World War 2 Through the 1970s - Research Paper Example

? World War 2 through the 1970s World War 2 through the 1970s There are numerous historical turning points for America such as Montgomery Bus Boycotts and Watergate scandal. This paper will discuss the two historical turning points, why America was reluctant to join European conflicts of 1930s and role played by Women in helping Second World War. The paper will also discuss the civil rights breakthroughs after Second World War for the African-Americans and political awareness of the young Americans during the Vietnam War. On the last part, the paper will describe President Johnson’s great society programs that are currently relevant to America. Introduction There are significant historical turning points for America’s current society, culture, politics and economy from the World War II through to the 1970s. One of the significant turning point was the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) that precipitated the civil rights movements (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The event led to calls for massive bus boycotts and national protests due to racial desegregation of African-Americans in public transport (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The event ultimately led to a series of public protests that ultimately led to enactment of Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited all forms of discrimination. This event led to unification of American society through eradication of racial segregation in many public places such as schools and public transport thus creating the ideal American society. Another significant turning point was the Watergate Scandal. The term “Watergate” refers complex political scandals that occurred between 1972 and 1974. Five burglars broke in to Watergate Hotel that housed Democratic National Committee Headquarters. The five were later arrested and confirmed that they had been authorised by Nixon to break in the hotel. The scandal changed the political campaign financing and created the aggressive attitude of Americans towards elections (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The scandal revealed that Nixon had a wire tapping system and led to impeachment of Nixon and conviction of several top administrators in his government (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). This can be seen a major turning point in the enforcement of the constitution and political laws in America. America in the late 1930s wanted to stay away from European conflicts that ultimately led to the Second World War. America was one of the Isolationists that advocated for neutrality and non-involvement in both European and Asian conflicts (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The first reason why America did not want to join European conflicts was the memories of the tragic losses experienced during the First World War. Secondly, America was experiencing negative economic effects of the Great Depression and was committed to expanding its economic interests in Latin America. Immediately after First World War, the US congress rejected American membership to the League of Nations since that move would lead to participation in European conflicts. The troubling economic problems bolstered the idea that America should concentrate on the domestic economic problems and isolate from European conflicts (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). Before the Second World War, women in America attended only to family duties and were paid much lesser for completing the same jobs compared with their male counterparts. The first role of women in helping the Second World War was replacing the men in the labor market since majority of men joined the forces. Women were allowed to work in the manufacturing industry, munitions factories and in day care centers. During the Second World War, women served in the military in an official capacity. Women participated in the war through different military branches such as Women Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs), Women Accepted for Volunteer Services (WAVES) and Women Air-force Service Pilots (WASP) (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). Women also served in the Coast Guard units and Marine units. About 350,000 American women participated in the war with only 20 percent taking up the traditional jobs such as mail sorters, clerks and typists (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). Women may not have actively participated in the front lines like their male counterparts, but their jobs such as nurses and pilots exposed them to the real battle front line. For instance, Anne Bosanko Green participated in the war as a surgical assistant while Pearl Gullickson actively participated in the auxiliary army. Women would travel deep in the front lines to evacuate injured soldiers and offer immediate medical attention thus saving lives of thousands of soldiers that would have died from injuries and excessive bleeding (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). There are several civil right breakthroughs after the Second World War that moved the cause for African-Americans. The first significant African-American civil rights after the Second World War was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that outlawed all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, sex or religion. Title II of the Act prohibited discrimination against color, race, national origin or ethnic background in restaurants and other public accommodation facilities. Title III further outlawed the state or local authority governments from denying access to public access to citizens on the basis of race, religion or color. In addition, the Act sought to encourage desegregation in public schools in the country. The second significant breakthrough in civil rights for African-American after the Second World War was the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that prohibited any form of imposing voting qualification on the basis of educational qualification, practices or any other procedures that can deny any American citizen the right to vote (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The Act is considered a landmark breakthrough in civil rights of African-Americans since less than 50 percent of African-Americans living in the South states were denied the right to participate in 1964 elections due to poor English proficiency. The Act established elections administration that was tasked with overseeing the enforcement of the provisions of the Act across the political parties and state authorities. Furthermore, the Act authorised the Congress to enforce the rights and ensure States did not enact voting laws that could disfranchise African-Americans (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The Vietnam War brought critical political awareness to a new generation of young Americans. The Vietnam War was the most televised war in American history and the media delivered horrifying images of corpses of Vietnamese villagers after American bombing campaigns. American authorities did not provide the citizens with genuine reasons of entering in to the war (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). The war divided the American society and citizens protested against the young American soldiers that died during the war. America was mainly interested in controlling the spread of communism in South East Asia and sought to entrench democratic ideals through crushing Viet Cong sympathizers and guerrillas (Kennedy & Bailey, 2010). First, there were massive anti-Vietnam War movements in America that comprised of civil rights activists, college students, labor unions and middle class individuals. The protests against the war ranged from legal reasons, moral basis and pragmatic arguments against the US government involvement in the war (Allen, 2008). The increasing dissent was attributed to the massive ground coverage of the War and extensive access to uncensored information on the moral basis of the War. For instance, a majority of the anti-war movements believed that South Vietnam lacked the political legitimacy to control the Communist North Vietnam since they argued that the domino theory could not be applicable in Vietnam and neighboring countries could not fall in to communism (Allen, 2008). The opposing movements also fueled civil rights movements such as free speech movements and self-determination of nations. Secondly, the new generation of young Americans also became more aware politically since they were at great risk of joining the war (Allen, 2008). This generation employed all manner of tactics in resisting the war including drug usage in order to undermine the government war efforts. Young black Americans were mainly taken to the war fronts thus leading to civil rights movements since they perceived the war as racially motivated and sympathized with Vietnamese civilians killed during the war. In addition, students became more active in social and political matters through agitating for free speech, psychological freedom and non-interference with the matters of foreign nations (Allen, 2008). President Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ agenda programs are still with America today. The programs were initiated in 1960s and aimed at promoting racial justice and eradication of poverty in American society. Some of the programs that are relevant today include the Social Security Act of 1965 that provided federal funding for the healthcare costs of elderly population through Medicare and Medicaid programs (Andrew, 1998). Some programs that aimed at eradicating poverty such as Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 that established community-based poverty eradication programs are still relevant today. Community Action agencies that promote self-sufficiency like Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grants assist the poor communities with subsidized utilities like cheap energy, job training and pre-school programs (Andrew, 1998). References Andrew, J.A. (1998). Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society. New York: I.R. Dee. Allen, J. (2008). Vietnam: the (last) war the US lost. Chicago: Haymarket Books. Kennedy, D.M & Bailey, T.A. (2010). The American spirit: United States history as seen by contemporaries. Boston: Cengage Learning. Read More