On July 1st 1941 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx Italian Joe di Maggio was on an electrifying forty-four game winning streak. The Italian Americans: Loyal Americans 1930-1945
La Guardia campaigned on a strong anti-corruption platform. ibid.
Italian-American families proudly sent their boys to war. ibid.
Italian-Americans increasingly came under suspicion by the federal government. ibid.
In California an estimated 10,000 Italians were forced to evacuate their homes. ibid.
The Rat Pack briefly became the Jack Pack. The Italian Americans: American Dream 1945-Today
TV screens across the country were inundated with reports of a government crack-down on organised crime. ibid.
Not all Italian-Americans had such a positive response to The Godfather. ibid.
Italian stereotypes have been mined for their entertainment value. ibid.
It is only when we speak what is right that we stand a chance at night of being blown to bits in our homes. Can we call this a free country when I am afraid to go to sleep in my own home in Mississippi? ... I might not live two hours after I get back home, but I want to be a part of setting the Negro free in Mississippi. Fannie Lou Hamer, cited Hay Mills ‘This Little Light of Mine’
With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, ’cause that’s what really happens. Fannie Lou Hamer cited ibid.
There is a homely old adage which runs: ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick: you will go far’. If the American nation will speak softly, and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient Navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. Theodore Roosevelt, speech 2nd September 1901
A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less that no man shall have. Theodore Roosevelt 4th July 1903
There are good men and bad men of all nationalities, creeds and colors; and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope some day it may become, it must be by the general recognition that the man’s heart and soul, the man’s worth and actions, determine his standing. Theodore Roosevelt, letter 1st September 1903
To permit every lawless capitalist, every law-defying corporation, to take any action, no matter how iniquitous, in the effort to secure an improper profit and to build up privilege, would be ruinous to the Republic and would mark the abandonment of the effort to secure in the industrial world the spirit of democratic fair dealing. Theodore Roosevelt 8th December 1908
We must demand the highest order of integrity and ability in our public men who are to grapple with these new problems. We must hold to a rigid accountability those public servants who show unfaithfulness to the interests of the nation or inability to rise to the high level of the new demands upon our strength and our resources. Theodore Roosevelt
Our nation was founded to perpetuate democratic principles. These principles are that each man is to be treated on his worth as a man without regard to the land from which his forefathers came and without regard to the creed which he professes. If the United States proves false to these principles of civil and religious liberty, it will have inflicted the greatest blow on the system of free popular government that has ever been inflicted. Theodore Roosevelt
As a people we must be united. If we are not united we shall slip into the gulf of measureless disaster. We must be strong in purpose for our own defense and bent on securing justice within our borders. If as a nation we are split into warring camps, if we teach our citizens not to look upon one another as brothers but as enemies divided by the hatred of creed for creed or of those of one race against those of another race, surely we shall fail and our great democratic experiment on this continent will go down in crushing overthrow. Theodore Roosevelt
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. Theodore Roosevelt
Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us. Theodore Roosevelt
Small-town America in 1910 is still my notion of the happiest time on earth. Shelby Foote
It’s the dawn of the twentieth century and America is changing in ways never thought possible. Drink fuels a criminal underworld. Millions cross the nation to escape poverty. Violence erupts. America is about to become the richest nation on Earth. America: The Story of the US: Boom, History 2010
Oil will power the twentieth century and build a modern world. Some call it Black Gold. ibid.
Detroit 1913: Henry Ford isn’t just making a revolutionary car, he making it in a revolutionary way: the production line ... America’s love affair with the car had begun. ibid.
For many, a total ban is the only solution. On January 16th 1919 the 18th amendment to the Constitution is ratified. Prohibition makes the manufacture and sale of alcohol illegal. ibid.
In a Chicago garage seven gangsters are lined up. They think it’s routine. But today is different. Behind them a group of men arrive. Two carrying Thompson sub-machine guns. It’s the most notorious slaying in mob history. ibid.
America’s boom is now bust. A human and economic crisis explodes across America. Social upheaval, poverty, drought. It’s time for America to fight back against the Great Depression. America: The Story of the US: Bust
By 1929 more money is spend on advertising than on education. ibid.
The Hoover Dam ... building the biggest concrete structure on Earth ... Almost six million tons of concrete have to be poured. That’s enough to lay a metre-wide pavement around the world ... Frank Hurry-Up Crowe lives up to his name. The Hoover Dam is completed on September 30th 1935, two years ahead of schedule. Frank receives a bonus worth over $4 million in today’s money. ibid.
1934 and darkness falls across America. In the worst environmental disaster in American history: dust storms ... The Dust Storm rips across the country. ibid.
Radios become the country’s most popular item. ibid.
All eight US battleships are put out of action. 1,178 Americans are wounded; 2,403 are killed. America: The Story of the US: WWII
Twenty-seven hours after the attack America declares war on Japan. Three days later the US is at war with Germany. ibid.
World War II strikes America. Pulled into war the US must use its industrial might to create a war machine that can fight on two fronts. By doing so it sets itself on the road to becoming a superpower. ibid.
World War II. America sets to work. In this war mass production will be America’s greatest weapon: 88,000 tanks, 7,333 ships, 20,000,000 rifles and small arms, and 40,000,000,000 bullets produced in four years. 43,000,000 men are registered for combat service. But America needs more man-power: Women. ibid.
World War II will cost the US $300 billion. ibid.
More than 70,000 American troops are about to invade German-held France. Over a thousand will die on the first day: June 6th 1944: D-Day. ibid.
1945: America stands tall. Its enemies vanquished. Its duties done on the battlefield and the greatest riches on Earth at its feet. More than half the world’s oil, two thirds of its gold, and the talents of one hundred and forty million people ready to build modern America. America: The Story of the US: Superpower
Americans are pioneers and trailblazers. ibid.
The transcontinental railway opened up half a billion acres of land and eight new states, using two hundred thousand miles of track. Hewn out of hostile terrain. ibid.
Americans have always loved their cars. Now the whole country has fallen in love with the automobile. 1955: Americans are spending $65 billion on cars, buying 8 million of them every 12 months. ibid.
1959: The Boeing 747 flies between New York and Los Angeles. ibid.
1961: President John F Kennedy tells the world that America will put a man on the moon ... The lunar landing unites America. It is the nation’s greatest scientific achievement. ibid.
Twentieth-century America would see a long struggle for equality. ibid.