Centralized State Power Outline

• Domestic Events during World War 2

• Draft was expanded to recruit more soldiers
• The government passed laws such as the Revenue Act of 1942 and created agencies like the Office of Price Administration (OPA) in order to regulate economy
• War Productions Board decided whether companies would convert to wartime production
• Rationing (people were to try to save food, gas, and shoes, among other things, to help support the war effort)

• The Cold War
• McCarthyism (domestic anticommunism) - House Un-American Activities Committee searched for the influence of communism in the U.S. Many people are unfairly accused of being or working for communists.
• Containment- U.S. wanted to stop the expansion of communism. The Marshall Plan gave billions of dollars of help to European countries, making communism less appealing

• Presidents- Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon
• Both Kennedy and Johnson wanted to use government power to right economic and social wrongs. Johnson passed laws that Kennedy was unable to get to congress. Their ideas ended up forming the basis of the Great Society.
• Many people supported the growth of centralized state power, thinking that the government could use its power to solve the nation's problems.
• State-required loyalty oaths made judged unconstitutional
• Nixon wanted to decrease government power, thought that the Great Society gave the government too much responsibility.
  

Essential Questions

• From whose viewpoint are we seeing or reading or hearing? From what angle or perspective?
• These current event summaries are based on news articles that come from various sources. Most of these are secondary sources, articles written by those who have witnessed or examined in detail events having to do with the interactions of separate nations. Some primary sources, such as the leaders of the countries involved in these events, may give biased opinions.
  

• How do we know when we know? What's the evidence, and how reliable is it?
• Some articles are purely factual, giving specific details and evidence, often in the form of quotes. However, some articles are just interpretations of current events. These will usually give little evidence and are usually just opinions and observations, and so they may be less reliable.
  
• How are things, events, or people connected to each other? What is the cause and what is the effect? How do they fit together?
• While foreign policy is the focus of these current event summaries, many nations' actions in foreign policy are based around the events within the nations themselves. These nations are sometimes in situations that require them to deal with other countries to help their own interests.
  
• What's new and what's old? Have we run across this idea before?
• Countries have always interacted with each other, often trying to come to an agreement so that they may reach a mutual goal. One focus of these goals is to improve situations such as the conflicts within and between South Asian countries. These conflicts are not, for the most part, new, having very old roots.
  
• So what? Why does it matter? What does it all mean?
• The interactions between nations in South Asia are very important to know about. Some major conflicts or significant deals and agreements could potentially affect the rest of the world. In some cases, they have already begun to do so.