Friday, May 27, 2011

What's the diff?.. THE MEDIA!

In the Vietnam War, American soldiers were treated like monsters! They were seen as the enemy. People blamed their “western ways” destroyed the life and culture of Vietnam. Instead of accepting the soldiers’ help, Vietnam seemed pleased to be under communist control. The Vietnamese did more than just rebel against the American troops. The Vietnamese purposely destroyed the United States embassy, stealing anything and everything, to show their dislike for the West. The media didn’t make things any better for the troops. Instead, they made the troops look evil, disgusting, drunk killers that attacked innocent villages.  
In the Iraq-Afghanistan War, our troops were heroes! It was an honor to meet a soldier and welcome them back home. These men and women are seen as heroes for the huge sacrifice they have given for their country. Private businesses are generous with perks for those in the military, and being in the military is seen as a noble position. The media overflows with American pride for those fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 So what was the difference between these to wars? THE MEDIA! 

JFK! Tweet tweet...

JFK:  McCone just sent me a memo saying that he thinks there will be missiles in Cuba pointed at us… I hope he's wrong about this.
8/10/62 8:15 A.M.

JFK: MANNNNNNN. The nerve of the Soviets having missiles in Cuba… NOW I have to do something about it… the Senate found out there’s proof of this situation from
Keating so it
must be true!
8/31/62 3:24 P.M.

JFK: OH YEAH? TRYY MEE! The Soviets are trying to show off… At the U.N. meeting, they said a war with Cuba was a war with them. We can take 'em any day of the year…!
9/11/62 5:43 P.M.

JFK: Lunch with Jackie… sent the U2 out today. We'll see if we find these rumored missile sites.
10/14/62 12:33 P.M.

JFK: I found out that the U2 took pictures of missiles on Cuba pointed at us! I'm having a meeting about this in a little bit.
10/17/62 2:57 P.M.

JFK: Gromyko said that the Soviet Union gave Cuba missiles just for Cuba's own self-defense. They should just stop while their ahead…
10/18/62 10:45 A.M.

JFK: Speech on TV: Telling the people what’s up, meeting with the congressional leaders about the missiles in Cuba. And to top it off people showed up to rebel… I just hope I make it for dinner!  
10/22/62 11:13 A.M.


JFK: Sending Bobby to talk some sense into the Soviets..
10/23/62 9:17 A.M.

JFK: Letters back and forth to Khrushchev and still no agreement… he needs to make his mind! Time is always ticking and sometimes moving forward can do more harm than good!
10/27/62 11:02 P.M.


JFK: Yeah so we can’t do anything about Cuba right now… but at least we came to an agreement, finally! It could of gotten ugly…
10/28/62 9:05 A.M.

Where is the Love??

"Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism
But we still got terrorists here livin'
In the USA, the big CIA fightin'
The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK"
"Where Is The Love?" By: The Black Eyed Peas

This song was released the same year that US troops were sent to Iraq. In the year 2003, The Black Eyed Peas were singing a song about “Where is the Love”, that same time our troops were sent to find out what’s going on in the world. Now nothing has changed except that The Black Eyed Peas dress better than they did back then. Like back then, hate and violence is still around. This song relates to 9/11 and the War in Iraq. Also, it talks about the terrorists that are on our own soil, such as the KKK, Crips, Bloods and many more gangs that exist. This song talks about the current issues we had back then and now. A lot of songs about taking action and peace were released. This song gave attention to the current events that were causing issues in the place we call home. These lyrics are similar to those of songs from the Vietnam Era because they talk about current issues of the time and have a call to action to do something about the problems the problems the country faces.  

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Truman Doctrine: part of the Containment Policy, the US gives money to countries to fight communism, part of the US' Post WWII foreign policy

Containment Policy: keep communism from spreading, contain communism, expel communism out of foreign countries, part of the US' Post WWII foreign policy

Bay of Pigs Invasion (similarities to Invasion of Panama): US wanted to overthrow government in Panama and put in democracy, Cuba was invaded by exiles from Cuba to try to overthrow the government and US wanted to establish democracy

US Foreign Policy with Regard to Korea and Vietnam: contain communism so other countries don't fall to it (Containment Policy), give money to countries threatened by communism (Truman Doctrine), US and other top countries head the decisions of the U.N.

Intervention: US tries to overthrow communist governments, fight the wars of other countries that deal with communism, press democracy on other countries, help to push communist forces back when the communists invade a free country, influence other countries to get what the US wants

Cold War Development: mostly between Russia and the US, communism vs. democracy, the space race, development of nuclear weapons, and the Cuban Missile Crisis fueled the Cold War, when the USSR starts to become as advance as the US, the US becomes scared and feel threatened, the USSR's possession of nuclear weapons scares the US, the Us wants to stop the spread of communism

War Powers Act: the President can only go to war with Congress' permission, in Vietnam and Korea, the US was involved in these conflicts for years without declaring war

WWII Foreign Policy vs. Post WWII Foreign Policy: In WWII, the main goal for the US was to win the war at all costs and defeat the Nazis. In Post WWII, the main goal was to contain communism as stated in the Containment Policy, including, giving aid to countries threatened by communism (Truman Doctrine).

Limited War: when a country is involved in a conflict, but doesn't use all of its resources. Limited War Ex: Vietnam, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan Total War: WWII

Examples of Containment In Europe: the US gave money to countries threatened by Soviet rule (Truman Doctrine), the US wanted to prevent the USSR's communist ways from spreading to other countries in Europe, East Germany was communist and West Germany was free, East Berlin was communist, West Berlin was free, France, Great Britain, and the US tried to keep communism from spreading from East Berlin and East Germany to West Berlin and West Germany

Main Points of the Division of Germany: Communist East Germany and East Berlin were ruled by the Soviet Union, Democratic West Berlin and West Germany were ruled by France, Great Britain, and the US, fencing, soldiers, and later on, the Berlin Wall separated the two sides, Berlin was in the middle of communist East Germany, Braidenburg Gate was the main passage way from East Germany to West Germany, was built by the Soviet Union

Douglass MacArthur Dismissal: MacArthur pushed the North Koreans back further than the original border, where he was supposed to push them back to, he didn't listen to the President, he made public statements against the president

Korean War Similarities with Persian Gulf War: both countries were invaded by other countries, North Korea invaded South Korea and Iraq invaded Kuwait, the US fought the wars of other countries, original borders between the Koreas and between Iraq and Kuwait needed to be reestablished

Nuclear Ban Test: countries containing known nuclear weapons agreed to sign a treaty not to test nuclear weapons, but some countries, like the US, still test nuclear weapons

Long Term Effect of Vietnam: the war divided America over which side people were on, this still influences how war is viewed today (Democrats and Republicans and hawks vs. doves), the war got rid of the draft, death, cancer and other illnesses from Agent Orange, Vietnamese migration to the US, brought down the Nixon administration

Peace Corps: a way to help third world countries, help build wells, schools, was a way for people to get out of the draft to Vietnam

End of Cold War (the event that marked it): the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Domino Theory: one nation falls to communism the next country will fall as well, caused a fear of communism and made this fear caused the US to get involved in wars against communism, other countries near communist countries were more at risk

Nixon's Detente: eased tensions between the US and the USSR, peaceful coexistence, Nixon and Brezhnev had multiple meetings and signed treaties to come to agreements and ease tensions