History

It All Adds Up
Question 1 Response: The decade of the 1950s might be considered to be a tale of two Americas or even a paradox for various reasons. Even though this time period can been seen as a decade of prosperity with the freedom of consumer choice, ethnic minorities were excluded. This decade was a time of confidence and a time of fear. The United State believed that they could do whatever; for example end poverty and prevent the revolution on communism in other countries. Even though Americans were confident they knew that there was still a cold war going on. During this time period school had to regularly practice taking cover against atomic attacks. The 1950s was also a time were America was prospering but still felt at an unease. Eisenhower was the president during this period of prosperity. The economy was prospering and liked by Americans because workers had more disposable income than ever before. This seemed to benefit everyone but there were not enough family-wage jobs for all of the African American and Latino workers. Many Mexican Americans were still farm laborers and worked in sweatshops. Minorities always resulted affected by the changes in industrial jobs and the shift of jobs to suburban areas that were isolated from their neighborhoods. The unemployment for the blacks was twice of the whites; this frustrated many African Americans and other minorities. During the fifties Americans were turning to religion but also to materialism. Eisenhower advocated churchgoing to remedy Communism. The percent of people attending church increased. But spending habits were also increased. With new highways, malls, and cars people were beginning to spend more and becoming materialistic. They would buy fast food, T.V.s and many other items that they had never owned before. But with all of this whites withdrew to minimize contact with people of other races. The Brown v. Board of Education opened up a new civil rights movement that impacted the sixties greatly. The 1950s stability was frail because the common road to the future divided into many different paths.
Question 2 Response: During the 1960s there were so many events taking place. The Vietnam War defined the sixties. The war was not the only event taking place there was also the Civil Rights movement, the Great Society program, and counter-culture movement. Even after so many years had passed since the civil war and blacks were able to be citizens they were still not treated as equal. During the sixties blacks and many other minorities were being segregated. This became a frustration to many especially African Americans and as a result the civil rights movement began. Never in American history had a movement such as this occurred. Minorities were standing up and fighting for desegregation. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the great leaders who advocated protesting without violence. America had never experienced the protests, boycotts, and sit-ins as the ones that occurred in the sixties. Lyndon B Johnson’s Great Society program also desired to end other society conflicts like poverty. Programs that had never before started were head start, work study; job training and more came about. The Vietnam War was the greatest event that defined the sixties. Never before had the U.S been involved in a war that so many Americans opposed; students protested, youth counterculture worsened, and political harmony was destroyed. This war was the first war in American history that was televised; for the first time Americans were seeing what was happening during combat in Vietnam. This was one of the reasons why so many people opposed the war and began to disagree with the action the government was taking. Millions of young people began to withdraw form American society. They began to behave in ways which society disapproved. This is when the rate of drug consumption increased; they were sampling drugs like LSD. In no other time period had so many movements taken place causing America to be shaken to its core.
Question 3 Response: The decade of the seventies was a time when conservatism prevailed in American politics and society. Barry Goldwater was a senator from Arizona represented the new right wing of the Republican Party. He proposed an all out of the war in Vietnam. Goldwater was a conservative man who wished to serve his country and in 1964 he ran for president. He had an extreme anti-communist view and viewed the constitution as the only law of the land. He influenced many Americans toward conservatism. When Nixon was involved in the Watergate scandal peoples mistrust in the government grew even more. Americans were already disappointed with the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the failing economy during Carter’s presidency made it matters worse. Inflation and unemployment had already been increasing even before Carter took the presidency. When he became president the price of oil increased and interest rates were raised to try to ease inflation. Carter also promised Americans a new foreign policy. He had a concern with the human rights around the world, so withheld aid from South Africa, Guatemala, Chile, and Nicaragua because of the way they treated their citizens. He was successful in normalizing relations with China and the Camp David Agreement. But during the last years of Carter’s presidency the Cold War arose again. Then Carter attempted to negotiate SALT II to reduce both U.S and Soviet arsenals, but that did not occur because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The final destruction to Carters foreign policy was the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Carter’s failing strategy to rescue the American hostages upset the public. This ruined Carters image and respect was lost. Once the hostages gained their freedom Ronald Reagan was in office staring a new conservatism. The government was now going to preserve public order and not set unrealistic goals such as a “great society”. Americans were so tired of stagflation and awaited the free markets which would trigger prosperity. Conservatives used new political tactics that modified American life. All of these issues, personalities, and ideologies helped shape the 1970s. They made Americans want a new form of government.
Question 4 Response: There were a few topics discussed in class where one may infer that history does not always repeat itself, but it rhymes. One of the topics we discussed was about the economic inequalities in America. In twenties and the eighties Americans had been going through different issues, but the ways in which American people changed rhymed. Both eras were when Americans were consuming more and more. In both eras economic inequality increased. Americans were filled with prosperity but not everyone had the same opportunity therefor there was a widening gap between the rich and the poor. Another topic was unemployment that led to a loss of trust in the government. During the twenties people had been spending like never before and when the great depression hit millions of Americans were unemployed. During the fifties many Americans were feeling very confident and consuming in large amounts. Under different circumstances the economy failed in both of these eras causing for the American people to lose trust and hope in the political actions taking place. Also the consumption of drugs in the youth rhymed during the twenties and sixties. The youth was beginning to find more freedom and leisure time. These were years when they wanted to experiment causing cultural changes in the American society. Women’s social role also seems to rhyme throughout American history. In the eighteen hundreds early nineteen hundreds women were seen as the home maker. They had to stay home and care for the house, children, and husband and this mind set returned during the fifties. Wives would stay home all day caring for the house like many years before even when many women had already learned to be independent. History at times does seem to repeat but most likely rhymes because of the different issues taking place at each different time period.