This blog serves the our introductory course on American politics (Claremont McKenna College Government 20) for the spring of 2025. During the semester, I shall post course material and students will comment on it. Students are also free to comment on any aspect of American politics, either current or historical. There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.
Although I came across "The Golden Door" a week or two after our discussion of American citizenship and immigration, I feel obligated to share this with the class. In an interview with NPR, Martin Scorsese (himself an Italian immigrant) even cites "The Godfather: Part II" as being one of the best films to depict the immigrant's experience coming to America. Interestingly, this part-surrealist, part-realist narrative does not show the Statue of Liberty, a typical mainstay in films about immigration. Despite this trailer's embarrassingly cheesy voice over, this is a must-see for anyone seeking an intriguing representation of an immigrant's journey to America. My favorite line? During the treacherous journey by boat from Sicily to New York, protagonist Salvatore Mancuso introduces himself to the other foreigners on board. "I've never been in a place with so many foreigners," Mancuso marvels. "But we're all Italians," a neighbor retorts. This interaction reveals the vast diversity within the wave of "new immigrants" and the difficulties of finding a community among a disparate group of people. With many language dialects, customs, appearances, and values, the Italian immigrants had to embrace some common ground to shape the Italian-American culture that seems so distinct in the U.S. today.
I don't remember much of my prospective undergraduate Johns Hopkins tour, but I do remember sitting in a small auditorium while the tour guide listed JH's "best and brightest" alums. She included President Woodrow Wilson, who obtained a doctorate in history and political science there. "How can you say that and look so incredibly unashamed?" I wanted to ask. "Could your institution have possibly failed any worse here?" But I refrained, because I didn't think it would do my application any good.
Declaring one president the absolute worst is a little presumptuous; let's face it, the US has had its fair share of failures and nonentities. Does anyone even remember the presidents of the late 19th century? I know I don't. At least most of these unimpressive characters are recognized as such. What really annoys me about President Wilson is that, somehow, he has not only escaped condemnation but is frequently considered one of our more preeminent statesmen!
Wilson loved The Birth of a Nation and re-segregated the civil service, which we discussed in class.He only supported women’s suffrage after World War I; women’s service in the military (though not in combat) and on the home front forced his hand. Wilson’s greatest crime, though, was his direct culpability for World War II.
What, you say? Hitler started World War II. Everyone knows that! Hitler was no Santa Claus, I agree. He a truly awful man and a somewhat gifted pedagogic, but he was only able to gain political power because Germany’s pride and economy were in shambles. When the Germans surrendered and ended World War I, they did so thinking they would receive a peace like Wilson’s idealistic Fourteen Points. The last point was a League of Nations, so that war would never, ever, happen again. (Can you hear the world laughing?) The US Senate, led by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, did not want to give up its sovereign power to declare war to the League. As long as this one provision was removed, the US would enter the League. But Lodge and Wilson were bitter enemies, so Wilson refused to compromise. The result? The US did not enter the League, completely killing the organization’s efficacy.The French and British, out for revenge, demanded reparations that ruined Germany and Austria’s economies. The Germans felt betrayed, as did the Italians and the Japanese, whose contributions to the war effort the French and British refused to recognize. A little over two decades later, these four disgruntled nations combined to form the Axis powers. When World War II was over, 60 million people were dead. That’s an awfully high price for some personal politicking.
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Amendment XIV
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Amendment XV
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Woodrow Wilson's work in a pro-Klan movie:
Major Civil Rights Laws:
The Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964
Prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
Prohibits discrimination in federally funded programs or activities on the basis of race, color, or national origin
Prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin in public accommodations.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), enacted shortly after the CRA and which was designed to prevent the disenfranchisement of black voters in the South, prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.
The Fair Housing Act (FHA), which was originally enacted in 1968, prohibits discrimination in the sale or rental of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or familial status.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex with regard to the compensation paid to men and women for substantially equal work performed in the same establishment
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Like Title VI of the CRA, Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination is tied to federal funding. Specifically, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs or activities.
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federally conducted and federally funded programs or activities, as well as in employment by the federal government and by federal contractors.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which is the most recently enacted piece of major civil rights legislation in the nation, prohibits discrimination based on disability in employment, public services, public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications.
Although I do not completely agree with the manner in which affirmative action was carried out in certain cases, I understand its principles. As the book states, “In order to treat people equally you must treat them differently.” For many decades, African Americans were discriminated against in every field solely on the bases of their skin color. They were forced to attend inferior schools and live in poverty stricken areas. Although the laws eventually changed, the conditions were and still are slow to catch up. In fact, even today, many inner city schools in African American communities pale in comparison to predominately white suburban schools. Thus, even the best students in inner city schools cannot compete with their white counterparts because of the discrepancies in the educational quality they received. If both groups of students were to apply to college on a strictly colorblind bases, the white students would get in while the minority students with an inferior educational background would most likely not. Therefore, the challenges that a student overcomes must also be taken into account. The minority student could not help that their educational system deprived them or lacked sufficient resources. This, however, does not mean that white students should be discriminated against in turn; it just means that hard working minority students should also get a shot. Thus, equal opportunity cannot be colorblind to be equal.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
