"Lessons Of The Greatest Generation, Now Forgotten By Too Many" Part Two
This was first published in July 2014
As the grip of the Great Depression eased somewhat, fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini became allies, later adding a number of other countries to their fold, including growing Asian power, Japan. Events in Europe and Asia gradually overtook American reluctance to become involved in another military conflict far from home, but December 7, 1941 dramatically changed all of that. On that day, Japanese aircraft attacked the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (then an American territory, not a state). President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war, which it did. A few days later both Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States and Americans turned their attention away from the era of the Great Depression and toward the era of defeating reactionary fascism. Millions of Americans entered the armed forces and the nation's industrial production rose to new heights, as the United States produced weapons of war to supply not only its own forces, but to "help supply" the forces of its allies. Americans bought war bonds to help finance the war, women went to work in factories to replace men gone off to the military, and the country cared for its wounded, but barely had time to mourn its dead, as the main focus remained in defeating fascism, which was accomplished during 1945.
The end of the war brought new confrontation, however, as the United States, elevated to the status of world power by the just ended war, faced off against communist dominated countries, especially in eastern Europe, led by the Soviet Union, and in Asia led by China, known then to most Americans as "Red China." Large American forces remained in Europe and parts of the Pacific, but then even more troops were called upon to serve in Korea, then even later, in Southeast Asia, in Vietnam. These areas of war did not completely unite Americans, and little by little the unity of the clear cut cause of World War Two was forgotten, as not all Americans saw the need for the United States to be so militarily involved in many parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, a notion which only increased among Americans, as U.S. casualties mounted there.
Economically business people will always try to get the best possible deal for themselves, and just as World War Two unity drifted from memory, so did the focus to combat greed for the benefit of the few. The Great Depression saw Americans pull together to help one another, and in 1932, the worst year of the economic scourge, giving to charities actually INCREASED.* Changes came as the national government passed laws separating investment banking (also known disparagingly as, "casino banking," and not without reason) from commercial banking, like what most think of as their bank down the street, with checking and savings accounts, and various loans, like for homes and vehicles. Deposit insurance was implemented to protect Americans from the loss of their money, which often was their life savings. Change was implemented for the buying of stocks on credit, as the previous low down payment had "helped" bring about the catastrophic plunge to Wall Street in the fall of 1929. Instead, in order to buy stocks on credit (called "margin") under the new regulation, you needed to put up 90% of the purchase amount. New public works projects were implemented to fix, or to build anew, roads, bridges, dams and schools. Other such public projects cleaned up waterways, river banks and forest lands, with reforestation part of the project. Workers were given protections like minimum wage, regulated work hours, overtime pay, easier union organizing, and better Federal unemployment insurance. Minimum wage was an attempt to provide workers with at least enough income to buy the basics of life. As time passed, Americans, still connected to the activism of the Great Depression and World War Two eras, saw the need to try to clean up massively polluted rivers, creeks and streams, and to deal with choking air pollution engulfing many an urban community in the U.S. Both Pittsburgh and Los Angeles became targets of jokes and derision for their air pollution, but there were far more than those two communities. Here in Cleveland in 1969, industrial pollution in the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire, bringing derision, but also a wake up call for change, before the nation itself burst into flames or choked to death in its own air pollution. Laws aren't often perfect, maybe they never are, but at least Americans saw problems and chose to confront them. Do we really want to go back to the times prior to these laws? If you say, "Hell yes, I don't live near any of those areas, let 'em pollute and give people jobs," or, "get rid of the minimum wage and let businesses work people to near death, or the whole way, for a pittance, and do away with food stamps and other public welfare services so that these 'moochers' won't just resort to getting help to pay for their lives of working for low wages," you are part of the problem, and you seriously need to look into the mirror and do some self evaluation. If articles like this make you a bit uncomfortable, and I hope they do, you still have time to recapture a bit of your younger days, and you are NOT a lost cause reactionary, as long as you haven't descended into denial or fear of hearing ideas that may challenge ideas you are afraid to have challenged. You can start by listening to the counter views to some of the right wing nonsense espoused by the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and often by Fox News, a television station founded with the express purpose of promoting a political philosophy. Changing your reactionary views is not weakness, it is strength! Don't be afraid to change!
"More in Part Three ..."
* For a good history of the era, see "The Great Depression, America, 1929-1941," by Robert S. McElvaine, first published in 1984 and republished in 1993.
WORD HISTORY:
Token-This word, related to both "teach" and "toe," among several others, goes back to Indo European "deik," which meant "to show, to show how to do, to point to." This gave its Old Germanic offspring the noun "taiknam," which meant "sign, symbol." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tacen," with the same meaning, but also "evidence/proof;" that is, "something that shows or points to truth, a sign/symbol of truth." This then became "taken" (not the same as the word from "take"), before the modern version. "Token" also later came to be applied to "a metal or wooden disc used to symbolize coins." Common in the other Germanic languages, all with the same general meaning as their English cousin: German "Zeichen" (German "z" is pronounced like English "ts," as in the end of "hits"), Low German Saxon, Dutch and West Frisian "teken," Danish and Norwegian "tegn," Swedish "tecken," Icelandic "tákn.
As the grip of the Great Depression eased somewhat, fascist dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini became allies, later adding a number of other countries to their fold, including growing Asian power, Japan. Events in Europe and Asia gradually overtook American reluctance to become involved in another military conflict far from home, but December 7, 1941 dramatically changed all of that. On that day, Japanese aircraft attacked the American fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (then an American territory, not a state). President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war, which it did. A few days later both Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States and Americans turned their attention away from the era of the Great Depression and toward the era of defeating reactionary fascism. Millions of Americans entered the armed forces and the nation's industrial production rose to new heights, as the United States produced weapons of war to supply not only its own forces, but to "help supply" the forces of its allies. Americans bought war bonds to help finance the war, women went to work in factories to replace men gone off to the military, and the country cared for its wounded, but barely had time to mourn its dead, as the main focus remained in defeating fascism, which was accomplished during 1945.
The end of the war brought new confrontation, however, as the United States, elevated to the status of world power by the just ended war, faced off against communist dominated countries, especially in eastern Europe, led by the Soviet Union, and in Asia led by China, known then to most Americans as "Red China." Large American forces remained in Europe and parts of the Pacific, but then even more troops were called upon to serve in Korea, then even later, in Southeast Asia, in Vietnam. These areas of war did not completely unite Americans, and little by little the unity of the clear cut cause of World War Two was forgotten, as not all Americans saw the need for the United States to be so militarily involved in many parts of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, a notion which only increased among Americans, as U.S. casualties mounted there.
Economically business people will always try to get the best possible deal for themselves, and just as World War Two unity drifted from memory, so did the focus to combat greed for the benefit of the few. The Great Depression saw Americans pull together to help one another, and in 1932, the worst year of the economic scourge, giving to charities actually INCREASED.* Changes came as the national government passed laws separating investment banking (also known disparagingly as, "casino banking," and not without reason) from commercial banking, like what most think of as their bank down the street, with checking and savings accounts, and various loans, like for homes and vehicles. Deposit insurance was implemented to protect Americans from the loss of their money, which often was their life savings. Change was implemented for the buying of stocks on credit, as the previous low down payment had "helped" bring about the catastrophic plunge to Wall Street in the fall of 1929. Instead, in order to buy stocks on credit (called "margin") under the new regulation, you needed to put up 90% of the purchase amount. New public works projects were implemented to fix, or to build anew, roads, bridges, dams and schools. Other such public projects cleaned up waterways, river banks and forest lands, with reforestation part of the project. Workers were given protections like minimum wage, regulated work hours, overtime pay, easier union organizing, and better Federal unemployment insurance. Minimum wage was an attempt to provide workers with at least enough income to buy the basics of life. As time passed, Americans, still connected to the activism of the Great Depression and World War Two eras, saw the need to try to clean up massively polluted rivers, creeks and streams, and to deal with choking air pollution engulfing many an urban community in the U.S. Both Pittsburgh and Los Angeles became targets of jokes and derision for their air pollution, but there were far more than those two communities. Here in Cleveland in 1969, industrial pollution in the Cuyahoga River actually caught fire, bringing derision, but also a wake up call for change, before the nation itself burst into flames or choked to death in its own air pollution. Laws aren't often perfect, maybe they never are, but at least Americans saw problems and chose to confront them. Do we really want to go back to the times prior to these laws? If you say, "Hell yes, I don't live near any of those areas, let 'em pollute and give people jobs," or, "get rid of the minimum wage and let businesses work people to near death, or the whole way, for a pittance, and do away with food stamps and other public welfare services so that these 'moochers' won't just resort to getting help to pay for their lives of working for low wages," you are part of the problem, and you seriously need to look into the mirror and do some self evaluation. If articles like this make you a bit uncomfortable, and I hope they do, you still have time to recapture a bit of your younger days, and you are NOT a lost cause reactionary, as long as you haven't descended into denial or fear of hearing ideas that may challenge ideas you are afraid to have challenged. You can start by listening to the counter views to some of the right wing nonsense espoused by the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and often by Fox News, a television station founded with the express purpose of promoting a political philosophy. Changing your reactionary views is not weakness, it is strength! Don't be afraid to change!
"More in Part Three ..."
* For a good history of the era, see "The Great Depression, America, 1929-1941," by Robert S. McElvaine, first published in 1984 and republished in 1993.
WORD HISTORY:
Token-This word, related to both "teach" and "toe," among several others, goes back to Indo European "deik," which meant "to show, to show how to do, to point to." This gave its Old Germanic offspring the noun "taiknam," which meant "sign, symbol." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "tacen," with the same meaning, but also "evidence/proof;" that is, "something that shows or points to truth, a sign/symbol of truth." This then became "taken" (not the same as the word from "take"), before the modern version. "Token" also later came to be applied to "a metal or wooden disc used to symbolize coins." Common in the other Germanic languages, all with the same general meaning as their English cousin: German "Zeichen" (German "z" is pronounced like English "ts," as in the end of "hits"), Low German Saxon, Dutch and West Frisian "teken," Danish and Norwegian "tegn," Swedish "tecken," Icelandic "tákn.
Labels: banking regulation, English, environmental causes, etymology, Fascism, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Germanic languages, the Great Depression, the Greatest Generation, the New Deal, World War Two
posted by Randy at 1:18 PM
3 Comments:
Wow, this is GREAT! You tell it like it is.
Keep telling it, people need to hear these things. You'll never change those in total denial, but if you make people think, that's a start.
thougout histry the greedy have ruined the economy, not just the great depression, but bofre that and in 2007-2008. they re controlling your lives people, wake up. Im a friend of Johnnie one of your regular readers
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