Most Significant Historical Events 1950-1990 - Term Paper Example

MOST SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL EVENTS 1950-1990 Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 22nd November’2010 INTRODUCTION The paper gives a detailed overview of the historical events that followed the World War II. The events are discussed in relevance to each decade from 1950 to 1990 and these events explore their significance in U.S. history and how they have shaped the American nation. It is written in a way to arouse our old times and its struggles. 1950s - COLD WAR The Cold War of 1950s was the most significant political and sensitive issue of the early post World War period. The two main super powers and also rivals of the Cold war were United States of America and Soviet Union. The end of World War II marked the beginning of Cold War and it was influenced by the Korean War. As a result of the war, a power struggle had begun between the two rivals and Russia had started promoting Communism. On the other hand, US adopted anti-communism idea so as to block Soviet Union from spreading Communism. This marked the beginning of Cold War. It was called ‘cold war’ because they were fighting indirectly because they knew that they both have nuclear powers and it would obliterate everything if there is a direct war. (Cold War) During this period, communist domination was approximately one-third of the world’s territory and U.S. hegemony amounted to two-thirds, thus the world’s super power. The fundamental difference between US and Soviet Union was the ideology that they followed. US believed in capitalism and democracy whereas Soviets encouraged communist culture. The end of World War II also marks the beginning of improved economic and social conditions of the U.S. The local citizens of upper and middle class were moving towards prosperity and success. There was a huge influx of money in the economy as people felt safe and sound due to victory at World War II. The U.S. economy was flourishing with new and innovative products. New industries were set up, new homes were built, and new fancy cars were seen on the streets. Due to continuing Cold War, there were also nuclear threats which caused insecurity. However, the harmony within the economy didn’t last long as Joe McCarthy reported that the State Department was “infested” with the communists. Though there was no real basis in his reporting, it gained him lot of political recognition. (Pengwen, 2008) Cold War continued till the decline of Soviet Union and now U.S. stands as the only super power of the world encouraging democratic culture all over. 1960s- JR. MARTIN LUTHER KING’S SPEECH In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech in Washington that marked the crucial moment in the American Civil Rights Movement. In the speech, Luther King talked about racial discrimination and injustice. The main theme of the speech was that all people are created equal and children of God so they should be treated with equality and justice. He points out in his speech how the opportunities are snatched from the blacks and given to the whites only on the basis of their race. King pointed out that Americans have defaulted on their own constitution, which promises all unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to all individuals. He emphasizes the course of action that needs to be taken, to rectify the injustice that has been done and to ensure that future injustice is accounted for. King delivered the speech in front of 20000 of his followers and his speech was articulated in such a way that it is regarded as the best speech till date. The repetition of phrases has been employed to stress the importance of the action that must be taken immediately. According to John Lewis, "Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, and he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations." (A Dream Remembered, 2003) The first half of the speech portrays the inequality in America whereas the second half talks about justice and integration within America. In the second half, King sketches an image of America as a place where equal citizenship rights are given to everyone and justice is given to all races. (Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech ) This speech affected not only the Negros, i.e. African Americans, but all the minority communities residing in America. 1970S - U.S. PULLED OUT OF VIETNAM The United States of America has always prevented countries from Communism which has been clearly reflected in their Cold War foreign policy of containment. After the Japanese were defeated by the French, Ho Chi Minh, a communist believer, with the support of North Vietnam, established an independent government known as Democratic Republic of Vietnam. After that, the French Colonial rule started being challenged and then in 1954, the French stepped out of Vietnam. Since U.S. had adopted anti-communism theme, it had to step in and play a role. The exit of the Japanese from the French Colonial gave Ho Chi Minh a chance to come back. Ho Chi Minh was the think tank behind this Communist motive, which was bolstered with the support of North Vietnam and mutually kept working to achieve their Communist goal. Since Communism had been initiated, it had to be stopped as it was diluting the French Colonial Rule which later was dented by the North Vietnam’s support to Ho Chi Minh which made the movement gain momentum. And by this time, this movement had attracted attention of many countries, especially U.S. which kept constant contact with the French. Many Anti-Communist campaigns and protests were being carried out throughout many countries. (Rosenberg) Since the involvement of the U.S, the American government has been impacted up to a great extent as each President came with a different strategy each time which hampered the previous efforts of the government. At the time, President Nixon had decided to withdraw the American troops from Vietnam but expanded the war to other countries like Laos and Cambodia which was criticized and protested at a great extent by students and the general public. The U.S government was forced to review its decision and due to the resistance by the public, the government was under a large amount of pressure. In 1973, in the peace talks in Paris successes in a cease-fire agreement which allowed the last group of U.S troops to leave South Vietnam though the U.S knew it is leaving them at a state to be defeated. By 1975, North Vietnam took over South Vietnam and declared it as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, making Vietnam a Communist state, which according to many, was a defeat of the U.S. (Vietnam War 1962-73) 1980s- NEW PLAGUE IDENTIFIED AS AIDS The breakthrough of Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) came in to scene when eight young gay men were admitted with severe form of Kaposis sarcoma (KS) in New York. As it is very difficult to identify from where and when disease originated, it can’t be said that there were many factors that were involved in the formation of this disease. The only thing that can highlighted that after the late 1950’s, same sex marriages started to take place, which were not legally accepted then but is known as the root cause of this fatal disease. At that time, the symptoms of HIV AIDS was very rare and hard to diagnose, for which many theories were developed and studied. U.S. is the starting place for this terminal disease. (History of AIDS up to 1986) Now, since HIV-AIDS had been spreading very rapidly throughout America and the European countries, it had attracted a lot of attention of the doctors and specially the government of the countries suffering with the spread of this disease. There was a lot of confusion after this disease evolved and since it was hard to determine the cause, and was mostly found in gay men, so it was believed that this disease was caused by the people of same sex who had sexual relations with each other. A disease like this was never anticipated even by the people who caused this disease to emerge and hence it was very hard to know what is triggering such a disease. As time passed, it started to become very clear that the people with AIDS were those who had unsafe physical contact and they were the only ones to suffer. Many attempts have been made by countries to make this disease minimal by not allowing same sex marriages, but as time is passing, people are demanding its legalization due the safety measures which have been introduced. In the early 1980’s, the breakthrough of AIDS started and within the months, many cases throughout United States were reported. By July 22, 1981, 452 cases had been reported to the Centre of Disease Control (CDC) from different states of America. It was a cause of severe concern for the authorities and precautions to prevent the spread of the disease where being tested and developed. Unfortunately, till date, this fatal disease has not stopped spreading. It still is a cause of concern for the U.S authorities as the most reported cases of HIV-AIDS are in U.S. due the legalization of gay marriages in five states of the U.S. In short, U.S has been the main sufferer of this life threatening disease, and till date, U.S has the highest number of AIDS case though U.S has the most extensive research for the cure of AIDS. 1990s-WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION The most pertinent economic event of the 1990’s is perhaps the introduction of the World Trade Organization. The WTO came into being after lengthy rounds of talks among nations worldwide. The primary function of the body is to aid and abet global trade through effective and efficient trade policies, indiscriminant frameworks and long lasting establishment of ties. The preceding two decades had proved to be somewhat troublesome in the sense that international trade was facing various issues ranging from violation of contractual obligations to discrimination in developing trade ties to infringement of intellectual property rights. Before the establishment of the WTO, the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs or GATT as it’s generally known, was overlooking such matter, but not on such a grand scale. A lot of history is involved in the creation of GATT itself, as it was a direct result out of the failure to establish the International Trade Organization (ITO). The ITO was supposed to be a wing of the United Nations Organization, but the idea was shot down by the US and some other prominent members. The GATT became a multilateral body overlooking the global trade scenario. However, even after half a century, the GATT did not prove to be as effective, and out of a genuine requirement the WTO came into existence. No single country can claim to be responsible for the creation of the WTO. It was a joint effort led by trade partners around the world with focus on fewer trade barriers, protection of intellectual property rights, growth of economic ties between member nations etc. The Marrakech Agreement was the premise for guidelines being executed under the WTO. The goals which the architects aimed for included Agreement for Global Trade and Tariffs including goods, investments, services, intellectual property, dispute settlement mechanisms, reviews on Govt. policies etc. With more than 150 members, the WTO has affected many countries. Some have been for the better such as the smaller economies who have gained access to more open trade with larger economies. Some are not so keen on it such as the USA which makes a compelling argument that foreign exports are slowly crippling the local markets. At the time of creation, the WTO had a relatively positive or desirable impact for the USA. The US was often engaged in lengthy rounds of negotiations with its trade partners over various disputes regarding trade. Through the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism, the US was able to minimize the international political costs of threatening trading partners and imposing retaliatory sanctions. For the US, creating a more legalized settlement system was a strategy for overcoming increased pressure and interference from Govt. and domestic interest groups which had become very active in trade politics in the early and mid-1980s. If we take a look at the accomplishments of the WTO, it’s very obvious that it hasn’t achieved many of the goals it set out to. The primary reason is that while many of the countries have signed on for the WTO policies, most of them seem unwilling to take the initiative. Countries like China and Japan, who are pre-dominantly export-based, are more than willing to put it into effect. Other countries such as Pakistan are reluctant because opening local markets to global trade is potentially suicide. All in all, the WTO still has a lot to do before it can be deemed a success, and it will take a joint effort to achieve this daunting task. (Understanding the WTO) In the current scenario, the USA is not as enthusiastic as it was before at the time of creating the WTO primarily due to the fact that its economy is suffering at the hand of underpriced export goods from China. Its contention is that Chinese goods make it impossible for the local production to compete, and as a result a lot of jobs are being outsourced to China and other countries like India. If this continues, the US economy will bear the brunt of something it was such a strong advocate of. (Thomas, 2007) WORKS CITED A Dream Remembered. (2003, August 28). Retrieved November 21, 2010, from Online News Hour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/july-dec03/march_08-28.html Cold War. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2010, from Global Security: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm History of AIDS up to 1986. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2010, from Avert: http://www.avert.org/aids-history-86.htm HIV and Its Transmission. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2010, from CDC: http://web.archive.org/web/20050204141148/http://www.cdc.gov/HIV/pubs/facts/transmission.htm Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech . (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2010, from Presentation Magazine: http://www.presentationmagazine.com/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-speech.htm Pengwen. (2008, March 8). Most Significant Events In History- 1950-1990. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from OPPapers: http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Most-Significant-Events-History-1950-1990/158342 Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). Vietnam War. Retrieved November 22, 2010, from About.com: http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm Thomas, A. (2007, February 28). The Power of Legalization: A Two-Level Explanation for U.S. Support of WTO Dispute Settlement. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from All Academic: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/7/9/6/9/p179692_index.html Understanding the WTO. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2010, from World Trade Organization: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/tif_e.htm Vietnam War 1962-73. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2010, from Web Archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20080801100735/http://www.defence.gov.au/army/ahu/HISTORY/vietnam_war.htm Read More