LAD/Blog #34: FDR's First Inaugural

His speech mainly functions to reassure the American people that things will be okay and not to worry. Despite the hard times he believes things will be okay because he has a plan to fix things. This plan would eventually be called his New Deal. He tells the people that "the only thing they have to fear, is fear itself". This means they no longer need to worry about the banks crashing, the rampant poverty, or even the global economic depression. He believed that the nation and its people would endure and utilize the programs and jobs that he would provide. After he tries to reassure them he does bring up the problems plaguing the nation during this depression. However, he feels that many of these problems are overblown. He mentions that people still have nature. They still have more than the generation that came before them. The businessmen who cheated them are losing money and power in the marketplace. He feels that while the situation is not great, it is salvageable. His main point is that the rampant unemployment needs to be ended. He knew that there was no way out of this depression if the nation was sacrificing 20% of its productive power to people without jobs. He also knew that the core problems of why this depression occurred needed to be addressed. The banks needed to be regulated, and the practice of buying stocks on margin needed to be ended. Aside from the great depression he also made two important assertions regarding domestic and foreign issues. He felt that the legislative and judicial branches needed to increase their power due to the fact that progressive presidents had increased executive power years before. That way the system of checks and balances would be restored. Regarding foreign issues FDR thought we should implement the "good neighbor policy". This meant that the US would protect weaker neighbors around them, as well as having open trade with them. He ends his speech by saying the American people have not failed, and going back to his previous point of reassuring them not to be afraid.

FDR inauguration:
Image result for FDR inauguration:

Another inauguration in a trying fiscal time (Obama):
Image result for Obama inauguration:

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LAD/Blog #35: Home was a Horse Stall

Executive order 9066 was essentially a racist program that excluded Japanese Americans from everyday life in America due to the actions of their former nation. They were banned from the west coast and forced into internment camps where they essentially lived under oppressive, racist marshal law. This was especially painful for first generation immigrants as they had a personal connection with both nations. Many of them did not want to see their two home nations fighting, and held some allegiance to both, but most were more prone to defending the United States.This was also hard on Japanese children, as they were ripped away from their friends, lives, and schools and taken to internment camps. One example of this is Sox, and her difficult upbringing during this time. She is taken away from her home and placed in a new one. That home is a horse stall. This stall was in a small, crowded internment camp which Sox was forced to grow up in. Her experience illustrates how poorly the Japanese ...

LAD #37: FDR’s Executive Order 9066

On February 19th, 1942, FDR proposed executive order 9066, the order that gave the Secretary of War the ability to create designated areas for specific people to stay during wartime that could pose a threat to the US military. In WWII these areas became known as internment camps, and the people put in them were Japanese-American citizens. This allowed for the rampant mistreatment of these people with cramped living conditions and improper education. While FDR did say these areas were to be provided adequate food, shelter, and transportation, the word "adequate" is very subjective, and allowed for very poor conditions. One example of this is the story "Home was a Horse Stall", where a young girl, Sox, and her family were forced to live in a horse stall and had very little rights and no access to programs many citizens would such as a good education. I, personally, think this is a horribly executed order. While it was FDR's intention to avoid the influence of spie...

LAD #39: Brown V. Board of Education

This case marks the beginning of the civil rights movements of the late 1950s to even present day. In Brown v. Board the supreme court unanimously ruled that schools can no longer be racially segregated. This contradicted the previous ruling of 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, that stated all publicly funded buildings could be separate but equal. This previous case had been deemed ineffective because all to often these separated facilities were not equal, with facilities that were dedicated to African Americans being significantly lower quality. This case was brought up originally because of Linda Brown, a girl barred from an all white school, and only given access to black schools which did not provide an equal education. Her defendants cited the 14th amendment, stressing that the State could not deny any person the equal right to protection of the laws, specifically the equal treatment under those laws which Linda Brown was not receiving. The Kansas District Court acknowledge...

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