In class we learned about the atomic bomb, such as the race to build it and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While I was watching TV last night, Pearl Harbor happened to be on. It was interesting to see the extent of damage and how chaotic it turned out to be. What happened to Pearl Harbor was not only the United States entrance into WWII, but it was also the U.S.’s declaration of war on Japan. It is believed that the bombing of Japan was a result of what happened at Pearl Harbor, as well as the speculation of whether it was done as revenge or strategic reasons.

-Nick Thips –

For my essay, I plan on delving into the topic of how the perception of racial integration in baseball has evolved over time. More specifically, I want to delve into how specific athletes such as Jackie Robinson blazed a trail of racial diversity during a time in which integration and racism were also prominent in American society. I plan on tying the two primary points of specific athletes who endured racial hardships in the MLB with the current events of the time and how that relationship helped spark a more accepting outlook on athletes of varying ethnicities.

Within lecture, Prof. Putmam discussed how individuals during war periods would satirize and correlate the atomic bomb with everyday things such as alcoholic drinks and the name of songs in order to cope with the fear of possibly being attacked by foreign forces. Above is an example of a drink named after the atomic bomb that was also prevalent during these times of war as people would try to mask their true fright. 

In recent years there has been a debate about the power of banks and the transparency of their business. Since there has been a financial crisis 6 years ago, the economic is still suffering under the consequences of the crisis. So called Bad Banks were established in order to get rid of all the toxic stock and bond papers. Furthermore, whole countries have suffered from the crisis, America was nearly bankrupt 1 year ago , Greece is still in the recession and the value of the european currency , the euro, is getting lower and lower due to the politics of the european central bank (EZB). However, financial crisis happened before like in 1929 when the first real stock market crash occurred.According to the Book, this was mainly caused by the fact that a lot of things like cars, real estates or even stocks were bought on credit. All of a sudden , the market was over speculated and stock prices began to fall and people lost their money . There is a similarity to the latest financial crisis, however, it has a much greater impact on the society nowadays that it had 80 years ago

since we were talking about the cold war and the fallout shelters i found this picture with an atomic bomb and an us air force plane in the back. This picture is symbolic for the cold war since the atomic bombs played a big role but stayed on the ground.

In 1945 the United States made a history making decision to drop atomic weapons on Japan, which essentially ended United States involvement in World War II. The decision to use these types of weapons has been put under a great deal of scrutiny as to its true necessity and its misery it inflected. The government has continuously presented the idea that it was because of the Atomic bombs millions of lives were saved but others say it was just a way to threaten and build fear in the Soviet Union. This decision to employ the bombs will remain a controversial topic in our society, because even to this day we are having to deal with the repercussions of it.  Which raises the question of, If the United States had the opportunity would they do it again?

Every day I get a notification on my phone from The New York Times with articles and one of the biggest issues lately has been what kind of military advances we should be making against ISIS. There is a lot of disagreement on what we should be doing and whether or not we should be sending more troops there. What society thinks about what the government is doing as far as military issues has a lot of impact on the decisions they make. This past week in class we have been discussing a lot about the political side of the atomic bomb and how society influenced the use of the atomic bomb. The government had to use different strategies in order for to people to cope and be okay with the idea of the military choices the government was making.

“If the New Deal could not end the Great Depression, a world war would.” (Schultz, Hist 383).  Coming from an economic downfall, war seemed to be the best option in order to bring back prosperity to the states.  Just as predicted, World War II helped increase productivity of industry, which meant more income to Americans, and at the end of the war, Americans found themselves with more money and more time.  These combined ultimately helped sports become “America’s Favorite Past Time”.  Sports, specifically on the West Coast, grew in importance in American society due to greater accessibility to a broader public, the stress relief it brought to people, and it’s new found affordability.   

  after a long day at the baseball field i sit in my room with the light on and the tv on and think about the long history of the lightbulb. In class we learned that the lightbulb had a long history of people who tried t invent it but who was actually credited for it. The lightbulb is such a huge influence and is a huge part of everyday society.

In this week’s lecture, Professor Putman was talking about fallout shelters during the Cold War that were supposed to be used in case of an atomic fallout.  Interestingly enough, there happened to be one underneath a shopping center near our neighborhood.  It was used for delivery trucks and storage for the businesses in the shopping center, but was made ready for occupation in case it was needed.  This made me think about how history haunts us because I have shopped here numerous times and never once thought about the history right underneath our feet!