Because I will be busy this weekend and because next week is a short one, I’m posting this assignment early. It won’t be due until Friday night, April 2. There will be no assignment over spring break.
As we’ve discussed in lecture and earlier homework assignments, the Vietnam era was a difficult time for the US in many ways. In addition to the war the economy was bad for a very long time – but we’ll talk more about that later. It truly was a time of “culture war” within our country and there seemed to be no end to the anger and mounting violence. By 1960, due to the “Baby Boom” nearly 50% of the US population was under the age of 18, allowing for widespread revolt against the status quo (perhaps you’ve heard that modern Arab countries, hotbeds of terrorism, share the same statistic today). As we’ll discuss later in our study of the Civil Rights Movement, racial tensions boiled over into massive riots that engulfed entire communities in flames and turned inner cities into war zones.
As time went on and patience grew thin, there were occasions when law enforcement officials took the law into their own hands or acted in ways that failed to meet the high standards and expectations of a police force in a democracy. One such instance, as we discussed in lecture, was the “police riot” at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968; another, also in Chicago involving the city police force, was the shooting deaths of two members of the Black Panthers (a radical civil rights group) in December of 1969. These relatively rare events were used by domestic (American) terrorists as justification for criminal violence.
It seems difficult to comprehend how things got so far out of hand, but perhaps current events demand that we do our best to understand the past. As I write this assignment there are news stories online concerning responses to the recent health care legislation. Members of both parties have been targeted; the office of one member of the House of Representatives was shot at and a coffin was left in front of another’s family home, to name a couple of extreme instances. In the 1970s every cause seemed to be radicalized and many believed that the worst was yet to come.
Although the followers of Charles Manson are epitomize the evil forces at work in that era and the Symbionese Liberation Army gained much more public attention, for our assignment this week we’ll focus on politically motivated homegrown terrorists. I’d like you to read about the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), a group that continues to be important today because some of the members are still politically active, having mostly avoided long prison sentences due to legal technicalities. As you read, consider the following questions and respond to them in your post: 1) what part (if any) of the story surprised you? 2) What fueled the anger of this group, and how should people act to bring about change they believe in? 3) How were these violent enemies of the status quo different from George Washington and our founding fathers?
Because memories of these events are still fresh for many people I found it difficult to locate a document that accurately shared the story without being politically skewed. Ironically, the best appeared at Wikipedia.org, which I have checked for accuracy and fairness. You may locate it at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground_(organization) .
The parameters of this assignment are exactly the same as all those that preceded it.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Homework 2, Due March 26, 2010
This week we will discuss the radicalization of the two political parties during the 1960s. The Democratic Party lurched "leftward" (more liberal) on the strength of anti-war sentiments and the most out-spoken elements of the counter-cultural revolution. By 1972 the party would nominate Sen. George McGovern, a candidate so liberal that most of America (including his home state of South Dakota) would be unable to support his run for the presidency.
On the other hand, a new conservatism was born during the 1960s that had several influences. First there were those who were opposed to the counter-cultural revolution. They saw the attacks on America's institutions by "hippies" as an insult and a dangerous opportunity for communists during the Cold War. This branch of conservatism was moved by issues and philosophies and tended to be very religious. One of the issues that was important to these cultural (or social) conservatives was the legalization of abortion, which became law as a result of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973.
Another branch of conservatism was primarily concerned with the perceived dangers of government over-spending as a result of the "Great Society" programs. While the US was used to deficits (going into debt) during wars, it became the regular practice to spend more than was coming in to fund things like Medicare, welfare, and public schools. Today the US is more than $12,000,000,000,000 in debt, and the amount grows every minute! This branch of conservatives are known as "fiscal conservatives", and the primary goal of this group is to cut government spending to balance the budget. Of course, many people consider themselves to be both social and fiscal conservatives, but it's important to remember that that is not always the case.
For your assignment this week I'd like you to research one of the following leaders of the political parties and discuss that individual's impact on American politics:
Democrats: Robert Kennedy, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy
Republicans: Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan
Provide a brief biographical sketch of your subject and explain his political views. How do you think that individual changed his party? You might begin your research at the following link: http://virtualology.com/famousamericans/
Cite your sources and follow the grading expectations of every other assignment for this year. Thanks and God bless!
On the other hand, a new conservatism was born during the 1960s that had several influences. First there were those who were opposed to the counter-cultural revolution. They saw the attacks on America's institutions by "hippies" as an insult and a dangerous opportunity for communists during the Cold War. This branch of conservatism was moved by issues and philosophies and tended to be very religious. One of the issues that was important to these cultural (or social) conservatives was the legalization of abortion, which became law as a result of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973.
Another branch of conservatism was primarily concerned with the perceived dangers of government over-spending as a result of the "Great Society" programs. While the US was used to deficits (going into debt) during wars, it became the regular practice to spend more than was coming in to fund things like Medicare, welfare, and public schools. Today the US is more than $12,000,000,000,000 in debt, and the amount grows every minute! This branch of conservatives are known as "fiscal conservatives", and the primary goal of this group is to cut government spending to balance the budget. Of course, many people consider themselves to be both social and fiscal conservatives, but it's important to remember that that is not always the case.
For your assignment this week I'd like you to research one of the following leaders of the political parties and discuss that individual's impact on American politics:
Democrats: Robert Kennedy, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy
Republicans: Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan
Provide a brief biographical sketch of your subject and explain his political views. How do you think that individual changed his party? You might begin your research at the following link: http://virtualology.com/famousamericans/
Cite your sources and follow the grading expectations of every other assignment for this year. Thanks and God bless!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Homework 1, Fourth Quarter, Due March 19, 2010
For a start, I'll let you in on something that's likely to warm your hearts. One of my classes at UK requires a weekly posting somewhat like these assignments. This week I sat down to do my homework and decided to post directly to blackboard instead of typing the assignment first on Word. You can guess the rest, and, yes, I was about finished when tragedy struck. I was mad at myself but had to grin when I thought of the times I'd warned you about the exact same thing.
Now on to your assignment. Of all the modern presidents none has captured the imagination of the US and world quite like John Kennedy. He was the first of his generation to be elected as president - the World War II generation, sometimes called the "greatest generation". Later Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr would be elected from that generation, an unprecedented accomplishment that is unlikely to be equalled in the future.
Kennedy was to face several challenges upon assuming the presidency. The Cold War was in full gear and its effects were causing concern about nuclear war and increased commitment to Vietnam, among other things. Twice the US came to the brink of all-out war with the Soviet Union, and both events centered on the island of Cuba. In 1959, a year before Kennedy's election, Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and assumed dictatorial powers. Amazingly, today, more than 50 years later, Castro is still in power, though his younger brother Raul governs the country.
As Castro came to power the Cuban army and many business elites of the country fled to the US - 30,000 of them were given citizenship in a single day, in fact, and their political and cultural influence is still powerful today, especially in parts of Florida. These Cuban-Americans despise Castro and were intent on staging a counter-revolution based in the US to regain control of their home country. This and other events caused the new Cuban government to reach out to the Soviets for support, which of course the communists were more than happy to supply. Ironically, the US CIA had actually assisted Castro in his revolution in order to get rid of the corrupt regime of Cuban President Batista. Almost accidentally a new communist country came into existence only 90 miles from the shores of south Florida - not a pleasing prospect for the US during the Cold War!
The first major confrontation came with the Bay of Pigs invasion, in which US-assisted Cuban-Americans invaded Cuba with disastrous results. The second was the "Cuban Missile Crisis" in which the US discovered that the Soviets were placing powerful inter-continental ballistic missiles - nuclear bombs - in Cuba, and they were going to be capable of destroying any US city. The world watched and waited as the Soviet ships bearing the missiles were intercepted by US naval vessels and a stand-off occurred. For thirteen days, no one knew if nuclear war would occur.
On both of these occasions many of Kennedy's advisors urged him to attack Cuba and use the nuclear capabilities of our armed forces. Instead, Kennedy chose to listen to a group of young advisors, many of them in their 20s and 30s, most important being his younger brother Robert (whom he'd appointed to be his Attourny General), and their advice kept the US from precipitating Word War III. I'd like you to chose one of these events and analyze Kennedy's abilities as president. Was he a good leader? Did he make the correct choice given what he knew at the time? Should he have acted differently?
For information about the Bay of Pigs Invasion, go to http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/JFK+and+the+Bay+of+Pigs.htm
For information about the Cuban Missile Crisis, go to http://www.jfklibrary.org/jfkl/cmc/cmc_intro.html
If there are other events in Kennedy's administration that you'd prefer to research, you may begin at the Kennedy Presidential Library homepage: http://www.jfklibrary.org/
Please note that the 4th quarter bonus opportunity will be posted sometime this week. God bless!
Now on to your assignment. Of all the modern presidents none has captured the imagination of the US and world quite like John Kennedy. He was the first of his generation to be elected as president - the World War II generation, sometimes called the "greatest generation". Later Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr would be elected from that generation, an unprecedented accomplishment that is unlikely to be equalled in the future.
Kennedy was to face several challenges upon assuming the presidency. The Cold War was in full gear and its effects were causing concern about nuclear war and increased commitment to Vietnam, among other things. Twice the US came to the brink of all-out war with the Soviet Union, and both events centered on the island of Cuba. In 1959, a year before Kennedy's election, Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and assumed dictatorial powers. Amazingly, today, more than 50 years later, Castro is still in power, though his younger brother Raul governs the country.
As Castro came to power the Cuban army and many business elites of the country fled to the US - 30,000 of them were given citizenship in a single day, in fact, and their political and cultural influence is still powerful today, especially in parts of Florida. These Cuban-Americans despise Castro and were intent on staging a counter-revolution based in the US to regain control of their home country. This and other events caused the new Cuban government to reach out to the Soviets for support, which of course the communists were more than happy to supply. Ironically, the US CIA had actually assisted Castro in his revolution in order to get rid of the corrupt regime of Cuban President Batista. Almost accidentally a new communist country came into existence only 90 miles from the shores of south Florida - not a pleasing prospect for the US during the Cold War!
The first major confrontation came with the Bay of Pigs invasion, in which US-assisted Cuban-Americans invaded Cuba with disastrous results. The second was the "Cuban Missile Crisis" in which the US discovered that the Soviets were placing powerful inter-continental ballistic missiles - nuclear bombs - in Cuba, and they were going to be capable of destroying any US city. The world watched and waited as the Soviet ships bearing the missiles were intercepted by US naval vessels and a stand-off occurred. For thirteen days, no one knew if nuclear war would occur.
On both of these occasions many of Kennedy's advisors urged him to attack Cuba and use the nuclear capabilities of our armed forces. Instead, Kennedy chose to listen to a group of young advisors, many of them in their 20s and 30s, most important being his younger brother Robert (whom he'd appointed to be his Attourny General), and their advice kept the US from precipitating Word War III. I'd like you to chose one of these events and analyze Kennedy's abilities as president. Was he a good leader? Did he make the correct choice given what he knew at the time? Should he have acted differently?
For information about the Bay of Pigs Invasion, go to http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/JFK+and+the+Bay+of+Pigs.htm
For information about the Cuban Missile Crisis, go to http://www.jfklibrary.org/jfkl/cmc/cmc_intro.html
If there are other events in Kennedy's administration that you'd prefer to research, you may begin at the Kennedy Presidential Library homepage: http://www.jfklibrary.org/
Please note that the 4th quarter bonus opportunity will be posted sometime this week. God bless!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Homework 10, Due March 12
As we continue our study of the Vietnam War, it should be obvious to you that those were years of tremendous tumult and bitterness in the US. Coupled with this terrible war was an extended recession (worse than the current financial situation, and lasting about 10 years), and the occurrence of the Watergate scandal (much more on that later). It was during this time that a "counterculture" emerged - young people making decisions and living lifestyles for the express purpose of rejecting all that was important to their parents' generation. Clothes changed, music changed, values changed - and all of these changes were met with hearty condemnation from older generations, creating a so-called "generation gap". This counterculture revolution would set the stage for the massive drug use and sexual revolution (rejection of biblical constraints on sexuality) that are associated with the era.
It's hard now to understand just how far this nihilism defined a generation. (Nihilism, by the way, can be described as the complete rejection of all authority). For instance, when Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966 his teenaged daughter cried and asked him "How could you do this to me?" (An American Life) By being an elected official, he became a bad guy, part of the "establishment". There was such a complete disconnection between the culture of young people and adults that it's not much of an exageration to say that there were two wars going on at the same time - one military, one cultural.
While this culture war typically was fought in words, that wasn't always the case. Every summer throughout the late 60s and early 70s young black Americans rioted, burning and looting inner cities protesting for civil rights (we'll study the civil rights movement in depth later). At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago protestors were beaten by police in what the courts later termed a "police riot", and Americans got used to hearing about tear gas and rubber bullets being used to break up demonstrations.
Exactly forty years ago, as the spring semester of 1970 drew to a close, riots and protests were widespread across America. After several brutal years in Vietnam, President Nixon announced that he was ordering an expansion of the war with invasions into Cambodia and Laos. This brought an explosive reaction from demonstrators everywhere, but two events occured that help to define the history of the era, and thereby contribute to the story of who we are as Americans. On the campuses of Kent State (OH) and Jackson State (MS) universities, protests turned violent and were met with powerful police responses. At Kent State four unarmed students, two of whom were not participating in the protests, were killed by guardsmen's bullets. The deaths shocked America as the images of those events were published in the news media.
I would like you to follow the link at the bottom of the page to read a compilation of eye-witness accounts of the Kent State tragedy. When you have finished post your responses to the following questions: 1) Does it seem possible for such an event to occur today? 2) Who deserves the blame for the tragedy? Why do you make that choice? 3) What lessons can be learned from the Kent State story?
Let me encourage you to read critically. Ask yourself which side the author supports, and judge how fairly does he or she seem to be telling the story. As you prepare for college this will be one of the most important skills you will develop!
Here is the link to the essay:
http://dept.kent.edu/may4/chrono.htm
Your assignment requirements are exactly the same as all those that have preceded this one.
It's hard now to understand just how far this nihilism defined a generation. (Nihilism, by the way, can be described as the complete rejection of all authority). For instance, when Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966 his teenaged daughter cried and asked him "How could you do this to me?" (An American Life) By being an elected official, he became a bad guy, part of the "establishment". There was such a complete disconnection between the culture of young people and adults that it's not much of an exageration to say that there were two wars going on at the same time - one military, one cultural.
While this culture war typically was fought in words, that wasn't always the case. Every summer throughout the late 60s and early 70s young black Americans rioted, burning and looting inner cities protesting for civil rights (we'll study the civil rights movement in depth later). At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago protestors were beaten by police in what the courts later termed a "police riot", and Americans got used to hearing about tear gas and rubber bullets being used to break up demonstrations.
Exactly forty years ago, as the spring semester of 1970 drew to a close, riots and protests were widespread across America. After several brutal years in Vietnam, President Nixon announced that he was ordering an expansion of the war with invasions into Cambodia and Laos. This brought an explosive reaction from demonstrators everywhere, but two events occured that help to define the history of the era, and thereby contribute to the story of who we are as Americans. On the campuses of Kent State (OH) and Jackson State (MS) universities, protests turned violent and were met with powerful police responses. At Kent State four unarmed students, two of whom were not participating in the protests, were killed by guardsmen's bullets. The deaths shocked America as the images of those events were published in the news media.
I would like you to follow the link at the bottom of the page to read a compilation of eye-witness accounts of the Kent State tragedy. When you have finished post your responses to the following questions: 1) Does it seem possible for such an event to occur today? 2) Who deserves the blame for the tragedy? Why do you make that choice? 3) What lessons can be learned from the Kent State story?
Let me encourage you to read critically. Ask yourself which side the author supports, and judge how fairly does he or she seem to be telling the story. As you prepare for college this will be one of the most important skills you will develop!
Here is the link to the essay:
http://dept.kent.edu/may4/chrono.htm
Your assignment requirements are exactly the same as all those that have preceded this one.
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