American History Homework Eleven Answers - Model

Lecture - Questions - Student Answers

1. This course is mostly over. Can you now identify a value in learning history?

History prepares us for the difficulties we will face in life. We can learn from other people's mistakes so when we face the same challenge we will know the right way to act. The same situations happen today that occurred over the past 100 years. The only differences are the people and their perspective. Almost every war in history is started by jealousy or hatred. The nature of man does not change, only his yearnings. (Veronika F.)

There are many benefits to learning and understanding history. Of course, the saying “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” comes to mind. However, I’ve also noticed that the more history we’ve covered, the easier it is for me to understand what’s happening now, especially with the election. I’ve never understood politics, but it’s much easier now that I know how it started, and how it’s developed. (Sarah W.)

2. Was the United States right to enter World War II, and should we have entered sooner or later?

The United States was definitely right to enter World War Two. The atheistic, evolutionary Nazi Germany was probably the most evil nation ever (perhaps except Communist Russia and China.) Adolf Hitler, the German leader, was a crazed fanatic who had two aims: revenge Germany’s defeat in World War I, and eliminate all Jews from the earth. Japan was not an inherently evil society, but the military government and the racist view that Japanese were superior to all other races meant that the Japanese had no qualms about resorting to any tactic. When the city of Nanking in China fell in 1937, for nearly six weeks Japanese troops rampaged the city, raping, looting, murdering, and burning. Japanese officials denied that anything had happened. (Duncan B.)

3. Which of the approaches in American history towards immigration do you like best, and why?

4. Pick out something from the "Roaring Twenties" and describe what you like about it.

"Keep Cool with Coolidge." That was the campaign slogan he used. I like everything about the Coolidge administration. He made choices confidently and decisively, and good, conservative choices at that. "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." (Proverbs 17:28) (Steven M.)

5. What is your view of the New Deal, and what might you have done differently in response to the Great Depression?

6. Do you think we should have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan? Explain.

Absolutely not. The Japanese had already informally offered a conditional surrender before we dropped the first one; surrender on the same conditions we ended up accepting in the end. Hundreds upon hundreds of innocent men, women and children died during the originally explosion and the effects that lasted for many months afterward. It was heinous that we would kill so many civilians, uninvolved in the war beyond the fact that they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Katie B.)

7. Please interpret and explain the cartoon, including an estimate of its date. (It was published by a paper in New Jersey years ago.)

This cartoon displays the ghost of Theodore Roosevelt looking on in disgust at how his fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took his "big stick" policy to a much higher extreme than he had ever intended for it. In this context "big stick" refers to the federal government (and furthermore, the executive branch) having a large amount of power. When the democrat FDR was president there was a democrat majority in both the House and the Senate. For that reason, Congress went along with virtually everything that FDR introduced—and FDR introduced more than any president before him with his New Deal. This cartoon portrays this relationship between Congress and the executive by showing two men (representing the House and the Senate) carrying huge sticks to the White House as "gifts" for the president (FDR). This was probably drawn in 1933, the year that FDR took office and proceeded to make more changes to the American government than any president before or after him. (Rachel N.)

Teddy Roosevelt ... is calling his 'big stick' a mere 'willow' compared to the sticks the 'House' and the 'Senate' are bringing the president. It represents the Democratic power in the House and Senate during the terms of FDR. This cartoon was probably written by a disapproving Republican around 1934. (Bethany S.)

Honors (pick 3 out of 5)

H1. Throughout American history, has the president has been becoming more and more of a "leader" or a "follower"? In other words, is the trend towards more of a leadership position for that office, or less of one? Explain.

I would have to say that presidents are becoming followers as the years go by. ... They say they believe in the causes that a majority of the country believe, get themselves elected, but one really has to wonder if they believe these things or not. Especially when a number of the "popular causes" contradict each other. Now, having the same beliefs has a majority of the Americans can be seen as becoming a leader, wanting to lead America in the most popular way. But all this leader is leading is simply "the cool crowd," those with the most popular beliefs and ideas. So I say that no matter what it may look like, presidents have become a group of followers instead of true leaders. (Kara H.)

It seems as though the President has become a follower, following the trends of the people, and the wants of the country, but still, retaining his power as a leader, and dropping in his own ideas. (Christina F.)

H2. Pick out any military aspect of World War II and discuss it.

H3. Discuss any issue, mystery or debate topic from the lecture or time period 1920-1946.

The Japanese-American internment camps were not right. They may not be “unconstitutional”, as in specifically written about in the constitution, but it’s not right for American citizens to be judged for their ancestry. They couldn’t help that their great grandparents moved from Japan to America. Most of the people in the internment camps had been in America for generations and had no allegiance to Japan. America is a land of freedom, but how much freedom do we really have if the government is allowed to just move us at will because of something we didn’t do? (Sarah W.)

H4. Your view of the United Nations, please?

The United Nations is yet another example of something that looks great on paper and mostly fails in practice. There are two setbacks to large, international councils like this: one, they have a tendency to limit or damage national sovereignty, and two, nations can sometimes hardly agree on their own national policies, let alone agree with other nations. It’s like taking the thirteen (somewhat disunited) states under Articles of Confederation, and putting that on an international scale. Not to mention the fact that the UN needs a huge bureaucracy to run, and bureaucracies are often self-serving and prone to selfish scandals such as the Oil for Food scandal. Also, it was recently reported that a very expensive decoration project was undertaken for a refurbished UN human rights chamber in Spain. This money could have gone somewhere much better. Perhaps the UN should go somewhere I can’t say .... (Addison DM)

H5. How would you recommend for handling the communist infiltration described in the lecture?