The Impact of the Birth Control Pill

Birth Control Pill 

In 1965 the Supreme Court gave married couples the right to use birth control pills because in the Constitution it was protected to their right to privacy. However in 26 states, if you were a single woman you were not allowed to have access to birth control pills. The birth control pill had an impact on the American culture in the fact that the tradition would be for women to marry and then have children, but with the birth control pill it allowed women to have more freedom which wasn't popular among many that didn't want change and did not want to break the normal tradition that society had. 

Fears about the Birth Control Pill 

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson created a federal funding of the birth control pill for the poor. Even though this was made as a good act, this was something that was not necessarily accepted within the African American community. There was a suspicion, especially with the pill. In the 1960s many African American were suspicious about the government funding birth control clinics, because they thought that it was a plan to control the population among the African Americans. The reason that there was this fear among the African American community, is because back to when slavery was allowed, African American population was crucial to whites that owned slaves. But in the 1960s when African Americans were beginning to gain some power, there was a fear that the government was trying to control them by lowering the population. This was a big fear because whenever a woman would give birth, she would be unable to have more children after. Not only that, but rumors would increase about the pill. There was a rumor growing that there were two different types of pills, one for white women which would temporarily prevented ovulation, and another type of pill for African American women in which caused sterilization. 

Even though the birth control pill created a big change among women because it gave them a new type of freedom, there was fear among many especially women that came from minorities because they were fearing that these pills were made in order to decrease the number of children that African Americans could have, since they were beginning to have their voice heard during the 1960s.

Sources:

http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/a-brief-history-of-birth-control/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_genocide.html

Music in the 1950's

Rock and Roll 

Rock and Roll was the new hype during the 1950's and it was the type of music that the new generation would enjoy to listen and dance to. During this time, the new generation would be twisting, thrusting, grinding, and bumping to the new sound of music. 

The Birth of Rock and Roll 

The roots of the this new type of music is thanks to the rhythm and blues that many African Americans brought with them during the Great Migration. These rhythm and blues attracted many suburban teens. Due to the segregation and racism, many great artists of this genre didn't have the opportunity to shine and become someone big through this type of music. However, record producers saw a great potential in this genre and they would be on the search of some white artist that would be able to capture the sound that the African Americans had brought. 

Elvis Presley 

A record producer, Sam Phillips, would be the one that found that white artist that would be able to capture the sound brought by the African Americans. Elvis Presley had that deep Southern sound and his looks which helped him take an old style and make it his own. The sound that Elvis brought would spread, and more and more people would begin to ask for more Elvis records, making him one of the most popular names in the entertainment industry within two years!

Thoughts on Rock and Roll 

Rock and Roll would be the new sound and the new trend among the young generation. However, this new sound was not popular among the old generation. They disliked the new sound of music that it would be thought of as "satan's music". The reason that the old generation thought of this new sound as "satan's music" was because of the new dances that it brought with it, which would go against many of the values and morals that many churches had. However, this didn't stop the new generation from listening to Rock and Roll and they would rebel against their parents in order to continue to listen to the music that they enjoyed. Rock and Roll was banned from many radio stations and schools; and because the sound originated from African Americans, many middle- class white civilians thought that the music had no taste. All of these thoughts did not matter to the young generation and their voice was louder. At the end of the day, all they wanted was to have some fun and forget about the tensions and all the fear that they have lived in during the previous war.

Sources:

http://www.ushistory.org/us/53d.asp

Women's Rights Movement

During the war, women contributed by joining the work force in place of their husbands who were fighting the war abroad. However, when the men returned, women were forced back into their domestic roles. This transition made many of these women question why their equality had yet to be given to them. In the war, women were praised for supporting their husbands. After the war, women were expected to return to their roles as caretakers of the home. Women in the 1960s were limited to their homes, being the caretaker and teacher of her children and the spouse of her husband. For women who were able to work, they took on jobs that fit their gender role such as a secretary, nurse, and teacher.  However, at the same time, women were increasingly portrayed as sexual objects by events like the Miss America Pageant and companies like Playboy.

As a result, many women faced discrimination and unequal pay in the work force. Despite working the same number of hours and doing the same work as men, they were paid less than men. Seeing that African Americans were fighting for their equality through the Civil Rights Movement, women questioned why they couldn't do the same.

Women also found their existence constantly justified by their children or their husband. They were seen as subservient characters. Hence, when the pill was approved by the FDA for purposes other than birth control in 1957, contraceptives began to connote women's independence. Contraceptives gave women a choice, whether or not they want to have a baby, and if they did, when they wanted it. This challenged women's traditional gender roles as caretakers and mothers as they were no longer confined to the home. In 1962, feminist Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique portraying the dull life of a housewife and thus encouraging women to expand their roles.

Even today, this wave of feminism continues to leave its impact on our lives. The issue of abortion remains controversial, and women are still fighting for their rights to equal pay in the work force. These current events confirm the fact that the women's rights movement is far from over.

Sources:
https://tavaana.org/en/content/1960s-70s-american-feminist-movement-breaking-down-barriers-women
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/a-brief-history-of-the-birth-control-pill/480/
http://www.enotes.com/topics/feminine-mystique
Civil Rights WS

Operation Meetinghouse

Operation Meetinghouse (March 9-10, 1945) was the single most destructive bombing raid of WWII, overshadowing both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Operation Meetinghouse lead to 75,000 - 200,000 deaths, with roughly 1,000,000 people displaced. Operation Meetinghouse differed from other bombing raids executed by the US throughout the war, as it was a low-altitude incendiary raid, whereas the others were high-altitude precision bombings. The switch was made as these previous high-altitude raids proved to be largely ineffective, with bombs hitting their targets less than 10 percent of the time, due to the poor understanding of the jet stream, and frequent cloud cover over Japan. For Operation Meetinghouse the altitude was lowered from 30,000 feet to 5,000-9,000 feet as at that point in the war Japanese air defenses were nearly non-existent. Under the recommendation of Major General LeMay the bombers were loaded with incendiaries containing white phosphorus and napalm since he believed that the tightly packed, wooden structures of Japanese cities would burn easily. The B-29’s to be used in the raid were then stripped of all nonessentials such as guns and gunners, excluding the tailgun. The bombers were then ordered to fly at night and in single-file in order to reduce risk from Japanese fighters. Over a three-hour period and by three bomber streams the industrial heart of Tokyo was hit by roughly 2,000 tons of incendiaries. The combination of a doubled bomb load, new formation, windy weather conditions, and lack of coordinated fighter fighting, lead to an enormous firestorm. One that burned nearly 15 square-miles of densely populated urban centers to the ground and had temperatures up to 1,800 degrees. The firebombing campaign destroyed 63 percent of Tokyo's commercial area, 18 percent of its industry, and a total of 267,000 buildings. By the time Operation Meetinghouse and the ensuing aerial bombardments had stopped by July 1945 its was concluded that there were no longer any viable targets on the Japanese mainland.

Resources

http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/deadliest-air-raid-history-180954512/?no-ist

http://www.wired.com/2011/03/0309incendiary-bombs-kill-100000-tokyo

The Recessions of 1970

Stagflation. Not a positive sounding term and it is just what it sounds like. Stagflation refers to the continuing inflation and stagnant business activity coupled with high unemployment rates. During the 1970s, America experienced an extreme bout of stagflation that resulted in a series of recessions. While many blame the 70s recession on the theory of Keynesian Economics, a closer examination of the causes reveals that stagflation wasn’t entirely the theories fault.

So what exactly did cause the recessions? In 1973, the Organization of Petroleum exporting countries declared an embargo on supporters of Israel-western nations and as a result a recession starts right after. Because there was now a shortage of oil in America, the price of oil more than doubles. Oil is used in almost every product across the economy like plastics, gasoline, etc., so when oil prices shot up, the price of consumer goods shot up too. In reaction to the recession in 1973, the Federal Reserve dropped the interest rate from 11% to 9%. However this worsens the inflation because wages can’t keep up with the increase in products, so purchasing power falls. Realizing that inflation was worsened, the Federal Reserve increases interest rates back up to 14%. This is able to bring down the inflation at a cost of very high interest rates. Therefore, unemployment increases to 9%.

The American economy is able to get out of the recession in 1975, but not without residual effects. The high unemployment rates remain, so to combat it, the Federal Reserve drops the interest rate to 5%, which pulls down unemployment to 6% but inflation starts again. Then in 1979, another shock wave is sent through the economy when oil prices double again as a result of the revolution in Iran. The Federal Reserve attempts to counter the spike by raising interest rates up to 20%. Inflation goes down to 10%, but unemployment jumps up to 8%. The inconsistencies in the economy die down when Reagan takes office, bringing in a new era of conservatism.

After an overview of the stagnant 1970s, it can be seen that the recession was a game of cause and effect. If the Federal Reserve wanted lower inflation than higher unemployment would have ensued. However, the normal Keynesian rules applied even though many blame the recessions on it. The difference was that the baseline of inflation to choose from was much higher than normal because of the oil prices. Oil prices were the main thing to blame and inflation comes down when the oil prices drop or when the economy has adjusted to the high oil prices. In conclusion, less economic dependence on oil could have prevented the catastrophic 1970s.

The Effects of the American Military in Iraq war

The Effects of the American Military in Iraq war

The Iran Iraq war was a massive war that spanned over 30 years. Fought between two hostile religious groups, the Sunni and the Shiite, this war had a history of development that had started in the very beginnings of Muslim religion. While this war has an incredibly complex and interesting history, it is also important to understand the effects that this war has had on the countries it was fought in.

The main issue behind this war is the humanitarian aspect, meaning how the civilians in Iraq are treated. After American Intervention in Iraq, the civilian life has reached levels of poverty parallel to “some of the World’s most urgent catastrophes” (Global Policy). Just in 2011, one third of the nation lived in poverty. And while the American invasions were not the sole contribution to the massive destruction and social breakdown in Iraq, the bombing of key cities worsened sectarian issues and led to violence even inter-communally. This impact has led to over 1.9 million Iraqi civilians displaced, and over 2.2 million refugees fleeing to other countries, again, just in 2011. This is a huge amount of people affected by the terrible Iraq-Iran war, and this number doesn’t even take into account the amount of people killed due to bombing of many major cities, as well as from death squads of invading forces. Overall, this war has been incredibly costly to the middle East.

Another crucial effect the American intervention has had for the Iraqi is the political consequences that US policy has created. Rather than pursuing a path to creating a unified Iraq capable of future negotiations and reparation. As Iraq is currently divided between the Sunni, the Shiite, and the Kurds, there is very little chance of reconciliation between these three warring peoples. However, the United States, rather than trying to help these three find peace with each other, pursued the path of backing one religion and being able to force the other two to bend at the knee. This, very clearly, did not work, and has led to the massive destruction and small possibility, at least currently, for cooperation.

The reason for this blog is not to put the American military or American military tactics down. Rather, it is important to understand the consequence of war, especially modern ones with massively dangerous weapons.

Lots of Credit to this website which is pretty awesome: https://www.globalpolicy.org/humanitarian-issues-in-iraq/consequences-of-the-war-and-occupation-of-iraq/35726.html

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Wepons

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is a treaty between a total of 190 states with the goal of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons technology. The treaty first became open for signature in 1968, and then later came into full force in 1970. Although the treaty does not officially have a three pillar system, it is most commonly interpreted that way, with the pillars being: non-proliferation, disarmament, and the right to peacefully use nuclear technology. Every five years the treat is reviewed in meetings imaginatively known as the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In the Review Conference of 1995 the original time limit on the treaty of 25 years was decided by conscience to be extended indefinitely. At the time the treaty was first proposed it was predicted that there would be 25-30 nuclear states within 20 years. However the NPT has had a large positive influence upon this prediction as over 40 year later are only 5 nations that have not joined the treaty. And those 5 include the only 4 additional nations that are believed to possess nuclear weapons. Although it is agreed that the NPT cannot fully prevent the creation of nuclear weapons, nor the motivation of countries to acquire them, and even the fact that has done relatively little to forward the cause of nuclear disarmament, it is remarkable the amount that it has done to slow the expected growth of nuclear weapons.

Resources:

http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPT.shtml

http://www.state.gov/t/isn/npt/