Category Archives: June 14 assignment

Refugee Act of 1980

United States is a country that been built by immigrants, where some of them were refugees from all over the world. In 1980 was passed the Refugee Act, which is a United States federal law that reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on sytematic basis for humanitarian reasons. For example, in 1985 ceiling of 70,000 refugees, with 270,000 immigrants total and 20,000 from any one country, was established. Annually, the proposed refugee Admissions Report to the Congress is written detailing new circumstances invoving refugees worldwide, and determining the new annual ceiling of refugees resettling in the United States. The Refugee Act is another proof that the main United States principle is a freedom.

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Vietnam War

The most important event of 60’s in American history was Vietnam War.  No doubt that this historical event changed forever the mind of American society and leads to creation of civil rights movement, famous Martin Luther King’s march on Washington DC, student’s protests, movement for gay rights and etc. Full responsibility for the beginning of Vietnam War is on Lyndon Johnson, who in 1964 forced US Congress to approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The official beginning of Vietnam War is 1965, when 200,000 American soldiers were sent to Vietnam. That war, that no one really needs and whose goal was to take the revenge on Soviets, broke American society believe into the rightness of the politics. The lost generation of American soldiers who survived this war gave birth to the new protest movements for peace and until now being one of the most politically active anti-war and civil right supporters. The book by Kovic “Born on the Fourth of July” and the movie based on this book very well illustrates the historical events of that period in American history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5gaIXI2Mn4

Posted in 1960-1968, 1969-1988, June 14 assignment | 1 Comment

1960s: Freedom for all Americans.

1960\’s Civil Rights Movement

The Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was officially passed  on December 6, 1865 and  it abolished  slavery and declared the freedom for American citizens. But the freedom was not established until the 1960s, the time when Civil Rights Act passed to abolish the various discrimination in American society. The Civil Rights activists want to free themselves from “the chains of political and economic slavery.” I think that 1960s are playing a significant role in the American history because in this time the economic and political freedom are achieved, and the Civil Right Act of 1964 helped to establish these freedom.

The race and color based discrimination on the employment were exist before the 1960s. The protesters of Civil Rights movement wanted the equal opportunity to get the job, and their posters focused on the “Jobs and Freedom.” The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped the blacks to get the same opportunities that the whites had.  It is clear that 1960s was the time when all Americans especially Blacks  start to enjoy their new economic and political freedom.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964

    In this photograph, President Johnson is signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with Dr. King one of its biggest supporters behind him. This act is one of the most important legislations during this time because it outlawed any unlawful treatment of minorities through voter registration and segregation in the workplace, school or in public.

    It later became stronger in its enforcement which led to the election of  minority officials in the Judiciary systems and in the US Government as a whole.

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Free Speech Movement

The Free Speech Movement at University of California at Berkeley was a student protest that happened during 1964 and 1965. The students insisted that the university administration lift the ban of on-campus political activities and acknowledge the students’ right to free speech and academic freedom.The police arrested 773 students for occupying the administration building.  

Students won in this movement, and  the university chancellor established provisional rules for political activities on the Berkeley campus and opened a discussion area during certain hours of the day. It also made an effort of Ronald Reagan becoming California governor.

The Free Speech Movement had long-lasting effects at the Berkeley campus and was a pivotal moment for the civil liberties movement in The Sixties. Since this event, the students began a wide range of new social movement which had big impacts on the established social system.

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Martin Luther King shot dead- 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. He was shot dead in southern US city of Memphis, Tennessee, where he was leading a march of sanitation workers, he was protesting for low wages and poor working conditions

James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and was sentenced to 99 years of prison. The President Lyndon Johnson was also shocked by the death of civil rights leader. Dr. Martin Luther King was civil rights leader for black people in America in 1950’s. In 1964 he was awarded the Nobel peace prize.  His assassination led to riots in most of the US cities. His assassination led to the major change in US.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tb9m81OwYH0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

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The Cuban Missile Crisis

The most important event in American history in 1960’s is the Cuban missile crisis, a confrontation between Cuba with the Soviet Union and the United States, in October, 1962. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union built nuclear missiles in Cuba to strike the United States by the request of the Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro. President John F. Kennedy handled this very dangerous situation which could be turned to “World War III”, a nuclear war. Despite the strong opinions from advisers and members of EXCOMM to invade Cuba to destroy missile bases, President Kennedy chose the naval blockade of Cuba. After the negotiation, the Soviet Union agreed to remove missiles placed in Cuba and the United States accepted to remove the Jupiter missile in Turkey.

This is the one of the few good foreign diplomacy during Kennedy’s presidency. Some other countries did not support the way he handled this situation, but I think he was very brave to decide not attacking Cuba under the fear of nuclear attack to the United States.

Photo: chandrakantha.com/…/ 1962_cuban_missile.gif

Video: You Tube

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965

In June 11, 1963, during a national television address about civil rights, John F. Kennedy stated: “We preach freedom around the world…, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other, that this is a land of the free except for Negroes?” (Foner 921) Kennedy was killed few months after this presentation without enacting his civil rights bill, in which, among other points, he proposes the right to vote to blacks. One hundred years before Kennedy’s speech about civil rights, Abraham Lincoln expressed in his last public address his support to black suffrage. Like Kennedy, Lincoln was assassinated few days later.  

 After many years of struggle and opposition to the idea of giving blacks the same rights that whites enjoyed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a major conquest that black people needed in order to fortify their participation in political life. Therefore, from my point of view, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was the most important legislation of that time. Not only presidents or politicians like Robert Kennedy were assassinated, but also popular African American civil rights activists like Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Martin Luther King Jr. were killed.

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The Civil Rights Movement

Civil Right Movement in the 1960s has marked a turning point in American history. To many African Americans, they remembered the 60s as an unforgettable and a crucial time period. In the 1960s, African Americans were fighting non-violently for their freedom in American soil. Due to the unification among African Americans, the non-violent demonstrations had slowly drawn American attention on racial issue. During Kennedy’s presidency, he banned discrimination in general. Later during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, he passed the Civil Rights Act that further emphasized on banning racial discrimination. (p. 922). Over all, the Civil Rights Movement was not just a milestone to African Americans, but to all other races in America, as well as to those non-white future generations’ children.

In my opinion, I think Americans are responsible for the change. During the 60s, majority of African Americans and some other races were participated to fight for equality and freedom in America. One of the significant demonstrations in 1963 at Birmingham pushed President Kennedy to do something for the Civil Rights movement. Due to many demonstrations, President Kennedy finally called a law banning discrimination. (p.921) After Kennedy’s assassination, President Lyndon Johnson followed President’s path further. He passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. (p.922) In the 1960s, minorities continued to fight for their equality and freedom. Their persistence and unification brought the attention to America as a whole. If there was no demonstration, if there was no freedom fighter, the American minorities’ voices could never be heard.

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Rosa Parks story.

 On December 1, 1995, Rosa Parks had been arrested because she was a black woman and she refused to yield her seat on a city bus to a white passenger in Montgomery. Her arrest led to Montgomery bus boycott. Thus, African Americans’ inequality and racial justice had been issued internationally, and the civil right movement arose throughout the U.S as a whole.

   Inequality and the gap of the wealth between whites and non-whites had been growing significantly even though America had turned to the golden age of its economy since the end of WWII. Ethnic discrimination of employment and housing was severe, and segregation and exclusion against blacks in pubic institutions enhanced their demand of equal rights movement. Parks’ event is a strong stimulation to enlighten people to desire their equal rights more seriously than before. This civil movement continued to 1960s. The congress finally passed the Civil Right Act in 1964 to prohibit racial discrimination by the law.

   Parks’ event and the Montgomery bus boycott is definitely a huge turning point of America history so as to have people equal rights. Therefore, we can have real freedom now in America.

This image is from http://virlib.brinkster.net/aca/ACAIMAGES_DVD/DVD_Rosa_parks_story.jpg

Posted in 1953-1960, June 14 assignment, Political history, Social History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments