As with all mediums - movies that reflect Cold War anxieties, books that question wars, and films and television that act, in some ways, as propaganda for the government during these times - music often changes to reflect the war.
In and before World War II, isolationists and pro-war musicians clashed over the likelihood of a war and, eventually, the pro-war musicians issued a continued salvo of music supporting soldiers in the form of popular music. Isolationists made songs stating that, for example, "There Ain't Gonna Be No War," while pro-war musicians instructed the populace to "Remember Pearl Harbor" - often directly in the wake of such events.
During the Vietnam war, musicians such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan (along with a variety of bands that gained traction in the Summer of Love) advocated against the war, releasing music that presented visions of young-person angst in the wake of the war as some bands embraced hippie beliefs.
This trend continued in the wake of 9/11, when musicians such as Toby Keith released music that attacked the perpetrators of the attack and insisted that they would face revenge for their actions; these gained significant popularity in the country sphere.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/world-war-ii/essays/forties-and-music-world-war-ii
Friday, May 19, 2017
Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk, the first openly-gay city supervisor for San Francisco, was an icon of the gay rights movement in the 1970s. Milk was also the first openly gay official to ever be elected to a government position in the United States of America.
Finally in the 1977 bid for a spot on the Board, Milk won, making national headlines and a huge victory in the gay community. As a supervisor, Milk lobbied for many important bills; including anti-discrimination bills to protect the LGBT community, converting ex-military buildings into low cost housing, day care for working mothers, and a reform for the tax code in the districts.
Milk was also an incredibly influential opponent to the Proposition 6 bill in California that would have made firing gay teachers legal. He rallied support from all around the state, visiting schools and counties all around, both friendly and unfriendly. He succeeded, and the bill was shot down, a huge victory at the time when there were bills being passed all around the coutry against the LGBT community.
Sadly, Milk's career as a City Supervisor was very short-lived. In November of 1978, less than a year after being elected, both Milk and Mayor Moscone were assassinated by a fellow city supervisor, Dan White. White, a devout Catholic, had been in opposition to Milk and Moscone for most of Milk's caree. The city responded to the assassinations by a holding candelight vigil and march through Castro Street to the city's center.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk
http://milkfoundation.org/about/harvey-milk-biography/
http://www.biography.com/people/harvey-milk-9408170
Milk and his older brother Robert
Born in 1930 in New York, Milk was the younger of two children in his Lithuanian-American family. Both his parents were born in Lithuania and of Jewish decent. His father served in the Navy in WWII and his grandparents owned a department store. Milk went to college at the New York State College for Teachers in Albany where he majored in mathematics. He joined the Navy during the Korean War and served on a submarine rescue ship called the USS Kittiwake as a diving officer. He was discharged in 1955 after being questioned about his sexuality at. From there, Milk went to teach at a high school in Long Island, then as a stock analyst in New York City and finally as a production associate for Broadway musicals before moving to California in late 1972.
Milk's Camera shop
Milk opened a camera store on Castro street, the center of San Francisco's growing gay community. As a port city, San Francisco had a large gay population as the Navy discharged anyone who they deemed were homosexual. Milk gained popularity in the growing community, and a little after a year of living in the city, he decided to run for the board of City Supervisors. He lost, but it was only the beginning of his political career.
Castro Street, San Francisco
In 1975, Milk ran for a seat on the Board of City Supervisors again, this time only narrowly losing. However, Mayor George Moscone, a close friend, would appoint him to the city's board of permit appeals, making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the entirety of the US.Finally in the 1977 bid for a spot on the Board, Milk won, making national headlines and a huge victory in the gay community. As a supervisor, Milk lobbied for many important bills; including anti-discrimination bills to protect the LGBT community, converting ex-military buildings into low cost housing, day care for working mothers, and a reform for the tax code in the districts.
Milk was also an incredibly influential opponent to the Proposition 6 bill in California that would have made firing gay teachers legal. He rallied support from all around the state, visiting schools and counties all around, both friendly and unfriendly. He succeeded, and the bill was shot down, a huge victory at the time when there were bills being passed all around the coutry against the LGBT community.
Milk's and Moscones's vigil
White, Milk's assassin, was aquitted of his murder charges on the infamous "Twinkie Defense" and was sentenced to less than eight years in prison.Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Milk
http://milkfoundation.org/about/harvey-milk-biography/
http://www.biography.com/people/harvey-milk-9408170
Some underhanded campaigning tricks
Here are a couple of tricks that politicians use to gain an edge over their opponent in important elections.
Push Polling
Push polling appears similar to a normal poll; a respondent, likely online, fills out a list of questions that relate to the candidates or specific issues. But these polls are often surreptitiously managed by those who support one candidates' campaign, and their purpose is a little bit different. A push poll aims not to learn important information about those who take it, but to influence them by asserting something inaccurate and possibly negative about an opposing candidate. In 2000, John McCain was affected by push polling in the primaries that regarded his personal reputation and mental health; the polls went as far as to state that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually an African-American child out of wedlock. (Sometimes they say a lot about what actually bothers people.)
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is the attempt to make it look like significant support for a policy or individual exists at the grassroots even though no or little such support exists. A prime example came in the recent news, when it appeared that spammers might be targeting the FCC website to make it appear as if significant support from average people was against net neutrality. That astroturfing was conducted through spam comments; the practice could also be carried out through the presentation of "average residents" on radio shows, TV shows or the campaign's own media who are actually collaborating directly with the campaign. Companies such as ShareBlue used social media to help astroturf in favor of, in this case, Clinton in the 2016 election, presenting videos to garner social media outrage against Trump when it would be advantageous to give him negative attention, whether to decrease pressure against Hillary or put pressure on Trump if no other controversy was running its course at the time.
http://www.insightsassociation.org/issues-policies/best-practice/push-polls-deceptive-advocacypersuasion-under-guise-legitimate-polling
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/08/what-is-astroturfing
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/us/politics/hillary-clinton-media-david-brock.html
Push Polling
Push polling appears similar to a normal poll; a respondent, likely online, fills out a list of questions that relate to the candidates or specific issues. But these polls are often surreptitiously managed by those who support one candidates' campaign, and their purpose is a little bit different. A push poll aims not to learn important information about those who take it, but to influence them by asserting something inaccurate and possibly negative about an opposing candidate. In 2000, John McCain was affected by push polling in the primaries that regarded his personal reputation and mental health; the polls went as far as to state that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was actually an African-American child out of wedlock. (Sometimes they say a lot about what actually bothers people.)
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is the attempt to make it look like significant support for a policy or individual exists at the grassroots even though no or little such support exists. A prime example came in the recent news, when it appeared that spammers might be targeting the FCC website to make it appear as if significant support from average people was against net neutrality. That astroturfing was conducted through spam comments; the practice could also be carried out through the presentation of "average residents" on radio shows, TV shows or the campaign's own media who are actually collaborating directly with the campaign. Companies such as ShareBlue used social media to help astroturf in favor of, in this case, Clinton in the 2016 election, presenting videos to garner social media outrage against Trump when it would be advantageous to give him negative attention, whether to decrease pressure against Hillary or put pressure on Trump if no other controversy was running its course at the time.
http://www.insightsassociation.org/issues-policies/best-practice/push-polls-deceptive-advocacypersuasion-under-guise-legitimate-polling
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/08/what-is-astroturfing
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/23/us/politics/hillary-clinton-media-david-brock.html
The Roberts Court
Since the end of 2005, following the death of William Rehnquist, John G. Roberts has acted as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Traditionally in American history, it is possible to differentiate each court based on the particular chief justice, whether it be the Warren Court in possessing the central focus of civil rights or John Marshall's court being characterized as ensuring are rights to the federal government as opposed to state legislatures, but with the Robert's Court, it is much more ambiguous. This is largely due to the increasing polarization among the members on the bench, as four of the members usually decide to the left; those being Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer; and those who normally side with the conservative perspective of the case being Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Antonin Scalia (now deceased). It has ultimately been Anthony Kennedy, a registered Republican, through numerous occurrences, has acted as the deciding swing vote for the court. Despite the current split upon the bench, two trends are able to be identified in the manner of the Supreme Court rulings through the past twelve years: there has tended to be a liberal swing in dealing with civil rights and a more conservative approach when concerning the usage of firearms and the control of corporate business. Landmark cases like Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 and National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius in 2012 allowed for the legalization of gay marriage and the approval of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, respectively, both expressing a similar liberal ruling. Other pivotal cases including District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby in 2014 legalized firearms for self-defense and all regions of the country (including D.C.) and permitted private companies to invoke their religious beliefs and enact policies that abide by their belief system (in this case, the owners of Hobby Lobby possessed Christian beliefs and were allowed to restrict contraceptive care to their employees), respectively.
Today, with the intense wavering and frequent voting along party lines, the future of the Roberts Court remains largely unseen. The recent death of Antonin Scalia in 2016 allowed for new incumbent Justice Neil Gorsuch to be appointed to take his place this past April, and due to the limited time he has already spent on the Supreme Court, there is no true idea of how and what he will decide for in upcoming cases. During his confirmation hearings in 2005, Roberts aspired for a limited and moderate court, but with reviewing the pivotal cases heard and their accompanying landmark rulings to them in the past twelve years, Roberts' original aspiration has not yet been achieved. Hopefully, in the next few years or so, individuals will be able to draw more defined trends from the Court during this time and what its total results were from both past and future cases.
The Supreme Court in 2016 Neil Gorsuch
Works Cited:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/28/supreme-court-john-roberts-conservative-liberal/72399618/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/landmark-cases-john-roberts-decade-chief-justice-article-1.2378637
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2007/07-290
Today, with the intense wavering and frequent voting along party lines, the future of the Roberts Court remains largely unseen. The recent death of Antonin Scalia in 2016 allowed for new incumbent Justice Neil Gorsuch to be appointed to take his place this past April, and due to the limited time he has already spent on the Supreme Court, there is no true idea of how and what he will decide for in upcoming cases. During his confirmation hearings in 2005, Roberts aspired for a limited and moderate court, but with reviewing the pivotal cases heard and their accompanying landmark rulings to them in the past twelve years, Roberts' original aspiration has not yet been achieved. Hopefully, in the next few years or so, individuals will be able to draw more defined trends from the Court during this time and what its total results were from both past and future cases.
The Supreme Court in 2016 Neil Gorsuch
Works Cited:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/28/supreme-court-john-roberts-conservative-liberal/72399618/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/landmark-cases-john-roberts-decade-chief-justice-article-1.2378637
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2007/07-290
Muhammad Ali Resisting the Draft
Muhammad Ali Resisting the Draft
Muhammad Ali immortalized his legacy outside the ring by refusing to be eligible to participate in the draft. During the Vietnam War, young Americans were being drafted into the military to satisfy the demand for a fighting force. It was during this time that draft evasion and resistance was at an all time high.
As a Muslim, Ali objected against killing others. He used this as his reasoning to forgo military service. He also famously questioned why he would put his life on the line for a country that discriminated against him.
In 1976, Ali was scheduled to appear for an induction into the U.S. military. He symbolically refused to step forward to accept his induction, so he was arrested and convicted. In addition, his boxing license and titles were stripped away from him. Ali was already a controversial figure for converting to Islam, but his refusal to serve made him a hated figure by many.
While the case was being appealed, Ali was allowed to stay out of prison. As a result, he ended up being a prominent speaker in refusing to enlist from the draft. Ali was able to finally get his boxing license back and knocked out Jerry Quarry in his comeback to the ring. The Supreme Court also overturned his conviction.
In the end, this whole process took a toll on Ali. His prime boxing years were taken away from him, but he was able to stand up for his own beliefs.
Sites:
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/muhammad-ali-vietnam/485717/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/muhammad-ali-refuses-army-induction
http://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/vietnam_draft.shtml
Muhammad Ali immortalized his legacy outside the ring by refusing to be eligible to participate in the draft. During the Vietnam War, young Americans were being drafted into the military to satisfy the demand for a fighting force. It was during this time that draft evasion and resistance was at an all time high.
As a Muslim, Ali objected against killing others. He used this as his reasoning to forgo military service. He also famously questioned why he would put his life on the line for a country that discriminated against him.
In 1976, Ali was scheduled to appear for an induction into the U.S. military. He symbolically refused to step forward to accept his induction, so he was arrested and convicted. In addition, his boxing license and titles were stripped away from him. Ali was already a controversial figure for converting to Islam, but his refusal to serve made him a hated figure by many.
While the case was being appealed, Ali was allowed to stay out of prison. As a result, he ended up being a prominent speaker in refusing to enlist from the draft. Ali was able to finally get his boxing license back and knocked out Jerry Quarry in his comeback to the ring. The Supreme Court also overturned his conviction.
In the end, this whole process took a toll on Ali. His prime boxing years were taken away from him, but he was able to stand up for his own beliefs.
Sites:
https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/muhammad-ali-vietnam/485717/
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/muhammad-ali-refuses-army-induction
http://depts.washington.edu/antiwar/vietnam_draft.shtml
Fake News
Yoel Feinberg
Period 1
Fake News
In the past, before the internet, becoming source of news required a strong economic platform and the permission to be a political foundation. Now, we have the internet, where people can claim their credibility as a news source without any trials. The problem of fake news is only growing. In the 2016 election, fake news was used as a claim to denounce certain opinions and information that was unproven true about both candidates. Fake news was also used to spread lies about both candidates during the election. These news outlets warp people's opinions into positions that are not factually created. Fake news also heavily contributed to the disconnect that we feel in our country today. The news tends to encourage extreme thinking, which has effectively slowly gotten rid of the moderate position in the United States. With two extreme factions of people, the tension is increased and the discontent as well. I think it should be a priority in schools to try and teach kids how to recognize news that is not reputable. It is becoming a very important skill to have, because if you read news that is not credible and you don’t recognize it, your right to opinion is taken from you as you adopt lies. Fake news is immoral as well. With the priority of making money off of clickbait titles and fake situations, fake news organizations effectively scam their readers. If you yourself want to learn how to recognize a fake news article, I will leave a link at the bottom where you can learn. Also, a separate but similar issue is news bias. A common misconception is that some major news sources are fair and unbiased, in reality this is false. Sources like Fox news and CNN both have their own political agendas and are therefore trying to sell ideas to their audience. In summary, don’t give your trust to any one news source, disperse yourself to many news sources, preferably different ones (like 1 republican and 1 democratic source), so that you can try to get the full picture.
Sources:
Learn here:
https://www.ifla.org/publications/node/11174
NAFTA and what are its affects
NAFTA, a trade agreement between Mexico, Canada, and the US, many people believe this trade deal to be detrimental the the economy of the United States according to our new leader. But most people don't actually know what NAFTA does, and how it helps/hurts our economy. In APUSH we learned about Bill Clinton and his policies, but we did not go into depth on what NAFTA is and how helped/ hrut the economy. NAFTA which was signed in 1993 was Bill's pride and joy, he believed it would create one of the biggest trade zone in the world and would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in just a few years. Improving the economy of the US, Mexico, and Canada. However many Politicians argue on how the trade agreement has shaped the US, and has is really helped.
However what we do know that has helped the US is trade between these three countries, which used to be around 290 billion dollars before the agreement to a whopping 1.1 trillion in present day. So NAFTA has definitely help trade between Mexico and Canada, but what other good things has it done? Many arguments against NAFTA say that it prevents the US from getting new jobs because businesses are investing in Mexico and not in America. However that is not entirely because 6 million Americans in the US rely on US-Mexico trade to get their job and removing NAFTA would lower that job market significantly because of the high tariffs that NAFTA removes. Another benefit of NAFTA would be its company integration between the NAFTA members. NAFTA is creating partners with American companies not competitors as companies can now work together better with the integration of the borders. However not everything about NAFTA is good for the US economy. Many companies have been leaving the US to Mexico because of cheaper labor and lower business tax destroying around 600,000 thousand jobs in the US, and many economists believe that the surge of imports between Mexico and the US would have happened with our without NAFTA. However the impact of NASA is very hard to see because the trade is not just caused by NAFTA they are caused by other factors and without knowing what factors caused which boosts in trade we have no idea how much NAFTA has really helped the trading between Mexico US and Canada.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/naftas-impact-u-s-economy-facts/
However what we do know that has helped the US is trade between these three countries, which used to be around 290 billion dollars before the agreement to a whopping 1.1 trillion in present day. So NAFTA has definitely help trade between Mexico and Canada, but what other good things has it done? Many arguments against NAFTA say that it prevents the US from getting new jobs because businesses are investing in Mexico and not in America. However that is not entirely because 6 million Americans in the US rely on US-Mexico trade to get their job and removing NAFTA would lower that job market significantly because of the high tariffs that NAFTA removes. Another benefit of NAFTA would be its company integration between the NAFTA members. NAFTA is creating partners with American companies not competitors as companies can now work together better with the integration of the borders. However not everything about NAFTA is good for the US economy. Many companies have been leaving the US to Mexico because of cheaper labor and lower business tax destroying around 600,000 thousand jobs in the US, and many economists believe that the surge of imports between Mexico and the US would have happened with our without NAFTA. However the impact of NASA is very hard to see because the trade is not just caused by NAFTA they are caused by other factors and without knowing what factors caused which boosts in trade we have no idea how much NAFTA has really helped the trading between Mexico US and Canada.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/naftas-impact-u-s-economy-facts/
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Albright, known as America's first female secretary of state, was born in Czecslovakia in 1937.
After the Nazis occupied Czechslovakia in 1939, she fled to England along with her family (because her family was Jewish, as she later learned; she was told at first that it was for political reasons, as her father was a Czech diplomat). A little after World War II ended, she and her family immigrated to the United States in 1948.
Albright graduated from Wesley College in 1959, and after doing so, went to Washington D.C. to work for Senator Muskie and serve on the National Security Council. For the next couple of decades, she would teach at Georgetown about foreign affairs and participate in nonprofit organizations.
Finally, in 1993, Bill Clinton appointed her as ambassador to the United Nations, where Albright became known for being a good defender of American interests and she advocated for the US's increased role in the UN. In 1996, Clinton then nominated her to replace Warren Christopher as US Secretary of State, and her nomination was unanimously confirmed throughout the Senate.
In an active foreign policy, Albright pursued the use of military force to pressure Yugoslavia, Iraq, and other autocratic regimes. She famously met with Kim Jong II in North Korea in 2000, and became the highest ranking US officall to visit that country.
Sources:
http://secretary.state.gov/www/albright/albright.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/madeleine-albright-is-born
After the Nazis occupied Czechslovakia in 1939, she fled to England along with her family (because her family was Jewish, as she later learned; she was told at first that it was for political reasons, as her father was a Czech diplomat). A little after World War II ended, she and her family immigrated to the United States in 1948.
Albright graduated from Wesley College in 1959, and after doing so, went to Washington D.C. to work for Senator Muskie and serve on the National Security Council. For the next couple of decades, she would teach at Georgetown about foreign affairs and participate in nonprofit organizations.
Finally, in 1993, Bill Clinton appointed her as ambassador to the United Nations, where Albright became known for being a good defender of American interests and she advocated for the US's increased role in the UN. In 1996, Clinton then nominated her to replace Warren Christopher as US Secretary of State, and her nomination was unanimously confirmed throughout the Senate.
In an active foreign policy, Albright pursued the use of military force to pressure Yugoslavia, Iraq, and other autocratic regimes. She famously met with Kim Jong II in North Korea in 2000, and became the highest ranking US officall to visit that country.
Sources:
http://secretary.state.gov/www/albright/albright.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/madeleine-albright-is-born
How did the Soviet Union Fall
On Christmas Day 1991 one of the most powerful countries and greatest economic experiments in history collapsed as the new Russian Federation flag was raised, officially ending the cold war between the Americans and Soviets. I decided to discuss this topic because of its importance of American history and how the collapse was really the time the world changed for the better. We learned about this in one of Mr Stewards documentaries but it did not go enough into detail that I would have liked it to. The Collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable, during Gorbachev's presidency the Soviet Union began to fail. He went into office with a broken economy and a political structure that was so bad that nothing could have been done to fix it. Gorbachev glasnost policy destroyed allowed political openness in the soviet union... something that leaders like Stalin had spent their entire life trying to prevent in the Soviet Union. Soviet citizens realized they had rights that they had never had before and now were allowed to go against the government without being killed by the secret police. Gorbachev began to incorporate more capitalists ideals in the government as he passed policies the loosened the grip of the Soviet government on trade and the economy allowing private companies to grow.
However with shortages in food and the crash of the economy before Gorbachev's economy could grow many Russians began to protest against the government, finally realizing that maybe, communism just doesn't work. Gorbachev began to create more arms control decreasing the military and nuclear weapons. Because of this many of the Western puppets of the Soviet began to rebel against the Soviets, the first one being Polish, eventually Russia's hold on the west was crumbling and as they backed out of Afghanistan stopping a war that had been going on for decades. with their citizens being able to disagree with the soviets many many countries just broke off from the Soviet Union not needing to rebel in anyway, like Belarus, Estonia and many of the Baltic states that had been in the USSR power since the end of World War 2, eventually the Russian federation broke off from the USSR eventually creating the Russia we have today. Even though the USSR is no longer on the map, it does not mean that ideals of Communism do not exist. The Communist party in Russia still exists and is very popular and the houses and live styles from the Soviet Union can still be seen in Russia today.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fall-of-soviet-union
However with shortages in food and the crash of the economy before Gorbachev's economy could grow many Russians began to protest against the government, finally realizing that maybe, communism just doesn't work. Gorbachev began to create more arms control decreasing the military and nuclear weapons. Because of this many of the Western puppets of the Soviet began to rebel against the Soviets, the first one being Polish, eventually Russia's hold on the west was crumbling and as they backed out of Afghanistan stopping a war that had been going on for decades. with their citizens being able to disagree with the soviets many many countries just broke off from the Soviet Union not needing to rebel in anyway, like Belarus, Estonia and many of the Baltic states that had been in the USSR power since the end of World War 2, eventually the Russian federation broke off from the USSR eventually creating the Russia we have today. Even though the USSR is no longer on the map, it does not mean that ideals of Communism do not exist. The Communist party in Russia still exists and is very popular and the houses and live styles from the Soviet Union can still be seen in Russia today.
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fall-of-soviet-union
William Randolph Hearst and Yellow Journalism
William Randolph Hearst is one of the most influential American journalists in history, known for famously using "yellow journalism".
Hearst started off by taking over the San Francisco Chronicle from his father, and turned the newspaper into a mix of reformist investigative reporting and sensationalism. Hearst was inspired by Pulitzer, and after starting, quickly developed a reputation for employing great journalists, such as Mark Twain, Jack London, Richard Harding Davis, Stephen Crane, and Ambrose Bierce. Hearst is even more well-known, however, for his takeover of the New York Journal, and what he did with that.
With the New York Journal (that became the New York Journal-American later), Hearst began to employ "yellow journalism" in that they implemented the use of glaring headlines, various illustrations, and brightly colored magazine parts with sensational crime articles, along with radical articles on foreign affairs. Pulitzer's newspaper (World) also used yellow journalism, and the competition that was sprung between Hearst and Pulitzer's respective newspapers is what really gave the rise to yellow journalism, and heavily influenced American journalism, for better or for worse.
Hearst did serve in the House of Representatives from 1903-1907, and came within 3,000 votes of winning the New York mayor election in 1905. Later on in his career, Hearst ultimately lost touch with his blue-collar readers, as his radical political views (such as denouncing the New Deal) led to his downfall. By 1940, only seventeen of his forty two papers remained in business. In the end, however, Hearst did still have have the largest news conglomerate in America.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/william-randolph-hearst
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Randolph-Hearst
Hearst started off by taking over the San Francisco Chronicle from his father, and turned the newspaper into a mix of reformist investigative reporting and sensationalism. Hearst was inspired by Pulitzer, and after starting, quickly developed a reputation for employing great journalists, such as Mark Twain, Jack London, Richard Harding Davis, Stephen Crane, and Ambrose Bierce. Hearst is even more well-known, however, for his takeover of the New York Journal, and what he did with that.
With the New York Journal (that became the New York Journal-American later), Hearst began to employ "yellow journalism" in that they implemented the use of glaring headlines, various illustrations, and brightly colored magazine parts with sensational crime articles, along with radical articles on foreign affairs. Pulitzer's newspaper (World) also used yellow journalism, and the competition that was sprung between Hearst and Pulitzer's respective newspapers is what really gave the rise to yellow journalism, and heavily influenced American journalism, for better or for worse.
Hearst did serve in the House of Representatives from 1903-1907, and came within 3,000 votes of winning the New York mayor election in 1905. Later on in his career, Hearst ultimately lost touch with his blue-collar readers, as his radical political views (such as denouncing the New Deal) led to his downfall. By 1940, only seventeen of his forty two papers remained in business. In the end, however, Hearst did still have have the largest news conglomerate in America.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/william-randolph-hearst
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Randolph-Hearst
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel demonstrating the aspect of American Dream as pursuit of wealth and happiness, the need to redeem oneself and measure self worth through the amount of possession one has. Gatsby and the Buchanans demonstrate wealth and upper class while Myrtle and George Wilson play the roles of working class that will be unable to make their American Dream come true due to the powerful suppression from the upper class society. Jay Gatsby is the one character that truly embodies the meaning of the American Dream throughout The Great Gatsby. Jay Gatsby constantly improves himself and attempt to achieve what he does not have, intellectually or materially. Gatsby is committed to accomplishing his goals and works his hardest to attain it. However, Gatsby mainly represents the American Dream because he is always pursuing more wealth, reputation, and possession instead of being satisfied with what he already has. The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.
The American Dream
According to the Library of Congress, the American Dream is for every person in America to have equal and fair opportunity to fulfill his or her full potential, and be rewarded accordingly without discrimination. One of the benefits of the American Dream is that everyone has a fair chance to earn prosperity and pursue happiness. Another benefit of the American Dream is that everyone can be recognized by their achievements and who they are, regardless of race, gender, or social status. The American Dream has helped people to have a happy and successful life without economic pressure. Although there are still several negative aspects. For instance, the estimated twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States came to this country to pursue their American Dream. However, this has caused significant negative impact of fair chance to American Dream. For example, crime, rate and poverty levels are often much higher around of neighborhood of illegal immigrants. Public schools are short of funding because illegal immigrants often do not pay tax, but their children share public school resources. The list can go on and on. This concept of American Dream hurts many Mexican as a group because many of them crosses border and came into US illegally. And their children often live in poverty. American Dream has changed greatly over the years. At the time when James Truslow Adams wrote in his book The Epic of America, the American Dream was mainly for everyone to gain equality without class separation or race/gender discrimination, and freedom of religion. Overtime, American Dream has changed to the pursuit of wealth and prosperity for most the population. Owning vehicles and having a house became people’s goals, rather than fair chance and equal opportunities. The American Dream has not been attainable to everyone throughout time, it is still mostly accessible to individuals of hard work, sometimes fortune, or reputation. American Diners
A diner, is usually seen as a small fast food restaurant that is found frequently in the Northeastern United States and Midwest, as well as parts of Western Europe. The first diner was created in 1872 by Walter Scott, who sold food out of a horse-pulled wagon to employees of the Providence Journal, in Providence, Rhode Island. Scott's wagon had windows on each side of the wagon, making it the first “walk up” service diner. Diners offer a wide range of foods typically serving American cuisine such as hamburgers, fries, milkshakes, coffee, pancakes, and have a distinct exterior structure, a casual atmosphere, a long counter with bar stools where patrons eat their meals, and late operating hours. Diners frequently stay open 24 hours a day, especially in cities and towns with a busy bar scene or with factories with night shift workers. Bar patrons seeking a post "last call" venue to socialize and get food as well as shift workers leaving their factories historically provided a key part of the customer base. Although diners began to lose a share of their market to the new fast food establishments, its role in American history has significantly affected every aspect of life including cooking, dining out, popular culture, design, fashion and more.
The Mound Builders of Cahokia
While we often tend to assume that Jamestown and Plymouth were the first lasting city-like regions to have been created upon the current territory of the United States, we, at the same time, forget the historical marvel that is the Mounds of Cahokia, a once thriving and populous Native American city that endured a legacy of more than seven hundred years (from 700 A.D. to 1400 A.D.). Considered one of the finest achievements of the Native Americans, the Mounds of Cahokia were composed of approximately 120 large man-made structures that appear as large hills and held at times more than 100,000 people. They are situated near present-day St. Louis, Missouri, and along the Mississippi River and partly in Illinois, and the ruins of the city indicate a developed civilization that possessed interesting features like platform mounds with religious temples, a surrounding barrier of the city with guard towers, and about four sun calendars that were utilized to determine when the seasons will change and what that will entail for preparation on the part of the city inhabitants. Similar to the famous ruins of Machu Picchu, the structure of Cahokia involved the usage of large open plazas with living quarters surrounding the public areas, and to maintain its economic infrastructure, agriculture was highly emphasized and practiced around the city sites in large open tracts of land. They are considered by some institutions today as an optimal example of the cultural, religious and economic achievements of pre-historic Mississippian Culture.
While Cahokia was by far the most populous and dense city present in the entire North American continent after the Mayan and Aztec civilizations of Mexico, the region underwent a tremendous population decline by 1200 and was completely vacant by 1400. Oddly enough, there are no written records of which particular tribe created this historic marvel, nor is there a definitive reason for why the site was abandoned, leading historians to arrive at a variety of reasons for its demise. By the time European settlers like the French arrived in the Mississippi Valley around the 1700s, the site began to deteriorate from further population growth and construction plans as settlers moved westward, destroying some of the created hills. Today, Cahokia is credited as being one of the eight world heritage sites within the United States, and only about sixty-eight of the original 120 mounds still exist, thus retaining some Cahokia's legacy as a unique and phenomenal site.
Works Cited:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/il-cahokia.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/198
While Cahokia was by far the most populous and dense city present in the entire North American continent after the Mayan and Aztec civilizations of Mexico, the region underwent a tremendous population decline by 1200 and was completely vacant by 1400. Oddly enough, there are no written records of which particular tribe created this historic marvel, nor is there a definitive reason for why the site was abandoned, leading historians to arrive at a variety of reasons for its demise. By the time European settlers like the French arrived in the Mississippi Valley around the 1700s, the site began to deteriorate from further population growth and construction plans as settlers moved westward, destroying some of the created hills. Today, Cahokia is credited as being one of the eight world heritage sites within the United States, and only about sixty-eight of the original 120 mounds still exist, thus retaining some Cahokia's legacy as a unique and phenomenal site.
Works Cited:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/il-cahokia.html
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/cahokia/hodges-text
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/198
Solid Democratic and Republican States
Since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, there are 18 states that have always voted Democrat. These states are California, Connecticut, D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. These states are primarilly in the Northeast and West coast, which have been Democratically dominated since the Clinton elections.
At the same time, there have been 13 states that have only ever voted Republican. These Republican states are Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. These states are primarilly centered in the South and central of the country, which have always voted Republican since the Reagan elections.
These solid states account for 344 of the 538 electoral votes. 242 of them are Democratic votes, and 102 of them are Republican votes.
Given that only 270 electoral votes are required to win a presidential election, 242 votes are a huge portion of the necessary votes. However, Republican candidates also have a large number of votes, especially including Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, which haven't voted Democratic since Clinton's election. This narrows the states that determine an election to a small, select number of swing states.
At the same time, there have been 13 states that have only ever voted Republican. These Republican states are Alabama, Alaska, Kansas, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. These states are primarilly centered in the South and central of the country, which have always voted Republican since the Reagan elections.
These solid states account for 344 of the 538 electoral votes. 242 of them are Democratic votes, and 102 of them are Republican votes.
Given that only 270 electoral votes are required to win a presidential election, 242 votes are a huge portion of the necessary votes. However, Republican candidates also have a large number of votes, especially including Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, which haven't voted Democratic since Clinton's election. This narrows the states that determine an election to a small, select number of swing states.
The first 24 hour news channel
During the 1980s, there was a change in television history. The first 24-hour news channel was born, its name is CNN. CNN was founded by American media proprietor, Ted Turner, designed to enable everyone access to news at any time. It was the first all-news channel created and it gained a lot of popularity because of it. During the challenger accident in 1986, CNN was the only cable network that broadcasted the accident live, while other networks only broadcasted the edited version of the accident. Another huge success for CNN was during the Baby Jessica rescue in 1987. CNN was the only channel that
broadcasted the full event live and it gave them publicity on magazines such as Time. With the birth of a 24-hour news channel, it allowed people with different schedules to keep up with what is happening in America. Since CNN was created, it has lead a lot of networks to implement different timeslots for news coverage and better keep the American people updated on current news, whether that is local or the whole country.
Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN#History
http://www.cnn.com/services/opk/cnn25/cnns_impact.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cnn-launches
Appointment of Archibald Cox
As more information continued to come out about the Watergate scandal, new nominee for Attorney General, Elliot Richardson appointed Archibald Cox, a former Harvard professor and form labor advisor to Senator John F. Kennedy. He was brought on to independently investigate not just Watergate, but "all offenses arising out of the 1972 election...involving the president, the White House staff, or presidential appointments." Cox was also given the sole responsibility to decide how much information to give to the Attorney General, given him a large degree of independence in the investigation. As an additional defense, Cox could only de fired by Richardson for "extraordinary improprieties," which would be extremely difficult to meet, making Cox extremely difficult to get rid of.
Nixon publicly supported the appointment of Cox, but was privately quite upset. He did not trust Cox, and did not trust him to clear his name. Richardson believed that his quality actually played to their favor. If Nixon could be acquitted by Cox, it would clear his name in the public eye, free of accusations of collusion. The rest of Washington disagreed, viewing Cox as not hard enough to fairly investigate Watergate.
Nixon publicly supported the appointment of Cox, but was privately quite upset. He did not trust Cox, and did not trust him to clear his name. Richardson believed that his quality actually played to their favor. If Nixon could be acquitted by Cox, it would clear his name in the public eye, free of accusations of collusion. The rest of Washington disagreed, viewing Cox as not hard enough to fairly investigate Watergate.
1970 Drug Culture
During the 1970s, there was a huge surge in the abuses of different drugs such as Heroin and Morphine. In fact, it became the leading cause of death in teens between the ages of (15-35). Just in New York City alone, there are more than 100,000 Heroin addicts, with more unrecorded. This can be viewed as a side effect of the counterculture in the 60s and early 70s. As more and more people started to turn away from the mainstream values, they begin to try new things such as drugs. To cope with this growing trend, the cities started to look for ways to try to stop further growth of drug addiction. Although experimental facilities were set up for rehab purposes, most were residential facilities where an addict would voluntarily check themselves in. Most addicts who got off drugs required large amounts of supervision and control from loved ones or family members. Programs were later set up so that the ex- addicts could be monitored and tested in order to gain more knowledge of the addiction. This eventually gave science the knowledge about addiction and implement it into programs in schools and other educational facilities to teach about how to prevent oneself from becoming an addict. Although drug addiction is something that will never go away, programs are being implemented in schools to try to educate students about the negative health effects of drugs.Bibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1529877/pdf/amjph00741-0157.pdf