US history, the Idiots’ Guide



US history, the Idiots’ Guide: the absolute bottom line, can’t dumb it down any more than this…

Unit 1 The Founding of the Republic 1789 – 1828

George Washington – figured out how to turn Article II of the Constitution into action. Created the first Cabinet which included: Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who hated each other. This gave rise to the first political parties, Jefferson’s Republicans and Hamilton’s Federalists.

Republicans: small, weak central government, low taxes, agrarian society, more voice for the “common people”, Federal government should only do those things stated in the Constitution--“Strict Construction”

Federalists: Federal government must be supreme. Expansive view of the Constitution---“Loose Construction”. The educate elite should rule, the “mob” of common people was not to be trusted. Create a national banking system [headed by Hamilton’s BUS] and promote manufacturing and commerce.

Washington warned us in his Farewell Address to stay out of European affairs and to avoid permanent “entangling alliances”– ‘cuz those guys are crazy.

John Adams – gruff and outspoken. Came to hate Jefferson, but Hamilton hated him too. French Revolution and whether to support England or France became the big issue. Both of those countries began to interfere with our trade and we began to get into a naval war with France. ( XYZ Affair was when France demanded a bribe to talk to us about ending the war, it led to a “quasi naval war” w/the French) Alien Act - deport foreigners who cause trouble. Sedition Act – jail and fine Americans who criticize government officials or policy. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: states can ignore federal laws they find unconstitutional—the beginning of the nullification/secession debate

Election of 1800. [“the Revolution of 1800”] John “His Rotundity” Adams [Federalist] was unpopular and Thomas Jefferson [Republican] won after a disputed election.

First time power shifted from one party to another in a peaceful transition—the “Revolution of 1800”. Adams did appoint the “Midnight Judges” the night before he left office and the Federalists controlled the courts for the next 35 years, but otherwise, it went well. This set up the court case Marbury v. Madison – Supreme Court has final say over what’s legal and what’s not---“judicial review”

Tom Jefferson – Bought Louisiana Purchase from France, sent Lewis and Clark to check it out. Issues with Britain and France continued. Jefferson got Embargo Act passed and it cut off all trade with both countries. [as well as all others!] Causes instant economic collapse in New England and they hated him for it.

War of 1812 – Brits were still stopping our trade to France. They were kidnapping sailors off US ships [known as impressment ] and they were supporting the Natives on the frontier. War Hawks – young southern and western Congressmen who want to steal Canada. US declares war. Brits burned DC and blockaded our coasts. We beat them on Lake Erie and finally General Andrew Jackson kicked their butts outside New Orleans. [but this occurred AFTER the Treaty of Ghent was signed] Generally, the war was a draw. The second American Revolution? Hartford Convention …secession anyone? Killed Federalist Party

Era of Good Feelings [the Monroe Administration] 1815 – 1824

Federalists died out and the Republicans were the only party, thus the name.

Some important Marshall [John, Federalist Chief Justice from 1801-1835] court cases – Gibbons .v Ogden – Federal government controls interstate trade and travel and McCullough v. MD – States can’t overturn laws passed by Congress; upholds Constitutionality of the BUS. Dartmouth College v. New Hampshire-charters are contracts . . . strengthens power of the corporation and promotes business growth. Like I said, the Federalists continued to run the courts and used them to promote their economic views

Adams - Onis Treaty – we paid Spain for Florida after we invaded it to kick some Seminole butt.

Monroe Doctrine – Europeans have to stay out of the western hemisphere once they are asked to leave and in return, the U.S. will stay out of European affairs, heeding Washington’s advice

Missouri Compromise of 1820– Missouri wants to be a new state and wants to have slaves, northern states say no. Deal [created by the “Great Compromiser”, Henry Clay]: Missouri comes in as a slave state, Maine is broken off from MA and comes in as a free state, no other slave states north of 36 ½ degrees N in the Louisiana Territory

Good Feelings come to an end in 1824 when 4 Republicans ran for office -ugly!

Adams won, but only because there was a deal done with Henry Clay. [Clay supposedly through his support to J.Q. In return for being named Secretary of State. Jackson’s followers called it the “corrupt bargain”] Andy Jackson thought he had been robbed and spent the next 4 years running for office.

Unit 2 Jacksonian America 1828 – 1846

Jackson was first president who was a regular guy. Hero of New Orleans and Indian fighter. Hated Indians and let GA and Congress expel them [despite the Court’s ruling in Worcester v. Georgia] from the east and relocate them to “Indian Territory” [the Indian Removal Act] Killed the National Bank [BUS]and began the nation’s first economic “Panic.” Did stand up to SC when it claimed the authority to “Nullify” the Tariff of Abominations. [which came out of John C. Calhoun’s “SC Exposition and Protest” of 1828]

The reason Jackson was elected was that most states now had free male suffrage [universal white manhood suffrage]– the rise of the common man. Rise of the “Cult of Domesticity” – women should be content to raise the kids and make sandwiches. [but because they needed to teach their sons to be good citizens in a democracy, they also needed to be educated . . . an unintended consequence!] Bring me a cold one this time, dear.

Market Revolution: Except for the period of the Panic of 1837, the US made the first steps toward industrialization. Trade grew, more goods became available to regular people – most from Britain,

Henry Clay – hated Jackson. Took up Hamilton’s old financial plan and advocated the American System-- the government should pay for canals, roads, and bridges and those new railroads [internal improvements] – push economic development, pay for it with a protective tariff, and allow the BUS to help stabilize the economy and banking system. Jackson [and in general, the Democratic Party] disagreed

Reform came out of the Second Great Awakening – Prison reform. Legal reform, temperance, Abolition, womens’ rights leading to the Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments” which sought to bring an end to the so-called “Cult of Domesticity” [separate spheres]

Unit 3 Manifest Destiny 1846 – 1861

God intends the US to spread across the continent. “From sea to shining sea.” [and beyond . . . but that’s a later story ) This is led by President James K. Polk, a Democrat. [Mr. Manifest Destiny]

Hudson River School of artistic expression – mountains, clouds and rivers…glories of the landscape

1836 – Texas war for independence. Americans living in Mexico fight against Mexico and become the Republic of Texas. [Sam Houston, the Alamo, etc.] Jackson doesn’t want to deal with the problem, so Texas remains independent for 10 years.

1846 – US and Britain agree to divide the Oregon Territory at the 49th parallel– fix the northern border. [54 40’ or Fight! was the bogus battle cry in the 1844 presidential election]

Texas annexed by Polk and that triggered the Mexican War. We beat up Mexico and took half their country, Treaty of Guadalupe – Hidalgo—U.S. acquires California, New Mexico, and Utah and Mexico is paid $15 million [Guilt perhaps??].

1849 – Gold was discovered in California and thousands traveled by wagon train or by ship to CA to get rich – but few did. [the “Forty-Niners”]

Not everyone approved of this pro-slave, expansionist agenda. Especially New England Transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau ( Walden and Essay on Civil Disobedience) and Ralph Waldo Emerson thought it was a person’s responsibility to stand up for what they believed even if the community disapproved – kind of like 19th century hippies. A young Whig Congressman from Illinois also disapproved of the Mexican War [but voted to provide funds to “support the troops” anyway], Abe Lincoln’s stand on the issue cost him re-election.

Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay not dead yet, but almost – California wants to be a free state, but south doesn’t want that, SO: CA free, no slave trade in DC, stronger Fugitive Slave Act. and New Mexico and Utah Territory decide for themselves on slavery. This agreement tenuously keeps the Union together for another 10 years.

Slavery [and especially its spread] became the issue of the 1850’s

Popular Sovereignty – let the people in the new territories decide on slavery – cause Congress couldn’t. Became the Kansas – Nebraska Act. Except the people in Kansas couldn’t decide either - so “Bleeding Kansas” became dress rehearsal for civil war.

Dred Scott decision said that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories. Blacks had no rights. [the “sacred” Missouri Compromise was declared to be unconstitutional]

Uncle Tom’s Cabin became a best seller in the north as more educated northerners become adherents of the abolitionist cause. Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison and a runaway slave named Frederick Douglass are featured speakers of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Meanwhile in the south, anyone who questioned the peculiar institution like David Walker [An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World], Hinton Helper [The Impending Crisis of the South] found their books banned and had to leave.

Henry Clay’s old Whig (anti Jackson Party) split over slavery and went out of business. Some Whigs became members of the new anti immigrant [nativist] party, the “Know Nothings” ( Huge numbers of Irish and Germans had come to the US after the 1840’s and many of them were Roman Catholic, which the Know Nothings also hated) -some joined the new Republican Party

Republican Party believed in the old American System – internal improvements, protective tariffs, a national banking system and most importantly, in opposition to the spread of slavery in the new territories [if you were an abolitionist, you would probably have supported this party]

Unit 4 Civil War and Reconstruction 1861 – 1877

Elections of 1860 became a referendum on slavery. Due to faster growth, both in population and wealth, the northern and western states had come to dominate Congress and the Electoral College – the south no longer mattered. They were not amused.

“Black Republican” Abe Lincoln was elected president and immediately, SC seceded from the Union – 10 other states did likewise by the spring of 1861. Drafted a Constitution and elected Jefferson Davis as the first and ONLY president of the Confederate States of America.

Civil War – modern industrial weapons and Napoleonic tactics and medieval medical care resulted in enormous casualities ( ca, 700,000). North had all the material advantages, but the South had the luxury of fighting a defensive war. North lost most early battles, but won at Antietam in Sept. 1862 which allowed Lincoln to issue the . . .

Emancipation Proclamation: slaves in areas in rebellion are free and can now join Union Army. – Lincoln had originally said that the war was to restore the Union, now it becomes a war to end slavery as well. (This also helped to keep the Europeans from coming to the aid of the Confederacy as well)

Not only did the Lincoln and the now-dominant Republican Party fight the war, they also began to build the first Transcontinental railroad, [the Pacific Railway Act] passed the Homestead Act ( giving free land in the west) and the Morrill Act (created what became state agricultural and mechanical land-grant colleges)

Summer 1863---Union victories at Gettysburg in the east and Vicksburg along the Mississippi sealed the Confederacy’s fate and the war ended with the thorough trashing of the south by Union Gen William T. Sherman where the concept of “total war”----taking the battle to the people of the South in order to break their will to fight on--- was introduced [the now infamous “March to the Sea”]

Lincoln was assassinated a week after the shooting stopped. He wanted to restore the Union as easily and as painlessly as possible – but now he’s dead. His VP and successor was a southern Democrat named Andrew Johnson. Southerners saw him as a traitor and northerners soon saw him as the enemy.

Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction: forgive most who had been part of the rebellion, rich had to get individual pardons. As soon as the former Confederate states passed a new state constitution outlawing slavery, they could come back in and bygones would be bygones. Except: Southern states passed Black Codes which just recreated slavery in a way that got around the 13th amendment [which abolished slavery in 1865] This upset the Radical Republicans in Congress

Radical Reconstruction: Punish the South and especially the former Confederates--- the Civil Rights Act of 1866 outlawed Black Codes and guaranteed equal rights for the freedmen

Reconstruction Acts of 1867- southern states must ratify the 14th amendment, and were thrown back out of the Union and placed under martial – military - rule.

14th Amendment ratified, all persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens of the nation [except for Native Americans!] as well as the state in which they reside and all citizens will enjoy both due process and equal protection under the law [this protection will later be extended by the Supreme Court to include corporations also!]

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15th Amendment – all citizens can vote – except women

Johnson disagreed with all of this stuff and he kept vetoing it, the Freedman’s Bureau ( first welfare agency ever created by the federal government) Reconstruction Acts, Civil Rights Acts and so on.

Congress eventually tried to impeach Johnson – but he got off – He violated the Tenure of Office Act by firing someone Congress didn’t want him to fire, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and they impeached him for it.

Southerners fought back with organizations like the KKK. And open warfare broke out between the US army and southern whites who were determined to keep their former property “in their place”.

Reconstruction ended when the election of 1876 got ugly. The votes from 3 southern states were ejected from the Electoral College because there had been voter fraud, with those states gone the election was tied – so…. If new president Rutherford B. Hayes [Rep.] pulled the remaining federal troops out of the south, the south would accept him as president. This so-called “Compromise of 1877” ended Reconstruction and also consigned the freedmen to 80+ years of second-class citizenship under the system that became known as Jim Crow. This was called being “Redeemed”

Unit 5 Gilded Age 1876 – 1896

The US’s economy really kicked in and grew at an unbelievable pace. The U.S. built factories, and rail roads. Cities grew as a result, Immigration continued to grow. [Especially the “New Immigration” from countries in southern and eastern Europe.] Huge new corporations like Standard Oil, Duke Tobacco and Carnegie Steel were created and all this new wealth created massive new corruption. There were no rules—“Social Darwinism” and laissez-faire government ruled the day. Wages were often cut, thousands of workers were killed or maimed on the job and the average person was probably worse off in 1895 than they were before the Civil War, but so what? The rich like Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan created trusts and monopolies, built huge mansions, bought and sold state legislatures, and controlled the powerful U.S. Senate. They used this power to crush unions, the most important of which were the Knights of Labor [which allowed skilled and unskilled workers, men and women, whites and blacks to join] and the American Federation of Labor [which allowed only skilled workers to join and focused on “bread and butter unionism”—better wages, hours, and working conditions] and there were many ugly strikes and confrontations [among these were the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the Haymarket Riot, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike], but in the end, the companies always won. [primarily because they had the active support of both state and federal governments which helped turn many of these strikes into bloody affairs]

Social Darwinism – the idea that if you’re rich, you are a more highly evolved life form and if you’re poor, well, sorry, but it’s your own fault

There were half hearted attempts to clean things up – The Pendleton Act established the civil service – which began to do away with the old Jacksonian “Spoils System” where all government jobs were filled by political supporters. That was only because some office-seeking nutcase shot president James Garfield. But political scandals were so common, they didn’t even get people’s attention. – kind of like now?

Indians were finally forced on to reservations – or killed (starved actually because we killed off the buffalo on which their culture depended), because, as Gen. Philip Sheridan famously put it, “the only good Indians I have ever seen were dead.” The federal government tried to Americanize [assimilate] them and it took their kids and tried to teach them to be good little farmers – just like the white people. (the Dawes Act, passed in 1887 attempted to do this and was a miserable failure)

In the south, Jim Crow began to become the law – segregation was supposed to be illegal, but so what? Plessy v. Ferguson ( 1896) said as long as things were “separate but equal”, segregation of the races was okay. But with no legal/ political rights for African Americans, who was there to enforce equal?

Sharecropping in many ways replaced slavery – also known as debt peonage.

The Populist Party grew out of the conditions on the farms. Farm prices had been going down since the Civil War [in part due to the farmers’ overproduction of crops] and it became almost impossible for farms to make it. Farmers want inflation, so they wanted US currency to be based on both gold and silver – increasing the money supply, They also wanted:

Lower tariffs on manufactured goods from Europe

Government ownership of railroad and telegraphs [which is, gasp[!] . . . Socialism!!]

Interest rate caps

A graduated income taxes [the rich pay more, what a concept] instead of property taxes – which hurt them the worst

William Jenning Bryan ran for president twice on that platform and lost both times [the second time in 1896, he was also the nominee of the Democratic Party which had more or less “swallowed up” the Populists, which led to the demise of this once-promising party]

Cities grew so fast that things like fresh water, housing, decent food, sanitation, transportation and medical care were only available to those who could afford them and most couldn’t. Many cities fell under the control of political machines that provided services in return for votes and kickbacks. The most infamous of these was the Tammany Hall machine that ran New York City. [it’s most famous “boss” was William Marcy Tweed who was eventually convicted and sent to prison, largely due to the efforts of the political cartoonist Thomas Nast.] I don’t like the Gilded Age.

Unit 6 Progressives and Imperialists 1895 – 1919

We have to do Imperialism before we do progressives because the test says so…

T. Roosevelt was the arch Imperialist. Imperialists believed that they should do the “backward peoples” of the world a favor by taking over their lands and instituting “enlightened” government but mostly they wanted to take their resources and create new markets for American goods. Because all the major European countries had begun to divide up Africa and Asia between them. US decided to take the advice of people like Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan and Sen. Albert Beveridge and join in the fun – the U.S. wanted to become a “player” on the world stage, too!

*The U.S. engineered an overthrow of the government of Hawaiian Islands and annexed them 1898.

*The U.S. picked a war with Spain over one of our battleships which was blown up in Havana Harbor. [“Remember the Maine! became the battle cry.] The U.S. volunteer army [including Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders”] and navy kicked some Spanish butt and took the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and some small islands in the Pacific. We supposedly “gave” Cuba its independence – as long as they did exactly what we said. (we forced them to sign the Platt Amendment) The Filipinos didn’t like us and they fought an ugly little guerrilla war against us. Finally Gov. Taft won them over – kind of. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine [the so-called “Big Stick”] established the U.S. as the “policeman” of the Western Hemisphere and led to much resentment towards the U.S. in Latin America [Do the names Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez ring a bell? They study history too, you know!] END part I

Later, the U.S. instigated a revolution in Colombia and “freed” Panama. Panama then let us dig a canal across the isthmus. That cut a month out of the trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

By 1900, the US had the largest and most productive economy in the world and the rest of the world powers began to notice us. We even joined them in an invasion of China after they tried to throw out the “foreign devils” in the Boxer Rebellion. Despite rumors to the contrary, bullets did kill them. We instituted the “Open Door” Policy in China so that the U.S. could also benefit through one-sided trade deals with China

To many younger and educated middle-class people, the country was in danger of falling into chaos and revolution, so they decided the system had to be changed enough to save it. They’re called the Progressives.

Jacob Riis exposed the conditions of the tenements in New York in his novel [complete with documentary photographs], How the Other Half Lives, Ida Tarbell went after Standard Oil [in The History of the Standard Oil Company] and Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle. [which led Congress to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906] TR called these writers/journalists “Muckrakers” because they spent their time investigating the nasty stuff at the bottom.

A young man who had served time in the New York Assembly and as NY City Police Commissioner became the figurehead of the movement. TR or Theodore Roosevelt came to personify the Progressives.

Progressives wanted to clean up the government corruption, protect workers and consumers, and extend democracy [by adopting many of the old Populist demands--- direct election of U.S. Senators, adoption of the secret ballot and initiative, referendum, recall, and primary elections for potential candidates]

In order to assist immigrants to “Americanize”/assimilate – Jane Addams and the “settlement house” movement began– Hull House in Chicago [and many others] led that crusade

Use scientific management methods in corporate America and city government – the City Manager system came from this – use specially trained experts instead of corrupt “Bosses” to run cities

Limit the availability of liquor—the old temperance movement which led to Prohibition [which was achieved with the passage of the 18th Amendment]

Progressives also believed in giving workers a bit of help against the corporations, which they saw as too powerful TR called this the “Square Deal.” He also had Booker T. Washington [whose “Atlanta Compromise” speech made him THE spokesman for African Americans in this period] over for dinner and told the coal companies what they were going to do…but he was no radical, change the system enough to save it…remember?

TR even went after big business and began to break up some “bad” Trusts ( huge companies) with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and also was able to get the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts through Congress. . . which meant among other things, that you can no longer sell cocaine as allergy medicine nor can you prescribe opium at will

Whereas, TR was not afraid to use force, his successor, William Howard Taft ( our fattest President) believed in Dollar Diplomacy – Let the dollar do the talking instead of the maxim gun. [Though the U.S. found that it still had to use guns to protect its investments!] He was a wimp in TR’s eyes, so Roosevelt split the Republican Party [by forming the Progressive or “Bull Moose” Party] in 1912 and a Democrat won, Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson was a good - if racist – progressive. He continued to go after the huge Trusts [with the Clayton Antitrust Act] and the 16th Amendment provided for the old populist income tax and the 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of US Senators. He also set up the Federal Reserve System– to regulate and bring some sort of federal control/supervision to the banking system.

BUT in 1914 the Europeans went to war over stupid stuff. They had been in an arms race since the 1890’s. They had been competing for colonies. They had a tradition of hatred and distrust that was fueled by extreme nationalism. They had gotten into a series of secret alliances, so once the house began to fall (Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary’s assassination in Sarajevo provided the “spark” that set off the “powder keg” that was Europe at that time) No one could figure out how to stop the march towards war.

The machine gun made successful offensive attacks impossible, so both sides built elaborate trench systems and the war soon became a massive and horrible blood bath Neither side could figure out how to stop the stalemate. They tried all sort of new and horrific weapons----poison gas, airplanes, tanks, submarines, along with periodic suicidal and stupid frontal attacks, but nothing worked.

The US stayed out for 3 years. Finally in April 1917, the US entered the war. Whether it was the Zimmerman Telegram asking Mexico join in an alliance with Germany and attack us, or the German submarines [called “U-boats”] sinking ship with Americans on board or Wall Street fearing it may lose its investments in Britain and France or some combination, the U.S. went to war. To get America on the same page, civil liberties had to be curtailed and dissent was outlawed. [with passage of the Espionage and Sedition Acts] This might have a familiar ring to it, but as George Santayana said, “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”

We came in at the critical moment, the Russians had dropped out and into Revolution. The Germans were playing their last card but the U.S “doughboys” under Gen. Jack Pershing arrived just in time to stop the German offensive.

The victorious Allies, US, Britain and France met at Versailles outside of Paris. They were in charge of putting the world back together.

Woodrow Wilson had gone to France with his 14 Point – blueprint for post war peace – no secret alliances, a League of Nations, freedom of the Seas, free trade, self-determination, etc.

However, Britain and France wanted to humiliate Germany. They won and the Treaty of Versailles--- took away Germany’s military, navy, and all of its colonies, imposed a government on them and made them pay France and Britain reparations to the tune of $33 billion for damage done during the war. In the end, the U.S. Senate didn’t ratify the treaty, and the nation returned to its isolationist traditions. “You Europeans are crazy, just like Washington said.” Everyone had the flu anyway – no joke. Millions died in world-wide influenza epidemic

Unit 7 The Roaring Twenties or “Jazz Age” 1919 – 1932

Johnny came marching home to civil unrest and unemployment. The media blamed communists and anarchists, but it was mostly wage cuts and no jobs. Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, ordered all suspected foreigners rounded up and deported in the Palmer Raids. The re – born Ku Klux Klan attracted millions of new members as it expanded its hate to include foreigners, radicals, Jews, and Catholics as well as African Americans. Everyone wanted to be a “right thinking” American – except the intellectuals who bailed for Paris where you could believe and do what ever you wanted. The so-called [by the judge in the case] “Italian, anarchist bastards” Sacco and Vanzetti were tried and eventually fried for the crime of being Italian, anarchist bastards and not, it would appear, because they had committed any crime.

Ok, let’s get on with the party… the 18th [Prohibition] Amendment became the law of the land in 1920. With “Demon Rum” outlawed, a new criminal enterprise was born----bootlegging. Nationwide, though the consumption of alcohol did decline, the people’s demand for booze caused organized crime, led by “gangsters” like Al Capone, to be on the rise. The price of cars went down [Thanks to Henry Ford’s assembly line and his “Model T”] and most could afford them. Urban areas had electricity, so people began to buy vacuum cleaners, fans, toasters, even refrigerators – for the rich, but most of all people bought radios. People bought all this stuff “on time” by making installment payments. For the first time there was a consumer society. The buying started the economic boom of the ‘20’s.

In foreign affairs there was an attempt to limit naval construction by the Washington Conference and outlaw war with the Kellogg – Briand Pact. ( described as a letter to Santa Claus)

Warren Harding was elected in 1920 by promising a return to “normalcy” [by which he meant a return to the good old days of laissez-faire government and Social Darwinism and isolationism in foreign affairs] which isn’t even a word. He was clueless and his buddies looted the country while he began to drink heavily.

Eventually Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior did go to jail over the Tea Pot Dome Scandal. Seems he took a bribe to let Sinclair Oil drill on US property. Harding had the good taste to die before any of the scandals broke. He was followed by “Silent” Cal Coolidge. Who believed that the business of America is business – and the government shouldn’t interfere.

The lost generation – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, et al drank and partied. Others like Sinclair Lewis made fun of “right thinking Americans” like George Babitt. They knew it was all a sham, so party hardy every day. [Also, the horrific and senseless slaughter that was World War I might have had something to do with their attitudes!]

Not everyone was invited to the party… about half of the families in the country lived at or below the poverty level. They were not buying cars and fridges. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon believed in “Trickle Down Economics.” Cut taxes, get rid of government regulations and the economy will grow. Eventually, the wealth will “trickle down” to the rest.

The rich began to invest in stocks because stock prices were going through the roof. Put a $100 on RCA and next year it will be $200, and the following year $400….Problem is that began to slow down the purchase of other goods, The other half had no money to spend.

By late 1928, demand for goods was falling and inventories were rising, but no one cared…the party continued. The Republican Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover said that the country was on the verge of ending poverty, where there would be “two cars in every garage, and a chicken in every pot.”

October 24, 1929. No one knows why, but the stock market began to tank. People who had bought stock with borrowed money - on margin – had to sell all their stock at once – which drove the price down farther… and farther …and farther. The stock market crash didn’t cause the Great Depression, but it did signal its beginning.

Unit 8 The New Deal and Depression 1932 - 1939

Congress passed the Smoot – Hawley Tariff, taxing imports, so other countries taxed our exports. We stopped lending to the Germans, who stopped paying back the French, who stopped paying us back and the entire world economy slowed to a crawl. (This was called the Dawes Plan, and it collapsed as the world’s economy tanked)

President Hoover did try, some. He pushed through the NIRA which lent money to companies. But by election day 1932, unemployment in the US was approaching 25 %, perhaps higher, and in some cities it was 40%. People blamed Hoover as they moved into shacks in Hoovervilles and slept under newspapers called Hoover blankets. It wasn’t his fault, but …

To make matters worse, WW I veterans ( Bonus Army) had marched to DC to get the pension money they had been promised later. They set up a Hooverville where the Pentagon is now. Hoover sent the army in and Gen. Doug MacArthur and his underling, Dwight Eisenhower chased them out with tear gas and tanks. That did not look good in the newsreels at all.

The Democrats had run TR’s cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and he won in a landslide. Roosevelt had no clue how to end the depression, he offered, “bold, persistent experimentation.”

*He also closed the banks for a long weekend. Only those bank judged safe were allowed to re open. That restored faith in the banking system

• He brought a bunch of bright young men from Columbia to DC and created the Brain Trust.

• He got his New Deal through Congress in 100 days ( the 3 R’s “relief, recovery and reform of the capitalist system”)

o AAA – paid farmers not to grow – eliminated over supply, raised prices

o NRA – price and wage controls, codes to regulate the economy ( Big Blue Eagle)

o CCC – put young men to work in forests for a dollar a day

o PWA/ WPA = paid unemployed to build / create roads, schools, post offices etc.

o TVA and REA – brought electricity to rural areas, especially in the south

o Social security – old age pensions for some – “creeping socialism”

The New Deal never fixed the depression, only WWII did that, but it did give people enough hope to keep them from taking nutcases like Huey the “Kingfish” Long ( Share the Wealth/ every man a king) or Father Coughlin too seriously.

At this time the Germans are electing Adolf Hitler and the Japanese army whacked the Prime Minister and took over the government. We were lucky indeed that we had a leader and not a head case at this moment.

By the mid 30’s things were not great, but looking up. The conservative Supreme Court struck down the AAA and the NRA because they were unconstitutional, which they are. FDR tried to appoint a bunch of new judges. But the Court Packing Scheme went too far. FDR’s popularity began to wane, but he won re-election ’36.

Unit 9 World War II and the beginnings of the Cold War 1941 - 1952

Sept. 1, 1939. the Germans triggered WW2 in Europe. They had been jerking the Czechs and the Brits and the French around since 1936, but the invasion of Poland went too far. The Japanese had already invaded China in 1931 – so the war is on.

Wilson’s League of Nations sat by and let the world go to Hell in a Handbasket ( remember we never joined.)

Once again the US was reluctant to get in. FDR was pushing us to war, but America was being stubborn. Finally, “December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy…” those “filthy Japs” bombed our naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

It took a while but the Allies ( Britain, US, USSR and Free France and China) began to push the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan) powers back. The Americans and the Brits threw Hitler out of Africa (Operation Torch), then invaded Italy and finally on June 6, 1944, ( D-Day) France. Meanwhile the Russians were coming in from the east after their victory at Stalingrad. – Then it’s checkmate for Hitler’s Germany. Besides we bombed the crap out of them. Germany basically ceased to exist.

In the Pacific, Japan was out classed by the US. Using Island hopping, we got closer and closer to the Japanese islands so that we could bomb the crap out of them too. They fought well, but it really didn’t matter. At Coral Sea and Midway (turning points), the US Navy trashed the Japanese navy – partly because we were reading their codes in real time.

At home, Rosie the Riveter worked double shifts and grandma raised the kids. Rationing went into effect, no gas, no tires, no stockings, no cars, limited food and sky high taxes made sure everyone made some sacrifices. That’s how we became the Arsenal of Democracy and ended the Depression.

Meanwhile, with the top secret Manhattan Project the US built the first atomic bombs, then on August 6, 1945 the world changed when we nuked Hiroshima and 3 days later Nagasaki. Japan surrendered.

Beginnings of the Cold War:

FDR, Churchill and Stalin had met at Yalta in early 1945.

They decided that Germany should be partitioned,

That there would be free elections in those parts of Europe liberated by the Soviets and

That the Soviet Union would come into the war against Japan 3 month after the war in Europe was over.

To be real, Stalin had no intention to let eastern Europe decide its future. He wanted a buffer zone between him and Germany – and FDR probably knew it, but he wanted Russia in the war against Japan, so he pretended Stalin was a nice guy. This will be a big deal after the war. Did FDR sell us out to the Ruskies? Or did he believe he could work with “Uncle Joe?” FDR died less than 3 months later

July 1945, Potsdam Conference: FDR gone, replaced by VP, Harry Truman. Churchill gone, lost an election, Stalin still there. Truman had an attitude because Stalin had not permitted elections in eastern Europe. Got even more of an attitude when he heard that the A-bomb actually worked. US and Soviet Union begin the Cold War.

Churchill visited the US and made his famous Iron Curtain speech in 1946. Then China fell to those godless commies under Mao Tze Dong. Then the Soviets cut off access to Berlin ( Berlin Airlift) and we flew food and fuel in for a year. In the end Stalin backed down, but the cold war is on… Truman Doctrine – the US will stop Communist Aggression (AKA Policy of Containment)

Sect’y of State George Marshall took it a step farther and offered to give Europe US aid to rebuild – called the Marshall Plan.

1948 – US joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO) permanent alliance with western Europe to oppose the Commies.

1949 – Soviets exploded their first A – bomb. We figured that they were too stupid to do that, so we began to suspect they were spying on us – we now know they were. ( Julius and Ethyl Rosenberg were fried for spying)

1950 – Korean War begins, North Korea, commie, invaded South Korea. We ( and the UN) sent troops under Doug MacArthur. He landed them behind the North Koreans at Inchon and chased them up to the Chinese border. At which time the Chinese became offended and struck back. Truman had told Mac Arthur not to do that, and MacArthur was fired. MacArthur was a hero, Truman wasn’t. In the end, the war ended with a truce and the 38th parallel is still the dividing line between North and South Korea. ( The US still has men there)

Americans coming home from the war found shortages of everything – especially jobs and housing. They had the benefits of the GI Bill, but things were still tough. When war time price and wage controls came off, prices spiked up faster than wages. Strikes were pretty common and Truman tried to draft strikers – but the court said NO!

Insecurity breeds contempt and we were not feeling good about ourselves, so we had to find a scapegoat - Commies. Republicans began to beat Truman for being either clueless or an actual commie lover himself.

In the elections of 1946, the Republicans gained both houses of Congress for the first time since 1932. They set up the House Un American Activities Committee ( HUAC) which began investigations of Commie influence – Everyone had to take loyalty oaths and paranoia became the order of the day.

They then passed the Taft –Hartley Act which outlawed closed union shops mandated “cooling off” periods before strikes.

Sen. “Tailgunner Joe” McCarthy used this fear to manipulate the people and create power for himself. McCarthyism is what Arthur Miller was writing about in the Crucible. “ I hold in my hand the names of 209 employees of the State Department who are known members of the Communist Party.” Actually it was a laundry list.

Truman’s own party dissed him for integrating the armed forced by executive order – Strom Thurmond and his fellow southern Democrats bolted and became Dixicrats People thought Truman had no chance to win the ’48 elections…. BUT he did. They underestimated “Give ‘em Hell Harry”.

Thanks to the GI Bill more young men had gone to college than ever before – this raised incomes enabling these young men and their growing families to move out to the suburbs, buy a TV and enjoy the good life – as long as you did exactly what everyone else on your street did – conformity become the rule. You played by the rules, worked hard, your employer took care of you, gave you regular raises and promotions – even health insurance. It was a great time to be a white male. Pretty much sucked for everyone else, but for the man in the gray flannel suit, it was supposed to be heaven.

Unit 10 The Fifties 1952 - 1965

In 1952 we liked Ike – Dwight Eisenhower – supreme commander in Europe during the war. Moderate Republican rode in on the commie baiting of Senator Joe McCarthy, then trashed him when he took on Eisenhower’s buddies in the army. Eisenhower’s hatchet man and VP was a young man by the name of “Dick” Nixon.

1954 – Supreme Court announced its decision in the Brown v. the School Board of Topeka, KS. “Segregation has no place in public education”

1955 – Rosa refuses to give up her seat and begins the Montgomery bus boycott ( MKL and SCLC gained national prominence in Montgomery.

Like all good Republicans, Ike wanted to cut spending and taxes, he really wasn’t too successful, but he did try to cut military expenses - he did this by coming up with the idea of Brinkmanship ( more bang for the buck). If you cross the line we’ll nuke you ‘cause nukes are cheaper than divisions.

Eisenhower Doctrine – we’ll defend the Middle Eastern oil fields. (This came out of 1956 Suez Crisis – a last hurrah for European colonialism)

1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik – first man made satellite. Embarrassed the US because our rockets kept blowing up on the launch pads. Bigger issue, the same technology which could launch sputnik could launch nukes at the US. Created the missile gap. First time the Feds get involved in education.

1957 – Eisenhower reluctantly federalizes Arkansas national guard troops to integrate Little Rock High

1959 U-2 Crisis – Soviets shot down one of our U-2 spy planes just before Eisenhower and Soviet leader Khruchev were to meet. The US denied that we flew spy planes over Russia. They produced the plane and the pilot – big embarrassment for Ike. Summit called off.

Elections of 1960: Ike’s VP, Richard Nixon – commie hunter v. John Kennedy and the New Frontier. Very close election. Kennedy looked better on TV – first presidential debate and his dad bought West Virginia and Chicago. That put him over the top.

Kennedy tried to do some things, but the southern Democrats ignored him – they were afraid of a northern Catholic who had sent a nice letter to Dr King. So they blew him off. He lasted 3 years and had his brains splattered all over Jackie’s pretty dress in Dallas.

There was the Missile Crisis-( Blockade Cuba, get Ruski missiles out), and the Bay of Pigs fiasco ( our bad, Cuba), and the Berlin Wall, so you can see the cold war was in full swing. But the missile crisis was too close a thing, so Test Ban Treaty was passed and the “hot line” installed.

VP Lyndon Johnson took the oath on the way back to DC from Dallas. A real political operator – knew where all the skeletons were and would threaten to bring them out if you didn’t support him. As crude and crass as he was, he was painfully effective. He promised to create the “Great Society” – or the War on Poverty

He got the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 – eliminating discrimination in public places

He got the 24th amendment which eliminated poll taxes

He got the Voting Rights Act of 1965

He got Medicare and Medicaide

He got urban renewal an attempt to rebuild inner cities

He got the war on poverty…

but he also got the Tonkin Gulf Resolution ( Congress handed him a blank check to wage war) which resulted in the war on the Vietnamese. – “Hey, Hey LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?”

Johnson did not run for re-election in ’68 because we now know that he had come to realize the kids were right

Unit 11 The Last 30, Quick and Dirty

“Dick Nixon” 1969 – 1974

*Southern Strategy – the race card- appeal to disaffected white southerners get ‘em to vote Republican

*Recognition of “Red China” Isolated USSR – 1972

*Watergate: 1972 – someone – on orders from the Whitehouse authorized a break in of the Democratic HQ at the Watergate Hotel. Burglars were caught, Nixon tried to cover it up and probably destroyed evidence.

Pentagon Papers ( Vietnam was a fiasco and the Pentagon knew it)…New York Times v. US , no prior restraint.

War Powers Act: tried to prevent presidents from abusing their powers as commander-in- chief, after 90n days they have to get Congress to pass an official declaration of war. ( Has not been too successful.)

*Paris Accords – 1973 Began the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam

*First Energy crisis – 1974 Arab – Israeli War in 1973. Arabs blamed us and cut off the oil to the US. Triggered inflation and the high cost of energy began an inflationary spiral. The worst of both worlds, slow economic growth and inflation = “staglflation”

*Nixon resigns rather than face impeachment – Aug. ’74 It took 2 years, but the investigation of the break in at the Watergate Hotel got too close to the White House.

During this period women finally pushed into the professions and management ( led by people like Gloria Streinem and Betty Freidan and NOW).

We even became concerned about the environment. Rachel Carson wrote the Silent Spring about the dangers of DDT. Johnson and Nixon signed laws to begin the process to clean up the air and water. (Clean Air and Clean Water Acts)

Kids – who are called “baby boomers” went to college in record numbers and protested against the Grey Flannel suit mentality their fathers lived in. We call these kids Hippies” “Tune in, turn on and drop out” became a rallying cry. The society went from everyone being on the same page to everyone doing their own thing… The civil rights movement turned more violent after King’s assassination in ‘68

These changes were too much too fast and the conservatives launched a reaction which would lead to the Reagan years in the ‘80’s.

Gerry Ford 1974 – 1977

• Only president who was never elected in a nation wide election. Was appointed by Nixon as VP when Agnew had to resign

• Pardoned Nixon – sealed his fate

• Stagflation continues ( WIN)

• Helsinki Accords – closer cooperation between the east and the west…remember the cold war is still in high gear.

Jimmy Carter 1977 – 1981

*Nice guys really do finish last. Elected as an “outsider” He was so much of an outsider his own party dissed him.

* Bakke v. CA: case – over turns affirmative action and raises the issue of “reverse discrimination”

*Did have Egypt and Israel come to Camp David ( the Accords) and agree not to attack each other again.

*Iran overthrew another corrupt anti commie, pro US, dictator. Iran set up a theocracy and cut off our oil again – and took hostages at the US embassy. Sets off the second oil crisis. In modern money gas hit $3.00 a gallon in 1981.

*“Malaise” failed attempt to rescue the hostages in Iran, and interest rates (14% mortgages – 21% car loans) toast Carter after one term

Ronnie Reagan 1981 – 1989

*Reactionary, cut growth of social programs and taxes and increased defense spending. Supply Side economics - or as GHW Bush called them “Voodoo economics”. See Mellon’s old trickle down ideas. “ deregulation” get the government out of the economy. Greed is good – see Aynn Rand (Editor’s note: the deregulation of financial markets has obviously worked so well – but it seemed like a good idea at the time.)

Fired air traffic controllers sending the message that unions can now be broken…

*Began arms race with USSR, which they could not afford and drove them out of business. Star Wars- take the arms build up into space. “Mr. Gorbachev. Tear down your wall”

*Huge deficits, but hey, “It’s morning in America” We wanted to feel good about ourselves again and Reagan made some of us feel that way.

AIDs is God’s punishment for a sinful lifestyle. Like I said we were tired of all that activist stuff from the ‘60’s. Let’s go back to the world of the Gray Flannel and God. NC’s Senator Jesse Helms led the charge against commies, queers and affirmative action.

*Iran-Contra scandal. Seems we sold weapon to Iran – our mortal enemy and used the money to overthrow a socialist government in Nicaragua. Illegal, but so what? It’s morning in America. All of this is still classified.

GHW Bush 1989 – 1993

*Former Reagan VP. Iran Contra is still classified ‘cause #41 knows what happened…

*Internationalist – used the UN to create an alliance to attack Iraq after it invaded Kuwait.

* Did raise taxes and mild recession in ‘91 ruined re-election bid.

Bill Clinton 1993 – 2001

• Proposed national health insurance. Got no where

• Lost control of Congress in 94 and spent the rest of his terms fighting the Congress

• Impeached for perjury over a stain.

G W Bush 2001 – 2009

Picked up where Reagan left off…

Disputed election in 2000. Evidence of vote fraud in Florida ( Jeb is governor) Supreme Court ruled that there was no time for a complete vote re-count and less than that would be a violation of the equal protection clause – so Bush won.

Six months into first term, 9/11 –Horrible tragedy. We invaded Afghanistan to go after Al- Qaeda who claimed responsibility for taking out the office buildings

Then decided that Iran had weapons of mass destruction – based on information that was both incorrect and obtained under torture. so we invaded them as well. Still there.

Neocons dictated foreign policy: US has an obligation to remake the world in its democratic Ironic isn’t it?) and laissez faire image. Bush became one of the most hated US leaders of all times

Domestically, pushed through a massive tax cut and sent the deficit through the roof. Fighting a war and tax cuts don’t go together…ask Lyndon.

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