...and courageous victory, when in reality it was not. The era became viewed as “America's golden age, a peak in the life of society when every thing worked out and the good guys definitely got a happy ending" (Adams, 2). Besides the general population's idea that the United States was saving the day by going to war, the main tool of distorting the reality of war was propaganda. The “greatness” of this war spread so quickly, “the censors hardly needed to tell the film producers that war movies should showcase American heroism and patriotism and that the enemy must be cruel, devious, and unprincipled” (Adams, 11). The impact of the media's spinning the war lead to a positive demeanor in the nation, eventually proving the propaganda to be a necessary evil. World War II, for America, was a testament to the work and reward of the American dream. The media portrayed society during the war as succesful, hard working, and finally coming out of the slumps brought on by the Great Depression. In line with the “melting pot” stereotype of America, people from all ethnicities were fighting for our country (Adams, 11). After the recession, Americans needed a common enemy to bring them together as a nation. The war provided an enemy that was portrayed as barbaric, leaving Americans with little hesitation in fighting them. Later in the war, the Holocaust and its inhumane nature only strengthened the resolve of America's determination in the war. Citizens saw their country as saving millions of persecuted...
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...Research Paper Al “Scarface” Capone was the ultimate american gangster. Not only did he run the streets by the time he was 15, Capone ran all of Chicago for multiple years by the time he was 30 (Chicago Historical Society 1). In 1929, what is known as Chicago’s most brutal day, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre occurred when Capone’s rival gang was murdered because he had one goal and that goal was to run the streets, just as he did (History Channel 1). While the feds were hot and heavy on him, Capone fled to Florida to lay low for a bit. When he was at his highest point of control of most of the country he was making close to $100,000,000 a year. While going back and forth from Florida to Chicago, Capone had up to 5 gangster headquarters. Once the police started to catch on to his case, they decided to give Al “Scarface” Capone a new nickname, “Public enemy number one” (History Channel 1). Capone had a wild childhood. He was born in January of 1899 in a small house in Brooklyn, New York (Chicago historical Society 1). By the time Al Capone was 15 he was brought up from the “kids gangs” (Chicago Historical Society 1) into the notorious Five Points Gang by Frankie Yale in 1916. Capone had a couple jobs as a bouncer and a bartender at Frankie Yales’ gangster dive bars and the Harvard Inn. While working at the Harvard Inn, Capone acquired the nickname “Scarface” because of an incident when a girlfriends brother of his beat him up and the name stuck ever since. Al Capone’s...
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...Vietnam: A History By : Stanley Karnow | April 4 2012 | This paper is about Vietnam: A History a novel on America’s involvement on the war in Vietnam and the policies and feelings surrounding the war. | Book Report | Works Cited Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Penguin, 1997. Print. The Vietnam War was not just of interest to the government but the world took great interest as a whole. It was like trying to figure out a magician’s illusion. Before reading this book I only had vague general knowledge of the Vietnam War and how the conflict transpired. I knew about the communist insurgents, the Gulf of Tonkin, Saigon and Ho Chi Mihn. I knew about Presidents Johnson and Nixon, posttraumatic stress disorder and demonstrations. What I did not fully understand was why. Why were the North Vietnamese so resilient? Why did the US make such poor judgment? Why were we really there? What was Vietnam's history prior to our arrival? “History is an organic process, a continuity of related events, inexorable yet not inevitable.” (pg 11) The roots of America's involvement in Vietnam were nurtured by what Professor Daniel Bell has called America's concept of its own “exceptionalism.” George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop and philosopher stated in 1726 as he departed from England to America, “Westward the course of empire.” The phrase, “manifest destiny”, was coined...
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...the total U.S. population is less than 10%. Comparison of these figures reflects that American enlistment ratios in the U.S. Armed forces have decreased dramatically since World War II. The U.S. is a dominant military force in the world today; however, it also has allies that it must help protect and defend in the name of democracy. As a result of the above, American forces are involved in multi-theater (or diverse worldwide) roles, both simultaneously and continuously, thus spreading out our troops over diverse areas. Additionally, the extended war on terrorism continues to deplete American military forces, and international news reflects American discord and varying degrees of enthusiasm in continued war efforts. Consequently, since only one in ten Americans has served in the armed forces, American understanding of military requirements is diminishing, right along with the unity that comes with such knowledge. Thus, the realization that...
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...the total U.S. population is less than 10%. Comparison of these figures reflects that American enlistment ratios in the U.S. Armed forces have decreased dramatically since World War II. The U.S. is a dominant military force in the world today; however, it also has allies that it must help protect and defend in the name of democracy. As a result of the above, American forces are involved in multi-theater (or diverse worldwide) roles, both simultaneously and continuously, thus spreading out our troops over diverse areas. Additionally, the extended war on terrorism continues to deplete American military forces, and international news reflects American discord and varying degrees of enthusiasm in continued war efforts. Consequently, since only one in ten Americans has served in the armed forces, American understanding of military requirements is diminishing, right along with the unity that comes with such knowledge. Thus, the realization that American safety walks hand in hand with...
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...The Tet offensive is considered one of America’s greatest intelligence failures. The word Tet means Vietnamese New Year and it come from the word Tet Nguyen Dan, which means “Feast of the First Morning of the First Day”. The Tet celebrations is very important to the Vietnamese people and is the busiest time to the country. Most of the Vietnamese population travel throughout the country visiting family and friends. For the Vietnamese people the Tet celebration is a fresh start and a time where debts and paid, old disagreements are forgotten, and a house cleaning is done removing all the clutter. This is all done in the name of receiving good luck and fortune in the new year. On January 30, 1968, which was the start of the Vietnamese Buddhist Tet holiday, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese emerged from their tunnels and launched a colossal military offensive that proved to all that the war was not close to being over. The surprise attack was against the Dang base and the American embassy. The Communist forces saw a great number of casualties, but the Tet offensive drove the United States military out of the country. The United States and allies underestimated the over eighty thousand North Vietnamese force used during the offensive. Due to this underestimation “the allied intelligence had failed in its...
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...the first time in my life, I realized how honored, brave and independent a woman can be, and most importantly, how there was still a place in the World where women were respected and appreciated. I was indeed grateful for that. However, having grown up and experienced with several cultures, I started to discover the dark sides of every society, in which the unfair treatment to women still happens in family, at work place, or even on the streets. My belief from childhood about an existing fairness for women has collapsed immediately after I figured out a dirty truth behind the most disciplined, governmentally institutional family called the U.S military. An analysis of military women who was raped during their serving reveals an increasing number of victims from last several years, which somehow has turned into an issue called “military rape culture”, while emphasizes the extravagant neglect of the authorities when it comes to let the cat out of the bag. My fellow women, have you ever gotten into a situation when you had to gather all your courage to choose the very rough path but eventually it turns out to be a dead-end? I think it happens a lot to those women who at first had been either delighted or miserable, honored or hesitating, dedicated or burdensome, to join the army, to be a part of U.S. Navy or Marine. However, despite all the respectful and admiring look from other people to you putting on the military jacket, is the life of a woman in military as grateful as it...
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...Drugs” is the term the federal government uses to refer to their efforts to stop the import, manufacturing, sale, and se of illegal drugs in the United States. The term is not used reference to any particular policy or target but instead refers as a whole to the series of antidrug initiatives directed towards ending drug abuse. On November 27, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the International Committee on Narcotics which was accountable for coordinating executive branch antidrug efforts. This initiated what the New York Times labeled “a new war on narcotic addiction at the local, national, and international level”. During a press conference on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon labeled illegal drugs as “public enemy number one in the United States” and introduced the phase “War on Drugs” to chronicle the governments antidrug efforts. The history of the Unites States drug policy is complex. The United States has tried to control the use and trade of drugs for nearly a century. Some notable milestones in the Federal Antidrug Policy are the Harrison Narcotic Tax Act which was enacted in 1914. The Harrison Act regulated the...
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...ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. Our work ranges from voting rights to redistricting reform, from access to the courts to presidential power in the fight against terrorism. A singular institution – part think tank, part public interest law firm, part advocacy group – the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector. ABOUT THE BRENNAN CENTER’S LIBERTY AND NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT The Brennan Center initiated its Liberty and National Security project two years ago to foster better public understanding of the importance of accountability, transparency, and checks-and-balances in the formulation and implementation of national security policy. We have since been at the forefront of advocating for sound, rights-respecting policy prescriptions based on broad public participation and informed discussion. Our staff engages in a spectrum of public education, legislative advocacy, litigation and scholarly activity. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Hafetz is Litigation Director of the Liberty and National Security Project at the Brennan Center. He is actively involved in post-9/11 litigation involving detainee rights and other national security issues, and is lead counsel in several leading detention...
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...culture and therefore turned to advice from fad diets and the government when deciding what to eat. Omnivore's Dilemma claims that the "melting pot" synonymous with American culture has fragmented the nation's culinary identity. Others, however, argue that the U.S.'s cultural diversity has led to regional cuisine that both encourages unity within smaller subcultures in the United States and promotes the exchange of ideas about our food. The reality of today’s American cuisine is likely a combination of the two—the rise of processed fast food and the surge of chain restaurants have become homemade meals’ biggest competitors, but the American culinary community has fought to keep national and regional fare alive. Pollan began his inquiry into America’s food culture when the Atkins diet again rose to prominence in the early 2000s. The American people...
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...not the untouchable nation it is perceived to be. National security is a major concern for citizens and a high focus for the elected presidents. The national security policy in America is known as the policy set in place to protect America as a nation and its citizens. It addresses particular threats to the society both internally and externally. There is a long history of intellectual interest and public concern with national security issues. Although the national security policy is ideally intended to protect society as a whole, there have been many incidents in the nations past and present that continue to challenge the strategy, placing national protection as a top priority for the President of the United States. The military of the most powerful nation in the world was lead into a war that many call the most dim-witted mistake made by an administration, in response to the most catastrophic attack on American soil. Dated back to the events that took place on 11 September 2001, the attack on the United States by a foreign enemy has placed Terrorism as one of America’s primary focal points. Terrorist’s activity against the United States has increased significantly since the seventies. Many attacks on embassy’s, soldiers, and indirect targets have seeded...
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...The beep that came from the satellite became very much like a gunshot at the start of a race, and signified the race for space had begun. Two Americans identities were born out of this action, a trepidation of Soviet power and in response to the fear of this power, a growing sense of nationalism. In his commentary on the fear and panic that the launch caused in Americans, newspaper cartoon analyst Mark Bryant explains, “Frank Williams captured the Cold War alarm occasioned by Sputnik: his drawing for the Detroit Free Press shows an American scientist saying ‘Down Boy!’ to a US citizen trying to reach for the panic button as Sputnik races past the windows” (Bryant 59). Much of the American public felt that if the Russians had a more advance space program than the United States, and it would not be long before the Soviet Union posed a threat to the nation’s...
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...The fear of Communism During the Somoza dynasty, Sandinistas were getting in bed with America’s enemies. A lot of the members of the FSLN went to the Soviet Union to get educated, as well as trained in countries such as Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and North Korea (all considered communist countries). One could safely deduce that in many ways the Sandinistas shared the pro-Soviet, anti-American stance of a number of Third World “liberation movements” of the 1960s and 1970s (Hager, 1993: 114-119). Initially, when the very left Sandinistas overthrew Nicaragua’s dictatorship, the United States under President Carter, let the Sandinistas properly run the country with no U.S interference. In fact, if it weren’t for the Carter administration withdrawing...
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...was also an actor on the movie screen. The Iran-Contra Affair, the United States sold weapons to Iran for use in their war with Iraq. Reagan did this despite an embargo against Iran( imposed after the 1979 hostage crisis) and the fact that Iran was at an avowed enemy; the United States was t the same time offering support to Iran because top official in the Reagan administration hoped that selling arms to Iran would ease relation between the United States and Iran. More damning is that members of Reagan ‘s administration took profits from the sales of arms to Iran and sent the money to a right wing guerrilla group in Nicaragua called the Contras, who were battling the left wing government. It was never proved that Reagan was aware that Iran arms sale finds had been diverted to the contras, but the nationally televised testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North demonstrated that Reagan was probably not aware of the contra affair and that he had not, therefore, sufficiently controlled his administration. At, Reagan behest, Congress investigated the affair, chastised the president, and indicted several of his men. The aftermath included resignations, fines, and imprisonment for a handful of Reagan’s functionaries, and public embarrassment for the president. Our first black President is elected into office, as Bush conclude his second term in office, the nation still appeared divided by culture wars, the economy seemed on the verge of collapse, and frightening foreign events continued...
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...2. Claim: Marijuana legalization will benefit everyone both medically and economically, 3. Support: Currently 15 states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. 4. Warrant: People with pain, nausea and loss of appetite by people with AIDS, cancer and other debilitating diseases are benefiting from medical marijuana in the current 15 states that allow its use. 5. Backing: As in the past marijuana was used for medical purpose. 6. Rebuttal: Refusal to legalize continues to cost the government a lot of funds in prohibition and enforcement. In the perspective of America's war on drugs, marijuana is one of the biggest enemies. And since alcohol and tobacco, two life threatening substances, are legal it is a relevant question to ask why marijuana is illegal. What comes into our minds each time we hear people talk about Marijuana? We associate the use of marijuana with a lot of bad things such as violence, intoxication, and bad behaviors - the list is endless. Before consideration is even given to legalization of marijuana, let us first of all understand what it is and, its history. Since time immemorial, there has been a negative stigma attached to marijuana, but exactly what is it? www.justice.gov/ndic describes Marijuana as a mind-altering substance produced from a plant with the scientific name Cannabis sativa. The drug is used because of its primary active chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which may induce relaxation and heighten the senses. THC is the main psychoactive...
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