Gilbert Alvarez

May 10, 2023

Final Exam
 1. Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party- Was a democratic national convention that

challenged all-white and non-democratically elected delegation. Argument; the end of

Jim Crow was not achieved by an activist federal government, but by thousands of civil

rights activists that risked their lives in the 1950s and 1960s. The argument relates to the

term because as stated, many civil rights activists risked their lives. And the Mississippi

Freedom Democratic Party could be considered any example of one of those groups,

2. United Fruit Company- In the 1960s, the united fruit company was the largest American-

owned land that was 3 million acres. It was owned by a duo by the names of john foster

and Allen Dulles. This term came from the argument; The cold war was not “cold” in the

third world, but very hot through proxy wars between the two superpowers. When

compared to the term, both are related because the United Fruit war had experienced

some of these proxy wars. They specifically suffered through 40 years of civil war, death

and dictatorship, Which the US supported.

3. Texans for America- Took place in 1956, where J. Evetts Haley participated alongside

the Texas legislature to take over textbook approvals for schools due to the suspicion of

certain ones having “subtle communist messages”. This term is from the argument; in the

late 1960s and early 1970s, the new right argued that the government was the source of

American's problems and not the solution by focusing on domestic issues. Knowing this,

the term is describing the so called “domestic” issue that wasn’t getting dealt with

properly instead of fixing their public education, the State legislature decided to take over

the textbooks use due an unreasonable suspicion of soviet activity.

which made Americans believe that their public behaviors could “spread” their “disease.

From the 1930s to the 1980s, Americas relationship with its federal government seemed to

bounce back between good and bad as time went on. With the wars, civil rights movements etc.

It took years for even a single issue to be resolved by the federal government and its lawmaking

decisions. So, there was always tension

The 1930s was a time when the federal government was truly put to test. Between 1929 and

1933, The Great Depression hit American's hard. This was the biggest crisis of capitalism,

democracy and America itself. In 1929 the US economy crashed, not only that, but in 1931 The

Dust Bowl hit the US and affected states such as TX, OK, KS, CO and NM and was the worst

recorded drought in US history. As a response to this era of conflict, Herbert Hoover presented a

few solutions. He believed in individualism and that the government should stay out of the

economy. If even went as far as to argue against FDR’s proposed New Deal, where he stated “I

therefore contend that the problem of today is to continue … measures and policies to restore this

American system to its normal functioning, to repair the wounds it has received, to correct the

weaknesses and evils which would defeat that system. To enter upon a series of deep changes, to

embark upon this inchoate new deal which has been propounded in this campaign, would be to

undermine and destroy our American system” (Herbert Hoover on the New Deal (1932)). In the

end, however, FDR did use the New Deal to transform the role of the government through the

welfare state. Which introduced government programs that would provide social and economic

stability as well as social security, workmen's comp and child welfare.

direction. However, that all changed in the 1940s with the start of ww 2, where there were rises

in world tensions. Germany, Japan and Italy started to invade different territories. This is where

the introduction of the Soviet Union had begun. In 1940, Germany had taken Belgium, The

Netherlands, Luxembourg and France. At the time this was occurring there were still many social

issues that many Americans, specifically minorities, that were fighting a war of their own. WWII

massively accelerated the pace of which social change for Americans was moving in the US. As

the US was preparing for war, there was still discrimination against African Americans, Mexican

Americans and Native Americans within the defense industry. According to Phillip Randolph,

African Americans servicing in the war were experiencing racial discrimination in the defense

industry, despite their voluntary service to the military. He stated, “Negroes mean business about

getting their rights as American citizens under national defense. To this end I have decided to

undertake the organization of a march of ten thousand Negroes or more upon Washington. When

I come back East, I want to talk with you about it” (Phillip Randolph on a March on Washington

(March 18, 1941)). As result of this, FDR passed Executive Order 8802 on June 25th, 1941.

Which prohibited racial discrimination within war industries and established fair employment

practices.

Moving into the 1950s, many social issues within the US continued to occur. Things such as

education tensions, Tensions in the modern family and Homosexuality. In 1958, the National

Defense Education Act was passed. Where higher education led to better civic mothers. Women

were encouraged to attend a university and further their education. Despite this, they continued

to be discouraged from having careers. There were also tensions in the so called “modern

family” in the US. At the time, being married young, a middle-class family and part of a single-
income household was seen as normal to American's. And because of this, Americans who

didn’t follow these social norms such as unwed women and homosexuals were see as deviant

and mentally unstable. Which lead to discrimination towards those groups and resulted in the

“rehabilitation” of white women and the unlawful treatment of homosexuals.

As the 1960s approached, racism and discrimination towards African Americans within the

US remained a major issue. Not only that, but the Cold war was also happening at the time.

Which allowed for The Civil Rights movement and Cold war conflicts to intervene with each

other. With the ruling of Brown V. Board of Education, which ruled segregation within public

schools as unconstitutional. People such as Mary L. Dudziak considered Brown V. Brown to be a

cold war case as well as a civil case. She said that two corelated with each other in some way

when she said “As the United States argued in the Brown amicus brief, ‘the existence of

discrimination against minority groups in the United States had an adverse effect upon our

relationships with other countries’” (Mary L. Dudziak, Brown as a Cold War Case pg. 34) This

meant that racial discrimination within the US gave useful material and room for communist

propaganda. It also raised doubts towards our allied nations.

Concluding with the 1970s and 1980s, The US experienced both challenges and progress at

the same time in the 70s, but more issues in the 80s. The 1970s were described as a time were

both international and economic crises were happening. But also, a period where the US was

victorious. It had a growing GPD in the beginning of the 70s. However, in 1974 stagflation

happened. There was a lack of competition which resulted in a decrease in the quality of

products and services. Deindustrialization also occurred and led to a shift to service sector jobs

and low wages. Despite the crises, the US had victories in its social movements. Things like the

occupation of Alcatraz led to the restoration of treaty rights and sovereignty for American
Indians as well the creation of (AIM) American Indian Movement. There was also a victory for

homosexuals in the US. Even though discrimination was still prominent, movements such as The

Stonewall Rebelion which protested police harassment, led to the beginning of pride and Gay

liberation. The 1980s was known as the era of Reaganomics and the AIDS crisis. At this point in

time Americans were still disappointed with the government. Reaganomics proposed that lower

taxes would lead to more investment. Instead, this resulted in a massive deficit and the US went

from the largest creditor to the largest debt nation. And in 1987, the US was also hit with the

AIDS Epidemic. This caused a massive protest known as ACT UP, which pleaded for the

funding of research, CDC fast tracking of medications and demonization of homosexuality.

Overall, American's relationship with the federal government seemed to bounce back and forth

between the 30s and 80s. Conflicts would arise, and the Government would attempt to fix those

problems. However, that did not necessarily mean that it would be situated permanently. Some

of the issues Americans faced in the 1930s continued to remain a nuisance in the 40s, 50s, 60s,

and so on. It's even argued that issues many Americans faced in the 1990s and early 2000s were

like the ones that they had succumb to in the past. And continues to be a problem even today.
 References

1. Dudziak, M. L. (n.d.). Brown as a cold war case - JSTOR.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3659611.pdf?addFooter=false

2. A. Philip Randolph to Walter White, March 18, 1941. NAACP Records, Manuscript Division,

Library of Congress. Available online via the Library of Congress

(http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/world-war-ii-and-the-post-war-years.html#obj1); Source:

Executive Order 8802 dated June 25, 1941, General Records of the United States Government;

Record Group 11; National Archives. Available online via the National Archives

(https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/?dod-date=625)

3. [Source: The State Papers and Other Public Writings of Herbert Hoover, vol. 2, William S.

Myers, ed., 1934, pp. 408-413. Available online via The American Presidency Project

(http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=23317).]