1964-1989 Decades Project

By Alex Chen (just to clarify my name if you didn’t know it yet)

Plummer/P1

June 12th, 2003

WAKE UP!!!

• You do understand, that you all need to wake up and be taking notes, because my presentation will be superior in quality, content, succulence, tastiness, and in LENGTH compared to every other presentation so far. (just kidding). But still, I highly urge that you should take notes for the sake of your own developing brains. Ok, so now the presentation starts; be very afraid!!

Ho Chi Minh

As you can probably see, Ho Chi Minh was an old man during this period. He was already 74 years old in 1964, and died at 79 in 1979. Coincidentally, his lifespan covered the same years as Dwight D. Eisenhower; I’m sure both were quite wary of each other though. ;)

Famous Quote:

You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win

Ho Chi Minh•He was a passionate nationalist; obsessed with the idea of the independence of Vietnam; as well as the Communist domination of Vietnam later on. He was the president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969, and was a leader in the independence of Vietnam.

•Born 1890; a son of a poor county scholar, and had a wretched childhood.

•Worked in relatively simple, mundane jobs during his early life; and moved to Europe, where he became drawn into the teachings of Karl Marx and Communism.

•He later became a leader of many Vietnamese Nationalists who wanted to free their country from French Rule. He founded the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930, as well as its successor, the Viet Minh, in 1941; both advocated Vietnamese independence.

Ho Chi Minh•During World War II, the French were driven out of Indochina by the Japanese, who eventually had to surrender. Seizing the opportunity, Minh declared independence.

•France refused to recognize the independence of Vietnam, and eventually waged war on Vietnam. Minh, however, used guerilla warfare against the unaccustomed French, and was willing to sacrifice people in huge numbers, which brought upon the immortal quote “You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.”

At the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Minh’s Vietnamese defeated the French and stormed the fort. France had to recognize the legitimacy of Vietnam now, but the Geneva Accords dictated that Vietnam was to be divided into two: Communist North Vietnam, and Democratic South Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh

The Viet Cong, rebels from South Vietnam, eventually led a rebellion against South Vietnam, which was later supported by Ho Chi Minh. The rebellion led to the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam War, and lasted from 1959-1975.

Ho Chi Minh still held power in Vietnam in the war, but his health began to fail. When the United States decided to intervene in the war, Minh still fought on valiantly, and flatly refused a peace request from Lyndon B. Johnson in the late 1960s. Protests over the war in the U.S. followed, but Minh died in Hanoi in 1979, before the war would end in a Communist victory in 1975.

Minh was a hero among many Vietnamese, due to his perseverance and his dedication to achieve his goals at any costs possible. Additionally, he was largely responsible for the only major war that did not end in an American victory.

Minh’s Importance• Ho Chi Minh was included in Billy Joel’s song because

he was such a major player in the Vietnam War. His spirit during wartime was exemplary, although costly, and he still remains highly venerated among many Vietnamese. While his role in the Vietnam War was not as important as his role was in the French Indochina War, he was still a major leader during the late 1960s, and his spirit lived on to help the Communists win the Vietnam War. He was a good choice for the song because he was a major character during the time, whose plans were even significant enough to outwit the United States.

Woodstock

Date: August 15th-17th, 1969.

Woodstock• Woodstock was a festival near the city Woodstock,

NY in August 1969 which symbolized the rise of American counterculture in the 1960s as well as a milestone in the history of rock music.

• It was originally a place to stage a concert to promote the studio’s image.

• Members of American counterculture were called hippies due to their unorthodox lifestyles,

• Audience of around 400,000 people; much larger than the anticipated audience of 50-100,000 people.

Woodstock

• Festival was marked by many shortages and problems, but were still not enough to discourage people from coming to the festival.

• Many unknown bands who had shown at Woodstock became stars overnight due to the immense audience.

• Local residents were alarmed at the festival and the “hippy customs”

• Woodstock wasn’t such a great idea to be put into the song; the lasting effects of Woodstock were not as great as the effects of other events of the similar period; such as the Chernobyl explosion or advances in science and technology.

Begin, Menachem

1913-1992 Lifespan.

1977-1982 Prime Minister of Israel

Begin• Begin negotiated the Camp David Accords with

Anwar el-Sadat and Jimmy Carter in 1978.• The Accords provided a framework for peace

between Israel and the first Arabic country.• As a result, he was awarded the Novel Peace Peize

along with Anwar el-Sadat in 1978.

Begin• The Camp David Accords, however, did not establish

peace with other Arabic nations, which Israel continued to be hostile towards. It even invaded Lebanon under Begin in 1982, which failed and drew international criticism..

• Due to the failed invasion of Lebanon as well as his wife’s death in 1982, Begin resigned his office in 1983.

• Begin was a relatively good person to mention in Billy Joel’s song, but Sadat and Carter were also good people to mention in the song. The Camp David Accords certainly did mark a milestone in precarious Middle East politics.

China’s Under Martial Law•China Declared Martial Law on May 20th, 1989

•The reason behind the declaration of martial law was due to Tiananmen Square protests started after the death of Hu Yaobing on April 1989.

•The protests started out peacefully as a display of mourning, but quickly gathered up steam from students and workers, and became a massive pro-democracy movement. Over 1 million people per day were protesting at Tiananmen Square at the peak of the demonstration.

•The government wavered between the approaches of Zhao Ziyang and Li Peng in the suppression of the rebellion, but eventually chose Li Peng’s more radical method. Deng Xiaoping, China’s paramount leader, also supported Li Peng..

China’s Under Martial Law

• Once Martial Law was declared, the government sent troops to crush the demonstrators.

• June 3rd-4th, 2003: The People’s Liberation Army reached Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and crushed the demonstration. Hundreds were killed; thousands wounded; and hundreds more arrested.

• Chinese government condemned widely for the act; although Chinese leaders thought that their government would be overthrown if not for the declaration of martial law.

China’s Under Martial Law

• This was one of the major events of the time period which I am doing research on, and covered headlines on newspapers everywhere. It symbolized the strength those who held power in China, as well as the fact that China would never be democratic for many years to come due to the nationwide crackdown afterwards.

Deng Xiaoping Li Peng

DON’T FALL ASLEEP YET!! CONTINUE LISTENING AND TAKING NOTES; FOR THEY WILL PROVE BENEFICIAL

TO YOU IN THE LONG RUN!

Hubble Space Telescope

•Launched from the Discovery Space Shuttle on April 15th, 1990.

•Was repaired December 2nd-13th, 1993; the telescope then produced absolutely stunning pictures

Hubble Space Telescope

• The telescope had a major advantage over land based telescopes, as light doesn’t have to pass through an obstructive atmosphere, which distorts light.

• The telescope has also provided scientists with many new discoveries, as well as evidence to support many theories, especially ones relating to the early universe.

• The telescope is also versatile, covering objects as intimate as Mars to early quasars 12 billion light years away.

• Not only does it help scientists; but the telescope has also produced stunning pictures for the public to view with complete awe.

• The Hubble Space Telescope has provided people with over 100,000 photographs before 1997, and many more ever since.

• The Hubble Space Telescope should be put into Billy Joel’s song because it really marks a new revolution in the science of Astronomy. The discoveries of the telescope are impossible to summarize, and it is hard to imagine how much knowledge that we would have gained through the telescope. Without it, Astronomy would be in an earlier stage

• During the telescope’s launch, I was 1 year old, and cared about the telescope as much as a spider monkey would care about the stock market.

Images from the Hubble Space Telescope

Deep Blue

•An ingenious Chess-Playing Computer which defeated world chess champion Gary Kasparov in a series of chess matches in May, 1997.

Deep Blue

• Deep Blue was built by IBM, built to replace Deep Thought.• It originally shocked the world by defeating Gary Kasparov in the

first game of a six game February, 1996 series. Kasparov eventually changed his strategy; and was victorious over Deep Blue with 4 points to 2 points.

• In a May, 1997, a rematch was offered; and Deep Blue defeated Kasparov in the series with a ratio of 3.5 to 2.5 points (draws are worth 0.5 points to both).

• This event symbolizes how far artificial intelligence has gone so far in a short amount of time. Additionally, this should be the basis for the reasoning why Deep Blue should be in Billy Joel’s song, since advances in artificial intelligence are now so famous that it’s almost impossible to not encounter mentions of artificial intelligence in the media.

Polio Synthesized

According to a magazine article of Science published in July, 11th, scientists have created the polio virus – from scratch!!

Synthesis Definition: To combine chemicals to form a new, complex product

Polio Synthesized

• The DNA of the polio virus was retrieved from an online public website, and the chemicals for the virus were simply retrieved from a mail order catalog.

• The virus was then injected into two mice; both became paralyzed and died (sad ).

• The synthesis of the Polio virus caused alarm to many people, since it proves that a virus can be created from scratch.

• Due to this experiment, fears about the synthesis of a smallpox virus are now real, which is one reason why people are so concerned about smallpox now

Polio Synthesized

• The synthesis of polio also raises yet another question: Could life forms arise from non-life forms?

• Jeronimo Cello; one of the scientists who helped out with the synthesis stated that the polio virus was easy to create; but very few people would know how to synthesize a virus, especially smallpox, which is much more complex.

• I was 13 years old at the time; and I never heard about the incident until I did research on this project. This event wasn’t one that darkened headlines world wide, but it certainly can be considered a major event in the history of biology;as it marks the creation of a live virus from scratch.

• Before I heard about the synthesis, I simply thought that Americans were simply way too paranoid of a smallpox attack; but the risk could be greater than I previously thought.

THE END: WHAT A LACKADAISICAL PRESENTATION!!

• You have just endured the last presentation of the year! Breathe a sigh of relief, because you will never have to watch presentations again, and your (probably low) grades are now going to be final; while your parents will probably be screaming at you now. Have a great summer (or winter if you’re going to the Southern Hemisphere)!

NOW BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER

• Oh, and pay him a tribute of 1 dollar each as he is such a great teacher who you’ll never have again!