The Struggle for Civil Rights: From the Emancipation Proclamation to Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Doug Morrow, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer

Читати українською

This year, we mark two important landmarks in African-American history, and in the United States’ long march toward racial equality and civil rights. January 1, 2013 was the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, in which U.S. President Abraham Lincoln freed most African-Americans from slavery. August 28, 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, in which the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous “I have a dream” speech, calling for all people to be treated equally, regardless of the color of their skin.

Slavery and the Emancipation Proclamation

In 1860, over 3.9 million African-Americans were enslaved in the United States; in certain states such as South Carolina and Mississippi, over half of the total population was enslaved, and in states such as Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Georgia, enslaved people made up over 40% of the population. Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia also had significant slave populations. That year, led by South Carolina, several southern states began seceding from the United States (to form the “Confederate States of America”), upset that the northern (“Union”) states were refusing to return runaway slaves, among other complaints, and fearing that newly-elected President Lincoln would seek to end slavery in the United States. 

 

The Republican National Convention in History

By Janine Balekdjian, Consular Intern

Читати українською

This year’s Republican National Convention will be held in Tampa Bay, Florida, from August 27-30. During it, Mitt Romney will officially become the Republican nominee, having secured enough delegates to do so in May, and other Republican leaders will make speeches to get the voting base fired up – particularly in the important state of Florida (a state with a large population that swings between supporting Democrats and Republicans for president). While in the distant past, there might be some doubt at a party convention about who would be the nominee, the modern system of primary elections and caucuses in the states has removed almost all sense of drama. It is highly unlikely that a disgruntled party leader will storm out of the convention to create his own political party with which to challenge both Romney and Obama. But that exact scenario happened at a Republican National Convention a century ago, in 1912. 

 

U.S. Political Parties Convention Commotion

Posted by: Janine Balekdjian, Consular Intern

Read in Ukrainian

August is an exciting time for U.S. presidential campaigns. Although candidates have been campaigning for the presidency since last year, it is only in August, at the party conventions, that they receive the official endorsement of their party. Both parties have known who their nominee will be for months, but the convention is more important for Republicans, because there was a heated primary campaign to determine who would be the nominee. Mitt Romney achieved enough primary votes to become the nominee in late May, whereas President Barack Obama had no serious primary challengers. Traditionally, incumbent presidents do not face contested primaries, although this is not always the case.

President Barack Obama (left), who is running for a second term, and Mitt Romney (right), Republican presidential nominee and former Governor of Massachusetts

Presidential nominees are chosen through a mix of popular vote and party input. When a party does not have an incumbent president to nominate, a series of primaries and caucuses are held from January through June (these are technically held even when a party does have an incumbent president, but they are not seriously contested).

 

My List of the Top 4 Most Noteworthy U.S. Vice Presidents and VP Candidates

Posted by: Janine Balekdjian, Consular Intern

Читати українською

Presidential nominations are a heated contest of primaries and caucuses, and once a party’s nominee is clear, the next big step for the presidential ticket is for that nominee to choose a running mate.  The nominee has total discretion over whom to pick and when to announce the decision, and most nominees announce their Vice Presidential (VP) pick towards the end of the summer to signal the beginning of a season of intense campaigning until the election.  Presidential candidates have to manage a delicate balancing act of finding a Vice President who is different enough to complement his or her strengths and weaknesses, but similar enough to avoid serious ideological disagreements.  Many Presidential nominees actually pick someone that they ran against in the primary as their VP candidate, both because the nominee is well versed in the policy platforms of his or her erstwhile rivals, and because it can heal any tensions within the party created by an acrimonious primary.  President Obama picked Joe Biden, a former primary opponent, to be his running mate in 2008, and the pair will again run on the Democratic ticket this year.  Currently, news outlets are rife with speculation over who Mitt Romney will pick to join him on the Republican ticket, a decision he is expected to announce before the Republican National Convention.

Vice Presidents have certainly made waves in the past.  Below are what I consider the four most noteworthy Vice Presidents or Vice Presidential nominees.

4. Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr served as Vice President from 1801-1805 under the United States’ third President Thomas Jefferson

Aaron Burr was certainly a noteworthy Vice President – but not in a good way.  Burr served as Vice President from 1801-1805 under the United States’ third President and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson.  In the early days of the United States, the Vice President was the person who received the second-most votes for president, not someone chosen by the President.  Jefferson and Burr actually tied with 73 electoral votes each, and the House of Representatives had to decide which would become president.  The House voted for Jefferson, and Burr blamed his narrow defeat on the influence of his former friend Alexander Hamilton, another of the United States’ Founding Fathers.  After Burr’s term as Vice President was over, he challenged Hamilton to a duel to the death, shooting and killing him.  Burr was charged with murder but the charges were eventually dropped.

Theodore Roosevelt served as Vice President under William McKinley

3. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt

Teddy Roosevelt’s Vice Presidency marked a major transition for U.S. politics.  Roosevelt became Vice President under William McKinley, who beat the populist Democrat William Jennings Bryan and had close ties to the corrupt business establishment and political machines.  Roosevelt’s strong anti-corruption views were diametrically opposed to McKinley’s, although the two men agreed on foreign policy.  McKinley was assassinated just 9 months into his second term (his first with Roosevelt as Vice President).  Roosevelt became president, finishing the rest of McKinley’s term by ushering in the Progressive Era, a major effort to reform the banking, business, and political establishments, requiring them to follow government regulations, and introduce transparency in both business and government.  Roosevelt won another term, serving as president until 1908, and the Progressive Era he inaugurated lasted another decade.

Geraldine Ferraro, a three-term Congresswoman, was the first woman to be nominated as Vice President of a major party

2. Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro never actually became Vice President, as her running mate Democrat Walter Mondale lost the 1984 election to the popular Republican Ronald Reagan, but her nomination was a momentous event for the United States and for American women.  Ferraro, a three-term Congresswoman, was the first woman to be nominated as Vice President of a major party (to date, Republican Sarah Palin has been the only other).  Ferraro was a feminist and openly challenged the sexism she faced in the media and from other politicians as she and Mondale campaigned.  She pointed out the implicit sexism when reporters asked her questions such as, “Are you tough enough?” and scolded the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, George H.W. Bush, when he acted patronizingly towards her in their debate.  Ferraro’s Vice Presidential run pushed news outlets to finally adopt the honorific “Ms.” for women; she was married but used her maiden name, so neither “Mrs.” nor “Miss” were appropriate.  Ferraro went on to become the United States Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, work as a journalist, and work on the 2008 Presidential primary campaign of Hillary Clinton.

Lyndon Baines Johnson served as Vice President under John F. Kennedy

1. Lyndon Baines Johnson

Lyndon Johnson, or LBJ, was one half of a dynamic Democratic duo, serving as Vice President under the popular John F. Kennedy.  Kennedy and Johnson actually did not get along; Kennedy had offered the Vice Presidency to LBJ, who was from Texas, as a way of winning the support of Southern Democrats.  Despite their personal disagreements, Johnson’s domineering, aggressive style helped advance Kennedy’s legislative agenda, and Johnson’s focus on domestic policy nicely complemented Kennedy, who concentrated more on foreign policy.  Johnson became President when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.  As President, Johnson was a champion of fairness and equality, and referred to his vision of a more equal United States of America as the “Great Society”.  He responded to the Civil Rights Movement enthusiastically, signing the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act which helped combat discrimination against both African-Americans and women.  Johnson then declared a “War on Poverty,” pouring millions of federal dollars into programs like Head Start, food stamps, and Community Action Programs.  Most famously, Johnson established Medicare, federal health insurance for the elderly, and Medicaid, state health insurance for the poor.  Due to his repeated escalation of the unpopular Vietnam War, Johnson’s approval ratings fell precipitously, and he did not seek the 1968 Presidential nomination.  That election culminated in the Democratic National Convention fiasco of 1968 and the victory of Republican Richard Nixon, putting an end to four decades of nearly uninterrupted Democratic government.  Johnson’s legacy of Great Society legislation, however, remains a key part of U.S. life to this day.

 

A Brief History of Thanksgiving

Posted by: Oksana Kluchko, Journalist/Embassy Community Member

"The First Thanksgiving" (1915), by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (American painter, 1863-1930)

Thanksgiving Day is a truly great American holiday. It commemorates a series of events which took place in the 17th Century. It was on December 11, 1620 that the Pilgrims set ground on Plymouth Rock. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast — including 91 Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. The feast was celebrated as a traditional English harvest festival that lasted three days.

Their supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There were no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include turkey, fish, berries, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

 

On the 110th anniversary of Theodore Roosevelt’s becoming Vice President of the U.S. on March 4, 1901

Posted by: Marc Gartner, Economic Officer

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

The office of President offers its occupant unrivalled ability to influence the policies and future of the nation. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26^th President of the United States (1901-1909), used his presidential authority to modernize the United States in a way that profoundly improved the commercial climate and the natural environment, which still contributes to the country today.

Theodore Roosevelt was born in 1858, and grew up in the dynamic post-Civil War period when the United States rapidly modernized through industrial prowess, commercial and retail innovation and the advent of free media competition throughout the country. He was a political dynamo and scholar at a young age: as an adult in New York, he was a published historian, the state’s youngest representative, an anti-corruption fighter, and elected governor of New York State at the age of 41 in 1899. (His distant cousin Franklin Roosevelt followed a similar path, serving as Governor of New York, then as the 32^nd President of the United States from 1933-1945.)

 

Presidents’ Day Celebrates George Washington

Posted by: Daniel Cisek, Deputy Press Attache

George Washington, the 1st U.S. President

The third Monday in February is a national holiday in the United States. Although commonly known as Presidents’ Day, the official name of it is Washington’s Birthday. The day honors our first president, George Washington, who was born on February 22. The holiday became connected with another important president, Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12.  Lincoln’s birthday had been celebrated as a separate holiday in many states (and still is in a few), but was merged with Washington’s into a “Presidents’ Day” in many after the introduction of Martin Luther King Day in mid-January in order to keep the number of official days of work the same. This year the holiday falls on February 21.

It’s commonly said that George Washington was “first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Americans know and revere him for two major accomplishments: successfully commanding the United States army in the Revolutionary War, and establishing the limits on executive power as the first president of the United States.

 

Government of Ukraine Takes a Key Step toward Transparency and Accountability to Its Citizens

Posted by: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft

 

 

James Madison, 4th U.S. President

“A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and the people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

 

 

-          James Madison, the fourth U.S. president and author of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution

On February 3, Ukraine joined the community of democracies that recognize citizens’ right to be informed of their government’s activities so that they can hold it accountable.  President Yanukovych’s signature on the law on Access to Public Information is a promise to the Ukrainian people – journalists and civil society in particular – that their right to know and report on what the authorities do in their name will be legally enshrined and honored. Now comes the hard part: implementing the law and ensuring that politicians and bureaucrats do not weaken the law by hiding improper behavior behind self-serving claims of government confidentiality.  While no government can do its job of protecting the security and prosperity of its country without secrets, the key is to ensure that protected information is only applied according to legitimate rules.  Political and personal embarrassment – or criminal activity! – are not valid grounds for classifying information.

 

Franklin Roosevelt, Murderball, and Free Internet Access: The Rights of the Disabled and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine

Posted by: Tim Standaert, Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Murderball. This is perhaps the most intriguing movie title I have run across in a long time, though you might be surprised at the content of this particular flick.

The documentary followed the trials and tribulations of the U.S. Men’s Wheelchair Rugby Team, who are in cutthroat competition with their archrivals, the Canadian National Team.  These are not shy, retiring wallflowers, but aggressive and skilled athletes who do want to “murder” their opponents.  I showed the film to a small group of students and university instructors on December 10^th at the U.S. Embassy’s weekly movie night at the American Library at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.  We chose to show the critically acclaimed Murderball as part of our activities in celebration of International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The United Nations designated December 3^rd as International Day of Persons with Disabilities in 1981 to promote respect for the rights of persons with disabilities, increase our understanding of disabilities and encourage inclusion of persons with disabilities, emphasizing the political, economic and social gains to be made through such inclusiveness.