Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Post Cold War Thinking - Now What?

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the end of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, and the reunification of Germany, issues concerning World War II were finally settled. As a result, US foreign policy was suddenly in search of purpose. The political reality of the Cold War had served to clearly carve out the positions of both major political parties. Democrats were typically "doves" taking softer stands in the Cold War, preferring to err on the side of "peaceful coexistence". Republicans were typically "hawks" taking tougher stands, preferring to err on the side of "security through strength". The end of the Cold War stripped both parties of their old reliable talking points and began a period of political quicksand, where the entire nation regardless of political affiliation was taking stock before moving forward.

Although Reagan's policies ultimately proved to be successful in this instance, it did not influence the political discussion in terms of where America was going next. To be more precise, there was surprisingly little weight given to the arguments of those who wanted to maintain a strong military as a means of protecting the country against any future threat. After all, what threat comparable to the Soviet Union could there possibly be? It seemed as if America was now the only remaining economic and military superpower, and this realization made Americans suddenly uncomfortable.

The old isolationist tendencies which characterized her in the first one hundred and forty years were rising to the surface again. There was a sense of relief, validation and accomplishment which accompanied the end of the Cold War. There was also the sense that while America had acted in her own best interests and self-preservation, through its considerable efforts in the Cold War, the nation had again served the better interests of the world by defending freedom and confronting aggression. In short, the majority of Americans felt the country had done its part and should now look inward and focus its efforts at home.

Being "the world's policeman" was not something Americans were comfortable with or politically supportive of. So the end of the Cold War marked the beginning of a significant military draw down. Suddenly many Republicans joined Democrats in shutting down bases, slowing equipment purchases, reducing research and development funding for weapons and reducing the size of the military's service personnel. A new age seemed to be dawning, but beyond the reduced need for defense, it seemed that there was a vacuum in terms of where American foreign policy was going.

In Russia, Gorbachev was clearer on the way forward for his country. He had helped to end the confrontation with the West which had cost his people dearly. With normalized relations, he sought to bring Russia into the world and use this new openness to build ties that would help Russia both diplomatically and economically. Within the Soviet Union, he had instituted his policies of "glasnost" (openness - permitting public discourse and criticism of government policy with an eye to moving forward) and "perestroika" (restructuring). He also coined the phrase, "New World Order" to describe his desire that the post Cold War era be characterized by historic new cooperation between the US and Russia for international good. It was a master stroke politically, as it was well received by a Cold War weary world and yet at home it showed Gorbachev's determination to find a role for Russia that would help it keep its influence. 

New World Order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order_(politics)#Post.E2.80.93Cold_War_.22new_world_order.22

Gorbachev's view

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order_(politics)#Mikhail_Gorbachev's_formulation


President Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush seemed to be reacting to Gorbachev's diplomacy, and US foreign policy remained relatively in flux until Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Out of this invasion, America's reaction and the Gulf War effort, Bush found a voice for America's version of the New World Order.

George H.W. Bush's view

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order_(politics)#Gulf_War_and_Bush's_formulation


The Bill Clinton Era

After the success of Desert Storm, where the US led more than 100 nations in a UN approved mission to get Iraq out of Kuwait after the former invaded the latter, few thought that George H.W. Bush could be beat in 1992. But with an economy slipping into recession and Bush agreeing to a tax increase after pledging to not raise taxes during the election campaign, Bush was vulnerable and Bill Clinton, an unknown governor from Arkansas turned out to have the formula for exploiting Bush's weaknesses and propelling himself into the White House. See a summary of the Clinton presidency below.

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Monday, April 27, 2020

The Reagan Revolution and Victory in the Cold War

As demonstrated through the Cuban Missile Crisis during the JFK administration, nuclear weapons changed strategic thinking. Now the mere presence of the weapons in a particular area like Cuba, represented an aggressive and unacceptable change in the status quo. But aside from the danger inherent in the crisis itself, both sides came away with a resolve to improve communication. The "hot line" was installed between the White House and the Kremlin. Kennedy and Khrushchev signed a limited nuclear test ban treaty in the fall of 1963, shortly before Kennedy was assassinated.

The Kennedy assassination kicked off a downward spiral of unrest stemming from social conflict over civil rights, protests over the expanding war in Vietnam (started by Kennedy), and the subsequent assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson also began a series of spending programs designed to "wage war on poverty". These well intentioned government programs, along with a continuing war effort in Vietnam was causing the US government to run a larger deficit and accumulate significant debt. Meanwhile, large labor unions were demanding higher and higher wages for their workers resulting in strikes and lost productivity while postwar Europe and Asia were beginning to boom.

Scandal in the form of the break-in at the Watergate hotel led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon and combined with the failure of US policy in Vietnam and the high level of social discord with respect to the direction of the country, Americans were for the first time uncertain that the future would be better then the past.

The election of Jimmy Carter did little to change the state of affairs, as the President seemed mired in more problems. See the link below for a review of the election.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_United_States_presidential_election
Meanwhile, Leonid Brezhnev was steadily moving forward with the Soviet plan for the spread of communism. American failure in Vietnam and discord at home encouraged him to move while the US seemed distracted and divided. His invasion of Afghanistan during the Carter presidency was clear evidence of his confidence and conviction to take aggressive action. Carter called the invasion the greatest threat to world peace since 1945. He increased military spending in the last part of his presidency. However, he had lost the confidence of the American public and was soundly beaten by California Governor and film actor Ronald Reagan. While all would agree that Reagan would take a harder, tougher line with the Soviet Union, no one could have foreseen the consequential result of Reagan's policies --- the end of the Cold War.


Ronald Reagan seemed an unlikely candidate for president, let alone equipped to be the pivotal leader who at once restored America's sense of optimism and confidence in the future and ultimately won the Cold War. Reagan was criticized as an intellectual lightweight who would be in over his head as president. However, in the end Reagan made the presidency seem almost too easy. He became known as "the Great Communicator" for his skill in taking complex issues and boiling them down to an essence that could at once be conveyed to the American people. Throughout his time as president, this skill carried him and the country through turbulent times.

Carter and his supporters tried to paint Reagan as a simpleton who was trigger happy and would plunge the US into nuclear war. Reagan disarmed the public by his debate performance. While he attacked Carter directly on his policies, Reagan was seen as positive and affable; hardly the wide-eyed extremist that his adversaries had made him out to be. Ultimately, Reagan largely won the support of the American people by asking a simple question at the end of the televised debate with Jimmy Carter.


Two pivotal clips from the 1980 debate. "There you go again, Mr. President," and... the question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px7aRIhUkHY

According to President Carter's Press Secretary Jody Powell's memoirs, internal tracking polls showed the President's tiny lead turning into a major Reagan landslide over the final weekend.

Election Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsDe-8cOSYY&feature=related

Ronald Reagan explained supply-side economics or "Reaganomics" as it became popularly known by a single phrase, "A rising tide lifts all boats." It was a powerful image and it made good sense to the American people - tax cuts were desirable for all Americans including the wealthy because those extra dollars would be spent, giving the economy a much needed shot in the arm. Reagan arrived as president during a deep recession and double digit interest rates. He left office as the man who presided over the greatest peacetime period of economic growth in American history.

His approach to the Cold War was no different. He had simple goals, "We win, they lose. How do you like that?" He asked a key advisor when explaining his strategy concerning the Soviet Union. Indeed, Reagan re staked the moral high ground for Americans in the Cold War. In his famous "Evil Empire" speech, Reagan reminded Americans of the fundamental differences which separated the superpowers.


"So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride - the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

I ask you to resist the attempts of those who would have you withhold your support for our efforts, this administration's efforts, to keep America strong and free, while we negotiate real and verifiable reductions in the world's nuclear arsenals and one day, with God's help, their total elimination.

While America's military strength is important, let me add here that I've always maintained that the struggle now going on for the world will never be decided by bombs or rockets, by armies or military might. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith.

I believe we shall rise to the challenge. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow man. For in the words of Isaiah: "He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increased strength . . . But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary . . .

Yes, change your world. One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine, said, "We have it within our power to begin the world over again." We can do it, doing together what no one church could do by itself.

God bless you, and thank you very much."

In his discussions with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan wanted to clearly communicate his willingness to discuss arms reductions so long as the Soviet Union was prepared to accept UN inspections to ensure agreements were kept. To do so, Reagan learned a Russian phrase, "Doveryai no Proveryai" - trust but verify. After Reagan used the phrase at the signing of the INF Treaty, Gorbachev responded: "You repeat that at every meeting," to which Reagan answered "I like it."

Part of Reagan's persuasive power came from his skill in front of the television cameras. Below you will find various points in his presidency where this power came to the fore:


Reagan Distinguishes Himself From Bush - Viewed as Republican Uniter

Feb 23, 1980.

In the New Hampshire primary, a single symbolic act dramatized the debut of Reagan's new image as a candidate and the demise of Bush's presidential hopes. It occurred during what was scheduled to be a two-person debate between Bush and Reagan in Nashua, New Hampshire, on Feburary 23, the Saturday before balloting. As it turned out, Bush crumpled under pressure orchestrated by Reagan's camp.

Initially, both Reagan and Bush had seen advantages in a two-person debate sponsored by a local newspaper. When the FEC ruled that newspaper sponsorship of the debate amounted to an illegal campaign contribution and when Bush refused to pay half of the debate's cost, Reagan agreed to underwrite it himself.

Reagan then moved to include the other five contenders - a move that identified him both as a candidate and a unifier. When the other candidates showed up on stage, Bush froze.

As Reagan made his case for inclusion of the other candidates, the moderator ordered Reagan's mike turned off. Reagan responded, "I'm paying for this microphone, Mr. Green." The fact that the moderator's name was Breen seemed to matter little. The crowd cheered. When neither newspaper hosting the debate nor Bush would accede to the inclusion of the others, the other candidates left the stage. Reagan's prospects had been boosted, Bush's buried. Reagan carried New Hampshire 50% to Bush's 23%.

(Excerpted from "Packaging The Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign" by Kathleen Hall Jamieson)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO2_49TycdE

A Time for Choosing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJGb_gg4Cuw&feature=related

Reagan on the Tonight Show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHoT561u1zY

First Inaugural

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dkM-iZITo

Breaking the Air Traffic Controllers Strike


Reagan Announces Air Strikes Against Libya


Reagan In Memory of the Crew of the Challenger


The Bear in the Woods Ad


The Evil Empire Speech


Reagan at the Berlin Wall



Reagan's Political Persuasion By Humor
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Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Cold War







The Cold War is a term used to define a decades long political, economic and military struggle between the two most powerful allies surviving World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States. It included massive alliances with many of the world's other countries and dominated the foreign policy of every country during this era. The struggle began because of disagreements concerning postwar Europe - in particular the occupation and rebuilding of, and eventual withdrawal from Germany. As well, there were difficulties concerning the eastern "buffer" zone (or "Iron Curtain" as Winston Churchill called it) that the Soviet Union insisted upon which encompassed Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Romania.

Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences


The Ideological Divide Between the Soviet Union and the United States


Stalin Drops the Iron Curtain


While there was considerable concern in the west that this expanded Soviet territory would mean the emergence of a new threat to European peace, a long and costly war marginalized the voices who advocated confronting Stalin, the Soviet dictator over his demands. Consequently, the United States organized NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization - countries at the time included Denmark, Canada, Belgium, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States) to be a military umbrella which coordinated the resources of its member countries against Soviet aggression and the spread of communism worldwide.

The Need for Long Term Post War US Involvement in Europe


Greece, Turkey and the Truman Doctrine


The Marshall Plan - Diffusing Hunger in Europe to Halt the Spread of Communism


Bizonia, Trizonia and the Emergence of West Germany

Berlin Blockade and the Birth of NATO



Throughout the Cold War, there was very little "hot conflict" which involved the main participants - the US and the USSR. Instead, each side supported another nation against a local antagonist who was in turn supported by the rival side. Often these conflicts were based on local self determination issues. In other words, the United States and NATO supported efforts aimed at democratization while the Soviet Union supported communist regimes. However, in some instances, the United States would give aid or military support to dictatorships in places where the strategic support of that government against communism was important to stop the spread of Soviet influence. As time went on, the Cold War became less about Europe and its perceived security and more about a battle of ideas -- a choice between individual freedom and free market capitalism vs. state control and socialism.

The advent of nuclear weapons added another dimension to the Cold War conflict. The United States was first to create and then detonate a nuclear device, using the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring a quick end to the war in the Pacific without the need for a boots on the ground invasion. Speculation has suggested that the United States went ahead with using the atomic bomb as a result of the growing disagreements with the Soviet Union over Europe after the fall of Germany. Specifically, the US believed that if the Soviet Union was involved in a land invasion of Japan which was expected to be protracted and bloody, Stalin would use his casualty count to buy him more territory in Asia. The atomic bomb at once signalled the military superiority of the United States and avoided the potential spread of Soviet communism. This advantage was, of course, short lived. Through their own intelligence on the Manhattan Project, the Soviets created and tested their own nuclear copy of "Fat Man," the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1949. This test marked the beginning of an era where the US and USSR were considered "superpowers" and the start of an arms race which would continue well into the 1980's.

The Arms Race
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The Cold War in Eight Minutes

As time went on, the Cold War became less about Europe and its perceived security and more about a battle of ideas -- a choice between individual freedom and free market capitalism vs. state control and socialism... How did we get from a disagreement about Europe to this ideological battle?



You are to prepare a brief oral presentation based on a number of the following topics as assigned in class:

Theaters of the Cold War
  • Korean War TOS

    •
  • Khrushchev and De-Stalinization BS

    •
  • 1956 Hungarian Revolution 

    •
  • 1953 Iranian coup d'etat  

    •
  • Congo Crisis 

    •
  • Cuban Revolution, Bay of Pigs and Cuban missile crisis EW

    •
  • 1968 Czechoslovakian Invasion and the Brezhnev Doctrine MO

    •
  • Vietnam War SC

    •
  • Nixon goes to China LP

    •
  • 1973 Chilean coup d'etat and Operation Condor 

    •
  • Detente, SALT, Helsinki Accords JB

    •
  • SALT II, Iranian Revolution and US Hostages, Nicaraguan Revolution SK

    •
  • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan KS
  • Berlin - the Rise and Fall of the Wall TYS
Other Topics Which Shaped the Nation During the Cold War:
  • Army - McCarthy hearings 

    •
  • JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations DL

    •
  • Hippie/counterculture movement 

    •
  • Watergate Scandal  RW

    •
  • Three Mile Island nuclear accident 
  • The Space Race AC
  • Strategic Defense Initiative - Star Wars JC
Your goal is to give a brief eight minute overview of your topic(s) with an eye towards the following:

  • Summary of what happened

    •
  • Relationship to the Cold War (i.e where do US and USSR fit in?)

    •
  • Ultimate Impact

    •
  • A one page report that will be distributed to the class with all of your topics included
APA format - submit it in a separate document



Presentations will begin May 5 and likely go through to May 11
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Towards World War II and the War Itself

Here are some links to material that will review/go into further depth on the subjects covered in the lecture concerning the lead up to World War II and the war itself. 
The Roaring 20's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SclJ94h2oyQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN7ftyZigYs

The Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyAZGqFtVjw&feature=related


With regards to World War II, be familiar with the following:


•The impact of the Treaty of Versailles as a cause of World War II


•The rise of Fascism in Europe and Germany in particular


•Hitler's rise to power and then his downfall


•The evils of the Nazi regime


•Why the nuclear bomb was used on Japan



Causes of World War II


http://www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-two-causes/


World War II - The Whole Story By Animation in Under Six Minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5SxG68KSM&feature=related

Adolf Hitler Documentaries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxKsiLNyrW4

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20dZ2XdL860

 Hitler - Time Magazine Man of the Year

http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/hitler/sources/30s/391time/391timemanyear.htm

Fascism

http://departments.kings.edu/history/20c/fascism.html

Nuremberg Rally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MaWSTPSA2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hE_n2ZC_n4

 https://museums.nuernberg.de/documentation-center/national-socialism/the-nazi-party-rally-grounds/

 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nuremberg-decides-conserve-nazi-rally-grounds-180972244/

Nuremberg Trials

http://famous-trials.com/Nuremberg
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Thursday, April 9, 2020

World War I

Today, we discussed the background to Canada's development from 1867 (immediately following the Civil War) to 1918, the end of World War I. It is often said that Canada's true independence is achieved through its sacrifice on European shores in support of Britain and its allies during World War I. In the end, Prime Minister Robert Borden insisted that Canada sign the Treaty of Versailles instead of having the expected custom of Britain signing on Canada's behalf.

The war was Canada's most significant national achievement. Canada was the first former colonial country to defeat a major European power on a European battlefield. Canada's effort was considerable -- 620,000 troops were mobilized out of a population of 7.2 million. Of those Canadians who went to war, 173,000 were wounded and 67,000 were killed. In comparison, the United States entered the war late (1917) 204,000 were wounded and 117,000 were killed out of a population of 92 million. Canada's industrial effort to support the war was also strong and showed the world that Canada had a growing industrial base.

However, the war was also a bitter domestic issue, causing tensions that would remain for some time between the English, who felt it Canada's duty to participate and the French, who felt no such loyalty and considered the war a European problem.
The resulting draft and subsequent losses only made the racial conflict worse.

In many important ways, World War I shaped Canada as a country. However, in America's relatively short involvement, it became clear that America had grown powerful enough to shape the world. At the time of US entry, the war was not going particularly well for Britain and its allies. Russia had fallen to revolution and the Tsar was removed. A power struggle would begin in Russia that would culminate with the communists under Lenin taking over.

Although he dragged his feet on an agreement in the hopes that workers in Germany would rise up and support the workers in Russia, sparking a European communist revolution, Lenin was forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending the war on the eastern front. The treaty actually required Russia to free Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland, and the Ukraine. These countries would serve as a buffer zone for Germany, creating "space" between itself and Russia in the event that there would be another military mobilization.

Ultimately, Lenin was hardly in a position to bargain hard with Germany. After all, it was Germany that supported his efforts to go to Russia to lead the revolution in the first place as a way to undermine the Tsar. Additionally, when Lenin delayed making the deal, the Germans tired of his dithering and resumed their advance on Moscow. The Russian army was still in disarray and the Germans advanced one hundred miles in four days. It was at this point that Lenin made the deal. Many didn't like the terms, but he had promised to get the country out of the war, and failure to do so now would result in his own demise.

This left Britain and France without their major ally and allowed Germany to concentrate its efforts on the western front.

However, the United States entered the war at around the same time that Russia was falling into chaos. Its industrial and military capacity was quickly ramped up and ultimately became the decisive factor in forcing Germany to retreat and eventually surrender.

The emergence of the United States as a world power and the end of the colonial monarchies signaled that the world was changing dramatically.

 World War I Summary


The Treaty of Versailles and Its Impact

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005425

The Bolshevik Revolution (Russian Revolution)

https://www.history.com/topics/russia/russian-revolution

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk




The Fall of the Romanov Dynastyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJbUWu6--ag

American Involvement in World War I

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/snpwwi1.htm

Battle of Somme Footage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tv5gBa9DQs
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Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?

It was the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius who said, "A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions." The truth of this statement expands far past the ruins of an Ancient Rome and into the coffers of those great businessmen of America who changed the face of commerce in the country during the latter years of the nineteenth century and on into the twentieth century. Men such as J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, and the colossal John D. Rockefeller represent the age where a young nation stretched its legs into the long fitting pants of capitalism. Many saw these giant men of commerce as robber barons, manipulators of huge monopolies that preyed on the public. Many others view them as validation for the American Dream. In such a light, they are pioneers of business in the "pursuit of happiness" or "Captains of Industry". Your task is to determine which of these interpretations is true using online resources and present your argument in the form of an essay.

Were industrial leaders of the late 19th and early 20th century captains of industry or robber barons?


The essay is to be 2-3 pages, Times New Roman 12 point, standard margins, APA style with  at least 4 different sources. 

 DUE DATE: Friday, April 17, 2020
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Friday, March 27, 2020

Gates Meets Rockefeller

Choose one of the essays topics below and write a five paragraph response DUE THURSDAY, ????, 2020.

If the Industrial Age and the Information Age are comparable, what can we learn or predict about the latter based on the former?
1. If the pillars of the Industrial Age were things like oil, steel, transportation, and banking...What are the pillars of the Information Age? Who are the Rockefeller's, Carnegie's, Vanderbilt's, and JP Morgan's of today?

http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/
2. How is the new connectedness changing our society and the world?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u06BXgWbGvA


3. If the 20th century and the Industrial Age brought America onto the world stage, how will the country do in the Information Age?


4. If the things we make, make us... how might the Information Age affect what we value?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg4dDVpSgnM

"Imagined, drawn, carved, stamped, hewn, forged..."
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The Gilded Age

The period of industrialization that led to the great creation of wealth as a result of new technologies and unparalleled growth was known as the Gilded Age...

See the link below for more background:

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/gilded-age

See how some of the giants of industry lived in this era:

Kykuit-the country home of John D. Rockefeller Sr., John D. Rockefeller Jr., Nelson A. Rockefeller, and their families...

https://hudsonvalley.org/historic-sites/kykuit-the-rockefeller-estate/

http://www.abbeville.com/bookpage.asp?ISBN=0789202220


Andrew Carnegie Estate

https://www.cooperhewitt.org/carnegie-mansion-history/


Cornelius Vanderbilt lived in a modest home, but his descendants made up for it.

https://untappedcities.com/2012/02/01/remnants-of-the-vanderbilt-mansion-in-new-york-city/

http://thegildedageera.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-cornelius-vanderbilt-ii-mansion-new.html


Jay Gould

http://www.lyndhurst.org/
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Industrial Giants

JD Rockefeller - Oil

 https://www.biography.com/people/john-d-rockefeller-20710159

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2BKPeHNkxU&feature=related

JP Morgan - Banking

http://www.biography.com/people/jp-morgan-9414735

Andrew Carnegie - Steel (U.S. Steel)

http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-carnegie-9238756

Cornelius Vanderbilt - Transport (Shipping, Railroads)

http://www.biography.com/people/cornelius-vanderbilt-9515195

Jay Gould - Banks, Transportation

https://vimeo.com/194683538

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Thursday, March 26, 2020

The American Century - We the People Have Arrived

The 1900's are often appropriately referred to as the "American Century." This also is where the emphasis in our study of US history shifts from an inward focus to an outward one. If we consider the timeline from the colonial period until roughly 1900, we see a series of stages punctuated by a flurry of settlement, expansion, commerce and conflict.  The focus over this time period from 1607-1900 is, by necessity, inward as the people deal with each other and their zeitgeist.

But instead of constructing a nation purely out of their prevailing reality, they resist their natural pragmatism and instead seek to "...form a more perfect Union..." They constitute and codify their idealism in terms of what they ultimately wish to become, exhorting "Americans" to, "... establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." At each juncture, they seem keenly aware of both the substance and significance of their ambitions.  

In 1630, en route to the New World, John Winthrop said, "For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us." Winthrop's use of the biblical "city upon a hill" simile would not have been lost on those colonists  aboard the Arbella. Matthew 5:14-16 challenges us with the responsibility to be the "light" for others by living God's will and being true to it. Winthrop's choice of Matthew is eminently appropriate for its practical logic -- a light is not hidden, but put up high in order to help all see.

And Winthrop's idealism is unmistakable,"We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, 'may the Lord make it like that of New England.' "

In the opening sentence of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson conveys at once an appreciation of the importance of what the colonists commit themselves to...

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Most of his second paragraph serves as a treatise of the American nation's ideals.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

At every turn from the colonial era through the birth of the nation and its rapid development through to 1900 we are witness to a people who discover, absorb, wrestle with, contest, determine, and realize the core of who and what they are. 
Validated through the general fulfillment of Manifest Destiny, reconciled after a bloody civil war as one nation under God, driven aggressively forward by its exceptionalism, America is uniquely made to embrace industrialism and the paradigm shift that will accompany it. 

Indeed, America's growth in wealth and power which lead to the 20th century often being referred to as "the American Century" was tied directly to the explosion of the Industrial Revolution. However, it can also be said that America itself maginified the might of the Industrial Age. With its smaller government, limited regulation, and reliance on pure free market principles, the United States was a comfortable home from which entrepreneurs could take their ideas and try to sell them to a public that was willing to embrace consumerism. People largely trusted that industrialism was improving their lives by increasing wages, creating great wealth, making goods cheaper and easier to afford, providing employment, shortening the work week, and affording the average person time to pursue a life of leisure, hobbies, and other interests previously reserved for the rich.

The Industrial Revolution was characterized by
  • breakthrough inventions (steam engine, cotton gin, railroads, etc.)

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  • technical innovation leading to rapid economic growth as new inventions and their spinoffs become more widely used and new uses emerge

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  • shift in production from small-scale, local production based on individual skills and craftsmanship by artisans to large-scale, centralized production incorporating heavy, mechanized machinery and mass numbers of wage workers

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  • shift from rural to urban to suburban living (As production is centralized, the metropolis becomes the economic and social center. Then the car and highways open the possibility of the suburb.)

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  • shift from agriculture to manufacturing as the dominant activity

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  • domination of science-based technologies, specifically those related to steel, chemicals, the internal combustion engine, and electricity, such as automotive technologies and petroleum-based industries.

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  • a production process in which individual workers were relatively "de-skilled" compared to their predecessors, and had only to perform minute functions requiring little training and with little overall understanding of the production process as a whole.

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  • expectation of economic growth and expansion (about 2% annually, doubling the standard of living every 36 years)

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  • booms and busts as the marketplace and society adjusted to changing needs and expectations

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  • more production leads to more profit which leads to global production and sales

Three Major Phases of the Industrial Revolution

  1. Development of textiles, coal, and iron into modern industries (late 18th and early 19th centuries)

    2.
  2. Opening of new territories to economic development and overhauling of transportation via large-scale implementation of railroad systems, aided by developments such as the steam engine (middle 19th century)

    3.
  3. Development of the mass-factory and industrial machinery (first half of 20th century)

Matthew 5:14-16

American Standard Version (ASV)

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house.
16 Even so let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
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