LBJ: His Life and Times

Lyndon B. Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, just a little ways away from Johnson City in Central Texas. As Johnson grew up, he felt some of the effects of rural poverty. He attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now known as Texas State University – San Marcos), and Johnson sometimes taught students of Mexican descent, teaching him compassion for the less fortunate.

In 1934, Johnson married his wife, the former Claudia “Lady Bird” Taylor, whom would help him on his 1937 campaign for the House of Representatives. His campaign was successful on his New Deal platform.

During a brief time as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during World War II, Johnson won a Silver Star in the South Pacific. He was later elected to Senate after six terms in the House in 1948, and in 1953, he became the youngest Minority Leader. In 1954, when the Democrats had won control, Johnson became the youngest Majority Leader. Dwight D. Eisenhower even worked closely with Johnson due to his rare skills.

John F. Kennedy chose Johnson as his running mate for the presidential election of 1960. Johnson became the Vice President when he and Kennedy won the election, and was sworn into office as President in 1963 when Kennedy was assassinated.

After Kennedy had been assassinated, Johnson’s first priority was to get the bills passed that Kennedy had left behind or that had been unable have been passed, such as a new civil rights bill and tax cut. Once he had achieved some of these tasks, he began focusing on creating “A Great Society.” In 1964, Johnson won the presidential election with 61 percent and by the largest popular vote margin in American history. The margin was over 15,000,000 votes. In January 1965, Johnson made The Great Society his main priority. With The Great Society, there would be aid to education, attack on disease, urban renewal, civil rights laws, and aid for the poor and underdeveloped communities. He was able to get Congress to pass many of his laws by using the name of John F. Kennedy. Congress would sometimes make a change or add to the laws however. Many elderly people found help in the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act.

With Johnson as President, the U.S. made great strides toward a better country. The country made amazing headway in the exploration of space with Johnson supporting the NASA program from the very beginning. Despite the great achievements that were being accomplished, two major crises were tearing the country apart. Even though Johnson had been able to get anti-poverty and anti-discrimination programs started, unrest and riots in black ghettos troubled the nation. He managed to do everything that he could against segregation and to keep order in the U.S., but there was not an early solution to help the troubled country. The other crisis was the war in Vietnam. Johnson put forth the effort to stop all Communist aggression and to end the fighting, but it continued. By 1968, he had limited the bombings of North Vietnam in hope to begin peace negotiations because of the large controversy about the war back in the States. Johnson also withdrew as a candidate for the presidential election in 1968 to solely search for peace. Nixon would become president the following term.

After Johnson left office, peace talks were well on there way. He would not live to see them be successful and end the war though because on January 22, 1973, Johnson died of a severe heart attack at his ranch in Texas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d_24rNoPDU

Here is the website that the information above is from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/LyndonJohnson

Watch the video of Johnson’s inauguration and tell me what part you found most moving and why? In addition, what do you think was the best thing that Johnson did while he was in office? Explain your reasoning.

Tim Tavenner
Period 4

Vietnam War Overview

The Vietnam War, 1954 – 1975, originated from a long time battle between the French and Vietnamese over the rule of Vietnam. Vietnam was ruled as a colony of the French for one hundred years, but was forced to leave. In 1954, France and Vietnam signed the Geneva Peace Accords, which divided the communist northern Vietnam and the republican southern Vietnam at the 17th parallel. This division was only supposed to last until the elections of 1956. The U.S. and John Foster Dulles had other plans however because they felt that the Geneva Accords granted too much power to the Communist Party of North Vietnam.

In 1955, the Eisenhower administration provided massive amounts of support to help form South Vietnam. The following year, Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong anti-Communist figure from the South, won presidency and almost immediately claimed that the North was attacking. He began a counterattack and passed repressive laws. Citizens were upset about these laws. Many people in the Kennedy administration were split on the question whether or not Diem was the right man for the position that he filled. From 1956 – 1960, the Communist Party of Vietnam desired to reunify the country using only political means. They tried to get Diem to collapse by applying a tremendous amount of internal political pressure. In 1959, and again in 1960, Communists convinced the Party to use revolutionary violence to overthrow Diem. A broad based united front to help mobilize those that opposed the South’s government resulted. It was called the National Liberation Front and was formed at the end of 1960. Anyone that opposed Diem and wanted to unify the country could join the NLF.

In December of 1961, Kennedy sent a team to Vietnam to report on conditions and to asses how much American aid the South would need. Some advised Kennedy suggested sending more help to stabilize the Diem regime and destroy the NLF, while others suggested withdrawing all together. He decided to take the middle road and sent some aid of machinery and weapons, but would not intervene entirely by sending whole-scale troops. The NLF continued to win however and the Strategic Hamlet was formed to help separate the villagers from the NLF. By 1963, Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, had caused large scale upsets amongst many of their own supporters. Several people protested, such as the Buddhists whom would publically burn themselves to death. Diem and Nhu were later captured and killed. Kennedy was assassinated three weeks later and Lyndon B. Johnson became President of the United States, and as problems continued to worsen in Vietnam, Johnson wanted to get more involved in the war. He asked for more expansive war powers. In 1964, a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Tonkin was supposedly shot at on multiple occasions. Johnson used this as a way to get the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed to gain more power in the war and to get more involved. In 1965, he sent the first combat troops to Vietnam.

By 1968 however, things had deteriorated for the Johnson administration. The North launched coordinate attacks on all major southern cities. These attacks later became known as the Tet Offensive in the West, and they had forced Johnson to bargain with the Communist Party. He began hinting that he would not seek re-nomination as president and that he would compromise with the Communists to end the war. In 1968, secret negotiations to end the war began in Paris and Richard Nixon became president. Nixon had secret plans to end the war. He wanted to bring American troops home, to rely more on air attacks, and have the South’s army take care of more of the ground attacks. During the Nixon years, war also expanded into neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, causing great upset all over. The air war did not deter the Communist Party however, and it made for hard demands in Paris.

By 1972, a preliminary peace draft had been drawn up. This peace treaty was rejected and though, and things were only made worse when Nixon bombed the North’s largest cities. These air raids brought immediate condemnation on the international level and forced the Nixon administration to review its tactics and negotiation strategies. In early 1973, the Nixon White House convinced the South that they would not abandon them if they signed on to the peace accord. Therefore, the final draft was signed and open hostilities between the U.S. and North Vietnam ended. The Paris Peace Agreement did not end the conflict in Vietnam however. The North and South continued to fight until 1975 when the North captured the South’s presidential palace. The North had won despite the attempts the South made to keep from political and military collapse.




Here is the website that I got the information from, but there is much more to be found. Use this link and the other information on this page to accomplish the following tasks.

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/history/index.html

Do you agree with the U.S.’s involvement in Vietnam? Why or why not? Use the timeline feature on the PBS web page to choose what you think are the three most important events and explain why you chose the ones that you did.

Tim Tavenner
Period 4

I Will Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans is a great film. There I said it. I love this movie, from the first scene to the end credits. The cast is amazing, the story is amazing, the football games are amazing. The story takes place in 1971, just months away from a non-segregated high school to become open. The head coach, Herman Boone, played by Denzel Washington, is black. The assistant coach, who used to be the head coach until he was replace by Boone, is Bill Yoast played by Will Patton. Both these actors have an amazing chemistry, struggling with each other, fighting each other, and in the end, becoming best friends. They are not the only inter-racial friends that are formed throughout this movie. There is an entire side plot dedicated to two of the defensive players, the white Garry, and the black Julius.

In the film’s beginning all the characters are racist, black and white. The white boys do not want to play with the blacks and the black boys do not want to play with the whites. Boone decides to change this by taking them to a secluded college campus for summer camp. His first controversial move is to assign the buses to offense and defense, and not by black and white. When they arrive to camp and there is still hatred, Boone decides to make room mates inter-racial as well. Over time the players begin to respect each other and eventually become friends. They get back from camp to come home to all the racist tension. As the players are getting adjusted to life outside of the hate free camp, Coach Boone is told that the board of education did not expect him to make it as far as he did. To make sure that Yoast gets his old job back, and that they do not have a black head coach, the board will fire Boone if they see any sign of trouble, which means if the Titans lose a game, Boone will be fired. From then on it is a struggle to win each and every game. Yoast, though still upset about his job, sees the importance of the success of Boone and the Titans, and helps Boone take them all the way to win the championship game.
Though this is a Disney movie there are a lot of mature themes. Including one scene when the school first opens and there are white students out front along with their parents yelling and mocking the black students. This movie is the best sports movie ever made in my opinion and should be watched immediately by any one who has not seen it yet.

After watching the movie, what did you find most disgusting. What made you think, “wow, this really happened?” Also what did you think was the worst act of racism in the movie, white or black? What did you think was the best act of equality shown in the movie?

By Ryan Donovan
Period 4

History of Checkpoint Charlie

by Kayla Harrell, Period 4

The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 by the East German government. Shortly after the wall was built, President John F. Kennedy ordered the U.S. forces to build three checkpoints at different points in the wall through which diplomatic corps and allied forces could enter West Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie became the most famous. Checkpoint Charlie got its name from the American alphabet. The others were Alpha and Bravo…a, b, c. By 1962, this checkpoint was the only place that foreigners visiting Berlin could cross from West to East and back again. Checkpoint Charlie was removed in June of 1990, when German reunification was finally complete and nearly a year after the Wall came down. Today, a line of bricks traces the path where the Berlin Wall once stood and visitors will find a replica of the Checkpoint Charlie booth and sign at the original site. The original booth is in the Allied Museum in Zehlendorf. The watchtower, also part of the original checkpoint, was removed in 2000 to make way for stores and offices even though, there currently is no commercial buildings occupying the space.

To view the news articles from the time of Checkpoint Charlie visit here (or click on link):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1062037.stm

For more on the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (or click on the link):
http://www.dhm.de/ENGLISH/ausstellungen/breakthrough/S4.htm

For extra credit:
*What was the reason the Wall came down? (first person to comment correctly, be sure to identify self and period number)
*Why was Checkpoint Charlie the most famous? (first person to comment correctly, be sure to identify self and period number) Also, if you did the first question, please let someone else answer this one :)


The sticker on the Berlin Wall artifact reads: "Original Berliner Mauer, Checkpoint Charlie, The Wall-Le Mur, 13.8.1961-9.11.1989."

New Presidents Song?

Given the following song it gives you a quirky way of remembering the order and a little fact of the presidents, but it only goes to 43 George Bush. Does anyone have any ideas to add our 44th president? I want you to post your verse of Barack Obama; it can include just texts or you can even include a video if your an overachiever. Teacher's note: You will not be able to post a video, unless you bring it in on a flash-drive. This would bring in more extra credit than a text post, as it requires more effort. GREAT IDEA NATE!


Nate Reichenbach
History period 3

Mike Mansfield Scholarship Opportunity

Colleagues: Please take some time to announce this to your Juniors and Seniors. We are extending the deadline of this essay contest until May 29th, 2009. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions (406-243-2988). Thank you for your help with this.


Mansfield Essay Competition
For Montana High School Juniors & Seniors


In a life spanning nearly a century, Mike Mansfield left enduring marks on Montana, the U.S. Senate, and international diplomacy. Born in humble circumstances, Mansfield emerged from the copper mines of Butte to lead the U.S. Senate and serve as America’s envoy to Japan, bridging the administrations of six presidents in the process. However, Mike Mansfield was admired as much for what he stood for as what he achieved, serving as a respected symbol of modesty, personal integrity, ethical behavior, and bipartisanship. He was also respected for his broad cultural vision. His love for the people and cultures of East Asia, in particular, led him to develop expertise on that region that he shared first as a professor of East Asian history at The University of Montana and then as an enlightened force in U.S. policy toward the region during his government service.

Despite his extraordinary contributions, however, Mansfield’s name and deeds are fading from public consciousness in Montana. Through the generosity of two good friends of The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, we hope to remind young people of the Mansfield legacy through a public essay contest for Montana high school students.

The competition: Montana students in grades 11-12 are invited to submit essays focusing either on 1) the important ethical and other personal attributes that Mike Mansfield displayed during his life and distinguished government career, or 2) the significance of Mansfield’s commitment to East Asia. Students must note in each case how Mansfield’s legacy has influenced his or her own life or thinking.

The essay that readers judge to be the most impressive will win an award of $500, with the runner up being awarded $300 and the second runner up $200. You either e-mail your essay to Christopher Marlow at Christopher.marlow@mso.umt.edu or mail it to:

Mansfield Center
Essay Contest
MLIB 4th Floor
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

The essay needs to be 12 fonts, double-spaced and no longer than 10 pages. If e-mailed, please include your contact information. Essays will not be accepted after May 29, 2009. Questions can be e-mailed to the above address or called into (406) 243-2988.


Christopher Marlow
Program Coordinator
Mansfield Center
MLIB 4th Floor
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812
P: (406) 243-2988
F: (406) 243-2181

Frost/Nixon a pleasant surprise

Frost/Nixon a pleasant surprise

By Ryan Donovan, Period 4

I sat down to watch what I thought was going to be a boring movie. This movie was Frost/Nixon. Frost/Nixon is about the four part interviews between David Frost, a night time talk show host in Australia, and the former president of the United States Richard Nixon. The movie takes place in 1974 right after President Nixon resigned from the presidency for the Watergate scandal. Many Americans were outraged to hear their beloved president had broken into the Democratic offices in the Watergate Hotel. They were even more furious when President Ford pardoned Nixon of all charges against him. The movie comes in the night of the resignation, it shows Nixon giving his speech and also shows Frost watching it at the same time. The movie is basically a flashback, with different characters telling different parts of the story. One of the most surprising moments of this movie was the beginning credits because I found how many big name actors are in this. Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell, and Frank Langella all have big parts in the movie. I also was not aware that Academy Award winning director Ron Howard was at the helm of this film. All the actors did an amazing job, especially Frank Langella, who was dead on as the former president Nixon and Michael Sheen as the quick witted David Frost. Kevin Bacon and Sam Rockwell also did amazing jobs. Kevin Bacon as the right hand man to the president and Sam Rockwell as the reporter helping Frost bring Nixon down. Oliver Platt was funny, but he didn’t really shine in this movie, but I think that was the point. Ron Howard did an amazing job as director, using great lighting techniques and dramatic angles really set the mood for the story. The screenplay written by Academy Award nominated writer Peter Morgan was also stunning. Even though the movie seems like a drama, there is a lot of comedy in this, including one scene when Nixon asks Frost if he had fornicated the night before right as the interview begins taping. If you check out my trailer, that scene is in it. All in all this movie was highly underrated. The acting was magnificent along with the direction and the writing. If you have not seen this movie yet, please check it out, it is informational and entertaining.

Get a free sms student response system at Poll Everywhere

The Role of Women in World War II

In our American History class, we studied WWII and the American Home Front. For further knowledge, we had the honor of a couple of historians from the Women's Museum to come into our early morning class and tell about their museum. The beginning of their speech, the women told our class about the history of women's rights. According to them, Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote. It wasn't until years later when the United States granted women's rights. The powerpoint presentation revolved around the significant roles women played on the war.

Before WWII, women carried out chores around the house including cleaning, farming, and cooking. When the United States entered into the war, numerous men went over seas to fight for the nation. With the men gone off to war, many companies were short workers and were in need of employees. Women would see the ads saying that work was needed and they took advantage of the opportunity. Even though they were being paid less than men and were working long hours, women were proud to be apart of the work force. During the war women did numerous jobs that aided the war. For example, many women workers helped built planes and planes and more countless supplies. During the presentation, an interview on a parachute worker. The interview described what kind of work she delt with and under what conditions.

After the dropping of the atomic bomb, thousands of Japanese citizens died. Towards the end of the powerpoint presentation, the women who worked at the museum interviewed a Japanese woman. In the clip on the bottom of the page, one of the historians describe the interview to our class.

When the war ended, surviving soldiers returned home, taking the women's jobs. Due to the war and the assistance of the women in the work force, the United States won the war and saved the country from depression.

As extra credit, our class is wondering on your thoughts about the role of women in WWII. Our question to you, the reader, is how do you think the United States and the world would be different if the women were not apart of the working force during World War II?

Kendra D.
Anica K.
Josh E.
Period 0

Women Given What They Wanted in WWII

Recently in class we were able to have the experience of having first hand examples and primary source explanations of how women were treated and how they were able to help out in World War II. This experience was able to open our eyes to how women were able to become an active part of the war and hear real life stories of how lives were changed. With Amelia McDanel, Marion Cadwell and Sara Schantz presenting to us along with Marion Cadwell’s war life story. Here is what we were able to learn.

Marion Cadwell was a native Montanan, parachute rigger, technical illustrator, and feminist. During her childhood she was “kept in a state of not belonging” and believed that, “military was a dream especially with the glamour of the uniforms.” She first was ready to become part of the war when she saw an article in the Billings Gazette that the government had sent out that asked for leather and canvas workers that could sew very well. To her this was a route out of Billings.

Her first assignment was to design her own uniform and her other jobs were to repair flight suites that were made of leather and had sheep skin linings. She was also required to pack parachutes. She was able to also make an example to other women by being involved in the war which may have encouraged other women to help. This was a big deal for her along with other women to be part of the war. Women hadn’t had the chance much before this to be part of such a public event. As the war preceded women were given chances to become involved.

When asked what she remembered about Victory of Japan Day she said, “I remember thinking this is the end. This is such an end because I was all alone in that particular moment,” she added, “that is the remembrance that I have of that particular moment. Yet she wanted to make sure that we all knew, “I have been in it, and I won’t forget it.” She also wanted us to realize that she thought about herself in one particular way, “I felt I was a feminist long before the word existed.” After giving her first hand account of what was going on she stated as a conclusion, “War is hell!”

How do you feel about the way women's rights changed in WWII? Explain thoroughly.

Cassie P., Kyrstyn M., Jordan J.
Period 5

Marian Cadwell's Story

During World War II many women had to join the work force to compensate for the men from the United States who had to leave and fight over seas. On April 21, 2009 One of the ladies who joined the work force named Marion Cadwell came in and talked to the history class of Skyview Highschool to explain to us the jobs women did while the men were at war. As a child Marion Cadwell grew up in Roundup and as a teenager went to Billings High which is now known as Senior High.

At the age of twenty Marion Cadwell wanted to join the job force. Her father did not want his only daughter to join the work force because he believed that it was not a woman's job, but in the end Marion joined anyways and went to Spokane to work as a parachute packer. Because of her experience sewing, Marion was put on sewing the parachutes together and to pack them into the packs. She did this for the remainder of her work force. One of the facts she told us was that before the war started men and the women who did work were paid thirty five cents an hour which was still during the depression, and by the end of the war Marion was getting paid a dollar twenty one.

At the end of the war Marion ended up marring a veteran bomber pilot and learned how to fly which was one of the things she longed to learn. Also she enrolled in Bozeman College to get a degree in art with the money she had saved with V-bonds.

With the information you have just learned about Marion, and the other information you have learned about the women's work force movement create a Wordle and send to fettigb@billings.k12.mt.us


Hillary K.
Brandon B.
Period 4

A Look Into the Past

Imagine it's 1942 and you're a twenty year old female and your country was just bombed by Japan. Marion Cadwell was just one of the heroic women who joined the workforce to do her part in the war effort. Many women were denied jobs because of the stereotypes that have existed throughout history. WWII was a great start to help women begin their independence from men. This is a common story in the beginning of World War II. Many women did various jobs to help with the war such as parachute rigger, riveter, and ship builder. Take a look at the video above and research job opportunities for women during WWII and decide what job your would do and why. Also would you be OK being payed less and treated worse than men?

Landry B., Joetta L., and Sonja C.
History 3

Real Life Rosie-the-Riveters

The iconic "Can Do" attitude shown by Rosie-the-Riveter and other Americans during WWII commands respect and admiration from later generations examining this era. To push on--despite enormous odds--defines perseverance and the quest of working for the greater good. Presenting a classic struggle, WWII required that every citizen step up to the plate and contribute to the war effort. And as often plays out, times of great struggle often present opportunities for great change.

American history is rich with examples of the integral roles women play in wartime. WWII, however, presented a new challenge. Charged with "building the arsenal of democracy" and coupled with labor shortages, American women poured into factories in large numbers and excelled at jobs that had been typically reserved for men. According to the Office of War Information, the ability to sell the conflict as "a woman's war too" was vital to attracting the needed laborers. As stated in The Basic Plan for Womanpower (Office of War Information): "These jobs will have to be glorified as a patriotic war service if American women are to be persuaded to take them and stick to them. Their importance to a nation engaged in total war must be convincing presented." In surveying popular Americana of that age--from posters, to articles, and songs--it was done effectively. Rosie's call to toil as an American worker was patriotically pitched.

That said, changing popular mindset regarding femininity and the workplace, would prove a harder sell. As examined in "The 1943 Guide to Hiring Women," stereotypes and misconceptions regarding women's (dis)abilities were abundant. One Skyview junior noted, "It's like they're describing another species or something." A common goal uniting these workers was the need to prove that they could do the job right, as good as any man. In doing so, many gained the respect of their male counterparts.

But, all was not necessarily "rosie." While positions were often advertised as permanent work, some women discovered they were no longer wanted in the workplace, once the war was over. Also, women performing the same tasks as men (often in concert with them) found their pay to be anything but equal. Even so, Rosie-the-Riveters paved the way for many new occupations in the workforce, along with the belief that women could shoulder the work.

Guest lecturers from the Museum of Women's History are scheduled to address Ms. Fettig's juniors on Tuesday, April 21st. In addition to sharing their stories and observations, primary source documents and artifacts will be examined. In regards to the presentation, each class period will feature a post on this blog for further commentary. Some of these posts will alos appear on wikis and blogs within Billings Public Schools for additional dissemination, particularly with Heights elementary schools.

Purpose & Introduction

This blog has been created for Skyview students' to share information, ideas, questions, answers, suggestions, and resources. Acknowledging the fact that the world is getting flatter, it is ultimately intended to stretch education beyond typical brick and mortar walls, to the world at large.

Each class period will be responsible for a monthly posting on a topic of their choosing. The post must deal with the historical period at hand, and should include both text and visuals. One half hour per week of classroom time will be allocated for this task. Most likely, additional time will be needed outside of class time. Though the entire class will be assisting, responsibility and accountability fall on the shoulders of the team selected for that month's posting.

To help generate involvement, extra credit for comments posted (amount depends on quality of response) will be awarded. That said, please take time to personally invite YOUR community of family and friends to read and comment our YOUR blog!