Riassunto esame Mass media inglese, prof. Baseotto, libro consigliato American History

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND IMMIGRATION

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Between the civil war and the first world war, the US was transformed from a rural republic into an

urban state. The nation’s economic progress, based on iron, steam and electrical power ,was

speeded up by thousand of intentions like the telephone and typewriter, but the terrible working

and living conditions were repeated on an even bigger scale.

An important factor was continuous and unrestricted immigration from Europe. The often better-

educated blacks, who discrimination, particularly on the part of the newly arrived white immigrants,

and were forced into ghettoes.

Virtual monopolies were created in every sector. While they enabled the US to invade Europe with

its manufactures legislative changes were needed to control the power of these trust. President

Roosevelt began a social crusade in 1901 with the help of the activities of trusts were regulated

and legislative reforms were introduced to improve general living and working conditions. Wilson,

added even more profound reforms. A new anti-trust law was introduced and other important

reforms were carried out in the filed of agriculture and labour.

AMERICA AND TWO WORLD WARS

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. World War I

America was determinate to stay out of the First World War and adopted a policy of strict neutrality.

Us led Congress to declare war on Germany in April 1917.

The Americans were in favour of a non-punitive settlement, but Wilson was unable to prevent the

Allies from trying to further their imperialist ambitions in the peace settlement and the Republican

controlled Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which contained Wilson’s idealist Laue

of Nations.

THE ROARING TWENTIES

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The 1920s were a decade of conservatism and insecurely founded prosperity, in which tariffs were

bought to their highest ever levels and taxes were drastically reduced. This caused the decade to

be called the Roaring Twenties, ended in October 1929 with the Wall Street Crash. This crash

marked the beginning of the worst depression in American history, commonly referred to as the

Great Depression.

The period full of contrasts. There was widespread fear following the Russian revolution that

communists would overthrow the Government (the red scare), which led to the persecution of all

left-wing groups.

This was also period of prohibition, when it was prohibited by the 18eh Amendment to

manufacture, transport or sell intoxicating liquors.

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The Twenties were also a period of sexual revolution when the existence of an instinctive sex drive

in young people gained social acceptance.

THE NEW DEAL ERA

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Roosevelt blamed the depression on basic faults in the American economy and promised a new

deal for the forgotten man.

He won the 1932 presidential election and set about remedying the worsening situation with his

New Deal in 1933. This was the first administration to introduce government planning into the

economy. The second new deal aimed at providing security against unemployment, to prevent the

terrible hardship of the depression being repeated.

WORLD WAR II

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Roosevelt said in defence of his new deal that continuing unemployment and insecurity were to

blame for the disappearance of democracy in Germany, Italy, Spain where the ordinary people had

tuned to strong governments for their intervention.

Roosevelt was able to provide all possible aid to Great Britain short war and still become the first

president to be elected for a third term.

Relations with Japan continued to worsen and the Japanese attacked the American naval base at

pearl Harbours in Hawaii on the morning of 7 December 1941.

Congress responded by declaring war on Japan. Roosevelt and Churchill decided that the main

theatre f the war should be Europe, the American navy obtain several victories against the

Japanese in 1942 and after in the Pacific.

While the Japanese position was hopeless, they dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August

and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945.

This ended American isolationisms and recognized the nation’s important role in international

affairs. POST-WAR AMERICA: THE COLD WAR

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The fear that Greece and turkey might fall behind this iron curtain led Truman to ask Congress for

founds to help all free people to resist Communist aggression: The Truman Doctrine.

The widespread fear of communism was one of the reasons behind the creation of the NATO.

The desire to keep Europe free of communism was behind the Marshall Plan, devised by US

secretary of state George Marshall in 1947, in which the USA gave billons of dollars to various

European countries to assist in post-war reconstruction of their industries.

The persistent hostility between the western and communist nations came to be called the cold

war, which became real war when soviet trained north Korean troops invaded the republic of Korea

in 1950.

There was a widespread fear of communism in America during the 1950s. The most famous anti-

communist was Joseph McCarthy, he used his method of discrediting people without proof so often

that it became know as McCarthyism.

CIVIL RIGHTS

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Civil rights dominated American politics in the 1950s and 1960s.

Numerous presidents attempted to improve the situation of black people in American society.

President Truman appointed the first black judge in the federal court system and some progress

was made towards racial integration in schools.

The black led by people like the Reverend Martin Luther King became active in attempting to

improve their status and numerous non-violent protests began in 1960 to speed up the end of

segregation.