Tear Down This Wall Speech

I'm listen to an English audiobook about American history lecture. One of the topics today was the Cold War. In the lecture, I could hear a famous President Reagan's Brandenburg Gate speech. I used to listen the speech many times. I even read aloud again and again. I really like the famous "Tear down this wall" address. 

And I realized that the audiobook was left only 30 minutes now. It has 24 hours long lectures. I finally came here. I'll finish if tomorrow. I have to search next audiobook later. 

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The Invention of Television

Today's American history was about television. Television has changed the world. In 1940s, TV broadcast started in the US. It became popular rapidly, and influenced the world. 

If television wasn't invented, JFK wouldn't be the president of the United States, the Vietnam war would last longer. 

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American History

I'm listening to an American history lecture with Audible app. The era was FDR and Great Depression. 

The US GDP dropped two thirds. F. D. Roosvelt became the president of the United States and he worked hard especially the first 100 days. 

The next topic was The Manhattan Project. Einstein's letter was the starter. 

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Industrial Revolution in America

I'm listening to American history lectures in English with Audible. Industrial revolution was a theme today. The lecture showed how American industrial Revolution started and spread across the nation. The starter was textile industry. 

Another topic was Marbury v. Madison case in 1803. The judge was the most important case in the United States Spreme Coart. But I couldn't understand why it was so important. I read the Wikipedia, but it was so difficult to understand for me. Somehow, I really enjoyed these lectures.

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Mr Obama in Hiroshima

The President of the United States Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima. 71 years ago, the United States used the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and killed at least 140,000 innocent people there. 

Mr Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum only ten minutes and laid a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park. 

After made his address, he spoke to two survivors and hugging them. I was moved their hugging. That was a historical moment.

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Gun Control in the U.S.

Guns take lives. In the US, deaths by guns are common. The victims are not only adults but also toddlers. Last year, at least 30 people killed in accidental shootings in which the shooter was 5 or younger, according to a gun control advocacy group. 

Only Massachusetts has the law that gun owners have to store their guns in a locked place. But even the law cannot prevent youngsters there from accidentally killing themselves or others. 

The government should control severely the use of guns to prevent tragedies even gun rights groups opporse it. 

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2016 Election

While Donald Trump likely to be the Republican party's presidencial candidate, former American president George W. Bush, Massachusettes governor Mitte Romney and other main republican politicians will not appear at the party's convention. What would happen then?

I read some articles about the presidential election, they said that Mr. Trump will probably lose the general election. But nobody knows the closing. An odds‐on favorite often lost the election in the US history. 

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The 2016 Presidential Campaign

The 2016 Presidential campaign is going on in the United States. American Presidents have been chosen by votes every four years since 1789. There is no exception even in war time. And there is no dictator appeared in its long democratic history. I really admire the facts. 

Donald Trump is stirring the Republican presidential campaign and he might be selected for running candidate in recent views. His policies are somehow controversial, but still he has the chance to become the President of the United States. American citizens have the right to select their next leader. 

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Harper Lee Passed Away

Harper Lee wrote a remarkable debut novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird," in 1960. The story was about justice and race. The novel become an American Classic and many high schools took the story as their text book. She died of age at 89 on Friday. 

To tell the truth, I didn't care much about the novel. I happened to see some tweets this week and I got interested in the story. I downloaded the title from kindle and started to read it. And the news came. 

I think many people might read the novel for the first time like me or again after knowing the news all over the world. Stories have such a power. 

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Murakami Becomes Popular in the World

Haruki Murakami is the most successful writer overseas. No one can deny it. I thought he was not involved in the success directly, but I was wrong. As he described that in his new book, he tried to do so as much as he could. 

When he was around 40 years old, he decided to sell his books in the United States. He moved to the US and looked for his agent and publisher all by himself. They treated Murakami as an American writer. That was because Murakami himself ordered translation and checked it and then brought it to the agent and publisher. That meant they got Murakami's novels in English first. 

After twenty years efforts, some of his books often became the No. 1 selling book in America and other countries. 

An American magazine New Yorker gave him more credit on his works. They picked up Murakami's stories in the magazine 25 times in 25 years. 

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Lincoln's Presidency

I've been listening to a radio program "The Making of a Nation" on VOA. The program is broadcasting from Monday to Friday. I've already listened the American history two times and this is the third time for me. 

In the show, Abraham Lincoln become the 16the American President. That was the most difficult time for American history. The nation was about to divided into two countries. The conflict between the North and the South on slavery issue was so deep. 

Off course, I already know the history, but I'm excited to listen to that era every time.  

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Russia Launches Cruise Missiles

Russia launched cruise missiles to Syria. The missiles were shot off from the Caspian Sea. That means the missiles flew over Iran and Iraq.  

The United States claimed that some of the missiles crashed in Iran, but Russia and Iran denied it. 

According to some articles, it is the first time Russia has used cruise missiles in combat. It seems that Russia wanted to show off their military equipments. 

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Syrian Civil War

The United States and Russia have criticized each other on the issue of Russia's air attacks on Syria. Russia helps Assad regime, but America and allies want to help anti government groups. 

In the Arab Spring movements, militaries helped anti government side, but Syria's military has been supporting Assad regime. That's a big difference. To make things worse, even though there are lots of conflicts there, anti government side has ISIS. More over, secretary Ban lead the UN doesn't work well like other problems. Meanwhile, many citizens have been escaping from Syria as refugees. 

This is the problem of Syrian people, but unless The U.S. and Russia reach an agreement on the issue, this civil war will never end. That's so sad. 

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Mass Shooting

A gunman killed nine people and wounded seven at a college in Oregon, the U.S.  This kind of mass shootings at school happen so many times in the country. 

I think that the law of ban on gun ownership is needed. Otherwise, mass shootings tragedy will occur again and again in the U.S. That would be difficult to realize, though. 

A reporter said in a news show on VOA radio that if gun possession would be banned in the U.S., there would be another civil war in the country. Around 2 million people have been killed in genocides by governments all over the world and American people afraid of that, he said. I'm not sure his opinion is the majority in America, but he said that firmly. 

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A Duel

I've been listening to a VOA radio program from Monday to Friday called The Making of a Nation. The program describes the history of the United States. The topic yesterday was about Alexander Hamilton. He was a Founding Fathers of the United States. 

He supported George Washington during the War of Independence, played important role for making the U.S. Construction, established the national bank and did many things for the United States of America. 

The last part of yesterday's show was about his death. I was shocked by his last because he died in a duel with his political enemy, Aaron Burr. Were duels common at the time? How come they were not debating to the last but fighting with a duel?

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Gun Violence

A TV reporter and a cameraman were killed by former their coworker during live broadcasting. About 10,000 people have been killed by gun every year in America. How come they can't ban on guns in the United States? 

The number of the gun murders vary from state to state in America. In California, 866 people were killed by gun, but in Hawaii no one was killed in 2011. I'm not sure what is the difference between the two states, but I hope they can reduce gun tragedies in America. 

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Making a Constitution

In 1787, American early leaders met in Philadelphia to write a new Constitution. Some leaders wanted a strong central government and others did not. The making of American constitution needed a long time discussions. Somehow they could make a completely new constitution. I really admire their efforts to make the new constitution, but except a matter, slavery. 

In Japan, we could not make our own constitution after World War 2, and now there are some problems in it. I think we have to make a new constitution someday. 

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U.S. Decision on the First Atomic Bomb

A Japanese BBC reporter made a tweet about American nuclear bombing during World War 2. She said American government believed if the United States failed to attack Germany with an atomic bomb, German scientists would make the same weapon with studying the debris of the bomb, but Japanese specialists could not do that. She said that was the official reason for they made Japan the first target of the nuclear bomb. The reporter showed on Twitter the documents written the government's discussion above. 

She tweeted her opinion that that was a skeptical reason for the attack and the real reason was hidden behind the remarks, but I strongly feel the remarks came from their racism. German people were intelligent and Japanese were not. Am I wrong?

In addition, they knew that Tokyo was about to surrender and did not have enough power to revenge on the bombing at that time. 

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President Wilson and the League of Nations

After World War 1 ended, the League of Nations was established. The establishment of the league was an idea from American president Woodrow Wilson. Unfortunately, the United States failed to join the establishment. That was because the conflicts between the president and the Senate in the United States. The president couldn't win Senate approval. The Senate wanted to keep Monroe Doctrine, which means mutual nonintervention between the American Continent and the European Continent. 

Ironically, in 1919, Mr. Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize due to his effort for making of the League of Nations.

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Columbus Era

A VOA radio program The Making of a Nation has restarted today. Christopher Columbus was the starter of the program. 

Spain's Queen and King provided ships, crews and equipment for an Italian seaman, Christopher Columbus. He found the shortest way to American continent. He believed there was a part of India. He never knew that it was really a new world. 

He returned to Spain with gold, plants, animals and even natives. Later voyage, he carried back natives to be sold as slaves. They didn't think the natives, they called Indians, as the same human beings then. 

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