Introduction to American History
Chapter 1
The 5 Themes of Geography
5 Themes of Geography
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Location
 Either where you actually are, or where you are in regards to something
else. (relative or absolute)
 Place
 The type of area you live in, physical characteristics, culture, etc…
 Movement
 Where people go and why.
 Human/Environment Interaction
 How the presence of humans affects change on the earth.
 Region
 An area that has similar characteristics.
Location
Relative Location
- N.E. Mo. Valley
- West of hospital
Absolute Location
- 605 E. Lincoln Highway
- 41º33’47.42” N
95º52’47.71 W
elevation 1096’
Place
Movement
H/E.I.
Region
How do the 5 themes of geography apply to U.S. History?
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But first, what is the job and purpose of a historian? What types of historians
are there?
So…
How do the 5 themes of geography apply to U.S. History?
 If everything has a history then anything can be history. By
understanding the cultures, time frames, frame of minds, human
patterns, terrain etc…you can build clues to uncovering history.
 Research then is an active process, not a static process.
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Terrorism and the Phantom Global Threat
Terrorism
Definition  The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or
an organized group against people or property with the intention of
intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological
or political reasons
Roots?
Global Terrorism
How old is it?
Is it purely for religious reasons?
Tactics used?
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Suicide bombings…2005 London, IRA, Middle East, 2004 Spain, 1972
Munich, Russian School 2004
Current Events as Related to Terrorism
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In most cases it is based purely on religion or on the nation of Israel.
2006 Israel vs. Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Why do we care? What is our responsibility?
How old is Israel’s issues with it’s neighborhood?
So why again it is our responsibility?
Coach Knott “We are in the midst of WW-III”
First we must discuss…
8-4-2006.
Israel…root for most of the global terrorist action against the U.S.
As is the ideology of capitalism and democracy vs. theocracy.
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Theocracy – Religion driven and motivated government.
Free Enterprise
Israel
Holy Land of Moses and the Hebrew people of Exodus.
Eventually kicked out but still claimed the region. Most spread to Europe.
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During the 1880’s a call for a new Jewish state within Palestine was issued.
Palestine was controlled by the British after WWI.
Formation of Israel
Jews continued to immigrate to Palestine from the 1880’s through the 1930’s.
However, the largest number of immigrating Jews occurred after WWII.
Due to sympathies of the Holocaust (and because the U.S. and the Brit’s
ignored it for a while) the United Nations agreed to split Palestine in two
giving 55% to the new nation of Israel.
War
Israel being well funded, protected and armed by the U.S. and the British
didn’t have much to fear.
However, for the next +60 years the Arabic neighboring nations have tried to
take over Israel, and vice versa.
Palestine eventually lost all territory either to Israel or other Arab nations.
Since we protected and formed Israel we are the enemy.
Assignments
Google Terrorism
Assignment – partner up and write a brief report in your own words about one
of these acts.
* Can’t double up any acts.
Newspaper Current Events Project
Need to collect 5 articles from newspaper sources.*
Need to write a brief summary each one.
* It looks bad if you all have the same or similar articles.
History of Terrorist Action in the U.S.
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Domestic
 1999 Columbine
 1996 Atlanta Olympics
 1995 Oklahoma City
 1984 Salad Bar Poisoning
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Unabomber
Presidential and other assassinations
Foreign
 9/11
 2000 USS Cole
 1993 World Trade Center
 1988 Pan Am Flight 103
 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis
1999 Columbine Massacre
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 15 (12 students, 1 teacher, + themselves)
and wounded 24 others.
Why?
 No clear motivate…
 cliques, gothic culture, Hitler, etc… but no proof
Importance
 It has happened before and will happen again.
 Scariest part is that these events are almost always elaborately
planned…and at least some of the classmates know about it.
1996 Olympic Bombing - Atlanta
Eric Rudolph plants and explodes a bomb in a Centennial Park killing 1 and
injuring +100.
Was not linked to bombings until similarities were found at bombings at a
lesbian bar and two abortion clinics.
Goal to embarrass Washington, cancel the games, and stop the global
socialization of society.
1995 Oklahoma City Bombing
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols plotted to blow up the building in
response to the government and in remembrance of Waco the year before.
Used a Ryder Truck, gasoline, fertilizer, and a blasting cap.
168 Killed, +800 Wounded
1984 Salad Bar Poisoning
Followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh attempted to control a local
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election by infecting salad bars in 10 restaurants with Salmonella in the small
town of The Dalles, Oregon. The attack caused about 751 people to get sick
(no fatalities).
This incident was the first known bioterrorist attack in the United States in the
20th century.
Dr. Theodore Kaczynski
a.k.a. The Unabomber
A former college professor who turned hermit wanted to warn the world
against technology.
Sent bombs in mail to people in tech fields and even placed one on plane.
16 Bombs which injured 29.
Presidential Assassinations
Attempted
 Andrew Jackson
 Theodore Roosevelt
 Franklin D. Roosevelt
 Harry S. Truman
 Richard M. Nixon
 Gerald R. Ford
 Jimmy Carter
 Ronald Reagan
 George H.W. Bush
 Bill Clinton
 George W. Bush
Successful
 Abraham Lincoln
 James Garfield
 William McKinley
 John F. Kennedy
Foreign Attacks on the U.S.
September 11, 2001
Terrorist hijack 4 planes. Two destroy the WTC. 1 hits the pentagon. Flight 93
crashes in Pennsylvania.
Attacked by Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed = Mastermind and planner.
2976 total deaths
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How has this change America? Has it?
Osama Bin Laden
From Saudi Arabia from a prominent family.
Highly educated, he left to fight and stop the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
and join the mujahideen.
 Mujahideen – those who fight in a jihad.
 Jihad – Islamic holy war.
U.S. Involvement
The U.S. HATES and FEARS the U.S.S.R. at this time.
We wanted the U.S.S.R. to fail in it’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1980. So we
have the CIA train Osama and supply him and his forces with weapons also.
Osama and the Afghani forces hold the Soviets out. Osama is now quite
powerful.
Shouldn’t Osama Be Our Friend
Things changed during the Gulf War of 1991.
The United States uses Saudi Arabia as a launching point for the invasion of
Iraq after Saddam invaded Kuwait.
Now it gets a bit tricky…
 Osama doesn’t like Iraq or Saddam…
 he wanted to defend Saudi Arabia (with his own troops), and his
government said “no”…
 U.S. troops are then stationed in Saudi Arabia through 2003 (since we
didn’t remove Saddam in 1991)…
 he feels that the infidels have defiled the Muslim holy land…
 plus his country’s rejection of him.
Birth of Al Qaeda
Osama formed Al Qaeda during the Soviet-Afghani conflict. However it
wasn’t until he was aided by the Taliban (ruling theocracy in Afghanistan)
that he had clout.
Al Qaeda’s Recent History
1990 USS Cole
Al Qaeda members ram a boat filled with explosives into the side of the Cole.
The USS Cole was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden.
17 Sailors died with 39 others injured.
1993 WTC Bombing
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Khalid Shaikh Mohammed = Mastermind and planner, once again.
Goal = Load a bomb with a fertilizer type explosive (Similar to what
McVeigh uses later.) and make Tower 1 fall into and collapse Tower 2.
Explosion causes significant but no major structural damage.
6 killed, +1000 injured.
1998 Pan Am Flight 103
Flight 103
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the
head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah who
also worked for the airline placed plastic explosives on the plane which ripped
apart over Scotland.
270 people from 21 countries died, and were scattered over 845 square miles.
1979 Iran Hostage Crisis
66 U.S. diplomats and citizens were held hostage for up to 444 days after a
change of power in Iran.
Background
 After WWII fearing neighbor U.S.S.R. and wanting access to oil we
instill a puppet government in Iran. The Shah (leader of Iran) is
protected by the U.S. government (weapons and military supplies) in
exchange for angering the U.S.S.R. and oil.
 When the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came to power he wanted to
remove the “Great Satan,” the capitalist, Israel protecting U.S.
 This became the first modern theocracy.
 Also leads to the energy crisis in the late 70’s.
Side Bar – Iran Contra Scandal
We want to aid the anti-communist Contra’s (guerillas) in Nicaragua. Problem
is we can’t give them money through the normal channels.
Our great plan sell our weapons to Iran (Iran was fighting Iraq at this time and
seen as the lesser of two evils) and the money went to the Contras.
Iran Today
How have we made the situation messy for us now?
Iran wants nuclear weapons and their new leader is adamant about obliterating
Israel.
What precedent have we set…
North Korea
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North Korea is similar to Iran in that they also want Nuclear capabilities.
Why…check this out
Why is North Korea Dark
 We give aid to North Korea, a poor nation.
 The food and aid we send is confiscated by Kim Jong Il for the military.
(similar to Somalia)
 He also prevents hydroelectric plants from being built, brainwashes his
citizens, and blames the U.S. for them not having (nuclear) power.
 Willing to start war.
Misc. Other Attacks
 August 7, 1998: Twin bombings at the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, kill 224 people and wound thousands of others.
 June 1996: A bomb at U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, kills 19
Americans and injures 500 people.
 November 13, 1995: A bomb at U.S. military headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, kills five U.S. service personnel.
 September 5, 1986: Hijackers take over a Pan Am jet at Karachi Airport.
Twenty people are killed when security forces storm the plane.
Misc. Other Attacks
 June 14, 1985: Shiite Muslim gunmen hijack a TWA jet carrying 153
passengers and crew, mostly Americans, shortly after takeoff from Athens,
Greece. A U.S. serviceman, Robert Dean Stethem, 23, was killed and his body
was thrown on the tarmac at the airport in Beirut, Lebanon. Thirty nine others
were held hostage for 17 days before being released.
 September 20, 1984: A bombing at the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut,
Lebanon, kills 16 and injures the ambassador.
 October 23, 1983: The bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon,
kills 241.
 April 18, 1983: A car bomb at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, kills 17.
 Taken from http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/timeline.html
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Big Brother Syndrome
Why do we get attacked? Why do they hate the U.S.? Why do we try to solve
the world’s problems? Why do we force our beliefs, specifically democracy,
on others?
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What can history tell us about why we do what we do?
 WWI, WWII, $, Technology, Yugoslavia, Somalia, Iraq 2x, Panama,
Central American (Panama, Nicaragua, etc… Venezuelan Oil etc…)
 But wait a second – conflicts we didn’t get involved with…Rwanda,
Sudan, Liberia, Tsunami in 2004 vs. Indonesia Earthquake and Pakistani
Earthquake.
Why do people resort to terrorism?
Could it be that quite simply people need and want their voice heard? And that
perhaps, that violence is seen as the only way to get their voice heard?
If this is the case when, where, how, why, did we get to the point in U.S.
history when terrorism isn’t needed?
Or will it be needed once again. ~~“that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or
abolish it, and to institute new Government .”~~
A New Revolution
When will the next one happen in the U.S.
 A small one will occur in November followed by a much larger event in
2008…guaranteed.
Examples of mini-revolutions in the U.S.
 look at specific groups of people in the U.S. and examine when they, or
if they have had their voice heard.
 Groups – Males, Females, Native Americans, African Americans,
Hispanic Americans, Same-Sex Couples, Unborn Children, Irish,
Catholics, Puritans, Jews, Children
This idea will take us to our next chapter.