The Intelligent Conversationalist

by Imogen Lloyd Webber

  WHY IT MATTERS TODAY

  We are our history. In 1863, during the American Civil War, Lincoln (reminder, Republican) issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which proclaimed the freedom of all slaves in the states in rebellion, thus making slavery’s eradication a clear aim of the war. With its end came the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery, the Fourteenth granting African-Americans citizenship, and the Fifteenth permitting African-American males the right to vote. Of course, discrimination against African-Americans didn’t end there. The white supremacist Ku Klux Klan materialized in 1867, and as we know, despite President Ulysses S. Grant’s closing them down in 1870, it wasn’t the end of them—or of the fight for equal rights for African-Americans.

  Civil rights comes from the Latin ius civis, and the concept that an individual has rights dates back to Roman times. To me, the fact that an individual’s freedoms are protected is what America is all about, what it has always fought for, first from Britain and then internally, for equal rights for all whatever your race, sex (we look at feminism in Cheat Sheet 25), or financial situation. Naturally, in different eras and places, the phrase has been used for different causes and cases. In Britain, for instance, in the nineteenth century civil rights referred to the discrimination Catholics faced. Across the pond, in America come the 1860s, the phrase was used for the recently freed African-Americans.

  But almost a hundred years later, African-Americans in southern states still suffered from entrenched racism; little wonder the Great Migration occurred, in which almost 7 million blacks emigrated to the North and West, where their situation was a little better. From the 1880s, laws named after Jim Crow, a black character in minstrel shows, had legally enforced state-sanctioned discrimination, including voter suppression. And please keep this in mind: White Southern Democrats were very much to blame, along with their Republican counterparts. That didn’t stop African-Americans from being required to fight and die for their country; two world wars later, they finally won integration in the military when President Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1948.

  The NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was founded in 1909. Their concerted efforts finally yielded a big breakthrough with the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine by rejecting separate colored and white school systems. The next fifteen years saw the civil rights movement really take hold. I cannot begin to do it justice here, so please forgive me as I touch on topics many of us immigrants need to know more about.

  On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her bus seat to a white male rider. Protests and boycotts followed. The civil rights movement as we know it began in earnest. In 1957 President Eisenhower (a Republican) federalized Arkansas’s National Guard, sent them back to their barracks, and deployed the 101st Airborne Division to escort the Little Rock Nine, black students, to study at the all-white Little Rock Central High School. The students still suffered massive abuse. In 1960 in North Carolina’s Greensboro, black college students sat at a whites-only restaurant counter, which sparked many other similar protests, known as sit-ins. Freedom Riders put the rule that segregration for interstate travel was illegal to the test, journeying on interstate buses.

  Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged, a proponent of the nonviolent tactics used by Gandhi. Confrontations between peaceful protesters and police in Birmingham prompted President John F. Kennedy—who had a passionate little brother, Robert, pushing him on the civil rights issue—to work for new civil rights legislation. On August 28, 1963, over 250,000 took part in the march on Washington and saw King give his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Those famous four words, “I have a dream,” weren’t in the original text, by the way. He added the phrase in off the cuff.

  The Civil Rights Act had been having a tricky time under JFK, with Congress squabbling away. Poignantly, Kennedy’s assassination facilitated its passing, and less compromise occurred, as what kind of person could reject a murdered president’s big wish? With President Lyndon B. Johnson pushing it through in a manner that Kevin Spacey later channeled for House of Cards, the 1964 act passed and segregation was forbidden in public facilities, racial discrimination in employment was outlawed, and the way was paved for future antidiscrimination legislation, including the Voting Rights Act the following year. Of course, the civil rights war wasn’t won, and battles continue to this day. The 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King shocked America. It also coincided with the rise of the Black Power Movement, the epitome of which was the Black Panther Party, which feuded with the existing black leadership regarding its policies of nonviolence and cooperation.

  Yes, there have been high points. By the 1980s Reverend Jesse Jackson was campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, and in 2008 Senator Barack Obama was elected to lead the free world. However, we are all aware that despite the gains in civil rights, deep inequality remains in this great nation. From Trayvon Martin to the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, to Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” becoming a rallying cry, to a white gunman murdering nine African-American during Bible study at a South Carolina church, we are continually reminded of it. Not every American has the same opportunity to live the American dream.

  But it is still a dream, in my humble view as one of the million immigrants to this country a year, that drives this nation—we haven’t given up on you figuring your way through. Uncle Sam just has so much going for him.

  Why are we here? After the American Civil War, the foundations of America today emerged. In the late nineteenth century came the Gilded Age—America got rich.

  * * *

  KEY TERM: MANIFEST DESTINY

  • The American expansion westward in the nineteenth century. The frontier, the Wild West, and all that.

  • Term was coined in 1845 to describe the mind-set. All about individualism, innovation, conquest, persistence, boldness, violence.

  • California Gold Rush, 1848, anyone? A total of $2 billion worth of precious metal was extracted from the Sacramento Valley area during the spell.

  • Further game changers: In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph, and in 1869, the first transcontinental railroad, which was much comfier—not to say quicker—than traveling in a wagon.

  * * *

  Immigrants came to stay with Uncle Sam—between 1880 and 1914, more than 22 million of them. With them, industrialization sped up. Later, of course, this was a factor in the Progressive Era—in 1914 alone, 35,000 workers died in industrial accidents. There was a reason for unions.

  By 1890, American industrial production was greater and per capita income was higher than those of every other country on earth.

  Yes there have been economic blips. There was one in 1893. But you know what? By 1900 the United States had the most robust economy on the planet. And despite the recessions of 1907, 1920, and the big crash of 1929, America was big. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, thirty-seven new states were added in the coast-to-coast expansion. And after the world and cold wars ended, America was permanently—let’s face it; sorry, Putin—the leading global power. Economically, as we saw in Cheat Sheet 7, America is still the number one economy in the world.

  There’s always work to do, but I sort of think you got your happy ending, America.

  TALKING POINTS

  • Twenty-seven states get their names from Indian languages, and of the crops now being grown on America’s farms, more than half were already being grown on this land before the Native Americans were colonized.

  • During World War II, the United States used the uniqueness of the Navajo language spoken by some Native Americans from the Southwest. As a substitute for the encryption of US marine radio messages, it proved quicker and easier for Navajos to speak to each other in their native tongue to convey high-security messages. Unlike with machine codes, the Japanese never
broke the Navajo.

  • America has got a lot to thank second-son syndrome for. The sea-dog leaders of English colonial expeditions were often second sons (their elder brothers got the property at home, so they had to go off and do something)—including Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh.

  • Washington, DC, became the nation’s capital in 1800. It had previously been located in New York and Philadelphia.

  • The lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” were written by an American in 1814 after the Brits, who by then had burned Washington, were beaten in Baltimore. The one-and-a-half-octave impossible-to-sing tune is actually British, composed by John Stafford Smith for a London men’s club, the Anacreontic Society. So it was originally “The Anacreontic Song.” In 1931 President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional resolution making it the national anthem.

  RED FLAGS

  • Out and about with Eurotrash types? Don’t mention that it was a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, who labeled America America in 1507—a tribute to the Italian cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci. You’ll never hear the end of it.

  • If you see two immigrants meet, they will within five minutes be speaking in a code you do not understand. It will involve H1s, EB1s, and O1s. Best leave them to it—you simply don’t want to know, and if you’re an American citizen, through no fault of your own, you may put your foot in it.

  • Until 1965 the immigration system was particularly odious toward Africans, Latin Americans, and Asians. Ironic, since Asians arrived in America first.

  • “The British are coming!” Nobody shouted that when you think they did. It would have confused people, as at the time many Americans thought they were British.

  • Pocahontas was real; she was no fairy tale. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan and wife of Jamestown settler John Rolfe.

  • Dealing with teenage girls in the midst of a full-on obsession with the latest teen idol? You can think but not say that you now have the explanation of the “witchcraft” events of Salem in 1692 and 1693.

  * * *

  WISE WORDS

  Europe was created by history. America was created by philosophy.

  —Margaret Thatcher

  * * *

  SOCIAL SURVIVAL STRATEGY

  Argument: “For centuries Europeans would arrive somewhere and disrupt ways of life to the detriment of those already in residence. Some would argue that Uncle Sam subsequently took up where those predecessors left off.”

  Foreign policy debate that you’ll end up engaging in will typically break down to this: Is America being imperialist or just saving the world (yet again)? There’s no right answer, which you can point out after you’ve instigated the dialogue.

  Crisp Fact: “Henry Hudson sailed up the New York river that would later bear his name on September 11, 1609.”

  This fact always provokes somber food for thought; use it when you need to halt a cantankerous conversation.

  Pivot: “The tune to ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was composed by a Brit, John Stafford Smith, for a London men’s club. Are you a member of any clubs, or do you think such institutions are as antiquated as the Brits?”

  People you never expect can suddenly reveal they’re members of clubs, whether they’re golf or artistic. Ask them to take you for a drink there; clubs always provide an opportunity for intriguing people watching.

  CHEAT SHEET 13—GRID OF AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

  SOCIAL SURVIVAL STRATEGY

  Argument: “Well, of course it was George Washington who started the tradition of foreign policy largely being a presidential concern.”

  Someone, somewhere, will be complaining about the president’s overreach in foreign policy. Use this statement to point out that it is not a new phenomenon, before reflecting that your view on the current occupant of the White House will likely depend on whether you voted for the current occupant or not.

  Crisp Fact: “Bill Clinton sent just two e-mails as president.”

  The way the world operates has changed beyond recognition in so many ways. This should defuse a combustible political discussion, as you can then start reminiscing about landlines.

  Pivot: “Gerald Ford (a Republican) was a male model who even made the front cover of Cosmo. Perhaps we can blame him for the slippery slope that has led to President X’s lightweight publicity choices?”

  Presidents (and presidential candidates) submit to increasingly more ridiculous stunts to try and appeal to young voters (the word currently on everyone’s lips is millennials); they rarely work but are always amusing. This will spark a jovial musing about some of them.

  CHEAT SHEET 14—AMERICAN IMPERIALISM

  BACKGROUND BRIEFING

  Empire is hardly a new phenomenon. Remember the Romans? And of course the Brits had one where the sun never set, before the world wars put the final nail in that particular coffin. The story of history has been one empire ending and another appearing to fill the void.

  Whether you label America an empire or prefer to refer to it as the only superpower, albeit one that under the Obama administration increasingly looked inward until ISIS and President Putin had other ideas, history students of the future will perceive the United States as the latest in a long line of empires. They’ll write essays pronouncing how ironic it was that America fought against an imperial power and then became one. The past suggests that the age of American empire will end, probably replaced by one to its west—which would make it Asia. We are unlikely to live to see it.

  America has always had a touch of the imperialist about it, the urge for expansion. This was first exemplified by its move westward, with Manifest Destiny and all that—consider the treatment of Native American Indians. There was the 1846 Mexican-American War. Subsequently America has been all about influencing other countries via its economic power, its culture—from missionaries to Hollywood—and on occasions by its military clout.

  Britain’s justification of empire was habitually painted as benevolence. America has often denied empire, but claimed exceptionalism, that it is protecting its extraordinary values. America’s values are remarkable, but they are not for everyone, and exceptionalism has predictably higher approval ratings within the US borders than everywhere else. Yes, Americans do have an unease about occupying other countries, but they have done so and there has been much support of surrogates over the years. Small wonder that so many foreigners view America as imperialistic.

  Before 1890, America’s holdings were basically next-door states and Alaska. By the close of World War I, it had all got a bit foreign. In the 1890s American Samoa and Hawaii were annexed. The 1898 Spanish-American War, aka the “splendid little war,” came about because America wanted the Spanish to stop being so oppressive in Cuba. This kerfuffle led to America’s winning Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, while Cuba became “independent”—i.e., America was keeping its puppeteer-like eye on the puppet it had installed.

  It should be pointed out that there was a bit of navel-gazing going on in that some American critics pointed out that America was coming over all imperialist. However, that didn’t stop President Theodore Roosevelt continuing in the same vein, adding the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Teddy announced in 1904’s State of the Union that basically the American sphere of influence included the whole western hemisphere. His motto was “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

  Roosevelt didn’t actually speak all that softly. He was quite vociferous over the construction of the Panama Canal. Under his successor President William H. Taft, Arizona became a state, completing mainland USA. On President Woodrow Wilson’s watch, America bought the Virgin Islands off Denmark in 1917 to counter the threat from the German navy.

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  NOTEWORTHY NUGGETS: INDEPENDENCE (FROM AMERICA) YEARS

  • The Philippines weren’t granted independence until 1946.

  • Hawaii was only granted statehood in 1959.

  * * *

  For the reco
rd books—and if you come across an ungrateful foreigner at a party—American exceptionalism has been needed by the world; it was the game changer in both world wars.

  We cover World War I, which kicked off in Europe in 1914, in Cheat Sheet 16. Initially, America’s isolationism was the name of the game. President Wilson declared neutrality; America would even trade with both sides. Britain had other ideas. The UK still ruled the waves and its navy imposed a blockade, so America’s trade with England and France tripled … and its trade with Germany was reduced by 90 percent. The Germans thus engaged in submarine warfare with the Americans, and in 1915 sank the RMS Lusitania, a British passenger ship heading from New York to Liverpool that just happened to be carrying four million rounds of ammunition. (Charles Frohman, the American theater producer who put on J. M. “Peter Pan” Barrie’s works and is featured in the film and stage musical Finding Neverland, was among those who perished on the Lusitania.)

  The Germans also sent the Zimmermann Telegram, which along with the Lusitania helped sway American public opinion toward war. In early 1917 Germany promised Mexico, via coded message, portions of American land (including Texas) in return for Mexico’s joining the war against the United States. The Zimmermann Telegram was intercepted and interpreted by the Brits, who showed it to the US. We were coming over all James Bond even back then.

  The United States officially entered the Great War in April 1917 with supplies and eventually, after they were trained, troops. Allied victory came in 1918, and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles decided postwar borders from the Middle East to Europe and established an international peace organization called the League of Nations. Incidentally, even though President Woodrow Wilson had been a key player in the organization’s formation, America refused to join, as Senate Republicans thought it a supranational government that would limit America’s independence in deciding its own policies. You will recognize this as the very same argument that they deploy about the UN and various bits of international law today.