Spring Break Assignment #2

[Matthew R. Giorgio]

Thanks to the few people who turned in their assignment on time.
Please read all of Chapters 35 and 36 excluding the following
sections:

35
FEEL FREE TO SKIP
-America Dooms Loyalist Spain
36
FEEL FREE TO SKIP
-Rising Sun in the Pacific
-A second front from

And respond to the following post before start of class Monday
morning:

Would you consider the decisions and actions of President Roosevelt
within his Executive powers as a war-time president or do you feel he
overstepped his limited powers as president? Use evidence and Analysis
to defend your opinion.

[Roxanna Mendoza]

How much evidence would you like? is one well written example good enough? 

[Roxanna]

President Roosevelt’s actions in his 4 terms were within his powers as
a war-time president because the constitution grants special powers to
the president in times of war such as the right to violate people’s
rights when the general welfare of the people is in danger. After the
attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a real fear and danger that some of
the Japanese people in the US could have been spies for Japan, and to
calm the people and protect them, Roosevelt relocated 110,000 Japanese
to concentration camps on the pacific coast. This action was proven
constitutional in the Supreme Court decision Korematsu vs. US. Two
thirds of those Japanese were citizens and had proven their loyalty,
but the president needed to consider the nation as a whole. His job is
to maintain the peace in the nation, and after the tragic event in
Pearl Harbor, US citizens were angry and lusting for revenge. Mothers,
fathers, sons, daughters- many lives were lost that day, and reason
would not calm them. If the president did not find a way to satisfy
the masses, then there could, and most likely have been, riots and
violence; if the president did not deal with the Japanese, the people
would.  To prevent riots and public violence, to secure the safety of
the nation, and to do whatever necessary to obtain victory in the war,
the president relocated the 110,000 Japanese people- never
overstepping his power.

[Bobby Dillingham]

President Roosevelt enacted policies that showed that he was a war-time president desperately needed due to his experience. Actions such as the Smith- Connally Anti-Strike Act, which allowed the federal government to seize and run industries plagued with strike, demonstrate that Roosevelt was committed to the war effort because the act demonstrates how vital the businesses were in the war effort. One strike would be enough to give others the idea of striking, and to protect the war effort from stagnation, the Congress under Roosevelt's influence, was frightened and therefore passed the act as a preventative measure. Also, the agreement with Mexico in 1942 to bring in agricultural workers to harvest the crops in the West also illustrates how Roosevelt can be deemed as a war-time executive because it shows the commitment of the government to the war effort, by being used in the production of crops to feed soldiers, which is also justified by the fact that Congress had already declared war on December 11, 1941 and there was an urgency to meet war demands.