Studs Terkel 8: Working

The two interviews I read were with Mike Lefevre, a steel worker, and Phil Stellings, an auto worker.  Both of these men had very similar stories about their jobs.  During the introduction, Studs said that men working during the 60's and 70's lacked "a meaning to work well over and beyond the reward of the paycheck."  This quote stuck with me and I felt that it described a lot of what Mike and Phil said.  They still had labor jobs which weren't what they used to be during the 20's and during the war.  Mike said, "you can't take pride anymore."  I was wondering if this was because the pay wasn't good enough or because the work wasn't going to anything special like the war.  This was answered when he said, "your doing this manual labor and you know that technology can do it."  Machines being used to build things were becoming much more common and I connected this to outsourcing today because many Americans can't get jobs when someone over seas will do it for a fraction of the cost.  Both of these men also talked about how they were bored with their jobs and that it was the same old thing.  I believe that it is because during this time America started to have to norm of going to college instead of going into the army.  They referred to the business men as "snobs" because these men thought they were better than everyone else.  Yet at the same time Mike was hoping that his son would become one of these men because that is the path most Americans were taking to be prosperous.  What these interviews taught me is that America changed into a much less labor dominated working country partially because of peer pressure and how attractive wealth was.

Studs Terkel 7: Division Street: America

The first interview I read was with Dennis Hart, a cab driver in Chicago.  He talked a lot about how the people of America have changed in the later half of the 20th century.  Something I thought was interesting was that even after the civil rights movement, there was still a huge color barrier.  Dennis said, "It's a rare incident to see a white man cry."  This struck me first as peculiar because I haven't seen many adults cry and then I began to wonder why black men would cry more than white men.  Dennis went on to say that white people's only goal is to have more money.  This made me think that during this time period many many people were trying to get more white collar jobs while blacks began filling up blue collar jobs.  I believe that what lead to this was the Kennedy Administration because the staff during that presidency were much younger than any before.  Not only did this lead to different jobs but it is also what gave young people the confidence to protest and stand up for their beliefs.  Dennis also talked about how society was during that time as well.  He said, "The average individual, if he saw a communist on the street, he would pick up a stone and throw it at him.  This shows how negative people were towards communists just as they are towards terrorists today.  Dennis explained this by saying that everyone was in a state of panic.  This shows that the cold war caused people to become afraid and fight that fear with anger.  Overall, what I took from this interview is that the 50's and 60's in America were very complicated times because of all of the changes.  The best comparison I can make with this time period is America was going through puberty because it was changing, emotional, and slowly maturing.

The second interview I read was with Tom Kearny, a Chicago police officer.  Just like Dennis, he talked about how society was changing and that labor jobs were being turned in for white collar jobs.  Society as a whole was changing and I believe that this is because of how leadership changed.  The entire first half of the 20th century was lead by the same politicians but their time had ended and a new one began.  Of course, the change over was not perfect as Kearny quoted, "it's a corrupt society."  He based this on the large amount of youth revolt.  There are different types of revolt though.  One was standing up to the government peacefully and exercising the first amendment.  Another was a revolt against the elders of the country.  Kearny explained this when saying, "the younger generation doesn't think to highly of us.  They think we made a mess of things, which we did."  This quote is saying that because the past leaders had made very controversial decisions that went against the thoughts of the people, the new youth didn't want to tolerate that.  This lead to drug use and protests.  The change over from past to present was awkward and described well by Tom Kearny. 

Open Response #3

I really enjoyed learning about the end of the 1920's and the beginning of the depression because I believe that these times in American history have most largely shaped the present.  The 20's was a new era that included the use a credit, an everyday necessity in the 21st century, and the production of new consumer technologies such as the radio.  The depression helped shape the nation because it corrected many economic and social flaws.  I have always believed that people learn best from their failures and looking at America today shows that they have learned from the past.  Many programs that America has today started during the depression as part of the new deal.  This shows that the government made successful programs by looking at what failed.  America should learn from this time period because it will help the government figure out the best path for the country to be on.  For example, I feel that congress should allow more laws to be passed to see if they work or not.  If they don't then the law can be taken away but if they do then it was worth taking the risk.  Another example of this working is the U.S. involvement during WWII prior to pearl harbor.  They would only give supplies that were fully paid for and they would not cover transportation.  They did this because of how much money the U.S. didn't get back after WWI.  Comparing the early 1900's to now, it is interesting to see what has changed and it will be interesting in just 20 years to see what else has changed.

Open Response #2

Something that struck me as weird and interesting was the fear of communism during the 1950's.  I found this weird because for as long as I have been alive, I have always felt that each American was treated equally and not falsely accused like many were in the 50's.  I also found this interesting because even though the 50's were very prosperous it seemed like the entire nation was afraid.  Not only afraid of communism but also desegregation.  America has a tendency to be cruel to those that they are afraid of and it even holds true today with the fear of terrorists.  Fear of terrorism and communism are very similar because in both cases people stereotype and accuse fellow Americans.  Both fears also started because of an attack on America that showed Americans that they are not untouchable.  Something that was peculiar to me is why people in Hollywood were the most accused of being communists.  It is something I didn't understand because if anything I would think politicians would be the most accused.  Also, during the 1950's there was never a law that prevented someone from being communist so I never knew how they were able to question people in court.  What I learned from this is that America always tries to cover up their fears with prosecution.  In essence, they were bullies.  Joseph McCarthy was the largest contender of this because of how unfair he was with people he accused.  During this entire unit, I kept thinking to myself "What defines someone as a communist?" and by the end of it I still had no idea how the government was getting away with this.  Hopefully America can learn to overcome fears opposed to covering them.

Open Response #1

The day that we watched Saving Private Ryan was the most powerful day for me when we were learning about WWII.  Besides hearing about battles and casualty numbers, I had never been able to visualize or feel what the war was like for soldiers.  Seeing how gruesome war was made me think about the men that volunteered to go into war back then and about the men that volunteer today.  Did these men know back then that war was as messy as it is?  Thanks to movies and television, soldiers have a lot more background knowledge before joining the army.  When we later learned about Vietnam and heard details about soldiers getting wounded, I could imagine the wounds.  It scared me and made me really sad but also opened my eyes to the reality of war.  A large realization that I made was later when playing Call of Duty.  In the game people fire fake weapons and you see fake soldiers fall and die.  I then understood how sheltered I have been from war my whole life.  It isn't necessarily a bad thing but it isn't good either.  My respect for soldiers seems to go up everyday because nothing is comparable to the courage soldiers have.  I remember watching Rocky I a few years ago and in it Rocky is treated badly because he is a Vietnam veteran.  Thinking about this now, I can't fathom how a person could disrespect a soldier.  I became even angrier when Mr. McDonald told us about how poorly he was treated as well.  What I have learned from all of this is that soldiers go through so much to protect America and even though they are treated much better today I still feel that they deserve more.   

Studs Terkel 6: The Good War

The first interview I read was with Peter Ota.  Peter's father was put in jail because he is of Japanese decent.  He said it was shameful to see his dad behind bars and in prison clothes.  This showed me another example of racism going on during the 1900's that wasn't only directed towards blacks.  Peter said that the worst part was that in Japanese culture "shame was worse than death."  Peter later was reunited with his dad at an internment camp.  He was later drafted into the army and talked about the irony of fighting for freedom when he wasn't free himself.  Reading this made me think about how cruel and hypocritical the U.S. was because they were against Hitler having concentration camps but they were doing the same thing.  I think that the entire country wouldn't have thought so badly of Japanese-Americans if the U.S. had not interned them because then there would be no bandwagon for people to follow.  Peter also said that he only ever wanted the American dream and that by the end of the war he had become part of white America.  The connection I made with this was when Spain first went to Mexico and forced Christianity upon them.  America changed people to become more "American" even though America is a big melting pot. 

The second interview I read was with Betty Basye who graduated high school in 1941.  News such as Pearl Harbor didnt' travel as quickly because of the lack of technology.  She had many friends that were killed in Pearl Harbor which prompted her to help the war effort.  She became a nurse in the army.  I thought that this some what connected to 9/11 because it was an attack from another country but the difference was that people heard about 9/11 instantaneously.  It also didn't connect because not everyone liked the war on terrorism but many people during the 1940's supported the war.  Betty said that her first experience with soldiers was gruesome and disgusting.  I was trying to understand but I still could probably never conceive what the war was actually like.  She said, "I never really became used to it."  I thought about every nurse and medic during the war that saw scarring and gross things.  She ended up marrying a soldier that was wounded and ended by saying, "you could never get the father of my four children to talk about the war."  Hopefully I will never need to see what war is like but as of right now it is something beyond me that I could never fully connect with.   

Studs Terkel 5: The Good War

The first interview I read was with Peggy Terry.  She talked about the transition from the great depression to WWII.  She said "the first work I had after the depression was at a shell-loading plant."  This taught me that women taking over previous manly roles happen instantly.  It is another example as to how the nation united.  She also said that she wasn't thinking a lot about the war but mostly about keeping herself and her family alive.  I saw this as the U.S. not being fully on board with the war until they joined it or were set financially.  A lot of people also moved to Michigan for better wages even with no worker rights and poor conditions.  This showed how desperate Americans were at the time.  They took jobs in order to survive regardless of the safety or location.   Things then changed in American Society once the war began.  Peggy talked about how she hated the Japanese but that she also didn't know anything about the internment camps.  During times of war, the government tends to cover up anything that seemed bad and only show what is good.  This also happened during the Vietnam war where until Tet, Americans believed they were winning the war.  I feel that even when learning about this era, the history books only cover things that are good and not always the bad.  We learned about how after the war America prospered but Peggy Terry talked about how the war "brutalized" men.  Then men who had came home were still so distraught from the war even during the changing times.

The second interview I read was with E.B. Sledge who was captured in Japan during WWII.  He was so distraught from the experience that he said he had "nothing much to say about the war."  This reminded me about when we were reading Night by Elie Wiesel and he said that there were still many things that he has never spoken of.  He did say that the Japanese were inhumane and it turned the prisoners into savages.  I could never imagine having to go through that and how it changes a person forever.  Sledge's final message was that people only talk about the terror of the Nazi's but not very much about the cruelty of the Japanese.  Until this year I had never thought about this mostly because I am Jewish and only heard about the Nazi's during WWII but i agree that they cruelty of the Japanese should be more widely known because of the men that died over there.