LAD #37: Brown vs. Board of Education; Topeka, Kansas

Linda Brown, a young African American, walked approximately a mile everyday in order to catch a bus to go to her school. Linda, however, could have very easily attended a white elementary school seven blocks away, but she was denied enrollment into the school due to her race. Oliver Brown, her father, accompanied by thirteen other parents decided to bring the issue to the courts. Brown rightfully argued that black schools received only a third of the funding as white schools. "They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms." Yet, the court room, dominated by whites, referred to the Plessy v. Ferguson in which the doctrine of separate but equal had been defended. The NAACP would not face defeat that easily. Rather, they decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. On October 1, 1951, many cases appealing the same thing were combined into one trial; the hearings would begin on the October 9. The Browns argued that black children attended black schools in order to keep them different from everyone else. The case continued for several months. However, after one of the justices, the case had to basically begin once again. Finally, after two years, the ruling was made in favor of the Browns; segregation of schools was outlawed. Tensions between blacks and whites ensued for some time, however, making the path to segregation a rather grueling one.

LAD #36: The Truman Doctrine

The Truman Doctrine was an address for the national security and foreign affairs of the United States, and also Greece and Turkey. The United States received an urgent appeal from Greece for economic and financial assistance, and if they did not receive aid it seemed as though they would not survive as an independent nation. Greece, never being a wealthy country and lacking many natural resources, and it has "suffered invasion, four years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal strife;" it was even stated that the "Germans had destroyed virtually all the railways, roads, port facilities, communications, and merchant marine. More than a thousand villages had been burned. Eighty-five per cent of the children were tubercular. Livestock, poultry, and draft animals had almost disappeared. Inflation had wiped out practically all savings." A militant minority, tragic conditions, and human exploitation have made economic recovery seem impossible for Greece. Too, the Greeks were seeking to resume purchases of the bare essentials that were unavailable at the time. The Greeks also asked the United States for political aid; "the assistance of experienced American administrators, economists and technicians to insure that the financial and other aid given to Greece shall be used effectively in creating a stable and self-sustaining economy and in improving its public administration." Truman tells the joint session of Congress that the aid the United States has already provided for Greece is inadequate and that the United States, as a self governing democracy, must do more for Greece. The British had been helping them previously but they can no longer offer economic support after the 31st of March. Turkey is another nation that Truman mentions "as an independent and economically sound state is clearly no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of Greece." Turkey was better off than Greece, but Truman claims that Turkey needs aid also. Turkey is seeking this help in order to maintain security and stability throughout the Middle East. Truman says: "We are the only country able to provide that help." "The disappearance of Greece as an independent state would have a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples are struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their independence while they repair the damages of war." Truman then requests from Congress "assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948" and "$350,000,000 for the prevention of starvation and suffering in countries devastated by the war." Too, he asks Congress for supplies, commodities, and equipment for the two nations, as well as to authorize the detail of American civilian and military personnel to Greece and Turkey. 

LAD #35: F.D.R.'s Executive Order 9066

Franklin D. Roosevelt starts immediately by stating and citing that he has the right to do everything in his power to protect the United States "against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities." In this opening paragraph, Roosevelt states that he authorizes the construction of military areas in any location, ones that can house any one that may be helping the government of an enemy. Too, it also reads that the military officers need to respect the liberties of the detainees and must provide to them sufficient transportation, shelter, food, and other accommodations. Roosevelt then places the Attorney General in charge of all of these camps. The president gives power also to the commanders of the camps, such as the implementing of federal troops and the aid of state and local agencies. Roosevelt authorizes departments in charge of "hospitalization, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter, and other supplies." The president then closes the letter, stating that this order cannot be changed unless stated explicitly by him.

LAD #34: F.D.R.'s Declaration of War

Franklin D. Roosevelt, president during the year 1941, was astonished to learn that on December 7, Japanese fighter planes had hailed death from the skies at Pearl Harbor. The planes killed 2,335 military soldiers, but failed to destroy major targets like the U.S. Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers. Roosevelt, on the very next day, assembled Congress and gave one of the greatest speeches in American history. Here, he delivered an oration so powerful that it rivaled even Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Martian Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech. He starts of the address with it's famous line, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." He explains that the United States was at peace with Japan and Japan wanted to maintain peace in the Pacific. Roosevelt stated too that the attack came one hour before the Japanese Ambassador delivered a message that revealed no threat of an attack at all. To Roosevelt it was obvious that this attack was premeditated for many weeks. Ironically, the Japanese government was misleading the United States at this time by making it appear as though they were hoping for a continued peace throughout the Pacific. Many Americans lost their lives at Pearl Harbor, and Japanese forces also attacked many other islands such as Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippine Islands. Roosevelt proclaims that we the American people must defend this nation no matter how long it takes; he does not hesitate to assert that, regardless of the danger, "we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God." War then was declared on December 8, 1941 on Japan and three days later the United States entered war also with Italy and Germany.

LAD #33: F.D.R.'s First Inaugural Address

Before Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the economy of the United States was declining rapidly. Businesses were failing, banks were declining, and Americans who had once experienced comfortable living conditions now found themselves on the streets. "Hoovervilles" were constructed outside major cities and numerous impoverished, dirt people crawled the cities in search of work. Wilson, horrified of the conditions, could do nothing but wait. Even after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected, he boosted the spirits of the American people through the power of his first inaugural address. He begins his speech by asserting that "our distress comes from no failure of substances." The new president claims that this is to show the people that the failures of the past years is not something they could control. "We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep." He continues to assert that the money changers that were the sole reason for the failure of the banks had fled, but people can work together to restore economic order. This implies that F.D.R. has faith in the country to overcome the greed that had once consumed it to become stable once again. He also calls for action at that very moment in order to help the struggling economy. The president exclaims that the American people must recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and shift their focus from the spoils of industry to the promise and growth of agriculture. Instead of Wilson's ideas of letting the people solve the problems of the nation through hands off policies, F.D.R. decides to take initiative and offer solutions to the people of the nation. 

LAD #32: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

In order to promote the welfare of mankind, this pact declared the renunciation of warfare as an instrument of national policy. With this renunciation, it was meant to promote friendly and peaceful relations between nations as well as institute unions between the more civilized nations of the world. It explicitly states that any nation that resorts to war to promote its national interests should not gain the advantages and benefits of the treaty. To be put into place as soon as possible, the treaty declared condemnation of "recourse to war for the solution of international controversies."Afghanistan, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Kingdom of the Serbs, Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Siam, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Panama were all signers of the Pact. "Convinced that all changes in their relations with one another should be sought only by pacific means and be the result of a peaceful and orderly process, and that any signatory Power which shall hereafter seek to promote its national interests by resort to war a should be denied the benefits furnished by this Treaty."

LAD #31: Wilson's Fourteen Points

Wilson's Fourteen Points focus primarily on calling for an international policy of open relations and peace.  "The day of conquest and aggrandizement is gone by; so is also the day of secret covenants entered into in the interest of particular governments and likely at some unlooked-for moment to upset the peace of the world." Too, he urges the American people to come together through a new sense of national unity, stating that "all the peoples of the world are in effect partners in this interest." Together, his fourteen parts are as follows:

1. Calling for diplomacy,

2. Freedom of the seas both during peace and war,
3. Equal trading conditions throughout the globe,
4. A reducing of national arms,
5. The adjustment, impartially, of colonial claims,

6. Evacuation of the Russian Territory and aiding Russian Government,

7. Freedom for Belgium,

8. A correction by France for the wrongs done against Prussia in 1871,

9. Readjusting the territories of Italy,

10. Free opportunity for the people of Austri-Hungary to autonomous development,

11. Evacuations of the countries of Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania,

12. Dardenelles permanently opened to free trade and freedom to Turkey from the Ottomans,

13. Erection of a free Polish State,

14. And mutual guarantees of territorial and political stability and independence for small nation states.