Devry HIST415 week 5 discussions

Making Presidential Decisions (graded)
President Harry Truman, the first Cold War President,
had a sign on his desk saying “The Buck Stops Here.” The Webliography
contains a link to the photo and story. Indecisive people can pass on
their responsibilities and “pass the buck,” and advisory people can
propose their concepts and lobby for acceptance, but the President can
ultimately turn to nobody else. Presidents must make the hard decisions.
It is a heavy mantle to bear on those presidential shoulders. It is
lonely at the top.President Johnson’s “wise men” possessed depth
in their areas of expertise beyond that of the President, who was a
master mover of legislation to accomplish domestic social programs but
very much out of his league in military matters and international
relations. To begin, evaluate this question: To what extent was
the March 1968 reevaluation of the Vietnam War, as a function of Cold
War ideology, accomplished to satisfy domestic concerns rather than
international concerns? In a time of mixed obligations, how can we
differentiate what is domestic from what is international in American
politics?Impact of News Photography (graded)
When the dissolution of European colonialism began
after World War II, the news media technology of the day was called a
“newsreel.” To see the faces and hear the voices of world leaders and
reports of events, you would watch one or two short films at the movie
theaters along with the movie previews. These newsreels would be weeks
or even months old, but they were the closest one could get to
witnessing the events that we can see instantaneously on television
today. If, as they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” then the
photographs in newspapers and the filmed newsreels taught powerful
lessons. Our textbook contains some powerful photographs that still
rivet our attention today. • Page 68 Figure 3.1 – President Eisenhower greeting President Ngo Dinh Diem at Washington National Airport in 1957 • Page 105 Figure 4.3 – The Buddhist monk immolating himself on a Saigon street in 1963 • Page 232 Figure 8.5 – Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong member on a Saigon street in 1968 • Page 340 Figure 12.2 – President Nixon greeting returning POW LCDR John McCain in 1973 Your
assignment is to go on a field trip through the Internet and bring back
two photographs for discussion of their impact: one from Vietnam
activity (not necessarily combat-related) and one from any other source
that you think made significant impact on the public. Be sure to give
the URLs in your discussion post for others to go and see them. Then,
with each one, write a paragraph about why that photo made significant
impact on the public perception of events. Okay, off you go on your
field trip. We will await your return.