LAD #37: Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education

Summary: 1950's America featured jarringly separate and unequal black and white schools. Black schools were often very inferior to white schools, and the segregated aspect of schooling made life hard for many black students. Oliver Brown, a black father of a girl in segregated schools, went to the Topeka NAACP branch for help in challenging school segregation laws in court. At first the local Judge seemed to be in favor of Brown's case, however he eventually was forced to side with the Board of Education, based on precedents set by Plessy v. Ferguson. Combined with other similar cases, Brown then appealed to the Supreme Court, where it was finally decided that school segregation was inherently unequal. This action began the rolling back of school segregation laws, and overturned the ruling of the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson.

(In the next decade, the civil rights movement lead by enigmatic colored men such as MLK Jr. and Malcolm X, would focus on bringing down the rest of segregation, and eliminating the state of blacks  as "second-class" citizens in the US).

LAD #36: Truman Doctrine

Truman Doctrine

Summary: Truman's speech before the joint assembly of Congress that established the following Truman Doctrine was actually in specific reference to two specific nations: Greece and Turkey. Both states were in dire need of economic assistance, and had reached out to the US hoping to receive it. Truman called upon Congress to help these nations, and any others like them, with political, military, and economic aid - else he warned they might fall victim to more authoritarian or Communist power. The President saw this expansion of US influence as the only viable tactic to peacefully combat the rising tide of Communism, and considered the costs of following it a "small price to protect our WWII investment into peace and freedom."

(Similarly to Truman's era, nowadays American leaders from both sides of politics have utilized financial and military aide to "prop-up" pro-democracy or pro-American leadership in nations that might otherwise succumb to rule by authoritarians or terrorists).

LAD #35: Executive Order 9066

Japanese Internment

Summary: The President's executive order authorizing the Secretary of War and other designated military commanders to create internment camps was short, and extremely vague. However, its intentions and effects were not. As a result of the executive order and the following act of Congress giving the President the authority to enforce it, the Federal Government arrested and detained thousands of Japanese Americans with no reason other than the "general suspicion of espionage." The obviously racially-charged motion had little effect, and few "spies" were ever found among thousands of people whose lives were uprooted on no evidence other than their race. 

(Alongside the Japanese Internment of WWII, the shameful treatment of native peoples in the 18th and 19th Century also takes its place as part of the accumulation of blemishes on American national history).

LAD #34: FDR's Declaration of War

FDR's Declaration of War

Summary: FDR begins his speech to Congress by describing the Pearl Harbor attack as "a day that will live in infamy." He then went on to describe how the Japanese had deceived the US, and had been planning the assault for some time - all whilst maintaining expressions of hope for continuing peace negotiations.The President then also mentions concurrent attacks on US territories and interests across the Pacific, and describes the damage done and lives lost since the attacks began the day before. In his closing sentence, the President states that war is already upon the US, and requests congress formally declare war on the Japanese.

(Similarly to the response to Pearl Harbor, when the US was attacked by Al-Qaeda on September 11th 2001, the President immediately declared a "war on terror" to end such violence and bring the perpetrators to justice). 

LAD #33: FDR's First Inaugural Address

FDR's First Inaugural 

Summary: FDR begins his address by frankly admitting to the many material problems the people are facing. However, after discussing the material crisis of the Great Depression, the President called for the people to once again trust in their leadership, and in their President, to guide the nation through it. He made his famous "nothing to fear but fear itself" statement, a reference to the biggest danger facing the people being the disorder and panic of a fearful populace. He then chastised the bankers and financiers who he blamed for the nation's economic collapse, and called for the people and their leaders to once again put morals ahead of profits. Finally, the President began explaining his plans to revitalize the economy using the Federal Government. He discussed using the government to mobilize workers as though the nation were in wartime, redistributing people from high population centers to lower ones, and focusing on peace abroad. To close the speech FDR made a call for the people to remain strong and wilful, knowing the great nation would heal in time.

(Similarly to FDR, President Obama inherited an economic meltdown, and much of his first inaugural focused on addressing and fixing the economy).

LAD #32: Kellog-Briand Peace Pact

Kellog-Briand Pact

Summary: The Kellog-Briand Peace Pact served as an extremely idealistic attempt by most of the world's largest powers to limit or abolish war as a national policy. The short and concise treaty had nations including the USA, UK, Italy, Japan, Poland, and Germany agree to abolish the use of war as an instrument for furthering national interests or resolving international disputes. However, as history showed us in the next decade, the Treaty was essentially worthless as soon as one nation decided to break it (Germany). It lacked any real provisions to help enforce its one and only element, and essentially relied only on the goodwill of politicians to remain functional.

(The post-WWII United Nations would pursue a similar effort to limit warfare, but instead of relying entirely on goodwill, the UN also utilized international sanctions and the threat of the mass of armed member nations to keep dissenters from starting WWIII. Even this has proved ineffective in many cases).

LAD #31: Wilson's 14 Points

14 Points

Summary: President Wilson, an idealist even through one of history's most awful wars, listed out his 14 main points necessary to restore and maintain peace. In a swift stroke of optimistic idealism lacking all realistic thought, the President's first point was the end of secret alliances between states. He then advocated America's greatest desire, freedom of the seas (and the Dardanelles). Thirdly, Wilson called for the elimination of all trade barriers and tariffs between nations, another idealistic folley. For the main body of the points, Wilson focused on territorial and national issues, such as supporting  the post-revolution Russians, creating a Polish state, and re-evaluating colonial borders. Finally, the President's 14th point called for an international body of nations to serve as a diplomatic forum, thus beginning the short-lived League of Nations.

(Although the League of Nations failed, and never even included the USA, the organization's successor, the UN, persists to this day).

LAD #30: Schenck vs. US

Schenck vs. US

Summary: Charles Schenck was an anti-drafter during the Great War. He circulated pamphlets to draftees urging them to protest the Conscription Act and avoid the draft. Schenck was then arrested on charges of Conspiracy (to Violate the Espionage Act) by encouraging military insubordination. His appeal was unanimously struck down, with the key line of the case being "The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." This essentially waved Schenck's First Amendment rights because they endangered US Military and Government interests. As can be seen above, many rallied around the defense of free speech, but the ruling held and set a new precedent in American politics and law.

(Similarly a century later, the post-9/11 USA PATRIOT Act muddied the waters of citizen's rights, under the purpose of protecting and empowering military interests to fight off the contemporary enemy of the USA).

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916

Summary: By the turn of the century, popular outcry against child labor had become extremely significant, in large part due to the works of contemporary authors and speakers. The Keating-Owen Act used the federal power to control interstate commerce to ban the sale, purchase, or transportation of goods produced by child laborers. This might have been effective, however it was soon overturned by the Supreme Court as an unconstitutional overextension of the federal government's powers. 

(It would take another twenty years for actual anti-child labor laws to be signed into law and then be supported by the supreme court, in the form of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938).

LAD #28: Wilson's First Inaugural

Wilson's First Inaugural Address

Summary: Wilson begins his speech positively, with a long list of many things that made the America of his day a great and noble state. However, this does not last, and he soon addresses his main platform and agenda: rooting out all the rot that has developed in the shadow of prosperity. Wilson elaborates, explaining that progress has come at great human costs, and that the government must act to protect the people treaded on by big business and industry. He then also lists several other key issues, including the need for infrastructure development, sanitation laws, child labor laws, and to reduce the tariff to favor everyday Americans. Finally, he ends his Address with a strong message that his election is a call to arms for everyday working Americans, who have suffered at the heels of the new era, without justice or recourse.

(On this very day, just as Wilson took power for the Democrats and was sworn into office, President Trump has taken power from the Democratic party, and delivered his own first inaugural.)

LAD #27: Clayton Antitrust Act

Clayton Antitrust Act

Summary: The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 did just as the title implied: it attacked the large, monopolistic, trusts. The act first illegalizes monopolistic price discrimination (for different consumers buying the same goods). It also banned corporate actions seeking to create a monopolistic level of market domination, and perhaps most importantly, it banned one corporation from holding a majority share of stocks in another. This prevented a common system of monopolizing undertaken by business "fat cats" like Carnegie in the previous century. Although this act in no way totally killed the trusts, it was another critical step to restoring competition to the American markets.

(Similarly, in the present day, the airline industry has become more and more oligopolistic, as more companies merge and are bought out by the "big fish" like Delta).

LAD #26: MLK's "I Have A Dream"

MLK's I Have A Dream

Summary: Dr King begins his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with a reference to the famed emancipator, saying "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation." However, this joyous and celebratory tone lasts only a few lines, when MLK then says that even 100 years later, black Americans were not truly free. He then spend the great majority of his speech discussing the wrongs of segregation, discrimination, and police brutality. After working up the audience by listing their many grievances, the Reverend Dr. urges them to remain in peaceful protest, and not to descend into violence and chaos, as such would only harm the movement for legal and social equality. Finally, MLK closes with the "I Have a Dream" segment for which the speech is famously named. He discusses his hopes of a world where race is not a factor in life, law, or politics, and the hopes he has for his children's future and the future of their children. To fully close the speech, Dr. King quotes several lines of an old spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" Overall, the speech was extremely powerful and moving, and did a great job of both getting people upset/committed, and reminding them to remain peaceful and kind in their push for liberty.

(At the same time as MLK urged peaceful protest to attain their goals of equality and freedom, another civil rights group, the Black Panthers, urged the need for militant defense of their rights by force. Although there were few actual incidents of violence from the Panthers, they often dressed like insurgents and carried blades and firearms as a threat to any who would attempt to tread on their rights).