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Industrialization and the West – Mini-Unit 1 Describe motivations for settling in the West for a variety of subgroups (Mormons, Chinese/Irish 1.1 immigrants, women, miners, Homesteaders)

Any discussion of the settlement of the west begins with one word – the railroad. Every aspect of the west revolves around this concept. Once an understanding of this is established the real critical thinking comes with how the railroad contributed to the motivations of settlement of the west. Let’s first start with the American migrants from the eastern part of the United States and Europe.

Since our inception, Americans have been primarily motivated by money. Our colonial mercantilist economy bred the lust of accumulating the all-mighty dollar into the American culture. And we would do anything to get it, including breaking laws, finding loopholes and engaging in, at times, what many considered questionable ethics.

Colonial Americans drove their British masters insane with our black markets, smuggling operations and overall uncouth, cut-throat tactics. Regardless of Britain’s frustrations with the colonial Americans, administratively they chose salutary neglect which further encouraged our rebellious activities. Additionally, our European ancestors ingrained into our psyche the importance of land and all the privileges that came with it: power, a political voice, money and most importantly, status. The problem in Europe was that land was in short supply. European traditions of primogeniture were unnecessary in the Americas (the concept of aristocracy was therefore abandoned) and this is what motivated the Europeans, particularly southern and eastern Europeans in the 1870s to come to the land of opportunity, opportunity in the form of vast and fertile land. Agriculture and land ownership was an economic system in which Europeans and eastern Americans were already familiar with.

So they came, whole families including women, out west and the United States government encouraged this activity in the form of the Homestead Act of 1862 which sold 162 acres of land for a small fee. In return the western migrant or homesteader as they were called, had to improve the land and in so doing create new markets for an expanding American economy.

What made access to the far west possible was the railroad. Although people used railroads to travel from place to place, it was not primarily used to transport people out west, instead, the eager and ambitious westerner came in anything they could use, including the Conestoga wagon, on horseback, or hitching rides on the various trails blazed, such as the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. The railroad’s primary importance to the westerner was to provide a means of transporting the fruits of the farm to markets in the east. Railroads meant making your farming business, your livelihood profitable. People also relied on railroads for much needed supplies to the local mercantile.

The transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869 with the meeting of the railroads in Promontory Point in Utah. Beginning in 1865, over 12,000 Chinese came to the western United States to find work primarily in building the transcontinental railroad. 90% of the Central Pacific Railroad Company was Chinese. Once the railroad was complete many Chinese settled in California, mainly San Francisco where many worked in the fishing industry as well as starting their own small businesses (mostly laundry mats).

The first economic boom in the west came from the mining industry in the 1860s-1890s. The California Gold Rush was not important for making prospectors (the 49ners as in 1849) rich but rather for populating the California territory. Mining strikes in 1858 in Colorado created cities such as Denver. Later, silver strikes in Comstock Lode, Nevada drew more settlers out west and in 1874 gold was found in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory creating more migration out west.

Iron, copper, coal, silver and gold were a few of the minerals and metals extracted from the west drawing individual miners to move west searching for another mining strike. However, after the surface wealth was used up by these small time individual miners, eastern capitalists often bought claims of pioneer prospectors and began retrieving from deeper veins inside the earth with corporate mines enabled with corporate financing. Boomtowns turned into Ghostowns in the west as mining in a particular location came and went with the discovery of a strike followed by the exhaustion of any wealth. What saved some of these towns was the coveted railroad stop. When a railroad company chose to place a stop or station in a town, the city became a sure success and people came, including now women. Again the railroad made possible the transportation of these raw materials to eastern factories and markets.

Describe the effect that white settlement had on Native Americans (destruction of buffalo, 1.3 reservation system, Indian wars) I tell my students that to be a true patriot is to love one’s country with full knowledge of its flaws. True love is unconditional love, to love despite its ugly flaws. American treatment of the Native American is one such ugly flaw. Our abysmal handling of the natives to this continent is a dark stain on American history. The beauty of this country, however, is that we have the freedom to openly discuss the flaws in our history without threat of imprisonment or death. And the goal of any citizen of a country is to have the maturity to own up to these transgressions and accept and appreciate that we have benefitted and still benefit from the suppression of one race of people for another.

The Great Plains Indians became victims of the unstoppable American ideas of manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was our god-given right to expand our natural borders to the Pacific Ocean. It came to embody the American culture of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The west meant freedom from social constraint; it was the land of opportunity, and a place where there was real potential for economic wealth. We had overcome many obstacles to satiate our unending hunger for land and wealth on this continent and the nuisance of a native people on the land that we coveted would only prove to be another small obstacle. Since colonial times, we have slaughtered the native people, decimated their numbers with European diseases, forced them to relocate to less desirable land and even to abandon their own culture and assimilate to our own.

In 1867 Congress passes the Indian Peace Commission which created a large Indian territory in Oklahoma and the Dakotas. This was land considered not arable and therefore undesirable. However, due to gold strike in the Black Hills of the Dakotas and the ability to irrigate, once unwanted land was now valuable. The United States government endorsed between 1871 and 1875 the systemic elimination of the buffalo on the Plains (about 11 million) because of the known dependence the natives had on the buffalo. Get rid of the food source and get rid of the people was the theory. There was some Indian resistance by the Sioux, Cheyenne and the Arapaho under the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. In the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn, George Custer was ordered to force Sioux, Cheyenne and the Arapaho back to their reservation. The Indian resistance overwhelmed the 7th Cavalry killing all of Custer’s men and even Custer himself. Retaliation by the U.S. government was swift and fierce.

The last act of resistance came from the Apaches and Navahos collectively known as the Apache Wars under the leadership of Chiefs Mangas, Colorados, Cochise, and finally Geronimo. These wars consisted of the Indian’s continuous raids on white outposts but the raids ultimately ended with the surrender by Geronimo in 1886.

An Indian religious revival took place in the 1890s with the Sioux under the prophet Wovoka which led to the “Ghost Dance” that celebrated a vision of whites leaving the Plains and the buffalo returning. Part of the religious ceremony was the Ghost dance which included a ritual that lasted five successive days, with dancing each night and on the last night dancing would continued until morning. Hypnotic trances and shaking accompanied this ceremony, which was supposed to be repeated every six weeks. When the military told the Indians on the reservations to end the ceremony, many refused. Consequently, the military went to arrest Sitting Bull in the Sioux reservation and violence broke out and Sitting Bull was killed. Many Sioux left the reservation in disgust, but in December 1890, the military was sent to round up the escaped Sioux and bring them to the Wounded Knee camp where their weapons were confiscated. Violence broke out at the camp leaving 300 Sioux and 25 whites dead. This will be the last of the Indian conflicts.

Now that the Indians were demoralized, Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 was passed which eliminated tribal ownership and gave land to individual owners. As part of this act, Bureau of Indian Affairs promoted assimilation, sometimes by removing children and sending them to white boarding schools and building Christian churches with the mission of Christianizing tribes. Indians unprepared for capitalist individualism and corrupt administration led to the abandonment of program. Later the Burke Act of 1906 also failed to divide lands and the current reservation system was put in place.

Describe the problems early western settlers faced and how they responded to them (no timber 1.2 for houses) Describe innovations in agricultural technology that impacted farmers in the west (steel plow, 1.4 windmill, barbed wire fencing) Again the railroad plays a large part to this objective (problems faced by western settlers). The railroad was both a blessing and a curse for the western settler. As the demand for meat increased in the east, western entrepreneurs sought ways to meet the demand. Cattle Kingdoms soon developed due to the open-range which was vast grasslands of public domain. This allowed for large herds of cattle to graze and be raised by rangers free of charge and unrestricted by boundaries of private farms.

Ranchers and cowboys would drive their cattle overland on the “long drive” from their lands to the nearest train station which would carry the cattle to markets in the east. The success of the Cattle Kingdom was due to the railroad but the growth of the railroad also had a negative affect on the cattle rancher. Problem - the railroad also opened the west to farmers who crowded out the open-range ranchers. Farmers were none too pleased with hundreds and thousands of cattle ransacking their farm fields during drives to railroad stations, so soon farmers began fencing their lands using a new innovation that made fencing effective at a low cost, the barbed wire fence. 1873 Joseph Glidden and IL Ellwood invited barbwire.

Another problem faced by the western farmer and rancher was periodic droughts. Innovations in technology (prairie fans which pumped ground water) and improving methods of irrigation using the rivers in the west were life saving solutions in the war between man and nature. With the success of the farmer who was increasingly fencing in their land, this led to the closing of the open range, which in turn forced the hand of the western rancher now facing a major problem. More land was necessary in order to provide adequate grassland for cattle to graze. The U.S. government responded with several acts aimed at enabling ranchers and farmers to gain more land. Included in these acts were the Timber Culture Act (1863) – add 160 acres if plant trees on 40 acres, Desert Land Act (1877) – buy 640 acres @ $1.25/acres if irrigate, Timber and Stone Act (1878) – buy non-arable land to cultivate the timber and then possible convert to grassland for grazing.

However, the same technologies and innovations that allowed the western farmer to prosper also brought another problem. The farming industry was increasingly mechanizing during this age of industrialization. Steel plows and mechanical reapers were used to increase production to meet the demands of the east and now western settler. Mechanization was very expensive and soon too expensive for the average farmer. The farming industry began to specialize and commercialize in cash crops that were now being sold to not only a national market but now an international market – all thanks to the railroad. This will lead to greater interdependence on the railroad. Commercial and specialized cash crop farmers are now going to rely even more on town stores for supplies and food, and railroad freight rates provided by the railroad industry.

Additionally, commercial farmers will become increasingly economically dependent on the east including on bankers’ interest rates as they take out more loans to buy farm equipment, seed, and land as well as warehouse storage facilities, and other means of getting their products to national and international markets. Demographically, what is happening to the farmer as we approach the 20th century is that the traditional economic backbone of this country, the small farmer, is giving way to a much fewer commercialized farmer leaving many small farmers to go bankrupt and abandon their farms to seek work in the industrial cities. Likewise, the few remaining big commercial farmers are also finding themselves dependent on big industrialized city businesses in the east as they become dependent on their services.

Political power is in the hands of these industrialists that have Congress and the Presidency in their back pockets. Big business dominates politics and silences the political voice of the farmers. As a result, the 20th century will see a remarkable show of unity and strength that although is not entirely successful in the short run, makes a lasting impact on American society. Politically, the agrarian malaise experienced by the Western farmer will lead to the populist movement.

Describe the financial challenges facing the American farmer (financial difficulties, 1.5 overproduction, and overcharging) as a result of industrialization.

1.6 Explain Populist solutions to the problems of farmers (bimetallism, greenbacks)

During late 19th century agriculture became an international business- US commercial farmers relied on risky world market to absorb surpluses. The nature of the agricultural economy was one that was characterized by a boom and bust economy. Some years were great while others were devastating.

With the advent of industrialization the innovations and technological advancement made farming more efficient producing more product per square foot of farm field and led to overproduction in 1880s (one of the busts). As a result prices dropped causing an economic crisis for small farmers. These farmers were already in debt to banks for taking out substantial loans to purchase farm equipment, land and other necessities in the new farming industry realities of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Farmers resented their dependence on the railroads and their higher freight rates for farm goods, credit institutions for their high interest rates and payments that had to be made in years when currency was scarce and prices were low. Farmers smelled a conspiracy on the part of big business in the east believing that these manufacturers kept farm prices low on purpose.

Moreover, farmers were isolated (in remote areas on vast acreage), lacked education for children, proper medical facilities, and no connection to a community. This sense of obsolescence lead to growing malaise among farmers that created great political movement in 1890s. Sturdy yeoman farmers had viewed themselves as the backbone of American life, now they were becoming aware that their position was declining in relation to the rising urban-industrial society in the East.

First major effort to organize farmers was the Grange movement of 1860s (at first its goal was to teach new scientific techniques in an age where technologies were necessary to keep pace with agricultural output). It wasn’t until the 1873 recession and subsequent fall of farm prices did it become highly political and large enough to create a buzz. Grange urged cooperative political action to fight monopolistic railroad and warehouse practices; they setup up co-op stores to pool resources, established insurance companies, and utilized mail-order business such as Montgomery Ward to challenge middle-men retailers whom farmers believed to be price gouging them. By the 1870s, elected Grange politicians were sent to state legislatures to focus on railroad reform. However, a temporary boom in the agricultural economy in the late 1870s destroyed Grange.

By the 1880s a new but similar organization emerged representing farmer interests, the Farmer’s Alliances. These were regional alliances who, like the Grange movement sought cooperation among farmers. Much like the Grange movement they also found themselves without any real success. This frustration galvanized into a national movement which saw the merging of various regional Farmer’s Alliances into the People’s Party AKA the Populist Party which by 1892 was a legitimate national third party. The Populist Party will have some success at electing members to the national and state congresses.

As a result of Panic of 1893 (another bust), the Populist platform adopted the nationalization of the railroad and telephone industry, greater government regulations, abolishing the national bank, a graduating income tax and the remonetization of silver or bimetallism. Farmers believed that the eastern big businesses that owned all the banks, businesses and corporations also controlled government and in-so-doing denied them a political voice. They believed that the solution was to get business out of government through greater regulation which was the only way to keep greedy businesses in check.

Populists and farmers alike also felt that the solution to their financial problems was to increase the amount of currency in circulation, making it easier to pay off their current debts. By inflating the currency, paying down debt was easier. At the time, currency was backed by gold but if currency was back by gold AND silver that would greatly increase the amount of currency in circulation.

The Populist platform’s battle cry was to free silver and the issue became so popular in fact, that the Democrats jumped on board and adopted the platform in the 1896 Presidential Election under the leadership of the strong populist candidate, William Jennings Bryant. Stealing their candidate, the democrats will nominate Bryan for president that year. Silver became a symbol of freedom from tyranny and the rights of the common man, while gold became a symbol of oppression and big business. With the legs cut out from under them, the Populist Party will collapse now absorbed into the Democratic Party.

Analyze the effects of industrialization on the migration of populations. (Great Migration, farmers, 1.7 immigrants)

Assess the influence of an influx of immigration on the size and landscape of urban life. (ethnic 1.8 ghettos, melting pot vs. cultural pluralism)

We are all currently traveling down the course originally set by the industrial age and I am reminded of this fact as I sit in my house tapping away the text of this document on my laptop, listening to my IPod, accessing my digital resources as reference and occasionally Googling on my wireless internet. The feeling is sublime knowing that the reach of history is enduring and manifests itself as I download another free app on my IPad. Industrialization affected every aspect of American life, politically, socially and economically. We are still feeling the ripple affects of that movement which emphasized innovation and technology.

There are a few key pieces that are necessary for an industrial economy to take root and be successful: (1) technological innovation (2) an entrepreneurial spirit to turn technologies into enterprising industry and (3) people to work in those industries. All these factors came together in the United States during the 1870s. This objective deals with the effects of industrialization on the migration of populations so we will concentrate on part 3 – people to work in industries.

Industrialization contributed to the American reputation as a land of opportunity. Not only did this country appeal to the farmer in Europe, Central and South America with our vast tracks of land in the west which were just there for the taking, but we also appealed to any person seeking relief from a stagnant European economy. America was exploding onto the industrial scene with a bang and anyone could find a job in a factory. In the 1870s and 1880s immigrants came from primarily southern and eastern Europe and American businessmen welcomed this cheap labor source because of the prevailing opinion that immigrants were low class garbage who did not need to be compensated well.

Industrialization brought with it an emphasis in science not only as engineering machines to perform specialized jobs but also in management strategies. The Principles of Scientific Management began to be employed- fathered by Frederick Taylor who argued employers subdivide tasks to decrease need for highly skilled workers (now to be done more and more by either machines or unskilled workers) and increasing efficiency. Unskilled workers became the main type of job which required less on the pay scale.

Emphasis in science and on industrial research led to corporate labs (e.g. Edison’s Menlo Park) and was the key in the overwhelming success of the American industrial economy. Investment in creativity and research are key to a progressive economy. I like to the use the example (at least before it is outmoded) of Google and Yahoo. Years ago, yahoo was the internet search engine de jure. It was the golden child of cyberspace. The problem was that yahoo subscribed to the philosophy of “why fix it when it ain’t broke.” Google, on the other hand, exploded onto the market constantly changing, innovating, adding, and otherwise pushing the technology line. Its most recent endeavor is to create an interactive television to be mass marketed. As a result, people might ask, “Yahoo who?” and conversely exclaim Google-icious! Creativity and innovation drive profit margins and standing still equals stagnation.

The most important change in production was mass production and the assembly line. It was first used by Henry Ford in his automobile plant in 1914 by cutting production time and prices and by increasing the bottom line. The onslaught of immigrants filled the need for unskilled workers. Additionally, with the increasing commercialization of the agricultural farmer, many smaller farmers were unable to compete and abandoned their farmers for the lure of the city and its promise of excitement, anonymity and job opportunity. Finally, in 1870s and 1880s many southern African Americans left the south chased out by racism, Jim Crow and lynching and moved in great numbers (The Great Migration) to northern cities also seeking unskilled jobs.

The result is the urbanization of American cities characterized by diversity, ethnic and cultural conflict, and competition for jobs. The cities that awaited migrants and immigrants were unprepared for the massive numbers entering them which created an environment of overcrowded tenement housing, unsafe working and living conditions, growing use of child labor, and precarious sanitary issues. Not only were the cities unable to organize and deal with the rapid influx of populations, but government was equally ill prepared to respond to the growing demands of population.

By 1900, NYC had more Irish than Dublin and more Germans than Hamburg. Chicago had more Polish than Warsaw. Immigrants generations removed from their native lands felt little sympathy for the plight of the newly arrived immigrants, instead, nativism predominated urban cities. Competition for jobs only exacerbated the ethnic and cultural conflict. Newly arrived immigrants either refused or were slow to assimilate (melting pot theory glorified cultural assimilation as the American ideal) into the American culture and ethnic neighborhoods (ghettos) soon developed in large cities.

Landlords were reluctant to invest money into immigrant housing and overcrowded tenements were the answer to swelling city populations. Substandard construction to save money and no regard for safe working conditions served as kindling in a tinder box of overcrowded buildings in downtown areas. Often potential disaster turned to reality as in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City which saw hundreds of young women burned alive and jump to their deaths in the factory inferno of 1910.

Immigrants were encouraged to lose their cultural heritage and become Americanized which has been euphemistically called the melting pot by learning English and getting with the industrialized program. Long hours with little pay and no benefits kept laborers enslaved as sweatshop owners took advantage of vulnerable newly arrived immigrants and the working poor. With government firmly entrenched in the back pockets of social Darwinists big business and their robber baron tycoons, there was little to no assistance from the laissez-faire government. Instead the relief was left to private and other charitable organizations.

An example was the Settlement House Movement where social welfare reformers worked to relieve urban poverty. The Social Gospel movement—was part of a religious movement that preached salvation through service to poor. Settlement houses were community centers in slums with the goal of helping immigrants. They were run by college-educated women and provided educational, cultural, social services including medical services, help with personal, job, and financial problems. Jane Addams founded Hull House with Ellen Gates Starr in 1889.

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era – Mini-Unit 2 Describe the disparity in wealth that was characteristic of the Gilded Age. (How the Other Half Lives, 2.1 Rockefeller, Carnegie, child labor)

Mark Twain penned the phrase “Gilded Age” as a satire for the way that America had become. The Gilded Age suggests that there was a glittering layer of prosperity that covered the poverty and corruption that existed in much of society.

Income disparity was an embarrassing reality in which the gluttony of ostentatious wealth was exaggerated in comparison with how the rest of America lived and when I say the rest of America I mean the majority of Americans. The outrageous wealth of men like Rockefeller and Carnegie was justified by the universal principal of social Darwinism adapted from Charles Darwin’s ideas of survival of the fittest by British economist Herbert Spencer and the fallacy of the self-made man.

In 1900 90% of the wealth was controlled by 10% of the population. These robber barons got wealthy off the backs of immigrants and innovative and often cruel ways of maximizing profits included the exploitation of child labor. Yet there is another side to this argument. Were these robber barons the bad guys? Perhaps they were the captains or heroes of industry that without their success, cities would have never modernized, businesses and corporations would have never been successful and provided employment for the majority of American citizens.

Carnegie’s book, The Gospel of Wealth spoke of the responsibility of the richest of Americans to contribute back into society through philanthropy and investing in higher education, public libraries, museums and parks. Without these capitalists, the American economy would never have had success and in return help the average American laborer, the industrial age version of trickle-down economics.

Explain how industry leaders were able to expand their power to unprecedented levels (trusts, 2.2 monopolies) as a result of the lack of governmental interference.

In the wake of industrialization, one thing was epically clear – starting a farm or business now took major capital. It also became abundantly clear that no person was able to finance great ventures. Famed American ingenuity found ways around this problem and thus was born the “limited liability” company. This ingenious idea solved the start-up capital problem. An entrepreneur with ambitious ideas pooled the money of a group of investors. Here is the best part - those investors risked only the money that they invested and were not liable for the corporate debts. This structure allowed vast capital to be raised and investors were more willing to invest.

The limited liability corporation began in the railroad industry but soon quickly spread to others businesses such as the steel industry. These innovative corporate structures began something called consolidation. There were two general ways for corporate consolidations to dominate. The first was through “horizontal integration” or the forming of competing businesses into a single corporation and second was “vertical integration” or the controlling of every aspect of the business from production to raw materials to the final distribution of goods to markets. The most famous example of vertical and horizontal integration was Andrew Carnegie who struck deals with railroads, bought up rivals, purchased coal mines w/ partner Henry Clay Frick and controlled the steel process from mine to market. Another famous corporate empire was John D Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Corporate tycoons ruled the business world though horizontal & vertical integration and eventually came to control 90% of refined oil in US. Much of the motivation behind the creation of monopolies was cutthroat competition.

Corporate giants were driven by fear that too much competition would lead to economic instability and that the best course of action was to eliminate and/or absorb competition. The first attempts by government to respond to consumer problems with monopolies were the 1887 Interstate Commerce Act which created the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first true federal regulatory agency. It was designed to address the issues of railroad abuse and discrimination and required that shipping rates be "reasonable and just;" rates to be published, and price discrimination against small markets was made illegal. Although the law granted the Commission power to investigate abuses and summon witnesses, it lacked the resources to accomplish its lofty goals.

Soon trusts emerged. These were companies in which stocks were transferred to a group of trustees who made all decisions and shared in the profits with the investors; however in 1889, states changed laws to allow companies to buy other companies, making trust unnecessary. As a result the “holding companies” emerged as a corporate body to buy up stock and establish formal ownership of corporations in trust. By the end of 19th century 1% of corps controlled 33% of manufacturing. Continuing the tradition power was concentrated in the hands of a few men like NY bankers (JP Morgan) and industrialists (Rockefeller), etc.

Assess the reasons behind labor union growth in the late 1800s. (unsafe working conditions, long 2.3 hours, low pay)

2.4 Assess the impact of labor unions on industry.

There is power in numbers. This was a concept that seemed to escape many of the labor leaders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Labor unions at this time only allowed into their folds the skilled worker which seems brainless in retrospect considering that in an industrial age of scientific management, mass production and assembly lines, the unskilled work was in the greater majority. However, tapping into this pool of unskilled workers in which there would be strength in numbers was more difficult than it seems.

First labor leaders would have to care about a majority immigrant work force in a time where nativism predominated and rows of crowded tenement slum housing served as a symbol of American devotion to the care for immigrants. Second, immigrants were essentially a more transient group often switching jobs and believing that they were not part of a permanent workforce. Immigrants often had the intention of staying in the country long enough to make some money and then returning home, so they were hesitant to join labor unions. Additionally, the power of big business was pervasive and intimidating, invoking a sense of hopelessness in the unskilled worker.

In 1869 the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor formed under the leadership of Uriah Stephens and then Terence Powderly in response to the need for improvement for the American laborer. This first to nationally organize labor organization had some degree of success in championing the end of child labor, an 8-hour workday and safer working conditions but because of the power of big business the biggest weapon in the labor union arsenal was the strike and it was not effective due to lack of support in the courts and in government. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 ended with government intervention on the side of big business by President Hayes sending our federal troops to put down the strike.

By 1890, the Knights collapsed. In the 1880s a second and more enduring labor union organized, The American Federation of Labor under the leadership of Samuel Gompers whose goal was for the worker to share in the a greater portion of capitalism’s great wealth. Although many of the goals of the AFL were similar to the Knight of Labor, the structure of this organization was different. The AFL was a collection of autonomous skilled craft unions, in other words, there was a steel union, textile union, railroad union, etc. all falling under the umbrella of the AFL. AFL pushed for the closed shop in which employers agreed to only hire union members and hopefully universally for all workers a greater piece of the American pie.

Some of the most famous strikes were a result of the AFL such as the Haymarket Square Riot which started as a call for a national strike in May 1886. Violence broke out in Chicago as tensions escalated between strikers at the McCormack Harvester Company and Chicago police. Labor leaders organized a demonstration at the Haymarket Square where a bomb was deployed killing 7 police officers and 67 people. Anarchists were blamed for the bomb, arrested and convicted for murder. The Homestead Strike and the Pullman Strike also ended with victories for big business. Essentially, labor unions during this time were trying to achieve more for the laborer but ultimately fell short.

Analyze the challenges facing urban politics that prompted government intervention (political 2.5 machines, graft, patronage). Describe the changing role of government as a response to political corruption in urban settings 2.6 (amendments, legislation). Laissez-faire government left a pretty large and even gaping hole in urban cities. Immigrants off the boat, not knowing the language, not having a place to stay or even a job were in desperate need as assistance, even if help was just a point in the right direction.

Government at the time believed in a small non-invasive approach to leadership. “Let business be” was the lasses-faire mantra. Translated this meant leave business alone to take advantage of the poor and make a lot of money. There was one group who realized the strength in numbers that the immigrant unskilled labor force posed that labor leaders were either unwilling or unable to harness. It was a cunning group of what amounted to highly organized criminal rings. It was called the political machine. This was a stratified network of bosses, agents and employees that together galvanized (but really controlled) the immigrant worker through favors and intimidation.

The way it worked was that the machine would send agents to meet immigrants as they arrived and help them find a place to live and a job. The immigrant would return the favor by voting for the chosen candidate of the machine, work for the machine or in any other way that the party boss deemed necessary. These agents would embed themselves in immigrant neighborhoods and make sure that everyone was with the program. Often voter and party loyalty was rewarded with patronage which is the awarding of a job in the bureaucracy of government for loyal party supporters.

Additionally, political machines were often funded through graft and corruption since they owned the cities politically. Bribes and kickbacks were the normal stuff of business for coveted and lucrative government contracts which included anything from construction of buildings, roads, etc to selling goods. One of the most famous political machines was in New York City and called the Tammany Hall Ring. Its leader was William Tweed. Almost every urbanized city in the United States was ruled by party bosses. Although Tweed kept the Democratic Party in power in the Big Apple, the real goal of political machines was to maintain it in power (keep the status quo).

Laissez-faire government worked best for the machines because government stayed out of its way just as it stayed out of the way of big business. These machines were responsible for corruption but also for modernizing city infrastructure, expanding the role of government and creating stability in the social structure that would have otherwise lacked a center.

The 1896 Presidential election was a great example of the struggle between reform and status quo. The Democratic candidate was William Jennings Bryan the former populist leader and now democratic nominee. The Republican candidate was William McKinley. As previously discussed the populist movement was gaining tremendous momentum in light of all the woes faced by the farmers, and now with the help of the Democratic Party, the concerns of the urban worker. The income disparity in this country was outrageous and labor leaders like the AFL were trying to protect the interest of the skilled worker. It would seem that the tide of the American people were squarely on the side of the Democratic Party and Bryan; however, the election was won by McKinley with the support of big business that galvanized the political machines to intimidate the urban workers to vote for McKinley. As a result of this election the American people will see the beginning of a new era of political reform and a dynamic leader that will open the door to ending decades of lassie faire government.

In the years to come Teddy Roosevelt will also engineer a third party which will prove to be the only third party in American history to challenge the traditional institutionalized two party system. It very nearly won a presidential election in 1912. Although the country returns to laissez-faire policies briefly in the 1920s, a distant third cousin once removed of Teddy Roosevelt will forever seal the deal for ending small laissez- faire government in the 1930s.

Teddy Roosevelt has a reputation as being the “Trustbuster” however a more appropriate nickname (although not as dynamic) was Trust Regulator. He saw the role of government as the mediator of the public good. He was not completely opposed to monopolies but felt that they must be regulated because of their potential to abuse power. He resurrects from the dead the Sherman Anti-Trust Act passed under the administration of Benjamin Harrison to placate the masses but ultimately and purposefully had no political teeth to enforce its trust busting intentions. Roosevelt will give the Sherman Anti-Trust Act enforcement measures and use it to break up The Northern Securities Company’s monopoly over the railroad in the northwest, Standard Oil and Swift Beef.

In Roosevelt’s Square Deal program he will begin the progressive movement to reforming big business. Roosevelt will use the bully pulpit of the Presidency in order to distinguish between bad trusts and good trusts (Sherman Anti-Trust), protect labor particularly in strikes (1903 Anthracite Coal Strike which was the first strike where government takes the side of labor), regulate the railroad industry (Hepburn Railroad Regulation Act of 1906 - restored some government regulatory power), limit corruption in the workplace and finally employ new conservation measures. His administration will see the supported for the Pure Food and Drug Act, after Upton Sinclair’s 1906 The Jungle was published, supported for the Meat Inspection Act in which all meat sold must be inspected, must be marked by Federal inspectors, and graded. He will support an eight hour work day for labor, workmen’s compensation, and inheritance and income taxes.

Compare and contrast the role of political groups such as the Populists and the Progressives in 2.7 achieving political reform. Describe the role of citizens in achieving political and social reform in the Progressive Era. 2.8 (muckrakers, Jane Addams, Booker T. Washington) Populists and Progressives are not the same. We have already discussed the Populist. They were largely a movement of the rural farmers. The progressive were a movement in the urban areas and was supported by the growing middle class. Many historians speculate about why the populists failed and the progressive had significantly more success. There are a number of factors that led to the successes of the progressives.

The Roosevelt’s, both Teddy and then Franklin have a lot to do with it. The World Wars, both the first and second also played a significant role mostly by increasing the size and power of government that had long been kept at bay by big business. The success of the American economy again largely due to the world wars and the industrial revolution also contributed due to the emergence of a middle class that will become the largest demographic segment of society by the 1950s. Finally the eventual success of labor unions will also contribute to the growth of the middle class. Turns out that the key to a sustained and less volatile and therefore successful economy depends greatly on the consumer capability of a middle class.

The progressive era will see remarkable changes in society. Civil rights of women, African Americans, various ethnicities, laborers, and the poor, will see the beginnings of change and the fulfillment of their Constitutional rights (only took 200 years!). Muckrakers were crusading journalists who will investigate various avenues of social, political and economic injustices and expose corruption. The first target was robber barons and monopolies. Ida Tarbell wrote about the excesses of Standard Oil Company.

The next target was political machines with the writings of Lincoln Steffens which will inspire a movement for reform in urban areas. The Social Gospel was a movement that fused Protestant religion with reform drawing direct correlation between the morality of reform. The Salvation Army was an example of religion taking on the concerns for the working poor and those less fortunate in a cruel urban environment. Father John Ryan expanded the scope of reform and religion to the Catholic faith sermonizing and writing about morality and social welfare groups. Inspired by these movements, the Settlement House Movement began with progressives and Protestants believing that one’s environment influenced development. To help the least fortunate begins with improving their conditions in life. One of the most famous Settlement Houses was in Chicago. Hull House was run by Jane Addams and its goal was to help immigrant families adapt to the English language and American culture. This movement was primarily administered by college educated middle class women and they encouraged the belief that the middle-class had a responsibility to share their values with immigrants.

These types of social organization will inspire women to achieve a more equitable role in society for themselves. As it was, the industrial age forced many women out of the home and into factories changing their traditional roles and the New Woman emerged for better or for worse. The New Woman joined clubs which at the time was a network of associations that lead many reform movements. An example was the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) which was at first cultural in nature but later focused on social betterment. The clubs represented an effort by women to extend their influence outside of their traditional role in the home and essentially create a public space for women.

Women began to work to lobby for legislation to regulate child labor and improve women’s working conditions. Other areas of concern included food inspection and the temperance movement (ban on alcohol which they felt led to deadbeat and/or abusive husbands and fathers). Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) led by Frances Willard, together w/ Anti-Saloon League called for abolition of saloons and prohibition of manufacture and sale of alcohol. These organizations will lead in 1920 to the Eighteenth Amendment. Prohibition will later be repealed in 1932 with the 21st amendment ending what has been called the noble experiment.

Soon these women’s clubs will adopt the banner of suffrage and will eventually see success in 1920 with the 19th amendment to the Constitution. Leaders in this movement included Anna Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt who formed the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and Alice Paul’s Woman’s Party who wanted to fight on for an Equal Rights Amendment to prohibit all discrimination based on sex.

Since the end of the Civil War the re-enslavement of African Americans was ongoing in the south. In the north, contrary to popular opinion African Americans were faced with discrimination. Reform leaders in the African American community also jumped on board the reform bandwagon seeking to better their plight and achieve a more equitable status. Many within the community subscribed to different view points on how to attain equality.

Some embraced the philosophy of Booker T Washington’s message of self-improvement over long-term social change. He believed that the reality of African Americans in the United States is that to be viewed as equal to the white-man, African Americans will have to prove their equal worth through education, hard work and long-term change. Others shared the beliefs of WEB Du Bois (author of 1903 The Souls of Black Folk) who in 1900s inspired the Niagara Movement which called for immediate civil rights and professional education. He felt that African Americans did not have to earn the rights given to them in the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments as Washington preached but rather they are entitled to those rights as any other. In 1909 the African American community joined with supportive white progressives to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This organization used federal lawsuits in pursuit of equal rights. In Guinn v. United States (1915) the Supreme Court ruled that the grandfather clause was illegal. In Buchanan v. Worley (1917) the Supreme Court outlawed some forms of segregation. The result was that the NAACP established itself as leading black organization.

America Becomes a World Power – Mini-Unit 3

3.1 Examine factors that led to the United States taking an increasingly active role in imperialism. Our ideas of Manifest Destiny were redefined by the late 1800s and early 1900s. No longer satisfied with this continent’s natural border of north, south, east and west, the United States entered an era of a new concept of Manifest Destiny. The Americas was our sphere and Europe and the rest of the world needed to keep their greedy little hands off. Additionally, our economic interests needed to be protected around the world and woe to anyone who got in our way.

Factors that led to the US joining the rest of the industrialized world in expansion included imperialism which is the natural friend of an industrialized nation. In order to be a successful industry you need two things: raw material (natural resources) and a market to sell your products. The European nations and Japan were mostly industrialized and collectively their biggest problem was that they lacked natural resources due to their diminutive geography and were in competition for markets. The solution to these problems is expansion.

Although the United States did not have the geographical challenges that other nations did, it still did not want to get elbowed out of the competitive market. Arguments in the United States raged between those who supported expansion and those who opposed it. After a review of our history in the age of imperialism reveals that the expansionists will win this fight. Other factors in imperialism were really justifications and included a moral obligation to civilize the primitive world. Using social Darwinist thinking, expansionists argued that it was the white man’s burden to civilize and Christianize the world to save these savages from damnation and oppression.

The spread of democracy and the American Christian culture was the goal of many good-intentioned missionaries that were spreading and evangelizing the third and therefore vulnerable world. This was nothing new to Americans who set a precedent for eliminating native people from an area because they were simply in the way of our manifest destiny. So we imperialized.

Identify areas of American economic interest (Hawaii, Panama, Alaska, China, Latin American 3.2 countries) and the economic motivation in controlling each. American businesses began operating in Hawaii in 1810, by 1840s disease eliminated much of the native population and American businesses controlled the islands. In 1849 by virtue of economic treaties, Hawaii becomes a US Protectorate.

Legislation was passed in the United States keeping Hawaiian goods from being subject to tariff (tax on imports) and business between the US and Hawaii continued to be profitable. The US Navy saw advantages to the islands as a great stopping and refueling station between the US pacific coast and economic trading markets in Asia. So in 1887 it negotiated the use of Pearl Harbor.

Everything was great until 1890 when the McKinley Tariff eliminated the duty-free status of Hawaiian/American business goods. A tariff would cut so deeply into American businesses in Hawaii that profits would suffer. Unable to find the loss of profit acceptable, American businesses came up with what they considered their only solution: Hawaii must become part of the United States and therefore not subject to the tariff. So American business backed an uprising against nationalist Queen Liliuokalani. President Harrison signed the annex agreement in 1893 but it was delayed by the Democratic Senate and then by a Democratic President Cleveland until 1898 when the presidency saw a return of Republicans.

The acquisition of the Panama Canal was also inspired by economic interest of the US. This is an interesting history. This time we have to go back to the Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt. As our navy was growing, our biggest problem was that there were no real connections between our Pacific and Atlantic coasts via water without having to go all the way around South America – too inconvenient.

The French had actually started building a canal in an isthmus in the South American country of Columbia. Unfortunately this French company went bankrupt during the construction due to exorbitant costs and disease (yellow fever and malaria). Teddy approached the Columbia government and made an offer to continue where the French left off. Columbian government suspicious of US intention declined the offer. Teddy was not the kind of man to take no for an answer. Americans really have a phenomenal knack for finding innovative solutions to problems. Teddy figured that if Columbia would not give him the rights to build the canal, then perhaps another government would, one that was put into power by the US.

Luckily, the Panamanian people of Columbia were mounting a movement for independence from Columbia. President Roosevelt will sponsor the revolt and help win Panamanian independence. Now the new government of the newly created country of Panama was in power and Teddy approached this government with the same offered he gave to the Columbian government. To no one’s surprise, Panama accepted the deal and construction resumed and was completed a few weeks before the outbreak of WWI in 1914.

Alaska was a result of Secretary of State William Seward’s (first for Abe Lincoln and then for Andrew Johnson) purchase from Russia in 1867. At the time, the media dubbed the purchase “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox” referring to the apparent collosal waste of American public taxes. Oil and the Cold War will prove these reconstruction era critics wrong.

China was being carved up into spheres of influence. This was areas in China that the various European countries were staking exclusive claim on trading and investment. The US not wanting to be left out decided to go with the diplomatic approach. Secretary of State under President McKinley, John Hay, came up with a policy known as Open Door. It basically said that we all have equal access to trade with China. It would ensure that no one foreign nation would dominate and control Chinese trade and markets. When presented with this diplomatic plan, the European nations were very cold to the idea.

Meanwhile China herself got quite annoyed with the whole spheres of influence thing and rebelled against foreigners in China. It was called the Boxer Rebellion. The rebellion culminated in the holding hostage of European diplomats in the British Embassy in Peking. It is known as “55 days in Peking.” In response an international expeditionary force was assembled and bulldozed their way into Peking and the British Embassy freeing the diplomats and quelling the Boxer Rebellion. John Hay now won support for his Open Door approach from England and Germany and induced the other participating powers to accept compensation from the Chinese for the damages the Boxer Rebellion caused. China was intact and the US retained its lucrative trade.

Early in American history the US felt an ownership of the Americas. In 1823 John Quincy Adams under the James Monroe Presidency negotiated the Monroe Doctrine that warned Europe to keep their hands of South America. This part of the world belonged to the US and we would protect our own here. At the same time we promised Latin America to help her rid herself of Spanish, Portuguese and other European colonizers as she began independence movements. Now almost 100 years later Roosevelt will place his own stamp on Latin America as the industrialized nations set their imperialistic eyes on vulnerable third world nations like Latin America. It is called the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It said that the United States would intervene on behalf of Latin American countries if it deems necessary to protect Latin America. It was essentially a hands-on monogamous policy. The motive was of course economically driven to protect our markets in our hemisphere and prevent Europe from dominating our markets.

Identify areas of American military interest (Cuba and the Spanish American War) and how involvement in those regions led to America becoming an increasingly imperialistic power 3.3 (Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico). The Spanish-American War served as a catalyst in transforming the United States from a nation that was vaguely tickled with imperialistic stirrings to a full fledged, crazy-eyed, aggressive, empire builder. It started really with Cuba who was embroiled in a brutal war for independence from Spain in 1895. In order to suppress the rebellion, Spain sent to Cuba General Valeriano Weyler who imposed a concentration camp system to snuff the rebellion. The concentration camp imprisoned, tortured and imposed Hitler-esque tactics against the Cubans in order to suppress rebellion. Weyler fell just shy of genocide.

American journalists in Cuba started sending back horrifying pictures of emaciated Cubans in the concentration camps and incited American sentiment to do something about the atrocities and obvious human rights violations. William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were in the midst of a newspaper war in this era of yellow journalism where sensationalized headlines and photos were used to entice readers to purchase newspapers. Even Hearst has been quoted as saying to a fellow journalist, “you furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

Cuban Americans began a Cuba-Libre campaign and sentiment continued in favor of American involvement. Although President Cleveland proclaimed US neutrality while he was president, by 1897 with growing America pressure to help the Cubans, McKinley (now president) demanded that the Spanish stop its mistreatment in Cuba. The Spanish responded by withdrawing Weyler from Cuba and a short peace ensued.

Two events in 1898 will lead to direct US involvement in the Cuban war for independence both of which were sensationalized in the media further preying on American sympathy. First was the leak of a letter sent by Dupuy de Lome, Spanish ambassador to the US. In it he insults McKinley as weak and bowing to the whims of the Republican Party. When this got out, American may have agreed with the Spanish ambassador’s assessment of McKinley, but only the American people were allowed to speak of the president in that manner, not a foreigner.

Secondly, the United States had sent the USS Maine to Havana harbor to collect American citizens in Cuba during the war. One night in February 1898 the vessel mysteriously and unexpectedly explodes in Havana harbor killing 260 US sailors. The US immediately blamed the Spanish for torpedoing the vessel in an act of aggression and the American rally cry became, “Remember the Maine, To Hell with Spain!” The result was a declaration of war that has been referred to as McKinley’s Splendid Little War, mostly because it was quick and sweet. Sweet because we got so much out of it.

The war began in April 1898 and was over by August and in that time US policy moved from helping Cuba achieve independence to stripping Spain of its colonies. If there is anything you can say about Americans it is that we are a quick study. During the course of the war, McKinley’s Deputy Secretary of the Navy, Teddy Roosevelt decided that the pacific naval fleet needed to be strengthened. He and McKinley ordered Commodore George Dewey to attack Spanish forces in the Philippines (one of Spain’s colony) if war broke out. By May 1898 Americans captured Manila Bay and later troops took the city. While we were at it, we set our sights on another Spanish colony, this time in Puerto Rico. The US army landed on the island and soon captured it. The unexpected and incredible victory in the Philippines will inspire Teddy Roosevelt to chuck it all, resign as Secretary of the Navy (Teddy disliked McKinley anyway, saying that he had the backbone of a chocolate éclair) and joins the fighting in Cuba with his assembled brigade the Rough Riders.

Teddy is able to get to Cuba in time to participate in its last battle, the Battle of San Juan Hill and once troops take the city of Santiago the conflict ends and the US wins the war. In the treaty that sets the terms, to the victor goes the spoils, Spain agreed to recognize the independence of Cuba, Spain gave up the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the US in return for $20 million. The island nations then became unincorporated territories of the United States. President McKinley installed a military government to protect American business interests.

Identify the foreign policies of the United States during the age of Imperialism and describe how they impacted American involvement in foreign nations. (Dollar diplomacy, Roosevelt Corollary, 3.4 Big Stick diplomacy, Open Door Policy) Flush with the quick and easy victory of the imperialistic war with Spain, the US will emerge as a contender. However, there were a few things that we learned about being an imperialistic power. First was that our navy was sorely lacking and needed to be strengthened. Teddy Roosevelt will commission the creation of a new line of naval ships know as the Great White Fleet and as a show of bravado, masculinity and strength and will set this fleet on a global tour, parading them before the major nations of the world as part of his Big Stick Diplomacy.

Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick idea was inspired by an old African proverb which loosely interpreted meant speak softly but carry a big stick. It was in essence an intimidation policy. Employed, it included the acquisition of the Panama Canal, the adaption of the Roosevelt Corollary (which essentially made the US the self appointed policemen of the world) and a preservation of the Open Door Policy in China.

During his presidency, the Japanese attacked Manchuria in China which was the Russian sphere of influence. Teddy Roosevelt (using the Roosevelt Corollary) intervened as a diplomatic negotiator to resolve the conflict peacefully and his actions ultimately won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 and at the same time secured a secret treaty with Japan ensuring that the US could continue trading freely in China.

As a matter of fact, do not forget the motivating factor of all that transpired during the Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson presidencies with regard to foreign policy during this imperialistic age was economic. We were securing the ability to trade freely around the world and collecting markets.

Another aptly named example of this was Dollar Diplomacy in the hand picked (by TR) succeeding presidency of Howard Taft. Secretary of State Philander Knox worked aggressively to extend American investment into less developed regions (third world nations), Nicaragua being one of them. Nicaragua was going through political upheaval and the US sided with the insurgent group. When peace was restored, Knox encouraged American bankers to offer substantial loans to the new government in order to increase US financial leverage over the country. Two years later another insurrection took place trying to overthrow the American supported government. This time US protected the existing regime and troops will remain for another decade.

3.5 Identify why the United States remained neutral, but later became involved in World War I. The outbreak of WWI in 1914 was really a culmination of events that are tied to imperialism. I like to use the acronym MAIN to help students remember the causes of WWI which I think you will see the connection with imperialism and ultimately with US entry into the war. The items in MAIN were a result of imperialism and will inevitably fester into the conflict between industrialized nations who were looking to expand their borders. M – militarism (necessary for imperialism), A – alliances (used to protect economic treaties), I – imperialism (expansion of borders), and N – nationalism (self-preservation).

At the time that The Great War broke out, the US saw this as a European war and basically none of our concern because it did not really affect us as long as our official neutral status was honored. Neutrality meant that we could continue trading with everyone because, well, we were neutral.

The problem will come when the central powers, particularly Germany felt that the US’s longtime connection with the allied powers of Great Britain and France made the US balance of trade (including weapons and other munitions) tip in favor of their warring enemy.

Germany began to use their very effective U-Boats (submarines) to patrol the Atlantic and torpedo any vessel they felt was carrying contraband, which often meant US ships and passenger liners. Some of the most famous sinkings included the British passenger liner (carrying many US passengers) the Lusitania and the American ship the Sussex.

Still American sentiment was squarely against intervention. Wilson will win re-election in 1916 with a campaign slogan that said that Wilson “kept us out of war.” However, Wilson knew that the allied powers were in dire straits and would soon need assistance.

Both the Zimmerman telegraph and the sinking of three American merchant ships will help Wilson convince Congress into a declaration of war in 1917 and involvement in the WWI on the allied side. Wilson also needed to convince the American public to support the war and delivers a speech to Americans saying that we must fight the war in order to “keep the world safe for democracy.” Translated, this meant to keep the US free to trade with Europe and the rest of the world without threat of overzealous industrialized nations hell-bent on world domination. We will serve again as policemen of the world.

Identify political and military turning points of the war and determine their impact on the outcome 3.6* of the war. Immediately this war was different from previously fought wars. First and foremost this was a war fought by the industrialized nations with the technology and modernization of weapons that were engineered for massive casualties. Flame throwers, tanks, machine guns, grenade launchers and chemical weapons were just a few of the efficient and effective weapons employed in WWI.

The look and strategy of the battlefield changed to meet these new realities. Trench warfare on the battlefield separated by a no-man’s land became the redefined look of fighting. Logistics and materials transport gained increased importance as did the increased use of airplanes, dreadnought battleships, and submarines.

Casualties were extremely high for war (British lost 1 million, Germany 2 million); even the victors of battle were overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of deaths. Before the US joined the war, a stalemate in fighting manifested itself as both sides dug deep into their trenches and were unable to make any substantial territorial gains.

US ground forces, both volunteers and draftees from the 1917 Selective Service Act, proved insignificant to the effectiveness of the allies until the spring of 1918 when the American Expeditionary Force under General John Pershing gained control of the command structure. Pershing maintained the AEF as independent from other the other Allies. US forces finally tipped the balance of the stalemate in favor of the Allies and by June 1918 the AEF helped repel a German offensive at Chateau-Thierry.

Beginning in September 1918 the US forced fighting in the Argonne Forest (as part of the Allied Meuse- Argonne Offensive) and pushed the Germans back toward their original western border and in so doing cut off critical supply routes. By November 1918 the Great War ended with the Allies knocking on the German border.

Analyze the political and economic impacts of the war on the United States, including the ways executive power was expanded (Schenck vs US, War Industries Board, Committee on Public 3.7 information). Wilson is truly a tragic figure in American history of Shakespearean proportion. His extreme idealism was both admirable and devastating. Wilson’s Fourteen Points is the embodiment of that idealism.

In a speech before congress Wilson outlined his vision of a new world order in a post WWI society. His Fourteen Points can be summed up into three categories: 1. emphasis on self-determination and the creation of new boundaries; 2. a new international governance of laws including freedom of the seas, end to secret treaties, free trade, determination of colonial claims; and 3. a league of nations to implement points and resolve future disagreements. The Fourteen Points was also an effort to combat Bolshevik (Lenin) aspirations to lead the new postwar world order and the United States wanted to assert itself as the true leaders.

The end of the war saw a return to a peacetime industry and economy which was now boosted as a result of the war. Politically, the United States became a world power, and was in a great position to stay there as a result of being the world’s largest creditor and wealthiest nation. However, the US returned to neutrality and isolation because the American people did not accept the responsibility of a world power that President Wilson believed the US should take on. As a result, despite the great efforts of Wilson, the United States stubbornly held on to its neutrality as evidence by our refusal to join the lofty League of Nations, despite it being the brainchild of Wilson himself.

Mobilizing an industrial economy for total war required an unprecedented degree of government involvement in industry, agriculture, and other areas. To finance the war the US appropriated $32 billion for war. To raise this money the US sold Liberty Bonds to the public and put in place a new graduated tax on income and inheritance (tax on the wealthy). Liberty and victory loans raised an astonishing $21 billion. The Council of National Defense members urged scientific management and centralization, proposed dividing the economy based on function and not geography, with war boards coordinating efforts in each sector.

War Industries Board oversaw purchase of military supplies under Bernard Baruch who organized factories, set prices, and distributed needed materials. Instead of restricting profits, government worked closely with the private sector. With the unprecedented expansion of government the question arises whether the country was turning to a more socialized democracy. During the course of the war and due to government expansion, unemployment virtually disappeared as a result of heavy government regulation of industry. But with big government inevitably come some gross mismanagement and overlapping jurisdictions.

WWI also brought with it “big government” infringement on civil liberties in order to control oppositions groups and other obstacles to the war effort. The Committee on Public Information also known as the Creel Committee, headed by George Creel, told Americans what the war was about and publicized the American aims in the form of propaganda posters to get Americans to support the war effort. The Espionage Act of 1917 gave government the power to punish spies and obstructers of war effort and to respond to reports of disloyalty. Sabotage Act and Sedition Act of 1918 made any public expression of opposition illegal and was used to targeted socialist groups. Local governments and private citizen groups worked to repress opposition using at times vigilante mob discipline, including the American Protective League with its thousands of members who spied on neighbors to ensure unity of opinion in communities.

The Supreme Court also jumped into the suppression wagon with its landmark case, Schenk v. US. Charles Schenk, a member of the Socialist Party, handed out leaflets condemning the war and urging young men to resist the military draft. He was arrested and convicted for violating the Espionage and Sedition Act of 1917. Schenk took his case to the United States Supreme Court arguing that his constitutional right to freedom of speech had been violated. The Majority opinion agreed with Schenk but with one important exception: every act of speech must be judged according to the circumstances in which it was spoken. Under normal circumstances, his actions would have been protected by 1st amendment but the country was at war and therefore Schenk's freedom of speech was not protected. From the ruling, the Court established the "clear and present danger" principle to decide whether or not certain kinds of speech are protected.

Identify the social and cultural impacts of the war on the United States especially on the role of women, immigrants and minorities (Palmer Raids, Sacco and Vanzetti, nativism, women and 3.8 minorities to work)

Repressive efforts targeted socialists and labor leaders, but also largely immigrants including Germans, Irish, and Jews. Government was concerned about minorities in opposition to war, and believed victory was possible only through a united public opinion. For examples, the Committee on Public Information under George Creel distributed pro-war propaganda portraying Germans as savages. “Loyalist” Americans called for “100 Percent Americanism.” This was a concept of extreme patriotism and called for complete cultural assimilation. There was even a campaign at the time to purge society from any German influences including the renaming of sauerkraut to liberty cabbage and frankfurters to liberty sausage (don’t be so quick to judge, remember “liberty fries” after 9/11?). German Americans in particular faced fierce discrimination. The American Protective League they often targeted Germans using approximately 250,000 volunteer agents who served to spy on neighbors by opening mail and tapping phones. The activities of the American Protective League were funded by the government.

The “Red Scare” was also associated with the eastern European immigrant. Antiradicals saw any instability or protest as radical threats. In January 1920 Attorney General A Mitchell Palmer conducted nationwide raids in an equally radical crackdown and made dozens of arrests.

An example of nativism was the highly publicized trial of Sacco and Vanzetti. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants charged with murdering a guard and robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts. The trial lasted from 1920-1927 and the two defendants were convicted based on circumstantial evidence. Many at the time believed that they had been framed for the crime because of their anarchist and pro-union activities. Liberals and radicals rallied around the two men, but they would be executed.

Putting all of this discrimination and suppression aside, once America intervened in WWI most of the country became patriotic and supportive of troops. Religious revivalism also became a popular source of support for war.

War years saw “Great Migration” of hundreds of thousands of African- Americans from rural South to northern industrial cities. Southern poverty and racism as well as the appeal of northern factory jobs and the hope for less discrimination led to the movement. Growing black communities near white neighborhoods sometimes resulted in race riots. Women were also able to capitalize and took higher-paying industrial jobs that were unavailable in peace time.

Boom and Bust– Mini-Unit 4

4.1 Identify the causes of a “booming” national economy on the United States during the 1920’s. Examine the causes of drastic economic change in America from a booming economy to a busting 4.4 economy. Following the idealism of Woodrow Wilson, a world war and a failed attempt at a League of Nations (mostly due to the US not joining) the United States reverted to the proverbial fetal position. All we cared about was domestic issues, big business and making money. What we wanted was a “return to normalcy” which was the ingenious campaign slogan of Warren Harding in the 1920 presidential election.

Harding perfectly captured the American mentality, and to the republicans and big business, a return to normalcy meant a return to laissez-faire politics. Harding was just the ticket. The republican fiscal program meant low taxes, less government spending and high tariffs. Through the administrations of Harding Coolidge and Hoover (1920-1932) big business flourished and so did the US economy.

The roaring 20s as it was called saw tremendous industrial growth and production. The growth was the result of a variety of factors which included the collapse of European industry after WWI, important technological advances such as the rise of auto manufacturing (and in turn gas production, road construction), assembly line, rise of radio and commercial broadcasting, advances in air travel, and development of electronics and synthetic materials.

The problem which will culminate in the 1929 crash was that the 1920s was indeed roaring but only really for the rich. Farmers and laborers did not see much of an improvement after the war. Without a substantial middle class, an economy can only go so far. In an industrial age where production is reaching an all time high due to big business, there needs to be a market for all those goods. In other words somebody needs to be able to buy all of this stuff. Unfortunately, our enormous income disparity meant that the vast majority of Americans did not have the means to buy, buy, buy.

The 1920s is also considered the age of the birth of consumerism. The small but growing middle class was motivated to buy stuff to distance themselves from the riff raff and give the impression of success and achievement. However, there are simply not enough of the middle class purchasing power to salvage the failing economy. It is important to note that this beginnings of consumerism does set a precedent for when the middle class does explode in numbers and is able to buy, buy, buy. The reality was that 2/3rd of Americans lived at no better than the minimum comfort level and half of this number was at or below the poverty line. The result was that a domestic market for the big production output of big business was simply not there and it will come crashing down in the 1929 crash and resulting Great Depression.

4.2 Describe the effects of racial segregation in America during the Jazz Age. Describe the challenges to traditional practices in religion, race and gender during the 1920’s 4.3 (flappers, Scopes Monkey Trial, Harlem Renaissance) As a result of opportunities for minorities during the war, many African Americans moved to northern cities to find work. Due to racism and segregation, many moved into homogeneous neighborhoods like Harlem in New York City.

The Jazz Age was a time of cultural conflict. While the north saw race riots over competition for jobs and ethnic conflict between African Americans and immigrants, the south saw Jim Crow and lynchings between African Americans and native-borns (white people). Either way it was not fun to be African American in the 1920s. However, out of the ashes of prejudice and oppression rose a movement that although born from the suffering and pain of racism matured into optimism and a celebration of culture.

The Harlem Renaissance celebrated uniquely African American culture with often upbeat Jazz music and a strangely alluring syncopated rhythm. It highlighted art and literature, poetry and song. Langston Hughes is a great example of the movement. Riding the heels of this popular art form rode a “back to Africa” movement led by Marcus Garvey, again celebrating cultural pride. Great art, however, is usually inspired by great pain and the roaring 20s saw the rebirth or renaissance of another cultural tradition.

The Ku Klux Klan re-emerged in 1915 after a meeting in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Its new objectives were to spread the hate universally, not just to its traditional favorite target, African Americans but to all immigrants, including Catholics, Jews, and most all foreigners. They wanted to purge the “alien” influences out of the American culture. Membership grew in the South but also in northern industrial cities.

Nativism was once again in vogue, not that it ever wasn’t it just has periods in which the zeal is resurged. The result was immigration quotas being passed in Congress. Emergency Quota Act of 1921, restricted newcomers from Europe to a quota and the Immigration Act of 1924, which reduced the quota down even further, particularly for southeastern Europeans.

I like to describe the 1920s as a time of extreme contrasts. Here are some examples that have been previously discussed: Big Business Economy v. Income disparity; Republican traditional values (Harding/Coolidge, KKK, Nativism, prohibition) v. reaction to those values (flapper, jazz age, ignoring prohibition, consumerism); the optimism and celebration of culture of the Harlem Renaissance v. the pessimism and withdrawal of culture of the Lost Generation; and finally religious fundamentalism (Scopes Trial) v. Modernists (emphasis on education)

Let’s discuss the latter. During this time, there was a religious revival. This revival however became an epic battle for the soul of Protestantism, the main religion in the US. In a new, industrial, modern, scientific, progressive, American society, the question was asked, “how should religion fit into the new scientific age of industry and technology?”

On one side were the modernists who believed that religion could coexist with science. These were mostly urban, middle class Americans versus their more fundamental, rural counterparts who believed in strict adherence to the bible and a rejection of science.

This feud is exemplified in the infamous Scopes “Monkey” Trial. The cast of characters will meet in 1925 in a small southern town, Dayton, Tennessee. The case involves the ACLU who will ask a high school biology teacher by the name of John Scopes to teach evolution in his biology class. The teaching of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was outlawed in Tennessee in favor of the biblical version of the creation of the human race. The case goes to trial and the prosecution is represented by (always-the-bridesmaid-and- never-the-bride) William Jennings Bryan (3 time presidential candidate) and the defense was represented by Clarence Darrow. The trial became a media circus set in a perceived backwoods small town. The result was interesting. The jury ruled in favor of the prosecution. The judge, however, handed down a curious penalty – about $1.00. At the end of the epic battle it appeared that not even religion could stop the technological train from progressing.

4.5 Describe the social and economic impacts of the Great Depression.

4.6 Describe the Hoover administration’s response to economic crisis. The social and economic impact of the Great Depression was immediate and life changing. Banks were heavily invested in the stock market (a practice that is no longer allowed) and when the market crashed so did the banks. A key to the business of business is the flow of money. Businesses need to be able to borrow money from banks to keep business going. This revolving debt is very critical and cyclical.

For example in order to make payroll or to buy supplies, a business may need to take out a short term loan and when products are sold and the money comes in, the debt to the bank is paid off. This is part of the business of business. But when banks are not able to loan out money, employers cannot pay employees which are then laid off. This out of work, former employees cannot buy stuff from businesses, which in business is a crucial component of making a profit. Businesses close and more people get laid off and the vicious cycle perpetuates. The result is massive unemployment and the closing down of businesses and banks on a huge scale. The flow of money stops and the economy sinks into a bottomless pit. A few more key pieces to the Great Depression puzzle include bank closures. When a bank closed its doors and went out of business in the 1920s and early 1930s that was it, your money was gone. Any money that you had in the bank was gone. There was no federal insurance of that money – hence why great-grandma stubbornly stashed her dough in coffee cans and mattresses post Great Depression. Life savings vanished overnight and without any prospects for employment people were evicted, foreclosed on and literally starved.

There were no social safety nets except for the aforementioned private and religious organizations (settlement houses and Salvation Army). Tent cities sprung up on the outskirts of towns, affectionately dubbed Hoovervilles by residents in honor of the do-nothing administration of Herbert Hoover who had the unfortunate luck to be president during the early years of the Great Depression.

As unemployment raised so did suicide rates and admittance to mental institutions which at the time was enough to drive someone to suicide. Children suffered long-term medical problems due to hunger and inadequate diets, discrimination increased as there was a greater fight for any available jobs, women were criticized for working as it would take a job away from a man and men felt worthless as they were too often unable to provide for the family.

Hoover’s response fit the mentality of the time. As a pro-business, laissez-faire advocate, social Darwinist he felt that to give a hand out would undermine the integrity and self-respect of the American people and government had no business in doing charity work. Government involved in society’s welfare would expand the role of government which was against republican principles. Hoover instead chose to give relief in an indirect way to the people. Hoover provided “ indirect ” relief by assisting insurance corporations, banks, agricultural organizations, railroads and state and local governments. The theory was that prosperity at the top would help the economy as a whole (that’s right, the original trickle down economics!). Many Americans saw it as helping bankers and big businessmen, while ordinary people went hungry.

The Bonus Army march epitomizes the role of Hoover’s administration during the Great Depression. About 20,000 WWI vets demonstrated in Washington DC demanding that they receive now a bonus pay promised to them once they reached retirement age. Demonstrators wanted Congress to approve a measure that would give them this bonus pay now because they were in dire straits now. Congress refused and Hoover ordered the marchers to leave. When they refused he sent the US Army to remove the marchers. On August 28, 1932 (an election year) the president ordered General Douglas MacArthur (yes the same one, future WWII and Korean War hero) to converge on the bonus marchers using tanks, intimidation, and the resources of the army to disband the bonus army. In a publicity nightmare the US army also burned down the tents of the bonus marchers. This sealed the deal for Hoover’s defeat and the election of newcomer Franklin Roosevelt.

4.7 Describe the Roosevelt administration’s response to economic crisis.

4.8 Assess impact of New Deal reforms in enlarging role of federal government in American life. Franklin Roosevelt did not know what to do about the economic crisis any more than Hoover. In fact he admitted that fact. What he did know was that doing nothing as Hoover did was not working. Roosevelt decided to go for the opposite approach - try anything. He was quoted as saying, “Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another.” This is bold stuff for a president to admit but the people loved him, so much so in fact that they elected him to an unprecedented four terms. To restore confidence in government, he began talking to the American people using the new medium of radio in his fire-side chats. In his weekly address he would explain the measure that he was trying out assuring the people that government was going to provide relief. Jumping on board the do-the-opposite-of-Hoover wagon, Roosevelt opted for a more direct approach to assist the American people. His New Deal programs would assist and progress according to the 3Rs – relief, recovery and reform.

Relief started within days of Roosevelt taking office, announcing a four-day banking holiday (Emergency Banking Act) in which all banks would be forced to close and the ones that were allowed to re-open were deemed safe to do business with and would operate under the auspices of the Treasury Department. Once re- opened all deposits in those banks would be protected by the new Federal Deposit Insurance Commission up to $5,000. FDR would also abandon the gold standard to increase currency and help farmers and debtors alike come out from under crushing debts/mortgages. The Federal Emergency Relief Act was passed and provided aid to the unemployed in the form of food, clothing and jobs via the Civil Works Administration (providing temporary employment in construction) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (providing employment in more rural areas planting trees and improving irrigation). All of these relief measures were done in the now famous first 100 days. Soon the Works Progress Administration followed providing even more jobs building playgrounds, schools, public housing, etc.

In the recovery phase, the National Recovery Act enforced codes of fair competition, minimum wages, and permitted collective bargaining of workers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act protected farmers from price drops and over production. The US government would pay farmers (subsidies) not to grow crops, produce dairy products such as milk and butter or raise pigs and lambs. The 1933 TVA began building dams in the Tennessee Valley region with the purpose of selling electricity at reasonable rates. The TVA almost single handedly revitalized the rural region by improving transportation, limiting flooding, making electricity more available, and lowering power rates nationwide.

In the areas of reform, FDR’s administration passed the 1933 Truth in Securities Act requiring corporations to give truthful disclosures as an attempt to regulate big business. The 1934 Securities and Exchange Commission was created to police stock market and prevent unethical practices such as insider trading and the potential for another major stock market crash.

The result of the New Deal is obvious. It greatly expanded the size and scope of government, for better or for worse. Government became the largest employer of the American people for a time. Although the relief measures taken by the New Deal were intended to be temporary, the size of government never did snap back to its original size. As a matter of fact, from this point forward, government will only increase in size. The other reality of the New Deal was that it did not turn out to be the saving cure for the Great Depression. Although it gave much needed temporary relief to the American people, it did not fix the economy. Ironically, the New Deal simply did not spend enough money to reboot our economic system. The only thing that would make New Deal spending look like a drop in the bucket would be another but much bigger world war. It was WWII and its massive government spending that would pull us out of the Great Depression.

World War II and Cold War – Mini-Unit 5 Identify causes of World War II and describe Americans reaction to the outbreak of war (neutrality, 5.1 isolationism).

5.2 Analyze the causes of American entry into WWII.

The causes of WWII in Europe and Asia can be traced back to a simple concept that when given due research and reflection is quite complex. Nationalism can be a beautiful but dangerous sentiment. The concept seems so innocuous and on the surface very simplistic. It can take the shape of a noble servicemen’s herculean sacrifice of answering the call of duty potentially sacrificing their lives for the sake of family and country. In other, more concerning situations it could stir a vulnerable people to extremes and result in the rise of power of zealots who are willing to commit acts of genocide and terrorism all in the name of nationalism (Taliban, Al Quida, and Janjaweed). Germany, Italy and Japan were examples of countries that were experiencing these sweeping waves of nationalism. However, they were not alone in the world, but rather a microcosm of a trend that was surging globally.

In continuing to identify and analyze the causes of WWII, the questions that come to mind next are two fold. First what caused this extreme nationalism and second why didn’t it happen similarly to other countries like the US? Let’s take Germany first. WWI was devastating to all of Europe and Germany was no exception. Perhaps the devastation was felt more acutely by Germany because they were the losers of this debilitating war and the target of resentment by Britain and France. Forced to pay war reparations, Germany was crippled before it even started to try and rebuild. This is from a country that was a major industrial power and further valued economic superiority culturally which ultimately took Germany down a course of expansion of its borders during WWI. Now, the country was in ruin, the economy looked unrecoverable and the people were desperate for hope. Out of these ashes, came a charismatic speaker who rallied a proud people and told them that Germany could once again be a utopia for German speaking people. Hitler’s cosmic rise to stardom was akin to a supernova, radiating the German people with hope under a new Nazi Germany. Meanwhile in Italy, fascism was on the rise and much like Hitler, Mussolini was spuing verbiage about ethnic pride and patriotism as well as the hope of a perfect and united Italian people. Similarly, Japan was capitalizing on nationalism, economic nationalism. Like Germany it was an industrial power and also like Germany it did not have the geography to accommodate an industrial power. Important to a growing industrial nation (as Great Britain knows so well) are natural resources. In the limited square footage of a nearly land-locked Germany as well as the limited real estate of the small island nation of Japan, the natural resources necessary to put through its industrial factories are extremely limited. The only answer to this geographical dilemma especially for a leader under the pressure of growing nationalism is expansion (thus WWI and WWII). It is no coincidence that the aggressors of WWII were small and ambitious industrial economies.

From WWI to Disengagement/Isolationisim The second part of this two fold question has to do with the United States and other western European nations and why they did not follow the same course as Germany, Japan and Italy. After all, the US, Great Britain and France were just as industrially ambitious but yet did not experience nationalism quite the same way. The global trend of high doses of nationalism took a more defensive approach. Our brand of nationalism essentially reverted the country into a fetal position. We disengaged from internationalism as much as our industrial economy allowed. Evidence of this includes the US not signing with the rest of the Allies the Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI. Rather, the US signed separate treaties with each of the central powers to avoid foreign obligations and entanglements. Additionally, we did not join the League of Nations despite it being the brain-child of US President Woodrow Wilson. In 1921 we initiated the Washington Conference which was a joint effort by major countries to navel disarmament for the purpose (at least as we were concerned) of safeguarding US freedom. The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an idealistic in scope agreement among 62 nations to outlaw war as a tool of foreign policy. The Clark memorandum under the Hoover administration promises to not interfere in Latin American affairs which of course was a total rebuke of the everlasting Monroe Doctrine. In that same administration we revoke our presence from Haiti and Nicaragua. Japan invades Manchuria violating Open Door policy and Hoover essentially does nothing. You can almost see the US slowly tiptoeing, finger over lips out the back door of foreign policy and our self imposed status as the policemen of the world. Once the stock market crash of 1929 hits and the subsequent Great Depression engulfs us in a sea of economic shock, any lasting feelings of internationalism are squashed under the weight of Hoovervilles and the growing storm of the Dust Bowl.

From Isolationism to Neutrality FDR and our slow and regimented entry into WWII was an interesting road. FDR entered the White House in a flood promising changes and dealing exclusively with the alarming rates of poverty, unemployment and starvation. He continued that backwards retreat from international affairs. The one foothold we kept in world affairs was relevant with our immediate concerns in the 1930s and that was improving our economy. Any international action we took was geared toward selfish economic motivations. This foothold is what triggers our movement from disengagement/isolation which characterizes US foreign policy in the 1920s to simply neutrality. This is called the Depression Diplomacy. It included the recognition of the USSR which, according to the US, did not exist once it turned communist in the Bolshevik Revolution right smack dad in the middle of WWI. Our motivation? FDR wanted more trading partners. Now that the Soviet Union existed it was much easier to trade with them. FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy targeted a good reciprocal trading relationship with Latin America. Instead of bullying Latin America into trading (Dollar Diplomacy, Roosevelt Corollary) we will respect their independence and establish more equitable and expanded trade relationship. We withdraw from the Philippines and grant them independence because they are too costly to govern. Finally the Nye Committee investigations concluded that big business profited from WWI and got us into that war and we vowed that would never happen again. Congress responded to this congressional investigative report by passed the Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, 1937. So just incase you did not understand that we were neutral in 1935, we beat you over the head with neutrality again in 1936 and in case you were brain dead, we passed another in 1937. Combined, they said they forbade the sale of arms and the extension of credit and loans to belligerent nations, no American was allowed to travel on vessels from nations at war (can you say Lusitania), non-military goods were to be purchased on a cash and carry bases, - No loans or credit, rather nations must pay cash and then you must come get the items from us. No more traveling across the U-Boat infested Atlantic that could potentially drag us into a war. The Panay Incident in which an American ship was attacked on the Yangtze River in China by the Japanese could not even deter American resolve to stay out of conflict. After an apology from Japan, the US backed down. Japan knew now the true scope of American Neutrality. We can be attacked without repercussions. This will pave the road to Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were not the only testers of European resolve to not enter another conflict. The Germans were testing Britain and France as well. Germans march into Austria and the German speaking section of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudenland. The European powers address the issue at the Munich conference by giving into Hitler’s demand thinking that he will be satisfied with these acquisitions. This policy is known as appeasement. Hitler had no concept of limitation and begins an assault on the entire Czechlislovakian country and then moved onto Poland. Great Britain and France threw in the towel and declared war on Germany. WWII begins.

From Neutrality to Involvement The next phase of causes of WWII includes our movement from Neutrality to Involvement. This begins with the 1939 Neutrality Act: In response to Germany’s invasion of Poland. FDR persuades Congress in special session to allow the US to aid European democracies in a limited way: The US could sell weapons (before it was non-military) to the European democracies on a “cash-and-carry” basis. Results of the 1939 Neutrality Act: Aggressors could not send ships to buy US munitions (not very neutral!) and the US economy improved as European demands for war goods helped bring the country out of the Depression. In other words, America becomes the “Arsenal of Democracy.” And our road to superpowerdom is paved. Once France falls in 5 weeks after German invasion, FDR extends Cash and Carry to supply particularly the British with a “lend-lease” agreement that allowed sale but also lending of armaments. This would ensure that shipments reached GB by the US Navy patrolling the Atlantic for enemy subs. Additionally, he passes the Selective Service Act (1940) or draft and the Destroyer for Bases Deal. FDR sweetens the pot in his address to Congress in 1940, in which he gives the famous Four Freedoms speech – lend GB money to purchase war materials and we can justify these actions in the name of defending those holy American ideals of freedom of Speech, Religion, freedom from want and freedom from fear. The Atlantic Charter spells out US and British goals for a post WWII society and ties the US to the Allies publically. By this point the axis powers see the “Go Allies” flag the US is now boldly waving and Japan decides to make it legit. On December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy, the Japanese delivered a devastating surprise hit on the navel base, Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. This event will finally convince the American people and Congress to become fully involved in the war. Identify military turning points of the war and determine their significance to the outcome of the 5.3* conflict. WWII was fought on two fronts: the Pacific Theater and the European Theater. Because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the war begins in the Pacific.

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the US forces surrendered in the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island. In an attempt to turn the tide, the US led two offensives- Gen Douglas MacArthur’s attack from the south, and Admiral Chester Nimitz attacked from HI to the west. In May 1942 Battle of Coral Sea weakened the Japanese navy; however, the more important Battle of Midway Island in June 1942 saw the US regain control of the central Pacific. By mid-1943 the US turns the tide in the Pacific with its victory in securing the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal).

Meanwhile in Europe: FDR decided to delay invasion of France in favor of a more safe October 1942 counter- offensive in North Africa against Nazi General Erwin Rommel. By May 1943 American General George Patton and British General Montgomery had driven Germans from Africa. Now the US plans to invade Germany from its soft underbelly. We will mount a campaign to cross the Meditarranean Sea, hop on Sicily, then Italy and the Germany. The Soviet Red Army meanwhile held off an immense German 1942-1943 winter offensive at Stalingrad. Hitler’s forces exhausted, starving and freezing in the Russian winter were forced to abandon eastern advance.

In July 1943 US and British continued their Italian campaign by invading Sicily. Mussolini’s government collapsed quickly but Germany sent reinforcements and delayed the capture of Rome until June 1944. The slow, costly Italy campaign will delay a French channel invasion that the Soviets were pleading for as they wanted a respite from German aggression

The day for the French liberation campaign was finally set. By 1944 devastating Allied strategic bombing against German industry at Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin reduced Germany’s production levels and disrupted the transportation network. German Luftwaffe were forced to retreat to bases within Germany itself. After a planned two year buildup in England, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower ordered the invasion across English Channel into Normandy, France on “D-Day” (June 6, 1944). Allies drove Germans from the Normandy coast, and by September forced them to retreat from France and Belgium altogether. In December, Germans launched a final counter-attack called the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes Forest, but British and American forces soon repelled the German army and continued advancing to Berlin from the west. With Soviet advances on the Eastern front, Allies began moving into Germany across Rhine

April 30 1945 Hitler commits suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin. By May 8, 1945 Germany issued a full surrender. It is known as “V-E” Day.

The Pacific Offensive In June 1944 Americans captured the Mariana Islands. With the American victory in September at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese navy was decimated when the US sunk many Japanese aircraft carriers. In the next few months Japanese fought desperate battles of resistance, first in February at Iwo Jima, and then in June at Okinawa (used Kamikaze suicide bombers throughout)

Many feared that bloody island battles would ensue with an invasion of the Japanese mainland, but by 1945 the Japanese were weakened by continued firebombings of Tokyo, shelling of industrial centers. President Truman issued an ultimatum to the Japanese for an “unconditional surrender” by Aug 3rd or face annihilation. Japanese moderates in government were unable to convince the powerful military leaders to accept Truman’s unconditional surrender. Truman ordered use of atomic weapons and on August 6, 1945 on board the bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 80,000 civilians. Because Japanese government didn’t respond, The US deployed on August 8 a second atomic bomb, this time on the city of Nagasaki, killing 100,000. By August 14 the Japanese emperor agreed to surrender. September 2, 1945 Japan signed the articles of surrender (“V-J Day”) marking end of WWII. Analyze the effect to the war on American economic life. (war bonds, rationing, GI Bill, growth of 5.4 suburbs, After WWI, the American people did not experience much of a change in their standard of living. However, after WWII, there will be a demographic paradigm shift. The growth of a now predominantly middle class will forever change the dynamic of the American economy. How and why did this happen? What was the big difference between the two wars? The answer dates back to the New Deal and the expansion of government.

Prior to WWI, government was laissez-faire and pro business and economic demographics revealed huge income disparity – rich and poor. Prior to WWII we saw an expanding government regulate big business and provide relief to the working class and pushed by the progressive and Teddy Roosevelt and then FDR and the New Deal. These policies will set the stage for a post WWII economy. During WWII, union membership increased due to the cooperation between government and business. Further, WWII ended the massive and crippling unemployment to practically zero meaning that everyone was working and with nothing to spend it on (intensive rationing and redirection of production to the military, meaning that everything that was being produced in American factories was going toward the war effort) Americans saved.

Fat with bloated savings accounts, years of pent up desire for consumerism and being deprived of creature comforts during the war both overseas and on the home-front spelled a recipe for frenzied spending when the wartime economy switched back to normal consumer driven production. Coupled with the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (commonly known as the GI Bill) American couples engaged in two activities immediately following the end of the war. The first was shopping for everything from cars, to appliances to houses; and the second activity, … well let’s just say the result was a demographic anomaly known historically as the baby boom.

The GI Bill did a number of things. It provided for an education (two-year, four-year or trade school) to any veteran. This will increase the earning potential for the average American and create more white-collar jobs, encouraging the growth of a middle class. Second it will provide low interest loans to veterans for anything from buying a home to starting a business.

The result will be a construction boom (even more jobs) and the expansion of business. The car (which people are now able to buy in greater numbers) is enabling the move to suburbia where the land to put a house is more affordable. Demand for housing soon outweighed supply so entrepreneurs like William Levitt established a business and a town that solved the housing problem. Levittown was building pre-fabricated simple houses employing an assembly line, mass production model to home construction. These simple two bedroom houses seemed like palaces compared to tenement housing or military barracks, equipped with driveways and garages, a small front yard and fenced backyard.

Couples furnished these homes with all the latest gadgets and newest technologies in kitchen appliances. The number of automobiles on the road grew exponentially and now roadside diners, hotels, attractions, gas stations and road construction businesses grew. The American economy was experiencing a boom like it had never before.

Analyze the effect of the war on American women and minorities and describe the way that 5.5 opportunities were expanded (Rosie the Riveter, more job opportunity, the Great Migration) Describe the impact of the war on Americans’ civil rights and describe how opportunities for 5.6 minorities were limited (Japanese internment, Korematsu vs. US) The affect of the war on women and minorities was actually very positive with one great exception. Women and minorities experienced greater opportunities as the US economy expanded to meet the demands of wartime production. Jobs were plentiful and most of the preferred workers (white men) were off overseas fighting the war. Women were targeted by propaganda campaigns to take on heavy industry jobs traditionally held by men. The famous Rosie the Riveter poster was intended to convince women previously excluded from these kinds of jobs that yes they can do it. Most women, however, took service-sector jobs in the growing government bureaucracy.

African Americans in another Great Migration (in greater numbers than during WWI) moved to urban areas seeking employment opportunities. Fearing black workers strike, FDR created Fair Employment Practices Commission to investigate labor discrimination. Later, the Congress of Racial Equality combated discrimination in society at large using popular resistance.

US war alliance with China helped Chinese Americans advance legal and social position. In 1943, Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Acts which had been reinstituted every 20 years since initially passed in 1892.

So minorities did see their situations improve during the war but with one great exception - the Japanese- Americans. Conspiracy theories of Japanese-Americans aiding in Pearl Harbor attacks led government and the military to see them as a threat. The result was Executive Order 9066. In 1942, Roosevelt created the War Relocation Authority to move Japanese citizens to “relocation camps” for monitoring. Starting in 1943 conditions began to improve as some Japanese were allowed to get to college or take jobs on the East Coast. Although in 1944 the Supreme Court case Korematsu v, U.S. ruled that relocation camps were constitutional, by that time most of internees had been allowed to leave camps. An official apology will no come from the United States until 1986 and Ronald Reagan.

Describe the implications of the United States involvement in global peacekeeping organizations 5.7 formed after World War II.

The United States emerged from WWII a superpower. Our shores had been untouched by war, our economy had almost single-handedly kept Europe and Asia from completely collapsing, our fire power saved the world from being enslaved by dangerous totalitarian leaders, with our country was intact, we now were the only country in the world who possessed the single most destructive weapon known to man and we proved that we were not afraid to use it.

Traditional powers like Great Britain and France were exhausted; Japan and Germany had been defeated. The only competition we had was with our former allied partner in the WWII, the Russians. Tensions mounted between the US and the USSR even during the war. At the various wartime conferences (Tehran, Casablanca, Yalta and Potsdam) the leaders argued about strategies and commitment. The Soviets had sacrificed the most in lives and money. Her capital city of Stalingrad lay in ruins, her people were starving and Stalin felt that because of this, they deserved a greater share of the European pie during post WWII negotiations.

Leaders of the free world felt otherwise, concerned about the spread of communist and the oppressive regimes that controlled them. At the Yalta conference, FDR argues for the formation of a peace keeping organization that had more teeth than its predecessor the failed League of Nations. Instead the United Nations would contain two assemblies, the General Assembly for diplomats from around the world to meet and the Security Council to enforce measures set by the assembly.

There were 5 permanent seats in the Security Council given to the 5 most powerful countries: The US, Great Britain, France, USSR and China. The hope was that collectively we cold prevent another world war and the United States more than another other country was in a position to control the future course of the world and perhaps even mold it in its own likeness. The Soviets proved that they had a different vision. Describe changes in the direction of foreign policy related to the Cold War in an attempt to control 5.8 Communism (Containment, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan)

To Americans, the greatest problem with the concept of communism was its appeal to the poor. With its promises of equality and unity, food, shelter and a job for everyone, the lure of communism was almost too much for other countries to resist -- particularly true in a world characterized by countries with overwhelmingly poor populations. Third-world countries were a particular threat because 1) they had predominately poor populations, and 2) their governments were weak, unstable and therefore vulnerable to coups and government takeovers. Although the Cold War is billed as a war without actual fighting, but rather one characterized by the buildup of militaries, defenses and diplomatic tensions between the US and USSR, “hot” wars with actual fighting would be fought indirectly between American democracy and Soviet communism, on the fields, deserts and jungles of third world nations.

American foreign policy had to reinvent itself to face the new world reality and come up with a strategy that made us both competitive in the world with the Soviets and at the same time hold back the threat of the spread of communism. The solution was uniquely American – the one thing that the US had that the Soviets did not was a lot of money. We would capitalize on this and make democracy look just as enticing as communism by throwing large sums of money at countries tempted by the allure of communism.

Harry Truman and George Marshall came up with a policy called Containment. It was simple. Communism is like a disease and must be contained to prevent its infectious spread. The means to contain communism was to administer an injection of a large dose of cash, AKA the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The Truman Doctrine was in response to potential communist take-over of the countries of Greece and Turkey. In it he states that, “The U. S. should support free peoples throughout the world who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or outside pressures…We must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.”

The Marshall Plan was billed as an economic recovery program in the wake of the devastation of WWII. Food, farm equipment, farm animals, clothing, care packages, building materials, and of course, money was sent to any country who needed it. It was a great show to other countries of the potential power, wealth and greatness of a democratic nation that could be theirs too if they too adopted democracy and rejected communism.

Future presidential administrations would pick up this baton of containment which will be called different things by different presidents but stripped down all these policies will look like containment. Eisenhower will call it brinkmanship and the Eisenhower Doctrine, Kennedy will call it flexible response, Lyndon Johnson will continue containment with Vietnam and Nixon will call it the Nixon Doctrine.

Describe the effects of the Cold War on American society (Duck and Cover drills, fallout shelters, 5.9 increase in public education funding) The year 1949 saw the Soviets explode their first atomic bomb and then see China fall to communism in the Mao Revolution. The threat of nuclear war was now real and will irrevocably change American society as there were now two nuclear superpowers entrenched in an unofficial war.

With the threat of nuclear annihilation, the American people began to prepare by building fallout shelters and preparing school children with Duck and Cover drills. All of this hid a growing insecurity that loomed in the shadows of the American consciousness. Could it be possible that we Americans were not in fact number one? Could there be a people who were smarter and better than we were? Many Americans felt that that this was impossible, but evidence was mounting to the contrary and paranoia fueled a red scare. Fear of growing communism and communist spies spread like wildfire fueling such events in society as McCarthyism and The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) where a young congressman by the name of Richard Nixon will make a name for himself. In 1957, the Russians launched into space Sputnik, a seemingly harmless metal sphere that orbited the earth for several days. The problem was that the United States could not even get a missile off the ground without exploding it on the launch pad. The Soviets on the other hand not only were able to launch an object into space but what was most damaging to our American psyche was that they reached space, FIRST. Communist paranoia grew.

The ripple affects of Soviet superiority were sobering. In response Eisenhower will launch two programs: 1) The National Space and Aeronautics Agency otherwise known as NASA and 2) the National Defense Education Act which placed an emphasis in education on science and math. The Space Race was well underway and came to epitomize the competitive nature of the Cold War and during the 1950s and 1960s the Russians owned us. They were the first to get a man into space (Yuri Gagarin), orbit the earth and continue to challenge us with their military technology.

5.10 Describe the causes of Cold War conflict with Cuba (Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis) Identify the causes of American involvement in Korea and Vietnam (Domino Theory, 5.11 Containment) The theme here is the Cold War in third-world countries. Both the US and USSR were playing a game of flexing military muscle and immaturely playing a staring contest challenging the other and asking, who would blink first? The first and possibly closest we came to a nuclear war came in the venue of Cuba, a third world nation recently converted to communism.

Fidel Castro led a rebellion against the US supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Castro then received the eager support of the Soviets under Nikita Khrushchev due to Cuba’s valuable location – 90 miles off the coast of their sworn enemy. Recently elected President John Kennedy (perhaps trying to fill the rather large shoes of Eisenhower, not only a popular president with the people but a war hero and the military genius behind d-day) wanted to show the Soviets who was boss and so green lighted a plan which was long in the works (a covert operation initiated under the Eisenhower administration) with the goal of overthrowing Communist leader Fidel Castro.

The plan called for the amphibious landing of a group of CIA trained Cuban ex-patriots on the shores of the Bay of Pigs, Cuba. They would receive air support from the US military as they completed their mission of infiltrating the island and raising a native rebellion against the oppressive leadership of Castro. The plan became a failure almost immediately with the Cuban ex-patriots capture soon after landing on the island and subsequent cancellation of the promised US air strikes. The cancellation was an attempt to cover up US involvement. This fiasco was a complete embarrassment for the Kennedy administration and would set the stage for the Cuban Missile Crisis.

It started with reconnaissance photos using high resolution cameras equipped on the bellies of high altitude U2 spy planes. The photos over Cuba revealed what appeared to be missiles being constructed on the island. More planes were deployed to take more photos and the evidence was irrefutable. Missiles were being shipped to Cuba from the Soviet Union and constructed in on the island. The intention was obvious: the missiles would be pointed at the United States. Kennedy demanded that Khrushchev remove the missiles. The Soviets refused and for two weeks in October 1962 the United States and the Soviets began their staring contest. The resolution thankfully was diplomatic. An agreement was reached that the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US promised not to invade the island of Cuba and in a more secret deal, the Americans remove the missiles it had pointed at the USSR in Turkey, an incident that most likely motivated the Soviets to point missiles at us in Cuba.

The causes of America’s involvement in Korea and Vietnam stem back to WWII. In the post WWII conferences, it was decided that Korea would be divided at the 38th parallel into North and South Korea. The north would be communist and the south would not. In 1950 the north would attempt to reunite the countries under communism (spread of communism) when North Korean forces invaded South Korea.

President Truman following his policy of containment will convince the United Nations to intervene on behalf of South Korea. General Douglas McArthur will lead UN forces to push the North Koreans out of South Korea’s borders. Then something interesting happens. Breaking its policy of containment, the UN will call for an advance past the 38th parallel and continue marching into North Korea in an attempt to reunite Korea under non-communism. The Chinese watched American led UN troops advance ever so close to its border with North Korea. China’s growing concern with American intentions decides to come to the aid of its communist neighbor, North Korea. With Chinese aid, North Korean forces repel UN troops and the result is a stalemate.

MacArthur demands from Truman the use of nuclear weapons against the North Koreans, but fearful of a nuclear war, Truman refuses and MacArthur complains of having to fight what he considers a limited war. Finally, a truce is established and a ceasefire signed in the Geneva Conference in 1954 ending the conflict but not the war. To this day North and South Koreans troops are stationed at the 38th parallel waiting for the other to make a move.

Vietnam was also dealt with at the 1954 Geneva Conference. It was decided that Vietnam would also be divided into a northern and southern countries, but at this time the 17th parallel, with the intention of reuniting them in a free election. The North would be ruled by the communist forces of Ho Chi Minh and the south by Ngo Dinh Diem.

The date was set for the free elections to take place but at the last minute, Diem backs out knowing that he would not win against the popularity and nationalist tide of Ho Chi Minh. This will lead to a conflict between the two nations which will culminate in 1964 with the Gulf Tonkin Resolution giving the United States a blank check to get involved in the on-going conflict in Vietnam.

President Johnson was again motivated by containing communism in Vietnam and makes the decision to not lose Vietnam the way that Truman lost China to communism. Johnson explained that if the US allowed one country in the vulnerable Southeast Asian region to fall to communism then it could set in motion a chain of events that will allow for the rest of the countries in the region to fall. The concept was called the domino theory – if Vietnam falls then they all fall to communism. A theory that proved to be true.

A Changing America – Mini-Unit 5

6.1 Describe the impact of the Vietnam War on American society. Identify primary motivations for major social movements such as the women’s movement, the American 6.2 Indian Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and the environmental movement.

Determine the impact of the women’s movement, the American Indian Movement, the Civil Rights 6.3 Movement, and the environmental movement on American society.

The failure of the Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society. This war will put into high gear a movement that will encourage Americans to take back their country. This was a time in which the people were struggling to find their political voice and assert their will on a government that historically served the interests of business and not the average American. The Vietnam War protests were an instrumental victory for the political movement of the American people. Through teach-ins, sit-ins, demonstrations, protests and marches, the youth of the United States rallied around a unifying cause and that was to get the hell out of Vietnam. They continued to pressure government with politically damning chants like “Hey, Hey LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?” The perceived failure of the Tet Offensive coupled with the reality of Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization and the Cambodian Invasion really motivated the anti-war protest movement (Kent State) to a point where both LBJ and then Nixon will begin searching for a back door to Vietnam, something Nixon and Kissinger will call, “peace with honor.” There is no honor in scrounging for a backdoor.

American involvement in Vietnam also ushered in another unfortunate trend that was a reality of the Nixon administration: distrust. The leaked Pentagon Papers revealed that the US government had been lying to Americans on its policies in Vietnam. Americans were starting to significantly distrust its government and calling for more transparency and reform which will manifest itself in ensuring civil rights for women and minorities, government accountability, and the rise of the fourth estate (investigative journalism that will take on the role of policing the actions of government and public officials – think Woodward and Bernstein’s role in Watergate). Although most of the lies uncovered in the Pentagon Papers were associated with the Johnson Administration, Nixon at the time was also engaging in deceit.

The scandal known as Watergate will cement the country’s worst fears that government was becoming tyrannical and not to be trusted. In light of the scandals, the American people will call for accountability in the form of the resignations of Spiro Agnew (VP to Nixon who pled no contest to charges of tax evasion) and Richard Nixon himself in light of the firestorm of Watergate and the Whitehouse Tapes. Americans were on a course of taking back their country and congress will bow to their will by passing legislation to achieve these measures. The Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Election Campaign Act forced government to be more transparent as well as a host of other measures all serving the interests of the people as opposed to big business.

Passed under the Nixon administration included the following: increased Social Security benefits and food stamps programs, the construction of public housing, approval of the 26th amendment to lower voting age to 18, establishing the Environmental Protection Agency, establishing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, establishing Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the creation of a Presidential Task Force on Women’s Rights.

The Supreme Court will also reflect the interests of the people by ruling on the landmark cases of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971 – bussing to desegregate public schools) and Roe v. Wade (1973 – abortion rights for women)

Native Americans were another minority that was inspired by the civil rights movement. In 1968 a group of American Indians from several tribes met in Minneapolis to discuss issues facing their people such as police brutality, high unemployment rates, and the federal government's policies towards American Indians. This meeting created the American Indian Movement (AIM).

6.4 Trace major events in the Civil Rights Movement.

6.5 Identify significant leaders and advocates of the Civil Rights Movement.

6.6 Identify government efforts, including court cases and policies to achieve equality in America. Civil rights movement in the United States really began after WWII. Returning African Americans from fighting overseas were met with Jim Crow, discrimination and segregation. They had witnessed integrated armies in Europe but fought and died in segregated the United States army. Feelings of injustice will galvanize the Civil Rights movement which just needed a catalyst that catalyst took the form of a small African American women coming home from a double shift at her job in the garment industry.

Rosa Parks’ refusal in December 1955 to give up her seat to a white man and her subsequent arrest will generate a movement which was a long time in coming. The subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott will have a lasting effect. First and foremost it will thrust onto the national stage a promising new and charismatic civil rights leader by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. Second, the success of the integration of the public transportation system due to the 382 day boycott created a model for successful and relatively peaceful civil disobedience.

Just a year before, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954) that separate is in fact not equal overturning the previous landmark case of Plessey v. Ferguson. Integration was now the law of the land but it came at a monumentally slow pace and met with massive resistance. Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas was the first high school in the South to integrate. 1958, President Eisenhower had to send Federal troops to accompany the nine black students attending an all white high school.

Resistance also came at the university level. In 1961, James Meredith, an African American student at Jackson State College, applied for admission to the all-white University of Mississippi, known as “Ole Miss.”When Meredith was rejected, he sought help from the NAACP. The NAACP argued that Meredith’s application had been rejected on racial grounds. When the case reached the Supreme Court, Meredith’s claim was upheld. Meredith continued to face problems as he enrolled at Ole Miss. Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett personally blocked Meredith’s way to the admissions office, and violence erupted on campus. The situation became a standoff between the governor and the Justice Department. President Kennedy sent federal marshals to escort Meredith around campus.

During the 1960 presidential campaign, Kennedy won the support of many African American voters. Kennedy had voted for civil rights measures in the Senate but had not actively supported them. As President, he moved slowly on civil rights issues, not wanting to anger southern Democrats. Hours after Kennedy had given a speech against discrimination, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered. This murder made it clear that government action was needed. After violence erupted in Birmingham in 1963, Kennedy introduced a stronger civil rights bill than he had originally planned. This bill called for an end to segregation in public places and in situations where federal funding was involved.

In April 1963, Martin Luther King joined the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth in a civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama. City officials ordered civil rights protesters to end the march that was part of this campaign. When they did not, King and others were arrested. While in Birmingham Jail, King wrote a famous letter defending his tactics and his timing. King was released more than a week later and continued the campaign, making the difficult decision to allow young people to participate. Police attacked the marchers with high-pressure fire hoses, police dogs, and clubs. As television cameras captured the violence, Americans around the country were horrified.

August of 1963, Civil Rights March on Washington, Martin Luther King gives his “I Have a Dream Speech”. Considered to be one of the best speeches in American History.

Freedom summers and riders During the summers of 1961 to 1964, groups of Civil Rights activists boarded buses bound for the South to register African Americans to vote. Although the freedom riders expected confrontation, the violence which greeted a bus in Anniston, Alabama, was more than they had anticipated. A heavily armed white mob disabled the bus and then set it on fire. As riders escaped from the bus, they were beaten by the mob. Americans were horrified by the violence which had greeted the bus in Anniston. Despite the potential danger involved, Freedom Rides continued during the summer. Many riders were arrested. Attorney General Robert Kennedy had originally been opposed to lending federal support to the Freedom Rides. However, he later sent federal marshals to protect the riders. Kennedy also pressured the Interstate Commerce Commission to prohibit segregation in all interstate transportation. The Justice Department began to sue communities that did not comply.

More far-reaching than the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 abolished the use of voter registration or a literacy requirement to discriminate against any voter. Its enforcement relied on judicial action and the use of injunctions—court orders that either force or restrain specific acts. The violent response of civilians and police and state troopers to a voter registration drive mounted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama showed that the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960 and 1964 were still not enough to ensure voter equality. Led to the 24th Amendment and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Selma March To call attention to the issue of voting rights, King and other leaders decided to organize marchers to walk from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, about 50 miles away. Violence erupted at the start of the march. President Johnson sent military assistance to protect the marchers. When the march resumed, more people joined it, making a total of about 25,000 marchers.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowed federal officials to register voters in places where local officials were preventing African Americans from registering. It also effectively eliminated literacy tests and other barriers to voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1964, outlawed the poll tax, which was still in effect in several southern states.

Freedom Summer In 1964, leaders of the major civil rights groups organized a voter registration drive in Mississippi. About 1,000 African American and white volunteers participated in what came to be called Freedom Summer. Violence plagued Freedom Summer as volunteers were beaten, shot at, arrested, and murdered. African American churches and homes were burned and firebombed.

Liberation and segregation of Black people not integration was Malcolm X's message. Believed MLK was moving too slow. Malcolm X became a powerful force in the Nation of Islam movement. His fervor and charismatic personality helping to swell the ranks. Conflict with Elijah Muhammad eventually followed and Malcolm X left the NOI after a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he saw "sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together irrespective of their color." Malcolm X was killed three months before his 40th birthday while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, NY on Feb. 21, 1965.

Black Power is a term that emphasizes racial pride and the desire for African Americans to achieve equality. The term promotes the creation of Black political and social institutions. The term was popularized by Stokely Carmichael during The Civil Rights Movement. Many SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) members were becoming critical of leaders that articulated non-violent responses to racism.

The Black Panthers In the fall of 1966, a new militant political party called the Black Panthers was formed. The Black Panthers wanted African Americans to lead their own communities. They also demanded that the federal government rebuild the nation’s ghettos. Because the Black Panthers monitored police activity in the ghettos, they often found themselves in violent encounters with police.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics. The two men were suspended by the United States team and banned from Olympic village. The action is considered a milestone of The Civil Rights Movement.

Modern America – Mini-Unit 6

7.1 Identify presidential responses to fluctuating economics of the 1970s and 1980’s. (Ford, Carter, Reagan)

Following WWII the American economy became the strongest in the world. With a strong American dollar the American standard of living had risen steadily in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the 1970s saw a trend towards an economic recession. The most significant reason for the increased federal deficit spending was due to Johnson’s two most costly and ambitious programs: the funding of the war in Vietnam and a war on poverty (government sponsored social programs known as The Great Society), both implemented without raising taxes. At this time, American dependence on oil and gasoline was skyrocketing. Domestic petroleum reserves were no longer sufficient to meet this demand, and the nation was heavily dependent on imports from the Middle East and Africa. With the start of the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East (Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel), Americans went to the aid of the Israelis and in so doing angered the rest of the Arab world who, unfortunately, controlled the majority of oil exports. OPEC immediately placed an oil embargo against the United States causing gas prices to rise domestically.

When gas prices raise so do the prices of everything else. Everything from food and clothing to the million other useless, ridiculous things we buy, experienced a sharp rise in price mostly due to the fact that oil and gas are needed to manufacture and transport the all of these goods to your local retailer. Additionally, with rising American labor costs, manufacturing was relocating to countries with cheaper labor forces. The result was a stagnating US economy. In response, the government moved first to reduce spending and raise taxes, which led to greater economic hardship on the average American. The United States was encountering a new economic phenomenon: “stagflation”, a combination of rising prices and general economic stagnation.

As we discovered with the New Deal and the conversion of our industrial economy to a massive government spending machine of a war time economy, the way out of an economic recession was government spending. This has come to be known as Keynesian economics. The down side of Keynesian economics is that higher taxes are needed to fund the massive government spending. President Reagan in the 1980s had a different philosophy on economics which he called supply-side economics (dubbed Reaganomics by pundits). It was a theory based on the belief that high taxes takes money away from the people and businesses that requires great consumer spending. If we put more money in the hands of the consumer, that is money being spent on investments in factories, equipment, and research.

Reagan will campaign on the ever popular platform of cutting taxes (and especially to corporations and wealthy individuals) to average Americans which would in turn place more purchasing power in the hands of the middle class consumer and at the end of the day stimulate the economy. The second part of this theory involved cutting federal spending (to reduce inflation) by primarily cutting what the government deemed unnecessary programs. Theoretically this sounds like a good plan but put in practice it translated to high interest rates which prevented most people from borrowing money and therefore spending money. The result was a recession. At the same time the Cold War was waging and that meant great amounts of defense spending particularly for a new program Reagan felt was very progressive called Star Wars.

7.2 Identify major efforts of different presidents to relax Cold War tensions. (Détente, SALT I/II) Foreign policy in the 1970s and 1980s was dominated by the Cold War. The Nixon administration although a failure of epic proportions with regard to domestic issues, was quite competent with regard to foreign policy. His general foreign policy was called Détente which meant the relaxing of tensions between nations, namely the US, China and the Soviet Union. Détente saw the beginning of the process to recognizing Mao’s The People’s Republic of China as the real China (since 1949 China to us was located on the island of Taiwan where Chiang Kai-shek evacuated to after the Mao Revolution).

Tensions will ease there first via Ping Pong Diplomacy in which the Chinese invite an American ping pong team to play in China followed by an invitation for the president to go to China. President Nixon will go to China and begin opening it up to the West and eventual recognition in 1979. With regard to the Soviet Union the Nixon administration guided by the policy of Détente will participate in the Helsinki arms control talks and the SALT I treaty, will visited Moscow, will strike an economic deal with the Soviets called the Wheat Deal and will invite the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to visit the U.S.

The SALT I treaty was the first of its kind and placed arms limits on anti-ballistic missiles. The Wheat Deal was win-win. It sold to the U.S.S.R. over a billion dollars in wheat (primarily to feed the Russian people) and in exchange American farmers burdened by low prices due to overproduction to unload excess wheat onto the Soviets for a profit. The Russians in return would become more cautious in promoting communist revolutions in third world countries and helped get North Vietnam to the bargaining table.

Speaking of third-world nations, Nixon will pass the “Nixon Doctrine,” which will attempt to set guidelines for dealing with nonaligned third-world” nations. It essentially was an extension of previous containment policies. The first test of the Nixon Doctrine will come in Chile. Allende was a Chilean Socialist who ran for president in 1970. Since all Latin Americans stick together, naturally Nixon believed that a communist alliance with Cuba was inevitable. Nixon deployed the CIA to prevent Allende from taking office; however the plot to prevent him from taking office failed. Luckily, a rebel by the name of General Pinochet rivaled Allende for power and was successful in gaining power by murdering Allende in 1973. Even though Pinochet led an oppressive government that jailed, tortured, and murdered his opponents, his was not communist and therefore okay with Americans.

Continuing détente, Ford met with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev at Vladivostok Siberia (U.S.S.R.) in 1974 and Helsinki, Finland in 1975 and eventually sign SALT II. It was an agreement again limiting nuclear warheads. In exchange, the USSR pledged to improve its human rights record.

7.3 Describe results of increased U.S. involvement in the Middle East US involvement in the Middle East revolves around one topic – oil.

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