LAD# 37

  Vs.

Little Linda Brown, an African American, had to walk a mile in order to get to her bus stop for school. Linda could have easily walked to the white elementary school seven blocks away, but was denied enrollment into the school because of her race. Oliver Brown, her father, and thirteen other parents then decided to bring this issue to the courts. Brown argued that black schools were only getting a third of the money that the white schools were receiving. "They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms". Yet, the white dominated court room referred to Plessy vs. Ferguson and stated that the schools were separate, but equal. The NAACP would not face defeat that easily, and decided to bring the case to the Supreme Court. On October first, 1951, similar cases regarding separate schools for blacks and whites were combined into one case and the trial would begin on December 9, 1952. The Browns argued in court that Black people were in different schools because they were different than everyone else. The case went on for several months. However, one of the justices died and the case had to be presented again. Finally, after two years, the court turned in favor of the Browns and segregating schools became against the law. Although, it took many states years to put blacks in the same schools as whites because of the tensions between the two races.

LAD #36

The Truman Doctrine was an address of the foreign policy and the national security of the United States, and also Turkey and Greece. The United States received an urgent appeal from Greece for economic and financial assistance, if they did not receive aid it seemed as though they would not survive as an independent nation. Greece was never a wealthy country and it lacked many natural resources, and it has “suffered invasion, four years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal strife”; it was reported that the “Germans had destroyed virtually all the railways, roads, port facilities, communications, and merchant marine. More than a thousand villages had been burned. Eighty-five per cent of the children were tubercular. Livestock, poultry, and draft animals had almost disappeared. Inflation had wiped out practically all savings.” Tragic conditions, a militant minority and human exploitation have made economic recovery seem impossible. The Greeks were asking for help to resume purchases of the bare essentials that were unavailable at the time. The Greeks also asked the United States for political aid “the assistance of experienced American administrators, economists and technicians to insure that the financial and other aid given to Greece shall be used effectively in creating a stable and self-sustaining economy and in improving its public administration”. Truman tells the joint session of Congress that the aid the United States has already provided for Greece is inadequate and that the United States, as a self governing democracy, must do more for Greece. The British had been helping them previously but they can no longer offer economic support after March 31st.
Turkey is another nation that Truman mentions “as an independent and economically sound state is clearly no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of Greece.” Turkey was better off than Greece but Truman still urged that Turkey is also in dire need of American support. Turkey is seeking aid for the purpose of effecting that modernization necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity to preserve the order in the Middle East. Truman says: “We are the only country able to provide that help.” “The disappearance of Greece [and Turkey] as...independent state[s] would have a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples are struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their independence while they repair the damages of war.” Truman then asks Congress for “assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948”and “$350,000,000 for the prevention of starvation and suffering in countries devastated by the war.” He also asks Congress for commodities, supplies, and equipment for the two nations, and to authorize the detail of American civilian and military personnel to Greece and Turkey.

LAD #35

Franklin D. Roosevelt starts right off the bat, stating and citing where he has the right to do everything in his power to protect the United States " against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities". In the paragraph, he says that he hereby authorizes the building of military areas at any location, which can house any one that may be helping the enemy's government. However, it also states that the military officers must respect the rights of the detainees and must provide adequate transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations. Roosevelt then puts the Attorney General in charge of all of these camps. He also gives power to the commanders of the camps such as the use of federal troops and the assistance of state and local agencies. Roosevelt authorizes departments in charge of "hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies". The president then closes the letter, stating that this order can not be modified unless prescribed by him

LAD #36

Franklin D. Roosevelt, president during the year 1941, was shocked to hear that on December 7, Japanese fighter planes swooped down from the skies at Pearl Harbor. The planes killed 2,335 military soldiers, but they failed to destroy major targets such as the U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers. Roosevelt the next day assembled Congress and gave one of the greatest speeches of American history, one that rivaled Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Martian Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech. He starts of the speech with its famous line, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." He explains that the United States was at peace with Japan and Japan also looked "toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific." Roosevelt also stated that the attack came one hour before the Japanese Ambassador delivered a message that revealed not threat of an attack. It was obvious, according to Roosevelt, that this attack was premeditated for many months or weeks. Ironically, during this time, the Japanese government was deceiving the United States by making it look like they were hoping for continued peace. Many Americans lost their lives at Pearl Harbor, however, Japanese forces also attacked many other islands such as Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. Roosevelt then proclaims that we will defend this nation and "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory." He does not hesitate that say that, despite the danger, "we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God." War then is declared on December 8, 1941 on Japan and three days later, the United States is in war with Italy and Germany.

LAD #33

Before Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the economy was spiraling downwards at a freakish pace. Banks were failing, businesses were going under, and Americans who were once living comfortable were then living on the streets. Hoovervilles were constructed outside major cities and the poor wandered the dirty cities looking for work. Wilson could do nothing but sit in horror. Although once FDR was elected, he boosted the spirits of the American people by his first inaugural address. He begins his speech stating that "our distress comes from no failure of substances." He says this to show the people this is not something they can not control. "We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply." He continues to say that the money changers that had caused the failure of the banks had " fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit." This means that FDR has faith in the country that they work together and overcome the greedy in order to become a economically stable nation again. FDR also calls for action at that very moment to help the struggling economy. He says that we must "recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms." Instead of Wilson's ideas of letting the people solve the problems of the nation, he decides to take charge and tell people what to do so the nation can be fixed.

LAD #32 Kellog-Briand Peace Pact

TM

The act declared a “renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy” to promote the welfare of mankind. With the renunciation war as an instrument of national policy, peaceful and friendly relations between nations may be perpetuated and it will instate union between the civilized nations of the world in a common renunciation of war as an instrument of their national policy”. Any nation that resorts to war to promote its national interests shall not receive the benefits of the treaty. The treaty declared condemnation of “recourse to war for the solution of international controversies” and it was to be implemented as soon as possible. Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Kingdom of the Serbs, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Panama were all signers of the Act. “Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its national interests by resort to war a should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty”.

LAD #31 Wilson's Fourteen Points

Wilson’s Fourteen Points calls for peace and an international policy of openness. “The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world.” He also calls for a sense of national unity when he says that “all the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest”.
1. calls for public diplomacy
2. freedom of navigation of the seas – in both times of war and peace
3. equality of trade conditions
4. reduction of national armaments
5. impartial adjustment of all colonial claims – allowing the populations to have a voice in colonial decisions
6. “evacuation of all Russian territory” and assistance for the Russian government
7. sovereignty for Belgium
8. a correction of the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine and sovereignty for all French territories
9. “readjustment of the frontiers of Italy”
10. free opportunity to autonomous development for the peoples of Austria-Hungary
11. evacuation of Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro
12. Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees and sovereignty for the Turkish portion of the ottoman empire
13. erection of a sovereign polish state guaranteed by international covenant
14. “ a general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike”
Wilson asks for peace and mutual understand with Germany and international unity.