All The President's Men

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Propaganda Posters

1. I learned about propaganda from History classes and just learning about it in school.
2. According to dictionary.com, propaganda is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. 
3. In my first propaganda poster, my eyes are immediately drawn to the man carrying his luggage. He is dressed in the Navy uniform carrying all of his luggage and it looks like he packed all of his stuff and left to join the navy, without thinking twice and with a smile on his face . My eyes are drawn to the words, "A Wonderful Opportunity For YOU" above the man. The poster is luring in men by saying it would be a wonderful opportunity for them to join the Navy. And it's more personal when it says "A Wonderful Opportunity For YOU" instead of just a wonderful opportunity. In the background, the picture is of one massive boat and some smaller ones around it. This shows luxury a bit, and how you get to live and be on a big boat and have fun on it. The boat is sailing off into, what seems like, the sunset, so it's very sweet and happy feeling. I think the author was targeting young men and wanted to get the message across that young men should join the navy because its fun and exciting, and also its very happy and relaxing. 
4. My next picture was of cannons being fired. My eyes are immediately drawn to one of the three men working on the cannon. there are two with their back to us, but one of the three is facing us and he looks very manly and bulky. His face is very stern to show how manly and serious he is. My eyes float to the words on the top. The first few words I see are, "LEARN TO MAKE AND TEST THE BIG GUNS". If you keep on reading the poster, it ends up rhyming. Also, the  "in the" and "USA" are in italics to stand out a little but not be the biggest point of the poster. The illustrator who made the poster was intentionally wanting the italicized words to stand out a little because they wanted to show that you can do all of this for your country. I think the idea of the poster was to show that you can become just like the guys working on the cannons, big and bulky and strong, if you join the Military. I think the targeted audience is young men. 
5. My last propaganda picture is of two men, one in a white sailors outfit, another in a suit, and then a woman behind them dressed in American attire. Immediately my eyes are drawn to the woman above the two men. She has a provocative look about her. She is showing a lot of skin for that time, and holding an American flag. The illustrator is luring in young men with the woman to get them to join the Navy. The poster kind of says that women will love a man if he is in the Navy and she loves her country so if a man fights for it then she will love you even more. The men under the woman, are there to show that even the privileged can join the Navy. 
6. I don't mind the government spending tax dollars on propaganda posters because they are there to get people to sign up to support our country so if it is beneficial for our country then I believe that there isn't any harm in it. 
7. It was important for the federal government to invest in propaganda posters during WWI because they needed the help in their Navy and Military and were unable to seek out help any other ways. 

My posters 

Hawaiian Imperialism

In the film, Hawaiian: The Legend Of Eddie Aikau, imperialism played a major role. According to Dictionary.com, imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. Just like in the movie, Hawaii was taken over by people from various countries. All the surfing competitions only awarded non-Hawaiian competitors. Eddie, one of the best surfers of the time, was a Native, Hawaiian. He surfed everyday, trained really hard, and competed in all the competitions. For the longest time Hawaiians weren't even given a chance to be a part of the competitions.

A picture of Franklin Roosevelt Jr. (left) and John Roosevelt  (right) posing with  Duke Kahanamoku

They were held in Hawaii but the competitors were from California, Australia, etc. Other countries came into Hawaiian territory and took over, without even giving the Natives a chance to fight, or surf, for their country. Hawaiians were distraught with the idea of being unable to surf in their own country but were forced to allow other countries to come in and take over while the Natives just had to watch them. The Australians came in and overtook the competitions, beaches, and the ocean. But Eddie fought hard for his country to be recognized and he eventually was awarded and allowed to compete in the competitions. Just like in history, other countries were coming into Hawaii and taking over everything. Eventually we became a part of the same country as some of the people who had invaded the Native land.

How Do You Analyze A Political Cartoon?

I believe that in order to analyze a political cartoon, you must look at all the specific words on the cartoon, also look at the cartoon and what they are doing. Look at the hand gestures, and specific actions of the cartoons to identify who the cartoons are of. Once you figure out the identity of the cartoons, identify the issue, then you may be able to understand why they are doing what they are doing in the cartoon and understand what the cartoon is trying to convey.

According to loc.gov, you must find the symbolism of the cartoonists, then, think about what the reasons behind the symbols are. Next, look at what is over exaggerated  because that is usually the issue the the cartoonist is trying to convey. Next, look at the labels that the cartoonist has given throughout the cartoon. Cartoonists usually label little things in the cartoon to also get their point across. Next, look at analogies, which are given to compare two unlike things that have similar characteristics. Finally, find the irony of the cartoons which show what the cartoons should be doing but aren't  because they don't usually do those things.

This political cartoon expresses the way the US took control of the Philippines to help educate them and Christianize them. President McKinley, wanted to help them but was really hurting them because they were not given any of the rights because they were "Native" so they were treated like Natives. I observed and reflected on my reading to achieve this conclusion. 

This political cartoon shows the way the countries ended up becoming. Cuba became independent, we claimed Puerto Rico, and the Philippines became independent as well. They were considered native by the Americans and were treated as Natives. I came to this conclusion based on my observation and understanding and reflection of my reading. 

In this political cartoon, Uncle Sam and a Chinese man are on one side of the see-saw with The King on the other side. They are balancing over sugar. This represents the way they created trade between the Chinese and Hawaii and was annexed to the US. So Hawaii was being controlled a little by the US. Based on my observations, I came to this conclusion because of my understanding of the reading and and observations. 

Civil Rights Act of 1964

According to, History.com, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. I believe that discrimination is still in affect today but not as bad and violent as it use to be. We discriminate against many things that we never think about. For example, we discriminate about the driving age being sixteen, people still stereotype, racially profile, and discriminate against various races, religions, gender, etc. Our country discriminates every single day but it could range from nothing that severe like the driving age, to something as harsh and real as restricting certain people from doing certain things just because of their color, gender, religion, etc.

Lyndon B Johnson shaking hands with Martin Luther King Jr. after signing and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964

I believe that we will never be able to overcome these discriminatory issues. They will always be there. I believe, in time, we as a country will be able to discuss these issues with one another and get the differences out of the way for the most part, but they will still always be there.

The movie showed me a lot more about segregation and discrimination than I ever knew. I never knew about some of the famous men that really helped grow the issue and make it even worse that it should have been. I'm excited for tomorrow's field trip because I am very interested in learning more about this harsh and violent time. I am even more excited to hear about our guides telling us about what it was like to live in this time and hearing all of this from a primary source. 

Progressivism Notes and Articles

Searched: health hazards in Pennsylvania from 1920-1922

• The Evening News (Oct. 4, 1922)
• Major drought calls for water to become scarce and many fires occur
• Many pastures have dried up

• The Wilkes - Barre Record (April 10, 1922)
• Health Hazards of Industries
• 3 year study to find the effect of lead poisoning in the human system
• Dust is very bad for the human system
• Found a lot in mines and factories

• The Pittsburgh Post (March 22, 1921)
• How Can You Keep Well
• Fatigue in factories
• Most likely due to the 12 hour shifts for 7 days a week 
• Most people believed that illnesses and fatigue in the workplace were due to the workers' inability to adapt, mentally and physically, to their workplace and/or home-life
• According to this article, fatigue is due to personal worries, age, and poor health of the workers

• The Evening Report (Dec. 6, 1921)
• Hospitals, Nurses/Nursing, and other forms of care is available for everyone
• Costs $2 per capita
• Deaths:
• Man dies after 10 days of pneumonia

Searched: health hazards and deaths in Pennsylvania from 1920-1922

• The Montrose Democrat (March 10, 1921)
• Many health measures taken when disposing of sewage and sewage plants, cleaning out alleys near homes, cleaning out cowsheds and pig pens and etc., children with illnesses being quarantined at school, warm milk and lunches 

The Progressive Era

• Progress:
• the growing or development of something. Usually it means going from a lower state to a higher and more improved state. 
• The Progressive Era: 
• ranges from the 1890's to 1920's. 
• This Era was referred to as the Progressive Era because progressivism was constantly occurring and new ideas were rapidly occurring, in hopes to improve the society and economy
• work places and living conditions were becoming increasingly more safe and better for living. 
• many harsh living conditions were improved
• women's suffrage
• Achievements of the Progressive Era:
• the improvement of living conditions and work conditions
• environment and resource awareness
• women's suffrage 
• banning of alcohol
• limitations of child labor
• social welfare protection
• Goals of the Progressive Era:
• Necessary Goals:
• fixing political corruption
• women's suffrage