Lecture 1

1. The Second Great Wave of Immigration: They poured into American cities looking to
find new opportunities and a new start. First Great Wave occurred in 1840-1850 and
consisted of Irish and German immigrants. The Second Wave took place in late 19th and
early 20th century 1880-1920, 20 million immigrants entered the US and vast majority
settled in cities in NE and MW. Hailed from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Russia,
Ukraine, Poland). Number of factors pushed these immigrants to US, such as economic
depression in Italy especially in countryside, religious persecution in Russia (Jews),
threat of being drafted in Russian army. Traveled on steamship on the East coast cities
because lack of money to go further, generally poor and stayed where they were, some
made money to buy railroad tickets to other places such as Midwest (Pittsburgh,
Cleveland) which were powerhouses of factories. Very few immigrants stayed in the
south, and immigrants didn’t have that much money to relocate to the west. By 1910,
40% of New Yorks residents were born in a different country and 35% in Chicago.
Immigrants had never really come to US before from those places and were vast and
diverse.
2. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Prohibited immigration of Chinese for 10 years
but kept being renewed and implanted indefinitely until 1943. It was illegal to immigrate
from China until 1943, first major federal immigration restriction in US. Chinese already
in US were cut off from family and stigmatized and were not able to become US citizens.
First illegal immigrants.
3. The Homestead Act of 1862: Abe Lincoln passed Homestead Act. It was an exceptionally
generous gov’t program that gave gov’t owned land in the West to anyone who claimed
the land and lived on it for 5 years, or if they lived on it for 6 months, they could buy it
for $1.25 an acre. In reality, it wasn’t work as smoothly as designed, it was taken
advantage of, being bought by real estate agents and sold for a heavy profit to farmers.
1/5 farmers gained their land directly through the government. Many people still
migrated West. Passed it during Civil War and promoted first transcontinental railroad
that was built in 1869, first time people could travel from East to West by rail.
4. Native American Reservations: Native Americans were pushed onto these reservations
through military force. They were and still are small plots of land dedicated to Native
Americans to live. Often the worst plots of land in the surrounding area. This led to
Natives living in poverty. Many still exist today and the act of moving Native Americans
onto the worst lands marked one of the darkest moments in US history.
5. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): In 1890, South were passing more segregating laws.
Louisiana passed a law segregating railroad bus cars (1890). In 1892, Homer Plessy
decided to challenge the constitutionality. He was 1/8th black and boarded a white
railcar. In 1896, US Supreme Court voted 7/8 that Louisiana could segregate facilities if
they were equal. Formed the doctrine “Separate but Equal”. Was the law of US from
1896-1954. Doctrine was BS, the facilities were not equal, separate but unequal, black
facilities were way worse. US Supreme Court did nothing to facilitate that areas were
equal.
6. Samuel Gompers: Publicly criticized the Knights of Labors ideal that workers could join
hands and run the country. He tried to focus on better wages and working conditions
through his main method of striking. Skilled laborers and craftsmen didn’t want to join
hands with people with low skilled workers such as immigrants. They sought to form
their own unions of only skilled workers. They did this for one reason; they felt that
skilled workers were harder to replace and had more bargaining power. They organized
by trade; blacksmiths with blacksmiths. Often called trade unions or craft unions. These
trade unions joined hands wanted to create a broad network of skilled workers across the
country.
American Federation of Labor (AFL): Formed by Samuel Gompers, for better wages and
living conditions. Meant to federate all the trade and skilled workers in union. Had
138000 members in 1886. But in a few years, they would eclipse the Knights of Labor
and became the most influential labor leader in the nation. Federate of trade unions across
the country. Main method used was strikes because it was harder to replace skilled
workers than unskilled workers. Still is a major labor federation today.

7. The Populist Party (a.k.a., The People’s Party) In 1892, farmer alliances sought to form a
political party separate from Democratic and Republican. Most visible expression of a
movement and offered several innovative proposals to protect farmers. Urged gov’t
takeover of railroads, telephones and telegraphs. Came up with plan to get rid of those
predator lenders and prevent farmers from selling crops when prices were low.
Subtreasury Plan, farmers would give gov’t their crops for storage and in exchange were
given gov’t loans at a 1% interest rate and they could sell their crops at a better time
when prices were better. Populist wanted the gov’t to change the way they supply money.
They opposed the gold standard. Amount of money in circulated was determined by how
much gold the US had in the treasury. This was called the gold standard. Caused a lot of
problem for farmers, because the economy and country were growing rapidly but the
money in circulation was stable which was bad. The main effect of this was to drive
prices down. They wanted them to abandon the gold standard and have them back the
silver and gold standard. This would help prices from falling. They wanted to inflate
prices to help crop prices. In 1893, a major economic depression hit the country and
emboldened the populist party and enticed people to vote for them and their beliefs,
and managed to elect 7 members to the House of Representatives and 6 senators. In 1896,
as the next presidential election approached, the depression continued, no other question
was as focused as the money question with the gold standard. Democratic party
nominated a candiate who supported of abandoning the gold standard, some populists
wanted to merge with democrats for this but others said that this would infringe on the
other beliefs of the populist party. Populists end up supporting democratic party William
Bryan Jennings, opposing William McKinley who supported the gold standard. In wake
of 1896 election, populist party faded away after William McKinley won and destroying
their brand for supporting democrats.
8. Settlement Houses: By 1910 there were 400 settlement houses across the country,
provided aid and education to working class, immigrants and women, gave outlet to
middle class women a way to impact society whose main work was set in the household.
 Leaders of the Settlement House realized that only settlement houses would not help the
working class. They couldn’t solve poverty, working conditions, and living conditions
and dangers in workplace. This led most settlement house workers to go into politics.
They joined forced with other middle-class reformers to reform American cities. Many of
these reformers were women. American women were often in the forefront of these
movements to improve society. They embraced many issues.

9. Muckrakers: Were investigative journalists who used power of pen and photographs to
show the inequities that plagued the US and working-class urban Americans. Coined by
Theodore Roosevelt. Exposed the horrible living conditions in cities. Famous Muckraker
Jacob Riis wrote “How the Other Half Lives” exposing these conditions to the rest of the
nation. Others focused on public health and factory conditions. Upton Sinclair published
“The Jungle” exposing the dangerous working conditions in meat packing industry and
the horrible treatment of meat products. This led to the first government lead food
regulation laws.

10. The First Great Migration: Meanwhile African Americans, men and women, took the
heightened demand in the Northern factories to leave the South. This was the start of the
First Great Migration. They left the rural south and went to cities like Chicago,
Cleveland, Philidelphia due to the lure of jobs. It was in protest to Jim Crow laws in the
South. African Americans are taking these opportunties of new jobs and to protest Jim
Crow, but they rarely found the promised land and were given the worst possible jobs in
the industry and new forms of segregation and violence in the North. The North shown
that it was ready to implement their version of Jim Crow. Real estate agents signed
restrictive convenents that made white home owners promise not to sell to African
American home owners. The existing of these convenents forced African Americans to
live in the old and run down parts of the cities. IN 1948 US supreme court said it was
unconstitutional. Schools rezoned to segregated schools. Northern school officials
drew catchman areas segreating whites to white schools and blacks to black predominant
schools. Those who migrated were reminded that racial prejudice was a nationally issue.
Mexican migrants also migrated due to the newfound jobs and was a demographic shift
that the war helped develop and establish.
11. The Fourteen Points: Wilsons proposal of what the post war world should look like.
Comprised of Wilsons plan of promoting a permanent international union. Last one was
the call for formation of League of Nations.
12. The Treaty of Versailles: Wilson quickly would try to implement his 14 Points. Wilson
was the 1st president to travel to Europe. At the peace conference, his points quickly
proved naïve. After the 4 years of fighting, Britain and French wanted to punish Germany
and prevent them from waging war again. Their desire trumped his 14 points. He only
managed to get all the nations to agree to form the League of Nations was incorporated
into the Treaty ending World War 1 called the Treaty of Versailles. US would never join
League of Nations or adopt Treaty of Versailles. Republicans were intent in Wilson in
not becoming an international hero. Senators felt that by joining the League of Nations
would undercut the power of the US. In the end, opposition in the League of Nations and
 debate lead to them rejected the Treaty of Versailles which undercut the League of
Nations leading it to ultimately fail and Wilson wouldn’t have his way of peace.
13. The National American Woman’s Suffrage Association – was the largest
organization dedicated to the fight for women’s suffrage in the early
twentieth century. It was founded in 1890 when the nation’s two leading
suffrage organizations resolved to join forces. Susan B. Anthony, who had
already been fighting for women’s suffrage for decades, helped engineer this
merger. Thus, even at its founding in 1890, NAWSA built on what was
already a well-established movement, a reminder of just how long the fight
for women’s suffrage was in the United States. NAWSA led many state and
local campaigns for suffrage in the early twentieth century and was integral
to winning the 19thAmendment to the constitution. As described above, the
organization preferred more traditional forms of lobbying to the
comparatively confrontational and radical politics that Alice Paul and the
National Woman’s Party pursued.
14. The National Woman’s Party – was founded in 1916 by Alice Paul and her
allies. It embraced militant tactics (as described above) to try to force the
nation to adopt women’s suffrage. After the Nineteenth Amendment was
passed, the National Woman’s Party would become the leading organization
in the radical wing of the feminist movement in the United States, especially
in the 1920s. For instance, after suffrage was won, the National Woman’s
Party would be the first major feminist organization in the United States to
push for the Equal Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment that
would have barred discrimination based on sex. The fight for the Equal
Rights Amendment would remain a major cause for feminists through the
Late twentieth century and is still a priority for many advocates of women’s
rights in the United States today.
15. Johnson-Reed Act of 1924: US Congress drastically cut the inflow of immigration into
the US in 1924, would dramatically reduce immigration for about 40 years. Barred
immigration from Asia completely, and established strict quotas from Eastern, Southern,
and Western Europe. Immigration in Western Hemisphere such as Mexican immigrants
weren’t regulated, allowing Mexican communities to grow in 1920’s, 500,000 Mexicans
settled in US in 1920’s. Migration of Mexico would be reduced during Great Depression
16. Marcus Garvey: NAACP was extremely active during decade, founded in 1909, NAACP
remains one of premier civil rights organization, fought to make lynching a federal crime
and passed in the House. Saw the surge in black nationalism, aggressive embracement of
black identity. Most successful black nationalist was Marcus Garvey and born in Jamaica
and started United Negro Improvement Association that was started in Jamaica and
moved it to NYC. Deeply distrustful of whites. Encouraged blacks to build society of
their own that didn’t depend on whites. Wanted blacks to return to Africa and build
society of their own that would escape white oppression. White authorities were
suspicious of him, arrested for mail fraud. President Calvin Coolidge pardoned him and
made him return to Jamaica, his ideals still lingered. Established roots for later events in
1960’s.
17. Equal Rights Amendment: Brought decline of women’s political power. Women as a
collective influence group saw a drop-in power. Women suffrage didn’t shift the power in
 American politics and suffrage itself left women organizations arguing over what should
be women’s next political goal after already winning the right to vote. Two sides Alice
Paul; radical and argued that the next big thing for women is fighting for an equal rights
amendment for constitution. Women still suffered from inequality despite getting the
right to vote. Many women involved in progressive reform feared that such an
amendment would roll back the hard work they had done. Feared what would happen to
the special protections sanctioned to women established by gov’t during progressive
reform. Meanwhile, former suffragists grew less involved in politics after gaining the
right to vote and same story with women who pushed for prohibition. There is no equal
rights amendment today.
18. The First Hundred Days: Refers to FDRs first 100 days in office, and remembered
because he passed so much legislation during this time period.

19. The Agricultural Adjustment Act: Founded during First Hundred Days. Provided gov’t
subsidies to troubled farmers to help them stay afloat who were suffering from low crop
prices. Farmers were producing too many crops for market to bear. This authorized
federal gov’t to pay farmers to keep their land untilled (farm less), this would raise
incomes in short term and raise crop prices by lowering supply. First time federal gov’t
had given farmers large federal subsidies.
20. The Works Progress Administration: Wasn’t founded in the First Hundred Days. Most
famous and extensive. WPA provided work for millions across country and left
landmarks across the nation. WPA also famous for providing work for legion of artists,
musicians, photographer, who documented the misery throughout the country. WPA
fanned out and interviewed African Americans that were the last of former slaves which
helped build our knowledge of slavery.
21. The Social Security Act of 1935: Forms the basic structure of American Welfare state.
Included 3 parts: Government pension plan for the elderly, established social security we
have today, where employers and employees enroll and pay taxes that redistributed when
they retire. Also established a new unemployment compensation program funded by
taxes by state and local government funding raised through taxing employers. Finally,
established a program to help states to pay single and widowed mothers, and then became
geared towards poor families, not poor people, would become known as welfare/federal
public assistance.
22. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (a.k.a., the Wagner Act): Gave workers the
right to organize unions of their choice and put in place laws that made it illegal for
employers to tamper in union activities. Employers had to treat unions as bargaining
agents of all workers. Dramatically expanded protections for unions in US, number of
unionized workers soared, unskilled workers benefited equally as skilled workers.
Congress of Industrial Organizations formed as umbrella for unskilled workers such as
the AFL did for skilled workers. Merged into AFL-CIO in 1950’s. National Labor
Relation Board regulates unions to this day.
23. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Legislated a federal minimum wage and set
maximum hours for workers in many industries. Unlike those set in Progressive Reform,
these were enforced by the Federal government not state, and covered both men and
women. (Passed before Midterm Election of 1938). Last major piece of legislation passed
by FDR.
24. Cold War: World War II ended in 1945 when Germany surrendered, when USSR and US
and British pushed Germany back on the West and USSR pushing German soldiers back
east to Germany. Early in the war, Germany had invaded most of Europe, Africa, and
Asia and so the allies sought to pinch them back to Germany. When the war ended Soviet
troops were a presence in all countries east of Germany and occupied east Germany. US
and British occupied the west Germany. Conflict over who would control what territory
triggered a long last conflicting between Soviet Union and US/British and would last
about 45 years when the Soviet Union dissolved. Cold War was supposed to evoke the
fact that the war wasn’t supposed to have the US and Soviet Union fighting it out directly
on the battlefield but fought on the threat of nuclear war. The phrase Cold War is a
misleading phrase, tends to glass over the fact that the battle against communism lead to a
lot of bloodshed, such as in the Korean and Vietnam War. Cold War led to proxy wars,
where the US and Soviet Union would fight against close allies of the other. (Note: Cold
War Lasts from roughly 1945 until 1991)
25. Containment: In the months following WWII, the USSR made it clear that it had no plans
to withdraw completely from eastern Europe. Important to remember that WWII was the
second time Germany invaded Soviet Union and felt it was important to create a buffer
zone from Germany. They saw that the new land they occupied facilitated trade,
increased holding of natural resources, over the months that followed, USSR set up direct
control or allied itself with communist regimes. US and Britain hoped to reestablish
capitalist and democratic nations. They were dismayed of the actions of the USSR
following WWII, by 1945 in early 1946, FDR was no longer president, because he died
in 1945 from a sudden brain hemorrhage ending his 13-year presidency. Harry Truman
assumed presidency; he was president during the very beginning of Cold War. Relations
during the US and Soviet deteriorated quickly after WWII ended, US began convinced
that Soviet was committed to take over Europe and also spread communism, while Soviet
was convinced that US was committed to establishing Capitalist societies. As tensions
grew, the US grappled for a way to deal with USSR, in 1947, Truman committed itself to
a policy known as containment that wouldn’t let the USSR sphere of influence grow and
contain what’s already occurred. At first, people took this as they were preventing the
spread of communism strictly to Europe, but by 1950, it became clear that Truman had a
different plan, he wanted to prevent the spread of Soviet style communism throughout the
globe, putting the US in a new position.
26. The Korean War: Cost over 30,000 American lives, for a time in Korea, the Cold War
would become a hot war. Korean War had roots in World War II, the conflict in Asia
during WWII lasted a few months longer. USSR pushed out Japanese from Northern half
of Korea while the US pushed out Japanese from the South. Half of Korea was occupied
by USSR and half was occupied by US. Like Eastern Europe, USSR set up a soviet type
of government in North Korea. In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and the US
pushed them back. Truman wanted to unite the Koreas and set up a democratic
government. But this was a risky move because China which bordered North Korea, just
recently became communist. In 1950 China sent a quarter of a million troops to North
Korea to fight the US. Both sides failed; North Korea failed to take over South and US
failed to reunite the Koreas. Korea today remains divided. The DMZ was set up in the
wake of the ending of the war. 1950-1953
27. The G.I. Bill: The GI Bill was passed in 1944 in the tail end of WWII, and it gave
veterans of WWII, billions of dollars, to pay for college, job training and help them buy
homes. In the late 1940s and early 1950’s the GI Bill helped stimulate the middle class
and expand it. he G.I. Bill: African Americans didn’t benefit much as white from GI Bill.
They didn’t get as much gov’t sponsored job training, paying for college, and help getting
for homes. It was because the Bill was being applied locally, so local colleges and private
banks would deny them help.
28. The FHA and Redlining: They also didn’t benefit as much in programs that promoted
homeownership. FHA used maps that drew red lines around black neighborhoods and
told banks not to loan money to people living in these neighborhoods. FHA wouldn’t
provide FHA insurance to these areas. The message this policy sent, echoed other places,
banks wouldn’t loan to African Americans to live in suburbs in fear that these areas
would get redlined. There was an FHA underwriting manual that said FHA loans
shouldn’t be used to allow for racial transitions. All of these actions meant that African
Americans were stranded in cities while whites lived in suburbs. They benefitted less
often than whites in government programs. As white Americans grew into a suburbanized
and middle class society, blacks were trapped in poor inner cities that were a result of
direct government action.

29. “Operation Wetback”: Amid this moment of economic prosperity, people of Mexican
descent faced a darker form of inequality. People of Mexican descent were swept and
deported, some were even American citizens. It was called Operation Wetback which
showed how the federal gov’t viewed the people of Mexican descent. It was
indiscriminate, it deported anyone of Mexican descent where American citizens of
Mexican descent were deported into deep Mexican cities where they knew no one. They
broke up families, focused on farm laborers in the West and Southwest where most
Mexican immigrants resided. Over a million people of Mexican descent were deported
out of the United States.
30. Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Supreme Court decided in this case from Topeka,
Kansas. Declared the laws mandated that segregation in schools in the South were
unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson “Separate but Equal” doctrine. In 1954,
in this court case, the Supreme Court declared that the facilities in the South weren’t
equal, and that the legal segregation of schools was against the Constitution. The very
fact that blacks were legally forced to attend different schools left them to feel inherently
inferior and were inherently unequal. In 1954, the Supreme Court called for schools to be
desegregated. Focused on schools that had legal school segregation, but didn’t touch
schools that had school segregation caused by other factors. This process didn’t happen
overnight, but many southern school districts refused to desegregate and took a long time
to desegregate.
31. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Ten long years after Brown v. Board): Congress passed
legislation guaranteeing civil rights to blacks in the south. Specifically, outlawed
segregation in facilities and discrimination by employers based on race and biological
 sex. Southern Senator introduced equality between men and women into the bill to try
and kill it but it backfired, and the bill was passed. Focused on employment
discrimination between men and women. Mainly focused on racial segregation in public
facilities and with employers.
32. The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Despite the Civil Rights Act, they still lacked the right to
vote. After this protest, and international embarrassment, President Lyndon B Johnson
decided this was the right time to pass more acts. This act made sure African Americans
were registered to vote and outlawed tactics that helped disenfranchised blacks, such as
literacy test and poll tax.
33. Malcolm X: For most of his career, he didn’t want African Americans to integrate with
the harsh white society. Believed the only people who could help blacks were blacks.
Criticized MLK, and at the end of his careers, he reconsidered his views on race and
integration. His emphasis on black nationalism didn’t die with him in 1965. African
Americans should focus on building their own resources and identity. Malcolm’s father
followed Marcus Garvey. Similar messages to Malcolm X, resonated in other places of
the US, former nonviolent integrationists started to preach messages similar
to Malcolm’s. Violence and resistance still persisted in the US which led to people no
longer believing in MLK’s ideals of nonviolence. African Americans still struggled
with poverty, and were isolated to the worst neighborhoods. Many African Americans
were skeptical of nonviolence being able to solve the problems faced in American. Two
important turns occurred: it intensified in the north, and moved away from MLK’s
nonviolent protest and that integration was the best solution. This fight didn’t end in
1965.
34. Lyndon Baines Johnson: He grew up in poverty and climbed out the dirt to be a major
player in Washington. He never forgot his impoverished roots. He was convinced that
gov’t was the key to solving many of the nation’s social problems. Johnson was a
democrat and served 2 terms as president, from 1963-1969.
35. War on Poverty: A main component of the Great Society: In early 1964, Johnson
declared a “War on Poverty”.
36. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965: Johnson signed this in 1965, act
determined immigration eligibility based on two things: employment needs of the US,
and family connections of people within the U.S (family reunification). Remains the
backbone of the immigration system today, loosened the thresholds of immigration
quotas. Also formed legislation, and formed a lasting legacy, act enabled new influx of
immigration from new parts of the world.
37. Ho Chi Minh: Leader of the Vietnamese independence movement. Would later become
the US’s main enemy during Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh was an American ally during
WWII.
Ho Chi Minh’s quest for a unified, communist Vietnam continues: Tensions continued
between US and Vietnam, with North Vietnam strengthening its ties with the Soviet
Union and South Vietnam strengthening its ties with the US.
38. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Was a Congressional Resolution which basically gave
approval for Johnson to wage war on Vietnam. Despite getting approval, Johnson didn’t
want to escalte the war until a few months because it was an election year, and Johnson
hopped to paint his opponent as a war hungry nutcase. In the end Johnson won reelection,
and returned his work trying to find an excuse to escalate Vietnam. (August 1964)
39. The Tet Offensive (1968): Campaign began with a surprise attack on the Vietnamese
holiday ,Tet, because it was a holiday, there was a ceasefire, but the North used this to
catch the US and South by surprise and attacked major cities such as Saigon and other
major cities in the South. In the end, the South and US, managed to fight back the Tet
Offensive. It wasn’t a North Vietnamese victory, but despite that fact, the American
public was shocked by the force and resolve of the North during the Tet offensive,
despite the US sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers, bombing them for years, and
could coordinate and execute such a successful attack, made Americans doubt that the
war could be won.
40. The National Organization for Women (NOW): Women protests took on two principal
forms, one moderate, one radical, but overtime the distinction between the two would
blur. Originally NOW’s focus was to have equal pay for women and fix inequalities that
women still faced. Brought back the fight for an Equal Rights Amendment. Legal
equality
41. Women’s Liberation: These women wanted more radical changed for women. Saw
society as built for male domination and that men were the problems in society.
Criticized family life, gender expectations, and that men’s sexual satisfaction was more
important than women. Called for radical transformation for women that suited them
economically instead of men. Reaction to centuries of Patriarchy. Grown out of how
women were treated during major US movements.
42. The Stonewall Rebellion: In 1965, a collection of gay men filed lawsuits against
employment discrimination and civil exams that determined federal jobs. 4 years later,
the movement surged following the Stonewall Rebellion. Stemmed from a police raid on
a gay bar, The Stonewall Inn, in NYC, these raids were routine at the time, and police
officers had quotas on arrests, tickets, etc. Masculine anti-gay culture within police
departments. On this occasion, bar patrons rebelled and fought off officers. In the wake
of the Stonewall Rebellion, more and more gay and lesbian groups formed demanding
their rights, woven in their movement was an emphasis on sexual freedom, recreational
drug use, and new ways to dress one’s hair.
43. Barry Goldwater: Very conservative senator from Arizona, supported aggressive action
to stop communism, said integration as an overstep of government power, opposed
almost all aspects of FDR’s new deal, supported a free market economy, opposed civil
rights. He was the Republican candidate but lost in a landslide to Lyndon B. Johnson. His
rise was a sign of a new shift in political importance that saw the shift of white
southerners from democrat to republican. Despite his loss, new conservatism would
hardly die.
44. Keyes v. School District No. 1, Denver Colorado (1973): Brown vs Board of Education
ruled for the desegregation of schools, this issue moved from the South to the North, and
in this trial, it ruled that segregation in the North and West were also unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court found that a great deal of segregation in the North and West were due
to decisions from school board officials that purposely kept whites and blacks separated
from each other through drawing lines to keep white neighborhoods and black
neighborhoods from going to the same school. This was ruled by the Supreme Court as
segregation also. They ruled that schools that had these traits had to desegregate, and
many of these schools in the North, South, West desegregated through busing and busses.
Bussing outraged a number of white Americans, especially the working-class whites,
 who were more likely to be bussed than wealthy kids. This was because most wealthy
white Americans lived in suburbs and so they were affected by the redrawing of lines or
desegregation. This wasn’t true for cities who had a number of working white Americans
that also had black Americans. Working class whites were impacted by these bussing and
desegregation orders. A lot of working-class whites were upset because they wanted their
kids to go their neighborhood schools and were being used across town, while others
didn’t want their kids going to school with black kids. A major protest happened in
Boston when a bus tried to take kids to South Boston High School. This struck white
Americans as an overstep of federal power
45. The Bad Economy of the 1970s -- Unemployment, Inflation and Stagnation: The
incredible prosperity that occurred since WWII, began to come to an end, policy makers
tried to get the economy back on track, but nothing seemed to help. Unemployment sat at
9%, and inflation skyrocketed because the government was pumping in money to support
the Vietnam War. More and more money was circulating in the economy and the value of
the dollar fell. One of the reasons the economy was booming in the 1950s-1960s, was due
to WWII leaving EU and Asian nations in tatters which left the US with no international
competition. By the 1970s, many foreign economies recovered which was true for
Germany and Japan which became forces in manufacturing. Once American companies
faced international competition, many looked for ways to lower cost to stay competitive,
many decided to lower their labor costs by moving to countries where they could pay
employees less. During this period, most American companies weren’t moving to Asia
yet but moved to Mexico. One of the roots of unemployment was due to companies
moving across the border. Energy prices such as oil and gas soared through the 1970’s.
This economic struggle further increased American skepticism of the government and
how they were dealing with problems and Americans became less confident that the
government could get the nation out of these economic problems.
46. “The Crisis of Confidence”: Jimmy Carter came out and diagnosed the problem in a
speech in 1979, and said the US was in the throes of the Crisis of Confidence. In turn,
the Crisis of Confidence became a characterization of the age of all the problems that
previously occurred. Many peoples confidence in American government and politics
grew to an all-time low. This led to many Americans searching for a radically different
way of government. These problems would help launch the US into a new age, separated
from their past.
47. Free Market Ideology: Notion that letting the economy alone free of gov’t interference
would lead to the best outcome for the most people. Believed that government distorts the
economic outcome.
48. Ronald Reagan: Reagan rejected the idea that gov’t could/should solve the problem of
poverty, didn’t embrace the battle against poverty. Also represented a republican party
that embraced a whole new host of issue such as opposition to abortion and
homosexuality and allowing prayers in schools. Ronald Reagan declared that government
was the problem not the solution, unlike FDR and Lyndon B Johnson, he called for gov’t
to step back.
49. Roe v. Wade (1973): The Supreme court built on earlier cases in which it contended that
the constitution gives an implicit right to privacy. In Roe v Wade, this right to privacy,
covered the right of pregnant women to have an abortion under certain circumstances.
Some states strictly forbid/restricted abortions and the supreme court ruled this
 unconstitutional. The supreme court said that states could not stop a woman from getting
an abortion before the 1st trimester, but during the 2nd trimester, states could pass laws to
restrict abortions only to protect the health of the woman in question. Supreme Court
ruled that states could pass laws preventing abortions in the last trimester. The court was
trying to balance the right to privacy, and compelling state interest, which was the notion
that state gov’t could have a compelling reason to waive the right to privacy. Doctors
believed that the fetuses could live outside the womb after 6 months. Extremely
controversial, while Supreme Court tried to uphold right to privacy, they threw out the
trimester framework. Remains controversial decision. In election of 1980, Roe Vs Wade
was the law of the land and became a major issue that pushed new subsets of Americans
to vote in new ways such as voting for the Republican Party instead of Democratic
because the republican party became pro life and democratic became pro choice. Many
backers of the FDR New Deal were the same people who migrated from the Second
Great Wave of Immigration who came from Europe and were mostly catholic, amid the
New Deal, Irish immigrants who came in the 19th century also lined with the democratic
party and were also catholic, they joined for a number of reasons mainly because they
were working class and were loyal to the democratic party. But abortion was a major
issue for Catholics because the pope declared it illegal, Reagan declared against Roe vs
Wade, and undercut democratic loyalty. These immigrants were already upset with the
democratic party/gov’t because they lived in inner cities and had to deal with bussing.
Roe vs Wade sealed the deal for most catholic voters and shifted from democrat to
republican.
50. The Religious Right and to the Mix: There had been Christian conservatives in the US for
a long time and took part in politics before. In the 1970s, these Christian conservatives
began to organize in new ways and their leaders organized with new fervor never seen
before. They hoped to use politics to counter dangerous trends and cultures in US. Such
as homosexuality and female gender roles, and abortion. In reaction to these trends, these
Christians became to organize politically, by the late 1970s, they formed new
organizations that grew remarkably powerful, in the election of 1980, republicans
welcomed these people and adopted their goals such as praying in school, opposing
homosexuality and abortion.
51. William Jefferson Clinton: Called himself a New Democrat and leader of a broader
movement called the New Democrats. Tried to walk the middle path of big gov’t like
Lyndon B Johnson and anti gov’t lie Reagan. The emergences of the new democrats
showed the influence of Reagan. and the New Democrats
52. NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement): In 1993, Bill Clinton signed
NAFTA. It abolished most gov’t regulation regarding trade between US, Canada, and
Mexico and aimed to let the free market run its course. Strong advocate of free trade and
free market.
53. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF): In 1996, he overhauled welfare, it
used to be that poor families with children would receive welfare indefinitely as long
as their income fell below a threshold. He tried to eliminate welfare altogether. The focus
was on the word Temporary, put sharp time limits on how long they could receive
welfare and helped them find jobs. The problem that was the jobs available paid poverty
wages such as minimum wage, he was closer to Reagan’s ideal of dependence and
pushed the democrats into a conservative direction.
54. The Decline of American Manufacturing and the Rise of the New Service Economy:
Service Work: When workers provide a service instead of producing a tangible item.
Important to understand that shift in workforce in 20th century was due to international
trends; the up rise of a service industry and decline in American Manufacturing meant a
new role for the US in a new global economy. Caused due to more international
competition due to economic recovery of Japan and Germany from WWII, and the
invention of shipping container.

55. The Shipping Container and the Global Spread of Manufacturing: Introduce in 1956, but
didn’t catch on until the 60’s and 70’s, began to catch on when the US began to use and
began to purchase shipping containers to transport supplies to troops in Vietnam. Before
shipping container, shipping was unstandardized and expensive and labor intensive.
Shipping container allowed stuff to be packed once and stacked on top of other goods and
could be lifted by a crane onto a train or truck. Dramatically reduced price of
shipping, meant that American companies could afford to build things overseas in poorer
countries with lower labor wages/standards. Manufacturers could break down production
process, poorer countries could improve country by being able to afford to ship things
overseas. This led to a movement of manufacturing away from the US, in 1973, 25% of
the US was still employed in manufacturing and in 2007 it was 10%.
56. More on New Service Economy: Because of lower labor costs and shipping costs, prices
dropped, and people could afford more goods. This led to a rise in a new type of jobs,
retail. The spread of manufacturing around the globe, decreased manufacturing jobs in
US but increased service jobs such as retail. As the manufacturing process spread,
American cities began economic centers. Fields like investment banking and financial
banking grew and made a ton of money. Lawyers involved in corporate law made more
money as they were needed more. It begins to hint at the internationalization of
manufacturing strained the US economy.
57. Personal Computers and the Internet: First computers were invented in WWII and
continued to develop during the Cold War. In the 1970s, the first microchip was invented
on a silicon disk. In 1977, apple offered its first home computer, then a race began to
make more affordable computer. In the 1990s, the spread of the internet came along and
was also a military invention. In 1970s, the gov’t was able to link hundreds of computers
across the countries to have a decentralized center. These trickled into the private sector,
in the 1980’s emails took off and in 1990s the world wide web exploded. Affordable
personal computers and emails greatly accelerated all the trends previously mentioned
and made it easier to do business across the globe.
58. “Globalization”: The intensification, deepening, and elaboration of economic connections
throughout the globe due to fundamental changes in communications and transportation
technologies and through a combination of government and entrepreneurial, or market,
activities. (Note this definition accounts for both globalization’s connections to the
international economic links that preceded it as well as the changes that have transformed
the international economy in recent years.
59. The Financial Crisis of 2008: In the 1990s and 2000s, the national real estate market was
on fire, many people joined the real estate market and was hay day of free market and
deregulation. Not a lot of gov’t regulation of real estate market. There wasn’t a lot of
regulation of home loans and a certain type of home loans, a subprime loan, is a home
 loan that is a given to someone with a riskier credit history than a regular person. Because
they were riskier to loan, the terms on the loans weren’t as good and so they charged
more, banks usually don’t get a big return back and the interest rate on these loans would
increase. More banks and mortgage loaners would push these loans out to people and
since there was a lack of oversight, brokers were making these loans without making sure
people could afford them or that they understood them. Big bankers and investors were
coming up with new investments to sell, what they were doing was that they were
bundling things into a singular investment, which were also lightly regulated. Many
subprime loans were included in these bundles, an individual bank would issue a
subprime loan to a someone, then the bank would sell the rights to the loan to someone
else, thus the bank has money to loan to the next person, these bought loans would be
bundled and sold to another person. Investors around the globe would buy these bundles
from gov’t to private companies, but those subprime loans went bad, people failed to pay
those loans back, investors caught on quickly that those loans were turning into bad
investments, those bundles of investments plummeted, banks failed and people lost a lot
of money. Not only in the US but all around the globe, those investors took out
an insurance policy on these investments which led to them failing (ripple effect).
Something that started out as an investment, ruined the economy.
60. The New Immigration v. Earlier Waves of Immigration
Made possible by the Immigration Act of 1965, passed by Lyndon B Johnson, opens
up possibility of new wave of immigration and more immigrants arrive in the 1970s, in
the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s a new surge of immigration takes off. By 2010-2011,
there were 40 million immigrants in the US including legal and illegal immigrants, also
found that ¼ of those immigrants were undocumented. Not all immigrants wanted to stay.
Immigrants from Mexico and Central America immigrant to make money and return to
their home country (Circular migration). Many of those 40 million intended to stay US;
largest number of immigrants in US at the time (13% of US population), in early
20th century, the proportion was 15%. Most recent wave of immigration is much more
economically diverse than previous waves due to: the basic shape of immigration law
today, it enables legal immigration through two main mechanisms, family reunification
and employment needs of the US, law’s emphasis of family reunification allows for
diverse immigration. The latter policy also has allowed for more highly skilled
immigrants to enter. The law has never been broad enough to allow a lot of immigrants to
enter. Socioeconomic status of immigrants reflect the inequality faced in the service
industry; highly skilled immigrants work in good paying jobs, while others who are
poorer/less educated work in areas such as retail, manual labor.
New Immigration and the new bifurcated economy: An economy where its divided in
high skill high paying work or low skill, low paying work. Overall, immigrants have
either found themselves at the high or low end in the increasingly divided economy.
In earlier waves of immigrations, they settled in the Northeast and Midwest and rarely
settled in the South. But with new waves of immigration, most immigrants settle in 5
states; New York, Florida, California, Detroit and New Jersey. Most immigrants used to
live in cities, but today immigrants now settle in old cities and suburbs.
61. The First Gulf War (1991) – The First Gulf War took place in 1991 in reaction to Saddam
Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, a small, oil-rich country neighboring Iraq. Nearby Arab
states called on the United States and other countries to intervene to roll back Hussein’s
 power grab. The United Nations passed multiple resolutions demanding that Iraq leave
Kuwait. After Hussein refused, the United States led a diverse, multilateral military
operation to remove Hussein and his forces from Kuwait. The successful operation lasted
only 42 days. Some advisers of President George H.W. Bush (the first President Bush)
urged him to have the military follow Iraqi troops back into Iraq and from there topple
the regime of Saddam Hussein. But Bush declined to do so. Saddam Hussein would
remain in power. Some of George H.W. Bush’s advisers, including Paul Wolfowitz,
would continue to believe in the importance of Hussein’s removal for years to come. On
one hand, the Gulf War is important for our purposes because it set up some of the
dynamics that led to the most recent war in Iraq. On the other, it is an example of the
thrust of U.S. foreign policy in the 1990s in the aftermath of the Cold War. During the
1990s, including during the Clinton Administration, the U.S. primarily focused on
intervening selectively in conflicts around the world to protect the United States’ self-
interest and in some instances to protect human rights, not on using military force to
overthrow regimes because they were undemocratic or because they posed a potential
(rather than immediate) risk to the United States
62. Neoconservatives –a group affiliated with the Republican Party who believed that
American foreign policy should focus on aggressively promoting American interests
throughout the world, including through preemptive strikes against potential threats, as
well as on toppling authoritarian regimes and spreading American-style democracy and
“freedom” throughout the globe, including in many cases spreading the free market
system. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, neoconservative thinkers became
especially prominent in the upper echelons of the federal government and were able to
shape American foreign policy and the War on Terror in a number of ways, including by
convincing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq in 2003.
63. Paul Wolfowitz – was a preeminent neoconservative who emerged as the leading voice in
the aftermath of September 11 pushing for the War on Terror to include “regime change”
in Iraq. Wolfowitz served in the Reagan Administration as well as the administration of
George H.W. Bush. During the First Gulf War, he strongly advocated the removal of
Saddam Hussein but was ignored. Under George W. Bush, Wolfowitz served as Deputy
Secretary of Defense, the second highest office in the Department of Defense. In the
aftermath of September 11, 2001, Wolfowitz emerged as the leading voice pressing for
the invasion of Iraq as part of the War on Terror. He is often referred to as the “architect”
of the Iraq War as well as the source of the notion of “preemption” as a new, guiding
force in American military policy
64. The Bush Doctrine – The Bush Doctrine was formulated in the months following
September 11. It parted ways with principles that had guided American foreign policy
for years, especially the concept of containment, a notion first applied to the Soviet Union
during the Cold War but that was also applied to authoritarian regimes throughout the
1990s, whom the United States similarly sought to “contain” rather than aggressively
overthrow. The Bush Doctrine, by contrast, stated that the dynamics of global terrorism
demanded that the United States act “preemptively” to prevent attacks against the United
States. It also embraced the notion that spreading democracy was an important
mechanism for fighting terrorism as well as the conviction that the United States was well
within its rights to act on its own militarily to protect its interests. According to the Bush
 Doctrine, there was no inherent need to build multinational coalitions or to seek United
Nations approval for military interventions. This was a major departure from American
foreign policy in earlier years (see discussion of First Gulf War above) and was the
rationale that drove the Bush Administration to invade Iraq in 2003.
65. Hurricane Katrina: Hurricane hit gulf hard and destroyed New Orleans, was strongest
storm in US history, many affected were poor and African Americans. One section was
hit especially hard which was poor and African American. This catapulted black poverty
into the limelight since the 1960, poor African Americans huddled into the Superdome
poured into the media. Resulted in people having to look at the racial disparity and in
poverty, 25% of blacks in poverty compared to 10% Hispanics, 2x unlikely to get elected
compared to whites. The Fed Gov. Retreated from desegregating schools with Ronald
Reagan and both Bush Presidents. Another trend arose, mass incarcerations of blacks.
Blacks made up 13% of the population, on any given 1 in 3 black men are under
supervision of prison/federal laws. Majority were nonviolent drug crimes, since Nixon
started the War on Drugs. Reagan magnified the war and continues today. Black and
white youth do the same thing with drugs but cops focus on blacks, this has caused blacks
being denied the right to vote, and revoked gov’t benefits.
66. Barack Obama: The National Media forgot about Hurricane Katrina, rather focusing on
Obama’s elections, and claimed that the US was entering a New Racial Era. The Civil
Rights Movement opened up opportunities for African Americans, the elections of
Obama didn’t open up racial opportunities but was an expression of the civil rights
movement. The Civil Rights Movement opened new doors of opportunities but failed to
close the chapter about discrimination, these disadvantages compounded and led to huge
economic inequality.
67. Unequal Pay for Women: Women have made great strides but often get paid less than
men for doing the same work. The avg. College educated women make 85 cents for one
dollar a man makes. Women more likely to sacrifice their jobs to support family.
68. Hyper-Partisanship: Time when the US is divided among party lines to
such an unprecedented degree since the Civil War, that it is hard for federal officials to
agree on anything, and even keep the gov’t open. Many stems from the 1970s when the
economy was failing, and free market economy stepped in to fill the breach. Major court
decisions such as Roe vs Wade, new political alignment such as Evangelical with the
Republicans, protests, and hippie movement. Gerrymandering an exacerbating
factor? Some blame Gerrymandering. State legislators have ability to redraw
Congressional districts and so whoever is in power can draw lines in their favor, thus
those in control of those districts, draw it so it can be impossible for another candidate
from other party can win. Has existed since the beginning of the US so it’s hard to point
at its exact influence on the issue of hyper partisanship. It has no impact on Senators and
Presidential elections but influences the elections of the House of Representatives. Shows
greater message of divided views on nation’s beliefs such as same sex marriage.
The impact of the new partisan media: Social issues are used by media to profit off
Hyper-partisanship.