Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness; this is one prime reasons why America is so great. Very few places can you go and get what America has to offer. ‘Of, relating to, or characteristic of the United States or its inhabitants”, this is the definition of ‘American’ according to Google. Why is this ‘relevant’, you might ask? Lets take a look back, Apollo 13 and Argo films showed just what its like to represent America, and embodied what the American dream is made of, and what it is like to come from such great mishap and end with such bright and awe inspiring conclusions. It has also shown us that even in the darkest moments of history, we come out golden in the final hour. It has shown us that in the future, for every ‘action’ we take, …show more content…
This began when protestors stormed the US Embassy in Tehran supporting the Iranian Revolution, workers destroyed computers and shredded important documents, 6 workers fled the embassy while being overthrown. This was contributed to President Carter giving the Shah asylum in the U.S after the revolution was underway in Iran, Iran demanded return of the Shah; standing behind the student protestors actions. The events that unfolded at that time were known to people as the “Canadian Caper”, it was at this time CIA agent Tony Mendez came into the picture. Mendez was convinced he could smuggle the Americans back to the homeland by touring as a Canadian film scout, with the hostages as his “film crew.” Together Mendez and the hostages posed with fake names, passports and careers as Canadian crew members on the film known as “Argo”. The film “Argo” was the perfect cover up; set in the middle east;it was the perfect place to scout a sci-fi film, which Americans craved in the “70’s early 80’s.” The mission proved to be successful, after successfully flying into Zurich, Switzerland. On January 30th,1980 the Americans finally returned home. The Americans credit the Canadians for the help, food and shelter they provided them with. Successfully harbored by Canadian diplomats Ken Taylor and John Sheardown for 79 days.
In Contrast, Apollo 13 was a movie based off the the original Apollo 13 mission that occurred between April 11, 1970 – April 17, 1970. Astronaughts James A. Lovell,
Furthermore, the Shah purchased billions of dollars worth of weapons of security from the US. In 1979 the realm was overthrown by extreme Islam’s that were followers of Ayatollah Khomeini. The intention of the Iranian students was to display their displeasure against the Shah. Their demand was the return of the Shah for a trial followed by his death. In addition, they asked that the US stay out of their country’s affairs. Carter’s approach required the safeguarding of American hostages but also guaranteed an alliance with Iran. Carter’s tactics on the situation had devastating effects on his run for re-election (Hamilton, 1982).
Apollo 13 is a movie based on the events of the Apollo 13 lunar mission. It is surrounding the events that take place after the space craft is launched into space and undergoes significant internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy. (IMDb)
He encouraged his supporters to engage in massive but peaceful protests, that spread through the country in 1978. The Shah and his forces responded by attacking the protesters, killing hundreds. This caused the protests to grow until it callumated in Black Friday on September 8th 1978. The Shah declared martial law and his forces killed thousands of protesters. Losing international support from the United States, the Shah fled to Egypt and the Ayatollah returned back to Iran. Protest continued with many blaming the United States for the Shahs actions and taking hostage workers at the US Embassy in Tehran. They would be held as captives until January of
America has made in the past, to appreciate the freedoms and opportunities that are presented to all Americans, and to celebrate the great country that we live in. Being an American means that people can live anywhere they want, to work in any industry they choose. The Declaration of Independence, Yo soy Joaquin and interviews malcolm x have shown what is means to be an American. In all desire of equality, opportunities and happiness are all true based on to what is means being an American.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These are the three rights granted to every American, however, this did not seem to apply to the poor during the Gilded Age. The poor lacked opportunities to climb the ladder of social class to escape poverty, and the wealth of America was so concentrated in an individual few that one man, J.P. Morgan, was able to end the Financial Panic of 1893, preventing an economic depression. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The disparity between the wealthy and those facing poverty was ever growing, which makes one question, what should be done, if anything at all? This was a major problem during the time and was the topic of many debates. Figures like William Graham Sumner,
Life… Liberty… and the pursuit of happiness. The 3 things that we, as Americans all share, and that itself, cannot be taken away from us, unalienable rights, as you would put it. But, what are these things, and what do they mean. Today, I will go in depth of what they actually are.
The Course of human events has once again arrived at a time when consideration must be given by the people to dissolving the political bonds connecting them with another, and to again assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Natural Laws entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that the people should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
On November 4th, 1979, a group of enraged of Islamic revolutionists invaded the United States Embassy in Tehran. They had taken 60 Americans hostage for 444 days until President Ronald Reagan had taken Oath of office. It was nearly minutes after Reagan had taken office that they were released. Ayatollah Khomeini enforced an anti-Western Islamic theocracy, overrode the pro-Western monarchy of the Shah of Iran. Iran had felt that the United States was interfering with their internal affairs. They feared that they would return the Shah to power. The Shah had fled to mexico and the doctors there had uncovered that he was suffering an aggressive cancer. With this recent discovery they pushed the Shah to be admitted into a
The people of Iran became angry that the United States would allow the Shah to seek medical treatment in the US, and overtook the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Many of them feared that the United States planned to return to Iran and reinstate Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi as their leader, because of the close diplomatic ties that had been established with him. The United States had helped him to overthrow Iran’s Prime Minister during a power struggle in 1953 and modernize Iran (“The Hostage Crisis in Iran”). The Iranian protesters- many of whom were college students- took hostages, 66 of the hostages holding American citizenship, and refused to release them until the Unites States stopped helping the Shah and turned him over to them. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini decided to support the actions of the student protesters, and dissolved treaties that had been made with the Soviet Union and the United States, preventing international intervention towards the violent protests in Iran. Premier Mehdi Bazargan and most of the
Wealth. Freedom. Equality. The pursuit of happiness and opportunity. From John Winthrop’s “The City Upon A Hill” to Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence”, the term America has been universally defined by these ideals. As a citizen living within this country, I have grown up being taught that upholding these values defines being an American. While this was a generic and naive response to what it means to be American, I simply accepted this because it was what others told me. Looking back, I realize that I blindly accepted this definition because of a false and hopeful view of humanity in general. I did not see the world for what it is, rather, I saw it as filled with blissfully optimistic hope, I idealized the world, dreaming that America and, by extension, Americans were shining beacons of freedom, equality, and opportunity in the world, cultivating my previous
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which in the second paragraph states “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The United States of America soon went on to be founded on the principle of equality, and while it has faltered with women’s equality and race equality, it has always been the idealism that has helped some of the greatest social workers help expand human rights. Today there are several equality movements continuing to progress towards a nation where there is truly equality for all, but one movement in particular stands
In what some regard as one of the most influential documents ever penned from our nations’ forefathers, the Declaration of Independence articulates that “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” (Declaration of Independence, US, 1776) are given rights to all men. With life and liberty almost immediately given to the U.S. Citizen, the never-ending pursuit of happiness is one that almost all fall short of. Some would say crisis’ or catastrophic events, others would blame the capitalistic system itself, but mostly some can never achieve a certain level of happiness that the Declaration itself says our citizens pursue due to low wages. Specifically, low working wages thanks to a federal minimum wage that has not risen since the year 2009. This impacts our economy, our values, our class system, values and our way of life here in America.
The Shah arrived in New York City on October 22, 1979, and the response in Iran was nothing out of the ordinary. However on November 4th, 1979, 3,000 Muslim students, some armed, took control of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran and took 65 American Diplomates as hostage. The hostage takers that were muslim students urged that America releases Mohammad Reza Pahlavi back to Iran, to which he would have been put on trial and possibly executed. The United States was not going to and did not had over the Shah as he was in America for medical attention. The hostage takers also wanted the U.S to apologize for the interference in Iran's internal affairs. One example of America's interference was it was primarily responsible for the overthrow of Prime Minister Mosaddegh; this was not necessary. The last reason for the attack is that Iran wanted their frozen assets in America to be released
Apollo 13 is a 1995 American space adventure film directed by Ron Howard. The film depicts astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise aboard Apollo 13 for America 's third Moon landing mission. En route, an on-board explosion deprives their spacecraft of most of its oxygen supply and electric power, forcing NASA 's flight controllers to abort the Moon landing, and turning the mission into a struggle to get the three men home safely.
Liberty, equality and justice. Those three words are the values the United States was founded on. Over time the United States has struggled to abide by these values. However they try to promote them in schools, in court and in work. An African American and women do not have the same treatment as a Caucasian. In 1955, there was a trial for the murder of Emmett Till. The United States highlights these values but, fail to follow through with them.