Reichenberger,+Thompson,+Spencer

What American Means to Us? Change I posted a question on yahoo answers asking how Americans today personally feel about change. (We are doing a project in history about what America means to us. We chose "change". We are wanting to add to the project by asking people throughout the United States what their beliefs are about changes in the US. Idea Questions: Do you feel Americans fear change? Why? How do we cope with the changes that occur? Do Americans have control over the changes that happen?)-Beth Here's the website [] I have gotten a few resonses but only a couple worth putting in our project i think. __The Election of President John F. Kennedy__ John F. Kennedy ran for president in 1960. He was was a young senator from Massachusetts and a strong believer in civil rights. John F. Kennedy publicly supported Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy was an atttractive man and well spoken. His family was wealthy and had been in politics for many years. One quality that Kennedy had that American feared was the fact he was a strong believer in Catholisism. Americans feared that the pope would have a great political influence in American politics. Another fear Americans had about Kennedy was his young age. Many worried that he would lack experience as a president and hadn't been through enough in his own life to control the life of others. On September 26, 1960 the first televised presidential debate took place between John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Both candidates seemed to be knowledgeable. They both answered questions properly and tried to appeal to the American people. Kennedy appeared on television very calm and relaxed. He looked good on television and many voters said they favored him based on his looks. Time Magazine said that "Kennedy was quick, aggressive, and cool. Nixon was strangely nervous, perspiring profusely, so badly made-up that under the baleful glare of floodlights he looked ill as well as ill at ease". Kennedy won the election by less than 119,000 votes out of 68 million people who voted.

How does this relate to change? Americans were reluctant to elect Kennedy as president. They felt he was too young and feared his religious beliefs. One of the main reasons Kennedy ended up being elected was his due to his looks. He appealed to the viewers who watched the election on their television. A new era of politics started with the election of Kennedy. "Image relplaced the written word as the natural language of politics."

__Ruby Bridges and the Desegregation of Schools__ Ruby Bridges was six years old when she became one of the first African-American students to attend an all-white elementary school. The federal court ordered the public schools in New Orleans to desegregate. Ruby took a test in the spring of 1960, along with other African-American kindergarteners, to determine which children would attend an integrated school the upcoming school year. Ruby Bridges passed the test and was to start her first day of first grade at William Frantz Public School in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was in full support of Ruby going to a desecrated school, but her father thought it was a risky and silly idea. Many discussions took place between Ruby’s parents about the idea of Ruby going to William Frantz. Finally they came to an agreement that Ruby would attend the school, not only for Ruby to take a step forward, but for all African American children to prosper as well. Five other African American children were selected to attend the integrated public schools. Ruby was the only one who attended William Frantz. On November 14, 1960, Ruby went to school at William Frantz for the first time with her mother and four federal marshals. As Ruby got out of the car a mob of people shouted and shook their fists at her. Ruby’s first day of school was spent in the principal’s office. Caucasian parents took their children out of school in rage. The mob outside of the school made dolls of Ruby that lay in small coffins, which scared Ruby more than the shouting. For several weeks, Ruby was escorted by federal marshals to help her walk through the crowds of screaming white men and women. Mrs. Henry was Ruby’s teacher. She was a young Caucasian woman with a big smile. Everyday when Ruby entered school, Mrs. Henry would give Ruby a hug and escort her up the stairs to the classroom where Mrs. Henry taught Ruby one-on-one. As time went on, protests against Ruby took place. Ruby’s father was fired from his job. The owners of a grocery store told Ruby’s family to stop shopping there. Ruby’s grandparents in Mississippi were even being harassed. The owner of the land Ruby’s grandparents had sharecropped with for 25 years asked them to move away. Not everyone was against Ruby attending William Frantz. People all across the nation sent letters and donations. One of the Brides’ neighbors gave Ruby’s dad a painting job. Others babysat for the family, watched out for troublemakers around the Brides’ house, and walked behind the marshal’s car on the way to take Ruby to school. A man named Dr. Robert Coles also offered to help Ruby. He was a child psychiatrist who talked to Ruby every week about the whole ordeal and to see how Ruby was handling everything. Many supported Ruby and the desegregation of schools. The school year ended with few protesters and talk of more African-American students attending William Frantz next year. Ruby Bridges was six years old and showed more maturity than the hundreds of protestors who were against desegregation in the United States schools. She went on to graduate an integrated high school and went to business school to study travel and tourism. Ruby Bridges brought people together and changed the United States for the better. "It's not easy for people to change once they have gotten used to living a certain way," Mrs. Henry said. "Some of them don't know any better and they're afraid. But not everyone is like that."

How does this relate to change? Ruby Bridges persued going to school even with all of the tension it caused. In the beginning, Americans were against the school board for allowing African-American kids to attend all white schools. Not only was the Caucasian race upset, but so were the minority races. Some Americans feared that this change would only bring more hate, tension, and anger directed towards the African-American race. As time went on, Ruby Bridges and the other African-American students who attended the all white schools were treated as equals. The mix between races attending that same schools became normal and Americans became acostumed to the change. Students began to feel more equal and began to befriend kids of different races. With the desegregation of schools, kids of all races were allowed the same education rights and the same learning environment.

__Great Depression__ Leading up to the great depression was the roaring 20's. People in America were used to being able to get whatever they wanted, the economy was good, and they didn't have to worry about a lot. In 1929, the stock market crashed. People lost all of their money that was in the banks, they couldn't do anything about it. Very few government programs were created to help during the Great Depression. Through out the Great Depression, people remained hopeful, but by the end, most people got very desperate. Americans did not trust others during the great depression. They especially did not trust the government. The change put a fear into Americans.

How it Related to Change? Before the Great Depression, people were not worrying about money. No one could see the Great Depression coming, so there was no way to resist the change. People took their anger to the change out on the banks. No one would put any money in the banks in fear of losing it. The change affected the government for many years. Before the GD Republicans had the majority in the House, but in the elections of 1930, Democrats took control of the House outnumbering the Republicans 331-89. Only six times in the next fifty years, the Republicans would be the majority. Americans still fear that the change of economy will spark another GD.

__Women's Rights(This is pretty hard for a GUY to write about!)__ Since early times, Women have been viewed as a source of human life. They had not been allowed anything outside of their house, they had not been allowed to talk unless spoken to, have an opinion, be involved in government, work, or anything that involved them actually thinking. Women have spent many decades in the shadows of men. They were often looked down upon for "not being a knowledgable source about a given subject." But as the years in the century came and went, the rolls of women in society started to grow emensly.

Women have often fought for many legal rights in the world, workforce, or just at home. Women have protested many a time for certain rights. Arguably the biggest breakthrough in womens rights is the right for women to vote. After the Revolutionary War, women were allowed to vote in New Jersey, but no other state, from 1790 until 1807, provided they met property requirements then in place. Then in 1807, women were again forbidden from voting in the state. In 1848, Gerrit Smith made woman suffrage an important part in the Liberty Party Platform. In July, at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York, activists including Elizabeth Stanton began a seventy-year struggle by women to secure the right to vote. In 1850, Lucy Stone organized a larger assembly with a larger focus, the National Womens Rights Convention in Worchester, Massachussetts. Susan B. Anthony, joined the cause in 1852 after reading Stone's 1850 speech. During the beginning of the twentieth century, as women's suffrage gained in popularity, suffragists were subject to arrests and many were jailed. Finally, President Woodrow Wilson urged Congress to pass what became, when it was ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment which prohibited state and federal agencies from gender-based restrictions on voting.

__Health Care Reform__ In March of 2010, The House of Representatives passed the health care reform bill with a 219-to-212 vote. The health care reform is supposed to "make health care more affordable, make health insurers more accountable, expand health coverage to all Americans, and make the health system sustainable, stabilizing family budgets, the Federal budget, and the economy".

The health care reform is promisded to make insurance more affordable by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing costs for millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage. Under the plan, 95% of Americans will be insured. Americans will be given the same choices of insurance that the members of the Congress has with the new reform. The new health care reform also involves commonsense rules to keep premiums down, prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care, and end discrimination against Americans. The American economy and budget will be more stable path. Government overspending and reining of waste, fraud and abuse will be cut by emense amounts.

President Obama has signed different acts to insure the new health care reform will be successful. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act protects health coverage for over seven million Americans who lost their jobs, invests $19 billion in medical records, provides $500 million to the health workforce, and gives $1 billion for research toward medical treatments.

The Administration of the President has high hopes for the reform and plans for the health care reform to protect families from bankruptcy, improve patient safety and care, guarantee choice of doctors, invest in prevention and wellness, maintain coverage when jobs are lose, assure affordability, end barriers to those with pre-existing medical conditions, and to reduce the long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and the government.

"Many Americans are wary of unfamiliar changes to their existing insurance policies and fear hefty penalties for not obtaining coverage". Some feel that legislation was pushed unfairly by Congress using a series of "procedural tricks" and "backroom deals". Others believe that the law is too watered down. They say this because they believed it does not offer a government-administered public option, a key provision supported by progressive Democrats. Americans fear what the future generations will have to deal with and how the health care reform will insure their safety.


 * All in all, America fears change. No matter what the United States still continues to change, whether it be a new style of hat introduced to the fashion industry, a law passed by the legislation, or an adjustment in the economy.**