When our forefathers drew up the constitution, their main aim was to create a government "of the people, for the people, and by the people." However as our country developed, the government strived to control more aspects of its governing body. President Eisenhower warned Americans against the growing Military Industrial Complex in the 1950's, and his premonition proved to be accurate. In the movie JFK, the director Oliver Stone suggests the government was dictating the fate of the world without our consent. It suggests eight possible

The American public was not too pleased with their involvement in Vietnam. Why should we fight a war for another country, we have our own problems in our country to take care of? And is it really worth all those American lives just to preserve democracy in the Free World? No it's not and so the public demonstrated their disapproval of the participation of the Vietnam War by protesting. Their utilization of the right to speak free freely was what people exercised but the government thought differently of this entitlement.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."(Declaration of Independence)

The 1961 Freedom Rides on public buses tested compliance with court orders to desegregate interstate transportation terminals. The trips enabled students from both the South and the North to protest away from campus and to form a tightly knit community of activists. National civil rights leaders launched these efforts to involve poor blacks and other blacks who had been uninvolved until then. The movements included door-to-door voter education projects in rural Mississippi, "The Birmingham Campaign" to desegregate public accommodations in the city, and "Freedom Summer," to try to unseat the regular delegation at the 1964 Democratic Convention and to publicize the disenfranchisement of southern blacks. Finally, Blacks would secure their god-given rights as American Citizens.

A few weeks after becoming the president of the United States, the CIA visited with Kennedy. They came to inform the president that they have developed a plan to take over Cuba. The reasons for their desired takeover of Cuba was because of the growing support that Cuba was receiving from America's arch enemy USSR and Castro's takeover of all the remaining American businesses in Cuba. The CIA had told Kennedy that the Cubans are ready to overthrow Castro and all they need is a little spark to ignite them. All we need to do is send Cubans into Cuba and declare themselves the true Cuba is what was told to him. The United States will recognize this declaration and then we have one the first battle of the Cold War. But all went wrong for in April 1961, Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs but the promised direct U.S. military action to ensure the success of the invasion was non-existent. Castro's forces crushed the invasion and captured most of the exiles. According to the historian John A. Garraty, "The Bay of Pigs dealt a terrible blow to the prestige of the United States and to Kennedy in particular. Was the youthful new president a reckless adventurer? Could he stand up to his clever communist opponents? Citizens who had voted for Kennedy because they did not trust Nixon were especially shocked by the mission's secrecy. Everyone was shocked by its failure."

Thomas Jefferson's stirring words, written in 1776 in our Declaration of Independence, defined the promise of America--freedom and equality for all. The words rang hollow, however, for the millions of African Americans held in slavery prior to the Civil War, and later denied political, economic, educational, and social equality by unjust laws and social customs. In 1960, the Civil Rights Movement began to put an end to these inequalities. Student-organized sit-ins like the February 1960 protest at Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, offered young men and women with no special skills or resources an opportunity to display their discontent and raise white awareness. Protestors were encouraged to dress up, sit quietly, and occupy every other stool so potential white sympathizers could join in. The success of the Greensboro sit-in led to a rash of student campaigns all across the South. By the end of 1960 the sit-ins had spread to every southern and border state. Demonstrators focused not only on lunch co

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Approximate Word count = 4248
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)