¶ … Progressivism began as a social movement and evolved into a political movement, according to materials published by George Washington University (www.gwu.edu). Early in the social movement progressives were concerned about poverty, racism, greed and "class warfare," and they believed that those problems could be best addressed through education, a safer environment, and a workplace that was fair and safe (www.gwu.edu). Who were those considered to be progressives? The George Washington University narrative explains that they live "mostly in the cities," they had graduated from colleges and universities, and their beliefs included the belief that "…government could be a tool for change" -- and among the most vocal and visible social reformers / progressives were Jane Addams and journalists Jacob Riis and Ida Tarbel (www.gwu.edu).
Progressive journalists wrote investigative pieces that exposed "the evils of corporate greed" and they presented a balanced view of immigration and ethnicities, all the time "…urging Americans to think hard about what democracy meant" (www.gwu.edu). And the most progressive of U.S. presidents in the progressive era was Theodore Roosevelt (TR), who believed strongly in the value that corporations offered to the nation -- jobs, products, consumer choices -- but he also believed that "corporate behavior must be watched to ensure that corporate greed did not get out of hand" (www.gwu.edu).
Professor and author Burt Folsom writes that the first two progressive presidents were TR and Woodrow Wilson, and he gives the nod to TR and Wilson because, he writes, they both had a "mutual desire to use the state to redistribute wealth" (www.burtFolsom.com, 2011). Digging deeper into the history of the progressive era, Folsom's points appear to be too narrow and focused on an ideology (distribution of wealth) that Folsom disagrees with rather on the reality of that era. Folsom ignored the fact that Wilson was racist, the opposite of being progressive. James Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me) writes that as for education in America, Wilson said he wanted "…one class of persons to have a liberal education" (meaning white and affluent people) and "…another class of persons…to...
Kennedy announced the formation of a special government group to investigate the use and control of pesticides under the direction of the President's Science Advisory Committee (Rachel pp). The book caused a firestorm of public outrage and sold more than a quarter million copies by the end of 1962 (Rachel pp). United State Supreme Court Justice William Douglas called it "the most important chronicle of this century for the
As the eel gets closer to the ocean, the water of course becomes salty and there are new dangers (fishing nets) and unfamiliar eels in the water. But true to her style of providing readers with sidebar stories, the eel passes a clay cliff where "the first eels had come in from the sea eons ago" (p. 228). But Carson doesn't just stop there; there are "teeth, bones, and shells"
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, 8 years before the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency and more than 50 years before the writing of this essay. At that time, there was little common knowledge about the sometimes terrible effects of chemicals on the environment, plants, animals and humans. Carson's unflinching, educated examination and explanation of these effects helped create a dramatic cultural movement
Silent Spring Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring is filled with a "hodgepodge of science and junk science," creating a "Disneyfied version of Eden," according to some modern reviewers (Tierney 2007). Such an embittered reaction to one of the most important works in ecology is unwarranted: especially in light of the fact that DDT is the chemical evil that Carson claims it to be and has been banned in most civilized
Rachel Carson's claim "for time is the essential ingredient; but in the modern world there is no time" (Carson 6) is meant to emphasize the fact that humanity has the tendency to ignore factors like the future and their general well-being. People in the contemporary society are obsessed with progress and some are willing to do everything in their power in order to make things happen faster. As a consequence,
Johnny Carson's primacy in the history of television cannot be understated. Carson's thirty-year stint as the host of NBC's Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 remains the measuring-stick against which success in the American media must be measured. As Bill Carter -- a New York Times journalist who wrote the substantial history of the machinations and fiascos that ensued when Carson announced his retirement, and the effort to replace Carson
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