The United States of America is a nation-state stretching across North America between Canada and Mexico, plus Alaska in the continent's northwest, the mid-Pacific archipelago of Hawaii and several territories in the Pacific & Caribbean. Founded by European émigrés rebelling from British control in ...
3
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0answers
89 views
In “The Hills Beyond”, is there a black-invisibilty factor?
In 'The Hills Beyond' T. Wolfe, a native of Asheville, suggest that in many mountain counties of the Appalachia people had not owned slaves and that blacks were unknown before the civil war.
Is the ...
5
votes
3answers
178 views
What does “Brown-Bread Eater” mean when used as an insult?
The American Pageant (Bailey, Kennedy, Cohen, 2006) on p. 507 remarks:
...regular Republicans denounced Greeley as an atheist, a communist, a free-lover, a vegetarian, a brown-bread eater...
...
6
votes
1answer
101 views
Do photos of Wernher von Braun and Neil Armstrong exist? Have they ever met?
A quick google search for the term "Korolev and Gagarin" reveals many photos of the two together - surprisingly, as Korolev's identity was kept strictly secret up to his death.
When searching for ...
-3
votes
1answer
218 views
What is the historicity of the film “Revolution.com - USA: The Conquest of the East”? [closed]
This is a Russian version of a French film from mid-2000s "Revolution.com"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3QxDgft148
French version: ...
0
votes
0answers
29 views
A memorial Georgia (U.S.) plaque
This memorial plaque lists the numbers of Georgians who served in various wars and details the casualties. What I find odd is that for WWI, Korea, Vietnam, and Gulf round numbers are given for the ...
3
votes
1answer
51 views
Pre-1901/1902 US Presidential Protection
I've spent a little while looking around online about the origins of US Presidential protection - while it has become apparent that the US Secret Service became officially responsible for Presidential ...
3
votes
3answers
297 views
What made Washington DC “dominate” politics in the USA?
Through history what role did Washington, DC play to become important and influence the US political system, and did it change its influence with time?
-1
votes
2answers
64 views
Why didn't World-Community take no step to remove Mubutu or Robert Mugabe from office? [closed]
In the past we saw active role was played to remove Allende, and tried its best to remove Castro also.
We also know about Saddam Hussain and Muammar Gaddafi and now Bashar-Al-Asad.
And, no role is ...
9
votes
1answer
116 views
How tall was George Washington?
I am currently reading George Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, which says George Washington was an even 6 feet (183cm) tall:
It is commonly said that Washington stood six foot two or three, an ...
2
votes
0answers
51 views
Death of a Jane or John doe
I enjoy watching cop dramas and in The Closer (Season 1, Episode 12), a criminal might be exonerated because authorities mis-identified the body of a victim. In American legal history has anyone been ...
9
votes
1answer
188 views
Did America ignore British patents during Industrialization
I remember reading a Noam Chomsky book where he stated that America simply stole British patented ideas, claiming that British laws did not apply to her. Chomsky's argument was that America is ...
-1
votes
2answers
134 views
Why does the UK buy some of its major military hardware from the USA while France is self-reliant?
UK:
Trident missile.
M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System.
AgustaWestland Apache
Boeing E-3 Sentry.
Raytheon Sentinel
some other examples
In contrast, France isn't nearly as reliant on USA. Why did ...
0
votes
1answer
178 views
What was the social context which inspired M.M.Murphey to write a country western song about Geronimo's Cadillac?
Michael Martin Murphey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Martin_Murphy was an acclaimed musician from the state of Texas best known for his western songs. Most of them were about cowboys, nature, ...
2
votes
2answers
113 views
Why didn't America finish Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War?
I have read To Die in Babylon by Harold Livingstone and it shows how powerful USA is, but some parts are not clear to me. Saddam thought Iraq is prepared for the Americans and it turns out not. At the ...
3
votes
4answers
755 views
What is the oldest movie theater in the US that has been in continuous use as a movie theater?
It appears from Wikipedia that the oldest theater in continuous use is in Denmark, but since so much of the film industry is dominated by Hollywood, I was wondering what is the oldest movie theater in ...
1
vote
1answer
118 views
In U.S. military forces, did black soldiers suffer a heavy racial segregation during World War II?
Source: BBC
In his book, Mr Hitchcock raises another issue that rarely features in
euphoric folk-memories of liberation: Allied looting, and worse.
"The theft and looting of Normandy ...
5
votes
1answer
89 views
Is one of the causes behind the cultural atmosphere surrounding the Scopes trial, and the concepts about family, “children are the future”?
To start, I noticed that during the peak of the American eugenics movement (1920-1929) that anti-evolutionary bills and eugenical bills were being passed in the same 37 states (well, just about), ...
12
votes
1answer
269 views
Did the United States have a third atomic bomb to drop on Japan?
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the United States, signing the instrument of surrender on 2 September, officially ending the war.
The question ...
10
votes
1answer
5k views
When did the American War of 1812 actually end?
My daughter was recently studying this in high school, and somehow I had always assumed that it had only lasted a year. Apparently it ran on for at least a couple of years, but her textbook only ...
2
votes
1answer
39 views
The Constitution of the United States: Background material for the original, esp. the Bill of Rights?
During the work and debate around the Constitution of the United States; where there much background-material like surveys, notes and minutes (from debates)? How much of such material have survived? ...
4
votes
1answer
43 views
Did the American Founders Debate on the Relative Size of the Government?
It seems to me that the concern with the size of government, specifically that it's too large and therefore complex, is a relatively modern concern in American politics. I would assume that given the ...
14
votes
2answers
648 views
Why didn't the US choose to demolish Tokyo with an atom bomb?
Tokyo was Japan's capital. Why didn't the US choose Tokyo to demolish with Atom Bomb?
Bonus Question: What factors decided to bring Hiroshima and Nagasaki on table?
8
votes
3answers
910 views
What was President Jimmy Carter's role in the Iranian Revolution?
Iran was a friend to the USA until Carter traveled to Iran and immediately afterwards Iran faced revolution. Khomeini went to Iran from France.
On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of young Islamic ...
4
votes
2answers
201 views
U.S. Marine Corps and Why does the Navy’s army need its own air force?
A recent interview by C-SPAN host Brian Lamb with Washington Post staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran touched on many controversial issues of the F-35 acquisition program where evidently a lot of pork ...
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votes
1answer
54 views
Why the resurgence of Islamic powers in the middle east in the past three decades? [closed]
Why has Islam made such a resurgence in the Middle East?
Why did it began with Iran? (while Islam originally came from Saudi Arabia)
Is there any relation between US President Carter's open political ...
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votes
1answer
68 views
Why has the United States not attacked Iran in the past thirty years? [closed]
Why didn't the United States of America even try to attack Iran to change it's Islamic regime through a lightning war like Iraq war in past three decades?
According to my own opinion the Islamic ...
-1
votes
0answers
80 views
Why did the United States attack Iraq and Afghanistan, but not Iran? [closed]
Why did the U.S choose to attack Iraq and Afghanistan?
It seems to me that the threat of a nuclear Iran was more serious and Iran was a more serious enemy to U.S. Now U.S is not able to attack Iran ...
6
votes
4answers
23k views
If Bill Clinton was impeached, why did he finish up his second term
I don't understand how he could have been impeached but did not have to leave office.
3
votes
0answers
53 views
How many firearms were owned by civilian population between 1836 and 1912 in USA?
How many firearms in total were owned by civilian population between 1836 and 1912 in USA (cumulatively, not simultaneously)?
The timeframe is what I would consider "Old West" timeframe, but starting ...
5
votes
1answer
98 views
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights at the time when the blacks finally got the equality of rights (which I think was in 1964).
...
26
votes
7answers
2k views
Why did Hitler declare war on the USA?
Since there had not been any offensives launched by either side against the other, why declare war just because Japan had attacked the USA?
-4
votes
3answers
91 views
Why didn't United States replace Mohamad Rezā Shāh with another king during the 1979 revolution?
During World War 2 Rezā Shāh was forced to abdicate in favor of his son.
This way, why during Iran's revolution the Carter's administration had arranged for the shah to leave Iran? Why didn't they ...
1
vote
1answer
126 views
How many non-partisan (independent) legislature members were in the USA compared to the USSR?
How many legislature members there were who were not members of any party in the USA compared to the USSR during the Cold War and now?
10
votes
1answer
78 views
Why did Stephen Ambrose believe that the election of Aaron Burr would have led to the end of the USA?
I'm reading Stephen E. Ambrose's "Undaunted Courage", and in pg. 50, he writes:
On December 5, 1800, Lewis was promoted to captain. That month the states selected their delegates to the Electoral ...
3
votes
0answers
66 views
What was done to prevent electoral fraud in Texas following the controversial 1948 election?
In his second attempt at the Senate in 1948, Lyndon Johnson narrowly defeated Coke Stevenson in the Democratic primary when a box with 202 votes, largely in favour of LBJ, was found late in the ...
4
votes
2answers
77 views
Did the break up of AT & T in 1984 lead to technological innovation?
Are there examples of technologies developed since 1984 that would not have been likely to be developed had the Bell system stayed intact rather than being broken up by the US government?
UPDT: To ...
3
votes
4answers
317 views
Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with US aside from US owning Philippines?
Right after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the US acquired the Philippines from Spain. At that time, local leaders desired Philippines independence. The Philippines-American War was fought around ...
8
votes
2answers
334 views
Did the Olympics make the Star Spangled Banner the US national anthem?
A long, long time ago, I remember watching a TV miniseries about the first Olympics of the modern era in 1896.
One of the amusing substories I remember involved the USA's National Anthem and the ...
6
votes
1answer
176 views
Why was cricket's popularity in USA a casualty of Civil War?
"Cricket was by far the biggest sport [in the USA] in this period," Tim Lockley, an expert in American history at Warwick University, told the Guardian in 1999. "Then the civil war started in 1861, ...
7
votes
1answer
109 views
What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
It is my understanding that the Soviet Union supported governments in Syria during the cold-war primarily as a counter-balance to American influence over regional powers particularly Saudi Arabia and ...
1
vote
1answer
502 views
Underground Tunnels in New York City and Boston
Where are the underground tunnels built by masons in New York City and Boston in 1760's~1780's? Do they exist till our present day?
16
votes
1answer
608 views
Why are the signatures on the United States Declaration of Independence structured as they are?
When looking at the United States Declaration of Independence its easy to notice that John Hancock's signature is more prominent than the others:
From my readings I know John Hancock did sign one of ...
8
votes
2answers
125 views
After the independence, did George Washington continue to wear a military uniform?
I know that some of the historic legends continued and some not. We are talking about 2nd half of the 18th century. Fashion was so fancy. Obviously, the founding fathers -- quite possibly -- adapted ...
10
votes
1answer
131 views
Was the State of Indiana's legislation changed to fix the value of Pi?
Is the following an anecdote?
Mathematicians describe Pi as an irrational number, that is, a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of any two integers. This was an irksome fact to the State ...
3
votes
0answers
48 views
Why did Carter force the Shah toward a more open political atmosphere in Iran?
Why did Jimmy Carter force Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi toward a more open political atmosphere in Iran? (This policy led to change the regime in Iran, and transformed it into an enemy of the United ...
11
votes
2answers
117 views
percentage of British and American troops involved in direct combat with enemy in World War II
How large a proportion of British and American troops were involved in direct combat with the enemy in World War II? What was the casualty rate among those men?
2
votes
1answer
103 views
What role did the United States government and major corporations have in controlling dissent and protest starting in the late 1940s? [closed]
After the Second World War, numerous movements of dissent and protest amongst workers or soldiers which had been kept in check by the profits of war developed into significant movements, such as the ...
12
votes
5answers
381 views
When and how did the idea of a “class-less” society originate in the United States?
The United States is often referred to as a "class-less" society where anyone can rise to any height. Leaving aside whether this is actually the case or not, when and how did this idea originate? Was ...
1
vote
0answers
28 views
Did most colleges in the United have semesters that began in September and ended in January during the 1890s?
I have been researching college calendars from the 1890s and have found that their semesters are very different from most "modern" semesters in the United States. Here are two examples: ...
6
votes
1answer
56 views
Which parts of the Townshend Act were repealed in 1770?
The Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 and partially repealed in 1770. Which clauses were repealed at that time?
I've looked around and found the original text, but I cannot find specifically what ...
