...Most Significant Events Casey Turner HIS/135 11/20/2011 I am writing this paper to reveal and describe different events that have occured over the past 50 years that have had a direct impact on the United States and affected the way we all live today. There are many economical, social, and political events that have helped shaped not only our country, but many other nations around the world as well. This paper is an attempt to reveal and speculate on some of these important events. 1950’s A growing amount of American people began to speak out about inequality and injustice during the 1950’s and the Rosa Parks bus incident is a perfect example. On December 1, 1955, a 42 year old African American woman who worked as a seamstress named Rosa Parks boarded a Montgomery, Alabama city bus to go home from work. On that bus that day, Rosa Parks started a new era in the American quest for equal rights (Rosa Parks Bus, 2002). Parks sat toward the middle of the bus, right behind the 10 seats that were reserved for white people. The bus ended up getting completely filled up and when a white man that entered the bus did not have a seat, the driver tried to make the four blacks sitting just behind the white section give up their seats so that the white man could sit down. Mrs. Park’s who was already a NAACP activist, quietly refused to do so. For disobeying the bus driver’s orders and not giving up her seat to the white man, she was arrested and convicted of violating segregation...
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...7.01 Timeline I learned that the 1970's was dominated by President Richard Nixon and Watergate which caused him to resign. There was an issue with red dye no.2 which they thought could cause cancer so they stopped using it. I also learned that the year of the bicentennial means the 200 anniversary of a nation (or anything) and of course the end of the Vietnam war which had caused so much protesting and pain to so many people. 1970 - At Kent State University, National Guardsmen fire into a crowd killing four student antiwar demonstrators on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the American invasion of Cambodia, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance. There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students, and the event further affected the public opinion—at an already socially contentious time—over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War. 1971- The Year the Pentagon Papers are released - pentagon papers - A classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An...
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...Changes that Shaped American Politics in the 70’s and 80’s Loraine J Jackson Everest University Abstract For many individuals in the United States, the late 1970s were a troubled and disturbing time. The Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, ambiguity in the Middle East and the economic crisis in the Nation had weakened the confidence of Americans in their government and in their fellow residents as well. Many Americans supported a new conservatism in social, economic and political life during the 1980s, distinguished by policies of President Ronald Reagan. Politically, the United States experienced numerous changes during the 1970’s. There were liberal Democratic administrations for most of the 1960’s followed by a conservative Republican, Richard Nixon, was elected. President Nixon was forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal during his second term. Vice President Gerald Ford became president after Nixon's resignation but was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter. President Carter lost his bid for re-election to conservative Republican Ronald Reagan. During his first term, the recession came to an end, inflation was controlled and he also found ways to reduced taxes. Changes in Politics in the 70’s and 80’s Changes that Shaped Contemporary American Politics Many changes altered American politics. One such achievement was the Economic Recovery and Tax Act of 1981 otherwise known as (ERTA). This act helped to reduce personal income tax rates by 25 percent over a three year...
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...Assignment 3: “World War II Through The 1970’s” Joseph L. Carter History 105 June 11, 2012 Professor Everett Hardy Strayer University Delaware County Campus Analyze the facts that war and propaganda had on American society World War 2 and the 1970’s. Looking at the history of the United States, never had the country seen such dramatic changes in the social, economic, and political structure that happened at the end of World War II. Multiple events throughout this period guided the direction of the United States government and the attitudes of Americans. This paper will provide a look into the evolution of the United States by analyzing the most significant events in the five decades after World War II. The 1950s brought about a new look into the foreign affairs for the United States government and the American people. After the victory of World War II, two allies of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union became bitter enemies that tried to secure a position of world leader. The Soviet Union had its Communist Manifesto that according to the Decades Project (1999) website stated, “a mission statement that provides that communism requires a world revolution and the destruction of capitalism in order to succeed”. This was a direct threat to the American Way of life, and started the beginning of the Cold War. With different ideals and hunger for power, both sides began to build up military strength, especially...
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...Controversial Pardon of Richard Nixon HIST102 American History Since 1877 Instructor: 22 February 2014 Former President Richard Nixon is most well-known for his role in the Watergate crisis in the early 1970’s. The Watergate crisis started in June of 1972, when the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters was broke into by members of Nixon’s re-election committee. The press took this breaking news and began to dig deeper into what the Whitehouse (President Nixon) was hiding. Over the next two years heavy investigations into the Watergate incident revealed that President Nixon did, in fact, ordered a cover-up to keep the incident under control. Fearing impeachment, President Nixon resigned his presidency in August 1974, leaving Vice President Gerald Ford as the new president. Although Ford’s first act as president, granting a full pardon to Nixon, caused heavy controversy in the political and legal sectors; his decision was within his constitutional rights as president and in the best interest of the Americans public. Immediately following Ford’s pardon of Nixon critics, such as Philip Kurland, Edwin Firmage, and R. Collin Mangrum began to protest that Ford did not have the constitutional right to “issue a pre-trail pardon.”1 Kurland was believed that a pardon was meant to lessen the harshness of punishment for the accused; however, that is only the case if the judicial system worked.2 Firmage and Mangrum believed that the framers of our constitution did not...
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...The Most Significant Events Mary Wright University of Phoenix The American Experience Since 1945 HIS/135 Gladys Vint 11/20/2011 Following World War II there have been many social, economic, and political events that have taken place during this decade. Different people may have various opinions of what event had the most impact or effect on the American people than other events within the same decade. I will attempt to explain the events that I believe are the most significant events of this era. 1950’s Civil Rights Movement The Civil Rights Movement began in the late 1940’s and extended throughout the late 60’s. Many people can recall some of the key events that took place during this time. For example, we all remember reading about Ruby Bridges, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, and many others that played an important role in the Civil Rights movement. However, Ruby Bridges is the small 6 year old little girl that comes to mind when I think of the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. This young brave little girl was escorted on her first day to school by U.S. Marshalls, as her parents stood close by. She endured being called names and threatened and feared being poisoned if she ate anything besides a packaged bag of potato chips (Davidson, Gienapp, Heymann, Lytle & Stoff, 2006). Ruby was the only students for several weeks until white students finally began coming back to school during the first year since the segregation of the...
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...South Side, and welcomed two daughters: Malia born 1998 and Sasha born 2001. In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He was locked in a tight battle with former first lady and then, U.S. Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton. On June 3, 2008, however, Obama became the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party, and Senator Clinton delivered her full support to Obama for the duration of his campaign. On November 4th, 2008, Barack Obama defeated Republican presidential nominee John McCain as the President of the United States. On January 20, 2009, Obama became the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American to hold this office. In the 1970’s, when Obama was a child, The...
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...Chapter 4 Rapprochement and Normalization United States during the 1960’s • Vietnam war- US involvement in the War took place from 1965-1975 with over 536,100 troops stationed overseas. The Results of this war was withdrawal of American forces from Indochina and a Communist takeover of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. • Tet Offensive- Attacks that began on Vietnamese New Year 1968 that targeted military and civilians throughout South Vietnam. This was the turning point of the war and lead public opinion of the war in the US as unfavorable. • US draft- During the was 25% of United States Armed forces were draftees, with about 30% being combat deaths. • Many questioned US commitment to Vietnam with the cost of casualties, supplies, and...
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...Chapter 5 Corruption and the watchdog role of the news media Sheila Coronel The notion of the press as watchdog is more than 200 years old. Yet the idea of vigilant media monitoring government and exposing its excesses has gained new traction in many parts of the world. Globalization, the fall of authoritarian and socialist regimes, and the deregulation of the media worldwide have fuelled a renewed interest in ––as well as a surge in efforts by various groups to support–– “watchdogging” by the media. Since the late 17th Century, classical liberal theorists had argued that publicity and openness provide the best protection from the excesses of power. The idea of the press as Fourth Estate, as an institution that exists primarily as a check on those in public office, was based on the premise that powerful states had to be prevented from overstepping their bounds. The press working independently of government, even as its freedoms were guaranteed by the state, was supposed to help ensure that this was so. The 1980s and 1990s saw the revival of this centuries‐old notion and its application especially to “transition societies” then emerging from the ruins of socialist and authoritarian regimes. It had resonance among citizens facing pervasive corruption, weak rule of law, and predatory or incompetent governments unable to deliver basic services. Today even in countries ...
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...FONER 2 Chapter 26 – Details The Triumph of Conservatism, 1969-1988 NOTE: Discussion items carry no actual grade point values. However, those students seeking consideration for their efforts should prepare, sign, and date an answer for their group’s discussion item. Answer sheets should also identify student’s class and section. Discussion items to be turned in should restate the discussion item and identify the chapter under review. All answer sheets should be typed double-spaced with standard 1” margins on all perimeters. All segment discussion items MUST be received before the end of class on each segment review date. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE. 1. (A) Why was Richard Nixon NOT considered to be a ‘true’ conservative? (B) What constitutes a “Block Grant” as proposed by President Nixon? (C) What were the essential elements in Nixon’s proposed Family Assistance Plan and what were the legislative results? (D) What was Nixon’s Philadelphia plan? (a) Against the wishes and recommendation of the myopic conservative leadership in the late sixties Nixon expanded the welfare state and moved to improve relations with the Soviet Union but most of all he also opened up a dialogue with China. Instead of shrinking the federal bureaucracy as they hoped he would do Nixon infuriated his conservative base by creating a host of new federal agencies such as the Environmental protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the National Transportation...
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...Chapter 5 Corruption and the watchdog role of the news media Sheila Coronel The notion of the press as watchdog is more than 200 years old. Yet the idea of vigilant media monitoring government and exposing its excesses has gained new traction in many parts of the world. Globalization, the fall of authoritarian and socialist regimes, and the deregulation of the media worldwide have fuelled a renewed interest in ––as well as a surge in efforts by various groups to support–– “watchdogging” by the media. Since the late 17th Century, classical liberal theorists had argued that publicity and openness provide the best protection from the excesses of power. The idea of the press as Fourth Estate, as an institution that exists primarily as a check on those in public office, was based on the premise that powerful states had to be prevented from overstepping their bounds. The press working independently of government, even as its freedoms were guaranteed by the state, was supposed to help ensure that this was so. The 1980s and 1990s saw the revival of this centuries‐old notion and its application especially to “transition societies” then emerging from the ruins of socialist and authoritarian regimes. It had resonance among citizens facing pervasive corruption, weak rule of law, and predatory or incompetent governments unable to deliver basic services. Today even in countries ...
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...Webber Sybrun December 20, 2011 Final Exam Question Choice 2 and 3 3) Movies are useful tools for thinking about professional behavior and ethics. For example, films about lawyers can “raise questions about the proper and possible role of law in society”* while reflecting “powerful myths that influence our reactions to issues we meet in real life, including legal issues.” The same applies to journalism. We see these movies and in some ways they show us how American institutions are effected by crisis’s that undermines their credibility, another role we see and learn from in films is journalism “journalists are often called upon to make decisions based on a morally mature interpretation of principles rather than any specific code of conduct,” films gives dramatic life to struggles over those principles. In “All the Presidents Men” we clearly see that the US government and staff are not honest and trustworthy and there credibility is undermined and under investigation by the press. Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into the Watergate scandal set the stage for President Richard Nixon's eventual resignation. The free press myth is built upon the tenet that journalism can and should report truth that citizens may rationally act upon in making democracy work. That tenet underlies both libertarian and social responsibility models of the press. Classical libertarianism did not assume that journalism had a specific duty to present...
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...elections. As stated by Hetherington & Husser (2012), “Put simply, people need trust in government to support more government”. Now, trust in government has become the center of attention for our government, the media, and American citizens alike. Therefore, I will briefly discuss the history of the decline in public trust, current public trust, and actions that could be taken in order to restore public trust. The history of the decline has been pinpointed to the decade of the 1960’s. During this decade, we faced “diverse social conflict, followed by the Watergate scandals, and a decade of economic decline” Milakovich & Gordon (2013). Public trust continued to plummet and bleed over into the late 1970’s during the “taxpayers revolt” and was “followed by decentralization, deregulation, and devolution of decision-making authority from the federal to state and local governments, in part as a reaction against perceived bureaucratic excess” Milakovich & Gordon (2013). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that the trust began to escalate during the first term of President Ronald Regan. President Regan brought hopes of “tax cuts, higher corporate profits, and less regulation of the economy” Hetherington & Husser (2012). However, it wasn’t long before the trust began to push downwards during President Regan’s second term, when the Iran-Contra affair became public. The historic low point for trust occurred during the 1994 congressional election, when the Republican Party took control...
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...UNITED STATES HISTORY HIS 2223 INTRODUCTION The Ordeal of Reconstruction (1865-1877) 1. The student will be able to define the major problems facing the South and the nation after the Civil War. 2. The Student will be able to distinguish the differences between the Presidential and Congressional approaches to Reconstruction. 3. The student will be able to explain how the blunders of President Andrew Johnson and the South led to radical congressional reconstruction. Politics in the Gilded Age (1869-1889) 4. The student will be able to describe the political corruptions of the Grant Administration. 5. The student will be able to analyze the disputed Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 and indicate how the Compromise of 1877 averted possible bloodshed. 6. The student will be able to explain why the politics of the Gilded Age was generally so low. The Westward Movement (1865-1890) 7. The student will be able to describe the final phase of frontier settlement in the “Great West”. 8. The student will be able to discuss the final removal of the Indians to the West. Industry Comes of Age (1865-1900) 9. The student will be able to describe how the economy came to be dominated by giant “trusts,” headed by Carnegie and Rockefeller. 10. The student will be able to analyze the social changes brought by industrialization, especially upon the working men and women?. ...
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...Owen Lloyd Melanie Philipps EN 140 5 Aug 2011 The “Lawyers are Sharks” Delusion How can you tell when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving. This joke, along with countless other short and witty jabs at lawyers, is sure to get a good laugh from a crowd. Comedians refer to jokes like these as “crowd pleasers”, mainly because the majority of people can relate or agree with it. The general public simply does not like lawyers. They tend to think of them as these greedy, devious, snake-like con artists that serve the rich and take advantage of the poor. Rarely will mainstream media or books try and make a case on behalf of the lawyers and argue that this stereotype is not true. Does this mean the negative image of the legal profession should be universally accepted as being accurate? Similar to the way our judicial system runs, it is necessary to properly examine both sides of this image to accurately determine if the stereotype of lawyers is true. After conducting some research and investigating both sides, it appears the bad public image lawyers are burdened with is not an accurate image at all. This claim can be proven by looking at how the stereotype actually came to be, and by looking at some of the popular claims people make against lawyers and explaining how they are wrong. Many people can agree that it only takes one bad experience to forever scar the way they feel or view that thing from then on. For instance, a child might see a clown performing at a birthday party...
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