In the view of the diaries and memoirs of the most German generals, the military command was completely horrified at the time Hitler declared war in the Americans in the year 1941. Further, the German staffers did not actually considered all the types of invasion of the United States of America since approximately 1910. Moreover, in the early months of 1942, the German war staffers factually had a discussion in Berlin on whether they had any chance of attacking US or not. At that time, they had two main ideology which contained the only chances of hope of any sort of success in the war. The first concept was to effectively occupy Iceland as well as Greenland, build up bomber bases, and continue to bomb the east coast of the US. According to this idea, the Germans were to bomb the US east coast that the deference of the US could be eradicated and allow for the invasion force to move in.
On the other hand, the other idea was of setting up a base of Germany Navy in Caribbean, mostly in the Puerto Rico or Cuba, and use the base as the staging ground for the attack on the belly of the United States through Texas-Mississippi and Florida Gulf shore. Therefore, for the two plans to succeed, Germany had to have undoubted control of the sea lanes. Hence, the war planners turned to the Germany Navy and particularly the U-Boats, which was hoped would decimate the American naval capability in the Atlantic. However, there was no combined approach between the Army and the Navy. Moreover, according to the Nazi, the several services had little to do with each other, and this led to the Army war planners literally waiting to see what the Navy would do. In the end, the U-boat attacks on America were successful, however, nowhere near what would be needed to start establishing German bases in the western hemisphere.
By the summer of the year 1942, numerous of the German staffers agreed that attacking the US was not going to work at all. Therefore, at the last effort, they decided that if the Japans were able to score tremendous victory in the Pacific, and occupy Hawaii as well as attack California, then the Americans resources would be diminished. As a result, they would shift to the Pacific theater hence leaving the east coast open for the invasion. Nevertheless, the devastating defeat of Japan at the Battle of Midway made the Pacific victory impossible, and the one attempt of placing the German agents aground in the United States was absolute failure.
African American Civil Rights in the 1950’s and 1960’s
At the end of the American civil war, and the eradication of the slavery in the year 1860, the Reconstruction Amendments in the US constitution pursued to protect the rights of the African Americans. Though for a short while, the African Americans were allowed to vote, as well as hold political office, they were soon deprived of all their civil rights, frequently under the laws of Jim Crow. These laws subjected the African Americans to discrimination as well as sustained violence. Over the past years, several efforts were put forward by the African Americans in order to protect their legal rights. Between 1955 and 1968, the acts of civil disobedience and non-violent produced crisis circumstances as well as productive dialogues between the government authorities and the activists. The state, local government, the federal, business and the communities frequently responded to these situations immediately that highlighted the injustices which was faced by the African Americans.
Moreover, the moderates within the movement worked hand in hand with the congress in order to achieve the passage of the most important pieces of the federal legislation that was responsible for overturning the practices of discrimination. Further, the civil right banned the discrimination which was mainly based on the color, religion, sex, race and the national origin within the employment practices. This act ended the unequal application of the requirements in the voter registration, as well as prohibited the segregation of races in schools, in the public accommodations and in the places of work. Besides, the rights of voting in the 1965 was responsible for the restoring and protecting the voting rights for the minorities who were the African Americans. This was done by the authorization of the federal oversight of the process of registration as well as elections within the regions with the historic underrepresentation minority voters. On the other hand, the fair housing act of 1968 issued banned on the discrimination in the rental or sales of the houses.
As a result, the African American were able to reenter the politics activities in the south, and across the entire nation, the youths were inspired to take actions. However, in spite the promises of the new laws created, the earlier slaves as well as their descendants, with the other ethical and racial minorities did not get the equivalent treatment under the law. This was also elevated by the Supreme Court ruling and allowing the state government to separate individuals of the diverse races as long as the isolated facilities were equal.
Baby boom and consumerism
The baby boom are the generation of the cohort born immediately after the Second World War. The cohort regularly referred to as the baby boomers, perceived themselves as the bridging generation between the old methods of their parents and the drastically diverse views of the next generation. Moreover, now entering the retirement as well as later life, the issue considers the account of the baby boomers having experienced shifting relations in the family and the post-war consumer culture. However, the generation of boom is more real than other most generations. It had a very clear starting point which is considered to be in 1946, just at the end of the Second World War and the time when the American soldiers returned home. Moreover, the heydays of the boomers stands out, as one of the most influential decades.
However, it is significant to note that most boomers, more than the generations after and before, have been perceived to have self-consciously believed in themselves, and over the years have been perceived by others to be a generation. To be precise, the boomers think of themselves as the younger generation. Further, they claim to have the patent on the concept of ‘youth,’ even as individuals still younger inexplicably materialized. In addition, the baby boomer are linked to the rejection or rather the redefinition of the traditional values. However, most commentators have disputed the degree of the rejection. They mainly note the extensive continuity of the values with the younger as well as older generations. Moreover, the North American and Europe, the boomers are generally associated with a number of privileges, as most of them grew up at the time of extensive government subsidies in the post-war education, housing, and increased affluence.
Additionally, as a group, the baby boomers are considered to be the wealthiest, most physical as well as most actively fit generation up to the era of their arrival, and with the genuine expectations that the world would improve as the time goes by. Besides, they were the only generation that receive the peak levels of income, hence they reaped the advantages of abundant level of retirement programs, apparel as well as food. Thus, the increased consumerism for the boomer generation has been constantly criticized as excessive. One of the main features of this generation is that the considered themselves to be a special generation, and very different from the earlier generations.
The reduction of tensions in the Late Cold War
Both the countries involved in the war stood to benefit if the trade would be increased, and the risk of having a nuclear warfare reduced. Further, Nixon who was a candidate for re-election at that time, was under pressure for the people who were demanding for social changes, the racial equality as well as the end of the war. The trip to Russia at the moment, like the earlier trip to China, permitted for a public attention focused on his foreign strategy achievement compared to the domestic issues. Also, the trip to China increased the interest of Soviet in détente, given the growing gap between the Russia and China. Moreover, the both sides understood the innate dangers of ongoing fear of nuclear holocaust. By the year 1969, the superpowers were recording the spending of approximately $50 million daily on the nuclear weapons. As a result, it was perceived to be a burden in the both sides since the spending were deemed to be intolerable.
Therefore, one of the initial steps taken to end the cold war was the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, SALT that started in 1969. However, these talks were cautious and slow in the development. Finally, in 1972, Nixon and Soviet signed the SALT treaty in Moscow, which was the most important part of the agreement. Further, after many years of hostility, the Soviet Union and the US agreed to carb spiraling arms race costs, as well as limit the danger of nuclear war. Most on the right of political spectrum in the US perceived the Western acceptance of post-war borders within Europe by the means of an act of Helsinki Final as a considerable defeat of the West. Besides, the Soviet ratification of the accord of human right was viewed to be not significant. When Jimmy Carter took office as the president, he embarked on the crusade of the human right. Moreover, he viewed NATO as not only a military but also a political alliance. To him, NATO should contribute to a more human advancement of the international politics as well as creating a more just world.
Nevertheless, in 1977, Carter made the most significant proposal which were accepted by NATO at the meeting in the North Atlantic Council, which indicated the enduring alliance mistrust in Moscow. The proposal argued that the Western strategy ought to continue based on the Harmel Report. The other proposal referred to the standardization of the military equipment and to the requirement of making extra progress with assimilating NATO at the level of operation. The final proposal that however developed to the long term defense program showed that détente had over the years not overcome the arms race.
