If anything defined the 20th century as the age of anxiety, it's the cold war with its ultimate no-win nuclear endgame. Reagan's 1983 Evil Empire speech sets the tone for a more aggressive US posture against the Soviet Union, and the costly arms race it renewed.
In the 1950's the fear that communists both outside and inside America were working to destroy our way of life created a reaction known as the Red Scare. Pop culture reflected this fear of communists invading and taking over Americans minds.
Then a little known senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy charged that more than 200 communist agents had infiltrated the highest levels of our government. The charge provoked a furor and a witch hunt that quickly spread to all levels of American life.
"The Crucible", a play written by Arthur Miller centers on the similar events in colonial Salem and the subsequent trials. Those who demanded their innocence were executed, those who would not name names were incarcerated and tortured, and those who admitted their guilt were immediately set free.
President Reagan's remarks on East-West relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987. 1) How does Reagan support his statement "Freedom is the victor?" 2) How does Reagan challenge Gorbachev to prove that his reforms are not just 'token gestures?' 3) What is the tone of this speech?
If Superman is a metaphor for the United States post World War II then who is Lex Luther? The Warsaw Pact? NATO?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. After the destruction of the Second World War, the nations of Europe struggled to rebuild their economies and ensure their security. The former required a massive influx of aid to help the war-torn landscapes re-establish industries and produce food, and the latter required assurances against a resurgent Germany or incursions from the Soviet Union. The United States viewed an economically strong, rearmed, and integrated Europe as vital to the prevention of communist expansion across the continent. As a result, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a program of large-scale economic aid to Europe. The resulting European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, not only facilitated European economic integration but promoted the idea of shared interests and cooperation between the United States and Europe. Soviet refusal either to participate in the Marshall Plan or to allow its satellite states in Eastern Europe to accept the economic assistance helped to reinforce the growing division between east and west in Europe.
1) What are the similarities/ differences between NATO & Wilson's failed League of Nations?
2) What are the benefits of being part of NATO? Risks?
3) Has NATO been effective? Give examples?
4) How has NATO evolved & changed over the decades?
5) In your opinion should the United States continue to lead NATO? Why/ Not?
Over the years Superman has come to represent truth, justice, and the 'American Way!' Perhaps the most famous of the War Year's comics is Superman #17 (July-Aug 1942). On that cover, Superman is shown standing on the Earth, holding both Hitler and the Japanese Emperor by the scruff of their necks and giving them a good shake as if that would put sense back into their heads. While Superman's storyline intentionally avoided much of WWII (Clark Kent was declared unfit for the draft after failing his eye exam; He was reading the chart in the next room with his x-ray vision) the Man of Steel did face the Japanese on the big screen.
In 1936, German troops occupied the Rhineland, a German region bordering France. Although the Versailles Treaty had banned military activity in this region, the League of Nations did nothing in response to Germany’s occupation. Two years later, Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, be surrendered to Germany. Many Europeans feared that Hitler was provoking Europe into war.
France and Britain distrusted Hitler, but they had already agreed on a policy of appeasement—yielding to an enemy’s demands in order to maintain peace. Germany would obtain the Sudetenland, despite Czechoslovakia’s objections. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain explained to the British people that it was illogical to declare war over such a small territory, saying, “If we have to fight, it must be on larger issues than that.”
What is your reaction when you hear these stories? Do they make you grateful for how good you have it today? Why/ not? What will you be telling your kids about how hard you had it 40 years from now?
What was FDR's plan for getting America working again?
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