Watershed moments of American history - Essay Example

Watershed moments are those moments which heralded a strong influence on the history and social attitudes of the people and changed the perception of people.The American history is fraught with such watershed moments,but in the 20th century so many events happened and it is difficult to decide which moments could be called as watershed.The following paragraphs would describe three events and justify them as watershed moments.The most important of these moments is the perhaps the attack on the World trade centre on 9/11.

Following the horrific events of that day, the local, national, and international relations changed forever to a very great extent. The attack of 9/11 had a wide ranging effect on the US foreign policy and weakened the relationship between the US and the Islamic states. The attack reframed existing policy in such a way that it was now considered quite just and fair to take violent and aggressive action against rogue nations. The US considered this attack as a threat to its sovereignty so the period that followed after the attack witness a revival in the cold war and snide policies which were last seen in the World War II.

The world saw a new era of 'War against terrorism' which was lead by the US and which resulted in two major wars. Thus it is very clear that the aftermath of the 9/11 made a drastic impact on the whole world and it would not be wrong to call this attack a watershed moment of the 20th century. (Dudziak). The second such event which created such an upheaval, the likes of which cannot be found in any other event is the nuclear bombing on the Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It was the August of the year 1945 in which the world saw the first use of the nuclear weapons ever.

The result was only destruction and devastation of the bombed cities however its consequences were more than that. The prowess of the US was witnessed which elevated it to the title of the greatest super-power of the world. The United Nations was also formed soon after the bombing to maintain global peace. The bombings became the watershed moments in the US history as it changed the way the country was seen by other nations. Another example of the watershed moments, though somewhat different is seen is the 1965 Act of Immigration and Nationality.

This act is also known as a 'Demographic Revolution'. The act put an end to the quota system, and even the xenophobia which was being promoted in the Americans. The Act was actually a declaration of equality and an end of prevailing prejudice. This erased the sense of exclusion which was felt by the Asians from the side of Americans and resulted in a huge number of Asians ushering into the US territory. The act changed the social attitude of the Americans towards the Asians and proved to be a watershed movement in the US history.

Section Two, Answer to Question 3: The Civil rights movement was campaign intended to free the Americans from the grip of ethnic discrimination. This was a movement which demanded the recognition of the black Afro-Americans and an end to the racist policies. The Civil Rights movement began when a black woman 'Rosa Parks' who is often called as the mother of the 'Civil rights movement' refused to give her seat to a white American. But it was not only the Afro-Americans who were involved in the movement, thousands of people of all ethnic groups living in America participated in this Civil rights movements and the liberation movement till the 1970s in the long run.

These included students, political leaders, people from religious organizations and even some white liberals; in short the 'liberation' movement was not just the efforts of blacks but the combined struggle against the bigotry and racial discrimination of all the ethnic groups living in America. Previously a very strong and intimidating attitude was adopted by the Americans towards the blacks. They were looked down upon, often became a subject of taunting and were commonly referred