Our controversy is the involvement of the United States in foreign affairs throughout history. We will begin by examining the US involvement in Vietnam as a prime example of US intervention and the widespread controversy that surrounded it. We will then walk through other examples of US involvement, possibly Syria, Guatemala, Iran, Nicaragua, or even Hong Kong. 

 

We will look into the front that the U.S. puts up of wanting to preserve democracy around the world, and dig deeper into the actual motives of economics and imperialism. We will also look into intervention during non-war times, like U.S. involvement in Japan after WWII. We want to see how the history of intervention in foreign affairs, both during the war and non-war periods, is justified and how it connects to current interventions and affairs. 

 

Each of us will focus in on a particular topic of research. Luke will look into the Vietnam war, the incentives behind our involvement, and the era of Cold War interventionism as a whole. Sydney and Alexis will conduct research into various other instances of U.S. involvement in the Cold War and later wars. Alexis will also look into times that the U.S. got involved in foreign affairs during non-War times and analyze the motivations there. Ethan will focus in on the most recent examples of involvement, with the prolonged and highly controversial fighting in the Middle East. 

 

The types of sources we will be looking for are videos depicting fighting in these wars, perhaps with a focus on clips that propagandize and idealize the fighting and compare them to the brutal reality. We will also look for direct quotes or explanations from government officials, or representative propaganda from the time, that explain why we are getting involved. It would also be interesting to look into times when government officials or administrations mistakenly revealed the true and perhaps less idealized motivations of U.S. involvement in foreign affairs. We also could look into public opinion polling or opinions expressed about the involvement in foreign affairs. 

 

Our second choice of public controversy would be the legalization of marijuana. We could research the history of its criminalization and the war on drugs, and also its potential relationship to mass incarceration and the current system of institutional racism. 

 

Another direction we could go in with this topic is to look at this controversy in comparison to the legalization of alcohol and the public opinions and decision making that was involved with the process of making that amendment.

 

The sources we could look for while researching this topic are laws and public statements from government officials from different eras in U.S. history, such as with the prohibition and legalization of alcohol, and later with the criminalization of marijuana or other drugs. 

 

Ideas:

• Legalization of marajuana 
• Should we get involved in international issues 
  • Address positive and negatives
  • When has 

 

Potential Criteria:

• Group buy in
• Interest? Exciting?
• Possibility for a fresh take?
• Manageable scope?
• Promising research avenues
• Promising visuals/artifacts/archives

 

Identify, define, proposal for top 2 controversies

 

Getting involved in international issues

Countries to potentially look at:

 

• Syria

 

• • • We pulled out of Syria at the cost of the Kurds 
    • Interventionism caused this from the start (verify)

 

• Hong kong

 

• • • Maybe an example of how we should have backed them internationally. In that case it could be related to Syria

 

• Vietnam 

 

• • • Introduction, 
    • Biggest Example of Interventionism

 

• Nicaragua

• Guatemala

• Most of Cold War Policies

• Iran

• Middle East

 

• • • Did we create these terrorist groups

 

• Desert Storm 

 

• • How the U.S. was interested in possible strategic reasons over humanitarian 

 

Points to talk about:

• Talk about the front that the US puts up of wanting to preserve democracy around the world, when in reality they are motivated by economic and imperialistic incentives. 
• Start by talking about Vietnam as a well known example of US interventionism, then connect it to Syria as a common thread but a less obvious 
• History repeating itself ****
• How there are instances of interventionism in ways that are not obvious

 

Who is going to do what (tentative):

• Each person will gather two sources
• Middle East, Syria (maybe), Desert Storm: Ethan
• Incentives behind Vietnam and Cold War Interventionism: Luke
• Guatemala, Iran, some Vietnam, containment – Sydney
• Nicaragua, Cuba, Guatemala, and Japan- Alexis 

Plan:

• Focus on a Negative stance
  • How it was an excuse for the U.S. to exact their plans
  • Debunk the reasoning for each military incursion and acts of subterfuge that were for the benefit of the United States