Jordan Rice
11/2008
Chapter 6
American Sentiment in general regarding entering the war was reluctant; being both a challenge to the Monroe Doctrine and risky, considering it has no popular support and that armies sufficient to satisfy the demand of the entente allies can not be recruited by voluntary enlistments (Robert M La Folette). Obviously the idea of war was not popular amongst the American people for obvious reasons, but it was also acknowledged that consistent neutrality did not seem to be an effective response to Germanys constant attacks. The government dealt, or attempted to deal with with this by instilling the Espionage Act in 1918, which fined("for not more than 20 years") anyone disloyal in any way to America and its involvement in the war. This as well as the enourmous amount of propaganda due to the controllabilty of the media did spark America int the right direction in tems of support and making the best of the situation. However,there was still tension brought by word on the horrible conditions (the "dirtiness" of the fighting), and also Wilsons criticisms as "egocentric" and questions as to whether he really was acting in Americas best interest.
Chapter 7
There was a huge amount of change happening in tthe 1920s, racism being a primary. THe perpatrating fear that the white race would be "utterly submerged (Fitzgeral: THe Great Gatsby)" was intensified as people began focusing their energy on the Japanese, whose race "far exceeds that of any other people we have in our midst", as stated by the governor regarding "the Japanese problem" with the justification that assimilating them was an "ethological impossibility). The resurrected Ku Klux Klan also attacked anyone who did not possess "the three great racial instincts", which was 'native, white, and Protestant". On the other hand, blacks arguably experienced perhaps a slight dissipation of racism thanks to their heavy inclusion in the Harlem Renaissance, during which many black poets and artists such as Hangston Hughs merited attention and appreciation from all the races. The increased negative attencion toward the Japanese and the Jews also possibly paced as a slight distraction from racist feelings toward the blacks as well.Technological advances were greatly facilitated by the new labor/wage laws which resulted in more of an even distribution of wealth and time, which lead to a huge demand of appliances such as the automobile, telephone and radio- as said in "The Automobile comes to Muiddletown, NSA 1929": the first real automobile appeared in 1900.... At the close of three families", the automobile having "now reached the point of being accepte as an essential of normal living.." The oncept of morality also experienced as an intense change, which was most accurately manifested in the change of clothing and apearance of women, who had begun wearing makeup, shorter skirts, and a lot more color. Morality also became more of a loose concept; much more difficult to control with the accessibility of freedom and independence offered by the automobile, as well as the open-minded atmosphere brought about by the booming music and art scene, as well as Darwin's new philosophies that challenged religion with the concept of evolution.
Chapter 8
A: The previously popular idea of limited government was seriously challenged during Hoover's reign. Hoover, a huge believer that government "should not assume the major role or the entire responsibility, in replacement of the states or local government . To do otherwise threatens the whole foundation of local government, which is the very basis of self government," strongly advocated it-possibly out of fear of any sort of government action that resembles a step toward communism. He was very much criticized because of this by the American people, who for the most part felt that the situation was out of their hands, and who claimed, as THE NATION states, that he "doesn't even know what is happening under the flag of which (he) is chief guard", implying an unacceptable detachment from his suffering nation.
B: Roosevelt's methods on coping with the depression were radically different from those of Hoover. He believed in heavy government involvement to repair the nation under the idea that "the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." Roosevelt's "New Deal", which was a series of restoration methods for the nation was very involved, however very well recieved was well. He offered jobs through government projects, labor laws, and some welfare. Obviously many businessmen , such as Henry Ford favored Hoover's non-involvement because it meant no restrictions for them, who were free to continue taking advantage of the desperate need for jobs, veiled by the supposed character-building idea of "self-help".
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}