Regular Americans effected by the Manhattan Project

During WWII many countries started work on creating atomic bombs. In America alone, thousands of scientist were sworn under secretecy in order to protect and develop the atomic bomb. The Manhattan project had numorous facilities scattered across the U.S. because of the vast quantity of research and testing that was needed. It helped jump start the scientific research and provided jobs in areas that had not recieved any slight attention since times before the Great Depression. For a average scientist life was great because they now were provded with stable jobs and was able to buy things because they made money. However, there were downsides. Many scientist were able to get a first hand view of the destructiveness of the atomic bomb and once it became public knowledge, it was feared greatly by the public. Everyday americans lived in fear knowing that any country, during the time of WWII, were capable of producing an atomic weapon and uprooting their lives forever. Therefore, the Manhattan project and the atomic bomb it created was a positive but also a negative.

Life in the Great Depression

Life in the Great Depression was extremely hard. Many people lost all of their lively-hoods and society (especially men) suffered physiological effects. When they had invested all their money into the stock market their was to fail safe in order to protect the investment in case of a crash. When Black Tuesday came, millions of Americans lost all of their money and soon lost their jobs, and homes, and were not able to provide for their families. Men were mentally effected because society viewed them as the bread-winners, so for them not to be able to provide for their families made it extremely tough on them. The Dust Bowl didn't help either, which cause most of the land that produced the nation's crops, to go bad causing national hunger crisis. It was dark times because people couldn't work, eat, or even meet most basic necessities for their survival. American life was completely devastated.

The Great Depression

In my opinion the lack of diversification was the most important cause of the Great Depression. Lack of diversification was due to the American economy, in the 1920s, mainly consisting of two elements; construction and automobiles. Therefore when both industries started to decline, probably because people didnt need to buy a house or build a car if they already had one, in the late 1920s, the other industries were not able to compensate for the tremendous loss causing a great decline in money and especially stocks.Many people had money into construction and automobile industries because they were producing the most money and they were supposdely the most stable.
With the stock market boom during 1928-1929, right before "black Tuesday", most people had their hard earned money invested. Bankers were encouraging buyers to spend recklessly into the stock market, however once the to main industries started failing and people lost money the stock market started failing also. People began taking out money that wasent there and trying to invest into the other industries, however, these industries ( petroleum, chemicals, plastics, and others oriented towards consumers) were not able to pick up the slack. What soon followed was the Great Depression, and it was caused heavily on the lack of diversification.

Progressive Movements

One major problem that arose in society was monopolies. Monopolies were big companies that would basically control all of the work force and sometimes, influence government decisions by paying them off. These companies were able to overwork the workers and then charge them less money. People were often replaced quickly if they voiced opinion or were shut down by the companies, or government, forces. With monopolies controlling much of American economy progressives sought out ways in which to stop the domination of monopolies.

The ways in which the progressives tried to take down the monopolies was through breaking them up into smaller groups, secret ballots which brought in initiative, referendum, and recall, and direct primaries which reduced the business ownership and limit the dictatorship monopolies had on the economy. Initiative made it so that ideas and situations could be brought up to vote on elections. Referendum made it so that the vote could be done by electoral votes if it was questioned. Recall was the last thing that gave voters the right to remove a public official after a certain number of citizens signed a petition at a special convention.

Due to the progressive inputs, which made the public heavily involved public decisions, the movement became very successful. Monopolies were destroyed and the economy was free to be what it wants to be. The government could no longer be influenced by monopolies and the larger companies, and workers were now treated fairly and regulated through the government.

The Gilded Age

Rockefeller started off as a privileged child. He was able to bring himself up in a way that gave him power. He always felt it was important for him to have some type of power growing up. When he was around the age of 20, he had already invested some of his money in the oil industry. The oil industry proved to be his rise to power, and through his investments and buying of businesses, he was able to become successful. Even though he achieved the American dream, he never really had to work extremely hard because he had alot given to him already. His life was more of a success to success story more than rags to riches.
The government was not really able to keep control over Rockefeller's oil empire. He purchased other businesses and had a monopoly over all oil, so the government couldn't really tell him what to do. The only real thing that affected Standard Oil is the anti-trust group. Then when the Sherman Anti-Trust Act demanded that Standard Oil be broken up, the empire fell. Rockefeller was still able to be very successful but he lost alot of his companies, and his monopoly in oil.

Myth Cowboys vs. Reality Cowboys

Ever since the United States started trying to get eastern settlers to move out west, there have been myths. One of the most romanticized myths was about the Cowboy. There we beliefs which were used to fuel perple's intrest, and what came out to be obsession, with the west. Cowboys were portrayed as usually white men who rode around on horeses all day, shooting up Indians, carrying lots of guns, being extremly tough, always saving the day, getting the girls, and live out under the stars everyday. While some may be true, mostof it is not. Cowboys in fact were multi-cultural. There were

Black as well as Mexican Cowboys and they never went around shooting up Indians. They were just hired hands, used to take care of cattle. Most of the time they spent their days out working herding cattle or rangling them in for the night. They werent the big heroes that we would see saving the day. They might of gotten women because of the name people gave them but for the most part they were only people doing their jobs.

I had the experience of watching the movie Wild Wild West. Even though it had a black cowboy, it still portrayed them as always saving the day and being big heroes. At the end of the movie they saved the day and all order was restored. They didntget the girl but they both rode off into the sun set to fight another day.

Cival War Postcards

DAY ONE:
This photo shows the day my people became free from slavery. We were now able to freely enlist in the war so I enlisted because I had nationalism for the country who enslaved me. I still wanted to fight for honor and for the Union because i felt they were on my side. Even though i never grew up in the south, I still felt i was a slave trapped in the south so I joined a worthy cause and entered the Union's 54 Massachusetts infantry.






DAY TWO:
This picture signifies the day that I entered the Union's 54 Massachusetts infantry. It would later become the most know black infantry in history. I was really happy when they let me join but i was also burdened because I knew it was going to be some time before they actually let blacks fight in the battles.

DAY THREE:

This picture marks the day I met my commander. His name is Robert Gould Shaw. Even though he was a member of a aristocratic Boston family, he still was down to earth and could help the blacks. I am thankful to have a commander like him, because he was the only one courageous enough to become the commander of a all black infantry. This was my first day with a commander and my first day in training.

DAY FOUR:

Day four and my training is still going on. I wonder if we are ever going to be able to fight. Some captains told us we were only going to be able to do menial tasks like digging trenches or transporting water. Even though I haven't fought yet, i still have seen hundreds of dead bodies. Many of us have died from diseases. More whites have died in total but because you see the blacks dropping off like flies, we have a higher mortality rate. I really hope I get to fight soon.

DAY FIVE:

This will be my last postcard for awhile...... I need some time to think because I finally went into combat. Half my infantry was slaughtered near Charleston, SC. It was at summer in 1863 that half of my buddies and my commander were killed. It was a suicide mission, one that needed a infantry to go in first and make a way for later infantries to go in and win the battle. Me and my fellow soldiers fought with bravery, but I am still traumatized from seeing so many bodies. I am sad to say that my best friend will never get to see his new baby boy. Why can't we just end the war......