History

Provide a typed, short response, at least 500 words, regarding the following historical problem found in the readings for this week, in addition, solve the analysis below of 5 questions by watching the video provided here after finishing the short response: Discuss issues such as executive privilege and think about how Watergate has limited Presidential power in the 40 years since Nixon? WATERGATE ANALYSIS: youtube.com/watch?v=_oe3OgU8W0s Haldeman tells Nixon, “the FBI is not under control.” Why does the FBI need to be controlled? What is Nixon’s plan for dealing with the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in? What does this tape reveal about Nixon’s view of his presidential power? What does the tape imply about the relationship between the FBI and CIA? Why is this tape called the Smoking Gun tape?

write a 500 word reflection addressing how history informs modern day events and movements. Draw from readings and personal experience to examine and critique on the video posted below 

Discuss the ways in which race, ethnicity, culture and identity operated throughout the Caribbean between 1900-1945.

Write a well-organized essay, a minimum of 700 words (but not limited to), including supporting details from the documents/textbook/other sources in which you analyze and discuss the material that has been assigned by addressing the following question: In 1898 the U.S. declared war on Spain. Discuss why the Spanish-American War has been called the “splendid little war,” the reasons offered as to why the U.S. decided to engage in this war, and if you agree or disagree with these reasons. We also fought the Philippine-American War during this period. Discuss possible reasons why this war has been largely ignored.

In a well written academic historical paper, you are required to study through research using various materials including books, journals, historical publications, films, online sources through YouTube or any scholarly source to find evidence to back up your thesis argument of the topic you choose.

Please watch the two videos first, your paper will be using a variety of sources to develop your opinion on the Trail of Tears, we will be discussing Indian Removal on our class videos in a few weeks. Andrew Jackson – Good Evil & The Presidency – PBS Documentary     3 We Shall Remain Trail of Tears     Please see the Syllabus for further instructionsIndian removal 001 2.jpgindian removal 3 001.jpgindian removal 4 001.jpgindian removal 5 001.jpgindian removal 6 001.jpgindian removal 7 001.jpgindian removal 8 001.jpgindian removal 9 001.jpgindian removal 10 001.jpgIndian removal midterm 001.jpg

Read “James D. Phelan, ‘Why the Chinese Should Be Excluded’ (1901)” and using a minimum of 200 words (not including quotations) respond to the following questions. Make sure to reference specific passages from the document and/or textbook to support your discussion: According to the Mayor of San Francisco, what was the state of affairs in California prior to the exclusion of immigrants from China?  How does the Mayor justify extending the exclusion of immigrants from China? How does the Mayor characterize “the Chinese?”  Why do you suppose the original Exclusion Act had a ten-year limit?  Does the language in this document resonate with contemporary attitudes toward immigrants? Why or why not?

Select one of the following three U.S. foreign policy decisions/events for which substantial declassified, formerly secret documents on internal policy-making are available: the Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct. 1962); the escalation of military involvement in Vietnam (Spring-Summer 1965); Richard Nixon’s trip to China and discussions with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in February 1972. Based on your choice, you may read (in addition to the already assigned materials) one of the following books (all roughly comparable in length) to familiarize yourself with the background material: (1) Michael Dobbs, One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War; (2) Mark Atwood Lawrence, The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (available on Electronic Reserves on Blackboard) and Mitchell B. Lerner, ed., A Companion to Lyndon B. Johnson (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), Part IV: Vietnam, pp. 319-84 (available on-line via Gelman Library); (3) Margaret Macmillan, Nixon in China: The Week that Changed the World (available online at https://archive.org/details/nixoninchinaweek0000macm/page/328/mode/2up  The declassified documents can be found in the relevant volumes of the series published by the U.S. State Department entitled Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), available in Gelman Library and on-line at the State Department website ); or go more directly by typing “FRUS” in a search engine such as Google.  (For the Cuban Missile Crisis, go to FRUS, 1961-1963, Vol XI: Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath; for Vietnam, go to FRUS, 1964-1968, Vol. II: Vietnam, Jan.-June 1965 and/or FRUS, 1964-1968, Vol. III: Vietnam, July-Dec. 1965; and for Nixon’s trip, go to FRUS, 1969-1976, Vol. XVII: China, 1969-1972.) For the event selected, compare one or more interesting aspects of the story as told by the declassified documents in FRUS with the version presented to the public in: a) The New York Times or The Washington Post (available on-line through the Historical NY Times or Historical Washington Post on the GWU Libraries Databases). The paper should discuss what the comparison suggests or implies about how U.S. foreign policy is made at top levels and how it is presented to the general public.  What might explain any discrepancies between secret discussions or decisions and public statements?  How well informed was the public (i.e., attentive newspaper readers) on what actually was going on? Generally, the strongest papers: contain an introduction that has a clear thesis statement; demonstrate knowledge of the required secondary literature by providing a background section that contextualizes the events discussed, focus on one or two events and provide a detailed comparison of the sources, which supports the argument articulated in the thesis statement             Papers should be approximately 8-10 pages long, double-spaced, and include specific citations (footnotes or endnotes) to documents and other sources, both public at the time of the event as well as those subsequently released, as well as to relevant secondary accounts where an interpretation is referred to or relied upon.  Please note that citations to documents should include both a full description of the document itself (author, title, date, addressee, etc.) and its location in the publication in which you found it.   For example: Memorandum of Conversation [Memcon], Subject: “Transition,” 9 August 1974, 10:47 – 11:10 a.m. in Kristine L. Ahlberg and Alexander Wieland, eds., Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part 1, Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1973-1976 [Hereafter FRUS Vol. XXXVIII, Part 1] (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2012), Document 38, https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve15p2/d62 Accessed 12 April 2020.

Based the 17th Century intolerance lecture and your reading of Thomas Benjamin’s section on Buccaneers, and/or Wayne Curtis’ chapter “Grog”, explain the role “privateers”, “buccanneers”, and pirates played in settling the Caribbean and enriching European powers other than the Spanish. Why were the Spanish ships and settlements the most sought after target of these campaigns? What does this larger form of wealth accumulation say about the ‘rule of law’ when it comes to war and intolerance in the 17th century? Also try and use evidence from the primary source by Exquimelin to support your argument (See the primary source by Exquimelin in the Benjamin reading).

The Islamic empires experienced military and economic decline in the 1700s’. Explain the causes of the decline that the Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman empire all shared in common. Also, choose one of the three Islamic Empires of this era and explain some of the unique problems that empire experienced that led to their decline.