Phase 5 Individual Project
HIST125-1201B-05
American Culture in Transition
March 28, 2012
CTU Online
Professor David Markwell

Introduction I must say that this assignment has come at a perfect time as I found myself surrounded in History as I toured Pearl Harbor this weekend. I have to admit watching video and listening to some of the survivors take on the events brought me to tears. I was fortunate enough to have my mom on this trip and she gave me some more great family history and explained that her sister was on the island when the attack happened and was able to get back to the mainland 10 days later. I could write 10 pages on what we spoke about the past few days. Our class has made me realize that we speak of history every day even in simple conversations about what we did a year ago or when we were children, the events we witness today is our children’s history and it is made every day. This class has opened my eyes to take a closer and awareness at the things that are happening around us today and in the past. Now that the class is about complete I am not sure how anyone may have negative views on history, no matter what had happened in our history it has been done and we must see it for the positive things we can take from our past. The debate on immigration can be seen and actually felt when traveling to different parts of our country and abroad. Listening to some of the fascinating tales on Hawaiian history it was not that long ago Americans and Europeans were trying to mass populations, mainly military, to Hawaii. The Asian influence came in the late 1800’s when they needed people to work on the farms; several hundred thousand of the local population had died from diseases brought to the islands from other countries. I use this as another example of looking at our own immigration situation in America. We started by using the Hispanic labor to work the farmlands and now that populations and recession hits we are quick to state this are a huge problem.
20th Century Immigrants in America
Who am I, I am a Latin American Immigrant from El Salvador. I left my home at the age of 19 to work in the United States and send money back to my family. My name is Jose Morales. I am unable to support my wife expecting child and parents in El Salvador. A full week’s worth of work where I live only pays about $25. My uncle has told me about all of the work he has performed in America and sending over $200 a week back to his family in El Salvador. I left my family behind in hopes to better our life and build a home for my family in El Salvador. The money I send home is to help educate my children and money toward the house my family will oversee the construction on. It is now 1994 and I have learned a lot of English and many new skills. I have worked in the landscape industry and currently now painting for a building company making 9 dollars an hour and working 60 hours a week. I am able to make usually anywhere form 420 - 560 a week depending on the amount of work we are given. We have managed to only spend 50 a week on rent and 50 a week on food, between my friends and me. I am able to send to my family anywhere from 200 - 300 dollars a week back to my family, when I am working steadily.
It is now 2002 and I have only returned home twice during the cold winter months in Georgia. I have a house built in El Salvador now and have two kids I have not spent any time with. In November of this year I am going home to grow and sell my own vegetables. Jose Morales was a good person that I had the great pleasure of getting to know and respect. When I think about my friend whom I have had no contact with since he left, I can imagine him and his family enjoying their lives in their beautiful little farming community.

Immigration Policies of the 20th Century The 20th century brought America a slight incline in migration to the United States. Immigrants in the U.S. rose to over 10 million in the first decade of the 20th century. The next 20 years we saw no rise in immigration into the U.S. until 1940 where we begin to see a decline in immigrants in the U.S. since the late 1800’s. A couple of important policies in the 20th century are; U.S. Border patrol established in 1924 and in 1943 the Bracero program was introduced. The border patrol established in 1924 was a big step in our countries history as this was the first real step at getting control over immigrants walking across our borders from the south. This was a fit into the U.S. deporting thousands of Mexican migrants back into South America. However this did not last long as policy began to change in the 1940’s where nearly a million of immigrants were allowed to come over to work while we are facing World War II. In 1943 the Bracero Program was developed to allow migrant workers come up from Mexico and Caribbean to work in the U.S. Agriculture and farm our crops seasonally. The Bracero program worked great for over 20 years as over 4 million immigrants were allowed to work seasonally and manage our farmlands. By 1954, the immigration population from Mexico totaled nearly 750,000 unauthorized workers in the U.S. which led to the federal government launching “Operation Wetback”. This is what the federal government called the process by which they would arrest and deport as many illegal immigrants as possible. In the early 1900s immigration from Northern and Western Europe continued but in decline. The majority of new immigrants began coming from Southern and Eastern Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. (David Markwell, 2012) Eastern and Southern European immigrants fled to the U.S. for mostly the same reasons as earlier immigrants. Escaping religious, racial, and political persecution or seeking relief from a lack of economic opportunity or famine still pushed many immigrants out of their homelands. “Many were pulled here by contract labor agreements offered by recruiting agents, known as padrones to Italian and Greek laborers. Hungarians, Poles, Slovaks, Bohemians, and Italians flocked to the coal mines or steel mills, Greeks preferred the textile mills, Russian and Polish Jews worked the needle trades or pushcart markets of New York. Railroad companies advertised the availability of free or cheap farmland overseas in pamphlets distributed in many languages, bringing a handful of agricultural workers to western farmlands. But the vast majority of immigrants crowded into the growing cities, searching for their chance to make a better life for themselves.” (eyewitness to history, 2000)
My Views on Current Immigration I have seen personally both sides the benefits and disagreements with illegal immigrants into our country. In my line of work I normally see the good that is provided with the work that is provided to the agriculture side where it is hard to find good labor to fill the jobs that I need seasonally. We have some full time employees that are immigrants and we have some that are regulated by our federal government as H2B work platform to meet agriculture requirements. So, to answer the question I do think we need some reform to document illegal immigrants and to allow them to get some of the legal benefits that are required to get health insurance or a driver’s license, with this continued effort to secure our borders and deport any immigrant committing crimes in the United States.

My Important Person in History I have chosen Bill Gates as the most important person to write about. Bill Gates legacy has shapes our technological world as we know it today. I can testify to his influence with some of the product I use to take courses with CTU. Gates born on October 28, 1955, grew up in Seattle and fell in love with software and programming by the age of 13. He entered Harvard University in 1973 where he developed software called BASIC for the first microcomputer.
By 1975 Gates had started a company called Microsoft and left Harvard to devote all of his attention to his company. His belief and devotion to developing software was he believed there would be a computer on every desktop and in every home.
In 1985, Gates Company Microsoft partnered with IBM and developed the operating software for IBM Computers. Microsoft sold them a version of the operating software, this put Microsoft on map as the expert in operating systems for all computers. By November of 1985 Microsoft introduced a retail version of the operating system Microsoft Windows. By the age of 32 Gates became the youngest person to become a self-made billionaire.
I think the most intriguing thing about Bill Gates was his work ethic and ability to set standards that has shaped our electronic world today. Gates is still making strides today with his major focus being on his and his wife's foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The main focus on their charity is to increase healthcare benefits and awareness and improve education around the world
Significant Events in American Life
Space Shuttle Challenger
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster took place on January 28, 1986 at 11:39. (history.com) I can still remember that day like it just happened last year. I was in the 8th grade at a small private school in Louisiana. We had been preparing to watch the shuttle lift off, if I can remember correctly due to the NASA teacher program with Christa McAuliffe being a part of the mission really enticed schools to take notice. By the time they had decided to lift off I was in my Science class which was fortunate because my Teacher Ms. Haas had really been looking forward on the launch and had been following the NASA teacher program. For the people too young to remember, we did have a television (tube) in every class room at my school in 1986.
The effect of the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster had on American life was an impact that I must say I feel even today. I have seen almost all shuttle lift offs since that point. It was at this point the Shuttle program reached its peak as parents and children were looking for NASA to launch another successful mission into space. I cannot predict what might have happened differently if that mission had been successful. We may be possibly sending more people into space at this point if we had not lost the Challenger in 86. The Challenger disaster in 2003 did not help either. It was not long after this point they announced the space shuttle program would be retiring in 2011.
Events of 9/11/2001
The events that transpired on 9/1/01 had a huge impact on American life and individuals throughout the country. I can remember closing the golf shop to get my kids from school as they were closing early due to the fear of more terrorist attacks. We did not know it at the time but we can look back now and say this event may have shaped the next eleven years in our country. From the war in Iraq to the fall of our economy can all relate back to this event in history? We can look back now and almost definitely say that the event of 9/11 has played a major role in the downturn of our economy with this event leading us to the wars in Iraq and the war on terror abroad. The tax cuts and the huge government spending on military and trying to balance our economy have left our nation in recession. I do think the majority of the hard working American people have brought us out of recession in recent years but we are doomed to see it again before we can thrive again. When looking at the affect that 9/11 had on our economy and the global economy, it may be another decade before we can get a clear look at the entire picture. I am not sure they would have been any different if we had not gone to war with Iraq and fight on terror abroad but with the amount of government military spending it was only a matter of time before we created such a deficit that would affect our economy and daily lives.
Interview of Interesting Adult, their take on past events Since traveling over the past week with my mom to Hawaii, I have chosen to ask her the questions for this assignment. We have sat and talked about many of the events that have taken place and she has done years of research into our family history and where some of our family was at during some of these events. She has original letters from WWII from her step brother and a letter from her Mom’s sister who was on Hawaii during the attack at Pearl Harbor. I did not know about either of these events in our family history until this past week.
Interview with my Mom, Martha Waters
What would you do differently today if possible?
It is hard to say, I have lived so many wonderful years and enjoyed so much in my life. The only thing I truly look back at is with the loved ones I have lost and wish I may have spent just a little more time doing some of the things that could have been done.
What events in history affected you the most? This was really funny because she said the day I was born. I am a triplet, and the three of us she thought was the biggest change in her life. Mom went on to say, “I cried for two days after 9/11 and I get upset every time Jeffery (grandson, Ranger in the military) heads overseas.
What did you think of space shuttle challenger disaster? The most challenging thing with this disaster she said was with her kids, having to come home and listen to us be upset about what had happened and to help us understand why this happened.
What are your thoughts on the most recent recession vs. past? She hates to see what is happening to the people she knows, some of her friends not being able to live the retirement they thought they were going to be able to live. Seeing my brother lose his job and spend several months trying to get another one.
What’s next? Return home and prepare for my next trip with my friends to play Bridge. Continue to enjoy every healthy minute I have left with my friends and family. My mom and I went own to talk about why I was asking questions only on the bad things that has happened in HISTORY. That we should also celebrate the good things that take have taken place, remember all the good times we spent with the ones we love. Now I know where I get my outlook on life from. I do always try and think of the good that has taken place and not the bad. She made a great point for all the horror and disappointment we witness there is always the great time we have and the triumph of life.
Conclusion
Our history has assisted us in making many decisions on our current state affairs. Our economic system has been based off of events that has happened in the past and adjusted to assure we do not repeat times like the great depression. Fiscal and Monetary Policy was developed to give safe guards against our economic system collapsing. This can be seen in most recent years since our economy has went into recession in 2009 and with how we adjusted with the use of fiscal and monetary policy. Changes that we have seen in just the past thirty years have affected policies being made, world government and our economy. In the 1980’s we began our campaign on occupy Iraq, to liberate a country from dictatorship and a threat to the middle east and millions of barrels of oil reserves. This fight ultimately led to our fight against terrorism as the terrorist from the middle east began to focus on the U.S. since we put soldiers on the ground in this region. In 2001 the U.S. was attacked by terrorist with multiple airplane hijackings. This led to a multiple of security changes across our country to federal and state buildings and all of our airports. This also changed the way we look at the security of our nations by having a series of heightened risk levels that shows the level of activity for potential risks to our nation. All of this has come about due to the events that has happened in our recent history. We can take a look at many other events that change and shape the way we do business, the way sporting events change and make adjustments. Examples of this can be seen with the recent changes to the PGA Tour qualifying. The qualifying tournament has been done away with and now a player must go to the Nationwide Tour to earn their way on to the PGA Tour. Business makes adjustments based on their performance in past years. The company I work for had a really great 2009 and with being less profitable over the past couple of years we are approaching this year the same as we did in 2009.

References
Center for Public Policy Administration, www.cppa.utah.edu,
Muse, American History 1940s – 1960s, CTU Online, www.ctuonline, task lists.
The Archives of Global Change in the 21st Century, September 11, 2001- The Day the World Changed, 2012, www.september11news.com
Bill Barry and Stephen Garber, NASA Historians, 2011, Challenger STS 51 – L Accident, NASA History Program Office, www.history.nasa.gov
David McCollough, April 2005, Knowing History and Knowing Who We Are, Re print from www.hillsdale.edu
Professor David Markwell, live chat sessions, 2012, CTU Online, www.ctuonline.edu