Jon Wiener’s How We Forgot the Cold War is an engaging tour of American monuments dedicated to the failed remembrance of the Cold War. Through a five-part study guiding the reader through different eras of remembrance, Wiener gives detailed accounts of monuments, memorials, and museums dedicated to the official memory of the Cold War. Conservative thought dominated for much of the book. Through the decades, conservative politicians fought to disseminate their belief of the conflict as a triumph of good over evil and the equation of the defeat of totalitarianism with the defeat of fascism in World War II. Wiener’s travels on the surface are simply a road trip through time and space visiting different sites which remember the conflict in varying…
In 1946, Canada gave political asylum to Igor Gouzenko, a soviet sipher clerk responsible for stealing 109 documents, which proved soviet spies were operating in Canada and the United States. Gouzenko’s actions arguably began this period of tension between the Americas and the Soviet Union, now known as the Cold War. When Canada accepted Gouzenko’s claims against the Soviet’s as reality, we launched ourselves into the Cold War. Although the majority of the conflict was between the United States and the Soviet Union, Canada became involved through participation in the Korean War, the Suez Canal crisis as well as the United Nation’s (UN) peace promotion, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In addition to that, Canada was unexpectedly…
The author of the novel The Walleye War: The Struggle for Ojibwe Spearfishing and Treaty Rights is Larry Nesper, an assistant professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, as an understudy for Raymond Fogelson, a well-renown American Indian ethnographers. Nesper specializes in the Ojibwe or Chippewa tribes of Northern Wisconsin. As a result, the whole scope of his career is based on the social injustices and struggles that the Ojibwe face, creating this very in depth ethnography. He has collected evidence through field work, participant observation, and interviews over a span of 9 months in Lac du Flambeau, in the heart of the Indian reservation.…
After World War II, the United States and the USSR came out as the world's major powers. The war caused many nations to become politically and economically unstable, such as Europe and Asia. " The Second World War had a deeply unsettling effect on the international system" (Norton, Mary Beth. Chapter 24: The Cold War and American Globalism 1945-1961. In A People & A Nation, p. 718).…
Their foundation was in Oceania with the Party and Big Brother so it was hard for them to let go. They didn’t have to totally cut ties though, they still have Big Brother and the Party. Big Brother will always be watching them, they are not alone. The people in America cannot go to Oceania and the citizens of Oceania cannot go to America but Big Brother connects us all. America is and forever will be happily part of Oceania.…
The American Civil War, a result of Southern states seceding after Republican Abraham Lincoln became president, lasted from 1861 to 1865.The war ended with a surrender from the Confederacy, with more than 600,000 deaths from both sides. Although the American Civil War was fought on the other side of the world, Europe still had interest and played a role in it. To begin, Europe sent envoys to report on what was going on in America during the war. An envoy was not a spy. In fact, spies took information from their opposing territory and brought back information on battle plans and number of forces.…
It may seem logical to believe that Americans had kept isolationist beliefs during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as America had always predominately isolationist beliefs, ever since these ideas were stated George Washington’s farewell address in 1796. However, once Americans began to industrialize, there were many people who began to emerge from their shells of anti-imperialism after the brutal fight of the Civil War, due to partly an increase of interest in foreign markets. Americans wanted to wreak more economic benefits; Americans wanted to own places like Hawaii to gain a plethora of money from cash crops like sugarcane. Those who supported pro-imperialism, however, often argued with those who felt it necessary…
The earliest American foreign policy successes formulated through the consistent turmoil that engrossed Europe. The historian Samuel Flagg Bemis even coined the phrase “Europe’s distresses led to America’s earliest diplomatic successes.” From the nation’s bloody revolution, to major expansions across the North American continent, major victories for the United States was an outcome of war torn European nations unable to preserve their power in the west and cunning American legislators that parted from traditional diplomacy. Americans fought an uphill battle for respect and global recognition starting with the American Revolution. Patriots kept the British at bay in the early phases of the war but could not sustain under continued offense…
Another journey for the British and Americans to go to war. This is the war of hard work and discipline to win. This war was in Valley Forge Pennsylvania and this was during the winter of december 1777-1778. Everyone had to share a hut that fitted 12 men.…
During the Cold War, the communism of the Soviet Union posed as a major threat to presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, who were the ones responsible for maintaining the United States’ system of capitalism throughout the world and preventing communist governments. However, during each of their presidencies, each of them approached foreign policy during the Cold War with differences and similarities. All three of these presidents, however, followed the guidelines of the containment policy, but each of them made changes in order to fulfill the present needs, which sometimes had consequences. President Truman was the first president to encounter the threats of communism from the Soviet Union and enforce the foreign policy of containment. Containment was first enforced when president Truman realized that in order…
The American foreign policy has changed over time has reflected the change in its national interest. The American foreign policy is a major issue for the people today is because the terrorists just attacked Paris and over a hundred citizens were killed in the aftermath. Therefore, the United States was debating on whether that they should declare war on Isis; however, for the Congress claims that they should become neutral and don’t start a war. The reason why the Congress doesn’t want to start a war with Isis is because if the United States were to declare war on them it will only provoke more terrorists in the country, and also the problem will solve on its own.…
The article I choose is from the journal Political Geography and is titled “The radical geopolitics of US foreign policy: Geopolitical and geoeconomic logics of power” by Julien Mercille. This article focuses a lot on the US foreign policy after the cold war. The author dives into critical geopolitics and how the US foreign policy is affected by it. Throughout the article the author uses the Vietnam War as examples of how our foreign policy was formed. The first section’s main take away was the way American policy has been shaped by cold-war politics and truly hasn’t changed much since then.…
Foreign policy has been a struggle for the US, ever since immigration was started. However, many advancements were made, both for good and bad as a more modern America progressed. As Pearl Harbor was bombed, as the League of Nations failed, and as the US tried to stay neutral and isolated, the advancements of foreign policy were changed drastically. From 1920 to 1945 those changes were the most profound, as America became a more modern, civilized society. One of the vital pivot points of foreign policy was in 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed.…
They both want obedience and control, but most of all they both want power. In 1984, Big Brother has given a sense of fear that makes the characters in the book to have no emotion whatsoever. “When he got up to it he saw that a human hand severed at the wrist… He kicked the thing into the gutter, and then, to avoid the crowd, turned down a side street to the right (84).” The Party defeats anyone 's purpose of having any kind of emotion.…
Big Brother’s main slogan is, “WAR IS PEACE / FREEDOM IS SLAVERY / IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” (Orwell 4). This is not a very trusting or accepting phrase. These phrases are all contradictory towards each other. War is not a peaceful action, slavery is the lack of freedom, and strength does not include ignorance. Big Brother is teaching nothing but false ideas, but the citizens see him as a wonder, trusting,…