Casablana Conference during World War II

The Casablanca Conference occurred on January 1943 and was the third time President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met during World War II. In November 1942, Allied forces landed in Morocco and Algeria as part of Operation Torch. Overseeing operations against Casablanca, Rear Admiral Henry K. Hewitt and Major General George S. Patton captured the city after a brief campaign which included a naval battle with Vichy French vessels. While Patton remained in Morocco, Allied forces under the direction of Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower pressed east into Tunisia where a stalemate with Axis forces ensued. Casablanca Conference - Planning: Believing that the campaign in North Africa would be quickly concluded, American and British leaders began debating the future strategic course of the war. While the British favored pushing north through Sicily and Italy, their American counterparts desired a direct, cross-Channel attack directly into the heart of Germany. As this issue, as well as several others, including plans for the Pacific, required extensive discussion, it was decided to schedule a conference between Roosevelt, Churchill, and their respective senior leadership under the codename SYMBOL. The two leaders selected Casablanca as the site of the meeting and organization and security for the conference fell to Patton. Choosing the Anfa Hotel to host, Patton moved forward with meeting the logistical needs of the conference. Though Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was invited, he declined to attend due to the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad. Casablanca Conference - The Meetings Begin: The first time an American president had left the country during wartime, Roosevelts trip to Casablanca consisted of a train to Miami, FL then a series of chartered Pan Am flying boat flights that saw him make stops in Trinidad, Brazil, and Gambia before finally arriving at his destination. Departing from Oxford, Churchill, weakly disguised as a Royal Air Force officer, flew from Oxford aboard an unheated bomber. Arriving in Morocco, both leaders were quickly whisked to the Anfa Hotel. The center of a one-mile-square compound that had been built by Patton, the hotel had previously served as housing for the German Armistice Commission. Here, the first meetings of the conference commenced on January 14. The next day, the combined leaderships received a briefing on the campaign in Tunisia from Eisenhower. As talks pushed forward, an agreement was quickly reached on the need to bolster the Soviet Union, focus bombing efforts on Germany, and win the Battle of the Atlantic. The discussions then bogged down when the focus shifted to allocating resources between Europe and the Pacific. While the British favored a defensive stance in the Pacific and a total focus on defeating Germany in 1943, their American counterparts feared allowing Japan time to consolidate their gains. Further disagreement arose in regard to plans for Europe after victory in North Africa. While American leaders were willing to mount an invasion of Sicily, others, such as US Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall desired to know Britains ideas for striking a killer blow against Germany. Casablanca Conference - The Talks Continue: These largely consisted of a thrust through southern Europe into what Churchill termed Germanys soft underbelly. It was felt that an attack against Italy would take Benito Mussolinis government out of the war forcing Germany to shift forces south to meet the Allied threat. This would weaken the Nazi position in France allowing for a cross-Channel invasion at a later date. Though the Americans would have preferred a direct strike into France in 1943, they lacked a defined plan to counter the British proposals and experience in North Africa had shown that additional men and training would be required. As it would be impossible to obtain these quickly, it was determined to pursue the Mediterranean strategy. Before conceding this point, Marshall was able to secure a compromise calling for the Allies to maintain the initiative in the Pacific without undermining efforts to defeat Germany. While the agreement allowed the Americans to continue seeking retribution against Japan, it also showed that they had been badly outmaneuvered by the better-prepared British. Among the other topics of discussion was obtaining a degree of unity between French leaders General Charles de Gaulle and General Henri Giraud. While de Gaulle considered Giraud an Anglo-American puppet, the latter believed the former to be a self-seeking, weak commander. Though both met with Roosevelt, neither impressed the American leader. On January 24, twenty-seven reporters were called to the hotel for an announcement. Surprised to find a large number of senior Allied military leaders there, they were stunned when Roosevelt and Churchill appeared for a press conference. Accompanied by de Gaulle and Giraud, Roosevelt forced the two Frenchmen to shake hands in a show of unity. Casablanca Conference - The Casablanca Declaration: Addressing the reporters, Roosevelt offered vague details about the nature of the conference and stated that the meetings had allowed the British and American staffs to discuss a variety of key issues. Moving forward, he stated that peace can come to the world only by the total elimination of German and Japanese war power. Continuing, Roosevelt declared that this meant the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Though Roosevelt and Churchill had discussed and agreed on the concept of unconditional surrender in the preceding days, the British leader did not expect his counterpart to make such a blunt statement at that time. In concluding his remarks, Roosevelt stressed that unconditional surrender did not mean the destruction of the population of Germany, Italy, or Japan, but it [did] mean the destruction of the philosophies in those countries which [were] based on conquest and subjugation of other people. Though the consequences of Roosevelts statement have been greatl y debated, it was clear that he desired to avoid the vague type of armistice that had ended World War I. Casablanca Conference - Aftermath: Following an excursion to Marrakesh, the two leaders departed for Washington, DC, and London. The meetings at Casablanca saw the mounting of a cross-Channel invasion delayed by a year, and given the Allied troop strength in North Africa, the pursuance of a Mediterranean strategy had a degree of inevitability. While the two sides had formally agreed on the invasion of Sicily, the specifics of future campaigns remained ambiguous. Though many were concerned that the unconditional surrender demand would reduce the Allies latitude to end the war and would increase enemy resistance, it provided a clear statement of war aims which reflected public opinion. Despite the disagreements and debates at Casablanca, the conference did work to establish a degree of kinship between the senior leaders of the American and British militaries. These would prove key as the conflict pushed forward. The Allied leaders, including Stalin, would meet again that November at the Tehran Conference.

To Kill A Mockingbird Perspective Analysis - 755 Words

Throughout the chronicle of history, humans tend to perceive the world from a single vantage point and assume that others share the same perspective. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout, a naive girl, endures the process of maturing, which is accompanied by learning the importance of understanding perspective. Throughout Scout’s journey, she learns about the significance of taking other people’s perspectives into consideration and eventually realizes how understanding different outlooks on a situation can affect the complexity and depth of its overall comprehension. Lee’s novel discusses the value of perspective and reveals how humans often know one side of a story, but must learn the other perspectives of the story to fully†¦show more content†¦Consequently, Scout realizes that â€Å"what Mr. Radley did was his own business†¦ if he wanted to stay inside his own house he had the right to stay inside free from the attentions of inqui sitive children, which was a mild term for the likes of [Jem, Dill, and herself]† (65). Scout proceeds to perceive the situation from Boo Radley’s point of view by wondering how Jem, Dill, and herself â€Å"would like it if Atticus barged in on [them] without knocking, when [they] were in [their] rooms at night† (65). Their reaction to the same situation as Boo Radley is in, but in a different context, would predictably be hostile, therefore they can predict that from his perspective, he would be disgruntled as well. Lee uses this example to demonstrate the importance of how different s change the circumstances of a situation. Additionally, another instance where the novel refers back to the theme of perspective occurs when Scout is standing on Boo Radley’s porch after accompanying him back to his residence. Scout turns to go back home, but the view of the neighborhood that she sees while â€Å"standing on the Radley porch was enough† for Scout to finally see the world from Boo Radley’s perspective, both literally and figuratively, and finally understands what Atticus meantShow MoreRelatedEssay To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination893 Words   |  4 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis of Discrimination The most important theme of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is author Harper Lee’s tenacious exploration of the moral nature of people. Lee tenaciously explores the moral nature of human beings, especially the struggle in every human soul between discrimination and tolerance. The novel is very effective in not only revealing prejudice, but in examining the nature of prejudice, how it works, and its consequencesRead MoreEssay Justice System in To Kill a Mockingbird897 Words   |  4 PagesAlthough the dedication of Mr. Finch in â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird†, even though it turned out against his favor due to an absence of evidence and a debauched court hearing. This court hearing makes readers question whether or not the justice system of that era was fair and in retrospect, a good question is whether or not our justice system today is fair and lawful. If you think that a false conviction was unfair, Tom is eventually killed for his fals e conviction under a faulty justice system. To meRead MoreHarper Lee s Novel Of The Same Title896 Words   |  4 Pageshave been mirrors reflecting upon us what we are, what we would like to be, and how we view ourselves. â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† is in fact a classic film that does just that. Directed by Robert Mulligan, this film was based on Harper Lee’s novel of the same title. The screenplay by Horton Foote, â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird is both a coming of age story of three young children, told from the perspective of Scout as she reflects upon an important court case involving her father when she was only six years ofRead MoreTheme Of To Kill A Mockingbird1699 Words   |  7 Pages The Pureness of Mockingbirds In 1960, Harper Lee published one of the most controversial books of our time. To kill a mockingbird contains three debatable themes; racism, good and evil, and morals. Harper Lee uses three children and rape trial to portray these topics. These themes are present throughout the story of a small Alabama town divided over a rape trial including an African American man and a young white girl. Lee’s novel is still disputed over to this day. One of the book’s centralRead MoreRacism And Critical Disposition Of Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1415 Words   |  6 PagesAn Analysis of Racism and Critical Disposition in Maycomb County Racism was a tremendous issue in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. It was applied throughout the novel and was increasingly used to judge others in Maycomb’s society. Racism was revealed through the novel to characters Jem, Scout, and Dill who were young children that were learning about the good and evil in the small town they lived in. Racism was a constant and significant topic. There were many aspects that contributed to racismRead MoreThe Setting Of Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1354 Words   |  6 PagesLiterary Analysis Name: Amy Lyons Title: To Kill a Mockingbird Author: Harper Lee Setting: The setting of To Kill a Mockingbird is a small town in south Alabama called Maycomb County in the early 1930s. Point of View: Harper Lee s first, only novel is written in first person due to the fact we see the whole story through Scout s perspective. Theme: One of the crucial themes that Lee based the novel on was racism, which was an extremely controversial topic at the time the book was publishedRead MoreJustice In Reginald Roses 12 Angry Men1532 Words   |  7 Pagesdeciding factors in determining what the true meaning of righteousness is for an individual. The perspective of justice a person has however is not the only factor that comes into play, when establishing whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. The play, ‘12 angry men’, written by Reginald Rose, is a drama involved around a jury and a homicide case. In comparison, the movie, ‘To kill a mockingbird’, directed by Robert Mulligan, follows the tale of Atticus Finch, a lawyer, who defends a black manRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird Compassion Analysis600 Words   |  3 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird Compassion Analysis Philosopher Albert Schweitzer explains, â€Å"The purpose of human life is to serve, and show compassion and the will to help others†(BrainyQoute.com) In order to follow the purpose of life you have to teach the purpose of life. Compassion is meant to be shared and spread throughout the whole world. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Atticus takes this moral upon himself, and teaches Jem and Scout about compassion in Maycomb. Throughout the novel To KillRead MoreAnalysis Of Harper Lee s Kill A Mockingbird 1593 Words   |  7 PagesAnalysis of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Major Themes †¢ Standards of behavior †¢ Morals/values †¢ Racism Important Symbols †¢ Mockingbirds (Innocence/ morals and values)– The book depicts mockingbirds as innocent creatures that shouldn’t be harmed since they did nothing to harm others. While practicing with their rifles, Atticus tells Jem and Scout that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. The mockingbirds share a connection with Tom Robinson since they are both innocent and don’t deserve toRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1615 Words   |  7 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird Theme Analysis Essay To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, was published in 1960 and is read by ninth graders all across the country because of its Pulitzer-Prize-winning writing. To Kill a Mockingbird parallels Harper Lee’s life in the sense that like the main character, her father was a lawyer and she had a best friend similar to the one of her main characters. She used this real life experience to tell the fictional story of Scout, a young girl living in the prejudiced

Facebook Social Network or Social Disaster Free Essays

Facebook: Social Network or Social Disaster Your busy day is done. You head home open up your laptop or head over to your desktop and turn it on. After impatiently waiting for everything to load on your computer you open up your web browser. We will write a custom essay sample on Facebook: Social Network or Social Disaster or any similar topic only for you Order Now You go to the top of the page and type in www. face and arrow down in the drop box to http://www. facebook. com/. As the website loads you wait in anticipation. When the blue bar at the top of the page loads you immediately look to the left hand corner of that bar. You glance over the first icon which is a silhouette of two people. Any friend requests? You then skim over to the next icon, a picture of two message bubbles. They remind you of the ones you would see in a cartoon. Any messages? You then proceed to direct your eyes over to the last icon, the world icon. Any Notifications? You click on these icons and with that click you begin a social interaction with someone. For many people, what I described above is an action they do everyday. Over 500 million people worldwide live their lives on Facebook. † (Fletcher and Ford, 32) After reading this quote I asked myself one question, â€Å"Is it the communication aspect of facebook that causes everyone to be addicted to facebook or is there more to this addiction? † I know I go on Facebook almost everyday without fail but why? Do I go on to communicate and use Facebook as a social network or do I go on it mainly to get the dirt on others and what is going on in their lives? I came to the conclusion that Facebook is definitely a good place to keep in communication with people, however, in many ways, Facebook has definitely been misused and become gossip central. When you think about Facebook what is the first thing that comes to your mind? The first thing for me is friends. Right now I have 933 friends on Facebook and friends are a very important part of everyone’s lives. Facebook, like any other social network, gives you the ability to communicate with friends, coworkers, family members, and people from all over the world. You request to be their friend and wait for them to accept that request. There are so many people on Facebook today it would be rare to turn next to the person that sits next to you in math class and for them not to have a Facebook account. It is a very easy way to get in contact with those whom you may not have seen in a while. Old friends that over the years have become acquaintances or even friends that you can’t talk to on a regular basis because they live in a completely different country then you. For many of my high school years I went on missions trips to Mexico to help out at an orphanage down there. I met many different people and as the years went by I looked forward to seeing my long lost friends. Because of Facebook, I no longer have to call them my long lost friends because I can keep in contact with them through Facebook. I think it is great that so many of my friends are on Facebook and this is another way that I can communicate with them. However, one danger of having friends on Facebook is that some of the friends you accept may be quite superficial. Muise, Christofides, Desmarais, 442). I have almost a thousand friends on Facebook do you really think that I am as close to all of them as I am with my best friend? No, that is ridiculous. However, because Facebook is such an open social network and give us many different ways to communicate with others it has a tendency to give us a more open look at life so people tend to share more intimate aspects on life over the ir facebook status’. It has changed our social DNA, and made us more accustom to openness (Fletcher and Ford, 33). When we share these intimate aspects we are not necessarily thinking, â€Å"I hope everyone sees this. † We are just thinking about the friends we usually interact with on facebook, but the problem is anyone that you have accepted as a friend can see that status change. For example, I am friends with my mother on Facebook and when I asked her what her favorite thing about Facebook was she replied, â€Å"My favorite part about Facebook is that I can look on my kids profile and see what they have been up to. I got a similar response from a friend that said she likes Facebook because it keeps her in on the latest gossip. This is why we need to be careful when on facebook. Not everyone’s intent while on Facebook is to enhance communication. Some people use Facebook as their center for gossip and you never know who has this outlook while interacting over Facebook. Facebook offers many different ways to communicate with others. Status updates is just one of the many differen t services facebook offers. Status updates are a nice way to communicate what you are doing from a day to day asis or share short quotes that you found interesting. These status updates definitely help communication between people. Another service Facebook offers to communicate with others is the message service. If you want to have a private conversation with one or more people you can use the message service. This message service is somewhat like an email in the sense that you can send and receive messages that no one but the intended recipient can see. This is helpful if you want to plan a surprise party for some one and only want certain people to know about it. This service is a very good way to have an intimate conversation with others, and I think that it is a very good service. However, many people don’t use the message box as much as they should. This creates problems over Facebook. Another conversation method that is used on facebook is posting on others wall. The only problem with this is that everyone can see your wall. This can create many social mishaps. â€Å"While social networks sites provide the opportunity to reunite with long lost friends, they also allow people to make their information public within their circle of friends. (Muise, Christofides, Desmarais, 442) Anyone that is your friend can look at your wall posts and read into it wrong and start a huge rumor about you that ruins your reputation. It is that easy for a simple post on Facebook to be turned into a rumor and soon enough it will be all over your wall and all your friends will see it, making Facebook a center for gossip. That is why I believe if the wall posting service is used unwisely it can turn Facebook into a social disaster waiting to happen. Facebook makes it easy to see what is going on in everyone lives. It gives you notifications when anyone does something such as post on your wall or make a comment on your status or pictures. On your home page it gives you a play by play of what everyone of your friends are doing over Facebook. It tells you when they are online so if you wanted to have a brief conversation with them you could just click on their picture icon and a little chat box will pop up. Also on the home page all your friend’s status changes will be listed on it and you can freely comment or like them whenever you would like. I think these notifications are very helpful ways to quickly send out a conversation to someone so you can keep up a relationship with someone even when our lives are hectic and we don’t have time to sit down with them for coffee. However, Facebook is very addicting. Tynee Seno from the Philippines quotes, â€Å"On average, I spend about four hours a day on Facebook- more time then I spend outside. † (Facebook and You, 34) From personal experience, I can suspect that Tynee is not just conversing with others over facebook for the whole four hours he is on Facebook everyday. When I spend an overwhelming amount of time on Facebook I’m usually looking for an â€Å"in†. I don’t know how many times I have read something over Facebook and went immediately to my phone to text someone about what I had read over facebook. â€Å"Did you see what she posted on his wall? † And as simple as that, another gossip chain has begun. For many, it is not intentional to start this gossip chain. As humans, we are just very curious beings and sometime I even believe that jealousy can get involved. â€Å"Facebook may expose an individual to potentially jealousy-provoking information. (Muise, Christofides, and Desmarais, 443) Like I said before, we don’t do this on purpose. It is just in our human nature to do this. However, I want to encourage you that next time you read something on Facebook that wasn’t meant for you to read, instead of going and sharing it with the world, try to look past it. Just think how you would feel if you pos ted something without thinking who all would see your post and it ended up getting spread around in a nasty rumor. If we can avoid this we can avoid making Facebook a place where simple socialization can turn into a disaster. So my advice is, next time you sit down at that computer and go straight to Facebook be careful because you wouldn’t want a simple post to be the start of a social disaster. I think that overall Facebook has great potential in helping people communicate with others. It helps me communicate with people from Mexico by allowing me to be friends with whomever I want, as well as helping me keep in touch with people through its different venues for communicating with people. I think that Facebook is a great social network, however, I believe that it can be made into a social disaster if it were to be misused. Works Cited â€Å"Facebook and You. (Cover story). † Time 175. 21 (2010): 34-35. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. Fletcher, Dan, and Andrea Ford. â€Å"Friends Without Borders. (Cover story). † Time 175. 21 . (2010): 32-38. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. Muise, Amy, Emily Christofides, and Serge Desmarais. â€Å"More Information than You Ever Wanted: Does Facebook Bring Out the Green-Eyed Monster of Jealousy?. † CyberPsychology Behavior 12. 4 (2009): 441-444. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 2 Nov. 2010 How to cite Facebook: Social Network or Social Disaster, Papers

Lesson Before Dying By Grant Analysis Essay Example For Students

Lesson Before Dying By Grant Analysis Essay In the novel A Lesson Before Dying, although Grant is an educated black man inthe era of a racist society he has struggles greater than most men of hisdecent. I feel sorry for him because of his limitations, even though I view himas a coward. He cannot break free of his background and family. The three mainfemale characters in the novel, Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Vivian, restrict andlimit Grants choices. Grant realizes that freedom means leaving his small townand creating a new life, yet each woman holds a chain that keeps him from hisdestiny and the right to be free. First, Tante Lou, his aunt holds Grant fromhis dreams by refusing to let him go his own way. Tante Lou wants Grant to stayat home with her and take care of her. But, in the time the novel takes place,it wasnt common for young men stay with their elders and help out, especiallywhen Grant has a college degree and can accomplish so much. Tante Lou tookadvantage of this in any means necessary, using the fact that Grant is f amilyand in essence owes it to her to stay and help out. We can see this on page 14when Tante Lou forces Grant to talk to Mr. Henri about seeing Jefferson. You are going up there with us Grant, or you will not sleep in this housetonight. Tante Lou denies Knodt 2 Grant choices that men his age have. Next, Miss Emma, who doesnt have a family relation to Grant, also restricts hischoices in life. Miss Emma plays an important role in the novel by beingJeffersons godmother, and in a painstaking situation. She asks Grant in a waythat gives him no real choices to teach Jefferson to be a man. Leaning on herability to persuade, and using her power as an extensive friend to Tante Lou shecan basically tell Grant what to do and gets away with it. She knew Grant didnot want to go and teach Jefferson, but still went ahead with it. Drivingalong the St. Charles River I could feel Emma not looking at me, not looking atanything..just thinking. Like my Aunt she knew how much I hated all ofthis.(p.68) Miss Emma therefore forces Grant to do matters that she wants,not what Grant thinks he is capable of doing. Thirdly, Vivian, the love of hislife, is also limiting Grants ability to make decisions based strictly on hisown intent. She understands Grants need to leave and see new things, but hasrestricti ons in her life that will not allow her to help Grant begin a newexistence. Vivian is in the middle of a drawn out divorce and needs to see itthrough so she can maintain custody of her children. We see an example of thison page 93. Lets go somewhere and spend the night. Baton Rouge, NewOrleans- anywhere, Grant asks. I cant, My Babies. This sentence alonedescribes the turmoil she is going through with her own threatening aspects andhow it effects Grants choices. I think the book is an intriguing novel andsurfaced important issues dealt with in society. Religion, racism, and manyother articles of today are just a few. But, Grant is a complex character andcan be depicted thoroughly. His education holds him to a new Knodt3 standard notexpected of people back then, but withholds him from reaching his dreams. Hecannot find what he is looking for in this small town that A Lesson Before Dyingtakes place in. I feel sorry for him until Jefferson teaches him other factorsinvolved to being a re al and distinct kind of man. He evolves dramatically. But,his need to be free is still restrained by Tante Lou, Miss Emma, and Vivian indifferent, yet important ways.