Civil Rights and Liberties

1. Should freedom of speech be limited and why? If yes, then how do we limit it? Use specific examples to support your answer.

Freedom of speech has grown to become an essential part of the United States of America to maintain the free flow of ideas within the country. For instance, the Free Speech Movement (FSM) during the 1964-1965 academic year that spawned on the campus of University of California, Berkeley vitalized the students’ right to free speech and academic freedom, and thus led to an unprecedented spread of this attitude that still stands as the fundamental principles of the nation today. There are times, however, when it is appropriate to limit free speech on certain individuals in certain states of the nation in order to maintain order. Laws and governmental regulations outline these crucial limitations; for instance, a person should not exercise free speech for slander, to encroach the rights of others, to threaten others, to divulge lawfully classified information, or reveal another’s personal information. As long as there exists an evident balance of the freedom of speech and limitations, I truly believe that these restrictions play a pivotal role in maintaining a relatively peaceful, safe freedom in society.

http://studentantiwar.blogs.brynmawr.edu/stories-from-the-frontlines/frountline-in-usa/movements-that-inspire-us-berkeley-free-speech/

2. Do you think the state should be completely separated from religion? Should government never interfere with religious activities Explain.

The wall of separation between the religion and state, I believe, is a fundamental requirement for any nation in order to maintain a healthy society truly on the grounds of freedom. When the government is affiliated with a certain religious standpoint, this undeniably takes away or limits the power and rights of those with different beliefs-- a state vulnerable to inevitable religious discrimination and conflict within the country. The only reason the government should touch on the issues of religion should be to only enforce the freedom of its expression and support equal treatment of people of all religious beliefs. Landmark Supreme Court cases on the issue of religion include the Engel v. Vitale case in 1962, which made it unconstitutional to enforce official school prayers and its recitation in public schools, and the Torcaso v. Watkins case in 1961 which prohibited the government from requiring any kind of religious test for public office.

http://www.goodsalt.com/details/lwjas0314.html

3. From the four controversial events, which event made the most impact to today's rights for the accused? The cases were Miranda vs. Arizona, Escobedo vs Illinois, Mapp vs. Ohio, and Gideon vs. Wainwright.

Of the four given events, I believe that the Gideon v. Wainwright court case places the greatest impact on today’s rights for the accused. Carried out in 1963, the landmark Supreme Court case made it essential that state courts provide counsel in criminal cases to represent those accused who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys. This ruling plays a pivotal role within the United States even today because it further perfects the trial system by preventing discrimination against the financially difficult in court. Without an attorney in court, less wealthy and less educated defendants are placed under a significant disadvantage without sufficient knowledge of the law, and thus this case was able to eradicate this unequal gap in the justice system.

http://www.rashkind.com/Gideon/

4. Based on the world today, was the gender equality movement successful? How about within South Korea? Give specific examples.

Although not on perfectly equivalent terms yet, I personally see that the gender equality movement was extremely successful in bringing major changes to reduce gender discrimination within the United States. Having successfully achieved suffrage and equality in property rights in the first-wave of feminism, activists after World War II were able to tackle discrimination in employment opportunities, pay, reproductive rights, and education. Key achievements include the passing of the Equal Pay Act of 1953, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Women’s Educational Equity Act of 1972, and many more.

In South Korea, the traditional belief based on old Confucian principles that women belong in the home raising children and doing only housework still seems to persist. Women unfortunately still occupy lower ranks in the workplace compared to male workers and still suffer through discriminatory practices of employment and unequal wages. Nonetheless however, great progress is in action with changing government legislation and shifting public opinion towards gender equality. For example, in 1995, the Women’s Development Act was passed in South Korea in order to eliminate discrimination, encourage advancement in public life, and enhance welfare conditions for women.

http://www.bpw-michigan.org/?q=node/79

5. What evidence of discrimination do we still see today in the United States? If there was a Civil Rights Act of 2014, what factors would you include and which minority groups would be included?

Currently in the United States, the unfortunate trend of discrimination still seems to be, though on a much lesser degree than in the past, prevalent throughout the nation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was able to successfully outlaw discrimination based on race, color, religion, and sex. If a new Civil Rights Act was to be written in 2014, factors such as those dealing with the issues of illegal immigrants would be more focused on as we see continuous problems rising in this area today towards minority groups like those of Hispanic and Latino descent.  

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/04/what-the-hells-the-presidency-for/358630/

Bibliography:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/civil-rights-first-amendment

https://www.aclu.org/free-speech

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-wall-of-separation-between-church-and-state

http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act

http://www.wikigender.org/index.php/History_of_the_Movement_for_Gender_Equality

Is College Worth It?

In class, we’ve recently come across a rather interesting article– “Is college worth it?” Indeed, this short yet eye-catching report critically explores the United States’ return on high education and sea of largely inept fledglings in the workforce. Are people truly taking away the crucial skills that the need in their prospective careers through their expensive degrees? Would the return on higher education be much better if colleges were more affordable?

The article successfully brings up several key points that highlights some of the largest issues of the overarching problem. Studies show that relatively hard subjects– such as engineering, law, finance– are those that pay off in the end, while the art history graduate struggles to find a job with his degree. Although very unfortunate, I believe that this is definitely an undeniable truth pertinent to our current education and economy. What really caught my mind was, however, that “four million jobs are unfilled because jobseekers lack the skills employers need.” It was shocking to read that after all the expenses of attending a higher education, many were still inept for a well-paying career. Was college not supposed to be your preparation for the workforce– to provide you with the knowledge and prowess to find a job utilizing your degree?

For me, my personal goal is to study a combination of business and psychology in college, and thus hopefully find a stable finance-related career in adulthood. The cost, without a doubt, seems to be one of the biggest issues, considering the fact that the most prestigious schools in the United States are notorious for their expensive tuitions and costs of living.

Link to the article: http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21600131-too-many-degrees-are-waste-money-return-higher-education-would-be-much-better

Who was responsible for the Cold War?

The Cold War was the sustained political and military tension between the Soviet Union and the United States that began in the aftermath of World War II. The Cold War inevitably began after a series of multiple events that piled on one another to create this state of opposing ideologies and thus divide. A sense of mutual hostility began to brew between powers in the United States and the Soviet Union with Americans’ increasing fear of communist attack, Truman’s dislike of Stalin, USSR’s dislike of US’s threatening atomic bombs and capitalism, and the broken promises made at the Yalta Conference. Ultimately, however, I personally believe that the Soviet Union placed the foundation of the war into place, which played the largest responsibility in developing the Cold War to its extent.

In the Novikov Telegram, the Soviet Union’s growing distaste towards the United States is evident, obviously feeling threatened and uneasy with the nation’s growing influence and power exhibited through World War II. Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov states that the American foreign policy “is characterized in the postwar period by a striving for world supremacy,”, and thus all of its forces “... the army, the air force, the navy, industry, and science” are all committed to expand on this American goal of expanding its boundaries. He then makes an accusing remark towards the United States’ participation during World War II, stating that the nation’s delayed entrance to the war was a tactic to crush its already weakened enemies, and thus claim easy victory.

This critical view towards the United States did not only reside among the Russians. In a letter to President Truman, Secretary of Commerce and former Vice President Henry A. Wallace criticizes the image the United States has built towards the rest of the world, as if “only paying lip service to peace at the conference table,” and thus making the threat that the Soviet Union feels inevitable.  

The overarching matter however, was not the threat that USSR felt nor the hypocritical stance the US was portraying to the rest of the world. The core issue of the Cold War was the extreme tension between Communism and Democracy itself, all ignited by the Soviet Union’s rather determined and aggressively approach to fiercely spread communist ideologies and power throughout several borders. Soviet Russia was indeed setting “an iron curtain” across the world, as Winston Churchill puts, desiring “indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” With the Soviet Union’s obvious plan to expand, I believe that the US was put in the position of inevitably having to find a way to stop and contain Communist influences. In the Truman Doctrine Speech, President Truman explains that "totalitarian regimes [of the Soviet Union] forced upon them [Eastern European nations] against their will," and Soviet Union were the ones that deliberately violated the agreements made at the Yalta Conference. It is thus very clear that the basis of the Cold War stemmed immediately after World War II because Soviet Union put forth a plan that made it necessary for America to ensure the safety of "freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries."

Bibliography:

http://www.thenation.com/article/179119/cold-war-again-whos-responsible

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1881.html

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/causes%20of%20the%20cold%20war.htm

http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/MapColdWarNation1959.png

http://hyperallergic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/cold-war-graphics-640.jpg

http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib/21/media-21922/large.jpg

http://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media//02/79602-050-AA3D0C14.jpg

World War II Music Playlist

1. Germany

Germany, known as Nazi Germany and the Third Reich during the period from 1933 to 1945, was one of the key players of the Axis Powers during the World War II. Under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Germany was drastically converted into a fascist totalitarian state, a system in which the government holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life.  After Hitler was appointed as the Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933 he used his newfound dictatorship to lead Germany as the major aggressor of World War II, making increasingly aggressive territorial demands through its developed military and naval strategies, conquering most of Europe by 1940, violating numerous treaties created after World War I, and even going as far to break the Nonaggression Pact the nation made with Russia. While persecution and racism prevailed within its borders, Germany continued to stomp forward and fiercely spread its power until overrun by the Allies in 1945.

I chose the song “I Won’t Back Down” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I felt that the lyrics were very representative of Germany’s aggressive stance during World War II, the nation refusing to “back down” and “standing” its “ground” as it continuously strived to spread its borders into other territories. The words also portray the Nazi Germany’s mindset of the “master race” at the time, in which the Germans saw their Aryan heritage as an ideal and superior race.

“Hey baby there ain’t no easy way out

Hey I will stand my ground

But I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down.”

2. The Holocaust

The Holocaust was created as part of Adolf Hitler’s final plan to eradicate all the people that he did not want in his “master race.” Plastered by antisemitism and discrimination, the Germans carried out the brutal genocide of Jews, Polish, Russians, gypsies, homosexuals, POWS, and other minority groups in Germany. The persecution and mass murder were carried out in stages with the confinement of these innocent individuals into overcrowded ghettos before being transported to extermination camps where most were systematically killed. Approximately six million Jewish people, two-thirds of the total Jewish population living in Europe, were massacred during this horrifying period in history.

I believe that “Civil War” by Guns N’ Roses successfully captures the pain of the persecuted people during the Holocaust and their unheard shouts towards Nazi Germany. The lyrics seem to represent a message towards the racism and discrimination that prevailed throughout the Germany at the time, demanding the Nazi Germans and Adolf Hitler to “Look at the hate we’re breeding,” to “Look at the fear we’re feeding”, and to “Look at your  young men dying.” Indeed, the song overall seems to send out an accusing tone to all the injustices and murders that occurred at the time and demand an end to such brutality.

“For the love of God and our human rights

And all these things are swept aside

By bloody hands time can’t deny

And are washed away by your genocide.”

3. The United States

The United States, under the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, initially wished to stick to isolationism, avoiding involvement in World War II. In 1935, the US passed the Neutrality Act to prevent the nation from being drawn into the foreign warfare. The legislation was eventually altered as the Axis Powers began making major advancements in the war, and thus the US had to initiate the Cash-and-Carry policy, the Lend Lease Act, and the Atlantic Charter to aid the Allies. Neutrality was no longer an option, however, after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a mass destruction on US forces that forced the nation to formally declare its involvement in World War II. The US fully took advantage of its home front, putting the industrial power to full use to quickly manufacture military supplies and weaponry. With the nation’s advanced military strategies, the US was able to successfully take over territory away from the Axis Powers in North Africa, Italy, and France, as well as greatly weakening Japan’s forces in the Pacific. The US also made the deciding factor to bring an end to the war with its dropping of two, massively-destructive atomic bombs in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

I chose Demi Lovato’s “Can’t Back Down” to represent the United States’ state as the nation was on the brink of war. The lyrics state, “We can’t pretend it’s not happening in our own backyard. We’ve been called out.” Indeed, after being attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, remaining neutral and out of the war was no longer the solution for the Americans. The overall spirit of the song presents the attitude of many who were in support of the war, claiming that the nation could not “back down” in “a situation that we can’t ignore.”

4. Rosie the Riveter

Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character and cultural icon featured in a propaganda campaign created by the U.S. government during World War II. The character represented the American women during a time of national hardship, motivating these newly working women through several themes of patriotic duty, high earnings, glamor of work, similarities to housework, and spousal pride. Through depicting the symbol of feminism and women’s growing economic responsibility to aid the nation time of war to take over the workplace, the campaign was able to draw several young and old women all over the nation to take the jobs once held by their husbands to manufacture war supplies and organize the home front to help the US forces with great success.

I’ve chosen the song “Run the World” by Beyonce to represent Rosie the Riveter and the overall attitude towards the growing influence of women during World War II. It was indeed a time when women could take charge of home front in the US to support the war, and also gain substantial respect and acceptance from the once male-dominated society (“Disrespect us not they won’t,”).  The song, like the purpose of Rosie the Riveter in numerous posters and campaigns, successfully motivates young girls to step up and display their vital influence both in the home front and in the war.

5. Japan

Joining the Axis Powers on September 27, 1940 hand-in-hand with Germany and Italy,  Japan undeniably held hopeful goals of becoming one of the leading countries of the world through the expansion of its territory. With determination of becoming the “dominant Pacific power”, Japan accomplished many notable series of military victories, such as the defeats of Guam and Wake Island. Its well-trained soldiers and advanced technology and weaponry allowed Japan to successfully move into much of the Southwest Pacific and East Asia, eventually making its way to trigger the United States’ entrance into World War II through its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The Battle of Midway in June, 1942, however, marked the turning point for Japan, and slowly lost control over territory in the Pacific until receiving the final, decisive blow of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US forces in August, 1945.

I’ve chosen Mike Doughty’s song, “Rising Up” to represent Japan during World War II. Doughty repeatedly sings that he will “keep on rising up”, which symbolizes the Japanese determination to rise up as one of the most powerful nations in the world through its expansion of territory and strength of its military. The focus of the Japanese to gain more land and power allowed the country several victories, truly allowing the nation to “rise up” as a powerful player during the war.

6. Japanese Internment

The Japanese American internment was ordered by the US government with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s authorization of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, shortly after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The major project consisted of relocating over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage in the West coast of the United States into “war relocation camps”. The US government initiated the internment of these civilians because they did not want to take any risks on the confidentiality and safety of the US military, as well as the protection of US citizens. At the brink of war, many were concerned how the biggest population of Japanese Americans living in LA were in areas close to military bases, oil reserves, ports, and other vital strategical points of the US army. Thus, they found that it was it would be best to evacuate these people into areas that would not threaten the safety of US during the war. A factor of underlying racism also contributed to the overall unjust decision of rounding up these innocent aliens and evacuating them into low-quality relocation centers. For example, the Italian Americans and German Americans in the East Coast were not as discriminated as the Japanese Americans were, raising questions on whether or not the distinctive Asian physical features of the Japanese contributed to the US government’s unfortunate overall prejudice.

Linkin Park’s “Pushing Me Away” successfully characterizes the internment of Japanese-Americans in the US during World War II. Thousands of innocent Japanese immigrants living in the West coast had to be forced to leave their homes and livelihoods into packed camps, “pushed away” unrighteously for the mere reason of being Japanese, and thus being a “threat” to the safety of the US. I believe that the song successfully captures the anger and frustration many of the Japanese-American civilians and other critics had toward the government’s decision.

7. Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was a confidential US government research project during 1942 to 1945 to produce the world’s first massively destructive atomic bombs. The secret project was led by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer with the contribution of several European scientists, preparing defense for any Nazi Germany nuclear threat during World War II. Although the Manhattan Project was initially intended to protected to ensure safety for the US against potential attacks from German forces, two of its four atomic bombs were used against Japan in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945– a destructive, decisive blow that played a huge role in ending World War II.

I chose the song “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit to represent the Manhattan Project. The lyrics of the song focus on the confidentiality the project was carried out in, stating “...let this be our little secret, no one needs to know we’re feeling higher,”. A part of the song also states “I ascend and serve my feverish need within the confines of such chemistry,” making a connection of how the numerous physicists and scientists gathered to develop this complex weapon, the destructive atomic bombs that were the first to be used in the war later on.

8. Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On July 26, 1945, US president Harry S. Truman released the Potsdam Declaration, a statement that called for the total surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. This ultimatum stated that, if Japan did not choose to surrender, the nation would face “prompt and utter destruction.” Japan, however, refused to listen to this major warning from the US. On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber flew over the city of Hiroshima and dropped the first atomic bomb, “Little Boy.” Three days later, the second atomic bomb, “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. These two massively destructive nuclear attacks led to a death toll as high as 250,000, number not only caused by the acute effects of the explosion, but the painful deaths from effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other horrifying injuries during the following months. Water sources and crops were contaminated, and radiation poisoning became prevalent all throughout. Harmless, innocent children and adults were brutally murdered in a war that should have remained between armed forces. 

The song “Grey Victory” by 10,000 Maniacs represents the supportive attitudes of the dropping of the two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The lyrics present the idea, a prevailing mindset of many Americans during the time, that these devastating bombings were indeed the righteous decisions of the US to truly bring World War II to an end. The singer sings, “Here we stand at the door to gold atomic age. Don’t spoil your face as with worry. Trust in, trust in, Earth bound kingdom come.” This idea is suggesting that the use of nuclear weapons on the Japanese was some sort of decisive salvation: an event– in which thousands of innocent lives were brutally murdered– that should be applauded and celebrated.

9. Russia (Soviet Union)

Soviet Union, initially wishing to remain in peace with German forces, signed the Nonaggression Pact with Hitler on 1939 to ensure that the two nations do not invade each other. The agreement was to prevent both countries from having to fight a “two-front war”, and Russia was also given parts of Poland and the Baltic States from Germany. Soon after, however, the agreement was violated by Germany after its attack into Soviet Union in 1941, only two years into the ten-year pact. With this break in alliance, Soviet Union shifted its side with the Allies to face Germany. Russia, with the help of its cold winters, was able to defend the city of Stalingrad during the Battle of Stalingrad, pushing Hitler’s forces back to Germany in victory. During the final days of World War II, Russia made an agreement with the US, France, and Great Britain to divide the defeated Germany into 4 sectors at the Yalta Conference.

Green Day’s “Know Your Enemy” perfectly depicts Russia’s stance at the time when Germany unexpectedly attacked, bluntly violating the Nonaggression Pact in which the two nations promised to not invade one another. Although they were once allied forces, the event made the Soviet Union shift sides to the Allies to fight against Germany and the other Axis Powers, finally “knowing the enemy.” The fast and strong beat of the song also represents the rage and determination of the Russians after the attack and during the prolonged warfare that followed.

10. D-Day (Operation Overlord)

Also referred to as Operation Overlord, D-Day was the planned invasion by Allied troops from Great Britain, US, and Canada on the German-held coast of Normandy in northwestern France on Jun 6th, 1944. The aim of the attack was to free France from Germany and hopefully quickly bring an end to World War II. After a huge sacrifice of an approximate 10,000 Allied force casualties and 9,000 German casualties, the Allies finally won German defenses and captured Paris, thus liberating France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The defeat greatly weakened German forces and thus drew World War II closer to an end.

“Uprising” by Muse captures the arduous warfare between Germany and the Allies during Operation Overlord. The Allies’ success in freeing France and other nations came with a huge price of thousands of deaths. The overall feeling and lyrics of the song thus truly expresses the determined and brave attitudes of the soldiers to fight for victory.

“They will not force us,

They will stop degrading us,

They will not control us,

We will be victorious.”

Bibliography:
http://www.history.co.uk/study-topics/history-of-ww2/nazi-germany
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2129.html
http://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
http://history1900s.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/hiroshima.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/russia.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Med/Med.html
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/rosie-riveter.htm

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Plan for America: The New Deal

During the darkest hour of the Great Depression– a time of dire poverty and chaos prevalent through the American land– a promising figure of optimism rose to sweep the nation off its rickety stance and into a new era of change. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ambitious and young governor of New York, was nominated into the White House as president in 1932. Elected with a landslide victory, Roosevelt guaranteed the American people with a very promising future with his multiple plans of altercations to be made in his presidency.

By the time Roosevelt was inaugurated in early 1933, he noticed the nation’s critical loss of confidence from the banking crisis and economic downfall within the stock market. He immediately stepped into action, pushing Congress to put into practice a program he envisioned as the answers to the nation’s dire problems– the New Deal. Promising “a new deal for the American people”, Roosevelt laid out his aims of fulfilling three goals of the New Deal: relief for the people suffering through the Great Depression, recovery of the economy, and reforms that would block similar economic crises in the future. This new era of Roosevelt’s presidency was a time of new opportunities for women and minority groups, also even shaping the popular and artistic culture of the decade. The New Deal, receiving mixed results and responses, however, had unquestionably changed the relationship between the people and the government.

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Some New Deal Programs-

Emergency Banking Act:

In the midst of economic crisis, the United States was found with the unstable state of the nation’s banks. Citizens, in fear of losing their savings in case of the further collapses of banks in this unreassuring state of the economy, swarmed to the banks to withdraw all of their money from their accounts. With such a large-scale bank run, extending within the nation, Roosevelt sought to mend the banking crisis with the Emergency Banking Act.

The Emergency Banking Act was a bill passed during 1933 that called for a four-day mandatory shut down of all US banks for inspections and recovery. Roosevelt insured the American citizens that government officials would thoroughly examine each bank to determine its sound condition to operate, correct any lying problems, and if truly necessary, close it in order to prevent any further issues. Soon enough, banks began to reopen with the federal government’s assurance of stability. People were psychologically soothed and began to trust the national banks once again, putting their money bank into their deposits and ultimately allowing the nation to successfully regain confidence in its financial system.

Civilian Conservation Corps:

The Great Depression was characterized with stark numbers of unemployment and poverty. In order to find a solution to this large-scale joblessness, Roosevelt put forwards his plan of the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC. 

Established in March 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps sought to relieve unemployment through providing national conservation work primarily for young unmarried men in the ages between 18 and 25. Living in army-style camps and required to send most of their earnings back to their families, these young workers were paid to work these unskilled manual labor jobs on a variety of different conservation projects and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by the federal, state, and local governments. The CCC, greatly aiding this young generation earn a living in a time that had been struck with such unemployment, received popular support with the maximum enrollment touching as high as 300,000.

Agricultural Adjustment Act:

By the later 1920s, European agriculture, which had been severely disrupted during World War I, had recovered. Farmers of the United States, who enjoyed increased production and prosperity in their markets with their thriving export of food, suddenly faced a dramatic fall in demand. With farmers continuing to produce more food than consumed, a hurtful surplus led to the fall of prices, or deflation of farm products. By the 1930s, the majority of American farmers found themselves in serious financial difficulty.

In order to find recovery for the American farmers, Roosevelt set forth the Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1933, a legislation that would reduce agricultural production through subsidizing farmers to plant less and kill off excess livestock. Through this decrease in crop surplus, the government was able to successfully raise the value of crops. With stability restored back in the markets for farm products, most of the farmers were able to recover from their financial downfalls.

In 1936, however, the Supreme Court declared the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional, for the money for subsidizing farmers primarily came from a striking increase in taxes on companies that bought and processed farm products. However, the amended Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 remedied these issues, and was able to serve as the basis of the American farming system for the next 70 years to come.

Social Security Act:

The Social Security Act was passed in August 1935 as part of the Second New Deal, or the second stage of the New Deal programs created by President Roosevelt. The primary goal of this legislative act was to limit the issues that many saw arise in the modern American life, such as for the elderly, impoverished, unemployed, burdened widows and fatherless children. This law thus provided financial aid towards those in need, and pensions, or guaranteed, regular payments towards people over the age of 65. Retired workers no longer had to worry about the poverty once they became too old to work. Systems of unemployment insurances were also carried out, aiding workers who recently lost their jobs and were looking for new work.

In order to efficiently carry our Social Security, however, Roosevelt was met with some setbacks with criticisms of huge taxes affecting both workers and employers. In order to avoid the sharp rise in taxes that would harm the general thrive towards economic recovery, the president was forced to leave several– farmworkers, household workers, and government employees– out of the Social Security Act.

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This new era of Roosevelt’s presidency and the New Deal was a time of dramatic, influential public programs that ultimately changed systems of government, national economy, and individual lives– in my personal opinion, for the better. Preceding Roosevelt’s presidency was a time of utter economical and social depression. As a result, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fierce approach towards powerful new programs to dramatically change the nation’s ways of operating was just what the United States and the American people needed. Indeed, this approach was inevitably met with failures at times, but it is the undeniable truth that a vast majority of these projects positively affected the citizens’ lives with immediate action towards solving the major issues of banking crises, unemployment, and social security in the country. 

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Bibliography:

"Agricultural Adjustment Act." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act.html>.

"Civilian Conservation Corps." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/civilian-conservation-corps>.

Dust Bowl. Digital image. Mcclungsworld.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://mcclungsworld.com/2010/05/20/the-dust-bowl/>.

"The Emergency Banking Act of 1933." Federalreservehistory.org. Federal Reserve History, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.federalreservehistory.org/Events/DetailView/23>.

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal." Loc.gov. Library of Congress, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/depwwii/newdeal/>.

Great Depression. Digital image. US-History.org. US History, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://us-history.com/1920s-the-great-depression/>.

"The Great Depression." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression>.

"The Great Depression." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/48.asp>.

"Hoover's Efforts at Recovery." Boundless.com. Boundless, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/from-the-new-era-to-the-great-depression-1920-1933/the-great-depression/hoover-s-efforts-at-recovery/>.

Hooverville. Digital image. Mayleengrace.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://mayleengrace.weebly.com/hoovervilles.html>.

"The New Deal: Crash Course US History #34." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bMq9Ek6jnA>.

"The New Deal." Historylearningsite.co.uk. History Learning Site, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/new_deal.htm>.

"Overview of the Great Depression." Digitalhistory.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=14&smtid=1>.

"Social Security Act." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-security-act.asp>.

Warren. Rail-Splitting. Digital image. Indiana.edu. The Trustees of Indiana University, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/cartoons/1932.html>.

Woodard, Dustin. The Great Stock Market Crash of 1929. Digital image. Globalresearch.ca. Global Research, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/is-another-depression-possible-a-comparison-of-the-great-depression-and-the-great-recession/26818>.

Causes of the Great Depression and President Hoover's Response

Causes of the Great Depression:

A time of prosperous consumerism and social, artistic, and cultural dynamism– the “Roaring Twenties”– all came crashing down to concoct disaster. An amalgam of domestic and worldwide mishaps soon paved the road the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world– the Great Depression.

Surrounded by a deceiving appearance of prosperity, the people of the United States blindly continued their practice of ruthless spending. While uneven distribution of wealth prevailed throughout the United States, people heavily trusted investing in stocks, and with the introduction of credits, Americans carried on the risky practice of buying on the margin, or buying stocks with loans from stockbrokers. This over-reliance backfired when a huge sell-off of stocks began with very few buyers, eventually leading to the infamous Black Tuesday, which marked the collapse of the stock market. 

This collapse in economy immediately created a financial panic all around the nation. Individual investors were greatly affected– margin buyers especially hit hard. Loaners unable to pay back their debt led to foreclosures of homes and farms. Several banks could not continue business with the prevalence of bank-runs and without their loans paid back, and thus were forced to close down, counting as many as 2294 banks failing by the end of 1931.

With the crash of the stock market, banks and investors were no longer capable of supporting industries with money to grow. People, many in the face of poverty, drastically cut back in their consumption of goods. And with this major drop in business, companies began laying off  their workers, causing a striking increase in the number of people unemployed and thrown into poverty-stricken “Hoovervilles” as hoboes.

The difficult times farmers had to endure during the 1920s only worsened with the rise of the Great Depression. The increase in number of unemployed and in poverty significantly reduced the Americans’ ability to buy food, many forced to simply go hungry. With very few people buying food products, overproduction thus sank farm prices. Soon, farms also began going bankrupt and suffering foreclosure.

The Great Depression seemed to sink into further chaos with the devastation of a long, severe drought lasting for years in the Great Plains region. Careless agricultural practices caused great dust storms to occur with stripped-away topsoil blowing across the land. People in the Dust Bowl– areas hardest hit by dust storms– were forced to flee the Plains. Without money, jobs, and now even their homes, as many as 2.5 million people had to leave the Great Plains, many heading West. 

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President Hoover's Response to the Great Depression:

Herbert Hoover, in office during the devastating times of the Great Depression, held his presidency with strong beliefs of the federal government’s minimal intervention in aiding the American citizens directly. Despite for several calls for more government assistance as the economy struck its low and people suffered from poverty, Hoover refused to fund welfare programs for the people. He believed that such aid would reduce the people’s incentives to work and thus destroy the American individuality and self-reliance, the key parts of his philosophy of “rugged individualism”.

President Hoover advocated his idea of the associative state, the voluntary partnership between business associations and the government. He believed that these voluntary actions of companies would make the American economy fairer and more efficient. He also greatly supported the formation of cooperatives in which organizations could work together for a common goal, and thus successfully increase their outcomes. 

Finding difficulties in a completely “hands-off” government, Hoover authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), which gave a $2 billion loan to struggling banks, insurance companies, and other large institutions he saw as the foundations for rebuilding the economy. Individuals became increasingly discontented with Hoover, questioning his ideals to help banks and businesses, but not struggling individuals in need of more urgent help. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which raised tariffs on imported goods in order to urge Americans to purchase cheaper domestic goods gave way to disaster as world trade plunged. The Bonus March incident, in which violence broke out between unarmed veterans and armed soldiers also further damaged the president’s reputation.

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Video:

Crash Course: The Great Depression

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Bibliography:

Dust Bowl. Digital image. Mcclungsworld.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://mcclungsworld.com/2010/05/20/the-dust-bowl/>.

Great Depression. Digital image. US-History.org. US History, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://us-history.com/1920s-the-great-depression/>.

"The Great Depression." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression>.

"The Great Depression." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/48.asp>.

Green, John, narr. The Great Depression: Crash Course. Crash Course US History, 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCQfMWAikyU>.

"Hoover's Efforts at Recovery." Boundless.com. Boundless, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/from-the-new-era-to-the-great-depression-1920-1933/the-great-depression/hoover-s-efforts-at-recovery/>.

Hooverville. Digital image. Mayleengrace.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://mayleengrace.weebly.com/hoovervilles.html>.

"Overview of the Great Depression." Digitalhistory.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=14&smtid=1>.

"Table And Flow Chart Interpretation." ProProfs Quizmaker. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. <http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=table-and-flow-chart-interpretation>.

Warren. Rail-Splitting. Digital image. Indiana.edu. The Trustees of Indiana University, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.indiana.edu/~libsalc/cartoons/1932.html>.

Woodard, Dustin. The Great Stock Market Crash of 1929. Digital image. Globalresearch.ca. Global Research, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. <http://www.globalresearch.ca/is-another-depression-possible-a-comparison-of-the-great-depression-and-the-great-recession/26818>.

Chicago Race Riots of 1919

On July 27, 1919, an African American teenager named Eugene Williams was swimming with his friends in Lake Michigan when he crossed the informal border between the "white" and "black" beaches. Williams was then hit by stones thrown by a group of white men, drowning and immediately killed on the spot. The police, however, refused to arrest the white man responsible for the child's death. Angered reports of the event spread quickly around the city, causing violence to soon break out throughout the society between the black and white populations. Leading to several deaths, injuries, and loss of homes, the Chicago Race Riots of 1919, also referred to as the "Red Summer", was indeed a time when the racially segregated population finally unleashed their piled-up resentment of each other into a full-fledged clash of angry bloodshed. 

All throughout the late 1910s as African American populations made their ways into white communities, a distinct divide was apparent in which both sides were rumbling and clashing with the gradual yet undeniable rise of racial tension. Having made their ways in the great migration to Northern cities, eager African-American citizens were on the search for freedom and democracy–– only to be struck with the distasteful denial of basic rights and segregation by the white community no different from those they endured during years of slavery. Meanwhile, World War I had finally come to an end, and thousands of respected, patriotic servicemen returned to their homes-- only to to see their jobs and opportunities to livelihood "stolen" by these newly arrived blacks or immigrants. With the revival of white supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the increasing militant attitudes of the African Americans demanding adequate equality under the law, both sides were simply waiting for the littlest cause to ignite the "Red Summer". Even if that unfortunate boy had not been killed on that hot, sunny July afternoon, the society was already at the brink of chaos, and the death of Eugene Williams indeed just happened to be the perfect stimulus. 

Overall, the four-day nightmare of violence was the epitome of racial divide and dispute during the early 1900s, also representing the growing willingness among African American populations to continue their fight for rights in the face of prevalent oppression and injustice in the United States of America. The riot was indeed a landmark that allowed the nation to take the issue of racial segregation seriously at hand, consequently leading to further events throughout history that have allowed the equality African American people enjoy today.