Political Climate of the 1970s Essay Example for Free

Political Climate of the 1970s Essay The 1970s were times of chaotic events held over from the chaos of the 1960s. The 70s brought Americans an end to the Vietnam War and a change in the political and social perspectives, another presidency term with Richard M. Nixon, and his policies of engagement, and the Watergate scandal, leading to the first resignation of an American President. The end of the Vietnam War led to political and social fallout around the globe, especially in America. All of the chaos of the 1970s also led Americans to have a changed perspective in their government. People were beginning to notice similarities between Nixons policies of engagement and strategies used during the Cold War, and the aftermath of the Watergate scandal led many Americans to doubt the role of their government and its power. In 1969, Nixon built his presidential campaign on the idea of ending the Vietnam War. Early in his administration, the president outlined a foreign policy based on a low profile and on reductions in the U.S. role abroad. Many believe this was the reason for Nixons election. Fed up with the war in Vietnam, Americans were ready to get our soldiers home. Nixon considered his engagement strategy peace with honor. Nixons priority was the settlement of the Vietnam crisis while using the peace with honor code. Nixon found an ally in Henry Kissinger who was the Nation Security Advisor and working together to end the crisis in Vietnam. One strategy was called Vietnamization, a carrot on a stick method, which would to gradually move the troops away and force the South Vietnamese to fight for themselves in order to advance peace talks in Paris. (Davidson et al., 2002 pg 895) The truth of the matter is that Nixon continued with the Vietnam War for nearly four more years. Nixons peace with honor code or policy of engagement was similar to Truman and the Cold War. Truman used the treat of nuclear arms attacks to scare the communist bloc from expanding. When the peace with honor code did not work, that is when Nixon took action on an earlier threat by using troops, force, and weapons. Nixons policy of engagement also differs somewhat from the strategies used by others during the Cold War. Where containment assumed a bipolar world, Nixons policy of detente saw the world as multi-polar. (Davidson et al., 2002, p. 907) By the end of March 1973, The Vietnam War had ended. All U.S. fighting forces  had been withdrawn. (Vietnam War, 2007) The political and social aftermath of the Vietnam War hit America almost immediately. In July 1971, for the first year in the century, it appeared that the U.S. would import more merchandise than it exported, and consequently it faced a severe deficit in its balance of payments. A federal budget deficit of about $20 billion was projected for fiscal 1971. In August, a crisis in world monetary stability was evident, and the value of the dollar was threatened for the second time in a year. (The Vietnam War Period, 2007) By the end of the 1970s, the National Debt was nearly $382 billion. From spending money during the war and cutting costs to federal programs, the nation was experiencing severe recession in 40 years. This recession affected many families, which became dual income households due to necessity. The government tried to fix this spiraling problem by raising minimum wage, but with each wage increase came inflation and higher unemployment rates. To curb this growing problem, reversing his previous refusal to impose price and wage controls, Nixon announced a 3-month freeze on wages, prices, and rents. (TVWP, 2007) Before Nixon had a chance to work on changing the economic problems in America he was surrounded by the Watergate scandal. From the fall of 1973 through the summer of 1974, the evidence steadily mounted that President Nixon himself was implicated in the Watergate burglary and its attempted cover-up, and that it was indeed only one aspect of a series of lawless acts committed by the administration. As a result, by the beginning of August 1974 the president was faced with imminent impeachment. He resigned on August 9, the first president of the U.S. to do so. (TVWP, 2007) Americans have come to believe the worst about government, politics, and politicians. It didnt start with Watergate, but Watergate turned an erosion of public confidence into a collapse. The downturn came to a climax with Watergate. Americans saw a presidency disintegrate before their eyes, criminal conspiracies at the highest level of government and a president driven out of office. The effect on public trust was immediate and dramatic. Watergate crushed the publics faith in government. In 1974, a little more than a third of Americans 36 percent said they still trusted the government. (Americans in the 1950s and 1960s saw there government as successful. They had led the country out of a depression and won a World War. The 1970s did  not carry that same prestige, instead the American public saw there elected leader in the center of a severe scandal, the worst recession in 40 years, and an embarrassing loss to an un-winnable war. Since Watergate, nothing has happened to restore public trust. (Bill, 1997). By the end of the 1970s, Americans were ready for change. The Vietnam War had ended, Nixon had resigned from office, and there was a lack of trust in government officials. Many Americans believed the 1980s were going to be that time of change. Nixon was a professional politician when elected president. Since that did not fare well, there was heightened contempt in professional politics. This created a market for outsiders and non-professionals for the job of Presidency. Many Americans today still crave for the Eisenhower or Kennedy era, but not since then has there been that kind of support for an elected president. Only when special interests groups stay out of politics or presidents remember they are leading by example will that return. Lets all hope that day will be sooner rather then later. References Vietnam War. (2007). _World Almanac Encyclopedia,_ Retrieved November 19, 2007 from facts.com database. Davidson, J. W., Gienapp, W. E., Heyrman, C. L., Lytle, M. H., Stoff, M. B. (2002). _Nations of Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic_ (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Bill Schneider, (1997). Cynicism Didnt Start With Watergate. _allPolitics_. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/ _United States of America: HistoryFrom Watergate Through the 2000 Election._ (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2007, from The World Almanac Encyclopedia @ FACTS.com database.

The Ironic Title of The Great Gatsby Essay -- Great Gatsby Essays

The Ironic Title of The Great Gatsby      Ã‚   Titling is a very important part of the fiction-writing process. It is important for authors to be careful in choosing their titles because the titles often can have great influence on certain aspects of the story. In the book, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the title was formulated with the intention of heightening characterization through the use of irony. When readers start to read this novel, they immediately see a man who seems very glamorous and powerful while they have already been predisposed to seeing him in an alluring light due to the book's title. However, this perception of Gatsby is eventually completely transformed as Fitzgerald continuously divulges the flaws within Gatsby and his way of life. Having given his book the title, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald has created a level of irony that enhances Gatsby's character and serves as a basis of contrast between how Gatsby appears to an outsider and what he really is.    F. Scott Fitzgerald was very clever in choosing the word "great" in describing such a complex character as Jay Gatsby. It is clear that this word is being used facetiously as Fitzgerald continuously reveals more and more weakness within Gatsby. At first glance, Gatsby is portrayed as glamorous and magnificent. The reader himself learns to appreciate this man who is the classic example of an American hero- someone who has worked his way up the social and economic ladder. He is a man who has completely invented his own, new, inflated image. Throughout the novel, this glorified facade is slowly peeled away. Gatsby eventually gets killed in pursuit of romance with the beautiful, superficial socialite, Daisy Buchanan. Havi... ...ed because there is a reflection of an even stronger idea of false glamour to add onto that revealed in the text. The irony of the title of this book is another thing that makes it so great and out of the ordinary. Fitzgerald was a pioneer in bringing to light the flaws within the American Dream. By writing The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald successfully revealed the typically overlooked downside to striving for perfection.    Work Cited Bewley, Marius. "Scott Fitzgerald's Criticism of America." Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby.   Ed. Ernest Lockridge. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. 37-53. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. London: Penguin Books, 1990. Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.   

The differences between the rich and the poor in the two books ‘Daz 4 Zoe’ and ‘The time machine’

This essay is aimed to establish the differences between the rich and the poor in the two books ‘Daz 4 Zoe' and ‘The time machine'. ‘The time machine' was written in Victorian times roughly a century before ‘Daz 4 Zoe' was written. Although the two books were written so far apart from each other, there are still a few similarities between the two like the social messages they convey. Both books are basically saying that if society stuck together and if everyone was kinder to each other, we would not have a divide in society and the world would be a much nicer place. As you know this essay is aimed to define the differences between the rich and the poor and I believe that one of the greatest differences is that the rich get plenty of opportunities and the poor quite simply don't. We can clearly see this in ‘The time machine' where the Eloi (rich) live on the surface and eat fine fruit, dictate to the Morlocks (poor) and have them as their personal man slaves, the Morlocks have to live underground in mineshafts, quite a contrast to the rich lifestyles of the Eloi. The morlocks are also blind: â€Å"I could tell they lived underground from their white skin and large eyes.† In the other book ‘Daz 4 Zoe' we can also see this rich/poor divide with the Chippies (poor) and the Subbies (rich). The Subbies who have well paid jobs and who have clean and tidy homes get plenty of chances in life to improve themselves, but the Chippies don't, they have to make do with living in rundown apartments and surviving on scraps of food why? because they have no money. Within the book we see that the Subbies are prejudiced against the Chippies because they often steal from them: â€Å"You let a Chippie stay the night he'll rip off all you're stuff and maybe cut you're throat for an encore.† This prejudice is still true of today's society in certain countries even in England. It seems to me that the rich are in a way living in fear of the poor, because the rich have a lot of hi-tech security gadgets, they even have bouncers securing their homes. â€Å"They mite well larf wiv ther hi fences and dazzlers and bouncers garding them and al that.† This also is very true of modern society in the way that rich have become very untrusting towards poor and vice-versa. Swindells shows this divide in society very well throughout the book. We also get this sense of fear of the poor in the ‘The time machine' during the day time the Eloi are happy to dictate to the morlocks, but in the evening the tables turn on the Eloi when morlocks attack â€Å"Freshly shed blood was in the air, there was a table with meat on it.† The time traveller is also very wary of the morlocks and is very taken back with their discruntled bodies: â€Å"I saw a small white, moving creature with large bright eyes. It was like a human spider.† Both poor parties in the two books try and obtain power through violence, we can best see this with the Chippies: â€Å"1 man 1 woman 1 kid thay come out this guy waiting for them wiv his mates kill the subbies and nik there stuff.† This is sadly true of today's society e.g: IRA, Saddam Hussain and other terrorist organizations. Another fact of the two books seems to be that both rich parties are living a high standard of life at the expense of the poor, in the way that instead of treating the poor as equals they have cast them aside and society has slowly forgot about the poor people: â€Å"The only Chippies we saw were those who had passes to come into a suburb to work.† This strongly relates to many peoples views on the third world countries. The Subbies in ‘Daz 4 Zoe' also have very nice suburban homes: â€Å"We work and have showers and nice houses, they don't, they hang out and live in crummy apartments.† Again we get this sense of prejudice with â€Å"they hang out and live in crummy apartments.† We also know that Subbies and Zoe in particular are very well dressed, we know this because it states that she has to ‘dirty' herself up in Chippieland so to speak. In the other book we can also see that the rich (Eloi) have a high living standard aswell. The Eloi live on the surface in a totally different world to the Morlocks or so it seems, it is like a tropical paradise very much like the Victorian rich had it. The Eloi also eat fruit of the most lavish kind: â€Å"These were heaps of fruit some I recognised as an extra big raspberry or orange but in the most part they were strange.† Exotic fruit have also been the choice for rich Victorians. In my personal opinion the Eloi and the Subbies are just weak. The Chippies inflict fear into Subbies via guns and knifes etc†¦ The Morlocks also take advantage of how frail the Eloi are by using them as cattle. Although the Subbies and the Eloi are in totally different time zones and different civilizations there Are not that many differences between them e.g: They are both vunerable to the poor, both have a high living standard and both are slowly getting their ‘just desserts' so to speak. But however the differences that they do share are major ones like how the Eloi have forgotten how to make a fire. This shows just how much man has drifted from his natural beginnings. The Eloi also lose their general knowledge quite a contrast to the Victorian beliefs at the time that knowledge/ education was power: â€Å"A gallery of technical chemistry it looked hopeful.† The subbies have retained their knowledge, and they try to gain power through it. This is very true of today's society because that is what Tony Blair is trying to do e.g: He thinks that because he is Prime Minister he can go against the wishes of the country and still go to war with Iraq just because we can â€Å"afford it.† In conclusion of this essay I believe that the two books have more in common than they do differences. I also believe that the concerns of society in the 1890's were far less great than the society concerns of our modern day, for instance back in Victorian times there was not chemical warfare or fear of it at least and there was also no global warming, times have changed considerably since then, and we will continue to change.

Distinguishing Between Sein and Haben in German

If you are like most German language learners, youve probably come across the following dilemma when it comes to verbs in the perfect tense: When do I use the verb haben (to have), when do I use sein (to be)?This is a tricky question. Even though the usual answer is that most verbs use the auxiliary verb haben in the perfect tense (however watch for common exceptions stated below), sometimes both are used — depending on  what part of Germany youre from. For instance, northern Germans say Ich habe gesessen, whereas in southern Germany and Austria, they say Ich bin gesessen. The same goes for other common verbs, such as liegen and stehen. Furthermore, the German grammar bible, Der Duden, mentions that there is a growing tendency to increasingly use the auxiliary verb sein with action verbs. However, rest assured. These are other uses of haben and sein to be aware of. In general, keep the following tips and guidelines in mind when deciding between these two auxiliary verbs and youll get it right. Haben Perfect Tense In the perfect tense,  use the verb haben: With transitive verbs, that is verbs that use the accusative. For example:Sie haben das Auto gekauft?  (You (formal) bought the car?)Sometimes with intransitive verbs, that is verbs that dont use the accusative. In these cases, it will be when the intransitive verb describes an action or event over a duration of time, as opposed to an action/event that occurs in one moment of time. For example, Mein Vater ist ​angekommen, or My father has arrived. Another example:  Die Blume hat geblà ¼ht. (The flower bloomed.)With reflexive verbs. For example:  Er hat sich geduscht. (He took a shower.)With reciprocal verbs. For example:  Die Verwandten haben sich gezankt. (The relatives argued with each other.)When modal verbs are used. For example:  Das Kind hat die Tafel Schokolade kaufen wollen. (The child had wanted to buy the chocolate bar.) Please note: You see sentences expressed in this way more in written language. Sein Perfect Tense In the perfect tense, you use the verb sein: With the common verbs sein, bleiben, gehen, reisen and werden. For example:Ich bin schon in Deutschland gewesen. (Ive already been in Germany.)Meine Mutter ist lange bei uns geblieben. (My mother stayed with us for a long time.)Ich bin heute gegangen. (I went today.)Du bist nach Italien gereist.  (You traveled to Italy.)Er ist mehr schà ¼chtern geworden. (He has become shier).With action verbs that denote a change of place and not necessarily just movement. For example, compare Wir sind durch den Saal getanzt  (we danced throughout the hall) with Wir haben die ganze Nacht im Saal getanzt  (we danced the whole night in the hall).With intransitive verbs that denote a change in condition or state. For example:  Die Blume ist erblà ¼ht. (The flower has begun to bloom.)