Modern Problems in US History

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Modern Problems in US History
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JFK assassinated (1963)

• President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
  Texas on November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald.

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• The nation responded with shock because Kennedy
  was a popular leader, a WWII veteran and helped
  the US through the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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• He was also the first president to be
  assassinated since William McKinley in 1901, and
  only 4th overall.

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• This event shook Americas belief in the
  invulnerability of the president and deprived
  America of a leader in a hard period in history.

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• Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby before he could go
  on trial.
• This action denied the US of closure.

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• There are many conspiracy theories surrounding
  Kennedys death.
• More than one shooter.
• The magic bullet
• Killed by the mob
• Killed by the Soviets

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Comparisons between Kennedy and Lincoln

• Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
• He was elected President in 1860
• His wife lost a child while living in the White
  House
• He was directly concerned with Civil Rights

• Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946
• He was elected President in 1960
• His wife lost a child while living in the White
  House
• Directly concerned with Civil Rights

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• Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who told
  him not to go to the theater
• Lincoln was shot in the back of the head in the
  presence of his wife
• Lincoln shot in the Fords Theatre
• He was shot on a Friday

• Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who told
  him not to go to Dallas
• Kennedy was shot in the back of the head in the
  presence of his wife
• Kennedy shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford
• Shot on a Friday

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• The assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was known by
  three names, comprised of fifteen letters
• Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to
  a theater
• Oswald was killed before being brought to trial

• The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was known by
  three names, comprised of fifteen letters
• Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a
  warehouse
• Booth was killed before being brought to trial

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• There were theories that Booth was part of a
  greater conspiracy
• Lincoln's successor was Andrew Johnson, born in
  1808
• Johnson was an unpopular southerner

• There were theories that Booth was part of a
  greater conspiracy
• Kennedy's successor was Lyndon Johnson, born in
  1908
• Johnson was an unpopular southerner

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Odd facts related to Kennedys death.

• Every president elected in a year ending in zero
  has died in office or had an attempt made on
  their lives.

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William Henry Harrison (1840)

• Died after 30 days in office.

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Abraham Lincoln (1860)
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James Garfield (1880)
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William McKinley (1900)

• Assassinated in 1901

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Warren G. Harding (1920)

• Died of a heart attack in 1923

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Franklin D. Roosevelt (1940)

• Died in 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage

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John F. Kennedy (1960)
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Ronald Reagan (1980)

• Survived an attempt on his life in 1981

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George W. Bush (2000)

• Bush choked on a pretzel, passed out and hit his
  head on the coffee table.

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George W. Bush (2000)

• Had a grenade, which failed to explode, thrown at
  him while in the country of Georgia

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Back to the serious stuff
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• Lyndon Johnson served as president for 5 years,
  but chose not to run in 1968 because of the
  Vietnam War.
• Former Vice President Richard Nixon won.

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NIXON

• During the Vietnam War President Nixon exploited
  the clash that existed between the Soviet Union
  and China (They were NOT communist allies)

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Nixon in China
?

• Nixon wanted to get communist China to convince
  North Vietnam into peace

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Nixon in China

• Nixon also achieved much better relations between
  the United States and China
• Nixon later used this as a ground to successfully
  negotiate with the Soviet Union

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The Watergate Scandal
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The Watergate Scandal

• During his campaign for re-election in 1972,
  Pres. Nixon ordered advisors to break into
  Democratic campaign headquarters at the Watergate
  hotel in Washington D.C.

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The Watergate Scandal
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• Nixon won the election in a landslide.

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• Reporters Woodward and Bernstein from the
  Washington Post exposed the crime.

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• This led to a very long trial where Nixons staff
  lost many important documents.

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The Watergate Scandal

• President Nixon resigned so he would not be
  IMPEACHED as President

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• His successor, President Ford made the unpopular
  decision to pardon Nixon shortly after he took
  office.

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• Watergate caused many Americans to lose
  confidence in the government a feeling that
  still exists today.

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THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1989)
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Pres. Ronald Reagan
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• Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980.
• Americas oldest president.
• A former actor/governor from California.

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Pres. Ronald Reagan

• Under Reagan the U.S. greatly increased funding
  for the nuclear, space, and military programs
• Reagan funded a program called Strategic Defense
  Initiative (SDI) to create a shield that would
  intercept and destroy nuclear ballistic missiles
  fired at the U.S.

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Pres. Ronald Reagan

• This program was nicknamed Star Wars and it
  drastically increased government spending

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Pres. Ronald Reagan

• This Soviet Union could no longer keep up with
  America in the arms race and their economy was in
  shambles.

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The Evil Empire

• Reagan challenged the moral legitimacy of the
  Soviet Union by calling it the evil empire

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• Mikhail Gorbachev

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Fall of the Berlin Wall

• At a speech in Berlin, Germany Reagan demanded,
  Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall

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Fall of the Berlin Wall

• In 1989, many Soviet republics in the countries
  of Eastern Europe overthrew communist regimes
  and declared independence from the Soviet Union

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• Citizens of East Germany tore down the Berlin
  Wall which had been a symbol of Communist
  oppression

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Fall of the Berlin Wall

• In 1990, East and West Germany reunited for the
  first time since 1945
• This event is one of the symbols of the end of
  the Cold War

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The Evil Empire

• During the 1980s the Soviet Union was
  experiencing severe internal problems
• Soviet military expenses greatly increased as
  they tried to compete with Star Wars

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The Evil Empire

• Soviet republics were becoming much more
  nationalistic and wanted to separate from the USSR

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The Evil Empire

• The communist government had focused on building
  up the USSRs position as a superpower and had
  neglected the needs of the people

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Mikhail Gorbachev

• Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union
• Gorbachev introduced the policies of glasnost
  and perestroika to reform the USSR

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Glasnost

• Glasnost Russian for openness
• This new policy gave the people of the Soviet
  Union the right to speak freely

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Perestroika
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• This reformed the Communist economy and government

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Perestroika

• Under Communist dictatorship the Soviet Union
  controlled and owned all business and property
• This created a very inefficient economy that was
  unproductive

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Perestroika

• Perestroika privatized the economy ? it
  transferred all ownership of business from the
  government to private ownership

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Perestroika

• Under Communism private property and ownership of
  businesses was prohibited
• Perestroika introduced a Capitalist (free-market)
  economy into the Soviet Union

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Perestroika
Gorbachev
Reagan

• This ultimately led to the failure of communism
  and fall of the Soviet Union

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• The communist party transferred power to the
  individual republics in 1991.
• This marked the end of both the Soviet Union and
  the Cold War.

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Former Soviet States(for you to memorize)

• Baltic states
•  Estonia
•  Latvia
•  Lithuania
• Central Asia
•  Kazakhstan
•  Kyrgyzstan
•  Tajikistan
•  Turkmenistan
•  Uzbekistan

• Transcaucasia
•  Armenia
•  Azerbaijan
•  Georgia
• Eastern European states
•  Belarus
•  Moldova
•  Ukraine
• Russia
•  Russia

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NO MORE COLD WAR!!!
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Women Participating in the Labor Force

• An increasingly large percentage of Americas
  labor force
• Many working mothers
• Role of courts in providing opportunities

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• Women in nontraditional jobs
• Sandra Day OConnor was the first woman to serve
  on the United States Supreme Court.
• Sally Ride was the first female astronaut in the
  United States.

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Women Participating in the Labor Force

• PROS
• Gender equality
• Increased family income
• Reduced discrimination

• CONS
• Women paid less than men in every job field
• Unstable family environment

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Issues of working women

• Need for affordable day care
• Equitable pay
• Pink collar ghetto
• Glass ceiling

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Affordable Day Care

• Daycare for children can cost between 3,000 and
  15,000 a year for each child.

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Equal Pay

• Women are paid less than men in every job field
  (except modeling) for doing the same work

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The Race and Gender double bind

• A persons race is still a factor in how much
  they get paid.
• Men get paid more than women
• African Americans are paid less than whites, and
  Hispanic-Americans are paid less than blacks.
• As a result, if you are a Hispanic women, you get
  paid about 55 of what a white male does

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Pink Collar Jobs

• Low prestige, low paying jobs
• example working part time in retail while the
  husband brings home the bacon

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The Glass Ceiling

• Women often have difficulty moving above a
  certain level in companies because of
  discrimination, family concerns or lack of
  education
• As of 2005, only 8 of the Fortune 500 companies
  had women CEOs

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Immigration Issues

• New and increasing immigration to the United
  States has been taking place from many diverse
  countries, especially Asian and Latin American
  countries.

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Immigration

• Push Factors reasons for leaving your country
• Pull factors reasons for entering another
  country

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PUSH FACTORS

• Unemployment
• Political instability
• Need for health care and education
• Famine

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PULL FACTORS

• Political freedom
• Job opportunities
• Stable government
• Good healthcare and education

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Effects of Immigration

• Bilingual education/English as a Second Language
  (ESL) courses
• Effects on public policy
• Politics/voting

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ESL Classes

• 70 million second language speakers in the US
  (out of a total of 300 million people)

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Effects on Politics

• Immigrant groups often vote as a group or not at
  all.
• They have a great deal of influence on politics
  in some cases
• Ex. Cuban immigrants influencing US policy
  towards Castro and Cuba

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Immigrant Contributions

• Culture
• Economic

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Cultural contributions

• America has become a melting pot of various
  cultures.
• Ex. Foods Pasta, waffles, Chinese food, sushi,
  sausages, peanut butter, tacos, etc.

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Economic

• Many immigrants take low paying jobs that other
  people dont want.
• They pay better than jobs in their old countries
• Maids, construction worker, farm labor

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More Technology Advances

• Cable TV/24-hour news (CNN)
• Personal computers
• Cellular phones
• 200 million cell phones
• World Wide Web
• 214 million internet users

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Communications

• Widespread but unequal access to computers and
  instantaneous communication

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Changes in work/school/health care

• Telecommuting
• Distance learning

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Telecommuting

• When workers use computers to work from home.
• Studies show that workers are more productive
• Ideal for families with small children and other
  concerns at home

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Distance learning

• Where students take some or all of their course
  work over a computer.
• Online chat rooms
• Submit papers online
• Reading online articles
• E-mailing teachers

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Genetic Engineering

• Genetically modified food
• Medicines
• Stem cell research
• Polio Vaccine discovered by
• Jonas Salk