Chapter Summary Of Chapter 20 By Howard Zinn

During the years between 1920 and 1960, America saw change in many aspects of life. The United States was a part of two major wars and a crash of the banking system that crippled the economy greater than ever seen in this country’s history. Also the country had new insecurities to tackle such as immigration and poor treatment of workers. These events led to the change of America lives socially, economically, and politically. The people of America changed their ideas of what the country’s place in the world should be. The issues challenging America led the country to change from isolation to war, depression to prosperity, and social change. The threats to American way of life, foreign and domestic, were the changing forces to the

That Hollywood deliberately portrays history from the perspective of the pro-military, pro-business, pro-government establishment. In diplomatic world, Zinn shows that the history of social change is made of million shares, small or large, which are cumulative at some point of history. Up to be a power that no Government can suppress.

In Zinn Chapter 8 was about how the Louisiana purchase increased the size of the United by extending land to the Rocky Mountains. Mexico won its independence in the revolution against Spain in 1821.Texas broke off Mexico in 1836 and became the Lone Star Republic.So the US decided to buy Texas in 1845. Jame Polked moved into the White House and decided to send in some troops to Rio Grande but that was a problem for Mexico.The Rio Grande was the borderline for Texas but they didn't know at the time.This order provoked Mexicans. In March 28 1846 Taylor moved his troops Corpus Christ and waited for an attack. General Taylor quartermaster was riding up the Rio Grande and he disappeared 11 day later his body was found and his head was smashed.People

This thematic standpoint in return provides ground for a second major theme; the 1960s was home to the birth of civil rights movements and forever changed the American idea of the status quo. To a large extent, it is agreeable that that the 1960s serves as the era that led to activism in the US. Anderson is able to confirm and strengthen his standpoint by the fact that it was during one of the greatest milestones of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, that for the first time in the history of the US, the government was subjected to criticism and attacks against their “ways”. This can be evidenced by the fact that Americans, which were majority college students, took to the streets to protest government action. At the time, the policies and actions put forth by the government were seen to be very secretive and wrong. Citizens were hastily informed about the need to stop the spread of communism at the expense of capitalism. Not only were government policies seen as corrupt, the government had kept the American society in the dark concerning the actual situation in Vietnam. There seemed to be no cost that was worth retreating from Vietnam. Draft calls were constantly increasing and the war itself began to result in federal expenditures, deficits, and inflationary pressures ( Anderson 90). For some Americans, the war not only damaging, but unfair. Mexican Americans were the poorest and

Zinn joined the Army Air Corps in 1943, eager to fight the fascists. While in the Air Force he was disturbed by the race and class inequality among the servicemen. He knew nothing was ever equal in life but we are all people and how could inequality be this severe? It wasn’t until years after the war that he questioned the necessity of the bombs that he dropped, He realized killing people was a question of one’s own morals not just the morals of our nation. But at the end of the war, back in New York, he deposited his medals in an envelope and wrote: “Never again.” “I would not deny that [WWII] had a certain moral core, but that made it easier for Americans to treat all subsequent wars with a kind of glow,” Zinn said. “Every enemy becomes Hitler.” These actions that Howard Zinn had taken I believe have made him into an elite of not only leadership but truly practical morals of each

In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, he discusses a numerous amount of events that happened throughout the history of the United States. His readers are able to read about war, the middle class, common people working for change, struggles of the common people, present and previous struggles, Zinn’s hope for the middle class, the causes for wars, and how they affected others, his readers will also read about President Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, and Bush Jr. In his books, he analyzes these presidents and all of their similarities and differences concerning welfare, military affairs, civil rights, foreign affairs and the economy. Zinn also speaks upon the struggles

Throughout Nixon’s campaign, his promise to the American people focused on law and order as he often spoke to the forgotten and silent (Richard Nixon 2014). Furthermore, he catered to this group in his domestic policy by attacking liberal programs and successfully passed significant and progressive social legislation such as welfare reform, strict environmental laws and consumer protection legislation (Richard Nixon 2014). The focus of Nixon’s agenda was to attack liberal ideology by confronting liberalism within the Supreme Court and concentrating on nominating conservative justices (Richard Nixon 2014). Where President Johnson’s desire was to win the approval of the American people by bringing them together, Nixon pursued to accomplish conservative control through division. However, both Johnson and Nixon encountered the developing social unrest which was deepened by the Vietnam War due to their presidential boldness (Pfiffner 2011, 13). President Johnson deceived the American people which worked to intensify the war as he did not want to endanger his Great Society Program (Pfiffner 2011, 13). President Nixon’s continuous pursuit of the war and opposition to the congressional efforts at ending the war led to his challenging

The 1970’s in the U.S. was a period in which we saw a sever lack of confidence amongst our government, and it’s leaders. During this decade we were involved in a war, caught off guard by a Presidential, and political scandals, and was trounced by a severe economic recession. These events have left a lasting impression on citizens as the level of faith in our government continues to plummet. In the writings below I will explain the conditions in our country at the time, and how these conditions led people to a path of feeling embittered.

This paper explores Howard Zinn’s life as an influential historian and public intellectual. It argues for his critical, singular position as an academic who left a mark on generations of Americans as well as international persons by guiding us all to critically view various institutions and structures of power, particularly in the realm of government. By looking at four major aspects of his life, as radical historian, civil rights crusader, anti-war activist, and labor rights activist, the paper delineates Zinn’s impact in these areas and how he shaped the thinking of countless individuals on these topics.

In looking at more contemporary issues, Zinn utilizes interview records and other hard documentation to show us the real stories. For example, the government moved slowly to end segregation, fearful of a change of the face of American power. We see how two of America’s favorite presidents, Eisenhower and Kennedy, did little to change the system during their administrations. Lyndon Johnson pushed for passage of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. This was viewed

After reading “The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics”, I acknowledged the argument Bruce Schulman was making. This book was about the 1970’s in America and the changes that occurred during the decade. Just like in the title a change in culture, society, and politics. Schulman talks about the rise of liberalism in America after WW2. He talks about that briefly, than points out the importance of the 1968 Nixon presidential campaign. About how he pushed away from the government and more towards the private sector. Schulman mentions that the 70’s were nicknamed or known as “the lost decade”. The main argument in Schulman’s book was that the 70’s was not a lost decade, it was an important one that reshaped America for the better. He supports his argument with several events that helped shape the decade. Schulman points out two major shifts during the 70’s the “Southernization” of the country, and the distrust in the government. First I would like to talk about Schulman’s argument and if it’s a well-supported argument or not.

The book People’s History of the United States by the author Howard Zinn represents the history to the readers in a different perspective, making the readers look into the history in a difference lens making it insightful. What is a history? To answer this question, we must first establish a commonality in language: namely, what is history? It is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person which is usually written as a chronological account. The author discusses about how the major events were recorded and mainly the stories which were untold to the people and were left out of the mainstream history books. In the first few chapters he gives critical details about how America was founded by Christopher Columbus and gradually moving into detail about how he killed hundreds of native Indians in the process of capturing the country. The author then moves into giving the readers about hidden class struggles and the period of time where racism was affecting a majority of the people. Howard Zinn also mentions about the wars, the Vietnam war and the Civil war that had changed the lives of many in the past and how it has made a major impact in the past and today to the people. Some of the details in the book are real life experiences by the author, because he is not only a writer but had also served in the army in the world war two as a pilot, which makes the readers understand every detail of some events as it is told

Question 1: For many Americans, the 1960s began with JFK’s “Age of Camelot,” an era that seemed to exude confidence in American institutions. Yet, by the early 1970s, those expectations and attitudes seemed to be replaced by a sense of bitterness and cynicism. Discuss and analyze the causes and consequences of this profound attitudinal shift.

Response: I strongly believe without any hesitation and agree with American criminologist Howard Zeher regarding changes needs to be done in U.S criminal justice system. If we dig into deeply more reasons would occur stating why we need to adopt some changes. Zeher talked about changing criminal justice system to save victim, offender, and society. I like the way author returns to history and brings it up stating that criminal justice system was totally different than now. People practiced heling techniques for victims, positive and productive approaches to bring offenders back into society. But as time changed, victims are left behind due to new laws and regulation. According to Howard, victim is a type of subject who requires more attention,

The term “Watergate” has become a common household name in correlation with people's thoughts about corruption in government. President Nixon was in office at the time of this scandal and is often thought to be the most famous face in America's conspiracy of wickedness in the government. The Watergate scandal had rocked everything our country thought we knew about the American Presidency because it had forfeited the common vision of the leader of the nation. Watergate had replaced the image of elegance and worldliness of the U.S. President with a scattered vision of corruption and extreme competitive measures that the country had never been a part of. Richard Nixon and his men had taken