Watergate Scandal

The American people are taught to rely and trust on the leaders of their nation; to keep them safe and make decisions based on whats best for them. When a President breaks that bond between the people it becomes very difficult to move forward. When five men were caught breaking into the offices of the Watergate complexes on June 17th 1972 the power of the Oval Office was questioned. This will forever be known as the Watergate Scandal which involved Richard Nixon the President of that time.

The only newspaper at that time to cover the scandal was the Post. The two journalists who worked on the case were Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Making astonishing breaks in the case the journalists were finding that the money for Nixon's campaign funds were actually being used to pay the burglars. The burglars were caught attempting to place listening devices inside the Watergate Office Complex. "The break in led to revelations about misuse of campaign contributions, laundered money, political sabotage, deception, immorality, and any number of illegal activities" They also later found out that Nixon's entire reelection strategy was based on playing dirty tricks on Democratic presidential contenders. " After long investigations the journalists had uncovered evidence that The White House had dubbed a third rate burglary was in fact the tip of the iceberg in the most astonishing abuse of power in the history of the presidency"




Its so crazy to believe that during this time, as more people were being discovered involved in the case they were the people working closely in the White House and with the President. Everyone was denying any involvement and were also threatening to punish the Post. I became interested in this topic because it is something that is always talked about but never in full detail. I was never fully aware of what went on and I cannot believe a man would be so hungry for power and put the American government in possible danger for failure. To me Nixon showed no attributes of what we Americans look for in a leader. Its enlightening to read that he has been the only US President to resign in history and I am glad that these issues were discovered and taken care of properly.

Photos From :
http://americanpicturelinks.com/37rn.htm
http://www.curatormagazine.com/kevingosa/breaking-news-you-heard-it-here-first/
http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/his1005spring2011/2011/02/09/the-scandal-watergate-scandal/
Quotes From : Rodger Streitmatter's Mightier Than The Sword

Ku Klux Klan

In the late 1800’s slaves were given their freedom; an organization was formed in hopes to prevent them from acquiring their new rights. This organization was called the Ku Klux Klan. The organization was picked up in 1915 by a man named William Joseph Simmons in which members wore white long robes that covered their entire body including their faces with a pointy hood.

It is hard to fathom that people would form such a heinous group in which brainstorming a population and harming other human beings. This group often fell below the radar of the crimes they were committing such as racism, murders and in total 152 violent acts. The media tried its hardest in all areas of the United States to inform the American population of the dangers of this group. Unfortunately majority of the papers often led people to be intrigued by the group and the publicity turned more people towards the organization than they thought would happen.

During the rise of the Klan there were three major newspapers that had a severe impact on the American population. The New York World, The Commercial Appeal and The Montgomery Advertiser. These papers shed light on all aspects of the organization; some the awful truth and others false information. However what they all had in common were their cartoon drawings. They always indicated how preposterous the Ku Klux Klan was and how bad it reflected the American people.

I cannot believe that the citizens of this country who claim to love their freedom would be so quick to follow under the lead of an organization such as this. The line had to be drawn somewhere, fellow Americans were being stripped of their freedom by just joining this Klan and not even realizing it. The photo below was from the newspaper Commercial Appeal which to me is a very powerful photo. There is a US Solider in uniform who had lost his leg in battle fighting for his country and his beliefs; while standing in the background is a member of the KKK with the words 100% American written across its cloak.

Some people still today do not see the harm the KKK has caused. Below is an article from the NY Times written in the beginning of this year. The staff members of Evans Academy, a school in Florida had their annual staff bowling party. At this party they made humorous names up for their teams as well as costumes. One team made a poor decision deciding to name their team the KKK and come in with white costumes on. When photos and the news surfaced about the event the president of the Minor League Baseball informed the Academy that it would be severing it ties with the school and would no longer accept students into their professional ranks.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/sports/baseball/umpiring-school-loses-baseball-relationship-over-behavior-at-party.html?_r=1&ref=kukluxklan#



To me this is a topic that often goes unnoticed; the KKK is known as Americas Forgotten Terrorists. While children learn about it in school at a young age they often are not taught that it still goes on today. It is scary to know that people still believe in the beliefs of the KKK and will continue to follow and shed light in the way the organization once did in the early 1920’s.

Photos From:
http://kkk.org/kkk-culepicture/kkk-pictures

http://whitenoiseinsanity.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/is-sarah-palin-trying-to-get-barack-obama-assassinated-on-behalf-of-the-kkk/

http://thegetjusticecoalition.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-world-order-kkk-type-world.html

Women's Rights Movement

Slowing The Momentum For Womens Rights


In the late 1800’s men felt threatened by the possibility that the general second-class citizenship that women had held would be uprising and share in the commander role the male population had established. Beginning of the republic the media had worked to limit women’s role in society, it had placed them in a sphere known as the home. Women were not allowed to vote, let alone have a say in the household. “They were considered in society based on their husband’s identity, they were thought to be incapable of serious thought and important decision making. Women could not retain property and were married at the age of 16 giving birth to a child every year or two after up until her forties getting stripped of her looks and health by mid twenties” (Mightier than the Sword, Rodger Streitmatter).In July 1848 in Seneca Falls New York all of that changed when a group of progressive minded Americans made a stance for what they believed in at the Seneca Falls Convention.

“By the colonial times women were making major strides in society. They were succeeding in fields such as education, medicine, literature, law and printing”(Mightier than the Sword, Rodger Streitmatter). One of the things holding them back at this point were the magazines being published with degrading remarks about women including Ladies Magazine, Weekly Magazine and American Museum.
What sparked the Women’s Rights Movement was a married women of seven children named Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was married to a lawyer and abolitionist named Henry B Stanton. Henry was often away for work leaving Elizabeth with the boredom of homemaking. Stanton placed a public notice in the Seneca County Courier: “ A convention to discuss the social, civil and religious rights of women will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel, Seneca Falls New York, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th of July.”(Mightier than the Sword, Streitmatter Rodger).

Over three hundred attended Stanton’s arrangement and at the end of her day two meeting there was sixty-eight women and thirty-two men signed to a Declaration of Sentiments. A Powerful woman by the name of Susan B Anthony then took the side of Stanton to become one of the biggest leaders with her. Anthony used her talents and strengths as an intellect and organizer. These women combined their abilities and created a unique partnership at the head of the movement. These women arranged public lectures as well as petition drives attracting thousands of supporters.

By far the biggest downfall to all of this was the media. The newspapers and magazines had nothing nice to say about what was going on. The New York Herald which was one of the most influential newspapers in the country, called the Seneca Falls meeting a “Women’s Wrong Convention” and the Syracuse Star called the three days of speeches and discussions a “mass of corruption, heresies, ridiculous nonsense” Other newspapers attacked women feminists for even attending the meetings and claimed by doing so they were abandoning their responsibilities in the home.

Despite the things being said about the women and the movement Stanton believed that all publicity was good publicity because it would help move women’s rights into a topic that would sooner or later need to be discussed at a higher level. In 1868 Stanton and Anthony created The Revolution which was a newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper shined light on topics such as abortion, prostitution, divorce and prison reforms. However the newspaper never exceeded three thousand people and ceased publication after only two years.

As the end was nearing and the closer we got to finally giving women rights the upfront women involved in the forefront took a lot of the heat. Susan B Anthony was described in many newspapers as masculine and was accused of wanting to be a man. The worst was an article published in the Life magazine which had a drawing shown below labeled “The New Navy, about 1900 AD” which displayed the women all in navy uniforms with Anthony looking grossly overweight.

Finally after twenty years of separation the two wings of the women’s rights movement united in 1890 to create the National American Women Suffrage Association. In 1907 the movement leaders were joined by Stanton’s daughter Harriot who created the Women’s Political Union which appealed to the working class women. A woman by the name of Alice Paul also joined the team. She created demonstrations to push for a constitutional amendment and formed in 1913 the National Women’s Party.

The women who followed and believed in what these strong leaders were doing were often harassed and even sent to prison. Finally the American public began to follow, support and give attention to the importance of women’s suffrage. Last but not least Carrie Chapman Catt organized something later referred to as the “Winning Plan” which basically pressured the House of Representatives to pass the Ninetieth Amendment in 1918. After a long two years of fighting within the states and senate women’s suffrage became the law in August 1920 which was seventy two years after Susan B Anthony sparked a journey of change for the American women.

I chose to write about this topic not just because I am a Woman but also because I believe as stated in the declaration of independence that all men are created equal. It’s so crazy to see how important women are today in the roles they play in society and to think that just a little over a hundred years ago women took no part in anything. Learning about this when I was younger always interested me; however they never spoke about it in the way I read in Rodger Streitmatter’s book Mightier than the Sword. I could not believe the degrading things popular newspapers were publishing about women let alone they were allowed to say those things. I cannot begin to understand the pain and struggle these women must have endured over the seventy year mile long stretch it took for the House of Representatives to finally pass the amendment. American women of today could not thank enough those strong powerful and dedicated leaders who stood up for what they believed in; because of them we women rightfully have the rights we deserve.

Photos From:
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.wikispaces.com/USI.33
http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/iadventure/4320summer10/leannenichols/story2a.html
http://blog-aauw.org/2008/07/19/seneca-falls/
http://usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibition/11/6/sub-/manifest-destiny-and-the-popular-mapping-of-wars
http://www.dipity.com/tystratton/US-History-Unit-II-Timeline/
http://www.npg.si.edu/col/seneca/senfalls1.htm
http://historymartinez.wordpress.com/2011/03/16/declaration-of-sentiments-of-the-seneca-falls-convention-1848-woman-suffrage-primary-source-document-w-reading-questions/

All Information was taken from Rodger Streitmatter's book "Mightier Than The Sword"

For my first blog project i will be focusing on Chapter 3, Slowing the Momentum for Womens Rights. It has always been a topic of interest for me and I feel strongly about the rights for Women.

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