World War I.

It is October 4, 1919,
and you have just read in the New York Times that President Woodrow
Wilson has suffered an incapacitating stroke. The war is over, the pandemic
looks as though it is waning at home, and America will not be joining the
League of Nations after all. While unrest spans Europe at the moment, you are
not too troubled by world events because peace has been declared and you are
trying to return to a normal life. But is America at peace, in your eyes?

You
believed the president when he said that America’s participation in the war
would end all wars as you know it and that democracy would
flourish everywhere as a result. Is that true for you now as you think about
the future? What do you think a “normal” life looks like?

Having
digested the news of Wilson’s crippling ailment, and
thinking about where you’ve come from, where you are now, and where you wish to
be, you decide to write a newspaper editorial to the New York Times.

You must indicate whether or not you
are:

1. An
African-American whose grandparents were emancipated in 1865. It is possible
that: a) you served in the American military (either in the Spanish-American
War or in WWI); b) you migrated to a northern city recently; or c) you
currently live in the South.
2. A
privileged white person whose family made its fortune at home and overseas after
the Civil War. It is possible that you are a man eager for even greater wealth
and/or power, possibly in politics. It is also possible that you are a woman
trying to carve out a normal life despite the fact that the democratic
principles associated with the recent war do not seem to apply to you. If you
are the latter, what changes would you like to see take place now that the war
is over?
3. A
recent immigrant or the child of immigrants living in a large northern city. It
is possible you intend to make a “normal” life for you in America or that you
intend to return home. Either way, be clear about your decision.

Your editorial should be no more than
four (4) pages and should implement, where applicable and necessary, the general
features of the following periods we have discussed:

·
The era of Reconstruction
·
The Corporate Reconstruction of
American Capitalism (“CRAC”)/industrialization
·
American Expansion and/or Age of Empire
(should it apply to you)
·
Progressivism
·
World War I.

As we discussed in class, the
strength/persuasiveness of your position/argument depends upon an understanding
of the perspectives and individuals that disagree with you most, or stand in
your way to achieve your goal of a “normal” life. This is to say that you must,
in addition to your perspective and its evidence, briefly discuss their
positions/arguments in order to support your own.

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