The Hollywood ten was a set of ten individuals who were pointed the finger at of being communist during the epoch of McCarthy Joseph. The House Un-American Activities Committee was undertaking investigations on various individuals on suspicions of spreading communism ideologies. A good number of people recorded statements but the ten screenwriters refused to cooperate on this issue and they were sentenced to jail for a period of twelve months for condescension of the Congress1. Besides, they were also banned from running any activities in the film industry in Hollywood. However, the ban was done away with in the mid 1960s. The ten individuals were: Dalton Trumbo, Adrian Scott, Lester Cole, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Ring Lardner Jr, Edward Dmytrk, Lawson Howard, Samuel Ornitz, and Maltz Albert.
Strengths and weakness of oral testimony and magazines sources of history; and emerging images of American women in the 1920s
Arguably, oral testimony and written documents are the common sources of historical information. One of the advantages of oral sources of history is that it is easy for the person giving the information to elaborate it based on personal experience. Arguably, small pieces of information can be very enlightening with very minor mistakes. Thus, oral sources of history act as a living link with the past. Besides, this source fills the gap where written documents may be lacking. On the other hand, one of the strengths of written sources of history such as magazines is that they are relatively more accurate as compared to oral history2. The other strength of this source it is creates room for criticism; hence, promoting improvement of the way of thinking leading to development of humanity. However, the two sources also have their weaknesses.
For instance, in the case of oral history it is sometimes difficult to obtain accurate information due to memory lapse. Moreover, it is difficult to separate personal experience from others. On the other hand, the most significant weakness of magazines as sources of history is that events may not be accurately recorded due to use of difficult vocabulary, making it difficult to understand.
As a matter of fact, women have had minimal career opportunities and legal rights as compared to men from the historical point of view. However, significant changes took place in the 20th century when women in most parts of the world were allowed to vote and to pursue various educational and career opportunities. In America specifically, in the 1920s constitutional changes were made to allow women to vote. However, based on various readings, it can be seen that since these achievement various changes took place concerning women movements3. For instance, it is clear that women do not vote as a bloc, hence no “women’s vote”. Additionally, younger women became less involved in reforms and concentrated more in their careers. Basically, they were more involved in liking the new sexual and economic freedoms.
Involvement of the US in the Pacific War
The Pacific War generally refers to the parts of the Second World War that happened in the Pacific Ocean as from 1941. From the Australians point of view, the United States and Australia had significant say as far as this war is concerned in terms of the fighting plans. Although Australia were traditional linked with the United Kingdom, they were surprised with the speedy fall of the British Malaya which lead to the imprisonment of about 16,000 Australian soldiers4. This was one of the reasons why the American and Australian soldiers were brought together under the commandership of General MacArthur.
Later on as the War progressed, the Pacific War Council was founded and based in Washington. Thus, the United States became the key player in the war against Japan and its allies. The pacific war came to an end in 1945 following the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which forced Japan to surrender after the death of several thousands of people from this attack5. Knowledge on this issue can be accessed through various written historical sources as well as oral sources of history. Arguably, these sources have the support of the various readings.
Perhaps, September 11, 2001 is one of the unforgettable days in the entire world in general and the United States in particular. On this day several people died when terrorist attacked or rather bombed the World Trade Centre buildings. Terrorists took over four business jet planes and tried to fly them into various targets in the United States. Two planes crashed into two towers of the World Trade Center6. Following this attack, President Bush asked all the civilized states in the entire world to gang up together against terrorism. The president initiated a military operation in Afghanistan in search of Al Qaeda members and Osama Bin Laden, who they believed were behind the attack. This operation was extended to Iraq which was believed to be the suppliers of weapons to Al Qaeda. However, several questions have been raised by various people over the same because they believe that they were other motives behind this operation.
There are various lessons which can be learnt from this historical attack. To begin with, it created awareness in the entire world that terrorism is real. Secondly, it implies that terrorist have considerable machineries and they can launch an attack in any country if sufficient security measures are not put into place. Actually, this is one of the reasons why strict security measures have been implemented more especially in the United States. Lastly, there is need for various nations to work together towards eliminating terrorism in the world.
Easy question on America after September 11, 2001
Perhaps, September 11, 2001 is one of the most devastating moments for the Americans since the end of the Second World War. Based on September 11 terrorist attack, do you think the United States was justified in launching military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Reference List
Eric Foner. (2007). Give Me Liberty: An American History, Vol. 2 W.W. Norton and Company.
Ian Tyrrell, (2007). Transnational Nation: United States History in Global Perspective Since 1789 Houndmills: Palgrave.
Kay Saunders and Helen Taylor. (1995). “The Reception of Black American Servicemen in Australia During World War II: The Resilience of ‘White Australia”, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 25, no 3, 331–348
Kathleen Blee, (1998).‘Evidence, Empathy and Ethics: Lessons from oral histories of the Klan’ in The Oral History Reader, eds. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson. London: Routledge, 322–331
Wilborn, Hampton. (2007). September 11, 2011: Attack on new York City. New York: Candlewick Press
