Beginning of Apple

The beginning of Apple started with the creators, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The two Steves became friends after being introduced by their friends Bill Fernandez and got along because of their shared interest in their shared love for technology and pranks. The two friends joined forces in making "blue boxes" that enabled people to make long distance phone calls for free. The two Steves had their first encounter with making computers when they attended the Homebrew Computer Club together, a hobbyist group that gathered in California's Menlo Park from 1975. Steve Jobs saw Steve Wozniak's computer creation and recognized its power and even sold his VW microbus to help with its production. Together they used this fund to create the company called Apple Computer Inc. on April 1st, 1976.

The name Apple originally was created because of Wozniak's experience in working at the orchards up in Oregon. In an interview speaking to Byte magazine in December 1984, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak explained, "Maybe the word just happened to occur to him. In any case, we both tried to come up with better names but neither one of us could think of anything better after Apple was mentioned." When it came to selling these computers, Wozniak built each computer by hand and the first supply of 50 Apple 1s were sold to Byte Shop in Mountain View for $500 each. Overall the creation of Apple has lead a legacy of technological advancement in America. Till this day, Apple has a big impact in our modern consumerism and it will only continue to grow. What are your opinions on the history that Apple has lead for especially Silicon Valley?

What is HIV?

The HIV epidemic is quite new in the eyes of many scientists, as the disease was only discovered in humans in the 1980s. This abbreviation stands for Human immunodeficiency virus, and it is known as such a dangerous disease because it attacks one's immune system and shuts down the cells that help defend against infections. This infection is spread through bodily fluids, and is most commonly spread by means of drug injection or sexual activity. When this infection was first discovered, it was labeled as the "gay disease," as many people believed that gay men were the only ones to contract HIV. However, once this infection became known in some women, people began to realize that it was not just gay men who were at risk of contracting HIV, rather it was everybody in the world. Many people were unaware that they were infected with HIV, as the symptoms are very similar to those of the flu. A few weeks after a person becomes infected, they will often develop a fever and chills and believe that they are sick with a common cold. However, this infection will continue to multiply for many years and can advance into AIDS if left untreated. Many people use the terms HIV and AIDs interchangeably, however, AIDS is the final stage of HIV. While many people could live with HIV for years without knowing it, this infection can eventually turn into AIDS which is the most fatal stage of HIV. This stage is seen as the worst because it is where the immune system is the most damaged and the person has about 8 times less immune cells to battle infection in comparison to a healthy person.

 While there is a form of treatment called Antiretroviral therapy, (ART) this therapy does not cure HIV entirely. This prevents HIV from multiplying and reduces the infected cells in the body. By having less HIV in one's body, the chances of suffering further immune system damage lessens tremendously. While ART is not a cure for HIV, it has the potential to help HIV+ people live healthier lives. Hopefully as the world of science continues to progress, a cure for this infection will come up, and less lives will be lost to HIV.

Women's Liberation Movement

  The Women's Liberation Movement was a change that was initiated by women of diverse backgrounds in order to bring more equality to women in all aspects of life. Women were tired of being seen as lesser people than men, and this movement questioned the current social structure in America that many women previously accepted. This movement was driven by humanistic values, and women started by advocating for more women-only spaces so that women could have a place to convene and discuss current issues without their opinions being overshadowed by those of men. One way in which women began liberating themselves was stepping away from traditional gender roles. Instead of feeling obligated to do the dishes and cook dinner every night, more women began doing things because they wanted to do them, rather than society.
 
This movement came about directly after the fight for civil rights in the 1950s. As this time was filled with a lot of political and social change, some believe that the women's liberation movement came about from the civil rights movement. However, this was not the first fight for women's rights. About 40 years before this movement, the first feminist movement came about with the battle for women's suffrage. This goes to show that women did not gain their rights overnight. It took years to convince society and government that women are just as capable as men, and in some senses, women are still battling to show their competence in the world today. Men still dominate the industry of technology and STEM, and some women feel overshadowed in this area by their male counterparts. However, society today is much more open minded in regards to gender equality and hopefully in the near future, gender will not be of importance when it comes to determining one's capabilities.

The Personalization of Technology

The late 1970s and early 1980s  was the beginning of the technological revolution in America. It started with the introductions of devices such as VCRs and Walkmans. VCRs made movies and shows more accessible to all Americans to watch any time they want. Walkmans permitted people to begin to listen to music on the go.

There were many other introductions of technology, but the main invention was the computer. When the computer was first introduced, it was a very complicated piece of software to use and was incredibly expensive. This resulted in computers not very accessible for Americans at all. Apple, founded by Wozniack and Jobs, made it their mission to make computers that every American could have in their home. They had the vision that we would eventually live in an age controlled by technology. Of course, that's the world that we now find ourselves living in today.

Able Archer

An interesting topic that came up this week was Able Archer 83.  This was a codename for a command post exercise carried out in November of 1983 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. As the Americans tested new ways to communicate over code, radio silences, and the participation of heads of government, this brought an increase of realism. As the United States and the Soviet Union were fighting through deterrence, the Soviets believed that Able Archer 83 was a ruse of war. This was the thought of the Americans striking the first nuclear attack. The Soviets then readied their nuclear forces while keeping alert in the air units in East Germany and Poland. I feel that this is interesting for how a little code command could lead to a huge fear over a country. As the tensions increased between the US and Soviets, any word can cause a problem with nuclear attacks.

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Chernobyl is located near the Ukraines border with Belarus. On April 27 1986, the city was evacuated after the Chernobyl disaster happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This incident was the most disastrous nuclear accident in history. There were cities built around Chernobyl for the workers at the power plant which had to be evacuated. After this accident, the city was never repopulated and it is known today as a ghost town. The incident occurred when a reactor in the power plant exploded after tests were done the wrong way which lead to a loss of control in the operating system. In order to limit exposure to radiation, the workers were then restricted to time spent there. They did not have the knowledge we know today, so to clean up the mess workers would wear gas masks in a jumpsuit and clean up the radioactive dirt with shovels. But now there are actually more animals that live there than before. The effects of radiation are interesting where some trees still have the same red color after all these years. I wonder how dangerous it really is to visit there today.

How Stagflation Happened in the 1970's

          Stagflation: high inflation with a simultaneously stagnant economy. Before the seventies, this phenomenon would be considered absurd to analysts and economists. Usually, as an economy grows, there can be inflation, but this economic growth and greater demand for products is paired with higher employment rates as businesses thereby hire more people. If there are higher rates of unemployment, this usually indicates an economy that is not growing, so monetary value stays constant.
          In January of 1979, the price per barrel of crude oil was $52.48, but by April of 1980, those prices shot up to an unprecedented %117.17. This dramatic increase is indicative of the ridiculous rise in inflation at the time. Interestingly the economy was in a recession in 1970 and would again be in 1974 and 1975. This recession paired with inflation contrasted all models that would have shown instead an inverse relationship between the two. For these reasons, the 1970's economy can be best explained by rising oil prices, unemployment, inflation, and recession. The sharp increase in oil prices created higher prices of all goods and services throughout the market, causing inflation where the same amount of money will now get you less. Thus, today's economic principles now recognize that excess liquidity in a money supply can cause these rising prices. At the time though, the central bank lowered rates in order to try and stimulate the economy, know as an easing monetary policy. Today it is considered by some that a constrictive monetary policy would have helped end stagflation earlier by easing the devastating inflation by putting the economy into recession.

Project AGILE

Project AGILE was created in the 1960's to support US in fighting against Communists, especially in Vietnam and Thailand. It was directed by the Department of Defense: ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Administration) and covered a variety of topics which were divided into 8 subprojects. Projects I, II, and VIII covered weaponry, equipment, and rations. The weapons included flamethrowers, grenades, guns, and many more. Project III was all about communication systems during war and how it could be used. Project V closely relates to III, since they both have to work together. Project V is like the watchman while III communicates what V sees to the rest of the team. Project VI was all about herbicides (Agent Green, Agent Pink, Agent Purple, Agent Blue, Agent White, and Agent Orange) and anything medical that could be used in warfare. Project VII was about technical planning and programming, which includes researching casualties and morbidity, environmental issues, and different tactical studies.

The document link below includes more information about Project AGILE.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/338491.pdf

Twinkie Defense

 Dan White was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors during the 1970's. White resigned his position as one of the eleven supervisors, shortly after he had second thoughts about his decision. He asked George Moscone the mayor at the time for his job back but he chose not to honor his request. A few days later White went to City Hall with a gun in hand and gunned down both Mayor Moscone and the city's first openly gay supervisor Harvey Milk. This caused the whole gay community in San Francisco to be very upset, during the time the Gay Civil Rights movement was just gaining lots of recognition. White was arrested for the killing of both men and was later put on trial for the murders. With the amount of evidence that the prosecutors had on White, the defense had to find something to save their defendant and quick. They built their defense around the testimonies of several psychiatrists who told the jurors that White had been battling with depression, sleep deprivation and was so bloated from junk food that he lacked the capacity to "premeditate and deliberate" the murder of the two men. Psychiatric Dr.Martin Blinder stated that White had consumed a large number of Twinkies which lead to making him anti-social and causing him to be violent. This was later known as the "Twinkie defense", because of this defense White was able to get a lesser sentence and was charged with voluntary manslaughter for the killings of Milk and Moscone. He only received a seven-year sentence for his actions, only serving five years of his seven-year sentence.

The Twinkie Defense

This case involved the cruel murder of two males San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk, which were both, single-handedly committed by Dan White on the night of 27 November 1978. This case became known as the Twinkie Defense; in which White's lawyer's excuse was "[his] judgment had been impaired due to his consumption of Twinkies and other junk foods." 

The gay movement was at its peak during the 1970s and the election of San Francisco's first openly gay elected official had become the representation of an oppressed community nationwide. The back story of why he did this was because he [Dan White] was so confident that he "believed they would not let him rescind a decision to resign from the Board of Supervisors."

White whether unintentional or with full intent "climbed through a basement window at City Hall and made his way to the second floor," which is then there where he shot Moscone and Milk. This sparked riots all over San Francisco which then became known as the "White Night Riots"

The Me Decade

During the 1960s, America was still shaken up and recovering from WWII. In that period of time, the idea of war and solving international conflicts were fresh in people's minds with the Cold War in constant threat of ballistic missiles. During this point, Americans were mostly concerned with improving their country and society as a whole. Referred to sometimes Communitarianism, Kennedy said in 1961, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." However, when transitioning into the 1970s, the entire conflict and tension began to tone down and people during this time experienced a huge shift from communitarianism to the idea of bettering themselves, individualism.

This idea of individualism became a popular trend in the 1970s as they became more dissatisfied with war and politics. People began to become convinced that war and politics could not fix society and only to focus on bettering and nurturing the individuals. Rules and fashion in this decade were breaking tradition, women asserted themselves socially and some people took it as far as streaking or running naked through streets while others wore odd combinations of cloths. A quote from Tom Wolfe's New York Magazine issue on 1976 says, "They had all marched right up to the microphone and 'shared,' as the trainer called it. What did they want to eliminate from their lives? Why, they took their fingers right off the old repress button and told the whole room. My husband! my wife! my homosexuality! my inability to communicate, my self-hatred, self-destructiveness, craven fears" While this decade founded many of the ideals of individualism in people, do you think the methods people is almost a bit to the extreme?

Glasnost and Its Effect on the Soviet People

Toward the late 1970s/early 1980s, computers and other technological outbreaks began to spread around the world.  America and other democratic countries embraced this new technology, which left the Soviet Union with a decision to make: should they continue to censor their media and their citizens, or should they allow a newfound policy of transparency.  Soviet leader at the time Mikhail Gorbachev opted with the latter: and thus implemented a policy called Glasnost throughout the Soviet Union.

As Gorbachev began to carry out his Glasnost policy, the Soviet people began to think that they could have it better.  When they were exposed to Democratic nations, many began to believe that democratic people had it better.  Gorbachev continued to listen to his people, giving more and more and trying to make communism more desirable to the Soviet people.  However, the more Gorbachev gave, the more the people wanted.

Theodore Roosevelt

One of the main topics that we have been exploring this week is the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest president in our nation's history at the age of only 43. He was very big into the progressive mindset, wanting things like freedom in places like Cuba and the Philippines as well as the fall of the boss system. President Roosevelt achieved his title as one of the most progressive presidents up to his time for many reasons. One of the most revolutionary ideas that Roosevelt began to introduce to the United States that helped to give him his title of "most progressive president" was the conservation of nature. He began to create United States National Parks which with some of his most effective achievements being in conservation. He added enormously to the national forests in the West, reserved lands for public use, and fostered great irrigation projects. He even won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a Gentleman's Agreement on immigration with Japan, and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour of the world. All these are reasons why President Roosevelt has been considered one of the most progressive presidents to date.

Doughboys

Doughboys were the name given to the soldiers who fought in World War I. They were asked by the government to do nothing but there job. Their job was to kill the enemy and save there buddy, and that was it. Because of this, they felt like they were joining a crusade, to save their nation and destroy their enemy. This, of course, was only one of the reasons they joined the force. They also joined the army because of the great adventure it provided. Most of the people in that time period were living extremely basic lives with no real excitement outside a simple bar fight at there local pub. This war was a way into an adventure and a way to prove their families honorable as these people were all too young to have fought in the civil and Mexican war.

Search and Destroy

Search and Destroy missions was a strategy as a way for American soldiers to wear down military forces and the military efforts of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army. Even with the superior technology, the US had over the Viet Cong and North the S&D missions still cost a lot of American lives. There were flaws in these operations such as American having to go to South Vietnamese villages to look for signs of Viet Cong members. When S&D missions were conducted they would result in American forces The consequences of this lead to the villages being burned down and those people being sent to other villages set up by Americans, as well as massacres occurring. The actions the Americans took lead to South Vietnamese to despise Americans and made it harder for Americans to gain villagers trust. Due to this, the Viet Cong was able to gain more territory in the South thanks to the villagers as they often help Viet Cong forces by giving them food and places for them to hide. Many Americans patrols would still go to villages and Viet Cong forces would leave and would return with more reinforcements as soon as American patrols left. Many of the American "victories" were determined based on how many Viet Cong were killed in S&D missions. Even with the bombings, S&D missions were ineffective due to the fact that it made a low impact on using guerilla warfare tactics successful against the Viet Cong.

The Fall of Detroit

Detroit had been the center of car production ever since the introduction of the first Ford Model-T in 1908. In the 1970s though, the production of cars began to move away from Detroit. Our nation was in the midst of an economical oil crisis, which resulted in the price of a barrel of oil to skyrocket up close to $60. The problem that Detroit automobiles had was that they used so much gasoline, that the American people were upset with the prices. Countries like Germany and Japan stole the show from Detroit when they began introducing new, more fuel efficient cars for American people to buy. The new cars took the country by storm, resulting in hundreds of acres of lots of unsold American cars. This movement started the revolution of the car industry.

President Carter's Rise and Fall

Jimmy Carter announced his candidacy for president in 1974. His campaign called for honesty from all people, and he vowed to never tell a lie and eliminate secrecy from the government. Coming off of the Watergate scandal where President Nixon had resigned, his statements were attractive to many people, and he won a narrow victory against Gerald Ford, who had taken over after Nixon resigned. In 1977, Carter arranged two US treaties with Panama and helped Israel's war with Egypt end as well. However, under Carter, inflation and unemployment began to rise, and an energy crisis due to high oil prices caused Carter's popularity to fall. Later, Carter sent a speech to Americans known as the "malaise speech." In this speech, he told the American people, whose morales were low, that he had empathy for them and that they must rebound from the economic recession. He was critical of America's overall reaction to the oil crisis, but after Carter asked for the resignation of his cabinet, American tensions rose again. In November of 1979, Iranian students invaded the US embassy in Tehran to protest against the United States' hospitality of the Iranian Shah. Carter's failure to free the hostages became well publicized and Americans became even more upset. Carter eventually lost the Presidency to Ronald Reagan by a large margin.

Three Mile Island Incident

The Three Mile island Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located on a three mile island in Pennsylvania on the Susquehanna river. An accident there was the greatest in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. With failures in a secondary system valves, this led to large amounts of nuclear reactor coolants to escape in a primary system. Through human error, there was a mistake in the plant operating system leading to crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns. This incident caused radioactive gasses and iodine to escape, and it costed $1 billion to clean up. A new program was founded to keep a better hold on the Nuclear Generating Stations, after president Jimmy Carter investigated the situation. He did say that this was a minor incident although this was not said to the public because the anti-nuclear groups had started protests. These protests lead to health funds for the citizen groups.

Allen Ginzberg

Allen Ginsberg was an "American poet, philosopher, and writer" who had strong views in the Beat Generation of the 1950's. Ginsberg opposed militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression.  He wrote the poem "Howl" which was about heterosexual and homosexual sex which were both crimes in every state in the U.S. at this time in 1957. This poem explained his relationships with other men and his partner, Peter Orlovsky. This poem became very popular and widespread leading to it becoming seized by San Francisco police and US customs. The Judge ruled the poem to be inoffensive. Ginsberg also took part in non-violent political protests against the Vietnam War, War on Drugs, and many other acts. Ginsberg then gained the National Arts Club gold medal and many other accomplishments. His views lead him to become a leader in what he believed in.

Harvey Milk

In the 70s, Harvey Milk was elected as the first major politician that was openly gay. While he was assassinated in 1978, he was able to make a huge splash in the political world despite his brief time in office. He was very pro-LGBT rights and fought hard to represent the community, which was still incredibly oppressed at the time. He was assassinated at a conference by a man who previously worked closely with him and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and was upset about not getting reappointed to his position.

Having such a major gay rights leader getting killed so early in his career was a crushing blow to those in the gay community both in and out of San Francisco. This led to a very large amount of backlash from the community and a march that went all the way through the city.

The Arms Race

The arms race started after america dropped the first atomic bomb on japan. With the war won against both Japan and Germany the soviet union and the united states common enemies were defeated and they had nobody to keep them working together. The united states had a monopoly on nuclear weapons until 29th of August, 1949 when the soviet union had their first nuclear weapon test. At that moment the race was on, both the united states and the soviet union continued to make nuclear weapons, each bigger or better than the last. America believed that there was a "bomber gap", they believed that they were behind in bombers so they stepped up their game and started making many more bombers only to later find out they were ahead in bombers and were putting much more effort into building these bombers than the soviets were. The soviets were focusing on a different delivery system, the missile, they would be able to fire a nuclear warhead from anywhere in the world to the united states or any other enemies of the soviet union. This scared the hell out of american's so they shifted gears to the same method, they started to build missiles that could reach the soviet union. Eventually tension was lowering and both countries slowed down their nuclear weapon productions.

Polluted River

It all happened in Ohio when a big motive for environmental change was called for. The Cuyahoga River, centralized in a production city where almost always was dumped on with sewage and waste disposal was becoming a problem. It became known for being a polluted river, time went by without anyone knowing its consequences until the flames came out. It occurred on June 22, 1969, when an oil-slicked debris was ignited by sparks from a passing train. It immediately burst into tall flames reaching a height of over five stories and lasting over 30 minutes. All the destruction made was estimated to being around $50,000 including damages to other parts like a railway bridge and trestle. This fire brought mass attention to change especially regulations since it had turned out to be one of the many fires occurring from this river. The Congress decided to step in once hearing about the news and helped in solving the issue of land pollution. They helped in passing the National Environmental Policy Act. From which the Environmental Protection Agency was created and would focus on managing environmental risks and regulate sanitary policies. The EPA then moved on to pass the Clean Water Act, that mandated all rivers throughout the U.S to be hygienic enough for the safety of swimmers and fish. Overall, the Cuyahoga River brought a lot of awareness for positive change and opened up the doors for better water quality and control of pollution.

Rainbow Herbicides

Heard of Agent Orange, the herbicide/defoliant chemical used in the Vietnam War? Agent orange was only one out of many herbicides created during that time period by the United States to be used as a weapon against its enemies. The idea of rainbow herbicides is first inspired by the Malayan Emergency that led to Operation Ranch Hand. There were 6 different types of herbicides: Agent Green, Agent Pink, Agent Purple, Agent Blue, Agent White, and Agent Orange (there were 4 different versions: I, II, III, and enhanced agent orange/orange plus/super orange). Each one was labeled accordingly to the color of stripe labeled on the barrel and the color it gave when the chemical was released. The main task of the herbicide attacks was to uncover enemies' hideouts in nature, which in turn ruins the agriculture. This tactic of locating enemy has its pros and cons but cons outweigh, in my personal opinion, the pros because it ruins the ecosystem, which can at first be minimal but eventually affect a bigger population of organisms than it originally intended to. Imagine this: the herbicide was meant to only be sprayed for about a mile surrounding a well-covered camp, but in that radius of a mile lived mammals, birds, and other organisms. Because that herbicide killed certain species in that area, other species that relied on that animal that died is now unable to get the things it needs from the dead animal. This leads to the species' death, which leads to more organisms failing to do the same, ultimately coming to an ecosystem collapse. This issue might not concern us as humans, but what if that chemical got to the meat and the vegetables we eat daily? Maybe natural selection and nature itself is able to recover from the damaged ecosystem, maybe it might not. When America came down with the decision to spray Agent Orange in Vietnam, was it really ethical for them to do so or could there have been a better way to go regarding this situation?

American War Strategies Towards Viet Cong

Not only were the Viet Cong brutal towards the Americans, Americans were very brutal towards the Viet Cong.  Here I will list some examples of war strategies and weapons used by the Americans to terrorize and kill Viet Cong.  

The first one is called the Claymore mine.  Mines are explosives that are usually triggered with pressure.  This mine can explode in a semicircle pattern and it was used to defend an area or encircle an area where Viet Cong could be hiding to keep them there because if they tried to go out they would step on a mine and die.

Another weapon was napalm.  It is one of the most deadly as it is a chemical that is highly flammable.  This weapon burned down forests and villages, leaving no one alive.  If this chemical got on your skin while on fire it was extremely difficult to get off because of the oils and gasoline it is made out of.  People were burned alive this way. 

A weapon that still has its effects today is agent orange.  It was used to kill thick forests where Viet Cong could be hiding.  It was a mixture of herbicides that killed off vegetation.  Some side effects were if one got it on their skin they would start to have nerve problems such as muscle weakness, tingling and numbness, and other problems like liver dysfunction and skin blistering.  It has also been observed to cause birth defects in children.  Some deformities include cleft palates, blindness, Siamese twins, and other deformities of the limbs.  Others exposed to it have develops different types of cancer and tumors all over the body.  

Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMzJvwG2rsQ 

The Impact of the Moon Landing

On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew that included astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped off the lunar module "Eagle" onto the surface of the moon and says his famous line, "That's one step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The success of the moon landing set by President Kennedy earlier in 1961 had promised that the US would land and return the astronauts safely back to Earth. This would have effect during the Cold War in which both the US and the Soviet Union wanted to show their technological superiority over the world and each other. Since the Soviets had been the first to send cosmonaut into space and the first to launch satellites, the US wanted to do something bigger that Soviets would not accomplish, that being sending the first man to the moon. Being far behind the Soviets led to the US investing more science. The goal Kennedy had set needed to come true if they wanted to prove to the world that they technologically superior compared the Soviet Union. Due to the accomplishments, the Soviets achieved the US did not want to fall behind them. The Apollo missions were not always very successful. On Apollo 1 the crew aboard the rocket would unfortunately die. From Apollo 2 up until Apollo 10, it was mostly testing rockets, unmanned missions, and the introduction of the lunar module. It took the US 8 years to accomplish that goal that would have an impact on the world. The US would have 6 more missions to send more astronauts to land on the moon to conduct more research. In December 19,1972 the last mission to send astronauts to the moon was the mission Apollo 17.

Fidel Castro

On August 13, 1926, the communist politician Fidel Castro was in born in Biran, Cuba. Castro would study law at the University of Havana and adopt an anti-imperialist ideology. After participating in the Dominican Republic and the Columbia he planned to overthrow Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. Fidel, his brother Raul Castro and Che Guevera would start the Cuban revolution and overthrow Batista. After Batista was overthrown Fidel Castro assumed control over military and political power as Cuba's prime minister and implemented a lot of communist ideology in Cuba. Once he had the power he decided to strip away land from American businessmen and give that land to Cubans. The US opposed this and decided that they will take action. After the revolution, many Cubans fled Cuba and those exiles would be trained by the CIA to launch the Bay of Pigs invasion on Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion failed to result in Cuba wanting help from someone such as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union would aid Cuba by sending nuclear warheads to prevent any sort of American invasion. Both the Soviets and Americans were desperate at not wanting to start a nuclear war decided to get rid of nuclear warheads. Castro would feel betrayed by Kruschev the Soviet leader at the time. Despite that Castro would still have good relations with the Soviet Union and would be invited to visit the Soviet Union. There he would visit 14 cities with Kruschev and would be awarded some medals. He would return to Cuba pushing towards more ideas inspired by the visit to the Soviet Union. Fidel Castro would be in power for a long time until 2006 where he stepped down as the leader of Cuba and letting his brother Raul Castro assumed power. Castro would suffer from health problems until November 25, 2016, he would die. The Cuban government has not disclosed any information about how he has died. During Castro's life pushed for anti-imperialist ideas and wanted smaller nations to be a part of something big. 

A Summary of Détente

             Detente was a period during the Cold War marked by decreasing tensions between the Soviet Union and United States between the late sixties and late seventies. Nixon was elected in 1969 and his foreign policy helped facilitate the softening of relations between the two. In 1972, Nixon made the historic visit into communist China that marked an era of new foreign relations for China. This move encouraged the Soviets to take similar steps so as not to be left out in these emerging international conversations. In 1972, Nixon went to Moscow to meet with the secretary general Brezhnev in an equally momentous meeting between the two superpowers. It would benefit both for nuclear competition to be lessened as the arms race was draining serious funding from both countries and causing stress worldwide as well, for a nuclear war would have widespread repercussions. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks lead to the Antiballistic Missile Treaty in 1972 that did achieve in setting a cap on the number of IBM's that could be produced.
             Sadly this progress was not everlasting and by the end of the seventies detente seemed not to be working. A second SALT negotiation was proposed, but neither country was able to ratify it, leaving both countries still following regulations from the first negation, ending the momentum in arms limitation. With Nixon out of office, with Carter's different vision for detente, with increasing public dissatisfaction with progress, it became clear that the Cold War may not end as easily as expected. In 1979 the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan and President Carter's response signaled an end to detente. It was not until the eighties when Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union with his progressive goals that discussion of disarmament and limitation of intermediate-range missiles began again.

So What Is Impeachment?

             In the wake of recent political scandals and then with our discussion of Nixon during class, it seems like impeachment keeps coming up. It's always talked about it-- some illusive action involving taking an official out of power, but then it's more of a process than an simple action or something. I decided it was finally time to learn exactly what impeachment really entailed, and hopefully this clears things up.

What is Impeachment:
             Unlike what is normally assumed, impeachment does not remove an official from office but instead is just the first step in the process of removing him or her. It is the formal charging of a highly ranked government official ("The President, the Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States") reserved only for those who have committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors," since it is undoing an action that was based on the democratic processes that brought them to power. Although the matter being discussed or the grounds for impeachment may revolve around criminal offenses, the impeachment process only seeks to remove someone from office so does not have any criminal implication.

How Does it Happen:
             For simplicity's sake, it is said that Congress has the power to decide what offense lies within those outlined in the Constitution to be impeachable. The process has two steps. First, for someone to be considered "impeached," the House must pass the articles of impeachment by a majority. Next, two thirds of the Senate must decide to convict the individual which would remove him or her from office. If this greater majority is not achieved, the individual is acquitted and there are no repercussions. For impeaching the President, the Chief Justice of the United States presides over proceedings in the Senate. The Senate can also then decide whether or not they want to allow the convicted person to be allowed to hold office again whether it be an elected or appointed position.

Only three presidents have ever gone through impeachment proceedings with Johnson (1868) and Clinton (1999) both being impeached and later acquitted, and Nixon resigning before being impeached. The House has, in total, only ever passed the articles of impeachment 19 times, recently the impeachment of the democratic governor of Illinois in 2009 for corruption and abuse of power and the impeachment and removal of a federal judge in Louisiana in 2010.

President Nixon

Richard Nixon served as president from 1969 to 1974, and he was the only president to resign. Although he ended up resigning in his second term, he did a lot of good for America. He ended the US involvement in the Vietnam War and brought the American prisoners of war home. He created diplomatic relations with China and eased the relations with the Soviet Union with détente, and also ended the moon race.  Nixon desegregated the schools in the South, while also creating War on Cancer and Environmental Protection Agency. These federal organizations were to find a cure to cancer and also protect the environment and human health. But then in his second term, there was the Watergate scandal and he had many problems with his abuse of power. Nixon was involved in the break-in of the democratic national committee and he then investigated other activist groups to cover this up. But the FBI found the hush money on the burglars, and further found from John Dean in a televised court battle that Nixon has tape recordings of conversations. He didn't give it up, but with his loss of political support, he was going to be impeached. This lead to his resignation before he could be impeached. How would you rank Nixon as a president?

Gay Liberation Movement

The gay liberation movement occurred from the late 1960s to the 1980s. It focused on taking away shame from being gay or lesbian, and rather replacing those feelings with pride about their identity. The most basic form of activism was urging the LGBT+ community to come out top their parents, family, and friends. This would help to spread that regular and mentally stable people were gay. Of course, as with every change in society and attempt at moving forward, there was some strong resistance.

The main opposition to this movement was the religious and traditional Americans. Especially those who were conservative and christian, they felt that homosexuality was a sin (and still do). Before and throughout the movement, the general feeling was that either being gay was a sinful choice, or that it was a dreadful disease that had to be cured.

Harvey Milk was an important and respected political figure who stood up for the gay population. He was the first openly gay political figure in the United States, and gave the movement some representation. Gay liberation is often associated with the counter culture of the 60s, which was about liberating your true self and going against social expectations. It is not the same, as homosexuality is mainly genetic, but it did show the revealing of one's true self.

The Vietnam War: Hawks vs. Doves (Adrienne Mitchel)

          During the Vietnam War, America was divided into two opposing viewpoints about what actions the United States should take in Vietnam — one side was the hawks, the other side was the doves.

 

Although public opinion polls in 1967 revealed American citizens were evenly divided on their viewpoint regarding the Vietnam War, the majority of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s political advisers were hawks. Prominent hawks included Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. Hawks believed that the U.S. should expand their military involvement in Vietnam for three major reasons.

The first was that protecting Vietnam from communism was more than just protecting the one country; protecting Vietnam meant protecting the whole world from being overtaken by communism. This idea is illustrated in the domino theory, which is the idea that when one thing falls, more things fall, and eventually everything falls. Therefore, the fall of Vietnam would likely result in the collapse of Cambodia, Laos, and the rest of Southeast Asia, eventually spreading throughout the entire world.

The second argument for increasing military involvement in Vietnam was the failure of the Munich Pact of 1938 and thus the failure of a policy of appeasement. The Munich Pact was created to appease Hitler and prevent future conflicts, but ultimately failed by allowing World War II to occur. It was argued since the pact with Germany failed, a pact with Vietnam would also logically fail.

The hawks’ third main argument was that the U.S. had to increase military involvement to prove to their allies that the U.S. was reliable and would stand by them in times of crisis and prove to their communist enemies that the U.S. would do everything it could to prevent their attempts to spread communism.

 

In contrast to the hawks, the doves wanted to end the Vietnam War through negotiation and compromises. Doves, like Undersecretary of State George Ball, did not want to escalate the Vietnam War for three main reasons.

The first was that there was no possible way for the U.S. to win the Vietnam War. Winning a war on enemy turf is difficult, but winning a guerrilla war on enemy turf in a jungle terrain is nearly impossible. Doves referenced the Korean War, which the U.S. fought for three years, achieving nothing and losing everything. They argued that the Vietnam War would be no different from the Korean War if the U.S. were to continue fighting. Additionally, much of the government spending at the time was focused on the Great Society programs. Thus, there wouldn’t be enough money to fund both the war and Johnson’s programs.

The second argument was that involving the U.S. in another country’s war wouldn’t benefit the U.S. The Vietnam War was a civil war, not a global war, so the U.S. had no right to interfere. If anything, the Vietnam War was distracting the U.S from achieving more important goals and solving more important problems.

The doves’ third main argument was that continuing to fight in the Vietnam War would result in China or the Soviet Union also becoming involved. Instead of comforting U.S. allies, expanding military involvement would actually make them more anxious that a major war could erupt in Southeast Asia.

So what do you think? Should America have chosen a policy more in line with that of the Hawks’ or that of the Doves’? Did America have any right in interfering in Vietnam? Do you agree or disagree with the choices presidents during the Vietnam War made?

Expanding the Civil Rights Movement: Brown Berets & Gray Panthers (Adrienne Mitchel)

          By now, we’ve all become familiar with the Blank Panthers, a party established in Oakland in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The Black Panther Party’s goals included self-determination, better jobs, decent housing, and an end to police brutality. Although the Black Panthers did many things to help the black community, such as providing free breakfast programs for children and medical clinics for blacks, they were most well-known for their methods to prevent police brutality. Members of the Black Panther Party, carrying law books, tape recorders, and shotguns, would stand on the streets and overlook police-black citizen interactions. The decision to name the party Black Panther was purposeful, “The black panther was a vicious animal, who, if he was attacked, would not back up. It was a political symbol that we were here to stay and we were going to do whatever needed to be done to survive.”

The Black Panther Party was no doubt a very important part of the black civil rights movement, but it also played an important role in the Latino civil rights movement and the elderly civil rights movement. Much like how Martin Luther King Jr.’s belief in nonviolent direct action was adopted by many other civil rights groups and activists, the Black Panther Party inspired other groups of people to create their own versions of that party.

One of those versions was the Brown Berets, a group that fought for Latino rights, particularly improving farm workers’ conditions and education. Founded in East Los Angeles by David Sanchez, the Brown Berets worked to improve housing and employment for Latinos, as well as give Latinos more pride in their culture.  

Another party inspired by the Black Panthers was the Gray Panthers, established in 1972 by Maggie Kuhn in Philadelphia in response to being forced to retire from the Presbyterian Church at the age of 65. The Gray Panthers spoke out against ageism, discrimination against people on the basis of age. One major accomplishment of the Gray Panthers was pushing back the required retirement age from 65 to 70 in 1978.

The Black Panthers inspiring both the Brown Berets and the Gray Panthers is just one example of how the civil rights movement managed to spread to all minorities who struggled with life in America during the 1960s and 1970s. Where else in history do we see this theme that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”?