Warren Harding was one of the best-liked men of his generation. He was easy going, charming, and loved people. However his nice guy attitude led him to be taken advantage of by his evil associates dubbed the "Ohio Gang." Harding hated to hurt people's feelings; especially those of his friends by saying "no"; and political leeches capitalized on this weakness.
After being established in office, Harding crushed the reform movement sparked in the Progressive era. The Old Guard pleaded that not only the government's hand should be kept off of business, but also government should help guide business along the path to profits. Harding initiated these practices and set the tone of the Republican policies for the rest of the decade.
In the beginning of the 1920's the supreme court destroyed progressive legislation. It took away a federal child-labor law and restricted government intervention in the economy. In the case of Adkins vs. Children's hospital, the Court reversed its own reasoning in Muller vs. Oregon which had declared women to deserve special protection in the workplace and invalidated a minimum-wage law for women. It argued that now that women have the right to vote, they were the legal equals of men and could no longer be protected by special legislation.
Under Harding, corporations could expand and relax. Antitrust laws were usually ignored. The Interstate Commerce Commission was dominated by men who were sympathetic to the railroads.
Unions shrank during Harding's presidency particularly because of Harding's hostile political environment. Membership shriveled by nearly 30 percent between 1920 and 1930.
Veterans, however were one of the only groups to benefit from the War. Congress in 1921 created the Veteran's Bureau authorizing to operate hospitals and provide vocational rehabilitation for the disabled. The American Legion was founded in Paris in 1919 and they met periodically to renew old hardships and let off steam in horseplay. In the Adjusted Compensation Act, every soldier was guaranteed an insurance policy in twenty years.
Source: American Pageant Textbook
Friday, December 12, 2014
Immigration During the Great Depression
Immigration During the Great Depression
During the Great Depression, immigration was a large problem, there were already laws that barred certain ethnic groups from entering the United States. Many refugees fleeing from the Nazi persecution were denied entrance to the U.S. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Asians were excluded from immigrating to America, so naturally, the United States turned to Mexico for a cheap labor force during the 1920's. Mexico provided thousands of legal and undocumented workers to labor on farms and ranches in the Midwest and Southwest. During the time of the Great Depression, there were several hundred thousand people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States. And due to the cheap labor that the Mexican population supplied, anti-Mexican sentiment rose from the huge job losses. Over time, the government decided to repatriate about one-half million Mexicans between 1929 and 1935. Some of the people sent back to Mexico were actually U.S. citizens with long established residences and others who were tricked or forced to go. Mexican labor was soon welcomed back during World War II.
sources:
http://immigrationinamerica.org/527-great-depression.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/migrate/
During the Great Depression, immigration was a large problem, there were already laws that barred certain ethnic groups from entering the United States. Many refugees fleeing from the Nazi persecution were denied entrance to the U.S. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Asians were excluded from immigrating to America, so naturally, the United States turned to Mexico for a cheap labor force during the 1920's. Mexico provided thousands of legal and undocumented workers to labor on farms and ranches in the Midwest and Southwest. During the time of the Great Depression, there were several hundred thousand people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States. And due to the cheap labor that the Mexican population supplied, anti-Mexican sentiment rose from the huge job losses. Over time, the government decided to repatriate about one-half million Mexicans between 1929 and 1935. Some of the people sent back to Mexico were actually U.S. citizens with long established residences and others who were tricked or forced to go. Mexican labor was soon welcomed back during World War II.
sources:
http://immigrationinamerica.org/527-great-depression.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/migrate/
Great Depression Food
Food of the Great Depression
During the 1930's, farms were diversified, they grew a larger variety of crops in the fields, and in the gardens farmers grew vegetables and fruit. The concept of self sufficiency soon carried over into social life. Radios, women's magazines, and home economists taught women how to wisely spend food budgets by cooking certain meals such as casseroles, creamed chipped beef, chili, macaroni and cheese, soups, and creamed chicken. Church potlucks and one dish suppers grew in popularity, it allowed people to socialize and share food Many new foods were created such as Spam, Kraft macaroni and cheese, Toll House chocolate chip cookies, Good Humor ice cream bars, Bisquick, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Ritz Crackers, Nestle's chocolate chips, and Kool-Aid.
For those who are interested, here is a list of Great Depression recipes that came from 1920's and 1930's cookbooks.
http://www.food.com/cookbook/depression-era-recipes-225279
http://thesurvivalmom.com/could-you-stomach-these-great-depression-meals/
sources:
http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/life_07.html
1929 vs. 2008
While we never lived through the Great Depression, many of us can remember the 2007 recession that caused so much trouble in the US and international economies. So, I was wondering (in addition to wondering about how I was going to get my last blog post in on time) how the two of them compared. Clearly, the Great Depression was far worse in terms of statistics and in lasting cultural effects, but they actually had some major similarities within their causes.
Domestic Causes:
While the Great Depression was caused by many different things, as we have talked about in class, one of the major causes was the overproduction of industrial goods. As factories and corporations hired more workers and expanded ever more into the economy, they did so at a risk. These companies were living on borrowed time. They depended on the continued growth of the market, and when one single sector slowed down, the entire economy collapsed. The same can be said for the Recession of 2007. The housing market and real estate market was the driving force behind the expansion in the beginning of the 21st century. Banks, realizing the money that could be made from mortgages and loans to homeowners, made continually more risky loans to consumers. The rest of the market followed suit, selling securities backed by these risky loans. When the housing market collapsed in late 2006, the result was catastrophic for the interconnected economy.
International Causes:
The international loan system that emerged from the ashes of Europe in the 1920's created underlying instabilities in the world market that ended up contributing to the Great Depression. Once the markets failed in the United States and around the world, the loans that were designed to keep the Allies and Weimar Germany afloat ended up shrinking the credit pool of the world and making recovery even more difficult.
In 2007, the international failure of major banks, especially in the major economic members of the EU Eurozone, contributed greatly to the economic recession. Because less international capital was available, exports and international trade decreased dramatically. This impacted manufacturing all around the world, only adding to the banking and financial chaos that ran rampant from 2007-2009.
While the Great Depression was caused by many different things, as we have talked about in class, one of the major causes was the overproduction of industrial goods. As factories and corporations hired more workers and expanded ever more into the economy, they did so at a risk. These companies were living on borrowed time. They depended on the continued growth of the market, and when one single sector slowed down, the entire economy collapsed. The same can be said for the Recession of 2007. The housing market and real estate market was the driving force behind the expansion in the beginning of the 21st century. Banks, realizing the money that could be made from mortgages and loans to homeowners, made continually more risky loans to consumers. The rest of the market followed suit, selling securities backed by these risky loans. When the housing market collapsed in late 2006, the result was catastrophic for the interconnected economy.
International Causes:
The international loan system that emerged from the ashes of Europe in the 1920's created underlying instabilities in the world market that ended up contributing to the Great Depression. Once the markets failed in the United States and around the world, the loans that were designed to keep the Allies and Weimar Germany afloat ended up shrinking the credit pool of the world and making recovery even more difficult.
In 2007, the international failure of major banks, especially in the major economic members of the EU Eurozone, contributed greatly to the economic recession. Because less international capital was available, exports and international trade decreased dramatically. This impacted manufacturing all around the world, only adding to the banking and financial chaos that ran rampant from 2007-2009.
The Rise of the Modern Union
Today, Unions are a normal fact of life. We often hear about the automotive unions and trade unions, and we just assume that they've been here forever. It seems ridiculous that workers could be rejected or discriminated against merely due to their Union affiliation. However, the reality is that Unions made their final entrance into American society following the Great Depression. The AFL, the CIO, and other such Unions were only able to rise from the failure of the Knights of Labor after the Wagner Act and the election of Roosevelt. America at the time was so anti-Union that it took over 50 years since the Industrial Revolution began for organized labor to be accepted legally. And while they did receive legal representation, Unions were still discriminated against and were often victims of violence. We often see Unions as a constant factor in society, but in reality, Unions were a product of the recovery from the Great Depression and only recently became part of the American Culture.
Fun Facts about FDRhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Rooseveltinwheelchair.jpg
1) He was 5th cousins with Theodore Roosevelt. They had the same great great great great grandfather, Nicolas Roosevelt
2) He was related to his own wife. Theodore Roosevelt was Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle, and walked her down the aisle at their wedding.
3) He was the only president to serve 4 terms
4) He was diagnosed with Polio in 1921, but modern researchers believe he was misdiagnosed and actually had Guillain- Barre Syndrome. The disease left him disabled.
5) He was the first president to speak on television
6) He was one of only 8 presidents to die in office. One in only 4 who died of natural causes.
7) He was an avid stamp collector
8) He had a mistress who he loved named Lucy Rutherford, who was Eleanor's social secretary
2) He was related to his own wife. Theodore Roosevelt was Eleanor Roosevelt's uncle, and walked her down the aisle at their wedding.
3) He was the only president to serve 4 terms
4) He was diagnosed with Polio in 1921, but modern researchers believe he was misdiagnosed and actually had Guillain- Barre Syndrome. The disease left him disabled.
5) He was the first president to speak on television
6) He was one of only 8 presidents to die in office. One in only 4 who died of natural causes.
7) He was an avid stamp collector
 |
| FDR in wheelchair due to disability |
 |
| FDR's mistress, Lucy |
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Since we're currently studying the depression in the 1930s, I immediately thought of the first time I learned about the great depression: when I read the American Girl series in elementary school. Kit Kittredge is the main protagonist in Valerie Tripp's series. Throughout the series, we see Kit and her family struggle as they are affected by the shrinking economy. In the first book, Meet Kit, she wears a cardigan, a floral skirt, and sandals, but is soon only seen wearing used or hand-me-down clothing. At one point she even wore an itchy dress made out of a chickenfeed sack that she was incredibly grateful for. Her father has been laid off from his job, and Kit's parents neglected to tell her. She is heart broken when she finds out that when he comes home from "work" he is actually coming home from the soup kitchen, where he eats and picks up the families groceries. The family starts raising chickens and selling eggs to make money, as well as taking several boarders into their home who they collect rent from. Kit's mother has neat little tricks like cutting the toast into little triangles to making it look like she was feeding everybody more than she really was. Although the story is a work of fiction, it shows the kinds of things families went through in order to stay alive during the great depression. It's also interesting because it's told from a child's point of view, an angle we don't often get in a textbook.
Summary of Chapter 34
I know it's pretty late to be doing this, but in case anyone wants to do some last minute studying for the test I'll be summarizing chapter 34 and looking at some of the trends
1919-1929
Insulating America from the Radical Virus
Following WW1, American ideals were consolidated, and un-American ideas. Communists were arrested, and immigrants were deported.
Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK
The second wave KKK were against all things not conservative, and a reaction to the lavish lifestyle of the roaring 20's. They grew rapidly to 5 million members in the mid 1920's. Klan membership shrank after the discovery of internal embezzlement.
Stemming the Foreign Flood
Americans had become more isolationists, and more against immigrants
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited immigrants of any nationality to 3% of their population in 1910.
The Immigration Act of 1925 went even further limiting it to 2% and using data from 1890.
Immigration swiftly went down.
The Prohibition Experiment
Alcohol is banned in the 18th Amendment, because alcohol is against some religions and is associated with crime. The ban is widely ignored.
The Golden Age of Gangsterism
The Prohibition led to a rise in crime, with many gangsters smuggling alcohol and fighting over territories. Scarface (Al Capone) is one of the most famous gangsters of the time. Prostitution and gambling were also commonplace.
Monkey Business in Tennessee
Education improved. Fundamentalists were against Darwinism. at the Monkey Trial, John T. Scopes was fined for teaching evolution in school.
The Mass-Consumption Economy
Advertisements encourage people to buy things they don't need. Buying in credit led people to get themselves into debt.
Putting America on Rubber Tires
Henry Ford used assembly lines to mass produce cars. 20 million Model T's were produced by 1930.
The Advent of the Gasoline Age
The automobile industry created millions of jobs, but crushed the railroad industry. Accidents were common and killed thousands of people. many states lost populations as a result of mobility.
Humans Develop Wings
The Wright Brothers invent the first plane which flies for 12 seconds. The technology was used for delivering mail. Charles Lindbergh was the first to cross the Atlantic by plane.
The Radio Revolution
Radios were used to deliver news, presidential campaigns, and sport news.
Hollywood's Filmland Fantasies
Thomas Edison invents motion picture. The Great Train Robbery was the first. Hollywood became the movie capital of the world.
The Dynamic Decade
The birth control movement is led by Margaret Sanger and the National Women's Party advocates women's voting rights.
Fundamentalists lose ground to Modernists.
There is an explosion of sex appeal especially among flappers in the cities.
Jazz and black pride thrived, led by poet Langston Hughes and Marcus Garvey.
Literary Liberation
Authors of the time include Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. Poetry, plays and architecture also experienced revamps.
Wall Street's Big Bull Market
The stock market was becoming increasingly popular. Tax reductions helped the rich.
Trends of this time period seem to head towards individualism. People were becoming more independent, made possible by cars and social reforms and thrust by Isolationism. Wealth allowed for new advancements in society with new forms of entertainment and time spent on literature.
1919-1929
Insulating America from the Radical Virus
Following WW1, American ideals were consolidated, and un-American ideas. Communists were arrested, and immigrants were deported.
Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK
The second wave KKK were against all things not conservative, and a reaction to the lavish lifestyle of the roaring 20's. They grew rapidly to 5 million members in the mid 1920's. Klan membership shrank after the discovery of internal embezzlement.
Stemming the Foreign Flood
Americans had become more isolationists, and more against immigrants
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited immigrants of any nationality to 3% of their population in 1910.
The Immigration Act of 1925 went even further limiting it to 2% and using data from 1890.
Immigration swiftly went down.
The Prohibition Experiment
Alcohol is banned in the 18th Amendment, because alcohol is against some religions and is associated with crime. The ban is widely ignored.
The Golden Age of Gangsterism
The Prohibition led to a rise in crime, with many gangsters smuggling alcohol and fighting over territories. Scarface (Al Capone) is one of the most famous gangsters of the time. Prostitution and gambling were also commonplace.
Monkey Business in Tennessee
Education improved. Fundamentalists were against Darwinism. at the Monkey Trial, John T. Scopes was fined for teaching evolution in school.
The Mass-Consumption Economy
Advertisements encourage people to buy things they don't need. Buying in credit led people to get themselves into debt.
Putting America on Rubber Tires
Henry Ford used assembly lines to mass produce cars. 20 million Model T's were produced by 1930.
The Advent of the Gasoline Age
The automobile industry created millions of jobs, but crushed the railroad industry. Accidents were common and killed thousands of people. many states lost populations as a result of mobility.
Humans Develop Wings
The Wright Brothers invent the first plane which flies for 12 seconds. The technology was used for delivering mail. Charles Lindbergh was the first to cross the Atlantic by plane.
The Radio Revolution
Radios were used to deliver news, presidential campaigns, and sport news.
Hollywood's Filmland Fantasies
Thomas Edison invents motion picture. The Great Train Robbery was the first. Hollywood became the movie capital of the world.
The Dynamic Decade
The birth control movement is led by Margaret Sanger and the National Women's Party advocates women's voting rights.
Fundamentalists lose ground to Modernists.
There is an explosion of sex appeal especially among flappers in the cities.
Jazz and black pride thrived, led by poet Langston Hughes and Marcus Garvey.
Literary Liberation
Authors of the time include Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner. Poetry, plays and architecture also experienced revamps.
Wall Street's Big Bull Market
The stock market was becoming increasingly popular. Tax reductions helped the rich.
Trends of this time period seem to head towards individualism. People were becoming more independent, made possible by cars and social reforms and thrust by Isolationism. Wealth allowed for new advancements in society with new forms of entertainment and time spent on literature.
Differentiating the Ro-Ro Bros (Teddy vs. FDR)
Theodore Roosevelt: Republican
- "the Trust Buster"
- ensured the safety of food and drugs
- regulated interstate commerce
- preservation of land and natural resources
- Square Deal
- Conservation of Resources
- Control of Corporations
- Consumer Protection
- did everything possible to help out the individual not the group
Franklin D. Roosevelt: Democrat
- New Deal
- 100 days were incredibly productive
- helped out the working classes with the NLRA and AAA
- set up Social Security and Federal Deposits
- helped get jobs for hundreds of people
- wanted to pack the Supreme Court with his own judges so the 4 horsemen can't overrule him
Procrastination
Procrastination is when people decide to carry out less important tasks instead of more important ones, doing things they like over things they don't like, and resulting in putting things off till a later time or last minute. Procrastination could result in stress, anxiety, loss of productivity, and other health issues. On the flip side some may work better under this pressure, but the chances of that is slim. There are four simple reasons that cause people to procrastinate. The first is that the task seems to be difficult and we naturally tend to sway towards things that are easier to do. Second is that the task is time-consuming and people push it off until they have a large block of time to do it such as the weekends. The third reason is that if a task is tedious and is not due until a later time, people tend to push it off and not remember until last minute. The fourth and final reason is fear, people are afraid of criticism and do not want to receive any thus making people shrink away from their work. This post on procrastination may seem like the perfect example of what I am doing right now, but lets ignore that for now. I am posting this to remind everyone that finals are right around the corner and to not wait until the last minute to start studying. Well as my post on procrastination comes to an end, I wish everyone good luck in finishing their blogger, or maybe I'm the only one left. On that note I am going to proceed with finishing the rest of my blogger and hopefully get some sleep.
The Second Ku Klux Klan
While the Ku Klux Klan is known mainly for its white supremacy beliefs, the second Ku Klux Klan actually incorporated anti-Catholic, and nativist beliefs into their ideology. The Klan resurfaced following World War 1 as an outlet for intense patriotism, as well as a reaction to the roaring 20's lifestyle. Its membership peaked in the mid 1920's at around 5 million members. During its power, it had a great influence over politics. Woodrow Wilson himself shared common ideas with the KKK, and was a great fan of their film, the Birth of a Nation. However membership shrunk rapidly to a mere 30,000 members in 1930, when people had to deal with the Great Depression, as well as the discovery of internal embezzlement.The Ku Klux Klan still exists today, in many smaller groups. Quite recently, one group has supposedly removed white supremacy from their ideology. They now allow Jews, blacks, and homosexuals to join. Their goal is a strong America, rather than a white America.
Sources:
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/ku-klux-klan-the-second-ku-klux-klan.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ku-klux-klan-opens-its-doors-hispanic-blacks-jews-gays-1473907
Depression Conspiracy Theory
The Great Depression was a horrible time in American history, and as with any negative event, there are people who turn to ridiculous explanations, such as the theory that Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. Earlier today I found an article that "explains" the causes of the Great Depression, which I found to be rather interesting.
According to this article, bankers caused WWI, and after they were finished profiting from that, they wanted more money and control. They decided to cause an economic depression so that they could buy more of the market, expand the government, and gain more control over the American people. Apparently, the depression “was a carefully contrived occurrence … The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as rulers of us all.” This conspiracy goes further than just the Great Depression though, as this article blames every single period of recession in the economy on the Federal Reserve banker’s manipulation, with the goal of causing market plunges during which they buy up all that they can. It appears that these evil bankers will stop at nothing to keep their devious scheme profitable. In 1963, Kennedy’s executive order 11110 was an attempt to transfer power from the Federal Reserve to the Department of Treasury. These “evil bankers” are the ones who then had Kennedy killed, in order to maintain their stranglehold on the American economy. This theory on Kennedy's assassination is actually a fairly well known theory, brought up by Jim Marrs in his book Crossfire. This article finishes by “proving” their conspiracy by using the television show “Mission Impossible”. The show has the insignia “IMF” which stands for “Impossible Mission Force”, and is apparently also a reference to the “International Monetary Fund”. Because the characters on the show were always “tricking leaders out of positions of authority, assassinating somebody, helping people escape, or doing some other dirty deal, all in a war for power”, this proves that the International Monetary Fund is actually secretly profiting from economic boom and bust.
In the end, the website also appears to support the belief that the Earth is flat. That should tell us something about the reliability of their “facts”.
Yellow Dog Contracts
An important part of unions during the 1900-1920s time period in America were Yellow Dog Contracts.
Basically a yellow dog contract is something a worker must sign by a boss's request that says that they will not join or be part of a labor union and will be fired if they do. Some of the New Deal Reforms such as NIRA banned this, protecting labor unions, but they were officially outlawed in 1932 by the Norris-LaGuardia Act.
So when we hear about how a certain act or reform has supported labor unions or helped them, it usually means the banning of Yellow Dog Contracts or perhaps an encouragement to hire multiple people at once (hire a part of a union).
Literature during the Great Depression
Literature:
Literature during the 1930's were escapist or romantic set in earlier eras in an effort to reject the notion of progress. Two examples of this are Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind(1936) and Hervey Allen's Anthony Adverse(1933). Many Americans did not want to read about the struggles of the Great Depression but instead wanted to escape the notion of politics and economics. Some of the literary giants of the period were John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, Margaret Mitchell, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Literature during the 1930's were escapist or romantic set in earlier eras in an effort to reject the notion of progress. Two examples of this are Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind(1936) and Hervey Allen's Anthony Adverse(1933). Many Americans did not want to read about the struggles of the Great Depression but instead wanted to escape the notion of politics and economics. Some of the literary giants of the period were John Steinbeck, Henry Miller, Margaret Mitchell, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Gone with the Wind short synopsis: This movie takes place in southern US in the state of Georgia during the American Civil War(1861- 1865) and the Reconstruction Era(1865 - 1877) that followed the war. The novel starts at the point where seven southern states including Georgia have declared the secession from the US. Notice how the book escapes the current era by leading to a different era escaping reality. This romantic book helped people imagine a simpler time.
Other Works :
Some of the most significant literature showed the harshness and emptiness of American life. For example John Dos Passos's U.S.A trilogy attacked what he considered materialistic selfishness of American culture. Others attacked the various aspects of American life.
Works like The Grapes of Wrath were blunt and direct in their social criticism. For example in The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck shows the social horror that affected farmers, how their farms were foreclosed and taken away. He shows this through the main characters in the book.
Magazines focused more on fashion, stunts, scenery, and the arts than on the social conditions of the nation. For example the magazine Life only devoted a small portion to the economy and politics, but was most famous for the stunning photographs of sporting and theater events, natural landscapes, impressive public projects, and even celebrated parties.
I used :
https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/the-new-deal-1933-1940-25/culture-in-the-thirties-197/literature-and-the-depression-1089-191/
http://history.journalism.ku.edu/1930/1930.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind
highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/.../114174/bri79130_ch25.pdf
Thursday, December 11, 2014
How to Effectively Study for Finals, you're welcome
1. Do not study for long periods of time!
- study in intervals
- ex: study for 20-50 minutes, then take a break for 5-10 minutes
- learning over time instead of all at once is more effective
- cardio improves memory
- increases energy level
- eat super foods, antioxidants
- good breakfast
- eat foods that fill you up fast
- study in different locations
- improves retention
- make a study guide
- don't start studying a day before the test
- sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep
- still sleep
- are you seriously not sleeping yet
- cmon sleep
- lack of sleep causes fogginess and will make retaining info difficult
- put the kim k game away
- don't listen to music that will distract you from working
- don't work with people you will goof off with
Technological Advancements and Inventions during the Great Depression
During the Great Depression, unemployment in the USA rose up to 25%, and people were worried about the future of their country and doing all they could to keep a sustainable lifestyle. Funding for new technologies must have been limited, yet it seems that the Depression did not halt the scientists and engineers of the time. In some cases it may have even pushed forward certain technologies based on the needs and desires of the people. People are always looking to create something big and live off of it. The Great Depression was no exception.
The Car Radio was invented in 1930 by Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, allowing for portable entertainment. During the stress filled time-period, the car radio was extremely popular upon its release.
Monopoly was invented in 1935 by Charles Darrow, an out of work engineer. It seems ironic that such a game would come from a time for people to experience period of economic distraught. However it seemed to be enjoyable for the average person to experience economic domination.
The first helicopter was invented in 1939 by Igor Sikorsky. Perhaps one of the most important inventions of the time period, this helicopter served as the basis for future helicopters around the world. helicopters would even make an appearance in the upcoming World War 2.Sources: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/12/1205_sb_necessity/1.htm
http://connecticuthistory.org/worlds-first-helicopter-today-in-history/
Great War Lectures
Hey guys, I just realized that I had forgotten to upload this. If anyone is still up studying, and want something to listen to in the background. Here it is. Unfortunately, I did not have it in a public source, so you would have to download it. Hopefully, it won't take too long.
Here's the folder to each of the recording
CLICK ME
Good luck everyone!
Here's the folder to each of the recording
CLICK ME
Good luck everyone!
Muckrakers
The other (non AP) classes seemed to place a large importance on their "muckraking project" but we didn't spend too long in class going over what they really were.
Muckrakers were people who wanted to expose social problems to the community and find the corruption in politics. During the 19th and 20th century, some of the most famous muckrakers were Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell. Upton Sinclair exposed the problems in the meatpacking industry in his novel, The Jungle, and helped to fix the problems that he found. Jacob Riis was a journalist in New York City who noticed, through his photography, the hardships that lower class immigrants faced. Especially in the Lower East Side there were dozens of people living difficult impoverished lives. Finally, Ida Tarbell was a woman who surfaced information about Standard Oil Company regarding their trusts and used the opportunity to show others what kind of business and monopoly they truly were!
Today there are thousands of muckrakers wandering the streets. Every time someone questions or challenges the way that society or policy is being taken care of they are acting like a muckraker. More recently, cases such as Mike Brown's have gained a lot of press and have exposed some of the tragedies going on in the United States. Examples such as these clearly indicate ways in which America has yet to overcome segregation and racism. Muckrakers give people a chance to reflect on the society in which they live and all its qualities.
Muckrakers were people who wanted to expose social problems to the community and find the corruption in politics. During the 19th and 20th century, some of the most famous muckrakers were Upton Sinclair, Jacob Riis, and Ida Tarbell. Upton Sinclair exposed the problems in the meatpacking industry in his novel, The Jungle, and helped to fix the problems that he found. Jacob Riis was a journalist in New York City who noticed, through his photography, the hardships that lower class immigrants faced. Especially in the Lower East Side there were dozens of people living difficult impoverished lives. Finally, Ida Tarbell was a woman who surfaced information about Standard Oil Company regarding their trusts and used the opportunity to show others what kind of business and monopoly they truly were!
Today there are thousands of muckrakers wandering the streets. Every time someone questions or challenges the way that society or policy is being taken care of they are acting like a muckraker. More recently, cases such as Mike Brown's have gained a lot of press and have exposed some of the tragedies going on in the United States. Examples such as these clearly indicate ways in which America has yet to overcome segregation and racism. Muckrakers give people a chance to reflect on the society in which they live and all its qualities.
Could a group similar to the CCC help save America’s Infrastructure Today? u
I started thinking about the different work
programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, or the Works Progress
Administration, WPA, that were formed during the Great Depression as part of
FDR’s New Deal programs, and then remembered watching a CBS 60 Minutes program
called “Falling Apart – America’s Neglected Infrastructure” that ran on
November 23rd and was reported by Steve Kroft. Here is the link to that
video:
The show talks a lot about how bad our roads
and bridges are today and how no one in our Government seems to be willing to
do anything about it. So I thought it
was too bad that there isn’t some program like the CCC today that could help
out.
The CCC was formed
in March 1933 as one of the New Deal’s first programs. At that time, there was
still a lot of undeveloped land or National Parks, especially out West, that
needed work. The CCC operated from 1933
to 1942. The driving force behind forming
the CCC was the very high unemployment rate, especially among younger men due
to the Depression. It put these people to work on projects like soil
conservation; building roads, bridges, state parks, dams; laying telephone
lines, building fire observation towers etc . FDR really liked the idea of the CCC because it combined his interests
in conservation with his belief in public service for young people. He believed
that this civilian “tree army” would relieve the rural unemployed and keep
youth “off the city street corners.” The
average CCC boy enlisted when he was 18-1/2 years old and stayed in for 9
months, gained 12-30 pounds in weight and a half-inch in height. He typically
had finished the 8th grade, had no job before joining the CCC and had three to
four family members dependent upon him. Sixty percent were from small towns or
farms. The maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. In nine years, 3
million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter,
clothing, and food, together with a small wage of $30 a month ($25 of which had
to be sent home to their families). Sadly, despite a nondiscrimination policy,
the CCC failed to give a fair share of work to blacks, especially in the South.
Still, in spite of rigid segregation and hiring quotas, black participation
reached 10 percent by 1936. Despite its popular support, the
CCC was never a permanent agency. It depended on emergency and temporary
Congressional legislation for its existence. By 1942, with World War II
and the draft in operation, the need for work relief declined and Congress voted
to close the program.
During its existence the CCC built 46,854
bridges, 3,116 fire-lookout towers, more that 448 million feet of fencing,
318,076 dams for erosion control, and 33,087 miles of terracing. The CCC built
more than 800 parks and planted nearly 3 billion trees nationwide. The CCC fought forest fires,
planted trees and grass, dug canals and ditches, laid pipe, improved wildlife
habitat and build and took care of thousands of miles of hiking trails. Many
things built by the CCC are still in use today.
It would be interesting to see if some of the
bridges that the CCC built are some of the ones talked about in Steve Kroft’s
60 Minutes Report or the other two reports I found on line and quote below:
from: Gary Stoller, USA TODAY; July 29, 2013:
Obama tried to help improve America’s roads
and bridges with his Recovery Act passed in 2009 during the “Great Recession.” However,
Tony Dorsey, a spokesman for AASHTO, which represents state highway and
transportation departments said, "Considering the size of the overall
investment needed, the Recovery Act was more of a temporary relief than a
long-term solution."
According to this article, “State, federal
and local funding levels for road and bridge improvements are not adequate to
meet the nation's growing needs. About $85 billion is required annually to
improve the condition of roads and bridges — nearly double what was spent in
2008, according to the Department of Transportation's 2010 report to Congress.”
AMERICA'S CRUMBLING ROADWAYS
More
of the nation's roads had pavement in poor condition in 2011 than in 2008,
despite an influx of stimulus money to improve roadways. And across the
country, 11% of the bridges were found to be structurally deficient. I thought this chart was really
interesting since it compares California to some other States:
STATE
|
% OF BRIDGES
STRUCTURALLY DEFICIENT |
% OF ROADS
IN POOR CONDITION |
% OF ROADS
IN FAIR CONDITION |
% OF ROADS
IN GOOD CONDITION |
|||||
Ala.
|
9%
|
8.50%
|
25.10%
|
66.40%
|
|||||
Alaska
|
11%
|
24.00%
|
40.90%
|
35.10%
|
|||||
Ariz.
|
3%
|
14.10%
|
28.10%
|
57.80%
|
|||||
Ark.
|
7%
|
30.80%
|
46.00%
|
23.30%
|
|||||
Calif.
|
12%
|
36.60%
|
42.50%
|
21.00%
|
|||||
Colo.
|
7%
|
19.30%
|
51.20%
|
29.50%
|
|||||
Conn.
|
10%
|
47.90%
|
40.20%
|
11.90%
|
|||||
D.C.
|
13%
|
96.70%
|
2.90%
|
0.30%
|
|||||
Del.
|
6%
|
20.20%
|
35.80%
|
44.00%
|
|||||
Fla.
|
2%
|
11.00%
|
27.90%
|
61.10%
|
|||||
Ga.
|
6%
|
8.30%
|
48.80%
|
42.90%
|
|||||
Hawaii
|
13%
|
38.80%
|
40.10%
|
21.10%
|
|||||
Idaho
|
9%
|
17.70%
|
20.70%
|
61.60%
|
|||||
U.S. BRIDGES FALLING DOWN
In May, a bridge classified as functionally
obsolete — the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in Washington —
collapsed after a truck struck a girder. No one died or was seriously injured.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause.
Every 4 years, the American Society of Civil
Engineers releases a Report Card for America’s Infrastructure that depicts the
condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure in the familiar form
of a school report card by assigning letter grades to each type of
infrastructure.
The ASCE's 2013 Report gave America an overall D+ grade. Each category was evaluated on the basis of
capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public
safety and resilience.
Aviation: D Ports: C
Bridges: C+ Public Parks and Recreation: C-
Dams: D Rail: C+
Drinking Water: D Roads: D
Energy: D+ Schools: D
Hazardous Waste: D Solid Waste: B-
Inland Waterways: D- Transit: D
Levees: D- Waste Water: D
A = Exceptional
B = Good
C = Mediocre
D = Poor
F = Failing
The report estimated that the investment needed by 2020 was $3.6
Trillion! - which even in today’s
dollars sounds a lot more than the “A Dollar a Day, Three Hots, and a Flop”
that was promised to the CCC workers during the Great Depression.
Hopefully, another big crisis like the Great Depression and/or the
loss of life due to a major failure of some part of America’s infrastructure
won’t be needed to make Congress and the American people wake up and act on
this problem!
Sources:
ww.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/28/roads-bridges-decaying/2594499/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)