Research in progress

I'm deeply excited to begin work on my college's senior history thesis research project. In the next few weeks and upcoming months, I hope to post some of my findings and share them with you. I'm currently in the very early stages though of my project, but I have a fairly rough idea of what direction I plan to take, since my last idea didn't work out so well (which was researching and seeing if the telegraph was what helped save the Union during the American Civil War). At the moment I have two ideas that have been on my brain for awhile now.

My first idea is in regards to historical preservation work. Having some background in journalism and having a bit of a knack in interviewing people about the most random of things and learning about a variety of things that way, I was thinking of doing some interviews with local museum directors and other historical preservationists and get their thoughts on protecting our past.

Another idea that I have, is research the development of industry in the Milwaukee area (gotta think local, right?). I'm very tempted to dive into the history of Harley-Davidson or even the Milwaukee beer industry, two very popular industries that are right here in Milwaukee.

I'm waiting for the green light with my professor on where to go from here........

Chinese History: The Era of The Great Leap Forward and The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Two of Communist China's domestic policies, The Great Leap Forward and The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, were two of the most profoundly ideological, economical, social and politically destructive failed movements that was instigated by the Communist Party of China, most especially under the direction of Mao Zedong. The Great Leap Forward was instituted to greatly transform the country and make it into a more modernized country by using China's massive population to do it. As for the entire goal of the Cultural Revolution, it was done to impose communism throughout the country by removing capitalist ideology, as well as various traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society in order to create a more modern China. Most importantly, Zedong wanted to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Communist Party. Both of these movement greatly impacted China politically, economically, and socially. The policies were massive economic and humanitarian disasters. Especially considering the fact that millions of people were killed and victimized through public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and even seizure of property. During the Great Leap Forward, a devastating famine took place. Meanwhile, during the Revolution, the destruction of various historical, cultural and religious artifacts and sites took place and large portions of the country's youth were forced and exiled into the countryside in order to learn from the farmers.

The Great Leap Forward began in January 1958 by the Communist government. It was supposed to last into 1963, but the plan immediately lost momentum into the following year, and was terminated at the beginning of 1961. What exactly the Great Leap Forward was, was a plan put forth by Mao Zedong that would develop and modernize the country's agricultural and industrial production, and get the peasants out of their old traditionalist ways . He believed that "human energies of the masses imbued with revolutionary consciousness… could motivate people to heroic accomplishments"[1] and in a few short decades, would be able to compete economically with the major superpowers of the world. Because so much manpower had been used in the success of the revolution, Mao believed that such massive manpower could also be used to build a massive amount of construction projects throughout the country - such as the building of roads and waterways, among others. With these industrialized projects, Zedong believed that it would help in hastening the country's economy and make great strides towards the goal of establishing a socialist approach. With Mao's mighty and deep ambitions for the country's future, he wrote:

"The outstanding thing about China's 600 million people is that they are 'poor and blank.' This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for change, the desire for action and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free of any mark, the freshest and… most beautiful pictures can be painted."[2]

The Great Leap Forward called for a 100% increase in steel production, as well as a 500% increase in food production, all within the first year of the plan. These production goals were to happen through Mao's aspiration of having the massive manpower in order to achieve these results, as well as the spirit of man in order to do so. Mao ordered communes to be built to achieve the Great Leap Forward - with each commune averaging roughly 5,000 households, or in other words, holding about 22,000 people. Due to the country still lagging behind in industry, thousands of backyard furnaces were built in order to produce steel in all of the communes. Because of these dramatic actions, "people had their work, homes, land, belongings and livelihoods taken from them," all of which resulted in the deaths of roughly 45 million people from 1958 to 1962,[3] due to a number of reasons, most especially from starvation and from various diseases related to the extreme lack of food. There are also many reports that several million people died from being tortured due to stealing food and other infractions, most especially those who were "slackers, weaklings, or otherwise unproductive"[4] workers who didn't fully contribute to the rigorous labor that they were placed under. In Frank Dikötter's article, The Great Leap Backward, he says that food was a weapon that was used against the people. He states that; "throughout the country those who were too ill to work were routinely cut off from the food supply. The sick, the vulnerable and the elderly were banned from the canteen, as cadres found inspiration in Lenin's dictum: 'He who does not work shall not eat.'"[5] Mao let this happen and even insisted that it continue in order for the country to move forward, so that China would surpass the Soviet Union and even England.

Following the failures of The Great Leap Forward, Mao handed over the power to several Communist leaders; Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. Mao believed that  they would be able to help guide country's economy back into recovery. Both Liu and Deng led economic reforms that were far more liberal than Mao's ideas. After awhile, Mao didn't like what was taking place in the Soviet Communist Party and was afraid the same would happen with the Chinese Communist Party, and in order to gain back his power, the Cultural Revolution was created. The revolution was the next phase of Mao's plan towards wanting to take China into the future, toward a true communist state, instead of a socialist/capitalist one.

The revolution was announced by The Liberation Army Daily newspaper, when it made a call in April 1966 that called for a cultural revolution that would eliminate bourgeois ideology found in the academic, educational, journalistic fields, as well as in other fields of culture in order to purge Communist Party members who were trying to take the country toward capitalism.[6] Mao immediately began removing the various Communist leaders from power following that announcement. In July 1966, Liu Shaoqi was removed from his various positions and expelled from the Communist Party, placed under house arrest and was regularly beaten at public denunciation meetings for a year until he died in 1969, while his wife was imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement for a whole decade. Deng Xiaoping was also a major target and was sent to a work camp. His purge was less severe though, was able to return in 1973, and Deng led as the leader of the country in 1977. As for Zhou Enlai, he escaped political persecution for many years by being forced to carry out many of Mao's policies, and was largely unsuccessful with being unable to stop many of the events during the Cultural Revolution from even taking place. Towards the end of the revolution though, Zhou was politically targeted by Mao and the Gang of Four. Peng Dehuai was a Chinese  military leader who was also publically humiliated and persecuted for an entire decade before finally dying due to his ordeal. 

Not only were Communist Party officials the targets of the purge, but also academics, landlords, military personnel, and ordinary citizens. Also, in the chaos of anarchy, Red Guards even killed one another. The bodies of 537 Red Guards can be found in Chongqing's Shapingba Park, all because after they killed their teachers, they then turned on each other and killed each other.[7] Countless others suffered public humiliation, torture and placed in exile and re-educated during the time period. Those who had been mentally and physically humiliated committed suicide, resulting in 704 suicides in September 1966 in just the city of Shanghai alone.[8]

There were no actions that was taken by the police to stop the incredible mob violence, all because of Central Document Zhongfa, which was ratified and issued by Mao on August 22, 1966. The report from the Ministry of Public Security, titled "Mobilizing the Police to Suppress the Student Movement is Strictly Prohibited" stated that the police should not interfere with or suppress the student movement, should stay out of the schools, "and not arrest anyone in the course of the movement, unless that person is a counterrevolutionary of whom it can be proved that he has murdered, practiced arson, poisoned people, engaged in sabotage, or stolen state secrets and so forth."[9] The Minister of Public Security, Xie Fuzhi, went along with the report and explained to the police how to proceed:

"We must protect and support the Red Guards…. Don't say it is wrong of them to beat up            bad persons: if in anger they beat someone to death, so be it. If we say it's wrong, then          we'll be supporting bad persons. After all, bad persons are bad, so if they're beaten to    death it is no big deal."[10]

           

Following these events, the Cultural Revolution truly got out of hand and quickly deteriorated due to previous restraints on violent behaviors was lifted, leaving hundreds of educators dead at various schools, including at girls schools. Those who were not badly beaten or killed, were humiliated by being forced to perform humiliating tasks, such as cleaning toilets, leading many to commit suicide by hanging themselves in the toilet stalls. Once the Red Guards served their purpose, by committing mass murder and violent chaos, Mao ordered that all the young people with an education be sent into the country and be re-educated by farmers and peasants. 16 million urban middle-school students were placed in rural areas.[11] Not only were the actions of the Red Guards not given proper responsibility by the authorities, but following the Cultural Revolution, the policy of the Communist Party stated in an official document in the 1980s, that those who participated in various criminal acts would not be held against them if they had admitted their errors and were good citizens.[12] Not only did the revolution purge the country of political leaders who were trying to change the country's direction, but steps were even taken to destroy ancient buildings, temples, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings that were of traditional origin or had a certain bourgeois attitude. A popular slogan that was seen during this time period was "Destroy the old world; Forge the new world."[13]

Following the deaths of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai; Mao's widow, Jiang Qing, and her radical supporters (Wang Hongwen, Yao Wenyuan, and Zhang Chunqiao), better known as the Gang of Four, were arrested in September 1976 for their involvement of the Cultural Revolution and trying to seize power. They, along with various other leaders, were put on trial for their crimes during the Cultural Revolution and sent to prison. A vast majority though who had committed crimes during the course of the Cultural Revolution were spared, due to the fact that another massive purge was unacceptable to Deng, who was wanting instead, a period of harmony and not deal with any form of political chaos. 

Bibliography

Badiou, Alain. The Cultural Revolution: The Last Revolution? Positions; Winter2005, Vol. 13,      Issue 3.

Bing, Xu. Ignorance as a Kind of Nourishment. Modern China Studies; 2011, Vol. 18, Issue 2.

Dikötter, Frank. The Great Leap Backward. History Today; Nov2010, Vol. 60, Issue 11.

Ferguson, Niall. China's Great Leap Backward. Newsweek; 3/26/2012, Vol. 159, Issue 13/14.

Guoqiang, Dong. The First Uprising of the Cultural Revolution at Nanjing University. Journal of   Cold War Studies; Summer2010, Vol. 12 Issue 3.

Jiang,  Ji-li. No Place to Escape: Explaining the Cultural Revolution to American Students.             Social Education; May/Jun2012, Vol. 76, Issue 3.

Lawrence, Susan V. The Legacy of the Red Guards. U.S. News & World Report; 5/20/96, Vol.     120, Issue 20.

MacFarquhar, Roderick & Michael Schoenhals. Mao's Last Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press   of Harvard University Press. 2006.

Russo, Alessandro. How to translate ‘Cultural Revolution’. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies;     Dec      2006, Vol. 7 Issue 4.

Schirokauer, Conrad. Modern China and Japan: A Brief History. New York, New York:   Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers. 1982.

Shaogong, Han. Why Did the Cultural Revolution End? Boundary 2. Summer 2008, Vol. 35,          Issue 2.

Song, Lijun. The Effect of the Cultural Revolution on Educational Homogamy in Urban China.      Social Forces, University of North Carolina Press. September 2009, Vol. 88 Issue 1

Žižek, Slavoj. Revolutionary Terror from Robespierre to Mao. Positions; Winter 2011, Vol. 19      Issue 3.

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[1] Schirokauer, Conrad. Modern China and Japan: A Brief History. New York, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers. 1982. P., 296.

[2] Archer, Jules. China in the 20th Century. New York, New York: MacMillian Publishing Co., Inc. 1974. P., 135.

[3] Dikötter, Frank. The Great Leap Backward. History Today. Nov 2010, Vol. 60, Issue 11.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Archer, p. 174.

[7] Ferguson, Niall. China's Great Leap Backward. Newsweek. 3/26/2012, Vol. 159, Issue 13/14.

[8] MacFarquhar, Roderick & Michael Schoenhals. Mao's Last Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2006. P., 124.

[9] Ibid, p., 124-125.

[10] Ibid, p., 125.

[11] Ferguson. China's Great Leap Backward

[12] MacFarquhar, p., 128.

[13] CULTURAL REVOLUTION---BEGINNING, DAILY LIFE AND REVOLUTIONARY ENTHUSIASM http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=68.

Second Inaugural Address of President Barack Obama

January 21, 2013

11:55 A.M. EST

 

 

THE PRESIDENT:  Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice,

members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:  

 

Each time we gather to inaugurate a President we bear witness to the enduring strength of our Constitution.  We affirm the promise of our democracy.  We recall that what binds this nation together is not the colors of our skin or the tenets of our faith or the origins of our names.  What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  

 

Today we continue a never-ending journey to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time.  For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.  (Applause.)  The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob.  They gave to us a republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.  

 

And for more than two hundred years, we have.  

 

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free.  We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.  

 

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers. 

 

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.  

 

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune. 

 

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone.  Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

 

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action.  For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias.  No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.  Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people.  (Applause.) 

 

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience.  A decade of war is now ending.  (Applause.)  An economic recovery has begun.  (Applause.)  America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands:  youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention.  My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it -- so long as we seize it together.  (Applause.)  

 

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.  (Applause.)  We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class.  We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship.  We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.  (Applause.)   

 

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time.  So we must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, reach higher.  But while the means will change, our purpose endures:  a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American.  That is what this moment requires.  That is what will give real meaning to our creed.   

 

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity.  We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit.  But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.  (Applause.)  For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. 

 

We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few.  We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm.  The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us.  (Applause.)  They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.  (Applause.)  

 

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity.  We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.  (Applause.)  Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought and more powerful storms.  

 

The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult.  But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it.  We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries, we must claim its promise.  That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure -- our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow-capped peaks.  That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God.  That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

 

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war.  (Applause.)  Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage.  (Applause.)  Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty.  The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm. But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war; who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends -- and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

 

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law.  We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully –- not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear.  (Applause.)

 

America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe.  And we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation.  We will support democracy from Asia to Africa, from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.  And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice –- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes:  tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.  

 

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.  (Applause.) 

 

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began.  For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts.  (Applause.)  Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law  –- (applause) -- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.  (Applause.)  Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.  (Applause.)  Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity -- (applause) -- until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.  (Applause.)   Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.  

 

That is our generation’s task -- to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.  Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life. It does not mean we all define liberty in exactly the same way or follow the same precise path to happiness.  Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time.  (Applause.)  

 

For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay.  We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.  (Applause.)  We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect.  We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years and 40 years and 400 years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall. 

 

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction.  And we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service.  But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty or an immigrant realizes her dream.  My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.  

 

They are the words of citizens and they represent our greatest hope.  You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.  You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time -- not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.  (Applause.)  

 

Let us, each of us, now embrace with solemn duty and awesome joy what is our lasting birthright.  With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.  

 

Thank you.  God bless you, and may He forever bless these United States of America.  (Applause.)  

 

 

END

12:10 P.M. EST

Calvary Cemetery - Milwaukee, WI

Calvary Cemetery is the oldest existing Roman Catholic cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with burials beginning as early as 1857. The cemetery is the final resting place for many of the city's early influential figures - from Solomon Juneau, the co-founder of the city of Milwaukee and its first mayor, as well as Captain Frederick Miller, the founder of Miller Brewing Company.

Calvary Cemetery contains a monument dedicated to the approximately 430 people who died with the sinking of the Lady Elgin on Lake Michigan in 1860. Most of those lost in the tragedy were from Milwaukee's Third Ward Irish community and is the second greatest loss of life seen on the Great Lakes.

Chapel Hill (originally Jesuit Hill) is one of the highest points in Milwaukee. It is used as a burial site for clergy and members of the various religious orders. Many of the city's early catholic churches such as the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, Old St. Mary's and St. Gall's (now Gesu Church) also utilize cemetery grounds. A large Calvary cross stood at the peak until it was replaced with the chapel.

The chapel was built in 1899 using Cream City brick and decorated with stone trim. An arched portico with limestone columns and a rose window set the entrance while three hemispherical apses flank the other three sides. It is crowned by an octagonal tower with a peaked roof and clerestory windows. Dedicated on All Souls Day in 1902, the chapel held mass on Memorial Day and All Souls Day until 1950, when the building's deteriorating condition made this impractical.