Charisma is defined in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure” (Merriam-Webster Online). Throughout history successful public speaking is a dominant trait for influential historical figures: persuasive speakers use charisma and charm to capture their audience and spark a difference in society. Political figures use charisma in order to campaign and promote their own political ambitions. Every fourth year a politician is elected President of the United States. Upon taking office, that politician, recites an Inaugural Address addressing his/her plans for the presidency. On Tuesday January 20th 1981, Ronald Reagan, remembered in history as the Great Communicator, recited his highly influential inaugural address on the West Front of the Capitol. Using his charismatic abilities Ronald Reagan recited an influential inaugural address that connected to the average American person. His inaugural address highlighted his own political beliefs and caused the Republican Party to regain its former strength.
Before that fateful day on the West Front of the Capitol, the Republican Party had spent years in a sort of slumber. Ever since the Great Depression the Democrats had ruled Congress, and for the majority of this time period, the Presidency. According to George Tindall, in the textbook America, after the Great Depression the Republican Party had lost much of its former strength as its platform was similar to that of the Democrats. Political figures tried to change the Republican Party but only Reagan was successful (Tindall 1247). In the 1960’s Conservatives started to worry that the Republican Party had become influenced by the “Eastern Est...
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Danzer, George A. “A Conservative Tide”. The Americans Reconstruction Through the 20th Century. 9 Ed. 2002.
English, Jane A. and Tomas D. Jones. “World War 1, World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam War.” Encyclopedia of the U.S. at War 1998.
Reagan, Ronald. The Reagan Diaries. New York. Harper Collins Publishers, 2007.
Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: Triumph of the Imagination. New York: Simon and Schuster Publishers, 2005.
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“Ronald Reagan: The Great Communicator.” CNN 06 Jun 2004. 1-3. 08 Feb 2009.
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Appy’s book is valuable to its readers in showing how Vietnam became the template for every American war since, from novelties like the invasion of Grenada to the seemingly never-ending conflicts post-9/11. But before all that, there was Vietnam, and, larger lessons aside, Appy’s book is a fascinating, insightful, infuriating and thought-provoking study of that conflict, from its earliest days
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
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Only in the Vietnam War was the United States’ participation criticized. This is such a gigantic change from prior wars that it bears study as to why it happened, and better yet, should have it happened. This paper will discuss the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, by asking the simple question, Should have the United States’ gotten involved in the first place? This paper will prove that, in fact, America should not have gotten involved in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War took place between 1947- 1975.
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The book, We Were Soldiers Once... And Young, begins at a pivotal point in American history. The year was 1965; the year America began to directly interfere with the Vietnam affairs and send our young men to defend the notion of "freedom." During this year, Vietnam interested and concerned only a few Americans. In fact, the controversy of American involvement in Vietnam had hardly begun. But this all changed in November 1965 at the Ia Drang Valley in distant Vietnam. The Battle at LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany was the first major battle of the Vietnam conflict; a conflict that lasted decade and caused American turmoil for many more years.
Starting during the 1970s, factions of American conservatives slowly came together to form a new and more radical dissenting conservative movement, the New Right. The New Right was just as radical as its liberal opposite, with agendas to increase government involvement beyond the established conservative view of government’s role. Although New Right politicians made admirable advances to dissemble New Deal economic policies, the movement as a whole counters conservativism and the ideologies that America was founded on. Although the New Right adopts conservative economic ideologies, its social agenda weakened the conservative movement by focusing public attention to social and cultural issues that have no place within the established Old Right platform.
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President Reagan, at the time in the beginnings of his second term, had successfully maintained overall a high approval rating with the American people. He had won their trust and respect by being quite relatable to the average citizen (Cannon). He had planned that evening to give his State of the Union address, but instead postponed it. The tragedy that had unfolded just hours earlier demanded his complete attention (Eidenmuller 29).
Mintz, Steven, and Sara McNeil. "The War's Consequences." Digital History. Ed. John Lienhard, Grace Lin, and Micharl Rapp. Digital History, 2013. Web. 6 May 2014.