Review for Final Examination History 419: American Social and Intellectual History Examination Date: December 11, 2008 Abrams v. United States Background Jacob Abrams and his four colleagues were born in Russia. One believed that a good form of government was not capitalist, and in his opinion The United States was capitalists. The other three believed in no form of government. These five people were prosecuted for publishing leaflets in English and Yiddish criticizing Americas intervention in the Russian Revolution. The group • • Russian emigrants who dumped anarchist tracts from New York City buildings, leading to convictions which the Supreme Court considered in Abrams v U. S. (Jacob Abrams is at far right.) First Amendment • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Main Points Jacob Abrams and four colleagues were prosecuted for violating the Espionage Act. › “The first three counts charged the defendants with conspiring… to unlawfully utter, print, write and publish: … disloyal and abusive language about the form of Government of the United States.” › “Language intended to bring the form of Government of the United States into contempt… and scorn, … language intended to incite, provoke and encourage resistance to the United States in said war.” Main Points (Cont) The Espionage Act was argued to be unconstitutional, but was proven otherwise. › “On the record thus described it is argued, somewhat faintly, that the acts charged against the defendants were not unlawful because within the protection of that freedom of speech and of the press which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and that the Entire Espionage Act is unconstitutional because in conflict with that Amendment.” Main Points (Cont) – “The manifest purpose of such a publication was to create an attempt to defeat the war plans of the Government of the United States, by bringing upon the country the paralysis of a general strike, thereby arresting the production of all munications and other things essential to the conduct of the war.” Main Points (Cont) Mr. Homes argues these leaflets in “no way attack the form of government of the United States.” › “A patriot might think that we are wasting money on aeroplanes…and might advocate curtailment with success, yet even if it turned out that the curtailment hindered and was though by other minds to have been obviously likely to hinder the United States in the prosecution of war, no one would hold such conduct a crime.” Main Points (Cont) – “Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech.” “I regret that I cannot put into more impressive words my belief that in their conviction upon this indictment the defendants were deprived of their rights under the Constitution of the United States.” Main Points (Cont) • The United States has a foundation based on free trade of ideas. – “They may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundation of their own conduct that the ultimate good desire is better reached by free trade in ideas…” Extra info Majority Reasoning: Based on Schenk, this speech is clearly prohibitable. Even though their primary purpose was pro-Russian, it had an anti-American effect by urging strikes. Dissent Reasoning: [Holmes] The Cons did not intend to interfere with the war against Germany. There was not clear and present danger present because the leaflet was silly and posed no immediate danger to the U.S. government. Free speech is necessary because it is the "marketplace of ideas" that generates what the truth really is. The suppression of free speech should only be permitted when necessary to immediately save the country. http://www.lectlaw.com/files/case19.htm Questions • Do the leaflets pose any real threat the United States government? • Should these men have been charged with conspiracy? • By charging these men, is it a violation of there First Amendment Rights? • What in your opinion constitutes as treason? Herbert Hoover, Financing Relief Efforts (1931) Main Points: 1. The best way to help people during times of national difficulty is through mutual self-help and voluntary giving. My own conviction is strongly that if we break down this sense of responsibility of individual generosity to individual and mutual selfhelp in the country in time of national difficulty and if we start appropriations of this character we have not only impaired something infinitely valuable in the life of the American people but have struck at the roots of self-government. (p. 109) Herbert Hoover, Financing Relief Efforts (1931) 2. Federal aid to the hungry and poor encourages expectations of future paternal care and weakens Americans’ self-reliant character. It also weakens Americans’ willingness to help each other and give to each other, and thus enfeebles the bonds of common brotherhood. Quotation of President Grover Cleveland by President Herbert Hoover: The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encouraged the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood. (p. 110) President Herbert Hoover: The help being daily extended by neighbors, by local and national agencies, by municipalities, by industry and a great multitude of organizations throughout the country today is many times any appropriation yet proposed. The opening of the doors of the Federal Treasury is likely to stifle this giving and thus destroy far more resources than the proposed charity from the Federal Government. (p. 110) Roosevelt consciously abandoned the term “progressive” and chose instead to employ “liberal” to define himself and his administration. In so doing, he transformed “liberalism” from a shorthand for weak government and laissez-faire economics into belief in an activist, socially conscious state, an alternative both to socialism and to unregulated capitalism. (Foner, The Story of American Freedom, pp. 201-204.) Redefining Liberalism Freedom, Hoover insisted, meant unfettered economic opportunity for the enterprising individual. Far from being an element of liberty, the quest for economic security was turning Americans into “lazy parasites” dependent on the state. For the remainder of his life, Hoover continued to call himself a “liberal,” even though, he charged, the word had been “polluted and raped of all its real meanings.” (Foner, The Story of American Freedom, p. 205.) SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Background The Socialist Party was founded in 1901 by Eugene Debs. Its roots can be traced to German immigrants and to the Workingmen's Party of America organized in 1876. Norman Thomas Wanted to bring Democracy and Socialism together -- Socialists and other Progressives campaigned for municipal ownership of waterworks, gas and electric plants. During the 1920’s, the Party’s appeal shifted to the well-educated rather than the “workingman”. Norman Thomas became leader of the Party in 1928. The son of a Presbyterian minister, a graduate of Princeton and Union Theological Seminary, he was committed to social reform. SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Additional Background Thomas was in favor of oldage pensions, public works, a five-day work week and unemployment insurance. Thomas' policy researcher and fellow socialist, Henry J. Rosner, helped write the 1932 Socialist Party Platform. By 1932, the woes of the Great Depression had increased support for the Socialist Party (and its platform), as Americans became increasingly disillusioned with Republican policies. 223 delegates were elected to the 17th National Convention of the Socialist Party of America held in Milwaukee in May 1932. As the Presidential nominee of the Socialist Party, Thomas received 885,000 votes in the 1932 election. SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) First Main Point A capitalist society creates unemployment and poverty. • In a capitalist society, only a few own the industries, but many do the work. • Workers in factories, mines, shops and offices and on farms earn a “scanty income and are able to buy back only a part of the goods” produced in abundance by mass industry. • Workers and wage earners must give a large portion of their work-product to the few. SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Second Main Point The Socialist Party advocates better treatment for workers. • A “6-hour day and the 5-day work week without a reduction of wages.” • “Health and maternity insurance.” • “Workmen’s compensation and accident insurance.” • “Abolition of child labor.” • “Adequate minimum wage laws.” • Laws to enforce “the rights of workers to organize into unions.” SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Third Main Point The Socialist Party offers assistance to the unemployed, the farmer and the rural community. • It plans to develop “a compulsory system of unemployment compensation with adequate benefits…” • It promotes the development of “old-age pensions for men and women 60 years of age and over.” • It proposes “government aid to farmers and small-home owners to protect … against foreclosures and … sales for nonpayment of taxes by destitute farmers.” • It advocates increased subsidies for “road building and educational and social services for rural communities.” SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Fourth Main Point The Socialist Party seeks to protect the alien and the African-American. The Socialist Party will: • Enact “legislation protecting aliens from being excluded from this country or from citizenship or from being deported…” • Enforce the “constitutional guarantees of economic, political and legal equality for the Negro.” • Enact “drastic anti-lynching laws.” SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Fifth Main Point The Socialist Party champions the individual and seeks to eradicate the “evils inherent in the capitalist system.” • The Socialist Party program seeks to“remove the causes of class struggles, class antagonisms and social evils…” • The Socialist Party also seeks “to transfer the principal industries of the country from private ownership … to social ownership and democratic control.” SOCIALIST PARTY PLATFORM (1932) Historical Significance The Socialist Party Platform (1932) had a significant impact on American politics and American life. Franklin Roosevelt incorporated many (though not all) of the Socialist Party’s ideas into his New Deal, making them law. Thereafter, the Socialist Party’s appeal to the American worker faded. The ideas advanced in the Socialist Party Platform and adopted by the New Deal resulted in the formation of the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the Public Works Administration, the Civilian Conversation Corps, the Social Security Act, the Wagner Act (labor management), Federal Housing Administration, Farm Credit Administration, and others and laid the foundation for establishing the minimum wage. The ideologies of the Socialist Party Platform provided hope for many Americans in the face of the Great Depression and beyond. Norman Thomas, shortly before his death, is quoted as saying “…It is an achievement to … feel that one has kept the faith, to have had a part in some of the things that have been accomplished in the field of civil liberties, in the field of better race relations.” Today, his ideology continues to impact American politics, policy and life. The Socialist Party Platform of 1932 Programs Adopted by the Roosevelt Administration A federal appropriation of $5,000,000,000 for immediate relief for those in need to supplement state and local appropriations. Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), May 12, 1933 A federal appropriation of $5,000,000,000 for public works and roads, reforestation, slum clearance, and decent homes for the workers by the federal government, states, and cities. Public Works Administration (PWA), established by the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), May 17, 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps (Reforestation) Act (CCC), March 31, 1933 Home Owners Loan Corp. (HOLC), established by the Home Owners Refinancing Act, April 13, 1933 Other agencies Legislation providing for the acquisition of land, buildings, and equipment necessary to put the unemployed to work producing food, fuel, and clothing, and for the erection of housing for their own use. Various experimental communities were established toward these ends. The six-hour day and the five-day work-week without a reduction in wages. The Black bill for the establishment of a thirty-hour week was not passed by Congress. A comprehensive and efficient system of free public employment agencies. Each state now maintains such offices throughout its jurisdiction. A compulsory system of unemployment compensation with adequate benefits, based upon contributions by the government and by employers. Provided by the Social Security Act, 1936, with additional contributions by employees. Old age pensions for men and women sixty years of age and over. Provided by the Social Security Act, 1936, for those sixty-five years of age and over. Health and maternity insurance. Provided by the Social Security Act, 1936. Improved systems of workmen's compensation and accident insurance. Senate bill 2793, introduced May 9, 1935, by Senator Wagner, culminated in passage by Congress of the Wagner Act, a comprehensive labor-management act. The abolition of child labor. Statutory education requirements and minimum work age laws. Government aid to farmers and small homeowners to protect them against mortgage foreclosure and a moratorium on sales for nonpayment of taxes by destitute farmers and unemployed workers. Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), March 16, 1933 Farm Credit Administration (FCA), March 27, 1933 Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), 1938 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) HOLC Adequate minimum wage laws Established by the National Recovery Administration (NRA), created by NIRA, May 17, 1933. In 1935, the NRA was found to be unconstitutional by the untied States Supreme Court. Nonetheless, minimum wage limits still exist. Source: http://www.drfurfero.com/books/231book/ch03f1.html Inaugural Address (1933) Franklin D. Roosevelt Background Information • Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York. • 5th cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt. • Attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. • Elected to the New York Senate in 1910. • Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920. Background Information Stricken with polio in 1921, at age of 39. Elected President in November 1932. It was the first of four terms. The U.S. enters WWII, in 1941, after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. • On April 12, 1945, Franklin suffers a fatal stroke. • • • • Main Point #1 • Now is the time to speak the truth. – “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.” – “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.” – “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” Main Point #2 • We face common difficulties. – “They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.” Main Point #3 • We have what it takes to fix our current economic problems. – “Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts…Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. – “…the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated.” Main Point #4 • Happiness lies in achievement. – “Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow man.” Main Point #5 • Action, and action now. – “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.” – “It can be accomplished…treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war…” Main Point #6 • Progress requires 2 safeguards. – “…there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.” Main Point #7 • Good-neighbor Policy. – “In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor—the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others—the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.” Main Point #8 • FDR accepts role of leader. – “…I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.” – “For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less.” Main Point #8 (cont.) – “The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it.” Questions to Consider • Does FDR suggest any radical alterations in American politics or society? • How does this Inaugural Address resonate today? Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Four Freedoms Delivered 6 January, 1941 WHAT THEY ARE • The FIRST is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world. • The SECOND is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. • The THIRD is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world. • The FORTH is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world Norman Rockwell, Our Four Freedoms, (1943) The Truman Doctrine Harry S. Truman Background • Truman was born May 8, 1884, in Lamar Missouri , • Starting from the rank of Private in the National Guard of Missouri, Truman left military service 37 years later as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Officers' Reserve Corps. • United States Senator from 1935-1944 • He entered the Senate in January 1935, and loved the work he later said his years as a Senator were the happiest of his life. • Served as VP under FDR, Background (Cont.) • On April 12, 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt informed him that the President was dead. • Truman was then sworn in as 33rd President of the United States in 1945, served until 1953 • Known for ordering the dropping of the atomic bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki. • In 1947, he proclaimed the Truman Doctrine, prescribing a policy of containment for the Soviet Union. • In 1948 he approved the Marshall Plan, developed by Secretary of State George Marshall for the economic recovery of Europe. Background (Cont.) • In 1948 he approved the Marshall Plan, developed by Secretary of State George Marshall for the economic recovery of Europe. • The same year he authorized the Berlin airlift, using planes to ship in supplies after the Soviets closed the road routes to Berlin. • Died December 26, 1972, in Independence Missouri from cardiovascular failure. Main points • It is the responsibility of the United States to defend democracy anywhere it is under assault by minorities and external sedition. – “The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedom.” – “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Main point (cont) • The sanctuary of the United States depends on protecting democracy abroad. – “We shall not realize our objectives [creating a world free of oppression], however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes… Totalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States. Main points (Cont.) • Every nation must choose between two alternative ways of life. “The choice is too often not a free one.” – “One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.” – The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.” Main points (Cont.) • Harry S. Truman believes the United States should protect those who are resisting suppression by outside peoples or armed minorities. – “Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.” – “The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of povery and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive. The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedom.” Questions to consider? • Is it the United States’ job to protect others from oppression? • Is Truman right by saying, “If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world-and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation?” • Is the best way to help other nations to become economically stable and have orderly political processes through economic and financial aid? J. Edgar Hoover 1895-1972 Background • Born January 1, 1895 in Washington, D. C. • Parents: Dickerson and Anna Hoover • Hoover did not obtain a birth certificate until he was 43, which fueled suspicions, in and out of the bureau, that he was of African-American descent – a family out of Mississippi tried to prove these allegations, but failed. • He kept detailed records on himself, teachers, and family members starting at a young age. • At age 11, started his own newspaper, The Weekly Review, that he sold to family and friends for 1 cent. Background continued… • His school nickname was “Speed” because he thought fast and talked fast. • Hoover’s father, Dickerson, spent the last eight years of his life in an asylum. His cause of death was listed as “melancholia” – clinical depression. • 1916 – graduated with a law degree from George Washington University Law School. • Hoover became a Freemason in 1920. Background continued… • Hoover’s failure to marry and his constant companionship with Clyde Tolson, led to many rumors about his sexuality. • Clyde Tolson was the sole heir to Hoover’s estate and was also buried next to Hoover. • Hoover was also an avid dog lover. Head of the FBI • Hoover joined the Bureau of Investigation, later known as the FBI, in 1921. • In 1924 at the age of 29, Hoover was appointed acting Director of the BOI and by the end of the year he was officially named Director. • Hoover remained the Director of the FBI until his death on May 2, 1972 at the age of 77. • The FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. is named after Hoover. Because of the controversial nature of Hoover's legacy, there have been periodic proposals to rename it. Head of the FBI • During his reign over the FBI, Hoover built an efficient crime-detection agency, established a centralized fingerprint file, a crime laboratory and a training institution for police. • He dictated every aspect of his agents’ lives from who their friends should or should not be, who they should or should not marry, what organizations they could or could not join; decided where they would live; monitored their morals; even told them what to wear and what they could weigh; and bestowed praise and awards, blame and punishments, when he decided they were due. Head of the FBI • The FBI, under Hoover, collected information on all America's leading politicians. Known as Hoover's secret files, this material was used to influence their actions. It was later claimed that Hoover used this incriminating material to make sure that the eight presidents that he served under, would be too frightened to sack him as director of the FBI..“ • Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson each considered firing Hoover but concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great. Richard Nixon twice called in Hoover with the intent of firing him, but both times he changed his mind when meeting with Hoover. Head of the FBI • Hoover ignored the existence of organized crime in the U.S. until famed muckraker Jack Anderson exposed the immense scope of the Mafia's organized crime network. It has been suggested that Hoover did not pursue the Mafia because they had incriminating evidence (photos) against him in respect to his sexual orientation. • Despite all of these allegations, during his long career of public service, Director Hoover received three presidential awards, sundry citations by Congress, and following his death was the first civil servant in U.S. history to lie in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Political Views • • • • Conservative Anti-communist Against suffrage for women Opposed the Civil Rights movement Major Issues of the Time • • • • • • • 1st Red Scare (1917-1920) Espionage Act of 1917 Sedition Act of 1918 The Palmer Raids House Committee on Un-American Activities WW II Iron Curtain in Europe "Uncle Sam bids good riddance to the deportees" (from J. Edgar Hoover's memorabilia and scrapbook in the National Archives). • The more famous of the Palmer raids was December 21, in which 249 people were dragged from their homes, forcibly put on board a ship and deported. Intended Audience • Hoover delivered “The Communist Menace” before the House Committee on Un-American Activities on March 26, 1947. The Communist Menace Main Points 1. The Communist Party of the United States intends to destroy the American businessman, take over our government, and throw the whole world into revolution. “The Communist movement in the United States…stands for the destruction of free enterprise, and it stands for the creation of a “Soviet of the United States” and ultimate world revolution.” The Communist Menace Main Points continued… 2. The American programs to help society such as, social security, veterans’ benefits, and welfare are all communist ideas used to lure the support of unsuspecting citizens. “The American progress which all good citizens seek, such as old-age security, houses for veterans, child assistance and a host of others is being adopted as window dressing by the Communists to conceal their true aims and entrap gullible followers.” The Communist Menace Main Points continued… 3. The greatest threat of communism is not how many Communists are in this country, but their ability to insert themselves into positions of power and their ability to persuade through lies and deception. Americans should FEAR the communist infiltration of their government and society. “What is important is the claim of the Communists themselves that for every party member there are 10 others ready, willing, and able to do the party’s work. Herein lies the greatest menace of communism. For these people who infiltrate and corrupt various spheres of American life. So rather than the size of the Communist Party the way to weigh its true importance is by testing its influence, its ability to infiltrate.” “…When the Communists overthrew the Russian government there was one Communist for every 2,277 persons in Russia. In the United States today there is one Communist for every 1,814 persons in the country…” Historical Significance • 2nd Red Scare (1947-1957) • 1947 - Ronald Reagan and wife Jane Wyman provide to the FBI names of SAG members believed to be communist sympathizers. • 1947 - Top Hollywood executives decide not to employ individuals who refused to answer questions about communist infiltration of the film industry • McCarthyism starts(1950): Sen. Joseph P. McCarthy says he has a list of 205 communists in the State Department. • 1950 - California Legislature passes a bill requiring state employees to sign a loyalty oath. • 1953 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, convicted of conspiring to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union, are executed. Dwight D. Eisenhower • Born in Denison, Texas on Oct 14, 1890 • Went through the Military Academy at West Point in 1911 • Served as Supreme Allied Commander in the European Theatre in World War II; promoted to General of the Army • Served as the Chief of Staff of the Army from 1945 to 1948 • In 1948, became president of Columbia University • In 1950, became Supreme Commander of NATO • Elected 34th President in 1953; served until 1961 Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points • America must act as the peace keepers and safeguarders of the free world. – “America’s leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.” – “Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points • We must guard against the hostile ideology. – “We face a hostile ideology- global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration.” – “To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crises, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged struggle- with liberty at stake.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points • We must guard against imbalance in our economic and military spending. – “But each proposal must be weighed in the light of broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs…Good judgment seeks balance and progress, lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.” – “A vital element in keeping our peace is our military establishment.” – “Our military organization today bears little relation to that known of any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points: We must guard against the military-industrial complex in our democratic government. • “The total influence- economic, political, even spiritual- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.” • “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence…by the military-industrial complex. • “The potential for disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” • “We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.” • “In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly.” • “Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields.” • “Partly because of the huge cost involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.” • “We must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points • We must safe-guard the resources of democracy for future generations. – “we- you and I, and our government- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.” – “We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Main Points • We must guard against only resolving differences with military conflict. – “this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” – “Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.” Farewell Address (Eisenhower) Questions • What factions does Eisenhower fear will attempt to influence and control government? • How did Eisenhower resolve bring the countries of the world together? Brown v. Board of Education 1954 Thurgood Marshall • Born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland • He attended Frederick Douglass High School. Later he graduated from Lincoln University and Howard University Law School in Washington, D. C.. • In 1934, Marshall was appointed an assistant to special counsel Charles Hamilton Houston, who worked for the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. • He won thirty-two out of thirty-five cases taken to the Supreme Court • In June of 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Judge Marshall to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. With this nomination, Marshall became the first African-American to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court. Main Point #1 • Segregated public schools do not uphold the fourteenth amendment. -”segregated public schools are not equal and cannot be made equal.” -”Their opponents, just as certainly, were antagonistic to both the letter and the spirit of the amendments and wished them to have the most limited effect.” Main point #2 • Segregated schools hinder African Americans from proper education. -”To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. -” it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life is he is denied the opportunity of an education” Main Point #3 • Separate but equal has no place in public schools. -”Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” -”Education of white children was largely in the hands of private groups, whereas education of negros was almost non-existent, and practically all of the race was illiterate.” Questions to Consider…. • Why could separate not be equal? • How does the court propose to desegregate the nation’s schools? Brown vs. Board of Education Presented by: Kathy Kerley Historical Background • After the end of the American Civil War in 1865, (Reconstruction period) the federal government was able to provide some protection for the civil rights of the newly-freed slaves. • When Reconstruction ended in 1877 and federal troops were withdrawn, southern state governments started passing Jim Crow laws that prohibited blacks from using the same public facilities as whites. • Fourteenth Amendment did not help because the Supreme Court ruled, in the Civil Rights Cases (1883), that the amendment applied only to the actions of governments, not private individuals. • In 1896, Plessy vs. Ferguson was passed. This was a landmark decision that upheld segregation and the “separate but equal” doctrine. Historical Background • The “separate but equal” doctrine was challenged by Charles Houston, the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense Fund. • He traveled through the South with his student, Thurgood Marshall (later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967), filming rundown black schools and gathering any information to help with his appeal. • In 1950, Thurgood Marshall took over for Houston. • The case was first argued against the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1952. The court was divided about overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson and asked to have the case reargued in the new term in 1953, paying special attention to the intention of the Fourteenth Amendment. • Chief Justice Fred Vinson, who strongly opposed overturning Plessy vs. Ferguson, died and his successor, Chief Justice Earl Warren, favored ending segregated education by focusing on the harm done to black children who were segregated and relying on sociological evidence supporting this idea. Brown vs. Board of Education Facts • Brown vs. Board of Education was not the first challenge to school segregation. In 1849, African Americans filed a suit against an educational system that mandated racial segregation in the case Roberts vs. City of Boston. • This class action suit was filed on behalf of thirteen Topeka, Kansas parents and their twenty children. • Oliver Brown, the case namesake was just one of the nearly 200 plaintiffs from five states who were part of the NAACP cases brought before the Supreme Court in 1951. The Kansas case was named after Oliver Brown as a legal strategy. He was the head of the roster because he had an intact, complete family, and it would be received better by the Supreme Court than a single parent. Main Points Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court. Although the buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers and other “tangible” factors are equal to the white schools, the issue is the effect that segregation has on public education and black students. “Our decision, therefore cannot turn on merely a comparison of these tangible factors in the Negro and white schools involved in each of the cases. We must look instead to the effect of segregation itself on public education.” Education is an important factor in the development of professional training and social skills, and those students that are segregated are deprived of equal educational opportunities, even when the facilities are equal. “…To separate [children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone.” Main Points Segregation is detrimental to the psychological and educational development of the negro group, which in turn will deprive them of benefits that they would receive if they were not segregated. “Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system.” The Court ruled that in the public education the “separate but equal” doctrine had no place, and the students were deprived of equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) Historical Background • Written as a response to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Brown V. Board of Education. • Signed by 101 politicians in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. • Initial version written by Strom Thurmond Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • “I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.” - Strom Thurmond Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) Main Points • The Founding Fathers formed a constitution with checks and balances because they knew not one man or group of men could be trusted with limitless power. • “The unwarranted decision of the Supreme Court in the public school cases is now bearing the fruit always produced when men substitute naked power for established law.” • “They framed this constitution with its provisions for change by amendment against the dangers of temporary popular passion or the personal predilections of public office holders.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • The Supreme Court’s decision is an abuse of power. “It climaxes a trend in the Federal judiciary undertaking to legislate, in derogation of the authority of Congress, and to encroach upon the reserved rights of the States and the people.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • Neither the original constitution, nor the 14th or any other amendment, mentions education. “The debates preceding the submission of the 14th amendment clearly show that there was no intent that it should affect the systems of education maintained by the states.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • Separate but equal doctrine began in the North, not the South. “…the doctrine of separate but equal schools, apparently originated in Roberts v. City of Boston…(1849), upholding school segregation against attack as being violative of a State constitutional guarantee of equality” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • This act has destroyed relations between races that have taken years to build. “It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races. It has planted hatred and suspicion where there has been heretofore friendship and understanding.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • We reaffirm our reliance on the Constitution as the fundamental law of the land. “We decry the Supreme Court’s encroachments on rights reserved to the States and to the people, contrary to established law and to the Constitution.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) • We will fight this decision using all lawful means. “We pledge ourselves to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation.” Sam J. Ervin and Others, The Southern Manifesto (1956) ??QUESTIONS?? • What is the fundamental basis of this manifesto? • Why would integration offend Southerners? Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail Background • • • Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Dr. King married Coretta Scott on June 18, 1953. Together they had four children. In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement. -nobleprize.org "Martin Luther King Jr. was photographed by Alabama cops following his February 1956 arrest during the Montgomery bus boycott. The historic mug shot, taken when King was 27, was discovered in July 2004 by a deputy cleaning out a Montgomery County Sheriff's Department storage room. It is unclear when the notations 'DEAD' and '4-4-68' were written on the picture." In late March 1968, King went to Memphis, Tennessee in support of the black sanitary public works employees, who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment. On April 3, King returned to Memphis and addressed a rally, delivering his “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” address at Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ, Inc. - World Headquarters). King’s flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. In the close his last speech, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following: “And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Memphis Hotel 1968 On April 4, 1968, while standing on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Dr. King was assassinated. The assassination led to a nationwide wave of riots in more than 60 cities. Escaped convict James Earl Ray was captured two months later and charged with King’s death. The White Minister’s Good Friday Statement, April 12, 1963 • However, we are now confronted by a series of demonstrations by some of our Negro citizens, directed and led in part by outsiders. We recognize the natural impatience of people who feel that their hopes are slow in being realized. But we are convinced that these demonstrations are unwise and untimely. • Just as we formerly pointed out that "hatred and violence have no sanction in our religious and political traditions," we also point out that such actions as incite to hatred and violence, however technically peaceful those actions may be, have not contributed to the resolution of our local problems. We do not believe that these days of new hope are days when extreme measures are justified in Birmingham. • When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets. We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and common sense. 1. Why am I here? I am here because injustice is here. • I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in." I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization operating in every southern state, with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia…So I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here I am here because I have organizational ties here. • But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. • Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. 2. You condemn demonstrations, yet refuse to see the failure in your own proposed solutions. These demonstrations are justified. • You deplore the demonstrations taking place In Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. • It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative. • In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through an these steps in Birmingham. There can be no gainsaying the fact that racial injustice engulfs this community. Birmingham is probably the most thoroughly segregated city in the United States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good-faith negotiation. • Then, last September, came the opportunity to talk with leaders of Birmingham’s economic community. In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants - for example, to remove the stores humiliating racial signs. On the basis of these promises, the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth and the leaders of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights agreed to a moratorium on all demonstrations. As the weeks and months went by, we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained. 3. We are left with no other alternative. Direct non violent protests are the only way to seek immediate action. • • • • You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue. In your statement you assert that our actions, even though peaceful, must be condemned because they precipitate violence. But is this a logical assertion? Isn’t this like condemning a robbed man because his possession of money precipitated the evil act of robbery? Isn’t this like condemning Socrates because his unswerving commitment to truth and his philosophical inquiries precipitated the act by the misguided populace in which they made him drink hemlock? Isn’t this like condemning Jesus because his unique Godconsciousness and never-ceasing devotion to God’s will precipitated the evil act of crucifixion? We must come to see that, as the federal courts have consistently affirmed, it is wrong to urge an individual to cease his efforts to gain his basic constitutional rights because the quest may precipitate violence. Society must protect the robbed and punish the robber. If this philosophy had not emerged, by now many streets of the South would, I am convinced, be flowing with blood. And I am further convinced that if our white brothers dismiss as "rabble-rousers" and "outside agitators" those of us who employ nonviolent direct action, and if they refuse to support our nonviolent efforts, millions of Negroes will, out of frustration and despair, seek solace and security in black-nationalist ideologies a development that would inevitably lead to a frightening racial nightmare. 4. Freedom is fought for, it is not easily given. • One of the basic points in your statement is that the action that I and my associates have taken in Birmingham is untimely. • My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. • We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was "well timed" in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant “Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." • Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and that is what has happened to the American Negro. 5. The prevalent social injustices so readily imposed on the black community must come to an end without further delay. The long endured “Wait” is over. • We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we stiff creep at horse-and-buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dark of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you no forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. • More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy… 6. There are 2 types of laws, just and unjust • • • You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may won ask: "How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?" The answer lies in the fact that there fire two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the Brat to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law is no law at all“ Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distort the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Let us consider a more concrete example of just and unjust laws. An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself. This is difference made legal. By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself. This is sameness made legal. 6. Continued… Examples of just and unjust laws. • • • Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest. A law is unjust if it is inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, had no part in enacting or devising the law. Who can say that the legislature of Alabama which set up that state’s segregation laws was democratically elected? Throughout Alabama all sorts of devious methods are used to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters, and there are some counties in which, even though Negroes constitute a majority of the population, not a single Negro is registered. Can any law enacted under such circumstances be considered democratically structured? We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal." It was "illegal" to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws. 7. We learn of civil disobedience throughout history. It is not a new “extreme.” • Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience. • But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice: "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist: "Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." And John Bunyan: "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." And Abraham Lincoln: "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." And Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that an men are created equal ..." So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremist for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice? 8. It is just to openly break unjust laws, especially if one is willing to accept the consequences. • I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law. • As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and the national community. Mindful of the difficulties involved, we decided to undertake a process of self-purification. We began a series of workshops on nonviolence, and we repeatedly asked ourselves : "Are you able to accept blows without retaliating?" "Are you able to endure the ordeal of jail?" 9. “I have been greatly disappointed with the white moderate.” • I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection. 10. We should protest, but we should do so non-violently. • • • I began thinking about the fact that stand in the middle of two opposing forces in the Negro community. One is a force of complacency, made up in part of Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, are so drained of self-respect and a sense of "somebodiness" that they have adjusted to segregation; and in part of a few middle class Negroes who, because of a degree of academic and economic security and because in some ways they profit by segregation, have become insensitive to the problems of the masses. The other force is one of bitterness and hatred, and it comes perilously close to advocating violence. It is expressed in the various black nationalist groups that are springing up across the nation, the largest and best-known being Elijah Muhammad’s Muslim movement. Nourished by the Negro’s frustration over the continued existence of racial discrimination, this movement is made up of people who have lost faith in America, who have absolutely repudiated Christianity, and who have concluded that the white man is an incorrigible "devil.“ I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need emulate neither the "do-nothingism" of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist. For there is the more excellent way of love and nonviolent protest. I am grateful to God that, through the influence of the Negro church, the way of nonviolence became an integral part of our struggle. Questions • Why are non-violent demonstrations the best choice? • Who would you have sided with and why? Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Family (1965) Photograph of a Black Family During the Great Depression Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm. Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm. Source: Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm. Photograph of a Black Family During the Great Depression Source: Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm. Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Family (1965) Main Points: 1. The role of the family is central to shaping the character of people, and “[a]t the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of Negro Society is the deterioration of the Negro family.” • The role of the family in shaping character and ability is so pervasive as to be easily overlooked. The family is the basic social unit of American life; it is the basic socializing unit…. But there is one truly great discontinuity in family structure in the United States at the present time: that between the white world in general and that of the Negro American. • …the family structure of lower class Negroes is highly unstable, and in many urban centers is approaching complete breakdown…. • …There is considerable evidence that the Negro community is in fact dividing between a stable middle-class group that is steadily growing stronger and more successful, and an increasingly disorganized and disadvantaged lower-class group…. 2. A long history of discrimination and segregation has worked against the emergence of a strong father figure in the African American family. The Negro was given liberty, but not equality. Life remained hazardous and marginal. Of the greatest importance, the Negro male, particularly in the South, became an object of intense hostility, an attitude unquestionably based in some measure on fear. When Jim Crow made its appearance toward the end of the 19th century, it may be speculated that it was the Negro male who was most humiliated thereby.… Unquestionably, [Jim Crow humiliation of the Negro male] worked against the emergence of a strong father figure. The very essence of the male animal, from the bantam rooster to the four-star general, is to strut. Indeed, in 19th century America, a particular type of exaggerated male boastfulness became almost a national style. Not for the Negro male. The “sassy nigger” was lynched. The White Man’s Double Standard “We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.” --Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life White mobs murdered some 500 blacks between 1870 and 1900, and more than 100 black people between 1900 and 1910. White prejudice included animosity toward black troops in the U.S. Army. Brownsville whites, for example, objected to the stationing of the all-black Twenty-fifth Infantry at Fort Brown. In anger, they charged that the troops had raided the city in 1906 in protest of discriminatory practices. Later evidence demonstrated the unfairness of the charges, but at that time President Theodore Roosevelt had dishonorably discharged 160 of the troops. (The History of Texas, 189, 261-262) 3. Unemployment of the African-American male has largely contributed to the present crisis of the African-American family, which has been forced into a matriarchal structure. • The impact of unemployment on the Negro family, and particularly on the Negro male, is the least understood of all the developments that have contributed to the present crisis…. The fundamental, overwhelming fact is that Negro unemployment, with the exception of a few years during World War II and the Korean War, has continued at disaster levels for 35 years…. As jobs became more and more difficult to find, the stability of the family became more and more difficult to maintain…. • [The African-American community has paid a fearful price] for the incredible mistreatment to which it has been subjected over the past three centuries. • In essence, the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole, and imposes a crushing burden on the Negro male and, in consequence, on a great many Negro women as well. Picture by King, Edward, 1848-1896 Source of picture: http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/king/king.html 4. A national effort should be made to help the problems faced by the African-American family. • It was by destroying the Negro family under slavery that white America broke the will of the Negro people. Although that will has reasserted itself in our time, it is a resurgence doomed to frustration unless the viability of the Negro family is restored…. • …[A] national effort towards the problems of Negro Americans must be directed towards the question of family structure. The object should be to strengthen the Negro family so as to enable it to raise and support its members as do other families. After that, how this group of Americans chooses to run its affairs… is none of the nation’s business…. Questions: • What is wrong with having female heads of households? • What are the origins of “the tangle of pathology” in the black community? • How can the government alter familial relations? Single Parents Single parents account for 27 percent of family households with children under 18. More than two million fathers are the primary caregivers of children under 18, a 62 percent increase since 1990. One in two children will live in a single-parent family at some point in childhood. One in three children is born to unmarried parents. Between 1978 and 1996, the number of babies born to unmarried women per year quadrupled from 500,000 to more than two million. The number of single mothers increased from three million to 10 million between 1970 and 2000. Divorced Parents Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. More than one million children have parents who separate or divorce each year. More than half of Americans today have been, are or will be in one or more stepfamily situations. Poverty Rates of Single Mother Families by Race (based on cash income) Children represent a disproportionate share of the poor in the United States; they are 25 percent of the total population, but 35 percent of the poor population. In 2004, 13 million children, or 17.8 percent, were poor. The poverty rate for children also varies substantially by race and Hispanic origin, as shown in the table below. Children Under 18 Living in Poverty, 2004 Category All children under 18 Number (in thousands) Percent 13,027 17.8 White only, nonHispanic 4,507 10.5 Black 4,049 33.2 Hispanic 4,102 28.9 334 9.8 Asian http://www.epinet.org/images/figure11.gif Darryll Vann is in a shrinking minority group--African-American men who teach youngsters. Only 11 percent of elementary school teachers are male and a much smaller percentage of them are African-American. Photo by David Snider http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF1901/McCarthy/McCarthy.html Support for the Contras By Ronald Reagan • • • • • • • Born February 6, 1911, to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. He attended high school in nearby Dixon and then worked his way through Eureka College There, he studied economics and sociology, played on the football team, and acted in school plays. A screen test in 1937 won him a contract in Hollywood. During the next two decades he appeared in 53 films. Reagan became governor of California, the most populous state, in 1967 Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. He became the 40th president. Anastasio Somoza Debayle & Sandinista Soldiers Main Points: • The United States does not start wars. – “We will never be the aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend aggression, to preserve freedom and peace. We help our friends defend themselves.” • “Central America is region of great importance to the United States.” – …San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, D.C. – “…[I]t’s become the stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere….” Main Points • The war in El Salvador is resulting in massive waves of refugees. – “Concerns about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Communist oppression to seek entry into our country are well-founded. • The Communist threat is moving closer to the USA. – “What we see in El Salvador is an attempt to destabilize the entire region and eventually move chaos and anarchy toward the American border….” Main Points • The Communist Sandinistas rule Nicaragua under the veil of Democracy. – “…Castro cynically instructed them in the ways of successful Communist insurrection. He told them to tell the world they were fighting for political democracy, not communism.” • The Contras have taken up arms against the government. – “Many of those who fought alongside the Sandinistas saw their revolution betrayed. – “Thousands who fought with the Sandinistas…are now called the contras.” – “They are freedom fighters….” Main Points • With the help of the Soviet Union and Cuba, the Sandinistas are funding terrorism. – “Shortly after taking power…began supporting aggression and terrorism against El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.” – “…Nicaragua is still the headquarters for Communist guerrilla movements….” • The Communist presence in Nicaragua is growing. – “There were 165 Cuban personnel in Nicaragua in 1979. Today that force has grown to 10,000.” – “Communist countries are providing new military assistance, including tanks, artillery, rocketlaunchers, and help in the construction of military bases and support facilities….” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Background Information: Andrew Sullivan was born in England on August 10, 1963 and is a renowned journalist in both the United Kingdom and the U.S. He is the former editor of The New Republic for his battling lifestyle between conservative Catholicism and active gay lifestyle with HIV. He is also a pioneer in the genre of Blog Journalism. Sullivan also briefly wrote for The New York Times Journal. He is often compared to Camille Paglia, another homosexual who argues from a non-leftist perspective. Historical Context: This article was written after the attacks on September 11, 2001 on the Twin Towers in New York City. It was written in response that people were not calling this a “religious war” when he clearly saw that it was. Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 1. This is a religious war between Islamic Fundamentalism and faiths of all kinds that are at peace with freedom and modernity. “[T]his surely is a religious war, but not of Islam versus Christianity and Judaism. Rather, it is a war of fundamentalism against faiths of all kinds that are at peace with freedom and modernity.” Osama bin Laden: “The call to wage war against America was made because America has spearheaded the crusade against the Islamic nation, sending tens of thousands of its troops to the land of the two holy mosques over and above its meddling in its affairs and its politics and its support of the oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical regime that is in control.” Our terrorism is “of the commendable kind, for it is directed t the tyrants and the aggressors and the enemies of Allah.” “[O]ur call is the call of Islam that was revealed to Muhammad. It is a call to all humankind. We have been entrusted with good cause to follow in the footsteps of the messenger and to communicate his message to all nations.” 2. Historically, Christianity has a worse record in the “use of religion for extreme repression, and even terror…” “From the Crusades to the Inquisition to the bloody religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe saw far more blood spilled for religion's sake than the Muslim world did. And given how expressly nonviolent the teachings of the Gospels are, the perversion of Christianity in this respect was arguably greater than bin Laden's selective use of Islam. But it is there nonetheless. It seems almost as if there is something inherent in religious monotheism that lends itself to this kind of terrorist temptation.” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 3. We should not condescend to fundamentalism, no matter how much we may disagree with it. Fundamentalism elevates and comforts, and it has attracted millions of adherents for centuries. In the Fundamentalists’ world of “sin begets sin,” they must attempt to coerce others to conform to God’s laws. “The first mistake is surely to condescend to fundamentalism. We may disagree with it, but it has attracted millions of adherents for centuries, and for a good reason. It elevates and comforts. It provides a sense of meaning and direction to those lost in a disorienting world. The blind recourse to texts embraced as literal truth, the injunction to follow the commandments of God before anything else, the subjugation of reason and judgment and even conscience to the dictates of dogma: these can be exhilarating and transformative. They have led human beings to perform extraordinary acts of both good and evil. And they have an internal logic to them. If you believe that there is an eternal afterlife and that endless indescribable torture awaits those who disobey God's law, then it requires no huge stretch of imagination to make sure that you not only conform to each diktat but that you also encourage and, if necessary, coerce others to do the same. The logic behind this is impeccable. Sin begets sin. The sin of others can corrupt you as well. The only solution is to construct a world in which such sin is outlawed and punished and constantly purged -- by force if necessary. It is not crazy to act this way if you believe these things strongly enough. In some ways, it is crazier to believe these things and not act this way.” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 4. Fundamentalist religions cannot exist alone in a single Person Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor explains to Jesus: “these pitiful creatures are concerned not only to find what one or the other can worship, but to find something that all would believe in and worship; what is essential is that all may be together in it. This craving for community of worship is the chief misery of every man individually and of all humanity since the beginning of time. This is the voice of fundamentalism. Faith cannot exist alone in a single person. Indeed, faith needs others for it to survive -- and the more complete the culture of faith, the wider it is, and the more total its infiltration of the world, the better.” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 5. America has its struggle with fundamentalism “America is not a neophyte in this struggle. The United States has seen several waves of religious fervor since its founding. But American evangelicalism has always kept its distance from governmental power. The Christian separation between what is God's and what is Caesar's – drawn from the Gospels – helped restrain the fundamentalist temptation. The last few decades have proved an exception, however. As modernity advanced, and the certitudes of fundamentalist faith seemed mocked by an increasingly liberal society, evangelicals mobilized and entered politics. Their faith sharpened, their zeal intensified, the temptation to fuse political and religious authority beckoned more insistently.” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 6. Fundamentalists are reacting to the threat of the ever-changing modern world. Because change sometimes contradicts the reality found in their ancient religious texts, they often lash out against proponents or symbols of social change. Much of American and Western culture represent social change to traditional societies, yet these cultures are in some ways tempting. Thus, attacks against American and Western culture often are an acting out of an internal conflict. “The temptation of American and Western culture -- indeed, the very allure of such culture -- may well require a repression all the more brutal if it is to be overcome. The transmission of American culture into the heart of what bin Laden calls the Islamic nation requires only two responses -- capitulation to unbelief or a radical strike against it. There is little room in the fundamentalist psyche for a moderate accommodation. The very psychological dynamics that lead repressed homosexuals to be viciously homophobic or that entice sexually tempted preachers to inveigh against immorality are the very dynamics that lead vodka-drinking fundamentalists to steer planes into buildings. It is not designed to achieve anything, construct anything, argue anything. It is a violent acting out of internal conflict.” “The critical link between Western and Middle Easter fundamentalism is surely the pace of social change. If you take your beliefs from books written more than a thousand years ago, and you believe in these texts literal, then the appearance of the modern world must terrify you.” “If you believe that women should be consigned to polygamous, concealed servitude, then Manhattan must appear like Gomorrah…It is not a big step to argue that such centers of evil should be destroyed or undermined as bin Laden does, or to believe that destruction is somehow a consequence of their sin.” Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 7. Locke and our Founding Fathers advocated religious toleration One central influence on the founders' political thought was John Locke, the English liberal who wrote the now famous ''Letter on Toleration.'' In it, Locke argued that true salvation could not be a result of coercion, that faith had to be freely chosen to be genuine and that any other interpretation was counter to the Gospels. Following Locke, the founders established as a central element of the new American order a stark separation of church and state, ensuring that no single religion could use political means to enforce its own orthodoxies. We cite this as a platitude today without absorbing or even realizing its radical nature in human history -- and the deep human predicament it was designed to solve. It was an attempt to answer the eternal human question of how to pursue the goal of religious salvation for ourselves and others and yet also maintain civil peace. What the founders and Locke were saying was that the ultimate claims of religion should simply not be allowed to interfere with political and religious freedom. They did this to preserve peace above all -- but also to preserve true religion itself. Andrew Sullivan This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning Main Points: 8. In this religious war, we are fighting for our Constitution and the principle of the separation of politics and religion. “What is really at issue here is the simple but immensely difficult principle of the separation of politics and religion. We are fighting not for our country as such or for our flag. We are fighting for the universal principles of our Constitution -- and the possibility of free religious faith it guarantees. We are fighting for religion against one of the deepest strains in religion there is. And not only our lives but our souls are at stake.” President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation (March 17, 2003). George W. Bush Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Background: After Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait, the U.S. in August 1990 President Bush appeared before a joint session of Congress on September 11, 1990 and announced that Saddam Hussein aggression would not stand. After a brief war, Iraq was defeated and Kuwait liberated. However, Saddam Hussein remained in power. A condition of the peace treaty signed with Hussein was that Iraq must disarm. Hussein violated the treaty and UN Resolutions on multiple occasions, choosing instead to conceal its weapon programs and defense capabilities from United Nations weapons inspections. On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attacked destroyed New York’s World Trade Center, killing some three thousand innocent victims. Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Main Points: 1. Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction, even though they pledge to reveal and destroy them as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War of 1991. Iraq also harbors terrorists, including al Qaeda. 2. FEAR: The United Nation’s Security Council has failed to live up to its responsibilities to Saddam Hussein, but we must confront him to avoid the danger of Iraq giving terrorists chemical, biological or nuclear weapons to kill hundreds of thousands of people in our country. 3. ULTIMATUM: If Saddam Hussein and his sons do not leave Iraq within 48 hours, the United States will attack Iraq. Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Main Points: 4. “I urge every member of the Iraqi military and intelligence services, if war comes, do not fight for a dying regime that is not worth your own life.” 5. The American people should feel assured. Our government is taking action to protect our homeland. 6. After the United States removes Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi people “can set an example to all the Middle East of a vital and peaceful and self-governing nation. “[T]he greatest power of freedom is to overcome hatred and violence, and turn the creative gifts of men and women to the pursuits of peace.” Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Questions: In the speech, President Bush stated, “The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now.” Were sanctions insufficient? The dangerous regimes of Iran and North Korea were arguably further along in developing weapons of mass destruction. What made Iraq different so as to require immediate disarmament? Bush stated, “…the greatest power of freedom is to overcome hatred and violence, and turn the creative gifts of men and women to the pursuits of peace.” Has this happened? If not, why has this not happened? Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Historical Significance: Bush launched the long-anticipated invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003. Saddam Hussein’s vaunted military machine collapsed almost immediately. In less than a month, Baghdad had fallen. Some nine months later, Hussein was captured. Contrary to rosy predictions that the democracy would blossom in Iraq after the removal of Hussein, Iraq became a seething cauldron of apparently endless violence. Iraqi factions jockeyed murderously for political position in the postSaddam era. Iraqi insurgents, aided by militants drawn from other Islamic nations, repeatedly attacked American troops, killing more soldiers during the occupation than during the invasion itself. Meanwhile, the invasion and subsequent unrest claimed the lives of as many as 17,000 Iraqi civilians. By many accounts, Iraq today is near the brink of civil war. Arguably, U.S. military in Iraq is now in the difficult position of being both a catalyst for the insurgency and the only force keeping the country from outright civil war. The United States’ image in many quarters around the world has been further tarnished by the preemptive strike against Iraq. Revelations in April 2004 about American abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison have further inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq and beyond. Nevertheless, most Iraqis are not actively fighting the U.S., and instead desire peace and security. The number of newspapers in Iraq has increased, and so too has the number of Iraqi policemen and government soldiers. Meanwhile, many Iraqi politicians are struggling to resolve deep-seated enmities and create a viable democratic government. Source: The American Pageant, 13th edition, pp. 1005-1006. Documented civilian deaths from violence 77,847 – 84,812 Deaths in each week from 2003–2007 Deaths per day from gunfire / executions Deaths per day from vehicle bombs Refugees from Iraq have increased in number since the US-led invasion into Iraq in March 2003. An estimated 1.6-2.0 million people have fled the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated in a report released in November 2006 that more than 1.6 million Iraqis had left Iraq since March 2003, nearly 7 percent of the total population. The BBC on 22 January 2007 placed the refugee figure at 2 million. http://costofwar.com/index-world-hunger.html Many Iraqis are leaving their country. Bush: President Says Saddam Hussein Must Leave Iraq Within 48 Hours Historical Significance: In Iran, a backlash response to the United States’ invasion of Iraq has resulted in the defeat of a more liberalleaning government and the rise to power of a radical conservative government that has aggressively decided to develop nuclear weapons. Mohammad Khatami President of Iran from 1997-2005 BACKLASH IN IRAN: On 24 June 2005 Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad [mah-MOOD ah-mah-dih-nee-ZHAHD ] was elected as Iran's president. Ahmadinejad swept to the presidential post with a stunning 17,046,441 votes out of a total of 27,536,069 votes cast in the runoff election. His rival and Expediency Council Chairman Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani gained only 9,841,346. Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Iran's nuclear chief said that Iran has enriched uranium up to 4.8 percent — the upper end of the range needed to make fuel for reactors — as it continues to defy U.S. and European demands to stop enrichment.