Events Which Has Taken Place in America in 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990 - Essay Example

Running Head: Most Significant Events Most Significant Events [Writer’s name] [Institution’s name] Most Significant Events Introduction America is country which has been through a lot. From 1950-1990 many significant events have taken place there. Each decade has changed the social and political perspectives of the nation. This essay shall analyze a significant event which has taken place in America in 1950, 19060, 1970, 1980 and 1990. Analysis 1950 The 1950's proved to be an extremely important decade in American history as the civil rights movement began in this decade, fashion was new and stylish, there were a great deal of development made in the field of entertainment and medicine, and suburban life was a lot more "practical" in the 1950’s . The main event which was the cause of the civil rights movement was of Rosa Parks and evidently it took place in 1950. She was an African American woman who was going home after working hard the entire day was not given a seat because the only seat empty was upfront to a white man. Refusing Rosa Parks the seat was a big mistake as this incident single handedly ignited the civil rights movement and eventually guaranteed that today all African Americans have to be given the same treatment with whites in the law. This event with Rosa Parks ultimately resulted in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began on the 1st of December in 1955 and in this boycott all the blacks of Alabama boycotted all the bus services. They claimed that they would continue to do so till they could be allowed to sit anywhere they wanted to. On the 13thof November 1 956 the untied states. Supreme Court supported the federal court's ruling and formally declared that segregation was unconstitutional. Although the Montgomery Bus Boycott was a small victory compared to those which the blacks would get later on it proved to be an extremely significant event. According to the famous Roberta Wright wrote, "It assisted in to starting of a ten year long national struggle for freedom and justice, i.e. the Civil Rights Movement, that inspired others to also fight for their rights no matter what ." (Rosa Parks: The Movement Organizes). What Rosa Parks did it had an immense on America; by just fighting for her rights she helped the blacks realize that they had rights too. After the Montgomery Bus Boycott Martin Luther King Jr. Asked Rosa Parks to help him give blacks back their rights. It was due to this cooperation that the boycott was successful. The blacks in Alabama now knew that they could fight for themselves. Once a bus drove past Martin Luther King JR's house and did not even stop to pick him up he thought that a miracle had taken place he stated that," The once inactive and quiet Negro Community was now completely active." This meant that he was fully confident that the blacks would have a place in thee American community. The beginning of the Civil Rights Movement wasn't the only great thing that influenced people all over 1960 Important steps towards the liberation of the integration of the black ethnicity were achieved during the continues effort of the 1960's civil rights movement. After almost 300 years of forced servitude and social inequity, moral and material compensation was very much an issue (Grofman 2000). President John Kennedy first presented a proper attitude towards the black community by announcing to the public that America is a land of freedom for every man. Later, Lyndon Johnson continued to solve the problem of the century. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most far-reaching civil rights measure ever enacted by the Congress. This legacy outlawed discrimination in public places such as restaurants, hotels, schools. Later resulted Voting Act of 1965 which passed to ensure that all citizens have right to vote. First of all it banned such strategies like literacy tests, which had been intentionally designed to exclude blacks from voting, and allotted new supervisions of registration measures to the Department of Justice: the attorney-general had to dispatch federal examiners to register votes. No doubt, this legacy had a supreme importance towards the moral equality: it let the people to express their will to choose the candidate that would be their desired representative for their country. At this point, since the Voting Act of 1965, every single man was carrying a responsibility for his country, no matter what color, race or gender he was. Everyone was personally involved which served the purpose of democracy. The issue addressing racial inequity was not the only concern on Lyndon Johnson's Great Society's reform list. Like previous president John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson was influenced by Michael Harrington's published article The Other America which called to face "culture of poverty". Lyndon Johnson comprehended the necessity of educational improvement in order to fight poverty. The Economic Opportunity Bill incorporated a wide range of programs such as Job Corps for the youth aged sixteen to twenty-one , Head Start for those not capable or disadvantaged to compete in a certain school level, work-study jobs for college student, all kinds of grants and loans, VISTA and etc... They all stood to enlarge educational quality and opportunities for all. Improved educational system brought an eager for the youth to endeavor in studies rather than sacrifice their young lives for war (Mayer 2004). Youth always stands for the future of the nation. The greater the educational preparedness is, the greater impact it will serve in the future creation. The legacies of the 1960's had an apparent significance in social history of United States. Even, if some part of each of them had a negative side, I still assume that a very big step was made towards the greater democracy 1970 The 70s started off with the end to the Vietnam War it also changed the political and social views of the public. Another presidency term with Richard M. Nixon, along with his policies of engagement, and due to the Watergate scandal, which resulted in the resignation of America’s president caused a lot of the chaos. Apart from this the 1970s also made Americans doubt their own government. People had started to realize that there were similarities between Nixon’s policies of engagement and strategies utilized throughout the Cold War, and the aftermath of the Watergate scandal led many American’s to doubt the role of their government and its power (Olson 2003). Initially, the Watergate Scandal was a dreadful spy crisis, which involved President Nixon. Nixon employed five spies to keep an eye on the democrats in the Watergate building. Nixon’s wanted to have a settlement on democratic strategies. This scandal resulted a fresh partition of the country. Where, the Watergate Scandal was located in the Watergate Complex. The Watergate Complex is on the Potamac River in Washington, D.C. John Dean, a former colleague of Nixon, knew about the scandal (Conrad 1977). 1980 Reaganomics is the economic policies put forth by the administration of President Ronald Reagan, especially as emphasizing supply – side theory (Reaganomics 2009). The intentions of “Reaganomics” were to lower taxes and limit government controls. Some of the ways that President Reagan lowered taxes were: reduced income tax rates, proposed reduction in federal civilian programs, and scaled back federal regulation. He was successful in reducing twenty five percent in the tax reforms, he thought this would increase the economy . With the reduction of back of federal regulation, Reagan began to eliminate the federal oil price control and he gave more leverage private sector. President Reagan also created the Tax Reform Act of 1986 which broadened tax base and reduced perceived tax favoritism 9Trahair& Trahair 1994). In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve ‘peace through strength.’ throughout his 2 terms he improved the defense spending by thirty five percent but wanted to develop better relations with the Soviet Union Reaganomics created a military build-up to counter the Soviet Union, which created a dramatic increase in government contracts. He improve the social security for the elderly and needy i.e the orphans. The economy immensely improved from the financial slump of the early 80’s, and thus by the end of the decade there was the GDP grew to 9.7% without inflation. Reagan had a positive outlook of the American worker as well as economy. 1990s An extremely horrifying event which took place in the 1990s was the shooting at Columbine High School. This incident made American parents fear their own children. This event made America realize that their youth was extremely violent and something needed to be done about it. The two students of Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, had been planning the school shooting for a long time. They kept journals on the Internet and then got in trouble for the threats that were made so their site was deleted. They began to write with paper and pencil in a journal. In the journal they kept records of the guns and bombs they received illegally. Eric had a pump-action shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle. Dylan had a semi-automatic handgun and a sawed-off shotgun. They both carried knives and a lot of ammunition. The main idea of their plan was for the propane bombs to be placed in the cafeteria and destroy the library above. After the explosion, which would kill around 600 people, they would sit back and shoot the fleeing survivors. Their plan for the death of students in their school was complete after a lot of planning. All they needed to do now was initiate their "perfect" plan. On the 20th of April 20, 1999 two young boys Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold set up a small fire bomb in a field near the school which they attended to. This would act as a diversion to fire fighters (Federal Bureau of Investigation 2007). The bomb only partially exploded and made a small fire that one truck put out easily. They arrived at Columbine High School in separate cars and they both carefully picked parking places that would have a clear view of the school's cafeteria. Their location would make it easier to kill the survivors who were running away. A few minutes before lunch, the two boys brought propane bombs in duffle bags. Each bomb was of 20 pounds (Hasday 2002). They armed the two bombs and went back to the parking lot to wait. When they bombs did not go off after some time they went onto the highest point in the school and began shooting at students killing and injuring some. Then they went to the library where they killed, injured, and taunted many students. After they left the library they scoured the school sparing students and staff. Only trying to scare or frighten them. They went back to the library at about 12:05 where they both committed suicide. Eric killed himself with a single shotgun blast and Dylan with a single shot from his Tec-9 handgun. The massacre was over almost as soon as it started. Conclusion Thus it can be said that from the 1950’s to the 1990’s America ahs gone through a lot of changes. These changes have had an effect on the political and social perspective of the nation. Apart from this these events have also moulded their reputation on an international level. However I think that in the next 5 years to come America might face a lot of facial crisis; it has fought too many wars and has been through a lot political scams which ha tarnished their reputation. They may a country with strong currency however their currency may face a lot trouble in countries where its value is already low. Like in England. I would say that America should stop concentring on warfare and starting saving up for the bad times. References Conrad Joseph (1977); Tales of Unrest Penguin; New Ed edition Greenhaven Press; 1 edition Federal Bureau of Investigation (2007); Columbine High School Massacre: The FBI Files, Filibust Grofman Bernard (2000); Legacies of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, University of Virginia Press Hasday .L Judy (2000); Columbine High School Shooting: Student Violence (American Disasters) Enslow Mayer H. Robert (2004); At Issue in History - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Olson W Keith. (2003); Watergate: The Presidential Scandal That Shook America University Press of Kansas Reaganomics (2009) retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Reaganomics on June 2009 Trahair, C.S Richard and Trahair R. C. (1994); From Aristotelian to Reaganomics: A Dictionary of Eponyms with Biographies in the Social Sciences Greenwood Publishing Group, Incorporated Read More