Essentials for US History--Semester 2
1. Students will understand the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
CAUSES:
- The stock market crash was a big cause of the Great Depression.
- Factories and farmers were over producing way too much product that they weren't able to sell. So companies had to lay people off. People were in massive debt so they quit buying products. Companies weren't making much money.
- Most people during the Great Depression were poor. Few people could afford things.
- There was a Tarrif policy of the United States that Herbert Hoover passed. This set a very high tarrif. It cut world trade down and tries to get people to buy only American products which actually isn't good when the economy is bad. This hurt other countries and American businesses.
- Buying products on account.
EFFECTS:
- In cities lots of people lost their homes. People rushed to banks to get their money and many people weren't able to get their money out so they lost everything when the banks closed down. This caused lots of people to lose their homes and jobs. This lead to many people being homeless. All of the people being homeless led to soup kitchens and bread lines. A lot of people started living with their extended families including thier cousins and grandparents. Parents couldn't make enough money so some kids also had to help work. This hurt the children's schooling and lots of people dropped out of college or high school.
- Hoovervilles were set up which were towns made of cardboard and plywood. They called them Hoovervilles as a slap to the face to Hoover.
- In the countryside farmers had to deal with overproduction. Their solution was to plant more which cauded prices to go down more and more. They had food because they could grow it. Lots of farms were taken over by banks because farmers couldn't pay mortgage. Another big problem farmers had to face was the dust bowl. The dust storms also caused many farmers to lose their farms. The Oakies as they were called moved to California to try for better lives.
- Some people became very close with their neighbors.
The New Deal which meant relief, recovery, and reform. The first new deal focused more on individuals. New Deal organizations : FDIC and SEC. After the great depression people were tight with their money and lost a lot of their trust with banks.
2. Students will understand the impact the Great Depression and New Deal had on the US.
The Great Depression left everyone devestated and people didn't know what to do. The economy was in ruins. One reason for getting involved in WWII was to get out of the depression. Because of the great depression a lot of people lost their trust in banks.
The first new deal focused more on groups and businesses and the second new deal focused more on individuals. The New Deal focused on Relief, Recovery, and Reform.
There were lots of new deal programs that helped lots of different people.
Unemployed
Reconstruction Finance Corportation- Gave loans to banks, state and local governments and business to create projects and jobs for people. Also gave states loans for emergency relief needs.
Farmers
Agricultural Adjustment Act- Paid farmers to plant less. The problem in the 1920's was that farmers were planting too much. To reduce crop surplus so prices would go up they had farmers burn crops, pigs were slaughtered, and spilled milk. Many people thought that the AAA was cruel and it was declared unconstitutional.
Factory Workers and Labor
Fair Labor Standards Act- Established a national minimum wage which was 40 cents per hour. It also established the 40 hour work week and prohibited child labor.
Young People
Fair Labor Standards Act
Banks
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation- Insured peoples money in banks up to 1000 dollars back then. It was passed in response to the bank failures. Helped to make people put their money back into banks.
Stock Market
Securities and Exchange Commission- Regulates the stock market. Making the market more secure and safter for peoples money. Investigate companies that might be lying.
Homeowners
Federal Housing Administration- Designed to help poor people get loans from the federal government. It requires 1 percent down.
Elderly
Social Security Act- Gave everyone a social security number. Provides retirement, disability, and survivors benefits. To qualify for these benefits most american workers pay social security taxes on their earnings. Elderly hit very hard by stock market crash and banks closing down.
Native Americans
Indian Reorganization Act- Native Americans had always been treated badly. Dawes Act wasw passed to Americanize Native Americans. Gave 106 acres of land to Native American families to split up and farm. This was not the Native American life style. IRA was designed to un-do all the previous things. Gave land ownership back to Native Americans and allowed them to have tribal ownership of the land. Allowed them to educate their children how they wanted also.
The New deal put money back into the economy to get it going again.
3. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of WWII.
CAUSES:
The Treaty of Versallies left Germany with no land, minimized military, and the responsibility for WWI. Hitler was the leader of Germany and only liked people of the Aryan race. The United States got into the war to help get out of the depression, stop Japan, stop Germany, and stop Hitler. The League of Nations tried to help but because they didn't have a military support it didn't work out so well.
EFFECTS:
Pearl Harbor, millions of people died because of Hitler and the Nazis. Germany was also divided into 4 occupation zones. The United States and Soviet Union were the main super powers now because Great Britain and France were destroyed. Also the United Nations was formed to help keep peace throughout the world.
MAJOR EVENTS:
The invasion of Poland began everything, Battle of Britain. Pearl Habor bombed by Japan on December 7, 1941. Then we declared war on Japan, Doolittles Raid on Tokyo. The Battle of Midway was the turning point, Germany invaded USSR but was defeated. D-Day invasion was on June 6, 1944. Battle of the Bulge- Germany/Belgium Border. Held the Yalta Conference spliting Germany into four occupation zones. VE-Day was Victory in Europe day. This was on March 8, 1945. VJ-Day was Victory in Japan day. This was on August 14, 1945. Atomic bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
4. Students will understand how/why the Allies won WWII.
-Women's role in WWII- Rosie the Riveter represented women workers in WWII. Women took the jobs of men. If it wasn't for the women in factories they made everything that helped us win the war.
-African Americans Role in WWII- At first they weren't given the right to fight because of segregation. Eventually they were allowed to fight in the war.
-Hollywood's role in WWII- Tried to get people to buy war bonds. It helped get the public to support the war. Bob Hope and the USO tour would go to places that were considered safe and provide entertainment for the troops.
-Office of Price Administration- Established so that prices wouldn't sky rocket. Also dealt with rationing of goods.
-War Production Board- Government organization to encourage factories to make as much as they could. The United States made more stuff than all the other countries combined.
-National War Labor Board- Encouraged companies and workers to get along so workers wouldn't go on strike. Bringing worker and owner together. Pay workers somewhat decently.
5. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Cold War.
CAUSES:
The Red Scare which was known as the fear of being communist. Nuclear Arms Race. Democracy and Communist governments don't mix together very well. Soviets wanted to take over the world. (Communism)
-The United States was a democracy and the Soviet Union was communist. We feared that we were going to be attacked by them. Also both of the countries feared the other's government.
-Democracy basically means that the people have a say in things
-Communist means government controls everything and the people don't have much freedom.
- We had NATO which was North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The treaty stated that if one of the other countries gets attacked we have to help ward off the attacker(s).
-Truman vs. Stalin- were allies during the year. Argued about power. Broke ties at the end of the war. Refused to join the United Nations.
3 power disagreement
-Stalin wanted an agreement from Germany that they wouldn't attack them
-US wanted to help build Germany back up after the war
-US and Germany wanted to stop communist control and didn't want communism to spread any farther.
EFFECTS:
Gorbachev worked together with Reagan to take down nuclear missiles. Berlin wall was being torn down. Communist party was forced to resign after 73 years in the Soviet Union. Soviet Union was offically dissolved. This is when the United States became a super power.
Fall of Communism
Workers were encouraged to speak out and also to creat their own businesses. Congress of peoples deputies replaced the old parliment. Reduced the amount of influence the Communist party. Gorbachev also tried to modernize the economy. Iron Curtain became very very weak.
Perestroika- means reconstructing and rebuilding
it was commonly used in 1980 in the soviet union by the leader Gorbachev
it was used during the communist party reform a lot
it was a part of the revolution of 1989 and the end of the cold war
Glasnot- openess
it was used by Gorbachev
he used it to mean the polices he thought were open minded
policies he thought would help stop the curruption of the communist party
These two things led to Communism collapsing in the USSR and Eastern Europe. Ended the communist power in Russia by suspending and banning the Communsit party and siezing their property.
Countries that broke free of Communism included Poland, Hungary, and East Germany. The cold war was the political idealogical struggle between the United States and Soviet Union over idealoligy and political things.
6. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Korean Conflict.
Also known as the Forgotten War. 1950-1953
After WWII Korea was split into two parts- north and south
back and forth war
North communist, South democratic
we were helping the south. China and soviet union on north
north invaded south and pushed them down to Pusan.
then the united nations gets involved and we invade
push back up on the pusan perimiter
we push them all the way back to the border between north korea and china
china gets nervous
Macarther says we should bomb China and then he got fired
Then China gets involved and pushes them all the way back
along the border- DMZ- demilitarized zone
fear is north korea will invade again so we have troops on this zone
tense along the border
north korea has recently devoloped nuclear weapons now
axis of evil list
have a lot of problems with relations with them
south korea is flurishing, north korea in bad conditions.
we have troops their along border
there was supposed to be an election to unify the country
to make it all communist
South korea doesn't have nuclear weapons
7. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Vietnam Conflict.
after WWII it was split into two
north and south
north communist
south supported by the united states
major players- north vietnam, Vietcong, Ho Chi Minh, South Vietnam, United States
Ho Chi Minh- goes to the paris peace conference and tries to get france to give them their independece because it was french controlled
of course didnt happen
then goes to soviet union and is educated on communism
he then goes to china and helps with the communism take over
he allied himself to help fight off the japanese and the french
after WWII he assumes that independence would be given to them
1950 US first starts getting involved by giving money to french
stop communism from spreading
Escalation- we increased our involvement
eisenhower sent military advisors to help fight off the communists
first time we sent people over
JFK- send special forces over and more military advisors- Green Barets
escalation is pretty small so far
1964- major changing point
incident in a body of water by vietnam
a US ship is attacked supposibly and congress gave presidnet johnston to begin war in vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
start sending combat troops
64-68 sent more and more combat troops
johnston kept saying the war was almost won
1968- all things started changing
the TET offensive- offensive by our enemy- lunar new year that they celebrate- every major city in south and attack- they launched this. - this is what we wanted our enemy to do. we demolished them in the battle. everyone was confused on how we won because they kept saying we almost won but didnt make sense.
My Lai Massacre- caused americans to be negative towards the war
we killed innocent people, raped women
504 civilians were killed
it was difficult to tell who was viatcong and who was our friend- led to killing villagers
people would see this as bad but the soliders were trying to protect themselves
see lots of war protests especially with young people. "draft dodgers"- fled to canada or sweden. went to college, got married, medically unfit for service, joined the national guard or peace corps, claimed to be homosexual, being rich.
Kent St. Massacre in 1970 people protesting
students were killed in this protest
4 students were killed
deescalation:
1969- Nixon becomes president- calls for end to war
70-72 nixon bombs laos and Cambodia- destroy Ho Chi Minh Trail
life blood of our eneimies in the south
how the nroth got goods to the vietcong in the south (communist)
bomb the supply line we will win it
war becomes extremely un popular
it doesn't work- it is a jungle path
they can go around it and make a new trail
"Vietnamization" - lets pull out and let the south vietamanize fight it
1973- US pulls out of Vietnam- "peace with honor" - still didn't lose the war
we were out that we would help south vietnam if they needed it
1974- north inavdes the south
1975- all of vietnam becomes communist
still communist today!
we didn't stop the spread of communim after we left
vietnam=negative
vietnam war veterans came back and were enemies
8. Students will understand the causes and effects of the Persian Gulf Wars as well as the War on Terror.
9-11 war on terror
al-queda and bin laden group attacked twin towers and the pentagon
find out al-queda was stationed in afghanistan
led to war in afghanistan
recently bin laden killed by navy seals
war in iraq- just started pulling out last august
went there because we thought that bin laden was making nuclear weapons
un popular cuz we didnt find anything
sadan husain put to death- went through trial and hung
got a democratic government in power
obama pulled out all combat troops
winding down
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