Personal Freedom and Human Dignity

Evan Griffin
History II
Project 1: Final Draft
2.14.2008


Over the past century, there have been great feats to spread the concepts of personal freedom, individual responsibility, and human dignity. Some nations didn't get the message, or had their own ideas on evolving the concept, and failed. In the pre-World War Two era, The Destructive Nazi Germany and Ruthless Japanese Empire, as well as other powers of the eastern hemisphere at the time, were perfect examples of a negative spread of these concepts. The Communist Soviet Union was an example that also had negative effect on these concepts. However, the United States successful resistance to Soviet powers in the Cold War created an extremely positive effect on personal freedoms and human dignity, as well as the presidency of Ronald Reagan. However, the presidency of William Jefferson Blythe Clinton could have been much more effective on these concepts.


The aggression of the German Nazi party, and the Japanese Militarists played extremely important roles in the concepts of personal freedoms and human dignity. In 1919, Adolf Hitler had joined the National Socialist German Workers Party, or the Nazi Party, and soon afterwards, became the leader. In a similar fashion to Italian fascist, Benito Mussolini, Hitler became the Prime Minister and created the third German Empire. In his new empire, Hitler wanted to enforce extreme nationalism and racial "purification." The concept of degrading human right comes into play here with Hitler believing that blond-haired, blue-eyed "Aryans" were a "master race," and that ethnicities such as Jews, Slavs and any nonwhites were "Inferior Races," and were only fit to serve the Aryans. These beliefs of Hitler's led to the creation of the concentration camps and horrific events such as the Holocaust. Hitler also believed in a militaristic expansion (a means of increasing living space and population), as well as the Japanese and their Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo, who had rendered the Emperor Hirohito powerless. Once they had seized power, the Japanese military launched an attack and took control of the Chinese province of Manchuria. The League of Nations, established after WWI, was created to prevent this type of aggression and to support the evolution of personal freedoms. After discovering what had happened in Manchuria, the League condemned Japan, which was a useless effort because they quit the League anyway. These events that degraded human rights and personal freedoms in Europe and Asia were what caused the Second World War.

Another Axis power form World War Two that disregarded the concepts of personal freedoms and human dignity was Josef Stalin's Communist Soviet Union, before known as Russia. The inhumane ways of the Soviet Union continued throughout the post WWII era until the Cold War was ended in 1992. When Josef Stalin came into power in Soviet Russia, his policies obliterated whatever little successes the New Economic Policy had made, along with the nations agricultural sector, and took complete control of the peoples viewpoint of economic life. The ideas of Communism completely throw away the idea of all three concepts of personal freedoms, in which case, no one could talk negatively about the government, individual responsibility, which, in the Soviet Union, the government provided everything, and human dignity, in which people could get shot just for attempting to leave the country. During Stalin's rule over the Soviet Union, there was no capitalist free market, but "central planning," which was a market controlled by the government. Oleg Gordievsky, a British spy passing off as a KGB agent, told the British intelligence service, "The Soviet Union had been spending at least 50 percent [of the economy] on the military." When this information reached U.S. President Ronald Reagan, he know that America could resist against the Soviet Union by creating an arms race, with project such as an eight-hundred ship navy and the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as the "Star Wars." His strategy was to out spend the Soviet Union until their economy went bankrupt, which it did. Another contribution to the Soviet Unions collapse was the last communist ruler of the nation Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev's policies began to bring a sense of democracy into the Soviet Union. His most important policies were Glasnost, which allowed freedom of the press and open criticism of the Soviet Government, and Perestroika, a plan for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. And to help recover the collapsed economy, he called for less government control. The Cold War had finally ended when President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared the end of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union became the Commonwealth of Independent States In February of 1992.

The concepts of personal freedoms and human dignity did not seem to be making much improvement in the world. But things were progressing more nicely in the United States. The decades of the 1980's through the 1990's were a period that these concepts really took flight. This was a result of people taking advantage of their opportunities of individual responsibilities and human dignity. However, the most important contributors of evolving these concepts were the Presidents. President Ronald Reagan made great steps toward evolving personal freedom during his two terms in the 80's. The first thing Reagan did, was cutting government spending on social programs and lowered income taxes. When Reagan moved into the white house, according to the website, www.house.gov, the top tax rate was 70%. Eventually, Reagan got it cropped in at least half, coming down to 35%. Also during Reagan's administration, from the National Review, charitable donations increased 57.7% between 1980 and 1989, and income tax revenue increased by more than 54% in the same period. Reagan's tax cuts meant that the people were given their dignity to have the money that they earn rather than giving it to the government. They also were given individual responsibilities to contribute that money to the economy. Ronald Reagan also gave freedom to many Europeans by outspending, and breaking up the Soviet Union in the Cold War. When making his farewell address in January of 1989, President Reagan stated the two things he was most proud of were "the recovery of the economy and our morale as a nation," and that the country was "more prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago."

It is more debatable on whether President Clinton was a positive factor in the 90's. One of Clintons policies was the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. This joined together the United States, Canada and Mexico into a free-trade zone to strengthen the economy of each nation and create more American jobs. However, those who opposed this agreement claimed that the American jobs would be transferred to Mexico, where the wages are lower than the U.S. or Canada, and their weak antipollution laws would harm the environment. NAFTA had mixed results, wherein, freedoms and responsibilities were given to Mexicans, but in turn taken away from American and Canadian citizens. Clinton also had created an affordable health care plan for all Americans, with first lady Hillary Clinton at the helm. It seamed like it would help improve freedom and dignity but the bill was never even voted on in Congress. President Clinton also wanted to create a stronger and growing economy by balancing the government's budget to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment. This did not bode well with the new Republican-controlled Congress. President Clinton and the Congress butted heads about the issue until the government was actually shut down for a two month period.

However, these two were not the only Presidents who expanded on the concept of personal freedoms. There have been many other periods in this nation's historic growth that gave its citizens more and more freedoms, responsibilities and dignity. The United States has set major examples on how to properly evolve these concepts of freedom and responsibility. Other nations soon followed on the path towards properly giving these rights to its citizens; Gorbachev was the first of many to do which. Even today, the Bush Administration is making attempts to bring these rights to other nations. Our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan reflect this foreign policy and even those who do not approve of our efforts in the Middle East, want us to intervene and protect human rights in Sudan and other African nations. Protecting human dignity and personal freedoms will likely be part of America's foreign policy for years to come.

Bibliography

1. "The Americans ,"US History Textbook, McDougal Littell

2. "Adolf Hitler's Aggression." History in Dispute, Vol. 4: World War II, 1939-1943. Dennis Showalter, ed. St. James Press, 2000. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/

3. "Hideki Tojo." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/

4. "The collapse of Communism." National Review August 5, 1988 v40 n15 p28(2), Crozier, Brian, Full Text:COPYRIGHT 1988 National Review, Inc. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/hits?docNum=A6542212&tab=4&locID=hyan46532&origSearch=true&hdb=ALL&t=RK&s=1&r=d&items=0&secondary=true&o=&n=10&sortOrder=&l=dJ&sgPhrase=false&c=6&tabMap=20&bucket=iac&SU=communist+economic

5. "Stalin's Economic Policies." History in Dispute, Vol. 17: Twentieth-Century European Social and Political Movements. Paul du Quenoy, ed. St. James Press, 2004. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/

6. "Early Soviet Economy." History in Dispute, Vol. 21. St. James Press, 2005. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/

7. "Episode II: The Agony of Reform, Chapter 3: Behind the Iron Façade." Commanding Heights, Copyright 2003 Heights Productions, Inc. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/hi/story/tr_menu_02.html

8. "United States House of Representatives," 110th Congress, 2nd Session
Washington, DC 20515 | (202) 224-3121 | TTY: (202) 225-1904, http://www.house.gov/

9. "The Reagan Tax Cuts: Lessons for Tax Reform." Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, April 1996. http://www.house.gov/jec/fiscal/tx-grwth/reagtxct/reagtxct.htm

10. "Biography of Ronald Reagan." The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/rr40.html

11. "Biography of William J. Clinton." The White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html

12. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. "Chronology of Ronald Reagan's Presidency, 1979-89." http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/preschrono.html

13. "William J. Clinton Presidential Library." Clinton Presidential Library and Museum 1200 President Clinton Avenue · Little Rock, Arkansas 72201, http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/textual.html

Project Theme #1 Rough Draft #5

Body Paragraph #3
The concepts of personal freedoms and human dignity did not seem to be making much improvement in the world. But things were progressing more nicely in the United States. The decades of the 1980's through the 1990's were a period that these concepts really took flight. This was a result of people taking advantage of their opportunities of individual responsibilities and human dignity. However, the most important contributers of evolving these concepts were the Presidents. President Ronald Reagan made great steps toward evolving personal freedom during his two terms in the 80's. The first thing Reagan did, was cutting government spending on social programs and lowered income taxes. When Reagan moved into the white house, according to the website, www.house.gov, the top tax rate was 70%. Eventually, Reagan got it cropped in at least half, coming down to 35%. Also during Reagan's administration, from the National Review, charitable donations increased 57.7% between 1980 and 1989, and income tax revenue increased by more than 54% in the same period. Reagan's tax cuts meant that the people were given their dignity to have the money that they earn rather than giving it to the government. They also were given individual responsibilities to contribute that money to the economy. Ronald Reagan also gave freedom to many Europeans by outspending, and breaking up the Soviet Union in the Cold War. When making his farewell address in January of 1989, President Reagan stated the two things he was most proud of were "the recovery of the economy and our morale as a nation," and that the country was "more prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago."
It is more debatable on whether President Clinton was a positive factor in the 90's. One of Clintons policies was the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. This joined together the United States, Canada and Mexico into a free-trade zone to strengthen the economy of each nation and create more American jobs. However, those who opposed this agreement claimed that the American jobs would be transfered to Mexico, where the wages are lower than the U.S. or Canada, and their weak antipollution laws would harm the environment. NAFTA had mixed results, wherein, freedoms and responsibilities were given to Mexicans, but in turn taken away from American and Canadian citizens. Clinton also had created an affordable health care plan for all Americans, with first lady Hillary Clinton at the helm. It seamed like it would help improve freedom and dignity but the bill was never even voted on in Congress. President Clinton also wanted to create a stronger an d growing economy by balancing the government's budget to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment. This did not bode well with the new Republican-controlled Congress. President Clinton and the Congress butted heads about the issue until the government was actually shut down for a two month period. But these two were not the only Presidents who expanded on the concept of personal freedoms. There have been many other periods in the this nations growth that give its citizens more and more freedoms, responsibilities and dignity.

Project Theme #1 Rough Draft #4

Body Paragraph #2
Another Axis power form World War Two that disregarded the concepts of personal freedoms and human dignity was Josef Stalin's Communist Soviet Union, before known as Russia. The inhumane ways of the Soviet Union continued throughout the post WWII era until the Cold War was ended in 1992. When Josef Stalin came into power in Soviet Russia, his policies obliterated whatever little successes the New Economic Policy had made, along with the nations agricultural sector, and took complete control of the peoples viewpoint of economic life. The ideas of Communism completely throw away the idea of all three concepts of personal freedoms,in which case, no one could talk negatively about the government, individual responsibility, which, in the Soviet Union, the government provided everything, and human dignity, in which people could get shot just for attempting to leave the country. During Stalin's rule over the Soviet Union, there was no capitalist free market, but "central planning," which was a market controlled by the government. Oleg Gordievsky, a British spy passing off as a KGB agent, told the British intelligence service, "the Soviet Union had been spending at least 50 percent [of the economy] on the military." When this information reached U.S. President Ronald Reagan, he know that America could resist against the Soviet Union by creating an arms race, with project such as an eight-hundred ship navy and the Strategic Defense Initiative, also known as the "Star Wars." His strategy was to out spend the Soviet Union until their economy went bankrupt, which it did. Another contribution to the Soviet Unions collapse was the last communist ruler of the nation Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev's policies began to bring a sense of democracy into the Soviet Union. His most important policies were Glasnost, which allowed freedom of the press and open criticism of the Soviet Government, and Perestroika, a plan for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. And to help recover the collapsed economy, he called for less government control. The Cold War had finally ended when President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared the end of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union became the Commonwealth of Independent States In February of 1992.

Critical Thinking 24-2 #5

Review Germany's aggressive actions between 1938 and 1945. At which point do you think Hitler concluded that he could take any territory without being stopped? Why?
The point where I think Hitler concluded that he could take any territory without being stopped, would have to be from the very beginning. I don't think that it ever even crossed Hitlers mind that any one could stop him. After all, he was looking for a "1000 year rule" on the scale of the Roman Empire. And I must say he got pretty close until the United States came into the war.

Critical Thinking 24-2 #4

If you had been a member of the British House of Commons in 1938, would you have voted for or against the Munich Agreement? Support your decision.
Even if I didn't have knowledge of future events leading up to WWII, I still would not have signed the Munich Agreement for multiple reasons. First of all, Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier had to be gullible idiots to sign that treaty thinking that Hitler was going to stop there. If it was that easy to get a piece of land, just by asking for it, why wouldn't he keep going? Winston Churchill was the only sane person there that day. He was right in saying that the other two "gave up principles to to pacify an aggressor."

Critical Thinking 33-4 #3

What factors caused the End of the Cold War?
The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union was a result of the actions of Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev. When Gorbachev came into power, he advocated policies such as Glasnost, which allowed freedom of the press and open criticism of the Soviet Government, and Perestroika, a plan for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. He also called for less government control over the economy.
In the regions of Germany and eastern Europe, these people were encouraged by Gorbachev to "go their own way." To enforce this maneuver, he reduced the number of Soviet troops in Eastern Europe and allowed non-communist parties to organize in nations such as East Germany and Poland. He encouraged these nations to try to organize a democracy. As a means of disposing of their Communist government, East Germany opened th e Berlin Wall, allowing free passage between the two parts of the city for that first time in 28 years.
When Gorbachev realized that his nation could cut military spending if he had better relations with the United States, he created the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, after a series of arms-control meetings. This treaty would eliminate two classes of weapons systems in Europe and allowed any nation to inspect the others military installations. The treaty was ratified by the senate five months later. In February of 1992, President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared the end of the Cold War, and the Soviet Union became the Commonwealth of Independent States.