George H.W. Bush Political Cartoons

After watching the Bush video in class and reading the articles on Edmodo, I was wondering how popular and how unpopular Bush got during his presidency. I went found some political cartoons to show what the public thought of him.

Bush is ruining the economy with his policies. This is probably from a democratic
who did not like how Bush refused to increase tax and instead cut tax for the rich

Funny take on his famous slogan, "Read my lips, no new taxes"
He is depicted with a long nose, which clearly shows that he is lying.
The cartoon is basically making fun of how is a liar.  

This shows how there were public opinions that Iraq was going to be another
Vietnam, and how Bush should not get involve. The dialogue would be a depiction
of the positivity Bush gave to the people about the war, but the pipe's length beg a differ.
It's like saying how the war will drag out for years along with heavy casualties. 

Found this video of a song made in 2004 regarding Pearl Harbor. I think it is worth watching part of it. The video is obviously inaccurate, but the song is fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L6_C5kk6cM

I think the song greatly represents America's harshness towards the Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The strength of America's resentment towards the Japanese with the base line, "Remember Pearl Harbor," can be quantified by the fact that this song was created in 2004. 63 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, some Americans, especially veterans, still are shaken by the shocking event. This large time gap shows the strength Pearl Harbor had on Americans; the shock and fear it brought to the American people. 

The words "Never forgive" repeated in the song a couple times, show how Pearl Harbor could have been a motivating factor for Americans fighting against Japan in the pacific war. Most importantly, it is important to consider the mood of this song when judging America's decision to use nuclear bombs on Japan. With such resentment towards Japan, do you think the average American even considered the unethical side of nuking Japan? Could they think clear about the matter? 

I am interested in what you guys think so answer if you please. 

Politics and the Olympics

The Olympic Games, a supposedly apolitical celebration of nations coming together in friendly competition, have often provided an ideological playing field upon which much more than athletic prowess is contested. Since 1936, when the Olympics were held in Hitler's Nazi Germany, the Games have been inextricably linked to politics.

Countries have boycotted the games on several occasions. Middle Eastern states boycotted the 1956 Melbourne Games to show their disapproval of Britain's and France's invasion of the Suez Canal. In 1960, South Africa was excluded from the Games because of its racist apartheid system. And in USHAP, we learned about President Carter's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games in response to the Soviet Union's occupation of Afghanistan. Carter's boycott was the most successful in Olympic history (despite its ineffectiveness in actually changing Soviet foreign policy) with 62 countries refusing to attend.

But there have been demonstrations from individual athletes as well. One such instance was seen in Mexico in the summer of 1968. African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos stood shoeless on the medal podium, their gloved fists raised in a silent salute of black power and unity.

The "Black Power Salute" was not only a display of racial pride, but a protest against civil rights violations and black poverty that still plagued the United States. "Black America will understand what we did tonight," Smith said.

But the International Olympic Committee did not understand. Smith and Carlos were suspended from the national team and sent home, condemned for their "deliberate and violent breach of the fundamental principles of the Olympic spirit." However, more than thirty years later, many regard Smith and Carlos as heroes for their role in the civil rights movement.

I think it's interesting that the Olympics are still considered to be apolitical when they are so clearly tied to politics. We saw it at the Sochi games, we saw it in Beijing, and we will likely see it at future Games—it's impossible for politics not to work its way onto the Olympic scene. Even the newly elected IOC president announced that "the IOC cannot be apolitical."

So what do you all think? Can the Games be neutral and completely free of politics? Should political demonstrations be allowed, or are the Games a time to put aside differences between nations? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

http://mic.com/articles/59431/olympic-boycotts-have-a-long-history-and-they-almost-never-work

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/politicspast/page/0,9067,892902,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/17/newsid_3535000/3535348.stm

http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/9658153/germany-thomas-bach-elected-international-olympic-committee-president

United States vs. Windsor Today

In looking ahead to our class schedule, one may notice that the Group II position paper topics center around the Supreme Court and its role in the country throughout American history. One of the mentioned cases in the prompt concerning strict vs. loose construction is United States v. Windsor, a fairly recent case (2013) that was significant in many ways.

In short, the US v. Windsor case involved two women, Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer, whose same-sex marriage was recognized by the state of New York (which had legalized same-sex marriage at that point) up until the death of Spyer. When Windsor attempted to obtain federal tax benefits for the death of her spouse, the IRS denied it to her on the basis that her same-sex marriage was unrecognized by the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

This case was taken to the Supreme Court, where a Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group from the House of Representatives (United States) argued that Section 3 of DOMA was constitutional because the "lesbian, gay, and transgender (LGBTQ) community is not a protected class."Windsor, with backing from the Obama administration, argued that Section 3 was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment and denied Windsor's equal protection under the laws.

The ruling on this case was made on June 26, 2013, with a 5-4 vote in favor of the unconstitutionality of the DOMA clause in question. The majority opinion expressed that it deprived citizens of their liberties, and that the federal government had no right to treat legal same-sex marriages differently than legal heterosexual marriages.

Since this decision, many measures have been enacted that secure the equal rights of homosexual citizens of the United States. Homosexual marriages were recognized by the IRS and were given full tax benefits, even in states that did not recognize the legality of the union. In February 2014, the Judicial Department instructed all officials to give equal rights to those in legal same-sex marriages (for example, the right for spouses not to testify against one another in a court of law was protected for these individuals). The final rule amending the definition of marriage after the Windsor decision, made by the Department of Labor, extends FMLA job protections to those in a same-sex marriage. This act will be made official tomorrow, March 27, 2015.

Both in the context of our future assignments and in the role of the Supreme Court in the past, I find this case very interesting and pertinent to our lives as students and as citizens. The decision was truly a "victory for American democracy," as Obama stated shortly after the ruling.

Sources
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/12-307
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Windsor#Judicial_interpretation

Famous Campaign Ads

Hey all!  I thought since we went over the "Willie Horton" ad that played a role in Bush's campaign, I would try to find some other well known campaign ads.  A collection of campaign ads put together by Time Magazine does just that.  Unfortunately many of the videos posted on the article "don't exist" according to YouTube, but I'm sure other people have put the same videos online.  Some of the ads you may recognize from some of the documentaries.

• "Daisy Girl":  The most famous campaign ad ever ran, the Daisy Girl is a creation of Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign against Barry Goldwater in 1964.  If you remember from class, this ad features a young girl picking off the petals of a daisy and counting them.  After she repeats her counting, a voice comes on overhead counting down, and the girl freezes until the countdown reaches zero and it shows a nuclear explosion.  Classic Johnson.
• "Any Questions?":  This ad was featured in the Bush and Kerry election in 2004.  Although not created by the Republican Party, this ad was created to hurt the credibility of John Kerry.  Funded by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the ad showed 13 different people who claimed to have served and seen the dishonesty of John Kerry while in Vietnam.  However, only one of those 13 actually served with him.
• "Morning in America":  Another ad we've seen before in class is Reagan's ad that highlighted patriotism and inspiration.  The ad itself is just a bunch of people looking happy and american.
• "Willie Horton":  Yes, here it is.  The famous Willie Horton ad took advantage of Michael Dukakis' support of the prison furlough program.  The ad accuses Dukakis of letting the murderer, Willie Horton, leave prison for weekends.
• "3 A.M.":  A fairly recent ad for Hilary Clinton in the primary election in 2008.  The ad shows babies sleeping in the night with a phone (supposed to be the president's phone) ringing in the background.  It was supposed to convince people to vote for Clinton because of her experience with important foreign affairs.  That way, we can sleep peacefully at night.
• "Rock":  I have come to the conclusion, while sitting here giggling on my couch at 11:00, that this is my favorite on the list.  Mike Gravel, for his presidential bid, made an ad of him staring silently staring into the camera for over a minute just so he could silently turn around and throw a rock into the pond behind him.  He says that it is a "metaphor of an ordinary citizen who acts in an unusual and extraordinary way."  Okay Gravel.
• "Laughter":  My second favorite ad.  It is a commercial showing a t.v. with a commercial on it promoting Nixon's running Vice President, Spiro Agnew.  The commercial plays hysterical laughter pointed at the ad for Agnew for Vice President, since many people believed him to be inexperienced.
• "I Like Ike":   A cartoon with a song about everyone voting for Eisenhower.
• "The McGovern Defense":  McGovern was going to get rid of a lot of the military, so Nixon made him regret it.  The commercial had toy soldiers and vehicles that represented the reductions of  the military.  Pretty creative.
• "Kennedy for Me":  Similar to "I Like Ike," this ad takes the bandwagon and song approach.

(http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1842516,00.html)

Historical Accuracy of X-Men: First Class

If you are in our first period USHAP class, then you may have heard a few comments from Mr. Stewart or me talking about the movie X-Men: First Class.  First Class starts out during World War Two, with young Magneto in a death camp.  There he befriends a character named Sebastian Shaw, based off the Nazi scientist, Josef Mengele.  Both the character and Mengele fled to Argentina after the war, like many Nazis did, to escape any war crimes that they may be charged with.
The United States placing nuclear missiles in Turkey is a major part of the movie, because it in turn prompted the Soviets to put their own missiles and Cuba.  All of this was a part of Shaw's plan to start a nuclear holocaust.  The movie also includes one of JFK's speeches concerning the potential placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba by the U.S.S.R.
Up until this point, the movie was about as realistic as one could make it when trying to include mutant heroes in the plot line.  The climax was a little less than historically accurate.  It takes place at the blockade in the Cuban Missile Crisis where the ships are all lined up and the Soviet nukes are prominently displayed on the ship's deck and Cuba is only a few hundred yards away.  Then the X-Men fly in on an SR-71 Blackbird (for those who may not know, that is a real Cold War spy plane) and save the day with their mutant powers.
Despite the many historical references to the Cold War, The Guardian (the website where I got this article) only gave it a D+ for its "history grade."
I love this movie.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/16/reel-history-x-men-first-class

I was on Facebook the other day and stumbled upon this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nAfWfF4TjM

It offers an interesting view against the possession of guns for safety, arguing that simply the possession of guns can have a more negative effect than the protection most people buy guns for.

A gun shop was opened in New York City, which was advertised especially for first time gun buyers. Each gun in the shop had a price, but also had a tag on it with the gun's history. Most of the histories were not histories where the gun protected the people, but where the gun was used against other innocent people. Many of the people who were there to buy a gun where buying one to protect themselves, but in the end they decided not to buy one because they saw the damage some of the guns could do.

The video could be biased (as in perhaps not showing the times when a gun saved one's life), but overall, the facts should be fairly accurate and present some interesting insight into the gun control debate which continues to popup around the country today.

Fate of Bunker 42

In 1951, the construction of Bunker 42 began in Moscow in fear of a nuclear war with the United States. In 1956, it became the long-range aviation headquarters. After years of functioning as a bunker for nuclear attacks, it was completely abandoned in 1995. In 2006, it was purchased 2 million US Dollars. It is now...

A night club! 

Look at that stage for karaoke!

A museum! 

Take a look at Stalin's private quarters!

A restaurant!

Laser Tag!

Also featuring fun for the kids!

Scarring children since 1951

You can even have your birthday party or wedding in this nuclear bunker!

There's no better way to celebrate than to celebrate
over 65 meters under ground!

There are some pretty cool nuclear bunkers that been transformed into restaurants or clubs! For more info you can visit their website:

http://www.bunker42.com/en/

http://englishrussia.com/2010/10/09/bunker-42-in-taganka/

1953 Iranian Coup d'état

There was a brief mention of the 1979 Iranian Revolution in Freeze, but I didn't quite understand why the US was called the "Great Satan," so I looked into that a bit further. It turns out that the US actually played a pretty major role in Iran, especially in the 1953 Iranian Coup d'état.

In 1951 Mohammad Mosaddegh was democratically elected prime minister in Iran. He had tried to audit the documents of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and limit its control over Iran's petroleum reserves. However, the AIOC refused to cooperate, so instead he nationalized Iran's petroleum industry and its oil reserves, which made him extremely popular in his country but also turned the British against him. The British decided to place an embargo on Iranian oil to undermine him. The embargo was extremely effective and made the Iranians poorer and unhappier, cutting away at Mosaddegh's popularity.

Mohammad Mosaddegh

The Iranian people began to blame him for the economic tensions and political turmoil, leading to street clashes and protests. As he lost support, he became more autocratic in his methods to maintain power, which made him even more unpopular with the people.

The United States was convinced by Britain that Iran was falling to the Communists and eventually decided to take part in the coup. In Operation Ajax, the CIA covertly backed General Fazlollah Zahedi, who was eventually able to overthrow Mosaddegh and become prime minister.The British and American spy agencies returned the monarchy to Iran by making pro-western Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the Shah, or king of Iran. This marked the first time that the US had overthrown a foreign government during the Cold War.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

The Shah became increasingly autocratic after the coup, however, and crushed all forms of political opposition. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini actively criticized the Shah and the United States, so the Shah sent him into exile. Khomeini eventually became the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the Shah and installed an Islamic republic. Because the US supported the Shah, it makes sense for Khomeini and the new Islamic republic to harbor anti-US sentiments.

Ruhollah Khomeini

Nixon Supreme Court Judge Appointments

http://www.newrepublic.com/book/review/nixon%27s-court-kevin-mcmahon

This article I found was very interesting because the author considered Nixon's new judge appointments as very moderate, with the goal of pleasing the public. It stated that Nixon picked these four new judges because he believed that each of them had a background that would appease to some group of the American public that was looking for support. In the documentaries we have been watching in class about Nixon and his appointments, I was under the impression that Nixon appointed these four new justices solely to get court verdicts that would align with his beliefs. I was not aware that there were any other sides to the story. This article presented Nixon as as someone who was looking to please the common people, which was a side of Nixon you don't really seem to hear about much.

Monica Lewinsky

As I was reading about the Monica Lewinsky scandal in some of the assigned articles, it didn't really occur to me to think about how Lewinsky herself was affected by the sudden infamy she gained. Today, I came across an interesting New York Times article (published 3 days ago) that gives an in-depth look at Monica Lewinsky and how the Clinton scandal has affected her life. It's an interesting but lengthy read, so if you don't have time to read it, here's a short summary: According to the article, Lewinsky disappeared as much as possible from the public eye until last year, when she wrote an essay for Vanity Fair about everything that happened after her affair with Clinton. Since then, she has started to stand up against bullying and has started to align herself with feminist groups. The article focuses on how the aftermath of something Lewinsky did when she was 22 and how it has affected all aspects of her life and has seriously damaged her self-confidence and self-worth. As the details of the affair were going public, both men and women (even feminists) mocked her and called her names. Lewinsky says she was "'Patient Zero' for the type of Internet shaming we now see regularly" and that she was publicly humiliated, with reporters trying to capture every aspect of her life and everything she did. The article ends by discussing how Lewinsky prepared for a TED talk she gave a few days ago about bullying and about her own experiences.

As I mentioned above, the article was very thought-provoking and made me consider how the scandal affected Lewinsky. It's always interesting to think about other perspectives on famous events.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/style/monica-lewinsky-is-back-but-this-time-its-on-her-terms.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0

TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_8y0WLm78U

Some of Reagan's Jokes

My Top 10 Personal Favorites In Order 

1. "A hippie is someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane and smells like Cheetah."

2. "I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself."

3. "I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency -- even if I'm in a Cabinet meeting."

4. "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"
5."Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

6. "Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying."

7. "My fellow Americans. I'm pleased to announce that I've signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes." (joking during a mike check before his Saturday radio broadcast).

8. "Well, I learned a lot....I went down to (Latin America) to find out from them and (learn) their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries."
9. "Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards. If you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book."
10. "If you're explaining, you're losing."

For more visit: http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/quotethis/a/reaganquotes.htm

Notes: Berlin to Vietnam

While we watched a lot of documentaries this quarter, Mr. Stewart gave some nice presentations as well. Here's a recap:

Sources of tension in the early cold war

• Capitalism vs communism
• Perception of motives for each side
• Sphere of influence? Elections? 
• Disagreement at Tehran ‘43, Yalta ‘45, and Potsdam ’45

Europe

• East bloc is in direct control of the Soviet Union in 1948
• Yugoslavia is actually communist, but doesn't like stalin
• Greece is in a civil war revolving around communism
• Western Europe is in economic shambles
• Could lead to communism…

Asia

• Japan is occupied by the US since September 1945
• Korea is split into two halves- North (Soviet) and South (US)
• Chinese civil war —> communist vs. anti-communist (Soviets support the communist side…)
• Imperialist powers move back into their former colonies—> uprisings and rebellions and independence movements start

Middle East

• Iran —> The British leave, but the soviets don't
• Turkey allows Soviet naval bases and access to the Mediterranean 
• Greece is fighting a civil war with the British funding the anti-communist side

The United Nations

• Membership was originally any nation who declared war against the axis powers
• Security Council and the General Assembly
• Promote peace, security, humanitarian assistance, economic development

Global Situation 

• US—> Cooperate with the UN
• USSR —> focused on a security zone
• Asia—> is in shambles…
• Many nations begin to resist 
• western imperialism 

Mr. X and the Long Telegram

• Control and contain the Soviet Union, because they are a rapidly expanding force

The Marshall Plan (June of 1947)

• Massive aid program to Western Europe
• Influence them so they reject communism and trade with the western world
• Make sure they kept faith n democracy and capitalism
• Emotional: demonstrate would stand by its allies in Western Europe

Truman Doctrine 

• Aggressive and expansive form of containment 
• Becomes the guiding force of American foreign policy for the next 25 years
• Out of fear that Greece and Turkey would be lost to the Soviet cause
• Yugoslavia had already been lost

The Berlin Airlift

• Stalin blockades Berlin to cut off the West 
• Cuts coal, electricity, food, etc. 
• The allies then fly in supplies and airdrop it in for a year (plane taking off/landing every 13 seconds)

Formation of Nato

• April 1949
• Mutual defense alliance
• “Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”
• Originally 12 nations, 26 today
• Representative of America’s commitment to Europe

The Atomic Arms Race

• August 29th, 1949 the Soviet Union successfully detonated an atomic bomb
• Ended the American atomic monopoly 
• US still dominates an advantage in numbers and delivery systems

The Spread of Communism

• 1948 the Eastern Bloc is under soviet control 
• 1949 the Chinese Communists defeated the Chinese Nationalist 
• Mao Zedong becomes the communist leader

CIA/National Security Council Memorandum-68

• Designed to combat communism and to fight covert operations
• Recommended that the American Military be put into a wartime state (even though they were at war)
• Called for the American people to be more informed about the Soviet threat 
• Considered the blueprint for American foreign policy until the 1970’s

The Korean War (June 1950-1953)

• North Korea (communist) invades South Korea (Not communist)
• Condemned by the UN
• Lead by the US and almost wins, until China comes in (all in 1950)
• US decides against wider war, conflict ends

The Hydrogen Bomb

• Thermonuclear fission-fusion device
• Test detonation on Eniwetok Atoll— the island disappears 
• “Mike” H-bomb = 10.4 mega-tons (“Little Boy” was 20 kilotons)

Changes in the Cold War

• Eisenhower ends the Korean war
• Change US policies in the Cold War
• Stalin dies and is succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev in 1955

Fast forward to Kennedy

American Changes

• Kennedy
• Aggressive foreign policy, hawkish
• Attempt to distance himself from Eisenhower 

Berlin Wall

• During the 1950’s, 2 million East germans had fled to the West through West Berlin
• Soviets constructed a wall to prevent the migration of East Germans
• US did not challenge as it did not interfere with West Berlin 

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Fidel Castro tis brought to power after a US imposed leader in overthrown
• He nationalizes American industry
• Declared a Communist revolution and allies with the USSR
• The Bay of Pigs- US backed Cuban exiles try to overthrow Castro…it’s a fiasco
• Khrushchev sent military aid to Cuba (medium range nuclear missiles
• US wants the missiles out! (potential first strike capability)
• US “Quarantines” Cuba
• USSR denied the existence of the missiles
• U-2 spy planes had already taken photos of the missiles
• Question- How to get the missiles out before they are operational 
• USA Options: Military action (airstrikes, invasion) or Diplomacy
• USSR Options: Don’t back down because it will make the USSR look weak
• Khrushchev decides to back down and remove the missiles from Cuba
• Soviet leaders base their decision on American nuclear superiority 
• Khrushchev is replaced in 1964

Mad and the Arms Race

• SALT limited delivery systems, but not MERV’s
• Both sides have to deter the other side and convince them that their first strike wouldn’t work 
• $50 million/day spent on the arms race
• Strategic Triad (Submarines, Missiles, and Bombers)

Detente

• “Relaxation”
• Both sides were tired of the arms race and constant tension
• Proposal to have a “thaw” in the Cold War
• USA, China, and the USSR
• Ultimate Result: SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)

SALT

• Called for a limitation on nuclear delivery systems (mainly missiles, but also submarines and bombers)
• ABM treaty: Limits the amount of antiballistic missiles (would upset MAD)

Other Events

• Iran (1953)
• Guatamala (1954)
• China-Taiwan Conflict (1965)
• Dominican Republic (1965)
• Six Day War (1967) Israel vs. Arab Nations 
• Yom Kippur war (1973) Israel vs. Arab Nations
• Chile (1973)

VIETNAM!

Eisenhower 

• Dien Bien Phu
• Geneva peace conference 
• Elections will be held
• US stops elections in fear that a communist leader will come to power
• Rise of Diem and SEATO
• US sends in advisers 
• The Domino effect (communists will take as much as they can)

Kennedy 

• Shifts policy from “mass retaliation” to “flexible response”
• Use of american troops, counter insurgency 
• America could win the cold war by getting third world nations to buy into the American View
• Increases advisers sent to South Vietnam (16,000 by 1963)
• Coup of Diem’s government in 1963

Vietnam- Johnson

• Continued Kennedy’s policies, but wanted to be hard on communism (election coming up)
• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Rolling Thunder- bombing the hell out of north Vietnam 
• Pacification: “Search and Destroy”
• Body counts = attrition = favorable kill ratios
• Limited War = attrition

Vietnam- Nixon

• “Peace with Honor”
• Vietnamization and withdrawal of major US combat forces 
• Cambodia and Laos
• Mining of Haipong Harbor
• Intensified bombing campaign (ex. Christmas Bombing)
• Paris Peace Accords (January 1973)
• Enables the US to withdraw and the South Vietnamese to be ‘safe’
• The peace accords failed, but allowed the US to withdraw

Vietnam- Legacy

• Pais accords failed —> South Vietnam in complete disarray and defeated by the North in April
• Southeast Asia is unstable (Cambodia: Khmer Rouge)
• War between Vietnam and Cambodia, skirmished with China
• In retrospect the Soviet leaders admitted after the Cold War that it sent a message about American commitment to containment
• Caused America to be more suspicious not only to their government but also to committing troops abroad

Kennedy and the Mob

Hey guys!

I was doing the reading (I think in the textbook but I don’t remember for sure) and I learned that President John F. Kennedy may have been involved with the mob.  This, of course, caught my attention and I did a little more digging.  I don’t know how much of this is fact (or just speculating) but I found it to be interesting and thought other people might as well.

The first link is JFK’s father, named Joseph Kennedy, Sr. who was most likely involved in the bootlegging business during Prohibition.  Joe Kennedy (supposedly) did business with the well-known gangster from Chicago, Sam Giancana.  He stood back to allow his sons to succeed in politics, but his connections may have helped JFK win the election.

The second link is through Frank Sinatra, who was close friends with JFK as well as associates with Giancana.  (Some sources I found say that Sinatra was actually a kind of liaison between the two men.  In fact, one source quotes Tina Sinatra, Sinatra’s daughter, who says that Kennedy first approached her father because he knew that Sinatra had connections to Giancana and because it would be dangerous for Kennedy to approach Giancana directly.)

Finally, John F. Kennedy and Sam Giancana even had similar taste in women.  They both had relationships with a woman named Judith Campbell Exner.  In fact, she claimed to have passed envelopes from Kennedy to the mob carrying payoffs or instructions for vote-buying and even witnessed one of the exchanges herself.

Check out the websites, especially the National Geographic article, for more information.  It’s actually really interesting.  People even think that these relationships led to Kennedy’s assassination, though the House Select Committee on Assassinations could not find any connection.

Side note, something I find somewhat odd is that Robert Kennedy took such an aggressive stance against organized crime.  What do you guys think?  Was this linked to his family’s involvement?

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/killing-kennedy/articles/jfks-secret-mafia-history/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/kennedys-bio-joseph-patrick/

http://www.biography.com/people/sam-giancana-9542088#imprisonment-and-murder

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tina-sinatra-mob-ties-aided-jfk/

http://nypost.com/2013/11/10/all-the-presidents-women-3/

Visual Learning

For those of you who, like me, love visuals, interactive maps can be really interesting and an easier way to absorb data and information than text or other statistics. Recently, I've been reading a lot of Ezra Klein's Vox, and came across list of 70 maps that detail different parts of American history. The table of contents at the beginning divides the maps up by time period and topic.

I really encourage you to check out the link for some great graphics, but if you'd rather not, here are some of my favorites:

(related to the Cold War)

#49. I can't post a screenshot because it's a gif, but the interactive map that demonstrates the path of the Vietnam War. 

#50.  A great way to visualize the extent to which countries identified either as communist or capitalist. The world was almost at a stalemate.

#54. "Another way to show America's status as the sole global superpower is its military budget: larger than the next 12 largest military budgets on Earth, combined. That's partly a legacy of the Cold War, but it's also a reflection of the role the US has taken on as the guarantor of global security and the international order."

#40. With the 50th Anniversary of Selma being timely at the moment, this map helps people visualize the route taken.

Basically all of them are super cool and you should check them out!! 

Dr. Seuss and the Cold War

So, a while back we talked about Dr. Seuss and the propaganda he drew during WWII. Now that we're pretty far into the Cold War, I thought I'd share another politically-motivated piece that he wrote in 1984, called The Butter Battle Book, which is basically just a huge metaphor for the war. In it, he alludes to a bunch of topics and points of interest from that time period, especially the arms race, mutually assured destruction, and nuclear warfare.

It was made into an animated TV special, which is linked below. It's pretty long, but if you're ever in the mood to watch a children's cartoon with very heavy Cold War themes, it's definitely the right choice.

Marijuana and the Environment

As I was surfing through facebook today, I saw an interesting post about medical marijuana and the effects it has on the environment. This immediately reminded me of the Silent Spring video we just finished today.

The outdoor growers often time use pesticides and rat poisons to ensure that they get a higher output, but the problem is these methods are damaging the ecosystem. In California, some of these marijuana growers are going into deep forest and spreading d-Con (rat poison) to protect their crop. Two endangered spotted owls have already been tested positive for having this poison in their system, and just like Rachel Carson's idea of how the system of life are all interrelated and are affected all together, a rat poisoned by d-Con is poisoning the Pacific Fisher (part the weasel family) when the Pacific Fisher eat the rats for food.

Lit. Patrick Foy from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife gets report from neighbors about dead fishes turning up. The growers are contaminating the water sources and destroying the local creeks. This relates to those reports in Carson's time where people started discovering dead birds after the wide spread of DDT.

When constructing a place for the marijuana to grow, some business build the place on mountaintops. They smooth out the hills and put the roads and dams, which can block the flow of the streams, cutting the water supply to the lower part of the area. Any living thing that requires water and lives between the top to the bottom of the mountaintop is now affected. Many people are unaware of this, and many businesses either don't know as well or choose to ignore it. It can take a while for the ecosystem to show obvious signs of damage, and by then, it might be too late.

In one of the article, it mentions about rabbits starting to get addicted to marijuana and losing their sense of ability to run away after ingesting it. This is dangerous, for these rabbits can be prey upon more easily and a decrease in their populations may decrease the predator which feed on them.

Sadly, even though DEA did inform it to a Utah Senate panel, the panel still approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate.This really reminds me of the abuse of pesticides in the 1960s, and how many people were not aware of the effects it has on the environment and how there are people in the government that do not seem to care much about it.

What do you guys think will happen? Do you think Utah will legalize medical marijuana? And for the states that have already legalized it, do you think the people should be informed of the effects it has on the ecosystems?

Sources/Read More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/02/dea-warns-of-stoned-rabbits-if-utah-passes-medical-marijuana/?tid=sm_fb

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/us/marijuana-crops-in-california-threaten-forests-and-wildlife.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&amp&

http://www.ibtimes.com/how-marijuana-farms-impact-environment-1729921

Impact of Greensboro Sit-Ins

The famous Greensboro "sit-ins", in which black students would occupy a place reserved for white students, started with a sit-in on February 1st, 1960 in Woolworth's store. Joseph McNeil, Izell Blair, Franklin McCain, and David Richmond, students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, planned and carried out this first sit-in. For the first hour, they remained unnoticed. The next day, they brought thirty students to the counter for about two hours, attracting local reporters. The following day, protesters occupied every spot at the counter. After several threats, the store manager temporarily closed the store. Woolworth's store in Greensboro eventually desegregated after losing more than $200,000.

Though making Southerners angrier than before, the impact the sit-in had over students resulted in over 54 sit-ins throughout the North Carolina by February 7th. Students wanted to speed up the pace of the movement and gain equality faster. Word of the sit-ins traveled fast as the press reported the event all over the country. 

Ella Baker organized a Southern Christian Leadership Conference, bringing in "sit-in" participants from all over the South. This Conference was held in Raleigh at Shaw University on April 16th and give birth to the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC). As students had much less to lose, the younger generation began to join the SNCC while the NAACP appealed to an older generation. These sit-ins became a large element of the civil rights movement with over 70,000 people participating total. 

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/greensboro_1960.htm 

http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/sitin.html