The objective of this discussion is for students to apply critical thinking skills and research skills to analyze the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. In the process, students will learn about the US role in the World Trade Organization and the In

Order Description
Module 4 Discussion
The objective of this discussion is for students to apply critical thinking skills and research skills to analyze the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. In the process, students will learn about the US role in the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, and the subjective nature of history.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is not a history book. It is a provocative account of one man?s experience working as a chief economist for a company that provided data for international projects. This discussion centers around this book and includes two tasks.

Your first task is to discuss and evaluate the veracity of one event in this book. You cannot verify every scenario or event Perkins describes, so choose one broad scenario or event he describes (for example, the negotiations between the US State Department and Saudi Arabia about oil concessions, the involvement of the WTO in the development of electrical infrastructure in Indonesia, the role of oil companies in the Amazon, the relationship between the Summer Institute of Linguistics and the presence of oil companies in Ecuador, the US involvement in the 1953 coup in Iran, or the motives for the US invasion of Panama in 1989). Research this event as thoroughly as possible in order to assess how Perkins portrays it versus the ?real? history, and offer an opinion about how accurately Perkins describes this event. Please cite all sources of information that you use.Please use the Davis Book chapter 10 and the Perkins book as two of your references: The United States in World History by Edward J. Davies II (NY: Taylor & Francis, 2006)Chapter 10
Bananas: How United Fruit Shaped the World by Peter Chapman (any edition)
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkin (any edition)
All the Shah’s Men by Stephen Kinzer
Module Overview Topic Overview President Harry Truman, center, talks with Soviet leader Josef Stalin,left, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin, on July 17,1945. Historians declare the conference was the start of the Cold War, the division of Germany and Europe into opposing camps. Hiroshima became an A-bomb target while the conference was under way. The nuclear arms race probably began forming in the minds of Soviet leaders while they were there. (AP Photo/files,) President Harry Truman, center, talks with Soviet leader Josef Stalin,left, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin, on July 17,1945. Historians declare the conference was the start of the Cold War, the division of Germany and Europe into opposing camps. Hiroshima became an A-bomb target while the conference was under way. The nuclear arms race probably began forming in the minds of Soviet leaders while they were there. (AP Photo/files,) This module introduces students to several of the ways the US gained and maintained status as a Superpower after WWII. Module Objectives This module asks students to review the information and concepts in the course thus far and begin to make connections between history and the current status of the US as a global power. By the end of the module, students should begin to understand a broad overview of the consequences of American history, including post-WWII tactics to contain communism and use the CIA to manage governments in other nations in order to promote conditions favorable to the US. Readings/Preparation Please read chapter 10 and the Conclusion in the Davies book and the online content in the module. Read all of the Perkins book. Learning Activities You will participate in a discussion investigating and analyzing historical threads introduced in this course. Your participation in the discussion is an opportunity to demonstrate your familiarity with the readings, what you have learned about US history, and your ability to comprehend, analyze and evaluate sources of historical information. You will also submit a written assignment based on Perkins book. Discussions The discussion in this module asks you to review the course material, investigate history on your own and propose ideas about how the past has effected the global status of the US today.

World War II The battleship USS Arizona begins to sink into the sea after being hit by a bomb during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The majority of the crew members aboard, over 1100 men, lost their lives as the ship sank in less than ten minutes. (AP Photo) The battleship USS Arizona begins to sink into the sea after being hit by a bomb during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941. The majority of the crew members aboard, over 1100 men, lost their lives as the ship sank in less than ten minutes. (AP Photo) In the previous module, we learned a bit about the causes of the Depression and the responses of Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt. Although New Deal programs helped relieve suffering, the economy did not recover until World War II began and the US began making weapons to sell to European powers to help defeat Germany. War industries like shipbuilding and munitions meant coal mines, iron mines, steel plants, ship building plants, munitions plants and other war industries shifted into high gear. Jobs were plentiful, especially when the US sent Americans into the war after Pearl Harbor was bombed (in 1941). So many men went off to fight that many women and minorities who were usually denied jobs, were recruited by the war industries. The war finally ended when the US dropped a new weapon on Japan in 1945. The atomic bomb was the most powerful weapon ever developed and killed hundreds of thousands of people when it was dropped on Japan. President Truman insisted the atomic bomb ended the war and saved American lives. Please watch this video of an atomic test in Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. This video can give you some idea of the force of the atomic bomb. When the war ended, once again the US was in a much better position economically than any of the European nations. Further, at the time, it was the only nation that had the atomic bomb. The US had become a Superpower. When the USSR exploded an atomic bomb a few year later, it too became a Superpower. The US, fearful of the spread of communism and facing one other Superpower, became embroiled in a Cold War (a psychological conflict for power rather than a military conflict) with the USSR. The Truman Doctrine of 1947 declared that the US would support any nation threatened by communism to help stop the spread of communism. The Truman Doctrine – like the Monroe Doctrine, the Roosevelt Corollary and the Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan – positioned the US as a leading world power. Further, the US offered economic aid to European countries devastated by the war with the Marshall plan. The Marshall Plan pledged a great deal of money to help Europe rebuild. In chapter 10, Davies describes the Marshall Plan in greater detail in order to describe the advantages it gained for the US. Chapter 10 also outlines many of the ways the US gained global power after WWII via cultural dominance, technological superiority, and trade agreements.
The Cold War Case Study: Vietnam, A Crucial War Vietnam Timeline Ho Chi Minh, founder and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), Communist North, is shown in the 1950s. Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France during the First Indochina War, 1946-1954. (AP Photo) Ho Chi Minh, founder and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), Communist North, is shown in the 1950s. Ho Chi Minh led the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France during the First Indochina War, 1946-1954. (AP Photo) In the 1950s Vietnam, which had been under French control, was struggling to determine its own future. Most Vietnamese wanted their nation to be self-ruled. Some, led by Ho Chi Minh, wanted a communist form of government. They were popular in the northern part of the country and formed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north. The south formed the Republic of Vietnam. As part of the Cold War, the US sent advisors to south Vietnam (The Republic of Vietnam) to fend off the communist forces from the north and the Vietcong (communist supporters in the south). The US was wary that Vietnam was being influenced by the USSR and China. President Eisenhower sent US advisors to Vietnam as early as 1953 to train South Vietnamese troops. By 1963, 16,000 US advisors were in Vietnam. In 1963, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President John F. Kennedy tried to end US involvement in Vietnam by bringing those advisors back home. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson received a report that a US navy ship off the coast of Vietnam had been attacked while in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although the report later turned out to be a vague report of an incident that was not an attack, Johnson asked Congress for the power to send troops to Vietnam. Based on the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Congress almost unanimously said yes. Johnson sent a small number of troops to Vietnam, who were then attacked. This began US military involvement in Vietnam. Because only Congress can officially declare war, Vietnam is often called a “conflict” – it was never officially declared a war. The conflict was the longest in US history (9 years) and cost many lives. It was also the first war in which television played a role. War photographers have captured war images as far back as the Civil War, but TV enabled the public to get news much more quickly and with vivid visual detail. The US was determined to prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country. The first tactic of the US was bombing. The second was committing ground troops, which began in 1965. It was difficult for General Westmoreland, who was the general in charge, to develop successful tactics as the terrain was jungle and the Vietcong fought using guerilla warfare techniques. One tactic Westmoreland developed was “search and destroy” – destroying whole villages in order to prevent villagers from hiding Vietcong fighters whom they supported. The Vietnam conflict became more and more controversial as more and more Americans died in what seemed to be an unwinnable conflict. On January 31, 1968, the Vietcong staged an amazing feat of coordination on the Vietnamese new year holiday Tet. The “Tet Offensive” was an attack on several US military bases. The US had more sophisticated weapons and defeated the Vietcong. Still, the north Vietnamese refused to give up. After Tet, more Americans began to doubt the government and media reports that the US was winning the conflict. Anti-war feeling began to grow stronger. A Veteran Speaks?Against the War is a “primary source” document produced during the Vietnam War which can be analyzed to learn how some people at the time were reacting to the war. The documentary Fog of War, which is a film of interviews with Robert McNamara (Secretary of Defense 1961-68), is a very interesting look at his retrospective views of US involvement in Vietnam and working with Kennedy and Johnson. By the time Nixon became President of the US, the antiwar movement was visible in the media. The war became even more unpopular when the public learned that Nixon had authorized secret bombing of Cambodia. The Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia was an important supply line for the north Vietnamese, but the US had no authorization to bomb in Cambodia. Nixon told the public he was trying to bring US troops home, while escalating the conflict. The Watergate Scandal caused Nixon to resign in 1972, but before he did, he claimed “victory with honor” in Vietnam. The US withdrew all troops in 1973. After a fierce Civil War, North and South Vietnam reunited to become a communist country in 1975. It remains a communist country today. The brutality of the war in Vietnam – and the images of that brutality in the media, the deception of the government in depicting the progress of the war, the draft and the length of the war all contributed to a visible antiwar movement. It was one part of a 1960s counterculture that provoked cultural and social change in the US, including questioning the decisions of the government in ways that had never before manifest on a large scale in the US. Optional Resources: The Cold War There are some web sites that offer more insight into the Cold War mentality: Duck and Cover Cinema of the time also reflected the influence of the Cold War: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (a satiric feature film that offers a darkly humorous critique of the madness of the hostility between the US and the USSR) The Blob (illustrating McCarthyism with science fiction)

Brief Overview & Videos: “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” John Perkins, author of ?Confessions of an Economic Hit Man,” worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (Less Developed Countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other US engineering and construction companies. His book is a retrospective overview of his involvement (which he emphatically regrets) in a little-known aspect of US foreign relations that has had dire consequences on both the countries who received these loans as well as the U.S. Videos of Author John Perkins TalkingStickTV – John Perkins – Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – Part I/3 (53:35) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – Part 2/3 (30:30) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – Part 3/3 (16:20) Additional Information About John Perkins “John Perkins: Biography.” NOW on PBS, March 04, 2005. Landon, Thomas. ?Confessing to the Converted.? The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2006. (an account of a presentation by John Perkins at the Transitions Bookstore in Chicago)
Module 4 Online Resources The following are some quality web-based resources that you may be interested in viewing and incorporating into your written assignments or the discussion area. (Remember to cite any materials you use.) Websites More insight into the Cold War mentality: Duck and Cover Videos Video of Atomic Test Red Nightmare The Fog of War, documentary film featuring a series of interviews with Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defense 1961-68, under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson Articles A view of Vietnam from a veteran of the conflict in 1971: A Veteran Speaks?Against the War