Wyn Delano's American Pageant Chapter 2

Week 7 - February 15 to February 19 - The Beginning of the Cold War

The Cold War is hard to understand because it is many little battles but not an actual war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. There are a lot of conflicting ideals here but as Gabby said, at the end of the day it's a war of DEMOCRACY v. COMMUNISM. In the process, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. do a lot of things to make sure that neither of the other two take too strong a hold on other countries or territories. Once all the lives are lost though, was it worth it? To many, it was considered a worthy cause because it protected the American "way of life." To others, the threat was not real enough to our domestic policy to warrant the use of so many American lives. What do you believe?

Week 6 - February 8 to February 12 - The End of the 2nd World War

In class this week we "role-played" the kinds of decisions that a leader must make when faced with differing opinions by her most trusted advisors. It is unclear whether or not Truman faced the same type of opposing cabinet that Arely faced in our classroom, but it is quite clear that dropping the atomic bomb was not an easy decision to make.

Part of the difficulty with making such a decision is the uncertainty in the outcomes. How much information did the U.S. have with regard to the Holocaust prior to entering World War II, how much did we know about the lives that we could take once involved, and how much information did we have about the lives that would be taken and subsequently affected by the dropping of the atomic bomb?

The truth is that some of the hardest decisions we have to make in life and historical figures have faced in history have many uncertainties but the responsibility is to be as well-informed as one can be prior to making such decisions.

The U.S. was also uncertain about the outcomes we might face with the development of nuclear weapons but the Cold War intensifies as we learn that the Soviets develop an atomic bomb in 1949 and a hydrogen bomb in 1952. The Cold War becomes a stare-down between two countries for 45 years, both fearing the use of their newly-developed weapons of mass-destruction and the possible end of the world.

Week 5 - Part II - World War II -Entrance Justified? Actions at Home and Abroad Justified? Dropping of Atomic Bomb Justified?

I was fascinated by the discussion the students had in class today when asked to defend the perspective of whether or not the U.S. was justified in entering World War II, whether or not we were justified in doing what we did at home and abroad during the war, and whether or not we were justified in ending the 2nd World War the way we did.

I found it particularly interesting that you all made the types of arguments that could've been made 50+ years ago when all of this was going on. To recap, some of you felt we were unjustified in entering the war because we had "taunted" the Japanese prior to their attack on Pearl Harbor. Some felt that we may have been justified in going into the war but were unjustified in mistreating Japanese Americans, while others felt it was a necessary evil to "minimize" the threat of betrayal upon our country. Still others felt that it was almost as bad as the mistreatment of Jews during the German Holocaust, though you expressly thought it could not be compared in terms of the levels of cruelty.

It was a great start to a wonderful debate...

Week 5 - February 1 to February 5 - World War II at Inception

Was the U.S. justified in getting involved in World War II? To what extent was the United States responsible for its own involvement in being brought into World War II? FDR avoided the war, at least in terms of formal policy for a couple of years. Still, as the issues got heated in Europe, FDR felt compelled to change the nature of the Neutrality Acts prior to becoming involved. Stockpiling, trading on "cash and carry" basis and avoiding the initial clauses of the Neutrality Acts (and supply resources to China in its war against Japan)enable FDR to become involved in Japan and Europe without becoming involved. Was FDR motivated by war or was the German threat to democracy real enough in FDR's mind to consider becoming involved (well before Pearl Harbor)?

It is clear that whatever the motivation, we have read that FDR took deliberate action to antagonize the Axis Powers before our involvement, but perhaps the stockpiling and industrialization of the U.S. also served as a way out of the Great Depression. Was the loss of life deliberately conceived of before our involvement in the war? While the answer to that is complicated (to say the least) it is a question to ponder.

Week 4 - January 25 - January 29 - The Great Depression: Economic Theory and Practice

This week we looked at three economic theorists whose ideas have greatly impacted not only U.S. History, but the history of the world. Smith, Marx, and Keynes all thought differently about the role of government in the economy. From Smith's laissez-faire ideas to Marx's communistic values, the world always seemed to have two opposing views at odds with one another. While other economic theorists added to the mix, it wasn't until Keynes comes along that a specific idea about how, when, and to which level a government should interfere in the economy that social welfare programs come to life in the U.S.

These programs form the foundation for many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, wherein he works to improve the quality of life for many Americans who were struggling through the Great Depression. While people continue to argue the extent to which the Great Depression helped, it is clear that some of the ideas behind the programs persist. We continue to set aside money for retirement, like it or not. We continue to benefit from government loans toward purchasing our first homes, and we continue to benefit from public works projects in our everyday infrastructure.

The debate in class pointed to many of the arguments Republicans and Democrats still have today in Congress. Yes, we have a responsibility to pull our own weight, and if people aren't willing to do so, maybe they should fall by the wayside. Yes, we have a responsibility to help one another in times of need, partly because it serves all of our best interests to keep everyone working and producing for our economy. Yes, some people are selfish and unwilling to share what they've worked hard for while others share the burden regardless of the benefit coming to them. All of these are issues we continue to battle about today, but the expectation is that you'll think about theory and what history has taught us as you choose sides or find a middle ground.

Week 3 - January 19 - January 22 - The 1920's and the Great Depression

This week we take are reading about the 1920's and its ultimate effect on the 1930's Great Depression. One might say that the culture clash of the 1920's causes some of the problems of the 1930's but the culture itself needed some level of change. Doughboys had just come back from fighting in World War I, blacks had similarly fought alongside white soldiers and contributed to the war effort on the homefront, and women played an important role in maintaining the home and going off to work in the war industry at the same time.

The 1920's proved to be a time of change because a new level of confidence arose within Americans. It was clear that we were now a force to be reckoned with and similarly that historically-oppressed groups in the U.S. were perfectly capable of offering the country similar, if not better services, than the historical oppressors.

The economic confidence increased as well as people invested in the newly-founded stock market, bought things on credit, were encouraged to spend more on leisure activities with the advent of the automobile and mass flight transportation, and were encouraged to consume more with advertisements, both in the form of the already-proven print propoganda, and the new media of film and radio.

Still, the increase in economic activity could not prepare the U.S. for the types of business-minded corruption that would eventually lead to the Great Depression of the 1930's. Harding built a campaign on the idea of "normalcy" but was ultimately responsible for returning to some of the ideas of the Gilded Age, favoring railroads, all but doing away with anti-trust laws, raising tariffs (which would ultimately hurt Europe's ability to pay back its war debt) and turning a blind eye to corrupt staff members such as Albert Fall in the Teapot Dome Scandal, who received appromately $400k in bribes in order to lease out some land in Wyoming and California.

Calvin Coolidge was moral, somewhat boring, but ultimately backed many of Harding's economic ideas. By the time Hoover took over the Hawley-Smoot tariff was at a whopping 60%, and over-speculation and buying on credit was out of control. The stock market crash of October 29, 1929 ultimately led to higher unemployment rates, government's attempt at increasing jobs, and a complete lack of confidence in the economy, which would ultimately lead to the Great Depression.