Archive for December, 2010
What is the American Legion
The American Legion is the largest group of veterans in the United States. It was organized after World War I in Paris, France, by a small group of Americans who had fought in the war. In the next few years, more than a million other Americans joined the organization. The American Legion became very strong. It has groups called posts in cities and towns all over the United States. Each post is led by a commander, with other officers under him. There are state commanders and a national commander.
After World War II, several million more veterans joined the American Legion. The American Legion has become one of the strongest and most important organizations in the country. Naturally, it is interested in anything that has to do with veterans. The Legion was largely responsible for the creation of the United States Veterans Administration. One of the Legion’s greatest interests has been to keep the United States strong. It wants the country to have a large army, navy and air force, and strong defenses. It also has a “Back to God” movement to keep the country spiritually strong. This movement encourages church attendance, prayer, and religious education. A member of the Legion is called a Legionnaire. He wears a military-looking uniform.
What is the American Culture – Continued
U.S. society is made up of a diversity of ethnic groups and cultures, that are most definitely responsible for shaping the American culture, and many of the values shared by the American people. Americans pride themselves off of their ability to work hard, and play hard. Americans seem to be born with a competitive spirit, and therefore use this as the underlining motivating factor to work hard. American popular culture has been also described strictly on things, “such as music, television, and films.”
If everything is set up as sport-like as possible, the Americans seem to have it down. Americans feel most accomplished when they beat another record, or even their own record in an athletic event, or any type of competition. There must always be a winner, in America, tying is losing. Although it is harsh to say, the American people enjoy watching other people become physically aggressive towards others. Over the years violence in movies, video games, and sports has increased dramatically.
The Americanization Movement – 1914-1925
The work of John McClymer focuses in particular on one moment in history when Americanization emerged as a self-conscious movement. The advent of World War I produced an explosion of nativist reaction across the United States. Although the United States would not enter the war until its third year, the outbreak of war led to a generalized denouncement of past assimilation efforts. McClymer argues that the war forced native-born Americans to come to terms with the country’s vast diversity; in a later work, he labels this coming of terms a negative revolution based on racism and reaction.
This is the era when “100% Americanism” became the clarion call of the nation. War, writes McClymer, lent the Americanization crusade urgency; diversity, in the context of war, smacked of disloyalty. To be sure, the Americanization movement was not the only reactionary development at this time. Instead, as McClymer documents, it developed alongside the 1916 presidential campaign, in which Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson attempted to outdo each other in taking a tough stance on assimilation.