Author Topic: Need help with Hisotry Term paper ideas (Read 5277 times)

bratch · « **on:** September 18, 2005, 09:13:15 AM »

I'm in a History of WWII class and thought the crew here might be able to give me some ideas.

I have to write a 7-10 page paper over the depicition of America's involvement in the war. The time span has to be atleast 3 months and the depicition needs to come from a popular periodical such as New York Time.

Most topics should be fair game as long as I can find enough documentation in the sources to write about.

Thanks

Stickjockey · « **Reply #1 on:** September 18, 2005, 10:10:20 AM »

Find anything on the Tuskegee Airmen? Fascinating and downright inspirational story.

Antibubba · « **Reply #2 on:** September 18, 2005, 10:21:39 AM »

What about the Liberator pistol, the stamped metal .45 that was designed to be dropped by the thousands behind enemy lines to aid partisan movements across Europe?

K Frame · « **Reply #3 on:** September 18, 2005, 10:23:27 AM »

IIRC the NY Times editorial staff did a very abrupt change in direction.

In the months leading up to Pearl Harbor they were very leery of US involvement in the war, but when Dec. 7 came, they threw in whole heartedly.

Time Magazine also did a similar change in direction.

bratch · « **Reply #4 on:** September 18, 2005, 12:33:37 PM »

Was there any change in written public opinionof the Tuskegee Airmen over the course of the war?

Wht amount of information was written about the Liberator pistol? Our professor gave the Manhatten Project as an example. There is a lot of information about it now but none for 1939-1945 due to the its secret nature.

I've considered trying to find a topic that I could parallel with today's climate.

K Frame · « **Reply #5 on:** September 18, 2005, 12:41:22 PM »

The Liberator wouldn't have been reported. It was also a secret project.

I'm not sure about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Antibubba · « **Reply #6 on:** September 18, 2005, 06:28:44 PM »

Well, if war developments weren't reported, the "war at home" was certainly covered in detail. Maybe a look at rationing, or recycling and scrap-something like that.

bratch · « **Reply #7 on:** September 18, 2005, 06:37:36 PM »

War at home might be interesting. I've never done a whole lot of research into taht side of the war.

Stickjockey · « **Reply #8 on:** September 19, 2005, 04:42:39 AM »

Quote

Was there any change in written public opinionof the Tuskegee Airmen over the course of the war?

Not sure, although among the bomber squadrons the opinion went fairly rapidly from "We don' wanna be escorted by no n____s" to "We want those guys, right there." By the end of the war they were being specifically requested. One would think that this sort of story would have been reported somewhere, although it probably wouldn't have been given the same press it would have gotten today given the prevailing attitudes then.

Check http://www.afa.org/magazine/march1996/0396tuske.asp for a decent quick rundown on the project.

Werewolf · « **Reply #9 on:** September 19, 2005, 05:08:32 AM »

Look at the time period May 42 thru July 42. In May the morale of civilians was very low. By the end of July it was on the rise and their was optimism concerning the prospects of Victory in the Pacific.

I'll leave the research as to why to you. Concentrate on the Pacific...

charby · « **Reply #10 on:** September 19, 2005, 06:23:12 AM »

Rationing of commodities would a good paper, take a double angle at it with governement policy and citizen responce. Probably lots of stories out there about the people's attitudes.

Charby

grampster · « **Reply #11 on:** September 19, 2005, 07:14:09 AM »

Maybe you an find something about how the NRA, which was very strong in those days, had such an impact on our youth that their knowledge in the use of firearms caused the German army to fear US troops. My father had a very strong opinion about that being the case. He also was a POW and German troops told him many times how they feared the marksmanship of GI's.

DrAmazon · « **Reply #12 on:** September 19, 2005, 04:32:44 PM »

The National Firearms Museum is running an exhibit called Aresenal of Democracy. I was rushed when I was there last and didn't get a chance to really take it in, but you might find inspiration...

http://nra.nationalfirearms.museum/whats%20new/default.asp#wwii

Guest · « **Reply #13 on:** September 19, 2005, 05:35:47 PM »

Explore the many ways in which the inhabitants of America were better off in 1946 than they were in 1940. rolleyes

K Frame · « **Reply #14 on:** September 19, 2005, 06:15:33 PM »

Our resident commuiot speaks...

I think everyone is familiar with how, after the United States prodded Germany and Japan into the war, it finished destroying the last vestiges of the American economy and reduced ever man, woman, and child to perpetual destitution.

Yeah, you hear that a lot from certain "classes" of "historians." The Soviets, on the other hand, were busy creating an enlightened, homogenous society that had finally thrown off the limiting shackles of European statist capitalism... rolleyes

What 'tards this world occasionally breeds...

Azrael256 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 20, 2005, 05:15:39 AM »

I'll bet you could do something on recruiting. I remember seeing the quasi-recruiting story about the paratroopers in Band of Brothers. At least I think it was in the series. I know that several of them volunteered for the airborne after reading an article about it. I believe it was Life magazine. Could be wrong. I've always admired the fighting spirit in recruiting posters, and I'm sure you could find enough examples to talk about how they evolved throughout the war.

Guest · « **Reply #16 on:** September 20, 2005, 06:09:47 AM »

Quote from: Mike Irwin

Our resident commuiot speaks...

I think everyone is familiar with how, after the United States prodded Germany and Japan into the war, it finished destroying the last vestiges of the American economy and reduced ever man, woman, and child to perpetual destitution.

Yeah, you hear that a lot from certain "classes" of "historians." The Soviets, on the other hand, were busy creating an enlightened, homogenous society that had finally thrown off the limiting shackles of European statist capitalism... rolleyes

What 'tards this world occasionally breeds...

I am a libertarian anarchist, not a "commuiot". You, on the other hand, are an impolite boor.

Paddy · « **Reply #17 on:** September 20, 2005, 06:52:55 AM »

Do a google search of Life magazine WWII for some ideas.

bratch · « **Reply #18 on:** September 20, 2005, 06:05:32 PM »

What kind of coverage did Hitler recieve with his speeches and Mein Kampf? It could be interesting to compare Hitlers writings/speeches with that of OBL.

K Frame · « **Reply #19 on:** September 20, 2005, 07:26:06 PM »

"I am a libertarian anarchist, not a "commuiot". You, on the other hand, are an impolite boor."

Aw... I hurt his feelings.

If you actually had anything even REMOTELY resembling a grasp of historical fact to back up your "power to the people, down with goverment, blah blah blah blah" BSisims, I'd be slightly impressed.

To quote a popular movie... "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

K Frame · « **Reply #20 on:** September 20, 2005, 07:28:02 PM »

Adolf Hitler was named Time Magazine's man of the year for 1938.

Time covered him quite thoroughly during his rise, including publishing many of his speeches.

mfree · « **Reply #21 on:** September 21, 2005, 07:16:08 AM »

That's a beautiful idea, catch the month before, during, and after the first nazi excursion outside their borders.

bratch · « **Reply #22 on:** September 21, 2005, 10:10:08 AM »

I'm not limited to only three months. I could cover from 1935-1945 if I wanted to do the research.

I'll have to look into it little more and see if I can find anything to draw a parallel between the two.

Guest · « **Reply #23 on:** September 22, 2005, 12:18:56 AM »

Quote from: mercedesrules

Explore the many ways in which the inhabitants of America were better off in 1946 than they were in 1940. rolleyes

Perhaps this doesnt fit in your little world view, but if you were to actually look into what you said you would see that the average quality of life was quite a bit better in 1946 than it was in 1940. However, your an anarchist so why do you care what the government does? It should have little to no impact on your life.

K Frame · « **Reply #24 on:** September 22, 2005, 04:02:21 AM »

Careful, c_yeager, you'll get called an impolite boor for pointing out facts and relevancies...

Wouldn't want that to happen, now would you?

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Author Topic: Need help with Hisotry Term paper ideas (Read 5277 times)

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