Some Historical Events and People and Their Significance in History

The Battle of Little Bighorn was probably the most famous battle, in which the Sioux people defeated the governmental troops. At the Little Bighorn River, Colonel George Custer, who led the US Army's Seventh Cavalry, decided to attack a small, as he thought, Indian encampment. However, he found about three thousand Sioux warriors called by the chieftain Sitting Bull to protect the Indian lands. The Battle happened on June 25, 1876; about 256 soldiers of the governmental troops together with Colonel George Custer were surrounded and killed. The respectful chieftain Sitting Bull led the Indians. He managed to gather warriors from neighboring settlements. Though it was the greatest victory of the Sioux against the American government during the West expansion, it did not help to gain the ultimate freedom and keep native lands. The Indian people were harassed, arrested, and many of them killed.

Homestead Pa. Strike, which happened in 1892, was a turning point in the development of the American industry. From one side, the participants were Carnegie Steel Corporation, the largest manufacturing corporation of the time in the country. From the other side, the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, one of the largest labor unions in the country with more than 20,000 people, was in the strike. The reason for the strike was the retentiveness of wages system. The main point of the event was the recognition of the labor union. During the strike, the representatives of workers communicated not with the owner, Andrew Carnegie, but with the executive officer, Henry Clay Frick. The event turned into an armed conflict. A few days after the beginning of combat, the first governmental troops arrived at the site. The strike ended with the failure of steelworkers. It can be regarded as the establishment of the predominance of capital over the rights of workers. For several decades the rights of workers were violated, especially those of immigrant workers.

The practice of yellow journalism started around 1896. The main kingpins of yellow press were William R. Hearst, who worked at the New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World. Striving to raise circulations of their publications, they went as far as making up stories. Hearsts articles exaggerating General Weylers actions in Cuba greatly contributed to mass concerns for Cuba in the society. Although the articles were fictive to a great extent, Spain government decided to recall General Weyler to calm down the press. The point of yellow press was to publish exciting materials to boost the sales. With the articles, Hearst could dictate the national thought, especially during Spanish-American so-called media war.

Alfred Thayer Mahan, who was a naval strategist, described three strategies that could assist the United States in constructing and maintaining an empire. His guiding work The Influence of Seapower upon History of 1890 suggested building the strong US Navy as the first step. Secondly, US should create a network of naval bases as coal supplying stations for steamships in order to increase their geographic reaching abilities. Thirdly, Mahan proposed to construct a naval canal in Central America to shorten the time needed for the new navy troops for moving from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic by two-thirds. The government of the US implemented Mahan's advice and passed the Naval Act in 1890, which gave the impulse to creating a strong fleet.

The Bonus March is a public demonstration that happened in 1932 and counted about 15,000 of people, the greater part of whom were the veterans of the World War I. They had received bonus certificates for $ 1000 as a reward for their service. However, at the very beginning of the Depression, veterans remained with nothing and the fact made the servicemen ask the Congress to redeem the certificates. The demonstrators built the settlements in Anacostia Flats. The demands of the demonstrators were rejected. The government of the country considered them a threat to national security. Thus, President Hoover ordered the military troops under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur to clear the capital of the demonstrators and to burn the settlements. During this operation, two men were killed. Such attitude to veterans spoiled the public thought of President Hoover and his reelecting campaign failed.

William Jennings Bryan was the Secretary of State during Wilson's presidency and an anti-imperialist. He strove to sign cooling-off treaties with all the nations of the world. The point was to solve disputes of international nature by means of talks and not war, as well as to raise the questions to an international commission. Bryan negotiated friendly relations with Colombia and apologized for Roosevelt's actions during the Panamanian Revolution. He also tried to establish an effective governmental system in the Philippines without American support and participation in future. However, eventually keeping America away from the international affairs appeared much harder in practice than in theory.

Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood. The consequences of her activity can be felt nowadays. She launched the program of contraceptives awareness and the ways of planning family for women of her time. Sanger believed that every woman has the right to own her body and could decide on the abortions and childbearing. Birth control limited the number of children in the family. The significance of birth control is that it gave the opportunity to pass new laws, keep families under control, and reduce the number of unwanted children in the society. It also gave the women the right to advocate for themselves in case they felt deprived socially.

Upton Sinclair was President Roosevelt's political opponent that led governorship in California in 1934. He based his campaign on criticism of the New Deals shortcomings. He launched End Poverty in California program, which said for a progressive tax on income, a pension program for old people, and governmental seizure of factories and farms that did not pay taxes. In such a way the government would offer workplaces for unemployed people to own the facilities cooperatively. Upton Sinclair lost the elections to a Republican, but he managed to draw attention to his ideas.

Roosevelt Corollary is a famous speech held in the Congress in 1904. The speech was based on Monroes Doctrine of the early nineteenth century. The Doctrine discussed the possible consequences of interference in the Caribbean by the European countries. Roosevelt claimed that as an international police power the United States should use the military forces to correct the chronic wrongdoing of Latin American countries that can cause instability in the region. The difference between Monroes Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary was that the first one proclaimed the policy of noninterference, and the second was for using military forces where appropriate and necessary. Basing on the Doctrine Roosevelt established protectorate over Cuba and Panama as well as used US military in many international affairs.

The Zimmerman Note, or Zimmerman Telegram, contained a proposal of creating Mexican-German alliance from the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmerman, to the German ambassador in Mexico. It was brought into publicity on March 01, 1917. Having studied the contents of the telegram, President Woodrow Wilson spoke in front of the Congress so that the United States of America would prepare for war against Germany. After the authenticity of the telegram had been proved, the publicity changed their thought towards the necessity to enter the World War I.

Lusitania was a passenger ship attacked by the German undersea boat, or U-boat, on May 07, 1915. The ship was going from New York to Liverpool; the government of the USA was warned that the ship would be attacked because of its cargo. The Germans tried to break the British naval blockade and attacked all the ships including merchant and military. During the attack of Lusitania, 1200 people, including 128 Americans, died. The attack helped the United States get new supporters in England and outside its borders.

Teapot Dome scandal was the first event that involved bribe and sentence of a cabinet official. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall was a participant of the scandal. He leased navy reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming and two places in California to private oil companies without giving an opportunity to bid on the sites. In return, Fall got $300,000 in cash and cattle for his farm from the oil companies. Fall was sentenced to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison.

Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 was the first regulatory document that permitted bank deposit insurance. Senator Carter Glass, the founder of the United States Federal Reserve System, and Henry Bascom Steagall, the chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee, passed the act into Congress. The Act was to regulate investment banking of the country and was a part of the First New Deal programs. In its turn New Deal legislation created the Federal Housing Authority.

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John Maynard Keynes was a British economist who claimed that deficit spending was a necessity in the conditions of capitalism and is favorable for maintaining employment and stimulating peoples spending. Roosevelt accepted the approach and asked the Congress for emergency relief spending. Consequently, the Congress approved $33 billion for economic programs.

The historical events and people described above brought their consequences into the history of the country. Each discussed person and place influenced the United States of America of today.

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