Contemporary America as Shaped by History
The United States of America, “the land of the free”, is characterized with its democratic government system and a capitalist economy. The Old World Model, separating the structures of the government and the economy is deliberated as one of the first forms of the initiatives in giving so much importance and prestige to the notion of freedom and of being free. The belief that wealth is good in the eyes of God and people who are able to attain a prosperous life is blessed and in accord to the praise of God was claimed as the root of the great economic stability enjoyed up to this date by the Americans. The pursuit to a quality life, experiencing the indulgence of living good and respect of the society, has long been acknowledge as the general outlook of how to exhaust one’s existence in the Americas.
The 20th century is the advent of economic, scientific, and technological changes from most of the human history. There are significant leaps for most number of countries worldwide ranging from all aspects concerned and affected such as politics and governance, economics, science and technology, culture and society, and natural resources. For a century of various historical events and powerful and influential personalities, there are some instances that may be called the “watershed” moments. Historians define “watershed” as a critical turning point that signaled an important and permanent change of historical fortunes. In the United States of America history, there are a handful of such “watersheds”. Among these “watersheds” are: The Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal of President Richard Nixon, the efforts toward Equality and Desegregation, and the End of Cold War.
The Vietnam War. The involvement of U.S. to the Vietnam War signaled some changes to occur during its course. Vietnam War was originally a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN or North Vietnam) against Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam). The conflicting territories have their own allies which is National Liberation Front (NLF or Viet Cong) for North Vietnam and the U.S. military in support of South Vietnam. Historically, U.S. combat troops committed from 1965 to 1973. When the war concluded on 1975, the participating countries experienced some aftermaths and effects. The U.S. had extended period of repercussions in the society and foreign policy. With the Vietnam War experience, the U.S. Congress made legislations in considering how military deployments were authorized because of some criticism in planning. Today, the U.S. troops must first sign mutual agreement with a specific or some states for joint military exercises. There is also a significant recognition to people who rendered service in war like the veterans. Now, they possess an exclusive respect in such services they rendered and introduced their presence to the rest of the world.
With the Vietnam War, social impact such as the encouragement of the belief that mass mobilization and protest can influence government policy, mass emigration and cultural integration of some ethnic minorities, and the vast increase of heroin trafficking and hard drug use. These societal impacts brought out some laws and regulations, introduced coiled terms, and influence some parts of the world. The encouragement of mass mobilization and protest was facilitated by some neighboring countries and radical ideologies were transformed into communist perspective. There is initial independence of some states that are originally colonized by major territories. Even though mixed races were already existing, mass emigration and cultural integration of Vietnam refugees to the U.S. resulted to Vietnamese American identity and Amerasians or the offspring of Vietnamese and American citizens. Meanwhile, the use of prohibited drugs was increased because of the connections to various institutions like the Mafia and the local drug lords of Asia and it introduced the virtual epidemic or heroin and a major factor in the subsequent massive expansion of the hard drug trade in the U.S. and the other Western countries.
After the Vietnam War, there a changed beliefs of people that somewhat affect their views and ways of life. There are still reverberating traces of those effects and it is notable to consider as a “watershed” not only to the U.S. history but in the history of the whole world as well.
The Watergate Scandal. This could be considered as one of the most popular and sensationalized controversy in American and world politics history. Watergate was the most serious humiliation in the U.S. presidential politics. President Richard Nixon was a different kind of president because for the first time a president himself was deeply involved in the crimes of his administration. It is believed that the roots of Watergate can be traced back to the Vietnam War and the divisiveness it caused in the state. Nixon was elected because of the promise to end the said war but he realized that getting out of Vietnam was no easy task. Criticisms about the ongoing war during his term were unstoppable and he can no longer find the best way to get out of Vietnam “with honor”. Out of his determination to stay as reputable president and do not want to be destroyed as his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson; he started to plot leak plugging, wiretapping, a secret war in Cambodia, a series of criminal acts that led to his downfall and fed the already eroding public trust. With this happening, it provides an important lesson on the fragile nature of the democratic system of governance and a realization that constant vigilance will protect the nation. This incident changed the perception of people on politics and governance not only to America but to the whole world.
Equality and Desegregation Efforts. Individuals are being treated unequally due to the influenced of some strong factors like religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, and even disability. Efforts towards establishing an earnest multicultural institute are being made however to address and handle this problem and it begins with initiating a self examination on one’s awareness in detecting racist forms of behaviors and attitudes. The segregation and discrimination of the black urban community is the result of politics and economy in the mainstream history of the United States. It is also a given fact that the black community is in the side stream of America’s history. The rise of civil rights movement in America since 1940 brings a significant change in the life of the African-American people. Two of the primary goals of the modern civil rights movement are to push for educational change and to improve the educational situation of African-Americans. Many years of bloody revolutions and social uprisings took place before American schools; lunch counters and worksites were desegregated. President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order in 1961 offering opportunities to the African-American community as compensation for years of discrimination. By the late 1960s, President Richard Nixon instructed companies working on federal projects to attain minority-hiring objectives. On the other hand, President George Bush, taking side against the Michigan in the Supreme Court case, said that he strongly supported diversity of all kinds including racial diversity in higher education (2003).
The End of Cold War. The later part of the 20th century is mainly dominated with the competition of the two world superpowers: the U.S. and the Soviet Union. There are many events that were introduced during this period of the century such as nuclear weapons, space exploration, world dominance and political superiority. The two countries were not actually fighting directly. The Soviet was weakening and signaled their defeat. When the Cold war ended in 1991, there are significant “watersheds” in all parties concerned.
With the influence of the two superpowers, there are newly discovered areas of science and technology, medicine, arms race or military supremacy, and the intensified awareness of solidarity in every state. This is a big leap to the world peace and cooperation. Its immediate effects to the world include changes in the beliefs of politics and economics. The U.S. achieved its economic and political stability, cultural integration, and overall dominance. Today, the U.S. is the ultimate superpower and defined its highest position to the rest of the world. After its eventual struggle to be on top, its making of history will depend on the future actions and turning of events in the future days to come. However, the future is uncertain.
In this light, the concept of American Dream is not only the common belief on the necessity of acquiring wealth in order to live, to experience, and to exhaust the true quality of a good life worthy of praise and admiration. The American Dream is more than an economic drive and motivation shared by the American people as it recognizes the true value of living the good life. It subtly seeks to identify the importance of morality as the center of quality existence. The people of America believe in the Puritan work ethic grounded on the value of the importance of working hard, goodness and perfection of labor in order to gain salvation from the original sin.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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