Walter Lippmann
Drift and Mastery
(1914)
•Lippmann was born in New York City to
German-Jewish parents. The family lived
a comfortable, if not privileged, life.
Annual family trips to Europe were the
rule.
•At age 17, he entered Harvard
University where he concentrated on
philosophy and languages (he spoke
both German and French) and graduated
after only three years of study.
•Lippmann was a journalist, a media
critic and a philosopher who argued that
true democracy is a goal that cannot be
reached in a complex, industrial world.
•In 1913, Lippmann became one of the
founding editors of The New Republic
magazine. During World War I, Lippmann
became an advisor to President
Woodrow Wilson, and assisted in the
drafting of Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
Walter Lippmann,
Drift and Mastery
(1914)
•Early on, Lippmann was optimistic about American democracy. He
embraced the Jeffersonian ideal and believed that the American people
would become intellectually engaged in political and world issues and
fulfill their democratic role as an educated electorate. He later
rejected this view.
•Lippmann coined the word stereotype and he criticized journalists for
stereotyping people. He argued that seeing through stereotypes
subjected us to partial truths, and that when analyzing a problem or
event, people are more apt to believe "the pictures in their heads" than
come to judgment by critical thinking.
During the 1920s, Walter Lippmann published two
of the most penetrating indictments of democracy
every written, Public Opinion and The Phantom
Public, valedictories to Progressive hopes for the
application of “intelligence” to social problems via
mass democracy. Instead of acting out of careful
consideration of the issues or even individual or
collective self-interest, the American voter,
Lippmann claimed, was ill-informed, myopic, and
prone to fits of enthusiasm.
The government, like advertising copywriters and
journalists, had perfected the art of creating and
manipulating public opinion—a process Lippmann
called the “manufacture of consent”—while at the
same time consumerism was sapping Americans’
concern for public issues. (Eric Foner, The Story of
American Freedom, p. 181.)
Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (1914)
1. There is a consensus that business methods need to
change.
“The leading thought of our world has ceased to regard commercialism
either as permanent or desirable, and the only real question among
intelligent people is how business methods are to be alerted, not whether
they are to be altered.”
2. The chaos of too much freedom and the weaknesses of
democracy are our real problem.
“The battle for us, in short, does not lie against crusted prejudice, but
against the chaos of a new freedom.
This chaos is our real problem. So if the younger critics are to
meet the issues of their generation they must give their attention, not so
much to the evils of authority, as to the weaknesses of democracy….”
Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (1914)
3. Many are absorbed and overly worried about
evil conspiracies against society.
“The sense of conspiracy and secret scheming which
transpire is almost uncanny. “Big Business,” and its ruthless
tentacles, have become the material for the feverish
fantasy of illiterate thousands thrown out of kilter by the
rack and strain of modern life. It is possible to work yourself
into a state where the world seems a conspiracy and your
daily gong is beset with an alert and tingling sense of
labyrinthine evil. Everything askew—all the frictions of life
are readily ascribed to a deliberate evil intelligence, and
men like Morgan and Rockefeller take on attributes of
omnipotence, that ten minutes of cold sanity would reduce
to a barbarous myth….”
Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (1914)
4. Although there is little legal basis for it, the standards of the
public life are being applied to certain parts of the business
world, thus making businessmen think more about their
“responsibilities,” and their “stewardship.”
“As muckraking developed, it began to apply the standards of public life to certain
parts of the business world…. [T]he cultural basis of property is radically altered,
however much the law may lag behind in recognizing the change. So if the
stockholders think they are the ultimate owners of the Pennsylvania railroad, they
are colossally mistaken. Whatever the law may be, the people have no such
notion. And the men who are connected with these essential properties cannot
escape the fact that they are expected to act increasingly as public officials
…[W]hat puzzles them beyond words is that anyone should presume to
meddle with their business. What they will learn is that it is no longer altogether
their business. The law may not have realized this, but the fact is being
accomplished, and it’s a fact grounded deeper than statutes. Big business men
who are at all intelligent recognize this. They are talking more and more about
their “responsibilities,” their “stewardship.” It is the swan-song of the old
commercial profiteering and a dim recognition that the motives in business are
undergoing a revolution.”
Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (1914)
5. “The crime is serious in proportion to the degree of loyalty that we
expect.”
“American life is saturated with the very relationship which in politics we call corrupt….
But in the politician it is mercilessly condemned.”
“…In literal truth the politician is attacked for displaying the morality of his constituents.”
“I suppose that from the beginning of the republic people had always expected their
officials to work at a level less self-seeking than that of ordinary life. So that corruption
in politics could never be carried on with an entirely good conscious. But at the
opening of this century, democratic people had begun to see much greater possibilities
in the government than ever before. They looked to it as a protector from economic
tyranny and as the dispenser of the prime institutions of democratic life.
But when they went to the government, what they found was a petty and partisan,
slavish and blind, clumsy and rusty instrument for their expectations.”
“…when men’s vision of government enlarged, then the cost of corruption and
inefficiency rose: for they meant a blighting of the whole possibility of the state.”
“Corruption became a real problem when reform through state action began to take
hold of men’s thought.”
Walter Lippmann, Drift and Mastery (1914)
6. Americans need to deal with life deliberately. We
should organize our society, and actively formulate
it and educate it. We should substitute purpose for
tradition.
“America is preeminently the country where there is practical
substance in Nietzsche’s advice that we should live not for our
fatherland but for our children’s land.
To do this men have to substitute purpose for tradition:
and that is, I believe, the profoundest change that has ever
taken place in human history. We can no longer treat life as
something that has trickled down to us. We have to deal with it
deliberately, devise its social organization, alter its tools,
formulate its method, educate and control it. In endless ways we
put intention where custom has reigned. We break up routines,
make decisions, choose our ends, select means….”
Abrams v. United States (1919)
U.S. Supreme Court
Background:
 Abrams and the other defendants were all born in Russia. They were
intelligent and had considerable schooling.
 Three of them testified as witnesses in their own behalf, and called
themselves revolutionists and they did not believe in government of any form
and said they had no interest in the government of the United States.
 The fourth said he was a socialist and believed in a proper form of
government that was not capitalistic and in his opinion the U.S. government
was capitalistic.
 The leaflets were printed in English and Yiddish criticizing American
intervention in the Russian Revolution. They met in rooms rented by
Abrams, who bought a printing outfit, and installed it in a basement where
the work was done at night. Some of the leaflets were distributed by
throwing them from a window where one of the defendants was employed.
 WWI was still in progress.
Main Points:
 Abrams and his colleagues were charged on 4 counts of conspiring:
1) “disloyal and abusive language about the form of Government of the United
States”
2) the language “intended to bring the form of Government of the United States
into
contempt”
3) the language "intended to incite, provoke, and encourage resistance to the
United States in said war”
4) “when the United States was at war with the Imperial German
Government…unlawfully and willfully ... to urge, incite and advocate curtailment
of production of…ordnance and ammunition, necessary and essential to the
prosecution of the war”
 Although it was argued that the Espionage Act was unconstitutional and
in conflict with the First Amendment, it was argued briefly and 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.
This contention is sufficiently discussed and is definitely negative in Schenck v.
United States.
Main Points:
 According to Holmes there was not enough evidence to promote danger
or hinder the success of the government:
“Now nobody can suppose that the surreptitious publishing of a silly
leaflet by an unknown man, without more, would present any immediate danger
that its opinions would hinder the success of the government arms or have any
appreciable tendency to do so.”
 They were found guilty by the original court:
“by bringing upon the country the paralysis of a general strike, thereby
arresting the production of all munitions and other things essential to the
conduct of war...Thus ...the defendants were guilty as charged...and...the
judgment of the District Court must be Affirmed.”
 If in the event the threat poses no “clear and present danger,” the best
place to dismiss dangerous or disagreeable ideas is in the market place
of ideas. Persuasion is more persistent than imprisoning people with
dangerous and disagreeable ideas.
“But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths,
they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of
their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade
in ideas – that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself
accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground
upon, which their wishes safely can be carried out.”
Historical Significance
• Abrams v. United States was during the time
while America intervening into the Russian
Revolution
• The case involved the 1918 amendment to the
Espionage Act of 1917 which made it a criminal
offense to criticize the U.S. Federal Government.
• The case was overturned during the Vietnam
War Era in Brandenburg v. Ohio. The decision
was based on Holmes’ argument of “clear and
present danger”
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 self-help 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)
Socialist Party Platform (1932)
Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968)
• Took over leadership of the Socialist Party after the death of
Eugene Debs in 1926.
• Was the party’s presidential candidate six times.
• Polled his highest vote in 1932 with 880,000 votes.
• Some members of the socialist party were: W.E.B. DuBois,
Margaret Sanger, and Helen Keller.
“Democratic Socialism," is defined by the Socialist Party as “a
political and economic system with freedom and equality for
all, so that people may develop to their fullest potential in
harmony with others.” The party further states that it is
“committed to full freedom of speech, assembly, press, and
religion and to a multi-party system” and that the ownership
and control of the production and distribution of goods “should
be democratically controlled public agencies, cooperatives, or
other collective groups.”
(source: http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1669.html)
Socialist Party Platform (1932)
Main Points
1. Socialist feel there are many flaws with the capitalist system,
which is now in the process of breaking down, resulting in
human suffering.
“We are facing a breakdown of the capitalist
system…Unemployment and poverty are inevitable products of
the present system.”
2. The Socialist Party believes that workers are exploited by a
capitalist economy.
“Under capitalism the few own our industries. The many do the
work. The wage earners and farmers are compelled to give a
large part of the product of their labor to the few. The many in
the factories, mines, shops, offices and on the farms obtain but a
scanty income and are able to buy back only a part of the goods
that can be produced in such abundance by our mass
industries.” (http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1669.html)
Socialist Party Platform (1932)
3. By voting for the Socialist Party you can help remove the
struggles that the capitalist system has created.
“The Socialist Party is to-day the one democratic party of the
worker whose program would remove the causes of class
struggles, class antagonisms, and social evils inherent in the
capitalist system.”
“It proposes to transfer the principal industries of the country
from private ownership and autocratic, cruelly inefficient
management to social ownership and democratic control…It
proposes the following measures…”
The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism; but under
the name of liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the
Socialist program until America will one day be a Socialist nation
without knowing how it happened.
Norman Thomas six-time Socialist Party candidate for President
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
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and
will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only
thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning,
unjustified terror which paralyzes needed effort to convert retreat
into advance.
We need to act immediately to put people back to work.
This Nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest
primary task is to put people back to work. This is no unsolvable
problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be
accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself,
treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at
the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly
needed projects to simulate and reorganize the use of our natural
resources.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
America has plenty of natural resources and hard-working people.
Our troubles are due to unscrupulous money changers.
…[O]ur distress comes from no failure of substance…. Nature still offers
her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our
doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the
supply. Primarily this is because the rules of the exchange of mankind’s
goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own
incompetence, have admitted their failure, and abdicated. Practices of
the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public
opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men…. They know only the
rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there
is no vision the people perish. …[T]here must be an end to a conduct in
banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the
likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
We can fix the American system.
•
•
•
•
•
•
The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values
of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase
the output of our cities.
It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the
growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our
farms.
It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and
local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost
be drastically reduced.
It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today
are often scattered, uneconomical, and unequal.
It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all
forms of transportation and of communications and other
utilities which have definitely public character.
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.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
I am prepared to invoke emergency powers to
solve our problems.
It is to be hoped that the normal balance of
executive and legislative authority may be wholly
adequate to meet the unprecedented task before
us. [But if this fails,] I shall ask the Congress for
the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—
broad Executive power to wage a war against the
emergency, as great as the power that would be
given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign
foe.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
The government needs to create and implement safeguards to prevent
a future Great Depression.
Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two
safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order; 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.
In foreign policy, the United States will, like a good neighbor, respect
the rights of others.
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 obligation and respects the sanctity of his agreements in
and with a world of neighbors.
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.)
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
The Truman Doctrine
By: Harry S. Truman
• Harry S. Truman was born in
Lamar, Missouri on May 8,
1884.
• In 1905, shortly after graduating
from high school, Truman
served in the Missouri National
Guard.
• Part of the 129th Field Artillery
and sent to France, he and his
unit saw action in several
different campaigns.
• He was promoted to captain,
and after the war he joined the
reserves eventually rising to the
rank of colonel.
Harry S. Truman
in the Military
Harry and Bess
Truman
• On June 28, 1919, Truman
married Elizabeth Virginia
Wallace.
• Their only child, Mary
Margaret, was born on February
17, 1924.
• He ran a men's clothing store in
Kansas City but due to the postwar recession it failed.
• Truman began politics in 1922
as one of three judges of the
Jackson County Court.
• In 1934, Truman was elected to
the United States Senate where
he gained national prominence
as chairman of the Senate
Special Committee to Investigate
the National Defense Program.
• On January 20, 1945, he
took the vice-presidential
oath, and after President
Roosevelt's unexpected
death, he was sworn in as
the nations' thirty-third
President.
• Truman's presidency
focused on foreign policy
which was centered on the
prevention of Soviet
influence by which he
proposed The Truman
Doctrine.
President
Harry S. Truman
Main Point 1: At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose
between alternative ways of life. The alternatives are between a free society and
totalitarianism. The choice is too often not a free one.
• “The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had totalitarian regimes
forced upon them against their will. This imposed aggression undermines the foundations of
international peace and the security of the United States.”
• “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.”
•
•
•
Sub-Point 1: 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.
“We shall not realize our objectives, 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.”
“If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world-and we shall surely
endanger the welfare of this Nation.”
Sub-Point 2: 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.
•
“The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and
grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a
people for a better life has died.”
“If Greece should fall under the control of an armed minority, the effect upon its neighbor,
Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion and disorder might well spread throughout
the entire Middle East.”
Main Point 2: 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.
• “One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the U.S. is the creation of
conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free
from coercion.”
• “This was a fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory
was won over countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life,
upon other nations.”
Main Point 3: I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own
destinies in their own way.
• “Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of
events.”
• “The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their
freedom.”
• “Our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is
essential to economic stability and orderly political process.”
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
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•
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•
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.
Farewell Address (1961)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Born: 1890 at Dennison, Tex.
Parents moved to Abilene, Kansas when he was a boy
1911-1915 --Attended West Point
Profession: Soldier
1941-- Participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers .
1942--Commanded the invasion of North Africa
1944-1945--Supreme Commander of AEF
Rank: 5 star General
1945-1948—Chief of Staff
1948- 1950—President of Columbia University
Lamont-Doharty Oceanographic Laboratory established
Political philosophy—the least government is the best government.
1950-1952-- Supreme Commander of NATO Forces
1953-1961—President of the United States
Presidential Achievements
Negotiated end to Korean conflict
Appointed Earl Warren to United States Supreme Court
1957—Sent troops to Little Rock to desegregate Central High school
Established American oil policy
Got congress to finance Interstate Highway system. 44,000 miles built.
Alaska and Hawaii admitted to the Union.
Settled the Tidelands dispute with Texas and other coastal states.
1960—Apologized to Russia over U-2 incident.
Principle writings:
1963—Mandate for Change
1965—Waging Peace
Died: 1969
Buried at Abilene, Kansas
Memorial: United States silver dollar.
Farewell Address
Point 1-- America is the strongest, the most influential and the most productive
nation in the world.
a) Our pre-eminence depends on how we use our power in the interest of world
peace and human betterment.
b). The basic purpose of our government is to keep the peace, foster
progress in human achievement and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity
among people and among nations.
c). The people expect their president and congress to find essential
agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better
shape the future of the Nation.
d). The Congress and the administration have, on most vital issues,
cooperated well to save the national good rather than mere partisanship.
Point 2-- We face an ideological crisis and crises of some kind will continue to
require our undying attention.
To many we should look for a miraculous solution to each
crisis. This solution may be to increase defense or basic and applied
research. Each program must be weighed in the light of a broader
considerations. The need is to balance in and among national programs.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
Point 3—A vital element in keeping peace is our military establishment.
Our arms must be ready for instant action to deter an aggressor.
We cannot return to isolationism.
Point 4—The impact of the military establishment pervades the social,
economic and political polices of the country.
a). We annually spend on military security more than net income of all
United States corporations.
b). The total influence economic, political, even spiritual is felt around
the world.
c). The sweeping change in our industrial-military posture has been the
technological revolution during recent decades. Much of our military research
has been conducted at government expense for and by the Federal government.
5. Main Point-- The government must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence by the military-industrial complex.
Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can mesh the military
machinery of defense with peaceful methods and goals, so that security and
liberty may prosper together. Defense spending reaches every congressional
district in the United States.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
6. Main Point--The citizenry must beware the prospect of the Federal government
to dominate the national scholars by government funding of projects.
a). Public policy could itself become the captive of a
scientific- technological elite.
Point 7 -- We must live today with respect for the future and avoid plundering our
resources and international goodwill.
Point 8 -- The world must become a proud confederation of mutual trust and
respect in which all must be equal.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
Main Point 1: People should work together for the interest of the American
people.
Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on
issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the
Nation.
In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues,
cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have
assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship
with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to
do so much together.
Main Point 2: America-today, is the strongest nation in the world, and we must use
our strength to promote world peace and human betterment.
We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major
wars among great nations. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the
most influential and most productive nation in the world.
Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that 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.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
Main Point 3: We are in a dangerous world struggle with the ruthless Soviet block.
•It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. 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
crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without
complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle-with liberty at stake. Only
thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward
permanent peace and human betterment.
Main Point 4: Balance in Government is Good
•In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring
temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the
miraculous solution to all current difficulties.
•But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a 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.
Sub-point 1: A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment.
•Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may
be tempted to risk his own destruction.
•Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my
predecessors in peace time, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
Main Point 5: Dangers of the Military-Industrial Complex.
•This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the
American experience. 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.
•In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous
rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
•We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.
We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the
proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods
and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Main point 6: There is Danger in trading our free ideas for Government contracts.
• In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific
discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research.) Partly because of the huge
costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.
•Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to
the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive a of scientifictechnological elite.
•It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new
and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of
our free society.
Eisenhower’s “Farewell Address”
Main point 7: We have a responsibility to preserve natural resources for the future
of our grandchildren.
As we peer into society's future, 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 cannot mortgage the material assets of our
grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We
want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent
phantom of tomorrow.
Main Point 8: Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing
imperative.
Together we must learn how to compose difference, not with arms, but with intellect and
decent purpose.
Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official
responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment.
As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war-as one who
knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly
and painfully built over thousands of years-I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace
is in sight.
Brown v. Board of Education
U. S. Supreme Court Decision
Main Points
1. The Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education is
unconstitutional and violates states rights.
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.
2. There are outside agitators that are a threat to the system of public education
in much of the South.
Without regard to the consent of the governed, outside agitators are threatening
immediate and revolutionary changes in our public-school systems. If done, this is
certain to destroy the system of public education in some of the States.
Brown v. Board of Education
U. S. Supreme Court Decision
3. Desegregation will cause problems between the races.
"... is creating chaos and confusion in the states principally affected."
"... is destroying the amicable relations between the white and the negro races."
4. In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson a long established principle was
developed, and the Supreme Court has no legal bases to overturn it.
The original constitution does not mention education. Neither does the 14th
amendment nor any other amendment. The debates preceding the submission of the
14th amendment clearly show that there was no intent that is should affect the
systems of education maintained by the states.
5. There was a clear abuse of judicial power in the supreme courts decision of
Brown vs. Board of Education.
We regard the decision of the Supreme Court in the schools cases as a clear
abuse of the judicial 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 of the people.
The Southern Manifesto
(1956)
Sam J. Ervin and others
Historical Context
• Sam J. Ervin
– Senator of North Carolina
– Headed two famous committees taking down
• Senator Joe McCarthy
• President Richard M. Nixon
– Condemned Brown Vs. Board of Education
• Later changed his mind but continued to oppose
forced desegregation.
Historical Context Cont.
• Southern Manifest
– Written in 1956 by legislators in the US
Congress opposed to racial integration in
public places.
– Signed by 96 politicians
– Written to counter the ruling of Brown V.
Board of Education
Intended Audience
• Their intended audience was their fellow
colleagues in Congress and the rest of
America
Main Point
• The Supreme Court’s decision in the
Brown v. Board of Education is a clear
abuse of judicial power.
– “We regard the decision of the Supreme Court
in the school cases as a clear abuse of
judicial 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.”
Main Point
• The 14th Amendment can not be used
as an argument for segregation in
education.
– “The original Constitution does not mention
education. Neither does the 14th amendment
nor any other amendment. 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.”
Main Point
• The concept of “separate but equal”
actually started in the North, not the
South.
– “Brown v. Board of Education…originated in
Roberts v. City of Boston (1849) in
Massachusetts.
– “Not only there but also in, Connecticut, New
York, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota,
New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other
northern States.”
Main Point
• Time after time, the Supreme Court
ruled it was legal to have institutions
and facilities “separate but equal.”
– Plessy v. Ferguson
– Lum v. Rice
Main Point
• This decision actually hurt relations
between the races.
– “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.”
Main Point
• Outside agitators threaten the public
school system.
– “Without regard to the consent of the
governed, outside agitators are threatening
immediate and revolutionary changes in our
public-school systems. If done, this is certain
to destroy the system of public education in
some of the States.”
Background
• Southern whites were outraged, and they dubbed May 17 as "Black
Monday." Ninety Southern Congressmen issued the "Southern
Manifesto" condemning the Court decision as a usurpation of state
powers. They said that the Court, instead of interpreting the law, was
trying to legislate. Southern states resurrected the old doctrine of
interposition which they had used against the Federal Government
preceding the Civil War. Several state legislatures passed
resolutions stating that the Federal Government did not have the
power to prohibit segregation. Other Southerners resorted to a
whole battery of tactics. The Ku Klux Klan was revived along with a
host of new groups such as the National Association for the
Advancement of White People. The White Citizens' councils
spearheaded the resistance movement. Various forms of violence
and intimidation became common. Bombings, beatings, and
murders increased sharply all across the South. Outspoken
proponents of desegregation were harassed in other ways as well.
They lost their jobs, their banks called in their mortgages, and
creditors of all kinds came to collect their debts.
Source: The Black Experience in America Ch.11
“Letter From Birmingham Jail”
Main Points
• All communities in America are related.
– “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere.”
• Four basic steps to nonviolent campaign:
– Collection of the facts to determine whether
injustice exist
– Negotiation
– Self-purification
– Direct action
“Letter From Birmingham Jail”
Main Points
• Nonviolent protests draw attention to what has
previously been ignored.
• Those with power and privilege don’t give up
voluntarily; waiting for the right time never
comes.
– “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 still creep at horse and
buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at
a lunch counter.”
“Letter From Birmingham Jail”
Main Points
•
Individuals have the moral responsibility to
disobey unjust laws.
– Unjust laws are those who the majority
compels the minority to obey but does not
make it binding on themselves.
•
Two types of forces in the Negro community
– The complacent which are the ones who
have adjusted to segregation.
– The other are those filled with bitterness and
hatred who would advocate violence.
“Letter From Birmingham Jail”
Main Points
• “The Negro has many pent-up resentments and
latent frustrations, and he must release them.
So let him march;”
• The churches are not standing up to the moral
responsibility.
The Negro Family
(the Moynihan Report)
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
1927-2003
The deterioration of the Negro family is
the source of weakness of Negro society.
• “The percent of nonwhite families headed by a female is more than
double the percent for whites.”
• “While the percentage of such families among whites has been
dropping since 1940, it has been rising among Negroes.”
• “In essence, the Negro community has been forced into a
matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest
of American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a
whole, and imposes a crushing burden on the the Negro male and,
in consequence on a great many Negro women as well.”
The nature of man is to be a strong
family leader, but society in the U.S. does
not allow this for the Negro male.
• “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.”
• “In every known human society, everywhere in the world, the young
males learn that when he grows up one of the things he must do in
order to be a full member of society is to provide food some female
and her young. This pattern is not immutable, however: it can be
broken, even though it has always eventually reasserted itself…….”
• “The majority of Negro children receive public assistance under the
AFDC program at one point or another in their childhood.”
Fodder for the mind
• Was Moynihan right?
• Does any of what he wrote apply to
society at large today?
• Can the government alter familial
relations?
Jimmy Carter, Energy and National Goals (popularly
known as the "malaise" speech) (1979)
Main Points:
1.Americans suffer from a lack of confidence.
•
I want to talk to you right now about a fundamental
threat to American democracy.... I do not refer to the
outward strength of America, a nation that is at peace
tonight everywhere in the world, with unmatched
economic power and military might.
•
The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. It is a
crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the
very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We
can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the
meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of
purpose for our Nation.
2. Americans have lost faith have lost faith in their government
and in their ability to shape their government.
Our people are losing that faith, not only in government itself
but in the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and
shapers of our democracy….
3. Americans have become adicted to consumerism, which has
sapped their confidence and sense of purpose.
In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, closeknit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now
tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human
identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what
one owns. But we’ve discovered that owning things and
consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.
We’ve learned that piling up material goods cannot fill the
emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose….
4. The sad truth: many Americans have lost
respect for onced honored institutions.
As you know, there is a growing disrespect for
government and for churches anf or schools, the
news media, and other institutions. This is not a
message of happiness or reassurance, but it is the
truth and it is a warning….
Question: Is this statement true. If it were true, do
Americans really want to hear the truth, or do they
prefer messages of reassurance from their
leaders?
5. By coming together to meet the engery challenge, we can
win for our nation a new sence of confidence, contol and
destiny. However, we must take the following measures:
1. Never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977.
2. Set import quotas
3. Commit national funds and resources to develop alternative
sources of fuel
4. Utility companies cut their use of oil by 50% and switch ot
other fuels, especially coal.
5. Establish an engery mobilization board to cut through
roadblocks to completing key energy projects.
6. All of us need to embark on a bold conservation program.
A. I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory
conservation and for standby gasoline rationing.
6. Americans must make sacrifices in their
consumerism to meet the crisis.
…I’m asking you for your [own] good and for your
Nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to
use carpools or public transportation whenever you
can, to park your car one extra day per week, to
obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to
save fuel. Every act of engery conservation like this
is more than just common sense—I tell you it is an
act of patriotism….
APPRAISAL
Appraisal of the speech’s effectiveness: Terrible.
People have a need to feel good about
themselves, and they seek leaders who make
them feel good.
Leaders who criticize their people soon lose their
people’s support, even if their message is valid.
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
• To win popular support of the American People for the
Contras because they were fighting against communist
forces.
– “The Sandinista rule is a communist reign of terror.
Many of those who fought along side the Sandinistas
saw their revolution betrayed.” They…have taken up
arms against them and are now called the contras.”
• To raise enough aid such as money and arms to resolve
the crises and help prevent the possibility of refugees
fleeing to America
– “Concerns about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of
refugees fleeing communist oppression to seek entry in our
country are well-founded”
Main Points
• Support Democracy abroad for Central
America
– “Together with our friends, we can do in
Central America to support democracy,
human rights, and economic growth that we
want no hostile communist colonies here in
the Americas-South, Central, or North”
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
“Rather, it is a war of fundamentalism against faiths of all kinds that are at peace with
freedom and modernity.”
“This is a religious war between “unbelief and unbelievers” in bin Laden’s words.”
“In 1998 he [bin Laden] also told followers that his terrorism was “of the commendable
kind, for it is directed t the tyrants and the aggressors and the enemies of Allah.”
2. This is not the first time fundamentalism has crept into the secular realm
“What, after all, were the totalitarian societies of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia if not
an exact replica of this kind of fusion of politics and ultimate meaning? Under Lenin’s
and Stalin’s rules, the imminence of salvation through revolutionary consciousness
was in perpetual danger of being undermined by those too weak to have faith…so
they had to be liquidated or purged.”
“It is harder for us to understand that in some twisted fashion, they [Nazis] truly
believed that they were creating a new dawn for humanity, a place where all the
doubts that freedom brings could be dispelled in a rapture of racial purity and destiny.”
Andrew Sullivan
This Is a Religious War: September 11 was Only the Beginning
Main Points:
3. The defeat of fundamentalists has been and is an arduous task
“Perhaps the most important thing for us to realize today is that the defeat of
each of these fundamentalists required a long and arduous effort. The conflict
with Islamic fundamentalism is likely to take as long.”
4. The critical link of Western and Middle Eastern Fundamentalism is the
pace of social change
“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:
5. The other critical aspect of this faith is insecurity
“American fundamentalists know they are losing the culture war. They
are terrified of failure and of the Godless world they believe is about to
engulf or crush them.”
“They talk about renewal, but in their private discourse they expect
damnation for an America that has lost sight of the fundamentalist
notion of God.”
6. Security from American Taliban: The Constitution
“And the surprising consequence of this separation is not that it led to
a collapse of religious faith in America – as weak human beings found
themselves unable to believe without social and political reinforcement
– but that it led to one of the most vibrantly religious civil societies on
earth.”
“It is a living tangible rebuke to everything they [Islamic
fundamentalists] believe in.”