Herbert Hoover, Relief Efforts (1931)

Herbert Hoover, Relief Efforts (1931)
Main Points: 1. Relying on the Federal government in times of crisis will only hinder our country in future times of need. “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 times 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.” “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.” “Federal aid in such cases encourages 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.”

2. It is possible to provide relief for our nation through self-help and other organizations, aside from the assistance of the Federal Treasury. “The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self-help in the community. That has been the American way of relieving distress among our own people and the country is successfully meeting its problem in the American way today.” 3. There have been many attempts and charitable donations made to help with the nations two major problems of drought and unemployment. “The Red Cross established committees in every drought county, comprising the leading citizens of those counties, with instructions to them that they were to prevent starvation among their neighbors and, if the problem went beyond local resources, the Red Cross would support them.” “The Red Cross…can command the resources with which to meet any call for human relief in prevention of hunger and suffering in drought areas and that they accept this responsibility.” “…measures of mutual self-help have been developed such as those to maintain wages, to distribute employment equitably, to increase construction work by industry, to increase Federal construction work from a rate of about $275 million a year prior to the depression to a rate now of over $750 million a year…”

4. I will do everything in my power to prevent suffering in my country. “I am willing to pledge myself that, if the time should ever come that the voluntary agencies of the country together with the local and State governments are unable to find resources with which to prevent hunger and suffering in my country, I will ask the aid of every resource of the Federal Government because I would no more see starvation amongst our countrymen than would any Senator or Congressman.” “The American people are doing their job today. They should be given a chance to show whether they wish to preserve the principles of individual and local responsibility and mutual self-help before they embark on what I believe is a disastrous system.” Questions: If Hoover had relied upon the Federal aid of the government during the start of the Great Depression would the outcome have been any different? Should Hoover be blamed for the downward spiral into depression?

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)

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)

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)

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)

Redefining Liberalism
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 ) 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.)

Socialist Party Platform, 1932
The Capitalist system is breaking down. Capitalism leads to unemployment and exploitation of workers, but protects the rich industry owners. “Unemployment and poverty are inevitable products of our present system. 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 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…” Vote Socialist!! We will create a society with only one class, the working class. “The Socialist Party is to-day the one democratic party of the workers whose program would remove the causes of class struggles, class antagonisms, and social evils inherent in the capitalist system.”

Socialist Party Platform, 1932
Socialism will solve America’s problems and improve the lives of American workers by using the government’s awesome power to redistribute capital and provide for social ownership of industry. We propose “to transfer the principal industries of the country from private ownership and autocratic, cruelly inefficient management to social ownership and democratic control…” Questions to Consider Is there any similarity between the Socialist platform and Roosevelt’s New Deal? Why do most leftist movements lose momentum during renewed periods of prosperity?

Source: http://www.drfurfero.com/books/231book/ch03f1.html
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, In 1935, the NRA was found to be unconstitutional by the untied States Supreme Court. Nonetheless, minimum wage limits still exist. Source:

Inaugural Address (1933) Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presented by David Mitchell

Main Points 1. “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” The nation will survive this disaster. “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.” 2. Everyone is facing the difficulty of the Depression. “government of all kinds face curtailment, the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.”

Main Points Cont. 3. Unemployed Americans face the main troubles of the Depression. “More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return.” 4. People of this generation know nothing about helping others. “They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers.”

Main Points Cont. 5. We need to get people to work and action is the answer to the problem. “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.” “Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.”

Main Points Cont. 6. As a nation we can get through this together.
“Hand in hand with this we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, of endeavor to provide a better use of the land for best fitted for the land.

Main Points Cont. 7. Foreign trade is not important right now, getting the nation back on track is. Also our foreign policy is to respect the rights of other countries just like good neighbors. “I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home can not wait on that accomplishment.” 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.

Main Points Cont. 8. The normal procedures of government may work, but the government may need to change to combat this disaster. “But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.”

Main Points Cont. 9. America has many natural resources and hard working people. The Depression is due to the money changers or leaders of big business. Our distress comes from no failure of substance… Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. There must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which to often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.”

Main Points Cont. 10. He would invoke emergency powers to solve the problems of the Depression. “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.”

Main Points Cont. 11. The government needs to create and implement safeguards to help stop another Depression. “Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order….”

Questions to Consider Why, unlike the President before him, did Roosevelt consider big business to be trouble? Why was there immediate action instead of a gradual set of actions? Does Roosevelt suggest any radical alterations in American politics or society?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933)
Main Point 1 American society is being seriously threatened by outsiders. “…at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today…” “…the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the world- assailed either by arms or by secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations still at peace.” “…I find it necessary to report that the future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in the events far beyond our borders.”

Main Point 2 America needs to be prepared to go to war.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933) Main Point 2 America needs to be prepared to go to war. “In times like these it is immature- and incidentally untrue- for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world.” “When the dictators are ready to make war upon us, they will not wait for and act of war on our part.”

Main Point 2 Contd. “Therefore, the immediate need is a swift and driving increase in our armament productions…” “I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nations.” “They do not need manpower. They do need billions of dollars’ worth of the weapons of defense…”

Main Point 4 Look forward to a world founded on freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These four freedoms are what differentiates the United States from other nations. “In future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.” “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.

Main Point 4 Contd. “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 fourth 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.

Historical Significance
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Inaugural Address (1933) Historical Significance The Four Freedoms set the stage for our entrance into World War II. The speech gave a good indication that the United States would join the war efforts. By joining the war efforts, the United States would be fighting for the four freedoms, which are, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Questions Would you have supported Roosevelt in his endeavor to supply other nations with weapons of defense? Were Roosevelt’s critics fair in charging him with sneaking the U.S. into World War II?

Harry S. Truman in the Military
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 post-war 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.

President Harry S. Truman
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.

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.”

The Communist Menace Main Points
J. Edgar Hoover, The Communist Menace (1947) The Communist Menace Main Points The greatest threat of communism is not the number Communists in this country, but their ability to insert themselves into positions of power and their ability to persuade others through lies and deception. Americans should FEAR the communist infiltration. “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 are the 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…”

J. Edgar Hoover, The Communist Menace (1947)
2. 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.” 3. The Communist Party of the United States intends on destroying the American businessperson, 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.”

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address (1961)
Main Points 1. The People of United States expect the President and the Congress to find answers to the problems that are plaguing America. “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.”

Main Points Cont. 2. America is the most influential and most productive nation in the world. America’s basic purposes has been to keep the peace, help with progress in human achievement, and enhance liberty in other nations. “Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world.” “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. “Throughout America’s adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement; and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations.”

Main Points Cont. 3. The troubles around the world deserve our attention. The main establishment that Americans have keeping peace in the world is with our military. There has to be a balance in government. We have to watch government so not let too much power rise and the misuse of the military. “Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings.” “We face a hostile ideology….” “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.”

Main Points Cont. 3. Cont. “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. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.”

Main Points Cont. 3. Cont. “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.” “In 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.”

Main Points Cont. 4. Americans have a lot of time. We must look to the future where for the sake of our children. We must disarm and learn to do get along with each other without violence, but with intellect and good purposes. “we must avoid the impulse to live for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.” “We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren…” “Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is to a continuing imperative.” “Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”

Main Points Cont. 5. I ask all the peoples of the world to try to aspire to America’s example to enjoy all the freedoms and get rid of all the evils of the world. “that all who yearn freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand also” “to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty; disease and ignorance will be made to disppear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.”

Questions to consider? Since Eisenhower says the building of the military is the best way to maintain peace, but he says disarmament is needed to create peace. Why does he say that? Has any part of Eisenhower’s warning come true?

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address (1961) Historical Significance The audience that Eisenhower was speaking to was the American people and the government defense contractors. This was very historical because no president has ever spoke out like this before. It was his last days in office so he decided why not speak out against the defense industry. He was the world to gain peace by getting rid of all their weapons and quit building them also.

Brown v. Board of Education
By :Jackson Boyd Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court (1954)

U.S. Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Oliver Brown

United States Segregated
U.S. Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) United States Segregated

Chief Justice Warren …The plaintiffs contend that segregated public schools are not “equal” and cannot be made “equal,” and that hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws…

Main Points 1. To be separate deprives the child of equal educational opportunities, and affects them mentally in a harmful way. “…To separate children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. “Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.”

Main Points 2. Education is the most important function of state and local governments. “…it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.”

Main Points 3. When looking at this problem, we can not turn back the hands of time nor should we completely be shackled by precedent. We must consider the affects of segregation today, in the light of our current situation and knowledge. “We can not turn the clock back to 1868 when the Amendment was adopted, or even to 1896 when Plessy v. Ferguson was written.” “We must consider public education in the light of its full development and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. Only in this way can it be determined if segregation in public schools deprives these plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws.”

Main Points 4. Any language in Plessy vs. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected. The doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Questions? If school segregation was as much in force in the rest of the country as it was in the South do you think that the problem ever would have been solved? How does the Court propose to desegregate the nation’s schools? If Chief Justice Fred Vinson had not died right before this, do you think that this decision would have taking place at this time?

The Southern Manifesto (1956)
Linda Brown and her new class mates after the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Sen. Strom Thurmond prepared first draft of Southern Manifesto repudiating the Supreme Court's 1954 school desegregation decision. February Source: Strom Thurmond Institute

The Southern Manifesto
In 1956, 96 congressmen from the former Confederate States wrote the Southern Manifesto to voice their opposition to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education. It was signed by 77 members of the House of Representatives and 19 Senators, including the entire congressional delegations of the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.

Main Points 1. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education is a clear abuse of judicial power. 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 and the people.

Main Points Continued… 2. The doctrine of separate but equal is an established legal principle, almost a century old, 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 it should affect the systems of education maintained by the States. The Southern Manifesto The very Congress which proposed the [14th] amendment provided for segregated schools in the District of Columbia. In 1868, 26 out of the 37 states approved of segregated schools The doctrine of separate but equal schools originated in the North in the 1849 case of Roberts v City of Boston. In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court declared that separate but equal facilities did not violate a citizen's right under the 14th amendment.

Main Points Continued…
3. The Supreme Court’s unwarranted decision in Brown v. Board of Education is creating chaos and hurting relations between whites and blacks. This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relation 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. 4. Outside agitators threaten to destroy the system of public education in much of the South. The Southern Manifesto 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. Thurgood Marshall with James Nabrit Jr. and George E.C. Hayes after their victory in the Brown v. Board of Education case before the Supreme Court, May 17, 1954.

5. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education violates States’ rights and is unconstitutional. 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. The Southern Manifesto Linda Brown

6. We Southerners will refrain from lawless acts, even as we confront the wrongs of the Supreme Court and provocations by outside agitators. In this trying period, as we all seek to right this wrong, we appeal to our people not to be provoked by the agitators and troublemakers invading our States and to scrupulously refrain from disorders and lawless acts. The Southern Manifesto September 4, 1957: In Little Rock, Ark., shouts of approval greeted Paul Davis Taylor as he waved a Confederate flag at Central High School. September 5, 1957: A jeering Student follows Elizabeth Echford as she tries to enter Central High School.

January 15,1929-April 4,1968 By Melissa Conway
Martin Luther King, Jr. January 15,1929-April 4,1968 By Melissa Conway

What is happening in Birmingham will affect the country as a whole.
Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) What is happening in Birmingham will affect the country as a whole. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” “Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea.” “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its boundaries.”

Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)
The Negro community has been left with no other alternative but direct action. “In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. We have gone through all these steps in Birmingham.” “In the course of the negotiations, certain promises were made by the merchants—for example, to remove the stores’ humiliating racial signs. A few signs, briefly removed, returned; the others remained.” “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” “The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.”

It is time for the Negro race to stand up for the rights they are owed. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” “We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and Godgiven rights.” “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait”…[But] when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness” then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.”

Although individuals are morally responsible for obeying just laws, they are also morally responsible for disobeying unjust laws. “Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statues are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” “Thus is it that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.” “I submit than an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”

The white moderates are the Negro’s greatest obstacle to gaining freedom. “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice…” “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”

The nonviolent approach is the middle ground between complacency and aggression. “I have tried to stand between these two forces, saying that we need to emulate neither the “donothingism” of the complacent nor the hatred and despair of the black nationalist.” “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself, and this is what has happened to the American Negro.” “If his repressed emotions are not released in nonviolent ways, they will seek expression through violence; this is not a threat but a fact of history.”

The white church and its leaders have failed to live up to the expectations of the Negro race. “…I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the injustice of our cause and, with deep moral concern, would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure. But again I have been disappointed.” “In the midst of blatant injustices inflicted upon the Negro, I have watched white churchmen stand on the sideline and mouth pious irrelevancies and sanctimonious trivialities.” “In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.”

The contemporary church has become weak and ineffective.
Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) The contemporary church has become weak and ineffective. “So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch-defender of the status quo.” “If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.” “I hope the church as a whole will meet the challenge of this decisive hour. We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.”

The nonviolent protesters are the true heroes in this struggle.
Martin Luther King, Letter from Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963) The nonviolent protesters are the true heroes in this struggle. “I wish you had commended the Negro sit-inners and demonstrators of Birmingham for their sublime courage, their willingness to suffer, and their amazing discipline in the midst of great provocation. One day the South will recognize its real heroes.” “One day the South will know that when these disinherited children of God sat down at lunch counters, they were in reality standing up for what is best in the American dream and for the most sacred values in our Judeao-Christian heritage, thereby bringing our nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the founding fathers in their formulation of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

Questions Do you think the protest would have been as successful if Martin Luther King, Jr. had not responded to the criticisms made by the eight clergymen? Would you consider Martin Luther King’s views the middle ground between the views of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois?

Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Family (1965)
Photograph of a Black Family During the Great Depression

Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action
Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from

Source: Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from

Photograph of a Black Family During the Great Depression
Source: Moynihan, D. P. (1965). The negro family: The case for national action. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved October 17, 2002 from

Patrick Moynihan, The Negro Family (1965)
Main Points: The role of the family is central to shaping the character of people, and “[a]t the heart of the deterioration of the fabric of Negro Society is the deterioration of the Negro family.” The role of the family in shaping character and ability is so pervasive as to be easily overlooked. The family is the basic social unit of American life; it is the basic socializing unit…. But there is one truly great discontinuity in family structure in the United States at the present time: that between the white world in general and that of the Negro American. …the family structure of lower class Negroes is highly unstable, and in many urban centers is approaching complete breakdown…. …There is considerable evidence that the Negro community is in fact dividing between a stable middle-class group that is steadily growing stronger and more successful, and an increasingly disorganized and disadvantaged lower-class group….

2. A long history of discrimination and segregation has worked against the emergence of a strong father figure in African American family. The Negro was given liberty, but not equality. Life remained hazardous and marginal. Of the greatest importance, the Negro male, particularly in the South, became an object of intense hostility, an attitude unquestionably based in some measure on fear. When Jim Crow made its appearance toward the end of the 19th century, it may be speculated that it was the Negro male who was most humiliated thereby.… Unquestionably, [Jim Crow humiliation of the Negro male] worked against the emergence of a strong father figure. 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.

The White Man’s Double Standard
“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.” --Theodore Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life White mobs murdered some 500 blacks between 1870 and 1900, and more than 100 black people between 1900 and 1910. White prejudice included animosity toward black troops in the U.S. Army. Brownsville whites, for example, objected to the stationing of the all-black Twenty-fifth Infantry at Fort Brown. In anger, they charged that the troops had raided the city in 1906 in protest of discriminatory practices. Later evidence demonstrated the unfairness of the charges, but at that time President Theodore Roosevelt had dishonorably discharged 160 of the troops. (The History of Texas, 189, )

THE DECLINE IN AMERICAN MORALS?
The general failure of prohibition enforcement brought home to many Texas what they defined as a decline in American morals. The rapidly increasing urbanization seemed to blur what were once clear moral and community values. Migration to the city disrupted the neighborhoods of rural America and, coupled with more and better transportation facilities, broke up the extended family. Historians have cited the urban growth of the United States as creating tensions between rural and urban Americans. The anxiety emanated not only from the countryside, but also from developing southern cities filled with recent foreign immigrants. The anti-city focus of rural Texans resulted from their perception of urban areas as hotbeds of disloyal foreigners, religious modernism, illegal speakeasies, organized crime, morally suspicious “New Women,” and corrupting modern music. These tensions were further abetted by the post-World War I Red Scare and reinforced by the progressive drive for social control. (The History of Texas, p. 310)

Unemployment of the African-American male has largely contributed to the present crisis of the African-American family, which has been forced into a matriarchal structure. The impact of unemployment on the Negro family, and particularly on the Negro male, is the least understood of all the developments that have contributed to the present crisis…. The fundamental, overwhelming fact is that Negro unemployment, with the exception of a few years during World War II and the Korean War, has continued at disaster levels for 35 years…. As jobs became more and more difficult to find, the stability of the family became more and more difficult to maintain…. [The African-American community has paid a fearful price] for the incredible mistreatment to which it has been subjected over the past three centuries. In essence, the Negro community has been forced into a matriarchal structure which, because it is so out of line with the rest of the American society, seriously retards the progress of the group as a whole, and imposes a crushing burden on the Negro male and, in consequence, on a great many Negro women as well.

What is wrong with having female heads of households?
4. A national effort should be made to help the problems faced by the African-American family. It was by destroying the Negro family under slavery that white America broke the will of the Negro people. Although that will has reasserted itself in our time, it is a resurgence doomed to frustration unless the viability of the Negro family is restored…. …[A] national effort towards the problems of Negro Americans must be directed towards the question of family structure. The object should be to strengthen the Negro family so as to enable it to raise and support its members as do other families. After that, how this group of Americans chooses to run its affairs… is none of the nation’s business…. Questions: What is wrong with having female heads of households? What are the origins of “the tangle of pathology” in the black community? How can the government alter familial relations?

Single Parents Single parents account for 27 percent of family households with children under 18. More than two million fathers are the primary caregivers of children under 18, a 62 percent increase since 1990. One in two children will live in a single-parent family at some point in childhood. One in three children is born to unmarried parents. Between 1978 and 1996, the number of babies born to unmarried women per year quadrupled from 500,000 to more than two million. The number of single mothers increased from three million to 10 million between and 2000. Divorced Parents Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. More than one million children have parents who separate or divorce each year. More than half of Americans today have been, are or will be in one or more stepfamily situations.

In 1976, Carter in his presidential bid ran against the memory of Nixon and Watergate as much as he ran against his Republican opponent, Gerald Ford. His most effective campaign pitch was his promise that “I’ll never lie to you.”

Jimmy Carter, Energy and National Goals (1979)
Main Points: 1. Our nation and government as a whole is quickly beginning to lose all “confidence”. “The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America.” “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.” “In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption.”

Jimmy Carter, Energy and National Goals (1979)
2. The energy crisis is a real problem we are facing and we must recognize it. “Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally.” “The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them…” 3. It is time to take charge and do something about this growing problem. “Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation.” “I’m asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our nation’s utility companies cut their massive use of oil by fifty percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source.” “…I’m asking you for your 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.”

Anastasio Somoza Debayle & Sandinista Soldiers

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

1984 Electoral Map

Main Points: The United States does not start wars.
Ronald Reagan, Support for the Contras (1984) Main Points: The United States does not start wars. “We will never be the aggressor. We maintain our strength in order to deter and defend aggression, to preserve freedom and peace. We help our friends defend themselves.” “Central America is region of great importance to the United States.” …San Salvador is closer to Houston, Texas, than Houston is to Washington, D.C. “…[I]t’s become the stage for a bold attempt by the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Nicaragua to install communism by force throughout the hemisphere….”

Ronald Reagan, Support for the Contras (1984)
Main Points The war in El Salvador is resulting in massive waves of refugees. “Concerns about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Communist oppression to seek entry into our country are well-founded. The Communist threat is moving closer to the USA. “What we see in El Salvador is an attempt to destabilize the entire region and eventually move chaos and anarchy toward the American border….”

Main Points The Communist Sandinistas rule Nicaragua under the veil of Democracy. “…Castro cynically instructed them in the ways of successful Communist insurrection. He told them to tell the world they were fighting for political democracy, not communism.” The Contras have taken up arms against the government. “Many of those who fought alongside the Sandinistas saw their revolution betrayed. “Thousands who fought with the Sandinistas…are now called the contras.” “They are freedom fighters….”

Main Points With the help of the Soviet Union and Cuba, the Sandinistas are funding terrorism. “Shortly after taking power…began supporting aggression and terrorism against El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala.” “…Nicaragua is still the headquarters for Communist guerrilla movements….” The Communist presence in Nicaragua is growing. “There were 165 Cuban personnel in Nicaragua in Today that force has grown to 10,000.” “Communist countries are providing new military assistance, including tanks, artillery, rocket-launchers, and help in the construction of military bases and support facilities….”

Main Points We shall defend the Americas from the threat of Communism.
Ronald Reagan, Support for the Contras (1984) Main Points We shall defend the Americas from the threat of Communism. “…We Americans should be proud of what we’re trying to do in Central America, and proud of what, together with our friends, we can do…to support democracy, human rights, and economic growth while preserving peace so close to home. Let us show the world that we want no hostile Communist colonies here in the Americas—South, Central, or North.”

Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation, January 16, 1984
Ronald Reagan, Support for the Contras (1984) “History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.” Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation, January 16, 1984

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.”

George W Bush Born July 6, 1946 New Haven, Connecticut, to George H W and Barbara Bush Grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. Yale University, bachelor's degree, history Harvard University, Master of Business Administration Married Laura Welch on November 5, 1977 Twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara.

Career and Public Service
Owner, oil and gas business Partner, Texas Rangers Baseball Team Governor of Texas Elected President of the United States January 20, 2001

Main Points Saddam Hussein has been deceitful and manipulative.
The United States and other nations have pursued patient and honorable efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime without war while the Iraqi regime has used diplomacy as a ploy to gain time and advantage.

Main Points Con’t. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq’s neighbors and against Iraq’s people. ***The danger is clear*** Preemptive strike is justified: The United States of America has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security.

Main Points Con’t. We are now acting because the risks of inaction would be far greater. The security of the world requires Saddam Hussein disarming now. Free nations have a duty to defend our people by uniting against the violent nations.

Saddam Hussein has been captured and is now on trial for crimes against humanity. His sons have been killed. It is too soon to make predictions about the outcome of the war or the Iraqi people.

Herbert Hoover, Relief Efforts (1931)

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