America can learn a great deal from the 60's. With everything from the Vietnam war to integration going on, the 60's were teeming with social stress and unrest. It was an area of change and mistakes. And as with all try and misses, they are render useless if one does not learn from them.
The first ever televised war was Vietnam and the unrestricted
media coverage made the public question the politicians, thus causing the
government to lose almost all support for the war. The lesson isn't to lie to
the public and only show them the prettier parts of war but for politicians to
stop lying. The unrest was caused by the leaders saying that everything is going
great while the TV pleaded differently. They should have been honest. They
should have come out and said what was really going on instead of trying to
cover it up. This applies to Watergate as well. When the people could not trust
their government then protesters took to the street. Leaders should not lie to
the people despite rating or any hope of a second term. Don't lie. Never lie.
The President is a man that we trust to run this country and if he is lying then
who can we trust.
We learned also during this era that all people are equal. African
Americans, women, Natives and many more stood up and spoke out against the
wrong that was being done to them. From this we can learn strength. We can learn
to be strong and to stand our ground when what we believe in is being
threatened. We can find inspiration in the protesters examples. In the
non-violent peaceful protest that Martin Luther King Jr. lead. We can know that
we can break the view of society and that women are capable of great things.
We also can learned about
politicians. We can learn that they do not always tell the truth. That beneath a
calm and docile appearance, a paranoid and angry man can lie. Nixon wasn't the
first to lie and commit treacherous acts but he snapped the trust of the the
American people. We learned that a man can say one thing and mean another.
That politicians say promises with their fingers closed behind their backs. That
sometimes a good Man can come to power in a hard and stressful time and find
himself overwhelmed. And that sometimes not understanding the culture and youth
is devastating to a race. Leaders can learn from this era that honesty and honor
should be held above all else. That one must be able to see all sides and the
view of all groups and be able to reach them in order to succeed. That being
president counts not as an expectation to the law but the law and a
code of honor should rule their lives more than ever.
The 1960's were a time of change. With the healing from World War II
mostly put to rest, Americans were feeling as though their shell was too tight.
Lies and deceit was exposed. People rose up and claimed equality.
The earth was shaking and the old set of rules were thrown off. We can learn
from our ancestors mistakes and successes and we can learn to prevent history
from repeating itself.
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