For Prof. MGK

HISTORY 101

Name: Muslum Onur Yildirim

Course: History 101

Instructor: Roberta Wollons

Date:03/05/2015

Question 1

Back to normalcy must have been the title used since it was in the time when the war ended and the people were trying to get back to their normal lifestyles. As said in the book, the people still took to the streets to celebrate even though they had done so four days ago on the basis of a wrong alarm. The people were so determined to see an end to the war and, therefore, the cause of the jubilation. It was time for the people to rebuild their countries. They were against anyone who had, for some reason, been seen to be instigating the war. That was the reason why some shops were closed reading that they were attending Kaiser’s funeral. Just as the case would be with any other community, the Americans were happy that their brothers, fathers, sons and other family members who had left for Europe to fight would come back home.

The end of the war brought both benefits and losses to many of those who were somehow involved in the war. For instance, President Woodrow Wilson could be termed as one who benefited from the war, or at least on his trip to Europe. It was after the war that he left for Europe and the reception he received was enough to make him feel like a god. According to the book, he felt invincible as there had never been any other foreigner who received so much recognition on the British soil. To him, it was a sign that he was an ideal leader.

Normalcy has been used as the title of the chapter but a lot happens that shows that all was everything but normal. After his trip to Europe, Wilson came back home to find that the senate was not ready to be ever again involved in European affairs. However, in a treaty he had signed while on his trip, it was everything but what the senate had been advocating for. Americans had been tired of being involved in a war that they had not bargained for. As the case would be with any other individual, they had grown skeptical of everything that would remind them of the war. As such, the use of the title back to normalcy was ironic. Things were far from normal in the United States and the political climate was about to take a turn for the worst for the President.

The title normal was not meant for the American people as they were not really living normal lives since they were reeling from the troubles of coping with the aftermath of the war. Normal could be taken to mean struggle for power. On the way to the meeting in which the Treaty of Versailles was signed, some leaders were keen to plot how they would use the end of the war for personal gain. Everything was, therefore, back to normal where political supremacy was the order of the day, the same case applied in the United States where the senate was constantly working to lobby leaders to support exit from European affairs. Everything was back to normal, nothing had changed, and nothing had improved.

Question 2

The red scare is part of both social and political history. There are various factors that culminated to the scare that leave it to be both political and socially aligned to the extent of entering the books of social and political history. The Americans lived in constant fear of a revolution and the fact that they experienced war not so long before them made the scare even more real. There were various incidences in the country that further increased the people’s fear of a revolution in their country. As the president arrived from his trip in Paris, there were some fighters who paraded with weapons enough to set vast areas of the country on fire. Basically, the scare was real.

The scare was politically instigated as a way to control the people. For instance, there was one time, as described in the book that a parcel, addressed to a mayor, contained an explosive in it. The question to ask in this case would be why the parcel was addressed to the mayor. It could be taken to have been made to have the mayor clear the way for another person to take charge of the office or could have been a way to show the people that no one was really safe. If the same happened in the modern day world, there would be a lot of critique as regards to the security detail of the affected individual and public outcry about the safety of citizens.

In addition to the political aspect of the red scare, there came a social aspect as well. The administration, in many countries was rather skeptical of what the citizens were doing. The doubts were founded on the fact that there was a lot of propaganda circulating among the citizens as regards to the administration. For instance, there were theatres in Russia that posed danger to the administration due to their seemingly propagandist themes in their shows. In other places, before publication of any kind took place, the informative media had to be scrutinized to ensure that there was nothing that would cause any potential harm to the reader in terms of the reader’s ideologies. As such, the freedom of expression and the general climate had changed.

The changes may have been a result of the experiences during the war and the people lived in constant fear of what may have happened. The dint not understand what the future held for them, and especially because of the constant wars and this made their fear even worse. There was constant struggle for change in the society as the people did not want the society to remain the way it had been before the war. The fact that things went back to the way they were before the war made the people want some change. As such, the said propagandas were a result of the people wanting to experience change. Fear of war among the people, was something social while the result of the fear on the political environment was something to qualify as a political history aspect.

Question 3

Fashion and technology is seen to dominate throughout the book by Allen. The fact that there is a lot of reference to the same means that the various forms of technology then, including the radio, movies and auto, were widely used then. The question, however, is why the domination. In the case that a new technology is discovered in the modern world, a lot of people would use it and, consequently, it would be widely used as a means of communication. For instance, if some historic occurrences were to happen in the current era and the same written in historical books, there would be a lot of reference to the social media in the written books. The reason is not that there is a lot of information as regards to the occurrence on social media but because the same has become an important part of the lives of people in the modern world.

In historic times, historians used to write occurrences that occurred during their lifetime. There was little to no reference on what happened at another time when they were not present. As such, they relied on sources of information such as the radio in the case that they did not witness the same happen. Further, during the post-war period, there was a large improvement in radio and automotive industry. The fact that that is the time covered by the book left Allen no choice but to constantly mention them in the publication.

The postwar period saw the development of the theatre and movie industry. It was one industry in which people expressed their dissatisfaction with the leaders and aired their views on what they would have wished altered to better suit the people. As such, it was inevitable for the movie industry to be mentioned in the book. Movies serve as ways of communicating to people. They can be informative or provocative. They can also be used for education purposes and, therefore, lead to enlightening of the masses.

Mobility at the time was mainly through the use of automobiles. It was then that they began taking root in the society. Owning a car was prestigious and was a sign of wealth among the aristocrats. Only the rich would have the privilege of enjoying such luxuries. The president has to travel in an entourage which would have been a sign of the wealth of the place he leads. There was no way that such details would be left from a book that talked about history. In a modern day situation, there is no way a historical event could be recorded without mentioning the allies to the president that were present at the occasion and how the information was passed. The use of things that the reader can relate to improves the authenticity of the information in any given publication. In the case of Allen, the technology in the book relates to the technology at the time covered in the book and, therefore, improving how authentic the information in the book is.

Question 6

Allen’s presentation of President Warren G. Harding is more political. In the presentation, a lot is talked about the president’s prosperity in office and how he got things done. In addition, there is a lot as pertains to the president’s ability to help and interact with people more than any other American president before him had done. The most spectacular fact about his reign is that when he passed on, the author says, the whole of the country was sad at the loss. This is because of the manner in which he interacted well with the people, and everyone felt that he deserved to lead them. All the people were mourning not only because of the loss of a great leader, but also a president who was more of a friend to all people. They had lost a man of the people. The description of the president’s death is not as that Woodrow Wilson was. The case is a testament that Warren G. had a way of interacting with people and winning the affection of his supporters, just because of the good interpersonal relationship that he had created.

The epitome of the political aspect is the clarification of the circumstances that the people had supposed to have caused his death. Some argued that his friends had led his administration into deep graft. The explanation is one that describes the president’s downfall and how he may have been wrong in appointing who was to be in his administration. Had he been a little bit wise and involved in the affairs of the country, his reign would not have been tainted as it was when the truth finally surfaced about various steps that had been undertaken in his term as president of the United States.He was a man of the people but, politically, he was a failure. He had won the support of the people as he knew what it was that they wanted but did not know how to efficiently run the office. His political choices leaved a lot to be desired.

On the other hand, the presentation of Calvin Coolidge is not political. There are a lot of changes that have been talked about by the author as having happened in the course of his tenure. For instance, the improvement in the country’s economy has been a subject in the presentation of Coolidge’s time in office. According to the author, the radio manufacturer and the automobile manufacturer were treated as equal entrepreneurs during his time. According to Allen, Coolidge’s policies were the salvation of the American economy. The presentation makes Coolidge fall into the category of social history.

Economics is a social science as it deals with the lives of a particular society. In particular, economics tries to explain a people’s way of life and factors that contribute to the said people said way of life. As such, in contrast to Warren G.’s presentation of a leader with poor choices, Coolidge was wise enough to improve the American’s way of life.

Reference

Allen, Frederick Lewis. 1997. Only yesterday: an informal history of the 1920's. New York: Wiley