the war. Overall, the Persian Gulf War was a much needed victory for the US, boosting confidence in the US military, as well as restoring American pride.

The Concept of MAD

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, and new type of danger was looming over the human race: Nuclear Holocaust. With both sides of the Cold War having the ability of a first strike, the press of a button could kill millions. It was from this fear of a surprise first strike that the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction, also known as MAD, was formed. Simply put, MAD is the idea that if you can guarantee death to anyone trying to kill you, even if they can kill you they won't sacrifice themselves doing it, and thus a conflict never arises. In the Cold War, MAD was built upon the ability of a massive response with nuclear weapons in the event of the enemy initiating a first strike. This guaranteed nuclear response was made possible by 3 key weapons: Submarines, Bombers, and Missiles. Both the USA and the USSR had many nuclear submarines lurking by the enemy's coasts. If the order was given, any one of these subs could launch up to 24 nuclear missiles at the enemy without even surfacing. ICBMs were also key in MAD. In the event of an attack, ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic missiles) could be launched at enemy cities. In addition, both sides used long-ranged bombers equipped with nuclear bombs. Both sides guaranteed that there would be bombers in the air at all times, so that if they were attacked these bombers would be able to fly to the enemy and drop the bombs. Overall, using these weapons allowed each side to guarantee that they could kill 25% to 50% of the enemy's population if they were attacked. These unacceptable losses were the foundation of Mutually Assured Destruction in the cold war, because it assured both the USA and the USSR that nuclear war would be nuclear suicide.


Works cited:
http://www.rickcampbellauthor.com/styled/index.html

economic boom world war II

After the second world war, even though we won, there was still a slow start to our economy. The countries that lost the war, Germany and Japan both had a lot of casualties. In 1968, Japan became the worlds 2nd largest economy. Japan experienced a growth of 9 percent in the economy between 1955 and 1973. Germany became the second largest economy by the 50s. As the economy grew, renowned brands like Sony, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mercedes, and Toshiba sold well all over the world. This cause Japan and Germany to have more efficient employees than the United States. More people started buying Japanese and German goods. Many large U.S. corporations lost money or saw a decrease in profits.

Nixon, Good or Bad?

Nixon is known by lots of American youth, and certainly was known by me until I learned further, as the man who did that Watergate Scandal thing, and I didn't even know what that was until this year, but that's how I knew Nixon. Because of this, I always thought that Nixon was this awful corrupt president, and that he was one of the worst we've ever had, regardless of the fact that I knew nothing about him.
This, however, wasn't totally true. Nixon got America out of Vietnam! This was a feat multiple presidents before him had struggled to do. This was the biggest achievement of any president in the last decade.
Aside from Vietnam though, he was a little rusty. He did several suspicious things, including bugging the white house, and other shady actions, including the Watergate scandal, which he was no doubt a part of. Still, I would argue that Nixon was ultimately a benefit for America, mainly due to his action in Vietnam. I would also like to point out that the shady things he did were, in my opinion, probably not too different than presidents before him, and that he really didn't have any good choices once they were found out. Did anyone think he would realistically tell the press and media he was involved? That would kill his presidency in an hour. He did what he thought was the best for his position, and really the only real option that he had.

Nixon Caught on Tape

It's a well known fact that Nixon installed a recording system in the white house, after all, that's how the Water Gate Scandal went down. Fun Fact: In X-Men Days of Future Past, after Mystique tries assassinating Trask, Nixon meets up in his office and tells his officers to start recording the conversation. Just goes to show that even to this day, even Hollywood is having fun trying to make Nixon references and jokes. It just goes to show the impact technology has implemented on the world. If it weren't for the recording system, Nixon and his CIA agents would have most likely been able to escape trial from Water Gate. Countless trials and prosecutions would have been voided for lack of concrete evidence. We can take as Nixon as a historical example of this, but in reality, it happens all around us now in the present day. We are all mini-newsreporters with our phones, being able to shoot video, take pictures, and record sound.  Perhaps one of us, the readers of this blog, might be the ones responsible for catching the president ordering a latte with extra cream at Starbucks, and thus, exposing him and having yourself become very wealthy. That's just how life goes now.