The two most important lessons to be learned
from the period we have just finished analyzing, the US since 1940, is how
creative Americans can be to succeed when they are told something is
impossible, like getting a man to the Moon with Apollo 11. The second lesson is
the US is not immune from repression or attack; September 11, 2001 demonstrated
this fact. First, I’m going to discuss
the Apollo 11 mission and how German Nazis’ were used by the US to beat the
Soviets to the moon. Second, I’m going to discuss the events that occurred on
September 11 and the aftermath pertaining to the new laws that were
implemented.
On October
4, 1957 the Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit around
the Earth. It orbited the Earth every 96 minutes transmitting beeps to the
listeners on the ground. This Soviet
achievement rocked the American landscape.
Americans believed that they were far more technologically superior to
the Soviets. The Soviets were proving they had the technical knowledge to keep
up with the US and this brought panic. President Eisenhower tasked Wernher Von Braun to
get the US in the space race and win. On January 31, 1958 they launched the successful
Explorer Satellite. On April 12, 1961 the Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became
the first human to orbit the Earth. The two countries went back and forth
pushing the envelope, until President Kennedy had enough and promised the
American people, “ we will land a man on the moon and bring him back safely by
the end of the decade.” President John F.
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and would not get to see his
promise materialize.[1]
Wernher Von
Braun was a German rocket scientist and one of the leading figures in the
development of rocket technology, both in Nazi Germany during WWII and in the
US after the war. He is credited as being the "Father of Rocket
Science". In his 20s and early 30s, Von Braun was the central figure in
Germany's Rocket Development Program, responsible for the design and
realization of the V-2 Combat Rocket, which rained down on England. After the
war, he and select members of his rocket team were taken to the US as part of
the then secret, Operation Paperclip. Von Braun worked on the US Army Intermediate
Range Ballistic Missile Program before he and his group were moved to The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Under NASA, he served as
director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief
architect of the Saturn V Launch Vehicle, and the super-booster that propelled
the Apollo 11 spacecraft to the Moon in July 1969.[2]
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the
first humans, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon on July 20,
1969. Armstrong became the first man to step on the lunar surface. Aldrin collected lunar samples to be brought
back to Earth. The third member of the mission, Michael Collins, piloted the
command spacecraft in lunar orbit, until Armstrong and Aldrin returned for the
trip back to Earth. Launched by a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in
Merritt Island, Florida on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of
NASA's Apollo program. The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts: a command module
with a cabin for the three astronauts; a service module which supported the
command module with propulsion, electrical power, oxygen and water; and a lunar
module for landing on the Moon. After being sent to the Moon by the Saturn V's
upper stage, the astronauts separated the spacecraft from it and travelled for
three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved
into the lunar module and landed in the Sea of Tranquility. They stayed for 2.5
hours on the lunar surface gathering samples and conducting experiments. After
lifting off in the upper part of the lunar module and rejoining Collins in the
command module, they safely returned to Earth landing in the Pacific Ocean on
July 24, 1969.[3]
The success
of the Apollo 11 mission is a triumph for all man-kind, not just the US. There
were sacrifices and lives lost by both countries during the space race. It’s
because of the sacrifice of those fallen heroes we, as humans learned and
succeeded. Now we have the International Space Station, manned by Soviets and
Americans. The space race seems so cartoon in retrospect. A Nazi that developed
technology to destroy the US ultimately led us to victory against Soviets in
the race to the Moon.
On September
11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group Al-Qaeda
hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the
US. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center Towers in New York
City, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane
crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The attacks resulted in extensive death, destruction,
and extreme fear triggering major US initiatives to combat terrorism, both at
home, through the USA Patriot Act and the development of the Department of
Homeland Security, and abroad, with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over
3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington,
D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.[4]
NY
The USA PATRIOT
Act of 2001 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26,
2001. The title of the act is a ten letter acronym that stands for: Uniting
(and) Strengthening America (by)
Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism
Act of 2001.The act significantly reduced restrictions in law enforcement
agencies' gathering of intelligence within the US; expanded the Secretary of
the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those
involving foreign individuals and entities; and broadened the discretion of law
enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants “suspected”
of terrorist-related acts. The act also expanded the definition of terrorism to
include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which law
enforcement powers can be applied. On May 26, 2011, President Barack Obama
signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a four-year extension of
three key provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act: allowing for roving wiretaps, searching
business’ records, and conducting surveillance of individuals “suspected” of terrorist-related
activities.[5]
As a result
of the events of September 11, 2001, the US has become a police state. President
George W. Bush said in June 2002 televised address to the nation, "I ask
the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an
overriding and urgent mission: securing the American homeland and protecting
the American people." Before the attacks on September 11, most Americans
were under the false illusion that the government had a handle on homeland
security. The Department of Homeland Security was established by the Homeland
Security Act in November of 2002 and went operational on March 1, 2003. It
encompassed twenty-two existing agencies including: Customs, FEMA, the Coast
Guard, and the Secret Service. Tom Ridge, the former Governor of Pennsylvania
and then Homeland Security Adviser, joined the Cabinet as the first head of the
new department. When President Barack Obama appointed Janet Napolitano to the
position in 2008, he announced, "she will be a leader who can reform a
sprawling department while safeguarding our homeland."[6]
From 1940 to
the present, the US has had its glories and its blunders. Apollo was a great
achievement for the country, considering all the social issues tearing the
country apart and the Vietnam War. The attacks on 9/11 were very tragic, but
the majority of Americans never batted an eye when suicide bombings were going
on in Israel or people were being massacred in Africa, but 9/11 brought terror
home and showed that the US was not immune. As a result Americans let their
freedoms get stripped away in the name of Security! Benjamin Franklin expressed so eloquently in a
letter to Thomas Jefferson, “Those who surrender freedom for security will not
have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
[1] Stone,
Oliver and Peter J. Kuznick. The Untold
History of the United States. New York: Gallery Books, 2012. 274-277.
[2]"Biography
of Wernher Von Braun." Biography of Wernher Von Braun. Accessed May 11,
2013. http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/bio.html.
[3] "Apollo
11." Apollo 11. Accessed May 11, 2013.
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo11info.html.
[4] "9/11
Attacks." History.com. Accessed May 11, 2013.
http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks.
[5] "USA
PATRIOT Act." Wikipedia. October 05, 2013. Accessed May 11, 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act.
[6] Silver,
Alexandra. "Top 10 Defining Moments of the Post-9/11 Era." Time.
Accessed May 11, 2013.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2068862_2068866_2068870,00.html.
I DID MY PART!!!  |
