history of america in 101 objects© and then some · faa 1933 federal aviation administration fap...

History of America

in 101 Objects©

and Then Some

Part 1, Session 51

Band 10

Great Depression

(1929-1940)

2

History Timeline [1929-1940] Great Depression (1929-1940)

• 1929 "Black Tuesday" stock markets crashes, Great Depression begins.

• 1930 Severe drought marks onset of the Dust Bowl.

• 1931 Hattie Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate; "The Star- Spangled Banner" officially adopted as the national anthem.

• 1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected president, promises" New Deal"; Amelia Earhart flies solo across the Atlantic; New York City's Empire State Building is completed, becoming world's tallest building.

• 1933 Prohibition ends; Adolf Hitler elected chancellor of Germany; Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein leaves Germany and settles in the United States.

3

History Timeline [1929-1940] Great Depression (1929-1940)

• 1935 President Roosevelt signs Social Security Act; federal government launches Works Progress Administration; Wagner Act guarantees collective bargaining; Committee for Industrial Organizations founded.

• 1936 African American athlete Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at Berlin Olympics.

• 1938 House Un-American Activities Committee formed to investigate Communist influence in the United States; Fair Labor Standards Act is passed.

• 1939 World War II begins in Europe with Germany's invasion of Poland; Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz are released; Marian Anderson performs at Lincoln Memorial after being refused at Constitution Hall.

• 1940 First woman, Frances Perkins, appointed to a U.S. president's cabinet, Secretary of the Department of Labor.

4

Great Depression

(1929-1940)

• 57. FRD’s “Fireside Chat” Microphone

• 58. John L. Lewis’s Union Badge

• 50. Combine Harvester

• 59. Marion Anderson’s Mink Coat

• 60. Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers

• 61. Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”

5

57. FRD’s “Fireside Chat” Microphone

A newly elected President reassures the Nation

in the midst of economic collapse and war

6

The fireside chats were a series of 31 evening

radio addresses given by President Roosevelt

between 1933 and 1944.

• “Fireside chats" were the first media developments that facilitated an intimate and direct communication between the President and the Nation.

• Roosevelt's cheery voice and demeanor worked to his advantage with the citizenry and he soon became one of the most popular presidents ever — Here is the problem and this is what we are doing about it!

• On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain slowly and comprehensibly his reasons for social change.

• Radio was especially convenient for Roosevelt because it enabled him to hide his polio from the public eye.

7

The Alphabet Soup of Government

Agencies and Programs (Over 100)

Formed by the FDR Administration

AAA 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act

CCC 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps

CCC 1933 Commodity Credit Corporation

CWA 1933 Civil Works Administration

DRS 1935 Drought Relief Service

DSH 1933 Subsistence Homesteads Division

EBA 1933 Emergency Banking Act

FAA 1933 Federal Aviation Administration

FAP 1935 Federal Art Project (part of WPA)

FCA 1933 Farm Credit Administration

FCC 1934 Federal Communications Commission

FDIC 1933 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

FERA 1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration

8

FSA 1935 Farm Security Administration

FSRC 1933 Federal Surplus Relief Corporation

FTP 1935 Federal Theatre Project (part of WPA)

FSA 1935 Farm Security Administration

FSRC 1933 Federal Surplus Relief Corporation

FTP 1935 Federal Theatre Project (part of WPA)

FWA 1939 Federal Works Agency

FHA 1934 Federal Housing Administration

FLSA 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act

FMP 1935 Federal Music Project (part of WPA)

FHA 1934 Federal Housing Administration

FLSA 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act

FMP 1935 Federal Music Project (part of WPA)

9

FWP 1935 Federal Writers' Project (part of WPA)

HOLC 1933 Home Owners' Loan Corporation

NIRA 1933 National Industrial Recovery Act

NLRA 1935 National Labor Relations Act

NLRB 1934 National Labor Relations Board/The Wagner Act

NRA 1933 National Recovery Administration

NYA 1935 National Youth Administration

PRRA 1933 Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration

PWA 1933 Public Works Administration

RA 1935 Resettlement Administration

REA 1935Rural Electrification Administration (now Rural

Utilities Service)

SEC 1934 Securities and Exchange Commission

SSA 1935 Social Security Administration

SSB 1935Social Security Board (now Social Security

Administration)

TVA 1933 Tennessee Valley Authority

USHA 1937 United States Housing Authority

USMC 1936 United States Maritime Commission

WPA 1935 Works Progress Administration10

Two early Profound Bills - 1935

• Wagner Labor Law: The right for Labor to

organize, National Labor Relation Board,

minimum wages, maximum hours and child

labor limitations

• Social Security program

11

58. John L. Lewis’s Union Badge

John L. Lewis, one of America's foremost

labor leaders, wore this badge at the 1936

United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)

convention.

Born in an Iowa coal-mining camp, Lewis

went to work in the mines at age fifteen. He

rose quickly as a labor leader, becoming

president of the UMWA in 1920, and later

helped found the Congress of Industrial

Organizations.

Lewis led a successful struggle to organize

industrial workers, improving wages, safety,

and benefits. 12

50. Combine HarvesterThe combine harvester

mechanized the farm, and

dramatically reduced the

need for much farm labor.

It both facilitated and for

some crops caused the

transformation of the US

from a nation of rural agrarian

small towns to one of big

cities by eliminating jobs.

This resulted in migration to

the cities providing the labor

for the industrial revolution.13

50. Combine HarvesterUnimaginable Bounty

• A driver in Agra-business and the mega-farm

• It industrialized agriculture

• Expanding from the 1930s into the 1940s; it

became the engine of the bread basket that

supported and feed the allied efforts in WW II

14

59. Marion Anderson’s Mink Coat

An event marred by racial prejudice is transformed

into a moment of national acclaim and respect

15

“In this great auditorium under the sky,

all of us are free.”

Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior

• Seventy-five years ago, on Easter Sunday, April 9,

1939, African-American contralto Marian Anderson

performed an unprecedented open-air concert on the

steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a huge live audience

and to millions more over the radio

• A mink coat—a recognized symbol of high status for

women at the time—also illustrates that despite

stereotypes and obstacles, an African-American

woman could transcend entrenched social and cultural

barriers to achieve fame, fortune, and success.16

60. Dorothy’s Ruby SlippersFrom the 1939 Movie the Wizard of Oz

A young girl’s fictional quest and her

magical shoes remind America that

there is “No place Like Home.”

The Ruby Red slippers celebrate the

glamor of Hollywood’s escapism, as

relief from the troubles of daily life,

while reminding us that plain old

home isn’t so bad.

MGM correctly sensed that the story

would strike a resonant chord in a

country struggling with despair and

uncertainty in the wake of the

dust bowl and the depression. 17

61. Woody Guthrie’s

“This Land Is Your Land”

18

61. Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”

• Some have called "This Land Is Your Land" an alternative national anthem.

• Others say it's a Marxist response to "God Bless America." It was written

and first sung by Woody Guthrie. Over time, it's been sung by everyone

from Bruce Springsteen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

• Guthrie recorded "This Land Is Your Land" during a marathon April 1944

session in New York. Guthrie while on shore leave from the Merchant

Marines, one of his many occupations during the Depression and war years.

• One song: With very different interpretations — from President Obama’s

campaign to anti Gay political activists.

• That’s why “This Land Is Your Land” is still around. Because more than it

being a song in reply to “God Bless America,” it is a song that is something

for people to grab hold of no matter their background, no matter their

beliefs; to keep all of us talking about what it means to be American.19

History Timeline [1940-1945]Greatest Generation (1940-1945)

• 1941 Japanese forces bomb U.S. military installations at

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; United States declares war on

Japan; war with Germany and its allies follow

declarations of war.

• 1942 Navajo and Basque code talkers employed in

the Pacific Theater to disguise communications; Rosie

the Riveter popularized on the home front; Executive

Order 9066 leads to forced relocation and internment

of Japanese Americans; Manhattan Project to develop

nuclear weapons begins.

• 1943 Allies invade Italy.

20

History Timeline [1940-1945]

Greatest Generation (1940-1945)• 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy in Europe, major

battles in the Pacific; World Bank and International Monetary Fund established; Roosevelt signs GI Bill of Rights.

• 1945 Nazi Germany falls; Roosevelt dies; the Enola Gay drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan; a second is dropped on Nagasaki; World War II ends with more than 400,000 American war dead; United Nations is established; concentration camps liberated; Yalta Conference begins negotiations for postwar Europe.

• 1946 Philippines becomes an independent republic from the United States.

21

Band 11

Greatest Generation

(1941 to 1945)

22

Greatest Generation

(1941 to 1945)

• 62. U.S.S Oklahoma Postal Hand Stamp

• 63. Spirit of Tuskegee

• 64. “We Can Do It” Poster of Rosie the Riveter

• 65. Japanese American WW II Internment Art

• 66. Audie Murphy’s Eisenhower Jacket

• 67. Enola Gay

23

Day of Infamy Pearl Harbor Speech December 8 1941

To the Congress of the United States

Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of

America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the

Empire of Japan.

• • •

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the

American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we

will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this

form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and

our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our

people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by

Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and

the Japanese empire.25

62. U.S.S Oklahoma Postal Hand Stamp

This traditional Navy three-bar cancel device

still bears the date “Dec 6, 1941 PM,” the day

before the ship capsized and sank early Sunday

morning during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It shows evidence of water damage, and

possibly even ash, hallmarks of its tragic past.

At 6 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a wave of fighters, bombers, and torpedo

planes took off from a series of Japanese warships north of Oahu, Hawaii.

They reached Pearl Harbor just before 7:55 am. Within twenty minutes, the

Oklahoma had been hit on the portside a number of times and capsized, trapping

several hundred crew members.

Thirty-nine men were rescued through the hull as rescue workers cut through

where they could hear tapping from within. Of the ship’s full complement of

2166 men, 415 were listed as either killed or missing in action and 32 wounded.26

63. Spirit of Tuskegee

The vehicle for African-American flyers to serve their country in

WW II paves the way for the integration of America’s Armed Services.

Of all the units in WW II, why select the 332th Fighter Wing?

They had to fight the US military, just to be able to serve and fight.

They had to fight their conditions at home, which the war didn’t change.

They had to fight the Germans, who were contemptuous of them.

— 65 died in combat and as POWs. 27

64. “We Can Do It”

Poster of Rosie the Riveter

Rosie, Eastine and thousands more like her worked

with air riveters in aircraft assembly factories, and 10’s of

thousands more were welders, operated machine tools,

ran farms and businesses and myriad other “male” jobs.28

Cathleen Doyle – Model for Norman

Rockwell’s Rosie with her lathe in

Pittsfield MA

29

0630 hours June 6th 1944 Omaha Beach Normandy, France 30

"I'm beginning to feel

like a fugitive from the

law of averages."

"Th' hell this ain't th'

most important hole in

the world. I'm in it."

“Joe , yesterday you saved my

life and I swore that I’d pay

you back. Here is my last

pair of dry socks.”

Willey and Joe by Bill Mauldin

31

65. Audie Murphy’s Eisenhower Jacket

Each stripe was

6 months in combat Medal of Honor32

General Eisenhower talking to paratroopers just prior to their jump into Normandy

General Eisenhower along with

all his responsibilities wanted a

jacket that could be worn in

combat and in training situations

that was more comfortable

that the formal long jacket.

In 1943 he had his tailor fashion

a jacket that “was very short, very

comfortable and Natty looking.”

In 1944 the shortened jacket was

standard issue. It was smart and

practical befitting Eisenhower’s

persona. A common identity with

his troops.

Murphy was the most decorated

soldier in WW II. His Medal of

Honor ribbon is the single

blue ribbon on top. 33

Smithsonian Credo

• If nothing else, the Smithsonian is

intellectually honest.

• Some exhibits are not without controversy,

the Smithsonian ties to be historically

accurate and lets the chips fall where they

may.

35

One of the first released

photos of dead American

solders in WW II, 1943

in New Guinea.

A Japanese sniper was in

The damaged landing

craft in the rear.

36

66. Japanese American WW II

Internment Art

“Thinking of Loved ones”

by Henry Sugimoto

US Citizens and permanent residents, forcibly

removed from their homes, express their

anguish in confinement and their loyalty to

the Nation.

1924 Asian Exclusion Act prohibited Japanese

immigrants from becoming US Citizens. Their

children born in the US under the 14th

Amendment were US citizens. They could enlist

and leave the camp and some were drafted from

camps, but their families remained in the camps.

Germany and Italy also declared war on the US.

While German and Italian enemies were often

viewed as misguided victims of despotic

leaders, the Japanese were often disparaged

collectively in racist wartime propaganda and

were expelled from the West Coast. 37

67. Enola Gay

39

On August 6 and 9, 1945, specially

modified B-29s, flown by the 509th

Composite Group, carried out two of the

final strategic bombing missions of the

war.

On those days only 6 B-29s flew over

Japan.

A single atomic bomb was dropped first on

Hiroshima and then later on Nagasaki.

There were conventional 1000 strong B-29

raids flown on the days before, between

and after these A-bombs were dropped.

The Emperor made a political decision and

Japan “accepted the Potsdam terms” days

later. Ma

Fat Man explodes over

Nagasaki after being

delivered by the B-29

Bockscar.

A New Age, the Rubicon

had been crossed!

40

History Timeline [1945-Today] Cold War (1945-1989)

New Frontier (1960-1985)

Civil Rights (1947- Today)

Pop Culture (1929- Today)

• 1948 Europe; Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union prompts U.S. airlift;

UN promulgates Universal Declaration of Human Rights, championed by

Eleanor Roosevelt.

• 1949 NATO is established; UN headquartered in New York City.

• 1950 Korean War begins; U.S. population is about 161 million, 64

percent urban.

• 1952 Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth; United States tests

hydrogen bombs in Pacific.

• 1953 Korean War ends with about 38,000 American war dead.

• 1954 Supreme Court decides Brown v. Board Education, ruling that racial

segregation violates Fourteenth Amendment; Sen. Joseph McCarthy

accuses officials and public figures of being Communists.42




Pop Culture (1929- Today)• 1955 Jonas Salk's polio vaccine widely available; Rosa Parks refuses to give

up her seat on a public bus, leading to Montgomery Bus Boycott; fourteen -

year- old African American Emmet Till brutally killed in Mississippi; Chuck

Berry releases Maybellene."

• 1956 Elvis Presley releases his fast number-one hit, "Heartbreak Hotel."

• 1957 Soviet Union launches Sputnik, leading to space race with the US;

President Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to

enforce school integration.

• 1958 United States establishes National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA); Explorer I, First American satellite, launched.

• 1960 John F. Kennedy elected first Catholic presi-dent; students conduct sit-

ins at the Greensboro, NC, Woolworth's counter; Food and Drug

Administration approves "the Pill."43




Pop Culture (1929- Today)• 1961 East Germany builds the Berlin Wall; United States severs diplomatic

relations with Castro's Cuba; Bay of Pigs invasion fails; Alan Shepard 's first

manned American space flight; civil rights movement Freedom Rides start;

Kennedy establishes Peace Corps.

• 1962 Marilyn Monroe dies; Cuban missile crisis; Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

published; Lt. Col. John Glenn becomes first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth.

• 1963 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers "I Have a Dream" speech on

the National Mall; President Kennedy assassinated; Bob Dylan records Blowin'

in the Wind"; Julia Child's The French Chef debuts on Boston WGBH PBS

television station.

• 1964 Beatles appear on Ed Sullivan Show; Civil Rights Act signed by President

Johnson; Tonkin Gulf Resolution signed by President Johnson, authorizing U.S.

involvement in Vietnam War.44


New Frontier (1960 -1985)

Civil Rights (1947-Today)

Pop Culture (1929 - Today)• 1965 President Johnson signs act creating Medicare to provide health care

benefits to American s over sixty- five; protests against U.S. bombings of

"North Vietnam in Washington, D.C.; civil rights march in Selma, Alabama;

Cesar Chavez emerges as a leader of farm worker movement with Delano

grape strike; Malcolm X assassinated; Immigration and Nationality Act

broadens immigration to the United States.

• 1967 Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American Supreme Court

justice; Muhammad Ali arrested for refusing to enlist, stripped of boxing titles.

• 1968 Sen. Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles; Reverend Dr. Martin

Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis; American Indian Movement founded;

violent protests at Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

• 1969 Woodstock music festival draws nearly half million to upstate NY; Apollo

11 astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes first man on the Moon; Stonewall riot

in New York; Native American occupation of Alcatraz during the Red Power

Movement.45





• 1970 Environmental movement celebrates first Earth Day; four students shot by Nation al Guards- men during Kent State antiwar protests.

• 1971 NY Times publishes first of the Pentagon Papers, classified history of the Vietnam War; Twenty-sixth Amendment extends vote to 18-year-olds.

• 1972 President Richard Nixon visits China and Soviet Union; Watergate scandal begins; pandas come to the National Zoo.

• 1973 Watergate hearings are televised; President Nixon impeachment proceedings begin; Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade guarantees woman's right to choose abortion; United States faces Arab oil embargo and energy crisis over support to Israel.

• 1975 Last evacuation from Saigon; South Vietnam surrenders to the North, President Ford declares end to Vietnam War with about 58,000 American war dead; Microsoft founded.

• 1977 Blackout in New York City; George Lucas's film Star Wars debuts.46





• 1978 American Indian Freedom of Religion Act; President Carter

mediates Camp David accords, with Israel and Egypt signing peace

treaty.

• 1979 United States establishes diplomatic relation s with China; Three

Island nuclear mishap in Pennsylvania almost causes meltdown; Iranian

students storm U.S. embassy in Tehran and take Americans hostage.

• 1980 United States boycotts Moscow Olympic Games; former actor and

California Governor Ronald Reagan is elected president; personal

computer (PC) launched by IBM; U.S. Olympic hockey team wins Miracle

on lce" gold medal.

• 1981 Iranians release hostages as President Reagan is sworn in; first

AJDS case recognized by the Centers for Disease Control; Sandra Day

O'Connor sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice; US.

Embassy in Beirut bombed.

47





• 1982 Vietnam Veteran’s memorial, designed by Maya Lin,

dedicated on the National Mall.

• 1984 Steve Jobs introduces Apple Macintosh computer ;

Soviet Union boycotts U.S. Olympic Games.

• 1986 Space shuttle Challenger disaster; first laptop

computer available.

• 1987 In Berlin, President Reagan urges Soviet leader Mikhail

Gorbachev to ''tear down this wall"; United States and

Soviet Union sign arms control treaty to reduce nuclear

weapons.

48




Pop Culture (1929- Today)• 1989 Berlin Wall is dismantled

1990 Congress passes Americans with Disabilities Act.

• 1991 Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, President George

H. W. Bush launches Operation Desert Storm, the first Gulf

War; Soviet Union breaks up, cold war ends; World Wide

Web launched.

• 1992 Trade Center bombing in New York kills six Americans.

49

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