Google Questions

How Did the Taft-Hartley Act Come About?

by Steven Wagner

The Taft-Hartley Act was a major revision of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (the Wagner Act) and represented the first major revision of a New Deal act passed by a post-war Congress. So, in order to understand the Taft-Hartley Act, one must begin with the Wagner Act. The Wagner Act was the most important labor law in American history. It gave a major impetus to labor organizations and earned the nickname "labor's bill of rights." It covered all firms and employees in activities affecting interstate commerce except government employees, agricultural workers, and those subject to the Railway Labor Act. It gave workers the right to organize and join labor unions, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to strike. It also set up the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an independent federal agency with three members appointed by the president, to administer the act and gave it the power to certify that a union represented a particular group of employees.

How Did Afghanistan Receive Its Current Borders?

by William F. Shughart II

Straddling the mountain passes that link the plains of India with Central Asia and beyond, Afghanistan was a frequently moved pawn in the Great Game played by the British and Russian empires in the late nineteenth century. Immortalized in Rudyard Kipling's Kim, intrigue sporadically erupting in open warfare helped each side maintain a buffer zone against the other's expansionist aims. Before that, Afghanistan and its neighbors sat astride the path of vital East-West trade convoys moving over the famous Silk Route. Playing its own version of the Great Game in the waning years of the Cold War, the United States countered the Soviet invasion by supporting the Afghani "freedom fighters" generously. America equipped the Mujahedeen with $4 to $5 billion worth of modern weapons, including 900 Stinger missiles, supplying them covertly through Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence agency.

Why Did Congress First Meet in New York City?

by HNN Staff

To honor the dead in 9-11, on September 6 the United States Congress is holding a formal session in New York City. This is the first time since the founding of the government that Congress has met in New York. (It is the second time the Congress has met outside Washington D.C. in special session; the first time was in 1987 in Philadelphia to honor the bicentennial of the Constitution.)Why did the first Congress first meet in New York?Through the American Revolution the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, the largest city in the country. Meeting in New York was not possible even if it had been considered desirable. Much to the chagrin of George Washington, the British early on in the war occupied New York City.

What Is the Military-Industrial Complex?

by Christopher Ball

The term the"military-industrial complex" was made famous by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address. Eisenhower warned:"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." Eisenhower (or his speechwriters) did not coin the phrase, but its previous usage referred to physical connections between industrial and military production, not political relationships. Eisenhower referred to a novel set of challenges facing the American polity in the Cold War, while other definitions refer to more general relationships between the military and industry.One use of the term MIC refers to any set of relationships between military policy and industrial production. For example, scholars have examined the MIC in the former Soviet Union and in Latin American countries. Their concern is usually with the reciprocal influence of the military and industry on each other's policies, rather than the hijacking of foreign policy by a collective interest in maintaining military-related production.

Who are the Afghans?

by Robert Canfield

No Afghans participated in the actions of September 11 and only one kind of"Afghan," the Taliban, have any connection with Osama bin Laden (the presumed mastermind). And the Taliban actually are not typical"Afghans" anyway.Afghanistan, apparently a crucial target of the United States forces, is notoriously diverse. Almost two dozen language groups exist in that country, divided religiously several ways -- among Sunni, Shia, and Ismaili Muslims, along with a few historically accepted Hindus (and now a tiny group of Christian converts from Islam, most of them fearful and secretive). Moreover, among the Muslims there are several orientations toward Islam and even several kinds of Islamic radicalism. Even so, scarcely any Muslim in Afghanistan would have approved of the actions of September 11.

When Did the U.S. and Israel Become Allies? (Hint: Trick Question)

by Jay Cristol

There has never been a treaty between Israel and the United States. Both countries have shared values and a passion for democracy. While in 2002 Israel is a defacto ally of the U.S., the official U.S. government position is that there is a"special relationship" between Israel and the United States. Those who refer to Israel as an ally of the United States in 1967 are guilty of an anachronism and display a lack of knowledge of history.When the concept of Zionism and establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people was developing in Europe at the end of the 19th century, the idea was not initially popular with the majority of American Jews.Following World War I, the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 was a product of efforts by President Woodrow Wilson at the urging of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. At that time, support for a Jewish state by the United States and American Jews was not popular.

How Did the Deregulation Movement Get Started?

by Richard M. Abrams

Most of us understand well the role that"America's foremost consumer advocate," Ralph Nader, played in putting George W. in the White House. Not that it was intentional; only an incidental consequence of his zealous fight against the capture of most of both major parties by money bags and of his refusal to recognize a significant difference between the parties. But probably few of us remember the role that the gentleman played in promoting the deregulation movement that helped to bring on the S&L scandal of the Eighties, the gouging of electric power users last year, and now the Enron scandal.And what mischief that movement has made! Just to treat the present case: if deregulation had not freed Enron from government constraints,"Kenny boy" Lay and his cohorts could not have done half the damage they have caused. It was the touted virtues of deregulation (plus, perhaps, the $1 million or so that Enron paid to various congressmen) that bought Enron exemptions from those left-wing relics of the New Deal era, the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. After all, Enron's"free market" friends in Congress were -- and still are! -- working to repeal both acts anyway, so why not give Enron a head start. How did we get hoodwinked into the deregulation mania in the first place?

Why Did the U.S. Intern the Japanese During WW II?

by Jonathan Dresner

It is sixty years since the biggest case of racial profiling in U.S. history. February 19, 1942, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, usually referred to as the"Japanese Internment Order." The order actually called only for the creation of security zones over which the military had control of access and residence. That Japanese residents and Japanese-American citizens were the intended target was no secret: Roosevelt had been suspicious of this population since at least 1936.In this case he was reacting to specific reports of evidence of Japanese espionage activity, false reports by a particularly anti-Japanese general. A month later the actual exclusion order was released, giving"all persons of Japanese ancestry" barely a week to collect a few necessities, put affairs in order and report to" control centers," where over a hundred thousand citizens and long-term resident aliens were cataloged and put on trains to ten internment camps. The camps were isolated, with primitive barracks and facilities. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, then a child, was interned at Heart Mountain camp.

How Did the Atomic Bomb Get Built?

by Keith Miller

Awestruck, the physicists watched what they had wrought. The date, 16 July 1945 at sunrise, when the sun came down to earth--the first atomic bomb blast imploded from"The Gadget" atop the one-hundred foot high tower. The site, a place called Trinity on desert sands, not far from Alamogordo, New Mexico, where this blue Earth's Atom Age began. It would end World War Two, so devastating a conflict that it should be known as Armageddon.No wonder the scientists of Los Alamos, who had been secluded there under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer could scarcely believe their senses. For what they were witnessing had never been seen before--at least not on planet earth. Beginning with the blinding flash (at least without protective welder's goggles), the unfolding in only seconds into a cloud with power (and with an intense heat--hotter, in fact, than that at the depth of the sun), which had vaporized the tower and turned the sand at its base and roundabout to glass, known to this day as the"pearls of Trinity," it soon became an enormous mushroom-shaped inferno, reaching a height of 35,000 feet--a mile in diameter. The whole brought to the stunned mind of Oppenheimer a few words from the Bhagavad-Gita, the great Hindu scripture, wherein Vishnu says:"I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Why Do People Say Muslim Now Instead of Moslem?

by Yii-Ann Christine Chen

Is it Muslim or Moslem?When Baby Boomers were children it was Moslem. The American Heritage Dictionary (1992) noted,"Moslem is the form predominantly preferred in journalism and popular usage. Muslim is preferred by scholars and by English-speaking adherents of Islam." No more. Now, almost everybody uses Muslim.According to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies,"Moslem and Muslim are basically two different spellings for the same word." But the seemingly arbitrary choice of spellings is a sensitive subject for many followers of Islam. Whereas for most English speakers, the two words are synonymous in meaning, the Arabic roots of the two words are very different. A Muslim in Arabic means"one who gives himself to God," and is by definition, someone who adheres to Islam. By contrast, a Moslem in Arabic means"one who is evil and unjust" when the word is pronounced, as it is in English, Mozlem with a z.For others, this spelling differentiation is merely a linguistic matter, with the two spellings a result of variation in transliteration methods. Both Moslem and Muslim are used as nouns. But some writers use Moslem when the word is employed as an adjective.

What Was Lincoln's Record on Civil Liberties?

by David Greenberg

Lincoln *did* suspend habeas corpus, but he did have good reason.

Why Did the Great Powers Lose Over and Over Again in Afghanistan?

by David Greenberg

"[Afghanistan] is the graveyard of imperial ambitions." Peter Maass (New York Times Magazine, 9/30/01 After much cowboy swagger, cooler heads seem to have persuaded the president that a war on terrorism won't be a Gulf War-style cakewalk. In particular, the administration has heard chastening reminders of how in the 1980s Afghanistan's Muslim mujahideen repulsed Soviet armies from their land - and thus helped speed the superpower's collapse. Yet cautionary though it is, the Soviet Union's loss was just the latest chapter in a centuries-long history of great powers blundering their way to defeat in Central Asia. In the 19th century, the British Empire repeatedly met similar failure. Thus, it is not any single instance but a recurring pattern of catastrophe that should give American war-makers pause in the days ahead. Two hundred years ago, the British, who controlled India, and the Russians, who wanted to, both angled for advantage in Afghanistan, which separated their empires. The dramatic adventures of their generals and diplomats earned the romantic name"The Great Game."

Was Spain to Blame for Blowing Up the "Maine"?

by William B. McKinley

"Remember the Maine!" was the cry. But a board of inquiry a month later concluded that there was no way of telling who was responsible for the explosion that destroyed the ship. Lacking hard evidence, President McKinley refused to lead the country into war (his explanation to Congress is excerpted below). Many believed he was weak; Teddy Roosevelt said that McKinley had the backbone of an eclair. Just a month later, facing intense public pressure, McKinley asked for a declaration of war.At forty minutes past 9 in the evening of the 15th of February [1898] the Maine was destroyed by an explosion, by which the entire forward part of the ship was utterly wrecked. In this catastrophe 2 officers and 264 of her crew perished, those who were not killed outright by her explosion being penned between decks by tbe tangle of wreckage and drowned by the immediate sinking of the hull. ...

Who Dreamed Up the Gas Tax?

by HNN Staff

The gas tax was devised by Dwight Eisenhower in 1956 as the best way to finance the building of what was expected to be the largest public works project in history: the interstate highway system, which experts said would cost $101 billion.  

How Many Vice Presidents Died in Office?

by HNN Staff

Seven vice presidents have died in office:George Clinton (served under James Madison)Elbridge Gerry (served under James Madison)William Rufus De Vane King (served under Franklin Pierce)Henry Wilson (served under U.S. Grant)Thomas Hendricks (served under Grover Cleveland)Garret Hobart (served under William McKinley)James Sherman (served under William Howard Taft)Two vice presidents resigned: John C. Calhoun (served under Andrew Jackson) and Spiro Agnew (served under Richard Nixon).The vice presidency has been vacant due to resignation or death a total of 37 years and 290 days, about a fifth of the time.Eight presidents have died in office. One resigned.

When Did the Catholic Church Decide Priests Should Be Celibate?

by Helen L. Owen

A celibate priesthood predates Christianity.

How Do Historians Evaluate the Administration of Richard Nixon?

by Mel Small

In 1978, as he was beginning his relentless and ultimately successful run for the ex- presidency, Richard Nixon told an audience at Oxford University,"Some people say I didn't handle [Watergate] properly and they're right. I screwed it up. And I paid the price. Mea Culpa. But let's get on to my achievements. You'll be here in the year 2000 and we'll see how I am regarded then." He was betting that as Watergate faded from memory, the many significant self-perceived achievements of his presidency, particularly in foreign policy, would elevate him to the ranks of if not a great president, certainly a mostly successful one. Yet in 1996, a distinguished bipartisan panel of scholars and journalists ranked him dead last in their presidential rankings, behind such abject failures as U.S. Grant and Warren G. Harding. Is this because, as Nixon once lamented,"History will treat me fairly. Historians probably won't because most historians are on the left."