Watergate

Like all issues and historic events that remain controversial, everyone has their own opinion and way to describe why they are correct. Watergate is no exception, Many people have added their input and all have valid reason to believe they are correct. What they all share in common is the fact that Nixon was under great pressure. He had to deal with the Vietnam war and make the citizens of the U.S. believe that he was doing what they wanted. Achieving all these tasks was not easy, and Nixon was often able to cut corners and achieve things without letting the rest of the country know. He faced great pressure, and had to do things like Watergate if he wanted to stay afloat.

The Vietnam Commitment

The Debate over why the U.S. chose to become involved in Vietnam has been going on for a long time. America felt they were responsible for stopping the spread of communism, and believed that Vietnam was linked to China and the Soviet Union. They took these steps to protect Vietnam and defend Asia. There are other claims that the U.S. became involved due to imperialism, and also to benefit America's economy. Though both of these may have been somewhat true, America was like an older brother looking over the rest of the world and felt it was necessary to step in and hoped it would benefit the U.S. also.

The decision to drop the atomic bomb

President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on japan is and always has been very controversial. It was the end of a long and costly war, and Truman wanted nothing more than to end the war and save American lives. But he also had other intentions for the dropping the bomb, the US and Russia had poor relations and Truman wanted to scare Russia and show their power. But for both reasons the end result was not a great one. Dropping the bomb killed thousands of people, and then he chose to do it again when Japan was ready to put up the white flag. Also, the US showing off their new bombs created a nuclear arms race with Russia that would lead to the cold war.

Great Depression

Economists and historians have debated over the causes of the great depression for years. There were many different theories such as lack of "business confidence", international affairs, and "underconsumption". These all lead to the great depression, not one can be blamed. But with so many happenings contributing, they helped to make it much worse. Americans were paid to little, and companies were over producing with not as many people wanting to buy.

progressivism

In this article the progressives are described as a sly organization to benefit privileged elite of business and professional figures. That doing things for the people was merely a cover- up. But I disagree with these statements. From the knowledge I have acquired about the progressives they were for the people, and instead of helping big businesses, they kept them in line. In no way is their proof that the progressives were elites trying to trick the world.

Populism

The Populists were a peculiar group. They began as a way to help farmers, but continued to become bigger and share more ideas, and be influenced by other small groups hoping to make it big time. But this so many different view points, many members had mixed feeling about some of their platforms. For example they wanted to be in alliance with African Americans, but still wanted to maintain white dominance. Populists were the underdog to start out, and with views that weren't shared by the rest of America they were unable to simplify what they believed in, and eventually it led to their demise.